The Mismatch - Are the Bucks Back? Plus: KAT’s Homecoming, Draymond’s Dud, and More Things We Love and Loath.

Episode Date: December 20, 2024

Verno and Jacoby briefly discuss the Grizzlies' rout of the Warriors and Zach LaVine’s efficient season so far before they dive into this week's loved and loathed teams (08:35), players (25:28), and things of the week (47:21). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Chris Vernon and David Jacoby Producer: Jessie Lopez Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey y'all, Sirot Sohey from The Ringer here, and I wanted to let you guys know about a new show that I'm hosting. The Ringer WNBA show. We're going to be talking about all the biggest personalities, breaking down and analyzing the latest happenings that make the W so fascinating, featuring some of the best guests and experts from around the league. Tap in with us on the brand new Ringer WNBA show feed on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to The Mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon. And joining me, he does every Friday from The Ringer.com. Kobe Jacoby.

What's happening? Did you go to a basketball game last night? Did you go to a basketball game? Who played? Rather significant basketball game. Really? I saw history. I saw the only NBA basketball game that Steph Curry has played over 15 minutes in

and has not scored a basket. Wait, Wardell, Stephen Curry? Yeah. Did not score a basketball last night? The guy from the Warriors? Yep. Also saw pretty historic Draymond Green Line, 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-2.

Someone called it someone called it a binary stat line, which is zeros and ones. One of my favorite comments I saw last night is the Warriors need to get Andrew Wiggins some help. I like the idea that you get home from the game and you're just reading everything. I just like the idea if you in front of a laptop at 2 in the morning

and just bashing in the glory of the Grizzlies win. 144 to 93. Look, I will say this. There were many years ago, when I first started covering the NBA, I used to go to every single QB Brown pre-and-post-game media availability that I could. And I felt like because he was a clinician by training, He was the guy that other NBA coaches and college coaches and high school coaches around the country bowed the need to and would listen to him do clinics about basketball. And so he could never get that out of him. As he spoke to you about the game, he was explaining to you basketball every single time.

And it's something I've valued very greatly throughout my career and many things that I reference over time. And not all of them are things that stick with you. And you might be, and some people might roll their eyes at. But there's one that has always stood out to me. And he always say, he'd say, the season is 82 games. He goes, there's going to be five that your team just doesn't have it. No matter what's going on that night, the circumstance, you're not going to have it. And there's going to be five.

where the other team just doesn't have it that night. And he goes, and then there's going to be the other 72. But there's going to be at least five either way throughout the season. And I always think about this when I see outcomes like this because they're so ridiculous. They're so ridiculous that if in those moments where as a fan, I've always been able to say like, hey, if I think, and look, I'm not here to cater to Golden State fans. but I will say, this is for sure one of your five, right? Where everything went right for the other team,

everything went terrible for your team, and it all coincides on one miserable night, and you look up and you ended up getting blown out by 50. I just want to let you know right now, I'm very disappointed in you, Chris Ferner. Oh, really? I'm very disappointed you. I want insufferable gloating Grizzlies guy.

I don't want a rational subdued. This is just something that happens every season. I don't want the like big picture perspective. Don't worry. Zen Chris Vernon. Don't worry. I want insuffable Grizzlies guy. That's who you are.

Don't worry who you are. Don't be who you are. I got Draymond later. Don't worry. Okay. All right. I'm disappointed. As a Chris Vernon fan,

I've disappointed in you. You've already started off and pissing me off. Here's the problem. I would be able to do that if it was 20. The problem was it was 50. It was so extreme that you've just got to say, okay. Like, look, come on, man. That is so crazy to destroy someone that badly for them to all simultaneously

play the worst basketball game you could possibly ever play. To have Steph Curry not get a bucket. If I go to my recl league game on Wednesday nights and don't score a point, I'm upset for like three days. And the fact that Step Curry, whatever you want to call them, top 10 all time, top 20 all time, I'm not going to get in that argument. The fact that he didn't get a bucket is insane to me, insane. And I know that you're mad that I'm being measured. If you win by 20, if you win by 25, you just say, yeah, now what, right?

You thought they were peers? No. But if you win by 50, then everybody just like rolls their eyes. It's like, okay. That's just a crazy night. That's just a crazy night. watch it. I couldn't even watch it. I was like, this is boring. It was boring. Honestly, it was a boring game. I'm not a Grizzlies fan. I don't care. Look, to each his own. We've got to get to all of our, oh, well, let me just mention a couple other things that happened last night that I know we're not, that's not going to be in the course of our loved and loat. Anthony Simons hit a game winner. Congratulations. Yeah, it did. The bright spot for the Portland Trailblazers. Keeping me up until midnight. They really tried to

blow that game too. Zach Levine, 36 and 6. Put the four sales sign on him. Put the four sales sign right on him. He is, you know, we were texting during that game,

and I said, he's having a very efficient season this year. That's what happens when you're in the trade rumors. Well, and I do think that there's going to be a lot of teams out there and go, you know what, this guy, say whatever you want about him. He is a bucket.

And we could certainly use that. This is a guy that can go get his own offense. And he's also, he has been able to play within the team concept with this team. It's not just all him. I mean, they've been a really good assist team all year. They bop the ball around. And so I think that's also been good for him.

It'll be interesting to see if he can evolve into. And it's made me think more about him being able to fit in with a team context with a really good team, i.e. a better Wiggins from a couple of years ago, right? Like, could he settle in into a role with a team where he's actually not just the guy? He's not leading shot taker. He's not, I'm kind of starting to feel like he could be that guy, but then on the nights where you need him to take over, he could. So I don't know.

I think I'm much more positive about a Zach Levine acquisition for, a good team that's trying to become a better playoff team than I would have been maybe at the beginning of the season. You know, someone we're not going to talk about later, so I'll bring him up now, who's in the similar category we get to talked about a lot less is Colin Sexton from the Jazz. Oh, I love him. I mean, people like we've talked about these trades, potential trades, and these teams that need to upgrade and need scoring,

and Zach Levine always comes up and this, this and that. People talk about CJ McCollum and Brandon Minger and this and that. Colin Sexton will make your team better. He's going to make your team better if you have. And he's always been on bad teams. always. His whole career, he has been on bad teams, but still plays hard and had a really good game last night. Both him and Markin in tandem had a good game. Also want to mention SGA, rebounding from what was a disastrous cup final. Second half, unbelievable last night against Orlando.

A good defense team, too. 24 points in the second half, and he's 10 of 11 from the field. And so Oklahoma City able to get another win. All right. We're going to get into all of our loves and lows from the week that was. I'm going to start because I'm going to be talking about your beloved team. What? And that is, yeah, the New York Knicks. Oh, the reason that this needs to be there.

And don't worry, we are going to mention other significant moments from this past week as well as this goes on. But the reason I'm putting the Knicks up there is because this was a homecoming for Carl Anthony Towns. And when a team rallies like that for the guy, like they, everybody knows the significance of this. He played nine years there. You knew it was going to be a really good ovation. And but also everybody's got an ego and they traded him, right? They traded this guy in the offseason. And so you knew that is going to be a significant game to a member.

of your team. And not only did you play it through him and let him go off where he ends up having just this crazy night. I read this morning in an article, he is the first player in NBA history to have 30, 20, and five threes made in a game while shooting 100% from three. How many threes did he miss? How many threes did he miss? None.

That's right. Zero. Five for five from three. Five for five. He ends 32, 20, and six. Ten of 12 from the field. 5-05 from 3 and a plus 31. He gets Bridges to come along with him.

Bridges has his first 25-5-and-5 game as a Nick, where he ends up with 26, 6, and 6, or I'm sorry, 29, 6-and-6. And they just mulled Minnesota last night. And so, you know, you always know there are certain games on the schedule that are certainly circled. And to me, the way the, yes, Towns was otherworldly in that game. But the way the other guys rallied for him and made that a game of greater importance and gave him that night to go back on that home floor. And like I said, there's the ego thing.

And you want to stick it to them. And the rest of those guys looked like they wanted to stick it to them too. And so I got to give them big credit because you dream of a return going like that. You have your best game of the season and the rest of your guys obviously dealt with that game with heightened importance as well. Yep. And the preseason game between these two and Madison Square Guard, remember that Devenanzo chirping at the bench? That was like a heightened tense environment. Absolutely.

And it was a fucking preseason game. I know. And you knew that this one was going to be big. And this was an absolute dominant perfect performance from the Knicks. And P.S. I'm not one. as you know, I'm never, I told you so, guy. No, you are. Oh, I am.

Yeah, yeah. All right, well, anybody can go back to the first episode that you and I recorded. Anybody can go back. And I said, I feel like I'm the only one. I feel like I'm living in, you know, some alternate dimension. I'm the only one that hates this trade for Minnesota. And so do we'll get to that later? Do I want to do a victory lap about that?

No, you're a positive person, Chris. never do that to the great people of the Minnesota lakes. I'm not going to do it. No, forget that. That wasn't about Minnesota because I think even Timberwolves fans were a little more measured about that trade and just did the whole, we know it's for money and it sucks. There was a lot of media members and media members reporting executives around the league. They can't believe they got DeVincenzo in this deal or whatever. It's like, oh, my God.

Give me a break. All right. Carl Towns is a different level than what they got. End of story. And last night was a proof of that. And again, I'm not and I told you so bad. When this trade happened, it was pretty surprising. And Carl Anthony Towns has not been this consistently excellent for stretch this long in Minnesota. Like they're getting a better version of Carl Anthony Towns than he was in Minnesota.

they consistently make moves to hurt Edwards. It drives me crazy. It drives me crazy. Well, we've got, we're to get to the Timberwolves later. They're going to come up later. But I'm going to go to the team that I loved. Now, granted, it feels like it was three months ago.

But the Milwaukee Bucks won the Emirates NBA Cup. And it was a long time ago, so I'm not going to, like, belabor this. But watching that game, it was shocking, especially the second half, it's just the dominance of Janus and just the size. They just looked like big brothers beating up on little brothers. And Janus looked like the best player on the planet. And again, it was four days ago.

We don't have to belabor it. But it was, we always... I don't mind if you do. But like, I'll say this. Is the one thing about the bucks is they can shoot three. We know that, right? They've got shooters. And the problem is they can't play perimeter defense.

And you would think that SGA, MVP candidate would have a huge game against that defense. And they locked them up. Andre Jackson, he can play defense. AJ Green can even play some defense. It was impressive. We know the rim protections there. It always has been with Lopez and Janus.

They were just huge. It was a great performance from Janus. And it was one of those things where we both kind of felt like the thunder were going to win. But we did mention this could be a signature win for the bucks. Because we asked if this is real. Is this hot streak a scheduling hot streak, or is this they really have turned the corner? And listen, I'm not going to sit here and be like the jury is still out

because the jury is still kind of out tonight 730 in Cleveland. That one, if they win that one, championship contenders. Okay. Let me just say that on my team that I loathe, which is going to be our next subject, I have Oklahoma City and here's why. So I have just been written off as just, you're a Memphis Homer, so nothing, you know what I mean?

Like, of course, you don't like, you don't like what's going on. But I have been on this corner of telling everyone, stop crowning these guys and telling me that they are light years ahead of everybody else. Because that has been the narrative. There's Oklahoma City and there's everybody else in the Western Conference. How many championships are they going to win over the next five years? Over under two and a half. This is the kind of stuff.

Literally, I saw a podcast clip going around saying, that's kind of how I feel. I can't lie. It's kind of how I feel. Saying Janus might not be the best player on the floor. That's how good SGA is. And it's like, okay, here. And I'm telling you this.

I tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. I cover a team that's been on the same timeline. And you know what happened to you is the same thing I've watched happen to Memphis? In fact, how about this one? I watched it happen to Memphis earlier this week, which is you have got to be able to play basketball when it turns into a half court. They're big, their men game. And when I have said that's part of taking. lumps, that's part of maturing, that's part of becoming men.

Guess who wins the NBA finals? This crowning of Oklahoma City has been a blatant disregard for the history of the NBA. And I would tell you the same thing if you said it about Memphis. And all along the way, I have been consistent with this. And guess what happens? And a couple of years ago, when Memphis played in the playoffs, guess what? They had to play against a bunch of men. Of course, they didn't have Stephen Adams.

They had lost their Brandon Clark, but they're playing Xavier Tillman at center or whatever. And the Lakers bullied them. They're men. They're men. What happens when you can't get all those turnovers? What happens when you can't play in transition? And the same thing where I've watched Memphis over the course of the past two weeks getting to a game where they had to play, we run a play, you run to play basketball.

When they play that kind of game, they had to do it against Dallas. They ended up getting clipped. They had to do it against the Lakers. They end up getting clipped. They're not dissimilar, right? They have Shia. They have Gildes Alexander, Memphis has Jha. They have Jalen Williams.

Memphis has Bain. They have Chet. Memphis has Jaron Jackson. They have Hartenstein, Memphis has Eadie or whoever you want to put in there, right? Sure. Okay. And so they're not dissimilar, but they're both also still young teams, right? And this whole narrative has been that,

though they have beaten New Orleans and a place, playoff series and that's it. That's who they've beaten. They've got one playoff series that they won. Okay. You saw in that cup final and everybody can say, well, it's just one game. It's the biggest game of the year that we have. We've sat here over and over and said these cup games mean more to people. And they've been very good in the cup and we lauded Gilders Alexander for being great in the cup. Yeah. And he was. But they played a bully in that game. They played a bully. The same way on Sunday, I watched Anthony Davis destroy the Grizzlies.

Destroy them. And bully them. They played a bully. They played Janus in this game. And what happened? And what happened? And then everybody sits there and say, look, I did the same thing. It's like, oh, well, if you're just going to shoot, like, if you're just going to miss every three, that's what happens in those games.

It's what happens in those games because you're mad uncomfortable because you're not getting to run up and down. And when you get to the playoffs and you're playing against these superstars and you're playing against men, trust and believe these things are going to turn in, some of these games are going to turn into wars. And that's when being a young team shows up because you've got to be able to win the wars. And that cup final, and they killed me over what I had to say about that game.

Oh, I wasn't saying this just when they lost the cup final. I was saying this the whole year like, hey man, slow down on this, slow down on this because they're just like everybody else where you're going to have to learn. You got to learn. And Janus was by far the best player on that

floor. And you saw first, like, it's like third possession. It's like four to nothing. He throws Hartenstein into the stanchion and dunked. It's like, oh my God. This is a different, right? So let him grow. It's fair. It's fair. I will say this just as a quick counterpoint, the defensive performance against the Mavs was fantastic.

That was, as much as they looked like the little brother and got bullied against the Bucks, which is a totally fair point, and that's what happened. We all saw it. But that defensive performance against Luca and Kyrie and the Mavs was astonishing. And that sort of defense will win you playoff series. I have a quick question for you because I already know the answer. Would you pick the Grizzlies over the Thunder in a sense? seven game playoff series. Of course.

They're farther along. We'll get there. We got months and months to get there. But we'll see. They'll see. We'll see. We'll see. Months and months. A lot of games to be played. Ask Cuban Brown. Hughie Brown will tell you. There's about 60 more games. Probably 56. All right. Where are we going? Now, team I load.

Listen, there went a lot of games this week. But this game, this team that I load this week, were down 48 to 19 at the end of the first quarter. But they gave up, they allowed 48 points at the end of the first quarter to the Jazz. The Pistons were at home.

Jalen Anthony Rose, right there, right there. Courtside. Detroit Legend. That's tough. They were down 48 to 19 to the Jazz. The Jazz are not actively. trying to win basketball games as a franchise. There's not a single player over 23

on their team that is not in trade rumors. You think they were high on their own supply after that big heat win that we talked about 48 to 19. A couple things I have to mention as well. The Keante George Dunn on Jalen Dern. It just needs to be mentioned. It was a fantastic, one of the top 10 dunks of the year.

And this is another reason why they're the team I loathe. there was an incident. We've got some sound during the game, which I'm sure you saw. We'll discuss. We'll discuss. Rob, Paul Reed, back up and in. And Reed and Jordan Flection bump. And now Ronald Holland and Clection into it a little bit.

George, they're just posing. Okay. Paul Reed, B ball Paul. Love by fans, love by NBA fans. He bumps into Clarkson. he's excited he just got a bucket he doesn't get too many buckets bumps into clarkson again clarkson kind of shoves him the second time and then ron holland comes over yep and squares up puts his fist up like he's going to fight and then immediately backtracks like a quarterback at the snap of the ball

like he covered like 10 yards going backwards after he put his hands up like he was going to fight and obviously it was an NBA game so no one threw any punches but not only do you lose to the jazz, you act like you're going to fight and you're not going to fight. I'm not a tough guy at all. I'm not a tough guy, right? So I'm not going to sit here and act like I want to fight somebody. I don't. My nose has been broken so many times.

You can tell I've lost a couple. But I'll say this is don't act like you're going to fight and then backtrack 10 yards, quick. I have a theory on this. Because I've seen Clarkson do this before. Clarkson gets into it with people. He has. I think he saw. Clarkson is great.

at the crazy eyes. He gets crazy eyes. Like, you remember, like years ago? Do you remember when, you'll remember this as a Knicksman? You remember the Jared Jeffries thing? There's that video. And Jared Jeffries gets like the crazy eyes. And it's like, oh, my God.

Like, he just looks like man on fire. Like, I don't know if Clarkson's going to do anything. But I know he looks like he's gone crazy. Like he can switch it to where he looks like a crazy. person. Bobby Portis is the crazy eyes, Matt Rushmore. He's permanent, though. They don't switch on and off on Bobby Portis. Those are his eyes. But in fairness, Bobby Portis also early in his career, caved in his teammates face. So you've got, yeah. And you remember, do you ever read that old article about Bobby Portis before the game? He's like, I envision that the guy on the other team said something horrible about my mom. Some people meditate. Yeah, right. He trains himself to be crazy.

He like convinces himself that somebody is talking about his mom on the other team. That's hilarious. Ron Holland wasn't even involved. He wasn't even involved in the skirmish. He just comes over. You know what? I want to tell you quick Jordan Clark's the story now that we're discussing him in his eyes. In Central Park here in New York City, there's this weird like,

water fight. Somehow online, it's like a flash mob thing. People just show up water guns and water balloons to have like this 1,000 person water fight in the middle of Central Park. And they did a video of it one year. And in the video, there's Jordan Clarkson is there.

It's like, what? Jordan Clarkson just pops up at this like 1,000 person water fight in the middle of Manhattan during the summer. I was just like, it was the weirdest thing. It wasn't even like they interviewed him or like they even knew it was Jordan Clarkson. Someone just saw it and was like, that's Jordan Clarkson.

He just showed up in a water fight like a four-year-old. It was awesome. The player I loved this week, well, this goes without saying, but it's Janus Antsacinpo. And look, we talked about what he did during the Cup. We talked about how the narrative is now switched. Oh, my goodness, look at this game and everybody goes and looks, and his last 12 games have just been absolutely freakish. I'm not sure.

I think you and I are both on the same page of, man, we thought the Oklahoma City was going to handle them. But if they win that, then we'll start thinking about them differently. I'm not sure if I'm all the way there. You know, and I think it's interesting you brought up the Cleveland game. I'm not sure if I'm all the way there. I do think that they still got some, they've still got some holes. That being said, you get into a lot of playoff series. And sometimes it's as simple as, hey, I got the best guy on the floor.

And he's also, he's also seven feet tall and 265 pounds. And how often is this guy going to be the best player on the floor? And I think the answer is very often, right? And the other thing is consistently, not good, consistently amazing. Consistently amazing. It's one of the things that we've lauded Yokic for. this year. And of course, the cup final and him winning that and him being the best player on the floor was a big deal. But even a bigger deal to me, and especially with all of this

discourse going on about ratings and interest and the lack of positivity and all this thing that's going on at the NBA. Have you seen these clips of Janus crashing his brother's podcast? Thanalysis? No. He's crashed the Nossus' podcast. And I would encourage, not for me to promote other podcasts, you don't hear players,

I mean, he's on his brother's podcast. I think he might be the best podcast guest that you could get in the NBA. Now, he only did it because it's his brothers. Yeah. Here's, it was like

the wisdom and the perspective and his ability to talk about everything. He talked about walking out of the interview on Malika Andrews and how horrible he felt and that he texted her that night. He talked about joy. He talked about struggles. He talked about his mid-range game.

He talked about everything. He talked about living fearlessly. It was like you were listening to like diary of a CEO or some crap, right? But anyway, here is a short clip just to give you a little. taste of Janus on his brother's podcast when he crashed it earlier this week. It's my nature to be fearless. Yeah. We only live once.

You know what I'm saying? Like, one day it's all going to end. So what I'm, what am I scared of? Like one day, like, we're going to have, like, a button-up shirt. Sorry that I'm saying. No, but it's real. It's real. Like, have a button-up shirt.

It's not going to have no pockets. You know, you can't take nothing with you. And you're going to be in a casket. So there's going to be times. Like, today I came down. And I had like an angle to drive the boy. I'm like, no, F it. I'm shooting the three.

Air ball. Anybody else will fold? No, I don't care. Airball, free throws. I've thrown the ball over. I've missed game winning shots. I don't care. I don't live once.

Can't go back. Can't change it. But I all live once, but I won't keep on doing it. So there's nothing for me to fear. I really believe, like, winning is in my nature. I love to win. I don't care about stats. I don't care about accolates.

I love to win. Winning is my nature. I approach the game with fearless. mind and a winning mentality. And that's why when you see me in the regular season, in a scrimmage game, in the playoff game, in the in-season tournament game, in a Greek national team scrimmage game when I play with my kids, I always play in the same speed, in the same aggression. I can't turn it off. This is my nature. Dude. It's, it's, it's, the thing I love about that is he's the same guy who in the middle of the game will pretend to shake Jalen Brown

hand and then running through his hair. He's that guy and he's also a total goofball. He also, he goes on this whole diatribe about how I try to tell young guys all the time because it affected me. The media is going to talk about you and you are never as bad as they say they are and you're never as good as they say you are. And he said, and I tell this to my kids all the time, you have to fall in love with the process. That's what matters.

that I'm going to try to get better every single day. He even like, and then he starts spouting all stats. He goes, last year, I hit 26 mid-range shots the entire season. We're 20 games into the season. I've hit 55 already. It's something I've got to add to my game. I've got to evolve. I've got to be the best version of myself.

I've got to keep trying to get better every single day. And the results will come. And it's like, bro, am I listening to like somebody doing TED talk? or am I listening to Yad? And he is so intensely likable the entire time. The entire time. There was a shot of him after winning the cup, and he takes his shoes off, his signature shoes.

On the bottom of the shoes, there's a wolf. And the interviewer just, like, what's that about? He's like, oh, what's the saying? What's the saying? He's like, sheep wolf. He's like wolf in sheep's clothing. And when he said that, I was like, first of all, it's adorable that he doesn't really know the saying.

and his accent is amazing. But when he said that, it made a little more sense to me. It's like, he's like, on the surface, he's kind of a goofball, smiley,

like funny, goofy, lovable giant guy. But on the inside, he's a killer. You know what I mean? He's a killer. And there's a little bit of that,

that killer winning instinct came out in that sound that you just played with his brother. And let me just say, he appears, again, I don't know this guy personally. He appears to be everything you would want your kid to look up to. Yep.

Yeah. He's great. He's great. That's a good one. I'm glad you played that sound. I haven't heard that. Where am I at now? A player I loved. I've had a tumultuous relationship with this superstar basketball player. Right here on this podcast, I might have said some things about this basketball player. And now it's time to give him some flowers. And I'm talking about Victor Wimbunyama. last night, I'm watching the game, right? Victor Wimbanyama, we all saw him throw the ball off the backboard and dunk, right? We all watched that. But what you didn't see, what won't make the highlight, he threw an alley-oop pass to Castle.

He threw another alley-up pass to Sohan. And I was like, sure, he had 42.6 rebounds, five assists, two steals, and four blocks. And he had this move on Capella, right? This like, Hakeem Olajewan, pivot, up fake, up and under, just like exactly what you want Victor Wembeyanama to do. Now, took 15 threes, hit seven of them. You can do that when you hit seven. Great percentage.

It's a good percentage. 24 shots, 15 threes. I still feel like he takes too many threes. But what he did in that game last night, he deserves to be celebrated. He's been dominant over his last 13 games, basically 30 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, one steal, three and a half blocks. Trey Young tried to score on this man.

Trey Young, great floater. How many times you've seen Trey Young floated over a big, right? He goes up to the lane. It's past his guy. Victor Wimb and Yama comes over to help. He sees Wemba Niyama coming. Trey Young throws it over the backboard. Just threw it over the backboard.

You don't get a stat for that when you're Wembe Gama. That's not a block. That's not as a steal. But like he does that so much that I think it's frustrating to me that this guy takes 18 shots a game and nine of them are threes. Like that's frustrating for me. That's frustrating for me. I just don't think that's, I don't think that's who he's going to ultimately be as a basketball player. And I think that he could learn a little bit from Janus and what you just played and sort of what you said about him, sort of analyzing his own game and making changes.

But because I was. so critical of him earlier this year, and because he has been playing so well lately, and because he was so excellent last night, not just the 42 points, but affecting the game on both ends and getting his teammates involved, the player that I love this week is Victor Wemagnall. I'll tell you this, when you talk about the threes and the way he plays right now, and as time goes on, he will evolve, it is completely frightening to think about how Janice and Davis and so many of these guys with the long, wiry frame that came into the league,

that all of a sudden become hulks as they start to get bigger, as they start to fill out, as they start to get their grown men strength. And you see, like even when you see, sometimes you will see old clips of like Jason Tatum, and then you see Jason Tatum now or Jalen Brown. And now you see J.

when you think about when this dude fills out, and you imagine like if his frame, if he does pack on the muscle and I don't know if you're at 7-5 how much you can, you know, I mean, pack on. But, I mean, that is going to be, I mean, that's terrifying for everyone. Because at that point, now you can still bump him, right? You can still bump him and he's playing more of a perimeter-based game. but when he gets the man strength where he can just bully you,

oh, brother. Oh, yeah. Oh, brother. He had a pick and roll. God forbid. God forbid. He's able to bully people. I get tired of him picking and popping so much,

but he had a real pick and roll for a dunk that was like, okay, look at that. There you go, Vic. And I'm going to give him a mention because another person that's ultimately going to fill out and it's going to change their game like him is Chet. I mean, Chad is just, he's so lanky he's young his body will change as well

but I'm very critical of Wiminyama I might have called him Luzbenyama in the past I might have I can't remember Did you celebrate DeAndre Hunter cracking on him Oh I loved it And he got a tech So the thing about that dunk

Is like if you just again If you're like an Instagram person And you see that dunk You're like oh that's a good dunk That was a critical possession in the game That tied the game So that it was it was a great It was a great

Sort of like OTA It was it was it was really good And he gets he runs from the back court Gets a whole head it says to steam Dunks on Wimbanyama And it kind of stares at him and steps over him I thought the ref was going to call a tech on Hunter Because that would have been a critical

A critical call because that tied the game at the end of the game But he called a double tech And I don't think Weminiama deserved a tech at all But I think the ref just didn't want to have a great play like that be negated by a technical foul that would ultimately decide the game. And Wimby scored 10 straight points at the end of the game at one point. That's right. Hey, look, look, you got to give him credit.

Amazing narrative flipper. It's not, no. The D'Andre Hunter thing is not going to be super viral. My night is going to be super viral. And it was. He scored 10 straight. He scored 10 straight. It was the Wimonyama show.

And again, I've called Luzbenyama. I make fun of them all time. but he deserves to get some praise. I'm not going to apologize because I wish the Spurs win some games. I might still think he's

Victor Luzbenyama, but he played great last night. Player that I loathed. Oh, Jesse. Give me this sweet audio. You got Janky Taylor Jenkins. Uh-oh. Loser Softie.

Bro, this game 11, you run into the media crying about a foul that. Come on, bro. So guess what? what you just taught your 7-3 rookie. How to be emotional and run to the media talking about a file.

We big. We big men. You don't run to the media talking about a file. You're a big man. He's supposed to protect John Morant. You're sending him up to where John Morant going to be to protect the helm. He's big enough to possibly have fool people

that he could be a little tough. And now nobody believe you. Now Joel Limby going to like try to put his chest into the stench just to see. Like, huh, I think he might be a little soft. Ooh. Yeah, they're going to try him now. Everybody don't try.

Y'all got to stop breeding these soft dudes, man. Stop making these guys turn out to be snitches and soft and going to tell because you are big man. All right, that is from the Draymond Green podcast. This was after the Golden State Warriors played against Memphis Grizzies earlier this year. Draymond Green last night in 19 minutes, 0.0 rebound, zero assists for turnovers and a minus 42 in the game. Is that bad? I've told people this many times, Jacoby, but podcasting can be a dangerous game. Called him Janky Taylor Jenkins. And this is, and this is, by the way, this is because as Zach Eadie was running away from a play, Dramon Green grabbed his foot in the game. That's what that

was about. That happened earlier this year. And then last night, as Dremont Green almost had a bucket, John Moran pinned it against a backboard. And if you keep on watching that highlight, then Draymond, of course, he's mad because he's just been humiliated in front of 18,000 people. He goes down to the other end and what does he do? He starts extending his arms. He starts to try to go into Zach Edie's chest. Zach Edie doesn't move a bit and starts staring at him.

So he's testing the rookie. Whistle. Traymond Green loses his mind. Now he's the one, interestingly enough, going to the ref, going to the ref, saying, no, no, no, no, no. That's not on me. That's not on me. So he's trying to get into a tussle because he was mad that he got blocked by Morant. And so now he's trying to get physical with Zach Eady.

Zach Edy wants no part of it. I mean, he's saying they're breeding soft guys and that, you know, you can't do this. And janky, Taylor Jenkins going to the media, whatever else. said the Grizzas are snitches. Yeah, and his team got beat by 50. Oh, it was only 50? They got beat by 51. I'm sorry. 51. We have to be journalistically accurate. I mean, look, that happened, that podcast happened, and then his team got beat by 51, and he had the worst game of his life. I mean, it is what it is, as they say. My God, that was amazing.

Because be not dismayed. They all have an awareness. That podcast and that clip went around everywhere. And you know what it was met with? It was met with all the people say, yeah, yeah, right? F Memphis, Draymond's right. Leagues too soft now. Draymond's right.

Bye-bye. I guess we saw what the outcome was last night because his team really rallied for him after his podcast about Janky Taylor Jenkins. Breeding softies. The Grizzly. The Grizzlies. Breeding softies in Memphis. Breeding softies.

Breeding softies in Memphis. I'll say this about Jemont Green. He's going to have a very long, very lucrative and very entertaining media career. Yep. He will. He will. It won't be the last time that he speaks into a microphone.

But, um... It's a tough spot. It's a tough spot. Timing's not great. I mean... The timing's not great. you would like to win that game after that clip goes viral. You would like to win the game.

Taylor Jenkins is breeding is Jankey Taylor Jenkins is breeding. And then you get beat by 51. Okay. Okay. I, I for one, am looking forward to the podcast that he is going to put out. Oh, yeah. That'll be the first Ramon Green podcast you listen to from front to back.

You're going to skip forward through the ads. You're going to listen to it twice. I'm going to frame the transcript. Get a tattooed on yourself. Player that I loved. Julius Randall. He's not a Nick anymore. Well, let me tell you.

You're not allowed to do this. So this is what really, he's always bothered me as a basketball player. But we talked earlier about Carl Anthony Towns and how this was a big game. and the implications and the trade. And he was asked about the game, the importance of the game before the game,

and he did something that always bothers me. Here he is. I didn't play. You were there, but like being around the team that. I didn't play. What was your secret to making it only a game? Not a big deal like it. What's my secret?

Well, I'm going home. play with my kids let me eat some food I'll probably watch the show you watch a landman have you seen that? No, heard of it. Heard him?

Great show. Yeah, great show. And I'm going to sleep. I'm going to wake up in the morning. I'm coming and shoot around. Probably get a little treatment. Then I'm going to shoot. Then I'm going to go home

and have some breakfast and take a nap. And then I'm going to go to the arena and play the game. I hate it. When players act like big games are just another game. We all know the implications of this one. And that bothered me, but nothing bothered me more than this.

This is Stefan Bondi reported this. After the game, he did not exchange handshakes with his former teammates. Men that he has worked with for years, been to wars with, just didn't even shake hands at mid-court, just went right to the locker room, did not just ignored all of the Knicks like he didn't even know them. And then after the game, here's what the leader of the team,

Anthony Edwards had to say, quote, we don't have no identity. We know I'm a shoot a bunch of shots. We know Jew going to shoot a bunch of shots. That's all we know. We don't really know anything else. It's not on the coaches at all.

It's on us. And listen, if you look at his, numbers, the counting stats, 20 points, 6.7 rebounds, and four assists. Those sound good. But when you watch the game, you constantly see him missing a shot and watching his defensive assignment get behind him, Mikhail Bridges last night, and get easy buckets. It is just so frustrating to experience the Julius Randall experience as a fan of that team. And I am sure the people of Minnesota watched that game last night and said, we traded that.

that guy for those two guys, you can't help but feel that way. Yeah, they really rallied around Randall and DiVincenzo. So I guess Randall and DeVincenzo didn't make a big deal out of it. So neither did any of their teammates. And they didn't even say hi to his friends. The most important thing that I took out of that sound clip that you played, though, Jacoby, is actually going to surprise you.

With the landman part? I haven't seen the show. Yeah, it's this realization. I mean, I just, this is a wave. and I've got to watch it. Really? Yeah, my dad, my dad, who is, my dad's 77 years old. And my dad called me last week and was like, do you watch Landman?

What is about? He's like, it's Billy Bob Thornton. It's a Taylor Sheridan show. He's like, you got to watch Lamb Man. And then, yeah, and then Simmons and Chris Ryan were talking about it. And now Julius, and now Julius Randall's talking about it. Like, I got to watch it. I've never heard of this show.

I've never heard of this show. Landman. I've got to watch it. It's a wave. Everybody's watching Landman. My own dad. My dad is watching Landman. Listen, we got, we have, we're not doing this show again until after Christmas.

So we'll give each other some homework. Let's watch a little Landman. We'll have a Landman update the day after Christmas after we go through all the games. We'll have a Landman review. We've got to catch up on Landman. I guess I do. Julius Randall loves it. Shout out Julius Randall.

Thing that I loved this week. The Hall of Fame class announcement. So the reason I love the Hall of Fame class announcement is because it puts into view something that I think is relevant to conversations that we have had recently. So notable first-time nominees include Carmelo Anthony, Sue Bird, Dwight Howard, Mark Gassall, Maya Moore, Amari Stadameyer, like all manner of different guys. I don't want to leave anybody out. Billy Donovan's on there. Mark Fuse's on there. Sylvia Files is on there.

There's a bunch, right? But it's headlined. I mean, I think you would say the two biggest names of the guys that I mentioned. No offense to Amarri Stademey or Markisal. But the two biggest names are Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard, both of which everybody agrees are going to be Hall of Famers, right? Yeah. Okay. Carmelo Anthony.

They are also, to me, the reason that. this was significant is because as soon as I saw that list and as soon as I saw Carmelo Anthony's name on there and Dwight Howard's name on there to me it was part of a bigger picture and especially with all of the discourse going on about NBA and negativity and everything else and I know something you're going to highlight here in a minute when I say Carmelo Anthony and I say Dwight Howard generally people talk about what they weren't right yeah people talk about what they weren't right yeah people talk about what they these are all time i think they are shining examples of what people have talked about which is this is one of the greatest players one of the

greatest scorers in NBA history this is one of the greatest defensive players rebounders in NBA history, both of them. Two of the greatest players that we have had. And yet if I bring up their names, people will talk about what they aren't. And to me, they are examples of kind of what is different about the NBA than is different about even other sports. That I don't even think, I don't think that that happens.

I don't. I think the discourse around basketball players is much different. And the reason I'm bringing this up is because they are a great example of that, right? If I say Ed Reed's going to the Hall of Fame, nobody talks about anything bad about Ed Reed. No, no. Or even like, you know, it's a good example of that. It's like Tim Tebow. Tim Tebow looks like a soccer player that someone just handed a football and said, you have to throw this thing.

Like he was a good college quarterback, and like he was a bad pro quarterback, but people, if you say Tim Tebow, people will talk about what a great quarterback he is. Yes, or his collegiate career or whatever else. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I mean, it's, I just find it fascinating and it's headline. It's all like, you know, we're going to go to this all-star game, which people are trashing or whatever. And that's where they do the big thing. It's like, All-Star Weekend. And then to me, it's going to be hilarious that it's like, and going into the Hall of Fame.

And there will be the day where people will be like, oh, Carmelo Anthony was a bucket or, oh, Dwight Howard was one of the most, you know, one of the best centers of his generation. And yet, both of those guys, if I bring them up, the first thing people will tell you is something bad about them. Yep. The Dwight Howard is soft that Carmelo Anthony never won a ring. That's what you're going to hear. That's what you're going to hear in the barbershop. And do you feel like that happens with that? any other sport? I don't. I think

just in general, there's that being negative is just like people's default setting a lot. But why is it not about the other? It's more so in the NBA. It's more so in the NBA. Why not with other sports? That's what I would say. Yeah. The way it is treated is different.

And these are two all-time greats. We both admit these are all-time great. Carmelo and Anthony Dwight Howard are both all-time greats. They are. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, even me saying that, I will for sure get a tweet saying, what the after not all time great. Yeah. I just love that your thing that you loved was actually something that you loved. You can't even keep it positive.

You can't even keep it positive, Chris Byrne. No, no, no. I'm saying they're all time great. Okay. Well, I've got two because there is nothing better. We complained in the last episode about official reviews. Right. They're too long. They break the flow.

Everybody knows that. However, when Bill Kennedy's involved, this is what you get. After reviewing the play, the defensive foul that was called on number 23 has been overturned. Unfortunately, the foul is not on number nine. And the Lakers will retain possession of the ball on the side. The coach's challenge is successful. He gave him the oky-doke. Unfortunately.

He gave the home crowd the ok-y-doke. Bill Kennedy just can't help, but just add sauce to every single thing that he says into those microphones. I love that, but that is not the thing that I love this week. At the end of the Bulls Celtics game, big win for the Bulls. We've mentioned it. Zach Bean played well, Celtics, home loss. Watching the end of the game. And Joe Mazzula just loses his mind and tries to attack the referee.

discussed in the past about how he was fighting in the league and how he studies jujitsu and he was asked about it in the post game and of course joe mazula had this to say i just hadn't seen them in a while so just a merry christmas happy holidays i wasn't sure i was going to see them before the holiday and i just can't let a moment go by to where you were someone uh you know just the best you know to them and theirs and their families uh i i i love it because the tone of his voice is the exact same thing as if he was discussing like a play during the game. I just love it. He's because he's obviously joking, but

you cannot tell whatsoever. And since we're on Joe Mozilla, there's another piece of Joe Manzula sound that used to be celebrated as well. Thoughts and maybe how the game is discussed or sold and maybe as contributing to me? No, I mean, I add to that, I don't watch NBA games, so I'm just as much the problem as anyone else

is. Is there a reason for that? I don't like watching the games. I don't like watching the games. He's not kidding. He's like, I don't watch NBA games. I don't watch NBA games. Joe Mazzul is watching Landman with Julius Randall instead of watching NBA games, which some might even argue is his job. Okay. So I'm going to add a little context to this dish because he kept on going. He said, it's an interesting perspective talking about the threes being shot. He said, because in the

NFL, people aren't like, I want to see less scoring. They're not going to make the end zone smaller. they're not going to make the field smaller. Scoring is up across other sports. I guess my question would be, why would basketball with scoring being up being an issue as opposed to other sports? Does anybody want to watch a football game and see less touchdowns?

Man has a point. Look at Joe Mas. Okay, here's the question, because you talked about Ron Holland earlier with the whole squaring up, right? And your perception was that Ron Holland didn't actually want to fight. Yes.

My question is, here's a very real question to you. If nobody stood in front of Joe Missoula, what do you think the outcome would have been? Do you believe that that what? Extremely aggressive yelling in his face with some physical touching chest to chest, but no punches are thrown. He's not going to put him in an arm bar or something.

I don't think he would physically attack him, but he would be extremely aggressively everything but. Okay. That's how I see it. The thing that I loathed this week, the Hornets giving that kid a PS5 and then taking it away and then having to apologize for it. So if you didn't,

explain to people that didn't hear the story because this was a small story, but it is so hateable. Okay, so they did this bit where they have Santa Claus in the middle of the floor and then kids are going to walk, up and then they're going to give them something from Santa's like Santa's got a big knapsack and he's going to pull it out and he's going to give it to him. So at one point a kid walks up and they say, hey, you know, Johnny, I don't, forgive me, I don't know the kid's name.

Says here, you've always, you know, you really want a PS5. So here's a PS5. He gives a kid a PS5. The kid's like, yes. This is awesome, right? And he walks off. And then somebody from the hornage grabs us and said, hey, man. And evidently they say that they told the dad, like, hey, whatever we give you out there isn't real.

Like, you're going to have to give it back, which is crazy anyways. But then so anyways, so then they go back and then they give the kid a jersey. As if the world's not going to find out about this. I can give him a T-shirt, like not even a jersey. They give him a T-shirt. And so they have to put out this apology about how they miss them. mark and their apologies and then they're giving him a they're giving him a PS5 and a VIP Hornets experience this is what do you think the Hornets are worth three billion dollars four

billion dollars yes and you're going to give a kid you make a big show about giving a kid a PS5 and then the second you get into the tunnel you're going to take the PS5 back from him and give him a t-shirt t-shirts that you literally shoot into the stands and give away for free. Like to me, I guess I might say, and I know they said, look, they've apologized. They said they missed the mark. But what was the point of the bit? I don't get it. Was the point

of the bit to give everyone the impression that you're giving them awesome things? I don't even understand it. It's literally like it's like printing one of those gigantic checks and like giving it to a charity, but then never replacing it with the actual check. That's basically what it is. It's like, no, no, no, The gigantic check you can't take to the bank in cash.

You have to give me an actual check and give me the money. This is insane. That's a great call. That's a great call. Something that you loathe. All right. Something that I loathed. I love LeBron James.

Like, I love him as a basketball player. I've told the story a million times. When he was in high school, I had to put together like a basically a mixtape of his high school highlights. I was blown away. It's just this phenom. But sometimes he does things that make him so hard to love like this. I don't know. I mean, I have my ideas of what could possibly work.

And it's kind of why, yeah, I'd love to get it. Yeah, I'm not going to do that. But like coming out of Indiana, we saw the reaction. We got to do something. Obviously, the last couple of years have not been a great All-Star game that Sunday night. But, I mean, listen, it's a bigger conversation. It's not just the All-Star game. It's our game in general.

Our game is a lot of F-3s to be. being shot. So it's a bigger conversation just the All-Star game. I'm not, I can't do that today. Not in Sacramento. Sacramento, though, I love you guys, but you can't give you this conversation today.

It's just a bigger, it's a bigger, it's a bigger conversation. The thing I loathe about that is, I don't even want to have the, like, they shoot too many threes conversation very quickly. My retort to that is just play better defense. You know what I mean? Like, whatever, we can have the too many threes conversation on another pod.

What I loat about that sound is LeBron James acting like he has the secret socks to fix not only the All-Star game, but basketball as a whole, but he's just not right now going to give it away. You know what? I love you, Sacramento, but I don't have the time right now to fix the All-Star game and the ratings and the three-point pandemic or whatever we're calling this thing. I'm just too tie-tie right now. LeBron, I just don't believe you. I don't believe you at all. My favorite part of you playing that is I don't know if you saw, I believe it was after the game or maybe it was prior to. And it might have been simultaneous as they were both going on.

But JJ Redick had like a five-minute diatribe about this ratings discourse and about Twitter and about streaming services. And he even talked about his house and Spectrum. And I've been too lazy to even set it up. And, you know, you can't watch Laker games even in my own. house, you know, and this and this and this. And so he's going on about like all of this stuff. And then he said, and also it's, you know, we've got to have better messengers about how great our game is, right?

Like we are constantly. And so he's talking about it. And he's like, and I was a part of it. And I was a part of the media. And it was all like really good stuff and wise stuff. And he's talking about, you know, basically we need ambassadors talking about how great things are instead of how bad things are all time. bro can you all get on the same page he literally got in the same room the most famous best player in the league participating in the we got too many fucking threes j j reddick's in one room saying hey we just need we need better storytelling better ambassadors and better storytelling about how great this game is and literally in an

adjacent room. The most famous athlete the face of the league. Yeah, they need to do something. There's too many F and threes. Too many threes. You guys were podcast, co-hosts.

Can you all get on the same page on this? I don't, I'm with Joe Missoula. I don't mind the threes. And I really feel like if you want less threes to play different defense. Run people off the three point line. That's how I feel.

I don't think it's as much the threes as it is in some case. To me, look, I've, you know, I think the games have gotten too long. I thought they did a very good thing and easing up on officiating last year. I do buy, and this is something that Silver said the other night, about the cookie cutter, everybody kind of playing in many cases the same way, right? That it's all drive a kick, drive a kick, drive a kick. And so it become, right, that there's not as many teams playing different styles as much anymore.

That everybody's trying to get everything is rim rate and three point. right and corner threes and like so everybody's playing the same kind of basketball. Well our colleague that you um hate for some reason. Who? Kurt Kurt Goldsbury has done

some really good work. Has done some really good work that you probably know even respect or pay attention to because you hate him so much about sort of shot selection and how it's changed over time. Yeah. I walked off on you right in the middle of this podcast. Because I want to be, look,

You saw me. How long was I gone? What? 10 seconds? Yeah, 13 seconds. Yeah, 13 seconds. I thought one of your children was in trouble. Oh, no. You're in trouble. Because within-

You're going to show me Kurt's book. That's what you're going to do. Within 13-second time. Let me see the spine. Let me see the spine of the book. Didn't read it. Didn't read it. Within 13 seconds time, I went and grabbed Kurt Goldsbury's book.

That's how important Kurt Goldsbury has been to me. So you can go to hell. You didn't read that book. You didn't read that book. He sent it to you for free. He sent it to you for free so you tweet about it. And you did not read that book. That book has not been read.

I know it. I read books. I know what red books look like. That is a brand new book that you bought. So when people come to your house, they think that you know things about basketball. I've read that cover to cover. I love every book with illustrations. Oh, stop.

Let me guess you. You've got notes in the margins. Took a highlighter out. Many notes. Please. Please. You did not read that book. You didn't even look at it.

You did not read that book. You did not. It's the most influential book that I've ever read. Oh, God. It shaped my views on basketball. And I love Kurt Goldsbury. Well, listen, I've got an announcement. Make that clear.

A couple things. Number one, we'll be back the day after Christmas, not next Tuesday. Day after Christmas, we'll be wrapping up the games. And then you're going to go on a little, little family time, a little family vacay. And while you're gone, do you know who's going to,

take your spot right here in the mismatch. Kurt Goldsbury. Oh, the hell he is. Oh, kiss who's calling HR. Is we get off? Do you have their number? I don't have their number.

We have HR. I don't know. They're in Sweden or something. Thank you to our executive producer, Jesse Lopez, as always. Jacoby, I'll talk to you next week. Must be 21 and over in present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 over and present in D.C. You got a gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Help.com.

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