The Mismatch - Kings-Timberwolves Takeaways, the Magic Are Special, and a Wild Weekend of NBA Story Lines

Episode Date: January 31, 2023

Verno and KOC begin the show discussing the fun game between the Kings and Timberwolves (01:15). They discuss how much fun a potential playoff match would be between the two teams and debate if the T-wolves' better play as of late will continue once Karl-Anthony Towns returns. The Magic are showing glimpses of becoming something special, and Bennedict Mathurin is making his case for Rookie of the Year as well as Sixth Man of the Year (11:40). Also, the guys look back at some of the story lines that happened over the weekend, including the missed foul call on LeBron James (27:35), Jaren Jackson Jr.’s Reddit controversy (41:55), Joel Embiid vs. Nikola Jokic (51:44), and Giannis Antetokounmpo scoring 50 points in 30 minutes (56:53). They wrap up the episode with the latest trade rumors (01:03:00). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Jessie Lopez *The Ringer NBA squad is coming to Salt Lake City for NBA All-Star Weekend! Get your tickets here!* Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's popping, everybody? This is Logan Murdoch from Real On I have some big news to share. On Saturday, February 18th, the Ringer NBA show will be hitting the road for All-Star weekend for a live show in Salt Lake City. You heard that right. We are taping the pod in front of a live audience in Salt Lake next month and we want you to join us. Pull up on us at the stateroom in the heart of downtown Salt Lake. You can grab your tickets now at thestateroom.com. That's the stateroom.com. Doors open at 9 o'clock. Show is at 10. It's going to be a 21 and up event. Come hang with the gang and chat, mid-season updates, draft preview, and even have a Q&A with us. Space is limited, so grab your tickets while they last at the Stateroom.com or click the link in the description of this show. Hope to see y'all in there.

Welcome to The Mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon. And joining me as he does every Tuesday from the ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, A.K. Kevin O'Bomber, A.K.K. Kevin O'C. Kevin O'Chammer. Kevin O'Compenter. How are you doing, my friend? Great. We were recording this late Monday night. We both just got done watching the Kings versus the Minnesota Timberwolves, which was actually a very entertaining game. Went to overtime. I had some big plays down the stretch by both the teams. So bonus fouled out. Kings went to the five wide against Rudy Gaubert. Trey Lyle's. A little playoff preview. Trey Lyle's action. You know what's crazy? I've seen. seen this happen with Trey Liles a couple different times this year. I really liked him as a young player in Denver. And it just didn't take in the way that I thought it would with him going to San Antonio. And it's nice to see guys like that have found a place. It's a little bit later

down the road, but it's very, very helpful for a team like that. And that King's team, man, their offense has been spectacular this year, just absolutely spectacular. And I think that one of the main takeaways from them hiring Mike Brown was, we figured there would be a big uptick in defense because that's what Mike Brown's been kind of known for. And the uptick in offense has just been incredible. They don't have a lot of defensive players. They do kind of have to outscore you.

But, man, they'll throw five guys that could score the ball out on the floor. And then on the other side, well, wait, on the Edwards thing. Wait, on the Kings, like, the star, we didn't mention the Aaron Fox. Oh, he's awesome. I mean, he scored in every which way down the stretch for Sacramento against switches and isolations against McDaniels, against Gobert drop covers against switches, like the last floater he had where Gobert defended it well.

He was like kind of striking both arms at Fox on the drive. and Fox was driving right and kind of leaned back with his left arm, lefty floater. It was like an impossible shot to do anything about, but he was just on fire down the entire stretch of the game. And, I mean, it was like down 13, 32 points on 27 shots is not the most efficient night. But ultimately, like, he hit all of the shots that mattered down the stretch of the game, including the pull-up three, too. He did, except at the end of the game, you saw a couple different possessions where Edwards took it upon himself.

to guard Deerard Fox. And I love this. This has been something that's been going on. It started last year in the playoffs in their series against Memphis and against Morant. And now we have seen it this year in crunch time where it doesn't matter who the guy with the ball is. If it's a star on the other team, Edwards wants that. And man, when he locks in, Edwards is as good a perimeter defender as there is in the because he is so big, he is so strong,

and he is so laterally quick. He's outstanding. Oh, yeah. He had that play. What was like 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter where he just stopped every single move? Yeah, every move. And he does that with, and there's nobody quicker than Fox.

He's as quick as it gets in the league. And Edwards can really play some lockdown defense when he wants to. You know, and I think Minnesota just, it felt like they just, kind of, and I felt like I was watching a team with five guys that at any point you could throw it out to, and they could knock you down a shot. Whereas with Minnesota, it was really, it really felt like Eddor's either going to make a shot or DeAngelo Russell's going to make a shot. And hopefully one of these guys can make a wide open one, but Kyle Anderson got wide open ones, McDaniels got wide open ones.

I mean, look, both fun teams to watch. And they're both, I think it just speaks to. how tight the Western Conference is because clearly the Kings have much better record and they are up there as a home court advantage team right now and you know the only three games no no it's not a big difference yeah that's what I'm saying it's not a big difference and though we see the standings

and think that these are you know radically different teams that are having radically different seasons because we can get tricked by the seatings day in and day out, you watch those two teams play, and you go, man, if these two played in the playoff series, that thing would go seven games, right? I would think so, especially because, you know, Minnesota, I mean, say what you want about the way they started. They're at least trending up in recent weeks. Rudy Gobert was, you know, a total shell of his former self earlier in the season.

He has been so much better defensively in recent weeks for them. They're finding a rhythm offensively. like even tonight in the first half, sometimes he'd roll down the lane Anthony Edwards would drive, you know, off the catch, and Gobert would kind of set that so-called Gortat screen to seal off a defender to prevent them from helping on anand drive. They're developing a rhythm in kind of that improvisational half-court offense.

And that's been the trend for them offensively in recent weeks. So I think for Minnesota, that's a positive development. But as has been the case, as we've hit every single time we've talked about Minnesota, year, what happens when Carl Anthony Towns returns? Like, how does that affect the chemistry? Because right now they're really getting in a rhythm with that Anderson McDaniels front court with, you know, different guys coming off the bench.

But it's working with Gobert and Anderson McDaniels right now. How does Kat change that is going to be the big question? And will Delo be there as well? Well, I think the most important thing, honestly, is that it's become Edwards team. Yeah. And that is, like, it's not a question anymore. He is the man, right? There's a pecking order now that Towns is going to have to fit in.

It's not his team. It's Anthony Edwards team. And Anthony Edwards is going to be the guy there for a long, long time. And he is absolutely spectacular. Some of the shots he hits are just freakish, really. Like there's just not many guys in the league that can do it. With his athleticism too, Chris, like the ball handling and all that is nice. but like for at his size off with his strength i mean like there's there's the upside for him to be

one of the best players in the game but doesn't mean he'll reach that you know like you know in terms of being an on-ball creator he had a horrible turnover down the stretch of the game he missed gobert on a lob tried kicking it out as a sloppy turnover the best theory is he needs to improve but how much like how much can you really blame you know 21-year-old anthony edward's having that responsibility forced upon him right now when that's not what he is at his core. That's not what he is naturally. The best fit for him right now is to have more of a natural point guard next him, like how Chris Paul helped lift Devin Booker. And Devin Booker helped lift Chris Paul. That's really what Minnesota has to have, whether it's, you know, you mentioned Kyle Lari. Yeah.

That makes a lot of sense. Mike Conley, you know, from a basketball standpoint makes sense. Maybe like you said, maybe from a leadership standpoint, he's not vocal enough. I believe you said that what two weeks ago something like that on the show but like that's the best fit for him not dilo he's starting to figure it out he's starting to figure it out and again it's just it's just it's just gonna take time um as you said he's 30 year in the league 21 21 years old he eats 21 bags of hot fries a week that was something else you saw that clip too i was literally about to bring that up something that was with gq right a gq interview 10 things he can't live with that. Yeah. He's great. He's awesome.

So ridiculously likable. I know. He's so genuine. He's just himself and he can't help it. Yes. Those are the best types of people. Yeah, but I mean, like they are, they start to figure it out. And one of the things that Jim Peterson said on the broadcast was they have shut the absolute cover off the ball for the last month. And you don't know if that's going to hold. You know, Russell's been shooting well. Everybody's been shooting well. I mean, their effective field goal percentage, I believe he said, was third in the league.

for the month of January. And so they were getting it done with some very, very good offense. I mean, it's, and I think we're going to see, you know, if they're going to make the playoffs, you saw that, you know, there was a glimpse in this game tonight. It was Trey Liles playing the Maxie Cleaver role. And it's like, what do you do? Because they were just putting Gober in every single pick and roll the entire overtime. The entire overtime, they just attacked it.

him, attacked him, attacked him, attacked him. And they ended up winning the game, you know, pretty well going away. And Chris Finch has got a, like, I mean, these coaches don't like to abandon it. Kuhn Snyder died by it a hundred times. Well, Chris, and then they had that possession where they did switch, and then the rest of the defense blew it

and Lyons had the wide open dunk inside off the Fox assists. Right. I mean, like, the communication was just terrible. If you're going to switch that, that's the thing. It's like, that was what it always was with Utah for years. You're so reliance and go bare to be a deterrent around the basket and to turn away ball handlers from getting into the paint to kick it out and all that. Then when you go away from that, you kind of forget how you're supposed to play defense.

It just doesn't work the same way. They have to figure it out. But that's where for them, the idea of Carl Anthony Towns had appeal to them, where it's like, well, we retain size in those situations. Doesn't mean it all work. It sucked earlier in the year, and it may always suck. Yeah, but Towns is exactly who you want on Trey Liles. It is.

Sure, you know, as the helper, you know, as a primary or in help defense position if Gober is pulled outside. Well, no. No, you want him being the five. If they're going to go five out and small like that, that's your advantage is having talents as a five. Yeah. I mean, you need more attentive, aware, effective help inside, too, though. I know they got poisoned by it tonight. night. Yeah, they did. They did. Lyle's had eight in overtime. The biggest one to watch

tonight regarding the scoreboard was what happened with this Philly Magic game? Because when I checked it early, Philly was pounded them. I was like, oh man, you know, Philly is just rocking, like 20 and 4 in their last 24. We just saw this unbelievable MBE performance over the weekend. People are talking about how he's now the frontrunner for the MVP, and they're just blasting this Orlando team. And next thing you know, every time they're flipping that scoreboard, I'm looking, I'm like, hold on now. And next thing you know, the magic are in the lead,

and then the magic win that game going away. They are the Kingslayers with their three wins over the Celtics, and now ending this win streak when everybody's been talking about the 6th. and Sixers have been playing such great basketball. You don't want to see the magic. They ended the Celtics win streak, and now they just turned around and ended the Sixers win streak. And forgive me if they've ended other win streaks that I'm unaware of.

But those are two big ones that we've had going on this year where we've been talking about these teams, talking about how great they are, and then they run into the damn magic. And the streak ends. The streak enders, the Orlando Magic. Who knew? It was a much different game for Embed against Orlando than it was against Denver. Because, you know, against Denver, you know, he has this unbelievable performance, as everybody knows, from Saturday night outplaying Yokic. You know, Doc Rivers made the great decision to put PJ Tucker on Yokic in the second half and then Bede off ball.

It was a magnificent adjustment for Philadelphia to win that game. In tonight's game against Orlando, it looked like an older version of himself or he had a hard time handling the double teams and the length of the magic. And I think that speaks to what has been the theme for Orlando all year long. This team is so different with all their size of versatility, the amount of big, big, long, lengthy, versatile players they can throw out there, whether it's Bencaro, Wagner, the other Wagner, Carter, Fultz as a guard. I mean, they have so much size on their team and different guys can produce in different ways. It just, it feels like with Orlando, they're only 20 and 31 this year. They're going to be in the lottery.

all likelihood pending like some crazy run at the end of the year to grab a play-in spot, which would not be good for them. They're going to be in the lottery. This does feel like a team that's knocking on the door of being really, really good, really soon. Like, they're just a couple guys away and a couple of young guys getting better, you know, away from being a really good team in the East. Like, why can't they be the Pacers next year, where they're like the five, five, six-seat

or even the four-seat at certain points during the year? Why not? Yeah, I'm glad you brought up the Pacers because so much of what happened with the Pacer is they got that lynch pin, which is the amazing point card that kind of makes everything go. And I watched them last night. I got to see them in person,

that Pacers team. And it's been really, really tough for them. I think they've lost 10 of 11 now. You know, once Halliburton went out, it just, it cratered. And they still play hard. And you can still see that they've got

guys that can play well if they were flanked by a guy that can lead the league in the NBA in assists. But it's a lot harder when they don't have the guy that's leading the NBA and assist. He just makes the game so much easier for all of them. It's a lot of role players, right? And he's a star. And the role players revolve around the star. And when the star went out, now it's just a bunch of role guys.

Let me tell you something. That's my first time seeing Matherin in person. He's a baller. He is a baller. Oh, man. Look, this guy is there for it. Dogg. Go into the, he'll go into the pain against anybody.

Fearless. Like, it doesn't matter. He draws so many files as a rookie, it's crazy. Oh, my God, he attacks. And he's got this first step that is explosive as all head. I'm like, man, if this kid harnesses it, he can kick it into a second gear. He can explode at the rim.

I mean, he's shooting only 32% from three right now, but I think over the course of time, that percentage will rise. He's been 80 plus percent from the free throw line for some time now. So I think with Mathurin, like what a dynamic, Halliburton and Mathuron to different types of players that complement each other perfectly in that bad course. This guy's just kind of coming off the bench as a bucket getter.

Yeah. You know, for this season. Arguably the sixth man of the year. Arguably. He's in the conversation. We will see how as the year goes on, like, he evolves. And if his role starts to evolve and if he eventually, you know, maybe down the stretch, if they get Halliburton back, becomes a starter.

And then when we start to see glimpses of that back court, maybe. But for right now, he's just a guy that can come in off the bench. And, man, when he drives to the basket, he drives to the basket. My first impression, getting to see him in person was a great one. He's got a chance to be very, very good in this league, and he's got that kind of attitude that you don't see it all that often. It really stands out when you've got a guy that's like a fighter like that. A killer mentality.

Yeah, I want that kind of guy on my side. And I think you also have to appreciate him embracing a six-man role. Sure. I think certain rookies, they might be like, I should be a starter, you know, the way I can play already. But he's embraced a six-man role. And I just pulled up the fan-dual sportsbook odds for six-man of the year. He's fifth right now. One, Russell Westbrook, two, Malcolm Brogden, three, Tyrese, four Norman Powell, fifth, Benedict

Mathron and Mathurin, no surprise, second and rookie of the year at plus 600. So I think with him, man, what's the last time we've had a guy top five for rookie of the year and six man of the year?

Probably been a long time. I can't recall a time. We've had a six man. Yeah, in the 10 years I've covered the NBA, I can't recall that happening. Maybe it's slipping my mind, but I don't remember her time. Do you?

No. Not that I, maybe I don't know Brogden came off the bench that year or not did he start the whole year? Remember the weird year where he ended up winning? Yeah, he played like 30 games. So Brogden that year, he played

28 games as a starter, 75 total. So he did primarily come off the bench that year but I wonder if he was even, he probably wasn't even thought of for a six man. 100%. Let me pull up what the vote was that year. Yeah, he wasn't probably thought of. as a six man. He was just thought of as a rookie for rookie of the year. He was not even in the top

10 for voting. The top five was veterans. Eric Gordon, Andreu Godala, Lou Williams, Zach Randolph, James Johnson. And like, then you get to guys who had only one first place vote. But Brogden only had one total vote, period. I think he'll probably win it this year, honestly. I can't believe he's not the favorite. Well, Westbrook is currently the favorite. I don't know if that's like Lakers, you know, the sports book doing that because so many, so much money going on him. You know the media votes on that, right? Yeah.

Well, yeah, I know. I know you're right. I think Brogden has a really strong case for Boston. And Maxie will see how the year continues for him now that he's coming off the bench and flourishing. He has a strong shot, too. For sure. Anyway, back to the magic thing. The point originally, when I was talking about we got off track with the Pacers, was

the Pacers kind of have this. point guard that can make all the other stuff go. And I do think that the magic are going to end up with that, whether it is your traditional point guard. And I don't know if it's going to be Fultz or Suggs, if one of those guys could grow into that, then that's the way it's going to be or if it's going to be somebody else. But, you know, just having, I kind of feel like those guys,

and maybe Suggs more than Fultz, and I know it hasn't gone all that well. Fultz has been good. Fultz has been good. No, I know. Fultz is not a 12 assist guy. You know what I'm saying? I look at a team like that and I say,

man, I need to run the show guy. And you had brought up in the past, maybe like a Van Vleet type of thing with them, which is interesting to me. I think any of these kind of, you know, I don't know if. Does Van Vleet that guy, though? I don't know if he fits the trajectory of the franchise, right?

You've got a lot of young guys on that team. Do you want a 12-assist guy for this team when you have Wendell Carter who can run dribble handoffs, Franz Wagner, who's 6'5-9, who can run pick and roll or be a screener or run D-HOs? You have Van Carrow who can handle the ball and do all those things as well. Do you need a 12-assist guy for the magic, or do you need a Van Vleet who can do that when necessary? Yeah, I'm talking about getting it. Get me in my, I'm the, me, me, me, maybe not a 12 assist guy, but get me in my offense and knock down spot up threes.

Which is Van Vleet's game. You know what I mean? Yeah, Fultz is, Fultz, I mean, he's shooting statistically well from three, 34%, but he's a low volume guy. Right. He doesn't garner their, like, teams aren't sweating him when he's spotting up behind an arc. He doesn't run through screens and DHOs as a shooter. That's what Van Bly does. I want the space for those other guys.

Would you, let's say, so Shams Sharani had reported earlier this month at the Magic R a team that are interested in Van Fleet. If you're the magic, would you include Jalen Suggs in a trade for Fred Van Bleeve? Oh, wow. So how crazy would that be? Because then they would end up with the debate. Yep, because Toronto

the Suggs' Barnes debate. Yep, 100%. So if you're the magic, would you include Sugs in a deal for Van Blyte? And of course, you'd have to include more salary. Maybe you'd likely have to include a pick unless Toronto values Sugs over picks being offered for Van Bantleet.

But strictly Suggs, Would you include him in a deal? Yes. I would too. It's been a bad start. Because of what I've got with my team. Yes. And if I think that maybe,

maybe like what you were saying, that I'm a little bit farther along with how good these guys are than I thought I would be. I, e. Bankero is going to be better, faster than we thought. Franz is better, faster than anybody could have thought.

Top 20. You know what I mean? So, I mean, you've got those guys as really good players who you could see being ready to go by age 24. And at that point, you're still, you still theoretically have got a very good Van Phelian at that point. So it's just kind of, if you don't think Suggs is the best fit with those guys and you think that there's a better type. of point guard, and I don't use this as a demerit on Suggs. I'm talking about what fits those guys. Then, yeah, I wouldn't worry about it.

I mean, again, I think Fred's very, very good player. Very good player. Yeah, and also, I think. And a winner, a winner, too. Yeah, he's a good defensive player. To the table for them. Point of attack defender, proven, you know, playoff player, champion.

I mean, like, he'd be, I think he would enhance everything that they already are. The risk for Orlando would be, do you sneak into the postseason this year by accident? Do you make the plan? And then you kill your own lottery odds. I wouldn't worry about it. You wouldn't worry about it? No, not if I could get those guys some experience. I don't think it's a bad thing.

I don't think it's a bad thing. I mean, I'll tell you what. Their lottery odds aren't going to be that great anyway. Scoot Henderson would look really good in Orlando too, though. Well? And so with a whole lot of other guys, like with the sixth pick or the seventh pick in this year's drafts. I mean you say that, but every year. So would a guy with the 12th pick.

This is a good draft. Straight up. It's just a good draft. But you always talk about it like it's a good thing. You get the fourth pick and you get Patrick Williams. You never talk about that. Of course. You could screw up.

Yes. Most of them are screw up. Because it goes without saying that people are going to screw up and guys aren't going to work out. But when they hit, then you end up with Paolo Bencaro. Or then you end up with Franz Wagner. When they hit, they really can hit. Well, Franz Wagner, I believe, was what? He was like seven.

Seventh? Seventh pick. Yeah, I know. But that's what I'm saying. If you get in the playing, when he was the eighth pick, if you get in the plan, well, you're not going to get the eighth pick. You're going to get the 14th pick, the 13th pick, something like that. So you can get Janus or Kauai?

Yeah, sure. Why not? Or the next guy that everybody forgets. It's just like it happens there. The draft is tough. Chris Duarte. Yeah, Chris Duarte or, you know. I don't know.

Cameron Payne who becomes a backup. Who's won the last two MVP's? Yokic? Yeah, of course. He was he drafted. Who was the one before that? 41 and yeah. Of course, Chris.

It goes without saying there are always steals. But you statistically have a higher percent chance of getting those franchise players at the top of the drafts. Statistically, you do. The Nuggett's passed on Yon. Haven't they been in the lottery enough? Seriously. Yeah, they have. And I'm not saying it's the wrong path.

I'm just saying that. I would not make a deal because I might make the player. I know. I would trade for Van Bleet now too. I'm just saying that's the only risk. And then you'd sit him for the rest of the year. Nice to have you. See you in September for training camp.

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Kev, you know, I didn't realize this. And I feel like I'm pretty well-read about the history of the NBA. but evidently the most egregious non-call in a regular season game in the history of the NBA took place over the weekend. And that was Jason Tatum hitting LeBron James as he went to the basket to win the game for the Los Angeles Lakers and Eric Lewis standing right there and not making the call. And then Eric Lewis had to witness the tirade of all tirades by LeBron James and photographic evidence supplied by none other than Patrick Beverly.

Oh, that was incredible. Crapping a camera. Unbelievable. Objectively hilarious. No matter what your opinion of Pat Bev is, that was one of the funniest things I've seen in the basketball. Especially after he had a put-back dunk and a huge three-pointer. Outrageous.

The reactions from the Lakers players after Patrick Beverly had that put-back dunk were hilarious. Everybody wasn't as much shock as every viewer at home was. They could not believe it. Look, horrible. Oh, my God. Horrible non-call to say the least. It was really a bad call. Bad non-call, yeah.

LeBrod's reaction is the. the meme of all memes. I know. I mean, can you imagine every situation that's going to take place over the course of the next five years of our life that people are going to pull up that clip to show their disgust about something and play it? I mean, it is outrageous, outrageous response. And, you know, look, the Lakers. have not been known over the course of their franchise history

for being on the wrong end of officiating. I think I'm confident in saying that. I do not doubt that they have had a couple of games recently that have not gone their way because of a bad call or two. I would also say there are other teams that have had bad calls go against them, I would venture to say that every single person that is listening to this podcast could recount

a time where they felt the officials stole a game from them this particular season. But when it happens to the Lakers, it keeps the referees up at night. It rips their heart out of their collective chest and they can hardly get a wink of sleep with the inner torture that they feel by getting a Lakers call wrong. I am unaware of whether or not they have felt this inner torture

that keeps them awake all hours of the night when they have missed calls against other teams, but they verbalized it in this case. and they wanted all of us to know that it is not. I can't even get through. I can't even get through this talking seriously about it. Want me to read the tweet, Chris? Please.

At official NBA refs, it's a verified Twitter account run by the NBA referees. They tweeted out like everyone else. I'm playing the world's smallest violin in the background. Referees make mistakes. We made one at the end of last. last night's game, and that is gut-wrenching for us. This play will weigh heavily and cause sleepless nights as we strive to be the best referees we can be.

Oh, you'd give it him a hand. Yeah. You love it. Ironically, yes. We don't get that after blown game six calls or blown game seven calls, do we, Chris? But after LeBron throws a tantrum on the court, yes, we do. I couldn't believe it was real. That tweet.

I really thought it was fake initially. And I was like, oh, wait, this is actually their account. I double triple checked before I tweeted out. And I was like, gut wrenching. This really can't be real, right? Like, this has to be somewhat hacked them. Well, and then I was hoping that they were going to follow it up with. Just kidding, F them.

I know. Instead, they stood by this. I mean, the tweet was worse than the non-call. I don't know about that, Chris. The non-call was horrible. Oh, shut out. Gut-raching. All right.

You know there was a game last week, and you wouldn't know this, because I never said a word about it, never tweeted a word about it. I don't care. This stuff happens all the time. It's 82 games. It's a hard sport to call.

It is. Bro. Dr. Raymond Green literally full-back blocked the entire Grizzly team for Clay Thompson to get a wide open three with 14 seconds left in the game. You can go look at the two-minute report and it says, Draymond Green, non-called illegal screen. If you watch the replay, he literally drives Dylan Brooks

completely away to set up a wide open three-pointer, which then gave Golden State the lead. You didn't hear me say a word about it. Like, this stuff happens, man. People miss calls all time. And I guess it's because it has happened more recently to the Lakers a few different times. It's a bigger deal when it happens to them than when it happens to everybody else. But let me just say, I wanted to throw up, listen to this whole, well, if you look at the standings right now and you flip the three games that were obviously taken away from them, as if there probably weren't three the other way, But never mind that. You say, if you took those three games, look at where they would be in the standings.

Just those three. That the officials obviously cost them the game. Okay? Just those three. It's a different world right now with the Los Angeles. I get it. If I'm a Laker fan, that's what I'm saying too. And I'm never minding anytime I was the benefit of calls,

I'm going to talk about the three that robbery. Because, Kevin, what? Every game matters. all so tight in that Western Conference standings. You're looking at them every day. I'm looking at them every day. It's all so tight. The margins are so thin that one game might be the difference.

And so we want everybody to know one game can make all the difference. And our next game, our two best players are going to sit out. Like, shut up. Did this game tonight Did they get beat by Brooklyn? Did that one matter? Or no? Does that count?

I'll tell you what. We'll see how much it matters Tuesday night against the Knicks because Darvin Ham said, quote, James was experiencing really significant soreness and his red foot. And so if he sits out again on Tuesday,

then maybe it's actually extremely serious. Dude, do you want me to, this is not even tinfoil hat. This isn't tin foil hat. Go look at their schedule right now. All right? He's averaging 35 points a game in the last month, right? So you think he just wants to sit so he can break it at home and then shut down for the year? He ain't shutting down.

Well, I mean, does he just want to break it at home? You think he wants to break it in Indiana? No. No Orleans. You think he wants to break it in Oklahoma City? No. He probably wants to do it Thursday, February 9th against the Bucks. So if he's averaging 35 points a game.

Specifically that game on national TV, not Tuesday the 7th against the Thunder, but the 9th on TNT against the Bucks. That's probably the night he wants to actually do it. So he's averaging 35 a game. Go look at how many away he is. Oh, I know. If he played throughout this road trip, he breaks it on the road. Yeah.

Oh, yeah, he would have. And he breaks it in a small market. More than likely. It would not surprise me. Because he's not going to score 118 in Madison Square Garden, even though that would be super awesome if that's the way he broke Kareem's record. He's 100 and, yeah, that would be crazy. He's 117 points shy of passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

So he's on pace for now the seventh or the ninth in all likelihood. Well, if he's averaging 35 a game? No. He's got to sit at another one on the road. No, because if he has 30, 35 against the Knicks, 35 against the Pacers, and then against the Pelicans. Then he'd only need 12 in the game against the Thunder. So he would have to sit out one more.

That's what I said. Yes, of course, one more. But I'm just saying now seventh or ninth is what he's on pace for. But you can't do that because every game matters. The officials took them away that game. And so all I'm saying is point to this. When you want to talk about an official robbed you or whatever, point to the fact that you could win a game like this tonight against Brooklyn,

you punt the game. Don't tell me every game matters. And then the next time out, sit. I agree with you. I agree with you. And all I'm saying is that we'll find out Tuesday night. And I guess, obviously, later this week, if that foot keeps him out for until the All-Star break,

then, yeah, maybe this is actually an injury. When did he hurt his foot, Kevin, in overtime? They say really serious soreness. We don't know exactly one. Yeah. Maybe it was on that non-call. That would be butt soreness. Oh, God.

You're not wrong. You're 100% right, Chris. I want to remind him how many times he's had to say I'm 100% right. Can I want to ask a series? Please. You just clip that out. You're 100% right, Chris. Can you ask a serious question about that mistake at the end of the game?

We talk all the time about officiating and how sometimes there's too much replays and all that. In a situation like that, don't you think the NBA should build in a mechanism to, like, rapidly correct those mistakes? You mean when LeBron James gets found? I know you're serious. No, I think the league should only for LeBron, though. No, but like, if coaches have a challenge, shouldn't referees have a challenge, or the referee watching from SACACUS New Jersey, shouldn't they have a challenge where they can press a buzzer within five seconds of getting the signal and say, hey, that play needs to be reviewed. Like, last two minute referee SACACACUS review, because that seems like an emergency situation where very clearly it was a foul. It was a foul.

And you're right, this happens on both sides. the Lakers will be the beneficiaries of a miscall or an incorrect call in the future, but maybe in those situations, you should have replay. But at the same time, replay does break up the flow of the game. You know, you often go to commercial break,

and then, like, you ruins the flow, and people are, you know, angry, and it ruins the enjoyment. So there's pros and cons to doing it. I, uh, but if it's playoffs only. Playoffs only? Yes.

So playoffs, yes, regular season. you're less certain. Correct. I do. As someone that goes to 40-something games a year, I detest the replay. The replays are

ridiculously long. It's a joke, and they should make it quicker. So many times at home, we know what the decision is long before they make it. And it's a type of thing where either they don't know what they're doing or they need to make the process a lot faster or put a cap on it, like 30 seconds in and out.

And then you're going to make your decision, and that's that, right or wrong. You've got to improve the game flow. So you're in the tough position because it's a hard sell with me to want more replay. Because, man, every time they go, every time they go to that monitor, I'm just like, oh. I pull out the screen and the ref looks into the camera, fixes their head. and tries to look good for the camera. It's so maddening. Just make the freaking call.

And yeah, everybody has seen, even in the arena, you're seeing their monitor. Yeah. You're seeing their monitor. And then you just got to wait to hear what they're going to say. And so, I don't know, man. I would just say only for LeBron James, because those are the ones that they can't sleep over.

Yeah, I know. We need the referees to be well-rested. We do. If it's Jaylen, if it's Jaylenny McDaniels, they sleep like babies. Of course. But if it's LeBron, I don't want these guys lose its sleep. So maybe like a LeBron foul. If it's LeBron, then yes, we're allowed to go back to Secaucus to get a, in fact, we could call it the silver buzzer.

Silver buzzer. And Adam can buzz it when LeBron gets fouled in crunch time, just to make sure that we can call it. just to make sure that we got it right. Next thing we had to talk about that took place over the weekend dealt with my hometown team, which was the Memphis Grizzlies, and Jaron Jackson, Jr., and his defensive statistics called into question

by a Reddit poster that put together a 1,400-word opus on why Jaron Jackson's defensive player of the year standing is poppycock and that the home scorekeeper in Memphis, Tennessee, was inflating Jaron Jackson Jr.'s defensive numbers. That is blocked and steel numbers, most importantly, his block numbers for the home road splits, proved that the home scorekeeper was up to shenanigans,

and he then put up, I believe it was six or seven different video clips with look at this, look at this, look at this. This is obviously something is awry. You and I were texting about it as of that morning. Unfortunately, there were media members that have some, level of audience that pushed it along and gave it some ridiculous level of credibility. But you and many others went and said, okay, well, this doesn't sound necessarily right. So let's go check the tape as if Memphis games are played in some kind of dark tunnel that nobody can watch with no,

camera angles. There are like literally everything is on video from a million different angles. Which is what I did. Anybody could go watch them. You chose to go watch all of Jaron Jackson's home blocks and came to the conclusion that there was no nefarious activity going on in Memphis. Definitely not. I mean, I watched the alternate angles of all the the blocks that were like from the broadcast angle if you know kirk goldsbury had done the same type of study and he found that three to five of them were questionable that's it and i had the same thing where it was like okay the the blocks against that were called against zion were not blocks there was one block called against i guess against i believe it was the the phoenix suns that was not a

block i had three out of 66 that were not blocks so three mistakes out of 66 when he was at least in the area and deterring the player from scoring a basket where those are probably within the margin of error for other players as well. The thing that's fascinating here is the reason why that Reddeter

originally was so interested here was because yes, he saw there were some examples but the Zion ones that were not blocks. However, the differential between him and at home and on the road is dramatic. I wonder if he's actually not being credited with enough blocks on the road.

Because at home, so many of the blocks that he had were like amazing fingertip blocks where he just flies out of nowhere, gets a finger on the ball, and changes the trajectory of it causing a miss. Maybe those are only going down as shot alterations or contests, aka nothing in the basic box scores on the road, where those scorekeepers aren't familiar. with Jackson's prowess like the home scorekeeper is who sees him every single night as the league auditor is that sees him every night

and reviews that tape at home. I wonder if that plays a part in it too for the discrepancy between home and roadblocks for Jaron Jackson Jr. In other words, could his numbers actually be better? Could it be the opposite of what that Reddit Post said? Could his numbers actually be better on the road than they actually are right now?

I have been a defender and I love Jaron. it's also possible that he's not as good on the road. You know, the team is 21 and 3 at home. They have the best home record in the entire NBA. They're like 11 and 15 on the road. So the idea that their players are not performing as well on the road, like, hey, just call it look at their record, eh, hole. They're 21 and 3 at home, and they're 11 and 15 on the road.

True. Imagine that. their player's stats aren't as good on the road. Well, no, shit. They lose. They literally have a losing record on the road. So that was one. The other thing is, the NBA checks all of this stuff, Kevin.

Everybody knows the way this works. They have an independent checker for all stats. You see stats change all the time. Tim Frank released a statement through multiple newspapers and media outlets saying to ensure the integrity of our game. Statistics auditors, independent of the statisticians on site, review all plays and all stat decisions

in real time during NBA games. If changes are necessary, they are made at that time or following a post-game review. All of the plays questioned in the post on the Memphis games were scored consistently within the rules set forth

by the NBA Statitions Manual. People are really in this mode, and I think it's been over the course of the last couple of years, to really want to believe conspiracies to have the third eye open. And this was one

that was just goofier than all hell. I mean, some are proven true, but not the NBA Twitter files here. Not this one. I had, I had Jared Jackson on my local show today, and he said he woke up that morning at about 11 a.m.

And he had a bunch of texts from friends like, hey, man, always behind you, always in your corner. Unreal. Don't listen to what they're saying. He's like, what is going on? Why are my friends being so nice about how they're in my corner? Got your back, bro.

He's like, what is happening? And that is really funny. That gives the human side to it. The idea that he has no idea what's going on and all of us have been arguing about it and talking about it. I spent like 90 minutes, maybe two hours of, my morning watching and rewatching and rewatching again, Jaron Jackson Jr. Blocks.

It was a lot of fun, Chris. I'll tell you that. It was a lot of fun. Can I address my buddies, Tasmelis, J.E. Skeet, Trey, the whole crew over there at No Dogs. All right. They said, they kind of, it's not a court setting, but they were having their debate on whether or not after this controversy,

verse, came to light, the NBA addressed it and everything like that, the Reddit poster, they opine that me or maybe one of my co-workers, Lang Whitaker, was behind this. I was, in fact, the Reddit poster, and that it was done on purpose because if you post this and it becomes a big story, then guys like Kevin O'Connor, guys like Kurt Goldsbury, or manner of media members will then have to be exposed to the brilliant defense of one Jaron Jackson Jr. And therefore, they will go through all of their clips and they will leave overwhelmed by how amazing he is.

And so in this galaxy brain move that we produced the 1400 word. so that every so that people would then go watch to find out if jaron jackson is getting phony blocks credited to him and i will deny it i am not the reddit poster you were not you were not add massive on reddit that's somebody somebody told me it's a it's a warrior's fan which it makes sense and they're trying to poke holes in anything that the grisly's do. There's some real hainers. Here's the thing. I don't know if that's true because I just pulled up their post history. They've only made two posts ever. They posted the Jaron Jackson stats 11 days ago and didn't get any traction, only 352 up votes. And then the one that went viral

over the weekend had 66,000 upvotes on it. Unbelievable. I know. They took two shots with probably a burner account to post that stat. So the conspiracy that it is like a, you know, someone's random account, that could be true. But it was not Chris Vernon. It wasn't. No. Come on me.

Look, you don't know me that well if you think I'm writing 1,400 words. No, you're not. No, thanks. No, thanks. No, I'm not. A couple other things that took place over the weekend that we do need to mention. The Joe L. Embed game against Nick. of a hell of the game. How big, you are, your guy that gets to vote for these awards at the end of the

season. Does the one-on-one matchup and how unbelievable he was, you only get to see those guys twice against each other through the year. He clearly wanted to play at his apex in that game. They know the matchup, and he's the guy with the real chip on his shoulder as he continued feels like he gets overlooked or pass by and that he is deserving of some things of which he has not gotten credit for. The head to head, my team versus your team, and how he performed. I feel like it is, you know, maybe even subconsciously, it's going to stick in everybody's head.

We're not going to forget that. It's a very memorable thing that happened. Does it matter to you That head-to-head match? Yeah, it matters. Will it put M.B. It over Yokic? Maybe, maybe not.

That'll be part of the equation at the end of the day when you make your choice. You review all 82 games matter. Look, for me, just to make this clear, I don't care that Yokic won the last two VPs that will not factor into my equation one bit. Just like I didn't care that Yannis had won two,

when it came to voting him for a potential third time, it was not a factor. The award is for this season and this season only, and that's it. Whether it goes down in history as a mistake for him to look like a three-time MVP, if he never wins the finals, who knows? But that is not a factor.

Right now, I have Embed at second on my own MVP rankings. I have Yokic won still right now. I have Yonis third, so that's my top three at the moment for MVP. We'll see how it shakes out. This will be a factor. I don't know how big of a factor

it'll end up being though, Chris. It was a statement. It was definitely a statement. And it will be something that sticks in my mind. I mean, like we said at the top of the show, the Sixers made a great decision in that game, putting Tucker on Yokic, allowing Embed to be off ball and disrupt everything,

passing lanes. He intercepted the law by Yokic into the paint. He deterred him from driving to the basket. It was an unbelievable Embeddie game on defense. in that second half and offensively. I mean, the step back three to end it. Come on, bro.

What a statement. I jumped off my couch. I screamed. It was awesome. Oh, my God. What a cool moment, huh? The crossover step back for 47? Man, it doesn't get old.

We see like bowl bowls of the world and the Carl Anthony Towns who can shoot over 40% from three and we see all these bigs who can do all the stuff across the league. but Joel Embed at his size, seven feet, 280 pounds moving like a wing or a guard out there doing the stuff he does. Like he had so many, he had a pull-up and transition as well where he brought the ball up the floor

and Yokic was inside. And Abed just kind of stopped and hit like a little short floater pull-up inside the paint. Like, how does he do this at his size? If it's even close like it was last year, Embedge's going to win it. Oh, I think the media. would give him the edge to.

Yes. If it's close. Right or wrong, the fact Yokich has already won two will be a factor. I don't know if I'm correct. I might be wrong to say it's not a factor for me,

but I do think it will be a factor for many voters. And I do think that there, even subconsciously, everyone does think about the history of the game. That Yokic already has two and if he becomes another guy

who three beats. And that this is a guy that are we really going to go through and he didn't win one? Is he always going to... We like to give it to different guys and he's a generally likable guy. And, you know, last year,

I remember many times, and I told you, when we talk about this over and over again, I said, I'm not going to rip you for anybody you vote for. If you voted for Mb, Janus, or Yokic, I do not think it's a wrong vote.

I just don't. And that's what I'm saying. We get into a situation where it's like debatable. He'll win. I mean, only three players. Because he hasn't yet. Only three players in the history of basketball have three peted. Bill Russell, Will Chamberlain, Larry Byrne.

Right. And M.B. He's leading the league in scoring right now, I believe, 34 a game. And he's excellent defensively. And his team's going to have a great record also. Yeah. I don't know if they'll end up one. I don't know if they'll overtake the Celtics,

but they'll probably be two if they're not one. They could. They could. I agree. Another thing that took place since we last spoke was, and was the Janus game. Because am I crazy? Is he done this like two or three times this year

where it's like somebody's getting a bunch of shines, somebody's played really good? You feel like he pulls up his phone and he sees all the headlines, all the headlines, all the headlines. And then he does something crazy like this to make sure that you remember, like, I'm still that dude.

And so he goes out and he gets 50 points in 30 minutes, literally right after everybody's talking about MP, Yokic. Like, I feel, like, and, you know, I've heard people say that, like, he knows what everybody's saying about everything. And I feel like it's happened a few different times. this year where one of these guys has been getting all this talk and all this chatter or has done something big and then he goes out and makes it a mission to remind everybody like, yo, I'm still here and I can still do this if I want to because 50 and 30 minutes is crazy.

Nuts. Yeah. That's crazy. Absolutely. It's cool. I mean, I know people, you know, jokes. not jokes. They said he was stat patting at the end, but who cares? He's putting out a show for the fans. It was cool. He hit the three-pointers. It was fun.

It was exciting. Bucks fans got to enjoy it. I mean, you probably won't. No, come on, you didn't love it. I did love it.

He put on a show for the fans in the game. No, you didn't love it. Let's be honest. Why didn't I love it, Chris? Why didn't you love it? No. Me?

I thought it was a great. greatest thing I've ever seen in my life. You, at the other hand, I mean, come on. The Pelican tears were flowing. I mean, they're just running down. What a way to spin this on me. They're running down your face. That's a veteran host right there.

Just a wet face. Oh, Janice. This is so great. I love watching this. A loose eye on. I love watching this. This is so... This is so fun to watch.

Oh, wait. What about all those tweets? I said Chris Vernon. Pelicans are better now. They're better in the future. They're better forever. The Grizzlies have lost five out of six. Oh, no.

No. Hey, look. I pulled up everything that's happened in January for the pelicans. It's not been good. Oh, it's gruesome. It's really bad. Oh, it is gruesome. It's really horrible.

Yeah. But hey, Chris, this is what you said earlier in the show. You lose your best players. You stink. No, I did not say that. I said Indiana lost their best players and they stink. Yeah, but every team that loses their best players stinks. Nah, they don't.

There's a lot of them that have been able to withstand it throughout this year. The suns fell apart. Yep. They have certainly fallen apart this year. Without Booker, without CP for a lot of the. the time. Well, really, without Booker. Yeah, but CPs miss time, too. And he also hasn't been quite the same. Booker's the big one. I mean, look, they've played a lot

of games without MB. They've played a lot of games without Jalen Brown. They're playing a lot of games without Kevin Durant right now. Boston also has probably the deepest team in the entire NBA. Milwaukee hadn't had Middleton and Holliday and Janus together virtually at all. Which is why the year Yonis is having has been completely. underrated. Miami hadn't had their starting lineup together virtually at all the whole year until very recently. And by the way, for Boston, Tatum has barely missed any time at all. No, no, but Brown's missed. Yeah. I mean, Dr. Roland Brown's really, really good. But he's not top,

he's not top 10 like Tatum. No, I mean, he's still one of the, what, 20, 20, 25 best scores. Yes. Oh, yeah, for sure. No doubt. In the league. Don't get me wrong. I'm just saying he's not a top 10 guy. I mean, look, I said, Zion, Zion was performing like a top 10 guy. Ingram was also performing like a top 20, 25 guy. Do you lose both of them? Yeah, you're going to stink. Yeah, well, I mean, I guess, yeah. I mean, I've seen the team play without Desmond Bain.

I've seen a team play without Jerry Jackson Jr. For the first 17 games in the year. Neither of them are top 20, 25 guys. Oh, is that right? I wish you would pull up Desmond Bain stats and Brandon Ingrams. That'd be a fun way. Maybe I should watch that. That would be a fun way.

Maybe I should watch every single Desmond Bain. I think you're shot. Hold on. I'm working on my Reddit post now. Desmond Bain is a crappy shooter, an NBA conspiracy. And now all you nincaboos have got to go watch every Desmond Bain made three. I'm going to say, no, Desmond Bain's foot is on the line every time he shoots a three. every three he takes go back and watch it his foot is on the line one of our listeners

should please like actually make that post but like the plays you post because the original poster didn't include video you should include video of two-pointers word that he makes but say they were labeled as three yes that'll get everybody going say here More is that more evidence here. And then everybody could go back and watch it. Yeah. But no, amazing. Bean's awesome.

Don't get me wrong. I had him like at one point number 30 on our ringer top 100 rankings, which is probably a little too high, a little bit too premature. But he's awesome. I love this one, Bean. Big fan. Yeah, hopefully he's back soon. There was a Shams trade column.

We are hurtling towards this trade deadline. Hopefully we're going to get some more action here coming up pretty soon. but the J. Crowder stuff's going to happen. That Bucks deal that's out there, doesn't it feel like if that was going to be the deal, then the deal would just have already been done because the sons have absolutely no reason to wait on thinking of J. Crowder.

You really want that deal? But I mean, George Hill and Jordan Nuara. I feel like if I'm Phoenix, I want to do better than that. I know. What could does DeWara Hill and I Baca do for you? Hey, we're somewhere in between that deal and a first round pick for Jay Crowder, right?

You're not kidding the first round pick that you once desired, but you can probably do better than that. That's what I'd guess. Terrible. That deal is like, I was like, really? Like, people are going to be able to beat that if they're going to, if they're going to do a bidding

on Jay Crowder. I do like the Jay Crowder fit with Milwaukee a lot. I do. They can be a very good fit. Like I've been saying since this crap with Crowder ended up happening, the sons want a wing back. They want a guy who can replace Crowder's role and that deal does not accomplish

that for him. I mean, Noora has had some good minutes for Milwaukee, but he's not the guy right now. Yeah. What do you make of all the, in me, you and I goofed a bunch about the Toronto stuff last week. But, you know, in South Sharani's article at the athletic.

It's like, here's what Nick Nurse, here's how much Nick Nurse gets paid and here's some problems that have been had with Nick Nurse and there's these rumblings about what's gone on with Nick Nurse. And then there's like these reports that are out there of like OG wants out and like, you know, Seacom and Nurse don't have a great relationship. And it's like, and OG even had to address it the other night. like, I can't control what anybody says, blah, blah, blah. It's all just, I don't know, man.

Like, I know their record stinks right now as compared to what they wanted to be. But this whole, like, I don't know, is it setting up like Nick Nurse is the problem and the roster is not? Or is it price driving down stuff by saying these guys are unhappy and so they want to be else? swear? Like, I can't read this. This stuff, Chris, about Toronto has been floating around since last season. I can't read it, though. Like, what is the purpose now? I mean, it's tough to get

a read on it, but I'm just saying that it's been a year of this, where, like, in league circles, people have been talking about Toronto, chemistry, some nurse issues. So this has been out there for a while, and it's tough to get your finger on what it is exactly. I think there's elements of nurse losing

the pulse of the locker room. Like, he had in the past, but I do think it's also a roster issue too. So for Toronto, I think it can be both and I believe it is. I'll tell you this. I've got a TV on that's in my room when I'm recording this right now. It's got the, it says final Suns 114, Toronto 106. They're interviewing, Tom Chambers is interviewing Dario Sarich, and they just showed about four minutes of Dario Sarich highlights, and they were like virtually all like him making layups. against this Toronto team. And so maybe they can hash out their

crowd or deal tonight, right? If they want to get a, if they want to move them off to Toronto as part of the gig or whatever, or a OG deal, didn't you say they were one of the teams that might want him? And so who knows?

A lot of ways this could go. But Toronto just dropped another one. So if we're looking at, hey, are they going to be a seller every loss towards this trade deadline seemingly makes it more likely that they will be a lynch pin in this trade deadline. Is that fair? Yeah, there are two and two on their road trip right now.

All indications are they're going to wait until next week to actually make their final decision here. They got Utah on Wednesday, Houston on Friday, Memphis to end their road trip on Sunday. You know, they should win. Well, maybe the Grizzlies can just pound them and they can leave OG here. Yeah, for three first round graphics. Oh, for goodness sake. Well, they just lost again.

I don't know. I just didn't, you know, and I'm sure Bill will talk about this on his pod. But when we were talking about it, he's like, always beware when you see people's salaries start getting mentioned in articles. And he was highlighting that they mentioned Nick Nurse and what he made. I had no idea what Nick Nurse made. Did you? No. $8 million.

$8 million is what Sean. put in there. Yeah, but I never even think about what coaches make. No. Why is that a factor? Obviously, it's, you know what I mean?

So the idea is anytime you say, anytime they throw a guy's salary number in there, it's bad news. And I totally can see that. Because when you do think about it, it's like, who cares? Who cares?

That doesn't count towards a salary cap. Why do I give a shit with the nurse makes? I guess the only reason I would care. The other interesting thing in that Shams report today was the Mavericks part of it with Dorian Finney Smith that they would be open to moving him if they can get upgrades, which is no surprise.

Obviously, Dorian Finney Smith is a nice role player and Shams said they'd want to get a star. Like, no shit, you trade Dorian Finney Smith for a star. But it's just interesting to think about, especially considering tonight, Luca scored 53 out of 111 points for the Mavericks and a win over the Pistons where they needed every single one of those

53 points like Dallas's roster you said it before the year you look at their team you're like eh it's okay it's all right and granted they're missing some role players too they didn't have Christian Wood tonight he's been out

Dallas needs to make a move you know Minnesota needs to make a move DeAngelo Russell was bad again tonight he's had some horrific games he was not mentioned in that Shams article, but some of these teams in the thick of it in the West, whether it's Phoenix with a Crowder situation,

you know, Minnesota with Dilo or Dallas with their supporting cast around Luca or even, you know, the Clippers trying to improve around Kauai and Paul George. There's a lot of movement that could end up happening in the Western Conference. A lot. Hey, let me give you one real quick.

Before we get out of here, I want to get your opinion on this, okay? Because now that I'm thinking it through, it kind of adds up with what we were just talking about where at first you're talking about Phoenix and about how they need a wig, right?

And we're talking about Dallas and how they need a star. You can decide whether or not this qualifies. You know my buddy Tim McMahon for BSPN has brought up whose name has come up around Dallas in I guess

inner circle stuff or whatever? Aiton, do you like that? Not really. No. You don't like that. You do not think that that's a good flank for Luca, like a second guy. The past versions of DeAndre Aiton,

yes, this year's version, no. Too inconsistent. You think it would just be another Porzingis flame out? I think it'd be a big headache for Luca. So you're not

with it. That's not the one you would do. But I'll just say this. maybe what Aitne needs is change. Maybe whatever happened between him and Monty Williams, right or wrong for him to feel the way he does, if his feelings are, you know, affecting his play and his performance, you know, his effort, maybe what he does need is a change and somebody like Luca and, you know,

maybe Jason Kidd can get to him. Because in theory, that version of DeAndre Aiton would be perfect. Have you have a front court with him and Christian Wood, with Luca and Dinwiddie at backup, and maybe something like that could work. But what does Phoenix get back, though? That's the tough part here. Finney Smith.

And they didn't end up big, though. No, and then you throw stuff together, right? Yeah, three-way. But Miles Turner, he re-signed with Indiana. He's not available now. Well, he could technically be traded ahead of the deadline. It's just highly unlikely. Yeah, it seems like they were committing to him.

Yeah, it just seems so unlikely. It'd be a shocker. I mean, he even tweeted it out, Teddy. It's like, Indiana, it was always you. You know, you always like what I talk about, seeing guys in person and size-wise with bigger or smaller. You know, Miles Turner is enormous. He's big.

He does not, he is bigger in person than he is. Like, then he comes off on television. Yep. When I walked up on him, I was like, God bless. This guy is enormous. Miles Turner, and they committed to him. It committed to him.

It's a good deal. Good deal for both sides. They had something good going with him in Halliburton prior to for sure. They were the, I mean, they were one of the surprise teams or the surprise team of the NBA, Sacramento notwithstanding. Indiana team was, I mean, they were solidly in like the top six. And the Halliburton thing is totally derailed that. may be for the best for their future, honestly. So, well, I will see.

It should be fun. This next week and a half is going to be super fun as we head towards that trade deadline. Thank you to our executive producer, Jesse Lopez, as always. Kevin, I will talk to you later this week. Have a good one.