Suns Madhouse: KD, Joe Budden, and answers to the ‘COVID championship question’

I hope this blog submission finds you well.

What I’m reading: Nothing. Can’t concentrate long enough.

What I’m listening to: New podcasts. But they all suck. Please recommend a podcast that doesn’t suck.

What I’m watching: Chicago White Sox, Anaheim, Anaheim Angels, and Toronto Blue Jays baseball. I have my reasons.

What I’m playing: Checking out Google Play Pass. I’m eating up this game called Game Dev Tycoon.

What I’m thinking

Kevin Durant said many things on the Joe Budden podcast

But one thing was more notable than the rest.

First, full disclosure. In my universe Joe Budden is famous for exactly three things.

• That song we listened to in college. (I looked it up on Wikipedia, it’s Pump It Up)
• That game we played in college. Def Jam Vendetta.
• That other game we played in college. Def Jam Fight for NY.

I was in college for awhile.

But get this. As it turns out Joe Budden kept working after my five and a half years of postsecondary schooling. Ten albums, TV stuff, streaming stuff, podcast stuff. He’s working.

Recently, New Jersey, New Jersey Nets rehabber Kevin Durant joined Budden on The Joe Budden Podcast, and the topic of Danuel House’s exit from the NBA bubble was discussed. House was sent home early by the Houston Rockets after it was discovered that he had “close contact” with a female COVID-19 testing official.

Budden asked KD for his take, and KD responded:

“If you’ve been in a bubble away from some action for three months? I mean, you can’t blame him, dog,” Durant said. “And I heard it was no females at all outside of [COVID testers]. The maids were all men, there was nothing but men around.”

“After a couple months, you down 3-1?” Durant continued. “Nah. He said ‘I don’t give a f--- no more man.’”

And there was more back and forth in that vein.

So, apparently this is a story. No, wait, hang on a second. This absolutely, positively is not a story, but you know what? I heard this story on new fewer than three different radio shows. So the real villains are the producers that decided this was worth talking about.

Much of those discussions centered around how seriously we should take KD. If he were in the bubble, with a shot at a championship, would he lock in? Avoid all distractions? Focus on one thing and one thing only in the hopes of adding a third NBA title to his resume? Or would he reach a point where he said, “I don’t give a f—- no more man.”

This was discussed on these radio shows. I heard it with my own two years. I’m of the opinion that this is a simple one. KD wasn’t talking with Hannah Storm. This wasn’t Bob Costas. This was Joe Budden. What we heard is the jocularity and rib-cracking humor we’ve come to expect from

Kevin Durant.

Do championships during the time of COVID mean less?

Didn’t we already talk about this? We definitely did. Show off your charitable ways and click on the discussion one more time.

So this topic also came up on Budden’s podcast. And evidently it has been asked of many NBA people recently. None before I poised the question on September 11th, absolutely none, but a great many since. Basically I started the discussion.

KD on the topic:

“You still have to play against these dudes.”

“I think it will be respected for sure.”

“Probably more respected. It’s tough for the boys in there. They’ve been away from everybody for that long. To be the last one standing? That’s going to be tough.”

Giannis Antetokounmpo:

“I’ve heard a lot of people say that there’s going to be, like, a star next to this championship.”

“I feel like at the end of the day this is going to be like the toughest championship you could ever win because the circumstances are really, really tough right now. So, whoever wants it more is going to be able to go out there and take it.”

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra:

“I think this might be certainly the most worthy of all world championships in the NBA because of all the things that every team is going to have to navigate and overcome to be able to be crowned a champion.”

Lakers coach Frank Vogel:

“Our team has been through a lot this year.”

“And we’ve endured, and we’ve come out strong each time we’ve faced adversity. I don’t know about other teams but if we were able to come through all of this and achieve the ultimate prize, I do think it deserves a harder-than-ordinary asterisk.”

“If you’re going to put an asterisk on it, I don’t think it weakens it at all.”

Nuggets coach Mike Malone:

“If you’re able to go into a bubble to be isolated from your friends and family, to have no home court advantage, to have a league interruption of four months, and you’re able to spend 90 days and come out of there a champion, I think this will be the toughest championship ever won.”

“There’s no asterisk. You win an NBA championship anytime, it’s a hell of an accomplishment. But in these circumstances, these unprecedented times, with everything going on … I think it will be a remarkable accomplishment.”

It is important to remember that the coaches above all still have a shot at a title. We need to hear from more players/coaches sent packing before the conference championships. What’s Devin Booker think? What about Dame? No, you know what?

Start with Danuel House.