The Mismatch - Dame Time Debut, The Hardenless Sixers, and More First Impressions From Opening Week

Episode Date: October 27, 2023

Verno and KOC discuss the phenomenal debut of Damian Lillard in Milwaukee, as the Bucks defeat the 76ers despite a rare off night from Giannis (01:25). Also, what do the Sixers do with James Harden? With the NBA season fully underway, the guys discuss some of their first impressions from the start of the season (16:15). They discuss star players already missing prime-time games, rookie debuts, their growing affection for the Magic, and so much more. Got a question for Verno and KOC? Send them an email at [e-mail]! Or you can send the guys a tweet @ChrisVernonShow and @KevinOConnorNBA! The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please check out http://theringer.com/RG to find out more or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Jessie Lopez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up everybody, it's Austin Rivers from Offguard, and I've got some exciting news. Offguard hosted by me and my guide Pasha Giggi is officially moving to our own podcast feed. We are now dropping two shows every week. Me and Pasha go way back and talk so much hoops already that we figured it was time to fire up the mics and let you in on these conversations. Every week, Pasha and myself will hit on the biggest stories happening around the league. Tap into the show twice a week on our new Offguard feed on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon and joining me as he does every Thursday from the ringer.com

is Kevin O'Connor, A.K.K.A. Kevin O'Bomber, Kevin O'Colmert, Kevin O'Champer, Kevin O'Compel. Oh, we got basketball games. Real basketball games are back, baby. We have real basketball games. We are recording this after we just watched what was a very good Buck Sixers game. It ended 118 to 117. after De Anthony Melton Hive at the buzzer. So it really wasn't your typical one-point game. But you got to see what we have been wanting to see, and that is the Lillard Janus combination

and how that would look in a regular season setting. And what an unbelievable first game for Damien Lillard. I mean, you get the full experience. if you are a Milwaukee fan, this is what Portland fans got used to for so many years. Dame time coming up with clutch baskets. He ends with 39. He makes all 17 minutes free throws

and a couple of big clutch baskets down the stretch of that game. And he really delivered this for Milwaukee. Janus was a mess for a lot of the night. Way too many jumpers from Janus. Yeah, 10 for 22 is just a extremely rare stat line and seven turnovers. And three of nine from the line too.

And seven turnovers. Yeah, really sloppy. Both him and M. B. had a ton of turnovers tonight. I think M. B. had seven as well. And so, you know, it was going to come down to, in many ways, the perimeter guys and what kind of plays they could make. Maxie was great on one side for Philadelphia.

And Lillard was great on the other side. But I felt like this game flipped when Philly had this great run in the fourth quarter. And they had that fans, you know, sitting on their hands, all the momentum in the world. And then there's this segment of the game that you'll remember where they leave. They're up eight. And this is when I really felt like the whole thing flipped. They're up by eight. There's probably like six minutes left in the half, and they leave Brooke Lopez wide open at the top of the key, drains a three.

They come down, have this insanely lazy possession where Embed tries this pitiful tip pass. It ends to a transition wide open J. Crowder three. This takes place in the span of like 10 seconds, and now eight goes to two, time out, crowds on five. fire again and they never really got it back after that. Well, and there was the bad call or non-call on the on the onus travel. Right. Or he kind of caught his own rebound where it didn't hit the backboard or the rim or anything at all. Right.

Another poor, poor miss call that anybody could kind of see right away from home or in the crowd. Which led to a little or three. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So it's like some unfortunate turns of events for the Sixers. But I just, you know, on the buck side of things, first of all, like you said,

Janus wasn't at his best at all. And clearly Janus is going to have to learn how to adjust here in the sense that, dude, you don't need to be taking all these jumpers, pull up twos, all these threes, when you got Damien Lillard on your team by your side, when you have all this other talent on your team. And it's only game one. and we saw Damian Liller just destroy the Sixers defense from everywhere, getting into the basket.

Like that layup he hit, the one that Nickner's challenged in the last two minutes. I mean, like, those crazy agrobatics to hit that layup there. And for them, that Dame Yana's combination should only get better, too, because Yannis,

I thought he set some really weak screens for Dame tonight, too, where it's not like he's forcing his defender to really go around him or putting them in a tough situation. They were pretty poorly set screens. But over the course of the year, you would think that would improve from Janus that their chemistry could even get better. But, I mean, for the most part, though, I like the way the Bucks used Dame. They had the two screeners come up to the logo for three plays in a row in the second quarter, got him going to the bass.

It got him going from three. They used Dame in so many different ways. It was cool to see. And on the Sixers side of things, I mean, similar to what you said, like, Embed is going to have better nights than that. But overall, if I'm a Sixers fan watching this team with all the mess involving Hardin right now, going against this Bucks team, I feel encouraged. I think I feel encouraged after game one, if I'm a Sixers fan, if the return for Hardin is right, if it actually makes you better. Because the other guys look good. The system looks pretty solid.

I like some of the movement out there. I like the maxing usage. I mean, look, I will say this, though, Keb, when you shoot 51% from the field and 46% from three, it's hard to lose. It's hard to lose. And that's what Philly did tonight. And they did lose. And they got this, they got this 27 point, you know, out of nowhere, Ubrae game.

And look, I don't want to average 20 last year, but on terrible efficiency. He's not going to be as, he's not going to be as efficient as he was tonight. And a lot of the nurse offense stuff looked good. That being said. Bro, get him off an island with Damien Lillard in crunch time. Like, what is that? Well, they get a double like they did in the possession after that one. They forced Damon to an even tougher shot.

Either double. You got Pat Bav over there on your bench, like, or somebody, just somebody. I mean, Damien Lillard could score 97 times out of 100 on Kelly Ubre. That was just meat to the lions. So I didn't understand that at all, despite his 27 point outburst off the bench. I mean, I'll say this, though. I mean, yeah, you're right about that aspect. And yes, you usually win most games in which you shoot the way you did.

But, like, I just think with Philadelphia, we have the story today. Drops. Chris Haynes said how James Harden went to the team playing and he got turned away by security. And I'm sure we'll find out. I mean, I want video evidence of this so badly. I'll pay $100 for somebody to show me the video of him holding bags and then them telling him to go home. He's like rolling up with his suitcase. Yeah.

All right, guys, ready to head to go play some basketball. Got a carry on over his shoulder, like a little Gucci bag or something. They said, the hell you are. Well, I mean, but like I said to you last week, they shouldn't bring them back. They should send him away. I said that to you last week because I have belief in one. what this team is building without him. And this is me, Mr. Hardin guy over the years on this show,

year eight with us. And this is the year that I'm looking at this Philly roster and saying to you, no, they shouldn't want James Hardin at this point. This team is building something different culturally with more movement, more cutting, more motion, more up-tempo. With the Sixers, if you bring back Hardin, like he's going to completely take away from that and go back into what he always does. I can't imagine James Hardin is going to fully embrace the style of play.

They need to find the right deal for Hardin. That feels even more apparent to me now than it did prior when I said to you that they should be patient. I think the Sixers are not of the same level of Boston or Milwaukee or various teams in the West, but at least that they can keep themselves in the conversation if they make a good deal involving Hardin, they shouldn't settle. And I feel like opening night showed the upside of this team at the least despite the fact they're dealing with all this controversy right now. Okay, well, you just talked out two sides of your mouth.

You said get a good deal for Hardin, but don't settle. Yeah, don't settle. Okay, it's one or the other. How is that talking about two sides? I don't know what I'm saying. Because it's one or the other. You've either got to settle or you've got to get a good deal. I said, don't settle.

Huh? I said don't settle. But if you're going to move him, if you're going to move him, you're going to have to settle. You're not getting a good deal. I don't know. Why is the price for James Hardin going up? Because other teams fall into situations where they feel like they need to make a move.

Settling today is making a deal without getting even Terrence freaking man back from the Clippers. That's settling. Waiting and biding time and hopefully that the leverage that you gain goes up because other teams' desperation goes up or other teams' belief in themselves increases and that therefore their demand and willingness to give more goes up. They need to be patient. We all like Darrell. He's made a colossal mess out of this again. The only thing that bailed him out of the Simmons thing was that he had a player that would quit on another team for him.

He doesn't have that this time. And there is no leverage. And him not playing gives you even less leverage to me. That price is never going on. You're taking Robert Covington and Marcus Morris and a future pick and you're saying, all right, guess we'll lose him the first or second round. you guys, I'm going to get fired next summer. That's what you're going to do then? Please.

I mean, speak serious. Look, at this point, I'm trying to get rid of distractions for my team. It's not a distraction. I don't think it is. I don't think it's a distraction. Here's the thing. You're getting nothing from him, Kevin. So anything you bring back is something.

I mean, how much are you going to get? What are you going to get from Robert Covington? Well, you don't want to get from like De Anthony Melton and PJ Tucker and Kelly Uber. I'm sorry. Like, what do you get from him? You get nothing from him, too. He's getting D&Ps on the bench as well.

You don't get shit from some of these guys. So you got to be patient. You have no choice if you're the Sixers, especially seeing the way the team plays without him and what they could do when you add more like-minded talent into that mix. You have to bet on the talent that you have in Embeddon and Maxie. It's a bet against them to settle for Robert Covington or Nick Batum or whatever crap you get from the Clippers and return for him today.

You got a clip of clippers don't need him. Because they got Russell Westbrook. They got Russell Westbrook. They don't need his ass. All right. And look, we're going to be doing first impressions tonight. Obviously, this is not on mine or yours list because it includes the game tonight. But it was a commonplace opinion amongst many observers and many media members that this would enable the maxi breakout.

The absence of Hardin would enable the inebable. the inevitable Maxi breakout. He has fans across the league. Anybody that's paid attention to Tyrese Maxi knows that he is one of those guys that is steadily improved. And with greater opportunity, we believe would lead to greater production and very good night for that opinion. Because Maxi looked like exactly what we think he is, right, which is a guy that is on this real assent towards being. something special in this league. An all-star, potentially this season.

No question. No question about it. All right. His, by the way, well, one thing, his 31 points on 22 shots, he's going to have more efficient nights, but the eight assists to zero turnovers, that's the part that, like, if you're a Sixers fan watching this game, you've got to be like, okay, this pick and roll when they be, looked pretty good. He made good decisions out there.

I'm telling you, Chris, like, I really, I believe this completely. completely. They have to be patient. Even if the offers don't get better, they have to be patient because of Embed and Maxie. Yeah. If I thought the offers would get better, I would be with you. I just think those offers are getting worse and worse by the day. All right. Well, I mean, like I said to you, it's a malcontent that is not playing. I know, but like, but things change over the course of the season. Hey, I've got a $30 million malcontent that doesn't play. He'll ruin you. He'll ruin you. He'll ruin. And your team quit on you. Can we agree on this point?

Yes, you're right. Harden being a malcontent is not going to change. That does not change. But what could change is another team saying, you know what, we get a chance. Let's take this gamble. Or saying, ah, we got to blow it up. And actually, oh, let's take an expiring contract. That's what could change.

That's not going to happen in October, but it could in December. It could in January. Maybe it even happens as soon as November. But that doesn't happen today. That has to wait. That's what can change. So you wouldn't even smooth it over. I mean, to me, that's your best chance,

is smoothing it over and getting it back on the court because you have no leverage. If he's willing to actually play the style that this team is playing without him, yeah, I would love to see him come back. I mean, they kept him from going out there. They kept him from going out there. That is funnier than hell to me. I know. It really is.

He showed up. and said, all right, guys, I'm ready to play. It's a regular season. I don't want to get fined. I know. And they said no. I look forward to hearing more details about that with how that happened. Yeah.

What the Sixers' intentions actually are and doing that. Right. But I'm sure we'll find out more. Oh, they're getting him in shape. They're getting him ready. They're going to amp him up, right? No, this is a pissing match. Jump into the NBA action with Fan duel.

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Restrictions apply. See full terms at fandul.com slash sportsbook. NBA league pass local blackout restrictions apply. All right. First impressions, I'll start with this one because it is why we are recording at the time that we are. In the background, in both of our rooms, we have the late game on, the Lakers and the Sons. and one of the things that we talked about a lot last year on this very show is how many times we scheduled Thursday night recordings that we were able to do them earlier than expected

because nobody ever played. And so it was like, oh, well now they've got the Joe Dumas monologue. Oh, we got rules. Oh, the league's going to be fining people. Kevin, I can't wait for this upcoming season. We're actually going to get to be commenting on game. featuring star players. And then in night number one of the Thursday night TNT slate,

we have no Booker, we have no deal. I mean, this is a catastrophe. No Hardin. No Hardin, yes. That's what I was what to say. And no Hardin. No Hardin in the first game and two stars down in the second. game. And it's like for all the optics, for all the talk of penalties and fines and everything

else, here we are again. And it did make me wonder, like, was the cat just so far out of the bag that you're not going to be able to correct this? And now, now you're really immediately, the screws are put to you. Like, all right, what are you going to do? You really going to find somebody? Is he find somebody? Now you might get into lawyers. Now you might get into, I mean, like, this is a disaster. It's a disaster. Because this is one of those moments where we're like,

we saw Devin Booker two nights ago and he was the best player in the NBA. So now he can't play. Like Brad Beale's playing in preseason with these guys. He can't play. And like, you don't want to question guys not feeling well. But here we are. And it's like, this is exactly. exactly what they wanted to prevent.

You know, the league pass game that the Sons play against Charlotte, you know, if a couple guys sit out, not that big of a deal. But like, here we are. It's a Thursday night, Lakersons premiere game, beginning of the season, already down two stars right at the very start on a national television game. And in the background right now, this is all you need to know. Jared Greenberg is interviewing Eric Gordon in the background of my TV as we are recording this. What the hell?

No offense to Eric Gordon. But good God. Well, I mean, the Suns were also up 12 points out of the first quarter with only KD of their big three out there. So Sun's firepower again showing off again so far in tonight's game, which I have not watched. any of because we've been recording this podcast. But it's just interesting. I look forward to watching it after we're done. But anyway, like I saw Bobby Mark's tweet earlier today, and he said, for national TV

games, a star player is excused for one, injury, two, personal reasons, three, rare and unusual circumstances. Isn't that true for every game, for every player? like these are the rules the NBA set in the like you know that you know that meme of the guy doing security with like this like nothing pat down of somebody entering a football game that's what that makes me think of it's just like nobody cares the sons earlier this week they get find a second round pick for tampering with Drew you banks yeah right the sons earlier this year the CBA installed all these rules about you know if you're over the cap the second apron They're like, F that. They blast through it. The sons don't care at all. And I sewed out a bunch of other teams as we're going to find out over the course of the year.

I'm very well sure. It's just kind of funny to see it happen on the first TNT Thursday night game of the entire season. Well, and it's going to be very fascinating to see how this plays out because and how the NBA handles it. You know, they put out those, you know, they got the, they got the message out there. Mike Bass, they're looking into what's going on with the Sixers and why James Hardin isn't playing. And now people are going to be sitting there going, what are they going to do to the Sun? This is 10 years of Adam Silver being buddy, buddy with the players. And the criticisms of David Stern was that he was too harsh and that this is a complete departure from that.

And so now here's like the moment or one of the moments. Are you really going to enforce this? Are you really going to enforce it? Because you just did this whole song and dance about player participation and about how we need players to treat this like it's an 82 game season. And here we are. Right in literally the first couple of days. it's almost like, I mean, it's exposing the situation.

I just thought everybody would kind of fall in line. Most guys will be playing games. Wouldn't be an issue. But here we are immediately. And it's like if you're going to say, hey, you can't play. Now it's like what? We're going to have to put in more stringent rules. Is that what we're going to have to do?

Like if you're going to sit out, you've got to sit out for five games. Yeah, maybe it has to be. More rules like that. Maybe it's more rules. Maybe it's also more incentives. I mean, you know how many times I've said in this pod that I'm in favor of with the standings, allowing the top three seeds to choose their first round, an opponent. So stuff like that is it creating incentives where this game against the Lakers would therefore

have greater meaning. It would have more incentive to win a game against a conference rival who could compete for a top three seed. because if you get the four seed or the five seed instead of a top three, there's a far more dramatic difference right now than just home court. I mean, home court's a difference, but it's not like, it's not, it's not like over the top. I'm with you on this because they have conditioned players to not care about the regular season. Because it literally doesn't matter right now.

And frankly, organizations to not care. And that's what it really is. It's more so teams and medical staffs and say, if this were a must-win game in April or if it were a playoff game, Of course, Devin Booker and Bradley Bale would be playing. Well, what can the NBA do with their rules to make this a must-win game? How can we make this game in the opening week of the season actually matter in the same way that week one and the NFL matters? What can you do?

Like, what rules can you set? What incentives can you set? Well, they try to threaten people. They're trying to threaten people, but maybe that's not what's going to work. Maybe on top of that, you need greater threats to your point, where it's like if you sit out a game on national TV with what is clearly an injury that you could play through for a must-win game. You actually have to sit out for X amount of games. Or it's incentive for the team to say

to push the player to play when they are dealing with a very minor nagging injury like these guys have now because they should be playing on a Thursday night game in L.A. against the Lakers, a team that could be a playoff opponent for them where they can be straddling for seating, but seating doesn't matter at this time. It doesn't. So what can you do? I think that's what the league needs to be thinking about. Greater penalty

greater incentives. We'll see how it plays out over the course of the season. It's just one Thursday night. But Beal also didn't play the opener either when he probably could have played it for a must-win game. So what is the league going to do? And as a fan, it is infuriating. It sucks.

I was looking forward to this game tonight. I was thinking, Chris, of leaving after this podcast to go watch the end of the game. Yeah. In person. But I'm not going to do that tonight because, I mean, because it's just too much of a hassle. I'd probably get there too late anyway.

But the fact is, is that as a fan, I was fired up for this game. And now I'm far less fired up for Suns Lakers without these guys playing. Drive over there and see Eric Gordon still. All right. First impressions. We're going to give five each. That was my first one. What's your first one?

Let's go with something from that opening that game with the Suns and the Warriors. There was a possession that the Suns clinched their win at the end of the game. Booker, remember the pass he made to use of Nergich on the role, a really nice pass to him. On the Warriors side, their help defense on that play. Kavanaughan Looney was defending Nurkich. He was the one who came out to the perimeter.

In help with Clay Thompson and Chris Paul. No resistance at all against Nurkich on the role. I know they're without Draymond Green, but I just feel like watching that game and preseason with the Warriors and just looking at the names in the roster, they're too small, man.

I think the Warriors with CP3, Chris Paul, a lot of these guys in the team, I don't think the Warriors are going to be able to compete against some of the best teams in the NBA unless they make a move for some size. Everybody else who's in championship contention is really big, and the Warriors are not. So that's kind of one of my first impressions of the week

based off of that first game and just also kind of just the overall month from observing the Warriors. Yeah. And the size started, it heard them last year when it came to the playoffs, right? And so now it's even more accentuated in the absence of Traymond Green, who is not big but does play big. Yeah. He plays way bigger than it's less in size. For sure. All right. I'm going to go, I'm going to go with the fun one right off the beginning, because again, these are first impressions. First impressions are two different guys that left situations.

that we credited their success in being in said situations, but had dynamite debuts. One is probably a little more able to be repeated than the other. But Max Struce and Bruce Brown, two guys that it was like, oh, well, it's going to be a little different when Bruce Brown's not playing with Nicola Yokic. And certainly Max Struz falls,

in line with the heat culture, of course, the heat just manufacture these guys out of thin air. And one of the things that we have talked about is just somebody to kick it out to, bro. Like, they end up always trying Jenny Osmond in the end. He ended up being there like Dwight Powell, which is like how Dwight Powell always somehow ends up playing for the MADS by the end of the season. and they bring in Willie Colley-Stein or Javall McGee or whoever else, and that may actually be fixed now. But the whole thing, and it's like, oh, there's Jetty Osmond out there playing three because they try Isaac Okoro and then they got to start Karas Leverd.

And they got to, like, with those guards and those bigs and just running like the simple high screen and rolls and a guy that you can really kick out to, it can make a play. So Struis ended up having 27 and 12 in his first night. for Cleveland. And I certainly took notice to that. And then the other one was Brown, which, look, he ain't shooting six or eight from three on regular occasion. But I was actually happy for both of those guys because I think that we, you know,

you've gotten burned in the past. There have been a couple now more recently. Derek White with Boston has done it. and that some of these guys that have gone to different situations than they were in that we thought might be more responsible for their success than maybe it was. I was happy to see them both play really well, right? Like, you always think about the nightmare of, like, you remember the famous Jonathan Simmons one, right? When he got that contract and all that, like, we just never, it was like, when he was a spur,

he looked like Kauai Leonard. And it was like, what, what happened to this guy? Like, what? Those two, it's one night. But again, for a first impression, Struce is a perfect fit. That's like exactly what they needed in Cleveland. Just somebody to catch that kickout pass

and be able to do something with it. And Brown, he's a dog. Again, he's not going to hit threes like that, but playing alongside Halliburton, he made prove. And I also think people forget. he was good in Brooklyn. Yeah, but that's why. Yeah, we love, we were a huge Bruce Brown fans.

Remember the way he used to set screen like at 6'4 and roll of the basket. He had that little floater in the paint. Yeah. I mean, like, when he went to Denver, I would love to listen back to our reaction of that, but I remember thinking, oh, this could be interesting with Yokic. Who could have known it would turn into winning the finals and making big plays in the finals. But, I mean, Bruce Brown's been good for some time now. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Bruce Brown and Struce, good first impressions on their new teams for sure. All right. I agree. What's your second one? When do we get to have the Porzingis party for you? Well, we'll get to that. You're saving it for the end? Maybe.

I don't know. Let's go with a fan base that I made bad last week, the Kings. DeMontasabonis went one of two from three point range on opening night after shooting two of five from three. during the preseason. It was encouraging to see him shooting threes during the preseason. He hit one off a pick and pop three from De Aaron Fox in the opener. He missed one trailing three on a pass from Fox. It's just nice to see Sabona shooting threes again. And I hope that it sustains for him because this is exactly one of the points that I hit with you last week when we talked about our semi-bolded predictions. I said he needs to improve his jumper to make teams pay

from the perimeter so they don't sag off him like they did in the playoffs. If that improves, that's one positive development for the Kings that will allow them to get more creative with their lineup combinations where you could put another big on the floor. Because if Sabonis can space from three, you could have a big who's an interior guy at offense. That guy doesn't need to space. So I just look forward to seeing how that develops over the course of the season. But overall, an encouraging first game for the Kings with Sabonis doing that.

that, like Sasha Bersankoff, I thought, looked like a unsurprisingly a seamless fit in his first game off the bench for the Kings. McGee had some good minutes for that matter, too. Monquette is gigantic dunk in the second half, and Harrison Barnes, you know, pet a 33-point night. So an encouraging first game for the Kings, but most of all, what sticks with me is Savonis shooting threes. All right. Another first impression. How many times have we talked about when it comes to the NBA draft?

and then the post-mortem of the NBA draft. Opportunity and fit. And I don't know if there's been a better combination for an opening game than Derek lively in Dallas. Holy mackerel. I mean, look, I expressed a level of surprise. I'm like, are they really going to start Derek lively? Like, he didn't even that.

It wouldn't even like. And then they didn't. But he put 13. minutes. Yeah, he wasn't even like a Duke favorite, but it appeared that that was where they were

headed in the preseason. And then he comes out and he'll be starting within a week. He should be starting their second game. I mean, he did start the second half.

And how many times if they like just like, like I joked about the Javal McGee thing, like they bring in these guys and then it ends up just being Dwight Powell in the end, right?

Like Luca. having if that guy can finish like that on and that's just going to be commonplace, oh my God, are you set up to have the best gig in the world? Because Luca comes around, he gets in the paint, and he puts that pressure on you. If I step up, I can just lop it up over your head. And if I want to pull up, I can make that. or I can throw it out to the corner and we can get an open shot or I could whip it back up to Kyrie, whatever. But I mean, like, just having that other element, if he is what he appeared to be

for one night, which is just a guy that can reliably crash to the rim and finish above it, boy, that gives, I would have to, I have to recalibrate a little bit my disregard for, for what they could be this year because I did not see that coming. And it was like night one. And they were playing against some size. Right? So I'm thinking like this guy.

Not like brute size. Not that. I got it. I got it. Yeah. Not brutes. But they did. It wasn't like they were playing the warriors where they just look small.

And this guy. Or the Grizzlies. He looked like he could finish against anybody. truthly. Oh, I know. Yeah, or the Grizzles, for that matter. Yeah, I mean,

it's different. A lot of small front courts, yeah, like for good teams, small, small front courts. But that's got that put back he had

in the, I think, fourth quarter where he just kind of flew out of nowhere. My goodness. Yeah, dude.

Wow. I think with lively, the thing that's going to be interesting with him over the course of the year, too, he's got some playmaking skill.

Like, Duke, and in his high school team, especially, could throw the ball to him on the post. And granted, he's not a post scorer at all, he would display like a good feel

for making passes out of the post. And that could translate to him out of those short roll situations with Luca and Kyrie when they inevitably get trapped in some picking rolls and are forced to get rid of the ball quick. I think Lively's skilled enough with the ball in his hands

and with his decision making that he can make a pickout to Grant Williams in the corner or Maxi Kleba above the break or even dribble it two or three times to get to the basket himself. Like, Lively's got some skill, and that's going to be very, very crucial for them paired with Luca and Kyrie. So, like, overall, like, you're right. First impression with him.

Super, super positive two thumbs up. I'll go with another rookie reaction from my first impression. Just overall, with the top five guys. Overall, encouraging, nobody really had, like, a spectacular game, though. I mean, like, Aassar and Amman Thompson, the fourth and fifth picks. Osar had three blocks in the first quarter, made some nice passes, didn't really score. Neither did his brother, twin brother, Amman Thompson for the Rockets. But overall, I think they made their positive impact in certain ways beyond scoring that you would hope for.

Brandon Miller. Well, I mean, except for the fact that... Well, let's not talk about Houston. Houston was terrible. Except for the fact that Ahmed Thompson was like minus 50 in the games. Everybody was a minus 50 on Houston. I understand. It was a disgrace.

Like, that team. still sucks. Oh, I've actually, look, I've got a whole, I've got a whole deal on this. Okay. I'll let you finish up the rookies. Brennan Miller, the number two picks of the Hornets, he had a stretch in the fourth quarter where he hit a stepback three, hit a smart back cut to the basket. He hit a movement three.

He had eight points, eight points out of 11 points stretch for the Hornets in the fourth quarter. I thought he was encouraging game one. Wemby had his foul trouble. I mean, he got outplayed by Derek Lidley, but he had that crazy block in the first quarter. He had that beautiful sequence of plays in the fourth quarter after he got subs back in the game. There's enough for Danny Chow to write a whole article about it on the ringer.

Enough positives from Wemby that you take away and say, okay, these are the flashes. When he doesn't have foul trouble, he'll have big nights like he did preseason. Scoot Henderson's the one guy in the top five that, like, had a really bad game, sloppy decision-making. He just wasn't seeing defenders out there. There was one play I was listening to the Blazers broadcast watching that game where he airballed a floater so badly that the Blazers announcer called it. It's like a lob too. Oh, it's an airball by Scoot Henderson. Like he caught him thinking it was a lob, but it was actually an airball on a floater. And like, I mean, like we're not overreacting. It's just first impressions. First impressions. Yeah, his first impressions. Tom Haversstro had a stat that I thought related to Scoot's bad game where he pointed out how All-Star appointing. guards have had bad debuts before.

Kyrie Irving had six points on 12 shots and his debut. La Mello Ball had zero points on five shots, both of them, ended up winning rookie of the year. We'll see how it develops with Scoot, but first game against his idol, Russell Westbrook, was not so good. But overall, top five I thought were solid, but no standouts in their first games. Okay, look, this is only a, this is only an addition to yours, because I didn't have this on my list.

But there is a rookie that we talked about, a great deal in the preseason that I want to send out a word of encouragement to. Well, I don't even need to send out a word of encouragement because played fine on offense and his team won the game. But it only goes uphill from here, Chet. Oh, yeah. Getting crossed over by Andre Drummond, he got put in the basket twice. Drummond put him in the basket and Boots put him in the basket. like hardcore put him in and getting crossed over and falling down by Andre Drummond is like that could be career ending to other guys it was the someone responded to I post the video

someone said is that the Andre Drummond yes dude the Andre Drummond did that you cannot get crossed in the open court I mean and he fell down broke his ankles if it's like Russell West brook if it's like you know de aaron fox john moranant one of these like blazers bro you can't get crossed by audrey drumming in the open court

shit oh my guy my guy really crazy that was so funny speaking of that and that team and I know there was a whole barrel of crap that went on with the bowls after the game that players talking to each other

Billy Donovan saying hey I'll let you guys hash this out, whatever. I will say this. That seemed like a little bit of an overreaction. If you go back and like look, they were not closing out on shooters, but you want to talk about getting pissed so hot. That Oklahoma City team,

they shot 49% from three. They shot 9 of 14 from the mid range. And like all the open, they shot 8 of 11 on open threes. Like you're just not, the defensive effort wasn't good enough. But you're going to run up against that. You see this variance in the NBA night to night.

And so many times you can look at that. And I mean, if you're going to shoot 49% at a good volume from three, sometimes you've got to tip your cap. Now, I understand. Look, you get your ass kicked on your home floor in your home opener. It's cause for pause. There's no way around that. Well, they are one of my first impressions.

I'll just take this one here. Oh, go ahead. The bulls should blow it up. Oh, God, all right. It's one game. Come on. That's not a first impression. That's an overreaction.

No, it's not. It's what I said before the season. I said to you, Billy Donovan first coach fired. Like, this is continuing my feelings about them, Chris. I just think this team is stuck in the middle. They're going nowhere. Having a player's only meeting after one game, reports of DeMardo Rosen being far apart on an extension

when he's an upcoming free agent. Vouch pissed off. I mean, like, this team is going nowhere. Just trade these guys to contenders, teams that want them, and just rebuild, dude. I mean, like, what are we doing here? This team stinks.

They're not good. And they're already having players-only beatings. Eventually, Billy Donovan's going to get fired. I don't know. This team is going nowhere. I'm not with you on this. Trade Levine to the Sixers or something like that. Come on, make a trade.

Just. Kit. If I were a Bulls fan, I wouldn't watch. It's first game. Give him another chance. Yeah, because Lonzo's coming back soon, right? Oh, no, no, he's not. I'll tell you, hey, I'm going to give you another,

just on that coach-fired thing, because we didn't mention this. I've got two more. I promise I'll get to, but I do have to mention. You know, it was another one when I was watching everything that took place last night this morning, in this afternoon. After watching back different things

that happened in these games, I had this ominous feeling in one of the games, watching the replays and how it all played out of one of the games where I was like, oh God, that's the kind of game that gets a coach gone and it was Jacques.

Oh, yeah. Bro, that was a disaster. Yeah. I mean, in the home opener and watching Donovan Mitchell getting to Cam Johnson

who tries this horrible flop and there's a team that has Ben Simmons, Dorian Finney Smith, and McKell Bridges. Like, what is happening? I'm watching this. I'm watching it back because, so I was at the Grizzly

Felicans game and I was monitoring all the other games that were going on. And I saw, I'm like, oh, wow, that's going to be a good win for Brooklyn. And I got home and I saw the score run across the bottom. And I said, what the hell? How? Watching it back, even worse.

Cam Johnson getting blocked on a three by Struis, no less. I didn't think I'd see a 610 guy getting blocked for three in crunch time. The whole thing was just a debacle at the end. And then to have three, literally three. If I'm just like, okay, we got one possession, I've got to get a stop. I've got two, probably three of the guys that I, if I'm drafting, on my team. I got, and more than that. And somehow it leads to just one easy high screen switch on Cam Johnson, I flop, Donovan Mitchell hits a three game over.

And it's like, what the hell just happened? The rotations were an absolute mess, which continues a trend from last season. The matchups were a mess. The play calling was a mess. I mean, like, Cam Thomas, who had a, well, Cam Thomas had an absolutely ludicrous night. A, why is he playing under 30 minutes? B, what was that lack of a play call on the final chance? You didn't even really give him an opportunity to score.

It was a mess. I just don't think the coaching in Brooklyn. is any good at all. And maybe Vaughn figures it out and clicks and gets better, but it's been quite some time now where I've felt this way watching them. Like even if you hate, even if you hate Ben Zimmons' guts, it's one possession.

It's offense defense, right? Like you can call your time out after you get the rebound. If you don't want them to have to get hacked and shoot a free throw. But, I mean, you got to let him, like at least let him go try to swallow the guy up. It's just crazy. It's just weird.

It's very strange. It felt so self-inflicted to me. They just didn't have a playmaking presence down the stretch of the game or anything. It was just, it was a complete mess in so many different ways. Yeah. He could, he's on the list. You're right, though. Vaughn is on the list of kind of the potential first coach fired.

For sure. I think you're right. Those jokers will pull a trigger now because they did it to Nash two weeks. And plus the Nets front office as well. Like, they have to feel like their seats are a bit. warm with Joe Si he just had superstars leave maybe he would want to change everything they were under pressure with those guys there and he stuck behind them but if they don't get it fixed soon you would think that they'd feel pressure so they get to figure they got to find the right coach whether

that guy's already on their bench or somebody they hire elsewhere like what what happened opening night can't happen all right i'm going to save uh grizzlies pellicates for my last one this is actually my fourth one okay okay this is the first impression and not a overreaction. So every year, a couple years ago when it was Lamello's year, you remember how much I fell in love with that announcer in Charlotte. And I always call them my 6 o'clock team. I'm in the Central Time Zone. So games typically start at 7 o'clock. Your 6 o'clock teams are those East Coast teams that. And so I fancied myself a couple years ago, it was Charlotte. They were my 6 o'clock team. And then Cleveland, that Darius Garland team, like they became.

my six o'clock team. And I watched them a lot. I thought it was going to be Detroit last year. The Cade injury took them off the map immediately. There is no question my six o'clock team is Orlando. Oh my God. I mean, look. By the end of the year, you're going to be a Franz Wagner guy.

You're going to have a jersey hanging behind you. Look, if you watch that game, though, because I watch it back. And they, like, it's not about, it's not Franz at a bunch of guys. guys like you try to make it out to be like no i do not try to make it out to be that at all paulo but he's the only guy you ever talk about on that team paolo had like six shot in that game everybody everybody did something and cole anthony came off it hits this crazy heater and where is my jonathan isaac stock oh my god i hope you're holding i hope you are dude I was freaking out.

The block. No, two. You got to see the other one. Two on Jalen Green. Oh, yes. That were unbelievable. Now, the stair down one is what I had in mind. Dude, when he flexed and stood over that dude,

I was like, oh my, this is everything. I thought Jonathan Isaac could be his rookie year. Like, this is, and then he hit the three. and then he had the put back where Dilla Brooks pushes him and he's still finished. I'm like, hold the phone now. Like if this guy can stay healthy ever, ever? And he's lost so much time. But that looked like a full grown-ass man.

And if you had never, if you knew nothing about his story, you would go, what the hell is this? This guy is like seven foot tall. He's knocking down threes. He's, you know, spike it on people on putbacks. And the announcer for Orlando that yells, the minister of defense. Oh, my God. I can't love it more.

The minister of defense. It's a good nickname. It really is. Amazing. I was going crazy. The minister of defense. It's a great next name. The two blocks on Jaylen Green were spectacular.

And let me just comment. So they're going to be by 6 o'clock team. I love that Orlando team. They are fun. On the other side, holy hell, is it going to take a long time? This used to things going to take a minute. Losing by 30 to a team that shot 26% from 3 is like impossible in the NBA in 2023. I don't even know how that happened.

Orlando shot 26% from three, Kevin, and beat them by 30. Like, what if they would have shot like a reasonable clip? They don't won the game by 50 friggin points. I know. What the? What? That's just crazy. They got demolished on the boards, 57 to 31.

Now, they are small. They are really small. Shen Goode's not athletic. And Jabari's too skinny. And so when you're going up against 610, 610, 611, and then they're bringing damn Isaac off the bench. It's like you want to talk about exposing your size? They got a real problem in the size department.

And poor Jack Landau, they do have him. and they brought him in and the guy gets a concussion in like three minutes and then he says that and I remember so he missed a game last year against the Grizzlies

he was in concussion protocol for the game and at that time they had said like it wasn't his first time I went and looked it up this dude has had four concussions Kevin

he's about to go on concussion protocol again He's the Tua of the NBA. It's scary when a guy has that many. We see the concerns like in the NFL. Crazy. But we don't talk about it a lot in the NBA. I just happened to notice because he went out for a concussion last night.

And I remembered Kim being in concussion protocol a year ago. And then I went and looked it up. Concussion on October of 2021. then February of 2022, then February, then another time in 2022, and now this. That's four.

You had four. Four times the concussion protocol is kind of wild for an NBA player. I know. And so anyways, when he went out, it's like they got Jabari and Shengoon on the front. Dude, Odoka's going to have to play Bobon.

literally game two. They play San Antonio. Like they have Bopon's going to have to get a Bobon revenge game. He's the only tall guy he's got left over there. But God, they suck.

To lose by 30 when a team shoots 26% from three. And that Orlando team, I think it tells you how good they play and how good they very well might be. Maybe even better that I, you know, one of my semi-ball predictions

that'd be a playoff team. They might even be better than that. you know, it might even be better than that because God, they are tall. That team is tall. And then they got all these

guards that can make plays. Fultz can make a play for you. Colanthi can make a play. They even put in the kid from Arkansas at the end of the game. And he had like two blocks and a steel and five points in like four minutes. Anthony Black.

He had an and one. They're so fun. They had a cool play in that game. Like they have a lot of these plays. But, There was a play where like Wendell Carter, who's 610, was running a dribble handoff, and Paolo Bancaro, who's 610, was setting a screen for Franz Wagner, who's 610, and Wagner ran through the screen, took the handoff from Carter, dribbled the ball once,

and then Carter rolled hard at the basket, and Wagner threw him a lot. It's just like, what do you do against all these 610 skilled guys? I mean, they just have so much talent that's big. And Jonathan has a man. Yeah, Isaac. So they had Isaac on their. post game show and I watched it. Amazing interview

always. He is, yeah. But he said he apologized to Mosley for flexing and standing. Hey, no, no. He said he went over there and said, you know, hey, my bad, right? For flexing and standing over Jaila Green. That was deserving of a flex and standover.

I agree. And he said, hey, you know, sorry about that, whatever. And Mosley goes, I loved it. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. The minister of defense. I love it. That's awesome. Yeah.

Mosentotubi loved it. That's so good. He's a really good interview for post games. Yeah, he is. Yeah. Sure. All right. What's your fourth one?

This is my last one. Oh, last one. I went back to back one time. So this is my last one. Jason Tatum is taking another leap. 34 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, two steals, one block. I mean, yada, yada, we know what Tatum can do.

But one thing that I thought was interesting in the first game, we see Porzingis have a big night in a lot of different ways, looking like the steel of the offseason that we've discussed that he could potentially be the impact he can make on Boston's offense. With Tatum operating in space, it's not just isolations, driving to the basket. It could be post-ups because in that first game, he had six post-ups. Last season with the playoffs and the regular season, he averaged 1.7 per game. It wasn't a big part of his game at all, but they in the opener were throwing the ball to him in the post, asking him to score. He made some nice passes as well out of the post, including a pass that Drew Holiday, where Holiday fed the entry pass to Tatum, cut by him, and Tatum made a gorgeous bounce pass to him.

He had two kickouts to Porzingis, which both were misses, but wide open looks. I think Tatum involving the posts with some inverted offense is very clearly going to be part of Boston's game planning in the half court. And I just love the way they used to basically everywhere on the floor. He did literally everything. He set on ball screens and flared out the three. He ISOed, ran picking rolls. He handled the ball in transition. He posted up.

He did literally everything. Tatum just looks like a guy who's adding another layer to his game. And that was one of my first impressions from watching Boston related to the Chris Saps forzingis impact. I don't know if this was the Joe Maz thing or maybe what are the assistants or whatever, or maybe it was just happenstance. But they did something with Porzengis that I absolutely love. And that was they ran the stuff for him to start that game, to start that game. There are so many times with big guys. I watched it last night with Jaron Jackson Jr.

that if you don't get them involved early and you just make them go and rebound and block shots and do all that stuff that they might not get involved for a long time, right? But instead, and it's an old, you know, I've talked about this before on the mismatch. Longtime listeners are going to roll their eyes,

I'm sure, be like, oh yeah, we've already said that before. But it's an old Larry Brown trick. It is. They always did it with Ben Wallace in Detroit. No matter what, they threw the first, after the tip, Ben Wallace got the possession.

End of story. Like, he could do whatever the hell he wants. He wants to cross over. He wants to throw it over the basket. He wants to take a step back three. He wants to, whatever. He can do whatever the hell he wants. He got the ball.

Because they knew they need him to rebound and block shots. Every other, he ain't getting the ball all that much, right? So it got him engaged immediately. And so every time I see a team like run stuff for the big guys to start off that game, And man, once that, you caught that wave with Porzingis, because it was even two dunks at the beginning. Like he got a lot of looks in that first quarter, and they were obviously feeding it to him and getting him in position.

And then, of course, he hit the one, what, the bank, the bank three at the end of the quarter or whatever. And on the other side, did a very good job holding up at the rim. The Knicks only shot 30% at the rim, which is a crazy number at the rim. And the Knicks also missed a ridiculous amount of free throws. Shooting 54% from the free throw line. Strange, right? In a close game is a killer.

I know. I thought RJ looked pretty good. Yeah, he looks solid. Yeah. Randall had a horrible night. Horrible. He looked little trying to finish against Porzengis. Mm-hmm.

Right? That's when you really notice. Porzegis is longer than hell. And at times, they even had Drew Holliday defending Julius Randall. That was so. different. It was almost, it felt like Boston doing that was bait. Yeah. It's, it's like they were

baiting Randall into some of those bully, bully ball backdowns. Okay, yeah, you're just going to bully your way into a health offender who's seven feet tall. That's what it felt like to me. Yep. All right. Number five, Grizzlies Pelicans, first impressions.

Pelicans win in finals? Dude, I heard, Stephen A. Smith said, like, if Zion's healthy, the Pelicans could be in the final, whatever, and I'm like, talk about somebody that did not watch that game. Like, they, they can't guard, Kevin. Here, the Grizzlies can't shoot, but the Pelicans can't guard. Like, they got every open shot they wanted all night and could not make a shot to save their lives.

Memphis shot 12 or 43 from three last night. And it's because they don't have any defenders out there. They got one. There's one herb. There's one, Herb Jones, and you screen off of him. And then it's passed off to either Zion, McCollum, Ingram, or Valenciunis. Like, it's just not, offensively powerful, powerful. It's a lot of, you know, they just don't have the reps together at all.

So it looks like, okay, for a five-minute stretch, now it's Zion's turn, five-minute stretch, Ingram's taking all the shots. You know, CJ lit up in the third quarter because he looked around at him and, you know, four bums and he's like, oh, shit, I ain't passing the ball to, you know, now I can be Portland, CJ. And I can just cook offensively. I mean, look, those guys are unbelievable scores. Zion looked heavy to me. I worry about him being able to hold up.

It's a great, it is the wildest experience for anybody that could go and see them in person, see him in person. obviously. Look, I've said this a thousand times. The dunks. He's an absolute force of nature. Like, and I know that highlight

went around everywhere. Jaron Jackson blocked him like six times in that game. And so it's weird. Chris has he prop propagandas over here. Go look it up. I know. He doesn't even,

he doesn't even like, half the time, he bully balls his way. And then he doesn't have like the lift. He doesn't get up. and do it. And then he has the spurt where he does literally

the most spectacular shit you've ever seen in your life. You have never seen a guy that size with that power jump that quickly. Like, guys that are fast twitch are not big, right? They're Russell Westbrook,

they're John Morant, they're Deeran Fox, they're, you know, Emmanuel quickly. They're, you know, like these, the burners. That's typically, he is like a fast twitch guy that is caught in this body. And there was a, there's part of me that's watching that where I go, I would resent this so much if I were a fan of the Pelicans. And as a fan of Zion, I resent.

Like, bro, he is, I'm not kidding you, Kevin. He is 40 pounds away from being maybe the greatest basketball player ever. Like, you can't stop him. There's nothing you can do when he decides I am going there. I don't care how big you are. I don't care how tall you are. And he just, it's these small moments of explosion, though. Small moments.

He doesn't do it all the time, right? And he does not look to be in great shape. But the spurt. no question. You can make a mix tape over those spurts and be like, oh, he's back. But I watched that whole game. And they're very, that team very weird about interacting with each other. I know.

They have some weird chemistry stuff going on. Like they, it looks like none of them are buddies. Like the only guy that got excited when they hit one of the biggest shots of the game was that frigging Matt Ryan. He's jumping around like, you know, he's playing for some high school team. And the rest of the guys are like, yeah, all right, cool, dude. Like, it's very, I don't know, it's just odd. I know. When Zion dunked on Jared, I mean, there's 20 teams in the league that half their team runs out on the court when that shit happens.

Like, it was like a, you know, smattering of indifference. It's just bizarre. I mean, hell, I probably, I probably reacted more. I was like, oh, God. It's crazy. And, you know, their bench is like Matt Ryan, Kyra Lewis. What did you think about Ingram? I couldn't believe the six assists number at the end of the game, honestly.

When I saw the box score, I was like, when? But I think he just, he does what he does in the mid-range. He's impossible to guard, like, in terms of getting a jump shot off. He shoots it so far back, too. and he's so tall. It wasn't his best game, but man, when he, when he wants to cook,

he can cook. It's just, it's a weird dynamic with him. It's kind of a, my turn, your turn feeling with it. And I don't know, did Stephen A.

Smith honestly watch it. Like, did he see that they brought off Matt Ryan, Kyra Lewis, Jordan Hawkins, uh, and Dyson Daniels?

Like, they, they, I feel, bad for them because look, I'm covering a team that is injured like hell to start the season. Like, Naji Marshall was in their rotation last year. He's not there. Alvarado is a major part.

Not there. Trey Murphy, like, the last time I saw Trey Murphy in person, he had 30-something points against Miffis. Like, Trey Murphy is on his way to being special as a shooter and player in the league. and he's unavailable. I did see him working out before the game, so that was promising. He was, like, doing stuff with the trainer and whatnot. So that was a little promising because I know that was a terrible deal with him. But, yeah, I think it's going to be hard for Zion to stay healthy, carry in the weight.

I do. That is just an odd. New Orleans cooking, man. Yeah. And on the other side, Memphis, like, I said they got every shot they wanted. They did. missed them. Except for Desmond Bain.

They have to get a big guy. I know. It's so obvious. Well, and here's the thing. How soon? How soon? You seem to think it's going to happen sooner than later.

Yes. Here's why. Once something like that happens, which is two days before the season, your starting center goes down, it becomes apparent to everyone that you have to replace that. Like, you can't just go on. And obviously, look, they were already short on big guys.

Santiago Adama, you know, hurt his ankle in practice the day before opening day. So they didn't even have him. So they got like literally two guys over six, eight. Like they don't have a choice. Right. Who played great. But like, he should be your backup center. Right.

So they got to go do something. But more importantly, and this is the thing that we, I do not think about enough. And I think none of us do. It does have an effect on it. everybody in the locker room when that's hanging out there. When you're about to start the season and you're sitting around going, am I going to be here? Am I going to be like they all know a trade's got to happen?

They all know. Yeah, they're not stupid. Like they understand. Yeah. They're not stupid. They're not stupid. And so it's like, are you looking over your shoulder? Are you worried you're not going to be there?

I wondered if somebody had like, I wondered if like an agent that told like Knaar like, hey, keep a lookout or whatever. I've never seen Luke Ginnard miss three as badly as he has missed the last like two weeks. It's crazy. Scoot guy is one of the best shooters in the world. Well, I mean, he decided.

He logically has the right salary for a deal too. Right. It's like what, 14 million he makes, something like that? And it's, I think it's done. Yeah, 14.7 million. Yeah.

And so I didn't know if that's in his head or what. It's just, it's got to be in everybody's head. You got to look around and be like, oh, God, they're going to trade for a big. Like, they can't just, it's 82 games. You can't just not have a center. You think that could be one reason why they played La Ravia over Conchar. Like they're trying to show off La Ravia as an asset.

Is that possible too? Because Conchar is a better player as of now. It is possible. I will tell you, Conchar had a personal thing, so he missed a lot of training camp and preseason. Okay. So from what I gather, they're trying to ramp him back up. He hadn't been in the mix as much. So I do think that played a part in it.

I think that played a part in it. But he hasn't played since the eighth. So it's quite a while. Yeah. It was my first time getting to see our old boy, Marcus Smart in person. What did you think? First impressions of Marcus?

A lot of turnovers. What you think? Yeah. Just, I mean, no chemistry, right? They have no chemistry. He played one half of one preseason game. So it's just going to take a minute. it's going to take a minute.

I love what he brings to the floor. And you know what the most important thing he did? Two things he did. He screamed at a referee to get attack after Karnardt's in Kekashen protocol because he almost, he might have gotten his nose broken on a rebound. He's bleeding everywhere. No foul was called and Smart ran over. And it was like, I'm going to show everybody.

This is how you stand up, you know, for a teammate. And so he ended up getting a technical foul because of it. So I like that. And the other thing is when they were coming off, he saw guys like hanging their heads being down, right? And he did the, he was telling all of them. This is one of 82.

This is one of 82. And that's where he's going to come into play. That's where the guys like Marcus Smart come into play. I saw it happen with Jay Crowder a couple years ago. It's like young guys that get. down and it feels like a big deal because there's such a microscope and social media and everything else on each and every game. Those older players understand. Don't get too high. Don't get too love on anything. Right. Now, see if that's the same message after. I mean,

I'm going to go see Yokach in person tomorrow night and he may break Wilts record. A hundred has stood for a long time, Kevin. I may get, I make it to witness it. Because I don't know, I don't know what the hell is going to happen. Is that the only game you're going to in person before our next week? No, I'll see Dallas too. Okay, Monday night, that's Dallas game, right? So I'm going to Sunday's game between the Clippers and the spurs. Oh, awesome.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to that one. So that means you're going to that game Monday night. We'll be recording Tuesday morning then, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so the show won't be there for your morning commute, but it will be there for your morning day at work or after lunchtime or your afternoon commute. That's right. Yeah. So, yeah, I'll see Denver tomorrow night and I'll see Dallas on Monday.

Yeah, Yokich might go for 100, especially the way he's seeking shots right now. I mean, I think the only thing that could stop him is himself. Yeah, I know. If he just decides he's bored. I mean, that first night, I was telling me, I told my buddies the other day, Kevin. You see all those clips going around it from their meat? media day where they asked him how often he touched a basketball, how, how often he played basketball in the offseason?

Yeah. He said he never touched a basketball. Like, I just, I didn't. It's like, what? You really? Everybody keeps joking, like, bro, he really acts like it's a job. Like, he really acts like it's a job. I said it's kind of, it's like a man to cry.

He cried him and they hung the banner. And he got the ring. He was crying. So he, I mean, he, Yokic cares. Like, Yokic loves dominating. He loves,

he loves, excelling at, at the sport. I mean, I, I think he loves basketball. I do. I really do.

I just think he hates everything else around being an NBA player. He doesn't like the attention. He doesn't like the media. He doesn't like any of that. But I do think he loves competition and to camaraderie with teammates and, and being together as part of something. in that sense he loves the sport. I don't think I have no questions about that.

It's just everything else he doesn't like. I just don't think you, but I think it's a job though. Some people love their job, but like I kind of view it like, I told them, I was like, imagine your buddy's an accountant, right? And you go on vacation or like you're out and about whatever. And then like you're like, oh, okay, hey, can you help me with this Excel spreadsheet? They're like, the last thing I want to do is an. Excel spreadsheet.

Like, that's what I do all the time. Like, that's how he feels about a basketball. Right? Like, if you're like, hey, you want to shoot some hoops? You'd be like, the last thing I want to do. Like, I want to play with my horses. I want to go home. I don't want any, like, no.

I think that's fair. No, but we are conditioned. But that's why I frame it. Like, he loves the competition. He loves being part of a team. I think that's, those are the aspects he loves. Yeah. But it's not the,

I show. up in the gym at 4.30 and Kobe was already drenched. Like that kind of, but that's what we've always been conditioned to believe is the greatest players. And now we have this greatest player. Like if you ever been to a game early when Yannis plays, his warm up before the game, he is sopping, drenched. This is warm-ups. like his workout before the game. He is drenched. It's the craziest thing.

Yon is. And it's like, oh, God, this guy really does just bust his ass no matter what all the time. And like Yolkic is like, you know, he hardly like breaks a sweat. And he's somehow the greatest basketball player. It's a crazy thing. I don't even know if he does sweat. I mean, he does take his conditioning seriously now. I know.

I mean, we know how chubby and, you know, flubby he was before. But if you ever read those, but less so. But if you ever read those articles, it's because he stopped drinking by his account like 200 ounces of Coca-Cola or whatever it was a day. Well, diet, diet is like 90% diet. He said he was like multiple two leaders a day that he was drinking. I know. He just cut it up. It is crazy.

He is awesome though. I'm excited to see him in person. I love him so much. I love Yokic. I'm excited to see him. They look devastating that first night for sure. Oh my goodness. They sure do, man. All right, Kevin.

We will reconvene next week. Thanks to our executive producer Jesse Lopez as always. And Kevin, I'll talk to you on two. Have a great weekend. Must be 21 plus in President Select States. Fandul is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas Star Casino LLC. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit fandul.com slash RG in Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Tennessee, and Virginia. Call 1-800 next step or text next step 533442 in Arizona.

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