The Mismatch - Bulls Back, Fractured Celtics, Scorching Heat, and More!

Episode Date: November 2, 2021

Verno and KOC discuss the Chicago Bulls' tremendous early returns, the Boston Celtics’ need for leadership, and the Miami Heat’s blistering start to the season, as well as some other impressive (and not-so-impressive) runs. Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Isaac Lee Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Football season is never over. The Ringer NFL show has got all your football needs covered from free agency to the draft and so much more. Check out the Ringer NFL show on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to The Mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon. Join me as he does every Tuesday from the Ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, A.K. Kevin O'Connor, A.K.K.K.O. Kevin O'Conflip, Kevin O'Brien, Kevin O'Brien, Kevin O'Brien. Kevin O'Brien. Burnout. It's Tuesday.

It is Tuesday and joining us today. one of our many producers over the years, our beloved Isaac Lee. Isaac is doing the podcast with us today, Kevin. Almost a swan song. So we have run off every producer we have ever had. The street continues. Isaac is filling in today. And upon the conclusion of this podcast, announcing his retirement.

So we have truly run off everyone, Kevin. It's one thing to just move off our podcast. Now, once he was scheduled to record us today and edit this podcast, he said, and after that, I'm done. I'm leaving. What is this, Isaac? You come to produce us today. And then you just tweet out, hey, I'm leaving the ringer.

I'm retiring. I'm sick of your shit. Unbelievable. I'm sick of. filling in. It's just kind of like a concurrent with the schedules of Sasha and a few people. I produced Bill's podcast on Sunday. Had nothing to do with the fact that I was leaving.

It was just that Kyle was going to the game, you know? Patriots game, yeah. Patriots game, you know, like it has a wonderful victory. It just happened to me that my last week was like a very busy week for my fellow producers. But I, you know what? I'm taking the opportunity. I'm doing a farewell tour. Mismatch was one of my, before he was even named the Mismatch, it was one of the,

first shows that I worked on. So I'm glad I'm glad to hear your screaming voices again for the last time. So where are you going? Everybody wants to know where you're going now. I'm sure they're like, I'm going to be freelancing, working in media a little bit, but also working back in music. Yeah, and just trying to make the whole musician thing work again a little bit. And so now you shop around to the music companies. You say, I'm the guy that did Halliluca. right? And they're like, oh, that was a big hit. You've already got a hit on your resume, right? Yeah, man, record companies, call me up.

And you say, I performed at American Airlines Arena in Dallas? I sure have, man. It's wild to think about. I can't even imagine doing it. That is crazy. Ice to ice. Ice to ice. Oh, yeah. Is that getting back together? Maybe. Who knows, man? Everything's kind of... Yeah, who knows?

Played Dear Baby Yoda. Yeah, we got to do that live at the Hollywood Bowl. Man, live and fucking tattooing. God, if we can make it work. Well, we're glad you're here for one last to Rob, man. I'm glad to be back. Appreciate it. Good luck, Isaac.

Good luck, Isaac. Kevin, we have had some really interesting stuff go on in the NBA. And the biggest story, easily, is the Chicago Bulls, who are one shot away from being undefeated. this season. A De Mardi Rosa shot, no less. And last night, we talked about last week, their very good start,

and we looked at their schedule, and we said, well, we're about to find out. And the early returns on finding out are that this does, in fact, work. And it has worked beautifully for Chicago. And last night was a bona fide signature win. They are down 19 to the Boston Celtics last night in that game. DeRosen ends up with 37. And they win by 14.

Yeah. DeRosen has 37. And look, with 224. So it's one thing to say, hey, they came back from 19. And in the second quarter, it was a 19 point margin. It is much different when with 224 left in the 30. quarter of this game, the score was Boston 96, Chicago 77. Unbelievable.

Truly unbelievable. They had 77 points with two minutes left in the third and ended with 128. I mean, it's an epic collapse from Boston on one side, but let's talk about Chicago first and kind of why this is all working so well. even despite losing Patrick Williams. We found that out on Tuesday right after we got off the air for four to six months. I mean, with this, I mean, let's first talk about De Rosen since you brought his name up saying like it could have been undefeated had it to stop him that missed shot. With him, I feel like this is the season after he spent some time in San Antonio that people are going to recognize that DeMarter Rosen has gotten even better while he was hidden on a non-playoff team in San Antonio.

The last two years was the NBA's most efficient isolation score, despite playing on a team without elite talent around him, despite playing on a team without elite, even shooters around him. Now you plug him into Chicago. He's showing what he can do with these high scoring games. The mid-range shot is more open than ever for him. He's taken some threes here and there. He's gotten even better as a playmaker than he was the last year he was in Toronto.

this dude has become a more complete offensive player than he was when he was in his quote unquote prime as an all-star with the raptors in that back court next to Kyle Lowry. DeRosen is a great overall player. Plug him next to a guy like Zach Levine who, you know, has just been absolutely fantastic. Alex Caruso, who's been one of the better defenders in basketball. Lonzo Ball, who's been one of the better defenders in basketball this season. It's crazy what the Bulls have together. at the guard and wing position. Add on everything else they got. I mean, this team,

this team seems legit, Chris. I'm a big time buyer. And one more thing to add, they're also getting those contributions that good or great teams always get from random guys. It was Dosun Mu against the Celtics coming off the bench scoring 14 points. There's different guys on different nights that are doing something good for your team. Yeah, DeRosen is a fascinating character, always has been to me, because he is more. also, I think, than any player that has been in the NBA, he is one of those guys that the media and the players have always felt very, very differently about him. If you ever talk to players about Demar DeRosen, they think, slash no, Demar de Rosen is a great player. Yeah. Right. And

the analytics revolution and the, I guess the vilification of the mid-refercation of the mid-refertilization of the mid-range game and this and that, you know, started to beat him up, the advanced numbers. And yet players would constantly tell you that their respect for DeMorosen was, you know, I mean, they viewed him like the other star players in the league and couldn't understand why people or media would downplay Demar de Rosen. And that's one thing. The other thing is, you know, one of the lessons. is in the end, sometimes it truly is a, it's a talent league.

You hear GM say that all the time. Acquire the talent, acquire the best players that you can, and figure it out. Now, sometimes it doesn't get figured out, right? But the philosophy is what you cannot go get is talent. That's the hardest thing to get. And so, yeah, maybe on paper it's not the most ideal fit, but every once in a while, you throw the talent together and it figures it out. And it sometimes figures it out when guys have either either been in the league for a long time, right? And so they have an institutional knowledge of how to play the NBA game.

And the other thing is when you throw guys together that have been busy losing, right? DeMarter Rosenz lost a lot more recently. Busevich lost a lot more recently. Zach Levine, he's tired of not playing playoff basketball. And so guys like that are a lot more willing to sacrifice. And sometimes when you throw together guys with eight, nine, ten plus years in the NBA, those guys are a lot more apt to figure it out and how to play together than throwing together. I'm trying to think of like a young combo.

Like Zion and Ingram, you know what I'm saying? Like you throw Zion and Ingram together in eight to ten years, you're going to get a much different result than throwing them together in their first five years in the league together. Hopefully Zion can still jump into orbit at that point. Understood. Understood. Maybe that's wishful thinking that you could throw him together with somebody in eight to ten years.

But the point is... So it's a loss for us if we can. This is a... These are guys that have sacrificed and have decided we are going to... make this work. And DeRosen in fourth quarters this season so far, Kevin, seven points per

game, 56% from the field, 92% from the line. Levine, 6.6 points per game, 48% from the field, 94% from the line, and the Bulls are off to a 4-and-1 start in clutch

games, which are inside five points with five minutes to play. Now, keep in mind, last season, they were 14 and 21 in those games. Wow. And so it's working and it's working best when it matters most. I mean, you mentioned on last week's show that sometimes with Chicago, it seems like maybe their offense got a little stuck in the mud towards the end of games.

And I think, you know, you always want the ball movement. You want your sets to work. But it's okay if sometimes that happens when you have guys like Zach Levine, when you have guys like DeMarre D'Rosen who can just go get you a bucket. You know, it's funny, it's so funny with DeRosen because, as you said, kind of the analytics, you know, the anti-mid-range, the mid-range is dying, which is true for a lot of players. Like you don't have big spotting up from the baseline.

You don't have them taking the PJ Brown mid-range jumper. You don't have role players, you know, pump faking on a three. Like Robert Covington is not taking pull-up twos. They're taking spot-up three. or they're side dribbling into a three and they're attacking the basket. But star players still are taking mid-range. And with DeRosen, like, utilizing mid-range,

despite that perception you're talking about, he's still been elite efficiently. Like in his three years at San Antonio, including his couple of weeks here with Chicago, he's like decimal points, decimal points behind James Hardin as the league's most efficient isolation score. Like I said,

since 2018-19, James Hardin has scored 1.157 points per isolation, Chris. And he's the king of ISO. He's the face of analytics. Demar de Rozen is 1.150, like, 0.007 in efficiency behind the guy who people consider on the opposite end of the spectrum of him, James Hardin. So, like, Demar de Rosen was that guy in San Antonio? and he's still that guy in Chicago with a heck of a lot more talent around him.

This Bulls team, their offense on paper before the year was legit scary. And it has become that in the NBA. But their defense, that has been better than expected. It really has been because of Lawndesol Ball, because of Alex Caruso, DeRosen's defending hard. Levine is carrying over what he did in the Olympics.

All of these guys together are defending hard. With that said, they do need to find some replacement for Patrick Rillian. We've talked about his importance as a big, you know, burly wing defender. They need to find some replacement for him, whether it's through trade or buyout or signing, because I don't necessarily think that's going to come from within for them. But overall, though, this team has few holes, and they're answering that defensive question people had early on this season.

Like, they're legit, dude. Kevin, one of the things that has happened is we had this whole three-point revolution, and that began this vilification of the mid-range shot. and you have teams that say this is where we want the shots to come. We don't want you to shoot at the rim. We don't want you to shoot from the three-point line. Exclusively, we don't want you shooting corner three-pointers. And so...

Take the mid-range, baby. What happened is these guys that are assassins from that range, the way teams now have to and want to defend you, it plays right into Chris Paul, it plays right into DeMar de Rosen, it plays right into Jimmy Butler. Yeah. It plays right.

There's a lot of these guys that are, that love that shot and have made a living at that shot. And weirdly, because of the way the NBA is played, and because of what defensive. is because of the numbers are telling them to defend that you are, you know, in terms of expected points, that these are available shots. And weirdly, if you have a guy that is proficient at that,

you're like, you've got a real, real weapon on offense. And some of these guys that have that, quote, old school game, it's come back around their way, it feels like. Yeah, I mean, in DeRosen, you know, in the house Michael Jordan built is now kind of throwing back to that era. Yeah. I was thinking about that watching that Celtics Bulls game. It's just it's kind of cool to see DeRosen with his style of play doing that for Chicago. I'm not like drawing comparisons to MJ necessarily, but, you know, I reported a story on a couple of years ago, you know, about DeRosen.

And, you know, he's like, I always kind of grew up watching Kobe who grew up watching MJ. I feel like, you know, I'm trying to do what those guys did. So for him to bring that back to Chicago for the first time that this team actually has, you know, their fans can actually root for maybe a team that'll go to the Eastern Commerce finals or maybe even the NBA finals. It's just kind of a cool thing that this is part of the flavor of this Bulls team. But more than anything else, though, Chris, that victory they had last night, down by 19 points. And you win by 14.

There's two sides of that. the Bulls what a tough team like we've talked about how tough they are like to have the you know the mental fortitude to battle back from that and then just crush your opponent i mean credit to them but also this Celtics team here chris you asked me last week you know a series of questions about how real their struggles are after the game last night marcus smart basically just publicly bashed jason tatem and jalen brown he said you know know, these guys are young and they're getting better. They need to be better passers. They want to score and every defense knows that's all they want to do is score. Here, I've got the exact quote right here. Every team knows we're trying to go to Jason and Jalen. I think everybody's scouting report is to make those guys try to pass the ball.

They don't want to pass the ball and that's something they're going to learn. Wow. He's not wrong, but that's something that you don't tell the media. That's something he don't tell the media. Oh, boy. Yeah, there's something fundamentally wrong with the Celtics roster. And I'll say this, you know, with Marcus Smart, I'm a personal fan of Marcus Smart. But one of the reasons why I've always been a fan of him, Chris, is because Marcus Smart has always been a guy that just drives energy.

He's been the heartbeat of the Celtics when he's on the floor and he's diving for loose balls and taking charges and doing crazy stuff. Marcus Smart would drive energy for the Celtics. That doesn't happen anymore. You know, people say a coach lost their voice in the locker room. I feel like Marcus Smart kind of lost his voice in the locker room with the Celtics. He doesn't drive energy in the same way he did before. And from everything that's, you know, reported floating out there, it seems like chemistry with him and some of his teammates isn't quite the same as it was before either.

So with Marcus Smart, man, like the value, what he's, brings to that team is diminished when the heartbeat of he used to bring is no longer there. I'm not sure if this is about him or if it's about Tatum and Brown or just the overall mix, but there's something wrong with this team, man. The personality's not there. Well, look, it's because he is attempting, and we talk about this in the playoffs two years ago. Remember when he went in there and he chucked the chair everywhere and he was furious and because he feels like he, and right or wrong,

I think Marcus Smart's heart is always in the right place. I think he cares about winning the most. That's what I believe, okay? I also think when Marcus Smart is then forced to be your team leader, now you're, that to me highlights the fact that it's not Tatum's team. It's not Jalen's team. You know what I'm saying? and you can say, well, it's both their teams.

And I'll just say this. I was ready to come in here and say, look, that's a disgusting turn of events last night that they lost that game. But they've lost a couple games this season, overtime, double overtimes, in fact. I think they've lost two double overtime games already this year, right? And, you know, those overtime games,

and, of course, you wish you'd got buckets at the end of those games, that you came up short, but two and five, and those could have flipped easy, and if they had, the sky's not falling. You're two and five right now, and it's not like you've been, you know, the only game that they were non-competitive in was the second game of the season

where they got waxed by Toronto in that strange 115 to 83 game. The other games, they've all been, competitive basketball games that they have played in until they got run out completely in a quarter last night. So I was ready to say, hey, give it time. They got a new coach. You know, they got some new players. You know, this is going to take a minute and they've played mostly competitive games until that quote came out. And I read that. That to me is infinitely more concerning than the result of last night's game or their two and five record thus far. honestly.

Why? Why? Why is it more concerning? Because he was willing to say that on a microphone. That's not in. Like two weeks in? That's a three months in quote. It's not in-house.

It's not in-house. And I don't think that the, I think that something like that, and again, I don't know the insides of that locker room or how those guys will respond. But, you know, if you're those guys,

do you look at it and you say, you know what, he's right, I do need to pass. Or do you say, man, screw that guy. Like, shut up, Marcus. How about you do this? How about you do that?

I pass to you at the end of the, whatever game that was, Washington or Charlotte, and you frigging brick to three. Like, what do you want me to do? Right? Like, you want us to pass to you

with the game on the line? You know, You know what I'm saying? I'm saying they can go one of two ways. And I don't know like you say, if Smart has the gravitas. This isn't LeBron saying this. And again, it's not the message. It's the messenger. Yeah.

And not knowing how they will respond to Marcus saying that. It's almost like, look, we all love Patrick Beverly. But Patrick Beverly saying, Paul George and Kauai Leonard don't pay. the ball. Everybody's like, shut the hell up, Pat Bev. You know? Like, that's not... Like, I guess it highlights the fact that Kauai Leonard and Paul George aren't the voices for that team. But on the other hand, most people take a step back and they go, hold on, this should not be your role as team spokesman to call out

who the sixth and seventh leading score in the NBA, what they're doing. I mean, I think we're reaching the point here. I mean, Tatum is 23. Brown is 25. Like, these guys are still young. I mean, like the optimist in me says, listen, like, these guys are young. You can't panic. You get a build around them.

But the realist in me, which is, you know, the majority of me is that like these guys, you know, are under contract here. And there's, you know, three years left on Jaylen's deal. There's four years left on Jason Tatum's deal. For these guys, you know, it's at a point now. where for Boston, they are on the clock to get it right before big changes need to be made. For those two guys, Tatum and Brown, it's to the point now where you're getting paid max money. It is time to take on some of that leadership responsibility that you're talking about, Chris.

You hit this all the time in the pod that if leadership isn't coming from your best players, that can be detrimental to your team. And for Tatum and Brown here, I want to juxtapose this against the other team Chicago beat. the Utah Jazz. Donovan Mitchell has already grown into a vocal leader for the Utah Jazz. Rudy Gobert is a leader by example with the effort and the intensity and the communication on the court. Different types of leaders for that team who were young with the organization and grew into those roles. That's the next step for Tatum and Brown is not only continuing to get better on the court, you know, Tatum getting better as a passer. Brown has gotten so much better as a score. It's crazy. some of the games he's had, but also getting better as a leader, steering the ship when you're

going through an adverse time, being the guy who is the number one voice on the team. I don't think you can say that about either of them right now. And that's something that will have to change for Boston to really go from like this good on paper, great on paper team to actually meeting expectations that you would expect to have for them with those top seven scores you're talking about what Tatum and Brown. You needed to be Jason Tatum's team. End of story. Or Jalen Brown's team. Jalen Brown is having nights where it looks like his team

because you could argue in that fourth quarter, it was too much Tatum and not enough Brown. Right. And that happens often, actually. But fine. I'm just saying there needs to be the guy. And it is Tatum. And the absence of him being a vocal leader, right?

Or somebody that everybody rallies behind can be, detriment. And that's why when you see, when I mentioned like Pat Bev or whoever it may be, you know, that was one of the things a couple years ago when there was that huge collapse. The Clippers had one of the worst collapses in the history

of the NBA. And I remember I came to you and I said, who is who's in the huddle saying this shit ain't happening tonight? Who's in the locker room saying this ain't happening? You get this image of you know,

Kauai Leonard and Paul George going back, not talking to anybody in the locker room, throwing their hoodies up and walking out of the gym. And we'll be back tomorrow. And it's like, and then, you know, you're going to go to the guy that's talking. And it's like, who is the guy

that when you get into that huddle, you know, you need that to be either Tatum or Brown? Mark is smart. Whatever you want to say about him. He's just filling a void. There's got to be something. somebody. Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

That's a good way to put it. He's filling the void there. Yes. And he's filling the void in like a way that, you know, don't necessarily want him to fill that void. You want Marcus Smart to be that leader by example on the court. Occasionally the fiery guy in the locker room who lights a spark. You don't want him getting fiery with a microphone in front of his face because

that's when he tells everybody, it makes people like us talk about the fact that there's clearly like some disagreement with. in this locker room. If he's calling out players publicly, the two best players publicly, that's crazy. It's tough. Five,

six, seven games in right now. Right. Because they're, because they're, as I said, the sixth and seventh leading score in the game. And I think there is that juxtaposition of those two teams.

And some of this comes with, as you mentioned, their ages. Kev, um, De Rosen and Levine are also both simultaneously playing great. But they are also enhancing their teammates. you know what I mean?

That's the difference. Levine's passing improvement over the years is dramatic. It's so admirable what he's done to his game. So admirable. And Tatum and Brown, as I mentioned, are both in the top 10 scores of the NBA. But who else on that Celtics team is benefiting from their incredible success? Not Josh Richardson. What hasn't made it, you know what I mean?

You would think that especially when they're simultaneously averaging over 25 points a game, that it's easy pickings for the rest of them. You know what I mean? Yeah. And it's not. I think, yeah, it just hasn't been with those guys. I think with this team like, yeah, sure, you can say Tatum and Brown need to be better in certain ways. But like, you know, Celtics fans, understandably so, are kind of annoyed with Udoka so far.

Some of the rotations, the lineup decisions, overswitching on defense at times, lack of movement and cutting on offense as they were accustomed to seeing more. often under Stevens, you know, in recent years with different iterations of the roster. And just the fact that some of the guys that Brad Stevens has acquired just aren't working out. Josh Richardson is not the same guy that he was in Miami, his last year there when he got his first year of his new contract. He still isn't good just like he wasn't in Philadelphia. He doesn't appear to be at all the same guy.

He's not good just like he wasn't good in Dallas, just like he wasn't good in Philly. This is unlike Al Horford, who has. come back after his time in Philly and O'KC and looks better than he did. I know. Really like early in the early days in Boston, but like you've had some so far a win with Al Horford, but some of the other guys that you've acquired are looking like losses so far. And so at what point do you bench, you know,

Richardson or diminish his minutes and give a knee Smith more time to get more shooting on the floor? Because they do. Because if you're closing, if you're closing was smart and Horford, time lord. whoever you want to put in, time Lord,

you know, obviously starts games. Neither of those two guys are shooting. Yeah. Who are you expecting to shoot? Like you've got these two guys. Like, all right,

fine, they'll pass it to you. Like, there's not a Celtics fan of the world that wants you shooting that thing even if you're wide open. I think what this Boston team really misses is a point guard like the Chicago Bulls acquired

and Lonzo Ball. Like just a guy who just can facilitate and keeps it moving. Just constantly adds flow. Adds flow on the court. Marcus Smart and Dennis Schroeder aren't facilitators like that. Marker Smart said during the extended quote

last night, I can pass. I can be the guy who's a playmaker. That is true. Marcus Smart can pass. But he's not the type of flow playmaker like Lonzo Ball. And I think finding a guy like that for Boston would really add a lot to what the Tatum

Brown for could be together. You know, haven't I this is something that I've not thought about all that much but now that you said that I just went back in time

and thought and you think about everyone that they've paired them with Kyrie Irving not a facilitator and then he was replaced by Terry Rozier

not known as a facilitator he's a bucket Kemble Walker not known as a facility they have the opportunity all season they go get Dennis Schrooter not a facility they always go and get it's interesting you say that just a set of offense set the team up keep the ball moving guy

they've never and even like if you want to say Peyton Pritcher to back up he's not a you know pass first keep the ball moving guy like they've never really had one now that you think about it yeah they got a fine one they always have I really think that's what this roster's missing is a point guard like that because on paper, on paper, their closing lineup can be great. I mean, like they, I like their closing lineup on paper. I do.

I really think this team has the pieces. It's just there's some missing things. There's, you know, some weak links. There's the deficiencies of Tatum and Brown that's still need to be improved on. And there's something with the character of the team. Like I said at the beginning,

with Markers Smart, I don't think Marker Smart affects the energy in the court in the way that he did with past rosters. And whether that's due to him or the guys around him, it doesn't matter. The results aren't the same. And I think Brad Stevens, this is going to be like, this isn't a championship team. It's not a championship contender. It's not even a team that's going to dream about it this season.

But Brad Stevens needs to take this year and set them up for next year and the year after that because that's when pressure is really going to be up. We talk all the time like, who's the next star? Who's the next star that's going to be available? We don't know who it's going to be. I mean, is it Tatum or Brown? Unless Brad Stevens can get it right this year. It's on Stevens in that front office to get it right.

And ultimately, like, if he doesn't, we will be talking about these guys in another year or two. I asked you Friday. You did. You said ridiculous. You said ridiculous. I still don't think this season. I still don't think this season.

I think, I think, would you like to change ridiculous to that might be. true. No, I really think they're going to give it time with Tatum and Brown. I do. Okay. I really do. I'd be a little bit surprised if this was the last season together. The Bulls,

as we mentioned, have only lost that one game, and it was at the very end of the game, and they had that great win last night. We covered that game. The only other teams that have only lost once so far, one of them is the Miami Heat. I saw them over the weekend. They absolutely trashed the Grizzlies on Saturday

night. Um, And I think that the rapper Little Baby might in some ways be to blame because there was a massive concert in Memphis the night before. And I was told Little Baby didn't even like take the stage until midnight. And you got a team of a bunch of young guys, all of which went to the. Yes, yes. Didn't think that's that's not right. Everybody went to the concert the night before. people buying and spend a lot of their hard-earned money on tickets.

They got to work the next morning. You'll show up until midnight. That's not right. The Grizzlies had to work the next night, and their coach was furious with them because they got demolished by the heat. Now, it's not because they went to a concert. It is in large part because I saw them in person. Dwayne Dedman started.

Bam out of Iowa didn't even play in the game. Okay. Kevin, I'm here to tell you, I feel great about my heat in the final. prediction. That team, by the time it gets to the playoffs, if they are all healthy, they are locked in and they are devastating. Defensively, because they've got BAM, and then they go to that small lineup where they space it out and they play P.J. Tucker at the five, and they are a bitch to deal with. There's no like weak, there's no level of their defense that's weak. Spolster must be having a good time.

time. Oh my goodness. And you know what's funny is like Kyle Lowry, his Kyle Lauery stats right now, 8.4 points per game. Yeah, 33% from the field, 27% from three. And it makes no difference. Yeah, 7.2 assists to 2.6 turnover. So he's still passing the ball, but his scoring hasn't even kicked in yet. No. I mean, just to your point about how good this team has been, largely due to their elite defense, but also there's still so much room for this offense to get better because Kyle Lauer, is not going to average 8.4 points per game on 33% shooting the entire season. Well, look, and I'm here to tell you, we did our Island podcast in the offseason. I'll tell you, I got one bungalow left on Hero Island.

I got one left. He looks like bubble hero, except even better. I mean, getting to see him in person, Kevin, he is a bona fide bucket. Like, he is a bucket. It's not like I have to set you up. Like I could throw you the ball and you go score kind of guy this year. He's just, he's playing with a more advanced feel. Yes.

It seems like things just are clicking. They're just clicking for him. His ability to read the floor to make the right decision, whether it's with the ball on his hands and the pick and roll, ISOs, or just moving off the ball, cutting, relocating. It's like the subtle things he's doing at a really an elite level. Not a Nikias Duncan from basketball news had a pretty good Twitter video breakdown of like a subtle thing. Tyler Hero did where like set a back screen on a teammate in order to like get himself open for three-pointers.

This is a really smart, subtle play that goes beyond the box score. But like he's doing that every game, every quarter. And that's really a testament to the work he's put in. And the heat, you know, coaching staff. Like the heat had always been a great player developmental program. But like I'm buying this being like Tyler. here. I'm buying it just feels real to me based off his

progress. He got better like after the sophomore slump Chris, which happens when teams start game planning for you and they learn you and they know your habits. He got better from all of that. Well, three or four years ago, I recall coming on the pod and saying, the most impressed by any team that I saw

in person that year was Toronto. That was the year they ended up going on and winning the title. Sometimes you see a team and you just see the way it works and let me tell you this. Now, it might have been just the night I caught him. Butler was an absolute force of nature.

I mean, I've watched John Morant kick people's ass every game. It was possession one. He came out, like almost like old school, like Duke slapping the floor type of intensity. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm guarding this guy right off the bat. And when you've got a guy like him, that leads the way

and can be as devastating. He is offensively. He looks to be an amazing shape. Butler was just off the meter great. He was so by far the best player on the floor. You know, he did that in Memphis for you, Chris. Well, no, you know why he did it? He knows how much he knows how much you love him.

You may not remember this, but the heat do. Last year, those two teams played and the game ended with an end-to-end drive, Morant on Jimmy Butler and he threw up a left-handed layup like basically at the buzzer that went in

and they won the game and he did the you better call 12 he held up his you know like a phone to his ear whatever and the heat did not forget that

and they just beat the shit out of them on Saturday night it was unbelievable but seeing them in person look trust me folks Miami is not to be trifled with.

They are just on a string and they were, to be this early in the season and look as awesome as they did. Number one defense and basketball right now and the number four offense in basketball, despite Kyle Lari having those numbers, I've said earlier. Two other teams, the Warriors and the Jazz.

Those are the other two that have only lost one game. Jazz, probably not that surprising, considering the great regular season last year. They're the number one seed, for goodness sake. had an expectation that they would be very good and they are once again. Gaubert has started off the season. Watch this. Look how positive I am. Unbelievable.

I think he said, I think. I wharms my heart so much, Chris. The first four, first five or six games or something like that, he had like over 14 rebounds every single night. He had like a 2020. Yeah. It's pretty nuts. And then the Warriors.

He's playing crazy right now. I think the Warriors probably the most surprising just to be amongst the one losses because we thought, hey, just hold the fort down until you get Clayback. They have done much, much better, at least through the first six games, much better than just holding down the fort. You know, they look, they look very good too, the Warriors do. They look fantastic. I mean, I love the fact that Golden State is clicking on all cylinders again.

And I can't wait over the course of this season to see how Steve Kerr integrates some of these younger guys. Cominga, you know, Wiseman, Moody, like there's that, you know, Coominga has played a little bit, like, but will they play more as the year progresses? You know,

they have a lot of bodies on their roster is my point here. And the guys that are playing are playing at a high level. You know, Clay comes back. They have a lot of options on the scene. Even like Gary Payton

coming off the bench. There's the stat. I think Anthony Slater maybe put it out last week at one point. Peyton came in at, the end of a quarter for three possessions. And he had three steals on all three of those possessions. Like he was three for three and getting a steal with like one chance to get it.

Hey, it was like it was insane. Like it's a crazy stat. But I'm pretty sure like he's like kept up having, racking up a lot of those steals and end of quarters. He couldn't chase down Morant at the end of a game though. He tried to chase him to him. Ran away from it.

That like like game of tag or whatever. Yeah, yeah. That's right. And Moran, Moran, it's so fast. That was a ridiculous way for a game to end. Yeah,

that was funny. Just running around like it was really like an NBA game of tag. Speaking of playing at a high level, career high for OG and an OB last night. OG, OG. Oh, OG. Yeah, and the Raptors have been a good early season story. What I tell you, Chris?

What I tell you? Barnes is, Mowgli's getting a lot of love and deservedly so. let me tell you son, this Barnes kid is something special. Yeah. To be contributing in the manner that he is in all facets and be seemingly so comfortable on an NBA court making these plays is truly that's special stuff.

Yeah. It's another thing to be contributing to winning. But the story of last night was OG. OG in it over, yeah. 30. six points. I mean, OG, like, there are so many most improved player candidates. Like, if you're compiling a shortlist of guys to, oh, keep them in mind for April, you know, but who could win this award. It's like 10 deep right now. And Michael Porter Jr.'s not on it

because of his slow start with Denver. Like, the guy who is the favorite isn't on it, which speaks to, like, the amount of players just having breakout seasons. And O'GN and Oby, man, like, you know, when Seacom comes back is, as Scardy, Barnes continues to carve out his role as one of the primary initiators in this team. OG is going to be that guy where he isn't necessarily shooting 25 times per game. He's not necessarily running as many pick and rolls as he has been early this season for Toronto. But what he has shown is that his handle and his scoring ability and his shooting off the

bounce has at least reached the point that he can just cause hell for that second or third defender that's going to be against him. That he can just cause hell for that defense. We're kind of seeing a similar thing with Charlotte. Miles Bridges oftentimes picking on a smaller defender, you know, that guard or, you know, a smaller wing. For Toronto, it's going to be a similar effect as they build this thing out where OG and Obi just has a mismatch every single night because he's got the third or fourth

guy on him. Like credit to him for turning himself from a, you know, a guy who could kind of sort of shoot spot up threes. coming out of college to a guy who's now generating baskets off the dribble and doing it at a solid level. Like, credit to OG and Ninobe for that. It's been cool to see his evolution. And the guy that has an all-star appearance hasn't even been in the mix, you know,

they can see Aka back. Yep, yeah, exactly. Toronto, I mean, like, their offense will have some rough nights, but their defense overall, the amount of versatility that they have. They also share the ball, though, man. They move it. That's how you make up for not having like elite, elite level talent is by doing it as a collective.

And I've been impressed. They truly have. They're a great team to watch, man. Like Toronto, the way they defend, the amount of length they have, the way they just move the ball on offense. Like I said,

sometimes it'll be clunky. Raptors fans have seen that for certain stretches this year. That's what happens when you don't have that guy you're talking about, Chris. But damn, dude. I just feel like the foundation is being laid there for Toronto to be great again soon. Well, the team they beat has been very good so far, and that is the New York Knicks. Yeah, they've been really, really good.

You did a video, so that's a good win for Toronto. You did a video breakdown of RJ Barrett and the Knicks this past week. And so as you got prepared to do that and put together the video, obviously you've got to go through all manner of clips to find the ones you want. to use in to highlight um and you highlighted mitchell robinson you highlighted rj in some of those clips what stood out to you the most by going through all manner of nick's clips and thinking about what they've done already this season it's just rewarding to see like subtle improvements by guys you know like Mitchell robinson especially like this guy enters the nba and and uh like people wonder like if there's anything going on between the years yep

defense. I'm like I just, I don't know any other way to say. I don't know how to say it nicer than that. People wondered like if he's actually thinking on the court. I mean, he's gotten a lot better defensively. He has become a guy who understands positioning and knows how to get stops and does a good job of rotating and being there before, you know, right when he needs to be to use his elite length and athleticism to block and alter shots around the rim. He's become a guy who Tom Tibido can reliably play for 30 minutes per game. He's an integral part of the Knicks roster. And like I said, this is a guy that when he failed to the second round,

there are people around the NBA that thought he just, you know, wasn't able to read the floor at a level, you know, necessary to anchor a defense while it's taken, you know, last year it really started for him after, you know, steady development in his first two years, then he got hurt. This season, like, it's really all coming together. Elite lob threat who can anchor your defense.

Like, that's incredibly valuable in a lot. only 23 years old. It's just cool to see that progress over the course of time for the Knicks. So that was my main kind of takeaway and watching through the clips. The video itself kind of like raised the question. I'm curious about your thoughts on this, Chris, is like this team, the Knicks are very good. They're a very good team.

And we saw that clip of the Knicks after opening night, everybody freaking out on the streets of New York outside of Madison Square Garden. Nix fans eventually at some point are going to be one to be rooting for a contender. a team that is the finals favorite or at least has like close you know to favorite status what what are the steps that need to be taken between now and then is it is it being patient is it being young letting rj barrett come together even more letting obi top and develop all these young guys or is it is it like you know i think it's i think you've done yeah i think it's a big move you've done but what if like getting dame means trading rj that's that's that's

I don't know. What? What? I mean, I'm just thinking about timing, Chris. Like, if when it comes to winning a championship. Well, the way the NBA is now, Kevin, it's very, very difficult to count on free agency. Everybody's signing extensions now. Yes.

That's been the way the NBA is. And the guys who are kind of coming up all in situations where you can see them staying. Right. The next wave, I feel like after a lot of movement, we're going to. going to see some movement, but I think it'll be less than it was the last four or five years. Yeah, I think you're in a great spot because you're winning regardless, but you have

a lot of assets for, and you keep up pumping up their value. Next thing you know, you can swing a trade. If there's a huge star that becomes available, next thing you know, there's

somebody out there that says, hey, we will take a package of some firsts and RJ and O.B. top and and again, you're in a good spot because you can keep it and you can grow internally. Or I do think now your assets continue as those players continue to get better and better and better. In the end, as you know, Kevin, you've got to have one of the top five guys in the league to contend for a championship. That's it. That's it. Like, that's the truth. In the NBA, you've got to have one of those guys. Unless you're like unless you want to say that the old

Pistons team with Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton and that crew. Like they are the severe outlier. The history of the NBA is that one of the best five to ten players in the NBA is on your team. So even the year Toronto won. They have to Kauai Leonard. Right. Like you could, you really have to go back to San Antonio, but then you say, oh, but they had Tim Duncan. Right.

And they had, and they also had Kaui Leonard. Dallas, Dallas, well, they had Dirk. Yes. Yeah. I mean, so I think with Damien Lillard, you know, with Portland, he's not quite a top five. He's probably more like in that dirt tier. Yeah. But, you know, he's great enough to be the guy.

And Lillard could be the best player on a title team. He can be because he can be the best player on any particular night. That's right. And for as much as everybody loves their young players all the time, R.J. Barrett's never going to be the best player on a title team. Obie's not going to be. I mean, you know, they don't have a guy there that's going to be the best. player in a title team. And that's what I mean. Like, because like, it's the kind of the philosophical

question for the next. I just, I love, I love what they're at today and I don't want to like, I don't want next fans to not live in the moment, but also like I still can't help but look at the roster and think, damn, they have so many good pieces. Like this is a deep, deep roster. Even, even guys that aren't playing are. What the Liles McBride as a rookie? I love him and he's not getting minutes as a rookie because the team is so deep because they're gross is ahead of him. How about this? Just wait. a year and a half it gets eye on. Don't give up anything.

Yeah. Can you wait a year and a half? Yeah, it's possible. You never know. You never know what's going to happen. You might get 500 pounds on you. God. Did you see that video of it working out?

I didn't see it. What video is this? Oh my God. The working out before the game against the Knicks. Before he was hugging up with RJ and whatever, they showed him moving across the lane. He looks like a how. And then they said two to three more weeks until he's evaluated again or something. And I was like, oh, for a little love of Pete.

I wonder what Zion thinks about all the, you know, the jokes about him. I just search Zion on Twitter trying to pull up that video. And legit, the first thing I see is this, is this picture of him, you know, shortless in a pool flexing, you know, looking very toned as a rookie. And then a picture of him from Media Day this year. with a heck of a lot more weight on his body and in his face. Like for me, when I, when I gain weight,

you can really see it in my face. Like, you can really see it in Zion's face too, the difference. But I wonder, I wonder if he has awareness of this, you know, stuff about him,

you know, about weight, like, doesn't matter to him. Is it something where like it motivates him to get in, like, the quote unquote, best shape of his life?

I, I'd just be curious about that. You know, he hasn't spoken with the media yet. Nobody, you know, he hasn't talked to anybody with the Pelicans at Pelicans media. I'd love to know. Does this motivate him? I hope it motivates him.

Well, here's what I know. You can't go back out on a, on a, you know, just healed foot carrying an extra 45 pounds. You can't. Yeah. I know. You're right. You can't do that. Yeah.

I know. I mean, you're just coming back from. And so it may be a while. So we see him. Yeah, man. It's, it's just, it's unfortunate. It's unfortunate. I've said it before.

I feel bad for Pelicans fans. I do. I feel bad for Pelicans fans because you got, you got a taste of how great it can be, but you also are tasting right now just how horrible it can be. Well, also. That hope, that hope can just be so quickly ripped away. It's also there, you know, this is the hard part about being in a small market when you get a star like that. This shit would not.

fly for some of these organizations. You know what I mean? He wouldn't, he wouldn't, he would be, they would be monitoring his activity level and what he eats. If he's in Miami, if he's in New York, if he's in a lot of these places where, you know, they've got the cachet, the team does. It's like you don't want to hurt his feelings. You don't want him to not like it there.

You don't. And this is what you get, right? He's got all the power there. Whereas it's somewhere, I mean, shit, Pat Riley, wouldn't even let you practice if you weren't. They get body fat tested every week. Now, that's extreme. But I'm just saying there's a lot of other organizations that I think would have monitored it better, you know, because, you know, I think you're probably scared of the guy in terms of him leaving. That could be true. And also, though, sometimes no matter what you do,

no matter you hire a nutritionist for them, they still got DoorDash on their phone and it's 11 p.m. at night and they want that po boy. Maybe so. Orleans cooking is so good, Chris. Yeah, maybe so. It's so good. A couple other things that we need to mention. I saw the nuggets in person last night, and one of the stories early has been,

Porter Jr. has struggled greatly, and it was interesting to watch that game. Jared Jackson, Jr., another junior, same draft class, both signed extensions, has also struggled mightily. And one of the things that I thought as I was watching it is there are a lot of similarities in these guys in terms of tantalizing talent, teams just committed to them, although they had not played as many games as some of their peers or

proven as much as some of their peers thus far. But there were big bets on the future on both of these guys. And when you are a draft pick and you're making that rookie salary, you know, what you do is, you know, there's not the extreme expectation of what you bring to the table. But the minute you have over $100 million next to your name on a contract that you sign, the pressure of performance goes up greatly. And both of these guys have handled that poorly thus far to start off the season, right? that now you can just kind of go with the flow,

but the second you get that $100 million contract, now that's what's brought up. Oh, we paid $200 million for this. We paid $100 million for this, whatever the case may be. And I would just, I would caution everybody out there. Those guys are both extremely talented,

and I think it's going to take a while for that whole new contract thing to wear off. But sometimes I've seen this happen over the course of covering the NBA where it can it could swallow guys up at first you know and you think i know that you know there's a lot of fans out there like i'd love to have that problem pay me a hundred million dollars you see but for them and and porter just he just looks out of it he looks out of it like you expect it to be like the porter yokeet show and it's not that it's not that right now and he has been shooting horribly from the field and just

lack of aggression, you know, not wanting, not being a guy that you notice greatly in these games. And so it's going to be interesting to see how this plays out, but that's two guys that have both performed poorly at the beginning of the season that both just got big extensions. And I do think it's affecting them. I do. Because they're both better players than they've shown. So what is it? And I think that's it. With Michael Porter Jr., I mean, he definitely doesn't seem.

you know, fully engaged in the way that you're describing. He's also just not shooting well. I mean, he's 10 of 43 from three point land this season, 23% down from 44% last year, 42% the year before. That should work itself out for him. You know, it just should. It be surprising if it didn't with Jaron Jackson Jr. Chris. Same thing.

Same thing for three. Like he should be a better shooter than he has been. He was like near 40%. The last time he was. healthy as second season. Defensively, what's your evaluation of Jaron Jackson, Jr. on defense right now and also with the falling problem, he files way too much still. How much does that affect his overall defense?

Oh, massively, because he, and the fouls are dumb fouls. They're way away from the basket in many cases. What frustrates me is not being fouls that prevent baskets. They're fouls like a guy comes off a screen, or it'll be like, a charge or it'll be like a reach in, you know, 40 feet from the basket. It's just bizarre. And then the other thing is, and this comes with youth, which is nothing you can fix quickly. It's the getting dejected once you get the two early fouls going to the bench and you may lose him for the night. He may never be the same guy for you, right? And then when he comes in and he catches another foul quickly, you're just done with it. I mean, you've got. You've got. You've got. You've got. You. You've got. You've got. You've, got a nothing player. And that is something that as you get older does change, right? But when you are younger and then sometimes the weight of expectation can be crippling, right?

And there are murmurs when you come in the game because you've played poorly. It's like, because nobody cares until you're making $100 million. Right? And then when as soon as you're making $100 million, now everybody, you are expected to perform. And when you don't, sometimes when you're young, it cripples you. And I do think that's what's happened in some ways with both of those guys. Because Porter has just become less aggressive. It's like the fear of failure, right? Some guys will go out there and they'll just shoot it fucking 25 times. They don't give a shit. He ain't one of those guys, you know. I'll shoot my way

out of it. I'll be fine. He's just trying to not F up, right? As to not say. As to not say. Hey, we gave you $200 million. Why aren't you, whatever? Why aren't you performing at that kind of level? I mean, what is he shooting 30% from the field or something? I mean, that's outrageous. He's 6. He's 611. Yeah, he'll be better for sure.

Yeah, but I think that it's true. Look, all those guys at side extension, Tray's numbers are down, Lucas numbers are down. I mean, offensive numbers are down, period. Across the board, yeah, across the board there. And I do think that in large part it is because of the free throw thing. This has been my observation. I went to a game last night that lasted two hours on the dot.

That is unheard of. That's nice. I look down at my watch. The game ended. It was 9 o'clock. I'm like, what the hell? You look up, there's 20-something free throws in the game total. And that is taking place across the league.

And scoring numbers are down. And I think in part because, you know, the coach for Oklahoma City had a soliloquy about this the other night. And I thought it was very wise. He said that with the free throw numbers being down, the guys that are stars many times, when they go to the free throw line, that gets them in a rhythm. You know, it gets them in a rhythm no matter what's happened, you know, with their last couple of shots. Now they go to the line, they get to the free throw line, they see the ball go in, it gets them in a rhythm. With all those numbers being down, and the free throw numbers are down for guys that in many cases, the offense centers around. Therefore, it has, once their numbers go down and that part of the offense is taken away, now that does have a massive trickle-down effect to the way the whole offense functions.

Because that's not part of it. If their numbers are down, not only free throw numbers, but they're scoring numbers, right? And the way they are defended and they are allowing players to be more physical and they are calling a lot less fouls. And you would typically think that that would lead to increased offense with more flow. But instead, in many cases, and we'll see the way it all has is out, the opposite has been true. And I think it's because you don't have. those star players. I mean, Trey was average and damn there

30 points a game last year. Same with Luca, same with Hardin. And look at all those numbers. You know, you know, and the extension kids, I think Gildes-Oxander's numbers are still unbelievable. He had another great game last night. But by and large,

a lot of the extension guys have struggled at the beginning of the season. Some players I've heard bitch about the new ball, but I don't think that's, but I think. Rare, though. Not a lot of guys have been public about it. Weirdly, less fouls has led to less scoring, which I don't think would be what people would think would happen.

Sure, yeah. And one other thing to note, I mean, in addition to everything you said here, is that so far this season, according to Second Spectrum, teams are shooting 34.8% on catch and shoot threes. So, you know, catch the ball, you shoot, no dribbling. Last season, that was 37.7% the year before that, it was 37% the year before that, it was 36.6%. So that number so far is the lowest that's been in years at 34.8% on catch and shoot threes.

Will that number go up over the course of the year? I don't think that number is down because of the new defense. I don't think that number is down because of the way they're calling files now. That might just be a small sample. Maybe it is due to the new ball. It could be. Some guys have said it's a little bit more slick, you know, feels a little funny getting their hands on it.

Regardless of the factors, that number being three percentage points down, 37.7 to 34.8. That is a big difference in terms of league-wide scoring. There is a great article on this on CBS sports. NBA offense has plummeted and changes in officiating might not be the only cause. The author was Colin Ward Henniger, and I would encourage everybody to go check this out because he kind of breaks down every different facet of and offensive efficiency

has increased every year since 1415 to a record of 112.3 last year. all 10 of the top offensive ratings in NBA history have come from teams playing in the past three seasons, and yet this year, everything's down. You know, everything is down, and it's down a lot as compared to. So we went through this massive, massive scoring boon

to a big step back. I mean, points, it was 112 last year. It's 106 this year. And again, it's only, you know, 88 games. Last season, there was over a thousand games to draw conclusions from. And you will probably see, as everybody gets used to this, those offensive numbers go up.

But I think at the beginning, I do think that there are real reasons that the numbers are down because of the rules. and that's you got star players going to the line less not getting in a rhythm as much in the way that they did before and we'll see I mean we'll see we'll see you're liking it I've seen mixed opinions I think it was Sam Vassini who tweeted out that he thinks there's been too many egregious no calls and there's a lot of support to his tweet but I've also seen people say stuff like oh the game is better balance than ever before I'm loving this you know there's elements of 90s 2000s that's finally back. Where do you land with this?

And also same question for the listeners, too. Like I'd love for them to tweet us with their thoughts. Absolutely love it. Yeah, me too, Chris. I'm with you. I'm with you. I love two-hour games. I love less, more basketball, actual basketball being played

than we can't even play three straight possessions without there are a whistle going on. I agree. I'm 100%. And the other thing is, It will also revive defense and the onus on defense. The more they are allowing guys to defend, I think the better it is for the game. Steve Kerr spoke about this. Draymond Green has spoke about this, that it's better for the game when offense and defense are both part of the equation here.

It feels like right now they're both empowered. Yes. Offenses can still do what they want to do. these scores can still do this, these magnificent things in the court, but defenses are also more empowered to just be aggressive and get stops and they don't have to deal with as much, you know,

BS. That's right. You know, so much better. Here's the current quote I was talking about. I've noticed the games are more physical. I'm really enjoying watching the games. I think the defense has been a huge part of basketball, and I feel like we're getting back to that in a good way.

And I agree completely. Can you imagine what the playoffs could be like, Chris? Like if this feels aggressive now for regular season basketball, can you imagine certain moments in the postseason that we could get? Let me wrap this all the way back around to one of the things we first spoke about. It's going to make that heat team all the more devastating. You want to talk about letting people be physical? If you let that group of Rottweilers be physical,

you are in trouble. because every one of them will put their hands on you. Every one of them. You know what I mean? And they will fight you through screens and they will, I mean, they got a bunch of rough dudes on that team. And I do think that, and I think Tibbs, his team's being rewarded thus far.

These teams that really want to get grimy and really want to defend and commit to it, they are being rewarded. Be honest, the Warriors too. But people forget, you know, We always think about Steph Curry, Splash Brothers, whatever. That team, they won last year. They had the record they did last year because of their defense.

That's how they were even in playoff, you know, having had a chance at the playoffs. It was because they defended last year, right? That Warriors team. Totally, yeah. I mean, I feel like, I mean, this tweak has been so good for this season so far. And I could even get better. Like, the league is just in such a good spot.

Think about who's having the success, though, Kev. Think about it. The Knicks, right? The Warriors. The Jazz. The jazz. The jazz. The heat. You know?

Yeah. It's being rewarded. A lot of tough, hard-nosed teams. Yeah. A lot of them. Yeah. But I don't know, man. Like, the league isn't such a good place.

I was watching Cavs Hornets last night. And, I mean, it's Cavs Hornets. Yep. You know? And like for a casual fan, you might not tune into a Cavs Hornets game. But if you did. you would have had a show put on for you with a bunch of fun, you know, players, rookies, you know, Evan Mowbley.

You got like Lamello who's just amazing to watch. He's already like, like if you're ranking, you know, league past players instead of league past teams, Lamello balls in the top 10. Like he's just so freaking fun to watch. I mean, across the league, man, like for Orlando, you get Jalen Suggs, who hasn't been great so far about Franz Wagner. Yeah. who's been great for O KC.

You got Josh Giddy as a rookie. I mean, like there's just so many good players as rookies and young guys. I'm going to give a shout out to Franz Wagner, who I've been rough on. His dunk on the whole damn Timberwolves team last night was unbelievable. Oh, and back to your Hornet's thing? I was with John Holliger last night before the game,

and that game was on a TV screen. You guys talk about Rudy Gobert? We actually talked about Miles Bridges because he was on the screen. And I turned to him, said, bro, he's going to cost them $70 million, isn't it? He's like, I think he is. Like, he really is. That is one of those like guys that didn't get the extension.

And the price of doing business just goes up every time I'd see it. I'm like, oh, my God. Last night in that game against Cleveland wasn't his best scoring performance, but I'm a believer in his development. What we saw was the replay of the dunk where the amazing lamello pass. Oh, yeah. under the basket and then bridges. I mean, he's flat-footed

and jumps up in his whole damn neck is above the rim. And I'm like, my God, God, blood. This is wicked. It's top 0.001% of athletes ever created in the world. Crazy to see somebody jump that high. Just off vert. Must be an amazing feeling to have like a trampoline a trampoline in your feet. Amazing.

That must be pretty cool. I'll never get to experience that feeling. I don't even get high on a trampoline anymore. We've got one and I'm like I get about an inch off the ground and I'm scared to do that. You're not doing backflips. Hell no. Hell no. No.

Those kids scare the hell out of me on trampolines. Yeah. I'm always. I'm always scared of injuries on those. Yeah. Yeah. Especially back stuff. Yeah, that's for sure.

You don't want to stay healthy. Trampolines are fun, though. You can bounce higher than an inch, Chris. You can bounce higher than that. Come on. And how's Halloween? How did you wear the hot dog costume? You know what's crazy?

So my kids went to other neighborhoods to like parties, different, like, Halloween parties. And, you know, I live and die with the cowboys. The cowboys were on. So I manned the house while my wife took the kids to different Halloween parties, dropped my son off and then took my daughter to another one. And I stayed home and watched the Cowboys and manned the door for trick-or-treaters. Not one. I didn't get one trick-or-treater. So now I've got all that candy.

It's a disaster. Seriously. Yeah. Does your neighborhood usually get trick-or-treaters like pre-COVID? Yeah. Yeah. Yes, but I guess I don't know. They just, I don't know.

Interesting. Maybe they weren't out and about. I mean, anyway. Your Cowboys got the win with Cooper Rush, a quarterback, no DAC. You're damn right. My Patriots got the victory flying 3,000 miles from Foxborough to L.A. Let me tell you. Chargers, good win.

So half time, I go pick up my son. Yeah. And I go to that. This is actually going to tie back into the NBA. I go pick up my son. I walk in. He's at a house with his buddy. his buddy's house

and then his buddy has an older brother who's in high school so when I went upstairs to go get him there's a bunch of cool high school kids sitting around all right two of them so they all wore NBA jerseys

over hoodies that's what the high school kids do that's their costume yeah they didn't that's not a costume that's what they were doing I know that's typical high school kids, right? Ron James.

Yeah. High school, high school kids with their hoodies on. And so the couple of men throwback. So cool. I saw, I saw Vince Carter Raptors. I saw,

that's great. Obviously, there was some of a rant. I saw some other old school ones. But then in a shocking turn of events, two of them had bowl bowl jersey. Oh my God. You got to be kidding me.

So that, that's a Halloween outfit. That counts. Bowl, bowl. That counts. I saw one of the high schoolers. I said, is that a Mnup Bull jersey? Because I saw it from the back.

And he's like, no, it's Bull, Bowl. And then another kid had a Bull, Bull. I'm like, what is going on? Who's Minute Bull? Who's that boomer? Who's that? Asked me about Minut Ball. You know, I talked to somebody about this about like, what is the thing with

Bowl Bowl, A, they think it's funny, right? Of course, right? That the guy's name's bowl bowl. The other thing, evidently, he is an absolute bitch on 2K. Like the legend of Bo Bole is if you've got one of those teams. Yeah, because he blocks everything and he shoots threes. So he's like a cheat code on 2K. So all these kids think Bo Bole's like awesome.

Because he is on the game. It's almost like he's a video game character. He's not even a real life person. Seems like 2K is going to make some tweaks to their game. He didn't even get to play. I walked by the bench last night. I told Mike Malone, I say, hey, you idiot, this guy's awesome. I saw him in the damn game.

What am I doing down here? I didn't come to watch Monty Morris. Get bull ball in the frigging game. This is boring. My Halloween was boring, Chris. I stayed in my apartment and watched some football, got some work done. That's about it. I could have went to Outside Lands.

Some of my friends at the music festival in San Francisco and gone to that. But I didn't feel like doing that because the person I wanted to see, the band was Tame Impala, headlining on Sunday night at Outside Lans. But I'm seeing Tame Impala tonight at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California. Wow. I mean, I was considering going Sunday, but it wasn't worth putting off some responsibilities. Well, have fun at the concert tonight. Thank you to Isaac Lee.

And Isaac, good luck. And I'll buy your album when it comes out. I appreciate it. Maybe we'll be seeing Isaac Lee open for Taming Pallet at the Hollywood Bowl. Whoa, I mean, very different type of music, but okay. How about Tame up? Yeah, different type of music. Yeah, very different.

What a mix. That would be. All right. We're done with another episode of the mismatch. Kevin. I'll talk to you on Friday. Looking forward to it.