Hello and welcome back to Takeline! Jason Concepcion and Jamel Johnson (Air Buds and Sorry We Love Football podcasts), along with producers Ryan Wallerson And Zuri Irvin, discuss the events of MLB Wild Card weekend and week 10 of the English Premier League. Then Anthony Slater, Golden State Warriors insider for the Athletic, takes the duo through the events and fallout of last week’s altercation between Jordan Poole and Draymond Green.

 

TRANSCRIPT

 

Draymond Green Clip With the event yesterday with the video leaking, there’s a there is a. A huge embarrassment that comes with that, not not only for myself as as as I was the one that committed the action. The embarrassment that comes for me is what it is. And that’s something that I have to deal with. But the embarrassment that Jordan has to deal with and that this team has to deal with, that this organization has to deal with, but also of Jordan’s family. You know, his family saw that video. His mother his father saw that video. And. Quite frankly, if my mother saw that video, I know how my mother would feel. I know what her next. I know what her reaction would be and I know what her next step would be. And so for that, I apologize to his mother and his father and, you know, his family, his friends ugh that care for him.

 

Jason Concepcion Hello and welcome to Take Line. I am your host, Jason Concepcion. And with me once again is the great Jamel Johnson of the Airbuds podcast, of the Sorry We Love Football Podcast, one of the greatest to ever do it. We’ll also be joined by Anthony Slater, Warriors Insider for The Athletic to help us unpack all the things going on with Draymond Green. Absolutely molly whopping Jordan Poole in the face. Plus, we’re going to talk about the fucking Nets. We’re going to talk about the EPL. We’re going to talk about a lot of stuff. Jamel. How are you?

 

Jamel Johnson I’m doing good. I’m doing so good. Come on, you podcast listeners.

 

Jason Concepcion Let’s go.

 

Jamel Johnson Bup bup! And the Mariners too. I can’t believe the Mariners are in the playoffs and winning games.

 

Jason Concepcion It’s been an entire lifetime for many people. Like there are people alive right now who are like, wow, the fucking Mariners.

 

Jamel Johnson Big ups to Sir Mix-a-Lot. Big ups to that old the game boy advanced ad that they used to have on the backstop in Japanese. One of my favorite things about baseball and shout out to you, the listener.

 

Jason Concepcion Yes. Listeners, thank you so much. We’re going to get into it a little bit right now. Also, like, let me just say fucking Julio Rodriguez, he’s like eight months old the last time the Mariners were in the playoffs.

 

Jamel Johnson And that’s why it’s working.

 

Jason Concepcion Well, another wonderful weekend in the Premier League. Hmm. Jamel, I. I woke up to Liverpool versus Liverpool at Arsenal, and the reason I woke up to it is I heard my neighbors screaming and I know they’re a Liverpool fan. And then I was like, Oh shit, the match. And I turned it on and we had scored already. I love it. Love to see it. Arsenal three two over the vaunted Liverpool FC. Huge win. Huge win.

 

Jamel Johnson Have you seen it before? When is the last time we’ve beat Liverpool and you saw it?

 

Jason Concepcion It’s been a second. I’m trying to think like it’s been a minute. It’s been a minute. It’s an absolutely. A huge a huge victory. Keeps keeps us on the top of the table where listen, we haven’t played Man City yet, and they have a cyborg as a striker. Yeah, but you just. Men are the. The grit, the courage, as our Teta would say, the passion, guys. Martinelli tearing down the left wing. You absolutely love to see it.

 

Jamel Johnson When I watch it, it feels like something is wrong with me. It feels like there’s a brain tumor that’s forming in my head. Why is my team playing good?

 

Jason Concepcion I mean, I might be wrong about this, but I can’t remember the last time we had the kind of, like, depth in the back. SALIBA Is it’s crazy to say this, like one of the best, if not the best young center back like in Europe. Ben White is solid. Tomiyasu It’s like when he too, when Tomiyasu plays, I’m like, Fuck him. He could start like he could play every day. Zinchenko is like it can play all over the left side in the midfield. It’s like, we’ve never had this kind of depth. It’s great, Gabriel. We have two Gabrielle’s. It’s like, you know, like it.

 

Ryan Wallerson It gets a little confusing.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah.

 

Ryan Wallerson It’s like, oh, both of them are doing well.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah.

 

Ryan Wallerson At first I thought it was a flash in the pan. I thought you guys can get off to a good start, run into some good opponents in bad form. But this genuinely looks sustainable. Like top four looks like something that is completely attainable for Arsenal. They’re contending for the top of the league. I was week ten, so this is not a small sample size anymore. One more week and we’ll be talking about a third of the season.

 

Jason Concepcion It feels like top four just should. It’s a it would be disastrous if they don’t get it. That said, I mean, winning the league, obviously it’s too early. It’s October to be.

 

Jamel Johnson I’m putting 50 on us winning the league. I don’t care. I want to burn. The money is burning a hole in my pocket. I’m going to do it.

 

Jason Concepcion I might put money on it.

 

Ryan Wallerson Happy to take your money.

 

Jamel Johnson All right.

 

Ryan Wallerson I will take that.

 

Jamel Johnson And I don’t care if the penalty was weak. I don’t care if it was weak.

 

Ryan Wallerson But you know that it was.

 

Jamel Johnson I don’t know.

 

Jason Concepcion See? Okay.

 

Jamel Johnson They sounded it.

 

Jason Concepcion Here’s the thing about that penalty. Coming off the end of the Wenger era, the Emery era, that is a penalty that has gone against that kind of penalty. That’s like by the book, but also like a little soft considering the magnitude of the game. That is a penalty that has gone against us so many times and I’m happy to take it this time. I’m happy to take it. That’s a professional scorer in there. Gabriel Jesus doing what he does. He felt that contact. He went down like he got shot.

 

Ryan Wallerson He’s it’s the facial expressions for me, guys. It’s it’s the automatic activation of just, like, egregious, overwhelming pain.

 

Jamel Johnson It’s a skill. Yes, it is. I’m tired of.

 

Ryan Wallerson And its unnecessary.

 

Jamel Johnson Once he felt homie’s boot touch his shoelace. It didn’t even connect with his actual body. Once the little bit of friction hit his shoelace, he knew.

 

Zuri Irvin He guided his foot upward. I’m looking at it now. I mean, you have to. You have to, like, make contact with the guy’s leg. Actually, I guess that’s not. I mean.

 

Jason Concepcion Like, by the books. That’s a penalty. I don’t. That’s a penalty.

 

Ryan Wallerson I don’t disagree.

 

Jason Concepcion The issue is where people will take exception to it is that it’s a huge game for for both teams Arsenal to stay up Liverpool just kind of get going. They’re in 10th place right now with with ten points in the league. Certainly they are there any hope they have of winning? The league is absolutely gone right now.

 

Ryan Wallerson And the truth of the game, it felt like a hard earned point for each side is would have been most representative an outcome. So for it to be decided in either direction by such a soft decision is just a disappointing end to a what was a really, really good match, one of the best of the season so far.

 

Jason Concepcion That said, keep it tight in the box. Keep it tight.

 

Jamel Johnson Yeah, exactly. That sequence was.

 

Jason Concepcion Crazy. And I’ll say one other thing, Martinelli when’s the last time you saw Trent Alexander-Arnold get yanked? At half time?

 

Ryan Wallerson That’s true.

 

Jason Concepcion Martinelli did that. Martinelli was running, my man. That’s courage. So hard. So fucking hard. The club was like, Yo, you got to come off. I’m sorry. You’re really good, but you got to come off that.

 

Ryan Wallerson That is telling. I’ll give you that.

 

Jason Concepcion They deserved the win.

 

Ryan Wallerson Much respect to Arsenal. Keep it going.

 

Zuri Irvin I’m looking at the bottom of the table. Leicester City, Nottingham Forest. Any of teams you guys like watching or any of the worst teams?

 

Jason Concepcion I mean Leicester I feel like is the team that could crawl out of here, right?

 

Ryan Wallerson I enjoy watching Leicester and Crystal Palace games just because they’re the two teams in the league that like no matter how good you are, they will throw a wrench into your shirt with no.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah, they got talent and, and you catch them on the right day and they can hurt you. Nottingham Forest. I was delighted to see them come up, you know, like a historic team and I just love the tree. It’s fun to look at. But they.

 

Jamel Johnson Robin Hood used to play for Tim.

 

Jason Concepcion Robin Robin Hood like you wouldn’t talk about talent.

 

Jamel Johnson He was left back for Littlejohn.

 

Jason Concepcion Littlejohn. In the defense, it made Marion in the midfield. I’ll tell you one thing. Looking at this that that I’m worried about. Is Newcastle man that money work quick there in six. They’re challenging for a four Champions League place right now.

 

Ryan Wallerson Yeah, they’re already in Europa League position.

 

Jason Concepcion I don’t like this.

 

Jamel Johnson As long as I have Miguel Alma on. I mean, as long as there’s some MLS.

 

Ryan Wallerson Right. United.

 

Jamel Johnson I, I respect it.

 

Jason Concepcion Ryan, your man city continues to roll. Your thoughts?

 

Ryan Wallerson You know, another weekend, another win. Unfortunately, they keep putting these games in the earlier slots, like the afternoon slots for the U.K. and so very early for us on the West Coast. So it’s I’ll wake up at 7:00 on a Saturday and like have to make a choice on whether I’m going to get the sleep that I want on my only day off, or if I’m just going to go on to the couch and turn the TV on and get started with this supporting. I supported this weekend and I’m glad I did. Watching Holland’s score goals is fun, but also watching the teams like the other strikers, the other attacking members of Man City get their burn. Like it concerns me when Holland is all of the scoring. I just want everyone to stay sharp.

 

Jason Concepcion Why does it?

 

Ryan Wallerson Because I don’t want to bottleneck my own, my own offense, the bottleneck itself I enjoy? Look, he’s going to set all the records, but I also love to see him grab some assists and just make the man city machine that much more dangerous because you don’t know where it’s going to come from. Like if you try to collapse on island and then he all of a sudden just deftly passes to the left, he gets elbowed and a hat trick pretty easily. So like I want to see that type of activity as well.

 

Jason Concepcion It’s a scary squad all over the pitch. It’s a scary squad.

 

Ryan Wallerson And honestly, this is the only this is the only critiquing I have left Jason. Like, they’re so good that like, what else am I supposed to say?

 

Jason Concepcion 23 points in nine games, zero losses.

 

Ryan Wallerson The last undefeated.

 

Jason Concepcion Where does the loss, if it comes, come? Here’s your next several league games. Liverpool. Next week.

 

Ryan Wallerson Why would I believe that’s going to happen? No.

 

Jason Concepcion Okay. Arsenal, TBD, it’s been rescheduled.

 

Ryan Wallerson But it’s going to be rescheduled. But that’s the one that circled for me. I’m very excited for that game.

 

Jason Concepcion It’s a big test for Arsenal, I think much more so than Man City. But for Man City, this is this is a chance to put a put a challenger in their place.

 

Ryan Wallerson But otherwise, I would say those are the two. Right.

 

Jason Concepcion Right. Because then you’ve got Brighton. That’s a lock. Leicester. Don’t worry about it. Fulham.

 

Ryan Wallerson No.

 

Jason Concepcion Chelsea, you know.

 

Ryan Wallerson We have a beef with them though. So I think. Yeah, like pep people tell you how to bury them. Like, I don’t even want to play a good game with them. Just score for today and hollow my blood. So I’m going to say we want that, too.

 

Jason Concepcion I think it’s I think it’s very important for Arsenal to keep Man City from even threatening the invincible season by getting that win.

 

Ryan Wallerson So I want to see I see that’s.

 

Jason Concepcion The narrative that’s going to be the narrative.

 

Ryan Wallerson I want the post because our second match is like I already went and checked, it’s late April, so I want this first time to get pushed way back so that we don’t play each other until super late in the season. I want you to stay in first place by virtue of maintaining this excellent form, but I want us to stay unbeaten. But yeah, we pick up some guys here and there, but I want you guys to be top of the league while looking at Man City’s record like Stop, stop it now, with no ability to give us that loss until late in the season. And then both of those games would be pretty dynamite with Arsenal trying to stop Man City from a potential unbeaten season.

 

Jason Concepcion Look at us thriving in in the Indian Premier League.

 

Ryan Wallerson And I’m glad to have you guys up here with me, man. It’s lonely at the top. But when I got left, when I got my friend at the top of the table, we know we can. The friendly banter is just so much better.

 

Jason Concepcion I got my oxygen mask on. It’s been. It’s been very high. The air.

 

Ryan Wallerson Superb. They got, like, six lovely sips. Oh.

 

Zuri Irvin Yeah.

 

Jamel Johnson I finally got my hands on that. All or nothing. Arsenal So.

 

Jason Concepcion It’s good to.

 

Jamel Johnson Just be the Mikel Arteta I was. I don’t care about nobody on the team. Just show me the halftime speeches. And just get out the lane. Do that. It’s what’s happening in my brain before I do stand up. Him drawing on that fucking.

 

Jason Concepcion Oh my God. When stick figure my heart and Dean holding hands and he’s pointing to and he’s hitting he’s hitting the whiteboard with the marker like real hard guys. When the brain and the heart of together, nothing could stop us. It’s the passion, guys. I got it when he takes that. Did you get to the one where he takes the light bulb out?

 

Jamel Johnson No.

 

Jason Concepcion I don’t want to spoil it for you.

 

Ryan Wallerson Don’t do it.

 

Jason Concepcion He’s. He goes. He goes, like, fucking like carrot top, like prop comic with it.

 

Ryan Wallerson Don’t spoil it. You’re actively watching, right?

 

Jason Concepcion I’ll want spoil it. But I’ll just say, you know, our set up and he’s had his doubters. I’ve been one of them at certain points I was like 40% or Ted out after last season, but after seeing all or nothing, then it only took one or two of those speeches and I was like, I die for this guy. Yeah, I die for him.

 

Jamel Johnson I heard a speech. I found out his wife was hot and I was like, I’m in.

 

Ryan Wallerson And now I feel he reflects. I mean, you know, how could you feel about it?

 

Jason Concepcion And I think they got a good they’ve they’ve got good personnel. You do as the as the, you know, the talent acquisition guy. There’s that moment where I don’t know if you got to this part of the of the the series yet where Aubameyang is going through the kind of like little drama and turmoil he’s not showing up they have to suspend him he’s not he’s breaking team rules, etc.. Then all of a sudden he’s in Barcelona.

 

Jamel Johnson Yeah, he just he flies out on his own.

 

Jason Concepcion He flies out there and, and Eddie’s talking to to like the Barcelona people and the Barcelona guys just like. Well, Aubameyang is a he just came out here for vacation and has nothing to do with us. Then it is like, Oh, I see, we’re just in a Disneyland world now. I get it. Okay, we’re so we’re just imagining things in a fantasyland world. Okay, I understand you love to see that. Yeah. Okay. Well, I guess now we must talk about the Mets. The Mets who are in first place. For all but 5 minutes of the season. Have now been eliminated in three games by the San Diego Padres, who I think we all said, at least it’s the Padres. They should beat the Padres. Well, they didn’t. They didn’t. They didn’t beat the Padres. There might have been. Listen.

 

Jamel Johnson I’m sorry, man. I’m sorry. What’s the matter?

 

Jason Concepcion I am sorry, too. I’m sorry that this is my life. Joe Musgrove pitched the game of his life. Yeah. Was unhittable. Crazy stuff. To the point spin rate a jumping above everything that he had averaged over the course of the season, every pitch spin rate was significantly higher.

 

Zuri Irvin So I don’t rule out that he was just like amped for this start and like, maybe just brought it. Maybe he just realized this is a do or die game and

 

Jason Concepcion Sure. I guess that’s.

 

Zuri Irvin Okay.

 

Jason Concepcion I guess that’s a thing that can happen. So apparently, you know, the people who are, you know, with the with the access to the high def slow motion cameras somewhere in the inner city field were counting the spins. And then they went to Buck and they were like, Buck, you got to go his ears real shiny also. So when you go check it out and they went out to the mound book sent him out to the mound and they touched all over Joe Musgraves ears and his glove. And I’ll say this, Joe got away with it. Whatever he’s doing. They they said maybe he’s got icy hot on his ears or something.

 

Jamel Johnson Listen, he’s got his one ear and he put some extra before because he knew he was at work and he couldn’t up before in his pockets.

 

Zuri Irvin Some cocoa butter.

 

Jason Concepcion He killed this. And then we got Manny Machado clowning, the whole fucking clown and Buck Showalter afterwards. Cheech clowning. It was it. It it hurt. And I’ll just. I mean, you brought it up in the. In the program, Mel. Mm hmm. What turned this year? What? What poured ice cold water on the Mets? Hopes. And they. They threw Nathan Fielder up on that. Up on the Jumbotron.

 

Jamel Johnson Big mistake.

 

Jason Concepcion That. That iced.

 

Jamel Johnson Huge mistake.

 

Jason Concepcion Huge mistake.

 

Jamel Johnson The guy having the worst time.

 

Jason Concepcion I mean, he looked like he was there at gunpoint. I’ve never seen anybody make that phrase on the Jumbotron ever in my life.

 

Jamel Johnson Just off screen was Fran Lebowitz pointing the hammer at him?

 

Ryan Wallerson That’s right. Viva la City last night were not good. It was tragic. Very bad. Tragic, I think, is a great word to describe it. But here’s what I’ll say, Jason. I don’t. You say it’s the Padres coming into this year like we, the Mets, can at least beat the Padres. You tell a team. You tell any team that they have to win two games at home to move on. They should feel good about that. You tell the Mets that.

 

Jason Concepcion You’re right.

 

Ryan Wallerson With the ace pitchers that they have. One of whom showed up and did what he does and one of whom shit the bed to historic scale.

 

Jason Concepcion You’re right.

 

Ryan Wallerson You’ve got to be able to go into that matchup against anyone. If the Dodgers put themselves in a position where they had to play a two game wildcard in Citi Field against the Mets, they should be eliminated in that two games, right? In that three game series. Scherzer absolutely sold the entire season like the whole Mets team put themselves in that very tough and wildcard round by bailing against the Braves late in the season. But it is it was on the two of them to get them into the doors. And Randy, this thing Scherzer did not. I was at the game, Yankees, Mets on Scherzer 30th birthday. He put us in the ground. It was very unpleasant to watch eight innings as dominant as I’ve ever seen.

 

Jamel Johnson You can’t lose on your birthday.

 

Ryan Wallerson But wow. Was he terrible in game one? That that was the whole season right there.

 

Jamel Johnson Hired gun man not to be trusted.

 

Jason Concepcion Now, deGrom won’t discuss free agency. I mean, it’s just bad vibes. Bad vibes right now. And you mentioned, like the feeling, the attitude at Citi Field was not great. The crowd was not giving the team much. I mean, first of all, the crowd was very supportive for most of the game until it went to like when it went to like six. Oh, everybody, it died and people started leaving. But like, that’s to be expected. Like give somebody anything there was.

 

Zuri Irvin One hit yeah.

 

Jason Concepcion You couldn’t hit Musgrove We couldn’t hit.

 

Ryan Wallerson I had Mets at that game, though.

 

Jason Concepcion There was nothing to be excited about.

 

Ryan Wallerson You got to be packed to the brim and roaring. That’s what that’s the job.

 

Zuri Irvin It’s the whole season on the line.

 

Ryan Wallerson And even the Mets fans in the building, that gave me firsthand accounts. We’re disappointed in the output.

 

Jason Concepcion People are you know, I, I understand that perspective, but also like they’re, you know, they don’t pay you $60 million a year to cheer at that. They like one pick shirt.

 

Zuri Irvin Yeah. I think when I you know, Max Scherzer, I think is like the thing we need to look at now also. I mean, you guys have any umbrage with a three game series deciding a season for a team that won 101 games in the regular season? It seems like.

 

Jason Concepcion Now because that’s what it is. I mean, the wild card is fun usually.

 

Zuri Irvin I mean, just give me a one game playoff and if it’s going to come down to just this this kind of quick trip, I mean, yeah, I.

 

Ryan Wallerson Preferred the one game when they did the one game playoff. I was happy with it.

 

Jason Concepcion I think I preferred the one game so much.

 

Ryan Wallerson And it it hurt the Mets here because. Well, actually, no, they started Scherzer and they would have lost. But maybe if it’s just one game, they start to ground.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah. What are you going to do to.

 

Zuri Irvin Win this series?

 

Jason Concepcion Everybody knows this is what it is. Fucking fucking don’t. Don’t get.

 

Ryan Wallerson Herb.

 

Jason Concepcion Stomped by the Braves to fucking end your season. You know what I mean? Get the by. Close it out, fucking close out the season.

 

Ryan Wallerson You go into that series knowing we can lose this series and still win the division and they only me. Yeah they they tied the tied in record and the season series was ten nine Atlanta they won game and they couldn’t do it. So in that sense they got what they deserved.

 

Jason Concepcion It was fucked up. Shall we talk? Preseason basketball? Jordan Poole look good. No ill effects.

 

Ryan Wallerson Rebound.

 

Jamel Johnson Shockingly okay out there.

 

Jason Concepcion He was doing his thing out there.

 

Ryan Wallerson He might have just, like, taken a punch and picked up a bag. So it feels good to do.

 

Jason Concepcion Your thoughts watching Jordan Poole dance on on the Lakers last night.

 

Jamel Johnson Well, it is again the Lakers who.

 

Zuri Irvin Won a preseason game in.

 

Jamel Johnson Six years.

 

Zuri Irvin That’s a classic. Yeah.

 

Jason Concepcion That’s crazy stat.

 

Zuri Irvin Yeah.

 

Jamel Johnson So it’s like a little concerning.

 

Jason Concepcion No.

 

Zuri Irvin You know what I like about that game Kendrick Nunn played? He’s alive. He’s on the court. I didn’t we didn’t see him at all last year. He’s a decent ball handler. He’s a good, good defensive wing. And Anthony Davis. Danny Davis, you know, looks healthy. Afro midseason form. Just a lot to take from that.

 

Ryan Wallerson I thought ad looked really.

 

Jason Concepcion He like he tweaked his ankle and stayed stayed with it. Nothing happened, which is a great sign.

 

Jamel Johnson Is he still wearing makeup? Is he still wearing coach?

 

Zuri Irvin I think I think he’s got some meds now.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah, they are kind of like a mid top. Yeah, it’s like he’s.

 

Jamel Johnson Doing mid article.

 

Zuri Irvin He’s learning.

 

Jamel Johnson Just add a little.

 

Jason Concepcion Listen, preseason doesn’t matter, but also, like, you do have to kind of win one, don’t you like it? Seem like it is a little concerning, though, isn’t it?

 

Ryan Wallerson On the other side of the spectrum, though, the Knicks are like the kings of the preseason. They go undefeated or lose one game every year and you’re like, Oh crap, the kids look great on our way onto this season’s that we’ve gone on to have. So pre season it doesn’t matter. I mean LeBron I love the the the line that he had out in the media last week like yeah I think I want to play more preseason games by vibrant you’ll never win because you never play just.

 

Zuri Irvin The he was out last night. Um, he’s out. I think you just need to not start a fight with your teammates. I would be more concerned about.

 

Speaker 5 Yeah, okay.

 

Jamel Johnson I’m wondering what Steph’s going to look like this year. I had. I had an auction draft last night, which, on a side note, death to auction.

 

Jason Concepcion Draft. You don’t like them?

 

Jamel Johnson It’s just a fucked up psychology, man, because it’s like it’s pretend money, but people are like, I want to see my friends go for broke. I want to see my man before. What is going on here?

 

Jason Concepcion What’s the so what’s the bank to start with? And then what is that? What was what did you lay out?

 

Jamel Johnson It’s like too real. It’s too much like real fucking basketball. The amount of money you have, it’s always shifting because there’s keepers. And then if you kept them off working from last year, they’ve got to tack on a 10% increase in fake pretend money. So I always.

 

Jason Concepcion Remember.

 

Jamel Johnson What I started.

 

Jason Concepcion If you had the guy last year, you can keep him.

 

Jamel Johnson You get cheaper guys to.

 

Zuri Irvin Pay for, but.

 

Jason Concepcion You paid a 10%.

 

Jamel Johnson But you have to add up so you get Ben Simmons for free. I got to put 10% on my no money. And it’s also pretend money. I don’t know from.

 

Ryan Wallerson The outside perspective, the objective perspective, I feel like, you know, if I’ve got Giannis from last year and I’m just like, yeah, you know, I’m just going to hold on to yeah. And it’s like no one has a shot at having Yanis because I have and I’m just going to activate that. Keep it you ten 10% seems very reasonable.

 

Jamel Johnson It’s almost too reasonable. This is like I’m really running a real basketball team. I didn’t sign up to be a goddamn actual GM. You could shoot on to do this.

 

Ryan Wallerson Isn’t that what a sense of accomplishment.

 

Jamel Johnson Once you win? That is truly I do.

 

Jason Concepcion I will say, like, one of the things that I like about fantasy is just when it’s super, like, dumb and easy, I just pick the guy I don’t like, you know? It’s like, that’s it. I look at some of the stats a little bit. I go, Oh, is he going to play tonight? I like him because, you know, for me it’s like gambling, let’s face it. You can study as much as you want. That doesn’t mean you’re going to win. So I prefer to just be like, Fuck off, flip a coin, let’s go. That’s just mean.

 

Jamel Johnson About it’s accurate. It’s about as accurate as really trying. And then people are always mad at you when you auto draft. It’s like maybe the computer is smarter than me.

 

Ryan Wallerson I’ve seen people auto draft in some great situations.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah, we’re at a point right now in our society where I think we can all admit that our computers know more than we do.

 

Ryan Wallerson About us.

 

Jamel Johnson We set it up that way. What am I supposed to do?

 

Jason Concepcion Now, I don’t know if you watched Draymond Green’s apology.

 

Jamel Johnson Yeah, I saw some tids.

 

Jason Concepcion I think tonally the emotion comes through. It’s very clear that he’s sincere about his apology. And I thought the Warriors handled this about as well as you can handle something, considering that it would have been, you know, handled internally had the video not leaked, etc., etc.. That said, it is really funny to be like, man, I’m sorry to George Mason. It is. Yeah.

 

Zuri Irvin Yeah.

 

Jason Concepcion That I knocked him out like that. His family.

 

Zuri Irvin Had mom, his dad.

 

Jason Concepcion At the end at the end of my fist, just like going to sleep like that.

 

Jamel Johnson That was my take away, too.

 

Ryan Wallerson That’s more beef. that is absolutely another layer to it. It’s like yo, you mentioned, my parents, like, yeah, in the apology.

 

Jason Concepcion When you talk about my mom and dad.

 

Jamel Johnson Yeah, I’m like, who is Jordan Poole’s family? Do you know them? Draymond This is what has happened.

 

Ryan Wallerson Here’s the question, though. Sign and trade. Julius Randle, Draymond Green right now. Would you do it?

 

Jason Concepcion Oh yeah.

 

Jason Concepcion In one. In a heartbeat.

 

Ryan Wallerson And I feel like it makes sense for the Warriors too. Right now. You’ve got a cancer. You’ve got a cancer on your team.

 

Jason Concepcion It doesn’t mean sense.

 

Ryan Wallerson You’ve got a cancer on your team.

 

Jason Concepcion It doesn’t make a lick of sense.

 

Ryan Wallerson You can’t stay now. He’s got to go. KD went the last .

 

Jamel Johnson It’s I, I mean if Draymond’s off the warriors I mean who’s like. I think part of why the Warriors win is because.

 

Zuri Irvin They’re scared of him.

 

Jamel Johnson Sock you in the face. The other team is also afraid of him.

 

Jason Concepcion And the other thing is, I mean, you look at is I don’t have them in front of me, but his on off numbers last season and for essentially every season that he’s been in the starting lineup. Ah. Significant like there’s no question that he is a big factor in why they win his like. His telepathy with Steph and with Klay. But you know, but with Steph most importantly is like, it’s insane just the way he knows how to get Steph open and that fucking on top of all the defensive shit that he does. Yes. He can’t shoot. Yes. He’s annoying and punches his teammate like hard for no reason, but he is like a huge part of their culture. He’s he’s why they win. They wouldn’t have won last season without him. Julius Randle would make them actively a lot of American dream.

 

Ryan Wallerson I just I wanted to get so toxic that they feel like they’ve got to bite the bullet and get what they can get for them.

 

Jason Concepcion I mean, it will be interesting to see what happens the way everybody is, you know, you know, Draymond said it’s the contract situation, the fact that the Warriors clearly have to make a decision about who to pay between Wiseman Pool and Draymond Green. And this is on top of the fact that this team is spending money in a way that is, that is fucking unsustainable. They can’t keep doing this. Mhm. Draymond said that that was not an issue but you know like it feels like it’s got to be some sort of an issue.

 

Jamel Johnson I think maybe, I think maybe when the guy who might get a deal over you, you try to put him through a wall like that. Yeah.

 

Jason Concepcion He’s like full it like the power I think a little power attack tech and not just the quick attack like you cool down the button.

 

Jamel Johnson Rage drives.

 

Zuri Irvin He punched him and then he tries to hold him up on the wall as if to say, like, Oh, Dog, are you okay? Right after he hit him. You know,  you’re the guy that hit him. You put him there.

 

Jason Concepcion But at the same time, who has not been there, though, like, as you know, where you just let it go. Yeah. And that little voice in your mind, this.

 

Zuri Irvin Man, he contains multitudes.

 

Jason Concepcion And to help us unpack all of this is Warriors expert Anthony Slater, Warriors insider for the Athletic.

 

[AD].

 

Clip We need to have a serious conversation. Is this about the Hershey meeting yesterday? Because I can explain. Well, unfortunately, that meeting and most of your questionable behavior is beyond explanation. I’m not going to defend myself. I’ve tolerated plenty from every one of you. John, there’s no need for defense. This isn’t a trial. The verdict has been reached. So what time did this meeting start? We think it’s best for you and the firm if you take some time off and regroup. How much time? A few months. But the holidays are coming. I will take up most of it. I want to return to it. We can’t give you that. You all agree with this? Try and see it from our side.

 

Jason Concepcion The Golden State Warriors are one of the most fascinating teams in sports writ large. They are the NBA champions, and they’ve broken salary records. They’re paying more tax on their contracts than anybody in ever in league history. They also have hard decisions to make about how to dole out contract extensions for Jordan Poole. For James Wiseman. For Draymond Green, who recently punched Jordan Poole real, real hard in the face. To help us figure out what’s going on with the Warriors. We’re welcoming Anthony Slater, Warriors insider for the Athletic. Anthony, welcome to take one.

 

Anthony Slater What’s up?

 

Jason Concepcion What’s the hardest punch you’ve ever ate?

 

Anthony Slater I mean, my brother. Not not much. I mean kinda more mush type punch, you know, like.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah.

 

Anthony Slater Not a slap, but certainly not, like, bare knuckles directly to the jaw.

 

Jamel Johnson A mush? A mush though can be a lot. One time I have been mushed.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah.

 

Jamel Johnson I have accidentally mushed someone at a party. You remember the Heisman sign? Do the Heisman on that? Yeah, I’m doing I’m doing the Heisman on my own. And then somebody walked into, my Heisman.

 

Anthony Slater Like hard?

 

Jamel Johnson It was like a medium. It was we was it was like.

 

Jason Concepcion Still.

 

Jamel Johnson It was like mid-week reps. It wasn’t like game day. All right. But we weren’t it wasn’t exactly a walk.

 

Anthony Slater I think it hurt like the neck more than like the place that you directly impact potentially.

 

Jamel Johnson That’s true.

 

Jason Concepcion I certainly it didn’t he judging by last night’s Lakers Warriors preseason game, it did not have any effect on on Jordan Poole. Is there any you know, Draymond and others within the Warriors organization have decried the leaking of the video and the Warriors announced they’re going to investigate how it was leaked. Is there any kind of. Is there any kind of suspicion about how this was done yet? Are the Warriors one of these teams that use like a third party to to run their cameras and such? Yeah.

 

Anthony Slater I mean, there’s there’s every type of suspicion that’s kind of their issue right now is like there’s like finger pointing up in the organization down to the side. You know, everyone is wondering who’s like, you know, what motive could this be? You know, and there’s even like was it a security footage, you know, because they have security cameras all over Chase Center or was it their third party, which they do have, which you mentioned, I believe is called key motion, that kind of tapes their practices. So let’s say they have a scrimmage, they can go back and kind of look at some of the film. And from my understanding, people in the organization, they could tell that it is their practice. But it’s. Which means it’s more inside the house. Whoa. We should make it easier to, like, solve, I guess you would say. But, yeah, I mean, it’s the it was a really big deal. And I know there was a lot of you know, you mentioned the the crying from from within the warriors. And I do understand the criticism. Like, hey, like, why don’t you deal with the guy that just, you know, punched Jordan Poole in the jaw and they are dealing with that, right. He’s away from the team. But like you can tell, even when the video is released, every conversation I had that day, it was like they were much more interested in how this potentially got out and what it just meant to like the distrust level that was suddenly permeating through the organization.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah.

 

Jamel Johnson What are the odds that the person who leaked the video gets a harsher punishment then Draymond?

 

Anthony Slater I mean, I think a firing is like.

 

Jason Concepcion Right.

 

Anthony Slater Likely if its solved. It needs to be solved and like I don’t think Draymond is going to be fired although they’re kind of. Yeah. Well.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah.

 

Anthony Slater I mean a trade would, would that be considered a firing and I’m not saying that’s going to happen but.

 

Jamel Johnson Is it possible like let’s say that the Warriors come out hot, they start the year like 12 and and two or something, something super hot. And you’re looking around like, I mean, maybe we could get rid of this guy. Is that even something that’s on the table for them?

 

Anthony Slater Well, first of all, I think he’s going to be back for that. I don’t think he’s about to miss a bunch of games. Also, I just watched a game last night where Anthony Davis just like Pulverized Kuminga and Wiseman and it’s like, yeah, they kinda miss Draymond. Like now it’s like 20 preseason minutes but and again when you’re talking to people right now, everything is qualified. Like they’re extremely upset with him. I’ve never seen them more upset with Draymond than this situation, but there’s always like, that, would be nice to win a fifth ring, you know? Yeah. So there’s no belief that they’re going to be better without him. They’re just deciding right now, like, is it worth it anymore? Has he crossed too far of the line? And also, like, you know, me and Marcus have laid this out a ton over the summer, like these colliding contracts have made it. So they’ve kind of need to figure out the future without somebody anyways. And he’s kind of raised his hand with this bunch, like, you know, maybe it’s me.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah, let’s talk about that. So the Warriors are spending money like their print net over the last several seasons and obviously it’s worked out. They won the championship last season and but now it’s time for hard decisions. They have to pay some guys. That includes Draymond and Jordan Poole to make a decision about how this money gets divided up. And at least from Draymond side, he has said, Oh, that had nothing to do with it, the money has nothing to do with it, but you have to imagine that that is some kind of like constant. You know, sing in the background.

 

Anthony Slater It’s come to the surface of everything is the story of this thing right now, which is, you know, everyone is getting too expensive. And it is always Joe like it was always outwardly, you know, portrayed this idea that like there is no tax bill that is too high for him until this past offseason when he literally said, no, we can’t go find it. I mean, but he didn’t say exactly quarter, but he kind of intimated that like that’s kind of a hard line. And they’ve sat in the high 300 do the record last year like we’re talking an NBA record, Bill, last year. And they’re pretty much equal to it this year. And then Jordan Poole, very you know, it has been obviously very positive, but he’s played himself from very cheap 28th overall pick to suddenly, you know, Tyler here on money. You know, we’re expecting maybe coming down this week which is going to end up being around 30 million. That spikes the tax bill like another hundred and 50 if they did sign everyone and under the cap, they could legally. We’re talking about a tax bill that goes into like the 550 million for a guy who’s saying he doesn’t even want to go 400 million because they would lose so much money. So that like, you know how the NBA works that everyone’s looking around the well somebody is sacrificing here financially and then egos get involved, status is get involved. And you know, history with the organization gets involved. We’re right. I understand the Warriors, you know, I guess prioritizing the young 23 year old rising guard who looks awesome, right. I mean, he looks like, you know, in some ways Steph Curry to point out not to that level but but a similar efficient hub in Draymond Green is the aging veteran so I understand wanting to pay Paul but what if you’re Draymond Green you know Jordan Poole chipped in to one title. I’m like second, third, fourth most important person of this dynasty era, which is the entire reason you make all this money.

 

Jason Concepcion As you say that I picture you swinging hard at my face right as you finish that sentence.

 

Anthony Slater Yeah. I mean, look, like you said, it just it sits there.

 

Jamel Johnson Yeah. So because Draymond was the guy for all of these rings, I imagine there’s not a divide in the locker room, there’s not like the Draymond guys and Poole guys. You got to just you got to go with the dynasty. But I’m interested in the reports that came out before the video came out that was like, well, Poole was acting different with the contracts coming up. Was that like a thing like was that Draymond getting that out to the press?

 

Anthony Slater I mean, we reported the initial thing that happened. I didn’t, you know, I never reported that. I mean what I would say about pool I’ve been around Jared for to me he is not acting different. He’s acting the same, which is like brash, young, confident dude came in the league like check and step back there even though he was like worst rotation player in the league. To that, what’s changed is the status has changed. He is now who we always thought he was going to be and he is now about to get paid like he always thought he was going to be able to get paid. And that just changes the way you look at some of the comments he might make. Right. It’s like it changes the way you, you know, younger brother really confident it all it’s fun to like now like oh now he’s about to get the contract that I want essentially. And I’m not saying this is what is what was actually converse and the reason that that isn’t what happening but that is just the dynamics at play. And again I do not like think that pool has changed but they and has Klay Thompson said it when we were in Japan it was like we like humbling him now it’s more fun for them to humble because they they feel what’s coming up on him and it’s not only Jordan Poole it’s the organization from up top saying like Jordan Poole is is right now like the the highlight player of an entirely different era that we are bringing in under you that we want you to mentor. Who are your replacements? Kuminga Replacement four for Draymond Wiseman Replacement in the frontcourt poolside in some ways is the Klay Thompson replacement, you could say. So it’s, it’s a weird I mean it’s not ambitious from the Warriors to even try this, you know, and this is the kind of stuff that can come from.

 

Jason Concepcion You and Marcus Thompson, your colleague at the Athletic, have written about a lot about, you know, just the response of the players and the coaching staff to this incident. And could you like just kind of take us into why the Warriors are so mad at Draymond? Like, what is it this time about this particular incident? We hear all the time a lot. Players get in fights. Yeah. During the preseason, during training camp, you know, Michael Jordan punched Steve Kerr. Like all these events that are kind of famous, like in the law or NBA. Yeah, yeah. In a good way. What is it? What is it about this particular incident that that has the Warriors so upset?

 

Anthony Slater Yeah, look, Marcus wrote it really well in a column I’m sure you’re kind of referencing there. But yeah, first of all, Draymond Green is 32 now. This is supposed to be the mature Draymond Green who has learned from his past fables. And he’s the brand now. He’s he’s basically Charles Barkley’s future replacement, AT&T, who’s already working there. He talks a lot about growing. And so he was supposed to be beyond the blow ups in general, even though like, hey, I got too mad and I said, well, I shouldn’t have, but, you know, they deal with a few of those per year. This time he got physical, which is like, you know, he never punched Kevin Durant in the face. You know, he argues with George Bush a lot. They say some stuff, you know, really, both of them say some stuff. They probably shouldn’t do each other. But you can kind of get over words. This is this is a punch from a 32 year old. And then this is a big deal to a 23 year old who he’s supposed to be, as Marcus wrote, the protector of in that locker room. He’s supposed to be the guy that if Jordan Peele gets in a shoving match during a game, if he’s punching you but he’s punching the other team, he punch the guy he’s supposed to protect who is you know, I don’t know what the listed pounds of both of them are, but he weighs way more like he’s he’s winning that fight. That wasn’t a, you know, let’s do this. Put it up. Everybody’s seen the video right now. That wasn’t like a fair fight.

 

Jason Concepcion He lean. I mean, he leaned into it. Jamel called it attack and punch like he. Yeah, he went for it.

 

Anthony Slater Yeah. So and there was plenty of people in the gym and you know, you talk to them when the TMZ report legion of course people were like, whoa, now the public sees what the Warriors know. And it’s like you talked to several people who weren’t looking right at the punch because it wasn’t some big commotion in the gym. Everyone’s looking, oh, they’re the punch guys. The punch was the commotion. Everyone turned around after several people were like, That was worse than I thought it was. So I think it’s that. And and again, all the every time he does something, you remember his past and it’s like, do it again. And the time of the season they’re the favorites is the pre season. They’re not like in a deep losing streak where tensions are high and like somebody exploded is like this is the Chili’s prime of the year. Everyone was optimistic. They they probably, you know, have a good chance at a fifth ring. And I think, you know, the Steph Curry’s of that locker room are looking around like you might have just ruined that. You may have just completely ruined that.

 

Jamel Johnson Where do you think this ranks in terms of punches that Steve Kerr has seen?

 

Anthony Slater Did you see his stat that he gave out the other day?

 

Jason Concepcion No.

 

Anthony Slater Because he’s like.

 

Jamel Johnson 20 fights.

 

Anthony Slater Yeah.

 

Jamel Johnson He said he’s seen 20 fights.

 

Anthony Slater 20 plus he said. So I mean 20 probably more. He said in my 32 years I’ve seen 20 plus fist fights. I would love to. I was joking with somebody afterwards. I was like, maybe once this dies down a little bit, can I do like a deep dove with Steve? Like you know, best fight, worst fight, best punch, you know, craziest aftermath. I don’t think he’d detailed those, but I assume it’s up there. And that’s the thing. A lot of people were like, would you categorize that as a fist fight or was that just like a kind of a knockout blow?

 

Jamel Johnson Yeah, that was just a one.

 

Jason Concepcion It’s just a one off.

 

Jamel Johnson Full bar falcon punch.

 

Anthony Slater Yeah. I mean, isn’t there though? I’d have to. I would say this. I’ve never seen a locker room so upset. I know they’ve gone through stuff internally that we can’t necessarily get all the information up there, like sending him away from the team. I don’t know how they were really going to. Let’s say we don’t help. They hold it in-house. So. Well then, hey, where’s Draymond today? I mean, maybe you guys dealing with a personal thing.

 

Jamel Johnson I don’t know. Oh, he’s got IBS. He’ll be back. He’s done with a long term IBS. We’ll get we’ll get back to that later. We want to talk about the guys we’re here now. That’s pretty strong, right?

 

Anthony Slater This is a Nick Saban thing, right?

 

Jamel Johnson Yeah.

 

Jason Concepcion You know, we’re Warriors fans in particular have been. Talking about like a philosophical split in the words decision making between like the, you know, the youth camp and the our guys camp, you know, as exemplified by, you know, Joe Lacob and Steve Kerr, potentially. Right. Like it’s been reported or at least, you know, surmise that Link would prefer to go in a more youth movement. Let’s develop some of these young guys, see what we have. Whereas Kerr and others have said like, No, let’s, let’s play our good guys and let’s try and squeeze every last bit of value out of these guys before they age out. Does this incident exacerbate that, like in your reading of things like does this does this shift the balance in that discussion between youth and this aging course?

 

Anthony Slater I mean, I think it’s like a flashpoint of a problem that, again, we’ve talked about sat under the surface because last year Joe said, you know, the thought was maybe trade, the draft picks trade, the young guys to get veteran help. They said no. They said no, teach these young guys. But at the same time we will pay our reporter Yeah. And we’ll keep Gary Payton the second round. We’ll get the elites, we’ll give you more veterans. And when it gets to playoff time, if you do not want to play the young guys, don’t play them. Go win a title without them. Because Joe like I was like, I’m still paying. He’s playing Klay Thompson, Max is playing Steph Curry is Max. He’s playing Andrew Wiggins 30 plus he’s playing Draymond Huge. Why this is such a flash point is this is when it actually starts to feel like they’re transitioning away from the dynasty, right? This is when it’s like we know you two are up for an extension right now. We’re going to deal with Jordan Peele’s extension. And then so to me again, like I need to stress that that isn’t what led to the points directly, but that is what you’re talking about is the story arc of at some point these two areas, the two timelines like it was going to start going that way. And really in the NBA, that usually comes down to money. And for the first time, the money is kind of shifting that way.

 

Jamel Johnson And where does Steph fall in all this? I mean, they’re never dealin Steph. They’re going to let Steph play til he’s what about 50? 60?

 

Anthony Slater Well, he’s going to age well, I mean, you know.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah.

 

Jamel Johnson Yeah.

 

Anthony Slater I mean, he’s 41. He’s probably still like a 32 year old JJ Redick or something, you know, I mean, Dell Curry was hitting threes. Dell Curry was hitting threes until he was like 38. That family ages really well.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah, they do.

 

Jamel Johnson That’s real.

 

Anthony Slater I mean, you’re seeing it right now, the importance of Steph Curry like guiding a locker room and you know, he’s been he’s been, I would say, surprisingly forceful in his backing of pool and his kind of, you know, I guess anger towards Draymond right now. But yeah he’s he’s going to get paid until he doesn’t want to get paid or out here which he should and he’s keeping himself you know I’d worry about Draymond and Klay much more than Steph.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah. He is Anthony Slater, Warriors insider for the Athletic. Anthony, thanks for joining us.

 

Anthony Slater Yeah, no problem.

 

Jason Concepcion That’s it for us. Follow and subscribe to Takeline on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and check out my pop culture and entertainment podcast, X-ray Vision, which comes out every Friday. Jamel, what do you have to plug? Anything to plug.

 

Jamel Johnson Hey, man, just the usuals, ugh Airbuds we’re back rolling seasons on and Sorry We Love Football and Sorry We Love NFL and um that’s it.

 

Jason Concepcion Okay. Byeeeee.

 

Jason Concepcion Takeline is a Crooked Media production. The show is produced by Ryan Wallison and Zuri Irvin. Our executive producers are myself and Sandy Girard. Engineering, Editing and sound design by the great Sarah Dubalaska and the folks at Chapter four. And our theme music is produced by Brian Vasquez. Mia Kelman is on the Zoom for vibes and the vibes are fantastic all the time.