Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective - Wemby Challenged, Cavs Getting Healthy, Latest on Ja & Surprising Jazz

Episode Date: November 5, 2025

Brian Windhorst is joined by ESPN's Tim Bontemps and Tim MacMahon to talk Victor Wembanyama looking to bounce back in a big matchup with the Lakers, LA’s surprising start despite injuries, the Cavs getting healthier, the Rockets high powered offense, the latest on Ja Morant’s future in Memphis and the surprising start to the season for the Jazz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, sports fans, the ESPN app has all of ESPN all in one place. The ESPN app is your home to thousands of live events, ESPN shows, and originals across every ESPN network and service. And now you can check if you already have ESPN unlimited as part of your TV package for no additional calls. Visit activate.esPN.com to learn how to access your account or sign up, then start streaming in the ESPN app. It's all of ESPN all in one place. Sign up or activate now. The Whoop Collective podcast, we talk about the NBA, which we are doing on Tuesday evening. Joining us from New York City, where I think he's got big plans for the rest of this week. I don't remember where he's going, but it's always what I always say.

Tim Bontap. We're going to see Wolves Knicks on Wednesday when I think Anthony Edwards has a good chance of making his return from his hamstring injury. And more importantly, I'm glad that we've gotten the podcast started because I wish people could have seen our guy, McMahon, trying desperately to get his equipment to work in Los Angeles on remote, trying to cover games, traveling around the country, trying to get on the podcast. He desperately needed the IT department. The IT department is far away, and it was a struggle.

But we made it. Much respect. Tim, Tim McMahon was in Houston last night, saw the Mavericks go down to the Houston Rockets on those Tuesday night or Monday night. And then Tuesday, after this podcast, he's going to go see the Clippers play. And then tomorrow, a big game, a surprisingly big game. And it's on ESPN between the number two and number three teams in the Western Conference when the Spurs visit the Lakers.

It's Ban McMahon. Howdy, partners, listen, you know my policy. I do not really operate well with those single-duget AM flights. Not only that, but with this whole TSA situation, I was warned the Houston Airports are a mess. I ended up getting through security in two minutes. But I arrived. I know, but I arrive with plenty of time to spare. So the 6 a.m. wake-up call and band McMahon ended up leaving a microphone in Houston.

I'm a mess. Let's podcast. All right. Well, you'll be back in Houston later this year. You can get it at a later time. We'll limp through. We'll make it work. We'll make it work.

Well, I want to start right there in L.A. tomorrow night. We're obviously not going to know how tonight's... Tonight, tonight, tonight. Wednesday night. That's true. Wednesday night. The Lakers are coming off a couple of pretty good wins, including going up to Portland on the second night of it back to back.

No Luca. He was protected in that leg injury. No Austin Reeves. He was dealing with his groin injury that just popped up. No LeBron, of course. They had some other guys here with that. No problem because they had DeAndre Aiton, buddy, who's getting $25 million from the Portland Trail.

Blazers and put up 29 and 10 to beat the Blazers on the second night of a back-to-back with all those three guys out. That is a brutal loss for Portland, a team that has had a decent start. And it is an awesome win for the Lakers who have had a fantastic first couple of weeks of the season with LeBron not playing at all. And with Luca missing several games, been remarkable, frankly. Wow. Contempts wearing the Lakers girl uniform.

them. Hey, the lake, when I praise them when they're good. They've had a great couple weeks. Was it Saturday and Monday or Sunday and Monday? Anyway, in those two games, Sunday and Monday, back to back. The Lakers had six different players score at least 25 points. Nick Smith, Jr. on a two-way deal. So including a two-way guy, Nick Smith, Jr. By the way, that's never happened before in NBA history. That's interesting. In two games, six different players. I mean, I guess that makes sense. Six different guys at two- games is pretty hard. That's, uh,

that's a lot of points. Oh, it's a lot. Even by today's standards. No, for sure. That's a lot. And I think what's,

I would almost say what's been remarkable for the Lakers. And you know, we're still in small sample size theater here. The Lakers have only played eight games, although I think they've played the most games in the league. Um, they're seventh in the league in offense. With Luca having missed four games and LeBron not playing at all. Um,

and they are now three and one. without Luca. They are also four and oh on the road. You know, and that this brings up sort of the George Carl standings that, um, you know, that are I find are useful. I think maybe George Carl's took them from the Doug. The Doug Moe standings is what they are. Right. So especially earlier in the season, it's a when, when team schedules are, you know, might want to explain the dog most standings. Yes. So you take the number of road wins and you subtract the number of home losses and whatever that number is, ideally the more plus the better. That's a positive number.

You're going to be a good team because it means you're a good road team and you're a good home team. That's the same way. And the Lakers are already at plus two, which is very good because they're four and oh on the road. I'm not sure anybody else. So the Thunder have three road wins. I'm not sure anybody else in the league has three.

Well, and again, if you had said the Lakers, we're going to be six and two. with no LeBron, with Luca missing, I think, four or five games. I guess he's played four games so far. So missing half the games and they're going to be six and two. The Lakers would have been happy to be four and four if you told them that Luca was going to miss half the first eight games and LeBron wasn't going to play. So yeah, like we talked about it going back to the start of the summer. Every game you can gain in the West in particular is going to be massive.

And like that game when Austin Reeves had 51, I think. in Sacramento to win that game against the Kings. The Andre winning this game, Monday night against the team that's still paying him, three quarters of his salary this year. Those are the kind of games that could be the difference between the Lakers being second and third, sixth and seventh, fourth and fifth, whatever spot you are in the West. Like that could be the difference between home court advantage in the first round or making the

play it, just avoiding the playing or whatever. So like, it's just massive. It's been a massive start, and it sets up, like you said, Brian. Like, obviously Victor in L.A. was always going to be a juicy game. But the Spurs, despite their dud against the suns the other night and one of the Stranger Box scores of the season so far, there's going to be a lot of interest around this game. And it should be a lot of fun to see to see Luca and Wembe. Go ahead to head.

Yeah. So, McMahon, you know, I also want to see when Banayama is coming off of his worst game of the season. He had nine, I think it was nine points. Nine points on four or fourteen shooting. Yeah. And the Suns used an interesting defense in that game. Now, Victor has obviously been a good player for most of his life, and I'm sure he's seen a lot of defenses. I'm sure he's even seen similar to what the Suns did against him in the NBA.

But the Suns did do something that I wouldn't be surprised to see teams, especially teams that are smaller. and the Lakers are a smaller team relative to their, they don't have great depth at center. What the Sons did in that game is, first off, they started out by guarding him. His initial defender was Royce O'Neill. Now, different guys defended him during the game,

but his primary defender was Royce O'Neill, who's obviously a wing. Another thing that they did was that they, if there was off-ball screening, like if they were trying to create a matchup for Victor, the sons let the screen happen and they just switched even if that meant grace and Alan was on him or even if it was a guard like they didn't care what they didn't want was Victor to make an easy catch they wanted to fight Victor on the catch they know that he's going

to be taller than everybody but they wanted to fight him for position they didn't want him to get anything easy and then they aggressively brought double teams and specifically from his blind side so that he wouldn't necessarily know they were coming from. This is not unheard of basketball, but the idea of not playing your absolute tallest player on Victor and just focusing on not letting him get to the spot he wants to get to had some short-term success. I'm sure JJ Reddick and the Lakers watch that film and whether or not they do it for the full time that the sun's prepared is yet to be seen, but I would suspect they take some

things and have throw Victor some of those looks. Yeah, and look, you nailed it as far as they didn't let him get to his spot. And we talked, you know, especially after that game in Dallas when he just absolutely dominated. We talked about the strength that

he's added, you know, the core strength, the ability to create contact and not just finished through it, but creating an advantage with that. What he was not able to do, though, was get deep post position. So he's catching it, uncomfortable. above the elbow or outside of the paint.

And then there's an immediate double team, whereas, you know, he's not catching it with a deep seal where he can just turn around and go finish. So, you know, that's something that's probably going to be years of work in the wait room down the road for him to just be able to say, okay, you want to put a little guy on me? I'm going to get exactly where I want to go, just catch the ball and turn around and finish strong. And, you know, if you're going to play him that way, you've got to have somebody that you can hide a center on. Harrison Barnes has had a really good NBA career. Right now, he's a guy that you can hide a center on. And the third thing here is the guard play. Stefan Castle is

reigning a rookie year off an amazing start. He's not necessarily a run-the-team type of point guard. You know, he's a guy who he's going to score a lot off of his athleticism, you know, his ability to get out in transition, his ability to drive. But he's not. going to be able to take advantage of a defense necessarily that's selling out to stop Victor and Minyama in a way that you would hope a veteran point guard like Deeran Fox can. You know, Deer & Fox is close. They haven't put an injury report out for tomorrow. I don't think, or for Wednesday night, I don't think we'll see him quite yet.

But his return is that much more important, not only because I think you're going to see a lot of this style of defense on Wemby moving forward, but also Dylan, Harper strained his calf and is going to be out for a little while. You know, a guy who got off to a spectacular start as number two overall pick, he's going to be out weak. So suddenly we went from how can they play all these guards to, man, boy, they're pretty thin in the back court until Fox gets back. Yeah, the spurs are also a middle of the pack to lower middle of the pack three-point shooting

team thus far. Partially because Victor is attacking the paint more, which is good. Good. But Victor, but Victor's not going to help them a ton in that. Right. But what you're worried about with the double teams is giving up swing threes. That's right. They have not. They don't have a lot of shooting. They haven't demonstrated they can punish you that way. And Deer & Fox isn't fixing that either.

Well, and I mean, in that game, in that game Sunday, I do think it's worth pointing out to that Victor got an early foul trouble. And I think that got him off his game a little bit. And again, I think, you know, we saw it in the game against the pelicans they did win the game but zion had some success going right at victor uh down the stretch of the game victor fell out of that game um in overtime and what became a win for the spurs and um you know yeah like look he's definitely gotten bigger and stronger and more physical and he's attacking the paint which has been great to see but you know he's still a tall thin guy and getting up into his body and being physical with him in his lower half is going to be something that, you know, like you said, it's not a revolutionary strategy, but it was an effective one.

And I'm sure, especially with the way the Lakers team is built, you know, they've got a decent number of wing-sized guys to throw at a guy like Victor. It's probably better than putting DeAndre Aten on him instead of having one of those guys on him and DeAndre Aten back towards the rim or Jackson Hayes back towards the rim. It's probably the most effective way to try to handle him. And also, to your point, I'm fine with a lot of these guys on the spurs being left open for threes until they prove they're going to knock these shots down. They went 10 for 41 from 3 in that game. Like, you know, let's see these guys hit shots.

The best shooter they have is Devin Vassell, and he was old six from three-point range in that game. And it wasn't just for Wimby. It's like 414, obviously, that's rough. Only nine points, but he had six turnovers. So, you know, and again, you could. since the frustration just growing and growing and growing to the point where he's trying to force things and it's leading to turnover. So, but I'll be honest with you, they still scored 118 points in that game.

The shocking thing to me is they gave up 130 points to the Phoenix Suns. And listen. I mean, that box score, that box score from soup to nuts is one of the weirdest box scores of the season. Like, if you'd have said the Spurs are going to lay an egg and lose to the Suns, okay, fine. The fact that the Suns of all teams, again, no disrespect to the Suns. I wouldn't have picked the Suns as the team to hold Victor to nine points on four or 14 shooting with six turnovers, right? Like that's not what you would expect. Nor would you necessarily expect Phoenix boat up a buck 30 against San Antonio and against Victor who did still have four blocks in the game.

Well, compliments to first year coach Jordan, not in his staff for putting the game plan together. He gets credit for that and for the sons executing it. And they have hung around at some games too. Lost Memphis at the buzzer the other day. They've been competitive. Also, we've talked about what a stud Stefan Castle is defensively. Devin Booker lit them up.

And, you know, there was some chit-chatting going on too. But Book had 27 and 13 and just completely controlled that game on the offensive end against an elite defensive player and an elite defensive team. More Hoop Collective podcast after this. It came out today. I think Shams reported it.

Maybe some others that Darius Garland is in line. to make his season debut for the Cavs, posting the 76ers on Wednesday night. Not sure who's going to play in that game for the 76ers. It is the second night of a back-to-back for them. Feel pretty confident Joel Embed will not be playing in the game. I think that's true. So we'll see whether that's confirmed by the time this podcast comes out.

But sports headed that way. He had surgery on his big toe in the offseason for turf toe. The calves need him pretty badly, not necessarily in this game. although the 76ers are at the top of the list. I don't know how tonight's game with the Bulls will play out. By the way, the battle between the number one teams in the Eastern Conference, 5 and 1 v. 5 and 1. Who would have guessed that two weeks into the season?

We all called that. Oh, I'm smarter than both you. I went to college as long as you two combined, so it makes sense I'm smarter. You certainly did. No argument about that. So the numbers could obviously change a little bit, by the way things go tonight. But as we do this podcast, a year ago, the kids, were the number one offense in the league, number two offense all time.

This year, they're 26th. Now, there's a reason in part for that because they haven't had Darius Garland. They haven't had Max Truce. Donovan Mitchell has missed a couple of games. Jared Allen's been out. Jared Allen's missed a couple of games. And Sam Merrill, who is a key player for them, has missed three or four games. And they don't have Ty Jerome, who was a human microwave all last season for him.

Right. So certainly, I'm not trying to say, oh, my God, how did the bottom fall out? Having said that, you know, the calves are are offensively challenged. And one of the things that's going on, Donovan Mitchell is just, he's got great numbers, but he is just hoisting three-pointers. He has made 44% of them so far. And that is why the calves are above 500, quite frankly. He's rescued them in some second halves. They're four and three. Evan Mobley's usage rate is the highest it's been in his career because they're running stuff through him

because they don't have Darius Carlin or Ty Jerome. Lanzo Ball has missed some games as well because he's not going to play the second half of back-to-backs and he's limited on his overall minutes. So they've leaned on Evan Mobley to be a curator and it's caused the offense to suffer a little bit. It's not that he's playing terribly, but last year, 43% of Evan Mobley's shots

came in the restricted area. He averaged almost three dunks a game last year. I had like 170 or something, 180. I think somebody might have tipped you off to this, I think, maybe the other day. Oh, well, anyway. Tomp's full credit. Stealing my thunder. I had the chart I said, and ready to code.

He's using the stats. I had, he is now just shooting, I think, 23% of his shooting. shots in the restricted area. And Donovan Mitchell, his restricted area, shots have dropped by half. He is just hoisting three. So, look, these stats are a couple days old, but the stats that Brian is referring to in part, we talked about the other day. And within five feet of the basket, I believe this is through Sunday night's action. Evan Mobley was shooting 27% of his shots from less than five feet and 33% of his shots from more than 25 feet. That is not a good balance.

Yeah. I'm all for Evan Mowbys shooting threes. We have talked a lot in the past about the importance of Evan Mowgli becoming a three-point shooter. I think taking threes is good. But Evan Mowbly's taken at this point somewhere around 30% of his shots from five to 15 feet, 27% of his shots from five feet and in, and 33% of his shots from more than 25 feet. That distribution of his shooting can't be the case.

He's very athletic. He could get up at the rim. As you said, Brian, he was getting a few dunks the game last year. Obviously, the Cavs are not the team they normally are. There's a lot of factors in this, but they need Evan Mowgli to be a factor at the rim. We talked about Victor Wembegianma in the first segment and the way he has gotten back to, gotten to being the guy in the paint that we've wanted to be. Evan Mowgli's got to have the same sort of balance.

Yes, it's good to get some threes up, but he's got to be a guy that's able to take the rim off for the calves. And, you know, this year it's been a lot of middies and threes, and that's not what you want to see from him. Well, but he's a piece of an offensive puzzle that's missing other major pieces. Darius Garland, obviously, about to come back. And so when Darius Garland's not around, they need him to create more. And then when Max Trues isn't around, it changes the spacing and the geometry of the court a whole lot. By the way, 192 dunks in 71 games last year, so almost three games, seven and seven this year. I can do that math.

That is exactly one per game. Eight years of school will get you that math right there. That's right. Yeah, he has less dunks this season than I had years in college. Well, I also do think, too, that, you know, I think if you are, you know, one of the men of denizens of Cavs Corner listens to the pot, including our esteemed leader, it is pretty concerning the number of injuries that already exists. exist with a Cavs team that came into the season with a roster that you looked at and said had some injury questions, right? Like, I totally get swapping out essentially Ty Jerome for Lanzo Ball.

But Lanzo Ball is a guy that you have to really gently get through the season to make sure he's ready for the playoffs. He's also not a guy. They're really going to provide you the kind of offensive lift that Ty Jerome did throughout the season last year. We've talked about Struz being out. DeAndre Hunter's had issues with his knee. He's missed time.

Dean Wade has been a guy who is a good player when he's. he's available, but he's missed a lot of time. You know, Garland's coming off this toe injury. Let's see how he responds. Donovan Mitchell, again, already dealing with hamstring issues. That's something that's been an issue repeatedly down the stretch in seasons. It's not great. That's happening in November.

Obviously, Caz have won some games here. They're going to get healthy. They're going to be just fine. They had a nice win over the Hawks the other day. But, you know, it's not great. There were a couple weeks in and we're talking about a mash unit for these guys. And they've got to have Donovan saving them to win games in the first week in November. Yeah, and I think that, you know, you give them grace because of the injuries.

And look, they've got a, you know, they've got kind of an interesting week this week where they have the Bulls on the weekend. And they have, you know, a Bulls' Cads game is now relevant. That's a team that's in first place. I mean, the entire East to a certain extent is a little bit of upside down topsy-turvy. You know, we'll see how the Sixers emerge. This is a two-game road trip to Chicago and Cleveland. Chicago is running hot. Cleveland is obviously one of the favorites.

But Cleveland and New Yorker, you know, and tonight Atlanta, as in Tuesday night, Atlanta and Orlando play, also two teams that are underachieving a little bit. Those are teams that right now would be sort of below the midline when you have some other teams at the top that we didn't expect. So these are a little bit, you know, unpredictable in the early going here.

But we'll see how the calves do. They garland is back. Sam Merrill is close. We'll see if he is able to play this week. And let's see how they do against Philly and Chicago, you know, with more of their playmaking back. Yeah, Jeremy Kane should be playing Tuesday night in Chicago. That's right. Jeremy McCain just at.

I assume he'll be able to play. He should be able to play in Cleveland Wednesday. I would guess the only guy barring injury that's going to miss time Wednesday is Joel Embed. Paul George. Well, Paul George isn't back yet, but I'm in a lot of guys who are playing Tuesday. I don't think anybody else should miss time. If we're going to talk about the East really quick, I do want to shout out to Trite. They had a really nice win.

We briefly mentioned it the other day in Mexico City against Dallas. Jalen Duren had a career high in that game. They come back on Monday. They win in Memphis. We'll talk about the Grizzlies later. But they're off to a good start. I think they're five and two so far. And J.B. Bickerstaff has those guys playing well.

Kate Cunningham was completely bounced back. Our, you know, come back from the way he played last year and carried it over and looks awesome. And in an Eastern Conference where there is a lot of uncertainty and there are a lot of teams trying to figure a lot of things out. Detroit has at the ground running, and they've got a chance to put themselves in very good position early on, and I'm anxious to see how that continues to play out.

You know, Jayland Duren's betting on himself, didn't get an extension done. You know, some people don't think there's that much value and that sort of kind of modern traditional rim running center. And by that, I mean, a non-stretched center. But man, does he fit well with Cade Cunningham? And the chemistry between those guys is awesome. and I just love the power and the force that Durham plays with consistently.

And then he's also got some finesse about him. He's, you know, getting the ball in a short roll, he'll make good plays. I'm high on that dude. Also on Wednesday night, we have a rather interesting game between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Houston Rockets. Rockets, by the way, McMahon, I'm going to say, not only do they have the top offense in the league, but last year, I think they were 21st in the league in 3rd. three point percentage. And so far, at least at the time that we're recording this,

their first, which is not something that I thought I was going to see. You know, you thought that Durant would lift them, but Durant's not even shooting that great from three point range. He's shooting lower than his career average. It's like kind of, you know, Reed Shepard, certainly helping them. Alperin Shengun, hitting shots. Look, I mean, Taris, again, this is like two-week sample size, right? Okay, but they were terrible last year. Well, okay, but Tar Heeson right now is shooting 56% from three and four attempts a game, right? So like, let's just ease off on where the Rockets sit.

And KD was in the mid-40s and then he had an off night against the Mavericks. But listen, the Alpi Shungoon thing is a fascinating deal. Whether he can maintain, I mean, he's not going to shoot it this well, but if he can be a legitimate three-point threat, what we're seeing with the Rockets is Kevin Doreen has come in. and given that offense the boost that they anticipated, but that's not the only reason. They're the number one offense in the league. We are seeing two ascending stars, potential superstars, and Alperin Shungoon and Amin Thompson.

And by the way, it's not too long ago we'd be talking to people around the league and there'd be like, I'm not sure the space is going to work with those two guys. I'm not sure those two guys can play together. Not only does the spacing work with those two guys, they have developed phenomenal. chemistry. And it's a really interesting deal. You know, IMA Addoca refers to it as unconventional. They don't have their point guard. Fred Van Fleet is out with an ACL, unfortunately. And Amin is playing that position, bringing the ball before the majority of time. But in half court, they're really running everything through Alpi. And a lot of times, Amin Thompson, the point guard,

will bring it up the floor and then head down to the dunker spot. And man, Alpy knows how to find them down there and amend knows how to finish. And I'm just telling me, those two guys in particular are soaring right now. I think we'll see what the Rockets record is. I think they both might have a chance to be an All-Star this year in addition to Katie. Well, I think Shangoon certainly does under the new rules with the international flavor to it. But I would say that while we're going to talk about Rockets Grizzlies, which is on Wednesday night, one of the more interesting games of the early season is the game Friday in San Antonio with the Rockets and the Spurs. And I want to see how this massive Rockets team handles Victor Wimbenyama and how that

matchup goes. I think that will be very interesting for a whole host of reasons after we saw, you know, probably won't, I'm not certain we'll see a better game than the first game at the year between Houston and OKC. But Rockets are off to a great start. Chankoon's been great, as you said, Tim, and that one on Friday night's going to be awfully fun. Well, and I guarantee you this, Wimby will be up for that one. Not that Wimby's got motivational issues at any point, but there have been times when Shingoon has given him the business. And Shingoon, man, he's a tough cover.

Hey, the biggest bucket of the game last night, Kevin Durant went and stood in the corner space the floor, and Albi Shungoon went one-on-one and made a beautiful spin move in the lane before finishing. He's top five center easy. I mean, I don't want to say he's going to be all NBA. I know that one of those spots has been designated for a beats of Zubots by a certain host of this podcast. But Shingoon's playing at an elite level.

Tell a Vita that I said hello tonight when you're at the game. We'll do. Well, the thing about the rockets, they're, they just grinded out offensively beyond just a three-point shooting. They're number one in offensive rebounding. Any time they miss it, there's a 50% chance to get in the miss, which doesn't hurt. And they're number one in free throws. Yeah. And those are, they're rugged as hell. They are a relentless attacking team. And last year, they couldn't shoot at all, but they did grab a ton of rebounds. That's why they were mediocre offensively last year. You had KD, these young guys keep improving. I will say the rockets have slipped on the defensive end. And I think the challenge for the rockets is, I'm not saying they'll be the number one offense this year, but maintain. elite efficiency offensively, but get back to that rugged, dominant, nasty, defensive identity

on a consistent basis. And I think that's where you're really missing Fred Van Vleet, the communicator, and just the pit bull. Obviously, you're missing Dylan Brooks. Those are the two guys who set the tone for them there. And do you trade Dylan Brooks as part of the KD deal a thousand times out of a thousand? Yes, but I'm just saying you're missing it there. and where I think they're really miss family lead on the offensive end is the turnovers, which directly affects the defense as well.

More Hoop Collective Podcast after this. So John Morant was, I think the headline that we had on ESPN.com said, Mum following his suspension when he came back on Monday. Look, the Grizzlies are backing their head coach here. And, you know, one of the thing, you know, obviously, Twamas Ossalo got into it with John Morant after the game. And, you know, if you're in that locker room, just put yourself in that locker room, right?

It's a new coach. I know he's not new to the team, but he's in this job, you know, and you get into a back and forth with the star player. And you're saying, how is this going to go? And so the Grizzly sent a message that they're going to back their coach. And I know that in the modern era, everybody's like, okay, well, is the star player being traded in the next 10 minutes or in the next 20 minutes? Right.

And we talked about that on the podcast earlier this week. But, you know, Jha is not at least publicly reaching out much of a olive branch. I would say Jop put forth more effort defensively in the second African-Sil Lakers than he did in extending an olive branch. Yeah. So I guess to be continued, is that what you would say assess this? Look, Jha, you know, we've talked a lot about superstar players have the ability to publicly crank up the temperature or turn it down. And the temperature is hot and Jaws like, cool, let it burn. He's going to do this little mopey thing with the media.

And the other thing, I will say with Jah, even if he wanted to turn the temperature down, even if he was making peace with the Oslo, Jah gets in this thing where, either you're a cheerleader or you're the enemy. And it's not the media's job to be a cheerleader. You know, he, like Chris Harrington with the Daily Mimphian, asked him a very fair question along the lines of like, you know, what did you think of your effort in the second half against the labor? That's not the exact question, but like, you know,

or do you have any regrets, I think? Something along those lines. And Joss said, oh, that's your home run question? Sounds like bait to me. Like, it's essentially saying, John, do you want to take any accountability for what led to the confrontation? And Jaws' answer in so many words was, no, I don't want to take any accountability. So as long as Jod Morant does not want to take any accountability, you've got issues.

There's a fascinating clip, and I mentioned this last podcast, there's a fascinating clip going around. It's called the X's and O's chat. It's a European-based basketball podcast. And Eoslo did like a long sit-down interview with him back in January. He was on the Grizzies staff, but well before he was the head coach. Remember, that was what, nine games left for the regular season. And he talks about, like, he came around to this philosophy of, hey, if a player is being a beep hole, and he didn't beep it, then he's come around to saying, hey, we're going to address that in front of the entire team. It's hurting everybody there.

Everybody sees it. Let's direct, you know, address this head on. And he said, you know, as part of this thing, he said, you're hurting all of us. You're not responsible to me. I'm just telling you that this is how the other guys feel about you. So you can go ahead and be a beep hole. Okay. But everybody here knows it.

If you're fine and you can live with it, then I can live with it as long as you bring the result. But if you don't bring the result, then your ass is cut. Now, that last line might work in the European leagues he was coaching him. That ain't the way the NBA works with the face of the franchise on a maximum contract. But I think it tells you about the way he approaches. Like, dude, you're quiet quitting for the world to see. We're going to talk about this for the whole team to hear. Well, and until we get some sort of firm resolution,

either from, you know, the temperature as you said, McBan going down and jaw acting normally and not pouting, which I would say is behavior after the game Monday, was more pouting, then this is going to remain a story. And again, not to completely rehash our conversation from the other day, but John Morant might be a superstar in terms of shoe sales and in terms of public perception. He's not a superstar on the court anymore. And so, again, the idea of even deciding to trade John Morant and what that would look like, it is not going to be the Desmond Bain return if they do decide to do it, which is a whole other level of complication to

this situation and why it's probably going to remain something that is hovering in the background unless there's a change in status all the way until the trade deadline in February. Yeah, I will say the quote that sort of got the most attention, even though it was pretty short. He was asked if he has his usual joy of playing basketball, which is evident that it's not the case because of his body language and everything. But he said no. And, you know, the thing that I was thinking about is I don't think he's had. the joy, the job Morant joy of playing basketball since he was at that club outside Denver

two and a half months, two and a half years ago. Yeah. Because if you look at since then, you know, if you want to say we're fine in the West, I mean, you can say from, I was going to say, that's to me the moment from that, that quote until now, what has happened in Memphis? There's been hardly any good. Right. I mean, I don't have to go over the whole thing. No, you don't need to. Suspensions. And like, and even like just in terms of, because, Jai, I mean, man, he used to just be as electric as any player in the league in terms of, obviously, the game, but the personality. And that's, you know, Memphis fell in love with those two things.

That's why Nike gave him the signature shoe, which came out today, right? No, that was, there's an Air Force One that came out today is to let Job, be Jai Air Force Ones, which I thought was interesting timing. Is that, was that a real thing, or is that just, was that a joke? No, it was a real thing. I've sent it to you. But like that wasn't like. No, it's not.

They didn't make the shoes. That was planned for like months, right? Like it didn't. It's just let job be like that's not like a reaction. No, it's not a. I assume no. I don't think they're releasing a Air Force One edition just specifically because of this. I know.

I think it's. I just, I'm not a sneakerhead. So I think it's a complete coincidence. But like last year, you know, remember when he came through Dallas and. And, you know, I was asking, like, he had a breakway and he did like a little, as he called it, like a little rim grazer. And then he was basically like, man, I don't even want to dunk anymore. You know, and there's a lot of things. That lasts it for like three days.

Well, but look at his dunk numbers and look at it. And on a related note, look at his finishing in the rim numbers. And for that, you know what? That's not a, that's not about a system. That's about he kept getting hurt with these, you know, high flying acrobatics and traffic. And he felt like he wasn't getting called. So, like, John's got a lot of things that in his mind are robbing him of joy. You know, it's been, I mean, specifically the refs.

It's been, you know, sanctions from the league. It's been friction with coaching in terms of system. Or, you know, now I guess it's this substitution pattern that he's worked up about. You know, the media is out to get him in his mind a lot of times. Like, there's just, and it's just like, dude, the just pure bliss that he used to have on a basketball court is gone. And it's not, he's not fun to, it's not, it's not, it used to be so much fun to watch him. It's not fun anymore.

It feels like the end of Derek Rose in Chicago is what it feels like, many different ways. I think we should point out because we don't talk about the jazz that much, and we've got a lot of fans in Utah. We sure do. The jazz won in Boston a couple of days ago. With no Walker Kessler. The sheriff. The sheriff.

I still think of it. Out with a shoulder issue. A top nickname. I like a very good nickname. I will say this. You watch the jazz. They look like no other team in the NBA. Say that.

They're three and four. The Wasatch Frontline. By the way, I turn on the Celtics jazz game in the fourth quarter on Monday night. Well, I'm sitting at the guard and watching Wizards Knicks. What do I see? I see Kevin Love flying down the lane catching a pass for a reverse lap. I did a quadruple take. I was like flying.

You sure you want to. He was moving. He was moving quick. I got it on the love on the on the on the rip and laid it in. He's got the he, you know, when they wear the mountain uniforms, he's got like the snow cap peaks in the hair that match. I mean, I'm telling you. I think he's a good fit there.

Let me tell you what Lowry marketing stats are so far. He's who. Hey, post, EuroLeague. I'm sorry, postero basket. Larry Martin is a different beast. Go on. He's averaging 31 points a game on 48% shooting. He's making four threes a game on 37% shooting, averaging seven rebounds and two assists a game. And again, Keonté George. If Larry keeps playing like that between now and the trade deadline, it's going to be interesting to see what Utah ultimately decides to do, I think.

People were all excited about their draft pick, Bailey, who is not doing much so far, he's shooting under 30% and averaging four points. But let me talk about Keonté George out of Baylor. Is this, is this the third, you know, year leap that we sometimes see and, you know, don't always expect. Keante George is one of the early stories of the NBA is averaging 23 points, averaging eight assists, and has been a really, he's only 22 years old. This is a guy who when he came out really had a really good summer league. And it was like, oh, man, could this guy have been a sleeper in the draft? And then, you know, as Utah has been mired in the muck, the last couple of years. Well, and this is the interesting thing. He's

shooting terribly from three. He's almost six attempts a game and he's shooting 27%. The reason his numbers look so good is he's shooting almost 10 free throws a game and hitting 91% of them. Like, that is awfully interesting. And if he can continue to be that good and that able to get to the rim and finish and get to the line, like the shooting being questionable, is it going to matter as much if he's going to be a consistent, a consistent weapon in terms of drawing fouls and getting to the line. That is an eye-popping number, 9.6 free throw attempts per game.

That is something I'm going to be monitored because if that continues, like, you know, that's something that's really sustained. and could be the foundation of something pretty interesting. Well, and I don't know the official hashtag muscle watch on him in terms of the weight, but like his arms are clearly significantly bigger, more to find. He came into the league as a slight kid. Like, I don't know if he could grow a mustache when he came in the league. And he's put in a lot of work.

And look, he's also been coached hard by Will Hardy. And one of Will's things is no free minutes, even when, you know, last year was a nightmare from a player development standpoint because clearly they weren't trying to win. But last year, Isaiah Collier took the starting job from Keonté George for a while. And that was Will trying to basically say, dude, you're not getting handed anything in this league. You're not getting handed anything by this franchise. And Keontay has responded to that coaching.

And I talked to Will during the preseason. And his exact quote was, man, I am so proud of that dude. Just the way that he responded to a rough year last year, his approach during the summer, and that's obviously carried over. He said he'd grown up a lot, and that's carried over clearly in the start of the season. And by the way, to follow up on this free throw thing, here are the top 10 guys in free throws attempted per game going into Tuesday night. Zion Williamson, Yonis, Windows favorite, Austin Reeves,

Palo Bencaro, Shea, Kianti George, Tyrese Maxi, Kevin Durant, Pascal Seacum, Devin Booker, and Jimmy Butler's 11th. Like, wow. That is awfully good company to be in. And if you're getting to the line eight, nine, ten times a game, like, that's a real game changer deal. So I'm awfully curious to see that. And we were part of the reason we were doing this was to talk about the Celtics and the free throw thing is interesting with them. Boston has never been a team that's been particularly good at getting to the foul line.

They are dead last in the league, 18.1 free throw attempts per game. There's only one other team to Clippers that's under 20. And then the Wizards are at almost 21. Wow. And you feel no Jason Tatum there. It was always Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown. And really, that's it in terms of getting to the line. You take Jason Tatum away.

And again, it's very hard to have. consistent offense, even if you have a bunch of shooters from three, if you're just not getting consistent. By the way, trip to the line. While we're talking about Keante George and having a surprising year and the little known teams before we go to break here, I'd like to talk about Kai Shan, George, from the wizard. Kishon.

Kishon. And when you say little known, I mean, he got a mix in a mispronunciation. I actually knew that. That was my own. That was just a dumb. dumb thing. I got corrected on it by our guy Jim LaBombard when I saw him yesterday after listened to us on the pod. So I just wanted to make sure we got it right. I saw him score 34 in Dallas. He lit the Mavs up in the second game of the year. He is having a impactful second season.

There's not much super exciting happening in Washington. I'm going to tell you, Alex Sars, Alex Sars coming along very, very nicely. I was going to say, I saw the Wizards Monday night, and yes, they had a rough third quarter and they end up losing by 15-ish to the Knicks. Kishon George has had a really nice year. Alexar's rim protection numbers are really interesting. He started to get better. On both things. Yes, their young guys have taken some real steps forward.

They've been respectable in these games. Like they're playing a lot of young guys. I think Chris Middleton and C.J. McCollum have been, you know, very good veteran additions. I saw C.J. for a while before the game. You know, it feels much different than it did last year or early in the year. they were just getting absolutely slaughtered on a nightly basis. Like this,

this feels a lot more like progress to me. And these young guys are, like you said, Kishan and Alex are at the top of the list. It turns to take it in real steps forward. Kishan, George, not related to Kianti, George. Kishan George is actually Swiss. But definitely.

I didn't know that. Yeah. Definitely a, he should have a, well, never mind. He's got one of the best pros in modern NBA history. Like he's got a great head of hair. Yeah, since the ABA, he's got one of the best pros that we've seen.

He also, he should have an on, you know, on should have a basketball shoe and he should be the Swiss. Oh, on cloud. Yeah, it's a perfect fit for basketball for a high flyer. He's more of a shooter, but hey. Come on, let's get it done. You know, let Kishan be Kishan. I just did the, yeah, sneakerhead, sneaky head windy with all kinds of ideas. That's right.

That's right. Fire or not fire, that would be a fire shoe. I know that it's been nothing but good news for the New Orleans Pelicans out of the gate. Now, they are playing the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday night at home without lamello ball. So maybe they get their first win. You'll know by the time you hear this podcast. However, Zion. They better get their first win against the Charlotte Hornets Tuesday night.

However, Zion has another hamstring injury. He has been pretty pretty, pretty. much had a season totally derailed by hamstring injury two years ago. And he'll be re-evaluated in seven to ten days. When it comes to Zion's hamstring, I mean, I respect that they announced seven to ten days. Nobody has any clue here. I mean, seven to ten days, seven to ten months, who knows? And by the way, just really quick, here's their schedule in November.

At Dallas on Wednesday, so the second night of a back-to-back, at the Spurs, at the Suns, Portland, Lakers, Warriors, Thunder, Denver, at Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago, Memphis, Golden State, Lakers. Yeah, when you're not one of the 10 best teams in the West, it's going to always be brutal. I'm just saying, I'm just saying that's, even the East teams they're playing are all over 500. They're not one of the 14 best teams in the West. Yeah, well, the only uplifting part of the Atlanta Hawks shaky start to the season is the out-of-town scoreboard. is they look over there. It's an extremely uplifting part.

I can tell you that. Extremely uplifting. Let's look up there and see what the Pelicans score. Oh, look. The Pelicans are down by 40,000 points at the second quarter. Yes. Oh, my God. Yes, to your point, Bontems, they are in the stretch of six out of seven on the road.

All of them Western Conference games. They got to get this game against Charlotte. Yeah. They got to get it. Yeah. All the road games are Western Conference games. So the one home game is Charlotte games. So not great news on Zion.

All right. Thank you very much to Mr. McMahon. Thank you very much to Mr. Bon Temes. Thank you very much to Jackson, our producer. Thank you for watching and listening to The Hook Collect. We'll be back at the end of the week. Thank you, Mr. Winterhurst and Adios Amigos.