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

[MUSIC] >> It's the Bill Simmons podcast. We are live sun and night on Netflix. Act low is here. On Netflix tomorrow's Act low, there's going to be

a library watchable is because it's CR month.

Chris Ryan finally got his own month.

We're doing secario live, 6 p.m. ET on Netflix. When you watch secario multiple times in the same week, and it definitely sets the mood. I don't know what mood it is, but I was in a really frisky mood

for this six or six game. Turn out to be the key to game. But I really just want to talk about the lady getting kicked in the head on the VGA Edgecom 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 sidelight incident than when the hornets and the pistons had a brawl

that almost spilled into the second row of the band. But everyone was fine.

“And this poor lady, I think they said it was Christine or something,”

got, I mean, she got booted and she said nothing. She's still sitting there. She's bleeding, unfortunately, no, I'm good. Like I'm going to stay in the game. You got to admire it.

But you got to head on the swivel at all times. >> She looked like one of the Canadian Olympic hockey players, just trying to make it to the handshake line. Huge bruise in the side of the face. I couldn't tell if she was looking at the player if she was looking

away and didn't see it, but then the foot ricocheted late, which I don't know how you could predict, but I've been saying this forever. For some reason, it took forever in baseball games with foul balls for us to get really concerned about people along the third-base side, first-base side, the line drives.

Took a couple of people just getting nailed to be like, "Oh, we should probably put a net up." I still feel like, with court side, we're just playing with fire. Because you can go to any game and you can see who's sitting there.

There's always one person who's too old, 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 either like running out, or they're trying to save a loose ball, and they just go flying in their full speed. >> Yeah, the base line seats are far enough back. Those are your safest courts, I see it's the sideline seats.

You're on the floor, and you're right, like, it could happen at any moment. You've 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're not paying attention, I don't know if you suffer some sort of traumatic brain injury, I'll feel bad for you, but you're at the game.

Just take it straight on the back, pay attention, pay attention, I've done teaching my daughter that now, and she's a product of like the TikTok cell phone age, like you shouldn't have a phone yet, but if we're going to go to baseball games, you got to be ready at all times. You can see it when you go to baseball games, just look around and the fourth inning and see how many people are like this, which is basically why they had to put the net up.

Sixer 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 have letting cravets that the John Tess song, the studio, the crew is there on the court, and it does feel like a bigger game, I do like what they've done, and I think it was a good idea. So that's one of the few 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 going to use 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 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 a round ball rock.

I like Tess, the appearance at the all-star game, he was bouncing, bouncing the fake ball, and tune with the drumstick. Yeah, 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, like Dallas, okay?

“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 an NBC game as well, is it not? Might be. I think they were talking about their game at the end, and obviously they have this Tatum rehab stock you thing they're doing.

I have a couple more notes from this game.

Thank you. I thought I was the only one. It's bad. It's bad at the beginning, and I sabotaged probably any deal will ever get from TJ Max, because I hate it because I hate going into TJ Max.

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. Telegram was on my pod Thursday, and I had a mailback question about nicknames, which really peaked in the 70s, 80s, and maybe even early 90s.

And now we're just flailing, and we use initials and acronyms for the most part. And then occasionally when people try to push something, it's something just hacky like BJ 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, well, I like BJ Max,

that's a good one. 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. Maybe the group player kind of nicknamed things, TMC with the word, that's not really 90s.

That worked, but it was also the first initial of each guy's name, and it was kind

of organic. And I liked it.

“The jays, I think, even though it's not technically a nicknamed BJ, when”

in Json, call on the jays. I'm not calling BJ Max, BJ 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 into Trump's all categories?

What is it? This is going to be right up here, Ali, five slamma jama. So best. Yeah. It's not one on the nickname skill.

Yeah, and think about that, that was like 43 years ago. We really picked. We were just better at nick dams 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 K to game. I know. I run it because my dad took my daughter, and my daughter has been the biggest K to fan for his entire self, a career. Because 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 K to, isn't that, doesn't he have everything that a center to have?”

So when he kind of took off the shift to the Celtics, she was like, I was telling you, it was like her one. Wow. What a week. What a week.

Yeah. For Zoey Simmons. So Zoey Simmons is 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 her other favorite part K to it became the K to game.

And this was the 39th pick in the 2001 draft by your favorite, the Sacramento Kings. They did it again. And she said a prototypical center who is really good with the stands up, who's coordinated,

who plays hard, who rebounds, who gets better, basically every month, and they just

like we're good. Take a hike. Well, they found up again in Dylan, Cardwell, we're doing Dylan, Cardwell, deep cuts it already. Oh, okay.

So they 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 a free tip, just try it out in this next year of Kings Basketball. Well, that's okay to, as a playoff guy, which I don't, I just don't think they counter not him like they do now, and you think about some of the teams that the Celtics are

going to play in the playoffs, potentially bigger teams, guys like Duran, the guys to mix have Jared down and mobile in the calves, like they're actually going to really really need him. And you have this combined with the Tatum comeback, which I have like a stealth conspiracy that they're using Shiremen as a Tatum proxy.

Shiremen's minutes are way up the last six weeks and 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 legs were back, and some of the stuff that they're running offensively and some of the ways that using Shiremen, 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, Kate sits a pick, somebody else comes, there's

a little action, and Shiremen'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 staggered the minutes with Jalen, but when you think about it, because it worked close now, what does the 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 100 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, a game, even if he plays a decreased role compared to what he used to play. Yeah, let's say 20, 25 minutes, not quite role player, but not Jason Tatum, and then you

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 is worked really well, the high screens, all the different screener, old 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, like we miss Matt Chunk, we do something, and he's just tall enough that even if he can't power his way to the rim, the way he peeked Jason Tatum does or blow

by everybody the way he does, he can still be Jason Tatum and shoot over the 64 guard that switched on to him at the end of the shot, so, and that just makes your team better, it's just another guy slicing into, 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-Jail

minutes, I just see no downside to it at all for them. We feel the same. I feel like it's going to be shiremen, the minute said he takes. Yeah, you did just throw it at the same bucket, just saying, and he's not going to be worse than shiremen, I would say 18 and 24 minutes probably, maybe you're looking at nine minute stretches in each half or like six and five in each half or something like that. Shiremen, 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, Simon's was out, so some minutes got shared, and then they have to figure out this voosephage thing, because, you know, he looked really awful in 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 vooseph look good in that game, didn't look as good today. I just think at age 35, you're a long time voosephage watcher, age 35, he's just going to be hit or mess, you're going

to know probably in the second quarter each game. Oh, we're getting him tonight. Oh, we're

“not okay. We'll do this instead. Well, I think I think the key to discussion is really also”

about voosephage, and that this is an overdue and transition for him into a backup center role, which he is fine for, because they're just going to be some matchups for the 18 offense on the other team. It's 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 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 Edgecom, which is a problem for him, but I think this is like he was just over matched as a starting center in his mid to late 30s, and this is a totally fine role for him. And they need to, 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, well, maybe it was in Boston. I can't remember. I think they've lost both in both

“places. I think those games really freaked 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 quite 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. This is you have no chance. You have OKC, you have Denver, you've Minnesota, you have all the 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 it like those days are over. Um, this came 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 will Chamberlain only play 12 games in the regular season in the 69 70 came back for the playoffs and 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. Do you get 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 a Jordan broken foot season too, but they weren't a contender. Thank you very much. Yeah. Thank you very much.

will he won't he think from that we've been hearing injury. Even like to remember Jamir Nelson

“that same year got hurt in the playoffs and Ray Frost started and it was like will he won't he?”

That's usually what it is. It is a trickier like reintegration process for those kinds of players. So yeah, this is a weird one. With stata. I can't remember stata by our 20 years ago in the O6 sons. I can't remember if he was lingering for a comeback or not. I just too long. Yeah. Seconds or less. He did not come back. I don't believe in the playoff. He didn't come back. And I didn't know if it was like they were had the fingers crossed. Well, we'll see what happens.

This could be very interesting stuff this week because they had 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's going to be their hopefully

“plays. 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 to be an all-in-be. I

guys, which I think we both thank he's probably at least second team.

Desmond Bayon in that same draft was 30. Bronson was 33 for Dallas, but ended up on the next party became a guy in a no-be on Toronto 23. D White was 29. See, I'm 27. Then of course, Yorkage 41 go bare 27. Dream on 35, Middleton 39 and Butler 30. Those are all the guys from the last 15 years that after picked 20 became guys and he has a chance to be a second team on BA. The sixers have loved this whole time, but I just think what he's doing is really special this

year. He's going to play the most minutes in the most games at the guard position in 10 years. This 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. He had 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 a minute. Did you ever think he would be this guy? No, no. I mean, I think he is going to

make an all-in-be team this year. I had him on 13 when I just did my blink test, look at the team. It's a crowded field, even with the health issues. I think he should make an all-in-be team.

“I don't think anyone thought he would be in all-in-be a player. That's why he was picked 21.”

First, remember, they only got him because Mike Muscala hit a bunch of shots in an Oklahoma

city game that like, the pick to fill it up is 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 Harden was there. I 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 efficient. And I think 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 anybody else who has that shot. The change of speed stuff he has. The teams are so terrified of him now. They get a defensive

rebound and he has the ball in the back court. You can see it's almost like football, like when Tyree kills emotion, you can see everybody kind of scrambling around. He's a really special player. And they have this in bead and bead now has this oblique injury, too. And Maxi has 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 in bead. I think the style thing is 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 VGA 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. The question for me is, well, they're all more of you around to

to see it. Ooh, we'd be around to see it through. Who does? I mean, you'd have to, I've a world at least 60 games in and they are clinging to the 60. The race for six in the East has gotten pretty spicy. And like the whole seven to ten 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 line up in this PG thing. I mean, I don't know how you evaluate, you know, who's at fault for all

of the, the mishaps that continue to, before all 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 over under and something like, it was the one that really flummocks you may in house about what to do. We, we, you could have said 20 wins either way. Yeah, you're right.

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 like the rogue guys.

“I think that bonus, the legitimate rotation guy who I could see in a playoff series.”

Yeah, don't, like if that's the two seven matchup, they match up pretty, 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 Jayland. They've guys to throw them. They like owning it some Boston guards that you could jump on Richard 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. It was the first time the Spurs looked like crap in a while.

Their win streak then. It was also the first time the next, really. You could see the full whatever, whatever the blueprint was as they were heading in the trade deadline. Not going to overreact because the next had some bad losses over the last couple 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 23

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 Nick Spurs played well in that game. That was a Josh Hart game, and you know, they're going to see the strategy over and over again, where teams put their centers. Their rim protect us 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. It's 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 Nick's 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 Wemby's on him. And that means we're bringing Wemby into the action, and he's this terrifying alien with a million foot wingspan. And they made

the most set of it. Like he scored on the pick and roll. He got open shots to 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 run a handoff for McHale Bridges, who had 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 this game.

And I remember talking to a head coach maybe two months ago, whose team was in New York to play

the next. We sat down and we were having coffee. And we were always like, so are you going to put

“your center on blah, why are you going to do the heart 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, man, Josh Hart feels like he solved that one. And like he's heard a lot of teams that make an open threes and 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's think about game planning for the next hit really starts with towns

and heart. And the next felt like today they hit a gear with that that they had not hit this season. Hmm. Also have San Antonio 26.5% from three. They're good to talk about just about any team, but yeah, the San Antonio clunker is a little unsustainable. It's also the way to be okay. See, hey, could you guys miss 75% of your threes that really help us? Um, on the next. Okay. 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 halberten. Oh, he was there. The comeback game and the three that went all the way up and down. And he was supposed to stay 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 next fan still talk about that halberten game. Like, I was talking about the 86 World Series, the Buckingham game. Like, it was that dramatic.

I mean, 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 then the team would go on like a 50 run. You could hear these murmurings in the crowd of like, what, it's this is like the eighth game of the season. What are you also where to all? It's that game. We'd say in their heads a little bit. One of the most

traumatizing losses of since we've been alive for the NBA. Oh, it's easily in the top five.

And then we've, we both watched the game since it's an absolutely incredible rewatch. All right.

I'm going to zip through a couple random dorky 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,

bill meme like in person around the zoom. This is just the whole thing. I was like, no one in the

world is going to be happier that Keta had a career game. And we had to spend nine minutes watching a woman get kicked in the face by B. J. Edgecomb because of a review. And make us reconsider who should be sitting sideline? Do we need a protective net? I'm prepared for every dumb conversation possible about this. That lady was a hero sitting stayed in the seat, too. No complaints. I thought Tereko did a great job of being like, look at her tough enough. She's going to stay the last

four minutes. Even to go to the medical tent. Even she was sitting there like, is this what is the caucus doing? Is nobody there? Do they all go get a coffee break? Why is this taking eight

“fucking minutes to resolve this? Can we get out? I'm bleeding. Can we get out of the game?”

I didn't need a nice pack. 45 seconds max for review. Just tell me that rule doesn't work.

I'm going to go in 45 seconds. Keep the call as stands. Let's move on. All right. Man, I'm Dorkey NBA stuff. Let's go. Have the thunder officially become villains to the saffron? Are we here? I'll give you some of the case. And then you tell me all the picks that they have just that's fact that they're successful, but then have this war chest, too. Sam Prestey, how everybody else in the league, though, is mad at Sam Prestey for a variety of reasons,

including that he's now anti-tanking when he used to be pro-tanking and whatever. All the foul baiting. All the foul baiting, or is it, do you have it on mute? It's off. Okay. All the foul baiting, especially for Mess GA, 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.

Wow. And then we're going all in. And then the Cudagra, Lou Dorit, the 30th guy in the league, just hands down. If we're hanging that out, and if that's in the awards, the 30th square of the year, Lou Dorit wins. That was the 30th thing anyone did this year. Was it excusable? 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 Nicole Eokage and maybe hurt him. My interpretation of that play. There's no other interpretation. I feel like you're taking it personally almost because it was Eokage. 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's in this game and I thought that crossed the line. And I couldn't believe that okay see coach was like surprised after

maybe he didn't see the clip. I did enjoy Mark Daegno's reaction after the game. Like I just wanted to know is that a flaker and two now we're doing that every time it's a flaker and two because we're doing every time I just want to know it's a flaker and two and then that's as far as you go. It 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 a you know it was a decent hit. I wasn't surprised they upgraded it to a flaker and 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. We're just guys just decide I'm going to hit you and 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 you some kind of lean and identity, right?”

Remember last time we were like how do we talk about these guys? They just play hard. They are like each other. They're leaning into their inner villain now, which I like. I mean, like we won't

never see yolkage that mad again. And this is a guy who got who got cheap shot at by one of the

Morris brothers and then nailed him in the back and nobody has messed with the yolkage sense for like what five years. I was worried he'd done anything to him 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 yolkage brothers are at the game. But the eyes, those eyes will live on forever. I mean, that isn't 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 yolkage stared at loot darts with. Like we did big jail. I mean, that was, that was a lusty aggressive stare. Yeah, there's three problems for door. One is that he saw yolkage sized him up and then pretended to see him. Any step back into him. And then he's one is right right foot around to make sure that he got him. And there was, so it was history from

“the before earlier in the game with them. And in general, it was a chipy game. And I think one of”

the lessons from this week. There's really an amocity in some of these games now. Oh, that was,

everybody. Piston's calves was also because that I thought Friday night was awesome. A piston calves was also really chippy and kind of angry. And not a lot of, not a lot, 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 love it. I think, I think we all agree. We would like to see more of that. On the thunder villain thing, I will say some of it is envy, right? Like teams are just

envious about how well the thunder have built their team. 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 get to the line a lot and you can't touch shape. Remember that press conference, 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. We finally said it. Somebody said it. Like

said there's something, there's something to this. It was like the, the still water drummer and almost famous when they, when they start going off on Russell Hammond and he's like, finally the truth in the bus or the plane, whatever it was. I like it. I think the thunder have an identity again. Their fans are going to eat this up. I'm sure the second one will get caught out and put somewhere and I'll be, I'll be a villain like poor Justin Termine who's

enemy number one and a whole new city. Before all their players got hurt, part of being a villain is knowing how goddamn good you are and wanting to crush everybody and front of you and before all their players got hurt, they played like a team who was like,

“bring it on. We're going to destroy your soul in this basketball game. I love to that. That's exactly”

how you want to champion to approach its potential repeat season. Well, you talked with legs about this little case of 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 of stories. Like because it's clear to me now, they're going to have some tax that they have to figure out how to pay him. Dorts got the team option next year and I wonder like, is his doored and

cruiser and Wallace on this team a year from now? My bet would be no. They'll try to patch the picks that they have and they'll try to save money that and then give them 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. 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.

See, I was ready to get to like 22, seven and five. You might be right. You're you're better projecting your more adventurous and therefore. I just wonder how much is there. Could he be

obviously he's on this team. He's never going to be the lead guard. But he 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 not maybe it's 20. Maybe it's closer to you. It's somewhere between 18 and 22. But 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 Jared McCain, who they swipe from the sixers,

“is suddenly like the 13th man on the team. But he's playing great too. And honestly, not not the worst thing”

in the world to not put all these miles on these guys. When you're going to have a five or six year run, which I've been thinking about a lot, like he talking about that five year warriors, one, I forget what podcast we talked about it on here. But you know, those years are like seven years crammed in the five years when you had those playoff games. And you look back at the history of the league. And all of these teams that had these four or five year intense runs like that. And the guys

would have to time break down at the end of them. It certainly happened with the Celtics in the 80s and happened to the pistons by the time they got to 91. It was just off a cliff. The bulls kind of avoided it because Jordan went and played baseball for that year and a half kind of pushed it off. I've stated about the other day because Robert Horry was saying how he thought the 94 and 95, he said on some podcast, the 94 and 95 rockets 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 Horace Grant, I do think the rockets would have beaten them one of those years.

Is he saying, like, if Jordan never left? He's like, Jordan was there. We would have beaten them

both times. I don't know that both times. Both times is probably crazy. But I mean, you eight titles in

like Steve Kerr has said, he doesn't think that they would have won all those titles.

Speaking of nuggets, just a quick one. Okay. Cam Johnson, Tincern scale. I was deaf con two and then the O for four today. And I might now be a deaf con one. It's been bad Friday night. I was on a couple different texts during that OKC Denver game. Three minutes left. I texted. This game is going to come down. No wide open Cam Johnson three. No way. Because yeah, I have it. I have the text. The reason I said that was because

he's been shaking enough in these games that they were 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 it missed it. And it was a tight game of seven seconds left. This is why you go and

trade him and trade that both of us loved. And he said, hold on, hold on. Don't let me in with you.

I thought I thought Michael Porter Jr was swept away. Like he was like, I just something good. What are you going to do about it? I said, but I said, I lumped you in. 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 liked it because 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 Jr was in the trade and how important his shooting was for Denver and I. I also didn't think camp. Camp 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

ailments that have heard him this season because he just thought 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 and crunch time. Small sample sauce. It's mostly. But turns 30 this week. But I just think they need them. They need them at the end of these games. They've had so many winnable games. It's so weird

to see a nugget's team. But they're still like five, we did this last week. We were saying how there are 500. They're 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, but the game 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 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. He's had a few turnovers in all these games where it's like the defense 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 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 Brown's trying to guard aunt 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 is beginning, again, you can't panicked, 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, that it does have a feel of like sometimes it's just like it doesn't come together. Sometimes

it's just not, 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. I 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 now have, they've played so basically 20,

we're at the end of the last quarter of the season. So he's going to come back and just be thrown into a four or five matchup against Minnesota where they're going to need him for like 35 minutes a 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 a proven 40 plus percent three point shooter. They don't have anyone who

combines all those things. It'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 need to be

teams. I bet he used it who were kind of both down on. And I think everybody is is now in third

in the West and they're whatever you think of them, they're going to make you feel some pain over a seven series no matter who you are. The scary thing for Denver is four or five could be them in Minnesota. Team that loves playing Denver is very comfortable. That's been they're going to be them. And the lakeers now have the same number of losses as Denver. And it's been this lake or season that a team we've written off seven hundred times. And it somehow has the exact same

record as 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. Booker still out. Brooks is out.

I guess for the season. Golden State's 31 and 29 and it's going to be 31 and 32 and three games.

“I don't think they have said for the season with the Brooks, but time wise it gets I think it was”

time wise. It's a very fun way to the last week. 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 27 and 31, but we're lying on a Hawaiian guard and there is garland who aren't exactly Lou Garrick. Clippers are about to win right now by the way. All right. So let me 28 31 and Portland lost so they're 29 and 33. They lost to the Jonathan Kominga led Atlanta Hawks by 34 points.

It's crowd chaining. Thank you warriors during the Kominga game as the another one. Portland has a weird. I've the a back injury thing that's going to knock him out of any possible on the stuff. Not that he was going to make it anyway. Golden State just said 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 wouldn't. So I don't know. If curry like do you rush him back to play him hurt or do you”

like, you know what? Let's get the tenth pick in the draft. Okay. I mean, that's that's a, I mean, so you got to lose in the play and then you got to like because there's there's zero chance at anything. Well, just say fucking we're going to be yeah fucking we'll wait with Steph come back that week if you're healthy. Give me two teams you think are in the play half seven eight nine ten Phoenix gold state Portland and clippers pick two. I got to pick two two have to make it

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 and teams. Unless one of you passes the lakers or not get you are in the play and with 20 games, we can celebrate. You can hang a banner. I will go. I'll go sons clippers. How about that? Suns clippers. There is Garland coming back tomorrow. Kowai is Kowai. You know, I don't feel great about it, but I'll go sons clippers. I don't like this. I don't love

this Steph injury and the team just feels like there's just a lot of like the Anthony Melton and Gi Santos and Quentin 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 core is alarming. The one yesterday they got killed by the lakers. The box core is like, oh my god, this is like a Brooklyn net sign up. I would also say sons clippers. I really tried to talk myself into Portland. I watched the entire

Portland share the game. My opponents were playing a 10 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 share of this stuff because we're doing

deep dive later. But really like, is the first time I've seen a team like be like, here's our strategy

to take out a nipple and they're doing all the stuff to try to take them out. True how it was playing really hard. I like clinging. They have good wings. Scoot Henderson. There's a lot of signs that he's don't sell your scoots. Don't shake your head. No, I did a whole scoot branded Miller segment last 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. They're giving them

the ball and letting him do stuff. If you'd nice if more of the signs went into the basket, but you know, I'm just trying to be class-ethical a scoop. I've been meeting defeat on the brand of Miller scoot thing. I've been officially admitting defeat. There's not, there's no other move. I mean, there's, there's nothing, there's no other move. You're trying to Miller, no one. Brand of Miller is tremendous. It's really good. I love brand of Miller. Like, he's really

“looking, Paul George, J. Limbrown, Ish, offensively like that could be, I think he could be 26”

a game if he could stay out there at some point. Absolutely. It's career. All right, so we both say Phoenix and the Clippers, and yet the Clippers could, Kawakad, be gone tomorrow.

I don't think I'm saying anything. Everything about it is weird, including that there is no 11th

play scene. You could just erase the last part of the sandings and then unless you're doing the reverse standards, you don't 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 places behind the Clippers in the wall. They hit the kid. They've picked that up. I don't know. Go on, it's played really well. Just killing the Hawkspick. Zion got hurt again, though. Not again, he deployed. Zion got hurt just as we got used to

Zion playing. He's now hurt again. Hopefully it's minor, but this is just the story of some of these guys careers. I hope we learned a lesson from this Pelican's pick with the Hawks, because we've seen this situation before. The Celtics were in at 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 pick's going to be. Because the truth is the team who's”

pick you have has no incentive to stop trying in the last 30 games of the season. And they start playing some of these other tanky teams. And they're like, fuck it, 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 think Atlanta probably should have sent that pick pack in a while ago. If you want to bid 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'll 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. Much better this other team. Some of the tanky steps great. And then, Sacramento, second and a step further, there was some weird internet rumor about that they want to sign Westbrook for next year that he's become a leader of the team, Sacramento.

Goldsbury sent us that. And my response was that I think can be in the GM is the natural outcome for all of this. But back, putting him in charge of the team. I guess he's now, I mean,

“he's a king player. You have to be a king's player to really be in consideration to replace an established”

GM a full game player. You have to put your time in. 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 in the library. I didn't even have the hard to respond to the text. I just, it's just, let me ask you two said, is it, would you say it's completely inconceivable that Russell Westbrook could someday be the Sacramento Kings GM? No way. I think that, like, I don't, if I'm surprised, are not odds on it already? Like, it's like maybe we can do it when those weird

prediction markets. How should we put that bed down? Yeah. We're calcium. Just put some calcium. Yeah, I mean, you know, it's tweets out. By the way, look at calcium today for a new new line on Russell Westbrook GM. Drop to 51 on Fandalist Fandalsland Fandal predictions. Okay. Next goofy question. What happens if you honest comes back this week? It's, I'm so excited you brought this up. My name is the, so right now we have 6789,

Philly 31 and 27 Orlando's 31 and 28. My name is 32 and 29. So they're all grouped together as 678. 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. Atlanta is 31 and 31. Actually, they're the nine seed right now. Charlotte's 10. And then Milwaukee is 26 and 33. So they are a couple losses

behind basically everybody. Milwaukee is 83 and they're last 11 until they lost the

stupid game in the last today. Janice 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 6. What happens? Could they, could they make, although they'd have to do is jump one team and get to the 10 seed and then it's just playing playoff games. That, like, to me, Janice is not dead yet.

“No, that little, this is this, I think people wrote off the books and kind of forgot about the”

books and the Eastern Conference let the bucks stay alive because that stretch they had before all star was absolutely massive because it gave them the margin for air to come back to earth and this was a comeback to earth weekend for the bucks to 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 Atlanta. Four games back at the heat,

but all of these teams like just look at their records in the last 10 games Orlando 6 and 4, Miami 5 and 5 Hawks 6 and 4, none of them have run away from the bucks and like with Janice, the team makes sense. It makes it not sense to make up two games on an Atlanta Hawks team who only kind of makes sense as a basketball team. Orlando is, that's, Orlando and Miami are taller hills

to miss a little bit of time. The sooner he comes back, the more interesting this gets because

if they get into the play and they're going full throttle with Janice, even if they're coming from the nine 10 seed, they got a hell of a chance to get in and then then it gets real interesting.

“Then it turns into NBA Cupboards, it's just like you have to be honest tonight, or you're going home,”

and that's it. And Janice really cares and actually wants to be in the playoffs. So, Filly Orlando, Miami, Charlotte, Atlanta, Milwaukee, pick three. That getting 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 Filly Orlando. No, I'm no, oh, this is actually hard. I know. I'll go, fuck it. I'm going to go Filly Miami, Charlotte, Orlando's out. Would you just be the most wildly disappointing outcome

for almost any, any team? So I would have had Orlando and the Miami spot there. I think Filly and Charlotte, I have them in. And Charlotte, I can't wait to do the deep death. I mean, let me just, Miami is their way in. It's just, they just, that's the thing. Did you see the Houston, any of the Houston thing? I did. I saw the whole game. Until that game, I was like, they're going to, you know, this is not going to be the air for them, whatever. Um, I don't know, they showed,

they had a little faceness in that game, and we always see around now, there's one team that

kind of gets hotter, does whatever. 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 bit, so I would probably say, Filly Miami, Charlotte, um, Orlando, 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 just, the history of this front”

office is that they actually, and I think they will, they will now give especially given how much time, France in particular is missed. I think they give this thing till the end of the season. That was an awful loss today. They're up seven and a half time. They're losing by 14. Dad, um, Atlanta doesn't have their pick. So no real reason for them to throw it in. That's why I like, 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 trait, this is such a strange situation for them to be in, right? It's like they're going to eat the one seed. They might have the best record in the whole league. And the prize for getting the one seed could be their Philadelphia with them beat and George back. My aim at the fucking heat culture weared voodoo Miami team, Charlotte, who's been awesome for 32 games now, like a

legitimate kind of offensive juggernaut, and none of those matchups are fun, like none of them.

“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. Well, yeah, it's when Sugs plays two games in a row. It's like a shock. It really makes you feel good when you turn on the magic game and Sugs playing things.

I love watching Sugs play. I like this team just became 25% more entertaining to watch. Yeah. Cleveland, who won today? Barely. Another dorky combo. If you're Cleveland, do you care if you're just, you're the force aid you play Toronto and run one? Do you care? No, I don't, I don't think you can care about your seed at all if you're Cleveland. You just need to get a healthy as possible, and like you know what you're being judged on, and

I wouldn't stress about three, four, one, two. All that you've had your ups and downs against all the teams currently above you in the standing. It's just, you just got to play on Fando. They were plus one 25 for the four seed and 11 one for the five seed. If I'm them, I just want everyone run

and full steam. Second week in April. I don't care if I'm playing Toronto, and I don't mind playing

Detroit. I don't think they would think they can beat Detroit. They have more offense more stuff to bring the table shooter. I had really had a chip on a shoulder. I thought, just to bring them off the bench, like possessed doing that crazy shooter stuff. I thought it'd be fun, but I think that team, you know, the Sam Merrill piece has defraved the fact that they missed on the Andre Hunter. Dean Wade is a, I guess, just a exit stage, right? What, first of all, he's been starting

they are very hard to beat. He's a minor role player, but 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, three's 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 it helps. But at least they turn Hunter into shooter and Key on Ellis, like at least they got two guys that can play for them in that, in that deal. By the language doctor likes their chemistry, too. I like some of the stuff I saw on the

sidelines from Mitchell and Harden. Looks like Mitchell and Harden like each other. Honeymoon Harden is just, it's really kicked in. I'll take it. Next topic, I texted this to you, so you're actually prepared for this one. I don't know, I like to sneak attack you with topics. Primitive defenders better than the Thompson. Let me bring on my list. I asked you to make a list. Who's actually better than these guys? Primitive defenders. We're not talking big guys. We're not talking tiny

“guards or small. No, I don't. The answer is, I'm not sure anybody is. Although, I think they both”

are, no player is perfect, but I think here, so here are the names I wrote down, it's just like these are the guys you Lisa. Tell me how many names are out 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 wrote down 10 names. Yeah. Okay. Ludo. Who is the Karuso?

Yep. They were not my first name. No, I'm just, I do. I just went down standing zorder.

Okay. And I'm going to omit someone that I don't think are serious. I think this is the fan base. This won't take that personally at off. I'm just going to say, like, I'm not going to mention Hugo Gonzalez after saying, I'm not mentioning him. Sorry, Hugo. You don't get into this one. The llama. The llama haircut doesn't get in. I think Jayda McDaniel deserves a word.

“Derek White doesn't have the size, but I left him off because I think there's certain”

guys that he probably can't guard. I still think Pete Coi needs to be on this list. Uh, he can't bring it every night, but when he really, really brings it, he might still be the best perimeter defender in the NBA for a game or a quarter. Yeah. Dyson Daniels. And you're running here. I left him off. You're running out of God. And I don't mind leaving him off. Like you run out, like I think Peyton Watson could get into this conversation. Oh,

Jan and Obi had him. I'd come,ara. Camaro is on my list. That's a good one. I had it Scotty Barnes. He's on my list too. I was waiting. I wanted you to bring up Scotty Barnes, but I had him on my list.

Here's my descending order. I had McDaniel's first. I had the Doran Cruisal combo,

Castle, and an Obi. I had Camaro, Kawaii Barnes and Bridges all next to each other. And I had

“Anne Edwards 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 put 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 McDaniels so high is he snatched Ben Matherin's soul from his body for two hours. He just, he reached inside his heart and pulled it out and by the fourth quarter, Matherin who was a really confident guy, walks around with his chest out and it really seems

alpha-a was just like deer in the headlights and 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. He's the only one I've seen on the level with the Thompson's. Castle, even though he guarded Doran, which was one of the great things that Grant and things of the season, I'm not sure if there's certain guys that 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 Harper are as defenders this season 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

were on Brandon and Irman, a recent spurs, Raptors game, Dylan Harper, closed the game on Brandon and Irman, kind of collapsed them a little bit. And I'd mentioned how Castle guarded Cat and Brunson and the same game like they are up for the Duran game I'd forgotten about when he kind of bodied up Duran and like Duran was like, what's happening? Is this a fail? What's what's going on? They, they are big and rangy and they are want all the smoke. Like those guys are so far ahead of

games or he's really fired up to play defense. And 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. The other one, and I thought about this the other day

at this, at this corporate game, I was like, first of all, three inches taller than I was prepared

for in person. I don't know why the TV made me think he was like 61, but I felt like he was the same height as Anthony Edwards. I was a big dude out. Big big shoulders and just when they had him, Big Daniels and Edwards all out there at the same time against a team that really didn't have a point card. Chris down was the only sort of point card on the clippers. Everyone was terrified to bring the ball. Nobody was happy about it. But I thought that was interesting. He's a great fit.

You know, I mean, you know, he's furious right now. Dillon Brooks is furious. Dillon Brooks is going to pick up the rare podcast circle for our good. So he's just off the list. He's hurt. We don't even can show him. I had a lot of mentioned. He's hurt. But he's meant out when he might not see him again this season. Well, this leads to the next question. Pick one as a defender of Houston Thompson or

“Detroit Thompson Houston Thompson. I think Houston Thompson is ahead of the, I don't like to”

don't like doing the brother thing. It makes me sad to pick the brothers against each other like this, but it makes him hurt my soul. But I think I'm in Thompson. I think I think he scales down positionally a little easier than a Sardos, a Sarmide guard up a little bit better. But I think I'm in Thompson and guard anybody. And he just is speed. I mean, they're both unbelievable. But I'd pick I'm in. So I give him a slight edge as well. I think Sars is the single scariest guy to bring the ball up against.

Like when he's really in, I'm going to try to get a steal as you bring the ball up mode. I think he's number one. Who's scarier than him? You know, I 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, Scotty Pippin Jr. Oh, he's another good guy. I shouldn't you not. It has 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. This is what's going to happen. Send everybody home, refund the tickets. It's a great night out for Scotty Pippin Jr. 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 just, it's like free second round pick for him, right? It's been fist turning down a

second round pick for Scotty Pippin. I don't think so. And he's been hurt most of the year. I don't want to see him in a playoff series. Okay, next question. So the all NBA, it feels like we've separated to Yokogestia, Cade, and Wemby are levitate in that top group now. And then we have the next five of Ant and Mitchell and Jaylin and Luca and Maxi in some order. Ant Mitchell, I'm going to write this down. Ant Mitchell, Jaylin and 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, Kawai, Chamomoree, Durin, Durant, Barnes, Amin Thompson, et cetera, et cetera. Who's your tenth? Who's the tenth best part in the league right now for an all in the standpoint in your opinion? Assuming eligibility, Kawai Leonard. Okay, I agree with you. And he's got like, and then I put Brunson next. So Brunson, when I did this

“I had Brunson, Maxi, I had Maxi 13. Oh, so you have Maxi added that group and Brunson in the group?”

I had, I had Kawai second team when I did my draft of NBA teams. So all right. So there's nine plus

Brunson Kawai Murray and Durant, that's 13. Which 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 going to make it anyway, but he's probably getting balanced. Yokaj only has two left, Wemby has four left, Kawai, I think has four. Obviously, it's going to be out. We might not have enough all in the NBA guys, as I guess my bigger one. Well, you didn't mention

Durant. I didn't mention Durant. I mean, you got to mention Durant. You're not going to put Durant on 13 all in the NBA. You're going to put other. Okay. 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, whatever the hell happened and I'll start

wear the story of the year. 26. I get it. On 65 and 49 shooting. Yeah. He's, I had him. I have 13 guys listed. Then 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 bubble list with Durant Barnes Thompson. I mentioned him as a bubble guy. Okay. And I don't know if any, the only

“person that I think the nerds might take in grab a hold of and grab the flame and start bringing”

it outside the wall. I could see a shit momentum just for the defensive impact. We need two KC guys in the NBA. 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 ground swell of, well, this

team has to have X amount of people, which I don't really believe in. I just, I've been, I've been wanting him to do a little bit more on offense in some of these games without Shay and Jill and Williams and AJ and Mitchell and I don't know. Chat hasn't scored 20 points in a game since January 27th. It's just been too many like 13, 15, 17. Yeah. This is like I looked at defenses unambutable. He's unbelievable. The fact that he could shoot three 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 in, 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 and I don't know I'm big. I'm, you haven't mentioned one guy that I maybe you mentioned him when you listed him often. I, I, I, I missed it, but did you mention Jalen Johnson? I had him in the bubble list. Okay.

Shay is minus 260 from VP. Yoca just plus 450. K is 10 to one. inexplicable because the best

“J, miss is five more games. I think K is going to win the MVP. I can't, I can't bet on it because I”

ever won. Wemby? Wemby's at 25 to one. And I think the spurs would have to basically lose two more games the rest of the year and be the one saying have the best record in the league for it to be a serious combo. I'm not even sure some games have fees to best guy in the game for his team.

Even though I know like the Detroit game Monday, what he did defensively was incredible. That's

Luke has dropped to a hundred to one after a pretty tough week for Luca. 100 to one. Yeah. Wow. Oh, that's my next orky thing I wanted to bring up to you. And then we're going to the Charlotte deep dive. 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 8 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 told you this during his rookie years, we watched how good he was. Would you have ever have guessed this? No. And in fact, 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 there was a

whole will he ever went a championship conversation this year that I feel like is a little bit premature. But yeah, I am surprised part of it is that, you know, you look at his game log. He's only crack 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 efforts by now. So everything about what's happening is a little bit surprised.

Good point. Yeah, when we're moving into the 2020s and if we had had a who is the most

“likely guy to win one MVP this decade draft, I think he would have been the first pick.”

It's just Taylor made like he's the whole offense is going to revolve around him. His passing does make most types of players better. He's had playoff success. Basically, since he came into the Lee, he's been a good playoff player, like going back to the bubble, et cetera. It just seemed like absolutely no brainary. Like he'd be shocked if a guy like this didn't win an MVP.

He's 286 and 210 regular season or 287 now, 2629 in the playoffs. Never has won.

Think 52 games is as high as what Dallas? Because he's a decent amount of games. He's missed the kinds of lumbars of games that turn a 55 win team into a 47 win team.

some Hornet's facts. You know all of this. I'm just going to sit back and soak it in.

“They haven't made the playoffs in 10 years. Last time they made the playoffs was the last year of”

Barack Obama's second term. Since they're 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 front 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 Kembo Walker night, just for the emotional night, or how Jefferson night. Kembo would be the one.

They've made the eastern finals once, even going back to the morning, L.J. era. Just in the last few years, they drafted shade go just out Xander 11th and immediately traded him for miles bridges in two seconds. I forgot this happened. Oh yeah.

They drafted Jalen Durran and immediately traded him for a future first in three seconds.

And the future first became Nick Smith junior. He took Saloon one pick before that have been clinging. They spent a lottery pick on James book night. It says the thing that happened. Last year there were 19 and 63. They started out form 14 this season. So there were 23 and 77 in 100 games over two seasons. And since then, something magical has happened. They're now 30 and 31. They're last 32 games. That glow 21 and 11. They're first overall at net rating plus 9.8

and last 32 games of any and in B.A. team, first at offense of rating 1, 21, 0.4, which would be near in the all time high. They have 21 wins 15 of 21 were by double digits and could their last four in a row. And they're 14 and three in their last 17 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 go KC. The year when”

KC became like a 500 team. It's like, yeah, I could see this building all year.

This was like, this is like a fun league past team that will never actually be a plan team.

This year, there's no way. And yet they're going to be a plan team and might even win the division. The division, I forgot about the division. The division. The division. They could win the division. Right now, the odds and the division. They are the plus four 60 Orlando's plus 135 and my name is plus 155 on Fando. I still like Charlotte's win the division, but look, there you go. So you go. Well, I just go like, first I can give you a couple more stats if you want. No,

it. First of all, I just, I implore whatever team wins the division. Do not hang a banner, even you Charlotte. Do not hang a banner. If they go 44 and 38 when the division, I'm allowed in the

“banner. No banner. You should be any team that hangs division. Vanners should be shamed at all times.”

I'll give you this. The ball, Miller, Kinnipal, Bridges, Diabate, line up is plus 179 in 2801 minutes. That's like that is preposterous. That is the number line up of death. That is the number one plus minus for any line up in the NBA. Number two is the piston starting line up at plus 131. So 48 points, quote, worse than the Hornets, and they've played almost twice as many minutes. Plus 179 into 1801 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 Kinnipal, and he's been unbelievable, and I don't want to, I don't want to basmerge 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 Diabate fits with this group in the starting five. It's a perfect

storm of Miller, Diabate, Lamello kind of chilling a little bit with some of the crazy stuff and just playing a simpler game in a lot of ways. It's all clicked together. And I mean, what, you just said 30, 35, 40 games into this being like, this is a real team. This is, this is,

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 even looking at the stats, I might think like, oh, it's Lamello's healthy and the team took off. He only plays like 27 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 Diabate. And then Lamello, when he's good, they become almost unstoppable. Now they have this Kobe, the Kobe way trade,

which we did the trade deadline thing was that, oh, cool, I like Kobe white more than Colin Sexton.

“It's a really important trade for them. For a variety of reasons, one, which I totally”

forgot until I was watching the game on Saturday, he said North Carolina guy, like right Williams was there to see Kobe white and Kobe white's like loves being in Carolina. He's, 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 19, five, four, 30 cents 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 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. 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 players than Colin Sexton was playing off

the ball on the ball. Like he can, I just think he fits better for what 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 that lineup of death he mentioned, but then you can move Kobe into the Lamello spot. It's still a really good team. We can't call the lineup of death because the death lineup is taken and it's the worst. I'm just trying to give Charlotte as how many bones is possible. It's

sitting there in front of us. How about the buzz saw. 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

“remember. I think you were talking maybe about the trait. Well, maybe it was like a, you were talking”

about Detroit only has one guy that can really create a shot, but they have all these guys who not do all these things and they can kind of patch it together. But really the only one guy can create a shot. And you could fill it the game on Friday night against Cleveland when Kate found out, which for some reason has happened more than once the season. Kate found out and it's like, oh, shit. What do we do now? And they try to patch it together. By the way, you know,

part of the reason why Kate gets in foul trouble here in there? Because he tries hard on defense. He needs to make plays on defense. Like that's part of it. Like, well, he doesn't get the respect either from, 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. Rainer Miller, obviously. Lamello can get by anybody. Colby 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're averaging 17.1 made threes during the 32 game streak, where they're 21/11, 17.1. They're shooting 43

game. They're 40% from three, which leads the league. But they're also second rebounds, which is

nice, because Coniple rebounds, Lamello rebounds, Bridges, every guy in the team goes and grabs rebounds. And then when you just think about, if I know I'm getting 17 threes a game, I can kind of have a bad game and still be in the game. You know, like, I can still hang around. I could still, I could be down nine and then all of a sudden I'm down three. I don't know.

“And they have three 20 point scores. I really believe in this team. And then we didn't”

mention Grant Williams, 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 Coniple and Bridges. They have white. They have Williams, Diabata, and Colk Brenner, and Josh Green, I guess. Josh Green is given them really nice minutes as a tent guy as they're swing defender. And he and Cian James are kind of the wing guys that come out of the wild card wing.

But Josh Green has been 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 and a row in the road? Love road wins. I'm not that road wins. All right. I'm about to, I'm going to about to take this up a level to crazy town.

it. Because you mentioned first of all, I do, I think you undersold the mellow a little bit

and saying the team is built around Caniple and Miller in the mellow kind of floats in as a bonus. All the lineup data suggests that their offense is awesome when the mellows 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, which is huge for them. But they're offensive that the mellow has not been very good. And even like some, I don't have it all sorted in front, but I did a couple of weeks ago. Like even like the

“Miller and Caniple know the mellow lineup was just so so at one point. But anyway, so I think you”

understold him a little bit. But I've just, yeah, I was projecting the white being able to do a reasonable facemoy 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 lamello is in a, in a lead three point shooter. It's just masked by the fact that he's took so many difficult threes that deflated his resengeal abilities in a lead three point shooter. Right. And everyone

knows Caniple is a great shooter and just said they just sort of just, it's like, at the end of the sentence about it, and they have this Caniple 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 basketball referencing for you. There are six seasons in the history of the NBA, six individual player seasons. And Caniple is on pace to be seven and he's almost going to do it this week.

2000 minutes. So you can't be like a role player who comes in in pastries. 43% or better from three, he's at 44% right now. At least eight threes per 36 minutes of 10th and six player seasons total. Here are the six, Steph Curry, Steph Curry, Steph Curry, Clay Thompson, Desmond Bane, Duncan Robinson, and at 1900 plus minutes about to be Caniple. Wow. And the Clay Thompson is the

“comp. Because that's how he reminds me of 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. Kind also has this little John Hablitch outside when he can like muscle in and get like a little 10 footer 12 footer. 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 their best offense of players around in such creative ways and all over the floor. Charles Lee and his staff deserve a lot of credit. They've really

maximized three guys who you look at them and think 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.

“All right. Are you ready? 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 Antonio and round two. We were working at Grandland together. League was not as good.

That 2013 Warriors team with those two guys and David Lee basically was broken on that team. He

was. Yeah. Just the league just wasn't as good. And that was probably a 41 41 team now. That was a 31 win team. No. They were 47 and 35 12 13. You're talking 12 13. I'm talking that first where you're saying that's the team. Yeah. Curry was 22 game clay was 17 a game. Combined there are 6.1 made 3s. People didn't shoot the 3s as much back then.

As that season of all we were like, something's like really here. This is headed somewhere. And then when they beat Denver was what 56 wins out here. Thai lost the team. They grew dollars on that team. George Carl was a big upset. And then they lost to the spurs and next round. But Curry, everything about it felt like something special happened. So that summer they make a big move for a good dollar. They had dream on on the team as a rookie. But he blasts him the second year.

They go 51 and 31. They lose the clips in 7. Curry and clay jump up and then the next season was the season. My crazy town question for you is could this con Miller, La Mello, three? Some be the same kind of foundation that Curry and Clay were for that word or 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 could this be like a real playoff team a year from now.

guy has to be part of the recipe. But I think the Warriors comp 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 Dramon in the can this be stuff in clay. But I'm saying that that first year,

Dramon's not he's an it's just Curry in clay basically with Boge and Harrison Barnes is on there at that point. But it's not Dramon, we didn't know who Dramon was as a potential like. But 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 Galen R gets her 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 a time talking to people with the Warriors the next season and beyond about that series. And remember the first two games in that series were in San Antonio and they were wild games. The Warriors split the games and then stepped it's hurting the series and kind of limps through it. Boge

gets hurt and that series and kind of limps through it. They lose in six. But just like the

gold standard of NBA defense ran into something that they didn't know what to do with. They just were like, we don't this guy's pulling up from 30 feet and we're trying to defend this. This is not how we were told basketball was. That series was the series where the Warriors became the Warriors to me and then they just it's a 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 add is is key. And then the dream on thing I bring up only because the Warriors were in a leap 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 hit? But that really wasn't until the the 67 win season when League at hurt. And then Dream on minutes on way up, right? That was that that was the year when it bloomed. Well, that was your 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 12th in defense. Right. The Boge at Ellis trade obviously also

changed the trajectory of their team. But that's the question for the for and maybe Deobato 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. And about this in that 32 game streak, the 21 or 11, their eighth net rating trending the right way. And Calc Brenner off the bench is a real guy defensively. Like he's a he could be he's a problem defensively. The perimeter

guys will get better. And they are they know exactly what they want to be defensively. So they're number one in a point of free throw rate and number one in defense rebounding, which means they do not beat themselves. You have to beat them. And they are it's they allow the second fewest corner threes in the league. And I said this way early in the season. Like all these numbers have been there since the start of the season. And just the other mistakes they were making 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 is 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 that identifying when some team has like just being a year early on somebody. I remember the okay see 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 really good. But I remember and 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. They just had a calmness and a competitiveness in

them. I was like, there's something really here. I feel that way about the hornets. I felt that way about those warriors teams in that 13 season where I was like, there's something actually really here. This isn't just like a fun story. There's 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 if Bridges is their long term or not and I assume LeMelo is. But they have this

top 14 protected this year and unprotected in 27. The rose year picked. What is their igoodala move? Is my question? Because gold state came out of that 47 and 35 season. Dreyman wasn't Dreyman yet. They basically occurring clay in some barns. But their big move is igoodala.

They dump some contracts. They added two first round picks. They went, got this amazing fourth

banana for them. And that made their team go up a level. Could it be Janis? 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. See, he's 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 one of your five guys. Well, and they have time. Like it's funny 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 Kinnipple and Miller and Lamello on max deals until 28, 29,

and then they will. I'm sorry until 29, 30. That's the end of Kinnipple'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 it. 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 probably have some size. 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 in order to do. I think they should do it. But like Anthony Davis popped into my head when Nico Harris and got fired like two expensive two-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

gum up your offense, which is obviously hard to find. But absolutely they're going to be on the hunt for somebody because these three guys together, this is a real thing what they're doing offensively.

They have all their own first run picks plus those two other ones. The other piece is

new owners, which is similar to the warrior situation, right? The warrior's brought they wake up in those guys, bought that team right around 2011-12. So it was like early on and they've kind of revamped the back there 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 owner who was cheap and made bad decisions. It was to poorly run behind

the scenes, to hire 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, talent-wise, it's like you're at least in the vicinity and then you can patch it around. I think the Knippel piece, you know, all jokes aside, but he's 20 and he's putting up stats at 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? He was like a four-year,

44 million dollar extension. Yeah, they were able to just patch shit around. That's basically the

Knippel contract. Lamella is a max and they're going to have to pay Brandon Miller this summer, I think, and he's earned the contract now. And speaking of Lamello, it's I am in like an all-time like Lamello defender. I never got off the Lamello is a good thing. And I do think it'd be an international 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 Lamello ball 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 Lamello 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 a world like that guy can shoot and that guy should shoot and we're losing anyway. They had a couple good play in years with Berigo and stuff. But now he looks around. He's like, that guy's

all of a sudden we have a lot of hype around us and a lot of a lot of buzz and a pun intended.

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 and 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 and so many different ways. And again, he's playing 27 minutes a game. They're very careful with nothing problem much on interview times. Yeah, they're back to backs. They're easing them in.

They'll get a rebound and he can do what Maxi is a good parallel to this where he's just off. And he's like full speed. They're not just like this half-quart team or this team of three point shooters. They asked about 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 talking about a team that fans are dying to love. And I mean, like, I feel so bad for their fans. They're waiting to fall in love with a team like this. And it's like, I hope they make the playoffs. I would love, I mean, Pistons Hornets round one would be unbelievable for you. 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 going to come out. And they're going to come out. And they're going to come out. Like, I don't ever see them deviating from how they play because it's the playoffs. They're going to play fast. They're going to play loose. They're going to shoot tons of threes and play with tons of Provado. That's just who they are. 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 warrior's team, right?

We just knew they were super fun. And it was like, I'm glad Steph Curry's going to turn out to be a really good pro because there was three years there where we didn't even know if he's going to 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 point. Hey, Clay Thompson's really good, too. And then over the next three years, it built into this way bigger thing. They had 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 year's first chat, GBT4A? Yeah, I did a little chat. I did a one-chappy, GBT, and then I felt horrible about it. And I stopped. Why did you feel bad? I just, you know, yeah, to try it. I'm old school. Can we have just like writers and writers doing the right thing?

Doing the right thing? She's gone to the library and researches and in psychopedias. Hey, look, we take, the low family takes out books from the freaking public library, okay? You think

“that's why my daughter, all the goddamn babysitter's clubs books and all that stuff. No,”

you're taking some of those out of the library. The grand-inch 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. It's kind of substance. And it, like, there really isn't a, this is the most interesting. So a lot of them are have 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 a, like a true blue, like Derek Rose or Damian 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 Bootenholzer, the Hawks with Bootenholzer, that's a good conflict. Like the team that didn't maybe have a top 20 player. And there's a couple more, like the, the bulls with tips, the Pacers, the Pacers are actually

an interesting comparison, like the, the Paul George George Hill, they have a coaching change. But Paul George, I think, becomes it all that obviously became it 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 where this falls apart because you would have to say the Konnipple Miller combo as how unusual it has 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 J. England 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,

mellow. It's the three of them together. Right. Because he's the best pastor. He's also

six seven, the same light is written in Miller in one inch list at all. I just, I don't want to put this on the mellow because I'm just, I'm so nervous that it's going to fall apart for him at any time. Well, the hell you're right. The 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 six, six, six, seven and having the combined passing shooting,

ball healing skills that they have is really unusual. Well, 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 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 know if anyone who's paying attention could think this is

insane. Well, advanced metrics or demanding that we have the conversation. 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 phone one. That's must watch Charlotte Miami Friday. That's must 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 a little Miami Orlando home game combo after that. But they they waxed the spurs by the way. They would get waxed them. But they wired a 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 sure a lot of threes would be super comfortable. And then Miami, that's the team you have to get through in your 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 live in we two games can't take you out of crazy town at Boston's a tough game. And Miami's Miami. And I know, but I just I just brought the 2013

Warriors and the 2023 okay, see into this. I tried to try to temper it by bringing in some teams who became very good and did not perhaps accomplish the great history that the Warriors accomplished because they were all very good teams. But no, we you stay in crazy town. You can't be persuaded by two games, especially one against Miami in which something as historically significant as the 2021 South East division title could 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 is palpable. People like to better stronger humans have quaked under that kind of pressure before. If we wanted to go to crazy town, we would go to the to the the 1978 Seattle Super Sonics who started out five and 17. And then ended up losing the finals in seven games to Washington and winning a year later. You know 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 sentence. I keep up in the nine of the guys on the team. I mean, I think that basketball 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 to take it 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 of your son and it's like, you know how they do the season ticket holder the game. They bring them out in the waves. I have to say can't believe he has been brought to mid court and waves to the crowd. What's he got to do? Come pick going says 1974. Wow, that's that's astonishing. I'm actually surprised. The 73 74 series in broader

“material. So anyway, yeah, Charlotte, I think this is real. Okay, before we go, it's March. It's spring training.”

I have the, I have the meds over under for the year for you over. I don't even know what it is. Well, you could go, where is it? Over is can't find it. Well, 90 plus wins is minus 134. You went in 90 games. Probably not. You don't think so? I think they look, I'm following it from

spring training that amount to like, it turns out playing this new position is a little trickier

“than player that thought it would be. And that's like five players on the team and like bread”

baby now has gloves for seven different positions. I hope this is going to work. It seems I'm a little worried, frankly, but I'm the, of course, I'm taking the over on whatever the over

under is. Are you watching survivor 50? No. I haven't watched any, I've never watched an episode

of survivor, not one. Do you ever think of going on? I, I would probably not subject myself to it. World be a 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 alliances in their people alienate other people in their backroom deals. I'm my strategy would just probably as PN. Are there teams? I'm sorry. I'm not bringing anything to the table. I, I can't go on because I wear contact lenses and have

averages. Otherwise, I would have gone on. Yeah, there's no work around for that. Now, I feel like that's an excuse being in the outdoors. Well, now I'm too old. My wife was my dream person to go on though because, um, grade at challenges, she would have owned the challenges,

“but, um, gets crazy if she's not eating. And you have to like, you really hungry on survivor.”

She's just, they're not so, there's not a whole channel nearby where they're getting catered meals. No. 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 race. Just like who ate the race. There was more race here. I'm trying to find what people saw.

He showed his ever tempted me. Like that was amazing race. That's the one. That's, that's the

one where like I travel around the world and solve problems and puzzles and like go on chases. Like that seems fun. What's the craziest thing you've ever done? The 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. That'd be like, that's the craziest thing you could have told me. I don't think I have 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 to force me. You almost had to take me to the emergency room. It's a, well, I couldn't even convince you to do 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 glad you mentioned that. I think about that sometimes. All of this is crazy. I don't think I had any, I mean, I did crazy stuff when I was a cops and crime reporter at the Stanford Advocate at Stanford Connecticut. Like talking to murderers. Who's the craziest trial you ever covered? A craziest trial ever covered? It's sad. It was a home invasion in which an elderly retired teacher was murdered in her own house by, I don't even remember who exactly did it. It was

someone that they didn't know was a kind of a random thing. If I remember it correctly, it was I covered all sorts of horrible stuff and talked to lots of scary people and lots of very interesting people and strange places. It was crazy. I was on a jury once and 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

a jury duty. I was on a jury and it was, it was this case where these guys got enough fighting in 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 pretense. Yeah, I won't tell you what the verdict was but it was I'm gonna contact with the better answers. I'm sure I've done something crazy that just did you ever drive cross-country with

anybody? No. Trying to think like 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. It was crazy. It was just incredibly unpleasant from start to finish. It 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 no one would be able to tell because the cups were pewter and whether the risk-reward equation was worth it because we were way to get fired. So sick of the whole trip. Medieval Times like in the cable guy?

there's like 10 Medieval Times around 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 Carrey had been replaced?”

I did see I saw photos that looked like, you know, a different than I remember Jim Carrey, but people age and then they'd Hollywood people have things happen to them and they don't look at that. It looked like he had fillers and his cheeks. I didn't think he got replaced. There's been, there's a litany of people who I see them in movies and I'm like,

that person looks like that. Now that's like, doesn't even, I wouldn't have guessed that in a million years.

I liked the room. In general, I wonder if anyone's ever been replaced in our lifetime. You're going down some dangerous roads that you get us into simple. We're going to happen in days, but that was a movie. Well, it's just, it did happen. We just did a script.

“Kevin Klein came in. He looked just like, Dave, did it. Have you seen Cicario?”

I have. You have. Do you like Cicario? I love Cicario is, I haven't seen it. I saw it in a hotel

by myself and Los Angeles on some road trip because 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 multiple sequels. Multiple sequels.

“The original Scarlet was on Netflix and we're doing a library watch on those 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 DINLA. I don't know if you know that one. I don't think we're five movie. Yeah. I don't think we're in Peterson. No. It's a classic. You can find it. I don't know if it's on Netflix. But yeah, those are the first two, two more spots. So five movie month for rewatchable. So there you go.

Thanks to McLowbal, Trevor, for sponsoring this live stream. Thanks to Gahau and Eduardo and Jack, and Kevin and Chris and everybody at the ringer as well. Zach Lowe, you have a podcast Tuesday morning. Tuesday morning. Thursday morning. It's right. Thursday morning will be the holy shit that Hornet's self-the game was the game of the year and just Tatum's coming back on Friday podcast. So I'm looking forward to it. Good to see you, my, good to see you, my friend. Thank you.

Always fun. Thanks, everybody.

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