The Daily Zeitgeist - MJGMB #70: Life After Marcus with Josh Gondelman

Episode Date: July 20, 2023

Miles and Jack were pleased to be joined by comedian, writer and EP Josh Gondelman for an absolutely hilarious episode. The trio discussed the state of the Celtics and life after Marcus Smart for Josh as a Celtics die-hard before transitioning to the latest news from around the NBA. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm Keri Champion, and this is Season 4 of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. Every great player needs a foil. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Listen to the making of a rivalry.

Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Elf Beauty, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. I'm Keri Champion, and this is Season 4 of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Caitlin Clark vs. Angel Reese. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's basketball.

And on this new season, we'll cover all things sports and culture. Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio apps, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke. Captain's Log, Stardate 2024. We're floating somewhere in the cosmos, but we've lost our map. Yeah, because you refuse to ask for directions. It's Space Gem.

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Buckle up and listen to In Our Own World on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Trust us, it's out of this world. Well, well, well. Gotta start off the show with the three wells. And you know it's time for our annual off-season boosties, team breakdowns. And you know what? Is that what we're doing?

I mean, yeah, kind of. Okay, yeah, I guess we're focusing on two teams that we never talk about on this podcast. Well, at the very least, we're going to focus on one team with a fan of the team, and I think we can put that in a breakdown column because we do want to talk about the state of the Boston Celtics.

With comedian, writer, and EP Josh Gondelman on today's episode, I'm Miles Ray. And I'm Jack O'Brien. And this is Miles and Jack on that Boosie! Three on one, Davis, Rob, LeBron! There you go. Embiid driving, spinning, fading, hitting! Curry, a three-pointer, bang! Steph Curry from downtown again! All right.

Josh Gondelman, the God, is joining us. Celtics fan from the Massachusetts, Boston. I was like Massachusetts area. From the Boston area to be specific. Massachusetts, Boston area I was like, Massachusetts area. From the Boston area, to be specific. From the Massachusetts, Boston area. Connecticut. Yeah. That's right.

Providence. Yeah, yeah, you know. Banger Man. I'm from Banger Man, but. Banger. Yeah, shout out Banger. Yo, I played hockey there a few times. Oh, hell yeah.

But anyway, yeah. Josh, thanks so much for joining us, man. Like, Jack and I are huge fans of yours, but, like, we've never reached out until we started doing this basketball podcast. So, it was really great to have joining us, man. Like Jack and I are huge fans of yours, but like we've never reached out until we started doing the basketball podcast. So it's really great to have you on, man. Thank you so much for having me. I'm really psyched to do it. I was so thrilled to be asked.

I love to, um, I'm psyched to talk with you guys. I love to talk hoops generally. So like, let's love to, and I'm, I feel like it always gets contentious because I'm from the Boston area. So people automatically are like, like um predisposed to hate whatever i have to say so i'm like always kind of have like right my my guard up yeah why the celtics josh yeah i was a i was a fan of yours i was rooting for you we were all rooting for you we thought you were a knicks fan for some reason yeah i guess because you live in new york

i hung this up in your honor you know what i mean like new york knicks jersey so you know what now i'm gonna have to put this one up just to kind of bring it back that hurts no no no my bad my bad it's all wu-tang i love it i mean i grew up probably like eight nine miles out of boston and grew up a celtics fan and kind of the twilight of larry like i knew that larry bird was great but not from any evidence of watching him play basketball during my lifetime right because because i was born just early enough to watch the like back brace years and just late enough to fully miss the excellence and there weren't like youtube compilations you can just said to like listen to old men tell you about how good he used to be right or those like weird vhs tapes that like had your team's history because i'm kind

of the same way with like the showtime lakers like i was born in 84 so my like basketball consciousness doesn't really fully develop to about 1990 in that sense i'm like this is who yeah born 85 have the same thing and i was like and i was like man larry i'm like how come larry bird not playing again in this game that was like the question i always asked myself as a kid i'm like isn't he good i thought he was on the dream team but yeah i totally i totally feel that and you get those those vhs those are so great the highlight vhs's and you have man similar to like best of phil hartman snl yeah right yeah right best of michael jordan yeah two tom petty songs for some reason for real for real i had i had so many michael jordan just highlight tapes

and then dazzling dunks and basketball bloopers was another one of my favorites bloopers were huge yeah vhs bloopers were like the family friendly faces of death yeah exactly where it's like because i remember like there was one like i loved bloopers like i think maybe that's like your first entry point where you've like on a venn diagram you like you like sports and comedy therefore you love bloopers totally someone just front rim a dunk and fall on their back yeah you're like laughing you're like no he actually he like had a lot of herniated discs i'm like that's how larry bird got hurt yeah yeah right so uh tell us like a little bit what's your evolution so you said

you kind of missed the the larry the peak larry years yeah and then from there were you in and out of basketball you were just always focused on the i was mostly pretty in i i was like a kind of across the board new england sports fan and i think as as i've grown up it's like mostly celtics now i like check in on the red socks uh but it's i'm not i don't pay for the baseball one whatever it is like i'm gonna pay to watch mlb network 1000 identical baseball games a year yeah but i think you are required once you pay for it you are required to watch every game yeah every single that is my personality where i'm like if i'm not watching baseball value out

of this yeah i'm not extracting the maximum value yeah i i have like a real capitalist attitude towards my baseball watching gotta get them all in. It's so I'll check in with that. My, my dad and my sister are big Bruins fans too. So I like keep current on that, but the Patriots like NFL stuff has kind of fallen away as it is clear that it's more of a, a moral hazard.

Yeah. Yeah. It was like the teams were pretty bad through my youth. This, I mean, basically across the board, but the Celtics were pretty bad through my youth. I mean, basically across the board. But the Celtics were pretty bad. And then started, ticked up a little bit, had some playoff runs in the early aughts when I was in high school. That was pretty fun. The Paul Pierce, Antoine Walker years.

Yeah, that was my dad. My dad was the coach of those teams. Jim O'Brien. Oh, yeah. Yeah, oh yeah yeah yeah of course those are some fun years of course we have the same last name come on man how could i have forgotten yeah i know it had something to do with you jack those are a blast though in high school i did i played basketball until I played JV sophomore year. And even that was like a mercy non-cut by the coach.

And got more into high school theater. But this is exactly my vibe in high school. I was in Fiddler on the Roof my junior year in high school. And I think it was Celteltics either celtic sixers or celtics nets in the playoffs oh man and people didn't have smartphones so the people in the at intermission couldn't find out the score but i could because i was backstage where the computers were uh yeah cool so i saw that the celtics won and i played model the taylor if you're familiar with fiddler on the roof as i imagine all your listeners are just kindly taylor marries one of them hell yeah yeah we had a non-jewish tevye

and i uh oh i'm trying i'm trying i'm trying non-jewish tevye you guys have a convention right yeah yeah and and i played so i played i married one of the daughters whatever the one of the characters comes into my like tailor shop and is like do you have my vest mottled the tailor and i went i was supposed to just be like uh-huh and then give it to them big uh-huh and right you know old school russia yeah but instead i went i like kind of cheated up to the audience and went the shamrock green one and they went yes indeed and i was like good and my dad was in the audience like nice nice son josh killing it up there killing it up there he's like sports center in the shamrock green one yeah wow that was um a wordsmith at such a young age yeah they beat the sixers detroit and then

lost to the nets but they could not get past the nets it might have been it wasn't a series win though i don't think it was oh it might have been just the yeah it was definitely nets or sixers yeah um but yeah the shamrock green one yeah as a kid. So we'll allow yourself to see them. Just a real twerp. What's it like being in New York? You know, like, as I know, you know, New York, Boston, sports rival. I hear they have good pizza. Is the pizza as good as they say? No.

Is that one building actually over 100 floors? It's so big. There's a big thing on the top. No. It's way up in the sky so yeah no it's pretty good man you've seen these things yeah um just everything's open late now it's i've always grown up red sox yankees is a rivalry that people care about a lot in boston of course and then in some parts of New York, they care,

but not everywhere. Yeah, yeah. But do you find yourself like, because I feel like Nick's culture isn't, I'm born and raised in Los Angeles, but I've always had like one toe in New York, like my whole life, whether that's because of hip hop,

because of the, it's a hip hop, really. That's all, that was like the entryway to me being like, I love New York. The hip hop and the chopped cheese. Hip hop, chopped cheese, obviously. Sipping E&J's all that was like the entryway to me being like i love new york and then hop in the chopped cheese hip-hop chopped cheese obviously sipping enj sitting up in the stairway exactly you know smoking la and optimos uh but like the whole thing like i just feel like that nicks fan culture is really intoxicating and i'd imagine someone who works in new york with new yorkers and things like that does any did any of that rub off on you you kind of like you sort of see that you're like, that's fine for you,

but I'm over. I enjoy it. Like as an ambience, right? Like I enjoy when the Knicks are good. It's like fun that people are in a good mood. It's also, there's no,

I don't think there's any fan base in sports that, that rings more out of less than the Knicks. Like people were like, this is year this year it's like oh yeah five seed and they're like this is it baby and it's so it's like really fun just because the knicks fans it's such a new york thing where like any knicks thing is the greatest thing going even if it's kind of middle of the road oh yeah or even if it's like still emerging or on the decline and they'll and new yorkers like i i will say this at this point because it makes sense for context but and it's a show that no longer exists but i worked for jesus and marrow for their run on showtime and they're such big knicks fans and whenever they

would be they beat the celtics game one of last season. And they were just like talking cash. And I was like, come on. I was like, this is like the high point of your season though. And they won a playoff series. And you know, they're a fun team. But it is a fun ambiance just in the city where people are like, the Knicks, baby, we're back. What does back mean to you?

In the playoffs. I remember that series against Atlanta like two years ago. All the side talk videos that were coming out of outside MSG where you thought they won the chip. The way the energy, like Spider-Man was out there break dancing with Hennessy. And I was like, this is great. I love the energy.

It was so much fun. And then they just got, they lost in the first round people and then they immediately they go nicks fans go zero to 60 and then they go 60 to negative 60 yeah yeah we're just like yeah julius if julius randall misses another three-pointer i'll kill myself on instagram live just say make it end god make it end you're like what really take me now yeah i'm i'm ready i'm ready to meet you ma i'm ready to see you uh uh i thought i was ready when patrick ewing left but now i'm really ready i'm really ready Brunson is probably the player I'm most jealous of. Like I just,

I feel like I have just an unwavering confidence that he's going to like do something great for that team for some reason. He just like is so such a winning player wherever he goes, he just like finds a way. And I don't know. I feel like they get the right piece around him. And I know people are going to say like Embiid and I am now a Philly fan Josh uh and he yeah we'll get to it but um yeah I feel I feel like they have a chance at a title in the next 10 years because of Brunson for some reason I I think

that like it's it's weird to feel like he's the first, like he's the cornerstone because you need like Brunson plus guy better than Brunson. But it's also like that guy is so important too, right? Like if it was, if it was Jalen Brunson and Joel Embiid on the Sixers instead of James Harden, you're like, oh, maybe they get that done. You know, maybe they, maybe this year ends differently for them but i it's but i agree he's really good really fun to refer and msg like for all the hype about it msg is an awesome place to see a game this is so fun yeah i'm i've allowed myself because i've lived here for 12 years now

and i've allowed myself one new york team and so i've become a liberty fan because there wasn't there is no boston wmba team so i'm all in on the liberty this summer that's my whole thing but it but i do like appreciate the knicks it doesn't feel i i don't mean this in an insulting way to knicks fans it doesn't feel like a rivalry because the celtics and knicks are like never peaking at the same time at the same time yeah yeah we're like Philly. Boston is much more of a rivalry or LA. Boston is like the historic one.

Right. Right. Right. Obviously. Are you, are you rocking like the Rebecca Lobo throwback? Like at the Liberty game? Robos.

Yeah. I like have, I haven't pulled the trigger on merch yet, but it is, I think it's next time I go to Barclays, I think it's happening. Yeah. And a throwback though, too. Like let people know. That'd be let people be so good i'm about this like i'm not just rocking like

i'm i didn't just pop the tags off this thing i've been here yeah i'm gonna try to find one so briefly just like your thoughts on the celtics off season yeah smart is gone yeah oh i feel so bad it's i was in oklahoma city touring for stand-up when because the trade came in really late um and i had finished my show and i had a drink with a friend and went back to the hotel and saw that they traded him and i was just like alone in oklahoma like who's up that i can text because i'm in a bad place i feel bad down the street be like you got a good one yeah i know i'm just shouting into tennessee yeah i feel bad i don't think it's a good i don't think it's a good off season i i think grant

williams was like an he he was finding his way mostly out of the rotation. It seemed like he and Joe Mazzulla didn't see eye to eye on some stuff. Yeah, they're going big Mazzulla, I feel like. They're like, all right, these are the two guys who Joe didn't like. We're back in big Mazzulla. I thought they were going to maybe go in the opposite direction and be like, all right, we got to find a new coach. But they are tripling down, it would seem like, on Mazzulla.

Yeah, because the double down was they gave him that long contract right around yeah all-star break yeah uh and it was like a four-year extension or something and took away the interim coaching title i i don't for me the jury is still out on him as a coach but i don't love this like personnel philosophy, which seems to be driven by like what he's looking for. I've heard smarter people than I have said that. And, and so I'm a little, I'm nervous.

Cause I, I love Marcus smart, huge Marcus smart fan, like Grant Williams a ton. And, and I'm a, I'm a Chris Debs, Porzingis skeptic.

I feel like you don't think he exists. I do. Yes. I don't think he exists. I'm a skept Debs Porzingis skeptic. I feel like you don't think he exists. I do. Yes. I don't think he exists. I'm a skeptic. Thank you. I feel like. Let's see the birth certificate.

Yeah. I've seen grainy video of Chris Debs Porzingis. Yeah. I think that was just a guy in a Chris Debs Porzingis suit costume. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Walking with those floppy arms. Look at the flag in the background.

It's not actually waving in the wind. Come on. This is a sound Yeah, exactly. Walk in with those floppy arms. Look at the flag in the background. It's not actually waving in the wind. Come on, this is a sound stage, people. That's just Mike Muscala with a different haircut. I know you said the jury's still out on Joe Mazzulla as a coach. What about Joe Mazzulla as a comedian?

Ooh. I love Joe Mazzulla as a guy. Yeah, what's your take on because like whenever we're we scratched our heads those first couple press conferences were like is he messing with us or he's funny he's a like he seems like a fascinating guy he just like the first i don't know if this made it like made it out of containment of like celtics twitter but people straight up were calling him bazooka joe for the first half of the season because he just had gum in his mouth and was chewing it like with john wick intensity for like the first half of the season and someone must have been like man you can't do that anymore

people your eyes are like bugging out people think you're yeah or something yeah right and then he like got a was it jujitsu coach like that he that came to some of the games and they did like five segments on him during some playoff game oh that's joe missoula's jujitsu coaches why do we know this right so he just feels like kind of an eccentric guy who is like so even like weirdly even keeled in press conferences yeah it's very i'm like riveted by the joe mizzoula the person experience he took that big swing with uh the only royal family he's ever heard of is jesus mary joseph yeah that was a huge swing like i respect how hard not a good bit it's like no one's ever called them the royal family no it's not it doesn't make sense it just like does it track yeah oh man what but what a swing

he was like get ready get ready folks that it was so confident but the confidence is what really threw us we're like no that that's a joke or that's he's deeply serious christian like because like that that doesn't mean anything right right right he's absolutely nothing yeah yeah i did love that the whole team was so disrespectful to the royal family yeah i think there were some other comments like oh i didn't know they were there yeah like nagging the whole royal family which i think he deserves it i know oh were they did they know all the rules of our hand game between smart and grant williams though who do you think you're gonna be missing more

smart for sure i i think what a cruel question first yeah you know i just like a grant williams though who do you think you're gonna be missing more smart for sure i i think what a cruel question first hey you know i just like hey grant williams confidence though against the heat i admit that was almost superhero like that i just you know this season where he just like talk about big swings he was so getting jimmy butler's face which is so funny and so inadvisable and then the like maybe the goofiest loss of the season was he had to hit one free throw to win a game against the calves and he looked at donovan mitchell and was like i'm gonna make these both and then he missed both and they lost in overtime and he like looked in the eyes and like said it to him and then just missed so much one they still would have won and he would have gone like all right we still got the double

yeah oh my god then had to do the ray j after i don't care like oh you gotta make both oh you just like two i don't care break them break them miles ray come on i'm not gonna break them yeah i said i was gonna miss both you misunderstood me watch me miss both yeah oh man all on i'm not gonna break them yeah i said i was gonna miss both you misunderstood me watch me miss both yeah oh man all right i'm assuming jaylen brown like they they figure that out everybody yeah all the rumors are like it's just down to like a couple details here and there yeah but it's and i think it's it's tough for someone to walk like He would have to not want to be there so badly that he would turn down more money than anyone else could possibly give him. And everyone knows you just take the contract and then you're like, oh, actually, I also don't want to be here. And also, I don't want to be here.

Yeah, I got to go. I got to go. You guys can figure that out. When I signed it, I meant I would like $300 million. Yeah. So here's what I like about the deal it's pretty normal though right to get that max and then be like yeah now get me out of here it's becoming normal

yeah I don't want to do the old guy thing of like what is a contract between a rich old man and a young person of color mean these days yeah exactly i signed you for that many years you're gonna give me that time right no no no no as much as i like him and would like him no it's just it's just it's just becoming part and parcel of the

business you know totally more than anything do you owe me yeah all. Let's take a quick break. We'll come back. Well, I will try and push past the Sixers news as much as I possibly can. And we'll talk about other teams. We'll be right back. I'm Carrie Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports, where we live at the intersection of sports and culture. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry, Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Every great player needs a foil.

I ain't really near them. Why is that? I just come here to play basketball every single day, and that's what I focus on. From college to the pros, Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Angel Reese is a joy to watch. She is unapologetically black. I love her. What exactly ignited this fire? Why has it been so good for the game?

And can the fanfare surrounding these two supernovas be sustained? This game is only going to get better because the talent is getting better. This new season will cover all things sports and culture. Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke. All right, here we go. It's Cam Jordan from New Orleans Saints here to tell you it's going down On season two of my podcast, Off the Edge with me, Cam Jordan. Can't stop it. You know what's going to happen. Can't stop it.

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And we're back. We're back. Joel Embiid says he's focused on wearing a title in Philly first time he's directly mentioned the idea of playing somewhere else you know Celtic fans are already asking could we get him? yeah, oh that's

come up in a group chat already Celtic's Reddit was the second it happened I went to look at Celtic's Reddit and I told Jack, I'm like they're rubbing their mitts over there they're like yeah this could work this could work he and jason tatum seem to get along it's like all these like they work out in the off season together that i saw that being pointed to yeah it does it does have the the same feel as like when durant couldn't get past golden state and then like that was the team that had given him the most

trouble to that point in his career and then he just went when he left he went to that team that that would make a sort of sense to me um i would have to quit this show and uh watching the nba um just for for like five seasons and then i'd come back you come back okay joel and bead as a celtic like not not saying there's any likelihood of this happening he would just be so villainous to the rest of the league oh nobody likes him already yeah he already likes to be a villain and and like just playing for the celtics people are like boo we hate you it would really be wow what a big story if mb'd with uh the two wings like that that would be hard to stop i think yeah i mean i see why you would be thinking of it as a fan because that's that looks that looks like a little bit all right yeah that would be in and i'm normally like i didn't when when the durant rumors were

happening i was like i don't want to hear about this this isn't it just felt like wrong and that that nets team the kairi irving james harden kevin durant nets team just felt so cursed that it was like i don't want any part of this. No, there seems to be something with the teams that are artificially put together as a big three where they just don't catch the same breaks as teams that are built through the draft do. Something because that just seems to be who's winning of late.

It's like the team that drafts the great player like finds the finds janice finds yokich finds you know uh steph curry yeah so i mean you're like mercenary squad would have to be so deep for it to work like you see it work in other sports and you're like oh this is a bunch of mercenaries yeah uh but yeah it's a little bit hard with basketball for sure yeah and i don't like that i feel like there's been so much like salary cap talk with the new cba this this off season and i hate that i get i don't care about it especially because it's like you can trade for a guy and go way over but you can't sign a guy and go and it's like oh but then the owner would have to pay all this money and i'm like pay the money yeah i don't care what is money to him yeah don't make me feel bad i

don't i'll never feel bad for for someone who owns a professional sports team having to pay 40 million dollars in tax to the other rich guys in the week right right right it is funny like what how sports fans immediately act like it's their money you know like oh we can't do that not for that not for that not for that it's like well do you want to win because if the people in the front office do and they don't care then like i said they'll figure it out financially but yeah if it was my because it's also like it doesn't go the other way where they're never like because i'm like oh i can't if i were like they can't spend this money they'll go into the tax but it's never like i never have to think about what a reasonable amount is from my point of view i'm because if i had to pay whatever robert williams the third

salary he'd get paid like a babysitter what's your hour, I'll order you a pizza. Right. Can I get a cell phone, at least? Yeah. Prepaid, prepaid. I'll leave my phone. Is it mid-mobile? The hourly rate is only for playing time, unfortunately. It's not for time spent at the game. But I could only work for

48 minutes by that logic. But I will drop them off at home after the game. It sounds like work for 48 minutes by that logic yeah yeah but i will drop them off at home after the game so that's cool it sounds like you get played for every six or every five full quarters you've figured it out we figured it out yep um but yeah that that is i think ultimately the thing that makes the conversations like the people who are like i'm a wizard with a trade machine and like i you know i know all these details about like what we can afford it just ultimately at the end is like or they could pay more yeah or they could just like not play by those rules and pay more money than you're assuming they want to pay and and yeah then we're just talking about like a billionaire's appetite for risk, which seems boring.

That's my, I would say almost across the board is my note to just pay the money. Like, I don't care. I don't care. Like, well, it's 80 million. I don't care. Right. Pay the money. Yeah.

Are you kidding? I mean, that kind of, yeah, I don't, shut up. I don't care. Okay. I'm sorry. I don't, I can't even conceive a million dollars. Right know what i mean so what yeah fine 60 okay sure like no one's knocking on my door it's all the same it's all the same meaninglessness to me and it's all and if it were coming out of like i mean you know the stadium stuff is worse where

because it comes out of taxes but like we're not kevin durant's not getting paid out of the taxes of the people of phoenix kids aren't losing school lunches in tucson or like somewhere in the state nearby because because of kd right exactly going to the lunch sorry we're we're going from an old betamax cassette about the soviet union that's our civics class this year yeah because we had to we had to create a big three over here for the songs because we can't we got to get rid of aiden and once we do we'll turn the ac on here in this school okay that's the deal there's so many potholes every time you go over a pothole you're just like bradley bill what about harden do you want to talk about jimmy

harden jackie how you you james oh james harden uh james harden yeah yeah he seems like he might be uh coming back because i i think the 76ers value him as a superstar and that seems to be deemed unrealistic by other teams in the league. Who's that? Bob Iger talking. Yeah, I don't think they're going to find what they're looking for. And it seems like after the white party that we were all at together and bead Maxie Harden. And I,

uh, it does, it does seem like everyone's cool enough to at least like play on the same team. That being said, these are never James Harden's like huge leap forward seasons. The ones after he's like asked out, right.

You know, it's usually the season where he like comes out of shape. So that's just, I'm just trying to read the tea leaves here. Um, I don't really care at this point. Like I've, I've,

I don't know. Am I a Sixers fan? You know, the depends on what the definition of is, is, uh, um, yeah.

Does it bring me joy? I don't know. Does it certainly do something to me on a very potent cellular level? Does it occupy a lot of my mental energy? Of course. Yeah. Of course it does. Was there talk of him wanting to reunite with Russ at the Clippers too?

Like that's a good, I know that's something that I was reading. I've heard it all. He's, he's got a lot of wants. He was open to a lot of possibilities and, uh, it seemed like the Sixers weren't one of them.

And now it seems like it might be. So anyways, uh, summer league is what's keeping me happy. Uh, just watching, you know, Jabari Smith,

Jr. Keontae George, whose name I didn't really know heading into the summer league. Um, so Danny Ainge, apparently good at this, drafted Keontae George, who put up 33 points, 10 assists in one game. That's just going to be a name we have to know now. Keontae George. He looks good. The Jazz look like they're rounding into being way better than anyone could have expected at this point.

Yeah. Yeah. That is a twist. That really is. How? How? How did they do this? It's bizarre.

But the thing is, I think they were like kind of good last year. And it's I don't know. Maybe they'll be a lot better. Like they have of good last year. Maybe they'll be a lot better. They have some good young players, but it might just be like, remember that season? That was nice. We really put the pressure on that year. And then they really

faded at the end. They were just kind of... They packed it up early and then cam whitmore is i don't expect anything from the jazz but uh you know no nobody did last year we'll we'll see cam whitmore is the other one that jumped out rockets you know yeah this is like a genre of player where it's like based on interviews or like some character thing that they perceived like a player slides and it's a huge mistake i feel like every time like the paul pierce getting to the celdics uh paul george getting to uh the the pacers were both examples like people talked about like bane

went too late maxi went too late. Max, he went too late. Uh, I feel like Kentucky wildcat perimeter players always go too late, but Cam Whitmore drafted 20th. Like that was the story on draft night was like, well, why did nobody take him? Like he, he seemed good.

Uh, summer league. He was balling. I think he won like MVP of the summer league, put up 26 points, had eight steals in one game that's fine that's it that's so many steals that's so many steals wow me wow eight single digits okay yeah i mean it's not triple yeah triple double with steals whatever yeah that'd be pretty cool that's

all those are like my favorite stat lines too yeah somebody starts like approaching 10 blocks and i'm just like yeah so strange so i don't know those are now on the rookie radar i feel like people that i'm going to be league passing right on a regular basis utah i'm gonna be league passing utah i mean why not you know it's fun to look at fun to fun to keep an eye on that evolution if there is an evolution yeah but i think there is i'm heavy on the west coast teams for league pass because that's when i when it's not celtics for me it's like late at night my wife has gone to sleep and i'm watching games like the the last games that are just on so it's whoever is playing late on the west coast which is i mean obviously utah's not quite the coast but i i like that so i see an inordinate

amount like i imagine i'm gonna be watching a lot of scoot this year yeah scoots scoots in there i i feel like do you feel like you're gonna watch a lot of spurs games like i feel like anytime he's playing i'm gonna want to watch wimpy yama for wimpy yeah what of course i mean yeah we got this we had the privilege of seeing his very first game which wasn't the best one he had at summer league but even then i was like i just found myself barely saying anything just looking at him being like how so big yeah buildings of new york Yeah. Buildings of New York. I'm still not sure. We call them Wembinyamas here. Oh, wow. That's a full Wembinyama.

Wow. That building must be seven feet five. Wow. But they say it's only seven three. Yeah. That's like when a building doesn't have a 13th floor, but really it does. Yeah. Okay.

Well, how about this? Let's take a quick break and we'll come right back to get maybe some bold predictions from our guests before we enter the rapid fire round of questioning. We'll take a break. Oh, no. Yeah. Oh, Josh. I'm Kerry Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports, where we live at the intersection of sports and culture up first i explore the making of a rivalry caitlyn clark versus angel reese i know i'll go down in history people are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game every great player needs a foil i ain't really near them boys i just come here to play basketball every single day and that's what i focus on. From college to the pros, Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports.

Angel Reese is a joy to watch. She is unapologetically black. I love her. What exactly ignited this fire? Why has it been so good for the game? And can the fanfare surrounding these two supernovas be sustained? This game is only going to get better because the talent is getting better. This new season will cover all things sports and culture.

Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke. All right, here we go. It's Cam Jordan from New Orleans Saints here to tell you it's going down. On season two of my podcast, Off the Edge with me, Cam Jordan. Can't stop it. You know what's going to happen.

Can't stop it. That's right. Catch new episodes every Wednesday all season long. That's what you look for in year 14 to do more. No days off. And I'll have my friends who happen to be some of the NFL's biggest stars join me on the pod. We'll give you a player's perspective of the biggest storylines, trends, and did that really just happen moments from around the league.

And you know we'll have fun doing it. Oh, and I'll have a special guest each month join me to mix it up a little bit. Who is it? None other than... Psyche. You'll have to tune in to find out. So tap in to Off the Edge with Cam Jordan's podcast, your ultimate playbook for all things football and not football.

Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Mike Wright from the Fantasy Footballers Dynasty Podcast. You heard that right. The Fantasy Footballers have officially entered the Dynasty space. Every week we bring you the same in-depth analysis and entertainment you've come to expect from the Fantasy Footballers, only now from a Dynasty perspective. Maybe you've been living in the Dynasty Fantasy Football space for a while.

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And we are back. And, you know, since we've got a season coming up, we like to have our guests, you know, put their foot down and really make a bold, make some bold predictions that we can revisit at the end of the season. Just based on what little information we have. And I think, you know, Josh Gondelman, we would love to hear some of your boldest predictions. We're talking like, like, go for it. We're talking big swings like we were just talking about. OK, so first up broadly

what is your absolute boldest prediction for the upcoming nbac oh okay boldest prediction this is a two-part bold prediction okay luca mvp but the maavs are in the play-in. Oh, wow. Okay. I have to put it on his back. Okay, now, next one. Which team or teams will have the biggest increase in wins over last year? Go bold.

Oh. Biggest increase. You know, I'm going to say I haven't looked at the numbers, which makes this bold because it's stupid. But I think Pacers. Okay. I think that's it. I'll let that go.

The Pacers look interesting. Yeah. I feel like, I don't know. Even though Matherin was not looking great in the summer league, I think they're going to be great. And he didn't close strong last year, but I feel like he's a player. He'll figure it out. Yeah. 35 wins last year?

Well, it's 35 wins last year. Well, this is a bold prediction. Yeah. The Pacers. I talked to my, uh, one of my two Pacers fan friends this weekend, and he's like too hyped coming out of summer league.

Yeah. Yeah. That happens to us all. I'm a home grin fan. I'm, uh, very excited. Yeah, me too yeah highlight based i only watch the highlights of him i never watch the full game you're an eye test merchant he did

he's his highlights are so fun too yeah he's just doing silly stuff yeah my favorite thing about summer league is like really like the summer league championship like, whose worst players are the best worst players? Right. Yeah. Find out tonight from Las Vegas. Josh, which rookies or rookie do you think has the best chance at beating Wemby to the rookie of the year? Oh, I think if...

I think Dame's going to get traded and Scoot is going to put up wild numbers there. Okay. I'm going Scoot. Yeah. wild numbers there okay i mean i'm going scoot yeah yeah i like that um also which off-season move or moves will actually have the greatest impact what's a trade everyone's just like you don't realize this is that's enriched uranium right there i think grant williams is gonna get dallas up into the play in tournament. Wow. Okay. Super producer Jabari is big on Dallas's off season. I was not,

but I don't know. I think their off season was better than their season. Yeah. Which is always what you want. Yeah. That's yeah. You want to peak while no one's playing games. Well,

you see what they did off the court. Should we roll right into rapid fire yeah here we go josh the fastest segment in podcasting oh yeah you've wandered into the shooting alley the shooting alley yeah you did it yeah yeah did it again for sure done it again crossfire there we go crossfire hurricane uh josh now this is the fastest segment now we're gonna ask you a question you're to just respond react Just chest pass it right back Yeah exactly don't bloviate don't expand on your answers

And Jack and I start talking Just cut us off be rude Don't even take it out of the holster And if you shoot yourself in the foot just don't react Yeah if you cheddar bob yourself Just grit your teeth Just bear down Just be like you know be like Plaxico and G it out.

Okay? Now, here we go. I'm going to go into the club after I shoot myself in the butt. Have myself a night. Did he, like, start crying like I would have? Or what did he do? I can't imagine he didn't. Do we have the oral history of that evening?

I don't know. I am curious. And this is a test, Josh. You're supposed to keep us moving? I don't know. I am curious. And this is a test, Josh. You're supposed to keep us moving here. Yeah, yeah. We have it. Go. Wrong sport.

We're talking about the wrong sport. Okay? Yeah, I really let us wander off our field. Yeah, I know. I know. But here we go, Josh. Question. Oh, actually, allow me to actually back up a second.

Brian, start the clock. Brian's not even here, Miles. Well, he's here in spirit. That's all that matters. You want to go first or I'll go first? Why don't you go first? Okay. I don't even know where I am.

All right. I get it. I get it, Joe Biden. We were all involved in there. All right. So, Josh, we're asking each guest which young balls will have a breakout season in 2324 some of the guys we've been tossing around are tyrese maxi al shangoon austin reeves kate cunningham uh who are you throwing in the mix there i'm looking like you just came down off the mountain you know yeah

he is looking rough jack this is for you i think it's to be tyrese maxi i think it's the i think it's the year of maxi that's what i like to hear yeah we like the year mac we like yeah give show tyrese a little isn't that your kid's favorite player yeah he loves it he's the only player he knows in any sport and so if uh you know baseball is on he's like where's maxi uh so yeah we're working on some things with him well he learned he learned about all sports from bo jackson and deon sanders he's like well you should play both of them yeah this is ridiculous those two guys did it 30 years ago yeah what's the problem yeah um all right josh i have a magic wand you can have any player skill set for a day who are you choosing what skill set are you

are you picking from them i want i want the aaron gordon prime dunk contest dunk ability is this the second aaron gordon we've gotten i think so i think it is yeah and then the first one was yeah aaron gordon's perimeter defense perimeter defense yeah. They said just like the gritty perimeter defense and fundamentals. I just want to be able for one day to guard across five positions. In the NBA. Yeah. What kind of dunk would you be doing? What are you trying when you got that kind of lift?

I would want to jump. I would want to do one of those jumping over a guy or jumping over a thing. Yeah. Yeah. Wasn it a birthday cake one? Or was that his opponent? I feel like there was one in that dunk. It was him and Zach Levine, right? Yeah. One of them blew out a birthday cake.

It was a cupcake, right? With a candle. Oh, that was Gerald Green? Never mind. Ignore me. When he blew the candle out um where are we at josh josh you got to keep this segment going so you know what i'm going to get up there as my producing skills are rusty i've been on strike yeah uh oh here we go who do you pick in their ultimate peak prime shack or prime Hakeem? Oh, I aesthetically, I prefer

prime Hakeem to watch. That's all. Okay. Rapid fire. That's my whole answer. But why is that? Is this a trick? No, I'm asking. I just like, I've never heard of this player. I like Shaq.

I'm a Lakers fan. I know laker players so i was like well who is this guy i i think shack was so exciting and dynamic and dominant but like hakeem played with the level of there was like so much finesse to his game and played great defense which i always give extra points for um this guy sounds almost made up josh and i'm gonna i'm gonna go ahead and say that you made up this guy i did make it wait you said him to me i don't know you gotta keep this segment going josh this ain't on this is your pitch miles next question uh you can take two players from all of history to create your mad boosties edition nba jam team which two players are you taking? Oh, okay. I'm going from the world of NBA Jam to start. I feel like NBA Jam, Sean Kemp is unstoppable.

And so he's on this team. I'm just keeping him in that world. And then I think it's Steph Curry and Sean Kemp. I think he's Steph Curry playing in that world. I think it's Curry and a big. Like a Curry and somebody who could could just chuck you across the court. That seemed to be such a great skill that you really needed

in there. I was going to go with Jeff Hornacek and Grimace from McDonald's. Similar. It sounds like we're thinking the same thoughts. The Grimace is like, he's got touch around the basket. You think surprising. They don't run a lot of plays Exactly. Exactly. The grimace is like, he's got touch around the basket. Like surprising,

surprising. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, they don't run a lot of plays for the grimace, but it's, he's got that. They need to touch.

They need to. Yeah. They're not seeing what I'm seeing, I guess. Okay. How about this? You can, again,

now you have superpowers. You got a time machine. You got all that Bill and Ted's phone booth. You can place any former Celtics. Great on next year's roster. Who are you adding to the mix? So they need, they need like toughness and grit and defense.

Marcus Smart. I'm going Marcus Smart. Who, which I think, who they call Bill Russell 2.0. Yeah, right. But I'm going, I mean, I got to go.0. Yeah, there you go. But I mean, I gotta go Bill Russell. Yeah, he was pretty good too.

A Bill Russell-less team. There's no Bill Russell-ishness to them on the defensive end. But yeah, you know what? Mark is smart. Bill Russell's number two. Okay, good, good, good. Good ranking. He's always been number two behind him. And finally, Jack, which is me me or miles uh that other guy over there

i have to pick one of the two of you and i don't there's no parameters the question is jack or miles do you just call him john i said josh don't try and sabotage me john dude if i have to pick Jack or Miles, I'll kill myself on Instagram. Josh Gondelman. What a pleasure. We'll take that. We'll take that, Josh. Thank you so much for joining us on Miles and Jack got mad boosties.

Where can people, you know, find you and check out your stand up all that? Yeah, I'm across the board on social media at Josh Gondosh gondelman i've got a newsletter called uh that's marvelous it's josh gondelman.substack.com and i do all my tour dates i announce them all there joshgondelman.com is my regular website it's just my name everywhere and uh yeah thank you so much for having me this was such a blast i had a great time great to have you uh and yeah make sure to follow us on Twitter and follow our hashtag, hashtag mad boosties, B-O-O-S-T-I-E-S. I'm at miles of gray, G-R-A-Y. I'm at Jack underscore O'Brien on Twitter only.

Exactly. Threads? I thought you said you were dipping your toe. Jack underscore O underscore Brian on threads. Oh, yeah. I'm not on threads yet. Is it good over there? Oh, dude, it's so tight. It's so good.

Sounds so bad. Threads, bro? No, it sucks. It's weird. It's like being on Twitter, but it's controlled by who you followed on Facebook 20 years ago. It's very strange. It's one of those things it's

like you got like you you got to a party but you got there too early oh yeah yeah and you're like with all the early party people like i showed up on college dance that i'd been set up on a blind date with and we were the first two people at the dance and then we left for an hour so that we wouldn't be the first people twice. So I know this pain. Yeah. It's a bad feeling. In a way, you're kind of like, I mean, it's cool. Less crowded.

You know, it's like. Yeah, yeah. It's less hot. And I really like to explore this space with my body. The dance floor? Yeah. You need a lot of room. I'm going to need a lot of room. For sure.

And people not to mind getting flecked with sweat because it's going off. They call me the one man circle pet. All right. Well, that's going to do it for us this week. Make sure you tune in next week because you know we're going to be back with even more madder, boostier content than ever before. Talk soon. Bye. Bye.

Bye. Bye. Bye. Reese. Every great player needs a foil. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Listen to the making of a rivalry. Caitlin Clark versus Angel Reese on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of

iHeart Women's Sports. I'm Carrie Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's basketball. And on this new season, we'll cover all things sports and culture.

Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio apps, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke. There's so much beauty in Mexican culture, like mariachis, delicious cuisine, and even lucha libre. Join us for the new podcast, Lucha Libre Behind the Mask, a 12-episode podcast in both English and Spanish about the history and cultural richness of Lucha Libre.

And I'm your host, Santos Escobar, emperor of Lucha Libre and a WWE superstar. Santos! Listen to Lucha Libre Behind the Mask on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you stream podcasts.