Speaker 1: We're back, and the preseason is less than ten days away,
Speaker 1: and we've got one of the all time great team
Speaker 1: reunions and plus maybe ones we would want to see
Speaker 1: on our own. We've got some news and notes from
Speaker 1: the around the league in the anniversary of what was
Speaker 1: one of the greatest titles of all time, the title
Speaker 1: to discuss with the author of bubble Ball and national
Speaker 1: NBA writer for The Washington Post, Ben Goliver. I'm Miles
Speaker 1: Gray and I'm Jack O'Brien, and this is godstost. Okay,
Speaker 1: we did what we cleaned it up. We cleaned it up.
Speaker 1: And what's up, Ben, Ben, Ben, Welcome to the show.
Speaker 1: Ben in the building. It's great to be here, gentlemen.
Speaker 1: You guys sound excited. I mean, the preseason is right
Speaker 1: around the corner. We got Media Day coming up, all
Speaker 1: that good stuff. Been kind of a while, how long off?
Speaker 1: He yes, and I have as a Laker fan, I
Speaker 1: have many questions. I wait with bated to hear the
Speaker 1: answers on media day to make sense of what might
Speaker 1: be happening this What can they tell you on media
Speaker 1: day that you'd be like, oh, oh, okay, I don't
Speaker 1: even know that that's the kind of like magical thinking
Speaker 1: I have where I can't even articulate a statement that
Speaker 1: would saying, allons wait for media day? Just wait, I
Speaker 1: want to hear it from them what exactly? But yeah, Ben,
Speaker 1: you're coming to us here in l A as well? Right? Absolutely?
Speaker 1: I mean, aren't you guys waited for the Russell Westbrook
Speaker 1: trade destination? Isn't that what you want to hear on
Speaker 1: media day? Are you holding out that it's going to
Speaker 1: somehow work out with him? Because they're bringing in every
Speaker 1: available point guard. It's getting pretty obvious, right, Yes? I
Speaker 1: think so. And while many people are like there's no way,
Speaker 1: I'm like, well, I don't think the Lakers would say, hey,
Speaker 1: really trying to get rid of this guy? If anybody's interested,
Speaker 1: and you might as well go with the positive spin
Speaker 1: of like, yeah, we look good, we like what we see.
Speaker 1: Let's get into camp and then take it step by step.
Speaker 1: All right? So Ben, where are you from? I know
Speaker 1: you're living in a but where where did you grow up?
Speaker 1: Of kind of what's your fandom? What's your fandom journey? Well?
Speaker 1: So I actually grew up in Beaverton, Oregon, which is
Speaker 1: pretty much known for being like headquarters of Nikes. So
Speaker 1: I was, you know, I had all the Swoosh propaganda
Speaker 1: kind of pumping through my veins as a kid. And
Speaker 1: I went to college back east, moved back to Portland
Speaker 1: after college, and started covering the Blazers, you know, in
Speaker 1: two thousand and seven, which was like a really hopeful time.
Speaker 1: I mean Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Soldiers, Greg Oden. I actually
Speaker 1: got my start because I started a blog spot website,
Speaker 1: if you remember, those trying to convince the Blazers to
Speaker 1: draft Kevin Durant and I was convinced they were going
Speaker 1: to listen to me until they didn't, and I was
Speaker 1: almost in tears on on draft night. But so I
Speaker 1: kind of kind of used that to get my foot
Speaker 1: in the door, and and um, you know, started covering
Speaker 1: the NBA kind of at large in in and moved
Speaker 1: down here to l A for Kobe's last season. So
Speaker 1: I guess I'm a Western Conference guy, if you want
Speaker 1: to look at it that way. But um, I have
Speaker 1: a lot of good memories from like the Rip City
Speaker 1: Blazers era of the early nineties, um as well as
Speaker 1: you know, kind of the modern Blazers which went from that.
Speaker 1: Brandon LaMarcus Era into the Damian Lillard you know era
Speaker 1: as well. Yeah, which Dame was like my standout memory
Speaker 1: from the bubble. I don't know if we want to
Speaker 1: get into the bubble already, but Dame and uh Jamal
Speaker 1: Murray like to just were so like the most unconscious
Speaker 1: I've ever seen. Like the best shooting I think I've
Speaker 1: ever seen on a basketball court to that point was
Speaker 1: them in the bubble was just like so wild man. Well,
Speaker 1: and don't forget Tyler Hero too. I Mean, we had
Speaker 1: some Bubble guys who just went absolutely nuts. It was
Speaker 1: one of the big lessons, like if there's no crowd,
Speaker 1: there's no distractions and you're just kind of in like
Speaker 1: a pickup type environment, clean Jim. All of a sudden,
Speaker 1: all these dudes just like could not miss. I mean
Speaker 1: Damian Lillard, I think he went for sixty plus in
Speaker 1: one game. Yeah, dragging the Blazers into the playoffs. It
Speaker 1: was absolutely nuts, and he was screaming, give me my respect,
Speaker 1: you know, put some respect on my name. And remember
Speaker 1: that shot that hit the back of the ram, bounced
Speaker 1: like ten feet up in the air and then came
Speaker 1: down switched through. That was an all time where I was.
Speaker 1: I was there for that game too, so yeah, you're
Speaker 1: bringing back some really good memories. Man. I mean it
Speaker 1: was two years ago, it feels like twenty years ago,
Speaker 1: because I mean it was the last time the Lakers
Speaker 1: were good, and that feels like a long long time ago.
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, that was damn in his sixty one
Speaker 1: point game that they ended up beating Dallas from the logo,
Speaker 1: hit the back of the rim, shot up like above
Speaker 1: the backboard, and then just like dropped right through and
Speaker 1: it was like, all right, he's got some sort of
Speaker 1: spiritual thing going right now that this seems like it
Speaker 1: is defined the laws of physics and just whatever leaves
Speaker 1: his fingers is going to drop through the basket five
Speaker 1: to shoot a minute, and I have to play that's
Speaker 1: a bomb. At a certain point, I was really as
Speaker 1: a fan, just like, man, I'll have some of that
Speaker 1: time in my life. It was also a time when
Speaker 1: I remember that game because nothing else was really going
Speaker 1: on at that time, and so I just remember everybody
Speaker 1: started tweeting at the same time. They were like, oh,
Speaker 1: Dames on one, and so you know, twenty points into
Speaker 1: a sixty one point game, I just was on it.
Speaker 1: You know, watching that and ignoring my three year old
Speaker 1: I think at the talking at my shirt Dame Dame,
Speaker 1: Dame time, nap time, Dame time. One thing I remember
Speaker 1: about that is so when the Blazers clinched the playoffs,
Speaker 1: we just coincidentally were like kind of let out of
Speaker 1: our little media bubble for one of the only times
Speaker 1: the entire experience to get to have like almost like
Speaker 1: a team dinner at this pretty fancy restaurant that was
Speaker 1: at one of the hotels the players were staying at.
Speaker 1: This was like a rare luxury. I mean, they kept
Speaker 1: the media super super lockdown the entire experience, and so
Speaker 1: the Blazers were actually at that hotel. They were the
Speaker 1: only team left from that hotel that hadn't been eliminated.
Speaker 1: Because as soon as you got eliminated from the playoffs,
Speaker 1: they just got you out of their sap. Like the
Speaker 1: next morning you were just gone right Like guys were
Speaker 1: like packing up even before the games on some occasions.
Speaker 1: And so they had this big like welcome sign like
Speaker 1: congratulations Trailblazers, like you're the king of the hotel, and
Speaker 1: like they had all like decorated with their you know,
Speaker 1: with their logo and then these guys had nowhere else
Speaker 1: to celebrate, so they're just like sitting in the lobby
Speaker 1: of their hotel, like, you know, having some drinks, sitting
Speaker 1: at the bar, like having a good time. You know,
Speaker 1: super stoke that they made the playoffs, obviously, because you know,
Speaker 1: it would have been a real effort for them to
Speaker 1: kind of climb up into it, and yet like at
Speaker 1: the same time, probably wishing they could have a cooler
Speaker 1: party because like, you know, it was so land that
Speaker 1: even like the DORKNBA riders like myself were able to
Speaker 1: at least like see what was going on. So um,
Speaker 1: you know, that's what happens when you can't go anywhere.
Speaker 1: You know. It was a very unique circumstance in that
Speaker 1: in that playoffs, Man, I make myself a congratulations Jack,
Speaker 1: You're the King of the Hotel sign every time I
Speaker 1: checked into a place. I didn't know that they actually
Speaker 1: did that for real. That's that makes me very jealous. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you gotta you gotta achieve a few more things to
Speaker 1: get that. But did you put it as a special
Speaker 1: request whenever you check in next time? Then this chicken? Yeah, yeah, congratulations,
Speaker 1: you're the King of the Hotel thanks, okay. So, I mean,
Speaker 1: I think we just get into it. The Bubble was
Speaker 1: a fantastic moment from my perspective as a Laker fan,
Speaker 1: but I think for most people as basketball fans, like
Speaker 1: it came at a time where we were trying to
Speaker 1: figure out what sports we could watch again, how a
Speaker 1: league could do something safely, would it rise to the
Speaker 1: same level just overall, I mean, as someone who was there,
Speaker 1: tell us a little bit about how unique of an
Speaker 1: experience that was, because you've obviously seen the league in
Speaker 1: every form, whether it's in the arenas and then to
Speaker 1: this version of the bubble. Then I'm also going to
Speaker 1: ask tell me something interesting about the bubble that I
Speaker 1: have not heard, because I know you've probably heard or
Speaker 1: seen something. Well. I mean, it was so so weird.
Speaker 1: You know. I was really paranoid just about my own
Speaker 1: health because you know, there was no vaccines, no boosters
Speaker 1: at that point, and I had to fly from l
Speaker 1: A to Orlando. So I hopped on that plane with
Speaker 1: one of those crazy like shield masks, you know what.
Speaker 1: I'm like doubled up on the masks, and I remember,
Speaker 1: like Rachel Nichols was, when my flight shoes like doing
Speaker 1: the same thing. Like everybody was just like so paranoid
Speaker 1: about just yeah, yeah, I mean exactly super duper intense.
Speaker 1: You know. I even had the plastic gloves on like
Speaker 1: I was Walter White. You know. At that point, it's like,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna miss this experience like I would have. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I feel like anybody would have wore like a hazmat suit. Well,
Speaker 1: and also just you know, really nervous about like what
Speaker 1: happens if you get this disease, because you know, for
Speaker 1: those first couple of months, it's easy, they kind of
Speaker 1: all runs together, right, but for a lot of people
Speaker 1: during those first couple of months, we were all pretty
Speaker 1: much locked down, and I was being really really careful.
Speaker 1: I mean I was trying to order in all my food,
Speaker 1: doing all those kinds of safe you know things from
Speaker 1: a safety standpoint. So the idea of flying across country
Speaker 1: and then being in the same spot as hundreds of
Speaker 1: other people was kind of like mentally intimidating, and then
Speaker 1: as soon as you get there, they just throw you
Speaker 1: into like basically the ten day quarantine where we couldn't
Speaker 1: leave our hotel rooms, and I was just going crazy.
Speaker 1: So I actually wound up going viral because I took
Speaker 1: a video of myself just pacing back and forth in
Speaker 1: my hotel room, eight steps at a time because I
Speaker 1: was trying to get Apple Watch steps. So I wound
Speaker 1: up walking more than six miles a day even during
Speaker 1: the quarantine, just back and forth in the hotel. And
Speaker 1: you can, you know, obviously you understand how pathetic that is.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just you're just pacing around your room
Speaker 1: for an hour and a half and you dedicated to
Speaker 1: closing those rings. Though, yeah, it had to be, and
Speaker 1: also to try not to go crazy. You know, it
Speaker 1: should be real stir crazy when you're really like that
Speaker 1: intensely locked down. But once we got out of it, Uh,
Speaker 1: I was really impressed by just the court set up
Speaker 1: in terms of how they made it good for television,
Speaker 1: right because you don't want to watch an empty court.
Speaker 1: They used the technology, they had the cool lights. And
Speaker 1: then as a basketball junkie man, it's like, well this
Speaker 1: is great. Like I have a front row seat. I
Speaker 1: can hear everybody trash talking, right, like there's only ten
Speaker 1: twenty people in these uh these games, and like when
Speaker 1: the Bucks did their protests, like I was one of
Speaker 1: three reporters who was there at tip off, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, what was scheduled to be the tip off.
Speaker 1: So the reporter side of me was like, this is incredible,
Speaker 1: Like this is I got the lucky ticket to the
Speaker 1: really walk a basket ball factor, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: But I mean, there was so many twists and turns
Speaker 1: along the way. You guys, remember that Daniel House incident
Speaker 1: right where during the middle of a playoff series, he
Speaker 1: like gets in trouble for allegedly bringing uh someone into
Speaker 1: his hotel room who's not supposed to be there. You've
Speaker 1: got the Houston Rockets all up in arms saying this
Speaker 1: is like a competitive disadvantage and you know, we need
Speaker 1: to be able to have our guys. And then you know,
Speaker 1: almost immediately after that incident, the Rockets just pretty much quit.
Speaker 1: You know, the Lakers run them off the court the
Speaker 1: next couple of games. And so you can look and say,
Speaker 1: when are we ever going to have a scenario where
Speaker 1: an unauthorized hotel guest will swing a playoff series? We're
Speaker 1: never going to have that in the NBA history ever, uh,
Speaker 1: And the answer is probably no. But you know, one
Speaker 1: of my big takeaways from the whole experience was it
Speaker 1: would have been so much worse if they didn't have
Speaker 1: a champion in the record books, right, Like, I know
Speaker 1: you guys are basketball junkies as well, like, and you know,
Speaker 1: growing up, you're reading the history books, and every single
Speaker 1: year it says, here's who won the time of right
Speaker 1: Lakers in the eighties, Celtics in the eighties, and you
Speaker 1: go all the way back to the city these fifties,
Speaker 1: there's always a champion. And for me, I was so
Speaker 1: glad that they were able to actually crown a champion
Speaker 1: and get the thing done safely because having like a
Speaker 1: spot or like an asterisk in the record books to
Speaker 1: be it would just never would have sat right, you know,
Speaker 1: it would have just always like rubbed me the wrong way.
Speaker 1: And so it was pretty exciting to, uh, to have
Speaker 1: them able to do that. I feel like you could argue, like,
Speaker 1: because you know, you sometimes hear people I've never heard
Speaker 1: this like said in good faith, but you do hear
Speaker 1: people being like that wasn't a real title, or like
Speaker 1: to put an asterisk the Mickey crowd. Yeah, I feel
Speaker 1: like you could argue that was maybe the purest highest
Speaker 1: level basketball tournament of all time because there's like no advantages,
Speaker 1: no disadvantages due to travel. It was everything in normal
Speaker 1: playoffs is, but just like hyper focused on basketball and
Speaker 1: team dynamics with an added level of like psychological experiment
Speaker 1: thrown in. But just the ability to focus through that,
Speaker 1: I feel like, is just everything a normal NBA championship is,
Speaker 1: plus like an added level of difficulty. And I'm not
Speaker 1: a Lakers fan, Like I was blown away by what
Speaker 1: everybody did that year, but especially the Lakers. I totally
Speaker 1: agree with that it was such a mental test, and
Speaker 1: not everybody wanted that test, right. Look at the Sixers,
Speaker 1: they got out of there as quick as they could sweep,
Speaker 1: went home. They were fine with it, you know. You
Speaker 1: look at the Clippers. They could have buckled down in
Speaker 1: their second round series and gone further, and they were
Speaker 1: ready to go home, you know. And then they've even
Speaker 1: kind of admitted that after the fact of like they
Speaker 1: just didn't really want to be there. Guys were uncomfortable
Speaker 1: because they were separated from their family members. Even a
Speaker 1: guy like Janice, who had a brand new baby, even
Speaker 1: though he was with his two brothers in the bubble,
Speaker 1: never really felt like he was, you know, clicking on
Speaker 1: all cylinders because he was separated from his family, such
Speaker 1: a family type of guy. It was really hard. Man.
Speaker 1: I was there for ninety three days. I put on weight,
Speaker 1: you know. It was like really like mentally taxing. And
Speaker 1: I didn't have to play. I'm just going there to
Speaker 1: watch the games. Right, You put on weight and your
Speaker 1: leg muscles right from just all those steps. You were
Speaker 1: shred by the end. I wish. But it was also
Speaker 1: just like the quality of the food there. I don't
Speaker 1: want to talk too much negativity about Disney World, but
Speaker 1: it wasn't my typical diet. And it's just the stress
Speaker 1: of game game day, game day, game day, game day,
Speaker 1: and really having no other healthy outlets. You know, we
Speaker 1: couldn't go for a ride. You know. We could go fishing,
Speaker 1: you know, we can take a little boat right every
Speaker 1: once in a while. You could do little things like
Speaker 1: that here and there. You could ride a bike if
Speaker 1: you wanted. But I mean, this is central Florida in
Speaker 1: the middle of July, in August and September. You know,
Speaker 1: it's humid, it's nasty. I mean, you know, there's thunderstorms.
Speaker 1: You don't always want to go outside. So it was
Speaker 1: taxing for sure. Plus the fish you catch might be
Speaker 1: flounder from the Little Mermaid you know, yeah exactly, or Nemo.
Speaker 1: You never it was catching release, So don't worry no fish.
Speaker 1: No fish were harm bey the course of my expeditions,
Speaker 1: that's for sure. So like, so, Ben, when you were there,
Speaker 1: did you go to the bubble thinking like, well, this
Speaker 1: is going to be a fantastic book or was it
Speaker 1: more of a like I'm there, I'm actually seeing in
Speaker 1: real time how special this is. Because I'm sure on
Speaker 1: some level as a journalist you're always thinking on how
Speaker 1: to record history and things like that, But how did
Speaker 1: you arrive to actually writing the book? No? I mean
Speaker 1: I always say I'm kind of like Forrest gun Man.
Speaker 1: Stuff just falls in my lap. Like I did not
Speaker 1: have any like grand Master, but I would love to
Speaker 1: be able to say like, oh yeah, as soon as
Speaker 1: I understood, I was going to go there like I
Speaker 1: had laid it all out like bits ready. But it
Speaker 1: wasn't like that. Man, I went there wondering are we
Speaker 1: even going to be there for a week? Is this
Speaker 1: gonna work? Are we all gonna get sent home? Or
Speaker 1: is somebody going to give up and pull the plug?
Speaker 1: Like I had no idea it was gonna work. So
Speaker 1: when I did go there, I knew I had a
Speaker 1: unique perspective on like everything that was happening, and so
Speaker 1: we decided to do something it's pretty rare at the
Speaker 1: Washington Post and actually just right like first person journal
Speaker 1: entries where I was just kind of describing, like, hey,
Speaker 1: here's what I'm doing, here's what it looks like, here's
Speaker 1: where they're practicing, here's how the players are acting. And
Speaker 1: it was from my own perspective as opposed to like
Speaker 1: the typical you know, report and third person type of
Speaker 1: voice that I would use. And an agent, you know,
Speaker 1: saw those diaries and like, look, dude, you gotta turn
Speaker 1: this into a book. This is wild. And at that point,
Speaker 1: you know, it was still only a couple of weeks
Speaker 1: into it. We still didn't know if the whole thing
Speaker 1: was gonna work. But thankfully a publisher bought into the
Speaker 1: vision and the deal came together really quickly. And then
Speaker 1: the only thing that made it trickier was my boss
Speaker 1: and said, hey, look at the Post. They said, when
Speaker 1: you're when you're in the bubble, just focus on your
Speaker 1: work for us, write the book when the season's over.
Speaker 1: And I was like, all right, that's totally fair. You're
Speaker 1: paying for me to be down here, no problem. And
Speaker 1: I thought I was gonna have a long offseason to
Speaker 1: write the book because I thought, oh, they're just gonna
Speaker 1: delay the start next season, you know, months and months.
Speaker 1: Then they turned back around and like, oh, by the way,
Speaker 1: we're starting in December, and so I had to write
Speaker 1: that book in like two three months. I mean, just
Speaker 1: crank it out. It was pretty hard to do. Um,
Speaker 1: but you know, I was glad that I had enough
Speaker 1: perspective to no longer be living in it so I
Speaker 1: could reflect on it without like two years passing, because
Speaker 1: if I tried to write that book now, I would
Speaker 1: have forgotten everything that happened, like all the little specifics. So, um,
Speaker 1: the whole thing actually came together pretty well, I think
Speaker 1: in terms of the timeline. Do you feel like there
Speaker 1: is there was something like it just felt like the
Speaker 1: shooting was better in the bubble. Do you do you
Speaker 1: think that was just like depth of field, like not
Speaker 1: having a moving crowd behind the glass backboard or do
Speaker 1: you think some people just like really responded like Dame, like, um,
Speaker 1: you know some of the players that just yeah, a
Speaker 1: d Jimmy Butler, Like I mean Lebron, Donovan Mitchell, Like
Speaker 1: there were some players who like really stepped up. But
Speaker 1: I mean with Lebron and A d and Jimmy Butler,
Speaker 1: even there people who have like stepped up outside, but
Speaker 1: I don't know, like Donovan Mitchell was out of his mind.
Speaker 1: Uh t. J Warren was out of his mind. Jamal Murray,
Speaker 1: I think Jamal Murray that was like I was like,
Speaker 1: this is the guy now, Like this is one of
Speaker 1: the best two guards in the league now, and you
Speaker 1: know he's he's had some injuries, but it just it
Speaker 1: did feel like there was a level of shot making
Speaker 1: that was almost next level. Yeah, I mean a couple
Speaker 1: of things. First of all, no travel makes such a difference.
Speaker 1: You know, just after this most recent playoff ground I
Speaker 1: think I took thirty seven flights in like three months,
Speaker 1: you know, to cover the NBA playoffs, which when those
Speaker 1: are going from Boston and San Francisco Boston, I mean,
Speaker 1: I understand these guys are flying Charter, but they're logging
Speaker 1: so many miles over the course of the playoffs, and
Speaker 1: when you take all of that travel out, it's so
Speaker 1: much better for their sleep schedules, for their rest and
Speaker 1: recovery time period, and I just think it helps them
Speaker 1: get into a groove. I think playing in the same
Speaker 1: gym over and over and over is important psychologically you're
Speaker 1: not making any sort of adjustments. And I think no
Speaker 1: crowd means no pressure, you know, like they were just
Speaker 1: it's not the same when you have to go and
Speaker 1: make shots in Boston Garden Games six like Steph Curry did.
Speaker 1: There's one guy who can do that. That's Steph, right.
Speaker 1: You you're talking about in a random like basically a
Speaker 1: U jim, you know, on the campus of you know,
Speaker 1: an amusement park where there's thirty people plus you know,
Speaker 1: a couple of a dozen family members watching these big
Speaker 1: games and they're not even really allowed to boo, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. You saw that big confrontation between
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook and you know, one of the family members,
Speaker 1: and that guy got kicked out like he didn't get
Speaker 1: to stay. And there's no heckling involved. And I think
Speaker 1: the psychological aspect of it being quiet, calm and then
Speaker 1: um no travel, together with the consistency of the gym,
Speaker 1: is what really spiked up the shooting percentages and it
Speaker 1: helped guys get comfortable. But you're right, there was like
Speaker 1: ten twenty guys who all outperformed their typical baseline by
Speaker 1: a lot, and you look at the following season, we
Speaker 1: still saw that a little bit even when they were
Speaker 1: back traveling. I mean, guys like Julius Randall, Zach Lavine,
Speaker 1: you know, they cashed in with career years that that
Speaker 1: following year. Um, And I do think that the crowd
Speaker 1: dynamics played a role on how well those guys shot through. Yeah,
Speaker 1: travel is so exhausting, Like every time I travel, I'm like,
Speaker 1: why am I the most tired I've ever been in
Speaker 1: my life? So, yeah, that makes what is your three
Speaker 1: point percentage going down? Yeah? My three percent? I thought
Speaker 1: you were going to say there are two guys who
Speaker 1: can knew what the game sixth thing in Boston Garden
Speaker 1: and mentioned me. But that's fine, Like I get it
Speaker 1: because I've improved it. But one of the story, Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know who else loved to know travel though? The
Speaker 1: referees because they have to slum it, you know, on
Speaker 1: the commercial airlines. Those guys, so they were whining because
Speaker 1: they didn't get any Marriott points, right, but they love
Speaker 1: the fact that they didn't have to take the flights
Speaker 1: and it's like, you know their trade off honestly, I
Speaker 1: mean after you go through the playoff grime, you know
Speaker 1: you understand. Like I mean, every summer I come out
Speaker 1: and I just feel like I'm you know, my head
Speaker 1: is spinning, like I need to almost like detox from
Speaker 1: traveling in basketball for the playoffs. You're like, what time
Speaker 1: zone am I even in right now? An NBA ref
Speaker 1: needs to start a travel blog because like they probably
Speaker 1: are the most seasoned at traveling commercial and you know,
Speaker 1: just putting on their headphones because everybody's gonna recognize them.
Speaker 1: I want to talk to them about stuff, so you know,
Speaker 1: just how to do it without talking to anyone there
Speaker 1: towards boding up in the air basically exactly, they're like, no,
Speaker 1: you don't want this flight. The other one. They got
Speaker 1: better hardware on this airline. All right, let's take a
Speaker 1: quick break and we'll be back to discuss even more
Speaker 1: with then right after this and we're back. And obviously,
Speaker 1: as a vowed Laker fan, the bubble playoffs the whole
Speaker 1: that was fantastic for me. I got to see Anthony
Speaker 1: Davis do things I couldn't believe, and I to this day,
Speaker 1: I hold those memories dearly as I wear my A
Speaker 1: D Bubble jersey. But for you, I mean, you this
Speaker 1: your whole experience. Basically, you were there, you got to celebrate,
Speaker 1: or you at least got hit with the celebratory champagne.
Speaker 1: Do I have this correct as part of your bubble experience? Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's I mean, that's why you should feel sorry for
Speaker 1: your Lakers. They're the only team that won a title,
Speaker 1: had nobody to celebrate with and then had to pick
Speaker 1: on the media members with the champagne bottles and they
Speaker 1: were looking around to spray anybody. And you know, I
Speaker 1: had the camera rolling when Lebron came out of locker
Speaker 1: room with the I think he was like double fisting
Speaker 1: bottles maybe at that point, and he just absolutely soaked me,
Speaker 1: I mean my suit, so that we all rushed out
Speaker 1: of the bubble like as soon as it was over,
Speaker 1: like the next morning, I know, I'm gonna fly home.
Speaker 1: And when I got home, my suit still smelled like
Speaker 1: that champagne like, and I was you know, I had
Speaker 1: it laundered and finally like it went back to normal,
Speaker 1: but um just completely doused me. It was very memorable moment.
Speaker 1: And just an incredible run. I'm never going to forget
Speaker 1: that Lakers playoff run because of the amazing access we
Speaker 1: had of the players during like warm ups, pregame, post
Speaker 1: game and that kind of stuff where you know, Lebron's
Speaker 1: on the court more than an hour before the game,
Speaker 1: he's going through a meditation session, like, you know, trying
Speaker 1: to get himself mentally prepared for these games. Um, these
Speaker 1: guys physically are are doing whatever they need to do
Speaker 1: to kind of be able to play every other night
Speaker 1: because they condensed that playoff schedule, uh, to you know,
Speaker 1: fit it in and quickly before you know, mostly before
Speaker 1: football season started. And to just watch the amount of
Speaker 1: just sheer hours he would put it to his game
Speaker 1: that we were able to actually witness them, and that's
Speaker 1: spot was it was special. I Mean, everybody knows he's
Speaker 1: one of the greatest players of all time. He's always
Speaker 1: going to be in that kind of a conversation. And
Speaker 1: you know, to me, having that happened like right after
Speaker 1: watching the Last Dance where you had so much behind
Speaker 1: the scenes footage of MJ, it was just kind of
Speaker 1: like a really cool special experience for like a basketball
Speaker 1: door where you're like Yeah, there's gonna be documentaries made
Speaker 1: about this, Like maybe I'm gonna be in the background,
Speaker 1: like Filman Lebron. As you know, they were going through
Speaker 1: some crazy pregame routine. But um, that's kind of what
Speaker 1: I'll remember more than anything about that run. They were dominant.
Speaker 1: I mean, they wiped just about everybody off the court,
Speaker 1: and they got lucky, you know, in terms of Miami
Speaker 1: not really being at full strength in the finals, you know,
Speaker 1: took place. But still Lebron was some really just all
Speaker 1: time classic performances forty plus points and some key games
Speaker 1: to bring that title home. And like you said, a
Speaker 1: d didn't this shot the whole time. Even k CP
Speaker 1: was getting highlights, you know, big corner three's and daggers
Speaker 1: and all this kind of stuff. So having watched that
Speaker 1: team for that entire season, you know, because I'm here
Speaker 1: in l A, I was never convinced that they were
Speaker 1: going to win the title. Like, even going into the bubble,
Speaker 1: I thought maybe the Clippers should be viewed as the
Speaker 1: favorites here, you know, kind of like the hot new
Speaker 1: thing in town. And Lebron delivered. And we didn't start
Speaker 1: that great in there either, So that was definitely a moment,
Speaker 1: I was like, we were doing so well in the
Speaker 1: build up and then we got there. I I my
Speaker 1: confidence wavered a bit as well, but they then came background.
Speaker 1: But to your point about seeing, you know, seeing things
Speaker 1: that you normally wouldn't. What's an example of like your
Speaker 1: understanding of what the player you thought Lebron was or
Speaker 1: the squad that the Lakers were at the time, and
Speaker 1: then the things you saw that we're sort of adding
Speaker 1: a little more texture to like your analysis of that. Well,
Speaker 1: you know a lot of times, you know, you hear
Speaker 1: these stories about how Lebron knows the other team's entire plays,
Speaker 1: all their coverages, and he's able to call them out right,
Speaker 1: and you know, you sometimes wonder like our people laying
Speaker 1: it on thick, you know, to kind of like, you know,
Speaker 1: add to the Lebron mythos right when you're in the
Speaker 1: empty gym and you know they start off. They were
Speaker 1: really made a point the Lakers did being very vocal
Speaker 1: on the bench, which like to some trash talk. I'll
Speaker 1: be honest. I mean, guys like Dwight Howard and these
Speaker 1: other guys were just like, you know, talking a lot
Speaker 1: of junk to the other team. Which was ky kind
Speaker 1: of funny to listen to, right. Um, But Lebron was
Speaker 1: making a point of like, look, we're gonna win this
Speaker 1: title with defense, so we're gonna talk a lot on defense,
Speaker 1: and he's calling out like every single coverage switches, here's
Speaker 1: who needs to guard whoever else, and there's nobody else
Speaker 1: in the league or in the bubble who's doing it
Speaker 1: like that. You know, he's sort of a one of
Speaker 1: one type guy. Um. I think it was an example
Speaker 1: of you know, his vocal leadership, an example of his
Speaker 1: basketball i Q, and just sort of like a peek
Speaker 1: behind the curtain that you know, I wouldn't normally get,
Speaker 1: you know, typically when I'm sitting at games, you know
Speaker 1: the Staples actually, or I guess Crypto dot Com now
Speaker 1: has really good media seats, but there's still so much
Speaker 1: going on and so much noise you can't always hear
Speaker 1: the guys. And it was just it was as if
Speaker 1: it was like a mic up segment for the entire game,
Speaker 1: where you can kind of always hear what Lebron was saying.
Speaker 1: You can also hear him work the refs too, and
Speaker 1: you know, he had a lot of different tools in
Speaker 1: his his pocket, you know what I mean. He knew
Speaker 1: how to butter guys up. He knew how to play
Speaker 1: the like I'm frustrated, I'm outraged, I'm the superstar. You
Speaker 1: gotta give me that call angle. Him and Chris Paul
Speaker 1: both actually just know the intricacies of the rule books
Speaker 1: so well that they would get into these really complicated,
Speaker 1: convoluted arguments with the officials. I remember one time Chris
Speaker 1: Paul actually came over to the guy who was like
Speaker 1: the executive, the NBA executive and head of the officials
Speaker 1: and like almost like appeal to the referees bosses in
Speaker 1: front of them. It's like if you go to the
Speaker 1: grocery store and saying, yeah, I know that's like he
Speaker 1: did that, like right there Montie McCutcheon, like right there
Speaker 1: in front of me, where he's like carrying on this
Speaker 1: long debate with Monty McCutcheon about a rule's interpretation. So
Speaker 1: you just see how competitive these guys are are up
Speaker 1: posted personal, and you realize, like every story that you've
Speaker 1: heard about them is probably true. Knowing there would be
Speaker 1: a Last Dance style documentary eventually, did you try to
Speaker 1: like did you think about restyling your hair? Like that
Speaker 1: one bull security guard to just like character yeah, like
Speaker 1: a little girl, a little yeah, Jerry Curl in the back.
Speaker 1: That character I was was the guy who was whining
Speaker 1: about all the cameras being in his way, you know,
Speaker 1: because they actually had the same guy who did the
Speaker 1: last dance. A lot of that footage was in the
Speaker 1: bubble for the last especially for the the last month
Speaker 1: or so, following the Lakers around and inevitably, like we
Speaker 1: would be in these press conferences, set away from the players,
Speaker 1: socially distant so that there wouldn't be any contact, right
Speaker 1: and inevitably one of their cameras would like go right
Speaker 1: in front of where I was trying to shoot, and
Speaker 1: I have to like look at the PR guys and
Speaker 1: be like, come on, like help me out here, throw
Speaker 1: me a boat. So, you know, it was funny. You know,
Speaker 1: everybody's fighting for the same content in that little fish bowl.
Speaker 1: But I think that it's going to age well, Like
Speaker 1: I would love to see the content that they've got.
Speaker 1: Because Lebron was playing so well and he was yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean there's such a range of emotions from him.
Speaker 1: You know, some days he was like really sad that
Speaker 1: he's missing Brownie's birthday. Other days he's missing home. Some
Speaker 1: days he's locked in and like just completely punking the
Speaker 1: Rockets and going through these crazy like pregame dun't competition
Speaker 1: type stuff where he's trying to you know, get his
Speaker 1: team energized. Um, you know he's quoting Kobe Bryant saying
Speaker 1: the job is not finished after they win the Western
Speaker 1: Conference finals. We don't forget Anthony Davis is an amazing
Speaker 1: game winner. You know that crazy uh you know three
Speaker 1: that he hits. Uh. I mean that was a really
Speaker 1: fun you know a scene where they're celebrating and uh,
Speaker 1: basically in an empty gym. So there's so many good moments.
Speaker 1: If you did a Laker specific documentary from that Bubba run,
Speaker 1: that would would hold up and and I think would
Speaker 1: look great. You know, we just got a fast forward
Speaker 1: like ten years so that it feels like it's like
Speaker 1: the nostalgia factor, you know, yeah, right, were getting the
Speaker 1: redeemed team one right now. I wonder should they do
Speaker 1: something like this for what? You know, there there's a
Speaker 1: lot of conversation happening about in season tournaments. Um that
Speaker 1: that would be dope if like the in season tournaments
Speaker 1: like took place at a neutral location, like not bubble.
Speaker 1: People's family could come, but if there was something about
Speaker 1: it that like recreated that sort of fraternal atmosphere, I
Speaker 1: don't know that. This just got me excited. Like you
Speaker 1: describing what was obviously an emotionally spiritually harrowing thing. I'm like,
Speaker 1: that sounds so tight. We need to recreate that. But
Speaker 1: like there there is contests, No, you're you're onto something. Man.
Speaker 1: It just doesn't need to be ninety three days long, right,
Speaker 1: like thetation, you know, a nice bite sized event. Right,
Speaker 1: So I'm with you. I actually think it would be
Speaker 1: cool if they did like a single site something to
Speaker 1: kick like maybe they had all like the first week
Speaker 1: games were all in the same place. Was kind of
Speaker 1: fun is that the players would go to the other
Speaker 1: teams games, right, So like you got Damian Lillard like
Speaker 1: watching the Lakers from a quart side seat, right, you know,
Speaker 1: you have the kind of stuff happening a lot. Chris
Speaker 1: Paul loved to watch the other teams play because he's
Speaker 1: such a basketball junkie, and so that part of it
Speaker 1: was really fun. It kind of felt like Summer League
Speaker 1: on steroids a little bit, and it would be cool
Speaker 1: if they couldn't incorporate that more regularly, but you know,
Speaker 1: you just gotta You just can't have it run for
Speaker 1: three months. That's like a week a week with single
Speaker 1: elimination or something. Rotate the tournament location each year like
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. I don't know that that's sounds like
Speaker 1: it could be super funny. And because this is an
Speaker 1: NBA podcast, I think they have to do it right.
Speaker 1: Let's take a quick break, we'll come back and we'll
Speaker 1: do rapid Fire. Yeah. I don't know if you're ready,
Speaker 1: but that's not a statement on you. I don't know
Speaker 1: any human can be ready. It's a little bit like
Speaker 1: parenthood or you know, like those big life events the
Speaker 1: bubble that you can try and mentally prepare yourself. But
Speaker 1: it's really it's hard to explain. You're gonna see we'll
Speaker 1: be right back and we're back. That sound you here
Speaker 1: is the sounding. Yeah, it's it, We're it's it was
Speaker 1: supposed to be fast movement. Hey, look, I'm no fully artist,
Speaker 1: but uh that's because we're coming up on rapid Fire.
Speaker 1: Baby time for Fireheads, the rapid Fire Round of Questions. Now, Ben,
Speaker 1: I know you've listened to every episode of the podcast,
Speaker 1: so you already know how intense this segment is. But
Speaker 1: for those listening for the first time, buckle up your
Speaker 1: minds because in this section we are going to be
Speaker 1: asking Ben a series of questions. Ben, do not think
Speaker 1: too long on it. Just react. Just give us a
Speaker 1: response immediately, because then we can move on to the
Speaker 1: next question. And what is by far the fastest segment
Speaker 1: in podcasting. Like you can you can get into an
Speaker 1: athletic stance, you can like do the chop your feet drill,
Speaker 1: just to like kind of keep yourself ready for for
Speaker 1: what's about to happen. Is hard to prepare you for, ye,
Speaker 1: and it's gonna go fast, So don't This isn't some
Speaker 1: long winded, meandering conversation. This is like it's like you
Speaker 1: get the ball, you just pass it right back. No, no,
Speaker 1: I don't want to see any ball under your chin
Speaker 1: elbows and I just right back. Okay, here we go,
Speaker 1: suck the clock, all right, Jack? You want to go first? Um? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm good like whatever you are. You
Speaker 1: you wanted to go first? Yeah, okay, because I've been practicing,
Speaker 1: so I'm yeah, actually I've been practicing this. If I
Speaker 1: go Okay, yes, this will be very fast if I
Speaker 1: go first, Okay, here we go. Then where's Russell Westbrook
Speaker 1: at the start of this season with the Lakers? But
Speaker 1: I give him twenty games and then I think he's
Speaker 1: uh not, he's at home until the trade deadline. Okay, interesting,
Speaker 1: So you think, okay, games, how do you think the
Speaker 1: Lakers will with all that? Does that free them up?
Speaker 1: Does that do anything? I just want to let me asking.
Speaker 1: Is that good for the Lakers? I think it's a
Speaker 1: good thing for the Lakers man and they were hard
Speaker 1: to watch on a nightly basis last year. For me
Speaker 1: personally here in l A, I think that having Shrewder
Speaker 1: and Beverly just be your rotation guards over Westbrook is
Speaker 1: a win. You know, it's a modest win. And I
Speaker 1: think if you're the Acres, like, if you make the
Speaker 1: plan that's a successful season after last year, I think
Speaker 1: you have a better chance of doing it without Westbrook
Speaker 1: and he's on a giant expiring contract. Your best chance
Speaker 1: of trading him is probably you know, someone's trying to
Speaker 1: make a financial move at the deadline. So look, if
Speaker 1: he wants to come into camp and try hard and
Speaker 1: and kill it, then at least give them that opportunity.
Speaker 1: If it's not working out, I think you can feel
Speaker 1: free to just pull the John Wallen sent him home. Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: alright like that, Um, alright, get ready, this one's gonna
Speaker 1: be real fast. What team or group of people would
Speaker 1: you like to see have a big, chill style reunion
Speaker 1: the way the Showtime Lakers are currently having a reunion
Speaker 1: in Hawaii. I believe that looked like fun didn't want
Speaker 1: to go. Yeah, oh yeah, you think we should do
Speaker 1: a reunion of this podcast in about a year time.
Speaker 1: But honestly, I think I'd rather go hang out with
Speaker 1: seventy five year old dream shooting the skyhooks, the sky
Speaker 1: Man and Magic singing Joy and Pain by Mays and
Speaker 1: Frank keep Beverley. Although watching that clip, I realized I
Speaker 1: prefer the Rob Base and DJ Easy Rock version of
Speaker 1: Joint Pains, But I'm a young man. I think my
Speaker 1: answer would be the nineties bulls. I mean, let's get
Speaker 1: the last last dance, or like after the last dance,
Speaker 1: RENI last show. I could see, you know, if everybody's
Speaker 1: drinking MJ's tequila. Um, I could see some punches being thrown.
Speaker 1: I could see some people not happy with how they
Speaker 1: were portrayed on the show. And if it's not that,
Speaker 1: I think you could also go to like the nineties Knicks.
Speaker 1: You know, there was a couple of books I think
Speaker 1: about them recently. Those guys would be wild to watch
Speaker 1: reminisce and I imagine like and you know the Lakers
Speaker 1: are going through their showtime practices where they're like running drills.
Speaker 1: I mean, I can just picture the Knicks like just
Speaker 1: bowling each other over in the paint, ripping down rebounds.
Speaker 1: So I don't know, I'm going to nineties Instalgia, Bulls
Speaker 1: or Knicks. Yeah, I like that. The Last Dance Reunion
Speaker 1: Show like a reality show where they do the reunion
Speaker 1: show and everybody like has the kind of a key
Speaker 1: Indy Andy through what's the dudeen like interviews them getting messy. Now, Oaks,
Speaker 1: Now you had some beef right with John Starks that
Speaker 1: we didn't know about until now. Do you want to
Speaker 1: do you want to expand on that? And also Anthony
Speaker 1: Mason's free throw shooting style. Okay, we'll talk about that
Speaker 1: later when't we're back. I'm sorry, And again we have
Speaker 1: to remind you, Ben, this is a rapid fire rap question.
Speaker 1: So we're going to keep the answers tight going forward.
Speaker 1: What are we underrating about the upcoming season, Ben? From
Speaker 1: your perspective, just that we're finally back to a normal schedule.
Speaker 1: You know, we had the full off season. Everybody got
Speaker 1: the full off season, even the teams that went to
Speaker 1: the finals. You know, you look at it. Even last year,
Speaker 1: you know, the this Sun's and Bucks went pretty deep
Speaker 1: in the summer and then they had the Olympics. So
Speaker 1: I'm hoping for a fewer injuries. I'm hoping for really
Speaker 1: competitive play, and I'm open for an awesome postseason now
Speaker 1: that we're finally out of the pandemic delay effect that
Speaker 1: kind of get a ruined, but it's certainly altered the
Speaker 1: last couple of seasons. Right on the Greatest of All
Speaker 1: Talk podcast, you discussed the imminence of super team extinction
Speaker 1: based on the recent results of teams like the Lakers
Speaker 1: the Nets. Do you think that teams are moving away
Speaker 1: from that? Do you feel like it's an overreaction set
Speaker 1: that the Nets were unstoppable when they weren't hurt and
Speaker 1: hurry up with the answer, yeah, yeah, and make sure
Speaker 1: the answer is not as long as that question was
Speaker 1: so I I I yes or no? Is what just
Speaker 1: yes or no? Please? I think I think that players
Speaker 1: drive super teams, and for whatever reason, players haven't been
Speaker 1: able to maintain their friendships long enough to actually see
Speaker 1: the super team through here over the last few years.
Speaker 1: So I think we're in a slightly different era. One
Speaker 1: thing to keep an eye on, and I know this
Speaker 1: is probably drifting into long windedness, but there could be
Speaker 1: another massive rise in the salary cap coming up with
Speaker 1: the new Clorking bargaining agreement and the new media rights deals.
Speaker 1: So that's really what created Kevin Durant to the Warriors.
Speaker 1: Could we see another team use that same blue print
Speaker 1: the salary cap goes up really quickly, they aggregate all
Speaker 1: the super star talent, bring them all together, and then
Speaker 1: create a super team. It's possible, but right now it's
Speaker 1: parody rules. Man. It's it's a lot of teams out
Speaker 1: there who have a chance to win the title this year.
Speaker 1: And finally, the most important question, Ben Jacker Miles, Oh,
Speaker 1: come on, guys, it's like choosing between my children, which
Speaker 1: I don't own, So I guess you know it's that's unfair.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go. I'm going Jabari to Ben. What kind
Speaker 1: of a convenient cop out by me? But it's also quick.
Speaker 1: It was quick. No, that's a we we gotta really
Speaker 1: that was a great I mean, I think that's easy
Speaker 1: for Miles to say as someone who has won this
Speaker 1: every other time, like they've said Miles and so like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's fun, and you know, it's a nice change of
Speaker 1: pace for him. But for somebody who's still, you know,
Speaker 1: just seeking the chip, just seeking that first chip, what's
Speaker 1: holding you back? Jack? I mean, man, I don't I
Speaker 1: don't know, man, I've been like pages and pages of notes. Uh,
Speaker 1: every gesture, every micro gesture was meticulously planned. I put
Speaker 1: together my own the rehearsal in my house. Yeah. So
Speaker 1: uh didn't God didn't go according to plan, but understandable.
Speaker 1: Jabari is great. Um yeah, no, that's cool. That's all right.
Speaker 1: It look Jack, you'll get him next time. You'll get
Speaker 1: him next time. Well, before we make this any more awkward,
Speaker 1: we have to thank our guests. Ben, thank you so
Speaker 1: much for stopping by mad boost these. Before we let
Speaker 1: you go, we gotta shout out the Las Vegas Aces
Speaker 1: on their first w NBA title and also the people
Speaker 1: of Aana for a fantastic EuroBasket championship. Doing it again
Speaker 1: with a pair of brothers. Ben. Where can people find you?
Speaker 1: Follow you, listen to you, read you and all that
Speaker 1: good stuff. Yeah, Washington Post dot com, slash sports where
Speaker 1: I put all my writing. I actually had a write
Speaker 1: up on that EuroBasket final, so you know, if you
Speaker 1: want to read about Spain and France and kind of
Speaker 1: where they went wrong, it's it's there. And then greatest
Speaker 1: of all talk dot com is the bucket and making amazing. Okay, guys,
Speaker 1: that was another legendary episode in the books. Please join
Speaker 1: us next week where we will get even closer to
Speaker 1: the start of the preseason. Follow us on Twitter at
Speaker 1: mad boost ease d b O O S t I
Speaker 1: e s Exactly. It's very easy. It's the only way
Speaker 1: you would spell boosts. We all have this and I'm
Speaker 1: taking tips from anybody who wants to see me get
Speaker 1: one of these from our guests, you know, straight more
Speaker 1: negging artist, Yeah, trying negging at the top and see
Speaker 1: we should try to pick up artists the guests the
Speaker 1: whole time. We'll try and look, that's a tip for
Speaker 1: the listeners. Stay tuned to see how will pick up
Speaker 1: artist Jack do on the next episode of Miles and
Speaker 1: Jack Got Mad. Said Moosty Pristor is the risor