Where’s Brad Stevens’ Flowers? (Hour 3)

And away we go, hour number three of our radio program.

That's right, it is the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. So two more things off of last night in the NBA finals in game one. You want to give some credit to Brad Stevens. And I know some people will say, all right, how much credit does Brad Stevens need? Because he did leave Butler, right, eventually. We know what he did at Butler, getting him to two national championship games was remarkable. John Shire, that celebration that he had, and now John Shire is the coach at Duke. But right when Butler had that half court heave, that almost went in to win them a national championship game.

And then you see the elation of John Shire, he's jumping up and down right in front of Jim Nantz and Bill Raffrey when they were on the call for that. And we've seen coaches go from college to the NBA, and most of them failed. I wouldn't say Brad Stevens failed. Brad Stevens was a good coach in the NBA, but he reached his limit of what he was going to be able to do with this group. And there started to become through time a disconnect, and eventually he moves up to the front office and they hire Imeo Doka.

We know, or we think we know what happened with Imeo Doka. And the next thing you know, Joe Mazula is the next coach. But Brad Stevens, the executive, I thought when he went into that role, a lot of us believe that Brad Stevens would eventually go coach in the NBA somewhere else or go back to college to coach.

And that's not been the case. And I want to give Brad Stevens credit to this, because when you have a group that he knows very well, that has been so close but yet so far, it's very tough to break up that core. Like my hockey team, the Rangers, are going through this right now. You've had Artemi Panarin, Mika Zibanejad, and Chris Kreider together.

They've been close, but they've been still not able to hoist that Stanley Cup, which is the toughest trophy to win in sports. So there's a conversation and a dialogue now, do you trade one of those guys to bring someone else in and maybe have that move elevate them and propel them to win a Stanley Cup? The Celtics were in a similar situation. And there were a lot of people this past offseason that were furious when the Boston Celtics elected to trade Marcus Smart. But that deal ended up changing the Celtics and bringing them now three wins away from an NBA championship. Because in that deal where they traded Marcus Smart, and it was a three-way deal, the Wizards, the Grizzlies, and the Celtics. The Celtics back in that deal got Kristaps Porzingis.

And here's the part that's not talked about enough. They got two first round draft picks, a 2023, 25th overall pick from the Grizzlies. And then they got a 2024 first rounder. That 2024 first rounder was used in the Drew Holliday trade.

So think about it. They turned the Marcus Smart deal, that's how it was referred to, into getting Kristaps and then using one of those picks to go get Drew Holliday. That's a great move by Brad Stevens.

And I've not heard it talked about enough nationally. And that move is going to be a mega reason why the Celtics go on to win three more games and become NBA champions. Because last night tells me everything I need to know about the Mavs.

Yes, they have a great dynamic duo. They have a better dynamic duo than Tatum and Brown, with Luka and Kyrie. But they need those two guys, Luka and Kyrie, in four games, because they need four victories to win a championship. They need them both to go for over 30 points.

And I don't think you're getting both those guys to go over 30 points four times together. And last night you saw Luka step up late, right when they made that run in the third quarter, then Missoula called timeout, and then the Celtics have to gain back. But Kyrie Irving was terrible last night.

He was dreadful. Didn't make a three-point shot, was six and 19 from the field, before the series told us, hey, he's matured, he's learned how to, you know, consolidate his emotions. And then after the game, he's like, oh, I thought the Boston crowd could have been louder. And then you hear from Mike Gorman, the voice of the Celtics, that he was at the game.

And because it's now National TV broadcast, he just retired anyway. And he said in the eighth, ninth round, there was a fan in front of him in the fourth row, and Kyrie and that fan were going at it during the game for a three, four-minute stretch. So Kyrie tried to present this image that he's more mature, he's changed, and the Celtic fan still gets under his skin. And it was all baloney, what we heard for this past week, and everyone praising Kyrie. And I'll raise my hand, I'll admit, I praise Kyrie, too. I'll raise my hand, I'll praise Kyrie, too. I thought he changed.

I didn't think it was going to last long term. I didn't think, though, after game one of the finals, I'd be on my radio show nationally saying, man, I'm out on Kyrie. But Kyrie will go off like two times, three times maybe in this series, but he's not going to be holding that championship trophy. He's not going to be able to beat the Celtics team four times, and he's going up against better teams, right?

Right? We know what he did with LeBron, coming back down 3-1 against the Warriors in that iconic shot that he hit, and also his Game 6 performance that he had. But that Boston crowd and his history with Boston, where he was in the wrong four, gets under his skin.

And even if he's telling you every little thing's going to be all right, it's not. So those are my takeaways from last night. Porzingis was sensational. He won them game one. Jalen Brown did a great job when he needed to. They won that game where Tatum wasn't even great, and that's not a good recipe for the Mavs.

And now, you know what I love the most, actually, after last night? It was after the game. I saw a video of Jalen Brown in the locker room, and Jalen Brown's a leader of this team. Jalen Brown walking past his teammates and saying, guys, don't get comfortable.

That's just one. And we've seen Boston before in the playoffs. First round, second round, win the first game, drop the second game to Miami and Cleveland. Can they lose game two? Sure, they could lose game two.

Do I expect them to lose game two? No, because as much as Kyrie told you how much he matured, the Boston Celtics this year have matured. And getting Porzingis back last night was enormous.

Having the leadership of Drew Holiday is enormous. I know I've criticized Jalen Brown before in some of these playoff performances, but his leadership is invaluable. And Tatum, that shows you the sign of the Celtics greatness.

Tatum didn't even play a great game, and they were still able to blow out the team that's represented in the Western Conference in the NBA Finals. All right, let's get to a little onside offside. Carlos Ortiz. And we're going to keep on calling him CK. If you've been listening to the show this week, you know why. Let's get to a little onside offside.

Hit it. Zach's taking on the most polarizing issues in sports. Which side of the line of scrimmage will he end up on? Offside, defense number 69.

It's onsides offsides with Zach Gelb. All righty, Moist Mike, what do we got cooking today? All right, well, let's start with the new kickoff rule in the NFL.

Now, after the Chiefs said they might use Justin Reid. You have a late night last night? What's up? You have a late night last night? I had a something night last night. You went out of the town?

On the new town. Not yet. Not quite yet. You just lost your voice? Yeah, just a lot of screaming at the baby, I guess. What do you mean screaming at the baby?

Do I have to call Child Protective Services? Yes. Wait, wait, wait, what happened? No, it's just a rough night. Oh, so you were up late? It was just a lot of stuff going on. Yeah, lost my voice.

So. Screaming at the ba- I don't know, it sounds kind of morbid. How could you scream at your beautiful month and a year and a half old daughter?

How was that? Screaming with the baby. Oh, screaming with? Oh, so you were having fun? Yeah. Oh, okay. You made that seem like it was like a crazy ugly night in the Sampson household. It was a wild night, let's say.

Gotcha. Now, after the Chiefs said they would use Justin Reid to kick off to protect Harrison Buckner with the new kickoff rules, Ravens star Justin Tucker says he plans to bulk up a little bit. More recently, my lab has actually been the weight room. This might be really surprising to a lot of you guys and a lot of my teammates because I don't spend to hang out in the weight room too frequently. But after watching a lot of these XFL plays over the last couple of years, Kicker seems to be like involved in like 20, 25% of the tackles.

So I've mixed it up a couple of times, you know, I've gotten in there, you know, but now I got to, you know, get some more shrugs, get the traps going a little bit, you know, just to make sure I'm, you know, prepared for a little bit more contact. You remember when, um, Desmond Howard was screaming on the ESPN, big Phoenix energy? Uh, that's, I would be screaming. That's fake tough guy energy from Justin Tucker. That's what that kind of sounds like.

But continue your question, Santa. Now dolphins coach, Mike McDaniel said he expects teams will use stars and starters to return kicks. I think it opens up your roster. Maybe guys that traditionally have, have been starters on defense or starters on offense.

I think it gives you more flexibility to put starters on, on that unit for various reasons. It wouldn't shock me if shoot every number one receiver and every number one running back in the league is raising her hand to return kicks week four. Onside offside, it would be irresponsible for teams to let their number one wideout or running back return kicks. Justin Jefferson just got a deal that puts him, I think at $35 million a year, unless it's a moment of desperation, I'm not putting Justin Jefferson back for kickoffs. So yeah, it would be irresponsible to let your number one ride out or running back return kicks.

I'm going on side. Now, Anthony Edwards before their ugly loss to the meds. Now Edwards will join team USA for the summer Olympics in Paris. And Kevin Garnett has a warning for the T-Wolves. To Minnesota's ownership, make sure in the, in these Olympics that these Olympic coaches do not play Anthony Edwards.

You hear what I'm saying to you? Because it'd be a lot of those little games that people don't really talk about, bro. You get in the Olympics and we're supposed to be supposed to be this 12 man roster of superstars, but yeah, I'm playing the bulk of the minutes, 40 minutes.

I'm playing 36 minutes. Flip had to call and be like, Hey, look, I get it. But yeah, we got a season two and you know, like real star, nobody's talking about that.

You feel me? That perspective is a real one. Now onside offside, playing in the summer Olympics will have negative effects during the season on the players who participate. I don't think he's wrong cause it's extra wear and tear on the body, but here's what I'll say. The NBA regular season is such a joke to begin with. Anyway, if a player gets a lot more burn in the summer because of the Olympics, just give them a few games off.

It fits in with everybody else in the NBA. So playing in the summer Olympics will have a negative effect during the season on players who participate. I don't really care about the regular season anyway, so I'm going to say no offside. There are a lot of changes around college sports and one change in football has some fans upset. The NCAA approved for teams to have advertisements on the field, one at midfield and two smaller ads somewhere else, uh, closer to the end zones on the field. Now onside offside, you are okay with ads being on fields, courts, or the ice.

I'm going to go on sides. I really don't care. I'm kind of numb to it at this point. I know when the NBA team started to put ads in the Jersey, you had people like Peter Schwartz start freaking out.

He's like, how can you do that? Because of how special the Jersey is. I'm just used to it. Maybe it's a generational thing. It doesn't bug me.

Okay, nice and quick. Now after the Jake Paul, Mike Tyson bout was postponed due to Tyson's health scare the other day, the fight has been rescheduled for November. Now over in the UFC, we still don't have official answers about the status of McGregor and Chandler after that press conference was canceled. But there does appear to be some optimism that the fight will actually still happen onside offside. We will eventually see both of these fights happen, uh, offside the Chandler McGregor one.

Yeah, I guess like I know I said earlier in the week, I didn't think it was going to happen. I'll still believe it when I see it, but I think that has a better chance of happening. I don't want to see this Tyson, Jake Paul thing anymore. After seeing that video of Mike Tyson, that fight should not happen. So I'm going to hope that it doesn't happen. So we'll eventually see both these fights happen. I will go offside.

By the way, I have an onsite question for you, Santa. Should I be offended with our own company? Our own company puts out this weekly writeup of everything that goes on at all the stations that they own and obviously our network. And for infinity sports network, they said hot take alert.

Zach Galb is skeptical that Conor McGregor will fight at UFC three Oh three at the end of the month in Vegas and thinks this McGregor Chandler fight is starting to feel a lot like Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. Our own company saying it's a hot take alert. Should I be offended by that? I didn't think it was a hot take. No, I think they're just trying to make it sound interesting.

More interesting. I'm sure, I'm sure hot take alert is something that probably happens on every one of their, uh, you know, emails. It was bold though. They put hot taken bold.

No, it's not hot. Take isn't necessarily a negative connotation. It's just an interesting take that makes people think, all right, give me one more of these questions.

All right. Well, more fallout from the Chicago sky versus Kaitlin Clark drama yesterday, multiple members of the sky, including angel Reese took to social media to complain about a fan who quote unquote harassed Kennedy Carter at the team hotel for her chip hip check on Clark put harassment in a air quotes. Well, especially after we get more information now, apparently the harassment prompted team security to step in to quote unquote protect Carter and obviously players on the team were very unhappy. Well, video of the incident was released and it appears it was just a single guy repeatedly asking Carter reporter from a distance. If she quote had a chance to reach out to Kaitlin yet, though some players say there's more that happened than the video actually shows.

So we don't know what happened before or afterwards. Apparently he used some racial words or kind of went at them for, you know, women's sports as well, but we didn't see any of that on the video. And until we do, it's just their word against what we see now onsite offsite, all the negative press about Carter Reese and the sky, especially after this Kaitlin Clark incident is actually good for the WNBA.

Yeah. Cause we're talking about it, you know, but here's what I'll say. Assuming racial things or negative comments weren't made and just what happened on the video happened on the video where the reporter was just, or fan, I don't know what it was, was just asking questions. Like that's what happens to big time stars and you want to be a big time star.

You want the WNBA to be a big time thing. When an incident like that happens, someone's going to have a camera when you're walking off a bus to the hotel and they're going to say some things to you. You know, obviously if it's racial or if it's anything that's offensive, that shouldn't happen.

That's not okay. But just judging by the video, it didn't look like that's the case, but all the negative press about Carter and Reese and this guy's actually a good thing for the WNBA. Yeah, because we're talking about the WNBA where in other years we wouldn't be talking about it. So there you go.

That's on-site offside. It is Zach Gelb show on the infinity sports network. We'll come on back, talk more NBA finals.

All right. It is the infinity sports network and it is the Zach Gelb show. Let's go out to Boston. Celtics are up 1-0 in the NBA finals after taking care of the Dallas Mavericks last night, dominating that game. Gary Washburn has covered the Celtics and the NBA for a long time for the Boston Globe, but he's kind enough to join us right now. Gary, always good to hear your voice. Thanks so much for doing this. And how you been? Oh, very good. Thanks for having me.

Well, thanks so much for coming on. Chris, that's Porzingis. That to me was the story night of the story of the game last night. His start was just absolutely incredible, both defensively with the blocks and then what he was able to do in the offensive end.

We're all wondering if there was going to be rust. Hey, 21 minutes on the court. He gets 20 points and the Celtics get a win. Just how about the performance of Porzingis last night? Yeah, it was a real surprise because we had honestly no idea what condition he was in. I mean, he had a practice with the team during a light practice this week.

It costs five on five. It taken some three pointers, you know, was working out and doing basketball stuff. We had no idea whether he was going to be ready for an NBA finals game. So the fact that him coming out and scoring 11 points in seven minutes and getting into that big boost and being such a presence out there was shocking to everybody. And it's obviously a boost the Celtics needed to take advantage and take control of game one. And then also just continuing with the Celtics, I thought afterwards I saw some video of Jalen Brown in the locker room saying, guys, you know, we got to keep focus. You know, it's only one game for a team that we've seen before, even in this postseason, go up 1-0 and then drop game two. I thought that leadership of Jalen Brown was very big last night after the game, too. That's actually the thing I was most impressed with actually from the game was Jalen Brown after the game saying that.

Yeah, it's important they focus. They haven't done anything yet. They just won one game. Dallas can still steal home court advantage, you know, by winning game two. And remember, Dallas lost the opening game in the Clippers series, came back and won in the same in the situation Oklahoma City and won.

And then they punched Minnesota in the mouth and took a 3-0 lead. So this team is definitely apt to bounce back. So the Celtics are going to have to be prepared for all the adjustments, prepared for a much tougher game, much more intense game.

And they're going to need to make adjustments themselves. I would honestly say that the Celtics did not play their A game in game one. I would say, having seen them all year, they played about their B-minus game. They, you know, had a little too many turnovers. They went through kind of a three-point skid, an offensive skid in the third quarter.

You know, they weren't all that great. They played well. They played great defensively, but they can be better also, and they're going to have to be better. What kind of performance going off of that do you expect from Jason Tatum in game two? Well, he played more facilitator. He had six turnovers with five assists.

He had 11 rebounds, 16 points. You know, he missed some shots he probably should have made, but they were also doubling him, getting the ball out of his hands. They're not going to let him just go one-on-one and turn the corner and get to the rim or hit three. So I expect he'll be more aggressive, but I also think that he'll also play within the elements in the flow of the game and not do too much. He doesn't want to get into a tit-for-tat with Luca or, okay, I can score, you can score. He wants to make the right play, set up his teammates.

I think he understands he doesn't need to do anything, everything anymore. Not only they have Jalen Brown, but obviously Derek White, Chris F. Rodriguez, Drew Holliday, Al Horford. They got a deep club that can help score. So Jason doesn't need to be that Kobe-like guy. Talking to Gary Washburn right now does a great job covering the entire league and the Celtics for the Boston Globe. Let me get your thoughts on Joe Mazzulla. I thought the criticism last year of him was a little unfair for a guy first year on the job, especially with the circumstances that did happen in Boston.

Obviously, when you're three wins away from the NBA Finals and you take game one, everyone's going to be loving you. But what do you think is the biggest difference from last year to this year with Mazzulla that you've noticed covering the team day in and day out? Well, I think he's made a natural difference. He's made a natural growth and transition into being the permanent head coach, about the interim head coach, just being more comfortable in his own skin and his own philosophies and getting accustomed to the rigors of the NBA game, being a head coach. I also think he's got a good staff around him with guys like Charles Lee, who will be taking a Charlotte Hornets job when the season ends, and then veteran Sam Cassell, who's been around a long time, a three-time champion.

And I just think Joe's become more confident, more assertive in his philosophies, and the players believe in him too. He is only 35 years old, so he can't come at the players like most coach-player situations where it's a father-son situation where you're old enough to be their father. He's old enough to be their big brother. And with Al Horford, he's old enough to be his little brother. But he comes across as a brotherly type. He accepts, he definitely respects their opinions, has discussions, and so they view him that way as opposed to a general natural or traditional coach-player relationship, and I think that's done wonders for Joe is how he relates to his players.

Gary Washburn here with us. Bring it up, Al Horford. If he wins this championship and the Basketball Hall of Fame is not just what you do in the pros, where he's a five-time All-Star and then he would be an NBA champion, but you also factor in what he did in college, which is win two titles at Florida. Does this championship make Al Horford a Basketball Hall of Famer, in your opinion? Well, considering who has gotten in recently, if you look at a guy like Chris Weber, you're like a guy like Grant Hill, guys like Bobby Jones, guys who have had nice careers, strong careers, but you wouldn't maybe say with a Hall of Fame. I think Horford's definitely in that conversation because, as you said, they include college accomplishments, so a two-time national champion is going to be great for his resume than a five-time All-Star, a champion if they happen to win it this year, a guy who, in a lot of ways, he should be applauded because he's kind of set the standard for the post-heavy forwards. I mean, Al came into the league as a post player and he extended his career probably by five years by learning how to shoot the three, and now you see a lot of gigs over the years who have followed Horford in that path of saying, okay, I can no longer be the rebound and short jump hook guy.

I've got to stretch the floor. I've got to learn how to shoot from the perimeter. I've got to blend in with this new NBA that stresses three-pointers, and so I think he's kind of a trailblazer when it comes to that because not a lot of bigs did that.

They were already natural. Guys like Paul Gasol and some of the bigs from Europe were naturally post, sorry, perimeter players. Al was just a post player. He was a big in his early years in Atlanta, and now he's turned into a guy who could hit seven or eight threes in a game, so I do think this definitely adds to a resume that's likely a Hall of Fame resume.

It's a good point. You've seen that development with Brook Lopez as well, who I don't think shot a three-pointer until his last year with the Nets, and then obviously Milwaukee has taken that to a different level. Gary Washburn is here with us. I was watching the game last night, and they go into the locker room at halftime, and they show Jason Kidd just begging his team to basically kind of loosen up and just have fun. Was the moment just too big in Game 1 for the Mavericks last night when you look back at it? Yeah, I wouldn't necessarily say they were like shell-shocked, but I would say that they just seemed like once the Celtics punched back, they got discouraged, and once shots didn't go down, head started to fall, and Luca just didn't have that energy, and Kyrie seemed discouraged because Kyrie's now lost 11 in a row, his team playing the Celtics. So I think heads kind of slumped a little bit at halftime, and even though I thought they made that late first, second-quarter run, it was a 29-point lead and suddenly it was 21, and 21-point leads in the NBA aren't that hard to overcome anymore, that they were still very much in the game, but it just seemed like Kidd said that his team was just not quite right and tried to get him motivated.

Yeah, how about Kyrie because leading into this NBA Finals, he gave you as close as a mea culpa that Kyrie Irving would give for what happened in Boston a few years ago and the way that he handled that, going back and the interactions with the fans. Then last night after the game, you hear two stories, one coming from Kyrie where he thought the fans would be a little bit louder, and then Mike Gorman was on the Sports Hub today, and he was saying that I guess a fan and Kyrie were jawing back and forth for a few minutes during the game. Where are you at with Kyrie and how he'll continue to handle the Boston crowd?

Well, I thought the crowd was very much enthusiastic through it and loud. I think they were more pro Celtics and supportive of what the Celtics are doing as opposed to like, okay, we're really going to give Kyrie a hard time here. I think they booed him and they obviously don't like when he makes a shot, they cheer when he misses or he gets blocked. When he makes a bad play or a turnover, they love that, but I don't think there was much into like, okay, we're here to give Kyrie just a hard time.

We're here to just berate him. I think they were more into what the Celtics were doing. They might've been a little quieter in terms of like their vitriol toward Kyrie than they have in the past, but I also think they were more into like, we got to get this game. Our team needs to play well.

We want to cheer them on as opposed to like, let's make Kyrie's night hard. So you have the angle of the local coverage of Boston for the Boston Globe, and then obviously you cover the entire league, like from afar nationally, since Brad Stevens has moved into the president of basketball operations role for us, he's kind of been out of sight, out of mind. We know what he did as a coach there. He didn't win a championship, but he was still good. But those two deals that he made, get him rid of Marcus Smart, bringing in Porzingis and then using that first round pick as part of that deal to go get Drew Holliday.

If they go win three more games, you know, what do you think the conversation is going to be in the way that people start to talk about Brad Stevens in this chapter? Yeah, he's done a great job as general manager. You know, he's rebuilt the roster. He signed Derek White, or sorry, acquired Derek White, brought back Al Horford, you know, was able to dump that Kimba Walker contract. And, you know, the unfortunate part about that was, I think Walker was a great fit in Boston, but his knees just kind of gave out.

So they had to kind of move on from that deal. He's rebuilt the roster. Obviously, as a coach, I think he was good, but I think his time kind of ran out. I think he thought his voice was kind of losing its impact in the last couple of years in Boston. And I think the fact that he's been able to rebuild the roster, trading some first round picks, getting in some better and signed some guys, developmental players who really helped and have helped, has been just a great thing, obviously, with the franchise.

And they've definitely, you know, taken a step forward. But now the only thing stopping this, I guess, from being a great story is winning a championship, and that's what they're going after now. Last thing for Gary Washburn, just because Boston last night was the epicenter of the basketball universe. Clearly, the Lakers found their way into the conversation with this Danny Hurley story. I kind of think Hurley's going to take the job just being in Boston last night and that being a part of the NBA Finals coverage. What are your thoughts on the Danny Hurley situation? Is he meeting with the Lakers right now and has that decision to make?

Yeah, I do think it's tempting for him. I mean, he's won back-to-back championships. And so the question is, well, what more can he do at UConn? I mean, could he try to go for three in a row and be a super dynasty?

He could do that. How much does he love the college game? How much does he love what's going on in the transfer portal and NIL and all these things that have kind of chased coaches like Jay Wright and Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams kind of away into retirement? And when you deal with the NBA, you deal with professionals, you deal with highly-played players, but all it's about is basketball. You sign free agents, you coach, you're not recruiting, you're not out there texting 16-year-olds about when you're going to come visit us. None of that's a part of it. So I think that's intriguing for him, obviously, the paycheck, living in LA, although he doesn't really strike me as an LA guy, but I think that all worked out.

And I think that he had a chance to probably help build the roster and build a championship-caliber club as sure as tempting to him, in addition to the salary. He is Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. Gary, appreciate the time as always. Thank you.

Thanks a lot. There he is, Gary Washburn, joining us from the Boston Globe, covers the Celtics and the NBA. I'm a little bit surprised today with Ack. I'm really surprised by you. Why? Well, because I think you are the locker room leader kind of here. Yeah. What I mean by that is, right, you're the veteran, everyone has respect for you. Okay.

And I think you keep a lot of people in check. Okay. And I do remember about three weeks ago, where Samtor wore shorts and he wore sandals. Yes. Yeah, right. And you made a little bit of an, I don't want to say an issue, but you being the locker room leader. I made a comment, yes. You made a comment, Adam. Yes.

There was a little egregious. And I understand I'm not the don of fashion here. Yes.

Right. I don't care how I dress when I walk into work. But I was very surprised today, because you usually have very nice shirts on, very nice polos, things like that, that you're in like a zip up, as my computer cover just falls off, a t-shirt and shorts.

Well, it's a little cold in the office, but it's 85 degrees outside. But I think I have told many people, before Memorial Day, I wouldn't go shorts. Okay. After Memorial Day, okay. Oh, so you're not an anti-short guy, it's just after Memorial Day. Yeah, I thought it was a little early and, you know, pushing the envelope a little. That's all. There was 100 degrees out, but before Memorial Day, you won't wear shorts?

That's the exception. I mean, if it's really, really hot, yes. But I thought, you know, people taking some liberties and I thought, you know, hey, it's okay to wear shorts, but let's kind of hold off a little. Flip-flops, I would say you shouldn't wear flip-flops. You know, I'm not a flip-flop guy, but okay, you know, if you're going to go shorts, you might as well go flip-flops, right? You know, I mean, I wouldn't do it, but, you know, more power to you if you want to do it.

And if you're not watching us on YouTube, the way I would describe act today is if Jim Boeheim was still coaching at Syracuse, you could be his lead assistant. This is vintage. Oh, okay. What is it? This is from the White Shadow. Carver High School.

Okay, how about that? Like Mike Carver? Who used to work there?

Although he had a Twitter handle, Carver High. Yeah. But, you know, no, this is... But you go to shoot around right now and be the assistant coach on Boeheim's staff. It's also Friday, you know. Dress down Friday.

Nobody's in the office. Yeah, you know, so I took a liberty or two. That's fine. You're entitled to do that.

As a veteran and as a star player, you get treated to a different standard. You're allowed to do that. I just thought of, you know, I told people, you know, things were a little agreed. Like, you know, if it's over 80 before Memorial Day, okay. But it was, you know, it was a nice 75.

Yeah, and to be fair, when Santa wears shorts and a t-shirt and sandals, I don't think it was that hot. Yeah, it was not that hot. The weather was not that crazy.

Busting his chops there. It was pretty nice. I think it was... It was nice. It was mid to high 70s, if not low 80s. We had some nice weather. We had a stretch of nice weather where a lot of people wore shorts. And I was okay with it, but I was like, you know, we could wait.

It's not that hot. But, you know, the other thing is, like, people kind of dressed for what they thought it would be. You know, so, like, if you're coming in, like, like, Hickey comes in at nighttime.

And by that point... Half hours, a little bit different. No, but, but, like, I'm just saying he's in the, he's in the throws of whatever that high temperature is. You know, guys came in in the morning when it's, you know, 60 wearing shorts, you know, because, because it was going to be warmer later. I'm like, you know, you don't need that right now.

You know, you can, you can hold off. There's, you know, there's some decorum there. Well, you think Samter been hanging around Jody Mack and Steve Summers a little bit? Why, is he smoking?

It sounds like he smoked 12 cigarettes last night with the way that his voice sounds. I don't know. How are you feeling there? You all right?

Yeah, yeah. I just lost my voice. That's not good. Just lost his voice. That's not good.

Guy was on three weeks and then the voice... When did that happen? You were fine, like, 20 minutes ago. I know.

It literally just happened right before onside, offside. I was fine. I was talking and the next thing you knew, done. I can't confirm nor deny this, but I think Carlos may have said something to Samter and Samter then yelled at Carlos and the two of them had a little fight and I guess Samter was screaming so loud that he lost his voice. That could happen.

I would never yell. Hey, now it's coming back a little. Now it sounds a lot better. Yeah. So we'll take a break. We have one more segment to go on this Friday when we return. Are we about to see Otani and McDavid win it all, Conor McDavid, in the same year Oilers in the Stanley Cup final?

Obviously, expectations for the Dodgers to win it all. We'll talk about that on the other side. Update time, though. Here is the AC Band, Rich Ackerman. Hey, this is Howie. And this is Nick. Welcome back, boys. And you're listening to the Zach Gelb Show. And guess what?

Zach is back. All right. There's been a big debate and I think we added to it today. How much is the transfer portal and NIL making Dan Hurley leave UConn and go to the Los Angeles Lakers if he in fact does that? Now, I think that's the case. I think it takes a special job. It's not like he's just gonna run for any job. And Lakers are the special job.

But we had John Fanton. He thinks the narrative that Hurley is leaving to take the Lakers job because NIL, the transfer portal is ridiculous. Lynell Winningham, who does weekends and fills it a bunch throughout the week, right here on the infinity sports network.

It is based out of DC. We put the Larry Brown quote out that Larry said in this show that if it wasn't even for the transfer port and NIL, he doesn't think that Dan Hurley would even consider taking the Lakers job. And Lynell Willingham said this narrative that NIL and the portal are going to cause coaches to leave college is crazy. So I find it interesting how divisive saying that ends up being where some people think it is the reason and others think, no, you're absolutely crazy for saying that is the reason.

I could share these two things though. And Sampo did a great job during the break in between his smoke break when he sent me a slack. And one is what Danny Hurley tweeted out right after the national championship victory was him on the floor looking like he was crying. And he said day one of having to deal with the portal.

And do we have this Danny Hurley sound when he was talking about his motivation to be back to back champions was because of one reason. My biggest motivation really for the last two, three weeks is I just don't want to deal with the portal. And I mean, well, that's why we're trying to win so hard right now is I'm seeing what other people are doing. It's, it's chaos. And I can hide behind, hey, my season is still going on.

So I think we all know how Danny Hurley feels about the portal. But Santa, it's easier for him to make those jokes when you were already winning one championship and on your way to winning back to back national championship. But to make that joke in the, I mean, that quote was at the final four. That's him talking.

And you know, people talk about motivations. Yes, he's making a joke, but you could tell legitimately in his voice. I mean, he cursed. How often do you hear Danny Hurley curse at press conferences? So like we have to bleep it. Clearly he doesn't like the portal enough that he has to tweet a picture of him crying on the floor and he has to talk about it at the final four.

Your motivation is to avoid the portal. This is clearly an issue for him and maybe going to the Lakers, going to the NBA is an escape. Good for him.

By the way, we all should have paid $333 each a year ago. I just saw a tweet from Ben. I don't know how to say his last name. I follow him on Twitter.

F A W K E S. How would you say that name? Fox. Fox.

Fox. Okay. Yeah.

Now very big in the, in the, in the betting world. Just, just be careful how you say it. That's why I let you do it because I was about to say something else. So a better put a thousand dollars down on the chiefs to win the Superbowl real Madrid to win the league real real Madrid.

And I did that on purpose. Did they win their league? They won their league and they also won the champions league.

Okay. So that hit real Madrid and then everyone's favorite hockey team. Unless if you are the Panthers because of their fan, the Edmonton Oilers to win the Stanley cup thousand dollars pays out $584,000. Oh, dinner's on him. He did not cash out.

So he's now four Oilers wins away from $584,000. Now they have not been able to find the famous Euler lady. No one has been able to find her. I read in the New York post today that porn producers are on a mad crazy search to try to find her. I don't know her relationship status, but if this guy wins his bet, maybe the two of them become a couple.

That would be my heart take. Maybe, maybe Odyssey should write up about that. The internet finds everybody. There's no chance that people can't figure out who she is. This is surprising. This is adding mystery on top of it. Was it AI?

It could have been AI generated. I've never seen that at a hockey game. I've been to a lot of hockey games. I mean, they were fantastic.

So I mean, yeah, they were real and spectacular. What was the other question? Does she show up at the finals? Does mystery lady show up somewhere?

Yeah. What was the movie with the hot chicks show up? And, uh, was it dude? Where's my, I don't think that was the movie.

What was the movie? Were they aliens? Yeah. Okay.

We are hot chicks. Yeah. And the kid pretends to be blind and he starts, uh, touching the girl. This is how I read faces. Maybe that girl's hot chick.

Maybe that's the case. All right. It's time to answer. Ask the pros question of the day brought to you by O'Reilly auto parts. Jim in Louisiana says Zach over under half a championship for Shoei Ohtani and Connor McDavid this year.

You can submit a question by tweeting at INF sports that are at sec L using the hashtag as the pros that rally all parts while your car care needs get guaranteed low prices and excellent customer service from the professional parts people at O'Reilly auto parts. Oh Riley auto parts over under half a championship for O'Tani and McDavid Carlos. Over. Okay. Who, who gets it or do both get it? Uh, McDavid gets it. Okay. Santa definitely over.

I think both. I go bowl the Dodgers this year. There are Achilles heels. Oh, he's been choking in the playoffs. Kershaw is not a factor. It's not there. So I don't think it's not there so I don't think it's gonna matter and yeah I'm going to say under I think the I think the Dodgers find a way to choke and I think the Panthers are are the better team so that's just the way that that I feel about it now I did see that curse I was expected to pitch a two-inning simulated game Friday that's what uh I've read that that was earlier this morning so I guess that's some some point today but anyway we will say goodbye to you we will be back on Monday at 3 p.m. Eastern noon Pacific big thanks to Larry Brown big thanks to John Fanta and his wife and also Gary Washburn for stopping by big thanks to Carlos Ortiz Michael Samter as well at each every one of you for listening to the extravaganza we will chat on Monday we out bye-bye