Pardon the Interruption | “Timberwolves are ready to win NBA title now!!!” – Stephen A. tells Wilbon

Pardon the Interruption | “Timberwolves are ready to win NBA title now!!!” – Stephen A. tells Wilbon

ESPN is going all access with the Minnesota Timberwolves today and with them is our great friend from First Take NBA Countdown in Stephen A’s World Mr Stephen A Smith Works 27 hours a day and I should tell people Stephen that long before we ever got involved in this

Business you and me and wilbon in Washington DC used to do a basketball show here and there so we’re going to concentrate on basketball here we go wilb always says that NBA teams have to suffer heartbreak before winning a title and he says that because all he cares

About is Michael Jordan and Michael Jordan’s life but do you think that has to be the case with Minnesota um I don’t think that has to be the case with Minnesota one could argue it already happened last year but by the way I love you buddy it’s good to

See you Tony it’s good to see you will B and stuff like that I feel privileged this is a beautiful moment for me to be on the show with my boys no doubt about it the late great George Michaels is watching from above love you buddy

Here’s the bottle bot line when you look at the Minnesota Timberwolves we got to take this into consideration they lost last year Rudy Gober and Cat Carl Anthony towns didn’t seem to be jelling at all and it were huge question marks as to whether or not this will work

Transition and fast forward to this year they’re the number one team defensively in the NBA offensively they’ve got a superstar in Anthony Edwards they got a steady piece in Mike connley Jr at the point guard spot Chris Finch is doing a good job they got new ownership that’s

Scheduled to really really take over all right led by A- himself and Mr lore so you take all of those things into consideration they’re moving in a forward Direction in the number one seed I believe in them I believe they got a chance Stephen let’s go back you

Mentioned Anthony Edwards when you said Superstar that’s who you were referring to I got Anthony Edwards in my top three for MVP but no one else seems to have him there he’s the best player on the number one seed in the toughest conference why is Anthony Edwards being ignored in this conversation

Well number one because of the greatness of a a joic he’s still a reigning defending NBA champion and he’s widely un universally considered the best in the world at this particular moment in time even though Denver doesn’t have the best record I think that plays a role in

That number two you look at say shay Gil just Alexander and the absolute show that he’s put on they’ve had about 55 56 games this season he scored over 30 40 times this is what he’s been doing I’ve got him number two on my list for MVP

I’ve got Jason Tatum of the Boston Celtics number one the best player on the best team in the NBA averaging 27 a night that’s how I’m looking at it Tatum SGA Anthony Edwards in that order at this moment okay all right let’s go to the Wolves as a group for a second they

Host the Bucks tonight you’re there you’re gonna be Courtside for this do you get the sense that Doc Rivers and the Bucks are getting closer to the point where they look like a serious Contender and threat to Boston in the East or do you not see that coming together

Now well my answer to the previous to the question was going to be hell no until you followed it up with that one on the back end I don’t see that right now um theyve they’ve elevated defensively they were like 19th before he took over now they at 10th but

Offensively they’ve plummeted from second to 24th you’ve got to convince me that they can get things going offensively because let’s face reality no matter how good their defense gets it’s not going to be as good as it was with buen hoes as the coach with Drew holiday at that point got spot with

Grayson Allen and others coming off the bench it’s not going to be as good defensively as the Milwaukee Bucks team we’ve seen of the past so they would need to be more prolific offensively and the fact that they’ve been struggling in that department has me concerned I’m

Going to tell you absolutely not based on your question you and I going to debate this all weekend on countdown um The Warriors or the Lakers you watched the Warriors beat the Lakers sort of handily last night I think about 18 Stephen A which one are you more certain

Is going to get to the playoffs and be a factor Warriors or Lakers Warriors first of all Steph Curry is every bit the superstar that is LeBron James at this particular Point LeBron James is four years older than him but Steph Curry being the Marksman that he is the exceptional Marksman that

He is the greatest shooter God of created you take that into consideration I’m seeing young thoroughbreds like kaminga in the starting lineup he’s really elevated his level of play he’s entrenched there now uh psky a rookie balling the way that he’s been balling they’ve quickened the pace they’re more

Efficient offensively more so than they’ve ever been even during their championship years and then we look at Draymond Green he’s elevated them since they’ve gotten since he got back from his suspension they’ve got the best record in basketball with a nine and3 record over the last 12 games so I look

At all of those things I look at the use of the young Bloods I see Steph Curry being a superstar I know about the exceptional coaching of Steve cerr and on top of it all Klay Thompson he is not having a good year 37% shooting from three-point range 41% shooting from the

Field guess what 27 of 2018s would love to have a shooter that shoots 37% from three-point range I think that Klay Thompson is ultimately gonna find his rhythm and look out I give them much more of a chance than the Los Angeles Lakers because I don’t believe the Los

Angeles Lakers can shoot they can make a run because of AD and LeBron but they can’t shoot that’s my concern what a joy this is for me just to sit here and watch you and listen to you I love this we’ll get you out of here but your answer has to be quick

Sorry about that Wilmont isn’t sold on the Celtics and I am who are you with corn Heiser I’m always with you baby I’m always with you I mean Will’s my brother you know what I’m saying even though he’s a kud but I’m always with you Kiser you know that buddy come on

Tony come on baby Great Joy going to be you know they shoot too many threes we’ll finish this argument tomorrow tomorrow on countdown huh going to di us back they’re going to dial back they’ve been listening to me they’ve been listening to me and they going to dial back to three-point

Shooting the number of attempts they’re gonna dial that back just a touch you can catch more of Stephen A on NBA Countdown at seven maybe they’ll let wil bong close followed by the Cavs Sixers and Bucks wolves we’ll take one more break but still to come a big jump

For the NFL salary cap a seven pardon the interruption but I’m Mike wilbon Tony astronomers say they’ve discovered what may be the brightest object in the universe and you’re looking at him his name is Tony Kornheiser oh wow wow I mean you popping your jersey before we

Start the show well here’s the thing popping your jersey okay most of the astronomer things end with me saying something about Uranus you get very upset or most of the asteroid things and how old they are end with us talking about you brown and you get very upset

So this was a better one welcome to PTI boys and girls in today’s episode baseball has see-through pants the Wizards demote Jordan pool and it’s time to see whether the Bucks are still struggling but we begin today with women’s college basketball four of the top six teams were in action last night

Number one South Carolina and number two Ohio State both one handle number six North Carolina State and number four Iowa with Caitlyn Clark being held to 24 points and just four in the second half both lost will you called Indiana beating Iowa although you didn’t call Clark shooting three or 16 from three

What did you learn from last night’s results Tony we were reminded that South Carolina is the best team in the country they are you didn’t mention LSU and Angel Reese going for 25 and 20 and that’s a reminder too that she’s a great player but let’s go straight to kitlyn

Clark because that’s what I was focused on yesterday as you know tony1 Indiana was coming off a dreadful loss they had gotten hammered and there was no way Indiana playing an assembly hall was going to follow up awful game with awful game so I factored that in as a big 10

Lunatic who follows all this stuff but they they figured out what to do with Caitlyn Clark at least for one night and she talked very eloquently afterward about how they pushed her to spots further on the floor than she wanted to be which would seem to be the back court

Because she can shoot it from anywhere but Tony 3 for 16 from three they they they threw some boxing one on her and the Iowa team I was number four I get that but Indiana should feel like it should win that game and they did they

Want to be a team that hosts a game which you can do on women’s college tournament basketball by having a top four seed so India had a lot of stake last night and they said that Caitlyn Clark you’re not coming in here and dropping 49 on us and we learned that

There can be some effective defense played on her some nights yeah so I mean Caitlyn Clark and Iowa have now lost two games in the last couple of weeks they lost at Nebraska they lost last night at Indiana I’ve watched them a bunch of times this year

Mike and as I’ve told you before I don’t think they play a whole lot of Defense they and I don’t think they ever react when a team starts drilling shots on them I don’t think they ever react and they give up a lot of points in a

40-point game they had a loss in overtime to Ohio State they gave up 100 they gave up 82 to Nebraska they gave up 86 last night to Indiana their last five games they average giving up 87 points now they’ve won three of them so so the inclination and the indication is they

Just want to get the ball back and score that’s how they’re going to beat you but when their best player goes three out of 16 they can’t do that the other thing I learned is exactly what you learned and we didn’t learn it it was just confirmed

South Carolina is the best team in the country and one of the things they’ve done earlier this year is they went to LSU the defending champion who you talked about and they beat them by six they lost last year in the NCAA semifinals I don’t think to Iowa I don’t

Think they’re going to do that again right I’m going to take the over on South Carolina this year I think I agree with you there Tom I think I agree with you let’s move to the discontent over baseball’s new uniforms some players have complained that the fabric feels

Cheap the whites are too eggshell the lettering and numbering are too small and that some pants are uh translucent Susan sler of the San Francisco Chronicle says League sources blame Studio lighting that made last year’s pants look seethrough as well MLB of course shifting some blame maintains it

Consulted with players prior to the changes Tony does this clothing crisis seem like a big deal little deal or no deal at all this is my favorite story of the day if I understand it correctly the pants there aren’t first of all there aren’t enough pants second of all the pants

Pants that they have appear to be see-through pants and everybody is very upset about this and I’m saying don’t don’t these baseball players watch TV don’t they see that commercial where everybody stands up and rips off their pants and goes to Lululemon and buys pants so just go to Lululemon and buy

Pants now let me get let me get back to this so so nobody likes the pants and nobody likes the jerseys the numbers are too small the lettering is too small they feel cheap and you’re asking me is it a big deal little Deal or No Deal

It’s an enormous deal to the players they have to wear these things every single day now players Hate Everything players don’t they don’t want the pitch clock which only save baseball but I will say this Mike if I came out here every day and see-through clothing at my

Age I would scare the horses and nobody would want to see this show all right the players are young they’re most of them are incredibly fit this is this is bigger than no deal this is completely inconsequential get the damn uniform out of the dirty clothes basket from last

Year and put those on I didn’t say get the uniforms from 1947 and by the way you know what those wool uniforms can you imagine these babies if they had to play in those flannels can you imagine how they would go crazy I get it everybody wants the

New stuff like golfers all much better dressed now CU they’re all wearing those synthetic things that are light and Airy and you feel like you have nothing on but your PJs I get that so either get it right whoever’s manufacturing them in the moment or shut up and put on lastes

I don’t want to hear any more about this Tony who are the biggest babies what sport has the biggest babies you and I used to say tennis players golfers in the running NBA players are all going tell you this Mike clothes are your life if you had clothes because they don’t

Even they didn’t measure the people one by one to tailor the clothes they took a body scan if they put you in clothes in the group that they called baggie you would go crazy you would be calling chony at sacks in 10 seconds and you would say I’m not wearing this junk and

That’s what you would do so have a little sympathy we have news I would sure you would we have news about our local terrible team the Washington Wizards who lost again last night by 20 to go 9 and 46 on the season with nine losses in a row but anyway

They have benched their second leading scorer Jordan P put him on the second unit in a wild spin of this the interim coach of the Wizards said I’m quoting here it really is a positive it’s a credit to Jordan this gives him an opportunity to be on that unit as the

Lead Handler lead decision maker and kind to be our offensive engine unquote well B you don’t actually think Jordan pool is going to see it that way do you it’s not a positive it is not a credit to Jordan pool what I am told Tony is that Jordan P has accepted it

Professionally and say I’m going do the best I can with this and I think that’s a step in the right direction because I mean what you’ve learned over the last year or so is Jordan pool can be you know sometimes difficult to get along with although not apparently with the

Wizards it seems like he’s got plenty of support there but in leaving Golden State I will say this Tony he left an impossible he left the situation and it got worse because he leaves some play where he got a championship ring and yes you have the incident with Draymond

Which is awful but he then goes to the Wizards where they’re not going to win a game that matters for the next five years and he’s going to need to be traded I understand that can make you frustrated it can make you act out he needs to go beyond this second unit

Accept it and Excel at it you’re going to get more shots on the second unit when you’re not playing with the guys like kosma who need the ball on the first unit Tony he needs to to grow up but I think this can help him I’m not

Going to say it’s a credit to Jordan I don’t believe that he’s got to grow up and he’s got to accept this and move forward it is the wildest spin I have ever heard you’re benching a guy and telling him this is a positive thing for

You and we love you and and they’re saying you’re going to get fewer minutes you’re going to play with lesser quality people on that unit you’re going to get all of that stuff but you got to look at the bright side well there is no bright

Side there is no bright side to this he got himself in this mess Mike by shooting in his last six games 19 for 82 and and 8 for 42 some like that or five for 4 some ridiculous thing from three and and all I really know about him is

The Draymond Green stuff yeah but here’s what’s true Mike nobody thought it was good of Draymond Green to punch him but nobody stood for Jordan p and when the Warriors had to make a move they traded Jordan pool and they kept Draymond Green right that’s what they did and this

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Pardon the Interruption | “Timberwolves are ready to win NBA title now!!!” – Stephen A. tells Wilbon