Kevin Durant Is Finished Winning Championships (Hour 3)

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Download the app or visit carvana.com today. Yo yo, it is the Zach Gelb show on the infinity sports network. Big news, as we told you about a half hour ago, Kevin Durant, he strikes again. No, he's not requesting a trade, but Frank Vogel, fired, done so, out, finished, finito with the Phoenix Suns, one season coaching the team and he gets fired. Paul Hembo over at ESPN, Hembo does a good job.

He put out a tweet. Kenny Atkinson, Steve Nash, Jacques Vaughn, Monty Williams, Frank Vogel, some new guy, six coaches, six seasons, one common denominator. And that common denominator would be KD. I'm telling you, the legacy of Kevin Durant, it's fascinating because a lot of us would like to have the career in the NBA that would resemble Kevin Durant. He's an all time great, but there are different sectors in the fraternity of being an all time great player.

Great player. And for Durant, he's not a tier one all time great player, but he is a two time NBA champion, a two time finals MVP, a most valuable player award winner in 2014. He's been an all star 14 times. You know what Durant has done.

Durant has been one of the better players in the NBA for over a decade. But the insecurity of making a move that made you a villain and then no longer wanting to embrace that villain and then letting what people said get to you, then made him go on to a place where you have to win a championship without the Golden State Warriors. And I know there were injuries when he left Golden State. He goes to Brooklyn. They won one playoff series, won one playoff series, won. Guys that he wanted to be teammates with, guys that he brought in, Kyrie Irving and James Harden, they wanted to kill one another. And then he bailed and he goes to Phoenix, right?

They make these trades. Oh, we got to go get to compliment myself and Devin Booker. We got to go get Bradley Beal.

And then you have no bench. And this team once again underachieved like the Suns. I know it hasn't all been the last four years. They've had some really ugly losses like they were up to win the finals and OKD wasn't there.

They lost four straight to the box. Then the year after that, they get embarrassed up against the Dallas Mavericks in elimination game. And then last year, right up against Denver, they allowed like 80 something points or whatever it was in the first half. And then you turn into this year where it was like, OK, just get healthy, just get healthy, just get healthy.

And then they got healthy going into postseason and you get swept out of the first round by the Minnesota Timberwolves. So two years in now, year and a half in, let's just say in Phoenix, because I know all those were directly related to when Durant was there. This Durant situation has been an unmitigated disaster in Phoenix. And I'm at the point, Durant's not going to win a championship again.

Because like I'll ask you guys this. Do you think Durant is going to play for another team? Is Kevin Durant going to eventually bail? We've seen him play in OKC, right?

Seattle OKC. Then we've seen him play in Golden State, then the Nets and now the Suns. He's 35. Kevin Durant turns 36 in September. I don't know how much longer Kevin Durant's going to play.

I can't see him playing. Like, I'm going to say three or four more years, probably max. But is Kevin Durant's final destination the Phoenix Suns? Sam, what do you say?

No chance. Stu, do you think this is his final destination? I agree with Mike. I think he goes somewhere else at some point. Yeah, I'm with you guys because this is what this guy does.

Even when it's going well, the guy bails. And I don't think wherever he goes, it's going to be a place, especially when you get later and later in your career and how much money you're going to be required to get paid, that what we're seeing right now is going to be anything different. And quite frankly, it would be really lame if he does leave Phoenix.

I'm with you guys. I don't think he's going to stay the rest of his career in Phoenix. But it's really lame because you left Golden State. OK, let me just try to at least understand the Golden State thing. You got annoyed that everyone said your championships were basically Fugazi because you were with the Thunder. They blew that lead to the Warriors.

If you can't beat them, join them. They already had a super team. They already had a great team that won a championship.

OK, so they had an all time great regular season. You know, the Cavs come back 3-1. Then Draymond's basically begging Katie to go there. I give credit to LeBron when LeBron, who was so well liked in Cleveland, then became a villain going to Miami.

He embraced it. And ultimately, I don't think he would have left Miami if it wasn't for his relationship with Pat Riley deteriorating. But more importantly, it was Dwayne Wade slowed down a lot quicker than people thought. And unfortunately, you know, the health situation with Chris Bosh.

So what he went to didn't it was successful, right? Two championships, four years. But we all thought when LeBron did go to South Beach and he took his town to South Beach, it would have lasted a lot longer than that.

But health plays a role into it. So LeBron didn't think he won a championship again in Miami, which he was right about, and he went back to Cleveland. And that's the most important championship of his career, the Cleveland Cavaliers championship. You look at the other three championships for LeBron, I think the Lakers one is extremely important because no one thought it was going to happen. And I would say probably from historical standpoint, since KD beat LeBron a few times in the finals, I would say him beating KD with OKC is probably the third most important championship.

Maybe you could argue two, but probably three. And then the Spurs one is the fourth, even though we know the Spurs are our dynasty. But getting back to LeBron, LeBron embraced being the villain and LeBron didn't leave because he didn't like being the villain anymore. Kevin Durant left Golden State because he was viewed as the villain and it drove him crazy on social media that people were just saying your championships aren't really authentic. But if KD would have won four or five championships, right?

With Golden State and he continued to win the finals MVPs, which he did in his two championships, I understand there would still be a good fraction of the people and a good portion of the people that would never let the decision go. But eventually, even though Steph Curry is now viewed as the best, as a better player than Kevin Durant, he would still be a better player. People would have said, well, if KD kept on getting those finals MVPs, eventually it becomes your team.

Like LeBron, when he did go to Miami, that was Dwayne Wade's team. But we all knew LeBron was the best player. When KD elected to go to Golden State, we all knew Steph, it was his team, but KD was viewed as the better player. But historically, since Steph won before KD, during KD, and after KD, Steph's going to be viewed as a better player all time. For Durant, if he would have just kept on winning with Steph in Golden State, and he was the guy that kept on winning those finals MVPs, because remember, that was the thing with Steph. Steph never won the finals MVP until the last championship after KD. But if he would have just kept on doing that, Durant, and initially stuck with what he decided, eventually I would have even, and I didn't have an issue with it to start, so maybe I'm different, but I would have waved the white flag and be like, guys, he won four or five championships. Like clearly, he was the most essential piece of that if he would have stayed and kept on winning.

But he didn't do that. And Barkley said what Barkley said, he's more the bus rider than the bus driver, and that's going to stick with him. And it's rare, right, when you tell me someone's probably a top 15 player of all time, it's rare that the first thought out of your mouth isn't a positive kind of compliment, right? But with Durant, maybe I'm off base here, but I don't think so. I feel like with Kevin Durant, if he doesn't win another championship, which I don't believe he will, people are going to look at Kevin Durant and be like, yeah, he got the two championships, yeah, he got two finals MVPs.

But when he tried to go do it on his own, it was a mess in Brooklyn. It was a mess in Phoenix when they're now on another coach. And it's really going to make the Durant legacy a difficult legacy. And you know what his legacy is?

He's a yeah, but. And what I mean by that is everyone's going to say Durant is an all time great player. Durant's a top 15 player of all time. Yeah, but he left Golden State and he couldn't win being the driver of the bus. You know what kind of reminds me of a little bit? Rodgers, Aaron Rodgers, Aaron Rodgers, you are a top 10 quarterback of all time.

Yeah, but it is disappointing. He got a Super Bowl, won Super Bowl early in his career and never got back to another Super Bowl. So the Durant legacy to me is the yeah, but legacy. Sam Turstu, let me ask you guys this. Durant doesn't win another title. What are you going to think about when it comes to defining the legacy of Kevin Durant?

I'll start with Stu. Top 20 player of all time that probably could have been top 10 closer to top five. If like you said, it wasn't for the yeah, but I think he is going to have a flawed legacy and it's a shame because he's honestly probably one of the best players. If you just look at him as a player that we've watched in our lifetime, the people that are like around our age, which is similar to Rodgers, right? Like talent perspective, Rodgers is insane. And it's like funny, like Marino was insane. Never won a championship. We all look at Dan Marino's a top five quarterback or top seven quarterback of all time.

However, you want to kind of go through that. But when you win early in your career and you don't win again and you are that talented, like Rodgers and and Durant, it's like, OK, why didn't you win more? And I don't think that's unfair. Like no one's saying Durant sucks. No one's saying, oh, Durant isn't like you said top 20.

Fine. Like I said, top 15. But I you could make a case. But no one's going to say, oh, he's not a top 20 player of all time. I don't think people are going to say that.

But it's just one of those things where it's like, huh? Unfortunately, that decision, which he got killed for. And since he he kind of bowed down to the crowd and genuflect to the crowd that was killing him for making that decision, they end up costing him because he should have just like old. He should have just stayed there. And maybe I'm wrong here.

And maybe you guys think differently. And tell me if you do, if he would have stayed in Golden State and won four four championships, let's just say four championships and he would have won four finals MVPs. Don't you eventually just have to let go how annoyed you were that he left OKC to go to Golden State Warriors? You win four NBA championships and four finals MVPs. I don't care how you won them.

If you can't tip the cat to that guy, you're just an unfair and unreasonable human being. So, Santa, how do you how will you remember the legacy of Durant? Let's just say he doesn't win another championship. Charles Barkley is my spirit animal. It's just bus driver, bus rider.

That's really all it is like. That's going to be a label that sticks with Kevin Durant for the rest of his life, because that's exactly what he is. When he's going to win the championship, his life, because that's exactly what he is. When he was the guy, he won nothing. When he joined a super team, he was elite and great and won titles and MVPs and a big game winning shots and hit in LeBron's face.

And honestly, he kind of did a lot of that. You know, even with the Nets, if his foot was a half an inch smaller, he beats the Bucks that year. That actually probably is the most the moment in his career since leaving OKC that got him the most praise a series that he lost.

How well he played with hard and in and out line up on one leg and Kyrie missing, you know, getting hurt early in the series and missing the series. It's kind of wild because usually we don't reward losing. Durant got rewarded for losing.

And you know what the irony is, too. You said Barkley, Sam, just like how I kind of said it. Mark, they don't have a championship. And it's just so funny to me that Barkley, who doesn't have a championship and is considered still an all time great player. You could be an all time great player without a championship. But it's funny that since Barkley doesn't have a championship and how powerful his voice is on inside the NBA. And him saying that just the source to me is always like it's a great irony in it that this guy that someone else couldn't win a championship on their own. And then Barkley makes that that analogy and makes that comment.

And that's what's going to stick with Kevin Durant outside of those four years in Houston. Barkley was never a bus rider, right? Even though he didn't win a title when he was in Philly, when he was in Phoenix, he was the driver, right? He may not have won, but he was never a bus rider towards the end of his career when he tried to ring chase maybe a little bit. That's different. OK, right.

Ring chasing when you're 35 at the end of your career, about to retire. Different story. He was never a bus rider.

That's the difference, right? There's a difference between not winning a title and not being the leader of a team and not being the guy on a team. And Kevin Durant for too long has not been the guy on a team.

It is the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. And when he is the guy, Brooklyn and the Suns didn't get the job done. And here's a bigger takeaway, too. And this also goes back to Rogers. There's a lot of times in sports where I'm not saying you shouldn't give players power. I'm not saying players shouldn't be involved in some decision making. But when you hand over an organization to a player and basically make them the de facto GM, which what Durant was in Phoenix and what Durant was in Brooklyn, and still is in Phoenix, and what Rogers was trying to be in Green Bay at the end, and what he's been in New York so far. I'm OK with allowing my star players to voice their input. But when they're making almost every decision, just because you're a star player doesn't mean you're a good general manager. And the decisions that Durant and Rogers have made have not really worked out well for them. Remember when Rogers did that press conference at Green Bay where he was so disappointed about all the players that were let go by the Packers?

Who were those players that ended up continuing to be great once the Packers got rid of them? So I'm not saying don't get input from your stars, but you don't live and die by every word that they say. And that's something for Rogers and Durant where they got that power. And unfortunately for them, it's just one of those moments where they, it's not unfortunate for them.

And I know we got to get to Chris Childs. I'll take a break, but it's unfortunate for them. But it's just one of those scenarios where since they were so adamant on getting all this control and making it their way, that you can't just bow out to them. That you can't just bow out and tiptoe out of accountability when it doesn't go right.

And unfortunately, and for both those guys, it feels like they usually avoid taking the own personal accountability. It is the Zach Gelb Show. Chris Childs join us next.

All right. It is Zach Gelb Show on the Infinity Sports Network. Let's hear from Brad Holmes one more time. This is on Kosta and Jansen on the ticket in Detroit when getting asked about an extension for Jared Goff. First and foremost, you know, he's earned an extension and it's important. It's a high priority for us. And both sides are working really, really hard. These things just kind of take a while, especially with the quarterback market.

But I do have faith that it's going to get done. So Goff, Tua and Dak, all three of these guys right now. I guess they're getting games played with them with their GMs, where it's one of these scenarios where Jerry Jones playing the most games, where he's telling you he loves Dak Prescott. But the feeling is that they're not going to get a deal done this offseason, right? They reduced the salary by 5%, the cap hit, I should say by 5%. And then a lot of people thought it was advantageous to get a new deal and then you could restructure the salary and lower that $60 million cap hit before free agency started. Heck, we're already passed free agency, we're already passed the draft. So I don't think Dak is getting a new deal this offseason. And quite frankly, if I'm Dak, and I've said this before, I would leave. You can guarantee yourself free agency this year because you have no tag clause. So I would play out this season.

If you play well, they'll want to keep you. But if you don't want to put up with the drama again with the Dallas Cowboys, then you get out and then you leave. And I think that's the right decision by Dak Prescott. When you get to Tua and Jared Goff, the Dolphins with this regime, with Chris Greer and Mike McDaniel, they have doubled and tripled down in terms of what they've said about Tua. But they have not financially rewarded him yet. And if they wanted to, I don't think this is a good idea, but you could do it with him playing in his fifth year option year. You have the authority and the ability to franchise tag him for up to two years. I would not give the deal to Tua right now because I don't think we've seen enough sustained success from Tua.

I think we are in love with the idea of Tua compared to what the reality of Tua has been. And for Tua Tunga Vailoa, he was supposed to be the guy when he was at Alabama. The next big time prospect at the quarterback position.

Unfortunate injuries, ankle, hip. And he fell a little bit in the draft. Now, he was still the second quarterback off the board.

Burrow went one. Tua then was the second quarterback off the board at five and Justin Herbert was six. So when you say he fell, it wasn't like he fell like Will Leviston from being a top five pick people thought, which I didn't think, to then being outside of the first 32 picks and being a second round pick. It didn't fall like Aaron Rodgers who could have been the first overall pick. It ended up being Alex Smith and then Rodgers goes 20 something overall.

So there's different levels of falling. But Tua did fall from what we thought he was supposed to be. And in the NFL, all last year was about staying healthy, staying healthy, staying healthy. He stayed healthy. But just because you have one good year, that was good.

Statistically top five. But when you watch him, they beat up on a lot of bad teams. When he got into big games, he did not play well.

Against Kansas City twice, against Buffalo at the end of the season, Tua did not play well. So I'm not giving Tua Tonga Vailoa one of these $50 million a year contracts. $53, $54, $55 million at the going rate for what good quarterbacks get paid great quarterback money. I'm not giving him that deal right now. I want to see Tua play him back to back seasons of being a good quarterback.

And I'm fair. Tua, you go be good once again and you do this for back to back seasons, even though we haven't seen that greatness in a long time, then I understand what the market is. I understand what's going to happen. They're going to give him one of those deals. But to give him that deal now, I think he could be one of those scenarios that we've seen where in a few years from now, if you give him the deal this offseason, the Dolphins are like, oh, we regret that. And then you have one of these enormous record-breaking cap hits, which teams are now more inclined to eat.

And you eat them, but it's not something that tastes all that good. And then you get to Jared Goff. Jared Goff is one of the more disrespected good quarterbacks we've seen.

Now, let's be honest here. He was supposed to be great. He was a number one overall pick and he has not played consistently at a level that you expect with a number one overall pick. When I hear number one overall pick, I think Hall of Famer, without a doubt franchise quarterback, top five quarterback in the league. Jared Goff won't be Hall of Famer. Jared Goff isn't the face of a franchise. And Jared Goff isn't someone that is viewed as a top five great quarterback in the league. But you put Jared Goff in the right situation, you could win with Jared Goff. Rams had a good roster. Jared Goff with the Rams got to a Super Bowl. Unfortunately for Jared Goff, in the Super Bowl, your defense played well enough to win. You were held to three points. And once that happened, Sean McVeigh realized the moment and Sean McVeigh said, we could get to a Super Bowl with Jared Goff, but if we're going to put our team in the best position to win a Super Bowl, it's better if we go get someone else.

That was Matthew Safer. They won a Super Bowl. Now, Goff goes to Detroit as an afterthought.

Right? It was a throw in the deal because the Rams are getting Stafford. Goff goes to Detroit, basically attached with an extra first round pick.

So Detroit gets a two first round picks for Matthew Stafford. No one ever thought Goff was going to get an extension in Detroit. Goff was viewed as a placeholder for an eventual franchise quarterback. He just was. But Goff redefined his career and exceeded expectations.

Where now, think about where you are. Like if Jared Goff is the quarterback in Green Bay, probably not the standard, probably not accepted. Because in Green Bay, we've seen back to back quarterbacks, you know, love just is year one as a starter. But you saw excellence from Favre, Super Bowl, Hall of Fame. Excellence from Rodgers, Super Bowl, Hall of Fame. Jared Goff hasn't won a Super Bowl yet and won't be a Hall of Fame quarterback.

So if Jared Goff is in Green Bay, I think it's a more active conversation as to should the Packers give him an extension. But since he's in Detroit, and I know Detroit at Matthew Stafford. But there was never a time in Detroit where we looked at the Lions with Matthew Stafford and said, ah, that's a Super Bowl contender. You enter this season with the Lions as the Lions being a bona fide Super Bowl contender. And the NFC, the three legitimate Super Bowl contenders that you feel most confident in are with the 49ers, are with the 49ers, the Eagles and the Lions.

Those are the three top Super Bowl contenders in the NFC. It's not Manny Rodriguez's giants. I'll tell you that.

Manny's just catching strays today. That's what happens when you dress up in a suit to a radio station. That's just the reality of the situation. But I'm a normal person on the streets, but over here I get bullied. But I digress.

You're not getting bullied. Oh, stop it. We've all done that where we've worn suits to work and people go job interview or funeral. That's what it is when you're in radio. It's just the reality of the situation. And also, when did this become a thing?

That you're applying for a position. Is this Hickey's fault? Because Hickey wore that tuxedo when the, when the morning show had a producer opening. So is Hickey now like one of the locker room leaders? That's some of the, like Manny, you, you were, how many years have you been here? You've been there for a good time now. About two years now.

Two years, but considered right younger on the roster. So did like people now look up to Ryan Hickey? No. I think so.

I think he did. Because you're not wearing that suit. If Hickey doesn't wear a tuxedo the last time the job interview did go down. I didn't even know Hickey. Oh, that's such a lie.

You follow it. You, you knew Hickey wore a tuxedo for the Maggie and Perloff position. Morning show producer. Oh, you're lying. Pinocchio, I see your nose is going to hit the microphone for crying out loud in a second. Of course you did.

You knew that. Is this a Hickey issue, Stu? I, I don't know. I've worn a suit before for interviews here, so I don't think that's like a trend. Really? Yeah. Man. Did you show up in a polo when you interviewed? I didn't get interviewed. Oh, wow. I didn't get interviewed.

There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. I met at the Super Bowl with Eric Spitz. He goes, we have a weekend overnight opening. He goes, we think you'd be a good fit. Come do a few shows. We'll let you know if you get the job. I got a phone call about three weeks later saying, okay, you're going to be the weekend overnight host. That's, that's about it. But when I did have to interview for a radio job, though, my first job out of college, I wore a tuxedo.

I didn't get wore slacks, sorry, not slacks, like khaki pants and a polo. I just, I don't know, suits and a radio interview. In the real world, that seems like that's what happens. In the radio world, that doesn't seem how it goes down.

But anyway, I digress. Getting back to Jared Goff real quickly. When you are the quarterback of the Lions, you have Super Bowl expectations. I think you get the key to the city.

I do. And we talk about like what ifs all the time. Imagine they don't get the deal done with Jared Goff. And then, yes, they could franchise tag him.

I get him in that. But like, let's say he gets annoyed and he wants out of the organization. And then the Lions never restore what they're doing right now. What if they would have paid him? I don't think the Lions are in a position where they could afford to play the what if game.

So here's what I think should have happened. By the start of the season, I believe Jared Goff will get an extension. Two I think has a chance, but I think the Dolphins will ultimately wait and they can play out this year. Dak, there's no chance he gets an extension. This is going to be a standoff at the end of the season. And we're going to see if Dak Prescott, who I think the ball is in his court, wants to stay with the Dallas Cowboys because Jerry's made things uncomfortable before with Dak Prescott. And Dak has won in the past financially. So I don't think Jerry's annoyed with making it uncomfortable again.

I think he actually embraces it because it creates trauma and it creates talking points. But I believe it's more of a decision. Does Dak want the extension?

And that will be decided at the end of the season because he has the power to go to free agency. Alrighty, this is Zach Gelb's show on the Infinity Sports Network. We'll come on back.

Luka Doncic. Why the first half is more important than the second half for him coming up this evening. I'll tell you why on the other side. Update time.

Here he is. He took the coat off. Took the sports coat off. Now you get a little loose here. You know, I'm butting a little bit. It's hot, man. It's hot.

Suddenly it's not. Why did you break? You should have brought a change of clothes. I was running late this morning. Stop.

Leave me alone. What do you mean you were running late? I was right. Too much partying after the next one last night? I couldn't. I was too excited to fall.

You know the Kelly Kapoor meme? I'm too excited to sleep. I was up until about, I don't know, 1245 just scrolling next Twitter.

Okay. What time did you have to get into? Get in? I mean, I got in at 10 in the morning. And how long is the commute?

For me, it's about 40 minutes, 50 minutes. And when was your first on air shift today? It was at noon.

No? One o'clock. One o'clock.

Check that. One thirty. Oh, okay. What time was the interview then?

10 30 in the morning. Okay. So you still got 30 minutes to spare. But you were, you're running late. You said you're running late. Yeah.

I had to catch the train. Okay. Yeah. It's not a good sign when you're trying to become a producer that you're running late, but he was on to, he was early, but I was still early. I was late getting out of my house, but I still got here with half an hour. I do that.

I do that all the time when I have to show up when I have to show up to something he's you were paranoid. Yeah. That's worse.

We need a producer. Who's going to be, are you not paranoid? No. Oh, come on. You're not, you don't worry at all.

I mean, not about producing the show. No, I'm, I'm cool. Come collected. My experience has, has, has led me down a path where, you know, panic is not a warrior. Huh?

You're a warrior. Not about the show, but maybe about life. That's not a good sign then. No, I don't need to worry about the show because I got a lot of producer. Who's always worried about life. I'm okay at the producer worries.

I want my producer to worry. That means they care. That's not like a, that's not like a negative thing to you, Santa. That means that you care, but how long does it, you just had too much on your plate because like, I don't know, get an extra pair of clothes. Doesn't, it doesn't take that much time off your path.

Listen, my living situation right now isn't optimal. So I had to walk around like a church mouse at my house. Gotcha. So you were tiptoeing. A little bit. Okay.

And that slowed things down. You know, I'll cut you some slack. Give him the job.

Thank you. If it's up to me, hire him. It's not up to me. I have no say in this job.

Don't you? Zilean or Zach doesn't have any. They may, they may say, Hey, you know, who are some people you may recommend if you had a producer, no producer opening, but I don't think my, I don't think this is not my show.

That's not my, Zilean or Zach is a zero. I am not putting my nose into this situation. I'm just not, I'm not going to put my hands in this situation. I'm gonna let, let the powers that be determine this higher. And I wish the best to you. I wish the best to everyone applied. I'm going to be a politician Zach today.

Good guy. I want everyone to get the job. You know, Pat Boyle was sitting here.

If Carlos Ortiz was sitting here, if Chris Hess, whoever was sitting here. Yeah. I'd want you to get the job. I think, I think you're very good at what you do. I appreciate that. Thanks. I think you're very, I think you're hardworking. And I think you, you're very diverse in terms of you try to do a bunch of different things, you know, hosting updates and producing as well.

And, and there's some people, right. You give them a few on air shifts and they start feeling themselves. And they're like, Oh, I don't have to do the behind the scenes things.

That's not Mandy Rodriguez. No, I still do the behind the scenes things. Hey, do it a lot. All right. All right. Take a time out. Sure. No good endorsement right there for Mandy Rodriguez.

The bosses are listening. Just say so myself. Just forget the part where he's like, Oh, he's running late. Talk about Luca Doncic next. There's Mandy. It is Zach Gelb show on the infinity sports network. Bobby marks. He said, including the next coach in Phoenix, Kevin Durant since 2019, 2020 is five head coaches. Devin Booker since 2015 to 2016, seven head coaches, Bradley Beal since 2012 to 2013, five head coaches. It's a lot of change.

That's a lot of craziness. Pete, the bore, the coach of the stars. He had a pretty good line. Let me just pull it up here. It just triggered a thought when I was going through all those coaches, a buddy of mine sent this today. Uh, this is from Pierre LeBron who covers hockey for a long time. Hold on. For some reason, that's not gonna copy that. Boom. Let's just see. Let's paste it in here. I know this does not make for the greatest radio in the world, but it's a funny quote once we get it for you. Okay, here we go.

I asked the people to bore. This is Pierre LeBron about having 19 head coaching changes in the NHL since the end of last season, quote. It's insanity. We coach in an age where everyone talks about the modern athlete building relationships or to coach them.

How do you do that with that kind of turnover? It's like going on a date and getting married and divorced before the appetizer show up. I don't get it, but that's the world we live in. You think anyone's ever got divorced at their wedding before the appetizer show up? I'm sure there is like you cheated on me. I found out about that. Up. That's it.

I'm done. You ever see those like viral videos? They're like pranks where it's, I don't think they're actually like real video. I think it's designed as a prank where someone shows up to the wedding and they found out that they got cheated on and then they reveal it while reading their vows. I've seen those on like tick tock. I don't think those are actually genuine videos, but I'm sure it's happened somewhere before.

So I always get a kick out of those. It's a good line there by Pete the boar. Let's hear from Evan Turner. He was on the Point Forward podcast, which is on podcast with Andre Iguodala. He rips Paul George.

Listen up. PG would be really good with the Pacers. Pacers would be scary. I think their kryptonite would always be what it is. Either Halliburton would have to mature into like the go-to game ender or PG is just going to.

A Halliburton match-up might be cakewalked to certain people, G. You know what I mean? Like coming down the stretch. Like that's not in no disrespectful sense, but then I'm just saying because that's the only best option because PG has a history of not showing up, which is an understatement the other day.

I never met a human that will let a media rumor drive his like energy or personality. Like somebody was like, I heard you going to Philly. And he was like, you know what? I'm going to Philly, G. You know how soft that team going to be if him and them B go together? It'd probably be the most skilled duo ever since Kobe and Shaq and B to be hurt and PG going to be Paul though.

Wow. That's some damaging stuff from Evan Turner who had a disappointing NBA career. But that's kind of crazy. But I'm not saying he's wrong and Paul George can be sensitive, obviously at times, but that's a big part of it.

Like a lot of people want to be a star, but can you handle what comes with being a star? And that's a lot of the media conversation, a lot of the rumors as well. Here is, let me play you one more before I get to my Luca Doncic point. This is Ian Rappaport, NFL network, future of Brandon Iuch with the 49ers since this has been a topic. The Piersol pick really made everyone scratch their heads and go, maybe they really are trading Brandon Iuch.

It doesn't seem like that is in the cards, at least right now. My understanding on the situation is that the 49ers are moving forward with Brandon Iuch on their roster. Now, how much will he make next year?

That's really the big question. They have been in contract negotiations, trying to get him to a long-term deal, trying to get to a point where he will accept their offer. And the fact that the receiver market for the really, really good receivers has been more defined over the last month or so helps figure that Brandon Iuch will be somewhere in there, exactly where it remains to be seen. But again, my understanding is the focus is on bringing him back next season.

They view him as a key, key part of their offense. I think the longer this plays out, you keep and keep seeing more and more of the 49ers basically saying they prefer to keep Brandon Iuch over Deebo Samuel. And then I think it's more likely at this stage that Deebo is the one that gets traded than Iuch. Maybe both are on the roster this season, but next off season, you're going to have to make that decision to either pay Iuch and keep him or trade him. And then you get rid of Deebo Samuel.

You're going to have to make that decision. And for Brandon Iuch, it's, do you want to be, it's weird to say a good soldier here because you should get paid in the NFL. And I don't fault anyone for asking for money in the NFL because it's a lethal sport. But for Brandon Iuch, will you go through this season where you're on your, your fifth year? Well, you're on your, the fifth year of that deal because he was first round pick, right? I think there's a fifth year option.

Yeah. So this is a fifth year option. So you're in your fifth year option.

You get tagged after this. They go down that road if they want to. But can you maybe bump up that salary and put some incentives on it this year as you've seen in the past? So, we'll see what ends up happening, but I think they want to keep Iuch and they'd be more willing to part ways with Deebo a year from now.

Okay. Let me make the final point of the day. Tonight in the NBA, in game number one, you saw that sprain knee act up for Luka Doncic. Usually a lot of us, let's just be honest with the NBA, you could parachute him for the final five minutes and be told everything about the NBA. It seems like whenever these games are blowouts, they usually come down to the final five minutes unless the Phoenix Suns are involved in them. If they get blown out early, the Suns are usually toast or burnt. But with OKC in Dallas, I think the first 24 minutes are enormous tonight because you will see how much life Luka Doncic has in his legs. And if he has life in the first 24 minutes, okay, we have a series. But if he's hobbling around, if he looks slow, if he looks sluggish and he looks lethargic because of the knee sprain and you see that early, that's a bad, bad, bad, bad sign in game two of this series. Because in game one, it looked really, really, really bad. If this continues into game two, especially in the first half, then OKC is going to be looking their chops and they're going to be sitting there and they're going to be saying, OK, this series may be over a lot sooner than we thought because Luka Doncic isn't healthy. The appeal of the Mavericks is the one, two punch Luka and Kyrie. But you need Luka healthy. Luka is not healthy right now.

But how much can you sustain it and how much can you not only fight through the pain, but play through the pain and still play at an elite level? We did not see that in game one. You have to see it early tonight in game two. All right. That concludes the Zach Gelb show on a Thursday on the Infinity Sports Network. Big thanks to each and every one of you for hanging out with us.

Big thank you to my producer extraordinaire, Michael Santer and also Stuart Kovacs. And we will be back Minyana, everybody, at 3 p.m. Eastern, noon Pacific. Tonight, you got two games in the NBA, Cavs and Celtics. I think the Celtics will win this series at most in five games. And you have Mavericks of the Thunder, as we talked about. And as we turn our attention to the ice, my Rangers look to take a 3-0 series lead. You have a goaltending change in Carolina. And you have the Avalanche and the Stars, which was an awesome game one. Stars go up 3-0. The Avalanche score four unanswered goals to win 4-3 in overtime. We'll see what game two has in store.

Avalanche and Stars, Colorado with the 1-0 series lead. We'll talk Minyana on a Friday, everybody. Have a good night. We out. Bye-bye.

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