The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - NBA Week 1 Reaction: Spurs' Wemby top 2? + 76ers' VJ Edgecombe EXPLOSION, Clippers embarrassed

Episode Date: October 26, 2025

Jason reacts to more games from the first week of the NBA season now that every team has played at least once and gives his thoughts on Philadelphia 76ers rookie VJ Edgecombe, Joel Embiid’s poor play, the Utah Jazz embarrassing Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers, the Toronto Raptors beating the Atlanta Hawks, how the Golden State Warriors look compared to the Los Angeles Lakers, and what it would take for San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama to become the best player in the NBA this season. All lines presented by Hard Rock Bet.  #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you.

you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was harmed. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis keep coming to. He's like, you know, I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man. Is everyone lying to me about who they are? I felt such desperation. I felt it was what I had to do. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts.

Here's something that should not be as complicated as it is, getting a racist statue removed. And here's something that should be a whole lot easier than it is, getting a new one put up in its place. I'm Akela Hughes, and Rebel Spirit Season 2 is about both of those things. As I was watching these statues come down, I was thinking about what it meant that I grew up in a majority black city in which there were more homages to enslavers than there were to enslave people.

Listen to Rebel Spirit Season 2 on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever. you get your podcasts. The Volume. Welcome to Hoops tonight here at The Volume. Happy Friday, everybody. Hope all of you guys had a great first week. I'm very excited to get into our mailbag today.

I got caught up on three more games from the Wednesday nights late. I swear my eyes are going to be squares soon. I watched 10 of the first 16 NBA regular season games. It's been an absolute grind this week. We had three fun live shows over the last few nights. But I'm very excited to kind of bounce around and get to the stuff that we haven't talked about yet. We do have a handful of questions related to some of our regular teams that we cover often on the show, but we're going to be breaking down three games from Wednesday night's slate.

We're going to hit Raptors Hawks. We're going to hit Clippers Jazz. We're going to hit Sixers Celtics. I've got questions from some other teams around the league, some big picture basketball kind of philosophy questions, all sorts of interesting stuff from you guys in today's mailbag. You guys know the joke before we get started. Subscribe to the Hoops Tonight YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter and underscore Jason LT so you guys don't miss show announcements.

Don't forget about our podcast feed wherever you're trying to try. podcast under Hoops Tonight. It's also super helpful if you leave a rating and a review on that front. Jackson's doing great work on our social media feeds, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok. Make sure you guys follow us there. Then last but not least, keep dropping mailbag questions in the YouTube comments. Again, in our full episodes, right, mailbag, colon, write your question. We're going to get to them mostly on Fridays, but about once a week throughout the remainder of the season. All right, let's talk some basketball. So first question, shout out to Harry Weston, the question that allowed us to get to all of these games. Out of

the other games on opening night who surprised you the most. I think Charlotte and Toronto could have sneaky good seasons. VJ. Edgecombe looks like the future in Philly. Also, what happened in Utah? I would argue VJ was the biggest surprise from that Wednesday night slate, but I thought that this question was a great opportunity for us to just quickly bounce through a couple of game reactions. I caught up on Raptors, Hawks, Clippers Jazz, and Six or Celtics this morning. I'm just going to go ahead and give you guys my takeaways on all. three of those games. So first of all, I haven't had the chance to watch Charlotte yet, although I caught them in preseason. I thought they looked good in preseason. I'm generally not as

high on Charlotte as some of my peers are just because I think they're kind of generally unsurious and they have a very injury prone set of core players. But we will get to the Charlotte Hornets at some point in time down the line. Starting with Raptors Hawks, I thought Toronto's size, length, and athleticism in their starting lineup popped off the screen right away. When you have Brandon Ingram and Scotty Barnes, who are in addition to being two really big forwards, Barnes brings a strength and power element. Ingram brings a length element. Ingram is more of an over the top shooter. Barnes is more of a rim pressuring type of player. But both of them are pretty high level playmakers for the forward position. Yaka Purdle, obviously a big, strong center, kind of an underrated player in my opinion. And then RJ Barrett, obviously one of the more athletic kind of two, three swing. men out there. At 2 through 5, they're just very physically imposing. And they came out with super

impressive defensive intensity right from the jump. And it just was a carryover from what we saw from the tail end of last season, if you guys remember. They ran the floor insanely well in transition, kind of flipping the script on what Atlanta typically likes to do. Toronto had 43 transition points in this game. They had an offensive rating over 140 on their transition possessions, just to combination of really poor Atlanta transition defense, which we'll get to in a minute, and just how athletically imposing they can be when they're running the floor. And Brandon Ingram, right out the gates, came out super aggressive, scoring off of off ball action and on ball action, just curling around screens and getting

into the middle of the floor. His scoring polished was immediately apparent. And I think he's going to make life a lot easier for them on that end, especially when they get into crunch time, which obviously they did not experience in this particular game. I thought RJ Barrett was fantastic. He had some much needed threes early in the game to space the floor. Did a great job pressure in the rim.

He obviously played really good defense as well. And the Raptors just went into Atlanta and smacked them. They had seven guys in double figures. Grady Dick had 20 off the bench. He hit a bunch of jumpers from all sorts of ranges all over the floor. They were just six for 25 from three. And yet they logged a 122 offensive rating. It was a combination to two things.

Obviously the transition pushes when you have over 40 transition points. points in a game. That's a pretty unusual number to see there. That's a big way to boost your offensive rating. And then the second piece of it is when they got it in the half court, they had a lot of really impressive ball and player movement. They got in and out of actions quickly. They ran a lot of actions on every possession. And one of the things that stood out to me is they do have more playmaking talent than you would think. Like for all the limitations in terms of shooting talent, we've seen this before with teams like the Golden State Warriors. now they weaponize shooting in the form of Steph and Buddy Healed now and Clay Thompson in the past.

They weaponized shooting to create that initial advantage. But from there, they tend to have less shooting than most teams, but they just break you down with really crisp decision making and movement, right? And obviously for Toronto, they don't have the threat of the shooting. So it'll be harder for them to break down elite defenses. But one of the things I thought they did really well was they just passed and moved in and out of their actions well and got a lot of really good looks at the rim. They had, I don't have the number directly in front of me.

They had a million points in the paint in this game. That was a huge part of how they controlled the offensive end of the floor in this game. They had assists on two-thirds of their baskets. Again, anything over 65 percent in assist percentage to me is really strong. They started up over that to start the season. Again, they can't shoot the ball, but they have real strengths. They're big, they're athletic, they're great at defense. They run the floor in transition well.

and when they get in the half court, they have really nice playmaking talent. It's a good recipe for winning basketball games, even if their shooting will provide issues in certain matchups. Again, Atlanta is pretty disappointing, which we'll get into. Wasn't all bad for Atlanta. Jalen Johnson really impressed me with his passing ability. He lacks that perimeter polish. Like the jumper still isn't there.

There's like some tight space ball handling stuff where he can still have some issues. But he pressures the rim well, both in transition and in the half court when he looks to drive. and then he's just got really natural feel for seeing the floor and seeing the openings that are generated when he pressures the rim. And I was impressed by a lot of his playmaking, especially in the first half of that game. He kept them in the game, despite Toronto outplaying them basically in every other matchup to start.

But I was pretty disappointed in Atlanta. For a group that has so many great athletes and some guys with some good defensive reputations, right, with Dyson Daniels and to Kill Alexander Walker, I thought they were just super sloppy guarding the action. that Toronto was running in the half court. Like, they botched switches constantly in this game. And you want to credit the Raptors for their movement, for their passing.

And again, like, you do that kind of stuff. It has the potential to lead to defense making mistakes. But I thought Atlanta looked like a team that has not been approaching the defensive end with much focus through training camp. I was definitely disappointed there. And then their transition defense was flat out abysmal, which is super strange for such an athletic team. They need to be a good transition defense.

Nikila Alexander Walker seems to have taken his, new role in Atlanta as like a high volume ball handling role, which I think is a misallocation of what he does well. I think he's at his best when he's guarding the ball and then playing with it advantage, taking catch and shoot threes and using more of his ball handling ability, driving closeouts and playing when the defense is already compromised rather than attacking out front. Now, he's going to have to do a certain amount of that because Atlanta's not as heavy on ball handling as Minnesota was, but I did think that his shot selection was a little questionable in this game. Atlanta just got outplayed from the jump.

So not a good start from the Hawks. They need to have a better showing in Night 2. Clippers Jazz, this is one of the strangest opening night performances that I've ever seen. I have a ton of respect for the Clippers organization. I think they have one of the best coaches in the league. I think they have a well-run front office that has a good feel for how to build a modern NBA team. And I think this roster in particular is built for regular season success, but holy shit that they come out flat.

And in the opening minutes, I primarily blame Kauai Leonard and Evita Zubats for the initial run that Utah went on. Utah was basically just running Lori Markinen off of like downscreens from Walker Kessler. And Kauai and Zhu just defended it super poorly. Kauai was applying little to no pressure or physicality on Markinen in his lock and trail. He was getting caught on screens and not getting out to him when he was shooting. When Markening would curl, he was just kind of. lazily jogging behind. And then Zoo, like, was just essentially not helping Kauai on either side of the action.

Wasn't showing up high when Markening would come off the screen. Wasn't helping when Markening would curl. But then also leaving Walker Kessler open because Kessler ended up hitting two threes early in the game, which shout out to Walker Kessler. I know in the game plan, you're kind of going to let him take that, right? But, like, if you're not going to help on the curls and on the at the level stuff, then you've got it. You can't also just leave him wide open. You're basically just floating around out there. And so Kauai and Zoo came out super flat defending those actions early and in Markinen and Kessler torch them.

They take an early double digit lead. And then once the bench group started to work their way into the game, turnovers became a massive problem for the clips. Like, Yusuf Nurkich comes in and just starts pressuring the high post entry on Zubots and in Brooke Lopez enforces a couple of turnovers right away that led into runouts. And, The Clippers had like a half dozen of these super bizarre, unforced turnovers where like, you're just throwing the ball right to the other team or just throwing it out of bounds because the guy you're throwing it to is not paying attention. Just they literally looked like they were asleep.

And it was crazy because the next thing you knew it was the early third quarter and Tyloo's calling a timeout because the clippers are down by 37 on the road in Utah. Like it was, it was just bizarre. And Tyloo took the blame and I'm sure the Clippers will bounce back with a win tonight. but it was pretty crazy. I'm not going to lie. They definitely did not look ready for the start of the season. I do want to credit Utah. They came out and played great basketball. They have a very good front court with Kessler and Marketing. Those are talented guys when they're healthy and on the floor. And they, just a casual reminder that even with bad teams in the NBA, there's a lot of talent out there.

And if you come out and you bring a lackadaisical effort, I don't know that you can get away with it anymore night to night in the regular season. I mean, I rooted for the Lakers in a game that they lost to the Jazz Lack. year. Like this is a bottom feeder that puts some really high-level basketball players on the floor. I thought Keonté George was great all night. Bryce Sensible came in and torched them from three. Hit a couple big ones in the late third quarter, or late second quarter, excuse me, that helped kind of blow the game open. Really nice debut for the Utah Jazz, high-energy performance that kicked the clippers butt. Today's show is brought to you by our new presenting sponsor Hard Rock Bet. The NBA is back,

which means it's time to shoot your shot on Hard Rock Bet. You're home for hoops action all season long. Need a little help with your first bet? Check out the streaks heating up inside the Hard Rock Bet stats hub. You can find live odds to bet on all these streaks right in the Hard Rock Bet app. The Hornets have failed to cover the spread in 10 straight games as home favorites. The Cavs have covered the spread as a road underdog against the Eastern Conference eight times in a row. The Cavs are also on a seven-game winning streak against the Atlantic Division.

The Orlando Magic have covered the spread in four straight games as home favorites. If you haven't tried your first bet on Hard Rock bet, there's still plenty of time for you to get $150 in bonus bets if you win. Just place a $5 bet. And if it hits, you get not only your winnings, but $150 in extra bonus bets. Plus, all week on Hard Rock bet, you can get an NBA parlay boost for the games. There's new promos every day. You can boost your same game parlay or your same game parlay max, so your bet pays extra winnings. And on Wednesday, if you're already betting on the Hard Rock Sportsbook app, you know,

what that means. It's the last day to use your legendary rewards drops. Open up the app today. You could have a bonus bet or who knows what's in there. More drops every Thursday. The rewards and promos are nonstop. Download the Hard Rock Bet app today to make your first deposit. Payable and bonus bets, not a cash offer. Offered by the Seminole tribe of Florida and Florida. Offered by the Seminole Hard Rock Digital LLC in all other states. Must be 21 plus and physically present in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia. to play. Terms and conditions apply. Concerned about gambling in Florida, call 1-833-play-wise.

In Indiana, if you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-9 with it. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, huge news? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a... We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how did we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember.

I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Oh, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different... memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast where people could call in and say, hey Jonas, and then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a

potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm CJ Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and our And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows.

Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stopped by, like Quentin Richardson,

we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, I said. You figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. Keith Giananka seemed like a mild-mannered surprise. Bourbon dad. But secretly, he became someone else, a master of disguise who went on a crime spree. At the time, did it seem like a crazy idea? It seemed very crazy. But I felt so desperate that I felt it was the quickest, easiest way out. Did you allow yourself to think about how it could go wrong and what that might look like? No, I didn't want to manifest that. I was trying to manifest success. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man. This is going to change my life and my family

dynamic forever because everything that had existed prior in my reality is now untrue. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your Podcasts. The story I've told myself about love or relationships can then shape my behavior, and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown and explore the journey of healing, self-discovery, and returning to yourself. We explore higher consciousness, emotional well-being, and the practices that help you find clarity, peace, and self-mastery in a world that can feel overwhelming.

The world is becoming lonelier. We're not becoming more social and connected. We're becoming more individualized, but we actually meet people in connection. If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole, this podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to deeply well with Debbie Brown

from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Sixers Celtics. What a debut for VJ Edgecom. 34 points and seven rebounds. Looked like the perfect compliment to Tyrese Maxi. I've always loved the idea of like hyper athletic guys alongside skill guards in the back court. So like essentially a polish finesse type of guard, even though Tyrese I think brings insane speed to the table, obviously.

But that's why he's able to go for 40, right? He has the skill piece. and then off of him, I want an athlete that can rebound, defend, and can score with an advantage. And the key kind of storyline in the game defensively was that Boston was roaming off of Vijay Edgecom all night. And then in his on ball reps, they were going under his picks. Boston essentially dared VJ to beat them all night long. And Vijay just did. He got six unguarded catch and shoot threes and made three of them.

He hit two off the dribble jump shots versus passive coverages. I thought he did a wonderful job of slashing in the half court when he had a chance. Like there was a play where Peyton Pritchard was nail helping off of, I think it was Tyrese on the right wing. And Peyton Pritchard digs down into nail help. VJ's just standing on the left wing. This was early in the game. Talk about those baked in driving lanes all the time, right? When there's nail help, he's closing out on one of your shoulders. All you have to do is rip the other direction. You kind of have guaranteed dribble penetration, right? Swing past a VJ. He just ripped left immediately on the catch. Got a done. He, in a transition push, ended up catching Xavier Tillman in a cross match.

And the Sixers just spaced the floor. Nasty left to right crossover went up and dunked it because he got there so fast that Boston's help was not able to step over. He had some super dynamic transition plays. He caught a ridiculous lob in the second half that was thrown way behind him in traffic where he took off off his right foot, caught it with two hands and dunked it from almost behind his head. in the first half, one of the plays that really got me excited for his potential, he had this nasty full speed Euro step where he kind of like attacks and semi-transition, gets a little bit of a downhill, gets some momentum going downhill. And Jalen Brown steps up to help at the rim.

And at full speed, he like plants his right foot and Euros back to the left for like a lefty soft finish off the glass. Just a ridiculously athletic play. And even on the shots he missed, I thought he got great. separation. He was able to just get to these like really nice lift and rhythm, little mid-range pull-ups that he just happened to miss because right now he's still not quite that polished. And that stuff will come in time. And so that's why Vijay, to me, feels very safe as a bet to be an all-star in this league. Because if he can stay healthy, the reports about his character and his work ethic are great. And he's just a transcendently athletic guard. And so what an exciting

backcourt partner for Tyrese, who was amazing in this game, is pulling. up three was dialed in. He ended up hitting three in a row in the second half that closed a double digit Celtics lead. All three of them were nasty. He had like three or four ridiculous, like hard drive to the right into a pullback dribble, quick step back three, where he was moving super fast. But if you like froze it like trimmed out the move before, he's straight up and down on the pull up jump shot. Just a really impressive display of footwork and athleticism. He ended up going for 40 in this game. And then they just have all these forwards who just play hard off of them. Obviously, Kelly Ubre, we all know he's been in that starting lineup for a little while now.

He hit the biggest shot of the night, a little action off the right side where that same Hauser made a poor defensive decision. He helped off the strong side corner when it was pretty unnecessary. And so it was a little easy kickout. It's one of those things where in the moment, you're like, okay, Kelly had been off from three for most of the game. But at the same time, you stick to your defensive principles. Like Quentin Grimes was already wide. open at the top of the key on this play in large part because his man was already helping. So it was just kind of like an unnecessary overhelp from Sam Houser. And that pass back across your body to the top of the key to grinds is a much tougher

pass to a wide open man in the corner. Kelly Ubre hits that shot. It effectively amounted to the game winner because they were down to when he hit that shot. But I was also really impressed by Dominic Barlow and Jabari Walker. the two of them both just kind of crashing and cutting and running constantly and just wrecking havoc at the rim just by being big athletes off of the attention that was garnered by their guards. Honestly, the only disappointing thing if you were a 76ers fan was that Joel and Bede looked like an absolute shell of himself.

Jackson and I were joking before we started recording. I don't think he made a single move towards the basket in that entire game. Every time he caught, it was just kind of like a face-up jumper. he had Jalen Brown in a post up and like just spun over his left shoulder for a super difficult fadeaway. You could tell the lift isn't there. The left shoulder fade away is a classic example. That's one of the toughest shots in basketball for a right handed player because you have to pivot and like square up in midair. And he just didn't get close to enough lift. And so he kind of just flung it up there and it didn't really have much of a chance to go in. He had some plays

and help side. He had a couple play. Like he had a block and transition in the second half where you're like, whoa, that was kind of like a throwback little play. But like for the most part, he didn't really seem very vertical or mobile around the basket and help on defense. He just kind of looked, he looked like his knees are shot. But let's hope that he's just working his way back and then he can continue to get better as the season progressed. It made me happy to see him out there playing.

But it was definitely disappointing to see just the level of physical aggression that he had. But what a fun backcourt to Route 4. Now you have Quentin Grimes too. Like obviously he was there last year, but you have Quentin Grimes and Jared McCain as well. I give four really good guards. Grimes had a huge three late off the left wing, kind of a contested one when they really needed it. Jared McKayne obviously will be back eventually when his thumb gets better. It's fun team for Sixers fans. I would imagine that the Edgecombe stuff had to have been the antidote to the Joe L. Embed frustrations. On the Celtics front, they got

stagnant late. They started spamming Jalen Brown high postups and he hit one of them. But there were some misses in there and it just kind of got stagnant. They got away from some of the stuff they were doing earlier in the game. They did control the majority of the game, though, in large part because they do have a lot of talented perimeter players. Like Derek White, Peyton Pritchard, Jalen Brown, and Anthony Simons all had moments in the game where they had big stretches on offense where they put some points up and kind of gotten to a little bit of a flow. Anthony applied some more rim pressure than he did in preseason. He had a big semi-transition dunk where he crossed his man up and went up off his right foot and dunked it with two hands. Yeah.

the only thing that really stood out to me, they just struggled to guard in large part because their front court is just so limited. And that's a fast Sixers team. And so when you don't have rim protection behind them, it just puts your guards in a really tough spot. And man, that center rotation looked brutal.

Xavier Tillman missed several threes that looked like they had no chance to go in. Right at the end of the game late off of a miss from Jalen Brown. He had a point blank range little kind of touch floater hook thing that was like three feet from the basket that he left short. That was a huge miss in crunch time. Luca Garsa couldn't hit his shot. Nimi Qua was probably the best guy that we saw last night.

He put up a decent stat line. I should say on Wednesday. Put up a decent stat line. But it was just jarring to see that core juxtaposed with what we saw last year from the Celtics, from the center position. All right, let's start getting into our mailbag questions. Jason, I understand you're a Lakers fan and also a LeBron fan,

but I believe that you have put too much stock into the stardom of Luca and have them ranked too high on your championship contenders list. To me, at most, they should be closer to the bottom of the punchers' chance tier behind teams like the Knicks, Clippers, T-wolves, and Warriors. Those teams, while they have their flaws, are better constructed than the Lakers,

and to me it's foolish to be blinded by a potential all-time great season by Luca, turning into a deep playoff run in the parody era of the NBA. I've yet to mention LeBron who is a 40-year-old star, and can be a star on offense on any given night, but defensively he can be picked on when not going against star power against power style offensive players and can be caught ball watching at times.

And I feel like that combined with your other two best players in Luca and Reeves, not being plus defenders as a recipe for another first round exit. So there's an interesting point you're making, which I want to get into in a minute. I do disagree with some of the specifics. Like LeBron was one of the best ISO defenders in the league last year and had a stretch really for like two thirds of the season where he was an all defense level player. He got off to a rough start to the year. but like to me LeBron when he's healthy and especially in a role like this alongside Luca

where he doesn't have to do as much offensively, I think he's one of the most important defensive players on the Lakers, to be honest with you. I thought you saw the absence of him in a big way against the Warriors. He is a huge part of their ability to kind of like troll the backline off of Golden State's actions and he's just one of the most attentive defenders and better communicators on the team. I mean, he was second team all NBA last year. I don't know what. what it is. Like I get it. He has sciatica. He's out to start the year. And, but like he just had two seasons where he played 70 games and made the All-MBA team twice. I somehow he's still underrated. I don't know how that keeps happening. But,

but like I'm, I don't think the Lakers have a LeBron problem. Let's just put it that way. That said, like, I do agree with you that I'm the Lakers I'm lower on than when I originally did my contenders video. So to be 100% transparent, we recorded our contender rankings in early October. I want to say it was like on October 2nd. Okay, so it was before I had seen them play any basketball. It was based on the fact that the Lakers won 50 games last year,

and they were the three seed. And looking at the improved version of the Lakers with like Luca Donchich being in better shape and them essentially adding three rotation level players for nothing and only losing Dorian Finney Smith, who by the way, I think Dorian's been very important over the years. But like, again, this was a team that couldn't even play a center

against Minnesota. They get a guy like Dianne, who's very flawed, but at least can play the position. You get a guy like Marcus Smart, who's a big upgrade over someone like Jordan Goodwin, for example. That was my rationale when I originally put that together. But I did a recording with the nerdsash guys a couple weeks after that. It was like mid, mid-October, like October 15th or 16th or so, where I had seen them play in preseason a few times and I was pretty underwhelmed. And I talked about how I was going to put a couple teams ahead of them. And right now, I agree. I originally, my contender rankings, if you remember, I had Denver, Oklahoma City, Cleveland, Minnesota, and then I had the Lakers at five. After what I've seen from preseason in camp, and by the way,

this list is constantly going to shift throughout the season. My preliminary rankings in like early October, those are essentially on paper rankings, but on paper means nothing when you throw the ball up in the air and we're on the hardwood and we're playing basketball, right? So like, we have a bunch more data now. We have training camps from all these teams. We have a handful of regular season games. The two teams I would clearly put above them now are Houston and Golden State. I think I'm inclined to put Golden State at that five spot, potentially even that four spot above Minnesota. I kind of have Minnesota Golden State and Houston kind of vying and competing for that next spot behind Denver and Oklahoma City at this point. Again, that could change

in a few weeks, but that's just where I'm at right now. But it's a long season. And I expect a lot to change over the course of the year. The Lakers are playing bad basketball right now, but they have a lot that they can clean up, and they have a bona fide top tier superstar at the top, like the peak of his powers. And LeBron James will eventually return to this team. I think it's certainly possible that he ends up getting traded or bought out or something like that,

but I still think it's far more likely than not that he plays basketball for the Lakers until he retires. And so at some point, late October, or excuse me, late November, early December, he's going to return to this team and he immediately addresses a lot of their biggest concerns in terms of just like size and physicality and basketball IQ and defensive communication on the back line and all that kind of stuff.

So like, they're going to have some, the Lakers are going to have something to say at some point. I have no idea what level they'll be, they'll be able to reach. Right now they look pretty mediocre and unathletic. So I'm dropping them to seventh behind Houston and Golden State, as well as the original four teams that I named Denver, Oklahoma City, Cleveland, Minnesota. After that point, like, I'm just not super high on the Knicks. I know they won their first game. I'm keeping an open mind with the new coaching staff. I want to see what they've got.

but like to me the Knicks, if you literally just remove four wins against the Celtics in the second round were incredibly underwhelming all season long last year. It's going to take a lot for me to kind of turn around my opinion on the Knicks. And then the Clippers literally went into Utah

and got their asses beat. So I'm not like I'm not about to jump onto the Clippers bandwagon today of all days. Like the Lakers have looked disappointing but so have the Clippers. So we'll continue to kind of evaluate that over time, like if two weeks from now,

we're going to do power rankings. I'm going to talk about contender rankings when I make changes as we kind of work our way through the season. But yeah, like in early October, October 2nd, I had the Lakers at five. I'm dropping them to seven at this point with Custon and Golden State moving above them. Is there a world in which Jonathan Camilla matures to a point where he doesn't get traded off the Warriors? Also simply calling Steph the greatest shooter of all time doesn't do his greatness justice.

He is one of the greatest scores and greatest players, period. I completely agree. To me, Steph is the fifth greatest perimeter player of all time, just behind Michael Jordan, LeBron, James, Kobe Bryant, and Magic Johnson. I agree with you that kind of like defining his game as just elite shooting is a huge, you know, like disservice to what he's accomplished in this league. I think he's the best offball mover in the history of the league. He's one of the most conditioned athletes in the league.

I mean, the dude is putting a ton of work in his body. body. Do you guys remember when he hit that? I was watching the highlight again this morning. He had like a 37 footer last night to tie the game at 120. Like it was literally a 37 footer off of a ball screen. And, you know, he runs over. He kind of like signals to call the timeout to the Denver bench. And then he runs over and he just flexes. And you're like, holy shit. Like Steph is jacked. Like he has clearly worked a ton on his body, which is by the way, has helped him to become a better, more useful defender and has helped him to handle off ball contact and just in general get open easier as the league has become more physical. I saw a bunch of times on opening night

where he's like throwing swim moves on Gabe Vincent and getting open because he's just so damn strong now. He's like he's legitimately much stronger than a guy like Gabe Vincent, right? So like he's put in a ton of work there. He's a very good passer. This is a guy who does a lot of his work off the ball. But if they ran like 2018 Rockets offense or 2019 Rockets offense where they just spammed Steph high pick and rolls spread with shooting, I think Steph could get up around

eight, nine assists per game easily. I think he's a high level passer in that regard. And then I think he's one of the best competitors of his era. Like this is a guy that is you know, wired in a way that drives him to a different extent than many of the players in this league. So I agree with you that kind of synthesizing him down to just a great shooter doesn't do him justice. To your question about Jonathan Kaminga, I absolutely think there's a world in which Jonathan Kaminga matures to a point

where he doesn't get traded off the Warriors. I mean, anybody who's close to the Warriors will tell you that even though there's a lot of people in their basketball operations that have been skeptical about him and his fit, Joe Lakub loves the guy. Like Joe Lakub is obsessed with Jonathan the Kaminga and wants to keep him. And so if Jonathan Kaminga plays well enough over the course of the, you know, next three months or so, I think it's more likely than not that he doesn't get traded. I'm a big believer and let's not overreact to one game or two games under any circumstances. We talked about this after the Lakers game.

Like both the Lakers and Denver are big, slow teams. When you're big and slow and you've got Steph Curry, you're going to cut them to pieces in a lot of ways. I've talked at length about how Steph in particular causes massive problems for Denver's pick and roll defense because Yokic is slow and he can just get to his spots whenever he wants to. That's not me trying to pour cold water on the Warriors. It just means I want to see them against some different types of matchups. Like when you're playing against really fast and athletic perimeter defenses, the job changes. And suddenly those reeds become like, instead of having like this big of a window to make a read. It's more like this big of a window to make a read.

Like everything just gets a little bit faster. Everything just gets a little bit more difficult to read and to process. And so those are the kinds of games where we're going to see a different challenge for Jonathan Camingo, right? But what we've seen early in the season is he's knocking down his catch and shoot threes, which is absolutely crucial. He's making good reads in the offense. He's being aggressive, but not too aggressive. Like he's he's not completely shelving Jonathan comminga the scorer but he is um kind of refining it and being picky about when he's when he's going and he's playing great defense i thought he was a monster defensively down the stretch against denver so like and he got cooked by luka but lucca's luka right so like overall like he's off to a

great start but the warriors have played two teams that kind of like slot nicely into their um into their advantages and but i'm not saying this retroactively i said last year after the time the Lakers played the Warriors with Luca Donchich, I was like, oh, the Warriors are too fast for them. This is a bad matchup for the Lakers. I even said before the playoffs, I was like if the Lakers met the Warriors in a playoff series, I'd be inclined to pick the Warriors. That was after they played in the regular season. And I think they went into L.A. and beat them with Luca LeBron and Austin, right? And then I've said before the season at length that the kinds of teams that can upset Denver are teams that have really high level pick and roll players. And that

have speed. And I mentioned Luca against Denver and I mentioned Steph against Denver in particular. Those are just matchups that I think are favorable for Golden State. That's a strength. I think Denver is the championship favorite. So if you match up well against Denver, that's a huge feather in your

cap if your goal is to win a championship. Like that means that like, let's say that Denver meets Oklahoma City in the second round for some reason and they eliminate Oklahoma City and then Golden State faces Denver in the conference finals. All of a sudden, like there's like a very significant window for Golden State to slip through there and win a title. Now, Golden State

did provide some issues for Oklahoma City last year. We talked about this in our OKC, like who can beat Oklahoma City series. And like, I think Jimmy and, and Horford and Dremont are just such high IQ defenders that they can cause some problems for Oklahoma City's offense. But what I specifically worry about the Oklahoma City matchup for Golden State is just they have all that speed. And that's the kind of thing. that I think could be a very different type of challenge for a Golden State team that does lack offensive firepower once you get off of Steph.

So I'm just curious to see it. Like the warriors have aced every test so far, but there are more tests down the line. And as long as Jonathan Kaminga keeps performing well in those tests, he's going to be a warrior at the end of the season and he very well might be a warrior long term. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers. And guess what?

We have some big news. What's the news, huge news? We've created our, own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a... We're the first people to do podcasts.

Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how did we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. And... Oh, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band.

Before Jonas Brothers... Mm-hmm. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad,

Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. What's up, fam. It's Isaiah Thomas.

And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about Defendant. the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves,

I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too.

Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball. Like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Keith Gianmanca seemed like a mild-mannered suburban dad, but secretly, he became someone else,

a master of disguise who went on a crime spree. At the time, did it seem like a crazy idea? It seemed very crazy, but I felt so desperate that I felt it was the quickest, easiest way out. Did you allow yourself to think about how it could go wrong and what that might look like? No. I didn't want to manifest that. I was trying to manifest success.

Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man. This is going to change my life and my family dynamic forever because everything that had existed prior in my reality is now untrue. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man. on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta,

you already know there's a lot to break down. Gorsha accusing Kelly of sleeping with a merry man. They holding Kay Michelle back from fighting Drew. Pinky has financial issues. I like the bougie style of Housewives show. I think it looks like it's going to be interesting. On the podcast, Reality with the King, I, Carlos King, Recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real Housewives franchise,

the drama, the alliances, and the team everybody's talking about. As an executive producer in reality television, I'm not just watching it. I understand the game. As somebody who creates shows, I'll even say this. At the end of the day, when people are at home, they want entertainment. To hear this and more, listen to Reality with the King on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Next question. You mentioned last season's

Lakers team handling the Warriors better due to Anthony Davis being able to roam slash protect the rim, allowing the perimeter defenders to overplay the three point line. Looking towards the season, which playoff teams would give Golden State the most trouble. And conversely, teams who Golden State fans should hope to be a matchup in May. So again, this is

just really quick follow up to what we were just talking about. I think the teams in particular that worry me for Golden State are really fast and athletic perimeter teams that are also high IQ. So like, For instance, one of the things that always worried me about Minnesota is Minnesota has a lot of guys that despite being good defenders can lose their attentiveness off ball. And they can lose track of guys like Steph. This was something that happened in the regular season in Minnesota Golden State matchups.

And it was why Golden State, I think, in a lot of ways, presented problems for Minnesota when they were healthy last year. That series was kind of like a coin flip to me if both teams were healthy. But Golden State presents a lot of problems with them because Minnesota struggles to, uh, track off ball shooters. But specifically Oklahoma City is a team that I have my eye on. Oklahoma City provides that combination of high IQ speed that's not going to lose track of Steph. And they're not going to botch as many switches as other teams. And they have rim protection and Chet Holmgren to roam around the basket. They're going to present some problems. Another team I think is the Clippers. They have some really high level perimeter defenders and Chris Dunn and Derek Jones Jr. that can chase

step around while also having high IQ off ball defenders and some rim protection with zoo. We saw that in the late regular season game last year. So like there are teams that I think present a different challenge for Golden State. And I am just curious to see what they look like when they run into those teams. But I do think Golden State matches up well with a team like the Lakers. I do think Golden State matches up really well with a team like Denver and then Minnesota just because of their lack of offball attentiveness. Do you think there's a chance the Spurs don't have to trade to win the chip next season or in any other or in other words what is the lowest limit that has to happen for the spurs to not just be one of the contenders but to really see that it could

happen like oklahoma city in game one uh last season in game one of the regular season that was when oklahoma city went into denver and kicked denver's ass if you guys remember so here's the thing i'm going to say the same thing that i was talking about with golden state it's very encouraging for showing for the spurs you don't even have de aaron fox and yet all your young guards play pretty well. Your defense just utterly demolishes Dallas. Victor Wemnon Yama is hooping his ass off. Steph

Castle's throwing lives in transition and damn near getting a 20 point triple double. There's a lot of upside with what you saw from that one particular matchup. But it was a team that I think was a good matchup for San Antonio, right? Like Dallas is super light on shooting and ball

handling. That allows Victor Wemba Jama to roam the paint really well, right? On the other into the floor. Like we talked about that night, I think Victor can kind of cook any bigger player in the league because they're all too big to be able to move with him, but they're all not big enough to actually bother him because he's so damn tall. So like I think there will be different challenges with San Antonio, like Oklahoma City is a classic example where they're going to be smaller, quicker up underneath you. And it's going to be a lot more about processing and shooting.

And, you know, this is a San Antonio team that's light on shooting, right? So I think, think like it's it's ridiculous to overreact to one game against a heavily flawed Dallas Mavericks roster but we'll just continue to watch them and see how they develop yes if step castle and devon vassel and dylan harper and all these guys just blossom and deer and fox is a big bounce back season that's closer to two years ago rather than last year then yeah they might not need to make a trade and they might be able to just kind of naturally improve internally and make a run for the championship at some point in the next couple of years but I think it's more likely than not

that over the course of this season, their limitations in shooting and just youthful inconsistency lead them to want to bring veterans shooting in and just a little bit more of like a solid kind of like higher floor option at some of their position groups. Now, the thing is, is Victor is messing up timeline stuff because Victor very well might be just a legitimate top-tier superstar this year. It seems likely at this point after what we saw in opening,

night. And so if Victor is going to be that guy, all of a sudden, you're in your championship window now. And so it kind of changes your calculus when you're building the team. So it's just something to keep an eye on. We're going to go quick through these last ones here. How do you unlock Bam's offense if you're Spoe? I think Bam kind of is what he is at this point as an offensive player. He is a guy that struggles to make anything that's not a dunk. And like that just, yes, he's improved as like a standstill three-point shooter, but he's not a really high-level jump shooter by any stretch of the imagination. He struggles with hooks. He struggles with floaters. He struggles with layups. Damn, similar to Anthony Davis, although AD has done a lot better in terms of his

short-range shot making like his hooks and his floaters, but similar, like, BAM to an even greater extent, just has never added the offensive polish necessary to be a super high-level offensive player. To me, he kind of is what he is at this point. He's a five-out pick. He's a guy that can play on the perimeter as a screener, dribble handoff guy that makes good decisions with the basketball, sets good screens, and rolls hard to the rim. And he's good at hitting back cutters. Like, that to me is just

kind of his destiny as an NBA player at this point. What kind of season do you think Clay Thompson is about to have? It feels like he has completely faded out of media discussions. Well, he's just not the same player. It used to be. I don't think Clay is going to be a super prominent player

in NBA media discussions because Clay is now at this point, you know, not one of the 10 or 15 best two guards in the league anymore. So one of the things that's going to be tricky with Clay is he's the one dead serious shooter on the team. And so he's going to be accounted for in the game plan. Like, opponents are going to put their most attentive best lock and trail defender on Clay. And they're going to account for him all game and just dare everyone else to shoot. He's not a guy that's going to put the ball on the floor

and create offense for himself at this point. And the lack of playmaking talent on the roster is leading him to be like even when he does get left open, whether it's transition chaos or offensive rebound chaos, like they don't always get the ball to him. So I just don't really see him as a guy that's going to have too much of an impact at this phase in his career. Hi, Jason. My brother and I watch basketball like junkies and have had this hypothesis that the game is

evolving at a rate where the skill level will soon turn basketball into a punish league. essentially I believe that the majority of the smallest defensive lapses like a bad hedge or a slow rotation will be the most important margins for successful teams. I wanted your thoughts on that. I love the show and your team's contributions to the game I love, much love from Brooklyn. So first of all, thanks for supporting the show and for the kind words. What you're talking about is something that I'm a huge believer in, the idea of essentially like capitalizing on the small advantages that occur in actions, whether it's like you said, like a guy hedges for too long and the guy who's slips out of it's wide open at the three point line or this team is slow in rotation. So if we just

move the ball around, we're going to get open shots. I think it's a little bit more complicated in the sense that like those kinds of advantages happen on almost every possession somewhere. It's a lot of it has to do with playmaking talent. Like you talk about punish as in punishing mistakes. In order to punish mistakes, you need two things. You need a high IQ player with the ball that will find that mistake and hit the pass, it hit the opening. And then you need to a guy that's actually going to make the defense pay in that opening, whether it's hitting a catch and shoot shot, racking a close out and getting all the way to the rim, or racking a close out, getting to the middle of the floor and making the next read in that chain. Essentially, it's going to be

about reading and reacting. It's a copycat league. There's going to be a lot of basketball operations professionals and coaching professionals that are going to look at teams like Indiana. We talked about how last night, I think Indiana, irrespective of talent, plays the best basketball in the NBA, because of all the things that you specifically are mentioning. So all these entities around the league are going to watch that and they're going to go like, we need to do this. Why do you think you're hearing every, every fucking team in training camp? Like, we want to run more. We want to run more. You want to know why? Because running works. And so they want to be better basketball teams. And so they know that that's a way to improve their basketball team. And so essentially everyone's

going to start hunting these things. More transition pushes, more action in the half court, which is going to generate those kinds of small defensive lapses like you're talking about. From there, it's going to be reading and reacting and play finishing, hitting those gaps with passes, making the right decision against the advantage, and then finishing the play by hitting shots. Can you see Jaden McDaniels turn into a number two for Ant? No, I don't really see that in his future. I see him as being a guy that can do some weakside scoring forward stuff, you know, hitting threes, driving closeouts, doing damage on the glass when he's being ignored, I don't see him as a legitimate number two. The kind of

player that I keep coming back to for Ant is like a skill guard. I know it'll never happen, but like Austin Reeves is an example of a player that I think would be a beautiful fit alongside Anthony Edwards, kind of like a skill finesse guard that's good at getting to the foul line that has like high level mid-range scoring chops that just in general is like a finesse like offensive engine type of player off of ant. Like that's the kind of guy that I look at is. like a legit number two off of an a skill guard alongside ants like bulky athleticism and rim pressure right uh but i really like jaden i think he looks great i think the jump shot is real i just think once you start talking about number two's i think they just need to be a little bit more

refined in terms of their offensive skill four more quick ones as you continue to gain more and more success in the niche of basketball content analysis will there ever be a time where you take your talents covering the NFL as well i have your post notifications on for x and i love your football takes when you have them, keep up the great work. So I love the NFL. I've loved it since I was a kid. The long and short of it is is that like every year right about now when the NBA regular season starts, it's really hard for me to just give it the attention, right? Like there was a game on last night. I was working. So I wasn't going to watch it. Right. And same thing goes for Sunday. There are times where like, you know, it's Sunday and it's like, okay, I want to sit down and watch.

but then it'll be like, well, there were some games on the Friday night and Saturday night slate that I need to get caught up on. And so I'll just get my laptop out and I'll just start watching the film. And, you know, it kind of takes me back to the, the kind of like that, that like cliche that LeBron uses. It's that keep the main thing, the main thing. Like, I don't want to sit there and start talking about the NFL if I haven't put in the necessary work. What I, like, what allows me to cover the game the way that I do is that I put an enormous. amount of work into watching NBA games and learning about how the NBA works on both ends of the floor and talking to smart NBA people. And so it's one of those things where I don't want to like take resources from that department and dedicate them to the NFL and have my MBA work suffer. And so is there a version of this in the future where maybe I'm doing it? I'm not going to say never. But in the short term, I think it's far more likely than not that I just stay in my wheelhouse and cover the NBA. With the buck shooting so many threes, I feel like we,

I'm a fan, LL, lead the team in, lead the NBA in three-point attempts and we can come out of the east. Do you see the vision? I did not see Milwaukee versus Washington. That was one of the games that I did not wash through the first few games. But we saw this last season towards the end of the year, steady diet of Yannis on the ball, a lot of guard screens surrounding him with a ton of shooting and Yonis just kind of playing driving kick. Like get to the basket and finish, drop out, or spray out to a shooter, right? As far as leaning into three-point attempts, like, again, like, when you're not good compared to the best teams in the league, you want to apply as much variance as possible, right? So it makes sense for the Bucks to be a team that takes a lot of threes,

and that gives up a lot of threes. Because essentially, if they protect the rim and they force the other team to shoot, they might go cold. And if you shoot a ton of threes, you might get hot, and you're going to win on the nights when you get hot from three and the other team doesn't. But ultimately it comes down to quality. I don't believe in inflating your three-point attempts just for the sake of inflating your three-point attempts. A bad three-point shot isn't worth three points. It's worth zero points. You want to generate the highest available shot quality in any situation.

A lot of it will be game-plan dependent, too, depending on how your opponent is guarding things. But if the bucks end up generating a ton of threes with shooting off of Janus, I think it's a smart approach to increase variance to give them more of an upset threat. Big fan of the show and have learned a ton about the game from your channel, so thank you for what you do. Thank you for the kind of words and for the support. My question is simple. Do you think it's insane

to think that Wembe genuinely might be the best player alive right now? And what we need to happen for that to be the consensus in your opinion? Thanks again. This kind of takes me to like the Kobe LeBron debate in the late 2000s, if you guys remember. It's very possible that we're looking at this thing in like three weeks and Wemby's averaging

35, 14, and six with like five, blocks or some insane shit like that. And then all of us are like, oh my gosh, there's one be the best player in the league. Similarly, LeBron in the late 2000s was just a wrecking ball. It's winning 60 games with weak rosters

and putting up absurd stat lines and crazy highlights every single night. But like when it came to slow down playoff basketball against the best teams in the league, Kobe was still better than him in the late 2000s. No surprise. LeBron was in his early to mid-20s. Kobe was in his early 30s. and was more refined at that point,

and he had a lot more experience, right? So, like, becoming the best player in the NBA, becoming the best player in the world is a playoff game. It is very much about solving the puzzle of four elite opponents in two months, having to beat them four times out of seven when all the game planning is geared around your weaknesses. So it's one of those things where, like, there's nothing Wembe could do in the regular season

that would convince me that he's the best player in the world that is an honor that I personally wouldn't consider him for unless he was doing it in the playoffs and, you know, carrying his team to, like, it's not even so much like he has to win the title necessarily, although that is the ultimate kind of like, you know, signal that you've arrived on that front. But to me, it's more just like him thriving in the playoffs and being a dominant playoff player and not experiencing a drop-off from regular season production to playoff production. When he can tie those two things together, which obviously we haven't even seen that yet,

that's when I would start to consider him to be the best player alive. Last question. Jason, I enjoy your content. Keep up the good work. Fispump. I want to ask, as a Thunder fan, I'm starting to worry about Chet. Obviously, we want him to stay healthy and be careful for those bumps he's absorbing.

But we're also worried about how his offensive skill will only show in flashes while other times he just can become a non-factor, especially in the clutch. What do you think you should be working on to stay more consistent? So I get tricky with this kind of thing. I feel like it's really hard for big, lanky dudes that aren't super polished, like Kevin Durant, for example, to be ball handlers in like physical late game environments especially.

Like I think it's one thing when you're big and strong, like Yokic or LeBron or Luca, when you have like real strength, you can thrive in that physicality and get to your spot still. but like a lot of the thinner players, especially when they're not super polished, they can get kind of dislodged and beat up a little bit in those situations. And so I don't really ever see Chet as being like the guy that you're just going to run the offense through in crunch time, not unless he becomes a dramatically better jump shooter, which he just hasn't been to this point in his career. But I'm still super high on Chet.

Like I think he's still one of the most underrated defensive players in the league. It's a huge part of what they did defensively in last year's playoff run. I do want to see him improve as a. a catch and shoot jump shooter like he's got to start beating nail help with those above the break threes off of the right and left wing um but like yeah like i i think i'm not going to say i i've learned this lesson with shay i don't want to put a ceiling on anybody so i don't want to sit here and pretend as though chet is incapable of becoming a guy that can become a high usage player in crunch time but right now he's too thin and too and lacks the polish necessary to be that kind

of guy outside of spurts especially early in games and in regular season context but the main thing for me is like if he gets to the point where he's like a 40% knockdown, you know, above the break three point shooter when he's open, that'll be plenty offensively. That's all that's all the thunder need from him. He does enough damage as a cutter along the baseline. It is an offensive rebounder and with what he does defensively and he can provide little pops of scoring throughout the game off the dribble, obviously inconsistently, but he can do that. To me, the main like kind of barrier between where he is right now and like making the thunder

unbeatable is like he's got to get to the point where you can hit 40% of his unguarded catch and shoot three is above the break. All right guys, it's all I have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate you guys for supporting us and supporting the show. We will be back on Monday. Enjoy your weekend. Lots of basketball to get into when we get some Monday. I'll see you guys. Hey guys. It's us and the Jonas brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast. Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a First people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions.

Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano.

It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was funny. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come in to you, he's like, you know, I love you, dog.

You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here's something that should not be as complicated as it is, getting a racist statue removed. And here's something that should be a whole lot easier than it is, getting a new one put up in its place. I'm Akela Hughes, and Rebel Spirit Season 2 is about both of those things. As I was watching these statues come down, I was thinking about what it meant that I grew up in a majority of black city

in which there were more homages to enslavers than there were to enslave people. Listen to Rebel Spirit Season 2 on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an... innocent man. Is everyone lying to me about who they are? I felt such desperation. I felt it was what I had to do. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.