On this episode of the Bob Ryan & Jeff Goodman Podcast, Bob and Jeff discuss the Knicks' trade for Karl-Anthony Towns, take a closer look at the return for Minnesota and if it will help them contend again. Did this trade close the gap on the Celtics and the Knicks? And will the Knicks supersede the Sixers in terms of a Celtics rivalry? All that, and more!
Plus, Bob and Jeff pay tribute to Dikembe Mutombo, following his untimely passing at the age of 58.
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Plus, Bob and Jeff pay tribute to Dikembe Mutombo, following his untimely passing at the age of 58.
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SportsTranscript
00:00I welcome you to another episode of the Ryan and Goodman podcast and we don't have our
00:21sidekick here today, Gary Taneway, he had a personal emergency or it didn't sound that
00:29bad. Emergency is probably overstating it, but he had another obligation. It's just a
00:35two-man pod today, like the old days, Bob, but not like the old days. We have the New
00:42York Knicks being relevant, really relevant now.
00:45I'm so excited in New York about having a basketball team of consequence. I'm looking
00:52forward to it because I think, and I know in the NBA specifically, it's more exciting
00:58and interesting when New York's involved, because New York is a polarizer. You've got
01:02people that love them, you've got people that hate them, but it's fun. I know I enjoyed
01:07having that rivalry back in the early 70s. It's as good as any rivalry that I've encountered
01:13all those years I've covered the Celtics. Anyway, so what do we think? How surprised
01:19were you that they were able to pick up a piece of it?
01:22Shocked at the timing, more than anything, right before training camp. I'm in Charleston
01:28right now, the Knicks are here for training camp. So I'm going to see Jalen Brunson and
01:32Mikael Bridges later today, in fact. Listen, me and you, nobody has more respect for Jalen
01:41Brunson than us. For the way he plays the game, for the winner that he is, for the fact
01:46that he took like $100 million less on an extension this past offseason. Now you add
01:53a guy like Karl-Anthony Towns, who's a little bit of a lightning rod, and always has been
01:57because his talent is so immense. But he hasn't always fulfilled that. I felt like this past
02:07year was kind of the first year that you saw it with Minnesota, right? Anthony Edwards,
02:12playing pretty well together. And now Tim Connolly, the GM of the Timberwolves, who also
02:19did a great job with Denver, by the way, makes this move. And if it weren't for Connolly,
02:24here's what I'll say, Bob. If it weren't for Connolly pulling the trigger on this one,
02:29I would immediately say this is a great trade for the Knicks. But it scares me that a guy
02:34like Connolly, who's been so successful at the helm of Denver and Minnesota,
02:39has dealt away Karl-Anthony Towns, who, by the way, we'll get into, his contract is
02:45ridiculously high. Yeah. Well, the other thing I thought right away, I'm a little murky
02:52about the relationship between Towns and Thibodeau. Yeah, that'll be interesting.
02:57Do I not recall that there was some issue there? Yeah, I don't remember, but you kind of,
03:03you could see it because Thibodeau is a grinder now. And he's got grinders on his team, like
03:09Jalen Brunson fits Thibodeau, you know, like he's the perfect Thibodeau type player. He just wants
03:15to play ball, doesn't talk, will practice. If you throw him out there and say, hey,
03:20we got three practices today, Jalen Brunson won't even flinch. He'll just show up for him. He won't
03:26complain. So he's the perfect kind of leader for this team. And I think everybody else follows
03:31in place of Brunson. But yes, I think you're right, like Thibs and Towns. I don't know how that
03:37goes. Ultimately, it's going to be interesting to see, but they don't need Towns to be the guy.
03:43They need him to be a really good guy and a five man, really. What they could ask for is for him
03:50to be, for them, what Porzingis was for the Celtics. And, you know, as a third guy, terrific,
03:57you know, right. Well, I just popped into my head, by the way, but you think about his skill set
04:03and what makes Porzingis so dangerous is that he's a really effective three point shooter at seven
04:08three. And Towns is an inside outside guy. I know he, you know, if they use him, you know,
04:16I'm going to be curious. I've said the same thing about Porzingis, you know, if they use him the
04:20right way so that, you know, they got him, they can go inside to him, he can stay outside. I mean,
04:25he could be on paper a very important asset to that team. So yeah.
04:31I mean, Towns is a career, 40% three point shooter, Bob. So like he's your perfect pick,
04:37pick and pop five. Now, you know, what he isn't is the toughest dude in the world,
04:41right? Like mentally and physically, not the toughest dude, but super skilled, you know,
04:47you're, you're kind of typical big over the last, like, you know, eight, 10 years who rather play
04:52in the perimeter to some degree than, than in the post. But, you know, listen, the thing I love,
04:57so now the Knicks have a starting lineup. Most likely it's going to be Brunson, OG on an OB,
05:05Josh Hart, Mikkel Bridges, and Carl Anthony Towns. They are all between 27 and 29 years old, Bob.
05:13Now their bench isn't great. You know, Mitchell Robinson's hurt and you can't really rely on him.
05:18They don't have a great bench.
05:20No, I'm looking at it. You know, McBride.
05:23Yeah, he can score.
05:24A lot of people like McBride.
05:26I do too.
05:28They've got Cameron Payne now.
05:29And Koelic. Koelic is a rookie point guard, backup point guard.
05:34A lot of people are high on Koelic.
05:36Yeah.
05:36By now. He could be a rookie of some impact. That'll be interesting. And yeah, and I got
05:46Toppen, not the other Toppen.
05:48The other one, not OBJJ Toppen.
05:50And I don't know whether or not he'll, you know, if he's got anything left in the tank, Marquis,
05:56Morris.
05:57I mean, he's just more of a, I feel like he's more of an enforcer off the bench now as much
06:02as anything.
06:03That's the team. Do you buy into their rhetoric down there that, you know,
06:07Otonobi and Bridges will be effective, you know, deterrence against Brown and Tatum?
06:15OG, yeah, they're two elite defenders.
06:18I mean, those are two of the best defenders in the league.
06:20So I like what the Knicks did.
06:23And let me flip it on you and say, okay, did the Knicks just close the gap on the Celtics?
06:29Or are they right there with them?
06:30Like, are you worried as a, if you're a Celtics fan right now,
06:34are you legitimately worried about the Knicks?
06:37I'm not unless Porzingis gets hurt again.
06:40Unless there's an injury.
06:42I think if you take both teams at full strength,
06:45I think the Celtics beat them out of 10 times, they beat them eight or nine.
06:49Well, the Celtics still, you know, assuming that they'll have some good service from Porzingis,
06:56they still have the best five, the best eight, and the best 10 in the league.
07:00I'm sorry.
07:01Nobody's got a roster deeper with legitimate NBA players better than the Boston Celtics.
07:08Still, that hasn't changed.
07:09So, no, I respect that the Knicks are going to have a good year.
07:12What's the floor?
07:13I don't know.
07:14Ceiling?
07:14They could win.
07:15Hey, you could go 55 as you over-under.
07:18You know, you can go, certainly 50 is no sweat.
07:20And we'll see how they, in that regard.
07:23But not, I would, right now, if the series started today,
07:27I'd still be very confident about the Celtics.
07:29But the Knicks are, that is a damn, that's a nice starting five.
07:33No question.
07:33Nice starting five.
07:35Yeah, I mean, now the Knicks are the third in Vegas.
07:40You know, Celtics are one.
07:41Celtics are the clear favorites still.
07:43I think Oklahoma City's up there.
07:45And then the Knicks.
07:48You know, are you now, it looked like Minnesota was in place, right?
07:54It looked like they were in place to do some, and again,
07:57let's go through before we get to Minnesota.
08:00Let's go through Townsend's contract, okay?
08:02Because 49.2 million next year, 53 million the year after,
08:0857 million the year after that.
08:10And then a player option for 61 million.
08:13He's often injured.
08:15I mean, he is.
08:16He doesn't, he rarely plays anything close to, you know, 82 games here.
08:23You know, again, it worries me with the lack of depth that they have.
08:27The Celtics at least have some depth where you could throw in an Al Horford,
08:31which we saw last year in the playoffs.
08:33And, you know, Al's old, we know that.
08:35But Al can give you, in a limited time,
08:38you can give Al extended minutes, and he's very, very effective.
08:43You know, again, now Hartenstein's gone.
08:45You know, the trade was Julius Randle, DiVincenzo.
08:49They let Hartenstein walk earlier this year for more money.
08:53And a first-round pick they gave up.
08:56You know, that's the one thing about Townsend.
08:58It handcuffs them a little bit now, Bob.
09:01This is kind of their core going forward.
09:04And listen, they're relevant.
09:05So if I'm Leon Rose, like, I make this move.
09:09I make this move because Julius Randle, I think, had kind of,
09:13you know, run its course in New York for the most part.
09:17He got them back.
09:18Like, give Randle credit.
09:20He's the one who kind of got them back to respectability,
09:23but he couldn't really provide what they wanted in the postseason.
09:28Remember, the month of January that they had when he was viable,
09:33you know, that raised everybody's hopes at that time.
09:35They were, you know, really, really effective that year.
09:39And he was part of it.
09:40And then once he got hurt, they never reached that level again.
09:43Now, so let's look at Minnesota, just for the help.
09:47Because, you know, they got off to a good start.
09:49I'm looking at, of course, the dog is Anthony Edwards now.
09:55What is he now, 22, 23?
09:57It's amazing.
09:59But I know you've had strong feelings about him, you know, when he came in.
10:04And he's living up to, you know, to the whole thing.
10:09Definitely.
10:10And now they've got DiVincenzo, who, you know,
10:13is really making himself into an interesting NBA player.
10:16I mean, he's a terrific three-point shooter.
10:18And that bolsters their circumstance.
10:22Rudy Gobert is Rudy Gobert.
10:23We know we got there.
10:25You know, you know, you're going to get a defensive guy.
10:27You're going to, there's no, you're going to have a pick, a lob guy.
10:30You know, that's for sure.
10:32And backed up Naz Reed.
10:35Now, it's not a bad backup.
10:36And I got Garza.
10:38Okay.
10:39Randall now forward.
10:41I don't know.
10:42Tell me what I got.
10:42They got Jaden McDaniels.
10:44I'm not, I really don't know much about him, quite frankly.
10:46He's long.
10:47I mean, he's long.
10:48He's athletic.
10:49He's, he's uber talented.
10:51Started to kind of fulfill some of that promise.
10:53He was like the number one player one year in back in high school.
10:56But, you know, now you got the four, five of Randall and Gobert instead of,
11:01of, you know, Gobert and Towns, which I never thought was going to work.
11:05But it did last year.
11:07We all questioned that.
11:08I think what the league people questioned that, how that was going to work.
11:11And, you know, and it actually was surprisingly effective.
11:14We thought last year.
11:16So, Bob, they're deep and they got Dillingham.
11:21Remember, they drafted the rookie Dillingham, who is like a
11:24Lou Williams type of guy coming off the bench.
11:27He can be that.
11:29Well, they got a very important guy who has to be 37 years old.
11:32And we'll see how it goes.
11:35Mike Conley is crucial to their success.
11:38That's right.
11:38That's right.
11:39And, you know, he's 37.
11:43And Joe Ingalls, you know, is a shooter that I find it's in the West.
11:48So they're, they're going to, you know, they're going to be good.
11:51They're going to be good.
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12:43Can they duplicate though?
12:45The question is now people are expecting them to contend again for the Western conference
12:50title, which they were in the finals last year.
12:54You know, why?
12:56Like if you're Tim Connolly, why are you messing with a good thing?
13:00You just went, you went deep last year and I know that that town's contract could handcuff
13:05you a little bit, but it worked last year.
13:08Why mess with a good thing, Bob?
13:11You know, see, that's when we ask questions like that, both of us have been around long
13:16enough to know it might be something we don't know.
13:19You know what I'm saying?
13:21That entered into that decision because your logic is correct and unassailable, except
13:27so that tells me, hmm, maybe there's something else we don't know.
13:31So yeah, and Randall, listen, Randall is talented, puts up numbers.
13:39It's kind of that, that versatile forward, really perfect at the four, you know, and
13:46I think he can work with Gobert.
13:50Yeah, yeah.
13:51But I like their bench.
13:53I like their bench now.
13:54Nasri coming off the bench, Devin Cienzo, Dillingham, Mikhail Alexander Walker, Joe
13:59Inglis, they got a good bench.
14:01Maybe Tim Connolly has a real thing for Devin Cienzo too.
14:04You know, he's still, he's just, he's just starting his ascent in this league.
14:08I mean, he, you know, he's getting better year by year and, you know, he may, you know,
14:15I'm not, he couldn't really say, I really love him.
14:18I want to have it.
14:18But I think in terms of the town's thing where, you know, maybe Tim Connolly has something
14:22that we don't know, maybe he just couldn't live with it.
14:24I don't know.
14:25But it certainly was a interesting trade, as you say, at the time that it comes, not
14:30a normal time for a trade like that.
14:32I don't think so.
14:33Would it be fun now?
14:34Because I think the last few years we've been trying to manufacture this Celtics-Sixers
14:40rivalry again, right?
14:41And it never really played out, right?
14:43It just never, you know, Sixers have not been what we were kind of hoping they'd be when
14:48they got Ben Simmons.
14:51Embiid's been great and Maxey's been great lately.
14:53They just don't have enough.
14:55Well, could the Knicks-Celtics rivalry this year, could it kind of turn into that?
15:02Could it turn into what we thought the Celtics-Sixers rivalry was going to be the last, you know,
15:06three, four, five years?
15:08With the addition of George, and I'm looking, some of those peripheral additions they made
15:12too, you know, for depth-wise, Reggie Jackson, they got Gordon, they got some, you know,
15:19they got Caleb Martin, you know, they got some NBA players that won't be in the starting
15:24lineup.
15:25And they added Andre Drummond, who still can rebound apparently, you know?
15:28I think he said, did you see his quote?
15:30I think he said something like, I'm the greatest rebounder in NBA history or something.
15:35I hope I'm not misquoting him because I love him.
15:37Oh, there's nothing to that effect.
15:39Yeah.
15:39Yeah, it was a little bit too much for me.
15:42And anyway, I'm pretty high on that because I'm a big, you know, I'm a charter member
15:47of the Maxey fan club.
15:48Oh, you love him.
15:49I know.
15:51What's not to like about Tyrese Maxey?
15:53I mean, honestly, what's not?
15:54Like he's, to me, I've said it, Bob, he's the most electrifying guard Phil he's had
16:02other than Iverson since Andrew Toney.
16:04Since Andrew Toney.
16:05I'm glad you said that.
16:06I was about to say, I remember a guy that was Andrew Toney.
16:10All right, one more before we depart the East.
16:13I'm looking at the box again.
16:14Do you have any feeling about whether, you know, Lillard is going to connect better this
16:20year than he did last year?
16:22I don't think he will.
16:23I saw Chris Middleton a couple, like a month and a half ago down at the Peach Inn, like
16:29the best dude ever.
16:30Like literally, Chris Middleton is the most understated guy in the NBA.
16:35Like nobody ever talks about him.
16:37He doesn't say a word.
16:39He's just like, you know, just does his job.
16:42But he's been injured so much over the last few years that I don't think we're ever going
16:46to see the same Chris Middleton again.
16:48He's hurt, I think, still.
16:50So I think the only way for Milwaukee to be a viable NBA title contender, or even, you
16:58know, to challenge the Celtics, was to get Chris Middleton back towards 100%.
17:05I don't, yeah, I don't love the Lillard-Giannis combo.
17:08I just, I don't know.
17:09I feel like Lillard just kind of needs his own team, needs the ball, needs to kind of
17:14be the guy.
17:15And he'll take them from mediocrity up.
17:19But I don't know if he's the right guy.
17:22He's just not, he's not a pure point or anything close to it.
17:26Okay.
17:27And he doesn't guard.
17:28Yeah.
17:29All right, there you go.
17:30So I think it's, I think it's Celtics-Knicks.
17:33I do.
17:33I think it's Celtics-Knicks right now.
17:36And I think the gap is closed.
17:38And I can't wait to see what this team looks like.
17:43Because on paper, their starting five looks terrific.
17:47And again, the pieces look like they fit together, right?
17:50That's, that's the other part of this right now, Bob, is you got your point guard who's
17:55your best player, your leader, your everything.
17:59You've got your five men now, who's, you know, not your traditional five.
18:02He could step out, he can block shots, he can, he could score on the post, he can run,
18:06he can jump.
18:07And then you got your wings that you said at the beginning, like elite defenders.
18:12Elite defenders who, and OG's gotten much better shooting the ball.
18:16And Josh Hart, listen, he's come a long way as an NBA player.
18:21He has come a long way lately where now he's a weapon on both ends of the court.
18:27So I think it's going to be fun too.
18:30And I think like, it'll also be fun because guys like Josh Hart talk some shit.
18:34So like on the court with the Celtics, like Brunson doesn't say two words.
18:39Literally doesn't say anything.
18:40I remember asking him years ago, Bob,
18:44this was at one of the events I was at.
18:46It might've been the Hall of Fame at Mohegan Sun after the game.
18:49And it was Brunson and it might've been Bridges with him, was one of his teammates.
18:53And I went up to him afterwards.
18:55I'm like, hey guys, like, are you guys offended when I call you guys robots?
19:01And they looked at me and they both smiled.
19:02They're like, no, not at all.
19:04And I'm like, cause you guys like show no personality at Villanova, zero.
19:09And they had personality.
19:11Like I knew they had it behind closed doors,
19:14but they embraced the fact that like people would call them robots,
19:18that they did exactly what they were supposed to do at Villanova.
19:21They have like a pregame routine that they can't stray from.
19:25It's not like you're watching other teams with headphones on, right?
19:28Bouncing the music.
19:29They had a specific Jay Wright imposed pregame routine that, oh, by the way,
19:36it worked cause Jalen Brunson.
19:37How many other guys have won two national titles?
19:40Not many.
19:40You get yourself a cachet when you do that.
19:45Yes.
19:47So I can't wait.
19:48I mean, I'm excited for this.
19:51I was surprised.
19:52And then, hey, we, it's the lid lifter.
19:55October 22nd, Knicks at Boston flag racing.
20:00And that, you know, by the way, that is Brad Stevens's birthday.
20:04Ah, there you go.
20:06How about that?
20:07And he said he ordinarily doesn't really pay a lot of attention,
20:09make a fuss about birthdays, but he's excited about this.
20:13How old is Brad?
20:1432 now?
20:16No, he's going backwards.
20:19He's doing the Dick Clark.
20:20Seriously.
20:20The dude has an age since I first saw him.
20:29Look, there's nothing like seeing a game live.
20:31I mean, watching it on TV is great.
20:32We have all the technology.
20:33We have our phones.
20:34We have access to everything.
20:35But being there in person, it's definitely the way to go.
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22:10What time is it?
22:11It's Game Time.
22:13So that was the big news kind of on the court, off the court.
22:17The really sad news that, you know, really took me by surprise.
22:22I don't know if you knew that Dikembe Mutombo was sick but died earlier this week at the age of 58,
22:32native of the Congo.
22:34I did not know he had a brain tumor.
22:36Yeah, I mean, this must have hit him fairly quick because I hadn't heard anything about it at all.
22:43Talk about people that it is not hyperbole or exaggeration to say there was a true humanitarian.
22:47That's one of the greatest people who played a display as a human being.
22:52And the things he did in philanthropy for his homeland, extraordinary.
22:58And it was not, there's no BS.
23:01You know, he walked the walk.
23:03It was, you know, he was extraordinary.
23:05He was such a fun player.
23:06You know, the whole, you know, the whole finger wag thing, you know.
23:11And he did it, Bob.
23:12The thing is, like, he did it.
23:14And, you know, some players, you'd be like, man, that dude's arrogant as you know what.
23:19Like, why is he doing that?
23:20I hate him.
23:21I never said that.
23:21When Dikembe did it, you just smiled and laughed.
23:25It was, he was, I want to say something.
23:28I know it's weird, but I never, I seldom have had this sensation.
23:32There was a period of time.
23:33There was a game early on in his career, and he's shooting a free throw.
23:37And camera, there's a close-up.
23:39This is shooting the free throw.
23:40And I said, that is an intelligent face.
23:44Now, one of you ever said, there's some, you know, there was something, it was regal dignity
23:48about this guy and it just radiated.
23:51There was something special.
23:52He was a special human being, as well as, you know, as well as a seven-foot basketball player.
23:57Of course, you know, remember, he came over here to Georgetown as a med student.
24:02He wanted to be a doctor.
24:03Yes.
24:03He was not, his goal wasn't to be in the NBA, you know, at all.
24:07And, but anyway, he's a huge player.
24:11I remember, we all remember the great and lasting image of him when they upset, became
24:16the first eight, Denver became the first eight to beat a one that beat Seattle.
24:19And he was laying on the floor with the ball, remember, at the end of the game.
24:23Oh, yeah.
24:24Yeah.
24:25Folks, you can use that one up right away.
24:27I can tell you, you know, it was, it was so sweet.
24:29It was really wonderful.
24:30Yeah.
24:31Yeah.
24:31It was one of those, you know, pictures you can't get out of your mind, right?
24:34One of those, you know, I mean, one of the best defensive players of all time.
24:41Feared.
24:42There aren't many guys that are feared like he was feared, like guys did not even think
24:47about coming in and taking it to the basket on him because they knew they knew what was
24:52going to happen for the most part.
24:53I mean, again, not a big time scorer, but, you know, in that Georgetown lineage of Bayes,
24:59right?
24:59Like he was right there with Ewing and Mourning and Matumbo.
25:02That's, that's what you think of, don't you?
25:04Ewing, Mourning, Matumbo.
25:06Yeah.
25:06And he overlapped with Mourning.
25:08And I don't know, I couldn't confirm this, but I have a recollection that, you know,
25:12I may be, that it was Red Auerbach who over lunch or something with Thompson said, when
25:20he wasn't playing the two of them together, Mourning and Matumbo said, hey, you, you know,
25:25you fill in the blank, play those guys together.
25:28You know, I'm just saying, I don't know, but that would, that would be Red.
25:31Anyway, but right.
25:33That was that famous Georgetown lineage of Biggs.
25:36So Dekembe Matumbo, by the way, so many things.
25:39He was on, basically he was on the payroll.
25:41He was an ambassador coordinating their efforts in Africa.
25:45And there is an African league, you know, and it's, people don't really realize that.
25:49So, you know, that's a huge loss to, to, to the, his family and the world and the humanity.
25:55Where do you, where do you put him among the greatest defensive centers in the history
26:01of the game?
26:02Like how, obviously he's, he's up there.
26:05He's in the discussion for one of them.
26:09You know, obviously you've been covering this game forever.
26:11Where, where, where, where is he around?
26:14You know, I'm not.
26:16He's up very high.
26:18Yeah.
26:18Very, you know, of course, you know, we start with the man who revolutionized basketball
26:21with the, how to play center it with Bill Russell.
26:23Yeah.
26:25You know, he, yeah, he, he said he was a fierce force and it's a good question.
26:31Very high.
26:32Top five.
26:33You would, you put him top five all the time.
26:35At the least of the descent defensive center.
26:38You know, I mean, I can't, I mean, that was his reputation too.
26:42I mean, that's why the game was built on that.
26:43It wasn't built on, it wasn't built on one.
26:45Again.
26:46I don't remember too many guys in his era, in the era that I kind of grew up in being
26:51as intimidating.
26:53Like, like putting fear in guys where they weren't even driving the lane to try to finish
26:59around.
27:00It's a great sequence.
27:01I saw the other day when we blocked three shots in a row.
27:03Yeah.
27:04Sequence.
27:05The same possession.
27:06He got three in a row and then get, and then got the ball and then gave the finger.
27:14No, I didn't care.
27:15How could he, he has to be in that discussion.
27:16He's gotta be.
27:17I think top five is the bare minimum.
27:19It's the floor.
27:20So that we go ahead.
27:22Yeah.
27:22So, all right.
27:22I want to finish with one more topic.
27:24I know we're going to be talking about this year, but I just saw a picture of, of at media
27:28day, LeBron and Bronny side by side on the podium.
27:32And for all that I've kind of given.
27:37Yeah.
27:37I don't know if I've given them crap.
27:39I don't know if I've done that.
27:39I've just tried to be realistic about Bronny more than anything.
27:43Right.
27:43And, and, you know, I've been critical of the fact that the Lakers drafted him a second
27:47round and this and that and the other, but I will say, Bob, that, that did bring a smile.
27:54Uh, to me seeing LeBron with Bronny there, just as a father of a, of a daughter, you
28:01know, of, of a kid who's in their twenties, um, and Bronny, I don't even think is, yeah,
28:06he's probably, yeah, he's probably younger.
28:08He's probably 20, 21.
28:10Yeah.
28:11LeBron is carving out a career that is unique to, to, in, in that league anyway.
28:17And I think in American sport, uh, uh, uh, first of all, he's one of the handful of guys
28:23of, of the elite level, this inner sanctum level hole.
28:26He's going to be that have lived up every bit to the hyperbole, to the foot, to the promise,
28:33uh, that of, of adolescence.
28:34He's one of the few, most guys at that level are actually got, you know, exceeded expectation
28:41more than exhibit a Michael Jordan, who was unknown outside the state of North Carolina
28:45when he went to North Carolina.
28:47Right.
28:48Yeah.
28:49Johnson wasn't a national, uh, Irvin Irvin wasn't a national sensation coming out of
28:54high school.
28:55Larry.
28:56Oh my God.
28:57You know, Larry, look who recruited Larry.
28:59And then nobody was including Larry except in the NBC.
29:02I mean, I, what LeBron on a cover of sports illustrated at 16 and, and, you know, hyped
29:07beyond measure and has lived up to every bit of it.
29:11And now he's got a kid.
29:13He's lasting long enough to periodically.
29:16It hasn't happened in the game yet, but he's, he's going to be playing at some point, probably
29:21this year.
29:22I, we don't know exactly how far he's going to pan out.
29:25But anyway, even to have this moment, no one else has ever had this moment and they've
29:30had it in, in, uh, baseball, you know, with the Griffey's and, and, but, but we haven't
29:35had it in the basketball father, son actually competing to get at the same time.
29:40And it's extraordinary career.
29:43I just think it adds to the LeBron legacy, you know, uh, and this, and I'm, I'm, I'm
29:49pro LeBron.
29:50I mean, I know, I don't understand.
29:52Are you going to get mad though?
29:53Are you going to get mad when you see, uh, Ronnie, like, like I won't get mad if it's
29:58like once this year, if Bronnie plays in the G league and they bring them up for that moment,
30:04because you don't know if, if LeBron's going to play again next year, like we don't know
30:08what his health is going to be.
30:09It could go quick.
30:11So I'm fine with like once what I'm not fine with is if like, Ronnie's sitting at the end
30:16of the bench and he's on the active roster all year long.
30:20Then I say to myself, you know what?
30:22JJ Redick is the assistant coach, not the head coach.
30:25That would be very bad in this question.
30:26I mean, I totally agree, totally agree, but it's a fascinating story.
30:30And, um, you know, and once again, it adds to the bronze, you know, like LeBron's legacy
30:36and more power to him.
30:38Good.
30:38Like you can imagine how proud he is.
30:40Well, listen, it's good to see you again.
30:42Uh, I'm down here in Charleston now, uh, 85 degrees.
30:45I know it's getting cool back up there in Boston right now.
30:49It's hanging in, you know, mid sixties.
30:51And, uh, right now it's, it's a beautiful, it's classic early fall, but then I said early
30:56fall day here in the hub.
30:58Yes.
30:58Well, I'll, I'll be sure to tell Jalen Brunson when I see him later today, uh, what a big
31:03fan he has in, in you, uh, when you get to, when you get to booking shot, when you get
31:08to the summit league, Taylor, I will, I definitely will.
31:12And thanks for joining us, uh, Ryan and Goodman podcasts, uh, presented by prize picks, uh,
31:19the exclusive daily fantasy partner of CLNS media, uh, network, pick more, pick less with
31:24prize picks.
31:25Uh, make sure you see us later in the week.
31:27Uh, Gary and Bob will be with it again and be hitting on all the pertinent topics within
31:33the NBA.
31:34Thanks.