The Daily Zeitgeist - MJGMB #169: We Have Ourselves A Series with Jabari Davis

Episode Date: June 11, 2025

Miles and Jack were joined by Producer Jabari for this week's episode. The trio discussed the Finals and what each team can do to adjust as the series heads to Indiana for the next two games!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. I also want to address the Tonys. On a recent episode of Checking In with Michelle Williams, I open up about feeling snubbed by the Tony Awards. Do I? I was never mad. I was disappointed because I had high hopes. To hear this and more on disappointment and protecting your peace,

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Buy Runs in the Family wherever books are sold. Hear insightful, entertaining discussions on today's important health and wellness topics on the Health Discovered podcast from WebMD. Through in-depth conversations with experts, Health Discovered podcast from WebMD. Through in-depth conversations with experts, Health Discovered covers everything from tips for healthier living to the latest on therapy and mental health. My goal is to really destigmatize mental health treatment and looking at it from a whole health perspective.

Physical health and mental health can be intertwined. Listen to WebMD Health Discovered on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. They say a series doesn't start until the road team wins a game. So I guess that means this series was on from the jump as the Pacers head back for game three with the split. We'll see if OKC can get it. You got it.

You got it. Hit it hard, baby. And look, we're going to see if O'Kasey can return the favor. We'll get into this matchup and more with longtime NBA writer and our legendary producer, Javari Davis on this episode. I'm Miles Gray. And I'm Jack O'Brien. And this is... Miles and Jack got mad.

Oh Kermit. Yes. Jack-O'-Man, Boosties! Boosties! been secured the Southlicks are NBA champions. Over the double team. Oh, night night. Yanis with the take. Uh oh, look out. No show time. What you got Yanis? Jabari, Davis, thank you for joining us today on this very, what is the penultimate potentially episode of Miles Check on Meta-Wrestling? Potentially? Pen pencil ultimate even ten shows

One episode after the finals so it's remains to be seen maybe one more maybe two more Maybe seven will say at this point. No stay tuned for the click. We don't know How we're officially announcing this? I think we mentioned it on zeitgeist before maybe. Yeah. I don't know. Word has spread. Anyway, so so here we are Jabari Davis last week. I'm still gonna stand. I still, just for my own little, I really would like the Pacers to win but it's it's kind of difficult to stick with this based on what I've seen now that I think the logical side maybe thinks okay maybe okay C has this but also Halliburton has been playing well so there's

a few X factors there okay maybe okay CKOs the Pacers the serves. That's a palindrome. OK, see Fonda. Sorry, I've been just going to say that. I know I was I was panic texting both of you after game one when I said, because, you know, remember heading into the series, I said two things. I said one, I'm not going to bet against the Pacers anymore. And then I follow that up with the bet against. I got OKC in five or six.

Yeah. One. I'm sure you guys remember the you could probably detect the trembling in my in my text. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I could. Yeah.

You were. I couldn't understand a thing you were writing. Your fingers were all over the place. Hey, that's a thing. I was very happy after game one. I was like, we were the only podcast that were three for three picking the Pacers. Nobody else. Simmons.

Nobody. Zach Lowe. Nobody. Everybody said OKC in five, which it still might be. But yeah, I don't know that that Pacers comeback win just There's just sometimes yeah when it feels like The NBA postseason is being written by something, you know, there's just like Emmy winning writer. Yeah. Yeah, and they're just like that and We're gonna have to do it again where they come back from an impossible

You know because what they were down 15 points basically the quarter. And then it just it started just chipping away, chipping away. And you could just feel the energy in there. It's like, oh, is is it are they doing it? Is it happening? And yeah, my goodness. So it's like, you just what? Seven seconds left. Halliburton just they're like, no, let's do it.

Let's do what we do. Popped up from the elbow and then boom, there we go. Down one. Yeah. How did you guys feel when you saw him get the ball? Cause I was so excited. Like I was like, oh, this, he's hitting this. He's absolutely hitting this. I didn't know if I knew it was in, but I go, this can, I was like, oh, it's this, it could happen now. It could happen now.

I didn't have the quite the confidence of maybe a Megan Gailey as to maybe what was going to happen there. But I did feel like anything is possible. Anything is possible. At that point. For sure. I both expected it to go in. And when it did,

I screamed so loud in my living room that my seven year old started making fun of me in a way that was genuinely hurtful. No. He's like, oh, my G boy. He thinks it's so funny. started making fun of me in a way that was genuinely hurtful. No, he's like, oh, my dear boy. He thinks it's so funny any time I'm watching basketball because I react so much to it and like, I'm not that, you know, I'm not a big emotional person

otherwise. And so he's like, he's always like, are you going to get sad about your basketball team again? Wow. When this happened, yeah, when this, when this went in, he was like, oh, and him and my nine year old were laughing, laughing it up. But did you get mad? Did you break it down for them? Yeah, I did.

I was like, this is why this is so amazing. It's like they have like a supernatural ability to just like come down from impossible distances. I was weeping, just tears streaming down my face. And I think they, you know, they kept making fun of me, but I think they ultimately in the long run, respect me more for it. Absolutely. It's why it's I've been saying since the first round when they were

come back from the against the bucks in impossible scenarios, did it against the Cavs. When I was rooting for the Cavs, because I was still in a place where I was like, I just think the Cavs are going to have a better shot against the Celtics maybe. And also I think they were, just think the Cavs are gonna have a better shot against the Celtics maybe. And also I think they were, like it was putting the Pazers up three one or something in the game, or two oh. And so I was like, well, I want to see a good series.

So I was rooting for the Cavs. So I got the feeling of like what it feels like to just be like, oh, this is inevitable. And when they came back against the Cavs, it's both like they just like suddenly can't miss. They also seem like they have way more energy than the team they're playing against like down the stretch.

Like and then it's just and then they just spread the court and are just like so deadly. It's a while. But anyways, I felt for the OKC fans, but not I don't know. Part of me feels like this is just a speed bump on the way to this is just like the 2001 finals is what I've seen a lot of people saying. You know, this was a fun game one. I got his moment. Yeah.

Oh yeah. On the other hand, I don't know, man. Yeah. Yeah. We'll talk about it. But like Carlisle sitting his starters when he did at the end of game two, I was like, does he know something? Is there like, does he have like a move left that he's just not telling us about? And he's like, this isn't not here, not like this. We'll go home and then pull it on him. I mean, for like how, you know, going into it,

it was like, you know, the, this, the Thunder defense versus the Pacers offense. When I was like, when you really look at it, like a third of the possessions the Pacers had, the Thunder were forcing turnovers. Yeah. And with that alone, that's when I was like, oh, I mean, I know, I know the Pacers won,

but that's a lot of turnovers. And that means the Thunder's defense is thundering. It just they just had to figure out that other piece. Because after game one, I was like, that feels like the kind of thing that's going to wake the thunder up for game two. Like, they're not going to let something like that happen in the second game. And that's pretty much what went down. Yeah, the turnovers have been I mean, that's always been Halliburton's thing

is not turn it over. He had five in game two and the Pacers just like couldn't stop turning it over. It was like, had people Googling it after the first half of game one, people were like, what's the record for most turnovers? Because they, did they have like 25 turnovers at the half? It was something absurd. Yeah. Yeah um they ended up with only like in the 30s but still third 30 something turnovers in a finals game is usually a death warrant yeah i mean yeah to the point where like if it's an if it is an extended series we're going to be googling maybe at the half time of game three okay what's the actual record for turnovers in a series for turnovers in a series. Yeah.

Yeah. Then, I mean, game two, night and day, that I was like, man, that like the way the Pacers move, it's amazing. And then you just saw like the one brain defense of the Thunder where it was just like without communicating people just knew who to switch to. Yeah.

And it was kind of, it was pretty unbelievable to watch that. And that's, that was sort of when my confidence started to really shake a little bit. I'm like, oh, see, I see when they defend like this, it doesn't matter how much movement you have off the ball. Like they're they're just going to they've they figured you out. And Caruso and Dort and just everybody. Absolutely. Just nightmares.

This feels like a match. This feels like a matchup where, you know, obviously both teams are great. You know, like they've done whatever they needed to do in order to get here, but it feels like if OKC plays its best, it is better significantly than the Pacers at their best. Like, you know, it can be competitive, but it, like, if, if, if both teams come up, if both, you know, think of teams play to their strengths, it still feels like OKC is worthy of the, of being the favorites as they have been.

If the Pacers hadn't come back and won game one, I feel like the thing that I would have been left with, the image of the game would have been Lou Dort contesting that shot at the rim, where he just like jumped straight up and like was like, above the rim and just straight up and down. It was like one of the best contests that I've ever seen. I've never seen like that play be that cool looking, but he just like went straight up and down and then also was like high enough to be sitting on the rim. It was pretty cool. Yeah. I, so the things that as people who picked the Pacers and therefore, you know, it have so much riding on this. All I care about is being right.

As we all do. That's why we podcast. Is I think Carlisle still like, you know, he's the only person I've seen beat a team that has this much more talent than him in the finals. In that case, he did something to LeBron James's brain. And LeBron was suddenly just this shrinking violet. He was like, I don't want the ball. You take it. You take it, Dwayne. And that hurt me because I'm a huge LeBron stan at the time.

But it's just, I feel like he figures things out and he like, will have things figured out and be like, okay, and then this game is when we like pull this part out. I still admire his chess move where he was like, well, you know, we didn't have a great offensive quarter because they had all their best defenders in, in the Knicks series when Brunson was out with foul trouble. So he was like seeding the idea that the Knicks series when Brunson was out without trouble. So he was like seeding the idea that the Knicks are better with Brunson on the bench, which was just like a master stroke. It's like such an annoying move, but also like if you were pulling for the Knicks, you're

like, oh, I bet. Yeah. A little Belichacki. And then the other thing would just be that we've seen OKC figure things out for a game, but then the Denver series was a real back and forth between OKC looking like they did in game two, really flowing on offense and defense. And then there would be a game where Denver would just be able to figure something out and push back.

And then the other thing that I think is giving me faith that this could be a series is that Halliburton, who is the best player on the Pacers hasn't had a good game yet. He had a big, he came up huge for them in the biggest moment in game one, but he still hasn't played his best. And we've seen him play absolutely incredible so far in these playoffs. So you got to think if he's able to, that has always been a thing where I pick the Pacers a lot, but I'm also like, if Halliburton doesn't turn into a pumpkin, which he's known to do every

once in a while, he'll just have stretches where you're like, wait, why? You start to understand why people thought he was overrated. So I think in this case, it's okay. See his defense. So it might not just be a thing where it's like, I had a bad couple nights, but yeah, he's a, he's a good enough player that maybe he'll be able to figure something out. Admittedly, when we got to the fourth quarter of game two, when he only had five points, I think it was like five points, five rebounds or whatnot. I, I was worried. I, you know, yes, credit to okay. C's defense credit to the length and the different looks that they can throw at him. Um, and, and, and everybody out there, but I was a little bit worried.

The fact that he, you know, he put up those 12 points in the fourth quarter, whether it's garbage time or not. I mean, we've seen this take place where a player has been struggling. You know, they, they, you know, they, they put together a decent quarter and then suddenly, you know, you get, you've got that player feeling good going home, uh, you know, for game three and maybe, you know, maybe all of a sudden he does, you'll, you'll come out and dominate in ways that we've seen him do it. Uh, but no, but to your point, I'm very much hoping it's not pumpkin time. I'm very much hoping we're not going to get like a repeat of, you know, one of your former favorite players,

uh, you know, that, you know, what he has done in the postseason in the biggest moments over and over. I'm willing to bet that, you know, one of your former favorite players, uh, you know, that, you know, what he has done in the postseason in the biggest moments over and over. I'm willing to bet that, you know, I, who are we referring to the, uh, big game, Jim, not big game, James, but big game, Jim. Oh, big game, Jim. Yeah. James Harden. Even though, look, I, I, I'm standing by okay. See it as my pick. I do think that Halliburton finds a way to turn it around and at least, you know, the, the patients, at least they can get something going at home. Sure. Sure. I mean, yeah, they've been better at home. Okay. See, he's been worse on the road. Uh, so, you know,

they're a young team and I don't know if they're ready for the energy that you feel in Indianapolis. Uh, first of all, I don't know if they're ready for that nightlife, you know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? These guys, get some young guys there, they get to the big city. You ever been to the big city before, boys? Their eyes are popping out of their head,

their tongue's rolling out of their mouth. All right, well, you know what? Why don't we take a quick break so I can just just dab my forehead all this sweat. Oh! And we'll be right back after this. You know what, why don't we take a quick break so I can just dab my foot. So I can go ahead all this sweat. Oh. Oh. And we'll be right back after this.

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Oh, my goodness. I'm a little worried that Oklahoma's defense might be something Halliburton can't overcome. Calling them Oklahoma is funny to me. I like to just call them Oklahoma. Just gotta call them Oklahoma. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, like there's this, it's fine.

Oklahoma. I'm going to call them city. City. I don't think city is defense. It's just too intense for the paces. No, but like there are just so many moments where like, whether it's Halliburton being streaky or they're inspiring the streakiness to come out, I don't know which one is. I don't know which one is.

I don't know which one is. I don't know which one is. I don't know which one is. I don't know which one is. I don't know which one is. I don't know which one is. I don't know which one is. For the, for the basis. No, but like, there are just so many moments where, like whether it's Halliburton being streaky or they're inspiring the streakiness to come out, I don't know which one it is. And that's what's concerning is, cause again, it's just the randomness of it all or whether they have known, let's choke off all his options.

Let's really make him play and just see what he can come up with. Because there were times when like, he was getting so frazzled, like just like forgetting to dribble the ball in possession or like just that one backcourt violation, just felt like these little things that he wasn't really had all the awareness

he really needed to be fully dialed in. And that was a bit of a concern for me who fantasized about putting a bet down on the Pacers. In my mind, I'm doing more of a spiritual bet where I will watch with the intensity as if I had. As if you had taken the bet. Yeah. Which is actually just as good. You know, a lot of people said I could have made it to the league if I hadn't

just, I had a problem with forgetting to dribble. Just frequently pick the ball up and run it down the court. Like farming. I would tell you about the time I was playing pickup hoops and I checked the ball to the guy at the top of the of the key and then he just started running back and forth with the ball. And I was like, wow, that's a travel man. I just like took the ball from you like, oh, you guys are playing real rules. Oh, OK.

Well, wait, I didn't know. I didn't know this was a fancy pickup game. Were you a straight from the yard? No, no, this was in college. Yeah, he was free from the yard. Who says that? Yeah, but even who's that? Oh, so we're playing that like it's basically.

Oh, we're playing real rules. Basketball. Yeah. Iball? Yeah. I don't know. I'm sorry, what did you think we were doing? Oh, like rugby throw around hoop ball or something. I think maybe he like played a, like you know how you can run on the baseline sometimes where you don't have to dribble?

Like I think he was thinking you could do that when you checked it up. That's what I'm giving him, like giving him a lot of. You are. Like he's put a lot of thought into the rule book. You're like basketball grace here. This is like an out of bounds play off of a made basket, right? Not I don't even know which one it is that you can run made basket made basket, but off a timeout you can't run, right? True. Yes. All right.

Anyways, that was all interesting. We did find out Tyrese Halliburton was dealing with lower leg discomfort. That might be something. But not worried about game three availability. So that, I don't know if that lower leg discomfort. I don't think anybody's ever played a game in the finals without dealing with lower leg discomfort. Yeah. Not to say, I mean, I'm tougher than that, that I would let that affect me. But like, you know, maybe he's not as tough as me. And that's the thing. Like had I always remembered to dribble, they say I'm built different and I would have made it to the league and a lot of people are saying, and it's not me, it's

just other people, we should talk about the fund, our boy Chet my favorite bibliophile A lot of people have seen that GQ video. Yeah, Chet went on his, you know, things I can't live without and gave his book recommendations talking about... He was just very transparent. He's like, look, dude, I dropped out of college. So I like stuff with a lot of words hurt my brain. So I like picture books, man. And these are what I like to call coffee table books. What I like to call coffee table books, What I like to call coffee table books, awesome Trump stuff with like,

this is something I made up instead of that. That's the phrase. And then when he showed one and then was like, and I've got all sorts of different varieties of these. Of books, yeah. Was that what you said? Varieties. Varieties. I've got a lot of different varieties.

Rather than saying I've got multiple books, I've got different varieties of books. Anyways,aring will go with from Chet and he had a better second game. It was almost like they were scared to use him or like they just felt like there was something off with him in game one because they didn't play him much and he's many people say like second best player on the team, third best player on the team and really good defender. So I have a thought about that and look, OKC fans are going to be mad no matter what you say about their team. Look, again, I picked you guys. I think Chet's going to be great. But I will say this. There are times where, because I notice it in both games, there are times where his energy

is not great. You know, like if it's coming to him, you know, it's fine. But if it takes that extra effort or if like, if he hasn't gotten off to a good start, I'd have seen him kind of slump his shoulders a bit. So I, you know, part of me did wonder if that had to, I'm just being honest. That's just what his shoulders look like, man. No, but no, I, I do think, um, when he's giving, you know, max effort, uh, he, he'd obviously see, you know, sees the floor more. Um, but it was good to see him get it going in the first quarter of game too.

Well, same thing with Jalen Williams. And I think in the second quarter of game too, that's the thing about OPC, man. Exactly. So you're saying that, you know, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's. Same thing with Jalen Williams. And I think in the second quarter of game too, that's the thing about OPC man. Caruso with 20 off the bench. You got Caruso going 20 off the bench here. That's going

to be a tough one to win because he's taken so many points off the board at the other end. And then if he's like additive on the offensive end. Yeah. yeah Yeah, I don't know man. It's as it's not Look, I didn't say it was gonna be an easy win for the Pacers. Mm-hmm TJ McConnell by the way Just I I respect this man. My dad used to coach him I always And my dad used to coach him. I always would just look out there and Marvel that this man was out there in an

NBA and he has done nothing but get better. And like now he's contributing in a finals game and he's like a weapon. Like he's not somebody you have to hide. Like he's out there. He's, I mean you kind of have to hide them on defense, but like he's doing things for you Like he's playing and everyone's like TJ McConnell's like yeah like you you wrote in this that he's like playing the beret a role in the if we're going back to the Dallas upset of the Heedles But yeah, he's

He's something man doing a lot with a little pride of you of. Shout out to all the former Wildcats in this series. And shout out to his sister. Did you see that picture going around? I did. I think she just got drafted. Oh, okay. Oh, nice. Jack, I didn't know where that was going.

I'm sorry. I was like, it's fine. Wait, and then goes down two days after joining Mercury? Oh, did she? Oh, I didn't see that. Oh, no. Yeah, right knee injury in her first Mercury? Oh, did she? Oh, yeah. Oh, no. Yeah, right knee injury in her first game. Oh, that sucks.

But it's fine, just three to four weeks, so it's not like a terrible thing, but yeah, that's not a good first memory you wanna have. I wasn't familiar with her game. No, yeah, point guard, point guard. I was not familiar with her game, okay. All right, TJ. All right, TJ, way to go on that one.

Good on you, lad. Good on you, that mate. Not his wife, his sister. It's all right. But good on you. Good genes. All right. Way to go, TJ.

Way to go, TJ's parents. All right. Anything else we wanna talk about? The draft is coming up. We've only got a few episodes left. Yeah. Does seem like people are moving away from the 76ers picking the second best rockers guy, which I was happy to see.

I think the ringer just had them picking the dude from Texas. I was going to say, is there someone you would actually actively prefer? I think the guy from Texas sounds good, but I don't know who you guys like. And are you, are you doing any draft research? I haven't yet, but I was going to say, you know, to each of those guys credit, at least they weren't matched up with somebody else. That's also in the top five in the other college team wasn't good. So their college team was bad. Yeah.

Yeah. As a Laker fan, I just look at these as little trading tokens that we use. That's the saddest part because that is truly no, like Jack, that really is how we look at the draft. I don't know. Maybe that's how the rest of the league looks at our teams. I just think of the Sixers as a farm team for the Lakers and like, I w I had some hope at one point that, you know, our best player,

Joel Embiid might one day, you know, graduate to the big show, AKA being on the Lakers. Yeah. But it doesn't look like he's gonna make it there. Well, it's not for everybody. The Lakers aren't for everybody. It's a lot of pressure. That's the thing. Lot of pressure, a lot of real hard pressure.

That's for sure. The one thing is, they say Kevin Durant, that trade seems to be about to, I mean, it's bubbling bubbling and then maybe the Knicks might pursue him, which would be. Oh, it was something that would be interesting. Cindy, I wonder if they would be sending sons. Is that the idea? What's the one you're hearing? I heard today was between like Houston, San Antonio and who's the 13 Wind horse, windy, the wind man, the horseman of the apocalypse believes Kevin Durant will

be traded in coming weeks. Amid Nick's rumors. That's exciting. Like I'd like to see him on, I think I heard one trade that was like him for cat because cat and a Booker are homies and former Wildcats. Durant would be fun. But like, does that improve the Knicks that much? I think it's maybe good for them long-term because I think Durant has less on his contract right in the future.

What it also does is like in a series, you're not overly reliant upon a six foot guard, like, and this is not taking nothing away from Jalen Branson because he was absolutely spectacular, but being able to have both of them in those scenarios, I feel, I'd feel better about it. Yeah. Yannis also looks like he's ending the speculation, huh? What'd he say? He wants to return with the bucks.

He's going to return with the bucks. There are more seed see the Milwaukee bucks I mean, I think so. No, actually the NUC if you bucks I believe Oh, the NUC if you bucks, so he's going to the Knicks. Apparently there's no They're saying there isn't much of a market for Yannis right now with him not telling Milwaukee He wants to leave and them not actively pursuing anything and then there's a Euro Hoops article that's saying that, yeah, he wants to go back to the finals

with the Bucs. So he said that finals are different, I hope to be back soon with the Bucs. Oh, that's cool, man. But again, these are words being spoken now. Terms and conditions obviously I think apply. But I think for right now, he's doing the thing. I mean, everything that

the rumors are saying, it doesn't seem like a lot's happening, but I think for right now he's doing the thing. I mean everything that the rumors are saying It doesn't seem like a lot's happening, but I feel like obviously that all that can change based on Any that's cool that he wants to go back to the finals with the Bucs I want to go to the finals with the 76ers and like play point guard So that's cool. Yeah, I hope it happens for him. I hope it happens for me That's cool. I hope it happens for him. I hope it happens for me. Should we take a break? Take a break. Let's take a break.

We'll be back for the rapid fire round of questioning. Jabari, hoisted on your own petard. All right. Jean-Luc Petard. Welcome to the You vs. You podcast. I'm Lex Burrow. And every week we sit down with some of the biggest names in entertainment to talk about the real stuff, the struggles, the doubts, and the breakthroughs that made them who they are. We go deep, throwing childhood trauma, family, overcoming loss, and the moments that shaped their journey. These honest conversations

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Javari. Yes. I love and I hate that this has to happen, but you are now in the hot seat. This is a fast question. As for drivers, press fire, press, press, press, press, press, press, I got all on sports. My God, did you hear how fast he said that? Yeah, I just took the micro machines guy jobs. That's how quick I said that.

Now we do. We're going to ask you questions and you respond really quickly. Don't even think about it. Just we've hung back quickly. Hey, you know what I mean? I'm thinking I'm being as doing elephant. You know what I mean? Okay.

Are you ready? Do you accept the terms and conditions? I do accept Brian start the clock. Oh my God. you accept the terms and conditions of this challenge? I do accept. Brian start the clock. Oh my God, he accepted the terms and conditions. He didn't even read them. This one, this one. They're 14 pages.

I know, guess what? Intricate financial products that you've just agreed to go in on with Miles. Now Jabari, bring me that spleen that you just gave me. The terms are not favorable. Jack, do you want to go first? I'll go first, Miles, if that's OK with you. It's not OK with me, but I like to be polite.

So you go ahead. OK. See this player or that player, Jabari, this is a little thing that you invented. Now I'm going gonna use it to, you gave me just enough rope to hang you with, man. All right? You messed up. Big time.

Interesting line to come from a white guy. That's interesting. Anyway. How much rope, how much rope did you need? And you just gave me. How much rope did you need? Just the right amount. Wow, Ruk Jabari, there's some strange fruit

on these trees, huh? Strange fruit. Don't eat the right amount. Wow. All right. Jabari, there's some strange fruit on these trees, huh? Strange fruit. Don't eat the peaches. Whoops. Jabari, you said this player, that player. Let's ask the ultimate this player, that player. It's the final-ish episode. It's the finals.

Michael Jordan in today's game. Poor LeBron James in the 90s. Peak both. Oh my god. Okay, so you can't go wrong with either. And while yes, I would always love to see LeBron play against some of those guys, give me Michael Jordan no matter what right now because for one, I want him in today's game, but I also want him in today's world with social with. Yes. I want peak Michael Jordan with social media, a camera, a megaphone everywhere. And yes, please give me that. If he is entering the league now, is he signing with the Paul brothers? Like what? You know what I mean?

Like what is he? What is he an influencer? Like what does that look like? Like he's just I know on the Paul brothers. No, on the Paul brothers. Oh, man. Let me see. I do like streaming like IRL streaming maybe. Yeah, probably. He would be as we saw in the last dance. He's a real like music fan, right? Yeah, King of Latimore. He'd be somebody who was a DJ on the side or something like that. He'd be live streaming the G&X concert.

Yeah, or I could also just see him being really into Mary J. Blige and kind of old 90s for his age. They're like, man, Mike's always listening to his washed R&B, man. What is this? Is this club group and B, man. What is this? What's this? Club? And what is this?

Yeah. I think that would be the most interesting cause like, I feel like LeBron would just be a better magic slash like it'd be like Malone, like magic in Malone's body is like kind of what, and we kind of, we saw what those guys look like in the nineties. Like Jordan today, I just don't, I have no idea how his game develops, you know, like cause he would probably be shooting 10 threes a game. My goodness.

And he'd probably be making a lot of them. Yeah. Right. Yeah. 40 Jordan at 40% from deep shooting. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

And just a complete stopper like every. So that, that would be the most, that would be the most interesting. I don't know. Like I could see it going either way. I'm so excited for him to have today's slang available to him. Is it, is it fair? Is it fair to say like it would, could potentially be something like what we're seeing from ant? Maybe. Yeah. I mean. 10 threes a game with that athleticism, not quite as seemingly physically imposing, but right.

There's some things that he would do when he got like, he used to be like, ants good going to the basket, but like he kind of needs a lane and like, MJ was just like so creative when he got in there and like would always find a way. So I feel like it'd be better than what we're seeing from him personally. Jabari, next question. Uh oh. Shaq, he recently said, quote, I would definitely love to play in this era.

I would still bring the football pain and I would be different. I'd be watching these podcasts. Oh, Shaq couldn't play in this era. He couldn't guard the three. It would be simple. As soon as Joker shoots a three, I'm going to run right past and I'm going to post up in the lane for 100 seconds. So if you hit the three good, but I know by the time we get the ball and throw it down, I'm definitely going to hit the two

I'm going to make more twos than you hit threes. So I will probably only shoot a three like if we got up, but I would not go away from my strength. My strength is power and height. So I'm going to take the high percentage shots. What team benefits the most? Who's an instant winner by signing Prime Shaquille O'Neal? The Los Angeles Lakers. Thank you. No further questions.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Questions, we're done here. No, I mean, I'm- No further questions. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No further questions. Hey, hey, hey, hey, questions, we're done here. By the way, I love Shaq, I 100% love Shaq, and while I wish we could see Jordan, I don't know that Shaq really would want to play

in today's world with all of the scrutiny, with all of the eyes, and I mean, no disrespect to certain people, I don't see that as a great fit. I don't necessarily think he would love it. Well, I think we just, if we purely focus on just the basketball of it. Oh, yeah Give it give me that every day of the week cuz he is truly one of those few players You're like, oh like in any era don't because people talk all the time. They're like, bro

They can't have no one could handle Shaq right now. Nobody nobody that's why it was funny And you know what the The cute little Twitter decisions, or excuse me, discussions, they're fun at times, but there was this, at one point, there was an actual debate whether like Dreymond or any of the undersized centers from today would be able to match up physically, you know, with Shaq and so yeah, you didn't watch it.

I mean like Dreymond? Yes. Like that's a, That was a conversation, that was a social media conversation. Cause you get six fouls. You put them at the line six times. The thing you're, you're also out of the game. I do think Chet would be able to body up with them though.

I think that that would be like that. They would have to break that. They would have to make it illegal for them. Yeah. I mean, I guess who would be the closest like, cause obviously Shackaway said Rick Smiths is the one person that gave me the most problems. I feel like there's a lot of Rick Smiths out there.

I'm like, who are the Rick Smiths of today? I feel like a lot. It's the, no, no, it's the, his, the person that would give him trouble is the guy he mentioned and he specifically mentioned it because of his insecurity, the joker versus shack would be matched. It would be, I would watch that 82 games a year if I could. What about Steven Adams?

He just maybe from a maybe like from a brute side of it, everything else might be like he can. He's not afraid of a physical physical contact, but every other skill set. He's I think right there is where it is. He's not afraid of it, but, you know, but he should slow him down. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Another Steven Adams on the Barbie. I do feel like his analysis of how he'd win by giving Joker open threes and then making twos

is like a little bit like his analysis of how you keep from having to pay too much for gas. Yeah. Is you, you only let it get down to a quarter, a three quarters tank, and then you fill it back up. It stays full. Boom. So you never have to pay that much. $20, $20 Ernie. $20 Ernie.

But I guess not. Yeah. How much would the game change with Shaq in it now? You know what I mean? Like with the league, if he was there and we had a Shaq type player now, would that, are we now entering a different kind, like does the emphasis become different with a player like Shaq rather than like the space and pace kind of vibe? I think we're already in a situation where the league is getting,

we're getting varied styles again, but we would really have to have varied styles because you simply couldn't game plan against him the way that you did against most of the league. Right, right. Jack, you got another question or should I hit him with the final question? Hit him with the final. The closer.

Jabari, final question. Jack or Miles? Oh, man. Bringing it back. Wow. You know, guys. Nope. I know what you're about to say. No, you're going to shoot me, man. This pathetic man. No, I could not possibly it's like it asking me to pick Mike from between my children, which I do not have any.

They great. This should be for some reason comparing you guys to children. But you great. This should be easy. I'm going to go ahead. But I'll say this man. Why wait for the last show? This has been such an incredible run.

I so much appreciate working with the two of you as well as Brian. You're the plus one Brian. I so much appreciate working with the three of you for these episodes that it has opened doors for me in ways that I can't explain and it has been a hell of a ride. So thank you guys.

I choose both. I choose you. I'm going to straddle that fence. Going to totally weasel out of it. Coward. Coward the way out. Cause I don't know what you said. The second I didn't hear Jack or Miles, my brain just turned off. No, I could tell by the tone that you weren't going to pick either of us. So I checked out.

I wish you luck, man. I wish you a lot of luck, man. I wish you luck out there, man. I wish you luck. I wish you a lot of luck. I wish you luck out there, man. Yeah. I'll be all right. No, but the feeling is we do the last episode without Jabari and the show is just a complete disaster. We don't even know who won the final. So good. They're like, no, no, no. Whoa. Hey, are we sure? Oh man. Well, Jabari Davis, thank you so much for being a seminal part of miles of the best as who's T is an originator, the foundation of the show. And honestly, when we were like, we're like, who do we want to work with? We're like, Jabari, Jabari, Jabari.

No question. It's that simple. It was not even it was a no brainer like Shaq coming back in the league for us, man. So honestly, you honored us. I'll say it's more of a no brainer than Shaq coming back in the league. I actually didn't believe what both of you were saying

about Shaq coming back in the league. I think he would be a defensive liability. Bum city. It's a double edged sword. It's a double edged sword. A big and strong cat. Okay. Jabari, where do the people find you, follow you and all that? On Twitter and blue sky. Jabari A. Davis. Amazing. You can find me at Miles of Grey

everywhere. I'm at Jack underscore Brian on Twitter and Jack OB the number one on B-Sky and if you're if you follow the discord for boosties, you should just go to the daily zeitgeist discord and We'll be we'll be over there. Yeah, and to that point shout out and thank you very much to Paul Garravento Oh, yeah, all of the folks in the discord. Yeah Hold it down. You kept the conversation going and you took care of things Thank you legend. Well, look we Just for master class. Yeah by Gabra venta Killing it with that. Oh very little city funder

It's city city funder. Yeah. All right. Paul Garaventa, big cheers to you mate. A1, absolute legend. And all the listeners too, we will be back and the love fest will continue because it's not the last episode. But we're almost there. Bye bye! Bye! I also want to address the Tonys. On a recent episode of Checking In with Michelle Williams, I open up about feeling snubbed by the Tony Awards. Do I? I was never mad.

I was disappointed because I had high hopes. To hear this and more on disappointment and protecting your peace, listen to Checking In with Michelle Williams from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What up, y'all?

This your main man Memphis Bleak right here. Host the Rock Solid podcast. June is Black Music Month, so what better way to celebrate than listening to my exclusive conversation with my bro, Ja Rule? The one thing that can't stop you or take away from you is knowledge.

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believe. Based on the viral ESPN story I did a few years ago, this book will blow your mind and bring you to tears. Buy runs in the family wherever books are sold. Here insightful, entertaining discussions on today's important health and wellness topics on the Health Discovered podcast from WebMD. Through in-depth conversations with experts, Health Discovered covers everything

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