Explicit

Nightcap - Unc & Gil react to Lakers getting booed vs. Suns, Melo calls out Nuggets, Shaq vs. Dwight

Published Jan 12, 2024, 7:55 AM

Shannon Sharpe and Gilbert Arenas react to the Thursday slate of NBA games, including LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers dropping below .500 in a loss to Kevin Durant's Phoenix Suns and Giannis Antetokounmpo leading the Milwaukee Bucks over Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics. Unc and GIl also break down news around the league like Carmelo Anthony saying on his podcast that he felt disrespected by the Denver Nuggets giving the number 15 to 2-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, the Orlando Magic retiring Shaquille O'Neal's number 32, the NBA Draft reportedly moving to two nights to become more like the NFL Draft, and more!

04:50 - Suns destroy the Lakers 

15:00 - Bucks beat the Celtics 

21:00 - Why isn’t LeBron isn’t getting the same treatment MJ did with Wizards?

26:50 - Melo not happy Jokic wears #15 

34:10 - Dwight Howard a greater Magic player than Shaq?

41:30 - Shaq didn’t train hard

51:30 - Is LeBron “clutch”?

56:30 - NBA Draft becoming a two day event

01:08:15 -  Gil a top 75 player if he stayed healthy?

01:12:30 - Embiid over Jokic?

01:15:30 - What made Derrick Rose so special?

 

#Volume #Club

 

The volume.

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Hello, ladies and gentlemen, Weather to another episode of night Cap Basketball Edition. I'm your favorite sports unk Shannon Shark. He's your favorite Number zero Abachi Arizona Wildcats, best player all time, Gil Arena, Gil, how you doing tonight, Bro?

I'm good.

How you doing, man? I'm doing great now. Actually I'm not doing great. I'm a little under weather tonight.

Gil.

I've been grinding my ass off over the last month and it's finally catching up with me. Bus, So I'm gonna push through give the people a great show tonight. We probably should have took off like a lot of these NBA teams because they bull They bull.

Jive tonight, Gil, that bull jib tonight.

One thirty nine, seventy seven, one thirty five, one oh two, I mean one twenty seven to one o nine. There's only what the Mavericks and the Knick turned out to be a great game. It was four and I think the Cavaliers played the Nets in Paris, and that turned out to be a great game. But other than that the games were over a half. Yeah, we could have started this about an hour ago.

We could learn it just started.

Uh.

Please make sure you hit that light button, make sure you hit that subscribe button, because this is the way that we grow, and this is the way you show appreciation to us, and by in turn, we grow and show appreciation appreciation to you by saying thank you. So appreciate that. Also, I would like for you to subscribe to Gill's Arena channel. The show airs Monday through.

Thursday live eleven thirty am.

Pacific two thirty excuse me, two thirty Eastern Pacific. Uh no, two thirty Eastern time. The show airs Monday through Thursday live eleven thirty am Pacific, two thirty Eastern time. So make sure you go out there, hit that hit that subscribe button for Gil. We've also penned Shaye by Laportier. At the top of the chat, we are back in stop so appreciate. Go out and get yourself a bottle for you or someone that you love. Valentine Days around the corner. We got President's Day, we got the Super Bowl. Ah Man, you know y'all will get to up on the Super Bowl, especially your team getting handled and we got St.

Patrick's day.

So go out and get yourself a bottle and your UNC will greatly appreciate that.

The Suns beat the Lakers.

Gil said he can out shoot the Lakers on a previous night, Camp, Gil, we have a video of you proving it. Uh, let's take let's take a look at that. That's one man doing jumping jacks. Gotta get my cardio on up. So that is an official hight rim and that's the official distance of an NBA three pointer.

Correct.

Now this is a college this is college, Okay, okay, okay, then just going down there, Tea's messing with him on So.

If that's your spot, back corner key or the side pocket, as.

Soon as I step on the court, it is my spot. Oh that's your spot, you spot? Yeah, as soon as I get past half court, it's just it's just all it's just all on fire.

Gill Shootout would be featured a live stream on YouTube at one pm Pacific on Saturday, January to twenty if they shooting competition for one hundred thousand dollars featuring Gills, a rental cast in Florida and fans who qualified. Back in December, Gil that's gonna look real bad if you don't win that thing.

Now, I know. That's why practice. That's why practice three times a day. Huh. After this show, I'm going to shoot five hundred. You go shoot in the dark.

N I got keys to the gym too. Oh oh, okay, I can't listen.

I can't lose. So I got keys to the gym. Where we going?

Yeah, yeah, you can't lose. It's not the fact the hundred bands is nothing. It's the fact that somebody's gonna have a bragget rights to say I beat the former NBA All Star player in a three point competition.

I'm not losing to no YouTube bombs. I'm not losing to though YouTube per span. I'm sorry.

I don't work my ass off to lose to though.

YouTuber spec That was a oh on just the second bill, I'm clicking pull it up. The Lakers, I don't know why, but they lose one twenty seven, one oh nine. Bradley Beal had twenty points eight or eleven field goals, three, three or four from the three point line. The Lakers starting five had just fourteen points in the third quarter. Yeah, what's going on with the Lakers?

I was. I put it, I put it on my Instagram.

When when you have you know, we've said it, and when you have Van do when you have cam in right as an offensive player, I know they king shoot a gun. So why am I even gonna pay attention to them. I'm just gonna look at Lebron. I'm just gonna look at a d right. That's period. Right, So when they're in the game, I'm not playing defense. I'm just gonna clog up the lane. And when I'm on offense, I get to give one against them. Right, It's a lopsided thing. I mean, you have Booker, who don't we don't know if he plays defense.

You got Bill out there.

They got an all offensive squad and you can't take advantage of it because you don't have anybody that can score in the game.

Bill ended up having thirty seven, with twenty points in the third eight of eleven three or four from three Bradley Bill had thirty one. Kad had a quiet night, but it was a very efficient seven to twelve fifteen points. That was a bad performance. I mean Ad had thirteen. I mean Ad played thirty two minutes. Ady had thirteen. Victorian Prince had eleven, bron had ten. Cam Briddish ended up going out of the ball game. He had zero points in eight minutes. Us the Reeves had thirteen points, d Lo had nineteen, and May's had twelve. Oh, Christy also had Chip there with fourteen. Man, he I mean he came in at the end of the game, you know what I mean?

So yeah, Like, but the meat up, the meat of it is, you have guys out there who specialized on defense. But the guy your garden's gonna he's gonna score, He's gonna get his numbers, but you're not gonna score.

Right if you're on the gil, if you're a defensive guy, you can't say you're a defensive guy and Bill gets thirty seven, you can't be a defensive guy and Booker gets thirty one, and then you don't offset that. On the other end, I can see if Booker got thirty seven, but you gave us twenty eight. I can excuse me. If Bill Bill got thirty seven, you gave us twenty eight. Okay, Devin Booker got thirty one, you gave us twenty five. That can somewhat offset it. But when you're not giving us that kind of production. You're giving us what did Vandal what Victorian Prinz had eleven?

Reddish had zero? Van deer Belt has six.

That's not Anovel and six is at the end of the game. Look, it's that's quite simple. Right right before the game, you just tell them, hey, hey son, you don't even need to put your jersey on.

You ain't getting in the day.

Wow, you ain't getting in the game unless we get a blowout.

I'm going ahead to put you in.

But there's no reason for me to put you in a game against this high level offensive juggernaut and you are giving nothing because he is gonna by a fourth quarter he's fresh, yes, because he doesn't have to play defense against anybody.

He just sits there.

So you're saying there should be some healthy scratches of some healthy DMP for the Lakers.

Oh, they should be playing seven players eight if you ate, if somebody gets in power trouble in January. This is not the playoff of Gil. It don't matter. You're trying to win games, right, You're trying to win games. You're supposed to be shortening up this thing anyway. You're supposed to be trying to win games. You don't have no leverage to be playing nine players.

You don't have nine NBA players. Yes, yeah, but nobody was good for the Lakers the night. Lebron was three of eleven or four four seven from the free throw line, ten points. Anthony Davids had thirteen, but he only took eleven shots. Jordian Prince had what four?

Ten?

I mean, nobody played well tonight, and it was all you could tell early on in the game. Gil the way the game started, I mean, because at one point they was down thirty four to nineteen, I'm like, really, gods, I mean, y'all had I mean, y'all had a day off. It's not like they played the back to back. You had a day off, and that was that was That was pathetic. I don't know what what's going on, but I don't know how Darvin Ham keeps the job if they keep looking like this moving forward much longer now.

I mean it's it's like if like when you say that they had a bad game, ten shots, eleven shots right twenty eight minutes, like they can't.

Get the ball up.

If Lebron, if I know you're coming in here, I'm just gonna sit in the lane and force you to pass it, right, So you're just not gonna get the attempts up. And when you do shoot, there's three or four people that's guarding you. Right, So it's an off night because they just can't get to possessions that they need. It's like I love playing against people who didn't play no offense. It's a night off for me, right, I love quality shots, And like you said, the thing is, they're gonna clog the lane knowing that when Lebron passed it, you probably eight times out of ten they're gonna miss the shot. At least seven times out of ten they're gonna miss the shot. Anyway. That's seven out of ten they're gonna miss it, and the other three they probably not even gonna shit. They're not gonna shoot the.

Ball seven out of ten and the other three they're gonna miss it.

Yeah, that's bad. There were some boos from the home crowd tonight. That's to be expected. They're under five hundred, nineteen and twenty. You play in LA, you're the Lakers. There's an expectation no matter who's out there, that you give it you all, And I think the fans didn't like the performance. That they got from night tonight from anyone, and they let them know that this is what we think of you guys' performance tonight. We're gonna boo you. Yes, we love our Lakers, but tonight was unworthy of cheers.

I'm booing as soon as I seen the starting line up, as soon as they'd be like, can't boom get you off the court? Man, God damn man, It's like, how many games you gonna go? Zebra?

I mean, let's be honest, he's probably the only starter that has the most zeros as a starting As a starting player, you're talking about Cam Cam Reddish yeah, and Van Doo coming in with these minutes, like listen, they're not starters, and don't start them in the purple and gold, right, don't start him in the purple and gold.

Like you could take.

These players right now, and I guarantee you can't find two teams they will start on in this NBA.

And that's the problem that the Lakers are having.

When you say you want to trade, trade for what, you gotta have something of value that I want in order for me to make a trade, because of even flopaint no swindow. Well, if you traded me that for some of my beft players, that's swindle. So yeah, I don't know how they gonna get off these guys. I mean, you're probably gonna have to throw that twenty nine first round pick because you don't have any picks up.

Until then, and that's the last one they holding on to.

They're gonna have some of them cheerleaders, huh, throwing some of them cheerleaders or a couple of those statues.

So Kobe got don't Kobe have too? They might have to throw in that eight or the twenty four you hit one of them. Ye, yeah, we'll give you to We'll give you the twenty fool.

I don't even know to give you exactly exact exactly this.

This was a very bad performance for the Lakers, and uh and we thought in this situation that they got a couple of home games in there. We thought this was an opportunity for them to like heal up, get some wins, you know, stretch it to be you know, three four, five games over five hundred. But the way they're starting, it doesn't it doesn't look like that's gonna happen. I mean, especially after I saw them what they did to the Clippers. I said, okay, we know the Clippers have been playing very, very well. They beat the Clippers at home. I was like, okay, they beat Toronto's scrappy team and then come out here let the egg like this.

That's it's like, it's the NBA. So you're gonna have some nights where you're playing well. But you know it's the it's the the consistent See, if you're your consistency of three of your players that played big minutes is an average between the three of them nine eleven in the eleven and a.

Half, you're gonna lose more of the games than you're gonna win.

So yes, you're gonna have to just say, all right, this thing, it's shown it's not working.

Try something else, or it looks like you insane.

Right, Well, the thing is the Lakers are playing so bad it keeps us from talking about the Warriors, who's playing even worse, even worse. So we thought this was a matchup we still still could happen. We thought the Celtics and the Bucks would be a great matchup. You know, you got Jason Tatum, JB, you got Dang and Giannis and this game was over at the half. This game was not even close. This was awful, This was pathetic, and it was so bad. The starters didn't come back out, they didn't play the second half. Yeah, they beat they beat their booty off. They back tonight.

This was this was a staple for for the Bucks, right because.

You know, one of the players is over there.

Ye had to really know that we are a better team and might not say it on the record, but we are a better team, you know, without you.

So we're gonna go out there and prove it, right because you know, the thing is where they're slipped is defensively. Last year they're the fourth rated defensive team. Now they're like in the twenties. If so, tonight, what did they hold the selfsu would have thirty nine?

Yull me, god, what did they hold a selfish? You had to have gear like thirty nine?

It was like seven.

Man even even okay, even the stat that that's pushed out there about the defense, it's it's it's Foods Gold, right, it's Foods Gold. They were fourth last year and in twenty this year. Well what about the offense?

Right right?

You know last year they averaged one sixteen, gave up one thirteen, right, this year, they're averaging one twenty four, giving up one nineteen, so they're plus two with the addition.

Right. You know, so all that defense they had last year, where the fuck did it get him first round exit to it?

Well, we couldn't tell anything about that defense, cause way Jimmy Butler lit him up in the playoffs. Remember Jimmy had that fifty seven point to mean, Jimmy Butler looked like Michael Jordan and Kobe in the absolute prime and that was against Holiday, yes, but but that was that was.

The issue here.

It's like, can we get more offense than the defense? And right now it's plus two. So the offense is plus two versus what they had last year. So it's not a negative. They're just looking at the wrong stats. They're looking at, oh, the defense, but the offense is second compared to where it was last year. You know, when when you have Giannis out. So the problem was basically in the playoffs, when you had Giannis out, where we was going to get our points? Drew Holiday averaged one point eight in IO points, which right, one point eight for your second third best player, when when Dame was number one in ISO points.

So I don't take the points over the defense.

Yeah, well, I don't think anybody figured it was a bad trade. I mean, you get an opportunity to get a top seventy five player all time, and you give up what you might give up the defensively, it's more than worth because you're getting Dame Lillard in return. Yes, so I like the trade. Nobody can convince me this was a bad trade for Milwaukee. I think all the other twenty nine other teams, if they had a similar situation, they're taking Dame Lillard for a true Holiday type player also, of course.

But for but for whatever reasons.

Gil it hadn't clicked as well as I thought it would by now, because I mean, when they get on the same page, we can see they can be explosive. John can give you forty thirteen to eight and Dame can give you thirty two, nine and six. But there's not enough of that. Malik Beasley played and shoot the ball. He's leading the league at three point field goal shooter. Last year getting with Lebron he couldn't throw it in the ocean from the middle of.

Ocean, you know what sometimes and you know you can't.

We can't say that he's a better shooter without Lebron and he's what is What happens is when you get embarrassed and people call it out, you go into the summer saying, I need to improve this, you know, and that's we have to give him credit for his improvement.

It's nothing to do with the offense.

Right, you have the same shots when you had in Lakers. You just worked on that this summer to improve your chances of standing on the floor and extending your career.

Why the hell he ain't working on doing in between practices and the shoot.

Around same reason. A lot of guys don't work on it. They don't they think they better than they really are.

Right.

You go in there, you take fifty twenty five threes after practice and you think that's enough. Right, No, man, that's not a First of all, if you're not a shooter coming into the NBA, you're behind the eight ball already.

You're your eight nine years behind an actual natural shooter. So that means you have to try to make that up. That means you have to put yourself on a schedule four or.

Five hundred shots a day outside of practice wow, for to turn around, and it might not run for three four years, but it's.

Gonna turn around.

So if you're not putting in that type of work, you're not really getting better. It was so bad TNT even switched off the game. Now, that's what the NFL normally does. The NFL normally switched the games. The game is getting out of hand, they'll switch to another game. That's never I've never seen that before. But I know, I know, Dan, what I know. If I was on Boston, ain't no way. I'm sorry, coach, Ain't no goddamn where you. I ain't get my points yet, Ain't no where you taking.

Me out at the half? Nah? Yeah, that's what That's what's so impressive about Lebron Street.

He's almost a damn there twelve hundred games with double figures, and you see situations like this Jason Tatum, now he has to start all over again. He has seven Yeah, I mean, I mean, I don't know who's close to him, but I don't know if somebody's gonna actually break that record. You talk about the points, I mean, he's what three hundred and something points away, maybe four hundred points away from forty thousand. Were talking about nobody's gonna break that record. Who the hell is gonna have twelve hundred straight game with double double figures.

It's hard, I mean, and that's that's the most impressive part. The impressive part is that he's doing it still at this age.

Right. Someone tried to call me out on Twitter when I said it.

I said, well, when Michael Jordan was playing with the Wizards and that second year and he bringing all those vestas try to win some games.

They were supposed to be a playoff seed.

When they were said, no one talked bad about Michael Jordan, no one said nothing. They just let him do his thing exactly. So why y'all not doing it for this thirty nine year old? Why expected to win when the when the goat didn't and they they supposed to win forty eight games, and then you know when they tried to fact check me, it was right. They had high hopes for that second year and they fell short, and no one blamed Michael Jordan for it because his age.

And I'm saying because everybody said it was just it was just a ceremony. You'll see the last two with your ceremony. Well that's what you said about Lebron, Old Lebron, he cares more about being Michael B. Jordan than Michael Jordan. Okay, he just excuse me. He disproved that All Star all NBA, led the league in assists, won a championship. So now now, because he didn't come out here for ceremony, he didn't come out here to retire. He's still playing at the league level. You still find something to well, he ain't this, He ain't that. The man is playing at the unbelievable level. It's still a team game and he needs that. May look, that's the same thing. That's what y'all said. Y'all said, Hey, I'm looking to move if y'all don't get me some help.

Listen, this game is what the problem is for like a guy like me who values you know, players, Right, when we're trying to convince you someone's not good, we give you all the things they can't do, and then when we talk about the past, we talk about everything they can do. Right, so we tell you all the good things and the accolades of the past, and then the present we tell you everything they can't do. Oh, he can't go one on one, he never takes a last shot, he doesn't do this. This is all right? What about the other guys. How about them, Let's let's hear what their negatives are. Oh, he couldn't go left, Oh he couldn't do this. He could, but we don't. We just talk about their greatness and in our flaws. And that's what keeps this thing going. Yeah, I mean they always oh he's six and oh but what about the first year? What about the year that he got bounced in the first round. So in other words, you're telling me it's better to lose in the first round to lose in the NBA finals. I'm that's what it sounds like you're saying to me. But look wherever you are on this argument, Gil, I don't think anybody's moving You are where you are in this argument. Some people believe it's Jordan, some people believe it's Lebron, some people believe it's Kobe. I don't believe anybody can put forth the compelling argument to suade somebody to move off, whether it's Kobe, Lebron or Jordan.

No, And that's and that's the thing.

At this point in time, these guys submitted themselves as potential goat like figures.

And the people.

Who were there, who watched Michael Jordan Harry NB a league, not a team.

He wasn't carrying the bulls.

He was carrying the league image right this He was carrying this game. And the people who witnessed that and saw that, they're not giving that up, you know, giving it up.

That's just that's just not gonna happen.

So no matter Lebron could have twelve rings that they're gonna find there, it's right. So it's just one yeah things where we got the we got we got, we got him up there, and then everybody else is gonna fall short to it because when they say it's about ring, I said, well, Bill Russell has more rings.

John Havlachik, Sam Jones, Casey Jones. If it's about rings, well it's about it, okay. But what about a guy that that played, has been an All Star, about to be twenty consecutive times as a starter. What about the guys have the most all big NBA teams? What about the guy that first, excuse mill, not only all NBA teams, the All NBA First Team. What about a guy that won championships in three different franchises and he was the MVP at all different franchises. A guy average a triple double in the NBA Finals and with what two rebounds or left from Jordan Again. But like I said, wherever you are in this argument, Gil, you're not moving. So ain't no sense in us trying to convince anybody one way or another.

And they just get on that leg. I'm gonna let you stay. All they're gonna do is to you can't use stats. You can't use stats, right, you.

Know it is, it is what it is at this point, right, And you know the best thing for me is I got to play with all three of them. You know, there's only a few people that can say they played with all three. Like so if you say your top five greatest of all time, I get to say I played with all five or four out of five, right, right, depending on who you put in there. I mean, if you start putting in the sixties in the seventies, no then yet. But for the for the most part, most of your your your top five ever, it is eighty to now.

Yeah, I mean a lot of those guys you played against, bore than that you played against, Shot, you played against Tim Duncan, Yeah, I mean Tim Dugant don't get any credit.

They just make it seem like he was a bum. I mean Timmy, I mean the guy.

I mean he was a fifteen time All Defensive Player, all those all those All Star Game, all those all NBA five rings, three finals, MVP. I think he won two championships. I don't know if he ever won a Defensive Player of the Year, but he was outstanding.

Yeah, I mean he was. He was an He was amazing.

And it goes to show you what type of type of talent that's been in this league, that's coming.

In this league.

And you know, like I came in as a fan, so you know, I was stand boring out there. You know, I'm yeah, yeah, give me autograph after they ain't even give me autograph. And it's one of those guys. So you know it's I had I have all three of them in the top five. So I just like the polk and argue about all three. Right today, you know it's Lebron, Tomorrow might be Jordan, Kobe might be there, you know what I mean, So not one of those guys that just.

I just I switch every week. I think that you gotta you have another another Top five Melo said. The Nuggets gave Nicola Jokic the number fifteen jersey to try to eat a race. What he did, Mello called giving Nicola Jokic jersey the same number he Warren Denver is a is a petty maneuver. It wasn't like, oh, we got a number to choose from. It was like here you got fifteen, melo, ya, let me take this, fir Mello. You do realize this guy was a second round European player that when he got drafted, they was in the middle of a Taco bell commercial.

So you really you really thought?

Who thought Nikola Jokic was gonna arguably be one of our top ten player when it's all said and done, because then it thought that they did choke him. Number one overall was in the second round and plus Mellow, you forget you forced.

Your way out.

I'm sorry you forced your way out of relationship and I don't hold you in high regard.

Please forgive me. No. No, that as right. He was the second round pick.

Nobody knew he was gonna be No, it was I remember when announcer said, I don't know if he was playing against Houston, Oh, they'll put anybody in the game when he was posting up. Yeah, right, So they didn't know what he was gonna be. He know then to this Unfortunately, he had the same.

Number you had. And nobody's gonna remember you wore fifteen. I'm sorry, mellow, but nobody's gonna remember you wore fifteen. He's no more. And this is so I don't want to say it, but you're a Nick player. Thank you, Nick player. Your career is New York Knicks.

Yes, like, we know what you did as a as a rookie coming in. But four time All Start, one time gold Man List, three time All NBA as a Nick, six time All Star, two gold Medalist, three All NBA, one scoring check.

Your jersey is in the rafters in the garden.

Yes, take that. And that's just it, you know. I mean it hurts because that's who drafted you. But your numbers ain't there in the bigger picture. But but the fact that they have number twelve and fifty five retired, which is fat Lever, uh huh.

And then the Cookie Dan and then the Cookie Monster muntumbo.

The fact that they got those two up there, you got you gotta retire my jersey, Yeah no, they don't.

Got I thought they would have Dan Isfel know that they got them, but they earned theirs. You know, Alex English earned his. I'm fat lever. Come on you, yeah, you're bad with the triple double before before Russ, Yeah, you.

Wasn't better than goddamn Mellow and Matumbo. Stop nuts.

I mean, come on, man, Ma Tumbo bit all over the place. He was in Philly, he was in Atlanta, he was in Houston. So I mean, it's not like he's like known for the Nuggets.

No.

So you know the fact that you have his jersey retired, you know, I will feel some type of way. But you know, I, as a player didn't. I didn't do that much there to really have a problem when I know my body of work is in New York.

Yeah, I mean, it's not like Melo. You had like a Tom Brady career and then all of a sudden they give somebody twelve. They gave a guy, they gave a backup. I mean, he was a second round pick. The guy got drafted is in the middle of a Taco Bell commercial. Nobody could have foretold that he would be this. Hey, nobody, you can't say that. That's even worse. You can't give my number to the dude in the second round. Row didn't give you my number to the second round, Hi Cook. But here's the thing, Gil, The fact of the matter is that the guy turned out and people won't remember him. My thing is they don't. It doesn't matter who they're putting eighty four. The people in Denver are gonna remember I wore number eighty four. People gonna say that's Shannon Sharp enough now they mess right it and let's just say that was Gronk or Travis Kelsey. People are like, man, I don't remember who war to damn eighty four before Gronk or Kelsey got it.

That's just the way it is. That's just the way it is.

But when you take a basketball player, okay, it's more likely guy in the second ride in the NFL makes it or play as well, because we've seen a lot of those. Is not likely that a second round NBA player is gonna have the type of career that Nicola Yoka just said.

No, no, it's not. I mean, it wasn't expected. They probably didn't they I mean they didn't. They didn't foresee this, man, And it's just one of those things that happened, right, you know.

But at the end of the day, you don't. You don't. You didn't have the resume.

I mean, if you had the Knicks resume over there, right, you know, then we can talk.

But you're you're His legacy is a New York name. Yes, it is what it is. And the guys. The guy as an NBA A two times back to back MVP. He's a finals MVP, and when it's all said and done, we're gonna see it where, We're gonna see where it ranks.

Yeah, I mean right now he's gonna be ranked running that franchise.

Oh for sure. That said.

He that's done. That's done. Now he got played. He ain't got to play another down. He ain't excuse me another game. That's it for him.

Yeah.

Two MVP's finals MVP. And the numbers that he's putting up with. The dude has what one hundred and twelve hundred and thirteen trip with doubles? Yep, and he's less than what ten years in the league maybe ten years now?

He was drop did nine twenty fifteen, so eight years.

Yeah, I'm sorry, mellow, And I know I look, when a guy words your number, you're like, oh man, this joke ain't worth that having my number you know, he's more than worse. And what's gonna happen is that people in Denver will have forgotten that you actually wore that number.

I mean, the black people will remember.

And it's just it's the black people remember. I mean, it's just one of those things, like my jersey finally got used this year a lottery pick. Will he do the things I did?

I hope not? But if he do that, you hope. I hope he don't.

But you know the fact that you know that I thought my jersey was being hidden for you know, you know they frownd the pond, right, you know, so the fact that they let someone wear it, it kind of makes me proud of Okay, finally, shit, I thought you can just burn up zero out of the archives.

Yeah, I have my my number at Savanna State retired. And even before it got retired, my coach Bill Davis said, nobody, as long as I'm the head coach, ain't nobody wearing that number because nobody had ever had their jersey retired. And I think in two thousand and nine when they finally retired retired it. But from eighty from when I left at eighty nine, nobody had even War from eighty nine to two thousand nine, so twenty seasons nobody even had that jersey. Now, can't no one wear it unless I, unless Savannah State and I we both have to give consent to let somebody wear it.

And uh, I know. My thing is, why would you want to.

A three time All American, a Conference Player of the Year, offensive player to year, three times Georgia's Player of the Year. Why would you want number two? You won't, You don't, nobody's nobody's dumb. Nobody won't.

Nobody wants that pressure man.

You know you know what's happening. The Magic will retire Shacks number thirty two. There's no question he's the best player in magic history, followed closely behind dwighte.

Oh you think you get oh you got d White in magic history. You know you got only there in four years, that's it, right.

But like we're not talking about, you know, Shack's body of work. We're just saying, Orlando, that's four years. I mean, yeah, you was breaking back and fords and stuff. But you know, three time All NBA Defensive Player of the Year.

You know you got you know, rebounding.

Champ All Stars, six All NBA's and six. Like his resume is just bigger than Shacks in that jersey. Yeah, I mean, I mean the best, the better player, of course talent wise, Shack, But in that jersey, it's white, right. Shack made a statement early when the Rookie of the Year, averaging twenty three point four points fourteen rebounds in.

His first first campaign at the Rookie of the Year.

He led the Magic to the NBA Finals of the nineteen ninety five and posted four All Star season. Okay, let me ask you this, what do you have Shacking your all time rankings?

I have him, I have him. I bounced from four to five. You got him that between him and Magic? Yeah, because because I seen him close, you know what I mean.

I seen him up clothes. That's how I kill.

I've seen how he talked to the defense and what we had to do to try to stop him. Right, I have him four or five is between him and Magic at the four or five. But he's my number one draft pick. I'm drafting him number one. He's my fourth or fifth. But if I got the first pick, I'm grabbing Shack every time. Wow, that's very interesting.

Because you know, the best, the double one overall pick that gets voted all the time is Lebron.

Yeah, you know, I know who who's gonna get voted number one.

But I know what happens when you have Shakill Loan O'Neill in the game, right, and you're gonna have to draft players. You're gonna have to like, hey, hey you hey, hey, you want to play basketball? You know the lift weights? Come on, they gotta go to Gohos Gym for shack. Yeah, you ain't even I got football? Who want to come come on here? You're wrong, you got you got? You gotta go get a Miles Gary. You gotta go get some defensive line with something five to seventy five to deal with Shaq that's used to that physicality, because I don't there's not an NBA player that's ever been physical enough to deal with him one on one. That's why he I mean, they created the hack of Shock because he was just he was just unstoppable.

You got one and he's gonna punish you on the block. He gonna clear it out, he gonna drop step, and he gonna dunk it. He ain't laying nothing up. I don't know if I've ever seen Shack lay the ball up.

No, and he ain't trying to and with some funny as I had Baron Davis on today and he said the same thing that I was always alluding to when because how physical shock was, he didn't block shots, he didn't do it, but because he was so massive and his defense was I'm gonna hit you so.

Hard, you're not gonna come in this Slane no more made everybody.

Else look like they were great defensive players because back there, like so when I want to draw, it's like, oh no, I don't want to get hit by that dude.

Like we injured, like I'm you know what I mean.

So that was his presence too, the defensive presence of Lebron.

Ain't driving, d Wayne.

We ain't driving like you know AI coming there, but you know, ay, I gonna get hit. We were scared to go in there and get hit by Shack. We didn't want that first shock hit or that second shock hit. I got his third, all right, if I can get the fourth on him?

Yes at the half?

Who other than that, hell no, yeah, you better not let him have one or two coming out of the half.

Oh no, no, yeah, because he gonna say, hey, let him. Let him come over here and drive.

I got something for him, right Yeah, I mean, but you know, early in his career, Jack was a shot blocker.

I think he had averager with three point three blocks of the game. Yeah, he was. I mean when he was at JIB.

But when he got to l A and he realized that I would not get dunked on if I if I if I if, I give you an example, and that's what that example was. I'm just gonna I'm gonna go like this and I'm gonna use my hip and hit you out the air.

Yeah, it's interesting. I don't have him in my top five before I give you my top five. The Jannis Guess what number Yannis is wearing in Milwaukee? Thirty four? Who were thirty four at Milwaukee? Rey aality? I mean nobody thought, hello, if they thought Jannis was gonna be this, they took him earlier.

Yes he was.

He was a skinny kid. When do you go like thirteen or fourteen. He was a skinny kid out of Greece.

Yeah, And I mean you don't know, Uh, it's it's you, okay, what you look for in drive fifteen he was taking fifteenth Gil. Yeah, I think he was like right outside the lottery, what happens what happens in the NBA when you have someone who's eighteen nineteen, right, you're going off of the skill set, the potential lock arms, right, Yes, see, can they run up and down and then you hope that they have the work at to want to get better. Yes, But for the most part you're looking at measurements, and his measurements was like, okay, we can do something with this. Yes, then you know what, And that's if they know this is gonna be him and he's gonna gain thirty something forty pounds in the next two years and be the MVP number one pick.

Yes, but they're not looking at those men.

They're looking at Okay, we can guide him, and he looks like he can be fifteen maybe one time All Star.

We can deal with that.

The mere fact that we have to debate Shaq being in the top five of the travesty because of his size, his athleticism had he as he worked his tail.

Let's just say he had a third of the worker.

I think it's Kobe A Jordan or Lebron shackspplted to have thirty five thousand points.

Yeah, Yeah, if the refs called the game like they were supposed to, he would have had thirty five tous quarter right right, you know it's it's it's one of those things where in the NBA, the stronger players cry the most because the stronger players are getting hit the most.

Yes, right, And that's just how the game is. That Shack is coming down there to post up, and he's posted up on me. Trust me, They're gonna allow me to do whatever I can, yeah.

To try to get him out of this lane.

So imagine what people were trying to do to get him off that spot.

Two hands were sitting here.

Doing this, hey get it, push, we don't you got six hands in the back, and Shack is just come on, come on down here, come on out here.

And and it was one of those things.

So the fact that if they just called the game fair, which you can't, right, you can't, he would be the thirty five free throws a game because you you have to file him or.

You get Yeah.

I think the thing is is that when you look at Shack and you see the athleticism, I mean, he's a bigger, more Shack is more athletic. I'm talking about just athletic. I'm saying you don't have to touch the field like a Joel Embiid. But as far as just running drop step, Shack had it all. People don't realize how big Shaq was and how athletic he was to get up and down the court. But he didn't take training series, he didn't take his diet series. Because had he had he taken that serious, maybe he could have warned about some of those injuries.

Because you know, that's a big man. That's a big that's a big man, that's.

A lot of weight that you're asking to get up and down the court playing thirty five thirty seven minutes a night at three hundred and thirty five, three hundred and forty five pounds, and you're asking him to play at least seventy games a season.

And that's asking an awful lot.

Gil And so had he taken care of himself, put the time in the condition, put the time in to eat right, even without the because a lot he missed a lot of games because of injuries. So even even without the files, just being on the court, just think about he just being on the court.

Go get you twenty four twenty five to night.

What they know today they didn't know that, and right, you know, it's like even today you tell Janni's, hey, you need to work on your jump shot to extend your career, to make the game easier.

It's an MVP and a champ, right right, we.

Look stupid telling them that, just like people will look stupid telling Shaq, who got the MVP finals in VP three rings, that hey, man, you need to get in shape.

He gonna look at you for what.

Yeah, like, right now, I'm the best player in the league right now.

Anybody you give me the guy that's eating Saturday, I'm a bus his head. Yeah. So that's that's that's how Shack, That's how Shaq thought.

But you're right because once it's hard to convince somebody when they've had success doing it their way, to convince them to change it. Gilts like, change what. I'm a two time league MVP, I'm a finals MVP. Shaq is like, brug Do you see how dominant I am? Yeah, but just think about how dominant you could have been. Because see the thing like, see this is the thing that you love about Kobe, Mike and Lebron. No matter what you think about each player, there's no doubt in your mind. They empty the tank. They got everything out of their god given ability. There's nothing when Lebron. Lebron probably just gonna be being in the middle of a game and just pull aside the road.

Hey I'm done.

Just like you know, you got a car and that all of a sudden you're not paying attention to that red light, come on, you out of gas, and all you can do is just hopefully you're not on the pull five in the middle of the full five and you can just get on to the side and get on off. That's that's that's how Lebron is. I mean, he's taking care of his body and everybody's coming in. I'm not saying you're gonna have a twenty year career, like a twenty plus career like Lebron's, like Lebron, but it greatly increases your chance if you take care of yourself, if you get your risk, if you train, if you get your shots up, try to get better every year, because Lebron is not as athletic as he once was. Because that's what I tell guys. When athletics starts the way, then what are you gonna do? Because when you can't outrun somebody. You can't out jump somebody.

Then what.

This Yep, my mind, it's it's just it's just it's understanding, it's it's it's your purpose too, you know.

The purpose is Jordan's purpose was to be the greatest ever?

Right, yes, So with that being said, that's that's him getting better into like, okay, this is what I need to bring in. Is so when he went into the summer, he self checked himself. He didn't go off the glory of the accolades itself. It was just he was a hard worker. Yes, right, yes, that was the model. Klobe followed him. Yes, right, I'm chasing that. I'm not chasing the NBA players here. They're not on my they're not on my planet. I want that dude, right, guess what Lebron is looking at. So because they're looking at the same two men, they have to keep going right, And I tell a lot of players that do not.

Follow someone that's not on the planet. So when you look up, you can see how far so you can keep moving forward. You start looking in real time.

You know this guy's here that no, no, no, look at Michael Jordane, look at Kareem, Look at these guys that they look like they're it's impossible to catch them.

And when your career is.

Done, even if you didn't get to them, you're gonna be far better than the people you was on the same planet with.

I think the thing is gil what Michael did. He was the first player to give something, give other players someone to chase. He was the rabbit that they were chasing because proud of Mike. I mean, Kareem. It wasn't Will, it wasn't Russell. Mike gave somebody like, Okay, I need to be like Mike. Those commercials, those shoes, the blueprint the way I mean Mike. You ain't see Mike unless he was impeccably dressed. You see Michael a twist suit. Mikeel have that they ain't gonna have that hoop in his ear. Might gonna be, Hey, Mike gonna be having that Sue had no more bigs, gonna have them blue foot so that they ain't gonna the ain't gonna be fitted, but Mike gonna be impeccably dressed. So he gave you the blueprint of how to build a brand. And so he gave you the He gave you the blueprint this is the way you need to conduct yourself. This is what you need to do. For the first time they had someone to chase, they gave you he He.

Was the the idea of what a star supposed to look like. Walk talk score like. When people think about the knock on Lebron, it's not clutch. He don't take the game win. That came because of Michael Jordan's right.

That wasn't in the Wilson all those guys. Was it in the resume?

You didn't use that against players, But when you sat there and said I need one of those, it was everything he wrung.

But you know what, Gil Lebron has more game wining shots than Jordan.

Yeah, so this notion that he is at clutch, you know, people started that myth.

It got perpetuated.

These people feel if I tell it loud enough, people are starting to believe it, even though it's not the truth. And so you know, repeating a lot doesn't make it true. But if you tell a lie long enough, people are starting to believe it as the truth.

Go back and look at Lebron in the playoffs.

Look at Lebron against Indiana, look at him against Chicago, against US too, y'all look at that team he got to the NBA Finals against the Celtics.

That was the one on four. You mean to tell me he wasn't clutch.

You know what it is, Uh, it ain't about the clutch. It's about how that clutch shot looked. Right, when you think about all of Jordan's clutch shots, they just looked like it looked like movie scripts.

Right, he held the poles.

They remember the double clutch against Craig Elo because Craig Lelo has got the block it. He moved it to the he moved it back this way. Shot it. It's it's it's the whole. That's why I said he was meant for that spot.

Right when you go back in the archives and you start looking up game winners, his game winners just look better than everybody else's.

Yeah, and that's what it was. I mean, the tongue hanging out.

You know, he had the baggage shorts, he had the Denis lee pulled down over his calf, he had he had the wristband on his elbow. He was slightly pigeon told he kind of you know, he got a dapt when he was walking and so and and when they came out. I mean I think it was gatorade that came be like Mike, that was it.

That was it. That might be the greatest. Look.

That might be the greatest because now people associated that that's who I want to be like. And the and the shoes just took it to a whole new level because people actually lead that. I ain't you. That's the shoes that got you doing that. Man, let me go get me a pair, and I have me a forty inch vernacle. Everybody.

You had light skinned man out there cutting their head trying to look like Mike.

Yeah, situation. It didn't matter what color your team was.

You could be greedy gold, you could be black and gold you had all ready. You had a red and white shoe though, bro, that don't even match. You didn't get a black uniform. You got to get an all black uniform.

Man.

I mean you saw guys with probably all different kinds of color and they had the Jordans on and and that's what I'm saying, nobody, I don't care how good the shoe is. There might be a shoe that comes along give it might add three or four inches to your birth. It ain't passing the Jordan, it ain't that too big a believe. It's the idea. It's the idea of perfection, right, it's the idea of perfection. And if it don't, if it don't look like it, right, it's never gonna measure up.

And there's nothing that's gonna come into the league that has everything Jordan had not in our lifetime.

No, no, it's not going to happen. And so, uh, that's that's where we are. I mean, he came up and the thing was gil. I remember, there are a lot of guys that had shoes. Magic had the weapons. He and Bird Kareem had the top ten of Zita's. Uh, Doctor j had the cons. But once the player retired, Once the player retired, the shoe line went wait nobod, they didn't make the weapons anymore. They didn't make the Doctor Jay's anymore. Jordan was the only one who retired. They kept making a shoe and it's bigger.

Listen, nobody got beat up ing on goddamn Magic Johnson's and Lady birds Hell Dog.

I had them.

I moved up the river. I had I had the weapons. I had the Magic and the birds. I had the Geordans to my mom and I got the Jordan two's ended up backtracking and getting the Jordan Ones. I had the spud Webs, the City Wing Ponies, I had the Doctor j the Yeah. But there was something about that shoe. You felt special. You felt special with that shoe.

That was a nice I mean, I mean, just to be honest, like it was one of those things where we stood in them. It was like when the Jordan's dropped, it was a kid's It was a kid's event. Yes, I remember they used to drop it on what Tuesdays, Tuesday's ten o'clock. We ain't in school, right, We at the foot locker and we as soon as I get him, we running the lunch a.

I got him. We did get Rob going back to school. If we didn't get it Rob going back to school, we cry because we had them first.

But they drop them during the weekday and we used to get them at ten. We're gonna get the shoes first, then we're gonna come to school.

And they talked about it and then they put them on the weekend and then to gil. You know, man, I ain't paying no hundle dollfs on those shoes. Don't worry about it. There are a lot of people that will you won't well, you won't get a pair man one hundred dollars because most of the time the hue like twenty five fifty dollars.

He doubled the price, double them.

He doubled the price one hundred dollars for a pair of shoes back in the mid eighties. Was acid was crazy, but we had never seen anything like it because the shoes were just basically one colorway. So now you got a double or triple colorwave red, black and white. Yeah, red, the bread the red, the black and the red. So that changed the game. And like you knew it, they couldn't wory about to find David Sturt said, We're gonna fidre you a five thousand, Like di, don't worry about it. We got that one thousand. They was finding the five thousand. But the publicity that they were getting for that, where else are you gonna get that kind of attention, that kind of eyeballs, because that's what advertise. You want to see. Well, who's looking at it? How many impressions is he getting? Well, that shoe got millions and millions of impressions, even before we knew what impressions were, but they knew what that Jordan's shoe was and it hadn't looked back. The NBA Draft is moving to a two night event. Do you like the NBA draft trying to be more like the NFL draft?

Certainly what the.

NBA draft is moving to a two night event? Do you like it just trying to be like the NFL?

Uh?

One is dumb because it ain't. This ain't the NFL.

Right, you ain't gonna find Tom Brady's in the seventh round, you'd like, Right, no one's watching the draft after lottery. So unless it's gonna be the first day the first five picks, and then the second day everybody else after the lottery pick, we not watching no more because after the lottery pick, how many superstars are we getting?

Yeah?

I mean in the last one since two thousand, since twenty fifteen, the only all stars is what Passal and Jokisch Wow? After the lottery? So what the hell are we watching this the second.

Day for exactly? And that's the fact. And here's the thing, Gil.

A lot of it has to do with we never heard of these guys, these guys that come from overseas unless you die hardest of the NBA fans, you've never heard of these guys. So it's not like the NFL, you've heard all these guys that's coming from Alabama, Ohio State, or Michigan.

They're coming from teams that you've heard. And the NBA does a.

Great job of leading up to the draft talking about said individuals that could be in the first round and the second round. So I don't look, I get it. Everybody's trying to keep up, but the NFL. Look, the NFL has cornered the market. They've cornered the market. There's a reason why they're doing twenty five thirty fifty million, fifty million viewers in a game.

The NBA. The NBA would like, how do we do that? You can't. You can't because no, go ahead, Gil, go ahead, You just can't. You can't.

And unless you're gonna go backwards, Unless you're gonna go backwards, right, we're gonna.

Start with the last pick, you get the first in that?

Why why am I watching the second round? Who wants to see Mark Tatum come up?

Is that?

Is that part of is that Tatum's uncle? Hold up, Well, no one knows him. He's calling in the second not the commissioner, right, David sterndon't call my name, right, I don't even know who.

Called my name.

I'm pretty sure it's Adam Silver, the one who's doing it now this round, Mark Tatum, he coming up there.

But no, get off the stage, man.

This is like watching the second round is like watching De City's Child without Beyonce not coming to that.

Y'all, Well we ain't coming either, exactly. And so I mean I understand. I mean it's a situation that that the NBA is trying to like im plus. You know your advertise, you stretch it out. But the NBA of corner that market, they know, think about what they did. They put sold the Saturday in that game, put it on Peacock. And guess what game they put on Peacock to Kansas City Why Taylor Swill guess who the game? Those young girls eyeballs that you normally wouldn't get. But in order for them to get it, you gotta have Peacock. Peacock paid. I'm seeing they played one hundred, one hundred and ten million dollars just to televise one game. But we're gonna get eyeballs that we don't normally get. That's why they show on Taylor Swift. I'm not bad. I'm not bad at them. I'm not. This is a business and Taylor Swift bring young girls that don't that doesn't normally watch football. They bring those eyes, and the NFL understands that. That's why they keep showing on them. And y'all could take it. Y'all can say, oh, I didn't, I didn't have watched the game. It's not like you turn it so I I'm not mad at the NFL. I'm not mad. I mean, but what you wanted to do? You don't want it to come to the game and support the man.

No, No, seriously, I mean they milking it. They know how, But that's not the end. That's not the NBA. NBA kicking around as two B. It's the two v Ain't nobody watching that sh right?

Someone named Ocho Sinko Johnson just donated four hundred dollars. I beat I beat Shaq when he's the l s U one on one. Bro, everybody saw you running the Ray Lewis and get paying cake. Kick your damnself?

How this Oak show? God damn.

Broh. But you like a mosquito on the rhino ass. He wouldn't even failt you back there?

Hey, actually we might take you with the We might take you with the Lakers. Bad throw that out there, mad mad mad o cho band Shaq would have punished oo, mean you got bid you?

First of all, he don't know how to play defense down of the block.

All Shaq go to do is just drop step and when he swing his elbow, there he gonna be in the second row. So shows the funniest man. Bad that dude, I don't know what you got going on. Charles Barkley to Night said his New Year's resolution is to give up diet coke. Gil, what's your advice and what's your New Year's real? I don't have New Year's resolutions.

Huh.

The reason is one, it's it's it's just another day, right, And when you do resolutions, to me, it seems like you have a flaw in something. Right. I need to give up, right, you need to New Year to do that. Just get it shit upright, you know. So I don't usually have those. I have goals. Just just set right, you know. I'm trying to be you know, fifty fifty million views over.

All, that's just the goal. I'm trying. There's no time on it.

It's just this is where I want to get to, right, because all these New year goals do is well, I need to get in shape. You got thirty one days in your ass is back to normal because you didn't have the discipline. You didn't create the habits to do what you're trying to do the next day.

Right.

The thing of gil is that when you look at it, when you sell a goal or you sell a diet, they have a start and an end time. So let me ask you a question. Once you reach your resolution, then what hopefully you go back? Do you go do you go back to Okay? I did it and start eating or whatever whatever whatever you wanted to give up.

So once you accomplished that, then what sir? So?

I had a soda habit and I was like, I need to break I need to break this habit.

Right, And because I understand how many sold you would drinking to day kill seven seven don't watch.

God, I mean hit them a like a like it was like it was barbecue. I'll finish just like that. I was drinking seven wow. So But because I I I broke the soda habit. How I trained, right? I had to create the habit first. So the habit was, if I'm doing seven a day this first week, get it down to six a day, then the next week three a day.

Then it would days like towards before I gave it up.

I'm just taking a sip, throwing it out, sip, throwing it out.

And then it became two SIPs a week.

Right now, I haven't drinking any soda, right, And that's how I do stuff like if I want to if I want to get in shape, I'm you know, I wanted to lose fifty pounds and I was two seventy you know last year and I was trying to lose Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

So what you get down to now, the SODA's hunk. That's a lot. That's a lot of that's a lot of caffeine. That's a lot of sugar.

Out of sugar. I'm a sugar I'm a sugar guy. So I got down to I got I'm two twenty now, been to twenty four, but eight months an hour. But that started.

Seven month journey where it was my goal was wake up every day and leave the house. I need to do that for a month, right, wake up every day, leave the house right then, once I got that under my belt, wake up every day, go to the gym. Not necessarily work out, just get to the gym right if I worked out twelve days too hard and then eventually I just started adding on to it.

But I had to create those everyday habits first.

And most people try to just say I'm gonna go in and I mean I'm gonna work out and do this, and then you go in there and then because that's not your natural habit and you haven't created that habit, you always fail to it.

So set little goals first that you know you can do.

Wake up every day, make the bed once you got that pack, check wait yere date, get out of the house.

But you gotta make the band ogil because you know, you don't shut the covers more dark, so the bed all mess it.

You know, you don't chuck the covers more dumb. But you got to create those habits. People don't want to create the habits first.

So if you can't, if you don't have any habits that you do every day, then you can't.

Be successful anyway. This is just life goals.

Yeah, I think the thing is the thing is that my grandpa used to tell my brother and I. He said, boys, never a mistake habit for hard work. Sometimes people feel like just because they do something over and over, they work hard. We've seen people go to the gym five years, ten years, and anybody never changed.

Well, see, that's a habit.

That's a routine in which you've established going at nine o'clock, ten o'clock. But you're not working hard because your body hasn't changed. So what it tells me that you're not working hard or you haven't changed your eating habits, whichever the case may be, it's a habit. Some people like, man, I wake up and I work up at six o'clock in the morning, okay, and do what man? I just get Okay, So I mean hell bees are busy. Tell I mean you do the damn thing. At least bees they have, you know, they moving stuff around, they're building, they building, you know, a hide or a comb or whatever the case may be. So this notion just because you've established a habit that you're working hard, you're fooling yourself.

Too many people mistake habit for hard work. And so.

That's why I don't do dark dyts because diets have start stops they have end dates.

I have a lifestyle.

I eat a certain way, and then when I eat too much of that one thing, now, all of a sudden, I get back and say, Okay, I gotta cut this out. I gotta get back on my got to get back on the cardio. I gotta get back on the roll machine and get back on the salt bike. And that's so me. But uh, these people, they'd be fooling themselves. I'll be a damn get I want to call you man.

When you do Hey, hey, listen, you do four shows? It on your God damn, I'm on yoe.

Okay, but people people be, people be thinking they're working hard Gill, and they really not.

But that's self checking.

Man.

That was me too.

I was going in the gym, you know a lot, and just sitting there. I was booty watching. Not gonna lie everybody, no booty watching, you know what I mean to do.

They had a little tiny they had a little tiny shorts on. Oh look, I mean Woodland Hills on coming in there, make up everything gone.

Yeah, you ain't trying to work out, you try trying to catch come out there, judge like.

You were that yesterday girl. You mustn't go home, right, I mean they're just booty watching. I wasn't in there trying to lose no weight. And then eventually it start packing up. I started looking fat on TV that line. I mean, go ahead and take this, take this serious.

Let me get this off. Ridney, my whomeboy, Ridney Dnkins Rock. What's up? I got my fourth bottle of Portier on the way. Also, I asked Ray about needing to reach out to your team about trying to come on your show for the Olympics. I was pleased with his response, that's my homeboy. His dad used to coach me on when I was on a I probably how it was. I probably was like nine. I probably was nine, So I've been He's from my hometown. We called him Rock, and so I appreciate the support.

Rock.

Yeah, I'm sure if they've reached out back after you and gave you a response, they own it. Uh two Pinet three snipers said, hey, uh Ca, and about your big fan, this is for Gil. If you could take injuries out, how high do you think you would have reached in NBA Greats Top seventy five, top fifty.

To be honest, I mean I would have been top seventy five for sure.

You know, what I was doing at that time was unheard of, right, you know, I was a three time All Star, three time All NBA.

By the age of twenty five.

That's not a big list, you know, being dominated that fast, you know, averaging twenty eight twenty nine. So I was gonna win a scoring title, you know, with the way my metrics was running, I was gonna win a scoring title.

You know, Dwayne Wade end up winning one with thirty.

So you know, once everyone started getting their teams better, and I was gonna be one of those guys that you know.

That led the league in scoring. I had the advantage.

You know, everyone thought AI was the guy who changed the point guard position.

It was me because they moved him to the.

Two when I came in, bigger guard, a shooting guard played the point.

I didn't have a big man to pass the ball down there too, right, So I.

Had the advantage over the Baron Davis, the Stefan Maulberry's, the Steve Nashes. So you know, you given you know, fifteen and fourteen assists, I'm giving third the points and six assists, I'm pushing more points than you, right, right, total points. I'm pushing more than you at this point. So I got injured, you know, and and it's one of those things. But my impact was so so so huge and fast that I'm.

Still relevant today. What what injury did you have, Gail? And what happened? Did you come back too soon?

Did he.

Did you cut back too soon? Did it not fix it properly? To begin with, I was boxing out. I don't know why the hell I was boxing out of hum. I was boxing out. Uh you know, Jered Wallace fake fake the jumper. I thought he was gonna take it. But I should have known it was Jared Wallace.

He can't shoot ship, so I should have known there's gonna be a pump faking drive.

But he pump fake drove.

I'm boxing out thinking he shot the ball, and then he ran he ran into me, and then tour UHM M c l p c l M meniscus. And then because I've never knew what an injury was, I didn't really rehab the way.

I was supposed to.

So I came back, you know, came back as soon as the season started. Eight games intil the season started, I'm injured again. So I had three after I had three knee surgeries in fourteen months and all that trauma built up, all this scar tissue, and you the same after that.

Nah.

And I think I really messed my hand up on Lebron that cav series because I needed to come back and play right because my contract is coming up, and because my name was still hot and they still had I'm still.

Good in the eyes.

I had to come in there and play two games to show that they am back right.

And what happened is.

Lebron ran into my wrists and you know, I couldn't shoot, so they gave me one of those tortos shots in my ass. I had to bend over and I hyper extended my my injured need right, which that took forever to rehab. So rle be thinking I'm superman. Yes, Yes, And.

Plus I think the thing is we know more now. You're probably became out better. Missing the whole year, probably came out better missing the whole year, came back to following year.

But I get it.

Understand that your contract was up, and like you said, you wanted to parlay that into another big contract, knowing, not knowing, you're probably doing more harm than good.

Yeah, It's one of those I risked my career for that next contract.

Yeah you did, You absolutely did. Jordan asked, would you rather have embiid or Y'll getch on your team. Shack recently said on this podcast, we know Joe Ebid is the best big man when it comes to numbers and all that, But Djoko went to the Big Dance and got the thing done. We know what, we know what you can do, but can you do it at the at the Big Dance? Can you get the phone number at the Big Dance and take home and close the deal?

Who you won't who you won't?

Giel I'm gonna I'm gonna take I'm gonna take him Bead. The reason I'm gonna take him beat is because if I don't have anyone on my team, I know he can dominate, right, and he can dominate by himself right right, And it's my job to find pieces that work with him.

Well.

Jokic, Yokic, You're gonna need guys who can shoot the ball that he can pass the ball to. You got to treat him like Jason Kidd, Magic Johnson. You have to put other guys around that can make plays when he finds them. So if he has a whole bunch of guys who can't shoot the ball, who can't do anything else, then you're just left with twenty two and twelve rebounds, right, and you take away his assists.

His assist comes because his vision.

If he can't use his vision, right, if he can't use his vision, then in a sense, he's just an average double and double guy. And that's why he went in the second round because when he's working out, he's not working out with five other players where he gets to use his passing skills.

Right, So.

Ahead need to be I would need to be smarter as a general manager with Jokic. I have to put the right pieces around Yokis would him be I can fuck up a couple of times in the draft and he can carry us for a little bit. That's you know, That's how I look at it.

Yeah, I think the thing is I'm gonna take Jokic because I think the thing is that the way they built their team in Philly and the way I mean, look, they built their team. So Joel Eid everybody runs the offense because there have been times Nicola Jokic could impact the game and only take ten shots Joel doesn't have the same impact without those without those attempts because he's getting to the foul line. So for me to watch him be able to go give me forty twenty and fifteen. And like they said, every big game, every big shot that they needed last year, in that moment, Nikola Jokic made the shot more he made the perfect pass.

That's that's that's I mean, that's what I said.

His value, his value comes, His value comes because he can pass that ball, right, And that's why I said, like I would have to be you know, Calvin Booth, we were teammates, So.

You have to create That's what I said.

You have to be smarter as a general manager when you have Jokic. Yes, right, I can. I can be done with Embiid, Right, you know I can. I could be Maury and I can do I could be Maury with with Embiid. You know, when when you having someone like Jokic, you have to put the right pieces to make sure that he's at that high level every single night where when he's not scoring, he can get your twenty assists.

Yes, oh for sure, you know what I mean. And it's one of those.

Things that you know, like I would have to be I would have to be very smart when I have a player like Jokic.

Aaron Owens asked, I think d Rose would have won two or three rings and in top twenty five if he never gotten injured. What do you think, Gilan up, what do you think d Rose would have ranked had he not gotten injured?

Ranked? Yes? Oh, I mean, I mean when you're talking about like dynamic guards, wow, I mean the Rose that he was different.

He was He was Russell before Russell Restbrook. He was John Moran before John Moran, the explosive guy that played above the rim. And so there weren't there. Look, they weren't point guards. That was explosives as d Rose from end to end, and he played above the rim, which we had never seen a point guard play above the rim like d Rose could. Now we see what Russe has done, we see John Moran finishing at the rim and stuff like that.

But before those guys, d Rosse was in. Yeah.

Even even like when you're talking about above the rim, Yeah, you had like small guards back in the day, but not.

In pactful like d Rose did.

Right, but you know, his uh, his quickness and his speed with his explosion up was just different. It was just a he was just a different dude. You know, he could have argued if he would have stayed healthy. Of course he argues for you know, best point guard ever. You know, it's just one of those things that he was just different, seeing something different. The way he played the game. Hard knew how to knew how to get to the lane. You know, those type of guys you just get. He's just you look back and saying what could have been? What could have been?

Right?

Yeah, yeah, we're gonna make Peenie Hardaway is in a different category because he was six seventy six eight.

Yes, yes, you have Magic Johnson. He was more of a Magic Johnson type. Yeah, but could score the basketball and then he did have shot. It's kind of like what Magic had with Kareem. So, I mean sometimes people forget that Magic came into the league and Kareem was the m v P. Now let that think just the magine if Joe el Embiid is the m v P and they get Victor women Yama, Yeah, that's what that's that's what happened with the Lakers.

Uh, they got Magic and Kareem was the MVP. Yep. And then they won a championship and got worthy.

Yes, in eighty two they won the championship and yo, what yep, that's what happened.

Yeah. So with that, Big said, Yil, we're gonna were gonna cut it short tonight. Man. I'm just I'm under the weather.

I mean, man, I just want to give you flowers, man, and then and Jimmy for the audience out there. Look, listen, y'all see Unk out here struggling right, And the fact that he even hit the live, it just lets you know how dedicated he is. So when you sit thinking about dedication, the fact that he hit the live, been working all week and he's sick, you can you can see it. And the fact that you know, that's what greatness is, that that is Jordan in the flu game. You know what you're doing tonight. You know we can see you, we can hear it. And the fact that you even hit the live to even come out here and let you know how dedicated you are. And this is for people who's really trying to see what it takes to be great. Their now excuses, you still give the fans what they deserve, even if it's for an hour, hour and a half twy minutes.

Man.

So hey, I looked at you as number one before. Huh, this is your championship for me. You know what I mean, Sit, I appreciate that. See it in the fact that you're still going. That's another level of dedication, man. Like. So when I get sick and I don't want to do something, this is what I'm gonna think about. Man uncle, he's struggling man doing his thing, so I can't no let the party go. I had a professor in nineteen eighty seven named Norman Elmill Rest your soul, doctor Elmore.

And it was cold.

I'm talking about really really cold that day, and the heat wasn't working, and so it would probably only three people that showed up for the class.

Remember him walking in. He never had a book back. He had all these books.

And if you went to Savannah State and was talked by doctor Norman Elmore, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. And he came and had all these books and he threw them on the desk. He said, you know, I almost didn't show up today, but I thought somebody might want to learn something. I thought someone want to be educated, be informed, And so that's what I said, I almost like ash Man, I'm struggling today, but I thought someone want to be entertained, someone will want to be educated, someone want to be informed, And so I showed up and gave you my best. Hopefully the medication that I've received over the last couple of days would take effect, and Saturday I'll be a lot better. But I don't make any show up to get me. I got some nurses that do the things for you. No, no, no, no, no, Now, I don't want to get them sick. Uh, what's them, y'all? What's them? Y'all don't know about that. I told you those are better than them. Jumpman's you poured our last week? Man, go ahead over that, Gil bad, Come on, man, let that go stolen my gill throw me out?

Hey, hey, this this episode is on Flue game man.

Yeah, yeah, that's exactly what it was, all right, enjoy your name. Well we'll we'll see what's up.

Well, thank you for joining us. Make sure you hit that like button, hit that subscribe button. You can join our YouTube cast, our Nightcast podcast feed. You can also get it through the club shap Shape feed, but Nightcap does have its own feed. Also, Light and subscribe to gils a renal channel on YouTube. The show airs Monday through Thursday live at eleven thirty am Pacific, two th Eastern, two thirty Eastern Pacific. Remember again Monday through Thursday live at eleven thirty am Pacific two thirty pm Eastern time. So go to gills channel, hit that like button, hit that subscribe button. We've also pinned the shape by Laportie at the top of the chat. Thank you for selling us out, but we're back in stop. So with the holidays right around the corner, we got the super Bowl, we got what else we got? We got Saint Patrick's Day, we got Valentine's Day. Hey, I'm telling you, hey, by that man, by your man's woman, that Laportier.

Women, you won't regret it.

Hey, hey, ladies, if all my ladies that's in the chat, y'all know who y'all are, y'all know what I'll want for Valentine's Day?

Oh yeah, Hey, may be harder than the Times for twenty nine years. I'm telling you that you won't be disappointed.

Thank you.

If your favorite dog Channing Sharp and he's your paper number zero, Arizona Wildcat legend Gilbert Arena, mister Abajia himself.

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