The Bill Simmons Podcast - NBA Summer Mailbag Special (Ep. 236)

Episode Date: July 11, 2017

HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons answers the most pressing NBA summer mailbag questions. Topics include: LeBron on the Lakers (4:00), the best championship parade moment (12:30), CP3's Ewing Theory potential (16:00), Rookie of the Year odds (20:30), Paul George's trade value (30:40), Jamal Crawford's decline (35:00), Sidney Crosby's connection with Tim Duncan (46:00), the famous Monte Carlo scrimmage (51:00), Rob Pelinka's rise (1:01:00), San Diego's attractiveness to the NBA (1:13:00), and Russell Westbrook's style of play changing next season (1:20:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's special NBA mailbag episode of the BS podcast brought to you by SeatGeek. That is our presenting sponsor, the easiest way to shop for the best tickets. Thanks to their revolutionary grading system. It's still revolutionary, even though it's been revolutionary for a couple years. I still count it as revolutionary. Two taps on your phone, you can do everything, everything fully guaranteed. Right now, my listeners get $10 off baseball tickets. The first time you use SeatGeek

use promo code bsmlb download the SeatGeek app today or go right to SeatGeek.com we are also brought to you by House of Carbs that is Joe House's new food podcast that was a smashing success people love hearing hungry people talk about food apparently I am on episode two i went on with joe house i went on i talked about um clean california eating gluten-free pizza uh we talked about 80s fast food versus 2010 fast food 2010s fast food and most importantly we talked about uh my mom's meatballs and brajals and we talked talked about what I would have for my last meal on earth and a whole bunch of other stuff. If you've ever heard House on this pod, he's just better on food, fortunately and unfortunately for the listeners of this pod, because he's better on

his own pod. But House of Carbs, check it out. Subscribe, iTunes, SoundCloud, whatever you want to get your podcast on. It's there. House of of carbs, best art that we have for any podcast. Also a game of Thrones binge mode wraps up this week. We put up the first half of season six. I am amazed that people stuck with this all the way through six seasons. People love game of Thrones. It is a fantastic product. It is a basically killed Mallory and Jason, the two hosts, but that's fine. Well, as long as they make it to the finish line, you know, whatever. It's like, I'm like Belichick.

Just get me a Super Bowl, and then afterwards, we'll just load you with painkillers and try to get through it. No, they've done an awesome job, and Game of Thrones, as you know, launches on Sunday night on HBO. We counted down the 60 best episodes from one to 60 on TheRinger.com on Monday. And we have a whole bunch of Game of Thrones stuff coming up all week, culminating with our postgame show, Talk the Thrones, on Twitter, immediately after Game of Thrones ends on HBO.

And you can watch a postgame show, a legitimate, well-done, awesome, intelligent postgame show with Chris Ryan, Andy Greenwald. And unless they're dead, Malé Rubin and Jason Concepcion. It's unclear. They might be loaded on painkillers. But all that's coming. Game of Thrones week on The Ringer. Gotta love that Game of Thrones. You know what else you gotta love?

Mailbags. Coming up. But first, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers. Pearl Jam. All right. It is Monday, late afternoon, Southern California time. So if anything happens NBA-wise, which I don't think it will, because pretty much everybody has been either signed or traded,

with the exception of Carmelo, who's heading to the Rockets. It's inevitable. We can't stop it at this point. But we're going to do an NBA mailbag. A lot of stuff to catch up on. The readers have a lot of questions that they like. Tate Frazier is here on hand. Occ hand occasionally i'll be bouncing off stuff from on him but a lot of stuff to cover a lot of ground i'm going to read each person's email and then i'm going to say my answer and that's when you'll know it's me it's my answer but i'll be talking the whole time it's a little confusing but not really first question dann, Danny and Reseda asks,

do you really genuinely, honestly, truly believe LeBron will be on the Lakers next year? Oh, what a question. Good start. I do. I do genuinely, honestly, truly believe LeBron will be on the Lakers next year. I think that's how this is going to play out. My evidence is the fact that he has not committed long-term to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Everything they're doing is kind of short-term win now, fix it stuff. They tried to shop Kyrie for help. They claim they didn't, but they did.

They shopped Kevin Love all over the place. I think they're stuck with this year's team. And win or lose, he brought Cleveland a title. He isn't out. He can finish his career in Los Angeles. His business is here, as we've discussed. His family is a giant house here, as we've discussed. And most important, they have a ton of cap space. Tate, I'm going to throw this at you. I'm glad you're sitting down. Yep. I'm throwing this at you. I've not mentioned this on Twitter or anywhere. What's today's date? Today is July 10th.

July 10th, 2017. What if I told you that 12 months from now, LeBron James, Paul George, John Wall, and Boogie Cousins will all be on the Los Angeles Lakers together? Yeah. Aren't you glad you're sitting down? I would be floored. i would be floored i would be floored conspiracy bill has some has some things that he doesn't like about what's going on yeah i think the lebron james la he hasn't come out and denied it everyone's talking about in the league it became public last month he knows they're talking about it too he knows they're talking about it hasn't said anything hasn't said this is ridiculous i'm so tired of hearing this i want to finish my

career in cleveland what happened to 2014 lebron what happened to it's time for me to go back to ohio and he's already come home he's done he came home he brought them a title he's did an incredible amount of stuff with the scholarships in akron and the college program he's amazing he's it's an unassailable resume if he leaves now. I did my best. We spent a lot of money. And now I'm going to finish my career in Los Angeles, and I'm going to try to become a billionaire. And I think that's where this goes. I think he's going to say my idols are Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan. I believe I'm on the same level as those guys. And part of having an awesome career is the career after the career. And that's what I'm starting to think about.

I want to own an NBA team. I want to be a media mogul. I want to be a billionaire. And to do all this, I have to be in LA. And I'm going to go there now. That's hard to really attack if you're a Cleveland fan and he brought you a title, right? Yeah. Well, let's say you a title, right? Yeah. Well, it's –

Let's say you love Carolina the most. Yep. So let's say Carolina was a pro team. LeBron ditched you. You hate his guts. Yeah. Then he comes back. He brings you the title you've wanted your whole life,

and then he leaves again. You couldn't be that bitter, right? I think they're going to be – You would be bitter. I think they're going to still be bitter. I think they will. Yeah. I mean, and I don't necessarily blame them, but it's going to happen.

I always wanted him to own the Cavs. Can he own the Cavs if he goes to the Lakers? Like, can he come back again? Can he own the Cavs eventually? So the only way he could own the Cavs is if Dan Gilbert, who has really more, it really has always made sense for him to own the Pistons. Yeah. Because he has all the Detroit ties. He owns a ton of real estate in Detroit. He cares more about Detroit. who has really more it's really has always made sense for him to own the pistons yeah because he

has all the detroit ties he owns a ton of real estate in detroit he cares more about detroit it would make more sense if he bought detroit from tom gores and then sold the calves to lebron yeah which would be the most hilarious business deal of all time to be in that room yeah i mean lawyers just talking to each other and them just staring at each other the most fascinating i don't think lebron has a no trade clause yeah he doesn't and this has basically been a staring match slash dick swinging power game between dan gobert and lebron since 2009 and lebron won in 2010 dan gobert wrote the letter uh dan gobert's team went in the tank.

Miami won two titles. Then Miami cratered a little. LeBron decided he wanted to come back, try to bring a team title to Cleveland. Yep. But Dan Gilbert had to sign off. To kiss Dan Gilbert's ass just a tiny bit. Had to go to Vegas.

But now it's starting to seep out. I don't think they've ever liked each other. He's never thanked him. Even when they won thanked himself i don't think cleveland you know i don't think he'll ever forgive him for the letter yeah i mean why would you i wouldn't yeah i still hold grudges i have a lot of grudges self-proclaimed grudges yeah that's tough so goes to la but here here's the interesting part so john wall represented by clutch rich paul lebron's buddy lebron it's pretty clear he either owns clutch or funded it or has a stake in it or it's something super shady that the nba is just like we're not even looking at this like it's like the tampering

but uh but you could have john wall and lebron pa. Paul George is going to the Lakers anyway. I mean, that's not even a secret anymore. It's just like they might as well just start selling his jersey. And then I always felt like John Wall and Boogie are a team. Yeah. I feel like 2018, I think that summer, they're like, we're a package deal. So they go to LA. If they can get rid of the Luau Dan contract, use first-round picks,

maybe even Brandon Ingram just to get rid of it. I don't, use first-round picks, maybe even Brandon Ingram just to get rid of it. I don't think they'd have to use Brandon Ingram. The market for getting rid of a contract is a first-round pick at this point. Yeah, you let Randall walk. Let Randall walk. Yeah, you don't have to re-sign him. So you have Lonzo under contract and Ingram, which is like about, I don't know, $11-12

million combined. Yeah, and then Larry Nance, who's like a good bench player. Yeah, and trade him if you have to clear cap space for him. So you probably need somewhere around $100 million. Maybe like $96 for the four guys. Yeah. LeBron takes less. LeBron takes $20 because they secretly promise him 2% of the team after he retires.

Just sign off on that. Space Jam 2 starts production. Space Jam 2. Yeah, he's got that. He'll make up the money. Yeah. $20 million. So he leaves, let's say, $75 million for the other three.

They split it up, $25 million apiece. And 2018 Lakers, John Wall, LeBron, Paul George, Brandon Ingram, Boogie, and Lonzo off the bench. That's something. Yeah, that's... That's something. I'm not predicting this. I'm just putting it in play. Could we get Eric Bledsoe there, too?

Just bring all the Kentucky guys? At a minimum. Here's my other scenario for Boogie and John Wall if that doesn't work out. The Atlanta Hawks, they're like $60 million under the cap or something. Really, they only have like Bazemore and a couple bench guys. They just become the Boogie Wall home. And Atlanta, as part of of it goes to calipari and offers him like 75 million for six years and three percent of the team and he gets boogie he

gets john wall and then just waits out for anthony davis in a year and they're in atlanta they're at magic city every monday yeah that's conceivable right i like it i i mean are you are you just convinced that john wall and Boogie will play together? I'm not convinced. I got super suspicious when John Wall didn't accept the Supermax. I thought that was weird. Yeah. It's $168 million for four years.

Everybody's like, no, no, he's taking his time. It's like, what is there to take his time for? He knows who's on the team. They brought Otto Porter back. They have Bradley Beal. They're stuck with Mahinny. They got Gortat. They have Kelly Oubre. He knows who's on the team. They brought Otto Porter back. They have Bradley Beal. They're stuck with Mahinny. They got Gortat. They have Kelly Oubre.

He knows who the coach is. He knows who the GM is. Yep. That's your team. Yep. So are you staying there or not? Here's $168 million. You've already talked about how you had a bad knee you had to have it operated on.

Why wouldn't you take the $168 million? What am I missing? He remembers Bradley Beal getting the deal before him. You think that's what it is? A little spite? A little spite. Okay. Just a little bit.

I would watch that. I haven't talked to Joe House about this really because it's too sensitive. Yeah. Because, you know, Chocolate City loves John Wall. And he's been great in D.C. and all this stuff. And I think he'd be crazy to leave. I think that team is good. He's in California right now too, John Wall.

Riding bikes in the sunshine. Getting a little taste of the California lifestyle. Scale of one to ten, how shocked would you be? LeBron, John Wall, Boogie Cousins, and Paul George on the Lakers in 12 months. I'm seven or eight. Seven or eight. I would be shocked. But I wouldn't be shocked about LeBron putting it together.

I would just be shocked that all the pieces came together at the same time. Okay. I like it, though. Dexter from Houston asks, what's the best championship parade moment? All right, my answer, I'm biased on this, but 1981 finals, Moses disparaged the Celtics. Moses Malone disparaged the Celtics during the series and said, I could get four guys from St. Petersburg and beat these guys. St. Petersburg, Virginia is where he was from. And Celtics beat them in six.

They're doing the postgame, or they're doing the celebration, the championship thing in downtown Boston. And somebody has a sign that says, Moses eats shit. And Bird, who's got a few in him sees the sign and goes that sign's right Moses does eat shit what was the best

how could there be a better moment other than maybe J.R. Smith shirtless for the entire Cavs celebration that would be the other candidate

those are in the finals it's Larry Bird Moses eats shit or J.R. Smith naked semi-naked I really enjoyed watching those Bird moments I watched the 30 for 30

with him and just being able to witness him talking shit. I mean, I always knew he talked shit, but it's amazing. I like it. It's your style of basketball.

Patrick W. from Houston, Texas. How far in are we? We're only 13 minutes in. Okay, I want to make sure I have my ads ready to go. This is going to be a well-oiled machine. Patrick W. from Houston, Texas.

The Bachelorette reminded me of a thought I had during the Summer Olympics, and now that he's free, it'll work out perfectly. Could Phil Jackson and the triangle be just the spark that the United States handball team is looking for? The offense seems to match up perfectly with the little I know about the sport. My answer, I think that's the last act for Phil Jackson. He won 11 titles.

He besmirched his legacy a little bit in New York. Not a lot, but a little bit. I think as time fades, people will just remember that he took Porzingis and that he made some mistakes, but Porzingis is fine. But if he brings back handball, all is forgiven. Yeah, recess everywhere changes with Bill Jackson. The triangle, I mean, it is. I remember when I saw handball at the 2012 Olympics,

I was shocked, and I wrote about this too for Grantland at the time, how similar the spacing and the slashing kick was to basketball. It had a lot of the same elements and i couldn't believe that we couldn't take like i don't know the the ninth through 13th guys on kentucky who aren't going to make the nba the deandre liggins of the world yeah just let him be a handball dudes yeah i like it the triangle is really interesting i'd love to read a piece about somebody figuring that out nat hendel from san francisco wonders what do you think of my theory that quick and loans arena is cursed after it was the building where donald trump was nominated to be the presidential candidate at the

rnc all right here's my answer so i thought about this since they since since that happened we don't really have a lot of evidence of cursing other than that the Cavs didn't win the – I guess the Indians lost to the – oh, there's two things. The Indians lost to the Cubs, Game 7, the fortuitous rain delay. And then the Cavs lost to the Warriors. I don't feel like that's enough for a curse yet. I think the country is cursed. I don't know if the...

And Quicken Loans is a great sponsor. And Quicken Loans is great. Yeah, we love Quicken Loans. Nothing to do with the building. I love Rocket Mortgage by Quicken Loans is great. Yeah, I don't think there's enough evidence there for a curse. But speaking of theories, this is a long one from Brian in Massachusetts. I'm mad at myself.

I'm getting older. I think I'm slipping a little bit in a lot of ways mentally wear and tear from my son coming into our room at 5.45 every morning I'm mad I missed this and once I saw it all laid out

it was a voila moment for me here we go Brian in Massachusetts do the Clippers qualify for the Ewing theory now that their star player is left? According to your book slash articles, the two crucial elements that needed to be in place for any situation to qualify for Ewing theory status were a star athlete receives an inordinate amount of media attention and fan interest, and yet his teams never win anything substantial with him. And second, that same athlete leaves his team and both the media and fans immediately write off the team

for the following season. Brian mentions that Chris Paul checks both of those off with a resounding yes. Brian says, I understand it will be hard for the Clippers to exceed their playoffs from last year if Blake and company can't stay healthy. But what about if Blake and Gallo stay healthy? DeAndre has a monster year.

Milos excites everyone with his pass-first mentality. And the whole team is happier bonding more without Chris Paul's drill sergeant persona looming over everyone. It's a long shot, but it's in play, right? My answer. I met with the committee we talked about it we considered the resume it's it's textbook chris paul for the ewing theory's textbook he's never won anything no he's the perfect you write ah the clippers are gonna suck you write them off and yet they're gonna have patrick beverly lou williams milos the best passer on youtube right now yeah a beloved underrated sam decker gallo deandre blake point blake if blake can come

back in time from uh this thing that he still is in a walking boot for which makes me a little nervous but uh maybe doc rivers ups it from 25 hours a week to 35 hours a week. He feels back in control without Chris there, like micromanaging him. It's his team again. Austin Rivers, great defense. He finally does it. Good defensive player. They got rid of Jamal Crawford, who stunk, who was terrible last year.

That's a really interesting Ewing theory case. Then you look at the West. It's like Golden State's won. I would have Houston and San Antonio 2A, 2B. And I really think there's a case to be made that San Antonio might not be good next year

in terms of contender great San Antonio that we're used to. LaMarcus is pissed off. They try to shop him. Nobody wanted him. He's a head case. Parker coming off

an Achilles. Rudy Gay coming off an Achilles. Two of their top seven are coming off blown out Achilles and are older. They might not get Dedman back. It's unclear if they sign him. I think they're going to re-sign Simmons. And they have Kawhi. It's a 50 win team. I don't know if it's like

a kick-ass contender. And they went cheap with Patty Mills, right? Instead of giving George Hill the guarantees to get George Hill back, they go cheap and sign Patty to 50 million. Well, who would you rather have? I'd rather have Patty Mills. I don't know. I'd rather have George Hill.

I value durability, though. You don't. Millennials don't value durability. They don't care about staying on the court. You like Gallo, too, I bet. No, I do like him. Gallo's the best small forward that they've had on the Clippers since Alfred Camino. He looks great in a suit.

Chris Paul, Ewing Theory. He's a good Pat Ewing equivalent for LeBron, for that to be his Pat Ewing, like Jordan's Ewing. That's good. For the younger ones who weren't with me from the get-go at ESPN, actually going back to my old site on Digital City, this guy, Dave Cerulli, who was a reader, came up with this idea of the Ewing Theory. It's actually his theory. I try to give him credit almost every time I remember

when I talk about this. He had this theory about that from Georgetown through the Knicks, whenever Patrick Ewing either missed a game or missed a month or whatever, his teams were better. And we wrote about the Ewing theory. I did it in a mailbag in the 99 playoffs, Patrick Ewing got hurt. And the Knicks made the finals without Patrick Ewing after we had debuted the Ewing theory. It was like the greatest moment

of my early site. So then when I got to ESPN in 2001, I wrote the national version of the Ewing theory column for ESPN.com and predicted all of these possibilities for the Ewing Theory. And the first guy I predicted was Drew Bledsoe. And then in September, he got hurt, Tom Brady took over, and they won the Super Bowl. So the Ewing Theory is a powerful force. And Chris Paul would be. That'd be a good one.

All right, one more before we take a break. Your best bet for 2017-18 NBA Rookie of the Year. Who is your dark horse pick? Wonders Gray Zabel. Now, he has these odds. I'm sure the odds have changed a little bit, but Ball was the leader at plus 250, Simmons plus 300, Fultz plus 500, Fox plus 700, Tatum plus 900,

which I'm sure has gone down a little. Jackson, 9-1, Smith, 16-1, down a little Jackson nine to one Smith 16 to one, which is too high. Monk 16 to one Isaac 61. Then he said, Mark and in just kidding. LOL. It's from grace.

Abel. I mirror. Titch is so jealous of marketing by the way. Oh yeah. So I think the rookie of the year, I think this is one of the toughest try to predict this in July that we've ever had. But if Dallas just lets Dennis Smith go, I have to say for the odds,

I might take Dennis Smith at 16-1. If they're just like, here's the ball, go put up 19-8 every night and make your bad plays, but we'll try to fit you in the framework of what we're doing, he might have the best stats of anybody next year. Yeah, I like him. I mean, he's going to get the dunks. Who would you pick? John Collins, the Hawks.

Get the hell out of here. Very dark horse. John Collins. I can't even see that horse at night. It's so dark. That's my dark horse. He's unbelievable. He's very underrated.

John Collins. I've been impressed. I loved him in college. He's unbelievable. He's very underrated. John Collins. I've been impressed. I loved him in college. He was so good in college. He's a guaranteed lock, 19 and 9. I should mention Tate's drunk. What about our dude Monk at 16 and 1? I'm scared that he wants to get traded.

What? Yeah, I'm scared he's pulling the Kobe thing where he doesn't want to be in Charlotte, and he thinks he's too big time. What is your evidence? That he didn't play in Summer League. He got hurt. I know, I know. But he was in Fayetteville working out.

He looked totally fine. And I like Bacon. I'm already Team Bacon. Tate's out on Mike. I'm already faltering. Don't be out on Mike. I'm not out. I'm not out.

I'm just saying I think he wants to. I think he's still upset that Knicks didn't take him. I mean, they keep talking about it. Even at his opening presser, he was like, I can't believe New I'm not out. I'm just saying I think he wants to. I think he's still upset the Knicks didn't take him. I mean, they keep talking about it. Even at his opening presser, he was like, I can't believe New York passed on me. Well, put the chip on your shoulder and go win the Rookie of the Year at 16-1, Malik Monk. I love it. Please. I can't believe the Knicks passed him up for the French guy.

Who got hurt in the first day of practice. And then spent $71 million on Tim Hardaway. It's just an amazing turn of events. Can you believe they let him go to Atlanta? Who who'd rather have monk for the next five years or tim hardaway malik monk easily yeah they could have had him for five million a year yeah and they had tim hardaway before they let him go to the hawks anyway for cheap i have a small tiny confession to make i kind of like tim hardaway's game if it had been like four years 40, I would have been excited for the Knicks. 71 too much. It was just 30 too high.

Yeah, that's ridiculous. Yeah, 30, 31 million too high. I don't know. I thought he had some great moments last year, though. I've always been a fan of Tim Hardaway Jr. He was one of the best heat checks guys in the league the last three months last year. And people like him. People like playing with him.

Yeah. Yeah. I don't think that signing's going to be... Like, Noah for $75 million or whatever that was, that was like instantly you knew, oh, wow, that guy's probably done. That could be really bad. Hardaway, at least, worst case scenario, he'll score 17 a game and he'll... Play defense.

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put their location but would not say their name you were too hard on the Nets on Twitter there's no such thing as a meaningless

first round pick and they were going nowhere anyway what the hell else are they supposed to do You were too hard on the Nets on Twitter. There's no such thing as a meaningless first-round pick, and they were going nowhere anyway. What the hell else are they supposed to do? Wouldn't you rather have Damari Carroll's, parentheses, cadaver, finished parentheses, body, and a first-round pick than nothing? They're talking about the trade the Nets made with Brooklyn over the weekend that I criticized. Here's the thing.

Back in the day, to dump a contract like that, you needed to get rid of two first-round picks. And in some cases, they didn't have to be protected. Toronto basically gave up a protected first and a second to dump Carroll, who couldn't play for them anymore, who makes $30 million for the next two years. And all they gave up was a pick that's going to be in their 20s because they're going to be either a three or a four seed

unless 100 people get injured. But it's a lot of protected anyway. The best the pick could be is 15. They'll probably end up being somewhere between 22 and 25. I went back and I looked at the last five drafts from 2012 to 2016. Not counting this year because we don't know who the sleepers are yet. And this year was a loaded draft too. But there's only one all-star picked from 21 to 30 from 2012 to 2016.

Can you name the all-star? I know it's not Shabazz Napier. Sorry, LeBron. No, it's not Shabazz Napier. Sorry, LeBron. No, it's not Shabazz. It's nobody named Shabazz. It's Rudy Gobert. Woo.

Yeah. Nice. And then there was like four other guys who became starters. Like I think Andre Roberson was one. Rodney Hood. Yeah, Rodney Hood's good. It was like two others. Then there was some bench guys.

There was one of the Plumlees and Larry Nance, people like that. I counted somewhere between 10 and 11 guys that were at least in a rotation. Yeah. And this is out of 50 picks. So it's basically an 80% whiff rate, which is what I calculated. And whiff rate is like you don't land anyone in a nine-man rotation. Gobert is the only all-star. Yeah. I don't think anyone in that nine man rotation gobert is the only all-star yeah

i don't think that's worth 30 million dollars i just rather the cap space and then so one of the things that happened this year with the with the salary cap was because everybody screwed up because the league and by the way i got some of the numbers wrong when uh we did the podcast with daryl the salary cap last year was like to $95 million. The tax, I think, was somewhere around $100. But the cap went up a little, but it didn't go up as much as people thought. I think they were wrong by like $3-4 million. So even if it goes up, I don't know,

a couple million next year, you have all these teams that made all these salary bets and are now screwed if i was running brooklyn i would rather just kept 40 million in cap space and just waited until february until somebody gets hurt or somebody's gonna pay the tax and they don't want to and i just feel like i can get better than a lottery protected pick to take on 30 million dollars of salary does it make sense no i totally get I totally get that. I get that. I mean, I think it's one of those things where Brooklyn is like,

they're just taking on, they're basically just fine with where they're at. They're doing the right thing. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, they're like a wasteland. Yeah, Sean Mark's like, we'll just take it on. It's good.

It's making, I feel like it's just helping them negotiate in the future that they're taking all these crappy deals. And then when they do deals in four or five years, people, you know, it's like, remember we did this for you? Yeah, you owe us one.

Danny Chow wrote about it for the Ringer Day. I agree with their game plan. Like, I love the D'Angelo Russell trade. I thought, like, to just get the second pick in the draft from two years ago, basically for the 27th pick in a bad contract is a no-brainer. This one, I didn't think it was as much of a no-brainer. And I get the mindset, oh, well, they have nothing. Now they have.

But I just don't think the picks in their 20s are worth that much. The success rate hasn't been there. I think you could argue that teams have probably had just as much success in the 30s as in the 20s. But if I'm taking on that much money, I want more. At least give me a pick swap in 2022 or something. for Toronto they did Toronto such a massive favor they put them under the tax they took this 30 million dollar contract off their books yep and then um and then and when you're a tax team if you're not a tax team you get all the money from the tax teams so there's 20

teams paying the tax and you're not one of those 20 you get all the money from the tax teams. So there's 20 teams paying the tax and you're not one of those 20. You get all the money of those tax. You split it up with the other 10. Significant amount of money. So you could argue that trade was probably worth like 50 million for the Raptors. Like of course they're going to give up the 22nd pick for let's say 50 million over two years. I don't know.

I wish Brooklyn had waited. I like them. I really like the mindset of we are your away station. Come, send your bad contracts here. We will look at Joaquin Noah. All right, Angela in Braintree asks, what's the most you would have given up for Paul George if you were Danny Ange? Here's the thing.

Here's my answer. He's going to the Lakers in a year. Everybody knows. It's not a secret anymore. So you're renting Paul George for one year. I think the most I would have given up is like Avery Bradley, Jay Crowder, the Celtics 2018 first, and the Clippers pick that they have that's lottery protected. And that's it.

I don't think I would have given up more than that because I don't value the picks after the lottery as much as other people do. I would not have given up any of the lottery picks. So don't give up the Nets pick, obviously. Yeah. So you're renting them for one year, which is what OKC did. I think, and I said this last week in the House podcast, I'm still incredulous that they didn't take Kevin Love over Oladipo. If they're trading Paul George out of there and Cleveland's offering Kevin

Love and OKC is offering Oladipo for the same price. Who takes Oladipo over Kevin Love? I think it's more of Kevin Love's not going to be happy to be there and Oladipo, at least there's some familiarity with fans, I guess. But no, it doesn't make any sense. I always hear this happy to be there thing. The guy's making like 20 plus million a year.

They're saying this with Carmelo now. It's like the Knicks have to get rid of Carmelo. He's not happy. It's like, well, so what? If he's not happy, retire. I'm sorry you're not happy, Carmelo, as you play 25 million a year. Yeah, away with that no trade clause and go wherever we send you. Or just let's do a buyout.

Here's $5 million. We'll buy you out. You can go get that money elsewhere. I didn't. When they talk about guys who are making that much money, like the Nets did that too with Joe Johnson and Darren Williams. I've got to buy them out. They're unhappy.

Got to get rid of those guys. They're unhappy. Just got to take care of them. And then Joe Johnson's like, hey, I'm in to buy them out. They're unhappy. I've got to get rid of those guys. They're unhappy. I've just got to take care of them. And then Joe Johnson's like, hey, I'm in Miami. I'm happy now. Yeah. Or I'm hitting game-winning shots in Utah in the playoffs. Yeah.

These veterans now, and this is a real flaw with the system, is that you can sign a contract, you can underperform, you can really do a shitty job, which is darren williams and joe johnson were doing in brooklyn that last year they just flat out like just not playing well and kind of apathetic because they knew that the end game was to go somewhere else yeah darren williams got to go to dallas you got a buyout um joe johnson got to go to miami and in some cases i almost feel like they make more money than they would have under the original contract, right? Like Jamal Crawford got bought out, but now he's going to Minnesota for almost $5 million a year.

So did he make more money from this? Yeah. Because he sucked last year? And now he's going to be on a better team. I mean, could be a better team, could be a contender. Where do you stand on Jamal Crawford? I like Jamal. I'm a fan of Jamal Crawford.

But he's more like entertainment than he is I'm here to win, right? It's not like I don't need Jamal Crawford to go contend for a championship. I need Jamal Crawford to, when it's a shitty night and we're playing the Brooklyn Nets at home, he can have 40 points. He can try to get hot. Yeah. I'm a fan, too. I think he's pretty much washed up. Yeah.

I understand what you mean. I thought he was terrible last season for him. He just wasn't good. He didn't shoot shoot well he doesn't get to the line anymore he never rebounded he never really set up teammates and he's not good defensively so what am i looking at i'm looking at a two guard who shoots 40 who once every three weeks gets hot i can get that 40 places he also named 40 guys off top of your head who's a two guard who can get hot once every three weeks yeah and he rubbed off a lot on austin rivers i think just like the yeah the handles like the i'm trying to put on a show type thing which is the worst thing that could

have happened i mean he was already gonna do that regardless but that's not he that wasn't the template that austin rivers needed right to come off the bench he's also a legendarily bad playoff player yeah if you look at jamal crawford's playoff stats the last three years. Corey Brewer is better. Yeah, he's like a 29% shooter from three. Does nothing. All the advanced metrics for him in the playoffs the last three years and for his regular season performance last year, he's below average.

He's just not good. He hurts your team when he's out there. I think his offensive rating slash defensive rating last year, he was like minus 10. He's like 102 offense rating and 112 defensive rating. He's just a liability at this point. It's funny, though, because when guys, you see this with David Griffin, too.

When people butter up media members, they get covered, treated, and written about a lot differently. Jamal Crawford's a great guy. People love him. He won the six-man two years ago. He shouldn't have won. He didn't deserve it. But he's a great guy, and people love him,

and he's fun to root for, so they voted for him. Big market. People see him a lot. David Griffin, who's a smart guy, nice guy. I've met him. I've talked to him. What was so great about the job he did in Cleveland? Yeah. They had Kyi irving already they had the number one pick in the whole draft and lebron wanted to play for them and he flipped the number one pick for kevin love

okay so many of these three guys you already have tristan thompson they just re-signed him they he didn't do a great job negotiating that Tristan Thompson for $82 million. That's a tough deal. Yeah, that wasn't a home run. The Shumpert-J.R. Smith trade was fine, but if Draymond doesn't get kicked out of Game 5, they lose that series in 5. Gave up a number one pick for Korver.

Didn't he give up a number one pick for Channing Frye? Yep. Who have they drafted over the last couple years, first or second round, that's done since he's been there? I can't think of anybody. Kay Felder, who's been terrible. Right. Listen, I don't – he seems like a smart guy,

and he kind of followed instructions for that team, but I don't know if he's a great GM. People are like, oh, my God, the Knicks are crazy. Not tired of David Griffin. It's like, why? How do we know? I don't know if he's a good GM. He had a good relationship with LeBron.

That's what it seemed like. That seemed where the narrative came from. I think the best thing he did and the smartest thing he did last year was he turned David Blid blatt into tyler at what seemed to be the right time and he picked the right guy and it worked out and they won the title how different do the calves look if griffin's there with this free with free agency this year because they didn't do anything that's what i that's what i did one thing they made one mistake they signed kyle corver for like 22 million which is and if lebron's leaving in a year now you have kyle corver for that that's the kind of thing it's like lebron i want to know if you're staying or not because i'm gonna i'm about to pay kyle corver 22 million

bucks and with the tax that's going to be like 55 million are you staying or not because i'm not doing this unless you tell me you're staying it doesn't get worse i mean i just i don't know how much it would have gotten worse if you had stayed if he would have done even more things like that trying to guarantee those guys to come back and play with lebron like go after jamal crawford something like that right because i feel like that that was what was going that was the domino effect so that's why gilbert was like i'm not paying these dudes right bye see you later if the calves had an average gm the last years, how much of a difference does it make? What if they had Milt Newton?

What if Joe Fuentes was the GM? Somebody who didn't even really follow basketball, just followed the Lakers. He just listened to LeBron. So they don't make the Shumpert-JR-Smith trade. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Because they both regressed. Maybe David Blatt stays as the coach. Like, all right, so they make the finals all three years. I don't know. It's LeBron. It's just these media narratives are weird. It's like, David Griffin is so smart. He wears glasses, Bill.

Do you know that? I really enjoy talking to him. I like him. I don't know if he's a great GM or a lousy one, but just the sample size we had in Cleveland, I don't know. Yeah. I'm dubious. I'm dubious of, I think there are some great GMs,

like Presti, even though I think he made, you know, the Harden trade was the worst trade of the decade. I think Presti's really smart. For the most part, Presti's done some really good things. And, like, what he did this, even the Paul George Hail Mary trade, at least they got rid of Oladipo's contract. He's drafted well for the most part. He's made a couple of mistakes,

but so has everybody. But for a degree of difficulty of how he's done that job versus the degree of difficulty of David Griffin's job, which is basically like spend as much money as you want and you have LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love on your team?

Yeah. Let's see it. I'm very curious. I want to see what it's like when he runs his own team. You can't judge when LeBron is on a team. It's like Spolstra. I feel like his respect level as a coach has gone up so much more since LeBron left. It's a great example.

When he was there. Yeah, people didn't even care. And now what he did with that team last year, everyone's like, Eric Spolster's one of the top five coaches in the league like I think Masai Uheri on Toronto's a good GM but he is also the guy who he signed Demare Carroll for a crazy amount of money and the guy took a shit in Toronto and had all these chances to trade Jonas and he didn't I think he overpaid Serge Ibaka yeah I'm not sure what sir jabaka is at this point but i still think he's he's a good enough gm that he can get out of his own mistakes which a lot of teams can't that's another new york media narrative too right because he got he won that carmelo trade

so everyone remembers that so like he can just carry that over to wherever he goes like oh you remember messiah got wilson gallo all those guys from Mello when they could have just left. I don't know if he won the trade or if James Dolan lost the trade. It was one or the other. Anyway, the most I would give up for Paul George if I was Danny Ainge, Jay Crowder, Avery Bradley, two ladder protected first round picks next year. Would you rather have that or Victor Oladipo? Yeah, I think I would take that. I love Avery Bradley, though. I think you're going miss avery bradley oh i i know i'm gonna

miss avery bradley yeah that trade i haven't talked about that i didn't get a mailback question about it but we might as well talk about it now um i felt like it was coming because uh it was almost like too hard to trade crowder because he was the obvious guy to trade and everybody knows he's thrown into every trade like yeah and you can have crowder well they have a problem with crowder because i he's a he's a really prideful guy and he's somebody like when when the crowd cheered for hayward a little bit a few months ago he took a personally went on twitter and got all pissy about it so this whole thing he's been a trade reverse for two months, so they have 17 spot forwards now. I don't know how he's going to handle that. But the Bradley trade, I hate to say it, it made sense.

I still don't like it because I really like Avery Bradley and I value him. But the trade made sense. They turned him into Marcus Morris and Aaron Baines. They turned him into two rotation guys. Morris can play small ball four. He can defend people. There's a really interesting i initially i hated the trade and then i i did a deep dive in the internet i went on the pistons message boards

and all this stuff because i couldn't figure out like it's like marcus morris's stats were pretty mediocre he didn't rebound that well he didn't shoot that well so it's like so what why are his advanced metrics like their best lineups were when he was on the court? Didn't add up. He talks on defense. So what they were saying was he guarded the other team's best forward all the time. Yeah. I can't say I watched a lot of Pistons last year, so I was learning a lot about this.

Because this is probably one of my least favorite teams to watch. He said he guarded the other team's best forward. He's a good defensive player. Yeah. Drummond swallowed up a lot of his rebounds. Like he's one of those guys who might be a better rebound than it looks because drummond's just grabbing everything yeah he's getting 12 boards a night and then uh they said their offense was so lousy and so stagnant that it was really

hard to judge anybody because you just get thrown the ball and you have to do something with it it was one of those offenses and people are saying like like in the Stevens offense where he's just getting more wide open shots and things like that, that he's going to be more of an asset. So we'll see. My dad's take was, my dad said Avery Bradley's always hurt. He loved Avery Bradley. He's like, he's always has an injury. He's always got an Achilles or a hip or something. There's always something. He's always hurt. And he's like, the Morris twins are tough. I've always wanted a Morris twin. I think it's good for Hayward. I think the thing that I was worried about with Hayward in general

is just the toughness. I think he's just sort of a sheepish, quiet guy. So if you have Morris next to him, that's not going to be a problem. He'll talk shit to anybody. This team's definitely going to have some swagger. I thought Utah, there were two teams that really outspited themselves this summer. One was Indiana, because just go get Kevin Love for Paul George. Figure it out later.

Turn him into an asset. And then Utah should have did a sign-and-trade for Jay Crowder, I felt like. If you're going to lose Hayward anyway, turn him into Jay Crowder. Celtics would have done it. I think they like Hood and Ingles. I think they're going to be happy with that. I just would have Jay Crowder for $6.5 million a year. Yeah.

Is there a Ewing theory potential with Utah? It kind of feels like there is. Yeah. I think they still might be good. I think a lot of people are kind of writing them off. I love Teague. I'm sorry, not Teague. Rubio.

Rubio going there. That's great. They got Rubio. They brought back Ingles. Yeah. Gobert. I voted for first team omba they still have joe johnson they still have room to get one other person and uh i don't

know they could be yeah i got rid of george somebody's gonna there's gonna be a weird five seed in the west because people don't want to face i I underrated. After I talked about OKC in the podcast, and I was like, are they a 6 seed, a 7 seed? And I went and looked at the standings after, and I regretted what I said in the house podcast. OKC should be the 4th seed. George and Westbrook should be 50 wins with Adams. I said on that podcast I liked the 5.

I thought they'd be tough to play against. That's an amazing four or five matchup right there though to have like paul george russell westbrook superstars play against a utah jazz team that's well coached with joe ingles you know like these smart basketball players dl all those guys like that's the upside potential okay c versus the ewing theory clips that would be that'd be something unbelievable that would be exactly what i would want would you say okay sees the four seed yeah i can even see them creeping up yeah over san antonio yeah i think spurs are the team that's going to take but then again i feel like that's what everyone says every year so i don't want to jump to conclusions they still have that issue of

playing three on five offensively even though they have two good offensive players obviously but playing robertson and and Adams out there together. Yeah. Plus Kawhi. I mean, Kawhi's got to come back from an injury. I mean, we've already talked about that. LaMarcus isn't happy. Patty Mills is doing a lot.

Danny Green. I don't know. It just feels like that window is closing on that whole core. But then Pop's going to be around. Or you throw away this year and you look toward next year as the year. Oladipo, I've got to say, he averaged like 17 a game last year. Paul George is going to average 22? Yeah.

It's an ugly 17. It was pretty bad. We never got the ball either. Kyle Redican asks, Would it be wrong to describe Sidney Crosby as the Tim Duncan of the NHL? That's pretty good. I thought about this for a long time. And I think Sidney Crosby is the Tim Duncan of the NHL,

not Tim Duncan is the Sidney Crosby of the NBA. Yeah. I give Tim Duncan the alpha dog status in that. Where he's mimicking him in the way that he did. Yeah, I think Tim Duncan's first. So Sidney Crosby is the Tim Duncan of the NHL. Who's Malkin? Is Malkin Manu?

Or is he Tony? Malkin's like Parker and Manu combined. I like it. He's them together as one person. Quick break to talk about Bowling Branch. What's worse than having lousy sheets, Tate? Well, you know

because you're in your mid-20s. You have lousy sheets. I do. I bet those things haven't been washed that often. Yeah, tough thread count. Yeah. It's one of the things

I don't miss about being young and poor is the sheet smell test to make sure, should I wash these yet? Ooh, yeah, I should wash these now. Great sleep starts with the right sheets. They're more affordable than you think with Bowling Branch.

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and you'll get $50 off your first set of sheets, plus free shipping when you use the promo code BS. Guess what, Tate? Try them for 30 nights, and if you're not impressed, return them for a full refund. $50 off, plus free shipping, right now, at bolanbranch.com. That is B-O-L-L-N-B-R-A-N-C-H dot com.

At the very least, for the summer, they should send you a free pair of sheets.com at the very least for the summer they should send you a free pair of sheets yeah the question is do I have to wash it during that period or you know

can I roll it out for the whole month to see how it works that doesn't say that in the read it doesn't say how long you should wear the for okay

this is a great email from Morris Mizrahi I hope I said your name right who I've enjoyed your emails Morrisris you send some good ones morris has a nice feel for what's going to make the mail back he wants us to know where we currently stand mentally as nick fans according to morris he said his friend sent him the following text today and he immediately frantically checked woj's twitter feed just to

make 100 sure that is a prank text and not real. Can I quit the Knicks yet? And then he forwarded me the text. And the text was a fake Adrian Wojnarowski tweet that said, Jared Dudley has signed a four-year, $97 million deal with the New York Knicks via sign-and-trade. And then the next fake tweet was, Phoenix receives Ron Baker, Willie Hernan Gomez. And he actually believed the tweets. He believed for a split second that Jared Dudley had signed for $97 million for the Knicks and went to Woj's Twitter feed.

Incredible. I don't know what else you could say about the Knicks that Morris believed that they signed Jared Dudley for 97 million dollars he's another good one you're talking about the media thing

like Jared Dudley oh yeah we love Jared Dudley can't pay that dude enough he's the best maybe 100 million give him the Amari contract I feel so bad

for the Knicks fans I love that Ron Baker was the one that you know how usually it's like someone reports that someone re-signed Ron Baker himself announced that he was signing back with the Knicks. All I had to do was nothing.

Just bring back Justin Holliday for two years, $12 million. Yeah, they let him go. Bring back Ron Baker. They let him go. Nobody who follows basketball beyond a rudimentary level would rather pay Tim Hardaway $71 million than Justin Holliday $10. Exactly. We could walk around the street for five hours and not find one person. Kevin Schwartz.

Tate, you're going to like this one. Kevin Schwartz says, The most famous free-for-all scenario in terms of basketball talent, perhaps ever, is the legendary but never seen Monte Carlo game that the 1992 Dream Team played in. Multiple Hall of Famers going at it. No coaches, no GMs. Just real recognizing real. You know about that game, right?

Yes, of course. Christian Lehner, they didn't let him play. It was amazing. Didn't let him play. That's why it was so great. So Kyle Mann, who wrote this question, asks, isn't this the way we should be looking at the NBA draft? Running everything through the Monte Carlo model

would likely yield the best results for top 10 picks. If I'm running the 2012 draft, 17 draft through that model, I don't think I'd take Markel Fultz first. And I think that's why the Celtics weren't comfortable with that pick. All right. This is a great question.

Thank you, Kyle. Here's my answer. All right. This is a great question. Thank you, Kyle. Here's my answer. All right. We go Monte Carlo model. Yes. It's a pickup game in Vegas. Time for the Alpha Dogs to come out. Yeah.

Markel's coming off the bench. Lonzo's running one team. Yep. DeAndre Fox is running the other team. Yeah. DeAndre Fox is on the other team. Yep. Fox has first pick.

He takes Tatum. Right? I like it. Yeah. I'm asking you. No, no, yeah. De'Aaron Fox is on the other team, yep. Fox has first pick. He takes Tatum. Right? I like it, yeah. He needs a score. I'm asking you. No, no, no. He needs a score, yeah. He needs a shooter.

Fox takes Tatum first? All right. I like it. Do you agree or disagree? I agree. Lonzo has second pick. Who does he take? Jackson.

Josh Jackson. Yeah. Do you think Fox takes Josh Jackson first or Tatum? I think he'll take Tatum. Because he's the athlete, right? He needs the score. He needs stability on offense. He wants a shooter.

Lonzo takes Josh Jackson. Yeah. Fox comes back and takes Malik Mock, I think. I agree. Right? Yeah. Boys in the backcourt together. Tatum's at the three.

He doesn't take Markel Fultz there? No. I'm telling you. It's Monte Carlo rules. Yes. No. Lonzo cares less about this stuff. I think he takes Fultz.

But what does Fultz do for Lonzo? Right? He just takes the ball out of his hands. That's what I think the problem is. You have to determine who's going to facilitate there. It's going to be Lonzo and it's going to be Fox. Those are your two alpha dog facilitator guys. They're running the show.

Everybody else, we're riding together, but those guys are going to have the ball in their hands. And honestly, you'd probably rather play with ball, right, just for the fact that the outlet pass and everything. And you'd rather play with Fox because he's going to get more later and talk to you. Easy transition buckets. You don't have to worry about carrying the offense. That's why if you're Tatum, you're excited that you get picked by him.

I have noticed with Fultz, and this is a big topic in the ringer NBA slack. Chris Ryan and I make fun of each other all the time about Fultz and Tatum. Chris Ryan's a Sixers fan. I make a ton of jokes in the ringer NBA slack about Markel Fultz, how he was homeschooled, how they gave him a fidget spinner on the bench so he had something to do because he doesn't talk to his teammates, all that stuff. But he is a very detached guy. Yes.

He looks like Jeremy Lamb. He's very detached. He's athletically magnificent. He's got a phenomenal spin move. He's got the Hezzy Jimbo. What did he say? What did KD say? Yeah, yeah.

Hezzy pull-up Jimbo. Yeah. If you get this, you're a real basketball fan. I love that. He blocks shots at the rim. Mm-hmm. He's got the little turn. He and Tatum have the exact same little turnaround where they can create space.

And there have been detached guys who have succeeded in the NBA. Tracy McGrady being one of the best examples, I think. Yeah. But it is something to watch.'s he's a detached you watch him on the bench he's just sitting there he takes everything he's very quiet dude which is fine but if he's the guy who's the creator i have the ball in my hands all the time you can't have that personality you have to at some point kind of spill it out and and look out for other dudes the my biggest gripe with Fultz is he's not going to be that guy Simmons is going to have the ball in his hands so what

does he do so that's good for Fultz yeah I think it helps I think it makes him have I think he's in a good spot where he can play off the ball and be the two like the Avery like Avery could be a point guard right but he plays the two because he can be the combo that's what Fultz should be so maybe if we do the draft Lonzo's like you're going to be a point guard, right? But he plays it too because he can be the combo. That's what Fultz should be. So maybe if we do the draft, Lonzo's like, you're going to be a shooting guard. You're not going to be the point guard. Yeah, so he'd take Fultz. So maybe he takes him that way.

And for the record, I really want Fultz to be great. I love all good basketball players. I want the more the merrier. Give me more. I just think that I'm still confused why the celtics didn't take them there's something something about this doesn't add up that they were gung-ho oh my god it's false wow he's the best everybody's like he's the best and they had him in for two days and they didn't take him and they were immediately trying to start trading down it's like what did they see what were they worried about i was worried

that dejonte murray was the 29th pick, and a lot of people thought he was better than Fultz at Washington. It's impossible for him not to be good. The question is, can he be a superstar? Is he going to be one of those guys that has all the skills to be a superstar, but there's always something missing? Mentally. And it just drives you crazy when you watch him or is it going to be he's going to be like avery bradley was on the celtics for two years he didn't say anything it was like wow this guy is like does

he speak and then he eventually be you know the passion started to come out and he just played his ass off he played really hard it'd be'd be interesting to watch. But I thought that Monte Carlo model, it's clear that Lonzo and Fox would be the two captains. That's a bad sign for faults in a weird way. I'm still confused why the Sixers didn't give Lonzo more time. I will always be confused by that. It would have been it would have been incredible by the way dennis smith is like the ninth pick in this game and takes the first 10 shots yes and also probably cusses out he ruins the game the game's fun until dennis smith gets the ball doesn't give it up to anybody

uh kevin from denver via boston says it's wimbledon not wimbledon you've been doing this for years and it drives me absolutely crazy look i have some recurring speech impediments and this is number one i always say wimbledon and i did it on the john mcnero podcast which if you haven't listed yet it's it's a great one of my favorites he's john mcEnroe is off the charts great. And I said Wimbledon all over and over again. I said Wimbledon. I've never been able to say Wimbledon.

I've always said Wimbledon. It's just one of my things. Is this guy really that upset about it? Listen, I don't know what to tell you. All right. Will Barnett from Franklin, Tennessee wonders, how worried are we about Lonzo wearing Big bar brand shoes for an 82-game season? Yes.

You wrote in your book about Grant Hill signing with Fila and how his career might have been different had he signed with Nike and gotten shoes specifically designed for his feet. Should Magic, Polinka, and Walton push for him to wear and sign with a major brand shoe company? My answer, 100% yes. I think it's a huge, huge, huge huge mistake i think it's a mistake for clay thompson to wear the weird chinese shoes yeah these guys their feet and their ankles and their knees are their livelihood and are worth 25 to 30 million dollars a year potentially for them

don't fuck around just wear the best equipment you go to nike or you go to adidas but i've been to the nike i'm i'm not pro nike it's not like they're a sponsor i don't i don't give a shit i've been to the nike place where they fit the athletes they design the shoes specifically for the dude yeah they put them through all these tests and it's like whatever they look at every conceivable thing they look at the running motion they run them with these little sensors on them there's no way the big baller brand is doing that with lonzo no he should wear nikes or or wear nikes and put a fake big baller brand logo on that that's a sneaky thing that you should do like wear the shoes right but it just doesn't have the logos on it and then you put your other look i mean obviously that's a little yeah it's a little

tricky but don't mess around with feet lonzo's never been hurt right we've never seen him get hurt no okay so that's good he doesn't play hard enough to get Lonzo's never been hurt, right? We've never seen him get hurt? No. Okay. So that's good news. He doesn't play hard enough to get hurt. He's moving at half speed all the time. I say that as somebody who loves Lonzo.

But Lonzo, the only time he really goes full speed is when he gets a rebound and goes coast to coast. Yeah. Other than that, he's just kind of floats. And I say that as a compliment. Yeah. He's one of those guys that never really looks like he's going all out but he's moving at full speed you'll like this one this is from max sb i've known tate long enough to know what's going to float his boat and he'll love this a couple years

ago a story surfaced about how after a summer league game with kobe and westbrook kobe took westbrook aside and told him he needed to shoot more, that he couldn't let everybody see the thunder as KD's team. At first, it drove a wedge between Westbrook and KD that sabotaged OKC's final chances, along with injuries. I would throw the Harden trade in there, too. For the next couple years, that wedge

metastasized? Metastasized? Sure. How do I say that word? Yeah, that's right. I can't speak. You guys make fun of me from Wimbledon. I can't even pronounce it. Metastasize? Metastasize? Sure. How do I say that word? Yeah, that's right. I can't speak. You guys make fun of me for Wimbledon. I can't even pronounce it. Metastasize. Into a chasm that not only destroyed the Thunder,

but with KD's move to the Warriors, destroyed all parity the NBA had left after Kobe retired, not to mention KD's now in a super team. Kobe destroyed one franchise and sowed the seed for the biggest single roadblock to LeBron's goat campaign. And Max asks, is this the greatest mindfuck since the OJ lawyers convinced the prosecution to let him try on the glove? I've never been able to confirm if that story was true. The Kobe story?

But knowing all of Kobe's weird Muse Cage shit that he does and gotta reach your dark side and all that stuff, it does seem like the kind of thing he would do yeah and then brag about after i talked to westbrook i told him that it was coming katie's team he's got to do something and be really proud of himself yeah i took westbrook i opened the muse cage for him and he climbed in i watched him it's conceivable it's totally conceivable kobe is the guy like when har Harrison came out in the draft, Harrison worked out with him one time. Harrison Barnes. Harrison Barnes.

He said Kobe took some of his moves and then, like, never reached it back out to him. I mean, they, like. Yeah. Took him right in the muse cage. If Kobe did that, I might have to move him up in the pyramid one spot. Yeah, I think it's pretty savvy. I don't think Tim. It's like, I have Tim Duncan over Kobe, but i don't think tim duckett ever did anything

that brilliant it was so that's 2012 right so that's after they go to the finals that's when nash and dwight are about to come to the lakers kobe's still trying to make a second run to get the sixth title he plants some competitive hey if anyone knows the full if there's an article out there that summarizes whether that story is bullshit or not, email it to us. It's themailbagattheringer.com. Yeah. Yeah. If you want to send a mailbag question in to us, themailbagattheringer.com.

I think I've read this question before, but I'm going to read it again. It's from Glenn Morgan. He says, you consistently state that if basketball playing aliens showed up and challenged us to a game that decided the fate of the world, LeBron would be our first call. Well, let's say it's true that A, aliens exist, B, these aliens play the exact game of basketball that we do, and C, these aliens are so good at basketball

they feel confident enough to conquer our world with it. Why would we call LeBron? LeBron would be the one challenging us. It's Glenn Morgan. He's saying LeBron's an alien. An alien, yes. So he's saying don't call LeBron because LeBron is the alien who's challenging us.

He's saying he's Two-Face. So, so far today in the podcast we've learned LeBron's going to the Lakers and that he's an alien. And don't call him. Here's another conspiracy question from Jess Mullins. Is Rob Polinka the real-life NBA version of Frank Underwood? Like Frank, what if Rob decided years ago, I don't want to shouse a card so I didn't get this, but I enjoyed it.

What if Rob decided years ago he wanted to ascend the ranks of a powerful organization, he needed Jimmy Buss and Mitch Kupchak to fall flat on their faces, he got them to provide a ridiculous contract to an aging injured Kobe, who Rob Palenka represented. He made Jimmy believe Mike D'Antonio would be a better fit than Phil Jackson. This was key because when Jeannie assumed control of the team, Phil would have been her first choice for president. Nope.

And then Palenka cozied up to Magic Johnson. And he maybe even sabotaged free agents from going to L.A. these past few seasons. A year from now when Magic steps down amid a huge controversy, maybe we'll know who to point the finger at. Rob Frank Underwood Palenka. That's from Jess Mullins. It's a great theory.

Yeah. I don't think it's true. It all checks out. But I also can't refute it. This is a question I wrote down here for myself because I thought about it on the way over here and I wanted to answer it, but nobody asked me it. If I was a Max Free agent, where would I want to go? Let's say you're Gordon Hayward.

What would you have done? You and I are Gordon Hayward. We're 27 years old, scoring forward. We don't have any real history with anything other than Brad Stevens. Yeah. Would you have gone to Miami or Boston? I mean, personally, I would have gone to Miami. But that's because I'm a...

What are your reasons for going to Miami? Hassan Whiteside. My favorite player in the Eastern Conference. Deion Waiters. I think she would have had to renounce Deion Waiters. Yeah, yeah, bye. Get out of here, Deion. Pat Raleigh-Factor.

And I think Spolster's a really good coach. I believe in... But the same with Stevens. The coaches really don't matter. It's more about Whiteside. I think the onlyster's a really good coach. I believe in, but the same with Stevens. The coaches really don't matter. It's more about white side. I think the only way that you can come out of the East and maybe beat the Warriors is to have someone as dominating on the inside as white side.

I think Boston was the right move for him because Stevens and contender, he goes to the East. All that made sense. It did make me think, though, if all things were equal, what city I'd want to go to. I think Miami might be the number one choice. No income tax. Yep.

Weather. Riley. Lifestyle. Lifestyle. You can be a massive celebrity, but everybody leaves you alone, which is you really only get that a couple places. And you know the team's going to spend money. And they all seem to like each other. I would say it's perennially the number one best destination great owner yep well-run team no income tax history of landing

free agents and being competitive good coach you know how new yorkers go to miami when they retire it's like the new york market went to miami like the draw of the new york market is now in miami in a weird way lebron doesn't get enough credit for the decision. He kind of saw it ahead of everybody else. No income tax, all that stuff. He weighed out the factors. I include myself. I was like, you loser.

What are you doing? You quit on... You go to New York. That's where the history is. Miami is probably a better choice. All right. This email goes, I'm 26 years old. I'm a Knicks fan.

They've sucked for 20 years. I live in Israel. I have to wake up at 3 a.m. to watch their games. Yes, my life sucks. On your post-draft podcast, you said Phil Jackson was worse than Isaiah Thomas ever was. What was the worst move the Knicks have done in the past 20 years? Oh, God, I'm having chest pains just writing these down that's from jacob leibovitz in kafar saba in israel how about that i like that yeah international boosting up our israeli podcast

audience it's still not as big as australia and new zealand yeah shout out to the australians and the new zealanders i think the worst move of the last 20 years for the knicks was the eddie curry trade because it was completely indefensible when it happened. It was a combination of they gave up two lottery picks. I think it was one lottery pick and then a pick swap. So it ended up, I think the two picks that they lost ended up being like basically LaMarcus Aldridge and Joakim Noah. It was something like that. It was really terrible.

And they paid Eddie Curry $60 million. Yeah, that's what the contract was. And that didn't make sense. And all of it was crazy. And it was like he wasn't reliable. And it was unclear if he could keep his weight down. And everything about it made no sense. Yeah.

So I would put that number one. But their Patrick Ewing trade that they made with Seattle, which was made by, I scott laden um i think that was his name it was so far back it was like 1999 that's when it all that's when the knicks hell started because they had patrick who was declining he could have been an expiring contract they just completely misread how the salary cap worked they traded him for all these big contracts that they had to take back that just didn't expire forever. So then they missed out on free agency for like T-Mac and Tim Duncan, all these guys,

because they took all these stupid contracts in the Ewing thing. So I remember that one being really bad. They really messed up the Carmelo, just not waiting for him until the following summer. That was nuts. I mean, for me, that was the one that I still can't believe that happened. They traded Gallo. They traded first-round picks. Wilson Chandler.

That team was nuts. That team was fun. When Amari was healthy, that team was fun. Felton. Those were the worst. Joakim Noah for $71 million was pretty horrible, too. But at least you didn't trade Porzingis. You had that.

Jonas Simon writes, timeline. June 21st, White Sox sign First round pick Jake Berger For 3.7 million June 22nd Bulls sell their Second round pick

To the Warriors For 3.5 million The maximum allowable I call shenanigans So Jerry Reinsdorf Owns the White Sox And the Bulls And everybody's always

Thought he cares more About the White Sox Than the Bulls. And everybody's always thought he cares more about the White Sox than the Bulls. It's pretty interesting that the money adds up. How long are we in the pod now? We're about 67. 67? Yeah. Oh, Jesus.

Let's take a quick break to talk about the CreditWise app with a message brought to you by Capital One. An athlete stays in shape by thinking about key factors that influence their game, eating well, practice, training, and exercise. Well, it's the same thing if you're trying to keep your credit health in shape, right? These are key factors you have to keep an eye on. And the CreditWise app helps you track all of them. Do you pay your bills on time? How many accounts do you have? How long have your accounts been open? When you keep those key factors in check, you can keep your credit strong and healthy. Credit Wise also lets you check your TransUnion credit report anytime you want.

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Download the free Credit Wise app today. when your credit report changes. The best part, free for everyone, whether you're a Capital One customer or not. Download the free CreditWise app today. Keep your credit strong. All right, we'll do a couple more and then we're done. This is good. Rob from Wanaka, New Zealand. See, on cue, New Zealand. The New Zealanders and the Australians, they love us. You discussed a team of five Jordans versus versus five lebrons who would win we

did that on the last time we did a mailbag podcast one thing you didn't factor is off the court stuff derailing things what are the card games on the jordan team plane like what are the golf course dust-ups like between three foursomes of mjs unbelievable Unbelievable. What happens when the LeBrons start passive-aggressive subtweeting each other during a playoff series? I think the Jordan versus LeBron squad series would hinge on more than that. Cheers from Rob in Winaka, New Zealand. I mean, now I would say LeBron wins the series. I think the MJs kill each other.

They're just gambling against each other non-stop. Somebody dies. Yeah, I think there's a lot of point shaving in those games, but I also think that I think Jordan gets two or three LeBrons on his plane. You know he does the Barkley thing where he cozies up to them. Oh, he befriends a couple LeBrons? Gets them all tired? Just two LeBrons

that are going to stop passing to the other LeBrons. Man, I gotta think about this some more. Greg from Portland, Oregon asks, didn't it feel like the finals MVP is the more prestigious award this year? I don't remember thinking that in the past. Thoughts? My answer. It felt that way because they waited too long to announce the MVP.

I thought they really screwed that up. By the time Westbrook won the MVP, nobody cared anymore. It was like the end of June. I didn't even remember what happened in the season. I was thinking about it was the finals. It just felt kind of empty. I think they should,

I would dump the award. The award show was a good idea. I would make it more of a, more fun awards, like Best Donk, things like that. Yeah, I didn't like that the awards

were just a normal award setup where it's everyone sitting in the, it was just followed the same formula. I feel like they could have done something different, like not have dark lights, have, you just a normal award setup where it's everyone sitting in the room. It was just followed the same formula. I feel like they could have done something different, like not have dark lights. You know, have it bright like it's in a court. Do Golden Globes. Have everybody drinking.

Yeah. Get some champagne out there. Do something different. Yeah. But they're a great sponsor, thanks to the NBA awards. I thought it was a worthy effort. I just think they should have had it in mid-April. Yeah.

Have it between the season and the playoffs. Kareem from Trenton says, What's actually happened over the last five to ten years in the NBA that you could not have possibly predicted at the time? We've had Russ average a triple-double for a season, 73-9, the Harden trade, and a bunch more. My pick would be 73-9. I still can't believe that happened.

I can't believe somebody broke 72 wins by the Bulls. I never, ever in a million years thought that was going to happen. Triple-double, all that stuff. People have come close before. The pace of the game. That wasn't shocking to me. 73 wins were shocking. 73 and not to win the title, too.

Oh, yeah. That's even more shocking. I mean, the 73 blew my mind, but then for them not to win the title too oh yeah that's even more shocking i mean the 73 is like blew my mind but then for them not to win the title i just i still think about that series and i can't but because the thing about that is if they don't if they win last year and then they win again this year lebron is stuck in cleveland forever can't leave it's an unbelievable what if three straight finals doesn't win any of them people are tight And he also would have been two and six in the finals. Yep.

He's in Jerry West territory of regret. He's two plays away from being one and seven in the finals. Yeah. The Draymond nut punch and the Ray Allen three. Josh in San Francisco says, It feels like the fact that Chick-fil-A's waffle fries landing at number one on the ringer's top 50 fast food list should be brought up as often as you bring up OKC Trading Harden. I don't disagree.

I agree. I love Chick-fil-A. Spicy chicken sandwich should have been one. I don't know if I've read. I think I read that question before. Tyson Cahill. I think this is his second appearance in the mailbag. Tyson.

Volume shooter. He says, I know you watch The Bachelor or Bachelorette with your wife. Can you call Adam Silver and suggest that the NBA host a mid-August show called GM's Tell All? I would love more than anything to watch Phil confront Mello. Quote, Mello, why'd you make me include the no trade clause to which Lala interjects from the crowd? Fuck you, Phil! The GM's tell-all would be... That should at least be an animated series.

Well, they should also do it with the voices that changes their voice, so you don't know who it is. Like the Lance Armstrong? Yeah. The GM's tell-all would be incredible. Somebody animate that. Andy Viner asks, in your fix the Clippers article you suggest moving the Clippers to Seattle and I think you're missing a huge angle on this San Diego you yourself talk up the secret that San Diego is the best city in America

how does San Diego not get play to bring the Clippers home you know people have asked me about this I think the problem with San Diego is they don't have the court sides and the suites and stuff like that. They don't have enough corporate people. Yeah, who's going to the games? Yeah, I think they would have, the way to do it would be to just build a 10,000 seat arena and price it out super high. But I don't think San Diego can ever have a team, unfortunately.

Go the golf angle. Get FedEx in there. Get a little Torrey Pines action. Yeah, Callaway. Maybe call it the Callaway Dome. Joe House's courtside. What should have a team? San Diego or New Orleans? San Diego would be... We'd say San Diego.

They'd at least have a better chance to get free agents. Absolutely. San Diego's remarkable. It's a lifestyle. I think that's it, Tate. You have a question for me? Oh, I have one last one. And then we'll go. Cameron Austin.

As the long-suffering president of the You Can Win a Title with Carmelo Anthony as your best player club, which I am, he says, Current membership, three. I think there's more of us than that. You're uniquely qualified to answer this. Why is Melo still held in such high esteem in the current NBA? I don't think he could be the best part of a

championship team anymore. I think there was a window a few years ago where he could have been like the Dirk Nowitzki type of you build a team around his offense and some other things and you could compete. I don't think that's the case anymore. I still think if he found the right team, he could be a major asset.

I think if he had gone to the Cavs last year in the Kevin Love spot, it could have been a game changer because they couldn't play Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson at the same time in that series for long stretches. And that comes down to an age thing too. You know when you play people that are older, they can get in your head a little bit. You're like, I'm not supposed to beat them. If it's Melo and LeBron and then it's Durant's first finals and Curry's a little bit in his head about last year. Yeah.

That's one of those things. They're not scared of Kevin Love. What do you think of Carmelo, Chris Paul, and James Harden in the same team? I think that's a one. That feels like a recipe for trouble. It does. With D'Antoni coaching, he's already had major problems with Melo. I love the P.J. Tucker addition, too, for toughness.

Yeah, me too. I wouldn't do it yet unless they could just flip brian anderson for him if you do that then of course you do it you just figure it out later yeah but weird times you have a question for me one last question i just want to know yeah watching summer league yeah do you feel like jason tatum it looks like an all-, do you feel like Jason Tatum looks like an all-star? Do you think he's going to be an all-star? Great last question. I was there for Pierce's rookie season in Boston. I went to a lot of those games because my dad didn't want to go. I actually think he's more mature offensively than Pierce was that first year.

They're very similar. To me, he's like Pierce 2.0. He's a dead ringer for the guy. And if he can become Pierce 2.0, Pierce is one of the 50 best players ever. I mean, that's an unbelievable ceiling. I don't know if he'll have the same competitiveness. I don't think he'll be as good defensively. Who knows?

But offensively, his game's more developed. Pierce came into the league after, I think, three years at Kansas. Yep. He's a junior. He comes in after one year at Duke, and he's got turnarounds and up and unders and pull-ups. He's got five scoring moves already. He's better than I thought he was going to be. I had high hopes, and I was watching.

I never overreact to summer league, but I think the one thing you can learn is, does somebody have two moves that are going to work in the nba right lonzo you can see like his passing it's just going to work faults had that spin move it's like that's going to work in the pros tatum showed like five different things yep i do think that fall away when he's going against like andre robertson is not going to work. Yeah. The elite athlete with long arms is just going to be, I'm going to block this. So he'll have to,

but he's going to get stronger. Yeah. Don't you think? He'll put on 15 pounds. Is he better than you thought he was going to be? I'm impressed with his rebounding. Yeah? He didn't rebound like that at Duke.

KOC was saying that he's just better than he was at Duke. Yeah. So he's one of those guys, Duke ended, he spent four months and he just got better. I like his mom. His mom was hit that third he hit that uh half court shot at the end of the

third quarter his mom was celebrating the crowd seems like he cares i'm not i'm not here to throw duke shade at him i i was impressed watching him i was like this guy can score in the nba he is in uh you know it's an offense first league and he's just a great offensive player at a position where it's really hard to find somebody who can score in different heights of guys. His defense is bad. Yes. Always been bad. That's the biggest thing that they're going to have to work on.

Like real Matador D stuff, which at Summer League, who cares? But if they plan on playing him and Isaiah at the same time, that's going to be a problem from what I've seen from him defensively. I think it's good that you have Jalen who is a really good defense, like has the potential to be really good defensively. It's like a little you have offense-defense almost. It was interesting to watch the two of them together really kind of click and be boys.

Yeah, they like each other. Yeah. They had handshakes already? Yeah, they had like a meeting, right, that Jalen called for all those young players. Yeah. It's good. I like Jalen Brown.

I think it's going to be a really fun Celtic team. I don't, they kind of have their foot in the door for 18, but really for down the road. And they're going to have a big decision with Isaiah because I just don't think they're going to pay him $40 million a year. And they're going to make him go get the offer from somebody else. And if you look at the teams with cap space, not that many next season.

Chicago would be the threat. Yeah. If you're Chicago, do you just offer Isaiah $140 million for four years? Yeah. You know, be like, fuck it, we'll overpay for... To make the Celtics try to match it. And then they probably won't. It's not even a match. You can just go yeah that's even worse yeah so my guess is that they're gonna try to get isaiah for something like 100 for four yeah and then you

can do horford for 29 hayward for 29 isaiah for. You can fit all that stuff under. They'll pay the tax. They don't care. I like their young guys. I really do. I like Tatum. Thanks, Tate. That means a lot.

No, I mean, those are recruits. I remember when they were getting recruited. Like, you know, Jalen was a big guy when he ended up going to Cal. He was a late guy. He was, like, number two small forward. Tatum was the number one small forward. The big winner is Marcus Smart from this whole thing. Yeah, he beat out Bradley. He did it. He beat out Bradley. He's going to get a ton of minutes. one small forward the big winner is marcus smart from this whole thing yeah he's gonna get beat

out bradley he did it he beat out bradley he uh he's gonna get a ton of minutes he's the backup point guard if anything happens to isaiah who's got that hip thing he's the big winner for that yep and uh and he's gonna be their best defender and i actually think he's one of those guys when he plays more he's better as we've discussed discussed in the past, certain guys just aren't bench guys. Certain guys need to play 35 minutes. He's going to punch someone in the balls eventually. You think he'll play now? He's my number one candidate for future kicking the balls

or punching the balls, which I like. Who's your final four right now? Final four teams in the NBA? Yeah. It's going to be in the East. I think it's Cleveland, Boston, which is easy. And then I think in the West, it's going to be Rockets, Warriors, which is pretty easy. I don't think it's going to be the Rockets.

I hope it's not the Rockets. I don't think the Rockets mentally can beat the Warriors. How great would it be if it's OKC going to state? Round two or round three? That's what the NBA wants. We want OKC going to state. Russ on Steph, Paul George on Kevin Durant. They might be able to get one more guy, too.

Why not? They might be able to flip Kaner into something. Maybe the Nets will take him. The Nets are taking all these contracts. And Robertson guarding Klay. I mean, it matches up perfectly for who you would need to guard on the guard westbrook if if you said at westbrook you're gonna win this series there's an 80 chance you win this series and there's a 20 chance you'll go so hard you're gonna end up a coma for the next five years those are the odds do you choose

to take them he'd be like and done yeah if it was one percent he would have said yeah i'll do anything to beat step and KD. I feel like Steph could be that Warriors team. If Russ really believes he's Michael Jordan 2.0, which he does, then Jordan thinks he's 2.0, they could be the Isaiah Pistons, like blocking them, and then they try to go for it. Are we sure Russ can just revert back to... Passing the ball. To, I'm going to get everyone involved because I won the MVP and I don't care about this triple-double thing anymore, guy?

No. I'm not sold either. I think he may even try to turn it up a notch. My fear with them is that Paul George is notoriously kind of up-and-down chemistry guy. Yes. I don't think he was a fan of Jeff Teague, who took a lot of shots. It seemed like he was not a fan of a lot of people at Indiana. Yeah, Miles.

Yeah. Yeah, Lance. Even Lance. Yeah, he didn't like Lance taking the last shot. He had a hibber thing. Yep. Also, it's weird that he's going to the Lakers next year. Yeah.

I don't remember a situation where somebody's just renting a player for a year. That's clearly not going to stay. This guy's going to play one year. He's going to leave. We'll see. I'm still banking on the Paul George, Russell Westbrook both going to L.A. together. Together? They just do a...

Like a married couple? They do one little tour, and then they go to L.A. Followed by... Ball called LeBron. little tour and then they go to la followed by rep but they're ball call lebron they're getting they're getting in the car to go to the airplane and royce young comes out of nowhere and an suv pulls over their car you're not leaving it's like gary pertier in the remember the titans that's a good way to end uh thanks to blackux. Looking great for a wedding or a special event. Has never been easier with the BlackTux.com.

High quality rental suits and tuxedos delivered to your door. The Black Tux, your new way to rent. Get free shipping both ways. Plus 20% off your purchase. Visit the BlackTux.com slash BS. What did we say? You're two and a half years away? Yeah.

You said four before three the black tux dot com slash bs thanks to credit wise for capital one remember the credit wise app helps you track the key factors that keep your credit health in shape with credit wise you can check your transunion credit report anytime for signs of air theft or fraud the app will also send automatic email alerts when your credit report changes. Download the free CreditWise app today. And please listen to me on Joe House's new podcast, House of Carbs. We talked all kinds of food-related items. And then I talked a lot about my mom's meatballs.

But it's good. If you like Mean House and this pod, you'll like it on that one. Subscribe to that one wherever you can get it. And then this is the last week for binge mode game of thrones don't forget about our big twitter show that launches right after game of thrones on hbo sunday night you doing a teed up this week mark gm street titus yeah doing a gm street with lombardi tomorrow titus and i are hosting kentucky sports radio on wed! Yeah. Mark Titus, Tate Frazier. We're going to host Kentucky Sports Radio. What are the times for that?

10 to 12 Eastern. So 7 to 9 Pacific. Wow. Did you even ask me? No, I mean... How about this? I'll let you do it. Joe Fuentes said yes. I like Matt Jones.

He's a nice guy. I'm surprised talked about i'm surprised i had a carolina guy and an indiana guy well they're gonna kill us oh yeah they're coming after us it's uh yeah they're sharpening their knives at the moment all right what are the times for that seven to nine pacific 10 to 12 eastern um be back on the bs podcast midweek have a good one coming I'm not going to say who it's with I don't know if we're doing

two or three this week but we're at least doing one more until then the BS podcast thanks for the emails by the way if you want to send us

an email themailbag at theringer.com talk to you later in the week I want to see them on the way so I never say I don't have feelings with them. I want to see them on the way so I never say I don't have feelings with them.