The Bill Simmons Podcast - Most Surprising NBA Player Leaps With Tim Legler, Plus NFL Holiday Picks With Joe House

Episode Date: December 23, 2025

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by Tim Legler to check in on teams around the NBA before discussing the players that are better than you think, how the Celtics are similar to last season's Pacers, and more (3:17). Then, Joe House joins to make their Ringer 107 picks for the week (01:37:03). Host: Bill Simmons Guests: Tim Legler and Joe House Producers: Chia Hao Tat and Eduardo Ocampo This episode is sponsored by State Farm®. Don’t settle for just any insurance when there’s State Farm. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit⁠⁠⁠ www.rg-help.com⁠⁠⁠ to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Bill Simmons podcast presented by the Ringer podcast network where I put up a new rewatchables episode on Monday night. It was me and Ben Lathen and Chris Ryan talking about F1, a 2025 movie that we did in 2025, second one of the year. We also did sinners earlier in the year. I think there's only five movies we've done in the same year they came out in the nine-year history of the rewatchable. So we did Get Out, we did Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, we did Top Gun Maverick.

There might have been one other ones. So this is the fifth of the sixth one, but I really love F1. I think it's a great sports movie. And it's a genre that has increasingly not churned out, like the high, high-end sports movies. I was thinking about this because any given Sunday was on Pluto. Yeah. Yeah, I was checking out Pluto.

I'm not going to apologize. Any given Sunday was on. and I was thinking about that incredible run of late 90s basically like from 94 all the way through the late 90s into the early 2000s when just like awesome iconic sports movies and we're just not making them in the same way anymore if we make them they're either small scale or we've run out of ideas for them I don't know what's going on but anyway really enjoyed F1

enjoyed Brad Pitt enjoyed everything I'm not even a race racing guy but we covered all the angles in that one you can check out Obviously with Christmas on Thursday, we're scaling back big time on the content on the ringer this week, but this is the last podcast for this week. You can check out all of other podcasts that we have because everybody went at least once, I think. So we'll have enough to keep you warm over the holidays. Anyway, coming up on this podcast, Tim Legler, we had a lot of NBA stuff to cover. He hasn't been on in a few weeks. And we spent a little time talking about contenders, but a lot of time talking about players that have gone up.

level this season. I also threw my Celtics theory at him that I have about this season that I came up with last night. So he's on and then Joe House is back to do Ringer 107 with me. Ringer 107's Ben and Chambles. I'm basically looking at the playoffs at this point, hoping we could turn it around. But some fun games to talk about. So basketball, then football, that's the podcast. We'll take a break. Bring him Pearl Jam. This episode of the Bill Simmons podcast is presented by State Farm,

Having insurance isn't the same as having State Farm. It's like expecting a linebacker on the football field, but getting a line cook. Sure, they both can handle the pressure when it starts heating up, but only one is stopping a touchdown. You wouldn't settle for just anything for your team, so don't settle for just any insurance. When it comes to get and help you need, State Farm is the real deal. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. All right, happy holidays to our guy, what Christmas, what Christmas game you doing?

time 8 p.m. Eastern, man. I'm really looking forward to it. And honestly, Bill, I'm just looking forward to calling a game. Even though Christmas is always affecting family time, we get that. But I haven't called a game. The ESPN, ABC, have not had any games since Thanksgiving Eve. Wow. What have you been doing with yourself? A lot of pods. A lot of, I'm still watching games, a lot of pod. But, you know, hey, listen, it's not the worst thing. My life will disappear later in the year when the playoffs get here. So I'll say goodbye to my family for a while. So I'm just a lot of family time, but still

watching, obviously, and doing a lot of this kind of stuff, man, just because there's a lot of really, really interesting stuff in the league right now. Well, I hope all the Lakers are playing in that game, but I'm dubious. I want to start here. How many contenders do we actually have right now? So if I did this, I did this two weeks ago on my pod, and I said, okay, C, Denver, Houston, maybe the Spurs, maybe the Knicks, but it was really three, then maybe two. But now look at it two weeks later, and I think Detroit has a real case now with the way they've still been holding up their play. Minnesota, especially with the OKC win the other night. There's a couple other teams, but is it, how many is the exact number for you now? Because I think you can make a

case for seven. Does that sound right? I'm adding, I would have Detroit, New York from the Eastern Conference, obviously Oklahoma City. Then I would include Denver, Houston, Minnesota. I don't think you can rule out the Lakers necessarily, man. I don't know that, look, I don't know that any of these teams, and then did I say Minnesota or San Antonio? Yeah, San Antonio would be this. So we have the same seven. Maybe I have one more. Or yeah, do you have the Lakers in there?

I don't. I have four teams after that that I just wrote down, but I wouldn't put them in now if my life depended on it. And by the way, one of those teams is the Boston Celtics. Okay. Just full transparency. Yeah, no, that's fine. I get that too. I mean, I understand it. Like, listen,

they have, that's been one of the, think one of the better stories in the in the league is what they've done at them and philly i think both of those teams what they've been able to do with boston not having tatum and really just i think holes in their roster yeah to be able to do what they've done and in philadelphia the uncertainty of when abe's going to play you didn't have paul george the start of the year and when a b does play it's a totally different style you adapt to and those two teams are third and fourth in the eastern conference i did not for the life of me see that coming if you told me in Bede was missing the amount of time he's missed and Paul George, there's no way I have Philly

probably in the top eight in the east. Boston, I thought at best they were going to probably be like in that five, six, seven area. So both of those teams have overachieved because they've been carried by a couple of guys offensively. But I get why you'd include Boston and that, why not? Particularly, you know, these reports are that Tatum's going to come back in March. And, you know, he might be, he might be back for a month before the playoffs would start. Yeah, they absolutely probably should be included to win the East at least. I don't know if any of these teams legitimately are beaten Oklahoma City in a seven game series. No. So the real question is like, who could be the last team standing against them in the West and who could be the last

team standing from the Eastern Conference? That's really what we're talking about. Yeah, you're comparing it almost to last year. Nobody would add Indiana as a contender, but all of a sudden they were in the finals. And it didn't make sense as it was happening and then it happened. Yeah, the four I had that I just don't know, Boston, who's 33 to 1, to win the title right now. The Lakers, 22 to 1. The Cavs, 21, Orlando, 35 to 1. And I think the Cavs in Orlando is a classic,

let's wait and see here two months. I'm more concerned for the Cavs than Orlando. And I think with the Cavs, they've only had their top four and four of the 29 games. But there's a general malaise and there's just red flags going off, plus the fact that they can't fix their roster.

Orlando, we kind of know what we have. They fit in Bain. you know, they're going to get healthier as the year goes along. And I just, I think they're a safer bet. But I mean, the Cavs, can you figure it out at all? What's going on? And I think to answer your question, the criteria I use when you hear the word contender for me is, can you realistically see this team like either in the Western Conference,

that would mean in the conference finals. Yes. And if you're in the East, can you realistically see them in the NBA finals? Like, I think that's the question. And that's why, for me, what I've seen out of Cleveland is really disturbing. Now, I know that they've had health issues like a lot of teams, but there's something, there's a flatness about them and a lack of defensive presence that concerns me. I think Orlando, for the most part, has a toughness that they play with most nights.

Yeah. They haven't been healthy either. They missed Bancaro for a while, comes back. Now, you don't have Wagner. Bain struggled big time early kind of, I think he was almost like, Yeah, a new place. It's always weird for a guy that's like a high-volume shot taker kind of trying to fit into this team.

He's found his stride. So he's answered a lot of what they needed from a year ago. They just haven't had their top guys on the court for any sustained stretch with Wagner and Bankero last year, included until the second half of the year. So I'm actually thinking they've got to run in them. Cleveland could say that too. The difference is Orlando seems to have fight, regardless of who's out. there or not. And Cleveland

it comes and goes. And that's the part that's concerning. And I think I would differentiate the two of them this way. Here's why I would put them in different categories. Relative to what I thought their ceiling was and what I saw it of them last year, I think Orlando's closer to that. They got a better chance to hit that. Cleveland

is not the same. They were absolutely unstoppable offensively last year. And the Knights this year, when their offense has clicked, their defense hasn't been close to good off. And I don't know exactly everything that's going on. Health's played a factor, but it's more than that. It's more than that when you watch them. They, they, last year, teams absolutely had no chance

to try to slow them down or defend them. The way that they moved the ball, the way they shot the ball, they ran you out of buildings with these huge runs. And a lot of times they would take place in the first half. They'd go up 15, 20 points, you know, early second quarter. That, that was like a regular night for them. You're not seeing that as much this year. So I think they're much further from what they were at their best a year ago compared to the magic. Well, it feels like Detroit took their mojo and their identity and everything. Like last year, Cleveland, I forget how many games they won, but it was like 16, 17.

It was over 15. And that's when you know you're a really good team and you can put together streaks. This Cleveland team that we have now, I don't think could win four in a row. But when I think of the finals, though, I feel like you have to play defense. I need a top 10 player.

Like, I'm just starting there. Even if you look at Indiana last year, which didn't make sense as it was happening. But by the end of the year, it felt like Calliburton was a top 10, 12 guy in the league. They had a good coach. They could defend. They had a style that made sense when you watched it. And the East was just weird and flawed and strange. And the series where they beat the Cavs in five, that was just a weird series in general.

Yannis got hurt. There were reasons for it. I still feel like you need that top 10 to 12 guy. So, like, when you mentioned the Lakers, even though I don't, their record is way better than I think what the eye test is for them. And especially if they have one injury to anybody, it feels like they're just a completely different team. But they still have the star power. I wouldn't want to see them in a series. I went to Lakers Clippers Saturday Night Likes.

No Reeves. Luca gets her at the beginning of third quarter. Kauai and LeBron. I'm not going to say they don't like each other, but there is a competitive dislike when they're on the court together. and it really was on at one point. And LeBron turned it on for about 10 minutes and he pulled the Lakers back to eight. I swear to God, he looked like LeBron again.

And we're all sitting there going, this is unbelievable. Like he's in his 40s now. We were like, how is he's still doing this? And then they missed some shots the moment faded away. But just watching that, I was like, all right, I'm not ruling these guys out yet. Yeah, I watched a good chunk of that game

and I was thinking the same thing. And that's one of the reasons that it just kind of, belies what we all know about, you know, biomechanics and physiology for professional athletes, what he's doing. It's one thing to have good scoring nights at his age. That even is kind of unprecedented in his age. But like even if you get into your late 30s,

if you're a player on that level, you're still going to have nights where you score the ball well. What should not happen is that you look like one of the fastest guys on the floor. Right. Like that's what, that's what when I watch him, I go, how does that make any sense whatsoever? How is it possible?

He can still look like the best athlete on the court for stretches of games north of 40 this many years into the league. And that's the other night I think reminded you of that. And that's why for the Lakers, and I know a lot of people that want to hate on the Lakers and they look at his team and their defense is so bad some nights. And you go, don't include them in the mix. And I go, how can you really dismiss a team with those three guys,

if they're all healthy because there's not a team in this league that has three guys on that level that can command a defense and control a defense the way they can with their passing and scoring. Nobody has three of them on that level. And a guy like Luca who's been, for the most part, throughout his career, pretty good big game player. LeBrona, obviously, can you really completely dismiss them? So that's why they're going to hang around and be included.

And trade possibilities with them too, with all the expirings to have. even last night, Draymond melted down again. Poor Steve Kerr. He just needs like a full-time therapist, marriage counselor, just to deal with the Warriors. But Drayman melts down again.

And the difference this time around versus when he was, you know, at the level he was at, I just don't think he's quite at the same level anymore. So you have the same kind of up and down, emotional stuff, but you're not backing up with the same play. Like, he's shooting under 40% legs.

He's like 39.8. his two-point stuff is just gone. Doesn't the free throw, he does get to the line. His turnovers are the highest they've ever been. And offensively, he's just kind of an afterthought. In a league where the centers have gotten bigger, there's just every night there's a Schengun. There's a Robert Williams and Klingin together.

The league just has more size. And last time was the first night, I was like, I wonder if they would trade them. Like, I wonder if there was a Rui Hachamora and a contract for Drehomai. just like, let's just mix this up and going a different direction or with Sabonis sitting out there

for the Kings, could that be a Dremont, Kaminga, and Picks, and let's just try to get a guy. Did your mind go there last night? Because this is yet again, another Dremont saga. My mind's gone there for years, Bill, with regard to this story for years. And last night, and I was,

people were hit me up today about it, and I didn't see the game, but I went and watched what happened. I watched the interaction. know exactly it's hard to tell everything it was said but i mean steve cur's a fiery guy and so obviously this thing really escalated in that huddle moses moody gets up at one point he's trying to like get in between them to probably look to me to calm draymond down more than anything i will tell you this and in the years that i played in the league and all the years i've covered the league

i saw guys get thrown out of huddles i've saw guys get thrown off the bench and sent to the locker room. I saw guys get thrown out of practice. I never saw a guy by his own volition get up and walk to the locker room during the game. And so at the time, you're not sure. You can't tell. Like, did Kurt throw him out the huddle? And then you find out, curse is no. And Dremont said the same thing. And then you know it's true because later Kerr was asked, well, when he came back to the bench, like early fourth quarter, whenever it was, where you're going to put it back in the game? He said, no, absolutely not.

Like, it was the quickest answer. No, he left the team. He left the huddle. He went to the locker room. No, he was not going back in the game. I personally haven't seen it. Now, maybe it has happened. I don't know of a time that it happened.

Certainly not when my eyeballs saw it, that to me is pretty big. That's a pretty big thing. You walk away for the team in a five-point game, you know, when your team's a 500 team, like every one of these matter. And you just get up and leave. Because you say, oh, I just thought it would be better

for a cool down and kind of separate myself from the situation. It's really kind of uncharted territory in a lot of ways. You don't see this. And that's why I'm curious to see what the, does this move the needle at all for them when you combine it with some of his offensive issues he's had this year, which is a low point for him in his career. Yeah. Combined with this stuff and are the dividends with the winning and the leadership and the

defense is all that stuff still outweighing all of that. because there was a time that no matter what the offense was, it was like good enough and the emotional outbursts like, okay, because he was giving you world class playmaking, IQ, and defense.

Now you go, is that stuff still on that level to offset the offense plus this? And I think it's probably right about that point where it feels like almost a wash. So like what would they do? I still doubt they would ever do it

and ever move them, but I don't doubt I think they would. I think they would. And if I'm another team, like the reason this initially came up was we're talking about the Lakers, right? A team that when they put their best three guys together have a lot of trouble on defense.

And the net ratings with LeBron and Reeves and Luca together just hasn't been good. It makes sense. So you've three of the five guys you have out there and their defensive liabilities. LeBron's not a defensive liability if he's going all out, but I think it's hard for him to go out for two straight hours. You put Draymond on that team.

reinvigorated with, I can't believe they traded me, I'm going to triple down and be a maniac. And that's kind of what the Lakers need. So I don't know. That one struck out to me. And then just the Kings with the way that their rookie center has evolved, who I think is a gem. I mean, congrats to them. But I think Sabonis is expendable to them. And, you know, I want to talk about that later. But I think Sabonis is on the table. And he should be if you're the Kings. You stink anyway. Why wouldn't you trade them? Let me follow up first from what you said about Draymond.

I completely agree with you, by the way. I think like there would be like that final adrenaline push from Draymond. If something like that were to go down, I do think he's still a guy that's going to help somebody win games. There's no doubt when it's been the totality of how long it's going on in Golden State

and you reach his point, you look up, your 500 team, you're at the end of the Curry era. You know, you don't look like a team that can contend. You know, would you be willing to do it? it. I still don't think they would. But if they did, I do

think there's something more there still for Draymond Green with something to prove if he were to go to a team that was playing for something and what he could add. Yeah, you're talking about one of the more competitive Golden State the rest of the year. Well, you're talking about one of the most competitive

non-superstars we've had this century. And if they did trade him, the fire that would be lit under him. The bigger question for me is they're not they're not on my contender list. They're not in a year's either. They do need to do something.

They only have a couple contracts. They're paying Butler like almost $55 million. Curries, they're not trading. So it really moves down to like Kaminga Plus contracts. And it just gets easier if it's with the way the apron is for Kaminga JMA. I like the fit for the Lakers. Obviously he has a long relationship with LeBron and, you know, the clutch factor, which I don't even know matters anymore with the Lakers.

but that one jumped out to me. And then could the Warriors turn contracts and picks into one more premium guy? And if you were them, does that even matter? Has the ship sailed? Can you say the ship sailed when you have Steph Curry? No. You kind of can't sail the ship as long as he's on the team, right?

Totally agree with that. He can't. Curry, there's not been this, you know, big time discernible drop off and what he's capable of. There's just not enough on that team to where now you can load up on him in a different way than you were ever able to defensively.

You don't have to worry about the counters that they run and overcommitting to him, the way they would make you pay in the past. This team doesn't do it to that extent. Even Jimmy Butler, like when it ends up with Jimmy Butler's hands, that feels a lot different if you've run to it, Steph coming off a dribble handoff

and the ball ends up back in Jimmy's hands. That's a lot different. than what it used to look like when that ball ended up with Clay Thompson and a quick release three and the way that they would just punish you if you tried to play on the top side of staff or you didn't communicate the switches

or the downscreens properly and all that running he does. They punished you in a way they don't as much. And so, no, it's just not enough. Curry, to me, would still have that in him if he had enough around him. If you had to go and, you know, figure out a way to bring in a guy

like we're talking about it on that level that's a needle mover for them, you would have a serious depth issue most likely with his team. But if you had Jimmy Butler, you had Steph Curry, you added another star player to the mix, very difficult to just dismiss Steph Curry's chances if he had one more guy like that. I like that's a bonus idea just because the offense that he brings in the playmaking and the way his hoops at cue offensively,

I think fits in with who they are and what they do. You met when we were texting about stuff to talk about today, and we have a segment coming up that I'm excited about, but you mentioned how we're heading the dog days right now and how this gets dangerous for a bunch of reasons. One, the trade deadlines coming up. Your name gets thrown around. No matter what team, you're all of a sudden, you're on Hoopsipe,

you're on NBA today with Shams. Like, I'm hearing dot, dot, dot. You're in the rumor mill. You're on Twitter. There's Reddit boards making up. fake trades about you, every bit, like 10 teams are just completely unhappy. Five teams are probably happy they suck. Another seven are like, could we be good? Maybe not. Who knows? And then you have the seven, eight contenders. What is it like when you're on a team like this during the dog days?

Like what are the danger signs and what can go wrong as you hit the holidays and the trade deadlines coming up? It's tough because what happens is you get to this time of the year, the adrenaline from the newness of the season is gone. That's worn off now. Teams are starting to find out kind of like what they really are when you've played a third of the season. You start to have a better idea. Are you on the outside looking in or not? And that adrenaline you were getting from just the freshness when every guy in the rotation

thinks they're going to crack it and everybody thinks their role is going to be expanded and everybody's excited. Now everything has sunk in. the reality for every player and every team is sort of sunk in. The adrenaline that you then get for the playoffs, that's too far off in the future. So this middle third of the season, these are the toughest games.

Not to mention, in fact, a lot of these road games are in really cold places like, you know, all that stuff. Like I remember being in like when I was playing the league, like being in Washington and then middle of the winter, you'd get that two game trip to Miami. Orlando. And it was like, oh my God, thank God. You come out of the hotel and like your joints felt good. You went to shoot around and it was like this lightness in the air because

it was warm and you felt good. It was fun. You wanted to go play pickup ball. Like this is like this is great. A lot of these cities, it's not man. Like you're bundled up getting off the bus. So Minnesota doesn't have that. Right. Exactly. A lot of those lot of cities in the league check that box. So that's kind of there all the time. You know, the injury and fatigue is sort of there, and you're still like a couple months away from like the horizon when the real meaningful stuff comes. So this is the toughest time of the year. And this is when because of it, there can be lulls with teams that change the way front

offices view certain guys that weren't really going to be involved in being moved. This is the tough time of the year when there could be this law from a production standpoint or your team starts losing games because of all the things I just mentioned. pile up. And now they make a move that was kind of not foreseen. And I think that that's the danger that you run into in this 15 to 20 game stretch we're about to start. And there's the adrenaline rush if you do make a move. It's like, hey, no, no doubt about it. Woo! Look at us. The Celtics are in a unique situation just because they have this Tatum comeback looming, right? So it's like, give the playoffs far away. But then you're also like, hey, we're hanging tough here. We're

the three seed. And we might get the guy who was third in MVP. last year back. Spurs, I think, is another one that I don't, you know, it's been so rare for them to have all their guys and Wembe was out, he's back. Now you see as they try to figure out with Castle and Harper, um, with Wemby and Fox, like just having those four guys playing together for a month straight, I think is a huge win for them. Houston's the one I'm watching from, I don't want to say a Malay's standpoint, but just a, and you're getting them on Christmas. Um, and we're taping before the Tuesday games today. But they lost three O.T games in the last week.

Their net rating, all their rebounding stuff like that, we don't need to make the cases for why they're great. They almost have too many options at crunch time, where sometimes I feel like they're too heavy on going to Schengun. When you have Durant there, you have Shepherd who's been lights out. Thompson feels like he can beat anybody one-on-one. You got Jabari in the corner. And I think they're almost trying to figure out,

like, well, we have more offense than we realize what are we? So what are they? Well, here's the thing that they're dealing with right now. They've got to be better at end of game offense

and actually it's even starting before the end of the game. What teams have been doing lately to the Rockets? Kevin Durant's getting hit with these blitzes at half court even when there's not a ball screen. Like he's coming over half court

and teams are sort of, it almost looks at first like they're morphing into some sort of a zone and then that second guy on top just runs up and they're forcing him to give the ball. all up over half court. It's happened throughout the game, but it's particularly been prevalent in like the fourth

quarters of these games and they have not handled it well. I don't like their identity offensively in close games. I did one thing I said when they got to rant, obviously they needed the offensive firepower. This was an elite defensive team, an elite rebounding team. They didn't have enough. They didn't have guys you trusted down the stretch in Shengun as good as he is, is not a guy that's like got every answer.

to be your guy down the stretch of fourth quarters, like some of the stars in this league. He's not a Yokic, he's not a Shea. He's not a Tadom. Like, he's not a Curry. He's not on that level offensively. So they got by with their defense rebounding. Where's the offense coming from?

They get Kevin Durant. I didn't want them to be this all about Durant late in games. Like, give them the ball and just let him go. Like, that's how they're going to play offensive. It's not good enough in this league. Not against the Oklahoma City Thunder, which was the team they were comparing themselves to. Well, now you're finding teams are just,

getting the ball out of his hands. And they're not worried about what's happening on the back end of that with how Houston is making them pay for that. That's their big riddle to solve. And I'm going to do a heavy dive on the last couple of games before I do the Christmas night game to see when that surfaces in that game, which if I know JJ Reddick, it's going to, because he's been watching their results as well,

what is the problem with why they're not able to capitalize more on those possessions and why their end-of-game offense hasn't been very good. And the New Orleans game was the one that stands out to me, you know, blowing a lead against a team like that. And look, they've won five straight games. They're playing better, but it's the Pelicans. And you've got almost a 20-point lead in that game in the second half. You've got to close that game.

You can't lose that game. And it really was about their offense letting them down. And so that's to me what I'm looking at with them right now. They don't have a great identity offensively down the stretch of games bill. And they don't know how to play out of teams blitzing Durant. and giving it up and how to make you pay. Because there's not enough shooting on the floor most times. And maybe the Amen Thompson factor isn't quite what they thought it would be with that leap.

So that's really been their biggest issue. Teams are figuring them out a little bit in that way. They've got to have an answer for that now. Yeah, the shooting piece is the thing that jumps out to me. Because I feel like when I watch them, I like when Shepard's out for them and when he's out there and crunch time for them. I just think he solves issues. then they also get fast breaks when he's out there

and when they don't they just seem like they slow down. But I swear, I see the same thing with you with how clumsy the crunch time is. And yet I like all their options. I feel like there's stuff they haven't explored.

Like they never set picks for, they never have Shepard come up and set picks at the top of the key, right? It's like, do like a little high screen with Durant. Use him as a screener the same way some teams use their best guards. It seems like

they fall in this habit of like, shit, all right, Shangoon, and they just dump it to him, which I don't think can work in a playoff series for two weeks. It's too easy to stop. So they'll figure it out. Yeah, they don't have in my opinion, enough motion off

of their entry to Shangoon or Durant. Everybody stands. It turns into a lot of standing and watching. And, you know, for Amin, that means he's going to probably slash or get a lob or get on the offensive glass. They've got, it's crazy because they shoot the second highest percentage in the league

from the three, but the reason that is because they take fewer than anybody. So, like, they're so selective in their shots. Now, to their credit, they're taking shots that they can make that that's good. In some ways, refreshing that they're not taking 45, 53s like a lot of teams is like, that's fine. They're taking 30, which is a very low number in this league. They shoot a high percentage, but it feels like. they don't move off the ball or keep weak sides occupied at all

when the ball gets dumped into Shingoon or they're letting Duran kind of go into his thing. And so offensively at times, it kind of bogs down to the point where they look guardable. And it feels like they've got more talent than that. What team would you have wanted to come off the bench for and play 15 minutes as you watch all these teams? I just have to ask because we're in an era now

where a team shoot 45-3s a game. Is there a dream team for you when you watch it? Take your pick. I mean, there's a ton of teams that, like, you know that when there's not a shot on the court that can be taken that anybody would frown at, it's like Nirvana. Like Cleveland would be a team I would think of. Like, there is no three-point shot that any of their spot-up shooter guys can take that anybody even bats an eye at. And I know this because I'll be sitting there courtside sometimes calling a game and a shot will be taken three seconds into the shot clock, heavily contested. like off one pass

and I immediately my eyes immediately divert to the coaching staff in that situation and no one reacts to it at all and like I'm going wow so I guess it's just yeah

this live with everything so there's a lot of teams in this league that I can't imagine the mental freedom that a lot of guys have that kind of played a similar style game to me you would enjoy the Simon's

role on the Celtics when he's trying to basically carry offense when Jalen's out and one of the guards is out and like Simon's just, no shot is bad. Just take all of them. We're going to take a break and then we're going to play a little game called

guys who are even better than you think. I like it. All right, here's the task, Tim Leger. Guys who are even better than you think. And here's the premise. These might be people, people aren't talking bad enough, which is kind of an overused sports media thing.

where we're like, people aren't talking about blank. Usually we're talking a little bit. Or people who are actually really good, but we don't even understand how good they are or actually what is happening beyond even a level you might have expected. So I made a whole list. I asked you make a whole list. Let's just go back and forth.

Who was the first guy, given the parameters of this that you thought of? Jalen Johnson? He's the first guy for me. He's on my list as well. He's kind of blowing me away right now with how easy he's making this look. This guy is not just putting up like, you know, 22, 8, and 6 nights.

This guy is having like 35, 13, and 9 nights. Like you're talking about the numbers that you see a Yokic put up or a Luca put up. He's doing that damn near every night. Now, he had an opportunity to get extended freedom when Trey was hurt, but it hasn't stopped. since Trey came back. It's his team.

And the thing, I was actually watching him in the night, and I was thinking to myself, man, does this guy's, like, smoothness hurt him? Because it's so effortless that it almost looks like there's a lack of intensity because it's that easy for him. And I don't think there is a lack of intensity. You know what that, Ryan?

I actually is a little T-Mack-ish, because I agree with you. Everything is so smooth. It almost seems like he's not. not going all out, but he is going all out because he just, his muscles just move differently. He's averaging 24, 11, and 8 right now. That's insane, man. And I think if you take away like the first month of the season, those numbers are significantly

higher than that. Like, I mean, he's, he's had stretches of 10 games where he's been averaging over 30 points a game, double digit rebounds, and almost 10 assists. Like, these are the numbers reserved for the true top tier alphas in this league. and he has been doing that pretty much all year for Atlanta. So he was the first guy I thought of. And it's crazy because he took a big leap last year. And I'm going, well, you know,

you're talking about the most improved player and stuff like that. Typically it doesn't go to guys like this who already arrived at a certain level last year. And now they just take it to like those guys usually get excluded. But to me, he's so much better than he was last year. I don't think it's blasphemous to throw him into that conversation. yeah like six weeks ago when the yonest trade stuff started and i was saying how i thought it was the team that made the most sense because of the picks the assets the expirings

but i was saying jalen johnson can't be in it like i'm not trading yonis unless i get to also keep jalen johnson because now i have these two guys together yes and some people are pushing back like especially like the bucks fans that i know are like well we're getting jelan johnson or Yannis trade. Like, that's ridiculous. So I'm like, I don't think they're trading Jalen Johnson. Six weeks later, untouchable. Like, I, if I'm, if I'm them and you're like, you could have Yonis for Jalen Johnson.

Obviously, you'd have to have a seven-hour meeting about it. But I would much rather have the younger guy who keeps ascending and try to figure out a way to also bring Yonis into it versus, you know, making him the centerpiece. I just don't think there's a world where they trade him at this point. I totally agree because of this. the explosion in his offense over the last 18 months, there's no telling what the ultimate ceiling is. When you have a guy that young,

that talented who's doing it this easily, like you really don't even know how much more there is to grow. So the uncertainty of that is so risky to give up on and send somewhere else. Because even though Yonis is a more known commodity right now, you also know 100% what his ceiling is. You don't have any idea.

the Jamon Johnson ceiling is. So that would be, to me, a really risky, dangerous thing. And again, to your point, I'm not considering trying to acquire them unless I can figure out way to pair them together, because I want something special. I don't want just sort of this, this one in, one out type situation. We got this in, but we lost all this. Are you going to feel like you're kind of in the same boat where you were, even though Janus, I agree, is on a different level right now.

I couldn't give up on all that upside without knowing. I would lose sleep over that as a GM, knowing. moved a guy like that that's grown this much in a year and a half? He's only 24 years old. Janus, who's had been dinged up with some injuries the last couple of years, there was a lot of miles on him already. You need Johnson with Janus, and that's the only reason to do it. So I still feel like that's the honest trade that makes sense.

Everybody seems to feel like it's going to be until the summer, but when you see the bucks are 11 and 18, plus they have that New Orleans pick, plus they have some other stuff, who knows? my first guy you're going to laugh Nicole Eokic I just want to talk about the stats because we're used to it now

it's been a whole decade of this but right now he's averaging a 29, 12, and 11 he's shooting 61% but 41% from 3 he has a 34.9 PR which is like 2.5 points higher than his usual he's leading the NBA and rebounds

an assist, which I didn't realize until today. Did you know that? Yeah, I did know that. It's been going on for a while because it came up with one day, a researcher sent me a note because we were talking about him on some segment, and it was like he'd be the first one ever to do it. Ever. If he could pull this off.

And by, by the way, he's leading Cade by one and a half assists, and he's leading towns by a half a rebound. He's also only five guys ever have gone 25 plus points a game and 60% field goals. But the, I was like, I thought, Wilt did it. And it's like, no, Walt led the league in assists that one year. He also led the league in rebounds that one year. He led the league in points,

but he's never did the assist rebounds at the same time. So you just look at the basketball reference and you watch the six years as he just keeps somehow getting better and I actually think it doesn't get enough attention. Well, Bill, I was fortunate enough last year. And my buddy Dave Pash and I talked about this in the moment, right after the game, back at the hotel. of the glass of wine.

The next day, we would continue to talk. We were the two guys honored with calling the 30-20-20-game. Oh, my God. That Yoke has had last year. Yeah. 30-20-20. And it was one of those nights, and you get this sometimes in the league, where, like, the social media reaction from other star players over that performance.

It was incomprehensible. that someone could do that, to have that kind of statistical impact in any given game. It's just you can't believe you actually saw it. And we were the two guys that were able to call that game. So yeah, for me,

I don't know that he's better than I think he is. It doesn't sound like he's better than you think he is. But I still think you're probably right. There's probably a large portion of people that don't genuinely understand what this guy is doing on a nightly basis. which is still shocking to think he could have the year he had last year and not win the MVP. And Shea deserved it too.

And she's probably going to win it this year. If they go 75 and 7, Shea's going to win. I've been saying, I've been saying for the last two weeks, listen, the guy's numbers are better. They could potentially could break the record for wins in a season. Yeah. They didn't substantially improve their team from a personnel standpoint. So they're running it back. He's every bit as good.

How can you guarantee you get another MVP? no matter what Yokic does is, well, let's do something historically great. Let's be an all-time great team. And they're on their way to do that. So to me, I think it's going to be very difficult for Yokic, particularly if there's another 10, 12, 15 game gap between OKC and everybody else in the West. It's going to be very difficult for Yokic to be able to get one. You're going to talk about two of the greatest years in the history of this league,

if this happens, to not win an MVP. Well, that was, my guy Larry Bird, his best year ever was 87, didn't win the MVP. Sometimes it happens. Sometimes it's the narrative. Sometimes it's how your team's doing. All right, your next guy, who is it? The next guy I would go to off this list, I'm going to go with A.J. Mitchell. I'm going with A.J. Mitchell, because right now he's been like, okay, wow, AJ Mitchell, people are like noticing this guard on the Oklahoma City Thunder that got a chance to play because Jalen Williams was a.

out. I'm watching a guy that at some point, and I don't know when it's going to happen, because if he stays in Oklahoma City a long time, it's not going to happen there because of those two guards and how young those two players are, SGA and Jalen Williams, maybe it's somewhere else a few years down the road. I think this guy legitimately has like all-star potential. So you feel like 2021 Brunson kind of ish? Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah, I do. Now, look, will he top out at, you know, 27, 28 points a game and be in the MVP discussion? I don't know, but I'm not going to rule it out because Jalen Brunson so blew out the ceiling on what I thought he was as a player.

I probably missed his ceiling more than any player I've ever covered, Jalen Brunson. I thought Jalen Brunson was going to be a like 15 point a game guy on a mediocre team or like a really good backup guard on a contender. but not an MVP guy that can get on any night 30, 40 points. Like just whenever he feels like it, I never thought he was this. So I'm not going to say A.J. Mitchell can't become that. But yes, it's got that sort of feel to it. Backing up two great players.

In Brunson's case, it was Yokic. It was, I'm sorry, Luca. In this case, it's SGA, Jalen Williams, as the off guard. I think this guy potentially when he gets his own team, puts, the ball on his hip and is running the show, I think A.J. Mitchell is potentially like going to become a star. When that happens, I don't know and what would have to change circumstantially for him, probably a lot to get those kind of numbers that I'm

talking about, but I think he's capable of it. I 100% agree. I hate when we just agree all podcasts, but I 100% agree with that one. My next guy, I got to go home or pick. I can't believe how good Jalen Brown has been offensively this year. I'd already decided on him as a player, and I was a Jalen defender. I thought I knew who he was. I thought he had maxed out whatever his ceiling was probably two years ago during the

playoff run. There were some flaws that were just going to be there that we lived with, and that's just who he was going to be. We knew he was probably going to score a little more this year without Tatum, right? but I thought it was going to be more high volume threes. I thought his field goal percentage was going to go down. First of all, I think it's him or Jalen Johnson for best forward in the league right now.

I just think if you're talking about pure forwards, I don't count Janus as a center. I'm not counting on as a forward. The one-on-one stuff this year has been so sophisticated. He did it again against Indiana last night. I know Indiana stinks, but Indiana was trying. He was going against Siakum.

He was going against a team that's well coached. and kind of knows how to help out. He's just, he has this whole bag of moves now. He's got that, one of the last times you were here, we talked about, he's got this move where it seems like he's going to drive with his right hand of the basket, and he stops and does this little crossover, 12-footer.

He's got this kind of almost like Brunson-esque, pound you down, plays off you, and then has this extra footwork now where he'll take this extra step and do these spin layups. I just, I love how he, he's playing. I think he's been more unselfish than ever. He's averaging 29 a game. 29, 6, and 5

he's shooting 50% and his free throws are up legs. 7.6 free throws. He was never a big free throw guy. He was always like a settle for threes. Don't go to the basket guy. And I just think he's been awesome. And I kind of can't believe it. And this is not a small sample size. This is now

one third of the season. I love this one because I think here's what I'm saying from him. First of all, it's very rare that a player in his 10th year can find another level offensively than what you thought you knew. And I think what you're seeing is

there's no deference at all on the court. When he's playing with Jason Tatum, there is a level of deference that takes place that can affect his knights. And if Tatum gets cooking on a certain night, particularly if it's early in a game, that can affect Jalen Brown's night to a certain extent. And just the fact that he's there

And you kind of got like one eye Knowing where Jason Tatum is because of his level and his profile And the shadow he casts in the league We'll take Jason Tatum off to court right now for Jalen Brown And everyone defers to him He doesn't get that feeling that often Because he hasn't had to do it And so for me to be able to take it to this level

With the opportunity that's presented Really has impressed me second highest field goal percentage in a season of his career, 50% more free throw attempts per game than his highest single season. So like take whatever season you want in his career, the highest free throw attempts per game, he's shooting basically two and a half more free throws a game than that. I think it's his career high and assists.

Yes. So playmaking has been there as well. And it shows you, man, you know what? This guy had a lot more in his bag. then you really thought because he didn't have to demonstrate it every night because he had Jason Tatum as like the ultimate crutch to lean on

during stretches of games and stretches of seasons and that's not the case. It's his show and he's showing you what he's capable of doing. So I totally agree with you. And I think he and Tyreys Maxie I've got to get a lot of talk right now

for what they've done with those two teams to keep them position where they are with all the uncertainty and injuries that those teams have dealt with delivering every single night as the targeted guy for defenses and they're still fine out of way to get to 30

pretty much every night. I think both of them should be in conversation for first two more NBA and it's probably like a nine guy list but I think both of them should be in there.

The thing that with Jalen, he had time to prepare for this because Tatum got hurt at the beginning of May and you know like, all right, I'm going to be the guy next year. How do I get better?

And I think he took so much shit over the last couple couple years for like, can't trouble with his left, loses the ball too much, settles for threes, doesn't hit big free throws at the end of games. Oh, now that Tatum's gone. Watch how bad Jalen's going to be. And I think all that stuff really helped him. Like he came in, he fixed every flaw that he had. Like he can go with his left a little bit. He does have this crossover now. Like teams poke at him to try to steal the ball and they don't get it anymore.

The last thing I'd mention, he has gone toe to toe with the best guys in the league and matched their offense, which I think is the last, this is what Kate started to do last year. If you're going to, like, just swim in the pools against the better teams and the best teams, you still at some point need a guy.

You need like, oh, shit, it's 104, 104 minutes left. Where are we going? This is now a yin-yang game. Who's my guy? You saw it with Edwards on OKC on Friday. Edward's thought he was the alpha in the court. Like, he's insane, but he really believed it, and he beat O'KC, and he made the biggest shot.

Jalen thinks he belongs on the court with all these dudes. He's like, who am I playing tonight? Oh, we got Max tonight. Oh, it's Luke at a night. Like, he thinks he's on the level with all those guys, and this year he's played like he is. So that attitude, I think, is one of the reasons they've been really good. Who's your next guy?

Next guy I'll go with his Reed Shepard. And here's the thing. I really liked him coming out. So I was a believer. I saw him initially in Summer League and I was super impressed. I called his first Vegas Summer League game last year. Like the first time we saw him in a rocket uniform.

And I was so impressed in that game because I had not seen him in person. And what you pick up on in person is this guy's athletic ability. He has tremendous elevation on his mid-range. Because he doesn't look very big. he's actually listed bigger than he looks when you see him on the court. Have you stood next to him?

I have, yeah, yeah. So what are we talking like 5.11? No, no, he's bigger than that. But he's bigger than that. But like when you look at him moving out on the court against some of the like longer armed guards and stuff that he's playing against, he looks like one of those smaller guys. He almost looks Mark Priceish to me, right?

And I was watching him and I'm going, well, how does he get this stuff off? like in the middle of the floor. And this was a point, by the way, he wasn't really making threes in summer league. He wasn't making threes last year at a high rate. So it was like, how was he even scoring? Well, he's scoring because the mid-range was he was more comfortable with

before the three-point shooting at the NBA level because he gets off the ground. And I have frozen it on touchscreens to take a look at deep defenders that were right there. And they both jump at the same time. And he's given up three inches to a guy with a long reach and he just goes up where his foot is like basically at knee level from the guy that's jumping to contest

because his bounce is so good he can get that shot up. And that is what triggered what we're seeing now. He was going to that more often early in the year because he still wasn't making threes. And that kept his confidence up until the deep shot started to fall. And once that started to fall, this guy now has become one of the most important players on their team. And you knew Van Vlique was out.

the opportunity was going to be there, didn't look like he was going to jump on it early in the year. He's jumped all over it now. And, like, they, I don't know where Houston would be without what Reed Shepard is giving them from a shooting standpoint in front of just a bench production standpoint now. Yeah, when Van Bleak got hurt, the best, best case scenario for Houston was that Reed Shepard

could place some minutes and be serviceable or better. And that, I think he's been above that. I really like him. I agree with you. The Mark Price thing. stands out when you watch them, not just because they're both white guys, but just he has this, he has this 80s, 90s style that I think has gone away because we've moved more toward these like Donovan Mitchell type zero guards, guys who have the ball a lot, but they're

not like these pure point guards that we grew up with. And I just think he's one of, I like watching him on fast breaks. Like, he's one of those guys. He kind of knows what to do and where to go and who to make the extra pass to and when to give the ball up. And I want to make one more quick point on him because this is I lived this in some way some regards it's amazing how when he was struggling to make shots early like his rookie year and even the very beginning of this year but most of all of last season all the sudden because you're not making shots some of the stuff defensively because it's like overly scrutinized right because the ball's not going in on the other end now he's making shots and like now he's getting a lot of credit for like lateral quickness

and he's really scrapping with his hands. And he's always been that. He's really good at raking on guys. Like he's just got very quick and very good anticipation defensively. So it's funny how the ball starts going on the other end. Like all of a sudden, like the narrative completely changes. Like even though you're exactly the same player in terms of your defensive competitiveness, now all of a sudden it's becoming something they talk about as a strength of yours

when before it was like this obvious weakness because the ball wasn't going in. So he give him credit because that's, not an easy thing to change the narrative one, and he kind of has done that because he's been so good offensively for them. He's also, and I say this as a compliment, he's a little bit of a dick. Oh, no, he's got a swagger, man. He's got, he's feisty, and it's, there's a little, I was thought, I was right about John Stockton, like what an asshole he was, and he would just set these cheap picks and he would trip people, and he was just scrappy, because he had to be. He was one of the smallest guys out there.

Yeah, he got a shot blocked the other night by Bruce Brown on a pull-up jumper. And Brown blocked on a baseline and knocked it into the crowd. And I started woofing at him. And at this point, Reed Shepard was already, they came off the bench. I think he hit his first three-threes. So he's already, like, rolling. Yeah. And Bruce Brown, like, blocks his shot and has all this stuff to say to him.

And you could see him, like, smirking and going back at him. And I was kind of sitting there. I was like, I wish I could, like, had a thought bubble right now. And like, what's coming out of his mouth right now? because like to get challenged like that when you're starting to play well you're feeling yourself a little bit like you're not going to take that

and he went right back at him he ended up having in that game he had like 28 points he was awesome he was incredible Pritchard had not to compare another white guy but it's the same thing like you're the undersized white guard people are going to make runs at you

they're going to talk shit to you and especially if you're not hitting shots all the all the kind of warts just seem bigger Pritchard developed the same thing. He talks as much shit as anybody and he's super confident and he's an irrational confidence guy and he kind of have to be. I actually thought that's who you were

going to say when you led it with. We were talking about guys that are better than you think and you said this is like a home or take. I thought you were going to say him. You thought it was going to be Pritchard, interesting. I did. I thought you were going to say it because it seemed like it would lend itself to this conversation. Can I say, tell you at him at him, the first time I saw him in person, I called a game last year in Phoenix.

And I was like, this dude's sneakers make a different noise than everybody else's sneakers on the court. The speed with which his feet move and like that squeaky sound if you broke it down with some headphones

and listen to it. You're like that doesn't sound like anybody else's feet because his feet are moving so quick. Like he's way quicker than I thought he was when I saw him in person and I love that whole story with him and what he's turned himself into. And again, like, you look at where Boston is without Tatum and Jalen Brown deserves

certainly most of the credit. Missoula should get a lot too. Then it would be Peyton Pritchard, man, right there as like the next guy, stepping in now as a starter and playing as well as he has. I have two picks here. I'll go with, uh, since we're on a white guy run. I don't understand this Colin Gillespie thing. Oh, man.

I just don't understand it. I looked at his basketball reference. He was on Denver two years ago. Did you even know? Yep. And I got, he played 23 games for them. Did you and I not talk about this earlier when I was one with you about my background with Colin Gillespie?

I don't remember your background with Colin Gillespie. I don't think we've talked about it. I coached AAU for seven years and my team was based in South Jersey and my son was on that team. And it started out. They were like 10 years old with mostly local kids. And like the better like local kids that came through my camp. Like, that's where I handpicked these kids. So you start playing local tournaments in the Philly area.

And he was with a program called the Northeast Sting in Northeast Philadelphia. And his story in high school is incredible. No scholarship offers going into his senior year. Outplay is a kid going to Kentucky in the Catholic League playoffs. He's like 43 points against a kid. Quatea Green who's going to Kentucky. And his dream was to get one scholarship offer from Delaware, the way the narrative was.

He ends up, Jay Wright, sees the game, offers him. He goes on to become Biggie's player of the year, like twice. And now he's in the league. So, but here's the thing. We played that team like 10 times. And it was started to play him on the Under Armour circuit. It was like higher level stuff. And I kept seeing this white guard that I just loved this game.

And they were never able to beat us. I think we were like probably 10 and 0 against his AAU team over the course of his youth career. And the guy goes on to do what he's doing now. So yeah, I knew where he's, wow. I was following his career from day one. And in fact, the first time I saw him in a game last year, he came running across the court to come around to shake my hand because he remembered those battles.

Like when I was coaching against him, and I told him how happy I was for his success. And I always admire his game. Do you know that this year, Colin Gillespie has scored 90 more points this season, a third of the way in, than he has in his NBA career to this point, total. I would have believed even a higher number.

Yeah. I don't understand why he didn't play last year on a team that desperately needed it in a point card, that somebody who'd give a shit. And he was basically buried on that team. He's tough as nails, man. He is,

that kid has so much confidence and belief in himself. And it's the typical, like Villanova, like Brunson had it. They just, they belong in the bright lights. Like,

they like that moment. Because he's been on the floor for Phoenix a lot in the fourth quarter. Oh, yeah. And he's made plays defensively, too, because he's got great instincts defensively.

So he's come up with timely steals or a deflection or whatever. maybe he's never in the wrong place. If he's his turn to trap or rotate. But then on the other end, he's like made big shots. So yeah, they trust him.

Incredible story. They trust them running offense too. Yeah, he's over 40% on threes. He's just jumped out over and over again trying to figure out what was going on with this weird son's team that's just played well

and really gives a shit. Yeah, I saw him for the first time. He was like 13 years old. And now here he is. An impact player for one of the surprise teams in the league. Unbelievable.

Well, I do think he fits into a theme that started last season and has carried over to this season. Effort, as weird as that sounds, these teams and players that just really seem to care, game to game, quarter to quarter, half to half. And now that we've moved to this league where there's more full core pressure, people picking stuff up at half court, you kind of need these agitator perimeter guys.

The Celtics have a slew of them. But Phoenix, I look at the team they have. It didn't make sense before the year. I went under and their wins 31 and a half. They just have a bunch of hard-nosed dudes that actually care and want to mix it up and roll their sleeves up and really fight. And I think that hurts these teams like these Cleveland teams that are just kind of in a fog waiting for the playoffs to start.

And they don't want to get in fights with these teams. They don't want to battle. They don't want to roll up their sleeves. And all of a sudden they're down 12. They're down 15. But to me, he typifies that. And I think there's other guys that. I think Cnipple's been like that.

You know, like Jordan Walsh on the, on the Celtics when he was playing was another one who's just like, he just really gives a shit. Hugo, Hugo, I always call him Hugo, Hugo, Hugo on the Celtics now, he's just a maniac. And I just feel like we've had more and more maniacs in the league. I don't know. I can't think of a reason either. No, I think you're hitting on something. I think now teams are now identifying the value added to what you're doing. Like energy.

with energy, with guys that are willing to kind of push themselves to the limit in terms of fatigue and stamina, like, and continue to like, what you're talking about the ball pressure up the floor, it's definitely been something that's increased in the league last couple of years. The other thing that you see on a nightly basis on the teams right and you notice it, when you can force the initial pass to the wing, like that first entry pass to start your offense, when that can be denied and pushed out to 38 feet on the catch, 30 feet on the catch, it's amazing what that is. ends up doing to your possession and the timing of the next action that teams are trying to run. So now coaches are rewarding guys that want to do that. They're not just going to kind of be back there lazily. Let the guy pop out, catch it right at the three point line where now all of the timing and the cuts are the way the coach drew it up. When you force that first catch out on the floor, everything is off from that point. Denying ball reversals to the top of the key. Like that's a big one. If you can force the ball reversal out to like 30 plus feet, it's a

amazing how much more difficult it is to score with what the next action was supposed to be on the weak side of the floor fighting guys in the post for position not just conceding it let him catch it and like oh yeah that's right i'm getting a double team and egg waving for help now how about you fight that guy first to not let him catch it where he wants it front him do everything you can to let let the ball come in easily it wears on the guy it also creates timing issues it wears the clock down for teams offensive league. All that stuff, it seems like now is being rewarded

with guys that otherwise might not have been able to crack the rotation. Yeah, I wonder if it would change the concept of team building. Like, OKC, everything you just laid out, this is one of things OKC is the best at, not to mention all the talent they have, all the great shots they get,

but they just make it so hard for other teams offensively. And then I look like Detroit is another one where it's just hard to play them. They're painting the ass. I look at a team like the Clippers and I have my LA friends like, oh my God, what's wrong with the quippers? They can turn it down. You can feel it when you go to the games. They don't have enough of these crazy energy guys. Their energy is like super low. They have all these guys who have accomplished a bunch of stuff. It's an older team, you know, and you just kind of feel the

energy sag. And they go against the wrong team and it just, it's almost you're watching going. The other team's trying harder. Maybe they aren't, but it feels that way. And they just kind of don't want to mix it up like that. They don't want to roll their sleeves up. I can't remember who was up, but I wanted to mention Khalil Ware on Miami, who's turned into a 12-11 guy, and I wanted your take on this. I just like him. I mean, he's playing 24 minutes a game, 25 minutes a game, put up double doubles. If you redrafted 24 and Castle was first, I think Castle has to be first. I don't even think it's an argument, right? Yes. And then I gave you Sarr, Ware, or Shepard

as the next three in some order, what would your order be? Oh, man. Castle 1st, Sarr, Ware, Shepard. And you have the second pick based on what you've seen for the last year and a third. Man, that is tough

because I do think Alex Sar has, like, offensive capabilities that Kelle Ware is never going to have, and it's really intriguing because he's so long. And he actually, there's nights when he's really impactful.

Eventually, look, he's on a team that, you know, no one's paying attention to. It's not winning. It's a different environment. I'd love to see him on a competitive team, and maybe he'll get that at some point in his career sooner than later. The overall package there is more significant than where. Now, where on a certain team,

if you want to plug a guy in, like with what he does well, he can be a massive difference maker as I think he is in Miami. But just in terms of the two players, SAR probably for me, has a little bit more upside. and what he can be. And he's shown me a lot this year.

I thought the first half of last season, I was like, oh, man, they might have missed this pick altogether. And man, did he have a great second half of the year? And then he committed to go to Summer League, which I was shocked by, like guys, you know,

typically, you know, he was all rookie team. You're thinking he's not going to want to go to Vegas. They said he volunteered to do it. He wanted to go out there and play with those guys. It's told me something about him and who he is. and like how bad he probably wants to be better. And so I probably would lean there.

And look, Reese Shepard's a really, really nice player. One day, maybe he's going to be starting point guard on a team and doing things, but I'm not quite 100% sure yet. Is it like this perfect situation he's in now to do what he does? Or what is ultimately like his real ceiling on a team that's really good?

I'm not exactly sure. Alex Sar is intriguing to me because of the length and the skill set. I had the same order. I think Sara is the highest ceiling still. There's stuff, and I saw him in person in November, but there's stuff with him where it's like, that's unusual. I don't, there's not a lot of guys that do that. Shepard, I would probably have over where because I like the ceiling with Shepard.

Where he is right now at age 20, I'm just trying to imagine him at age 27 when he's got full confidence. I think he's a possible all-star. I'm not sure where's an all-star, but he's perfect for, this. Can you put up double-doubles? Can you play with their hands up? Can you protect the rim? All that stuff. All right. You get one more guy. Who do you have? Let's go with Denny Obdia. This dude, like when he got drafted, not, people didn't know much about him. Lottery pick goes to Washington. Kind of like watch him early on. You're like, oh, you know, he's got like a nice, like, all-around game, but didn't do anything great. and to do what he's doing now and to put up these stat lines.

Look, Portland's a pretty competitive team. Like, the Western Conference, they'd have a lot more wins if they were in the East. No question. They were playing Eastern Conference teams all the time. Like, I mean, look at the Western Conference of what you're dealing with. So their win totals aren't as good as they would be if they were in the East, but they're still, like, you've got to come to play when you're playing against the Blazers. And this guy now-

It's another roll-up the sleeves team, right? And he's like the probably the starting five on that team. Completely is. And for people that probably haven't that are listening to this, you know, that love the league, but like maybe you're not really watching the Blazers, which I would understand. Like you're not really paying attention to the Blazers.

They've played themselves into 10th place, which is like, might not sound like much, but that's, that's, you know, play in territory. Didn't look at their roster before the year and think that was going to happen. This dude is averaging just under 26,

seven boards, six and a half of six. 47% from the field, 37 from the 380 from the line. And he's like a triple double threat, a lot of nights with like, not like the generic kind, not like 12, 11, and 10. Like this is a guy that's going to get those 28 point triple doubles. His all-around game has really blown away my expectations for him based on what I saw in Washington.

It was just an obvious case of give this guy more freedom. The talent is there. Let him go play through some mistakes. and you've got something really nice. It's kind of crazy when this happens, though, Bill, because it's almost like you're going, well, the talent evaluators in Washington were right. Actually, they were right,

but they didn't even give it enough time to know that. And then he's in Portland. So because the guy is, the guy's taking it to another level, but so it was there all along. Well, it seems even worse than that, though, that it seems worse because it seems like they traded him partly because they wanted a fully tank and he was like a little too good to be part.

of the mission. Right. And Portland smartly identified it and grabbed them. But I think the Wizards fans, like Joe House, who comes on this pot all the time, huge Wizards fan, like he was that, Abdi, it was really good. I don't think he thought he was going to do 26, 5, and 6. I mean, he's not only an All-Star. I think he has to be in the All-Star team.

But he's at least on the fringe all-M-BA conversation. I can't believe how good is. If you're 26, 7, and 7 for a third of the season, I know the numbers are a little inflated these days, but that's that's real. Well, that leads me to Michael Porter, Jr., who I just wanted to mention. It's only 23 games.

He's on a bad team. He's averaging almost 26 a night, and he's in the 50, 40, 90 vicinity, and he's averaging almost 4-3s a game. And look, I don't know. We knew there was more there. We knew in Denver he was being used the way he was going to use.

We thought he was overpaid. I still probably think he is, despite the stats. He's had some toe-to-to-to-to with the best player on the four for the other team games where he seems to be pretty confident he belongs in that

like what I talked about with Jayla Brown earlier he killed the Celtics a couple weeks ago like killed them like single-handedly it's probably their second worst loss of the year

and he's had a couple of those where he's just like yeah I'm Michael Porter Jr. I'm putting up 30 he's an intriguing I don't know if he's a trade asset if he's a building block or what is he?

But I think he's probably added four wins to their total that they didn't think they were going to have. They wanted to be terrible. And they're not terrible. They're not good. But he's fucked it up for them.

He's done way more than I thought he was going to. Me too. I wasn't like a, you know, a negative Michael Porter guy at all. I just thought there was a casualness about him that probably hurt him. And with what they did in Denver, the way that they played on certain nights,

if it wasn't, you know, flowing toward him, he would get a little bit aloof. Yeah, check out. A checkout a little bit. I think Michael Malone at times kind of, I think was probably in his own head. If he didn't say it publicly, he was questioning his toughness a little bit, some nights. So the irony is like when they made the trade, I said, well, this is an upgrade. Cam Johnson's an upgrade for them because I trusted his energy more.

I trusted his ability to play within a role and like be good at that every night rather than the fluctuations when someone Mike's Michael Porter would get it going early in Denver and he was a totally different player than the nights when he was kind of an afterthought for them offensively and now you're effect now you're looking at his defense now you're looking at his energy because he wasn't getting shots. I thought Cam Johnson's going to have nights where he doesn't get a shot for a quarter and he's still going to play hard and hard as he can. So I thought it was an upgrade and I'm still not sure. And they shaved a lot of money too. I mean they shaved 20 million I think or something close to that.

So it was a no-brainer. Denver's having a hell of a year. And maybe ultimately he is a better fit for them for some of the reasons I stated, particularly if Jamal Murray is going to have the year he's having. Maybe you need a guy that's going to be less consistent with his shot volume, but still like play hard and have a,

he's got a really positive energy and a vibe about him, Cam Johnson. No matter what's going on. And Michael Porter Jr., he just kind of has a different vibe about him, right? So maybe it still is for the best that they made the move, but give Michael Porter Jr. all the credit in the world. So I have a question for you because I've been thinking about this. Is there any part of Michael Porter, Jr., do you think,

that's kind of having just like this year for now, just a little bit more fun, even though there's no question. Even though they're 819 and they're not playing for anything. And he's not going to contend. Denver, who knows, Denver could end up in the conference finals or the finals. And you could be part of that. You know, he's already won a ring. But do you think maybe because he's one of a ring?

He's like, hey, I kind of tasted that. But this is fun. Like, I'm the guy now. The ball's ending up that everybody's looking for me. I'm a magnet for the ball. Some part of him is probably really enjoying the hell out of this at 27 years old, you know, just to get numbers. Go get numbers.

Well, he was also, he was the, you know, one of the biggest high school recruits of a stretch there, right? He was supposed to be. Number one in his class for like two years in a row. Yeah. So I think there's there's a sense of like, Oh, it never happened for that guy. And now he's kind of shown like, well, never happened to me. But I was also on a team where I never had a ball.

Like, you can make a case for it. He won the title is the key thing for me. If you hadn't won a title, it'd be like, ah, I don't know, it's fun to be on a winning team. But he won the title. Now he's proving, A, that he could, you know, again, small sample size, but he's at least shown it. Yeah.

B, I think he's a really intriguing trade asset. Like, I wonder if the Warriors have had a meeting about him. Be like, hey, could we turn Camingo and say? some other stuff and a pick into Porter. What does that do for us? Well, I really believe in just like conversations that I'm having. I think the guy has completely changed like his draft stat. I mean, I'm sorry, trade status.

I think he's too. In terms of attractability to teams, attractiveness. Like this guy now is like, because I think people thought, okay, kind of, kind of knew what Michael Porter was. The fact that he can do this offensively, even though it's a team that's not winning a lot of games. I do think now there's probably more teams that would look at him that are sort of those middle of the road playoff teams and go, man, that would be nice to add that kind of

scoring punch. The question always gets back to what he, what are he willing to give up for him? Right. But I was thinking Milwaukee with him because I know Doc likes him and Doc was coming on my podcast. He always thought Porter was underrated for Denver. He liked that he rebounded.

All right. So apologies to not mentioning Tyree. Maxi, sorry. You asked how do we decide most improved player. I just wanted to cover this quick. Because I don't think Obdi is eligible for me, even though he's one of the

favorites. Here's why. He did this for the last two months of last season. We already saw this. And it was the same reason I didn't vote for Cade last year was a different reason, which is like, well, Cades was the first pick in the draft. He's supposed to get better every year, which is I think the case for

Maxi not being in there. I don't really know how we decide this and it seems like it's up to the voter and we both have votes but i feel like like porter could potentially be in this most improved player thing right it's like well look at he's really improved it's like is he he just got more shots more higher usage rate he's on a team that needs him um if you went from not playing to playing like gillespie i'm not sure that counts either so what what is the criteria what's the number one thing for you so for me, guys follow in the different categories with this. And it all depends on what you prioritize the most.

Like, I hear what your point about Obdia. Maybe you say the same thing and then about Jalen Johnson. Because, you know, he showed you like some of this last year. And you're kind of like, okay, here's what it really comes down to. Because for some of these guys, it's not really that they're improved that much in terms of their game. It's really the award should be for some of these guys, most improved opportunity. because that's what's changed for Michael Porter Jr. That's what's changed for A.J. Mitchell,

who is a guy that's probably going to get a lot of votes for this award because he was not really on your radar with the Thunder last year. And now he's a major component and will be all year. This guy's going to play 20 plus minutes all postseason for this team. But can you improve from not playing at all to playing? I'm going to say no. What do you mean by that? You're saying you're not, you don't think a guy that,

was just like hanging on to an NBA career to now be in a guy, like Gillespie, for instance. Why would he be disqualified? I'm not saying disqualified. I'm just saying when I think about this in my head, it should almost be a separate award that they should call the, where the fuck did you come from a word? And it's like, oh, this year it's Colin Gillespie.

Where did you come from? What happened? That's maybe they should. Maybe they should be a different award. I look at, so when I think of this award, I look at Jalen Duren, who right now in Fandole has the fourth best odds plus 700. I look at him like he had the exact same minutes last year. They needed the exact same things from him last year.

But I'm watching him this year and he's a different guy. Right? He's just went up a level. He is now, whatever center he's going against, I feel like he's toe to toe. They can run offense with him at the end of games with him and Cade. and it's kind of devastating. His personality has evolved where he's like this real leader

and kind of intimidating presence. And I just, I don't think he was that way last year in the same way. So to me, that's the kind of guy I'm looking at for a candidate, but you could also say like,

Jalen Johnson is now one of the 15 best players in the league. He should win. Yeah, no, I agree. So that's, for me, his first thing I'm going to ask myself is, have they gone to a completely different shelf? Right?

in the hierarchy in a league. And if they do, so that's the first thing. They have to, and some people might, for some of these guys, say, well, yeah, but if you really then go deep dive

into what they were doing last year, you're going to realize, no, they really, they really aren't. Like, they've already shown you this. Now they're doing it consistently, more often maybe, and so that would maybe be

what people are looking for. I wrote down 10 guys without really, really, really diving in. Like, just off the top of my head, going down the league. And I'm going to blow Thome real quick because we've covered a lot of them

today. But there's a few others we haven't yet. So I have J. Allen Johnson written down as a guy that's probably going to get consideration for this. A.J. Mitchell, Reed Shepard, should because Reed Shepard got an opportunity last year as the third pick of the draft. You're going to give that guy an opportunity. He didn't look quite ready for it.

But that goes into like if you're a second year guy, you should be better than you were as a first year. That's why I got confused with this award. It's like, I would expect you to be better this year. You've been in league for a year too. That's a very good point, and that's why a lot of people will exclude guys from this. I look at him and go, he's so much better than he was, though, because last year he didn't

look sure of himself. And the opportunity was there for him to grab the backup point guard minutes for that team. They wanted him to get it. He wasn't ready. And you know what I will say when I met with IMA Udoka, like halfway through the season, I called a Rockets game. And at that point, Reed Sheppard was like pretty much out of the rotation. and he had so many glowingly positive things to say about him.

I knew he was going to be okay. Like you can tell when a coach, you ask him about a young player and it's like, you can just tell by their response, even if they don't say it, you could just kind of tell that they don't believe this guy's going to turn. He did not give me that indication. So that made me think this guy is going to be fine.

Like there's something they're seeing that is not translated to the games yet. Now he's done it six times last year, figures all season. He's done it 18 times. So, so there you go. But you're, you're making a good point. All right. So who else to drive in the west? Oh, here we go. Colin Gillespie, I think has to be in there. Avdi, I mentioned. Jalen Duren I have on this list you mentioned. We talked about Alex Saar. I think he could be a guy. These other, these next few, I think, are really interesting ones. Nikiel Alexander Walker. Look at what he has done with an increased opportunity to score the ball in Atlanta that he didn't

get in Minnesota. Minnesota was guard the ball, one of the best on ball defenders, pressure up the floor, loved you for that. On those nights, you made shots great. But we don't really need you to do that. It's not a big deal. You're not judged by that. Now he goes to Atlanta, and all of a sudden it's like a different type of offense. Trey Young's not out there. And this dude's getting 20 regularly. Like him and Jalen Johnson are getting 50 points combined, like a lot of nights. I put him down. Ryan Rollins from Milwaukee was a guy that I thought probably deserves some of this because he looks really natural as a lead guard

for them with an increased opportunity. And then Kianti George was the last one I wrote down in Utah. Now, here's the thing about him. His efficiency isn't much different. He's just taking higher volume, but the guy had like

4.30 point games in a five game stretch. You catch him on the right night. It looks like he's going to be a five-time All-Star. Man, a dude, the dude's got talent. He oozes talent. I think he drives him crazy a little bit with somebody's decision making, but the guy's got massive talent, and they're better than they were, at least they're trying to win games now a little bit more often. So I've noticed him a little bit more than I did a year ago. So that was like my

10 guys list. Can I add one more? Sure. Kevin Love has done anything for the last four years, 16 rebounds the other night. Let's throw him back up. There you go. Is any other late 30s guy? One new word. This Christmas Day fan duel is letting you once again pass the leg. to your families and friends with a fun new way to bet. So if you open Past the Leg and the Fandoz Sportsbook app, you can begin back creating a unique link for all the NFL games on Christmas Day. What an early Christmas present this is.

Add your legs, invite and share with your friends. Once your friends are finished to add in their legs, add the group parlay to your bets slip. And you're ready to go. Use your Pass the Leg, PBT, to boost your winnings, and just get after it. So here's what I would do for the Christmas games. Cowboys, Commanders,

Chris Rodriguez, plus $120, anytime touchdown score. It's been coming on late. I just think this game's going to have a lot of points. I like that one. Lions at Vikings. Jemir Gibbs. Anytime minus $195 for a touchdown. And he didn't have a good week last week.

I could just see him unleashing holy hell this week and all the teams that got eliminated last week in fantasy because he was on their team, get mad all over again. Yeah. And then last but not least, Broncos at Chiefs. Let's go nuts with this. Broncos defense against whoever the heck is Cuban for the chiefs. Broncos defense, the score a touchdown plus 550 at any point in the game.

I love it. Throw that in with some easy bets and you're ready to go. Head to Fandul, start passing the leg right now. I had two more quick things for you. I told you I had a Celtics thing I wanted to throw at you. I say this very hesitantly and carefully. They remind me a lot of the Pacers last year. If you actually look at the blueprint and what they're doing,

because I watch every Celtics game, really trying to figure out, first of all, I've loved this season. It's just amazing to watch a team lose their best guy. You know, like Jacoby and Chris Vernon were talking a couple weeks ago on the mismatch pot about the Scotty Pippin season without MJ, when the infrastructure stayed the same and Scotty rose up, much like Jalen's doing this year,

and they just somehow won 555 games without Jordan. It was incredible. So here's the Pacers comparison. They're built around guards, right? The guards are creating most of the offense, most of the opportunities to shooting, they control the pace. They always have two out there.

Simons can come in, and he can still, like, create a shot. So they're always in a position with their guards where they can create something, which is where the Pacers were last year. They have an awesome forward. The Pacer's had Siacom last year. I think Jalen's an even better offensive option than Seacom was,

but they have one forward that they know can get a shot and can kind of, if you space out for them, can probably get a good 12 to 15 footer. They have some rim protection in Kada, which the Pacers had Turner. And then they just have all these wings that just try and play defense and know how to switch and they come in waves. And the whole team tries really hard.

The bench can come in. And they really remind me in that Pacer's team. And I know the one thing that's different is, Kada can't shoot threes like Turner did. They don't have like an incredible playmaker like Halberton, but Brown's better than Siakum. But I think it's the same blueprint. They're really well coached, good infrastructure,

and the 1811 makes sense to me watching it. So that's my case. I like that a lot. I think I'm kind of get the same vibe watching them offensively that I did get from the Pacers a year ago. It's pretty incredible what they've been able to. You think about it, The last two teams that represent the East and the finals, both lost their best player.

Right. Look at the difference in the results. And, you know, Indiana had some other injuries, but they still had Siakum just about every night. Mathurin has been out there. Nemhart's been out there. Like, T.J. McConnell and these guys in there, Miles Turner's not there, obviously. But look at, look at their season and look at what the Celtics have been able to do. So I have a question for you as a follow-up.

As a guy that's, you know, unapostom. apologetic, love your team, do you have even an improved respect factor for Joe Mozilla than you had prior to this year? He won me over last year. But what I love about this year's team is it's like it's like coming out of his brain and his pores the way they like you basically, if you don't try, you're not playing. He sat Garza for a couple weeks and Garza had a, had a weird little stretch where he wasn't good. But Garza's creep back in. creep back in because he's playing like his life depends on the game and if the Celtics lose he's going to be murdered after the game he had to play he got an offensive rebound he dove over

two guys and tipped it back like he was like a strong safety trying to break up like a Hail Mary or something so you have him and then you have Hugo which is like I honestly I think Missoula created him in a lab like I think he went to Spain and just like created like his version of Frankenstein Hugo is a maniac. And I think he's plus 78 the last three games and you feel it when you watch it. He's flying around like he just had 17 coffees. Other teams hate playing against him. They hate him.

Is he like taking on this like sort of cult status now with the Boston crowd? Oh, it's beyond. Yeah, Jordan Walsh had it for a little bit and then Hugo just like grabbed it. But the combo them together, they always have one guy in the game who's a wing who can guard anyone on the other team and who tries. you know, at an A plus level. And it's just, it's been really fun to watch. So now you start thinking about this Tatum comeback. Let's say he plays 25 minutes a game.

Those minutes are coming from like Shireman and some Hauser that you're just going to upgrade to Jason Tatum that even if he's on a little bit of cruise control, still the three point shooting, the rebound in the defense, like they're going to be better with Tatum. And I think this last week was the first time I think Southwick fans started to kind of look at each other and go, we're in the three seed. No, they're in the mix, man. Like Tatum could be coming back in March. What's going on here? We're in the mix. And this was what this storyline going into the year we all knew was

like the path was created, right? Like, it's the potentials there for a number of teams. Boston didn't seem like they were one of them. But I think they're looking at the top and going to Pistons and the Knicks. Like, yeah, we're okay playing those teams. Like we're going to be okay. If we get a seven game series with them, they've been, they've been one of the really surprising stories, especially the way the year started for them.

For them to have flipped it around the way they have, man, just so impressive. And by the way, Christmas Day games are coming up. We talked about at the very beginning. I got the Houston Lakers game in that eight o'clock game. There's five games that day. And I wish you could flex them. I'd keep my match up that I'm calling, that I'm part of that crew. Calling that game, I'd keep that one.

I want that game as the 8 o'clock game. You flex Cleveland out and put the Celtics in? But let me ask you a question. No, I almost don't. Because here's the thing that's crazy. only two of the 10 teams are from the Eastern Conference. There's only two Eastern Conference teams represented on Christmas Day, and that is Cleveland and the Knicks.

First of all, I'd rather watch Detroit Knicks at noon. Yeah. That's the one I wanted first, especially since Bill, they haven't played yet this year. And they had that incredible series last year. That's the game at the Garden, at noon on Christmas, two teams that practically got to fight every game

in the playoffs that year. You give me that to start my Christmas Day game. I got a weird one for you. So we're fighting at the tables later, but Detroit and the next start us off. And then we can fight with our family after. Yeah. At noon, you're still kind of like maybe these kids are still open in presents and people are talking a lot

and so you've got one eye on the game. And all of a sudden you're looking up and they're eight minutes in and somebody's being thrown into the crowd and you're like, wait a second. And it changes everything for like to Christmas Day games, right? Yeah. Here's another thing. Did you know this? Like, so San Antonio is playing Oklahoma City

on Christmas night. They just played in the Emirates Cup. San Antonio beat them. Do you know that they're also playing on the December 23rd? They're playing back to back. Oh, it's a baseball series? Wow.

Yeah, opposite buildings. It's a home at home. But it does not take a little the edge off to Christmas Day game? Like they're playing on Tuesday. Counter. I could watch those teams play 20 times. I hear you.

I hear you. I wanted that to be to be a little, like have a little more weight. Yeah, especially since San Antonio just beat them and you're like, you know Oklahoma City is going to want to get this back. Yeah, but I don't think, I don't think they knew San Antonio was going to be San Antonio when they scheduled that game. You're 100% right.

What was that over under like 44? Like nobody knew they're going to be a contender. Nobody knew Harper was going to look like this and Castle was going to go up a level. So there's only, there's only two other teams that I would put in this category of gosh, Boston, Philly would be fun, man, because of their fun to watch. Maxine Brown are like a show.

That would be fun. You know, it's a decent rivalry of those two teams. So you got Dallas and Golden State Christmas Day. Like, yeah, that's a tough fun.

I mean, I want to see Cooper Flagg, and they're playing a little bit better. Golden States 500 team, could you ever not want Steph Curry or Christmas Day? You need Steph. You have to have Steph Curry.

So that's a, so you get Dallas because you don't want, East Coast team versus West Coast team. So that took Philly and Boston out of the mix. Detroit, to me, is the team that kind of got slighted in this. Their number one seat in the East, and they're sitting home watching Christmas Day. Well, it's tough because Cleveland won 64 last year,

so you can not have them. I know. But yeah, you're right. I watched the Dallas game last night. I really enjoy watching Dallas. Now that Davis is back and looking like Davis again, I think they're fun. And then New Orleans has been,

Charlotte was the league pass MVP of the first quarter and now New Orleans has grabbed the reins and is just the most fascinating league pass team possible. By the way, how about Con Cidipal,

fastest guy to 100 made threes in a season ever? Also, I think he's 27. I think they need to investigate this more. Does anyone lie about their age before in the NBA? He looks like the game could end he could throw in a suit

and go do someone's taxes. Yeah, something's fishy about it. I totally agree with that. Just his body type, like everything about it. The way he moves, he knows how to switch already. He's always in the right spots.

But he's got 100 made threes in however many games they've played. Yeah, like 24 games. 24 games. And it took Steph Curry 58 games to get 100 threes. Wow. Well, I'm going to end with Steph Curry. And then you could go spend time with their family. Are we at the point where Curry to Charlotte, we should just do it?

Like just is, can we just, can we just, can the league intervene? Can this just be, I don't want to upset Warrior fans. I don't want to trade Steph Curry before. Christmas. But, you know, he grew up there. There's his dad's there. There's shots of him on the court as a kid. He always joked about ending his career there. I don't think this Warriors team has any chance. We just saw Draymond blow up last night. Like, can we just do the Lamello and a bunch of picks and send Curry back to Charlotte and let's just go? Let's do this. The only people might object to that or their parents because Seth just got there to go. Well, Seth can be in the trade.

We'll put him into the whole family will go. Seth if that's going to happen. They're both curries. But think about what you're saying now. You're talking about Splash Brothers are 2.0 with Curry and Cinepple. Like that's the new version of that?

Curry and Cinepple, Brandon Miller. Bridges is there. We'll try to get them a center. Lamello is one of the funnest guys in a league to watch. Yeah. Well,

I'm saying Lamello's in the trade. Oh, well, just trade Lamello. I got out for Curry. I got you. I got you. Lamello and picks and other stuff for Curry. It'll never happen. But I was just like,

if there was ever a time to get the Charlotte bandwagon go up for the Curry's. Do you think that Draymond Green's reaction to lamella ball would be a little different than his reaction to Steph Curry? Well, Drayvon's probably out too, but there is a blow it up scenario with Golden State if they were like,

hey, maybe we shouldn't pay $400 million a year for this team, but I don't think he's ever leaving. I just wanted to this is like the moment right here. And honestly, I don't want him to. I want it to be one of those ones where, you know, you don't have journey going into the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Steve Perry's not there. Like, I don't want that. I want them to finish. Are you still upset about that? I am. I just, I hate when it ends that way, man. You accomplish all this greatness together. And then at the end, no one's talking to each other. Like the 90s Bulls teams. Like, it's like

what you guys did together. And now you all hate each other. It's like, I think the 90s Bulls is more upsetting than Journey. And I'm upset by Journey. But the 90s Bulls, like, Pippin doesn't talk to anybody anymore. It sounds, these guys won six titles. They have a 10-part documentary about

them. They had the most famous app that they've had. At least Journey did go find Arnail Panetta, which is probably the greatest replication of Steve Perry's voice you could possibly imagine continually found the guy on like YouTube into Philippines or something. And he ends up being now the lead for Journey for however long.

But we digress. We could talk 80s. I love that you went full name for him. Anytime you want to do a show in 80s rock music. It sounds like you're ready. Last thoughts on the commanders before we go on holidays. I was, I finally got over my, my month-long anger, like real, real legitimate anger at what I perceived as a team that quit playing football. I was just so, so disgusted. All the injuries piled up. But then they just stopped tackling all together. And I was just like,

how can they do this to the fan base? You know, you get your season ticket renewal. They jack you up 20 percent, you know, and you're based on this year. And you're just like, what, I was so mad. I finally went back. I missed three straight home games that I normally would have gone to to see the Eagles commanders last Sunday. I went to the game. So I was back in the stadium. It felt good. I just want this season over. We weren't a Chris Rodriguez jersey? What was going on? I know what? I know. I was so mad that I did not wear a jersey. And in fact, I had, I did have a sweatshirt or no, but I covered it with a coat because it was really cold, like 38 degrees. So I covered it with a coat. I was not fanned out. I was not celebrating first downs like I normally do. I

I wasn't doing any of that stuff. I just sat there. And I took an Eagles fan with me, a buddy of mine to the game, which I would never consider wanting to do something like that. But I didn't care. I want the season over. I don't want any more wins. I don't know why they beat the Giants a couple weeks ago.

I don't understand what they're doing. Just get the best pick you can at this point. Yeah. I think that's probably I just hope it's one year where it was this fluky thing with everyone being heard. I hope we're back next year again in the mix. He'll be fine. It's an old team that ended up having a lot of injuries, which was predictable.

But the Daniels thing is probably more concerning. Because you have this RJ, RG3 shadow from that whole era. And, you know, it's hard not to think about. He's had four injuries in a year and a half to miss time. Four. Like, that's, it's like, man. So I'm nervous about that for sure. I'm just hoping that, okay, we win four games, get a high pick.

And let's move on, get everybody healthy in the offseason, kind of reinvent certain positions. I just hope they're back relevant again. They don't take the playoffs every year, but you can't give me NFC championship game to this. You can't do that. It's not right for the fan base. The loyalists like myself. We'll see you on Christmas.

I hope you get a great game. I look forward to watching it. Happy holidays. Thanks, as always, for coming up. Absolutely. Appreciate it, Bill. Happy holidays. All right, Joe House is here.

Shortly before one of his favorite days of the year, Christmas, is the second most you eat other than Thanksgiving. Well, you know, the nice thing about where Christmas falls on the calendar this year is that today is my favorite day. It's Christmas Adam today. Tomorrow's Christmas Eve. And then we have Christmas.

I just got back from a lunch of giant ice raw bar platter of Chesapeake Bay oysters, spice shrimp with some delicious old bay, and maybe a couple frosés, maybe a couple. I was going to say, you seem like you're not sick anymore and you have your energy back. Tis the season, brother. Tis the season. So you've decided you have enough white blood cells in your body again

to just start drinking during the day. Day drinking. That's what Christmas is for. Well, Christmas is also for comebacks. Just everyone's getting annihilated in Ringer 107. This is now the worst regular season I think I've had. Not she'll. She'll was cooking.

What did she'll do? Five and no. Oh, my God. Shield's in second. I need to win 10 straight just to finish with 500. I'm already focused on the playoffs. I'm already thinking ahead. Playoffs are all that matters.

I like the Chiefs. Why didn't you take the Titans last week? That was one of my favorite bets of the week. Because Schrager was guessing for you and he talked me out of the Titans. Come on. That was a, I gave out the Titans. I gave out the Saints plus Shuck. Over 275.

You did that on Sunday. We're making the picks on Thursday. Nobody asked me. I love the States last week. I should have asked you. It's okay. You're allowed. I was so disgruntled with picks and everything.

I didn't, I've passed a point of caring, but now I care because we have to get ready for playoffs again. Well, this is miserable because week 17 and week 18 have nothing but like incredible variance all over. I had an awesome gambling week in real life. Yeah, me too. Great one. And then I gave some of it back last night with a Colts under tease.

They underlossed with like five minutes into the game. I don't know what happened on the Colts defense. And then on the flip side, I don't know what to make of the Niners' offense because they now look like the 9-9-9 rams. Respectfully, again, ringer gambling show, first part of Monday, I gave out the San Francisco money line parlayed with the Colts over 20 and a half. That only paid out plus 280. That was a plus 280 parlay that I gave out to all of America,

first part of Monday, because thought there was a great chance the Colts would be able to move the ball against that San Francisco defense. I did too. That's why I took them plus five and a half. I didn't realize to give up 48. We also talked about the fact, the Seattle had six scoring drives against this Colts defense.

The difference is they were all. field goals. Yeah. Half of those were touchdowns. That game wouldn't have been close. Yeah, that's a good point. San Francisco has been absolutely cooking since Purdy came back. Four and no straight up, four and no against the spread going into last night.

Every win by double digits, well, let's just make it five in a row. Five and no against the spread, five and no straight up, five straight games by double digits. And we might be taking them again this week. Might be. I like for Jose House. Maybe this is where we needed to go for the picks. This could be the last thing that saves it. Drunkhouse just needed to come back.

Drunkhouse got sick. I'm right here, baby. Couldn't be drunk house. Now you're back. Yeah. Old-fashioned, frose, it's the season. We have three Christmas games that include... The Groney with Rye.

Go ahead. The Groney with Rye. We have Washington, your favorite team, plus seven against Dallas, who now has somehow the worst DBOA defense in the league. They passed the Bengals this week. They passed Washington. The Bengals were in historical conversations

for having the worst DBO defense of all time. Yeah. And by week 17, that had been passed by the Cowboys. And I thought your team looked pretty good last week for a bad team. They were going to, they were, that was going to be really fun coming down the stretch until Marriota got hurt. As soon as he went out, I was like, oh, fuck, this is a double-digit loss.

If Mariotta didn't get hurt. They can move the ball against that, that Eagles defense. And they were moving the ball against the Eagles defense. So who is the quarterback this week for the Washington team? I believe it is going to be Jeff Driscoll, spelled with a K. Say no more. Say no more. Cross it off.

I already have bets. You know, the line was six and a half. Dallas six and a half. I jumped all over. I get every bit of that I could. That's a complete stay away from it. No, I'm just, I understand, but they're going to beat Washington's ass. And yet Dallas isn't good, so who knows?

Next one, Vikings Lions, Vikings plus seven in that game. and Brozmer's probably playing because J.J. J.J. McCarthy got hurt. Brosmer wasn't bad last week. Brosmer? Brosmer? I think it's bro. It's Brosmer with a bro. The bro. The bro, that's what we're calling them. You know who's going to pick them look good?

He helps serve. He helps them. They stink. Holy cow. They picked my pocket last week. I think this line's a little high. I agree with you. I want to, I don't want to stay away from the first two Christmas games.

This is Netflix, right? This is our friends at Netflix. They are our friends. We would never steer them wrong. Let's get involved here. They're going to have to rig one of these games to make them exciting. So why not this one? Vikings plus seven.

I watched that whole Vikings Giants game last week because I had the Vikings in a five-team money line parlay that Baker Mayfield ended up sodomizing. But the Vikings plus seven with the ability to run the ball, with the ability to blitz. a Detroit team that has no offensive line? Yes. Feels like a closer game than seven. I mean, division game, Vikings at home.

The Vikings very quietly, their defense has been very steady over like the last six weeks or so. It should have been my wise wager on Sunday. I like them against the Giants. I think that they can win. That barely won, though. It barely won, I know. Barely won.

But the defense won the game for them. And ultimately, that, that, this, this, this, this number's too fat. What, what world are we living in where the lions deserve a full touchdown? That, that, that, that, that, that, that's a clown show over there. Well, the other thing is they can't block. Cannot. And it just seems like a nice matchup for, uh, the Vikings deed. This feels a little square to me, but, um, I don't, I think it's, it's just because

of Brosmer, right? Jonathan Greener's not playing. Um, he's out for the rest of the season. and he is their top, the Vikings top pass rusher. So that would be part of like why you would be. Everybody's missing two guys at this point. Yeah.

I also really like the Broncos in the third game, which is going to be on Amazon. They're minus 12 and a half against the Chiefs as we do this. The Chiefs have Chris Ola Dukon. What's his name? Olo Candy? Michael Ola Candy is the quarterback for the Chiefs. Ola Ducon and Ola Candy.

So the Chiefs showed us. us what, how they plan on handling the rest of the season by not winning or competing. Well, let me ask you this on that very point, is this the farewell game for Kelsey? Where's it going? To make five babies with Taylor Swift. She might already have two of them right now. They might not be a week 18, Kelsey you're saying? So he just plays this one and this is swan.

He says he's retiring after the game. Isn't this their last home game? Yeah, he'll play in Week 18. But I'm saying, what does it matter? This could be the farewell game for both Kelsey. What's the announcement? Are they going to do a deal with Arrowhead Stadium? Are they going to keep one of the venerable, venerated stadiums in all of professional football?

Or are they going to move to fucking Kansas? I thought they were, first of all, I researched this. It doesn't seem like a big deal that they're moving. It's Missouri and Kansas. They share Kansas City. Not a big deal. It's Arrowhead stadiums. It's the oldest stadium in the league.

They had to get rid of it. Like, you know, oh, they're moving from land. It'll be a Green Bay. Oh, we're moving from Lambo, 20 minutes away to, you know. All right. Bite your tongue. Arrowhead is not Lambo. Brother.

When we were growing up, we're like, hey, someday we got to go to a game at Arrowhead. Come on. It's fine. It's achieved quite a bit. I mean, a lot of great, a lot of things have happened there over the last 15, over the last decade. Everything ends. we lost Sullivan Stadium once upon a time. The New England Patriots.

Yeah, the Patriots fans. And the best game ever played in Sullivan Stadium was the last game ever, the snow game. Well, this is what I'm getting at. Yeah. You think there's going to be emotion? What if? It's a what if.

What are you talking about? 12 and a half. It was my favorite bet last week was the Titans on the Money Line. Titans at home against that completely decimated Chief Team. I had it. What if I parlayed Denver at six and a half and took the under to 43 and a half and bet that these teams could not get to 44 points if they had seven quarters?

That part is fine. You would just be worried about Denver getting it. Denver was embarrassed. Yeah, they were embarrassed by the way that the Jaguar has passed them last week. Sounds like this is a stay away. I mean, we could also just take the Broncos minus 12 and a half and think it's a sad game. Yeah, the Chief's last game is at. Vegas this is their last

it's a Christmas playing in that one you know what it's not it's not that he's playing this is a Christmas game in prime time on prime video Kelsey and Arrowhead possibly the farewell for both of them it just you know I don't want to get

I don't want to get in front of that just the NFL calls it in they have injuries on defense and that's really the reason why you would be like go ahead and just just lay the points but I don't know man the NFL tried to call in the Ravens Pats game,

and Drake May had other ideas that boned us at nine calls. And Harbaugh. Holy cow. How can that guy come back? How can that guy possibly come back next year? It's like, what's the scenario? Do we have Derek Henry on our team?

Is he even on our team? He had the series off. How did they not give his resignation letter already? Ravens Packers, Ravens Pustoon half. Ironically, the Ravens. Green Bay is in if Detroit loses. We just had to look up before we came on who the Packers' third-string quarterback was,

and his name is Clayton Toon. Toon. Mr. Tune's parents are very proud of him. The Ravens, I got to be honest, slightly hampered Lamar versus Huntley. I'm not sure there's a major difference. It's not like going from Mahomes to who's the third-string guy in the Chiefs again? Tune.

Chris Odoke. Oh, Ola-Duc-Candy. Chris Olo-O-O-O-Candy. yeah um i was there's a parley possibility here ravens plus four and a half with the under 54 and half it's a night game at limbo where they had this game has 55 points not betting any more money on the ravens the ravens can go fuck themselves that that the way they ended that game remember we've only had two shenanning games out of the hot trash uh ravens this season the very first game of the season against buffalo when they were up by 15 points with seven minutes left and then

the hot trash. Let's find a way. How can we lose this football game? Let's invent it. Over the last 10 minutes when we're up 10 points against the Patriots with our goddamn season on the line. All we have to do is win this football game. We're up 10 with 10 minutes

left and then we can rest week 17. Everybody get healthy and go win the division week 18. Can we go do that? Nope. No chance. We're clowns. We're jokes at the part they were going against 2010. Aaron Rogers combined with John O'way and Drake May.

Left that part. Say whatever you want. A beat-up Patriots offensive line. Yeah, it didn't matter. Drake Bay got pressure in 47% of the time. Patriots missing the middle of their defense. Is it exploitable? Nope.

Not by the Ravens. Keaton Mitchell. Make sure we have a rotation. You got to get Keaton Mitchell all of his touches in the fourth quarter. Derek can result. They're trying to arrest him. They did. He's going to get a lot of rest this.

season when they're not in the playoffs. I'm marking down Ravens plus four and a half with under 45 and a half as a part of it. I want no part of it. Jags, Jags and Texans Colts, here's the scenario. Colts are alive. They have to win twice. They have to hope Houston loses twice.

Jaguars win the AFC South with a win and a Texans loss. Colts are out of Houston wins. And Colts Texans playing week 18. Right. It's not that you're hoping that they, Houston loses twice. They could beat Houston. That's how they have to do it. They had to beat Houston in the week 18.

Well, they're going to know on Sunday because on Saturday, the Chargers host of Texans. And if the Chargers win that game, nothing the Colts do matter. But I don't even know does Phil Rivers say like, okay, guys, I'll see you later. I got the Chargers in the playoffs. I'm good. That was my goal. But Jags are minus 5 and a half against the Colts. You can do a little parlay action with that one.

You could go, Jags minus 1.5 and the over 41.5 works. the contest rules. But we'll do Chargers Texans first. I watched every play of that Texans game Sunday because I had my fantasy season relying on C.J. Stroud and Nico Collins. And they had so much trouble moving the ball against Vegas and a good pass rush. They can't run the ball because Woody Marks is hurt and they just have no other threats. Stroud was legitimately bad. We saw and I talked about it on Sunday. And now they're playing this Chargers team that all they do is play really good defense. They can run the ball now, two running backs.

Herbert has been great for a month, and they win every week. So, A, why am I taking the Texans in that game when they're playing a better version of the Raiders, so they barely won last week? B, Chargers can just put shit away with this, right? And then C, if Houston loses, that keeps Jags Colts alive,

which I think the NFL likes when that happens. just throwing that out there too fair point here's my concern I don't think Houston prepared for that Vegas game

as though it was a potential playoff game for them I think that they did a game plan that was the old just enough the old Milton Burrell

I thought that I was watching it was getting mad they're just trying not to do anything basically so first of all we want

confirmation about Woody Mark How's he looking for that game on Saturday? But more importantly, the thing that concerns me is Houston has a defense that is equal to or superior to the Eagles. And the way that the Eagles played the Chargers in L.A., I expect to see something that is very close, very close. Seven sacks, 70% pressure, and the Chargers won that game because they let Jalen Hertz just go ahead and beat himself and take the Eagles completely out of that game. That defense for Houston can take away every single thing that the Chargers want to do. their pressure to me is superior

to what the Eagles So I would have agreed with you until I watched the Raiders I know, have open guys the whole game and run the floor, run the ball and have explosive plays. And I thought the only case for it is that Houston

was just looking ahead to the week later and that's it because they were bad. They were bad on both sides and I thought they deserved to lose. Oh, they could have lost. They definitely could have. Yeah, they definitely they blew everybody's 10-point teases

if you did those. They barely covered the Houston Money Line stuff that everybody had. So it sounds like well then Jags, Colts, I just, I don't know if the Jags lose again this season. I think they

have the eye of the tiger. I don't want to even think about going against them until the playoffs. So it sounds like you like the Texans more than the Chargers. I think I do. I have so much respect for the Chargers. I'm tired of going against the charges. I understand.

I just feel like they stick it to me every time. You know, they were underdogs in all three games. They were underdogs against the Eagles. They were underdogs against the Chiefs. They were underdogs against Dallas. And all they do is come out and play really, really, really impressive defense. Their defense has been outstanding for the past month. Herbert was really good last week.

That's the toughest mother effort. Yeah. You know, a lot of people, including us, have had a lot of fun at his expense. But that's one tough big boy. He has been playing big boy football now, taking the hits. You know, part of the handicap for why I thought the Eagles had a nice chance. That left hand was all banged up, him going down on it. He can't run.

It doesn't matter. He just takes it. He takes it like a man. I'm just being so impressed. I still might take the Chargers as one of my picks. I really cooled off on Houston after last week. It might be an overreaction. I was really unimpressed.

I get it. I don't think Vegas is good. I'm not arguing with you. I am not arguing with you. Panthers Seahawks, Panthers plus seven and a half at home against the Seahawks. We're just line of the week. What did you make of it? Seahawks role.

This is that, you know, the Panthers are every other week. And their season comes down to week 18. You know, they have to beat Tampa again. That's it. That's why Tampa's favored to win the division. That's why, you know, the, like, the Panthers handled Tampa, no problem whatsoever. I love Seattle here. Well, so there's a world where if the dolphins beat the bucks, the Panthers could actually win the division this week if they somehow beat Seattle.

I think the line's a little too high, but it also makes me suspicious. Why is the line so high? Why should we trust Seattle on the road on grass in St. Donald's own Hans and Carolina? Seattle's been awesome on the road. I think that they have covered nearly every game for two years. They've probably lost twice on the road in two years. It's an awesome team under Mike McDonald, an awesome road team. So Niners, Bears, Niners minus three against the Bears.

If Green Bay loses Saturday night, the Bears quench the NFC South. And the Bears have now had six come from behind wins in the last two minutes, which has only happened zero times since 1970. and the Niners are looking really good. The Bears should have lost last week. If the Bears had lost last week, if they just lose 16 and 9, what's the line for this game?

Oh, that's a great question. Four and a half. Five. Four and a half. So getting an onside kick gave them an extra point in a half. Romeo Dobbs did it. He gave it to him. Is there some recency bias

with how good the Niners look and now your peak of the market with the Niners? Five weeks. Is that recent C bias? One of the most efficient offenses in the NFL. I like Niners minus three. Me too. We're in lockstep on this.

Okay. What game did I not mention that you like? I think the Eagles have something up their sleeve. They still have an outside chance at the two seed. It's a long shot. But if this Bears team loses, now the Bears will know the outcome of Eagles bills going Monday night. I think that's in Buffalo and the Eagles are plus one and a half

they're getting back both Jalen Carter and most importantly Lane Johnson Lane Johnson's definitely going to play and bills are beat up they came out of that Cleveland game Alan's got something going on with with an ankle or a foot yeah whatever that that thing is Jordan Poyer seems like he's going to be out and this Eagles team the defense has been outstanding for the most part

other than the second half against Dallas they've been very very stout this is a game where you know this is a state your class game Eagles went out they still have a chance at that two seed it's not you know that they need the bears to lose both

but that's that's that's that's conceivable bears have two tough games left I thought the I thought the bill's defense was alarming last week against Cleveland and if Cleveland was any good at all they would have won the game they just couldn't really put it together but they were getting explosive plays with guys you never heard of um it's still really hard for the bills to move the ball without the explosive plays they're just putting so much pressure on cook I feel like the Eagles should be able to take cook out right Yes.

Kind of shrink the field, make Allen try to beat them over the top. I like the Eagles as well. I think that's a good point about, are we sure Carter and Lane Johnson are come back? Lane Johnson is definitely back. Okay. All right.

Well, we have five unless there's another game you like. No, I'm happy. I wanted to make sure we got the Eagles and the Niners were my two favorite. Eagles and the Niners. Well, that's great because I didn't know that. like the Niners. Okay. So we have

today's Ringer 107 brought to by Fando hoping to change our luck this week. It's been a pretty gruesome year. I still feel good about the playoffs though.

I mean, cheers to us. Listen, I'm going to keep my process the way it's always been. Sometimes it's not, and by the way, if people want to go

against us every week, great. I just hope people get picks either way. Yeah. First one, Christmas Day, Vikings plus seven

against the Lions who have no offensive line and no defense. and we don't really care who the quarterback for Minnesota is. Minnesota's defense can carry this one. Ugly game, probably a little under. And I think the Vikings could actually win, and so does Joe House. It's a possible.

It's a money line play. It's a money line play. But we're going to take the plus seven and we get a touchdown. That's the first one. Second one, Parlay. House didn't love this one, but I like the fact that Clayton 2 might play for the Packers in this game. Saturday night.

Ravens, if they played Derek Henry with seven minutes left, Did they just beat the Pats and we feel great about them? Probably. Who can say? Ask Coach Harbaugh. Parley. Ravens plus four and a half.

Under 54 and a half. Let's go 55 points combined to beat this with Clayton Tune or Malik Willis, maybe Tyler Huntley. I don't see 55 points. Three base defense is excellent. It's fine. Yeah, I don't see 55 points.

It's your pick, not mine. Yeah, I think it's a three-point game. I'm getting four and a half. I might win and I don't think it's high scoring. There's two. Okay. I'm deliberately defying house on this one. This is one of my picks.

Chargers minus one-a-half against the Texans. The 50-50 game. I'm not going to say anything disrespectful about the Chargers. You know, I was one of the leaders of the Texans defense is awesome being right. I didn't like how they looked at all against the Raiders last week. And I don't like that they're giving up plays up and down the field and big plays. And I just wanted a little more. Chargers minus one and a half.

All their offensive weapons are back. They've learned how to play without their tackles. Herbert has gone up a level. I like Harbaugh over the Texans coaching staff in close games. Fine, fine, fine. We've seen Harbaugh do this. Understandable. They think they can run the ball.

If the Chargers win this, the Texans keep the Colts alive. And if the Colts can somehow beat the Jaguars, we would have a Colts Houston game that means something. starting to get worried about there being no week 18 game that has any sauce. I mean, Panthers' Bucks is going to be there. Yeah, that's what I mean. Does that game have sauce?

Do you want to watch that game last Sunday? Did you enjoy it? It's the worst kind of sauce that's out there. I can't even come up with a bad sauce because I love sauces. It's the Mr. G's special sauce. Remember we were in Jersey Shore that time with Jacko? And we went to Mr. G's and the alma with the Mr. G special sauce and we made like a million jokes about Mr.

G. Did anyone eat it? I don't remember. I was scared. I didn't know how Mr. G was depleting his sauce. All right. That's pick three. Nineers minus three bears. We're both aligned on this one. And by the way, if Green Bay loses on Saturday, the Bears quench

this NFC South, would have the one seat to maybe play for. Not that realistic, but that line probably goes up. And then last but not least, we both like the Eagles and Buffalo against a Buffalo team that barely hung on against Cleveland last week. The Eagles might be getting some guys backhouse

Carter? Yeah. Lane Johnson. Yep, yep. Could this be the game where the Eagles tease everyone and are thinking they're back and the NFC runs through them? Maybe. Maybe. No, this is a game. It lines up the same way where we watched the Eagles go into Green Bay and it's just this super low scoring.

Their defense dominates. It's like that kind of game. It'll be interesting to see if the Eagles can force Josh Allen to not be in a fun game. That was today's Ringer 107 brought to by Fandall odds subject to change. Any NBA thoughts you want to throw in before we go? I just did

90 minutes with Leger. Whatever the line is for that Cleveland. I like the Knicks on the money line. Oh, you want to do Christmas game? I mean, you know, I've got a couple. I got a couple thoughts, you know, a couple games that I got circle, like the over. So you don't want to take the dysfunctional calves

on Christmas, dysfunctional family calves? I did give out a Again, on the Monday show, the line for the Charlotte Hornets in Cleveland, Cleveland was laying nine and a half. I said, please, everybody, run right now. It's middle of the day Monday. I know you're busy Christmas shopping. Get to the sports book.

Grab the nine and a half. That's a big fat winner. Of course, it was a big fat winner right out there. Charlotte lost by seven. Not 10, though. That's a winner. They were down the whole game, too. Yeah, so we have Knicks minus six.

we have OKC minus 11 and a half against San Antonio. That's too rich. Too many points. Dallas plus 235 against Golden State. The Rockets minus 180 against the Lakers. I have no idea who's playing for the Lakers. And then Minnesota plus 158 against Denver. You want to do a little five-teamer just for fun?

Yeah, it's Christmas. Maybe we'll change our luck. It's Christmas. Let's see what we can do here. Okay. So Nick's Money Line? Great. On board with that.

OKC money line? That's fine. You don't want to do the OKC money line? Oh, that line is seven, by the way. What number did you say that was? For what? Oklahoma City and San Antonio. I have 11.5 on Thursday.

Oh, the Tuesday line seven. Yeah, the Tuesday line is seven. Yep, I got it. All right. OKC minus 560. Yeah. Dallas plus 235 or a golden state minus 290. will Dray might even be on the team on Christmas?

Seth Curry going to come out on Christmas. Well, I mean, here's the problem. We're doing this Tuesday. Who the hell knows who's going to play in any of these games? I kind of like Dallas. I wouldn't take Dallas plus seven and a half? Okay, that's fine. I'm good with that.

Rockets, Lakers, Rockets Money Line. You know what I prefer with that one? It's 228 and a half, the total. I think that's a fly over, a super flyover to 28 and a half. Okay. I'm going to do the rockets minus 180 as well. Okay. Well, let's do money lines.

The overs are too hard. Okay, fine. Do the minus 28 on your own time. Minnesota, Denver, Denver minus 5, Denver minus 188, and Anthony Andrews never afraid of Denver at any point. I don't like Minnesota. Interesting. So we would put two dogs into this five-leggar, huh?

Minnesota and Dallas. That's a giant parlay. Dallas plus 7-Aft, Houston Money Line, Minnesota Money Line. Wow, that's a big-ass number. The giant. Wow. $100 to win $1,233? Better than 10 to 1.

Better than 12 to 1 odds. 12 to 1. Yeah. Nix, OKC, Dallas plus 7. and a half, Houston, Minnesota money line. I mean, I like it based on what we've seen thus far this season. Is there anyone you don't feel great about out of those five? I mean, that you throw out Dallas?

You want to do the Golden State money instead? That would be my preference, but that's okay. I don't mind. This is how you get it juiced up. And I understand Dallas is playing hard. They just don't have enough scoring at the end of games. Golden State, if it's Gold State money, that's plus 839. I like the Dallas plus seven and a half.

You do both. All right. Let's see. Maybe Fando will throw that on their Christmas thing for us. There you go. They can make a little tree and put these, these are the ornaments hanging down. House, go back to your rosé.

Make sure there's a picture. See if you can make yourself sick. It's the frose, not the rosé. It's frozen Christmas season, yeah. Frose, that was the same thing. Yeah. You almost got me in, got me in marital trouble. It's a trial separation.

I drank it all. Broke my frose machine. I didn't break it. I just drank it all. It wasn't broken. It was gone. It's emptied it. Then I went to bed at 9 o'clock like an adult.

Good luck with a gambling. Happy holidays. Let's go. Happy holidays. Good job by us. All right. That's it for the podcast. Thanks to legs.

Thanks to house. Thanks to Eduardo. Thanks to Gahal. Don't forget, rewatchables. Three up in the last week and a half. High fidelity. Sure thing. And then F1.

So enough content for me, at least, I think, to keep everybody busy over the holidays, not to mention all the other stuff you're watching and consuming. Have a great holiday. Thanks for all the support in 2025. Enjoy your fans. I hope you stay safe. And I will see you on Sunday night with Cousin' South. It must be 21 plus in president's select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino

or 18 plus in president in D.C., Kentucky, or Wyoming. Gaming problem, call 100 gambler or visit RG dash help.com. Call 88879-77777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or MD gamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gambling helpline. M.A.org or call 800, 327.50 for 24-7 support Massachusetts or call 877-8-8-Hope-N-Y or text Hope N-Y in New York.