7-7-23 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 2

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That's stateofaudio.com. Hey, hey, happy almost Friday. I keep coming back to that, even though my cupcakes are primarily ugly and, if not ruined, will not make a magazine cover anytime soon. I'm sure to get some flack for it once the next show crew comes in. Unless Producer J eats them all between now and then, which is always a possibility.

Marco too. They'll be my saving grace. So I hope that you survived your workweek better than my cupcakes did. It is a Friday on the horizon and another summer weekend. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. You can find me on Twitter, ALawRadio, and then our Facebook page as well. Many of you have checked out our latest summertime edition of Asking Me Anything, our video on YouTube.

We know a lot of you also check out our podcast and listen On Demand on a regular basis, so we appreciate your support, which has been constant regardless of Twitter or Threads or Facebook or Instagram or any other social media. We just remain the same from week to week and month to month and now year to year, which means we cover all the big drama from season to season, and that includes right now what's happening in the NBA and its free agency. Teams and players were just allowed to sign deals and make them official on Thursday. There's still some major question marks like where will Damian Lillard end up? Yes, he wants to go to Miami, but is the strong arm tactic of his agent and his camp going to work against the Portland Trail Blazers?

We'll talk more about that later in the show. But also, one of the teams that went to the Eastern Conference Finals, so not Miami, who's waiting on Dame, but the Celtics are shaking up their roster. Remember, it's not Danny Ainge anymore. Danny loved to make deals for the sake of making deals a lot of times.

He got itchy, itchy finger when it came to dialing and siding off on new deals. Now it's Brad Stevens, but they've traded away not just a starter and a defensive player of the year, but another key role player. What's the strategy? What's the end game for the Celtics in the wake of two drastic trades? We're pleased to welcome from Las Vegas, because that's where Summer League is and that's where it's all happening, Jared Weiss, who covers the Celtics and the league for the athletic.

Jared, we'll start there. How would you describe the Celtics' strategy for the offseason at this point? Well, their strategy is very confusing, because this is a team that really prided itself on this intense physical defensive identity for years. And then last year, they were trying to augment that with this high-pace, pace-and-space shooting, three-point specialist team that also could really thrive off of Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown being able to get where they want and score. And now, they've traded their two toughest players. Marcus Smart and Grant Williams were the guys that loved getting under opponents' skin. They were versatile defensively, they made the hustle plays, and they replaced it with so far just Chris Ostervinkis, which he has incredible talent, but his reputation is soft. Let's be straight up. He has a soft reputation.

He's going to have to overcome that role or that reputation in this role, which maybe he could do. But either way, they seem to be doubling down on they want to be one of the greatest offensive teams of all time, apparently, while also having this insurmountable length at the rim. And it's a weird combination because they're losing that defensive pressure that made them so good on the perimeter, but they seem to be betting that we can stop teams at the rim, get out and run, and we can score in a way that nobody else can. Which, after watching Denver really dominate offensively and win the championship, not a terrible bet, but there's still a missing piece here.

There's still something not quite there. They need a more incisive ball handler that can really, truly live in the paint and make kick-out passes. Maybe they can get Malcolm Brogdon to be okay with the fact that he was almost traded and taken back out of the trade, keep him healthy, and turn him into a really effective point guard alongside Derek White, but clearly there is more work for them to do to get this roster fully settled. It dawns on me, Jared, as you mentioned the Nuggets, that yes, they definitely could score and they have a variety of ways to beat you, but they also brought in two guys who are known for their defense and their tenacity, and that seemed to put them over the hump in terms of winning the title. It's funny because during the Celtics playoff run, a few players were saying defense wins championships. There was this whole kind of back and forth that the players and the coach was having in the media of like, what is the identity of this team? Because this team always was like, we're a defensive team. That was what made them so successful under Imeo Toca. And under Missoula, who, don't forget, came into the job a day or two before training camp. So, you know, he was put in a situation that's not fair, but he wanted to balance that out, make them really think about offense a lot more.

And, I mean, it works, right? They had 57 wins. They made the conference finals. No matter how they got there, they did make it game seven of the conference finals, even if they did it in the worst way imaginable.

So clearly this team was great, on the fringe of greatness. And the thing that was missing in the end, you know, I mean, if Jason Tatum doesn't sprain his ankle in the first play of the game and he actually can move and not be miserable and dragging around on the court, I think this would have gone differently. Who knows if they would have won, but it would have been a very close game and maybe they end up making the finals. I think Denver probably would have beat them either way. Denver was too good this year. But this team just didn't have an intensity level on defense that they needed for their offensive philosophy to work. They needed to get lots of turnovers if they were going to score and transition the way they wanted to. And so now, I don't know how that reputation works when you're getting rid of Marcus Smart, you're getting rid of Grant Williams, and you're putting Porzingis in there.

I think there has to be something else. You had a chance to catch up with Grant in the wake of the trade news or the side in trade for him. What did he have to say?

Grant was incredibly level. It was a bittersweet moment for him where it was somber to leave the Celtics, but he also came into this free agency knowing the likelihood of going back to the Celtics was slim. That if it was even a mid-level exception offer, which is basically what he got, that they were really on the fence about matching that.

And I reported earlier in the week that that was kind of the line that they were approaching of whether or not they were going to make the match. And I think he understood that the best situation for him was to leave, because he is capable of being a starter in the NBA. And at the Celtics, he wasn't going to start. He wasn't going to get consistent minutes. Joe Missoula did not want to play him for a lot of that year. We reported with Jay King on the athletic after the season ended that for Grant to get back into the rotation in March, Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum had to go sit down with Joe Missoula and tell him that we want you to play Grant Williams.

So if that's the situation, why would you come back to that? He's a restricted free agent, so he might not have a choice. It worked out best for him because he goes to Dallas where he's most likely going to start, and he's next to Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic. Two guys that can draw a crowd, kick it out to him, and Grant can just fire away from three in the corner. Grant can be a short-willed guy, which is something that he could do in college. I think he could do pretty well in the NBA because he has really good passing vision. So I think Dallas is going to unlock a lot of his game. It really is a best-case scenario for him. When you think back over his role with the Celtics, as much as he would like to start, it seemed as though he played a key role in them having the success they did the last couple years.

That tenacity he always brought that to, and it's certainly a defensive guy. So if it's not going to be defense, are they just going to double down offensively and continue to fire up? I don't know, double the number of threes?

Is this it, Jared? What else are they planning to do? No, I think there has to be something else. You're making a few good points. An important thing to remember with Grant and Marcus, and I think this happens with any sort of defensive specialist who also wants to play me, is that there's going to be a lot of erraticism. There's going to be a lot of turnovers and mistakes, a lot of gambles. It's really hard to evaluate, is this a net positive benefit? I think in Marcus' case, I think easily it was a net positive. In Grant's case, I think it was still a net positive, but also he really struggled with the inconsistency of his role.

And he also, he was turning it over because he would get the ball and he had a rare chance of attack, and he would do the same attack over and over, and defense as he was coming. But if you put him in a role where he has more comfort and more security, I think it gives him more patience. It allows him to not make those kind of mistakes.

So it makes sense why the situation's laid out that way. But to answer your biggest question, they obviously have to make another move because they have to restore some of this toughness. But I think that offensively, they're looking at this as, we don't have to rely on being a patient in space team and checking out 45 threes, because we have someone like Christos Brzegas, who is an absolute menace rolling through the paint. He's someone that you could feed the ball to in a mismatch in the high post so that he can create from there. They can even have him play make out of the post, which I think he got better at in the last year or so. So they have more variety to this team.

And this offense is just missing variety. It was something that you may have Doka mentioned after the finals. It was something that I at least asked Joe Mazula about.

He tried to pretend like it wasn't the case, but come on, Joe, we know that it was an issue. And it's okay. You know, it's okay for the teams that have a shortcoming on offense because Brad Stevens, I think, has done a really good job of trying to address it. But in addressing that, they are taking away a ton from their defense and they need to do something else in order to make that balance at least be enough that they can be a championship team. Because they're close, but I don't know if they're that much closer after losing both Marcus and Grant. It's a rhetorical question, a good one that we don't actually have the answer to. Jared Weiss covers the Celtics for the athletic is with us from Vegas, where right now it's the center of the NBA world.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. How much do you think this has to do with them coming so close and not being able to win another NBA championship, especially these last two seasons? Yeah, I think that, you know, there's probably some patient frustration there, but I think it's really more about if they're about to commit a double supermax to Jason and Jalen and the new doubled apron rules that come along with that.

I think they're just thinking we need to have the foundation in place. We need to find that third offensive player that can compliment these guys. It's also almost a bit of a recognition of Jalen and Jason are great, but we probably need another offensive player that can help carry the weight if they're going to be able to actually win.

So I think kind of repositioning there. I also think Derek White was so good last year. He was such a revelation last year because his offense came around. His defense was still pretty good that they didn't have to have Marcus smart anymore, and they were willing to take that risk. It is a huge risk, especially because Porzingis' health is a major question mark, but if it hits, it hits. Any reaction so far from Jalen or Jason, considering that they're losing it, specifically Marcus, the guy that they've really been through the fire with?

Yeah, I think they were both obviously a little concerned. Here's the thing with Marcus. Marcus is for love. He's a brother there.

He's also alive. And I think there is always a constant push and pull between embracing and being frustrated. And I think at the end of the day, Marcus always wins out. I really think he does. I think that he proves himself to be so irreplaceable at the end of the day because he sets up when people just won't.

And I think they recognize that there's so much more on those two guys to lead defensively, to be better playmakers. We all remember how Jalen finished the season, right? Jalen had one of the first playmaking games of his career.

It was a disaster. Jalen's better than that. He knows he's better.

He'll prove it. I think at this point, these guys need to prove it. They recognize that. And so I think they're okay with the trade-off because Porzingis is going to help alleviate a lot of the overwork that they really suffered through last year. When you think about one of their major challenges last regular season, and even a couple times in the playoffs we saw it, it was about closing games and about being able to protect leads sometimes and slam the door. So again, I think about what they've done and I wonder, does that address the problem of not being able to keep teams from rallying past them or keep teams from putting together big runs? You know what? I don't know because I feel like defensive letdowns, I think the two reasons they had it was they lost defensive intensity or they had a second unit lineup that had no idea how to score.

Okay, you addressed one of those issues there. Porzingis helps allow you to have offensive lineups with at least two elite scorers on the floor at all times. It takes the pressure off of Jalen Brown to coordinate the second unit effectively. So I do think that it allows their offense to be consistent and they're going to be able to score 150 and 120 every single night. And maybe that offsets the defense, especially because Porzingis is such a good rim protector. And I mean, I don't know how they're going to utilize them guarding fours and maybe even threes at times, maybe they will. But at the very least, they're always going to have an unstoppable rim protector down there to clean up whatever is going on. And they'll always have multiple scorers.

Jared Weiss of The Athletic is with us from Vegas here on CBS Sports Radio. At times their offense became so one-dimensional that the only thing they would do was shoot threes. But I always wonder why, because both Jason and Jalen can get to the rim. I think Jason Tatum's drive numbers are pretty good. I think he was pretty high up in free throw rate. Over the course of the game, the way that they were designed, they kind of needed Tatum to get to the line 12 times.

He gets to the line about, I think, eight times off the top of my head, but still really high. But it's not Giannis or Joelle at B. That's kind of what they needed him to be because JT did not shoot the ball well this year, or last year.

Browns did not shoot the ball well last year. It's amazing that Jason Tatum averaged 30 points a game. He had a bad shooting season considering the way he plays. It's a credit to how much he's evolved as a triple penetrator. If he shoots 37% from three, he's going to win a scoring title.

So, I think they're okay in that regard. Jalen, he got so good with his mid-range pull-up game last year that I think it took away a little bit from his aggressiveness attacking the rim. But I also wonder if part of that is that he falls so much, he crashes so much, and maybe to preserve his body, now that he's hitting his prime, he needs to maybe not do an up-and-under hanging in the air for five seconds and then fall on his wrist every single time.

So, I think part of getting to your prime, honestly, is getting smarter and simpler about the way you score. If you look at the way that Tatum scores the ball now compared to two years ago, he's much more like Kawhi Leonard, where he uses his muscle and he just shoots right in front of you. While in the past, he used to do double-cross, the side-step.

Remember, he was really famous for that massive side-step? He doesn't even take it anymore. I was asking him and his trainer, like, I don't see this shot anymore.

Where is it? And they're like, yeah, he doesn't even really need it anymore, but it's still in his bag. So, you know, it's all about being smarter, conserving energy when your role is that massive. Before I let you go, if the Celtics were to make another move, and there is some speculation out there that they must have something else, that Brad Stevens must be working on something else, what else is left, or what would make sense, Jared? The irony is they probably need point guard help, but their main trade chip right now is Malcolm Brogdon, who's a point guard. So, I don't know if it's getting a different type of point guard.

Brogdon was good last year, and I think he would be good again this year, but I've met just a few places. Like, they traded him, or they were about to trade him, and everyone knows. And then they took him out of the deal and did the Marcus Smart deal, and Brogdon was told after the season was over that he wasn't going to get traded. Apparently, all these guys were told that. They should have known better. I tried warning a few of their camps that they might get traded. Everyone thinks that they're safe when they're being told they're safe, but no one's ever safe. I might get traded while we're still on the phone.

Who knows? My voice is already going, so I wouldn't be surprised if it happens to go to Vegas, but the point being is that they need to have a point guard that can control the ball effectively under duress. And Marcus Smart was very good at that. For all the mistakes he made, he could dribble into a trap and work his way out of it. He was fine getting swarmed by people in the paint, and he could make good plays out of it. He also could turn the ball over out of it. He was a very boomer bus player, and I'm sure he'll be great in Memphis. Derek White cannot handle the ball implicitly like that, although I do like some of his point guard skills and the high pick and roll when he's operating out of space. Brogdon is more of a bully ball driver where he gets deep and then he kind of stops and he looks and he makes those reads.

So he's good. It's not the same style as Marcus. I think they probably need somebody that has that little smoother style like Marcus has to work in a lot of the ways that they operate.

But even if they don't get that, if Brogdon is on board and everything's hunky dory, they should be okay. Still, potentially it could be some more moves with Brad Stevens, and we got to let Jared go because he's got a voice that's hanging on by a thread. So find him on Twitter at Jared Weiss, N-B-A-W-E-I-S-S, covers the Celtics for the athletic.

Right now from Vegas, though. Jared, thank you so much for a couple of minutes. I'm going to drink some hot tea and get ready for the next one. Well, thank you for saving your voice for us. I know what that's like when you push it and you push it and you push it. And also, Jared is typically in Boston. You go to a place like Vegas where it's a dry heat and where there's far less moisture in the air.

I know sometimes that also affects my voice, too, and I'm sure he's doing a lot of talking now. It's not just about the players, but also the media members and other industry types that you run into when you have a situation like summer league where the whole industry is seemingly consolidated in one place. And that includes Wembe, and it also includes Britney Spears. Apparently she's a fan, and she has now filed a police report that relates to her fandom. So we'll get to that story a little bit later on, but we promised you the latest on Damian Lillard and his trade request, which is not very polite anymore.

Not a polite request. Hey, let's all work together. Nah, it's taken on a bit of an edgy turn. You can find us on Twitter after our CBS. Are you making the jump to threads? Are you worried about jumping ship before Twitter completely sinks?

What do you think? Twitter survives this or nah? We had one listener who reminded us that, this is Kevin, 10 years ago everyone used Myspace.

Actually never used Myspace because I'm so uncool. He reminds us now that's gone. Someday the same will happen with Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

He thinks they'll all be gone. I don't know about that. Maybe Facebook, except the problem is with that theory, Facebook has billions of users and it's worldwide. We think of it here in the United States, but it is worldwide.

A lot of my international friends, that's how they communicate is through Facebook. Facebook and WhatsApp, which I think is also owned by Meta, is it not? I think it is, yeah. Oh my goodness, it's a monopoly. Don't do it. Don't go to threads. Don't give Meta, which is the devil, a monopoly over your social media. Can you imagine how much of your info they're sharing with the Chinese if you do FB, Insta, WhatsApp, and now threads?

They've essentially got you over a barrel. Got all of it. All of it. Everything. You have no private life. Meta owns it all. Jumping from Elon Musk to Mark Zuckerberg. No, I'm staying put where I am. Do we need any of these socials really?

That's a better question. Well, I think for now we do because so much of sports news is broken on Twitter, but if it moves to threads, I guess I'll get it when I get it. I'll get it by listening to the radio. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence, CBS Sports Radio.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. I confess I didn't think it would take this long for Damian Lillard to have a new home. It was almost a week ago now that he requested a trade from the Portland Trailblazers. Remember, we knew free agency was starting on Friday.

So last day of June around three, well, not around exactly three o'clock Portland time. And there was some speculation and then later a revelation from Damian Lillard's camp that they thought about waiting. Seeing if the franchise would make any other moves that might appear to make Portland a contender, but instead that's not what happened. And actually Lillard decided, yeah, I don't really care what they do here. I got to take care of me.

I got to do me. So he and his camp asked for a trade and yet he is still a member of the Blazers. Lot to talk out there about how his agent who works for Dame, of course, could be laying down the law with the Blazers in that he might try to make life difficult for Portland if the Blazers don't kowtow. If Joe Cronin, the GM, doesn't give in and send Damian Lillard to Miami.

That apparently is the only destination that he's even remotely interested in. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence here on CBS Sports Radio. A report from Mark Spears on NBA Today detailing the latest in this Dame drama. I talked to Aaron Goodwin, Damian Lillard's agent, and he said that he and Portland Trailblazers general manager Joe Cronin had a really good discussion today.

Aaron is hopeful that over the next couple of days in Las Vegas, where everybody will be, that the Miami Heat, the Portland Trailblazers will get in the room, hopefully hash something out. He added that Dame still wants to go to Miami. That is his preferred choice.

That's his only choice. And he's attracted to playing with Bam, attracted to playing with Jimmy, attracted to the no state tax and what he could do from a marketing standpoint there. And I know Aaron is typically what agents do is when you're trying to get something done like this, you hit the phones and you try to find something that also the team like the Blazers could be interested in. So I'm hearing that there's been over like five to seven teams that could be interested and be involved in a multiplayer trade for Damon Lillard. And if it gets done, I wouldn't be surprised if four teams are involved. Four teams. When was the last time you heard about a four team trade? Sometimes the three team dynamics can be complicated and convoluted. A four team trade.

I know they use it a lot of times just to make the money and the bottom lines match. But wowsers. Don't forget those pick swaps. Those are big. Oh my gosh.

Yes, you're right. It's big. And draft capital, second rounders. The whole the whole thing right now makes my head hurt. And I don't love the fact that it seems like Damon's agent and camp are trying to tell the Blazers either do this or else. I mean, you know, you don't necessarily have the leverage.

And I know he's been there over a decade and wants to win. It doesn't feel like the franchise has put enough around him, but Ick. I'm not a I'm not a huge fan of James Harden tactics acting like a doofus so you can get yourself sent out of town disrespecting your teammates and the new coaches and all that jazz so that you can work your way out of town. I just I don't love that. Making yourself persona non grata so they want to get rid of you.

No, I get it. But I don't know if he's gone to that extent. I think it's the idea that it took him a while to finally come to the grips of I don't want to be here anymore. He knows where he wants to go and he feels like, you know, I've been loyal this whole time.

It's not working. We both agree it needs to end. Send me where I want to go.

Don't just send me anywhere. And why should the team do that? I get loyalty to him. I get it.

I mean, he could have also said, Well, I didn't have to stay here for the last however many years. There is somewhat to be the set of more importantly for me is the team acquiring him. Like, you could say, Well, I'll send you wherever I want to send you. Great.

The team that is acquiring him. If I if I don't want to go there, why are you getting me? So you don't want me either because I'm gonna be disgruntled walking in the door.

So there is something to be said for that. It's Portland wants to make sure that he's somewhat happy because the train has to go through. You know, you send him to I don't know, Charlotte, and he doesn't want to tell wherever he doesn't want to go there or land. Oh, what is that to you? What are you getting back? Because the team's not gonna give up all the stuff that you want because they're not getting a player that wants to be with them. So they're getting a disgruntled.

It's not worth it. So to me, like, there's only so many places he can go because he obviously only wants to be in a few places. So as much as we don't want to think about it, player has the upper hand in this regard. Well, Portland better play hardball then and get everything they want because you're only going to trade Damian Lillard once. And that's the thing that and this is where I was saying with the Nets last year when Kevin Durant first made the demand. I understand the concept of send him where he wants to go. Here's the rebuttal to that. I don't have to trade you.

Right. You have a contract. You can play.

So, yeah, I'll work it out to see if I can get something that's of somewhat equal value. And if I feel good about it, if I do not, guess what? Training camp opens up in September and I'll see you then. So that's what the Blazers can still do. That should be a GM.

That's the backup. I'm not going to send you, you know, for lack of a better term, Guam, so that you can't you're not going to be happy, but I can make you stay here. And if that's the problem that you don't want to be here, well, that's too bad. I'm not going to send you someplace you want to be.

Maybe I'll send you someplace you want to be or you stay here. All right. On to more pressing matters. Ugly cupcakes. Look at the bottom row of cupcakes and how they're all smashed and the sprinkles are no longer on the cupcakes.

They're somewhere else. I say this and not because just because the conversation we had last hour of as long as it's edible, those don't look bad at all. I don't really look at that one. It's all smooshed. I mean, that could have happened in the Tupperware, regardless whether or not you know where it didn't stop short. I mean, that's easy.

That's not a problem at all. I mean, I mean, the frosting is still on the entire cupcake. It's not like it's like a pizza where it's halfway on and halfway off. I did try to spread it back on there. Jay, would you like a cupcake that's ugly? And then I because I was so upset, Marco, as I'm driving and the cupcakes are obviously smooshed and they're upside down on the floorboard of my car. I have to reach over and get them while I'm driving, which was it's always a scary proposition. So then I open them up.

And because there are chocolates everywhere, I get it on my pants. It's on my hands like you jerk. Yeah. Yeah. This is where, unfortunately, when you're driving, you just got to let it go.

You got to wait till you get to where you're going. No, I could not. Yeah.

My cupcakes were hanging upside down. I understand. That's the pride aspect of it. I get it. That's where you got to let it go. Again, I will say seriously, everyone's had at some point a pizza, whether you've delivered it or you've had it delivered to you, where all the cheese is on one side. You're like, what the hell happened?

This does not look like that by any stretch. You know Sean Merage is going to make fun of my cupcakes. Or do you think if I don't mention it, they won't know? They won't notice. They'll just think I made ugly cupcake frosting. I wouldn't notice. Nor would I think that's ugly. I wouldn't think twice. I gave you the ugliest one. I hope you don't mind.

No, not even a little bit. The frosting's all on the right side of the cupcake. It's on the cupcake. I don't understand.

It's going to be perfectly symmetrical. It's on the cupcake. I don't understand. All right. Okay. So you just let me know how it tastes. All right. We're going to do that after the update, though, because I'm pretty sure I can't do an update with a mouthful of cupcake and frosting.

No, but I would be impressed if you did, just as a show of solidarity. I can't. I don't think anyone wants to hear it either. All right.

We'll see how this goes. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. You are listening to the After Hours Podcast.

Oh, wait, Remember when Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake were a thing? Oh, my gosh. And I didn't watch. Was it Mickey Mouse something, something or other? Some show on Disney Channel that had to do with Mickey Mouse.

I don't know. I don't remember the name of the show. That was not my not my era. But the two of them were an item and that seems like forever ago. And then she cheated on him reportedly.

And then he started writing darker music. Anyway, she's now in her 40s and there's no way she still sounds like that. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. I also don't think we've ever played Britney Spears music here on the show.

It's a first on After Hours. But it's fitting because this is the story going on in Vegas right now. If you haven't seen TMZ, the website actually has photos of the seconds before Britney Spears reached out to touch Victor Wemenyama. Apparently she and her husband were headed to a restaurant and she claims to be a big fan of Wendy's. She saw him.

He is hard to miss. I'll give her that. She saw him and decided she would like to get a photo. And so she reaches out.

This is according to her. She reached out and tapped him on the shoulder. Not grabbed him, which is what the security detail for Wemenyama was saying. She said she just reached out and tapped him on the shoulder to kind of get his attention. And that she was struck by a security guard. That's according to the police report that she filed. That she got backhanded by the security guard and had her glasses knocked off as she was just trying to get his attention. Now she put her story not only in the police report but also on Insta.

And she called it super embarrassing to share with the world but it's out there already. Quote, his security backhanded me in the face without looking back in front of a crowd, nearly knocking me down and causing my glasses off my face. I have yet to get a public apology from the player, his security or their organization.

I hope they will. Believe it or not, the Las Vegas police are calling it a battery investigation. That officers had to respond to a battery investigation. But no arrest, no citations, no other real specific details.

But TMZ, as you know, always had it. So Victor Wemenyama, who's in Vegas for Summer League and is supposed to play when? Friday?

Supposed to play Friday? He says he didn't know what was happening until much later. What happened last night is I saw the news, obviously. This morning I woke up to a couple of phone calls. And so yeah, something did happen a little bit when I was walking with some security of the team to some restaurant. We were in a hall, there was a lot of people, so people calling me, obviously. And there was one person who was calling me but we talked before with the security, don't stop because it's going to make a crowd.

So I couldn't stop. So that person was calling me and that person grabbed me from behind. So I didn't see what happened because I was walking straight and we talked, don't stop. But that person grabbed me from behind, not on my shoulder, she grabbed me from behind. So I just know that the security pushed her away.

I don't know with how much force though, but the security pushed her away. And I didn't stop to look so I kept walking and enjoy the nice dinner. It was a fun night.

It was a fun night. He says he wanted to enjoy his dinner. And Wemenyama says because there were so many people in the area and it was busy and there was a crowd. And because security told him not to stop as he walked into the restaurant because it could create a log jam and even make it even more uncomfortable to try to get through the area. He said he couldn't stop. That person was calling me, sir, sir. Could you imagine Britney Spears calling him sir?

He's 19 years old, that's funny. I guess what else do you say? Victor, Victor?

Whemby. That seems a little bit too personal. Anyway, Whemby goes on to say that person grabbed me from behind. I didn't see what happened because I was walking straight and didn't stop. But that person grabbed me, not on my shoulder, she grabbed me from behind.

Now, here's the interesting part. Is Britney Spears tall enough to tap him on the shoulder? And if you're Britney Spears and Victor Whemby almost in 7'5", what is she, 5'6"?

Maybe not even that. She could be shorter than that. 5'4". So she's 5'4", and he's 7'5", at the top of his head. Would that seemingly be awkward to reach up and tap someone on the shoulder? She'd have to jump. Well, she might not have to jump if she reaches her arms straight up, but that doesn't seem like what you would do if you're 5'4", with a 7'5", dude standing in front of you. You would, if you didn't have to jump, you would have to reach your arms straight up the air just to tap them on the shoulder. That's not a natural progression of what humans, I would think, would do when they're trying to get someone's attention.

Generally, we will reach out to what is right in front of us, eye level or wherever our arms happen to reach out. I would think that her, at her height, reaching up to tap him on the shoulder is unlikely. I'm not going to dispute her story, I wasn't there, only that it seems like that would be really awkward to reach your arms straight up in the air, and you're trying to chase him down from behind, and you're reaching over people that are in front of you, tap, tap, tap. No, there's no way she tapped him on the shoulder.

It would be. Huh. Victor goes on to say that, yeah, immediately he didn't know who it was that was behind him. Actually, I didn't know for a couple of hours, but when I came back to the hotel, I had forgotten about this event, but I didn't forget about it, but I thought it was no big deal, and the security of this person told me it was a big experience, so at first I was like, no, you're joking, but yeah, it turns out it was a big experience.

But I didn't know because I didn't see her, I never saw her face, I just kept walking straight. Keep going! Keep going! Don't stop! Victor, run! Run!

Interesting. And I always, always am blown away by what, and it's not just we in the media, but what we as a society latch onto. Maybe it's because there's a police report filed, maybe it's because he is the number one overall pick, and he is nearly 7'5", two feet taller than her. He's two feet taller than her. Now, granted, her arm should reach two feet. I mean, my arm is definitely two feet long. But still, if I was trying to get the attention of someone who was two feet taller than me, I wouldn't be reaching up to tap them on the shoulder. Just try it. Wherever you are right now, Jay, try it. Wherever you are, reaching up to tap someone on the shoulder, and then trying to reach over people, if there are people around you, and he said that it was really crowded, so she kind of pressed forward, Oh, reach! Reaching up! Interesting. You know what needs to happen now? I feel like this is a legally blind method of sleuthing. Well, her arm is two feet tall.

I'm sorry, go ahead, Jay. Oh, they need to collab, of course. Do they? I would think so. We don't think if they, Britney Spears featuring Victor Wamunyama's song came out. Does she still sing? She can, I'm sure.

Are you? I don't think she lost it. She could have. It's been quite a while. She sings and dances a little bit on those videos, right? I have no idea. Do you want to know the last time I saw a Britney Spears video? It would have been on MTV. Do people still watch MTV?

I don't think so. Is MTV defunct now? I think MTV might not be a thing anymore. Yeah, I don't. And yet it's trending.

It's all the rage right now. It's after hours, CBS Sports Radio. Get two 20-ounce Mountain Dew's or only $3.50. Do the Dew It quality mark.