How Do You Fix the All Star Game? | The Big 3 Podcast

Name: How Do You Fix the All Star Game? | The Big 3 Podcast
Uploaded: 2024-02-21T00:26:09+00:00
Duration: 42 min 33 s
Channel: CLNS Media Sports Network

CLNS Media Sports Network

8 months ago

In today's episode of The Big 3 Podcast, A. Sherrod Blakely, Gary Washburn, and Kwani A. Lunis break down the entire All Star weekend, what made the game so unwatchable, and come up with incentives for players to try to fix the All Star Game. That, and much more!

The Big 3 NBA Podcast with Gary, Sherrod & Kwani is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube as well as all of your go to podcasting apps. Subscribe, and give us the gift that never gets old or moldy- a 5-Star review - before you leave!

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00:00 Up for the layup, oh blocked by James!

00:03 Larry Burns scores 16 points.

00:05 Look at the Boston players' minds.

00:07 Michael Jordan is not only the best basketball player,

00:09 but he's the most exciting basketball player to ever play.

00:12 Taito fires away, pumps it in!

00:15 51 for James Taito!

00:17 The Big 3 NBA Podcast is powered by FanDuel Sportsbook,

00:21 the official wagering partner of the CLNS Media Network.

00:24 Hello everyone, welcome to the Big 3 NBA Podcast.

00:27 I'm Quanie Lunas, A'Sharod Blakely, Gary Washburn,

00:30 joining me right at the heels of the NBA All-Star Weekend extravaganza.

00:36 Let's get right into it, off the top.

00:38 We're going to talk about the East winning, not winning,

00:40 dominating really, the West, Team West.

00:44 Damian Lillard, sorry, I'm fired away now,

00:47 but let's start with Tatum.

00:48 Let's just go into the game itself.

00:50 Tatum, Brown, standout during the weekend.

00:53 What are your takeaways from that?

00:55 Well, Gary was there, so I'm going to let him kick this one off.

01:01 It was a nice weekend.

01:03 I mean, both guys played well in the game.

01:06 I mean, the game was terrible, but both guys got their shots off

01:11 and scored and seemingly had a good time.

01:14 Jaylea had 36 points.

01:16 He could have been up for MVP, but I just don't think.

01:19 Dane was really going for it.

01:22 I think Dane, I think I looked because it was like four-something minutes left,

01:26 five minutes left, and I'm like, "Dane's got 32, but he was out of the game."

01:30 So I'm like, "Damn, maybe if Jaylea can get more than 32, he's got a shot."

01:36 But then Dane came back into the game late, got seven more points,

01:40 I think finished with 39, and obviously the voters,

01:46 it was either Jaylen or Tyrese, sorry, literally Tyrese Halliburton,

01:52 and I didn't have a vote, so he ended up winning MVP.

01:56 But I thought Jaylen did well.

02:00 Jason did well.

02:01 Both of them played the way you're supposed to play an all-star game

02:04 at get this point.

02:06 They scored.

02:07 They showed some of their skill set.

02:09 But I mean, I said the game was terrible.

02:12 It was just don't compete.

02:14 The crowd wasn't really into it in the game.

02:17 The all-star game was becoming like the, "Oh, yeah, we got to do this, huh,"

02:21 kind of part of the weekend where you got the excitement of the celebrity game.

02:28 If you really are into -- if you know any of those celebrities,

02:32 I am losing touch with some of these like, "Who is that?

02:35 Oh, he's a social media influencer.

02:37 Oh, she's an Instagram model."

02:39 It's like, "Okay, my bad."

02:42 And then there's the rising stars and people -- I didn't get a --

02:46 I didn't watch a whole lot of that, but people seemed to enjoy it.

02:50 And then All-Star Saturday, you know, it's just starting to lose its steam,

02:55 and the game is becoming anticlimactic where it's like, "Oh, yeah, I forgot.

03:00 Like they've actually got to play the game."

03:02 And I think there's just so much with these guys going on.

03:05 Like we can discuss this later.

03:07 But just they get there, all the marketing commitments, appearances, you know.

03:14 Jason had stuff for his bank, for his shoes.

03:18 Jalen had stuff for, you know, other sponsors and stuff.

03:23 So by the time they get to Sunday, these guys ain't ready to play no ball like that.

03:28 You know what I'm saying?

03:29 Like they're not as engaged, and it showed on the court.

03:34 It's like a late-pickup game, but like --

03:36 Yeah, but for Jason and Jalen, it was a good showing for both of them in terms of, like, scoring.

03:43 Yeah.

03:44 I mean, they did what they're supposed to do with those things

03:46 and just put on a little bit of show for the folks.

03:48 Show why you're one of the best players in the NBA, and I thought they did that.

03:52 But to Gary's point, Gary, he's such a nice guy.

03:56 He really is.

03:57 I want to tell you what that game is, Gary.

03:59 It's trash.

04:00 It's trash.

04:01 It's not terrible.

04:02 It's not bad.

04:03 It's good.

04:04 It's trash.

04:05 No one cares about that game, including those who are playing in the game.

04:10 When I watch the All-Star Game now, it reminds me of those days back when you would play pickup

04:15 and you'd be on the court for like three hours or so, and you know that you got maybe one more game in you,

04:20 but you really don't want to play it, but you still got 10 people there, so you just play anyway.

04:24 You ain't playing no defense.

04:26 You shot Chugger from half court.

04:28 You take it.

04:29 You're doing everything that is anti-fundamental in the game.

04:32 I mean, Dan Willard had a great game, obviously.

04:35 He took two shots from half court.

04:37 He made them.

04:38 He made them, which is great, but in what world would he be raising up from half court unless it was like at the end of a game?

04:44 He's got deep range, but damn, you don't do that.

04:48 The game has become so anti-climatic and frankly just boring.

04:53 This is what I suggest they do, and this is Sherrod putting on his commissioner's cap for a moment

04:58 and giving us some real ideas of how to change this thing up, okay?

05:03 First of all, you can designate players to be all-stars and continue to do that,

05:08 but in actual games played, you need to make it more of like a one-on-one or two-on-two thing.

05:13 We take the best two-man tandems, pair them up together, play each other, play for money, obviously,

05:21 play for your charity, and those kind of games will have way more intrigue in them

05:26 because who would not like to see Tatum and Brown go up against like Steph and Clay or something like--

05:34 just make the game--because I would say one-on-one, but players, they ain't got that heart to play one-on-one

05:39 because they're afraid that if they lose, that's going to hurt their brand, so we've got to go two-on-two,

05:44 and you can't do three-on-three because there's a certain rapper out on the West Coast who's got something similar to that,

05:49 and the NBA don't want that smoke because that could be some legal smoke they might deal with.

05:54 Two-on-two is the way to go. You do that, you're going to get interest from fans.

06:00 You're going to, I think, get a better buy-in from the players, and to be honest, you're still going to get the same audience

06:06 except you're actually going to get them to watch the entire show, and you could make it one of those deals

06:11 where you play like best--you start off with maybe eight players and four teams or two,

06:18 and then you play first round, then you play a championship just like you do with the three-point shootout,

06:23 just like you do with all the other things. To me, but you've got to do something to mix it up

06:27 because what you're putting out there now is trash. It is absolute trash.

06:33 That being said, Jaylen and Jason had a nice weekend. They did what they're supposed to do,

06:38 but the format that they have to do it in, I think, is trash.

06:42 Yeah, to your point, I think someone has to just be really interested--I mean, not even, because to your point,

06:47 people know who the best players in the league are at this point.

06:51 I, with the NBA, though, just put my cap back on for a second.

06:55 I'm trying to work the WNBA into All-Star Weekend, specifically next year with Kaitlin Clark and Angel Reese.

07:02 I've got to find a space for them in the All-Star Weekend. I have to.

07:06 It's good for them. It's good for the WNBA. It's good for the NBA.

07:10 It's good for, bottom line, because now all of a sudden you're going to have people who are going to be investing

07:15 in whatever event they're involved with that may not necessarily have given a damn about the NBA All-Star Weekend before.

07:20 They've got to become creative about this, though.

07:24 Well, I think what the--

07:25 Mr. Capoff.

07:28 What the NBA did, I think with the WNBA, a lot of people don't mind, I know,

07:32 they had a lot of WNBA players out there for discussions in the NBA crossover,

07:39 which is kind of the NBA indoor amusement park at the convention center.

07:44 They had this crossover with discussions.

07:47 They had autograph signings, although like Leo Boston was there, Shakira,

07:53 a center for the Mystics was there.

07:58 So they did incorporate a lot of WNBA players, current WNBA players,

08:03 in the All-Star Weekend in terms of the fans, right?

08:06 Maybe not on the floor.

08:08 Now I don't know why they dumped the shooting stars, where it took a WNBA player, a legend,

08:17 and then a current player from a team.

08:20 So, you know, if you're Boston, you might have somebody from the Connecticut Sun,

08:24 or you might pull out Eddie House, somebody like that, Peyton Pritchard,

08:29 and, you know, Alicia Thomas, Alisa Thomas from the Sun.

08:35 They would participate in competition against, you know, somebody from the Knicks,

08:40 from the Liberty, even like a Knicks legend, things like that.

08:43 Like, I thought that was a cool plan.

08:45 I thought that was cool because you got all the things involved.

08:50 But they stopped that, and they did this shooting competition,

08:56 which is kind of confusing.

08:58 It's really not a lot of, really, action.

09:01 It's throw the ball through the hoop and make a shot, and, you know, it's nice,

09:08 but it doesn't do a lot.

09:11 The three-point contest--

09:12 Other than kill time, and I think that was one of the reasons why they made that tweak.

09:16 And it's an hour.

09:17 I thought it was way too long.

09:19 It was a full hour.

09:21 The three-point contest is fine.

09:24 The dunk contest, we can talk about that later with Jaylen.

09:27 But the All-Star game--

09:28 On my trash list, but keep going.

09:30 The All-Star game, I think it's going to take leaders from each team

09:38 to go up to their brother and their younger teammates and go,

09:42 whether it be LeBron, Giannis, and go, "Listen, mofos, we're going to play hard."

09:48 It's going to take leadership.

09:50 But when LeBron's like, "Hey, I'm only going to play the first half,"

09:54 and LeBron left the bench for part of the game and went back to whatever--

09:58 Took a nap, got a sandwich.

10:00 Yeah.

10:01 If the veterans aren't taking it that seriously,

10:05 then the young guys are not going to take it that seriously.

10:08 So what you have to do is you have to have some command in that locker room

10:13 because a coach can't do nothing.

10:15 But LeBron's got to go to guys like Anthony Edwards and Karl Anthony Towns

10:21 and go, "Hey, fellas, listen.

10:23 We've been messing around too long in this game.

10:26 Midway through the third quarter, we're going to pick it up."

10:29 And there needs to be some bad blood and some real pride in your conference.

10:32 There just isn't that pride in the Easter conference.

10:36 Like this is a rap.

10:38 East Coast, West Coast rap.

10:40 These guys don't have the pride in their conference as like,

10:45 "We're the best conference in the NBA."

10:48 No, we're the best-- Like they just don't have that.

10:51 And then-- So is money a part of it?

10:55 Yes.

10:56 And people, "Oh, how do you-- well-paid player and multimillionaire."

11:00 It's like we saw what happened in the NCA tournament.

11:03 They got incentivized by the money.

11:06 So you have to give them incentive.

11:08 But I don't know if it's just straight cash or if it's like money for a charity

11:13 or a cause or something where they can look good by giving to less fortunate

11:19 but also be encouraged to play hard.

11:22 So I don't know what-- I don't think you should kill the All-Star game.

11:27 I think it still can be fun, and I think it still can be an event.

11:32 But stressing to them to play hard just ain't doing it.

11:36 It's going to take the veteran players, the leaders in the league,

11:43 the LeBrons, the Stephs, the Eastern Conference--

11:49 Tatum.

11:51 Yeah, even Tatum.

11:52 It's going to take those guys to really go to their younger teammates

11:57 and say, "Listen, this is what's about to happen."

12:02 And those young guys have to listen.

12:04 They can't rebel and be like, "Shut up, old man."

12:06 There's got to be some hierarchy here, and there isn't

12:11 because I don't think LeBron-- you know, LeBron showed up.

12:14 Nothing against LeBron. He's LeBron.

12:17 He didn't come into town until Saturday.

12:22 He just-- "Hey, I'm going to take an extra vacation day.

12:25 I'm not doing that media stuff on Friday."

12:29 So now some of the players don't take the weekend as seriously

12:32 because, in all honesty, as we talked about, the weekend is a full weekend.

12:37 You get there Thursday.

12:39 Some of these guys got events on Thursday night.

12:42 Then it's Friday, ex-shoe company, ex-potato chip company, this, that.

12:50 "Hey, Jason, we need you to be here to do this.

12:53 We need you to meet with these kids.

12:55 They got the NBA Cares events."

12:57 Then there's Saturday.

12:59 They do that little BS practice.

13:01 They do all the interviews, and then it's like they do some other

13:06 charity stuff or do some other stuff for their company or whatever.

13:11 Then they go to All-Star Saturday night.

13:13 Then they go to the parties.

13:15 Then Sunday, these fools is tired.

13:18 Remember, they done played 58 games already.

13:21 So you're asking them to go to hell in a high-water kind of effort for games.

13:30 And they're like, "Listen, I'm tired."

13:33 So I don't know what you do.

13:35 Do you give them a break?

13:36 Do you give them -- how do you give it to where they can do it?

13:41 I think the older players have to take over.

13:44 You have to probably put some more incentive down.

13:47 And then the coaches, too.

13:50 It's hard.

13:52 It's hard, Gary, but you touched on earlier what I think ultimately it should

13:58 come down to, and it doesn't, and that's pride.

14:01 You should -- to me, letting some dude -- I don't give a damn whether it's an

14:06 All-Star game or it's a pickup game at Rucker Park or wherever.

14:10 You don't let somebody like Cat go off for 50 on a bench with most of what he's

14:15 getting his lips.

14:16 You don't let Cat do double chin-up dunks in a game.

14:20 I don't care where you're at.

14:22 Pride has to kick in.

14:23 And I think the NBA can kind of, frankly, put in some guardrails to help that.

14:28 For example, why not make -- why not give incentive to holding a team under 40

14:33 points per quarter?

14:35 Like an extra $10,000, an extra $100,000 to your charity, or, hell, an extra

14:40 $100,000 in your team's pocket.

14:42 And why don't we make it like win and take all?

14:45 Forget the share in the pot.

14:47 Why don't we make it put all the money that you pour into the All-Star game, put

14:51 it in one big pot and just say winning team gets the whole enchilada.

14:56 And, again, you have to think of ways to give these players incentive to play a

15:00 little bit harder than they are.

15:02 Now, that doesn't mean they're going to go all out because if you're Jalen

15:05 Brown and you've got $300 million coming to you this year, you ain't tripping

15:08 over losing like a million to $2 or whatever.

15:11 You'll be like, damn, okay.

15:14 But you will trip over the fact that you got schooled by player XYZ123.

15:19 That's going to get you salty.

15:21 And you just might hit him with a hard foul that he don't appreciate, and he

15:25 just might get in your grill.

15:27 And next thing you know, you come back to the regular season.

15:30 That just happens to be the first game you play against them.

15:32 So now all of a sudden the NBA has created additional storylines.

15:35 You've created a greater sense of tension, which you need in professional

15:40 sports.

15:41 Everyone can't love everybody.

15:43 Who the hell wants to watch that?

15:45 You want to see a little tension?

15:46 Yeah, you want to see guys get at each other a little bit.

15:49 And the NBA has to figure out ways to utilize the All-Star game to not only

15:53 to keep it from just frankly dying a slow death, because their numbers are

15:58 great, but you know, and I know that with the product that they're putting

16:02 out there now, it's just a matter of when, not if people are going to be like,

16:06 F that, that it's weak.

16:08 I don't tune into the All-Star game unless I'm there until late in the

16:12 third quarter, because I know everything they've done up to that point has

16:16 been trash.

16:17 I mean, it's basically a glorified layup line for the most part.

16:21 Now, when it gets to the end, that's when it starts getting real.

16:24 That's when guys start to start a ball a little bit, but they have to do

16:28 something though, man, because you can't possibly roll out the same format

16:32 next year.

16:33 And again, I think one of the smartest things they can do is try to capitalize

16:38 on the growing popularity of the WNBA, particularly some of the stars that are

16:42 not only in the WNBA now, but are coming.

16:45 It speaks specifically about Caitlin and speaking about Angel Reese, two very

16:49 high profile individuals who no matter what venue, no matter what event that

16:55 you attach with them, you know, it's going to be a big draw.

16:58 You know, it's going to draw lots of eyeballs.

17:00 And with that comes sponsorships, which you already jack up the price for that

17:04 anyway.

17:05 So that means more money, more money, more money.

17:08 Makes sense.

17:10 I think part of building that incentive, when you think about the players that

17:15 are in it, you look like a team like the Celtics and Tatum and Brown both being

17:20 on this roster.

17:23 To your point, there's no incentive because right now they're focused on

17:26 winning a championship.

17:28 So for them to exert and grin, and of course they still had really good

17:31 performances, but that being said, a lot of teams, I could understand them not

17:36 wanting to put in that much effort because they do need to preserve their body.

17:39 All-star is like losing the weekend that all your classmates get to go on

17:44 vacation and you're like, yeah, I get to go on vacation, but I'm getting a

17:47 less amount of time to do so.

17:49 Granted, I know this grand scheme of the amount of money they have, they can

17:53 private jet somewhere.

17:55 But all that being said, for, again, a team that is a championship contender,

17:59 how do you convince them to exert that much energy for an entire weekend,

18:03 knowing that it doesn't necessarily -- yes, it's good for marketing, but

18:07 physically it's draining for them.

18:09 And again, the goal is to win.

18:11 I'm just wondering whether the NBA needs to take a much closer look at that

18:17 in-season tournament and see if there's some elements of that that they can

18:21 sprinkle out throughout the regular season.

18:23 And make games actually matter more than just a win or a loss.

18:27 If they have a different kind of value system and more, I think, significant

18:30 value system that if you beat Cleveland by six points, beating Cleveland by 15,

18:37 16 points might be better.

18:39 There might be incentive for you to be -- basically stay on your grind for an

18:45 extended period of time and then take that into the All-Star Week.

18:48 And where, again, there are potential incentives that you can, frankly, bake

18:53 into the winning conference.

18:55 So that potentially, you know, you could have a situation where if, let's say,

18:59 you're in the top two or three teams in the East and you're one of the top two

19:03 or three teams out West and you're thinking about home court advantage, you

19:07 could potentially make it so that the winning conference will get X number of

19:12 points towards their overall total.

19:14 That could be the difference between them having home court in the NBA Finals and

19:16 not.

19:18 And it's one of those things where if you're a player and you know -- like, for

19:21 example, if, let's say, you're Jason Tatum and let's say you are Joel Embiid and

19:25 let's say you are Giannis Antetokounmpo and you got the top -- you play for the

19:29 top three teams in the Eastern Conference and you know by winning that All-Star

19:33 game, it's going to give whoever comes out of the East a slight edge over whoever

19:38 comes out of the West.

19:40 You are going to have a different kind of mindset going into that All-Star game.

19:43 You're going to be looking to ball because you know that it's good not just for

19:46 that moment, but it's good for the overall team that you are the leader of.

19:51 And they need to figure out a way for these guys to care.

19:54 That's what a lot of this comes down to.

19:56 They just don't give a damn about All-Star weekend or the All-Star game because

19:59 they're not given any incentive beyond just a check, which is basically lunch

20:04 money to them, major payday for us.

20:07 Well, for them, it's just -- it doesn't have the same significance.

20:10 And they need to figure out a way to make these players care about this game.

20:14 And to me, the one way that you can get their attention is make it impact

20:18 playoff positioning.

20:20 Make it impact something that they absolutely care more about because every

20:26 NBA player who's been in the game for five, six, seven, eight years, they ain't

20:29 worried about money.

20:31 They're good when it comes to money.

20:33 They want to win championships because the players like Jason Tatum, who has made

20:38 it clear he wants to be an all-time great, he knows that ain't going to happen

20:43 unless he wins a chip.

20:45 Figuring out ways to get him even beyond just the regular season, but also an

20:49 All-Star weekend to keep that same edge about him.

20:52 You're looking for ways to do that.

20:54 And giving him and giving Giannis and guys who are playing on those top-tier

20:58 teams an opportunity to improve their lot, so to speak, makes a lot of sense.

21:03 Totally makes sense.

21:05 >> The moral of the story is that the NBA does need to evolve as the same way the

21:10 game has, their structure and their season needs to as well.

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21:49 >> So moving on, Tatum and Brown, let's talk about specifically Jalen Brown's

21:53 slam dunk contest.

21:55 I want to hear both of your thoughts.

21:57 He had an assist from Tatum.

21:59 I saw the report that the glove -- was that you, Gary?

22:03 The silver glove was owed to Michael Jackson, who is --

22:07 >> Hee-hee!

22:08 >> -- Gary Indiana, which other people did not pick up on that.

22:12 They thought he was trying to prove that he can go left.

22:15 So that one went over a lot of people's heads.

22:17 So the results, do you agree with them?

22:20 What did you think about his performance?

22:22 I was -- it's been a long time coming.

22:24 I've always wanted to see Brown be in this dunk contest, but it was -- it was an experience.

22:30 [ Laughter ]

22:32 >> Here's the thing, and I'm going to be real short with this.

22:36 Jalen Brown found himself literally competing with guys out of his league, as in the NBA.

22:42 He was dealing -- I mean, it's like -- I mean, I felt bad for him, because no matter what he did,

22:49 he wasn't going to win, because he had not one, not two, but three underdogs.

22:52 And one of the underdogs was, like, not even six feet tall.

22:55 And Mac deserved to win.

22:57 I thought he was -- I thought of all the -- the person who outwounded winning was deserving.

23:02 But Jalen should have been there, or they should have found, frankly -- I mean, you didn't even get the best topping, brother.

23:09 >> That's -- yeah.

23:11 >> You got the JV version of one of the better dunkers out there.

23:17 And to me, it's -- again, adding to my trash file, slam dunk contest.

23:23 >> Yeah.

23:24 >> That's all I can --

23:25 >> No, because to your point, then, it's like, how do you incentivize other NBA players that are household names to play?

23:34 >> You better believe that Jalen -- when Jalen found out he was competing, he was like, wait, what?

23:37 >> I know he was mad.

23:38 Like, seriously?

23:39 >> He's like, Jalen feels played.

23:41 I know there's a part of him who may not admit it, but it's just like --

23:44 >> They used him.

23:45 >> They okie-dokie me big time.

23:47 >> Let's be honest.

23:48 If he wasn't in it, who would have actually watched it?

23:50 >> They got me up in here with some -- these ain't even all G League all-stars.

23:53 We got one, maybe two G League all-stars.

23:55 The rest of them is just G League players.

23:57 Come on.

23:59 What you got, Gary?

24:00 >> Yeah, I thought the dunk contest -- I mean --

24:07 >> Don't try to make it sound sweet, Gary, because you know it's trash.

24:11 >> I don't think -- I thought Jalen was better than people thought.

24:14 I thought Jalen actually did okay.

24:16 I don't think he was -- I don't think he should have won.

24:18 I thought he deserved.

24:19 I thought Max McClung did it, but, you know, we just got to stop the jumping over certain three, two, three guys.

24:27 That's getting old.

24:28 We got to stop -- we got to retire Shaq from being a prop.

24:32 We got to get over that.

24:34 >> Wimby's up next.

24:36 >> Yeah, we have to start working on our creativity.

24:41 >> Yeah.

24:42 >> We have to start working on -- and you look in the streets and see some of these brothers doing 720s, like, we've got to -- you got to put the work into it to get good.

24:53 And you also have to have some of the game's best dunkers to participate.

25:00 And you can't have -- you got guys, you know, like, I mean, Hawkins got hops.

25:05 I thought it was -- he tried his best.

25:08 And Jacob Toppin, who's kind of a G leaguer.

25:12 >> He is.

25:13 In a kind of, Gary.

25:14 >> Max McClung.

25:15 I mean, I think it's embarrassing that the league can't get anything more than like a rookie besides Jalen to participate.

25:23 I think that's embarrassing.

25:25 What can the league do?

25:27 What can the league -- and the players have to see it upon themselves to want to do this.

25:34 But the problem is, when you look at the three-point contest, like, we don't know who was -- do you remember who was eliminating the first round?

25:44 I know Bilek Beasley was.

25:46 I can't remember -- like, I think Carl -- no, Carl Fittell's advanced.

25:51 I think it was Trey Young didn't make it.

25:54 We're not calling Trey Young a terrible shooter.

25:56 We're not calling him trash.

25:57 We're not saying he just didn't have it that night.

26:00 It's okay.

26:01 You can enter next year, right?

26:03 And the thing is, Dame Lillard went one, you know.

26:09 And it was like, hey, you can enter as many -- you can win three and four three-point shootouts.

26:14 No one judges.

26:16 But for some reason, people judge a slam dunk competition.

26:20 And people are all hard and, oh, that was whack and that was ridiculous.

26:25 And, oh, you should have -- and it's just like, we have gotten so used to the trampoline guys and all these guys, you know, these regular-looking guys who jump on a damn trampoline and do, you know, back flips and dunk it, that it's taken the luster out of the regular dunk.

26:44 And so I think you've got to have some more creativity.

26:48 You've got to have -- maybe consult with what -- you know, hey, get one of these guys to be a dunk coach.

26:56 Some of these dudes in the streets who can do all this fancy stuff, work with Jaylen, work with guys so these guys can do some of these dunks because we've got to bring the luster back.

27:06 I don't think you should scrap it, but you've got to have guys bold enough to want to enter it.

27:12 You know, and we did for a while.

27:14 We had Aaron Gordon and Zach Levine.

27:16 That was one of the best all-time great dunk contests.

27:19 Yeah.

27:20 Well, we just -- it's lost its luster.

27:23 The veterans are like, "No, I'm not going out there doing all that stuff.

27:26 I'll just watch."

27:28 And then the young guys are like, "Okay, but you never heard of them."

27:32 How many people heard of Jacob Toppin?

27:34 It was like, "Oh, wait a minute.

27:35 I didn't know Obie had a little brother in the league."

27:37 Yeah, you know.

27:39 Mac McClung, he's played four NBA games.

27:42 That's it.

27:44 The game after, I think he won a second dunk.

27:46 We can't -- you know, he's not signed to an NBA team.

27:49 He's not on a two-way.

27:50 He's just playing the G League, you know.

27:54 And Ami Hawkins is going to be on the all-rookie team, but he's not somebody you look

27:59 and be like, "Oh, that's a high flyer.

28:00 That's a dude who's like -- he'll just jam on you."

28:04 I can't remember him dunking in a game against the South.

28:07 But we didn't have this generation, this current, no Zion, no John.

28:14 A lot of these guys who could really get up.

28:17 And Edwards.

28:18 Edwards, nope, nope, nope.

28:21 So what can you do?

28:22 You got to talk those guys.

28:25 And I don't know if it's going to be in cinema again, but talk those guys into doing it.

28:30 And the All-Star Saturday Night has lost its luster in terms -- remember the old days

28:36 for years, it was the place to be, the sideline, all the All-Stars,

28:41 even guys who were just in the league who were just there for the weekend,

28:44 all watching from the side, their teammates and their friends competing.

28:50 You don't see that no more.

28:52 You don't see -- it's a bunch of social media influencers just watching it

28:55 and celebrities.

28:57 Jason, love Jason.

29:00 Jason, after he helped Jaylon out, he left.

29:04 He didn't watch the finals.

29:06 He didn't even think his coat off.

29:07 Yeah, he left.

29:09 He didn't even think his coat off.

29:11 He was like that dude that showed up at the party and said, "Hey, y'all,

29:13 how y'all doing?"

29:14 Yeah, hey, listen, I'll catch y'all right away.

29:16 These guys rather go to dinner, they rather go to dinner and go to the Nike party

29:22 or the Jordan party or the -- they'd rather do that than stay for the --

29:28 it used to be that that's where the players were.

29:31 Everybody on the side, look at all the faces.

29:33 It's like Giannis and those guys, a couple, but not like it used to be,

29:38 and I don't know why.

29:40 Whether it's -- it's how you do them.

29:44 Yeah, I wanted to --

29:47 Is it also the city too?

29:49 You think the city makes a difference?

29:50 I feel like that has to play a role, the destination.

29:54 Yeah, but I do think a lot of players still go to All-Star, you know,

29:58 for certain promotional purposes,

30:00 even the ones that don't make the All-Star team.

30:02 But you're right, you're right, Juani.

30:06 I do think the city has something to do with it, but I also think these guys,

30:11 like, being there doesn't have the luster that it used to be.

30:20 That's right.

30:21 In terms of even on Saturday night.

30:24 So I don't know how to get this young generation engaged more,

30:29 but something's got to be done,

30:31 and I think the player association, if they didn't know it before,

30:35 they know it now.

30:36 Like, okay, we got to have some discussions about how to improve this,

30:40 because we're getting embarrassed here,

30:44 and people are not talking positive about our sport.

30:48 All right, talking about Tatum, actually, he --

30:51 I was surprised by this as well,

30:53 but apparently Jason Tatum met Larry Bird for the first time this past weekend.

30:58 Were you two surprised about that fact?

31:00 Because, again, I did not realize those two hadn't met.

31:04 And why or why not would you be surprised?

31:08 You go, Gary.

31:10 I wasn't surprised.

31:11 I mean, when are they supposed to meet?

31:13 Like, Larry Bird is a -- he's the anti-Magic Johnson.

31:18 He keeps a very low profile.

31:20 He doesn't do a lot of interviews.

31:21 He doesn't come back to Boston.

31:22 He doesn't go -- he doesn't come back to Boston.

31:24 He just does his thing.

31:27 So when is -- when exactly are they supposed to meet?

31:30 Larry doesn't come to Boston.

31:32 He doesn't go to a lot of these, like, NBA alumni

31:34 where you see a lot of the same former players come out and celebrate.

31:39 And that's great.

31:40 A lot of these guys are into that.

31:42 It's like anything else.

31:44 If you go to your high school reunion, you know, I don't know, I mean,

31:48 Quan, I know it's a few years or many years before your 20th,

31:53 but when you get your 20th, about 30% of your class is going to show.

31:59 The other 70% -- yeah, the other 70% are like, no, I'm good.

32:05 Like, why, you know, no, I'm good.

32:09 That was 20 years ago.

32:11 I got other stuff to do with my money.

32:13 I don't need to see, you know, Bobo and Coco anymore and little Monster.

32:20 No, I'm okay with them.

32:22 Who are these people, Gary?

32:24 Bobo and Coco.

32:26 Kilo and, you know.

32:29 Yeah, you got your class basically like,

32:31 why is he putting up our nicknames?

32:34 I'm just saying.

32:35 It's just -- so Larry doesn't -- he's one of those guys, he's a low profile.

32:39 So, no, I'm not surprised.

32:41 I don't blame him and I don't blame anybody else.

32:44 He doesn't come to reunions.

32:46 Robert Parrish doesn't come out very much.

32:48 Some guys just aren't into it.

32:51 Like, oh, come back to Boston for like Jersey retirement or KGs, Jersey.

32:57 Like, you don't see it as much.

33:00 And it's fine.

33:01 And I don't blame Larry.

33:03 I don't blame the Celtics.

33:05 You know, but when he was there, he was comfortable.

33:08 He showed up.

33:09 He's like, okay, I'm going to be one of the hosts of this thing

33:12 and I'm going to shake hands.

33:14 You know, I thought it was an awesome, neat moment.

33:17 Like, I don't know why people are asking,

33:19 why has it been seven years?

33:22 Like, is Larry supposed to come to Boston

33:25 and shake hands with all the current Celtics?

33:27 Like, he's just -- that's not him.

33:29 He's not Paul Pierce.

33:30 He's not Garnett.

33:32 He's not these guys.

33:33 He's a 64-year-old man who stays, if I'm not mistaken,

33:39 who stays in suburban Indianapolis and just stays to himself

33:44 and does his thing.

33:45 That's okay.

33:46 It is.

33:47 It is.

33:48 There's nothing wrong with that.

33:50 He shouldn't have to be out like, oh, that's a shame that he hasn't met --

33:57 is he supposed to meet all the current Celtics?

34:00 Like, is that a rule?

34:02 Gary, here's my thing, though.

34:04 Here's my thing.

34:05 I agree with most of what you're saying,

34:07 but as Jason continued to just shatter or break damn near every record

34:14 at that age group, and most of those records were held by Larry,

34:17 I would have thought that you being in your suburban Indianapolis crib,

34:21 when the Celtics came to Indy,

34:23 you might just want to see a young fellow up close because it literally would

34:28 take you basically a small Uber ride if you didn't feel like driving,

34:32 or you could get in your whip and you can get there in your damn.

34:35 You will get a good seat.

34:36 You will get good tickets, so you ain't got to worry about that.

34:39 I would have thought that that would have happened by now only just because

34:42 of the way Jason has gone about taking an all-out assault on damn near

34:46 every Celtic record, many of which Larry already owns.

34:49 I would have thought that maybe he would have reached out in that regard,

34:54 and because, again, to your point, Gary,

34:56 he ain't coming back to Boston to say what's up to Jason Tate.

34:59 That ain't going to happen.

35:01 There has to be a reason why, and I would have thought that maybe

35:04 with the Celtics popping into town that at some point in the last three years,

35:11 he might have swung over there just to see a young fellow.

35:14 It was that, yeah.

35:16 He also got -- he also had a pandemic.

35:19 I'm just not going -- I just checked.

35:21 Larry's 67 years old.

35:23 I'm not going to turn around and blame him because he doesn't come around

35:28 and go into the locker room during a regular season game and go,

35:32 "Hey, Jason, how are you?

35:33 I'm Larry Bird."

35:35 No.

35:36 You and I be friends.

35:37 Yeah, like it's just not where it is.

35:40 He was at All-Star weekend.

35:43 He showed -- does -- you know, do every team's great?

35:47 Does Michael Jordan go into the Bulls' locker room

35:49 and shake hands with Zach LaVine?

35:51 No.

35:52 He didn't even show up when they raised the bag.

35:54 Exactly.

35:55 He barely --

35:56 You know, like how many players are really --

35:58 how many foreign players are really doing that?

36:01 You know what I'm saying?

36:02 Some of these guys, like, he's not magic.

36:05 That's a Magic Johnson thing.

36:07 Isaiah Thomas, I'm sure, knows a lot of current guys.

36:11 You know, like, there's foreign players who really embrace the younger players.

36:17 Larry just stays to -- I don't think he dislikes --

36:19 he literally said in his speech at the Legends brunch,

36:22 he likes the game the way it's played today.

36:24 He loves it.

36:26 He's not a bitter old man.

36:27 He just doesn't like to get out.

36:30 That's fine.

36:31 He doesn't do a lot of media.

36:33 He doesn't do a lot of interviews.

36:35 He's not -- you know, so that's fine.

36:38 I don't expect that he's going to meet Jason and go in there and go,

36:41 "Hey, Jason, I'm Larry Bird.

36:44 I'm the man you wish you could be."

36:46 Like, no, he's not going to like -- he's not going to shake -- you know,

36:49 it's like when it's right, it's right.

36:52 I am him, Jason.

36:54 I am him.

36:56 Like, now, I'm sure if the Celtics said, "Hey, Larry,

36:59 could you talk to our guys," or maybe if one of the --

37:03 Stevens or Mazzulla or somebody approached him and said,

37:07 "Hey, Larry, could you speak to our guys,"

37:09 I'm sure he would have probably done that.

37:11 Has that ever happened?

37:12 I'm not sure.

37:13 I'm not going to blame --

37:14 They playing in the playoffs, would not be surprised if Brad --

37:16 Yeah, I'm not going to blame Larry Bird.

37:19 And also, Larry's an executive for the Pacers.

37:22 You going to hang out with other teams?

37:24 Like, so I don't blame Larry for doing that.

37:28 I think we all know Larry Bird's a private guy.

37:33 We don't see a lot.

37:35 Magic turned 60.

37:37 The whole world saw where Magic was.

37:39 Every step of the moment, turning 60.

37:41 He went to the islands, Greek islands, Italy.

37:45 I felt like I was with him.

37:47 Like, it was like Magic is one of those guys that he really is a public guy.

37:54 He always has been, and Larry's been the private guy, you know.

37:59 And Larry did a couple interviews this weekend, All-Star weekend.

38:02 He made a speech at the Legends brunch.

38:05 You know, he did what he's supposed to do,

38:07 and he's going to go right back to just chilling

38:10 and being like a retired legend.

38:13 And that's -- you know, that's okay.

38:16 No, I respect it.

38:17 Everyone has an individuality that should be embraced.

38:21 And, I mean, Larry -- Gary, Larry.

38:24 Larry has always kind of given that personality anyway.

38:27 So it was more of a -- still a shock for me because, again,

38:31 you talk about Celtics history, but to your point,

38:34 it's not always necessary for them to all have met.

38:38 But closing out, let's look ahead.

38:40 All-Star break is officially -- well, not officially over.

38:44 They still have two or three days to go to Mexico or something.

38:48 But what do you guys want to see from them,

38:51 and specifically when it comes to what they can improve on

38:54 as they look towards this not formal second half,

38:57 but after this All-Star break half?

39:01 I want to see more of those end-of-the-bench guys play

39:04 because if they're playing more, that means Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown,

39:08 Al Horford, Prazinga are playing less.

39:10 And I want to see less of them closing out the season

39:13 because I think they're going to need them to play extended minutes in the playoffs.

39:16 And Joe Mazzullo, that's really the balancing act

39:19 that he's going to have to strike between now and the end of the regular season

39:22 is giving his core guys enough downtime so that they're fresh

39:25 and ready to roll come playoff time without them being rusty

39:30 or without them being overtaxed.

39:32 And to me, I look at guys like Tillman.

39:34 I look at guys like Peyton Pritchard,

39:36 who I think is trending in the right direction with his play of late,

39:40 and as guys that you need to see more of going forward

39:43 because those are the guys that, again, I think can help you get through

39:48 the regular season, keep your core guys healthy enough for the postseason,

39:53 and preparing themselves for the in case of an emergency,

39:57 I got to play Peyton Pritchard 25, 30 minutes.

40:00 He's had a good month and some change where he played pretty good minutes,

40:05 so that role wouldn't be something that all of a sudden he has to adapt to

40:08 and get used to.

40:09 So I think that's what I want to see.

40:11 I want to see Joe really figure out that balance between keeping his core guys

40:15 fresh and ready for the playoffs while giving opportunities for some of those

40:19 into the bench guys to close this thing out and help them secure that top seat

40:23 overall.

40:26 Yeah, I want to see them just punch first, take every game seriously,

40:35 and give themselves a break for the last couple of weeks of the season.

40:39 Like, make sure that -- keep a comfortable lead in the Eastern Conference

40:43 and make sure the last couple of weeks is time for Porzingis to get rest,

40:49 Horford to get rest, even Jason and Jalen here and there to get rest

40:54 and make sure that they're ready and they get that number one seat.

40:58 So the schedule is a little bit difficult.

41:01 Obviously it starts with the Bulls and the Knicks,

41:03 then I think it's Philadelphia and Dallas.

41:06 So not easy games, but take it and then post into that number one seat

41:12 and then you get it, you're healthy for the playoffs and you're ready.

41:17 And like Sherrod said, see what you got out of Jade Springer,

41:21 see what you got out of Xavier Tillman, mix and match rotations,

41:26 figure some things out, but also get some rest in April to where April

41:31 is not a stressful month.

41:33 Let all them other teams fight it out for number two seat or avoid the play-in.

41:37 You have the number one seat all set and ready to go

41:40 and you're ready for the playoffs.

41:43 - That's-- - Yeah, so for those who are itching for Celtics basketball,

41:48 like Gary said, the next game will be on Thursday.

41:51 They'll play the Bulls, the Knicks after that,

41:53 then they'll be back at the TD Garden the following Tuesday to play the Sixers.

41:57 Obviously you probably have met by then, if not,

42:00 meet right after for another episode of the Big 3 NBA podcast.

42:04 So until then, we hope you are all in residence/all-star.

42:09 We'll be back next week. Thank you, Off the List.

42:14 [outro music]

How Do You Fix the All Star Game? | The Big 3 Podcast

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