The Daily Zeitgeist - MJGMB #139: Cavs Counterfeits or Nah and More with Raj Chipalu

Episode Date: November 13, 2024

The guys were pleased to be joined by Clutch Points writer and podcaster Raj Chipalu for today’s episode.  The trio continued to discuss Cleveland’s impressive start (shouts to MaxR on the Discord).See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Well, well, well, the Cavs are still undefeated. And most of the Eastern Conference is still under 500. Very odd. And the Western Conference remains the nightly gauntlet we all expected it to be. We'll get into stories from around the league, including the latest with the Lakers. With clutch points, Raj Chapalu on today's episode. I'm Miles Gray. And I'm Jack O'Brien.

And this is... Miles and Jack O'Brien versus... Yeah! Doncic, D3! Got it! And Luka Doncic hits 10K! There you go. And Bees driving, spinning, fading, hitting!

Batter number 18 has been secured. The Celtics are NBA champions. We're back. So is Raj Chapalu. What's up Raj? Recently, you're coming to G league with clutch points. Got the Lakers lounge podcast. I think it must follow on Twitter for anybody who loves basketball, especially if you're a Laker fan. I know that's the case for myself. Thank you for coming back. Most importantly, recently watched Scarface for the first time.

Yes. And don't worry the NBA. We know it's still a basketball podcast. We're talking about the basketball scene. Yeah. Yes. And don't worry, the NBA, this is it. We know it's still a basketball podcast. We're talking about the basketball scene. Yeah. Yes. What's your take? What's your take on basketball moves that you see actors do in movies? Like, is it hard to watch? Do you go this ain't basketball? What is this?

Like, what do you when you watch it? I know as someone who loves the game so much. Right. How does that? Yeah. No, it definitely doesn't look realistic at all. There's Scarface. There wasn't much. I mean, I think there was just barely any basketball show. I think it's really like the ball. Right. Yeah. You're like, I can intuit that it's basketball.

It's a group of 50 prisoners in this, like, makeshift prison that they built under highways in Miami. And every it's just every man for the. So this was one of the most memorable experiences I had because I love movies and I love basketball and this was one of the first moments where I was like oh like not only like Al Pacino in that scene it's not like he doesn't he just looks like he hasn't played competitive basketball it's like he has not heard of competitive basketball

like he catches the ball and like basketball. Right, right, right. Like he catches the ball and like has it over his head and then just like throws it towards the basket. And also it seems like Oliver Stone, and this might be hard to believe, might not have heard of competitive basketball because everyone, it's like a game of 21, but like with 50 people and everybody's just running around trying to grab the ball. And then I think he goes and catches his first body. But my favorite thing about that movie, I guess, watching it as a person

who's just not into movies is that like all the memes and stuff, I finally understood. You know, the starface memes for the laughing phone conversation. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I never knew where that came from. No clue where those things came from. So to kind of figure that out. I'm about to watch the Avengers.

So I understand the memes because I'm way behind on but we are not the same. Yeah, we were built different. But yeah, Raj, basketball is our favorite sport. We love the way they dribble up and down the court. As a poet once said, yeah, our favorite sport. We love the way they dribble up and down the court. Uh, as a poet once said, that Curtis blow the election broke our minds. So this is where we're at. Dr. Seuss nursery rhyme thing. Wait, real quick.

The only basketball movies that have really worked for me are the ones that cast like Shaq or Ray Allen. Okay. So blue chips and he got game. are the ones that cast like Shaq or Ray Allen. It's like blue chips and he got game. Especially that like barnyard game that Shaq is playing. Yeah, that was fun. Yeah. Nothing else has really,

like I guess White Man Can't Jump, the original fooled me when I was a kid cause I was like, wow, he's doing behind the back and between the legs. Then you go back and watch it and it's, it's just, yeah. Um, it's extreme slow motion, but has there, has there ever been one that has fooled you has felt okay to you? Yeah. So I guess I haven't rewatched it as an adult, but, uh, coach, like I enjoyed coach Carter when I watched it.

Maybe at the time it was just, I enjoyed it, but I see people's reviews on it now and they think it's a terrible movie. But I have fond memories of that one. Like I thought it was a pretty good basketball movie. I thought it tried to be as realistic as it could be. And it, you know, had the high school phenom part of it and you know, kids trying to make the team stuff like that. So I thought it was a solid basketball movie, but yeah, there's not too many. He got game is probably my favorite one. That the Ray Allen Jesus shuttles were thrown. But yeah, also a lot in Teen Wolf cabal like that the wolf actually looks legit.

Like I don't know who they put in that fursuit. It definitely wasn't Michael. It was spud web Like I mean, yeah, it could easily could have been Raj Well, let's play a quick game around the league because there's a lot of a lot of hot starts hot hot hot And just tell us is this counterfeit or not? You know what I mean? Like what are we? Is this is this the real thing we're looking at? Or are we going to see a bit of a regression? To start at the top of the list, the calves as of this recording are 12 and 0. The number one offense, number eight defense, second and point differential. I watched their bench come on to the floor and absolutely destroy and I was like, yo, what is this?

What is this? I would say like heading into the season, by the way, with all three of these teams, if you gave me the option of this start that they've got or play in, I would have gone play in over the start. Like that seems like the more likely option than what we're getting from any of the three, like playing to start. So I guess playing would be like 500 at this point. Right. Right. But yeah. Where are you at?

So with the Cavs, I've been, so I don't really push agendas, but I felt like Donovan Mitchell has been underrated for a very long time. Like I think people forget what he was doing with those Utah teams. He was carrying an offense that had very few other ballhandlers. And I think if you put Donovan Mitchell around solid talent, he's going to get you a lot of wins. I don't think they're going to go 82 and 0. So like it's a little counterfeit. Obviously, they're not about to just run off. Yeah, about to break the 73 win record that the Warriors got a few years ago. But I think this is real. They're legit

defense. I've watched pretty much every team so far and they're the most serious basketball team I've seen. Super focused, very attention to detail. Their defense is legit. They start two bigs around. If you're going to start two small guards, you have to have a lot of size to compensate for that. And they do that. Mowgli and Allen are awesome, especially in the regular season. I'm not a big Jared Allen guy in the playoffs. He has some quotes that concern me, but in the regular season, they look awesome. I think they're going to continue to just win at a rate. And I think they're still without Max Struth if I have that right. So they're going to get more shooting

back. And that's a team that's really tough to guard in the regular season with Mitchell and Garland both looking as they are. So not counterfeit in the sense that they won't go they're not gonna win the next 70 games But right more so the legit, but this is this is legit. Okay Unfortunately because in the world that we exist in where Stephen A Smith does really well We need you to actually explain why they're garbage because they're not gonna go 82 Yeah, I don't know that I don't know the, uh, quotes that concern, that concern you, that you speak of. What are those about? Yeah. So Jared Allen had a quote where he said, you know, the lights were a little too bright for me, you know,

and this is like a veteran in year, whatever he is. And this is a recent playoff run. That's just, that type of stuff concerns me a little bit. Um, is there any chance he was being literal and the lights were just turned up too bright? It's right. And I think he was talking about in, uh, was he reasoned Dallas, the Dallas Cowboys stadium? Oh, I literally can't see anything.

So first of all, starting two bigs who can't really shoot threes seems like heading into the season. I feel like some people might've said, that's like not the way to win the modern NBA. But, you know, when you look at how well Mitchell and Garland are shooting, Super Producer Jabari pointed out they're shooting 40% on a combined 15 attempts a night. So like, that'll help. If everybody's shooting that well, then you can, I guess, have some guys who can bang around in the middle. And then, so just kind of the opposite of the point you made about them being small guards, but if you, if you got two bigs in the middle and the small guards are shooting that well, then it all works out. Right.

And they have someone that's just an elite shot creator at all times, pretty much on the floor and that just really raises your offensive floor towards it's tough to guard them and most teams don't have two wings they can throw on both Garland and Mitchell. So it's kind of helped Garland as well. And they just create good shots. They get a lot of corner threes. Kenny Atkinson is a good coach who knew. But he's really starting to... He's got them playing super hard. And I don't think they're better than Boston but like how the Knicks look right now I have no idea what's going on with Philly I they look like the second best team in the east currently can you edit that so it sounds like he said Philly

looks like the second best team in the east thank you yeah Garland's shooting 46 from three uh Mitchell 41 percent uh on you know he he takes he, he takes some tough shots. Oh yeah. All right. So Atkinson getting a lot of love going back to our movie question. If you had to put Kenny Atkinson in a movie playing any profession, I feel like the job wouldn't be basketball coach. He doesn't, he looks like what, what, what profession does he look like? Is it like low level stock trader?

Like he looks like the quirky boss in a rom-com. Okay. I can see that. You know what I mean? Who like, who like he kind of, cause that slick back hair kind of gives you like, I'm the boss of this company vibes. But he also looks like, you know, he's got, he's kind of a wild card.

He's there for some comedic relief. Like he could move, move some used cars also. I'm not going to say he's getting a full use car, but some comedic really like he could move move some used cars also I'm not saying he's getting full use car, but like I feel like he could move some use sales. He's in sales for sure Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's in sales and He is up against it. Yeah Yeah Exactly, he's like I'm upside down man man. I think we gotta get out of this thing. The Suns are our next one.

Counterfeit or not, 8-2. Number 11 offense, number 14 ranked defense, 12th in point differential. Sustainable? No. Is this the real thing? I don't think so. I think 8-2 I think is past their projection.

I was higher on them than like consensus, but you know, I just, I don't think so. I think eight and two, I think is past their projection. I was higher on them than like consensus, but you know, I just, I don't like the defensive kind of load on Kevin Durant. He has a lot of responsibility on that. And I just don't think that's sustainable. Beale still doesn't look like the player that they traded for and still has a no trade clause somehow. So I think they'll come back down to earth. They have a lot of close games as well. I think every one of their wins, they were in clutch time To against us too, by the way

But not being the Lakers the Los Angeles Lakers. Okay. Yeah, just what I think some people might think you played I think you played them on Friday. Yeah Maybe yeah, right. Right. Yeah, I was in the game too. But yeah So they've kind of split games against us. They've had close games all throughout I don't really like the tie is Booker Beal starting unit I think that's too small and I think eventually the league will kind of figure them out as well They've they've started well, I think it's counterfeit though to their start Yeah

I mean just like put put it in perspective the plus minus differential so calves second and plus in point differential at plus 12 against their opponents the team we're about to talk about plus 11.9 Against their opponents third and the Suns are plus 2.1. So right that's that's down there in the yeah A couple shots go the other way and this could this could be a completely different thing right, but I I mean not to take anything away from like what Katie is doing, you know No, no first of all what he did for this country this summer. Yes, exactly and now delivered gold keeping it up Speaking of delivering gold of Arizona Tell him tell him for the Valley.

Brother. So the warriors also eight and two, as Jack said, 11.9 on their point differential, number four office, number four defense. I, I mean, I was like, yep. At the beginning I was like, wow, buddy healed. Look at, look at him. And I know Jack, you're like, just wait. You'll see. I'm not still saying. And I know, Jack, you're like, just wait, you'll see.

I'm not still saying that. I mean, you were entirely. First, it was earned. It was hurting. That reaction was earned. Absolutely. It was. This is the like a lot of people have the hold down the corner of just being like very strong in their opinion. And like when they get something right, they like really point to that.

I am wrong almost all the time and I was really wrong about the Warriors and the Cavs and the and the Suns but the Warriors in particular the buddy healed thing we've seen a lot of teams be like ah just just wait till we get healed right and then it doesn't work out. Is this colored by, you know, my recent history as a 76ers fan? I don't know. Nobody can say. Well wipe the tears away.

It's all right. It's all right. You have some spicy? I'm crying. I was just on hot ones. You were just on hot ones? That's why I'm crying still. But yeah, I mean, we've seen a fantastic start.

This is like one of those things again. Jack's been saying sometimes they just decide, you know what? We're going to be really good this season. This could be a good warrior season. Yeah. What do we think? Yeah. Okay.

Should we do a good one this year, guys? Yeah, let's do it. Counterfeit or not. You can overlay that over a Steve Kerr halftime speech. Yeah. Again, for them, I don't think it's counterfeit. I also don't think they're about to win like 55 to 57 games. But I think what their identity is around is real.

They're a legit good defensive team. Draymond is back to like trying Draymond defender and, you know, he hasn't been kicked out of games yet. So like he's still being super effective with them. Steph Curry still looks like Steph. They're having him kind of more on the ball. And I think Buddy, sorry about your trauma with Buddy Heald and Philly, you know, I'm sure that.

And I do not have anything personal against him. That's the thing. Like, I never hold a grudge against a player. I'm happy to see the shots going in for him. I've loved him since college. Like that season he had at Oklahoma was so fun. Right. Yeah. Thrilled to see the shots going in for him. I've loved him since college. Like that season he had at Oklahoma was so fun. Right. It's thrilled to see the shots going in. Right.

I'm sure you are. But I think Buddy Gil would just... I was actually being genuine there. I know. Yeah, yeah, all right. I just get mad at the team, the organization for some reason. That is my sickness. Yeah.

But he looks born to play in this system. There's a level of freedom and empowering that the Warriors do for shooters like that. He looks like Klay Thompson. Obviously he's not Klay, he's not Prime Klay, but in terms of the shot, he's getting the volume that he's putting up. And in transition too.

In transition, yeah, and again, he's being told, you catch it, you fire, and the Warriors play a system where Steph Curry's gravity allows these players to get a lot of looks that they don't get in other places. And I think Steve Kerr is an underrated coach that he gets a lot of flack online for like decisions and the minutes, the weird, you know, minutes that he has Steph Curry on, which I think is more collaborative between them than gets let out. But Buddy Hill looks born to me to play in that system.

He looks, he looks awesome. Kaminga stuff stuff is weird but it's working out right now. I saw do you see that clip of Draymond talking about how like they had to just kind of figure out how to adapt to like Buddy sort of his instincts like defensively he's like look man he's a ball chaser and we don't really that's not the best thing but we try and figure out how do we make that work for us. And they are, and I'm like, yeah, it does feel like a really good fit to just be like, okay, what are things that people might view as like a negative or something that can be improved upon

and how can we integrate that in a way that isn't making you wholesale feel like, yeah, throw it all out. Kirby-ing a bad coach is like one of those things that I feel like only really exists on the internet Like it's just like a lot of yeah Like the die-hard fans who get on Twitter and start complaining every time they don't win a championship There's just so much variance on the team and their performance

I don't think it's because Steve Kerr is like, I'm really not going to bring it this year. The fact that there are times when they're able to put it together with a team that is not the typical team that wins championships. I don't know. It's pretty impressive. Well, I think what it was was Steve Kerr just wasn't about to adapt. He's like, this is my system and this is what we run. And even if I have players that can't run it, this is still, you know, what I'm going to run. And James Wiseman obviously hasn't worked out, but I think like the warriors

were expecting him to be a part of it. And Steve Kerr is like, that guy just can't play in my system. And if he is going to play, he's going to do the things that my system asks for. And I think that's where the criticism came, where he was really just not going to adjust his system for any player. Right. James Wiseman. And who was right there?

I mean, look at how good Wiseman is elsewhere. But another player is like Kelly Oubre, right? Who's killing it for you guys, but was awful on Golden State. And he's kind of talked about the adjustment he's had to make as well. So a player like that, Steve Kerr, is like, Kelly Oubre, you are going to have to make split cuts and you know you're gonna have to work in our system and Kelly Oubre, that's not what I do and he, you know, you will do it somewhere else. Probably not how Steve Kerr said it. No. He'd be like, oh come on. I got it, yeah. He'd be like, oh, come on.

I'd be like, he's more of a come on kind of guy than a. For real? Yeah. He's a fiery guy. Yeah, yeah. But I think it's like, but it's, it's done in the most effective way. Yeah. Okay.

Should we take a quick break? Should we take a break? Take a quick break? Let's take a break. Yeah. I mean, speaking of those two teams, I will just say, uh, so producer Jabari pointed out that calves are off to the best start in franchise history.

They're still just halfway to the start of the 2015, 2016 warrior season. When they started, uh, how you say 24 and oh, um, yeah, I think that is how you say it. Oh, good. I got it. Sorry. Yeah. I let my, uh, the fact that I'm actually ESL French guy come through for the first time on this podcast. Embracing it. Thank you.

He's Kevin Kloff, folks. All right, let's take a quick break and we'll be back. And we're back. We are back. Yeah, and you know, in addition to loving our Sixers and Lakers, we also love a bit of Victor Wembenyama. Wemby. The shot profile came out and people are taking a good hard look at that. Came out, just dropped.

Just dropped. From the Selser poll. That's right. The Wemby shot chart just dropped just dropped the Selzer pole. That's right. Shot charge just dropped. Hey man. I think, was that you, Jack said, I'm seeing he's doing a hundred percent right there. That should be, yeah, I think the right block he's shooting 100%. I don't know. There, there is this Nintendo entertainment system game in the late eighties called double dribble that had a thing, this Nintendo entertainment system game in the late eighties called double

dribble that had a thing, a glitch in the game where you could like find this one spot on the court. And if you just kept shooting it from there, like the game just glitched out and you couldn't miss. And it seems like Victor Wemba Yama has found that spot on a real NBA court. He's 100% on the season from the right block and yet does not appear to be shooting that often from there because his overall counting stats are down from his rookie year.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the shot profile, but I get it from them. They're just kind of, this is to me another year where Wemby is just here. Like, let's see what you are. And, you know, they're going to try to, I think, get another top pick with that. They're still surrounding him with, you know, a lot less talent other than Chris Paul, but I think is like 38 now. Um, yeah. So I, I get it while he's, why he's shooting like from 35 feet.

It's like, why would I go and drive in when I can, you know, just shoot right here and not take any physical contact? Um, yeah, it does feel like him more than any other player. You feel like you're watching somebody just like working against the flow of a river, just trying to get towards the basket. Like people are just making it so hard for him to get close. And yeah, there's got to be some level of like, it's just too hard to get down there sometimes, or they need to like run more creative action for him.

But yeah, like you said, it doesn't seem to be necessarily a priority at this point. His blocks are actually up this year from 3.6 last year to 3.9. The other thing that's kind of wild, and again, could be small sample size, but they always say like one of the first things to look at for shooting is like how good of a free throw shooter

is the person. He's shooting 92% from free throw this year. That's good right? That's a big step. Like yeah again like he's not shooting as many free throws this year, which is wild but he 92% like I can see why you are now and putting it in at the free throw line like that That's what 90% is. Yeah. Yeah, right. Right. Yeah. It's like it. Yeah Have you ever put anything into a garbage can as you stood over it? That's kind of like how the that's's what he's doing. Nice and easy. Nice. That, uh, that one clip of sub bonus, just giving them that fake.

And then the way he recovered with that second, it's you, cause you can see his footwork the second he's like, Oh, I bet you can, you can tell he's sorting his feet out immediately to just get right back up and make that block. And I was like, man, see, this is the other stuff that aside from like whatever his shot selection is, like these are the other skills that are developing in real time too, that are going to just, again, the health, I hope,

please keep that slender body in shape. Because as we saw with Chet Holmgren, things can change. Yeah, that was one of the last things I saw this year was Chet Holmgren, you know, falling on his hip. Yeah, he's out for like 11 weeks to be reevaluated. That's like to be looked at. You know what I mean? It's like, yeah, he'll be ready. It's like, no, no, we ain't even looking in 11 weeks. Like he was really, Wemby Yamaha had a really great, like all time great rookie season

last year. And Chet was like a very strong second. And he looked like he like took a whole leap this year. So it is definitely disappointing to see happen. Hopefully he comes back strong. I'm hoping that when Guembe Yamas superhuman flexibility in addition to his superhuman size and athleticism keeps things like that from happening to him. I hope he has like flubber in his bones. Yeah. You know what I mean? Just to keep him boingy,

boingy and safe. Cause yeah, not a lot of, not a lot of protection from the body for sure. Yeah. This is, this is going to be two seasons really that they've, well, I mean, I hope Chet comes back, but obviously missed his rookie year, right? So now this is his third year also, which like tells me Sam Pressley is a really you know he's not a super aggressive GM but I think like title windows are very short you know they were the one seed last year and you know they kind of just played it safe and you know that was seen as the right move I just I think you have seen that is this good you should kind of go you trade chitet. No, no, no. You don't trade Chet. But like you trade Chet, maybe you trade one of these.

You trade one of the 500 million rumbles that they're going to trade Chet for. You heard it right here. Y'all right. Raj, you're standing on business. Sorry again, we're just trying to keep up with the SPN. They just make stuff up. You're right. So my sources say that. I don't know. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Well, my sources say they have like 300, but they have like 300 million just make stuff up. You're right. My sources say that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Well, my sources say... They have like 300 million first round picks. They didn't chase. Right. So just use those, I guess. Use some. Use some of them. You don't have to trade all of them. Not the winning lottery ticket that you're sitting on. But right. Yeah.

Back to Wemby Yama. There's for all the people who are critical of the shot profile and stuff like that. They're in addition to like the blocks, there's so many good clips, you know, highlights that aren't really highlights for anyone else, but it's like, it is the very first thing I noticed about his game watching him in his very first summer league is the number of shots where he's maybe not even the primary defender,

but he just affects what everybody is doing because they know that he's there and that he can block shots that have never been blocked in a basketball game before. Um, that, yeah, like there, there's a good clip of, I don't know who it is, but driving in has their man on their hip and just knows the Wembley on was behind them. And so turns and tries to kick it back out and just knows the Wembley I was behind them. And so turns and tries to kick it back out. And it's a terrible pass and I immediate turnover,

but yeah, shots just like, don't go up in the same places. People get to their spot and then forget that it's their spot when he's around. So I just feel like that's kind of a, an underrated thing that will always be a part of his game. Um, but yeah, he breaks the floor. He breaks the geometry of the floor. Like he is, he can, you know,

steal a pass while also defending the post players. It's just absurd. Anthony Davis does some of this, but he doesn't have as freakish alien arms as Wemby does. And Wemby was already in what defensive player of the year conversations a year ago, his rookie season and the Spurs, know had the amount of wins they that they had so he's gonna keep getting better he's an alien and like you know I just hope San Antonio never gets a real number two like they just keep flipping you know these players and you know none of them actually turn out to the number two because once he does he's gonna you know they're gonna start

winning at a at a crazy pace. Yeah. And we don't want to see that. You know that I learned this thing about bees, if a dark shadow comes over and it's dropped to the ground. I can't wait to see where this is going. Do you know this about bees? No.

So there's an instinct for bees when a darkness comes over, they immediately cease flying because it's an instinct they develop for like a storm or like a tornado that would take them away is to just hug the ground. So it's this like, in this interesting way, cause like when I watch these clips too about like, you're talking about the geometry of everything, if people even feel like the shadow of Wemby,

it's like that instinct, it's like, I don't know, nope. Yeah. Down, down. I just already know that this is not, this is like, I don't know. Yeah. Down, down. I can. I just already know that this is not this is not the best decision to make. But anyway, a little bit. Yeah. A little bit of insect facts. You know, we like to sprinkle in this show. Miles, you know that I'm a huge fan of that insect fact that you just dropped on me. I know. I know. I know.

I think other NBA players should start thinking about being like, why, why, why, why, why? You know, like just saying like little French things under their breath They kind of mess with people equal like other spurs players But if it's like any French person, they've like you're not speaking French You know, I mean and then throw that back to you and then they're like, oh man, they're like, sorry Why don't I even try? Yes, you're right. Soccer, soccer, blue, Milwaukee, Milwaukee brother. This gives me no, I get, yeah, it doesn't bother me as much because he honest has,

has the title. He did the thing. That was awesome. He delivered, you know, you can't take that away from him. Like, and he's probably going to eventually go somewhere else, but you know, the haters can't really be full blown haters because he's already done it. That said, this is, yeah, this is bad. I don't know. The team just doesn't work as currently constituted. It's just wild that they were like, the coach is the problem. And then like they've been way worse in terms of wins losses since they made the coaching change. Um, I, I don't know the answer here. Uh, so producer Jabari, can they get coach bud back is, you know, you don't, you don't hear about those coaching changes that don't work. Google searches in Milwaukee can get coach Bud back.

Can trade coach back? Yeah, I mean, they're two and eight. And it just feels like it gets, like just the situation gets a little bit more negative and more negative. Yeah. It's funny because I went back and after Yanis won the title in 2021, he had a quote. He's like, yeah, we won the championship. And if we don't do it again, it's okay. And obviously that quote has died in three years because it's, you know, there's trade, you know, conversations, stuff like that.

But yes, it's funny to watch them kind of just age. And this is kind of what happens to title teams, right? When you win a championship, you pay the role players and some of them you overpay. And now like these old role players are old. And then when you trade for Damian Lillard, you functionally like change the core of what your team's built around. So they were, you know, before it was Drew Holliday and it was a prime, Yannis is still in his prime, but like Brooke Lopez was a DPOY, you know, contender for years. Yannis was also that. So they were like a lockdown defense with Bud and kind of a regular season

winning machine. And now like I see the lowlights of Damian Lillard defense. It's like, what did you think you were getting? Like what player did you like? You're like he dies on screens. He's died on screen since his rookie year. Like Damian's not defended at all. But it's now it's just they have no one to surround him with.

And you combine old Brook Lopez with Dame and a team that doesn't switch. And Giannis can have like 40 plus and they still lose. And I just like, if you're going to fire a coach at 30 and 13, you better go get like Eric's bolstra instead. They did that to go get dock rivers. It just, every dock rivers team, I feel like implodes in like the strangest way, the Ben Simmons situation, the Kawhi, Paul George stuff, like every single time a Doc Rivers team just implodes. So yeah, two and eight, I don't see this getting better anytime soon. Middleton's still out. They're lucky the East is so bad. I think there's

only two teams over 500. So they'll have a chance to kind of recoup some wins. They play the Bulls four times. They play the injured Sixers four, no, I mean, they played, they played bad teams like four times a year. What? Just kidding. But they play a lot of bad teams. Yeah. Yeah. We'll see.

The Sixers, we do have a recent MVP who might be coming back from injury at some point in the not too distant future. So we'll see. Should we talk about the Lakers? I mean a little bit, I think since Raj is here and you know, I love my Lakers. We're six and four our home record, I watering our record on the road. Also I watering in a different way. We're one in four, five and O at home.

Let's just focus on that. Yeah. Let's focus on that. Can we just, can we just do like home games? Was that cool? So like I've learned a couple of things the past week about like how you can treat the media and like kind of get away with it. What if like you just didn't tell people about the one on the floor on the road because like the only one they're seeing in person. No, you guys are undefeated. Not doing that. Exactly. We're the calves, dude. We're like the calves. Why is no one talking about? We're the Cavs at home. I'm gonna say this. I was very cynical about JJ Reddick. I was very unsure and despite this, I thought we were gonna be, I thought we were gonna be worse off than 6 and 4 to be honest.

And I'm, I am heartened by what I see and I am, I do like to see that there's flexibility. I do like to see that we're willing to present. Now, this isn't working. I think you need to go to the second unit. Let's try something different. But man, I'm also just worried about the defense from our guards is also just another part. I'm just like, so many. Yes, I see like Austria.

You just get blown by and he's like, come on. And I'm like, dude, please. I get like Biden walking on a beach. It's really wild, dude. It's wild. But I mean, yeah. How do you look at the evolution? Because I mean, from my fan, not being close up as a journalist perspective, I'm like, what I do like is that they look like they're bought in to what JJ is putting down.

And it looks like they do like even when A.R. is like, like there's a level of accountability, self accountability that I do appreciate. And I'm and I don't I'm not hallucinating that. Right. It feels like that's very much what's happening despite the street performances. Yeah, it's funny because they're the only team over 500 that has a negative net rating. Like every other team is, you know, in the positive net,

which I think kind of shows you kind of how the season has gone so far. I see the three and three and oh start. Then they lost on the road to Phoenix. And some of those games like I'm not blaming this on LeBron, but like you have a 40 year old superstar. Right. So like the nest, the needs for him are different. And so like when they played the Pistons on the road, for example, which is one of the losses that they have, the team kind of goes as LeBron goes, especially

on his energy level sometimes. And I thought the whole team kind of came out very lackadaisical. But I think this team, when like LeBron's locked in and obviously AD's been the MVP, I think so far he's averaging over 30 points a game and he's at 30, I think every single game so far. You think MVP, league wide MVP, he'd be your pick? I think so right now. If the Lakers can like pick up a couple more wins in terms of the seeding, I think he can really, you know, get the MVP this year. He's just been incredible.

This is the best offensive season the 80s had. But the main concern to me, obviously, I think you spoke about is the defense. We're 20, I believe, eighth in defense right now. 26 in defense currently and the guards. And that 20, I believe eighth in defense right now, 26th in defense currently and the guards. And that's like, I tweeted before the season started. I was like, Cam Redditch is going to have to play and I got killed for that. You know, they're like, that's why you fired Darwin Ham. I'm like, I just look at this roster. I'm like, there's just not enough athletic foot speed for, you know, a wing who can really, and

Cam can really guard. The sad part is he's a really good defender. It's just, I don't think that's what he thinks he is in his head. Cameradish still wants to be the Cameradish that came out of Duke, but he can really defend. He's a super skilled wing defender and JJ saw that when he started him. D-Lo's coming off the bench. We'll see how body in he is with that as the season goes. I think wins will kind of determine, you know, how invested he is in that situation. But yeah, they look good so far.

They have some winnable games coming up. They have a game tomorrow against Memphis who, you know, Ja I think is going to be out. Also an in-season tournament game. But yeah, I'd like the start so far. JJ's been good. 80's been awesome. The bench scoring is still a concern of mine. The backup 27th ranked 27th.

Yeah. And Max Christie was a guy that like a lot of people hope would really, you know, become something this year and they paid him and he just has not been good and he's already collecting the MPs, you know, because of camera dish. That's why I think D-Low went to the bench, but overall, this is a solid team. I think they need another move, of course, like just to step into that next tier, you know, in the West. But right now, I think they can like hover around like this, you know, wind profile and we'll see how it goes.

But the numbers are a little skewed because one of the winds, LeBron just went nuclear against the Kings, which I feel like only happens to teams like the Kings, which I feel like only happens to teams like the Kings. The Kings just get these weird games against them. I think your fans are so dismissive of Kings and Clippers. It's just in your DNA. I don't know what it is. You can't help it. You can't help it.

I don't know what it is. By the way, listeners, if you are the gambling type and in a state where that is possible, AD is currently fifth for MVP Oz. He's, you know, you got Jokic at plus 225, Shay at 330, Luka plus 500, AD is plus 1800. So that would be a pretty spicy meatball as they say. Spicy meatball if you know, this is my attempt to talk about gambling. I'm stink at it

You don't want that you don't want to say sorry Oh for MVP Oh six days in the six and a lot I feel like the Lakers are usually better than their net rating like the pad like since Lebron like Lebron will just pick and choose his spots and Sometimes when the team doesn't have it and he doesn't have it, he's, you know, you guys will lose by more than expected. I've always felt like net ratings not the best way to gauge

how good the Lakers are. Yeah, I'm so, the line, the data I usually look at that is like how good are you when your stars are on the floor? Right? Yeah. I know we didn't talk about Milwaukee, but I'm like Damon Giannis are a minus one point eight together, which is horrific, right? You're losing the minutes with your two players that make sixty million dollars a year Like that's just I just can't happen and LeBron ad right now are a minus

I think they're just under a negative around minus point five, which again like that's just you just can't have that happen And I think that's not sustainable. I think that will pick up as the season goes on. But yeah, that's where they're at right now. And look, Austin Reeves has been handed the keys now to the point guard position. And he looks like, and you just talked about his defense. I don't think, like if Austin Reeves is your best defender in your starting lineup, you have a problem.

So I think like Kam Reyes got inserted in there there and I think that's helped his legs as well. Right. Yeah. So he's looked good. And it's funny because the Lakers and Bucks are only two teams that have teammates that are averaging 18, five and four. That's Damon Yannis, Milwaukee, and that's Austin and LeBron, all the Lakers. But obviously two teams going in different directions.

But it's been interesting to watch like DELO kind of over the summer. JJ said DELO was the guy he talked to the most over the summer. They texted the most. Maybe that's the only guy he had his number. But like he that's the guy that he said they texted the most over the summer to go from that to now DELO coming off the bench. That's quite a stark kind of difference in just a few weeks. I mean, he seems outwardly handling it somewhat well. He's just saying like,

look, I'm just, if we're winning, fine. Yeah, like I'm here to win. If that's what it took the summer to get to, then fine. But I'm sure that JJ was probably looking for just that little bit extra. But I won't hold my breath. But before we take a break what do you think what are we are we what's Rob Polinka gonna do are we just waiting for for Vando to come back are we gonna get active here because I'm so curious about what like that's a huge question mark that is gonna affect the rest of the season. Right yeah it's you know it's interesting because I think Rob has kind of talked about and they've kind of preached development, right? And they're preach inner kind of growth in terms of their young players. That just hasn't worked out so far. And this front office hasn't really shown that they're going to go all in on a team that's hovering around playing territory, right? Like the most

they traded is like one first round pick. And I think the Russell Westbrook thing has kind of traumatized them and going all in for a single player. You know, Levine is a guy that pops up a lot, but Levine has a lot of, you know, similar, I mean, I think he's a better player than Russ was when we traded for him, but the contract, the knees, right. All that comes together. So I think they're going to try and look for a small deal to me. Like they need a backup center and they need one more wing.

Like if you get those two things, I think we're cooking, like they need a backup center and they need one more wing. Like if you get those two things, I think we're cooking. Like you get a Dorian Finney Smith or a Cam Johnson and you get like you can get a Walker Kessler out of Utah or, you know, like a backup center that you can just rely on right now is Jackson Hayes. Like Jackson Hayes has played fine. But like Jackson Hayes, as your starter is, you know, you're going to lose a lot of games if 80 has to miss any time. So I think that's what they're gonna look at

and I don't expect them to make a big splash unless this team is like the two seed at the all-star break then they're like, oh yeah, let's go all in. But I just don't see a huge trade coming down the line. Yeah, I just don't know what it is, but something's gotta give for sure. We should just, because it's been getting some national, international media attention mentioned like,

so heading into the season, I had a take that JJ Reddick's hair was too good to be an NBA coach. And a lot of people are pointing out the like five and oh at home in LA where that sort of hairstyle might be like more accepted and like just, you know, not stand out as much one and four on the road where like, I don't know, that's not a basketball coach.

Why don't the Lakers have a basketball coach? They just have that dude in a boy band over there. There's a guy in the dunks. Right. So it's just a thing to keep an eye on. I guess. I don't, I don't know that it's like explained to everything, but it's definitely a thing that's being That has some people's eyebrows Raised just for a second like noted noted

See the hair that's good for you. Talk. Is that good for that helmet? What is that hair? Come on let that say like oh sit on the bench with the Lakers He's more handsome than any of the players You got thoughts on huh, I'm just saying I think He caused the problems. Yeah, okay. I get it. I get it. So take a JJ breadache Okay, right a breadache and we'll be right back with the rabbit fire round of questioning rather JJ rhetoric is out of control And we're back Raj Chawalu, we love having you here man, but this is the part that That most of our guests dread. Oh. It's the hot seat. I know

you do. I know you do. The holidays coming up so I'm gonna go full Santa. You're going ho ho ho on him. Okay. He's doing ho cute. Is Santa okay? Has Santa been drinking? Why is he laughing so hard at nothing? Why is he wearing a Sixers jersey? But this is the fourth quarter rapid fire round of questioning. Look, Raj, we're going to ask you a question. You just think, you just respond. You don't take too long. You show everybody how quick your mind is because if you take too long, we will be so rude to you that you will reconsider coming back.

Although then we will apologize to you profusely off mic so that we make things okay. But I don't wanna tell the listeners that even though I just did. Okay, are you ready, Raj? Let's do it. He's not ready, Miles. I know, I know, they always say they're ready, Jack. They always say they're ready, but they're not.

Just like a little baby lamb out there. I'm not ready. Ryan, start the clock. Whoa, man, this is, this is wild. I've never seen him like this. I'm charged up, I'm charged up. I'm charged up. You going first or am I going first?

He's lit up, man. Who's going first? It's like a dang owl. It's like a dang street light. Why don't you go first? I think you crafted this first one. Look, we're playing pick up hoops with characters from the TV show, The Office.

We just got the first pick and took Dr. J who was in an episode in the last season and each player, each person that you see is in their prime. Bro, Miles is such a big office head that like he pulled that last second. I had to, we had another one, we had another written down no Dr. J, Dr. J was in season Um, but we also made a rule that basically said nobody who played in the NBA is selectable. But that's okay because we picked the only person that has played in the NBA. Right. They were like, Oh, that's against the rules. Well, we can't allow, we can't say you can't do it anymore. So that's how it happened.

Okay. What happened was that exactly. So Raj, who are you picking any character? So it has to be Jim, right? He was the best player in the office I think he actually played Basketball, you know in you know high school or college. I don't remember He played I'm sorry the character Yes. Oh the character Jim Jim I guess we like okay. Yeah, I guess in world right. This is a great point by Raj We're in the world. We're in office. What are we? He was actually the best player and he killed in that little run they had inside there. Yeah, I

Hate that's the right answer I'm thinking outside of the world of the office where I don't really care for that actor. Cause how would Dr. J prime Dr. J beat prime Jim Halpert? Right. Oh no, we're still going to win. I just hate that.

That's the right decision. We're still going to destroy them. I mean, also shout to Kevin Malone played by Brian Baumgartner, who in that basketball episode There are just like these b-roll shots of him. Just he is rainy Yeah, and because he actually is a huge huge sports fan and athlete so that was also the correct, but man He's no, you know, but he's pretty good. No, I'm right. Raj nailed it with that one All right. Where are you on business decisions as a player?

You know, we, we saw a famous business decision in the world of college hoops where the coach has sun got in for a second and decided to challenge someone at the rim and got flipped upside down. Um, we saw some good ones in the NBA. Uh, Giannis got right out of the way when somebody was about to, when cat was about to yoke on him against the Knicks. He's like, no, you may not. I will not be in that photograph. Like, like it was, he was avoiding the paparazzi.

Kate Cunningham made a slightly worse business decision with Jalen Green. He got picked by, I don't know who was guarding him, but then they dished to Jalen Green and here we'll play the audio. Thompson this time with a defensive play. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,

oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, allowed to make good business decisions? So really quickly, that Jade and Kani... I don't see that as a business decision though. Like, Kade was... He had no time to even think. He really just turned around and, you know, Green Ray dunked on him.

But as a coach, it depends who you are, right? Like, I don't need my $60 million superstar, like, getting in the way of every single dunk that's, you know, trying to be created. But if I put you in there specifically to be the energy guy, right? Then no, you cannot get out of the way. Like in some cases, like if Zion's coming down 400, like in a hundred miles per hour, some of those I get it.

But yeah, if you're in there specifically to go and take charges, then you go and take charges. But I don't really look for- It's about to be a hurt locker in here if you try and go up against him. It's about to we're going to be see see body parts, right? I know. Yeah. But if it's LeBron, then yeah, get out of the way.

It's all right. In November, I think you're taking charges in November. Like, let's see. Let's save those. Yeah. And after the person gets blown up, do you what do you like when they come back to the bench or you like, hey, man, great. Love that from you. Like wait, or do you just like kind of try not to make eye contact with them? No, I said like that's, you know, that's a good play. That's yeah. Charges are good. Good basketball play. Yeah. They're super like that's a huge momentum play. Every single,

you know, arena gets up for a charge. I know some people want to take the charge out of basketball. I disagree. I think it's an important momentum play that's involved when a team's on a run. Absolutely. Okay. Here's the next question. Please name your Lakers Mount Rushmore. Lakers Mount Rushmore. Okay. I have Kobe. And it can be anyone who is relevant to the I will say this lets we can zoom out anyone who is relevant to the Lakers organization because they're gonna be president man it could be whatever you know they'd be Lincoln Jefferson you're a Lakers fan you get behind Mount Rushmore all right so you know, Kobe would be on it. Magic be on it.

Kareem is on it. I think LeBron is on how many? Wow. Just for you. Or you just close as far. OK, yeah, that would be my Mount Rushmore. LeBron made it. That's I'm seeing growth from you Lakers fans. No shack. Huh? Well, that's a good point.

No chick her. No, I would keep it. He knows what it looks like, man. What? Don't say that to me. I'm 40. I'm a man. No Jerry West.

I mean, he got the logo. He's iconic. Yeah, he's around. OK, no, and I don't mean to pick apart. I'm just I'm just making sure I'm just confirming. Yes. OK. Those are the right. I'll stick with those. All right. Finally, the Lakers have final possession down to game seven of the finals. You can pick one player. See,

this is already know the answer. Exclude then exclude someone. Exclude the person you can pick one player, but Kobe just twists his ankle So he's out one player from throughout franchise history Yeah, that The ball is in their hands just to get a bucket Who are you putting the ball in the hands of wait? Is it get a bucket or is it just like hit the final? Are we down to we need a three you need like how much we can is left. Okay, how about this?

We got one possession. Let's just say we're down one is that so it's so just so anything any any score is enough And you said Kobe twisted his ankle Kobe just was his ankle. Oh, man, the way that would be the right answer, but go ahead It's too obvious a question so we had altered. All right, so so I think this is the this is the right answer I think I think it's chat right answer, I think. I think it's Shaq, right? Like that's who you'd have to give the ball to for one basket at the end and you don't have Kobe available. I guess LeBron and Shaq. You can't do hack a Shaq? Shaq hit him when they counted. That's, you know, that's they hit him when they counted.

Wow. LeBron and Shaq would be close, but I think Shaq is you know, known as the most dominant big man and or dominant player ever Thanks Shaq. If you just needed a basket you're down right? Yeah. Did Shaq have any iconic game winners? No, right there was one Jabari is referencing against Utah Many years ago, but yeah. I mean the barn game in blue chips. I think he said game on that one. I'll you dunk. That was, that was a game winner technically. So there you go. Um, all right. I like it. It's the wrong answer, but I like it. Uh,

it's also the right answer actually. And it's also the right answer because you'll go all these. Yeah, they were all the right answer. Yeah, sorry. This one is, yeah, now I'm being told by the judges. You got all 100% correct answers. All right. Well done. You somehow did it, Raj. I don't know how that works, but you do it every time. Raj Chapalu, thank you so much for stopping by Miles and Jack. I'm at Boosties. Where do the people find you, follow you, support you, read you, hear you, all that good stuff?

Yeah, at Raj Chapalu on Twitter. I started posting on TikTok as well, having some breakdowns I'm at Boosty's. Where do the people find you, follow you, support you, read you, hear you, all that good stuff? Yeah, I'm at Raj Chivalu on Twitter. Started posting on TikTok as well, having some breakdowns there. I have the Lakers Detailed and Lakers Lounge podcast and I'm writing for Clutch Points. I was covering their South Bay and all the young players and Bronny. Got to talk to Bronny yesterday. He had his debut in the G League as well. So you can follow me all over there.

All over. Amazing. You can follow the show at the hashtag mad boosties, B double O S T I E S. You can also follow one of us on Twitter. I'm there at miles of gray. I'm at Jack underscore O'Brien and you can only follow one of them. It can't be both. Decide now. And I'll can only follow one of them. It can't be both. Decide now

And only one of us one of us can tell no lies and one of us can tell only truths So you have one question to ask may proceed And that has been another flawless episode of Monster Jack. I'm at Boosties. We all will be back next week Well, we will inevitably have some Emirates NBA Cup action to talk about then. Until then, buh-bye! Buddy Heel! Downtown! Swish! you