The Daily Zeitgeist - MJGMB #89: Surprising Starts and the State of the Jazz with Sarah Todd

Episode Date: November 29, 2023

The guys were back in action this week and pleased to be joined by The Deseret News beat writer Sarah Todd on today's episode. The trio discussed the surprising starts of teams like the Timberwolves, Thunder and Orlando before transitioning into the state of the Utah Jazz.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 Capital One, 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. Kaitlyn 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. There's so much beauty in Mexican culture, like mariachis, delicious cuisine, and even lucha libre. Diet Coke. Santos Escobar, emperor of Lucha Libre and a WWE superstar. Listen to Lucha Libre Behind the Mask on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you stream podcasts. Well, the Celtics and Timberwolves still atop their mighty perches

of their respective conferences. But OKC and Orlando right at their heels. It's kind of amazing to watch. And we'll get into all of that and the state of the Utah Jazz with Deseret beat writer Sarah Todd on today's episode. I'm Miles Gray. And I'm Jack O'Brien.

And this is Miles and Jack O'Bat Boosties! Oh Sarah Todd You're back finally One of our favorites It's so good to have you How are you? Oh, Sarah Todd, you're back. She back. One of our favorites. It's so good to have you. How are you?

How is it being a beat reporter? How is it being the co-host of the Unsalvageable podcast with former guest Greg Foster? How is that? Those are the light plugs up top. Like LeBron James. It's pretty good. Okay. Yeah.

All right. 11 years into beat writing. How is it's the same okay good to know good to know and what is it with beat writing what is it about it are you making beats the by dre uh the fact that timberwolves okc, and Orlando are three of the top four teams. Nobody had that coming into this. Absolutely not. No. This is very fun. You had it in a fun way, OKC. I did have OKC.

Like in a jokey way, you're always like, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. Oh, I guess now, I'm sorry, very serious. Put my money where my mouth is. That's true. You did put it where your mouth is. But that's only if they win the title. But the Timberwolves,

Anthony Edwards being as good as he is, I'm so happy. I'm so happy. I felt like a couple months ago we were like, okay, go bear and cat. We'll see if this whole thing works. In the offseason. And now look at us.

Sarah, who are you most shocked by? Cat. Yeah. We'll see if this whole thing works. In the offseason. Everybody. And now look at us. Now look at us. Sarah, who are you most shocked by? Well, I'm looking right now at what my preseason picks were for like one through eight seeds. And I had Timberwolves at eight in the West. Thunder at seven. But I had Orlando as the bad team you want to watch on League Pass that won't be in the top eight. So it is surprising. And if in full honesty here, I have watched a total of two Magic games. So I don't really understand what's happening because in the games that I watched, not great.

Yeah. No, it sounds like it's like Paolo has figured something out too. And like their bench has become formidable. I think that's the big thing that I gleaned from my light highlight watching. I was like, oh, okay. Is Anthony Black playing now? He was still incredible last year though. Yeah.

Paolo. Paolo. He is. And I think he's been playing more because Mar was still incredible last year, though. Yeah. Paolo. Paolo. He is, and I think he's been playing more because Markel Fultz has been out. But, yeah. And even, Jack, your boy Markel? Markel? Excited for him? Yeah.

I'm excited for this team. I love a young team that's coming to play. And this is where the in-season tournament is going to be fun, to see these teams play, assuming they're not eliminated yet. I don't totally understand it. I don't know why my Sixers are already eliminated. But they beat the breaks off the Lakers, who are 4-0 right now. In the in-season tournament games.

Someone would call it arbitrary but I do like I respect a team that's able to turn it on for the in season tournament yeah exactly and it seems like the Lakers are that it seems like the Pacers are that it's going to be fun to see some of these young teams including the

Pacers you know play with something on the line in a tournament that has the single elimination of it all. The tournament that is in the season. It is in the season, and that's the thing about it. What more could be said? Exactly.

The cash prize on offer. Just call it the NBA Cup. Right. Something easy. Just do that. That's fun. The Vegas Cup? The NBA Cup? The Jerry NBA Cup. Right. Something easy. Just do that. The Vegas Cup? The NBA Cup?

The Jerry West Cup? Whatever. That's what the cup is actually called, the NBA Cup. So just call it that. Oh, right. Oh, the actual trophy. Yeah, why not? I mean, I think most leagues or sports that have these kinds of tournaments, it's ripe for sponsoring, naming rights.

That's what you do. It's going to be the Taco Bell NBA Cup. Baja Blast. The Baja Blast. Run it over. This is Baja Blast flowing out of the cup. Yeah, they fill it with Baja Blast. With a built-in Baja Blast fountain.

Just ideas that you're free to take the NBA. Yes, please. um the just ideas that you're free to take the nba yes um please i it feels like lebron wanting to turn it on for the in-season tournament i this is assuming that like the fact they're foreign i was randomness and um but like that that actually makes sense i think last week i was like i'm not expecting big things from the lakers or like teams like that necessarily who you know they won the title a couple years ago this won't matter to them but it does make sense lebron wanting to be part of nba history winning the first nba cup maybe maybe they'll call it the lebron james cup at one point

lebron james's cup we got to go for something we can win you know i think that's you know that's what it's all about it's about knowing you're finding your spaces and then attacking you know right now we like i said that game against the sixers was a horrifying to watch uh and i'm surprised you didn't watch it it was so funny in that game because even when it was garbage time, Mo Bamba was killing it against the Lakers. The Lakers looked so bad that even all of the s**ts on the Sixers looked amazing. Sixers don't have s**ts. They just have the next man up. He's back.

That's right. He's coming back slowly. I know you thought you could quit your Sixers, but it was like so funny when Blake Wexler was on. It was the same thing. I was like, I know you said you're past it, but there's no way you can watch this and be like, Hmm.

There's a small flame, a small pilot flame that stays on in the heart of Sixers fans. But it takes a lot. You're constantly checking the pilot plan. Be like, that thing must be out. Because this water is cold. This water is icy. Just banging the side of it.

Nothing happened. I've got another in-season tournament thought that I want to bang around. I think that the risk is that after years of this being a thing, because the NBA is going to keep it, that there's teams that we always say, oh, they're a good regular season team, right? Which just means that they're garbage in the postseason.

It's a nice way of saying that. And I think that the risk is being the team that's always good in the in-season tournament, and then it becomes an insult. It's like, oh, yeah, they're always always good in the in-season tournament. And then it becomes an insult. It's like, oh yeah, they're always really good in the in-season tournament. Yeah.

They really turn it on a couple of Fridays a year. Yeah. I think that we might be headed towards, towards that. So they're a Vegas team. They really show up in, uh, in summer league and in-season tournament.

Right. I think that's the worst case scenario. I feel like if they lock in the, you know, the stakes, um, if like after fans have a couple of like really fun single elimination games under their belts,

like it starts to become a thing that people will value, you know, like there's that one, there's that one all-star game where everybody played really hard and i feel like if that had just like kept going like that that would have been that was the first year of the they did the elam ending right yeah exactly yeah that's great that was so fun that fourth quarter like that was crazy like if that had kept going i feel like instead of like everyone would have been like,

you know, actually paying attention to who won in the all-star game. So maybe we get a, especially if people are playing hard, um, I feel like it needs to be more money. It can't be just a watch for these guys. I mean,

it's some people, I mean, yeah. Who is Spencer doing what he was like, Hey, that's a Rolls Royce. So he's got,'s got you know you got something i did a huge article on this during the summer and like dug into it and talked to a bunch of players and like high paid players low paid players like run the gambit and this it's not low stakes to anyone like even they're all like yes the highest

paid player is like i can buy a vacation house somewhere with that. Yeah. Yeah, right. And like, also, you have to keep in mind that like the financial pool for like the regular season and the playoffs, like the postseason pool, the most money that you can win is if you are a number one seed who then goes on to win the finals, like the Nuggets did last season. Right. Yeah.

And if you, and so last season right yeah and if you and so last season the nuggets made the absolute most money that they could because you progressively get more money each round of the playoffs that you continue to go and that ended up being around 470 000 per person for the nuggets oh wow now that is before taxes and before they buy the championship rings because that has to come out of that pool right yeah and it's before the championship rings come out of that pool yeah and it's before i would be like give me a garbage championship ring like give me like give me the wedding band that i have what are the average like six figures for the ring uh i think it's i mean i think it's high six figures i think just about yeah

so then you also every team then like comes together and they vote on who else on staff will be getting part of the pool and so like that includes trainers and chefs and they always they always vote to give some money to people because they don't want to seem like horrible humans right um and so it ends up being far less than they would get if they just won the n-series in tournament right they're like here's 400 bucks jamal yeah and it's not like these guys aren't competitive right like they're all super competitive like that's how they got here in the first place is they have that gene where like they're they're all playing cards like constantly they're playing

each other in video games they're right and like the jazz head coach will hardy the way that he put it he was like i can put five dollars on the line during practice for free throws and guys will nearly kill each other to win right that's great so like there you put five hundred thousand dollars in front of them like yeah they want it yeah because yeah right because even to your point it's like the only other way you could get that kind of money close to that money is to go from the one seed and win the whole thing, and then even after that, you're left with whatever.

So, yeah. The Lakers in the COVID year, which was, the pool was a little bit less in the bubble when they won the championship that year, but not that much because then escrow rolled out and it all evened out anyways, but once everything was paid rings bought etc every player got a little over a hundred thousand yeah wow yeah okay oh and thank

you jabari sent me article uh the rings can go from 20 to or 10 to 400 10 to 40 000 and some to even exceed a hundred thousand so i guess it all depends on how drippy your ring is. Yeah. Well, I see. Yeah. That's a lot of watches. That's a lot of the watches I normally buy for $500,000. About $500,000. State of the Jazz, 6 and 11.

Yeah. And they got some good young'uns. What are you seeing while focusing on the Jazz? State of the Jazz, bird's eye view, great uh okay we can move along um uh listen they had a a really really ugly two-game road trip where they lost against the lakers and then the blazers and it wasn't even like that the lakers beat them because that would have been fine but it was that it was so embarrassing the way they played. And then it was even more embarrassing the next night against the Blazers.

And so then they had a heart-to-heart film session the next day where everyone was called out. I mean, I think they were averaging like 21 turnovers a game. They'd had a couple games with 23, 24. It was really, really ugly stuff. Everyone was playing iso ball it was gross and will hardy the coach of the jazz he's been saying since he became the head coach like i don't believe in free minutes of course during the tank season like that doesn't really matter right but during this season when they do want to win games it does matter and

so he started benching guys and i mean he started lowry mark and jordan clarkson uh in their defense were out for injury and illness uh on the first game against the pelicans a couple days ago but even then it's not like he started colin sexton or taylon horton tucker or guys who had been in the rotation before instead of starting them he dug down like onto the third string and started omar yurt seven chris dunn simone fontekio you got the minutes i saw it was it was a bunch of it was a bunch of guys you know yeah right right right uh and the message was i mean and he will hardy literally said if you're not going to play hard and pass then you can't play for the utah jazz yeah what was that other thing he said i I think a little more colorful.

He's like, yo, if you wear the Utah Jazz jersey, you need to give a boop about the Utah Jazz. Exactly. That was the line after the Portland loss. He was pretty fed up. And undefeated now, since then. Exactly. After this recording. So they turned something on.

Yeah. Simone Fontecchio is a great name, by the way. I think that was the first time I heard it. Simone Fontecchio. Simone Fontecchio. Yes, bro. Yes. Give me more with that name.

Yeah. So they've been playing really hard the last couple of games. They won against the Pelicans with Zion, but without Lowry Markkinen. So that was a good one. Yeah. But we'll see. We'll see. You know, like, they have four bad games in a row and a couple good ones.

I'm not going to say that everything's turned around. Sure. We're 16 games into the season or whatever, so. But I did see that Talon Horton Tucker had no turnovers in the last game, which is, I think. He also had a lot less minutes. Yeah. And seven assists, though.

I was like, okay, you're quietly efficient there. I found in my basketball career, the only thing that really helped with my turnovers was when they cut my minutes completely down. And then my turnovers went way down. Yeah, zero turnovers. Zero minutes, too. But you know what?

Zero turnovers. But man, when i bragged i am my assist to turnover ratio is perfect yeah um exactly just get in there and i've been watching some uh keontae george highlights too man this kid Yeah. He's the real deal. He is the real deal. Yeah. Like, he's an absolute hoops junkie, which is very fun. Like, it's kind of Jamal Crawford-esque, right? Like, the guys come into the league and they love ball.

A lot of them do, right? But, like, real hoop junkies, that's not everyone. And this kid, he got drafted by the Jazz and immediately went back and watched all 82 of the previous season. And then he asked for clips to be cut for him of Mike Conley playing with Jordan Clarkson and Lowry Markkinen so that he could get them the ball in the spots that they liked when they had Mike Conley. Wow. So that's your rookie mentality yeah and to top it off i saw that absolute sickening dunk he had on dyson daniels i was like bro you just that's a that's a missing poster which is funny it's a that was keontae george's first first

poster ever like oh yeah life he wow yeah he he started dunking when he was eighth grade and he said like everything's been open in transition during warm-ups stuff like that uh and he was like i've been looking for a body and he got dyson daniels wow i mean beautifully too like some of the photographs are true poetry it's so i mean keonta george is so fun because when he's coming out of baylor like when the jazz drafted him i was like i don't know you just uh you know you've got taylon horton tucker colin sexton jordan clarkson on this team and you just drafted a guard out of baylor who has a negative assist to turnover ratio and right he's just yes we did and they're like yeah we believe in him yeah and uh and then and

then like his first two i think it's the first three starts he had like 21 assists and two turnovers i think when you heard your questions yeah yeah you're giving him bulletin board material it was funny because you know talking to him and uh Summer League, he'd seen some sort of draft preview that was looking at his game. And they had strengths and weaknesses. And he took a screenshot of the weaknesses and made it his background on his phone. Not as like, oh, this is what the haters think. But he was like, every day I would look at it and I'd be like, okay, I'm going to get these things better. Wow.

Something about elite athletes, you know, they've got something a little bit different than the rest of us. I don't know. I mean, they're a little bit, they're like slight psychopaths, but in a fun way. Yeah, of course. Of course. Yeah.

Like you were, I mean, the wording you used was like true hoops junkie. Like some people like it and some people are junkies. It's like, yeah, that language is like for people with a problem you need to seek help yeah yeah like yeah yeah he's got the real like the personality defect you're looking for exactly he does have the defect yeah right exactly they say that he's got you know he's got that dog in him but it's actually the d stands for defect and he does have that he's got that got that personality defect in him yeah he's got that defective personality he's got that pathology um all right let's uh should we take a break yeah come back and uh keep talking about the nba yeah why not i i legitimately dropped a what a sport

in there uh i know you go add listeners hey man that keontae george god i'm trying to take my inspiration for as a broadcaster from magic johnson's twitter feed right yeah they do play basketball yeah oh wow that kid can jump can he all right congratulations to him 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 caitlyn clark versus angel reese i know i'll go down in history People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Every great player needs a foil. I ain't really near them boys. I just come here to play basketball every single day and that's what I focus on. From college to the pros, Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Angel Reese is a joy to watch. She is unapologetically black. I love her.

What exactly ignited this fire? Why has it been so good for the game? And can the fanfare surrounding these two supernovas be sustained? This game is only going to get better because the talent is getting better. This new season will cover all things sports and culture. Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal.

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They're going to be right around that top spot for the season. It feels like Anthony Edwards has the defect and the ability to just kind of will them to where he wants them to be. And it's kind of coming together. We'll see. But like, I'm not as confident that they're going to be there as I am like the Celtics, who feel like they can't help but be one of the best teams,

if not the best team in the league. But, you know, I don't know that they're going to necessarily be ahead of the Nuggets, but I think they're going to be in the hunt for the first seed in the West. I don't know about OKC. I think OKC is going to be in the hunt for the first seed in the West. I don't know about OKC. I think OKC is going to be in the top six.

Orlando is interesting though. Do we think Orlando is going to be in the top six? I don't know. I read some stat about how like teams that start off like 13, there's some record within the first 20 games that like typically if a team's there they're they're gonna be amongst like the top five yeah going into the postseason and like i think they're two games away from achieving that i don't i mean that's what the statistics say but i don't know it is just wild to see them kind of just put it all together because there's always been like yeah maybe i mean like when they put it all together this could be fun to watch and

now they are and now i'm just i guess i don, I haven't seen enough to know like, okay, so this is where we're starting. This is like the new floor for them. Or if this is, you know, a flash in the pan. What do you think, Sarah? I was just looking at their schedule because I saw that they'd won the last seven and I was like, okay, but against who? And then I look and I'm like, that includes the Bucks, the Nuggets, the Pacers, the Celtics.

Yeah. They beat the Celtics. Like, they are on one right now. Yeah. Right. They're big. They're, like, big everywhere. And they're strong. They're tough.

I feel like they're, that's just been a trend across the league, I guess. These guys are big. Have you noticed that? Yeah. Like, seeing them in person, they're pretty big, these NBA players. I've heard that, you know,

the talent is always getting better and players are always getting taller. That's what I've heard. Yes. That's a rumor. We haven't actually confirmed that, but yeah. I don't know if I believe in the Timberwolves.

I think I probably have like a little bit of Rudy Gobert PTSD. And I think that, you know, they're probably like a Mike Conley hamstring away from not being good. Interesting. I've got PTSD from that too. But here's the thing. I want them to be good because i love mike conley i want he deserves good things and i think that it would be great for things to pay off for rudy gobert

and i love anthony edwards he does have that defect and he's very very fun i just don't know if i believe in them they seem like a really good regular season team. Right. Yeah, I don't know about the playoffs necessarily. But I feel like this will be their first run where they get some, you know. They've been a feisty first, second round team, right? Since Anthony Edwards has been good. But this feels like the year where they could go to the second round and like

may make it interesting and start getting those like big, big minute reps. Um, and I am talking of course about the end season tournament when I'm saying the second round, like that's where we're all talking about that. Right. Right.

Yeah. I think the thunder are sneaky in a way that I also think maybe the, guess the magic are sneaky like the Thunder are so much fun to watch. I have had an absolute ball watching them. And so I'm ready to believe in them because they're young. A lot of their guys don't make any sense at all. Poku's got a weird mustache that I'm absolutely behind. Poku's got a weird mustache that I'm absolutely behind. Chet Holmgren somehow is strong,

even though his body mass is like two pounds, I think. Yeah. Yeah. It's just, and, you know, Shay is maybe like the skinniest best player in the NBA, like the skinniest of the best, right? And Salt also has like a very deep voice and he does really weird things on the court that he makes look easy so i just it's a fun weird team and i like weird his game is really strange like you watch it and like his like some of the

shots he gets like you you would watch him score three times in a row and you still wouldn't be like well there goes like one of the 10 best players in the nba you know because it's just like right yeah it doesn't feel like it's not like smooth necessarily no it's not as aesthetically pleasing as like watching i don't know like high level scorers like steph gareed devin booker you know like guys like that it's not aesthetically pleasing to watch Shea. But then you finish watching a game. You're like, oh, yeah, 36.

Okay. Yeah. Right. Oh, man. What a fun season. What a sport. What a sport. Are we going to do it to the Clippers?

We don't have to do it to the Clippers. I mean, look, I took that L on the chin. Look, I copped to it. The Lakers looked absolutely atrocious against the Sixers. But you know what? That somehow wasn't the biggest L of the L.A. teams that night. Because it's the Clippers against a Jokic-less, Murray-less, Gordon-less Nuggets. Went into the fourth quarter with a lead where they have a tremendous record

and still managed to, it all just kind of went away. I don't know what to say. I mean, they had all, and they had all their four, their big four, whatever, however you want to describe that group of four gentlemen. But, yeah, look, I set off Mike maybe a little bit more colorfully how i felt about it but now i'm just like well yeah you know that's tough to watch that's tough to watch absolutely absolutely do you think they're gonna pull it together no no no i don't think i mean i don't think anyone objectively thought before the season started that like this was the Clippers here.

Right. Right. But they they have been aging and falling apart and they're just throwing money and whatever else they can at the problem. And it's not going to fix it. Yeah. There's a lot of bandaid fixes to things that need like a little bit more attention. And the bandaid is named James Harden. It's not good

yeah did you see that clip of him walking the dog and then he kicked the ball like and then like had a turnover and had to foul the guy because it was going so i was like oh no oh yeah i saw it yeah that was a little bit that kind of like summed things up a bit like yeah in that moment they were like up nine at the time but yeah i i I don't think so. I don't it's hard to see like this idea. And I'm not trying to cast dispersions, but like James Harden and Russell Westbrook, like in the year 2023. For me, I'm like, I don't see that. Like, I don't see how any of that works on top of just what we've seen with PG and Kawhi. I just don't know.

I just doesn't. I'm like, yes, those are all great names, but I don't know how they collectively make the Clippers better. And that's, I think, what's going on. Yeah. I mean, the PG and Kawhi

hadn't worked for years. Like, how does James Harden and Westbrook make that better? Right. Yeah. I don't know. Did you feel, Jack?

You think they got it? You think they can go? You think they can? I think they're going to win the title. I'm going to zag. You think they got it? You think they can call? I think they're going to win the title. I'm going to zag. I think they got it. What a sport.

Have you seen that guy put the ball in the hole? That cow high guy. Cow high? Yeah. I still think Kawhi is better than people probably remember or realize. But yeah, I think there are going to be good moments where you have Kawhi, PG, and every once in a while Harden. Harden playing his way back into shape. They could be scary and make some runs but i still think they're

going to be in that play-in range which is probably not where you want to go with a roster that is the age that they are you know yeah yeah i'm i'm done i've officially maybe it's just me getting old but i'm done with teams looking good on paper because like right paper is not part of basketball like no it has to look good on the court and so like you know you look at that roster on paper and kawaii pg harden westbrook like that's those are some good names and right in practice though not good yeah yeah on paper that's where you know because paper goes in the trash. It does. You know, that's the thing about paper. Yeah, yeah. You hate to see it. You hate to see it, you know.

Especially as a Laker fan, you hate to see it. But I just do want to say one more thing because I was thinking of Pat Bev. I can't believe he was like shooting 50% or something against us. And I'm like, maybe if he just eventually plays with every team in the league, he can have those

comeback performances and just be the consistent monster that we all know he can be. He becomes the greatest player in the league in his mid-40s. Every game is a grudge match. Here I go. Did you guys know that Russell Westbrook's wife is a therapist?

Physical? Or a psychiatric therapist? Or otherwise. She has a degree in psychology. She's a licensed therapist. She doesn't have time to have a practice because she's got a family and a husband who's in the NBA.

But that's why she does her show and stuff because she's a legitimate therapist. Amazing. Which makes me think that russell westbrook might be the most well adjusted nba player and maybe we've just all been wrong about everything else around him right even when he's going after fans yeah it's like he's like even like then i was taught i have to set boundaries is actually something i've learned in therapy yes um it's like oh i'm kind of with him most of the time when he's, like, going after fans.

I'm like, yeah. Like, he's like, think about how this feels for, like, my family, man. Like, this sucks. Like, you're being very mean to me. Right. That's absolutely true. But I guess, like, in a fan's mind who's, like, being toxic, it's like, well, they got all that money. It's like, what, they disappear their entire family

to a place where they don't have to face the scrutiny that they are because this person plays in this city? I don't know about that either. Yeah, after 12 years of people screaming in your face the worst obscenities that they can think of, you're just like, the money makes it feel good. Right. Yeah, that's about it um wemby

had uh another one of the games where it was like it fit you could tell he was a little bit locked in a little bit like wanting to wanting to see what he could do against yokich you know he he said that he modeled his game after durant and his first best game came against Durant. And then obviously Jokic is the best big man in the league, maybe the best player in the league. Um, when he played pretty well, it was, there was just a series of weird things that he was doing that,

uh, I had never seen a human body do before. Um, some lobs where he was catching it and just dunking it when the rim was at his neck and stuff. But also defending Jokic in a way that was pretty...

You could tell Jokic even his post-game comments are like, yo, let this kid cook. He's changing the game, so let's just watch it. And that came from a place of sincerity because watching him be like flummoxed by his limbs and stuff in his length, I was like,

Oh wow. Jokic is even like, yo, usually I can get the ball over there. But now there's like one, no look. That was so wild to see. Like anytime Jokic come with it,

like you'd be like, okay, he's hitting that. No look past somehow when he was so long, he was like, the velocity was not intense enough for me to not accept this and i will merely take this with my seven feet arms but yeah that was something something to watch for sure that kg uh clip i don't know what that was from but kevin garnett who's freaking out about lebron james playing like this uh after

this many years and then he was like we've got a seven foot four Frenchman who's doing things that we've never, like, yes, we all agree with you. That's how we all feel. This kid is insane. Right. For sure. I also really liked the clip of Jalen Pickett

when he like meets when Benyama shakes hands with him. And then is like, you can see his like face turn. Like he's just like, wait, what is, what is happening?

And then he's like talking on the sideline. He's like, he does a double take. It was like one of those things where it just like, it felt like, you know, and like, like,

like when you meet some macho dude and he tries to really grip your hand, like, why are you doing assert dominance like that? And after, you're like, what was that about? He did that just because of the size of him. He's like, you didn't have to have your hand all big like that. He looked at him like, what are we doing here?

He just keeps looking at his hands after they take it. We shook hands a lot. His hand went to here. He's pointing to his elbow. Look at his hands after they shake hands. We shook hands a lot. His hand went to here. He's pointing to his own. His hand came up to right here. His middle finger, bro. He shook my hand and came up to right here, bro.

He talks about it. He shakes his hand, walks away like he's seen a ghost from the handshake, is on the sideline talking to somebody being like, I swear to God, his hand came up to my forearm. Then they're showing in the game he's on the sideline talking to somebody being like i swear to god his hand came up to my forearm and then they're like showing in the game he's on the sideline being like no no no he was tickling that little part where like your your elbow is on the other side that like actually felt pretty good he was tickling that with a handshake yeah he's yeah it's wild how like hand obsessed like with the way that clip is sort of structured.

It sounds like Trump. He's like, he's big hands, very big hands, big Christmas hands, Christmas hands. I'm going to go see those Christmas hands because I had a choice to skip some games right around Christmas to like be home and take some days off. And,

uh, the jazz are playing the Spurs the day after christmas and i was like no it's fine i'll fly to san antonio on christmas day it's fine yeah i'm trying to see wimby yeah yeah especially in this verse i mean we caught summer league wimby which was i think not just so unfair to him too because it was what are you gonna do what are you gonna do like you know like we were all at the ball and everyone be like oh it's like a warm-up yeah oh man it's like giving it to so many summer leagues and i have never seen everyone in the thomas and mac center stand up during warm-ups like the entirety of it it was the weirdest spectacle to watch the people watch right yeah that's what made it a little bit more unsettling because that's where i was like ah this is the worst

environment for anybody to try and perform just in general and i'm part of it but yeah oh man well good luck to to you out there on boxing day it's called yes can't Lamello Ball has been having an amazing season and has suffered a significant right ankle injury. A right ankle. It is a right ankle. Ankle injury, but avoided any fractures, so that's good. I would like to see him complete

a whole season of basketball. He's been playing really well. And then Shangoon has been incredible. I didn't realize he's 6'11 now. Yeah, he keeps growing. I think he's headed for Wemby territory. He's just going to keep growing.

He went up two inches in the offseason. Dude, imagine him on OKC. I don't want to. Why would I do that? How old is he? Let's see. Can't be older than 35. I don't think he can.

He's 21. 21. He was born in 2002. No! 21 is old for a two-inch growth spurt. To still be growing, yeah. 2021 is not, oh, he's a grown boy territory. Yeah.

Yeah. That's wild. Yeah. I know. I know. But yeah, he's been balling. The Rockets are good, inexplicably. They're another one that I feel like a lot of people didn't see coming.

I mean, obviously, when I say a lot of people didn't see coming, obviously I'm not talking about everyone else. We've, we called all this, uh, just go back and listen to the, Oh, actually I think those episodes were pulled down.

Um, but we call it the Pentagon. The department of defense said we had to take them down. Oh yeah. Because they didn't, the information, the intelligence. Yeah.

They didn't want other countries to know about us or something. It was like a security risk to hear how smart and right we are about everything. But then they forced us to go back into our liquid tanks where they put the headset on us and we just started doing things. The boosties were too mad. Yeah, exactly.

Precog boosties. Sir, have you heard how mad these boosties are? They're too mad. Call the Pentagon. these boosties are they're too mad call the pentagon these boosties have gone mad the guy just absolutely guessed the nuclear codes on on air they were talking about that episode of some tv show lost and he said the exact code and the code was dylan brooks that's right it's all dylan brook i know i know he's he's thinking that so we might as well just come out and say this is all dylan brooks it has nothing

to do with the coaching change nothing to do with the other veterans it's all dylan brooks and yeah i mean look how bad the grizzlies have played thus far. Look how well his new team has played. I do, like, I'm joking, but there's like 10% of me that's like, man, he's like mini Draymond, though. No. He's not? No. Okay. That's not the reason.

I'll just shut up. I agree that he believes it's the reason. But it's not. all right so we have this new segment uh that is 100 original yeah it is um so it's called jacked in a fool okay now my name is jack and there's a phrase that i use all the time saying, man, he is acting a fool when talking about a player. So Super Producer Jabari just kind of put it to it, just went in the lab and came back with this thing called Jacked in a Fool, where we're going to have a Jacked in a Fool moment of the week. Again, TM and all rights reserved and copyright copyright 2023 yeah little copyright thing um behind this because this is 100 original uh and you're never gonna guess who the star of uh this week's jacked in a full clip is jacked in a pool jacked in a pool uh we could you could just rename the segment um so many good

tm rights reserved copyright m m x x i i yep there's been some wonderful edits from people uh you know show like there's there's one where he does this like sick spin dribble like brings it like at half court um gets up to the three-point line, shoots this very smooth-looking three-pointer, and everything is beautiful. They're ramping it to slow-mo on the spin dribble, slow-mo on the three, and then it misses by a foot and a half to the left.

And he just looks at his hands. Um, and, uh, and he just like looks at his hands. Uh, but the, the jacked in a full moment of the week has to be when he shook. Uh,

was it Cade? Yeah. I think he shook Cade. Yeah. Um, put, put Cade on skates, took a moment to admire his work and then tried to do a little scoop shot,

but like he did it in a weird way and immediately got it swatted, uh, by a czar. Uh, so shook it. And no pulling. It's there was something from the, uh,

about the job, like a beautiful victory. Yeah. He's like, oh, see you later. Now. Nope. He thought to just take the shot, but then was like, wow, I'm so wide open.

I should do something cool. Take a moment and just come at this guy who was immediately just going to swap me away like a loose fly. But hey. I mean, I watched that video just now and i i don't understand what he was thinking yeah jordan pool yeah jordan pool's doing the long game our boy yeah jack in the pool what are you saying this is uh andy kaufman yeah he's doing some andy

kaufman stuff to us right yeah it Yeah, it's a pool party. Yeah. This is a long game. He's been like, oh, y'all thought I was really... Come on now. Why'd you turn it up? I've been on the Jordan pool bandwagon since he hit that game winner at Michigan his freshman year wearing the short shorts. I was like,

this guy's got something. He's got moxie. He's certainly got something. Yeah. Turns out I was right, as usual. He's got something. He's got moxie. He's certainly got something. Yeah. Turns out I was right, as usual. He's got something. If you just keep it real vague, your predictions can be right.

This kid's got something. This kid's got something. I didn't say what it was. This is the emphasis. Yeah. Yeah. The kid's got something. That's the emphasis.

That's the one. That's the way of something. Jordan Poole definitely has something. Yeah. He's got something. He's has something Yeah He's got something Something Well that's been jacking the fool TM copyright MCMM

I think it's different enough if it's jacking Jacking Man this guy is acting the fool Right Alright let's take a quick break We're gonna come back Man, this guy is acting the fool. Right. All right. Let's take a quick break. We're going to come back.

We're going to do the fastest segment in podcasting. We'll be right back. I'm Carrie Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports, where we live at the intersection of sports and culture. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry, Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. I know I'll go down in history. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Every great player needs a foil. I ain't really near them.

Why is that? I just come here to play basketball every single day, and that's what I focus on. From college to the pros, Clark and Reese have changed the way we consume women's sports. Angel Reese is a joy to watch. She is unapologetically black. I love her. What exactly ignited this fire? Why has it been so good for the game? And can the fanfare surrounding these two supernovas be sustained? This game is only going to get better because the talent is getting better. This new season will cover all things sports and culture. Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke. 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 Schuch, Jordan Rodrigue from The 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 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. 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 edge with me cam jordan can't stop it you know what's gonna happen can't stop it that's right catching 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! Oh, and I'll have a special guest each month. Join me to mix it up a little bit. Who is it? None other than... Psyche! You'll have to tune in to find out.

So tap in to Off the Edge with Cam Jordan's podcast, your ultimate playbook for all things football and not football. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's go. And we're back. We're back. Um.

Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha.'re back Um Ha ha ha Ha ha ha Ha ha ha Ha ha ha Sarah You poor unfortunate soul You wandered into the fourth quarter You poor unfortunate soul

Trademark copyright that Thank you Copyright that M-M-X-X-I-I-I I-I-I-I-I. I-I-I-I-I. Now, it's time for the fastest question and answer segment in sports podcasting history. It's the fourth quarter rapid fire round

of questioning. You've done this before. You already get it. We are going to ask you a question. You immediately respond. Don't take your time. Just give us those quick, fast twitch responses. You know what I mean? No, I know what you mean. I didn't do a good job of that last time. I just took an hour to answer every question. No.

Well, guess what? We've learned a lot since that appearance and we've gotten a lot more aggressive with maintaining our title. So please don't think we're rude. Even though we will be very rude. Okay, here we go. Fourth quarter of the biggest game of the year. The championship of the in-season tournament.

Here we go. Brian, start the clock. Dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum, dum. Were you doing Bill Maher? Yeah. Was that the... Ugh. Dude.

He's my favorite comedian. All right, here we go. Taking quite a long time to get into the fastest segment. Good. Good call. You're right. Even better. Okay. Do you want to go first? I can go first. All right. Good call. You're right. Even better.

Okay, do you want to go first? I can go first. Alright. Sarah Todd, I want to hear you ghostwrite a tweet for Magic Johnson on a subject of your choosing. You know, a ham sandwich is always good

when there's bread involved. Yes! Nailed it! We were trying to do Magic Johnson sandwich is always good when there's bread involved yes nailed it nailed it we're trying to do we're trying to do magic johnson movie tweets before and i think the the one i came up with was the godfather is a quality film yeah um i feel like that would be that's right um okay congratulations to uh al pacino just like yeah out of nowhere yeah yeah martin scorsese does he ever make a bad movie i don't know fargo was an oscar worthy film yes yep seven years after one right shakespeare in love underrated even though it did win best picture

you're like this is this is a weird fact okay we gotta keep it moving sarah you've covered squads Shakespeare in Love, underrated. Even though it did win Best Picture. You're like, this is a weird fact. Okay, we've got to keep it moving. Sarah, you've covered squads in both regions, okay? Both towns. The Bay Area and Salt Lake. Who has the better food? The Bay Area. Wow.

Now, what is it about the Bay Area? You're going to do that to the Salt Lake? I mean, I don't think that anyone in Utah thinks that they have like the most culturally diverse food selection. Dirty sodas? Dirty sodas. I mean, I still don't, I can't wrap my hand around the dirty soda thing because it just, just a regular soda works for me. Right, right, right. But I mean, the Bay Area is crazy.

You can literally have any type of food that you want at 4 a.m yeah that's that's a good that's that's not bad what do you miss the most what's your 4 a.m thing what's that thing you're like oh man if i was in the bay right now uh oh man there's so many things sarah hurry up please there's a place in san francisco called the garlic rose i think it's called the stinking rose stinking rose maybe that's it there's a place in San Francisco called the Garlic Rose, I think it's called. The Stinking Rose? Stinking Rose. Maybe that's it.

There's a Stinking Rose in LA that's like an all garlic restaurant? Yes, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And what more could you ask for? Yeah, that one thing that's just like garlic that's steeped in oil that you just like smear on the bread. Big area. Also, like there's a bunch of restaurants that I would go to like late at night or at any point during the day.

Even I'd walk into them just because I knew where they were. I have no idea what the names of those places are. Right. I know that there's a place like close to a bank downtown that is an Indian place that's open till 4 a.m. And it's incredible.

Oh, yeah. God, love it. What a sport. What a sport. I'm just finding out that Mark Cuban is selling the Mavs. Oh, you know what I miss the most? There is a taco truck near the corner of High and International in Oakland. It's right next to a Valero and a Burger King,

so it's right there if anybody's from the area, they know the one. And it is the absolute best taco in the world. I like that, Jack. You're just like, I'm reading right now. Mark Cuban is selling the Mavericks. And we just completely steamrolled through that. Wait, he really is? Yeah.

Mark Cuban. Cool. All right. Who's the most underappreciated of the truly all-time greats? Someone who deserves to be mentioned but is often left out of the all-time debates of the all-time. Dennis Rodman. Dennis Rodman. Love that answer.

I mean, what is it about Dennis Rodman? There has never been a single player that I can remember watching that would put his actual life on the line for a rebound. Like, if the choice is like, do I die or do I get this rebound and it leads to a bucket? I'll take the rebound. Oh, yeah. I'm taking the board every time. Yeah. Yeah.

What do you think? It was just like, do you think everyone was just kind of distracted by the stuff off the court and just like his, you know, flashy hair and stuff like that, that kind of changes that? Or do you think it's just because the art of rebounding is just generally not as respected as it could be? I mean, I think that defense is never as respected as offense. Like scoring is always going to be flashier and like, you know, the, the score is what's going to stick in people's minds and the people who add to that. I mean, and it's hard to be on a team with guys like isaiah or michael jordan and like in the era that he was on those teams and be the guy

that's remembered right yeah it's like i was like i had to dye my head lime green okay for y'all to even figure out i was doing something out here he was probably him and ronard tess those right because i mean i like defense so i'm always going to pick those guys. But you guys don't. I mean, the kids, they don't remember how good these guys were. They never seen a guy stretched out like it was quarter to three trying to get a ball on the sidelines. Yeah. Oh, is it me now?

Yeah. Oh, sorry. See, Sarah, this is where you got to really help us out. Sometimes we get so nostalgic. Because I remember, side note, I did a book report on Bad As I Want To Be when the Dennis Robinson biography came out in school. Yes. And my teacher, I got in trouble because they're like, what are you?

You just said it was a biography of a basketball player. You're talking about drug use and stuff. I'm like, this is what's in the book. That's what's in the book. That's what's in the book. That's his story, miss. What do you want me to say? Deny that? No.

How was his prose? I mean, I think I was in fifth grade when it came out, so masterful, masterful. It was ready. It was ripe for reading at that age. I thought I was reading Lord Byron, to be honest.

Sarah, here's a question. You can take two players from all of history to create your Mad Boost, here's a question. You can take two players from all of history to create your Mad Boosties edition NBA Jam team. Which two players are you putting together for your special edition team? Larry Bird and Dennis Rodman. Larry Bird and Dennis Rodman.

I've heard of Dennis Rodman. Who's Larry Bird? The kid these days. Yeah. I feel like Dennis Rodman would have i've heard of dennis rodman who's larry bird yeah is he like dennis would have some of the greatest body checking him and uh charles barkley would be incredible like just toss you down court yeah they would create new animations for like your character like actually go into the stands or something. Yeah, what I like is that my team is in the middle. There's like something happens, a foul, someone misses a shot or something. And then my team, the animation is just them fighting.

They're just fighting whoever's next to them. Right, right, right. He's the only player in NBA Jam history that has a Mortal combat fatality. Listen, the other team can't win if you knock them out. That's true. That's true.

That's true. Um, all right, finally, we're trying something new. You've been on before. You've told us, uh,

you've given your answer for Jack or miles. Wow. But the real question here is, uh, bacon or beer can miles. Do you want to do the honor? Yeah. Uh, sorry is Bacon or beer can Miles do you want to do the honor Yeah sorry Bacon or beer can Bacon

Bacon Bacon That's correct Got it Sarah is killing it today What a game What a sport I'm telling you

And that has been the fourth quarter round Of rapid fire questioning Sarah is killing it today. What a game. What a sport. I'm telling you. And that has been the fourth quarter round of rapid fire questioning. Thank you so much, Sarah Todd, for joining us on Miles and Jack got mad boosties. I did a really good job. I think you guys talked more than I did during that. I did a really good job of being really fast. I was just over here wistfully remembering all of my favorite memories from when mark cuban was the owner of the mavericks does that really happen yeah he just sold it to the adults sold it to yeah to miriam addison who's that i don't know i don't know who's like

i don't call a billionaire is the casino magnate who also bankrolled a lot of the Trump presidency. Anyway, yo, here we go. Sarah, where can people find you and follow you and read you and all that kind of good stuff? Listen to you. You can read all my stuff at Deseret.com. That's D-E-S-E-R-E-T. You can follow me at NBA Sarah on everything, everywhere. And you can listen to my podcast, Unsalvageable. We just started a Patreon. We've got interviews with players on the Utah Jazz.

We've got good at mailbag episodes. So there's lots of cool stuff that you don't get anywhere else if you're into the Utah Jazz. Bang, bang. All right. Where do they find us? Oh, that's right. You can follow the hashtag on Twitter at or not at hashtag Mad Boosties. You can follow me at Miles of Gray.

I'm at Jack underscore O'Brien. And this has been another edition of Miles and Jack got mad boosties. We'll see you next week. Bye. Thank you, Sarah. Bye. I'm Carrie Champion, and this is season four of Naked Sports. Up first, I explore the making of a rivalry. Kaitlyn Clark versus Angel Reese. People are talking about women's basketball just because of one single game. Clark and Reese have changed the way

we consume women's basketball. And on this new season, we'll cover all things sports and culture. Listen to Naked Sports on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio apps, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Black Effect Podcast Network is sponsored by Diet Coke.

I'm Carrie 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 Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports. Captain's Log, Stardate 2024. We're floating somewhere in the cosmos, but we've lost our map. Yeah, because you refuse to ask for directions. It's Space Jam, there are no roads. Good point. So, where are we headed?

Into the unknown, of course. Join us on In Our Own World as we uncover hidden truths, navigate the depths of culture, identity, and the human spirit. With a hint of mischief. One episode at a time. Buckle up and listen to In Our Own World on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Trust us, it's out of this world.