The Daily Zeitgeist - MJGMB #120: Future of the Lakers and More with Harrison Faigen

Episode Date: July 3, 2024

The guys were pleased to be joined by SB Nation's editorial manager Harrison Faigen for today's episode. The trio discussed JJ Redick's hiring, the future of the Lakers and other free agency rumors and news. The guys will be back from vacation to discuss all the free agency and player movement news from around the league next week!  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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For some former NFL players, a new faith provides answers. You mix homesteading with guns and church. Voila! You got straight away. They try to save everybody. Listen to Spiraled on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Well, well, well. The Lakers have hired their next head coach. Man, there's a lot of player movement rumors happening around the air and the airwaves, as it were.

And we are going to give out, I guess, the third annual Boosties Awards today? Yeah. Yeah. And our two favorite categories. Two in our two favorite categories. And three favorite categories, some may say. Oh, yes. Sorry, yes.

The who's next. And we've also predicted with tremendous accuracy, actually. We have, actually. We kind of nailed it last year. And we're going to do that with one of our favorites harrison fagan on today's episode i'm miles gray and i'm jack o'brien and this is yeah got it and luca donchic hits 10K. There you go. Embiid driving, spinning, fading, hitting.

LeBron's got it with five. He's going to try another three. Mr. LeBron James. Giannis with the take. Uh-oh, look out. A little showtime. What you got, Giannis? Wow.

Harrison Fagan, what's going on, man? What's going on? I kind of faded there at the end. You doing all right? Didn't it sound like an intro? Hey, man. What's going on, man? What's going on? I kind of faded there at the end. You doing all right? Didn't it sound like an intro? Hey, man, what's going on, man? Not much, guys. Just really relaxed time of year to cover the NBA.

As far as I know, there aren't any big events happening this week. Chilled out. Or next week, for that matter. Yeah. It's just, yeah. I'm just sort of taking it to PTO. Finals are over. It's just, you know, easy.

it's just yeah i'm just what's that like pto finals are over yeah you know easy do you feel like when the season ends you kind of like you sort of it's sort of disorienting because you've just been like living at this pace for so many months consecutively and then like it just stops and then you kind of like oh um right into the draft right into this time yeah well i feel that way uh yeah yeah in in june and july uh not so much with in seriousness with the draft and free agency and you know whatever i'm i've been up since 5 30 this morning you know just grinding away yeah what'd you wake up to what kind of news what are you what are you hearing what's on the airwaves i was like nothing that exciting i was editing a mock draft um that had to go up

this morning it was yeah the draft will have already happened i believe by the time this publishes but the overall scuttlebutt about the draft is like it's a normal draft if you started a normal draft at pick eight right it's like the top seven just aren't there this year for some reason it would be sort of weird if we recorded this podcast before the draft and then like something did change about how we felt about the draft. Just as it happened. They're like, oh my God. Yeah. They drafted Cooper Flagg.

I didn't. You're allowed to do that. I didn't. Yeah. They drafted Bryce James. There's no way that's legal. Yeah. You try.

Gotta try anything. Give it a shot. red auerbach style didn't he draft bird like two years early or one year early i believe it was one year early and he it was basically like the celtics were gonna lose his rights back to the draft if he didn't come out when he did that's amazing oh yeah uh the big move that I'm excited about for the people of Oklahoma City in particular they got Caruso this was like the big Caruso sweepstakes

kind of came to a quiet end I feel like that was the player during the season that everybody was like man it would be really cool to be able to get Alex Caruso I love that he's headed to Oklahoma. And man, they're just building such a solid team.

It's really freaking me out. Yeah, they're at the point where they're going to be able to start going like 10 deep soon with how many sort of just capable players that they have and how many different lineups they can close with. Caruso's obviously, I mean, Caruso's sort of plug and play in that he'd be a good fit on almost any NBA team because he's just a guy that sort of plays well off stars and defends and you know can hit threes a little bit but you know not a laser or anything

but he is a guy that will sort of capably take them and make them enough uh as you know he showed for the lakers during the 2020 title you know season that you would have thought would make them value him and want to keep him around for a long time. Sort of stereotypical, like perfect arch type LeBron James role player. But, you know, I'm sure he'll fit great with Shea. And, you know, I'm happy for him that after getting his sort of, you know, his money from the Bulls that he gets to go to, you know, sort of a more winning situation now and compete. And, you know, that's actually it's of, I mean, I think most people know this

by now, but that's where he started his career in the G League. And so it sort of has to be like a full circle moment for him to be back there. And, you know, yeah, it's just one of these things where every, I feel like every contender at the trade deadline last year, or at least every contender's fan base was sort of like, Caruso, that's the guy that we need. That's our X factor. That's the addition that our, my team, one of, you know, eight teams or whatever vying for a title like should make for the stretch run and there were all these sort of rumors and reports that chicago was turning down like one two picks for him and

then so for him to go for like just josh giddy with no picks attached yeah it was sort of no just give them no picks no picks involved and oklahoma city has like 40 like they're not gonna be able to wrap all these players what is this man the guy got how many how many do they have it's it's like i'm not even joking like close to 40 like future picks and like the bulls couldn't have gotten like a second just to like say like hey you know we gotta pick out of it. They're like, uh-uh. I'm sitting on these. The Bulls are like, oh man, we're about to get away with this heist. We're getting the best player in the trade. We got to get away from the table before they ask us for a pick.

Does OKC, do you think they need to downsize? Do they need to trade? Because 10 deep does not a playoff roster make. Do they need to trade because 10 deep is not does not a playoff roster make like do they need to get a another big player for like

a couple of their role players do you think that's the next move or do you think they're good now it does seem like this is sort of almost setting up a consolidation trade in the in the sense that like I mean I think a couple people have mentioned this but you know it sort of makes Lou Dort a little bit more expendable for their roster and that you have that guy to sort of go out and take the best perimeter option now and so you could sort of use

his contract alongside you know maybe one of your other young players or one of your picks or you know these other contracts that you have on your books to sort of maybe you know like you're saying make a consolidation trade go two for one three for one you know go get someone like again like this is just speculation but he would be a good fit for them someone like laurie markanen you know, like you're saying, make a consolidation trade, go two for one, three for one, you know, go get someone like, again, like this is just speculation, but he would be a good fit for them. Someone like Lori Markin in, you know, who would theoretically maybe be available from the jazz or like, you know, I mean, every summer there's guys that become available that we didn't expect. And I think that that's going to like, I'm predicting that at some point, you know, whether it's in the draft or if it's in the lead up to free agency, there's going to be some star that moves that nobody even knew was available because it just feels like this happens

every year now where someone is just sort of quietly unhappy and they work with the team and they just sort of you know end up moving on and the team gets what they can for them and so i i would be sort of surprised if something like that didn't happen this year and maybe okc was saving up all those picks and that's sort of the situation that they take advantage of quietly unhappy is also my mode when i get into the summer oh watch out folks quietly unhappy um unhappy nicks sixers others rumored to be interested in paul george in the event that paul george decides to opt out or demand a trade that would be exciting for my philadelphia 76ers although he's not really defending these days huh no he's kind of past that stage i mean he's not he's not what he used to be i'm sure he's still a fine defender but he's fine not okay you know yeah he's not like

you know lebron james is sort of dapping him up and giving him respect for how hard he's competing, you know, when he's with the Heat type of thing anymore. Hey, buddy. Really good job out there. You're trying really hard. I got 30, but, you know, I respect it. You're making me work for it. I'm really impressed with this young man. OG Ananobi.

This one raised an eyebrow for me. The explanation that I've heard is that he's he's just trying to like get his money people are like his is that a real story that people are like his dad is actually a like finance phd and so he's just gonna do what he can to get his money and that's all that's going on here that feels like a fake story though so i have no idea if that's true i just saw a tweet and so i was not going to say it on the show but i respect and i just did bringing the real journalism to the people yes reporting a guy that someone said i heard from a guy outside a liquor store now yeah i'm pretty sure this is true it really feels like guy outside a liquor store uh caliber scoop hey you know yeah well you know his dad you know what his dad's

major was right for a living right right right it feels like something a smoke screen the knicks might put out there if there if ojianobi was quietly unhappy and uh you know his eye was wandering to just down the 95 to the city of Philadelphia. Oh, wow. So the OG one is weird because it seemed like that was sort of going to be a done deal when he got traded, because it just seems like most of the time when guys like this get traded, you know, especially guys that are repped by CAA and their sort of ties to the Knicks and, you know, how friendly, how well those two sort of organizations have worked together. And the fact that his agent is the is the son of the GM. And so it's like, you know, you know, hey, I would never want to suggest that anyone breaks any tampering rules or anything like that. But, you know, there was a lot of people sort of just assuming that that was going to be a done deal and he was going to be back. a lot of people sort of just assuming that that was going to be a done deal and he was going to be back. But I think that what we're learning between this and you brought up the Paul George

thing as well is that sort of in this new cap environment with the second apron and team sort of so worried about going over that line and not being able to aggregate in trades, losing, potentially getting frozen draft picks, the additional tax penalties. I think that we're learning that maybe a lot more guys are going to be quietly unhappy or maybe loudly unhappy with sort of contracts that they're being offered where it used to just be like hey i'm a star or near star level guy give me the max because you can't replace me if i leave and now the teams are like okay yeah you are but also you know we want to be able to make trades and have draft picks and we don't want to have to pay like this sort of insane tax penalty and so we are seeing like i, a little bit of sort of the hardening of the cap around

the NBA at that second apron where there's not very many teams besides like Phoenix and even Golden State's going to try and duck under it, they said this summer. And so, you know, it just seems like there's going to be sort of maybe less money available at the top, even though obviously that's all going to get spread around because of the BRI to like the sort of the bottom end of the players association. So maybe that was their goal, but it certainly is not working out super well for stars just wanting, you know,

like a blank check thrown at them. Yeah. I know what most of the things you just said mean. So the BRI, BRI, of course. Well, yeah,

I was, I was wearing my apron when I was watching the movie Blank Check last night. It's kind of unbelievable. Again, in sticking with the trend of the show, you understand NBA strategery. The way the league works. If

my dad is the team owner and this is my client, don't you think that your client is going to be especially like, you better get me the money, man? What happened at Father's Day at the Rose household a couple weeks ago? But honestly, that is an extra reason that you couldn't get away with just being like, yeah, man, we'll just do a buddy deal and I'll hook you up.

And then somewhere down the line you give me extra consideration like it's not like agents are so valuable that you can just get away with doing that he'll just like fire you immediately if you if you're pushing that so well he had already switched representation to to get to this to get to caa which is again why it was thought that it was like okay that makes sense like in retrospect he sort of wanted to get to the knicks and that was why he retrospect, he sort of wanted to get to the Knicks. And that was why he switched representation and sort of, you know, sort of greased the wheels there. But, yeah, it just seems like, you know, again, like these more and more guys, your Paul Georges, your Ananobi,

they're going to use the threat of other teams with cap space to either get what they want or they're going to go into and like take the offer from the highest bidder and, you know, spread talent out throughout the league, which I think is what the league wanted with this new cba yeah yeah i i hope for my knicks fans uh that i'm friends with that he stays with the knicks because what yeah yeah they were like unstoppable in the lineup during the regular season it was it was crazy you like them better than me you like your knicks fans better than me, Miles? Well, Jack, I mean, you're such a realist when it comes to anything with your 76ers. It's like we've already had losing records

for the next five seasons, so there's no hurting me. I've just grown a callus around my heart. I personally hope OG gets so mad that he takes the mid-level exception from the Lakers just to show the Knicks, like, hey, you don't know me.

I love that. Almost doctor of finances. OG Ananobi. Thank you. I actually changed my answer. It's called wish guessing. And we're also going to get Anthony Edwards and Jokic. Through a little bit of Photoshop in your dreams. Anything is possible.

I have a good Photoshop. I could put myself on the starting five. Look have 2k dreams can happen anything that's right um yeah let's take a quick break and come back and uh talk about some coaching hires and uh give out some awards we'll be right back we'll be right back when you think of mexican culture you think of avocado, mariachi, delicious cuisine, and of course, lucha libre. It doesn't get more Mexican than this. Lucha libre is known globally because it is much more than just a sport and much more than just entertainment. Lucha libre is a type of storytelling. It's a dance.

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This is Lucha Libre Behind the Mask. Listen to Lucha Libre Behind the Mask as part of My Cultura Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you stream podcasts. It was December 2019 when the story blew up. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, former Packers star Kabir Bajabiamila caught up in a bizarre situation. KGB explaining what he believes led to the arrest of his friends at a children's Christmas play. A family man, former NFL player, devout Christian, now cut off from his family and connected to a strange arrest. I am going to share my journey of how I went from Christianity to now a Hebrew Israelite. I got swept up in Kabir's journey, but this was only the beginning.

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Catch the podcast, the NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal every day. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. We're back we're back we're back and we're back and we are certainly back one thing that can be said of us is we're back that's what i said i've been saying that the calves hired kenny atkinson as head coach love this hire for the Cavs he feels like a Clevelander uh feels right like he feels like he should work in the city of Cleveland Kenny Atkinson he's giving you is that an insult I don't mean it to be I love I've always said I've never think

of Cleveland do you think of Cleveland because I think leave cleveland uh some of my i i do i've never met a bad person from cleveland or pittsburgh i love everybody i meet from those two cities uh my wife is from pittsburgh and then some of my best friends uh from cleveland love that city and kenny atkinson just seems like a real salt of the earth type uh gonna you're gonna see see a team that's willing to work hard get some dubs out there what do you guys think i love his hair yeah it's the other thing it's slicked back anyone who has slicked back hair i'm i'm willing to give i'm willing to take a punt on them as a coach his hair hasn't been dry since he his early 20s is that you think that's like do you think that pat riley sort of like effect is like we just we saw pat riley do that and it's

like well this guy must be a good coach right like he's like a pairback you know i don't know there's something about because it's like in a way it's the simplest hairstyle just slicking it back you don't need any technical still like dude i just get it moist i put the product in and i just slick it right on back he's like i don't have time to do my hair i'm watching film okay the real coaches are the ones that do this you know go like shave their head go yeah exactly it's just like no no nonsense we don't have time we don't have time you know what i mean time for hair okay i don't have time like that's called focus yeah that's five extra minutes of game tape that i could spend that i don't have to wash my hair i feel like pat riley is the only one who pulls it off and doesn't look

like a bad guy from an 80s movie though like he he looked i guess i guess he looks like pat riley kind of does look like a bad guy from an 80s yeah he does he like he's like i don't know maybe i've just known known pat riley as an entity for too long yeah he he does have gordon gecko but like uh something about him gordon gecko was based on him was based on pat riley no i'm not kidding i think michael douglas i if i remember correctly like he said he said he based his like sort of mannerisms or you know like at least style on pat riley 100 michael douglas confirms he got me pat riley for wall street i'm well that's what i'm saying it's just got that energy 100%. Michael Douglas confirms he copied Pat Riley to Wall Street. That's what I'm saying.

It's just got that energy, man. The 80s movies, bad guys are derivative of Pat Riley, whereas Kenny Atkinson and Quinn Snyder both feel like they're bad guys in an 80s action movie. Quinn Snyder definitely looks like he has said, riddle me this Batman before.

You know? He's explained in way too much detail uh what his evil plot was before uh failing to kill the bad guy yeah uh well harrison what do you think this is a this is a good move i know some people were like who else was in the mix for that uh It was James Borrego. Borrego, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I believe Mike Inori from the Wolves, but it seemed like he was sort of further back in the race. Like, it seemed like it came down to Acton. It sounded like it was going to be Borrego for quite a while until, you know, there were reports that the Cavs owner sort of got a little bit more involved and liked Atkinson a lot and sort of pushed the team in that direction. a lot and sort of push the team in that direction.

And, you know, I do think that he's someone that it makes sense that he's getting another shot, like sort of with what he was able to build in Brooklyn, you know, sort of how much those players were able to improve over the years and, you know, and then sort of was forced out by, you know, some of the player changes there

and, you know, gets to reunite with Jared Allen. I guess Karis Levert, too, if he sticks around and, you know, they're building the old Nets back, you know. Oh, yeah. Where's Jared Dudley? Where's... I'm sure... Can they trade for D'Lo?

Being under the protective wing of Steve Kerr also helps people put people at ease, I'm sure, to a certain extent. It does seem like there is, like, a Steve Kerr coach rehab type of thing where it's like, Hey, do you grind players a little too hard? Like, come to Steve Kerr's relaxation coaching retreat in the bay and you know all of a sudden it's like mike brown unstoppable coach that all the players love you know yeah uh like and then you know maybe maybe we're gonna see the same thing with kenny atkinson we're like this is this is cool kenny now you know he's mellowed out his hair is like real like dry and relaxed now he has like a little perm and he's just could you

imagine no product he's like oh my gosh he came out with the natural hair okay okay mr act his hair is like feathered like he's in a 1970s cigarette commercial or oh yeah i'd love to see that love to see that um what else we got uh jj j, you guys hired Jeffrey James Reddick. As of this recording, this is, this may have been coming out a little bit after because

he just had his first press conference that we saw. How do you feel? I'm, I'm in the same place when the rumors came out.

I'm like, I don't, I'm not, this doesn't make me feel better. I don't, doesn't not make me feel better.

Sticking with hair. How, how much of it is just that there's not been a, a good basketball coach with boy band this doesn't make me feel better i don't does it not make me feel better sticking with hair how how much of it is just that there's not been a a good basketball coach with boy band hair if we're going off hair yeah i'm not a fan of boy band hair for a head coach to be honest yeah i like i like someone who's yeah i like someone who looks focused aka male pattern baldness because it's a new euphemism like no you jj you look too good you're you're not you're this is too relaxed you know yeah yeah yeah it's and also i mean obviously like and we talked about this too um like when we were trying to figure out like who's going to be the

best option uh for the lakers and i just that jump from no coaching experience to the most high-pressure job, it just, on paper, fills me with anxiety. Does it make you feel better that he's coached his son's youth basketball team? It's not as big of a jump. What was that graphic? A volunteer child

Anthony Davis and LeBron James. That was incredible. What was their record? What was their record, though? Why is he on trial right now? I think he actually said in the press conference yesterday that they won multiple championships. I mean, it's not nothing, guys. What kind of offense did they run?

Were they running a motion offense? It would have been more distressing if he's like, yeah, I coach my son's youth league teams. We came in last place every year. We're terrible. I don't want to put pressure on these guys. Just have out there you know i don't even bring a board out you know it's actually a big time commitment that thing and it was just kind of stressing me out so i just you know let him go out there i decided to i would rather you know take a step back you know do a little less pressure and uh coach the lakers you know i heard he's going to just have

a starting five and then a different starting five for the second quarter and just like move so that everybody gets to play. Oh, everyone has to play at least a quarter. It is the rule. And so, um, all right,

pull LeBron. He's scoring too many points, man. Yeah, it's not fair. It's not giving him a shot. He's like, guys,

what happened to the mercy rule where you're up 30? You're supposed to stop. Gabe, just let it fly, kid. Just do whatever you want man just have fun out there man i love you uh but yeah i mean i know he he says he's excited to work with you know austin reeves that could be nice i would love to see austin kind of just

rediscover himself together so you know again he's like he's racking up guys that he's podcasted with this just in jj reddick on the hot seat so uh yeah we'll we'll see yeah no sources just he coaches the lakers so by default it's a very hot 12 minutes after i did make that joke 12 minutes after he was hired two miles uh yeah no i mean it's true there's no that's gonna be i don't know man i just don't wish it's funny i don't wish this job on and i don't know, man. I just don't wish... It's funny. I don't wish this job on anyone. I don't think anyone's lasted longer than three seasons since Phil, right? No. Yeah. No.

It's been a... We've had four in eight years. Is that right, Jabari? I think you just put that in the chat. That's some high turnover, man. If I'm looking at a company investing... Bernie Bickerstaff went undefeated and couldn't even hold on to the job, you know? Still brought in Mike D'Antoni over him.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, there's also just so much personnel stuff that has to be addressed too so like this is like we're i'm we're experiencing like an omni crisis i feel like as lakers fans yeah like the coach thing to me it feels like and it feels like this just talking to other lakers fans too that it matters less just because i think there's like less hope around the team. And so it would be one thing if, you know, like, you know, hypothetically, they're coming off the 2020 title or they're coming off the 2021 season.

They had fired Frank Vogel then in like some alternate universe and they're hiring a new coach. And it's like, OK, well, they really need someone to optimize LeBron and AD, like with, you know, all this three point shooting and whatever. And then now they're coming off like a first round loss where, you know, LeBron and AD, I think, showed some of their age at times last season although again you know obviously both of them are still incredible and ad was basically as reliable as he's ever been from a health standpoint i think there's still just some sense of like if that team was a first round out and those guys were that healthy all

year like yeah what is how much can a coach fix this you know yeah but then when you look at some of like you know the little tapes the highlights when you look at some of, like, you know, the little tapes, the highlights that fans have watched of, like, just the players' reactions to Darvin Ham, you're like, that might have something to do with it. No, he definitely lost the locker room. I mean, you know, it was pretty clear from early on last season. I went to an early season game against the Raptors,

and, like, I don't think him and LeBron talked once that I was, you know, watching. And so, yeah, I just, I think they needed a new voice, but I'm just not sure that a new voice will fix everything. Exactly. That's why, again, like I'm like, yeah, fine, whatever. Like the coach doesn't like what who are we going to sign Harrison? Please tell me. I've read rumors, right? I think it was in the New York Times or the Athletic where they're saying, like, you know, if what we hear, like the cornerstone players would be pushing for an elite player to be

signed yesterday. Um, and we've not really heard, I don't know. I feel like it's being a little bit quiet, maybe strategically, maybe because obviously, you know,

you're not going to show your hand when, you know, there's, there's like moves to be done, but, um, is, is,

is there anything I can put in, you know, just in my copium, uh, bucket and did help me? Your copium pipe? Whether this helps you will depend on what you actually want the team to do. But I do think that they're going to end up chasing a third star this summer of some kind, you know, when they have the three draft picks.

I mean, how much does that help you when it seems like nobody really totally wants the 2024 draft pick? But you have at least two future ones in other drafts that maybe teams sort of value higher and will want and so you know does that get you back into the sort of you know dejounte murray trey young conversations with atlanta once they sort of decide what they want to do i think the reason the rumors have been quiet is because i think there's other dominoes that have to fall before you know the lakers are sort of able to swoop in and get involved in like the secondary market. Like, where does Paul George go? Where does OGN and OB go?

Like, does Paul George sort of force some, you know, sign and trade or opt in and trade to the Warriors like there have been rumors and speculation about, you know? And if he does that, sort of who does that, you know, make available elsewhere? Does Atlanta end up making a trade with San Antonio to trade back like it has been talked about and get their own pick back and set themselves up to tank next year? So they have control controlled their future. Does that make them more likely to move Trey or DeJounte? Like there's a lot of, you know, do the Nets make some sort of trade with the Rockets to get their own picks back?

Does that make, you know, Mikael Bridges available? You know, there's, there's a number of sort of, I think for you guys. Yeah, he would be really, really good for the Lakers. Like he's, he would be the perfect third star. Like if you're going to go with the three-star build, you got to get a third star who's like sort of a super duper role player and i think he would be you know exactly what they need but again he's not going to be available right now because brooklyn's still trying to win they have no impetus you know and no incentive to lose right now or to make themselves any worse so you know i think a lot of what the lakers what is going to become available

to them is going to depend on what other teams are able to get done. Because it seems like half the league, or 75% of the league, all has their picks out with other teams, so they have no incentive to be bad and trade players and whatever. And so, how that resolves itself I think is going to go a long way towards determining what

the Lakers can do. But, you know, right now there's not a ton because it's like this D'Angelo Russell leave that even if he does, they only have the the taxpayer mid-level exception or non-taxpayer, whatever one's bigger, the $10 million one if D'Angelo leaves. And so it's not like, you know, you could sign a Gabe Vincent level player for that, but it's not going to be someone that like fixes the team. We have a Gabe Vincent at home.

Oh, yeah. How's that doing? That's their big addition, Miles. They're adding him from last year. That's a renewal free agency addition. It's like a new signing. You know what I mean? It's like, hey, this guy that was hurt?

It's like a new signing. We love those. Toronto signing Scotty Barnes. It's got to be toilet to five-year $270 million extension. Toronto signing Scotty Barnes. It's got to be toilet to five year $270 million extension.

So that's a big extension. He's a very good player. I didn't realize there was that much money in the Canadian GDP. So that's sort of big news. That's big for them. A lot of maple syrup. Congrats to Trudeau. Got it done. Does he ever get involved? Do you think you think he like calls these like guys i doubt it it would be bad but

it's so funny to imagine like the sitting you know ruler of a nation just like calling their favorite sports team though he's like imagine he has a big raptors fan he's like so messiah like what do you got going on this summer like what what am i looking for you know well like which of the young guys is gonna pop do you think i mean it's happened in like macron i think has allegedly gotten involved with trades that involve like soccer players so it's sometimes it can happen he's like he's like no you're not going to san antonio he's like you can play for psg do you like soccer yeah whatever whatever his i forget what his French League team name was, but you know, he's a big fan

of that team. Mets, I believe was the name of his French League team. Yeah, the Metropolitans 92, that's what it was. Yes, yes, yes. You know, we find out Macron, big fan of them. He's like, no, Wemby, you're not leaving. This guy is going to be a Civil War man. That's my Macron impression. Oh, beautiful. Incredible French accent.

Thank you. How you say Civil War? impression. Oh, beautiful. Incredible French accent. Thank you. How you say, Civil War? All right. So, maybe some time to hand out some of our esteemed

Boosties Awards? I think maybe we take a quick break and then we come back and rapid fire the awards. What do you think? I say we do it.

All right. We're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back for the culmination of the nba season many are calling it no not the nba finals uh the matthewsby's awards we'll be right back it was december 2019 when the story blew up in green bay wisconsin former packer star kabirajabiamila caught up in a bizarre situation. KGB explaining what he believes led to the arrest of his friends at a children's

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And it's the third annual Boosties Awards, aka the fastest segment in podcasting. We're melding. This is a fusion. It's all happening. Fusion segment. This is going to be the fastest award consideration and award distribution segment

in all sports podcasting history. Harrison, we are going to show you a couple of the nominees for what we think are maybe the best dunks of the years the best blocks of i said years of the year uh the best block of the year spoiler alert they're all wendy uh and asking you who the player that is going to have maximum impact next year who is taking this step up last year we accurately chose time maxi i mean that was just that was amazing wasn't

yeah that was a great pick great nailed it no one saw it coming no one saw it coming um but here we go i'm but first of all harrison you are up for this challenge yeah i mean you know again you said of the year so i mean if i feel strongly enough i may retroactively declare one of these like the block of 2021 years please do thank you yeah. There you go. See, you listen. You'd win Squid Game because you're not adhering to what we've merely told you. First time anyone's ever said that to me. Well, you know, that's one of the best

compliments. Maybe that's a new question. Which NBA player would win Squid Game? NBA player Hunger Games. Who you got? Who you got? Who's an archer? Alright, Brian, start the clock. I think I'm going to pick Anthony Edwards for NBA player squid game. To win squid game?

Maybe not squid game, but definitely Hunger Games. Hunger Games... Because he's got... And this is a phrase I made up. Hunger Games, I think he'd be right because there's not that many rules. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jimmy Butler for some reason I think could win Squid Game. I don't know why so yeah

because i think he's kind of he'd get everyone else killed and eliminated on like technicalities he'd be like yeah he stepped over the line just flopping they start red light green light and everybody realizes their shoelaces are tied together except for crystal okay so here is number one option first nominee for dunk of the year harrison fagan this is derrick jones jr over zach levine here we go up top widely have the link to go grab it go on to work with a little hook shot so when the shot goes up derrick jones jr is at he's been in the air for like 10 minutes yeah and then the ball hits the rim a couple times and he just holds in in the air for like a split second he just stops in the air which

is what impressed me about this dunk come on um all right yes that's a commendable jared jones jr commendable as is this one jaylen green taking anthony simons and saying here you go you live here now on a poster you can wear him in any scenario that's one thing i have learned in the last 24 hours oh no here he goes rockets green oh my i'm sorry oh boy oh boy for people who that that was straight out of nba street that dunk that's rough if you lose the ball and then you get dunked on you know yeah it's not like what is good about that anytime but you know if you turn it over and then they dunk on you in transition that's rough uh this next one i think many people uh including us were quite uh impressed with anthony edwards

you're quite taken with him aren't you i was quite taken with him it's a quote from last of the mohicans by the way for all my film heads and while some may say it was a dubious effort on defense i believe that this anthony edwards slimage is worth consideration this is anthony edwards on john collins and only had one shot attempt in that first half another turnover for utah edwards gets it back so this is the one where he pulls it all the way back to the sole of his shoe and then dunks so viciously on john collins uh that his finger is bending the wrong way at the end of the dunk and also john collins is just sitting it's really he's sitting on the ground under the basket with his face in his chest yeah i mean an early candidate for the

aunt edwards you know minneapolis statue that i think he's like you know he's on pace to earn one i think it's on point like yeah that that's early candidate for the post i think it's will his finger already be bending the wrong way when that it's monsters ask that jump to like when you really think about how far he was from the rim and you're like oh like it's almost like he had his arm parallel to the floor when he actually got it in because he had and i'm gonna say you know rough year for john collins and zach levine to be in dunk of the year consideration but as the guy getting dunked on yeah they're they used to be like two years ago you know uh how the mighty fall isn't that what they say

uh well here's and our final consideration when I said earlier that I'm quietly sad, quietly unhappy, what I meant was I sit on the ground with my head in my face and my hands. Like, I ain't messed up. All right. Final nominee is our very own Anthony Davis over Victor Wembynjama. Ever heard of him?

Wembynjama. Wembynjama. Faces him up. Wembyn yama close out that hole that was he jump stops and then just like pulls it all the way back full like slow windmill uh yeah fighting mecha godzilla you know yeah it's like hey you may be the new thing but i i still guess what you know yeah and his arm was like was the original wimpy it's like trebuchet physics yeah like where his arm is right yeah i think again it's very european show today um but again that one is in there mostly just because victor wimpy yama i mean he demands such respect when you get near

the rim that it's more like for the fact that you can tell just like when they normally in a vacuum and it's someone else, you're like, that's really not a great dunk. But you can tell by the Lakers bench and AD's reaction that they're like, exactly, man, because it's Wendy and he's scaring all of us. Like, no, even when he looks a little

surprised, like, okay, I wasn't, I mean, I wasn't ready for that. They didn't usually block those. Huh? Yeah. Okay. All right. Someone should look into surprised. He's like, okay, I wasn't ready for that. Oh, wow, they usually block those. Huh. Okay. Someone should look into that. It's like, I will block them for the next 10 years. We also had an honorable mention, which is Wemby over Shangoon, where the Spurs commentators, I mainly

liked it because the Spurs commentators, you can tell they're still getting their Wemby muscles up. Oh, man. Someone's going to need to get a body bag on that one. That is terrible. And we like it, though. We actually have to play it,

because the commentary also makes this one of the Duncan. They're a little horrified. They're like, Duncan never would have done this. My goodness. Uncivilized. Why would he do that? We're more than halfway through the third quarter. Victor.

Oh. Count the basket and the foul. Look at Wendy. So casual. Oh, Dan. Oh, Dan. Somebody needs a body bag. Somebody needs a body bag. I like that he sounds earnestly sad that i don't appreciate that he's like and we love it that was terrible and you know we have

like a nice interaction with shangoon pre-game he's like hey you know it seemed like such a nice kid i just feel bad to him somebody needs to get a body bag um anyways we're still working uh up our muscles of having one of the best players in the league in san antonio i love it though i love it i hope they stay that way where they're like oh boy golly somebody call a stretcher from the ambulance because i want to get progressively more offended they're like whatever happened to the good old bank shot from 21 feet come on oh he did it again phil you don't need to be so mean i know i know i know th. What's wrong with this kid? He doesn't respect me. Show him up. Good Lord.

Two points is two points. No matter what. It was a kid's team. You know? He's like, hey, guys, two is two. Okay? Yeah. Two is two.

As Vince Carter said in that commercial, my old coach said two points is worth two points. My old coach couldn't dunk. Yes. And we all remember that fantastic commercial. I've never heard that line before. Oh, yeah. It was from like an early Nike commercial that he had. Anyway. One of the best.

So, Harrison, of those, who are you handing out? We're allowing you to distribute this year's Boosie's Dunk of the Year to one of those lucky, lucky players. Derek Jones over Zach Levine. Jalen Green over Anthony Simons. Ant over John Collins. AD over Wimpy. I think just for the sheer violence, I got to go Ant.

You know, it's just, you know, for him to just sort of levitate out of nowhere that high with that. Like John Collins is already perpendicular, horizontal, you know, whatever. Yeah. At the time, like Ant is like halfway down on throwing the dunk and John Collins has already been defeated, you know? Yes. And so, I mean, the Laker propagandist in me wants to give it to AD. Like, I think that is impressive that he's jumped on Wendy, but like, it's not better than the Ant one.

I'm sorry. I'm not screaming the way I did. Yeah, it's, it's, love you. There you go, Danny Atlas. That's for taking the title, okay? So, it's even. We could have gotten mad at you guys for beating the Nuggets,

who should have beaten y'all and maybe probably stood a chance against the Celtics and maybe prevented another banner from going up over there, but that's fine. We've moved on. I am mad at them. I'm going to say it. I'm mad at them. I wish. I'm mad, guys. I rooted for you against Denver

and you made me feel foolish. It's still Lakers 2018 all time. They have the 1948 championship that was in the ABL that the NBA doesn't count. And then the IST. So thank you. I think. Yeah, but that's two other banners.

Yeah, exactly. I mean, people were making those joke tweets where they're like, does this not count for a better for IST? But no, not really. It counts unless the Celtics win one. Then it's Mickey Mouse. And I don't believe it. OK, not really. It counts unless the Celtics win one. Then it's Mickey Mouse and I don't believe it. Thank you. And then there's no such thing as

As long as the Lakers win it every single time, it's the most legitimate championship anyone has ever conceived of. Okay, next category. The best block of the year. And like I said, we've just been so enamored

with Victor Wimbanyama and how his ability to just completely affect the players and the key. Now this is our first candidate just been so enamored with victor wimby yama and how his ability to just completely affect the you know uh players and the key now this is our first candidate because this one is on ja morant who most people are like this look recipient of our previous block of the year yeah actually yeah exactly at least one of them yeah and probably one of our dunks of the year too because he's he's kind of a mainstay when we talk about going vert um but here is victor wembanyama this is back from january uh on john moran fingertips in the

spurs turnover look at that jaron jackson jr okay now he's like okay clear out clear out don't worry guys i got this i got, what? Get fully by him. The crowd goes nuts. Like, wow. He made him look foolish. And then when he just casually recovers by putting his other hand out, you know, and blocks him from three steps back like so easily. And it's great because it's like when your little brother and he's like four,

he's trying to get past you on the nerf. Yeah. Yeah. And he's like, I'll let you go by. and he's like four, he's trying to get past you on the nerf. Yeah. And yeah. Yeah. And he's like, I'll let you go by. But just so you know, I'm stalking you. I'm still here. Why are you?

He's like, you're really going to shoot it. Yeah. And it's also awesome how quickly Ja goes by him. It's amazing. But still, it's just like when your limbs are that long you can just cover so much ground so quickly from merely turning you have a little bit of like buffering time you know you go forward does he jump from the circle and put it against the backboard he yeah oh lord that's unbelievable it's like every time you notice a new detail in a wimpy highlight it's like oh man he's gonna win

10 titles isn't he yeah i'm ready because otherwise it's just gonna be the celtics and john was really trying to float it up high on the class dude yeah i'm sorry i'm like all right guys i've been practicing i worked on this this morning i look right tape i think i'm gonna do it on wimpy look yeah almost that didn't quite happen uh that was a great block no next one victor wendon yama blocking the freak yannis that one's pretty bad now this one is that was pretty good just for yannis's reaction too of looking around to see where the ball he's like wait what where's the ball go like he's like oh he's like mom having this i've got this are you are you allowed to do that yeah he

sort of like really this one i like because you it's so like it's his block is so disruptive i'm not sure if janice thought he was going to actually dunk it or not or what he thought was going to happen clearly did yeah yeah i think he was gonna dunk it yeah i think he did 99 of the league he's just like shack in the 2000s you know and he's just like shoving whoever that is 10 feet back and you know with like his force so then just elevating and dunking it in and then it's like wait a second his arms are still here he's like this guy's arms are in the way what what's going on yeah right here you're in the zone and yeah i'm about to yoke on you and it just gets steered in the other direction yeah he was gonna dunk on him pretty violently helpless yannis looks too right here yeah yeah he it looks like when like at the end of street fighter when you beat someone in a round they're

like it's kind of like what his body is sort of shaped like okay and our last nominee for block of the year and you're not gonna believe who this one is back to back okay not the drake record but going back to back on jabari smith jr so far is devon trying to make it happen and cannot rockets first one sorry he falls like five feet out of bounds i don't yeah and is like out of the play you're like oh is he gonna fall into the first row and by the time jabari smith jr recovers he's back blocking the next shot yeah i mean you know honestly that's a little bit on jabari for like he sort of was like well you know two points is two points i'm just gonna put this in it's fine i got blocked it's fine i'll just

like i'll softly lay this one back in and then it just wendy was still there yeah because his arm it's also a turnaround block yeah yeah he he did like a 720 yeah the first block yeah he corkscrews his body as super producer jabari is pointing out has to like do almost a 360 to like get back to do it and then yeah he's got a great uh nose for the ball as i like somehow did a 180 block yeah you know what i mean he's like i don't think an nba team is ever going to get shut out but if it was going to happen like it would be against the spurs right you know yeah even though their defense was bad this year well yeah but you know who do you think should get the best uh block of the year who's getting this award you know it's hard i

think it's got to be wendy oh. Wow. Interesting. Yeah. Okay. How did you come to that decision? What an honor for that young man. Yeah. You know, I think, I think he just, I think his season just earns block of the year. You know, I don't, it's none of the individual ones. It's just, you know, that's, that's a guy, you know, again, you're not, you're not going to want to try him at the rim.

Maybe, you know, maybe kick it out. Yeah. Uh, Wemby, congratulations. Uh, we will be around to hand you your award. Just got to, you know, tell your lawyers to let me call you. He doesn't. He actually doesn't need to. He's just going to reach out from San Antonio.

Just grab it from my window. He's like, you'll see a hand up here on screen. And it just pulls me away. Yeah. We'll give it to the Gianice one though since we have to technically yeah i think the look of confusion after is what wins it which the look of confusion was a you know staple of wemby this year from yeah that was the real wemby experience with seeing a star just kind of look at him like give him the second like wait what who was it this year

that really had that moment the heat game it was like the first or second game where he i think got the rebound over his back i forget who who it was on the oh it was thomas bryant thomas bryant yeah yes yes i think that might be my favorite moment of the season yeah it was early but it was like he allowed to do. That wasn't over the back. He just, right. He got that one. Please. Genuine concern for the game. I think it's like, Oh no. Uh,

and then finally, please hand out this final award. Harrison, who's next? The mad boosties. Who's next player for next season? Last year. Again,

just as if clairvoyant, it's like, Oh, this is time. Max. We totally get it. And I know we were considering, is he already a superstar?

I think at least between Jack, Jabari, and I, we feel actually Maxie could probably go up another level than he has already. So we'll take him out of the conversation. But Harrison, you tell us who's next. Well, I mean, it's like it's Wemby, right? I don't know. Does he already have it?

Because he's been proud this year. Like he was already that good this year. He doesn't count. He's had to make sure. Yeah. I mean, it's got to be Wemby. Yeah. I don't see any way you could have watched this year and like looked at guys who didn't

make the all-star team and like project any of them to make like a bigger leap or a bigger impact than him next year. Yeah. That's right. I'm so excited to see what he's got cooking. It's like in Pokemon, where you level them up and they evolve. It's like, Wendy is sort of like if you

used a Fire Stone on Anthony Davis. That's Anthony Davis' Charizard. Bam is like Charmander. AD's Charmeleon. Wendy's Charizard. I want to ask you one last question for Rabbitfire. What was your biggest disappointment this season, of the 23-24 season? That the Lakers didn't tank the play-in game to avoid the Nuggets until the conference finals.

Really wish they would have done that. Yeah. Disappointed they didn't take my advice. It really, like Jack especially was saying, like, I mean, this is what we witnessed. Like, it really was about all the matchups. It was just all matchups in the West. Really the Suns, I guess, if we're serious answer, probably the Suns.

It just would have thought they'd be better than they were. Yeah, that was disappointing. I was high on them. I didn't think they were like, oh man, they're the favorite to come out of the West after the trade or anything. But you would have thought they would be better than they were. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Alright. well, those were

all correct answers. Harrison Fagan, thank you so much for joining us on Miles & Jack. I'm Matt Boosties. Always a pleasure to have you. Where do the people find you, follow you, embrace your work? You can find me on Twitter at at H-M-F-A-I-G-E-N. I will be tweeting, you know,

too much during the draft during free agency, making some jokes about JJ Redick being excommunicated from the content space. You know? Oh, yeah. Hang up the podcast, Mike. Yeah. I mean, it's going to the rafters. Like, he's in the... Send it up.

Yeah. LeBron's going to have to get a new partner in crime. Talk trash about JJ. There's two right here. A new partners? Thank you. Miles, Jack, and LeBron.

I would listen to. LeBron, Miles, and Jack got mad boosties. Hold on. Why does he get Todd Billing? Yeah. Also, I do need to see a little bit more from him to you know actually

qualify for Matt Boosties I would yeah yeah like a game of 21 sure he used to but yeah I don't know we'll play knockout we'll play knockout I'm I'm cold blooded at knockout you

know you guys are in your physical primes I think you got it like I mean that that old man what's he gonna do hey whoa easy we easy I mean I'm three months older than LeBron James you know what I mean, that old man, what's he going to do? Hey, whoa, easy, easy. I mean, I'm three months older than LeBron James.

You know what I mean? So, you know. You don't look. Look, good for you. Thank you. I still need to go to Turkey, though. I wouldn't have guessed you were a day over 35. Oh, you're too kind.

You're too kind. Well, you can find us and follow our hashtag, hashtag MadBoosties, B-D-O-O-S-T-I-E-S, on Twitter. That way you can find show updates, any new content, and also join the Discord server. Have some fun convo over there. And you can find me at MilesOfGrey.

I'm at Jack underscore O'Brien. And that's been another episode in the books. You said we couldn't do it, but we did make it to 120. Look at you. You look ridiculous. Just hating on us.

I know. Wishing we'd stop. Wishing we'd stop. My mom's saying, I don't understand what you're talking about on that podcast. Well, we're talking ball, okay? And it's Matt Boosty's ball. Thank you so much for listening. We will see you next week.

Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. This is Michael Rappaport, and I have been professionally podcasting for 10 years. The podcast game has changed so much, and if you're looking for the most disruptive podcast in the world, then subscribe to the I Am Rappaport Stereo Podcast today. We're talking sports, politics, pop culture, entertainment, and anything that catches my attention. Listen to the I Am Rappaport Stereo Podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Do you ever wonder where your favorite foods come from? Like what's the history behind bacon-wrapped

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