Knicks On The Brink!! Flopping is a problem. Who's Your G.O.A.T.??

The Knicks are one win away and it still doesn’t feel real. I break down how New York flipped the NBA Finals, why the Spurs look like a talented team learning in public, and what has to change fast if San Antonio wants any shot at a comeback. We get into Jalen Brunson’s steady playoff edge, the value of a real on-court leader, and the simple basketball truth that keeps popping up: you don’t win titles by beating yourself.

Then I pivot to the Minnesota Vikings offseason and get honest about the questions that matter more than OTA noise. I talk quarterback direction, why Kyler Murray’s athletic upside could unlock the offense, and what that means for Justin Jefferson and pushing the ball downfield. I also hit the areas that usually decide January football: the running game, offensive line health, center depth, and why I want a veteran pass rusher to join the front seven.

Basketball doesn’t stop there. I give the Minnesota Lynx their flowers and explain why WNBA games are one of the best live sports experiences to take your kids to right now. After that, I go on my biggest NBA overreaction: flopping, why it’s messing with the flow of the game, and what it’s teaching the next generation. We close with Timberwolves offseason targets (yes, Kyrie talk), a Jordan vs LeBron GOAT rant, and a dad-life reminder for every sports parent who’s ever dreaded the postgame car ride. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’ll argue back, and leave a review with your take on the flopping problem and the GOAT debate.

Transcript

Welcome And The Week Ahead

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Welcome to Rough Bunker Sports Podcast, the place where sports headlines, dad life, and everyday conversations collide. We will be talking the biggest games, the hottest takes, family life, coaching kids, and everything in between, whether you're driving to work, headed to practice, or just trying to survive another week of parenting. So pull up a chair, crack a cold one, and let's get into it. This is Rough Bunker Sports Podcast. Just to recap episode one, we talked about the NBA finals and how that was going. I made the prediction, and we'll get into that in a little bit. Definitely want to touch on the finals again. It is an interesting finals, to say the least. Definitely gonna go ahead and touch that probably first. So just

Knicks Take Command Of The Finals

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to kick the show off, here's fairway headlines. With the Knicks up 3-1, it's it's an impressive series so far for them. Obviously, they came back from 29 down and took control, taking a 3-1 lead. I don't understand what the Spurs were doing being up by that many points. It's definitely shows or showing, is showing the youth of the team and the coaching and experience that uh Mitch Johnson has. They don't really have a a leader out there and taking so many threes and then giving up so many easy baskets on the other end, it just it just shows what it takes to win an NBA championship. I definitely did see that with the experience from the playoffs with uh Jalen Brunson and the rest of the rest of the Knicks. And Mike Brown. Mike Brown is a coach. You got to give the guy his flowers. I mean, everybody thought it was just a LeBron show when he was coaching over there, and I'm sure it was. I mean, I I'm sure he learned a lot with them and took some of that with him to his other spots and other stops that he's had. But you can't take anything away from the Knicks. I mean, they're they're playing like a team of destiny. And I know I said that I I had Spurs in six. I'm I'm gonna stick with my with my with my pick. I mean, I'm gonna stick with the Spurs. Obviously, it's gotta be done in seven, they gotta win three straight. But I won't be upset if the Knicks win. Like I said, my my head told me the Spurs, my heart told me the Knicks. And you know, either way, I think it's gonna be good. It's gonna be good for the league. It's gonna be sh it's gonna show what a team can do that's doubted and thought of as not very good. Obviously, the Knicks are very a very good team. They're doing a hell of a job with defensively on Wemby and getting him away from the basket and Ananobis tip in at the end. I mean, that's gonna be shown on finals highlights forever. If the Knicks pull this off uh and do close the series out, I definitely think that it's gonna be their team of destiny, man. It's it's crazy to think that the New York Knicks are one game away from winning an MH NBA championship. I myself haven't seen them in the finals since 1999. Obviously, I didn't really watch much of that. I was pretty young at the time, but it definitely shows what the NBA is right now. They're they're doing a good job. I think Adam Silver is probably the best commissioner in sports. He's definitely done some things that are very impressive uh as a boss. So, I mean that's definitely something that everybody's gotta look at, especially the NFL and MLB and all that kind of stuff. So hopefully they can close that out, and uh we'll see uh we'll see what the Knicks can do or if the Spurs can answer and push for a game six and maybe push for a game seven. And you know, it's gonna be a hell of a series, it's gonna be a hell of a closeout. It's gonna be tough for the for the Spurs to do it, but you know, they're there for a reason. I definitely think that they're capable, they have the team, they have the they have the talent. They have, I mean, Wemby's is Wemby. I mean, he's he's seven foot five. He's hard to guard. But if you keep him away from the

Wemby’s Biggest Problem Right Now

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basket and you're physical with him, I definitely think that it's harder for him. I don't know what people are telling him. He thinks he's a two-guard and he's standing out at the three-point line, and you're seven five. You need to get under the get your ass under the basket. I mean, nobody's gonna guard you. Nobody can guard you down there. Be physical. He he needs to put some weight on for sure. Definitely definitely needs to put a lot of weight on to be able to withstand some of the stuff that's going on in the in the NBA. He gets pushed around by Brunson, by Ananobi, by Kat, and nobody's ever said anything good about Carl Anthony Towns defensively. I mean, he's never been much of a defender, but he's definitely shown his worth in this series. I mean, he got two early fouls in that last game, but the Knicks, you know, fought to the end and tipped that ball in, and you know, here we are. Like I said, a game away from an NBA championship. And I never thought I would have said that this year. So we'll see. We'll see what the Knicks do if they can close everything out and get their championship that they that they want. And there's gonna be a lot of a lot of people that are gonna have to eat their onions on this. Hopefully there's a game six in New York. I I think the Spurs will come ready to play at home. I know I know that the Knicks stole those first two games in San Antonio. But I don't think this team's gonna just fold over and and let them take it from them. So it'll it'll be interesting. It'll it'll be it'll be good. I I think in my non-professional opinion, it's gonna be the best game of the series. It's either put up or shut up time for for the Spurs, for Wemby, for Dylan Harper, for Darren, you know, Darren Fox. So we'll see. We'll see what they do. Hoping that they can extend it one more game. Just for entertainment value, personally. But I think that it'll be it'll be it'll be interesting. It'll it'll it's gonna be it's gonna be a tough game. So I mean, we'll we'll see. We we'll just we'll have to see what they do. We'll have to see how how everything happens here.

Vikings QB Call And OTA Vibes

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So I'm looking at the NFL, moving on to the NFL. You know, there's not a whole bunch done here. It's off season, obviously. Uh Vikings, OTAs, uh not hearing a lot of things, not hearing a lot of good things or bad things, you you know, going either way, obviously, with you know the central or north, NFC North, is gonna be a tough division of mini camps and everything. You know, you got the Bears that are coming off a big season. I I think they're they're primed and ready. They really are. I think the Vikings do have a chance if they can figure out defensively what they're doing and what they're gonna do a quarterback. I I'm I'm hoping you know JJ and Kyler Murray can have a decent quarterback battle. Hopefully, it's not just JJ rolling over and conceding to Kyler Murray. Kyler Murray just makes our offense so much more dynamic and so much more threatening to other teams with his athletic ability and his way that he can run and throw. So it'll be interesting to see how they're how they're gonna do that. I if if I had to choose one of them, just based on what I know right now, Kyler Murray would be the starter for the Vikings. Kyler Murray could get us all the way to the NFC Championship game. And you can take that for what it's worth. If he plays to his potential and his athletic ability, Kyler Murray has the tools to lead this offense to be one of the most lethal offenses in the NFL. He really, really does. He can run, he can throw his decision-making, he throws a great deep ball, and Jefferson hasn't had that really. I mean, Kirk Cousins threw a good deep ball when he threw it. I just it it just would look nice to see the Vikings be able to push the ball down the field.

Running Back And O-Line Questions

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But we need a running game to do that. And I don't know if we've answered that question. Aaron Jones is old. I I you know there should have been some sort of push there to get a playmaker at running back because they don't really have one. I mean, Mason's gonna he's gonna be okay. Aaron Jones is okay. Why not bring in a young guy or draft someone or pick up a undrafted guy and see what they have? I mean, I I don't I don't know what they're gonna do in that aspect. I mean KOC's got such a mind for the game. I don't understand why he wouldn't try and get a young dynamic running back for his offense. I mean, we we just we don't have it. I mean, we did draft a guy in the sixth round out of Wake Forest. I I'd never heard I've never heard of him. And maybe he'll maybe he'll show something, but who who knows? I I don't know I don't I don't know what we're gonna do at the running back position because like I said, Mason's old, or not old, mason's kind of your I don't know, beat 'em up running back, and he's a good change of pace guy. Aaron Jones is old. He's he's over 30, and that's old for a running back. We do have that Xavier Scott. He should he showed a little bit of flash last year. They did, like I said, they did draft that guy out of Wake Forest, and they did pick up a guy out of Florida International, FIU, another guy that I've never heard of. But like I said, we'll we'll see what we got there. I mean, our wide receiver room is so loaded with Jefferson and the signing of Juwan Jennings and Addison. I I think we're gonna be alright there. But I want to see what that kid out of Maryland has that we drafted last year. I mean, he's he's got the potential to be another playmaker for us, and maybe he's the guy that you kind of use as a a gadget guy. Maybe he's your you know, our new Tyreek Hill type gadget guy or Darren Sproles type gadget guy. Maybe he's gonna be what that is, but I I don't know. We didn't see him last year because he was hurt. I mean, and then our tight end room between TJ Hawkinson and Josh Oliver, we should be good there. But there again, TJ Hawkinson's getting old, he's been hurt a lot. I wish they would have done a couple more moves in the offseason and maybe they're still working on it. Because I don't know if people want to deal with Addison's off-field issues or Hawkinson's injury issues. You know, Josh Oliver did a hell of a job filling in for him last year. We just never, we don't know if we're gonna be able to give him more of a chance. And then in regards to our offensive line, there's a lot of question marks there. I mean, yeah, we have Derisau if he stays healthy. Paul O'Neill is probably gonna get an extension. But I I or Brian O'Neal, not Paul O'Neill. Brian Paul O'Neill is a baseball player for the Yankees, if you didn't know. Brian O'Neal, he was hurt too. I mean, our offensive line seems to always get hurt. You know, we'll start maybe the first few games or the first few preseason games with a healthy offensive line, but then everything goes to shit. And then nobody can nobody can block, nobody knows their assignments. We have so many different combinations of people out there on the offensive line, and we I don't know. That's my big question mark, and it really always has been since Favre was quarterbacking and Steve Hutchinson was in the uh in a guard spot, and you know, Phil Lodholt and all those guys. So it's it's gonna be hard to really gauge how our offense is gonna be, but we won't know until we see it on the field, obviously. But one of the big question marks, like I said, is gonna be that offensive line. We'll see who steps up and who's gonna be who's gonna be our center. I mean, we have two rookies that we have for center, and we don't know if either one of them can play. Why don't we sign a veteran guy, get a veteran guy in there and and see what we can do

Defensive Help The Vikings Need

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there. Defensively, I mean I I'm I'm hoping, and I don't know if it's gonna work or if it's gonna happen, but they need to sign some sort of veteran to come in to come in and be a pass rusher, whether that's Cam Jordan, Joey Bosa, Jadeavion Clowney. I mean, somebody bring in a veteran that can be a leader out there, also, along with Van Genkel and Dallas Turner, and some of those other guys, just to bring in someone that is gonna just pin their ears back and go after the quarterback. I mean, we have a couple guys that are rookies or you know, first couple years players that are capable, but we definitely need we definitely need some depth, whether it be at defensive end or outside linebacker. And I and you know, you you look at Bosa, you look at Clowney, you look at Cam Jordan, and whoever, you know, a couple of those other guys that are out there and available, give them a shot. We have some cap space. Sign one of them. If it doesn't work, it does work. What do we have to lose? Especially if we're gonna be chasing playoffs in a Super Bowl this year. There's no reason we can't go after somebody like that that can give us a little bit of help. So, I mean, we'll we'll see what they do defensively on the defensive line in front seven in the secondary. I mean, we definitely have the tools to be decent, but we just we we need to be better at stopping the pass. Our pass defense is it's gonna be questionable, to say the least. And with all the pass happy teams, obviously now in the league, we have to have some stability back there, along with you know, Byron Murphy and Isaiah Rogers, Theo Jackson, you know, Josh Matellas can only do so much, and I think he's gonna be obviously a big part of it being he's gonna be our new Mar Harrison, he's gonna be our new like leader on that defense. He he's he's gonna be the linchpin, he's gonna be you know the new Harrison Smith for us, and that's good because he can play anywhere. The guy can play linebacker, safety, corner, you know, he can do a lot of it, but he's gonna need some help. And hopefully they can get a team unity team and play like a team. And we'll hopefully we'll make some noise. And I I think we will. I think we're a playoff team. Uh, like I said, if it's gonna be something where if it's gonna be something where Kyler Murray's the the favorite, obviously, let give him the ball, let him run, let him go with it, give him the keys. We got him for one year. We can't make the same mistake that we did with Sam Darnold. We just can't. And then we just gotta cut the cord on McCarthy. Trade him, cut him, whatever we need to do. If the kid doesn't have it, he doesn't have it. Let him go find it somewhere else. Let him be let him do a Baker Mayfield. You know, maybe he goes somewhere else and has some success. Who knows? But we'll we'll have to we'll have to give him that chance to do that. There is one more thing I wanted to touch on in the Fairway Headlines segment of the show. Just wanted

Lynx Are Must-See With Kids

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to touch on uh the WMBA. So if you guys don't watch the WMBA, you're probably not gonna enjoy this little segment I have. But that's okay because I like talking about the WMBA because it is relevant and it's entertaining to me. Shouldn't should be entertaining to you. You know, having daughters myself that play basketball, I watch a lot of women's basketball, whether it be college or professional. I like taking my daughters to Lynx games because you know, you watch Defisa Collier, you watch that that new point guard we have, Olivia Miles, she's phenomenal. But they're making a lot of noise, scoring a lot of points. Caitlin Clark's having a hell of a season. The Lynx are having a hell of a season. They're I think they're 10 and 2 right now, one of the top teams in the league again. So if you ever have a chance to bring your kids, whether you know boys or girls, if you ever have a chance to go to a Lynx game, go. The environment's amazing. You can get pretty decent seats for a pretty pretty fair price. A couple years ago, we went to a couple games. I think the most I spent was $90 on a ticket per person. Definitely worth the money, worth every minute. It was it was amazing. So the Lynx have a chance to go back to the WNBA finals as long as they can stay healthy. When Collier comes back and she gets into the flow in the rotation, team's gonna be stupid dangerous. They're playing really well right now. I think they're like I said, I think they're top top one of the top teams in the league. Like I said, and I mean they are. They're the number one team in the league right now, 10-2. They're undefeated away from home, they're 6-0 in the conference, they're five and two at home, they're averaging over 90 points per game. Defensively, they're one of the top teams. Uh, they're holding teams to under 80 points. They're they're just they're so fundamentally team sound. It's it's awesome. This new rookie that they have, like I said, this Olivia Miles, she played at Notre Dame, and then I believe she transferred to TCU, and she's just completely transformed what we have for the Lynx. She's what they were missing a couple years ago when they went to the NBA final or WNBA finals. They didn't have a point guard that could facilitate and score. This girl can score. Like she can shoot it, she can pass it, she's a she's a great floor general. And once Collier comes back, like I said, they're gonna be that they're they're gonna be really good. And if they make the finals, which I think they will, if everybody stays healthy, if and when they make the finals, I want to take my kids, my daughters, to a WNBA finals game. I think it'd be a great experience for all of us to go and watch. So, like I said, just that was a quick segment of mine. Just if you have a chance to go watch, go watch them. It's amazing. Great atmosphere, great time, good venue, all that stuff. So, even going into that, I mean, talking, we talked about NBA Finals, we talked a little bit about Wemby, we talked a little bit about Brunson, you know. One

Why NBA Flopping Is A Problem

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of the biggest things right now that's going on in the NBA that I've talked to my friends about a lot about it, is the new culture that they have that they have in the NBA. So they and I hope that this changes because from when I was watching basketball as a as a kid and as a teenager, and then into my twenties, and then when I started coaching and all that stuff, the the biggest sports overreaction right now in the NBA is the flopping. Flopping's always been there. Flopping has been a part of basketball for as long as I can remember. Not as relevant, not as bad, but it has been there. And there's these people that are saying that it's just basketball, it's you know, it's it's evolving with the game, and you know, these everybody's so big and strong, and you know, you can't help it if you fall, and you the you know, and they're wrong. You know, you watch SGA, you watch even Brunson, you watch Old Heads with Reggie Miller and Michael Jordan and all these other people, like flopping's a problem. Flopping is a problem, and it needs to be fixed. It's it's making the generation right now coming up playing basketball, it's making them into a generation that doesn't even know how to how to do it or when to do it or anything like that. It's it's something that needs to be taught, not necessarily taught to do, but when to take that charge, when to act like it's a charge, you know, things like that. It's a it's a part of the game that will and has never gone anywhere. Okay. So the overreaction on that are these people. That are saying, well, he's getting fouled. You know what? Shaq got fouled every time he touched the ball. Every time. Every time Shaq touched the ball, he got fouled. Every time LeBron went down the lane, he got fouled. Yes, he flops. Yes, he does things like that too. But he's so big and strong that he you can't call everything on him. And if you're going to call everything for SGA, like that's just bad basketball. It's not fun to watch. It's not fun to commentate. It's not fun to pick apart. It's not fun for any of it. And I know a lot of the analysts and a lot of the sports media are just sick of it. And a lot of the fans are sick of it. The common fan can't watch the game and learn anything. Watching that shit. It's frustrating. And then you got a guy like Anthony Edwards who doesn't flop or doesn't flop as much and won't and can't get a call. Can't and won't get a call. Jaden McDaniels can't and won't do it. Like these some of these guys are just too proud to do it. And that's good. That's good. That's not basketball. Like they just want to play and let the guys play. So let me know what your thoughts are on that. Let me know let me know how you feel about flopping and the overreaction of that kind of stuff. Just let me let me let me debate you on it if you don't agree. I would debate you all day. Okay, so wrapping that up.

Timberwolves Targets And Trade Ideas

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Next, we got we got the segment called Minnesota Minute. And I've kind I've kind of come up with these segments just so that there's some sort of order and structure to the episodes. So if you don't like what I'm calling them, give me a suggestion on what you want me to have a segment on. Obviously, Minnesota Minute's gonna reflect on Minnesota specifics, and I kind of already touched on the Vikings, so I'll just move right on to the Timberwolves. So, off-season look for the Timberwolves. Now, I I've talked to a couple friends and a couple co-workers and some other people about what the Timberwolves should do in the next, you know, however many months till the season starts. My thoughts on that would probably be you gotta go after a guy that can create his own shot, that can facilitate, that can get to the rim, that is a decent, that is a good, I shouldn't say decent, that's a good shooter and a good scorer, not necessarily a good defender, because you don't really need multiple you don't need three or four defenders on the floor because then your offense is very stagnant. So if I had my choice on who I personally would go after would be Kyrie Irving. Now, Kyrie Irving is probably the best ball handler to ever play basketball. Very easily. Obviously, he helped LeBron win a championship in Cleveland. He's been a little off the rails with some other things, you know, the flat earth stuff and injuries and things like that. You know, I I I would like to see Kyrie Irving in a Timberwolves jersey. I think it'd be great. I really, really do. The one that I'd stay away from is John Morant. The you could not give me enough money or send me enough picks or whatever to take on John Morant, his attitude, his off-the-court issues, all that stuff. You just you could not pay me enough. I I would not, nope, not a chance. Is he a good basketball player? Absolutely. He's a professional. Obviously, he's very good. But I just there's there's nothing. There's nothing out there that you can convince me that Kyrie that John Morant's a better choice than Kyrie Irving. I would rather take two two two-tier players or two three-tier players that can contribute than John Morant. I just there's no there's nothing. I just I can't I I can't imagine a world where we would be a better team with John Morant. And I'd I don't I don't I don't know if anybody could sway me on that. Now, what would I give up? I mean, I I don't I don't think Randall or you gotta get rid of Randall or Gobert or both. It's hard to get rid of Gobert because of who you have in the West, or who we have in the West. Regardless of what people say, he did a phenomenal job on Jokic. Obviously, he struggled with Wemby. Wemby just brought him out of the paint. That's all you gotta do to him. You you make him play defense on the perimeter, and he's a he's garbage. Gobert's a very good help side defender. He's a very good defender in the post. Obviously, on the perimeter, not very good. Foot speed, terrible. He was exposed with that when we played Dallas in the Western Conference Finals last year or two years ago, or whatever, when Luca and Kyrie beat us. So, I mean, you you have to figure out something there. Julius Randle just did not perform his contract's too big. I I I think that it would benefit us a lot to get off his contract. But I I don't foresee us having both of them together. You could probably ship both of them and let and then you start Nas Reed and then the French kid that we drafted. I I think that's that's a good option there. But then you take away the defense the defensively, it hurts us because obviously go bears of he's an elite defender, he just is around the basket, you know, towards the rim. He he is an elite defender, and he definitely has his upside down there. Randall, I mean, he's tough, he's strong, he can rebound, but he just did not show up. Just you we gotta let him go. The only people that I would not allow to be traded are obviously Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels. Jade McDaniels is a he's a top five two-way player. He just is, and he he's only gonna get better. Like he's really good. I'm hoping KG comes in and kind of mentors him and shows him a few things and helps him out and all that other kind of stuff, because he could really benefit listening and getting a mentorship from a guy like Kevin Garnett. It'd be really, really nice to see that. So, fan question for you guys.

Which Minnesota Team Wins Next

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Sorry. And just give me the feedback that you have on Facebook. I'll I'll I'll post this on the Boss Two Boys Facebook page, and you can just give me uh give me a answer or explain your answer for for what you have here. So the fan question this episode is which Minnesota team wins a net and wins a championship next? Now, I'm gonna extend that even to college, whether it be volleyball, basketball, baseball, things like that, mainly for Division I for college. So whether it be a professional team or a division one college team, which Minnesota team wins a championship next? Now, I'll give you my answer, and then you can either agree, disagree, or give me your answer on the on the post. I think it's gonna be the Lynx. I think the Minnesota Lynx are actually gonna win it this year. I'd be I'd be pretty shocked if they didn't, but I'll I will definitely go out on the limb there and you can tell me what you think about that. Minnesota Lynx for me, next Minnesota team to win a championship, and let me know your thoughts. Tell me what you think, and we can go from there. So with that, we will go into next segment.

Sports Media Takes I Can’t Stand

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We will go to next one's gonna be called for our segment Rough Bunker Rant. Now, I listen to a lot of podcasts. I watch a couple podcasts on YouTube and on TV and whatnot, like you know, Barstool, and I listen to a a lot. I listen to a lot of podcasts or sports TV. One of my favorites is The Herd with Colin Cowherd. Another one of my favorites is First Things First with Nick Wright, Chris Brasard. Probably my favorite one, though, that I listen to as a podcast is the arena. Now, the arena has Josiah, who's the host. He's merely just a host, and then they have Brandon Jennings. Skip Bayliss has been on there a lot, and I honestly I dislike a lot of what Ski Bayliss has to say about stuff, but I also listen to them because they have Gilbert Arenas, and my favorite one on the whole thing is Kenyon Martin. I love Kenyon Martin, I think he is one of the most underrated players to ever play in his era. Gilbert Arenas also. But then the two that really just make me not want to listen to it, but I also want to listen to it because I want to hear the dumb shit that comes out of their mouth is Nick Young and Rashad McCantz. Now, their take on a few different things I disagree and agree with. I mostly agree with a lot of what Kenyon has to say. I agree with a lot of what Brandon Jennings has to say, but you know, I have a hard time stomaching anything that Rashad McCantz or Nick Young say, even if it contradicts each other, or even if they contradict each other, I have a hard time with those two. I don't know if it's because of the attitude they say it with or the arrogance or anything like that. Like the only one that was any the only one that did anything or had a decent stint in the league out of all of those people. And I guess not, you know, Kenyon Martin had a good career, went to the finals twice. Gilbert Arenas is one of the best scorers in the league for a little while. Brandon Jennings was a phenomenal point guard, kind of ahead of his time. But the other two I just I can't stand. And Ski Bayless is Skip Bayless. If you know anything about sports media or you follow sports media at all, you know who Skip Bayliss is. Anyway,

Jordan Versus LeBron And Why

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they were talking about they were talking about LeBron and Michael Jordan and Kobe. Okay. Now this is a really big debate all over the place. In sports in general. You know, who's the GOAT? Who's the best ever? Who's the best to do it? Who could play in this era? Who could play in that era? Who could come play now? Who could go play back then? Like it's a it's a big conversation for whatever reason. Now, Michael Jordan, he was in an era where it was mostly defense, hand checking. It was physical. You know, if anybody watched The Last Dance, it showed you how much the pistons beat the shit out of him, and then he started lifting weights and blah blah blah blah. And uh and that's fine, but he didn't win anything. I shouldn't say he didn't win anything, he helped a team win that had zero expectation, zero system. He was the system for the for Doug Collins, for up until Phil Jackson got there. Jordan was the system. Throw Jordan the ball, do your thing, and he wasn't successful at it. He just wasn't. Very athletic, could score, could jump, could do all the things like that. Defensively, very good, great anticipation, obviously, very good defender, good on-ball and off-ball defender. I mean, he won MVP and Defensive Player of the Year the last year with Doug Collins as his coach. But then in comes Scottie Pippen, in comes Phil Jackson. Those teams in the 80s were old by the time Jordan started winning. When Jordan started winning, he when he his first year in the finals, the Pistons were old, the Celtics were old, the Sixers were old. All these teams were old. None of them were young anymore. The Pistons just came off of going to the finals three straight years. Then they get to the Eastern Conference Finals against the Bulls, and they were tired. They were beat up. They were hurt. Okay. Jordan then plays an old Magic Johnson in the finals. Beats him. Scottie Pippen guarded Magic Johnson. Shut him down. Didn't know what to do with him. Just too old. Okay. Then they play whoever in the next year, whether it be Seattle or whatever. There again, people talk about how tough the East was when Jordan was there. It wasn't. I watched. I've watched old basketball games. I mean, you you might run into one all NBA player on the east side. Like they they they just they weren't they weren't physically better, they weren't athletically better. They none of it. You could beat the shit out of people. Like that's not basketball. That's just that's streetball. It it is. So then you know, Jordan wins those next two finals, he wins three in a row. His total leave because he has a gambling problem. They let him come back. He loses to Shaq and Penny. Shaq and Penny go into the finals, they get swept by Houston. And then Jordan comes back out of the East. You know, the Knicks were good. The Pacers were good. Like they had people. Like can anybody name any can anybody name a scorer on the Knicks team that he beat? Anybody? Patrick Ewing, maybe? John Starks, was he a scorer? Larry Johnson? Was Larry Johnson a scorer? Like that I you can't. It's impossible. The the best players that played against Michael Jordan defend defending him even? Who are they? Byron Russell? What did he average? Like six points? He didn't play any offense. Jordan had the best teammates and he had the best coach. The best coach. Arguably the best coach in NBA history. Arguably. Or a top, I'll say top four, top five coach in NBA history. Jordan didn't start winning until he had a system that a coach made him fit into, into the triangle. He did not start winning until he started running the triangle offense. Okay. So he was six and oh in the finals. Now flip it to LeBron. We'll flip to LeBron. Kobe's Kobe. Kobe is a carbon copy of Michael Jordan. Nobody can argue that. Let's flip to LeBron. Brought a shit Cavs team to the finals. No system. LeBron was the system. LeBron is 4-10 or 4-6 in the finals or whatever he was. Four and six. He's been to the finals ten times. Like he had a stupid run to the finals. Were teams in the East that good? Not really. Not really. I mean, he ran into a couple teams that were pretty good. 2011 is unacceptable when he lost to Dallas. Don't argue with me. He had two other teammates that should have been able to step in there also and score more and help him. You see a teammate struggling as a teammate, you're supposed to step up and do your job. You just are. People want to blame LeBron. People want to do all that kind of stuff. Yeah, Dwayne Wade had a good series, average over 20. Bosch averaged almost 20. Where were the rest of the teammates? Where was the rest of the team? Three guys can't beat nine. Sorry. Dallas had a good team that year. It was Dirk's year. Dirk went through a stupid run to the finals that year. They were ready for Miami. That was probably the toughest road to a championship in the last I don't know, 25 years. And if you want to look that up, look it up. The 2011 Dallas team that won the championship against LeBron and the Eatles probably had the hardest run to the finals ever. So going back to LeBron, he has had to play way more All NBA or Hall of Fame players. Has had to. Jordan and the Bulls are doing nothing with that Golden State team with Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Clay Thompson. The Bulls would not have anything for him. They can't score like that. They just can't. The Bulls didn't have enough scoring to beat that team. I don't even know if they beat that Dallas team because that Dallas team was stupid loaded too. So you want to debate me on that kind of stuff? Definitely shoot me something, or you can go ahead on Facebook and get into that too. So the

Dad Life Coaching And Keeping It Light

SPEAKER_00 40:55

next segment I have, it's called Dad Life in the Rough. It's kind of just a segment where we talk about just basic, basic dad life. You know, I'm a dad of three girls and a son. My son just graduated. I have daughters that are 16, 14, and 10. I coach basketball for my two older daughters. I'm the JV basketball coach here in my hometown. I love doing it. I I've loved coaching basketball for a lot of years. It's just, it's fun for me to be involved in a program that I care about. I really, really care about it. So yeah, it's just it's kind of surreal being able to coach. And I kind of talked up talked about it in episode one here uh last week. So I'm not going to get too deep into that. But I just have such a great relationship with the kids and the parents, and I just I just I love doing it. It kind of makes me it makes me feel like I'm giving back to the community that gave so much to me, you know, the school that gave me an education. I just really appreciate the chance to be able to have that with these girls. I mean, being able to help kids and make them smile and make them learn something outside of sports that's kind of sport related, it's definitely fulfilling as a dad and as a coach. People ask me how many kids I have sometimes during basketball season. I say I've got 17 daughters because it feels it feels like it sometimes. So yeah, you guys got any parents or coaching stories or coaching issues or anything like that where you want me to go ahead and talk about it on here? I can definitely talk about it. My daughter just had her, my youngest daughter just had her safety tone graduation today. I've heard nothing but great things from instructors, from teachers, from parents with how she is with those younger kids and how she's so easy to you know talk to and she cares. And you know, people say that they see a lot of me as a coach coming out in her as a 10-year-old. So I guess you know, it maybe I'm doing maybe I'm doing something right there. Makes me feel good, makes me feel like I'm doing a good job. And, you know, as a sports parent, it's hard because you don't you don't always know when to separate sports and and parenting. Just remember if you were an athlete yourself, remember how you felt if you had a bad game or you had a rough, a rough game or something like that, where you made a lot of mistakes, or you struck out, or you know, had a bunch of turnovers, or you know, in football, maybe you turned the ball over, fumbled it through an interception, you know, missed a tackle. Volleyball players, you know, if you shank a few balls out of bounds. Remember as a parent how you felt at that age when you were sitting in the car or you were sitting in the locker room, dreading to get in the car with your parents. So definitely, definitely remember how you feel. And Don't don't don't take it so seriously. It's not that serious. You know, it's just a game. It's just a game. And you know, and people say, well, only losers say that. Well, you're gonna lose in life, you're gonna lose you're gonna lose a lot. And the sooner kids can figure that out and can understand that, that it's not that serious, that it's just a game, the better off they'll be. They'll play looser, they'll play with less stress. It definitely definitely helps.

Picks World Cup Call And Wrap-Up

SPEAKER_00 44:28

So next up we have locker room picks. I'm gonna go ahead and say that the Knicks and the Spurs. I'm gonna say Spurs win at home. Push it to a game six. But we're gonna go with that. That's really the only thing going on right now. And the World Cup. Well, the World Cup's going on. I'm gonna call, I'm gonna make a call. I don't watch soccer at all, but you know, I'm gonna go out and say the US are gonna win their first World Cup game. I believe that's tonight. Today is Friday June 12th. So it'll the game will be over by the time that I get the next episode out, but I'll go ahead and talk about it on the next one. And remember, you know, any questions, comments, concerns, should you know, look on Facebook, you know, comment on some stuff, send me some send me something on Messenger, and you can send anything else like the Instagram, TikTok. I'm gonna start doing some YouTube shorts and some TikTok stuff also. I ordered a couple things that I definitely needed to do that. I might even start live recording episodes just for fun to see how it goes. So yeah, uh follow us on Facebook at Boss2Boys. You can go ahead and follow me at Boss2Tony on Instagram and on TikTok. Boss2 Minnesota Boss2MN for Tony. You can follow him too on TikTok. Just it is golf season, like I said last time. Uh we do partner with Shankit Golf. Go on Shankit Golf. They have some good stuff. They just drop some new hats and some den caddies and bags. Uh, if you want to get, I believe it is 10% off, go ahead when you check out, use the promo code BASTU8675. That's B-A-S-T-U-8675, and go ahead and get any kind of golf stuff that you're looking for there. Uh, if you guys are ever out on the golf course, take pictures, tag us, tag whoever clothes you're wearing. Yeah, so I mean that's kind of today's episode. Like I said, shoot shoot me a message, comment on my LeBron Jordan take. Tell me what you think about, you know, any kind of final stuff that I'm talking about. Let me know what you think about the flopping for basketball. What's you what is your biggest sports overreaction happening right now? Like you just go ahead and leave a message, you know, what who's the next Minnesota team to win a championship? Like I said, I picked the links. You hadn't you can go ahead and give me your thoughts on that too. And then let me know your your the worst media takes right now in professional sports. I I'd love to talk about that. Definitely something that we can look forward to in the next episode. So for episode three, I'm gonna go ahead and I'll talk about uh what's going on in the finals, I'll talk about off-season basketball for the NBA as a whole. We'll talk a little bit more Vikings. I might have more updates on other things, definitely on some merch products that I'm working on for t-shirts, hats, and give me give me some feedback on that too. If you're ever on the out on the golf course or you ever think about going golfing, give me a call, give me a text. Maybe if you're close, maybe I'll go ahead and I will join you. I'm not very good, but I definitely enjoy going out on the golf course. So just remember enjoy the game, enjoy your family. Don't take either for granted, and we will see you next time in the rough bunker.