The Mismatch - Boo Fest in Philly With Small-Game James, Adding More Incentives, and Witnessing the Birth of an All-Star

Episode Date: March 11, 2022

Verno and KOC begin the show by discussing the Nets' blowout win against the 76ers (01:30) before discussing Seth Curry’s influence and why he’s becoming such an important player in Brooklyn (17:42). After a five-game losing streak, the Warriors have won two in a row, but without Draymond Green, the guys are unsure whether they can make a run (28:50). As the regular season winds down, KOC mentions an idea he’s been hearing that adds incentives to the top seeds in each conference (35:12). Rookies Cade Cunningham and Jalen Green are starting to find their groove (51:19). They last give some college names to keep an eye on as March Madness looms closer (58:45). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Jessie Lopez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm Matt Bellany, founding partner of Puck News, and I'm covering the inside conversation about money and power in Hollywood. With my new show, The Town, I'm going to take you inside Hollywood with exclusive insight on what people in show business are actually talking about. Multiple times a week, I'll talk to some of the smartest people I know, journalists, insiders, all of whom can break down the hottest topics in entertainment to tell you what's really going on. Listen now. Welcome to The Mishapch. I'm Chris Vernon. And join me. He does every Friday for the rigger.com is Kevin O'Connor, A.K. Kevin O'Connor, Kevin O'Conflict, Kevin O'Campbell, Kevin O'Connorcercy, Kevin O'Connorne. Kevin O'Connor.

What a weird night of NBA games. How are you doing today? Well, I got to tell you, Kev. I know we have not discussed much this year what was, like, game of the year. That's usually something you do at the end of the season. As a season recap show, right? We look back at the past. That's right. I got to tell you, Kemp, for me, this one's up there. It might.

I think it's going to be hard to take the top spot from Nets Philly last night. All of the anticipation, the two teams that traded with each other, Ben Simmons going back into the arena, though he was not wearing a basketball uniform, did have a very nice outfit on. He was wearing, some really nice chains. It was Gap. Yeah?

Is that right? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I thought it was Louis Vuitton. Am I'm wrong about that. I've been Abercrombie and French, maybe. I don't know. Maybe it was.

So he walks in. Marshalls. Delightful response from the Philly fans. That was from the Phillie fans. Uh, Marcials? That's Marshalls, yeah. Delightful response from the Philly fans. They chanted F. Ben Simmons at the top of their lungs, booed him mercilessly.

What did the F stand for? Well, I'm, look, that is for other people decide. I think it's like I, it's like I would tell, I will tell you what I would tell my children, Kevin. The F means whatever you want it to mean. Nothing in particular. So I was asked, what does that mean? I say, it means whatever you want it to mean. It means fruit.

So Ben Simmons gets mercilessly booed. And then the home team gets mercilessly booed. They were not out of booze in this game. It was a boo-fest in Philadelphia. And Small Game James himself has. made in appearance. And the Philly fans and Joelle Embed and Doc Rivers and the rest probably all were driving home from that game last night and we're thinking of themselves, you know, they said this about him. We wanted to believe it was going to be different. It's like the girl

that cheats on everybody you get with her and then she cheats on you and you're like, oh, geez, I thought it was going to be different with me. Yeah, why did that happen? No different. Philadelphia, they put a uniform on the guy, but you can't change small game James, and Brooklyn just went in there and without Ben Simmons,

absolutely emasculated the Philadelphia 76ers. Your thoughts? Everyone on the Sixers is on notice. I saw your text to me last night, Chris. I saw your tweets. and I had to do everything in my power to hold back from responding just to keep it for today's show because I got to tell you, man, last night's game, first of all, we'll talk about James Hardin, but it's everything else that's on my mind too.

It's like, Tobias Harris, terrible defense, looks unmotivated, keeps stopping the ball every time he touches it, play your role. You're like number four in the team right now. Like, let's relax on the ISOs. Matisse Thibel wasn't defended at times, sagged off him. Doc Rivers, you get to figure that out. There was only 31 pick and rolls last night by James Harden run.

31 of them. Only three times did they bring Seth Curry into that screen using Thibel. And all year long, now for two years, really, Doc Rivers has seen teams attack Seth Curry. They do it three times last night. But James Hardin? It just doesn't make any sense.

It felt like to me the Nets looked like it's, team that had a full game plan. Steve Nash and that coaching staff came in with a plan. Doc Rivers and that coaching staff didn't. Brooklyn stars more important than anything else. Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, they come to the court hungry for blood. Whereas James Hardin,

it just seemed to me that he was like in a coma last night. André Drummond and Seth Curry, both of them came back with more heart and hustle and focus than James Arden did for Philadelphia. And as I said, 31 pick and rolls. didn't bring Seth Curry in more than a couple of times. To me, it just seemed like Philadelphia was unprepared, but more than anything else, what a major disappointment from Hardin and Embed.

It just felt like they came out flat, just hunting for files, not playing their game. What an odd game, but it should put all of Philadelphia on notice so that Brooklyn, even without Ben Simmons, they have a formula for success against you. Do you believe in the it's just one game trope? I mean, it's always just one game. in the regular season.

Even like within a playoff series, if you lose by 30 points, it's still just one game. Like you can still win a series losing by 30 in a game. You can go down 02 and everybody can bury you. I'm talking about the bucks here. And then you can come back and win the series.

The Nets found that out. It can happen. So yes, it's just one game. But when I say the Sixers should be on notice, I'm talking about all of it collectively. Like I said, stopping the ball with Tobias Harris, the lack of what for what felt like a lack of game planning

and targeting the weakest defender on the floor. It just felt strange. But with that said, though, I'm talking about the Philly side. You also have to give Brooklyn credit. Kyrie Irving was, he scores 50 plus points the other night. Last night, Thursday, he's going off on defense, playing harder than ever, fighting through skiing, staying in his stance, staying seated,

really was locked in. You could tell he came into term. Like, I'm stopping James Harden. And he did. He gave him hell. and Kyrie Irving has a reputation as like a lazy subpar defender who doesn't try hard.

That's because he doesn't try until the playoffs or in big games. We saw a preview of what the Nets are going to look like on a 9-in-night-out basis in the postseason when they are game planning and they come with a strategy and when the players have reason to go 150%. And that is also a reason for optimism

on the Brooklyn side of things since if you get Ben Simmons back and you're plugging him into the Bruce Brown roll, the Blake Griffin minutes, and you're getting, Ben Simmons doing all of that stuff. Along with that. Yes, this is why I thought the trade was mutually beneficial for both teams before it even

happened. We were just getting rumors. This could be great for both teams. And we get a rivalry out of it. It just so happened. The first game was a blowout. This is the moment for Hardin to step up and, you know, validate. Validate bailing on that team.

If you are the guy that bailed on that team, that, feigned injury, that you stop playing hard for them, you know, and you got what you wanted. You ended up in the place that you wanted. This is now, to me, that's not one game. That is, everybody was built up for this. I think Kevin Harlan was saying, like, even if you sat at the very top of the top of the rafters last night, it was a couple hundred bucks to get in that thing. I mean, there was all anticipation.

We all had this game circle. And this was the proving ground. This was the, yeah, I know I bailed on you. Yeah, I didn't want to be a part of that. But now you're going to see why I didn't want to be a part of that. Because I'm now with Joe L. and B. I'm going to beat your ass. And instead just threw up an absolute clinker.

Just a nothing. Nothing. What, 11 points? Like 3 for 17 or some crap. He just looks lost, too. I mean, like, right from the first possession when he turned the ball over for Philadelphia, it just seemed like he was just completely out of rhythm the entire night. And at times, it was just self-inflicted.

It's just very strange how that can happen with James Harding. Do you think that honeymoon's over? For sixers fans, of course it's over. Because this is the one that you're not going to be able to get out of your head until there's the next huge game. Because it wasn't built up. Even though in reality, it is just one regular season game. In reality, that's what it is. But we're not robots here either.

We're emotional human beings. And this game is built up as the game. We're looking forward to this game even before that deal became official. Oh, March 10th, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and Philly. That could be crazy. And we get here. Simmons isn't playing, but we still get all the theater, the booing. even earlier in the day when he went to the team bus

and he's getting booed. It's hilarious with the crisis actors in the background. They were selling T-shirts on the side. It said certified D-Had with a picture of Ben Simmons on it. I sent you that video. The guy's walking around, he's going certified D-Head, and he's got a Ben-Simmons on the shirt with nuts hanging off of his head. And a kid, a guy walks up to him,

and he's like, do you have a kid small? I'm like a kid, small. It's hilarious. It's so good. All that pops and circumstance. Yeah, that doesn't exist outside that arena. Every single game. Sure.

Everything was built up for this moment. Yes, everything was built up to it. And then for the Sixers to fall flat on their face, the way they did. Obviously, that is going to stick with you. And I think that's why I say from Philadelphia, this team is on notice here. They're on notice, and it's about the rest of the season maximizing who you are and what you can become. It just seemed to me that last night, more than anything else, it just seemed like a team that was going up against a team that was very prepared, very driven, versus a team that wasn't and that wasn't prepared. More than anything else, that's the way I come away from last night's game.

Because we've seen Hardin do this before. We've seen Embed have these nights where he's only scoring from the free throw line. That happens. But it just so happened it did on the same night. But everything else to me is where it's like, you can change these things easily, but they need to. Well, and it hadn't, you know, when we talk about the honeymoon being over, you would say this is all, this is gone great for them so far. Post-trade deadline. Like there's been no signs of weakness with that team.

In fact, we've talked about like at the very beginning I talked about like they look devastating. But a lot of those games were against teams that just simply cannot. compete with them. Right? We didn't get to see the Miami game, you know, full, fully stop. No Hardin.

Yeah. That one, that one you can scratch off a little bit. So that was, even though like great, you know, it's still a great victory from Miami, from a Philadelphia standpoint,

evaluating them, it's just not as valuable. Right. Very difficult to do. Yeah. And then you look at their other games. I mean, since March,

you know, they played the Knicks, we played the Cavs, and they won that game by six. They played the Bull. and played well on Monday. Minnesota 2, I think, right? That was the first one out of the break.

Yeah, I think it was. Yeah, that first Minnesota game was really good. And then they had played the Knicks again. They played a couple of Knicks games. And then I dropped the maxi video. Yeah. In terms of like the top teams, though, you know, we were take the Miami game we didn't get to see.

And clearly, you know, I know Chicago's records really good, but Chicago has not been the same team for a while now. No. People have been able to pick them off. And so I don't know, man. I looked at that game, and I'm thinking,

you get your ass beat by 30 points on your home court, and that's without Ben Simmons. There's no question that last night made me feel differently about Brooklyn. Because I thought, okay, this is high states. This is a motivated, you know, this should be no lack of motivation for either of the teams. And let's see.

And the way they came out there, you think about that in terms of the playoffs. Like, what happens when you do have that, like, laser-like focus that teams do? When you feel like this is more than just your regular run-of-the-mill regular season game, and that's what made me think about Brooklyn differently. I watched that and went, holy shit, when they get Ben Simmons, this is a big problem for everybody. And the thing obviously is you got all these good teams

in the Eastern Conference. The playoffs are going to be absolutely unbelievable. When you have that amount of good teams, you're going to have long series. And if the series goes long, and as soon as you get to that do or die, I need it moment, at least test one for James Hardin in the Philadelphia 76ers jersey was an F minus. Can I count on you when it matters most? And you're not going to be able to get that feeling away until you do it.

until you do it when it matters most. And so I really thought that him running the stairs at the arena the other night was going to help with this. But I don't know, maybe it tired him out. After last night's game, I saw Hardin was at a party with Little Baby and Travis Scott. Was that real? I think so, right? Is that real? Or is this some misinformation on Twitter?

I mean, he celebrated all the time. But was actually a video from like four years ago or something like that. Look, it could be, it could very well be. He's done that in big games before. He had that, he vomited all over himself in the playoffs. And then remember he went to the strip club and they were all chanting MVP for him after his team had gotten ousted for the season. And there's always the numb nuts online that would be like, don't make a big deal about this. Anybody that has a problem with that, you know, what?

You guys are supposed to live his life? I don't want guys that. I feel like don't care as much as I do as a fan. And so for players of teams that I am a fan of, if we get your heart ripped out and the season ends, I don't want to see my guy partying that night. I just don't. How about, you know, my mom is.

Because I'm not partying that night. I am in a deep depression. And so people can say, well, the fans shouldn't care that much or whatever. That's bogus. you invest so much into this, and it does matter to you that you don't, if I'm not feeling great,

I don't want anybody else to feel great, especially not. Well, what you just said made me think about when I was younger, when it was Saturday night and everybody else was out having fun going on dates,

and I was home playing video games, you know, watching movies, listening to music. My mom would say, I'm glad you're not out partying, Kevin. So, you know, similar thing here, Chris, you're saying you'd rather James

be home playing video games, not out partying. That's all you're saying. You just want you care about it's safety. That's it. That's all of this. And here's the point. Whether or not that's a real photo or a photo from some time ago,

it could absolutely be so. I don't know. I don't know. Regardless of that aspect of it, Philadelphia, the basketball, for basketball reasons, they have a lot of work to do. And I thought also one of the other things from last night's game,

Maxie offensively two of seven, only four points. It's a disappointing night for him. We've talked about it sucks losing Seth Curry. I mean, you're going to do it to replace him with James Harden, but you saw the value of having Seth Curry replaced Joe Harris in that Brooklyn offense in last night's game. We saw Seth Curry attack off the dribble out of isolation. We saw him run pick and roll.

We saw Kevin Durant get trapped in the pick and roll, hit Nick Claxton, who has a target in Seth Curry in the corner, who is one of the best shooters in all of basketball. We saw him off ball. We've seen him in handoffs and every single action, and we're seeing the value of Seth Curry on offense broken because not having Joe Harris, granted, you know, he couldn't shoot well in the postseason last year. The idea of Joe Harris at his best is critical for a team. You need to have knockdown shooting. And I think in last night's game, we saw a good example of what Seth Curry can be in the postseason for Brooklyn, especially there are certain occasions Max is going under screens. It blows my mind some of the game planning decisions that went into Philadelphia last night. I just don't get a lot of it.

Well, and on the Harris front, you're talking about he wasn't able to make a ton of shots last year. But sometimes with guys like that, especially when the lion's share of the scoring is going to be dependent upon other guys, just having somebody that you have to honor 30 feet away from the basket gives those guys the requisite amount of space to operate. And so no matter whether Joe Harris is over 1,000, nobody's leaving him. You're not leaving him open. And so just somebody that can space the floor like that, and Curry does fit that bill, you know, to your point, Curry fits the bill of he's four. You have to guard him. 44% from three in this entire career is one of the best shooters in all of basketball. Yep.

Unbelievable. You can't leave that guy. You just can't. I mean, you could, you could make the argument. Actually, I'm not even going to say it is an argument. It's not an argument. Seth Curry is a better player than Joe Harris. He's a more versatile.

player. Harris is the guy who is an elite off-ball shooter. He can move without the ball. He can cut. Seth Curry can do all of that, and he can run a pick and roll for you, and he can isolate. He can do stuff off the dribble without needing anybody to create or pass to him. He can score on assisted, whereas Harris is more he feeds off of others, and that's not necessarily a knock against him. Every player's different, but Seth Curry just brings more to the table and makes Brooklyn a more dynamic half-court offense with the things they can do. And give a lot of credit to Steve Nash.

I know you're busting up Doc Rivers a little bit for that game plan, but on the other side, Seth Curry and Kyrie Irving out there to smaller, slighter, guards. You shouldn't be able to play the defense that they did last night. You shouldn't. Not with those two. That should be able to be targeted.

You've got to give credit to Andre Drummond, too. Drummond's playing great basketball for Brooklyn, man. They needed a big. They really needed a big with size. And I'm impressed with what Drummond's done. I really am. Like he's had his ups and downs. You know, people think he's a star and people say he's overrated.

But he's really settled into, I think, a good place in his game. He was solid coming off the bench for Philadelphia. He looks great in that starting lineup with the Nets. I don't know, man. I think that Drummond acquisition will look back come playoff time when he's battling against an Mbid or Yannis and we're going to say

oh yeah, he wasn't just a throwin. He was actually a critical component of this deal. It's very good point because with guys like Drummond and this does happen. We saw it with Dwight for a minor amount of time during that Lakers year. And Drummond's better now than

Dwight was in that year in terms of talent. It's just hard to recalibrate, especially dependent upon what the guys get paid. If you think of him as a role player, he's outstanding. And that's what he's suited to be, and that's what he is.

He's not a guy that's going to be ever leading the team in field goal attempts. He's going to be out there. He's going to be rebound. He's going to be a big body. You know, the guy has always been able to rebound. And he's not going to have the ball a ton. And so just play the role. And if you recalibrate and think of him like that,

really good role-playing center. Really good role-playing center. He's just not a star. No. And if he is a star, your team's going to stink. And we'll see what happens once Simmons returns, how they work these lineups out. Are we going to see Simmons just slide right into Bruce Brown's spot?

And they roll with Simmons, drummond, Durant, Irving, Curry. I wonder what the configuration is going to be. I mean, the benefit for Steve Nash is with his group of bigs, Claxton, Drummond, Aldridge, Simmons, you could say sometimes is a big. He's a big in the halfboard on offense a lot of the time. He has so many different combinations of guys that he can play. And, by the way, Kevin Irons, like seven feet tall. So you can play so many different lineup combinations that change the complexion of what your team is, whether it's we're switching every screen or whether it's we're going to play drop coverage. like they did it a lot of the time last night against Philadelphia's pick and rolls.

They can just play so many different styles that to me, when I think about the nets and what they can be in the postseason, if you get full-time Karee, and if you get a fully healthy Ben Simmons, the flexibility and the range of options Steve Nash is going to have for his lineups, that could be a separator in a playoff series regardless of the opponent you face. And that's something that I'm keeping in mind when it comes to, you know, seasons over. who's going to win the NBA finals is the amount of flexibility the Nets have. Let's talk about James Hardin's game last night a little bit more if we can.

I just looked at the clock on the recorder. I'm like, we're 23 minutes in. Can we just talk? I'm like, we're like 23 minutes at the Sixers' Nets. Did you feel, did you? What more is there to say? Did you feel like he was personally flinging feces at your head during the game?

No, why? No. Because, I mean, like, Because I love his game. Because I supported the trade. Yes. Because I was 100% right about Philadelphia's game plan to get James Hardin. You're waiting instead of trading for Harrison Barnes and Buddy Heald.

You would say you're a hard and believe. CJ? Wouldn't you say? I am 100% a hard unbeliever. Did that, did that possibly? Let me, let me, let me, let me, wait a minute, man. I should, when I say I'm 100% of heart and believer, I don't mean that I rank him in terms of belief ahead of like a bunch of other players.

And if I like I believe in him and what he can be because we've been through through this so many times. I'm like we've been through it with great. I'm just buzzed the balls. I know, I know. But I'm just, I'm just saying. I'm just saying. I just buzzed balls.

People said Alex Rodriguez couldn't win. People said Peyton Manning couldn't win. And not that Hardin's in that class of a, of a player. But like, are you intimating that James Hardin should do an immense amount of steroids? Is that what you're into making? Remember when Peyton Manning had like that package delivered to some Florida? Like his wife takes it up or something. Why does nobody care about stuff like that?

People hate Tom Brady for like allegedly deflating footballs, which he didn't do. The NFL, that look into the thing that was posted earlier. It's a joke. We already know that anyway. I think a lot of... Hey, it's steroids delivered to his house. I think a lot of people wrote it. off because people know or it has been said that it makes your, it makes your cranium bigger.

And no one ever accused Peyton Manning of having a big cranium. No. No, never, never, never. Nobody has ever said Eli Manning and Peyton Manning had big foreheads. Nobody ever said that. There wasn't a website Manningface.com that I used to go to. There was. There was a website Manning Face.

If I go back and look is the GoDaddy owner, Kevin O. Connor? No, I used a burner account at the time. The site actually still exists. I just went to ManningFace.com. There's six pages of images of Peyton Manning and Eli Manning. Just making like sad faces after the Patriots. Wait, it whooped Manning's ass in Indiana. But

Manning's things. Unfortunately, there's no photos of Eli Manning losing a Super Bowl though. Unfortunately. No. No. There were only two games going on last night. The second was a good Warriors win against a weary Nuggets team. Now, there's been some speculation that this was bad deal for the Nuggets. If you look at their schedule, the amount of games they played in the days. And then Michael

Malone came out afterwards. And he said that he expected that the majority of their traveling party got to bed at 4 or 4.30 a.m. the night before, I guess he was, you know, he was teed up to say, hey, this is a, this is a weary team. This is, this was not the level of performance that people have seen recently. And so I guess you can decide there's reasons or there's excuses. And one of the reasonings or excuses given was, hey, it's a weary team, but a lot of games. in a short amount of time, and they caught up to him.

Do you think that that is fair, or do you think that that unjustly takes away from a really good win for the Warriors? I think both things can be true. Okay. It was a good win by the Warriors. They showed resilience down the stretch of that game. Jordan Poole continues to have some major performances off the bench for that squad. Andrew Wiggins, not back on track yet,

but I mean, you hope Draymond Green comes back and solves a lot of those issues. But it's also true for Denver, they did play four games and five nights. Yoghage had 43 minutes, 35 minutes, 35 minutes, 32 last night, and looked like he was 100% running on empty, especially towards the end of that game. So I think for Denver, it is a legitimate reason

for the fatigue and the poor play down the stretch of that game. But at the same time, though you also have to give credit to the Warriors. Jonathan Kamaga had another strong performance. I don't know. I think with this Warriors team in, I'm curious about do you think Draymond

Green can come back and solve all of the concerns people have had in recent weeks with them right now with Clay not being quite clay. Andrew Wiggins has completely fallen off a cliff. The young guys sometimes are making

mistakes. We saw that Steve Kerr, bite last night with Kaminga. Like, we don't do this with the Warriors. Do you think Jemann can solve all of that? What percent? Is he 100 percent? Yeah, let's just assume he's Draymond Green.

He's Jemont Green? Yeah, same guy we saw earlier than the year. Let's assume that. He solves everybody. He solves 100 100%. How they function as a team. How him and Steph function as a team.

You know, I believe he was close to plus 10 net rating player this year. And I mean, right when this happened, anybody can go back and listen to the episode, I saw them, I think Clay's second game, and we did the podcast right after. And I said, Kevin, they have to have Dreymont. It's just both ends, both ends.

They have to have him. And one of the things that really stood out to me in that particular game was that Curry has to create everything for himself and everything for everybody else. There's no other playmate. And you watch how they typically function. And that's how the team is set up. You've got a lot of guys. Do I think Clay will be infinitely better with Draymond in the lineup? Absolutely. Do I think Curry will be infinitely better with Draymond in the lineup? absolutely. And that's all that matters. It's all that matters. To me, are those two guys, like, Draymond maximizes them. And if you tell me that he's back and those two are maximized,

yes, everything's soft. You're a formidable finals contender again with him. Without him, they could lose to anybody, literally anybody that makes them. They could lose. They could lose to Minnesota like this with this team. I don't think so. You think they can lose to the wolves. Yes. I think they could lose to anybody. They're a 500 basketball team, Kev. They're mediocre. They have given you absolutely no reason in the absence of Draymond to believe that they could compete on the highest level. And I love Curry. But without Draymond, they're an average

team right now. And they have been. This is going on for a long time. He's been out since the beginning of January. January 9th. They just stacked up so many wins at that point. They were after beating the Cavs in that

first game by Clay, they were 30 and 9. Now they are 45 and 22. So they're 15 and 13. since then. Mediocre. I mean, and the sample size

is getting bigger. I just don't think they, they scare you. And so I do think it swings dramatically based upon it. Well, I mean,

and we'll see soon because it was reported by multiple people that Draymond could be back Monday, March 14th. So they have, they have their big game

on Saturday, big ABC national game against the bucks. That's tomorrow. And then, Monday against the Wizards and then Wednesday against the Celtics next week, we should be seeing Draymond Green for both of those games. Or we're going to get an idea of what he's going to look like against Chris Abbs-Rzingis.

We're going to see him defending the perimeter against Jason Tatum and Jaylon Brown on Wednesday against the Celtics. I mean, we're going to see him playing different types of roles, defending different types of guys his first week. So, I mean, we're going to know pretty soon what version of Draymond Green we're going to be getting to answer a lot of these questions we have about really the entire way. Western Conference postseason picture. No, and I think that's the swing, though.

I do think that their spectrum of outcomes goes from could get knocked out in the first round without him to I would pencil them in against the Suns as West favorites with him. I agree with you, man. And so that's the difference. I mean, you know. Yeah. I picked, I think I picked, I forget who I picked to win the finals. I had Nets Warriors in the finals at the beginning of the season.

there's a chance by, you know, the end of the playing. We're all right back to that. There's a chance. If you get 100% Dream on Green, if the mandate is listed in New York and Kyrie's full time and Ben Simmons looks awesome, there's a chance people are almost unanimously saying Nets Warriors. But we might not get that.

There's a lot of ifs I just laid out there. But there is a chance we get to that point by a month from now when the playoffs are right around the corner. Yep. So that was the game that was going on last night, and then you end up looking at the standings afterwards. And the aforementioned Minnesota Timberwolves, there are two games back now from Denver.

So we're still waiting to see, you know, whenever Murray or Porter Jr. can make appearances on that roster. But, you know, Minnesota can pile up some wins. you know, the idea that they could play two games better than Denver the rest of the way is not wildly outlandish. And then that whole who gets the two versus who gets the three seed, that becomes very, very interesting. Because just imagine if the wolves did catch them and then you're looking up

And if you're Golden State, you draw Minnesota or if you're Memphis, you draw Minnesota. But that two seed that the other one got to, you're drawing the damn nuggets. Not easy. Yeah, it's not easy, man. I mean, the opponent. It's tough. And this is why in my article on Monday, I put the thought in there about, you know, should we, should the NBA allow the top seeds to select their first round opponent? Because if you think about the NBA right now, there's incentive to be the worst.

You get 14% lottery odds slightly better for the top four picks than anything else. So incentive to be the worst to have the best lottery odds. There's incentive to get into the playing for the pelicans. You might get Zion back late season. You're still competing, still pushing. There's incentive to get the sixth seed rather than the seven because you're a postseason lock. There's incentive to get the four seed or higher because you get home court advantage. But other than home court advantage throughout the playoffs, there's really no incentive to being the one seed or even the two seed.

And you, in fact, there is 99% of the seasons. There is. Well, yes. The worst teams are seven and eight. Yes, exactly. But not always. and doesn't increase the incentive, though. You say that, Chris, and it's 100% true.

You're right. More often than not, even if in the history of basketball teams, the one seed could have chosen their opponent, they pick the eight seed. More often than not, you're right. However, there are instances like this year where do you really want to be the one seed or the two seed in the east, or would you rather be the three seed?

You don't change everything for one year, though. No, it's not just about one year. It's about creating incentives. Like I'm saying there's incentives to be the worst. There's incentives to avoid the play in. There's incentive to get into the plan. The incentive down the final stretch of the season could be if you get the one seed, you get to choose your opponent in the first round of a playoffs.

That could be your incentive to fight for that one seed, not to avoid the one seed for any particular reason. Being home court the entire time is a way more. What? it is a way bigger deal than your first round opponent you get to be home court every series that you play in which is a great it is no incentive for the one seed you get home court in every series you play

that is an incentive but again huge I mean how huge I mean there's a game seven at home of course that's big I mean but all I'm getting at, like, you might not like the idea specifically, but I'm just saying the idea of incentives for all teams. I would say it is incentive box. It's a big, so, so if you're the heat, let's say you're the heat in that one seed right now. You'd rather be locked into the one than have the three and avoid the nets entirely. Well, there's going to be years in which

your draw isn't advantageous to you as it would be playing other times. teams. And that's what I'm saying, like, you always make it advantageous to the ones. They get home court. You're fighting the entire season. You're making, you're making having the best record even more important is what I'm saying. Like, you're getting to choose your first run opponent. You are also getting home court advantage. It just makes it more meaningful. So down the stretch of the season, you are 100% fighting for that. It's just something that people have been talking about recently around Lee because of the unique circumstances of this year. it is a weird season.

You have this Nets team that feels like a one seed that could end up being the seven or the eight. And in a situation like this for the NBA, it would just be an interesting wrinkle if the heat had incentive to 100% hold on to that one seat down the stretch of the year because it would mean, no, no, no. They're not in a position where they're going to be facing the Nets. They're in a position where they get to avoid the Nets and choose whoever they want to choose. I mean, it just makes it for an. another incentive down the stretch of the season like the playing has made things better for teams in the middle. An incentive at the top could make things more interesting for the teams at the top rather than just, oh, they get home court. You know what I mean?

Yeah, I didn't hear. I didn't hear anybody complaining about it when Phoenix said to play the Lakers last year. I don't know. I mean, it's not something I thought about much last year, but it's something that's come up recently in conversations with people around the NBA, which is why I've been thinking about it more often. Last week, I was talking with a handful of people about it after it came up in some conversations and mostly every executive I talked to was like, hell yeah, I think this would be great because for the exact reason of creating incentives. Because a lot of teams, I mean, you care about home court, but you'd rather, you care more about the opponent you're facing in the first round. You talk to teams in the

enemy, they're always straddling for standings and matchups. But why not, why not just make it so, oh, if you're the best in your conference, you get to choose. And that also makes it more difficult for everybody else to straddle on the standings and say, oh, we're going to lose this game intentionally because we want to face the Blazers in the first round, like the Nuggets did years ago when they lost that game to Portland. So wait, does everybody get to choose?

I mean, you could do it different ways. You could have it as the one seed gets to choose, or you could have the top three seeds get to choose. I'm not figuring out the specifics here on this podcast with you, but it's like you could do, you could do different things that, and also that sparks rivalries.

Yeah, but then I'm saying if the one seed gets to choose and you just leave it at that, then what if they take the seven? And so now the two seed, who are they playing? You're just moving that around and then who's the three play? I mean, they could shift all around just like that. Or you can have the top three choose. You're not a fan of it. No, I like.

You wouldn't like to see John Morant go on TNT and say, we're facing the Lakers. You wouldn't like that? No. Like, let's say the Suns chose the, I don't know, the wolves in the first. round. You wouldn't want to see John Morant and the Grizzlies choose the Lakers. I'm fine with them. Spark and rivalries. I'm fine with them. You play 82 games to figure this stuff out. I don't need you picking at the end who you're going to who's going to be your opponent. And then what about the next round? It screws all that up too. You know, we're just talking about that's just first round opponents.

What? They get to choose their opponent every single time. I mean, you could do that. You could do that or you could you could recede. You could keep it as the bracket is what it is after the first round. I'm just floating that idea. In the end, to win a title, you've got to beat everybody anyway. First round, second round, third round, whenever. I'm just floating that idea out there to you because it's something, it's something, and for the listeners to think about down the stretch of the season,

are we going to see teams in the East try to avoid the one and two seed because they don't want to face the nets? Are we going to see them target Are you going to see that? We might not. We might not. But there is reason to get the three instead of the one or the two in the east. And you mentioned it in the West.

I don't think it's as much of a thing in the West this year at all. Do you? It's not really a thing in the West. How about the other way, though? How about the other way? How about if you're Brooklyn? I'd much rather play Philly than I would Miami. You know?

Do you trying to jockey to get that? I'm not sure what you mean. I'm saying I'd much rather play Philly. I'd rather be on that side of the bracket than I would Miami. And so when it comes down to the end of the season, am I actually maneuvering it so that I could try to draw that instead of having to draw Miami? I'm just saying, all right, I'll beat the other teams, how I beat them.

I don't know. But we want to be on Philly side of the bracket. Brooklyn just needs to win. That's their only thing they can do. they have to just win games because they right now they're the eight seed they're two games up on charlotte and atlanta no i know i'm talking about at the very end i'm talking about it the very yet oh like if it's really close and they yeah it's seven and eight and you know they can control their destiny yeah there's gonna be a lot of teams but if you're

but if you're seven and eight it doesn't make a difference if you're seven and eight all it you just win one game and you're in as the seventh seed well there's gonna be there's gonna be teams usually do this at the end of the season anyway. And if Miami wants to lose games right now, they can lose games right now. They can. Nobody's stopping them from doing that. I mean, it could be the two seed that ends up getting screwed against that. I know.

We could get. I like this. I like that everybody's got a jockey. I promise you this, if Golden State and Memphis, they're tied right now. You're tied at the end of the year, and Denver somehow dropped to seven. And Minnesota's six. man, you don't think both of them would be trying like hell to lose so they could get to three? Yeah, but like that's what I'm saying.

Like you don't want teams trying to lose to get the three. You want them trying to win to get the one or trying to win to get the two. You want them trying to win. You don't want like, why would you want the Grizzlies or Warriors to be? The flip side could be so. The flip side could be true also. If Minnesota stays at seven, now all of a sudden you're trying to win like hell to get too. I'm just talking about the very

end. Yeah, but you should always be trying to win like is what I mean. Like that's creating incentives to try to win. That's what I'm saying. You should always be trying to win. That is trying to win. I'm getting you a Blazers jersey. Let's let's let, can we

when I say like you know what I mean by Chris so we don't need to go through it again. Like when a team tanks they are trying to win. That's trying to win. You should always be trying to win. So are these teams. Exactly. You're trying to So you're getting moralistic about it now? Yeah, from the NBA standpoint, why would you not want teams fighting through the 1C?

I just, like, I'm surprised you don't, you're not into it at all. I just don't want teams picking who they play. You play 82 games to figure this stuff out. The draw is the draw. You're going to win a title. You've got to play everybody anyway. To your credit, I think I'm thinking in a world in which there's already an in-season tournament. I guess in my head, I'm thinking about what,

is the new NBA calendar going to look like? And I think if you're, if you are installing an in season tournament, I guess I'm thinking in that mindset of like, what's the new NBA going to look like when we do have been in season tournament? As we change everything and change the meaning of the regular season and what it is in terms of the first half, kind of like determining the in season tournament, the midyear trophy that you get, the latter half of the regular season, what does that mean? I'm kind of thinking in that mindset to be, to be clear here. What does the new season? doesn't look like. There's a bunch of these teams that they're going to have to employ their math guys to figure out how they want a jockey at the end of the year. And while it seems as if,

you wouldn't like, one set, one last thought here. What? You wouldn't like the heat having to choose the Raptors in the first round and Scotty Barnes three years from now when the Raptors are the one seed, all the battles they'd have against the heat over the years, three years from now, Toronto, they're the ones on the flip side saying, we choose Miami in the first round. round, that would be so damn cool, man, in terms of creating rivalries and authentic, you know, between fan bases, the back and force you'd have. If teams had a choosing opponent in the first round, the slight that would be against those teams, I don't know, man, like, I think some of the, there are no chance.

I don't know who you talk to on the phone about this. There's zero percent chance, zero, zero, that that would get support from owners and GMs. Because if I choose you and then I get beat, I'm losing my job. End of story. End of story. If I choose you, if I handpick my opponent and lose, I'm getting fired. I'm telling you, man. And nobody is going to vote for that.

Nobody. A lot of executives are into it. No way. Maybe not GMs. Not GMs. Yeah. You know what? The assistant GMs all.

because they're going to get the job. So talk to all them. Everybody else, hey, everybody who's not the decision maker, all those guys, they're into it. Because it's like, what the fuck do I care? If we lose, I get the job. You can't be picking people, handpicking opponents, and then lose. But it can also save your job, too, though.

Huh? But you could save your job, too. Definitely. Good. I don't think you, if you handpick your opponent, you better win. I don't think players would like it either. I don't think players would like it either. You know who would like it, though?

A lot of fans. Maybe. A lot of fans. But I think... And fans like it. That leads to more viewers. It leads to more money in people's pockets. And you know who likes that?

Everybody. No question. People like money. It seems as if we're going to... We've got the 10 teams in the West. It's just a matter of what position they're going to be in. What are the chances Washington does this? And if they do, is it Charlotte or is it Atlanta?

I think Charlotte would be most susceptible. Has to be Charlotte. They're most susceptible. Like, what if Porzingis swings this? Like, if they add him and they win enough down the stretch that right now, they're one and a half games out, you figure, I looked at Atlanta's schedule, you figure Atlanta's is going to get enough wins to just stay in it. but Charlotte, they're three and seven in their last 10.

They've been in a damn free fall since the Hayward injury. And the wizards are kind of the only ones. The Knicks are three and a half back. They're on a three-game win streak. I'm actually going to see them in person tonight, the Knicks. And they have been good recently on this West Coast Road trip. It feels like they're taking one last shot at having a chance They're getting in the play in.

They're playing the thing out. But it seems like Washington probably has the more likely, or maybe Washington and New York, you know, we should still consider in it simply because one of those teams is actually free-falling in Charlotte. I think Charlotte ends up out and one of those end up in. I don't think Atlanta falls out. Charlotte.

There's a real strong possibility of that. Yeah, but like at the same time, though, do you really trust the Wizards? You know, you're like, are you going to bet on Chris Stavs, Forzingis? To play every game in the rest of the season? I'm not ban on Chris Stabs for Zingas to play every game the rest of the season.

I mean, so with that said, if I'm picking one team, I'm picking the Hornets, and that's only because they're in a game and a half ahead of the other team right now. But I have no faith in terms of their ability to hold on to that. I'm not even sure you want to hold on to that. This is the other side of the playing, Chris. Like, will teams tank out of the playing? Will we see Charlotte say, you know what?

Do we really want a spanking in the first round? Nah, let's get higher draft lottery odds. Will we see teams tank out of the plane? I think they're going to play it out. They're going to play it out. They did it last year. I know. I think they're going to play it out too. But will they? Should they? Is that actually

for the best? Just like with the Pistons winning some games recently, is it actually for their best that they're winning games and hurting their lottery odds? It's great for Cade. It's great for Cade. He's been absolutely outstanding. I was looking this morning. And in fact, on the rookie front, I've had a couple of these guys. Kate Cunningham, Jalen Green.

Cominguez had some really good statistical nights. recently. But Cunningham, last five games, 22 points per game, eight rebounds, six assists, 46% from the field, 39% from three, 86% from the line. I mean, he's been really good. And Jaylor Green, 23 and a half points a game in his last six, you know, four rebounds, basically four assists, hitting threes at 38%. Field goal, 53%. I mean, both those guys have really done This happened with Edwards last year. You remember? It's really like late in the year.

They kind of got their sea legs and started playing. He started playing very well. Looked like a much different player down the stretch than he did at the beginning of the season. Very promising. Very promising. I think if you're a Pistons fan, you're just all in on this Cade experience.

And I think if you're a Rockets fan, the thing you're hanging on to is we got a guy who could very well be a top 10, top five score in the NBA when we look up in five years. For sure. And I mean, with the Detroit side of things, we saw Kate early in the year after he came back from his injury that held him out at the start. He had a good game here and there. And then he had two bad games. He had a great game and then he'd have three games.

Now he's having great games night in, night out, where he's in full control of the game, commanding the offense. making big plays down the stretch, just like he was earlier in the year. Earlier in the year, even on games he struggled, he'd still have some good fourth quarter moments. He just looks like he is grasping NBA offense, NBA playmaking right now. How is he only 20 years old the way he runs pick and roll

with such fluidity and command? The passes he delivers, the accuracy he puts on the ball. I think with Cade, man, we are really witnessing the, the emergence of a young All-Star here. I mean, we'll see if next season or the year after

whenever Cade first time he becomes an all-star, but we're seeing the birth of that player for the Detroit Pistons as somebody you can build your franchise around. And them winning games right now, I mean, it's like it sucks for your lottery odds, but you're going to deal with it when it's happening

as a result of Cade Cunningham being the guy that he is. Transformative impact. All he needed was Marvin Bagley to show up. It's all Cunningham needed. You know, you could draw a line between when this, the takeoff and just his presence, you know, on that roster, in that uniform, on that team that has just had a profound effect on not only Cunningham, but the organization as a whole. And they love him. And he's still very young, too.

Be interesting to see if he gets contracted the off-seats. Look, it is one of those, they got promise. They have promised. They do. They got some pieces. And so does Houston, man. I mean, like you mentioned them, both of these teams with Houston, like Jaylen Green, he's averaging 20 plus last, you know, 12, 15 games or so.

Again, just like with Cade, he just looks like he's in more command. He's creating shots still at a high level. for a young player able to create offensive. I mean, you saw him against Memphis. He was scoring. No, I take this. He generated buckets against everybody, man. If I'm them, I take, I take green, I take Shengoon.

I take Tate. I love Tate. Oh, Tate's amazing. I take those guys. I set them aside and I say, all right, now I'm going to build in the lightness of these guys. I'm looking, here's what I got is my pieces, and I'm going to build out around them, and I'm going to find guys that are kind of on the same trajectory. I'm going to have this exciting young team.

I'll flank them with some veterans. I get what I can for Christian Wood. And, you know, because he's not going to fit my timeline. Same thing with Eric Gordon. I agree. I agree. But they got, much like the Pistons thing, you kind of look and you say, all right, here's the roster in this rat season.

Now, who can I commit to? Who do I think, you know, is something I can, who could be my young core? And you got some pieces there. of guys that I think you can let grow together, get a lot of minutes together, and then kind of, you know, you get a high draft pick this year, you build around them. And then I get some solid, you know, veterans. And I'm not talking about what they're doing this year with John Wald and Gordon and Wood. And I just move off of that stuff, a lot of it.

And I say, all right, I'm going to build this young, exciting team and let these kids grow together. Because you do have talent. You do. You just got to hit the draft again. but they hit big down I also like the kid from Arizona State what's it?

Wait one more thing Christopher is that a Josh Christopher He can get some buckets off the bench for you And like with him and Jalen Green They played together growing up And like you can see some of the similar

styles with their shot creation Jailin Green's just just better And with Green Um did you feel like and I put this in my article earlier in the week. But I felt like that game against Memphis,

he was doing some Jaws type of stuff in terms of just the explosiveness, the excitement. For like Rockets fans, I'm sure they watched that like, oh my goodness. Just like you guys did a couple years ago with Jaws or rookies, he kept getting better, better, better.

They're like, oh my goodness, we might have something here. I feel like we're at that point with the Rockets and Jalen Green. The reason is it might be something. It's a very skilled guy. I said, I remember we did an episode earlier in the year, and you asked me what I thought about him,

and I told you, we're going to look up, and that guy's one of the top five scorers in the NBA. This guy can score. He can score, and he's just this top 1% athlete, despite his failures at the dunk contest. When you team up his level of skill

with that level of athleticism, troubles to defend. Yeah, and, yeah, he's got a chance to be, Very, very special player. He's got Moxie, too. He's got the swag. He does, man. He's, he's cool.

He's there for him. He's cool. Last thing, who are you going out of your way to watch in these conference tournaments or, you know, keep your track of the NCAA tournament? There's going to be Selection Sunday coming up this weekend. Who have you really? Chats is done. So, right, Gonzaga's done until the NCAA tournament.

but of these conference tournaments, you know, it's always a chance for the lights to get a lot brighter on a lot of these guys, which are the prospects that are most intriguing you as we head into this home stretch of the conference tournaments. I mean, in terms of games coming up this weekend, as we speak, we got Auburn playing Texas A&M, and they're the team that I would say because of Javari Smith,

because of not just him, Walker Kessler, two potential first-round picks on Arbor. And it's weird. I was talking with Matt Dahlinger, who's editing the draft guide profiles this year, which is launching next week. And he remarked about just how many teams have multiple guys that could be entering the first round or even the lottery,

like Arbor and Walker Kessler and J. Barri Smith. You got Duke, Paulo Bancaro, and AJ Griffin, and Mark Williams. With Kentucky, you got like a tie-tie Washington. Too bad we're not going to see Shaden Sharp. Who, by the way, Chris? Oscar! Yeah, I mean, but like Sharp, have you watched any Sharp? Like, I know he hasn't played this year for Kentucky,

but I did my deep dive on him this week. We missed out. Yeah, they say. We missed out. They say he could be like top five even if he's not playing. I think he could be like number one. Wow. Yeah, I think he could be number one.

If he, if the right team, let's say a team without, that doesn't need a big gets the number one pick. like the magic. Yep. He could go number one. I think this is a real chance, but he won't be playing this month. I love Ivy at Purdue.

I've gone out of my way to watch him. Ivy's so fun, dude. Oh, he's great. Isn't he just so much energy on the court? I love him, yeah. Yeah, he's great.

It's fun to watch too. A lot of really good ones. Give me one, since you've already thrown him together a lot of the draft guide stuff. give me one that I probably haven't seen a lot or watched yet. I know you mentioned sharp. I'll go look him up on

YouTube. How about Christian Coloco with Arizona State? Perfect. Yeah. Have not. Okay, Christian Coloco. He's a very, very intriguing 7 foot 1 center who I'll probably have ranked higher than I should. But is he French?

No, he's not. Although I am not ranking French prospects. In the top 10, no, except for Victor Wenbandi. He is my, he is my savior. He will be number one in 2020. I watched him on YouTube. Good Lord. I know, right?

He is unbelievable. Unbelievable that guy. I'm like, yo, how is this real? That guy is so awesome. How much Ted Holmgren have you watched? Do you like that? Yes. Are you a Chet fan? Yes.

I love Chet. You don't? I love it. Yeah, I'm just not sure where to rank him. I'm honest. I'm just going to be open. I'm going to be completely open about. Super high.

I'm just not sure. I know, super high, but I'm not sure if he should be one or two. Because he's a dog too. That's the thing about Chet that's different. Dude, people talk, like, they talk about Judge a Book Buy its cover. People talk about Chet like he's some weakling. Like, he doesn't battle and bust his ass and fight. People talking about him like he doesn't have heart the way they're talking about just how skinny he's like, yes, he's skinny.

It's not like we haven't seen NBA players be successful when they're skinny. Chet is a dog, like you said, man. Like, he brings it to the core. He anchors that defense. He hustles his asses his asses. And he's got the dad with the camcorder. You see that? Isn't that a cool thing?

When they pan over to his dad and in 2022, that dude's holding a camcorder in the audience, it makes me laugh every time. Like the legit old school camcorder he's got in the crap. In a day and age where everybody just holds their phone up in the air, he's got the old like it looks like a Sony handy cam that my dad used to use at my games it's the type of thing where like you can't even say oh he's doing this for the for the photo quality because that old camera from 2003 probably has worse quality than the camera phone so good so it's not just about the quality that that's that's still it's 480p it's four by three letterbox

you don't care you know actually that would be kind of cool though I think, I think, like, in terms of nostalgia, it'd be kind of cool to have, like, let's say, let's say the NBA should have somebody, I'm like, the biggest thing of the stupid ideas here. Somebody sit in baseline with, like, an old camera. Like, it's some, like, old grainy footage. Now you want to watch it old?

No, just for, like, the aesthetic. Like, we have different cameras for different things. Like, you know, the slow-mo, Phantom camera. Yeah, what? That has a different feel, a different look. You know, a couple years ago, my sister and I, I, my parents, when my, when my sister was young and when I was young, there was no such thing as like video cameras. Like there was video cameras, but it was on, it was reels because of actual film.

So, and they were like these mini ones. And the mini ones have like maybe, I don't know, four minutes, five minutes on them. And my dad, thank God, my dad was like, he's very, very, very organized individual. Every, I found a box, a huge box with about, I can't tell you how many, of those little reels in it. And they were all marked. So it would say like September, 1981, October, 1988, or whatever, right? All these little reels. And I took them to a place and got them all converted.

into DVDs. No one, we, we hadn't seen them in like, no, we never watched them because you never hook up like a, you never hook up like a reel to reel

or anything like that. And so like my baby stuff or my sister stuff when she was a little girl, like all that, like, we hadn't seen any of that stuff in like 30 years.

And it was super cool. There's no sound on it. But it was super cool. It was like the best gift I ever gave. Oh, yeah. I bet, man. I want to do that with my mom. I wish we did it many years ago before our house got robbed because one of the films got stolen in the old camera.

But we still have a lot of them. And I've been planning on getting them digitized for her as a gift. It was worth it, man. She loves to watch them. And, you know, I'm about 30 years younger than you. So we actually did have sound on our video when I was a kid. You can hear the happy birthdays being sung to me. Sometimes the throwback stuff's cool

My daughter for Christmas this year I think maybe her favorite gift Was the You know they've re-instituted these Oh they're called like Insta- Insta-Pick or Insta-Flick It's the Polaroids Basically Polaroids

Yeah well that's what I'm saying Like kids nowadays You know have some Polaroids and whatnot It's kind of in isn't it? It's like a mini It's a mini Polaroid camera right that like shoots out the whiteboarders. They even have camera apps on your phone that can kind of replicate the way certain types of photos look.

That's what I mean though. Like it would just be kind of cool to have like a vintage camera NBA baseline. If you're going to have cameras down there, if you're going to have cameras, like we don't need all the newest stuff. This is for whoever drafts Holmgren. It's Holmgren cam. And you get to view it like his dad does. Yes. four by 300 box.

Yeah. It's home green cam. I don't know. It would just be cool. If you're going to have 20 cameras baseline, let's have one of them be like a vintage camera from the 1940s. I'd be able to save a company. Let's have like a old.

Panasonic or somebody. Let's have an old Scorsese camera from the 70s. Just to get some different looks at the NBA. Why not? Kevin is always a pleasure. We are now to officially the home stretch. where these games feel like they have, in many cases, bigger stakes than they usually have in the past.

So that's a good thing. Thank you to our executive producer, Jesse Lopez, as always, and we will talk to you next week. Apologies to Greg Popovich, who could break the all-time wins record tonight, and we didn't mention them. We will talk about it next Tuesday if the Spurs were able to get some dubs. Have a great weekend.