Charlotte Hornets, US Open, and US Men's soccer

The stuff that took my my attention last night is not our first story, but I will just tell you right now.

It will involve the men's national team in soccer. Had a feeling. Yeah, I was kind of disappointed. But but sorry, let's get to a number of things. First, Michael Jordan selling the Hornets. After being the majority owner of the franchise for 13 seasons. So Jordan, obviously, one of the game's premier ever scorers players. And there are many of you who say he is the greatest player of all time.

I am not here to dispute that. But I am here to tell you that in 13 years, he looks like he is going to make more than a 1000% return. On his investment, he bought a majority stake of the franchise when they were still the Bobcats 13 years ago for 275 million. And if the story I read is correct, he is going to sell for 3 billion.

Wow, with a B talk about scoring. Way to go, MJ. There's so much talk about ownership and who owns what? Gabe Plotkin, who has been a minority owner of the of the I wrote Panthers in the dock here of the Hornets and meeting like he was the minority governor.

So if Jordan couldn't wrap at the meetings, then Plotkin would go. He is the man behind Melvin Capital. And if you are familiar with the Robin Hood GameStop shenanigans. I mean, I read the story and I mean, I'm probably wrong because I don't really get finance all that well. But when I read the story, I'm like, boy, it sort of sounds like Bernie Madoff to me. And I could be wrong.

I 100% could be wrong. I am not saying that it was a Ponzi scheme at all. I'm not suggesting that.

But it comes across. It just seemed awfully, awfully shady. Anyway, Rick Schnall, who's a private equity fund co manager from New York City. Jay Cole is part of the ownership group. Eric Church is part of the ownership group. So look, I don't think there's really much difference in this ownership group. And you're going to find in most groups that come out of finance and whatnot.

I mean, or big business. The guy who owns the Cleveland Browns is a seems shady to me, but we complain about the sovereign wealth funds of foreign nations that own teams. People complain about the Saudis owning Newcastle. You know, Qatar owns PSG. A Qatari sheik, not the state, is actively trying to buy Manchester United. We complain about this.

Man, I keep saying it. Questionable ownership everywhere remains to be seen if this is questionable. I just I read the story and I'm like, hmm, that seems awfully untoward to me. But making maybe making billions is done that way. Having never made billions, we're doing it wrong. I don't see it. Yeah, I don't see it.

But guys, I didn't really mean to dump on this. I think this is ultimately good for the Hornets because Michael Jordan, for all his success as a player, was not a success as an owner. They had a hard time maintaining coaches. They had a hard time maintaining a direction.

Maybe they'll finally get some traction. I don't know. I will say this. It is hard, harder than you think to be a good franchise owner. Way harder than you think. It it takes obviously a lot of money, but also a lot of self-control. Because when you have this, this is common in any other any industry. But these guys all made their billions doing something else. And then because sports is fun and we like to watch, we do, we just think I could do that. I could be a GM. I could make personnel decisions.

Jerry Jones. It ain't that it's not that easy. It's hard.

Otherwise, we just get the richest guys in the world and they would come in and like, all right, let's go. Yeah, I got a suit and tie. Let's do this.

How is that working for the Mets? Yes, I did bring it all the way. All right, moving on. Bye, Michael. In a serious note, Michael Jordan was the only black owner of a major US professional franchise. One of the one of the big four sports, the only one.

It was cool. He was that here, but yeah, just didn't work out too well for him. Like, hopefully, I mean, LeBron's going to buy a team, right? We're going to see if I were looking and he wants to own the NBA franchise when he goes to Vegas. Can I just get LeBron to buy the Oakland Athletics? Yeah, Major League Baseball.

I think a lot of people would get that. I haven't even put on my list of things to talk about how Rob Manfred is actively trying to kill his own sport. Yes, it bothers me that Rob Manfred is the commissioner of Major League Baseball. He just doesn't seem to get it.

Anyway, moving on, John Moran. He will be suspended. The league has announced that is a 25 game suspension for a second gun related offense.

Before we get to what the NBA said and my thoughts, if you are carrying the opinion that he didn't break the law, therefore, the punishment shouldn't be as harsh. Sit it out. Sit this out. If that is your opinion. Well, no laws were broken. Nobody got hurt.

Sit this one out. Because this is not about whether or not a law was broken or anybody got hurt. This is about correcting the behavior that is potentially life altering. Repetitive behavior. Well, we have to correct. And this is where I believe the NBA ultimately has missed, but I think there is some mitigating circumstances that I haven't necessarily heard. Let me just read what the NBA said in part in their statement. John Moran's decision to once again wield a firearm on social media is alarming and disconcerting given his similar conduct in March for which he was already suspended eight games. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the potential for other young people to emulate Jaws conduct is particularly concerning.

Under these circumstances, we believe a suspension of 25 games is appropriate and makes clear that engaging in reckless and irresponsible behavior with guns will not be tolerated. Well, I'm not sure I completely agree with all of that. First, highlighting his position as a role model, that's good. I'd throw that at the end. Yeah. Because I think it's significant, but I would put that as a kicker in the story. How about this? John Moran is in danger of getting John Moran killed or people around him killed.

That's where I would have gone if I were Commissioner Adam Silver. And I said this weeks ago when we started talking about this, and it's not a constant topic of conversation, but I legitimately fear for his safety and the safety of those around him. That doesn't mean he's going to pull the trigger, but we see it all the time. Accidents happen. Accidents happen. And how about when Jaws, and there are other incidents we haven't even gotten to here, right? But when Jaws wields a gun in a public spot where there might be other guns, somebody's coming to test you, Jaws. Yeah. They know who you are.

They want to see what you're about. And I think the NBA 25 games is probably the most they could have done without getting severe pushback from the NBA Players Association. And I think that's ultimately the governor on why this is just 25 games. Also, the money that Jaws is losing here, a little bit more than $10 million, which is a prorated salary for 25 games. That is a significant amount of money. It is.

Right? But he has already made in his career nearly $45 million on the court. Wow.

And while $10 million is a significant amount of money, what is his life worth? Yeah. Or someone else's. Because that is the issue. So no law broken. Nobody got hurt. Think about the money. Yeah, I'm thinking about the life.

His, somebody else's around him. And if you don't think the NBA can do what they did, they don't need a law to be broken for it to be conduct detrimental to the league. And that's what this was. Conduct detrimental to the league. So when the news broke, Adrian Wojnarzki from ESPN was on first take.

Here's what he had to say. What is the latest regarding John Moran? 25 games suspension to start next season for John Moran. I'm also told there will be conditions to his return. I think those will be clarified here soon by the league office. But I think the Grizzlies, those around the NBA were bracing for the possibility.

It could have been even more. But 25 games is significant, certainly to start the season, at least for Memphis now. They know they can start their offseason planning with the understanding of how long they'll be without John Moran.

But there's a lot of work for this organization, for John Moran, together to do to get back on course, regain the trust. I think not just for that organization, that community, but for one of the leagues, the faces of this league to regain that trust. When I ask you, Woj, before we go to everybody else, when you, this 25 games, I'm not surprised by it.

I don't think you're surprised by it. Based on the people that you've talked to around the league, in the league office and of course with the Memphis Grizzlies and beyond. Why specifically do you believe this was 25 games? Was it because of just the gun? Was it because you told Adam Silver one thing, did another? What do you believe, based on what you're being told, is the specific reason the penalty was this stiff? Well, remember eight games last season, late in the year, and now 25 games.

Here's one, and this is new, one jumping off point that has impact. If you miss 18 games now, there's a 65 game minimum that players have to play to make all NBA, to be MVP, to win Defensive Player of the Year. Well, he's out of consideration now, John Moran is, for any of those postseason awards. So that will kick in with this new collective bargaining agreement.

That came from first take today, I'm not sure. I think Adam Silver's heart's in the right place, I think the union would have balked if the suspension were more harsh. And the union might have balked already, because over the last couple of days I had heard that the suspension might be a full year, which I never bought.

But half a year I thought would have been harsh, yet reasonable. You don't want to completely detonate Memphis' chances of being successful on the court. I mean that shouldn't be the goal of the league. 25 games, I mean even if, they're not going to lose all 25 obviously because it's a good team.

Because they have played a fair amount of games without John Moran already due to injury. And the eight game suspension at the end of the season. So 25 game suspension still gives Memphis plenty of time to be a playoff team. And I would say that even a half year suspension would have done the same thing. Would have allowed them to be good enough to be a playoff team. But ultimately, your punishment should not, to me the goal isn't punishing, the goal is stopping the behavior.

How do we stop it? And the, I mean I don't have all the answers to that. And nobody does, you're hoping. And that's what the league is doing right now. They're hoping that 25 games and ultimately $10 million in salary is enough. But I don't think it has anything to do with all NBA. I mean, I think we should all be concerned whether or not John Moran is just this dumb.

Right. That he would sit in front of the commissioner and tell him I'm not this guy. And tell the world when he did the interview with Jalen Rose, this is not who I am. I'm going to show people who I am.

And then you went out and you showed people who you were. A month later. Right.

It might have been, I think it was even less than a month. But the whole thing is just, I mean, it's bad, it's terrible. All right, let me move on. Now, finally, to the thing that kept me up later. Men's national team routed Mexico 3-0 last night. Semifinals of the nation's league in Las Vegas. Just as an aside, if we're going to play soccer matches in places that don't normally hold soccer matches. Can we at least find a place that is big enough to fit a soccer field? I mean, that would be helpful. Can we do that?

What are we? I just don't even understand. You know what, we're just going to play half court today. Right. Because we don't have a full court. We only have one hoop available. So we're just going to play half court. Sure. Make it, take it.

What are we doing? I know Vegas is great, but if the field isn't big enough, don't bring it there. We have plenty of places that love the sport.

We don't have to be in Vegas, but whatever. Anyway, good result for the United States. They squeezed, no never mind, 3-0 win over Mexico, who in my opinion is bad. Flat out awful.

I trust it. Oh gosh, Mexico is bad. And the match got very ugly at the end. Christian Pulisic scored twice, Ricardo Pepe came on and scored twice, it was the debut of Folarin Balagun, who is really British, Nigerian British, but was born in the United States, spent two years here, and then moved to England with his parents, who are originally from Nigeria. But he is eligible for, thanks to being born in the US, he is eligible, he can also be president, I guess.

Oh yeah. He is eligible to play for the US, and that's the opportunity. He took advantage of that opportunity and is now, I guess, ours, to use that phrase, but he was okay, but honestly, it was the names that we have seen before, over and over again, who were the stars last night. Central defense was outstanding, Sergino Dest had electric moments, Weston McKinney was very good, and Christian Pulisic was amazing. Did he have an opportunity to score that he sailed over the bar?

Of course. It wouldn't be a Christian Pulisic match without that. But he also finished twice, and one of them was just a spectacular play finishing across from Tim Weah, so good for the US, winning 3-0. They will, of course, have to play against Canada, who has been the best team in CONCACAF now for the last couple years. They're not ranked higher than the US, but I think when they play, they're better than the US. They'll have to play without Dest and McKinney, who both received red cards, therefore takes them out of the next game. So, unfortunately, they'll have to try to win Nations League without those two players. But the story coming out of it was the reappointment, I guess that's how you phrase it, of Greg Berhalter, who was the manager when the United States qualified for the World Cup, got to Qatar, and got through the group, and then lost to the Netherlands in the round of 16.

And, to me, I guess I'm resigned to this being the best that the United States can do. And an argument can be made that, because I think two things can be true, Greg Berhalter should be celebrated for the job that he did to get the United States qualified, they didn't qualify the previous World Cup, right? Get them qualified, get them through the group, and ultimately, were they better than one of the top 16 soccer-playing nations on Earth?

No. But I thought the Netherlands was a winnable match, but the United States didn't play very well. They had chances early, and that was that, didn't convert, and then the Netherlands just kind of picked them apart. But I thought Berhalter should be celebrated for doing a great job, but then, at the end, maybe it's somebody else that needs to take them to the next place. Now, do I think that when the US, Mexico, and Canada host the World Cup, do I think that the United States is going to win it?

No, I don't. Ultimately, in these types of tournaments, players decide, it's your players, they decide whether or not you win or you lose. But, if there is any impact of a manager, I don't know that they are getting the most that they could out of that spot with Greg Berhalter, unless we're going to see a different approach than we saw the last time. Qualifying is different than what you do when you get to the World Cup. Those two things are very different. It's sort of the difference between regular season and playoff hockey, or regular season and playoff. Well, basketball is probably not the same.

But the game changes a little bit when you get to the World Cup. And I just wonder if there were enough really good candidates that US soccer had options that were better than Greg Berhalter. My read on this is, I guess Greg was the best they could do.

And I'll just use this example or comparison. Ron Rivera was a very good football coach. A great human. I don't know Greg as a human, but I know a little bit about Ron as a human. Ron Rivera was a very good football coach. I don't think anybody looks at Ron Rivera as the coach to take any team to the next level. Unless you've got Cam Newton at the height of his powers. So that's my view of Greg Berhalter. He's fine, but is fine enough for the US men's national team.