The Mismatch - Are the Suns Getting the Most Out of Devin Booker?

Episode Date: January 19, 2021

Chris and Kevin dive into the emerging story lines in the league, starting with how James Harden and KD played together against the Bucks on Monday (1:00), how CJ McCollum’s injury, in conjunction with Nurkic’s injury, will affect Portland’s playoff aspirations (12:15), and Jamal Murray’s disconcerting step down from his bubble play in contrast to Paul George’s step up (16:45). Then they talk about whether the Suns are getting the most out of Devin Booker (29:00), how the Grizzlies are playing with Ja Morant back in the fold (37:00), and the Warriors’ win over the Lakers on Monday (50:30).  Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, this is Kevin O'Connor on today's episode of the mismatch. Chris Vernon and I got into what was a great day of NBA action with the Lakers and Warriors having a late night, exciting game. The Bucks and the Nets going at it. I could watch seven games of that. We also got into some of the challenges in assessing this early season with the COVID, with the health and safety protocols, and just some players that are out because of injury, like with the Blazers of Yusuf Nerkich and C.J. McCollum. All that's coming up next. Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon. It does every Tuesday from the ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor,

a.k, Kevin O'Bomber, Kevin O'Connor, Kevin O'Clymer, Kevin O'Candekin'Keevents, Kevin O'Clymouth. Kevin O'Klew. Chris, what's up? How you doing? Well, we have had every NBA team play, you know, between 12 and 15 games so far. So we're starting to get a little better read on a lot of these teams, or are we? This has been very, very difficult, Kev, because in between postponement, teams having players out, not knowing what kind of roster a team's going to go into a game with, I will tell you that I would think that within 12 to 15 games, I would have a pretty good gauge of these teams. There are a few that you do, but by and large, I have found it very, very, very difficult to analyze these teams because, any given night you are not getting a great representation of what those teams are and certainly what they will be when it comes time for it to matter most in the playoffs.

I mean, I'm watching that Brooklyn game last night, for instance. Well, okay, I saw what they look like with James Hardin and Kevin Durant, but Kyrie Irving wasn't there. And so what they're going to look like with Kyrie Irving is a different deal than what I saw last night without Kyrie Irving. What do you feel? Even Denver. Yeah, right.

Denver without Michael Porter Jr. Elk because of the health and safety protocols. So it's, you know, right now it's very, very tough to get a read on what these teams are. With that said, though,

you know, there's a chance that in a postseason setting, you could have guys missing time too. It does underline the importance of depth. So even though some of these guys could not, you know, they might not be out, you know,

in big games, there's a chance. There's a chance. You got to have depth. All right, what are your first impressions of the Nets after we've watched them for a couple of games? Hardens obviously put up huge numbers so far in the two games. It was a great basketball game against the box. It really was.

What are your first impressions? And then I'll give you mine. You know, everybody said one ball. How were they going to share the ball? It's going to work. Like those guys, Hardin and Durant looks like they have never stopped playing together. Their chemistry on the court, the way they distribute the ball. to each other. There seems to be.

Like there's been multiple instances. You see Katie coming off ball, Hardin coming off ball, and them delivering to the other person. And I think when you see Kyrie get integrated into the lineup here, it is going to be interesting here to see how different things are. But

I think you look at the Nets and we've seen Katie adapt to the Warriors. We saw him play with Russell Westbrook and James Hardin. We've seen James Hardin play with other stars. And we saw Carrie Irving play with LeBron James and win at the highest level, even if there is a little bit of my turn, your turn, Hardin's turn, Katie's turn, Kyrie's turn going back and forth, in a postseason

setting when your typical offense slows down and sometimes you need an ISO or unpick and roll more, is it supposed to be a bad thing when you can alternate between three of the most creative scores in the history of basketball? It's not going to be a bad thing. To me, these guys are smart enough with strong enough of a track record with playing with and without the ball that I feel like as we talked about last week, this has a chance to be one of the most potent offenses we've ever seen in the history of basketball. And their first two games together has a nothing but to make me feel that strongly. There's no doubt about that. Now, I know you were not listening to the broadcast because we were texting last night, but this is what I was struck by when I was

watching the broadcast is the nets would come down and they would run a curl for Kevin Durant and he would jump up and he would bury, you know, an elbow jumper. And then they would spend the next three minutes talking about how unguardable that is and what are you supposed to do. And so the nets would come down and they would make a shot and they would say, man, these guys are just getting started. Wait to see what they could become. This could be one of the greatest offenses ever. And then they'd give up a layup on the other end. And then they'd come down and score and they'd say, what are you going to do? How could you ever guard these guys? And then they would get a wide open three on the other end. And then they would say, well, just wait until they

get Kyrie Irving in the mix and then see how difficult it's going to be to deal with. And then they'd give up another dunk on the other end. And I'm like, there was never any reference. I get it. They're the one with the stars. They're what people tuned in to see. The bucks are old hat now, the bucks were getting literally any shot they wanted, any shot, and most of them were either dunks or leg-ups down the stretch. Now, it came down to Middleton missing a contested three at the very end of the game, and he took a bad contested three prior to. But one of the things is, my first impressions is they are as good offensively as we anticipate. them being, they are as dreadful defensively as we anticipated them being.

They have no rim protection. None. Like you can just score whatever. And they don't, obviously they're not on a string defensively. It's going to be very, very difficult. But when you've got, you know, it was, I think it was Durant Hardin, Joe Harris. It was DeAndre Jordan, obviously. And then I can't even remember who the, who the fifth guy was in that.

closing five. It's not like he touches the ball. And it was just, it was a layup line. It was literally a layup line. Like Janus twice. Did you say Joe Harris in that group? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I couldn't remember the fifth guy. Who was the fifth

guy that they had with them in the closing five? It was DeAndre Jordan. Look, there's three of them that touched the ball. Harris hit a huge three. It was Bruce Brown. At certain points. Okay. All right. Then Diadre Jordan at a certain point. Well, DeAndre Jordan was playing center and it might as well have been a traffic cone.

Well, let's let's let's let's talk on that right quick. Let's touch on that real quick. DJ, to me, you know, everything watching the game yesterday and their first game together, it has confirmed my feelings about the offense. And as you said, it has confirmed the feelings about the defense. And to me, a lot of that is coming down to DeAndre Jordan. DeAndre Jordan is a guy that you can't close games. with you just can't they have to find a better center to close games DJ can have a role with

this team we saw the value with him as a rim runner as a target for James Hard and he was six for six in the game and had some pretty good baskets around the rim but closing games with him on the defensive end of the floor he can get exploited at this point of his career and to me if you're the Brooklyn Nets you got to either be using Spencer dinwiddie and his 11 million dollar contract even though he's out injured you can still trade an injured player in the NBA, all that needs to happen is the team receiving that player needs to waive them passing a physical for the trade to be finalized. So the Nets can trade Spencer did what if they want to go fully all in on the 2020, 2020, 2021 NBA season and they get to find a better center for closing games.

Here's the thing, though. Where is that center? Look around the league at people who could potentially become available or guys that are available. are you going to go for Javelle McGee? Are you going to go for a Ed Davis? Are you going to go for a more expensive player? Like a Clint Capella from Atlanta. Like let's say they wanted to split up, you know,

Capella and John Collins because those guys have some fit issues here. I don't think there'll be any significant buyout candidates unless Cleveland were to buy out Andre Drummond, but it's hard to find a lot of options out there at the center position unless maybe you're getting into the G League or something like, that that are better than DeAndre Jordan at closing games now. Would that said, though, Chris, I think the McGee thing would work

actually because they acquired Allen. So how many centers do you need? That's actually one that is a possibility. I agree. And ultimately, I mean, Cleveland at some point is going to make some changes. There's already been plenty of reporting about Andre Drummond and how they don't want to pay Andre Drummond what he wants to be paid.

So at all likelihood, they're going to look for a drum and trade. Will they find it for a guy who's making $28 million? Maybe not. There's a chance that he can get bought out. Unlikely, but I think they'll find a trade if they want to, but we'll see. For Brooklyn, they can still make a finals without finding a DJ upgrade, but to win the NBA finals and beat possibly the Lakers, you know, with 80 or let's just say Denver with Yokic, you got to find an upgrade at the center position. I also think if you're, if that's what you look like defensively,

and even when we saw them over the weekend, they gave up a ton of points in their first game, right? The whole story was hardened in these crazy numbers that they put up. They gave up a lot of points in that game too. I just think that playing the outscoring game is very dangerous, especially when it comes to playoff basketball, where it's, we're going to just be able to outscore you over and over again. And you wonder, you know, that has been, that is a Mike D. Anthony philosophy, right? Like he, you know, long ago, I remember, and I've told this story before about him, coaching team USA. And there's a story from the locker room where, you know, the defensive coordinator of that team was Nate McMillan, who cared desperately about the defensive end.

And there's Mike DeAntoni, and they had, let's just say it's Croatia the next day. And, you know, and McMillan is telling the team, like, look, I know what, you know, that we just beat this team 140 to 100. But when we get to play in Spain and we get to play in Greece and we get to play in some of these other teams, we are not going to be able to defend like that and get by. And Dantonie's response was, it ain't going to matter if we score 160. And that's the two different philosophies. It's not going to matter if we're going to score 160. And I kind of feel like that's what Brooklyn's going towards, right?

It's not going to matter if we score 130, but I do think it will because there will be teams that are able to get the requisite amount of style. and I would just say playing that we're going to outscore you and give up, whatever we give up is a dangerous game to play. They have got to find at least some rim protection at minimum. They have to find some rim protection because Milwaukee, it was layups and wide open threes down the stretch for the most part. That's how they got back in the game. Give some credit to Milwaukee too.

I mean, their offense was clicking and they have some weapons on that end of the floor with Chris Middleton, Drew Harrow. holiday and some of the shooters they have. Milwaukee's also a tough offensive stop, but that's what you're going to have to do in order to make a finals. Is at some point probably beat the bucks. Bad news this morning. We talked about players being out and whether it be because they're in the safety protocol

or for other reasons, but we had another bad injury get reported this morning. And that is C.J. McCollum. And this one makes you absolutely sick to your stomach because C.J. McCollum, it was reported this morning by Shamsarania that McCollum's injury, we knew he heard his foot, but that he has a fractured left foot. And look, a fracture, you know, it was a break. So this is a lot of healing time that this is going to take. And the reason this makes you so sick is clearly what it does to the Blazers. But beyond that, McCollum, this was this season, he was going to get his just desserts. He has been well regarded as one of, if not the best player in the NBA that has not made an all-star team. And it felt like this was going very quickly towards the year that McCollum was going to be able to get that reward of being an all-star team.

of being an all-star in the NBA. He's averaging 27 points a game while shooting 47% from the field and 40, 40% from 3. I mean, his numbers are just crazy. On 11, 3-point attempts per game. That needs to be included with the 44% from 3.11 attempts per game. I mean, this was his best season that he had going through the first, you know, several games of the year. And so. Career high five assists.

per game too. It's awful. It's awful. It sucks. It sucks. This is bad news for Portland. I will say this though. And I wrote this in my power rankings yesterday on the ringer or Monday on the ringer before this injury actually happened and before we knew about the severity of it. They have an easy stretch of their schedule coming up. Watch your mouth. This next easier. This next watch your mouth. Read it off. Read it off. Watch your mouth. Watch your mouth. Watch your mouth. Watch your I mean, when I say easy. What are the next two, Kev? Memphis. Memphis and Memphis.

But it's easier overall because then you get New York, Oklahoma City, Houston, Chicago, and then it gets tough Milwaukee, Philly. But then New York, Charlotte, Orlando, Philly, Cleveland, Dallas, okay, so on, blah, blah, blah, blah. There's some winnable games for Dean to carry the team here. But when I wrote those words, you know, I didn't know. C.J. would also be out for sure the whole month. I mean, according to Shams, Shams will, CJ will be out for at least four weeks. Anytime you have a fracture in your foot, four weeks seems kind of optimistic, doesn't it, Chris?

Yes. And it could be way longer than that. And for Portland, ultimately, seating right now and the NBA matters significantly, significantly. And this comes back to the playing tournament in both the pros and cons for certain teams, depending on what happens. being the six seed guarantees you a spot. Being the 70 seed, no guarantees. You get a play in the playing tournament and win at least one game. If you lose one other game, you better win that second to get the eight seed because

the way it works, the nine and the 10 seed getting a chance to get in. So for Portland now, falling down the standings in the loaded Western conference where you got a bunch of teams, a bunch of teams that are going to be on that bubble, any stretch of time where you're missing two of your three. three best players or two of your best four, depending on how you rank Nurkich, because he's out right now, too. I mean, you could slide out of this, man,

pretty quickly, even though it's an easier stretch with some winnable games deemed can carry a team, there's no guarantees here, man, like there's still a lot of tough, tough teams, Oklahoma City. I mentioned them as an easier game. They have the third worst net rating in basketball. They're six and six, though, because they've still

competed in some games. Yeah. You know, they've been competitive at the least. So for Portland, man, this next stretch could determine whether we're talking about them as like a top six seed, guarantee playoff spot, or maybe as a team that's fighting for a playing spot. Look, to get by, they're going to have to do the whole Damien Lillard averages 40 a game. Seriously. Like, and he's done it before for a stretch, right?

Going to have to have Gary Trent step up to. Yes. Right. Where he's gone crazy. And, you know, it's interesting you say that about seeding because I think about them in, you know, they were coming off that Western Conference Finals and then they scratched and Claude to just get into the playoffs last year. And they were coming off a Western Conference Finals appearance,

a team that took their lumps on their way. And then they finally got to the Western Conference Finals. And it's not the ultimate accomplishment, but you were a step, or you were one of the last two teams remaining in your conference. And then the next year, it was a disappointing year after that. I know they incurred some injuries last year, but they also were not even as good uninjured.

injured as we thought they would be, right? They weren't able to deal with that very well. We're going through the same thing, and I say this because I've covered a team like this, it made a Western Conference Finals in the next year. Psychologically, I think what happens was sometimes with these teams that are not the elite, elite-level teams when they have that kind of great accomplishment the year before, that the next year now, it's almost like they're made men and they are, less concerned about seeding and winning every single game because they know they're good.

They think they're good. They know they're good. And whoever we have to play, we'll play. And that's dangerous to do. But I think we're seeing a little bit of that with Denver this year, right? Where they made that West Finals this year. And they come back this year. And it's not that same kind of eye of the tiger that they had the year before.

And, you know, we see this happen sometimes, you know, in the NFL with a team that plays in an AFC or an NFC championship game or whatever it may be, right? That, like, yeah, you didn't win, but you got there right to the end. And the next year, you're not as hungry and you think line them up, we'll play whoever we have to play. And I find it fascinating because a team that played in the NBA finals in Miami has started slow. Toronto, obviously, has been stumbling out of the gate. And they've had personnel changes too. But Denver's the other one, you know, who is kind of stumbled out of here. And I only think that Denver is a little bit applicable because of what we saw from Portland last year, which is, and you worry about that.

The teams that, you know, play really well and accomplish something the next year not having that same edge that they had prior to when they were on their own. way up. I mean, with Denver, I don't know how much of it is, it is edge or, you know, production. I mean, losing Jeremy Grant, I wrote about that before the season. We talked about this is that loss is pretty significant, even though Michael Porter's been good for you, you know, with scoring the ball, he's not the same caliber of a defensive player that Jeremy Grant is. And Yokic, I mean, dude is averaging 25 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists per game. And it's been pretty dominant. One of the five best players in the NBA so far. with that question.

Can we talk about bubble Jamal Murray? He's not the same as normal outside the bubble, Jamal Murray. This has to be, I want an oral history of the... What happened? He was like an 18, 19 point per game player who would have the 40 point game

and then the 13 point game and it was wildly, he turned into like this 30 point per game devastating force of nature throughout his time in the bubble. And it's like now we started this season and it's the same Jamal Murray as we've always had. Like, what was that?

How did that happen? How did this guy turn into a bona fide superstar for a month and then just be back to Jamal Murray? I need an investigation on this. I really do. This is the craziest thing I've ever seen.

Didn't we all think Jamal Murray is going to be like, okay, that was the sign. Here it comes. Here's the guy that people thought, you know, was him reaching his apex. Like, you know, if you really believed in Jamal Murray, here's the reason that Denver gave him that huge contract. And here's the best of what he's. he can be. And it's like, he's the same dude. You watch him. It's the same dude. Like, I don't, he put a cape on for a month in the bubble. And now I don't get it. I don't, I don't blame Jamal Murray here. Like if you're looking for people, you know, to blame here. I look at Gary Harris.

I look at Will Barton and some of the other guys in this roster that, you know, before the season, Will Barton was saying, I'm not a six man. I don't want to come off the best. and he is not produced at a quality level compared to what he has in the past. Gary Harris still has not found himself on the offensive end of the floor. And I'm talking about two players in Harris and Barton, who handled the ball a little bit for you. And, you know, it went very much under the radar. But Brian Winhorst was the first to report that Denver had some conversations with Houston for James Hardin. And I think that is indicative of the way Denver's thinking.

they realize clearly they're having conversations for Hardin that they get to address that secondary ball handler position a guy who's better than Jamal Murray or at least nearly as good and I think if you're them if you're Denver I'm going hard for Bradley Beal I'm going hard for Victor Oladipo those two guys I think the nuggets should be going after to find that upgrade over Harrison Barton because they got to find somebody who on nights where Jamal Murray's not feeling it. There's going to be those nights and it's inevitable. You got to have that guy who can step up for you because then that puts Jamal Murray in kind of the 2A or 2B or number three role where if there's nights he's feeling it, you can ride

Jamal Murray. You can ride him instead of having to rely on him every night. It looked like Murray was going to be in that. I mean, I disagree. You know. I disagree. It looked like that. It looked like it in the bubble, but

I think almost everybody acknowledged that we still get to see this over a longer period of time outside of the bubble. That was very unique unusual circumstances there. You know, the type of arena, the type of backdrop. There were certainly individual players who were affected positively about that, like with the type of arena, with the type of crowd, fake crowd noise and all that. And now we don't know it. We can't necessarily know for a fact. He might not even know himself how much it influenced him.

But it is a possibility. Nobody like him, though. Nobody like him. I know. But it's a possibility that that environment was just better for him. The way his eyes work and the way he looks at the room, we don't know. I'm just like throwing stuff out there. That's why I said.

I need an investigation. Why was Jamal Murray a superhero in the bubble? Yes. Why? And that's going to be a hard story to tell when even. he himself might not totally understand. You know what I mean? Yeah.

That's probably very difficult to investigate, but I am certain that there were at least a handful of guys that were positively impacted by playing in that type of arena. And that's why for Denver right now, you've got to understand who Jamal Murray is. He's going to have some huge scoring nights for you. He's also going to have some nights where it's frustrating and he's just inefficient and nothing can fall.

So finding that upgrade, clearly, if they were going for Hardin, even, you know, dip in their toes into the waters to try to find what the price is. It indicates that they get to find, they want to find another guy who's a perimeter base player that can create shots for you and handle the ball for you and create for others.

You think about how crazy this is with three months ago, we're talking about, man, I wouldn't give up Jamal Murray for nothing. I'm not saying give up Jamal Murray. But at his age and Yokic's age, these guys, you know,

you take that for the next 10 years. You know, I mean, this is, this is now a duo that look how comfortable they are playing together and look at what Murray has evolved into and it's like

by the way like Jamal Murray is posting career best numbers right still it's just so much further down from the bubble compared to slightly up from last season like that's what you're saying yes like the leap that we thought into real

bonafide stardom you know what I mean I mean, I think that was asking for a little bit too much personally. Well, on the flip side, you talked about how bubble affected guys. The anti-Gemal Murray is Paul George. Because Paul George, you know, he talked about how difficult it was for him playing in the bubble. He blamed Doc Rivers for the way he was used. We goofed on that.

You know, look, this guy went from a guy that was hitting the side of the backboard to a guy that looks like one of the best five to ten players in the NBA so far this year. Now, until there are going to be a overwhelming amount of people that don't give a crap about what Paul George does during the regular season. And they'll say, all right, when the pressure gets on and it comes playoff time, does playoff P show up or is he hitting the side of the backboard again? And they just don't want to hear it, right? Especially when he was part of a team.

He was abysmal on a team that had one of the most epic collapses, if not the most epic collapse, given how big of a favorite they were to move on to the Western Conference finals against the Nuggets. And he has come back this year. And again, there's going to be people that roll their eyes. But George is the antithesis of Murray where it's like, okay, this guy looked like a shell of himself. And now he looks like a superstar so far this year. Shooting over 50% from three. I'm sure he'll keep that up. We need to get Paul George out of the bubble.

Yeah, it's been wild to see Paul George excel at the level that he is the season with the clippers. And we did see it two years ago with OKC when he was third in MVP voting and as well of the better players in the game. Ultimately, with Paul George, like you said, it's going to come down to postseason production and what level he is when that time comes. But I will say this with the Clippers, and I think this has played into Paul George having a career breast season.

Their ball movement has been better. The ball moves around the court, you know, more crisp than it had than it did last season. And I'm impressed with some of the possessions that they've had with finding great open shots or playing good to great basketball. And that is something that it will stick. Paul George is not going to shoot over 50% the rest of the season. It's just impossible.

It's not impossible, but highly unlikely. But the ball movement, that seems to be something that is here to stay. And that's encouraging for me with watching the clippers, considering how stagnant they got at times last season with that first year with the group. So I'm encouraged by the clippers. Their defense needs to get back to what it was. They get it better on that end. I think they will.

But the ball movement, Paul George, you know, coming back with a vengeance. It's been fun to watch. yesterday I got to see the bright future suns in person for the first time this year. Now, I'm going to give, there is a caveat. They had not played in a week. And so it was going to be, okay, is this a team that is incredibly well rested? Or is this a team that is going to be a little bit rusty? What stood out to me, and I don't know how much you've watched the Sons or how much our listeners have spent time watching,

They have not played in a week, right? So you haven't watched them in the last week. But watching them yesterday, it is such a stark contrast from Sun's teams of the past, A, because they're good. But beyond that, they play slow. They have become a Chris Paul basketball team. And I watched Booker go like 5 for 21 yesterday, which I'm going to give a pass because he hadn't played in so long. He also got rim checked on a donkey tried with the game on the line.

But I will say this. I think that they are well suited to play. That is like what playoff basketball is in many cases that you run a play. We run a play. I'm not so sure that you get the best out of Booker playing this way. And here's all I'll say. I really thought that having Chris Paul on the team, And I do think from a winning sense, it is the best thing for them.

I don't know individually if it is the best thing for Booker. I viewed him as a guy that wants, he is so hard to stay attached to when they are getting up and down the floor. And a guy that when he gets in space is very difficult. When you play half-court basketball all the time, it's a lot easier to stay attached to him. and they do. They play half-core basketball all the time. And they play through Aiton a lot. And they play just like a Chris Paul team does.

And so I think I thought that Booker's numbers that he would be most or maybe not most, but certainly very well impacted by being on a team with Chris Paul. I don't know if his numbers are actually going to reflect it, though. They might end up being better and they might end up being better. be, and certainly there'll be a playoff team. But Booker, to get the best out of Booker, I think he's a guy that's better when the game's moving up and down and played in space. And you're not going to do that that much when you're playing on a Chris Paul team. You know, it's funny.

You know, Phoenix has been pretty good overall this season. Booker has not been great. No. And they've been doing it despite him not being the same level of the Devin Booker we saw, not just last season, but the year before that. I just don't think you get the best of him playing half court basketball all the time. He's not that kind of a guy. I feel like he flourished with that open floor style, you know,

and we're seeing a little bit less of that with Chris Paul now. And I'm sure it's going to be adjustment for him. I'm not going to read too much into it. Maybe by playoff time, those guys are really clicking. It's very unusual. We talked about this with Kevin Durant and James Harden. It feels like those guys never stop playing together. Right.

Right. But with Booker and Chris Paul, you can see some of the issues with Booker starting to adjust. Booker himself, I do think that there are certain instances where I'd love to see him pass the ball to the Andre Aiton more often too, especially in pick and roll situations. And I wonder for him, maybe it's about taking on even more of that playmaking mindset in certain situations. So it's a number of different issues there with him, part of its fit, part of its decision making. I'm not too worried, Chris. I mean, I don't want to overreact. They might have the slowest pace in the entire league.

If they're not, they're like 29. Yeah, he's, look, it's weird because I do think the way they play suits some of their guys. And clearly, if you're going to, you know, if you got a seven-footer down there and a lot of teams play small, it's good. This is good for Aiton. And obviously it's how Paul's always played dictating the pace. But this is not great for books. you know, in terms of him flourishing playing in this kind of a system that's walking the ball up the court and playing, you know, deep into the shot clock.

It's odd. And we'll see when it comes to playoff time. You got a long time and they're all adjusting. But there's no doubt about it. After seeing them, they are a Chris Paul team. And they're going to play like Chris Paul plays. Yeah, they went from, according to, Impredictable.com, which measures time of possession seconds.

So it's not pace, you know, but it's the actual literal seconds of a possession. After the opponent makes a shot, they ranked 14th in possession time last season. They're down the 22nd now in about three seconds longer of possessions after their opponent makes a shot, which I think is a good, you know, read on their pace. And then after a turnover or after a defensive rebound, they rank in the bottom five. this season compared to last season when they were top five after turnovers and then 11th after defensive rebound.

So they're moving a lot slower when the opponent misses or turns it over. They're moving a little bit slower after the opponent makes a shot. So that does indicate the differences here. There's a lot of teams that are not comfortable playing half-core basketball. So this might work in their favor when it comes out to it.

You saw it. Look, that's how. that's how the Chris Paul team that had absolutely no business taking Houston to seven games took Houston to seven games last year, right? Because you're able to get that game. You play them in the 90s, right? They want to, they would love to just fly up and down the court and be out in open space. And we'll see how much everybody adjust to it. But so when you get to these teams that are uncomfortable and are at their best flying up and down the court.

And there's a lot of teams that want to play like that. They are, you know, they're going to be the matchup you don't want to see because they're doing the we run a play, you run a play. And they've got Chris Paul who could get to the friggin elbow anytime he wants. And then they've got these other guys flanked around him. I just, I don't know. Like it's. And like I said, I think, I think, you know, we mentioned it in passing. But there were instances in that game where DeAndre Aiton had, you know, Morant.

on a little bit of a switch. And he did not get the ball delivered to him. And that's happened for quite some time now with Booker and Ait and where those guys, they have an average connection, but it's not a great connection on the court. And that's something that I would want to see developed over the course of the season because DeAndre Aitin is a very talented player.

And he deserves some credit this season for sacrificing offensive touches and giving more effort, even more effort on the defensive end of the floor. He still makes some mistakes with reading the floor. floor when it comes to off ball situations on defense, but on the ball and in pick and roll, I've been really, really impressed with what he does in the defense event and offensively, he's doing what he needs to do. It's a, you know, clean up guy, not getting as many touches, not getting as much as many

scoring opportunities, but he's done his job well and it's contributed to winning. The sons, despite the loss, are still over 500. They look like a good team overall. They're going through some growing pains. To grow through this, they got to find Aiton into situations that they got to, find him. They got to see him. Booker took too many shots as if he was kind of trying to shoot through his struggles

instead of passing to help somebody else who had an advantageous position on the court. And... Well, not to mention, he was going up against a 6'4-7 Xavier Tillman the whole game because exactly, Jonas Valentinus is out for safety protocols. Absolutely.

And I think you saw the difference between the two. Booker made some plays that contributed to the loss. John Morant, he will always make the highlight reels for his big dunks and some of his clutch shots, but he had the sequence last night where he had the kickout pass for three to Grayson Allen. Next play down the court from Memphis, he attacked the basket, had the left foot, left hand finish, and he sprinted all the way back on defense and drew a charge. That sequence to me captures the essence of Jabbarant.

He is more than just a highlight reel. He's a winning player. He makes winning plays all the time. And that's his second game back from the ankle injury. You know what I mean? He's so fun. He and that is, the Grizzlies have won five games in a row and they have done that without the services of like last night it was Valentinus, but they have not, Jaron Jackson Jr. next, I guess next up coming back is Justice Winslow, who we have never seen in a Grizzlies uniform, and then Jaron Jackson Jr. after that, and they'll have their whole squad together. But when you were talking about,

about having depth during this time. Yes. It is, I mean, when you've got guys like Tyos Jones and Brandon Clark and Grayson Allen and guys that can play. You know, a lot of talent. That come off the bench. But Morant is, obviously, I get to see him in person all the time. I mean, he is a bona fide superstar.

He is the guy that with five minutes left in the game, three minutes left in the game, It's like, okay, you've got your guy. Memphis has this guy and he can get you home. And he does it over and over and over again. You cannot keep him from getting to the rim. So this week for the void, the video that we're going to be doing is about the gruce. Yeah. So.

Oh my goodness. It's going to focus on like the other guys on that team. Because I think with Memphis, what's different about them is Jha goes without saying this guy is a blossoming star. He's a winning play. and, you know, just, he's also just a load of fun to watch. I love to watch John Moran play basketball. But also, you look at a lot of young players in league history that are good. They don't always have great situations around them.

I mean, you can look right now. Atlanta with Tray Young, there's chemistry issues there. Zion with the Pelicans. Zion does not play a look at defense. John Morant is in a situation where he does it all and he has support of team. means like this Memphis roster, it's young, but all these guys fit. Like, they fit together. And to me, that creates a very healthy developmental situation for all of them. Like, this is a young roster. They're not going to win a championship right now. But I could see a lot of these young

guys, a Brandon Clark, a Grayson Allen, Xavier Tillman, a lot of them growing into the type of players that you want to have on a championship team that support stars. How many guys right now, are playing minutes and contributing to winning from the draft. You were dead on about Desmond Bain. Like they nailed the draft. He's so good, man. Desmond Bain and Xavier Tielman. Now, the Xavier Tilton thing,

there's extenuating circumstances because, I don't know how many people know this, Xavier Tilman, who people might have seen against Philly, stayed on Tobias Harris, and Tobias Harris ends up stepping out of bounds. Oh, that was amazing. And the Grizzlies win the game.

He started at Center yesterday. He's a rookie out of Michigan State. He has looked the part the second he has walked on the court as a rookie. Part of that is because he just celebrated his 22nd birthday like two days ago, three days, whatever, last week. I mean, bro, he's married with two kids and lives in the suburbs. That's a man. He is a man.

Married with two kids and lives in the suburbs. He's a rookie. also interestingly enough when I say he was married, his best man, Jaron Jackson, Jr. I mean, you don't find this all that often, right? Such as strange. So there was a little bit of extenuating circumstances with Tillman and getting him in the fold. But they have had two rookies that have come in and they're both good already, which is crazy.

It's wild, man. It's crazy to have two rookies. Zach Climman, the GM. there in Memphis. Like he's just straight up good basketball players. Like these guys are already good when they entered the league, ready made, you know. Yes. And they're only going to get better over time too is they adjust the speed of the game,

physicality of the game and all that. And they improve their own skills as well through training. But that's what I mean. Like Memphis, John Morant is the star there. He's the reason why you turn on your TV. You tune in on league pass. But ultimately,

this team is a roster full of players that I'd love to have. if I'm building a championship contender route. Like this, this roster's strong, man. Don't you feel like this is unusual? They don't have, they don't have, they don't have players

that they bring in the game that you go. And I remember this is true of the Spurs for so many years where you watch the game and they bring in the guy and you go, that guy sucks.

Even, even Conchar. Oh, I know. It was like an analytics darling. That's right. An analytics darling. No, he can play.

Yes. He can play. I mean, it's just kind of crazy looking at the names in this roster. Even Brandon Clark, he can contribute without a reliable three-point shot. Get on board, Kevin, it's happening. So, oh, by the way, I saw your Instagram post yesterday.

You were at the game with your son. He first 11th birthday. Yeah. What was the feeling like when Jammarand was having that run at the end of the game? What was the excitement level at? I mean, all right. So for those that didn't see,

I posted about this. So there's very few. games that I have missed over the course of the last 20 years. I could probably count them on two hands, no lie. One of them was, and I remember this because as I was in the hospital, there was a TV in the hospital, and I was keeping track of the Grizzlies played against the Phoenix Suns and Steve Nash during the seven seconds or less era. They actually won that day. And I remember thinking, and this is meant to be, and my son was born. And 11, so that was 11 years ago yesterday.

And so for his 11th birthday, and of course, this has all been, you know, it's been very, very difficult. Like, the pandemic has been very, very difficult on kids. And so I was so happy that yesterday I was going to be able to take him to the game with me. And he did go on his 11th. for his birthday, I was absolutely petrified that the game was going to get postponed. You know what I mean? Because it's one of those things where it does mean more. It's not just a basketball game to me yesterday, right?

This is like he's going to get to do this for his birthday. And so he went yesterday and watched a game. And about maybe two minutes left to go, I mean, he is absolutely crestfallen, just down it out. like because they're going to lose and you know he he he has the emotions of a child right they're going to they're going to lose and he's so he's so upset about the whole thing and then when morant puts on the show he finds grason allen to three in the corner he hits the he hits the scoop lay up with his left i mean it was it was a moment that i will never forget for the rest of my life no it was it was special because of all the games for

that to be his 11th birthday, there's probably, I don't know, God, I don't, maybe 200 people in the arena. And I was able to get him in so he could go and see that game. He saw, you know, his favorite player take over a game that was, they were surely going to lose. It felt like with two minutes left to go. And so, yeah, like, it's one of those things. And I know, you know, not to get too deep here, but like you talk so much, especially when you were going through everything with your father and how, and you even said in our last show about you watching those Patriots games for so many years and it just hadn't felt the same anymore. And there was like, like you and I, part of the reason I think we've gotten along so well for so many years is you and I both had that same life experience of being so close with our fathers. And those sports moments, you know, were such a connection, you know, to that. And I felt that with my father for so many years. And just to get to have that yesterday,

right? And just that it's like 11 years ago, I'm in, I'm in a friggin hospital with him being born. And you never know the way life's going to play out. But now 11 years later, we're in the arena watching the same teams play against each other under these crazy circumstances because we're going through a pandemic, but I've got an 11-year-old that lives and dies with it and is wearing his John Morant jersey, as John Moran takes over that game. I mean, you can't. There's no dollar figure you could put on that, man. You really can't.

You can't put a dollar figure on that because that is, that's, to me, that's what life is all about, you know, like that moment. I don't want to get too emotional here, but, like, you know, you think about these moments that you have with your own father, right? Like, we get so caught up and so much else going on. But, like, for it to, I'm lucky, man, 11 years from the day he's born and he's in that arena that I wasn't in. And the only reason I wasn't in there is because he was born.

You never know what the kid's going to like. You know, you hope that your kid's going to be a sports fan. He's going to care about what you care about, whatever. But, I mean, for him to turn 11 yesterday and have all that play out at the same time, it was, it was pretty overwhelming, honestly. It's pretty overwhelming. That will go down as one of my favorite games of all time. And it's one that it's not going to matter to most people.

It won't matter in the grand scheme. You know, in the grand scheme, it thinks what? It's like the 13th game of an NBA season. What does it matter? But like, it's one that I'll never forget for sure. No doubt about it, man. Those are the moments that make life special. And those are the moments that have to be cherished.

Like when I saw your post last night, It was like before I went to bed, I'm like, oh, man, that, that's amazing. They had one of those nights. One of those. They had one of those nights that they're going to remember forever. You know, Chris is a dad and William as a son. And, you know, those are the moments that I'll cherish forever that I've had with my parents, you know, in different ways going to concerts with my dad or going to sporting events or

whatever it might be, you know, or, you know, going on date trips with my mom and my dad, like, whatever walks that we've been on, like, you know, there's certain moments that are like, oh, this is just a good day. and days like this on his birthday, you know, because everything about it. Against the same team. Kids having birthdays, everybody that's a parent that's out there, knows this.

I mean, like, it's just, those are things you don't necessarily think about. And I'm like, man, how can a birthday be good? You know what I mean?

You're inside with your family all the time. You know what I mean? Like, it's not like he's getting to do everything a kid normally does, you know, and I'm not, I'm not crying over that, that the whole world's having to go through it, right?

but I was glad that, you know, he was able to, he was able to go yesterday and at least have a good birthday. Yeah, for sure. Because this is all sucked. Yeah. It's so great. I mean, during this freaking pandemic that we're, and I can't wait till her out of this, this crap. And, you know, for him to have one day, one day, one day, with his dad on his birthday. And it happens to be an epic.

win with some really spectacular moments and I'm sure like he couldn't wipe the smile on his office face. No, that's his guy. That's his guy. John Moran is the type of player. And like I talk about this all the time. I'm very fortunate, very spoiled growing up a Boston sports fan. I watched players who made me believe anything was possible.

David Ortiz, anytime he was at the plate or even when I knew he was coming up, I'm like we get Ortiz coming up. I'd feel like the Red Sox had a chance. Tom Brady, you know, Paul. Pierce, whoever it might be. I've watched a lot of players throughout my life that made me believe there's always a chance. John Morant is one

of those players. And for any Grizzlies fan or any fan of Jha that watches him like enjoy every single moment, because there's going to be a lot of special ones. Like, then I'm glad you and your son get to enjoy those together. It warmed my heart to see that post last night. And I'm yeah, it's great. Well, I was able to, I was able to come home

last night. And obviously, I I got to see the fourth quarter, really third and fourth of the Milwaukee game. And then the nightcap, look, look, I've goofed about you being high on the Warriors. Boy, the Lakers, I remember a coach telling me one time, once your team's on 10, like they've turned it up all the way. And they're running out on somebody. And once they turn it off, bro, it is almost. impossible to get them to turn it back on. And that felt like the Lakers had, they felt like we got this game in hand and they got

caught. They got caught last night. Now, I do not think it's an indictment of the Lakers, but I do think it shows the level of fight that the Warriors have. And I will also say, I would pay, I mean, if there was like, hell, we subscribe to everything now. I got all these things. Whether Disney Plus or HBO MacLWay, you got

so much for cutting the cable, huh? If I could subscribe to watching Draymond Green miced up during basketball games, I would subscribe. Did you see this?

I'd pay a fee. I would pay a fee. The mics up segment where he is telling James Wiseman to go at Mark Gassal. I love that matchup. I love it.

When it's you, versus Mark Asall in space. I love that matchup. And then the camera pans back. And Markasol is standing next to James Wiseman. I was like, what the F is going on? It was the crazy that for anybody, that clip is going around. If you went to bed last night and didn't see it, find the clip of Draymond being miced up. And there's a tight shot of this moment with him and Wiseman, and he is saying how he loves the matchup with Mark Gassall. And then as the camera pans back, you realize Mark Gassol is standing next to him. I'm like, come on, dude.

Standing at the free throw line, right? Amazing. Well, first, when he starts the conversation, he's talking face to face with him. So you realize Mark's standing there the whole time. Like, what disrespect? It's amazing. What disrespect? He's like, I like that match up.

I like that match up with you and Marcusol. And Marcus all is like standing right there. Like I said, I mean, I'm not sure like what the NBA could charge. Amazing. But I'm just saying, like, they could charge a good amount. And I'd be willing to subscribe to that. It did. I will say this.

There's no greater curry haters than LeBron lovers. So there was a little justice in that last. night with Curry going crazy against the like that's one of those like shut the hell up games because he scores 19 they're down 19 he goes nuts he's hitting step back threes over anthony davis the one he hit to ice it was yes amazing and it's like it's like all right you guys want to keep talking shit you know what I mean like he knows and and it's like well can he carry a team look what look what LeBron did and like people hate on Curry quite a bit. And so that was one of those, that was a statement. It really was.

It's a small thing, but it's like, you can't take that away. They were, they were getting smoked, and he just put the team on his back and literally carried them to victory. You know, this is one of the reasons why I would go on state, both Draymond and Steph, why I was high on them and why I still am high on them. And with my power rankings yesterday, I had them above the Utah Jets. I heard from a lot of jazz fans, like, how could you put the Golden State Warriors ahead of the Utah Jazz? We have a better record, better blah, this and that. But, like, my power rankings are based on teams that you wouldn't want to face, you know? Like, you're ranking by how they're performing recently.

Would you want to face this team this night? I don't want to face Steph Curry and Draymond Green any night. Steph is the type of guy who can will you to a victory, even when you're down late in the game. And that's what he did last time against the Lakers. I know a lot of Lakers fans feel like the team was coached. They turned it off and they did. But you also still need to give credit to the warriors for being a resilient group and for fighting back and never letting up. And also having some moments where like there's just nothing you can do.

There's nothing you can do when Steph Curry is able to hit some of the shots that he did. And the benefit of having Draymond miced up is this realization. You know, you always see him barking when he's out on the court. You realize he truly is a coach on the court. Like, he really is. There's not that many guys like that. But not only does he direct the traffic defensively and is always doing the right thing, he is also constantly coaching the rest of these guys.

And the benefit of there is no stat that will ever account for that. Right. But you saw that. As he is miced up, you see those moments with Wiseman, right? And there were others throughout the game, and you realize what level of impact this guy has on that team and what they are going to be able to accomplish because there's a lot of, you know, it really is.

Him and Steph have the connection. Everybody else there has no connection. I mean, even Wiggins didn't play with Steph last year, right? you know, so there is no chemistry. And so you're trying to figure out chemistry with what you got on the fly to, but having that coach on the floor is of grand benefit, to say the least. For sure. And it sets a tone for your team.

And Kelly Ubre, we saw last night, some of the plays, the effort plays that he had. Like, he was playing with energy and he helped energize that group too. So I got contributions from people outside of Steph and Draymond. But ultimately, like those two guys are what. will you to victory. It's good to see a Kelly U. Bray step up. It's good to see an Eric Pascal come off the bench and have some really strong minutes

for the Warriors. I mean, they have some talent on the team. I know they're not as strong as they once were and there's some issues with how they fit the style. I know. It sucks. It sucks. There's some issues. And I'll tell you what, with Golden State for a team that's had Stefan Curry and Clay Thompson

and Kevin Durant, some of the greater shooters will ever see in our lifetimes. A lot of of the other guys in that team aren't reliable shooters. Oh, you don't. You don't say. I mean, they get to find more shooting talent as we move forward. Do you put Ubrae in that class of the Great Golden State Shooters?

Got a long way to go. Okay. Lastly, before we get out of here, and I'm mentioning this because when I clicked on their Twitter feed, I saw it said followed by Kevin O'Connor. And so you obviously have become aware of this in the last, you know, a couple days also. Oh, NBA Top Shot. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

So this NBA Top Shot, which is sanctioned by the NBA and is sanctioned by the NBA Players Association, is this digital trading cards. It is almost like combined the world of crypto and the world of collectibles, all in one. And there was a John Moran highlight that sold for $35,000 last week. Now, upon hearing this, my buddy Adam Lefko, who I love, who is going to be featured, he's on TNT every Tuesday night. I think for the rest of the season, I think he just moved down to Atlanta this week. Adam is really good. Adam is a massive collectibles guy. And so he had texted me last week.

He's like, hey, do you know about this NBA Top Shot thing? And I'm like, no, I don't know what you're talking about. and he's kind of explaining it to me briefly. And then I see this Ravel tweet and it says this John Morant highlight collectible sold for $35,000. So I text Lefco and I'm like, what in the hell is going on? I'm like, you just told me about this. What is this thing? And he goes, I was part of that deal.

I said, what? And he said, I've got a small piece in that. Wow. Like with the investment. And I'm like, well, couldn't you get me in it? or something like whatever. And so I bring Lefco on and I start talking to him about everything.

And for NBA fans out there, this thing has absolutely exploded over the last week. Cards, you know, and I think I would alert anybody you could go do your own research on this. But it is basically

that you collect these moments of NBA players, which are highlights, but they are serial numbers. And it's just like any other collectible. And so the way it would be explained is it's almost like collecting a piece of art. Right. Yeah.

It's like art. It's like virtual art or a virtual training card. And by the way, with like physical cards, you know, like baseball cards, basketball cards, a lot of people do view them as like modern day art. You know, if it's a limited print of five cards, it's extremely rare. Just like with NBA Top Shot, a limited run of five highlights is extremely rare. There will never be more. So that does make it a valuable thing.

And it has exploded to the point where yesterday their site got shut down. They were going to release some packs because that's what you do. You buy packs. You can buy the packs online and then you open the packs. And when they were going to release the packs, it got flooded so much that it moved down. And I have, I'm not kidding you, Kevin. I have never seen anything like this. And I am a collector.

And who knows if it's a bubble? I don't know where this thing is going, but I will tell you, in the spirit of full disclosure, after Lefco told me about it, I was like, hell, I'll get involved,

we'll see what happens. I bought the Morant Donk on Baines for $350. I was like, all right, I'll put a little bit of this, right? This morning,

the lowest you can buy it for is $1,250. Wow. Wow. That's wild. I have never. That's wild. I have never seen anything like,

this. And I don't know where it's going to go. I don't know. But it is, I mean, it is, it is in partnership with the NBA, the MBA, the MBAPA, and everything else. Yeah, it's a legitimate thing. You know, it's just a matter of like, is it, you know, something that like if you are investing, it is an investment. If it's something that you're willing to, you know, take that risk. You know, the people that are Bitcoin slash crypto people, they're going to be in on it. But they are so passionate about Bitcoin and crypto. Yeah. And then you take all these people that are

collectors of things. It combines both. And they're so passionate about collecting. So I don't know where it's going to go, but I just wanted to alert everybody. It's so fascinating to see how this is taken off and to see something that you, I didn't even know about,

have these incredible values within a week's time. By the way, I just want to make clear, we didn't plan to talk about this. You didn't give me a heads up ahead of time. I had no idea you're going to bring this up. I just signed up for the site yesterday. Oh, wow. Because I haven't made any investments,

haven't purchased a pack or anything like that. I plan to put a little bit in to like you buy a one pilot or something like that. But it's something that has piqued my interests more than I expected it to. Because like you said, it combines the collecting, the fun and that, but also like the cryptocurrency and, you know,

how much people are into that right now. Right. And when I'm not in on that at all, I missed that. I missed it. Well, yeah, I mean, I missed. I missed Bitcoin. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, I'm sure there will be people who say it's still early. There will be people who say that. But that's a different conversation. It said one Bitcoin was 36 grand. I was like, all right. Yes. I can't even have one Bitcoin.

You could buy like 0.0.0. I know. I can't afford one Bitcoin. I know you could buy a percentage of it. But, but anyway, with like, NBA Top Shot, I would. caution people like oh yeah something new so you know only use money that can be expendable

for this type of investment you know don't I'm not encouraging anybody to get involved I'm just telling you what's happened exactly and this is this is the interesting part for me you know when I look at it fantasy basketball will never be on the level of fantasy football it just won't no because of the way the schedule works because of the importance of a single game

because of the week off, you know, between games and the NFL, fantasy sports is perfect for football. For basketball, it is never going to be on that level. Maybe something like this, NBA Top Shot, it could never be the level of fantasy football. Like that is just on a different plane. But could this be the NBA's version of like something that's attached to the game in addition to the rise of sports gambling, where NBA Top Shot becomes a popular way for fans. to also invest their money like you do with fantasy sports, invest your time like you do with fantasy sports,

where you're trading cards, you're buying and selling cards. Like I said, I have absolutely no connection to it. I don't know anybody involved. Lefco told me about it last week. He told me what they were doing and kind of explained it to me. And I was like,

I'll get in a little bit and just see what happens. If I lose the money, if it all crashes down, then whatever. But like, I've never seen anything like it. It's just the level of passion and the growth of this thing within the last week. People didn't even know about it a week ago.

There's some, there's some crypto. I work covering the NBA every day of my life and I am a massive collector. And I just heard about it last Friday. Yeah. I have one person who works with NBA Top Shot that's been like pushing. me for weeks to sign up. And I just haven't like had time to like really investigate. And after investigating over the weekend, I'm like, yeah, why not? I'll, it's cool. I'll sign up and, you know, and see how it feels and if I like it. So we'll see. Like, you know, I think I will like it.

It's fun. You know, it's cool. And I think, you know, there's a lot of people who, who feel like, why would you, you know, want like a virtual highlight that you can see on YouTube for free? It's, it's not really about that. You could say the same thing about like, why would you want a card with a photo on it? Right. Well, because it's, you know, it's the ownership of it.

It's the ownership of it. And also, like, if it's not about the ownership of it or the art about it, it's maybe about just making money for some people, like buying and selling stocks. And there's like different ways that you can enjoy it. And ultimately, with this NBA top shot and all that, today in the world, the lines are blurred between the physical and the virtual.

You know, in video games, there's certain, you know, rare, you know, accessories that you can have or like in quality, Cullity Warzone, I can speak to that. You know, there's seasons within the game. And during certain seasons, you can only unlock certain characters or certain outfits for certain characters that you can use or certain gun blueprints that look cool or, you know, whatever it might be. And for a lot of people, they get as excited about that as they would any physical object.

Well, you know what's fascinating that you say that is because here's the truth. You're right with the card, right? So my son, one of the presents that he got yesterday was he wanted baseball cards, like football cards. So he opened up a football card. He got this jersey card of Chase Claypool. But it was numbered to 25. Oh, wow.

He doesn't care that much about. Chase Claypool, right? He's not a Steelers fan. But this moment of, oh, my God, I got this rookie jersey card of Chase Claypool number. And I went and looked up on eBay and people are selling them for like 90 bucks. Well, why is that worth 90 bucks? Because somebody's willing to pay it. And there is, it's just like anything.

Supply and demand. And the truth is the reason that these things have these values is because the market is setting it. People want it. You know what I mean? Like you, you can roll your eyes of people wanting it, but people want it, right?

And there's so many people that want it that it shut down the damn site yesterday. I can't explain why everybody, you know what I mean? But I think what they found is like people think it's cool. It's cool. It's fun to collect. People love collecting. You know what I mean?

Absolutely. And it wouldn't surprise me if this thing grows more and more and more and more. I'm not sure like to what level. Like I said, fantasy sports. I don't think I can ever. match that, but I'll, but I'll tell you what, with the way people are so into cryptocurrencies now and the way they're collectibles, increasingly more, this poll past year, I mean, it's something

that's coming out really at the right time, I think, and the potential is pretty significant for it. So I'm excited to see how it grows. Like you said, the past week plus, you know, last 10 days or so, it seems like really 20-21. It has skyrocketed in terms of the users, you know, the amount of buying and selling. There's like, there's some cryptocurrency site that I saw link. from an NBA Top Shot tweet that showed it. And it's like, you know, it's like a steady rise, then boom, in terms of the amount of users on that site. So you know what, man?

We'll see how it goes. It's fascinating. Good for you on your jaw highlight. You like that? Good for you. I've got a couple others. Are you going to hold? Are you holding or are you?

I'll tell you what I bought. I bought the jaw dunk. I bought Zion. And I bought the Lucas stepback against the clipper. Oh, wow. I've got probably like, I think I have like 26 moments. Soon you'll be on Shark Tank. You'll be a host on Shark Tank.

I hope so. Soon enough. That'd be pretty cool, huh? I hope so. Sitting next to Aeron and Mark Cuban. It'd be super cool. I love Shark Tank, by the way. Shark Tank's amazing.

It's one of the few things I watch on television outside of sports. I love watching Shark Tank. I watch it like my mom will like DVR it. Yep. And I'll like watch it with her pretty frequently. It's amazing. such a good show. All right.

That's going to do it for today's show. Thank you to producer Sasha as always. And we will talk to you on Friday. Have a good week, everybody.