The Daily Zeitgeist - MJGMB #88: Rookie Watch and All-Things-NBA with Jarod Hector

Episode Date: November 22, 2023

Jack and Producer Jabari were joined by True Hoop podcaster Jarod Hector on today’s episode. The trio discussed some of the top rookies in terms of expectations vs performance and plenty more in this episode.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. 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 and the best analysis delivered by the time you get your coffee.

The show hits every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone, so I'm bringing in all the big guns from NFL media like Colleen Wolf. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Well, well, well. That's right. It's me saying the well, well, well part.

The Celtics, Sixers, Wolves, still rolling. I'm still excited about the Wolves and the Sixers of that all because those are unexpected teams. But today we're going to switch it up a little bit. We're going to talk about something that we're very thankful for and that's this rookie class. I don't know about you guys, when I first check NBA stuff in the morning, the first thing I check on is the rookie. It's no longer like my teams. I'm checking on my rookies my rooks um but anyways we're gonna discuss the rookies we're gonna talk some new york metro hoops and more with true hoop podcaster and actor gerard hector on today's episode i'm jack o'brien and i'm producer jabari in for miles

and this is miles and jack and sometimes jabari got mad boosties three on one davis driving spinning fading hitting curry a three-pointer bang steph curry from downtown again. Giannis with the take. Uh-oh, look out. No showtime. What you got, Giannis? Well, well, well. Welcome. Welcome, Jabari. Welcome back.

I was sick last week. Miles is out on a couple days vacation today. But thank you, Jabari, as always, for being here. And thank you, Gerard Hector, uh, for, for being on the show. Welcome man. Thank you.

Appreciating. Glad to be here. Who, who said miles can go on vacation though? Who approved that PTO? Hey, look, he didn't come across my desk.

That's all I'm saying. Yeah. He just, you know, he wants to mess with your head. He sends a broken zoom link. He wants to see that you want to be on the show enough to, to get through his tricks, his mind games.

But what is jumping out to you? What is the first thing you guys are checking for when you check NBA stuff in the morning? For me, like you, I like looking at see what the rookies have done. And, you know, look, while we're giving these rookies a lot of love, and we should, you know, look, the NBA is a young man's league, as one Kevin Durant recently said. But I do like to check in on the old heads and see how they're doing. And, you know, the old heads still hanging on. LeBron's still out here pumping in some good numbers. KD's, Steph Curry, you know, the old heads still saying, not quite yet, youngsters.

We're still here. And I'll be honest with you. I'm checking for all of it, but because I'm silly and ridiculous, I look at NBA Twitter first to see what jokes folks got off. And then I'll see what those were related to after the fact. Jokes, yeah. That's good. Check for jokes.

I like jokes. Jokes are good. Cool. Other thing I'm checking those the odds on those in-season tournament on the in-season tournament uh i don't know i just had this question because um i saw a quote from a pacer i forget which pacer was but they were like we're fully bought in on the in-season tournament halliburton yeah halliburton's like we're in we are motivated by this and i feel like that's something you have to take

into account because when you look at the odds it's all just so it basically looks the same as the championship odds right like it's the celdics and the bucks and the nuggets and the lakers and i feel like it's going to be somebody who really wants it and might not necessarily be like one of those teams that's not not necessarily turning it on at this point in the season. But I could see a team like the Pacers making some noise. What do you guys think? Yeah. I mean,

it seems like a situation where, you know, yes, of course the Pacers are, the aspirations are to, you know, make the post season. But if you're a team like that,

that there are no, certainly no guarantees, you might as well take advantage of, you know, a potential that, that there are certainly no guarantees, you might as well take advantage of a potential the first in-season championship. Look, I am a big fan of this tournament. Look, at True Hoop,

you guys know, we spend a lot of our time criticizing the NBA. We love the sport. We want it to be great, so we're going to call attention to things that we don't like and that are bad, but when they do something good, I have to give them props. And the in-season tournament is a good idea. Now, someone like myself, who is a European football fan, this season term is not anything new or weird to me. It's perfectly normal and it makes perfect sense. It's not complicated, not difficult to understand. I like the fact that

for football, for me, European football, soccer for those of us in in the states i like that my team has multiple chances to win trophies every year that is fantastic versus american sports what's like you don't win a championship you're a loser yeah unfortunately do you see this in football as i pronounce it um do we like will people who haven't won a title like for instance the lakers being high up there in in terms of the odds doesn't make a ton of sense to me because they are a team that has and maybe like this is this doesn't matter because you know they don't pay attention to narratives as much as i do but like they're a team that won a title recently and then were like had that title discounted for not being like a real type you know like whatever mickey mouse title of it all the bubble title

of it all so like i feel like lebron's maybe not gonna go his hardest for the in-season tournament um as opposed to somebody like Hal Burton. But maybe that doesn't matter because LeBron James is good at basketball. Here's how it works, though, right? And I hear what you're saying. And look, you know, the best, the gift and the curse for Adam Silver would be for the Lakers to be in the championship game of the inaugural in-season tournament, right? Because you know we're gonna get a bunch of eyeballs, so that works, so that's good.

But the curse is, oh, if LeBron says something, like, who cares? You know, we're worried about Larry bunch of eyeballs so that works so that's good but the curse is oh if lebron says something like who cares you know we're worried about larry ob come june or whatever however what i love about it is in group play as you know okay you got to win your group whatever it's single elimination from here on out right like as if a bad night or lebron's hurt and they're out well so what nope too bad you don't win and the pacers in particular because of how they play with that up tempotempo style, that's not easy to scout for. You catch them on a Tuesday night of a knockout game and you're not ready, they'll run you out the gym.

Oh, well, you're out. Yeah. And we kind of alluded to it last week, at the very least. It's one of those where I really don't see the harm in it. You had people that were saying, well, why? And a lot of that is probably based don't see the harm in it. You know, you had people that were saying like, well, why, you know,

and a lot of that is probably based in like not fully understanding what it is, you know, but we heard the same complaints and the same, you know, you know, hesitance when they introduced the plan and it has been absolutely fantastic.

Each of like each year that they've had, it's, it seemed at least on my end, it seems like it's gotten better. So for me, you know, we can never complaining when the plan rolls around. There you go. Exactly. At least on my end, it seems like it's gotten better. So for me, you know, we complain about it. I'm never complaining when the plan rolls around.

There you go. Exactly. We as human beings, our natural inclination is to reject the unfamiliar, right? That's just what we do as humans. Everyone's got opinions about it. Oh, this thing sucks. I'm like, how do you know it sucks? It hasn't even happened yet, and already it sucks.

Like, right? It's like making a comment about a restaurant that you've never been to. How would you know if you haven't been here? I mean, eating the food, but you already got an opinion about it. Let it play out, and remember, this is year one. It's going to look very different as it iterates and they tweak and it goes over time. So, guys, listen, I love it.

I think it's great. It's working. And really what it is is we complain, all of us complain, about November basketball, even December basketball, not really meaning a lot. All of a sudden, with some extra stakes, it does mean something. So like, I'm on the same page. The single elimination of it all. I think we've seen with the play-in, people can act like they're not going to enjoy it.

But the second there's a single elimination game with stakes, everybody's pretty excited. That has been proven over time. Single elimination to be the number one ratings thing in sports. Because literally, you just don't know. The best team can get knocked out. That's what's so great. I'm expecting to see the

Oklahoma City Thunder getting some love and the odds for the in-season tournament fairly soon. Which brings us to rookies. We're going to start with Wemby, but we're going to get to Chet pretty soon. But by the time this is released, most teams will have played around 15 to 16 games, so almost 20% of the regular season, and a fifth, if my math is correct. Yes, that works.

So I don't know. We have a sample size. It's not a big sample size, but we've gotten a chance to look at these young fellows and their teams. And when B, I don't know. I think this guy might be good at basketball. I think he's got a future in the league.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm with you there. I think, I think Webby's going to be pretty good. Look, you know, Tansonio clearly is not interested in winning games right now um and that is a challenge for someone like wimby who's trying to get his feet wet learn the league

right because the idea is when this team is ready to win right ultimately in a couple years who are the people that are on the team right now that are going to be with him in those couple years maybe devin bassell because of the contract he signed. Maybe Kelton Johnson. That's about it, right? And those guys are maybes. No one's even a guarantee, right? We'll see about Jeremy Shohan.

We'll see about everybody else who's going to make it or not. So it's going to be kind of, you know, he's got to kind of go through that learning experience. But listen, he's so skilled. He's so tall. He does things on a nightly basis that you're like, how the hell did you do that? Right?

And it's fantastic. I love seeing it. I am a basketball heightest. I love all tall, skilled people. I would love nothing but a game full of seven-footers because that's just, I love seeing that. So, you know, it works for me. Yeah. So he's leading all rookies in scoring 18.6 points per game.

me yeah so he's leading all rookies and scoring 18.6 points per game uh second only to us or thompson in rebounding at 9.1 rebounds per game um and then leads all rookies and blocks with 2.6 per game um which is a lot of blocks you know and anthony davis is up in the threes which is incredible but um his splits aren't great, but it's just been really inconsistent. He's taking 5.6 attempts for three, which seems like maybe

too many, but his shot looks so good that it doesn't really bother me when I'm watching the games. To the point that you were just making, Gerard, not taking anything away from his current teammates, I'm always careful when I introduce these topics, but what types of players do you think they need to eventually surround Wimby with?

Who's going to allow Wimby to be as much of Wimby as he can be? Well, first, a lead ball handler, not point guard, I mean, point guard, whatever, that's really not relevant. A lead ball handler who can make a proper entry pass would be helpful, right, to start. That is a lost art, apparently, in the game of basketball, which is pretty strange.

I've turned into my middle school basketball coach where suddenly all I care about is entry passes. I'm like, work on your entry passes. Why are you throwing the ball down by his ankles? I don't get it. He's 7'4", put it up high where he can get it. You need a center who can bang and grab rebounds on the interior, but who can also step out in space.

So it's that Miles Turner-esque type of player, right? Who's got a body who can grab rebounds on the interior, but I can also space out as well to five, right? Because I think ultimately what San Antonio wants to do is play five out. So I think that would work out well. And then, you know, what every team needs, right? The Uber predator, Apex predator,

wing player, right? Who can score and like, right? Everybody needs that. But those kinds of players, right? Who, again, understand the concept of how to make passes, right? How to use his height as an advantage. Yeah. And a Sar Thompson type would be nice.

Like somebody on the wing who's just gobbling. The only thing about a Sar that I worry about and his brother is I don't know if they can shoot. And the thing about shooting is everybody's like, oh can just learn i'm like well janice has been learning for years and he still can't yeah right so uh you know it can they we'll see yeah a little more difficult when you're six six as opposed to six eleven correct yeah yeah in my experience yeah um uh chet has been coming on real strong lately he's putting up 17 uh points seven and a half or almost eight boards 2.1 blocks on 56 46 90 splits that i mean put chet in the hall of fame right now. Right, it's over. Wrap it up. I don't know. And so he had his big coming out game.

We talked about Wemby's big game against the Spurs, or against the Suns, where he just wouldn't let his team lose and came through in the clutch. Chet had that with 36 against Golden State, game-tying turnaround three, kind of falling out of bounds. Just incredible. He feels like the more they get him involved in the offense,

the better they get. And OKC is 10-4 with a 6-1 road record, which is pretty incredible. So I don't know. If anybody had called this in the offseason. And said OKC was actually secretly a contender. That would have been unbelievable. Oh wait.

I did. That was you. That was me. You picked up on that. Yeah right. You actually patted yourself on the back. What were the odds? What did you bet on that?

I think it was 33-1. It wasn't long enough. It should have been longer, but it's 33-1 for them to win the title. To win the title? Yeah, to win the title. Why not? It should have been longer. You're right. It should have been longer than 33, but still. Yeah, we were in a casino and that's what you did.

Why not? Look, the big thing with Jet, first of all, he's phenomenal. Two things that he has as an advantage. While it is his first year playing, it is his second year in the league. Being around the team for an entire year and understanding the NBA game is huge. Also, this is something that my podcast partner Coach Thorpe has mentioned. He had a meal with Mark Degnall, head coach of the OKC Thunder,

every single day last season. And, you know, the average fan probably hears that and they're like, who cares, whatever. I'm like, no, that stuff matters, people. 99% of the players in the NBA, their success is going to be determined based on where they get drafted and what the

environment is like to incubate them and as alpha and whatever these guys are they need what david calls well jelly right they need uh someone to be like no man we believe in you here's what we want you to do we think you can do this right and he had a ton of that uh last year now the piece on the court that is why chet is also a more impactful player than Victor, if you look at his estimated plus minus, I mean, Chet's top 10 in the league right now in EPM, right? And that helps when you play with a top 5

player in Shea Gilders-Alexander and MVP candidate, right? And yeah, Shea Gilders-Alexander was all NBA first team last year, which by definition means top 5. And he was top 5 in MVP voting. Someone who knows how to throw an entry pass. There's so many things that Shane does so well.

And the rest of that team with Jalen Williams and Giddy and Lou Dort. That team works well, so he's got better pieces around him. And so it's much easier than to have impact. And Chet's also very good on top of that

i feel like everyone is going to say that they're you know like they're the darlings or the surprise team but i feel like they're actually already there are they there so it's interesting right like i think that can be like what sacramento was last year and what memphis was two years ago in terms of the regular season when it comes to postseason i mean they have they haven't done it yet right um but that's everybody right they haven't done it yet, right? But that's everybody, right? No one's done it until they do it, right? That's how it works. I'm also still not

100% sure about the rest of that team. Josh Giddey is great as a passer. He's not shooting well right now, and his plus-minus stats are awful right now. When he's on the floor, they are losing possessions and losing the game. That's not good. Lou Dort's good.

Jalen Williams, who starts, is very good. The rest of that team, though, as good as Isaiah Joe is shooting threes off the bench, everybody else is a minus player off the bench. And so, you know, that's concerning when you're talking about what are they going to do in the postseason. But who the hell cares about the postseason? Get there first and be a dominant regular win 45 games right win 50 games then you're like oh this team's fun right let's get themselves back to that level when you know once they lost all their three superstars they drafted

a decade ago people were like when's it ever gonna happen for them well they seem to be coming back around now yeah they're good at this draft thing it it turns out. Turns out. Let's take a quick break, and we'll come back and talk about the rest of the rookies that we're keeping an eye on. We'll be right back. I'm Carrie Champion, and this is Season 4 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.

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Catch the podcast at NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal every day. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends and who doesn't want that listen now on the iheart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast and we're back and all right so these the two we've discussed so far were the two that I was watching from the start. They haven't disappointed. In fact, they've exceeded. I was worried that Wemby, they might just

be keeping him on ice a little bit and letting him pop in here and there, but they're letting him play. I feel like they're handling it well, his development. He's getting a lot of reps. He looks awesome. People I wasn't necessarily checking for at first, and now I'm checking for

is number one on that list, Asar Thompson with the Pistons. Leading rookies in rebounding at 6'6", but does basically everything. 11.6 points per game, 10 rebounds

per game, 3.4 assists, 1.7 blocks per game, 1.2 points per game 10 rebounds per game 3.4 assists 1.7 blocks per game 1.2 steals per game um to be top 10 in the league in blocks at six foot six is is wild he is a tremendous athlete um he's an already a very good defender for a rookie. Again, Detroit's got someone who, again, if he learns to shoot, he becomes what I talked about, that, you know, what does Antonio need? He becomes that apex predator wing player that helps you win championships

if he can learn to do that, right? And that's huge. He's top five offensive boards in the whole league, which is wild it also brought to my attention that mitchell robinson is pulling down 6.1 offensive boards a game he's he's he's a menace he i mean he is an absolute menace and with stephen adams out with injury mitchell robinson is now the best offensive rebound in the nba i mean he is just an absolute terror on the boards moses

malone has the record for most offensive rebounds per game in a season with 7.2. And Mitchell Robinson has 6.1 right now. He's unbelievable on the offensive glass. You guys remember, I mean, you might be too young to remember how Mo used to do his thing, right?

The best offense was, throw it up on the board, I'm going to go get it, put it back up, and we're going to score. Throw it up, grab it, throw it up on the board, I'm going to go get it, put it back up, and we're going to score. Throw it up, grab it, throw it right over. All right, I'm going to go out on this limb and say it. I'm the one that's truly an Osar guy. I'm calling it a mini-matrix right now, and I know how crazy that is. I recognize it's not fair to a rookie to expect that type of career. But that's what I'm saying.

When I watch him, that's what I look at. Yeah. I like it. I like it. He does seem to be also moving at a different speed than everybody else when he's out there. I could definitely see that. Derek Lively for the Mavs is a

major contributor right away. He's big. He's tough. Anything jumping out to you about him you know what helps playing with luka donchic yeah you know it's it's this thing we learn with rookies right who do they have on their team that they play with oh an all nba caliber player wow they play a lot but yeah it helps like great players make you play better right that's that's why they're so great but no he's a great role man at the rim and remember in that class in his high school class i believe he was the best player in that class when they were getting uh ranked in high school and then you know in duke he really didn't like you know score the

way that people wanted to score and i don't know where that was like a duke thing or whatever um but you know this kid's got a lot of talent and if again if Dallas is the right place to incubate him which I don't know we'll see he could really be something special the college thing is so weird because we talked about how Chet's game looked totally different he was obviously a contributor on a very good team

in college but his game looked like I had no idea that he was capable of any of the things that we're seeing. It's just, yeah, and lively. It does make you wonder why anybody would go play in college when it is such a different sport that does such a great job of camouflaging your skills from making it hard to see how good you are. It is a different sport especially at schools like duke and kentucky when they're like stacked beyond belief you know you know certain guys are not going to stand out yeah even though they've got some serious game

um anyone else you guys want to call out uh i like balal koulibaly from the wizards um this guy can defend already pretty well. I think he might be able to, because of the work ethic and how he wants to develop, he's really got a chance, I think, to be a very good player in this league. But again, Washington, I don't know. Well, you know, if he ends up being really good, they'll find a way to ship him to the Lakers.

And you know what? The world would be a better place. That'll work out for the Lakers. Watching other teams is just shot window shopping for Lakers fans. Yeah. Oh, he's, he'd be a nice piece.

We should, we should grab him. I mean, that's really what it is. Anyone else to borrow? You want to call out? Yeah. You know,

I've been, Jordan Hawkins has been impressive you know he's had some big scoring nights uh you know it doesn't hurt that he's in good situation there with the pals they've you know they've got a ton of talent there but in the event that they run into you know you hit the injury bug or you get hit by the injury bug you know it's good to see that they've got another guy that can fill it up you know within their system um and you know honestly we haven't really seen much out of him, but I really can't wait to see what Scoot eventually looks like.

You know, he only played five games. It seemed like he was even banged up coming into the year. If he was able to get that right physically, it would be great. You know, I can't wait. He's one of the guys that I was looking forward to most coming into the year. Yeah. I also got to shout out Jaime Jaquez Jr. jr and kianti george um you know for miami and utah respectively you know they seem like utah's turned the keys over to kianti the

last uh five games and you know listen players need actually rookies they need playing time it's like oxygen right yeah that's how they get better now coaches are reticent to play them because they're gonna make mistakes but that's how how they learn. They have to make mistakes, and that's how they get better. Yeah. All right. Speaking of the injury bug, Beal out at least three more weeks due to continued back issues. I don't know.

Didn't Phoenix used to have a fabled health team that could bring anyone back from the dead or keep people from falling apart? They need those guys back. A long time ago ago they had that. I know. I want to see these three guys play together. And now, listen, I can't say it too much, but I'll just say this.

That medical and healthcare training staff has a lot to be desired, and I'll leave it at that. When you say, okay, Bradley's going to be cleared to play, everything's at that um you know when you when you say okay bradley's going to be cleared to play everything's good and we're ready to roll and all of a sudden you put out an yeah you get the the press release from the pr group and they say we're going to take the next three weeks to actually focus on what's wrong with brother bill mike so what were you doing before then right yeah what like what do you see you weren't focused on that before and look i want to be fair to them backs are tricky and they're very difficult and there's no right pun intended there's no

exact science right it's a very tricky thing but you behoove you matt ishbia you spent however any billion dollars you spent to buy this team and you now have in total contracts half a billion dollars give or take sunk into booker durant and beal players who have injury histories i would think you would want to make sure that your health and performance and training staff are doing everything they can and they are top of the line and really like no no no we got to make sure these guys are good to go you know and we don't know so far not great but yeah you know beal and durant oh sorry booker and Durant playing well. Latest rumor, by the way, is that he might

be out until Christmas. Very possible. Very possible. Oh my god. I mean, yeah, they're hanging in. They're 7-6 as of this recording, so hopefully they can keep treading water. But with some of the other teams starting as fast as they are,

it feels like there's a little bit more pressure than maybe people were expecting coming in for everybody to be able to maintain a pretty decent record. So you're within striking distance. And of course, the flip side of that is now you put a lot of strain on a 35-year-old Kevin Durant who is putting up MVP caliber numbers yet again in the start of the season

playing double overtime I'm like, I literally was like watching the game I'm like Frank, you do realize you have an in-season tournament game on Tuesday and a back-to-back, the second game on Wednesday a national TV game against the Golden State Warriors and you know the whole league's policy about participation, what are you going to do? Are you going to play

him in the in-season tournament and sit him on the second back-to-back and don't ask him because he'll play a thousand minutes a game if he could right which yeah not a good idea right so you know yeah i mean there's that stat from uh the dunk central uh nba central that was like lebron at 38 years old 26.4 points, 8 boards, 6.5 assists, 67% true shooting. KD, 31.4 points, 7 rebounds, 5.5

assists, 64% true shooting. And then Steph, 34 rebounds, 4 assists, 67.5 true shooting. LeBron's true shooting percentage is the thing, though. I was like, wow, 67.5 true shooting. LeBron's true shooting percentage is the thing that I was like, wow, man. He's shooting it well to start the season. He really is.

He's 38 and KD and Stafford 35. I don't know. The post ends with like, this is still their league. We got some other candidates, but they're certainly up there. It kind of goes towards the point that Gerard made earlier.

Like, you know, yes, the rookies, yes, the new guys are fun to watch, but we're still checking for these old heads because they are still checking the league.

Yeah. Still know what they're doing. So LeBron put up 37, eight, six rebounds, three steals in 40 minutes against Houston. And then Austin Reeves came through with the compliment uh but he said that he's the best to do it maybe with the exception of tom brady i would

just be like hey man as your editor as you uh i would just cut that last like maybe with the exception out because first of all i don't. LeBron doesn't want to hear your thoughts on Tom Brady. And also, Tom Brady wasn't having to take a lot of contact out there in his old age. LeBron's having to go down the middle. Can we also do this with NFL quarterbacks? And I'm sorry, I'm biased, but

NFL quarterbacks cannot be on top athlete list to me. I'm sorry. You play half the game and sit the other half like sorry like everybody else in these on these lists got to play both ways you know like yeah sorry yeah but anyways that would be my note to austin reeves maybe just say he's the best to ever do it because it is the greatest athletic feat i've ever seen from somebody this age, like this much older than anyone I've ever seen perform at this level with, you know, and like by perform, it's not like he's got,

he's got a cool like trick that he figured out to like get the ball out quickly. And like, nobody gets near him. It's he's playing at an incredibly high level against the best athletes in the world and still doing it like almost as well as he's ever done it makes you wonder huh all right should we take one more break and we'll come back and do the rapid fire round of questioning the fastest segment in all of sports podcast 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 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. 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 month join me to mix it up a little bit who is it none other than psych you 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 iheartHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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 Claibon, Steve Weiss, Nick Shook, Jordan Rodrigue from The Athletic, and of course, Colleen Wolfe. This is their window right now. This is their Super Bowl window. Why would they trade him away? Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl window, why would they trade him away? Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl. I don't know why, Colleen.

Catch the podcast, the NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal every day. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And we're back. And it is time for the rapid-fire round of questioning. Gerard, this is where we take questions, we fire them at you, and you just got to pay.

It's just right back. No thoughts. No thoughts. You's just right back. No thoughts. No thoughts. You're not allowed to. And if we try to slow it down by asking dumb questions or follow up questions, and we will, you have to somehow keep it moving even though we will not allow you to do that. Jabari,

do you want to kick us off? I don't know. You go ahead and go first. It's you. All right. All right. Or does Deron have a reference? You guys flip a coin.

Doesn't matter. Whoever goes, goes. All right. Brian, start the clock. Sorry, Brian. What is the most underrated NBA city to visit? And what's your must-have meal in that town? Oh, my God.

Salt Lake City and Steak Frites. Okay. Steak Frites? Yeah. And Salt Lake. That's their French cuisine. Not what I would have expected from the people of Salt Lake. That is definitely the first time we've gotten that answer. That's awesome.

I gotta throw it out to you. What is it about Salt Lake? You know, That's awesome. I've got to throw it out to you. What is it about Salt Lake? So, you know, it's Utah. That's the problem. It's Utah. You're like, read between the lines, people. But there are fun places to go. And then if you want to take a little bit of a longer trip,

go to Park City, which is a little bit further than Salt Lake. You've got some awesome, some good stuff there, too. Home of the Sundance Film Festival. And Gerard, we do need you to keep it moving here. Thank you for, yeah,

you did fall for it. Sorry. You asked me questions. You're like, I gotta, I gotta tell you. All right, so let's keep it going.

Gerard, who is the most underappreciated of the truly all-time greats? Give us a guy that deserves to be mentioned, but is often left out of the all-time debates, if you will. Kevin Durant. Oh. We're talking top five all-time? I mean, you didn't say top five. You just said all-time greats.

But now... Tim Duncan. Okay. It's fair. I'm not even going to argue. Now I've heard of him. uh but yeah I guess you can take two players from all of history to create your mad boosties edition NBA jam team which two players you taking Chris Paul and Chris Paul wow Chris Paul and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Chris Paul and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. I went old school. I went old school. Move on. Anyway, next.

Chris Paul's game does feel like it would have... He could have been out there in the 70s and you'd be like, yeah, that makes sense. Or in the 80s or in the 90s or... I don't know that I would have expected to... All right. The gimmick is old. or in the 90s or... I mean, I don't know that I would have expected to...

The gimmick is old. But if you could have any player's skill set for a day, whose and which skill set would it be? Oh my god. Kevin Durant shooting. Yeah. But this is your body, not a seven-foot body.

Oh, well, you didn't say that that's why i said that's why i specified with skill set and which would it be uh let's see um chris paul's decision making all right there you go all right that would apply to the rest of your life too like buying insurance for instance um all right you can watch a movie with one of these players you got to pick one and then i'll tell you what movie you're watching based on their past tweets okay you can watch a movie with reggie jackson jalen brunson robert covington danny green or justice winslow damn i'm gonna go jalen brunson jalen brunson you are watching episode three of star wars

based on his tweet what is the best star wars movie ever any answer that is not episode three is wrong anakin is my favorite. Least favorite is Darth Maul only because he shouldn't have died after the first movie. You're showing your age here. The best Star Wars movie ever is Empire Strikes Back. I'm not showing my age. Jalen Brunson is showing his age. Not only are you

watching it, you're watching it with a guy that thinks episode 3 is the best. That's right. You can go back in time So three is the best. That's right. All right. You can go back in time and permit either prime magic or prime Kobe to make a run with this year's squad. Which one are you choosing? Take that ride.

I'm going to make y'all mad. Prime magic all day, every day. That's not going to make me mad. Good over here. And finally, the ultimate question, Jack or Jabari? Miles. Wow.

He did it. He did it to us. I'm supposed to be at work today. I'll say, who do we have on the scale? Who? You know, everyone's to work today. I know. I'll say, who do we have on the scale? Who? Just Ferris Bueller. You know, everyone's just like,

man, that guy's so cool. He doesn't even have to show up. Gerard Hector, such a pleasure having you on the show. Where can people

find you, follow you, all that good stuff? Yeah, people can follow me on that site that used to be called Twitter,

that's now X at J.S. Hector. You can find me on Blue Sky if you're on there. Gerard Hector, J-A-R-O-D-H-E-C-T-O-R. And of course, at TrueHoop.com. TrueHoop?

Amazing. Jabari, where can people find you? Well, of course they can find the show at hashtag MadBoosties. They can find me at JabariDavisNBA. And you can also find Miles, the real talent out of the two of us, at MilesOfGrey. What about you?

I'm at Jack underscore O'Brien. Shouts out to our listener of the week, Paul Garaventa, for tagging and pointing out a bad business decision versus Portland. Chet got yoked on. He's taken some

business decisions. It was Tumani Kamara. got yoked on. He's taken some business decisions. It was Tumani, Kamara. If you're getting blocked shot, you're going to get dunked on. That's right. That's going to happen. Alright, that's going to do it for us this week. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. We are back next week with another episode

and we'll talk to y'all then. Bye. Bye. Bye. 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

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. 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 and the best analysis delivered by the time you get your coffee. The show hits every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone.

So I'm bringing in all the big guns from NFL media, like Colleen Wolf. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.