Celtics Top Thunder and Wemby’s Brilliance With Brian Scalabrine. Plus, Moussa Diabaté on the Upstart Hornets.

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Stepstown is the most important talent for all-Jobs.

Coming up after this on the Zach Low Show, we are coming off an absolutely bonkers night in the NBA. Houston and Minnesota play one of the wildest back and forth games you will ever see. What does it say about both of the teams, particularly Houston, managing to blow a 13-point lead in over time?

The Celtics beat the Thunder and what very much felt like a statement game for both the Boston Celtics and Jason Tatum. Brian Scalabrini was at the game calling the game. He's joining us to talk about that and everything going on in the NBA, including all four leading MVP candidates,

absolutely showed out last night again, just a crazy night in the NBA. There's a lot going on to talk about. We'll talk about the top of the East. The bottom 5-10 in the East is now a complete mess. We're going to talk about that.

We're going to talk about Janice. What the hell is going on? What are they arguing about?

“What was the statement that the Union released this week?”

Adam Silmer laid the hammer down on tanking. Let's see what happens with that. And then we'll talk a little bit about some mid-tier western conference teams.

The nuggets gave up a million points last night,

but one because Jamal Murray, all NBA Jamal Murray, that's right at 53 points. Just a ton of stuff going on in the NBA and Scalabr help us sort through all of it. And then put the antlers up. Moose to de-up octaves here for a quick visit on all things,

Charlotte Hornets, including the brawl, and whether you want to see the pistons again, in the playoffs, happy opening day. Let's be being go, Mets. And we'll talk to you soon on the Zeclo show.

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called one-internetagamber, called 1888-789-777-777-777-777-777-777-CCP-G.org/chat in Connecticut. Welcome to the Zeclo show. There's a ton of going on in the NBA, and it's centered on Boston last night. No one better to join us than Brian Scalabrini, the hardest working man in NBA media. He's on NBC Sports. He's called Celtics Games.

He's got the starting lineup with Frank I soul of five days a week on Serie SXM. Thanks for taking some time out of your mad schedule, Brian Scalabrini. I'll tell you, Zach, if Frank gets a hold of that intro, he knows there's some nights when my travel just gets stacked up and I don't work five days a week. He's definitely going to call me out that you said five days a week.

“So can I call it four point two five days a week? Is that okay?”

That's absolutely fine. That's still a lot of days of the week. That's a majority of the days of the week. That's good. It's like nowadays. It's a lot. So I'm happy to be on, man. Thanks for text. You're right. I know it's like, expect to have in the middle of college basketball,

but the NBA right now all-time high as far as like storylines, drama, who's winning, who's not in the NBA, there's a lot of great stuff going on. There's a lot of bad stuff going on, which we'll talk about, but there's a lot that last night was an absolutely wild night. We had Celtics, okay. See, the rare double-digit Oklahoma City Thunder lost despite Oklahoma

City being fully healthy and we'll get back to that game in a second.

We had all four leading MVP candidates absolutely show out in different ways and then Jalen Brown. One of my favorite Jalen Brown games of the season sort of stamping himself is like, "Hey, can I at least get the fifth spot in here and like really make it a claim for the last first team all in the NBA spot if Kate cutting him? Boy, does everyone hate the 65 game rule? If he can't come back, we had a bonkers law used and come from behind and then fall from

a head loss in Minnesota. Neither of those teams are, you can't figure either of them out.

“Jamal Murray had 53 points, I think he's cinched up for me and all NBA spot and like,”

might sniff second team if some of these guys fall away because of the 65 game rule. Just a lot going on, but I want to start in Boston. Is that felt like you were there? You called the game. Somehow it was not one of the national TV games I didn't understand so you and Drew had it. That felt to me, I'm interested to see here what you, you know, what you heard from the guys after the game and around the game, but from the, from the outside,

that felt like a big statement from the Celtics and the second quarter felt like a big statement

a blowby drive against Chet, he had a three in the pick and roll, he had a block at the rim on Lou Dorth that sent the crowd into a frenzy. That felt like a, yeah, we're real. This is real, like he's going to trend, he's going to keep trending upward and we can beat anybody,

“including the consensus title favorite, but what, what did you, what was your takeaway?”

Yeah, so let's dive Celtics first, right? We can get an Oklahoma City in a second. Unbelievable that Jalen Brown can outplay SGA. Just a couple weeks ago, we didn't have paid him in white and Brown had a great game, made some clutch shots, but it came up SGA with a big three and then you remember the offense rebound at the end. So unbelievable duel, but in this game, Jalen Brown was the better player. Something interesting, like, and I like the way that Joe

does this Jalen Brown does not guard SGA throughout the game in the fourth quarter. He guards him, does a great job, which is Jalen Brown can guard SGA, but SGA cannot guard Jalen Brown. So we're talking about MVP and there's a lot to unpack there, but the fact that Jalen Brown has been telling all of us that I want to be one of the best players in the world, and you guys will see, and he got his opportunity this year, and he's showing out, and he outplayed outdooled. In Oklahoma

City lineup, that was healthy and whole for the first time all season. And the fact that he

outplayed SGA in the fourth quarter was a little mind boggling. So Jalen Brown looks amazing,

“and here's the thing that stands out, like SGA can make defenses look foolish. Jalen Brown,”

you can play perfect defense, and he can still score on you, which is dangerous because in the playoffs, you don't really make people look foolish. What you do do is have like amazing defenses. I'll ask Steph Curry and he's still can go for 40. What Jalen Brown is operating on that level right now, which there's only nothing you can do to stop him. You kind of have to do the Kobe Ryan, just please, I hope he misses type of defense. Well, and he's just his physicality has just

gone up and not and his control of his handle and his decision making when he starts bullying people toward the rim. I know he had five turnovers last night, I think he also had eight assists. It's just so much cleaner. He makes the every play simple, and you saw like both he and Tatum last night, you know, for me, the most encouraging Tatum play in that second quarter, he he crossed

up jet. That was great. The blood gun door was incredible. When they ran a white Tatum pick and

roll to get Joe switched on Tatum and they fed him the ball at the dirt spot the nail. And he was just like, I'm going to be old Jason Tatum. Isaiah Joe, you can't guard me. I'm going to bully you all

“the way to the rim, and I think he dropped it off to Kata maybe for a drink or a layup. Yeah.”

And I was like that, that looked a lot like Jason Tatum to me. And it's been, you know, the shooting percentages aren't there. He's taken a ton of threes, which I, you could feel him being like, I need to get this shot back to an acceptable level for me. Let me force it a little bit if I have to. But that second quarter, he looked great. And like, I have no idea, we're going to talk about the top of the East a little bit. You know, when he came back and looked as good as he

as he did right away. And I'm still shocked at how good he looks now. Sure. There was a rush. I think to anoint Boston as the favorites in the East. I think they are the most complete and coherent team in the East, the team that's most certain of their identity on both ends of the floor. So maybe that makes them the favorites. I don't know. I would put them in the Nick's sort of head to head. And we could talk about the Cleveland and Detroit to later. But I think he looks

tremendous. And they're, they're, they're, this, this core floor that they have of white Richard Tatum Brown. You throw Kata out there. That lineup is great. Houses playing well. They get good minutes off the bench. Like, I just can't believe how good the Celtics are. Well, I think the issue and I, and I'm not gasing Tatum up saying, I don't, I think he's just 75% 70% of what he was last year. So, Jaylin Brown had obviously ascended into a lead player.

And I feel, I still feel like Tatum has a ways to go. The Chad Ongen Drive was a sign of what

I would want to see more of. You know, like I always look at it. So before I unpack the

three point shooting, the pull-up jumpers, the ISO on on Isaiah Joe, it's always like, do you hold your space in the NBA? When you get downhill, are you head on the rim? Or are you head on the outside of the back where trying to finish? So I feel like the next iteration of him becoming his, his version of the great self that he was is finishing at the rim. Getting to the rim, getting contact using his Euro step. He has all kinds of different

finishes that he uses. He's 6 foot 9, 6 tenths super long. So once he starts going to the basket, I believe that the confidence will explode into him, making more plays, making more shots, making more threes. So I still have my eye on. Are you owning your space on the drive? And if you just look right now at the all the elite players, the elite players hold their line

So I still look at tons of improvement for Jason Tatum to be able to have that strength

get used to hitting bodies while you go and finish round the rim. Yeah, and he had one drive

“early in the game where he had a clear path to the rim. And I think he didn't have a clear path”

to the rim, but he had momentum and heart and steam. I think was the last line of defense. And he kind of like went up and I thought, oh, he's going to go through heart and steam. He's going to try it. And then he was like, yeah, I don't know. And he kind of had made this lefty like awkward sort of like waiter carrying a trade dish to somebody and then kicked it. So I was like, that was a good idea. I think prime Tatum tried to finish that over heartsteen.

But then it got better as the game went on. And then at the end, Jalen Brown kind of took over and Tatum in that game and in the Phoenix win a couple of weeks at some point has been

pretty happy to be like, hey, if you got the bully ball going and we've got smaller guys on

like AJ Mitchell, great good defender, cooking guard Jalen Brown, whoever's on the floor like, you go and we'll run some motion stuff for me and I'll get involved here and there, but like you go and do it. And I think the mix, you know, Bill is very worried about your turn, my turn. I think some of that is inevitable when you get two star players like this. I think they've had a pretty good mix of both them controlling the offense and the Celtics and Joe Mozilla running

actions to get particularly Tatum, the ball on the move with a little bit of it in bandage. So it's not so predictable. This is like so far ahead of where I thought they would be.

“For sure. What are they? What are we nine games in Tatum coming back, I think?”

Yeah, I think one more thing to add to that is, you know, like holiday wasn't a demanding player. It's far as like wanting shots, but he didn't want the ball like to stay engaged. For saying this was like, for saying it's wanted to get the ball on a mismatch and on the block. So if you just start like comparing last year to this year, there's some possessions that were like kind of hanging around for those guys to now take advantage of it, right? So I kind of

feel like like the balance of where white, fritured and the rest of the sporting cast are compared to the two stars or the ascending stars, right? There's plenty of ball to go around. Like how about if this same thing was happening last year with all the players that we had and all the demands that we had last year, I kind of feel like man, where's Tatum going to find his way, but I think everyone in this team kind of understands. All right, right now Brown's

one's going to work if he is tired or whatever it is, Tatum is right there or they could have a my turn, your turn, my turn type of style, but it doesn't feel like the ball is, it's not an that basketball is going around. As of right now, but we'll see it's a playoff's going around. And remember, in the minutes you're going to go up Brown is going to play, I don't know where Tatum is going to be, but Brown's going to play 42 or 43 minutes in a playoff's.

Everybody's going to have plenty of opportunities to make plays. A couple other rotation wrinkles that I wanted to get your take on. In a couple of recent games, Mazula has sat around and Tatum at the same time and kind of went white and pictured in some bench guys role with it. Last night, he went to full work and had one other than on the floor at all times and I've been watching him and thinking, I wonder if sitting them both at the same time

is obviously a way to get other guys touches and keep the flow going, but also do we want to overburden Tatum right away with being in the guy when Jalen is on the bench, but last night, they leaned all the way back into it. What do you think is going on there? Two folds, right? You're on the right track. Those guys are going to have moments in the playoff's where one of those guys will be on the floor at all times. So, they said,

wrap your mind around what you saw last night was probably the way it's going to be. But also, remember chemistry between those two, keep them on the floor as much as you can. They're not going to play that many games together. So, in the playoffs, they're going to be on the floor together, what? 33 minutes, a night? 33 minutes. From Austin if that's what it ends up in. Yeah, whatever, whatever, like the threshold that Tatum could cross, right? But you know,

Jalen Brown's going to be on the floor. So, you want to get those guys together, I think there's, I don't think you'll ever see him apart. So, like Joe in a big game like that,

“we'll dabble on. I think last night, we probably saw our rotation minutes. The only thing that would be”

changed, like how's it didn't play well yesterday? If how's there's playing well, he's playing more. Great call by going with Baylor Shireman, knocking down like that. He was ridiculous in a fourth quarter. If you know his personality, it's perfect temperament to play against Oklahoma City. His wallet is getting a little at a control. It's getting a little at a control. It's getting a little awesome. It was like vaguely a mallet. And now it's just we're going full on at this point. So that was

it, that's a decision he's made apparently. And it's, and you know, like always say about the MBA,

and you know, you can't be a poser. You got to be who you are. And Baylor Shireman is like quadrupled down on who he is. By the way, he plays like the Gunslinger mentality. I'm just going to shoot

I got a bullet to prove it. So it kind of works with him. And um, but I'm excited about his growth

“and like, you know, like, that gives, if we're going to give shout out like the coaching staff,”

the front office, like, they go all the wings that they have drafted to support, roundtain and wipe Richard. All these guys are contributing throughout the entire year. It's been really impressive. Yeah, Walt's can't even get minutes now. And he's been ready when called upon the whole season. The other thing I thought was interesting last night. And I don't think there are any foul issues, but I may be misremembering it. I thought it was

like the earliest and most sustained and aggressive that Missula has gone no big men on the floor. Now, obviously, and obviously, Vuch is out, right? And I don't really even know what to expect from Vuch. It might be just completely matchup dependent with him because Garza has been really good. What, like, is that a look that you think they were are planning to lean into a little bit more or was it just like last night? Yeah, we think this is good against Oklahoma City.

You can't. He's like, I love Garza. You know how people say with all due respect to actually going to destroy the guy like he really struggles in the pick and roll against a guy like Shay. Like who does this struggle in the pick and roll against Shay? Garza does bring certain element to the game that has been super valuable, but there are some times where you're just playing all world players against all world action. And it's going to be really tougher in the garden.

And I would think like a lot of guys kind of fall under to that category. You really want to go

“drop coverage on a guy like him. So I think what that did to them is they felt good about their”

rebounding with bailer and Tatum who are both plus rebounders. And they didn't have to worry about getting like, you know, Shay with a 16-foot pull-up jumper because you're in drop coverage. So it kind of makes sense why they would go down that road. That took a point. I just don't know, like who would be the guys in the league? Maybe Kate, Cunningham, maybe Jalen Brunsson. But you know, there's there's in that particular game remember Oklahoma City sprints back

29th and offensive rebound. So if you're not going to get crashed on the glass, then why not go small and play with better space and switchability? On OKC, obviously they lose spurs wins. Spurs aren't out two games behind. The projection systems have cracked a door open for the spurs at the number one seat. It's still like 70, 75% chance according to all the nerd systems at Oklahoma City holds on to the number one seat.

That may actually impact the MVP race which we're going to get to. But I didn't love, I mean, look, OKC is like unimpeachable. They are 11 guys deep and they didn't even play Aaron Wiggins who's now like the 12th guy. It's the 13th guy. You know, I thought Jalen Williams

looked good in his first game back last night. I just was like, where are you, man? Like when

she's on the bench, this is, I know you got AJ now and Hartinstein's doing dribble handoff. Some McCain is being became. But 17 points combined out of Chet and Jalen Williams is kind of,

“that's like the recipe for how the thunder are beatable. What did you think of them up close?”

Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to kill Mark Bagnell right now. Like he is the best coach in the NBA. He is a superhero of a coach. But Mark, like I'm going to let you in on the secret. You can't play 11 guys in big games, bro. You just got to make a decision. Now who are you going to go in? Like pick your guys and stick with them. Like you got like Alex Caruso's impactful, who gets dorks impactful. Like I just just picked nine and go with that.

And I felt like every time a guy like got a rhythm, he would sub-out. Did you see the minutes that they play? Like I was playing like 20 minutes, 17 minutes, 12 minutes. Like what are they doing out there? So it's not the recipe for success to play 11 in a big game. And I know they're going to

listen Oklahoma City has first world problems with the depth that they have. But I just don't think

you're ever going to be able to compete. It's a, it's a, the greatest part about NBA players that is their learning curve is so steep. You do something to me on one position. I got you for the second position, right? And it's just like all this learning curve and chess match going on. Well guess what happened? When you did gate gap by subbing a ton, players don't get a rhythm to figure out. Like if I'm going to get his Tatum and I'm going to get brown, like I'm not going to give him one look.

I have to like mix that up. And as a player like like Caruso, you can't have them play like three minutes on those guys. He needs like a little bit of a runway, lukens dork needs a little bit of a runway. I'm not, listen, I'm not sitting here telling you, I'm smarter than him. But I am smarter than him in this situation. You can't play 11 and expect your guys to all play well. That's just happened. I hadn't looked at the minute yet. It's crazy. It's ridiculous.

J played 37 minutes and everyone else, all what 10 other guys that played or whatever it was, played between 13 and 26 minutes. Chat was at 26. J does at 24. McCain's at 13 and everyone is

I like a quote unquote potential finals preview. Why would you do that? So he just like,

that was, but by the way, Zach first came where they quote unquote have their full rotational

players. And like it's like, listen, I like Jared McCain and could play or all that stuff and like he could play on another team. But that team is so deep. Like I'm going with the eight guys that all congaard and impact winning. And they had that game early on. But how about the, like, the body blows they were throwing early and then they got like a little cute with the sub. So like, I'm, I listen, he is a brilliant man. Pressure is brilliant. I'm not even going through

sitting here comparing anybody in the world to those guys. But he kind of got a little too cute

“with having my full rotation of players. You know, who Jared McCain could play good minutes for?”

Phil and elf you could use Jared McCain. No, though, MP and Paul George came back last night and both of them looked fantastic. We'll get there. MVP. I know you want to talk about this. Yeah. Just this is becoming 2017 again, or 1990 again, or just pick your, like four to five person, really four person MVP race. It's just the fact that one of these guys is going to finish fourth is unthinkable. Luca has another 40 piece last night on 15 of 30 shooting. The

lakers are now plus four with Luca on the floor minus two with him on the bench than their offense without they don't really have an offensive identity, really without Luca at this point. And by the way, that Houston loss, if Houston is six than the lakers are third, that's I think the best case scenario for the. No question SGA SGA in a loss. All he could ask is go 33 to an eight on 10 of 12 from the floor and he was plus one when he was on the floor and they lost by

tens of that tells you about what happened when he was on the bench. Joker 23 21 and 19. Sure. Like, okay. And when be in 20 something minutes throws up 19 15, three assists, three steals seven blocks. So basically five by five watch, if it was a real game and this was a play, everybody, the spurs are plus 17 per 100 possessions with Wendy on the floor and pretty much dead, even with him on the bench. Who who is the right choice here? Okay, it's to me, it's

Wendy like I've never seen a player like I have a like I wish that everyone that has a boat

can watch when be play live. I've been in the leagues since 01. I've never seen a more impactful player on every possession. The fact that he's always behind the defense, they can throw the ball up if you come offensively and he could dunk it. He's great in transition. He started to shoot the three better. I know his like his raw stats aren't great, but like if you think last year

“SGA won the on court off court number, he was the biggest plus to year before. I think it was”

a yo-kitch, right? This year it's Wendy. Wendy is running away with the feel like even like when SGA's off the court, I think they're a plus 5.6, 5.7. There's still a really good team without SGA out there, but Wendy is running away with that. Wendy's lost like two games in two months, like he's the most impactful player in the NBA by far and it's not even close, but his raw numbers are not as Gody as what you just mentioned, you know? So to me like I've just

never ever seen such an impactful guy and think about the end of the game last night SGA is having

a hard time guarding Jalen Brown. Do you ever not want Wendy out there? Go ask these coaches privately. How do they deal with Wendy? They look at you with bewilderment. Like there's no answer for this guy and he's like, to me, I think I'm just a year ahead. I'm always a year ahead with this stuff. Steph Curry, I knew it was going to break the NBA. Like I was watching him, I was like, I can't believe this guy's a human being. I'm thinking Wendy's doing the same thing this year.

Like the way that Sean Swinney is using him and that low-dunker spot, like they keep guarding the corner, it's really hard to move him around. It's like it's a big problem across the NBA and he is the, you know, when current broke the NBA, everyone had to adjust and everyone's scrambling. Wendy is the new, like, what are we going to do with this guy? And it's happening, it didn't happen at the beginning of the year, but it's happened in the last three months

“and like, I think coaches are like, I don't know. If he could play like 35, 36 minutes a night”

and not get exhausted, like sometimes he does, they're going to be tough to beat in a fourth and a seven-game series. I think I said, once they beat Oklahoma City on Christmas, that was the moment where I said they can win the title now this year. I would try, I'm going to pick them, but they are a championship team caliber team right now. Yeah, well, let me ask you like, did you take into, like, if you're, you have a boat, I know you do, so I don't have a boat anymore.

on there on this year. Yeah. Four in one against Oklahoma City in big games, you know, on Christmas day on the NBA Cup games, right? Like, when the, like, has something, like, I don't know if you have something I guess check us with the internet said, but he also seems like, man, I've outplayed Shay in these games and look at their record of late. And this is a young team with some serious, unproving guys, and he's carried this team. It's not like, as she is

carrying the Oklahoma City Thunder, who just wanted championship, which they've had a ton of injuries to give him credit, but like, like, when he is, like, completely changing higher culture of San Antonio's spurs, I don't look at them the same way from January 1st as I did at the

“getting of the season, like to me, that's what a true MVP does. No, he's, he's terrifying, and”

you're point about how the spurs defense uses him differently. Everyone can see like the U-turns that guys make when they get even near the land and he's around.

Everyone can see that. Like, that was the first, first you see the blocks, right? And the shot

challenges at the rim. Then you can see the U-turns and the, oh, no, it just, it goes even beyond that. It's, it's completely all encompassing. Like, you're game plan has to be different when you're playing the spurs. They're just certain actions that depending on where he is, like, we just can't even, like, we can't even run that. Like, that's how to the playbook, like, light it on fire. And there was, I can't remember who they were playing recently.

Where it was a team that was like, we're going to bring Wemby into the action. We're going to have a stick. That was Boston when Jalen Brown was out there early.

“It was a different game than that. But yeah, but it's like, because you can see,”

the spurs can make a choice. Like, do we want him roaming around as a help defender or do we want him on your main screenset or anything? It can roll. And the other team can kind of try to make that choice for you, but no matter where he is, we're going to try and get him into the action. And that's a bad answer because he covers so much space that no one else needs to help. You're not going to get open, driving kick threes, running a pick and roll at Wemby.

I don't think there's ever been any, there's not been nothing that in my lifetime, like, like, this all encompassing before tip off defensive impact, other great defensive players, wing defenders in particular, you could kind of like treat them like a corner back in the NFL where they're just going to avoid that guy park him over in the corner. There's no avoiding Wemby. There's no playing him out of a defensive possession. It's an every possession thing. Now,

I would probably still lean SGA, just in the onoff stuff, you said it is right there, plus 500 when he's on the bench. That is not a demerit against him to me. And it's not that you're making it a demerit. You're just, we're all split in years, because they are plus 15 with Shay on the floor. And so that number is so fat that that's really the one I care about. 17 is more than 10. 17 is more than 15. Your whatever it is. Yeah. I can understand Wemby the

plus 17 when he's on versus off. That's like, that's astronomical. That is SGA last year. That is yolkage when he wanted. I don't think that is like, despositive of the race, but if it's reasonable, people can disagree. It should also be mentioned whether you care or not, maybe it doesn't matter to you that Shay has played 350 more minutes

than Wemby. Despite sitting a million fourth quarters, they didn't need them like that.

That has to factor into it a little bit. But look, I said, I said on Tuesday, that I think by next season, the consensus is going to be Wemby is the best player in the league. Yeah. And there were very diverse urgent reactions to that. Reaction number one was it's too soon. He hasn't played in the play offshoot. You're disrespecting these other three guys who are putting up crazy historically great numbers and all of them are. And then the other reaction was,

well, duh, is he the best player now already? I don't know what the right reaction is, but I think I'm not sure. He's not the one. Back next year, you're trying to win a championship. You got the first pick. Are you taking your okay? Are you taking Wemby?

“I'm probably taking Wemby. That's why I am, too. And you know, me and you, I don't know.”

That's it. I don't know. That's it. I think about that. Think about that. Yeah, we were like, Team Yokehch eight years ago and now he's like, all he does is put up like 30, 10 and 10 every single game on 65% shooting. And they're now like, and I'm I'm as big of a Yokehch fan as anybody in the world. Like, I'm up there with his brothers, right? But like, I would take Wemby because the guy, when you're seeing him lie, they're driving on the opposite wing and they're just

looking at Wemby. They're not looking at the rim. Everybody is searching. Where is this guy at?

I've just never seen this before. It is, you talk about the U-turns. Like, if you don't do that,

he's getting 10 blocks. He is breaking the NBA. He's breaking the NBA. If they keep winning,

You have to admit that's ridiculously impressive to take that team and put them in there.

And when you go out the floor, they're a lot of routine. If, if they pass the thunder or tie the thunder. I'll bet you like 30% of the voting pool will flip their votes.

“It's going to be a significant number of voters will flip their votes. The only thing is voters don't”

like they like to spread the well, you know, like, you know, very socialist when it comes to this. He's winning defense or player of the year. So maybe they won't double down this year. But I have a feeling we're going to look back and say, I have probably should have done it. But moving forward, it's really every award is his award to look. I think defense player the year should probably be unanimous. And I'll be curious to see if there's a chat vote or a naman Thompson

vote or whoever else you put in there. I think it would be unanimous. Okay. Let's briefly hit the top of the east because I know you're your hankering to talk about the next. Just your defense, by the way. Yeah. So Cleveland lost to Miami last night. I'm not sure how hungry Cleveland really is to get out of fourth. And so we might be looking

at a New York Boston clash in the second rounds. You know, New York, I want you to talk about

“their defense because I think no one is sleeping on the nicks because they're the nicks in”

its New York and everything about them is loud as hell and everything cat does is loud as hell and even their owner has been loud as hell this year. This is like, but the way the nicks are parsed, particularly here in New York area where everyone is fretting all the time about McHale Bridges. Oh my god, what's going on? They pulled them out of the starting five and cat is just a roller coaster and the coaching all like, do we fire tids? Is this guy any better and blah blah blah.

They're third and offense and fifth in defense. I know. Like, like, that just, okay, like that, you've checked every box. I can't believe their fifth in defense. What are you seeing that has driven this? It's like, O. Jannanovi and McHale Bridges. Like, everyone gets caught up in McHale Bridges. Like, kind of his whiny attitude. And O. J. used to be, I mean, historically,

“I think he was like that. I think he's been better this year. But those guys are powders and they”

pow-out throughout the regular season and whatever. But when I watched him play in meaningful games and they sit down and they guard like, O. J is as good as any defender out there when he wants to guard because he's quick. He's strong. He's got good hands and he's a really good job of not fouling. Like, that's important when you guard people. So we can, like, funnel guys to spots on the floor. You don't really blow by him and he doesn't bow that much. So I think that, you know,

I think people with, if you say Nick defense, they would immediately think cat and Brumson can't guard anybody. But I look at them a lot differently. I look at them as a team that in a playoff series when you cut rotations down, you play those guys a lot. They've been relatively healthy this year. I kind of think like, that defense could be really good. Now, the question is going to be, like, is Carlenter town's going to be like, he gets destroyed. The guy like knocks down freeze

and rebounds the ball at a high clip. And he gets destroyed. But I feel like he could be like a little bit volatile. He made destroyed by the media or destroyed by a post office. I think it's more like not like the writers per se, but it's more like fans on social media. Right. He's the punching bag for whatever reason. And then when you watch them play and I get it, like everything he does is loud, he's awkward. He falls. He leaves. I think on pace to set the record for most offensive

fouls committed in a season. It's not attractive at all. I agree. Big faith in everything. But I think his defense has really been much better in the last few months. And if he just gets big and executes what they want him to do so that all five players are on the same page and they know where he's going to be. And he's pretty good late switching on some of these picking roles. He just

does that stuff. The limitations are always going to be there. The evidence says like with heart

and an OB and bridges sort of just running around protecting everybody else. There's a pretty solid defensive team. And offensively he's having a really quietly very good to like last two or three months. The three is starting to fall. And a lot of why there are great offensive team is because he's a shooting five of the likes of which we pretty much never seen. And all the cutting and stuff that they do is opened up by the fact that the bigs are pulled away from the

ram or they're on Josh Hard and everyone's confused about where to be. I think he's had a pretty solid season. He's back in the third team all NBA conversations. Yeah, I mean for a guy that gets destroyed like that, he is having a good season. And then you have to add in, I think

for him, offensive rebounding, getting behind the defense, you know. It's just I think what people don't like about the nicks is they don't have like their attitude or a little bit like, you know, they like, I don't know, they pout a little bit, they complain a little bit. It's like not what you think of a championship level team. And I don't know how they're going to handle offense when it rolls around. But I just know, I've seen a lot of big games like I watched a spurs game and I'm like man,

you know what? I don't care anybody says this is a championship level defense and they can build off of that. And playoffs come around. It really does come down to defending and rebounding and they do those two things really well. -Cats in a league rebounder, they can have the double big thing with cat and Robinson when they need it. I would, there was talk a before bridges at a good game the

“other day about taking him out of the starting five. I would not do that. I think that's way too”

upsetting of the apple card. And I think you just need him in his skill set, even if we ever just 12 again, like he's going to do other stuff that helps you win. And to me, the tell with the nicks is ball movement. And when they're moving the ball, they are really, really hard to guard. And so like when when teams blitz, there's no great answer for Bronson, right? Unless you can switch everything and not expose yourself elsewhere. And like Boston is pretty well equipped to do that, actually.

But when you drop, he just rains fire over you from the mid range. And when you blitz, that's actually to me when the nicks look their best because he'll get when he gets off of it early. Even if he doesn't hit the rollman, if he hits like heart on the wing and heart is just so unselfish, like I'll hit the rollman. And the ball starts popping, and then this is like for a team that has a rep as predictable and others too much Bronson and it's too much ISO.

When they get it moving, that's when they ascend to a level like, yeah, this team could beat the Celtics into seven games series. They could beat the Cavs into seven games series. And I don't

“know who's going to win the East. But I think I would rank them in the Celtics as one and one”

A in the East with the apologies to Detroit is obviously dealing with a major injury and, you know, they're off and says some questions. I am curious to hear Cleveland to me is the hardest team

of these four to get a handle on in part because their four best players had basically barely

played together because Jared Allen's been injured for so long. They're 15th in defense now, which is not great. The hard and Mitchell combination has been as dynamic as advertised offensively. Struses back, Merrill has made a nice little jump. Do you believe in this team? Like, I kind of don't know what to make of them. Yeah, I believe in a team until it gets really, really, really hard, right? Then I don't. And it's like, I want to believe in them. I thought

at the beginning of the year, they had the best talent. They've been equally at disappointing them and Orlando had just been like, you guys will be much better with the talent that you have to have the size, but you know, like, mobile didn't take the jump. Allen has been a lot better with hard in, but he didn't hurt and he doesn't play. Like, that team could be a dangerous team, but I'm just like, like, I think Donovan Mitchell is having one of the best seasons of his career,

and yet we don't believe in the Cleveland Cavaliers because of the toughest element to it. So, you know, last year, it seemed like it would completely different team. And I think there are a lot tougher this year. Like Tyson is like the great addition to that team, like the way he plays, love backstruced being back and all that stuff, but it's just like how all of a sudden you're

going to go two straight seasons. And then now it's going to like you're going to always get that

point where you have your back against the wall in the playoffs and we're all expecting you guys to deliver based off of what is what I would say to them. Like we like based off of the roster

“that you put together, we're done doing that. So you have to kind of prove it to us, which who knows,”

man, they can make a run. They definitely have, like, some of the most talent in the East. I think they have a lot of top-end talent, a lot of depth and a lot of different ways they can play with shooters and Ellis, and Kenny Aconson is made. I think a smart decision that shooter is like attached to Donovan Mitchell and Ellis is attached to James Harden because the Harden shooter fit his little more awkward. They just have a lot of, uh,

Merrill has made himself quite a good little around player. I like I think they can absolutely win the East. If I had to do like a pie like an East Finals representative pie, I think it would be like

30 to 33 percent Boston, 30 to 33 percent Nix, 20 to 22 percent calves, and like 20 to 22 percent

pistons. Like I think that that's like how jumbled it is, but I do think for me the Nix and the Celtics have ever ascended to their own mini mini tier. All right, let's say I will say in the East. Number one team to avoid, you know, like those top-forward. Do you know I want to play Charlotte to stay right now? It's a great segue. We're going to take a break and we're going to get into the, uh, the second half of the East playoff picture.

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the hornets and the chaos of the second part of the eastern conference playoff picture. It's it's just

like madness right now. The Hawks are suddenly fifth at 41 and 32. The raptors are 40 and 32. They've dropped to 6. They're 6 and 9 in their last 15 games and just looked like kind of a mess. The sixers are now 7th at 40 and 33 and beat came back last night. Paul George came back last night. And then the hornets, the heat and the magic all have 34 losses. This is like a wild race for 5th and 6 in home court advantage in the play and all of it. Which you can pick any of these scenes. Who's

“most interested? I mean, like Charlotte, we're all I think rooting for Charlotte because they're”

the most interesting and I think the most dangerous of all of these teams in the first round. Their schedule is absolutely brutal to finish the season, which is why the projection systems give them like a 10% chance of getting into the top six. I would give them a better chance at that just because they've been so goddamn good. Even their last three games are Detroit, Boston, Nixon, two of them are on the road. But I think like all four of those teams in the East should

beat Charlotte and any of these teams in a playoff series. But Charlotte is I think the most the best of them. And Philly, if they can ever stay healthy for more than a hot second, is obviously kind

of scary. But who do you want to start with here? Well, I always go with, like so when it comes to the

bottom half of the East, I just go with the teams that I love the watch, right? And I'm not going to love the watch you if you're playing losing basketball. So the way I ordered those two is one and two or one A, one B is Charlotte and Lana. You know that the top two lineups, since January 1st, is Atlanta and then Charlotte, right? Lana with CJ McCollum starting, that was the Congo. And then, you know, when they kind of figured out to Lucid Diabate is not a human being, it's from like

“either machine, like from the future. They got to breathe air, man. I think coming up coming up”

up after you on the on the Zaclos show, we got to visit Lucid Diabate. We talked about this. Yeah, we got we recorded it. We recorded it already, but we talked about his like insane stamina and work. And also his pension for fights, which is a good time. Yeah, I think like he's probably like a crazy element to that team and everyone's like playing winning basketball. I love it. Charles Lee is done with that group. So Charlie to me is the most

dangerous because the team I love to watch and then Atlanta's right beneath them. And then the rest of those teams like, I'm on it like you got to prove it to me for me to like like you guys. I'll watch your all-position recap. But I didn't sit down wasting my time watching you guys on the play because I see so many times where I'm going to sit down and watch the game and you're going to play

“Atlanta. Here we go Orlando and you'll lose by 30. How do you lose by 30 in a big time game?”

You know, so I just say I think Charlie has all the made of Kings with Brendan Miller. He's playing well beyond his years in con cinniple doing the same thing in the level of all the losing player and the rep for his whole life. It's all just been now a plus player. No, we can't bring that noise. You can't bring that noise about lamella being a losing player on the Zaclos show. We've been the most loyal supporters of Liverpool. Like, just look at the numbers, man. They were good when

he looked. He does goofy shit. We all know he's going to do goofy shit and he's dialed back his goofy quotient by like 70% this year, which is helpful and makes him more of a winning player. I just don't, I think the losing player thing is was unfair. I'll take it. I'll divide that for you.

So when he down by 20, he's amazing when the game is tight, he's amazing. But the NBA is

possession as the point card. And your down six, your down eight, and you do three dumb things.

And next you know what's 20? That's not good. But now he doesn't do those things. Like, when those, when those leads are like, he'll make a big play. He'll find somebody for a wide open shot. That's like in the past, I did not love him in like, I call those moments much like, I watched games with eight minutes to go down by six. And I'm like, these next reposition will determine the outcome of this game. Most people watch the last two minutes of the game.

No, it's like, these are important when you're a guard getting a good shot, getting a stop, not turning a ball over. And in the past, he's done those things. So he has, but they were also like a legit 500 team when he's been healthy with not a lot of talent around him. Anyway, like part of being good is being healthy. But that's, that's the way we argue what he was. Okay, it's fine. Yeah, which is like, what he is right now is a big time winning player.

And his talent is, is so great. And the fourth corner is the most player to, like,

“the player you should fear the most when you're out there. And now some of these tight games.”

As you're talking, I do wonder if the turning point for him. I would love to talk to him in the coaching staff about this moment. It might have been two months ago now when this thing was starting to happen, but not quite really happening, they were playing Indiana at home. And they were up three with like a minute left. And there was a jump ball. And the hornets won the jump ball. And it went to the mellow. You're up three with a minute left. All you want to do is just like,

let's, you don't want to milk it, but you don't want to do it in crazy. And he dribbled up the court and threw a crazy alley up to somebody. And it was like not even open. And the pace are stole the ball and came back to win the game. And even the even the, even the announcers who are so

Eric Collins is so enthusiastic and Del Curry's great. They were, I, I'll never forget it.

They were just silent for six seconds. And then Eric Collins said something like, whoa, whoa boy, or something just like we can't believe he did that. And it's he hasn't done anything quite like that since, um, Philly, I thought and be looked as, as well as you could have expected.

“Yeah, I think you should. Yeah, yeah, you said it. Boy, one foot seven against you guys. We”

asked, we all got a wait and see. Miami, I thought of note last night. They, they win in Cleveland. They snapped a five game losing streak. They started Mitchell, Powell, Hero, Wiggins, Bam, which I had in pencil as they're starting five before the season. That group has only played in nine games so far this season. They flirt, they flirted with this like Powell off the bench thing because are we gonna, we do, we want both Powell and Hero on the floor. Can we survive

defensively? Powell wasn't psyched about it. They've now just said, you know what, let's roll with this and see what happens. Then they threw Bam and wear together on the floor in the fourth quarter and it worked. I'm just, I'm interested, but they're sealing. It's just not that high. Like it's not as high. They don't reach heights like the Hornets reach. And the Hawks have really found something with the way they're playing now. I want to see it more against good teams and they play

the Celtic thing twice in their next three games or against the Celtics. And Orlando. Yeah, I don't know where you even begin. Like they had that little run there where, so Powell and Jamal coach mostly call each other out. They win five games. And they lose it in land of by 30 and they lose six games. So to me, that's just like, it's inevitable that that's not going to work and they're going to have some, I don't know what they're going to do

this off season, but it looks like they're going to do something this off season. I mean, if they

“actually finished 10th and losing the play and I think pretty much all bets are off other than,”

I don't even, I don't, I mean, like, I think they'd look at tons of different things coach front office, fronds. I mean, yep, like literally, literally all of it, to me, the story of their last six games is their defenses fall the part. Their transition defenses fall in the part, they're not communicating. And without that, they don't have much. And then, but I also, it's so weird. I was watching the game as Clevver Minute today. Sugs is out as usual,

Wagner's out, Anthony Black is out. And I'm like, they just, I kind of almost admire that they're 38 and 34 because the talent on the floor, like when one or being, or being, Karo is on the bench, the lineup star playing, or like, these are almost like borderline, unviable playoff, like, not even borderline, like these guys wouldn't play in the playoffs, and they're still scrounging around over 500, but it doesn't look great. My favorite moment from

that game. Did you see any of that early end of Clevver Minute game in the internet?

Yeah. Did you see when the woman got her drink knocked out of her hand in the second row?

No, it's fantastic. So someone throws an errand pass. I don't remember who it was. Woman in the second row. So not court side, the spilling did not, did not delay the game.

and it spills everywhere. And she was not excited about being on television. She was not excited about the whole thing. If you're on your phone, just like, look, if you're sitting in the second row of an NBA game, a real fan may have wanted those tickets, and you're just like, you deserve the spillage. That's all I'm saying. Yeah, wait for it. You don't want to mean, but that's for sure. But I have it by the way. I proposed the rule last week. I did a live show in

Brooklyn, and this rule got very good feedback from the crowd in my panels. Would you like to hear this? Yes, of course. I love real changes. This is not a real real change. If you, like, we're all interested in speeding up the game, right? Like, the games are too long. The end of games take forever. If you're a court side, and you spill your drink, like, it's your fault. You knocked it over. You're not going for somebody else's drink while you're coming back from the

Delta club for a minute into the second half. Yeah. And they have to delay the game to like wipe

“up all the spillage. I think you should have to come to center court, and someone says to you,”

like they add the PA answers, like, can you name four players who are participating in tonight's tonight's game? And if you can't, you're ejected from the game, and someone from the upper deck

gets your seat. I think four is a fair number, because anyone can name two, because there's always

two stars, both teams, four players, or four combined players, four companies, because anyone can to get to two. I don't want you to get to eight. Like, I don't expect you to be like, jet Howard played six minutes in the first half. Just give me four. And if you can't, you're out of the game. That's all. Oh man, you don't have a lot of respect for you to you, Roe. And Toronto, do you want to say, I just can't, the raptors are just, this is what they are.

They're an okay team. I don't, to me, the more interesting questions about the raptors, like the magic come in the offseason, because I think regardless of where they finish fifth,

“six play, and I think would be a big disappointment given where they've been for the season. But”

if they, as long as they make the playoffs, I think they'd be satisfied, but also come away, knowing like, I don't think we're that much better than this. Like, I think this might be as good as this group can get. Yeah. All right, switch topics. You ready? Go. What do you think of this, Yannis thing? And the player's union statement. Ah, it's weak. That's a choice. One of the most bizarre press releases I can ever remember, which I thought was about the 65 game rule and

but well, like, welcome to the party player's association, the 65 game rule, which you collectively bargain sucks. And then it was like, oh, by the way, we're mad about Yannis, because we think he's healthy and the bucks might be holding him out against his will. And we're somehow inserting ourself into this and the implication from what I made some calls on it from what I heard was they actually want the league to do like a player participation policy investigation, which normally that's like when

a team is holding out a player and everyone kind of agrees that's going on. This would be like a hostile player participation policy, like medical investigation to see if he's healthy. Dr. Reverse said last night, he's not healthy. He's not clear to play. It's one of the more bizarre things I can remember and how do you read it? Yeah, I mean to me, Yannis is trying to navigate to divorce and not try to basically like, "Hey, everybody is not my fault." You know, like, that's

really what it looks like and I love Yannis. He sits down with me every year for like 20, 25 minutes

and we go to the training camp tour and he's always like gracious with this time. But, you know,

what's happening is he, the legendary player can have a statue out front advisor for him and he wants to leave and he doesn't want like his name to be drunk through the month for whatever reason, right? But it's like if he has those feelings going to be tough, so he's kind of like making it like the bucks don't want me to play. How am I supposed to play here? I do have a theory and I don't know if this is true. Yannis is like tells the agent what to do and then he's like do whatever you want but

don't let me know about it. So it's almost like the agent is going and saying all of these rules.

“Oh, what about this and what about that? This is the best way. Let me talk to Sean's and Sean's”

will throw out a tweet and everything like that, like all this back channel stuff and the bucks are just like protecting their investment, which is if they're going to trade Yannis, they don't want him to get hurt. They don't want him to pop in Achilles. They just went through like Achilles pop by Damian Lillard. They want to go into the seat this offseason clean. Whether they do trade him

or offer him $275 million, they want to go into it with like some certainty of what do you want to

do, Yannis? And I think the bucks are trying to do that and I feel like Yannis is trying to save space when he eventually asked to be traded. Yeah, I said two days ago or maybe it was last week. Whenever the when Eric name, whenever Eric name at the athletic first broke the story that Yannis and the bucks were at odds about him playing or not, I was like this just feels to me like a

and now I feel that even even more strongly than I did then, I just think this is all gotten

“so dumb. Like really ridiculous because the bucks probably should have traded Yannis 18 months ago.”

I understand why they didn't. He's only 31 years old and he's a top five player in the NBA. I get it. Like your team is sunk without him for an indefinite period of time and he's not 35. He's 31. I get it. I got it. But it was clear that it was over and that it would take a lot to build a new contender around him and they didn't pull the trigger. That's fine. Nobody needs to actually be the bad guy here. Like we don't need to go through all of this fucking mess. Like Yannis,

you're going to be beloved. Everyone would understand if you asked for a trade. Like none of this needs to happen and then West Edens comes out the governor for now of the bucks because their ownership situation is a continuous disaster of incongruity comes out and tells Ramona Showburn. Well, he's either going to extend or we're going to trade him. And that felt to me like very much like I tough to him or putting the owner on him. And now everyone's trying to make it

look like it's not our fault. Like this is so dumb. I'm so tired of it. Wake me up when you get traded to wherever you get traded to and I'll analyze how he fits in with that team or the teams that are interested in it. But this is just like it's just dumb. I don't know. It's it's like let's say they turn on your podcast and listen to us talk. They would be like, yeah, you're right. But somehow if you're listening to like, and I'm not trying to be disrespectful to Milwaukee,

local radio and listening to Milwaukee local collars and what they think. Like, yeah, I can see how people could be a little bit emotional. But this is the NBA way. Yannis, do you want to be an legendary buck all time and just play with the bucks and you guys are going to lose and you're just going to play and you're going to be fine with it. No, I want to win championship. Okay,

“if you want to win championship, let us work together to make this thing happen. Everybody wins.”

We want some assets because for us to win a championship for you earlier, like we're still paying the price on the dual holiday trade. So again, it makes sense in the NBA to kind of restock the kitchen cabinets when you have a legendary player guy. Like some people don't do that. Like the Celtics, they did and they got brown and takem. Other people like the Lakers and dollars in San Antonio, just let their guys get old and they got nothing. It's a matter of how you

want to deal with it. It seems like Yannis wants to leave to let the bucks get something for him. It's simple. It's as simple as that. And you nailed it when you said protecting Yannis from injury. Like this is there's just no logic to him playing again. They're nine games out of like it's over. It's done. It's been over for two weeks. They lose every game by 30 points. Like they just

lost to the Blazers by a million points last night. It's over. It's been over for quite a while.

They get the worst of their own pick and the pelicans pick. So sure, they have some incentive to make their own pick as best chance of being a high pick as possible, whatever it is. But this is completely about this guy's had how many calf strains in the last 18 to 24 months and this neat and this neat thing that happened now. There's no rational team in any sport that would play this player in the going into the final year of his contract in this circumstance.

Like there's just it's cool that you want to play great. That's as a make you a hero for me. It makes you like just to check the standings, man. But give the nassist your minutes and let's move on. Yeah, I'm a great. The other big thing that happened related to this was Adam Silver's press conference yesterday announcing that the legal explorer expansion officially in Seattle and Las Vegas. And I'm cool with all that. And then the strongest language I've ever heard about tanking.

When he said, we're going to stop this full stop. We're going to change this full stop. There's a consensus about changing it. I didn't think you would come out that strong. And I've seen

a million different proposals. I think the league has seen twice that many proposals. I don't know

what is going to win out. But when Adam Silver comes up and says that, it ain't going to be a little bandaid. It's going to be something pretty dramatic. Have you seen a proposal that you enjoy? Not really, not really. I don't think there's anything that I can look at all 30 owners and and the league and the players and the players association and all that. What they call them,

“the benchmarks or the check marks that stop gaps or whatever you have to have to get to the point”

where everyone's going to be on board with it. So it'll be interesting to see what they come up with. And what's probably going to happen? Like remember when they said, we're going to curb the last three picks all have the same chances or whatever it is. Seven, seven years ago they did they changed. They flattened the odds a little bit. By the end of the change anything. So whatever the

ridiculous. I hear like I talked to Brad the other day and he's like, man, I'm excited about our

20 something pick and our 40th pick. Like there could be guys that can come in and play for us. So it's not just to talk to your town, to AJ Devonces of the world, right? There's like really good

“players throughout the draft. And I think it's a little combination of the NIL stuff that's keeping”

people in college. So what guys are coming in and maybe being able to play right away and contribute at 22 23 years old. So that's kind of what I feel like. It's no matter what happens, it's going to be very difficult to make it so teams don't tank. But if the people both remember, there's picks that have been traded in the future that have been traded based off of one particular system. Now you're just going to change the entire system. I don't know if it's going to be really hard

to get everyone on board. There is a competition committee. There is a board of governors and

there is a player's association. They have to deal with all that. He sounded pretty goddamn confident that we're voting in the spring and it's going to be changed after that. And by the 2027 draft, the rules are going to be different. Can I float some ideas at you? Go for it. If I, I'm not sure what the leader in the clubhouse is right now in terms of what the league wants, what's actually passable at the B.O.G. But there is some momentum is too probably strong

of word. But of going back to a system where the odds are completely flat for all the teams that are all the teams in the lottery except for the teams that get into the play and lose. Those teams would get some lottery odds, but not the same odds as everybody else. And the idea there would be

obviously flattening the odds, removes all the incentive to lose at the highest level. But we

don't want a system where teams are tanking out of the play and to get into the lottery. And so we give them a little love, too. I think that's got some momentum and that brings up the same fears that I think there will be some small market teams who are a little bit hesitant about that because they feel like it takes away their cleanest way to get a superstar. They're most tried to treat way to get a superstar. But they've also done this before. Like the NBA had, that was the

“system of like the U in lottery. I think it was flat odds. And so if that's what it ends up being,”

everybody needs to be prepared for like when they change the odds that you mentioned 7, 8 years ago, they flattened out the odds. You mentioned it didn't change the behavior in your correct. It actually made some behavior tanking behavior worse because teams started tanking to the middle. But one thing it did change is they're starting to be some pretty wild jumps up in the lottery and wild falls down in the lottery. Sure. And everyone immediately was like, Oh my god, what have we done?

This is a bad idea. So we need to change it back the other way. And it's like, if you just gave this system 25 years in the aggregate, the worst teams would pick the highest and you'll but you'll have more years where there's some jumping around and you just sort of like, did you not understand what that was going to be? And if they go back to a system like that, they have to be prepared for there's going to be some crazy stuff. And you have to like just

stomach that for 10 or 15 or 20 years, or else we're just going to be continually doing this thing where it's like, Well, we don't like that. Let's tweak it again. Exactly. Let me, I don't know the answer to this. Please help me. When it was flat, is it every pick was pulled out like one, or once you got like the top three did everyone follow suit after that? That's a great question. I don't know if the top of the head. I don't think every pick was pulled like that. And that's

another thing that has been proposed. That's been a problem because some people just like, I don't care what I do. I want it right now. You get jump by 14. Like, Washington had the worst record and he picked fit two years ago to trade. It's happening, but it's happened all three of those franchises. Yeah. So they're like, Well, we're better off with fit. We don't want eight, so they keep losing on purpose. If it literally is a giant, everyone gets one ping pong ball

“on your pull them out, then I think it will, it will eliminate it. But there'll be some really”

good teams getting the number one pick. Another, so another criticism of the flat end odds is it disincentifies his losing, but it doesn't incentivize winning. And so there are other proposals where and the heat has been behind one of these that is gained some traction, where after a certain day in the season, you actually get credit for winning. And so that teams aren't just not trying to lose or actually trying to be competitive in games. I don't, I don't know what's going to win

out. I would place the flattened odds or something like it a little bit ahead of that, but that's an interesting one too. Then there's been some like wild proposal. I don't want to get to end it in it, but like wild, wild proposals that are interesting, but I, I mean, I wasn't,

Pass and there's like two games that matter. And everybody else is trying to lose. And it's like,

what are we doing? And people are paying, like everyone's like about the money, like the 65 game rule with Cade. And that does suck. But there are a lot of fans that pay, like they save money and they go to games to watch teams that want to lose games. Like, are we talking about integrity of the game? And like, we do have to think about the fans as well. And I know the fans,

“like, want to lose so they can get a top pick. But I think competitive basketball is the most”

beautiful thing. Like, I don't watch, historically, I haven't watched all star games because I hate those type of exhibitions, just like Chicago and Billy last night with an exhibition. Like, I want to see competitive basketball. You weren't digging into wizard jazz last night. What are you trying to call me out? No, I wasn't digging into that.

Do you do reset, like a million rebounds because the jazz didn't play any big guys. I heard the,

I didn't, by the way, fans, I was a little surprised that Adam Silver. I don't know if you saw his press conference was in trying to sort of figure out why tanking had become more commonplace. He was talking about analytics and these gems that come from different backgrounds and owners from private equity. And then he was like, in the fans, too, the fans clamber for this. And I'm like, don't blame the fans. If you can't do clamoring up that, but that's fine.

But if your team is so weak that you cave to that, like, what do you make to be team building decisions based on that, it's like, come on. Yeah, you have your point, great point. Wait, there was one other thing I wanted to say about the C5 game rule probably. No, I don't care about that. I've already done that. Oh, the other tell that Adam Silver had yesterday that this is going to be a real substance of change is when he talked about how we can change certain parts of the CBA

down the road that account for some of the effects of the tanking changes. So like, what he's saying really there is they're going to be teams who when the lottery odds are flattened or it's more random or whatever we end up doing, who say, well, wait a second, this hurts our ability to get star players because we're small market teams. This is our only guaranteed way to get

a star is guaranteed. It's not. I mean, God knows the kings have sucked for a million years.

But what I'm silver saying is that may be true. Let's pause it that is true. He'd probably disagree, but let's pause it that is true. How about we open up other ways for you to get star players? And I've talked about how like maybe restricted free agency goes away so that or is limited in some ways. So then teams have quicker access to young free agents. Maybe you increase rookie scale salaries so that if a really good team wins the lottery, they're immediately in a financial crunch.

“I had even one team proposed like if you get a top three pick, you have to win a certain amount of”

games in your first three or four seasons to actually get him to be a restricted free agent rather than an understricted. That was interesting. So that was a tell. There's one other thing I want to get your thoughts on before we go. Where are you on Denver right now? Because it's been a very strange injury riddled season for them. They've won a couple games in a row, but they've been like high scoring games. It don't exactly encourage you about their defense, which is ranked 21st

in the league. But Watson just came back, Gordon just came back, Brown is now solidly back. They have their team now. Is this a juggernaut waiting to emerge or is this just the year from hell and it's not going to happen? Their defense is atrocious and I will give Mike Malone a ton of credit. Like if you don't like his attitude, his yelling at the players and calling him out in the media, and Adam and doesn't do it. But they responded to that. So I don't know. When I watch them,

“they don't have like a disposition defensively where I believe that they can get stops when they”

need to. I'm okay with teams being bad at times, but I can watch like the last eight minutes of a game, and I can watch you like raise your level up. And I get a paid watch and being out because does help that. But when I look at them, like junking up their defense once too too and moving yoga to round and putting yoga to compromise situations, like I don't believe in their defense therefore I don't believe in them. I am innocent. Being you, the yoga, I love that team. I think

I picked Denver as a one team that could beat Oklahoma City at the beginning of the year. But I was not expecting them to have a top. I thought they would have a top 10 defense with the addition to Camp Johnson and everyone being there. But they just not. And not only when they're out there, they don't care to get stops. They have the best offensive and history of the game right now. But if you're not stopping anybody, you're not winning tight games. You're not doing

what it takes to win. And I'm not, I don't think they play hard enough to overcome their defensive liabilities. Yeah, they have the number one offensive in the league. I was right there with you. I

biggest threat to Oklahoma City. And I'm not writing them off ever. No, no, I'm just not. I mean,

“I think it stopped when they want to. I would put them now behind Oklahoma City in San Antonio”

in the hierarchy to win the West. But I still think they could win my soda. You had him in a soda? I had him in a soda. Yeah. I had him in a soda. I had him in a soda. I had him in a soda. They've been my stealth title to contender the entire year. But I would still the pedigree of Yokech and Murray. And I just want to see how they look and what line up stake can play. Now that everybody is back, and you know, Watson is probably their best individual defender. Aaron Gordon is right there with

him. Brown is fine. He's just a little overtaxed. Like he's not that good at the point of attack. He's not going to stop like an antideward. He's he's okay getting around screens, et cetera.

They don't play those three guys together. Hardly ever because I think they've concluded it's not

viable offensively. I wonder if they might dabble in Watson, Gordon and Christian Brown all together. Cam Johnson is starting to find a rhythm again. So it doesn't feel like it's going to be there year. And whatever chance I thought they had of winning the West before this season would shrink by now. But I just can't ever dismiss a team with Yokech and health around him. I can't. I can't dismiss it. I can't. That's where I was until I keep watching them in the fourth quarter. It's been bad.

I mean, you can't. I'm not saying you don't try. I'm saying when you try, you still can't get stopped. Well, they're there. Even later, it stops when they try. Even um, they had a recent game against the blazers that they wanted was too close for comfort. But like there were just very basic communication breakdowns or one guy with switch and another guy wouldn't were two guys who rotate to the same guy and look at each other like wait. I thought in

like, I know you guys have that a lot of injuries. But this is an experienced team. Like we shouldn't be seeing that 70 games into the season. If they can't clean that kind of stuff up, they are going to get through the West. And yeah, the leakers are there too. Man, the leakers are legit kind of scary. So, so last year when they got Luka, JJ Reddit goes into all his junk defense, his and they went right to the top of the NBA and defense. Number one, until they faced Minnesota

into playoffs and it doesn't matter any junk defense you throw at Anthony Edwards, he has an

“answer for it. So, I think leakers are seriously match up based. They can be a lot of teams.”

There's some team, but I don't think they can be. So, I don't know if all this junk defense that they're doing right now, which is working like they're top eight in defense since he all started break. But they need the all year we know that LeBron, Luka and Austin Reeves, they're not great man to man, but they're also pretty smart players. So, I think JJ's going to good job of putting him in the right situation, but sometimes the NBA playoffs just comes down to talent.

And if you don't have defensive talent, how do you win? Even though the Andre Aden has been exceptional since he all started break on the defensive end. I've talked a lot about the leakers

in the last week or so, so I'll keep it simple here. If they get Houston in the first round,

I'm picking him to win that. So easy. That's a easy win. Ice, they have a chance against almost everybody else in the West, but I would still pick in a best of seven series. I'll pick Minnesota over the leakers. I pick Denver over the leakers, San Antonio, despite the experience factor and Oklahoma City. I would pick all those teams to beat the leakers in a playoff series, but if it would have been like Team X in five a month or two ago, it's now seven or six or

“something like that. But I would you pick, would you pick the leakers over any of those four teams?”

For right now, I pick 'em over Denver and Houston, but not San Antonio. You pick the leakers over Denver? Yes, I will. I'm so down. I have so down on Denver. You know what I'm saying? I just, when you, it's like, I'm like a fan. Like when you want a root burn team, and then sometimes in the media, you root to be right. I'm not right. I'm wrong. They're supposed to be better, and they cannot get stops. When they really want to get a stop, it's a problem. The leakers,

they can't. I didn't know. They're not. This is a bad year for Denver. I don't know what happened. I think, and I don't want to like throw out 'em under the bus, but I think my balloons like ruggedness was really good for their team, you know? Like I felt like like that toughness and him calling guys out was like they would raise the level and I see Denver. They look big. They look composing. They look physical. Like that is all disappeared to me. Wow. Okay. I mean, you're not wrong

about the defensive issues or real. I just, I guess I just have enough so much respect for the pedigree, and I want to see their team with their best defense players. All right, Brian Scaliberin, you can see them on Celtic Games. 4.25 days a week on Series XM from 7 to 10 AM with Frankie Ice, and how often are you on NBC? No, pretty much every Monday. I mean, they're calling a game or

Oh, yeah. I love being there. It's like, uh, because it's like league wide, so you really got to

“like, you got 12 seconds to hit a top. It's like great. Well, we just been 12 minutes on”

topic. Brian Scaliberin here, the man, let's bring in Moosa Diabate to conclude today's episode, by Scout. Thanks, so see you soon. You got it, think. All right, special guest time. About a month ago on Amazon Prime was Steve Nash and Blake Griffin and Dwayne Wade. I did a segment. My mark is so all stars. Shout out, mark is so my favorite players to watch. That's it. Just favorite dudes to watch in the league. And they were all delighted by one of

my picks, Moosa Diabate. And I said on TV that night, nobody, if you think whatever player on your team you think is the hardest-spitting player on your team, Moosa Diabate plays harder than that guy. And Moosa Diabate is here. What's up, man? How you doing? Good and you, man, how's everything? We're good. We're good. In the flesh. Um, so I got to start with just the basics, the Moosa nickname. Do you like it or do you not like it because that's like it's just a

a, uh, easy pun on your name? Right. Oh, no, I love it. Uh, I mean, it's very funny because on it really just started at Michigan, uh, what I was out there in my roommate, wheelchair, uh, shut up to him and on Ian Burns, uh, they kind of came out. They came up with it on pretty much

“funny. We're planning whatever. And after the game, you should say, you know, the Moosa's loose,”

the Moosa's loose and that's really how you started. And so since then, I've always, you know,

had an in mind. I've used a couple of times last year, but he really definitely took off this year. But, um, yeah, I've always loved it. Uh, is it a kick to see the Moosa Antlers all around now? I mean, Brandon Miller was wearing them during during warmups in a game. The fans are wearing them. Is it, is it crazy to you that this is now a fad? No, yeah, this isn't saying. I mean, it's funny because like, literally last year, I came in and I haven't even know what was not

having, you know, um, and now for me to be in this situation where, you know, everybody's like, you know, kind of like supporting me and stuff. I mean, it's, it's amazing. It's amazing. I saw Andy Roddick and Brooklyn Decker at one of your games wearing the Moosa Antlers. Did you get to talk to them after the game about this? No, I didn't. But I did see it on Twitter though. Um, yeah, that was crazy. Have you seen any other celebrity super fans,

either being, you know, someone tech something to you or you see it in the crowd wearing the Moosa Antlers? I saw a couple of French, French, um, celebrities do it, um, 60 me, um, yeah, nothing really for real. Okay. So you guys are maybe the happiest story of the entire season. Got off to a slow start, showed some potential and then bam exploded. And you've been one of the best teams in the NBA now for three, four months coinciding almost exactly when you got moved into the starting five.

But the question I have is, was it a, maybe it's a practice, maybe it's a game, maybe it's a film session. But for you, Moosa Diabate, when did you start to realize like, oh, we, we may have something real and pretty special here. Was there a moment like that? Oh, man. I mean, really, you started

from the summer, um, you know, at the end of the day, um, that's always what I'm going to give props to,

on the summer. We've worked very hard and, you know, we had an understanding that, you know, we wanted to do something special, or at least change the culture. And, um, that's the message that we had and coach brought it every single day. And so for us, you know, coming in into training camps. So even during the summer like before training camp, you know, it was like all those talks that we have with the coach, uh, understanding the goals and the reasons of what we, we don't things. And so now,

I mean, I wouldn't say that it's a, it's a surprise, but it's definitely, you know, funny to see how everything's just too close, you know, so fast and, you know, how like, you know, the opinions are changing now. So you know, yeah, it's been a long time since Charlotte was this fired up about about the NBA. Um, have you guys, you guys are now tied with Orlando at 7th and 8th.

“I think in Eastern Conference, let me make sure I'm doing it. Yeah. And no, at 8th and 9th, I'm sorry.”

And just a game behind Philly at 7th, two games behind Atlanta at 6th. You have a bunch of type racers that go your way. Have you started to talk about like, how high can we actually get? Like should we shoot for the fifth season? Should we shoot for the sixth season? Do you have

those conversations? Right. Uh, I mean, obviously, it's always something that like you want to talk

about. But you know, they meant that we got to stay grounded. It's like one of the things where,

And you want to get excited because you are winning, um, teams are losing, uh, on this like all year. Like we really have a chance to, you know, do something and still a spot that like people didn't think they were going to do. But at the same time, like Coach say them, some of some, you know, stay grounded. They take a day by day and give everything you have. Is there any part of you and be honest here that kind of wants to see the pistons in the first round after what happened

is that impetus game? You're funny. Um, I mean, ready to meet you, don't matter.

Oh, my dear. I'm trying to figure out the ball. Um, you know, it's always fun to play against

the team. But I would have said it's like in any specific regions or anything like that. For me, it's just like, you know, I'm not trying to ask about what I do. So that was a wild scene. As you know, I watched it again just to re familiarize myself with it. And before the play, where you foul jail and Duran, they're taking the ball out of bounds. And there's some,

“there's some talking going on. What's he saying to you that starting to get you a little angry?”

What are you saying to him? Like, was there anything said like that? Oh, I mean, I feel like he's just very much like trash talk. Like, you know, regular trash talk. I talked on basketball. I don't think he was nothing like personal in that sense. At least I don't remember. I can't recall exactly what it was being said. But yeah, it wasn't there. I mean, it wasn't definitely so crazy. It was just like, you know, talking about it. I heard from a

couple of your coaches who were like, man, when, when that happened, we were almost kind of joking with Moosa. Like, man, we didn't know you had that. We didn't know you had that in you. But what do you remember from like the aftermath of that? Any any conversations like that? Or just like the process of coming down from something like that must be a strange feeling, too, in a way. Oh, I mean, I mean, I wouldn't say that. I'm like, oh, for me, because it's like, you know,

like, these things that I had to, I mean, you know, I'm not, I'm not trying to get out here and trying to say, oh, yeah, I fight, but it's like, you know, I'm not, I'm not familiar with the feeling. So it's not like it was crazy when you wasn't a surprise, but like maybe just somebody because like, they don't know me. It's like, oh, yeah, like, man, I know Moosa had that. But, um, yeah, and I mean, you know, I didn't know that it wasn't, yeah, you know, I definitely thought that

like he was not having like some bad feedback through it, because you know, I didn't want anybody to feel like I was just a aggressive guy or something, but, you know, it definitely had the opposite times, which was, if you talked, have you talked to Jalen Duron since it all? No, no, no. You mentioned that it's not unfamiliar with you for you. You were in the middle of the Jawan Howard Wisconsin coach thing that happened between Wisconsin and Michigan, where you were,

when you were in college there. What do you remember about that was like a wild one, because you know, see coaches going at it like that. And you're in the middle of it, and there's stuff happening. What do you remember about that? Oh, well, I don't exactly remember exactly where I had it. All I knew is hands were thrown, and then, um, all I saw was pretty much one of my teammates that snooked on by what I'm going to do, Wisconsin players, and so I was just, you know,

they defend them. So, yeah, but, um, you know, things that happened, like I said, you know, some songs, emotions get high, you know, you know, yeah, things like that said you happen. Have you

always been a super hard playing player? Has that always just been a hallmark of your game? Like,

I just want to out work people for a song. Well, yeah, I don't, I don't, I don't for me. It's, yeah, it's always been like that. I was just saying that, like, from me to have fun when I'm playing the game, I have to be playing hard. If not, I don't, I don't know, I'll have the same enjoyment for sure. Someone with the clip or the clipers draft to do in the second round, and then they let you go, which is a mistake. But do you have, have you put, when you play the clipers, which is probably

“only happening a couple of times here in the West, do you feel like this is now a revenge game for me?”

Like, I want to take, I want to show these guys what they messed up on? No, oh, it's funny because I always get asked a question, but funny enough, I don't see it that way, because on, you know, at the end of this life, you know, on things going happen, at the end of the day, it is a business. You do feel like, Dan, like, what they ain't keep me, but at the same time, I felt like it was for the better for me, on my day and a day. So, I am kind of grateful for that decision,

for that situation that happened like that. Even though maybe I'm not a grain, we were exactly all, like, the way you happened, but, you know, it worked for the better. So, would I be mad, specifically, you know, I said, have a great time to film, great people to care for me and, you know, don't need a lot. So, yeah, no. Well, I've been just speaking of how hard you play, somebody with the clippers, I was doing a little research told me, man, you know what,

sold me on Moosa is someone we might want to draft? I had never seen anyone play so hard

in a pre-draft workout, and I sure has helped never seen anyone dive into the scores table

“during a pre-draft workout. So, do you remember doing this in the clippers pre-draft workout?”

Like, I don't know if you were saving a ball, what was going on, but, like, crashing into the scores table? Right. I think I do remember where I had the gear, because at that point, you got to think.

I think I had, like, that was, like, my 20-second or 20-second workout. Wow. Like, I remember, like, going

into, like, my 17-pating workout, and just, like, people just, like, like, just, like, clapping from, like, yeah, like, just want to thank you for being here, whatever. I was just on every scene at that point. So, um, yeah, it was, it was crazy, but, I mean, you know, like I said, that's just a type of place. So, you know, did you see some of the same prospects over and over again? Like, did you play some of the same guys in three-on-three or one-on-one, and any of these workouts? Like, was there a rivalry that happened

almost and who was it? I mean, it wasn't even a rivalry, it was almost like, yeah, like, all you hear it through or through, like, well, you're going after that. It was more so, like, like, like, wow, like, you, like, we play again. Like, I want to say it was like a rivalry, more so, but it was like, obviously, we're going to do what we got to do when we get on the court, right? But, yeah, and I was more so fun, because it was just like, oh, wow, like, I just placed

me, like, yeah, that's really fun. Anyone who's really made it in the NBA, would like you? Uh-huh. Well, it's something we're going to like, in a G or kind of, you know, but, like, yeah, uh-huh. Well, maybe you maybe you broke their spirit a little bit in some other games. Um, one of the hallmarks of your effort and your tenacity is offensive rebounding. And one of the Hornets coaches told me, you know, we, we joke like,

lamello, like, you know how quarterbacks in football, pay their offensive linemen or give them, like, watches at the end of the season, like, lamello with all the kickout threes he's getting off, so offensive rebound should be. Have you just discussed this with him? What would you

“like, do you need to do watch to what we do? Do you need a car? What would what do you need?”

Nah, I mean, like, it's like, you need to place me in some type of way. Uh-huh, I have to figure out the think of something. Now, I'm just, you know, overall though, I feel like, you know, it kind of works like in both ways, you know, because like, it helps me out when he makes the shot. And you know, he passes me the ball. He's my point guy. He's really nice. I mean, be doing too much. I don't want him to start stripping.

Have you ever been in a car driven by lamellable?

Hey, oh, no. Never will. No. No. No. It's cool though. I mean, no. I don't know. Obviously, you know,

yeah, that one is the hell. The, um, yeah. No, I haven't. Uh, speaking of the clippers, I had forgotten someone sent me a clip. You got popcorn during your time with the clippers. They filled your car with popcorn. I'm always curious about this. You see this all the time. So it's funny. You open the door. It's the popcorn falls out. Everyone takes videos. What happens next? Do you clean the, like,

“how do you clean a car full of popcorn? You get a vacuum? Like, what do you actually do?”

So we honest, I don't even know because all I did is pretty much that night. I got some popcorn out, drove and nearly the next day. Somebody came into my car. Like, they're like the clippers. That somebody looked in my car. So it was, it was, so I wasn't stripping and it was a rental car. So I was just, I found it. That's not even a good that kind of a prank. If they're going to clean it up for you, it's like, there's no punishment for you. But I did hear, though, that it wasn't just

typical rookie hazing that was the cause of the popcorn. You can verify this or not. It was punishment for you for not being good at fulfilling your rookie duties with donuts and chick fillet and like they, you were not diligent enough with it. So you mentioned wrong. I just, I think people talk to me, Mousse, that's all. That's all. That's like, how is it bad information? You could refute this now? No, I mean, I would agree. I wasn't the best of the rookies. It was, okay, look,

so to me, it was just more so like, you know, like, I'm, I'm like, help you out, but, you know,

it's like, I'm not a kid. You're not a kid, right? You're not like, I'm not a third trainer.

That's all I'm saying. And I, you know, I'm just, yeah, I'm just thinking about it, but I'm not a great good, so great things for sure. Um, this I did not know. Uh, you are just, you, you have been or we're fasting for Ramadan, which is something that I remember when I was a kid, a cumologic one would do that. And there would be people would ask him about it. And there would just be this like, awe that someone could play NBA basketball games for a month and practice

and all of that, but play hard and play tons of minutes while fasting from sun up to sundown. How do you, how do you, how do you, does it feel, does your body feel different? Does it feel

“harder to you? And how do you kind of prepare your body to play a game during Ramadan?”

Right. Oh, man, it's this is so whole different mindset, just in the standpoint of the sleep, especially for me, because I'm, I'm a terrible sleeper. So like, for me, it's like, yeah, like, definitely like sleeping wise is very hard. Also like, obviously you can't, you know, drink.

from that point on, you know, you can't eat a drink. So you know, you've got, you've got to, like,

really like in on what should when you get time to eat, what should eat, like an nutrition, but also what you drink in, like, just make sure that everything is on point. I wouldn't say that it's hard, more so in the sense that it's, it's, it's kind of weird. It's one of the things where like, you don't really feel it in the beginning. I'll say, well, like, if you kind of have this like adaptation point where, like, you just, you know,

trying to get used to it, and then it's time that I look for, I'm cool. But then, like, the closer you get to the end, the more you start thinking that, like, your body's tough, and then, like, you feel more tired, which you, you know, it's just, you know, it's just, you know, it's just, what it was for me at least. And especially for God like me, that plays off energy. It's like, man, like, they're just stuff. At least the last, I want to say that three games for games, while fast, and I was like, man,

like, I got to talk about, I just got to find a way. So how do you change your, like, eating and drinking habits post-game during Ramadan? Do you eat more after the game? Is there a kind of food that

“you, that you, that you target more? Like, what do you actually do? Do you, like, chug gatorade?”

I'm just trying to think like, how would I knowing I can't eat or drink again, till after the next game or after the next sundown? Like, what do you, what do you do more of less of? Right. So for me, definitely, like, trying to eat things that's costy more. So like, stakes, you know, just things that's when I say my stomach, and it's just not all, this is not staying there for like a whole day. It's gonna be the main day for the sleep.

So pretty much what I try to do is, you know, try to, like, create during the night. Let's see if I got to wake up at, like, five, four, to eat. So let's say I got to, and then my prayers at, like, or my prayers, let's say that six. So I got to wake up at five and eat. So I was going to go to sleep at, maybe, like, two. See for, like, three hours, wake up,

trying to eat as much as I can for like 40 minutes, you know, pray. And then the problem is not,

it is not getting back to sleep. So now I've got to find a way to try to go back to sleep. And then, you know, just go on my mind there, from that point on, but on, you know, I talked to my staff, to the, um, to the team staff, and, you know, the, the great job of the amazing job, you know, just making sure that, like, I was a team of everything that I had that become. Rumor has it, you are agitating to start shooting threes after making a couple of end of shot clock,

“uh, grenade threes. Is this accurate? Okay. Wait, wait, do you need a shot, grenade threes?”

The one in Memphis wasn't a grenade shot clock. Was it? No. No, I don't think it was. Was it? I don't know. Do you, you, you didn't go back and watch them, uh, but I just heard you had hit a couple, wait, at least one at the end of the shot clock. And now it's like, hey, look coach, like, let, let me loose. Yeah, I mean, you know, it's still in the talks, it's still in the process, but you know, don't be surprised if you start coming up, though, for sure. I like it. Last one, let you go.

Um, I was thinking about this. I was like, let me look at his, his international stats. And I, you haven't, you didn't play Euro basket, and you were not on the Olympic roster for France. 20, 28, Los Angeles shaping up to be an all-time amazing basketball Olympics. Is it in your plans to play for France in 20, 28? Obviously, make the team and all that, but is that something you're aiming towards? For sure. I mean, you know, like I said, like ever since the time, like me,

the international team is always a blessing, and so is a great opportunity to get better,

but also to represent for the country. So to me, it definitely is always fun. And yeah, it's definitely something that I'm waiting for, you know, being able to play with some of the best fans in the world, against the best ones in the world. I mean, you know, we, I feel like we have a chance to, you know, do something, you know, so yeah, for sure. You'll be amazing, but like I said, now, you know, we have a lot of young guys doing there, you know, a lot of bass, too. So, you know,

it's definitely going to be fun and interesting to see. All right, this is the last one. Sorry, I just, this is always end with players like this. You got like 10 games left in the season before the playoffs. You can talk about seeding and matchups in all that, but is there some aspect of your game as a team, as an individual, whatever that you want to use these last 10 games? Like, let's really lock this down or let's work on this. It could be a play. It could be a

defensive technique, switching, whatever it is, something to like, I want to nail this down before you the play in or the playoff. So that we're really ready to go. All right. You know,

“I'll say for us, really just stay consistent. I think that, like, sometimes we, we get so comfortable”

in really, you know, sometimes we like the way we plan, that like, you kind of lose ourselves. You can have just like your lapses and you know, like, understanding that in games, that's not matter even more so like now, or like, trying to play out, you know, we're not going to have just chances. We're not going to have those opportunities to, you know, just like, relax. So, definitely, you know, statements are strong and consistent. But overall, I mean, you know,

she can control. Moose to deal about it. It's just been a joy to watch you play the team and

“you individually. And look, if you make the playoffs, maybe I'll pop down to Charlotte by myself”

a moose antlers thing and hit and hit a game. But I appreciate your time and know your busy

word and the stretch of the NBA. Thanks for popping on. And I'll see you around the block.

“So, thank you. All right. Thanks to Brian Scalobreening in comparable Brian Scalobreening. Thanks”

to Moose to deal about it. Thanks to Mike Billy and Jonathan on production. That's it for today's

Zach Loscio. We will be back on Tuesday with a new episode. And I will be on Bill's podcast

“on Sunday, three cap, whatever wild stuff happens in the NBA. Thanks to everyone for listening”

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