The Mismatch - Grizzlies Survive Ref’s Mistake, All-Star Reserves Controversy, and Our Love and Loathes

Episode Date: January 31, 2025

Verno and Jacoby recap the thrilling game between the Grizzlies and Rockets, as well as the chaotic ending that nearly cost Memphis the game (01:52). They then discuss the announcement of the All-Star reserves and who got snubbed (11:02). Did James Harden really deserve to be a part of the West reserves over someone like Domantas Sabonis? Next, the fellas dive into this week’s teams (23:54), players (46:09), and things (01:05:56) they love and loath from the week that was. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Chris Vernon and David Jacoby Producer: Jessie Lopez Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's popping, everybody? Logan Murdoch here from Real On the Ringer NBA show. And I wanted to invite you to pull up and kick it with Roger Bell, Howard Beck, and myself during All-Star weekend for our live podcast. We're going to be at the Stoer Punchline Comedy Club in San Francisco on Saturday, February 15th at 2 p.m. pre-gaming all the all-star festivities and you never know who might stop by. Get your tickets now by heading over to ringer.com backslash events. That's ringer.com backslash events. to see you there. Welcome to the mismatch.

I'm Chris Vernon. And joining me as he does every week from the ringer.com is Dave Jacoby. Jacobi. What a week for the Memphis Grizzlies and the National Basketball Association. What a week for the Grizzlies. Last time we spoke, we were together

celebrating the Knicks' dominance over your Grizzlies. And here we are. Just over 48 hours later. Almost exactly 72 hours later, I should say. and we are celebrating workers after burying them just three days ago. A veteran in the locker room always says never get too high, never get too low. And they also one of the common tropes is you're always one game away from the attitudes changing about everything.

All cliches aside, you were pretty low on Tuesday morning. You were pretty low. You were pretty low. I mean, they lost by 40. 39. Was that a game last night? This was probably the best basketball game I have been to this season. And for those of you that saw it on TNT last night, Memphis ended up winning 120 to 119.

They ended the game on a 13 to 4 run. And a little backstory on this, the Houston Rocker. were 3 and O against Memphis this year. The reason that this is significant is because as the standings look and have looked for some amount of time, those have been the two teams that have been lodged behind Oklahoma City. So if they were able to get past their first round opponents, they would be on a collision course to meet each other. The first game was a bloodbath, second game of the season.

The last two were certainly more significant, a game in Memphis and a game in Houston that both went down to last possessions of the game. Houston made the plays. Memphis did not. And then you have last night and you fast forward to this run that takes place by the Grizzlies. They're down to the end of the game. There's 13 seconds left in the game. They get the stop they have to get because they are down by one. in the game. Now, there's, look, there's a lot that's happened before this, but we're just going to fast forward to this point. And at that point, a rebound comes off. Jalen Wells is streaking down

the court. It's a triple J tap to Jailen, right? Right. Streaking down the court to get up. This would move the Grizzlies up by one point. And then now, I did not have to work last night because the game is on TNT. The game's on TNT. Oh, that's right. So we can't. run side by side. I'm just there. So I don't have any. If you saw it last night, I tweeted out, what are they saying on TV? Because in the arena, it's hard for me to describe this. It is absolute chaos. You don't get replays. Nobody has any idea what is going on. Before we hear from you, let's hear what you didn't hear, which was TNT's call of this very bizarre. our final 15 seconds.

Crossover puts up a three. No! Rebound by Wells! Here they go. A whistle and a whistle and a whistle will not count. And Taylor Jenkins is upset because he's telling him he did not call a time out. And Wells had a wide open layup. Okay.

Before we get to you and your experience in the arena, I just want to say Taylor Jenkins is upset is the understatement of the same. century. Oh my gosh. Taylor Jenkins was way upset does not begin to explain what Taylor Jenkins did. And I do want to give a shout to the referees who made a mistake and did not compound the mistake by giving Jenkins the technical foul that he deserved. He deserved one, but I think the ref realized that he himself made a mistake, which led to the Taylor Jenkins outburst, which I want to say that that was a good move by the ref to acknowledge that he was wrong and to not give Jenkins a tech. So I'm going to give you a little context on this.

And the reason that that was so much more egregious and ironic than it normally would have been. Now, again, this is all chaos. And I don't expect anybody to have an awareness of this. But if you go back, the second game that these two teams played, all right, Houston versus Memphis, it comes down to the very end of the game. Memphis is down by three and Taylor Jenkins while they are in transition

calls a timeout after he calls a timeout Desmond Bain hits a three he's obviously depressed the fans are depressed the team is depressed they come out of the timeout and Houston fouls immediately

therefore let me call a timeout on this though because I watched that game live as you did Bain went into the shooting motion after the whistle was blown. Correct. Which I think people lose sight of. It's not like a Will Hardy Consection situation where he was like mid-gatherer and

Jenkins called a timeout. Jenkins called a timeout. Bain heard the whistle and then launched like a 28-footer after the whistle. But, okay, that notwithstanding, it was a horrible timeout to take because it gave them the opportunity to foul you rather than you. And strategized to be in a huddle in a dead way. situation say this is how we're going to approach this possession instead of

yelling across the court while the crowd's going crazy trying to communicate to your team. So in one of the shortest press conferences ever after the game that night, Taylor Jenkins comes out and says, it was my fault. I shouldn't have called the timeout. I will be better. We've got to go back to work. And he just took all the blame. Walked into the locker room, told the players it's not on you. This one's on me. I'm so, you know. And so

that was a big deal. and obviously created a tremendous amount of conversation. It's a very high leverage game that went down to the last possession, the coach screwed up. So that was the topic of conversation the next day. For sure. Because I watched it and I was like, well, Bain shot the ball after the whistle, so whatever.

But that was the discussion from that game. As I complained about all the time, people really only talk about the last couple of possessions. And the discussion after that game was Taylor Jenkins, ruined the game for the grist. Of course. So now... exact same situation.

He doesn't call time out, but they give him a time out. So that is the context for like, it's literally the same team, same situation. You know at this point, like that's all going through. You, you know, when something that catastrophic has happened to you before, you're like, next time, that ain't happening. And so you don't call time out. And yet the ref is premeditating that you would be calling a time out. Well, I got to watch the replays.

Not only is he not calling a time out, he looks like a third base coach waving someone into home. He's not just not calling a timeout. He's using his right arm like a third base coach, be like push, push, push. And I think the ref called the time out because there's a group of Grizzlies and rockets around mid-court that, like, I talk about this all the time. When you watch thousands of NBA games, you get used to the sort of rhythm of it. And the rhythm of the game tells the players that this is a natural timeout situation.

It's really like a 50-50 call by the coach. But some of the players' body language sort of stopped at half court anticipating a timeout. I think the refs saw that and just in a huge mistake blew the whistle and awarded a timeout that didn't exist. So Oswald, that ends well, Jared and Jackson, Jr., gets the ball. He goes at Dylan Brooks. He gets foul. He makes both free throws. Grizzlies get to stop on the other end. But the last two possessions for Houston.

And I don't want to criticize too much because you never know what's drawn up in the huddle. There's stuff to discuss here. There is stuff to discuss here. I didn't watch Udoca's post-K press conference. But I will say, you always view things through the prism of if you are the opposing team, what do you want to happen on this? And the idea that Fred Van Vleet was taking fade away three-pointers while big guys have switched on to him instead of Amman Thompson, who we just saw win a game for them against Boston

by getting to a spot and hitting a shot. We've seen Jalen Green be able to create his own shot. Shouts to, if it's his choice, shots to Adoka. If it's his choice, shots to Van Blee. I have no idea how the Van Vleet ISO offense was what happened down the stretch. That was insane.

That was a play that was drawn up for Men Thompson to operate from the right wing. That play was drawn up for Men Thompson to get the ball on the right wing and drive to the basket. And guess who knew that? The Memphis Grizzlies. And guess what they did?

They said, you know what? We've also watched a Men Thompson and his star turn in the last 10 days. We've seen this movie. We know how that movie ends. Let's cut off. him driving both right and left from the right wing and make him throw it back to Van Vleet, will live or die by a contested Van Vleet three point shot to win the game.

Like that's kind of where it went. I thought that Grizzies played good defense on that rather than a sort of like poor planning or strategy on the Rockets. Great basketball game for sure. But before the basketball games got underway, tremendous amount of conversation around the NBA about the NBA All-Stars being announced. Now, this is always going to elicit a ton of conversation that we're always going to be talking about snubs. But I thought this year was especially interesting.

I don't know what your experience was like, but, and this is not after the fact. In the moment, as they are passing around the envelopes and they are opening them, I was absolutely stunned when they said James Hardin. I was like, what? I didn't even consider that. Then maybe I'm crazy here. But when they announced James Hardin, I was like, what? And then the one that they didn't announce, and this is in the moment watching it.

This is not after everybody comes out with their list or I read all the discussion. in the moment, I could not believe Sabonis' name was not called. Because I've been reading all this stuff about how, like, no one has had this kind of season since Wilk Chamberlain. You know, Sacramento has a top five offense when he's on the court, a bottom two offense when he's off the court. And he's like, he never has a bad game. It's always just a matter of how good. And we have been, if you used to have been our praise on this podcast about Sabona. So he was the one right off the bat that I was surprised by.

And then obviously on the eastern side, when Trey Young wasn't announced, the announcers made a deal out of it. And so obviously that was going to immediately make me perk up. But tell me about the experience of when you saw who was announced. the All-Star Reserves last night as we already knew who the starters were. What'd you think? Here's my experience.

We all saw the fan voting. Yep. And I have a couple things with All-Stars, right? When we talk about snubs. Number one, I do play by the rules that you have to take someone out of the All-Star team if someone is truly snubbed. They have to, you have to feel like

they should replace X player if they're truly snubbed. And there are some borderline calls, but in my personal opinion, there are not obvious snubs this season, right? We can go through the details later, but I'll say this. My experience overall was this. Guess what? The coaches and the media and the players care a lot more about team success than the fans do.

And that, to me, is an indicator why Sabonis is not an All-Star, why Trey Young is not an All-Star, and really why La Mello Ball is not in all. Okay, but that to me, I'm sorry, Jocby, that is surface level baloney because why are the Clippers good? We've talked about it a thousand times. Because they're an amazing defense. And they are an amazing defense despite James Harden.

So don't give me that the Clippers team's success it should be the reason that this guy should be an all-star when their success is based upon the fact that they have a great defense of which he is not the driver. Who should take James Harden's spot? Sabonis. It's easy. Look at the team's success of those two teams.

Subonises, the best player on Sabonis's team doesn't want to play there. They've changed the coach. they're they're they're they're spiraling towards worse than mediocrity like like that team is not successful i would have taken i would have taken subonis or kairi irving over james hardin this is not an all-star season for james hardin i'm sorry it's not i think that's fair that's that's totally fair to say it's totally fair it's not an all-star season but i think it's also fair to recognize there is no one left out that obviously needs to be in in hardin's place you can make a subonan's case you can make a Simona's case over Sengoon.

I get that. But I just feel like based on the results, the media players and coaches weight the team success more than the fans do. And one thing I want to say this, as a lamello ball guy, I've been a lamello fan since he was like 14, 15 years old. I don't think he deserves to be an all-star over Tyler Hero, but we can all agree on this. Having lamello ball in the All-Star game makes the All-Star game more fun to watch.

He is the perfect All-Star game player. He's absolutely perfect. And look, the same thing is true of Trey Young, who is averaging 23 points, 11 assist, and three rebounds. He's number one in the NBA in total assist. He's number one in the NBA and assists per game. He's number one in the NBA and points assist double doubles. Like, he has got the numbers. There's no way around that.

Trey Young has got the numbers. and last night, Trey Young, I like when players acknowledge that they're mad about something and him putting out that they don't need to call it snubbed anymore.

They need to call it trade. I mean, you know I love him playing the villain anyway, but putting that out there and then saying he's sorry to his fans, all right, talk soon. I mean, the whole thing was, I don't, don't act like,

it doesn't bother you because we know it bothers you, right? And not only does he not act like it doesn't bother him, he says that we should change the lexicon in which we speak about these things. Well, I have bad news for Trey. Tray's a really cool first name, but being like

this needs to be called trade, moving forward. It's like, trade is already a verb that we use in the NBA, Trey. It just doesn't work. It does not work whatsoever. But not only do we have that, we have. We have some sound from your friend Devin Booker,

who was not really like that much in the All-Star conversation? Here's what he had to say. It was always an old mom. But it just re-proves the point that the NBA is different than the game I fell in love with

at the beginning. All the best players would all start going to grow up watching that. And now it's an entertainment. drama, political, filled league. But we're a part of it now. So, you know, it pays well. So I guess we should be quiet about it.

You think the process, how would you alter the process? For the best players in the journey. Chris, you know what? This is not the league that he fell in love with. When the best players played in the All-Star game, this is a league full of entertainment drama and politics. Oh no.

People are talking about ratings. But Devin Booker just said, this is not, this is not the NBA that he fell in love with when the best players played in the All-Star game. First of all-of-all-and-politics, so, like, that's not really a knock to me. But also, is Devin Booker an All-Star in your opinion?

No. No. Like, why are we even putting microphones in front of this guy and, like, treating him like, he's a snub because he's not. Well, and the other thing is, let's just, let's just say, Devin Booker's 28 years old, okay? So let's go back and we'll say,

when I was growing up and I was in love with the NBA, that's not the NBA I love, right? So let's go back to when he was, I don't know, 12 years old, 11 years old, right? So I'll just pick a random one. We'll go to the 2008 NBA All-Star game. When he watched Carlos Boozer and he watched David West, And he watched Karan Butler and he watched Richard Hamilton.

They were great at that time, though. They were those are good years for them. He watched Richard Hamilton and Antoine Jameson. And I mean, come on. Like, there's always going to be guys that make the team and guys that don't make the team. And it's not like, you don't just get in because like, hey, he's one of the best players in the NBA. Okay. So he should be in the, like, it's whoever's having the best season.

Yeah, if there was an expansion draft, I would take Devin Booker over James Hardin. If I'm making the all-star team, I would take James Harden over Devinbrook. So what's interesting about this year is there are, by my count, 11 guys that were on the all-star team last year that are not on this year. So that's a big turnover, right? I think injury has a lot to do with that. For sure, injury has a lot to do with it, right? But you do wonder how many of these guys would still be all-stars if all of these guys were available. Now, some of them do not have the, like, their team just wasn't as good this year or they're not having as good as seasons.

Tyrese Halliburton, Joelle Embed, Tyrese Maxie, Trey Young, Paolo Bancaro, Scotty Barnes, Julius Randall. Oh, please. Bam out of bio, Devin Booker, Paul George, and Kawhi Leonard. those 11 guys were all stars one year ago and are not. Lucas is in this. I mean, he's listed. He's going to be replaced, but he is listed as an all star, right? These are guys that are not, right, that were rostered last year and now are not on the all star roster for this year.

So kind of interesting, honestly. Yeah. Not too many of those guys have had a healthy season. Not too many. You're right. I got Scottie Barnes. My gosh, I got a barge. Well, I'm Maxie, who is, we will get to in a little bit.

Sometimes in basketball, 30 points. Well, that can be worth more than 30 points. And now you can get a 30% profit boost from the ringer with Fandals 30 on 30 during Friday's NBA action. That's right. The ringer is teaming up with America's number one sportsbook to give you a 30% profit boost when you either pick a player to score more than 30 points or bet on our exclusive 30 on 30 special markets like any game to have both teams score 30 plus points in the first quarter. Interesting.

Now that we're looking at Friday's slate, let's talk about some players that could potentially hit 30 points. I'm always looking at Janice Atentacupo. He's one of the best scorers in the league. He'll be traveling to San Antonio. a lot of eyeballs on this game. He'll be matching up against Wemby. He's going to want to exhibit his Greek dominance,

and I believe that he will tally 30 points this Friday at 8 p.m. against the Spurs. Now, I understand that not all of you have paid for league pass like I have. So let's talk about some of the nationally televised games on Friday night. Denver, heading into Philadelphia to take on the kind of hot Sixers. Tyrese Maxie. who I learned from my co-host, the great, Chris Vernon, has scored over 25 points

in 12 straight games. So maybe he'll get to 30 against the Nuggets. That's interesting. And if you want to get freaky-diki, maybe Yokic could have 30 as well. Those are the three that I have going over 30 on this Friday evening. So whether you want to ride with my picks or make your own,

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Let's get to the team that we loved this week. I'm going to start off with obviously your beloved New York Knicks. God, they're so good. I mean, look, I didn't really, I didn't love them much on Monday night. But then the reason that they are making my list is because I had the enjoyable experience on Wednesday night of settling in and watching them play against the Denver Nuggets. And I said,

you know, my experience of Madison Square Garden was a miserable one on Monday night. But, but if you follow it up and you go ahead and take care of business against the Nuggets, you know, in the end, they all just go in lost college,

right? Sometimes they're by 10, sometimes they're about 1, sometimes they're by 40. But at least it's going to show me, like you're just playing at a high level. A buzzsaw was run into and that's that. And then watching them, and especially after they had gotten down in that third quarter, and Brunson just go on an absolute tear and be able to get to every spot he wants. and two on the court, and an OBB knocking down corner threes. They are playing super high-level basketball right now. And what a week.

I mean, to play the third and four seeds, respectively, in the Western Conference and bury both of them within a few days' time, mega impressive. And so, Bruno, Berno. Let me tell you something, buddy. I'm sure you know you're the Grizzlies guy Spend a lot of time in that suit So you're not very familiar with the Knicks upcoming schedule They've got a national TV game against the Lakers

Saturday and they played the third and fourth best team In the Western Conference The night before our next podcast The New York Knickerbockers will be hosting the Houston Rockets If they beat The Lakers And the Rockets on Tuesday, I am declaring the New York Knicks

is the new number two seat in the Western Conference. I think it's fair. I am. They're now the number two seed in the Western Conference. So just, just a teaser for Tuesday's episode. If you're a mismatch listener, if they beat the Lakers and the Rockets, I am declaring the Knicks the number two seed in the Western Conference.

Fair enough. Good. Here's a team that I love this week. And I don't love this team in general. I'm doing a lot of like respecting the week that you've had, um, you know, awards this week.

On Monday, this team beat the jazz. Okay. Whatever. Everybody beats the jazz. When I watch the jazz, I'm looking at them, I'm like,

this seems pretty good. I'm like John Collins, Colin Sexton, Kessler Walker. No. And you know, I'm like, this is, they're Kessler Walker.

Walker, Kessler, Walker, Kessler, whatever the hell is. Whatever the name is. I always call him Kessler. Walker. I've been doing that since college.

They stink, but I will give Utah credit. They just have lineups where you're like, that's it. Like, you watch the Nets. You're like, who are these guys? And they also, they also actually run plays. Some of these teams that are the rat teams in the NBA, they just, I'll get to mind it a little bit. But there are some of the dregs that just, you're like, what is the point here?

You don't even run plays. At least Utah has some structure. So they beat, they beat this team I'm talking about beat the jazz on Monday, but Wednesday night, they were hosting the Oklahoma City Thunder. Of course, I'm talking about the Warriors. And this was a loss. They're losing the entire first half. They're coasting towards a loss.

And this is after the whole like, we're not going to leverage mortgage the future to bring in a star. And our guy, Kevin O'Connor is reporting that the Warriors, quote, my league sources confirm these hesitations revealing Curry himself has reservations about Butler's fit in the Warriors' locker room. A sentiment shared by head coach Steve Kerr, their worries stem from Butler's tumultuous history with the previous teams. That is former mismatch, or Kevin O'Connor,

basically saying, we can't have Butler and Draymond on the same team. We're not going to mortgage the future. Basically them being like, this is our team. And our team is headed for the playing. But they hosted the Thunder. Steph was one for seven at halftime.

They held Shake Gildes Alexander to 38 points at the half. It was a wrap. It was over. over in the second half. The Warriors look great. They're shutting down on defense. Andrew Wiggins looks like number one pick, Andrew Wiggins. Like he's realizing all that potential from 11 years ago.

And Wiggins had 27. He was 10 for 17 from the floor. He made tons of big shots. And it gets a close game down at the end. And it is Gary Payton the third dunking on Isaiah Hartenstein's face as a dagger bucket to bring the Warriors a win against the thunder. And I can't tell if this sort of a win is nothing, or if this sort of win is we don't need a star, or if this sort of win is we're good enough, we do need a star to go for a run.

I don't know how significant this win is over what many consider to be the best team in the NBA. After losing the first half and winning the second half, there could be no implications moving forward, but it felt significant enough for me to say this team that has been a disappointment had a great week. They're the team I love this week. Two things on this game that you mentioned about the Warriors beating the thunder. The first of which, I told you, I was settled in and I was enjoying the NBA and I was flipping

around from game to game that night. And as the game between the Knicks and the Nuggets was, going on. I had an awareness that Draymond Green is giving his analysis about what it takes to win. And he, and it's

I'm so glad you brought this up. And all the responses were bro, you have a game in 30 minutes. Yeah, he was basically if you didn't see it, he was saying, he was watching the Knicks and Nuggets play and he's watching Cat front Yokic. Right. And he was doing

some like, he, Drayman loves to pull this like, I'm a champion, I've been in big moments and you have a card. Then he pulls it then and he's like, oh, you're showing weakness. If you have to front him, what's it going to be like in a big game? You sort of showed it. You've given him

his dominance. You're the beta dog in the back. It's mental. And, you know, Nikola Yokic is the alpha dog. You're a weak cat. You can't handle this. And then he goes out and beats the... Wait, did he even play against it? It was basically like, well, you

you, you know, yeah, you might win the battle, but you're losing the war of the mental, you know, you're losing the mental war that is taking place against Nikola Yokic, cat. And so it's like, okay, dude. Like, by the way, Katz team beat Yokic last year in the playoffs. That's a great point. And he was great. And he was great. He was the best defender against Yokic in the playoffs, literally ever.

Right. So anyways, the second thing is, and this has happened a few times recently, where we have seen these, Shea Gildes Alexander has these monster nights, but they have had these odd losses. He's a 54 and a 52, both in losses, and Draymond did not play in that game. So that gives him a little bit of reason to tweet if he's not getting ready for the game, whatever. Fair enough.

This is what I'll say. I wonder if, and this one, will be. Oh, I love this. This is something to just. You're going anti-Thunderter here? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Furno.

I thought you were brewing up a hot one. No, no, no, no. This is what I'm saying. It's something to think about as time goes on. In the same way that Nicoliochich, as we know, there's a choice that has to be made when you are playing against them. And we have seen that choice made over and over again in the playoffs. A choice that Eric Spolsterer wants a playoff.

upon a time, like, fire back at reporters for. Like, you don't get it, whatever. And people would say, look, is there times where you just decide, hey, this guy, go get yours, but none of these other guys are going to get crazy. You're not making everybody else great, right? We're not, we're making a choice here. And we're just going to say, if you want to score 45, you want to score 50, have at it. But what's not going to happen is you having 15 to 6.

You having 16 assists. You don't get to make it. And in the same way that Yokic creates for everybody on his team, Gilchus Alexander is the engine. He's the one that there's not a ton of shot creators. And so all I'm saying is we got to think about this, especially as we get to the highest level of basketball. And I do wonder, because they don't lose very often.

and yet you have seen them lose a couple times where he's had these crazy nights that if we are getting to the point where teams are now going to say, and especially when it gets to that highest level, just say, score 50. Go ahead. But Ksaun Wallace, you're being face guarded, and this guy's not doing this, and you don't get to roll to the basket, Hart and State.

And, like, we're just going to, we're not giving the extra attention. We're not giving the extra attention to you. because what happens is you always make the right play. And then the same way the Gilles Alexander always makes the right play is the same way that Yokic always makes the right play. And then it gets everybody else. And so if Lou Dort wants to score, Lou Dord's going to have to create his own basket.

And if Kaysan Wallace wants to score, he's going to create his own basket. And if Andrew, if, if, uh, if, uh, if, uh, if, uh, Wiggins wants to score, he's going to have to create his own basket. And if, go on, go on down the roster, right? but what's not going to happen is that Gildes Alexander gets to simultaneously be great individually and make the collective great. And so it's just something for us to stow away as you get to the playoffs because I wouldn't be surprised if that is a choice that is made because, and that speaks to his greatness

and the choice that teams consistently have to make when it comes to Yokic, when it gets to You know, as I said, the highest levels. And Yokic has, I think those are two different discussions. I think that Yokic has proven time and time again that you can double him and get the ball out of his hands and he'll carve you up. Or you can leave him alone and say, go ahead and score 40, but you're not going to have 20 assists and sort of run the offense. And he can do that too. But I think with SGA and this Thunder team, while they are in my consideration, the best team currently in the regular season in the NBA, it doesn't mean that they are without faults.

And when I forget who was against, it was a good team, it was against the Cavs or somebody, when they didn't have SGA and J. Dubb was sort of like, handed the keys to the car. And it didn't go well. And I think that there's one thing to say about the Thunder

is not only do they not have a true sort of like get yourself a bucket second guy. They don't have a ton of just like knocked down three point shooters that if we do get, the ball out of SGA's hands. We have a counter for that. That's not true.

Who? Isaiah Joe? No, those guys do knock down threes. I mean, sometimes it's been wig and sometimes it's been dork turned into a guy that knocked out. I'm not concerned about them. I'll take that option. Are those guys going to knock down their 40% from three when it comes playoff time? That's the question.

Yes. Right. That's the, but I would push back and say that the thunder, they do sort of lack the. the knockdown shooting that that would help them. I'm not concerned about Kendridge shooting threes. Even Isaiah Joe, who's like a shooter.

I'm like, all right, that's better than SGA shooting a 15-footer. Team that I load this week, I mean, I told you I had a great experience on Wednesday night just settling in watching games. So there's two games that started early. There's really three games that started early. So I watched beef stew go crazy against the Pacers, right? That was going on.

You had the Knicks game going on. And then for whatever reason, as I was flipping through League Pass, I land on Raptors Wizard. And I'm like, why? I need to just, I need to see some of this. I need to see some of this just so I could say I saw this. And I texted my buddies and I said, I would never encourage you to turn this on. I said, but this is absolutely mesmerizing. Jacoby, it was eight minutes into the game.

this is why I couldn't take my eyes off it. It was that bad. I'm like, I feel like I might see history. I feel like I might see history here. Because it is eight minutes into the game, and they have four points. Was this a four points eight minutes in the game?

How do they get them? How'd they score? Go look at Wednesday night. Go look at Wednesday night. anybody can go look this up. But this is literally like the coldest team in the NBA against the hottest team in the NBA. It's a run of Raptors. They had four points in the first eight minutes of the game.

And I'm like, bro, please land on four. Like this is. And then they ended up scoring a bunch in the last like four minutes to make it look, not as bad. But I promise you the first eight minutes. And I'm like, this is a mockery of the game. They're truly a mockery of the game. That's a great point, Bruno. Everyone's like, oh, they shoot too many threes and they all play offensive like.

And that's why the ratings are down. The rays are down because of the Washington Wizards. Look, they have, they lost by 38 to the Lakers last night. They are 6 and 41. That's their record right now. They've lost 16 in a row, bro. And Sean Grandy, the play-by-play voice for the Boston Celtics, tweeted out this chart and he said, remember, there have been nearly 2,000 NBA team seasons.

And he posted the worst scoring differential in NBA history. Your 2025 Washington Wizards are now number one at minus 15.23 ahead of what, what you would think was an unbreakable record, especially given the talent level of players today. The 1993 Dallas Mavericks lost by an average margin of 15.2 points for a game. After last night's 38 point drubbing at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers, the Washington Wizards are now minus 15.23 ahead of the 93 Dallas. Mavericks. They are statistically right now

the worst team ever. I mean, that's great. I mean, it was one thing to hear Devin Booker be like, I wish it was the best players. And assuming he's talking about himself being one of the best players, but to hear Jordan Poole say that he's an all-star this year, was he serious?

He literally was like, yeah, I'm an all-star. He said that. they're six and 41. Like it's one thing to be like, I'm averaging 20 points, but to be on the worst team, not just in the league, but like historically terrible.

And then speaking to a microphone saying that you need to be an all-star, it's the type of delusion and irrational self-confidence that I really wish I had. Because when Jordan Poole looks at that microphone and says, I am an all-star, he really believes it.

He really does. I'm going to tell you the only thing that's good that comes out of the Washington Wizards being this terrible. And I know this because I have some people I know that work there. And so

they've taken care of me in the past. So it doesn't I don't get happy talking about how terrible they are. But they, look, everybody knows. I would put them up. I think they're at the very, very top. As someone who is a bobblehead guy. Oh, okay. Oh, their bobbleheads are.

I mean, because when you're that bad, your bobblehead schedule has to be amazing. And so I have gotten sent those by friends in Washington. And I have the Coosemus sweater one with the long sweater. Oh, yeah, yeah. You know, over. Oh, just recently, I have gotten Francis TFO, the tennis player. They did a Francis TFO. I have a push a tee.

I think Oh, I love push a tea. Oh yeah. Oh, do you're going to get next? Hold on a second. Do you know what you're getting next? While Berno gets up from the chairs, he often does to go gather something. I will say the next great bobblehead coming out of the metropolitan D.C. area for the Washington Wizards will be.

Hold on. Will be Jordan Poole's cat. Jordan Poole's cat will be the next great bobblehead. It'll be Jordan Poole's stroking a cat like the godfather. So they have like this DMV. Bobblehead series. I don't know who they've had this year. But I know from last year, look, I got, this is Francis TFO. Okay.

Sure. D&B great. Didn't know he was from there, but sure. Prize possession. And then the push of tea bobblehead. The push a tea bobblehead. Welcome to Virginia. Virginia is for lovers. I just feel like push T doesn't get enough credit. Like, like Kendrick Lamar, like is doing the Super Bowl and had this huge year

and it's going to win Grammys or whatever. because he took out Drake. But Pushing Tree was like, push the team's like, I did this first. I did this first. He did that first. Anyways,

this is the only good thing that comes out of the wizards being terrible is that they, you know, if you're going to get people in the stands, you better give away amazing bobbleheads. And they do that. They do that.

I can imagine their marketing meetings are like that. Like, guys, how are we going to get people? Hey. The president of basketball operations is in the bobblehead meeting, be like,

this is the most. important thing this season. This is it. The bobblehead program. Can we get Jordan Poole's cat? All right. Team I load this weekend, this is not a team that I truly load. I watched them a lot

of league pass. I spent a lot of minutes watching them, but one of the reasons I load this team is because I think that we've done a decent job of picking some breakout teams during the preseason like the Cavs had ourselves in the back. The Rockets had ourselves in the back. We might have missed it with this one.

I expected a lot more from the Atlanta Hawks. this season. Now I do want to preface you miss this one. I didn't miss this one. One of the reasons that I loathe this team is because of they lost Jalen Johnson to the season for injury. He was having such a great season. He was becoming a household name.

He was sort of like he was crossing over from like basketball nerds that know the league really well that love them to like guys on my rec league team being like, what about this Jalen Johnson guy in Atlanta? And I was very happy about that. And that

sort of tanked their season. And they beat the Cavs famously. Remember that? Beat them a couple times. They beat the Celtics twice in Boston. And they did so on January 18th. Since then, they've lost to the Knicks, the Pistons, the Raptors, the Raptors again, the wolves, the Rockets, and last night they lost to the Cavs.

Now, in the Hawks defense, those are good teams. They were probably favored to lose five of those seven games. You can't ding them on that. The Johnson thing killed them. It killed them. Listen, that's one of the reasons I load this team this week is because their season is basically shot. It's shot. Maybe a plain loss, something they're very familiar with.

But, like, it's, it's, I load this team because I love this team so much. And now I'm looking at them. And I just don't see a way that they climb out of this one. It'd be interesting to see, there's already word of them possibly doing the sell-off. Capella's name has always come up. Capella, but like, it's not like they're trading Tray Young. You know what I mean? Like, it is.

No, I think you look at it and you go, they're cross word. There's a, they're, they're a cross. There's a, there's a, they're a fork in the road franchise. Bogdanovich is one that, you know, might have some suitors elsewhere. Oh, he's gone.

They didn't play him a couple of nights ago. Right. And so now, I mean, I think you're looking at it. You go, all right, we've got Trey, we've got Dysia Daniels, and we got Jaila Johnson. And the rest of it. is disposable. Maybe Hunter.

You keep Hunter. Yeah, Hunter played. He's been playing well at some of these losses, by the way. No, he was in the sixth man of the year conversation when they were pretty good. 35 a couple of nights ago. But yeah, that's the team. I loathe that team. I don't loathe that team.

I just loathe what's happening to them. That's fair. Player that I loved, it's Tyrese Maxie. I mean, this guy, you think about all the stuff that he has been through the course of his career. I mean, he's been through the Ben Simmons stuff. he's been through the James Hardin stuff.

Now obviously all the Joel Embed, you know, does he play? Does he not? Now he got, you know, adding Paul George into the mix. You got all kinds of personnel, new personnel around you. And my God, you know, he was obviously having to do it every night, but he was doing it, you know, somewhat inefficiently because he was being tasked with carrying the load for this team carrying the water every night. And now he just keeps on getting better and better and better at doing that and dealing with what defenses show at him.

He is now averaging 27 points a game, six assists and three and a half rebounds. This week, he backed up his 43-point game against the Lakers with 30 and eight against the Kings. And they ran all kinds of guys at him. They ran two at him over and over, and he just constantly made the right play, making everybody else better. And in that game, you know, it ends up, Ricky Council's in double digits and Ubra's in double digits and Paul George is in double digits and Lowry's in double digits. And it's like, okay, we talked about like kind of the heliocentric guys and those guys that can make the right play when we were talking about Yokic, when we were talking about SGA. Maxi now is becoming that guy. Everybody's saying, okay, he's the one.

we've really got to deal with. And he's, if you watch him, he's making the right play over and over again. And he now has 12 straight games where he's scored more than 25. Seven of those are over 30 points. And three of those are 29 points. So you go back to when that scoring tear got started, January 6th. Only SGA has a higher. Points per game.

Then Max, he has been, and seven of those games, he's over 50% from the field. So, I mean, he's starting to do it even more efficiently. He has been just absolutely awesome, man.

It feels a little bit like when, remember when Yokic went into Washington and scored like 60 or whatever? And like you could tell it was like, and he didn't want to. I think this as this maxi scoring streak feels a little like non-consensual. He's like,

I don't want to do this. I would rather score 20 and be dishing the ball to PG and Joel M. B. Like, I would rather be part of a cohesive team offense that wins basketball games instead of, like, the burden being on me, basically this entire season to score 30 points or we don't win.

He's awesome. He's awesome. And they would born a row. Like, I'm looking at the standings, and I'm like, I think the Sixers are like in, they're an eighth seed. They're in the seven, eight playing game at the end of this all. thing falling apart with the

the Hawks falling apart the Bulls falling apart like the heat who knows what's going to happen with them when they get back there's enough teams between them and like the seven seed where like this whole

six or season just feels like it's headed towards the playoffs and headed towards another like game seven in the first round that's just what it feels like I want to give a quick shout out because in the process of getting ready for this show and looking through all of the maxi stuff.

You know, I'm reading this different Sixers stuff, and I want to give a shout out to the Liberty Ballers, because in the course of it, I saw a graphic that Liberty Ballers had made about Eric Gordon, which made me laugh, and so it was worth mentioning. And they made a graphic, and it is Eric Gordon before and after his wisdom teeth surgery. Oh, and... Interesting.

Before his wisdom teeth surgery, he was averaging five points a game, 36% from the field, 28% from three. Post wisdom teeth surgery, nine points a game, 50% from the field, 49% from three. Oh, that's great. Great. Wisdom teeth make a huge difference. So quick personal question, Verno. it's just part of the experience of Coz and the Potica,

I get to know each other. I'm having my fourth kid in late March, if everything goes well. And there's been discussion around the Jacoby family about which one, the male or female partnership of adults in this family, is going to have an operation to ensure that we don't have a fifth child. And Mr. Gordon's wisdom teeth removal made me think about my own future.

And should I get a vasectomy like everybody else does on that Wednesday or Thursday heading into March Madness? No. Why not? You get time off of work and you just lay down on the couch with ice on your balls and watch basketball. I get, I mean, I don't know. I want to enjoy the tournament. You know what I mean? I think that's the whole point.

No, I don't. You've never heard of this before? the dudes get vasectomies? Look, you're going to be watching the tournament anyway. I, to me, you save that for a time that you wouldn't normally say, hey, I'm out of pocket on this, right? Like, I, oh, it's like a get out of jail free card. Yeah.

For like a wedding I don't want to go to. Come on. Or like some sort of like family vacation or something. What I'm saying is, look, you have to, my opinion is this. When you then, our family man, that you've got kids, right? You have to diby out the things that get you

out of responsibility. Yeah, this is a big one. This is a big one. And to me, like, I mean, again, I can't speak to you. But I mean, like, it's always understood, like the NCAA tournament, right?

Like, I'm not going to be helpful. Come on. See, I don't love the first couple days. What? No, those aren't my favorite days. The worst thing that has ever been said on this podcast. I'm a Sweet 16 guy. Talks to me at the Sweet 16.

That is. No, those first couple of days, too much going on. No. I'm looking for channels I've never used before. What? I'm like, what HGTV has like northeastern Illinois state. I'm not kidding.

Against Miami, Ohio. And I'm trying to find that. I don't even know what I'm gambling on. I can't even name players, but I bet $30 on them. This is the worst take in the history of the ringer. You should be on the view. You should be on the view.

Be on the view. That's what you should do. You should go be on the view. And then you can say, hey, you know what I don't like? I don't like the first round of the NCAA tournament. I don't like it. What the a F. I like it.

It's better than nothing. It's just not my favorite part of the tournament. Okay. I feel it's a ton of mismatches. It's chaos. Everyone talks about these upsets we're going to get. We don't get upsets. All right.

I don't like the first couple days. I prefer the later rounds. Round of 32, round of 16. Okay, horrendous. And then my... I'm right. I am right. I like good basketball, not bad basketball.

I'll tell you this. You don't need to get sniffed. You need to get your whole dick cut off. Because that is the worst thing I've ever heard in my life. You don't need your balls anymore. What have you become? I don't like those three days. It is terrible.

I prefer down to 32 teams down to 16 teams. It is mortifyingly bad. It is a mortifyingly terrible thing. For every buzzer beating of those first two days, there's 15, 20 point blowouts. Like, they're not good games. They're not. Holy crap. Like, I still remember Bryce Drew.

I still remember, like, this is, I'm old now. And I still remember all of these moments that took place in those first couple of days. That's the days of the upsets. You have way more memories of the later rounds of the tournament. You're lying. No, I don't. Yes, you don't. do. Yes, you do. No, I don't. Yes, you do. The upsets are the ones that live forever. Those are the

ones that live for 48 hours until they lose the next game. It's the George Mason. If I say George Mason, if I say Florida Gulf Coast, if I say Valparaiso, if I say any of those schools, the first thing that comes to your mind is the NCAA tournament. No. Yes. You know that's true. you're now just being indignant and cut your balls off and your dick and all of it. You don't need any of it because you're a disgrace. All right. The player that I load this week, it was one thing. It was one thing.

When it was Jonté Porter. Oh, I didn't get to do the guy I loved. Oh, you didn't? Yeah, since you came for me, I'm coming for you quickly. You know who the guy I loved is this week? DeAndre Aiton. Oh, my. Oh, wait.

Wait. The only thing worse than your last take is this. I did this for you. I did this for you. DeAndre Aiden and the red hot trailblazers. The trailblazers and the Raptors just can't lose basketball games and I do not understand it. I've stopped begging against those teams because they owe me money at this point. They can probably pay for me to have my dick cut off.

pay for a flight to Thailand and have it put back on with all the money that I've lost. I'm betting against these stupid teams that can't lose games. But not only did the Blazers beat the stupid bucks, my guy, DeAndre Aiton, one of the 17 centers that the Blazers inexplicably have, he had 21 and 14. He was 9 for 19 from the floor. And then last night, for no reason at all, they beat the magic. My guy, D'Andre Aiton, 10 for 12. from the field.

Oh, God. One was a three. One of his misses. 22 points. And after the game, do you know who's having the big interview on the wood? Your guy. DeAndre Aton,

here's what you had to say about the Blazing Blazers. We all working on a three-point shot. They know they got bigs that can finish around the rim. And, you know, they're just making sure they knock down the shots.

Even if we get the offensive board, they're ready to knock down the digers. So, you know, it's a working process. And I just love it. there, man. These dudes just really, you know, a lot of dudes just on the same mission as you and they just working all together. He loves it there. A lot of dudes

on the same mission and they're all working all together. Let's celebrate. They're all trying to get traded. The player I love this week. Your guy, DeAndre, 8. Oh, God. Look, they are all, they are all the cute puppy at the edge of the gate. You know, pick me, pick me. They're all playing out of

their mind. Wait, all right. get back to me after the trade deadline and see how much they're playing. Every one of those guys is playing cute puppy basketball, which is pick me, pick me, please trade for me. I promise I'm good. I'm just here. At some point in the locker room there, it'd be like, uh, hey, um, uh, time lord, uh, coach wants to see in his office.

And time lord's going to look around the less of the locker would be like, later. Player that I loaths. Look, it was one thing of his Jontay Porter. please, please God note, scary Terry. No scary Terry. So this story comes out yesterday about the investigation. The NBA says, hey, we investigated this long time back,

but now the New York Eastern District, and you saw the tweets coming out where people were saying, hey, got a tip. Scary Terry's going to basically fake an injury. And so take all of Terry's unders tonight, whatever. Like, look, everybody could just get past the Jontay Porter thing and been like, what an idiot. He's playing for the raptors and who cares.

And I got it. two-way player. He wasn't making that much money. Sort of like it's insignificant. He seems exactly like the kind of guy if it were to happen. Yes. That it could happen, right? I mean, Terry Rozier has made

millions and millions of dollars. You would not expect someone so financially secure to help their buddies to make a few thousand. It doesn't make sense. It would be absolutely insane. And especially now, one of the things that, I do think is real and I think that players feel this on a regular basis.

You know, I even saw Troy Aitman talking about this in reference to the NFL and how officials have come under a different level of scrutiny. And whether it is officiating, whether it is coaches or whether it is individual players, the proliferation of legalized gambling has changed discourse in a massive, massive way. and that has happened more recently. That has been something that has taken place. I have watched it unfold over the course of the past year and a half in a way that it had not before. And in fact, to wit, there are times where I will look up a player and like I'll type in their name on like Twitter or whatever. and what you will find is in many cases, what I'm looking for is not people bitching about their lineup that night

for their daily fantasy thing or their props that they had, or you just cost me this, or I was, my parlay was one leg short because Tyler Hero, I had him over three and a half threes or whatever. I mean, the amount of discourse about gambling on, the games is crazy. And so look, we've got to let this one play out.

But I'm been very serious when I say I pray no lie that there is nothing to this. I know people have already pulled up the videos. I know people have already showed him where it's like, dude, he's got a, that's a fake injury. I didn't see anything damning in those videos. I watched all that. Like, this is the game

where it looks like he hurt his foot though. There's nothing that happened. There's not, it's not sort of like, like, red-handed stuff that it's coming out. But the concern is this. The NBA investigated these claims and found nothing. And the feds investigated these claims and said, you know what?

There's something to this. We got more to look into. That is concerning. We've just got to say here. Nothing comes out of it. Yeah, I don't know what's going to happen there, but it'd be very, very, very concerned. and and the idea that an NBA would consider that an NBA player making as much as they make would consider this,

which I assume is really to help friends more than anything else, is very concerning. But it is very, that is something that I load. And like you, I'm really hoping this just goes away. Moving on. Player I load this week.

This is, this is bad for no. And I'm a bad person on the inside. You learn that about me over time. Like I'm smiley and likable, but I've got a negative, negative soul that has a lot of hate in it. And some things just piss me off.

And the player I loathe this week put out a promo for his new television show. Just play it. I'm Anthony Davis. I'm always dominating on the court. The one thing you may not know about me. I love pranking people. So I grab some of the biggest athletes in the world

to prank other athletes. Here we go. It's like impractical jokers. Only a lot taller. No one is safe. What? What is that on? Anthony Davis.

What is that going to be on? I don't know. I'm not watching it. Is that real? Davis, one of the things you don't know about me, I love pranking people. No one knows that about you because it's not true. You're not Ashton Coucher Anthony Davis.

No one has ever. accused you of ever having a personality. You have never made me smile with anything that you've said. You've never even smiled yourself. As far as I'm concerned, there is no joy in your life whatsoever. I've never once heard an anecdote from a player, a fan, or a coach of like, oh, Anthony Davis, that guy loves practical jokes. Oh, he's like a regular George Clooney around here. Oh, the length that Anthony Davis will go. to lift the morale in the locker room with a little prank is just, God, he's a legend for this. Anthony Davis, you are not a television host. You have no personality.

You are a good basketball player. And I blame clutch sports because clutch sports signs Anthony Davis, brings him to Los Angeles, and they promise him that he's going to be a movie star. These are the same people that told LeBron James he could act. LeBron James couldn't even play a professional basketball basketball. basketball player in train wreck. LeBron James couldn't play a basketball player in a movie.

And now we've got Anthony Davis out here like he's Ashton Coucher and punked. Like with Ashley Coucher is funny. He's got friends. He makes me smile. Anthony Davis, whoever told you that this was a good move for you, that this is how you were going to break into Hollywood.

This is how you are going to start generational wealth changing revenue streams moving forward. This is not you, Anthony Davis. You are not a practical joker. You are not a television host. You are not a comedian. You've never made me laugh. You've never even smiled yourself. I've never seen Anthony Davis laugh. Have you ever seen Anthony Davis laugh? From the makers of the AD show, we present you. Jason Tatum stand-up comedian. Kauai Leonard.

But a lot of people don't know about me. Yeah, people don't know he's hilarious. But we've got a new late night show launching on Amazon Prime, Kauai and friends, not Kauai. I hate this. I just hate that it's not Anthony Davis's fault. It's when he signs with Clutch and they say, we're not just about getting you your next contract in the NBA.

We're going to build out your production company. We're going to build your brand. You're going to start a, you're going to have a rap album. You're going to have a fashion line. What are you, what are you interested in? Oh, you like, you like sloths? We're going to have a sloth ranch. your backyard. It's just over-promising. And some stupid executive greenlit this and said,

Anthony Davis is the next Austin Coutcher. It's not going to work. No one's going to watch this. It's not going to be funny. And it bothers me. That's the, that's the player I love this. Thing that I loved this week, all the trade talk heating up. I mean, look, we are, we are a week away, obviously in the episode that we record next week, we'll be post trade deadline. So we're less than a week away now. We had Deerran Fox. That one hit and it caused a tremendous amount of conversation over the course of the last five or six days.

We know the Jimmy Butler saga continues. I mean, that's two big contracts that could be moved. And you know that there's very few of these teams that got all their work done, your Knicks, notwithstanding, in the offseason. And I think there's a lot of them that look and they go, all right, we've got to, and I get it, people worry about the, they worry about the second apron and they worry about the finances of it. I think this is going to be a wild and crazy active trade deadline because there are a lot of teams that I think are going to be trying to augment their team sitting there going, we are. And I said this a few weeks ago, we are a few players away. and we saw last year

Indiana got Pascal Seaccom and enabled them to reach a level that we did not think was possible with that news. And then the Mavericks, not the least of which, by making their additions of PJ Washington and Daniel Gaffer, you know, at the trade deadline, enabled them to move to a level that made them NBA finals participants. And so I do think that that is going to be the case. I think we're going to have a tremendous amount of activity. It was not a super busy, super crazy offseason with free agency and trades. And so I think what we're going to have is in season. I think there's a lot of these teams and we've talked about it a lot where they sit there and go, okay, even if you say Oklahoma City and then there's everybody else, I think there's a lot of those teams that sit there and say,

okay, we need to, here's our weakness. How can we help fix said weakness? And I think there's going to be a tremendous amount of activity. And now we've got huge names that are going to be involved. And those huge names could really change your trajectory of not only the franchises that they leave and go to, but also all the dominoes that fall because of it. Because when you're talking about salaries that are that big, you know that they're going to be a bunch of other players that are included.

And sometimes those other players could be as impactful as the stars. Most trade deadlines in this period, there's a lot of discussion about what could happen. And usually about 20% of that stuff actually happens. And this year is no the same is the same. But outside of the biggest names, we've all discussed about where Jimmy Butler might go. The Deer and Fox News is interesting. But those are two massive, massive names. Not just names, but impactful players.

That we know are going to be going elsewhere. We don't know that about both of them. But it's likely that they are. But I'll say this is I love the idea of the spurs acquiring Darren Fox. And if it's going to cost Castle, that's a conversation to be had. I love Castle as like everybody else does. But like, if you think about. age,

skill set, role that they play in the offense, I think Deeran Fox is going to be a great compliment for whatever Wembe turns into and an opportunity to acquire someone like this to play alongside Wembe that matches this well isn't going to come up very often.

I would love to see the Spurs acquire. I would love to see it. Unbelievable. I would love to see that happen. And if you wait and, oh, We're going to go back into the lottery. We're going to get another guy.

You're just going to have more young rookies. Next thing you know, you've got Victor Wimbanyama as like the vocal leader in the locker room. And he's like 23 years old. Like I love Deerrin Fox for that team. And I think that would make a big difference. I don't think Jimmy Butler is going to swing the needle that much wherever he ends up. But I look at the team, the jazz, the John Collins, the marketing and the sexton.

Like I'm looking at those guys. Walker, Kessler's name always comes up. If you could pry Herb Jones or Trey Murphy away from the Pelicans right now, that would be a move that would improve your team. Jones is out for the year, though. I know. Then get them. Then get them.

I love them. We're going to sprint to the finish here. The thing I love this week, it was my brother, Jalen Rose's birthday yesterday. I believe he turned 34. And he gets recognized for a lot of the great things that he does. you know, Jalen Rose Leadership Academy, everything he does for the city of Detroit. And one of the things that he really was appropriately celebrated for yesterday

was a story that's been covered before, but the NBA did a really good job of celebrating Jalen Rose as the original Jalen. And they have pages and pages of stats. It's the most popular name in the NBA. There's 28 Jalens in the league, which is insane. I think second is like Chris with like eight. It's just wild. In the NFL, there's like a hundred Jalen's.

Like the name Jalen is everywhere. And he's my guy and it was his birthday yesterday. And that is the thing that I loved in the NBA this, this week. Thing that I load. Adam Silver was on with Dan Patrick and was talked about, you know, maybe some out there ideas that might be considered. And of course, just made headlines everywhere where it talked about Adam Silver,

a silver maybe bringing up to the competition committee 10 minute quarters. What are we doing? I mean, what are we doing? And he brought up how, you know, everybody else plays 10 minute quarters around the world. And it's something that maybe we would have to look into.

And I understand with the records and everything. Like, you can't just bypass that. You understand with the right, like every record ever, ever, right? It's then bastardized because you are fundamental. That would be like, you know what?

I think the Masters is just going to be 14 holes this year. Or let's just play seven innings now in baseball. Like there are things that can be augmented. The problem with your games are not that they're too long because you play too many minutes. It's not the problem. It's not the problem. Fucking stop them all the time. And have all the time.

Four minute reviews that take 10 seconds for everybody at home to to come to a conclusion on. It's of the list of things, the list of levers that Adam Silver can pull to improve the NBA product, the length of the quarters. It drove me crazy. It wouldn't even cross my mind.

It would even cross my mind. It sounds like something like... It was like when Vivek Renadevei said that we should have like a 100% of the time offensive player. And when Joe Missoula says we should bring back fighting and have a penalty box like hockey,

those are less asinine ideas than going from 12 minute quarters to 10 minute quarters. My question for Adam Silver is this, what problem are you solving by doing that? The other thing is this, Jacoby, last year, they very obviously had the discussion and then post-all-Star game. We saw the league called a completely different way as we did in the plus. You know what? Because people don't like watching 50 and 60 and 70 attempts from the free throw line. And so they just stopped calling all those bumps. They stopped making it deadball basketball all the time.

They got the, they let the players play and had some level of physicality. And we all watched it and all said, this is way more fun to watch. This is way more entertaining. And then they went, and then they got their TV deal. Then they got their TV deal. And they went straight back to, you may tune in a game tonight and have to watch to watch 68 free throws being shot. I mean, like, the problem isn't less minutes per game.

Oh my God. It's less games per season and everybody knows it. That is the answer, Adam Silver. And if you want to fix in-game. It's not from 12-minute quarters to 10-minute quarters. It's from 82 games to 56 games. That's what it is. Crazy. All right. So I loat that. What's your last one?

Here's the thing I loathe. And it is bringing up my complicated history with this human being who, I love so much. And I've been harsh on. But last night in Washington, a gentleman took the line during garbage time. And here is how the Wizards crowd, with all of their bobbleheads in their closets,

celebrated Brony James going to the free throw line. Brody James made two free throws. How can you load that? I've always had a statement that a model, that I live by, which is you can be mean if you're funny, right? So this does pass that test. It's funny and it's mean.

Fine. But I watched Brani's face as he got the ball and they were chanting MVP. He was sad. Oh. He shook his head a little bit. And it made me sad. He's a young man. He's trying his best. He didn't

ask to be LeBron James' son. He didn't ask to be named LeBron James. He didn't ask to be drafted, by the Lakers. Are you serious? He didn't ask for all of this scrutiny. Are you serious? And he's just trying to make his way in the world and figure out who he is and what he's

going to do with his life. And he goes to the line and he gets mocked by 18,000 people. There's probably only 8,000 people left at that point. But it made me sad and I hated it. I'm going to try to be nice to Bronny movement. You kept it off with one last just horrendous take. That was objectively hilarious. And you think that was worse in the first.

You being the stick in the mud sitting there going, going, you know what, it just kind of makes me sad that they're chanting MVP. It does. Sorry for having a heart and being empathetic about the human condition. Crowd chanting MVP is objectively funny. It's funny. I say you could be mean if you're funny, but it made me, you can't, listen, you can, you can say I have a horrendous take, but you can't deny my feelings, okay?

Yes, I acknowledge my feelings, Chris Vernon. I felt bad for the kid. I'm not your wife. I don't have to acknowledge. I don't have to acknowledge. my feelings. I don't care. Acknowledge them. You're an adult.

I don't like the first two games of the tournament. All right? The first two days, they aren't what they're cracked up to be. Overlapping games. I'm on USA West, T&T East. I'm not kidding. HGTV.

This show should have ended easily a half hour ago. Easily. Well, as long as it would have saved me all manner of stress. All right. I'm going to get my dick and my balls cut off. your instructions. Thank you to Jesse Lopez, our executive producer, as always. Jacoby, I'll talk to you next. Must be 21 and over in present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 over and present in D.C. You got a gambling problem? Call 100 gambler or visit RG-Help.com. Call 1-888-88-78-9-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit

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