Shea Serrano Predicts The NBA Finals, What Spending Time With Jimmy Butler Would Be Like and The Clippers' Implosion

Shea Serrano sits down with Zach Schwartz to share his prediction for the NBA Finals, what it would be like to spend a day with Jimmy Butler. And he offers his take on the Clippers' Playoff Implosion. Shea Serrano's book Basketball (And Other Things) is available on hardcover October 6, 2020.

Video Transcript

ZACH SCHWARTZ: I'm Zach Schwartz, and I'm here with Shea Serrano. Shea is an absolute legend, and for me, this is really neat just because I, you know, worked with Shea. Shea, your book, "Basketball and Other Things" drops October 6. I loved the book when it came out on paperback. Have you gotten any feedback from NBA players about being left out or about something you wrote about them within the book?

SHEA SERRANO: Basically everything in this book is just, like-- I'm always just, like, writing about the stuff that I like and the stuff that I enjoy. It's all celebratory. So thankfully, like, if somebody does see their name in there, it's usually attached to something good.

ZACH SCHWARTZ: With the NBA Finals coming up, do you have any predictions?

SHEA SERRANO: Oh, yeah, I think the Lakers run away with it.

ZACH SCHWARTZ: You do?

SHEA SERRANO: LeBron is just-- he's just in that mode right now. You watched it when they played against Denver. He just shut it down in the fourth quarter, what did he-- 16 or 17 points in the fourth quarter, something goofy like that. He wants that fourth ring.

ZACH SCHWARTZ: Do you have any advice for Clippers fans who just watched a brutal implosion?

SHEA SERRANO: I desperately-- like everybody else, I wanted to see the all the LA conference finals. I want to see Kawhi and LeBron go at it, Pat Bev, all these guys sort of running around talking [BLEEP] to each other. It was going to be great. And then, you know, Jamal and the Joker just went bonkers. And it was so much fun to watch. Like, I don't have any advice at all.

ZACH SCHWARTZ: Talked a lot when I was at the Ringer, Disrespectful Dunk Index was one of the videos that I always enjoyed that you had worked on. Do you have a most disrespectful player from this year, so someone you'd give that award to?

SHEA SERRANO: There's a clear winner here, it's gotta be-- it's gotta be Dame and CJ McCollum, who just joined in with everybody else when the Clippers fell apart. And they just had-- they had, like, saved up these jokes. Like, the Blazers were not going to win the championship this year, we all know that. But that moment right there was like their version of a championship.

So give it to-- Dame and CJ can hold that crown together.

ZACH SCHWARTZ: You know, Kevin Clark was kind of one of the first people to put me onto this, good hangs, bad hangs, he always kind of talked about that at the office with athletes and stuff like that. I got to ask who you think the best hang in the bubble is.

SHEA SERRANO: Oh, I think it's got to be Jimmy right now. He's got to be-- he's got to be that dude. Part of him thinks he absolutely belongs in that upper tier of players, like, no question, he's got that energy about him. But also, part of him seems like he would just talk [BLEEP] for two and a half hours about whatever just to do it, like, in a very natural way, I think it would be him.

ZACH SCHWARTZ: Jay, thank you for joining us. Shea's book, "Basketball and Other Things," the hardcover edition, drops October 6. Go buy it, Shea's an amazing dude. Thank you for joining me.

SHEA SERRANO: Always [? tough. ?] I appreciate you having me on, dude.

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