00:00Listen, it's to the point for NBA players' injuries.
00:03There are certain guys like Embiid, right?
00:06I would almost tell Embiid, listen, go away.
00:10Come back in early February, right?
00:13Don't do anything stupid.
00:14Don't suffer any injuries.
00:16We'll get to the postseason.
00:17We'll get a one, two, three, maybe even four seed without you.
00:21Our team is so loaded.
00:22The last thing we want out of you is to tear your ACL
00:27and be done for the rest of the season.
00:28So just go away.
00:30We'll pretend you got injured.
00:31We'll make something up.
00:33And then, like I said, come back in February,
00:35and then we'll have you for the stretch run and the postseason.
00:37It's not the craziest strategy.
00:39It's sad to say it's not the craziest strategy in the world.
00:42It really isn't.
00:43No, I mean, generally it doesn't happen in sports.
00:45The only player who I remember doing who did this a couple of different times,
00:51Scott, it was, I mean, I always go back to baseball with this,
00:53but I'm sure there have been players in the NFL who come back in the middle
00:58of the season.
00:59I mean, Indomitian Sioux is one that comes to mind.
01:01I think he would sit out like half the year, pick a player.
01:04But the guy in baseball for me that sort of started it all,
01:06Scott, was Roger Clemens.
01:08That was the guy for me that toward the end of his career,
01:10he just would pick Houston or pick New York.
01:13He'd come back in July, pitch a few games,
01:16and then try and chase a championship.
01:18I agree with you.
01:19Philadelphia looks so dominant right now.
01:21I don't think that they would miss a beat without him beat,
01:23and then they get him back.
01:25Agree with you.
01:26There's more risk playing him now that he would miss some time.
01:29That team is so good.
01:32LeBron really, in the end, say what you want.
01:34He's a very intelligent human being, man.
01:37Like, he picked the right team to go to, Scott.
01:39Like, he nailed it.
01:41Absolutely knew what he was doing.
01:42Good job by him.
01:44What they need to do, you know, I fix all, right?
01:47I'll fix the Tampa Bay, you know, Devil Rays or Rays situation, right?
01:53I can fix the NBA.
01:54It's never going to happen.
01:55But they need to obviously emphasize seedings a lot more
02:00because the players just don't care.
02:01Like I said, give me the sixth seed versus the three seed, whatever.
02:04Who cares, right?
02:05Makes no difference.
02:06No.
02:06Right.
02:07So the only way to do that, Craig, is to emphasize, all right,
02:10so we got to really reward the top four seeds, we'll say,
02:13and really punish the lower four seeds.
02:15So instead of having it in a best of seven like the NBA has,
02:19four and three home court advantage, they got to make that where, man,
02:23it is so much more beneficial.
02:25I would sign – the owners would never do six versus one,
02:29but maybe even five home games to two.
02:32If we're the higher seed, we get five of the seven home games.
02:35The road team only gets two.
02:36Now go try and win a series with only two home games.
02:40They need to do something like that to get these players more involved,
02:44more caring about the regular season.
02:47And that to me is, you know, you could go extreme and say, okay,
02:51the better seed only needs to win three games,
02:53and the road team or the lower seed needs to win four.
02:58I'd be okay with that.
02:59I don't think they would ever do either.
03:01But maybe make it five, two, six, one.
03:04So you really are getting rewarded by finishing one, two, three, and four.
03:09Well, I mean, look, Scott, in the NFL, they have buys.
03:12In Major League Baseball, they have buys.
03:14What's to stop the NBA from saying if you finish one or two in your conference,
03:19you don't have to play in the first round?
03:21The only problem is, Scott, they'd probably make everybody make the playoffs
03:24at that point.
03:24They'd have to add more teams to the playoffs.
03:26So everybody's in no matter what, no matter what you do in the regular season.
03:30But inherently that's, you know, obviously the biggest – you know,
03:33you talked about seeding.
03:34But the biggest problem, as you mentioned, it's sort of shocking to hear that,
03:38like, two teams don't make the playoffs in the NBA.
03:40Like, it's kind of crazy.
03:42Like, you have to be so bad to not get in the playoff game.
03:47But honestly, the play-in game has given fans of those teams a little bit more hope.
03:52Some teams have come out of the play-in game, and they've done okay.
03:56But none of them are winning championships or anything like that.
03:59So, you know, just an avenue to make more money for the league.
04:01And I get it.
04:02It's what they do.
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