The Bill Simmons Podcast - Is Curry a Pantheon Guy? Plus: Knicks + Lakers Predictions With Dave Jacoby and Alan Yang

Episode Date: May 21, 2021

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons makes the case for Stephen Curry to crack the Basketball Pantheon (3:00), before talking to ESPN’s David Jacoby about the 4-seed New York Knicks! They discuss the upcoming Knicks-Hawks series, Clippers-Mavericks, Nuggets–Trail Blazers, Heat-Bucks, 10 years of working with Jalen Rose, and more (23:30). Finally, Bill talks with screenwriter, producer, and lifelong Lakers fan Alan Yang about the Lakers’ win over the Warriors in the play-in tournament, LeBron’s eye injury, the upcoming Lakers-Suns series, getting sucked back into MLB, ‘Master of None’ Season 3, post-pandemic films, and more (1:04:00). Host: Bill Simmons Guest: David Jacoby, Alan Yang Producer: Kyle Crichton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, movie fans, we did Goodfellas on the Rewatchables this week. Me, Sean Fennessey, Chris Ryan, breaking down one of the best movies of all time, one of the most influential movies of the last 50 years. We explain why. Check it out. The Rewatchables. You can get the entire archive on Spotify. All the new episodes on any platform over 60 days.

But Goodfellas, it is live. It's on the feed. People love this one. Check it out. The Rewatchables. It's the Bill Simmons podcast People love this one. Check it out. The Rewatchables. It's the Bill Simmons podcast presented by FanDuel. Football is in full action. FanDuel's highest rated sportsbook is the best place to bet it all. We've been doing pretty well on million dollar picks this year. I

love the first month of the season because you have to go into the season thinking, I think Pittsburgh's going to be good. I think the Chargers are going to be good. I think Seattle's going to be good. And then trying to back what you think in those first few weeks and then zag the other way. If you were wrong, you could bet on new and fun markets on FanDuel, like to catch your pass, same game parlays, highest scoring game across the Sunday slate, offensive TDs, the next drive. They have so much stuff. It's crazy. The app is safe and secure and easy to use. And when you win, you'll get paid instantly. Plus look out for FanDuel squares this season. Here's what you have to do. Visit FanDuel.com slash BS to download America's number one sports book. The ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit RG-help.com to learn more about the resources

and helplines available and listen to the end of the episode for additional details. You must be 21 plus and present in select states. Gambling problem called Win 100 Gambler or visit rg-help.com. This episode is brought to you by my old friend, Miller Lite. I've been a big fan of Miller Lite, man, since college days when I was allowed to have beer. I think nephew Kyle is a fan too. Miller Lite keeps it simple for us. Undebatable quality, great taste. Picture this. It's game day. All the gang's here. You're tailgating outside the stadium. It's a great time for beer. Or how about when you're standing at the grill and the smell of sizzling burgers is in the air?

Moments like that are when you want a light beer that tastes like beer, that's delicious. You don't want to load up on those heavier beers, and then you only have two of them. Then you feel tired. Your stomach feels full. Miller Lite, it's your friend. It just accompanies whatever else you're doing. You're super happy with it. Opening an ice cold Miller Lite can signal the beginning of Miller time. Miller Lite is the light beer with all the great beer tastes we like. 90 calories per 355 mil can. So why not grab some Miller Lites today? Your game time tastes like Miller time.

Must be legal drinking age. We're also brought to you by TheRinger.com as well as TheRinger Podcast Network, where we're bringing back an old favorite from last year, flying coach. We did season one with Steve Kerr and Pete Carroll. Well, Steve Kerr is super busy right now. Pete Carroll's probably vacationing before he gets ready for the new season.

We needed some new hosts for season two. How about Peter Schrager and Sean McVay, the Rams coach? Yeah, this is going to be great. Uh, they're going to do 10 episodes. First one launches on Friday. So by the Rams coach. Yeah, this is going to be great. They're going to do 10 episodes. First one launches on Friday.

So by the time you hear this, that pod will be up. McVay is a character. If you want to make bets on who the next John Madden is going to be, or the next Tony Romo, I guess would be the more current analogy. Watch out for McVay way down the road. For now, we get him for 10 podcast episodes. Very excited for this one. Flying Coach Season 2.

You can find it on the Flying Coach feed or on the Ringer NFL podcast. Either one of those. Ringer NFL Show or Flying Coach. Coming up, I'm going to talk about Steph Curry at the top. My old buddy, Dave Jacoby, is going to come on to talk about the New York Knicks and some other NBA playoff stuff. And then another friend, Alan Yang, who, big Laker fan, big time Hollywood guy.

Big time. We're going to talk about Master of None as well as a whole bunch of other things. That's all next. First, Pearl Jam! All right, I want to talk about Stephen Curry. I was thinking about him last night. I went to the Lakers-Warriors game, which was absolutely fantastic. We'll talk about it a little bit later. I came to a realization about him during that game.

You might remember I wrote about the Hall of Fame pyramid and the Pantheon in my book, and I've been tinkering with that Pantheon list ever since. It's 100 players in all in the pyramid. And then the Pantheon, which in my book was only 13 guys, it's been expanded since then over the years to include LeBron and Durant. And it's been 15 guys really for the last couple of years. I keep the list. I mess around with the rankings. I text them to my buddies, Hershey and House, and they kind of help me with, am I overreacting to somebody? Is this person in the right spot? And it's just a fun way to compare careers. Look, I'm a dork. I care about the history of the game, how all these guys kind of weave together. You're talking he really, his first real elite season

was the 2012-13 season. So we're talking less than a decade. So that hurt him. And then also, you know, the Pantheon is a special level. And that's why when I did the Pyramid, it was level one, level two, level three, level four, and then level five

was the Pantheon. And there was no shame in being in level four. So when I did the Hall of Fame, when I did the Book of Basketball podcast about Steph in October of 2019 with Rosillo, I had Steph 24th, which no shame in that, right? He's right around Barkley and Garnett and Bob Cousy and Isaiah Thomas, people like that. And to me, those are the classic level four guys. Like guys, Isaiah Thomas, who I think is the most underrated guy of the 80s and 90s.

He could be the best player in a championship team. He proved it. They won back-to-back titles. So putting Steph in there, it's not insulting. It's just like, look, there's this last level. And heading into the season, if you're going in reverse order for me from 15 to one, it was Durant, Moses, Shaq, Hakeem, Oscar, Jerry West, Kobe, Will Chamberlain, Duncan, Bird and Magic, and then the Mount Rushmore, which is basically Kareem, Russell, LeBron,

and then Jordan, number one. I thought at this point of Curry's career, especially when you looked at the landscape with what was going on with the Warriors, they draft James Wiseman, Clay gets hurt. The Pantheon candidacy had kind of sailed. But watching last night and seeing a few of the things he did in person, which, you know, I've seen Steph in person, I would say 25 times at this point.

It's clear on TV that he went up a level. It's clear in person he went up a level. And how outmatched they were to that Lakers team. You watch, just so the Warriors have it, you know, there's G-leaguers out there. There's second rounders out there. There's Draymond who just can't score anymore. There's Wiggins who you never know where you're going to get game to game from him. He was good in the Lakers game.

Kavon Looney, who could barely make a layup. And you go on down the line, you just don't know what you're going to get. It's without Klay, probably a bottom 10 roster and talent. And it doesn't matter because they have figured out how to manufacture a playoff contender

solely around the premise that Steph Curry is unbelievable at scoring, at creating, at making the right decision over and over and over again. And last night, watching that Lakers team who knew exactly how to defend him, who were greeting him at half court pretty much two-thirds of the time, who in the fourth quarter was sending Davis out with Caruso or Schroeder or whoever the guard was to try to basically make him give up the ball or make it impossible for him to take a 28 footer. And watching him over and over again, navigate

exactly what to do almost every time. I mean, to be honest, he didn't have like one of his greatest games. He was sloppy with the ball. He had seven turnovers. He had a huge turnover near the end where Caruso stripped him. Golden State was up three with 230 left. And it really seemed like if the Golden State scored there, it seemed like they were going to win the game and he lost the ball. So I'm not saying like Steph was like the greatest thing I've ever seen in my life. But there is an artistry to him last night. And the way his talent galvanized his entire team and how they just believed that they could beat this far superior Laker team

just because they had Steph. And some of the shots he made and the effect he has on the crowd and on the game and on the refs. And I was just like, what am I doing? He's in the Pantheon. He has to be. So I've moved him up. What's changed for me and why I realized last night that he's absolutely a Pantheon guy, because there's that last piece where not only do you have to be memorable in some way in person, if we're really talking about the all, all, all timers,

but you have to be great in a way that almost I haven't seen before. So you go through this list again. Jordan, never saw that. LeBron, I've never seen somebody combine his athletic ability and his power with his IQ and his durability on top of it. He's a unicorn. Bill Russell reinvents defense.

The most competitive guy other than maybe Jordan we've ever had in the league. Kareem, a complete alien. The first time you saw him in person, you just knew I'm never seeing this again. I'm never seeing somebody with a seven foot four guy with the sky hook that seems like it can't be blocked. And he was so fluid. And you think of all the big guys we've had over the years. He was the most coordinated athletic giant guy

we've ever had. Magic and Bird, I don't need to tell you about them. Duncan just was technically perfect, especially you look at the first eight years he was in there. He's like, if you're creating a power forward from scratch, you would create this person. He did everything well at the highest possible level. He was an insanely good teammate. And it just like certain guys, their teams are going to win when they're on the court. He became that guy. Wilt, you know about him. Kobe, for the first few years, it just seemed like he was doing

the eeriest Michael Jordan impression of all time. And then he gradually, the craft was, I think, what really stood out with him, especially when we got into the mid 2000s, how much time he put on his footwork. And then as he got older, he goes down to the low post and he just figures out almost like a, like a center. I'm going to take this piece of the court and now I'm going to make

this my part too. And now I'm going to have the perimeter plus this. And it was just his will to make himself better and better and better as his career went along was incredible. Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, both of those guys, they basically reinvented the guard position. Hakeem, probably the best athlete I've ever seen at center. Shaq was modern day Will. Moses, for five years there, was the most relentless, unstoppable person around the basket I've ever seen. And I think that's actually still the case. I've never seen the ball is just around the rim and he's just like, I'm getting it. And he could just keep, he would have four rebounds of one possession.

The relentlessness he's had, I haven't seen before or since. And then you go to Curry and Durant. And I just think Curry belongs in that group now. And this is not recency bias. This is something that, you know, he's had some of the resume already. He certainly had the resume to be a level four guy. But when you're talking about that last piece

that you just have to stand out in some way, really to be a pantheon guy. There has to be something when I'm 80 years old and I'm thinking about somebody in one sentence, things will pop to my head. The shooting, the way he shoots the basketball, it transformed basketball as we know it. It's sent the league in a completely different direction.

And you could argue he's the most important player of the last 20 years, not LeBron. LeBron is the most successful and the important player of the last 20 years, not LeBron. LeBron is the most successful and the best player of the last 20 years. But Curry, the impact he had on basketball, it ranks up there with Russell and it ranks up there with Wilt. And I think Magic and Bird and Jordan, obviously. But so you think about that impact. But then you think about the memorable thing. And I made a list of all the guys that just stood out to me in some way

where I'm just like, I'll never forget seeing that person in person. So you got Bird Magic, MJ, obviously, Kareem Shaq, Hakeem, Moses, Durant, Kobe. Iverson has to be on that list. The way he carried himself, how physical he was at his size, howant, Kobe. Iverson has to be on that list. The way he carried himself, how physical he was at his size, how he controlled everything. We did a book of basketball pod about that, but I've just never seen that before and I probably won't see it again. Bill Walton, I was lucky

enough to see when he was at his peak with the Blazers and they came into Boston, they beat us by like 75 points and he crushed us. And I just never seen anyone play center like that. And still, I feel like the passing defense rebounding, you could just put that with anybody. I made the case for him in my book too. I just think he has to still be considered one of the greatest players of all time.

He wasn't one of the best 30 careers, but he's up there. Curry, George Girvin, just two pointers. The dude, you just looked up, he had 38. It was so easy for him to score. David Thompson, who was like 6'4", but jumped over everybody. I'd never seen that in my life. Dominique Wilkins, best in-game dunker I ever saw in my life. Harden, he's got to be on there for me. Kyrie is on there for me. He's the most coordinated guard I've ever seen. Pippen's defense and athleticism and what just an awesome sidekick he was to Jordan. And they're hit this point in 96, 97, where those two together, they just made so much sense. It was

so unbelievable that Jordan, who's the best player ever, was able to create the perfect sidekick for himself. So he has to be on there for me. Julius Irving and Manupal. I'll just never get over Manupal, seven foot seven, blocking shots. There was no experience like that. I'm sure there was more. I wanted to do this just off the top of my head. Memorable. Curry is way, way up there. He does stuff that the other fans,

the fans on the other team are going, whoa, applauding respectfully. I can't believe he just made that shot. He made a shot at the end of the first half where they're basically double teaming. They was going to shoot. And he did like a double drop step and shot,

I think over Davis and made it. And what was really special about it was his whole bench knew it was going in and they're celebrating the shots in the air. And I think, you know, I've talked to some of the people on the worries about this. When you see this day after day after day, and you see here's a sport where the goal is to get the ball in the air. And I think, you know, I've talked to some of the people on the worries about this. When you see this day after day after day, and you see here's a sport where the goal is to get the ball in the basket. There's lots of good shooters out there, right? This person is like

10 to 15% better at shooting than everybody else's. You know, you look at like, you can compare Dame Lillard stats to him. You can compare Kyrie stats to him. You can compare Dame Lillard's stats to him. You can compare Kyrie's stats to him. You can look at the percentages. You can see them on the right day and maybe they're just as good. But the consistency of how great he is as a creator and a scorer, the way he has just brought everybody up and made everybody think that they're a contender when honestly they're not.

That has to be commemorated in some way. And I think Kobe did this in 2006. Jordan had some 1980s bowl seasons earlier in his career where he single-handedly was winning playoff series during a time when the league was really good. Right. Hakeem was another guy. We, I mean,

pretty much every great player has thrown a team on their back bird. My favorite Celtics team ever was the 87 team. The year after 86, everybody's hurt bird throws everyone on their back on his back. And, uh, and you know, they come within two wins of beating

the 87 Lakers who are a top 10 all time team. The Curry thing's really special. And I know we talk and we're covering the sports day to day and 24 seven cycle of it. And then we have these little moments where like Curry, Whoa, Whoa, Curry, unbelievable. See, could Curry win the MVP and all that. And sometimes we lose the nuance of what's, Curry, unbelievable. See, could Curry win the MVP and all that? And sometimes we lose the nuance of what's really going on here. And I'm just telling you, I was so excited to go to that game yesterday. I was so excited to see two of the best players of all time with real stakes. Not a game seven, but it kind of felt that way. And just knowing that both of them were going to show up. And I think that's the last piece of when you're talking about Pantheon guys, there was no way Corey was going to suck in that

game. And there was no way LeBron wasn't going to rise to the occasion. You watched LeBron that first half, he looked like he was hurt. Second half, he activated LeBron Pantheon stuff and did a hundred different things to help them win. But those guys, really, really special. And we're in a situation now where we have three Pantheon guys all playing at the same time.

Curry, Durant, LeBron. Curry's not going to make the finals. Durant and LeBron might have a chance. They might have a chance to go head to head. But I just know I'm not going to see another Steph Curry. And I think that's

when you're thinking about Pantheon guys, it's like, is this replicable? Curry is not replicable. We'll see what happens with him over the next few years. The team's going to be a lot better next year.

He's going to have Clay back. Poor Clay was pacing back and forth behind their bench yesterday, losing his mind that he couldn't be out here. They get him back. They're going pacing back and forth behind their bench yesterday, losing his mind that he couldn't be out here. They get him back. They're going to get, it looks like the sixth or seventh pick from Minnesota in a draft that everybody thinks has seven good players. The only way they

don't get that pick is if Minnesota miraculously moves up in the top three. They have the Wiseman card to play if they want to trade him. The Warriors are going to be in my opinion one of the four or five teams that have a real chance to win the title. So, you know, we'll be hearing more from Curry. I think what's crazy to me is that at age 32 it feels like he's gone up a

level. And there's really no as far as I can tell, there's really no history of that happening. We've seen guys, guys peaks usually between like 25 and 31 maybe. But with Steph, maybe this is more like a baseball player where sometimes, you know, baseball players can peak a little bit later, something like that, or even like football where Brady, you know, because the rules move toward the quarterbacks and stuff like that. All of a sudden, Brady was more potent in his mid to late thirties

than he was in his twenties. But there were reasons for that, that went beyond just him being talented, right? Like he worked on his game and he worked on his body and his athleticism. He was doing the Alex Guerrero stuff and, um, just his throwing motion. He worked with Dr. Tom house. He did all these things to kind of perfect how good he was. I'm not sure what Curry's doing. He, he hasn't really talked about it. To me, it almost seems more like a Gladwell's 10,000 hours theory thing

where he has just put so much time into, you know, how to get a shot off in a split second, how to create two-tenths of a second of space for himself when he's got somebody taller on him. How to split double teams and instead of splitting the double team and going to the basket or kicking out to a shooter, split the double team and then actually pull it back in a three. Like I do feel like he's adding more things to his game that I haven't seen. And the big thing this year was just his ability to initiate the offense over and over and over again, which we'd always kind of been like, why don't, why don't they do that more with

him? Well, maybe he wasn't ready or maybe he's just so unselfish that he never really wanted to play that way until he had to. But you know, one last piece with the Pantheon piece, I do think the Durant thing kind of screwed this up a little bit, even though they won the extra two titles. Um, you know, there were, there's only one basketball, you got to defer. Um, Durant was the best player in the league, you know, and at some point you got to ride that horse. And I think Curry stepped back a little where if we had to do that over again, I think it's a lot more fun if we just keep running back that 2016 Warriors team around him and Draymond and Clay and a rotating cast of awesome teammates who aren't as good as Curry. Can't argue with the results. They won two titles.

They probably should have won the third. But I do think this Curry that we're seeing this year was probably lurking in there. At the same time, I do feel like he's just gotten better and better and better at certain things. And it makes me think like over these next couple of years, I don't feel like he's going to be past his prime or any of that stuff. I think it's, you almost have to think of him like a quarterback.

You'd think of it in the same way. Like how did Tom Brady get better in his mid thirties? How did Aaron Rodgers, how is he better last year at age 37 than he was two years earlier? And maybe that's how we have to look at it with Curry. But regardless, welcome to the Pantheon, Steph Curry. Win or lose in this playing game,

I have to put you in the top 16. So one more time, I got Mount Rushmore, Jordan, LeBron, Russell, Kareem. And then we have Magic Bird, Duncan, Wilt, Kobe, West, Oscar, Hakeem, Shaq, Moses. And then right now it'd be Durant, then Curry. That might be a bit of flip. We'll see if Curry can do it. But that is my pantheon now.

16 people. And if you had to ask me who else is cracking it, might be a while. I mean, really. Like maybe Luka. Giannis would have to go up one more notch in some way. And I don't know what that notch is. I guess we'll find out.

Harden, if he just destroys everybody in the playoffs and is just clearly the best player in the league, that's in play. And then that's really all we got. So it's pretty weird to crack the Pantheon. We're heading into the 75th season. I only have 16 players in it. Curry's got to be in there. So there you go. We're going to take a break, bring him back, Dave Jacoby in one second. This episode is brought to you by Movember. The mustache is back with a vengeance. Look at Travis Kelsey. Before he rocked that Super Bowl ring, he rocked that super soup strainer. Grow a mustache for Movember. You'll do great things too.

You won't win the Super Bowl, but your fundraising will support mental health, suicide prevention, and prostate and testicular cancer research. And if you don't want to grow a mustache, you could still walk or run 60 kilometers, host an event, or set your own goal and mow your own way. Do great things this November. Sign up now. Just search Movember. All right. My old friend Dave Jacoby is here. Once upon a time, we worked at ESPN and Grantland, and Jacoby is on the Jalen and Jacoby Show on ESPN. He is a die-easy Knicks fan. The Knicks are back. The Knicks are in the playoffs this weekend. The Knicks are playing the Atlanta Hawks.

New York is abuzz. New York is fired up. What's the mood in the city, Jacoby? It's great. It's great being here. The Brooklyn Nets have James Harden, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Durant, and no one cares. No one cares because the Knicks have Reggie Bullock and Julius Randle. It's wild how little people

care about the Nets. It's absolutely wild. No one cares. I wonder if deep down, KD and Kyrie are like, we've made a mistake. Well, we know that your close friend, Kevin Durant, wants to be loved. You know what I mean? He just wants to be loved.

Like, he really does. And who doesn't? And I think the little part of them must be like, man, I can't even be loved here. We have the second best record in the Eastern Conference and no one cares. We have three superstars. No one cares. Two former MVP. No one cares. People are more excited about the Liberty than they are the Nets. It's so weird that nobody in his life,

I mean, he has Rich Kleiman, right? Who's Katie's business partner. Who's a diehard Knicks fan. Who, you know, obviously it's a New York business opportunity there. They have the chance to control franchise. I get all the reasons, but Rich Kleiman couldn't have honestly thought Brooklyn had a chance to cut into the Knicks even 2%. There's no way there's too much Knicks DNA. The Knicks were, the Knicks were so bad when they made that decision though. Like the Knicks were so bad and they were, they were really, really bad at that point when that decision was made. So it did kind of feel like, and Brooklyn's cool. Just like the jersey's cool. You know, the court looks cool.

They've got good colors. It's in like right, sort of like a hub of Brooklyn. It's like Brooklyn has a lot of cachet as a borough. But when it comes to Knicks versus Nets, it's not even close. It's not even close to close to close. Not at all. Who is more popular in New York, Julius Randle or Kevin Durant? Julius Randle is more popular

than anybody in New York City. Is that true? Yes, yes, yes. He could easily run for mayor and win. Like they were in the middle of a mayoral race. If he just threw his hat in, he would be the mayor. He would be the mayor.

Did you see the mayor in his Nets gear? Another huge mistake. Why did he do that? I don't, I don't know. Why would you do that? Why would't know. Why would you do that? Why would you ever do that when you know the heart of this city is the New York Knicks?

The New York Knicks being good hosting a playoff game because you know it's about to break where they're going to play the Bucs. And you know I'm a die-easy fan. I'm off that bandwagon so fast when they go down 0-2 to the Bucs. But I have them beating the Hawks.

They're going to beat the Hawks. It's going to happen. I thought as recently as a week ago and I was on this podcast saying if they beating the Hawks. They're going to beat the Hawks. It's going to happen. I thought as recently as a week ago, and I was on this podcast saying, if they play the Hawks, they're going to lose. The Hawks have too much offense. They have too much talent. And then I did the sweep and I looked at all the games.

I did this, you know, the season trying to look and sometimes they don't mean anything. Other times you can gleam some things. And the thing to gleam is that Randall kicked their ass every time. They had nobody to defend him. That's in the Knicks favor. Um, Hawks have a lot of first year dudes. Um, first big taste, all that stuff. Um, coach who just took over the team two months ago. So you have that Knicks have home court, which is great. Knicks have Tibbs, who

you know he'll put in some defensive stuff that I would assume would be helpful. And what I think they're going to do is just use Trae Young against the Hawks. Make it so Trae Young hero ball becomes how the Hawks play. Everyone else stands around, watches Trae Young dribbling around. And that's

what they're going to do. They're going to try to use their best weapon against them while just slowing it down, making it ugly. And then Randall just does his thing. And they just rip off close wins. Couldn't you see this being the series where the Knicks win in seven, but the Hawks led in the fourth quarter in all seven games?

Every game, yeah. I could also see this being like a five or six game series. The Knicks just drag you to the mud. The Knicks just drag you to the mud. The Knicks just drag you to the mud. Remember that Lakers game? They just make you play their gross, slow, physical, like,

it's just awful. It's not pleasing to the eye, but they drag you down into the mud, and then they will do that to the Hawks. Are there Randall jerseys? What's going on? Are little kids in Quincy there, are there Randall jerseys? What's going on? Like our little kids, like in Quincy's class with young little Randall jerseys?

All of that. And they're all brand new too. Yes. Julius, I can't, I cannot express enough to you how much this city loves Julius Randall and this Knicks team. Like it is,

I think the juxtaposition of the Brooklyn Nets being this quote unquote super team and having all these superstars and sort of like all the flash and that and the Knicks being like the the island of misfit toys just like forgotten human beings like Alfred Payton you know what I mean just like I think that the city really loves that about them and then again expectations like success is just a function of expectations the expectations for the Nets are so high and for the Knicks are so low to exceed those expectations to sort of like bring back this rising phoenix of a franchise here in the city.

It's absolutely on fire and I cannot wait for game one. Are we already in the house money stage of this or do the Knicks actually have to win the series? Is it just that the Knicks made the playoffs again and irrelevant for the first time in eight years, basically, is that enough or do they actually need to come out of round one?

I don't think people would admit this, but this is house money. This is absolutely house money. Kind of feels that way. Just being over 500 is huge. Because it was so close to being like the play-in or that six seed to play the Bucs. That would have been awful.

Like game one in Milwaukee. But now game one is here. It's so exciting. It's so exciting. Julius Randle is the most iconic New Yorker that ever walked the planet. What do you think? If you're going big picture wins,

it's just a win not to be a laughingstock anymore. That's good. That seems like that's out the window with Leon Rose coming in, bringing in Wes, bringing in Tibbs, and at least the franchise seems competent both from afar and in the city.

They shed that baggage. That took how many years? Eight? Really, 20. A long time. At least they're not the freaking kickstand anymore. That's a win. That's why I agree with you. I think it's a house money

kind of feel to this. It absolutely is. And then you have to wonder, like, what happens now with this team? I don't think they're going to win the championship. Sorry, Knicks fans. I do not think they're going to come on a magical run and win the championship. So then you wonder, like, all right, they've made themselves in a destination again, I guess. Like, they're not a laughing

stock. And Tibbs seems stable. They play great defense. They play the right way. And then you wonder, like, who would sign there? Or who would they try to get? And I don't really see a natural partner. It's Chris Paul. I would love that. I would love that. I mean, you have to assume he's staying in Phoenix, right?

What if they lose in round one? Like, if I'm a Knicks fan, I'm rooting for two things. I'm rooting to beat the Hawks, obviously, and I'm rooting for the Lakers to kind of demolish the Suns and beat them in five games and open the door for Chris Paul to opt out this player option, which I think he's going to do anyway. And ease into like a three year, $100 million Knicks deal with the two guys who are his agents and his confidants. And like, those are his people, Leon and Wes. So you're really teasing me into this.

This sounds feasible now. I really think it's conceivable. If they, cause they're, I think they're going to lose to Lakers. Who knows what's going to happen, right? Like I don't have a crystal ball,

but I, I really, I highly favor the Lakers in that series. It's not a good series. If they lose in the first round and Chris Paul talks to his old buddy, Leon, that could actually happen. Cause that is a need that they have to,

this is a really realistic way. This plays out. They lose to the Lakers in five or six. It's not close. And Chris Paul's like, you know what? I had a great run here. It was really fun. I love playing with Booker.

There's a great foundation. I've left this team in good hands. It's really fun. I love playing with Booker. There's a great foundation. I've left this team in good hands. It's time for me to go to the Big Apple, the place that has had the greatest point guards for the last 70 years. This is my destiny. And let's also not forget this part where he's like yelling at DeAndre Ayton

all game long during the series. He's flustered. He's frustrated. He's mad at Booker for not like, you know, passing the ball or whatever. He has like a frustrating experience in the playoffs in the first round, losing to the Lakers. Guess what?

That's what it's going to be because they're playing LeBron and AD. There was a moment in that game yesterday when it just looked like LeBron might not be healthy at all. And the first half, it seemed like something was actually wrong and his demeanor was way off. And then at halftime, it was fine because he's Superman. And it's just, he does whatever he did. I was watching that game. I was like, not only are they going to lose this game,

they might not make the playoffs based on just sort of how LeBron and AD are playing in the first half. Like, the Warriors were kind of having their way with them. I was shocked. I was like, wow, this is, they don't really hurt. And then we know what happened in the second half. It was so much fun to watch.

You haven't been to live basketball, right? No, no. I looked at the prices. The prices are wild. The Knicks games, I've taken a Quincy to like six Knicks games. They've lost every single game. Every single game.

Yeah, he hates them. He's just like, this sucks. He just goes for the cotton candy. And I was like, oh, I'm going to take him to a winning game. This will be great. And I look on the whatever ticket thing I have, whatever, whoever sponsors this podcast. And it was like $400, $500 a piece, not even good seats. I'm spending $1,000 just to be in the building. No chance.

I went to the game. I'm going to talk about it. Alan Yang's coming on after you. And we talk about it in detail. I'll just say this. Guess what's really fun? Live basketball. I don't know if you remember. You and I went to some good ones. Oh, that Pacers game where we sat courtside? Where we sat courtside and watched

Dwight Howard just beat the shit out of the Pacers center. It was Admondson, I think. I don't know how to say his name. It was wild. I remember watching that and being like, you think, sometimes you watch a game and you like, you know, you and I play pickup basketball. Like you see the miss of 15 footer.

You're like, oh, what are they doing? Like, huh? But when you see it up close and personal, you're like, oh my God, they're playing a completely different sport than I've ever played. The physicality. I love sitting under the basket.

To me, it's like the dream seat is like some of the owners, like where Balmer sits. Those are the best seats because you can see everything, you know, develop almost like hockey style with the way the,

with the cuts and stuff. But then the physicality, that's when you really feel it. And that game, it was like, I probably won't be telling my grandkids about Dwight Howard, but the physicality

of just him in his prime, watching him just demolishing people. And he's pissed. Remember, he was unhappy. He wanted to get traded. It was crazy, though. It wouldn't even be part of the thing. The point guard would have the ball in the backcourt.

And then Dwight Howard would just look at Lou Admondson and just throw a shoulder right into his chest. And I was just like, the ball's not even close. Like, take it easy, Dwight. The ball's not even close. And here I am getting like, take it easy, Dwight. The ball's not even close. And here I am getting hit with a battering ram in the middle of my chest. You know how I knew this Knicks thing was real, by the way?

Because I know a lot of Knicks fans. They would complain about Alfred Payton, how he was the starter. This became like such a touch point for Knicks fans and like long conversations about this. Knicks fans, they just sit around like, what do you want to talk about? Let's talk about this Alfred Payton thing for 20 minutes. For 45 minutes.

And how quickly should play here. And that's when I was like, oh, the Knicks are back, man. They're not just like complaining about James Dolan. And I can't like normally the Knicks fan DNA would just be talking about Obi Toppin for three hours, how they fucked up the pick. But this was like, all right, we've graduated.

Now we're just arguing about which point guard should start. This is a good thing. Yes. Yes. And Derrick Rose. Tibbs is just like, I want Derrick Rose. He's my comfy.

He's my, my stripey. My, my son's got a blanket named stripey. He's like, Derrick Rose is my stripey. Yeah. This is what I want.

Kind of shocked by how he's getting to his spots. Dude. How he, you know, and he's not, you know, when he takes a three, I never think they're going in. Sometimes they'll go in. But his ability to that herky-jerky kind of speed stop thing that he has, I mean, he usually gets the shots he wants, and he finishes.

He goes right or left, and he can drive and kick, and he's just, he's also just, like, smart. Tibbs just likes him. You know, it works. And he comes off the bench. So he goes up against a lot of second teams. It works really, really well. Topping, however, we'll see. We'll see. Well, unfortunately he, they,

he plays the position that one of the 10 best players in the league this season, who's on the next place. I don't know how you solve for that one. The best thing about a playoff series is the animosity for the other team. When you get to see somebody for two straight weeks and you just develop a rational hatred with the other side. I feel like Trae Young and some of the calls he's going to get in this series,

I think Knicks fans, about midway through game three, Trae Young is going to be an actual villain for Knicks fans. That's one of my predictions. I can feel it. I don't think they fully understand yet how Young is going to be an actual villain for Knicks fans. That's one of my predictions. I can feel it. I don't think they fully understand yet how this is going to go when he does the thing, when he's just dribbling up

and he lurches into somebody to get a foul or the threes or the respect that he gets from the refs. It's going to drive Knicks fans insane. I think Trae Young is going to have a tough series. I think they're going to load up against him. I think, like you said, they're going to use what he wants to do against him. And he's not going to get the calls.

The calls are just different in the playoffs. You don't get them like that. And he's going to get frustrated. They're going to get down. You know, he's, you know, it's his first playoff series. Taj Gibson probably gets thrown out of a game, clothesline him at some point.

I love Taj Gibson so much. That's off the boards in Vegas, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They're going to do some stuff. I can't wait. I love Todd Houston so much. That's off the boards in Vegas, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They're going to do some stuff. I can't wait. I can't wait. You're making it seem like you have inside information.

They're going to do some stuff. They're going to do some stuff. They're going to do some stuff. I cannot wait for this game, Bill. And again, I will jump off this bandwagon the second that they lose, but that's fine.

That's what I do. I jump off bandwagons. I jump off bandwagons. What other playoff subplots are you excited about? A couple things. Number one, DeMar DeRozan, free agent. Oh, you're already thinking free agency.

It's just interesting. Like, no one talks about that. He's scored 20 points a game for like a decade. Yeah. And he's a free agent. I don't know. It's interesting. That's your number one playoff subplot you're excited about? No, it's just something I was thinking about yesterday. There don't know. It's interesting. That's your number one

playoff subplot you're excited about is DeMar DeRosa's free agency? There's something I was thinking about yesterday. Okay. The Clippers. Oh.

Like, what are we getting? And Luka. Yeah. You just don't know. I mean, that's what I'm really rooting for. I'm really rooting for like a huge Luka series.

You remember last season in the bubble, he won one game, had that shot. And one other thing is got hurt. That's screwed up. It's got hurt. There's animosity there though.

Like remember the mantra is Harold thing where Harold had to apologize to him. Like there was a lot going on in that series that I want to see come back. Like that's, that's what I'm most excited about. Luca. He's just so fun to watch.

And I feel like, I feel like he can win a few games himself and maybe this year. Well, playoff Rondo, everybody's just counting on that to happen. Like it just gets activated. But they have so much more talent than the Mavericks. I know.

You start thinking about like, who's the Mavericks third best player? You're like, did he Smith? You just start comparing it. And it's like, oh man. And I'm not even sure. I like Porzingis. But I'm with you.

It's if you had to do the one man wrecking crew prediction, it's either him or Jokic. Cause Jokic, I think is the other one where the Portland Denver series is even, I really liked Denver in that series, but mainly because of the Jokic factor. I just think like he could just rip them apart. Jokic has more help than Luka.

You know, they've got, they've got some, you can see that the Jokic MVP, right? You didn't do any stupid ESPN. It's not even close. Like a zag. No, I love it.

The end of it was like, Steph Curry. It's like, bro, this is over. It's been a month. This has been over for a month. He's having a historic season. He's played every single game. Like, what do you want?

Murray gets hurt. They get better. Like, what else do you want to do? Do you know who I love? Do you know who my guy is? Who my guy is? My guy in all of the playoffs. Compazzo.

You know I love fancy passes. You know I love... You like fancy passes and bad defense. Unnecessary fancy passes. I love it so much. Compazzo's going to have like five turnovers, five behind-the-back no-look passes, and he's going to give up 60 points to Dave Miller

in every single game. It is a mismatch. If you're doing the position, you know, breakdown of who's, who wins this one, that one, you can't make the check mark big enough for Dave Lillard. But I do think Compasso is going to torture him and try to goad him. And he does like a lot of, he sets those screens where he hits the guys in the balls. Yes. All that. I love it so much. He steps on the person when

they're shooting a three. He steps on their toe. He does nine things like that and Dame Lillard at some point is probably going to punch him in the face. Yes, he plays he's like Napoleon syndrome personified. Like you can tell he's always just been the littlest guy on the court and he always has to scrap and fight for everything

and he's also like older than Dame Lillard. he's a rookie did you put him on your second all rookie team please tell me you did what who are you talking to of course i did yes yes yes yes yes yes i love caballo so much i did it without even blinking it was like i don't care if he's 35 he's on my own rookie team he's just such unnecessary fancy stuff, just putting it between people's legs and stuff and just like, oh, I love him so much. He wants to start a fight and he wants to turn the ball over, put it behind his back and someone else's back and start a fight every possession.

As you've known for years, one of my favorite basketball things are the frisky point guard who does cheap shot shit, who's not really that good. I love those guys. Those guys are always Vucevic. I had my eye on for a while and I feel like he never really figured out how to put the puzzle together,

but he wanted to be that guy. He just, he couldn't figure it out. But when you see it, you know, like with composite, you're like, Oh,

you get it. You're setting a screen. You know, you have to give the guy the fist to the balls and then, and then the next time give him like the little elbow to the balls. And then the next time, give him the little elbow to the hip. He knows what he's doing. I like the Austin Rivers piece for them.

I still don't know why the Knicks got rid of him. I love Austin Rivers because in his head, he is Michael Jordan. He has so much confidence. He really feels that he is the greatest player on the planet. It's wild to me that year after year after year he still plays that way.

He's seen his salary. He's seen his stats. He's compared himself to the other players in the NBA. But in his head, he's the best player in the NBA. Every single time he takes steps on the floor. We're going to take a break and then we're going to talk about a couple other things. So I think this year was the 10 year anniversary of you and Jalen Rose teaming up to start doing podcasts together, right?

Yeah. It's like literally like a month from now. You've had to, you've had to listen to Jalen's takes for a full decade. I only had them for a couple of years. He's been known to repeat a take from time to time. What wins the award for best repeated Jalen take over the course of the decade? What was it?

Well, what it is, it's the music references. Like when he talks about Kobe Bryant every single time, he says, Michael Jordan was the original. Kobe Bryant is the remix, baby. And it's like, I know exactly when it's coming. Every time on the run when I see a Kobe Bryant topic, I'm like, oh, guaranteed we're going to get the remix baby on this one. And

whenever Kevin Durant comes up, it's shooting trays from the suburbs. I don't even think that's a lyric. I think he just made that one up. But he's the best. Every time you start to think he's predictable, he does something wildly unpredictable and original and amazing. One of the things I loved about working with him was you, you sometimes you just throw them alley oops and you know,

he's going to be at the rim ready to dunk them. Yes. And it became the goal. One of my favorites was when, uh, he just, anytime it's a rookie, he would always talk about how they treated rookies back in the day,

which I don't even think they do anymore. No, but it was like, get my suitcase, get my stuff. And it would always be like, which I don't even think they do anymore. But it was like, get my suitcase, get my stuff. And it was like, oh, you know how to treat them. I don't think they even treat rookies like that. But I like when the retired players in their mind, it's still how it worked in 1995.

I don't feel like Emmanuel quickly is carrying Derek Rose's bags during round one of the finals. But I think Jalen really thinks that he is. Jalen told a story once that he like someone like knocked on his hotel room door in the middle of the night and was like, go to the store and get me condoms. And he told that story on wax. And like, I know who it is. They got mad.

They like reached out to him. They're like, why are you telling my story? Yeah. But that's, I imagine just like in the middle, you're sleeping. You know, you just played a tough basketball game. You had a glass of wine. You watched a hotel movie. It's two in the morning. Someone knocks on the door, you're sleeping, you know, you just played a tough basketball game. You had a glass of wine. You watched a hotel movie. It's two in the morning.

Someone knocks on the door. They're like, go get condoms. You're like, what? Oh my God. Why do I have to do that right now? I know you guys have covered this on your show.

The, we're entering this weird world with former professional basketball players. Now Jalen's obviously in the high end. He's on a studio show. He's got his own show and he's, but now, now there's a bunch of podcasts with ex-players.

Then there's social media stuff. And over and over again, we seem to have things like Kwame Brown just deciding to attack all the smoke guys because he was upset because they had a throwaway reference. And now all of a sudden we have this beef. Are retired basketball players from the 90s and 2000s becoming almost like retired

professional wrestlers? Like when, you know, 15 years ago, it would be like the Ultimate Warrior got mad at the Iron Sheik, even though neither of them are wrestling anymore. They start yelling at each other. It's like, what's going on? Is this real? Is this become ex-basketball players?

I don't think so. But I think one thing about this whole Kwame Brown saga that has really opened my eyes to is I didn't realize what a great orator this man was. I just love listening

to him talk. I don't agree with everything he says, but just the way he speaks, I'm just like, wow, this man is a great orator. I'd never listened

to Kwame Brown speak before like two weeks ago. And now he's like my favorite voice. I don't know where this leaves us if we can't make fun of basketball players. I don't really have a lot left to live for. If we can't make fun of like some of the, some of the, we call them, but Jalen doesn't like the word bus, but we call them some of the bus, some disappointments, some of the goofier looking guys. If, if we're just not allowed to tease anybody anymore, I don't really

know where I am with basketball. I really have to reevaluate everything. Now people can reach out to you. People remember everything that you wrote or said about them, though. Jalen knows. Remember when Jalen was like, yeah, you said this thing about me? He was like, what was it? You said something about him. Oh, I had. A fraud or something?

No, I did. That's right. He didn't tell me for like a year and then he brought it up and he remembered exactly what it was. No, it was, it was, it was like trade value. And I think I, I'd knocked him off the trade value list from the year before and talked about how overpaid he was. And he was mad about it for nine years. But so he couldn't reach out to you, but now he can just reach out to you on social media

and tell you how he's upset about you. And Jalen doesn't get mad about anything. And he filed that away. I loved it so much. I loved it. We didn't want to talk about it. And you were like, no,

no. And then you looked at it. You're like, Oh yeah, that was pretty bad. Yeah. I was like, Oh,

that's kind of hard. That wasn't nice. Didn't know I'd be working with this guy every day. The internet was different 20 years ago. You just kind of, it was like a message board. You just kind of put stuff out there. You didn't even think anybody would even see it. You know, now it's like, oh my God.

He reconnected with C-Web on Countdown. We were texting about it on Sunday. I did not expect that. What did Jalen say after the fact about that? I didn't ask him about it too much. You know, I think that everyone's always said like, oh, you need to have Chris Webber on your show.

And like, you need to get Chris Webber and Jalen Rose need to reconnect. Chris Webber and Jalen Rose need to reconnect. And I'm like, uh, this is not going to happen like on camera. You know what I mean? This is the friends,

like actual real friends and brothers. I'm not going to do it for like a quote unquote show. And he got inducted into the hall of fame. No, Jalen was super happy for him. So I think that whatever is going to happen between them will not, I don't even think he'll share with me. You know what I mean? Between them.

Yeah, if you and I had a falling out, I wouldn't then come on your show to try to hash out our falling out and yell at each other. That's unfortunately not how real life works. No. I was delighted to see it though. I'd love to have a falling out with you. That would be amazing. Because you write really mean emails when you're mad. And I'm

sure I would get a couple of those. No, I don't do that anymore. I'm retired. You don't do that anymore? No, I don't. Oh, those are some of the best. Sometimes I'll read this email and be like, God, this is some of his best writing he's ever written. This is probably some of his best work. We should publish those, the Dash Dash Simmons emails. Well, I remember one of them

I wrote to the ombudsman. I think that was the best email I've ever written. Asshole ombudsman. I think that was the best email I've ever written. That asshole ombudsman. You were getting mad over the dumbest stuff back in the day too. The dumbest stuff. I was a competitive guy. The dumbest stuff.

I loved it though. I loved it. And ESPN.com would do something that's like kind of sort of maybe close to something you've said before and like you would like fire off a 4,000 word email about it. No, that's not true.

It's definitely true. It would be a text to you. I wouldn't fire it to them. And I'd have to walk you off. I'd be like, Bill, don't worry about it. I would get mad when we would send them the schedule of stuff we had planned to do for a week. And then they would try to jump us with a great, remember that? Yeah.

We're probably going too behind the curtain now. Yeah, so what was the out of like the confrontation stuff you've done on the show? Or the people that come on like where it's like bring that person on the show and like say to what was like

the all time say it when he's on the show kind of moment. Because you don't really do it, right? So it's so like cheap and just kind of like, you know, I'll have him on like say it when he's on the show kind of moment. We don't do that stuff. Because you don't really do it, right? It's so cheap and just kind of like, oh, I'll have him on. Say it to my face. That kind of TV is not. That's a short con. But you have way more guests now. But usually, it's just more congenial.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's always like that. Why would you have someone on and argue with them? You know what I mean? Why spend your time that way? That's how. You don't do that here. No, I've had this pod for 07.

I always want the guests to leave happy. I have like a weird philosophy. Take a clue over my house. Yeah, we won't make you look good. Yeah, like, you know, they're a guest. We don't really do that. It's a little cheap. It's a little cheap.

I'm entertaining it. All right. What else do we have to talk about? The challenge? I want to talk about how the heat can beat the bucks. All right, let's hear it because I feel completely the opposite.

I know. It's a stretch. We saw it last year. You've got Bam who can guard Giannis. Okay? Yeah. That's good.

I mean... Jimmy Butler. Guard, like, can keep him from getting like 50 in a game. But Giannis is getting his 29 and 12 against Bam.

Hero and Robinson have had a tough year. This has not been a great year for getting like 50 in a game, but Giannis is getting his 29 and 12 against spam here. Hero and Robinson have had a tough year. This has not been a great year for, for hero and Robinson. However, last few weeks here has come on. Yeah. Yeah. Starting to heat up.

I'm there starting to heat up there. And I just feel like they've got their number. I think Spolster, Spolster is probably the best coach in the Eastern Conference. Probably. Maybe best coach in the league. Ever since Brad Stevens retired, I think that's true.

I don't even want to talk about that. Oh, wait. Brad Stevens didn't retire? I'm kidding. I love Brad Stevens. No, you don't. No, you don't. No, no, I don't.

No, you don't. I don't think he's done a great job this year. I love him. I think it's not the type of team you should be coaching. But there's just like a lot of stuff where it's like the energy, getting ready for games, getting up for games.

There's a lot of that. Anyway, I think it's a long shot. You mean being down by 20 every game? Yeah. I don't know. I have to like four minutes though. It's wild. It's like the first TV timeout. It's like 15 to three. Wait, your Miami case. You left out a couple of things. Playoff dragage. Yep. I think that's a real thing.

Miami's incredible fans that really loud... Oh, no. All right. Scratch that one. Zone defense. Zone defense against the Bucs. They did really well with that last year in the bubble. They've got their number. And like, the Bucs are going to start... Miami's just tough.

If they're down 15, they're not going to fold. And I feel like the Bucs could stick... I feel like the Bucs are going to start... Miami's just tough. If they're down 15, they're not going to fold. And I feel like the Bucs could stick. I feel like the Bucs could lose game one and start to look in the mirror and start wondering about things. Here's my counter. Here's my counter. The Holiday thing is such a significant upgrade from last year.

I feel like you almost have to throw last year out. Last year's in the bubble. They were going through stuff in Wisconsin. Everyone's going through bubble stuff. Giannis got hurt. Yeah, Giannis was banged up, and Holiday wasn't on the team. So you start there.

The Tucker thing, which I thought was going to mean jack shit because he looked washed up in Houston. One of my lessons I learned this year is don't judge formerly good players in terrible situations on bad teams because Blake Griffin just to me looks like somebody who should retire.

In Brooklyn, he looks in Brooklyn, you could argue he's their fourth most important player. Maybe even third. He plays a lot. Don't sleep on that. When he was in Detroit before he got hurt, he was playing really well. He's averaging eight assists a game, scoring a bunch.

His body was broke, though. Anyway, with P.J. Tucker, hurt, he was playing really well. He's averaging eight assists a game, scoring a bunch. It seemed like his body was broke, though. So anyway, with P.J. Tucker, I thought he was done. And I actually think he's gonna play crunch time for them in the playoffs. I think so, too. And so those are two guys they didn't have last year. But the Holiday thing... I love Holiday so much. The thing

with Holiday, and this is what they didn't have last year, when Hero has his game, when he's starting to feel it, like in game three, they just throw Drew Holiday on him. It's like throwing a fire-retarded suit on him. You can do it to Jimmy, too. Anybody. I love players that

played really good defense. Some people are picking Milwaukee to, I think Barkley picked them to make the finals. I can see it. I have Philly. I have Philly. I took Philly and the Lakers as my finals on Sunday. I have one Philly fan that I trust who was just like, uh-uh, not happening.

I'm like, really? You basically have a free ride to the finals. He's like, no, Simmons isn't right. He hasn't been right since the All-Star break. His confidence is way down. And when we actually get to real playoff games, we're not going to have enough. So now I don't know

what to think. So maybe Milwaukee's the team. But you think Miami's going to beat Milwaukee? No, I think the Nets are going to be in the finals. Just don't overthink it. Don't overthink it. They've got James Harden, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Durant. You can scheme against the Bucs. You can't scheme against those three players. They're probably the three best one-on-one scores

or top five at least. Don't overthink it. I'm not picking them. As you know, I am a huge chemistry guy with professional basketball. And that team, it just has not had enough time to play together and has too many variables that concern me.

You're overthinking it, dude. You're way overthinking it. They've got Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Harris shoots like 50% from three, and then they've got Blake Griffin. You're fine. The best player in the league, Bruce Brown. I love Bruce Brown.

Bruce Brown was in the MVP conversation for a while there for the first couple of months. There's like two weeks where Bruce Brown was the most important player in the Mets. He was a roll guy. He was like a roll man. But he was like a maniac. He was like if Kevin Wilds could have been a professional

basketball player, I feel like he would have been Bruce Brown. Just a blue guy doing all kinds of stuff, doing his thing. So you have Brooklyn and who do you have? Lakers? Lakers. Lakers, Brooklyn. Don't overthink it. They've got the best players. They've got the best rosters. You're going chalk.

Chalk never works. It's the seven seed in the two seed. It's not chalk. How about the Celts? Celts? Anything? Do we win a game? The Celts are like, Jason, what are you doing?

Jason, stop. We don't want to be in the playoffs. They're like, Jason, stop. What are you doing? Jason, stop. We don't want to be in the playoffs. We need to start to win. They're like, Jason, stop. What are you doing, Jason? You've got 40. Chill out. I feel like the Spurs were like that too.

The Spurs were like, I feel like the Spurs should have had the ability to give the Pelicans the 10 seed. I feel like that would have been nice if the Spurs were just like, hey, you guys seem to want this more than us. Could they have traded it to them? I feel like, yeah, give nice. If the Spurs were just like, hey, you guys seem to want this more than us. Could they have traded it to them? I feel like, yeah, give me like a second rounder.

You can have the 10 seed. We'll take a second rounder. They shouldn't be able to do that. I think the Celtics shouldn't be able to do that too. Just be like, we're out, actually. I know we're the 7 seed. Is there like a clause where we can just give up? Just resign.

But they basically did that when Jalen Brown got the surgery. They wanted him to get the surgery so he'd be ready next year. Well, they gave up before that. No, I know they gave up before that. But when the Jalen Brown surgery happened, that was when I was like, oh, man, they really are punting on this season. Because it was a thing he could have played hurt with it. But they were like, then for next year, he wouldn't be ready.

And they're not winning the title this year. So I think I was smart to do it that way. But it's sad. I have a lot of, I mean, it's a borderline 30 for 30 what happened in the South the last five years with all the different ways things could have gone. And it just went the worst way. I'm not saying it'd be a good 30 for 30.

It's like Jason Hare will direct it, but he'll produce it. It's like, you just cut him a check. He's like, yeah, I'll oversee it. I'll get a guy. I'll get a guy to do it. What if I told you Isaiah Thomas, the karma from trading him would backfire

on the most storied franchise in the league? Something like that. The Cavs are like, oh, your hip is broken. His hip does not work. We'll take him anyway. Throw in a second rounder. Like, what? That's how bad they did not want Kyrie Irving. They traded Kyrie Irving for a broken Isaiah Thomas

and Jay Crowder. Kyrie's the toughest guy to talk about in the league because he's really erratic. I think we're a lot more careful when we criticize athletes these days. Of course. But ESPN is on 24-7

and Kyrie has been in these stories over and over again. It seems like the only guy who really goes after him in a smart way, I think, is Stephen A. And we've all kind of seeded it to Stephen A. Like, Stephen A, you take this. He's, Stephen A now has this really enviable position in sports where it's like anything that's complicated,

it's like, Stephen A, you have the floor. You're the one. You take it. And he's really good at it. And he does it the best. But the stuff he said. The Kyrie personal reason stuff, it's like, I do want to criticize him. I want to say he's good you take it and he's really good at it and he does it the best but the stuff he said the Kyrie personal reason stuff it's like

I do want to criticize him I want to say he's quitting on his team I want to say he's leaving for this reason or that reason but then there's always like oh what if what if someone in his family passed

you know what I mean like there's always the what if you don't want to go on there into a microphone and say like this guy quit on his team you're making millions of dollars we're only going to start

fining him they should do this and that but if you say that and you find out that his mom died or whatever, then you're a jerk. Right. People are just more careful in general. That's why it's just fun to talk about the die-easy

Knicks. I love the die-easy Knicks so much. You love Bogdanovich though. I think it's going to be hard to root against Bogdanovich. You know I've been on Bogdanovich ever since he was with the Kings. He's easily, in the power rankings of Bogdanovich, he's I've been on Bogdanovich ever since he was with the Kings. He is easily, in the power rankings of Bogdanovich, he's number one in my heart.

Who's third? Is there a third Bogdanovich? How many Bogdanovichs are there? No, I consider Boban a Bogdanovich even though he's not really a Bogdanovich. But people never, no one was watching those Kings teams he was on, but he was so good.

And you notice that once he comes back, they switch the code. They're like, oh, Nate McMillan turned around this. No, Bogdanovich turned around this season. That's when it switched. 100%. And you could, I mean, it's a hot take, but you could argue they looked the best this season when Trey was out.

Everything was running through Bogdanovich. Yes. Bogdanovich was like winning like European tournaments when he was like seven. He wasn't even like, he's been, he's like, it's kind of like Compasso. It's like, yeah, you know, he's been in the league for what, five years? But he's been playing professional basketball for like 15. I love Bogdanovich.

So three kids, you got out of the woods. We'll end on that note. You had three children in a very short time frame. I was extremely concerned for the health, welfare, and safety of you and your wife. I have no idea what happened for like 18 months of my life.

It feels like you... It's just gone. Yeah, it feels like you blacked out for like two and a half years. Yeah, I blacked out for... I had three kids in diapers. Quincy was like still in diapers and like barely two.

And then I had twins, Marco and Chloe. And then you were trying to follow sports to host a television show. It was impossible. Yeah, we had the twins on Friday. I did the show on Monday. It was absolutely wild. That year, I do not remember anything that happened that year. I was not a functioning human being.

The twins were just constantly awake. We never slept, just never slept. Sleeping for like 90 minutes a night. Night after night after night. It was awful. We've talked about this, but there's like a two-year stretch. Not the first year at Grantland,

but like when I started doing Countdown where I just don't remember stuff. People are like, remember when we went to that dinner? I'm like, I don't. Don't know what to do. It's weird how the brain, when you're overloaded with,

you're just doing too many things, like stuff just doesn't stick in your head. Or maybe it's just us. I don't know. Maybe we smoked too much pot once upon a time. Yeah, who knows? I might have experimented. All right.

Dave Jacoby, you're not watching the challenge, all stars. I know. I will. It's like I told you before the pod. It's like Sopranos. I've got it there. I'm going to get it at some point. I'm going to watch it. I know. I will. It's like I told you before the pod. It's like Sopranos. I've got it there.

I'm going to get it at some point. I'm going to watch it. And we'll do it. We recapped an entire challenge season on Ringer Dish. And it was a huge waste of time for both of us. And it was the best half hour of my week. Oh, I loved it. We got to hang out every week for a little bit.

Just like this pod. It was great. It was great. All right. It's good to see you. Say hi to the fam. Good luck with the Knicks. Thanks, buddy.

Go Knicks. All right. It's good to see you. Say hi to the fam. Good luck with the Knicks. Thanks, buddy. Go Knicks. All right. My friend Alan Yang is here. He's here just to talk about Andre Drummond for the next 45 minutes. You can't feel good about Andre Drummond. My love affair with Andre Drummond was pretty brief. It's like you look at the numbers and it's like,

yeah, this guy's getting 20 and 15. He's like, he's dominant. He's the best rebounder in modern, like literally the modern age. And then the results are kind of, it's just less than the sum of its parts. And it's the same thing as last year where he's clogging the lane up in the same way

that Dwight or JaVale would. So I don't know, man. I mean, is there a series where you use him maybe against Denver? But I think Gasol is probably better against Jokic than he is. So I have a lot of thoughts after last night, man. That was, that was wild. Yeah. We're taping this. It is noon PT. I went to the game. Um, so I got to see,

I got to see Drummond in person. I went with Chen. Um, Drummond, first of all, seemed overweight. Second of all, um, I didn't like his body. As you know, I'm the body language doctor. I didn't like his body language at all. And it was like last year where you're just kind of waiting for them, for him to come out so the Lakers can put their best five guys in. And you knew he came out of the game with like five minutes, five minutes in the third quarter. And it was just apparent we weren't going to see him again. I said to Chen, like, that's it. Say goodbye to Andre. That was it. I think the disappointing thing, if you're a Laker fan, and I still have optimism for the season, it's all depending on LeBron and AD's health, obviously. But the disappointing thing is they closed with four guys from last year's team and then Wes Matthews. And it's like, well,

Wes Matthews is a little bit of a downgrade from Danny Green. So now you're talking about Drummond, Schroeder, Trez, Gasol even, and they didn't play any of them because it's like, that's not their best five so how did the team improve? You know you could say those guys are regular season guys but ultimately

who's going to close your playoff games? It's Caruso and KCP and like one other guy you know? Right and Schroeder going for the new contract is an interesting wrinkle

because in the fourth quarter we were sitting on the side where their basket was and there was like five minutes left. And he just had the ball a lot. And he was going to the basket.

And it's like, your teammates are Anthony Davis and LeBron James. So finally, there's a timeout. And I said to Chen, I was like, we won't see Schroeder again. That was it. LeBron gave Vogel the look. He's like, get that guy. Get that guy the fuck out of here. Yeah, and I want to say it's one game.

And it's like, look, ideally it's a long playoffs, and you see maybe Schroeder plays better in other games, but it's just like, he's not huge. He doesn't play great defense, so it's like, you got this sort of,

is he like a six-man type in the playoffs? Because it's, you know, again, like, Vogel likes defensive players, and so you're going to close with Caruso and Wes and maybe Kuzma and maybe KCP. Like, Schroeder, it's hard to trust him unless he's playing another small guard. And I don't know.

Seeing Schroeder and Drummond kind of get played off the floor against an okay Warriors team is definitely kind of a red flag. Yeah, and Curry was abusing him. Now, Curry's abusing everybody, but I think when Caruso came in, Caruso's underrated. He just is. I was watching with a bunch of guys

and they hated Caruso. I'm like, dude was like five for five in the first half and he played as good a defense as you can on Steph Curry. When Caruso and AD were doubling Steph, I was like, that's the best you can throw at Steph.

He's still going to score, but that's the best big man defender in the league, in my opinion, in the playoffs. And Car like, that's the best you can throw at Steph. You know, he's still going to score, but it's like, that's the best big man defender in the league, in my opinion, in the playoffs. And Caruso's one of the best, you know, big guard defenders. Like, to be honest, he just doesn't make mistakes on the defensive end. Very limited offensive player in some ways, but man, on defense, you know LeBron loves that, right? It's like Caruso's just playing defense.

Yeah, it feels like their crunch time, LeBron and AD, obviously. Caruso. KCP. And then either, it's either Kuzma or Matthews, depending on who's playing well. It seems like they trust Matthews in a way I don't totally understand. You would think that would be the Kuzma spot. There's something about Kuzma they don't 100% trust. I know. I've seen Kuzma improve a lot on the defensive end this year, so that's encouraging. And he's long, right? He's like 6'9". He's long.

But there is something about if Wes Matthews can shoot 36% on threes in the playoffs, he's playable. All he needs to do is hit threes. And it's possible he's had a rough shooting season. But look, he's a pretty good defender. Like he's still a pretty good defender, even with a torn Achilles. So yeah, I wasn't a huge Matthews guy this year, but he may come through. He's a smart guy, just like Danny Green was. You know, that's that kind of veteran savvy.

Do you think this team's better than last year's team? Because I went into the season, and even halfway through the season, I'm like, they're definitely better. Harrell gives them this offense off the bench. They have size. Schroeder is such an improvement over, like, basically, you don't know where you're going to get from Rondo until it's the

playoffs. And even then you're just kind of hoping playoff Rondo shows up. But now watching last night, I thought they really missed Rondo. Yeah. Because it's just a lot of ISO. It's a lot of slow. It's a lot of like one or two passes per position. That's it. And Rondo, you know, he didn't care if he shot. The ball was always moving. He was creating plays for guys. And I do think they missed

that. Remember the Rob Palenka celebration, like the parades people were throwing Rob Palenka in the offseason. It's like, wow, we got Trez, we got Schroeder, we got Gasol. And frankly, I was pretty confident the team was better. You just look at those guys in a vacuum. It's exciting. You look at their raw numbers.

It's like, okay, Schroeder scores 18 a game, Trez scores 18 a game, or whatever it is. But then in the playoffs, you're right. Look at Rondo's numbers in the playoffs last year. And for that matter, look at Markeith Morris' numbers. Markeith Morris was hitting threes. And so do you get that kind of outlier shooting for Markeith? Do you get Rondo's playmaking?

He was shooting out of his mind, and AD shot out of his mind in the bubble. So all of those things, I am a little bit concerned, but then again, I still think it comes down to, and this isn't a revelation. It's like, look, is LeBron's ankle healthy? Is AD healthy the whole time? Because those two guys,

we can talk about Brooklyn in a bit, but those two guys, if they're rolling, I still think they win the, I still think they win the West. It almost doesn't matter. You can, you can close with Caruso. I mean, you could, whatever, if you've seen like the three man numbers with those three guys, it's like, they're like a plus 19 on average or something. It's, it's really wild because the defense is too good. And then on offense, you just rely on those two guys if they're healthy, which LeBron is not. So that's the big if, right? I don't know. How did he look?

I'm curious about, you know, my friends who went to the game. You know, I didn't see him cut or explode the way he usually can. You know, I just don't know. And I don't think playoffs are going to happen. He did in the second half more. But first half, when we went up to the top

to talk at halftime with people, all of us were like, wow, LeBron's hurt. Yeah. Didn't look right. His body language is off. He wasn't doing the thing that he does when he's feeling he starts like fast pacing. Does that like kind of stomp walk when he's walking around?

He's just got like, you can tell. It's almost like, it's like, there's just like a happiness to it when he's feeling right. And last night he looked like he just wasn't happy with his body. And like, there's a couple of times where he had smaller guys on him in the first half. And it was like, Oh,

you're not even going to try to post him up. So that made me think he didn't have any lift. And second half, I thought he seemed fine. Yeah. I just thought he seemed like an older version. So first half, he looked like 2004 Carl Malone. I, well, the first half, by the way, was such a disaster. I think I just thought he seemed like an older version. So first half, he looked like 2004

Karl Malone. I, well, the first half, by the way, it was such a disaster. I think it was like he and AD and Schroeder combined were like three of 28 or something like that almost is like someone was saying, I was listening to some other pod and it was literally like that game was almost a microcosm of a Frank Vogel playoff series where he just kind of feels it out a little bit. And then by the end, it's like, you know, he made all the adjustments and then they just, you ride LeBron and AD on offense and it's like, okay, 80 at the five.

But in the first half, they look really bad. They look really bad. It was like, and this Warriors team is not great. They're playing a lot of Bazemore, a lot of Juan Toscano Anderson. I was like, this is embarrassing, right? I know. Mulder? You don't know what Mulder's first name is? Yeah, no. Mulder from the X-Files in there playing. It's like, I don't know what? I know. Mulder? You don't know what Mulder's first name is? Yeah, no. Yeah.

Mulder from the X-Files in there playing. It's like, I don't know what's going on. Who is this guy? Like, that's insane. I can't believe you were listening to another pod. Fuck you. What the hell? Hey, man.

I thought this was your only pod. This is bullshit. I got to have my Lakers pods on, man. I'll get you and Russillo talking about the Celtics and the Nets. I mean, I got that. I got that. Did you start getting worried about Utah like at what point did you really start thinking like

holy shit I'm gonna have to play Utah this would suck you know why is because I just think the Phoenix matchup is so favorable I just am like they gotta play they're gonna play Aiton and Saric those are their two guys those are their only bigs you're gonna play those guys against the monstrous front line of the Lakers even against they got to play, they're going to play Aiton and Saric. Those are their two guys. Those are their only bigs. You're going to,

you're going to play those guys against the monstrous front line of the Lakers. Even against those guys, I think like Drummond and Gasol could play because it's like, you know,

they're just going to be wrecking balls in there against the Nets too. Theoretically, like I actually think those bigs will play a little bit. And, you know,

there was a game, I think, against the Nets in the middle of the season with either no LeBron or no AD or both. And Drummond, like, you know,

was getting rebounds. Like, I might be hallucinating, but something like that happened. Davis against the Suns is just insurmountable, in my opinion, for Phoenix. The other thing is they play pretty slow. They're like a bottom five pace team, which is perfect for the Lakers. They like to pick their spots. So if it's like a half court versus half court with the size that they have, basically it comes down to can Booker just shred them? Yeah. But they have like four guys

to throw a Booker and then it can Chris Paul just completely destroy the Lakers point guards. I do feel like Caruso at least can contain him a little bit. It's not great for the Suns.

I feel bad for them. They fought all year to get the two seed and then they have to get LeBron and AD. It's brutal. The the Suns. I feel bad for them. They fought all year to get the two seed and then they have to get LeBron and AD. It's brutal. The Chris Paul narrative. He's almost like

wandering the earth going from to forlorn franchise to forlorn franchise and then just not just hitting those brick walls in the playoffs, man. It's just like

he doesn't have the talent. Look, that being said, the Suns are a very good team. It wouldn't be surprising to me for the series to go long and to have a home-court advantage. What a diplomatic answer, Jesus. But I do think it's a bad matchup, man.

I do think it's a bad matchup. I agree. The bigs on the Lakers, athletic and huge. There's nothing like talent with size. There's nothing like talent with size. It's like their two best players are little guards, right? I mean, Booker's okay size, but yeah, the Lakers just too much size. It's like their two best players are little guards, right? I mean, Booker's okay size, but yeah, the Lakers just too much size. Golden State,

I think they knew if we can win this game, first of all, it makes our season. We beat the Lakers in LA. And then second, we get to play the Suns, who we actually match up. We can go small ball versus semi-small ball, and let's go. Now they have to deal with Utah.

I still think they can give Utah a good series, but that's, that's tough to be four times. You would need heroic performances from Steph, which he might be able to pull off. Yeah. I think if Mitchell's healthy, then Utah wins that series.

Just too much firepower. But can we also talk about how Adam Silver last night must have been just exploding with joy. It's like, are you kidding me? The play-in game, the first, the inaugural ever play-in tournament, and it ends with Braun shooting a 35-footer with a bum eye over Steph. Like, that's, you can't write that stuff, man.

You just can't write that. And now Silver trying to stack the deck probably for LA, LA, Western Conference Finals, Philly, LA, Western Conference Finals, Philly, Brooklyn, Eastern Conference Finals. Get Curry in there. Yeah, get Curry in there. Get Goleskate some good refs. Yeah, well, can Curry get traded to the Lakers halfway through?

It's like something. It's falling into place, man. The brackets look good for Silver. I don't know. Maybe these ratings will turn around. I miss live basketball so much. I went to a Laker game. I had such a good time. I went to a Laker game. I had such a good time.

I went to a Laker game. Shout out to Linda Rambis. Hooked me up with a ticket. Oh, look at that. Linda hooked me up with a ticket. So thank you, Linda. And I went to a Knicks game. So I went to Staples and I went to Madison Square Garden

and unbelievable. I hadn't gone to a live sporting event in such a long time. It was great. And also just my girlfriend seeing the difference between a New York crowd and LA crowd. New York crowd just lustily booing everyone,

chanting, you're bald at Cody Zeller. I'm like, New York, man. New York. Yeah, the fans are aggro. The Celtic fans are yelling stuff at Westbrook during that playing game. The Laker fans last night, I realized I'd miss Laker fans

the same way you miss the barking dog that lives next door that you hate, but then when the sound's gone, you're like, ah, I kind of miss that annoying dog. The Laker fans were super aggro. Chen and I were sitting in the non-vaccinated section, so we were... You had space to

move around. Yeah, yeah. We had nobody around us, but it also meant anybody who yelled anything, it really stood out. And Lake, the owner of the Warriors, was sitting in front of us and we had a guy a couple rows in front who was like, come on, Coos, take him. These guys suck.

And Lake, his head swiveled around to stink eye the guy. But the Laker fans, it's so funny. They're like, come on, Coos, take him. The other thing is If you're even Moderately close You can hear the players

And the coaches It's like If you're close to Tims Or you're close to Wilco Whatever It's like You can legit hear it It's because

The safety hole is empty Yeah That's what it used to be like In the 90s Yeah When I was going to Assaults games Before they started

Blaring the music Like you could You could hear Like a pin drop and everything Rick Pitino yelled at Antoine Walker and all that stuff. I miss those days. Fantastic. That was so good to be just at a live basketball game again.

Hopefully be able to make some playoff games. Unbelievable. They need to work on the whole getting the fans in and out of there though. Yeah. What was your process like? For us, it was like 25 minutes. Oh really? Oh man. That's, that's bad. Like, yeah, I was like, also like, can we talk a side note? Uh, I read something that was like, it's, it's basically a Testament as a metaphor for the entire us vaccination, us pandemic response that the vaccination card is a little bit too big for

your wallet. It's like, why does that not fit in your wallet? I carry this thing around. It's going to get messed up. It's like, it's bigger than a wallet. It's like just bigger. It's like, what are we doing, man? You can't laminate it. It's going to get messed up in your pocket. Like, come on, guys, this is, this could have been thought through more. Just, just think about this for one second. Everyone in America is going to need one. I was surprised by the noise because like when LeBron made that crazy three, the section across from us, which was like the vaccinating session. So the guys were packed in or whoever was sitting there and they were like jumping up and down really loud.

And so it was almost like a college game where these sounds were coming from different sections and, you know, the Warriors fans too, it was cool. Yeah, it's a different experience. You really, know, they're Warriors fans too. It was cool. Yeah, it's a different experience. You really, like, I don't know. I wouldn't say I like it more, but it is, it's like an eerie, empty-ish arena, but you can hear everybody

and there's like 3,000 total people. It was special in a way, right? Because when is this ever going to happen again? Hopefully never. But man, really weird to go to. I didn't, you know, I'm very, very grateful

to go to those games because I don't think we'll see this again. The most shocking thing was the Staples Center's ushers actually being competent and on it for the first time in Staples Center history, where they're walking around like anybody who pulled their mask down a little bit to breathe better. They were like coming over like,

hey, first warning. They gotta be like kindergarten teachers, man. Oh, yeah. And then the cheerleaders were masked up in the corner and it was like a little eyes wide shut Stanley Kubrick. Over on the side, I was like, what's going on over there?

Is that a key party? I legit took a video of it because it's like Laker girls and I'm like, where are they? It's like, where the hell are they? And then they're over there. They're up in the rafters and they each have their own pod. I took a video. it because it's like Laker girls. And I'm like, where are they? It's like, where the hell are they? And then they're up in the rafters and they each have their own pod. I took a video. I was like, this is one of the weirdest things I've ever seen. It's like, yeah, they're all separated and messed.

I was like, this is bizarre. It was like Austin Powers when those girls are like dancing up above the nightclub. And it was just the vibe was weird. I enjoyed it though. When LeBron allegedly lost his, almost lost his eyeball on the Draymond thing. I saw three rims. I saw three rims, Bill.

I saw three rims. I just aimed for the center one. Look at that guy writing the narrative as it happens. Defend your boy on this. Defend your boy. Do you really think

he saw three rims? Well, first of all, a couple of hilarious things happened, right? So Draymond fouls him. Like, it's an obvious foul. They do the replay. They go to Steve Javi.

He's like, Draymond was vertical. And then you look at the play. Draymond is stretched out like Superman. Yeah, he's just going right for his face. Now, did LeBron milk the reaction? I mean, that was incredible. That's an Oscar-worthy performance. I think CJ McCollum tweeted, like, best actor or something. but it was like it was great i mean but he made his eye water or

whatever and then he was like like are we gonna see him with an eye patch after the game like i was like i would love to see him come out with an eye patch i would love to see then then he then he liked the three rims thing you saw that because it's like right after the game he was like i've seen three rims out there man just had to aim for the center one. And then he did the press conference later. He said the same thing. Kept it going. He thought he had something good, man. Look, man, the guy's a thespian.

He's a thespian. He's a movie star. So get the practice in. Get the practice in. But no, I appreciate it, man. He knows a good story. And you saw when he turned to Steph afterwards, he said, I can't see. You see that?

Like right after he shot. Yeah. Right after he made it, he said, I can't see. And so whether he could or not, he was in character. It was pretty good. I liked it. The man knows his narratives. It's a good performance. All right. We're going to take a break and we're going to come back and talk about some other stuff. You used to be a big baseball fan.

Yeah. Yeah. Are you still a big baseball fan. Yeah. Yeah. Are you still a big baseball fan? I have fallen off tremendously. And by the way, it felt like you fell off a little bit. You're a little bit back on, but, but I came back this year.

It's I, I, it was really weird. I thought I was done. I thought I got my four rings and the game just got super weird. I got my four. I love it. No,

I got my four DVD videos and I'm good to go. But I got sucked back in this year. I mean, the no-hitters. Red Sox are good. The Red Sox are good. They're fun to watch. So that's been great.

The sport itself, and Theo was on here a couple weeks ago talking about some possible changes. I don't know how you fix the whole pitching thing where we've had seven no-hitters already. I mean, no-hitters used to be these special things. Now, they literally happen once a week.

And I don't know what the fix is for this. It's the rise of the 3-2 outcomes thing, right? It's just like Moneyball kind of ran amok, and now it's like, okay, everything's... The ball's barely in play. The other thing that I am sort of interested in is the Shohei Otani stuff. It's like, have you watched him play much?

It's just, I don't know how long it can last, but it's like, it is incredible. I remember like early on in the season, it's like, oh, he threw the fastest pitch and hit the hardest hit ball of the whole season. I mean, that's pretty wild, man. That stuff's pretty wild. We played him last weekend

and he hit a homer I've never seen in my life at Fenway. And I've been watching Red Sox games since I was, I don't know, three years old. It was like, it was, it was a change up that dipped down and he kind of reached over and almost looked like he one handed it to left field. And when he did it, it was like, ah, that might go down the line. And then they cut back and it's like, it's going over the green monster. And it was like, what the fuck was that? It was like, it just didn't match up with what the swing was. And then two days later,

um, in the ninth inning, he comes up, trout gets on, on a dumb thing. They're down one. And he wraps one around the right field foul ball, but he's got like this. It's the most beautiful swing. He's got like stupid strength and it's every time he's up, you're like, like this, it's the most beautiful swing. He's got like stupid strength and it's every time he's up, you're like, I'm not going to the bathroom. I'm not going to

the refrigerator. I'm going to watch this at bat. Yeah. It's, it's almost like, it's, it's like a cartoon character. Like it's like someone drew a baseball player. It's, it's, it's like an animated, I almost wish, but he also is like a Japanese Adonis. Like he's like really handsome. And like, there's a picture of him with like cut off sleeves or something. And his biceps are bigger than his head. I'm like, this guy's like, this is like, this is not as an Asian dude. I'm like, this is not what that many typical Asian dudes look like. I don't speak on my own stereotypes now, but I almost wish you were like a, I almost wish

you were like a super flamboyant, like,ant, like Russell Westbrook type Asian American dude. But that's just me speaking on behalf of Asian American dudes. But yeah, instead, it's like, I'm sure he's like a really nice Japanese dude. But yeah, I've just never seen anything like it. I've just never seen anything like it. And like you said, it's perfect mechanics. It's almost like he's almost like a jacked up Ken Griffey Jr. or something. I mean, it's just like, it's just a perfect swing, right?

So it's not, it's not Aaron Judge or something. It's not like guys, McGuire, just kind of clubbing the ball. It's like, oh, it's just perfect mechanics. And it's kind of beautiful. He's also obviously big and strong, but yeah, that's part of it for me. Yeah. Me growing up, Fred Lynn just had the perfect swing. And then other people have kind of taken that mantle.

You know, Griffey, I think was just kind of came out of a lab. There's been others. And Otani is like that. It's so funny because everyone's been trying to make Trout happen here for eight years, man. And he's just missing something. And there's just something not compelling about him. He's scary when you're playing against him in a series or in a game and it's like, oh shit, Mike Trout's up. But he doesn't have that it factor that, you know,

like that even somebody like Manny had when he was on the Red Sox for eight years. And it's like, you didn't go to the bathroom when Manny was up. You didn't go to the bathroom

when Ortiz was up. And Otani has the it factor. And it's so funny that he landed on Trout's team. Trout's like, oh, this guy's the best player in 50 years. And it's like, Otani's just more interesting to watch.

100%. Me and my friends are like, should we go out to Angel Stadium and see Otani play? And it's like, Mike Trout's been there for years. You never said that about Trout. We got Mickey Mantle playing in Anaheim. I don't ever want to go see him. No offense to Mike Trout, but it's like, you never want to go see him. And again, not to

put salt in your wounds, but Mookie has a little bit of it, right? Mookie's a star. Yeah, Mookie's a star. It's like, Mookie's a charismatic player. You know what it is? It's charismatic players. They have it in basketball too, right? It's like, these guys, it's like Zion, right?

It's like, Zion does it in an interesting way. And like, you know, all due respect to like Tim Duncan or something, like it wasn't so much that, you know, it's like quietly effective and like unbelievably good. But yeah, it's, Otani's got the magic. Otani's got the magic. You feel good about the Red Sox?

Like what, you know, I know they're overachieving, but what is the end game for this team? What is the end game? They're actually not overachieving. Okay.

I like that take. I like that take. How about their pitching? I mean, they had no pitching and then suddenly they do, right? But the pitching,

you think like sale hasn't even come back yet. Yeah. But for the most part, their bullpen has been pretty good. Adovino is disappointing, but they had some other arms that stepped up like Whitlock. They have four really good batters. John Tomasi wrote a good article

the other day about like the days of having a lineup like the 0-3 Red Sox, where it's just like one through nine is a threat. Nobody has that anymore because in baseball, it's the three outcome sport now. But if you can have that one kind of gauntlet stretch, that's what you kind of want. So I think they're two through five is like a gauntlet. All those guys are really good. And then they have Danny Santana, I think is going to be coming up soon. And hopefully he can give them a little bit as like a utility guy. They've just had some guys stunk.

That's why I don't feel like they've overachieved because they've had like, I don't know, five, six, seven guys who are just horrible. Like Franchi Cordero. They're still getting ABs. Hunter Redfro. Yeah, yeah. Like these dudes. It's just rough.

And then Martin Perez is the only one that's a clear overachieved because that guy, you're just waiting for him to give up 11 runs. It just reminded me of those early 2000s Red Sox where it's like, yeah, Mark Bellhorn hit 25 home runs.

It's like, how? He was like their worst hitter. It's like, man, even he's getting on base like 400 OBP or whatever. It's like, it was just, it was a murder,

it was a murderer's row, right? It was, it just never ended. It is one of those things when you watch the other teams in the was a, you know, murderer's row, right? It was, it just never ended. It is one of those things when you watch the other teams in the American League, you go, oh, I guess our team's pretty good.

Yeah, there's those. Because you watch these other teams and it's like, oh, those guys have five shitty hitters too. Yeah, and the Yankees, obviously, you know, that was the other thing where it's like,

I don't know, man. It's like, it just, it just. Well, Stan got hurt already. Yeah. Judge, you know, Judge is going to pull some muscle in his side or somewhere at some point over the next three weeks.

So, I mean, like five days ago, I was looking at the standings. I probably should have known this. I just knew we were in first place, but I was looking at the whole league and I'm like, the Red Sox have the best record? It just didn't feel like a best record

in baseball team, but I do think they're good. They definitely have something. There's like a dugout chemistry thing that's going on too that you can see. You know, you can tell like, oh, here's a baseball team that likes each other. There's just like little things,

little guys coming back to the dugout after a home run and you kind of see how everyone reacts to them. And they just kind of kind of check all those little boxes. So I've been in all year on this team. Almost like the chemistry the bubble Lakers had last year, you know? That was real. Compared to this year where it's like

with the Lakers, you got Drummond playing for new contract, you got Schroeder, and you have Trez who's been unhappy the whole year, right? It's been pretty... It's been hard for him to even hide it. Yeah. So Red Sox, Dodgers, World Series, what do you think? Oh, man.

It's in the cards. It's possible. It's possible. It seems too lined up for the Dodgers where I almost wonder, who are the other contenders? Like the Padres are potential, right? Yeah. Yeah.

They're pretty good. I mean, that's almost a new rivalry, right? It's like the Giants used to be it, but the Padres are good potential, right? Yeah. Yeah. They're pretty good. I mean, that's almost the new rivalry, right? It's like the Giants used to be it, but the Padres are good, you know? I feel like baseball, I don't know whether we just miss sports. I think that's a big part of it, man. I think that was part of it. I think last year, that season was just so ludicrous. That 60 game.

Some guys just clearly weren't ready for it. Like J.D. Martinez last year looked like 1978 George Scott. And this year is just smoking it again. And now it just feels... And then the Otani thing I think is a real thing. When was the last baseball player who became like a water cooler guy? Yeah. There's like random people just bringing him up to you.

It's like now I'm actually texting Mike Scher and Dave King about baseball sometimes, right? It's like random people just bringing them up to you. It's like now I'm actually texting Mike Schur and Dave King about baseball sometimes. Right. It's like it's Otani. You know, it's Otani shit. It's like, OK, this is like it's actually interesting and wild and something you haven't seen before. But yeah, I also want to go to a game. I haven't been to a baseball game yet. So it's like that would be fun, too. And that's outdoors and, you know, seems relatively safe. Where does Otani tie into the Asian-American sports pop culture renaissance that we're in the middle of right now? He's definitely on the list.

He's definitely, you know, I got a text thread with Mina Kimes and Pablo Torre. So, you know, when Johnny Juzang scores 20 points in the tournament, we text each other. You know, it's a long story list. Rui Hachimura, we'll claim him. It's close. You know, he's half Japanese.

But yeah, I mean, Otani, again'll claim him. It's close. He's half Japanese. But yeah, I mean, Otani, again, it's an interesting thing. This gets really specific, but it's like, I also... No, do this. I know what you're going to say. Do the Asian American versus outside Asian. Yes, Asian American versus... I'll preface it with a survey I just saw.

There's a survey that went around. Americans, general American population. And the question in the survey was, name one Asian American person. Like name an Asian American famous person, essentially. Who do you know? Number one answer, 42%. Don't know. Don't know.

Like that literally the first answer was don't know. Number two answer 11 percent Dave Chang Jackie Chan I like Dave Chang as the answer no 11 percent number two answer basically the number one Jackie Chan is not Asian American he's just an Asian guy he lives he's he lives I think in China I think he does Hong Kong movies like so look the distinction is is there but it also plays into this sort of perpetual foreigner thing, right? I think a lot of Americans still don't know. And look, of course, sometimes the lines blur, right? It's like, okay, well, if you've been in this country, however long, but I do feel like, look, Jackie Chan is an Asian dude who's in a few American movies because he knows a little bit of English, but there's a difference, Asian-Americans and Asians. There's no shade on either group. It's just like it is a different thing.

So that's a long way of getting around to the Asian-American. You left out one piece. When you're growing up, you gravitate as heroes more toward the Asian-American. Oh, yeah. Explain that piece of it. Well, so I think that all ties into this perpetual foreigner thing, which is like when you're growing up.

So, so, you know, at this point, you know, it was the 80s and 90s or whatever. Everyone's growing up.

It's a different time, but it was still like, you know, people make Kung Fu noises at you and you're Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan. Like, that's like the stereotype.

And it's also like the stereotype is a person who can't speak English or isn't American or isn't like really belonging in this country. And I think that's kind of a pernicious stereotype and that's still persisting. And I think as someone who grew up here and didn't even speak another language, much to my parents' chagrin, it's like, well, damn, I like, I'm not, I'm not either of these

things, right? I can't speak Mandarin and I can't speak Cantonese. And so, you know, I grew up in Southern California and I like sports and I like rock and roll music or whatever. And it's like, you don't, you didn't see that as often. And it's finally changing. It is changing, but this ties into sports where it's like, okay, there's a, there is a distinction. And again, it's, I have pride for seeing Asian people in sports in general. And that's great. Whether they're Asian or Asian American. I don't think, you know, that distinction, like I can still feel some pride in seeing those faces. But yeah, there's a difference

between Jeremy Lin and Yao Ming, right? It's like Yao Ming is from China. He's a Chinese dude. It's like Jeremy Lin is a Taiwanese American dude who grew up in California like me, you know? So it's like, that's an American dude. Again, not the biggest issue in the history of humanity, but it is a distinction. And it is nice when people acknowledge that's an American dude. Again, not the biggest issue in the history of humanity, but it is a distinction.

And it is nice when people acknowledge that there is a difference. And it's like, okay, you don't just love all, you know, you don't love all Asian people. By the way, there's a lot of intra-Asian racism. So it's like Japanese people have snobbery towards Korean people and vice versa and Taiwanese and Chinese.

And so it's not all, you know, it's the old saying. It's like, it's not all monolithic. It's not all the same thing. That being said, yeah, I think I'll text Mina and Pablo about Shohei Itani. Sure. We'll take him when we can get him too. That's the other thing. It's like, yeah, it's kind of cool. Or Naomi Osaka, right? It's like, yeah, it's kind of cool. She, you know, it's like, she's Japanese. It's fun. And look, you're starting from a zero, right? When I was a kid, it's a zero. There's no NBA players from China or who are Asian American. And look, you're starting from a zero, right? When I was a kid, it's a zero. There's no NBA players from China or who are Asian American.

And now it's like, okay, we got Yuta Watanabe on the Raptors. You know, we got a few other people coming up. Maybe Juzang plays off the bench, you know, like, so we'll see. Juzang's definitely going to be a rotation guy in the NBA. I think, like, I could totally see him on this Warriors team in that Jordan Poole role. Just putting up points and assists

and doing stuff. His game translates so well to how they play now. In the Jordan Poole role or in the Jordan Poole role, like going to the sketch comedy and then becoming a horror auteur. Either way. It was good. This is funny.

I was talking to Kevin Love. He's a friend of a friend. So I ran into him the other day and he was raving about Juzang. He was like, yeah, he follows UCLA still. And he was like, yeah. I was like,

do you think he could play in the league? He's like, yeah, I think he plays in the league. Like he was high on him. I think he'd be a lottery pick. Yeah. I think, you know,

the upside is a starting guard, I think. You know, the sort of floor is like, you know, bench scorer, I think. So yeah, I think the upside is a starting guard, I think. The sort of floor is like a bench scorer, I think. So yeah, he's got decent size too. We got to throw Mina Kimes in the Renaissance too, I think. I think she gets in there. Oh, yeah. She's on 17 ESPN shows.

I had ESPN on the background the other day. She was on Highly Questionable and then NFL Live came on and she was on that. They just kept the camera going i was like me i remember when you were a business reporter i also yeah i love when people are like they didn't want her to talk about like real issues or something she's like i do have an education and i used to be like i used to write about real serious issues i do know a shit ton about football so i can do that but it's like i do know about other stuff too but no mean is Mina's a good face. Mina's a good look for us.

It's a good look for ESPN too because it's like, this is an incredibly knowledgeable person who happens to be a woman, who happens to be Asian American, but also just like has good takes

and is funny, you know? So it's like, that's a good look for them. I'm not surprised they're putting her on everything. You know, it makes sense to me. They're even putting her on the rewatchables

even though that's not an ESPN. She's on Monday's rewatchables. Hey man, she's got some power. I steal her sometimes. Yeah, if they're letting her do that, she got some hand over there. You know, she got some power. They're letting old Bill use her a little bit.

How are we feeling about Chang? I know you're going on Chang's podcast next week. We've seen, we've done dinners with him recently. How are we feeling about Chang's state of mind lately, 15 months in the pandemic? I think he's been surprisingly bubbly. Yeah, I think, you know, he's a fascinating emotional case. So it's like, you know, he's,

me and my girlfriend went over to his house and he made dinner and it was like, he's like, yeah, I haven't had anyone for dinner in like a long time, but he just seemed a little bit more at peace. You know, I think, I think the food game and the restaurant game really wears you out. And it's, it's, you know, it's, it's a tough, tough, tough, tough gig. And so, yeah, he's doing some TV shows. I shot another show with him that he's, I think he's got going for Hulu or something. So we went and ate some breakfast

food and, uh, I feel like he feels like in a pretty good place. So like he's fit now. He's like, I was like fit, Chang's like he's fit now. He's like, I was like fit. Chang's a little fitter now. He's like doing Peloton or something. So yeah, I'm happy for him, man.

That guy, you know, I didn't know him. I just picture him screaming at the Peloton guy. I know. It's like, well, I didn't know him back then.

You know, it's like, I didn't know him back when I know, you know, he's addressed a lot of this stuff in the past when he was like a real screamer. I don't know. Look, I never worked with Chang.

Like he just, I go to dinner with him and he's perfectly pleasant in that situation. So I'm like, yeah, he seems like he's a good place, man. Speaking of TV shows, you have one. You're dropping. Yeah, dropping. It seems so weird, man. I've been doing these interviews about this show and

it's like, hey, did you know that it was four years since season two of Master of None? I was like, really? Four years? That seems like a long time, but then again, it has felt like a long time in some way. So yeah, Master of None? I was like, really? Four years? That seems like a long time. But then again, it has felt like a long time in some way. So yeah, Master of None, May 23. So it's a Sunday. So I don't know when it's going to air.

But yeah, new season. And it's pretty different. It's pretty different. But we also, we feel like it's not only going to appeal to fans of the previous two seasons, but also might get some new people in. Because this season is a little bit more dramatic, but it's basically a love story. It's a love story between two characters, Denise and Alicia, played by Lena Waithe and Naomi Ackie. And if that appeals

to you at all, if it's like, hey, I like romantic comedies, I like romantic dramas, maybe I've seen previous seasons of Mastered On, maybe I haven't, you know, give it a look. Cause, cause it's a, it's kind of a deep exploration of a relationship. And you and Aziz, you did the first two seasons and then it seemed like maybe you weren't going to work together at some point, at least for a little while there. And then all of a sudden you're back together. No. Yeah. It's always been, we always just take breaks between seasons. So it was like between one and two, we took a little bit of a break and nefka's like are you guys gonna make the show are you guys gonna make the show it's like we want to make the show when we're really excited and the same thing happened between two and three it's like it's like man i don't think we could make any more

episodes about a guy being excited to eat tacos in new york so so we're like this is this is maybe we should take some time to figure out something that excites us as much as the first two seasons. And so the idea of kind of focusing it on Lena's character was a really early idea we had. You know, even season one, we had this episode called Mornings, which is between Aziz's character and Noel Wells' character. And it's kind of like every morning in their relationship.

And we thought, you know, it would be cool to do this with Denise. And then season two, we did the Thanksgiving episode, which kind of centered on Lena's character more. And then we're like, look, the show, ever since we first made it was kind of designed to take us wherever we wanted to go in a very sort of lucky way. Like, fortunately, we designed it that way. If you look at the early episodes, it says every episode Master of None presents, and then the title of the episode. So it'll say parents or Thanksgiving or New York, I love you or whatever. And so we're like, we could blow it out and do a whole season like that.

And we're like, okay, look, we could do a season that's about, it's about Aziz or a character played by Aziz. And it's his relationship with a woman. It's like, well, we kind of did that a little bit. We did that season one, season two. And on top of that, we've seen that relationship, that type of relationship covered over and over and over again. And we're like, it just feels fresher to apply some of these techniques that from movies that we love, that we were watching classic films and apply it to the most modern feeling relationship possible. And in 2021, we're like, look, we have Denise in the show and we have Lita in the show. It's like a queer black relationship in 2021. But using some of those filmmaking techniques,

that was really exciting to us. And then it all started coming together. We're doing calls. I was working on a movie I directed called Tiger Tail. And so we were on the phone a lot. And then we brought Lena into the process and started working on these scripts. So May 23rd.

And then, I mean, at some point, some bad post-pandemic artsy-fartsy movies and TV stuff is going to come out, right? Is the first wave being filmed right now, you think? Super, super thoughtful, over-the-top think pieces that are just going to be really plodding and weird. So we're going to have to get through that just as a culture. Yes. Like nine straight months of really weird indie movies. And then I think things will be back to normal after that. Yes.

And like ones that address the pandemic and it's like a guy at the end like pulls out a jacket from his closet and there's a mask in the pocket and he's like crying. You know, it's like it's that kind of shit. It's like that's the last shot and it says directed by

whatever. There's going to be a movie called Mask and there's going to be a movie called Masks with an S. And the poster will be just lots of masks. Yeah, a movie called A24 movie, Distanced. It's like the distance between me and my father had always been

there, but during the pandemic, it only became deeper. It's just that kind of shit. It's not a post-apocalyptic New York. It's a post-pandemic New York. Yeah. How we deal with, yeah, it's going to be a lot of that. And then it'll get normal.

And then we'll just go back to making bad comic book movies. I know. I got asked, it's like, why didn't you address the pandemic in this season? I was like, I don't want to look at a mask. I just don't want to look at a mask on screen. I don't want to. Let's just pretend it didn't you address the pandemic in this season? I was like, I don't want to look at a mask. I just don't want to look at a mask on screen. I don't want to. Let's just pretend it didn't happen. What's fun about masks and Zoom when we're trying to enjoy a television show or movie show?

I just, in the last week, I watched The Marksman with Liam Neeson and I watched the Angelina Jolie movie with some fire jumpers. And it's like, this is great. No masks. I don't have to hear about the virus. I'm just in some weird world for two hours. Yeah, we've been watching Mare. No masks. I don't have to hear about the virus.

I'm just in some weird world for two hours. Yeah. We've been watching Mayor of Easttown. Have you been watching that at all? Oh yeah. Okay. Yeah. That's worth a watch. It's like, yeah, this is just meat and potatoes. It's like, yeah. So a person got killed and Kate was just going to find the killer. It's like, all right, let's, let's, let's do it. I love that show. Episode five was great. But I want them to explore the basketball with Kate because I really want to see her in a pickup game. I forgot about that. The 25th anniversary pickup game or something. I want to see Kate run a pick and roll.

I blocked that out of my memory completely that she's like a basketball star. She's like one of the greats. Yeah, she's like one of the greats. Yeah, she's like one of the greats. Oh, man. That's the value of history. We've got to get we've got to get footage

of like Sue Bird with Kate Winslet's head superimposed on her body so it looks like she's unbelievable. They can do that shit now. Do some CGI. I just want to see her

drain some jumpers, man. Just Kate in there full Titanic costume draining jumpers. Oh, 100%. Here's the thing with Kate. Great method actress. Like if she's throwing herself in, she's going to be the

best at it, right? So if it's like, hey, episode seven, there's a pickup basketball scene. She'll just figure it out. Yeah. She'll go train with somebody for two months. I shadowed. Yeah, I spent some time with the Sparks. Shadow Rebecca Lobo. Yeah, exactly. Right. I was on the bench for the Sparks for about three games.

Damn, she can really dribble now. Maybe that's season two. Maybe it's just a basketball and we just get to see Kate running it. Damn, she can really dribble now. Maybe that's season two. Maybe it's just a basketball and we just get to see Kate running it. Well, dude, actually come to think of it, like that dude, Brad Inglesby, who created the show, did The Way Back. He did the Affleck basketball movie.

So he loves basketball. Is that true? I think his dad was like a coach or something. I remember like, I was like, who created this show? And it was the Affleck movie dudes. And I think he has like a sports history. So I think his dad like was a basketball dude. I really like that. I really like, who created this show? And it was the Affleck movie dudes. And I think he has like a sports history. So I think his dad like was a basketball dude.

I really liked that. I really liked the way back. I actually thought Affleck was a borderline nominee for me. Sounds like you're a Brad Inglesby fan. So have him on the pod. Sounds like I'm going to get Brad on there. Yeah, get Brad in the cut, man. He's a basketball fan apparently.

Brad's probably, he's probably working on a movie called Masks about pickup basketball players in New York trying to struggle to deal with the pandemic. He's like, Oscar, Oscar, Oscar. All right. So you got Master of None, May 23rd. Yeah. And then what do you have after that?

I'm working on a show. I know you're working on something. Yeah. There's a few things cooking up. Season two of Little America on Apple. And then I got a show with Maya Rudolph, also on Apple. And we're writing that now. It's very exciting.

We got MJ Rodriguez, one of the stars of Pose, also in the cast. And yeah, always working, man. Always working. Maya Rudolph, how many kids she have now? Four or five? I think she has four kids. It's like, I just don't get it. These people who can have four kids.

Bill, you don't want two or three more kids? No. No. These people who can have four kids and then professionally, they don't suffer at all. I'm just like in awe of them. Also completely busy.

Also, her husband is maybe the greatest living filmmaker. So yeah, it's like, she got a lot going on in her life. Like a lot, very busy. That's the reality show I really want. Enough with like the Kardashians and people who don't have talent. Can we the reality show I really want. Enough with the Kardashians and people who don't have talent.

Can we have a show about talented people with four kids? I mean, it's like two of the most talented people in their professions. It is fascinating, man. And they're both cool.

It's like, Maya's the coolest person to work with. It's like, oh, this is great. What an interesting life. Interesting life. All right. Good luck.

Good luck with the show. I don't wish you good luck with the Lakers. We'll see what happens. Come on. You want him to advance a little bit? Just more interesting. More for you to talk about.

You want Braun in the playoffs? They don't have to win the championship. They're going to ruin Chris Paul's life. Oh, man. Poor Chris Paul. He's going to be wandering the streets. Chris Paul is going to be demanding a trade to the Lakers next year. Yeah, that's the final piece.

He's like, screw this, man. I'm just going to join up. I'm just going to join up. Got to do it. All right, Al. Good to see Lakers next year. Yeah, that's the final piece. He's like, screw this, man. I'm just going to join up. I'm just going to join up. Gotta do it. All right, Al, good to see you. All right, thanks, Bill. All right, that's it for the podcast for this week. Don't forget about Flying Coach Season 2. You can check it out on the Flying Coach feed or on the Ringer NFL

show. Don't forget about the rewatchables with Goodfellas. We have another good one coming on Monday. Nick Cage might be involved. Just a little spoiler alert on that one. And I'm back on this feed on Sunday night with Rosillo. We will have the West playing game plus eight playoff games to talk about on Sunday night. Looking forward to that. See you then. I don't have