The Daily Zeitgeist - MJGMB #136: Opening  Night and Wemby’s World with Tom Petrini

Episode Date: October 24, 2024

Miles and Producer Jabari were pleased to be joined by podcaster and Spurs analyst Tom Petrini for today’s episode. The trio discussed the continued dominance of the Celtics, expectations for the Knicks/Lakers/Wolves and the present and future for the Spurs!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everyone, Jake Storielli here from John Boy Media. I want to tell you about my podcast, Wake and Jake. I've been a sports nut my whole life and there's nothing I love more than talking about it. If you're a sports fan, Wake and Jake is the place for you. Covering all the hot topics from the sports world, a lot of baseball, a lot of postseason coverage, mock drafts, awards, guest interviews, all of it. New episodes every Monday and Wednesday. Come watch along on the Wake and Jake YouTube channel or listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

get your podcasts. Well, well, well, the day has come and I've been waiting. We've been waiting. You've been waiting. We've all been waiting. Even my mother has been waiting because NBA action has returned it and the regular season has kicked off. We're going to react to opening night and over tonight it was for me and my fellow Lakers fans and we're also going to get into some of the latest news and notes from around the league and we're going to do that all with podcaster and Spurs analyst Tom Petrini on today's episode. I'm Miles Gray and I'm producer Jabari Infraject and this is Miles and Jabari got mad. Sometimes Jabari get mad. Banner number 18 has been secured.

The Celtics are NBA champions. Over the double team. Oh! Knight, Knight. Yannis with the take. Uh-oh, look out. No show time. What you got, Yannis?

Okay, so Tom Petrini, you're back after a little over a year. It's great to have you, you're a reporter for the Silver and Black Coffee Hour. And as you admitted, I remember before you said, wow, I'm so glad, I didn't know if you guys were gonna have me back because I was bullish on the Spurs last time

we were talking about the Southwest preview. I remember that. And that's fine because I didn't remember that. Most of us didn't remember that, but we all got to see Wemby and that's all that matters because his performances erased any sort of predictions anyone may have had because he delivered on the promise of being an alien.

So, and that's all we wanted to see. Well, I'm glad my takes are so forgettable, Miles. Jeez, but. No, I'm kidding. You know what? I think that the Wemby outperformed any reasonable expectations set for him, and the expectations seemed pretty unreasonable, and he cleared those too. He could have had some more blocks.

Yeah, you know, a few more. I was a little disappointed with those numbers. He would have, except for guys kept doing this thing where they would drive, and they wouldn't even be able to see him. They would just like know he was have, except for guys kept doing this thing where they would drive and they wouldn't even be able to see him. They were just like, no, he was there behind them somewhere. And they were like, this is a better idea. That should be a data point is the fear of the alien abduction, basically is what we call that. You don't want to be in an open field at night with a white light hovering above you

because that could be a block coming your way. Absolutely. It's also like when you were playing in a driveway against like an older sibling or like your dad or somebody and you know they're coming, but you're still gonna- You could, yeah. Yeah. You feel the shadow come over you in the street light

because you're playing at night, you're like, whoa. I've already played this game before. But anyway, it's great to have you back. There's so much to talk about. I mean, just with the two opening night games. First up, Celtics versus Knicks. I had the pleasure of being in New York City for about 11 hours yesterday for a work meeting. But the energy was I walked by Madison Square Garden on my way to Penn Station. The energy was great. There was like a lot of excited Knicks fans. There

were like a ton of did you see that meme of the guy who wrote his wife a letter about watching the Knicks? And he's like, Dear wife, I know we have been together for 12 years, but I must confess something to you. And then you're like, What's going on? He's like, tonight is opening night for the Knicks. I will cease to be a husband or a father as I revel in the basketball opening night. But anyway, a lot going on. I didn't see that and I gotta say just like as a man who's been in a relationship for a while and as somebody who has been, you know, I grew up in New York. I know what Knicks culture is. If you spend any time as a Knicks fan or a man in a relationship, you know how

dumb an idea that letter is. Yeah, yeah. Right? Like, yeah. Don't do that for Twitter. If you have any familiarity with either one. Yeah, yeah. That was a straight Twitter play and you may have played yourself into a divorce. Or at least being the doghouse, I don't know. I saw tweets after, like, I wonder how you felt like going into half time Like should I call it like yeah, actually, you know what babe? I thought about it And it's like I'm a Giants fan, right? Okay, and

Week one this year like like they gave me that little glimmer of hope right out of the gate and then Like immediately smashed it to pieces in week one sure and I was like babe You know what if we want to do apple picking on Sundays we do There's a wonderful pumpkin on Sundays for the rest of fall. I don't give a damn. Yeah. Yeah Yeah, Tom as a Raiders fan trust me same same. Wow Always week one. I'm feeling like hey,, you know what, this might be our year. Yeah. Right. This might be it.

We talk ourselves into it. So Celtics, it's ring night. As a Lakers fan, I don't like to see the number be better than the one on the back of my jerseys, okay? And that is what has happened. And yes, Boston fans sip my tears because they are running down my face as I have to admit this.

But yeah, I was like, let's see what happens. Cause I think going into this, I was, I think most people very excited about this new Knicks team and you know, the added pieces there. But at the same time, I'm like, this Celtics team does not look weaker at any point going into the season. And my fears were confirmed rather aggressively from the get, I mean, it was close to maybe the first

10 minutes, I would say. And then slowly the three pointers did not stop. And I was absolutely, I was texting Jabari. I was like, these guys are monsters. And I don't know how, how do we stop them? Jack was saying it's the same thing as last year. It's the Celtics versus the field and that's what it looked like. Um, how did you, how did you take that in Tom? I mean, shout out to WIC Grosvec, man. I mean, if, if I ever had a, just a ton of money and

it was like, Oh, we, we, oh we you know luxury tax it'll be scary like I don't know she's like do it do it yeah whatever dad we're yolo like yeah yolo the hell out of this roster construction and that's why there's such a unit that's why they're there just yeah an absolute juggernaut like I mean Spurs guy here Derek White very you know he edition but like get to see Al Horford get his ring right yeah guy who was like like a gigantic piece of that team that was I think super underrated they are they are one of the best teams I have ever seen one through eight one through nine like like ever ever and

yeah I don't know how you stop that you you hope they miss but they they also play beautiful basketball they move the ball well they play for each other they defend uh Tatum I think statement game oh yeah chip in the form of a ring on your finger and chip on your shoulder as well. He came into that one at the same time. He has nothing to prove to anybody and also so much to prove, I think. Like crazy. But it's like, no, we get it. No, we get it.

Like he's coming off a ring. Like genuinely the case against him for MVP is you've got an amazing team one through nine, right? Yeah, right. And so then he goes out and drops 30 I think I'm 30 he had 32 like two minutes into the second half I know right like and and Yeah, he he's fantastic the Celtics in general are fantastic and Somebody's gonna have to pay the piper at some point. Yeah, like yeah, just with money but like, you know right now Let's be present because right now we're witnessing a machine

Watch even for me as a hater I'm like I have to sit there again with tears streaming down my face cuz I'm like this is as a hater, I'm like, I have to sit there again with tears streaming down my face. Because I'm like, this is on. I don't know how you how do you compete with this? Twenty nine from sixty one three point attempts. Twenty nine, three. What are they like 18 in the first half? None of those are chucking like they generate so many good shots.

Yeah. As an offense, it's like, OK, like pretty much every team that goes to face them this season is going to go onto the floor and feel like, oh, we're not the better team. I was talking to Miles about this before the show. And the reality is, and let me say officially, I am the biggest hater. I hate the way that they walk. I hate the way that they talk. I hate the way that they dress. Um, and I will acknowledge everything you said is 100% accurate. They are going to be the best team on the floor regardless. Um, if ever there were a time where a team would come off sluggish or could, you know, you could, you could excuse it, you know, like no parsingis, you know, they had the long summer. No, they came out and, and this is the part that I was, uh, you know,

discussing with miles just ahead of the show is they have embraced like the city of Boston's attitude. And that should be very scary to the rest of us. Yeah, that's terrifying. I went to school up there. I lived there for five years and Boston's a lovely place. Lovely people in Boston, a lot of them. Yeah. But it is very much a, like, like, and dude, we got to talk about Missoula man, that guy. Somebody did the like, true detective, I just want you to keep saying odd stuff. Like he says the weirdest stuff.

And it's amazing. You know, he was asked like, is there pressure? Like, you know, do you guys feel, feel pressure? And he was like, we're all gonna be dead soon. And none of you are invited to my funeral. To my funeral. And that's it. Yeah.

Bro, what? What do you say to that? Yeah. Transcendence. Yeah. He talked about, he talked about Terry as meniscus and the surgery being fun. Like what?

He's an animal. He's an animal. Like he might be the guy who was wearing the saw mask. Like, I know that too. Yeah. He's, he's a little unhinged and this whole team is a little unhinged and like there, there always is sort of a Boston against the world mentality and that, that Masshole vibe. And now they can talk all their talk, right?

Cause like they got that ring with all of those. I always love seeing that when they get the ring and it's like oh, this is 18 diamonds here because it's more than the Lakers Right. Yeah, and that kind of stuff. What do you mean? You're just rubbing that in Tom, right? Well, you know first you brought I actually hadn't thought of it I know right part of me almost fired off your 17 to 6 but I know he probably would have come back with 27 to 7 because Our baseball teams are squaring off 27 rings, bro. I already rings bro. We're here No, it's like the Dodgers vs. Yankees fans. That's again with this. This is a great time to be a sports fan

Oh, man, it's so much fun So is there do we see any any version of reality in the multiverse of madness where this team is not straight to the finals again? Because I'm I'm like, that has to be one of the worst bets in sports right now. It's like betting on the Celtics to win. It's like, I don't know, man, what do you want your money back? They're just so deep. Yeah. There's so there's so deep that like I wouldn't touch that.

Yeah. Yeah. Think about this. Both of our teams could use a Lonnie Walker. They waited the day before the season, they were like, hey, you know what? Thanks for your services. They're waving actual rotation contributors because they're that deep and that strong. Lonnie is one of my absolute favorite guys that I've gotten to know in covering the Spurs

and you know, like awesome story, awesome dude, and really rooting for him to find a place where he can contribute because like he's and he was, what an interesting career, right? You play for Greg Pavlovich, you play with the Lakers and LeBron. Yeah. And and like and you're a microwave score. You got you got the size and length to be like disruptive on the wing when you're locked in and can't find a spot in the league. It is kind of crazy. Yeah. So wishing the best for Lonnie Walker.

But yeah, I mean, it's an embarrassment of riches for the Celtics. Like I said, they're going to have to pay for it, but like, I'm not going to have to pay for it. I just get to watch. You know, it's not my money. Right. And what of the Knicks now? And I get it. My expectations, I think, were through the roof. Also, because like I'll entertain any possibility where like, yeah, maybe the maybe the Celtics lose on ring night and then the Knicks can do it.

Also taking out the fact that, you know that you know they still need time to gel. This is not like the finished product coming at you day one, game one. But what were you seeing? Well I was look first of all it was really nice to see Miles McBride like really kind of step up. I was like oh no okay sir. Not only do you have a fantastic name but would he have like 22 points? I think he was like the big tide for points with Jalen Brunson. He was keeping a minute for a while. Yeah. Yeah.

He really was. And I was like, oh man, this is like, okay, the pieces are there, but are you, do you feel any less or more excited after that? Obviously given the fact that this was the very first game and this is, they're getting used to this new team. How'd you come away with that? Thinking about the Knicks. I've got kind of more questions about the Knicks,

not really necessarily after that first game, but really after the trade to bring Carl Anthony Towns in, right? Because the reason the Knicks were fun last year was because it looked like just five dudes and Tim's like stomping on whoever was in their way yeah yeah yeah defensively it was like a rock fight yeah and and they were you know very physical very aggressive in that way and it's you know starting on defense right classic dibs coach team and now you have Carl Anthony Towns, who, you know, one of the great big men shooters of all time, surely is going to provide them a boost in that area. But now, like, especially as the center in a defensive scheme, like, you know, he did not look great in drop coverage last night.

They were having a tough time when when he was getting put in actions and Granted it's the first game and you're going against the absolute gauntlet that is the this Celtics roster Yeah, but I am interested to see How the grittiest team of last year adapts to having a guy who's viewed as like one of the softer Like stars in the NBA. Yeah, right, right. Yeah, and He looks like he belongs in a Knicks uniform. So it looks like he's been wearing that for a while for some reason And he's a fan. Yeah, I grew up being a Knicks fan too. Yeah, right Yeah, like there's there's a lot of stuff here where it's like this should be good and this should be fun and this should work better

where it's like, this should be good and this should be fun and this should work better. But also, like, I'm curious to see how it all plays out. And like, they sort of yoloed a little bit trying to get that power of friendship Knicks team together and then like, you know, make this move. Right. And obviously Dante DiVincenzo is not the like center of that, but like was a part of that and like you know I think they're gonna miss Hardenstein a lot more than people expect in terms of showing up that metal. So yeah I think I think I have more questions and answers about the Knicks but like I hope they answer those questions in a distinctly New York way. Yeah I think that last you know that last beat like

just nails it on the head. They missed the dirty work guy. They missed the guy that's gonna get in there and rough it up. And I'm not even gonna take this as an opportunity to pile on cat, bodega cat. He is what he is at this stage. Like you, I was intrigued by that move specifically

because it's like, okay, well, what's round two with Tibbs gonna look like for him? What necessarily the greatest greatest fit and I think I mentioned this on last week's episode It wasn't necessarily the greatest fit when he was young But maybe at this stage in his career could be something different but to that original point You know a guy is gonna be what he is and they're probably gonna need to address that and need to get you know A dirty work big or two. Yeah. Yeah. Oh Man and bridges poor poor McCaw the shooting McCow yeah that was really because what wasn't he like one of the best corner

three-point shooter last season something like that or a couple years ago you don't normally see jump shots get rebuilt when they work well. Yeah, this is my question. And so that's why this is confusing. So yeah. I'm ignorant as to the inner workings of the professional basketball player's mind, but statistically on paper, you are looking at a player like him and you're like, yeah, I'm having that.

This is a great weapon to add. And then it's like, hold on, this isn't broke and I'm gonna try and fix it. I don't Understand what? What what what I'm stance like, you know, you could refine everybody's batting stance to be the most like efficient and you know mathematically perfect you can take out the hitch and you can what it but if if if you got something that you're comfortable

With and you're hitting the ball just do that. Yeah. Yeah, exactly exactly Were people coming at Andres Galarraga for being so open? You know what I mean? I remember that's bad. Like is this is he looking off to the side? But hey, what's the weirdest batting stance you can think of? I'm I'm a Yankee fan, but Euclid's always jumps to mind. Oh, yeah. The way the bat was. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was just very. But again, that's like one of those things where each person knows their body. And that's just how they've played the game their whole life.

And that's how they've worked it out to be proficient at a professional level. There's always at the Y some like 50 year old man whose shot looks like like it comes all the way back here. Right. Yep. And you're like there's no there's no way. Yeah. But some of it's water. But it's water. Yeah. It's like again I understand like with sprinters or like racing where you're you have to shave off milliseconds and that's like the difference between gold and silver or whatever But again, I am ignorant. I do not understand It was just very difficult to watch considering how like it he was really struggling with his shooting and it wasn't yeah Wasn't easy on the eyes was not easy on the eyes. She got 28% a little over 28%

Yeah, I'm three last night. That's tough. That's tough All right Well, let's take a quick break and we'll come back to talk about the other side of the coin 28%, a little over 28% from three last night. That's tough. That's tough. All right. Well, let's take a quick break and we'll come back to talk about the other side of the coin, the team with no ring and the team that nearly got close to losing to the Celtics. And that's the Lakers and the Timberwolves. And we're back. And I mean that literally.

Jabari, we're back. Okay? For the non-Lakers fans out there, let us have this one game. Just to be happy about Kim, Kim, can we have this? We want an opening night game. First time in seven years. That's a chip. And I know the bar is low and you say that's pathetic from a team who's trying

to compete with the Celtics, but look, I saw the Celtics. We're not getting close to that right now. I've not, I can't, I'm, let me live in my little bubble sphere right now where that was a great note, but it was a really fantastic night AD looked fantastic What do you put up against go bear like 36.16? three blocks

Bro woke up looking for the broccoli. I know Got that horn on him that's a Masasi. Hey, you know what I mean? Yeah, I mean, like it was, I mean, again, I was, this is my question to start off because we did look really good. We looked different. Is the bar just so low because of Darvin Ham's tenure or is JJ by just merely being more flexible, you know, with the plays and

the lineups that was that merely it would like if because I feel like the whole time we're like, I wish Darwin like, can you call a timeout? Because if you don't, this run is going to you have to stop the bleeding. And he's like, you're going to let them work it out again, again. Where's like, I again, streamed down my face for two games last night. One is because I could not believe how good the Celtics were. The second was because JJ Reddick called a timeout when the Timberwolves were on a run that was about to just upside down our lead.

And I was like, I had not seen anything like that in a few years. And I was like, is this, is this real? He was even sharing coherent messages in the timeout with Sorry, man, like people looked at the board real quick real quick Tom We're we'll come to you for this but I have to say this because it's in relation to that for two years I was a darvin ham apologist. I Wanted to believe I did yeah, and you know, like I'm always good

I'm never happy like when someone loses their gig, man. Like, so like when he got fired while yes, it was time for them to move on. I didn't, I wasn't celebrating that. But after I saw last night's game and they, that was all just to set this up after I saw last night's game, I said, you know what? I'm glad your butts out of here because quite frankly, in one night they looked more in line and more cohesive and more bought in than they ever looked at any point last season and you know what maybe it's simply the

right fit maybe it's the right fit at the right time but honey we could be that honeymoon face but a lot more optimistic than I was say last year because I look and I'm not quite ready to sign my JJ I'm sorry card and send that in yet but because I'll be I'm not not gonna lie. I was like I I was looking kind of funny at this this hire Yeah, but this guy is such a you know basketball freak that I do love that part about his coaching and for me I love seeing my fellow black and these brother Rui Hachimura out there looking like renewed in a way that we only saw in flashes and I just feel like everybody looked kind of

They're like they're fine. Like yeah, man, I just needed some instruction You know what I mean? like we just needed to know what time it was because I remember really said and like I think it was like maybe Media day or one of the like I've one of the he had a moment right in the off season where he was like yeah the first 30 to 40 games under him we were just kind of like doing whatever and I and it looked like that and the fact that like it was articulated I'm like oh well all it takes is a bit of structure and now we have something that looks a lot different. Jackson Hayes looks fantastic. Dalton Kinnett. Kinnett Gang. Kinnett Gang.

Bing, Bing, Bang. Westport! That was, I don't know. Again, my hopes are high. My eyeballs are just streaming tears. But yeah, I really love to just kind of I'm I'm reserving it. I'm not going to go I'm not going to go overboard, but we're back. OK, OK. hang number 18 up

I think you are right to be optimistic. Yes, I saw last night because Like you said the togetherness of the team the direction of the team if it felt You know felt coherent and cohesive in a way that Lakers games haven't felt in a while. Yeah Yeah, stop the bleeding timeout. Like you said, you know, that's fairly basic coaching stuff No, draw something on the board and guys look at fairly basic No, that's I'm like is the bar that low I'm like that's where I felt like am I just I have no perspective anymore because of what happened last season or last couple so so I think There were a couple of things that jumped out to me watching that game and and after it as well

There were a couple of things that jumped out to me watching that game and after it as well About reddit who's really not far at all from his playing days Like it's really not long ago that he was on those floors competing against a lot of these guys. Yeah, and There was a moment in this game where and Edwards was was near him and JJ reddick was like talking smack to him a little bit. I think it was about like like he was like it was it was late in the game and he was like you carried and and then gets back at him and he's like, yeah, okay. Yeah, but but you can't and It was just like that. But like yeah, you don't really see coaches like smack talk the opposing team star player

Who's also like one of the most prolific smack lockers in the league. Yeah. Guy who like takes things personal and puts a chip on his shoulder. But then I was, I was watching Ant after that and he was like, he was playing a little angrier, but not necessarily better. Got to him a little bit. Yeah. It was, it was a little like, Oh, I'm going to show you a little bit. And and then that didn't work and he had to adjust because he started Drawing doubles and then he was passing out of it and then that was working But like he kind of got in the head I think of one of the like true like rising star future faces current faces of the league And and that was really cool to see and then after the game

He had a comment about like You know, I don't know why we're playing with like fresh balls that aren't worn in. Yeah. He's like, can we tell the league I'm fine with worn in basketballs? Yeah, they feel weird in your hand. And I didn't realize until like I got one later in the game because it bounced to me. And it was like, you know, it was just like, I think that that locker room definitely could

use a, the perspective and the could use the perspective and all the accumulated knowledge of somebody who was in the league very recently, right? Understands how the modern game of basketball is played. And you can just tell that he's been one of the smarter basketball people in most of the teams that he's been at. And like, you know, just by virtue of how much of a basketball freak he is. Right? And it's kind of like, you know, what Wembe said,

where like, kind of like I used to respect some of these people, but now I see the kind of work they put in and I think it's BS. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, I can imagine him sitting on the end of the bench, like watching, you know, Van Gundy or or whoever like not call a timeout and be like Is he doing and yeah like 15 plus years of that? Yeah Built up into like okay if I ever was in charge, how would I do it? Oh, yeah

Yeah, yeah, and he's been thinking about that. Yeah funny enough when he was talking to aunt I was yelling at the TV like, hey, hey, hey, hey, don't get him going. That's very much like, don't poke that. Yeah. You're right. But it seems like he did it in just the right way, right? It seemed to work out this time. He knew what to push. It was just so matter of fact, he's like,

yeah, okay, whatever, but you carried. And he's like, right. He was expecting like, matched energy. Yeah, cause if he was matching that, then he would have been like, yeah, yeah, okay. But he's like, no,. Yeah, cause if he was matching that, then he would have been like, yeah, yeah, okay. But he's like, no, I logically just, I'm ending the conversation with this guy.

You know, you know, you carry, you carry. Yeah, and that's it. And whatever you can say, that's fine. But anyway. And then he's like, I'll show you, carry, bro. And then he got a little bit like, you know, little bit of an isoball. So yeah, no, that was interesting.

Jabari, what about you? I mean, we've talked, we texted throughout. We've shared many thoughts. Where do you where do you where you were you shaking out after this? And are we also are you also kind of looking at the wolves a little some kind of way, too, because that's not fully fully be here and be like, we have to look did that. That was the best defense in the league.

And look at us. Well, that's exactly where I'm at with it. Um, I, I'm trying to temper my, you know, exuberance, my exuberance. No, like, look, the, the, like the Lakers look better than I anticipated in the, in the wolves look worse than I anticipated, but I think there's something to that. The wolves, you know, we mentioned it with the Knicks, the wolves just made a big trade right before the season. Um, it's going to take them some time to adjust. Uh, it did not look like they had the same connectivity You know defensively and that's understandable, you know

They got new personnel in there and probably going to take some time if they're able to find that But i'm going to be honest with you and you know last week we were talking about prove it players Yeah, when I say this take it with a grain of salt. But Ant is a Prove It player to me this season. And the reason is because we were wondering, are they going to go all in with him? Or is it going to be his team? Well, they have definitively said,

this is your team moving forward. I'm not going to be one of those people that says, oh, he has to, he made it so far last year, so he has to make. What I'm looking for is more maturity, more leadership along the way, a heightened level of understanding how to interact with the guys to get them to, you know, to put them in the best, you know,

the best places and your positions to win. Now, obviously coaching, you know, that coaching goes into that, but in my estimation, if you're going to be the guy on a team, especially in the NBA, and it's not, there's nothing team Especially in the NBA and it's not it doesn't do it like today It's always been the case you have to have that sort of influence. So that's kind of what I'm looking for this Yeah, I saw a little bit of it from Ant in this game where you know on the bench and on the floor You know trying to fire the guys up a little bit

Especially especially in those places where the Lakers were building and extending the lead. When there were those lapses, he was the clapping his hands angrily, come on man, like type of guy. And like he definitely has the skill and the the husband to be like doing that as a young player in this league. But that type of leadership is sometimes difficult for other people to take. Right. Yeah. And then I've sort of got a question here. Largely, do we think that Rudy Gobert

wins another defensive player of the year award in his career? Given his his countrymen's ascendance and voter fatigue and people kind of seeing how he gets exploited all the time. Right. Especially, I mean, it's like A.D. just has his number. Yeah. Which is like dominates this dude. Yeah. What was that stat you posted like the last five games or something? He's always put up at least like a 30 piece on it's like sir last five games are in order 38 on 63 percent true shooting 38 on 65 percent true shooting 31 on 65 33 on

77 and in 36 last night on 61 percent true shoot. Yeah. Yeah catching things in a vacuum You know like folks will get in trouble sometimes. So I'm not going to say like, Oh, simply because Anthony Davis does that to him. He's not, you know, he's not, but I will say there is no chance in hell he's ever winning another one. And it's specifically because it's because Wimbenyama exists.

It's specifically because if they give anybody a sympathy one down the line, it's going to be Anthony Davis. Because he could, he should have won one by now to begin with, but that's neither here nor there. Yeah. It's Leonardo Caprio with the Academy Awards. Yeah. I mean, where's his Oscar? Revenant.

He might get his Revenant. He might get that, but you know, can you, can you guys believe that defensive player of the year never went to Timmy? Like, isn't that like crazy as well? Yeah. Like absolutely nuts. But like, I really do think because you look at Wemby and it's like, okay, he's seven and five and flips his hips like a slot corner.

Like, what are you doing? Right. What do you do with that? Yeah. You can't compete with that. Yeah. Yeah. No, there's, it's just a new evolution.

And it's the perimeter game that exposes Gobert every time. And in Wemby, you see a taller and more mobile version of that, who can still be like a wrecking ball inside. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, man. And Wemby's straight up said, after Gobert won it this year, I'm barely paraphrasing here.

He was like, yeah, congratulations to Rudy. Good job. And after this, it's not his turn anymore. Yeah, exactly. That's almost a direct quote. And he meant that. And he was right. Yeah, that's the thing about Wimmy, man. Au revoir or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was along those lines. Truly. And we're going to get to Wimmy in a second, but before we do that, actually, I do want to mention, obviously, Bronnie and LeBron shared the court. I'm not nearly as mad as other Laker fans about this. I think I'm looking at this as like, you know, just a fan and someone who's like a newly

became a parent. And I'm like, this is is this was really cool to see I Really enjoyed the fact that they were able to I was on Javari I think right after came on the court LeBron had such a like, you know Trademark LeBron just like driving to the hoop and just slamming it and I was just thinking of like if my dad if my Like just pictures like that's my dad, and we're on the same court right now. He did that. Like this, this situation was blowing my mind in a way I wasn't expecting. I was like, Hey kid, that's your dad. And you're playing on the court

with him. Well, that's, that's something. It was just nice to see the whole family sort of get that moment out of it. Now, whether or not this is something that is sustained, I think is obviously a much larger question, but I don't agree with a lot of people who are just directing a lot of this anger at him. Like, dude, he's a kid, this is just how the chips fell, but I do think there's still some time for him to develop, and I think he'll do that,

and I think he'll become something, somewhat of a contributor down the line. But yeah, it was a nice moment to see. It was super cool. I've become much less curmudgeonly as I've grown I feel like there's so much in this screwed up world for us to be angry about right and People shouldn't be one of those things. You know, this this is it

This is we come to this to room to forget the bad stuff. Yeah, right like, you know, I Just can't imagine working myself up to get annoyed. It's like the- You should come to LA. The thinking cap, this actually sucks. Like, actually, I think it's cool. I think it's very cool that one of the greatest athletes

of all time gets to have this moment with his son do something nobody's ever done before. Right. And that's something that even if like when I when I was my first sports gig was writing like high school sports features for the Boston Globe. And my mom is not a sports person at all. If I started telling her a story and involved an athlete, brain shut off, right? This is one that passes the mom test. This is one that everybody can look at and be like, oh, that's neat.

Yeah, and we've got a whole bunch of people who are like, actually, I want to dump on this teenager. Right. Yeah. People were just waiting for the opportunity. We know what this is. So the reality is this, it can be two things. Is it a little bit exploitative? Is it a little bit, you know, are there question marks about like, is it really in Brawny's best interest to continue to stay at this level and not be able to develop? Yeah, those are fair questions. You don't have to crap on the moment. It was a dope moment. As a matter of fact, that's that you mystery my human side loved it now Yeah, I will say I will say my degenerate

Ridiculous Lakers fan side internally said okay. I'm glad we had this moment But the Ron keep the family away go ahead and send them go ahead and send them to South Bay Let them continue to develop you have this moment again down the road Especially starts look he starts to you know pop out and show and yet like in that that's completely Fine, but for now, there's nothing wrong with having a great moment on opening night I have not crunched the numbers on this but I can't imagine there are many second round picks who got First half minutes in the first game of the season like ever

No, so but this is different, you know, I understand all of that in the first game of the season ever. Right? I can't think of no. So, I understand all of that part of it, right? But also who cares? It's cool. Let's have fun. It's nice. Good for them. It didn't matter in the course of the game.

No, and we also knew it was gonna happen. Like everyone was prepared. They're like, if it makes sense and the games moving in the right direction, we will see this happen. And also didn't Anthony Edwards, he didn't have to talk smack to him and be like, Hey, man, didn't he say, he's like, bro, you don't even need to shower. Jabari you brought up like, is it in Bronnie's best interest? Like there were some guys on the timber wolves who were like,

as soon as he got in, they were like, oh, I'm going at him. Oh yeah. Give me that. Second round pick pick. You're gonna leave. Yeah, and you know what all of that is compelling and interesting to watch The crowd pop the buzz. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, just enjoy it. Yeah, I'm here for it. So Wemby, okay Kicking things off against Dallas right Thursday. So by the time you're hearing this this game may be happening in progress but again Just the photos the videos the quotes coming out of Wembee I'm so excited for this second year for him

I like how people like when there was that one viral photo and they're like, oh my he looking He's looking like Dwight Howard with those shoulders. What is going on? But then he also clarified, he's like, no, I'm not putting on a tunnel. Did he say he's like, I can't do some more than 5% of my body weight a year or else I'm going to injure myself, which I'm also like, see, this is why I like you. And he knows this is we have such good, such a good mindset around this career from the beginning.

It's about longevity. It's about developing correctly, knowing you have the tools and just letting that blossom in the way that it needs to. But with Chris Paul there, you know, and Castle, look, I'm just, Tom, you're the Spurs guy. Tell me why, tell me why I should be so, so much more excited than I am because every year look like

I said when he's playing I'm so excited but give me even more give me more fuel for my dreams and my delusions well at the beginning of last year you know pop experimented with Jeremy so and a point guard right and that was a second year power forward playing at point guard for 20 games. Right. Uh good for the long-term development of Jeremy Soha. Bad for the immediate winning of basketball games and crunch time play and overall floor generaliness of the San Antonio Spurs during that time period. And then now this season you've added not just Chris Paul who is, you know, one of the most technically skilled point guards to ever play the game of basketball and one of the one of

the best floor generals ever. Also had Harrison Barnes who want to go metal with pop who listen, every single guy who comes through San Antonio in the next 10 plus years is not going to be the best guy on the team. Right. And he is a perfect mentor in that regard of how can you do the other things? How can you carve out a career? How can you be useful in pursuit of the ultimate goal? Right. Right. So with those sort of training wheels. Yeah. This first team left a lot of meat on the bone in terms of results last year. Oh yeah.

Uh, in that sports illustrated cover story on Wemby, I think it was 35 games where they had a double digit lead and they lost 20 of them. Right. Jeez. And they played a lot of 40, 45 minute games. They last 48. And you can see already the Chris Paul effect where it's not just spam picking rolls like I would in 2k right yeah yeah but the way that he gets everybody in the right spots

is quite something to watch it's really um and in between timeouts right watching during the breaks if you get a chance to go to a game, right? Watch what he is doing when the ball is dead. He's always in somebody's ear. Right? And Castle, I mean, whoo. Like, he looks right. Yeah, yeah.

He looks correct. He looks like the no brainer pick for them to make there. He looks confident. He looks like he can guard anybody one through three. Just needs time. Yeah I'm interested in seeing like you know, like yeah how CP3 impacts all these guys But there's a guy and I mentioned him on last week's show and actually last summer we saw him in summer league City so yeah. Yeah

How far away from seeing him in regular action up with you know with the with the main squad so? City's really interesting what you said you didn't want to get in the weeds before this but this is pretty in the weeds It was only by only by chance because we were there watching the summer league and I was like, yeah What was this is so coca? Yeah, who is this? So so he played g-league season before he got drafted right Not many 19 year olds have an NBA ready body. He did. And yeah, French player with a really interesting combination of size and athleticism and passing ability and playmaking.

But still with that pro experience and with a lot of last year in the G League, his skills are still pretty raw. Right? And he doesn't really have a reliable outside jumper to sort of compensate for that So it becomes a question of where does he slot into the rotation? What position right? I've been really impressed by Blake Wesley in the preseason and he's probably the third point guard behind Chris Paul and Trey Jones Castle probably won't even like he'll probably come off the bench as a two.

Back up two, yeah. So, suddenly the Spurs are deeper than maybe they seem, but C.D. is a guy who could take a leap this year. So, he's definitely a really fascinating prospect. He kinda gives me like young Boris Deao a little bit. That was the comparison I was making last year. I was like you skinny Dio. Right.

Yeah. Exactly. The one that cleared the whole Vertec machine, right? Yep. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wasn't expecting Susoko questions. That's great. Hey, well look.

I actually watched a lot of Spurs basketball last year. I watched a lot of Spurs basketball last year and I'm gonna do it again this year. It's gonna be more fun this year. What are we thinking? Is it, do we turn up the heat on the expectation stove? Or we still need to be like, let's let it cook a little bit more.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. But I don't know, just seeing, just hearing you talk about that, seeing the wisdom and the potential that is being put together, I think, not that I'm saying this is something where I'm like, yo, this is some wilds about to happen, but I feel like there's going to be a market improvement on last season.

Yeah. It's shoot for the moon, aim for the stars. Yeah. Whatever Pop Smoke said. Shoot for the stars, you land on the moon. Yeah. Whatever. Something like that.

In fairness, it doesn't make any sense because the stars are way further away, but whatever. Yeah You landed on the moon and you were shooting like you got it you gotta be you couldn't even go one parsec Man couldn't even get to Alpha Centauri, baby. You should you know the moon? Oh Anyway from my astronomy fans out there. They need to be aiming for the playin I don't think they're going to hit a guaranteed playoff spot. But like, I'm really interested to see here and Jabari kind of asked me this earlier about how active they're going to be on the trade market. They've been stacking ships wisely, frugally for years now. Started with the Kawhi trade, but they have acquired literally dozens of draft picks.

Like, it's an embarrassment. They use their cap space, help facilitate a move, pick up a second round pick. Brian Wright has just done a million of those trades and some bigger ones. And one bigger trade in particular that really set in motion, not just where the Spurs roster is now, but where it could be, is the De'Jante Murray trade, right? Traded this guy right after an All-Star season, peak of his value for essentially three first round picks, 25, a swap in 26 and 27. Twenty five draft is coming up.

What are the Hawks doing? Right. Mm hmm. Who could the Hawks doing? Right? Who could the Hawks trade Trey Young to? Right? And is there any way for them to get their own picks if they stink this year? If they say, you know what, we want Cooper flag.

The Spurs are like, that's our pick actually. Yeah, sorry about that. Yeah. So that's a situation that I'm eyeing with extreme interest. Okay. Because like the Hawks are basically at the bottom of a hole with a shovel and the guy who gave them the shovel and told them to start digging is the one standing up there like with his hand out maybe.

Yeah. I'm the only one who can really help you out of this one. Right. You just got to give me Trey Young. Yeah. And it doesn't have to be Trey Young. Right. But like Chris Paul, they didn't bring him in thinking this is going to be the point

guard that, you know, starts next to Wemby when they when we went our first championship with him. Right. He's more of a bridge, right? Yeah, absolutely. But now you start asking a bridge to what? And that Chris Paul contract, he took a ginormous pay cut, not just to make it work in San Antonio, but so that it's a tradable number at the deadline.

If his stock goes way up because he throws a ton of lobs to Victor Weminyama, right? Right. So I think the Spurs have positioned themselves, they have a ridiculous war chest to work with, similar to what the Thunder were able to assemble and a few years behind on that trajectory is sort of where I see it.

But obviously with a extraterrestrial superstar who, If you think, it was wild seeing Barack Obama talk about Wemby man. Like, yeah, right. You know, and just say like the thing that we all think, which is that when he's on the floor, you can't look away. No, because you just never seen anything like that. No, and that's, I miss that. Yes, that feeling.

And it's coming back. All right, well, let's take another break. And when we come back, Tom Petrini, you are about to enter the fourth quarter rapid fire round of questioning. Your seat has become magma levels of hot. We'll be right back. And we're back. Tom Petrini. We've really enjoyed the conversation up until this moment, but I'm sorry and I don't want to change gears on you so quick, but it is time for the fourth

quarter rapid fire round. Questioning this is hottest, fastest, most aggressive question to answer segment in all of NBA, pod, not a podcast podcasting history. Is this where you screw up all the report we've been building? You just, just maybe, or maybe you mess it up by not answering questions as quickly as humanly possible and using your mind to create level headed answers. We're not here for that. I'm a little slow, but we'll, we'll try.

Okay. Well, that's good. As long as you're ready. Um, because I hope you're ready. Brian start the clock! Oh sir, Jabari why don't you go ahead first? You sure? Yes, yes, yes. Guest host first today, yes.

I believe you should go first. Here we go, here we go. Tom, what's your favorite color? No. Does CP3 wind up on that Spurs staff as a coach down the line? I, I don't know if it's the Spurs staff, but it will be, he will be a head coach in this league. I think if you look, if you look around at this, at the NBA players who are in it now,

who could most follow that JJ Reddick career path, probably skip the podcasting and go right onto somebody's bench. Yeah, absolutely. And the Popovich coaching tree grows evermore. Yeah. Okay, next question. We're going to play pick up hoops of musicians. And we're just looking around.

These are all musicians on the court. And we just got the first pick. And I took my favorite rapper Shaq Diesel. Okay. And we just got the first pick and I took my favorite rapper Shaq Diesel. Okay Unfortunately, we had to create a rule just right away that nobody else is allowed to draft anybody who has ever played professional basketball So who are you taking? Musicians, I don't know if he can hoop but what I saw Hozier this year and He's like six seven He's tall as hell.

So take me to church. Yeah, that guy is six, seven. That's coming from six, seven. Yes, bro. Wow. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gigantic Irishman. Wow. Six, seven. That's a good one.

Yeah, I could work with that, you know? Yeah. I mean, I did pick Shaq Diesel just so you know. So if that's your big man. And then I don't, i don't know uh yeah i mean shac's even anybody the business in the paint right i'm hoping that hosier's got like a decent outside game not a musician well actually yes loophole yes uh hanukkah song baby give me me Adam say I was gonna say Zone Adam Sandler at point guard throwing behind the back passes

Hawaiian shirt on Shorts, yeah, it's gonna be my low-effort Halloween costume this year. Feel free to steal it fellas. Yeah Get some baggy Anwan shorts and literally anything that doesn't match it. Just dress it as ridiculous as possible. Go to the park, drop dimes. Yes. Orange Reeboks and like a FedEx Polo. Yes.

For some reason. Yeah, it's like, you put your name on it. Yeah. I feel like Quavo can hoop a little bit. Quavo, yeah, from what I've seen, he can play last week. Just so you guys know it would the answer was Prince Ball he played Percy Miller to Master P Played preseason, you know and

Prince like had a basketball hoop on the side of his stage during concert. Yeah, and like a TV so he can watch Mike Yeah, that's yeah. So yeah I also when I saw that video of Kevin Garnett talking about actually watching Prince play and I was like, oh That's high praise. That's nice. Yeah, okay. Do you not giving it to you if you if you don't deserve? All right, look and Tom man, we got to keep this Yeah, I've given it to you if you if you don't deserve and Tom man, we got to keep this These details you brought up stuff man, the rules are just one man. Okay Please write this ship. All right, Tom, you can say courtside in any arena of your choosing which arena and what's your matchup?

I think it would actually be this year Christmas. The Alamo Dome game was sick when they did that this past year, but I'm a New York kid. I've seen a lot of beautiful things happen in Madison Square Garden and some Mecha Man. And that's the Christmas Day game this year. Right. I think Spurs Spurs at Knicks after the New York faithful chant and overrated and Wemby.

I want to be sitting next to Walcott Frazier, one of them suits. Right. And I want to see Wemby chant overrated back at them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The garden. Those Christmas games are great because that's what you got Spurs at Knicks, Sixers in Boston, Lakers and gold at Golden State. Although those who knows where both of those teams are going to be. And then the Nuggets at the Sun. So we'll we'll see. We shall see. OK, how about this, Tom?

If the NBA scheduled the finals location similar to how the NFL or even college basketball or even the UEFA Champions League does Where would your next three finals be taking place? It's a great question Seattle hmm and Vegas one more and then Yes, screw Alamo Dome. Why not? Yeah Why not? Yeah, okay. Put them back. Yeah. Back home in the dome, baby. Wild. Very nice. Dude, what's the capacity? When they did the 50th anniversary game, when the Alamo Dome was the Spurs home,

it was like the carrier dome and they had a curtain. Right. Yeah, exactly. Right? Yeah, I remember that. They still had like 40K for Spurs games, right? The dome game that set the record for attendance was 68,000 for a basketball game in a football stadium. Right. Because they reoriented the court and did the whole thing. Right. Vibe was tremendous.

So that's my three. The Google's is saying that you can actually get up to 73,000 in there and that's wild. Boy. What the hell? That is kind of the atmosphere you kind of want for a finals. Yeah. Yeah Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's actually it doesn't go to dance The thing is like and I talked to some of the guys about this because you're in a gym that open a lot of

Time your visual references for jump shots are like closer to you, right? Right. It's more flat there And so I was screwing some guys up, but yeah, right. I digress. Sorry. I'm sorry I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You told me If you if you recalled what I said, no I told you as an aside As an aside you find in all this other stuff about perspectives shift. Okay, whatever Yeah, this is our actual analysis last one for you and it comes courtesy of our Discord. All right?

I put it out there on Twitter, but then the Discord folks, shout out to all of them. Shout out to Paul Garavante and all of our boosters. All of our boosters out there. Shout out to our guy, Johnny Davis. Our guy, BigAndScary802. Our guy, Huckable. Let's see, who else?

Let's make sure I get everybody. Max R, Donnie baseball noise complaint Shout out to all you guys. We definitely appreciate you keeping the conversation going. Let me get your predictions MVP Every day Jason Tatum Jason Jason kid he doesn't play it bro. Okay, get it together. All right, okay, Jason I think I know this one defensively of the year when be most improved somehow also when be that's unfair Rookie of the Year Chet Holmer and Yeah, all right, I'm gonna accept that as the answer.

First time all star. Wemby. Sleepers in each conference, one team each. I genuinely do think the Spurs are gonna sneak up on somebody, but I think the Magic are gonna be good in the East. Oh yeah, yeah. And yeah, Paulo, I think this is his year.

The West is tough, man. The West is like, there's two bad teams. Like. Right. So it's gonna be a bloodbath over there and there's one team that's won in the East, but it's gonna be a fun NBA season. Thank you guys so much for having me on.

Oh no, you're not off the hook yet. Oh yeah, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on now. Finals, matchup, and winner. Thank you guys so much for Celtics will play I Think it's Celtics nuggets until somebody knocks off the nuggets for me. I actually know Thunder thunder thunder gets to the finals this year Thunder gets to the finals this year get ripped apart by the Celtics Celtics. Okay. Good.. Well, Tom, those were the right answers. You somehow did it. I don't know. I didn't know if you could do it, but you did it. And thank you, Tom Petrini, so much for joining us. I'm Miles and Jabari. We got mad boosies. Where do the people find you, follow you, support your work, all that kind of stuff?

I am on Twitter at real Tom Petrini. show is called silver and black coffee hour and we are on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts It's a ton of fun, man we Going deep on Spurs stuff And you know just like to have a fun time with it Like we we did a mailbag episode and one of the questions was who are all of the spurs as like Ninja Turtles if Chris Paul is Master Spooner, right? I feel like there's a lot of negativity out there man. Yeah, you got a super duper positive so yeah on the internet and

Come lazy days get a coffee That's the day job. I love that. So make sure you give us a follow on Twitter. You can follow me at miles of gray. And I'm at Jabari A. Davis. And also of course, Jack is at Jack underscore O'Brien. Yeah. And follow hashtag mad boosties. That's B double O S T I E S. That's where you get show links.

That's where you get updates. That's how you join the combo on the discard server. Okay. Search that hashtag and find your way. And we would love to have you. Well, that was another flawless episode in the books for us this week. I'm not surprised. The Lakers off to,

I think we have one of the best records in the league. So, you know, Undefeated baby. I didn't want to say that, but that's what it says. That's what it says. We'll see where we're at next week when you join us for Miles and Jack on Mad Boosies. We'll see you then. Bye.

Bye. Hey everyone, Jake Storielli here from John Boy Media. I want to tell you about my podcast, Wake and Jake. I've been a sports nut my whole life and there's nothing I love more than talking about it. If you're a sports fan, Wake and Jake is the place for you. Covering all the hot topics from the sports world, a lot of baseball, a lot of postseason coverage, mock drafts, awards, guest interviews, all of it. New episodes every Monday and Wednesday. Come watch along on the Wake and Jake YouTube channel or listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.