 To quietly yell to everyone, I am Kevin Durant because Russell Westbrook's legacy is not going to be about winning. More encouraged not just by what I saw from the Celtics in these four games, but this is a culmination of the last couple of months and the way they've been playing. Chris Broussard here and welcome to the brand new Hoops on Fox podcast. This podcast will give you your daily dose of all things NBA from Fox Sports, including the best content from Skip and Shannon, Nick Wright, plus special guests, fresh NBA content from myself, post game interviews from NBA stars around the league, and much, much more. Up first, Chris Broussard joined Skip and Shannon to dissect Russell Westbrook's struggles in the playoffs and what's next for the superstar point guard. How much has Russell's legacy been hurt by this series? Not at all. And here's why. Because Russell Westbrook's legacy is not going to be about winning. I've made peace with Russell Westbrook's legacy. He's going to have a legacy similar to Allen Iverson, Pistol Pete Marovitch, maybe Dominique Wilkins, where he's this tremendous individual phenom, this spectacle, this whirlwind who puts up these incredible stats that hardly anybody else has ever done. And in the triple double case, no one else has ever done. And that's how we're going to remember him. 10, 20, 30, 40 years from now. He's going to be an icon. People are going to look back. There was this guy, Russell Westbrook, average a triple double for three straight years, maybe four, maybe five. Who knows how long he'll keep this going. Oscar Robertson Skip. And you know this. When you ask anybody in basketball about Oscar, whether it's LeBron James, whether it's Hubee Brown, whether it's just some random high school coach who really follows the game, the first thing that comes to their mind when you say Oscar, he averaged a triple double for an entire season. He did, but he also did win a championship late in the career. Right. With Kareem. But how many people think about that, that one ring he won later in his career with Lou Alcindor, now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar? So look, and Westbrook's also the only player ever to lead the NBA in scoring and assists two times or two or more times. So he's the 20, 20, 21 game where Nipsey Russell, you know, a tribute to Nipsey Hussle, tribute to him, like, honestly. And I you will never win a title with Russell Westbrook as your leading player and maybe even your second player. I don't even know if he can hardly be a second player because of the way he plays, his style of play. He doesn't take good shots. He doesn't understand time and score. He plays minute forty seven, like it's minute seventeen. He doesn't know how to slow it down and play with pace at times. So I get all that, but you could his numbers probably make him a guy that would be not put on the top 50 players of all time. And so I get it. This is where I don't. So I don't think it's affected his legacy, where I think it is affecting him negatively is his current stature in the game. Steph. Well, let me not even go to Steph. Damien Lillard is better than Westbrook. It's a simple. He's a better basketball player. He's a better basketball. Westbrook is a more is a better athlete. He's a more explosive, you know, individual. By the way, quick point on that. Damien had a fast and open break with the ball and he tried to dunk it and it took all of his life to get up to dunk it. To do it. He barely can dunk. But go ahead. That's the difference. You could say to say anything about Steph. Steph, Damien, Kyrie, James Harden. Now they're better players, better point guards than Westbrook. Now Westbrook is no longer going to be in the consideration of a top five player in the league right now. So where it's hurting him is his current position. But his legacy is set. It's this he was this tremendous individual phenom. And last thing, Iverson, after they went to the finals in 20, 20 one, he he only won one playoff series the rest of his career in five tries. Was with Carmelo? No, they didn't even win. They went out in the first round. He won one more in Philadelphia. And then in the one that one time he really had deep playoff success was with a coach like Larry Brown, who was on him. I mean, we know their battles are legendary to play differently. And just put a team around. And that's what Westbrook would need. Scotty Brooks wasn't telling him what to do. Billy Donovan is not telling him what to do. That's the only way he could win at any high level outside of having a great player like Kevin Durant, which he did. Change the chart. Go ahead. Well, let me ask you this, Chris. Once you've had this kind of success, you've gone, you've gone three straight years and you've had a triple double. What coach can tell Russell Westbrook or can harness or rain in Russ at this juncture of his career? I don't know if anybody can, to be honest. I mean, Larry Brown, the Iverson, when he was relatively young, what, maybe six years in the league. Yes. I'm like, yeah, you probably can't change him at this point. He got him before he won the MVP and took the team to the final. But that's not to hear the thing is, for me, is that Russ is who we thought he was all along. And I made the analogy earlier, Chris, it's like the good looking girl. You forget all the flaws, nasty personality, she'll say anything. She'll do anything, but she looks good. Russell Westbrook, he got that triple double. He shot five or 21. He got a triple double. He was 13 or 38, but he got a triple double. And when he doesn't get that triple double, it forces you to take a deeper look inside what he actually did. So now last night, he didn't have a triple double. He misses his last seven shots. He's five or 21. They had a seven, eight. They forced Portland to call two timeouts in a span of, I think, two and a half, three minutes, they're up seven. They're up nine. And before the half ends, Portland has a two point lead. Why Russell taking horrible shots? Oh, he thinks he's a he fails to realize he's a score, not a shooter. So he thinks he can and they love it. They love when Russell hits his first one or two shots because guess what that means, Chris? He's going to keep it going and his percentages tell you it's going to come down. He shot he's shooting 39 percent from the field, 31 percent from the three. And he's turning the ball over five or six times per game. You're not winning with that. And Kevin Durant tried to tell y'all, say, look, y'all can call me whatever. Kevin Durant would have rather taken the backlash in the criticism for joining a Golden State team than to stay there and try and figure out how can I win a title with this guy? Agreed. And where I part ways with Chris Broussard is his legacy took a hit for me last night, not can only speak for me. And I became a Russell Westbrook fan when Kevin basically left him high and dry in OKC. And I predicted going into that year, he's going to average a triple double. But I was looking at it as more of a solo act of defiance against the loss of Kevin Durant and he pulled it off. But I can no longer defend three straight first round exits. What looks like it's going to be a four and 12 postseason record post KD. And to me last night was a legacy game for Russell Westbrook at home. And I really thought he would win it because he would just will it. He would just figure out some way to pull it off as he did game three on what was at Friday night. And I think he shot the biggest hole yet in his legacy last night because he really hit bottom. And what bothered me the most was two thirty one left in the first half. Russell Westbrook finally drains a deep three right in Damien's face. And if we could see that, what does he do from that moment forward? He busts up the court, beating his chest, screaming. God knows what here it is. He's screaming to everybody. I think he's saying it's my house. I don't know what he's saying. God, I don't know if we could repeat what he's saying. But but he's he looks like he just made the shot that one game seven of the finals, right? And we know he's fueled by emotion and it's raw rage and nobody plays harder every possession, every single loose ball. We get all that. But at some time, at some point, you have to grow up and say, you know, we got a lot of basketball left to play here. And these guys were up against they really shoot it, right? So what happened from that moment forward in this basketball game? Eleven to nothing happened because that was the Portland run up to halftime. And in that 11 nothing run, Russell Westbrook missed three shots and turned the ball over one. That's in the last two thirty one of that half after that display you just saw. And then in the second half, Russell Westbrook scored a grand total of one point. He scored one point in the second half. And meanwhile, Damien scores 15 in the third quarter and CJ scores 13 in the fourth quarter because they can just flat out shoot it. And Russell shot himself in the foot and his team and all their feet because you live and die with him shooting. And he just shoot in the series. Now he shot 36 percent from the field. He's twenty nine of eighty and from the three point line, he's 30 percent in this these four games. Well, that's that's horrendous. It's just hard to you can't win. You can't overcome that because he shoots high volume and high volume misses. And it won't work because it's funny. Most great players get better at a skill over time. And he's getting worse as a shooter, right? He's getting worse from the free throw line. He's made his free throws in the series, but he shot 66 percent. So so to me, especially in Oklahoma City, he's going to lose a little clout, a little cache, a little bit of the pass he gets for the way he treats Barry Trammell in the media, especially in Oklahoma City. Right. That it looks immature. And I don't know what I mean, from what the stories I read. Trammell just asked him like a random regular for years. Right. Like, do you know, Barry? I know. Yeah. Yeah. Just yeah, from, you know, coming around the league. But it's that's that's what's really bad. Like again, I've made peace with who Russell Westbrook is as a player. Have you ever tried to talk to him? Yeah, we've never had any problems. We've talked a little bit here and there, but he's not. I don't know if he has any really good relations with anybody in the media. He's a different type of guy. Like I've seen him even around, like at all star parties and stuff at all star weekend, and he'll be around. But he's kind of to himself, like with his family, even at parties, his family there. So he's a different kind of guy. And a lot of times your greatest strengths, you know, this is a cliche, but it's true, can be your greatest weaknesses. On the court, his strength, he's playing 110 miles an hour the entire time, which enables him to rack up these great triple double stats. But when it's crunch time and the game is close, that's when you need to play at a different pace. He doesn't understand that. And even with a Barry tremble, like Westbrook, I believe he averaged about 10 points as a junior in high school. So and we know he wasn't that great at UCLA. He never caught my eye. Right. So he I mean, he's always been about I'm not doing what anybody else says. Nobody can tell me anything because they've always told me I can't do it at this level. I can't be a star. And that's a strength. But at the same time, it's a weakness because you don't listen to maybe coaching, maybe other teammates. You don't understand in these press conferences how bad this looks because you're just doing what you want to do. Last thing I'll bring up on that. Remember in the 2012 finals, NBA finals, game two against Miami when he had 27 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and it was he but he shot 38 percent from the floor. And Magic Johnson said it was the worst performance he's ever seen by a point guard in the finals. The first game at Miami. I don't I think it was game two. They lost game two on that. Yeah, they LeBronk out of way with that non call at the end of the game. And LeBronk didn't get away with nothing. He just stopped doing that. No, he didn't. He actually. LeBronk actually hit a big free throw in that game. He did. No, he did. He said again, he had a bunch of big shots. Yeah. NBA finals MVP. But he fouled Durant. Remember on the. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember that one. I remember that one. But Durant, I mean, they call it Westbrook said in response to Magic's criticism. Magic said it was too wild. Westbrook was like, I'm not making any adjustments. You know, regardless of what anybody says, I'm going to play my game regardless of what happens next. Chris Mannix joins Nick and CeCe to break down the Celtics sweep of the Pacers and the potential Milwaukee vs. Boston second round matchup. Mannix after watching the Celtics, the series, do they look like they've put it all together enough to to to run with the Milwaukee Bucks, who they'll probably face in the next round? Yes, absolutely. They look. I'm not going to overreact to beating Indiana. I'm not sure Indiana is a playoff. You're on this show, man. You can overreact as part of it. So you can you can do that. But look, I'm not sure Indiana is a playoff team without Victor Oladipo, but they are a tough defensive team. They muck the game up and the Celts were to pull it off. But I'm more encouraged not just by what I saw from the Celtics in these four games, but this is a culmination of the last couple of months and the way they've been playing. Gordon Hayward continues to make strides every single month. Kyrie Irving didn't have a great series, but he's a great closer and he proved it in this series. Jalen Brown stepped into that role that Marcus Smart vacated and Bojan Bognanovic, who is the best player on that team without Oladipo there, he never shot higher than 43% from the floor. And Jason Tatum looked like playoff Jason Tatum, 20 points in that series. Shot 50% from the floor, 54% from three. This team is starting to come together. Now, it's a tough series against Milwaukee. Giannis averaged about 31 per game against the Celts in the regular season. But you can't look at the way that this Celtics team is playing and say they have no shot. If they win one of those two games in Milwaukee, they're going to win that series. Okay, so listen, what you said about Tatum is 100% correct. He was excellent. Jalen Brown was very efficient on limited shot opportunities and the Celtics team defensively was great. Now, how much of that is that the Pacers are just so limited offensively? I don't know, but I will give them full credit for that because they were rotating. They Marcus Morris all of a sudden started to at times look like the guy who was the first few months of the season. And in the final quarter of the first round, Gordon Hayward was great. Three for three from three. All of them felt huge given the situation. It was a one point game going into the fourth quarter. So I can give the Boston full credit with, without Victor Oladipo, sweeping someone in the first round is a big deal, especially in that four or five matchup. It's not a one versus eight situation. So I'll give them full credit. Milwaukee is a different animal. Milwaukee, there's a reason. They're the only team in the league forget. They're the only team in the league with top five offense and defense, except they have third ranked offense, number one defense in basketball. You think Indiana's a good defensive team. Milwaukee over the course of the year was better. Milwaukee is not limited and is offensively and is not a team that is going to be clanging wide open three pointers the way Indiana was. And when you say, if they go there and take one of those first two games, this will be the first series. Boston has to start on the road since 2016. In the first round against Atlanta, where they got knocked out, the previous year they started on the road, they got knocked out in the first round. Boston's had a home court advantage in every series they've played 17, 18, and then first round of this year. So do I think they're going to go to a rested Milwaukee with the probable league MVP and steal home court advantage in the first two? No, I don't. And if you don't, then you gotta beat them four out of five times and that's not happening. So that's where I can give them full credit for what they did in round one and think it ends in short order in round two. Milwaukee's been the best team in the NBA throughout the season. I think that if we're looking at the NBA in this totality, there is no huge mismatch in any of the second round games. I like the games as you can see in the first round. Now, the Celtics, they had the best matchup. Indiana, they're challenged offensively. We know how good they are defensively, but as far as the guards that the Pacers throw at you, that's what I believe be the matchup in the Milwaukee series. Bledsoe has been outstanding. Him and Kyrie Irving, cause they don't have Marcus Smart. Him and Kyrie Irving, a lot of this matchup is going to depend on who wins that head to head. Will Kyrie continue to be a ball distributor and run the offense the way he's done these four games, which to me was totally different than the Kyrie that we've seen during the season, even though he had his individual numbers were spectacular. But the question for this series is, will Giannis be a superstar? Milwaukee don't have no experience. It ain't like they didn't won 60 games, five years in a row. It ain't like they've been to the second, third round, fourth round. It's not like their coach has a whole bunch of experience doing this. So the inexperience, and what I saw from Giannis last year that I questioned when they went on the road, Giannis just became an ordinary player. And now it's the time MVP candidate, will he take over these series? Will he take over these games that we have seen these other superstars do throughout the playoffs, Chris? Well, a couple of things. Boston goes into this series, and I think Boston could still get to another level. I don't think they played an A series by any stretch against Indiana. You had Browne, Efficient at times, when he struggled offensively. Hayward didn't have more than one great game in that series. Terry Rogier didn't play well in that series. And Terry Rogier is about to go into a series that was his breakout series last year. But aren't you describing exactly what they were all year though? You're now asking them to get to a level in the second round against the best team in the league. That is a level they weren't at for any two-week period all season long. Last two months of the season, Gordon Hayward was a different player. He was a better player at the end of the season than he was in this series. Athletically, there were some things, Gordon Hayward, he was not playable. Nick, you mentioned it a bunch on this show. Gordon Hayward needs to be out. He has gotten stronger from a physical standpoint. And the Celtics were going through something they are admitting, we don't even like each other. We've gotten beyond that. And when people like each other, they perform well. I think that's what you're speaking about as far as their overall performance. Like they're all bought in. They're playing defense together. So I could see what you're seeing there. I just think they can get better on different levels. I think Hayward can get significantly better. The wild card for me in this series is the efficiency of Brook Lopez and how effective he can be. Because you don't see a lot of successful teams that are able to play a Brook Lopez type of player for 35 minutes a night. Yes, in the regular season, he was an anchor for that team. In the regular season, he was able to make three-point shots. But going up against Boston, which has these spacey bigs, which likes to play Al Horford at the five-spot, can you play Brook Lopez 35 minutes a night in that series? But with respect, think about what you just said on both these points. For Boston, you are saying, I think they can play better than cumulatively. They played at any point all year for an extended stretch. And for Milwaukee, I think something that has been one of their huge strengths is all of a sudden going to go away. So in order to find a way for Boston to win, we're saying they're going to all of a sudden against the best defense in the league, play their best basketball, while that team, a huge part of it, Brook Lopez's offense and defense is just going to be removed. I don't see the realistic path there. And when you say there's no mismatches, you're correct. Once we get to the second round, everybody's quite good. But there's three series that we now know what they're going to be. Houston, Golden State, Philly, Toronto, Milwaukee, Boston. Of those three, what's the biggest mismatch? I would say it's Milwaukee, Boston. Toronto, Philly, Toronto is an edge, but I don't think it's a sighted edge. And Houston, Golden State, we saw how close that series was last year. And now there's no boogie component. Is this not of the three series we know? The most lopsided, the biggest mismatch? Lopsided is the wrong word, though. There might be a little bit of a more of an edge towards Milwaukee in this one. But how you say, Boston is trending upward. They have been trending upward for the last two months. Right, and Milwaukee hasn't had to trend upward. They've been here the whole year. They're also going to sweep their first round. They have played at this level. They need to keep trending upward and jump a couple pegs on that. It needs to go exponential all of a sudden. If they want to be on par with Milwaukee, much less better than Milwaukee. Last time Boston went to Milwaukee, they played without Gordon Hayward just after the all-star break. It was a great Boston plan. Let me tell you, the most predictable thing of them. Now, Colin Coward gives his top five NBA players on rookie contracts. I saw a quote yesterday. Remember earlier this year when the Lakers had those trade rumors and it just completely unraveled. Lonzo and Koosba and Ingram and all the stories came out and freaked all the young kids out. And I get it, I get it, I get it. Nobody wants to hear when they're young and the NBA are getting traded. But Jason Tatum yesterday was asked about trade rumors. I just love this kid. He's from Duke. He's a Celtics kid. And he said, you know, they're talking about trading me for guys like Anthony Davis. So I mean, I must be doing something pretty well. I love the game of basketball. Being traded is part of the game. I'll play whomever, wherever. It's something I can't control. Told the New York Times that. I love this kid. I love everything about it. Everything I want my young players to be, he's smart, he went to Duke. He's long, length matters. He is athletic. He's a really good shooter. He can shoot field goals. He can shoot threes. He's never hurt. MB's hurt a lot. Anthony Davis hurt a lot. This kid's never hurt. Lonzo's hurt a lot. Brandon Ingram's hurt a lot. I love this kid. There's just nothing I don't like about this kid. Is he completely polished yet? No, he turns 21 in March. He just turned 21. Just. But I think the Celtics end up winning this series in five and there's just, I love this kid. And I told my staff, we often talk about Durant and Steph and LeBron and Giannis and all the great players. But I said, here's my favorite five guys in the NBA who starting next year will still be on their rookie deals. So these are guys starting next year on their rookie deals. Number five, De'Aaron Fox and Sacramento. I think he's the most underrated single player in the NBA. 17 and seven, best record in Sacramento dysfunctional franchise in 13 years. Eight Lonzo ball live when they played in college basketball, absurdly quick, very high basketball IQ and can shoot a three. De'Aaron Fox. Number four, Luca Donic. Probably gonna win Rookie of the Year for Dallas. He's a 27 and five guy. Very much they say an Oscar Robertson type can do everything well offensively. He was a terrific European player. Listen, the next four guys there's not a big gap on. Is he a revolutionary player or just a basketball player that's good and scores a bunch? I think he's the latter. I don't think he's revolutionary. I don't think he changes the league. I think he scores a bunch of points. Number three, Ben Simmons. The kid can't shoot and he's the reigning Rookie of the Year and he's a 17, nine and eight guy and he can't shoot. Can you imagine if he could? I also think the Sixers have a choice to make eventually on who's gonna run this team. And I don't think going forward you can have two guys, M.B. and Simmons either hits the three. You got to make a choice or they'll just keep underachieving. And I think Simmons is the guy last night was a prime example. I don't trust M.B.'s body. He was out last night, missed two playoff games against Miami last year. He's missed more games than he's played as a Sixer. A number two, Jason Tatum. I love him. By the way, he's a, he's been, I'll tell you this, here's what I love about him of the many things. You notice the last two years he's been better in the playoffs than the regular season. He averaged 15 a game in the regular season. He's averaging 21 in the playoffs and he's shooting 55% from the floor. He's shooting 67% on three-point shooters. I don't wanna hear about his regular season. They brought in Kyrie Irving. Gordon Hayward was back. This was gonna be a rocky, regular season for the Celtics. They had to get guys shots. They had a lot of mouths to feed. Jason Tatum is gonna be a difference-making player in this league, not just a good score. There's nothing I don't like about him. And the number one guy, these are my five guys I love who will be on their rookie contracts next year, Zion Williamson. Won the Naysmith, 18 years old, projected number one. Physically, he's 285, probably plays in the NBA at 265. He's a 239 guy that shot 70% from the field and that's at the college level where he was hurt, where, you know, coach K and most college coaches are a little restrictive offensively. I think he's built more for the NBA than college. My five guys, best five guys in the league next year on their rookie deals, Zion, Jason Tatum, Ben Simmons, Luka Dantich, and De'Aaron Fox. Following, Chris Haines joins Whitlock and Wiley to explain why Kevin Durant's big games mean more than Ben Simmons. Who made a bigger statement last night? I'm sure we're all in agreement. Ben Simmons, you know, made the bigger statement. Who knew that Ben Simmons would score 31 points, shoot the high percentage he did from the field and the free throw line. Everybody knew Kevin Durant was a superstar player and then, you know, at any time he could drop 38, 40 points anytime he wanted. Obviously we're all in agreement here. Ben Simmons was the, made the biggest statement last night. I know we've only worked together for six months but you really don't know me. It was Kevin Durant for me to quietly yell to everyone, I am Kevin Durant. And for everyone to have to take notice, which you should have never, ever lost sight of, that that's Kevin Durant. That's a huge statement. Because he didn't go out there and bark it up. He didn't go out there and get outside his game to do what he did in the 38 points in the efficiency and the defense of presence. You know what he did? He went out there and said, how in the hell have I played 979 games I see on here? And y'all throw those out the window and my body of work to yell at me about two games against the other size Nat Elver Defender and Pat Beverly? Y'all crazy so. You know the name Meadowlock Lemon? I just heard it. Meadowlock Lemon. Globetrotters, Globetrotters, Meadowlock Lemon. If he had a bad game against the Washington Generals and said, my name is Meadowlock Lemon. Would you be shocked if he came out the next day against the Washington Generals and clown suited him? The Clippers, the Washington Generals, the second worst team in the playoffs. The Clippers, that's who Kevin Durant beat up, a baby seal. Go ahead, Chris. I'm sure you agree. I'm sure you agree. You took that whole thing of different plays. I know we only been working together for two months but you clearly don't know me as well. I'm gonna say this, I'm gonna say this. Look, come on now. This is Kevin Durant we talking about and there are factors in play here. Not only is this probably one of the most high profile series in the playoffs right now, it's Kevin Durant. The Clippers are involved. Hold this thing, yes I understand. But there's a drama, there's a drama involved. There's a Patrick DeBeverly element. There's Kevin Durant's pendant free agency. There's this element of is this team gonna be intact? Is this the last hurrah? Now look, I love what Ben Simmons did. That was big. But he was caught, look, I love Jared Dudley. But I'm sorry, that's not exactly, the ratings ain't boosting over that drama over there. I'm sorry, it's just a little bit different. It's a different beast over here. And what he did and the way Kevin Durant has been active all this whole season, that's why all the attention and the lights are focused on what we thought would go right here. And Jase, I do not want to gang up on you here, but I'm gonna gang up on you here. Because here's, I will give you this. Ben Simmons, it was the least surprise in that Kevin Durant had the game that he had because he's Kevin Durant. Ben Simmons is a young player that's just getting started. He had all those comparisons entering the NBA about hey, he could be the next Magic Johnson, but a lot of question marks of how much of a shooter he is. But Kevin Durant's performance was the most entertaining and Chris Haynes hit on most of the points. But another subplot that was very interesting is kind of the back and forth that Steve Kerr in here having where Steve Kerr says before game three, he wants Kevin to be more aggressive. He wants him to get 20, 30 shots. And Katie's kind of steering, saying I'm not gonna try to just get 20 or 30 shots and mess up the offense and telling me, hey, how do you want me to play when I'm asking how aggressive should you be? And then he answers like that, has a fun back and forth with Chris about how much he's a playmaker, a scorer, and when he decides to do both. So he is the most entertaining performance of the night. Oh, Mark, I know this is your first time on the show. But you are a journalist, so I just want to point to this. Who made a bigger statement? Not who was more entertaining, who made a bigger statement? And that's why, again, I'm gonna go back to, I can't believe y'all sitting here. When I watched Kevin Durant in the first quarter last night, I was like, oh, that's Texas. That's the University of Texas. I saw that, I saw him come to Fallgallen, Candice and do exactly what he did last night, like, damn, seven foot, can shoot like that, can take it off the bounce on people like that. There was nothing new here. That was vintage Kevin Durant. But we didn't learn anything new. Ben Simmons is like, oh, there is a way for him to be an effective scorer and carry a team in a playoff game. There is something here that, you know, Ben Simmons, even though he didn't watch Game 2. 31. But you didn't see Game 2 when he was balling as well. Game 1, he was absent compared to his standards. He's an all-star too. Hey, he's an all-star. And here's the thing, this is LeBron 2.0 if he gets his jump shot. We all know Ben Simmons is walking triple-double. But you know why it took something off for me other than the fact that that series is not as interesting as the Clippers and Golden State? Because you was in the Staples Center, that's why I wasn't dinnering. Damn, right, and I'll be there Sunday too, I need to win. It's gonna be awesome. Enjoy your Easter. Enjoy your Easter. Let me say this. Y'all think that Ben Simmons went out there motivated because you know what, people are clowning me and Jared Dully. It was the quote-unquote leaked, bogus story, Philadelphia Sixers are saying, about Joel Embiid is our no trade player and Ben Simmons was on the block. Remember that happened? And so Ben Simmons is like, and Embiid's not playing? So he went for broke. He went out of character. And you can say that that's a greater statement. I think you've proven his point. No, I'm not. No, I'm not. That statement that he's trying to make is not gonna be something that's sustainable and it's not something that you were gonna look at and see again. Game two, he bawled out. Game three, he bawled out. And you're trying to say that's a big statement? I just think that the guy went out there with a little extra sauce and went out of character. Kevin Durant went out there and said, I'm just gonna play my game. And that speaks the loudest. Like the one who barks to me ain't the one with the bite. Kevin Durant went out there from first court on silent assassin. You want to say it's the guy who went out there fully motivated? I don't see it. I just, I'm sitting here shocked. I'm sorry to disappoint you here. That every, no. Finally, Chris Mannix is back with Nick and Cece to explain why the Lakers need a new GM immediately after Magic Johnson's departure. Mystified by it because in the immediate aftermath of the Magic Johnson quitting, I gave Jeannie Buss a mulligan for it. You know, it's her first time as an owner. She brought in the big name. She continued a longstanding Laker tradition of only hiring people that used to work or play for the Lakers. But she saw what happened with Magic Johnson there. And she's looking, or should be looking, across the hallway at the LA Clippers who have one of the most fleshed out front offices in the league, about deep bench of guys, smart guys that have done the job at various levels before. I thought she would look at all that and go out there and take all that Laker money. The $180 million per year they make in TV revenue. The $3.7 billion they're worth. And go out there and throw it at Sam Presti. And throw it at R.C. Buford. And throw it at Messiah Geer. Instead, they are just sticking with the norm. Now, if Rob Polenko wound up being the guy, if you went through an interview process and you were like, you know what? Rob's drafted pretty well. I like him here. It seems like he's got a good plan in place. That's fine. But whether- You have a search committee. You look top to bottom. You look for the absolute best. Have a competition. And he wins it. Exactly. But whether it's overtly or through back channels, I've heard nothing about them reaching out to some of these top guys. And I think that is a mistake and a catastrophic one. Let me ask something real quick. Obviously, the way Magic quit, it was you laugh so you don't cry. The whole thing was so absurd, right? But once you had a day to reflect on it, did you not think this could actually be a blessing for the Lakers? This could be an opportunity for them to get something right they hadn't. That it could be the positive jolt they needed going into the off season if they did those things you're talking about, right? 100%, I thought Magic Johnson gave them a gift that he walked away and he didn't walk away after decimating the franchise. The Lakers didn't make the playoffs, but it's not like they're in terrible shape out there. They've got CapSpace, they've got LeBron, they've got good young talent and all those bad players, they come off the books. They've got their own picks. So it's fine. He didn't destroy the franchise, but it gave them an opportunity to see what works and what didn't. And I'm telling you, that Laker job is an appealing job for everybody. Look at what the Thunder are doing right now. Like you're telling me that Sam Presti wouldn't consider taking that Laker job or how about somebody calls RC Buford in San Antonio and wonders after three decades down there if maybe he wants $15 million per year to run his own thing. Same thing with Masai, that these calls seemingly weren't made is just mind boggling to me. It's like the death wish of insanity. Keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Well, Manics, the problem is that typically when I'm trying to make a decision and if it's an important decision, I try to bring in people that might have information to be able to help me. And it's not easy to make these types of decision, but if you keep bringing in the same people, because last year she probably went to either Magic to talk to before she hired them and or Kobe. Those are the Mitch Kubchak, Kurt Rambus. Those are the only ones. West is working with the Clippers. So those are the only ones in Laker Nation that are really live. So she went to Magic. Magic was like, I could do a better job running this team. Kobe was like, yeah, won't you hire my agent? So to me, they've gone about this the same way they've gone about everything else. Backwards, they should have went out and tried to get, because I said the Lakers, most story history and MBA, let's go out and make it about the best. You're in pro sports, you're at the highest level. Let's try to get the best person for that job. And based on your information, they haven't even tried to go down that road. And to me, that's a tremendous mistake, Nick. You mentioned who's Jeannie Buss talking to. Mason in Ireland is a radio show in LA. Mason does television broadcasts there. John Ireland's the television voice of the Lakers. It's a connected afternoon show in LA. Man, they said something last week that should terrify Laker fans. And that is Jeannie Buss' closest confidant and the person who she is leaning on the most in this part of the Lakers history is Linda Rambus. Yep, Rambus' wife. And that is not an indictment on Linda. It is simply, however, what are the odds that the person most equipped is someone you, what's the odds that the best person take over the company is the son of the guy who built the company? What are the odds the person most equipped to help you with this search is the wife who you're friends with of a former Lakers coach? Like, former Lakers player, really? That's the plan here. Lakers fans have to be holding out some hope that what has happened is just not being reported. That Colin has it right. That they have reached out to Masai or Presti. That they have someone in place, but their team is still in the playoffs. Because if that's not the case, then all the Lakers have going for him is LeBron. Then they just have to hope that LeBron can bring someone in. That LeBron can help Polinka build the roster. Because if you don't get a real pro at this, then what are you doing? And the idea that none of these people that fit all the qualifications you're talking about would take 12 to $15 million a year. Or more, take a blank check and send it to them. It doesn't matter, ain't no salary account. Exactly right. I think your point you made as far as the money that they're making off the court, the overall evaluation of the business. This should be a no brainer. This is easy to do. You said Laker fans are hoping that's not necessarily the case. I would say Lakers are hoping that's not necessarily the case. I wonder where you think LeBron fits into all this after really coming there in large part because Magic Johnson made a promise to him that this is the direction the team's going in. Yeah, I mean, I don't know what LeBron thinks of all this, but he's gotta be looking at that top of that organization and wondering can I really trust in what's happening out there? And one of the bigger problems I think they have, if it is Rob Polinka, I mean, I can't imagine they're trying to interview other candidates while trying to hire a coach. A GM should be the guy hiring the coach, but if it is Rob Polinka, the next thing they would have to do is flesh out his staff. I mean, Lawrence Frank added like 50 people. He added my former colleague, Lee Jenkins, to that front office. Who is in that Laker front office? Where are the experienced executives that need to be around Rob Polinka when he's making these types of decisions? I'm coming out of this segment more stressed about the Lakers than going into this segment. Thank you for listening to the Hoops on Fox podcast. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a five star review letting us know what you think of the show.