Greetings my peeps and welcome to all things basketball podcast with your boy GD.
In this episode we will finish up the mid-march recap talking about some finds that were
levied and suspensions as well as Paul Gasol his jersey being retired in LA.
We will talk about Dane Lillard and his loyalty to Portland.
We will discuss that.
Talk about JJ Redican the discussion he had with Kendrick Perkins on stat padding and
so forth.
Also women's month so there was a broadcast dedicated to that so we will talk about that.
The passing of a long time communications director and also March Madness so we will
cover it all so just sit back relax and enjoy the show.
Ok guys so we already covered we are doing our kind of 2 week mid-march recap of all
that is going on in the NBA.
We covered so far the players of the week for week 20 and 21.
We talked about the job and ran situation and all that is surrounding around that.
We talked injury news.
Talked about player signings and some milestone stones that were achieved by different players
and one coach.
And then now we are going to talk about the finds Paul Gasol we will talk about Dane Lillard.
Again I want to circle back to that as well as talk little JJ Redick as well.
We will also cover all women's broadcast that was done in honor of International Women's
Month and then talk a little NCAA right quick.
Alright guys so let's begin.
Let's start with finds that were levied as well as suspension.
Fred Van Vliet of the Toronto Raptors find $30,000 for criticizing officials after a
loss to the LA Clippers.
I listen to it man I tell you what I have absolutely zero issue with what Fred Van Vliet
had to say.
The officiating lately in the NBA has really been problematic guys.
I saw things as small as Julius Randall getting a tech for simply questioning a ref's call.
I seem to get teased up for that.
Thankfully he didn't go any further where he got ejected.
He was able to calm himself down.
I saw where Jordan Poole of the Warriors where he tossed the ball back to the ref and got
a tech for that.
I've just seen it far too often.
In this case here Van Vliet levied these offenses against Ben Taylor a ref who's already given
him 3 techs for the year so far and in the 4th game where he was part of the officiating
team he got another tech so that's 4 of his 8 techs connected to one ref.
That's not good guys.
I think the NBA when season's done needs to really address that issue.
That is an issue guys because as Van Vliet said they come to the games to enjoy the players
not for the refs.
Nobody comes to the games saying oh I want to hear so and so call a good game.
No they come to see the players on the court.
So NBA you're Adam Silver you're going to have to deal with this ref situation because
they're really getting tacky tacky with some of these calls especially the technical files.
So that's one fine.
Marcus Smart of the Boston Celtics the guy who's always in the mix when it comes to all
the occasions and so forth $25,000 and this is for all the occasion with Trey Young in
a game that his team actually won over Atlanta but this happened with about a minute 25 left
in the game where he and Trey Young went face to face and then ends up rolling on the floor
and so forth.
So Marcus Smart is a guy who has no back down in him so Trey picked the right one that day
but Marcus Smart nonetheless you know given his history he did get ejected in that game
but he also catches now a $25,000 fine from the league so that's that.
And then we have Dylan Brooks.
Dylan Brooks is suspended one game without pay for receiving his 16th technical file
and now it's a case where now he's up to 16 with each two additional technical files
that he gets called for he'll miss a game.
And this happened in a this actually happened in the loss against Denver that came up at
Denver the one where you know prompted Chabram to do what he did so so he he ended up missing
the game after which was at the LA Clippers so.
And then also a week later on March 9th he goes face to face with Dreymon Green and a
blowout in their blowout went over the Gold State Warriors so.
So Dylan Brooks man and he has a nerve to say to question Dreymon Green and what he's
done in the NBA which Dylan slow your roll because you can't even hold a candle to what
Dreymon has accomplished.
Dreymon can speak for himself he got his own podcast he can speak for himself but you
throw up Dreymon's resume against yours and it doesn't even compare man.
Everyone knows that he's the emotional leader of that Golden State Warriors championship
ball clubs everyone knows that so for you to even question question the man is out of
bounds and Dylan Brooks actually used to be a very good player used to be a guy who can
you know you can count on for scoring and so forth he's shooting horribly he's shooting
horribly he's now this extracurricular guy whose mouthy now we all know about him going
back and forth with Shannon's Shannon Sharpe in fact so so it happened there you call
Shannon Sharpe a blogger he by oh by the way he he does not have a blog he's actually
a TV personality oh by the way he also called Dreymon Green a blogger no he just happens
to have his own podcast so Dylan Brooks I don't know what he's trying to do he's trying
to be a low rent Dennis Robin but only differences Dennis Robin had skill he was a winner and
um yeah and he'll he's a whole fame player as of now Dylan Brooks I don't think he even
come near that so so you know he's just making a name for himself so forth what it leads to
who knows but right now they need you to play man because Memphis Grizzly are missing some
guys so they need you to step up and stop with all this extracurricular stuff so I'm
just saying so so that's the deal with the fines and suspensions and so forth so let's
talk Paul Gasol shall we Paul Gasol had his number 16 jersey for the LA Lakers retired
on March 5th against the Golden State Warriors the same day that Steph Curry returned back
to the lineup so and it was a emotional ceremony of course because he he was honored there without
his teammate Kobe Ryan who passed away back in 2020 so bittersweet day but Kobe Bryant
actually predicted this day will come he was axed while he was at the Oscars where he
got a Oscar for his documentary he was asked about that and he said one day Paul Gasol
jersey will hang in the Raptors next to mine and he was so true so Paul Gasol let's look
at his career oh by the way he's a 2000 he's a 2023 Naismith Hall of Fame finalist by the
way so 18 years he played in the league played in over 1200 games average 17 points per game
9.2 rebounds 3.2 assists 1.6 blocks guys along with shooting 50.7% from the field so he makes
half of his shots of from three he was able to be a stretch four and five out there shooting
36.8% from three and 75.3% from the free throw line he was drafted in the first round he was
the third pick overall he was actually drafted guys this was in 2001 draft he was actually
drafted by the Atlanta Hawks but traded on draft day along with Brevin Knight and Lorenz
and Tate the late Lorenz and Tate to Memphis for Sharif Abdul Rahim and Jamal Tensley so
so so he was immediately dealt to the Memphis Grizzlies we were talking about Memphis Grizzlies
a lot here he was traded after seven seasons there in those seven seasons he made one all
star game and he was traded to LA in a big package there pack package which included
actually his brother Mark going to Memphis where he forged the fine career there so so
he he ends up spending seven years with the Lakers this was post Shaq was gone now so
Kobe needed that of a guy next to him so he can get a few chips himself which he did so
so he spent seven years there three all-star appearances while there then he ends up after
his contract's done signing with the Chicago Bulls for two seasons it is two season they
made two all-star games then he moves on to San Antonio for two and a half years and then
he goes to Milwaukee where he plays three games there he last signs with the Portland Trail
Blazers but he never plays a game for them because of a foot injury has he's eventually
waved and he announces his retirement in October 5th of 2021 so but he hadn't played
a game his last game was played in actually 2019 so thus making him eligible for the
Paula Fane so and then there's his international resume that's pretty substantial as well his
time playing with the Spain team the Spanish team there so a lot of success there so so
in essence six all-star appearances for him four times all NBA a two-time champion and
he was a rookie of the year as well so Paul Gasol with excellent credentials thus worthy
of Hall of Fame considerations so Paul Gasol we salute you and hopefully actually they'll
be announcing it next month who makes the Hall of Fame so hopefully your name will get
called so alright so that's what went on with Paul Gasol let's talk speaking of Portland
let's talk about Dame Lillard I talked about this previous episode in my February recap
but I had to circle around to it again because of two things a recent article that Sean
Powell wrote that actually points to the issue that Dame Lillard makes when he appears on
the old man in the three podcast that's the podcast with JJ Redick so he talks about how
the league has changed it's more ring driven now a lot of that is media motivated also
social media motivated as well yeah so and then also even on top of that you got these
clowns on social media wanna downplay and poo poo guys who didn't get a ring and so forth
so and the media doesn't you know help matters either and then that permeates into players
minds so you got a guy like for instance Kevin Durant he leaves the situation in Oklahoma
City to join up with Golden State so he could get a few rings there but now they wanna discredit
those rings because he joined a fortified team over there and now everybody says now
you gotta get your own ring and so forth so and actually Dame kind of alluded to that
in this in this podcast episode with JJ Redick so again I I applaud the man for you know
his loyalty to one organization I give him credit for that but it but the article that
Sean Powell writes flies in the face of it it's basically saying that the pressures on
him to you know get a ring I don't put the pressure on him to be honest with you I put
the onus more on the Portland front office it's upon it's upon them to build a winner
around Dame Lillard if they don't like that then you know that's the way it has to be
and I don't believe they want to trade them of course they don't want to trade them they
just paid the man they just gave me an extension so I just think it's a situation where it
is what it is and for us not saying us and what you'll never hear on this podcast you'll
never hear any goat talk from me because I'm not here to declare who's the goat who's
the goat you won't hear that on this podcast no you won't hear it now there players within
a certain time period I'll say was the best in that time period but overall go I can't
do it because situations has changed over the years you went from a 18 league now to
a 16 team league now you got a 30 team league so those situations there change also you
have the event of you know better weight training so forth you have a lot of different circumstances
you now in the age of social media so that plays a part part and parcel in a players
mindset it shouldn't but it does so so I'm not here to declare a goat so you won't hear
that on here and you won't hear me with a top 10 or 25 list of players who have having
one rings you won't hear that here because if you're a great player you're a great player
the eye tests will tell the tale so Dominique Wilkins great player great player Vince Carter
great player Charles Barkley when he played absolutely great player John Stockton great
player Patrick Ewing great player Carmelone great player did they any of them get rings
no that doesn't take away from what they did on that court that's for sure so yeah so I'm
not here to cast any type of Spurgeon's oh and Allen Iverson of course great player as
well but I'm not here to cast any sort of I'm not counting them short because of what
what they didn't do I just count what they did and they were fantastic players so with
that said and then also him Dame Lillard has an ally in Bill Walton ally Bill Walton absolutely
loved Dame Lillard he plaudts him remember Bill Walton himself is the last player to
win a championship in the city of Portland so so he empathizes with Dean and he is one
of his biggest fans that's for sure and he had a lot of great things to say about Dean
so so he definitely has a lot of Bill Walton everybody knows Bill Walton as this quirky
sort of analyst now who has this alternate broadcast on the NBA dot com but Bill Walton
in his day when he was healthy he was as transcended a center as you see in the NBA and you see
if what you see Nikolai Yoke doing Bill Russell not Bill Russell Bill Walton kind of set
the standard for the passing center that's for sure so yeah but Bill Walton definitely
a fan of Dame Lillard and I'm a fan as well the man is tremendous I mean what he's able
to do on the basketball court is awe inspiring so again I totally get what he's saying
it's about the journey it should be about the journey in terms of basketball not how
not the ring counting that we do and so forth so yeah so Dame Lillard much respect to you
that's for sure so so again I wanted to address that once again now let's circle this since
he was on this man's podcast let's talk about him JJ Rattick JJ Rattick you know he's now
on TV he's appears on first take he's also does broadcasts also on ESPN he does it with
Ryan Ruko and so forth so so JJ goes at it with Kendrick Perkins on first take about
Nikolai Yoke and this whole notion of stat padding as well as his MVP aspirations and
pretty much accused cried racism as far as you know folks who doesn't see Nikolai Yoke
for who he is so and thinks that the MVP voting will reflect that first of all the man has
won it twice already so I don't see how you can even launch that but I will agree with
him on the Nikolai Yoke and this whole ridiculous notion of stat padding that Kendrick Perkins
brought up think about this guys he has a 28 game win streak in games in which he has
the triple double 24 and 0 this season thus far and if you count the previous season
he had four games towards the end where he had triple doubles in the team one so we're
talking the 28 game win streak guys and for his career he has a 82% win percentage in
fact he's right at a hundred games of triple doubles where he's at 82 and 18 so the only
two players with averages above his is Dreymon Green who's 30 and 1 and then Giannis Antutokunpo
I think he's somewhere at 87% but yes I think fewer than 30 I think he has about 33 games
in which I think he's won 28 of the 20 of the 33 so those only two guys with higher
percentages than Nikolai Yoke so and this MVP race is going to be a tight one it's
going to be a tight one I think Joel and B really has an opportunity here I understand
I get what Yoke is doing especially with the top team in the West but a lot of people will
poo poo that and say they'll point to the job moran situation why they're not up there
they'll point to the Lakers not being what they are they'll talk about the kind of confusion
that's going on with the Clippers and just say you know they just took advantage of
a weak West so I think the MVP race will be very interesting between him and Joel and
me and let us not forget Giannis Antutokunpo he needs to be in that discussion as well
so yeah but JJ record quite a presence on ESPN between him calling those games him being
on first take and then also when the he went against old head Chris Russo of course a Mike
and a mad dog where he actually downplay Larry Bird as a three point shooter and let's let's
get this out the way when Larry Bird first came in the league they had just introduced
a three point shot by the way so it was early in its infancy so the onus back then is not
what it is today in terms of three point shooting so with that said if Larry Bird was playing
in today's NBA it would be no it'd be a no brainer he'd be one of best in three point
shooters ever to play the game no question about it so yeah so JJ nah I can't flow with
you on that one so yeah so so that's that and also on the case of stat padding Giannis
actually had a rebound taken away from him in a game where he he was close to a triple
double he must have knew it he missed the shot on purpose against Washington and the
league rescinded the rebound so he was just short of a triple double so now that's that
padding guys so just a little brief example of that so nonetheless so that's the thing
with JJ Redick I wanted to address now next bit of news on March 8th in the Dallas game
versus the New Orleans Pelicans in which they the Pelicans won 113 to 106 ESPN had an all
female broadcast team Beth Moans who we know from college basketball she calls a lot of
the women's games there tremendous talent so she was on play by play along with Darius
Burke we all know Darius Burke and the work she's done the color commentary she's done
for the NBA for quite a few years now so both of them was in the booth and Cassidy Hubbard
she was the sideline reporter for that game as well Cassidy Hubbard she does sideline
reporting very well and then they had a pregame panel with of course Malika Andrews being
the studio host and she was joined by Chennai I always get this name a woman a woman K
okay Chennai a woman K she was on the panel as well as Ramona Shelburne Monica of McNutt
who's a rising star as well she does Nick brought she's in studio for Nick's pre and
post game there as well as she's called some games on she's done analyst work on radio
for the Knicks again a rising star and Becky Hammond who was just hired by ESPN to do analyst
work she was amongst that panel as well for that game so yeah and then not to mention
the women behind the scenes so kudos to ESPN for having such a day with such talent as
that so so that's that bit of news then we have sad news David Benner long time Indiana
Pacers communications director he was there for 28 years he passed away on March 1st and
he passed away at the age of 67 David Benner who ready Miller was actually they they they
were so very close in fact part of his pregame stuff he would get in the face of David Benner
and say all these crazy things so yeah so David Benner he was there he's been there
PR person for the past 28 years in those years he's had to do PR for their six Eastern Conference
finals appearances a finals appearance as well and as individual players he's had to
do PR work for defensive player of the year most improved player of the year coach of
the year and executive of the year so before he joined the Indiana Pacer organization he
previously worked as a sports commentator for the Indianapolis star and he retired in two
after the 2021-22 season so and then a week later after David's passing he was awarded
the Brian McIntyre trophy and this is the Slave McHugh tribute to excellence award this is
given by the NBA public relations directors association and this award is giving to most
outstanding you know PR person so he so he was given this award and Mark Paver he was
a PR director for the Washington Bullets for a number of years and then Howie McHugh was
a long time Boston Celtics PR director there as well so so the award is named in there
on us so and David Benner Benner gets this award although and after he has passed so
so David Benner we salute you and all that you've done in the NBA for those 28 years
with the Pacers and we say that you rest in peace so alright and then the last bit of
news Mark Madness guys it's start it starts Thursday March 16th and your top seeds are
the Houston Cougars Alabama Crimson Tide Purdue Ballermakers and the defending champs the
Kansas J Hawks so those are your top seeds there but you also got other teams that's
willing to make their statements Arizona Wildcats UCLA Bruins the Yukon Huskies Texas Longhorns
Marquette they'll have something to say about it and of course Duke you always cannot count
out Duke especially in the post Mike Shishevsky era so a number of players with NBA aspirations
will be in these tournaments here Brandon Miller the freshman out of Alabama he's a
swing man in a bit of trouble there as well as they have kind of linked him with a capital
murder of Darius Miles that's still a situation in flux so we'll see what happens there so
much so yes to carry extra security with him unfortunately so and then you have Jarra
Jarrace Walker of the Houston Cougars there he's a freshman as well power forward for
that team Grady Dick for the freshman for the Kansas J Hawks who's an outstanding shooter
swing man there so you keep an eye out for a kid like him also you have Chris Murray
the brother of Keegan Murray who's in the NBA playing for the Sacramento Kings he is
a forward junior in fact so we'll see if he declares you got the backcourt in Arkansas
of Nick Smith Junior and Anthony Black that's a backcourt to keep an eye on in these tournaments
here case in Wallace a freshman as well a freshman point guard kind of in the likes of a shy
Gilkis Alexander Devin Booker Tyler hero Tyrese Maxey manual quickly those guys coming
out of that program he's kind of in that vein maybe not the shooter that a few of them are
but definitely kind of like a point guard but probably a combo guard we'll see what happens
with that freshman there and then a big man to keep an eye out on Zach Edie and he's from
the poor the Purdue baller makers juniors he's a center at six at six at seven foot four
so quite tall nonetheless and able to you know do damage inside so definitely keep an
eye out for that junior as well so so the tournament getting underway guys I'm sure everybody
and unfilled out there Brackens and so forth and see we'll see what happens there so should
be exciting tournament so we'll see how things transpire and so forth so should be interesting
alright guys so that is going to do it for this episode here again might have to take
a little bit more time off still dealing with some issues here myself personally so a few
health and otherwise so just trying to get things under wraps in in good shape in that
regard so alright guys so that's going to do it for now again I remind you to write reviews
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as well alright guys so that's going to do it for now and as always we will talk soon
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