The Mismatch - Impressive Summer League Performances and the Legend of ‘Target Guy’

Episode Date: July 15, 2025

Verno and Jacoby recap this weekend’s action and buzz around Summer League. Verno shares the slights and sounds of being in Las Vegas for the event, from the vibes around Thomas & Mack Center, to watching Kelly Clarkson, and finding the elusive “Target guy” who predicted Cedric Coward will become the best player in this draft class. Next, the guys each share three players who impressed them over the weekend at Summer League. Then, the guys briefly discuss some of the news around the league including what the Lakers will do with LeBron James, Paul George’s latest surgery, Wemby's return, and more. (0:00) Welcome to The Mismatch!(0:25) Verno's Summer League Takeaways(5:05) Verno Met Jokic's Brother(10:05) Verno's Summer League Takeaways(18:15) Target Guy Met Verno In Vegas (Cedric Coward Prophet)(30:28) Verno's Summer League Takeaways(35:40) Favorite Summer League Player: Joan Beringer(42:00) Favorite Summer League Player: Tre Johnson(47:08) Favorite Summer League Player: Kyle Filipowski(52:00) Favorite Summer League Player: Drew Timme(54:40) Favorite Summer League Player: Ron Holland(57:50) Favorite Summer League Player: Yang Hansen(1:02:30) Reaction to The LeBron Drama(1:04:20) Joel Embiid + Paul George Health Updates(1:06:35) Wemby's Back to Training(1:09:10) MPJ: "Well, I'm Traded."(1;11:00) Love Island Finale Reaction Leave us a message on our Mismatch Voicemail line! [phone] Hosts: Chris Vernon and David JacobyProducers: Jessie Lopez and Tucker TashjianSocial: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon and join him as he does every Tuesday from the ringer.com is Dave Jacoby. Jacoby. Verno, back from Vegas. I'm sure you had like a Hunter S. Thompson sort of a spree out there in Vegas. I made it. I made it through. Five days is a long time. I was there from Thursday and I arrived back in Memphis on Monday night. But got to see a ton of people, got to see a lot of basketball. And certainly it's good, you know, the good, the good. thing about Summer League, honestly, is just getting to see people that I only see once a year. And meeting a lot of people that, you know, in 2025, you got a lot of these, like, internet relationships with people, but you never see them in person. And some people, I've never met in person. And so just getting to see them was the fun part. I'll tell you about some of them.

Some of them that I got to see, I never get to see Sam Bassini from the athletic who did an unbelievable job on his draft guide as always. Sam, he lives in Australia. So I really never see him. And he's never coming back. We were talking and I was like, so how does that work? Like time change, whatever. He's like, you have no idea. He almost sold me on moving to Australia. He was like, so I covered the NBA, right? Games are on from like nine to three. He's like, I have. the only job in the world where I cover basketball like a normal job. Like I have like a nine to five job in Australia. And I'm like,

this is unbelievable. I was like, no wonder you can get all this draft guide done that's got 700 million words in it. Other guys, I met Bobby Marks for the first time. Nice. And I never met Bobby Marks before. So that was kind of cool.

Hold up. Hold up. Hold up. Don't bury the lead. This is the mismatch. You met the target guy. Just get there. No, no, no.

Just get there. I'm saving him for last. Hold on. Also, there was a moment in time where I was like, I would give anything for Jacoby to be with me right now. Let me say off the bat, people were unbelievably nice about the mismatch, about you, about everything. everybody was so kind about everything. And it has nothing to do.

Like I saw all kinds of everybody in the NBA, celebrities, all kinds of people. I saw them when we were out and about and at different parties or whatever. But there was one person where I was like, oh my God,

I would give anything to be with Dave Jacoby right now. No. Better. Better. I mean, this one, it was so random that I go to the NBA party on Sunday night

and I walk in and I see a bunch of people that I know. I see our buddy Waz from a ringer NBA show. Amino Hossin, Zach Harper, a bunch of these guys are all there, right? So I'm walking around, right? And I stop in my tracks. I can't believe what I'm seeing. And there's a guy that is posted up. He's just standing there, arms folded.

And when I tell you, it was the most intimidating human I have ever seen in my life. I've been around wrestlers. I've been around UFC fighters. It's a great tease. I've been around football players. The only person I can compare this to, the only person is when I was very young in the industry, this is going to really age me. I used to set up at SEC Media Days every year. And there was a defensive tackle from the University of Tennessee that went on to become an NFL star.

And his name was John Henderson. And he was the biggest human. I'd ever seen in my life, and he looked meaner than hell. And I was like, and that is always stuck in my head for 20 years. John Henderson, I've never been around an individual like this. And there I am, this NBA party, and this guy standing there, and I'm like, oh, my God. If something happened at this party, there would be 2,000 bloody carcasses and this guy. it is

Yokic's brother. Yes. With the Mohawk. With that one. That one. Oh my God. A t-shirt and shorts. The Mohawk tatted all through his neck.

By the way, this is what you don't know. Both legs completely sleeved all the way down in cats. Both arms. And I'm like. Oh my God. He is a unit. He looks, you can't believe it. You can't believe this human being.

I have a picture of it. You took an unsolicited picture of him? And I went and stood next to him. And he's looking at me. And I don't know if the guy speaks to English or not. And he's like, looking at me like, scary. and I'm like, hey man. And I was like, I just had to like stand next to you so my buddy could see how small I am compared to you.

And he's like, he doesn't like respond. And he's like looking at me. And I'm like, so I just wanted to see like how small I am compared to you. And I'm like holding up my fingers like this. And he's like, ugh. Yeah. And I just walked away. And I'm like, holy, Jacoby.

I don't know if he speaks English. He might not speak any language. Like he might just grunt. Bro, I'm telling you, I mean, this guy looks. What a sighting. This, the, why is he there? Why not? I don't know.

I know. Why not? Good question. Why is he there? And I promise you, his name was on no list. He just walked in. This guy walks in anywhere. I think he just like, oh, that looks fun.

And he just walked in. I don't know who we, hey, I don't know who he was with. I didn't see him talking to anybody. Is he drinking? No. Does he, what does he eat beer bottles? I don't know. I'm telling you.

What is he doing there? Because Yon is obviously like, you know, horse racing over in surgery or whatever. I don't know. Everything about it was amazing. and I was like, I would give any, because we would have for sure taken a picture with him. I would talk to. We had to. What's it going to do?

Punch me in the face at the party? You know what I mean? Like, what's it going to do? Bro, nobody looks meaner than this guy. He, I've been around, hey, I have been around wrestlers, wrestlers pale in comparison to this guy. Pale. I love this. He's the biggest human being I have the thing I've ever seen.

He is a unit. It was great. I was so excited. I was like, oh my God, is that Yonka's his brother? I know which one you're talking about too, because there's two, and I've never seen them separate. But there's one who's sort of like a little more expressive. I felt like I got the whole experience, too, because he had the Mohawk freshly trimmed. I mean, he's standing there, like arms and legs both exposed and they're tatted head to toe.

And I'm like, oh, boy. Like the things this guy has done in his life, he is capable of dastardly dee. I just want to see his whole day. Like does he go to the pool and like tan? Like the servers are too scared to come up to him? I don't know. He's just like, I want to see what happens when he goes to the nightclub and he walks up and they're like, are you on the list? He's just like, I end the list, bro.

Like what? What are you going to do? It was the, I mean, so it's twofold, right? Number one could not have been more excited. and it was just a moment I'll never forget my life. Number two, it ruined everything else. Like, I didn't even care about anybody. I didn't care about anybody else after that.

Of course. Like, there was nobody I could see. There was nobody I could run across. There was no, like, it's like, all right, this is, this is the Holy Grail. I've done it. I've seen this guy. Yeah, that's the mountain top. That's right.

The mountain top is, if there is anybody that I would want to see at a party, Do you remember like 100 men versus a gorilla? It's more like 100 gorillas versus him. Yes. That's what it is. And let me tell you, I've got him. Yeah, so the gorillas don't even touch him. They don't have it.

I feel like they would just be sprayed across the room. He's unbelievable. So anyways, I'm bearing the lead. Can you imagine it's like playing Kenny slots? Like what did he do for the rest of the day? You know, just imagine it's like he's sitting there just like, I don't know. Just like pushing buttons or whatever.

Just quick side point. I always see like sort of our elderly friends playing slots or whatever. And they're having so much fun. And I go over and I sit down and I'm too dumb for slots. I don't even know how they work. I have no idea. I'm like, this can't be that hard. It's a mindless activity.

And that can't be that hard. And I put some money in. And I'm just pushing buttons. And I have no idea how to play slots. So I need to Google that. So it's a little summer improvement for myself. I unfortunately do know. And you know how you know we're getting old Gagobi?

I watched a YouTube on how to win on slots. And I watched the whole video. And then I went there in the first three days, I couldn't. I was just, no, I couldn't stop winning. Really? Oh, I said the YouTube video. I said, I can't believe it. It works.

The YouTube video works. And day four, they got. it back in blood. I'm sure. I was like that YouTube video. YouTube videos sucks. I was trying to learn like slot strategy. I was like, okay.

What's the vibe in the room? What's the vibe in the room in summer? Because watching it on TV, it's just no real, a lot of empty seats, especially in the pavilion, and no real energy. It's really strange. It was really strange this year.

So I was talking to a lot of people about this. I don't know what the difference is this year. But like, okay, so when we went to the arena, like, early in the day, there's not many people there. And then late at night, there's not many people there, right? People are kind of either they're not up yet, you know, to go to basketball games at 1 o'clock. But they're like, if you're, if you're the early, game. So it was interesting. The Memphis team that I went and watched both times was one of them was like a 130 game and one of them was a 730 game. And obviously they don't have like premier players

and everybody's lined up to see. But the 730 game was right after the Portland, no, no, no, Pelicans versus Lakers. And that was Brony. And LeBronie. And LeBron was there. But there's still like, There's tons and tons of Laker fans that are there, but then as soon as the Lakers were done, they all just, they all just, they all just left, right? And this year, the buzz wasn't like the other years. And I don't know what it is about Cooper Flagg because, I mean, he reclassed. He went to, you know, college early and was the best player in college basketball. and by all accounts is this unbelievable prospect that people would have very high in virtually

any draft. And yet, it's not like it was with Zion. It's not even close. Like the buzz around Zion and Wembe, those two guys, totally and completely unlike. You don't hear about it in the same way this year. There's way less buzz with flag than there was with those two. Those two were like must see everybody. I mean, like you couldn't find seats.

You couldn't find seats when those guys were playing. And I'm not saying that like, you know, people aren't going to see Cooper Flag. I'm saying when you bop around, the buzz is not the same as it was with those guys. Like those guys were, I don't know, built up as such a massive attraction in, I think, a little bit of a different way. and then Flagg had the, you know, the super uneven first game and then the unbelievable second game. I didn't mind the first game.

I mean, we don't have to go over a summer league game from seven days ago, but like, I watched the first game and he didn't shoot it great, but I was like, man, look at this got everything you can ask for in an NBA prospect, every single thing. Yeah, so it was a little odd this year just because it wasn't the buzz and like obviously the,

it wasn't as packed as usual. There might be something to the sort of, for lack of a better term, freakishness. of Zion and Wembe, where it's just like, I have to see this. Right. You know what I mean? Whereas like Cooper's more just like a down the middle fastball instead of like some junk pitch of a basketball prospect.

Well, it's same with the other guys because you think about like picks two and, you know, those ones in the top five. People don't know Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey and those guys. Like they don't have the same familiarity as much as, right? You're much more aware of like an average basketball. fan has a much greater awareness of Walter Clayton Jr. Because the average basketball fan. Watch the tournament.

Yes. Yeah. And those guys weren't in the NCAA tournament. And so you've got some of the elite level prospects coming up that weren't involved in the NCAA tournament as many in the past, right? Like, I mean, I saw it like last year before he got hurt. People were piling in to see Zach Eat, because Zach Edie was famous, like really, famous from being at Purdue two years in a row, obviously getting knocked out by the 16th seed and then going to the final four in the final game. So it was interesting.

Oh, just something you came across my mind. Just have a brief moment of silence. Okay. Watching you peanut bowl's jersey broke my heart. It broke my heart for now. You see the passes? It's not. He plays with so much joy.

You know what's worse? You said he missed Memphis. Oh, my God. I know. I cried myself to sleep. It's awful. It's an awful development. And Memphis,

everyone's been celebrating Memphis for all these off-season moves they've made. It's like, forget that. Like, how, how, how,

that is, that is malpractice to allow a talent like Yuki walk out of the door. I would, I mean, I would, I would wave job, wave and stretch job.

Get Yuki back. They're obviously done with, I think they're, I think they've established They're done with small guards because they they bought out Cole Anthony, too. Just nobody else small. We're done with small. You got to, you got to be at least six three now.

Can't talk. You can't play for the gristis. You can't play anymore. Jaws the only one. He's the smallest guy. And that's the way it's going to be. Anyways, yeah. You know, the games, it was not the same.

At least my experience was, not the same as in years past. The middle of the day was slammed. But like the night games started to filter out more early games were not nearly less. It's not even that late because they started at 7.30 local time, right? So it's like they ended 930. But everybody wants to go and start their night. Well, here's the other problem. It keeps getting pushed back.

Right. So the last game that I, the Memphis game that I told you about on Saturday night, the one that was after Pelicans and Lakers. Yeah. You know, that game didn't start until. probably 830. It's supposed to start at 7.30. So they start running long.

If you get, you know, you get 10 fouls in these games. So if you get one of the games running long, it pushes back everything for the whole rest of the day. And people ain't trying to get out of that arena at 10.30 at night. There's just so many other things to do. There's too many other things to do in Vegas. They always try to get you out. You go to any of the shows and the shows try to get you out.

I saw the debut of Kelly Clarkson. I saw that at Cesar's. She was unbelievable. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. One of the best singers I've ever seen in person in my life. I can't, I can't name a Kelly Clarkson song. Yes, you can. You would know 10.

You would know 10. Since you've been gone? Yes, that's a Kelly Clark. Okay, that's a good one. I bet I know them. I just can't name them. There's a difference. Okay. And so now we've gone way too long.

On Friday, I do my local show, the Chris Varnage show, at Resorts World, at this sports bar called the doghouse. We're all set up there and I'm in the first segment of the show and I look up in the middle of the first segment and there's a guy that's walked in. He's wearing a shirt and tie. So he stands out. I mean, it's 10 a.m. in Vegas. It's 115 degrees too. Like, who wants to do that? And I look over and I see him and immediately I was like, oh my God. It's no. It's him. That's him. That is him. Target guy. Target guy. Showed up to a live remote I was doing.

Of course, I call him straight up to the stage. Duh. He comes up to the stage. We put the headset on. What do you look like? Mid-30s average guy, skinny. Okay. White guy?

Yeah, white guy. Yeah. He says, uh, brown hair, regular. regular build, regular size, regular height, regular guy. Yes, yes. Used to own one of the awesome wing restaurants in Memphis. Yes. Family is like a family of jewelers that have a famous name.

I was previously out of wear. Again, this is the guy that ran up to me at Target. Okay. And he says to me, so I recount the story. And I said, how did you? And he goes, I knew that you were, that you had talked about me. and he's like, people had mentioned it to me. And he's like, I tried to reach out to you, but I don't know.

I don't know. He didn't reach out to me. He reached out to like my company's Twitter account or whatever. It never got to me. They're just used to complaints about Chris Verde. Yeah, right, right. So Target guy, he's like, I was trying to find you to let you know. He's like, but he flew out to Vegas to do this.

And he says, so I'm recounting the story about Target that I've told many times. Guy comes up to me, says, the player he would take. And so I say, you know, you told me the best player in this draft is going to be Cedric Coward. And I was like, and then it became just a thing. And then, of course, it came to fruition. It's all destiny, right?

And he says, what I told you was, by the way, Target guy, everything that comes out of Target guy's mouth. So I had this one instance in Target with this guy, right? But I didn't understand Everything that comes out of Target guy's mouth Is scolding hot takes Yes Yeah

I mean you want to talk about AI Do you want to talk about Anything Okay Like that's just how we talk I love those guys And it's real as the streets too So he says to me

He goes that's not what I said to you in Target I'm like, oh, sorry. I've been He's got bone to pick. He's got a score to settle. He said that he said you're mistelling the story. I love this. Oh, no, just wait.

Just wait. People think I'm BS. That's not what I told you. If people think I'm BS it, I promise, you could go type in Chris Burnett show on YouTube. It's Friday show. There's a video of it. So you will see. this human being. And you will know, I'm not lying about this. This guy is a force of nature.

Okay? He says, this is not what I said to you. What I said to you was everybody wants these Cooper flag cards. But the best part, he goes, I would take Cedric Coward number one. And I said, and he said, and you left out what I said to you. Sorry, sorry. Sorry. Sorry. He goes, I told you, you're not ready for this. No. You're not ready. This reminds me like Princess Bride. It's like, my name is Diego Montoya.

It's like the whole plane ride. He was just practicing what he was going to tell you. This is what he said. He goes, I told you he's Michael Jordan. Oh my God. Hey. Then he didn't say that into a microphone? Listen, listen.

Hey. And he goes, Chris. I've been listening to you for years and many times I think to myself you need to pump the brakes you need to pump the brakes when you're talking about this guy you need to pump the brakes when you're talking about that guy

you need to pump the brakes okay he says you on this one you need to hit the gas yes hey and I said bro target guy you said Michael Jordan

He looks at me dead in the face. Look, and he goes, that's the floor. I love Target guy. Target guy. In the history of the NBA draft, I don't think anyone has ever, ever had a player comp of Michael Jordan. It's just impossible. You're not ready for this one either.

What do you mean? He just said Michael Jordan is the floor. Wait until we get a little deeper into this. What kind of takery is this? Man, he puts together an entire full draft board. But I guess he does risk assessment too. So that's

why he doesn't have coward number one on his board. Wait, so Michael Jordan is the floor, but he doesn't have coward number one. Michael Jordan is the floor. Who would he have taken number one? Oh, I like this. I like this. I like this. I like this. Stand by, stand by, stand by.

You're going to lose your mind when I tell you You know, Yucatumus. Walter Clayton Jr. I love it. Hey, I said, oh, you think he can be like Brunson? He said, I swear to you, looks me dead in the face. And he goes, Chris, he's better than Brunson now.

I love Target. Can we have a lot of stuff? You know what? You know what? I'm telling you, you think you've heard hot take. Target guy. Just a random guy that I met in Target is an absolute force of NBA take nature.

This is great. He's going to be on first take in like next week. When you say, look, people can go back. Like I told you, you can watch a video. You can see this for yourself. And it's 20 minutes I had him on. And everything out of his mouth is just like, what?

Like scolding, face melting hot dakes. He's better than Bruncey now. Hey, hey, no. And he doesn't, he doesn't smirk. He doesn't let. He is dead serious. You can't even believe he's a real human. It's so awesome.

I love Target guy. It's great. Turned out of cheek. I'm dead serious about this. He showed up in Vegas to come on the show. And when I tell you, people are texting me during the show. And they're like, there's no way this is real. And I'm like, it's real.

He walked up to a group. There was a bunch of guys. There's a, all right, I'll save the best for, two things. There's more? Yeah, two, two, that you're going to lose your mind over. One, it's a guy that's there as a fan in the crap. He's come from, I can't remember where he came from. But he's there to watch the show.

he's there with another guy. And he goes, you're never going to believe this. He goes, I'm on the plane headed from Memphis out to Las Vegas. And he goes, and there was this guy on the plane

and he's being this super jerk to like everybody. And he's like, and I'm starting to get frustrated, right? Whatever. And the guy next to me is like,

hey man, don't worry about him. He's just being a jerk. Don't worry about it. He's like, you just have a good flight, whatever. He's like,

all right, cool, man. And so that was it. Then they get on the next plane from Dallas to Las Vegas. And he goes, and he goes, I'm sitting all the way in the back. And he goes, and I sit next to this guy. It's the same guy that said something to me on the plane, not the jerk, the guy that caught me down. He goes, I'm sitting down next to him on the plane like a businessman because he's in a, you know, shirt and top.

And he goes, so where are you headed? He's like, well, I'm a big basketball fan, you know, from. Memphis he goes I'm going out to summer league he's like wow man me too and he goes yeah he goes so I'm gonna go out there and he's like have you ever heard of the chris vernon show and the guy turns to him and he goes holy shit your target guy no and he goes I am target guy he realized immediately that this he was like there's no way and so he said I fly with him there I fly with him to you know Las Vegas And he's like, he's the nicest guy. They go out to breakfast.

They become friends. Yes. This other guy. Okay. So now here I'm getting, that's just a sidebar. The best one ever, Target guy gets done with the show. We had him on. I mean, one of the most unbelievable performances ever.

I mean, Cedric Howard is going to be Michael Jordan. Walter Clayton's already better than J. LaBrunsen. Just a hot take festival. Love this guy. There's a guy in the crowd who's a friend of mine who's an Instagram and tick talk influencer from Memphis. He's got a big table of guys that are there to watch the show. Target guy walks up to him after we're done.

And he goes, hey, guys, you want a picture with me? And they were like, no, no. Hey, he, he looks them dead in the face. And he goes, you're going to regret that. That was a mistake. Yeah. Dude. I'm telling you.

I'm telling you. What a legend. A legend. Wow. These guys are like, these guys are like, you're going to regret that. These guys are guys that get like 10 million followers or whatever.

Yeah. Doing ads on social. Yes. You know, a hundred thousand dollars a year or whatever. He doesn't care. Target guy walks straight up to him. It was my buddy Jack Hampton who,

Jack Hampton is, he does Hampton sport and he now has a deal with the NBA. He does videos literally for NBA Instagram. He walks straight up to Jack and said, hey, you want a picture? You want a picture? You want a picture? And the guy Jack's like, uh, no.

And he's like, you're going to regret that. I think he will. Target guys will write about everything. I think he will. Target guys write about everything. I think he will do. He's amongst us. Yeah. It's a real human. And so anyways, now the Cedric coward thing,

I started, I jumped on him. I'm like, this is now, this is now crazy. If he's anything other than unbelievable, this is a disappointment. I mean, I think he'll be better than Michael Jordan. He's got all the tools for enough. Size, the wingspan. You know, like Michael, I think he'll be Michael Jordan, but like in modern day, Michael Jordan,

so he'll shoot more threes and be more efficient. So he'll be better than Jordan, for sure. All right. So outside of that, all joking is, decide. Do you want to know one current player that I became much higher on, even than I already was because of what happened at Summer League this year? You'll like this. Current player that was playing like a second year guy or someone who was just like... No, no, no, he wasn't playing there. He wasn't playing at this. I interviewed J.B. Bicker staff yesterday. And I walked away from that interview going, oh, my God, Cade Cunningham.

Yeah. The way he talked about that kid and leadership and how he runs things and about how he, I mean, at his age and the way he like kind of got him on his side, right, like developed the relationship with him. And he's like, I don't have to coach them. I don't, he's like, there's all kinds of times. Monty Williams tried that. No, no, no, no.

Stop. Monty Williams did that, actually. Same approach. He's talking about, he's talking about getting. them in line, he's like, he controls that. Like, if something's going on, he'll say, coach told us, blah, blah, blah. He's like, he'll run it. And I was like, whoa.

And he's, I mean, you can, I've interviewed a lot of coaches and heard them talk about a lot of players. Very rarely have I heard anybody talk up a player as much as J.B. talked up Cunningham. and he's like what's truly great about him as a player and as a teammate. And I walked away from it being like, oh, wow, like this special, special, special. Like he had the big breakout season last year and they started winning. But if you listen to the way he conducts himself within the context of the team and what he cares about and who, like, the kind of guy he is, I was like, oh boy, he's got a superstar on his hands. We'll do season preview stuff later, whatever.

Yeah. And I love what the magic and the Hawks have done in this quote unquote wide open east. But it seems like there's not enough discussion about the pistons. Like that, that Nick series was tough. And Ivy's coming back. They didn't really do any splashy offseason stuff. So there's not a lot of discussion about them. They got Duncan Robinson or whatever.

But like, you know, they're going to be great. It's so, you'll love this too. So Tony Allen was on with me while we were doing the J.B. interview. Oh, I thought you had Target guy and Tony out at the same time. And I told Tony Allen, Jacoby, I said, I'm looking over at him. And I'm like, oh, no, oh, no. I got to wrap this interview up because I'm like, Tony is for sure about to ask him about Beasley. And this is going to get really weird.

Oh, sure. We got done with the interview. and I said, J.B., I saved your ass. I said that was about to happen. Because Tony was going to be like, did you ever draw up a play and be like, yo, what? You got money on this?

What an experience. The Yokich brother, because there is two Yokish brothers, but there's really one Yokish brother. You know what I mean? You saw the target guy, the Yokish brother, Tony Allen.

Yes. What a, oh, I went to Derek Rose's chest party. Oh, Oh, I didn't play. Grant Williams won it. Good for him. Evidently.

And then some guy told me, he's like, Grant Williams is a savant at any game of skill. And I was like, what? What about basketball? That's what I said. Is this a basketball game skill? Evidently, he is like, like, anything like mine thing or whatever. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, it was a scene. It was a scene. Also, oh, ran into a guy who's a big fan of the Masters updates. Oh, who, me? Andre Iguodala. Oh, those are. Finals MVP. Who's not a big fan of the Masters updates?

I played golf. He's a golf guy, too. I played golf at one of the days, and we teed off with Iguidala and Jody Meeks. Jody Meeks. Jody Meeks. Jody Meeks was out there. He scored 50 for Kentucky once in. You just see all kinds of like random.

I was like, I'll be damned. Jody Meeks. You don't know what guys like Jody Meeks are doing. I know what he's doing. He's playing golf all the time. He's a golfer. I sat next to Andre Godal on a flight after like an All-Star weekend or something. I didn't talk to him.

I didn't say anything. But I lit him up and farts the whole time. Just lit him up. Just lit him up. Lit him up. Three, four big ones. It's been an unbelievable. Look, is a hell of a trip to Vegas.

I'll try to, I'm trying to do my best to recount a lot of the sites and seeds, but let's talk about some basketball players. Yeah, yeah. We've got to pick up the pace, Verna. We've got to pick up the pace. We've got three guys that we like, okay? You want to start, or you want me to start? You start.

Okay. I'm going to start with Johann Bering J. Beringet, Beringer. Beringer. Beringer J. Bering J. Bering J. Yeah, French.

The ER is an A in French. So I saw this guy And I was talking to this guy I know who's a European scout And I was like, tell me a deal on him And he's like This guy started playing basketball Three years ago

And I was like, what? That's what I said. What? He's like, he was a soccer kid. Yep. And then sprouted up. You watch him, he don't run like a 6-11 guy. Okay.

And he is, long as hell. And he comes out, the first game he plays in, anybody can see the highlight. He's Missy, who's no small guy, goes up to the basket. Baranjay swats it. Another guy drives it in, swats that. That's the first two plays in the game. He had like six or seven blocks in the game.

And I'm like, I don't know what I'm watching. This guy doesn't know what he's doing. But oh my God, and you parents with little Tommy that have a basketball trainer every day of the week, this guy started playing basketball three years ago and little Tommy will never score on him in life ever. He doesn't even know what he's doing and he's just swatting stuff. And so this European scouts that I know, he said, he's. started playing basketball three years ago. He played for the Euro U-18 team.

He goes, when he showed up to U-18, he didn't know what a short role was. What? He didn't know, like a short role. Yeah, I know what a short role. I know what a short role is, but how does he not know what a short role is? He's never played basketball.

He doesn't know. Oh, I love that. And he learned English, evidently, in like eight months. But there's still like a language barrier. where he can't like understand everything. But bro, you see him. Like they threw one down to him on the block.

I mean, he can't shoot anything, but they threw one out on a block. And I mean, if he just gets these like right and left floaters, you're never blocking it. And in terms of like rim protected, it's just one of those. You see somebody like that and you go, every once in a while there's a guy that you see that is so raw.

He's 18. He's 18. And he looks like a guy that's played basketball for three years. But you see his athleticism. You see how he runs. You see he's got a knack for just figuring out like, oh, this guy's shooting it. I'm going to block that shot.

And I'm watching him and I'm going, bro, if you do develop this guy, if it develops. And he's like, whatever, you know, you could a guy that like rolls to the basket and finishes everything with donks and block shots like i know tim conley kind of does the two timeline thing a lot um and there will be a time where rudy gober is no longer there right i'm just saying my first impression of this guy was oh buddy if you see that raw like athleticism and you see that frame and you're like bro if they can teach

this guy how to just do what he needs to be able to do, this is freco stuff, like truly freakish. And so I was in, I was like, you know what, man, this is going to be a fun one to see how this develops. I'm just telling you, my first impression was if we look up and it's going to take a while, for sure. But if they could teach his hands aren't bad and he finishes dunks and just the blocking of the shots, he's like just, I mean, he is a freaky athlete. He looks, he runs like a kid that played soccer.

He doesn't run like these big oafs. Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? Like, he's going to be able to beat people down the floor and just, I laugh so hard because it's like there is, there's kids in gyms all over the world. This kid just, like, he never touched a basketball. Didn't know how to dribble. Yeah, yeah.

There's four-year-olds right now that's spent 50 hours a week. And, you know, the dad spent $10,000 a month on developing their game. And this guy learned how to dribble, like, after the pandemic. He went 17th in the draft. There were 16 players drafted ahead of him. In a great draft, too. And he's played basketball for three years. God.

Yeah. What is he going to look like when he, like, has played basketball for five years? I mean, everything is, like, developing. Well, it's also, he's going to get, he's going to get to Minnesota, and they're going to, as you said, they're going to coach him up on exactly what he needs to learn. They're going to drill him on the specific things they need him to do. That Minnesota team, bro, they've got some. Dillingham and can be a heater. And then Terrence Shannon, who we got to see play some in the West finals.

Yeah, he played the playoffs. Yeah, we get to see him in the West finals, like come in and have nine points in three minutes and whatever. Like, it looks like he belongs. Super athlete, too. Oh, boy. Like, they got, it's crazy for a team that's been to the Western Conference finals, two years in a row, they have some really, really fun, exciting young players.

And that is just not typical. You don't usually see that with teams that have had that level of success, right? They've traded away their draft picks, typically, to have that success. or they're drafting so late, they ain't got anybody that's fun to watch. But no, this team, they got some fun young players on that team, for sure. So my first one is, you know,

it's someone everyone expected to be good. And it's trade shots, right? Oh, yeah. He was just picked high, the score, everyone expected to be good. And one of the reasons I love him is not just, oh, he played well, he scored, is you watch so much basketball,

that you kind of get used to how people get their shots off and how the actions work and this and that. Trey Johnson hit awkward shots. Like really awkward shots. The first possession against the nets, the ball sort of like bounces out to him. It wasn't like a pass in the shooting pocket. And he has to take a step to his right to like gather it.

And it's super low to the ground. And like I just watch so much basketball. Usually someone doesn't just like launch after getting like sort of like picking up a semi loose ball and he just gathers it boom bucket he did this like spin move thing in the in the first game against the suns where it's like he spun over his right shoulder and then like went into like a dirk fade away it was just awkward like multi levels get to the basket like sidestep pull-ups mid-range like he just he had we he took tough shots that just seemed to bury out of rhythm

of what I'm used to watching and he's walking into threes sort of like running into threes I just think that he just seemed like such a natural score and he got his buckets in such a weird way that I think there's a really, really, really high potential for him in the list. I don't think that he would mind me saying this

but a guy who I've known for a very long time, J.J. Outlaw is one of the assistants. He's actually coaching their Summer League team and I asked him, I asked him about those guys. Like, you know, Johnson saw all the guys that he's got. And he was like, no, no. He's like, Johnson is special.

And JJ's been, he's been an assistant for a myriad of different NBA teams. He's been around a bunch of like really good players. And he's like, no, he's got like the thing. Right. Playmaking too. Again, you never know if these guys are going to, you know, reach what they are. But he has like true star potential. A lot of guys don't have.

star potential, right? They got career potential. But, like, there's a difference in the guys that have the star potential. He had a, like, a wrap-around pass. You know, you wrap the ball around the defender to Riley. He's like, this left hand, again, like an NBA player throwing a pass in his left hand isn't like, you know, something to write home about. But it was just like, he had a good vision, looking for other people, scoring awkwardly. Like, I just, I loved watching him.

I loved watching him. Also, I'm sold. Also, you see his interviews. He's mega impressive, Kim. Like, really. I'll tell you this. That is one of the things that stood out from this summer league. These rookies are just not like they used to be.

They're just not. I've been covered in the league for a long, long time. These kids are so much more comfortable answering questions, being on camera, being with a microphone in their face. And I think part of that is a function of the social media generation, right?

That they've been on camera, their whole life, right? They've been talking to people. But they are so much. much better at expressing themselves than players of the past and well thought out and like they're just they feel so much more like pros than rookies i find that to be true over and over again where i talk to them and i walk away and this younger generation is so much more impressive i i can't i can't express that to you i probably am saying what is typically the opposite

of what somebody that's been covering the NBA for a long time would say. But this generation is infinitely more impressive than 10 years ago or 20 years ago. It's not even close. It's not even close. They are so much more equipped to deal with that. And I think part of it is the, I really do. I think if you want to say, you know, cell phones and apps and everything are ruining society, I will tell you a benefit of that is guys being able to, you know, express themselves and also not be,

they're just not shy like they were. There's not that many shy guys left, like truly reserved and shy. There were tons of them back in the day. It's not very typical. And I think that's probably because they've all got mixtapes by the time they're 11. And they've been streaming for the first still 10 hours a day. Really? Oh, I was so mad. Everybody I was with ran into Kyrie, except for me.

You do not see this? He became the first NBA player to ever stream for 24 hours. So he was walking around the win, streaming. Stream. And everybody, yeah, and I was like, damn it, man, I really would. I wish I could have gotten on his stream. I'm a streamer. I'm become a streamer. You should.

My next one, Kyle Filipowski. Oh, my God. I mean, Dominant. Why are these white guys killing Summer League so much? Philipowski, Reed Shepard, Drew Timmy, the guy that hit the game winner last night against Philipowski, Riley Minix. It's like, oh, my God.

Furfee, with the dunk? Look at Cooper Flag's influence. No, anyway, Philipowski, like, here's all I'm going to say about him. for years and years I've talked about this. Like you go back and you go and look at for their entire prep career, players get ranked amongst their peers. And they're all at every Nike EYBL event.

There's there's guys that slipped through the cracks for sure. But that Nike EYBL event and the Peach Jam and whatever. And like here's the four and five star guys. Here's the biggest recruits. here's the McDonald's All-Americans. And if you go back and look through these like top 10, top 20 high school classes, you're going to see it is absolutely littered with guys that ended up having NBA careers. These guys have been identified for a long time.

Phil Powski was always, always supposed to be amongst his peers, he was better than them. Every time. over and over and over again. Everybody watched them all play, and they said Kyle Philpasky's better than them. I'm not telling you that, and again, he wasn't number one in the class, but there's a couple of,

this is going to follow a theme, trust me on this, when I get to my last one. Philpowski, though, all those things. Top 10 high school player, McDonald's All American, Duke, right?

Good at Duke. Like, okay, we shouldn't be surprised. And then, but he dropped to the second round of the draft. and there was all that weird stuff that was going on with the stories about him and whatever else in the family and whatever. You don't know, but look, ended up in a perfect spot, Mormon culture in Utah.

He is destroying people in Summerlee. I saw him in Utah and then in Vegas, he is averaging 29 points a game leading score. 56% from the field, 39% from 3. And last night, with five seconds left, and the game on the line, the poster dunk, and then

he runs out to mid-court, and he says some things, I am not fully aware of the Mormon religion. But I'm unsure if they appreciate the F-Whorter. I don't know if they like the F-word or not, but he does because buddy, he was telling the whole, whoever was at that arena, the new Kyle Philipowski, that's what I do.

And I was like, hold the phone. Kyle Philopowski. And if you're going to be like at seven foot driving from the top of the key, poster dunking all people, and then barking at the crowd. And I was like, okay, all right, 29 points a game. Look, they're going to suck again, but they might actually be reasonably fun to watch.

Like I think that between him and Collier and Ace Bailey and maybe Cody Williams and some of the young guys on their team, like they might not just be a drag to watch. I think they're now, they went from, it was annoying because Colin Sexton and John Collins would be playing well. Yeah. And Will Hardy would just bench them. Yep. And they also had Jordan Clarkson too. So they were an annoying tank because it's like, you have to intentionally do this to lose or else you're going to win some games.

This team is so young, like they ain't intentionally winning or unintentionally having to do anything, right? They're just going to go and play and they've just rounded it up with a bunch of first and second year players that are all going to get all these minutes. And so they actually might be reasonably fun to watch and less frustrating because you're just getting to watch young players develop rather than the opposite, which is, okay, these guys kind of play with a couple vets and then they just pull them. They're just going to, they're going to lose every night. But, oh, yeah. Philipowski and Ace Bailey. And you'll see some of them, they'll just figure out which of these three young ones do we really want to develop. And Philpowski certainly leader in the clubhouse on that front, him and Bailey.

leading, leading score in the whole summer league. Summer League. Do you know who number two is? My number two. I'm watching the Thunder Nets game because I want to see Topich. Who I like. I like Tobich, you know, a lot of, a lot of upside. And I'm like, oh, yeah, Drew Timmy was on the Nets last year.

Like, Drew, certainly like the end of the season when they weren't trying to win games. I was like, oh, yeah, Drew Timmy from Gonzaga. And I always felt at Gonzaga. I loved his game, just like a post player jump hook, jump hook you to death. You know what I mean? It could pass a little bit. It reminds me kind of like like Luke Garza

where you're kind of like these are college players but they're not NBA players. Right. Timmy was impressive. But he does. But he does all that same stuff. Yeah.

Yeah. But it's like he's hitting trees. It's but it's a post up like bonanza and it's like nobody post up anymore. No. Yeah. No one does.

I don't know if there's a place for it. Because he's not exactly like get to the rim and shoot threes guys, which is whatever he wants, but midrange assassin. And he's just like, he looked like he didn't bother. Like kind of like Philopowski. It was kind of like, you're sort of like ruining the experience for everybody else because you're too good at this. Like he looked like a second year pro who spent the last 365 days being coached by professional coaches running a professional offense, getting to his spots and getting what he needs to do. Like he started the game against the Wizards were the three. And then he had a post up.

And then he had a roll. and then he had another three, and then he dunked on Sarr. It was just still the first half. He looked better than everyone. He's better. He looked great. I mean, I'm not saying he's going to be a great NBA player, but he stood out when you watch these games.

It was just like, oh, he doesn't belong here. He was good. On the other side, I don't care what his stats are. And he played a little, and then he had like a turf toe thing where he was out. He was even playing like minutes over Caruso. So think about this in Oklahoma City sometimes. That AJ Mitchell, yeah. Oh, my God.

I'm like, dude, they freaking hit another one. Yeah. He was playing in that like the pre-Vegas Summer League stuff. He's going to be fantastic. And like his first game, it was just like, why is he here? He's like, why is he here? He's going to be. He's, they got another one.

They hit another one with him. And he got that first season kind of screwed by injury. even though he was able to come back at the end of the year, but I mean, they've signed them up to a contract already, and you can see it. There's times where you're watching him, and you're like,

oh, yeah, he's the best player out here. And Tobich, Tobish, again, didn't blow you away, but just really good instincts, really good pass.

Last one I'm going to give is, and this falls in line with the, I always like the second year guys. That's why I mentioned Philopowski, right? Like, the second year guys going and proving, like, okay,

like I'm better than these guys. Timmy and Philipowski did that, did that. And they got NBA minutes, you know, in their first year and maybe uneven. But now this second year, they're going to show, like, you're always concerned if the second year guy is not one of the better players on the floor. But you're thrilled when it's like, oh, yeah, he's better than these guys. And that is Ron Holland. And Ron Holland, same thing. That was the number one player in the high school class.

Yeah. So. And then. But he didn't sit the bench last year either. he played. He played. And then he wasn't, right? You're not trustworthy enough for playoff minutes, right?

Big minutes. But Ron Holland has got like a lot of wrong talent and he's got a super edge to him. He's just got to be able to knock. And he was knocking down three so far in the summer league. Like, bro, if he could knock down some threes, I mean, between him and Thompson and Ivy and Cunningham and Duren. Like, they were already good last year. The Pistons were already good. They were already good last year.

And took the next series was a great series. And they won two games in Madison Square Garden. Like, that was a great experience for a young team. But, I mean, if Holland now turns into, like, if he takes the big leap forward, and that goes along with getting Ivy back in the fold and coach Kate Cunningham out there, just coaching everybody, Jamie Bickershaft, just taking a nap, on the sideline, apparently? Unbelievable.

No, don't, don't. Don't misconstrue that. That was supposed to be a positive. I dare you. My last one, we have to talk, Merno. Yeah. We have to talk. All right.

Like during the playoffs, you had your, the thunder aren't going to win. No one's ever won at this age. And you stuck to your guns in game seven. It looked like it was going to go your way. And it didn't. We all know what happened.

But I was, I was, you know, it was my first year doing this with you, and I really just appreciated how you didn't back off your take. And when I started backed off my Julius Randolph, disappoints you take, I didn't, you're like, are you sure you want to back off that? Because he's playing well.

And then, of course, he disappointed in the last couple games. Yeah, I should have just taken your take. You would have been way better for me. And I really appreciate how you are loyal to your previous takes. You don't back off them. I'm not, dude, honestly, I feel, I am so insecure about me being a takesman after I met Target guy.

I don't have takes. My takes are pathetic. Listen, it's the offseason. We all have to sort of like get some new tools and target guys and inspiration. Maybe you should spend some, maybe he should be like a shooting coach. He should be like Hakeem Olajewan for big men.

You just spend some time in the offseason with Target guy and develop some new takeosity. But do we have to have? to back off our young Hansen Hansen Yontings. Rich Paul is a genius. I mean, out of the crowd. I understand why people compare him to Yokic, because he is slow as all hell. Like, he can't move.

He is so slow. I swear to God, there was a play. So that was one of the games I went to. There were plays. He played the Grizzlies. That it felt like nine guys were already down the court. I'm telling you. I'm like, are you just going to hang out back there?

Is he wearing ski boots? What was he wearing on his feet? They've got to get him to where he can like hit the, look, his biggest weapon, you know, like they used to have on the back of NBA live, you would like turn it over and it would say, do Tim Hardaway's two, you tap two step, you know, and it was like the killer crossover and it would have like all the moves of these guys. He needs the, the, uh, trail three.

Yeah. The Young Anson trailing three. Just trailing the play, he finally shows back up. And every time he just bangs down atop of the key three. Chonsie's going to be like, young, when the other team shoots, don't box out. Don't try to get to rebound. Just start running because we need you on offense. You're not going to get there.

So we need to back off that he's going to stink? I don't think so. But, I mean, listen. I don't know. He threw some nice passes. He's not out of the woods yet. He threw some nice pass. I'm not backing off the take.

I just, I just, I mean, with that, with those feet, but like he threw, he threw, he had an,

it's, all this passes, the little highlight passes were all the same thing. It was players making back cuts and no one helped, playing help defense. So he's got the vision from the top of the key to hit one of his guys who's cutting. That was the only sort of like being as,

being as, being as slow as a sloth and also still being effective on an NBA floor is the only thing he has a common with Yokich. But I'm not back. He does have good core vision. He does. He does. Good core vision, right?

I don't know. And you can block some shots. Good help defense too. Like good help. He blocks a couple shots I did not expect him to block. Like Chet does that sometimes where I'm like, how'd you get over there? You know what I mean?

Like he had good, he does feel like the guy. He does feel like the guy. He does feel like the guy. And he feels like he could be like even a short spurt effective. You know what I mean? I've seen guys like this at the, like the, like the,

Look, I'm not telling you he's Bobon. I'm saying you come in. This guy gets you points. This guy gets your rebounds. He blocks some shots. He actually impacts the game in a short amount of time. He is never going to be a 35 minute basketball player. I call those guys per 36 guys.

There's going to be some tweet like Hanson Young per 36. He's actually Hakeem O'Neal. He's like, yeah, there's a reason he hasn't played 36 minutes. Yeah. All right. Look, he will never average. 30 minutes a game of the NBA. Never. Never.

That's the one take I will tell you. I'm not telling you he's going to be a, I'm not telling you he's going to be a total bum. I'm just telling you like slow down on the whole he could be a star. Like, come on. I'm not backing off the tape, but it's just something to consider as friends. I wanted to let you know that the opportunity was there. People are very excited about him. I'm sticking, I'm sticking to my Young Hansen is not going to be a great NBA player because I could outrun him backwards. The Yolkits brother could outrun him.

Target guy could outrun him. He is fun to watch, though. Yeah. It's like a, it's seriously like a character. But it's also, it's not just like the highlights. Like some people are fun because you see him on social media ever. If you watch the whole games, he's playing the Grizzlies. He's like, he contributes.

Yeah. No, he contributes. I'm not telling you he's terrible. Hey, look, it's, I don't know. I don't see. We'll see. We'll see. We'll see.

Well, see. Say it. No, I'm just saying, we'll see what he ends up being. I don't know what the ceiling is for. something like but i mean he's fun to watch and i love his interviews and i love his laugh and i love that he naps and plays two k yeah yeah right and it's fun it's fun it's fun to you know me it's no fun to crap on a guy like that he got drafted a lot higher than anybody expected him to get drafted and he's fun to watch he's if he comes in the game it's like taco

fall taco fall every time tag go to the game it's like this is awesome yeah it's like a yuki kind of a thing where it's just like crowd favorite garbage time doesn't some really fun stuff. You know, it's a Taco Fall, Yuki. The crowd's going to be chanting. Young, young, young, young, it's young. All right, a few things before we get out of here. Quick.

Tell me what you think about the LeBron stuff. It's typical LeBron stuff. Nothing's going to happen. They're not going to trade him. He's not going anywhere. It'll be interesting next year. But this year, he's going to drag the Lakers down with his drama. It's what's going to happen.

They're going to be in the playoffs. You think this is just stay in headlines. You think this is stay in. in headline stuff. No, I think he's pissed. And I think he's just kind of like being a jerk. You know, I think he's mad because. The first time the world hasn't revolved around him, team-wise.

Yes. And it's the first time that he could, that he's looking at the end of the season being an unrestricted free agent. Also doesn't have leverage. Not really. Not in the same way. It was always, you know, bro, do what I want you to do, right? Build around me right now.

And it's like, bro, they have a different timeline. It doesn't make sense. I think everyone's doing what they should do. If I'm Rob Polinka, I'm not trading Austin Reeves and the one pick that we can trade to bring in such and such to win now. It doesn't make sense. And if I'm LeBron James, I'm not just going to take the veteran minimum. You know what I mean? Everyone's playing their position, but he's not going to get traded.

Anything can happen, but he's not going to get traded. I can't see it. I think he ends up in Dallas somewhere somehow. It just feels like the Nico thing. Then they traded Luca. Like, it just feels like, it just feels like destiny to me. You know what would be the funniest thing Rob Polinka could do?

Is buy out Brony James. Not just waving. Yeah, it's amazing. Wave them. We're good. Joel Embed. not cleared yet, but it says that he's going to be ready for trading camp. And then we get the Paul George news.

I mean, what is the Paul George news? Dude. What happened? Another surgery. And so, like, remember last year he went out and they said he had like an injection in his knee and an injection in his abductor? Yeah. Like, and that's why he was out for the rest of the year last year. After he said he was going to stop podcasting to focus on the season and they still sucked.

Yeah. And then he's like, oh, hey, no, no, it actually wasn't the podcast fault. I'm injured. That's what it is. If you look at their roster on paper, and again, there's a world in which they've got Maxie, McCain, Edgeco, Paul George, and Joel Embed, and, you know, and dames out and Tatum's out and Halliburton's out. There's a world where you could once again, in October, convince yourself that the Sixers

in one of the best teams in the east. There's a world where that can happen. But like, the bad news is coming midseason. It's coming preseason this year. Do you think the clippers are just like, I mean, the bottles of champagne, they must be popping. It's hard to pop the bottles of champagne when Kauai Leonard is just, you know, still not. No, no, no, no, no. But just that they didn't do that.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. That I didn't, that contract is going to look unbelievably terrible. unbelievably. Oh, yeah. Maxing him out, the amount of money that's going to be on your book. I mean, and his knee might just be shot, bro. Why are you having to get another one?

I mean, he heard it in a workout. He during a workout. Oh, okay. He's no spring chicken either. And it's like, bro, you got just, do you have a good knee left with him and MBE? I'll tell you this, you got enough braces around there. If he needs braces. They got every size.

It's pitiful. I've never regret saying this. Not a great podcaster either. You know what I mean? Doesn't even have that to lead back on. Here we go. Doesn't even have that to lead back on. All right.

Wemby's back for on-court activity, which is great, great news, considering any of the blood clot stuff is terrifying. It's cost guys' careers. It's a, I mean, that's great news. one of the things that found interesting was he was like, he did an interview and he was like,

we shouldn't sort of like trade for a star and try to win that way. The Spurs organization's always done a really good job of building and sort of drafting and sort of being consistent and, you know, not doing anything rash, right? I was thinking that and I was like,

the Deer and Fox trade was probably a mistake. I don't know. At the time, they didn't know they were going to get the second pick. Yeah. But with Harper, Yeah, yeah, but it might take him three years. So you can, I think you can two timeline that thing, too. Do you extend him?

Again, you're talking about when you're ready to win, right? And I do think that Wembe is ready to win now. Deer & Fox is ready to win now. I'm higher on Deerrin Fox and I think a lot of people are. And I think Deerrin Fox is certainly can be one of the best guards in the league and certainly in the Western Conference. If I bring him to the, if I bring him to the party, If he doesn't hurt his thumb, they take down that Warriors team, I think.

Probably. The one where they got 50 dropped on him, right? Yeah. I mean, so Deer and Fox, I'm high on him. And I think, and I do think that, like, you're going to be able to win now. And then by the time the Deerrin Fox thing is done in San Antonio, Dylan Harper's got to be ready to win. It takes a while, man.

A ball in their hands, like rookie point guards. It's not going to be ready to win immediately with Dylan Harper. So are you going to wait on the four years it's going to take for Dylan Harper to become the player he's going to become? Right? And it's like, I actually kind of like this. I think it worked out actually well. I'll go, I'll zag on that one. I think it worked out well where it's going to,

this is going to be the best case scenario for Harper and Castle to develop while still having a guy that could go out there and be awesome every night. And kind of be the elite level perimeter guy to go along with the elite level, you know, Post guy. Fair. I think it'll be good. Yeah. And, Wemby's going to be,

I mean, look, if he's healthy, he's, we're very close to him dominating the league. Yes. Seriously.

Yes. On both ends of the floor. Like defensively, it's, I mean. Yep. Thoughts on Michael Porter, Jr.

You're going to go, did you get your Brooklyn season tickets yet? No, no. No. I might, I might even pay to watch the games. If Drew Timmy, they got Drew Timmy involved.

Gotham Network or whatever. Yeah. What's it called? The Gotham Sports app. What do you get on that besides the net? It's all the New York teams. It's, it's, you know, Rangers and Islanders. But the Knicks are different?

You have to pay individually for all of it. It's a mess. Wait, but the Knicks are different. No, they're on there too. The Knicks are on there. That's why I have it. So why did you, why were you able to watch the Knicks but not the Nets? Because it's an up charge.

Just like everything else, New York is more expensive. So you buy the Knicks for someone godly price, right? Because I don't know what it is. It's like 60 a month or something. And then they're like for another 30 a month, it will give you the Nets too. And I just couldn't push the button. I just could not do it.

It should be five bucks. Yeah, they should throw it in for free. Five extra bucks for the NICs. They should give you a discount. They should be like $60 and just the NICs. $50 for the Nicks of the Nets. If you'll take the Nets. The, uh,

have you seen Michael Porter Jr. Billboard's up all over town? No, no. No, no, Jersey's everywhere, though. Everywhere, everywhere. But he goes, he goes, they asked me about getting traded. He goes, well, I'm traded. He goes, what were your spots getting traded?

I was on a plane. He goes, well, I'm traded. And then I took a nap. I loved it so much. Just completely, his career is just pivoting. His life is so different. But he still is just so chill that he's just like unconscious moments later. I love it.

I mean, I guess when he signed for 200,000, million dollars or whatever he's fine i'm a big nap guy too i love naps last thing before we get out of here everywhere i was going in Vegas like when you would drive down the strip you'd see these signs you know you see the signs for yeah it'll be kelly clarkson donnie osmond the back street boys at the sphere like all this stuff but also these bars that you would pass by they all said love island watch party yeah and i'm like this is a thing that's going on and you're a love island guy right I'm a Love Island guy. People are going to bars like it's the World Cup.

New York has it too. If you don't have a Love Island watch party at your bar, you don't have a bar. What is going on? And how did you get involved in this? Love Island isn't just taking these couples and putting them on an island and creating a bond romantically between the two of them. Love Island is keeping millions of couples together and strengthening their bonds because it's something that you watch with your wife. That's what's happening. It's Love Island is spreading love around the world.

The island that they're talking about is the continent's North America. That's the Love Island. So if you are watching it with your wife, you get to harmoniously say, look at these jackasses. Not really. It gives you something to talk about. first of all, the show they gain the system. Because the show, it's it every day,

except for hump day. So it's six days a week, and it's like an hour and a half. And as someone who is a television producer, that show should not be an hour and a half. The pace of that show is like watching Young Hanson run down the corn. It's just like,

this should be going faster. It's so slow pace because there's something about like the minutes watched that Peacock gets. So if you make it an hour and a half, It's like double the minutes watched if you make it 44 minutes, which is just like it's insane. But there's so much of it and it's so dramatic and it's so stupid. It's the dumbest show,

but it just gives me and my wife something to do for an hour and a half and something to talk about for the other five hours that we have in the day. And it's been a great experience. So it's helping your relationship. Not to mention, right? From what I gather, I have not watched the show, but I've certainly, I have an awareness. It's a lifestyle.

It's not just a show. Because of the internet, you know, I see it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it appears to me that like, you know, everybody on there's like super hot, right? So you probably get horny watching it and that helps too. Everyone's hot. Everyone's hot.

Oh, Tucker reminded me there's two professional basketball players on there. Two. They're not NBA players. They play overseas. A couple guys play overseas. Like, they had a basketball game. I don't want to do too much Love Island. but on the show, the producers that had all these basketball players,

like let's play basketball. Everybody looked like they played at least high school varsity. Not one dud. They had six guys out there. Wow. Not one dud. Like, honestly, it was like, I was like, I don't know if I could play in that game. You know what I mean?

It was like they look good. Even the little little dudes looked like they could ball. It was, it was a really good experience. Maybe that was part of the tryout. Maybe it was. Maybe it was. Everyone's hot and everyone is dumb. I think if you're on that show, you can't be like an ambitious, intelligent human

because he'd be like, what am I doing here? I'm going home. You know what I mean? It's great. RIP Love Island. And I just want to say that Target guy and the Yokic brother, that just really, that just really warmed my heart and put me in a really good mood for the rest of my week. Thank you very much for that, Chris Vernon.

I would have given anything for you to be. be with me when I saw him for the first time. I would have stared at him. Actually, but actually both of them. You know how like Target guy spent the whole plane ride, like thinking about what he was going to say to you? I would just stare at Yolkut's brother and be like,

what is my end? Like he was like a hot girl I want to talk to him. Like how do I get in a conversation with that man? And I don't know what my opener would be. I'm a big fan of yours. You know what I mean? Why are you here? I mean, yeah, going to.

I don't know. Can I get you a drink? Have you seen the back street boys? If something, Hey, if something breaks out here, save me. Can you name three Kelly Clarkson songs? Hey, no, that's what I should do. I should have walked up there and go,

hey, if something pops off in here, I'm on your team. I'm on your team. All right. That's going to do it for this week's show. Thank you to our second Britisher, Jesse Lopez, as always. Thanks to Tucker on video. and Jacoby.

I'll talk to you next week.