The James Ham Show – The Most Impactful/Influential People In NBA History
uh James your thought on the Von Erics and their impact on Texas wrestling no okay I think James have you seen ironclaw I have not I think you’d like it it’s on it’s on well I I don’t know if you’d like it or not it’s on HBO Max you love movies you or is it HBO Max yeah yeah yeah yeah it’s on yeah you I think you’d like it Max now I guess yeah thank you you’re right I’m just wondering why does everyone look like He-Man in the preview well cuz they’re professional wrestlers and the 80s and that’s like that’s what they look like they all have bangs well in Texas you either had bangs or Confederate flag on your tights one or the other probably had both some of them well some of them did shout out Michael psa’s in Bad Street USA uh you know um you know we always and we’re going to talk Kings with James but I i’ like to know James um take his answer on the discussion we had earlier because James we were talking about Jerry West um and his passing at 86 and just how um influential and important he was to the league you know we’re talking 60 60 years of between being a player and executive being directly connected to championship basketball and championships that are won or lost or good teams great teams all this other stuff and we Jesse asked a great question of who are the top five like most impactful influential players in the league and in like for instance magic and Larry is one right like I’m not you don’t have to choose between one or two of them but magic and Larry is one of them but like what what do you think about when you first hear that question yeah I think throughout the history of the NBA I mean I think he’d probably have to have more of like a top 10 like I think Wilt is one of the most influential people ever um just because man that’s three that’s three people who mentioned him without blinking man that’s that’s that’s a good call Hammer yeah I would say Wilt I would even say Bill Russell uh especially the way that bill um continued on as a coach number one but also all of his his outside of basketball stuff that he did uh as far as like civil rights stuff and um I think that uh like David Stern has to be one of the most influential people of all time um side of that I mean you got to put Michael Jordan as as probably the top uh like player of the last probably 40 years but also um I would put Pat Riley as one of the most influential player to coach to Executive um who hasn’t just you know it’s not just one place that he’s found great success uh you know he had his his time in the in the league but his time with the Lakers his time with the Knicks his time with the heat all all of which were really really impactful uh for the league as a whole that’s a good one we didn’t bring up R it’s spot on too and you you talk about RS um we have to now we’re kind of talking in like maybe not impactful but great maybe but I don’t know is this guy impactful do we have to put Phil Jackson on that list yeah I think Phil Jackson’s on the list but he’s probably pretty far down the list and and I would put him like right below Greg pop because not only does papovich have more career wins but on top of that I think papovich is has been a a man who who has helped I don’t know establish that coaches can have a voice in society outside of basketball and really push that and also supported players having a voice outside of basketball and so um I definitely think papovich man wouldn’t even tell us who he voted for in the an All-Star vote yeah but but look at ask who I voted for bro we don’t have to we know you’ve made that clear yeah yeah I definitely think I think pop has been super influential and not only that but he’s done it in a super small market and and been one of the like he’s helped establish the Spurs as much as they I mean they were before but as just like a perennial uh Contender for for two decades and they’re not anymore at this point but they will be very soon and they’ll be right back there I’m G push back yeah on on the influential we’re talking about influence on pop above Phil because I feel like in a lot of these conversations and this is what we did with David Stern it it becomes like a a Six Degrees of Separation with Michael Jordan right how important was was you know what Michael Jordan did uh for the NBA and would it be equally as important if Michael Jordan wasn’t winning championships now the question becomes could Michael Jordan have won championships with any coach at that point in his career you know he hadn’t won him with Doug Collins he hadn’t won him with some other guys but Phil Jackson seemed to be the missing piece for the Chicago Bulls and I think when you have a player uh you know you talk about the LeBron you talk about stephs you talk about the the guys of that IL like winning championships is important Phil was winning championships with two three-ish guys that we had conversations about today Michael Kobe and Shaquille O’Neal that’s that’s that’s a pretty high level of influence that’s that’s a lot of titles with a lot of really really influential players right there absolutely and and I I’ll add to that just a little bit it’s you know what comes first the chicken or the egg situation but none of those guys can win without Phil feel like Michael didn’t win without Phil Shaq and Kobe didn’t win without Phil Phil left they couldn’t win and who would have told or Kobe wasn’t with Phil no more yeah he left and he needed Phil back to win again and I think that that speaks to Phil Phil Jackson more more than anything like look I get adding Phil as like a very influential coach but his influence sort of stopped there like I don’t think like first of all he wasn’t a very good executive because he tried that and it didn’t work that well was that is that that famous this famous bus riding Phil or Subway riding Phil you you remember when when Phil was on the i Phil was either on the bus or the subway when he was the New York executive it had to be the subway just riding around yeah there’s there’s Phil leaving uh somebody remember when who was it Derek who disappeared from the team someone disappeared from the New York Knicks like there was legitimate concern where this player was oh man and Phil made like Jeff hornek or something go answer question Rose was it I I thought Derrick Rose yeah yeah that’s a point that’s no that’s a good point from James though besides coaching Phil really ain’t nothing I mean I enjoyed his books like when I was younger I like sacred hoops and stuff where he trashed Kobe before he had to coach him a second time no no no where he explained sort of like his basketball like where he came from like he was uh like raised like I think Protestant and then he he really started getting into like you know more worldly religions and stuff and um just sort of like his mixing of all of those things as as a coach um yeah I thought like his story itself is is is interesting um but again I’m not giving someone something like influential just because he won games with great players I think that again papovich has been a guy who has been very forceful and made sure that he had a voice and someone uh put in the chat like popovic’s coaching tree is incredible like his coaching tree I I think you can probably put up against almost anybody’s whether it’s Mike Brown Mike Malone uh Monty Williams Mike buen Holzer like the list could go on bgo I just so many really highend coaches what’s that don’t have a tree do it Phil Phil and his hire is Derek fiser oh maybe you could give him Steve Kerr I don’t know no I don’t know that’s it that’s like that’s like Steve C that’s like I feel like G why that’s like giving that’s like sh Steve cerr that’s like giving Bill uh thank you that’s like giving Bill Mike brael uh papage and Jackson can can share Steve there you go Steve said he he learned from both of them the the assistance for Phil I I don’t know if it’s his fault or what but they just didn’t go in they just stayed with Phil that was like adaman right like adan’s like ston still an assistant like ston never got a head coaching job I feel like Sam Castell might be the new ston Turner yeah it’s another strange serious yeah I’m dead serious uh James a couple other people that we we had on because you’re right doing the top five like we can we can try like you just for argument sake you could do five but in actuality it’s probably like seven eight nine 10 um influence for people or groups of people or something like that but um couple other ones we talked about D had great points on Kobe and uh and Allen Iverson and I mentioned uh D Dirk Nowitzki I thought Dirk Nowitzki kind of opened dream team showed the world you know basketball it felt like Dirk Nowitzki was the first one to B break through and show the other world like no you can come over here and and and be great and um he I thought he opened up the floodgates for for the the world to see basketball yeah I mean that’s possible I would also like the the group from the late 80s early 90s um sabonis Vlade Jen Petrovic um shones maralon like all of those guys I think they they truly open the door and I would say that Paia uh is a guy that open the door for Dirk and so sort of that next level of of handoff the the argument and you’re right about all those guys none of those guys were Dirk though like those were good NBA players Durk was Nam said a perfect Derk was an MVP we had never seen a international guy be that good you know that level those other guys were just really good ball players he was a franchise player yeah no I mean I think you’re on to something there um yeah I don’t know like we could like throw a bunch of people into this I think I’ve told you guys when I was doing my like I’ve I’ve always been I’ve collected quotes for a big man book forever and I don’t know if I’ll ever get to it but um when’s the book coming man we need a we need a James H book yeah I don’t know it’s just so much work the um wow James am afraid to work geez one of the pr 12 hours at the golden one Center’s too much for him I’d say one of the prevailing things that I learned doing that is how many people consider Tracy McGrady as way bigger than we consider him as people in the media that re was the guy that was 6′ n and moved like a a point guard and a lot of them didn’t look at Jordan a lot of them didn’t look at Iverson as much as they looked at T-Mac and sort of the way he was able to Brand himself uh out you know and really build something and and not only that but so guys like Kevin Durant looked at him uh as like you know one of these guys that really changed the game so I thought that that was interesting and then I would also say like I don’t think there’s been a more influential onc Court player than Steph I was I was thinking like we’re we’re not trying to name every guy but we probably like Steph deserves oh for sure a spot in this conversation yeah I mean just like what he’s done to the three-point game and it’s not just it’s not just the the men’s game we’re seeing it now sort of take over the women’s game as well and just how like every generation now taller people are shooting threes like everyone shoots the three ball now um but also just the volume of Threes how it’s gone up uh just crazy I I think I’ve told you guys when Paia retired in 2011 I believe he was third all time in three-point makes and he’s now like number 25 like that’s how much the game has changed in less than 15 years it’s just it’s just wild you know T-Mac um there are definitely a lot of people who look at T-Mac um and hold him in higher regard than than maybe the majority of people do you know who’s like that for this generation we talked about it I think a couple times before is Paul George like the the kids who are like yeah probably like 17 18 19 years old they look I got another one dog everybody should know exactly what name I’m gonna say Russell Westbrook Russell yeah how many how many yeah there’s a there’s a lot of of of of younger guys that that talk about Paul George and Russell Westbrook in a way that media people don’t that was oh that was uh it was about a year ago that was when uh Brandon Miller was doing his interviews he like yeah Paul George my goat well someone just said that about Russell Westbrook I don’t I don’t remember who it was someone someone like just days ago said that like he he was like obviously you know Jordan’s up there but for me I grew up watching the way Russell Westbrook played yeah who that was I think a lot of players current players Ley brings it up in in the uh Matthews mattress chatty house here uh Kyrie is so well loved and respected by a lot of the players um but you know I I don’t know like it would be really interesting to you almost have to build a timeline of who was influential at one point I mean I don’t think any of us have mentioned Kareem um and then Kareem was really he was influential influential on the court and later in life he’s been more influential off the court um but I also think for a long time he was sort of like pushed out of the league and because he wasn’t easy to deal with and um and I think now he’s kind of made like maybe a little bit of Full Circle where he’s coming back and then I think also we’d have to like throw John Wooden in there even though he he wasn’t in the NBA but his run at UCLA and how it fed the league and and really changed the league I think is something that um is like extremely influential in the history of basketball and to just kind of bring this conversation back to you know where it all started talking about Jerry West and the passing of of of Jerry West you mentioned Kareem we did bring up Kareem earlier um and I think one of the unique things about both Kareem and Bill Russell was because with Jerry it felt like Jerry West was always around basketball like Bill Russell um you know and and and I do think it speaks to the different experiences that Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul Jabar had versus Sherry West but Bill Russell and and um Kareem kind of stepped away for a little bit you know they had you know at at times difficult relationships with media difficult relations with with fans obviously you know the the the the climate in which those guys were uh playing in you just spoke about the the Civil Rights work that Kareem Abdul Jabar did Bill Russell was right next to him for a large portion of that and I I think it’s one of the the really truly incredible things about Jerry West is it’s incredible to think Jerry West isn’t here anymore and it because it feels like Jerry West was talking about basketball yesterday it did it feels like Jerry West was on you know doing some interview or someone was writing about him or he you know he he foresaw you know the talent in Victor whama or where the league is going like it just feels like Jerry West is always in some way shape or form around every basketball story and it’s a it just it’s it’s unimaginable to think he’s not gonna be anymore yeah I think if if we just look at the the pure player coach and executive I don’t think there there is ever will ever be anyone that was so good at all three aspects I mean certainly the executive and the player aspect and I think that that’s where Jerry West was always willing to gamble he was always willing to like take the league in a different direction and I mean building uh the Lakers in the 80s but also you know drafting Kobe Bryan high school player trading a an established player in vlady devot to go get that pick to to select Kobe I mean that was huge and like you can go through like so many different moments where he helped build teams that were almost like couldn’t be built you know like even now I mean he went into Memphis and and was able to help build a winner a sustainable winner in Memphis he uh the the work he did with the Clippers the work um you know again with the Lakers but but also the Warriors and the Klay Thompson situation where you know he like demanded that they not trade Klay Thompson at one point I just think that there are so many uh moments in in the history of the game that we’ve watched you know where an 86 year old man has such a stamp on on everything that we watched and and I think that that’s really I mean what he’s got Eight titles as an executive I mean that’s that’s absolutely incredible and so yeah really um you know I think the other thing is about him every media member that talks about him talks about his how honest he was how forthright he was how he had no problem speaking his mind like I it it always felt like everything was off the Record because the discussions got Lively and very honest very quickly um I got to I got to meet him one time with Doug uh we were uh I think in La uh for a Clippers a Kings Clippers game and he was there and of course he traded for Doug Christie when Doug was drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics in 1992 and and told Bob witd and uh George Carl that he would never play for them and and Doug was just sitting there and his rookie season was wasting away and Jerry West traded for him so they had a relationship and uh I was able to Doug asked me to take a picture of the two of them which I sent to him this morning again um but just like you know his influence on so many things not just Lakers land or not just you know like the things that we’ve seen him do and and these other stops but like globally as a whole of the things that are around us it’s been so many times where he had a like a a finger in the pie of what happened and you know what else is crazy H and and we did the we did the same things when we were reminiscing about Jerry West um that that you just did and the things that you just spoke about he’s also one of the greatest players to ever play the game of basketball like he is one of the greatest on the Court as well and we I I know me you forget about that because of all the great things he did as an executive and and how good he was in as an executive oh look at that oh that’s good stuff that’s a that’s a great picture right there christe a very very rare picture of Doug Christie without a bow tie on yeah a very very rare long tie picture there of Doug Christie very interesting but yeah it almost doesn’t look right on him but that’s not the point that’s not his his style is the B feels like um but yeah he he was just so good as a player unbelievable uh basketball player and you know Damian said it perfectly I asked him I said was he better basketball player executive he’s like yeah I don’t I don’t even know how you choose in that respect man because he was so good at both yeah I I totally agree I mean that’s that’s going to be the Legacy it’s that you know you don’t stick around the game for 60 years unless you have something to offer offer and he just had something to offer at every turn and I think that that’s really uh amazing you know sort of his lineage as as a person and you know his his son is uh an executive in the league still so um you know like this is it became a family business uh and so I I I definitely like just everyone who speaks so glowingly about him I you know I shook his hand I met him for two seconds I didn’t have a super long conversation or anything with but um but everyone just said just such a nice man and just so welcoming and then brutally honest brutally honest every step of the way I I remember about a year ago I came in and I talked about it because I was just kind of it just just resonated with me his his candidness about everything when he was on Paul George’s podcast about a year ago phenomenal episode I encourage anybody to go check it out um but a a a long form interview conversation with Jerry West talking about his career talking about you know Paul George and kawh Leonard and everything and he just just listening to him speak I was just captivated because like you said James he was he was just honest he was just open and honest um with you know decisions that were made some of his uh you know some some of the things that haunt him to this day some of it know all this stuff man and it was it was a great conversation listen to that’s funny that was like less than a year ago like like was some some guys like they fall back for a while and hey where is Bill Russell B Hey where’s so and so B not not Jerry West he’s just doing stuff he’s on Paul George’s podcast he’s on Paul George’s podcast like man isn’t that crazy yeah absolutely amazing I mean even like some of the The Living Legends that we still have um why am I drawing a blank c uh Brown um comp the Memphis yeah no no um huie huie I mean hu’s in his 90s yeah and it’s still going strong so you he got into the painted area you know what we talk so much about sports media obviously very different job UB at 90 is better than virtually everyone in that position is like it’s it’s it’s incredible he can’t do many games but oh which sucks for us but man he is just he’s just phenomenal you know what’s amazing though some guys just have it like you watch and you can flick on a baseball game or you you can turn on a football game and instantly they’re they draw you in and you’re like wow I can’t believe how good this this person is what they’re doing and and it can be young it can be older um you know I think even watching the A’s like I still do um they have uh Harry K’s great-grandson Call’s games my goodness he’s so good like you turn it on and it’s just velvet the whole time you’re just like how I mean he sounds like he’s been doing it for 35 years and it’s because probably he’s listened to his dad and his grandfather and his great-grandfather so much of it and him and his brother work together but like just how good they are at at that aspect of the game it’s just just telling a story painting a picture while it’s happening even you know we’re so blessed here to have uh Gary Gerald who’s who’s been doing that for so long and just painting an amazing picture of of what people you know some people aren’t able to watch at the time and and guys like I think about guys like huie brown uh Mike ftell PJ carisimo really good coaches right but nobody would look at them as Pat Riley GE Greg papage and Phil Jackson but the way they’re able to explain the game and teach the game during a broadcast is is Magic It’s Magic right like they they can explain they can teach the game and that’s what they are they’re coaches they’re teachers right and and when making the X’s Nos and being on the sidelines I know hu had a great Renaissance with the Grizzlies but you know these guys they’ve failed they’ve lost games they’ve gotten fired and stuff like that but they know so much and they’re able to explain it to everybody else in in such a u a way that you know we we learn so much about the game it’s just it’s it’s a interesting Dynamic I don’t know if there’s really a point there it’s just the fact that as coaches maybe hell the way Society is now be like he’s not a good coach you know huie Brown that guy he didn’t win anything and he’s an unbelievable teacher of the game um just in a different form yeah yeah um the real question is at least in my mind is how would Jerry West handle the Malik monk situ he’d say Jerry or Malik you want to stay here yeah that’s exactly what he’d say and that would be my pitch uh Jerry West would want you to stay in Sacramento Malik we’ll talk about uh I want to bring James into a conversation Casey and I were having uh about Malik and what these next couple of weeks uh in perhaps these next couple of days will look like uh for Sacramento as well uh Ste mcy along with our man James Hammer the Insiders here on Sacramento sports leader ESPN 1320 clear clear oh man what’s happening Hammer uh not a whole lot the a just got an insurance run in the in the top of the eth Take the Lead they lead the padr four to two wait Miller time who were the Giants playing the Astros oh the Astros that’s right that’s right it’s Miller time although he’s looked human uh the last couple weeks the queens of R&B this is f I think this is uh I think she’d be okay with me saying this my mom text me she says tank is going to kick Martin’s ass I’m watching the press conference tank pulled out the video that is going to be an ass whooping I know who tank is I don’t know who Martin is Frank Martin I agree with that analyses fully by the way Cheryl lell Grove boxing correspondent James what’s your second favorite sport besides basketball oh actually I would put football first baseball second and basketball third like I started covering basketball because basketball was here yeah I’m use that against you you’re GNA write you’re going to write something that they don’t like and they’re ch doesn’t even like basketball h no no no I I do I I love basketball but I mean you’ve been in my bar like you see what’s on the walls of my bar it’s a lot of baseball it’s a lot of old school football it’s some old school basketball yeah you got D Clark behind you and not Jerry Reynolds I can either take that as you love football or hate Jerry Reynolds I’m not sure which it is to be honest with you James he’s an James he is an S starter that’s right um yeah like football was always my like what I loved playing the most and then baseball um and then basketball but I I got heavy into basketball like right out of high school well there’s a lot of things that stand out about this there are a lot of things that stand out about that video August Alena there man that was a very odd very odd way to show the American Airlines Arena I saw a video take a picture of this a mental picture of this I saw like a picture of when that Arena was built none of those buildings that you see were up oh yeah I believe that it was literally like a vacant lot almost 20 think of what Arco 2 looked like or Arco one both of them oh Arco one must be wild there was nothing there at all yeah the middle of nowhere I’ve seen the same thing with like uh eight well it’s Oracle now Oracle Park the the giant stadium and when they built it in 2000 in 2000 there’s nothing around there like it was literally by itself on China Basin do uh Jaylen got that uh what’s it called VI Lago the Michael Jackson thing I don’t think so it must have been lighting I was looking at his that part that was above his shirt like man that looks a little he got bito Uncle Ruckus would say oh PG yeah PG is on the next two games what I got an idea hey Paul turn to your side and boo that guy at the end of the table off literally the me the most uncharismatic human being on the planet Bob Myer’s got the worst haircut in sports media too sucks [Laughter] jeez he’s terrible hey guys who are your um conference fin who are your finals MVP I’m candidates right now mine’s Brad Stevens I know who mine is mine’s James ham D look I’m surprised he didn’t say well I mean Kevin Durant had such a good season I mean that’s something that you got to think about what did Malika say that time like how do the Pacers sustain all this said well the Nicks and Josh Hart I mean these guys they just really get after it and they all right Bob get the hell out of here I’m gonna have a problem with W too if Chris dos is ruled out because he’s really been pushing this hole he’s gonna play yeah he said he’s gonna play it’s how he’s been talking he’s optimistic about it and all that well you know that’s not gonna work he’s optimistic about Dan early boy the fact is W can’t afford another l i Charlie Brown me with the football the one time I can’t do it twice Shams is gonna stomp on W’s grave if porzingis is you imagine Shams comes out yeah porzingis was never going to play the rest of this series oh please do that please do that he was never gonna play it was always [Laughter] over breed that’s a Kamar look yeah that’s definitely I think Kamar got that exact suit be honest with you his jewelry a little fancier than Paul George it is it is it is this is uh yeah Wheezy one of the the state jobs the Department of Consumer Affairs is at aro1 ar1 is still sitting there and the only way you can even distinguish it is it has two statues in the front that uh are slightly inappropriate looking if if you’re really looking at them but uh what are the statues again um I mean they’re giant phallic statues oh well all right yeah guess differently back in the 80s when com back J so I just nope James who knew James ham was the most inappropriate of the four of us hey you guys you guys want to know uh something that um like you you’re gonna look at me come on come on casy come on I feel like I do that a lot come on bro are you for real for real everybody gonna listen and be like come on KC people do that all the time I don’t think I’ve ever been to ar1 like as I went to a game there when I was two but I don’t I don’t know where it’s at I wouldn’t be able to drive over there I that’s fine I haven’t seen it I haven’t seen it up close to do you know where the coke building is in the Thomas yes like across the street it’s like on the really yeah it’s like the corner across so if you get off on North Gate and you go down I think it’s to not to the Paso but to Arena oh you take a left on Arena and you go down about um I don’t know three4 of a mile it’s on your right and it’s just an office building that’s what it looks like yeah if you’ve if you’ve seen the Koke building you’ve seen Arco one you just didn’t know it was Arco run because it looks like yeah doesn’t those little St it absolutely does not look like basketball games were played there what I’m sorry James what were those statues again they have some phallic statues out man so think he’d repeat it oh why not I thought he wasna tap dance around no he didn’t no so when we um when we were doing small Market big heart when we were filming small Market big heart um Greg van duen the late great Greg van duen actually told us hey I would love to do it but I want to shoot uh my my interview out in front of aro1 and we’re like okay that’s fine we’ll figure it out so the only day he had free was some random day it was like 103 Dees it cooked our cameras uh before we actually could even go do the interview we had to figure out that the buzz oats group owned the building we had to go get permission from them then once we got done filming and it went into post we had an attorney watch through and was like Hey you have those two statues in the back and you’re going to need to get approval because those are works of art so then we had to track down who built this statues which were two brothers that were deceased so we had to find one of their daughters to get them to sign off on the statues being in the film or we would have had to scrap Greg Van’s entire interview which ended up being one of the Great Moments of small Market where Greg vanen is literally talking about Greg Lucen Bill up in the Rapters uh when there was a leak and we pan back and forth between the footage of them mopping up the floor and Greg van and it literally appears like he’s wearing the same exact shirt that he was wearing the night that he’s on his hands and knees mopping the floor up at Arco while the the roof was leaking we really don’t discuss enough that the original owner of this team could have plummeted to his that would have been oh yeah why who somebody had to talk him out of that don’t do that no one yeah like don’t do that you’d feel like there there’s probably 40 people in the organization right now who would not CU be absolutely seems like the who would climb up to the top of the golden one Center and try to just go do it something shut there’s at least 40 people who’d be like no no then there’s probably four or five who would go up there with him and shove them off so the story is um that Jack number one you can’t cancel a game on your own the NBA has to cancel the game right so that’s number one but it was becoming a point where the the court was unsafe so here’s the problem if they would have had to cancel the game for something like that it was a million dooll fine because then you have to reschedule the game and pay for all the cost of that they didn’t have the money to do it so they they were all standing there like well what’s going on what had happened was they just had like the air conditioning units were in were just installed and then there was a a crazy rainstorm but it was with like sideways wind and it blew water up into the air conditioner and then it was coming back through the inside of the air conditioner anyway Greg vanen uh I mean uh uh Greg Lucan Bill he had been in construction his whole life and said okay well look I there’s no one that I’m gonna send up there to walk walk out on the steel gerder I’m gonna do it myself because I’m the one who has again walked on steel gerder this high up in my lifetime and gone up and done something like this he wasn’t tied off at all he he climbed out on a steel girder with a banner and just like basically put the banner underneath the leak and let the banner fill up with water while he was uh like he he just tied it off up in the rafters and then uh climbed back over and and away he went yeah 8 terrifying to think about like right now yeah hey you guys want to know something else no lie I’m not I’m not even No Cap as greeny wood say Welly would say that me I think I was at that game oh I was like four I don’t know what year it was but I it was well normally it’s seven I wasn’t even you have a very explicit memory I wasn’t even s but I remember being at a Kings game and I was actually sitting pretty my aune wonder she could veride Kenny yeah I think I was like I think I was inting Courtside she could she could verify this I doubt ATI wander was sitting court and um I remember just vaguely water on the court the game being stopped and yeah I remember that now I think that’s happened a couple times or it happened a couple times in aro’s history so maybe that wasn’t the game but I I do remember that happened I was at the game where uh we were in in warm-ups and a bat flew out and this happened twice in his career but Manu job just snatched it out of the air and caught the bat like right in front of us like oh my gosh he just caught the bat did you see that what was the game that’s CRA that did happen multiple times which is very bizar and then he had to go through two weeks of of you know horrible rabies shots RAB shots are the worst yeah what was the game was it in Philly what was the DeMarcus Cousins yeah so the game pH on the court yeah what happened there was a were having a super super like uh like high humidity day outside and the way an air conditioner works is basically it takes the air and it like cleans the condensation out of the air anyway someone left doors open and it let the condensation in and the air conditioners couldn’t keep up so what it did it put a slick on the on the court and there was nothing they could do it put like a moisture on the court was in San Francisco it was me and Jim Kore and Jerry Reynolds and we got stuck on an hour and 35 minute pregame show because the NBA wouldn’t cancel the game and we knew about 30 or 40 minutes in that it wasn’t going to happen um but that’s where Demarcus had got the mop and he was doing the mopping I also know like Costa kufus had come out yeah Costa came out and he said hey like the floor is is uh this is unsafe and someone’s going to get hurt like we can’t play on this and then yeah they said okay eventually they stopped the game but it was because of a door was left open and and allowed some of the the the weird air to come in and then it because of the way the air conditioning was work working it screwed everything up uh christop porzingis is out for game three there you go W is just take a lap W how about you just run the mile for PE today another L keep running till we tell yeah and the first one to tweet it sham chirania wow having a bad week I think I probably say this every NBA Finals year but I’m looking you know we got this the the TV on in out in the studio and they’re in Dallas and everything I just I just my mind just starts thinking man and it’s like can you guys imagine an NBA final game in Sacramento I know it’s the NBA I know it’s Sports anything it seems it seems so unbelievable an NBA Finals game in Sacramento that would be that’ be crazy it does seem unbelievable to be I was at a Western Conference Finals game in 2002 it it was wild I remember the the first playf I was 22 in that game was played James I’m not 22 anymore in fact I was 21 the 959 six season um I went to every one of those playoff games and that was crazy that was the loudest I’d ever any building I’ve ever been in like the whole building was alive you like your hair was standing up on a tent this this this is not helping this is not helping at all the NBA Finals at the golden one Center man I remember crazy God I remember that that that West that game seven so vividly part of it was because I was on the air and I remember just the overwhelming feeling that the city died that day oh just I forget going to belir and just it look like silent just I remember leaving leaving the the the old ksfm Studios just it was like a all I needed was a tumble weed to just go flying down ardan way because that’s that’s what it felt like yeah no it’s it’s uh dark times right were you at game seven I don’t think I was at game seven I think I was at game five of that series that was I I randomly have been like around for weird things so I was uh me and the wife went to A’s Yankees playoff series and we were like right up the between home plate and first base but closer to home plate uh when Derek Jeter made the play on Jeremy jie at home plate that was wild um you know again I was in I got to be there for a couple of finals and and all that stuff but also the Kevin Durant injury in Toronto um and then like just King’s coverage stuff has always been weird so someone asked earlier if I had met Shaq and I’ve been in scrums with Shaq but I I haven’t like hung out with Shaq I know Jason Jones always had better stories with sha I know who you are I do love I do love I do love the idea of James ham hanging out with Shaq that’s that’s my guy James ham Kings beat uh the Insiders this is gonna go 20 minutes yeah it could just my guy he’s got a yell for no I’m talking I’m talking about James ham stop stop don’t do that and I pop every time you do that and I hate myself for it I feel if I stop laughing you’ll stop doing it but like I don’t find I don’t find it funny at all until you do that and then it makes me laugh yeah and I I just got confirmation here um from aunti Wanda uh I think we were there so we were at the game we’re sitting Courtside the roof was leaking and I said do you know if the owner went up to the raapers to stop the leak she says that sounds familiar I remember everyone was freaked out well yeah because well you got to clear the spot in case he falls you don’t want been falling on someone else I know Charles Barkley just now I was at the game Charles Barkley sat in the stands with an umbrella open he sat in the stands because it was raining that day so everyone had brought umbrellas there were umbrellas all over the place but not for that I mean it was just like he was being ridiculous that is so Dreadful just awful to think about absolutely awful but it fits this organization it’s crazy high owner yeah another the owner just climbed up to the rap held a banner up there with absolutely like no security and the and the and just the colder part no one stopped them no one no one said no sir this is a terrible idea you could plummet to your death in front of an entire Arena of people no go up there yeah stop the water way to go Luke no it’s good or Greg luk no no good it’s good yeah just let him go yeah no it’s fine somebody what are we going to do oh it’s good Greg said he’s going up there right now I guarantee you no one be talking about puke guy if the owner falls from the that’d be a solid scene in The King’s version of winning time though well well now if you do if you truly take Liberties if HBO does truly take liberties with how they tell stories in the Sacramento Kings version of winning time he falls off of the rors either that or like we just don’t have a janitor guy to pay or whatever so the owner gota go and clean it up there you go or he does like he he almost Falls but he hangs there like uh uh Stallone and cliffhanger he’s just like hanging there that’s a good point you he can’t Plum it to his death because that’s that’s not believable yeah he just flies from the banner then you have a million people did the king’s owner hang from the ceiling from a banner no take this now hold on is I don’t know I don’t know is Greg with us yeah he’s with us yeah LC is yeah van I want to make no I want to make sure I want to make sure we’ve accidentally killed off enough people on this show I want to make sure because I was gonna say I didn’t know but I was gonna say like they do it like the uh the iron claw they show him up in the rafters and then all of a sudden they just cut to his funeral which was which was 40 years later but they just got to his funeral yeah storytelling storytelling H sign that nobody’s here the lights go off there it is wow um I did I I did say something about Jason him and Malik Monk and trying to you know save this whole thing do you you said this uh I think you said this to us on Monday Hammer um informally Malik knows what the Sacramento Kings are are are are are going to offer him do you think that they’re anxious to get this to get this formal conversation started and they’re rooting for the Celtics to get this thing over with before the weekend gets here um I don’t know or is there not much to discuss at this point yeah there’s not much I mean the years like how you’re going to structure the deal however that would be um but it’s pretty cut and dry like from what I know like again the Kings aren’t officially allowed to extend any offer but um but it’s pretty well known that the kings are willing to do whatever it takes financially whatever with is within their power to to bring Malik back and I mean that’s the best you can hope for that’s kind of all you can hope for right now if you’re Kings fans who are hoping to R Malik is that the kings are at least willing to do like the 17.4 million or the you know foure 78 whatever it is that they can do they will do from what I know and that that’s a good thing um but then it’s kind of a holding pattern because it really does come down to what other teams can offer or what other teams do offer um you know again the kings are are are hard capped with what they can offer him like they only so much they can do and there’s no way for them to create more caps I mean there’s a way but it would just cost everything to like dissolve half of your rotation in order to get there and and maybe you can’t even do that um so yeah I think it’s going to be an interesting like once we get past the first day we’ll know for sure that he’s been extended his his offer and then after that it’s just more or less waiting to see if someone comes in and beats the offer and then what Malik wants to do once that offer comes in whether he wants to stay or whether he wants to leave and how much he values his time here and and what’s next got figure out a way to get that done figure out a way to get that done what your G legally or what’s your gut tell you you think he stays here yeah James what you I’ve always thought he stayed here stay I was more like like 35% he leaves 65 uh at 35% he stays 65% he leaves I’m more like 55 45 at this point I think it really it can come down to the finances like this is a player who has not got paid and we can talk all day long about what the Kings could do you know if he opts out after two years they could then extend him and do all that stuff but like that’s just so far away uh we don’t know what the Kings will look like who who will be on the roster by then how much they will have to pay Keegan Murray by then uh if they would have landed another player that would make it uh nearly impossible for them to give Malik monk like a 25 or $30 million deal like so you don’t ever want to like put it out there that a player should take this and then hope to make the the money on the back end I hope like what Miss Mack says here in in the the chatty house um I think there’s a possibility he stays but I also hope that he stays because I enjoy covering m um not just Malik on the court but Malik off the court I get a kick out of him uh he makes me laugh he makes everybody laugh uh he’s told me and Sean and a few of us to f off so many times just like in his funny way like he has a you know like he always acts like he’s not going to talk to us and then he talks to us he’s just fun he’s a good dude and I think he’s the type of spirit that uh that the Kings really need on this team he he brings a new element that that they just didn’t have before uh Jesse’s making us end our show so we can go to NBA Finals coverage yeah hurry up I got to go home and watch the game well you heard the man uh is it 3 0 how good of a mood will Jesse be in tomorrow tune in to find out beginning at 10 a.m. with the Insiders here on Sacramento sports leader ESPN 1320 B Celtics
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1 Comment
Dame just mentioned Westbrook. 😂😂😂