Burning NBA Questions and a “Holy Crap, Charlotte!!!” Deep Dive With Zach Lowe

0:00This episode is brought to by Domino's best deal ever. They wanted me to be a pizza jam They wanted me to assemble my perfect pizza lineup. I could go up to seven toppings or I could go five topping rotation They wanted me to tie it in a basketball. Obviously. This is right in my wheelhouse Number one topping extra cheese well done. That's Yokech. It's just you can throw it on a any team any situation It's gonna make the pizza better pepperoni is wimpy mushroom SGA You know, just does the job. You're not gonna be telling your grandkids about it But it's put up 32 a night and then ham and pineapple. I'm putting those two together. That's Kate Cunningham and Jay and And during the center They kind of need each other same thing with the ham and pineapple. I don't want those things separately I want them together. Well, here's the good news. I can get all these for 999 with Domino's best deal ever I could just throw all of those toppings at one pizza any topping Plus the pizza for 999 with Domino's best deal ever price is higher in some locations

1:02Select this online only offer from 223 until four six size availability varies by crust type maximum seven toppings six for New York style and pan crust stuffed crust is extra Excludes exile and specially pizzas minimum purchase required for delivery prices participation delivery area in charges may vary So It's the Bill Simmons podcast. We are live Sunday night on Netflix at low is here on Netflix tomorrow's at low. There's going to be a library watchables because it's CR month. Chris

2:07Ryan finally got his own month. We're doing Sicario live 6 p.m. ET on Netflix. When you watch Sicario multiple times in the same weekend, it definitely sets the mood. I don't know what mood it is, but I was in a really frisky mood for the six or Celtics game. Turn out to be the Katie game, but I really just want to talk about the lady getting kicked in the head on the VG edge comp play. It brings in a lot of court side questions. The people that bring little like six year old kids to sick court side, thinking nothing could ever happen. This to me is a PSA video now. I mean, it's crazy that someone got injured worse in this sideline incident than when the schornitz and the pistons had a brawl that almost spilled into the second row of the stand and everyone was fine. And this poor lady, I think they said her name was Christine or something. Got I mean, she got booted and she's sitting up to she's still sitting there that she has she's bleeding. Of course, I say, no, I'm good. Like I'm going to stay in the game. I you got to admire it, but you got to head on the swivel at all times. She looked like one of like the Canadian Olympic hockey players.

3:09Just trying to make it to the handshake line. Huge brews on the side of the face. I couldn't tell if she was looking at the player if she was looking way and didn't see it, but then the foot ricocheted late, which I don't know how you can predict, but I've been saying this forever. For some reason, it took forever and baseball games with foul balls for us to get really concerned about people along the third base side, first base side with the line drives. Took a couple people just getting nailed to be like, Oh, we should probably put a net up. I still feel like with courtside, we're just playing with fire because that you can go to any game and you can see who's sitting there. And there's always one person who's too old and one person who's too young, sitting those seats. And it's always in that area, like right three point line extended where people are trying to either like running out or they're trying to save a loose ball and they just go flying in their full speed. Yeah, the baseline seats are far enough back. Those are your safest courtside seats. The sideline seats, you're on the floor and you're right. It's it can happen at any moment.

4:11And you got to be you got to be ready. I've always been a hardliner about baseball in the cell phone age or even the pre cell phone age. If you get hit because you you're not paying attention, right? I don't I mean, if you suffer some sort of traumatic brain injury, I'll feel bad for you, but you're at the game. The tickets right on the back. Yeah, pay attention. Pay attention. I'm teaching my daughter that now and she's a product of like the TikTok cell phone age. Like you she doesn't have a phone yet, but you forgot to go to baseball games. You got you got to be ready at all times. You can see it when you go to baseball games. Just look around and like the fourth inning and see how many people are like this, which is basically why they had to put the net. So six or Celtics, I just want to say these NBC Sunday night games. I think have accomplished their early objective, which is to make it feel like a bigger game, right? If they show the pre game warmups, they've letting rabbits that the John Tess song, the studio that the crew is there on the court. And it does feel like a bigger game. Like I I do like what they've done. And I think it was a good idea. So that's one of the

5:15few nice things I'll say about all the weird network schedule stuff we have because I never know what channel is on what game at any time. Just when I was getting used to the Fridays, that flipped. And now it's like ESPN's on Friday. I never know where the games are, but I do like this. You know, somehow the ratings are our skyrocketing up, even though people say they can't find where the game is. I don't even know how to measure ratings really anymore. But I agree with you. The Sunday night NBC stuff is good. The song. It's always good to hear round ball rock. I like Tess' appearance at the all-star game. He was bouncing, bouncing the fake ball in tune with the drum line. Yeah, it felt like a big game tonight. Yeah, we didn't get in bead. No. Tatum, it feels like it's going to be Friday. Dallas. Okay. That's that's what all signs are pointing to Friday, Dallas. I was wondering if it would be this weekend, but by Friday, I think it was not going to be this weekend. That's that's an NBC game as well. Is it not? Might be. I think they were talking about that game at the end. And obviously they have this

6:16Tatum rehab stock you thing they're doing. I have a couple more notes from this game. VJ Max. I'm just automatic veto. I don't like it. Thank you. I thought I was the only one. It's bad. I hated it from the beginning and I sabotaged probably any deal we'll ever get from TJ Max because I hate it because I hate going into TJ Max. It's if you I say this all the time. If you want to buy a lamp, a fake gold plated lamp in the shape of a cat, TJ Max has you covered. If you want to buy something useful, TJ Max is not for you. I did a whole thing. Colorman was on my pot Thursday and I had a mail back question about about nicknames, which really peaked in the 70s, 80s and maybe even early 90s. And now we're just flailing. And we we use initials and acronyms for the most part. And then occasionally when people try to push something, it's something just hacky like VJ Max. I just think it's going to go back to the drum board. This is making me feel so much better because the NBC people say, I like VJ Max. That's

7:20too good. I'm like, it's it is. So I guess I'm the only one. No, I'm not. I'm not the only one. You're never alone. Usually the group player kind of nickname things. TMC with the words. That's really nice. That word, but it was also the first initial of each guy's name. And it was kind of organic. And I liked it. The J's I think, even though it's not technically a nickname, but Jalen and Jason calling the J's. I'm not calling VJ Max VJ Max ever. No, I feel stupid saying it. I'll take. Can I just give you my favorite nickname of all time in the history of sports team or player? It trumps all categories. What is it? This is going to be right up your alley. Five slamma jamma. So that's the it's number one on the nickname skill. Yeah. And think about that. That was like 43 years ago. We really picked. We were just better at nickdames way back when, which is what I was talking to Max about when we had the Clyde the Glide and those kind of names. Like we were just just had it all figured out. I don't know what happened. This was the Keta game. I know. I run it because my dad took my daughter and my daughter has been

8:22the biggest Keta fan for his entire Celtic career. Because those enough about basketball to follow what's going on, but not enough about basketball to understand the league and how the players and who's worth what. And she's been asking for three years. Why don't they play Keta? Isn't that doesn't he have everything that a center would have? So when he kind of took off this year for the Celtics, she was like, I was telling you, it was like her one. She sounds like me taking credit. What a win for Zoe Simmons. Um, so it's there today with the hat on thinking there might be a dark chance Tatum comes out of the tunnel because that's her favorite player. But then our other favorite part, Keta became the Keta game. And this was the 39th pick in the 2001 draft by your, your favorite, the Sacramento Kings. They did it again. She said a prototypical center who is really good with this hands up, who's coordinated, who plays hard, who rebounds, um, who gets better, basically every month. And they just like, we're good. Take a hug. Well, they found them again in Dylan Cardwell. We're doing Dylan Cardwell deep cuts it already

9:25at the clock. Okay. So hang on to Dylan Cardwell. Try Sacramento. I just, just free advice. If you have a good player, try to keep the player on your team. It's just, it's a free tip. Just try it. Try it out in this next year of Kings basketball. Well, that's so Keta as a playoff guy, um, which I don't, I just don't think they countered out him like they do now. Uh, and you think about some of the teams that the Celtics are going to play in the playoffs, potentially bigger teams, guys like Durin, the guys that Nick's have Jared down and Moby on the calves. Like they're actually going to really, really need him. And you have this combined with the Tatum come back, which I, I have like a stealth conspiracy that they're using Shireman as a Tatum proxy. Shireman's minutes are way up the last six weeks. I feel like, and he's playing well and he's doing well on defense. And they're using him a little like how they would use Tatum if his, if his legs were back. And some of the stuff

10:27they're running offensively and some of the ways they're using Shireman, I feel like is what they're going to end up with Tatum specifically. They like having them in that left corner when Jalen and White are doing like the little at the top stuff. Keta sets a pick. Somebody else comes. There's a little action. And Shireman's always open that left corner. And I feel like that's going to be a Tatum spot. I think they're going to be very careful with how they use him. Probably stagger the minutes with Jalen. But when you think about it, because we're close now, what does a Tatum come back look like for you? What it like? Give me your ceiling basement outcomes for this ceiling is he comes back gets 10 to 12 games under his belt in a regular season. So the playoffs are not zero to a hundred right away minutes wise. I don't know. Let's just say 20 to 25 minutes. Let's be conservative and say he's not going to start playing 35 minutes of game. Even if he plays a decreased role compared to what he used to play. Let's say 20, 25 minutes not quite role player, but not Jason Tatum. And then you said it when Jalen sits, they've been

11:28awesome. By the way, when Jalen is on the bench, this whole season, they were awesome. Again, today when Jalen Brown is on the bench, but they do lose, they become like almost a completely system team. And the system has worked really well. The high screens, all the different screen role combinations, the shooting all around it. But they do lose the bully ball. If everything comes to a halt with five seconds left in the shot clock, can we miss match on? Can we do something? And he's just tall enough that even if he can't power his way to the rim, the way he peaked Jason Tatum does or blow by everybody the way he does, he can still be Jason Tatum and shoot over the six four guard that switched on to him at the end of the shot clock. So and that just makes your team better. It's just another guy slicing into that. I mean, it's hard to say like taking some of the Gonzalez minutes in the house or minutes in the wash minutes because all those guys are playing really well. But just Jason Tatum taking a piece of each of those guys minutes in all the non jalen minutes. I just see no downside to it at all for them. We feel the same. I feel like it's going to be Shireman, the minutes that he takes.

12:32Yeah, either just throw it in the same bucket. Just say and he's not going to be worse than Shireman. I would say 18 to 24 minutes probably. Maybe you're looking at nine minutes stretches in each half or like six and five in each half or something like that. Shireman, his minutes per game in February was 24.3, which I thought was interesting because that's right around where I think Tatum's going to be. There's going to be, you know, Simon's they Simon's was out. So some minutes got shared. And then they have to figure out this Vousavitch thing because, you know, he looked really awful and a couple of those road trip games and then Friday against Brooklyn who usually plays the Celtics well just for the record. And the Celtics had one of the great offensive performances in the history of the sport. That was interesting. But Vousavitch looked good in that game. Didn't look as good today. I just think at age 35, you're a long time Vousavitch watcher age 35. He's just going to be hit or miss. You're going to know probably in the second quarter each game. Oh, we getting him tonight. Oh, we're not. Okay. We'll do this instead. Well, I think I think the

13:35Keta discussion is really also about Vuchavitch and that this is an overdue and transition for him into a backup center role, which he is fine for because there are just going to be some matchups where the A team offense on the other team is just too fast and too dynamic for him. But can you spot him 14 to 18 bench minutes when the best offense player and other teams on the floor, and he can just bang on the glass and get rebounds and box out. And tonight was like 11 points, 12 rebounds like didn't kill you on defense, not the most dynamic offensive team outside of Maxi and Edgecomb, which is a problem for him. But I think this is like, he was just overmatched as a starting center in his mid to late 30s. And this is a totally fine role for him. And they need it. You mentioned all the giants that they're going to go through. I really think those Detroit games, and particularly the one in Detroit, where the pistons kind of beat them up, but maybe it was in Boston. I can't remember. I think they've lost both in both places. I think those games really freak the Celtics out a little bit like, oh my god, this this team is a for real and be just massive and strong compared to us in a way that we are not

14:37quite built to play against. I agree. But so funny that you can't really survive in the playoffs anymore unless you can have size. You need everything, man. You have no chance. You have OKC, you have Denver, you have Minnesota, you have all those teams in the East. We mentioned, you're not getting away with like the 2015 Warriors type of let's go small. We'll play like those days are over. This Tatum come back. One thing that I haven't heard anyone talk about that I realized today, the rarity of somebody coming back this late in the season that's also being counted on on a team that has a chance to make the finals. I went through all a history trying to figure out how many times this has happened. I really could only find Jordan with the baseball come back in 95. Magic Johnson got hurt in 1981. He heard his knee. He missed like 40 games. He missed over over half the season, his second season. They came back. They lost around one. And then Wilk Chamberlain only played 12 games in the regular season in the 6970.

15:41Came back for the playoffs in the Willis Reed playoffs. There might have been a couple others, but I really racked my brain. I couldn't. This is really unusual. Like normally how it goes is Jamal Murray getting hurt. Missing the rest of the season coming back and just kind of not being ready in time for the playoffs and the team kind of punting on it. We've never really seen this. And I don't. It's one of the rare things in sports where I have no idea how it plays out. Any set of alternatives for it. And I just don't know. I mean, there is. It could. It could not go well. And they could decide midway through like we're actually going to cut your minutes. I don't suspect that's going to happen just because he's so good. And he appears to be ready. Yeah, but anything could happen. There was the Jordan broken foot season two, but they weren't a contender that year. Yeah. They were fairly playoff. Most of the time, like I think back to KG in 2009, when there was this will, he won't he think from that weird injury. Even like to remember Jamir Nelson that same year got hurt in the playoffs and Ray Frost and started and it was like, will he won't he? That's usually what it is. And it is

16:42a trickier like reintegration process for those kinds of players. So yeah, this is a weird one. Well, Stada. I can't remember. Stada, my 20 years ago in the oh six sons. I can't remember if he was lingering for a comeback or not. I just too long. But yeah, he did not come back. I don't believe in the playoffs. He didn't come back. And I didn't know if it was like they had their fingers crossed. Well, we'll see what happens. It could be a very interesting Celtics week because they Milwaukee tomorrow night. And I think they're going to rest everybody and hope Milwaukee has one of those just terrible Milwaukee games like they had today. Charlotte on Wednesday, who we're going to talk about later. We're doing a Charlotte the deep dive. We did quite last week. We're doing a deep dive on Charlotte this week. Friday, Dallas, Cooper flag homecoming, the entire state of Maine is going to be there. Hopefully plays. And then I think they play against Sunday. I want to talk about Maxie quick because I was thinking about him today. The best picks after pick 20 is the 21st pick in 2020. How rare it is to get somebody that you've drafted for yourself who has the chance

17:45to be an OMB guy, which I think we both thank. He's probably at least second team. Desmond Bayon in that same draft was 30. Brunson was 33 for Dallas, but ended up on the next four. He became a guy in a nobby on Toronto 23. D. White was 29. Siacum 27. Then of course, Yoke and 41. Go bear 27. Dream on 35. Middleton 39 and Butler 30. Those are all the guys from the last 15 years that after pick 20 became guys. And he has a chance to be a second team on B.A. The sixers have loved this whole time. But I just think what he's doing is really special this year. He's going to he's going to play the most minutes and the most games at the guard position in 10 years is what he's on pace. The last guy was James Harden 82 games 38.1 a game in 2016. Like guards don't do this anymore. Play this many minutes. How does this much of a burden? And they kind of rise and follow them. He wasn't very good tonight, but he kind of also kept the minute. And I just did. Did you ever think he would be this guy? No, no. I mean, I think he is

18:50going to make an all NBA team this year. I had him on 13 when I just did my my blink test. Look at the team. It's it's a crowded field, even with the health issues. But I think he should make an all NBA team. I don't think anyone thought he would be an all NBA player. That's why he was picked 21st. Remember they only got him because Mike Muscala hit a bunch of shots in an Oklahoma City game that like for the pick to fill it off his way. No, I'm saying like after we knew he was good. Oh, I mean, do you think he was going to be this good? Because there became a point especially when Hardham was so there was like, wow, they really hit this maxi pick. He's good. Did you think he was going to be this good? Yeah, I can't say that I expected like 30 a game on good efficiency. Me neither. Like I and I think what what proves that that was probably the consensus is he's been in the most improved player conversation for like the last four years. Like every year people are like again, like I guess we got to put him up for this award again. Yeah. Yeah, he's got some of the stuff he does is just so unique to him. Like he's got a floater basically from the foul line that he shoots running straight like a shot put. I don't know

19:52anybody else who has that shot. The changes speed stuff he has. The teams are so terrified of him now. They get a defensive rebound and he has to ball in the back court. You can see it's almost like football like when Tyree kills in motion. You can see everybody kind of screaming around, but he's a really special player. And I you know, they have this and bead and bead now has this oblique injury too. And Maxi's talked about his frustration with how they're basically these two separate teams. I think people are wondering is this kind of like a playoff team you don't want to see in the playoffs when they get Paul George back and then bead. I think the style thing's going to kill them ultimately in a series because I don't think they know who they are. But long term as a combo this this we don't call them VJ max edge comb and maxi. It's about as good as it gets for a young combo I think like they're in great shape. Question for me is, will there more of you around to see it? We'll be around to see it through. Who knows? I mean, you'd have to have a were only 60 games in and they are clinging to the 60. The

20:53race for six in the east has gotten pretty spicy and like the the whole seven to 10 thing is a mess. But 60 games in you'd have to count this season as a success for Philadelphia. I think given and beads been in and out of the lineup in this PG thing. I mean, I don't know how you evaluate who's at fault for all of the mishaps that continue to do the fall of this franchise. But this is better than I thought there would be after 60 games given and they haven't had like great health luck by any stretch. No, what was it? 42 was the overrunner? It was something like it was the one that really flamix you mean house. You could have said 20 wins either way. Yeah, you're right. With Paul George basically missing when you include the injuries that start the air and the suspension. He's going to miss over half the season and beads had three separate injuries. They've gotten more from edge comb than they I really liked the rogas. I think that bonus legitimate rotation guy who I could see in a playoff series. Yeah, I don't like if that's the two seven matchup they match up

21:59pretty like they're very comfortable against Boston. Even today all of a sudden that game was six and they just had these little runs against Boston. I think they like going against Jalen. They have guys to throw at him. They like going against the Boston guards that a good job on picture today. But I just think without the size it's not going to happen. Nick Spurs was the other really interesting one today which we both watched was the first time the Spurs looked like crap in a while their win streak then. It was also the first time the Knicks really you could see the full whatever the blueprint was as they were heading in the trade deadline. Not going to over react because the Knicks had some bad losses over the last couple of weeks. But did you learn anything from that game? I thought it was first of all I guess I learned that Mohamed Dior is going to shoot like 23s in a game at some point to season. I actually think he's pretty good and he's earned himself a look in their postseason rotation. To me that game I mean a lot of Knicks played well in that

23:00game. That was a Josh Hart game and you know they're they're going to see the strategy over and over again where teams put their centers their rim protectors on Josh Hart and just ignore him and put wing players on cat and my god Stefan Castle goes from guarding cat to guarding Brunson when cat goes out the game is like this guy is in his second year and this is what he's doing on defense let alone the offense that's crazy. But Josh Hart it gives a little funky to start with and I think that Knicks kind of leaned into if you're going to ignore Josh Hart we're actually going to bring him up into the action even though Webby's on him and that means we're bringing Webby into the action and he's this terrifying alien with a million foot wingspan and they made the most out of it like he scored on the pick and roll he got open shots for Brunson he did the dream on thing which I think they're going to need to do more of team street him like this which is if you're ignoring me swing the ball back to me all all run a handoff for Mikhail Bridges who hit a three out of this Landry Sham I got a good three out of it and I looked it up on the tracking data it was the most ball screens Josh Hart has set in any game this season was in

24:02this game and I remember I remember talking to a head coach maybe two months ago whose team was in New York to play the next we sat down we were having coffee and we were I was like so you're going to put your center on blah blah you're going to do the hard thing probably right like that's what the matchups make sense for you we're going to put your center on heart he's like I don't know Josh Hart feels like he's solved that one and like he's heard a lot of teams I make an open threes in doing Josh Hart things and crashing the glass and I'm kind of afraid to do it and he didn't do it and I think the next one the game but if that that conversation stuck in my head is like this is how a team think about game planning for the nix it really starts with towns and heart and and the nix felt like today they hit a gear with that that they had not hit this season hmm also helps San Antonio 26.5% from three jerk to get this about just about any team but yeah the the San Antonio clonker is a little unsustainable it's also the way to be it okay see hey could you guys miss 75% of your threes that would really help us on the nix

25:07okay Larry David was there they kept showing them during the game I I'm reasonably sure that was his first or second time back but I think it was his first time back since the game where he went to the haliburton oh he was there the comeback game and the three that went all the way up and down and he was supposed to for two games and flew back after that game he was so traumatized so I think it was an emotional return for LD wow I didn't realize that yeah it was I mean the nix fans still talk about that haliburton game like I I was talking about the 86 world series the buckner game like it was that traumatic I mean I you you're not kidding because I think it's faded recently because we're just in the dog days of the season but early in the season when I would go to msg and they would be up like 14 in the fourth quarter and another team would go on like a five oh run you could hear these murmurings in the crowd like what it's this is like the eighth game of the season what do you also word oh it's that game it's within their heads a little bit

26:08one of the most traumatizing losses of since we've been alive for the NBA it's easily in the top five and in them we've we've both watched the game since it's an absolutely incredible rewatch all right I'm gonna zip through a couple random dork NBA things can I just say before you do I'm just so I'm really happy that I got to share the kid a game with you that's what I was thinking the entire second half there's one one day I'm going to get to see the sad bill meme can't have been doing these after after Celtic seems that I really want to see the sad bill meme like in person around zoom this I'm just the whole thing I was like no one in the world is going to be happier that kada had a career game and we had to spend nine minutes watching a woman get kicked in the face by vj edge comb because of our review and make us reconsider who should be sitting side blind do we need a protective net unprepared for every dumb conversation possible about this that lady was a hero sitting stayed in the seat too no complaints i thought tariko did a great

27:11job of being like look at her tough it out she's gonna she's gonna stay the last four minutes even to go to the medical tent even she was sitting there like is this is so what is the cock is doing is nobody there did they all go get a coffee break why is this taking eight fucking minutes to resolve this can we get on with it I'm bleeding can we get out with the game right i need a nice pack uh 45 seconds max for a review just tell me that rule doesn't work i'm gonna build 45 seconds keep the call it stands let's move on all right new markdowns up to 70% off are at Nordstrom rack stores now and that means so many new reasons to rack because i always find something amazing just so many good brands because there's always join the Nordic club to unlock exclusive discounts shop new arrivals first and more plus buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free great brands great prices that's why you rack

28:12this episode is brought to you by Nespresso introducing virtual up the latest and a long line of innovation from Nespresso it's innovation you can touch sense and taste in every single cup with a three-second start easy open lever and dedicated brew over ice button it's even easier to enjoy your coffee your way sit for yourself shop virtual up exclusively at nespresso.com random dorky ambi and stuff let's go have the thunder officially become villains did this happen oh are we here i'll give you some of the case and then you tell me um all the picks that they have just that's fact that they're successful but then have this war chest to see him presti how everybody else in the league now is mad at s am presti for a variety of reasons including that he's now anti-tanking when he used to be pro-tanking and all whatever all the phone ringing yet or is it do you have it on mute it's off okay all the foul baiting

29:16especially from sga that's became a thing this year the boring commercials just bad commercials start in the okay see people i don't think people like that they still stole the team from Seattle has to be mentioned and then you were going all in and then the kuda grad ludor the dirtiest guy in the league just hands down if we're handing that out and if we if that's in the awards the 30s per year ludor wins that was the dirtiest thing anyone did this year was inexcusable i can't believe you did it it was it was a play to try to hurt another player it wasn't in the flow of a game where somebody's up in the air and they make a mistake this was like a deliberate i'm going to try to fuck with the collio kitch and maybe hurt him is my interpretation of that play there's no other interpretation i feel like i feel like you're taking it personally almost because it was the okay i feel like you felt it was a personal attack on you listen Liam beer there's been guys over the years they crossed the line of are you actually trying to hurt somebody else is in this game and i thought that crossed the line and i couldn't believe the okay see coach was like

30:19surprised after maybe he didn't see the clip i did enjoy marked agnos reaction after the game like i just want to know is that a flagrant two now we're doing that every time it's a flagrant two because we're doing every time i just want to know it's a flagrant two and then that's as far as you go you wouldn't say anything else about it but i mean look it looks it doesn't look like a hard hit when you see it on replay but that's because we're not taking it from like a 260 pound cinder block in real time it was you know it was a decent hit i wasn't surprised i upgraded it to a flagrant two and it was clearly i'm going out of my way to hit you this is not a natural running motion this is not a direction anybody would take similar to like you know that we've seen a lot of other plays like that were just guys just decide i'm going to hit you and need yeah decided i'm going to hit you okay are they villains i mean i think villains are great for the NBA i would love to see them lean in that's why i brought this up they kind of need an identity right remember last year we're like how do we talk about these guys they just play hard they'll like

31:22each other they're leaning into their inner villain now which i like i i mean like we'll never see yokeage that mad again and this is a guy who got who got cheap shot at bite one of the more as brothers and then nailed him in the back and nobody is mess with the yokeage sense for like what five years i was worried anybody done anything Tim since then i was worried his brothers were going to be at the game and something like who knows what's going to happen if the yokeage brothers are at the game but the eyes those eyes will live on forever i mean that is an all time meme whatever like those eyes i don't look at i don't look at the first beer after trade deadline with the intensity that the holy yokeage stared at luddart with like we did big jail well i mean that was that was a lusty aggressive stare yeah there's three problems for dork one is that he he saw yokeage sized him up and then pretending to see him then he stepped back into him and then he swung his right right foot around to make sure that he got him and there was there was

32:26history from the before earlier in the game with them and in general it was a chippy game and i think one of the lessons from this week there's really animosity in some of these games now oh that was that was like that that was an intense game from the beginning pistons spurs was just like how about pistons everybody pistons cabs was also because that i thought Friday night was awesome but piston calves was was also really chippy and and kind of angry and not a lot of not a lot where we've we've kind of moved out of the banana boat era with the with the leak i feel like there's a lot of animosity now in these games again i i love it i think i think we all agree we would like to more of that on the thunder villain thing i i will say some of it is envy right like teams are just envious about how well the thunder have built their team um i will also say when chris finch now what are we two months into this gave his they're very frustrated to play against because they

33:26get to the line a lot and you can't touch shame remember that press conference prince chris finch gave it like there was before and after stats about chase free throws i heard from so many people around the league being like chris finch is a hero finally somebody said it somebody said it like said there's something there's something to this it was like the uh to still water drummer and almost famous when they when they start going off our russell him and he's like finally the truth in the bus or the plane whatever was uh i like it i think that thunder have an identity again their fans are going to eat this up i'm sure this segment will get caught out and put somewhere and i'll be i'll be a villain like poor justin terminate who's enemy number one in the city before all their players got hurt part of being a villain is knowing how god damn good you are and wanting to crush everybody in front of you and before all their players got hurt they played like a team who was like bringing on we're going to destroy your soul in this basketball game and i love to that that's

34:27exactly how you want to champion to approach its potential repeat season well you talked with legs about uh this little case and Wallace mini leap in february which has been noticeable i don't know how much is there big picture but i've increased the ceiling in the building by a couple stories like because it's clear to me now they're going to have some tax that that's a figure i have to figure out how to pay him dorks got the team option next year and i wonder like is dorked and cruz on Wallace on this team a year from now my bet would be no they'll try to patch you know the picks that they have and they'll try to save money that and then give the money back to Wallace but Wallace like what give me the best statistical season of his career give me a guess 18 and five maybe something like that do you think that's the best 22 and five i don't know i mean it just depends where he goes right like it depends what team he's on i see i was ready to get to like 22 seven and five you might be right you're you're better at

35:31projecting you're more adventurous and therefore i just wonder how much is there could he be obviously if he's on this team he's never going to be the lead guard but could he be like a real sidekick somebody who's 37 38 minutes a game you're right he's a game i don't know i don't know maybe it's 20 maybe it's closer to you it's somewhere between 18 and 22 but i i wouldn't have said this three months ago i don't think but to your point i think people just like recency bias and just people got a lot going on their lives i think people have kind of forgotten how good the thunder can really be and there's going to be a week when they get everybody back and yeah it's going to be like oh god oh yeah that's right that guy too and that guy is coming off the bench and that guy is a luxury item and like Jared McCain who they swipe from the sixers is suddenly like the thirteenth man on the team but he's playing great too and and honestly not not the worst thing in the world to not put all these miles on these guys when you're gonna have a five or six year run which i've been thinking about a lot like he talking about uh that five year warriors run i forget

36:34what podcast we talked about it on here but um you know those years are like seven years crammed into five years when you had those playoff games and you look back at the history of the league and all these teams that had these four or five year intense runs like that and the guys wouldn't have the time break down at the end of them and certainly happened with the Celtics in the in the 80s and it happened to the pistons by the time they got to 91 it was just off a cliff um the bulls kind of avoided it because Jordan went and played baseball for that year and a half kind of kind of pushed it off i was thinking about the other day because Robert Hory was saying how he thought the 94 and 95 he said on some podcast the 94 and 95 brackets would have beaten the bulls which in a vacuum is is a relatively insane statement but when you think about the bulls coming off three straight titles and losing Hora's grant i do think the rockets would have beaten them one of those years is he's saying like if jordan if jordan never left he's like a jordan was there we would have beaten them both times i don't know about both times i don't think that since both times is is probably crazy but i mean you eight titles in a row like that was not that was

37:40probably not going to happen i think even sustainable even people with the bulls like Steve Kerr has said they don't he doesn't think that they would have won all those titles um speaking of the nuggets it's just a quick one okay cam johnson concern scale i was defcon two and then the over for today and i might now be a defcon one it's been bad friday night i was on a couple different texts during that okay see Denver game in three minutes left i texted this game is going to come down to a wide open cam johnson three no way because yeah i have it i have the text wow the reason i said that was because he's been shaky enough in these games that they were he clearly going to help off him in the biggest possession of the game and take their chances with him in the corner and it's exactly what happened and missed it it was a tag game was seven seconds left this is why you go and trade him a trade that both of us loved and hold on hold on don't lump me in with you i

38:43thought i thought i thought Michael Porter junior was swept away like he was like i just lumped you in what are you going to do about it i said what i said i lumped you in easy i don't care if you didn't want to be lumped in i need a company with me in house so you didn't like it you like Porter i i i i liked it because i it also allowed them to get balance units and fill out their bench a little bit and it was clear some sort of financial relief was going to come i just thought people were like wildly underestimating how good Michael Porter junior was in in the trade and how important his shooting was for Denver right i also didn't think cam cam johnson's moving so tentatively in some ways that i almost you just have to wonder if he's still not healthy all the way back from the various elements that have heard him this season because he just stuck beyond the shooting numbers which are actually for the season all right he just is not adding any like to their ball movement to their offense it just isn't there i looked up his crunch time stats and he's one for eight crunch time small sample size small sample but turns 30 this week

39:44but i just think they need him they need him at the end of these games they've had so many winnable games it's so weird to see a nuggets team but they're still like five we did this last week we were saying how there are 500 there's still 500 over like 35 games now and they've blown so many games at the end of games which i just didn't think was possible now they have Gordon's going to come back that's going to change things Watson i'm not freaking out no can't judge the cam johnson thing is significant though because he's somebody that if he he's not going to be out there in that spot when we're in the playoffs who is it going to be hard away who's it going to be who's who's it going to be in that corner that is going to make a break like a game for on the road somewhere because i don't i don't he's lost my trust unfortunately well Gordon and Watson answer a lot of those questions but i mean yokech had more some more goofy turnovers by his by his standards today i think he had five turnovers and he's had a few turnovers

40:44in all these games where it's like the defense is is on his wavelength like they they i don't want to say they outthink him but he doesn't outthink them they see the past coming and pick it off which is unusual uh for him and right now they just have no they have no size like they're so small they have no one they have like christian rounds trying to guard and he's all right at it and cam johnson tried to guard Julius Randall who didn't have a great game but they just don't have any size outside of their centers right now it it is beginning again you can't panic can't overreact because all these guys are coming back and we'll see if Aaron Gordon can stay healthy but this last month with yokech and the team not winning as much as you'd expect with yokech still playing sensationally but it does have a feel of like sometimes it's just like it doesn't come together sometimes it's just not yet we're not there yet but it's it's on my like radar of like it might just be the year it doesn't happen and i expected it to happen like because i do think there's a legitimate great team in here but yeah sometimes you run out of time to find it

41:45i mean sadly i'm deep down feeling the same way the problem here is that yokech is still having in all time season and Murray is having the best season of his life and we shouldn't have this many questions also when Gordon comes back what level of Gordon are we getting and also is he coming back we yet we now have they played so basically 20 we're at the and they are entering the last quarter of the season so he's going to come back and just be thrown into a four five matchup against Minnesota where they're going to need him for like 35 minutes of game and with a hammy what it's a hammy thing that just feels like it just keeps happening that's the worry is that his combination of size power on both ends defense of versatility and he's now approving 40 plus percent three point shooter they don't have anyone who combines all those things that's why he's such a unique player they have pieces of them and other players who have weaknesses they get exploited elsewhere and to get through the west you it's you need to be pretty damn close

42:45to 100% to get through all of these teams i mean these are five legit really good teams i'd be Houston who were kind of both down on and i think everybody is is now in third in the west and whatever you think of them they're going to make you feel some pain over a seven game series no matter who you are the scary thing for Denver is four five could be them in Minnesota team that loves playing Denver is very comfortable against them doesn't mean they're going to beat them and the Lakers now have the same number of losses is Denver and it's been this Lakers season that a team we've written off 700 times and it somehow has the exact same record as uh as Denver okay next topic oh speaking of the west the seven eight nine ten in the west is just officially bizarre where we have Phoenix at 34 and 26 book are still out Brooks is out i guess for the season golden states 31 and 29 and it's going to be 31 and 32 in three games i don't think they said for the season with Brooks but time wise it gets i think

43:49it was time wise it's a very far like to the last week yeah i just wanted to be glad i was like did i miss something i don't think i did golden state could be under five hundred and three games portland's at 29 and 32 the quippers are at 27 and 31 but relying on kawaiian guard and uh there is garland who are an exactly lugaric um clippers are about to win right now by the way all right so let me 28 31 and um portland lost so they're 29 and 33 they lost to the Jonathan kominga led it lay in a hawks by 34 points crowd chaining thank you warriors during the kominga game as he had another one uh portland has a weird obvi a back injury thing that's gonna knock him out of any possible NBA stuff not that he was gonna make it anyway golden state just say curry needs at least 10 more days that's starting to look a little get a little whiff of little little tanky whiff oh i would i wouldn't that that i don't know if curry like do you rush him back

44:49to play him hurt or do you be like you know what let's get the 10th pick in the draft okay i mean that's that's uh i mean so you got to lose in the play and then you got to like because there there's there's zero chance at any of these or just say fuck out we're gonna play yeah fuck it we'll wait step come back that week if you're healthy um give me two teams you think are in the play half seven eight nine ten Phoenix gold state portland equipers pick two i got picked two two have to make it um two have to make it well again i'll tell you what no one below them is even trying to win so congratulations to the four play in teams unless one of you passes the leakers or not get you are in the play and with 20 games yes we can celebrate you can hang a banner i will go all go suns clippers how about that suns clippers there is garland coming back tomorrow kawaii's kawaii you know i don't feel great about it but i'll go suns clippers i don't love that i don't love this step injury and the team just feels like

45:50there's just a lot of like dianthini melton and gees santos and quit and post going on and all those guys are actually playing okay but it just feels a little like a like a rickety mishmash of whatever the box score is alarming the one yesterday they got killed by the lakers the box score is like oh my god this is like a Brooklyn net lineup i would also say suns clippers i really tried to talk myself into portland i watched the entire portland and share the game my hornets were playing at ten o'clock pacific time i had to had to test drive that one portland really wanted the game and came in with a really hardcore defensive plan against and i don't want to waste our charlotte stuff because we're doing deep dive later but really like it's the first time i've seen a team like be like here's our strategy to take out caniple and they were doing all this stuff to try to take them out true how it was playing really hard i like clinging they have good wings scoot henterson there's a lot of signs that he's don't sell your scoot stock yet don't shake your head no i did a whole scoot branded Miller segment

46:52last two weeks ago and talked about scoot i just didn't think that was a particularly good scoot game well just there's some signs they're getting more comfortable the giving them the ball and letting him do stuff it would be nice if more of the signs went into the basket but you know i'm just trying to be class half full of scoot i've i've admitting defeat on the brand of Miller scoot thing i've officially admitting defeat there's not there's no other move do you i mean you do there's not there's no other move for your brand of Miller than that one brand of Miller it's tremendous it's really good i love brand of Miller like hey he's really looking Paul George jaylin brown ish offensively like that could be i like i think he could be 26 a game if he could stay healthy at some point absolutely it's career all right so we both say phoenix and the clippers and yet the clippers could coi could be gone tomorrow okay well i mean i yes but if you're so weird i'm picking them it's just it's a little bit of a

47:55it's i don't i don't say anything everything about it is weird including that there is no eleventh place team you can just erase the last part of the standings and unless you're doing the reverse standings you don't even need to look at them well new Orleans might make a late search here they're only 20 back they're one of the hottest there are the last three games behind the clippers in the last home can they make that up i don't know the learns played really well just killing the hawks pick zion got hurt again though i'm not again he deployed i zion got hurt just as we got used to zion playing he's now heard again hopefully it's it's minor but this is just the story of some of these guys careers i hope we learned a lesson from this pelicans pick with the hawks because we've seen this situation before the Celtics were in it one year with the cleveland pick we've seen these teams have these seemingly super choice picks and the time to trade them is november december when they have maximum look how good this picks going to be because the truth is the team whose pick you have has no incentive to stop trying

48:57in the last 30 games of the season and they start playing some of these other tanking teams and they're like fuck it well what do we care and they'll start winning and all of a sudden you're in the ninth pick instead of the fourth pick and i i think i land a probably should have sent that pick back in a while ago if you want to be the ninth pick if you watch the pelicans if a person who had never who knows nothing about the NBA watch the pelicans play any of the other seven to eight teams who are tanking right now they'd be like well that's got to be the best team in the league right like this team's got to be by far the best team so much better this other team some of the tanking steps great and then go sacrameno's taken in a step further there was some weird internet rumor about uh that they want to sign westbrook for next year that he's become a leader of the team sacrameno bolts very sent us that and my response was that i think him being the gm is the natural outcome for all this but back i'm putting him in charge of the team he he i guess he's now i mean he's a king player you have to be a king's player to really be in

50:01consideration to replace an established gm a former king player you have to put your time in um it's like prison it's like you have to be in the yard for a couple of years for the late work in the out in the library i didn't even have the heart to respond to the text i just it's just let me ask you that is it would you say it's completely inconceivable that russell westbrook could some they be the sacrameno king's gm but no way i think that like i don't if i'm surprised there are not odds on it already like it's like maybe we could do it with those weird prediction markets how she put that bed down yeah like calcium just put some calcium on his tweets out by the way look at calcium today for a new a new line on russell westbrook being the gm dropped to 51 unfandless fandals one fando predictions okay next goofy question what happens if you honest comes back this week it's i can't i'm so excited you brought this up my aim is the uh so right now we have six seven eight nine

51:02philly 31 and 27 Orlando's 31 and 28 my aim is 32 and 29 so they're all grouped together as six seven eight america's team the charlotte hornets is 30 and 31 can't wait to do the deep dive with them they're the nine seed right now at lana is 31 and 31 actually they're the nine seed right now charlotte's 10 and then Milwaukee's 26 and 33 so they are a couple losses behind basically everybody Milwaukee was eight and three in their last 11 till they lost the stupid game they lost today yannis is looming he could play the last 20 games so if they go i don't know could they get to 40 wins it's possible they go 14 and six what happens could they could they make uh all they'd have to do is jump one team and get to the ten seed and then it's just playing playoff games that like to me yannis is not dead yet no that little this is this that i think people wrote off the books and kind of forgot about the books

52:03and the the eastern conference let the bucks stay alive because that stretch they had before all was absolutely massive because it gave them the margard frayer to come back to earth and this was a comeback to earth weekend for the bucks two horrible losses including a blowout to the bulls who had not won in literally a month and yet they're just still two games back in the lost column behind charlotte and two games back behind it lana four games back at the heat but all of these teams like just look at their records in the last 10 games or lando six and four my ambi five hawks six and four none of them have run away from the bucks and and like with yannis the team makes sense it makes it no sense to make up two games on it elana hawks team who only like kind of makes sense as a basketball team or lando is is that's that's or lano and my ambi are taller hills to climb but not on not teams without problem norm powell just got hurt he's going to miss a little bit of time um the sooner he comes back the more interesting this gets because

53:03if they get into the play and and they're going full throttle with yannis even if they're coming from the nine ten seed they got a hell of a chance to get in and then then it gets real interesting and it turns into ambi at copards just like you have to be honest tonight are you going home and that's it and yannis really cares and and actually wants to be in the playoffs america leads the world in medicine development it matters we get new medicines first nearly three years faster five million americans go to work because we make medicines here at home and not relying on other countries keeps us safe but china is racing to overtake us will we let them or will we choose to stay ahead when america leads america cures let's tell washington to keep us in the lead learn how at america cures dot com pay for by pharma so philly or land on my Amy Charlotte at land in Milwaukee pick three that get into the playoffs yeah just pick three right now for six seven eight i'm not even going to look at schedules i will do philly or land oh

54:08no i'm no no oh this is actually hard yeah i know this is hard i'll go fuck it i'm going to go philly Miami Charlotte or land those out which should just be the most wildly disappointing outcome for almost any any team so i would have had orlando in the Miami spot there i think philly and charlotte i have them in and charlotte i can't wait to do the deep stuff i mean my let me just my amy's their way in it's just it's just that's the thing did you see the heathen any of the heathen thing i did i saw the whole game i until that game i was like they're gonna you know this is not going to be the year for them whatever um i don't know they showed they had a little feistyness in that game and we always see around now there's one team that kind of gets hot or does whatever and i don't know if they're that good but that i don't know you watch them and the team kind of makes sense now that when they have everybody and if they can get hero going a little

55:10bit so i would probably say philly Miami Charlotte or land oh more likely they make the playoffs or they change coaches for the end of the season i will go make i will go make the playoffs because i think i i i just the history of this front office is that they accidentally and i think they will they will now give especially given how much time fronds in particular is missed i think they give this thing till the end of the season i was an awful loss today they're up seven and a half time they're lose by 14 bad um at liana doesn't have their pick so no real reason for them to throw it in that's why i like a Milwaukee if they were 28 and 31 instead of 26 and 33 i'd be more excited i think they've they're probably a little bit too far back but i was thinking with the trade this is such a strange situation for them to be in right it's like they're gonna get the one seat they might have the best record in the whole league and the prize for getting the one seat could be their philadelphia with them beat and george back my am at the fucking heat culture weird voodoo

56:16Miami team charlotte who's who's been awesome for 32 games now like a legitimate kind of offensive juggernaut um and none of those matchups are fun like none of them it's great that's what the playoffs are supposed to be let's not have any pushovers i mean i think i think orlando would be a pushover i don't i don't think they'd be a pushover on if they were fully healthy i don't think they'd be a pushover i think the hawks would be a pushover for Detroit i just think orlando's not going to be fully healthy and you know they're not going to be fully healthy cross that off unlikely uh well yeah it's when sugs plays two games in a row it's like a shock it's it really makes you feel good when you turn on the magic game and sugs explaining i love watching sugs play i'm like all right this team just became 25% more entertaining to watch yeah um cleveland who won today barely another dorky combo if you're cleveland do you care if you're just you're the foreseed you play

57:20toronto on round one do you care no i don't i don't think you care about your seed at all if you're cleveland you just need to get as healthy as possible and like you know what you're being judged on and i i wouldn't stress about three four one two all you've had your ups and downs against all the teams currently above you in the standings just you just got to play on fando they were plus one twenty five for the foreseed and eleven and one for the five seed if i'm them i just want everyone running full steam second week in april i don't care if i'm playing toronto and i don't mind playing the trade i don't think i thought i think they would think they can beat the trade they have more offense more stuff to bring the table shrewter um i had really had a chip on a shoulder right i thought i was just to bring him off the bench like possessed doing that crazy shrewter stuff i thought it'd be fun but i think that team you know the the same maryle piece has defrared the fact that they missed on the andre hunter deenwayed is a i guess just a

58:25exit stage right when he put when he putt first of all he's been starting for them for the most part since since the team you got fully formed again when he when he plays decently they are very hard to beat he's he's a minor role player but they they really like him and they keep giving him chances and they keep seeing him through these like months where it feels he hits like two threes in a month and then i have a game where it's like he's four of six from three and that's all he does other than play great defense but yeah but it helps and but they at least they turn hunter into shrewter and keon ellis like at least they they they they got two guys that can play for them in that in that deal body language doctor likes their chemistry too i like some of the stuff i saw in the sidelines from michael and harden looks like michael and harden like each other honeymoon hard and it's just it's really kicked in i think i did i'll take it uh next topic i texted this to you so you're actually prepared for this one don't normally like to sneak attack you with topics perimeter defenders better than the Thompson's

59:29all right let me bring up my list i asked you to make a list who's actually better than these guys perimeter defenders we're not talking big guys we're not talking uh tiny guards or small i don't the the answer is i'm not sure anybody is um although i i think they both are no player is perfect but i i think here so here are the names i wrote down as just like these are the guys you at least tell me how many names you wrote down before you tell me the names i wrote like 15 names down because i go big i go big all the time but i i have i wrote down 10 names yeah cut uh ludor who was the caruso yeah they were not my first name no i'm just i do i just went down standing's order okay and i'm gonna omit some ones that i don't think are serious um i think this is the fan basis won't take that personally it off you forget somebody i'm so i'm just gonna serve like i'm not gonna mention Hugo Gonzalez after saying i'm not mentioning i'm sorry you go you don't get into this one the lamma the lamma haircut doesn't get you in i think jayton McDaniels deserves a

1:00:30word Derek white doesn't have the size but i left him off because i think there are certain guys that he probably can't guard uh i still think peak koai needs to be on this list uh he can't bring it every night but when he really really brings it he he might still be the best perimeter defender in the NBA for a game or a quarter yeah dice and Daniels and you're running your right i left him off you're running out it got and i don't mind leaving him off like you run out like i think payton Watson could could get into this conversation uh oj n and obi uh had him i had kamara kamara is on my list that's a good one uh i had it scottie burns he's on my list too i was waiting i wanted you to bring up scottie burns um but i i had him on my list here's my descending order i had mcDaniels first i had the dormant cruisal combo castle in an obi i had kamara kawaii barns and

1:01:31bridges all next to each other and i had a net words because i think when he really wants to guard for a possession i think he's as good as anybody i'm not saying he's doing it all game but 30 seconds left and i need to play defense and i have him and mcDaniels i just saw it i went to the corporate game the other night and in the reason i'm mcDaniel so high is he snatched Ben mather and soul from his body for two hours he just he reached inside his heart and pulled it out and by the fourth quarter i mather and who was like a really confident guy like walks around with his chest out and it really seems alpha eight was just like during the headlights and uh couldn't couldn't solve it mcDaniels is terrifying and he's the only one i've seen in person other than when kawaii gets it to that i will now take the ball when he gets into that mode um he's the only one i've seen like i'm level with the Thompson's castle even though he guarded the rant which was one of the great things that great random things of the season i'm not sure if

1:02:33there's certain guys like could he guard bigger guys like jalen brown bigger physical forwards i'm not sure he's big enough to guard those guys but mcDaniels is but you cannot say enough i mean you cannot say enough about how good castle and harbor are as defenders this unit into their career because the experience factor although the Thompson twins are not super experienced either is what makes it hard to put them on like this sort of apex level but those guys i mean they guard up in size so well you put them on they brought Brandon Ingram in a in a recent spurs uh raptors game Dylan Harper closed the game on Brandon Ingram and kind of clapped them a little bit and i'd mention how castle guarded cat and brunson in the same game like they are up for the Durant game i'd forgotten about when he kind of bodied up Durant and like Durant was like what's happening is this a foul what's what's going on they they are big and rangel and they are want all the smoke like those guys are so far ahead of the curve defensively it's crazy

1:03:35jalen brown is in the vicinity for this if it's one of those games or he's really fired up to play defense and it but it's bigger guys it's like luca type guys it's it's the more physical type of wings that he's really good at defending and and really has been for the last few years i would not respectfully not put jalen brown in this game i know i'm just saying certain games uh the other one and i thought about this the other day at this at this kupa game i was at i.o. is like first of all three inches taller than i was prepared for our in person i don't know why the tv made me think he was like six one but i felt like he was the same height as anthony edwards i could figure it out big big shoulders and just um when they had him McDaniels and edwards all out there at the same time against a team that really didn't have a point guard christine was the only sort of point guard in the clippers everyone was terrified to bring the ball nobody was happy about it um but i thought that was interesting he's a he's a great fit you know i mean you know who's furious right now who Dylan Brooks is furious Dylan Brooks is

1:04:41going to pick up the rare podcast technical for our good so he's just off the list he's hurt we don't even consider i had i had a lot of mentioned his list but he's might not we might not see him again this season well this leads to the next question pick one as a defender of houston tomson or detroit tomson houston tomson i think houston tomson is ahead of the i don't like that i don't like doing the brother's thing it makes me sad to pit the brothers against each other like this but it makes it hurts my soul but i take the comment tomson i think i think he scales down positionally a little easier than asardos asard might guard up a little bit better but i think comments i'm syncing guard anybody and he's just his speed i mean they're both unbelievable but i'd pick comment so i give him a slight edge as well i think us are is uh the single scariest guy to bring the ball up against like when he's really and i'm going to try to get a steal as you bring the ball up mode i'd think he's number one who's scarier than him you know

1:05:43i was watching a game it was a tank off game and i watched it because i just this is what i do i watched grizzlies kings oh scottie pipin junior oh he's another good one shit you not didn't have three stales in a row or something four four consecutive steals while the kings were bringing the ball up and it was almost like let's just cancel the game if this is what's going to happen send everybody home refund the tickets it's a great night out for scottie pipin junior game over see that's another guy like why wasn't why didn't a contender try to get him he's been injured the whole year i don't care like they've been just the it's like free second round pick for him right it's been fist turning down a second round pick for scottie pipin i don't think so and he's been hurt most of the year i don't i wanted to see him in a playoff series um okay next question so the all mba it feels like we've separated to yoka gestia cade and winby are levitating that top group now and then we have a next five of ant and michael and jalen and luca and maxi in some

1:06:49order ant michael jump the brightness down ant michael jalen luca maxi are in the mix there's a first-team spot open but then the next question is i only listed nine guys who is the inside track for the tenth spot if i gave you brunson kawaii jimalmurri durin durant barns umand tomson etc etc who's your tenth who's the tenth best part in the league right now for an all-in-base standpoint in your opinion assuming eligibility kawaii lantern okay i agree with you and he's got like and i put brunson next so brunson i when i did this i had brunson maxi i had maxi 13 um oh so you have maxi out of that group and brunson in the group i had i had kawaii second team when i did my draft of mba teams so all right so there's nine plus brunson kawaii muri and durin that's 13

1:07:52which means there's two spots left for everybody not to mention we might lose some eligibility guys we've already lost curry bookers at 16 now um not that he was gonna make it anyway but he's probably getting bounced yoka jeonli has two left when bs four left kawaii i think has four obvious gonna be out we might not have enough all mba guys as i guess my bigger but you didn't mention durant i didn't mention durant i mean you got to mention durant you're not gonna put durant on third team all mba you're gonna put other okay i mean i mean i didn't say i wouldn't were you on the text thread were you mentioned wasn't okay i i take stuff like the the whatever the hell happened and i'll start week at it i think has to count you're all being catered to see well you know what we're the story of the year 26 i get it 265 and 490 shooting yeah he's i had him i have 13 guys listed

1:08:52then look i'll even show you bubble durant top guy so he would be on my 13 if the season ended today you didn't even mention him why he's in my bubbleist with durant barns Thompson i mentioned him as a bubble guy okay um and i don't know if any the only person that i think the nerds might take and grab a hold of and grab the flame and start bringing it outside the the wall i could see a chat momentum just for the defensive impact we need two okay see guys in the all mba i could see that unfolding i know how you feel about that yeah i mean i i could certainly see it unfolding because there is always that groundswell of well this team has to have x amount of people which i don't really believe in i just i been i've been what wanting him to do a little bit more on offense in some of these games without shea and jalen williams and a jay Mitchell and on and on chat hasn't scored 20 points in a game since jenuary 27th it's just been

1:09:58too many like 13 15 17 yes this is like i looked at defenses unimpeachable he's unbelievable the fact that he could shoot threes is a huge spacing boon for their offense he's amazing i just think this level of conversation there's only 15 spots i for me i there's 20 games left so we'll see he's just he's out in the outside looking at but not by much it's not like a huge slight you know just player 19 or 18 or 17 he's an all star not an omb game you haven't mentioned one guy that i maybe you mentioned him when you listed him off and i for i missed it but did you mention jalen johnson i had him in the bubble list okay shea is minus 260 for mvp jokaj is plus 450 kate is 10 to one inexplicable because the best jay misses five more games i think kate's going to win the mvp i can't i can't bet on it because i overwembee when he's at 25 to one and um i think the spurs would have to basically lose two more

1:10:59games the rest of the year and be the ones they'd have the best record in the league for it to be a serious combo i'm not even sure some games that fees the best guy in the game for his team even though i know like the Detroit game monday who what he did defensively was incredible at that stuff uh luca has dropped to 100 to one after a pretty tough week for luca 100 to one yeah wow oh that's my next dorky thing i wanted to bring up to you and then we're going to do the charlotteep death luca's mvp finishes by year this is his eighth year didn't finish first year fourth second year sixth third year fifth eighth third didn't get any votes last year this is year eight and he's not going to be in the top four so he's only had one third place finish and one fourth place finish this would be after eight years if i had told you this during his rookie year as we watched how good he

1:12:02was would you have ever guessed this no and in fact i i feel like i've picked him as my preseason mvp at least twice he's been like a preseason odds on favorite to win mvp maybe more times than that and so yeah and i realized the whole conversation is now shifting into and i there was a whole will he ever win a championship conversation this year that i feel like it's a little bit premature but yeah i am surprised part of it is that you know if you look at his game log he's only cracked 70 games a couple times there's some sort in covid related short and seasons in there but it is surprising i thought he would have won an mvp by now i thought he would have won an mvp for the Dallas average by now so everything about what's happening is a little bit surprising good point yeah if we when we're moving into the 2020s and if we had had a who is the most likely got to win one mvp this decade draft i think he would have been the first pick it's just tailor made like he's the whole offense is going to revolve around him his passing does make most types of players

1:13:06better he's had playoff success basically since he came into the league he's been a good playoff like going back to the bubble etc it just seemed like absolutely no brainry like you'd be shocked if a guy liked this didn't win an mvp he's 286 and 210 regular season 287 now 26 and 29 in the playoffs never has won i think 52 games is this highest with Dallas because he's missed a decent amount of games he's missed the kinds of numbers of games that turn of 55 win team into a 47 win team all right it's time hornets deep dive we're really doing this i'm going to start us off with some hornets facts you know all this i'm just gonna sit back and soak it in they haven't made the playoffs 10 years last time they made the playoffs was the last year of Barack Obama's second term

1:14:08since their expansion come back here in 2005 three playoff appearances as a franchise because for whatever reason we include the 1988 to 2002 whatever they haven't won a playoff round since 2002 which was also the year they moved they don't have a single number that they could retire this century unless you want to talk yourself into a camber walk in a camber walker night just for the emotional night or al jeferson night camber would be the one they have made the eastern finals once even going back to the morning lj era just in the last few years they drafted shea gojis alxander 11th and immediately traded him for miles bridges in two seconds i forgot this happened oh yeah they drafted jalen derren and immediately traded him for a future first and three seconds and the future first became nicksmith jr they took saloon one pick before dada been clinging

1:15:15they spent a lottery pick on james booknight so it's a thing that happened last year there were nineteen and sixty three they started out four and fourteen this season so there were twenty three and seventy seven in one hundred games over two seasons and since then something magical has happened there now thirty and thirty one their last thirty two games acolo twenty one and eleven their first overall net rating plus nine point eight in the last thirty two games of any enemy team first and offensive rating one twenty one point four which would be near in the all time high they have twenty one wins fifteen of twenty one were by double digits include their last four in a row and they're fourteen and three in their last seventeen games i have more but let's all start there this has been the most dramatic turnaround in season of anyone that i can remember any other time this has happened there's been signs like okay see that the year when okay see became like a five hundred team it's like yeah i can see this building all year this was like this is like a fun link past team that will never

1:16:19actually be a plant team this year there's no way and yet they're going to be a plant team in many of win the division the division i forgot about the division the division east division they could win the division right now the odds in the division they are other plus four sixty or orlando's plus one thirty five and my name is plus one fifty five on fendo i still like charlatte win the division but look there you go so you go well i just go like first of all i can give you a couple more stats if you want but first of all i just i i implore whatever team wins this division do not hang a banner even you charlatte do not hang a banner no charlatte if they go forty four and thirty eight win the division i'm allowing the banner no banner you should be anything that hangs division banners should be shamed at all times um i'll give i'll give you this um the ball miller knipple bridges di obate lineup is plus one seventy nine in two hundred and eighty

1:17:26one minutes that's like that is preposterous that is the number one of death that is the number one plus minus for any lineup in the NBA number two is the piston starting lineup at plus one thirty one so forty eight points quote worse than the hornets and they've played almost twice as many minutes plus one seventy nine in two hundred and eighty one minutes is insane and somebody that wasn't playing for like what the first six weeks basically it's a perfect storm of it all the attention on knipple and he's been unbelievable and i don't want to i don't want to besmirch anything about your illegitimate son but he's been this constant metronome of productivity the entire season ball up and down but miller has leveled up and stayed there for like a month and a half to two months now and something about the way di obate fits with this group into starting five

1:18:30it's a perfect storm of miller di obate lamello kind of chilling a little bit with some of the crazy stuff and just be playing a simpler game in a lot of ways um it's all clicked together and i mean we're what you just said thirty thirty five forty games into this being like this is a real team this is this is i don't quite know where we're heading with it uh but it's a we it's a real team and as you're going to get into the way this has happened is incredibly unusual in modern NBA history the crazy thing about lamello because if you weren't really following or watching the games and or even looking at the stats how much you would think like oh it's lamello healthy and the team took off he only plays like twenty seven minutes a game he's in a weird way i don't want to call him a luxury but this is really built around con and miller and di obate and then lamello when he's good they become almost unstoppable the other have this Kobe the Kobe white trade which we did the trade deadline thing was that go cool i like Kobe

1:19:34white more than Colin sexton it's a really important trade for them um for variety reasons one which i totally forgot until i was watching the game on saturday like he's a north carolina guy like right right Williams was there to see Kobe white and Kobe white's like loves being in carolina he's he's like they're going to be able to resign him and they're going to make him like a part of stuff Kobe white stats last three years he was nineteen five four thirty seven percent from three made almost three three is a game he's like the perfect guard to just add to this and also more importantly gives them lamello insurance if lamello ever uh gets gets wacky or gets hurt or anything right well i mean Colin sexton was playing really well for them and you could probably find the stats for him are not so dissimilar from what you just said about Kobe white in fact they're not i know but i'm talking i'm talking styles of player though i just like Kobe white's game more he's more of a basketball player he's a bigger more dynamic more diverse kind of player than concepts who could play off the ball on the ball like he can i i just think he fits better for

1:20:36what they're doing he's a little bigger he's got a little more defensively i think he can help them and i think that when they play uh that line up a death you mentioned but then you can move Kobe into the lamello spot it's still a really good team we can't call it the line up of death because the death lineup is taken and it's the word lineup i'm just trying to give charlotte as many bones as possible it's sitting there in front of us how about the buzzsaw the buzz saw line up i like it just the first draft we can workshop it so you mentioned something on one of your pods the other day i can't but i think you were talking maybe about the trait well it maybe it was a lego you were talking about the trait only has one guy that can really create a shot but they have all these guys who know how to cut and do all these things and they can kind of patch it together but really they only have one guy who can create a shot and you could feel at the game on Friday night against Cleveland when kade fouled out which for some reason it's happened more than once the season kade fouled out and it's like oh shit what do we do now and they try to patch it together

1:21:40by the way you know part of the reason why kade gets some foul trouble here in there because he tries hard on defense he needs to make plays on defense like that's part that's part of it like well he doesn't get the respect either from uh i don't think he gets the superstar respect the hornets have five guys who can create a shot like for real con can do it brin and mill are obviously lamello can get by anybody koby white could create a shot miles bridges can create a shot so anytime it's like eight seconds left play screwed up or whatever wherever the ball is somebody can kind of do something with that or you can set a screen that's one thing the threes are out of control they they're averaging 17.1 made threes during this 32 game streak where they're 21 11 17.1 they're shooting 43 a game they're 40% from three which leads the league but they're also second and rebounds which is nice because canipo rebounds lamello rebounds bridges every guy in the team goes and grabs rebounds um and then when you just think about if i know i'm getting 17 threes a game

1:22:47i can kind of have a bad game and still be in the game you know like i can still hang around i can still i can be down nine and then all of a sudden i'm down three i don't know and and they have three 20 point scores i really believe in this team and then we didn't even mention great whims who came back the shooting stats aren't great but they kind of needed one more blue guy who kind of knows where to go and how to move on defense so they have lamello and con and mellum bridges they have white they have uh whims and the abate and calc runner and and josh green i guess josh green is giving them really nice minutes as a 10th guy as their swing defender and and he and cian james are kind of the the wing guys that come out of the wild card but josh green has been the the best version of what josh green is like you know he's not going to shoot much he's going to play some defense and hit corner threes and move the ball and he's done all of that for them do you value this nine in a row in the road love road wins i'm a sugar for

1:23:47road wins all right i'm about to i'm going to about to take this up a level to crazy town but do you want to say something normal before i do that i do and i want to delight you in saying it because you mentioned this first first of all i do i think you undersold lamello a little bit in saying the team is built around knippel and miller and lamello kind of floats in as a bonus all the lineup data suggests that their offense is awesome when lamello is on the floor and now this may change with white because they can keep two of these four guys on the floor at all times was to choose for them but their offense with alamello has not been very good and even like some i i don't have it all sort of in front but i did a couple weeks ago like even like the miller and knippel know lamello lineup was just so so at one point but anyway so i think you undersold him a little bit but i've just like to project in the white being able to do a reasonable facemoia of a lead guard for them i just think his level of creation is is unbelievable his knack for floaters he's getting he's trying to get to the rim more but i and you mentioned the shooting like

1:24:47lamello is it in elite three point shooter it's just masked by the fact that he's took so many difficult threes that deflated his resendral embodies in a lead three point shooter right and everyone knows knippel's a great shooter and just said they just sort of just it's like at the end of the sentence about and they have this knippel is unbelievable shooting he is this is one of the greatest shooting seasons anyone has ever had in the history of basketball and i just i did the best while referencing for you um there are six seasons in the history of the mba six individual player seasons and knippel is on pace to be seven and he's almost going to do it this week two thousand minutes so you can't be like a role player who comes in imposteries 43% or better from three he's at 44% right now at least eight threes per 36 minutes attempted six player seasons total here are the six stef curry stef

1:25:48curry stef curry clay Thompson Desmond Bane Duncan Robinson and at 1900 plus minutes about to be con knippel wow and the quay Thompson is the comp because that's how he or he reminds me of like a like a like a clay Thompson coaching tree kind of player the way i don't he just reminds me of him with some of the stuff he does but he moves kind of smartly in the paint and stuff he does stuff clay never did clay was always around the fringes for the most part con also has like this little john havel check side when he can like muscle in and get like a little 10 foot or 12 footer um but when they set those picks it really reminds me of clay those little like quick flare picks when all of a sudden he's wide open for a split second he makes them they move there they move their best offensive players around in such creative ways in all over the floor charlesley and his staff deserve a lot of credit they've really maximize three guys who you look at them and

1:26:48think well team she'll be able to switch a lot of actions between these guys and it's just they've made it really hard to keep track of everybody already ready i i i i'm so excited we're going to crazy town let's go the 2013 warriors okay 47 and 35 40% from three led the league upset Denver and round one lost to san antonium round two we were working at uh grandland together league was not as good that 2013 warriors team with those two guys and david lee basically was bogan on that team yet he was yeah um just the league just wasn't as good and it that was probably a 41 41 team now that was a 31 win team no they're 47 and 35 oh 12 13 you're talking 12 13 yeah i'm talking that first where your season that's the team yeah um curry was 22 game clay

1:27:51was 17 a game combine there are 6.1 made threes people didn't shoot the threes as much back then as that season evolved we were like something's like really here this is headed somewhere and then when they beat denver was what 56 wins that year tie lost the team agudalas on that team George car I was big upset and then they lost to the spurs in the next round but curry everything about it felt like something special happened so that summer they make a big move for agudalas they had draemon on the team as a rookie but he blossomed in the second year they go 51 and 31 they lose the clips in seven curry and clay jump up and then the next season was the season my crazy town question for you is could this con miller lamello threesome be the same kind of foundation that curry and clay were for that were your same and could you actually like see a path for this nucleus with some of the caps some of the picks which i want to go through adding one more guy

1:28:52could this be like a real playoff team a year from now there's no question could be a real playoff team a year from now and i do think adding one more guy has to be part of the recipe but um i think the warriors cop you're now copying them to what becomes an all time incredible team that's why i said we're going to crazy a nucleus for you have to include draemon in the can this be stephen clay because i'm saying that that first year draemon's not he's an it's just curry and clay basically with bogeyden Harrison Barnes is on there at that point but it's not draemon we didn't know who draemon was as a potential like that's the year that's the year to point to because more than the regular season and even more than the Denver series because galonari gets hurt right before that series and it kind of upends their team the spurs loss that was the final proof of concept for me i remember vividly thinking it at the time writing about it at the time talking to people with the warriors the next season and beyond about that series and and the remember the first two games in that series

1:29:54were in san antonio and they were wild games the warriors split the games and then step gets hurt in the series and kind of limps through it bogey gets hurt in that series and kind of limps through it they lose in six but just like the gold standard of NBA defense ran in to something that they didn't know what to do with they just were like we're we don't this guy's pulling up from 30 feet and we're supposed to defend this like this is not how we were told basketball was that series was the series where the warriors became the warriors to me and then it just it's just snowball from there this team is going to be an awesome offensive team they can be a 50 win team next year i don't think that's out of bounds at all like that kind of leap this is a real thing that kind of leap is there i do think one more ad is is is key and then the dream on thing i bring up only because the warriors were in elite defensive team right away when they started to play him and i think that's the big question for this team is how do they become a top 10 was until the the 67 win season when league at hurt and then dream odds minutes on way up right that was that that was the year when it

1:31:00bloomed well that was year three of this the David Lee injury was a big part of their team 13 14 they were third in defense 12 13 they were 12 in defense right the bogate Ellis trade obviously also changed the trajectory of their team but that's the question for the for and maybe deobata has answered some but they're up to 17th in defense now and this did not look like a team that could be an average defense so they're trending the right way well about this in that 32 game streak the 21 or 11 they're eighth net rating trending the right way and caulkbrenner off the bench is a real guy defensively like he's a he can he's a problem defensively the perimeter guys will all get better and they are they know exactly what they want to be defensively so they're their number one in a point of free throw rate and number one in defense of rebounding which means they do not beat themselves you have to beat them and they are they allow the second fewest corner three in the league and I said this way early in the season like all these numbers have been there since the start

1:32:03of the season and just the other mistakes they were making were were sabotaging their defense but like the groundwork was laid for a competent defensive team they had a structure they had things they wanted to accomplish and they were starting to accomplish them and now the other parts of their defensive caught up and their offense is completely exploded but that's the question to be as can they become like a top 10 to 11 defense in the NBA and if they can I think I don't see why 50 wins out of bounds next year why would it be and that would be a huge jump what are they going to win this year I don't know maybe they could win 44 this year 42 but yeah 50 something next year why not I've been pretty good over the years at identifying when some team has like just being a year early on somebody I remember the OKC the year they finished 40 and 42 right it was the 22 23 season now it didn't take a rocket science to think that a team with a bunch of draft picks and Shay we knew at that point was going to be special like that they were going to be

1:33:04really good but I remember I remember talking about the podcast at the time they played LeBron in the game when LeBron broke the record and watching them and how they handled that whole experience and they just kind of wanted to keep the game going so they could because they were trying to beat the Lakers like they they just had a calmness and a competitiveness and I was like there's something really here I feel that way about the Hornets I thought that way about those warriors teams that 13 season where I was like there's something actually really here this isn't just like a fun story like there's there's like something special brewing and I really feel that way with this Hornets team I don't think this is like I know they're not even 500 yet they're 30 and 31 but I think they have the foundation especially the white trade they have I don't know of bridges is their long term or not and I assume Lamello is but they have this Dallas pick that's top two protected in 27 it's a great asset they have a Miami pick that's top 14 protected this year and

1:34:05unprotected in 27 the Rosier pick what is their igudala move is my question because golden state came out of that 47 and 35 season dream on wasn't dream on yet they're basically occurring clay and some barns but their big move is igudala they dumped some contracts they added to first round picks they went got this amazing fourth banana for them and that made their team go up a level could it be Janus could it be Bam out of bio could it be Anthony Davis could it be trade Murphy could it be somebody like Isaiah Hartinstein oh okay so you're just trying to get off his money it's that there's not as many candidates as you think but I think that's the next step for this I think it's a playoff warrior guy that can come in and be like a one of your five guys well and they have time like it's funny how how fast this goes in the NBA because this is a feel good story right now and and you know they they don't have all three of cannibal and miller

1:35:09and lamello on max deals until 28 29 and then they will or I'm sorry until 29 30 that's the end of cannibal's rookie deals so they have time but they got to use these next two or three years to take advantage of that salary cap space and that cap tax apron flexibility that will go away if and when all three of those guys are on max deals and get someone in the door who can help them win now because they're going to be ready to win big and I do think it needs to be somebody who I don't want to I don't think you need to lean defense I just think you need to be a good defensive player and fill some gaps on defense because that's and and probably have some size but but they should absolutely be active trying to find like they were one of my favorite just for total for fun I didn't think they would do it nor do I think they should do it but like Anthony Davis popped into my head when Nico Harris and God fired like too expensive too old but bam is a good name I don't think the heat ever want to trade bam but like a guy a guy like that who who defends but doesn't

1:36:09gum up your offense which is obviously hard to find but apps they're going to be on the hunt for somebody because these three guys together there's this is a real thing what they're doing offensively they have all their own first round picks plus those two other ones the other pieces new owners which is similar to the Warriors situation right the Warriors brought they make up and those guys bought that team right around 2011 12 so it was like early on and they've kind of revamped the back they're actually spending money which is you know the secret problem with Charlotte was Jordan was one of the worst owners of all time you know we love Michael Jordan he was just a terrible honor who was cheap and made bad decisions it was too poorly run behind the scenes the hired Charles Lee who's great who by the way Charles Lee was involved with the box when they won the title and the Celtics when they won the title and I think is one of the best coaches in the league they're not that far away when you think like the foundation of those three guys versus like Curry who turned out to be one of the all-timers just Curry and Clay versus those three together

1:37:13talent-wise it's like you're at least in the vicinity and then you can patch it around and I think the Canipple piece the you know all jokes aside but he's 20 and he's putting up stats that a 27 year old would do and the stuff they're doing with him in games like to have somebody who's that young who you have on a rookie contract that you can still kind of build around it's a little reminiscent of when the Warriors had that huge discount for Curry forever right what was he making like 10 million a year for like years and years I think it was like a four year 44 million dollar extension yeah they were able to just patch shit around that's basically the Canipple contract Lamella's a Max and they're gonna have to pay Brandon Miller this summer I think and he's earned the contract now and and speaking of Lamella I it's I am like an all-time like Lamella defender I never got off the Lamella was good thing and I do think it'd be interesting to have a conversation with him because winning is this weird feedback loop where finally the team is winning and I do think he's modulated his game as much as young Lamella

1:38:17ball can modulate his game like a lot of the crazy early clock threes they're being trimmed down a little bit that he's trying harder on defense and more consistently on defense there's always going to be moments where like only Lamella ball could take that shot there's the only player in the league who would do that but I do think he's playing like a calmer more just clean normal style of basketball and I wonder I would love to ask him like in these previous years with Charlotte what was to stop him from doing whatever he wanted he couldn't look around the roster being well that guy can shoot and that guy should shoot and that guy should shoot and we're losing anyway they had a couple good play-in years with Barrego and stuff but now he looks around he's like that guy's fucking awesome that guy's scoring more points than me and we're winning all these games and all of a sudden we have a lot of hype around us and and and a lot of a lot of buzz no pun intended but maybe I can take maybe I can just take 12 shots tonight and 15 shots the next game and 11 shots the next game and not take 25 shots and have a usage rate that's gargantuan

1:39:21and everything's cool and I do think there's I think his game is changing a little bit in that sense I was completely out I didn't think he was going to get it and usually by year six if there's no signs of life it's not happening but I'm with you I think I think he's toned back a lot of stuff what's interesting about him on this team and why he's such a good fit in so many different ways and again he's playing 27 minutes a game like they're very careful with remember they brought him up a bunch of bench a few times back to backs they're easing them in they'll get a rebound and he can do what Max Maxi is a good parallel to this where he's just off right and he's like full speed they have they're not just like this half court team or this team of three point shooters they have to have this fast break side and when he's off these guys split to the sides and they know what to do and it's really hard to defend at home they're finally starting to get some sellouts like there's some real energy for some of these games I think talk about a team that fans are dying to love and I mean like I feel so

1:40:25bad for their fans they're waiting to fall in love with the team like this and it's like I hope they make the playoffs I would I would love I mean pistons hornets round one would be unbelievable fear that's a terrifying series if you're the pistons because you're playing a team that started out form 14 and has basically been a 50 win team since and they're gonna come out and they're gonna come out like I don't ever see them deviating from how they play because it's the playoffs they're gonna play fast they're gonna play loose they're gonna shoot tons of threes and play with tons of bravado that's just who they are it's it's funny so comparing anyone of the Warriors is insane that's why I said we're going to crazy town but in 2012 13 when we're working together we never could have predicted anything that happened with that Warriors team right we just knew they were super fun and it was like I'm glad Steph Curry's gonna gonna turn out to be a really good pro because there was three years there where we didn't know if he's gonna stay in the league with his ankles and thank God he's really fun to watch and I'm so glad we've gotten this

1:41:26point and hey Clay Thompson's really good too and then over the next three years it built into this way bigger thing they have the foundation to do something pretty special with this team so here's so I was looking through the last 25 years of teams that sort of like unexpectedly and organically snapped into something that was this your first chat GBT for a yeah I did a little chap I did one chappy GBT and then I felt horrible about it and I stopped uh why'd you feel bad I just you know yet to try it I'm old school can we have just like writers and writers going writing doing the writing just going to the library and researches and encyclopedias hey look we take I did the low family takes out books from the freaking public library okay you think I'm buying my daughter all the goddamn babysitters clubs books and all that stuff no you're taking some of those out of the library the Greenwich public library is one of the great libraries you don't have to blow up my spot like that well it's a great place yeah it's got itself sometimes um and it like there really isn't a perfect this is the most interesting so a lot of them are

1:42:30have one or two one are both of these things one a consensus even as this is happening and it's early this guy's going to be one of the 15 to 20 best players in the league at worst like like a true blue like Derek Rose or Damien Lillard or Steph Curry or on and on for your sort of like organic builds a couple of exceptions or two there's a coaching change that dramatically changes how the team plays so like the box with boot and holes are the hawks with boot and holes are that's a good comp like a team that didn't maybe have a top 20 player um and there's a couple more like the the bulls with tibs the Pacers the Pacers are actually an interesting comparison like the Paul George the Paul George Hill they have a coaching change but Paul George I think becomes it all it obviously became an all NBA player and do you look at are you are we like I think probably they do but they don't do we have like an all-time superstar on this team I think that's

1:43:34where this falls apart because you would have to say the Knipple Miller combo as how unusual it is to have two wings that can both shoot and are almost interchangeable in some ways almost as the superstar because it's a little like what the Celtics had with Jaylen and Jason for a while there was like these two forwards like what is this nobody has anything like this and maybe that's the superpower just being able to have all these different lineups but with those two guys as the centerpiece and you can go bigger or smaller with them I think you got to you're you got to include Lamello it's the three of them together right because he's the best passer he's also six seven the same as Brandon Miller in one inch listed tall I just I don't want to put this on the mello because I'm just I'm I'm so nervous that it's going to fall apart for him at any time well the hell you're right stuff has been that the health stuff is now the thing that makes me the most nervous is just the ankle stuff that keeps popping up and making him this time but the three of them being 6667 and having the combined passing shooting ball handling skills that they have is really unusual

1:44:41well how many teams in the league right now have five guys who if the situation was right could absolutely easily score 20 points again like think about that yeah it's it's not many because they say like there's a scenario where it's like hey Miles Bridges we need to score 25 points a game for three weeks here he could actually do it if they wanted them to so for the people here listening who were like this is the most fucking insane thing I've ever heard I don't think anyone who's paying attention could think this is insane well the advanced metrics or demanding that we have the conversation when they when you're first in that rating for 32 games you have to have the conversation they played Dallas at home on Tuesday they're going to win that Dallas is giving up on the season they're at Boston on Wednesday home Miami on Friday to fun one that's much watch Charlotte Miami Friday that's much that's going on my calendar at depleted Phoenix on Sunday at Portland at Sacramento and then at San Antonio on March 14th then they have

1:45:42a little Miami Orlando home game combo after that but they they waxed the spurs by the way they would do wax them but they they wired wire beat the spurs at home in Charlotte so at Boston home Miami this is now it's it's midterms for them it's the midterm exams in high school it's like okay you have our attention now go to Boston you're not going to have Jason Tatum yet this is a team you should be able to play with you're gonna shoot lot of threes and be super comfortable and then Miami that's the team you have to get through in near division can you split these can you win both if you lose both then we were in crazy town and this was stupid but no you can't you you live in we two games can't take it out a crazy town at Boston's a tough game and Miami's Miami and I know you know but I just I just brought the 2013 Warriors and the 2023 okay see into this I tried that's where we have the crazy I tried to temperate by bringing in some teams who became very good and did not perhaps accomplish the great history that the words accomplished because they were all very good teams but no

1:46:44we do stay in crazy town you can't be dissuaded by two games especially one against Miami in which something as historically significant as the 2026 southeast division title can be at stake I mean the pressure that all the players must feel knowing the division is in the air in that game is is palpable people better stronger humans have quaked under that kind of pressure before if we wanted to go to crazy town we would go to the two the 1978 Seattle Supersonics who started out five and 17 and ended up losing the finals and seven games to wash them than winning a year later you no one but that that is the craziest start to finish season five and 17 made the finals I think you I think there are like probably less than 50 people who are still alive who can have who can say one sentence about the 1977 78 NBA finals who can say one coherent

1:47:45sentence I could probably name nine of the guys on the team I mean I think that I think about card team I think you guys are going to be like like D day soldiers who like every year there's like fewer and fewer of you left well that's like my dad with the season tickets for the Celtics he's like fifth oldest now for having the tickets straight through there's a there's some I think there's some guy is like 90 but my dad's like moved into the top it's like you know how they do the season ticket holder the game they bring them out and the waves I honestly can't believe he has been has been brought to mid court and waves to the crowd what's he gonna do so come be going since 1974 wow that's that's astonishing I'm actually surprised the 73 74 season broader material so anyway yeah Charlotte I think this is real okay before we go okay um it's March it's spring training I have uh I have the Metz over under for the year for you over I don't even know what it is well you could go uh oh where is it over is I can't find it well 90 plus wins is

1:48:58minus one 34 you win in 90 games probably not you don't think so I think they guys look I'm I'm following it from afar it seems like a little bit of a problem that every day there are quotes coming out of spring training that amount to like it turns out playing this new position is a little trickier than player X thought it would be and that's like five players on the team and like Brett Beatty now has gloves for seven different positions like I never again so I hope this is gonna work it seems I'm a little worried frankly but I'm of course I'm taking the over on whatever the over under is are you watching survivor 50 no I haven't watched any so I've never watched an episode of survivor not one do you ever think of going on uh I I would probably not subject myself to it what would be your strategy if you went on I don't even know how it works we do tasks and then someone gets voted off and I know everyone forms of alliances and there are people alienate other people in their back room deals I'm my strategy would just I would yes be in um are there teams

1:50:04I'm serious I'm sorry I'm not bringing anything to the table I can't go on because I work contact lenses and I have allergies otherwise I would otherwise I would have gone on yeah there's no work around for that now I feel excuse being in the outdoors well now I'm too old my wife was my dream person to go on though because um great at challenges she would have owned the challenges but um gets crazy if she's not eating and you have to like you know you really hungry on survivor she's just they're not there's not like a hotel nearby where they're getting catered meals no so she so she'd be just an absolute maniac but then would win the challenges they wouldn't be able to vote her off and she would just be yelling at everybody about the rice just like who ate the rice there was more rice here I'm trying to think what reality show has ever attempted me like that would be fun rice that's the one that's that's the one we're like I travel around the world and solve problems and puzzles and like go on chases like that's that seems fun what's the craziest thing you've ever done

1:51:11the craziest thing I've ever done well like joining a reality show would be the craziest thing if you told me like one time I applied to be on the real world I'd be like that's the craziest thing you could have told me I don't think I have anything like anything like you're like I can't believe I did that I mean I can't I still can't believe I ever got on television to talk about anything you were there with me the first time I went on TV and I almost had before you almost had to take me to the emergency room I could even convince you to a podcast no it was two months like it was I think all of this is crazy I'm trying to think if I did anything I'm going to mention that I think about that sometimes all of this is crazy I don't think I have any I mean I did crazy stuff when I was a cops and crime reporter at the Stanford advocate is Stanford Connecticut like talking to what was the craziest trial you ever covered a craziest trial ever coming to it's sad it was a home invasion in which an elderly retired teacher was murdered in her own house by I

1:52:12don't even remember who exactly did it it was someone that they didn't know it was like kind of a random thing if I remember it correctly it was I covered all sorts of horrible stuff and talked a lot of scary people and lots of very interesting people and strange places it was crazy I was on a jury once in the like the late 1990s maybe 2000 when I was living in Boston you're around a jury no I've always gotten out of jury duty I was on a jury and it was it was this case where these guys got in a fight in an elevator and somebody got stabbed and he said it was the guy who did the stabbing said he was defending himself and we had to do this three-day trial and decide on whether he did it or not I was pretty tense sounds tense yeah it was uh I won't tell you what the verdict was but it was uh I'm gonna come back with the better answers so I'm sure I've done something crazy that's just did you ever drive cross country with anybody no trying to think

1:53:16like you're just a very practical guy I want Shaperone to a high school band trip to Florida from New Jersey I was one of eight faculty members who did that I wasn't crazy it was just incredibly unpleasant from start to finish it involved that involved that involved a group I mean we're talking like 60 children yeah high school children and eight teachers and that involved one of the nights was a dinner at medieval times in Orlando and what we had it was like night four of a five day trip and we did have a serious conversation among the faculty members about whether we could sneak alcohol into medieval times and not and and no one would be able to be tell because the cups were puter and whether the risk reward equation was worth it because yeah what a way to get fired so sick of the whole the whole trip medieval times like in the cable guy so yeah still going we look we actually had to talk about this with some friends there they're still there's like 10 medieval times

1:54:16around the country if you want to organize a work of like an outing did you follow this whole thing that people were worried that Jim Kerry had been replaced I did see I saw photos that looked like you know a different than I remember Jim Kerry but people age and then the Hollywood people have things happen to them and they don't look I thought it looked like he had fellers in his cheeks I didn't think he got replaced there's been there had been there's a litany of people who I see them in movies and I'm like that person looks like that right now that's like doesn't even I wouldn't have guessed that in a million years I like the word the in general I wonder if anyone's ever been replaced in our lifetime but you're going down some dangerous roads that you get us into some well it happened in day but that was a movie well it just it didn't happen it was just did a script Kevin Klein came in he looked just like Dave did it um have you seen Sikario I have you have you like Sikario I love Sikario is I haven't seen it I saw it in a hotel by myself in Los Angeles on

1:55:20some road trip because it's a it's a classic my wife will never watch a movie and I didn't quite know what I was getting into I knew the gist of it and I remember being like this is so much better than I even thought it was going to be and I would like to rewatch it I have not seen any of the sequels I think there are there are multiple sequels multiple sequels the original Sikario is on Netflix and we're doing a live rewatch almost tomorrow 6 p.m. ET me and fantasy and Chris to kick off CR month we have two other movies knocked down Fargo is second movie of CR month and then today just announced to live in die in L.A. I don't know if you know that one I don't think I've seen that movie yeah I don't think William Peterson it's a classic you can find it I don't know if it's on Netflix but uh but yeah those are the first two more spots a five movie month for rewatchable so great there you go uh thanks to mcglow baltra for for uh sponsored in this live stream thanks to hownardwardo and jack and uh and Kevin and Chris and everybody uh at the ringer as well zacklow you have a podcast Tuesday morning Tuesday morning Thursday morning that's right Thursday

1:56:23morning will be the holy shit that horn itself the game was the game of the year and just items coming back on friday podcast so I'm looking forward to it wow good to see you my friend thank you always fun thanks everybody must be 21 plus in president select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas star casino or 18 plus in president dc Kentucky or Wyoming game prom called 100 gamble or 1 800 by reset call 888 7977777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat and communicate or mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland hope is here visit gambling helpline ma.org or call 800 327 50 50 for 24 seven sport Massachusetts or call 877 8 hope and why or text hope and why in New York for Louisiana call 877 770 7867