The Bill Simmons Podcast - April Mega-Mailbag (Ep. 198)

Episode Date: April 10, 2017

HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons answers a slew of mailbag questions from readers and listeners on the value/history of triple doubles and why Wilt never went for them (5:30), Bill's waffling on his MVP pick (10:45), lessons from Admiral/Olajuwon + MJ/Malone (19:00), Tony Romo's TV career (26:00), Jokic vs. Nurkic nickname ideas (35:00), Sergio Garcia's Masters win (42:00), Curry's 2016 MVP vs the 2017 candidates (48:00), the power of the TNT Bulls (53:00), Carmelo's future + a big 3-way trade prediction (57:00) and the winner of 2007's no. 1 NBA pick (1:04:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's special mailbag episode of the BS podcast is brought to you by SeatGeek. That's our presenting sponsor since the 1970s. Find the best tickets for sporting events, music, wrestling, opera, you name it. Playoffs, NBA, NHL. What better way to find tickets at the last minute from people who are trying to get rid of them because they can't go to the game than SeatGeek. I have SeatGeek on my phone. It's by far the easiest way to shop for the best tickets thanks to their

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where Shaq House put up their golf podcast last night after the Masters. Joe House, he makes like half-unit bets and full-unit bets. He takes a couple long-shot bets that he calls half units. And then he does full unit bets as well. And picks like two or three guys. He had Sergio Garcia who won the Masters. And he had Justin Rose who finished second. It was amazing.

And if you listen to the Shack House podcast, you could have heard it. You could have made money on it. I don't know why you're not listening to Shack House. Check out the Shack House podcast. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And speaking of podcasts, Pearl Jam has been doing the opening song for this podcast and the end song. We picked a couple different things from their Wrigley Field concert that they were nice enough to let us use. And they made the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last week. And it was awesome. And if you haven't checked it out,

I think there's some stuff up on YouTube, but I know they're running the full show soon. But congratulations to them. Thanks for letting us use your music. Pearl Jam, everybody. All right. It is a Monday morning, West Coast time. My guest is me. I'm going to do a meal bag podcast.

So here's the thing. I wanted to write an NBA awards column for this week. Last week, we did the NBA Independent Spirit Awards. I did it with Shea Serrano, Jason Concepcion, and Chris Ryan. That went up on TheRinger.com if you missed it. We handed out awards to

basically all the guys who aren't eligible for the ballot in different categories. Some of them were goofy. Some of them were legit. Like best in-game dunker. I picked Russell Westbrook just because of his coast-to-coast stuff. But Shea Serrano said it was James Johnson. He was right. Actually, I should have put more thought into that.

I felt embarrassed that I didn't have James Johnson. But all that kind of stuff is in that column. This week I'm going to tackle the awards. And I think I was pretty wise. I'm waiting until Game 82. And I've been saying this for four weeks. Sometimes you know who the MVP is in mid-March. Other times, you just don't know.

And you have to wait it out. And I think what we've seen these last three weeks with Russell Westbrook, who I was not going to vote for, and now he's making me rethink everything. I'm still going to wait. Tate has a mic. I'm going to to take tate a couple times during this podcast tate hosts the uh the gm street podcast with mike lombardi so it's teed up and he's been producing this podcast pretty much since day one tate would you be ashamed of me if i voted for westbrook no i think that it would show that

you had really, you know... You weren't set in your ways. You were willing to grow and develop and let it happen, let it play out. I really... Voting for an MVP who can't win 48 games? I don't know if I can get there. So I'm waiting for him. Anyway,

stay tuned. That column will go up Thursday or Friday on The Ringer. But we have a lot of mailbag questions right now. The reason I want to do them is there's a shelf life. By next week, I think some of these questions will be dead. So these are questions that people sent to themailbagattheringer.com if you want to send a mailbag question. I might do this more often than just this one time.

But if you ever want to send me a mailbag question, send it there. So here's the first one. It's from Ben from Harrogate, UK. The United Kingdom, I guess that is. Is there another UK? That's not University of Kentucky. Thank you for explaining that triple doubles have only been

a big deal since the Magic Johnson era. I've always argued with my friends that this wasn't a milestone in the 60s for the simple reason that Wilt never did it. If averaging a triple-double is considered a sign of greatness, 1968 Wilt absolutely would have cranked out another 1.5 assists per game instead of merely averaging 24, 24, and 8.6. This is a great point, and this is one of the reasons that with triple doubles listen this can't be the number one part of your case for westbrook it just can't it's an arbitrary number that we started to come up with about 35 years ago i really enjoy them i remember when larry i think it was 1987 i'm gonna say march or april April against Washington. Moses was on Washington.

And the legend, I think, came within one assist to putting up a triple-double in the first half. Or he got the triple-double in the first half. I can't remember. That was the first time I remember being really excited about a triple-double. But I don't remember even hearing about triple-doubles until Magic Johnson. And I actually went on the internets today and researched this the term triple double was coined allegedly apparently by bruce jolish a former lakers pr director who had decided that magic kept getting these these double figures and

points rebounds and assists and he thought it was catchy, and he started calling them triple doubles. So they really didn't take off until the early 80s. And I bring this up because Will Chamberlain was the most stat-obsessed guy we've ever had in the history of basketball. In fact, in my book, that was one of the reasons I downgraded him because i wrote a whole chapter

about russell versus wilt and part of the thesis was that rus russell was consumed by winning and did whatever it would take for his team to win and put his teammates in the best position to win wilt just cared about stats he was all about the stats that's it and he operated from the standpoint of if i'm getting my numbers, I'm getting my stats, then hopefully the team will win too. And that's what drove him. And that's why I think he was such a polarizing, frustrating player. Certainly the most polarizing NBA player of all time. Now, if they had had triple doubles in the mid to late 60s, there's absolutely no question that Wilt would have gone for a triple-double and he would have averaged a triple-double,

as it was in 1968 when he averaged 8.6 assists a game and he led the league. The reason he did that was because he was trying to lead the league and he was passing up five-foot shots to throw it out to guys taking 15-footers and he was getting mad if people missed shots.

He basically lost his mind trying to win the assist title. There's no question he would have lost his mind trying to get triple doubles as well. Then Magic in the 81-82 season, he averaged, I think, something like 18 or 19 points and then 9.5 assists, 9.6 rebounds, something like that. He was in the nine and a halfs for assists and rebounds. That's not a big jump to try to average a triple-double for a season. So my point is it only really started to matter in the last 35 years, and I think there's a couple guys that potentially could have chased it. Definitely Magic could have had it in the early 80s,

and I don't think there's any question. Wilt either would have had a triple-double or he would have would have died trying so anyway i think if you're making the westbrook case for mvp i didn't even know did you know oscar robertson had the triple double record of 41 did you even know that was a thing i didn't know it was a thing but i also went back to his stats and he could have had a triple double every year he had had like 9.3, you know, 9.4, 9.7. And then there was like three years in a row and he had, he averaged a triple double.

He basically averaged it for the first five seasons of his career. Yep. With Cincinnati. Yeah. Right. I don't know. I don't think that's the best case for Westbrook. To me,

the best case for Westbrook, if you're going to make it other than that, he's having a spectacular statistical season is is the fact that they lost Durant. They won 55 games last year. They lost Durant, who's one of the five best players in the league, and they're going to win 47 or 48. To me, it starts there. I don't, you know, triple doubles are cute.

It's great. I enjoy them. That can't be the lead point of your candidacy. I think you have, team success has to be number one, especially this year, especially with Kawhi is going to be in the 60s with the Spurs. LeBron is going to be the one seed probably for Cleveland. And Harden is going to win nine or ten more games with either the same type of supporting cast or a worse supporting cast.

So at some point team success has to be the number one qualifier. And I'm struggling with that because if Westbrook can get within like seven wins of Harden, then does all the other fantastic statistical stuff overshadow that? He's also had, you know, probably at least nine or ten games that i can remember that he just won the game in the last minute or the last 90 seconds or whatever but he's also had an extraordinary number of opportunities to do that for whatever reason harden hasn't had a lot of last minute games whereas the thunder it seems like every game they're down 15 and roaring back or they've blown an eight point lead it it just seems like

they've had an extraordinary amount of uh of crunch time chances anyway uh here's from ahad in ottawa ontario he asks wouldn't giving russ a well-deserved mvp help us prevent the inevitable revisionist history podcast by malcolm gladwell it's been over a decade since nash won the mvp over kobe who in that same season averaged 35 a game and scored 81. Looking back, that vote feels like a mistake. I agree with you. I voted for Kobe that year. I didn't think – I just didn't think Nash did enough in that year,

even though now 11 years later I think the advanced metric stuff and the offensive rating, all that stuff would have supported his case better. But to me, Kobe taking that Lakers team to 45 wins and the playoffs was a much more spectacular feat than Westbrook winning 46 to 47 with his OKC thing. I'm in the minority. I happen to think OKC has an above-average supported cast. I think Oladipo's good.

I think especially as a number two option, as a scorer, if he had gotten the ball even more, he could average 20 a game. I love Adams as a center. I love all the stuff he does. I think Kanter coming off the bench is valuable. Taj, they added in the last 25 games, who I think is valuable. Going down the line, Sabonis was, I think, the 10th pick in the last 25 games who I think is valuable. Going down the line, Sabonis was, I think, the 10th pick in the draft or the 11th pick.

Roberson's a very good defensive player. He's not playing with the Washington Generals, so let's stop the supporting cast crap. If you go guy by guy, Houston versus OKC, I would say it's pretty even. And then if you factor in the over-unders, OKC was, Tate, do you know what factor in the over-unders, OKC was – Tate, do you know what OKC's over-under was heading into the season?

41.5. It was 45.5. What do you think Houston's was? 43. 41. So Houston is overachieved by 16 wins over what people thought, and OKC is basically right where we thought. So we'll see.

Time will tell if it feels like a mistake. I just think people are sleeping on how great Harden's season was. He's first in assists. He's second in points. He's going to make 250 threes and 700-plus free throws. He's going to have 900 assists. He's played every game. He's made every guy on that Houston team better. And they're one of the top three teams in the league. So that's the case.

Don't act like Harden doesn't have a case. Chris Esch, I hope I said that right, asked, would Pop want Westbrook on his team? Would he put up the same numbers on the Spurs? My answer to these questions is no, or at least pop would expect him to fit into their team first concept kawaii does these things in a team concept he's my mvp uh yes pop would want westbrook on his team i think he could figure out how to make that work westbrook would not be doing the stuff he's doing at okc on in san antonio i'll put it that way. They do not chase stats in San Antonio, and they would never build a team around one guy. It's always been about the teamwork, the infrastructure,

the whole being better than the sum of the parts, or whatever that phrase. The whole being better than the parts? The sum of the whole being better than the parts, whatever it is. I think Westbrook would be a different player at San Antonio. I don't think he would be putting up the 50s, 16s, and 15s, but I think he'd be more efficient,

and I think he'd pick his spots better. It would just be different. It probably would not be as much fun from a league pass standpoint, but yes, I think Westbrook could fit on this purse. No question. Peter from Toronto asks this feels a little Raptors fanny but one of my favorite subplots of this NBA season is listening to you defend Al Horford's contract it's hilarious you're far too defensive it reminds me of lost fans who defend the final season of the show I was one of them for years so I recognize the symptoms

I don't defend the last season of Lost anymore. The sooner you realize the Celtics gave first option money to a third option player who can't rebound, the better off you'll be. As another Bill S once said, Doth protest too much. That hurt my feelings. I like the ending with the Bill S.

I really like Al Horford. They had the money to spend. I like having him on the team. He's going to put up his 15 and his 7. He knows where to go. He's a great teammate. He never does anything that he can't do. He spreads the floor.

He's a very good low post defender. And I stand by the contract. They're paying him like $27 million a year. I don't know what it is, but they had the money. Why not? Especially for this year, they had the money. And after that, it's,'s i think three more years and the salary cap's gonna go up another seven million this year yeah i'm protesting aren't i all right his free throw percentage went up 80 would you

pay a whore for 30 a year yeah why not oh i Why not? You said they had the money? Yeah. All right. Thanks, Tate. Poya from LA, I hope I said that right, said, On the KD podcast, he talks about the process of becoming a villain by hopping on Golden State, tarnishing his nice guy image. He had some of his most efficient games against OKC. Just as an aside, I really enjoyed this part of the Durant podcast. I thought I was really happy with both Durant podcasts, but how he talked about answering the challenge when having all this hate heaped on you

when you play basketball, he was almost like he wanted to know how he would respond to it. And then he responded to it in an awesome way. And it made him happy as a basketball player. He felt like he learned something about himself in the experience. So anyway, back to the question.

We also saw this happen with LeBron when he went to Miami and accomplished some crazy efficiency in terms of field goal percentage. Isn't this confirming Kobe's dark muse cage theory? Is Durant harnessing his dark muse cage? Is Kobe saving the kids? I think he is, Bill. That was from Poya in Los Angeles. There is something to be said about the dark muse cage.

I think what KD was talking about is similar to what I heard Kobe saying when he was trying to explain this muse cage thing, which is pretty goddamn confusing for the most part. But Klosterman broke this down on the pod a couple weeks ago where he's basically saying every player has a Darth Vader side. And when you embrace that Darth Vader, you open yourself up for greatness or something. I think that's what he was trying to say. I would say yes.

Whatever the hell the Muse cage is, I think Durant's in it. Way from Los Angeles, two straight Los Angeles. With the Thunder and Rockets set for the first round, can we expect a dream versus Admiral 95 situation with the player who loses the MVP going full John Wick

on every possession? If so, I'm secretly hoping Harden wins the MVP. Unfortunately, we do not find out the MVP before round one. And double, unfortunately, we're not going to find out the MVP until after the finals. They're doing this NBA awards show slash ceremony this year.

And they're going to announce all of it at the end of June, which seems insane. I don't like that. That's too far. They should just, as a special wrinkle this year, just announce it before the Spurs Rocket Series. I mean, Rocket Thunder Series, because whoever doesn't get it is going to be completely pissed off. And I think retroactively, we'll look back at whoever lost the series,

if they lost the MVP but won the series or vice versa and be like, oh, my God. But this is not an admirable Hakeem situation. There's two times where this happened. David Robinson against Hakeem. They gave Robinson the MVP during the series, and Hakeem went out and just eviscerated him. Robinson was never really the same after that series,

although he did have some back issues. But that was one of the all-time, I can't believe I'm not being recognized as being the best guy at my position on the SmackDown series. And then, of course, two years later, Jordan, Karl Malone, 1997 finals. Malone wins the MVP. I wrote about this in my book, too. I'm still not sure how this happened it was like one Jackie McMullen sports illustrator column in March and it got momentum and everyone

decided at the same time they're just bored of honoring Jordan and they gave it to Carl Malone and then Jordan torched him in the finals and game one Jordan Malone missed two free throws Jordan made the game winner it was the all-time What the fuck were you guys doing? How am I not the MVP moment? So unfortunately, that's not going to happen this time around. But you know, let's say let's say the Thunder beat Houston in round one, but Harden wins the MVP two months later. My God, that's going to be awkward. All right. Let's take a quick break to talk about wine. My wife loves whining about my fault she really loves wine that's why i signed her up for trywink.com because they made it so easy to get exceptional wines from all over the world delivered every month right to our door it's a personalized

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If you go to trywink.com slash BS, that is W-I-N-C, trywink.com slash BS, free wine, I'm sorry, fine wine personalized for your palate coming right to your door. That is trywinc.com slash BS. All right, back to the mailbag. I just realized I'm not going to get through all these questions and I'm already bummed out. But, oh, this is based off the last question from Marcus in San Diego. Wouldn't it be more fun if we handed out the MVP before that Rocket Thunder round one matchup?

Or would it be more fun if Harden won the MVP and then we get to watch Westbrook next season literally involved into the next level of humankind from the pure hatred

he'll be feeling? Which would you prefer? I'm voting for that. i think the best case scenario here is westbrook not winning the mvp for us as basketball fans because i do feel like that's when he just rips off his face and he just realized and we all realize that there's just metal underneath and he's been a robot set from the future joe from indy says you being against Westbrook as MVP because of the triple double

is an arbitrary stat that's Trump level hypocrisy this from a guy who has created more clubs than an airline base on arbitrary statistical thresholds now boarding all 250 750

900 club members and veterans with small children oh Joe you tease me. I'm not against Westbrook as MVP. I just don't think he should be the MVP because he averaged a triple-double. I think there has to be more to the arsenal than that one.

But you're right. I love making up fake clubs. And my favorite fake club is the 42 Club, which is for the playoffs. And if you add everybody's points rebounds and assists during the playoffs if they played more than 13 games it's an astonishingly accurate and prescient indicator of if somebody was really great or not and i don't know why 42 is the number but uh i rigged it and i tinkered with it and it was the number that that was able to

cut out the most carl malone season so i knew i was doing something right with the model and uh and that's what it is but 42 i think lebron had one year where he was like a 53 or something like that but if you look at this year westbrook with the 31 11 and 11 basically so he's in the 53 club i wouldn't be a 53 club but way over the 42 club and uh there's another email that we have in a second that's going to be so this but first a stupid movie email from toby in philly toby says i watched man on fire for the first time based on your mailbag it's a decent action flick but there's one glaring issue that I had to email you about. Oh no. Creasy kills Fuentes with the C4 up his ass

and he shows him that he has extra C4, an extra detonator, and another butt plug thing. Then at the end of the movie, he makes the deal to trade himself and the voice's brother for Peta, the little girl. Denzel walks over the bridge,

gets patted down, no weapons. And I'm all ready for the extra butt plug full of c4 to take down the last of the brotherhood but then we just get a lame epitaph of his death he bleeds to death and they roll credits are you fucking kidding me first the name of the movie is man on fire how does he not blow himself up at the end no way greasy doesn't come to that meeting packing the ass explosive after promising to kill everyone involved with the kidnapping. I can't get over this. Please explain how this didn't ruin the movie for you.

First of all, bite your tongue. Nothing's going to ruin Man on Fire. One of the great Denzel movies of all time. You're right. That's how the movie should have ended. He should have blown himself up. My guess would be that Denzel just didn't want to blow up into 100,000 pieces at the end of the movie. And he liked the image of him just bleeding to death and fading and dying because it was just more fun to act. But you're right.

Man on fire should have been the end. He should have blown up and literally could have been a man on fire. I'm with you, Toby. Nick from Whittier, Utah asks, why is everyone saying Tony Romo is going to be great on TV? I'm not saying he won't be, but what has he done to receive such praise? You of all people are critical of announcers. It looks like a really hard job. So Brian Curtis from The Ringer has been on this bandwagon for a while.

He said Tony has not really given any interesting interviews in about 10 years. He's always just defaulted to being as, I don't know, as purposely bland as possible to not make any waves. I am basing all my announcer guesses on Romo's future here from one night I spent with Romo's future here. From one night I spent with Romo at Jimmy Kimmel's house with Cousin Sal, where we watched a Cardinals Packers game and he broke down the game for us, the entire game. And then we went out to dinner and he did imitations of quarterbacks throwing footballs and just went to a whole other level of analysis and was so engaging about it that I left the dinner thinking, that guy's going to be the next Barkley. Now, the question is, is that just a private side of him or can he actually figure out

how to do that in public? So they do this news conference where they announce that he's going to be Simms' replacement. And really boring interview with him. There's a chance to be like, hey, I'm going to show off my personality, my sense of humor. He didn't do it. That concerned me. And the other thing is I really wish he wasn't the number one guy next season. I wish they had put him in the number two or number three spot and let him get some reps. I think, man, TV is really hard and you learn on the fly. I got thrown in when I did

countdown for ESPN. I had basically done 10 PTIs and some stuff for Grantland. All of a sudden I was on the studio show. And fortunately for me, the studio show, it's not like people go out of their way to watch it before the game. They'll watch it if it's on, but most of the show it's not like people go out of their way to watch it before the game they'll watch it if it's on but most of the time it's on at a bar with no sound and you just kind of have to look a little bit like you know what you're talking about but it's really hard to be a disaster on a studio show and i got enough reps and by like march april i felt comfortable and i knew where i knew where to look and how to say my points concise and all that stuff and i felt like by the end of the season i I was pretty good at it. Romo is not going to have that luxury.

He's just going out there. You know, he'll have a couple of preseason games. They'll do a couple of test games. But, man, that's a hard job. It really is. And we're always unhappy with color guys. We've really only liked a couple in the history of football. Tate, is Tony Romo going to be good?

I hope so. Did you see he's going to be at the Mavs game? They're going to let him sit on the bench in a Mavs uniform? I like that. It would have been more fun if he had been on a team that had no chance of making it pass round two in the playoffs. Yeah. Like the Bullets, the Wizards.

Yeah. With the Wizards that signed him, that would have made more sense to me because they're only going to get it. Sorry. I'm just making sure because it sounds listening. I wish he would have wore the Cowboys uniform, like with the full pads, full everything. Is he going to play for the Mavs?

They won't let him, right? No. I heard through the grapevine that Adam Silver had like a stroke when he heard about this. Like it just went bonkers. I just could not believe that they were going to do this. Because it opens the door for teams to just do this left and right. I could be playing on the Clippers in two years when they're 22 and 60 after everybody leaves.

Ezra K.S. In the 62 season, Wilt scored 50 a game and had 25 boards a game. He also had a 100 point game, scored 4,000 points. Nobody's done that since. Had over 2,000 rebounds. He's the only other one who did that.

Oscar, that same season, had a triple-double, and yet those two guys got crushed in the MVP by Bill Russell, who scored 18 a game and had 24 rebounds a game, less than Wilt. Ezra asks, I get that Russell was great,

and he may have been a more worthy MVP based on defense and intangibles, but he got 51 first place votes and Wilt got nine. How do you explain this and not sound like an idiotic Celtics homer? It's easy. The players voted for it back then. The players voted for Russell, and they knew that Wilt was chasing stats and wasn't fun to play with all of them would have rather played with russell and that 62 celtics team i mean those celtics teams were absolutely outrageously good

they were just crushing everybody and russell was the glue and the guy that made everything go and the fact that it was 51 to 9 i think, I think actually makes a lot of sense. It would be interesting if the players voted for MVP this year. So the players voted through the 79-80 season, and then it switched to the media and broadcasters, which is funny because you have about 15 years there after it switched over where writers and broadcasters are which is funny because you have about 15 years there after it switched over where writers and broadcasters are voting for it, but they're really only watching their

own, the teams they're covering all the time. We didn't have league pass back then. We didn't have, we barely had enough national TV games. So, you know, Moses wins in the 81, 82 season. He averaged like 31-15. He had a crazy season. He went back-to-back. But it's not like Houston was on TV.

Some people are just looking at the stats and be like, whoa, Moses had a good season. They wasn't exactly the most educated arsenal. They really didn't change until the late 90s when we started getting really good and thoughtful about MVPs. But if they had players vote for MVP, I actually think Westbrook would win. Because I think the other players would appreciate how ludicrous it is to average a triple-double. Tate, do you think the players would vote for Westbrook?

I feel like they would, right? Yeah, as soon as he got his 42nd, I saw like four or five players. Like Nick Batum tweeted 42 triples. Like all these players started lebron did an interrupted video yeah which uh in typical hundred interrupted fashion was just terrible didn't say anything he just said wow oh man russell westbrook man man that's something man it's just so it's getting somebody's holding an iphone in front of his face. What is that product? But yeah, I think the other players, that's one thing we always forget, the players. I think this is something with Kobe where stupid media members like me, who I'm holding Kobe to

this higher standard of how he should behave as a teammate and all this stuff. And the other players are just like, Kobe's amazing. Like, wow, holy crap, he scored 81 in a game. And I do think we forget. So it is good to catch the sea wind of what the players are kind of talking about and raving about, because the players always know. So anyway, I think, instead of the players, what I do think Westbrook would win.

Glenn from Belgium asks, in your battle pod with House, the logic you use to probably do think Westbrook would win. Glenn from Belgium asks, in your battle pod with House, the logic you use to probably not choose Westbrook as MVP, with which I agree, is the complete opposite of your logic used to put Jimmy Butler on third team all-NBA instead of Gordon Hayward. Hayward, the clear leader on a really good team. Butler, putting up great stats on a mediocre team.

Hayward clearly deserves the nod over Butler. That's a good point. If I'm going to do the, if I'm going to value success the most with these all-NBA teams, then I should be doing that all the way through

first, second, third team. I'm with you. Although the Bulls now are looming as a threat to beat the Celtics in round one, which would, Tate,

I can't tell you how nervous I am about the Celtics being one round, one rounded out. Have you ever seen a more logical upset pick than anyone over the Celtics in round one? They haven't played well for six weeks. What if Rondo's been saving it up all year?

That's my worst case scenario. All the games are on national TV. Rondo and Jimmy Butler, who we could have traded for, didn't. And then Meritage is going bonkers. Fred Hoiberg's making good play calls for once. The good thing is they don't have anyone to guard Isaiah. But I do feel like the Bulls would make them sweat out. Indiana is like the only team I feel like the Celtics would actually beat.

Levi from Seattle writes, In the last 12-ish months we've had Warriors blow a 3-1 lead in the finals. Indians blow a 3-1 lead, complete with a Game 7 rain delay the night. Falcons-Pats, Moonlight-La La Land, Trump-Hillary, Alabama-Clemson. complete with a game seven rain delay the night falcons pats moonlight la la land trump hillary alabama clemson we also had 73 wins from the warriors and westbrook averaging a triple double are the stages set for an nba lottery shocker it's a good point if there's going to be something crazy happen with the nba lottery this would be the year. So what would be crazy? I thought about this.

Denver winning the lottery I think would be crazy. They'd have the worst odds probably of anyone. And if they won or if they got the second pick and they were able to add Lonzo Ball to Jokic and turn into the 86 Celtics, basically that would be

incredible. I think Philly winning the first seed, but then having that Lakers pick fall out so they would get the first and the fourth pick, that would be unbelievable. But here's where I landed on this question. If you're going to use that motto of unbelievable comebacks or pulling victory out of the jaws of defeat, pulling victory out of the jaws of defeat, pulling defeat out of the jaws of victory? Yeah, pulling defeat out of the jaws of victory. Then the logical answer is the Kings winning the lottery, but then having to swap picks with Philly.

Right, Tate? Yeah. Sacramento wins the lottery. Like, we did it, we won. Oh, wait, we have to flip down to number seven and give it to Philly. And they always have, like, the seventh pick. Like, that's the Willie Collier's dying pick. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, we. We have to flip down to number seven and give it to Philly. And they always have the seventh pick. That's the Willie Collier's dying thing.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, we get the seventh pick again, but we actually won the lottery, but then we did some weird Stauskas trade, and there's a pick swap, and oh, we're not winning, but that's our card. That would be the Moonlight La La Land moment. So I'm predicting that. I'm going to bet on Sacramento winning the lottery. I think that makes the most sense.

Jordan from Auburn asks, if Jokic is the Joker, then who does that make Nurkic? The Riddler? The Penguin? I like the Riddler for Jokic. It's pretty good. I mean, not Nurkic. Portland fans call him Nurk, but that's funny. If that becomes a rivalry, then he definitely needs a name of that line.

This is important from James Grillo. Don't know if you saw the recent episode of MTV's latest installment of The Challenge, but it contained the most interesting love triangle in the history of the show, Nicole, Cara Marie, and Laurel, and also the greatest dual gauntlet Inferno Fortress elimination matchups of all time. Arguably the two greatest female competitors, Cara and Laurel. Laurel won. And the two greatest, at least winning this, male competitors, Bananas and Darrell.

Both went toe to toe. All of this happened on the same show. Has any sport ever featured such an amazing off-court storyline combined with such a non-strong encore matchup i think not says james grillo grillo griot i agree that that was pound for pound the best challenge episode we've ever had and bananas versus durell to me should have been pay-per-view i i would have paid 49.99 to see who was going to win that i texted with bananas after he said that it was a three-round matchup with football where you had to knock down the other guy

and drop the ball into the bucket. Bananas said they actually did 10 rounds. They added it down to three. And he said it was just deadlocked. And then in the second-to-last one, he kept tackling Durrell, and the time before, he tackled him head-on, and he got a little concussed

so he decided the next time maybe not to hit his head again so tried to do a side tackle of him and grabbed the jersey and pulled him down and Durrell broke through and Bidena just has a lot of regrets and he's very bitter about it but also tips his hand to an amazing

competitor in Durrell I think Laurel is the world's greatest athlete, male or female. I think if she played in the NBA, she could average a triple-double like Westbrook did. So I don't want it to mean what she did, but Darrell versus Bananas was amazing. Hey, quick break to talk about Stamps.com. Convenient, easy, reliable, flexible. Those are my favorite words to describe stamps.com why wouldn't you avoid the post office why wouldn't you buy and print official u.s postage with your own computer and printer why wouldn't you hand your packages to your own mailman right outside

your house or apartment sign up with stamps.com you can automatically calculate and print the correct amount of postage for every letter or package you send. It's the U.S. Postal Service right at your fingertips. Any letter, any package, any class of mail, you're in control of all of it. Stamps.com will send you a digital scale to automatically calculate exact postage and help you decide the best class of mail based on your needs. You will never have to go to the post office again. Right now, use my code BS for this special offer. Four-week trial plus postage plus a digital scale without

long-term commitments. Tate, you don't go to the post office, do you? No. Okay, good. Just go to stamps.com, click on the microphone at the top of the homepage, type in BS, that's stamps.com, enter BS, sign up today, stamps.com. Never go to the post office again. Before we get back to the mailbag questions, quickly on the Masters. So I had an all-weekend soccer thing for my daughter. I taped the Masters, and I tried to do the thing where you try not to find out what's happening because you're going to watch it later

and it's going to somehow have the same drama. That really hasn't worked in about 10 years because of social media. So I started watching it on the Master's app on my iPhone while pretending to watch my daughter in this all-weekend thing. And the Master's app was pretty great, and I got to see a lot of it. And then I went back and re-watched at the end. My favorite Master's hole is the 15th

because it also leads to the 16th. So you have the possibility for the eagle on 15 and the water and all that stuff. And the gallery is great. And it always seems like good things happen there. But then it carries over right to the 16th. So that little sequence is the best. And Sergio's eagle on 15 was awesome and he managed to get

like a pretty good fist pump but I've always wanted more from Sergio with his uh reactions to putts and it really felt like it was Sergio's time and then he botches the putt on 16 after the great the great drive on the par three it It seemed like he was going to mess up. Gets to the 18, misses the game winner, the tournament winner, the championship winner, whatever you want to call it. I would have bet at that point, I would have bet anything on Justin Rose to win.

Wouldn't you have, Tate? Yeah. It was like the boat. So in 16, Sergio came back and get the high five from justin rose because he was cocky because he had made the eagle yeah and then when sergio missed the putt justin rose gets the first t shot in the playoff and he's like super you know cocky and jacked up and then he blows it to the right and it was like when both guys got cocky the other guy ended up coming yeah don't get quick you just always have to assume something terrible is going to happen. So Sergio, he won it.

And I got to be honest, I hadn't really thought about him that much in the last five years. I just assumed it was over. It was a great guy to win. I always love when, supposedly that, what was that, like his 73rd major that he had in one? He was 0 for 72. Yeah, he'd been runner up four times in majors. So that was cool. I was psyched for him

i i'm still ride with speed though i was i was really excited for speed yesterday i thought he could shake it off from 12 months before and uh he just couldn't do it and i wonder if i really hope that what happened last year didn't break him in some way and he doubled 12 again the hole that he quadrupled last year i know man golf that's why when the whole tiger thing happened and i wrote some column that turned out to be controversial about how i thought his comeback was going to be tougher than ali's comeback from boxing and my only point was that just like with the physical wear and tear in his body and how mental of a game golf is, I just couldn't

believe that people were assuming he was just going to come back and be Tiger again. Because golf, it's like once there's doubt in your head and that chip gets planted, it seems like the guys are just, you know, just not the same. Now, Tiger, I think, was, I would say, more physical than mental, but it was definitely both. Anyway, back to the mailbag questions. Here's how the MVP should go, says Greg F. from Lake Charles. If you could redraft the entire league at the end of regular season heading into the playoffs, who would be the first pick to win the title if you could build your playoff team around that person?

Wouldn't that have been LeBron for like the past 10 years besides maybe one or two Curry seasons? I don't think that's how the MVP should go, but it is an interesting exercise. I think LeBron would be the pick again. I think LeBron would have been the pick every single year since 08, except for Curry last year. Curry was incredible last year. So, yeah, I wouldn't go into the season and be like, all right, I got Russ first. Who do you guys have? Because I think the style that Westbrook has been using,

where it's basically like a one-man show and everybody else is a supporting cast member, it just has never worked for a title. It's impossible Jordan even when he was at the all time Jordan Apex still relied on other guys and other guys made game winning shots and things like that you can't win the title by yourself

Michael from Miami just wants to point out that I chose Joseph Nurkic for the Charles Oakley Award in Friday's ringer column about the guy I would bring into a dark alley with me from this season. He said James Johnson was the obvious choice. Second-degree black belt, first MMA bout at age 18.

He won in 97 seconds. Undefeated in seven MMA matches, 20-0 in all of his kickboxing matches, and his nickname is Bloodsport. Yet again, James Johnson. James Johnson's really like, he's the Dos Equis MVP of the year. He's the NBA's most interesting man this year. He lost all this weight. He lost like 40 pounds.

He had some of the best in-game dunks. He's an MMA guy. He spurred this amazing Miami turnaround that unfortunately looks like it's going to fall. About one win short because Waiters Iowa got hurt. But yeah, James Johnson. He's the greatest player from Wyoming ever. James Johnson. Who are the other choices?

Venice Dembo? Yeah, that's all you got, Wyoming. Eric Lechner. Alex Becker. This is an important question. Alex Becker says, as a diehard Celtics fan how tempted are you to leave PG-13 and Gordon Hayward

off your all NBA ballot just to make them more likely to miss mega contracts and be more available to the Celtics and free agency how often do you as part of the media actually have a chance to impact your franchise of choice

so profoundly it's a great question talked about it a little in the podcast last week. I'm a huge karma guy. And from a karma standpoint, I would not feel good about doing that. I would feel like it would backfire on the Celtics in some way with the lottery. They'd end up in the fourth pick or something. Not that I could control the lottery, but I just believe all fans have a responsibility

to represent the collective karma of our team. And that, to me, is bad karma. And I don't like it. So the point is, basically, if they don't make All-NBA, then they don't have the chance to make an extra $40 million from their teams. Which makes it a little more likely for them to sign elsewhere over the advantage that their team would have for keeping them but um it's a tough one that the i i would be way less likely to vote for paul george i think hayward has a better case especially because they're a top four team they have a chance to get to 50 wins he He's their crunch time guy.

He's been excellent. He's been efficient. Then you make a better case for him. On the other hand, it's hard for me to accept that he's one of the best 15 players in the league this season. So I got to think about that some more. Anyway, I would not do that just to help out the Celtics. I think that's sketchy.

Tim from Boston says, after that Cavs game last Wednesday I'm officially holding out zero hope for the Celtics in the playoffs you nailed it in your podcast teams that win in the playoffs have to have another gear

we've already seen the ceilings of the Celtics and Spurs they have no other gear I'm way more excited for ping pong balls on May 16th I love this Celtics team I've really enjoyed them. I think they're missing

a four-quarter chip on their shoulder that they had just more of last year. And you're right. They don't have the extra gear. Too much of their success or failure revolves around their ability to shoot threes.

Most of the time, they shoot threes around 33%, 34%, 35%. And when they do that, they don't win. If they have a game like they did over the weekend against Charlotte, they made 40% of their threes. They're just about unbeatable. They take a lot of threes. And when they're not shooting well like they have since the All-Star break, they haven't been shooting well.

It's rough for them. And, you know, I really think with the wrong matchup, I think it's a possible first round and out. I don't like how they're playing, and I think teams have figured out how to slow down Isaiah to some degree. They're basically just double teaming him at midcourt now. All the smart teams are just bum-rushing him at midcourt, and they're trying to make everyone else beat them.

And the right team is going to be able to do that. The worst thing for the Celtics is that Toronto's going to be the three seed. So even if the Celtics get past round one, they'd have to beat Toronto four times in round two. And I think Toronto is too good defensively. I do not think the Celtics can beat Toronto in a seven-game series. Unless something happens injury-wise to Toronto. I do not think the Celtics can beat them. I'm sorry.

I love the Celtics can beat them. I'm sorry. I love the Celtics, but I've watched an extraordinary amount of Celtics this year, and I do not think they are built to beat a team as big and flexible and as good defensively as Toronto is. Plus, they have nobody to stop the Rosen. And I just think that would be a tough out for them. So Dan Bunick from Chicago points out, the 2010 Cavs went 61-21.

LeBron went to Miami. The Cavs went 19-63. They dropped out by 42 wins, which is really a credit to how unbelievable LeBron is. Last year, the Thunder went 55-27. They're going to win 47-48 this year. A seven-game drop-off for losing a top-five player. Again, that's the best case for Russ for MVP.

To me, that's a better case than triple-doubles. They lost Kevin Durant. They won seven less games. That's insane. Eric from Berkeley asks, Are we forgetting how incredible Steph Curry's MVP campaign was last year? The man averaged 30 points a game while making five threes a game and creating your WTF club, another club I created, while toying with opponents, entering a new level of heat check and putting up historically great advanced metrics. If Steph had the season he had last year this year, where would he rank in the MVP race?

So if the Warriors won 73 games and Steph had the season he had last year, I would vote for Steph for MVP because that is team success combined with greatness, combined with some of the benchmarks you need, which makes me think like, man, last year's MVP season he had was really one of the all-time greats, if that was better than anything we've seen this year. I think one of the problems we've had with this year's MVP season is it's fantastic and it's been great to argue about, but all the candidates are flawed in some tiny way. Like, LeBron's team isn't doing well enough.

Westbrook doesn't make his teammates better. Harden hasn't played well these last three weeks. And his team, if it was 60 wins, it would be a no-brainer, but they're going to be in the mid-50s. And then Kawhi offensively has not been as good since the All-Star break, I think, as we'd want him to be. And offensively, it's just not the kind of resume we're used to for the MVP. We'd really be valuing defense and team success by doing that. It would be along the lines of the motto of KG's 2008 MVP bid on the Celtics, which he did not get. Kobe got it.

yeah, Steph Curry. I'd put last year's Steph Curry above everything. Jason M. in Parkland Ford asks, if Georgetown immediately fired Patrick Ewing right now, would that start the benefits of the Ewing theory? Yes. No question. Tom Hainley asks,

the NBA has seen the likes of Bill Russell, Bird, Danny Ainge, Kevin McHale, Steve Kerr, and Luke Wilder, name a few, move on from their playing careers and become successful head coaches. In your eyes, who is the next player, current or recently retired, to make the leap in the coaching arena?

Who do you think, Tatehouse jerry stackhouse he's not a great player though you don't think i do think could be a good yeah i don't think he was an nba great yeah i don't know the answer to that i don't it's hard for me to imagine any of the great players we have now decided to coach because all of them have made so much money. It's like, you know, they've all made between 200 and 400 million dollars. And the thought of just coaching and staying up till two in the morning and dealing with dudes missing curfew and somebody being mad because somebody else hooked up with the girl that had DM'd them on Instagram. Like those guys don't want to deal with that. Could Ray Allen coach? No, no, no for ray allen uh i don't see any of these guys doing it i think chris paul is somebody that i could see coaching would be the only one and he'd be fun because all

his players would hate him because everyone hates chris paul they love him they put up with him but they hate being around him day to day because he's just so consumed with winning and doing everything perfectly. Matthew Shelton in Johnsburg, Illinois asks, is there any sports streak more inexplicable than the TNT Bulls? No, there's not.

I don't understand it. I've never seen a team gain confidence because of when they were scheduled on a certain thing. It'll be interesting in the playoffs if they have some Thursday night games. TNT should, they should definitely try to have game three of whatever Chicago playoff series

be on Thursday night TNT. It would be like, they'd be favored by 12 points. Zach Rowling asks, you've said several times that you think NBA expansion is coming and Seattle will be getting the Sonics back. If that happens,

what cities are candidates for the other expansion team? So Seattle would be 31. I think Las Vegas and Vancouver would be the favorites for 32 outside chances for Virginia beach, Louisville, St. Louis or Kansas city. Nah,

I don't see it. Mexico city. I would say Las Vegas or Vancouver would be the two. Louisville. St. Louis or Kansas City? I don't see it. Mexico City? I would say Las Vegas or Vancouver would be the two picks. John W. in Arlington, Virginia asks, how much did March Madness change your perception of De'Aaron Fox? He torched Lonzo, took that match up personally, and reminded me of how Westbrook has approached the season. Between his play, his balls, the emotion he showed crying after the loss,

he really has made me a believer. I don't know if I'll ever be able to shoot, but I'll always go to war with that guy. I completely agree. I think it would be a huge mistake for him to fall out of the top five because he's a freak athlete who gives a shit and who plays hard. And we've seen that that usually translates. If you have the freak athlete part and the I give a shit part that's gonna work and it worked Westbrook's a good example UCLA you watched in that year you didn't know what he was but he

was something and he played so freaking hard and he was just so unlike anyone else in that draft and in the last couple years of drafts that I mean I remember when they took him fourth the Sonics I was shocked he was my big sleeper that draft and I was like man if if he could get to somebody gets him at like seven or eight that's a steal he went four and it was like oh ahead of Kevin Love it seemed a little iffy but I also wasn't against it I feel the same way with Fox I think he'll go between four and seven and he's just too good of an athlete he's gonna be a dominant defensive player he's gonna play hard he's gonna care i think he's gonna learn how to shoot if anything kawaii would be the kind of guy i would look at him for tate you love darren fox right he

just never shot more than five threes in the game so he knows what he's good at right it's like not like russ where he just keeps shooting threes even though he's not making threes right although russ this year is up to like 34 percent you see see Russ is shooting nine threes a game since the All-Star break? Yeah. That's insane. Yes. But I think Fox will make somebody happy. Here's a question from Richard.

April 19th, the day the Pats visit one of the most unpopular presidents in history. There will definitely be a picture of Trump's arm around Brady's shoulder with both flashing a thumbs up. How will that fly in the league and locker room? It all ends for Brady, I think, in another loss to the Giants in the Super Bowl. And the whispers of, can he really be the GOAT if he can't beat Eli? That starts flying around. Kraft steps down, hands the reins to his son. We all know how that goes in sports.

The Pats go winless for decades. The curse of Trump. Could it happen? Richard, you just said it chilled down my spine. I did not like that question. I really didn't enjoy that question at all. I think we should

take a commercial break. Majors League Baseball is finally back. And thank God, because I don't want to think about football after that question. As the new season gets underway, the Ringer Podcast network has baseball fans covered with the excellent ringer MLB show playing exclusively on the tune-in app for the month of April on top of that the ringer podcast network has partnered with tune-in to give baseball fans a free 60-day trial of tune in premium to listen to every live home call from every MLB game around the league catch the ringer

MLB show only on tune-in during April and with your premium subscription listen to live MLB game around the league. Catch the Ringer MLB show only on TuneIn during April and with your premium subscription, listen to live MLB games on TuneIn, which I actually did this weekend on my iPhone when I was stuck at this soccer thing. And I got to listen to the Red Sox, who had their entire lineup out, basically. I have a bad feeling about this Red Sox season.

No bullpen, guys. Yeah. Setup guys matter. Red Sox don't really have any go to tunein.com slash ringer and subscribe download the tune in app start listening today tune in your everything audio app and again the ringer mlb show with limberg and bauman is really good and it it's for the month of april it will be on tune and then after that it will be back in the Ringer Podcast Network.

Tate, I have a couple more questions. You get to ask me one question at the end of this. So start thinking of that now. Great. It can be any question. You can ask me anything. So Mike Wofford asks, if you had to compare Carmelo Anthony's career

to one of the following actors' careers, who would you pick and why? Here are the actors. Nicolas Cage, Josh Hartnett, Brendan Fraser, Orlando Bloom, or Samuel L. Jackson. And then he says, I was really just trying to think of financially rich yet critically unsuccessful actors. You know, like Melo. Shots fired. I would compare him to Vince Vaughn.

Vince Vaughn's had a very good career. He's made a lot of movies I enjoyed. His performance as Double Down Trent in Swingers, I think could be compared to Carmelo's winning the NCAA title at Syracuse. A great debut. The expectations of a lot of greatness coming up. And then just kind of settled into what they were into. Not a bad thing.

Carmelo's going to make the Hall of Fame. Vince Vaughn made some great movies. But yeah, Vince Vaughn would be my answer for that. Joseph Horner wants to know, who was... Oh, I have one more Carmelo question. This is from Mitchell Abner, longtime Knicks fan. Since he came to New York, Carmelo has refused to participate in anything that was not iso-Melo at the three. He killed Linsanity in D'Antoni ball.

He refused to stay at the four as part of small ball, which got the Knicks to round three. He refused to buy into the triangle. All he wants to do is face up, jab, step, hoist a shot or drive, or take a three. He doesn't play hard on defense anymore. I think Phil wants him gone, hence the triangle for next year. Let Melo know now that he's going to be a cog in his system

and that his stats are going to be hurt. Let him beg out. Once he's gone, they will change the offense again. What do you think? I think you're 100% right. I think Melo will be traded

this summer to the Clippers of Los Angeles. I think Blake Griffin will be on the Oklahoma City Thunder next year. I'm going to make a prediction. What day is today, Tate? It's April 10th. April 10th. I'm going to make

a prediction. You can play this on the YouTubes in three months if it happens. A three-way deal. Carmelo Anthony to the Clippers. Blake Griffin's sign-in trade to okc and okc sends uh canter and some other stuff to the next to make it worth their while to give up on carmelo what do you think of that tate i'm into it you're into it blake and russ blake and russ little

pick and roll yeah yeah blake goes, and they get along for about 10 games. Jay Valdosta asks, Rajon Rondo is almost leading the Chicago Bulls in three-point percentage. Is there a better way to describe this season? Rondo's at 36.6. Butler's at 36.9. McDermott's 37.3. And Grant is at 36.8 jesus so if rondo hits a couple threes he could lead the

bulls in threes that's not even the 10 craziest things about this season jeff stone wants to know who owns the rights to the old grantland.com name and website how proud will you be when someone takes it over and turns it into a porn site. First of all, very proud. Very proud, excited, delighted, vindicated in a lot of ways. ESPN owns the site, and my guess would be that it's just going to be locked behind some metal safe for years and years until they have to start hawking stuff for cash, which could be in about two years. Austin Fahey wonders,

I always hear about Chris Paul point guard and how he's the best point of all time. But if I could play with Chris Paul or Magic, I'd pick Magic. Chris Paul or Steve Nash, I'd pick Steve Nash. I'd rather play with Jason Kidd, Detroit Isaiah Thomas, John Stockton, or any all-time great point guard before Chris Paul. Is this the same hate the Clippers always get, or is this a fair statement? That was from Austin Fahey. I'm with you.

I wouldn't want to spend 10 years of my life playing with Chris Paul. I just think he's difficult to play with. He's a perfectionist. He's that guy in your office who's just constantly like, hey, man, your desk's dirty. Hey, man, I thought you were're gonna send me those reports at two hey man we had a meeting you're a minute late he's that guy i think i i just think after like five years you just kind of lose the will to live and here's my evidence i've been watching the quippers this season He's a perfectionist. He's a very demanding guy.

He stomps around on the court. And this vibe is created that is just, you're whining at the calls. Do this, do that. He's yelling at people. I don't know. It's not that fun. Tate, would you want to play with Chris Paul for five years? He's just never won anything, unfortunately.

And he's never won anything. We were always pulling for him. Isaiah Thomas won titles. Yeah. Isaiah Thomas had a four-year run where the Pistons were in the hunt year after year after year with probably more talent than Chris Paul. It's a lot of pressure on his teammates. I think that's what it comes down to.

Like when Wake lost in the second round, it always felt like there was just a lot of pressure on everyone else to perform for him. He's rigged it perfectly. Boz Bostrom from St. Joseph says, I've been doing my job as a dad and introducing my son to the Rocky series. We're through Rocky IV.

What do I do now? Do I stop altogether? Do I skip to Rocky Balboa? Or do I continue on with Rocky V? I'm really glad you asked this question. You go from Rocky IV right to Creed.

You forget that Rocky V happened. And you don't acknowledge Rocky Balboa. You just go from Rocky IV to Creed. It's fine. You don't ask any questions. Adrian's dead of cancer. You get it. You'll understand that from Creed.

Rocky IV, Creed dies. It goes right to Creed, which Creed's son. It just makes sense. If I'm doing a Rocky marathon on AMC, if they put me in charge of AMC, I'm doing a Rocky marathon. The Rocky marathon for me would be the first four. And then Creed.

I think we got through all the questions, Tate. Hold on. Oh, Christopher from Jersey City asks, Is Popovich so smart that the Spurs intentionally laid down against the Lakers on April 5th in an effort to reduce the Lakers draft odds? The Lakers win essentially sealed their fate as the third worst record, which increased the possibility of forfeiting their pick to the Sixers from 41.8% to 53.1%. And also, if that happened and they lost their pick, they'd also have to owe their 2019 first round pick to the magic stripping a

potential rival of two huge assets via a meaningless regular season game seems like a total pop move what do you think intentional or coincidental one million percent intentional there's no question that he looked at that and did that and if i was a laker fan i would be having a stroke that we went from the second seed to the third seed. Because third seed, all you need is one team to jump you and you're out. You're on the outside looking in. I think Pop did that intentionally. What do you think, Tate?

Yeah, and Julius Randle had a great game. And Gasol kind of laid down. Gasol laid down? Yeah, for Randle to have a good game. And if you're letting Julius Randall have a good game against you, that seems purposeful. I was already to be agitated by Celtics Brooklyn tonight. Now it doesn't matter because

Brooklyn's quenched the one spot. Thank you, Brooklyn. But if you're the Celtics, do you want the Celtics to get the number one pick? If I'm Isaiah Thomas, do I want them to get the one seed in the lottery, get the first pick, and take Markel Fultz, who's going to take my job?

I wouldn't want that. I would try to shoot like six for 32 in that game to try to get Brooklyn out of there. All right, I think we covered everything. We didn't really talk about NFL draft. I didn't want to talk about NBA because we have a a bunch of nba stuff coming i'm gonna do my awards column and all that stuff tate you get one question so there's this trend right and all the champions have gotten redemption patriots lost the broncos because of owen daniels they come back

the next year they win the title clemson loses to alab. They come back the next year. They win the title. North Carolina loses. They come back. They win the title. So with that in line, do you see Warriors come back against the Cavs and win the title? And then the Indians come back and win the World Series? So you're saying this is the year of the avenge my terrible defeat? Yes. We're three for three so far.

I don't think the Cavs are going to make the finals. Yeah. See, that throws a wrinkle into everything. I don't think the Cavs can beat the Raptors. That changes everything. Everyone thinks I'm trying to reverse things to Raptors. What have I seen from the Cavs that makes me think they're going to... You know, LeBron turned it up in that Boston game.

And was like, oh yeah, LeBron's the best player in the league. But then they lost their next two. They can't hold a lead. They don't have a bench. It's weird to me that LeBron and... Any team with LeBron and Kyrie, I don't even... Why do the other teammates even matter that much?

That should be a 60-win team. They have two of the best 12 players in the league. And they just brought Kay Felder back from the D-League and they're depending on Larry Sanders to develop so that he can play in the playoffs. That's not good. Kevin Love doesn't seem right. I thought that jump ball at the end of regulation in the Atlanta game. Did you see that?

No. There's a jump ball. Atlanta's down two with like five seconds left. Jump ball, gets bounced. Kevin Love dives to the floor but not 100 not like his life depending on it um sort of like his career in cleveland yeah yeah except for the last minute against steph when he was like i'm not letting steph score on me ball game milsap ends up making a shot tie the game and now they have to uh sweat out the one seed but i don't like what i'm seeing from them and you know kevin o'connor

in our nba slack we've been talking about this a lot there's been a lot of what the fuck is tyloo doing with this season tyla tyloo might not be a good coach they've certainly blown a lot of leads and and their defense is terrible, and the chemistry looks off. I just find it hard to believe that with LeBron and Kyrie in this particular season that that's not a 59-win team. Those guys are good for 55 a game. I haven't been happy. Kyrie's stats are fine for him. He's going to average 25 a game.

Kyrie should be going off. Once a week they should be like, all right, here's your game you're gonna score 48 points like what Dame Lillard's done these last two months I'm shocked that Kyrie where's been the two-month Kyrie stretch where he just destroys everybody and he gets the shots like Dame Lillard has like 30 more shot attempts than him on the season doesn't make sense yeah all right that's it for the mailbag if you want to send uh we might do this again did you think that worked or we're never doing this again no i loved it it was fun yeah thanks tate we'll get the people involved get the people

involved yeah give the people what they want but uh it's a good way for me to bounce around a whole different bunch of topics and also like if i can't actually write the mailbag it's fun to do these on here so if you want to send a question to the next, either the mailbag I write or the podcast mailbag, send it to themailbag at theringer.com. Once again, themailbag at theringer.com. Thanks to stamps.com. They bring the U.S. Postal Service right to your fingertips. Buy and print official U.S. postage for any letter, any package, any class of mail.

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our presenting sponsor thanks to tune in don't forget about the 60-day free trial of tune in premium just go to tune in.com slash ringer and that's where you can find our mlb uh the ringer mlb show for the rest of this month don't forget about tate's podcast with lombardi gm street which you can find on the Ring NFL show feed. When are you going to two a week before the draft? Soon? I think we were talking about this week, maybe next week. Okay. You're doing a good job on that.

I'm proud of you. Thanks. I remember when you were just this little kid from North Carolina with 20 cents to your name. That thing was 15 cents. 15 cents and just some clothes and that's it. Did your girlfriend come this weekend she did how'd that go beautiful do you get in a fight no that's great that's such a win when they come to visit you don't get in a fight she tried to start one on like saturday night at two in the

morning no she said she heard that i hosted a podcast called gm street with mike lombardi everything's changed then you had 20 000 twitter followers how's your life changed since north carolina won the title I'm unflappable nothing can really affect me in life I feel vindicated it was a tough stretch

last year was a tough stretch how many times did you cry oh I cried in the arena two or three times two or three times yeah it meant a lot I'm trying to think

the last time I cried from sports plus we booed Mark Emmert which made me cry I'm trying to think the last time I cried from sports. Plus we booed Mark Emmert, which made me cry. Just tears of joy. I've never cried after a win. I've only cried after losses. Yeah.

And after Len Bias died. Yeah, that's worth it. That was rough. I'm still not over Len Bias. It's like 31 years. I still can't get over it. Yeah. I still think about him every once in a while. Yeah. I thinkith gatlin and just all those guys it's a tough it's a great doc wow what a what a way to end this podcast we have two more podcasts coming

this week don't forget uh the ringer.com if you missed my um my independent spirit nba awards last week another one coming this week we We're also celebrating Fast and Furious all week on TheRinger.com. And there may be a podcast or two that I'm involved with that will help celebrate that as well. So until then, thanks for sending the mail back questions. Talk to you soon. I don't have.