The Bill Simmons Podcast - Ep. 89: All-NBA Ballot With Joe House

Episode Date: April 13, 2016

HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons submits his All-NBA 2016 selections, with help from Joe House. Topics include: Karl-Anthony Towns's ROY campaign, Pop vs. Kerr (11:00), Draymond's DPOY credentials (15:00), C.J. McCollum's breakout season (20:00), Bill's All-NBA First Team (25:00), CP3 vs. Isiah Thomas (34:00), LeBron's season by the numbers (39:00), the Gervin-Curry scoring mark (45:00), Bill's All-NBA Second Team (49:00), Harden's drop-off (52:00), Bill's All-NBA Third Team (54:00), Curry's uncontested MVP candidacy (59:30), and an NHL playoff preview (1:03:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's episode of the BS Podcast is brought to you by SeatGeek, our presenting sponsor and our favorite app for buying and selling tickets for sports and music. Go to SeatGeek.com slash BS to start using SeatGeek. House, did you have to use SeatGeek for the Masters? No. I did not. I had a hookup. Because Callaway gave you free access.

Yeah. Yeah, I had access. All right. Well, for people that don't have access and the benefit of nice people from Callaway, you do have SeatGeek. So don't forget to download the free SeatGeek app and a promo code BSCGeek sends you $20 upon your first purchase. Today's episode also brought to you by HBO Now, the home of After the Thrones, the ringers postgame show for Game of Thrones starring Andy Greenwald and Chris Ryan. Game of Thrones launches Sunday, April 24th, after

the Thrones launches, shortly after on HBO Now House. You'll watch after the Thrones. Right? I can't believe two dudes I know are going to be on TV. I know. Three dudes. You're going to be on TV, too. I know. I know. This is crazy. I almost can't believe all this

is happening, but we'll see. I have my fingers crossed. Sign up for The Ringer's awesome newsletter at theringer.com. We're getting rave reviews. Just do it. And we're off. I was driving into work today listening to the Backspin Station because I'm a white guy in my mid-40s, and that's one of the rules is you listen to the backspin station because i'm a white guy in my mid-40s and that's one of the

rules is you listen to the backspin station and you wear those pullovers with the half zips those are two mid-40s white guy thing and picture me rolling came on i thought it was a sign from god and now joe house is on the podcast how are you house i'm. I'm happy to be rolling. Last day of the NBA season. Kind of a holiday. Yeah. Great night. Lots of games. Celtics heat.

The 3, 4, 5, 6 seeds are all in shambles in the Eastern Conference. The Warriors going for 73. And somebody's last game. I can't remember who there was one more game one of the old guys is playing his last game whatever House

I have my awards ballot for all NBA and I thought we could talk it through oh you didn't complete it already no I'm going to mail it in no i get i'm gonna mail it in after we talk and not a mail-in like it well i'm gonna i'm gonna mail in this podcast so that's perfect no i didn't mean a mail-in like with dan shawn i see mails into boston globecom i meant like i'm actually gonna email the ballot to the to the ernst and young nba awards people so uh wow

that is so let's go over this quick. I'm just going to bounce some stuff off you. You can just be my shit detector for my ballot. Ready? I'm listening. Rookie of the year. I think Towns, I think he's had one of the greatest rookie seasons in a while. I was actually kind of startled by how good he was.

It dawned on me watching Minnesota win in Oakland last week, and Towns kind of took over in overtime. Is it fair to say he's very C-Web 2.0-ish? Ooh, I like that. Yeah. I like that a lot. He had one drive in that game in OT when he was in the three-point line. He did one of those C-web meanders into the lane,

switched hands, kind of off-bounce, herky-jerky layup. You know that was the signature C-web play. The surprising thing with that is we didn't get to see all of that on display when he was at Kentucky. I liked his general, he was always fluid with the ball in his hands down low inside the free throw line. But that's a complicated move that you just described there, that old C-Webb move. And he could post up. C-Webb, his post-up game was basically the jump hook, which he would just do in a variety of ways. He had a nice little 15-footer, which Towns has. He was a great passer, so is Towns. Very good defender.

Young C-Web before he started having knee injuries. And I don't think Chocolate City helped C-Web that much, maybe off the court. I think maybe, you know, I think he got into better shape. I think he enjoyed his time here. I know. I think he definitely enjoyed his time. But Towns, that was the game where I could never figure out who Towns reminded me of, and that was the game I was like, oh, there's some C-Web potential here.

So I looked up rookies that averaged 18 points, 10 and a half rebounds, and had a PR of over 21 since 1984 towns hakeem david robinson shack duncan and technically blake griffin but he he sat out his rookie season then his rookie season was the second season those are the six names that's a pretty nice list house that's a great list that's a i'm i'm my i had to pick my floor my jaw up off the floor i'm surprised no guards cracked that list. Well, the rebounds, that's why. Ten and a half rebounds. The rebounds is the thing, right?

Of course, of course. Unless Oscar Robertson. Yeah. The thing that I've been most impressed by with Towns, and we haven't even talked about it yet, is his defense. The defense is the thing that you can't really teach. You either have a nose for it or you don't have a nose for it. And that was the thing I thought

was most impressive about him early on in his tenure in the National Basketball Association. But those are very mature offensive statistics that you just described there. Towns is basically if C-Webb and Rasheed Wallace

had a baby and that baby was allergic to marijuana, I think it would have been Towns. That's my takeaway on Towns. I love that guy. Sheed has had a little more range, but that developed as his career developed? I think Towns, yeah.

I think eventually Towns is a 40% shooter from three and is the prototypical five in whatever this modern NBA is before things revert to the other way. The other thing, I think I've mentioned this on a pod before, but I don't think you and I have talked about it. About a month ago, this Timberwolves team started feeling very 2009 Thunder-ish with the pieces they have. And I found myself watching a lot of them on League Pass these last five or six weeks. I just like the makeup of the team. I'm anxious to see what they look like when a security guard isn't their head coach.

And I'm just excited for the T-Wolves. Congratulations to their fans. I'm not sure. I have a excited for the T-Wolves. Congratulations to the fans. Well, I'm not sure. I have a question for you, but I'm not so sure that Sam Mitchell is not returning next year. Well, that would be a terrible idea, and I really hope that doesn't happen. I feel very happy for the T-Wolves fans because other than winning the KG lottery,

even though he's the fifth pick, it's almost like you win the lottery when that guy falls to five. You get one of the 15 best players of all time with the fifth pick. Other than that, not a lot of laughs, not a lot of good times. Some of the worst GMs we've ever seen, some of the most terrible coaches we've ever seen. A lot of misfires, a lot of sadness. Having to trade KG, he goes to Boston, wins a title.

And finally things seem like they're working out for the T-Wolves. The Towns, Wiggins, Levine, they're going to have another lottery pick, some cap space. I would love to see Thibodeau go there. I hope that's how it plays out. Towns, I have Porzingis. I would not like to see Thibodeau go there. I want him to go to a different team.

But the thing I'm interested in hearing your opinion on, what turned? What changed for them six weeks ago? What made them all of a sudden more competitive? I think Towns got better. I think you see this with rookies in their first season. Post-All-Star break, those last six, seven weeks, it could go

one way or the other, and some of them just get better. I think Levine, the dunk contest probably helped them from a confidence standpoint. And Wiggins is not a number one. I don't think he has the makeup or the mentality for it. But he's a great number two long term. If Towns is your best guy and Wiggins is your second best guy,

you're in awesome shape. And I just think if you look long range for what the next decade looks like for all of these teams, you would want that Minnesota roster over just about anyone's roster. I think Boston's in good shape because they have all the Brooklyn picks. OKC, obviously, with Westbrook and Durant is amazing. The Warriors are in great shape. All their best guys are in their 20s.

But Minnesota's in that conversation. And I guess it pays off. It's pretty stunning. This is probably the most time we've spent on a podcast talking about Minnesota possibly ever. Well, I think they're where they were. I'm sure we have podcasts in 2009 talking about how much we love watching the Thunder.

Undoubtedly. So I have Town I think that's where they are. So I have Towns one, Porzingis two. I think he's the obvious two. And Jokic on Denver, the center. Who I thought was really good. And I'm amazed that he didn't go. I think he went 41st a couple years ago. He got stashed by Denver.

This was his official rookie year. It's amazing to me that teams keep hitting these second-round picks. You know, you think everyone gets smarter, but, man, Draymond, who I'm going to tell you in a few minutes is my first team all-NBA center. The guy was the 37th pick. Chris Middleton was the second-rounder. Jokic was 41st. Jokic, Jokic? Tate, is it Jokic or Jokic? I'mer. Jokic was 41st. Jokic?

Jokic? Tate, is it Jokic or Jokic? I'm going with Jokic. Is Jokic? Yeah, yeah. I'm so stupid with names. I wanted to make sure I got that right. The only other rookie that I really, really liked was Booker on the Suns, who is offense only right now.

Yeah, right. But for how young he is and some of the decision making he's he's shown in some of these games i think he is a fascinating fascinating fascinating prospect what do you have you watched him at all he's a real asset he's kind of ruined their pick they had that third pick locked up and booker just won a couple games by himself and now as we head into game 82 Brooklyn has a one game lead on the third pick I'm sure my dad's convinced Brooklyn's

going to win Phoenix will lose and then the league will fuck us on the coin flip for the 50th straight time we've lost every coin flip for yeah we've lost every coin flip for a draft pick since like 1960 but anyway Booker's good so Ryan McDonough

did an absolutely atrocious job the last two years but pick Booker and the Alex Lynn pick actually looks better because he's been pretty good so I don't know what to

Ryan McDonough is the new Joe Dumars he really is he's all over the map great moves or horrendous moves coach of the year I'm going to vote

for Popovich I can't vote for Popovich I can't vote for Steve Curry he didn't coach half the season it just feels weird like I love Steve Curry it's amazing what he did but he didn't actually coach

for three months I don't know how I give him coach of the year it just doesn't feel right what do you think? I like a name that you didn't that you didn't mention I like Terry Stotts for this.

I think Portland really came out of nowhere. I mean, we had a decent discussion about whether or not they were going to win 27 or 28 games at the beginning of the season. They had one returning starter in Dame. Lord have mercy uh and and you know they there was nothing as you looked at that roster that jumped off the page at you and said oh yeah here's a team that can rip off 45 wins in the west yeah i mean we we probably well not probably we grossly overestimated the competitiveness of the West this season, but I've been most impressed with Portland. I like when fan bases taunt us by emails or Twitter replies

that we said their team wasn't going to be good when it actually ended up being good. Like Charlotte and Portland were the two teams this year. First of all, the Vegas over-unders for wins for both of those teams were like 30. Like we weren't the only ones thinking that those teams were going to suck. And if you look at Charlotte and you look at Portland, there's no indication that those teams are going to be good. It's fucking totally random.

And we both were on Charlotte last year, remember? We thought Charlotte was going to be a a possible out of nowhere team and they sucked and it was atlanta that was the out of nowhere team but i don't know they anyone who thought portland or charlotte was actually going to be good is is lying come on um i have Popovich, Clifford second. Okay. Because that Charlotte team is terrible. I don't understand how they could be a possible four seed. But maybe they aren't terrible.

He's getting the most out of them. Kemba's made a step up. I think Clifford gets credit for that. Kemba Walker and Batum, the two of them together. Yep, that's been good. So Clifford resuscitated Batum, or was at least involved a little. And then also figured out how to use all their weird white guys. They have 40 white guys in that team.

40 big guys. Kaminsky, Zeller, Spencer Hart. He figured out how to juggle all the white dudes. So congratulations to him. An equally impressive mkg um getting hurt the beginning of the season and them not missing a beat right which raises the question maybe that maybe that's one of the reasons they're playing well can you have a guy at that position who just can't shoot at all tate's kind of sadly nodding we all love mkg he's got to learn how to shoot so popovich

clifford stats you okay with that yeah i'm not going to try and talk you out of it if brad stevens had won the last couple games and gotten us to a three seed he i would have had him in there in the second spot but yeah i would not have permitted you to have him sniffing one. Yeah. Defensive player of the year, Draymond. I just think everything he does for that team is so incredibly unique and fuels their identity to some degree, his ability to guard all these different positions.

There's just nobody like him. Kawhi's probably a better defensive player, but I think I'm in the mode of I just want to reward the Warriors in as many ways as possible in awards season because this is a once-in-a-lifetime season. So I'd rather give it to him. And I have Millsap third. It's nice to see Millsap finally getting credit for his defense. The guy's been incredible this season and is really good defensively

and does some of the stuff Draymond does, actually. So I would have him third. I don't buy the white side, DeAndre Jordan, just because they get a lot of blocks. I'm not impressed by that. What do you think? I don't know enough about Avery Bradley, but I want to give him a quick

honorable mention because of what he did in that game that boston beat golden state in in oakland both games by the way he's gone at staff both games yeah well i i i watched the um the tape and i'm gonna i don't remember who's the coach that has the uh that does the breakdown of tape and pushes them out on twitter afterwards oh at that dude is breakdown that's it at b-ball breakdown i absolutely adore that yeah god i wish i wasn't so old i would have i would have come right off my tongue i he did 11 minute 12 minute breakdown in that game and i watched it three three times and avery bradley up up in Steph's junk all game long was a thing of beauty. So just quick shout-out to Avery.

I know we're talking defensive player of the year. I just wanted to get a quick shout-out for that. He's getting – I have to vote for all defense too. So I have Kawhi, Millsap, Draymond, Avery, and Chris Paul. That's my first team. Oh, so there you go. First team all defense is pretty good. Second team, Jay Crowder, Paul George, Whiteside, Tony Allen, Clay Thompson.

There you go. Kind of like Jimmy Butler in there maybe. No, I'm not rewarding anyone from the Bulls. Sorry. Six man is the worst six man crap we've ever had. And this is a great time to make the suggestion that I always have for different things, whether it's the Oscars or NBA awards, whatever. When we don't have a winner and we all know there's no winner we feel that good about, just leave it vacant, roll it over next year. Next year's guy wins two awards.

Next year's six man, if we have one, he just one, he wins last year's trophy and that year's trophy too. No? That's interesting. You didn't like Will Barton? You don't like him enough to reward him? That team was like 30 and 52. I voted for Iggy. That doesn't have anything to do.

He was a revelation, I thought. He was great. I mean, yeah, sure. I had him second. I don't like Cantor because I don't like how OKC used him, and OKC lost seven or eight games more than they should have. Cantor was the sixth man of the year for his team and for every other team that was playing them

because I can't even imagine how many points he gave up. I have Iguodala, Will Barton second, and Sean Livingston third in my reward the Warriors as many times as possible. Sean Livingston's stats aren't great. Guy was out there in a lot of crunch times. Guy swung a lot of games, gave them a ton of flexibility, just a great teammate, great passer, always gave them a ton of flexibility, just a great teammate, great passer, always

gave them a really good 20 minutes. And the Warriors are the Warriors. So there you go. You all right with that? Yeah, I'm good with that. I love rewarding Sean Livingston, who had a cup of coffee here in Chocolate City. You loved him. Remember when the Warriors signed him?

We both went crazy because we thought he was good the year before. Exactly. Most improved, the dumbest award ever. So would Tate be most improved for podcast producers? Because he was like an intern nine months ago, and now he's been producing six months of podcasts. Does that make him most improved, or did he just get a chance? The bar was very low. Let's just put get a chance? The bar was very low.

Let's just put it that way. The bar was very low. Oh, that feels like an insult, Tate. I have C.J. McCollum as the obvious winner just because that guy has turned into like the modern-day Sam Jones. His herky-jerky, weird, crazy offensive game he has. He can make threes. I just like his game.

He made – the Celtics played them. We had a three-point lead, like a minute left. Timeout, comes out. McCollum, they run some weird play for him. He doesn't even have a shot. Ends up with some fall-away baseline jumper that I thought was going to get blocked, and he made it because he always makes those shots. I just think that guy's really good. And also, he listens to the podcast so he's obviously has great taste so your shout out to cj

shout out that's he's a patriot league guy right yeah and also shout out to uh my old partner jalen rose because when we did that interview series two years ago three years ago for that draft cj cj and oladipo were the two interviews that impressed us the most. We left the CJ interview and we were like, I know he's undersized, I know, but there's something about that guy, he's gonna make it. Both of us felt that way just from the interview.

We did not feel that way after Shabazz's interview. So yeah, I have McCollum, Barton, and Kemba. But who cares? So all rookie, I have McCollum, Barton, and Kemba. But who cares? So, all rookie. I'm only doing the first team because nobody cares about the second team. Towns, Porzingis, Booker, Justice Winslow, who is what he thought. Oh, yeah. He is what we thought he was.

As advertised. Yeah. I would have been okay if the Celtics had traded every pick we have for him. Well, no, actually I wouldn't. You tried to. Yeah, we tried. Once he learns how to shoot, that guy's a multi-all-star. And I think he's been very important for Miami

and one of the reasons that Miami has turned into an intriguing sleeper. My question is the second team. Is D'Angelo Russell disqualified for starting this whole scandal on the Lakers? What do you think? Oh, no. That gives him almost first-team stature as far as I'm concerned. For ruining Nick Young's marriage? What's better than any?

I mean, it's too good to be true. If you wrote this script down and said, here, we're going to pretend that this is something that might happen, you'd get laughed out of the room. It has everything. It has Swaggy P, a sullen, sulking Swaggy P, a Swaggy P that won't forgive D'Angelo. It has the train wreck Lakers in the most asinine season they've had probably in the history of the franchise with this trotout Kobe thing.

And the most stubborn, ill-suited coach in the league and maybe in league history. And I know this sounds like I'm a Laker hater. I'm not. I have loved every minute of what the Lakers have done this season. The Angelo Russell thing was the icing on the cake. I put the young man right up there, maybe first team for what he did. And by the way, he can play. when myron scott finally figured out oh maybe it makes a good it's a good

idea to try and give him some time the kid can play and and he has you know he gets a little confidence i'm excited about what what um you know he he can do out here in the next handful of years in national basketball association all right i'll put him on my second team. And you're right. He upstaged Kobe's insufferable farewell tour for a week. I would like to congratulate myself for reigning myself in for this entire Kobe farewell tour season out of respect to a sport that I love and to all the Laker fans, because I live in LA and I'm just trying to show respect. But I just want everyone to know out there that I've been reining myself in for six solid months.

And at some point I'm going to snap. It might actually be tonight on Twitter during the farewell game. But that's all. I just can't believe the last six months. I just can't believe it. Well, look. I'm so disappointed. Don't go too crazy.

I want you to have Kobe on a podcast. I'm honestly impressed that I made it on today and Kobe didn't. Because I'm sure Kobe would have said yes if you'd asked him. I should have him on the podcast and ask him about the 50 top times he's contradicted himself over the last five years. Including when he used to say how he never wanted a farewell tour and to be celebrated like this. And then actually, that's totally what happened. Don't get me started. Hey, house, what is it about buying a mattress that leaves you feeling violated?

My back. Almost as violating as this Kobe farewell tour. Is it the pushy salespeople, the fake President's Day sale, or the fact that you know you'll regret what you bought as you do the walk of shame out of the mattress store? Mattress stores are depressing. It's the last one. I lay down. I wanted my back to feel good, and it doesn't feel good.

Well, let me introduce you to Helix Sleep. You can buy a mattress online. It's customized for you for hundreds of dollars and not thousands of dollars. Go to helixsleep.com. Answer a few simple questions, and Helix creates your custom sleep profile to build you the most comfortable mattress you'll ever sleep on. For your sleep profile, I don't know if they have a snoring checkmark box, but I don't think that matters with mattresses. You're usually going to snore regardless of what mattress you're on, right? No, I think the mattress can help. But the angle

of your head is the thing that really affects the snoring. All right. Well, with Helix, your mattress will arrive at your door in a week and shipping is 100% free. You have 100 nights to try it out. If you don't love it, they'll pick it up for free and give you a 100% refund. No questions asked. It's almost like dating. You can just break up with the Helix mattress after 100 nights if you don't like it. If you do love it, keep it. And that's why everyone from GQ Magazine to Forbes are all raving about Helix Sleep.

Go to helixsleep.com. Get $50 off your order. from GQ Magazine to Forbes are all raving about Helix Sleep. Go to helixsleep.com slash BS. Get $50 off your order. That's helixsleep.com slash BS. Let's talk about first-team O&B. Sure. It's a very exciting year for the first-team O&B. We have three locks.

Steph Curry has to be on it. LeBron James has to be on it, despite the fact that he's been a terrible teammate this year. And Kawhi Leonard. I think those are the three locks. I would argue Kevin Durant is also a lock, right? Oh. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. I'm not prepared to go. I need to hear the fifth before I give you my opinion on KD as a lock. Well, here's the problem. I don't have a spot for him. I'm only allowed to vote for two forwards.

So sorry, KD. You have to go to the second team. It's amazing that he's not a first-team All-NBA, but I don't know what else to do. There's two forwards. LeBron and Kawhi had better seasons than him. Kawhi was on a better team. And I just don't feel right about bumping Kawhi to the second team. He's been the most consistent guy on the Spurs. He's the best two-way player in the league. He stepped it up. He's become a crunch time guy. He's the shark octopus. I don't know how he's not a first teamer. I'm sorry, the shark octopus. I don't know how he's not a first-teamer.

I'm sorry, Kevin Durant. I don't know how he didn't win 60 games with you and Russell Westbrook. How does that not happen? I think it's appropriate to downgrade KD as a form of teeny-tiny punishment. They both get a slight downgrade because of that post-All-Star performance or lack thereof. They came out in a way that looked confused. They lost a bunch of home games that they shouldn't have lost. And to this date, to this moment, we still don't have an answer to what they're going to do

when there's three minutes left in a basketball game and the score is tied or they're within a couple buckets. How can that be? You just described why both of them are on my second team on NBA. Yeah, that's where they belong. Yeah. So I don't know. I don't care who's making the list. I don't care what criteria you're using.

There are seven players in the NBA who are better than everyone else, and I'm not counting Anthony Davis because he's hurt. But LeBron, Kawhi, Curry, Chris Paul, Durant, and Westbrook are in the top seven, whatever list you want to make. You can make the seventh spot. It can be Draymond. It can be Anthony Davis. It can be the top seven, whatever list you want to make. You can make the seventh spot. It can be Draymond. It can be Anthony Davis. It can be James Harden, whatever.

But those six have to be in whatever top seven you make. Oklahoma City has two of those guys. How do they not win 60 games? I don't understand it. Both of them were relatively healthy this season. Westbrook was healthy the whole year. Durant had, he missed like one two-week stretch. But I just don't get it.

I think for me it's like I know they're in a tough conference. I know the bench was a little up and down. I know Donovan was feeling his oats. But I watched them just lose to too many bad teams this year and lose too many games they should have won, and I never felt great about it. So I am going to reflect my disappointment by putting them both on my second team All-NBA. Fair or unfair?

That is 100% fair. We are in 100% lockstep. We're in 1,000% lockstep on that assessment. The thing that I think is concerning for OKC, what is the difference between Scotty Brooks and Billy Donovan? I'm still trying to figure out whether Billy Donovan is going to rip off his mask and it's going to be Scotty Brooks standing there. Especially inside the last three minutes of these games. I haven't seen one thing that makes me think that they're better positioned, better poised for a run in this West than they would have been with Brooks. They look to me to be the exact same

team, super loaded, super deep, still can't figure out how to win games at the end. And they've never figured out the fifth spot on the crunch time side. We're in year five of them just not knowing who that fifth guy is. that said i think they're terrifying in the playoffs because they have two of the best seven guys in the league and i i would not underestimate them ever i think uh they might have another gear who the hell knows i have chris paul as my as my my lmba team because we can vote for draymond as center, LeBron, Kawhi, Draymond, Curry, Chris Paul. What Chris Paul did to keep the Clips together and to keep them as a top-four seed and almost within shouting distance of a three seed, just a bizarre season.

They lose Blake for basically 60% of the year. Their bench is in flux. You've got Austin Rivers playing 20 minutes a game and Cole Aldridge, all these dudes. Lance Stevenson, Josh Smith, and Chris, just another Chris season. I was looking at Chris Paul versus Isaiah, their first 11 years.

Chris is 19 points a game, 10 assists a game, four and a half rebounds a game. Isaiah was 20 points a game, nine and a half assists a game, 4.5 rebounds a game. Isaiah was 20 points a game, 9.5 assists a game, 3.7 rebounds a game. Basically, the exact same points, rebounds, assists stats. And you and I both thought Isaiah was the best small point guard we ever saw, right? Absolutely. Unstoppable. So here's the difference.

Chris is, even though they shot the same from field goal, Chris is, you know, a 37% three-point shooter. Isaiah was that era. Nobody made threes. He was 28%. Chris's career PER is 25.7, which I think is in the top 10. Isaiah was 18.5 PR. And he made four first-team All-NBAs, two seconds. He's going to make a fifth one this year, I think. He might be a second. Whatever, he's going to be one of the two. Isaiah was three first teams, two second teams. The difference is that Chris Paul never made it to round three, ever, in the first 11 years of his career. And Isaiah won two titles, made three finals. The Pistons from 87 to 90 is one of the better four-year runs I've seen in basketball. And that's what Chris is missing right now.

And I think it's sitting on a platform. The rings. Yeah, but like they have Blake back now. The rings matter. Yeah. But like Barkley said last night, he thought the Clippers were going to beat the Warriors in round two and was emphatic about it. And I don't know if he's pigeonholed himself into this anti-Warriors corner, but the Clippers could beat the Warriors. They beat them a couple years ago. Chris goes at Curry, fouls him 50 times a game. He's one of the few people that knows what

to do against him. That's a winnable series. And this is, I think, the fork in the road season for Chris Paul, because if it doesn't happen this year and they lose again in round two and it goes badly, they're going to have to trade someone on that team. You can't bring the top three back. We knew that coming in. That was the preseason story for this team. It's a fork in the road season. And to Chris Paul's credit and to the point that you just made,

they're going to end up within three or four games of the forecasted over-runner. It was 56.5 was their projected win total this year. We both liked them for the over. They lost arguably their best player, their best frontcourt player, for 60% of the season, and they're going to come within a couple games of that win total. That's pretty impressive. I'm not ready, though, to say that they're going to beat Golden State. I understand why

the Chuckster might say something like that. It looked like a genius if it comes to pass. And I really do enjoy those Clipper Warrior games. Both teams come at it with a chip on their shoulder. It is clear that they dislike the swag that the other brings to the table. I just – Blake hasn't looked right to me so far. He's not elevating at all in a way that looks like, you know, he's fully restored to health. What do you think? I don't like the way Blake looks at all. And I think they should have traded him in February.

I think they made a mistake. I would have traded him, and I would have tried to get guys back who could help them this year because that window's closing. And if they got the right offer for him, I would have done it. Long term, I just worry about him because he missed his rookie season. He had a major knee injury. He's had knee tendonitis, all kinds of stuff. He's had lower leg issues.

Now he has a broken shooting hand. Just seems like there's some miles on him now. Just think of the history of those high-priced forwards, right? Guys that we grew up watching. The Larry Johnson fall from grace happens fast. We've seen that with a lot of forwards, a lot of athletic forwards who all of a sudden aren't quite as athletic anymore. And there's no plan B whose body is off the cliff. Yeah.

Xavier McDaniel. Remember what a great athlete he was the first couple of seasons. It just forwards worry me, especially forwards with miles on them. And I'm not saying, I'm not saying that it's over for him by any means. I mean, he could have five more first or second team all-NBAs coming up. I wouldn't be shocked. But I just worry that he has some mileage on the tires now.

I think it's going to be interesting. We will look back at this year's trade deadline and what a dud it was and look at some teams and say, boy, you guys missed an opportunity. That's an interesting point you just made. I think you're right that Blake's probably all-time highest value was at that trade deadline. I think the same is true of Melo. I still don't understand why the Knicks didn't trade Melo

at this trade deadline. Because he had no trade costs. He didn't want to get traded. I think they would have. I just think their mistake was giving him a no trade clause, which is just unbelievable that they would do that. You've got to find a deal there because they're not going to get anywhere near the value that they could have gotten at the trade deadline.

And there were a handful of teams that he was open to, weren't there? Melo has never proven to me at any point that he cares about winning a championship. I know they all say they care, but I'm just looking at the track record of his career. I think he's always picked money first and then hoped the championships would come. And you look at two pivotal moments in his career, 2011, when he just could have waited until the summer to sign with the Knicks. They had the cap space. And he pushed them to give up all of these assets to trade for him in February so that

he could sign a bigger deal for them in 2011. That's a fact. Look that up. That happened. And then 2015, he re-signed with them for a lot of money when he knew it wasn't a great situation and he knew they didn't have a 2016 first round pick and you know he knew

by the time they turned it around he might be 35 so I don't know I think he cares more about banking checks and playing in New York and I think he likes being a Knick you know and if the championships come they're going to come but I think he values playing in New York. And I think he likes being a Nick, you know, and if the championships come, they're going to come. But I think he values playing in New York and he values the paychecks would be my assessment. I don't feel like that's a hot take. Do you feel like

that's a hot take? I don't feel like that's a hot take. Well, you know, the social media pictures of whatever name folks were given, that combination of LeBron and D. Wade and Mello and Chris Paul. What are they called? That's the Duck Brigade or something? Can I tell you something? Whatever it is. I think that's in play.

Well, this is what I'm saying. This is precisely the point I'm making. If that happens, then you have to say, well, okay, maybe he does care. And it'll only be a handful of months since we're talking about him not caring. But under the right circumstances, that would be pretty interesting. I think that's what LeBron wants. I think he wants the last phase of his career to be him playing with all his buddies somewhere. Whether it's LA or Miami or whatever. I think he's

I think his brain's You just came up with two destinations that were not Cleveland. He can't leave Cleveland again. Okay. He can't leave Cleveland again. He could get those guys to come to Cleveland. Okay.

Don't you think? Sure. You're telling me that the guy who did the decision and left Cleveland on a live television special wouldn't leave Cleveland again? That was five years ago. Okay. Okay. Sure. Okay. Okay.

Sure. Gotcha. Great. I just can't imagine it. It's unimaginable to me. Okay. He can't leave Cleveland again. I'm prepared for anything with that dude.

Quick LeBron thing. Right now he's fifth. He had another great season. I'm going to get to my MVP thoughts on him in a second. But he was really good. He's been really good since he had the whole unfollow the Cavs thing. The last fourth of the season he's been awesome. His per 36 minutes from 2006 through 2015, 26 points a game,

seven rebounds, six and a half assists, basically. His per 36 minutes this year, 25.4 points a game, 7.5 rebounds, 6.8 assists. And his splits, basically the same, except his three-point shooting is 5% worse. But my point is, he just keeps having the same type of year over and over and over again without getting hurt um i think defensively he's he's slipped a lot mainly because of effort because he saves himself for the playoffs but he can still whenever he wants he can take over a fourth quarter he can put his head down and get to the line and um he's still lebron and he's still great you know so i i'm i'm fine with him taking um chunks of this regular season off me too i'm really impressed by cleveland getting the 57 wins uh that's one of our over-unders that we had them at 57 and a half

yeah we both like them under that because we thought you know look the thing that makes the most sense for them is to not um you know go all out and try and win wait are you sure they're going over games and because no it's tonight it's in the balance tonight yeah yeah so if if we hit the if we hit the under we i liked them in more of like a 53 range but the thing about lebron and i he had a forgot about dre moment you know, against the Hawks Monday night. I saw that. Holy cow. Pedal to the metal, LeBron.

Like, hey, guys, remember me? The playoffs are about to start, and I'm about to do some of this in the East. Get ready. I think he was acting so strange on social media because, for one thing, he just doesn't like playing with Kyrie Irving. I think he's just given up on trying to change him from being a shoot-first point guard. And then he realizes that he has the wrong kind of roster, which, of course, he put together because he was the GM, but he has all these power forwards and centers in a league where you need perimeter guys.

And I think over everything else, I think the Warriors thing drove him crazy. This is really the first time in 10 years that he wasn't completely the center of attention during the regular season. There's been some Kobe stuff. But for the most part, LeBron was on everyone's radar and he was the main attraction to go see in an arena. And the Warriors just made him irrelevant.

Who the fuck cared about the Cavaliers this year? Everyone just wanted to watch the Warriors talk about Steph. Part of that injury to insult was insult to injury. The Christmas Day game, they weren't really that competitive. No. That's really what started the ball rolling ball rolling i think this is my completely uninformed uh pop psychology theory i think that's got the ball rolling as much as anything on poor david blatt he went to cleveland and thought he was going to put together this super

team and be the apple of the nba's eye and then the warriors decided to just steal everyone's attention for two years and you i thought what you know, he has a lot of interesting tweets, obviously. He's the king of subtweets. One of the most interesting ones he had was during the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday night, about like 10 minutes after the Warriors game ended. LeBron did not tweet during the Warriors game, but you knew he watched it. And then 10 minutes later, he's like, I love Amy Schumer and somebody else. Like he just completely during the basketball game and did some fucking movie awards tweet.

I thought it was great. He said it was just so petty. Like, come on, congratulate the Warriors. And then eventually he did the next day. But I think I don't know. I just think he's in a very interesting mental state heading into these playoffs. That's a shaky team. They do remind me of the 2010 Cavs where they lost to a better team.

The Celtics shockingly beat them in six. And Rondo, for whatever reason, was the best guy on the floor for four straight games and Boston won. I do feel like somebody can break this Cavaliers team, and I'm just not sure who the team is. Somebody can get them mentally. I don't think it's coming out of the East. Somebody can do it, though. It won't be somebody beating them.

It'll be the Cavs beating themselves, but it's in play, and it's on my radar. Okay. A couple things on Curry, just quickly. We're taping this like uh, like two o'clock Wednesday. So the Warriors game is about five hours away. He has a chance. If he puts up like 35 tonight, he'll be 30 points, officially 30.0 points. Right now it's 29.9.

He's a chance to finish with a 37 and5 with 50-45-90 shooting splits. 50% for the field, 45% for three, 90% from free throw. So 50-40-90 club. He also would be creating the 37-5 club. And he's made 5.03s per game, which we joked about this a few months ago. The 37-5-5 what the fuck club, that's in play. If he makes eight threes tonight, he gets to 400 for the season. Somebody needs to tell Steph Curry this,

because nobody had ever made 300 before this season. He might make 400. I bet he knows. I hope he knows. And then the other thing is he's only played 34.2 minutes a game and is basically averaging 30 a game. The 1982 George Girvin played 35.7 minutes a game and averaged 32.3 points a game.

That's the closest anyone's ever come to having their points and minutes match for over 30 points a game. 91 MJ was 31.5 points a game. That's the closest anyone's ever come to having their points and minutes match for over 30 points a game. 91 MJ, it was 31.5 points a game, 37 minutes a game. So just from a points per minute basis, this has been historic. He's clinched his reputation as the best shooter ever. He's had 12 to 15 unbelievable moments. And then Curry and Clay together have made 8.43s a game while shooting 44%. All of it was amazing. And if somebody's listening to this podcast 20 years from now, this was amazing in the moment.

It was an amazing season. It really was. It was so much fun to watch them. And then Westbrook has some weird stat stuff too. He has a chance to finish with 23-10-7, only done by Oscar Robertson four times in the 60s when everyone took 150 shots a game. On the flip side, right now, here are the three worst three-point shooters of all time who took more than 1,500 three-pointers. Charles Barkley, 26.6%. Congratulations to him.

Josh Smith, 28.5%. Ron Harper, 29%. And in fourth place, Russell Westbrook at 30.3%. He's the fourth worst three-point shooter ever who's taken at least 1,500 threes. Huh. So here's my advice to Russell. I'm surprised by that. Maybe stop shooting threes. Maybe just go to the basket. Yeah. That'd be my advice.

I only think of him going to the basket. How many threes a game does he average this season? He takes over four a game. He does? Yeah. It's that many? Yeah. Watch a playoff game. teams lay lay off them by five feet because they want them to shoot threes uh and then another weird one draymond is going to average 14 points nine and a half rebounds 7.4 assists which has only been done by wilt oscar

and magic in 1982 and on top of it he's the best defensive player in the league. How about that? Some pretty good stat stuff this season. That's really your take? I need you to be more surprised than I am. Some pretty good stat stuff this season. You suck ass. The Draymond one is crazy.

The only one I would have guessed that could rival that is Magic. Durant is averaging 27.4 points a game for his career where do you think that puts him all time top five third last third last inside the top five last seven seasons he's averaging 29 and8 with 49-39-89 splits. He's almost a 50-40-90 guy for the last seven seasons. I don't care about anything. I'm just so happy he played this whole season. He's healthy. He's back.

He's aggressive. He looks great. He's not tentative. That's the only thing that I care about. I'm so happy that he had a great season this season and he played as many games as he played. Me too. And if he signs with the Celtics, I'm going to have an orgasm on a podcast.

I'm actually going to have one. He's not signing with anybody but OKC this offseason, right? Yeah, okay. Let's see how the second round goes. That's what he's doing. Let's see how the second round goes. That's what he's doing. Let's see how the second round goes. Second team on NBA. Durant and Westbrook we have discussed.

Paul Millsap. He's on my second team on NBA team. I think he's been awesome this season. He murdered the Celtics on Saturday night. He murdered us. He annihilated us. He took a machete out and he started hacking our players. That's what he did. Guards, Westbrook and Kyle

Lowry. I gotta give Kyle Lowry credit. He's the best player on a two-seat, right? Oh, he deserves it. My center is LaMarcus Aldridge. I'm cheating. Oh, I don't like that. Why? Talk me out deserves it. My center is LaMarcus Aldridge. I'm cheating. I don't like that.

Why? Talk me out of it. Well, I don't have a replacement that comes to mind. Just put him in at one of the forward spots. I don't want to. I want to make him my center. I don't want to make DeAndre Jordan or Hassan Whiteside or Boogie Cousins, who is a chemistry disaster.

I'm not making them my second team on the NBA Center. I'm sorry. Why do I have to do that? Why can't I pick LaMarcus Obdridge? That team's going to go 67-15. They were almost undefeated at home. He was their crunch time guy with Kawhi. I can't pick him?

Okay, I'll let you pick him. Well, give me another option. I'm not going to argue it. Give me another option. I don't, because it would have been somebody like Boogie, and I don't like it either. It's very unsatisfying. Yeah, that's my point.

So we're aligned. All right, speaking of... We're aligned. We talked about unsatisfying. Here's something that's been very satisfying. The ringer's relationship with MailChimp. If you're just getting started, blind we we talked about unsatisfying here's something that's been very satisfying uh the ringer's relationship with mailchimp if you're just started getting started or if you're already building a growing business you know like the ringer mailchimp makes it easy to connect with

your customers and sell more stuff it's totally free to get started no expiring trial no credit card required um we've been using mailchimp now for I think this is closing in on the end of our second month. We use them to launch our new newsletter. We do that newsletter three to four times a week. We are over 175,000 subscriptions, heading toward 200. We're getting there. Incredible read-through rate, and we love working with their technology. It's been great. When we start sending you emails about our 20% off BSPN t-shirts,

it's going to be with MailChimp. We're not doing that. BSPN t-shirts? I want one. No, we're not doing that. I'm making one. I don't think legally we can do that. But thanks to MailChimp.

What? Thanks to MailChimp for helping me and everyone at The Ringer build our audience. Incredibly easy to use. And you know what? Newsletters are pretty valuable. It's kind of come around, right? Newsletters for a while were valuable, then they weren't. And now there's so much content on the internet.

I like getting newsletters. I subscribe to a bunch of them, including The Ringers, because it makes sense for me to subscribe to that one. But check them out at MailChimp.com. Great product. We love working with them. So you're with me on second team all-NBA. You're okay with Aldridge.

Here's my third team. Paul George, Clay Thompson. Again again i'm rewarding the warriors and for anyone who doesn't think clay thompson's on one of these teams come on like that the the shooting of curry and clay and draymond's defense are the three reasons this team's going to break the record i'm rewarding them i'm sorry go shoot Go shoot me. I have Towns as my center. How about that? Huh. Yeah.

Huh. Yes, no, maybe. You know, he's, it's funny. You and I, if we were doing trade value right now, would have him top 15. Oh, we'd have him top like seven. Yeah, right. So I'm trying to come up with an argument who would minnesota trade towns for curry okay kawaii maybe what westbrook kawaii yes they would trade him for kawaii would you

trade him would they trade him for kawaii i don't know would would trade him for Kawhi. Would you trade him for... Would they trade him for Kawhi? I don't know. Would you trade him for Durant? Right now, OKC's like, we'll give you Durant for Towns. No, no, no. No chance. Yeah, because you don't even need to re-sign him. I think he's in the top five

for trade value. That'll be another podcast. The Knicks fans are like, we wouldn't trade him for Porzingis. Don't bring the singer up. He's number one. So I have Towns as my center dame lillard has to be on 13 mile nba that i can't believe that team's a five seed he's made a ton of big shots for them

i'm just putting him on i'm sorry he's going on there james harden i hate doing it i wanted to talk to you about this i just hate rewarding him for showing up fat and out of shape and playing himself in shape and for getting his coach fired and for being not a great teammate. He kind of ball hogs it. I think he has to get at least a little blame for the fact that Dwight Howard doesn't give a shit because I'm not sure I would give a shit either if I shot four times a game. Isn't it?

I mean, what's the rule of basketball? Fundamentally, the rule of basketball is to take care of the center. Take care of the big guy. Make sure he's happy. Feed the beast. Just make sure everybody's happy, right? You want everybody to be happy. Right.

So James Harden doesn't do that. That's at the heart of it. I don't feel like James Harden does that. Well, it worked last season and it didn't work this season. I don't have a good explanation for it. He gets partial blame for Dwight not being happy. I feel like if I'm on that Rockets team, I just want to make sure Dwight shoots 10 times a game.

Because I know he's going to care if he's involved. And if he's not involved and he's just running up and down the court and getting rebounds, he's going to check out, which is exactly what he did. So now here's the- I think it's proper punishment for him to go from in the MVP conversation last season to third team All-NBA. That's the right sort of drop, and that's reflective of his effort this season and the impact of that effort on the overall chemistry of that team

and honestly the direction of the franchise because they have to make a couple more moves yet. Dwight's got to go, and where this all shakes out is a million miles away in terms of who they land and what they can get on the salary cap and all the assets that they have. And who's running the team? He has to bear some responsibility for that. And who's running the team? Yeah, all of those things. All those things.

I think there's like a 20% chance that next year we're doing this podcast and it's a three-man with Daryl Morey. I understand. Although I would really hope that he gets hired immediately because he's done a great job. I don't think this is going to be a strong season. Well, if he gets fired, I swear to God, if Washington doesn't hire him immediately,

even though it remains to be seen what happens with the GM here in Washington. If Maury's available and we don't have Tibbs and Maury, I would be upset. So since the All-Star break, Harden has averaged 39 and 6. 30 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds. For the season, 28.5 points, 7.5 assists, 6 rebounds. The only other guys who have done that, Oscar, LeBron, and Jordan. Oscar in 1968, the only guy on a losing team that put up those numbers. He's taken 820-plus free throws in back-to-back years, over 10 a game.

He's made over 700 free throws last year and this year, both of which are in the top 15 all-time. He's also turned the ball over 370 times and counting, the most ever by an NBA player. George McGinnis' unbreakable ABA record of 422 turnovers will never be broken. But Harden at least sniffed it. McGinnis had 422, 401, and 393 in back-to-back-to-back years.

God. Yeah. That's astonishing. Yeah, 1,200-plus turnovers in three years. That'll never be matched. Here's the other thing. This is ultimately why I put Harden in the third team. He's going to play almost 3,100 minutes. If he plays like 37 minutes tonight he gets to 3100 i think um no he's it's 250 more

minutes than everyone else the guy has you know he's done a pretty big workload in a league where everybody's resting and taking nights off or you're getting cut minutes like golden state guys play 33 34 minutes a game harden has to play 40 to 41 minutes a game now just to get them in the playoffs and well that's the point he has to play those minutes because he didn't work out over the summer he could have played less true if he'd come and shown up in shape and with the right um frame of mind and the right energy for the team to pick up where they left off last year instead he has to carry this huge workload just for them to have the chance at making the playoffs, and it's still in doubt tonight.

I mean, I think ultimately they'll win, and Utah won't. And I feel bad for Utah because Utah deserved better. But credit to Harden. He deserves that third-team All-NBA spot. I feel bad for Utah just because of the team they're putting out. Did you see that team in the must-win game against Dallas when Favors got hurt and Gobert got hurt and the team they actually had out in crunch time?

I just felt bad for everybody. Joe Angles and Shel mack were out there you can't have guys get hurt this is the thing this is what made this season here in washington um so dispiriting many nights i felt like i was watching a d league team because the replacement level players are exactly that they're replacement level. Their PER is 0.00 because they're not anything special. They're NBA journeyman level players. And there are a lot of teams that have that sitting on the bench. Utah, unfortunately, being one of them. They would have been better off just throwing away the season and trying to get a top-ten pick,

which is basically the same spot the Celtics were in last year. It was admirable they went for it, but it's too bad. All right, so here are my teams again. LeBron, Kawhi, Draymond, Curry, CP3, first team. Durant, Millsap, Aldridge, Westbrook, Lowry, second team. Paul George. Nice comeback season for Paul George. Quick shout-out to him, by the way.

And the Pacers. Yeah. They had some bad losses. I don't know what to make of that team. Paul George, Clay Thompson, Towns, Lillard, James Harden. So there you go. MVP. I have Curry one, obviously. Who would you put second, LeBron or Kawhi? I've curry one, obviously.

Who would you put second, LeBron or Kawhi? I've changed this. LeBron versus Kawhi I've changed 100 times. It's got to be Kawhi. Man, that's where I landed. You know why? Better team. If you're just talking pure performance, LeBron's probably second.

But I think LeBron did a lot of weird off-the-court stuff this year that I have to penalize him for. I'm sorry, LeBron. It's fine to go ahead and penalize him now. We have, beyond a reasonable doubt, proof that he doesn't like playing with Kyrie. You made that point earlier. And I think it's okay to go ahead and give him a slight downgrade in the MVP voting on that basis. Tate, you okay with that? Yeah, for sure.

Joe Fuentes, you okay with that? Yeah. Would you guys like working with LeBron James? Just curious. Day in, day out, would you like having him at the ringer doing the stuff that he does? Based on the Blaze Pizza, yes. Oh, Joe says yes because of the Blaze Pizza. Tate's a

big chemistry guy. Tate cares about chemistry and whether you went to Duke or not. Yeah, I'm the Duke guy. This Cavs team is a perfect storm of things he hates. Alright, so Curry first, Kawhi second, LeBron third. Draymond Green fourth. Everybody can fuck off. That's all I'm picking. I'm givingBron third. Draymond Green fourth. Everybody can fuck off.

That's all I'm picking. I'm giving my fourth spot to Draymond Green. You're fired up today. That's probably the 10th F-bomb of this podcast. It's a conversation for mature audiences. The F-bomb end of the season ender. Draymond was the alpha dog along with Curry of that team. I think he supplied the extra alpha dogness that Curry needed.

He single-handedly just won games for them that they should have lost, including Saturday night, that Memphis game, when he just started doing Draymond stuff with three minutes. He just wouldn't let them lose. And he did that over and over again this season. There's nobody like him. If you switched anybody with him on that team, they're not as good. Incredible, just bizarre offensive season that we talked about

earlier and uh i just don't understand how he's not in a top five of an mvp ballot i have him fourth i have cp3 fifth because of that weird clip season how he kept everyone together i would put durant and westbrook probably sixth and seventh to be honest but they didn't crack oh you would i would do five a b and c i would do cp, B, and C. I would do CP3, 5A, and the other two, 5B, and 5C. Well, you're only allowed to vote for the top five. Oh, I see. And I would have

D'Angelo Russell last, and I would have Kobe Bryant second to last. Why does D'Angelo have to be last? Nah, you're right, he doesn't. There are otherelo have to be last? Nah, you're right. He doesn't. There are other people that should be last. Like everyone in Philadelphia.

So anyway, those are my picks. What do you think? I like him. I'm kind of stunned. I want to come up with a reason to keep K.A.T. out, but I can't come up with it. Good. He was so impressive over the last six weeks and all of a sudden now he really is you know we just did the trade value we did a quick

quick take on that he's a top 15 player in the league i mean it's it's it's pretty great what a great moment for minnesota yeah this is awesome that's the big winner of this season where uh everyone involved with every aspect of the Warriors Greg Popovich yet again and I think Minnesota I think that's my top three Minnesota has hope there's hope in Minneapolis

now watch the team move so thanks to Helix.com why wouldn't you buy a mattress online customized for you for $100 instead of thousands it arrives at your door in about a week. Shipping is 100% free. You have 100 nights to decide if you like it. Go to helixsleep.com slash BS and get $50 off your order.

Thanks to HBO Now. You don't need cable. You don't need satellite to watch HBO. Download the HBO Now app and start your free one-month trial. That's the only way to watch After the Thrones. How can you miss my dudes Greenwald and Ryan? Just watch it. Thanks to The Ringer.

Go to theringer.com and subscribe to our new newsletter. We are over 175,000 subscribers, getting great feedback for it. I'm going to be back with more podcasts later in the week. House, we have to talk about playoff bets. Do you want to do a quick, very, very quick dissertation on why the Capitals are going to make the Stanley Cup Finals this year? I'm going to give it to you. I'm going to give you airspace right now if you want it.

No, no. I don't have anything to say. It will be a very short summation. I'm hoping for the guys to get out there and get after it. Every single game's important. Each game, you just got to take it game by game. You put your head down, you get down on the ice when guys take

shots, and that's it. That's it. Game by game. Come on, boys. My son Ben, giant Kings fan. We watched the Kings championship video that they had after they won in 2014, and his big takeaway was just imitating the coach, Daryl Sutter. He's like, come on, boys, let's go get them.

Come on, guys. That's it. Get out there. Come on, guys, keep working. Let's go, boys. Come on. Sal and I made a Stanley Cup finals bet, which we won last year. We won on Chicago and Tampa.

And now we're back with another one. Do you want to hear what it is? I guess. Is this going to make you sad? Why do you sound so sad? Well, I have a futures bet out there, and I don't really want to talk about it because I have a lot of history with this Washington team, and I love their position.

I particularly love the characters on this team. TJ Oshie has been excellent. Williams is terrific. And Holt B has been Holt Beast all season long. And I have all these good feelings, but I've learned the hard way so many times to invest anything come playoff time. So I'm just rooting for them game by game. But let me hear what you and the Cousins now did in terms of wagers.

Well, one of the things I've learned is to bet against all Washington teams in the playoffs. Sorry, it's just a fact. Okay, that's fine. Yeah, just win one and then I'll be scared. So I love the fact that the Capitals are the consensus favorite because I know their history. So I looked at all the other Eastern Conference teams, and I've settled on the Panthers of Florida as my representative. They have a nice mix of old guys and kind of in their prime guys and then blue chippers that are on their way up.

And I don't know. I like the mix. I just like them. Can you name one player on their team? Aaron Eckblad, Willie Mitchell, Yaramir Yager. Okay. Yeah. Okay.

Somebody – so I have the Kings coming out of the West. If the Kings don't come out of the West, it's their fault. They have the best team in the West, and they should come out of the West. And they are the most well-rounded fault. They have the best team in the West, and they should come out of the West. They are the most well-rounded team. They have the most stars. Normally, you would say the Blackhawks, but you know my theory on NHL. They're an every-other-year team.

You can't win the Stanley Cup and then come back and play another four rounds a year later. It's a suicide mission. You're playing 110 games to try to win the Cup. I just think it's all set up for the Kings. They get to play the Sharks in round one. They get the Ducks in round two. That's going to be a bloodbath. Disgusting group of scum. The Ducks, worst, worst group of people on the earth.

Ryan Perry, Getzlaff, ugh. Can't stand those guys. Thatx uh can't wait to i can't wait for my daughter to hurl f-bombs at them i'm gonna let her she's gonna be 11 soon uh and then the blackhawks potentially in round three what a great run that would be for the kings and then maybe it's gonna be fun to watch maybe your team in the finals. NHL playoffs are the best. You sound so unconfident. It really actually makes me sad. I just don't have any confidence. You know why I don't sound confident?

Because I don't have any. I'm excited for the playoffs to start. I want to see what team comes out, and I want to see if we can build a little momentum here. The good news is it's impossible for you to lose in round one. I don't feel that way who said that i just said you're playing the flyers right i know but look there's a lot of history between washington and philly all right they're terrible they're not very good but look a lot of history they're awful i went to a game seven that the caps did not win here in washington

and washington was favored over the flyers we should mention uh you have a new podcast called shack house very successful golf podcast and uh on that podcast you talked about the possibility of danny willett winning the masters you actually uh put a fake wager on this if gambling was legal for 50 and you won at 50 to 1 odds you won to it I did I was very excited about that the boat fake dollars yeah 2500 fake dollars the best part of it was Callaway golf made the mistake of giving me control over their handle Wednesday before the Masters got started on Thursday and somebody asked me what my favorite 50-1 bet was at that moment, and I put in there Danny Willett, so I felt like that was pretty well

validated. I was disappointed for Jordan because of how dominant he was with his own confessed B-minus game. You know, his T to green game was so so subpar but he just had a triple plus putting all week long and then you know that the augusta has that that that sneaky way of finding that flaw one one little swing flaw and exposing it and that's what happened on sunday i think the second shot that after the drop the shot he hit on 12 was the most shocking golf moment of my life. It was just such a terrible shot. It was like for that guy to hit that shot where he took a divot that was seven feet long and just skunked it to the point that he turned away before he even went in the water.

Incredible. Unbelievable. I still can't believe it. The take of it, everybody's take is that's what I do. I listen to Cornhires a little bit Monday. That's what I do. Every podcast and golf writing afterwards, that's what amateurs do. The first shot made sense.

They go to a yard that's uncomfortable. Yeah, the first shot made sense. He was trying to hit this, and all of a sudden it's in the water. The second shot was just a flat-out scuff that guys with a 40 handicap do. And it was just unbelievable. I watched with my dad. I actually got worried for my dad. Oh, no.

My dad turned white because he loves speed. He turned white, and he was just like, oh, no. Oh, no. It was like we saw a car crash. And he's still shaking. He texted me yesterday. He's like, I'll never forget watching that Masters. He's very upset about it.

Anyway. Well, there's a silver lining. There's a good record of guys coming back from catastrophes like that and going on to be dominant. He's great at golf. He'll be fine. House, this was a pleasure. Good talking to you.

Subscribe to the Shack House podcast on iTunes. Wednesday rolling. Yeah, let's do it. Talk to you soon. Anytime y'all talking to you. Yeah. Subscribe to the Shack House Podcast on iTunes. Wednesday rolling. Yeah, let's do it. Talk to you soon. Anytime y'all want to see me again, rewind this track right here. Close your eyes. And picture me rolling.