The Daily Zeitgeist - MJGMB #79: Rumors, Updates and Pre-Camp Talk with CJ Toledano

Episode Date: September 21, 2023

The guys were pleased to be joined by podcaster and founder of Follow Through, CJ Toledano for this week's episode. The trio discussed the latest news and rumors from around the league including updates on Damian Lillard and James Harden before transitioning into expectations for CJ's Lakers!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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and take you behind the scenes of this iconic season. Listen to MTV's official Challenge podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Guess what, everybody? We are two weeks away from preseason basketball. I know. And about a week away from the start of training camps. And we'll get into some pre-camp news as well as the latest rumors surrounding Dame and Harden. And plenty more with podcaster and founder of Follow Through, CJ Toledano.

On today's episode, I'm Miles Gray. And I'm Jack O'Brien. And this is... Miles and Jack O'Brien. Curry, a three-pointer. Bang! Steph Curry from downtown again! Giannis with a take. Uh-oh, look out. A little showtime. What you got, Giannis? CJ Toledano, host of the new show Casuals and founder of Follow Through. You have blessed us with yet another guest appearance on Mazin Jack. I'm Matt Bustis. How are you? I'm good. It's a good time to be on here during the dead.

It's like, literally, this is, I'm tired of there not being any news, but people are, like, pump faking where they're going. So, like, hopefully this stuff is figured out in a couple of weeks. But I've been counting down to my family, really just my wife and my baby, the days until Lakers basketball was back. And I made the same mistake as a lot of people where people were like 20 more days and then found out it's to media and so like that like it's it would have been pathetic if i didn't realize that when the countdown was over and then it was just like me looking at photos of the same lakers in lakers

uniforms that haven't changed that's what all fans are really in it for is media day. When we get to see them in their uniforms, maybe we'll get another Jimmy Butler pair. I was saying he, he made media day worth tuning into, I think with the, with the wig. But yeah,

I don't know. We'll see. We'll see what kind of, what kind of spirit he's in now is the Laker uniform going to change any bit this year? I feel like every year there's a thing like it's going to be a little more gold than last year. And actually they've gotten less and less gold. I know. I think they got some alternates that are fine.

You know, the alternates are interesting every year. But yeah, they got some alternates. But other than that, you know, kind of classic, like the little rug um jersey i got behind me that you know right they still have the classic uniform that like it it is a different yellow but it's still iconic in many ways right right right i get it i get it yeah don't mess with the yellow yeah no i mean it's been a big thing with laker fans huge like where's no it's not i was making with Laker fans. Huge. I was making Lakers merch, as you guys know. And people were like, better print that on gold. That better be on gold.

And I'm like, I thought gold and yellow were the same thing. And so that was part of my initiation into Lakers fandom as a somewhat recent fan of the Lakers. But I learned everything on goal. Wait, did you say that jersey behind you is a rug? This is a rug, yeah. From a dude named Slow Jams. He makes some really dope stuff. Lakers fan.

Yeah, this is a rug. And so I was like, you don't put this on the ground. You don't put a jersey on the ground to clean your shoes. You frame it. No, no, no. Exactly. You start a whole podcast just to show it off. Exactly. That's a prayer mat for some people you know what i mean yeah yeah the leaked lakers uh city edition jersey is like it's got a pyramid thing going on like it's spelled out like they

just like put the whole name right los angeles is spelled in a like a rooftop yeah yeah yeah the n is at the top and everything descends down from there yes yes i'm not sure what they're trying to say but hey you know it's the lakers it starts at the top um so where are we at oh at a certain point you know they've been doing the city edition jerseys for a while. Um, at a certain point, it's like, it feels like they're,

they're just being like, I don't know, man. Like, what if we like put the letters in like kind of a weird pattern? Right. Yeah. What if we like scattered the normal text all over the Jersey?

What if it was like kind of a word jumble it seems like it's a throwback to like how some of the team staff had like stuff that was printed like that but like come on give me like a Randy's donuts type thing like that I've seen like some in and out photo shots where they did like

you know like the cup that would be right like that's real everyone when they come to la they want to go to in and out that that's something that's true represents whether or not you like in and out it is a part of our city yeah no it is it is it'd be sick it'd be sick to see them rocking that uniform but we can't have like white and red because then we're then we're straining the clipper nate clippers you know what i mean do that right yeah yeah we should do that i'm not a fan of the clippers that's ready for them that's perfect you know perfect oh my god that's so nice for them

it'd be like a little religious like bible verse on the back of the jersey somewhere yeah on the inside if you look at the reverse side of the the jersey underneath where the little player tag is it'll say john 316 baby there you go you already know we do already know well the last time we talked miles what were we talking about the US had lost is that yeah yeah yeah we just we talked about how they lost and how some people were just in true disbelief

and getting angry when it's not real you're saying the FIBA the World Cup isn't real well the US team that we set out there is not the real representative of U.S. basketball. That's not the team that we say we're giving it our all, so to speak. But we were still saying, that's still a good team. And you'd expect, I think I would expect slightly more than what we did. CJ, if that team was an NBA team this season,

how many wins? At best, 45. What? Wow. 45, 50. Come on. No one likes this team. I think we do.

The thing is, 45 wins is actually not that bad in the current NBA. You're making the playoffs a little bit, right? Okay. I thought they'd get like... I thought they'd be the best team in the league. I don't know. I don't think so. I think like... Think about it. Austin Reeves,

who was starting for them? Ant was the best player on the team. Ant was the best player on a current team, and they got knocked out of the playoffs. The rest of his team is not that they had one good center. They have a one. Yeah.

They had one great center, Jaron Jackson jr. And he's, you know, mostly not mostly defense, but he can't, he can't stack up against some of these other centers. You know what I mean?

Like, I don't know. Wow. I don't know if they're the best NBA team coached by Steve Kerr with an assistant being known come on like

wasn't he had like quotes saying like go coach yourselves like these guys want to enjoy the Philippines we all know that's what it was yeah was seeing some friends and family i don't i'm not mad but and then we did we like okay this is where it's a little interesting it's like we've we've woken the beast of laban kd and these other guys where they're trying to do redeem team again

but now it's like 12 years later yeah so that hopefully that doesn't backfire you know it's giving space cowboys yeah that's wild yeah that's that's what i'm getting and i know disrespect to them but i feel like there's plenty of the youth uh that could step into the fray that would do just as well just as well so you think because Ant won how many games last season? With Gobert, he won like 42. So you think this team, this

supporting cast is a three-game improvement over... Okay, maybe I'll get in the 50s, but think about Tyrese Halliburton on the Pacers. They didn't do anything. Who else on the tyree's halliburton was on the pacers they didn't do anything like who else on the squad mccall bridge is like over on the net like they these guys didn't really make a dent and you do gotta you gotta take away some from them in that they're

not so like they weren't really playing the role not fitting the roles appropriately right so i think like they're they're absolutely not a bad team they're not like the the best team okay you know interesting interesting i love it i got i want i want to run this uh experiment now i'm like very interested i'm like 2k yeah that'd be fun what does 2k have to say but i mean like we stacked like there have been some lakers teams and not to just keep talking about Lakers, there's been some Lakers teams that we stacked them with names that would have made up a FIBA team, and it just totally backfired.

Right. Yeah, yeah. That's true. That's true. Carl Malone? Carl Malone? Yeah, if you were like, Carl Malone, Gary Payton, Shaq, Kobe, weren't the best team in the world or in the NBA, you're insane. It's like, well, they

made it to the finals, which is totally fine, too. Caught them one year after they turned after the expiration date. And Superduser Jabari, of course, says Carl doesn't hurt that knee. They win. They win a title.

We're not even having this conversation right now. Jack's probably not even born. Sliding door situation, you know? Yeah, exactly. Anyways, so despite failing to medal in the FIBA games, Team USA is

atop the FIBA rankings now. They're ranked number one. They entered the tournament ranked number two. Are they just looking at the fact that, ah, but once they lose, they seem to bounce back and get all their talent together and therefore they're number one?

Their greatest strength is to be publicly humiliated. Yeah. And then they come back with a vengeance. Interesting. That is just a great example of failing up though like literally yeah it's like yeah man we couldn't even get in the top three but you know what climb those climb the charts baby to the top spot i mean yeah they've the world should have known they've gotten usa angry enough to now recruit joelle and bead a

i don't think like clear American to probably play on Team USA the next time around. How long has he spent in the States, even? Are they going for the pure naturalized citizen route to be like, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think so. I mean, it was kind of like how

Hakeem played for Team USA. Who else? There were some other guys I feel like that just made the cut. The thing is, Joel can play for France, but why would he play on the Sixers and come up short every season and then go, hey, I'm going to go gamble

on the Olympics. I want to be the star on my Olympic team. Maybe the bronze. I guess talking also, we're in that period where there's a lot I want to be the star on my Olympic team. Yeah, right. Against maybe the bronze. Right. Oh, man. I guess talking also, you know, we're in that period where there's a lot of movers, maybe movers, not full-on movers. Giannis was recently on the 48 Minutes podcast and was saying, you know, as long as Milwaukee remains committed to winning another title, he could see himself playing there the rest of his career.

That podcast doesn't exist, does it? However. The 48 Minutes podcast? Okay. Yeah. Sure. We're running out of basketball points, I'm telling you. I've been thinking.

I have a word bank, and they've all been used. Right. Any word play on par- k done it's done it's yeah exactly um but then he said however if there is a better situation for me to win another ring i have to take that better situation and this is the second time and it's like the last couple months the last month that yannis has been you know sending a message now is he doing the gentlemanly deuces here is that what we're watching him do because i don't think if you're fully committed to something you don't really have to say that right i yeah i think um he could definitely

leave like the thing is i think he he is saying all this i don't think he is like convinced he can leave but he is going to put everything out there to force that organization to get it together like ronis has run out of brothers to sign on the box and then you know keep them on the roster and put them down the g league like there's no more there's no more brothers they're all in the league in some way connected right so you got to get some real players in there that aren't Joe Ingalls that aren't Grayson out. Like Chris Middleton's got to be healthy all year. But if not,

right. Honest is gonna, he's gonna see what suitors are out there. But the thing is, I'm almost having a hard time to like thinking, where does, where does Giannis go? That it's like,

not like, you know, he doesn't become a katie the warrior situation where he's a villain and it's an automatic championship i guess yeah is it the next but then yeah is that a guaranteed championship or is that just hey he's the milwaukee bucks but in a bigger market whoever does the next thing and gets them back to a championship like that that is legend legend status yeah and of course completely overshadows his bucks championship it would be like when kareem went to la and suddenly we remember him as a laker instead of that would be rough i for bucks fans this doesn't feel like he's sending a message he's just straight up saying like i will leave like he's not like mb like takes takes the sixers off his like twitter

bio or whatever like you know he's doing all this cryptic stuff janice is just like uh yeah i would leave if i found a better situation i mean i don't clear, I feel like. Yeah, I guess so. How mature of him. Setting the table for fans to understand why. It's like, yeah, look, I want to be here, but if they're messing around and I don't have the right pieces around me, then I have to go. And I'm sorry to you all, but that's

what the deal is. But I guess we'll see. We'll know more by this next season he should go to the knicks and he should live in the m&m's world store oh that'd be great you know like really just live in time square like only at the tgi fridays and the olive garden and the red lobster there um yeah that would be a that would actually be like that that's the human endurance feat that i want to see david blaine try and take on is like live for a full year in times square just you have to only eat in times square you can only see people yeah yeah

but the rules are but you can't have blinds on your windows yeah like times square has to be it's like when that when uh kramer lived next to the kenny rogers roasters yeah exactly and just like like it does something to you with all that light coming in and you need to you can't order pizza from outside of times square you have to eat sparrow yeah that's the only type of pizza you're allowed to have. Whatever's in Times Square. I could see like Giannis with like a halal truck, you know? Yeah. In Manhattan or something. Or like, you know, a Greek diner on Yonkers or what, you know, was it Queens?

Who got the Greek diners out there? Was it Queens? No, I mean, they're everywhere. Astoria, yeah. Isn't like Astoria got all the Greek diners? Astoria's got some good, yeah, really good Greek diners. Yeah. So then you can, I can already see the promo materials with Giannis at the Greek diner

in Astoria. You know what I mean? Just doing the whole new york thing yeah all right let's let's take a quick break we'll come back we'll keep talking nba news we'll be right back wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast nfl daily with greg rosenthal five days a week you'll get all the latest news, previews, recaps, and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed by the time you get your coffee. No dumb hot takes here, just smart hot takes.

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And just as I predicted. Okay. Miles. Yep. We were in Vegas for a mere 24 hours 24 hours um i didn't make many bets did i know i bet i bet once on roulette hit my numbers dude i don't want to talk about that i can't even how much the way you thought you messed up when you were betting on roulette you're like oh no i don't know so i put it on the 11 to 1 green

um which i thought meant that i was betting that it would fall on numbers one to eleven but it was actually just either zero or double zero um but it hit double zero oh my god had you know had a couple hundred dollars to my name all of a sudden went directly to the sports book and put it all on the phoenix suns to win the title and the oklahoma city thunder to win the title and the reason i put it on the oklahoma city thunder is i was like what if dame went to the thunder that's not true i had just seen chet play in the summer league and I thought he looked cool. That's it.

But there are rumors all of a sudden that I might be a genius and that Dame might be going to. Okay. See a lot of ifs, but that would be very interesting. Yeah. He literally said he will not play. He won't report to training camp if it's not the heat.

I think it's implied that the Oklahoma City Thunder are an exception to that. They're basically the Miami heat of the Midwest. Jack, this is where it still works, right? Because as I think it was Chris Mannix who said it on the nba podcast was on the crossover said that if it's come january come january yeah if dame is still on the blazers yeah and if okc is overachieving yeah then maybe you could see them go for dame yeah which i don't still it all still works like in that scenario jack you're still winning i all still works. Like in that scenario, Jack, you're still winning. I'm still winning. Yeah.

Um, so I don't know that that's intriguing. It is. It's just fun to think of, is there a dark horse team that could jump in the mix here? That is not the heat. That is not the blazers that could have Damian Lillard on their team. Right. Yeah.

Yeah. I, the thing is, is that I can't believe it's taken so long for dame to get his way that i at this point i am like someone has something up their sleeve even if it's like you know i think dame's representation like i think dame is like one of the most like straightforward nice guys like, like loyal. So I don't think he's like, you know, really just be like, I'm only going to play for the Miami Heat.

Like, I think he's like open to a good situation. I think his management is going, you got to go Miami Heat, only say Miami Heat. Let's hold out. And Dame's like, OK, I trust you guys. And so I do feel like if a team like OKC or whoever the knicks or any or the bucks were like hey here's a good like if the bucks put together a package where they kept together somewhat of their team and dame was to go over there with yannis like there's no way you got to say no or you're gonna say no right yeah that would be fun the thing is to me the heat situation isn't automatic championship so it's like if a

good situation arises put your name in the hat go after dame um so yeah i'm with it i think like otherwise we would have seen dame to miami by my right yeah i mean yeah what's i guess what's the wildest place you think you could see him going? If we're being just in a fantastic world right now. The wildest place? Yeah. Like, where do you think he would just, I mean, like, I, I mean, the, the globe trotters?

Marvel Cinematic Universe? Yeah. Oh, go on. DC. DC. Now that would be so dang, like for him to like make the leap into a fictional world, but then it's DC.

Like James Gunn really sells like, he's like, hey, I've taken over. It's different. You know? Okay. Yeah. But like super loyal fans, like the Portland Trailblazers fans, you know, like super loyal, but like portland trailblazers fans you know like super

loyal but like there's something a little off they all have beards um and you know the they ride for that product even though the product is pretty inconsistent after seeing him and how him how like well he did on cameron's podcast i'm like you're not open to new york he's so cool man he really is like every time i see him like interviewed or just like. I'm like, you're not open to New York? He's so cool, man. He really is. Like, every time I see him like interviewed or just like talking, I'm like,

he might not be the best player in the NBA, but he is the coolest player in the NBA and maybe like one of the cooler human beings on the planet.

How do you like his rapping? Yeah. His rapping, I don't know much about rap, but it's not cringeworthy like some of the players rapping. Yeah, that's true. You know, I would know i would i agree jack it's like you round out you get averages on like him as a person player cool also like good dad from what we've seen and also

his like side hustles like rapping and stuff like decent to great on all and that's like there are some big name players who i would like they bring themselves down with what they what they their hobbies are in my right right right so i like i like dame a lot i and that thing is like i think we all truly just want what is best for him right truly truly um yeah i want what's best for him i want what's best for him. I want what's best for just the, like, it would be, I just want him to like go to the right situation and like that team to be competitive.

I don't want to see him like go somewhere and it's like, Oh, this like didn't work out, you know? Yeah. Right. That's why, that's how I feel about,

you know, the sons this year. Like I want them to be super competitive because I want KD to like be in the mix. Like those are these are all players that's the other that's the other team i put money on so um that's really why i care about this story at all this is all just a gambling play sorry the nba yeah um okay i see what you did here producer jabari um snuck in after we started recording,

snuck in a little story. Welcome back to Philly, Jim. Um, so James Harden's doesn't look like it's going to work out for him with the Clippers. So he's going to do what? Just like play for Philadelphia after he said,

let me repeat myself. Right. Bold. Um, I don't, I'm not sure what happens here, but it does. It doesn't seem like it seemed like he wanted to play for the Clippers and

now that's not going to happen. Right. I don't think he's been super clear about like i must play in these specific locations other than not for where it is right yeah so he's like an inverted dame in that uh in both anywhere he is and also uh you know he he's just saying i don't want to play for the one team anywhere else stick me anywhere which makes me wonder I mean maybe we even that equation

out and send them to Portland for Dame Philly yeah really exciting yeah that's the thing is like I don't know how good of a plan it is to

be like hey I want to I want the most money and I'm not going to win you a championship which is what James Harden is now saying at this point you know like at a certain point it was like hey we can win a championship with him but he's not won a championship with four teams like

yeah I don't know how much more you can do this James right yeah it'll be interesting but he's not won a championship with four teams. Like, uh, yeah, I don't know how much more you can do this. Right. Yeah. It'll be interesting to see. Um, can't wait to, I can't wait to watch so many teams this season.

The Spurs. Uh, I can't wait to watch. Okay. See, I can't wait to watch. I'm really looking forward to seeing my tall boys play. Let's even say the sons. All the teams you have money

on? The Suns are also in there. I haven't been able to put my Wenbing Yama defensive player of the year bet down. I don't know how much the odds have moved on that, but I think that could be interesting. He was

really long odds on that. It feels like there's a world where he averages like four or five blocks a game yeah like yeah there's a world anyways our listeners have heard me say this truly a thousand times it's my one good idea about the nba this year um is you 76ers yeah me winning money The 76ers are not one of the teams that I'm excited to see. I just... And that's okay. I don't know. Pat Pez?

Yeah, like Pat Pez. Yeah. Oh, man. Pat Pez, a... Like, less excited to be there, Joel Embiid, and a, like, miserable to be there, James Harden.

What could be more fun to watch? He's going to be Paul Rudd in Wet Hot American Summer every time he has to go in the game. Nick Nurse. You can see how Nurse is. Nurse concerts, at the very least. Their problem was never

how good they looked in the regular season. Doc, truly one of the great regular season coaches of all time. It was just like, how do you coach your way out of the second round? Um, and like figure some things out in a seven game series. And that's just what they were unable to do. So like the Nick nurse experience would only be like,

yes, here we are entering the playoffs in a good position. And now I'm excited that Nick nurses here is here um but that's not that there's a lot of ifs to get to that point i mean if you know if you need a team to get excited about jack you can always just look in the city you're in you know because the lakers yeah there's exciting i, the Lakers are my, LeBron's always like whoever, whatever team LeBron's on, like has unofficially been the team that I'm always pulling for, you know,

throughout his career. So I am still excited about the Lakers and I get reminded every time they make a move by miles and Jabari. Yep. Yep. So what would we do this this week in Lakers updates? Well, extended. We extended Vandal.

One of my top questions heading into the offseason. I was like, but what about Vandal? Right, right, right. Exactly. Thank you, Jack. But I think the bigger question that we were talking off Mike was with Christian Wood. What Jabari is like, if it's all or none, that we were talking off Mike was with Christian Wood. What?

Jabari is like, it's all or none. If he plays well, it's number 18. Hang it up. That's where he is at. And if he doesn't, it's going to be like watching a shoddy spacecraft reenter Earth's atmosphere, and it's going to break apart and be like a flame ball mess type of thing. The whole team? You're putting all that on Christian Wood?

No, his performance. He's either going to play so well that he's a vital part of us winning a championship or it's just going to be disastrous from him. Yeah, he definitely he's supposed to be a big man, right? He was

our big center we were looking for and everyone's all like he can shoot the three and i'm like guys no he could shoot the three i'm like all right stop we got a lot of guys who can shoot the three now we have 15 guards like well we i just need a center like that's why i was like open to tristan like i was like tristan all of the dwight was like, Tristan, Dwight Howard, who else was out there? Like,

I just want to, a guy who just is big and will play defense and just like stop that. The other team from scoring a ton of points while 80 is out. And the fact that we did Christian would move into the starting lineup already. So, or is Rui Rui's in? No,

no, no. Yeah. Well, I, that's the thing is People are talking about Christian Wood already in the starting line. The thing is, Lakers fans are insane.

Easy, easy. It's funny too when I say some things that are completely I should be wearing a straight jacket as I say them. But it's also funny when you hear people say stuff like that and you're like, well, hold on. Come on now. Let's not go all the way there so we have his career averages like right here

jabari put him into the dock and first thing that jumps out at me you know he starts that three-point percentage he starts he starts like four seasons ago when he's with the Pelicans, I guess it's only eight games, but he puts up 17 points, eight rebounds a game, in eight games. Next season, he's with the Pistons. The Pelicans are like, well, that was interesting, but no thank you. Pistons, over the course of 62 games, he's putting up 13 points, six rebounds.

Next year, with the rockets just like everybody is immediately they're like wow he's really progressing and we're out um things are really looking up and just not here it's not gonna be happening realizes that they're not playing fantasy basketball like is, are those stats doing anything? I think is like the question, you know? Yeah. Like, I don't, the thing is, I watch basketball. I don't remember Christian Wood's storylines. Like, I don't remember any of those.

I forgot about him on New Orleans. Yeah. It was a time when we were not really checking for new orleans yeah the thing is does it it might not matter whether christian wood is good at which is the opposite of what what miles is saying might not matter as long because we were good good before that signing right besides like but yeah do we ah, it kind of also does feel like the year after they won the championship, the 2020 championship where we felt so good about the roster. Oh man.

And we did feel good up until the first round and AD got hurt. Like, but it's, I'm a little concerned. We don't know how good Gabe Vincent is not on the heat. Yeah. Yeah. True. True. We don't know if Jackson Hayes is, is is good they're saying he can play a

dwight 2020 role i'm like i've never seen that yeah because a lot of it is like looking at it through like rose-tinted glasses where you're like yeah it's gabe vincent from the playoffs that we just saw that's the guy who's going to be there the entire season even though that story there was like where'd this guy come from? Yeah. We've never heard of regular season Gabe Vincent. And guess what? He's going to have to be that way. He may have to go back to his home planet during the regular season until he's

called upon in the postseason. But yeah, I think it's also on the stats there. How many blocks is my man get? Yeah, the center stats are not included blocks are behind a paywall uh and and the piston stats uh from his season with the pistons are actually just rumored nobody actually watched the piston so we can't actually use this yeah i'm gonna go eat a deep dish pizza that's right um but yeah i mean he was 18 points 10 boards two seasons ago right yeah pretty for over 68 games like they're

you know and then with the mavericks they were like no thank you um and played him less and he still got like 16 16 points seven boards but we'll see oh man we will see I this does not feel I truly do think like Vanderbilt is my guy like there were moments in the playoffs and in the like towards the end of the regular season

where he truly got in people's shorts there you go. And really like is like a and he ate them. He ate up their shorts. They were having cows

left and right. If you can start like consistently knocking down the three, he is truly like going to be such a valuable player. I mean, I'm just looking at this three-point percentage from Christian Wood, man.

But what I'm interested in, what catches my eye over on this side is this man's shooting in the high 30s. That's what we've been clamoring for. Exactly. Oh, man. Well, we shall see. How are you feeling, though, about the Lakers in general, CJ? I'm excited

like i it wasn't the craziest summer and that's i wanted it to be i didn't realize how quiet of a summer i wanted to have after that run in the playoffs like right good they got austin reeves that incredible deal i know like in saint rui is is in like they got those guys they needed to resign um and then they have these new guys who i think like i hope they buy into the system they got i mean i'm like even down with cmd lo like let's see what happens there um i miss schruder but i uh and a lot of like some of my trusted lakers fans like we fought over shooter all season but when he was gone everyone's like oh, ooh, did we make a mistake? What player has left twice and you ask, do we make a mistake letting him go again?

Right. But yeah, the question is, who's going to stop the Nuggets? I think that if you're just to isolate the Lakers and the nuggets we have a we have a great case of beating like we could be that's all like that's the only question i'm asking myself and i'm gonna try to enjoy the hell of this regular season because i put myself through torture last season i was like but i'm watching every game and i was rewarded with that run but like yeah this year i want to have like a nice steady yeah have a beer and not go to bed angry just like you know yeah i just want to have a nice solid 82 and 0 season yeah that's all we're no suspense no nothing's no yeah nothing spectacular yeah we need to be ahead 40 by

the end of the first quarter that's pretty much much. And then we're good. Yeah. Jabari just shared a tweet from Lakers guru at Guru Lakers. Trust it. No one ever has any issues with him. Never. Never. I don't know. Guru Lakers is history. But testing one, two is this thing on 23, 24 salaries.

Fred VanVleet, 40 million. Tobias Harris, a cool 39 million no nobody has ever doubted or thought that was not worth it hasn't seen being siemens 38 million so both two of those coming from your boys in philly um cj mccallum 36 million aust Austin Rui, Vando, Christian Wood, 35 million total. Incredible. Rob, I've never changed my mind on a person more quickly than Rob Palenka. Like, yeah. The FBI was ready to like send us a squad or SWAT team to like shut me down for the

tweets I had about Rob Palenka. And then they all turned into, this is God. Jesus on Earth. You're like, St. Rob, thank you so much for all that you have bestowed upon me. You somehow got Austin Reeves with a promo code. And thank you for that.

He did scan the QR code on that. On a White Friday deal. Yeah. White Friday. What do you think he figured out? you think he just started trying he was like i guess i could try and be good at this like being a gm like what happened there was no way really like i've never seen a turnaround like that jimmy like that kind of thing was like you know what i'm gonna be good playoff jimmy but from a gm think about how crazy this is where he's like i gotta actually do a good job. Let me

get those two guys that went from the Timberwolves to the Jazz and weren't being played. Like, yeah, you know, it was crazy. Let's start playing Austin Reeves. They had a little bit of luck in Rob as the goat. I don't know what, I don't know how the hell that happened. It was insane. It was crazy. Well, good for

you guys. That's great. I'm happy for the Lakers and very excited for my 76ers all right uh all right we'll be right back wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast nfl daily with greg rosenthal five days a week you'll get all the latest news, previews, recaps, and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed by the time you get your coffee. No dumb hot takes here. Just smart hot takes. We'll talk every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone. So I'm bringing in the big guns from NFL media. That's Patrick

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with me Cam Jordan. Can't stop it you know what's gonna happen can't stop it. That's right catch new episodes every Wednesday all season long. That's what you look for year 14 to do more. 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. Ha! Yeah!

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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. Well, we're here to take your game to the next level.

Maybe you love fantasy football and you've been feeling that itch to jump into the dynasty format, but it feels a little bit intimidating. No matter where you're coming from, the Fantasy Footballers Dynasty Podcast has something for you and you're gonna have a great time listening, I promise. Join me and the rest of the crew every Wednesday for a new episode. Listen to the Fantasy Footballers Dynasty podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. Stretch it out, folks.

You ready? I'm ready. Is CJ ready? Yeah. You're ready, right? right yep for the fastest question and answer segment in all podcasting history you're ready okay because this is the rapid fire round questioning cj toledano i hope you are ready uh you know the deal here we're gonna ask a question just fire it right back don't don't don't give like some sat to answer okay just

fill in the bubble okay that's what we're trying to do rip scantrons i just realized they're not using scantrons anymore what um yeah that's for all the old people to remember it's all digital man it's all digital folks it's all going digital and i'm already getting off probably on the cloud exactly it's on the cloud man my. My parents love talking about the cloud. But here we are. Fourth quarter. Rapid fire. CJ Toledano.

My boo high. Because we're about to go in. Brian, start the clock. Brian's cowering in the corner. Yeah, because he should be. Because this is serious business. Okay. This is quick, too.

This is fast, man. I already asked 14 questions. You didn't even hear him, bro. Maybe I should slow it down. Jack, do you want to go or should I go? That's just deeper. Okay, okay. Yeah, you got me there.

You got me there. Hey, man, let me just do the intro really quick. Damn, he's good, Miles. He's really good. He's really good, man. I don't want to go first. All right, I'll go first. You're brave.

CJ Toledano, this is the rapid... Oh, you already covered all that. Yeah, yeah, I'll go first. CJ Toledano. This is the rapid... Oh, you already covered all that. Yeah, I did that. CJ, you could take two players from all of history to create your Mad Boosties edition NBA Jam team. Which two players are you taking? Jason Williams and Shaq.

Jason Williams and Shaq. Yep. Okay. Those are NBA Jam games. Those are NBA Jam skill sets. Yeah. Okay. Hawaii chocolate? Those are NBA jam skill sets. Yeah. Handles, quickness, dishes, dunks. CJ Toledano, next question. Who was the best

player you have ever witnessed in person and what did they do? It was... Shoot. Best player in person? I saw Shaq. I saw Shaq at the Orlando airport right after I was trying to buy a Batman Forever book. And he was just

autographing and not saying no to anybody. Like, the height of Shaq was 94. The height of Shaq. Whoa. In the Orlando airport, not flying private. Wow. He wasn't flying anywhere. He just liked to go public places

and sign people sign autographs in hudson news cleaning out hudson news and buying everyone everything you know this is right when he was neon boudreaux yeah yeah blue chips 94 that's serious business now i've heard from you i don't think i've ever encountered Shaq in person. I've heard that it's like another level of big. Yes. Oh, yeah. He pulled up, I remember, in the Shaq expedition to Genesta Park. Once Jabari was there, he used to pull up to that park on the valley. And that was the first time I had seen him not very far away at a Laker game.

And I was like, this is kind of spooky. like very far away at a laker game and i was like this is kind of spooky no he is to to me he is like like the one of the greatest humans you know what i mean like in stature and what he's done like it's hard shack is hard to beat yeah like so you'd say like of your all-time cool people like dame is maybe like number five on that list and like shack is that what like dame is like the regular homie like we said earlier you know he's just right i'm not gonna freak out even though i do love him i'm right i'm dapping him up and i'm just like okay what are we having for lunch today you know yeah shack is a matt boosty's edition nba jam would be pretty good yeah whoa we're getting i'm catching strays in the chat saying, is this rapid fire? Yeah, CJ, come on. We got to keep this moving. Follow-up question

though. Who is the person you would pay most to see in person? Like play basketball. Well, I don't know. I mean, unless it's someone, a basketball player doing something in person, but either way. Honestly, Magic Johnson. Never? Yeah, I never got to

see Magic play in person. What would you pay? Would you be paying to see him play basketball or tweet yeah i never got to see magic play in person what would you be paying to see him play basketball or tweet or host a talk show um yeah because i'd probably pay the most i would love to write on the magic out is what i thought if i could pay for that um magic i would love to see magic and you know they canceled you know winning time so i won't be able to watch it through that. Yeah. Yeah, Magic, I'd love to see live. What do we think his writing process is for his tweets?

Straight off the dome. Yeah, it's stream of consciousness. It feels like sometimes there's like... First thought. First thought, but like two hours later sometimes, just watched the you know anyways what wow he just has a twitter that he doesn't follow anyone he didn't doesn't think

anyone follows him and it's just only his thing pops up and so he's like i'm ground i'm groundbreaking tweets right my tweets are doesn't know what the rest of Twitter looks like. That's Magic Johnson's life. Yeah. And yeah, Jabari has a point. It is voice to text, no matter where he is, for sure. I just saw the new Indiana Jones movie. Harrison Ford, he will always be a star.

Y'all must check it out. Five stars. That's the tone of all this. Magic Johnson theaters. Check Showtime. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. star y'all must check it out five stars that's the tone of all magic johnson theaters check show times yeah exactly exactly a little known fact jimmy kimmel and steven colbert turned down the role to be uh magic johnson's sidekick on the magic hour no uh yeah wow whoa yeah that's insane and look at where their careers are now in shambles. Wow. Blew it. Yeah. A podcast like us. Yeah, exactly.

Idiots. All right. CJ, you like vintage gear, clothes, shoes. What's a piece of NBA gear or a shoe that you would like to see make a comeback? Like the shooting shirt. You know what I mean? Like that kind of stuff that we always used to see back in the day. There.

I mean, let's see here yeah i i think the nba shooting jackets were great like the windbreaker type because now uh nike they do some variations and it just nothing is like a big swing or a big gamble like that windbreak you know what i mean the matching pants yeah like the ones that like the guys would come out during the all-star game over their all-star uniform yeah and like where jordan would like pull pennies hard or penny hardaways tearaways away right those are iconic to me we don't have now guys come out in like the practice shirt they come out in like you know yeah t-shirts or whatever we got to bring back a whole just like shell the layers the layers yeah what i mean it became very efficient with like the hoodie

you know because i want to do like the hoodie mellow kind of aesthetic for every team now to have their but i remember when it was the shooting jacket then there was the shooting shirt like another thick piece of poly like nylon you were wearing underneath then your jersey and i remember like the kids who had like a lot of money like yo he had the jacket and the shooting shirt yeah wow i remember i had a north carolina like unc one that was like an in-between like a button-up shooting shirt slash jacket yeah and i always thought that was like the height of my baller aesthetic but yeah i like no that is i remember i used to wear the chicago bulls uh shooting jacket over my uniform catholic school and that was it didn't go with it at all yeah our colors were

green and gold it's like this windbreaker i could just rip it off and then go to you know theology class yeah but i miss those days. There's like, there's kids out there that need that. But let's not remember the reason for the season. And that is a rapid fire round of questioning. So we are going to have to move on. CJ, you can go back in time and permit either St. Nick Van Excellent or Eddie Jones to stick with the Shaq and Kobe squads for those title runs.

Who do you want in there? I mean, you got to go Nick. The thing is, I love Eddie, but Nick is more complimentary to Shaq and Kobe. Yeah. You know? Yeah. I mean, Eddie, he had some decent years with the Heat afterwards, right? Yeah.

I think, yeah. Nick is, I mean, they're both forever Lakers, but now I'm just imagining, I'm just running through my head what that would have looked like. The thing is, we probably would have lost with Derek Fisher, with Nick out there. Yeah.

Yeah, I'm cool. I like that. Same thing for Eddie. All right, you have an LA background. Rank these Los Angeles chains. In-N-Out, Fat Burger, Tommy. that okay yeah same thing for eddie all right you have an la background rank these los angeles chains in and out fat burger tommy um i'm gonna honestly yeah fat burger in and out tommy's wow everybody hits tommy's last i'm i don't know the wrong locations i've been to no i mean it's just it's not great food has anyone ever eaten tommy's silver yes me all the time when yes when i was doing junior high because i was there was a tommy's up the street from my school i would go there and just calorie load like i was trying to

i'm about to be in the nfl combine or something and then just there's nothing special about it but yeah it gets the job you know yeah yeah i guess that's what it is and then just there's nothing special about it but yeah it gets the job you know yeah yeah i guess that's what it is and then why the chili burger though right yeah it's the chili it's the chili yeah it's the chili yeah wait okay so that's too much what do you put fat burger over in now what's your metric there slightly because it can go back like uh they're the i could get a craving for in and out to me is kind of like, it tastes like, at this point, it tastes kind of like a pastry. It tastes like sweet to me.

It tastes like, I don't know. It's like, you want burger. The burger itself. The burger itself. Like, nothing else is to be talked about.

I mean, maybe the milkshake a little bit. Yeah, kind of. But like, the burger is small. It's not going to like make me feel ill. No.

It's like, it's a nice little treat if I don't have too much. Fat burger is like, I'm eating because my wife is out of town. I'm trying to sleep on my couch. You want to not be able to look at yourself in the mirror. Exactly.

As a Magic Johnson fan, you are obligated to pick fat burger over In-N-Out, obviously. Why is he part owner? Yeah, of course. I didn't know that yeah i used to get it i used to get a double a double fat or no double king with eggs and bacon and i'm saying the egg part is yeah if you want to have a oh what's weird is the religious moment work on in and out no like it's strange how that how that works yeah yeah and i'm sorry cj we really have to

keep this thing going man as much as i would like to talk about this you know this guy yes jack come on man save your boy miles come get your boy you know where i live yeah i will i know you stay at now this is the final question and the most important cj jack not shack jack or mile it'll be so you know it's not split hairs i need you guys both i i'm gonna i just can't pick i'm sorry guys shock okay um how do we alter this okay that's where my improvising skills yeah that's fine that's fine okay how about you honor us by saying that which which laker great are jack and i respectively oh i think you guys are kobe and pal kobe and pal i always wanted to know this all right yeah yeah cool and i okay we knew that because you knew I wanted to be Pau

because I like his soccer style I like that I think we have a clear answer then I wasn't going to say Eldon and Cedric but no thanks Eddie I'll put my jersey over my head but yeah CJ Toledano

thank you so much for joining us on Miles and Jack got mad boosties where can people find you and follow you, support you, listen to you all that we're doing a huge push at follow through, I mean you've seen it before if you know me casuals, show I'm putting out

it's not serious basketball talk with comedians and what not if you like some of this conversation you're going to like what you see on there, but at follow through merch videos, do some nice commercial work. You're a big business with millions of dollars. Please do business with us,

but we're out there. Send your ad dollars to follow through his way, please. Will you please? Uh, and where can they find you, Jack? Uh,

I'm at Jack underscore O'Brien. As long as twitter is not a paid thing right and then once it becomes a paid thing i'm no longer there i'll be on threads i guess at yeah underscore o underscore brian or blue ski or blue ski yeah we'll see you're gonna crack a couple blue skis with the boys. Exactly. Find me at miles of gray, wherever they do at the at symbol.

You know what I mean? Shout out to all your listeners out there. Please leave a review and subscribe. Do all that, please. And you can follow the hashtag mad boosties hashtag. That was a bit redundant for show links and updates. That's going to do it for us.

We'll see you next time as we inch just one more week closer to media day. Yes! We'll slowly get to the real thing. What is the media going to ask them? Yes, exactly. What's your plan to win this season?

The questions will be riveting and groundbreaking. All right, we'll see you soon. Bye. Bye. Bye. 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.

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