The Mismatch - Aftermath of Game 3 in Boston, Is Draymond Confident or Arrogant, and Who Would You Take No. 1?

Episode Date: June 10, 2022

The Celtics took Game 3, and Verno and KOC discuss what the win means for Boston (01:00). Despite the Warriors' loss, Draymond Green remains confident, but his bad play in the Finals has the guys debating whether Green is just becoming arrogant (14:36). Also, the guys discuss the importance of role players stepping up (32:42). Lastly, they briefly discuss who they would take if they had the no. 1 pick in this year’s draft (42:04). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Jessie Lopez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, Rob Harvilla from 60 songs that explain the 90s here to inform you that we are back with 30 more songs because the 90s were super long and had a ton of rad music. Please join us every Wednesday for more 60 songs that explain the 90s only on Spotify. Welcome to The mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon. And join me as he does every Friday from the ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, A.K. Kevin O'O. Obama, Kevin O'Connor, Kevin O'Coneman, Kevin O'Candiland, Kevin O'Campure, Kevin O'Chyna. Kevin O'Cannibus. Berne! What's going on, my friend?

How are you doing today? So you are in Boston, Massachusetts. I've got to know what has it been like for the last 36 hours since the Celtics took a two-one lead over the Warriors in the NBA finals. Yesterday I spent the whole day in my hotel room. So I didn't really get much of a feel. I didn't really get much of a feel yesterday. but there's definitely an energy in the city

after the game on a Wednesday night it was kind of funny like walking out of the arena I went to record a podcast and Bill Simmons for his show and the streets are crazy

dude like it was chanting it was loud it was buzzing like it was wild after the game I've never seen a Celtic fan like it's sometimes

it's me crazy I've never seen it with that much energy after the game with like chanting and raving and all that outside. It was cool. Were they equally as potty-moused as they were inside the arena? I don't recall any chance of the F-bomb frick outside. I forgot to tell you this, by the way. I forgot to tell you this when we last spoke.

But we had briefly mentioned in the course of one of our podcasts that I was in New York. York City, and we had talked about public transit, whether I was going to take the subway or not, and we did, in fact, take the subway over to Yankee Stadium with the enormous amount of Yankee fans because they were going to be playing against the angels. I wanted to be able to say I saw Otani and Trout in person, two great baseball players that I had never seen in person. So anyway, we took the subway. That's not the point of the story. We left after the game, and we've got to take the subway back. And I think it was probably about, I don't know, 10 minutes or so. We had just missed one train. And so then the other one was going to be coming. And so we're

standing in the subway for about, I don't know, 10 minutes, something like that. And it slammed. I mean, you got to remember, this is the subway station that's right next to Yankee Stadium. So it is slam in there. And I've got two little kids with me. And And as we are standing there, waiting to catch the subway back to our hotel, an F. Tray Young chant breaks out. All right. F. Tray Young. And I'm like, what is going on? I'm like, what is what is going on? Like, the Knicks haven't been playing in months. Like, this is. And so my son, who is a massive NBA fan, he is 12 years old, he. is laughing hysterically, right? My daughter says, what are they saying? What are they chanting?

Because she can see her brother laughing. And so we tell her they're chanting, pump it up. You know like that song. Pump it up. You got to pump it up. Right. Now, we know they're yelling F. Tray Young, but F.Tray Young in a New York subway in, what is it, June?

All right? And we tell my daughter, they're yelling, pump it up, right? Yo, like the rest of the trip, she was like, pump it up, pump it up, right? Like, chanting like that. And every time me and my soul would be like, oh, come. So funny. To this day, she still thinks that they were all chanting, pump it up. And they're chanting F. Trey Young, in a subway after a Yankee game.

Chris, I'll tell you what, I'm not a parent. And I know like there are a lot of parents angry with the F-bomb being dropped. But it sounds like what you did was good parenting. I think I did. That seems like good parenting to me. Because there's so many uncontrollables in our lives. That's right. And there can't be an expectation that everything is controlled just for us on our own personal preferences.

So we have to take certain things in our life into control. In that moment, there was a bad word being said. on the train by a large group of people. What did you do? You turned it into a fun little moment for your daughter. And she doesn't even know what, she don't even know who Trey Young is. I feel like I had so much,

like I had so much less to explain. And by the way, all right, let's take a quick 20 second time out so I can explain to you that let's just say she did understand. She's like, they're not saying pump it up. They're saying.

You're dumb, dad. You can't hear it. Get your ears checked. Right. That's not what they're saying, right? So at that moment, I would then have to explain who Trey Young is, because she doesn't know who Trey Young is. At that point. How would you explain who Trey Young is?

He's a basketball player for a team that played against their favorite team. And he's a villain, right? Yeah, he's like a bad guy. They don't like him, right? Then I would have to explain why in. June after a Yankee game, there are people in the subway chanting F. Trey Young, which is a very difficult thing to explain. Like, they really hate him, Haley.

They really hate this guy so much that it's a year and a half later and they're still chanting F him in a subway station after a Yankees Angels game. You figure it out, kid. No, it was just ridiculous. All right. So anyways, the Warriors lose game three. Boston is now up two to one. And a lot of what we talked about...

Hey, one quick thing, Chris. I watched Hustle last night. We can talk about that later if you did. But there's a line in the movie where Adam Sandler says, like, Sixers fans are the best, but they're also the worst. but that's why they're the best. Yeah.

I mean, that's true about Boston, Ph. Ph. New York, like some of those great fan bases that are going to chant F. Tray Young after a Yankees game. It makes up the best, so it makes them the worst,

but that's also what makes them the best. It's just the truth. It's the truth. Exactly. Exactly. It all comes from a place of passion, not a place of hate. The passion goes both ways, for sure.

Yeah, exactly. So a lot of the things that we talked about on Tuesday came to fruition in game three. We talked about, how the warriors are able to get out in space. They're able to get out in transition in game two. They're scoring a bunch of fast break points. You know, Steph's breaking loose.

You're not being able to even really play a set defense against the guy. And they win points off turnovers in game two, 33 to 15. Okay. And then you turn to game. three and that margin becomes very small. Golden State still wins it, but they only win it by two. 19 to 17 in that game. And while there can be a million things analyzed regarding this finals,

and we're going to talk about a lot of them, so much of it does feel like which of these teams, is Boston going to be able to keep them out of transit? Are they going to be able to do that by getting offensive rebounds, getting more possessions, which they were able to do in game three? But more importantly, not having live ball turnovers that they are made to pay for, right? And that was such a key to the Warriors victory in game two that as I watch game three play out, you know, because it got a little dicey there even in the third quarter. Same kind of thing. They're not getting great shots.

They're not getting a bunch of all. I'm talking about the Celtics. Not getting offensive rebounds. They're kind of a little more loose with the ball. And the Warriors are now getting out into space and scoring. And I did, I don't know. Like, do you think it's fair to boil it down to, I'm going to be able to look at this points off turnover's number?

And I'm probably going to get a pretty good gauge of who won that game. Yeah, I mean, I think that's definitely one of the key numbers to look at for sure. Like if you're saying, well, what's a number that the Warriors need in their favor? Yeah, that's certainly one of them. I mean, I think for Boston, ball control and limiting some of their goofy mistakes that they can make at times, definitely did a better job, game three. How much of that did they carry over to game four? You know, I suppose we'll see in about, you know, 12 hours now after we record this podcast.

So it's a quick turnaround here. I kind of wish we recorded yesterday, Chris. I know. I think about it. Yeah. Well, the Celtics, look, they were much better at taking care of the ball than they were in game three. In the second half, they had four of their 12 turnovers. And they had a, I want to say, 12.6.

They were whipping it around, man. Yeah, it was 12.6 turnover rate, which was their lowest of the finals. Yeah. Meanwhile, Golden States was 18, which was their highest of the finals. And it feels like these teams are so even that who can take care of the ball better is just going to have a more outsized advantage than you would normally have in a matchup. I guess that's the best way to put it. It seems like that matters so much more in this one than it even typically would.

obviously, look, anybody to analyze basketball, you know, we got to take care of the ball. But with these two teams in particular and the way that both of these teams are able to make the other one pay for those turnovers, what do you make of, I was reading this morning, the two slowest-paced games have been Boston wins. and the one that was a higher pace was a warrior's win. Because, you know, I've heard Bill talk many times, who is in deep with Celtics knowledge and has watched every game. He's always talking about I don't understand why they don't get the pace up. They need to go faster.

They need to play, you know, they need to get the ball up the court. I don't know why they're rolling the ball up the court. And yet the slower pace game has favored Boston thus far. What do you make to that? Yeah, I mean, it speaks to your other point about limiting silly turnovers. Yeah. If you're taking good control of the ball in the half court and not making mistakes. And, I mean, I think we saw in the first half of that game three with Boston, they were cutting to the rim.

They were anticipating some of the help defense from Golden State. They seemed like a prepared ready team that knew some of the rotations that were going to come from Golden State. And that, you know, that knowledge in and of itself did help limit some of those turnovers. But if you're limiting turnovers, that means you're limiting those fast break possessions, which means you're lowering that pace number that you're talking about there. So, I mean, you're right. Like, it all kind of starts there for Boston. And, I mean, it's almost like basic basketball to say.

But if you're limiting turnovers, if you're making shots, that means you also are creating situations where you're in your half court defense rather than playing transition basketball. And that's so critical. And I feel like in the half court, clearly Boston was popping the ball around a lot. lot more. They did such a good job. Their assist numbers are great.

They also have better individual scorers, right? Like, I could throw the ball to you, and I'm going to get a bucket. There's really just one guy that I feel confident if I'm Golden State. I throw the ball in his hands, this guy's going to go get me a bucket. Really? There's one. And there's at least two on Boston that I feel like I can give the guy the ball and he's going to go make a play for me, right? And I think that's part of why maybe a slower-paced game

has favored Boston thus far, because while it can feel bogged down or ISO, they also have, you know, I know you had mentioned even on Bill's podcast that one, you know, crazy angle Tatum shot that he hits on that drive. You know, and that's not like great offense necessarily. It's not. It's not, like, great offense necessarily. Not like the ball popped around and they end up getting a great shot. There's just individual offensive brilliance, right? He could get that shot and he can make that shot going to the basket, even if it's at that tough angle, right? And that's kind of what Golden State outside of Curry,

they really need to do it for each other. And if Draymond's going to be crap, that becomes very, very, very, very difficult. You know, his assist total cannot be anonymically low assist total because Curry just can't score the points and have to create for everybody else. I mean, Draymond was terrible. Terrible. He had a horrible game.

I mean, like, he was really good in game two. He was bad in game one. He was bad in game three. Like, I think for the Warriors, there was a, in the past, in his prime years, there was a level of expectations. that you knew you were getting a defensive player of the year caliber level guy. Right now with Golden State, I don't think that you can have that expectation. So not only right now is he at times an offensive liability because he is a non-threat to shoot.

The Celtics help off him, you know, pretty much every single possession he's behind the arc. Even without the ball in his hands, they know he's not a threat to score. They're playing him to pass. And if he's not making up for it with all-world defense, which he wants, wasn't in game in game one his off ball defense was very poor very sloppy in game two he was tremendous in game three again on ball against jalen brown did not do a great job stopping containing dribble penetration off ball i thought he made some mistakes as well including against jalen brown in that first half with some of his rotation so if you're not getting you know

d p oi level jaymond green all d all world jaymond green on defense then that's you know that's what that's what happens you get a negative Draymond Green and he ends up hurting your team. So we'll see for game for him for. He could turn it around and have another great game. It's all it's up and down with him now. It's not consistent like it used to be where you always got defense. The NBA finals are here and so is your chance to score big on Fandul's Sportsbook. Throughout the NBA finals, Fandul is giving new customers $200 and free bets guaranteed when

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fandul.com slash sportsbook. Gambling problem, visit fandul.combe. In Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Virginia. Call 1-800-9-9-9-7-7-70. In Arizona, call 1-800-9-9-7-7-7-7-0. In Arizona, call 1-800-1-8-7-7-0. In New York, call 1, call 1-8778-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8. And in West Virginia, visit 800 gambler.net. I mentioned this on Tuesday, that I thought Boston would be able to get game three because I covered that Golden State Memphis series, and Golden State feels like one of those teams that when they have to win,

when they feel like, okay, this is one we really got to get, that you get a different level of that, you know, species force that Draymond talks about, and they talk about playing with force, playing with energy, playing with all of these different things. And it's like when they lose, they say,

we didn't bring that to the table. And then they have this confidence of, we'll bring that to the table next time. When we have to win, we're going to do the things. And that gets intensely frustrating, I can imagine, if you are a fan, right?

Because there's nothing more annoying than people saying, we know what we need to do better, we can be better, we will be better. Like, why don't you just do it? But this has been, and they have, you know, maybe it'll end up coming to bite them, but they have lived up to this. You know, they have routinely said,

we didn't come out the way we needed to come out, we didn't make them feel us. We didn't play with force. We didn't do this. We didn't do that. And we will. And it's like, so you only do it when you have to. And maybe that is, you know, that's not exactly killer instinct stuff.

But maybe that is just part for the course for a team that's been to five finals that always feels like it's going to be okay. Things are going to be okay. Like we're, because you see the confidence, slash arrogance that he is speaking with. Well, what is it? Is it confidence or is it arrogance? I mean, I guess we'll find out after the series. Yeah, it's dependent on whether you win or not, right?

But, I mean, he's saying, C.J. McCallum, you'll still be ringless like the Celtics, and we're going to, you know, I'm going to show everybody my ring after we're done. And, you know, I mean, he's talking like they're going to win the series. Like that that was not that big of a deal. And we know what we need to do. I know what I need to do. I was bad, and it's like, bro, I don't get it. But in fairness, they have responded when they've had to.

I was on the other side of this. I mean, like, as a Patriots fan growing up, I remember the 16 and 0 season when the Patriots were 16 and 0, they go 18 and 0, and then they're facing the New York Giants in the Super Bowl. And I forget who made the prediction, but somebody said, the Patriots will score only 17 points in the game. from the giant side said that. And Tom Brady said it as media day presser.

He's like, we're only going to score 17 points. No, this is an all-time great offense. Right. You know, of course we're going to score more than 17. And the Patriots scored only 14 in the game. They lost. It's one of the worst nights of my life, personally. Losing that game, going 18 to 1.

But, like, you know, there was that level of confidence from the Patriots entering that Super Bowl that they were going to do what they've always done. And then they didn't. And they lost. And so sometimes I get that sense with Dremont where like the whole year it's been like, we're going to be okay, we're going to win the championship, we're going to win the championship, we're going to win the championship.

And maybe they will. But the fact is that this selfish defense is, you know, different on defense. At some point do you get caught trying to turn it up? Because there's no question. We've seen it. Yeah, yeah. We've seen it throughout these playoffs where they do. turn it up. They say, we need to do this, we need to do that, we need to do this, and to their credit,

they've been able to do it. They have, you know, you saw how they came to the table in game two after what was a rather humiliating game one loss. To get outscored in that manner on your home court, uh, in a quarter, you know, when you're giving. up 40 plus in a quarter and you're up by double digits and you lose by double digits on your home floor rather humiliating and yet they turned around and had this huge response in game two so I think that's what makes tonight so insanely fascinating because it's going to be one of those do they have do they have that response you know is all that stuff he says. going to come true, or does his playing with force, as he says, playing with intensity,

we didn't play hard enough? You know, and remember those, like, people were talking about those stats that were like the second spectrum where they talk about, you know, how much you move and how much you close out and all of the, you're basically your defensive activities. And what it told even the staffers. for Golden State was we didn't play hard enough in game one. And so then they get that message to them, and then they play mega hard in game two.

And then they come out in game three, and they say after the game, we didn't play hard enough. And then I don't, it's kind of ridiculous that that appears to be true and rather annoying, that it said, yeah, we just need to play harder. And for it to feel like that is so that, you know,

that they, you see this different level of activity, different level of physicality from them when they have to do it. But at some point, do you just get tripped up. I mean, you do have to do it now. It's the NBA finals, right? You'd feel like that. But they're like one of those teams that's like, all right, we don't need to go down 3-1. So we'll bring it tonight.

You know, we'll bring that requisite amount of energy, force, physicality. And I'm not saying this. I'm talking about what Dremont is saying in his post-game press conference. I'm talking about what these other guys are saying in their post-game press conference. that when it comes down to it this is why we lost they didn't feel us we didn't play with force

we didn't come with the you know the intensity we didn't match their intensity like all this cliche stuff that appears to be applicable I don't know like why aren't you fly it around

the rest of the time every game I mean it's also possible they're just not as good as the Celtics it's certainly a possibility. I don't know. They certainly are better than Celtics in third quarters. That is crazy. That's for sure.

I know. It's such a weird thing, isn't it? It is crazy because wouldn't you just sit there? You know Imeo doca is, they've got a chance to, like, decompress, and they're talking at halftime. And, like, tonight, if I'm Emei Adoka, I'd be like, Hey, guys, how about not getting your ass kicked in the third quarter? Can we try that?

Can we try that tonight? Because you think this has got to be such a huge, you know, point of emphasis, given how badly they've been outscored in game one and game two, and yet game three, it was the same damn thing. They're up 12th, and next thing you know, they've lost the lead. I don't get that. I don't get it. I mean, like I said to Bill on his pod that night, you know, Warriors are down 8271.

They have 12-0 run with a seven-point swing with the flagrant and that weird, that weird play. And then the auto-porter three after that, our guy, my guy. Hey, I think you had the only positive plus-minus. I think they should play more auto-porter. Yeah, I agree with you. Yeah, he was a plus-four in the game. The only warrior with a plus. He has to be guarded too.

You know, they don't even, watch this game, they don't even guard Wiggins. You know, he took 14 uncontested shots in that game. That is insane. 14, uncontested. That's why he gets all these damn offensive rebounds. Nobody's guarding his ass. I finally, I'm watching the game,

and I'm like, how does he always get these offensive rebounds? It's because nobody's there to put a body on him. takes 14 shots and Porter he's hit enough shots that he has to be honored for sure after that run though Celtics come back and they outscore the Warriors

11 to 6th I think throughout the game we've seen that besides game 2 which they lost we've seen the Celtics take those punches that are inevitable from the warriors and then bounce right back with a run of their own I mean they've done a pretty good job of by being elastic in that sense

except for game 2 after that third quarter barrage from Golden State. They've done a pretty good job at that. Do you think like that, based off all these great warriors teams we've seen in the past, so often they just bury you and bury you and bury you like we saw a game too. Do you think this Celtics team is equipped offensively? Had they shown enough that they can bounce back from those runs that are from Golden State? For sure.

I mean, they have. We've seen them bounce back from those runs. Of course, they didn't mean two where it was just an absolute tsunami. Yeah, yeah. And then it was like, all right, forget about this. Much, much more difficult for them to have said tsunami playing in Boston, right, to put it completely out of range.

But I think after, you know, game one was your indicator. They were down. And that game, if you pause that thing after the third quarter and you say who won this game, there's no chance in hell Boston wins that game. On the road in Golden State, crowds going bonkers. They're up double digits now. They've hit the wave in the third quarter. And not only did they win, they won by double digits, Derek White can't miss.

you know, Al Harford can't miss. All of these, all of these things take place. And so, yeah, they can certainly withstand it. I wonder if you are finally going to see the Kerr. At what point does he change substitution patterns? We've seen him twice now take out Curry because that's just how they do it on absolute heaters. Absolute heaters.

Beginnings of fourth quarters. And I do think that there's part of that where it's like these beginning, sometimes these beginnings of the fourth quarter where they'll scan over. I can't tell you. How many times it feel like Boston's had a run and they'll scan it over and Steph Curry's got his hands

on his head sitting on the bench? Because it's like they go through these stretches where they can't get a bucket. and he's held up defensively too, Curry has. They need to play him more. That's what I'm saying. They took him out with two minutes left in game three. So, had he finished the game, he would have reached 39 minutes.

You've got to get step up to 42, 43, 44 minutes in these games. They got to increase his minutes. And also just the timing of it that, you know, here's when we take him out. and that's just how we do it. Like, it feels like there needs to be a little malability in that because I feel like he can't miss. And the next thing I know, he's sitting on the bench for 20 minutes of real time. And then he comes back in and he's cooled off.

And they're in a different spot because Boston's inevitably, you know, gotten something going. his shots too are so much more demoralizing than the other ones they get. It's like if Otto Porter hits a shot or Andrew Wiggins, it's just like, yeah, all right. But when he knocks down those, you know, perfect defense ones or, God forbid, those drop coverage ones, there was three in a row that he made. And I mean, if he would have one more of them, I think Godoka would have run on the court. Seriously.

Like, just run on the court and been like, I'll defend his ass next time. What is wrong with you? Like, it's Steph Curry. He's coming around a screen. Our guy dies on the screen. And there is nobody up in his face. And he's shooting a wide open three. Like, what do you expect?

That's been bizarre because that really helps him get in a rhythm sometimes too, where either Rob or Horford or whoever is not up far enough and that guard is not able to slink by that screen. That is, I don't know why they're still doing that. I mean, Rob Williams is playing up higher in the pick and roll and doing a pretty solid job, at least in game three he did. but for the Celtics say I mean it is strange that that's been

their primary coverage against those Steph pick and rolls. Yeah. It is going with the drop. I mean, in some ways you're kind of fortunate Steph hasn't just haven't hasn't had a game where he goes absolutely nuclear and it's weird to say that considering the fact he's shooting 49%

from 3 on 12 attempts from 3 per game. Yeah. But it's just he hasn't had like that nuclear night where it's high volume and high efficiency, but they want to limit the interior shots. The rolls to the basket, Steph has not been nearly as efficient within two-point range either.

It's hard to know to which of the role players is going to be stepping up. Because we've seen at a point in this series where Derek White looked absolutely essential. And Derek White got benched in game three. Yeah. We saw a massive impact by Gary Payton in game two. Gary Payton, I don't even remember anything hardly. Just some missed layups. Miss layups, that's it.

Just a bunch of nothing, right? And that's the hard thing to know, you know, if Jordan Poole, right, very significant in game two. Just whatever. He had the one awesome move underneath the basket, like the Globetrider thing on Rob Williams. He was significant when they had the lead. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right.

Yeah. But it seemed like he got it going, but it didn't carry over. You didn't like that, did you? Like what? The preening, the front running, it felt a little front ruddery. No, I don't care. The Jordan pool of stuff. I like front running.

I like trash talk. You do? When you're piling up a bunch of points after your team's already kicking the other team's ass? Yeah, I like trash talk. Be a part of the ass kicking. I have no issues. the trash talk. The half-course shot was pretty awesome, though. I'll give him that. Yeah, that was sick. Yeah, he deserves to talk trash. So was the move on Rob Williams. That was

another one of those tool drives to nowhere. I'm like, bro, you are not Steve Nash. Like, what are you doing running the baseline again? And then he did that little nifty up and under. I mean, he's a bucket, dude. He's a bucket. And while that was a really good play, Rob Williams was super good in three in game three. Yeah. That was the Rob Williams you need. Do you think they found something with Robin Grant instead of Rob and Al? Yeah, I think Boston, even though they started and ended a portion of the game with two bigs,

they went with one big for the far majority of the game. They pull Rob Williams about two minutes, 30 seconds into the game, just go with Horford. Then they brought Time Lord back, and they just went with him. And Grant, as you said in the front court, it just seemed like the Celtics were much more efficient with that increased spacing on offense. And like you said, Robert Williams had his best game defensively. He looked more like himself. Some of the players were talking about all the rest between games, right? So I wonder if the two days between games is helping some of these guys get a little bit more healthier than they were prior.

But now this game, this is the only stretch of the series. between three and four where there's only one day off. So we'll see how that does affect them on Friday night. Not a big Horford game. He wasn't bad by any means, but not a big Horford game, but a massive response by Smart, for sure. Because he was a nothing in game three. And I thought a huge response by him in,

or I'm sorry, game two. And then a huge response by him in game three. And, you know, he kind of, their three guys, you know, they, he was that third guy. We talked about, okay, you've got Tatum, you've got Brown. Who's that third guy that's going to be stepping up? And the truth is it's been a rotating cast of characters. I think for both teams and for Golden State, it's really even a rotating cast of characters once you get past Curry. I mean, I don't know if you can count on, you can't count on Clay like you can't jail.

even though Brown wasn't very good in game two. But then who is that, who's the other guy? And that's because of the creation. Like Clay, Clay can go off off screens and handoffs and shoot the hell out of it still. But he's not a creator for you. He's not somebody who's attacking the basket, making kick out passes. He's not running high pick and roll. He's not bringing the ball off the floor.

And that's where at times, you know, it feels like Jordan pulls better because he can do some of the creation than Clay can. I mean, it'll be, I mean, like, I won't. wonder if that's part of it. Like, you just made me think about that. That would, even though Jordan Poole has had his struggles, I wonder if maybe the Warriors say, hey, we need your creation. Like, we got to have it. Well, I don't know.

Or do you just get more out of step? Are you running even more step-picking rolls, having him create even more and more? I mean, I think the big trick is to have, the guy who has actually had the most passes in this, even in the last game, is Draymond Green. they're just not turning into bucket. You know, I was reading all that tracking stuff. He passed the ball more than a surprise. What's he going to do, shoot it?

He passed the ball. I mean, he's got the ball a lot still. He's passed the ball a lot, but it doesn't end up an assist. And it's like he is that other guy because of the gravity that Steph has. You know, he is that he is that other guy. And if he's bad, then they got a big problem creation-wise. And, you know, and of course they got something out of,

they got something out of Gary Payton in the last one. You know, it's not a ton of assists, but he's effective and he's got three in that last game. And so I don't know how much more you could put on Steph, really. I mean, what more are you asking the guy to do? Yeah, I know. I know. At this point, right.

I know you're right. What more can you ask? ask. What more can you ask from Stefan Curry? And that's, but isn't that the way the series feels at times, Chris? Yes. Yes. I mean, but... Like, well, he's not getting enough help. It feels very

LeBroni in that sense, right? Yep. Maybe you just throw it to... Maybe you just throw it to Looney. He's got to get you a bunch of assistance. You know, and I only say that because I was reading this article yesterday. It had come out, I guess, before the finals, but I didn't see it until yesterday.

She did max preps? And they run. ranked the top, they ranked the finals participants by their high school careers, which was kind of just a neat thing to look at. Kevin Looney was on that list, and he was great high school player, for sure. But what stood out to me is when he was on that list, listen to this, Kevin. Kevon Looney at Hamilton High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, senior year stats. 28 points, 13 rebounds, 8 blocks, 7 assists. What is that?

Kevin Luni, 28 points, 13 rebounds, 8 blocks, 7 assists? How is that even possible? How? I wonder how many quadruple doubles he had. on Looney said Looney was Hamilton's tallest player, also their best passer, and mostly played point guard. He was named Wisconsin Mr. Basketball as a senior and was the sixth player in state history to be recognized as a McDonald's All-American. So, Kevon Looney to the point?

Kevin Looney to the point. I'm reading that. I'm like, he's a point guard. You know, there's one of those YouTube's, you know, I've, I've, joked in the past where it'll be like, you know, there'll be like a polka video. No offense, Kev. But it'll be like a poker video, it'll be like, next dirk, right? There's a Kevon Looney. Is Kevon Looney the next KD?

You can find it on YouTube. Oh, yeah. I remember those. He used to take some perimeter jumpers at UCLA. Like he, even in the Warriors, he's taken a couple over the years and just never translated. So he packaged together some highlights of the handful what makes he had in high school,

you can make him look pretty special. Maybe Looney can go to the car and be like, yo, I played, I played point in high school. Give me the rock. Can you imagine if that actually happens tonight?

I'll be your new living. The only way he could play point guards if he got traded to Orlando. Because at some point, I am convinced that they have this idea that they're going to have six, five, seven footers and one off the bench. And it's going to be the most awesome,

2K team in the history of basketball. Isaac, Bobba, Wendell Carter, and then who is the other? Oh, and then I guess Jabari or Chet or whoever they take, right? It's just going to be all 610s and over. The whole team.

They're going to run it out there. That's my dream. That's what I'm praying for. Oh, and Franz. And Franz is tall too. Who do you think they should take? Javari Smith, Ched Homer and Harpoly Bancaro.

Jabari. I said that. Remember months ago, I told you. Look, I'm a, I'm a little more risk-averse than others. And I told you during the tournament, the two I would be scared not to take

are him and Ivy. Those would be the two I'd be scared not to take. That I could love. Those are the ones that scare me that I'm going to look back and be like, damn it. Like they became big, big stars, and they were right there for me. And like, what was I thinking? You know, the Jabari thing, he's just, I mean, absolute freak of nature. Awesome motor.

Great defensively. By all accounts, great kids. Like, I just, I bank on that. And I just think he's just too, too ridiculous of a talent at his size. And the Jaden Ivy thing, it's the, I think he's the best player with, you know, in a league that you got to have the ball in your hands. I think he's that guy. I'm a little favorite, I got a favoritism to him because his mother was an assistant coach here.

So I know, you know, his mom who was a great athlete herself, but it's now the head coach at Notre Dame. he and I also think he's like top top top top percent of athletes which most of these good guys most of these great players are mega athletes I just think he's so explosive and I don't know how you feel about it who would be the one that you're scared not to take that your owner would come to you in five years be like what the were you thinking I mean if I had the number one pick as the Orlando Magic. I mean, I think Jabari Smith is the player that I would take if I want the highest floor,

the guy that I feel like he's a no-fail prospect. You know, this guy's not going to bust. He's going to be a good player, right, for years to come. And he still has a chance to reach a higher upside. If I'm afraid to miss on a guy, probably Bancaro. I mean, he's the guy I have ranked number one right now with Bancaro, the creation, the ability to make his own offer. for himself to pass and create for others.

You know, we're talking right now about how much the Warriors could use another guy like that. I mean, like, Bencaro is that guy. That's what he could grow into for your franchise as somebody who is a source of offense. And defensively, the effort stuff, the issues at Duke last year, that's definitely concerning. But like, you get away that against the intel that teams are getting for this guy. And, you know, I've heard he's a hard worker, like, off the court. You know, he invests in his game. He wants to be better.

So how do you balance those two things with what you saw on the court versus what you're hearing about a guy? That's difficult. I think Bencaro's upside is significant. So I'd be afraid of whiffing on him because he's the creator, whereas the others are more finishers, Chet Holmgren and Jabari Smith. I think you are totally reasonable in saying that. And you and I had a discussion off the year about this. Let me tell you somebody I know that knows talent as well.

as well as anyone. And that's my guy, Mike Miller. And Mike Miller is now a sports agent. He had RJ Hampton, some other guys. But he got Bancaro. That's his agent now, right? And Mike Miller is the guy. I have not talked to Mike yet about Bencaro.

I just found that out like two days ago. I was like, wait, what? I don't know when that happened, but Van Carro signed with him. and Miller is the guy that years ago came up with me and he said he was playing for the Nuggets and he said, I asked him about all these guys. I asked him about Moody A, I asked him,

they had a bunch of young guys on their team. And he's the one that told me, yo, I'm telling you, Yokic is the one. He's going to be 10-time All-NBA. And I was like, what in the, Like, that is the most extreme thing you can say about someone, right? You can't be more extreme than to say he's going to be 10-time all NBA. When did he say that?

When did he say that? This is when nobody cared about Yokic. But like what year, do you remember? It was on the Ringer NBA show. People could go find it. I don't know if he said that on the show. I think he did, though. I think he said that.

Mike Miller was on with me. So how long have I been here? Six years ago. So that must have been 16, 17. Okay, I just looked it up. That was November 8th, 2016. He appeared on the Ringer NBA show. That's it.

That's it. November 8, 2016. So at the time, Yokic, his second year of his career, he was averaging like 16 points per game. He came over to my studio, and we did that one in person. And so I think he says it on the pod.

Maybe he doesn't say 10-time NBA, all-MBA on the pod, but he certainly said that to me in the studio. And I was like, what? I think what he says maybe on the pot to is he reminds him of the Gasol brothers, because he had played with both of them. He had played with Pau and he had played with Mark Gassal. He had played with both those guys. Because they had a bunch of young players on that Denver team,

and I asked him which one. I mean, I think they still had Nurkich. I know they had Moodye they had used a high pick on, and they had some other dudes on that team. And he was like, no, no, no, no, no. Yokic is the one. So if Mike Miller, if you believe in his talent evaluation, he's got Bancaro.

I don't think he's signing somebody that he doesn't think is going to be unbelievable. And so on that level, I'd be scared because this is the same dude that told me one dude was going to be 10-time all NBA, and I'll be damned if you had won. He's won two MVP's already within six years. He's won two MVP awards, for God's sakes.

He knows. He knows who can play and who can't. I do think that the one that everybody's probably most scared of for being honest is Chet, right? That's the one we're most scared. Yeah, yeah. I'd say so, Chet. I mean, the lanky-frey.

frame, the history of injury with guys that are like him. And the fact that he also isn't necessarily a creator. He's more of a finisher for you. He's somebody who's a connective piece. He's an anchor on defense or one of your anchors. He's a guy,

you know, like offensively, he can play. And I think he can do more creation than he was able to do at Gonzaga. But the fact is, he's not a guy bringing up the ball, the floor all the time. How about when he said, they asked him who the best player in the NBA is

and he said me in two months I didn't see that quote he said me in two months no I didn't see that quote when did he say that it's going around the viral video they asked him at the combine or like you know like one of those I don't know

who's a dime or a house of highlights or one of those right and they asked him who is the best player in the NBA you know they asked these guys a series of question who is the best rapper. Who is this? What is your go-to meal? Like all that guy, you know, just like fun

stuff. But one of the things they asked him is who's the best player in the NBA? And he said, me in a few months. Okay, I see it. Yeah, that last month. Okay, at the combine. All right. Me in a few months. Yeah. Turn up, Chet. Turn up. I talked to somebody within the NBA a couple of days ago. And one of the things they said to me was that they thought all hell's going to break loose, like that this off season, that everything's like real, real quiet. There's not a lot of rumors around about the draft and everything. But because of the way the draft had shaken out, that there was going to be a tremendous amount of movement. Because of what teams had as they're right like the Sacramento we talked about last time they want to win now right and they've got four

Portland is a what they didn't get the high pick they got like seven or something right and they want to win like right now and there's already like out there some scuttle butt about some of these picks being available and that if you've got some players you're going to be able to get in the top 10 and so I think this is going to be super super fast and because once you get past those three at the top, really, then people have some different boards as to who they have. I don't think there's a consensus on who the fourth guy is, right? And more importantly, there's a lot of those teams that they're like,

we, you know, if you're Portland, like, yeah, it's cool to take the seventh pick, but we're trying to win with Damien Liller right now. and for Sacramento, you know they've had, you know, they just went and traded for Sabonis. They got Fox. It's like, look, we're, we're not trying to win in four years, five years. We just got Davian Mitchell. If we were trying to win it four or five years, we wouldn't have traded Halliburton

for Sabonis, right? Like, we're trying to be good now. And so, I don't know. Have you heard anything about this? It feels like what the top 10 looks like right now in terms of picks. That's not what that's going to look like in two weeks. Yeah, I reported on Monday that Kings are looking for a win now player and that the Blazers are also a team shopping around their pick.

Yeah. And now, who knows with the rest of those, too, that are like, that's just four and seven, you know? it doesn't feel like there's a lot of teams that are fine rebuilding to just keep on rebuilding or trying to tear it down. It feels like everybody's trying to get good. Is that the right decision for Sacramento? I mean, they've tried it both ways, dude.

What's the other decision? Sucking? They've already, they've mastered that. It's time to add another skill, right? They've mastered that. Let's try the being good thing because we've reached the pinnacle. We've reached the mountain top of sucking. Oh, God.

So let's try it the other way and see if that works out, right? Yeah, I mean, what are they going to do? Just try to get players and try to build it out because. How many times can you have a top 10 pick, top five pick even? It's hard to believe it's been since 06 they made the playoffs. I mean, isn't that? That's outrageous. That's hard to do.

It's outrageous with that number of picks. Yeah. Almost impossible. Yeah. True. I mean, but also to never be above 500. You would just get lucky. Have they had a 500 season since Adelman?

No. That happens. Damn. I know. Their highest was back in 07. Sorry, it was 18, 19. They won 39 games. They were 39 and 43.

And then back in 0708, they were 38 and 44. So those were their two best records. Damn. I know. I know. That's really brutal. All right. What do you think's going to happen in game four?

You think, I got to imagine you think Celtics are going to to take the commanding lead. I think Warriors bounce back. I think it ties up. It ties up too, too. You do. Yeah. Back and forth, back and forth.

But we'll see. We will see. I mean, it wouldn't be too shocking if Celtics go up 3-1. They're the better team. And at some point is the, we'll turn it up when we have to, going to come back to bite the Warriors. Yeah, it could. Unless tonight's the night where they click it on and permanently keep it on.

Thank you to our executive producer. Mr. Jesse Lopez as always, Kevin, I'll talk to you next week. Have a good one.