After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 4

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This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Good morning. Happy Tuesday. I hope you survived the day after a holiday weekend, which sometimes can feel like a punch to the gut or a slap to the face.

I get it. It can be tough, but I have no sympathy for you whatsoever. Vacations are a good thing. No complaining about how hard it is to get back to work. However, if you work these hours, whether we're talking overnights or whether we're talking early, early, early morning hours, I certainly know that coming off of a vacation where you maybe slept more typical hours or standard hours can be rough. That's the thing with me is every few days I'm changing my sleep schedule. Not a great idea.

I do not recommend it. But welcome back. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Glad to have you with us. Just when you get adjusted to me on the show again, I'll be gone. Actually, just hosting this hour. Well, these first two shows of the week and then our hump show tomorrow night.

Sorry, Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. But then we'll be gone again for second half of vacation. Although really, really disappointed because my mom and her husband were supposed to be part of my brother's milestone birthday. But because of Hurricane Beryl, they've had to cancel their trip. Thank you. So many of you asked about mom on both of our social media sites.

I really appreciate that. They have not had power for nearly 24 hours. They're part of the roughly 3 million people in the Houston area that do not have power. And while it was cooler yesterday, Monday, they are expecting the heat to return and the temps to soar, which of course makes it uncomfortable, not to mention dangerous in some cases. But also thinking about what they have in their fridge and they've got an Aussie who's older and it's tough in the heat.

Although she likes to sit outside in the sun sometimes in their backyard, which is funny. So they are actually going to head west to get out of the heat. They've got a fifth wheel, so they'll pull their trailer west and they'll wait until the power comes back on. But unfortunately, they have no place to board the dog because the place they take Gracie is also out of power and there's debris and limbs and branches down everywhere.

Some of them actually hit the top of mom's trailer, but thank you. Thankfully, there was no damage done that they can see. So yeah, they're going to get out of town for a little bit, but are not going to travel east for my brother's birthday. And so we're all really disappointed that my mom is heartbroken over that. But I just don't have any place to leave the dog and are not real comfortable leaving the house for a week until they know the power is back on.

But thank you for asking. They are safe. I know a lot of people were in danger. There were water rescues, certainly flooding and people stranded in their cars along highways. This is a category one when it made landfall. So we're not talking about the most devastating of storms that we've had in the past. Like even Hurricane Harvey, which was, was it 10 years ago, nine years ago in the Houston area. So there have been storms that maybe packed more of a wallop, but this one certainly did a lot of damage. I know there are a lot, a lot of people that will be suffering in the heat if they don't have their power back on. So praying for that to happen. I appreciate your kind words and your support to be sure. My phone and our social media, they were blowing up on Monday afternoon.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence online at ALaw Radio or on our Facebook page. We've been talking a bunch about Team USA for a variety of reasons. If you haven't heard the name Cooper Flag, today is the day. Also, Jason Tatum joining Team USA for the first time. He was an excused absence, but good to see him back with some of the best in the world. And maybe you've noticed that he is wearing Kobe's number 10 with the red, white and blue. Nothing short of an honor to be able to represent this uniform and wear number 10. Anybody that remotely knows me knows how much influence that he had on me as a kid and aspiring to reach my goals.

So it's definitely something I don't take for granted or take lightly. Jason Tatum, like the rest of the Americans, doesn't actually know what the lineup is going to look like. So Steve Kerr and his assistants, they're still working that out. I mean, it's a lot to try to figure out in a few days of a training camp, especially when they really don't practice and play together very often. Maybe all-star games, all-star rosters, but completely different feel than a serious tournament like the Olympics.

And so for Tatum, you know, it's about this kind of crash course and getting to know everyone as quickly as you can. You've got high-character guys that understand what we're trying to accomplish and understand how tough it is to put 12 new guys on the team with 40 days to get to know each other and practice and be away from your family and try to win a gold medal. And that's all that matters, not who starts, how many points you average. You know, all that matters is if we come home with a gold medal. Not that dissimilar from winning a championship and pursuing a ring that had eluded the Celtics and eluded Jason Tatum, Jaylen Brown. Really, when it comes down to it, who cares about all-star rosters or all NBA rosters or who wins the MVP?

Those things are nice and actually sometimes come with a financial incentive, but ultimately you don't have any room to stand or any place to talk if you don't have the ring. And now what a relief that is, though, as you can imagine, it's been quite the crazy few weeks since the Celtics beat the Mavericks. It's been a whirlwind. Winning a championship is, whatever I thought that it would be like, ten times better. You work so hard to accomplish a goal, and I think us falling short a couple times made it that much sweeter. And to say the least, I'm still enjoying it.

I am. It feels amazing to be a champion. It feels amazing to be a champion. Jason Tatum, also Drew Holliday, is on that Team USA roster. And I suppose he still has bragging rights, even among the Celtics, because he's got the two rings.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence. It's kind of neat, too, some of the other stories coming out of the NBA. We know the rosters for some of the other teams feature multiple pro athletes or multiple NBA athletes, and so there should be some good competition. Had a chance to talk with longtime Hoops insider Curt Heelan, who joined us from Vegas earlier in the show.

Yes, 120 degrees on Monday. Anyway, asked him about the top competition for the Americans in Paris. We'll bring back part of that conversation in a few minutes.

Plus, get to know Cooper Flagg. We heard a lot about him on Monday. He was trending on Monday, and Curt Heelan had a front row seat. But some of the other teams that are either new to the Olympics or haven't participated in a long time in men's basketball, that includes Puerto Rico. First time since the 2004 games in Athens that Puerto Rico has fielded a team that's qualified for the Olympics.

And Jose Alvarado, who's the great point guard for the Pelicans, he actually had 23 points in their clinching game on Sunday against Lithuania, I believe. Anyway, he's really excited about the fact that his team gets to play on this international stage. The game was amazing. The atmosphere was great. You know, obviously, you know, this game was very important for for us in Ireland. But we knew it was more than just basketball. We knew how great we had to be to represent this island. And the love they gave us was amazing.

We just wanted to do as best as we can for them. As a kid that wasn't born in Ireland, I'm learning so much from this game and from all the history that came with it. And it's amazing. I'm just so happy to be part of it.

Like, obviously, the 20 years was very long time. But, you know, JJ, Carlos and all those greats was in the building. They created this path for us. And I'm just happy to be part of the team that got to make history today.

Yeah, it's really neat. I would say, too, and I guess you can get upset at me if you want, but. I think in other countries, these international competitions mean a lot more than they do to the United States. And maybe even to the athletes as well.

Yes, it's an honor to wear the red, white and blue. And I don't know many of these guys who take it for granted. That's why we're talking about Jason Tatum and Drew Holliday, who barely had a couple of weeks off and are now getting right back to basketball. No doubt even Jason being in his mid 20s, there's some mental and physical fatigue.

And he mentions being away from his family, though I do hope Deuce is there, gets to visit him. But these guys are sacrificing their summer and their time off to be part of this team in which they may not star. But it's important to them to rep the red, white and blue and maybe to win a gold medal.

And that adds to their legacy and their resumes as well. But in other countries, these international teams have so much more pressure on them because the entire nation is focused on what they do. Whether it's World Cup and soccer or their football, whether it's the Olympics and the opportunities that don't come around very often. I mean, think about it. There's really no chance that Team USA would ever not qualify for the Olympics.

I mean, that's the thing. We've got the best of the best for the most part. Obviously, some of them play for other countries like Giannis for Greece, like Luka. I mean, Shay Gildas-Alexander for Canada. So there are great athletes.

So Wemenyama, Rudy Gobert for France. There are some amazing athletes who play for other nations. But the greatest collection of NBA players is on Team USA. There's no way that we'd ever be the U.S. men's national team in soccer and not qualify for an international competition.

But I think we take it for granted. Number one, number two, there are so many other options in the United States and we have so many other athletes that are competing in the Olympics that I'm not even sure at the Olympics it's as big a story even once we get to the games for Team USA. But for these other countries who maybe have one or two teams or the opportunities don't come around very often, this is humongous for them. The qualifying process alone, as you heard from Jose Alvarado, brought out a bunch of the greats who had been part of that 2004 Olympic team. They've got the entire nation that's paying attention because it's a big deal for Puerto Rico to qualify for basketball, the Olympic basketball competition. And it's the same, right, maybe even more heightened when we're talking about soccer because that's the world's game.

And while it may not have the same prominence here in the United States, I mean think about it, if you fail to qualify in some of these other countries, well gosh, I mean you're ashamed, you're embarrassed almost because of the pressure and the attention that is on it. Now, that can contribute to some of these younger players like Luca, for instance. He turned pro at 12 years old. He was playing in international competitions when he was still a teenager. It's caused him to be very comfortable under pressure, in a pressure cooker, on this world stage. There isn't anything that he really hasn't seen or done yet, short of winning a championship in the NBA. But he's comfortable with pressure on him because it's become almost second nature to him. And that's another way in which other countries, I think, have a better training ground or training process for these Olympics or World Cups, even world championships, because they're so used to that. And honestly, because they spend more time year-round training and practicing and playing in competitions together.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence. Giannis actually says as much as he would like to win, you can tell he's getting older, right? He's not only the dad jokes, but he also tends to be more philosophical these days. Remember when it wasn't this past year, it was two years ago, right, where they lost, they fell short of winning a championship. They fell short of getting to the NBA finals again, and Giannis was asked about whether or not it was a failure. And he went off on this big, long diatribe about how the process is really the most rewarding part. It's the journey, of course it's not a failure, and yet we're getting more of that now as Greece has qualified for the Olympics.

He's planning on enjoying it, and I can't imagine anyone's going to enjoy it more, as opposed to being so hyper-focused on the one goal. Now if I'm the flag barrier, great. If I'm not, it's okay. I'm just happy, man. I'm just happy that I have a good coaching staff, a good team. I'm in the Olympics.

I just want to go compete, be more healthy, compete, and try to make something happen. But again, as coaches say, I will enjoy. I will enjoy every moment. I will enjoy every moment, because you never know in life. I will enjoy every moment.

You never know in life. I'm telling you, he's become much more philosophical than he used to be. He's not even old, it's just he's lived a lot of life, and he's been in the spotlight for a while. Speaking of spotlight, Anthony Edwards, well he enjoys it, and he's rising to the occasion. We saw him do this with the Minnesota Timberwolves the last two months of the regular season when Cat was not available. So as Karl-Anthony Towns returned, and Edwards, and he kind of figured it out, that one-two punch, if you will, they soared to the Western Conference Finals, where, granted, he did not play his best basketball consistently. However, it's been a huge boost for his confidence, a huge boost for his ego. Now feeling like he can carry the team, and carry a team, including Team USA. Believe it or not, Anthony Edwards thinks the ball should go through him. I'm still the number one option. I mean, y'all might look at it differently, I don't look at it no differently. Go out there and be myself, shoot my shots, play defense, and you know, they gotta fit in to play around me, that's how I feel.

They have to fit in and play around me. He has reason to be cocky and arrogant, as I say, at 22 years old. He is largely responsible for the Timberwolves maintaining, what was it, were they a two seed or three seed? They were the three seed behind the Thunder and the Nuggets. However, there were a lot of people who thought they would sink like a rock once Karl-Anthony Towns got hurt with a couple months to go.

Ant, he was terrific. Gosh, he dislocated a finger dunking, he bumped his head on the bottom of the rim when he was blocking a shot. I mean, the acrobatics and the athleticism that we saw from him at the end of the regular season, and some parts of the playoffs, it was really impressive. It's a bit of a coming out party for Edwards, if you will. He thinks he's the number one option on Team USA.

I'm not even sure he'll be a starter. He believes he's option number one. So he inspired our show question, who are the most arrogant, cockiest athletes in sports right now? We're getting some great answers.

You can find the question at Amy After Hours or on our Facebook page. I know many of you are going all time. Most of my answers have been more current, like Aaron Rodgers, like Draymond Green. Definitely would put LeBron James in that category. Honestly, I feel like some athletes just exude arrogance, where probably all of them think that they are the best, and yet they don't wear it quite the same way. But yeah, you've got athletes who definitely will lead with cockiness if you want.

And in some cases, it is definitely a way that they motivate themselves and get themselves fired up and feel that adrenaline, that rush. Zero problem with it. I think Angel Reese kind of belongs in that category.

I don't have any issues with it as long as you can back it up. That's kind of humorous when you say that you're the best or you lead with your arrogance, but you actually can't back it up. So personality, it varies from athlete to athlete, but certainly there are some cocky ones out there.

So who are the cockiest, most arrogant? Again, on Twitter or Facebook, glad to have you with us. Phone number 855-212-4227.

Good morning to you. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. You are listening to the After Hours podcast. I bet he breaks that. Here's the 2-2. He's going to try to do it right now. De La Cruz off for third.

He'll make it easily. Swing and a miss by Candelario, but De La Cruz with his 45th stolen base of the year. Just broke it.

And that does break the record. 2-1 pitch. Vincent runs. De La Cruz rips it toward right. On the run, Blackman.

He won't get it. That's going to bounce and one hop the wall near the 370 sign. Vincent racing around third, headed home. The relay throw to the plate. Not in time. Vincent dives across home on the RBI double to the wall and right by Ellie De La Cruz. It's 4 to nothing red.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. We are not even to the All-Star break yet. And All-Star shortstop, Ellie De La Cruz of the Reds. Well, he's busy on the base pass. Man, the second he gets on the base pass, you might just assume he's going to steal. It's one thing to know it's going to happen.

It's completely another to stop him or hold him close enough or pick him off. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. The call's there on Reds radio. So Ellie had an RBI double. He scored twice and stole two bases in the first inning.

Don't! That's when you know it's not going well for the Rockies. He now has 45 on the year. And so he has the most ever in Reds history before the All-Star break.

And you know, he's just a jolt of energy and lightning at 22 years old himself. He's a guy that injects a whole lot of energy into that Reds lineup. And they're trying to get back to.500 and back to being competitive in the National League Central. But beyond that, you need to pay attention to Ellie De La Cruz. 45 stolen bases, most ever in franchise history before they hit the All-Star break.

And they still have a ways to go. So yeah, he's not only Speedy Gonzalez on the base pass, but he's also trying to learn Japanese so he can speak to Otani. I'm learning Japanese to talk to Joey.

Really? Are you learning Japanese? I talk to Joey. I don't know if I'm going to learn, but I'm trying. I love that!

He will speak Espanol, working on his English obviously, and getting more comfortable with that and Japanese. I don't know if I'm going to, but I'm going to try. Wait, that's a lot of work. That is a lot of work. Especially when you're playing MLB baseball.

Or MLB. Yes. In all your spare time. Maybe on road trips when you're flying from place to place you can work on your Japanese. The Duolingo? Well, I think, first of all, Shohei does speak some English.

We know that this is the case. He just doesn't do it publicly very often. So I'm not sure he needs to be able to speak Japanese to communicate with Shohei.

But I like the ambition. And I would think maybe Rosetta Stone. I don't know.

I would recommend it. What's the other one? Babbel? Babbel, Duolingo, Rosetta Stone. You actually can probably find it on your phone somewhere too. I know when I need to, so I write back and forth to my friends in Cuba. And when I need to check some words to be sure that I don't write something I don't mean. I use Google Translate. I know they have a voice option as well.

You could try that. Good for you. I like it for Ellie. As if blazing the bases, blazing a new trail for the Reds isn't enough. He's going to learn Japanese. Hey, one of the big stories coming out of the NL Central is Paul Skeans, who made the All-Star game. And there's actually a push for him to start for the National League, which would bring a lot of eyeballs to the table because he's so much fun already. And it's been quite an impressive debut for him after being selected number one overall in the draft. So he was actually talking to his team after making the All-Star roster.

And Pirate social media captured it. Oh no, this is cool. And I'm just grateful for all you guys since the first half being here. I've been a part of the team, so couldn't have done without you guys.

Isn't that neat? He's so much fun and is putting, we're talking about eyeballs, eyeballs and ear balls on the Pirates. Now, Pirates fans are obviously into their team. Again, they're just below 500.

They're trying to pull their way back into relevance there in the NL Central. But people show up. They show up to watch the Pirates pitching these days. And it's kind of a neat video if you haven't seen it. Paul Skeans finding out he's an All-Star.

It's out there in the social media universe. So yeah, these are guys that I bet that there are some Pirates fans who are almost afraid to get attached to them because usually the young guys don't get paid by the Pirates and they end up pitching and starring for someone else. But maybe right now, enjoy it while you got it because he's dynamic and a couple of rookie pitchers in that starting rotation. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence.

He's not a rookie, but it's kind of a comeback journey for Chris Sale who's also on the All-Star roster. Definitely satisfying. I appreciate it for sure. You go through some years like I had.

You start thinking if this is ever even a possibility again. And to be able to be in this position, like you said, having a team take a chance on me with – it wasn't an easy trigger to pull, I'm assuming, just because of what it looked like previously. But they gave me a chance and I'm happy to be able to do this for them.

Yeah, really cool. So, while we're talking about athletes who are arrogant, injuries and a couple of bad seasons, they can humble you like nobody's business. Especially when, like Chris Sale, and we could talk about other guys too, you're forced to sit and watch for the first time ever. So, I love the redemption story with Chris Sale. You know, I'm big into redemption stories and this is a huge one for him. When you recognize what he had done previously in his career to the point where he kind of hit rock bottom. And he wasn't sure that he would have another take or another team, but he has with Atlanta. And so now, let's see, he is 11-3 as the latest numbers that I see with an ERA of 2.71 is pretty dynamic. Good for him.

I love this kind of story in baseball and other sports as well where guys get a second chance to do what they love and they reward a team that takes a chance on them. It's After Hours on our Facebook page, on our show Twix at Amy After Hours asking you the most arrogant and cockiest athletes in sports. Mark is in Boston. What do you think, Mark?

How are you doing, Amy? I have a couple in mind. I don't know which one to choose from, but I would have to go with Terrell Owens and actually, Chad Ochocinco and T-Shawn Johnson.

I don't recall if they all, well, certainly T-O and Ochocinco played at the same time. T-Shawn may have been a little ahead of them, but it really does seem to be the rite of passage for elite wide receivers that they have to have some giant ego they carry with them on the field. Well, I got one that might surprise you, Sam, to be in a Celtics fan. Larry Bird. Oh, I don't think that surprises me. The most quietest, obnoxious person you ever want to see. Yeah, not on the court, right?

He was a huge trash talker. All you got to do is just make faces and shrug his shoulders and say, yeah, not the right voice. Good stuff. Mark, good to hear from you. Thanks for your phone call. 855-212-4227.

Yeah, I cut my teeth on late 80s, early 90s NBA, so we're talking about guys like Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan. I saw one post on our Facebook page that points to Bill Lambier and the bad boys as being some of the most arrogant of all time. So you can find us on either side. Actually just put up the Blue Angels photos on Facebook as well as a bonus photo from inside the C-130. I couldn't help but I had to sit in one of the seats and Bob took my photo, so I shared that with you as well. Little July 4th excitement.

So you can check those out while you're answering the question. And also on Twix, did share a photo from Grammy Helen, big, I guess you could say, well, just two years. The fact that it's been two years kind of blows me away, but a day that I spent even more time than usual thinking about her. A lot of you asked about my mom and how they're doing in Houston, so there's all kinds of stuff on our social as we head to our break. Right ahead, a couple of minutes from my conversation with longtime NBA insider Curt Heelan, who is covering Team USA in Vegas. Yeah, the rage and the trend on social media on Monday was not about any of the current NBA superstars. It was about a 17 year old who was playing with no fear.

Here's our latest sports update. Have you ever covered a carpet stain with a rug? Ignored a leaky faucet pretended your half painted living room is supposed to look that way? Well, you're not alone. We've all got unfinished home projects, whether it's a door that sticks or a disorganized closet or an AC unit that only works half the time.

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Sometimes I get thrown off by the instrumental music. But alright. This is the song from Superbad. Not Superbad. Napoleon Dynamite.

Oh yeah, that makes sense. Not my kind of movie. I stopped watching comedies after Money Pit.

There was no way that any movie would ever be better than that on the comedy side. Actually heard on the radio last night when I was driving into work that Tom Hanks was celebrating a birthday. 78 I think. Well I could be wrong. Hold on. I'll check just to make sure that I'm not giving you false information.

But he is one of my all time favorite actors and so I noticed. No I totally lied. 68. I made that up. Poor guy.

I just gave him 10 extra years. I knew there was an 8 in there. Somebody else was, the announcer was going through a list of birthdays and somebody else that was an actor. Oh shoot.

You know who it might have been? Hold on. Hold on. There was another one. Before I say his name.

You'll know him. Yeah. So he was in the 70s.

I got the two numbers mixed up. So I juxtaposed Tom Hanks 68. John Tesh. Remember John Tesh? Actually wrote the theme and performed the theme for the NBA on NBC. It's called Round Ball Rock. Whether or not you know it.

If you want to find it on YouTube we can play it before the top of the hour. That one. Yeah so that sounded just like it. Anyway he's 72 and so I was listening to this list of names and got Tom Hanks and John Tesh and their ages juxtaposed. That's me.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Glad to have you with us. Who are the most arrogant and cockiest athletes all time? Or just right now? I'm actually more concerned with the right now.

I've got recency bias. We had a chance to talk to Kurt Heelan from Las Vegas who's covering USA, basketball, the training camp as well as Summer League and wanted to bring back part of that conversation so you could hear all about Cooper Flagg because I asked him what's the biggest buzz coming out of Vegas right now? I think two things. People are really curious to see what PUSA with all this talent looks like.

How is it going to mesh? How long is that going to take because it's certainly a stacked roster with veterans and Curry and Lebron and Kevin Durant's got gold and on and on down the line but we know from every sport we've ever watched, you've got to have talent to win but you've got to have talent that meshes and fits together so how is this going to look and I get a good test on Wednesday night against Canada who's a team that beat them in the World Cup a year ago and the other thing that was eye-popping today was for a lot of us these last couple days were the first time we all had to see Cooper Flagg in person. He's legit. Like Cooper Flagg is going to be the due prospect, expected to go number one next year is I think he's 17 still and he was out there probably the stretch we saw today probably the best of the select team players on the floor and that's with Trey Murphy and all these guys who are about to get paid all these up-and-coming players and he was just not only part of it but like impressively part of it. And he is on his way to Duke so hasn't even played a college game yet. How did he do against some of the Team USA members?

It's really impressive he is I believe 6'8 or 6'9 I'm not sure what the official is but he's got a high release he's athletic he gets up he defended well but I think there was one stretch and the clip is out there online he knocks down a three he's got a smooth stroke gets back makes a defensive play at the other end comes back the other way and basically jumps past on offense you know again missed shot jumps past through Holliday and gets the tip in kind of he was going for the dunk and got fouled so it was more of a tip in but like a three-point play going the other way and it was really impressive he's got the athleticism and skill and he's doing all this like I said at 17 so it's gonna be good year to be a Blue Devils fan. Team USA just got Jason Tatum in town this is post Celtics NBA title what did he have to say about getting back on the court? He said it seems really fast and I imagine still he's like you know we just won 20 days ago you know it's been basically three weeks and we you know they they partied in Miami for a little bit then they had the parade and they've done all this and I he and Drew Holliday are just they haven't spent a lot of time trying to get their feet back under them and you know I haven't done a lot of offseason work so there's a little of them playing themselves into shape going on and that's understandable but he was out there today in a unit with a first unit that well we don't know what the first unit is going to look like but my guess this was Stephen Curry, LeBron, Tatum kind of in what would have been the KD role and Joel Embiid was in that group as well which I imagine that's what four-fifths of the starting lineup is going to look like and Curry was out there we'll see on Wednesday night but he was right in the middle of it and kind of stepped into the Kevin Durant role. We also heard Anthony Edwards say that he was the number one option what's the reaction to that Kurt?

He said it was this huge grin it was just vintage Anthony Edwards where he is all confidence and bordering on arrogance but kind of with his swing right like I know you know he later said somebody asked one of the questions we was asked a lot of players like with this roster who gets the last shot right like high game late who gets the ball and he's like well better go to Kevin Durant that's who I paid to see you know that's why I'm here I want to see I want to see my idol take that shot I think though what they need from him and he was another guy who got some interesting minutes with different groups over the last few days he brings a level of athleticism that you know got all these veterans out there but they're older and they're not athletic in the same way right anymore you know even Lebron Anthony Edwards is young and bouncy and flying around out there and they're going to need that from him and they're going to need the energy that he and Alibert bring to really have some of that youth and have some of that something that some of the veterans don't really bring anymore. Curt Heelan is with us from steamy Las Vegas where they're routinely hitting 120 on the gun it covers the NBA and now Team USA for nbcsports.com it's After Hours with Amy Lawrence the lack of practice and the lack of working together can be a detriment against teams from around the world so what other teams as we head to Paris are expected to give the Americans the best competition? Well they start off Wednesday night with the team that won the bronze medal at the World Cup a year ago in Canada. Canada's fact they got Shay Gildas-Alexander as the head of the snake but it's got Dylan Brooks and RJ Barrett and Kelly Olenek and you know Lou Dortch they're going to be a really good defensive team up and down the roster and they've got some shooting and scoring and again they play really well within the FIBA system so they're a team to watch.

Canada is another powerhouse team to watch in Team USA's first game in Paris against Nikola Jokic and Serbia is going to be obviously a threat and the other team to watch France the host they start a front line of Victor Wambayama and Rudy Gobert and that's where Joel Owen-Beed really matters like I said he is the flinchpin for Team USA because they need his side as good as Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo are, Kur's been playing them together on the second unit which is interesting it ultimately is going to come down to they need Joel Owen-Beed to beat Joel Owen-Beed to win this thing because they allow a lot more physicality in international ball and if he's not that guy in the paint USA got pushed around the World Cup they're trying not to have that happen this time around. All right Kurt before I let you go, best way to beat the heat in Vegas? Don't go outside oh no I mean there's there's there's plenty of ice drinks one could have around here and beautiful pools but when you get to 120 it doesn't matter anymore man just get inside until it's until I mean I think the low tonight's going to get down to 86 so you know it'd be really nice out right it might feel like you're in the Rocky Mountains up in high elevations when it's 86 good stuff with Kurt Heelan there's more we talked about Klay Thompson leaving the Warriors heading to Dallas also about Paul George and why that did not work out because he says that he actually intended to stay with the Clippers. Just to put it out there like I never wanted to leave LA right initially I was not trying to leave LA. LA is home this is where I wanted to finish at I wanted to work as hard as possible to win one in LA like that was the goal to be here and be committed to LA. He goes on with his own podcast it's podcast P that was willing to take less than a max deal to remain with the clips. So I'm like just give me what Kawhi got like right y'all view us the same like you know we came here together we want to finish this together I'll take what Kawhi got like no there's no problem I was cool with that like and we were still taking less we were taking less Kawhi took less I was like if why gonna take less I'm not gonna say I want more than why like I'm a I'm not gonna like it's not about me being paid more to him like I'm gonna take what he got y'all give him that give me that they didn't want to do that. And so instead he ends up getting to Philadelphia and of course the Clippers they found out first that he wouldn't be resigning it sounds reasonable to me three years one hundred fifty million dollars not that that's anything to sneeze at but that's not a max deal for either he or Kawhi so good for him for believing that there was something more out there and now potentially being in that window to win a championship with Joel Embiid there's more on the Sixers in that conversation with Kurt all of our guests are podcasted separately along with each hour of the show so you can find that available on our show Twix right after the show or of course anywhere that you get your podcast it's after hours with Amy Lawrence the defensive player of the week sponsored by the Navy Federal Credit Union who proudly serves the Armed Forces DOD veterans and their families their members are the mission learn more at Navy federal.org the defensive player of the week is okay do we have to talk about soccer goaltender Amy Martinez of Argentina in the quarterfinals of oh do we have to talk about Copa America in the quarters of Copa America the keeper made a pair of crucial saves during penalty kicks how about that to propel Argentina to a win over Ecuador Argentina against Canada coming up Tuesday night tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern Time to play in the oh there it is again the Copa America finals by the way if you haven't seen it every single day since Team USA lost to Uruguay the fire Greg Berhalter hashtag has been trending on social it's out there there are so many people who are not going to give up until they believe that they have gotten him eliminated so love some of your responses about the cockiest most arrogant athletes in sports including some in the NBA like Draymond Green there it is there's that music from John Tesh SNL skit yeah just when was the last time you need the basketball I'm a dribble dribble and something I don't get you know the song I didn't know it in words no but SNL did a skit where it's like they put words to it okay when was the last time the NBC or the NBA had the in had the NBA was on NBC interesting good for you John Tesh I bet that made him a lot of money some of your responses cocky arrogant yada yada yada in the light of Anthony Edwards lots of Terrell Owens ha ha lots of Chad Ochocinco lots of Bryce Harper the worst current baseball player which is funny Connor McGregor let's see Greg Norman Jose Canseco John McEnroe Brittany Greiner Muhammad Ali Dan Marino oh we forgot about Steve Smith we'll be back tonight to talk about it some more it's after hours with Amy Lawrence boom look around what do you see cars lots of them and guess what they're probably on auto trader whether you're into timeless classics or the latest trends did somebody say solar-powered eco-friendly vegan leather-wrapped aromatherapy scented disco ball equipped self-driving car if you see it on the road you can likely find it on auto trader big cars small cars blue cars new cars and used cars electric cars and one day maybe even flying cars with millions of options to choose from buying a car becomes a whole lot easier see it find it auto trader okay you can do this I know I know Carvana makes it so convenient to sell your car it's just hard to let go my car and I have been through so much together but look you already have a great offer from Carvana that was fast well I know my lessons played in Vin my heart and those questions were easy you're almost there now to just accept the offer and schedule a pickup or drop-off how'd you do it how are you so strong in letting go of your car well I already made up my mind and Carvana is so easy oh yeah true and sold go to Carvana.com to sell your car the convenient way here's why April chose to vaccinate her child I think actually meeting someone who was not vaccinated and now has a lifelong struggle with a childhood disease really cemented for me that it's super important that we as parents continue to vaccinate our children talk to your pediatrician or visit Y vaccines.com brought to you by Merck.