0:00:56 - (Mike Rhyner): And as soon as I turn the phone off here we will be live at 5 and rolling and strolling. Or the general area. Anyway. Hi, everybody. If you're watching live. Hi. If you're watching this any other time still. Hi. And it's another swim through your dark companion. Today we are live inside the nurturing biosphere of the mothership, where we generally do come to you. Let's see. This is the 8th of October. It is Wednesday, the 8th of Rocktober, and today in the D.
0:01:42 - (Mike Rhyner): We're not really having a Rocktober this year. It's been much like September or anything. But we're not here to talk about the weather, because today we have Shoopy, we have Ashley, we have Beckham, and we've got Kevin Gray.
0:02:02 - (Kevin Gray): I figured it was time for someone to put. To put the dark in your dark companion, so. Oh, I'm here for it. Believe me, I'm here for you.
0:02:10 - (Mike Rhyner): First of all.
0:02:10 - (Kevin Gray): I'm here for you.
0:02:11 - (Mike Rhyner): First of all. I shouldn't. I shouldn't touch that. But.
0:02:17 - (Grubes): But that's why I'm here.
0:02:18 - (Kevin Gray): I could do that. I could do that.
0:02:19 - (Mike Rhyner): Just for the record, it has happened.
0:02:24 - (Kevin Gray): Shout out to CA Shout out to CA. I see. I saw him one of your episodes too.
0:02:27 - (Mike Rhyner): So what?
0:02:28 - (Grubes): We made them.
0:02:32 - (Kevin Gray): I gave him a freebie with CA.
0:02:35 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. Yeah. Clarence was here.
0:02:39 - (Kevin Gray): Huh?
0:02:39 - (Grubes): Does Chris Arnold count? Yes, he.
0:02:42 - (Kevin Gray): He counts. Shout out to SHIELD by the way, my teammate at over at Guitar Slayer.
0:02:49 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, yeah, the Guitar Slayer was here. Paris Heart was another.
0:02:56 - (Grubes): Yeah. What? I don't know Calvin enough.
0:03:02 - (Kevin Gray): Calvin Watkins.
0:03:03 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. Calvin Watkins.
0:03:04 - (Grubes): Yeah.
0:03:04 - (Kevin Gray): Shout out to Calvin.
0:03:05 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:03:06 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah. Love me some Calvin Watkins.
0:03:08 - (Mike Rhyner): But see, I don't see color, so I don't notice these things. I just noticed good people coming in here to do good podcasts with us.
0:03:19 - (Grubes): Oh, Preston Pearson.
0:03:20 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, Preston Pearson's another.
0:03:22 - (Kevin Gray): I love. This is the part we, like, take the list out and like, just Check them off like, exactly.
0:03:27 - (Grubes): Friends, right?
0:03:28 - (Kevin Gray): Exactly. We are. We are. Exactly. Exactly.
0:03:30 - (Mike Rhyner): And now you're added to the list. I am.
0:03:32 - (Kevin Gray): I'm so glad I could join the list.
0:03:34 - (Grubes): You're at the mountaintop.
0:03:35 - (Kevin Gray): Oh, that's sweet. Gross. Thank you. That's sweet of you. I appreciate it.
0:03:38 - (Grubes): One of my favorites. Don't make me blush how he feels.
0:03:42 - (Kevin Gray): But if I could blush, I would be, like, so red right now. If I could. That's so sweet of you. I appreciate it. Thank you so much for inviting me though.
0:03:50 - (Mike Rhyner): Our path first crossed up at I heart in the days of the time of the freak.
0:03:56 - (Kevin Gray): That's right.
0:03:57 - (Mike Rhyner): And now, since then, I'm doing this. And you were over in that D.L.L. s scene.
0:04:04 - (Kevin Gray): That's right. I'm a walking company mascot pretty much every day with these shirts that I. That I wear. In fact, I brought you one earlier. We'll maybe break that out a little bit later. But yes, I'm over at DLLS Sports. We are just. We just celebrated a year back in late August, So we have nearly 33, 000 subscribers on our YouTube channel. And we started from zero, and now we're here and we cover the Cowboy, Stars, Rangers and Mavericks and the Dallas Wings.
0:04:30 - (Mike Rhyner): And so you're telling me you started from the bottom? Now you hear?
0:04:32 - (Kevin Gray): Now we see. I like what you're doing, Mike. I see what you're doing. I like what you're doing. You moving up the list already? Already moving up.
0:04:39 - (Mike Rhyner): Already said I'm not cool.
0:04:44 - (Kevin Gray): But yeah, yeah, I host the. The Mavericks, our DLLS Mavs shows, so pre and post host duties, and our daily podcast that we do Monday through Friday, so.
0:04:54 - (Mike Rhyner): Well, that's good to hear because I've been walking around here lately, wondering, thinking about the MAV season which is nigh upon us here.
0:05:06 - (Kevin Gray): That's right.
0:05:06 - (Mike Rhyner): It'll be here before you know it.
0:05:08 - (Kevin Gray): Two weeks from today. Actually, two weeks from today.
0:05:10 - (Mike Rhyner): And wondering. Okay, we need to start paying a little attention here. We need to get somebody in here who is on it, knows what's going on, can tell us what to look for, and kind of bring us up to speed on the whole thing. And I can scarcely think of anybody better than the great Kevin Gray for that.
0:05:28 - (Kevin Gray): I love that, Mike. Thank. That's right. I'm so glad that groups has that because I've been missing that drop ever since we left Good old 97.
0:05:35 - (Grubes): I can send it to whoever your person is, but you just send it.
0:05:39 - (Kevin Gray): To me and then I'll decide drop it out too, because Only there's only a handful of people I trust with that drop, and you're on the list. Like, you're one of, like, maybe two or three. I trust with that drop, for sure.
0:05:51 - (Mike Rhyner): Well, preseason has started.
0:05:53 - (Kevin Gray): It has.
0:05:54 - (Mike Rhyner): And I guess things are getting ready to get into some kind of shape to roll out there. But, man, I think of the Mavericks these days, and I think of a big, vague glob of. I'm not really sure what. I mean, I think a lot of people are that way, too, ever since.
0:06:19 - (Kevin Gray): Well, you know, that one thing happened that one time. Yeah, that's right.
0:06:22 - (Mike Rhyner): First of all, let's go back to that one thing. I always like to hear the story of people who come in here, where they were and how they found out and everything, because I think personally, and this is just me, I think that this is the biggest sports catastrophe we have ever had here. I mean, I can't think of anything bigger, and I know a lot of people. What about the Cowboys? What about them firing Tom Landry? What about Jerry coming on? Yeah, well, first of all, the.
0:06:53 - (Mike Rhyner): Jerry was not the first guy to buy the Cowboys. The Cowboys had already been sold once before, and they were. They were clearly in a state of decline, you know, for this. It was all on the upswing.
0:07:12 - (Kevin Gray): It was about at the peak of what you could get from an NBA standpoint, having just gone to the NBA Finals. And then, you know, the trade happens February 1st. You ask, you know, where we were, where I was in particular, you know, when the trade went down. So I'm a big wrestling fan, and I was at Cosm in. In the Grandscape area, the county area over there. So shout out to Cosm. I had just gotten.
0:07:41 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, shout out to Cosm, for sure.
0:07:43 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah. I don't know if you do free advertising, but it just happened. And I had gotten some tickets to go watch the Royal Rumble, so had a great night, enjoying myself, good food. Loved what I saw at the Royal Rumble in terms of, you know, watching or whatever. So I get home and literally, I sit on my couch like, okay, let me decompress for a little bit, you know, about five minutes or so before I get to go to bed.
0:08:04 - (Kevin Gray): I'm sitting on my couch and I look at my phone, and at first, when you see something like that, you're like, wait a minute. Oh, boy, must have gotten hacked. Because there's no way when I'm reading right now at 11:02pm Yes, 11:02pm that this is real.
0:08:21 - (Mike Rhyner): Yes.
0:08:22 - (Kevin Gray): So I read it. That's right. Imagine that the news dump of all news dumps on a Saturday night. So I'm sitting there reading it and I'm looking for someone else to verify that this is actually what's happening here. The next person I saw who said something to the effect of like, this is real was Brad Townsend. The Dallas Morning News that the unthinkable had happened that Luka Doncic had in fact been traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. And I immediately call our head of content, Bobby Corella.
0:08:51 - (Kevin Gray): And I'm like, bobby? And I'm calling him in a panic because again, this is 11 o' clock at night. I'm like, did you see this? Did you see this? He's like, no, what are you talking about? I'm like, luca got traded. Luca got traded. So we do these things called emergency podcasts. So we wound up hustling one together maybe 10, 15 minutes later. Mike. We were on till at least 1:30 in the morning. And there were thousands of people watching and reacting live with this because we just could not.
0:09:22 - (Kevin Gray): We couldn't believe it. And I remember I didn't go to sleep till almost 3, 3:30 in the morning, Sunday morning, because it was just my adrenaline was so high at that point that you don't think something like this can happen. And I had, you know, the good fortune to appear on another show at like 2:30 in the morning. It was just, it was the most insane night I've ever experienced in sports. Ever.
0:09:45 - (Mike Rhyner): And you know, the crazy thing about it is it came down from Sean Charanium, who is one of the most squared away, straight up reliable guys out there. I mean, he had the story and he is the guy who posted it. And I wasn't quite living the straight and narrow existence that you were because I was at the Lakewood Landing. Yeah.
0:10:11 - (Grubes): Having a corn dog.
0:10:13 - (Mike Rhyner): No, I didn't have a corn dog. I don't ever eat there. I just drink.
0:10:17 - (Kevin Gray): Okay.
0:10:18 - (Grubes): Hey, no judging here.
0:10:20 - (Mike Rhyner): And I just picked up my phone to look at it, see if anything was going on, you know, and. And all of a sudden there is that, that, that blip from Shams. And I just thought, what? And I thought, okay, all right, you.
0:10:39 - (Kevin Gray): Thought you had a few too many. Like you figured he was way too deep in at that point.
0:10:42 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, yeah. I mean, I, at first I thought maybe said this wrong.
0:10:47 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah.
0:10:47 - (Mike Rhyner): So I put my phone down and then picked it back up again probably 30 seconds later, looked again and there it was.
0:10:54 - (Grubes): Well, and the fact that he actually had to tweet, yes, this is real.
0:11:00 - (Kevin Gray): This Is real? Yes. My immediate thought was, yeah, that's exactly what someone would say if they were hacked. That's exactly what someone would say if they had been hacked already.
0:11:09 - (Mike Rhyner): No one.
0:11:09 - (Grubes): No one has my password.
0:11:10 - (Kevin Gray): That's right.
0:11:11 - (Mike Rhyner): I saw that and I didn't believe it. You know, I saw that and I didn't believe it. So I figured what I'm going to do is just scroll a little further and see if I can find something else to either knock this down or confirm it. You know, some from. From. I don't know, I guess I was looking for a higher authority or something like that to do that.
0:11:30 - (Kevin Gray): You wanted God himself to come down? Like, actually, Mike, this did not. This did not happen, actually.
0:11:36 - (Mike Rhyner): And I'm just sitting there scrolling like this and scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling. And after a couple of minutes, I look up and there are about five or six people standing around me. They're all holding their phones and watching me scroll, you know, like. Like they think I'm gonna find out something they can't find out.
0:11:51 - (Kevin Gray): Like, Mike, please tell us this is not real. Right?
0:11:53 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:11:54 - (Kevin Gray): Please.
0:11:54 - (Grubes): What does Reiner know that we don't?
0:11:57 - (Mike Rhyner): As it turned out, nothing, apparently. It was just. It's. It's the most bizarre night and the most bizarre scene, but nevertheless, that was then.
0:12:10 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah.
0:12:11 - (Mike Rhyner): And here we are, time marches on, and the season is about to start. First of all, you know, being over there in that dll, I don't know what kind of fan interaction you guys have, but I know that you're aware of how the fan base reacted to that.
0:12:29 - (Kevin Gray): Oh, for sure. Yeah. It was apoplectic. It was the most any range of reaction you could think of. It happened.
0:12:38 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:12:39 - (Kevin Gray): That night.
0:12:39 - (Mike Rhyner): That's a good word for that. From a place.
0:12:41 - (Grubes): Yeah.
0:12:42 - (Kevin Gray): From anger to sadness to bitterness to what the hell? Like, how did we get here? Like, all the range of emotions you could think of. Yeah, it happened. And honestly, what was weird was they were on a road trip, so their next game was in Cleveland.
0:12:57 - (Grubes): And day game.
0:12:59 - (Kevin Gray): It was a day game on a Sunday. So obviously they get blown out in Cleveland. And the post show that we did, no one wanted to talk about anything about the game, obviously, because what did that matter at that point? Luca wasn't there and it was just the range of people just emoting the. The sadness, the feelings of how upset they were that they just could not believe that this had happened to their franchise. Like going from Dirk to Luca to now him not being there at all and just the blink of an eye after having reached The NBA Finals, man.
0:13:32 - (Mike Rhyner): It'S still just surreal, you know.
0:13:35 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah.
0:13:35 - (Mike Rhyner): And tell me how you think the fan base is going to react to it. You know, now with all of that behind us and a new season to start, where do you think they are with this? Because, you know, I know you know this, and I know you got plenty of this, as did I. As did we. There are all kinds of people saying, screw the Mavericks, man. I'm through with them.
0:14:00 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah.
0:14:01 - (Mike Rhyner): So where do you think the fan base is going to be when. When the season starts in just a few days?
0:14:06 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah, I think there's a lot of them who have decided that they're not coming back. And the fact that they felt betrayed, not necessarily just because of the trade, but the way that it was handled from the organization from that moment on, every single misstep that you could probably think of, the Mavericks engaged in that. From the initial statement. I mean, the initial statement that Nico Harrison put out the night of the trade was defenseman's championships.
0:14:33 - (Kevin Gray): Those are the first three words that we got in a statement about the trade in and of itself. And from there on that kind of set.
0:14:39 - (Mike Rhyner): I don't think that's what everybody wanted to hear.
0:14:41 - (Kevin Gray): That. No, not at all. Not at all. And that kind of set the tone for how the next several months went. You know, there were secret media meetings. There were all kinds of different things that happened that you look at an organization say, why would you handle something of this magnitude in this way? There at one point, Nico had said, I didn't realize how deep of a connection. I'm paraphrasing. How deep of a connection the fan base had to the player, which someone in his position, you would think, my guy, how could you not know?
0:15:10 - (Kevin Gray): Like, you literally watched him help take your franchise to the NBA Finals. And the amount of fans that have felt that they were able to continue to love basketball or loved basketball because of the player and the natural connection that you had for Dirk for 21 years, then you get six and a half years of Luca, and then all of a sudden, you know, he decides that he wants to take the organization a different direction. I think there are a lot of fans who still and will continue to feel bitter about that for, you know, as long as they. They feel that way. But as Nico said, fortune favors the bold. And all of a sudden, in May, they win the draft lottery. And look, people ask us, like, kevin, do you think it was rigged? If it was rigged?
0:15:49 - (Kevin Gray): Awesome.
0:15:50 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:15:50 - (Kevin Gray): Like the fan base deserves something positive after what I think it was Rigged.
0:15:55 - (Mike Rhyner): Which I do.
0:15:56 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah.
0:15:57 - (Mike Rhyner): We're never going to know.
0:15:57 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah.
0:15:58 - (Mike Rhyner): You know, so. Okay, let's. Let's go on.
0:16:00 - (Kevin Gray): Well, that's cool. Let's go with it. Yeah, it was rigged.
0:16:03 - (Mike Rhyner): It was good rig.
0:16:04 - (Grubes): It worked out pretty well.
0:16:05 - (Kevin Gray): It worked out pretty well.
0:16:07 - (Grubes): We. We literally had Mark Cuban on. In the literal seat that you're sitting in.
0:16:11 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah.
0:16:11 - (Grubes): About a month ago. And he joked about like, hey, you know, is with this, this. And then, you know, $100 million and it's like he's made it clear that he was joking. But like the odds of that.
0:16:25 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah.
0:16:26 - (Grubes): It's got to be less than 1.8% insane.
0:16:29 - (Kevin Gray): And the fact that the Mavericks, after all of that, were able to procure the number one pick. You have a generational talent at Cooper Flag. I think for some fans, they are able to turn the page a little bit because of that kind of fortune.
0:16:43 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:16:44 - (Kevin Gray): That the Mavericks received. They may not necessarily get down with Nico Harrison and Patrick Dumont and the actual leadership of the team, but the product on the floor, they say, okay, maybe things can be okay now that there's a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel in the form of this 18 year old phenom that's here now.
0:17:00 - (Grubes): And for what it's worth, I think we kind of saw that with the gaming Dickies a couple nights ago where people were tweeting about it. You know, it wasn't just the beat writers. It was people being like, cooper Flag is awesome.
0:17:13 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah.
0:17:14 - (Grubes): Oh, my God. You know, Cooper Flag and AD Is going to be insane. And you know the defense is gonna win championships.
0:17:22 - (Kevin Gray): Right. Exactly.
0:17:23 - (Grubes): Like there was a lot of. A lot more attention to the game, especially with it being on was a victory and all that, where people could watch it.
0:17:36 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah.
0:17:37 - (Grubes): That you would not expect for the Mavs after, what, half a year ago. Everybody's saying, no, I'm done with this team. And like, I'll be honest, I haven't worn a Mavericks shirt or hat or anything in a while and I'm about ready to pull one back on because.
0:17:58 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, but you're wearing a Reunion arena shirt today.
0:18:00 - (Grubes): And that was kind of the irony with Kevin being on.
0:18:03 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:18:05 - (Grubes): It's just. It's interesting where, look, it's been an off season, it's been a whole thing. We just had a guy on that's gonna do a play about, you know, about the trade.
0:18:19 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah, I need to go check that out because. Yeah. So I'm gonna be. Yeah. Checking it out.
0:18:23 - (Grubes): People are just like, I think when it comes down to. It's like, look, it's been an off season, unintentionally or not like this, the slate has kind of been wiped. And we still love the Mavericks. Like, no matter how long Nico or Dumont or whoever are part of it, we still love the Mavs and Cooper. Flag is awesome. And if things go well, if we have a Dirk run, then he's retiring from us at 38.
0:18:52 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah. I think for some fans, the emotional connection has been severed to the point that no matter what happens with the franchise, the way that the organization went about discussing the trade, how it engaged fans about the trade, that, and for some folks will never be forgiven, no matter how successful the team is, because of just what he meant to the franchise. And I think a lot of folks thought that Luca was their Dirk in the sense of there was 21 years of what Dirk provided.
0:19:24 - (Kevin Gray): We thought we were going to get another maybe 15 years of that and be able to continue this amazing, amazing run. But I think fans have had to wrestle with, okay, Luke is gone, but Cooper's here.
0:19:37 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:19:37 - (Kevin Gray): So how do we figure out our emotions, knowing what kind of future there could still be potentially?
0:19:43 - (Grubes): And I think they've already kind of had that, you know, like Cuban mentioned, I think when we. When he was on with us, like, the Steve Nash leaving in free agency were, you know, like, nobody thought Nash was going to leave. He felt like such a foundational piece in all this. And then he left. And it's like, you're going to let him go. I don't want to be a Maps fan anymore. And then look at all of us now.
0:20:10 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, we. We've seen something like it before, but not to this extent.
0:20:14 - (Grubes): No. And I want to be clear, like, so singular.
0:20:18 - (Mike Rhyner): He's a great player.
0:20:19 - (Grubes): Yeah.
0:20:20 - (Mike Rhyner): But Luca is one of one. Everybody knows that.
0:20:24 - (Kevin Gray): And Luca didn't want to leave. Yeah, that's the other. Luca did not want to leave.
0:20:28 - (Grubes): There was no indication of it, despite Shoopy saying, you know, he's gonna leave. He's gonna leave.
0:20:34 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:20:36 - (Grubes): We all thought, okay, free agency.
0:20:38 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. When free agency rolled around for him, I figured he'd get out of here.
0:20:42 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah.
0:20:43 - (Mike Rhyner): And I always used to say that, but no, no, not a trade. Not like this.
0:20:47 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah.
0:20:48 - (Mike Rhyner): Not by creating the biggest sports catastrophe we've ever had.
0:20:53 - (Kevin Gray): I mean, arguably, the Trey was the biggest story, not just sports story, but it was the biggest story in the world for about a two week period. Like, it was on world News, it was on cnn. It was everywhere that you could possibly think of. And I think that just kind of crystallized how much of an impact the player had here, but more importantly, how much of a global star he had become. And, you know, here in Dallas, that it was leading the A blocks of ABC World News and cnn, like, it's kind of nuts how.
0:21:22 - (Grubes): And even just. And sorry, even just players commenting on, you know, especially when the off season hit, there would be player interviews where they're like, that didn't. I didn't think it was real.
0:21:34 - (Kevin Gray): They all thought it was fake.
0:21:35 - (Grubes): Like, and. And all the superstars being like, well, if he can get traded, then what loyalty can I expect?
0:21:41 - (Kevin Gray): Sure.
0:21:42 - (Grubes): And that's where you start hearing about Giannis saying, like, oh, maybe I'll, you know, maybe the Knicks are cool.
0:21:49 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah. Which, depending on who you believe, you know, maybe Giannis is in a Knicks uniform at some point down the road.
0:21:57 - (Mike Rhyner): I believe, or some other uniform or some other uniform. One conversation that I've had several times, and these are not with. With people who are particularly in tune with the game of basketball, but it's just something that comes up is the difference between Luca and Cooper Flag. I mean, they're two very, very different players.
0:22:22 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah.
0:22:25 - (Mike Rhyner): I would ask you to compare them, but that's too simplistic. So tell me that if I ever get put in that situation again, what should I tell people? I mean, what kind of difference do you. Do you see between Cooper Flag and Luca?
0:22:43 - (Kevin Gray): So Luca is an artist. He is a Picasso. He is someone who is willing to try anything and everything at any point. And he is brilliant as an offensive player. No one has ever accused Luca of being a great defensive player, and no one will ever accuse him of that. Cooper Flag is kind of the antithesis of all that. He is someone that is a dog on the defensive end. He wants to play defense. He loves to play defense.
0:23:09 - (Kevin Gray): And he has learned, even at the age of 18, how to make his teammates better. Luka was able to do that, obviously, with the incredible, you know, artist and pastor that he is. Cooper does his a little bit differently. He is all about that base. Megan Trainor, like, he loves the idea of basketball. He's all about basketball. And he is someone that's going to get in there, wants to get better every day.
0:23:30 - (Kevin Gray): And what we've come to learn about him is that he wants to be great. He wants to be able to prove, you know, even as a phenom, that he's going to be one of the best to ever. To ever do it. But his calling card starts on the defensive End and how good he is going to be on that end of the floor, which, you know, for the team that Nico Harrison puts together, that fits exactly what he's looking for.
0:23:54 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:23:54 - (Kevin Gray): And he's gonna, he's gonna be a phenomenal player. I mean, you saw a glimpse of it on Monday night. You know, his ability to block shots down the open floor. He's. He's going to be great.
0:24:03 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, he is going to be great. And, and it's going to be very exciting watching him turn into what he's going to turn into. I just have a hard time telling, telling them that he's a little bit more of a traditional basketball player.
0:24:17 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah.
0:24:17 - (Mike Rhyner): Than Luca was. You know, I mean, Luca was all about shots from, you know, three steps across the mid court line.
0:24:24 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah.
0:24:25 - (Mike Rhyner): And Cooper Flag, then that's, that's not his scene.
0:24:28 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah.
0:24:29 - (Mike Rhyner): But on defense down at the other end, man, he's all over the place. He is, He's a real disruptor.
0:24:35 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah. And that will be something that I think fans will love about him is that he will be all over the place on the defensive end. Luka, probably the best offensive player of our generation. Cooper Flag has a chance to be one of the best defensive players that we've seen in a long time. Just because he's 6, 8, he's only 18. He still has a chance to get bigger and stronger and taller, honestly. But he can guard multiple positions on the floor, which for any defense is spectacular in the NBA, especially in today's NBA for sure.
0:25:03 - (Mike Rhyner): I've heard he can guard any position on the floor.
0:25:06 - (Kevin Gray): Would you say that he can guard one through five? Yeah, and that's, that's the scary part. Like as he gets older and gets bigger and stronger and fills out into his body. His body right now he goes 6, 8, 6, 9. He could easily be 610, 611, maybe 7ft by the time he gets to, you know, his peak years. And as he continues to add muscle on and become, you know, into his NBA body. Yeah. He can guard positions one through five. And that's in today's positionless basketball.
0:25:35 - (Kevin Gray): That's, that's pretty frightening.
0:25:37 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:25:37 - (Kevin Gray): That he can do that.
0:25:38 - (Mike Rhyner): Pretty valuable.
0:25:38 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah, exactly.
0:25:40 - (Mike Rhyner): And also here he's a basketball junkie.
0:25:42 - (Grubes): He is.
0:25:42 - (Kevin Gray): He loves the game. You know, his greatest. His goat is Michael Jordan. He grew up in Maine, loves his household, Love Larry Bird, so. And anyone who knows about Larry Bird knows how much of a dog, how much trash he liked to talk. Cooper doesn't necessarily give off the vibe. He's gonna talk a lot of trash, but he's got a compet, a desire and a competitive nature that you could see on the floor each and every time he steps out there.
0:26:05 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, he's. He strikes me as a kind who's not going to be any into anything like that, but is also not out there to make friends.
0:26:12 - (Kevin Gray): No, no, he's out there to about that ball. That's what he's out there to do is the ball and the ball hard for sure.
0:26:19 - (Mike Rhyner): All right, so that's Cooper Flag. Now what about the rest of this thing? There'll be no Kyrie for a while at the start of the season.
0:26:31 - (Kevin Gray): That's right. That's right.
0:26:32 - (Mike Rhyner): How long is that supposed to go on, do you think?
0:26:35 - (Kevin Gray): Who knows? I mean, it doesn't look like he'll be back before the end of the calendar year. You know, the initial prognosis was 9 to 12 months when he tore the ACL. So to me, best case scenario, if he's backed by, you know, the All Star break a little bit after the All Star break, I think is realistic to think about in terms of his, of his comeback. And even when he does come back, you know, you've been around, you know, the game in sports long enough. It usually takes guys a year.
0:27:02 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh yeah.
0:27:02 - (Kevin Gray): Once they have the ACL injury to kind of re to become themselves again. You know, the Mavericks are asking Kyrie to kind of do something that really hasn't happened before. It's like, hey, be you, be Kyrie, who was an all NBA type player. Do that as soon as you come back from a tornado sale. It's like, well, hold on now.
0:27:19 - (Grubes): I'm 33.
0:27:20 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah. Like I'm in my early 30s. And you're asking me to be this guy, which, I mean, Kyrie's gonna do everything he can to, to be that player. But that's a lot to ask for him at this stage in his career. But also, you know, know Anthony Davis is a perennial all NBA player, great defensive player, but he's also had a story injury history as well. So asking two guys who have had the kind of injury histories that they've had to be the leaders on the scene because this is Anthony Davis's team right now.
0:27:48 - (Kevin Gray): Even with Cooper Flag being here, this is this team's going to go as far as Anthony Davis and Kyrie takes him, once he comes, you know, he comes back.
0:27:54 - (Mike Rhyner): So is that something Anthony Davis wants?
0:27:56 - (Kevin Gray): I think so. And for all the trade that that happened with the Lakers and the Mavericks, Anthony Davis has Actually been phenomenal here. He's handled himself well. He's ingratiated himself to the fans. He understood. He said in initially when he traded, like, look, I'm not Luca. I can't be Luca. But I'm here now. I'm going to do everything that I can to help this franchise, you know, win a championship. So I think AD's been fantastic here. It's just, can he stay healthy enough for a long enough period of time to deliver what he believes he can with the talent that's on this team here is a championship.
0:28:30 - (Grubes): Is it a little bit funny that he's gained about 15 pounds?
0:28:33 - (Kevin Gray): And the irony is kind of hilarious. Not gonna lie to you.
0:28:38 - (Grubes): Completely reasonable.
0:28:39 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:28:39 - (Grubes): The eye thing, like, he couldn't do much, but it's just a little bit funny that. Yeah, you know, the guy that got brought back.
0:28:48 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah.
0:28:49 - (Grubes): Is about 15 pounds heavy. And that was always the thing with Luca and Nico and all that.
0:28:55 - (Kevin Gray): I mean, Loki, I'd probably be, you know, crushing a few Bon Bons and Twinkies and stuff if I was sitting there after, you know, detached retina surgery and all I could do.
0:29:02 - (Grubes): And I'm supposed to be on camera.
0:29:04 - (Kevin Gray): You know what I'm saying? Like, you know, your boy ain't missed no meals. Me either. So I can only imagine, like, if AD was sitting there with, you know, a half an eye for a summer, for six weeks.
0:29:13 - (Grubes): Yeah. You know, what are you gonna do?
0:29:15 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah, exactly. You're gonna put on a, you know, policy.
0:29:17 - (Grubes): You move too much in, like, and your eye pops out.
0:29:20 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah, exactly like. That sounds terrifying. So I'd probably just sit there and not do anything either. So, you know.
0:29:25 - (Mike Rhyner): All right, so we've hit on Kyrie, We've hit on Anthony Davis. We've hit on Cooper Flag. What else?
0:29:31 - (Kevin Gray): Did we hit on it or. We just talked about it.
0:29:33 - (Mike Rhyner): We just talked about it.
0:29:34 - (Kevin Gray): Okay. Okay.
0:29:35 - (Grubes): You can talk more about them.
0:29:36 - (Kevin Gray): No.
0:29:36 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, you can work them in any way you want. You can hit on them, too.
0:29:39 - (Kevin Gray): Well, he said hit on, and I'm like, I'm married, so I don't know how much, like, hey, you know, we're faithful here. Okay, that's good to know.
0:29:46 - (Mike Rhyner): I wasn't trying to infer. It's just a. A figure of speech.
0:29:55 - (Kevin Gray): That's right, that's right, that's right.
0:29:57 - (Mike Rhyner): All right, but what about everybody else? What kind of. What's this thing going to look like this year? So it's going to look different because Kyrie's not there at the start of the Year.
0:30:08 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah. I mean, they brought in d' Angelo Russell, veteran point guard in this league, to kind of stem the tide until he comes back, till Kyrie Irving comes back. You know, they're going to put the ball in Cooper flags, hands a little bit to let him kind of run the offense a little bit, too. So it's going to be kind of point guard by committee, if you will, between, you know, Najee Marshall, d' Angelo Russell, Cooper flag. There's gonna be a lot of guys that handle the ball, but, you know, they're prioritizing movement and spacing this year. The ability for guys to read and react and be able to make passes and be able to have a lot of guys, you know, moving toward the basket. So the ball is not stagnant. Yeah, ball is just not. I mean, as great as Luca was, some of the folks will criticize him for the idea that he was, you know, had the ball in his hands all the time.
0:30:50 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:30:50 - (Kevin Gray): Which, I mean, if you're that good, yeah, you can have the ball. It's okay.
0:30:56 - (Mike Rhyner): You heard it said that the offense died when he got the ball, but yeah, look who had it.
0:30:59 - (Kevin Gray): Exactly like, it's cool. We'll revive it when we will stand here in the corner, be wide open. You know, you pass to us. But a lot of guys gonna touch the ball. So there's gonna be a lot of movement, a lot of flow and a lot of spacing for this team. Know, Klay Thompson is back for a second year. Didn't have a great year last year, but shot the ball still decently, you know, from the three point line. So this team hopes that by the time Kyrie comes back, whether it be February or March, that they're in a position, you know, to make a run. So they're going to be having their calling card on the defensive end.
0:31:30 - (Kevin Gray): They want to make their money there. They want to clamp teams down and then basically like, look, you're not going to be able to score. We'll score more points than you because you won't be able to score on us. And that's going to be the identity of this, of this team this year for sure.
0:31:44 - (Mike Rhyner): He is the great Kevin Gray. He is with DLLS Sports.
0:31:49 - (Kevin Gray): That was smooth, Mike. I like how you did. That was good.
0:31:51 - (Mike Rhyner): He talks about the Mavericks on DLL Sports and that's what he's doing here with us today.
0:31:56 - (Grubes): Yeah.
0:31:57 - (Mike Rhyner): And we will have more with the great Kevin Gray coming up momentarily here. But right now it is time for. For the dreaded and feared Mid show read.
0:32:14 - (Kevin Gray): Get it? That's the part. I'm supposed to do the read now. Oh, I got to do the okay. Okay. I was like, is that for me? I don't have anything to read.
0:32:22 - (Grubes): At least just follow along with the okay.
0:32:24 - (Kevin Gray): Got it, got it, got it.
0:32:27 - (Mike Rhyner): This is where you get to watch me do a live spot.
0:32:30 - (Kevin Gray): That's. You can do it. I do them all the time. I do them every day.
0:32:33 - (Mike Rhyner): You can do it.
0:32:33 - (Kevin Gray): You can do it.
0:32:35 - (Mike Rhyner): Thank you. Thank you. I feel propped up. I know you're with me.
0:32:37 - (Kevin Gray): I'm here to gas you up, Mike. Don't you worry about it.
0:32:39 - (Grubes): I was gonna say Kevin's gassing you up.
0:32:41 - (Kevin Gray): That's right. That's what I'm here for.
0:32:43 - (Grubes): Should have known he was gonna get to it quicker.
0:32:46 - (Mike Rhyner): Well, let me ask everybody this. Do you find yourself in pain these days? Just general pain where something hurts or this and that hurt? You really can't put your finger on what it is or why or anything like that. It's making you anxious. You can't sleep at night, and all you want is to be rid of that and be the way you used to be. Is that where you're at, man? Well, if you'd like to fix that and you'd like to do it naturally, let us tell you about the CBD House of Healing.
0:33:22 - (Mike Rhyner): The CBD House of Healing only carries products from their lab. They are made to meet the highest quality and purity standards. Their owner is also a registered nurse. And when you go into the CBD House of Healing, first of all, she's not going to look at you funny. She's going to ask you what's going on, and you tell her what's happening with you. You tell her what you're looking for. You tell her what you would like for the end game in there to be for you.
0:33:51 - (Mike Rhyner): And I'll bet you anything that she can come up with something that will work for you, something that will lower the pain, something that will make you sleep again, and something that will put you in a lot better situation than you're in right now. And the reason I know this is because I found my very self in such a situation. Not too long ago, I went to see them about this, and it worked for me, and I know it will for you.
0:34:20 - (Mike Rhyner): So find your relief from the aches and the pains, the emotional stress and drain of this world, and sleep again. Shop online there@cbd Dallas.com or in person, the CBD House of Healing, where you can also grab a slushie we would recommend them there at 8550 Plano Road, Suite 101. That's here in Dallas. That is in the Northeast quadrant of that burgeoning intersection of Plano Road and Northwest Highway.
0:34:51 - (Mike Rhyner): Begin your healing at the house of healing and sleep again. Is that all right?
0:34:59 - (Kevin Gray): That was excellent, Mike.
0:35:00 - (Grubes): Dude.
0:35:03 - (Kevin Gray): Exactly.
0:35:03 - (Grubes): Yeah.
0:35:04 - (Kevin Gray): Like, I think it deserves a round of applause.
0:35:05 - (Grubes): Yeah.
0:35:06 - (Mike Rhyner): Thank you.
0:35:06 - (Grubes): If we had an audience, they'd be going nuts, right?
0:35:09 - (Mike Rhyner): You think? Police getting a standing ovation right now.
0:35:12 - (Grubes): Yeah.
0:35:12 - (Kevin Gray): At least five people stand up to clap.
0:35:15 - (Mike Rhyner): All right.
0:35:15 - (Kevin Gray): Definitely.
0:35:16 - (Grubes): See?
0:35:16 - (Kevin Gray): Exactly.
0:35:19 - (Grubes): Everybody would be clapping.
0:35:20 - (Mike Rhyner): I'll take that.
0:35:22 - (Grubes): Some would be saying.
0:35:23 - (Kevin Gray): Some would be standing.
0:35:23 - (Grubes): Yeah, that's pretty good.
0:35:25 - (Kevin Gray): That's pretty good, I think.
0:35:26 - (Mike Rhyner): Great. All right, well, let's get back into.
0:35:28 - (Kevin Gray): See, that's awesome.
0:35:29 - (Grubes): Yeah.
0:35:30 - (Mike Rhyner): All right.
0:35:30 - (Kevin Gray): One out of five.
0:35:31 - (Grubes): That's really good.
0:35:31 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah, exactly.
0:35:32 - (Grubes): Yeah.
0:35:32 - (Mike Rhyner): Well, let's get back into the Mavericks and the NBA and all this stuff that I know you are into. Are you into any other sport besides basketball the way you are? Basketball?
0:35:43 - (Kevin Gray): I'm a diehard Cowboys fan.
0:35:44 - (Mike Rhyner): Are you?
0:35:45 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah, I'm a third generation Cowboys fan. Quick story. My. My late uncle Willie Towns played for the Dallas Cowboys, was a starter.
0:35:54 - (Mike Rhyner): Your uncle's Willie Town?
0:35:55 - (Kevin Gray): That's right. That's right. Yeah.
0:35:57 - (Mike Rhyner): I did not know that.
0:35:57 - (Kevin Gray): That's right.
0:35:59 - (Grubes): We like you even more.
0:36:00 - (Kevin Gray): Oh, that's sweet. I appreciate that. Is this the part where I just like get up and go because. No, I'm swinging.
0:36:05 - (Mike Rhyner): No, no, you can't go yet.
0:36:06 - (Kevin Gray): I can't go yet. No, I can't go yet. But, yeah, no, he played. Played for Tom Landry, was a starter in the high school. You all know the story. And so he's my grandmother's brother on my. On my dad's side. So, yeah, I'm a third generation Cowboys fan. Only God's strongest soldier soldiers are Cowboys fans. And I happen to fasten myself as one of them. And this existence for the past 30 years with no not even a damn super bowl, no NFC title games has tested my patience. Super bowl, yeah. Let alone super bowl has tested the patience of all of us, particularly me.
0:36:42 - (Kevin Gray): But yeah, I love. If you cut me open mike, you'll find some silver and blue pouring out of my veins too.
0:36:46 - (Grubes): That's not healthy.
0:36:48 - (Kevin Gray): It's not. Trust me. I've tried to quit the narcotic that is a Dallas Cowboys, but I just. I can't. I can't quit it. They won't let me quit it. The mica trade almost broke me The Mica trade just about damn near broke me. Me. But I'm still. I'm still here. I'm still here.
0:37:03 - (Mike Rhyner): So crazy for us to have two trades that magnitude in one year. I mean, I'm not. I'm not seeing any articles or stories about places that have gone through something like that. Had more than one trade of. That's huge. Like that in one year. I'm sure I'm. It's bound to have happened somewhere sometime.
0:37:26 - (Kevin Gray): Well, you know, Jerry couldn't allow the Mavericks to have all the attention.
0:37:29 - (Mike Rhyner): No.
0:37:29 - (Kevin Gray): Like, Jerry had to be like, you know what, Nico? I see you traded Luca. I'mma raise you and trade Micah a week before the season starts. To the team that's knocked us out three times in the last decade plus. And, oh, by the way, who said, and I quote, handed me the most embarrassing loss of my professional life? My. He traded Micah to that team.
0:37:49 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:37:49 - (Kevin Gray): So. Good job, Jerry. Good job. Good job.
0:37:53 - (Mike Rhyner): Maybe he looks at. Maybe he looks at the Cowboys. Cowboys. And says, I really like your style.
0:38:03 - (Kevin Gray): You trade. These are players. Yeah, I could do that too, Nico.
0:38:07 - (Mike Rhyner): And says, I like your stuff.
0:38:08 - (Kevin Gray): I like what you're doing over there.
0:38:09 - (Mike Rhyner): If anything ever happens to you over there, come see me.
0:38:13 - (Grubes): He also can't differentiate between a thumb and a middle finger, apparently.
0:38:17 - (Kevin Gray): So he got fined 250 large for that man.
0:38:21 - (Grubes): Like, that's nothing to him. But that's still hilarious.
0:38:25 - (Kevin Gray): Like the fact that Roger Goodell actually had the. You know, the. You know, what's to actually find him for? That was quite hilarious. I thought that he would find him 250 grand for that.
0:38:33 - (Grubes): And Jerry apparently went on the fan and said, why? I didn't realize I was doing that. Like, I'm sorry.
0:38:42 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, I thought it was my son. Yeah, he thought it was his phone.
0:38:46 - (Grubes): I was just so excited and, you know, like, I was just trying to say, this is great.
0:38:50 - (Kevin Gray): Good job. Yeah, good job, Cowboys. Good job.
0:38:53 - (Grubes): Yeah.
0:38:55 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah, yeah. To the jets fans.
0:38:57 - (Grubes): No difference at all.
0:38:58 - (Kevin Gray): No, not at all. Not at all.
0:39:00 - (Grubes): That's our owner and general manager.
0:39:02 - (Mike Rhyner): That's right.
0:39:03 - (Kevin Gray): And don't forget president. Don't forget president.
0:39:05 - (Grubes): And also, he doesn't initiate calls. He just takes them on trades.
0:39:11 - (Kevin Gray): Apparently, we could do an entire show about how I feel the way Jerry Jones goes about his business.
0:39:16 - (Grubes): We got 20 minutes.
0:39:17 - (Kevin Gray): But that's not what you brought me here for.
0:39:19 - (Grubes): No, we brought you on to talk sports.
0:39:23 - (Mike Rhyner): You know, But I get enough of that.
0:39:25 - (Kevin Gray): I don't know if I say I.
0:39:27 - (Mike Rhyner): Don'T get enough talking about the Mavericks. I mean, I got to get my head right for the upcoming season, two weeks away, and I thought, who better to get my head right than the great Kevin Gray?
0:39:36 - (Kevin Gray): That's sweet.
0:39:37 - (Mike Rhyner): All right, so has anybody else that we might not be so familiar with caught your attention, or does anybody else seem to be emerging?
0:39:47 - (Kevin Gray): I mean, the usual suspects that you know of, obviously talking about A.D. kyrie Cooper, Flag. Max Christie's had himself a nice offseason. He's going to be in his first full season with the Mavericks. So a guy that can defend is going to be doing a lot of moving on the offensive end of the. A lot of cutting, but a guy that can shoot the ball a little bit as well. His first seven games, you know, here in Dallas, he was averaging 15, 16 points a game. And we're like, hey, this is the Max Christie trade, the way that he was playing, because, of course, AD got hurt in his first game in the Dallas Mavericks uniform. But Daniel Gaffer, P.J. washington has a chance to be a sixth man of the year candidate. He's going to be coming off the bench with Cooper Flag now here.
0:40:27 - (Kevin Gray): I mean, objectively, the Mavericks had a really good off season, getting the business done that they wanted to get done in terms of resigning Kyrie Irving, getting Daniel Gaffer his extension, P.J. washington his extension as well. So they feel like they're in position with whatever this window looks like over the next, you know, three years to try to capitalize on it as much as. As much as they can and see if they can win a championship before Nico decides he don't want anymore.
0:40:56 - (Mike Rhyner): But it's that it's time for a different defense to win a different.
0:41:00 - (Kevin Gray): That's right, Another. Another player to. Yeah, that's right. Leads for championships.
0:41:04 - (Mike Rhyner): So the. The Mavericks last year really had a nice interior situation going with Daniel Gafford and Derek Lively. How. And you know, Anthony Davis, too. Yeah, you can throw him in there. How do you see that playing out this year? But as far as, you know, dividing up the minutes between the three of them.
0:41:28 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah, JCK is going to have a tough job this year because this team really goes too deep at every position on this team. And you mentioned Derek Lively, you know, who dealt with some injuries last year. He's going to his third year this year and is expected, you know, to have a really good season. He's a lengthy, athletic defender, a guy that can finish extremely well around the rim. So, you know, they believe that they can put out one of the best front courts in league this year between, you know, Anthony Davis, Derek, live of the second Cooper flag, you know, who started the game, you know, on Monday night, if that's going to be your starting front court with PJ Washington coming off the bench, Daniel Gaffer coming off the bench as well.
0:42:08 - (Mike Rhyner): Strong man.
0:42:09 - (Kevin Gray): It's, it's strong. They, I mean, they are a very deep team. Again, health is just going to be the biggest question for them all year. Can these guys remain available enough to produce at the levels that they're capable of? And if they are, this has a chance to be the best defense in the league this year. There's a couple teams with, you know, Oklahoma City. Houston has a really good team this year too, but Dallas believes what that they've put together.
0:42:32 - (Kevin Gray): There is no better front court in the league, arguably than what Dallas has put together.
0:42:36 - (Mike Rhyner): All right, now, when you look at Houston, let's talk about some of these other teams that could be in the mix. When you look at Houston, what do you see in them?
0:42:48 - (Kevin Gray): I mean, they brought in Kevin Durant, obviously, and he's a guy that can go get it for you in the postseason. And last year, you know, they were able to get all the way up to the two seed, but they didn't have a guy that you could look to and say, I need you to go get a bucket for me in the fourth quarter. Kevin Durant is no stranger to doing that as a two time champion, two time finals, you know, mvp. So they had suffered an injury with Fred Van Vliet, their starting point guard. He's gonna be out, you know, for the year with the torn acl, but they've got a burgeoning star. And Amin Thompson, who is going to be a defensive player of the year candidate for years to come. He's hyper, athletic, can defend multiple positions. The question will be for him, how much does his offensive game grow this year? They're going to put the ball in his hands a little bit to run the point a little bit, along with Reed shepherd and a couple other guys. But Amin Thompson is going to be a phenomenal player for years to come. I love watching him play.
0:43:40 - (Kevin Gray): Talk about a guy who loves playing defense. Amin Thompson is that, is that guy. He's just going to be really good this year. He's going to be really good.
0:43:46 - (Mike Rhyner): Of course, when you talk about them or the Mavericks or anything else, you got to look at the boys from just up north across the Red River. The vacation Bible School won it all last year.
0:44:01 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah.
0:44:01 - (Mike Rhyner): Much to my shock and even dismay.
0:44:05 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah.
0:44:06 - (Mike Rhyner): But they want it. They want it fair and square. And they want it because they were really good. And it looks like they're back for more.
0:44:12 - (Kevin Gray): They are. I mean, Oklahoma City, what, won 67 games this year, I mean, Denver took them to the brink in the west semis. You know, who knows what happens if Tyrese Halliburton doesn't get hurt, you know, in the NBA Finals, if Indiana can win that Game 7 on the road. But SGA had one of the more historic seasons, you know, in NBA history. Champion, Finals mvp, West Finals mvp, league mvp, scoring champion as well.
0:44:38 - (Kevin Gray): Oklahoma City is young, they're deep. And now they have the kind of championship experience that will allow them to remain at the top for, for several years. I mean, Denver's right there, too. Nicole Jokic, three time league mvp. I thought Denver had arguably the best offseason of any team and what they were able to do, so they'll be right there. But yeah, OKC is at the top of the food chart right now over in the East.
0:45:04 - (Mike Rhyner): One team that I'm keeping my eye on is the Boston Celtics, but not for reasons that you might imagine. Everybody thinks about the Boston Celtics, and they're almost one of those teams in sports that we have that are automatically good. Every year could be different.
0:45:22 - (Kevin Gray): This year.
0:45:22 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, because they just got sold and the. It seems like the new owner comes in with the idea that, okay, we're going to tear this thing down. They're going to be without Jason Tatum probably for the whole year because he's injured and won't be able to play. But there are going to be a lot of other different faces around there.
0:45:44 - (Kevin Gray): It seems like, yeah, this team had to shed some payroll in order to get themselves, you know, where they wanted to be from a financial standpoint. They moved on for Christopher Zingis. You know, they trade him to Atlanta. Drew Holiday, they move him to, to Portland.
0:45:57 - (Mike Rhyner): But now that surprised me.
0:45:59 - (Kevin Gray): It surprised a little bit of people of where he. He went. I don't think, you know, Holly was going to be on the Celtics this year just because their financial situation was what it was. Yeah, but going to Portland was a little bit of surprise.
0:46:11 - (Mike Rhyner): I just always heard and read, though, how important to, to them he was.
0:46:15 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah, yeah. I mean, he helped deliver a championship there. I think they got everything that they desire for Jrue Holiday to help them achieve. And, you know, I think teams like Boston, Indiana will look at this year as kind of a gap year for them. You know, you mentioned Jason Tatum is not going to be available. You know, this year with the Achilles injury. So Jaylen Brown has a chance to, at least for this year, you know, assert himself as the man, you know, in Boston. And once Tatum's able to come back, um, it'll be interesting to see how they navigate the East. But, I mean, for teams like Cleveland, New York, Orlando has a chance to take a big step this year after acquiring TCU zone Desmond Bain. So, yeah, yeah, the east is. The east is wide open. The east is wide open.
0:46:58 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Shout out to the Horn Frogs. So Orlando's gonna be good this year. They're one of the more intriguing teams in the league, but obviously, particularly in.
0:47:09 - (Mike Rhyner): The east this year, it seems like you. In basketball, you rarely see a division or a conference, I guess, that is as wide open as the east seems to be.
0:47:19 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah.
0:47:20 - (Mike Rhyner): Because, you know, with the Celtics taking a voluntary step back, I mean, it could go a number of ways.
0:47:27 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah.
0:47:28 - (Mike Rhyner): And if you want mystery guests, there's probably one in there somewhere.
0:47:32 - (Kevin Gray): I think Atlanta has a chance to make some noise this year. Like I said, Cleveland, New York are the favorites. Who knows what Milwaukee is going to be? They got Miles Turner from Indiana. You know, we talked about Giannis a little bit earlier. What's the situation going to be for him, you know, as they try to navigate themselves to the East? But, you know, Cleveland, New York should be, I would consider the favorites in the east this year. But there's some teams like Detroit who had a really good year last year, you know, speaking of DFW area.
0:47:58 - (Kevin Gray): And, you know, Kate Cunningham was phenomenal last year, and he's going to take another step. So, yeah, there's some. There's some terrific talent in the east, but, yeah, Cleveland, New York should be, I would imagine, the favorites this year.
0:48:11 - (Mike Rhyner): And in the west, we've been a little bit maverick centric here. Let's look at the. You mentioned Houston. Who else, man?
0:48:20 - (Kevin Gray): Houston, Denver. I mean, the west is loaded. I mean, the west is absolutely loaded this year. I mean, Minnesota's back, you know, Anthony Edwards, a year older at 23 years of age. You know, that team in Los Angeles that has a certain number, 77. You know, they're expected to be pretty good. DeAndre, Aiden's kind of a wild card. They brought him in, you know, after Portland bought him out. So, you know, can Aiden find some motivation? Because this is really kind of it for him if he can't play well with arguably the best player that he's ever played with in Luka Dodgic, and obviously LeBron James, there too, you know, who knows what the rest of his future of his NBA career looks like, but the Clippers are a really good team this year, too, you know, aside from Steve Ballmer, you know, allegedly.
0:49:04 - (Kevin Gray): You know, circumventing the cap was the whole aspiration and Kawhi Leonard situation.
0:49:09 - (Grubes): How much are you following that? I'm.
0:49:11 - (Kevin Gray): I mean, allow me not to follow it at this rate, you know, given how much he tweets about it and talks about it. But I found Pablo Torres, like, reporting on it just completely fascinating, the level of detail and documents, and every time someone tries to refute it seems like.
0:49:29 - (Mike Rhyner): He'S got everything anybody could possibly want.
0:49:32 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah, exactly. Like he's in there with stacks and stacks of papers, like, hey, this is what this is. This is what this is. And it's. It's been wild to follow, to be honest with you.
0:49:40 - (Grubes): Yeah.
0:49:40 - (Kevin Gray): So it's crazy.
0:49:44 - (Grubes): What are we going to do about this?
0:49:45 - (Mike Rhyner): Well, I don't know. What are we going to do about it? Shoopy, I look to you for this.
0:49:48 - (Kevin Gray): You circumventing the cap over here, Is that what you're doing?
0:49:50 - (Grubes): Yeah.
0:49:50 - (Mike Rhyner): He's Circumflex, then the Gap.
0:49:51 - (Kevin Gray): That's how you afford all this. You paying folks.
0:49:53 - (Grubes): I make so much money.
0:49:58 - (Kevin Gray): You just don't want anybody else to find out where you get it from. Got it.
0:50:01 - (Grubes): Don't worry about where it comes from.
0:50:02 - (Kevin Gray): That's Good point. Good point.
0:50:04 - (Mike Rhyner): All right, one more thing for you, Kevin Gray, when it's all over with who's standing? Give us one.
0:50:13 - (Kevin Gray): I mean, how much you like vacation Bible school? Because you might be spending some more time in OKC this year. Because, I mean, they're, they're the chance to the not, right. I mean, Houston, Denver, Cleveland, New York. But OKC is. They're that damn good. And.
0:50:36 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, they really are.
0:50:37 - (Kevin Gray): And they're young and everybody's like, well, what about the cap? It's going to get them financial. No, Sam PRESTI and the 10 million picks that he has and the financial flexibility that they got in Oklahoma City about the next two, three years, they're gonna be right at the top. If they, if they say healthy, there's. They're gonna be the favorites to win the title.
0:50:54 - (Mike Rhyner): I can see this being a Florida Panthers type thing.
0:50:57 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah.
0:50:58 - (Mike Rhyner): You know. Yeah, the Florida Panthers are a hockey team that nobody pays any attention to yet. They won the last two Stanley.
0:51:05 - (Kevin Gray): They winning Cups now. Yeah, yeah.
0:51:07 - (Mike Rhyner): Left and right. That could be Oklahoma City.
0:51:10 - (Kevin Gray): And the interesting thing about, okay, OKC is that, you know, They've been able to fill in the gaps with an easy. Like they got Isaiah Hardenstein last year. He comes in plug and play, you know, I love that guy. Yeah, yeah. Most expensive screener in the game, Isaiah Harenstein. But he does what he does is what he's supposed to do, and he fits right in with Caruso and all those.
0:51:30 - (Mike Rhyner): And he can do other stuff.
0:51:31 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah.
0:51:32 - (Mike Rhyner): If you need him to.
0:51:33 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah, yeah. And they're deep, they're talented, and like I said, they're young, so they're gonna be there for. For good. A good while there.
0:51:42 - (Mike Rhyner): Well, I hope you're going to be here for a good while, too. Kevin Gray. Well, I appreciate it and good to have you in the sports scene. You know, your ball, and I like that, man.
0:51:51 - (Kevin Gray): I appreciate you, Mike. I always tell folks like, the day I got the Mike Reiner rub pause, I knew I had made it in this business. A friend of mine, a good friend of mine of ours, Jeff Kavanaugh, told me when. When we were doing our night show, me and Reggie were doing our night show. He pulled me aside one day, said, hey, Mike Reiner listens to your show and he likes what you're doing. I said, first of all, what's Mike doing up late at that, late at night anyway?
0:52:16 - (Kevin Gray): But number two, that's amazing to know that someone of your stature and your caliber and the career, the legendary career that you had was listening to my little old show from 7 to 11 at night. So once I found out, I was like, I must be doing something right, because Mike Reiner said I'd do good stuff. Stuff.
0:52:32 - (Mike Rhyner): Well, I was listening to you, waiting for you to screw up. And you know what? You never did? You never did.
0:52:37 - (Kevin Gray): That's good to know, because you never know who you're performing for. You never know who.
0:52:40 - (Mike Rhyner): You never know.
0:52:42 - (Kevin Gray): You never know who's listening.
0:52:43 - (Mike Rhyner): So you got to bring it, man. You got to bring it, and you do bring it.
0:52:46 - (Kevin Gray): I appreciate.
0:52:47 - (Grubes): Hell of a show, though, you and Reggie.
0:52:49 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah, man. I miss my guy.
0:52:51 - (Grubes): One of my favorites. I. I know he's killing it in.
0:52:54 - (Kevin Gray): In Houston.
0:52:55 - (Grubes): Houston, yeah. My God, that's a hell of a show.
0:52:59 - (Kevin Gray): Yeah, man. We had a fantastic run for a year, and that's. Of everything I've done so far in my career. That's the most. The thing I'm most proud of is the show that we were able to put together from 7 to 11. The get right on the fan. And it was. I love doing that show. Reggie became a brother to me, and he still is. To this day. And, you know, we talk almost every day at this point, even with him being in Houston, so I miss my guy, Reg.
0:53:21 - (Kevin Gray): That's my guy.
0:53:21 - (Mike Rhyner): No, Kevin Gray. Greatness is ahead for you, and you got more of it coming.
0:53:26 - (Kevin Gray): I appreciate that, Mike.
0:53:27 - (Mike Rhyner): Keep dishing it, man.
0:53:28 - (Kevin Gray): Thank you so much, man. Thank you for having me.
0:53:30 - (Mike Rhyner): All right, he is Kevin Gray of DLLS Sports. You can find him there. And before we go here, let me remind you that you can find all episodes on our Patreon page. All episodes of your dark companion is on our Patreon page. You can also find us on YouTube. YouTube. You can find us on Spotify. You can find us wherever you get your podcasts, as they like to say now. So listen, follow, share us on your social media.
0:54:03 - (Mike Rhyner): That means everything to those of us who swim out here in the waters of the podcast. And while we're at it, if you're feeling what we're throwing down, how about a nice review? If you're by the channel on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, help others find us by leaving a review. Thank you, Shoopy. Thank you, Ashley. Thank you, Becca. Thanks to the great Kevin Gray, this has been your dark Companion. Bye. All right, I'm gonna go take pants off.
0:54:50 - (Mike Rhyner): Your dark Companion is a stolen water media presentation.