It's True: The New York Knicks are NBA Champions

Start spreading the news (like you don’t already know). After 53 years, the Knicks are NBA Champions.  Erik shares his thoughts as a long-suffering Knicks fan.

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The ED/BC Podcast. You think you hate it now, but wait until you listen to it.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Welcome back to uh another edition of the EDBT podcast. Uh Go New York, Go New York, Go brings us into the show, Brian. And uh listen, that song is uh the soundtrack of the 90s, and I think a lot of this we'll get into in a second, but um the Knicks bring home a championship, and a lot of those nineties players were there, Brian. But uh as a long-suffering Knicks fan, um Saturday night was one of the great sports nights. You know what it's like. When your team wins, you gotta savor it. Yes, and uh certainly Saturday night was something the Knicks fans have been waiting for for a long time, and it was joy, joy all over the Tri-State area.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Uh yeah, you saw TV and all that, and uh great clips of Midtown Manhattan, people packing the streets like just New Year's Eve. So uh, you know, uh yeah, congratulations to Knicks fans, congratulations to the Knicks. 53 years is a long time, and you never know if you start to get to, but I'm you know, you're there with a few. We've all been there. Most of us have been there. Like, will I ever see my team win once? So you uh just I believe, you know, you weren't even uh in existence the last time them the Knicks won. Um I was like 11 months old or something, so it's been a little while because we're old. So yeah, it was a great scene. Uh, and a team that, you know, I mean the hyperbole starts right away. Like, is this the greatest team of all time? Is this the greatest player in New York City history? I'm gonna get into that in a few minutes, but before all that, and there's time that's fun to do right now, but right now just enjoy it and uh savor it and uh go have yourself a parade on Thursday.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Funny, there's a couple things I wanted to mention. Uh A, I am a believer in signs, Brian. I think in life sometimes they're a little uh, you know, Easter eggs as they call, whether it's someone passing and you see a sign or uh, you know, a death uh you see a sign after someone passes away. Um uh championship, and I loved some of the signs that were leading up to this Knicks game. Uh, a couple people pointed it out. Um, Red Holtzman won 613 career games as the head coach of the Knicks, and that's the banner that hangs in Madison Square Garden. So on social media Saturday, I don't know if you saw it. I did not. But leading up to the game, people were posting the Holtzman banner on social media. It started to pick up steam in the late afternoon as Knicks fans were kind of looking for signs of, you know, because it was June 13th on Saturday.

SPEAKER_00 2:31

Right.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

So 613. There was someone else who posted something over the course of Carl Anthony Towns' career. There was a number 613 connected to him. I don't recall what it was. Um, but there was just a lot of things uh that were connecting the Knicks. And I gotta be honest with you, Brian, I didn't think they were gonna win on Saturday night. Um, I listened to the first half of the game on the radio. I was coming back from Yukon. I was at a softball, the softball championships for high school. So I wanted to make it a point to be home and watch it with my wife and my kids. Of course, my kids were out doing their thing with their friends, watching it with their friends, which was great. But uh and the second thing, Brian, was I didn't know how I was gonna react to it because I'm not gonna lie. Uh, you know, there's been some down years. You know what it's like as a Knicks fan, as a cowboy fan. Like I didn't watch every regular season game during the Marbury years, during the when Isaiah Thomas was the general manager. Uh, the Knicks gave you plenty of reasons not to watch. And God forbid you can't afford to go to the game. So I'm not gonna sit here and tell you I watched every game, but they've been my favorite team since the the Pat Patrick Ewing was my guy from college going back, as you know. So um Saturday night, when man, that fourth quarter, um, when it was within reach and they made that comeback, it was just I had my both my hands clenched tight, man, praying that they were gonna come through. And I was right there. And I I'm not gonna lie, I shed a few tears at the final horn, man. It was just uh first of all, I thought ABC did an awful job directing the final the championship moments. Their cameras were all over the place. I don't care. I don't need to see San Antonio players walking through the tunnel while the Knicks are celebrating on the court, first of all. Uh second of all, I just thought it was poor production. I just I just I didn't they didn't show me my wife was yelling at me because I'm yelling at the TV. I want to see Knicks players celebrating, and they're showing me a bunch of other crap. So um and it wasn't great. Though the final two minutes of the game wasn't great, Brian, because the Knicks were missing free throws, the Spurs were missing shots, so it wasn't great basketball, but when that horn went off, man, it was it was great. It was a great moment in my sports life.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

And I guess the only thing that you could say if you you don't have your I don't remember, I don't know, I don't know what brothers are, by the way. I'm not gonna look it up, but if you had your druthers, if you're a Knicks fan, it would have been cool because I I you know the thing that happens the next day on Sunday, June 14th, everyone on social media says, hey, remember 32 years ago today, the Rangers when you see the garden literally like, not literally, but you know, like you blow the roof off the place. The only thing that you're gonna miss is, but you don't care. Is it would have been cool to win it and to win it in the garden. Uh, because I don't know what I can't imagine I mean again, as I 32 years ago, I could I can remember that you can go watch it. I can't visualize what the garden would have been when the clock kicked down. But who cares? You gotta play their home, playing right home, and you got to parade on Thursday. Uh I uh I'm a little you know, I didn't have the again, being a self ex fan, and I've certainly have been fortunate to see a few in my time have you championships. And so it's a great feeling. But have a in someone who didn't have the emotional attachment watching the game Saturday night. I again I'm I guess I'm Mr. Joe pessimistic. As soon as San Antonio, as soon as the Knicks got that thing to uh a couple points by halftime, I said, the Knicks are winning this. I mean, I can go chill out and watch something else for an hour, come back and watch five minutes from the game, and I know the Knicks are winning this. Um I think it's how much you know I just uh that's how much confidence I had in the Knicks' ability to close the game. And and we'll get into this because it's not about the Spurs so much, but we'll talk about them in a few minutes. And I also just didn't have any any confidence, I don't think any, but why would you, about the Spurs' ability to close the game. So I I uh again, you got it. You said Nixon six, and it was Nixon five, and we should get into it because uh two months ago, and around right around this time, 15th of April I I don't care how optimistic you are, only the most optimistic Knicks fans thought we'd be here. I mean, let's be honest. That's sort of what made and I gotta say, that's sort of just to finish that thought, that's sort of what makes it fun. Because I think you know, this was unexpected, and it wasn't like the Knicks were the overwhelming favorites, and sometimes if this sounds this sounds kind of stupid because you shouldn't be like a relief because it's so rare to see your team win the whole thing. But it's not like, oh man, thank goodness they won or they would have been like the biggest joke in history. No, no, no, no, man. This built over the last two months into something I don't think a lot of people saw coming. I think that's fun.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

I I think I I think going to the finals was the goal, Ryan. I think you had to get to the finals. The the I I was confident two months ago the Knicks would get to the finals. I might not have been when they were down two games to one against Atlanta, I'm not gonna lie. Um but I was confident the finals were the goal. You can't fire the head coach, uh, make the changes you did, and then not get to the finals. So I do think the finals was the goal. Once they got there, however, though, I think all of us would agree that the Western Conference team was the uh the proverbial favorite. And the odds makers were telling us that as well. But yeah, man, I just uh this team, Brian, it just, you know, they just I mean, they went 16 and 3. 16 and 3 in the playoffs. I mean, that's a a a great run. And I mean, I I watched every game, man. Like whether I was at home or at work, I mean, I was I was dialed in to watch it. I mean, and and we talked to Mike Vicaro, we've talked to other people about it. I mean, this team, Brian, uh takes over the city. There's no other New York team that does this that unifies the fan base like the Knicks do. They the Yankees and have uh can't, they they have a big fan base, but there's the Met fan. So you kind of, you know, whether it's 60, 40, whatever you want to call it. You know, you got the Rangers, have the Islanders and the Devils football, you got Jets and Giants fans, but in New York, when it comes to basketball, it's the Knicks, and that's it. I mean, there's a there's ten, there's ten net fans in in the Pride State area, you know.

SPEAKER_00 8:22

Yeah, exactly. That's a hundred percent correct. It's it's uh and you know, you see it just living here and knowing people, and not I mean, we don't live in New York, but we live, you know, within pretty close proximity. And I, you know, knowing I I mentioned the show last week talking to people, knowing people that are in the city on a semi-regular basis, and all the uh all everything you're saying is true. Like everyone's happy, everyone's smiling, and this is before Saturday night. I'm sure, you know, it's probably like being like uh you know, it's probably like walking down the wizard of what you know I can't believe how what it's like Monday morning, but this morning it must have been everyone must have been like just happy as hell. Um but yeah, and it's uh the other thing is too, and again, because this is New York and all this, it's a lot of people became Knicks fans in the last two or three weeks. A lot of people became all of a sudden are now big big time Knicks fans, which is fine. I mean, but that's front-running town. It's a front-running town for sure. Sure, sure it is, it's sure it is. And it's a celebrity city. You know, this is why I hated the Lakers in the 80s, because every time they won a damn title and they were my arch enemy of my team, I just I just I hate, I still hate them. You know, you gotta watch all them damn celebrities on. Uh, you know, I've got to watch Diane Cannon and Jack Nicholson. I love Jack, but you know, and I'm sure, you know, Knicks fans all of a sudden, every celebrity. Uh I he's I'm sure he's a great guy, but I I'm I'm I'm happy to look I'm happy to have a break from Ben Stiller now.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

So but uh it was well you're not gonna have a break because he was doing a documentary with his iPhone. I don't know if you saw that, but there's gonna be a documentary he's putting together about this playoff run that he shot with his iPhone from a seat. Okay. So gonna get more of it. You know, I it's funny, Mad Dog always teases you know Ben's Ben Stiller about his fandom, but I found a video online, I think I retweeted it and I tagged Mad Dog on it, and they commented his producer did, you know, showing Ben Stiller sit in front row in 1999. And Ben Stiller grew up in New York, too. He's a New Yorker just as well as dog is. His parents are comedic icons. I mean, they lived in an apartment. If you watch the Ben the Stiller documentary, I mean they'll tell you that they're New Yorkers through and through. So that's a little rough for people making fun of or questioning his fans. But the other ones, and listen, Timothy Shallow, you can't get on him. He's young. He's young. Yeah, this is the thing.

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Yeah, it's where he grab grab. I I kind of my favorite sort of celebrity thing as I sort of making fun of them, the Taylor Swifts of the World who was moving for the Cavaliers three weeks ago with their fiance courtside in Cleveland, but whatever, I don't know. Uh, was John Totero. You know, I love John Totero, huge John Totero fan, going all the way back to like to live in Diale, his first film, and all the stuff he's done and in between. We love him. And he's tried and treat around us, love that movie. Great that uh that's a great New York City movie. Um getting off track here. But interview with him where you know he worked with Spike Lee on Do the Right Thing, and John wasn't, even after I have a few movies under his belt, John wasn't making a lot of money. And Spike wasn't making a lot of money yet. And I'm paraphrasing him. John just basically said, Hey, listen, if you can't meet the fee, just let's come close to it and throw me some Knicks fans. Throw me some Knicks snippets. And I love that story. And because that's great. That's when you're a guy.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

You can just tell Spike Spike's first season with season tickets was Patrick Ewing's rookie year. It's a good year to get season tickets. Yeah. And I'm sure they weren't cheap back then, and we're sitting up in the blue seats. Uh the other thing that's been fun, Brian, and you know about this too, social media. We're both active on social media. When your team wins, there's nothing better than the 24 hours of all the videos, whether it's behind the scenes, I mean, and the commercials that I've, you know, I was thinking about, I was laughing about they win, they go to commercial break, and the first thing you see is that, you know, the Clyde Frazier voice commercial about passing the torch or whatever, which he probably did two months ago, hoping the Knicks would win. And then the Nike commercial with the kid running down the street towards Times Square. I mean, those are all spots that never would have seen the light of day, but they were ready to go when the Knicks won. So it was cool. And then, you know, all the videos from downtown uh people in the with the West Village, you know, the the games projected on the side of a building, just so fun, man.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

So fun. Uh you know, uh yeah, you know, the beat by Laura Albany, she's who's actually a match beat writer, but she she's been on the show with us before. She was posted something on social media like Sunday morning, being like I like right in the middle of somewhere in New York and like being surrounded by people putting like a next jersey over a reporter's head, like a TV reporter's head, and like it was like 12:30 in the in the morning. And they're like, Yeah, that's just those scenes are fun. I do want to go back though, because I love what you said about the commercial being pre-produced, you know, a couple months ago. I it's like I the t-shirts where you're the one the right now the Spurs t-shirts being shipped, you know, you know, to a poor to a poor country, and there's somewhere there's a great, um really well-shot, well-produced commercial of like David Robinson handing it off to one we that's never been supposed by the day. I love that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 12:59

No, it's but that's not their story. I I I I love the way the team embraced the the past legends. I mean, the legends lounge per se that they have behind the um the uh the stanchion there near the Nick bench. I mean, there's a few guys in there that probably, you know, they're not per se legends, but uh I for as much as I can't stand the owner, I mean, he's done a good job of bringing everyone back except for Charles Oakley, of course, who was there on Saturday night in San Antonio celebrating. But I mean it was great the picture. I changed my Facebook cover photo to Ewing and Jalen Brunson sitting there holding the trophies together. And uh, you know, I was just happy for Patrick. And Patrick even said it himself that someone asked him, like, does this kind of satisfy you a little bit? And he said, Yeah, I'm finally part of a championship for the New York Knicks. I couldn't win one of my own, but I do feel part of it. So I was happy for him too, man. They everyone Clyde was great afterwards. I mean, all the former Knicks just they all said the right thing, and they said how the team made them feel part of the team. I mean, like I told you last week, the Knicks were going to a practice, and Patrick was walking out with the team in the line as they were going out to practice with like a sweatsuit on, thinking it was 1987 all over again, man. So I mean, I just I just it had all the feels, Brian, for lack of a better term.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

Well, good for the next two, even the younger players, because I'm sure you saw the picture, and I believe this is after the 70 title, not the 73 title, of them and like taking a reshoot.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

The the I'm assuming that was AI, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 14:25

I don't know. No, I've seen that picture of the 70 team before with the busher and Bradley and the book. No, that one's fine, but the one that they did this time around. Oh, I thought they actually see, I thought the Knicks actually made a point to sit down. Damn AI, fooling me already. I'm getting old. Oh, I didn't know. I thought they actually sit. I thought maybe they actually sat down and showed somebody showed them that and they tried to recreate it. It's a great, it's a great picture. I hope they did.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

I hope they did. But I my first reaction was, is that AI? To be honest with you. That was my first reaction. So maybe you could look it up. But uh, I hope that wasn't AI. Um the other thing, too, was cool is you know, the postgame, which took forever. I was home. Fuck luckily I didn't have to wait till one o'clock in the morning to do my 11 o'clock newscast. Uh but I I I stayed up and I watched almost all of it. I turned it off towards the end of Inside the NBA because I thought, you know, the recap stuff they were doing. I didn't care about any of that. But the one thing I I don't know if you saw it, but they had Rick Brunson and Jalen Brunson uh up on the set with uh Shaq and Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson. And um one of the guys said, you know, Jalen, you you're right up there in the upper echelon of Nick's legends. And I think someone said, like, you could argue it'd be the greatest Nick of all time. And Rick Brunson, his dad, said, Well, I don't know if you saw this, but he said, Hold on, guys. He said, I've been a longtime Nick coach, assistant coach. I played with Patrick Ewing. My son is not Patrick Ewing.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

I didn't see that, but the J must have loved that. Thanks, Dad. I didn't see that. I went to bed after that. But if I were you, if I were Nick's fit, I would have been at I would have been up until 2 a.m. watching everything after that.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

It was. And I just thought it was cool how and Jalen kind of nodded his head like, you know, in the short term, obviously this accomplishment is pales in comparison. But, you know, when you talk about the 15 years of Patrick going up and down that court and all the his moments, but and I just was like, wow, look at Rick. Like, that's a tricky thing to say in front of your son, but he's like, My son is not Patrick Ewing. My son is, you know, whatever. And then Kenny Smith said, Well, it's debatable now. And he said, Okay, I'll give you it's debatable.

SPEAKER_00 16:20

So is it debatable? Where is he, you know, where does he rent now? Uh you know, we didn't, again, it's 53 years ago, so we didn't see we can just we can lump in the ones from that team as the greatest Knicks, uh, as great. Well, you sent me some text.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

You sent me some text on Saturday night while I was celebrating, and you're annoying me. But uh you mentioned you mentioned Messier. Messier is the perfect one. You also mentioned Reggie C. R Reggie doesn't work for me, and I'll tell you why, because that the there was not a dr there was a drought, but the Yankees had won in the 50s and the 60s. So when Reggie came in the late 70s, it had only been 15 years since the Yankees remember we're in the World Series in 64, and then in 76, it was Reggie. Without Reggie, yeah. And in 77, Reggie was that final piece, you know, kind of like what San Antonio is gonna have to do going forward. They're gonna have to add a piece to to a veteran piece, you know. Yeah, you know, you know, they call it we'll talk about that in the next segment. But so that was this, yeah. Reggie definitely came and made a difference, but to me, it was more about the drought. That's why the Messier Brunson comparison is is more suitable for Reggie. Came, the team was ready built to win, where this team was built around Jalen Brunson. You know what I'm saying? They got pieces once they got Jalen to kind of offset his game.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

They need to get size, you know. It's a tremendous comparison. It really is between Messier and Jalen Brunson, not just because both teams are the only teams in this New York area. We're talking about all these teams, all these sports teams. They're the only teams that actually play right in Manhattan. I mean, okay, the baseball teams play on the other boroughs, but that's okay. But you're right. I mean, uh the fact that they're both number 11 is insane. Messier came into a team at the franchise that had been 54 years, huge market, people just ready for good news, and and then, you know, became the leader of the team so much that he almost handpicked the coach. I don't think Jalen handpicked Mike Brown, uh, but he he they certainly built the team around him and they found, you know, whether you know, they went and got, you know, the the pitch, the other picture you saw from Saturday night was 10 years ago with Brown and Hart, not Brown, with Brunson Hart and Mikhail Bridges uh Villanova game at the at the winning the national title at Villanova in 2016. Um everything he said is correct. So he's up there. He, you know, the number 11's a pretty it's become sort of an iconic number. But you got you know, it would be Phil Sims and Messi and now Brunson, number 11 means something. Uh unless you look at the mess, because nobody cares about Jorge Polanca right now.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

This circles back to what I said in the beginning about looking for signs, Brian. I didn't think of the number 11 thing with Messier. Uh yeah, I turned 53 last week. It's been 53 years, so like I was thinking of all the different things, you know, that were out there. But anyway, it was a great, great moment for the city. It's gonna go on. I'm debating whether or not to go Thursday, to be honest with you. My son asked me if we can go to the ticker tape parade. Uh, to me, that's gonna be an absolute circus. But you know, it's one of those once-in-a-lifetime things. You know, I didn't go to any of the Yankee ticker tape parades over the years, never really thought of it, to be honest with you. But, you know, just my son wants me to take him. Do we go? It's something we're gonna have to talk about the next couple of days. So we'll see.

SPEAKER_00 19:24

So they're not sending in anybody, uh, you're not doing anything work related down there, not saying we're gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

Well, I have I am off today, so I'm working from home doing some stuff, so that hasn't come up yet. But the problem with that is it's gonna be the technology, Brian, because you know, getting inside TV real quick, the the equipment we use is all internet based. You're not getting signals out of that out of that city.

SPEAKER_00 19:43

That can't be in here, it's just too there's too much, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

There's gonna be there's gonna be two million people at this parade, probably. I mean, a million at least, probably, walking around. So everyone's gonna have their phones, so cell service is gonna be tricky. But we'll cross that bridge. Maybe I'll be going for both. Maybe I'll have my son tag along with dad for a day at work, so that wouldn't be a bad thing either. So we'll see that.

unknown 20:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

And then the last thing you didn't uh, you know, it was mentioned it before, you know, we can get into it is Mike Brown and Joe Tori. I don't know. A guy who's never sort of not nobody was light the the like nobody was like super excited when he got hired last year, but he seemed to be just the right guy at the right time.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

Clueless Joe was the headline when Tori was hired on the back page of the news or the post, you know. So I think it is very comparable. I loved some of the stuff that came out after the fact where where Brown sat down with every individual starter before the playoffs started and said, now's the time for you to air your beefs. You got a problem with me or the way I do things. I want you to tell me right now. And then he took those five players uh to a team meeting afterwards and and aired out, they had an airing of grievances uh and basically said, Listen, before the playoffs start, let's clear the air. You guys are gonna share the basketball. This is how I want to play. And then Dolan came in and talked to him as well. And one of the players said what Dolan said really stuck. I guess Dolan told him, I don't know if you saw the quote, no fornication during the like, oops, you know, give over the next 60 days, dedicate yourself to this team. I believe you can win. And a couple of players said, I when he said, I believe in you.

SPEAKER_00 21:07

I mean, it's a little rough coming from Dolan, who did everything in his power to ruin this franchise for the last 40 years. But Vinja's ruining his hockey team right now.

SPEAKER_01 21:15

So yeah, it's a little tough to yeah, it's quite it's it's a good narrative that if it all fits the narrative after the fact. Obviously, they go lose in the first round to Atlanta.

SPEAKER_00 21:23

You're gonna laugh at all this, but Ryce, no wonder they want 50. No, no, no wonder no wonder they won they won 15 and three. Talk about motivation to get this thing over with.

unknown 21:31

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 21:32

We'll just leave it at that. We'll just leave it there.

SPEAKER_01 21:33

Yeah. Well, talking about uh let's take a timeout, we'll come back. I I had a few things to say about the Spurs, Brian, as I'm sure you do. We talked about Reggie. I mean, they're gonna have to add a piece. I I how they handled the end of the game and some other things when we come back on the E D D C podcast.

SPEAKER_00 21:47

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SPEAKER_01 22:45

So end of the uh game, Brian, first thing uh the players took some heat. Uh you saw Wembinama and Steph Castle and a bunch of other players, a handful, Cornette and a couple other guys, I think, did stay on the court, but they all exited the court. Your thoughts when you saw that? I didn't think much of it, to be honest with you. There another team celebrate on your home court. There's a million people on the court. You should stick around to shake hands. I know Brunson, the first thing he did was shake the hands of Mitch Johnson after the game's over. So you're thought Yeah, I saw that. Your thoughts when you saw the Spurs players, do you think it was uh low class or just the type of deal where you just walk off and let the other team celebrate, not get in the way?

SPEAKER_00 23:21

It's a weird thing to bring up, but I always think of it in those moments. And it turns out they didn't win anything. The Magic never won a damn thing. I always those moments I remember this going back 30 years ago, when Houston slept the or swept the Orlando Magic in the final, their coach at the time told the players, stay here for a minute or two. Just stay here and watch them and remember this feeling, just watch them and remember that feeling. And I think that for a team that was as young and really showed their inexperience and their lack of well, just being their youngness for lack of a better word, I think that would have been a great message for the Spurs. Um, and it's a bad look. Go shake hands, man. Just go shake hands. I know it sucks. Go shake hands, especially if you want to be a leader of a team. Um I don't think it's a huge deal, but I think it's just one of those things where it's another sign of saying, okay, these guys need to grow the F up. They're not ready to be champions. Yeah, talent can take you all the way to the cusp, and they were on the cusp. Yeah. You need a little something, something extra. Everyone's talented in the world.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

I will say, unfortunately, Steph Castle, who had a great series, played his worst game on Saturday night, Brian. I think it was one for ten from the floor. He had that dunk with two minutes ago, the put back dunk. Yeah. Uh he he was rough. And the other thing I'm gonna say, Brian, is I don't care what anyone says. A, he's lucky the league protected him. And B, Victor Wimanyama is a is gonna hurt someone. He's a very dirty player, Brian. I don't care what anybody says. He's dirty. Well, I mean plays along the lines. I mean, if you look at the montages on Twitter of him throughout the playoffs, the way he listen, I get it. When you're seven foot five, people are gonna try to undercut you and all that other stuff. I get it, but he is a dirty player, Brian. And they should have called a flagrant one on him. They've been calling that landing zone three-pointer thing for years now. There's no better example of what he did. He looked down and stuck his foot out.

SPEAKER_00 25:15

Let me tell you something. They never would have done that unless there was bone showing on the uh who's it's a money, it's a financial decision, I guess. They don't want to let me they don't want to go game six and have him not. He would have not he would have been suspended in game six. And that tarts your whole series because you know every a-hole, every a-hole outside the tri-stadia is gonna, oh, you won the title when Wemby got suspended. You you probably should have been forced to play a game seven. You don't want that crap. So I know the Knicks fans are whining about maybe whining is a little strong word. I know the Knicks fans are bitching about him right now, but believe me, I'm it's better that he played and he stayed in the game, didn't get kicked out or got suspended. I'm just saying. And he is that, but you know, some of this is like you know, the old school thing where, you know, you it doesn't happen as much anymore. I don't know the Knicks don't have a Charles Hokie per se. But it used to be back in the day that shit that stuff would take would somebody would take care of that sh that stuff on the court. Yeah. Um just and I'll just leave it at that, because I'm not trying to, I'm not trying to uh promote or endorse that type of thing, but it happened, man. Somebody would, you know, like the whole story and the uh red uh back and Bill Russell throwing an elbow, somebody would have thrown an elbow and he was gonna do that again? All right. Now the elbow might hit him in the groin, but he there was to be they'd police that. Yeah, and I don't know what to do with Web because he he really did not show well in the series.

SPEAKER_01 26:33

Um all the talent in the world is just immature. And even even did you see his postgame when he when he walked off the the court?

SPEAKER_00 26:40

Yeah, I mean that got a little overplayed because he did acknowledge the Knicks and say that he was not ready for this moment, that he had to learn, that the that they had to grow, and I understand that so but he didn't sign up. I know, I know, I know, I saw it, I saw it too, but I'm just saying from beginning to end, I did see it. He just ended it on a very poor note.

SPEAKER_01 26:58

I would just say see you, you know, thanks for coming, see you pause never like uh I just uh I know it's it's not even it's it's stupid. It's tough. He's he's tough to like.

SPEAKER_00 27:07

He's tough to like, he's tough to like, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:10

And then the officials had no problem cover calling every tic-tac foul under the sun against the Knicks, and I mean again against uh towns. And that's the one thing I hate about the replay sometimes. I understand it, but it you could replay every play in the goddamn game, Brian, and and call a million things. So it's just I don't know, tricky. That's all. And again, grateful this is not a Knicks fan. Just I just don't like the fact that Wemby is the star of the league and he acts that way. Someone needs to talk to him, but I guess is my point. Someone needs to pull him aside and say, listen, you can't act like a jackass because every camera, there's a million cameras at these games, you're not gonna get away with it. Someone's gonna see it.

SPEAKER_00 27:48

That's all. It's a bad luck. Uh it will be I wonder if this if you will come back from this where this will linger because you know who they were saying not almost a lot of the same stuff about uh two years ago? Luca. Yeah. Uh, you know, uh not in shape, bitched and moaned, you know, like we could not not not so much dirty, but like just not being but being immature, you know?

SPEAKER_01 28:13

Yeah, my point, yeah. I don't remember him being criticized. I remember him being criticized for smoking and drinking, and I don't remember him being criticized for being a pure.

SPEAKER_00 28:20

Immaturity on the court and bitching about the officials all the time and not working, just you know, be being more concerned about that kind of stuff. But it was just him being a lack of maturity. Now things have changed drastically because now he's on a different team. And yes, I'm sorry, this is a great time to bring it up. Because it was all over social media the last few days. The fact that the goddamn Dallas Mavericks had Luca and Jalen Brunson on the same team, drafted in the same draft, Eric, and they're both gone. I mean, you want to talk about not being able to stomach. I I don't know what I would do with that. I wasn't upset with the Dallas Cowboys training Micah. I mean, goodness gracious.

SPEAKER_01 28:52

And the fact that Brunson had agreed, said he would he went back to him twice and said, I'll give me four years and fifty two, I'll take it right now. And they wanted to play with them, yeah. He said no. Unbelievable. So well, now let's look at the team itself, the Spurs. I mean, you obviously have to add a veteran player. Uh, we were at work last night talking about it. They they need a veteran point guard, uh, someone who's been through the wars a little bit. Uh they need a veteran forward as well that could be a protector for Wemby and kind of maybe school him a little bit about the finer things in the league. Uh, I'm I'm assuming the coach will be back next year, Mitch Johnson. I know Charles Barkley was talking about him afterwards, that he's critical of him, but at the same time, as a young black coach, Barkley hopes he gets a chance to prove himself. Um, so I'd be curious to see what they go for. You know, if it's me, I go hire someone like Eric Spolster or something if I'm the Spurs.

SPEAKER_00 29:42

Uh, you know, yeah, I I I couldn't agree more. And I I listen, I'm not trying to kill crush the guy because it's hard replacing a legend. And he didn't replace a legend in Greg Popovich who won five titles he sent to him. But man, that guy had a rough series. I mean, and I mean he ha these games he had a deer in the headlight way that's like like how do I I'm not sure what to do. How do I get this to stop happening? Um and a young team like that, like maybe they all all grew up together. But yeah, you're 100% right. Um kind of like OKC last year with Dagno, who's a Dagno, who's a relatively young coach, and they're you know, relatively young team, and they just came together and won the whole thing. That's the blueprint you want for OKC. But OKC uh I mean for the San Antonio, but also OKC you know added some some parts. They went out and got a guy like Alex Caruso, you think Alex freaking Caruso? Yeah, guys like guy are glue guys, they make a big ethnic difference in the playoffs. And you're right, they gotta I don't know where they're gonna get them, but they gotta add some some veterans who've been around the block.

SPEAKER_01 30:42

Ask you this question. I don't he would get killed if he did it, but he'd be a perfect fit for him. But you're gonna say LeBron? Yep. He would get killed for it because they'd say he was just going to get a title, but he'd be a perfect fit for them.

SPEAKER_00 30:55

He would. He takes so much stuff off of Wemby's plate, it's unbelievable. Even if with his physicality and his passing.

unknown 31:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:02

It's a great that's a good one. That's a I never even thought that's a really good one. Because I didn't, you know, I haven't researched it that much, although it's gonna be up upon us in about three weeks. I don't even know what the free agent class looks like. There's no Durant or LeBron. Well, there is a LeBron. LeBron is out there, you're right. So there's no other guy like that, like a Durant or anybody.

SPEAKER_01 31:22

But you know, it's a small market team, so there's not, you know, it's not New York, a million riders chasing that team, but they are a national team, Brian, obviously with Wemby. But you would you give LeBron if he took the minimum? He said he would take less money to go somewhere. So, I mean, he's the first person I thought of. I said he would be a perfect fit on that team. Because he wouldn't have to play a million minutes during the regular season, and you would just be telling him to stay healthy for the playoffs.

SPEAKER_00 31:46

Yeah, that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 31:48

OKC's gonna get better, everyone else is gonna get better, all these teams are gonna make adjustments too, you know.

SPEAKER_00 31:52

So it's gonna be a lot tougher next year. People don't realize it. And Brad Stevens, and who's always on top of these things, he said it with the selfish present on his press conference end of the season, says the Eastern Conference was down this year. We know that we took advantage of it with our regular talking about the Celtics with our regular season uh thing uh record, but it's gonna be really that's a lot tougher. And the other thing we haven't really talked about is because the anti-tanking things that are are going to be in place next season, you know, teams sitting, you know, Giannis, wherever he goes next year, ain't sitting for 30 games because the team he's on wants to tank. I mean and that's the other thing. I mean the Spurs could never make a play for you. I think Bottom Giannis is gonna be a Celtic, but I think uh the Spurs, I guess, probably don't have they'd have to give up too much to get a guy like that. It would be kind of fun though.

SPEAKER_01 32:42

We only have five minutes left, but I wanted to throw this to you to end this segment. Um the other person I thought of was if you're the Spurs and you're looking to make a trade, would you trade? I I I I think very highly of the Dylan Harper type, you know, Brown. Oh, yeah, he yeah, he was great. He's gonna get much better. Dylan Harper for Jalen Brown.

SPEAKER_00 33:02

I don't think the money works at all.

SPEAKER_01 33:04

It does, it doesn't, but if you could figure out a third team or something along those lines, is that the type of a player who's been through the wars a little bit that could help a team like the Spurs kind of get to the next level?

SPEAKER_00 33:14

It would be great. And uh, you know, we're good. We don't have to go to break, so we've got plenty of time to wrap this up today. Um yeah, I I I don't know why Boston would do that because they have a win now.

SPEAKER_01 33:24

Supposedly there's some there's some issues in the locker room there, and they think that maybe there's an issue between him and Tatum.

SPEAKER_00 33:29

Right, but I'm saying I think that they're going more for the veteran guy, meaning they're gonna go. I I do think Giannis is I think I think you can check that my phone could happen this week. I think he's gonna happen to Boston, which I have mixed feelings about. But uh would the Spurs do that? And I mean the Spurs couldn't say yes to that deal fast enough. Absolutely. Because again, they want to win right now. Especially right now, they want to win. You know, Jalen Brown would be I mean, Jalen Brown's a great reason all I mean, he's a great player. That'd be perfect for them. Uh and would you sacrifice Dylan Harper? Yeah, because Dylan Harper's still potential, and Brown is a proven commodity.

SPEAKER_01 34:03

Yeah. No, I agree. I agree. Hey, Brian, I uh we only have a couple minutes left here, but I I I wanted to run something by real quick. I I'm shocked. Did you know that Eve Plum was in Connecticut this week and you didn't stop, but you didn't get her on the podcast? I tried to, but she told me to F off. Looking for a little levity before we we wrap this thing up.

SPEAKER_00 34:25

For you young, for you millennial types that don't know me goddamn better.

SPEAKER_01 34:28

Uh, how do you not get her on the pod? I mean, that's something you gotta come through with there, Brian. I like that.

SPEAKER_00 34:32

I kid, a kid, I kid. I know, I know. I'm working on some people. We're working on some people.

SPEAKER_01 34:36

Let's talk about baseball real quick. Your Mets took uh two out of three from the Braves, uh three and three homestead after a three and three road trip. I didn't watch any baseball this weekend. I'm not gonna lie. I don't know if the Red Sox won last night. I don't know. How did you how are you doing with your team? Where are we at?

SPEAKER_00 34:52

Well, Eric, can I make the same joke I made in social media? Is it any wonder that the day after the Mets won, a Ewing went had a huge day for the Mets? Um AJ Ewing going three for four with uh almost hit for the tr for the cycle. I don't a Ewing. I don't think that's cool. That's a sign, Eric. Maybe that's a sign that the Mets are ready to turn things around and build off the streets. Are they?

SPEAKER_01 35:12

I'm asking you, are they ready to turn around? What have you seen?

SPEAKER_00 35:14

Well, we've gone from not being bad to just uh as fans as uh John Harper wrote yesterday, uh one of the great uh baseball writers wrote, Well, they're treading water now. At some point you gotta start swimming, you gotta start making, you gotta start doing some laps. I okay, so you got Cincinnati in town starting tonight. Let's build a little winning streak. But they looked very good for the most. Saturday, they put out a ridiculous line, lefty uh righty have heavy lineup against the lefty was ridiculous. You know, I hate the it's it's one of those analytic games that drives you crazy if you're a baseball fan. But Friday and yesterday, they looked very good. And they beating the Braves and scoring a shit ton of a leap ton of runs against the Braves and their great pitching staff uh was kind of fun to see. It was just a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01 35:59

So it's good. It's not it's not when you it's when you play the team sometimes, too. You know what I mean? So it works out yeah, six and six in their last the Yankees what they won yesterday. I saw they scored five in the ninth couple of home runs. So that was they what took two or three at Toronto, three in a row against Cleveland or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 36:16

So I don't know where they're Volpe with a couple big games. People might I know people are just happy to people love Anthony Volpe, they're ready to embrace him. Maybe not.

SPEAKER_01 36:24

In the last minute here, I will tell you, I don't follow them all the time, but if you hear John Boy Media with Boone last week, worth a listen. They went after him about Volpe, and it was terrific radio. More balls than Chris Russo and Mike Mad uh Mike Francesa ever had with a manager. Went after him about Volpe, saying, basically saying that the guy doesn't deserve to play every day, but you keep putting him out there. He gets more runway than any player that they've ever had. And it was great stuff. Boone kept hitting back the statistics and we had an answer for him. So if you get a if you get a second go listen to it, we gotta wrap it up here. But uh good stuff coming in our this summer. So now it's the time we'll shift to baseball, Brian. But the New York Knicks, the 2026 world champions. All right. I'm Eric Dobratz, he's Brian Coleman for the EDVC podcast. Uh until the next time, Brian. Say goodbye. See you.