They bring in Blake Griffin now for whatever that is worth at this stage of his career.

What what are we seeing in Brooklyn right now?

And how formidable do you think they are?

Let's let's start with the Eastern Conference.

Yeah, you know, once and we had the game the night the trade had gone through, we were literally on the phone, Mike Green and I and Cassidy Hubbarth with Steve Nash.

And I was waving about Jared Allen and what his future was.

And I was getting this very tepid response from Steve, and I was really struck by his lack of enthusiasm.

Well, now, in hindsight, you understood exactly why they were giving up this terrific young piece.

Listen, they have acquired James Harden at the absolute perfect point of his career.

That reminds me of the arrival of Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in Boston, where every conceivable individual honor had been earned by those two men and the glaring weakness of their resume was the lack of a championship.

And so what did they do?

They you know, they put their egos aside, they committed to dock on the very first day that the foundation would be defense, something we haven't yet seen from Brooklyn.

But we've seen enough.

And so you get James Harden at exactly the right moment.

He is a virtuoso on the offensive and the floor.

He has manipulated, you know, the offensive end of the floor at a time when offenses are producing at these incredible clips.

And so I'm convinced, you know, I was on a podcast last week and they basically put me on the spot and said, Who's going to win it?

And I came down on the side of the Brooklyn Nets.

I just think over a seven game series dealing with three of the most gifted offensive players in the league is going to be very hard.

And then I look at a guy like a Bruce Brown who has figured out the perfect way to contribute on a team like that.

You know, these understated pieces around these guys?

Bruce Brown.

Okay, I'm going to cut.

I'm going to go ahead a timely offensive board.

I'm going to guard anybody you ask me to guard like you need that kind of commitment from around those three guys, and I think you have it and Blake us to the question of Blake like, I'm really curious.

I'm thrilled for him.

You know, It's been a unique journey.

He enters the league.

You know, My son and I were talking this morning and one of the things he said it goes, Mom, he was.

He was the guy that most captivated our imaginations when I was, you know, a younger kid and and interested in the NBA because he's jumping over cars.

He's in lob City, you know?

He's, he's he's morphed his game into what it has to be a jump shooting.

He's always been an exceptional passer, like people forget.

You know, we talk about Marc Gasol in the Lakers, right at the at the free throw line and surveying the floor and and taking apart defenses.

You know, don't underestimate Blake Griffin's ability to be successful as a passer in the league.

So I like the acquisition and I'm and I'm happy for Blake Boy, that was a That was a long winded answer.

Greeny.

Sorry about it was a good one, though.

I mean, it's a very thorough and and and look, I mean the bottom line of it is that for those who haven't been paying attention because he's been in Detroit and so maybe people haven't been watching, he hasn't dunked in a game in two years.

Yet it literally hasn't dunked in a game since 2019.

So he's a small ball center, probably coming off the bench and let's see what he adds.

The great Doris Burke is with me.

So So, Doris, you just said when when put on the spot, you picked the Nets to win the whole thing.

My inclination, I think, would be to agree with you.

Our mutual friend, Mr Rose.

Jalen Rose on TV with me the other day, said Greeny.

If Anthony Davis is fully healthy, nobody even takes the Lakers to seven games.

Forget about winning.

No one even takes the Lakers to seven games, including the Nets.

What do you think of that?

Yeah, you know and jail and has a history of being right about a lot of things.

And one of the fascinating things I've heard him say relative to putting teams together in this kind of situation is how infrequently teams, when put together like this, aren't able to, you know, have all the necessary, you know, experiences together that helped elevate a team.

And that's what's so intriguing to me about the Utah Jazz, which I'll touch on in a second.

Listen, you know, we saw the tandem of LeBron and Anthony Davis in a series of playoff series when it mattered most, and in those moments where they went to the two man game of Anthony Davis and LeBron James, and they became an impossible check because and it's, you know, Anthony Davis and I said this last year during the finals run.

I was so confused early last year when Frank Vogel said the perimeter shooting of Anthony Davis in particular three point shot is going to be critical to us winning the championship and think no further than the big time three he had at the hash mark and a critical juncture of a game.

He's just good enough from there where that ability to space the floor uh, so critical to that canned?

Um, So listen, I listen.

He makes a great point, and and that was the team when I did the other podcast, I thought, I cannot believe I'm saying LeBron James and Anthony Davis with tested parts around them won't win it.

But that's a hell of a series.

It's a series I would pay to watch.

And I'm still signing with the Brooklyn Nets and maybe I'll put a cocktail on it with Jalen Rose.

I might text him after this.

Oh, listen, then you're going to get off easy, because last year I I bet him a suit, and I cannot begin to tell you what a mistake that was.

I lost a suit bet.

And let me tell you something, Jalen Rose is an expensive suit.

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