Andrew Schulz and Akaash Singh declare the Knicks abandoned by owner James Dolan, while guest Francis Ellis recounts his Barstool firing over a insensitive post about murdered Mackenzie Lewick. They debate Ellis's intent versus negligence, contrast his case with Billy Bush's, and analyze NBA free agency, including Kyrie Irving's Boston return, Kawhi Leonard's Toronto commitment, and the Nets' roster moves. The episode concludes by linking Dolan's financial rigidity to the failed Kevin Durant trade and broader discussions on Harvard admissions and systemic inequality. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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Skeptic Distillery Branding00:03:30
February 6th, 2019.
Let's be honest, just for all the Knicks fans out there, we're not getting anybody.
No one.
I don't believe that.
No, one.
I don't believe that.
KD, where's the camera?
Are you on me?
Not coming.
Okay?
Kyrie.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
History.
History.
Kyrie, not coming.
Okay?
You know who the best bet that we're going to have is this is best case scenario.
They say like Tobias Harris.
Tobias Harris.
Who's the Brook Walker?
This is the best.
And then we're going to act like he's the truth because that's what we fucking do.
This is what the Knicks need to do.
All right?
God, bring the flood.
Bring the flood, okay?
Rick, everything you just destroy.
Bring the flood.
This is what Nick said.
Bring the Floods.
They're not like, do not build the Ark.
I will kill Noah before he can build the ark.
Let us all drown.
What's up, everybody?
And welcome to Flagrant 2.
No easy buckets analysis by assholes.
Water cooler commentary for your sports needs.
I'm Andrew Schultz.
I'm here with Akash Singh.
Kaz ain't here yet.
He acting like he's pregnant.
Your girl's pregnant.
Okay?
You got no excuse to be late.
Okay?
But we're starting a show anyway.
We're not going to tolerate the latency.
I got Alex Media, Eden, Rodriguez.
What is your last name again?
Martinez on the ones and twos.
We have, this episode is brought to you by the one, the only skeptic.
Skeptic, you know, skeptic fucks with us and we fuck with skeptic, man.
Skeptic distillery, not playing around.
Do we have that?
Do you have that beautiful vodka on the on the screen right there?
Look at that.
Look at that bottle.
It is gorgeous.
It is just gorgeous.
That's how you do branding right there.
And you know what?
They're more than just branding.
They're more than just branding.
Matter of fact, they're the first and only vodka, not only vodka, gin, and coming whiskey, that is cold distilled, okay?
They distill their vodka and gins at 50 degrees Fahrenheit or even below freezing at times, which preserves the flavors and improves the taste, okay?
You guys are going to get cold brew alcohol before anybody can get it.
Be on the cusp.
Be the team that's coming up.
Be the nets of vodka.
Be the nets of gin.
Be the nets of whiskey.
Okay.
You got to try it, man.
You got to try this shit for real.
Now, you have a lot of big name artists and influencers.
You know, they rep liquor brands and the smart brands attach themselves to these popular influencers.
This is why Skeptic fucks with us because they know our relationship with y'all.
I've had people buy it, reach out, say it's delicious.
Listen, I'm not even the biggest gin guy in the world.
Okay.
I like a little vodka soda from now on in, but gin, not the biggest gin guy.
I rather enjoyed the gin when I tried it.
I really did.
So you can go online to enjoy it as well.
You go to shop.skeptic distillery.com.
Okay.
Shop.skepticdistillery.com.
Use the promo code Flagrant.
You get 20% off all purchases.
Any purchase over $100 will receive free shipping.
All right.
You check them out on Instagram as well.
They have a post of them keeping it tight.
Building The Comedy Tour00:04:09
Ha ha ha.
So show some love.
First five assholes to order at least $100 worth of bottles.
Not only will they receive free shipping, but they will also get this dope skeptic snapback hat.
All right.
You see that?
That little game that we got going on over here.
Look at that.
Rep the brand.
Anyway, thank you so much to Skeptic for support in our show.
Let's get down to business.
Okay, guys, Matt Ador Tor.
Of all, I got to give a huge shout out to Denver and Houston.
Denver, I expected, man, amazing comedy club down there, Comedy Works.
Go check it out.
Thank y'all for coming out.
Sold out all five shows.
That was unbelievable.
But Houston, bro, Houston is a real market.
Son, they love us.
I did not realize that Houston is a real market.
I think that, you know, I'm guilty of what so many other people do is they assume that Dallas is the only big market in Texas for whatever fucking reason.
Austin gets a lot of, you know, I guess notoriety in the kind of super liberal world, definitely in the comedy world.
But Houston, we did two shows at the Houston Improv.
Great club, 450 seats.
It was unfucking real, man.
Unreal.
Thank you guys so much for coming out.
Amazing fans.
Like super diverse.
It's like Asian, Indian, is it?
I mean, it's just a fascinating fucking city.
It's like they really got their own thing going on.
And I was just so grateful, man, that everybody came out.
So I'm definitely making that one of the guaranteed tour stops every single tour.
But new shows coming up.
Toronto.
The first show sold out.
Second show is getting close.
So DandrewSchultz.com, get those tickets.
July 13th, I'll be there.
After Toronto, I'm going to be at the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival.
I'm doing two of my own shows that we do on this, which is Inside Jokes.
So if you guys seen the Inside Joke show we do on YouTube, we're going to do that live at Just for Laughs.
And then we're also doing unsafe sets.
So I'm going to get a bunch of comics that are going to do their most unsafe, unapologetic, unfiltered material.
It will be a surprise, but make sure you book those two.
And then I'll also be doing the Nasty Show, which is part of the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival.
So make sure you get tickets to those.
But if it's up to me, you get tickets to the Unsafe Sets and the Inside Jokes one because those are the ones that I'm putting on out there.
And then, yeah, more shows.
DeAndrewSchultz.com.
We're coming to Russia.
We're going to Australia.
All those tickets are on the books.
You can go get them right now.
DandrewSchultz.com for more dates.
We're adding shit every day.
Yo, this weekend, July 5th, New Orleans for Essence Fest, Duce Palooza is pulling up.
Special start time, midnight to 5 a.m. at the House of Blues.
We got DJ Willie, Miss Nicks, Mike Swift, Austin Mills, DJ GQ, and a special performance by Mr. New Orleans himself, Juvenile.
We'll be performing.
Oh, shit.
Can't wait for that shit.
It's going to be fucking nuts.
And New York City, we are coming back.
One day only.
Combination.
I mean, my fault.
Collaboration with our good friends out over at Brunch Mounts.
August 18th.
We are back at the Brooklyn Mirage.
We came to see how Duce Palooza this past couple of months ago with YG.
We're coming back to Shutdown the Mirage again.
August 18th, one day only.
Brooklyn, New York.
Get your tickets at ducepalooza.com slash tickets.
Yo, we're building out this tour.
We do not have ticket links yet.
They're fucking up, but we got dates in Houston, San Fran, and LA.
September 6th, Houston, first city we booked out because I don't know how much love y'all give us.
Andrew is right.
Two shows at the secret group.
The piano fight, September 13th in San Francisco, and September 19th, the comedy store in L.A. We're coming through.
Hell yeah.
And I will be at Bananas Comedy Club in Hasbrook Heights, New Jersey, August 2nd and 3rd.
And then I will be in Zaney's, Nashville on September 26th.
I love Zane's, man.
Nashville is such a great city.
Hell yeah.
Really great place.
Knicks Free Agency Chaos00:15:42
Everybody keeps saying that.
I got to go to Nashville.
One of the best cities.
Very fun.
It's like down South Vegas or some shit.
Yeah.
It's so unique.
I got to check it out.
Biggest bachelorette party destination in America.
Yeah.
Yeah.
We think that everybody, it's just everybody in New York and LA goes to Vegas.
Yeah, everybody in the middle of the country goes to Nashville.
Is gambling legal?
Sorry?
Is gambling legal?
Uh, in Nashville?
Yeah, uh, maybe.
I'm not sure, but there's like a downtown like bar scene that's got like live music and some fucking.
I went alone.
I just hit up all the little country music spots.
Nashville Hall Country Music Hall of Fame was fun.
It's great.
Princess Fried Chicken, dope as fuck.
Great, man.
Great city.
But yeah, man, thank you all so much.
All right, let's get back to the show.
Akash, you think that Kaz is late maybe because he knows the hellacious ass whooping that I'm about to give him for what happened to the Knicks in free agency?
Please answer that question.
Please.
Oh, it's going to be just like last week.
We did with the cop.
What happened?
When you said the copy.
We don't got to bring up old shit.
So what I'm saying is we got to bring up old shit.
Why can't you just roll with me?
Yes and dog improv games.
Can you let me go?
I know you need to go, but we need to go.
Well, let me finish the question.
You're acting like Nick's management.
Trying to take this fucking bit before we get it off the ground.
So what's the greater prediction?
The greater prediction for what?
Kaz saying the cop didn't punch Messiah, or you saying three months ago, Nick's not getting anybody.
To be honest, I still believe that Messiah punched the cop, but that's.
I see why you thought I was stopping the mention of that.
Okay, okay, I got you.
I got you.
I got you.
So, joking, but all joking aside, I'm smiling to hold back from the tears.
But there is something very important, and I'll look into the camera.
I'll look at you, Akash, I'll look at Alex.
I'll look at Edin.
A very important thing happened yesterday.
And what happened yesterday is that the Knicks are no longer New York's team.
I, yo.
They are no longer New York's team.
And it is a tough day for me to sit here and admit this, but we will no longer tolerate the abusive relationship that the Knicks have bestowed upon us as Knicks fans.
It's a good thing.
They're taking advantage of our loyalty.
They are taking advantage of our passion.
They are abusing our heroes.
What they did to Charles Oakley alone should have made us take a step back and just re-look at this relationship that we're in and see if we maybe need to get our groove back.
Do you know what I mean?
See if we maybe need to, you know, to the left, to the left, to Dolan, et cetera.
But in my personal opinion, Dolan has no interest in making a winning basketball team.
I think he raped a girl.
I think he either raped a girl or he had sex with an underage girl.
And I think someone is privy to that information and he's doing anything he possibly can to bow to the whims of that person.
They're basically like, listen, we got this on you.
Maybe it's not an underage girl.
Maybe it's some like big business deal.
Who knows what the fuck it is?
Maybe he's got bodies.
But something is happening where he is actively trying to keep the Knicks from winning.
Because it's not like he's even trying when.
When I found out that he didn't offer KD the Max, that he didn't offer KD the Max.
That means it was on the table.
That means KD's coming to the Knicks.
Is that real?
Yes, it's real.
I have two things to tell you: it's real.
Not only did they not offer the Max, the Knicks are such an incompetent Franks and Beans organization that DeAndre Jordan, who was playing on the Knicks last year, convinces Kevin Durant to go to the Nets.
And guess what?
Take less money.
He could have gotten, he could have gotten more money to play on the Knicks.
But DeAndre was like, you don't want no part of this.
And then we have to go back and we have to look at what the organization is, right?
We have to look at the people part of this organization.
Why are you hiring these frankest of beans people?
Scott, what is it?
Scott Perry, Steve Mills.
What have they really done in their careers?
What successes have they had?
None of us can name.
How do you end up being the president and GM of the Knicks when you've done nothing in your whole fucking career to deserve that position?
Maybe because you want them to fail.
Maybe because you want incompetence in your organization because you can't have them winning.
Maybe you choose Mello, a proven loser, over Phil Jackson, a proven winner, because you want incompetence.
You want them to fail.
Maybe when your number one goal in the offseason is to re-sign the unicorn Chris Staphs Przingis, right?
The number one thing is maybe to sabotage that, you hire a coach that has already proven he has no clue how to communicate with Euros, okay?
He destroys his relationship in Memphis with Marcus Ol, right?
Comes to the Knicks and wins fucking 13 games or something like that.
This genius coach, everybody thinks he's a genius coach.
He's a genius coach for high school kids, okay?
If you want to make a bunch of like disenfranchised youths believe in themselves, then go for it, Fisdale.
This is the fucking real deal.
Okay, this is professional sports.
Dog shit, coach.
I don't give a fuck.
Yeah, maybe he congeals and gets all the young kids to believe they're part of something.
Suck my dick, part of something.
Okay?
We don't need this part of something.
We're fucking adults.
We're here to work.
Okay?
You need to be part of something when you're not paying them.
Now we're paying you millions of dollars.
You fucking better be part of it.
Okay?
You hire this coach, completely incompetent with communicating with Euros.
You send Przingis away.
Okay.
He's out there getting knocked out in his own fucking hometown in Latvia, breaking his bones all over in his body.
Marcus Sol, what happens when he leaves you?
What happens when Marcus Sol's clear?
Well, what do you say?
Well, what do you say?
So you hire incompetent president, incompetent GM, incompetent coach, and then you expect this GM and president to make free agent moves when they don't even understand the collective bargaining agreement.
These fucking Franks and Beans retards don't even understand what to do with salary cap.
You're signing two-year deals.
You're signing two-year deals to guys when you could have just waited, and I'll give credit to Bill Simmons on this one because he shouted it out before I even put the math together.
You could have waited to see which teams needed to dump players and scoop up one-year contracts if you just pushed the brakes for a little.
But instead, you get Taj Gibson, Bobby Portis, Bobby Portis?
That's a villain from an 80s movie, Bobby Portis.
Taj Gibson?
What is that?
I don't even know what that is.
You don't need nobody with an Indian name.
No, you don't.
Is Kunal Jacques Mara coming as well?
What other guys are we bringing in?
Eskimos?
Who the fuck are you drafting?
It is unfathomable that you could sign these fucking deals, bro.
Can you even name the Knicks starting five?
Who's this bullock guy from the Lakers?
I don't know.
I don't know why.
Yeah, with two years, they're trying to gear up.
They think they're going to make a run at Giannis and whoever the fuck else is coming in.
You're not getting nothing.
You're not.
You're not getting nothing.
You're not getting nothing.
You're not getting Giannis.
They don't realize they're the laughing stock of the NBA.
The laughing stock of the NBA.
Oh, excuse me.
I just burped.
Don't worry about putting any emphasis on this thing.
It is.
I'm telling you, the Knicks have taken advantage of us for too long.
The Knicks have abused that relationship for too long.
They've spit in the face of our support for too long.
And all the while, there's this other team out there, right?
Another team out there in New York.
And another team out there that, like so many of our parents, immigrated to this city.
Like so many of our parents grinded hard, worked hard, never asked for a fucking thing, never asked for a fucking thing, proved it, went out there and proved it with nothing.
Beat all the odds to actually make it into the playoffs.
And you know what?
I'm not saying I'm going to buy gear, but I'm going to cheer.
I'm not saying that I'm a Nets fan, but I'm open.
I'm open.
I'm going to attend games.
I've already canceled my season tickets to the Knicks.
You got to speak with the dollar.
I will not buy a season ticket.
Take a Nets hat.
I will not buy.
I can't believe you're wearing that hat.
Take that half.
I will not buy Knicks merch.
I will not watch Knicks games on television.
Wow.
Nope.
If I want to enjoy basketball, and this is what all New Yorkers should do, if you want to enjoy basketball, go to the Nets.
You know what they've done?
How convenient they've made it?
How fucking Asian this team is?
All they are are Asians, man.
They just come to America, work their ass off, make a great product, and they're like, hey, when you're ready, you want to come by?
You know, you can take the train.
It drops you off right here.
It's right here.
Every line goes up.
Every freaking line.
Do you know how to get to fucking Penn Station?
You got to walk four blocks in Harold Square, wherever that nonsense is behind buildings, all this bullshit.
More trains go to Atlantic than Penn.
Than Penn.
More trains go to Atlanta.
They made it convenient to us.
They earned it.
And you know what?
If I want to watch a game, I'm going to Brooklyn.
I'm going to Brooklyn to watch it.
If I want to watch a game on TV, I'm going to find out whatever fucking channel the Nets play.
I'm not even sure.
I don't even know.
But I'm going to watch that because I'm not supporting these Knicks.
And if you're a real New Yorker, I'm not saying we abandon the Knicks forever.
That's not what I'm saying.
What I'm saying is you cannot allow someone to abuse you and think they'll stop if you keep on supporting them.
It's like watching a Tyler Perry movie.
You're in this abusive relationship.
Then here comes this beautiful light-skinned team.
Just ready, just treats you right.
Treats me right.
Doesn't expect anything.
Never mad at you.
Doesn't spit in your face.
Doesn't disrespect you.
That's it.
It wants nothing.
They don't want no commitment.
Sexy as fuck.
That's it.
Shamar Moore over here.
Right here.
Shamar Moore basketball team ready.
Ready to go.
Little hazel eyes and shit.
Diary of a mad white Andrew.
Right here.
That's it, bro.
For real.
Dude, I'm telling you, we have to boycott the Knicks.
There is nothing good that can come from the only thing these people understand, like you were saying, is money.
That's the only thing.
They truly do not understand anything else.
If we boycott the Knicks, I don't care if tourists go to the Knicks.
Yeah, a bunch of people come here from Czechoslovakia, Spain, London.
They want to go watch a game.
Go watch a fucking game.
I don't care.
But New Yorkers, they don't deserve us.
And I know it's going to be hard.
I'm 35 years old.
There's people 55 years old.
They've watched the Knicks their entire lives.
And you know what?
Those Knicks earned your support.
They won them championships.
And even the ones that didn't, we had some fucking ballsy, powerful teams, ah, gosh.
The Pat Riley teams.
They were dogs.
The Jeff Van Gundy teams.
Dogs.
Fighting.
Dogs, tough.
They were New York.
When you watch the Knicks now, do you see New York?
20 years since you've been a threat.
Legit 20 years.
What is a Frank Nicolin Collina?
What is that?
Why are we hiring French guys?
Stop it.
The last French thing America ever should have accepted was the Statue of Liberty.
That's it.
We don't do no more French.
We don't do it.
Okay?
You hire American black guys.
Get the job done.
Names like Oakley, Johnson.
I don't know what Ewing is, but I'll take it.
Okay?
Anthony Starks.
These are good names.
Nicolika Lina.
What is that?
What is that?
Akash, what is it?
It has to stop.
We have to withdraw all our power.
We have to boycott.
And anybody that doesn't boycott is enabling this abuse.
You have to boycott.
I've said this.
Not watching on TV, I respect a lot because I'm a Cowboy fan.
I won't give them any money.
I'll still watch on TV.
I'm not watching the Knicks.
Yeah, this is hilarious.
I'm not watching the Knicks.
So, police brutality.
You won't take the D with Cap and boycott the NFL.
But the Knicks dropped the ball with this trade.
What's a greater crime against humanity?
Hold on one second.
Don't get me wrong.
If the NFL was out there abusing black people, yes, I would boycott it.
What the fuck does the NFL have to do with the police department?
Nah, I feel you.
It's just fucking.
But I don't see you out here boycotting police stations.
Oh, shit.
I'll see you out there taking a nail in front of the police stations.
Back to what we were saying before you tried to throw me under the racism bus.
No, but he finished.
Caz's not here, but he's still here.
You know what I mean?
Nah, but Andrew Kaepernick, I'm taking the D with you.
Good.
Yeah, I'm taking it.
Don't get me wrong.
I'll boycott abusive police every single day of the week.
I'm 100% supportive of that.
And that's what these Knicks are.
They're abusive police.
They're the direct abusers.
They're the direct abusers.
That's what this organization is.
And any one of them cops say, you know, the dude that shot Philando Castile, all that shit.
Fuck them.
We got to get him out of here.
I've been very vocal about that from the jump.
You know who Philando Castile is?
James, no, not Philando Castle, the guy who killed Philando Castile, that Mexican, Eden.
Your people?
Your people, Eden?
You know what I mean?
Real talk.
What's that other cop?
Scott?
Something like that?
Who's the cop?
Shot Mike Brown.
What was that guy's name?
I don't know, bro.
I don't know.
What about the other Mexican down in Florida that shot the kid with the hoodie and the skin?
Zimmerman.
Zimmerman, yeah.
That's the Knicks.
James Colin is Zimmerman, okay?
Perry Zimmerman, Mills Zimmerman.
That's what they're doing to us.
That's the type of abuse, bro.
No, Weinstein.
Bro, Weinstein, it's Zimmerman.
It is the sports equivalent.
They've been raping us.
Every time I watch a Knicks game, I want to shower.
I want to take a shower and wash off that rape.
After this free agency, bro, I felt Knicks management come leaking out of my orifices because I was raped.
I can't believe you had season tickets for so long.
We're going to get to you in a second because you're very important for this, but go on.
I thought it was Dolan, but Edinburgh is doing it.
Okay, go, go, go.
He said basically, Knicks fans, I know you're upset, but I truly believe this is the path to a winning team.
It's not.
Let me tell you something, Akash.
And I mean this sincerely.
If you see me in the Knicks game, just know Dolan's getting milkshaked.
You know what those fucking, you know, what is it, Danifa?
Those gay guys in Portland.
You know what Antifa is?
Oh, you're talking about everyone in Portland?
Dolan And The Dark Days00:11:20
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But all, yeah, but whatever.
But you know how they protest by throwing the milkshakes?
Yeah.
Let me tell you, I'm throwing something at Dolan.
I'm throwing something at Dolan.
I'm throwing something at Dolan.
He's going to have to.
I'm telling you, if I see him, and you know what?
Had the shot.
I had the fucking shot, but it, you know, Benders was coming out and it was on his channel, this, that, the other.
You realize I'm willing.
I know if I do it, I'm a New York legend forever.
Yeah.
But I'll never perform at the garden.
And I think I'm willing to sacrifice performing at the garden.
Who cares?
You got a nice arena that's more convenient to get to one borough away.
I ain't going all the way, Brooklyn, for that.
I'm still New York.
I'm still New York, bro.
You know.
Hey, you can support Brooklyn, Jay-Z, bro.
Biggie?
Honestly, the GOATs come from Brooklyn.
Why are you going to do this to me, bro?
I'm telling you.
I'm telling you.
You're already done.
I'm trying to make it easy.
I'm trying to make Shamar more and more available, son.
He's there.
He's calling for you.
Muscles gleaming.
Son, I cannot.
It's just something that I'm going through right now that's too difficult.
You feel the temptation.
You feel the pull.
I know.
I'm pulled.
I'm pulled.
It's over.
It's done.
I'm away.
What I'm saying is, I. I'm buying you a Nets jersey, son.
And that's fine.
I'm not going to wear it.
My boy Jason and I have a rule.
Jason and I share the season tickets with.
We say, he invented this term, cheer no gear.
You know what I mean?
Cheer no gear.
Which means we're going to go watch basketball because we love it with the Nets.
That's where we're going to spend our money.
We're not going to wear Nets stuff.
He is a kid.
He's like, do I start making the kid the Nets fan right now?
He's like, no, Yes.
Not just yet.
Not just yet.
It's okay.
Let them build.
Let them build the support, right?
Put yourself in the same shoes.
Cowboys.
Yeah.
Okay.
They've been abusing you for a while.
I'm ready to jump.
I'm ready to fuck any other team that comes to Arlington.
No, would you go to Houston?
Houston Mad Force, and they ain't no borough.
That's fucking four hours, dog.
Is it?
Yeah.
Let Fort Worth get a football team?
You run both comedy clubs.
That's an hour.
Fort Worth get a football team.
I'm ready.
Oh, and they get fucking marquee players.
It's over.
It's over.
So now you understand where I'm coming from.
Yeah, I'm understanding.
I'm not understanding.
Where's your jersey?
Let me quit.
Okay, because it could.
It's not there just yet.
I still, listen, I still love the Knicks, but I can't support this ownership and I can't support this management.
I can't do that anymore because it's only going to prolong the devastation and destruction of the Knicks that we know and love.
There's a chance, Akash, that in my lifetime the Knicks won't win a championship.
It's not a chance.
It's a certainty.
A virtual certainty.
A cruel thing to say, right?
I'm not leaning into how bad this is.
Tough love.
This is tough love.
It's kind of tough.
That's a little tough.
It's tough love.
It's tough.
I'm trying to pull you over to the side.
Listen, the Nets had Prokhorov.
I think he was a fucking idiot.
I don't know if he learned or if he sold.
Either way, they got Carl Lentz, dog.
Son, they got the most powerful man in basketball, Carl Lentz.
He brought everybody over.
Brought Kyrie.
He's your boy.
Brought KD.
Carl hit me up on the way to Carl hit me up on the way to the podcast.
And he was like, he's like, well, what a crazy day that was or something like that.
You motherfucker, the most powerful man in basketball.
He goes, he goes, don't worry.
You were with us when we were shooting in the gym.
So he invited you over.
I was like, all right.
Hi.
Sign you.
I'm not in this fan just yet.
You know what I mean?
But Nick's got to make some moves.
You know?
You foolishly loyal, man.
This fucking Dolan guy.
This fucking Dolan guy.
So nice of you to join us, Kaz.
In his makeup.
So nice of you to join us.
Son, you got great skin.
Why did they put so much makeup on you?
Come on, this TV, bro.
Shit, I gotta look shiny.
Anyway.
So, Kaz.
I missed too much.
Kaz, no, you didn't miss anything because I predicted this.
We all knew this.
This is something that we all knew was gonna happen.
What I want to talk about, first of all, it's hard to look at you with this makeup.
I ran like a directly off the side.
I didn't even wiped shit off.
I was like, I think they make you darker, bro.
Did they?
I think so.
If by darker you mean more dudes want to fuck him, then yeah, for sure.
Sexy yeah, man.
Shit.
Okay, so so here's something like Stron Jay.
Okay, we've already spoke about this for a while.
And here's the thing.
Kaz is suffering from Knicks delusion syndrome.
He has the KDS.
But not only does he have the KDS, he's also clearly being paid by Dolan and the Knicks organization to spread good vibes.
And we understand how PDF is traumatic stress disorder.
NYX traumatic stress disorder.
Whatever he just said, the acronym for it, that's what we're going to do.
PTSD with a K.
That was great.
I just didn't know how to put the letters in front of it.
So my point is, Kaz, it's just, I find it curious, right?
I find it curious that no matter what the Knicks do, Kaz goes, now that I think about it, this is a good move.
I'm like, Bobby Portis, 17 years, $4 billion contract.
I like it.
This guy's got a future.
Have you not been critical once of the Knicks on Twitter?
You're getting paid, bro.
You're getting paid.
I've been critical of the Knicks all year long.
Name one free agency move.
Name one figure.
Last night he was pissed, but I'm sure he's convinced himself it's okay.
No, here's this is what convinced himself.
No.
That money, bro.
That money.
They coughing out that money, bro.
You're part of it, bro.
You're part of the problem.
Here's my thing.
You're enabling this shit.
Here's my thing, right?
You can't even think of a lie.
That's how fucked up this shit is, bro.
You can't even make up a lie, dog.
Just admit you're getting paid.
I'm not getting paid.
You are, bro.
I'm not getting paid.
Last night was the most damning evidence that James Dolan needs to sell the team.
He absolutely needs to sell the fucking team.
Where have you been the last 10 years?
20 years.
He needs to sell the fucking team.
Without him being on the front line saying this is going to be a great free agency for us, yada, yada, yada.
Looking at what they've done without the fucking KD and Kyrie Coke dream that we've had for the past seven months.
It wasn't a dream.
It was a reality.
It was there and they fucked it up.
It was there.
And it was even easier once his Achilles got torn.
They just had to sign the check and he would have walked on over.
He limped all over.
That's it.
But why did he?
Isn't that same old Knicks though?
What you mean?
If KD doesn't come back the same way.
You take the risk.
You take the risk.
You take the risk just to be relevant again.
Yeah.
They're always relevant.
They suck.
It's over.
They're still relevant.
I'm shocked how much we talk about them on this podcast.
And it's only because of y'all.
I'm telling you, none of my other group chats with friends who don't live in New York do they talk about the Knicks.
I was hanging out.
I was hanging out some of the people.
They're not relevant.
They were in the league.
Okay.
When I tell you this, these are people that are in the league.
They're working for teams.
When I tell you that the Knicks are the laughing stock of the league.
When I tell you, like, even when I bring it up, I'm not even talking about presence of technology.
Not even talking about guys who work on management positions on teams.
No.
They're the laughing stock of the league.
Dude, when they speak about Perry and Mills, they roll their eyes.
They can't believe that people that retarded have jobs, those positions.
Like, they truly, they literally go, dude, I don't know what's going on.
It is mind-boggling to people that work in the NBA.
Something's up, dude.
It's a conspiracy.
I promise you he fucked an underage girl.
I promise you, Dolan.
I believe it, but I don't know what that has to do with the Knicks.
I just believe it because he's a rich white dude.
He fucked an underage girl.
And then somebody knows that it happened.
And said, you have to make the Knicks bad or I'm going to tell everybody.
Exactly.
Because they are a big fan of the Celtics.
You know how billionaires do.
It's just like fun shit.
Like, hey, you know, your Knicks are going to be bad.
Something happened.
You know what they say about Magic Johnson?
Yeah, how he never really had AIDS.
He just fucked an underage girl.
They're like, you got to say you had AIDS or else I've never heard that before.
That's a big rumor.
I've heard that.
Isaiah Thomas Magic Johnson shit, but I've never heard that.
That's the rumor about Magic, and that's why he's so good with the AIDS.
That's why I never really affected him.
It wasn't really AIDS.
Anyway, that's what Dolan has.
I promise you, somebody's got something on Dolan.
He's doing everything he can to squash this team.
It's just fucking sad.
Like, it's just sad.
Listen.
Did it cast a break finally?
It's sad.
It's just fucking like, I can't, I can't.
If anyone was near me this entire weekend, I felt the fucking doom and gloom since like Thursday.
Yep.
I'm like, it's, I'm like, the more the days came, I was like, I'm like, it's going to be the next fucking stupid.
It's going to be the next fucking bullet point on like the fucking dark days of being a fucking Knicks fan.
If they would have went anywhere else, if Kyrie would have went to LA or KD stays in Golden State going anywhere, you're like, okay, well, you know, we give the good construction.
You sign KD to a deal specifically because he's not playing for a whole year and you can continue the rebuild that you want that you think is better.
You can continue that.
How?
That's $140 million to somebody.
You can't continue to remotely.
I thought you're Mr. We Love the Rookies.
Yeah.
You do love the Rookies.
Hold on.
No, no, no.
Hold on.
Flex that.
Listen, listen, listen.
You tank again for another year.
You get another high pick.
Now you have two blue chip players.
You got two more draft picks coming from the Mavericks.
Probably another draft pick.
Oh, by the way, thanks for KP.
You haven't seen him play it.
Only move the Max now.
You haven't seen them play it.
And you sign him to a max deal.
All right.
If he goes in and sticks it up, then what?
Then we're the Knicks.
Worst case scenario.
We're the Knicks.
You guys could have at least said, hey, we can get...
You have the idea.
Hold on.
You have the idea.
You'll get number one.
Let it slug this.
Let it go.
The idea that...
The idea that you're nearly, I think you guys think it's you and the Lakers in terms of relevance.
It is the Lakers, then the Sorghers.
I think the way you...
You said that shit.
All I say is like, yo, literally, all I've said all year is like, I want to watch games for the Knicks past February.
That's all I'm saying.
But you're not doing that.
That's all I'm saying.
That's all I'm saying.
But you know what?
That's all I'm fucking saying.
The Knicks are no longer New York's team, so you don't have to be concerned about it.
The Nets aren't going to be good next year.
The KD's not playing.
The Knicks are no longer New York's team.
So look, here's the reality of the map.
Real quick, here's my point.
You sign KD to a four-year contract.
It's a three-with-a fourth-year player option.
He's going to opt out.
Or you might even get him a team option.
If you want to say, look, team option, maybe.
Maybe you can get that.
So you're bad for a year.
You tank again.
You collect a high draft pick.
You have one year, KD comes back.
Then the next year is probably the last year of his deal.
That's how all these contracts work.
They're all short-term deals.
You sign him to a max just to show the rest of the league, hey, look, we're relevant.
And then next year, you still have cap space.
You had cap space for two max players, right?
You sign KD.
Then next year, when you say KD is going to be healthy, that's what you sell next year's free agency crop on.
Yo, KD.
And you let KD do the selling for you.
Signing Kevin Durant00:10:35
Hey, come on, let's go.
Come play with me.
Just like Kyrie did to him with the Nets.
Listen, I think we can all agree that we had a horrible week, right?
I think we can all agree on that.
Terrible week, man.
Terrible week.
Now, that being said, I thought that there would be one possible way to make us feel a little bit better about our weeks.
And that was if we bring someone on that had quite possibly a work lease than us.
Guys, give it up for Francis Ellis.
Francis Ellis, guys.
One of the most prolific and profound writers of our generation.
Who's the guy on the road?
Catcher in the ride?
JD Salinger.
He's the new JD Salinger, Francis Ellis.
What's the Johnny Depp movie where he goes to Vegas and he does a lot of drugs?
You look like that guy.
Oh, yeah, dude.
You're a full dog journalism.
You're loading a lot of people.
So this makes me so happy that you could come here and be our emotional cushion because obviously this show is going to be a complete train wreck.
You're just going to start smacking mics away, probably end up in an all-out Russian brawl.
You know, there's like four-on-four fights that they do.
I love those.
That was going to be nuts.
Pull them through this fucking table.
I hear about this amazing story that you went through this week.
And as miserable as I was about the Knicks free agency decisions, it gave me a little bit of joy to know that there was somebody who was more miserable than me.
That's our friends of Ford, Frances.
I mean, look, it had been going so well for so long for me that I don't blame God.
What do you want me to say?
Like, it had to happen.
It had to be a correction.
And I tried to reach Carl Lentz.
He didn't pick up.
I was like, Carl, I'm ready.
And he was like, not now, who does.
Oh, good.
Dude, I didn't even tell you the craziest part.
Shout out to the story.
Yeah, from people who don't understand.
Shout out to the craziest part.
No, we don't.
So, okay, so just background to the story, okay?
I'll let you give the background of the story to give all the perspective.
Yeah, additional background.
Yeah, you gave quite a bit.
So on Friday, I was at work when I had, this is back when I had a job.
And I still Francis is now just Francis.
Yeah.
And I wrote, I was, I saw a blog, a story about this girl who had gone missing in Utah.
Her name was Mackenzie Lewick.
And it was kind of a story that had been covered by a lot of different news outlets.
And there were lots of developments in the case.
She'd been missing for a week.
And the latest update was that her Instagram had been active and she'd liked a post on Instagram.
So her sorority sisters thought this was a very hopeful sign.
And they put that over to the FBI.
And I was like, oh, wow, there's an interesting thought that, you know, in the age of social media, sorority sisters are finding clues that the FBI is missing.
There's your first possible joke in a blog.
And then I read a headline from an article three days ago on ABC News that said, no foul play is suspected at this time.
And even in the most recent article I had read, they were like, yeah, now they were saying like no comment about the foul play thing.
But I just thought that the signs were good, you know, about this girl who had gone missing.
And I was like, okay, you know.
And then I also looked at her Instagram based on the whole thing and I saw that she was a huge fan of one of our podcasts, Call Her Daddy.
And I thought, all right.
I love that podcast.
Yeah.
This is a story that our audience at Barstool will want to see.
Do you know what I mean?
And so I chose to write about it and I didn't even really write any jokes.
I started out by saying, let's hope she's okay.
And then I was like, and it's good news that the sisters at the sorority have found this.
What was the account that she was liking the posts of?
And then I included a couple of the posts from that account.
It was an account called Fatherless.
And it was about, it was like girls that have daddy issues or something and like were proud of it.
And so I included two like thong shots of girls of that account.
Not her.
No, and I was like, this is like, okay, whatever.
I made a couple jokes about that.
And then I ended the blog by being like, you know, let's hope she turns out okay and that our girls at Call Her Daddy can send her some merch when everything turns up okay.
Thoughts and prayers, period.
Within 45 minutes of me posting this blog, the news changed and was like, now we have a suspect for her murder.
And then an hour after that, it was, we've found her murdered.
And at that point, I took the blog down and I was like, I am in big trouble.
And then every news doesn't sound too bad.
I'm telling you, like, then the Daily Beast, Dead Spin, The Washington Post, Fox News, everybody emailed me and said, hi, I read your article about Mackenzie Lewick and I'm just wondering, what the fuck were you thinking?
Do you care to comment?
And that was when I was like, yeah, this is really bad.
My boss, Dave, reached out and fired me.
It's a funny sentence.
Because you know, I've been here reached out and fired me.
How did he fire you?
Did he give you like a bunch of people?
He called me.
He called me.
No, he was away.
He gave me an article like a pizza.
You know, I think.
Two out of ten.
You're fired, Francis.
Yeah, I think at some point he was just like, we don't have a choice here.
And I totally get it.
And then I started working on my statement for all these news outlets.
And I put that out.
And, you know, you guys, like, look, you guys know me.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Do you think I'm the type of person that would have written a lighthearted, humorous blog about a girl that I thought was murdered?
Of course not, right?
Not right away.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Right.
Tragedy plus time.
I made a very, very careless mistake at the time.
It was one of those things where I just wasn't paying attention.
Unfortunate.
And I don't even think I was trying to be funny in what I was saying about what I thought was just a missing girl for whom the news was good.
And I'm not defending my actions.
You know, I totally understand Barcelona's standpoint.
I had a wonderful time there.
Well, they had to fire you.
Yeah, right.
But they also had to fire because they're the type of people that want to toe the line.
And they're going to get a lot of heat for toeing the line.
Right.
When they cross the line, they got a clip because they know there's a bunch of people out there waiting for that line to be crossed.
And the timing of it, because I think they just did the HBO thing a couple days ago.
That was just like...
Chernobyl?
No, not Chernobyl.
No, no, no.
Barcelona didn't come up.
That was a great piece.
That was a great piece about it.
No, they did some more real sports where they just kind of like went inside Barstool and their workings.
And, you know, everybody was on the bottom.
Were you on that piece?
Chernobyl?
No, that's name.
I wish I had been on that piece.
I wish I had been on that.
You are radioactive right now.
I know.
I've been that way since I was three.
When the hair...
Anyway, I don't even like, I'm so just like dazed and kind of like worn out.
I mean, it's been insane.
But I will tell you guys this.
Hey, you know what?
Every time you think about how shitty it is, you could always be the girl.
Oh, my God.
Oh, I should have run this fire.
My agent.
I knew.
I should have stopped.
I knew it.
I knew that.
I know.
I know you guys.
I knew it was coming.
I saw you.
I saw it winding up on the fucking hair.
A self-imposed constraint.
I'm just leveling.
He called me and started advising me on how to handle it.
And I won't even do him the disservice of telling you what he told me to do because what he said was so insane to me.
It was like, you got to lean in.
You got to be cracking jokes about it.
No, I didn't say exactly.
No.
But you told me what you would have told me.
You know what's funny is you said you weren't going to say it, and then you immediately said, I'm like, hey, I think you got a little problem saying this.
You know, you shouldn't say it.
I don't even know where I am right now.
So I get it.
As soon as I saw you, like, I went in a group chat and saw you were coming to the show.
I was like, oh, no.
I wanted to ask you.
I got to call you.
I got a couple texts.
I got a couple texts.
KFC hit me.
A couple other people hit me.
So I was like, what's going on?
I go, look at that.
And I call you, Amelia.
You were doing something.
So we spoke the next day.
And my feeling for you, just as your friend, I was like, okay, there's a lot of gravity on you right now.
You need to make a decision that's going to be what's going to happen after Barstool.
So you could use the gravity to make a move, right?
And we basically had the conversation, which is what is that move going to be?
Do you want to be the dark dude?
Do you want to be, or do you want to go, hey, this is a fuck up of mine, and there's no way in hell I could possibly predict the future.
Which is, I think, what really happened here.
And after we spoke on the phone, the sentiment I got from you, why I want you to come on and talk about it, is this, what is it, the chain of events that happened.
The Missing Girl Story00:14:16
It is comically awful.
Like the fact that she gets this on a sitcom, I'm thinking it's a little bit more.
Within 45 minutes of the article coming out.
It's almost as if they were waiting for your article before they did the deed or whatever.
Because you never see this kind of thing happen.
And it sucks because if Barstool wasn't already super edgy, let's say this was New York Times or something like that, and you were writing an article for the New York Times.
I don't think you lose your job.
I think they go, there is no way in hell he could have possibly predicted this.
There's no in-hill.
Look at anything he's written in the past.
Has he ever put anything out there that was with nefarious or malicious intent?
No.
Without a doubt.
But because they are already operating in that edgy world, they had to protect themselves.
It's like, oh, look at these barstool guys again.
Look at them going.
Jumping on.
I told you about Barstool.
I told you.
I told you.
And you guys know, I mean, look, this was not on Barstool at all.
No.
And I made sure, I tried to make sure that people knew that, that the news knew that.
Like, we are given liberty to publish our own work once we've proven ourselves there.
And I've been there for two and a half years.
For the first year that I was there, I had the training wheels on.
I had the editor-in-chief checking all of my work before it was posted.
And then I had been promoted basically to being a senior writer.
And for a year and a half, I put out thousands and thousands of pieces of content.
You're writing how many a day?
Four.
So he's writing four blogs a day.
So think about this.
I don't miss those days.
But you're doing, how many days a week are you working?
Every year.
Every day.
So what does that end up being?
Like 300 days a year or something?
Yeah, I don't, yeah.
It's five sevenths of three seconds a year.
There's no off day when you're doing like news media.
Like the point is.
The point is, it's about a thousand articles a year.
Minimum, a thousand articles a year.
Right.
You're one.
Dude.
There's one with blowback.
I mean, you've had other ones where people had negative opinions towards you, but it was never like, how could you?
Right.
Clearly, this was not your intent.
And what we've always said, at least on this show, is like, we're judging people based on their intent, not your interpretation.
It's easy to interpret this as you're a piece of shit.
Right.
In the article.
But clearly, if you knew that the person was dead, wouldn't you have mentioned it in the article?
It's obvious you didn't.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
You're expecting the vast majority of the artists.
I wasn't familiar with that.
I was not fancy at this story, but I think you should have got fired.
No.
I think you should.
I was in the text.
I don't.
Yeah.
Atash immediately defended.
Yeah, me and him were in a group chat going back and forth where I was like, clearly, I didn't want you to lose your job, but I'm like, I understand why Barcelona had to do what they did.
And he was like, I have no idea why they did what they did.
And I'm trying to explain something.
And he literally had no idea why.
I don't mean.
Billy Bush.
Do you remember when Billy Bush got fired because of the Trump Grab the Pussy thing?
I do.
Yeah.
It's like, what?
You didn't do anything wrong.
The girl was alive when you wrote it.
As far as I knew.
But you know what?
Let me tell you what I did wrong.
Okay.
I was lazy.
I could have read more and researched the piece more, and I would have seen signs that said, this is not looking good.
Don't touch it.
And I didn't.
And it was just a really careless thing that came off as wildly insensitive.
And if you actually break it down to a human level, you remember this is not a young woman who was a tabloid story.
This was a young woman with a family that had been going through the horrors of not knowing where she was for an entire week.
A community that was fucking bereaved and freaking out and anxious to all hours of the night.
And here I come, some comedian trying to profit off of it for the sake of laughs.
I mean, it's hard.
It's perverse in a way.
Is it though?
Isn't that what we do?
Well, it wasn't that funny.
That was my big issue with the article.
It wasn't funny.
But here's where I realized my question was: why would you write the article?
And now I hear you have to write four articles a fucking day.
So you're looking for the interesting story.
You're just trying to find something that I can write about.
Yeah.
And exactly.
And it was like...
With some connective tissue, right?
You saw the Caller Daddy thing.
You're like, okay, bro.
This comes back to Barstool.
Let me have a take on this.
Yeah.
That's exactly right.
And I'm not defending my decision.
I am.
I'm qualifying it.
I'm defending it.
Well.
But it's okay.
You don't have to.
You wouldn't have written it, though, right?
Oh, I'd definitely write a joke about it if she wasn't dead yet.
If in my mind, she's not.
I mean, I have a joke.
I have a joke about Bundy.
Yeah.
And I don't even want to get into it, but it's like pretty bad.
And they are all dead.
Right.
Do you know what I mean?
We workshopped this joke on this podcast.
Didn't we?
The Bundy one?
Not the Bundy.
But there's another element to it, which is that you have established yourself as a person who goes there and has, as I've said to you, has a mastery of delivering those jokes where even the most ardent, angry person can't help but see the humor in what they're doing.
And as Akash said, I mean, who knows?
If somehow I had made it funny, it's not a discussion.
Maybe it's not as bad.
I don't know.
Dude, maybe if it was humorous, they look at it like there's no possible way he could know that this person is dead.
Right.
And then, and maybe the fact that it wasn't, maybe the fact that it was quite literal, they were going, oh shit, look how evil this guy is.
Yeah.
Someone wrote, like, look.
Perfect storm.
The Washington Post and the Dead Spin were fine.
They were fair.
And then there was one guy at the Daily Beast.
I want to say that was the one.
That one was so insane.
Said that his title was Barcelon Sports Blogger Slut Shames, a murdered girl, or something like that.
It was Slut Shames.
And if you look at the blog that I wrote, no rational person would ever say that.
That's insulting to her.
To her.
That he said that.
Are you familiar with Daily Beast, though?
Not really.
So Daily Beast.
I don't know what they do.
Yeah, it's like they are the clickbait, BuzzFeed periodical of, I think, England, right?
Aren't they out of the UK or something like that?
You got something in the beard ringer.
Oh, my fault.
You're good.
So it's like they have to put the buzzwords in the title.
Fair.
So they're like, okay, what's a buzzword that could go a dead girl?
Slut shame.
Right.
Yeah.
I mean, and then in the article, you know, he goes back through work that I've written over the last two and a half years.
And I had written once a blog about how attracted I was to a fellow male co-worker.
And it was a whole fantasy piece about how I wanted to have sex with him.
I got a lot of those in a diary.
And he wrote, and he wrote that I was homophobic.
You liked your male coworker.
Yeah.
So this is the article I read.
And I read the excerpts he put out because the blog has been deleted.
I would love to get that, by the way.
I didn't see what was so fireable.
What was the thing that I'm like, oh, that's what I'm saying?
It was the choice to touch it at all.
It was off limits.
I honestly think if it was, if you, if, and, Andrew brought it up before, if you wrote that for any other publication, they're not firing you for that.
Because it happens literally every day.
Even if I had written a blog that was like, this girl's missing, if anyone knows where she is, report it to your authorities.
Let's hope she's okay.
Period end.
I don't even know if that, like, people would be like, why did you do that?
They wouldn't get fired.
But they'd be like, don't, don't fucking, what's that what we're doing here?
Yeah.
So it's like, if you're, if you're watching 2020 or like fucking one of them back in the day shows, like a current affair about like missing peoples or America's most wanted, whatever, like, you're not going to get mad at fucking, what's the guy's name?
John Walsh?
What was the fuck his name?
Danny Wall.
Oh, the guy who would do it at the end of the day.
Yeah, like literally, he makes a living off of this stuff.
And it's not just, oh, like, it's a missing person support.
There's always like a story that makes them relatable.
So like, oh, man, this could have been somebody you're friends with.
Like, that's what makes it a story.
That's what makes it a series.
Like, you don't fucking go shit on Joe Walsh or Jim Walsh, whatever the fuck the guy's name is for that kind of story.
But I just think, I honestly think it's the barstool name.
It's, you know, if it was anywhere else, they'd be like, oh, man, it's just fucking unfortunate.
And that's fair.
And if, you know, if that is the case, then Barstool still isn't to blame for me being fired because I have to know as an employee there that that's where I am and that I can't do certain things, you know?
As freeing as it was to write there and knowing you could kind of go as close to the edge as you possibly wanted more than anywhere else, there is a responsibility that comes with that, which says, like, hey, you know, if you go over the fucking line, they'll cut your toast.
And that's what happened to me.
So what do you think you do now, man?
You know, I want to say this.
You got a bit?
The whole...
Well, I am working on a bit about that, which was that I was fired on the way to meeting my girlfriend's parents for the first time.
Jesus shit.
I was on the train down to their lovely bucolic home in Pennsylvania.
And I walked in as everyone was already seated at the dinner table, a fired man with a story that I had to tell.
Why did you get fired?
Well, I tried to make light of a girl who had been kidnapped and murdered.
But no, you didn't know she was murdered, just kidnapped.
Right.
Yeah.
I didn't even know she was kidnapped.
You didn't?
Dude, I thought she was just...
When I saw no foul play suspected, that registered to me as she's gone off because she wanted to.
Oh, if you didn't even know she was kidnapped, then you're completely innocent in this whole thing.
They should have never fired you at all.
But I have.
You can't predict the future.
Fuck, they have to.
Now I'm really upset about this.
No, because then I saw, then I did see that they had changed the status from no foul play suspected to no comment.
Didn't you also write in the article that, like, how do they not suspect foul play?
Didn't you say that?
I didn't say that.
And I said, no foul play was suspected, which was looking good, but now they're saying this, and they're digging in the neighbor's backyard, and it's not looking good.
Well, all right, whatever.
It doesn't matter.
Let's go back to you telling your girl's parents.
So how did that happen?
So I sat down, you know, and I'm meeting her parents and her stepdad is a pilot.
So he plays the whole world by the book.
The guy is so by, you know, doesn't do anything.
He's looking for a provider for his daughter.
And he's just on time and a fucking Boy Scout.
And here I come, you know, fired and written about in every outlet.
And how did they, how did they take it?
They were pretty cool about it.
But for the sake of being on stage, I'll probably change that story.
Or maybe make them.
When they ask what you do for a living, hey, Francis, tell me about your job.
What'd you say?
You told him?
I said I was just fired, actually.
Yeah.
And why?
And, well, because I wrote a blog.
What could that have been?
Oh, wow.
And had to kind of get into the whole story.
So the thing I want to say, though, is this.
And I know you and I have had many conversations about this.
We live in this cancel culture.
Right.
This moment gave me hope.
It was encouraging to me because once I put out my statement and I told my story, the overwhelming response on the internet was forgiving.
People made it clear they were able to differentiate between my mistake and all these people who have come before me that we've canceled.
And I had the executive producer at the Ellen DeGeneres show tweeting kind of his forgiveness and support.
I had a writer at the New York Times, this woman who also said this is in tremendous apology, you know, good luck or whatever.
I mean, it wasn't the scalping that I thought I was going to walk myself into.
And that gave me hope.
Yeah.
Well, it's because you didn't do anything bad, in my opinion.
Like, let's say this girl just didn't call home for a little while and then she was found.
That article is completely fine, right?
I wondered about that.
What do you think?
You're fine.
You think if she turns up and there's, you know, she just was like camping for somebody?
I honestly don't even think if she gets found alive or dead or not.
I really thought it was just because it's a barstool article and it's, oh, here come these barstool fucks again, like not giving a fuck.
Like they already have the reputation that they have.
But if she doesn't die, right?
She just comes back and she was like, my bad, guys.
I was in Dubai.
I didn't know my phone.
I mean, it's not necessarily all.
All of a sudden, you're just a guy who wrote the article that was, I guess, accurate in this certain situation.
And you're not a piece of shit.
Nobody's upset because she's alive, right?
They're so happy that she's alive, they're not worried about your little article.
The only problem is, is that she ends up dead and you had no clue that she would be dead.
Right.
I mean.
Yeah, and you know what's crazy?
I wasn't even playing the odds.
It wasn't a coin flip to me.
I thought, because I made a fucking assumption, I had convinced myself she was alive and fine.
And that's where I went wrong.
Can you write an article about the Knicks management in front office?
Because I would love it if they were found dead.
That would be perfect.
If you could write your first blog about Perry, Mills, Dolan, and Fisdale.
That would be perfect.
I will happily write.
I'll have to just come up with my own fucking blog.
Independent Podcast Ventures00:02:21
Check me out at WordPress.
Stoolbar Sports.com slash Stoolbar Sports.
Yeah, there you go.
Yeah.
So what do you think's next, Francis?
Talk to us.
I'm going to start a podcast.
Good.
Good.
It's good.
Goodie.
I want to get all of you on it.
Please.
Hey, buddy.
It's going to be the four of us every episode.
And there we have.
This is my podcast.
And I'm thrilled.
We're all set up here.
We will support you.
You're welcome.
And, you know, I appreciate it.
Yeah, I'm going to start a podcast.
And I think a lot of people who loved hearing me on SiriusXM every morning with Willie and Large are going to be excited to tune in, I hope.
And I don't want to be seen as profiting from my demise at Barstool, but I just, this is what I do.
This is my job.
I'm a comedian, and I'm going to move forward and try to build things.
And I have no intention of switching industries.
Obviously, this was a huge blow, losing a tremendous job at a great company.
You'll be all right.
But that's what I'm going to do.
You weren't going to be at Barstool forever.
Yeah, you'll be all right.
You did your time.
You'll be fine.
Yeah, you put in your time.
Now you've got to find a way to harness all the fans and supporters that you made over there.
So podcast is good.
This is the guy I talked to.
This is Mr. Independent right here.
I know.
Let's talk.
He's a chance to wrap our heads.
Well, I do want to talk to you.
I want to talk to you about all the different vessels through which one can build a podcast.
Let's do it.
Yeah, we'll definitely have a talk.
But I agree.
I think the tricky thing, and we spoke about this.
He's busy, so you're going to have to.
Your schedule is wide open.
His not so much.
It's wide open.
I mean, they're only so nice this time of year.
So it's like, oh, how do I maximize my time on dad's boat?
The tricky thing really is, I think, and we had this conversation, is you straddling traditional industry and independent, an independent career path, right?
And both are still viable options for you.
I think you got out of this scandal pretty well.
Yeah.
To be honest.
Yeah, I just think we're in a time where people aren't just looking at headlines and being like, oh, fuck, get this guy out of here.
Like, people are actually starting to use their minds and be like, all right, well, you need the worst I could probably hear somebody saying is like, oh, it's just fucking unfortunate for that family and that girl to probably have to read that.
Pit Bull Breed Debate00:06:12
Nobody's like, I don't think anyone's like, this guy's a fucking piece of shit or anything like that.
This is not a pattern of my behavior.
Yeah, man.
I think.
You'll be all right.
No, I think you'll be fine.
I think you just got to figure out exactly what it is you want, what it is that you're going to do.
And I think it's got to be a compilation of both.
I don't think anybody can do like just traditional media.
I think they've got to do some independent stuff as well.
Totally.
And it's out there.
No better time to do it than now, man.
But yeah, but people, I mean, you didn't really fucked up.
Things were fucked up that happened.
And yeah, you are worried about the trauma that maybe was caused with the family.
You know what I mean?
I mean, who knows?
That family was probably trying to get a little bit of distraction from their missing daughter, probably reading Barstool articles.
Oh, Jesus Christ.
Oh, God.
Oh, man.
You know, this one fucking guy who cracks me up.
You know what I mean?
I love this guy.
He hates pit bulls.
I hate pit bulls.
There you go.
Yeah, I hope they weren't readers of mine.
Who knows?
That was sucked.
So while we're making enemies, why do you hate pit bulls so much?
No one hates pit bulls more than Francis.
I really like it.
When you first moved to New York, did you live around a lot of Puerto Ricans or something?
A lot of DMX videos growing up.
No, I was a huge Mike Vick fan growing up, and then all that happened.
Pit Bulls took him away from you.
We missed his prime.
Three years of his prime.
How many MVPs would he have won?
How many scrambled yards?
How many walks scrambled?
I had a red, authentic jersey when he played for the Falcons.
I spent all my raking money.
I would rake yards for my neighbors.
I spent all that money on buying that jersey.
And the moment I bought it, he went to prison.
Greatest video game character of all time, by the way.
Madden was like 27 or something.
Yeah, he lover.
Him and Bo Jackson and Tegbo Bowl, like the two most unstoppable fucking video game players that ever live or be made or whatever.
So do Pitbulls take Mike Vick from you?
They take him.
And you start to have a little disdain for these Pit Bulls.
And then, well, I started reading the statistics and it was pretty damning.
And then...
What are the statistics, just to fill us in?
The Philadelphia Children's Hospital.
I got this, bro.
Are you a Pit Bull owner?
Are there any Pit Bull owners in here?
If only you did this amount of research on Zero.
He's a journalist, too.
He's a journalist, goddammit.
Children's Hospital.
Philadelphia Children's Hospital did a study of all dog attacks on children for like a seven-year period from like, you know, 1999 to 2006 or something.
Okay.
And all the dogs.
I got it, son, I got it.
Go on.
Of all the violent dog attacks, 51% of them were from Pitbulls.
The next highest breed was Rottweiler's at 14%.
Wow, that's a steam drop-off.
And then it went to like 6% at like Doberman's, Dalmatians, whatever, down from there.
It was so lopsided.
How many golden retrievers were labs?
As far as I know, zero.
Wow.
It's almost like...
Those dogs are wonderful.
It's almost like there's certain dogs that are bred to be nice and pets and other dogs that are kind of bred to just eat people.
That's right.
That's children's faces.
Pit bulls.
And I had to.
I don't see how the pit bulls are raised, though.
Does it?
It does.
Dude.
I've seen some ugly ass pit bulls, bro.
Yeah, well, here we go.
Yeah, everyone can find a picture of an adorable pit bull.
You Google like a nice trainer in the fucking line.
That's the pit bull I did.
Just imagine a nine-year-old's face in between those teeth right there.
Yeah.
So I wrote this blog after an emotional support pit bull attacked a young girl in the Portland, Oregon airport.
And immediately the Pitbull lobby came after me.
And they were, I mean, they were more vicious than the dogs.
I don't know about that.
It's hard to be, but they were like threatening my life and all this.
And then I'm not kidding you, six months later, my dad, my mom, and our two delightful yellow labs, Milu and Rosie, were walking down the dock at the marina for a picnic on our boat.
And they passed a guy.
That's the widest sense.
I don't know how to talk about it.
It gets less.
No, no, sorry for you asking that.
So your mom, your mom and dad, who are still happily married.
Yep.
33 years.
33 years.
You and who else?
I wasn't there.
And our two dogs, Milu and Rosie, both yellow labs, and they're older yellow labs, 10 and 11, were walking happily down the dock.
And there was a guy in his boat.
And he had, I think, two pit bulls with him.
And one of them jumped out of the boat.
And the guy was like, wait, but it was too late.
And they latched, it latched onto Rosie's neck and bit down, and they couldn't get it detached.
And Rosie didn't know what to do.
She wasn't fighting back.
She was being mauled.
And my dad tried to push the dog off and it bit him through the webbing of his hand.
So Rosie had like 16 staples in her neck, and they had to put a drain in.
My dad had to get stitches all through his hand.
And it was almost like Pit Bulls had read my blog.
Honestly.
It was like, yeah, yeah, you're going to say it about us.
Well, we're going to do exactly what you think we're going to do.
And they fucking killed my family.
And I can show you guys the pictures of it.
It was insane to me.
It was so karmic.
And so that just completely reaffirmed every thought I ever had about pit bulls.
And that's why I don't like them.
So we should get rid of pit bulls is what you're trying to say.
No.
Make them illegal to be pets.
Guns And Neighborhood Safety00:04:28
It is a look.
I don't know where you guys stand on guns, but it is exactly the same fucking argument that we have about guns.
Sensible people, right?
Sensible pit bull reform.
Okay?
Okay.
I'll see where you're going with that.
Pit bulls.
So many of the owners refuse to get them neutered or spayed.
Right?
And in a lot of states, that's required.
A lot of cities, I think it's New York, it is.
But a lot of these places, they don't do it.
And something like some vast majority of the pit bulls that do commit these vicious attacks are unneutered, unspayed.
And if you did that, you are lowering, especially with the males, you are lowering their testosterone and you are making them a lot more docile.
And it's the same thing where it's like, okay, do we really need fucking people to be able to buy AK-47s and semi-automatic assault rifles?
It's almost like somebody should have a fucking like a screening to be like, hey, you probably shouldn't have a fucking machine gun.
Right.
Like the high caliber, whatever, the huge magazines bullets.
But do you think it's similar to a gun where like once you own one, you're like, oh, no, this is the shit.
It could be.
You want to hear, you know who's a huge fan of pit bulls?
Girls, Willie.
Girls, wow, I mean, it's women who jog at night.
Yeah.
It makes perfect sense.
For sure.
I bet they're a big fan of guns, too.
There was an article I wrote about.
Any girl who's not a fan of getting raped in a park is probably a fan of protection.
What girl would not want protection as she's running at night?
Right.
Right.
Well, why would you run at night?
Not trying to blame you, but like of all the times you could run, why the fuck do it at night in Central Park?
The answer to that is that some women's work schedules only permit them to run at night.
Oh, yeah.
What time are they waking up to work?
I don't know.
Maybe they work two or three jobs.
A woman.
Working two to three jobs.
Are you fucking mindful?
There are a lot of single moms out there.
I don't know where they are.
She is this girl you're describing.
She's working two to three jobs.
Two to three to get.
We're not going there.
Wow.
Dude, are you at the job?
It's only a lateral.
God damn.
Oh, my God.
Everybody.
But no, there's no way.
It's going to be a reality.
No.
Who has two to three jobs?
I don't know.
I was just like, the other argument is, like, well, why don't they run on a treadmill?
And it's like, well, they shouldn't have to do that.
The problem, of course, is with men who attack women who are jogging.
And that's absolutely true.
But having said that, because I covered this whole story.
If I don't want to get hit on, I don't go into a gay bar.
Now, it's not their fault.
Now, yeah, maybe they shouldn't, like, sexually harass me by grabbing my butt.
That being said, I'm increasing the proximity of my ass to guys who are going to grab it by walking into the game.
Hit on you.
Say again?
How many gay people hit on you?
I'm just giving the hypothetical, like...
Not enough for me.
I'm actually offended by a few.
Now, the hypothetical I'm giving you is that I'm putting myself in a position where that could potentially happen.
Unfortunately, Andrew, this does place the blame inherently on the women.
No, no.
It doesn't blame them for doing it.
The action is always the person who commits the crime.
What I'm saying is you're making a conscious choice to put yourself in a position where crimes get committed.
For example, if I'm walking around with my brand new Ferrari and I'm leaving the keys in a bad neighborhood and it gets stolen, what do people say to me?
That was stupid of you.
You shouldn't have done it.
But are you victim blaming me for, shouldn't I be allowed to park my car in any neighborhood I would like to park in?
Right.
No, my shit got stolen because I made a decision to park it in a neighborhood where shit gets stolen.
So your point is fair in what I would add to it is that even as a man and a larger man, I would not run through a bad neighborhood at night.
Gender be damned.
It's irrelevant.
Like, if you think that where you're running requires you to carry mace, don't do it.
Now, we're not victim blaming you.
We're protecting you.
We're trying to put, like, what would you tell your daughter?
International Player Bidding Wars00:05:48
It's very simple.
And I would ask women to do the same thing.
What would you tell your daughter?
Would you advise your daughter to run in the park at night?
If you found out your daughter moved to New York City, right?
You're about to have a daughter.
Yeah.
What would you tell her if she wants a little jog at night?
I got a treadmill at home.
Simple as that.
Why is it crazy when you give people advice to be able to do that?
I mean, we save their lives.
Obviously, people who think like us don't think like that.
Right.
You know what I'm saying?
Obviously, we would love to live in a world where I can park my car wherever.
A woman can wear whatever she wants, and there's no rapists.
But like, this is the world we live in.
Yes, we live in reality.
We live in a world where these things happen and we try our best to minimize damage.
And we also have to acknowledge, like, these people that are like rape and shit, these people are animals, right?
They're not human beings.
So they're not operating on the same empathetic level that we operate on, right?
So what do you tell people when there are animals around very similar to this pit bull situation?
Right?
Yeah, they're criminals.
Like, criminals.
Like, these are deranged people that will not abide by the structures of society.
So stop hoping that they will.
Right, exactly.
You're in a zoo.
You're in the fucking zoo.
Yeah.
So don't be surprised when the animals do fuck shit.
Basically, that's what it is.
Now, Francis, if you'll continue to join us, hopefully we've done some good PR for you.
Maybe we've ruined your career.
I might need to look at this.
You might need to.
It's fine.
But I think that we've got a lot of good sports stuff that we need to touch on, man, alive with this free agency.
Man.
A bunch of very interesting stories.
A whole lot.
One I'd like to touch on, which is a little bit odd, but I don't think it got enough or got enough buzz, but I was fascinated by it.
Nicola Miritich.
Four years on the million.
From Orlando.
Oh, no, no, no.
This is a different.
So Nicola Miritich played last year for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Yes.
Incredible season.
Was very effective on the Bucks.
Was looking to, I think this year, get a contract worth something like maybe $60 million.
$60 million.
Four years, $60 million, something like that.
Chooses to leave the NBA and play for Barcelona in Spain.
Got $80 million in Spain, tax-free.
Wait a minute.
American dollars.
And I did not know what he got off.
What was the offer?
Four years, $80 million tax-free in Spain.
See, that is fascinating.
That is fascinating that other countries are outbidding.
I thought he went because he didn't want to play with this American style.
He wanted to be a star.
I'm sure that figured into it, but it's like four years, 80 million tax-free.
That is literally $160.
That's like signing $150 million deal, exactly.
Enormous.
And just a quick side note: you know where this is nowhere is this more poignant than with women basketball players.
Oh, for sure.
They go to Russia.
Yeah.
And the oligarchs in Russia have this weird-eyed thing going where their favorite hobby is to buy women's basketball teams and spend as much money as they can.
And all the best WNBA players are going to go there because they're getting paid fucking orders of magnitude more than what they can make into the world.
They're dogfighting.
Yeah.
Well, Jesus.
Wow.
It is.
It really is.
Or like they're, what is it?
And it's cockfighting or whatever like that, right?
It's not the cocks.
Yeah, literally.
Yeah, it's just a fun little thing to watch them play.
Yeah.
And it is there, you know, it's no different than like having a yacht or it just becomes one of their luxuries in life because it's not female basketball players.
I also think there's part of it, which is there's a there's a little part of them that's going, I'm buying Americans.
Oh, interesting.
And I think that they know they can't afford to get the American male basketball players, but they do like the fact that these Americans need them, especially American women.
Like, because what do we do?
We buy their brides, right?
Oh, I mean, it's not like that.
We're going to cook up, oh, you guys are going to buy all our women?
All right, boom.
We're going to buy some of yours.
We're going to buy your best because you guys can't even afford to pay them what they deserve in America.
I think there's a little bit of that.
You're like the only person I know who could possibly have come up with that.
I don't know if that's a compliment.
I'm fascinated.
I'm going to Russia to do shows, by the way.
Shout out to Russia if any of you guys listen.
But I'm fascinated with Russia because I figured out why Russians got the hottest chicks in the world.
I put it together.
So, World War II, how many Russians die?
Tens of millions.
25 million minimum.
That's the rough estimate.
25 million minimum.
Didn't Stalin kill like 10 million of his own?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I think Stalin was responsible for killing tons of his own.
A bunch of them just freeze, et cetera.
But 25 million Russians die, right?
Now, these are Russian men.
Keep that in mind, right?
So now you have this massive surplus of women in the population.
Okay.
So any dude that makes it back from war has his pick of the litter.
And if he's not PTSD'd or alcoholic, et cetera, if he has any semblance of a job, he has 10 chicks.
I was speaking to a buddy of mine who grew up out there.
He said 10 chicks, minimum, like 10 women, minimum.
And they're willing to be on port.
So you have the hottest women on the planet, already very attractive, right?
And men who have their pick of whoever.
So you're just breeding with the hots.
The uglies die out.
So now you have two or three or four generations later, only the attractive, the most attractive of Russian women could get dick.
Right.
Only them.
So now these babies for the next three or four generations are just based on hot Russian pussy.
And now if you go on Instagram right now, you got a million different Russian Instagram model pages where they all have a million followers and they're the baddest bitches you've ever seen in your life.
Chinese Trust In NBA00:13:13
So I'll be there in September.
Wow.
Well, that's all that.
Alex, you ready, bro?
God damn.
I love that.
Now, what is the language like?
I mean, do they have bilingual comedy clubs?
And like, how does that work?
I don't know.
We're going to figure it out.
I'm just going to look at those stupid cathedrals they got with the pointy tips.
But you're performing, right?
Yeah, I'm going to do one show, and then the rest is just kind of like looking at shit.
That's pretty cool.
That's how you write off all your expenses?
I think I'll go for like four or five days.
That's great.
Or we'll go for like four or five days.
Hopefully, Alex can get in.
He is an international failure.
I was about to say, like, it might.
Okay, but not to die.
They didn't take your passport?
No.
Okay, cool.
But not to get too crazy or not to get too off topic.
I just find it interesting when players that could play in the NBA choose to play overseas.
Oh, somebody else did.
Josh Childers did that years ago.
Josh Childress was the first one to play in Greece, and I heard he got fucked over.
I heard they didn't even pay the whole thing.
Really?
And that is a problem in some of these countries.
Like, you go play in Turkey and they're like, oh, yeah, we got you.
$20 million.
And then that check doesn't get cashed.
Sean Livingston went over there, I think.
Oh, really?
I think after he went away.
Yeah, yeah, he did.
He went over abroad.
Sasha Vujic went abroad.
I mean, that's obvious.
Pat Bev went there for a little bit.
Barcelona.
Yeah, Barcelona.
Spain, you're good.
Spain, you're good.
But if you go to certain places, it can't get dicey.
You might not get paid.
Oh, for sure.
Well, the highest, I thought I was under the impression the highest market was in China.
I was about to say, I just hosted the thing for Slam about Stefan Marbury about how much money he made over in China.
And they are basketball.
Almost probably to the same effect that you with Russian women and how they love men's basketball and shit like that.
Like, he's like Jordan over there.
Yeah, but he made way more money over there than he did.
Business-wise, not his contracts.
But he would be paid 90% of the team's salary.
Right, right, right.
He was a superstar.
He was the only face in China that anybody cared to go see.
And then Jimmer Ferdette spent a long time over there, too.
It's interesting because.
Why don't Nate Robinson do that?
Dude, he should.
He would get paid.
I think he's still got dreams of being over here.
A lot of people.
Literally, any NBA player with any name could go over to China and make tons of millions of people.
Dude, especially if you learn some of the language.
Sometimes I'll watch these YouTube videos of black guys that speak Chinese or Japanese speaking to Japanese people and surprising them.
And it's just the best.
Like with Kawhi?
They can't believe it.
They cannot believe black guys that are fluent.
They cannot believe that the black guy speaks.
And at first, they're like a little nervous and they're like, how do you know that?
It's not even because it's not for black people in China, more so than just being good at basketball.
They just don't see black people at all over there.
So when they go over there, one of my boys over there went to go play in China and they just come up to you and touch you and touch your face.
Like, oh my God, I never, you know what I'm saying?
So it's almost like you're a fucking, you're an attraction.
You're a celebrity.
You're not being there, especially if you're already famous.
I'm curious as to why they can't play defense against guards.
Like, China makes decent tall guys, right?
They make decent power forwards.
And some of them have had somewhat success in the league.
Not tons of.
Yeah, like big.
Gao is obviously the biggest one, but they've had other power forward type players that can play that kind of like stretch four, right?
I even stretch five.
But for whatever reason, the guards-I don't know if it's genetic, I'm not sure what it is.
They just cannot keep up with these American washed athletes.
Like Bonzie Wells goes over there.
Bonzie Wells couldn't score 10 points a league and then 10 points a game in the league.
Goes over there and is dropping 60 points a game.
Bonzi, you know, he does well.
There's the athletes who don't really understand the game here.
Bonzi, good athlete, low basketball IQ.
Steph, good athlete, low basketball IQ.
No, Steph had decent.
Steph had good IQ.
Steph had good basketball.
I think he just started to lose his athleticism.
Steph's one of those guys that like.
I never thought he was.
I think he lost a little bit of athleticism and he just kind of lost.
Well, that's only because I saw the documentary.
He just lost the love of the game.
He's one of those guys where he had 41.
Like 41, you're busting these guys' ass.
T-Mac went over there, right?
I don't know.
I don't think so.
Not that I know.
I think he did.
They just loved him because he played for the Rockets.
Yeah.
Oh.
Yeah.
He had those Rocket, like those Chinese jerseys that they made for the Rockets.
He was like huge sellers or whatever.
Anyway, it's an interesting thing when the international market starts to scoop up legit NBA players.
That's happening.
And especially now where social media and internet's so prevalent that there's going to be a lot of guys probably this year.
Once the free agent market clears up and there's nowhere for them to go, they're like, fuck, I'll go make a quick 30 million for one season in China.
So how long is it until we have a Champions League version of basketball?
I think 10 years at least.
I think it'd be a while.
Really?
What do you mean?
So Champions League in soccer is the best teams of each separate division in Europe, right?
So like the best teams in Spain, a couple of them.
Four teams in Spain from the previous season, top four in England, top four in France, top four in Holland.
They'll all compete in their own league, right?
So I could see in maybe not the near future, but let's say 10 years, the best, let's say, two teams in the NBA, two teams in Spain, you know, two teams in who else has a decent basketball?
Well, China.
Israel.
Israel, Argentina, that's right.
Maybe even Brazil.
Like, what if we had a fucking tournament?
It didn't even have to be.
Like a FIBA Cup.
Well, I'm going to say this.
It's kind of like the FIBA World Cup, but I guess you're talking about club teams.
Yeah, with club teams.
It's a great way to grow the game.
It'll take a minute.
It'll take a minute.
I think 12 years, 10, 12 years.
There need to be more of an Exodus from the NBA.
And not only that, but like, okay, if you compare it to the Olympics, like, why was the U.S. basketball team so dominant for so long?
Well, it's because American players were the best.
But only when we saw players like Paul Gasol and really flocking home and taking it seriously to play for their national team, could those other teams actually hold a candle to America?
Because the dream team made that happen.
They've never even seen players like that until 1992.
And then years later, you ask all these international guys, when was the first time you saw basketball?
Oh, the dream team.
Dream team.
You know what I mean?
So that's kind of what happened this week with baseball.
They sent the Yankees and the Red Sox over to fucking London to play games over there for the first time.
They staged that game.
Stage that shit.
They got before the Yankees fucking smacked 14 home runs and shit.
That's insane.
Did you see that?
Did you give it like 12, 14 years?
I was in London, and the game, I think the final score was like 17, 13.
Beat the shit out the Red Sox.
Wow.
Beat the shit.
But it was a good, like, both teams put up crazy numbers.
It was the perfect display of baseball.
All the fans got foreign markets.
All the best balls that got fucking home runs to take home.
Drop balls and ground rule doubles and all that type of shit.
In like 10, 20 years, you're going to see like a huge top prospect coming from over there and be like, the first time I saw baseball was like going to see the Yankees and Red Sox.
Yeah, you need to get it out there.
Yeah.
Just get it out.
That's how it always happens.
I mean, that's what baseball is trying to do, man.
They're falling behind with the NBA and the NFL and everybody else being an international game.
I mean, they've got to figure out something because...
America's pastime doesn't mean much right now.
You're literally a pastime.
Okay, what else?
I mean, there's been so much free agency shit, so maybe we could just do a rundown ever in free agency.
It was unbelievable.
The decision was crazier because we'd never seen it before.
Yeah.
The super team.
Yeah.
But this was just unreal activity.
So let's go to the other thing I think shocked all of us, which was D'Angelo Russell going.
D'Angelo Russell is a fucking Warriors.
I heard he's getting traded.
Then the next day it got reported they're not they don't want D'Angelo Russell.
They just didn't want to lose KD for nothing.
So they were like, let us get somebody we can trade for something else.
Wow.
Okay.
Savvy move.
So this guy is good.
Meyer, is that his name?
Bob Myers?
Bob Myers.
This guy is fucking sharp, man.
This is the difference between the Knicks and an actually classy, intelligent organization.
I don't even think it's that.
I think it's when you have a player of value and you treat them well and you have a good relationship with that.
Yeah, we don't have a player that good that could be like, okay, we could have figured out something to do with that, but we didn't.
And you could have had a player of value.
Traded them.
No, you just didn't offer him the mechs.
We just didn't offer the Max.
That's what KD.
We could very easily, very easily had KD.
And we could have traded him.
That's the other thing.
We could have gotten KD for the Max and then traded him halfway through the season.
What I thought was going to happen with KD was I thought that the Warriors were going to sign him.
And I wasn't the most wrong.
I thought the Warriors were going to sign him.
I thought, give him the Super Max.
And then he was going to stay halfway through the season.
And the Warriors were going to tell the Knicks which guys they wanted them to draft in one-year deals.
And then halfway through the season, they were going to do the swap.
I heard about that.
I heard something about like a delayed signing trade or some shit like that.
Now, the problem with this is executing these things.
Teams talk about this all the time with each other.
They got to trust you.
They can't trust the other team.
They got to trust him.
Well, what has to happen is you need to get Dolan.
And who owns the Warriors?
Lake?
No, Lacum.
Lake, Joe Lacob.
So he's going to be hiring KD's number, by the way.
We'll get to that in a second.
I want to get a fucking scumbag.
Exactly.
Exactly.
I want to cost Jersey in the routers.
For your fucking Achilles.
That's okay.
Exactly.
Exactly.
I can't wait to see if Dev Draft finally has his fucking tell-all and finally says how he really feels about that shit.
I got good insider information.
I got good insider information.
They did exactly what I told y'all motherfuckers they did.
Forced his ass to go on out there, lied to him about the injury, put tons of fucking pressure.
But I digress.
What were we just talking about?
Oh, the sign of trade, right?
Delayed sign of trade with the Knicks.
So you basically need Dolan and Lakum to get on the phone and go, we're both doing this, right?
Yeah.
Like, you and I, this is a handshake agreement, but this is real.
And the problem is, it's very rare that you can get two owners to have that conversation.
It's worse.
Or to hold their work or to hold their work.
I was with fucking Ian Begley just before I was shooting this shit.
And he was basically like, the Knicks never even got a meeting, bro.
It was between the Knicks and it was between Knicks.
I wanted KD to go to the Knicks.
I can't believe I wanted you guys to be happy.
I wanted KD to go to the Knicks.
I was like, the best case scenario, Kyrie goes to Brooklyn, KD goes to the Knicks.
Exactly what I said.
Tank for another year.
Get another great draft pick.
Barrett will be better by the time KD's healed up.
You have another draft pick ready in the wings.
You got Mavs picks.
You're set the fuck up.
Kaz has sources.
Everybody says KD's going to the Knicks.
I thought it was locked up.
I was excited for y'all.
I'm like, yo, it's happening.
Put money on this if you want.
And then they didn't.
I want to put money on it.
From people that I talked to that.
He did put money on it that he wouldn't go.
Really?
I want $100.
And I want $100 from a guy who represents players in the league who really thought that he was going to the Knicks.
I knew it was literally.
It was the one thing that everybody had written in the stars.
Like, oh, yeah, he's definitely going to the Knicks.
But it's Dolan, and it is the most damning evidence that that motherfucker needs to sell with.
Fish rots from the head down.
You don't get rid of Dolan.
You don't change the financials.
The pitch worked.
That's the sad thing about it.
The New York pitch worked.
They just didn't want to play for that New York team.
And honestly, I blame DeAndre.
And I don't blame DeAndre because DeAndre is just like a message.
He went in there and was like, this is what happened.
This ain't it.
This is what he said.
Yo, New York is the greatest city.
So if you could play here, do it.
But if you could not play for the Knicks, do that too.
Do that too.
Oh, wow, there's a Nets team?
Oh, yeah, let's go over there together.
Motherfucker took less money.
It's just.
You know who set this in motion a decade ago is Jay-Z.
New York is there for the taking.
This motherfucker saw it.
15 years ago.
Why did he get bought out?
I think he sold his shares.
They sold his shares.
When he formed Rock Nation, he couldn't legally conflict of interest.
I have missed a lot of the free agency stuff.
Were you busy doing something else?
I have been busy with my own things.
Where's Kawhi going?
Kawhi was still on the street.
I'm on the side, leaning heavily toward the Lakers.
Where Kawaii stand?
I don't know for a fact, but this is my assumption.
I think that Kawhi's uncle, who's been doing most of the Behind the scenes stuff.
Uncle Dennis is actually a shrewd, I think he's a shrewd business person.
He's just sloppy because he's new to it.
So I think what these meetings are that are happening now are him living up to his word.
I think Dennis spoke to the Lakers.
He spoke to these different teams.
He spoke to the Clippers and he said, hey, I'm going to give you guys a meeting with Kawhi.
And I told you that before we won the championship, and I'm going to live up to that.
But what happens is he goes into the meeting, they pitch Kawhi, and then he finds a way to politely say, listen, you guys did a great job.
This is a great state, but we like where we are right now.
He's never gotten that experience, I think.
I think Kawhi.
I don't think Kawhi's ever been recruited in his life.
Harvard Admissions Quotas00:14:46
Right.
He wants to feel it.
Everybody wants to feel like that.
Because even if things don't work out in Toronto, you want to be like, man, remember that fucking pitch with the Lakers a couple years ago?
Boom.
Wouldn't mind that.
You know, like, you still got to pitch these.
People always think like because if you lose a pitch, you lose a free agent that one summer that you lose them forever.
You know what I'm saying?
Like, you need to be able to give them that reassurance.
Like, yo, things don't work out in two or three years.
We got assets.
We'll make some happy new here.
It's great.
You know what I mean?
I get it.
I remember when I left an agency, it was fun hearing the agents pitch or the manager's pitch.
It's fun walking into the room, letting them sell you all PowerPoints and shit.
I've had to pitch motherfuckers.
I was recruited for lacrosse.
Really?
By all the schools.
And did they offer some pussy up like in He Got Game?
No, you all players be taking that shit, son.
They offered us canoe paddles with our names engraved on them.
The one thing that I remember Dartmouth did was they had a picture of a Dartmouth player celebrating.
It didn't get whiter and then on the back, they had superimposed my name, Ellis.
And then they put my high school number, which was 16.
And then they were like, we want you.
And I was like, Dartmouth is cool.
I was sold by that.
I thought that was cool.
So then why'd you choose Harvard?
That was a way better school.
There you go.
I mean, way better, incrementally better.
Harvard versus Dartmouth's admissions, like they're separately.
I got an injury in Dartmouth.
I'm fucking losers.
You did?
Yeah.
For what?
I don't know, bro.
I just sent an application on a whim.
Wait a minute.
I thought Dartmouth is a.
It's not one of the more elite ones.
How many are there?
Yale and Harvard are like.
Princeton, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale.
Cornell.
Columbia.
You've had Princeton.
Yale, Columbia, Brown, Penn.
Dartmouth, and then Cornell.
Cornell's the worst.
Cornell's a piece of shit, dude.
Really?
It's a piece of shit.
Now, are there better schools that are not Ivies?
A thousand percent.
For example, well, Stanford is like right up there with Harvard, Princeton, and Yale.
Okay.
But then all the NESCAC schools.
The what?
NESCACs, like New England Small Colleges, Athletic College?
Like Amherst?
Amherst, Williams, Bowden, Colby, you know, those are better schools than Cornell.
And then beyond that, if you get into University of Chicago, that's a way better school.
Probably some of the state schools.
UFA is supposed to be real good.
Michigan?
Yeah, Michigan, Michigan, absolutely.
People respect you.
The Ivy's is just like the ACC, the Big 12, the Ivy League.
It's just sports shit.
It's a compliment.
But they're all old school, so they have a lot of prestige.
And some of them are fucking Princeton is incredible.
Harvard is incredible.
Yale's incredible.
And then the rest are, they're good.
Like, Brown is good.
Brown's really good.
Brown is a very good school.
Brown, Penn with Wharton, some of the, like, depending on their, you know, graduate schools, those are like.
When I was the basketball child, though, this is like a lot of people.
Which college are you going to go to?
I went to a little tiny ass college nobody's heard of called Austin College.
It's not even an Austin.
I've never to Austin College.
No, it's not that one.
Like an Howard in Dallas.
You weren't there if you were pre-made, basically.
Berkeley's a better school than Dartmouth.
Berkeley's a great school.
He's got real and probably Dartmouth.
There's a lot of hair.
USC.
USC is good.
I think USC is a better person.
I'd rather go to USC academically for prestige than Cornell.
What about which one is better, Princeton or Harvard?
It depends on what you're evaluating them on.
Which one accepts more Chinese?
Got to be Harvard.
They got Jeremy Lynn.
Yeah, but Harvard's now under a lot of pressure.
They're in big trouble right now.
They're being too many Chinese.
That's not enough.
They're not enough.
Not enough?
Yeah.
They're Asian American.
Yeah, because here's what happened.
And this is a fascinating topic, and I am excited to get your opinions on this.
So let them in.
Here's what's happening at Harvard.
The Asian American students, and I think in representing Chinese students abroad as well, but I could be wrong about that, are suing Harvard and specifically the admissions committee because Harvard put a quota on the number of Asian and Asian American students that they would admit.
Because they said we need to do this in the interest of diversity.
We could fill our entire incoming class with Asian American students with perfect board scores, perfect grades, the most brilliant kids you've ever met.
But that would be boring.
We want a tapestry of race and background and ethnicity and all of this.
And it's interesting because not only did the white students, of course, come to the defense of Harvard's admissions committee, but so did the black students.
So did the Indian students.
So did all the other races other than Asian.
So on one hand.
When you say quota, you mean like a cap.
Like you can't go more than this.
Yes.
Right.
And the Asian students are saying, well, the admissions committee should be blind to race.
It's racist of them to target us and limit us because we're too good.
And then everyone else is saying, well, we need to protect racial diversity and limit you because of us.
So this goes back to my point, which is nobody cares about diversity.
They just care about opportunity and access to resources.
Because the second you got to give up a little bit of something for diversity, it's like, whoa, that's racist.
So the idea is always, hey, white people, you guys just got to be diverse.
And then when non-whites have to be diverse, it's wait a minute.
We earn this shit through hard work.
And the Asians are put in this position because obviously they're better at school than anybody else.
It's without a doubt.
They're the best at school.
We'll throw you guys in there as well.
Yo, son, I was getting a lot of time.
You're Asian.
I was getting tired over here.
You're Asian adjacent.
You're Asian adjacent.
Let's get out of that context.
They're Indian adjacent.
Who got a nuclear weapon?
Us too.
I bet.
So y'all get to be your own sign motherfucker.
You got to keep them in check.
But the reality of the matter is, is now, and we look at this in Hollywood all the time.
Like everybody's like, we need diversity.
We need diversity, diversity, diversity.
And then people are like, well, wait, should Tyler Perry movies be more diverse?
They're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, what do you mean?
That's absurd.
We created this only thing, et cetera.
So again, it's access to resources.
And I don't blame anybody for wanting access to resources.
Everybody wants to keep theirs.
Republicans want to keep their money.
Democrats want to get somebody else's money.
Why not?
It's just a fight for resources.
They're really not that crazy.
I think that Harvard's not being that honest, though.
Because I spoke to a guy who went to Harvard.
He's a teacher at Harvard.
And he also has a book out called, oh, fuck.
He wrote a few books.
I'm going to get it.
And he met his wife, who I think was also a teacher at Harvard, who's Asian.
He was a white guy, but his wife's Asian.
And he had something to say.
I can't say his name.
Do you know what he taught?
I'll tell you afterwards.
But I have to promise you.
He told me to tell me this off the record.
And this is what was, and he has an Asian wife.
Keep this in mind.
But he goes, I think they're restricting Asian enrollment because, how do I phrase this and the way he said it?
He said it was off the record.
Yeah, this is off the record, but I'm not going to say his name.
He just said he has a book in an A. We've drawn a few roadmaps to this guy.
Yeah.
So it's probably best you don't remember the name of the book.
Yeah, I'm not going to say that.
So he basically said, how do I say it?
Harvard is in the interest of accepting people that could potentially go on to do like groundbreaking things, right?
To do groundbreaking things, change the world, be these thought leaders and world leaders, essentially.
And he goes, the issue with Asian Asians and Asian Americans is often that they achieve elite status in school and then go on to be lawyers, doctors.
Do regular shit.
Be great at, be very good at these good jobs, but they don't exceed past that.
They're not going to be the head of a tech company.
They're not going to be.
The president.
There are a lot of Andrew Yangs out there.
Right, exactly.
Right?
So it's like.
Isn't that more racist, though?
Well, here's the thing, right?
So the way an elite institution like that is going to look at things, they're going to look at data.
Right.
And they're going to go, okay, who is changing tech right now?
Who is changing what it calls Silicon Valley?
Who is changing what's outside of tech?
I mean, who's like, who are the thought leaders of our generation?
All these different things.
Who are the people that actually influence the world and doing that?
And he broke it down to almost a cultural thing, which is there is something communal within the Asian culture that makes you go, I shouldn't go out here and be better than everybody else.
I should do, I should obviously succeed and I should do well, but putting myself ahead of my community and my people would be a disrespect to that community.
Whereas the Western philosophy is often, I got to get mine.
I mean, that's capitalism versus.
So to bring it home so it seems less whatever, you can, Scottish culture, you've told me is kind of similar.
Whereas like your mom had to, like, they look down on her a bit for trying to achieve.
How dare you think you're better than your people?
How dare you think you're better than being a working class, you know, factory person?
And it might not be as pronounced in these other cultures, but that is a thing that sometimes exists in cultures.
Yeah, 100%.
But I thought it was a fascinatingly honest and pragmatic approach to admissions, which was, yo, we want the people that are going to be billionaires so they could keep donating to this institution so we could keep on having that rep. And if we just have a bunch of guys who end up being good dentists, 100,000 heirs.
100,000 heirs, it's not going to make Harvard.
Well, and then that becomes, we want the people who will donate the most money back to the school to preserve a $40 billion endowment.
Back to what I said earlier, which was access to resources.
Access to resources.
I'm just curious your take on it.
Do you think that there could be that?
Look.
There's that conspiratorial.
I would have to see.
I mean, if that's coming from that guy, if he's seen the numbers, then maybe.
It's so hard to know.
It's like, I can't imagine a world where there aren't Asian people running massive businesses.
I thought, that thought never occurred to me, that Asian Americans weren't running Silicon Valley corporations or making massive advances.
I'm sure we could all go and Google right now and find plenty.
Yeah.
But the percentage of, or like how successful and amazing Asians are in school and their acceptance rates to these different things for how small their population are and the ones, I guess, that end up coming out of them to be able to do that.
It doesn't translate as directly.
Yeah.
And the fact that we're sitting here right now probably kind of struggling to figure out, like, we could name a couple Indian CEOs for Google that have been current CEOs, Indian.
Right.
I mean, my thing is this, though, like, there's not a whole lot of, like, dumb Asians out there.
But that's not.
They don't exist in dumb.
Yeah.
They do not.
They are by far the best in society.
The starting point is so much higher for them.
So it's like, you know, I always, you know, clearly I don't know a ton of Asians, but like I watch a lot of movies and I see like, oh, you know, whatever.
You know what I mean?
So a lot of those movies are like, oh, you know, a lot of times the Asian doesn't do like the traditional Dr. Lawyer thing.
I'm a comic.
I'm a this.
I'm a that.
Right.
And they almost get looked down upon for doing that.
Same pressure you have as Nigerian, I think.
Yeah, yeah.
Same shit.
But like for them, it's like, well, if the start and if the starting line's so much higher, wouldn't that push other people to kind of like get on their level?
Or does it not work like that?
What do you mean by push other people to that's what I'm saying?
Like if the fucking, if the bar is set so high that they push, you know, if regular fucking achievement is just like everyone makes a half a million dollars a year, like minimum because they go to Harvard, wouldn't that just push everybody else to strive for a higher?
100%.
If like, you know, if they just like, fuck it, we're just going to take the best people, whatever, right?
And it's just mad fucking Asians, but they're just so fucking good, everybody else has to step their game up just to catch up.
I think doesn't that work better than just...
You're making the conservative argument against affirmative action.
Okay.
Which is, and I'm not saying that's wrong, but which is the idea that like, hey, here's the problem with the argument, right?
Is that like that argument hinges on level playing ground.
And the reason why affirmative action exists is because oftentimes the playing grounds are level.
Sometimes you don't even have a playing ground.
Yeah, I was about to say, like, that was my rebuttal.
So for black people.
Of course.
So when we look at Asians, right, we look at them as a minority and oftentimes give them the same situation that blacks have, right?
So a lot of times minorities benefit from the black experience because people go, well, black people are minority and they have disadvantages.
Indians aren't white, so they must have disadvantages like black people.
Asians aren't white.
They must have disadvantages like black people, right?
But in reality, Asians and Indians are coming from two parent households.
Often in America, we got to...
Like the disenfranchisement is very different.
For two parent households, educated parents often doing incredible, like two Indian doctor parents having kids that they're intimately involved in have a way better chance at succeeding, at least on the collegiate level, than anybody from a single parent, regardless of race.
And maybe, you know, maybe Harvard is like this really small example of how we have to look at privilege outside of just your skin color, but rather the situation that you're born into.
Yeah, I always thought affirmative action makes the most sense socioeconomically based.
Not that poor black people have it worse than poor white people, blah, blah, blah.
But like, I think a poor white person had a tougher legs than Jaden Smith.
Oh, 100%.
You know what I mean?
100%.
And some people won't acknowledge that.
Like, DJ Envy wouldn't acknowledge that to me when I was on the Smith's got it better.
That was my example.
And he was like, nah, not really.
I was like, wait, how many Jaden Smiths are there, though?
Sure.
But I guess the issue is like...
That's why I think I'm not saying there's more.
It's not about the number of rich black people.
I'm saying if you look at it socioeconomically as opposed to by race, then there are, you're still getting the black people who are in unfortunate circumstances.
Privilege And Affirmative Action00:05:43
You're just also getting, you're not leveling it, like screwing out.
I would get it over a white person who's poor in a trailer park.
I shouldn't.
Or think about it as the.
You made decent money for a long time.
What if you're looking at it as an institution, you're Harvard, right?
And you got the opportunity.
Let's say CAS, right?
You got a $1,600 on your SAT, but you had both parents in the household, educated parents, well off.
You had access to tutoring, all this shit, right?
And then let's say you had this kid Francis, right?
Who was actually an orphan, grew up in foster care, started living on his own at 16, manages to get the same 1600.
Jimmy Francis, how the fuck did he overcome all that shit to get a 1600?
Imagine I give you some resource and opportunity.
You're going to blow this shit out of the water.
Yes, you happen to be this white kid, right?
And you happen to be a black kid, but your circumstances might have provided you with way more privilege.
And then you could flip it.
I want the black kid that has one parent that got the 1600, not the white kid.
But the thing is, the thing is with that, though, especially in America, most times the white kid who has, you know, who's come up in whatever situations that was not as ideal and still managed to get the 1600 isn't that it doesn't occur that often.
You know what I mean?
Like, especially in a system that America is like, where damn near every black person at one point started off behind the fucking starting line, not even on a starting line, like on the fucking bench.
You know what I'm saying?
Like where, whereas a lot of white folks, when you're white in America, you at least get to start at the finish, at the starting line.
You're a pessimistic view on black America in 2018.
No, no, no.
I'm saying in 2019.
He's saying historically, like redlining.
Historically.
Right, but we're in 2019 right now, right?
So I understand that, but you have a lot of black families that grow up and they make 16.
Of course, absolutely.
But I'm saying like just in the way America was shaped.
Sure.
And the system, the systematic oppression of it.
But he exists where we are now.
Of course.
I'm not saying you're wrong.
What I'm saying is systematically, white folks, a lot of white people, didn't have the same disadvantages.
Nobody's denying that.
And that's why it was really important, affirmative action.
That's why these things exist in the first place.
I think that's why we have so much support.
What we're now saying is we've come into a situation where you have black kids that are raised in these families that have a lot of stability, a lot of money.
They own houses.
It's not like redlining is stopping them from owning a house.
They're passing down wealth from generation to generation, right?
Yeah, but like the generation, maybe like one generation.
Sure, there's a lot of white people.
This is their first generation American.
That's what we're saying.
Not like all white people have been here forever.
No, I'm not saying that.
If what I'm saying is the case, which is based socioeconomically, we're not, the idea is not to leave out poor black kids.
Yeah, the idea is to look at the income as opposed to, and that way, like, I think you seem to have a pretty decent life.
So I would think you would need less affirmative action than I was a big brother, big sister.
I was a big brother to a white kid in a trailer park in Texas.
Like, this kid was, it was fucking hopeless.
You go to the trailer park just as mom, smoking, chain smoking cigarettes.
I don't know what happened to this kid.
You know, I need you some help.
I think to your examples of the well-educated black kid versus the poor white kid orphan, those two people are not vying for the same spot.
It's not him versus me.
It's the white, the poor white kid who made it out of trouble versus the wealthy white kid who has the strong board scores.
And Harvard does take that into account.
Interesting.
And they will always, absolutely, admit the perfect board score black kid.
But they're not leaving him out in favor of the kid from worst socioeconomic background.
Do you know what I mean?
Yep, that makes sense.
They take all that into account.
And that's something that came out and drove people fucking insane when we read about all of the college admissions scandal stuff with the recruiting where parents were paying off coaches.
And then by extension, you know, the Baron Trumps of the world were having gymnasiums named after them, and therefore, based on the $2 million gift, their applications were going to the top of the pile.
You're a legacy student.
Yeah, that bothered people in a big way because there was preferential treatment based on financial means to white kids.
You're not judging how high a thing you can touch, right?
So if you want to judge vertical leap, you have to judge how far from the ground your feet end up at the top of your jump, right?
Not what part of the wall you can touch with your hand.
Because if you're 7'7, if you're 7'7, it's easier to grab.
It's easier to touch something.
But if I'm 6'6, it's more impressive that I'm fucking up.
That's right.
So, and the metaphor works like that.
So the white kid who grows up with money and legacy in America is 7'7, right?
So he's touching that 10-foot rim easy.
Easily.
But his vertical leap does not have to be as much to touch it, right?
The black kid or the Indian kid or somebody who's went through a lot might be 6'6.
So he has to jump higher to get there.
And if I'm an organization, I'm judging vertical leap.
I might judge, I might want that 5'8 white kid who found a way to touch that 10-foot fucking rim somehow being 5'8.
Indigenous Reparations History00:09:26
So if we start just looking at circumstance rather than just skin color.
Yeah.
I think the thing is with that, what gets factors into that a lot is that, you know, America a lot of times have given to indigenous people, have given them their sort of, I guess, for lack of a better term, their reparations as far as like land and money and all this other shit.
Casinos.
Casinos, all that out of the shit.
Many people that have, you know, literally bled for this country and be like, and the government collectively saying, hey, kind of fucked up what we did.
Here's some shit.
You know what I mean?
Like almost every nationality of people in America that has had that happen to has had some sort of reparations before that.
No, Native Americans fucked it up for black people, yo.
Because if they actually, if they did something with the reparations, then I think that the argument would be made.
What fly cases?
They put the casinos into the ground, then they had to hire some Jews to actually get them out of the ground.
But like they literally gave them land.
They said, here's a printing press of money.
And they somehow managed to bankrupt these fucking casinos.
So I think initially the reaction to reparations from that is, whoa, we got to be careful with just giving people printing presses because oftentimes you could lose money on a printing press.
So if they had, let's say the Native American community, after getting to casinos, managed to fucking flourish and reverse all these horrible stereotypes.
But it's not about giving them that.
Let's say, for example, let's say they did.
All of a sudden, that would be the proving ground for why reparations are so effective.
To me, I don't think it's about like a government giving Native Americans any type of money and be like, oh, see, you fucked it up.
We can't do it anymore.
It's more about the government and Americans being like, hey, we cool now?
Doesn't matter what you do with it, what you not do with it.
That's a good thing.
It's not stupid.
That's stupid.
It's not stupid, especially when this country was built on a lot of blood, sweat, and tears from black people.
And they haven't.
There's been no type of, yo, our bet, not even a formal our bad.
Dude, there is.
No, there hasn't.
Not from America.
No, there never has been.
There's never, there has never been.
There has never been an official document saying like, yo, our bad for slavery.
Ever.
Dude, what about like the third?
I mean, the 13th Amendment.
Outlawing slave.
Yeah, you outlawed it.
But like, okay, for example, and I watched a show on the shop on HBO.
Yeah.
Seth Rogan was talking about, yo, I was doing a comedy show on an Indian burial ground or whatever, and it was like a lot of people.
They'd be carrying their people everywhere, bro.
That should be noisy.
I know.
It's like everything's a burial ground for these people, man.
So they said that, and he was like, yo, before the show even starts, like every time they started, like the fucking, the guy who owns the venue or somebody from the, you know, gets on the microphone, like, hey, I just want everyone to acknowledge that this is the Indian burial ground.
And, you know, and they just have a moment of silence and then they continue on with the fucking show.
But here's the thing with that.
I don't think they had like cemeteries.
I think wherever the person died, they just put them in the ground.
Exactly.
That's why everything's an Indian.
They know why they died, though.
They know why they died.
And it's just the acknowledgement of it.
Just the acknowledgement of it.
Whether it be monetarily, whether it be fucking...
What would that do for you?
It doesn't matter what it does.
What it would do for us.
Fighting a war is acknowledging it?
It wouldn't be.
The Civil War was like, yo, this is fucked up.
We're willing to have a million Americans die so that this doesn't happen.
So shit's been cool for blacks ever since the Civil War.
You asked for acknowledgement.
You didn't ask for cool.
I'm talking about what you're asking for.
Right?
I mean, having you have multiple presidents come out, Prett Lincoln, for the first part, come out saying the evils of slavery.
Yeah.
And why we're going to end it.
That's acknowledgement.
For you to say that it hasn't been acknowledged at all, it's just historical.
You know, it sounds like you ever get a fight with your girl and she knows she fucked up, but she won't just admit it.
It's like, no, I need you to say I'm sorry.
Yeah, yeah, but we've been.
And maybe it's emotional.
Maybe it's pure emotion, but it's like, I need you to say.
What I'm saying is we have, like, over and over and over again.
They want like an official, we've said it.
They want like an official politician, president, white dude in particular, to say Abraham Lincoln is the guy who did it.
Yeah, but I think things continue to be fucked up for like a century after that.
Nobody's saying it wasn't like shit was up.
It was acknowledged that this was an awful thing.
Yeah.
Right.
And that's why it was worth losing a million American lives to stop, right?
I mean, this is the greatest loss of American life in the history of the nation, right?
So clearly.
It's a percentage of population.
I don't want to talk basketball.
I don't want to spend a ton of time on this.
I do get, though, like, if you cheated on your girl all the time and you're like, what?
I stopped cheating.
That's an apology, right?
She would still need the apology.
You can't be like, well, I'm faithful now, bitch.
Like, I acknowledged it.
Come on now.
I don't think you're listening to what I'm saying.
So are you familiar with Lincoln at all and his speeches and how he spoke about slavery publicly?
Nah, probably not as much.
And if you were.
Your dad is the Lincoln guy.
And if you were, you would know that he, you know, was vehemently against slavery.
And he said this publicly upon his campaign trail as campaigning to be president.
I mean, like, there's an entire group of the Republican Party, the radical Republicans, that built their whole platform on the abolishment of slavery.
So to sit here and go, this never existed is just, it's just not right.
There is a gap between the slavery and the what?
Inequality, like actual equality.
Yeah, again, what we were discussing is the pace of recovery, which we have an issue with, right?
And I think everybody agrees.
100%.
You know, it should be a lot better than it is.
But to his point, the Continental Army, I mean, the Union Army was not just black soldiers fighting to abolish slavery.
It was the entire North that said, this is a horrific institution, and we are going to go to war with our countrymen.
This is a horrific institution that now we can no longer profit from.
And there's some self-interest in that.
I mean, there was definitely a lot of arguments to keep slavery for monetary reasons.
The North just couldn't, it just wasn't profitable for the North anymore.
So they were like, okay, now you guys shouldn't have it down south either.
But the acknowledgement that it was fucked up was there.
Again, speed of recovery is definitely something that we could speed up.
It's something, I think, a conversation we have every single time.
The joke I was making about reparations was just like, if we had done a better job with natives, if it had been more effective, I think you would have seen that money injected immediately into black communities.
But the fact that it just truly wasn't.
And really quick, I just read a book about the Comanche Indians.
And the problem with what happened with the Native Americans was that, you know, every single deal that was ever inked by the U.S. government with the Native American tribes, every allotment of land was fucking torn up, and then they would shrink it.
They would just constantly take more.
They would give them massive, massive reservations and say, you can live here and we're not going to touch it.
And then they would take more of it.
So the Native Americans, I mean, it wasn't fair.
You know, like they didn't get what they were promised.
And it was broken thousands of times.
Yeah.
No, we've done a shitty job.
Plain and simple.
We can do it better.
We can do better.
That's all I ask.
I'm like, there's things that could be done to make the relations from all races, especially for this country, a little better.
Let's talk about some fucking.
Here's a question.
Do you get reparations?
Do I get reparations?
Let's say if the reparation checks.
I wouldn't think so because I'm first generation.
Right.
That's a tricky one.
Yeah, like I don't, but that's the thing.
Like, of course, I want reparations for black people, but I'm like, I'll be okay if I don't get it.
I mean, shit, I'll take some, but I'll be okay if I don't get it because I'm first generation.
My mom came here, like, she was the first of my family.
My mom and dad were the first of my family to come here.
So, like, my family, to my knowledge, weren't slaves, weren't any of that.
But at the same time, you might be treated differently because of the color of your skin.
Like, when somebody's racist towards you, they're not going, he's first generation.
No, you're just black.
Of course not.
I'm just black.
But at the same time, it's like I know whose ancestors truly suffered through this.
Right, right.
And to my knowledge of my grandparents and great grandparents, like maybe the last three generations, that wasn't mine.
But they were all Nigerian.
They were all in Nigeria.
Your answer will not be unanimous on all people.
Because many people will say, well, the vestiges of slavery have prevented me from potential employment opportunities.
Therefore, I'll take that.
Which is why I say I will take it because I understand that because of what has happened in this country and what I've had to, you know, and people like me have had to take in because of things that were happening beyond my control.
Yes, of course it's going to affect me.
But did it affect me directly?
My family?
Probably not.
But I know people who like their actual grandparents were slaves.
I'm talking about not even a generation ago.
Like their grandparents were, you know what I'm saying?
Which is fucking nuts.
Or they call it something.
I forgot what the fuck they call it.
They had some fancy fucking name for it that wasn't quite slavery.
Indentured servitude.
That's share crops.
That's what the city were in.
So I think that, you know, we could start by making a difference on this very podcast.
I think from now on, you only have to be here for 80% of the episodes.
Kyrie And Team Pressure00:14:45
So you can come in.
30 minutes late to every episode, and we will treat it as if it's the exact same amount of time.
You can come for three-fifths of the episode.
I shouldn't have.
I knew.
It's too exciting.
Come on.
Oh, you know, I got another job.
You know what it's like.
It'll be easier for me.
Oh, God.
Good stuff.
All right, let's talk one more, a couple more topics, and then we'll get out of here.
Craziest days, man, basketball talk.
D-Lo, we didn't talk about the doves trading Iggy.
Well, we talked about D-Lo.
A little bit, but like how they look.
Now, here's the thing.
Let me say exactly when breakfast.
I'm not a couple of it, that they didn't treat the...
They said the medical staff could have been better.
The medical staff could have been better, which is a massive bomb to drop on the biggest, you know, hip-hop platform on the planet.
Especially when you're entering a free agency.
I mean, this is crazy.
Katie wasn't no free agent.
No, but he's no, just right.
So it's like, do I want to come to that team that doesn't care if you get injured and they push you back out there and make you tear your Achilles?
Like, coming off the heels of what happened to Kevin Durant, you cannot talk spicy like that.
I think Iggy.
Here's the thing with Iggy.
Iggy's a really smart guy.
When you see him, like, fucking sharp.
But here's the problem: he's a pain in the fucking ass to have on your team.
I think he's so good, you're like, I'll put up with it.
But eventually, I think he bit off a little more than he could chew.
I think you still an employee at the end of the day, and if you come at the medical staff after someone's Achilles just got popped, really thinking you can't get traded, you're going to get a real wave.
I think that's a big loss for the Warriors.
That'll be all right.
I think he was big in the locker room.
I think he was like an important piece.
I think he was, but I think he's also breaking down.
I think he got one more year left.
Tops.
What's interesting is when he gets bought out, where does he go?
Lakers.
Or Nets.
Or Nets.
Apparently, he's gone or Philly.
Philly, we didn't talk.
I think Philly got better.
He was Philly, right?
Yeah, that's when he saw his career, man.
That's when he had some of his best scoring seasons.
Okay, so he has maybe one, two, two, maybe one or two seasons left, right?
The body's already breaking down.
He was injured throughout the playoffs.
Handful of surprise teams that I think are going to look really good next year.
Okay.
The Utah Jazz.
Jazz looking nice.
The New Orleans Pelicans continue to get fucking richer.
Who'd they get, Reddick, and who else?
They got Reddick, and I don't know, but they got Reddick.
You need Reddick.
You need a veteran.
He's also a Dookie.
Yeah, and he had his choice.
He had his pick of the litter where he wanted to go.
He could go anywhere.
Yeah, why do you think he chose New Orleans?
He got decent money, right?
No, he got some good money.
One year, 20 or something?
I think I want.
No, I don't know.
I don't even remember.
But he got some solid money.
From what I was told, he was signed sealed and delivered to Brooklyn.
Like, sign-tield and drinking.
That would have been a lovely day.
And he loves New York.
He lives here.
He lives here.
I think he has a place in Brooklyn.
He's losing dumb.
So why the fuck doesn't he go?
So Reddick got 26.5 million for two years.
He couldn't afford that.
They're maxing out Durant.
They're maxing out Kyrie.
They got to sign DeAndre.
He ain't taking nothing.
They already had to take less money to sign DeAndre Jordan.
Katie looks good going to the Nets.
What do you think?
Yeah.
Dude, I think so.
I think so.
Yeah, I think it's a good look for him.
His injury completely changed the public perception of him.
That's true.
That's true.
You want to know something?
He's happy now.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He's happy that he got it.
No more burner accounts.
Real talk.
He finally got the love he was yearning for in Gold State the whole time.
Because he still had a tweet, like, he still had an Instagram post, like, nobody can judge what you do except you or something like that.
Yeah, no, I respect it.
Because he still went to team up with his friends.
If you went to the Knicks, that is your team.
It's still his team.
Brooklyn is still his team.
It's not a super team.
It's different.
I think it's different.
And there's nothing wrong with playing with another elite player.
I mean, that is the nature of the game.
And, you know, Kyrie might have to deal with the fact that he's a beta on this team, but maybe he feels like he isn't.
That doesn't really matter.
He'll have a nice year to prove that he's not.
Second.
He'll have a nice year to prove that he's not.
Dude, Kyrie historically plays better when he is slightly less good than the best guy.
That year he had with them when the Cavs won.
I mean, he was spectacular.
I can't help but get fucking early 2000s Orlando Magics vibes from this deal, though.
You did tweet that, and I thought it was.
Nobody caught it, too.
I'm like, y'all remember this?
I'm like, this is exactly what happened to Orlando.
They got Grant Hill, who was the young uppercunner.
Tracy McGrady, who was the young uppercomer.
And Grant Hill, who was just off of an injury.
They thought he was going to be all right when he got back, and he never was.
And that tandem never really worked out the way people expected it to work out.
So, I mean, T-Mac was great.
Yeah.
I mean, I think Kyrie's going to be great for Brooklyn because I think Kyrie's happy.
I think he hated being in Boston.
He got traded there.
He actually had to choose a place he wants to go to.
He's right in his backyard.
He donates a shit ton of money back to the St. Patrick, the Patrick School, and still is very active over there.
And, you know, all his family's here.
So I think he's going to be happy.
I think he's going to play well.
And think that Brooklyn team's makeup is conducive to a guy like Kyrie, where it's not so much fucking pressure of the historic.
You got to be a historic Boston Celtic.
No expectations.
Like, none of that shit.
He was better with no expectations.
Say they signed to Brooklyn.
They are fucking heroes to that franchise for the rest of their life.
If they would have signed to the Knicks, it'd be like, all right, boy, the chips.
Don't play.
Where the rings.
It's still New York.
You got to deliver.
He'll be all right.
You still got to deliver.
If they don't win, then nobody's going to give a fuck.
Nobody really gives a fuck now.
But the eyes are.
The Knicks got all the headlines.
The eyes are on him now, and people are boycotting the Knicks.
So now there's no more Knicks fans.
We're looking for something else to do, and you got to fucking deliver.
And it's going to be a lot on TV.
The front page article on ESPN was Zach Lowe saying, How did the Nets pull this off?
Where do they go from here?
Okay.
So they're getting headlines.
Everybody's talking about the Nets.
And it's just going to be more and more.
I mean, people are going to monitor that Achilles injury.
I mean, if KD thought that he was under two-year in San Francisco, he's going to be under the spotlight in New York.
We're talking about every time you walk out of a fucking rehab facility, they're going to be paparazzi there.
We're going to know exactly how that ankle feels.
That's really a two-year injury, honestly.
Yeah, he'll be back next year, but he won't be able to do it.
He won't be quiet.
He's not going to play next year.
No, he's not playing the entire year.
I mean, he'll miss a year.
He'll play that next year.
And then he'll still be.
2021, 2022 is when I think he'll be halfway through.
Yeah.
I think so.
Halfway through the contract.
Fuck.
Yeah.
It's a tough deal to take, but you take it.
No, you got to take it.
It's Kevin Durant.
You got to take it.
Like, yeah, people don't come back as good, but a guy that good has never really blown his Achilles in his prime like that.
You got to take it.
I'll take 70%, KD, if that's as good as he gets back.
You got to take it.
What does this team without KD look like next year?
Are they FFCs?
Who cares?
I don't know if they make the playoffs.
You don't think they make the playoffs?
Come on.
I don't know if they make the playoffs.
How much did they lose in trading for these two guys?
Nobody.
They lost D-Lo.
They were pretty good this year.
I think they lost D-Lo.
Do you think D'Lo's better than Kyrie?
I think I'd rather have D-Lo on my team than Kyrie as an alpha.
Well, you know that.
Yeah, we know.
That's not Kyrie.
Okay, I mean, then your theory is fine.
I really think D'Lo's more effective, but I think Kyrie will be better than D'Lo.
I think that he is better than D-Lo.
I have no doubt he's more talented.
No, I think he will be better for the team than D-Lo.
And I like D'Lo.
I just think he will be better for the team.
And I think that they'll curate the team around Kyrie's talents.
And I think his biggest issue in Boston was that they didn't curate it around his talents.
Ooh, that was something I wanted to bring up with you guys.
The fucking Boston media was at it.
Did you guys see that this week?
Okay, so.
They waste no time.
The guy who owns, I forget if he owns the Celtics, also owns the Boston Chronicle.
Grossbeck.
Yeah.
Wick Grossbick, yeah.
Owns the Boston Chronicle.
He owns some radio station.
Yeah.
So it's the same.
It's like top-down, right?
They control the media.
We always talk about on the sports on Flavor 2 about how Boston Media is essentially a vacuum and it puts out whatever theories, narrative, storylines that they want for their teams.
And once you cross them, it is blatantly obvious that you cross them in the news.
So once they can't get this meeting with Kyrie, Kyrie says, I'm not even going to meet with Boston.
I'm not going to meet with the Celtics.
I don't want to come back.
Immediately, a story comes out about how Kyrie refused to sign a ball that was.
This is why it's brilliant.
The wording is so brilliant.
The ball was for charitable sponsors.
Now, charitable sponsors sounds like charity.
Do you know who what a charitable sponsor is?
Someone who gives the team money.
An insurance company that.
Kia, Geico, Pepsi, right?
But putting charity in there.
Look at that, right?
By charitable purposes.
Balls for charitable, for charitable, charitable, charitable.
He's the douchebag that refuses to sign a ball for some sick kids with cancer in a hospital.
That's what it looks like.
When in reality, it's just some big corporate nonsense.
Do you know that for a fact?
Dude, does it go in to say what those charitable purposes were?
So my understanding is those charitable balls get sold like two or three times before they even...
Oh, okay.
Right?
It gets sold to like an autograph agency.
It gets sold to something else before it ever goes.
Or it ends up in the office.
Then they say it's like Steiner Sports or whatever.
It's like, oh, we got this autographed basketball and proceeds go to yada yada.
So he's like, okay, I'll sign.
First of all, in the past, this guy tweeted me.
He's like, I have a signed ball that was for charitable purposes from Kyrie.
He did in the past.
He's no longer on your team.
He's like, I'm going to go sign charitable balls in New Jersey.
The second I get there.
I'm not going to stop signing charitable balls.
You guys are fucking douchebags.
I don't like you.
I don't want anything to do with you.
I'm going to keep it moving.
This is a story that you can keep locked.
But once he leaves, all of a sudden it's all over the airwaves.
So we both think Kyrie is cancerous.
Do you think he will continue to be on Brooklyn?
Or how much do you think was he was actually cancerous and how much was just Boston media?
I think he's cancerous, but I think that he won't be as long as you give him what he wants.
And that is the offense has to be curated around him until Big Daddy comes back.
And when Big Daddy's back, I think Kyrie will be like, okay, we could share this.
Next year will be interesting if what we think is true.
KD comes back and he's not full strength.
Big Daddy bag, but he ain't Big Daddy.
I'm still the better player.
You know who likes that?
Kyrie loves it.
Of course.
Kyrie's fine with that.
I think that's a good alpha.
But the offense will be curated toward KD again.
No, no, no, no.
I think they'll recognize that it's like a Gordon Hayward situation where they go, okay, you can't handle the load.
We'll work KD into this, but Kyrie, you still handle it.
And I think that's exactly the situation Kyrie wants.
I think.
Right.
All right, what else we got?
Because we're coming up on time.
The Lakers, Kembo, we haven't talked.
Horford, we haven't really talked.
Jimmy Buckets, we haven't really talked.
There's some massive moves.
Yeah, Jimmy move to Miami is interesting, but I don't think they make a fucking noise.
Why'd he go there?
He's always liked Miami.
He's always liked that city.
I think he just wanted the Max, and they were the only team willing to give him the Max.
I think it's as simple as that.
I think some teams would awful.
I think Boston got worse.
Oh.
With Kembo.
Let's talk about Boston versus Philadelphia.
Because Philadelphia is interesting now.
Oh, Horford is an upgrade, man.
Josh Richardson is a sneaky good pickup for them.
Like, he gives you the things that Jimmy Butler gives you without the headache, maybe a little less points.
Yeah.
But he still guards up, still a very tough guy to defend, very tough guy to get past.
He can knock down shots.
He's a smaller 3D guy.
And Ben Simmons is going to be your point guard anyway, so that kind of cancels each other out.
You got to get rid of Ben Simmons.
No, I think he's sucked.
I like the fact that you have your four and five can stretch the floor.
Oh, yeah.
And the problem with Philadelphia was shooting, right?
Ben Simmons is such a god-awful basketball player that you're really playing, you're really playing five on four, especially in the playoffs.
Like, the guy has zero gravity around him.
He cannot shoot a basketball to save his fucking life, right?
Bust the nuts ass, though, with no jump shot.
Did he, though?
He did.
I think it was game four or five where he had one good game.
Yeah, he had like 30-something.
The day after the fucking Jared Dudley did the fucking bullshit.
Yeah.
And then Ben Simmons went off for like 30, like all layups and dunks.
Yeah.
He's the guy who goes 30 and then has four.
Joel Embiid is that guy, too.
No, Joel Embiid isn't.
B just needs to get in shape.
And I think Al Hoford's the perfect guy to get him in shape.
Powell Horford is the slowest person to ever play basketball.
When he has the ball, you think he's like a retired guy.
Oh, he takes forever to shoot.
Yeah.
But it's money more than half the time.
I don't know.
How old is he?
I mean, he seems like he's 33.
They gave him a lot of years.
That's what's shocking.
I think they gave him too many years.
Four years 109, I think.
He was 33.
Yeah, so he's 33, four years, and he's also Dominican.
He could be lying like those pitchers and that's fair.
So he could be 42 right now.
We have no clue.
It's beneficial in Little League, but not the NBA.
Not at all.
Not at all.
Okay.
Which teams do you think lost free agency besides Knicks?
Besides Knicks, I think Celtics.
I think Celtics lost.
I love Kemba, and I think he'll be fine over there.
And I think that he.
Boston's going to love Kemba.
I just don't think they got better.
No, no, I don't think they got better.
But I also think he fits that IT mold way better than Kyrie does.
Yeah.
So remember how effective IT was in Brad Stevens' offense?
I think that's what Kemba will do.
And Kyrie, Kyrie is unique in his talents.
He is not that explosive.
Kyrie is a shorter Kobe.
Yeah.
He's a shorter Kobe.
That's all he is.
He plays exactly like Kozi.
He's explosive.
IT was explosive.
But Kyrie is like a lull you to sleep a little bit type of hip.
Kyrie's thing is degree of difficulty for shots.
Just because you can make these crazy difficult shots doesn't mean you should take them all the time.
Kemba takes good shots, puts him the same numbers, damn near identical stats as Kyrie.
And I think he'll be great in Boston.
I think Boston will love him.
Gordon Hay would need to step it up, bro.
If Gordon doesn't step it up this year for Boston, it's going to be a long season.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
And Jalen Brown.
Because Jalen now is going to actually have to play.
This is his fourth year.
We've been talking about Tatum.
Put up a shut up here.
Put up a shut up for both of them.
Tatum, I think Tatum has already shown some promise.
Jalen has been the one which is like that we've been going.
He's got so much potential.
I think Jalen, I think everybody progressed with Kyrie.
Progress.
LeBron And Shot Selection00:09:13
Yeah.
Progress.
I'm much more excited about Tatum than Jalen Brown.
And I'm more excited about Tatum than Ben Simmons, which I think everyone thought that Ben Simmons was going to be.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
Ben Simmons is horrible, man.
I would never sign him to anything whatsoever.
He is.
I mean, awful Tyler.
Can't shoot a basketball.
How do you not be able to shoot a basketball and you're in the NBA?
All you have to do is practice shooting the basketball.
Didn't you think it was something that was wrong with the.
Oh, yeah.
He has something physically wrong with the way he's holding the team.
And we all know what they're like.
Yeah, the pieces of shit.
They're horrible.
Horrible.
Don't accept him to Harvard.
Fucking Dartmouth.
Go to Garfield or Cornell.
If you're a team, doesn't get Bozos.
If this team doesn't get Kawhi, the Clippers a big loser in this free agency.
Apparently, they picked up pieces in the Jimmy Butler four-team trade.
They got another draft pick and they got a salary dump, which, I mean, that's fine.
You got space for that.
They paid Pat Beverly a lot of money.
The Mavs lost.
They got Pat Beverly three years before.
The Mavs picked up.
Aren't they picking up Drozik?
Gorin Drozik?
No.
Why did Mavjicks lose?
Because they wanted either Brogdon.
That was like ideal.
Or Tobias Harris.
They had 30 million.
They had a Max Slot.
Okay.
And they didn't get anybody.
They got Seth Curry, four for 32.
They extended their guy.
Seth fits into that system well.
Seth fits pretty well.
They extended their guy Powell, but that's it.
And presentation.
Pat Beverly, you would love a dog for Luca to not have to play so much good perimeter defense.
Pat Beverly would have been good.
Three for 43 move.
And I don't think they made the move because they wanted Brogdon.
Brogdon went to Indiana.
A lot of people were saying, I don't know what they wanted specifically, but a lot of people were saying Brogdon fits perfectly on this team.
Again, great perimeter defender, good three-point shooter.
Luca's going to drive, kick it out to you, open threes, knock it down.
This is the perfect guy for you.
Four for 85 he got, but the Mavs didn't have the assets to trade, I guess, for a signing trade.
Right.
But, like, you could, I mean, I don't know if they made the offer.
They offered a less than max at Tobias Harris.
He stayed in Philly.
I think you guys are okay, though.
I think they'll be okay.
You got Luca.
You got to go.
You got Luca.
I still don't know how they're going to operate together in Porzingis' health.
Let's see how they do.
And Porzingis is what?
He's had a whole year and change to recover.
Allegedly, he was good to go under last year, and they were just like, nah, work his way.
Let's just get this.
And just keep working on his core or whatever he needs to do.
And that's the thing that if Porzinga stays healthy, they're fine.
I mean, I saw a video of him.
I mean, clearly it's offseason.
Everybody looks great.
Like, I saw a video of him in the gym.
Like, he looks like he put on some pounds, too.
You need to learn how to duck.
Because my man's getting snuffed.
Did you see that video of him knocked out, wobbling around the streets in Luke La Vier with Levato?
Oh, shit.
Yeah.
Work on a bobbin weed.
Jump.
I don't know that he needs to duck.
I think he can jump over the punches.
You know what I mean?
Yeah, bend your head up.
Or seven cents.
Just do it the fucking grade school way.
Just use your fucking language, bro.
Just learn how to push, bro.
Charlotte Hornet took an L, I think.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Fucking Jordan.
They got a tank.
They got a tank again.
They get a lot of money for Terry Rozier.
And then that sign and trade for Kemba.
Why would they do it?
I don't understand why you don't.
Nobody, you're not bringing anybody to free agency, right?
I don't understand why you don't pay Kemba and then you get a less talented version of him than Terry Rozier.
It doesn't make much sense to me.
Yeah, this shit is just mind-boggling to me.
Lakers, if they get Kawhi, are the biggest winners in history.
If they don't, I think it's a I don't know who they, I mean, I guess you got to sign and trade for D'Lo or something.
They're good.
They're good.
Yeah, they're good.
They're good, bro.
I've seen that.
They need pieces.
Danny Green going to be great.
Iggy going to be great.
They do need pieces.
Right now, are the only players they have on a contract?
AD and LeBron.
Kuzma, AD, and LeBron.
Which is not bad, right?
You have Kuzma, AD, LeBron.
You need four other guys at least that can play, and then a couple of depths got it.
Sure, so maybe you do exactly what the Knicks should have done, which is just wait.
Be patient.
People are going to need a dump salary.
The buyouts.
You can get them buyouts.
Get them.
They need shooters.
Get these people.
Shooters.
Well, they have JR, right?
So JR is coming over.
So now you have your shooter.
You have one.
At least guy can stretch the floor.
AD and LeBron can actually shoot.
And Kuzma, you better fucking be putting up them threes in the offense.
The thing that worries me about the Lakers is that you know LeBron and AD are playing 50 games max.
Yeah.
Maybe 60.
Yeah.
So like you're going to need to win some of those games with none of those guys.
And who do you win with?
Yeah, no, you need some more pieces.
Here's something I want to discuss because this is two interesting things happen.
One, Enos Cantor, signs a two-year, $10 million contract with the Celtics.
The Celtics.
Good pickup.
You heard a story about that, right?
Is that low?
That feels shockingly low.
You heard what he said on Instagram.
About Julius.
No, about why he signed the Boston.
Why?
Apparently, Portland gave him a deal, and he's like, yo, they literally gave me six minutes to decide.
And he was like, yo, I want to take some time.
And they're like, no, no, no, we need you to decide now, now, now.
And he was like, fuck it, I'm out.
And then took a deal with Boston.
But isn't that low?
You have a, what is he, 6'10, 6'11?
He's screwed.
He's a double double gun.
He looks like a bond.
He's a double double yellow.
He does look like a bond.
He's a guy that you would get president of any year.
Turkey wants to kill him.
Yeah.
Erdogan.
Erdogan, yeah.
You would think Boston's probably not the best place to fucking go.
That's all I'm saying.
You think you want to be as far away from Turkey as possible?
And then again, they could just probably have some Turkish dudes dress up as Antifa and just murder that dude in milkshake the hell out of it.
Yeah, right in public property.
Okay, maybe I don't know.
I just thought that was really light.
I think Boston is going to be all right.
Yeah, maybe.
So Portland ends up signing.
They traded for Whiteside.
Hust on Whiteside.
Which is a good pickup.
I didn't like it at first because I don't like Whiteside, but $21 million expiring at the end of the year.
Dude, that's nice.
That's nice.
And then Jurkic or whatever is going to work his way back.
By the time he's ready, you got a nice one-two punch.
Hey.
And big men.
I think it was a savvy move.
They might have a nice little squad.
Yeah.
I mean, even CJ, Dame and Whiteside.
That's a lot.
What else you can do with Whiteside?
If a player becomes available at the trade deadline, boom.
Oh, he's a $21 million expiring control.
Expiring contract.
Yeah, that's a big piece.
That was a good get.
Nice.
There's a lot of shit happening.
Apparently, Kawhi...
No, wait.
What?
I thought.
I thought.
I thought they had a Woljmom.
I thought they had a Woljmom.
So you think Kawhi is staying?
Did Varus hair anything?
Are you just in the middle of the street?
No, that's just my thoughts.
I think he's staying, though.
And you think he just wants to get recruited?
Because all the ideas, like he wants to get recruited, I think his uncle is made some promises that he'd have some meetings happen, and he's just fulfilling those promises.
So you really believe that he will be Romana Toronto after.
Do they pick up anybody else?
No, not to my knowledge.
Just run it back.
I mean, my theory is also like, if you're Kawhi, why not just sign?
Get the five years.
Then we could do whatever you want after.
Can we just say, like, the beautiful thing?
Like, you have nothing to lose by just signing to the Raptors.
Oh, you don't want a player?
Okay.
Well, trade me.
Yeah, we have the most valuable player in the league right now who is every team wants would just make a trade for you.
But just get the five.
Why not?
Get a five with a no trade calls.
They'd give it to you.
And then you can go to a team where it's like, I'm going to get traded to a team where we're still going to keep good pieces.
Boom.
But you're a free agent already.
Why would you need to wait for that?
Why would you need to get traded to get trade?
Because he can get the super mix, right?
Get five.
200 plus million.
And to be fair, his health is an issue.
Kawhi's durability.
That's true.
He would.
200 plus million.
They kind of limp through to the finish line, even though he killed.
It's crazy that Olympic and Kawhi still got a damage.
He's still killed.
But it's great, though.
I really think this is the most wide open the league has ever been in my life.
It's possible.
A long time.
I literally can't call it who's taking it next year.
Like, who's the clear-cut favorite?
Toronto, mad salaries coming off the books next year.
Lowry, 33 million.
They'll resign.
Gasol, 25 million.
Yeah, but you're not going to sign for 33 million a year.
And I think Lowry might take a discount to stay.
You might.
The thing is, there's nobody really available next year.
Like, Draymond Green's like the top.
That's fine.
You could also sign one-year deals or whatever.
And then next year, motherfucking Kawhi and Giannis would be insane.
Yeah, that'd be stupid.
Insane.
Or if Giannis is like, I want out, trade me.
If you have pieces.
That's another deal.
Quietly, a loser might be Milwaukee.
Because you got to get him some pieces.
They lost Brogdon.
They kept Middleton.
I think Robin Lopez will play over his head with Brooke.
I feel like twins are just always better together.
They got Robin Lopez for the mid levels.
That takes Brooke a lot of money.
I still think that's a good one.
No, Brooke deserves it.
Brooke stretched the ball.
He was probably the third best player on that.
That was perfect.
They got George Hill to retire.
Middleton back.
Middleton to retire.
If Giannis learns to shoot, again, this is, I think, like Boston and Milwaukee.
It's on their stars.
Y'all got to hit another level and then you're fine.
At the end of the year, Giannis was hitting those.
He was hitting some wide open threes.
They're just a better Philly.
I mean, think about it, right?
They have their two bigs that can shoot.
That's my only show with Ben Simmons.
It's like, my dude, you got to at least take the shots.
You got to at least be a fucking threat.
Like, Giannis at least took the shots.
Milwaukee Roster Moves00:02:01
Now he's actually making them.
Somebody said that.
I don't know if it was Kenny or what, but somebody was saying when I was getting better at three-point shots, my coach was like, just shoot one every game.
You just have to shoot one every game.
I don't care if you make or miss.
Shoot one.
Yeah, you got to at least make somebody go like this.
At least.
Just go like this.
And just to get the confidence, so it stops feeling so big.
I shoot one of these every game.
That's fine.
Yeah, but think about how embarrassing it was back when he would shoot one earlier in the season.
He'd make it, and then the audience would clap like he was the autistic.
That was Marco Fultz, right?
Oh, it was Fultz.
That's right.
Yeah, remember Markel Fultz?
Yeah.
See, that's why I'm not crazy about Knicks going for draft picks and shit because you got to hit on those drafts.
You never know.
You just never fucking know.
Everybody thought Markel Fultz is the next fucking Westbrook.
Anyway, guys, we've done a long podcast, okay?
We've discussed Francis' career, what's going to happen, what has happened.
Hopefully, we've dug him out of a tricky situation.
Come back sometime.
I know you're available.
I appreciate that.
I'll be in France for two weeks now.
Yeah, okay.
Enjoy.
See you when Essence Fest is weekend?
I'm going to be in Essence Fest.
That's my version of reparations.
I do Essence Fest for free every single year.
And so I'll definitely see all of my black queens down there at Essence Fest.
Can't wait to see you guys again.
It's my favorite time of year.
This is like Black Burning Man.
That's what I call it.
No Lucky Bucks.
Just signed Wesley Matthews.
Oh, that's right.
That's right.
I think it's a good move.
Solid move, man.
3D.
That's all they need for Giannis, really.
Anyway, but guys, thank you so much for listening to Flagrant 2: No Easy Buckets.
We will see you guys on Patreon Friday.
Appreciate you guys so much.
Francis, tell them where they can find you.
Well, keep an eye out for my podcast.
We'll have you back on when you're in development.
Yeah, but you can follow me at Francis C. Ellis on Twitter at Francis C.C. Ellis on Instagram.
I don't know how that happened.
That was a mistake.
So it's two C's.
Yeah, on Instagram.
I don't even.
Can you get back to Francis C. That's the biggest mistake you've ever made?