The Mismatch - Is Giannis the Real MVP? Plus, Cade Turning the Corner and the 50-Point March Blowout.

Episode Date: April 1, 2022

Verno and KOC begin the show by discussing Thursday night’s win for the Bucks and debating whether Giannis just stole the MVP with his performance (01:21). KOC believes Giannis has been paying attention to the MVP race and wanted to insert himself into the conversation again (10:37). They next go through Logan Murdock’s profile on Kevin Durant (15:24) before discussing the 76ers' three-game skid (21:58). Don’t look now, but Cade Cunningham is starting to turn the corner as his rookie season comes to an end (29:57). DeMar DeRozan dropped the 14th different 50-plus-point game this season in the Bulls' OT win over the Clippers, and the guys discuss March’s abundance of 50-point games (44:25). With the Final Four this weekend, the guys briefly go through some of the top prospects (50:10). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Jessie Lopez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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and catch phrases into history. Listen now. Welcome to The Mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon. And joining me as he does every Friday from the wringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, a.K. Kevin O'Bomber, Kevin O'Bomber, Kevin O'Bondylen, Kevin O'Candekin, Kevin O'Cannibon, Kevin O'Cannibon. Burnow! We got to talk about Cade today. I don't know when we're going to, but we have to.

We have to talk about Cade. We have to. We'll get to him. But first things first, first, there was a monster. game on last evening between the bucks and the nets. Did Janice Santicoopo just win his third MVP with that performance last night? Should he win it based off of one performance now? But that performance certainly didn't serve as a reminder of his power, didn't it, Chris.

What about two performances? Because it's Philly and Brooklyn back to back where he wins the game against Philly with a block on another MVP candidate, Joel M.B. to win that game. And then last night out dueling Kevin Durant, knocking down a three to send the game into overtime, knocking down free throws to win the game. I mean, and if there were ever two things

that you would want Janice Ante Cumpo doing with the game on the line, they would probably be ranked number one three point shot, number two free throws. And so I don't know what the hell you're supposed to do with him if he's knocking both those down. Listen, man, I don't know with this guy. He just gets better every single year. I thought it was cool, the praise from his teammates after the game, just talking about his improvements. I mean, it's true, like the fadeaways from mid-range, the pull-ups.

He is more comfortable as a shooter. he's way better as a playmaker. He had this post up last night. I think it was in the fourth quarter where he draws a double team like perfectly times when he's going to pass this loop over the top to a corner three point shooter. I mean, he has absolutely everything

that there is to have as a star besides a consistent knockdown jump shot, but he's getting better. I don't know who the MVP is, Chris. I can't figure it out. It's so close between Janus. Didn't it feel? we know that it's always storyline

and didn't it feel last night like that in an incredibly muddled MVP race and I just mean people seemingly not having an extremely strong opinion about who they're going to vote

it shouldn't be that way though like Yon should maybe it should have been right in it you know like he should be in it yeah like we've always said it's three No, no, no, no, no. No, no, but I mean, well, I think he has been in it. He has been in the discussion.

But I'm just talking about where if you were looking for somebody to make your opinion strong, he delivered in spades. And he's done it two times in a row on a massive stage. And we know whether or not it should matter is beside the point. It matters. And so if you were looking for, When it's time to cast that vote for who is the most valuable player in the league, you know, I certainly think it's going to be very difficult to get that out of your head,

you know, that you just watched that because it felt like there was a lot of, hey, let us remember which we felt this way walking away from the NBA finals last year. let's remember that this guy is the best player goal, you know? And so it's like, all right, that's the best player in the league and people feel comfortable giving that guy an MVP vote. Here's what I'd ask you, Chris. Has Embed fallen to third?

Um, I think there's a chance. I think there's a chance he could get third. I feel like there's... Isn't that something else? I feel like there... Now, I will say this. I feel like generally, and I don't know, I can't judge the media, but I feel like generally there's more blowback slash resent for Yokic than the other two.

Is that fair? I think more people are trying to poke holes in the Yokic case than they are the other two's case. And so I suppose it's possible that Yokic could fall to third, but I'm doubtful. I do think that there's a really good chance. And again, I'm not saying people can argue whether it's right or not. But when you see a guy, you know, with 44 points, 42 points, you know, 15, 16 rebounds, assist, game winning plays, against the best teams in his conference. Back to back night,

it is extremely persuasive. I just don't see how, so the straw poll that Tim Bond Temps does for ESV, and the last one he did was, Yokic had 62 first place votes, and Bede had 29, Janus had only nine first place votes. Right.

I just don't see how, in a matter of 10 days, that goes from Janus's third with only nine first place votes to being in first place. Maybe it shouldn't, but I'll just ask you, 10 days ago, wasn't your opinion different? I think my opinion 10 days. Yeah, I think my opinion 10 days ago was the order that I just listed, Yokeachin B, Janus. And now it's more money. But the thing is, is it's really like the whole time like 1A, 1B, 1C.

That's the type of season those guys are having. It's not like a very clear and definitive. Well, here's the top three. And then number four, I have Luca. And then number five in 5A, 5B, 5C is everybody else. The 20 players, the Bill Simmons, Ryan McSillel, the 20 best top five players. Like, that's where number five is for me. I don't know who the fifth, you know, is for MVP.

But I do know my top four in some order. And everybody knows their top three for certain. In some order. I would hope, though, there was a John Morant's second place vote, a Devin Booker's second place vote was, were you the job vote, Chris? I don't have a vote. And Morant's going to end up playing 56 games.

Yeah. So I think that's going to hurt his, I mean, look, the MVP case, but more importantly, the All-N-BA case. Yeah. And the thing is, he'll still get All-N-B-A.

Sure. He'll probably get second team with Curry, I guess. Yeah. That's where I kind of kind of pencil. Right. And they'll have Booker and Lucas is the first thing. That's what I guess. Maybe.

Yeah. We'll see. But the 56 games is what's going to hurt it. Absolutely. Whereas with the MVP, it's a totally different level, you know, with those guys. But we'll see. Listen, like with Janus, he should be in consideration for MVP. And the argument for him is the same argument it was the year he won MVP and defensive player of the year.

It's the fact that he does carry a significant offensive burden, maybe not quite as much as Yokic. Maybe the demands on offense weren't as difficult as they were from Mb. because he didn't have his second best player, and he himself had to take on more handling responsibilities. But even then, Yana's handled a ton, and he's one of the best defenders in all of basketball. Listen, dude, I am thankful I have this difficult choice, like, as a voter. I'm thankful as fans of the league.

There's this difficult choice, because in some ways, it's like, who cares about the award in the end? It's a subjective choice. what I do know is we have some of these all-time greats, Yanis, Abed, Yokic, especially Yonis, given he's already won a championship and a finals MVP. This guy is absurd. The thing that he can do.

He's absolutely absurd. Isn't it something else what he could do on the court, Chris? He's amazing. And I love the way, and I absolutely love the example that he sets to, the way he talks about his game and the way he talks about not settling, and the way he talks about always trying to find ways to, improve. He said after the game last time, he said, I'm over myself.

You know, I think it's called abundance mentality. I love what I've done in the past, and that gives me confidence, and I'm able to go out there and execute without thinking, without having self-doubts about myself. So that allows me to just play good basketball. Mentally, I'm in a good place. Physically, I still think I can improve. I don't know if this is the best I ever played, but I know I've got a lot of room to improve. Imagine being Yonisand and

Kumpo and saying that. And I texted you a week ago when I saw him in person. And I said, I just watched this guy in person. And I think Memphis did an unbelievable job on him. And he had like 30 and 11. I was like, the guy is a force of nature. They did as good a job as you could do on a guy. And he had 30 and 11.

It was crazy. I'm like, there's just not, you know he's, you know, he's, you know, You know, everybody's trying to stop him every night. And now these last 10 games, he's just been absolutely crazy. You know, he's turned it up. Doesn't he play like a guy that hears it? Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

Like, doesn't he? Yes. I'm not, I'm not so, like, I read that quote from last night. Janus is, I think, one of the best role models in all of sports. Of course he is. Just with his story and the mindset, the approach he takes to improving the growth mindset is amazing. But he also does seem like somebody who is very familiar with the MVP race and what people in media are saying, because the way he comes out and has played recently just strikes me as a guy, like LeBron going for the scoring title,

strikes me as a guy to say, you're talking about M.V. versus Yokic for MEP. What about me? That's what it feels like to me. And when you talk about the role model thing, I'll tell you, when I went to that game, there were a lot of Janus jerseys. Kids, a lot of kids in Janus jerseys. And that's become less and less common at home games, obviously because Memphis has its own superstar. But it stands in stark contrast like two weeks ago.

when Brooklyn, when I saw them, there's virtually no Durants, no Kyrie's, like none. And then you see a bunch of Janus's in the crowd and their kids, and then nothing. And he wasn't even play. Nothing compares to Kurt. Nothing. It's not even close.

I mean, it was, oh, my God, the amount of jerseys, now much to the chagrin of John Moran, But the amount of gold, it curry by such a wide margin. Now, I'm talking like lined up at the concourse just in hopes that he'll shoot around before the game. And he wasn't even at the game. He didn't even travel with the team. But the amount of jerseys that you see and kids wearing his jersey, it's rather unbelievable. I thought the Yonis thing was a lot.

But the Curry thing is madness. And he's not even like, that's when you know. That's when it's just. And by the way, also a great role model, right? Somebody that parents love their kids wearing his jersey. Their parents feel good about their kid having that guy as one of their heroes. Anyway, on the honest thing, I left that last night. I saw the stat where I believe he's Durant's 0 and 5 now against Yonnas in the last five games

they played against each other. And I thought to myself, they may be the one team in the East that doesn't worry or think about playing Brooklyn at all. I think they're the one that's least fearful for good reason. Now, they could get caught. And of course, we were half a shoe size away. for maybe history changing last year. But, you know, where Miami has had, you know,

their kind of drama and Phillies had their kind of drama. Boston obviously lost time, Lord. You know, those teams got more to think about. I saw an article this morning that was about basically the Bucks being the dramaless team, like of everybody. That, you know, there is a, and so I think. that they're full confidence. Them in Phoenix.

The two teams that went to the NBA finals last year, they're the teams without any drama. That's right. No drama surrounding them. And so, like, I think that while other teams might jockey to get out of a certain spot, whoever we play, we play. And clearly, I think on Brooklyn's end, that's the disaster.

We would all love to see seven games between those teams. That game was great last night. That was a great basketball. A fantastic basketball game. The game had drama, right? Middleton got thrown out, which he should not have gotten thrown out. He should not have gotten thrown out. But, I mean, Middleton getting thrown out of that game.

And then Yonnes, you know, again, it's maker miss league. Yonis misses that three. And it doesn't go into overtime. The narrative does change, you know. And it's like, oh, how dangerous is Brooklyn? And whatever. So I'm understanding that, you know, know, based upon a shot.

You know, we think about things rather differently. Speaking of that next team, when, when was, that Brooklyn game that I mentioned that I went to, Logan Murdoch was in town. And he had been tracking KD around the country because he was writing a big profile, which did come out on the ringer.com. And there were a couple of things in there that were super fascinating. You know, he talked about the Golden State thing, and he also talked about, one of the things that was mentioned was, you know, he's quoted a thousand times in the article. And then it said, Kevin Durant and James Harden went to Greece, I think it was twice, or they went on two trips over the summer in which James Hardin told.

Kevin Durant that he was going to sign up long term with the Brooklyn Nets. And I did think it was funny. It said that there's like a million quotes from Durant. And then it said that part and then it said, according to league sources. Yeah, that's funny. According to league sources. James Hardin.

Oh, okay. So. I wonder who that is. A vast slogan. Oh, no, it's Katie. Oh, oh. Oh. Yeah.

The other thing was... Durant Duran tells Logan, you can't quote me on this one, though. Yeah. But it was also kind of funny. Katie, like, he brought up, like, Clay a couple of times. Like, you see how Clay acts and nobody jumps on him? Like, he blames, like, the media in the article for, like, the, Golden State stuff and whatever.

What did you think about his media quotes, talking about open locker rooms? Because Adam Silver has suggested that they might open locker rooms back up. Totally reasonable. And I also... I thought every word was reasonable. It's for the best to open them up, but maybe open them up in a different way. Yeah. That's a veteran that understands the way this stuff works.

It is much easier for people to criticize when they don't have to face somebody. you know what I'm saying? It's much easy. You know, when you've got to, when you're out there and talking, and you've got to go to that press conference. And so for many, many years, I mean, look, I was a radio host. I have had players. I have had coaches.

I've had a manner of people scream at me or be mad at me over things that I had said back in the day, you know? And that's what comes with it. But if you're going to erase that, And you aren't going to have much interaction with said individual. I think it's not, it's worse for the player. In my opinion, the best thing for the players is to become real people and develop relationships with these people.

It's not just for newsbreaking and all that stuff. It's the coverage of the team day in and day out for the fans that care about it the most. and developing a relationship with the media is good. Now, he got to blame the media for the Golden State thing, but in the same column, it mentions how, you know, guys on the Warriors playing are all playing cards together and stuff, and he's back, you know, backed by himself, you know, away from everybody. And I think that there's probably a couple different versions of the way that all went down.

but in his version, he felt like it was always KD and the Warriors, rather than KD part of the Warriors. But that's, again, it's all water on the bridge now. But it's very interesting read. I would encourage anybody to check it out because it does give you a good sense of how he thinks about things, for sure. No, it was very well done by Logan. And we at some point, we did real ones earlier in the season.

At some point, maybe there are the playoffs. For sure. have Logan and Raja on the mismatch. Yeah, it was, it was great to, I hung out with him while he was here. It was great to have him in town, and he was doing that KD article. You guys, you got to dinner? You got dinner? We didn't, we didn't get together because he flew in late.

Oh, yeah, so it's just at the game you hung up a little bit. He was at the game, and he, it was actually the same exact night that the mandate thing got lifted. So that worked out well for the column because he was able to go ask Kyrie and KB about that after the game. The other thing was very interesting was, and keep this in mind, he asked Kyrie Irving about playing together with Kevin Durant, and they made it sound like they're going to play together forever. If you read it, they both said that. We'll be playing together for 20-something years, whether it's out on a court and wherever.

So we'll see, we'll see, you never know, right, with this friendship. but it's clear they are like really, really friends. They are close. You know what I mean? Like they're, I think in terms of best friends at some point in the article. And yeah, that's what Logan wrote.

Logan's words he wrote, joining forces with his best friend, Kyrie Irving. So we'll see how they play out too. On the other hand, did you see Kyle? Wait, wait, wait, wait. You see Kevin Rope called himself a God last night?

I did. Responding to Nick Wright. He also, he called him Little Nicky. Yeah. That's tough. That's tough. We're going to get Nick on this too. Nick on the mismatch or void at some point.

We had Nick last season? We didn't have him this season, right? Well, we scheduled him, and then like 30 minutes before we were about to go on, a story broke about James Hardin being an irresponsible boob and going out to strip clubs all the time. And Nick Wright said, oh, I've had something come up. I can't come on. because he for sure was going to talk about how Daryl Morey is the genius of all geniuses, and that got ruined by an article that came out.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I'm a conspiracy theorist when it comes to that. We'll have Nick on. Meanwhile, the 76ers not looking good down here in the home stretch. And you were talking earlier about the MVP thing? That trade, there's no question. The trade did not help his MVP at all. We didn't know what it would be like, but it certainly hasn't helped it. And that's because of team performance more than anything, right?

Hardin does not look the same, does he, Chris? Well, and it was kind of like the Embed was carrying this team. And, you know, it's him and Tyrese Maxie and they need more. And he's doing it without Ben Simmons. And so you had a lot of the Yokage thing going. on with M.B. Now M. Bean still had a better supporting cast, but still you looked out there

and it's Tyrese Maxie was starting for the first time and it's Danny Green and it's not and it's Dybul. It's not a who's who. You know, Curry. Good players. But we felt like they were awesome because this guy is elevating them.

And now, you know, they're losing to Detroit. down the stretch. And Hardin has a really rough night. And then I saw the Philly newspaper writers saying, nah, nah, no, that's not what Doc meant. But then every other headline everywhere is Doc Rivers calls out James Hardin. So what did he, well, what did he mean then? I mean like a knock at, you know, Hardin. So what a Philly writer is saying that he meant? That he was going to, that they were going to

jump on the bench, right? Like the bench did nothing. They were like, oh, for five. Okay. And that what he was saying and he didn't continue his thought or whatever was, basically, you can't blame the bench because James was out there and he was the leading shot taker. Okay. Yeah, yeah.

You know what I'm saying? Like he was trying to say that was, it was not, it was prompted by a question about how shitty the bench was. and he was like, hey, you know, it's hard to blame the bench when James is the guy out there, right? Like, I mean, yeah, they only took five shots, but that's because James is taking the shots. Like James is, when he's playing with the bench,

he's the guy, but it is hard to, I don't know. I think you had to do some mental acrobatic to act like he wasn't disappointed in Harden's performance. I mean, he was terrible. Yeah. He's terrible. He is, you know how after three games, I'm saying, oh, yeah, Sixers going to the finals, baby. Yeah.

Tyrese, third wheel behind him, beating Hardin. At the time, through three games with Philadelphia, Hardin was averaging 27 points, 12 assists, only three turnovers, scoring with great efficiency, playing, you know, with burst. He had great acceleration, great first step. the Hardham that we had seen previously early in the Brooklyn days with Houston before he was trying to push his way out. Since then, Chris, that was three

games. Since then, in 12 games, Hardham is averaging 21 points, nine assists on 29.8% from three, 41% from two point range. These are poor numbers. They say he's hurt. They say he's hobbled.

I'm telling, like, you say that's what his defenders will. You say that tongue and cheek, and I've been saying it seriously ever since then. Yeah, you've got to admit, Chris, there's a difference between the hard and we saw straight out of the trade deadline, straight out of All Star break. When he gets his first couple games of Philadelphia, he looked different than physically than he has sense. Do you agree, though? And this is part of it. If he is hurt, if his hamstrings are having issues, whatever it is, that's part of it with him.

But he doesn't look the same to me. He doesn't have the same burst. There's no question he doesn't look the same. And I'm not saying that he's not hurt. What I am saying is if he comes out and he goes for 35, 12, and 10 tonight, which that's happened before, you know, where he's come and he had these huge games, then he's not hurt. Then I guess he was just feeling good that night.

And then he comes back and he has like a lame game and it's like he's hurt. So I don't know what to make. Sure. You know what I'm saying? You never know with him. That has absolutely happened where it's like, oh, you know, I've seen it in the playoff. And the narrative becomes he's run down from this season. He hasn't.

You know, he just played so many minutes and now he's just run down. He's out of energy or something's bothered. And then he comes out and he has 42 points the next game. And it's like, okay, what happened to the whole he was tired from the season thing? You know, I think you can always play a both ways with him. But what is true is we look at Philadelphia much, much different right now. It's hard to imagine them beating a Milwaukee, beating a Miami in a seven-game series.

You know. It is hard to envision at this point. It's hard to envision that now. I mean, look, listen. I mean, like, Embedde and Hardin are still going to be an absolute problem in terms of like a scummit. situation for the opponent because they can destroy you inside.

They can destroy you on the perimeter. On paper, theoretically. But, you know, the knocks against that bench last night, when you're relying so much on DeAndre Jordan and Nyang and the ghost of Danny Green, I mean, like compared to some of these other teams in the Eastern Conference, Miami, Milwaukee,

Boston with Robert Williams. Philadelphia just doesn't compete. never mind sometimes the problems what they have with their fifth guy. With Batiste's title out there a lot of the time, spacing gets screwed up. They don't have a great fifth for every situation.

So for Philadelphia, I mean, after all of that, right now they look like a team that is in need of some more changes over the off season in order to get to the level of everybody else in the Eastern Conference. What's going to be interesting is when we get to the off season, if they flame out,

Is M. B. going to be gung-ho about signing him to that huge extension? And it might be a blessing in disguise that he didn't. You remember that was a thing? Maybe you can sign and trade James Hardin for LeBron James. Oh, my gosh. Let's start that. You think of kidding?

Huh? Why not start recruiting LeBron if you're embief? Why would I want James Hardin? What? Why would I want to pay him? That's not looking like a great investment right now. Would that be something else? Can you imagine that?

No. No, you can't? Why can't you imagine that? How much crazy stuff have we seen in the NBA as long as we've been doing this show, Chris? I mean, we've seen some crazy stuff. Yeah, we've seen some crazy stuff. You can't rule out anything.

I mean, I can. If you're LeBron, if you're LeBron, Come on. Why are we doing this? Why are we doing this? All right, we'll not do with that. We won't do it then. The thoughts out there.

The thoughts out there. LeBron's not leaving the Lakers because he likes to live in Los Angeles, as do I. But, yeah, if it's about winning basketball games, we'll see. On the flip side of that Sixers game last night that they lost to Detroit, Cade Cunningham. We talked about Yon's talk, baby, piston sock. We talked about, we talked about, let's go.

Hey, well, look, and I know you are in the camp of teams that, you know, don't have good records. What are you doing? You're trying to win games. But it's the only reason we're talking about the Pistons and we're not talking about all these other rat teams that are losing on purpose. They've lost plenty of teams, plenty of games of shit. Cade Cunningham in March.

They're 21 and 56, Chris. I'm aware. I'm aware, but I mean, they're playing it out. And he is certainly playing it out. In the month of March, 23.7 assists, six rebounds a game. He is the first rookie to put up those numbers in a month since Michael Jordan. What? Really?

23, 7, and 6. Pretty rare air. Pretty rare air. I do not know that's that. First time in a month. What were those numbers again in March? 23, 7, and 6. 237 and 6. Wow.

With a month of March. I'm a little surprised that hasn't happened since the days of Michael Jordan, but, I mean, regardless, it does speak to... Well, it's 10 games or you had to play at least 10 games. That's according to our buddies over at Staten. Okay. But, I mean, that's still, I mean, most everybody's playing 10 games in a month. Oh, yeah. I mean, that's remarkable.

That's remarkable. Yeah, Kate is, uh, he doesn't play. like a rookie does he, Chris. No. And that's a 10 year, 10 year event. Sneaky great race. And I know Bill Simmons has been behind Scotty Barnes. But I mean, I do think there's going to be a big split vote on that one with Barnes

Mobley and Cade's going to get some support. He is. As he should. I mean, listen, man, like I think the slowish start, the Kate experience, some people are going to kind of anchor themselves to right or wrong. But, you know, a recency bias is the opposite. of it, right? The way he's finishing this season, looking like a guy who's not a rookie, looking like a 10-year veteran who's in full control of the game as a playmaker, scoring whenever

he needs to, scoring from all over the court, playing a really great defense too as a wing defender. The argument for Cade is so strong at this point. And I think ultimately here, Chris, like with MVP, I don't know what I'm going to do with a little over a week left in the season because of how close it is between Cade, Mobley, and Barnes. The arguments for them are different. They play totally different styles, but all of them have been productive in their own way. Who do you think should be the most deserving right now?

Is it Cade? I would not fight anybody on any of the players that won it. That being said, I think Mobley would have ran away with it. if his team just didn't get destroyed by injury. And they really did. They really did. Because they were, I have no reason. If they don't have the Rubio thing,

if they don't have some of the injuries that they had, and of course, Jared Allen, they didn't have all those injuries. Like, there was very little reason to believe their record would not have been fantastic. I think I'm with you. This is one that I am absolutely on the fence. I have not lined it all out to look at all of the different statistics for all of these guys.

Typically, if it's, you know, that close, then I do take winning into consideration. And so I think that you get a little bit of a knot. It is more impressive to do it on a winning team. It just is. And so to me, it's a little more impressive if you're Scotty Barr. if you're Evan Mobley, then if you're Kate, right? Like if all things are even, I do kind of consider whether you were on a winning team.

And those two guys were on winning teams, and I'm taking nothing away from Kate, who has been absolutely spectacular and has to do, you know, he runs this show for them. And so if somebody wanted to make the argument, look, his individual performance, performance makes him worthy of this award, I wouldn't put up a big fight about it. I'm just saying the way my brain works in terms of these awards.

If it's all close, I usually lean towards the team, the guy that's on the team with a better record, because it is more difficult to put up numbers in a winning context. Sure. Yeah, I think that's fair. I mean, the rookie of the year, like I said, with MVP, in some ways, whatever. I mean, who cares? Like, it's going to be, it's going to be a split boat. It's going to be close.

What matters is the fact we have so many great rookies. They're going to growing up stars. And the thing with Kate is, like, obviously we get the final four this weekend. You could match up Cade, Cunningham with Paulo Bencaro out of Duke. You could do it with Jabari Smith from Auburn, Chet Holmgren from Gonzaga, Jaden Ivy from Purdue. of these guys, any of them, any of the top prospects, you can put them with Cade Cunningham, and you know it's going to work. Some might work a little better than others, but Cade can

work with any type of player, and he is the type of young player in the NBA who's already making his teammates better. And the number one piece of evidence in that is the fact that he has made your guy, Chris, Marvin Bagley, looks like a competent NBA player. That is the number one argument. How about, hey, all right. So I would look at it backwards. Marvin Bagley has turned Cape Cunningham awesome by giving him somebody to throw the ball team. And one guy he has not done that for is Killian Hayes.

That's a lie. He hasn't made Killian Hayes better. Killian Hayes is pretty good. Pretty good. You see the defense he played last side on Hardin? Five for eight from the field. You see the step back three here at the other night? Killean Hayes is doing some stuff.

He's doing some stuff. He's going to be hanging out with his boy, Frankie Milton in a couple of years. Shut up. Shut up. Dynamite backcord in France. Hey, you, playing for the Paris bricklayers.

In my Bencaro article today, I said how I'm moving him to number one on my board for right now. Yeah. But the last line in there, you know, the last paragraph is about how just, you know, these guys are ranked all over the place.

Everyone's going to have their preferences. And then I wrote, don't be surprised if your favorite draft analysts all have different people ranked first this year. Luckily for me, there are no French point guards at the spot. I like the self-deprecation. Yeah, I know.

It's, uh, yeah, it's sure. There are no French point cards. There is a Usman Jang, though. Uh, a French, uh, and you're staying away from him. Well, he's a French forward. He's not a French point guard. So it's no problem for me.

Not an issue. Other things that took place last night, the hawks have looked like a team, you know, about to go into the playoffs, you know, possibly dangerous. And Trey left with an injury last night. And so clearly this is something to monitor rather closely. But I was starting to think, you know, you're going to draw, somebody who's going to draw the hawks. That's going to be no picnic, no matter who it is. because Trey has been

he had that 30 point first half you know just a few games ago I had 40 plus another game recently I mean he's really gotten going and it was a team

that was in the Eastern Conference finals last year this whole year we hadn't been able to figure out what the hell is going on with them and why they have been so underwhelming there's been a myriad of reasons given.

The first of which at the very beginning of the season, which was Trey Young, which is not exactly what you want, saying, you know, once you're in the big games, these games don't feel that big. You know,

it sounded a little entitled, maybe. At the beginning of the season, that they were carrying themselves like a team that had maybe accomplished more than they have, but they did make it to the Easter conference finals. And so even if they did The whole

Doesn't you know Regular season isn't that big a deal Line them up and we'll play when it comes to the playoffs I do think they're I do think they can be dangerous But We got to monitor this trade thing Because they're not dangerous without him

Well I mean Trey Trey said his groin has been sore After the game that's what he said Because he heard it at the end of the first half He played the third Then because the Hawks were up so much he didn't play at all in the fourth. That's something to monitor.

Yeah, it's definitely something to monitor. And the fact that he looked like he was in so much pain, still returned. But if that is something that's a lingering issue, it certainly limits who they are and what they can be. Monster game between the Lakers and the Pelicans, Kevin. And it sounds like LeBron and AD are going to play? Yeah. Exciting.

I look forward to watch. They got into tent, and then they gave it right back. To the spurs. And now they have to try to get it back. They have to try to get back into the play-in situation. And we know that this game is so much bigger than just that play-in. This one matters greatly because of the pick. Because if the Pelicans are able to,

knock down the Lakers to where they are outside of that play-in, that all of a sudden becomes a top-10 pick, and they get that pick. And so you got a lot of, you got a lot of incentive besides just the two teams trying to get into the play-in and then getting to host that play-in game, that draft pick, which they would not get. And of course, they traded theirs.

So that ends up being enormous for them. And right now that pick is slotted to eighth. And the Lakers are two games back from being 10th. I mean, it's looking like a good chance if the pelicans could get it anyway. But if you knock them out of the plan, you assure that you do. Well, but the Knicks are like now it's sealed that they're not making the playoffs. So who knows what they're going to do. Washington's right there too, right,

in the crappy record category. Then you got the Spurs. So, I tweeted the other day, Chris, about the Spurs winning all these games and said, this is actually a bad thing. They should be tanking. The reaction from Spurs fans was so interesting to me.

Like, it's very split. Usually when I comment about tanking, it's a majority are like, yes, we want the high pick. Spurs fans, it was very split. There are a lot of people in support. Like, yes, thank you for saying this. There are many that were like,

what are you talking about? All we do is win. This is part of our culture here. We always try to win games. We can draft a star in the middle of the first round. We've done it before. Yeah. It was just very interesting to see that type of perspective

come from a fan base that has won for 20 plus years. Because it reminds me of the year with the Patriots. I wanted them to lose out, get a higher, draft pick, get Mac Jones. Mac Jones slides to 15th anyway. Patriots didn't even need to. You never know. To get their quarterback quarterback.

They didn't have to. So for the Spurs, it's the truth. You can find great players from anywhere in the draft. It's just easier at the top. No. I mean, it's a great, it's one of the great ironies about the Sun's thing, right? Is that the guy who's the best is the guy that was taking, what, 13, 14? I think it was 13 to 14.

He's the, he's the franchise guy. like of all those picks they had in the top five, the Dragon Benders and the Josh Jackson's and the odd and on and on. Aiton. Aiton was number one. He was, but the best one is the one taken 13. And Chris Paul way back in the day was the fourth pick, way back. In 1998.

Go on. And that was for the two five franchises ago. And McKell Bruges was the 10th pick. as well. So they had some lot of guys. Yeah, we got that monster game between the Lakers and the Pelicans and supposed to be seeing

LeBron, supposed to be seeing A.D. Do you think the Lakers get in? Do you think they get in? What's your prediction? Yeah, you think they get in? Yeah, I think they get in. So Spurs fallout? Yes. Hmm. Maybe Pelicans.

I mean, this game is big. Yeah, this is a big one. It's a big game. Pelicans need this game badly. Right. Yeah. Well, they got my guy Larry ands back. That Jose Alvarado guy, isn't he such a troll?

I love him. He's like a good compazo. Good compas. That Nugget fans aren't going to like that comment. I don't care. DeMarta Rosen had 50 points. And last night in what? was a crazy game. A good can't pass.

What was a crazy game? And it just brings the mind. We have been doing this show long enough that you will remember me saying this is years ago. I think it was Blake Griffin when he was playing for Detroit.

Had 50 points. And I came out here and I was like, you don't see a lot of 50s, Kiv. Yeah. And now we've stuck around and we've been a team long enough to where all we see as 50-point games. Like, once upon a time, I said on the podcast,

hey, we got to talk about this because you don't see a lot of 50s. Bro, we just had a string of 50-point games throughout March that was absolutely insane. DeMarta Rosen's 50-point performance in the overtime went over the Clippers made him the 14th different player. to have 50 this season. He was also the seventh different player to go for 50 in March, just the month of March, which is the single month league record as well. The ninth, the ninth time, right?

Huh? The ninth time this month, right? Seventh different. Okay. It's happened nine times. Okay, yeah. Yeah. Okay, yeah, yeah.

The seven different player. Because LeBron and Kyrie did it twice. Yeah. Well, and those players were LeBron James. He had 56 against the Warriors. Tatum, 54 against the Nets. Irving, 50 against the Hornets. LeBron, 50 versus the Wizards. Kevin Durant, 53 versus the Knicks. Carl Town, 60 versus the Spurs. Kyrie Irving, 60 versus the magic. Sadiq Bay, 51 versus the magic. And then DeMar de Rosen. Shout out to Sadiq Bay.

That was on frigging March Madness weekend. The only game of the night. His 51 is getting lost in NBA lore. And especially, what a raw deal for Sadiq. You know, like he gets the 51. It's on a March Madness Day where everybody is watching March Madness and not watching Detroit versus Orlando. Not that if March Madness wasn't on,

everybody would be watching Detroit versus Orlando. But anyway, you score the 51. And then it's not even like special because six other guys scored 50 in the month. What are the chances? What are the chances you get 51 in a game? And nobody saw it and six other guys did it in the month. So it just gets totally lost. Like 51 should be insanely special.

And Sadiq's just, this is bad luck. But we honor you, Sadiq Bay on the mismatch. We won't forget. He is a baller. I love that, dude. What a good play. Justin's have a lot of good players, Chris. Yeah, they got a lot of good players.

They got a real future. Yeah, they really do. Cade, Sadiq Bay. Hopefully, Killeen keeps getting better on offense because he's got it on defense already. Yeah, they got a core. They got a core there. Hello?

Oh, yeah. Oh. They got Marvin Bagley away from Sacramento, and he's awesome. Surprise, surprise. Yeah. Surprise, surprise. Yep.

We got news on the time, Lord, Kev. Sounds like Boston after a first round series could get him back. But this is, you know, anytime people start tweeting about Brandon Roy and, you know, Meadow World Peace and some other guys that have come back and it ended up having long-term effects, you know, one of the things that is worthwhile to think about because he obviously got the surgery that would allow him to come back on the court quicker. is what you talked about with their, you know, their owner, Grossbeck saying this is a long-term deal.

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out because even though he played the the shorter recovery card, you know, you certainly have to take the long-term implications into consideration. Because it has. It has damaged guys that have come

back maybe before they should have to try to get back for a playoff run. And so we'll see. Again, that's up to doctors, right? Like, doctors are going to decide whether or not they feel good enough about the healing and the rehab for him to be able to get out on the court. But with the way you talked about how this is a long-term vision for not only time lord, but also this group, you know, I don't know if our expect. should be that they're going to be able to get time Lord back on the court in four to six weeks

because there's inevitably a risk that comes along with that. Yeah, I mean, we'll see. We'll see in six weeks. All I know is they need them. There's no way around that. They need, especially at the guy we talked about at the top of the show. They need Time Lord in the series against the bucks and Yanis. Final fours this weekend.

You mentioned Paulo is now at the top of your dream. draft board, but that's certainly not written in Sharpe. No. Right? And that can change. I'd have Ben Carroll ranked first for four of the top 10 teams with draft lottery odds. That's the way I would put it.

So, like, if another team gets the first pick and their best guy is Chet Hongren. I mean, maybe I'm going to move Chet to number one on my personal board based on the fact that that player could be going there. Or we'll go there. Like, we might know. We might get

the absolute, you know, answer by the time the draft is coming around. Because that matters. Fit, situation, environment, that's all part of it. Absolutely. And in this class, where not as much separates those guys, isn't that fair to say? Yeah, totally. That you would typically take the talent, fit it. Yes, but not this year.

But this year that if there's such a small margin between those top prospects, that you would take fit into consideration, maybe more so, right? Yes, 100%. And for every team, it's going to be different. Like, I think for certain teams, you prefer Jabari Smith out of Auburn because you want the knockdown shooter and the personal defender. Some teams might want the playmaking of Bencaro and the potential go-to scoring. Some teams might want the room protection and the three-point shooting of Chad Holmgren.

It's all different for each team with how you're going to fit these guys around. Like, if you're Detroit with Cade Cunningham, who do you prefer most of those three to pair with Cade, Bencaro, Hongren, or Smith for Cade's partner in crime the next 10 years? That's what you're hoping for. I would guess they would take Smith. I think I like Smith most there, too. I think that's who they would put.

Yeah, I do. I think they'd take care. All three of them would be nice fits. Like, that's nice. That's a great part about Cade. It can work with any of the three. in different ways. But Jabari Smith provides you with the size at 610,

but also the versatility and the shooting, which is why, like, you said Smith is probably first on your board. Well, and I know Ed Stefanski, who's over there now, and he was a massive Jared Jackson guy. And I see a lot of that. I do.

I wonder who's the final decision maker on that pick as an Oh, yeah, I don't know. It probably aren't tell them, right? I mean, my, I mean, it's, it's unclear. I mean, I think they probably all get in a room and then somebody pulls a trigger. It's, it's collection of mind. Yeah, which can be good and bad. Yeah, but they've done pretty good drafting.

They've done well, yes. It's worse. It has worse. Yes. But yeah, I think, I think that's totally fair that things could change. You know, I saw the kid from Wisconsin declared Johnny Davis. Where are you at on him? I like Davis.

He just needs to improve, you know, his efficiency as a job. jump shooter, but he's got, he's got a lot that there is to enjoy in the defensive end of the floor. One of the things that I like on offense is the fact that he can be a little bit of a low post guy. I mean, I would just be very curious to see if a team is going to use him as a as a post hub as a guard. You don't see a lot of those guys in the NBA that are guards using the low post, but he, he's going to turn around jumper, good, good passer from the post. I'm intrigued. I bet there. I want to see the, I want to see the jump. I want to see the jump. I want to see the jump. Jumper improved.

That's a big part of it. Knowing the way the NBA guys talk about these guys, there's somebody, there's going to be guys out there that absolutely fell in love with him at the end of the Big 10th season because they love the, you know, go big in-conference games on the road. Like, he had some monster games at the end of the season,

for sure. Like, big scoring games. And there's going to be some guys, I bet, And so I could see him, I could see a team being in love with him for sure. No doubt about it. I mean, six foot five, you know, playmaker who can, you know, hit tough shots from mid-range, all he's really going to do is figure out how to extend his range to three.

This season he shot 36% from the mid-range, 31% from three, 34% on catch-and-shoot threes. And he's the type of guy he doesn't always like take that open shot when it's there. but yeah like if he can figure out that dribble jumper from mid range and from three you're talking about a guy who could be a great point guard in the NBA but he's got it's sometimes some guys don't figure that out though it talks about how people really loved uh Mark Williams recently he's going to be in the mix this weekend so fair to say you think the kid from Kansas might have the most to gain you mean obaji yeah just if his team if they knocked off Villanova if they won a title game on Monday night that I feel like he's a little farther down the list and he feels like the kind of guy that if, you know, if he, if he was amazing in these last two games when the lights are the brightest that he could, because there's not that many guys on the list that could really move up. I suppose if Williams dominated two games in a row, it's going to have

a match up with that Baycock kid who's been outstanding for, you know, the bigs are actually going to decide this thing in large part. There's a bunch of big guys on these teams. Yeah. I mean, with Abaji, I mean, again, like, it's similar to what we talked about at the top of the draft. In the middle of the draft, a your team that's wanting to draft a more NBA ready, 22-year-old senior out of Kansas who can come in right away and hopefully make an impact, or are you going to go with an 18-year-old raw talents, like a Tai Tai Tai Washington out of Kentucky or, you know, Usman Jang?

who played, like we mentioned here earlier, the French forward, who played this last season in New Zealand. So look, like, it's all about priorities. And it's all so hard. It's so hard. I mean, it's like I got you. As soon as you said that, you know what I thought of? A couple of years ago, where the clippers had those two picks.

And with one of them, they took Jerome Robinson, the other one, they take Shade Gillsis, Alexander. It's like, I don't know where Jerome Robinson is. and Shay Gildes-Alexander is like one of the best, you know, still under 25 players in the league. And it's kind of that deal. Which do you want? Because I had people from Kentucky that, I mean, they were like, he was really good in the SEC tournament. You was really good.

You know, that's when he was really good. But I don't know about Gilded Alexander. There's a lot more of that that I got from Kittles, Kentucky folks, you know, and they were high on Knox. You know, so you figure it out. It's hard to figure. Jerome Robinson was with the Santa Cruz Warriors this season. How about that?

22 games, 21 points per game. Really good college player, but a veteran guy and, you know. But it's interesting the way those two picks diverged, right? One of them enabled you to get Paul George, for God's sake. Yeah. You know. And it might not have been that great of a deal. It's probably a better deal for the Thunder,

depending on what happens with the Clippers, right? Yeah. We'll see. We'll find out soon with Kauai. It's going to be a super fun weekend, and a lot is going to be decided. We're going to be, so we're going to be two or three games left in the season

by the next time we talk. Thanks to our executive producer, Jesse Lopez, as always. Kevin, I'll talk to you on Tuesday. Have a good one, everybody. You're welcome to Spans.