The Mismatch - Clippers Get Hammered, Ben Simmons Is Back, and Five Questions Ahead of Next Season

Episode Date: September 8, 2026

Verno and Jacoby return as they discuss the NBA’s punishment on the Clippers for circumventing the salary cap with Kawhi Leonard. They then discuss Amen Thompson’s contract extension, Ben Simmons���s return to the league, and the latest with Jalen Duren. Next, the guys have five questions ahead of next season. (00:00) Welcome to The Mismatch! (00:41) League slams the hammer on the Clippers for circumventing the salary cap with Kawhi Leonard (17:11) Is the Kawhi Leonard signing the worst signing ever? (21:39) Amen Thompson signs a five-year, $208 million contract extension with the Rockets (25:50) Ben Simmons is back; signs a deal with the Kings (30:00) Jalen Duren, Pistons remain apart in contract negotiations (34:31) How many teams enter training camp with real championship expectations? (42:34) Are the Lakers going to be better than they were last year? (46:53) How will Giannis’s move to the Heat affect what Nikola Jokic could do with the Nuggets? (51:43) Where do the Pistons rank among the rest of the Eastern Conference? (54:22) Does Jacoby recommend driving across the country in a RV? Leave us a message on our Mismatch Voicemail line! [phone] Hosts: Chris Vernon and David Jacoby Producers: Jessie Lopez, Stefan Anderson, and Jeff Shearin Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon. And joining me as he does every week from the ringer.com is Dave Jacoby. Jacoby. Verno, there is so much MBA to discuss, but I can't wait to discuss the RV. That'll be at the end of the show. Oh, we went down Route 66 for the 100-year anniversary with the family. I can't wait to hear about this either. All right. We've got to start because we were not on last week as the Clippers.

penalties dropped. And everyone has now done podcast about this. We'll give our quick thoughts on this. Number one, they got absolutely hammered. I think everybody, when the first tweet came down of the penalties, there was a collective, whoa, because I think the longer it dragged on, the more we kind of thought,

hey, they're going to take a plea deal here. there's already that reporting on the ESPN side that was saying that they had talked to each other and that I guess the lawyers had been in communication. So that gave us the impression at least a few weeks prior that, okay, they're going to take a plea deal on this thing. They're going to say, hey, look, we didn't know, but we kind of knew and we understand the way this looks for the league or whatever.

Instead, as it turned out, it appeared to have been just absolute defiance. And so we have five quick thoughts on this. I want to get your reactions to it. The first thing is, regarding the absolute defiance, almost every podcast I read or article I read about this, it was funny. Reporters in many cases became the man characters and talking about this, that many of them have relationships with Clippers Brass or people within the Clippers. and it was like one after another people saying their relationships got burned they were talked down to they were condescended upon and i was like

damn man like and it was like all the people saying in privately they were defiant to the people covering the story right that the clippers like it wasn't just like to the league it was like if you were a reporter and you asked the people from the clippers about this, it was never like a ho-hum or a, I don't want to talk about that, you know, it was a, no, we did not do this. And there was like a shadow campaign going along to the reporters. And so shout out to all the reporters with mega hurt feelings

because it seems as if they had had good relationships with the clippers. But the clippers like burned every bridge. like along the way of this. They got no friends anymore. It doesn't seem like because it seems like reporters feel like burned for the fact that they even tried to talk about this. But let's get into the big ones.

I want to get your thoughts on this. All right. Is this just another example in the long lines of examples, whether it is crimes or it is sports or it is anything, that the best chance you have is to just say you're sorry when you've already been caught. I think it sort of goes to the first thing that you were saying, too.

If you lie, deny until you die. You have to pick a side. You know what I mean? So it's like, if you're going to lie, deny until you die. Because, you know, and that's sort of what their sort of philosophy felt like it was. Because there was no true smoking, smoking gun if you read the report. You know, you read all of the report. and there's no sort of like truly

damning, damning piece of information. I mean, the Lawrence Frank's memo, the Lawrence Franks memos are pretty, I don't know how you talk your way around those. Well, Gillian Zucker didn't do herself very many favors. I did not know who she was before this report, and I certainly know who she is now,

and she's going to be difficult to hire moving forward. Well, and also, it seems like Kauai got the plea deal, right? Like of all these people, he's the one that like, all right, you can't find 700 grand. I made like 50 million all this thing. Like, all right. And the MBAPA and Kauai Leonard, they're fine with this. It reminded me, like, this is now 15 years ago. I remember covering this story of Bruce Pearl was the head coach at the University of Tennessee.

Okay. And they got caught recruiting. He had like, this is so funny. Now, it's almost like I'm talking about the 1920s. So at that time, you couldn't have, they had what was an illegal barbecue at his house hosting recruits. Okay, hosting recruits. So there was a great point guard that ended up playing at Ohio State. His name was Aaron Kraft.

And Aaron Kraft and these other guys over at Bruce Pearl's house, they're having a cookout, right? And so then there's a report that they had a cookout. So the NCAA investigators come in and they say, hey, you had all these recruits over at your house, including Aaron Kraft, over at a cookout. That is against the rules. And he said, I didn't have a cookout. What are you talking? Like, no, that didn't happen. And then he has three different assistants, right?

They all got to go talk in. And the story is, we're sticking with it. We're going to say there was no cookout, right? And so then the three assistants go in there and they say, cookout, what are you talking about a cookout? We didn't have a cookout, right? Hey, the invest, then, look, I knew some of the guys involved in this. The NCAA investigators then say, oh, after they all deny it,

they go, you sure? And they're like, yeah, we don't know what you're talking about. They're like, well, what's this? And on the Bible, they hold up a picture of Aaron Kraft, like eating a cheeseburger in Bruce. Hey, hey, hey, hey, in Bruce Pearl's kitchen and they're all there. And so they destroyed them. They gave Bruce Pearl a three-year show cause and all of the assistants, a one-year show-cause, which makes you absolutely positively unemployable, right?

Like once they give you this show cause, and it was over nothing. This was like minor. They had a freaking. A cheeseburger. A point guard recruit in the guy's house. But because they lied about it, they got absolutely torched. And so I always think about it through the prism of that where it's like, bro, if you just say, look, okay, I know we did this. We're sorry.

How do we make this right? but instead like you're saying it does seem like they're going to do the lie till we die thing and that just made the NBA be like okay dude all right if this is the way you want to play it then this is the way we want to play it

and so it gets pretty gnarly on a quick side note do you think that their level of non-success because of this change the penalties and or the public reaction.

Yes. You do. Had Kauai and Paul George worked out as a duo the way that we expected them to when they first signed with the Clippers, I think this would have been a different story because they were so sort of seemingly just like cursed in a way.

And they have been as a franchise forever, it sort of makes you feel like you go a little bit lighter on them. Because I am curious what it would look like if they won two championships. And then this came out. And then fans would care about salary cap circumvention in a way that they probably don't. Yes. And we'd have a position where it's sort of like, do we have to renounce championships? So if that were found true of the Knicks, then people would...

I don't know. Wait, wait, wait, what was I can't. We're having trouble connecting on the Zoom. I'm having some difficulty. I think you've got to check your Wi-Fi connection, Bruno. Okay, here's the next question on the Clippers thing. Will this trigger scorched earth by somebody where they say, fine, you're doing it this? Well, what we're going to do?

I'm the richest man in the world. How about this? Oh, you want to do this to us? Everybody else does this too. And now it's going to be their mission to rat out others. I don't think that'll be the case. You don't think that'll be the case. No, I mean, to what end would you sort of like use those resources?

Oh, well, I got caught doing something. Well, guess what other people do it too? Now they're going to get caught and we're going to get them in trouble. How does that help your position? That always happens. So. Billy, how does that help the Clippers? How does it help Steve Bomber to be, oh, guess what?

These other teams are doing it too. And here's some examples. And I'm going to investigate and provide evidence as to why. How does that help? Like, to what end? I mean, no. No, it's because the owners turned on him. Because the owners were all backing Steve Balmer at the beginning.

That's the reporting. Brian Winnor said this, right? Like it seemed like he had like kind of support of the group, right? Where it's like, and you know Mark Cuban was out and out. And I know he's a former owner, but I mean, he was like taking on Pablo publicly. And you wonder how many of those guys felt the same way, right? where it's like billionaires backing billionaires and trying to protect their own.

But now it seems like since a report came out, he ain't got any friends in this anymore. That's where I'm saying. It's like, oh, all you guys have turned your back on me now, huh? Like you're not there, you're not supporting me now, even though you're seeing the report. Well, this could be you too. I just wonder.

I don't think it'll have because if they spent a year investigating this came up with what they came up with, which was, I think justified the, punishment. But at the same time, I don't feel like they really had substantial absolute smoking gun caught red-handed evidence in the report. Do you think they get hammered more if they stay defiant? Because they even said in the document, they said in the document like, hey, this ain't over. I was like, oh my God. Well, I mean, they literally said in their statement, they said, we vehemently reject the NBA's findings, which are the result of a heavily biased investigation seeking

to justify a predetermined narrative rather than facts and evidence. What the league told us privately differs from what it announced today publicly, and they have not held themselves close to the standard Commissioner Silver Set at the start of this investigation to ensure fairness and accuracy. I mean, probably not over. All right. Probably not over. All right.

Next one. Will there be an Uncle Dennis, Doc? I always try to find the guy. who is the most likely to take a deal from a streamer and do the sit down? And it's the guy who got like, you know, spurned the worst. And so, Ann probably doesn't have like an NDA in the whole thing. That would be the best doc ever. I mean, I can't tell you how fast I would be in front of my TV

if Netflix said the Uncle Dennis doc drops next week. Oh, yeah. He, like, sat down and you see him sitting down in the chair, and he's like, let's go. I'm like, oh, let's go. Let's go. I've, if you, one thing I find interesting about this whole thing is Uncle Dennis's, like, persona and reputation. I don't know what he looks like. Me neither.

I've never heard him talk. I've heard about Uncle Dennis for a decade now, but he's never done an interview. he's never at the games. Like I just don't, they never cut to him during a broadcast. Like, think about representatives, agents, managers. Like, you sort of, they're sort of public people. Uncle Dennis is not. They're like, Uncle Dennis cannot operate as a representation for an NBA athlete for five years.

I think Uncle Dennis is like, I'm fine. I've made millions of dollars. I'll be okay. And here's where I'm standing on this. This is why I'm asking you this. Let's just say what we know about Uncle Dennis, right? So now he's out of the mix. Very little.

Very little. We know that he's the guy that goes and asks everybody for money. What I'm saying is whether it's and stakes and teams and everything else, allegedly. The Maple Leafs. All right. Let's just say with that. Name a Maple Leaf, Uncle Dennis. Name a single Maple Leaf in the history of the franchise.

Okay. With that guy, if somebody comes to him and said, hey, man, we'll give you $3 million to sit down and tell your story. Like, is there any chance in the world he's saying no? Like, we know he loves, I mean, I can't imagine how many times his phone has rang over the course of the last week, week and a half. It's got to be off the hook. His story is, like, I want to hear it all.

I want to hear, and he may have to wait until Kauai's done, right? Like, I don't know. Does he have to wait? I mean, I would assume him and Kauai have a good relationship. The fact that we all call him Uncle Dennis is hilarious to me too. It's great. No one calls him Dennis Robertson. It's just like Uncle Dennis.

This is what we call it. What everybody calls him is Uncle Dennis. I imagine that him and Kauai are pretty tight, and I imagine that he wouldn't want to jeopardize any future earnings for Kauai Leonard. The question is, like, honestly, like, who sits down? Maybe it's the female you were talking about earlier. What was her name? Gillian Zucker.

Shane Zucker. Maybe she sits like who is sitting who's sitting down for the documentary? That's what we need to know. It's the biggest penalty in NBA history and it's an unbelievable story. It's a great story.

It's like it's it's really all because aspiration couldn't operate as a bank. I know. That's really what it is. It all came from that. It's just like aspiration was this like huge successful company that completely fell apart due to poor leadership and then

left in its wake angry investors and employees. And now. And then they decided to whistleblower. That's basically what happened. And now Boingo and Daktronics and everybody's like, oh my God, we got the worst luck ever. Nobody would have ever known

about any of this. We would have been fine. Instead, these frigging idiots when we're scamming everybody. like honestly yes if that doesn't go and that doesn't all become public record and then somebody doesn't whistleblow on that like hey man we had a deal with Kawhi Leonard

like none of this ever happens it all just it all just I mean it happened behind the scenes and no big deal I have a theory and you know I'm friends of Pablo I've not spoken to him with him about this

that it's all sort of Harvard ties because these were like Harvard kids that started the aspiration thing and Pablo went to Harvard and I think there was probably some disgruntled like disgruntled ex-aspiration employee that Pablo had beers with in Harvard Square

in like the early 2000s and that's how I think this all came to light. It's a Harvard thing. It's a Harvard thing. And then we're going to find out that there's a bunch of Yale grads in the Clippers. And that they played lacrosse against each other

or they know, They lost in a math lead competition. No, it was a crew. It was a crew. They were crew. Oh, crew. Yeah, crew is really big at Harvard. Yeah, Charles River there.

It was debate. They lost in a day. Pablo is a debate guy. I know. It's like a known as a debater. Hey, oh yeah, you guys beat us in the debate team competition? Just wait. I'll have my day.

All right. Last one. Is this retroactively? the worst deal ever. I think if you throw in the Paul George part of it, I don't think it's, it's not even debatable. It's not even debatable.

It's not even close. So they spent $350 million over seven years on Kauai Leonard. They won a total of three playoff series. He didn't play in a postseason game past the second round. He missed one of the years after tearing his ACL. He played 37 games. and another one. And then he lasted two games

in that next post season after the torn ACL. And then if you take into George into consideration, 10 first round picks, two-time MVP and finals MVP, SGA, two and a half years of collective...

Jay-dub. Two and a half years of collective executive suspensions, $30 million in fine. And then, and it was for $600 million in combined salary for George and Leonard for seven years that they didn't make a conference finals.

I mean, 10 picks, including the two-time MVP and 700 million. I mean, this is just, I mean, I think Nico kind of has to celebrate a little bit. Oh, yeah. It's easily. I mean, just because I got Anthony Davis for 14 games or whatever. It moves down a little bit, right? Like when they're talking about Like whenever they're doing the

The totality of it all Like if you look at like the Micah Parsons trade It's like oh well actually maybe it might work out in Dallas's favor I know you're Dallas guy Yeah But like the totality of the clippers Signing Kauai and PG And what they gave up

And what those picks eventually turned into If you It just doesn't balance anywhere near It's this is the worst trade in sports history Babe Ruth maybe Yeah Babe Ruth, maybe. The fact that you're going back to Babe Ruth.

That's what I think. Seriously. The curse of the Claw, the curse of the Claw. We could do the Curs of the Claw. I mean, it's not like the Clippers had a bunch of championships before the Claw got there.

That's the thing. It's like this franchise is just. Yeah. Oh, and I mean, and look, I know that some people have said like, well, it's not nearly that bad

because if they get the two first round picks back from Toronto for Kauai and what I'm like, bro, it's five times. 2030 and 20, 30 and 20. 33, like what? Yeah, they also, it's like five first round picks, and they don't have like a bunch of awesome players. And, like, I did like the email that Simmons got where the guy that proposed the,

he called it the Mary the Nanny, like where you just go all in, where you just go all in after you've been, you know, and so you take the full leap and he was like, what if he married the nanny? And just like, I guess the best. biggest penalties are like, you know, hamstringing yourself losing draft picks and the financial penalties? What if Steve Balmer just said, fine, I don't care. I'll go into, you're going to have to create a fourth apron for me. I'm going to spend so far above everything that good luck. Good luck harnessing me. This is, this is ashtray money.

That would be hilarious, though. If he just said, I'm going to spend. And I will outspend everything. I don't care about any of your penalties. And we don't have draft picks anyway. I spent like 30 minutes by myself trying to figure out what Dremont was saying. He's like 30 million spends the same for Steve Bomber as it does for everyone else. And I was just trying to do the mental gymnastics. I was like, no, I don't think so, Draymond.

No, for sure doesn't. I really try. I think 30 million means a lot more to me than it does to Steve Bomber. I just think so. I think I understand what you're trying to say. But I think that $30 million to someone who has $100 billion or $10 billion, how much does he have? Steve Balmer? Yeah.

Yeah. There's infinite. He has, you know what he has? Yes. Infinity money. Yeah. I think $30 million means less to him than it means to other people. I don't understand it.

Mr. Green. Please explain to me. He's never running out. Okay. We've got a couple other news items that have happened since we last talked before we get to three big questions. Amman Thompson got his contract and his contract extension done with the Houston Rockets. Not the full on, full on max, but certainly a very healthy contract. And it's going to be interesting to see. I mean, I am a huge Amman Thompson fan. I would pay him. You know what I mean?

There's some of these guys when it comes up and you're like, hey, I don't know, do you hamstring yourself by pay into I'm on Thompson level player I just think what you can get on both ends obviously people are always going to focus on what he can't do but shoot I focus more on what he can do

right and I'd pay him would you I mean I like I got no problem I mean I think that's a kind of guy that you sew up and keep happy yeah it's interesting I think if you are the Rockets you do this so I think it was

smart of them to do so. On a micro perspective, from a macro perspective, they've got a lot of money tied up in Shangoon and Thompson. Two players that on the right night look like all NBA performers, and on the wrong night, look like a glaring hole in their game

can lose you a playoff series. And you drafted him, he performed well, you pay him. I understand the deal, there is a part of me that's kind of like, all right, like, you're in the Thompson Schengoon business now. And how far is that going to take you in our, can you be a title contender with this percentage of your salary cap tied up in those two basketball players? That's totally fair.

And I would say on the Thompson thing, it just goes back to I value that ability to like so many of these games come down to if we get a stop, we win the game. And you know it's going to be their best player. and I've got a guy that I feel like I can put on their best guy and get me a stop to win the game. And to me, that is as great a value as the guy that I trust to make that shot. And so, I just think if you've got one of these guys that, like, I feel like, bro, he could shut down or certainly make life very difficult and inefficient for the other team's best player,

there's a value to that that is, I think, undervalued by the NBA consensus, right? And it's also, the guy at the top of the whiteboard, whether he's Victor Wimmon Yamma's height or Jalen Brunson's height, Thompson's going to cover it. Yes.

And there's something to be said for that, you know what I mean? It's not just like he's a good on-ball defender. It's like, no, no, no, he'll cover a big, he'll switch on to anybody. Like he is sort of like a, you know, like a Rudy Gobert level defender where it's just like,

we have a good defense because we have this one player. And that is the difference between him and say Shengud, right? Because Shengoon is a minus on the defensive end. And I don't know if I can just reliably throw him the ball and say, go win me the game. Right? Like, I do know that Thompson has this one, not just special, like, otherworldly skill,

which is go shut down this guy. he doesn't shoot well, but he was miscast as sort of like a ball handling point guard last season. And he does really finish well around the rim and in transition. Yes. Like it's not like he's a zero on offense. You know what I mean? Like he just can't hit open shots or jump shots or contested shots. But in transition, and when he gets downhill and drives, he's a very effective offensive player.

And, you know, I think the shooting could come in time, but he's so valuable defensively that you do this. But I think, again, tying up so much of your cap in Shangoon and Thompson, I don't think is a long-term recipe for success. And I would be surprised if Shangoon was moved this year and next year. How excited are you for the will Ben Simmons encourage you to flip on a Kings game on league pass? No. No, you won't even check it out. You don't even want to see. Would you rather watch Ben Simmons?

fish or play basketball. I'm going with fish. Oh, come on. I would rather it. I like those fishing shows. You're Memphis guy. You have the bass bro shops, you know,

the pyramid down the block. Bro. You have no idea how many fishing shows I've watched in my life. My father, no, my dad.

You seem like a fishing show guy. I don't know what my dad is. My dad was like a big time and so my dad my dad, I did, look at The same way, like when I was a little kid, my mom took me to stand in line for like two hours at a schnook's grocery store to meet Bruton's. To meet Brett hole, okay, in St. Louis.

And he was like my hero. Brettel. And I used to do this all the time. I'd go to card shows at stand in line to meet Bob Gibson and all these people, right? And I would always go to like get autographs or to stand in line to. meet these like icons. My dad, like he never took me

because he knew I didn't care. My dad would like go to like some like Bass Pro or like one of these places to meet like Mike Iconelli or Bill Dance or like any those guys were like those were the athletes to my dad. My dad's a sports band, but he loved

those fishing shows. He watched. him, he taped him. He taped the shows and then would watch like Mike Icanelli fish or Bill Dan. He taped him like on VHS. Yes. Yes. Yes. And like watched him. So like I had this awareness of all these fishing guys forever. I've never, so I mean, no, but I've never watched Ben Simmons fish and I wouldn't watch him fish. But I think I'm more likely. turn on the Kings because they have Ben Simmons. I just want to see what it

looks. That's a different question. Am I more likely to watch the Kings now that they have Ben Simmons than previously? Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Do you think him becoming an all star again would be the most unlikely of the, and we're not

talking old guys. No, he's 30. No, no, no. So I'm not saying like the DeAndre Jordans or the Drummins or the Conleys. I'm talking about like if somebody were to reclaim their

all NBA status, that would be the craziest one, right? Like that would be Ben Simmons. Probably not the craziest I could think of. He wasn't even, he was fishing. He wasn't even playing bad. Maybe who wrote the letter

last week? Oladipo. Like wrote the letter to the GMs. To all the GMs. Yeah. Maybe. Yeah. Maybe.

like all of, but Oladipo was like 34, I think. Well, it was also like, I guess Ben Simmons, you could attribute it to injury, but it was also, it felt a little more like mental. He was just gone. He wasn't even, it was just gone. We just, we thought his career was over. And now he's like back playing for the Kings. It would be so, it would be hilarious if he was amazing.

It would. It really would. It really would. But it does feel like if he was going to be. be a successful contributor to an NBA team. The Kings are probably a good spot as any. Honestly. To put up numbers?

Yeah, you're just, well, you're going to have an opportunity. You know what I mean? Like, you're not going to be like the 10th man in the rotation. You know what I mean? Just like, you know, never getting out of your warmups and clapping on the bench. Like, he's going to get an opportunity to play. All right. Last news item is the Jayland Duren.

He's like the one hanging out there. We've already got the, weird, man. We got the comminga thing done. whatever. Well, I saw the reporting last week and it said, basically they're digging their heels in on the 40. They want 40 million. The Pistons offered 35. And so that made me feel like, all right, in the end, this is just going to get done. But it does seem like a lot of, a lot of hurt feelings and pissed off, you know, just everybody gets pissed off over, you know, what, I figured when the reporting came out, that they would be farther apart than they are.

But it is interesting because I don't see a scenario in which a deal does not get done, right? But the question is, is how much will the sort of the back and forth and the feeling undervalued, the emotionality of it all, how will that reflect onto the basketball floor between the lines? You could convince me that it is 0% or you could convince me that it will completely tank the team. Yeah, because a lot of times this stuff happens and you just don't hear anything about it. Right? Like the Amen Thompson thing,

you never heard anything about like, Amman Thompson is really angry and might request a trade and is trying to, like, bro, I mean, I'm a Jalen Thurton fan, covered him at Memphis. Take your 35 million and move on. Bro, it's a lot of money. But can you move on is the question.

If you take your 35 million, right? I mean, it's got to be an amazing thing to sign a piece of paper that guarantees you over $200 million, right? Like, it's got to feel good. So you have to celebrate. But, like, is there a part of you every time you see someone from the front office or every time you see your head coach that you feel a certain way? I mean, look, and this is the deal, and we talked about this in the playoffs.

This guy had an all-MBA season, the team won 60 games. I got it. He was amazing. But we were saying, like, this post season. is going to, it's going to change the, and he does not want to accept that that postseason performance changed the,

change the deal. Right? That this was just like, this was a no, if he performed in the postseason, like he had in the regular season, this is a no-brainer max contract. It's done. It's done. It's already done.

It's done two days after the season. It just feels like he, doesn't want to accept that that cost them money. And it did. It did. I mean, if you are a Pistons fan or you were just a neutral basketball lover like I was, B-Ball Paul performed better in the playoffs. He did.

And here's the deal, Jacoby. Much like you were just talking about the Thompson-Shen-Shengoon thing. It's like, you got to be confident that Cade and Duren are the, we can build out around that. That's what we're building up. I think that you felt that way when, they were the number one seed after the regular season. And you don't feel that way after the playoffs.

And if you are Jalen Dern's representation and you're across the negotiating table and you've got all these stats and facts and facts about the regular season. If I'm on the other side of the table, I'm just like, cool. When it mattered, he was terrible. He cost us. Yes. Yes. We had to bench him. For Paul Reed.

The problem is he couldn't even get the rebound. Fine. You're not making shots. you know, they're selling out and they're saying, you know what, we're not going to let this Cade during pick and roll. Like, that's the way the playoffs go. Hey, what do you like to do the most?

Okay, we're taking that away. All right. Well, now you've got to be able to do something else. And it was like, even though he couldn't do something else, he wouldn't even, all right, fine, bro. They're taking you away. Go get me 14 rebounds.

And that wasn't happening. Or just go get me as ready rebounds as you were during the regular season. That wasn't happening. I also feel like if I'm, if I'm Jalen Dern's representation, there's a part of me that's also like, you did not put a functional playoff basketball roster around Cade and Duren.

That's fair. Like, this isn't a Duren problem. There wasn't enough shooting and there wasn't enough secondary creation. Outside of like Tobias Harris. You know what I mean? Like, right. Right.

You know. Yep. All right. Let's get to our three questions. Try to burn through these. All right. I'll start. as it stands on September 8th,

how many teams can go into camp in a few weeks with realistic championship hopes? All right, Bernal. I did some research for this. You know, I don't like to prep for the show. I did some research for this. We actually started our recording a half an hour later than I thought it was, so I had extra time to prep today.

That's my fault. That's my fault. I'll take the L. No, no. My wife tells me last night, I'm subbing tomorrow. I need you to take the daughter, to school and I was like, oh, no. Yeah.

It's one thing. People think New York is a bad place to raise kids. It's great because public transit. Mike, I don't take my kids to school. They just walk out the door. Bye. All right. When I first got this question, right?

How many teams can go into camp in a few weeks with realistic championship hopes, right? I have four title contenders. And you know what they are, who they are. Just name them. Go ahead. I'm going to say you say New York, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, and Philly. Yep, right there. That, to me, are like the title contenders.

You don't throw Cleveland in that, no. Okay. Can you go into camp with realistic championship hopes if you're the Cavs? Yes, I think you can. And I have to remind myself how I felt about the Pacers two years ago and the Knicks last year. two years ago, you were not thinking about the Pacers as a championship contender. Two years ago today. Not at all.

Even the Knicks last year, I didn't even feel like we're a championship contenders. Hold on, hold on. In February of that season. Oh, yeah. We did not think of the Pacers as a championship contender. I was watching that starting five show. I forgot about this point in the season two years ago. Tyrese, Tyrese Halliborne was going to shut himself down,

not for physical injury just because he sucked. He was like, I need, like, a break. He's just like, I need to just stop playing basketball. That's how bad I am. And then he becomes the best player in the planet. It takes his team to the game seven of the finals. But I went to our friends at Fandul, and I looked at the championship odds, which I found really fascinating, right?

Because I'm a, I can't bet on futures. Like, I need immediate gambling satisfaction. Like, I bet on games. I bet on quarters. I bet on the half. I bet on possessions in football. Like, I can't bet, like, will the jets be the, fourth place team in the

AFC East. I can't wait around that long. I can't wait around. I can't tell you how much I relate to this. This is, we are brothers in ADD. This is great. Yes, I can't play poker at a casino. Oh, me neither.

I can't sit there and fold for an hour and just like watch my blinds go away because I don't have like an ace king. You know what I mean? I can't do it. I want blackjack. I want immediate satisfaction. So I don't really look at the futures that much,

but the Thunder are plus 230 favorites. Spurs plus 280 second, right? This is where it gets interesting. The next two teams, the Sixers and the Knicks, are plus 1,000. Ooh. Interesting, right? I wouldn't guess that the Knicks who just beat the Spurs in a seven-game series, pretty handily, if you ask me, are plus 1,000 and the Spurs are plus 280.

They really think they're going to miss Mitchell Robinson. I guess so. I guess those nine minutes of Mitchell Robinson are important. And then after the Knicks, this is fascinating to me. Guess what team? I don't like to put my co-host on the spot,

but we'll do it just for fun. Guess what team has the fifth and sixth best odds to win the championship? Fifth and six. You won't get it. I'll give you a hit. Eastern Conference, and you won't get it. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

So it's Thunder, Spurs, Sixers, Sixers, and Knicks are tied at third. So the fifth best odds. how about Miami and they get Miami is not even in the top 10 oh I just thought that would be a

yonness thing right like you got a top I know you got a top five player by this it's the Celtics oh come on it plus 1,500 and then the Raptors at plus 2,200 which is huge odds so you know so Vegas

really believes in Mitchell Robinson and Paul George I guess so wow Mitchell Robinson. It's shocking to me. Hey, no, no, this is the corollary, though. You're like, why are the Knicks odds like that?

Why are the Celtics odds like that? Mitchell Robinson. Mitchell Robinson. He's swinging the odds, Jacoby. I guess. He is. He's changing the game. That's incredible.

He got one big rebound in the finals. It was, it was a great rebound. It was a great rebounds over Wemby. watched it 15 times since it happens. It pops up in my feet. Any Knicks finals, I mean, I'm stuck. If in my algorithm, if the Knicks, if there's

a Knicks finals highlight, I am watching it. A missed free throw. I mean, a missed free throw rebound to like seal it is over Wemby. And then to immediately kick it out. Immediately kick it out so he wouldn't get fouled. Brilliant. Brilliant.

He swung the odds. Vegas for I guess he did. But here. But here. It's interesting. It's Celtics, Raptors, Pistons, then Cavs, then Nuggets, then rockets, then rockets, then heat. Wow. I'm fascinated. And you know what?

And the Timberwolves are nowhere in here. Maybe the Brunson thing did flip this, a lot of, like, ideas that we used to have, which is since the beginning of time, you've generally had to have a top five player on your team. The pistons, you know, 04 pistons notwithstanding. But almost everybody has had what you consider to be a top five player. Now, you can argue, hey, the real take on that should be that Brunson's a top five player. And if you wanted to have that discussion, you can. Yeah, I mean, I could make the case pretty easily. But you know that if people are asked for the top five players, they're going to say,

Wembe, SGA, Luca, Yokic, Yonis. That's what they're going to say, right? Yeah, yeah, sure. And then you get to the Tatum, Aunt Brunson, Cade, like that kind of class. And so maybe because of the way the salary cap stuff is now and because of the way the league has changed, that you're not going to have to have one of the three to five best players. Or maybe everything will just switch back and you actually do.

And it'll end up being whenever you're right, you know. Let's not forget the great. battle scars debate of um 2000, 2020. Hey, but that Oh,

you're claiming victory now. No, that course corrected. That course corrected. The spurs didn't have them. It showed up. Now they have battle scars. Tell me it didn't show up when they were up in every freaking game.

Oh, it showed up. It showed up. When Minyama threw it off Castle's back in game one. It was like, what are you doing? You got to learn to win, Jacoby.

You got to learn. The way you learn to win is to lose. Yes. They were up. Remember, they said, like, basically, we won the series. Every game was 46 minutes, so we would have swept them. Okay. It's not.

It's not. I mean, that was a big win for battle scores. That was a big win for battle scars last year. It really was. And the Knicks had them, too. First question. Are the Lakers going to be better than they were last year? No.

Are you sure? Yeah, you want to move on? they don't have a fifth starter if Luca Reeves Grimes and Kessler who do you want to put in there they are unless they make a deal

they are debate the debate amongst the Laker fans is who is the fifth starter and the argument is like Mamu Mamu La Ravia

Zaire Williams I by the way I've covered both La Ravia and Zyir Williams, so I do have some... They didn't start on the Chrisley. No, no. They were disappointed. They were disappointment.

Or I guess, Thibel? I mean... And then your other guys are like, Colin Sexton, who I love, Looney, Vando. Like, I just don't... They won 53 games

that were the four seed last year. Are they going to be better? I think a lot of people talk about what they are going to miss without LeBron, but I think really was very important to that team. Jacoby, I just want to give you a heads up on this. So you remember last year they went to the playoffs, and they got a pretty awesome first round series win without Luca. Remember that?

Yeah, without Luca Amrhus. All right, their starting five was LeBron. smart, Kinnard, Rui, and Aiton. No, none of them on the team.

All five of them. I didn't consider that. That's insane. First of all, I love that you started about being like, Jacoby, let me give you a heads up

on something, and then stated a fact from a year ago. The starting five does not exist. I did not consider that. Not even one. Not even.

single guy that started not even Kinnard and we know they love white guys in the front office Oh Kinnar's living his best life in Phoenix brother Oh God do you remember how good smart was in that series LeBron smart

Kinnard Rui Aiton that's the whole five Is there, there's a part of me that thinks Smart's really going to work out in Houston I do too Especially with EMA With EMA that's what I'm saying It's just like they're just like meant for each other Yes

also also a Texas kid Oh yeah I didn't consider that He's a Texas kid So I mean this is like Texas is a big state It's kind of like California Big state Yeah it's a big state

You ever driven through Texas It never ends You're just like am I still in Texas But no I mean Certainly in the role that he'll be in Yeah he'll be I bet he's good for them And so no

I mean Luca Reeves Lueger Reeves Kessler Grimes The fact that you I can't tell you who the fifth starter is. And, you know, because there was like,

there was like the comminga stuff floated out there, the PJ Washington stuff throw it out there. And that would have been, that would have made things different. Like that at least gives me a solid fifth starter. Or one of the Pelicans wings. Yeah. So, no, they are not going to be better.

53 games and the four seed. It's just a real, like, how much can Luca carry a team? This year is going to be a real, a real test of that. Like how much does Lucas single-handedly bring to the table of the course of 82 games? Right. Because the team that he went to the finals with had a bunch of good players on it. Yeah.

Kyrie Irving. And Lively was awesome that year. Lively and Gafford. Lively was amazing that year. I still believe in Lively. I really do. Like, do you remember his short role distribution from the nail? Like, he was so good at just kicking into the corner,

kicking to a wing, looking at one guy kicking to somebody else, like, I loved Laivian Gafford that year. And obviously the wings, yeah, I mean... Yeah. All right. Did Janus get a new lease on life that people will want for Yokic? Or will it be a cautionary tale

of leaving a place where you're beloved? I can't lie. I did have some extra prep time for this show today. I had to read this question like 17 times. Just say it again. It's just, no, I'm not, I'm not criticizing it. It was just, it was confusing. somewhat to me. I was like, okay, did Janice get a new lease on life? Yes.

People will want for Yokic will want for Yokic. That people will want for Yokic, right? Star, top five star player on a team that was once champions that seems to be dwindling in your contention rankings over time, right? Correct. That's what we're saying? Yes. And then, you know what that's going to

turn to. Yokin should do what Yadis did look at this new lease on life. That's how I meant that. No, no, no. I'm not saying it was that confusing. I'm just saying I'm an idiot. But I, it does start to smell like the nuggets are going to do something like a dame trade. Because you remember the championship team is, you know, it's Janus Middleton holiday. Portis Connington Lopez. You know what I mean? Like, And then like, it just felt like over time it started to erode. And when they brought in Dame Lillard, it did not work. But when they brought in Dame Lillard, I felt like it would work.

I felt like there were two complimentary stars that a Dame Yonis pick and roll would be unstoppable. And it just didn't work that way. But it does feel like we are at the beginning of the end of Yokic and the Nuggets. Okay, here's, how about this? Is there a well, again, doesn't it depend on what happens? I got this, I got this question for you.

Over under, the date Bill Simmons on the Bill Simmons podcast starts coming up with fake Yokish trades. Oh, that's already happened. I mean, Zach Lowe did a podcast about this. Yonkish trades? Yeah.

I must have missed that one. How about this? How about the devil's advocate, which is, hey, Yokic is the one guy who, like, wants to be at a play. It has no interest of being anywhere else. He doesn't want to move. He doesn't want to play for somebody else. And so the answer is not, hey, we trade Yokic. It's we move off of the Murray Gordon experience and we build out a different way around Yokic.

That seems a lot more realistic to me. Why does everybody turn to move Yokic? It's like, okay, then I still got Murray and Gordon who were built to play with Yokic. And Christian Brown? Yeah, like, what are we doing? No, keep the guy that seemingly, like, unless he wants out, unless he's had enough, like, De Yonis had obviously had enough. Like, he's driven to, I do not want to be okay.

I do not want to be a mediocre basketball team. where I'm going out there playing my ass off every single night to win 42 games. And Yokic, he might be fine with it. Yeah, I mean, I don't think Denver's better than they were last year, but they could be healthier than they were last year. And I think if you could say Christian Brown wasn't healthy last year, Gordon wasn't healthy last year,

I see a world in which Murray Brown Johnson Gordon Yokic is a great starting five. I don't know. I'm not ready to put dirt on this grave quite yet. It does change, though, if Yonis' team is okay, doesn't it? Perspective, I mean. What do you mean?

All right. Because you just went from okay to okay. And you're a disappointment. Whereas the other place would have, like, you know, bath you in in compliments till the end of time. Like it would have been everybody else's fault and you're the beloved. Oh, Janus is in a much better basketball position.

Much better basketball position now. It's not even close. I thought that the, you know, when they, when they wave and stretch dame was kind of like, okay, guys, like, what are we doing? Kyle Coosman's not going to take a leap and become first time all NBA first team. Fair enough.

Next one. All right. So I ask you questions, I don't really know the answer to myself. All right. Where do you rank the Pistons in the Eastern Conference? Okay, so they were the number one seed. They won 60 games last year. Yep.

I went and looked this up, and they're over under is 49 and a half. I mean, that's, you know, for a team that won 60 games, and it's not like they lost Kate Cunningham, right? they lost Tobias Harris, right? They added Isaiah Joe. They added John Collins, lost beef stew, which could hurt. Yeah, that would definitely hurt. More so locker room and like, you know, like vibes than even on the court.

But even though he did a lot on the court too. Oh, on the court, he was great to. Yeah. Blocking shots, been protecting and hitting threes. Like, he was big. I think that's about right. I think I would put them in. they're in that class with

that yeah it's hard to figure out Toronto Atlanta Boston Miami like I think my guess would be today if you made me guess that they will be a playoff team that there's not a home court advantage team that there is a step

So you have to put Cav Sixers and Knicks around the top Because the East got a lot stronger My guess right now would be that they are a playoff team that's not a home court team. That's what I'd say.

It does feel like Cavsixers, Knicks are your top tier Eastern Conference team. And then you have Atlanta, Miami, Toronto. Detroit, Toronto, Orlando, in a bunch there. Yeah. So I would say,

but my guess would be like five, six, like they're not probably playing their way into the thing more than likely. So I guess I'd put them, yeah, I'd probably put them like five, six. The five or six seed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that's fair.

I think that's fair. And that might be disrespectful, baby. Look, everybody disrespected them all last year. So. I think that if they are around five or six at the trade deadline, they're going to do something big. Hope so. Everybody, everybody's like that. Because last year, they're the number one seat.

They're the number one seed last year. So they're like, listen, why would we, why are we going to dramatically change our roster when we have the best record in the Eastern Conference? But I think if they are around five or six, post-new-new-year's, you're going to start hearing some rumors about some players going there. All right. When we were last on the air,

you told the story about you having to get in an, your wife had planned this trip where you were going to drive an RV down Route 66 for the 100-year anniversary of Route 66. and you were, I don't want to say a panic, that would be overstating it, but you were certainly not looking forward to it in a way that a family vacation is typically something you look forward to. Yeah, I think that's fair assessment. So I need to hear.

The day before we rented the RV. Does Dave Jacoby recommend driving down Route 66 in an RV? First of all, a couple of things. we didn't touch Route 66. Okay. Didn't touch it. The day before, the day before, yeah. So Claude, my wife's best friend, is her AI person who came up with the itinerary of how we get from place to place.

The day before we rent the RV, she looks at me and she goes, yeah, it looks like some of these drives might be longer than I thought. I was like, huh? She was, yeah, from L.A. to Flagstaff, I said it was five or six. hours looking more like eight to ten hours. Oh, this is a big difference. Day one. 10. 10. 22.

We go to road surfer. That's where you rent the RV, right? And this thing is it's big. And I'm pulling out of the lot and it's like, it's not even like driving a car. It's like, it's a truck. And I'm in LA traffic, like

taking right turns and switching lanes. and like being on the right lane and realizing I have a left to have to take and trying to get over like three lanes in the RV and the thing has the suspension that if you hit a bump it shakes like a boat like you're going back and forth like a boat in this thing and I'm telling you

I'm this is a nightmare to me it was an absolute nightmare I could not drive it and then you're in L.A. traffic in an RV. In an RV. And then I'm on like the I-10 in just like four lanes,

trucks speeding past me. I have to switch lanes. I have no idea how to drive this thing. It's my first time ever getting behind the wheel. We get in the car at 1022. We go to, what's it called? It starts with the B. Baker's Field or something.

We go to In-N-Out Burger, get lunch. And I'm billing it with gas around 7 o'clock. And you're trying to park an RV at In-N-Out? Bro. Everything's impossible in this thing. Everything's impossible. We, I'm filling it up with gas at 7 o'clock the first day. And I see the sun start to go behind the desert mountains.

It's 7 p.m. And I'm like, how much longer do I have to drive this thing? I look on my phone. How much does it cost to fill the thing up? Bro, half a tank, $200. All right. The tank is like 50 gallons. it burns through it so fast

and I'm looking over the the sun's going down I don't like I don't like long drives number one I've already driven for like seven hours and I don't like driving at night and the sun's starting to go down and this was the low point one of the low points of the trip

the sun's going down I'm driving the car and I told no one to talk to me no one sits no one should sit shotgun no one even come up and talk to me I'm pissed So mad. The bus driver. And I'm going,

we're passing so many campgrounds. I'm just like, why aren't we at these campgrounds? Why am I going to that campground? And then I drive past a sign, we're going to Flagstaff, Arizona. It says Flagstaff, 221 miles. Oh, no.

And then I look at the speedometer and it says 60. And I'm like, all, I can do that math. I did the math so many times in my head. I was like, there's no way. I still have three hours and 40 minutes to go on this thing. and it's pitch black. And now it's just me in an RV in the right lane and 18 wheelers. And it's pitch black at night.

18 wheelers come humming past me. And the RVs are not designed for aerodynamics. So they're basically like a box. So when the RV goes past you, it hits you with this gust of wind. And then you start shaking in the thing. I'm so mad. I've now been on the road for 11 hours. And we get to the campground.

and there's no one there. There's not a person working there. It's so late. They just have an envelope with my name on it and directions to the parking spot. And we parked there. You connect, what you do is you connect the electricity

and you connect the hose for water. And I just told my family, I can't talk. I can't see any of you people. I'm walking away for five, 10 minutes. Just walked away. Just walked into the woods in the middle.

Into the woods. Just into the woods. And he never saw him again. No, I did. I will say this. The drives did get shorter. You know, but it was like 12 hours the first day and then like eight and then nine and then nine. But we saw some really cool stuff, man.

Like the earth is so beautiful. Like there's a really beautiful, beautiful things. We went to this alien beef jerky place. So what I didn't realize is that my wife and my son colluded to like go the scenic route. Like we did not take the most direct route. My wife and son were like, let's go to the alien beef jerky place. I'm like, had I known that would cost me an extra? hour and a half to drive to get alien beef jerky?

I would never post on this. What is alien beef jerky? It's just a beef jerse. It's a, it's a bodega with an alien theme. That's what it is. Wait. Yes. Have you seen the movie? Nope. It's that place.

I don't know. I haven't see this. Anyway, but then we go to the alien beef jerky place and the directions tell me to go straight when the major interstate is left and right. And when I went straight, we went on this, we went through the Mojave Desert. which I didn't even know was a thing. It was, there was no cars on the road. There's no gas station. There's no houses.

There's nothing. There's just nothing but desert road for miles and miles and miles. And it was so beautiful and scary and awesome. We drove through a Navajo reservation after the Grand Canyon. We saw the Grand Canyon. And then night two, what you have to do is you have to like empty out the poop from the toilet. I told my film it was like, don't poop. in the toilet, right? So you get this hose that comes in the bumper, literally in the bumper,

you take it out of the bumper, and it's a hose for sewage, and you connect it to your RV, and you connect it to the ground, right? So it goes into the ground. And then you pull this lever, which releases all of the waste. Okay. No problems. Did it, right? Good. Night three, gonna do it again. Connect the hose. My son wants to release the valve. Releases the valve. Guess what? David Jacoby connected the front of the hose but couldn't see the back of the hose. Oh, no. What you think happened happened.

My son released the valve. Feces, urine everywhere. Splattering, exploding. The smell, we've all smelled human feces. It's so much worse when it's been sitting in liquid, in the heat. and you release it and my son freaks out

so he doesn't close the valve so I'm like close it close it closing he's just losing his mind because his feet are covered in feces and it stinks the neighboring RVs are just like coming out from their being like what is going on over there

shit everywhere Verno you can smell the individual poops and the difference between them. This is a catastrophe. It's a, I wasn't the same for a day.

I, I, I, I, I, I, so I, I wash it down with like a hose. Oh. I just spread it around. I put some dish soap on top of it. I didn't have, like, stuff to clean it with. You got to drive away, bro. You got to just drive away from it. Oh, I was up and out of that place at 6 in the morning.

You got to drive away from it. I was out of there. I was out of there. Oh, that was a low point. Those are two. two low points. You don't say. I hope so. I hope so. Your son is covered in V.C. Yeah.

I hope that was the law. And he's got these Jordan ones that he refuses to wear now. He calls him the poop shoes. I was like, why are you wearing my shoes? I'm not wearing the poop shoes. I'm hopeful that your son being covered in P.C. was the low point. That was the low point. There was some great times that were had.

like real family bonding. Like we're all sleeping in a car together. You know what I mean? Like at night. Right. We have a baby. And the baby can't go to sleep because we're all talking and laughing and stuff. And the baby's like, I'm not sleeping right now.

So we all sort of like slept at the same time, woke up at the same time. It was very, very like bonding. And we saw some beautiful, beautiful landscape. And I would do it again. But if you are renting an RV, make sure that you cut down the drive times between stops. Make sure that you connect the sewage hose appropriately. before you release the sewage. It's two things that would be very dramatically different had we planned this and executed

it a little bit better. It's absolutely perfect because I think now that we're both adults with families, like you go through this all the time where it's like I think about sometimes I'll like go back and like look at pictures of like, you know, say it'll be like it'll pop up on my memories. like my daughter at Disney World in front of the fireworks and the Magic Kingdom, whatever. And what goes through my mind was not like, God, I was miserable that day. It was like, oh, wow, that was fun. It wasn't.

It wasn't in the moment. It wasn't. But I'm so glad. Like, the memories are always. We set out to make memories. We made memories. Like, we went to a wonderful resort in the Bahamas a couple of years ago and had a great time. There's a water park on the place.

There's a casino. The beach is great. drinks, whatever, but it will not be nearly as memorable as this RV trip. I mean, so just for instance, that picture, that exact picture I was just talking about with the fireworks behind her,

that was taken when we were in a two-hour wait to get into the restaurant. We were trying to get to, right? But I'm like, oh man, you remember how fun that was when we went to Disney? It wasn't. It probably wasn't. And I think that's probably like you made a million memories,

but like you will also remember all of like the the tribe. Of course. And there's also, we're a family of six and we're all big personalities. We get in fights and arguments all the time. And my son was like, dad, he was like later on after everything cooled down.

He was like dad, like the difference here is I can't, there's no place for me to go to have me time when I'm angry. Like I can't close a door behind me. Like we're in a car. Yeah. So like you're getting a fight with your sibling. You're just kind of like,

you're just staring at them. You can't go to your room and close the door. You can't even go to the bathroom. close the door. Like, it's just got like, you're in a car. What was the best thing you saw on the trip? Besides the alien jerks. So much.

Oh, yeah, the alien jerky. There's a place called Mesa Bairde in, I think it's Colorado. And it's, you know, like a mesa, like a big plateau. You're way up high in the mountains. And just, it's so beautiful. And these, the Pueblo people in like the year, like, 1300 around then, they built like into caves. like shelters in like a cliffside.

They built like cities and like homes and like like where they could live. And they farmed on the mesa. They ate the wildlife in this like canyon area. And they built like they had like natural shelters where they built like homes using like sandstone. It was awesome. It was just so beautiful. And they still like you could still go look at the like the. Oh yeah.

I was standing in it. I was right there. It was 700 years ago. Wow. Yeah, man. That's Mesa Verde. Mesa Verde. In Colorado.

In Colorado. I mean, I really recommend that people do this with their families. I just recommend that they spend more time outside of the RV doing things than just driving all day every day. That's what we basically drove all day every day. And it was you. Did she ever drive? In her defense, she offered time and time again. But the learning curve was.

Just because after the 12-hour day to one, me and the RV were like one. You know what I mean? And I didn't want her to, I wouldn't be comfortable. It was more selfish. I would not be comfortable being a passenger with her driving. Not because of her because of the RV.

No, the RV. Yeah, she's an excellent driver. She's from L.A. But like, I know myself, I don't feel comfortable when someone else is at the wheel. Like,

I want to be at the wheel of the car. That's right. You would do it again. I would do it very differently. I would make sure. that we secure the sewage hose to the outlet of sewage before we released the sewage. That's one thing that's what I cannot. However, however sure you are, it's appropriately connected, double check again.

You guys will be, look, every single person in your family will be telling that story until the day they die. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Do you remember when our son was covered? feces. I cannot describe the smell. Oh my god. That's like a nightmare, like a true nightmare.

It was so bad. We're ending on this. We're ending on this. Jacoby, it is always a pleasure. Thank you. There are producers. Jeff Steff and Jeff as always. And Jacoby, I'll talk to you next.