The Luka Trade Revisited — And What Everyone Still Misses | Just Wondering with Norm Hitzges

It's Monday, February 2nd, and today I'm just wondering about the reaction to the Lucodontic
trade one year later. And then sports gives us another one of those you have got to be
kidding me moments.
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Sunday, February 1st was the one year anniversary of the shocking trade that sent Lucodontic
from the Dallas Mavericks to the LA Lakers. It was a huge topic on Sunday night sports shows
on TV. And the Dallas Morning News devoted in effect to full pages to going back and recounting
that trade. And two very good writers wrote those two pages in total. Brad Townsend and Mike
Curris, they're excellent at recounting the facts of the trade out of the day and of the
few days and weeks and months later. They related a solid job taking this back a year, except
for three significant missing things. The same things that are always missing when people review
the unpopular Dungeons trade. Yes, Dungeons put up incredible glittering offensive numbers here.
Yes, he made all the teams and had all those triple doubles and yes, the Dallas fans loved him.
And yes, the moment they made the trade, Anthony Davis got hurt and then a whole bunch of
other Mavericks got hurt and the team has been wrecked now for, well, ever since the trade.
But those recapping the deal over the last several months, they missed some things, I think.
First, no one seems to mention that he, he, Dungeons, was a flat, out, awful defender.
At playoff time in the NBA, all the NBA fans around here and NBA fans around the country will
talk about how important defancy is, but no one ever seems to mention that Dungeons didn't improve
a lick in his six and a half years here. Second, no one mentions the money.
Had Dallas stayed with the Mavericks, the Mavericks would have been expected to offer him this past
off season. Five years for three hundred forty five million dollars guaranteed every penny of it,
sixty nine and one half million dollars a year.
If they didn't, if they'd offered less and Dungeons were unhappy, then he could have simply
play our as contract this year and been free. But mostly number three, no one seems to mention
that Lucas simply ignored his conditioning in his time here. He was 15, 20, 25 pounds overweight
at the start of seasons. I think that was a major factor in his poor defense. And,
and what should have been his healthiest years in the NBA for his seven seasons before now?
Look at Dungeons missed 18 games a year, variety of aches and pains and and minor injuries.
Listen, I think look at Dungeons, he's a fabulous offensive force. I loved watching him play.
I have to tell you, I was a fan of his. But now that he's finally, as a Los Angeles Laker,
this past summer, decided he would dedicate himself into getting in the top shape.
The sky is the limit for Luca Dungeons career. Oh, oh yes, he still leads the NBA in turn
over as per game by a wide margin. And yes, he's still a below average free throw shooter
for the point guard position. And yes, he's a below average three point shooter. But you know what,
none of that would have mattered to Dallas. Dallas would have accepted all that.
They'd have given him his money. They'd have made him an MFFL, Mav's fan favorite for life.
If he had just cared about getting himself in shape while he was here,
he'd have never been traded. But no one ever seems to mention that.
What do you want from your favorite restaurant? Fantastic personal service, a cheery,
welcoming, spotless atmosphere. And of course, great food, the primest of beef,
wagoo, and lamb, incredibly fresh seafood, lobster, salmon, shrimp,
hall of fame, food from a hall of fame restaurant, two locations of Bob's steak and chop-ups,
the original Bob's on Lemon Avenue, and the gorgeous new Bob's at Craig Ranch McKinney.
My wife marries the co-creator of full moon healing bond. And I guess I'm the reason this terrific
cream was developed. A few years ago, I began getting these huge ugly blood blotches just beneath
the skin of my arms and hands. The conditions called senile purpora. And no, you don't have to be
senile to experience this embarrassment. It happens as you age. And then to cover it up,
we'd begin wearing long sleeves, even when it's hot. It took two years working with a New Jersey lab
to refine the all natural ingredients of full moon healing. Gently massage a very small amount
into the skin. And within a day, the blotches begin to fade. Senile purpora usually takes weeks
to disappear. But this bomb cuts the timeline through about a week and ordering so easy. Just go
to the website fullmoonhealingco.com. First, I swear, everything I'm about to tell you about
Gerald Big Baby Miller is true. Gerald Miller has been slowly making his way up the ranks of
heavyweights. He's had a sort of a start and stop boxing career. He's 37 years old, which is
pretty old for a boxer. And he's got this big, big baby. He's six foot four and weighs somewhere
between 280 and 300, which could mean he skipped dinner or not. But by the way, that's a big baby.
Let me tell you some things about big baby. First of all, at 37, he's still never fought for title.
His boxing career got a started age 21. When his first bout he won, the fight was stopped in
first ground. And then apparently to recover from it, he took 22 months off. Then he won two fights
and took 11 more months off. But then he started winning. Over the next five year period, he went 19
wins. No losses in a draw. But meanwhile though, he started this kickboxing career. That was fairly
short-lived though, because after his fourth kickboxing fight, he was suspended for a failed drug test.
For a drug whose name has a swear that's just true, 18 letters in it. And no, I'm not going to
try to pronounce it. But anyway, boxing, actual boxing, didn't seem to notice what was happening
over in kickboxing. So on went big baby fighting. And he rolled onto a 23-0 and one record.
He was starting to get ranked. And you know what? He was going to fight for four titles against
Anthony Joshua. Hey, Anthony Joshua was a good. But wait, no. Then he failed another drug test.
And this one for lots of stuff. But a year and a half later, on the verge of another comeback,
oh, you failed another drug test. Something called GW501516. I look this up. It's for weight loss,
which certainly doesn't apply to big baby. It's for diabetics, which I don't think big baby is.
And oh, oh, it enhances performance. Well, that's why they suspended him. But first big baby told
us he took the drug because of health reasons. And then later he said he took the drug because it
improved sexual performance, even though there's no indication of that by the drug maker.
Then well, four years drifted away. He was back in 2022 at 341 and three quarters pounds.
Hey, boxing is precise. If nothing else, boxing is precise. He fought in Argentina at the
casino Buenos Aires. And then he fought at the embassy suite at the embassy suites in Nashville.
Hey, he was getting his health and points. And then he fought in United Arab Emirates and then in
Saudi Arabia and then LA and then last Saturday night, he fought at Madison Square Garden.
And he won. He's now 27, 1 and 2. Now, he's approaching 38 years old, but he's a contender.
But Saturday night gave us a moment that boxing will always remember. And big baby will want to
forget. In the second round, an uppercut from his opponent dislodged big babies to pay.
It was dangling off the back of his head. He went back to his corner after the round,
snatched the to pay off his dome and tossed it into the crowd.
Miller explained afterward why in the world he was wearing a to pay to fight.
By the way, you don't have to have hair to fight. Miller said he got a hair piece after he lost
his hair two days ago when he said he must take and he used ammonia bleach instead of shampoo
to wash his hair. Pardon me. When you take your cap off the shampoo and it actually smells like
ammonia bleach, shouldn't you be at least a little bit alerted here? Wouldn't your nose
tell you something? But then I guess at some point, boxers and noses, they don't tell them anything
because the noses get beaten up so badly that the noses don't smell right anymore, so to speak.
Hey, I'm sorry to give you this guy's whole checkered career. But let me tell you something.
I can't wait for the next time big baby Drill Miller fights and again appears somewhere in the headlines.
And now a word from our title sponsor. Today's episode has been brought to you by Fluent Financial,
Retire earlier live better. And by Bob's steak and chop house on Lemon and Dallas and in Craig
Ranch in McKinney. Bob's a Dallas tradition for more than 30 years. If you've enjoyed just wondering,
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I'm Norm Hitzkiss and know that every day I'll be just wondering about something.
And I'm Mary Hitzkiss and I'll just be wondering too.
This is a stolen water media production.