The Mismatch - 10 Questions for the Upcoming NBA Season

Episode Date: October 14, 2022

Vernon and KOC begin the show discussing reports that the Lakers are planning on moving Russell Westbrook to the bench for their final preseason game (01:58). Could this bring out the best of Russ on the Lakers? Next, the guys answer 10 questions about the upcoming NBA season (11:53). Some of the questions explored: Which team could push for 60 wins? Which team are you least likely to watch? Which game would you get courtside seats for? and more. Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Jessie Lopez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon. And join as he does every Friday from the ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, A.K. Kevin O Palmer, Kevin O'Connor, Kevin O'Compter, Kevin O'Compricide, Kevin O'Conflict. Kevin! Burnow! How are you doing this Friday morning, man? By next week, we are going to be talking about the beginning of the NBA regular season.

We have made it all the way to the regular season. And I must tell you, as I was watching some of the preseason games that were going on last night, I was thinking to myself, I'm done with this. I'm done. I'm over. I'm over the preseason. I'm over watching games that don't matter. It's cool the first couple of times.

You know, see some of the new guys that you haven't seen before. Check out some of the rookies. See if teams are making some lineup changes, et cetera. But as you get to like the fourth and fifth games of these preseason, I'm like, all right, let's just go ahead and fast forward. And it feels like in many cases, the players would like to fast forward to the regular. season themselves, even though sometimes it can be instructional to watch the last ones, simply because it can serve as a dress rehearsal for the regular season.

And one quick thing before we get to our topic of the day, came out this morning, AJ O'Donowski reported that Darwin Ham is going to bring Russell Westbrook off the bench in their preseason game and let him run the second unit. and so this is right before the season is about to start. And it's like, do they want to wait until the end of the preseason to try this out when we all thought the entire time like, hey, maybe that will be the best mode of operation for the Lakers? And so maybe a little bit of drama right before the season starts

because I can't wait to hear Russell Westbrook talk about coming off the bench. Very close to the old Alan Iverson. My butt hurts from sitting on the bench. Russell Westbrook a couple of weeks ago said his back was stiffening up or something from being on the bench. So we're close to my butt hurts. I'm really hoping we get all the way there. But Darvin Ham going to give it a run.

And this is obviously going to be a big story because this is a former MVP in the league. Nobody knows what to make of the Lakers and what they're going to look like this year and what's going to happen with Westbrook. But right before the regular season is about to start, Darwin Ham, going to let him run the second unit. What do you think?

It's for the best. It's for Russell's best. It's for the Lakers best. It's the correct decision by Ham to do this. It's just going to be a matter of. of whether Westbrook himself accepts and embraces the role. I think so far this preseason, we have seen a player and Russell Westbrook do some of the things

that the Lakers require from him. It's not like he's screening and rolling like Bruce Brown. Nobody can expect him to do it with that frequency. But we are seeing him stand in the corner a little bit more off and take some more spot-up threes, cut a little bit more off, and put a little bit more effort into defense. and he's not the highest level player at doing those things.

But if he's mixing in that while also staggering with LeBron James to run the second unit and get those traditional Russell Westbrook reps where he has the ball on his hands and he's running pick and roll, that's what makes most sense for the Lakers. When he's doing that coming off the bench. So for Darvindham, this is the appropriate move. But will Russell Westbrook accept doing this or make the Allen I, rest of the comment as you've long said, Chris, my butt hurts. I'll tell you this, Kemp, if he does, and he just decides this is what's best,

I want to get another contract, whatever else, Russell Westbrook, just being the guy, having the ball in his hands and letting him be, let them do Russell Westbrook. There have been teams that have made the playoffs and been pretty good teams with just Russell Westbrook being that guy. He's not that guy anymore, though. No, I'm saying, and running everything. Kevin, I would tell you something, if that's your second unit, you know, if you take some of those old Russell Westbrook teams, like those old Oklahoma City teams, or even when he drugged

the Wizards to the playoffs, and you just say, all right, the ball's in your hands, go, and that's your second unit, that's devastating. The trick is, can he embrace that? But when teams are bringing off their second units, they can't handle that. If he does embrace it, it would be the absolute best thing that could happen for the Lakers. And if you told me, he'll embrace it, he'll run that second unit, they'll just let him be Russell Westbrook. My opinion on what they were capable of this year would change dramatically. He doesn't fit with the others.

We knew this from the beginning. LeBron James has the ball. LeBron James controls everything on LeBron James teams. So you've got to be an outstanding off the ball player. You've got to be able to shoot. It's not rocket science as to how to build around LeBron James. And yet somehow, some way, Rob Polinka made a mess of it. And if you just say, hey, that second unit's going to be in Russell,

Westbrook's hands. Now all of a sudden, that's a change of pace. That's some nights winning new games. That's, he's too good for second units to deal with. You know what I mean, teams bring it off their backup point guard trying to deal with him, trying to keep him out of the pain. Are you sure? Are you sure he's still that good? Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Positive. I think he's in the absolute worst possible case for showing what he is capable of. The thing is, though, Chris, with Westbrook, he's definitely not as explosive as he once was before finishing around the rim. And I think his way— I mean, he threw his nuts on Rudy Gobert's head last year.

Yeah. What more explosion do you need? It's not as regular, though. The At Room finishing, even on layups, isn't what it once was. The jump shot, for that matter. As bad as he's always been as a high-volume shooter, even the jump shot is not as good as it has once been. besides the corner three. Like last year and the year before,

statistically, the corner three pointer was good. As I've written about last season when I was making these arguments that we're starting to see Darwinham now trying to implement with him. With Russ, he's not the same guy, but against second units, I'm with you, Chris.

I am with you. I don't think he's a same level guy who's going to shred teams, but if he can have the ball in his hands, play make, create for others, and then score a little bit, you know, against these lesser units, then great. That's for the Lakers benefit,

just as long as he continues doing the things that are necessary for a teammate of LeBron James, who, as you said, always has the ball in his hands. Always. And as he should, because he's LeBron, and he still is a significant player on your team, still one of the best players in all of basketball. So for

Russ, I'm looking forward to seeing this. I hope he does. I want to see Russ do everything he can to make this work with the Lakers. I want to see him embrace it and see what it looks. like he's not going to be as good as what lakers fans hope miles turner and buddy healed can be he's not going to be as good as what kuzma and kCP and alice caruso and all these guys could have

been but i want to see russell westbrook try to evolve i am the resident westbrook defender i would bet heavily against that happening i just don't think he's wired that way and i think so what's he wired for playing in china that's what's next i think i think darvin ham waited until the of the preseason even broached this subject. I thought those videos of him this week were unfair, the ones that came out of him not going in the huddle. It looked like to me he was in the middle of like talking to the bench. Well, he is the, look, he is, he is the whipping boy.

He is the one that everybody blames for everything, right? Understandably so. I mean, they don't want to blame LeBron James for not being able to drag a team to the playoffs. Those videos were deceiving, though. Like even the huddle before the game, he's always done that. So, I mean, they have to find somebody to blame, and so the blame goes to Westbrook. I understand why.

You do? He's not the reason they weren't good. Come on. They also blame Polenka. People were flabbergasted that he got a two-year extension. But the reason they weren't good is not because of Russell Westbrook, is what I would tell. The reason they weren't good is because of the Russell Westbrook trade, and, more importantly, the Anthony Davis injury.

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Let's do it. Let's go. Last year, one team won 60 games. That was the Suns. If one team did it this year, it would be... You really want me to say the Memphis Grizzlies. Oh, I figured you'd say the Pelicans. I think we're going to say the same team.

Philadelphia at 786ers. Yeah, I think that they are the one. If you told me one is going to do it, they would be the ones that I would pick. I don't think anybody's going to win 60 games. I agree with you. I don't think anybody's going to either. I was looking at it last night.

And I'm like, I can see like mid-50s, high 50s. But 60, I think the reason why I've been so high. and the Sixers since the Hardin trained in February because of their abilities who always have one of the best scores, creators, finishers on the court at the same time. You have Hardin, the perimeter guy, and Bede, the interior guy,

and both of those guys can get inside the paint or playouts side for that matter too. And now you have Tyrese Maxie on the rise too. Their ability to have multiple guys on the floor at all times who can generate baskets, they have more shooters, they have more defenders after a great opportunity, offseason getting Tucker,

House, Melton, Harold. The Sixers are deep. They're going to have quality players getting D&Ps. They have versatility. They can play different styles. They have star power, and they have the Rising Star

and Maxi, who could really be the X factor and set them up on another level if he's able to build in what he did last season. It's the second part of your argument that is the persuasive part for me. Oh, you don't like the hardened part?

But they had those guys. They had Joel Embed. they had Tyrese Maxie and they had James Harding. And they were a huge playoff disappointment once again. But this is regular season. They could win 65 games and be a playoff to support. No, no, no, no, no. But that's not the, to me, that's not the persuasive part.

They had those guys. The rest of their team suck. Yeah. And they fix that. You know, like they've got real players, real depth. they had three guys that you really loved last year. And now they've added like a mix of solid veterans and good basketball players that I think their second unit's going to be really good.

And I think that they can mix and match with those three guys that are outstanding basketball players. And so it's the depth to me. Like you saw last year, there were times where you would watch the Sixers. and their second unit was abysmal. Yeah, game six against Miami. And this was their rotation. This is the game Danny Green got hurt for what it's worked. He played only three minutes.

But Danny Green, George's Niyang, Matisse Thibel, Sheikh Milton, Furcan, Corkmaz. Those were the other five guys. Who was scoring? Other than Hardin, Bede, Maxie Harris, the key top four guys. That was the rotation. Tucker was on Miami.

Now you got PJ Tucker. their bench is, it's one of the best benches in basketball. Of course it is. Just say it as it is. And they have so many different guys they can throw out there. They missed. The Hardin Trade was a good thing for them.

I loved what they did. But not having Ben Simmons meant not having a stopper defender. Well, now you get PJ Tucker. You still get Matisse Thibel coming deeper off the bench now. Daniel House is a solid defender. They have so many more guys now who can be used in specific matchups. You can put Tucker into five sometimes when you need to.

I mean, they can play so many different lineups. There's just going to be a matter of, you know, for the playoffs, how does Doc Rivers coach this team? Regular season, I'm far less concerned about that factor. It also gives them one of the most important factors in determining regular season success, and that is the ability to withstand injury. They can just plug guys in and be fine. Even if it would have missed a week.

Yeah. It's okay. Plug Harold in there, and he's going to be running a ton of pick and roll with Hardin and Maxie. Paul Reed, a solid Harold filler behind him, too. Yeah, they do it differently, but guys, they can pick up the slack. Number two, the best bet to reclaim past glory. Damien Lillard, Kauai Leonard, Anthony Davis, Ben Simmons. Got to be Kauai Leonard.

We've been hiring the Sixers, Chris. We love their depth, too. Kauai Leonard, it's just a matter of health and durability over the course of the year. True also for Anthony Davis, he'd be my second choice. But Kauai Lenters is the best player on the best team of those guys. So he'd be by selection in this case. Even though he has, you know, as we chronicled last week, he's only got two 70 game seasons under his belt in his career. Is that part of reclaiming past glory for Kauai Leonard, though, or is it the?

the production, not the balling above it. I mean, I think availability is the most important ability, right? And he has not been available. I think that in order to reclaim past glory, I think you've got to give me at least 60, 65 games. So are you going to get that from Anthony Davis? He hasn't played 70 plus since the 2017-18 season when he was still with New Orleans.

So you're getting that from him? Like, is it Damien Lillard then? Like, by your criteria? It's not Ben Simmons. He's never had glory before. Is it Damian Lillard? I mean, Ben Simmons has made all NBA. Yeah, not like the level of those other guys.

Well, Ben Simmons is the youngest of the group. Yeah. So. Client A.D. or champions. But he's also the least trustworthy. Simmons. Yes. He's the youngest, but the least trustworthy.

I don't think he belongs from that category. The one that I think does look the best is Davis. Yeah, he has. Definitely. The preseason, like, he has looked like old Anthony Davis. Yeah. I don't know what the hell that was last year. He's all bulked up.

He couldn't shoot. It was just, it was bizarre before he got hurt. You see his third person statement about 80 wants to play the four? Oh, really? Yeah, do you see that? They didn't even get a center. They're going to have to call Dwight Howard's ass up just to make him happy. AD, I mean, or like the Marcus Aldred or one of these guys that, like, is not on a team.

Yeah, AD, let me find the quote. Ad said, I trust coach's decision. I'm pretty sure he heard AD wants to play the four, so he knows where I stand. But at the end of the day, I want to win. So if that's me playing the five, that's what it's going to be. He went third person to say, I'm pretty sure he heard AD wants to play the four. Yeah, him bulking up. was just not the thing to do.

I don't get it. What do you think it is? Why do you think he wants to be a four? Because he doesn't want to bang with Yokic and Embed and Stephen Adams. Like all these big bruising guys. On those nights, maybe you start a five. But there's a lot more of those nights. Yeah, there is for sure.

Like everybody's got one. You freaking play the Pelicans. You got to face Jonas Valentinus. And then you play, you know, Kevin Loonie, playing for the warrior. Everybody's got these big dudes again. It changed. There are more quality bigs. And even if they're not like all-star quality, people get bruisers now.

And by the way, he should be the five, regardless of that. The Lakers have so many guards. Like, they need to have AD play the five in order to create opportunities for their straight-out best players. I mean, Thomas, Ryan, Damien Jones, those guys should not be starting. I'm sorry. I guess, boy, dame's been the most durable of them. You know what I mean? Of those guys.

But a little older. I guess I'd probably say Davis, just because of what I've seen in the preseason. I don't know with Kauai yet. It's been so long since Kauai Leonard has been like the best player on a NBA court. It's been a long time since I've seen it. And I'm willing to give Davis, I'm not saying a pass on last year, but he's still like a guy that we all thought was top five, top 10 in the league. He is devastating when he's at his best.

And typically he's never not been good when he's played. Yeah. Right? I mean, he's not good for Anthony Davis, what our standard is. He's still better than anybody. Most of the guys in the league when he plays. And so I think I'd probably say Davis. In this preseason, he shot the ball better than he has since they were in the bubble.

40% from three so far this preseason. Granted, it's just a three-game sample size irrelevant. He does look comfortable taking shots from outside. He's taking them at a higher volume as well. AD looks like the guy he was before on defense, shooting well. If he's doing that in addition to all the other stuff, we know he can do at the high level, finishing around the rim, driving to the basket.

He's in store for a monster season that's going to earn him potentially some defensive player of the year consideration or at least all defense in addition to being an all-star and all-N-B-A guy again. So for the Lakers, with that in mind, because we're both high on it, even though I choose Kauai, with his scoring and everything he does. With AD being as good as he's been, if he continues that,

does that change your perspective of what the Lakers can be there? You already said you're higher on them if Russell's coming off the bench running that second unit. Are we now higher on the Lakers than we were previously maybe entering training camp? I mean, I wasn't really high on them. So, yeah, I guess I have to say. I've never considered them a home court advantage team. Can they be a top six?

Or are they still playing level for you? I think it's possible. I mean, here's the truth. If they played, you know, if they cared about the regular season and played it out, you'd rather have their roster than somebody like, say, Dallas, wouldn't you? All things are even. You'd rather have their roster. It says a lot about Dallas.

And it's just because they've got the two guys. It's just because they have LeBron and Anthony. Davis. You would rather have that. LeBron and Anthony Davis. I get it. The role players are better at the other places. But I mean, like in the absence of Brunson, and so like, that's one of those teams that is slotted in there.

But I mean, they don't have they don't have Luca a lot of help. Christian Wood's got to have a big year. He's a sixth man right now. Which is absurd. You know what I mean? All right. Next. The team with the biggest win improvement this year, is you just want me to talk about the pelicans don't you you think they're going to have the most

amount of wins over what they had i mean they had 36 last year so yes the new orleans for all the reasons we talked about on our recent episode what's the most they could have improvement wise 50 what is it 14 you know for them maybe something like that 14 16 18 something like around that for them like who else do you think it would be like maybe uh Like Orlando going from 22 to 35, 36, or Detroit from 23 to 37. What Sacramento ended up with last year? Sacramento last year had 30. So maybe they go from 30 to 43, something like that.

Yeah, I think Sacramento could be over 500. Portland, they had 27 last year, full year of Damien Lillard, Jeremy Grant's. They had 27. if they go back to a 500 team, 44, they'll be in that discussion too. Lakers, we just talked about them. Lakers had 33. What if they win 48 games? Yeah.

Nicks, if Brunson makes a big difference? Yeah, I don't know. What was their number last year? 37. Yeah, they're not getting to 50. No, they're not getting to 50. And you know, you're not very, very high on Cleveland. But they had 44.

They had too many. Yeah. They already made their leave. Even Toronto. Like Toronto, I heard Windhorst say they're going to be the, you know, the spoiler in the east. They're the team that's going to make a move before the deadline. They had 48 last year. So they're not necessarily a candidate for this question either.

I would agree with your, I think. Pelicans, Kings, maybe, Lakers, that West Group. Yeah, I think so. I don't think there's anybody in the in the east outside of possibly again, much like the Lakers in the West. Brooklyn, if it all worked. If it all worked for Brooklyn,

you could see them win in a boatload of games. How about the Clippers? They had 42 last year. Could they win 58, 59? Like, what if they're the team pushing for 60 wins? They could be in that too, I think. Yeah, it's Kauai playing, yeah, 60 plus games. Yeah, Clippers belong in that discussion.

We've both talked about their bench and how deep they are. They have the versatility we've talked about with the Sixers to withstand absences over the course of the regular season and still win games. They could be a candidate too, depending on what ceiling they have with Kauai. Brooklyn was in the play in. 44 wins last year. Yeah, I mean, I don't know.

The maximum you could see. And again, I just don't like counting out Kevin Durant, but the maximum is still, you know, mid-field. Yeah, I agree. That'd be max. And that's not enough. Yeah, I think we agree on this. Yeah. I think we agree pretty much.

All right. Next question for the upcoming NBA season. Number four, the team that you think will be your league pass team, the team that's not on national TV hardly at all. I just want to give the national TV stats here. So the jazz, magic, and thunder and pistons all have three. Wizards, Spurs, Paisers, and Rockets all have four national TV games. Kings have five, Hornets have six. That's the bottom ten.

Of those bottom ten, I'm excited to watch a lot of those, Chris. You know, we got our Bright Future Pistons, the surging Sacramento Kings. You know how much I love Jalen Green on the Rockets. But I'm going with the Orlando Magic. Oh, Pallo Bancaro, my top. rank prospect, Franz Wagner, your guy. Yep, my guy. I swear.

I love Wendell Carter, Mo Bonba. They got Mo Wagner too. The Wagner stuff is just out of control. You would have thought that I said this guy was a bum when I said, I don't think he's going to be a top 20 player in the league. Like, there is no, somewhere there is no gray area between being, you know what I mean? I didn't say it was a good. I don't know what I mean the guy's a fantastic basketball player they played Memphis on Tuesday night what were your impressions of him on the night he had 14 points 10 rebounds seven assists two steals filled up the box score dominant performance and oh you don't think I heard about it at the end of the game when he hit a three and then pick John Moran yes he's he's fantastic basketball player they let him run a lot of the offense too I know I know he's good he's good he's good

Six foot 10 skill. Great defender, too. The one I walked away most impressed with in that game is the one that gets absolutely no talk, which is Wendell Cardin. Oh, yeah. He gets no credit. Every single time I watch this guy play, he is better.

Every time. He's such a rock, solid player, man. Well, you remember we talked, coming into the draft? It was kind of like little Al Horfordy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a popular comp for him. And he's not, because you're never going to, you're rarely going to see a highlight.

People aren't going to go gaga over him. People aren't going to have his jersey, you know, but he does everything well, everything. Yeah. He eats a good defender. He fights for rebounds. He's a good passer. He can knock down shots and it looks good.

He's kind of grown into his body even more. He's solid. I tell you this, watching that game the other night, does I watch the preseason game, the Memphis Orlando preseasoning that Orlando Chicago trade

might be the worst trade we've seen in I don't know how long like it has not gotten talked up as that who do you want

today Wendell Carter or Nicola Vucevic I mean I said it when they made the trade I love Carter yeah

here's the trick Kevin like you wonder like we understood the perspective to get the guy who could play right now that's proven

in But Wuchovich but Wendell Carter was on the up and up and he's showing and why right now. Okay, so that's just those two, right? That's just those two? They gave two first two. Yeah. No, they used the pick on Franz! Yeah. I throw that in.

Yep. And this thing is a catastrophe. I know. I know. I know. Carter, Carter, like you mentioned Franz Vargas, I wanted pick and roll, but there was some plays in that fourth quarter between Orlando and Memphis where it was like dribble handoff action with Wendell Card. handing off to Franz Wagner and Carter rolling down the rim and Wagner making the pass on the top of the defense. And like you see two guys, because Carter can pass two.

You mentioned the Horford comp. He can play make two from the program. That's why they use them in those handoff actions. Two guys who are that big who can make the right play on the floor, that's going to allow them to run so many different sets on offense, invert offense, play different styles. Because you can plug Wagner in that handoff spot too, and he can make the play out of the handout.

Like they, Orlando's a fun team. They're not going to be great. They're not going to necessarily be postseason contender, but they're going to be fun. They're going to win more games than they did last year, and I think their talent is probably the most underrated in all of basketball. I have something very unfortunate to tell you, though.

I watched that game the other night. Kevin, do you remember there was this old, there's a famous clip. You've probably seen it even if you're not, aware of the parties involved. But there's Soldier Boy, the rapper, is Wylan out. He's on the breakfast club in the morning. And you've probably seen the meme where he says,

he's yelling about Drake. And he says, he stole my whole flow, far for far, line for line, right? And that's what ran through my head as I watched Bobo come in instead of Mo Baba. And Mo Bomba sitting on the sideline going, He stole my whole flow. I'm supposed to be the gigantic circus attraction here.

And instead, Bo Bo, I think he had like nine points, nine rebounds, changing the game. Not a great look for Mo. You know what I mean? Like they got these two gigantics that come in off the bench. And Mo, it was a struggle. but Bo Bo Bo? Oh my goodness. He looked like a good version of Mo Bamba to me.

Chris, you know my love for Mo Bamba. That does not mean that I am anti-Bolball. These are not exclusive? No, yes. It is not exclusive. I love Bowl Bowl, and I wish him great success, especially if it could mean Mo Bamba gets traded to a team that really loves him and embraces him and wants him.

You can't bring Steve Clifford anymore. his big red dog house is moved to Charlotte. I wish Bomba went to the Lakers. What? Yeah, I wish he went to the Lakers. So you could go watch him every night? No. That, that too.

I might go to more games if he signed there. I get court-side seats, actually. But yeah, with Bomba, if he loses, If he loses his spot to bowl, boy. Oh, my goodness. What a chapter, that be for the Moamba era. Bull, bull. My lead past team is probably good.

It's going to be the Detroit team. You know, I love them. It's just so many guys I love. I love Ivy. I covered Jay LaDurren last year at Memphis. I love Cade. You know, I like Seneke Bay. I like.

I'll root for your guy, Killian Hayes. Thank you. Did you see that the game he had the other night, Chris? Against Oklahoma City? Yeah, against O'KC. Big time. Big time. I also unfortunately watched last night.

Last night watching them, here's the thing. You know, they're really good down the stretch. They played it out at the end of the season. Defensively, they could do some things. But my God, they can't shoot. Bogdanovich has got to be able to shoot. I mean, he's got a knock down shots, and I really like that. They got him.

But, man, they just need some more guys that can knock down shots. There's shooting numbers, beautiful last year. And, I mean, it just feels like swing, swing, wide open, Isaiah Stewart, because everybody's collapsing on everybody else, and it's Brick City. You know what I mean? I just don't. That can't be where the offense leads to is the open shot in the corner. And so there's still a work in progress, but my God, they got fun, fun players on that team.

No way does Jaws score 31 last night of Killian Hay's place. Holy mackerel. No way. I mean, he might have scored 51. He cared last night. He was bad. He definitely did. Yeah, he looked like he was out to prove something.

He played like crap against Orlando. Is Santiago, for real? Santiago is going. He's had a pretty good. good preseason. He's had a good preseason. And he has like a 30-something in summer league. I mean... He looks good. I'll tell you this.

Driving in the basket, finishing around the rim, putbacks, I like them. People are going to be surprised when they watch the grizzlies and they're like, who is that? I'm aware of that. I have been a skeptic, but I will tell you that there are people in their front office that every time I brought it up and was like,

nah, you know what I mean? Like not enthused about it. Because he wasn't good last year. They swear by him. They think he, they, they swear he's going to be good. And I'm going to let it, I'm going to let it play into the regular season. I'll tell you this. There's a time last year, you know, Dylan Brooks got hurt.

They had the rookie Zaire Williams. There was a night where they had Zaire Williams in the game, and he's having to guard Devin Booker. And I turned to my producer and I said, Devin Booker could score 99 times out of 100 on Zaire Williams right now. Like, there's one thing to throw a kid into the fire. They just threw this kid into hell.

And I do have a concern. You're going to know next Wednesday on opening night with Memphis and the Knicks. Julius Randall's going to look across and not see Jared Jackson and see Santhe Aldama and say, give me the ball every time down the court. and we're going to see how he holds up because that's a perfect test, right?

He might be getting thrown into hell. It's possible. I don't know. But he has certainly held up and held his own and knocked down some shots during the preseason and has got confidence and has played a lot tougher. They're very high on him. And they've been right about everybody else.

They haven't been wrong about like a draft pick yet. So I guess I got to give him the benefit of the doubt. But the truth is, I saw Jaron Jackson before the game. They do this bit where they're like in a huddle and they jump up and down and dance and do all this stuff before, right? They all go crazy for each other. I mean, he was jumping off the ground like he was playing in a game.

And I was like, hold on. Hold on. You know what I mean? Well, you did say he's going to be back sooner than people expects. Yes. I'm just saying this isn't a guy. like walking around gingerly and doesn't and looks like he's going to be missing a large portion of the season.

I'm telling you he was jumping up and down in the middle of the huddle. And I was like, oh, I guess he's all right. And so I think it's matter of time. I don't think it's going to be very long until you see him back in. But that gives him Obama the chance. I don't know if he's for real. He's second year player in the NBA who's about to get thrown in. into the fire.

Guess we'll see. Yes, they believe in him, though. They do. They believe in him. It's a big spot. Getting to start a power forward for a team that won 56 games last year, that's for sure. But yeah, Detroit's my team. I love the Pistons.

Number five. All right, the flip side of that. The team you will watch the least. No question I'm going to watch the Utah Jazz, the least of all 30 teams. No question about it. First of all, you know why, Chris. They don't have Rudy Gobert anymore. That's the number one reason why.

I'm not tuning in for Kelly Olinick, Lowry Marketing. They don't have Rudy Go Bear. Colin! Colin! Well, they don't have thought of a Mitchell, well. Colin Sexton's fun. Jordan Clarkson can be sort of fun,

but they're not more fun than what 29 other teams can offer. And we know they don't care. Yeah. Jared Vanderbilt cares. He cares. Jared Vanderbilt cares about rebounding. He's the true draw.

The answer to this is San Antonio. Come on. More than Utah? Name four players that you would be interested in watching. See, I disagree. I am interested in watching the Spurs. Because they're not going to be good and they're actually going to be playing their young guys. I'm interested in seeing the Spurs.

Why is that interesting? Because Gabe Kelton Johnson, Devin Bacel has made some good progress this preseason. Sohan, they're a rookie. That guy's fun. I want to see him rebounding. I want to see him playing a defense. These are all boring players.

I mean, they're good players. They're not fun to watch. Sohan is fun. Fine. Because of the hair. Josh Primo, what type of progress does he make? They have some young guys that I'm actually interested in seeing. Oh, who cares?

I don't think the spurs would be in my bottom three or four teams. They don't care about winning. Anybody that doesn't care about winning, I don't care about. Yeah, they're going to care about winning to an extent. No, they're not. But Paul's not going to deliberately tank games. He's going to try to win every game. They're just not going to win a lot of games because they are young and they suck.

Yeah. Well, I mean, there are other teams I considered. Look, Charlotte without Lamello is a rough watch for sure. Yeah, big time. You know, at least with Lamello, it makes it somewhat watchable. Indiana. I know they've got Halliburton and at least Benedict Matherin

looked fun the other night. Oh, Matherin's a night. So I got to put him a little bit higher. Yeah. Matherin was getting to the rim like a veteran, dude. Yeah. Drawing Files finishing loudly inside. He's fun.

But Utah's got more players I care about than San Antonio. You want to watch Lorry Marketing? I mean, you know, I always love Mike Conley, and they got Colin Sexton. and no, I don't want to watch Lori Marketing. Come on.

No one has ever, no, in fact, that's never been said. No one has ever said that exact sentence. I want to watch Lori Marketing. Maybe somebody that was like going to summary. If Mike calmly gets traded this year, where do you want to see him go? Because he could be a trade candidate. It could be. Should be, will be, is.

They just got to find a team. Yeah. I mean, you think Where do you want to see him Trying to win a title? Because that's the type of team that's going to go for him. Lakers, maybe in a rust deal.

No, for God's sakes, no. Good grief. I haven't think that. I wouldn't want him to be on Dallas, but I think he could be useful on Dallas, especially with the way he shoots threes alongside Luca. You know what I mean?

Because they lost Brunson. Where else? Could he be? Not a lot of spots for him. Useful. That makes sense. There's really not. Yeah, there's really not a lot of spots.

No, there's really not. No. Chicago up there, if the Lanzo news is terrible. Yeah. Chicago's one. But they've got I.O. and. Yeah, they get a lot of guys in that back court.

Yeah, a lot of guys in that back court, for sure. Minnesota, I'd hate it. for a lot of West teams but I'm saying if they moved off Adela yeah which I don't think they will but he would be better for them

in terms of setting up an offense and just like you know just a more veteran did you watch Russell when it mattered most I did ice in his veins New Orleans

I guess by the way you know what my you know what my son said to me last night when we were we were opening up some basketball cards. What the Pelicans could win the finals? Needs, that's not what he said.

He said, who's that bozo you do that show with? No, he said, we were open up a pack of cards and he said, he said, oh, Alvarado. And he is like looking at the card

and he's like, you know they call him Grand Theft Alvarado? And I was like, no, they don't. Have you ever heard that? That's what he said.

He's 12. I've never heard that before. Grant, that's amazing. Yeah, it's a good nickname. GTA? Yep. That's a great nickname that needs to be more widespread. That's an amazing nickname.

There's like Photoshop's of him on the GTA cover. Grant, Beth Elberon? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, wow. I guess the Four Pelicans fans pass that around and I just haven't seen it yet. All right. Next. The player you hope take.

a big leap. So this can be any player. It doesn't have to be a young player. No, just any player you hope takes a big leap. I mean, it has to be a big leap. Hope. Hope is the key word in that, Chris. Hope.

I hope Markell Fultz takes a big leap. I'd love to see Markel Fultz totally refine himself. I'd love to see that. I think that would be such a great story if he keeps trending up. Is it realistic? No. I'd love to see Jaylen Green become like a 25, 26 point per game guy as a young player in Houston. I think that would be awesome next to Javari Smith and Alparan, Shengun, and Tari Easton and all the young talent they have on that team.

They're loaded with good young players. I'd love to see Jalen Green become a guy who can lead a franchise, which I believe he can. Those two come to mind first. Josh Giddy, if he can find a jump shot, in addition to his just gorgeous playmaking. that he already has. If he's even just an average shooter, man, like that, it's going to change what he can be

as a player because the playmaking is so high level already. Oh, he's awesome. Yeah. I went to watch him at Summer League, and I mean, it was one of those experiences where it's like, what are you doing here? Yeah.

He was so clearly, they were trying to get him and Chet, you know, kind of on the same page and getting some chemistry and whatever, and unfortunately that didn't play out the way we want it to for this upcoming season. But he was so clearly better than everybody. He was so clearly the best player out there.

And that's what you want to see, right? It's a guy like that show up at Summer League and it's like, okay, what do you even do it here? You're so much better than everybody you're playing against. I think there's a lot of guys that are expected to take a big leap like the Anthony Edwards is and the Anthony Edwards expected. to take a big leap and a lot of the young players that have come in over the course of the past

couple of years and we see glimpses of big stardom. I think I might say Barrett on this. I like that one. You know, I feel like that's a kid that kind of got drugged through it. He got his contract. He got his contract.

mention, it's just been Zion Jaws, Zion Jha, Zion Jha. And you will remember that during that whole draft thing, never once did I say one negative thing about Zion Williamson? Never once did I say one negative thing about R.J. Barrett. I preferred Morant. I wanted Marant, but I wasn't going to, it was one of those situations where you ain't got to tear down everybody else just to say that you like this guy the most.

And I remember saying many times, I think they're all going to be awesome. Well, Zion's awesome. And Jah's awesome. And nobody sits around and saying R.J. Barrett's awesome. His numbers were not bad. His numbers went down last year. And it really looked like they were on to something that second year.

And I think they emptied up. They had this ridiculous offseason the year before. They bring in fornia. They bring it all of stuff. So I'm hopeful that Brunson helped. bring out the best in Barrett and that he kind of, I think that's a sneaky one because I think that right now, nobody's really high on R.J. Barron. And I had a big belief in him coming out of that draft. And I still think he's got a chance to be an outstanding player in the league.

And it's because two of his peers have been so awesome so quickly that I think it's like, you kind of decide what that guy's going to be. So not only, only because I hope I'm right about that, I think he's, I think he's got it. I do. And I felt like we saw a glimpse of it his second year and then last year was just a damn disaster. And the beginning of his career was a debacle too. It's like change over in front office, change over coaching, change over in personnel. Like none of that was conducive to develop. And so now it feels a little more stable and he's playing with better players. And so, yeah, I think RJ.

I would like it for him to become, and then it become like, wow, look at the top three in that draft. I'd love that one too. Yeah. That'd be cool. And it'd be good for New York, too, to have a star, like a star star star, and him be a guy. Especially a homegrown star. Right. Him be a guy that, like, turns out to be actually, you know, 20-plus.

plus 25 for game, you know, like he's their guy. Next one. The regular season game you would go to if I gave you front row tickets. You can pick any game this season for the upcoming season, and I'll give you front row tickets. November 22nd, Nets at Sixers. Ooh. The true Ben Simmons return.

Yeah, I'd love to feel the hate in that crowd. I'd love to feel it and know what it feels. I've never been to a Sixers game either, so that factors into it. And I know the crowd would be at its elite level on November 22nd for the return of Ben Simmons. What day is that? A Tuesday night. A Tuesday night. TNT, national TV.

All right, November 22nd on a Tuesday night. You actually going to get me tickets? Oh, shoot. I've got Grizzly's home game against the Kings. I was going to say somebody give us tickets. And we'll meet there. We'll fly up there and go to this. You can take a sick night, Chris.

I can't be a scene of Sabotis in person. So there's really not like any of those like, huge drama games outside of that, right? Like, there's nobody that, like, laughed and everybody's going to hate their guts because they walked away. There was no, like, it's not like DeAndre Aiton, you know, went to Indiana,

and then he's going to come back to Phoenix and they're all going to boo him or something like that. Yeah. This is Philly. Yeah. The Philly thing is, like, a radically different level than anything else. And so I don't,

and we don't really even have like any of the returning back and I hate you feelings. Like I don't feel like Utah's not going to boot Donovan or Gobeyer. No. Right? Even if they did, the jazz suck.

Yeah, right. Like I want, the game between the Nets and the Sixers could actually be an amazing game too. It's not just for the booing of Ben Simmons and what that's going to be like every time he touches the ball. The game itself could be really good. That could be a great game early in the season.

Yeah. Obviously for me, Memphis Golden State Christmas Day. That's a good one. Very good one. I mean, that was promoted on social media between Morant and Draymond Green, and then the NBA did it. And this was after the way it played out last year in the playoffs. And there was like some really –

Hard feelings. Even after they won the title, Clay Thompson was banging on Jerry Jackson Jr. And, you know, everybody's kind of going after each other in the media. And I think that there's like a real thing there. There's real, like, animosity between those. And so I think it'll, and plus it's Curry versus Morant.

It's a pretty good entertainment level, I would say. Next one. The new face point. point guard that is going to have the biggest impact. Jalen Brunson, Malcolm Brogden, DeJante Murray. This is a tough one. It is a tough one.

It's a tough one because I think all of them are going to make an impact on their own way. Jalen Brunson giving them a stabilizer going to help R.J. Barrett, we were just talking about. Malcolm Brogden, much-needed, reliable playmaking off that Boston bench. And he's a bucket-getter, can score nice. So DeJante Murray, pushing Trey Young, Off the ball, I want to see how that develops over the course of the season.

We haven't seen Trey running through a ton of screens in preseason. He's done it a little bit more than he has in the past, but it's not like he's going full-on Stefan Curry. He can't do that. He's not step. Nobody's Steph. But I would lean towards DeJante Murray because of the implications of what that means for Trey Young and what he could become and what tasks he will have to take care of on the court

in order to thrive next to DeJante Murray, who's going to have the ball in his hands plenty. Like, what does Trey Young look like on nights where Murray has a heater going, where he's scoring 20 points through two and a half quarters, and Trey is in that situation playing off ball more often? That's where I think the biggest impact could be where those guys are playing off each other at a really, really high level. I think it's Brunson simply because of kind of the player he is and the attitude and that, like, toughness, that seriousness, that stability. Like, it's just such a massive upgrade

from what they've been throwing out there. It really is. It's not as necessarily as much about Brunson as a player, who I really like. It's just he's so much better than what they've been doing. And I think he's one of those guys that can make the other guys better.

And he's just solid, man, totally solid. And so he's, I think they needed him more than the Celtics needed Brogden, more than Atlanta needed Dejante. Like, he could be the difference between being bad and good. Those teams, it's the difference between being pretty good and better. And in the case of the Celtics, very good and better. You didn't throw him in this discussion, but,

where does Ben Simmons rank of a quote-unquote point cards in that group? Like, is he, he, be the most impactful? Could be. Does he even count as a point card? Which is, I mean, you're talking more traditional point cards. Throwbacks, not six foot ten. Yeah, who brings the ball up the court for the nets, do you think? Ben Simmons seems like in preseason a lot of the time.

I'm sure Kyrie Irving and Kevin Irn are going to do it far more often as, yeah, I know. the season goes on. I think that's more of a, like, I feel like every time you throw the ball in under the basket, Jay La Brunson's the guy bringing the ball with the court. You think Simmons is a mismatch listener after watching him screen for Kevin Durant the other night, the little short roll lob pass and Nick Claxton? That got to be really excited.

I was fired up. Yeah, I would say there's zero chance. He's a mismatch listener. Yeah, zero. I would say zero. Zero, unless it's a hate listen. We might be one of his hate lessons. No.

No chance. You don't think so? No. How about this? You think anybody sends him to clips of us talking about him? Anybody in this life? I think that's a possibility. That's true.

You know what? I would be, I mean, and you've experienced this too. Once you cover the NBA and you've been in locker rooms, you start to realize that these guys know everything. They do. They do. They really do. That's amazing.

I never would have expected it. Never when I first got into this. They don't, I think that's so much downtime during the day. They live on social media. And when I tell you, I have seen star players confront people that you would think were absolute nobodies. Yeah. In a locker room. Like, I'm talking like, don't have like some, don't have a big following or don't have a big audience anywhere.

They're not Stephen A, right? Yeah. They're not even us. They're not anybody. No. Like they're young and they're just getting into it. They're right for a blog. And they wrote something on a blog that never in a billion years would they have expected.

Yeah, never. Somebody would read. Ever. They know it. They know. They know. It amazes me. Like when I first got up this, my first year covering the Celtics, right?

Someone from the front office said to me, said, oh, I really enjoy your work on Celtics blog. You do great stuff. I like the angles that you find. This article you wrote about this topic really stuck out to me. I'm like, what? A front office executive reads a blog? Oh, yeah? Yeah, they probably read it more than a lot of fans do.

They do. It's their life. Yes, it's their life. Exactly. Front office people, players, the friends and family of players, they hear it, which is why I guess I wonder. I've never actually spoken to Ben Simmons. I've tried to get one-on-ones with him in the past,

but it's never materialized. I'd still love to talk with him. I saw he had a Nick Friedel one-on-one interview today. It's interesting that you don't, because me and him text off. Oh, yeah? Yeah. Can you do me a favor and ask him why he didn't switch hands?

I did. I texted him that, and he said, tell Kevin to go to hell. Yeah, I stole your phone to ask that. I hacked you. Number nine, the player that you would most want to see traded to a new spot. You cannot say mobile.

I have a soul, so I'm not going to say Damien Lillard. I'd love to see him finish his career with Portland. So instead I'm going to say Bradley Bale. We're going to do this Brad Biel thing for his whole career, aren't we? Yeah, maybe. I feel like we are. I feel like we're going to do Brad Biel being traded for the extent of his entire career. Like, I think he's just, like, going to be there.

He's going to make half a billion dollars. average he's like Mitch Richmond he's gonna except better right everybody knows he's good and he average 27 points a game and then he's just gone

and then at the end of his career he's like on the bench with the Lakers and they win the title or something like that really that's how I get so many like he's just gonna he's just gonna be there

fine making $100 billion a year a year and being on mad teams. I think that's, yeah, I think that's going to be his plight. Good for him. But I feel like we've talked about Brad Beal trades for every year of the mismatch. Yeah.

Is that fair? I think we've probably talked about Brad Beale trades. as much as any player over the course of the last several years. A player that we want to be traded to go to a new team, I guess I'll say, I'll say Colin.

I love Colin. And I don't want to just watch him ever. He's already been on shit teams his whole career. I really think, I'm sexing. We're talking about here, right? Yeah. I think he could be like a real player

on a really good team. guy comes off the bench and is just killing everybody on those nights. And he's just going to waste away in Utah. Like they're just, you know, it's stupid, honestly. And the kid, you know, last year, got had the injury in the contract year. He got his back. He got his money. But, I mean, I just, I wish he was on a good team.

He's been one of those guys that I think career could be different thus far, dependent upon, you know, opportunity and fit and kind of where you landed. And so he was there for the crap for Cleveland and then not there when they got good. And now he's going to go to another rebuild. And so I wish you could get out of there. You know what Bradley Bale should do? He should demand a trade to the Lakers. That's what he should do.

Mid-January, when he's eligible to be traded, he has a no trade clause. He should go to Tommy Shepard and say, I want to go to L.A., trade me. there, Russ, and two first-round draft picks for Bradley Beal. That's what he should do. Number 10. How many future first-round picked would you give up for one by young? Me, personally. You personally.

Let's say you have... How many picks do I have? Let's say you have, you know, Oklahoma City's, whatever the maximum amount you could have. Let's just say, I'm giving you the unlimited amount. Okay, so he has 19, I think, future first, I believe. All right. 19. All right, so Oglova Cities.

They got 19 first round picks. Obviously, there's a limit to how many you could give up. But the maximum, like the most you would give up. What else am I giving up? Shegildes-Alexander and Chad Holmgren. Am I giving them up? I'm just saying future first. Because I'd give up.

I'd give up. I'm saying, no, just future first. How many picks? I mean, it factors into the player. but if it's only picks and I'm able to get Victor Weniama with 19 firsts

are you giving up all 19 if you could do that for Victor Werbeniama I'm asking you! How many picks would you give up if I told you you'd get him? I don't know, 12, 13 14

but it does depend on how many players You wouldn't do that? No! good greed he has to be a sure thing yeah but yeah but if you if you give up 12 or 13 you still have you know

six or seven left it's not like you're depleted can you imagine Sam Presti said I'll give you 13 first round trip he will I bet he will 13 first round 13 I bet he will

and I bet Danny Ames will and I bet David Griffin will they're the three teams Thunder, Jazz, Pelicans that have a ton of first-round

draft picks. And granted, you know, I think Utah and OKC have the higher value ones, they're going to make offers if they have,

like, let's say the Lakers are out of the playoffs and the Pelicans end up with the fourth pick. Yeah. Right? They win a lottery,

you know, high pick, number four. They're going to make a big offer for number one. Not that it's going to be accepted. Yeah. But the only way

that number one pick gets traded, Chris, is if that team sees injury risk with Wembeyanama that they don't want to bet on. And they decided it's more advantageous for them to shift down and get a haul in return for a player that they perceive as not going to be able to last, not going to meet expectations because of durability issues. That's the only way. And I could see a world in which that happens.

I really could. I could see that, but it's a few teams that I could see entertaining that scenario. Would they give up for Goberlin? Was it five? Five, yeah. double go bear more than double go bern. Yeah, but you get, yeah, because you're getting a potential all-timer on a rookie deal.

Yeah. How many would you give up? Man, in order for me to be giving up a crazy amount, I need to have already seen a year in the league. Yeah, well, we're talking about in June. Yeah, I would not give up double digit first round picks. Come on. What if you have merely 20, though?

if you have if you have if you're okay saying you have 19 first round draft picks what's the harm and giving up 13 of no i mean that's why you do it's why you do it yeah i mean i get you know it certainly depends on how many i've got you know there's a difference between giving up five first round draft picks all of my first for the next three or four years then there is i gave up 10 draft picks and i've got nine left But that's why he's loaded like that. I don't think there's an amount anybody could give up, though, that's going to be able to do it anyway.

I agree. Highly unlikely. Highly unlikely. It's probably a useless question anyway. You know, by the way, you mentioned talking about hoping players take a leap. I hope Victor Wenban Yam is one of those guys. We see getting even better and better and better and better over the course of his season overseas. That's what I love to see.

That'd just be a cool story to monitor over the course. of the year to drive up interest in the draft, this kid coming over. That'd be really cool to watch. And same with Scoot Henderson, too, there in the G League. Yep. Kevin is always a pleasure. Next week, we are going to be doing our bold predictions, and then the regular season is going to begin.

Thank you to our executive producer, Jesse Lopez, as always, and we will talk to you next week. Have a good weekend, everybody.