It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. I'm coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia.
Thank you to everybody tuned in and locked in all over North America. I hope you've had a tremendous Monday. I'll be hanging out with you for the next three hours. This show, it gets started every weekday at 6 p.m. Eastern, 3 Pacific.
Where have you been? We've already talked about a lot. Just in the first hour of the show, we were joined by Wes Reynolds of the Longshots Podcast.
Covers all things golf for Vison. He came on through to have a chat with us about Rory McIlroy, who just won his first Masters, completing a career Grand Slam. We talked about the NBA.
What a volatile world it is. The Phoenix Suns have now gone through three head coaches in three seasons. Mike Budenholzer, who won a championship in 2021 with the Milwaukee Bucks, is now done as head coach of the Phoenix Suns, who are going absolutely nowhere. They're not in the postseason. They're not in the play-in.
And yet, the NBA playoffs are on the horizon, or so is the play-in. And in 20 minutes, we're going to be joined by Carlos Boozer. Yeah, multiple-time All-Star, Olympic gold medalist, mid-range game proper. This guy was knocking down the Jays in Utah. Of course, we're going to talk some NBA action. I want to talk about action at Duke.
What should we expect from Cooper Flagg? And then Carlos Boozer, he has two twin sons. These guys are some of the best players in the country.
Guess where they're going to go play? Duke will have that chat with Carlos Boozer in about 20 minutes. If you want to be a part of the show, you can do that too. 888-710-4ISN. That's 888-710-4ISN.
You can find me online at JR Sport Brief. Thank you for listening on the free Audacy app, A-U-D-A-C-Y. Thank you to people listening on their local Infinity Sports Network affiliates. If you got Sirius XM, it's Channel 375.
If you got yourself a smart speaker, ask the speaker to play the Infinity Sports Network. So we talked some basketball. We'll talk some more basketball with Carlos Boozer shortly. Hey, we went ahead and we talked some golf. We're going to get into some more golf.
You know what? We'll also talk about some other professional athletes who are hoping to get over the hump. We'll do that.
There's a lot of other guys in other sports who are just waiting and itching on a championship. We'll get into that. And you know what? Let's do this right now. Let's talk about a guy in the WNBA draft this tonight. Hickey, you waiting on that big time, huh?
I am actually have it up here in the studio ready to go. And Paige Becker's number one. Who goes number two? There's a woman from France. Did you see her? I can't remember her name, but there's a woman from France who's playing Team USA in Paris last year. She was out there busting ass. I can't remember her name, but she was she's tall as hell and she was out there getting it, man. I can't remember her name. You know what I'm talking about? I do not have to plead ignorance on this one. I apologize. It's OK. I'll find her.
What is her name? I don't know. We'll find out.
Here's the bad part. I've learned about the WNBA draft and I know they've expanded by adding an additional franchise. We'll have Golden State. We'll have a team next year. I think Toronto will go ahead and have a team. A lot of the women who get drafted.
Hickey, they don't even stick like they get drafted today. They may not even make the roster because there's so few spots. That's pretty cray and there's what, two rounds of the draft? Does it matter?
I don't know. That's pretty cray, like, but that's just to highlight, like, OK, if it's like we see in the football, right, a seventh round pick gets cut in training camp. OK, makes sense. Even as a 53 man roster, not everyone could stay. Roster cuts happen all the time. But it's like in basketball when there's only two or three rounds, you figure, OK, you only take it two or three people at least make it.
And it just underscores how tough of a league it is. So there are three rounds of this draft, the WNBA. The first round only goes up to the first 12 picks because it's, what, 12, 13 teams.
And then you have the second round. So tonight there will only be 28 women selected. And you think about the rosters, the woman's name is Dominique Malanga. And so she's the first French woman to dunk a basketball in a professional game. She was a silver medalist in last year's Olympics. And then once we get outside of Paige Becker's, she's she's expected to go number two. She is six foot six out of France.
She's 19 years old. Damn. Wow. She's dunking on me and you. Oh, no doubt about it. Maybe if we get on each other's shoulders, we can do stuff right there. You do like little rascals. That's it.
Put the trench coat on and maybe have a chance to stop her. Possibly. Yeah. So amongst all the things that are going on in the world of sports, the WNBA draft is taking place tonight in Manhattan, on the west side of Manhattan, not too far away from where Hickey is at. So we'll see what happens. Of course, Paige Becker is going number one overall to the Dallas Wings.
Just a matter of time. Good for her winning a championship with the Yukon Huskies. And now she'll probably make more money outside of the WNBA than in. Coming out of college, good for her. And then there's a guy in college.
This really stinks. Nico Iemaliava. We talked about this young man at the end of last week because he decided not to show up for spring practice for Tennessee. This man helped take Tennessee as well as their defense did a lot of work. He helped take them to the college football playoff. Well, unfortunately, they didn't just lose to Ohio State or ultimately won the championship.
They got smashed 42 to 17. And so what happens when you, you know, exceed expectations? What happens when you go a little bit further than what people expected? You ask for more money. This is a little bit different when you think about a college athlete, because it wasn't until a few years ago that college athletes were even able to get paid. But welcome to the new NIL world.
Welcome to the new transfer portal world. Nico Iemaliava basically told Tennessee, hey, look, I'm making about $2.4 million this year. I know I signed a deal coming out of high school. Can we renegotiate my contract so I can make more money? Hey, how about that guy Carson Beck down in Miami? He's making about $3 million. I did better than him.
Can I get some more money? He didn't show up to work. Everybody's like, well, as Tennessee is their collective, I'm going to throw some more money at him for him to show up. And the answer is no, because by the time we got to Saturday morning, we got word from Tennessee, not Nico Iemaliava, who by the way, his dad pretty much said, all these rumors aren't true. These are not true.
This is all lies. Tennessee basically said, we are moving on. We are moving away from Nico. The university of Tennessee, their collective, they put their foot down and they squashed this right away. We are not going to be out here renegotiating with a student athlete who decided that all of a sudden he wants more money. Let's listen to their head coach, Josh Heiple, basically talk about why Tennessee said, we ain't paying you more money, go elsewhere then.
We're moving forward as a program without him. You know, I said it to the guys today. There's no one that's bigger than the power team. And that includes me. And they hear me say that a lot inside of that team room. This program has been around for a long time, with a lot of great coaches, a lot of great players that came before that laid the cornerstone pieces, the legacy, the tradition that is Tennessee football.
It's going to be around a long time. Oh man. And Nico, he went through a stretch, I want to say back in November where it was almost like late November, early December. It felt almost impossible for them to score the football. It's like they, he blanked out.
It's like the offense blanked out. And so he went looking for more money and they said, no. Now, if you're a Nico Iemaliava and there's reports that he may go back home to California where he's from, might go play for UCLA.
I mean, there's possibilities. He can't transfer from one SEC school to another. He can't do that. He's going to have to go find another conference to play in.
Hickey, you and I were talking about this. Like this, this could be damaging. And by all accounts, he does not have an agent. His dad is leading the charge when it comes to negotiations and NIL.
And it would make a lot of sense in some cases. Hey, of course your dad would be leading some of the business decisions, but this is going to be damaging. You even said, Hickey, there was a false report that he might've been looked upon by North Carolina. And me and you both said, why the hell would Bill Belichick want a guy who just tried to stick up another school? Yeah, that does not seem like Bill's kind of guy, right?
Me guy, not we guy. Overbearing dad kind of calling the shots and getting what he wants or walking away. That does not seem like the kind of distraction bill looks for.
Oh, you don't want that. And then if you've got to think about things from Nico Iamaliava's perspective, yeah, he might end up on UCLA and, you know, continue to push his career forward, but is he going to be in a better position and where he was already playing for Tennessee? I don't know. It's tough. And you got to answer these questions throughout the rest of your immediate career. What happened at Tennessee? Well, who decided to make that decision? Are you not making decisions?
Well, what do you want to do? Like, this is a dark spot. This is a blight on a young guy's career who's just up and coming. And apparently his dad is the one pulling all the strings. He has a brother, Madden Iamaliava, who's playing at Arkansas.
And who's to say that the same thing doesn't happen there? Hey, we named this dude the starter. He has a decent season. And the next thing you know, he comes knocking at the door. His dad comes knocking at the door going, hey, pay me more. Pay us more.
It was kind of crazy. The effect that one brother has may have an immediate effect on another. And Carson Beck and his salary and the money that he's getting out of Miami has apparently been a benchmark for Nico Iamaliava to say, hey, well, I need more money.
It's time to pay me. Well, down in Miami, their head coach, Mario Cristobal, he says, uh-uh, not here in Miami. Like, we're not doing no holdouts. We're not doing that here.
Listen to what he had to say. We're not going to do that in Miami. And I say that without any hesitation. If anyone's thinking that they could be the best player in the world if they want to play a holdout, they might as well play get out. We don't want to do that. We don't want Miami to become that. Too many guys have sweated, bled, have laid down the line on that field to ever become that kind of a program. Man, if you want to play holdout, you might as well get out. Well, that's all good, fine and well.
And Mario gave, he said the right thing. You could be the best possible player. We're not doing it.
Well, that may hold true for Miami for now. But one day there's going to be a better player than Nico Iamaliava. One day there's going to be a better player who decides to show up or not show up to work who's worth a damn and says, pay me more. And at that point in time, you want to tell me that there's not going, I don't even want to call him a sucker. You don't think that there's not one collective. You don't want to think that there's not one marketing arm connected to a college or university that would go ahead and pay to keep this guy there.
Yeah, I think this really is a matter of being a stand up guy. Apparently, Nico Iamaliava by not showing up to spring practice when by the way, he was at he was at the team dinner on Thursday. Did I read that correctly? You did.
And his teammates had zero idea this was going to happen until literally the next day. This is like like the span of two days here today and gone tomorrow. One day, Hickey, there's going to be an organization. Look at that. I got to say Oregon can't even say school anymore. Is that right?
I guess now, right? It basically is pro sports. Yeah, there's going to be a school. There's going to be a collective that will decide to play ball. Like if Nico Iamaliava was a better player, a more consistent player, you don't think that they would at least entertain paying him more? Oh, absolutely. They would.
I don't think this is about, you know, just, hey, we're staying on our principles. You signed this deal when I'm paying you more. If he played well, if Tennessee made it to the final four, they went to the national title game and he's one of the best quarterbacks in all of college football. He's getting that four million, maybe even more. Yeah, there'd be, there'd be, it's crazy how things can swing so much because for what you just said, if they had more success, there would be outward pressure.
Well, Carson Beck is making three and look at the success he has. He has, you got to go out there and pay him more money. But there's a lot of backlash against Iamaliava, against his dad, the family for this decision. It's just like, hey, you were here today. You committed to us.
You had a long-term commitment and now all of a sudden you just want to stick us up for money? Like if you take a look, wherever he lands up, let's just say for all intents and purposes, it's unlikely that he has to go up and play Tennessee. It's, it's unlikely that that's the case, especially moving away from the SEC. He's gonna, he's gonna get off easy in regards to, you know, receiving some of the vitriol.
I mean, we can talk about organizations and schools and universities, one benefit in the pros. And we saw this last week. Hey, you move on from one professional team at some point in time, you got to play against each other. Nico could end up in the West coast. He could be playing for a big 10 school and we could wake up and he could continue patting his resume. I just hope that this decision has not scarred him and marked him because his dad is chasing money. And so what happens if Nico Iemaliava doesn't make it to the NFL? I don't know, is his dad trying to squeeze every dime, dollar and cent out of these college programs now? This just seems like a, just a bad strategy.
I would have thought his best, his best case to make it to the pros is to stick it out at Tennessee. You know, continue building on what you've already done and try to improve yourself on tape so you can get drafted. Like you're already making money.
Go ahead and make some more. And now you got to go to a new program. You have to learn a new system. What are you starting from, from ground zero again? I think he might've actually damaged his, his professional prospects. And we're going to find out sooner than later.
This NIL transfer portal stuff has opened up the floodgates for cash, for money. We're going to find out how it affects Nico Iemaliava into the future. He is playing, his dad is playing with fire. Play with fire is real simple.
You might get burned. It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. We're going to take a break. When we come back, we're going to talk with someone who played in the NBA. Oh, he played college at Duke. He played in the NBA.
And now you got sons getting ready to go play college ball at Duke. This man's name is Carlos Boozer. We're going to talk to Carlos Boozer about the NBA playoffs, the NBA plan. We'll talk about Cooper Flagg, who will be on his way from Duke to the NBA, as well as Carlos Boozer's twin sons.
Damn it. If they keep going away, they're going, they will also be playing. Also be playing in the NBA.
I guess life is good if your last name is Boozer. Carlos Boozer joining us on the other side, you're locked into the JR Sport Reshow coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief.
It's the JR Sport Reshow here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. The NBA season is over. It's now time for the playoffs. We're getting ready for the draft. We're going to get ready for the finals.
There's so much to look into. And right now we're being joined by someone who was a two-time NBA All-Star, someone who has himself an Olympic gold medal. It's Carlos Boozer. Carlos, how are you, man? I'm great, man. Thanks for having me on. Absolutely. Of course, we're going to talk a little bit about Duke, your wonderful sons who are on their way there as well.
And then, you know, there's a lot to get into. You work with DraftKings, but how are you ultimately, Carlos? Things good? Things are great, man. Just been enjoying the boys last few games of high school before they get to college.
Absolutely. It's a crazy time in the NBA. The regular season just ended. We already have a head coach who got the boot and booting holds are no longer the coach of the Suns.
At this point in time, are NBA coaches just figures to stand there on a bench? Well, I mean, ultimately they didn't have the year they wanted to have, so they probably wanted to move on to the new voice in that locker room. There's going to be a lot of changes in Phoenix. So seeing where they're going in that direction and what they do with that team but there's a couple guys that got let go. You saw what happened in Denver as well. The GM and the head coach Malone got let go. It's that time of the year where ownership and management are evaluating their team and seeing who they want to leave the group going in the future. Absolutely. We see that the Suns and unfortunately, whether it's injury or it's depth, how do you think they can get back on the right track?
It just depends. I mean, you put those three together. You know, you think KD, Book and and Bill were going to have something special in Phoenix.
It just didn't quite happen. And I think they all know that they've had a run at it. They've had their injuries. They've been healthy as well, and they've had a little bit of success while they were healthy, but not enough to sustain. So they're going to make some moves and depending on what they get back and how they reshape their team will determine their future.
Carlos Boozer is here with us on the JR sport re-show. We have some teams that are trying to make their way into the official playoffs and we're taking a look at the plan. There's some teams in the East that you kind of got to shrug your shoulders about a little bit. Teams like the Hawks and maybe the Magic, but when you look at the West, it's it's rather packed. We have the Golden State Warriors are there in the plan. What are your thoughts on these games that we'll see both tomorrow and Wednesday?
Anything peak in your interest? I mean, I'm honestly I'm surprised at Orlando. I'm not too surprised. If there are two main guys, Paolo and Franz, don't get hurt, there'll probably be a top four seed in the Eastern Conference. That's how good they were playing before those two guys went down. But I kind of expect the Magic to win that game against the Hawks.
I just think they have more from top to bottom. With the Warriors, it was one game. Came down to that game on Sunday. They just let it get away from them a little bit at the end of there. So they got to plan the plan. They've been in the plan a couple times, but honestly, the way that the way the NBA is now giving teams a second chance to make the playoffs, it's kind of exciting to see Jimmy Butler and Draymond and Draymond and obviously Steph in that situation, hoping that they prevail because the Warriors in the playoffs is just good basketball because they played a certain style of play. But it'd be interesting to see how it all plays out. When you think about some of the teams that have actually made it into the formal postseason already in that top one through six, who are your favorites coming out of both the West and in the East?
I mean, I think Oklahoma City checks off all the boxes. Like at this point in time, we're like nitpicking to figure out how they can lose. But they've dropped the test of the season. They have a group of guys that can defend. They can guard their yard. They can help side defend. They can knock down shots. They can score. They have a closer and Shea.
He's proven that time and time again this season. They check off all the boxes that come out the Western Conference, but it's not going to be, it's not going to be easy. There's some good teams. I mean, nobody's talking about Houston and what EMA UW has done with that team.
He should be considered for coach of the year with what he's done with that program over there. The Lakers are always going to be, anytime LeBron's on a team, they're going to be a time, a team that can probably be a contender. I think it's going to be a little tough for them to get back there, but the Clippers are looking good. There's teams in the Western Conference that makes it difficult to just pick one team to come out of there because all those guys, if they're hot and they're rolling and they're healthy, they could roll. In the East, I still think it's Boston's show. I mean, obviously Cleveland has had an incredible season, one of the best seasons they've had in recent years, and they have probably the best chance of beating Boston, but if Boston's healthy, especially with the big fella Porzingis, they just seem like a cheat code. He's a seven foot three cheat code.
That's, yeah. Don't want to see him out on that court. Carlos Booz is here with us on the JR sport re-show. We have some young teams that have made some noise. Nobody's going to go ahead and pick them to win a championship, but this could be the early stages for a team like the Detroit Pistons. What are your thoughts on what we've seen from Cunningham as he gets ready to take on the Knicks? He's a star, man. He's just, he's progressively gotten better since his rookie year and really taken over that franchise in a great way. Guy puts up a triple-double almost every night, barely gets talked about. It's kind of like what happened with Paolo and Orlando a year ago in the second year, got that team to the playoffs and nobody usually talking about his all-star year.
That's what caves on in Detroit. No man really believes in Detroit and the Pistons to be able to make some noise, but healthy and with him leading the helm, they're dangerous. They're a team that could that could shake some stuff up. The Knicks are obviously phenomenal defensively. Cats claim maybe it's best season of his NBA career.
Brunson obviously is a guy that had an incredible run in the playoffs in recent years. So you got to, you got to take your hat off for the Knicks and what tips done over there, but Detroit can make some noise. I want to ask you about the Clippers, Carlos. I mean, they've been on a run here. It doesn't seem like they get a lot of attention. James Harden, Kawhi's actually playing ball.
I can't believe they're going on a run and it's been kind of quiet. Yeah, shout out to Tyloo, but with all the ups and downs with guys in out the line, it's been a hell of a job of keeping that that ship steady over there. James Harden is a guy who's been a star in this league, one of the best players and he's still an incredible threat this year. Kawhi is their x-factor. If Kawhi's playing Kawhi basketball, who couldn't they beat, right? Defensively, offensively, the kid Powell almost made the all-star team. I think the Zubac is having one of his best years of his career as well.
So they have the pieces after if they're healthy and they're playing well that they could disrupt the Western Conference. Carlos Boozer is here with us on the JR Sport Brief Show. Talk to us about your work with DraftKings. Yeah man, excited. Listen, this is the most exciting time of the year. NBA playoffs. I want you guys to come over to the DraftKings app and do your thing.
Get in there. Obviously, bet responsibly. Always do that. You know, we don't want you guys to lose the house on it, but bet responsibly.
Go to DraftKings. There's a ton of stuff in there where you guys can make some bread. Absolutely.
That's a good look. Man, we just had a lot of people making a lot of bread coming out of the NCAA tournament. I know it didn't go the Duke Blue Devils way. We saw what happened. What are your thoughts on the season that we saw and of course what we saw from Cooper Flagg?
Yeah, it was a great year. I mean, I think Duke was outstanding. They had a couple of stumbles early, but they ran up, ran the table with it down the stretch and then ran into a Houston team who wouldn't quit. That last 30 seconds, you could be up six, up six, but 30 seconds to go. You miss a block out. You can make them miss a shot, but you miss the offensive rebound. You have a timely turnover.
You miss a free throw, like get an over the bat call. And now you're, instead of you playing on a Monday night for a championship, you're going home and you're watching it. But to Houston's crap, they didn't give up, man. That Samson team didn't give up. And then that Monday night, it happened to them. They were winning the game, the whole game down at the whole game and Florida wouldn't quit.
And they kept coming and kept coming. And their best player, Clayton, woke up late in that game and started making some plays down the stretch and they got the championship. So honestly it was an incredible season for everybody. I thought it was a great Final Four. Definitely one of my Blue Devils to win it, but take your hat off to the other team.
At the end of the day, those teams didn't quit and that's why Florida Gators won the championship. Carlos, you may have more intel than anybody, but Cooper Flagg hasn't officially said, hey, I'm jumping into the draft. But what do you think his player comp is? He does a little bit of everything out on the court. Yeah, I mean on the high side, Cooper's amazing.
He does a lot of stuff. You saw him this year just got better and better and better as the year went along. I mean, I think his jump shot got better.
His decision making got better. His play making, obviously you saw his athleticism dunking on people, getting the highlight almost every week. Such a versatile player. He's probably the most versatile player we've seen as a freshman maybe for a long time. Maybe Anthony Davis comes to mind as far as his contributions offensively and defensively. But in the NBA, on the high side, I mean, you look at that like a Scottie Pippen type of guy, right? That can score, can defend, can playmate, can guard one through four, maybe even one through five, depending on who the five is. Can initiate the offense, can be in the pick and roll. There's so much that Cooper can do. Remember, he just turned 18 a couple months ago.
The kids, he's still a teenager. Like, let's see what he looks like in three years after being in the NBA. So, I think he's a consensus number one overall pick.
I'd be very surprised if he turned that down. And we're all rooting for him to have great success in the NBA. There's no doubt about that.
Well, listen, man, the Boozer name is still rolling on the basketball court. We got Cameron, we got Kayden. Your twin sons have committed to Duke as well. How has that journey been? Because obviously as a dad, you want your sons to, you know, kind of forge their path and get into what they want to do. And they're following you and what you've done and doing it in their own way. What are your thoughts on how they've been able to grow? I'm just proud of them. They put so much work in. They love the game of basketball. They're two kids who are just obsessed with the grind and the journey. And they're reaping the benefits of their hard work, making the McDonald's game and then going to the Nike Hoop Summit and winning that game the other night. Just really, really proud of the boys. They're so excited to get on campus, man. They got some bright futures ahead of them. Kayden's a point guard who just loves the pass, but can also score.
Cammy's a power forward who can do a little bit of everything. So, they're looking forward to putting that boot up for uniform on. Man, you've gone through now generations of Duke.
It's a part of you. What doesn't the outside world, people love to hate on Duke. People who are in Duke love Duke. What's the deal, man?
What's Duke about? I mean, we're just different. I mean, we do things a certain way. We have a brotherhood. We have a standard, obviously, and we do a good job of staying close to one another. We have a huge, huge fraternity of guys who have come through the program who are doing great things in the NBA right now. But the great thing is they come back to campus and pay it forward to the new guys that are on campus.
So, it's just, it's a different thing. Some people love us. Some people hate us. It's like the Yankees or the Lakers or the Celtics or whatever other team that's had great success.
You're going to have fans and you're going to have people who don't really rock with you, and that's okay. But we're still going to do our thing and keep plugging away. Hey, I appreciate the time, Carlos. You got to fill us in one more time about your work with DraftKings, where we can keep up with you. Yeah, go to DraftKings, guys. It's one of the most exciting times of the year, and the NBA playoffs are starting off tomorrow with the playing games.
Go to DraftKings, bet responsibly, go get some money. Absolutely. Appreciate the time, Carlos. We look forward to seeing you. We see, are you done on the court no more, Carlos? Oh, I've been retired.
I'm so happy just being a fan of basketball, brother. Yeah. Okay.
All right. Well, that's Carlos Boozer joining us here on the JR Sport Brief Show. You're listening to the JR Sport Brief.
It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Thank you all so much, former NBA All-Star, Olympic gold medalist, Carlos Boozer for joining us in the last break. NBA playoffs will be a fun time. We got to get through these ridiculous playing games first. Some of them are ridiculous, like the Hawks. Hawks are just like a professional playing team at this point in time.
What are you doing going to the plane? So the Hawks are going to play the Orlando Magic. The Chicago Bulls are going to play the Miami Heat. On the Eastern Conference, I got to be honest, these playing games are just a complete waste of time. And then when we look in the West, the Sacramento Kings are going to take on the Mavericks.
That is certainly a waste of time. But then, because the West is so stacked, there is one team or two teams in particular that are actually going to make things interesting. And then we have some other playoff matchups that we'll be able to talk about later on in the week.
You know, these are actually good. Nuggets and the Clippers. The Clippers have been out here losing their minds. Clippers are on a six-game winning streak. They've won 18 out of their last 21 games. They've had the best offense and defense in the NBA for the better part of a month now. Yes, Kawhi Leonard is playing basketball. James Harden always plays. He hasn't quit on the Clippers yet.
And they are just absolutely lighting it up. So that's a series to watch. The Lakers and the Timberwolves and Knicks and the Pistons. You got the Pacers and the Bucks. And then we'll find out the other games for the number one seeds, the number one and two seeds. Who's going to play Oklahoma City? Who's going to play the Cavaliers? Who's going to play the Celtics? Who is going to play the Rockets? But because yesterday the Golden State Warriors went out and unfortunately lost to the Clippers 124 to 119, the Golden State Warriors finished as the seventh seed.
Now we got Jimmy Butler as a member of the Golden State Warriors now. He scored 30 points, had nine assists yesterday. I think Steph Curry turned the ball over eight times. Draymond Green missed a key layup at the end of the game. And so the Golden State Warriors, they finish as the seventh seed. They have to take on the Memphis Grizzlies and they may have to play another game if they don't win tomorrow just to get into the postseason where they would go on and play the Rockets. They win tomorrow. They play the Rockets. They don't. They have to go on and take on the Kings or the Dallas.
Hickey, does this not sound like a waste of time? Like why they got to make Steph Curry do all of this work? Yeah.
I mean, look, finish the job tomorrow. Wouldn't want to get in, but I would agree a lot of these playing games skip right by them. Yeah. Who wants to watch the Kings? Who's on the Mavericks? Is Anthony Davis, does he know he has to play basketball? Does he want to play basketball? Does he want to play at least two more games?
I don't know. Wouldn't it be funny if he woke up at some point and says, you know what guys, I don't want to be here. Trade me.
I mean, I wouldn't be surprised. I would also argue if you're the Mavericks, that's probably in your best interest. How long does he have to wait until he can request the trade? He has to wait until February. Does he do it in the summertime or does he say, screw this crap and catch the heat in Dallas through the beginning of the season and wait until the trade deadline?
You know what? I think if I was him, strike while the iron's hot. The fans are still upset about the whole Luca thing. I don't like, I don't, they'd be upset, but I don't think he would get as much ire as if he would otherwise, because his fan base is so upset at the team that I think it's like, oh yeah, of course AD wants out. Cause why would you want to play for this team? They're an absolute joke.
I almost like, I can't blame him. Do it earlier. I think you'll be scot-free. You got to ride the wave of negativity now. Right. Take advantage of it. Get to July and go, I don't want to be here.
Trade me. The fans are right. This organization sucks. I want out.
Yeah. He can't, he can't show up and play a couple of months sparingly and just be like in February, I want to leave. Then he's gonna, he's gonna catch the heat.
You got a good point. He has to go ahead and do it now. So yeah, I don't know who the hell in Dallas and Sacramento wants to see that, but their fans are going to have something to watch. Meanwhile, you got, you got Steph Curry, who the poor guy can't get a break. Dude is 37 years old. Draymond is 35. And you got Jimmy Butler who just came to the team.
He's 35 years old as well. He just got kneed in the leg by Kawhi Leonard. He says he's going to be ready to go, but please believe he might be hampered in some type of a way. And so the Golden State Warriors, I want to see what they do in the playoffs with Jimmy Butler.
I don't want to see him win the championship because I hate how he ended up in Golden State. But this is a team that might actually need rest because they're old. Now they got to play this young Memphis Grizzlies team and Ja Morant who's going to be running around throwing a fake grenades. Steph Curry spoke to the media and he says, look, everything that we want to do, winning the championship, it's all still a possibility.
It's right in front of us. You have to take the positives of where we were two months ago and know our season isn't over. So we'd have loved to have, you know, taken advantage of these last four games. And you look at that San Antonio game as one that was a tough, tough beat, but you know, you have to be able to wash it down the drain quick. Well, they got to play more basketball.
It stinks. Draymond Green, someone who every now and then misses a layup right in front of him, missed a big one yesterday. Draymond Green says, you know what? Yeah, it'd be nice to get four or five days off before the postseason, but we got to play some extra basketball starting tomorrow. Draymond's not worried about it. We'll be fine.
Playoffs, you'd be playing no back to backs or anything like that. So just got to get there. We'll be all right. We're not senior citizens. We're high level basketball players. If we had to play tomorrow, we'd be all right. You know, you train all year for this. So yeah, there's no disrespect to the senior citizens, by the way, we love our senior citizens. Just throw that out there.
But we ain't there yet. He's trying to, Draymond is trying to stay out of trouble. The last time he got in trouble, he said to Carl Anthony Towns, one of the reasons why he didn't play the Warriors is because he was ducking.
And meanwhile, he attended a funeral. And so I can expect, do we get a Draymond podcast tomorrow, tonight, tomorrow after the win? Like what is his schedule?
How does that look? Good question. I would probably say tomorrow after the win. And then I don't think he'll do every game, but he'll do, I bet you, let's say the series goes six with the Rockets. I bet you he'll do at least three. They're going to win tomorrow, right?
They're going to be at home, taking on Memphis. You know what I would do? And I don't know how great of a defensive strategy this is. I just let Jon Morant do whatever he wants. And everything after that, heck yeah, I would not care. You want to shoot, whatever. I'd have, I'd be like, Hey man, if you are going to advance, if you going to beat us, it's going to be you all by yourself. I let him, everybody else shut down.
I would agree with that. Number one, number two, maybe again, his head, if you're the, you know, the PA now to the guy in charge of the music, maybe play some gun inspired songs, maybe have John, you know, start to feel that and all of a sudden lose track of what's going on on the court. Start thinking about the guns again.
Wait a minute. You want them to play gunplay type music in San Francisco? I mean, you want to win or what? And like, what are they going to play? Like paper, paper plans, all I want to do is the gunshots going to take your money. Like you could play songs like that, that are inspired by 50 cent, 50 cent, many men. Right.
Okay. And maybe Joe will get distracted, start thinking about guns and all celebrations again, and worry about that or those antics. And maybe less about the game. I don't think he has to worry about the, uh, the motivation. He's already thinking about his next weapon celebration when he gets in trouble for the hand grenade.
He's just a, uh, the guy's just a mess. And so that's going to be one game. I think the golden state warriors will win tomorrow. They're automatically advanced to take on the Houston rockets.
I think that'll be a fun watch. And then somehow some way we'll probably see Memphis, you know, they should still advance by beating it. If they can't beat the Sacramento Kings or the Dallas Mavericks, they don't deserve nothing. And so I think we'll see the Grizzlies get in as the eighth seed, uh, and then get smoked by OKC. And then when it comes to the East, I got to just be honest is who cares?
Like who cares? The Cleveland Cavaliers are going to play the magic or the Hawks. They're going to scrub the floor with them. And then we take a look at the Boston Celtics, unless there's just everybody gets hurt on the Boston Celtics. They're going to take on, I don't know, the magic or the heat or the heart.
I don't, it's going to be bad either way. And so the good, decent teams here, they get a week off. The bad teams, they get to play one extra bad day of basketball before they ultimately get the floor wipe with them. The NBA playoffs officially start on Saturday, April 19th. Think about the playing games tomorrow. Atlanta is down in Orlando.
We have Memphis out at Golden State and then we get to Wednesday, Miami at Chicago and in Dallas at Sacramento. That is one of the most miserable sounding things that I can even think of. It's bad. I know Hickey won't be tuning in and I'll be watching just because Hickey will be sitting right here.
What else am I supposed to do? Thinking about this, doesn't it give first four energy? Well, what are we going to have? The Lipscomb and North Alabama State A&M?
St. Mary's or something? I don't know. I mean, this is the point of it, right? This whole idea was to keep teams from going out there and just tanking.
Like that was the point. And I would say overall, the seating structure for the regular season has worked. Now the byproduct is we get three or four games during this week that really, who cares? And the Warriors, I think, add some spice in it. But like the East especially, you talk about a snooze fest, who cares?
Who cares? The NBA is at a point where none of these teams for the most part in the play-in can get hot this year and make a real run. Outside of Golden State? They don't have enough depth. I don't think they're winning a championship, but they're going to be an interesting case because they got Steph Curry and another dynamic player in Butler. And their matchup with the first round of the Rockets if they do win tomorrow will be interesting. It will because you got a veteran team, you have a young team. I think the Rockets have more depth, but then you can't count out Golden State.
So they're an interesting case study. But outside of Memphis and Golden State, Dallas and Sacramento, I can't stop looking at that and just going, what? Their fans know they stink. The teams know they stink. Yeah, that'll be a fun one to watch.
Not really, not at all. It's the JR Sportbree show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. I need you to thank O'Reilly Auto Parts for all of your car care needs.
Get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly Auto Parts. We are going to take a break. When we come back on the other side, well, Steve Kerr, at least he still has a job. At least he's still coaching in the league. We got a bunch of coaches. The NBA has a problem. We got championship coaches and coaches of the year who just getting a boot all over the place. We just spoke to Carlos Buza.
He's just like, this is the time for a reset. I think we've just moved into a different era. We want to talk about these coaches and how important are coaches nowadays in pro sports? We'll get into it on the other side. The JR Sportbree show, the Infinity Sports Network.
