The Mismatch - LeBron to Miss Season Opener, Preseason Standouts, and Is Giannis Juggling His Future?

Episode Date: October 10, 2025

Verno and Jacoby are back to discuss the latest news on LeBron James's injury, the Giannis-Knicks rumors, GM survey reactions, preseason standouts, and more questions before the regular season begins. (00:00) Welcome to The Mismatch!(01:36) LeBron James to miss multiple weeks with sciatica(09:00) Giannis Antetokounmpo–New York Knicks rumors(16:55) NBA general manager survey reaction(32:36) Preseason standout: Jaylen Brown(36:08) Preseason standout: Ace Bailey(40:39) Preseason standout: Matas Buzelis(46:30) Preseason standout: Kel'el Ware(53:42) Preseason standout: Rookie class(57:00) Preseason standout: Alperen Sengun(59:06) Who do you think could be the third-best team in the East?(01:01:08) What the hell is going on with all the Grizzlies' injuries?(01:02:39) Which team do you feel you have no gauge on?(01:05:39) Is it a bad idea for Jayson Tatum to come back this year?(01:08:46) How do you feel after seeing Victor Wembanyama's preseason performance?(01:12:19) How do you feel about LeBron James’s "Second Decision"? Leave us a message on our Mismatch Voicemail line! [phone] Hosts: Chris Vernon and David JacobyProducer: Jessie LopezSocial: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon and join him as he does every week from The Ringer.com is Dave Jacoby. Jacoby. Vernon, I'm going to take the people behind the curtain. We tape the night before the podcast out right now on the Gotham Sports app

the New York Knickerbockers are losing to the Timberwolves. Their undefeated season is in jeopardy right now as we speak. Are you in a panic? Yes, I am panicking. Is anybody playing? Um, yeah, people are playing.

Oh, okay. I went to a preseason game last night and it was a constant reminder of why I don't want to go to preseason games anymore. I went to a game that had 60 fouls and 76 free throws in the preseason. And I was like, okay, all right. What am I even doing? And I took my kids. I think I saw like eight straight miss field goals at one point. in the Timberwolves' next first quarter.

It was just like brick, coming down, brick, coming down, brick. The highlight of my night was my daughter asking me, who is Hugo Gonzalez? I think I went to high school with him. He's a rookie for the Boston Celtics, and it might be good. Who knows? Anyways, we got a bunch of stuff to get to.

Big story of the day today is, of course, about LeBron James, who is 40 years old, and it was announced that he is going to miss, not only did he miss the first two preseason games for the Lakers, we don't know how long he is going to miss. He has sciatica, and I don't know how many people you know that have had this before, but I happen to know a couple of people.

And they say this is absolutely crippling pain when you have this. And again, three or four weeks for a re-eval. Nobody expects him to be there for opening night when they're going to kick off against the warriors. And so who knows? I mean, you know, the JJ Redick said today he's on his own timetable. Like, you don't know when he's going to be able to come back. But there is going to be a reevaluation in three to four weeks.

And just the people I know, as soon as this news came out, I had a couple of buddies that texted me and were like, I obviously he's LeBron James, but that is the worst. Like it is, you are just debilitated when you have this thing. Well, a couple things. When it was first announced that he was missing the preseason games, I thought it might have just been some sort of veteran guile. Like, oh, I've got my left glute hurts. I don't want to play preseason games.

I don't really want to participate in training camp. I'm grown. We're all grown. This is for like people in their first, second, third year. I know the offense. don't worry about me. But this is a little more serious. I'm glad you started with,

do you know anybody that had sciatica? Because I do. Not only do I have inside information about Victor Wimbuniamma's blood clot via my high school girlfriend, Sadie, my wife was pregnant. We have a six-month-old. And about six or seven months into the pregnancy,

she just couldn't get out of bed. She couldn't move. And so we literally bought her crutches. She's like, this isn't working. We bought her a walker. to get to like the doctor's appointment. It's like she had a walker. She could not get out of bed.

We go to the doctor's appointment. Doctors like, it's sciatica. We're like, what is sciatica? There's a, you know how nerves work? There's sort of like tree branches throughout your body that sort of like all lead to the spine and the brain, right? For lack of a better explanation. And there is a branch that goes down from your butt to your legs in your hip, your butt and your legs. And sciatica is some sort of distortion, pinching, aggravation of that.

nerve branch and it can shoot pain all up and down from your lower leg to, I mean, sorry, from your lower back to like your knee, basically. And my wife, Chois was just out of commission. And quick aside, there's nothing worse than like having to do all of the parenting and housework and organizing and logistics for the family and not being able to complain about it because your wife is in bedridden pregnant with sciatica. Because I couldn't even like complain about her not contributing or victimize myself. You know what I mean?

It's like, I couldn't even, I was like, I couldn't even be mad at her. Because she's in crippling pain. Yeah, exactly. So I was sitting there, banging dishes around and making lunches for the next day all mad. But I couldn't even be mad at anybody because I usually use this defensive mechanisms, sort of victimization and, you know, and what was me and everyone's the worst and I'm the best. But it couldn't even do that. But yes, I had to go really bad for her.

However, one day she woke up and it was just gone. Really? So it's an unpredictable predicament. You know what I mean? like she just woke up one Monday and was like, oh, I'm, I'm healed. It was like something out of like the movies. Wow. Yeah.

All right. Well, who knows how long this will happen? Maybe LeBron and Joey Jacoby will have similar experiences with this, this thing. How long did it last? A couple weeks. A couple weeks. Okay. All right.

Well, they said they're going to reevaluate him in three to four weeks. I mean, maybe, maybe he, you know, is out for a couple weeks. and then he can make a triumphant return, right? Unexpected. Oh, well, he is healed like Joey Jacoby. In fact, that's what he's going to say. He's going to say, you know what? I heard the inspirational story of Dave Jacoby's wife.

And I thought, you know what? And she was pregnant. Who am I to sit out longer than her? Exactly. Right. Exactly. The thing about this, though, is I'm not going to say that he doesn't have satica or he doesn't have any sort of, you know,

problems with his lower body or injuries. I do think this is on a macro level some sort of load management being like, I'm really focused on the playoffs. And if I'm going to, if I have to slow play, if I take a little bit longer to come back from this, I'll make sure I'm 100%. If, you know,

if it was the second round of the playoffs game three tomorrow, he'd be playing them. Well, here's what we know. We know that during his time with the Lakers, they have won 59% of their games when he has been available. when he has been unavailable,

they have won 42% of their games. So one of those stats is good for being a very good team in the Western Conference if you were to win 59% of your games. 42 obviously does not get you anywhere close to where you are going to need to be.

Now, that being said, he has not been on a team. He's not been on a team with Luca Donchich before. With Luca Donchich, so it's not exactly, the drop-off isn't expected to be as significant when you've got Luca Tansche's stepping in

in for the role. But if you are on the Luca Dantius, MVP train, Skinny Luca coming back and terrorizing the league. If he carries this team to being really good, because it's going to be him, Rui, Austin Reeves,

Marcus Smart, D'Andre Ateno. Vando and Aiton. Jared Banderbilt and Jackson Hays. Jake LaRavia. Oh, Ravio, that's right. You know what I mean?

Gabe Vincent. I mean. Don't connects. He'll be carrying a team. That is for sure. We've seen him do it. We've seen him do it. So, but this would be, this is going to be quite the challenge. In the absence of LeBron James, that line of books a lot different, right? That line up looks a lot different. And certainly, this is perfect timing for if he is going to become Super Luca, it's perfect timing for him to become Super Luca if you're going to have to

be without LeBron James for any amount of time. Well, that's the thing is, we can be talking about four games we can be talking about 14. You know what I mean? Sure. There's a huge swing there. Three weeks from now is sort of like, you know, there are two games into the season. Yep. So this might be much ado

about nothing. And I'm reading that way. Because obviously, I've got experience with Sadica. Of course you're... I forgot your experience is sciatica. We have, LeBron James. Did you get an erection when you saw... I'm sorry, not LeBron James.

Yonis-Octa-Cupo. That was the erection. I'm not an erection to three years. We know that's not true. You keep popping out kids. That one. That one, that one you posted the other day was super cute. And I was like, are you sure?

Are you sure that is? Are you sure that is? Are you sure? Anyways, Janus, that's what you got an erection over when you saw his name connected to the New York Knicks. but Janice and this is the perfect story for this day and age

because in our last episode I opine that Janice Ante Coupo probably didn't even mean the way it was taken when he said when they asked him about the owner saying

you know that he was committed to Milwaukee and then Janice is like I don't really remember that conversation and then the headlines become Janice doesn't remember a conversation. You know what I was like, I don't think that was necessarily intentional. And he came in and tried to, in my opinion,

quell it all, especially after the New York reports about, you know, maybe them having a little a song and dance with New York. He tried to quell it all. There was a call between the Bucks and the Knicks over the summer and Janus was somewhat interested in going to the Knicks. And he tried to quote all. He said, I've communicated with my teammates,

communicated with the people I respect and love, that the moment I step on this court in this facility, I wear this jersey. The rest does not matter. I'm locked into whatever I have in front of me. Now, in six and seven months, if I change my mind, I think that's human too.

Six, seven, yeah. I'm locked in. I'm locked into this team. I'm locked into these guys, to the group, to the coaching staff, and to myself. It's temptation that starts when the season ends

and the season begins, and then until the season begins. There's a lot of people that are going to approach me and approach my agent, and they're going to say this is a possibility, that's a possibility. But at the end of the day, ultimately, I'm going to make a decision. And my decision today is that I'm here and I'm committed to this team. And yet, when you read the article, the article begins on Wednesday, Yonis Ante Kumpo reiterated his commitment to the Milwaukee Bucks as they prepared for the start of the regular season. but also said it would be, quote, human to change his mind down the road.

So, I mean, you can't win. Like, I feel like he said five paragraphs of I'm committed to this. I'm all in. I'm wearing this jersey. I just want to win. You know, I've told my teammates, I've told my coaches, I've told my team, forget all that. I'm all in. I'm committed here.

My eyes aren't wandering. I'm a buck. but yet it's still going to be part of the headline like i think you're defending it too much no he did say in six seven months i changed my mind i think that's human too so he's saying i'm wearing the jersey now he's literally wearing the t-shirt with the buck's logo on it when he says it and he's like when i step on that court with this i'm fully committed to the bucks and then he doesn't say that and then put a period at the end of that, he says, if I change my mind in six or seven months, which just happens to coincide with the exact end of the regular season,

then that's human. He's already letting people know that this is sort of inevitable. It feels like to me. Okay. It feels like he is, I think he doesn't want to be the bad guy. He doesn't want to disappoint the people of Milwaukee. Milwaukee is the only place he's lived in the States. He's been there for, what, 10 years?

Like, more? Also probably wants to go. way until the end of the season. Yeah. He's just like, he's so innocent in the way that the media works that he just doesn't do a good job of that. Right. He just wants it to go away.

He's a little too honest. He's like, yeah, I might change my mind. But he adds that part because that's truly how he feels on the inside. But if he doesn't add that part, we're not having this conversation. Well, and he also, but he also, I'm sure in his mind, thanks, in six or seven months, If I decide, like, hey, I've done, I've done all I can in Milwaukee. We're not close to winning a title. And I want to make the most out of the rest of my career and be in a place where I can win a championship.

And if I felt like it can happen here, I'll do it here. If I don't feel like it could happen here, then yeah, I might have to go elsewhere. And he doesn't want them digging up. Oh, thought you were committed to the box. That lasted six months. You know what I mean? So you do have to at least say, because then you can at least say, hey, man. I told you, I just want to win, and I'm all in.

Like, I'm not, I'm not sitting there asking for a trade. I'm not wanting to get out. Like, I want this to work. He has always said that. I want this to work. But doesn't it feel like he is intentionally or unintentionally blazing a trail towards leaving the bucks by reiterating that he wants to compete for championships? And that is his number one priority.

for leaving the door open, I may change my not mind in six or seven months. It feels like he is warming up the fan base and the city itself for him to no longer be a buck. And he's saying, these are my reasons. And he's saying it now instead of like a bombshell later. And I respect it, honestly.

I think he's not going to be on the bucks next year. But like, you know, I'm in all the next group chats on my phone and all the next social media stuff. I don't understand if I am the bucks, why I would trade Janus for win now players. It just doesn't make sense. If you're trading Yonis and Enzacupo, I want all the first round picks,

all of the young players, and maybe like one expiring for salary, but like the Knicks packages don't make sense for the Milwaukee bucks in any way, shape, or form. They just don't make sense. You would want expiring some picks. Like you want the greatest rebuild package ever. And young player.

Desmond gain got, what, three first round picks. And Cotavis Colwell, Pope and Cole Anthony. So what is Yonis Dempah worth on the open market? Also, also in that trade, especially now when you look at the way it's played out, also in that trade, the most valuable assets possible. Senator Coward. No. Phoenix's first round pick unprotected this upcoming year. I mean, that could be the number one pick in the draft.

Could. I mean, Phoenix is going to be one of the worst three. teams in the West. So, I mean, and you got, you got what, Brooklyn and Washington, and I mean, there's not that many teams that are going to be that much worse. Yeah. They're going to be, they're going to have a rough

going to. Again, that's a really good asset. Right. So here's my question. We've been doing this for a long time. Does this Yannis thing hang over the season? I don't think so. Will he just say, listen, this is an offseason problem? Yes. I'm not going to be traded midseason. Yes.

Where I'm with the bucks, I'm playing this entire season with the bucks. End of discussion. Do not talk to me about it anymore. I think that's probably so. What do we make of his family moving back to Greece? Have you asked your family to move to Greece? They would.

They follow the money, man. My wife will follow me anywhere. No, no, they're leaving, they're going without you. No, I know. Oh, yeah. Oh, they probably prefer that too. She's like, you know what? This is on the Coupo lady.

She's got the right idea. It is indicative, though. Oh, right. Like their family's going to be enrolled in schools in Greece. Yes. You know, they're previously enrolled in Milwaukee. Doesn't that tell you something that perhaps he's going to geographically move in the next calendar year? I think that's fair to put those things together.

I think it's, you know, Greece is a place that will always be there for us. That is the anchor. That is the, that is the headquarters. That's always going to be there. I'm not going to take my kids from school to school moving around city to city at the end of my career in the NBA. I think totally reasonable. to opine that. GM survey came out on MBA.com this morning.

I'm going to go through some of these as you tell me what you think about the collection of general managers in the NBA and what their opinions were on things. 67% had Nicola Yochich winning the MVP, followed by, I was surprised. 10% Luca. He got the second most votes.

And then Shea and then Wembe. Those were the four that the GM selected, but an overwhelming. It feels like one of those like, okay, we gave it to somebody else, so now we can give it back to Yokic again. Yolkich had one of the greatest offensive seasons in the history of basketball last year. And we gave it to Shea Gilders-Alexander, which, again, no problems with that. It was going to be one of those two guys when it came down to it. But got to be the first time in a while that Yonis isn't up on that list.

right as one of the guys it's high in the MVP conversation about sort of where we expect the bucks to be in the in the contention the sort of like perception of contention for a championship and where they'll be in the Eastern Conference standings how about 80% of the respondents

picking Oklahoma City to return as champions shocked I mean and maybe that's just the thing because I went back and look 83% of them Celtics pick the Celtics pick the Celtics last year.

So maybe that's a thing. It's interesting because they're in percentages, but it's really, it's basically 3.3% per person. Right. So it's like, if it's like, if it's 7%, that means two people, like the calves and the Nuggets got,

if the Rockets and the Knicks each got one person to say so. So 24 of the 30 GMs in the league think that Thunder are going to win the championship. Now, if I had to bet everything on it, I would probably pick the Thunder, but Thunder versus Field to me is like not even close. It's like a 20% chance Thunder versus Field. Right 20% chance.

Like I do not expect the Thunder to be the champions. I think they should be favorites to be champions because they were previously champions. But like I don't expect a year from now them to be the champions. Really hard to repeat. Really? And I think the Nuggets got better. Like, I don't know, man. I don't know.

It's been a long time. We've seen something to repeat. But they've got battle scars. They do. They've got the scars. To win the east, I was surprised by this too. 63% picked the calves. I thought the Knicks number would be higher.

But I think this is to be the number one seed, not to win the east. It says win the east. Eastern Conference rankings. I read this as like where we're going to be at the end of the regular season. It said to win the east. Well, who will win the East? So I guess you could look at it two different ways, but I mean, Cleveland right there,

I mean, again, they were the number one seed last year. No, because it has the first, second, third, fourth. You see what I'm saying? So you get to pick, so they spread the percentages out like that, like the MVP voting. Okay. You see what I'm saying? So it's not just to win the East and say it is the same way it is to win the championship.

They allow you to slot them in different spots, and they wait it. You see what I'm saying? So you think the answers would be, different if they said to win the eastern conference like get through the playoffs yes because if you look at the way that this grid is set up like Boston got a fourth place vote and philadelphia got three fourth place votes oh yeah because in the west it was 87 percent picked Oklahoma City and then the nuggets were second with 10 percent of the votes yeah for first place yeah okay and then

no one has the nuggets in third place, or the Thunder in third place. Not a single person could wrap their head around the fact that the Thunder could be third place, which I can see it. The other ones that were overwhelming from the general managers sign any player. 83% of the GMs would pick Victor Wenbanyama to start a new franchise around. See, I disagree with this. If I'm starting a franchise, I'm taking the best player in the NBA who's still got another four years in his prime. Like how do, how does, how do 80% of you think that, Yok is going to be the MVP, the most valuable player.

But if you're going to start a franchise, I understand you're betting on the upside of Victor Wimbenyama's future. But I'll just, I'll take the best player now if I'm starting a franchise. I mean, I think they're looking at it and going, I, if this guy is what I think he's going to be, I've got 15 years of job security and awesomeness. It's assuming he stays with whatever,

we're talking years on the road. But there's a part of me that said, if I'm starting a franchise, like if I'm now the Seattle Supersonics 2.0 present GM owner guy, I might want the best player right now and win some games right now instead of the guy who grows two inches every offseason

and goes to see Shaolin Monks and like we're not really sure if it's going to pan out the way we thought it would. I'll take the sure thing, which is the slow serving. 30% of GMs picked the breakout player this year to be Amen Thompson. I love Amen Thompson.

I do wonder what the opportunity for breakout is with the ball in his hands because I have found him to be dynamite off the ball, like in transition. Like, you know what I mean? Like, if it is so that he is going to like starting the offense for that team and like playing point guard minutes for that team, like I don't, I don't feel like that I don't know. I don't really see him as that kind of player. But I mean, again, when I first fell in love with Amin Thompson,

it was when Shen Gune was out and him and Jalen Green were going off nightly. And he was playing the four and playing the dunker spot. And it was like, what is this? This guy is like, this guy guards all five guys. This guy is like pounding everything. He's flying down the court on the break. and it's like, I don't know, man, if you're like bringing the ball up the court,

like I just don't, I don't know if where he's slotted in the absence of Van Vleet in the context of that team is going to enable a breakout season as much as when maybe this poll was taken. Or maybe this poll was taken

with the idea that Van Vleet isn't in the mix and that will lead to the breakout. I don't know. I just don't know how he fit. without the, you know, the director, the guy that's running the whole show. I think what, how do I say, what Ahmed Thompson does so well, it's like, you know when the quarterbacks make like off script plays? Yeah. Like he is so good in transition on defense, loose balls, just like chaos.

He is calm in chaos and he's absolutely just going to, he's going to come out with the ball and jump up and dunk it. Yes. And I think in their set offense, it is very clearly going to be. we're going to have two offensive hubs. One is named Kevin Durant and one is named Alper and Singoon. Mr. Thompson, you are welcome to cut. And I'm going to get to it later, but like he had some great cuts.

But for me, with both the Thompson twins, I'm absolutely in love with them the same way everyone else is. Athleticism, dunks, transition, steals, just like extra effort on defense. But sometimes they rise up for like a 15 foot jump shot. I'm like, oh, we got to fix that. Like sometimes Amman Thompson will rise up and it seems like he's never shot a basketball before. And I'm talking about a 17 footer that's like semi-open.

And I'm just like, look, for you to really be like all MBA to be like franchise guy, max, max player, like I need to see a little bit more touch with the jump shot. I just need to see it because the highlights that get to social media and the things that people fall in love with Amen Thompson for are very loud athletic plays. But sometimes the calm, quiet, like swing, swing to an open shooter. And he just looks like, it just like clangs off the glass in a very awkward way where sometimes I'm just like, man, those loud plays. are really loud and like it's it's circled around on house of highlights but like hey man how about you just knock down some open shots because there's gonna be tons of them with kevin duran and your team well it's also just odd fits like again there's no talent problem they're all talented i mean this is emu do good job it's a fred van vit plum is what it is like i mean all of a sudden fred bamblite

like in a vacuum i know is one third of his value on this particular basketball team i agree because you look around and you're like who fits where and is that the best position for them? You know? Like, because you got Finney Smith who's obviously not going to be ready for the beginning of the season. But like then Durant, then Shengoon, then Jabari, then Stephen Adams.

We're going to go huge. Yeah, I don't. I don't know how it would all. Like, are they the same, are they in the same spot on the floor? I don't know how it all fits together, right? That is one thing about, last year's team is even if they were inefficient players, Jalen Green is a two guard and Dylan Brooks is a small forward and then you've got the fours

and then you've got the five, right? I'm just saying, and Fred Van Vleet is a point guard. Like this is all just, hey, he can do it. Now he can direct the offense. Now he can direct the offense and I'm always worried about that stuff. Always. A couple things about this stupid poll. Victor Wambayama should not be.

allowed to have a breakout season in 2025. I just feel like he broke out when he got drafted. Like it's like he's already broken out. We know what he is. We've seen what he can do. Like I don't think he's possible of having a breakout season because of the expectations. And I think I think I think you do a good job of sort of detailing why you're not sure this is the Amen Thompson year. That's all.

Because there's a lot. I think it's the rockets will be very good. But I'm not sure Amman Thompson will be able to be showcased offensively in a way that will make him look like. leap guy. Correct. Because that doesn't mean they won't be scoring. That doesn't mean they won't be good. They'll just have better options on the floor.

Yeah, where are you in the pecking order? There's just better options. I think that he will be a guy that when the defense sucks into Sangoon and sucks into Durant around the free throw line, he'll just get those cuts. And he got a couple in the preseason game that I just watched. Right. I think he's going to be a fourth option. How many shots are you even getting a game?

How many plays are being called for you to get a shot? Right. Why would you do that when Kevin Durant standing right there? Understood. Yeah. So it's going to be interesting. Anyways, that was a couple of the interesting things that came out of the GM survey. Did anything else worth pointing out to you think?

There's one thing that took out to me. Okay. Which is sort of a big question while we're talking about the Rockets. And we'll move on after this. Who will win the 2025-26 rookie of the year? Okay. 29 people say Cooper Flagg. One person says BJ Edgecombe.

As someone who watched BJ Edgecom and Avidavie, I'm not mad at that one. guy. But here's what I found interesting. Who will win the rookie of the year? Last year, Reed Shepard was favored by the GMs to win rookie of the year. And this is a guy who could not find the floor. This is a guy with these sort of expectations going into his rookie year, you would think with a band-blee injury would be the guy that you would put in the game. Absolutely. But Amy Duke does not put him in the game. And he may be very. to watch him play a lot more basketball than we do. Emeo Doko knows more about Reed Shepard's

NBA abilities than we do. It's just curious. And that's one thing I've got my eye on is like, is Reed Shepard going to really get a shot to fill that van group role? Because look, if that is so, what you say is so, then you know there'd be unbelievable trade options for them.

If they wanted to go and fill the Van Vleet role, if they say, you know what, we need the orchestrator right here. And we need to find that. And we're not comfortable with, you know, he runs the offense, he runs the offense,

or we run the offense through this guy, or we just do it by committee, or like they just want the conductor out there, the guy to kind of like settle it all down. And they say, we're not comfortable with Thompson or Shepherd doing it. I mean, the if that is so then maybe the trade value if you moved off Shepard is much higher than some people might expect

because GMs rarely let go of their talent evaluations you know what I mean they there's that means there's probably a lot of GMs around the league that are going I can't believe he's not playing I wanted him badly he was a I mean and certainly with this many nerds run teams now. He was the analytics darling. Oh my God. I mean, the analytics darling.

He was, his projections were that Reed Shepard is perfect for this NBA. It was, I forget the numbers. It was something like catch and shoot threes, but she didn't get a ton of it was like 60% or something.

It was just like, what? Yeah. It was like, because in the NBA, he's not going to be like dribbling around. You know what I mean? Right.

Right. And so who knows? That's what they stood out to me. I'm just saying that asset might be even better than what is necessarily expected typically for a guy that does not play. You know, meanwhile, there's an article today that like Dalton Connect is. Did you see that? You have to attach someone. They would have to attach someone or the asset to Dalton Connect to get rid of them.

What a crazy deal. Remember they're playing like the Pacers and he hit like seven straight threes and LeBron was in the lockererb afterwards being like, yeah, I knew about this. I've been watching Tennessee games all season last year. In anticipation of Dalton Connect's talents coming to the Lakers. I mean, this guy, it was like, no, oh, God. You know what it right? He got the Tailing Horton Tucker treatment, right? Everybody gets a or the, what's the guy's name that's playing for the Mavs?

Max Christie, anybody in place with the Lakers gets the bump. You know what I mean? They always get the bump for being there. But my God, did that go fast with the Kinect stuff? I know. All right. We got some preseason basketball that has already gone on. Teams are playing on a nightly basis.

As I told you, I went to a game last night, and it was... Buh. 76 free throws. I mean, look, hey, all right. How many... Have you ever heard of in your life, Javan Small or Lawson Lovering? because that was the starting point guard and center for your Memphis Christley's last night in the preseason.

I had heard of loss in lovering just because his name is lost in lover. I've just heard someone say the name before. I was like, what? But if you're like, what ethnicity is lost in lovering, I'm like, I have no idea. He's a white guy. Yeah, I can tell. And then Javats ball, that was the starting point guard last night. But I mean, like, so I did exactly, it was good to see the Celtics up close and personal.

And so we are going to do some preseason standouts. And I'll go ahead and start with Jalen Brown, who I got to see in person last night. It is going to be weird watching the Celtics this year. I mean, they show up out on the court. And I'm like, what is this? It's Derek White. So Simons didn't play last night. Pritchard didn't play last night.

Two players of which you'd be familiar. The things you notice when you are watching them is you're going, oh my God, is Jailen Brown going to score a ball. load of points this year. Didn't they shoot 53-3s? Yeah, he had 21 points in 20 minutes last night, and I went and looked it up in the years that since they have been on the same team, Tatum and Brown, I went and looked up.

Jalen Brown, in games that Jason Tatum has not played, Jalen Brown has averaged 27, 7, and 4. All right. And you got to imagine, and there were still good players on those teams. Oh, yeah. And he averaged, I mean, are we like, how high can we go on the J. LaBrethe? I mean, they are going to score. You've got to get to a number, right?

You're going to score points. And Lord knows they are going to give up a ton. They have no big guys, Jacoby, none. Like Chris Boucher and Luca Garza. It is, it gets dark. Yeah, Luca Garza, like, could not see the floor for the Timberwolves, like, ever. No, for good reason. Yeah.

He was great in college. Yeah. And so anyways, it's going to be a lot of Derek White and a lot of Jalen Brown and a lot of Peyton Pritchard, right, in terms of try to. I do not think they're going to be a good basketball team, obviously. But the Jalen Brown thing is going to be fun to monitor just because we're getting this season without Jason Tatum. And I think the stats could get gaudy for Jaila Brown. I really do. I think they can get gaudy for Jaylen Brown.

It's his team. There's no doubt about it. I think that he will score a lot of points. I think the raw stats will look good. But we all know that Jalen Brown can be offensively challenged at time to time, especially with ball handling. And I think he's going to be asked to do a lot more. And the defense is going to have a lot more attention focused on him,

especially as sort of teams, you know, like, oh, where are we going? We're flying to Boston. And like, whatever coach is supposed to prep Boston, be like, well, look at this. Yeah. They shoot threes and Jalen Brown does stuff. And that's all they do. It's either Jeline Brown, ISO, or Swing, Swing, Three.

That's all they do. The other thing I thought, as I was watching last night, is a lot more attention on, you know, the existence that Pritchard and Derek White have had to have. Two huge favorites, media favorites. The existence they have gotten to live is a much different existence and it's going to be right now. They're on the whiteboard now.

Like, they literally weren't on the whiteboard before. Like, yeah, they're like literally one of the three things to, exactly that they have to worry about i think i that's why i i am lower on the celtics um than many because i just i just like boucher no dude like what are we doing no what are we doing no i mean and and and the word to the wise is that they're going to try to get under the tax and so hauser and simons could be gone i mean we'll see they but it's good i will say this this guy might average 30-something a game. Well, my standout from preseason

is someone who we talked a lot about this summer. And it wasn't always in a good light. Fell in the draft. Drafted by a team that seemed like he didn't want to go to. Man, you put that jazz uniform on Ace Bailey and you put him on the floor. Like, it kind of looked like Edgecom. I was like, this is an NBA player right now.

It's the preseason. They're playing the heat. Like he's like his first bucket was just like a little like they, someone said of a pick and they didn't switch or anything. He just pulled up for mid range. He just looked so comfortable scoring from three, two for five from deep, getting to the rim playing in the mid range.

He got a couple steals for runouts like two pick, six steals. Like he looked legitimate. Legitimate. And like we were talking about Jalen Brown, He's going to have a real opportunity to grow this year, to make mistakes this year, and to score. I love this. If people can go look this up on YouTube, the Ace Bailey highlights from his preseason game.

The one where he had 25 points. 11 for 16. Bro, 11 for 16. Now remember, he's 2 for 5 from deep. So out of his five misses, three of them are 3s, he missed two-toes. If you watch the highlights, you will be. aghast he is I don't want to go too overboard

but so many times people say like yeah well he's 6-9 or 6-10 but he moves like a guard or whatever the smoothness that this guy has and he really is a 6-10 guard and it looks unbelievable not to mention he is long as cramp and he is a mega athlete. Those highlights, I'm watching that and I'm like, bro,

you better with this guy. He barely missing and just decisive this when he gets the ball. He catches the ball and just quick jab steps to his left, drives to his right, make something happen. It's just like, there's no hesitation. There's no, like, let me read the defense. Oh, coach told me this. So let me think about this.

No, he's just going. It's not wasted dribbles. No, it's just in the flow, in the flow. And again, it reminds me of edgecom. I'm like, these guys are just ready to play basketball. Dude, the Bailey highlights, I don't give a crap that's preseason or not. You know what's not preseason? Being 610 and moving like that.

Yeah, yeah. Like, that ain't, I don't care what court he's playing on. I don't care what opponents he's playing on. Look at him. It'd be like if you had like a, if you were watching a football game and they're playing against like, you know, some guy was in, it was like when he watched Adrian Peterson as a freshman in college. And you were like, yeah, but he's just a freshman. Then you saw him out there and you're like, wait, what?

This guy should be in the NFL. This is ridiculous. Like, or Hershey Walker or something. Yeah. Like, who's going to tackle that guy? Okay. This is stupid. Like, it is what it appears to be.

He is 610 and he's crossing people over and he's hammered Duncan and he's two triple pullups. And it's like, oh my God. God, this guy is awesome. Ace Bailey looks so awesome in that game. Oh, if I were a jazz fan, I would be going bonkers. Oh, I'd be so excited. He looked great, great. And it is what it is.

It's 6-10 and watch the way he moves. That's, it's, people don't look like that. I'm watching this game. And Bryce Sensible comes into the game. Right? Oh, yeah. It's a three. Yeah.

Hits another three. Yeah. This dude hit six threes, six for ten from three to the point where like the announcers are losing it. The announcers are just like, is anyone going to cover this guy? And then he starts taking heat checks, misses a couple. But he's taking contested threes, tough threes. Like, I don't know if it's ever going to pan out for him. No, I actually watched.

He had some big games in Summer League in the Utah Summer League this year. I believe it. Where I was like, I'm not like I'm grinding a bunch of bright sensible. ball of tape. But I'm watching that game like, look, man, if you can if you can thump it like this, there's a spot for you somewhere. Yeah, I think that's fair. All right. Next one on the preseason standouts. I've got Mattis Buzellis. So I have always been fascinated with him. Last year was a pretty lame-ass class, right? And going into, I don't know why this is always stuck with me. but the year that the All-Star game,

interestingly enough, was in Chicago, I believe. Or maybe, no, it was Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City. The year was in Salt Lake City. I, they have like this, you know, what do they call it? Like hoops without borders or one of those things, right? And it's like they bring in for the weekend, for All-Star weekend, they bring in all the best international kids.

And so the reason I saw was because I was walking to my hotel. And like a bunch of kids that, like, we're not American kids all got off the bus. And they're all like gigantic. And I'm like, what is that? And they're like, that's the, you know, that's a, that's the kid, the international group. Yeah. And they bring them in because all the GMs and scouts are there for All Star weekend. And they're getting together.

And so I was with this scout at that time. And I was like, all right, give me a heads up. I was like, who's, who's the one? Like, who's the one that I'm going to be hearing about in a couple of years that, like, you know, this always happens where a guy gets drafted and we're like, we don't, you know, we don't know anything about them. Like, it's like, okay, Chris Sasker's Porgasengis just got drafted, but it's not like you had a, you had some kind of institutional knowledge. There's a docu-s series on Grantland.com about Czapstis's draft. Okay, maybe I'll go.

Did they scrub it from the internet? They probably did. I don't think anything from Greyland. I don't think so. I don't think Grayland Rice even has a bio anymore on Wikipedia. So anyways, the point is I asked the scout, like, hey, give me a heads up so I sound smart. And he was like, it's Bezellis and everybody else. There's nobody even close of the kids that they had in that crap.

he's like he's just way better than all of them. And at that time, Bezellis was number one on every mock draft. And then he went and played in the G-League. And I took the trip down to South Haven, Mississippi, to watch Bozellas play against the Memphis Hustle. And I did this show. And I remember I was coming back on the mismatch. And I was going to tell Kevin, I was like,

you know, I'm going to go see this kid. And I was just ready to like, hate him. Like, this is the number one pick of the draft, whatever. And I watched him and I'm like, yo, I kind of like this guy. Like, he's in the mix. He was like 17. He's playing on this, you know, he's playing in the G league, like against men and against people trying to make the NBA. And I'm like, he can, he can move. He can shoot. He's athletic. He's kind of, you know, carolinko-y, you know, he's got all this stuff. And he was always like the number one pick in the draft. then by the time the draft came around, he went, I mean, what he got?

I don't even remember what he went in the draft, like 10. So I don't, he might have gone lower than that. I don't remember where he went, but maybe lower than 10, Bezellis. But man, he played the other night in the first preseason game, 18 minutes, 19 points, seven for 11 from the field, two of five from three, five offensive rebounds, eight rebounds overall, went to the line four times, had an assistant a block, and I was like, okay, maybe this is like, you know, like, he was always one of those guys that like, anytime I remember this happening, right? Like when Michael Porter Jr. became good, it was like, well, Michael Porter Jr. was always

supposed to be awesome, right? Yeah. Bezellis was. He was the number one pick in last year's draft for a long time on my draft. He's no 11 officially. Okay. And then he ended up getting drafted 11th overall. But like, if we looked up it in five years, Bezellis is the best player from this thing. It wouldn't be all that shocking, you know? I mean, who else is there to surpass him at this point? You know, obviously, see what happens.

We don't have some reasons to say and sorry. We don't know. We don't know. Jen Wells, Jen Wells, you know, you got Jill and Wells. You don't know on these guys, but I will say, I like the idea of Bezellis possibly having a breakout because he was always supposed to be, awesome in the NBA. Like everybody always thought he was going to be

the next thing. And then he went and played I wondered, I kept wondering, man, that's a kid that probably should have just gone to American College basketball and killed it. Well, his role on the Bulls last year just grew and grew and grew and grew and grew. And by the time

they were like in that playing or like, you know, the end of the regular season, it was sort of like Kobe White and Boozellis and then everybody else. You know what I mean? It was just kind of like that was their team. And I don't know what the long-term plans are for the Bulls. They seem to be confusing every single year. But Essenge look good in the preseason.

I'm not going to read too much into that. But he looks like a player in Buzellis. And I don't know if Kobe White's long for that team. It just seems like they should just like really just rip it down the studs and just like start with this new new generation. You never know what they're doing. But the Bizzing thing is promising. And I was glad to see he went off in the preseason.

It'd be cool if he turns out to be awesome. So this is a player. that I've loved, that like Reed Shepard, like I say, like, I May Udokin knows more about Reed Shepard's MBA abilities than I do, and he does not play him, there's something going on with this player that I do not understand, and I'm walking down Lower Manhattan, and I see some familiar faces, and I regret this moment because they walked past me and I didn't say what I wanted to say. and what I wanted to say to this group of men

wearing very clearly logoed athletic jump tanks, whatever these things are called jumpsuits. I wanted to say, why don't you play Khalil Ware more? And it was the assistant coaches for the Miami Heat walking around downtown Manhattan. Wow.

I think they stayed at the four seasons. I was around the four seasons. And I just don't understand what this coaching staff has against Kalele Ware. Like, it seems like Spolstra, given any, opportunity just disrespects him and calls out his impact and his work ethic.

This man, so I'm watching this game, his first bucket, you know Cleo wears like seven feet tall center. He catches the ball inside the three point line, takes a dribble backwards in a heat uniform like Ray fucking Allen and hits a three moving backwards. Like not a step back three, like an actual backpedaling, setting his feet hits a three. then he blocks he kind of like alters his shot they get the loose ball

he gets a loose ball pass it to Johnson underneath the hole then he runs to the three point line again like relocating from underneath the basket to the three point line and hits his second three then he gets his own rebound for an and one then in Allie you like

okay he's he played his face off I am hold on and then after the game Spolter says that his plus my was minus 21. He said, quote, I'm not looking at the stat line. I think everybody's looking at the wrong thing. It's got to impact the game. I want him in the next game to be a plus 20. That's what it's about. That's part of the maturation for a young player. He does really good things. And then when

you're not able to do with consistency, it doesn't impact the game. What is the problem that Miami Heat have with Clell Ware? Because to me, he's one of the most exciting, potentially fantastic young basketball players in the league and they won't put him on the floor. Okay. I am going to defense bolster here. And I'm going to dispense poster only on this level. Calil Ware is from, not far from me, he's from like Little Rock, or from Arkansas. And he ended up going to Oregon out of high school. He's a five-star guy, McDonald's All-American, the whole thing, right?

He's always supposed to be that guy. And then it went horrible at Oregon. And he ended up transferring. And he went to Indiana to Mike Woodson. It was like that breaking point where it was like, he went to go play for Mike Woodson at Indiana. And Mike Woodson will tell you the exact same things, right? It's like, I had to drive this kid into the, you know, he's one of those guys that's like the seven footers that like it's very, uh, DeAndre, DeAndre Atenney, white side. You know what I'm saying? Like everybody says, bro, what you could be if you would just, right? And so I actually think it's the best thing possible for him to be with Sposstra and someone that is going to hold him to account because otherwise he.

is the kind of kid that I think could delve into just playing basketball. And you remember I told you like, I watched DeAndre Aitin last year and it's like he's playing with AirPods in. Like, but when Chris Paul and Monty Williams were on his ass, people thought he was like a key to the finals team, right? He was. And it's like, I got it. But I'm saying some of these seven footer guys where it's like,

They might not love basketball. They might be playing basketball because they have an opportunity to play basketball. And they're unbelievable at it, but you've got to ride their ass to be able to get them up. And so, do it to this man, because I'm telling you, these threes he was hit, they're not like, Oh, no, he is freaky talent. Brooke Lopez stand in the corner, seven footers, set your feet, super slow release, like knock down 40%. Like he's moving his body, moving his feet, playing his feet, shooting like, sort of like out of rhythm. three-pointers as a seven-footer and hitting them.

This is, I actually will endorse this just because of, I know that backstory on where, and I've seen this happen with big guys a lot, right? I've seen it happen with big guys a lot. I'll tell you a story. A couple years, several years back, there was a kid named Deontay Davis, who was a seven-footer who was supposed to be a lottery pick. Same kind of deal, like great high school player, played a Michigan State, then was going to be a lottery pick, and everybody just ditched him.

and he ended up going in the second round. He got drafted to Memphis. Now, I knew Deonti. He was mega immature, and he, you know, like, you know,

he had been bounced around from school to school to school and team to team to team. That whole, you know, the story of many of the basketball players at that time. And so,

anyways, we're at a summer league game and, uh, uh, one of the, uh, team representatives at the time,

uh, said to me, it, I said, you know, I said, the crazy thing about a guy like Deante day, I said, if I went in that locker room right now and I said, Deonte, I'll bet you $100,

you can't get 20 rebounds tonight. I said, there's no doubt in my mind he would go and get 20 rebounds just to win the $100, just to prove me wrong, right? And I was like, what he doesn't understand is if he went out there and just grabbed 20 rebounds, he'd make a hundred million dollars. There's a hundred million waiting for you. And I'll even tell you who this was. who's Ed Stefansky, whose son is actually Kevin

Stavansky, he's still a higher up for the Detroit Pistons now. And it's Ed's Siffansky. And I told Ed this. I said, if I bet him $100, I think, Ed Stavansky turns to me, he goes, go bet him. And I always think about that. I'm telling you these Aitans, Deonté Davis, Kolel, they're all these like crazy talented guys.

and it's like, bro, if it does click, you've got all the talent in the world to make this happen. But we've got to get the tenacity, the heart, the all of it that goes along with it, right? So I'm trying to think of examples of people that sort of turn the corner like that. And I'm starting to think, like, Carlinthine Town is just too talented, too good in Kentucky.

Too good. To be considered someone who's sort of like, click like that. Oh, no, Aiton was a great one for the five, Chris Paul and Monty Williams. Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. But then that all turned bad too, right? Well, do you remember when they're up to O?

Oh, yeah. And we're all, like, myself included, I was like, well, the sons are winning the championship, Chris Paul's first championship. And I'm sitting there being like, did DeAndre Aten just outplay Janice and Ticompo in the final series? Again, that was after two games, check back in after six games. And we know the answer to that question. But I was really impressed by Kalilware last season. And I wish I would have yelled that at those coaches when I walked by them on Broadway.

And I was really impressed in this preseason game. I just think that he's just, he's got everything you could ever ask for in a young center. Ever ask for, except for the motor and the off court desire. I agree. I agree with you. And my last one is I'm just, I'm not even got a single one out. This entire rookie class, I mean, I am so excited. And now, of course, there's going to be 100 million games on television this year.

But to bounce around and get to watch all these rookies, because last year was such a dud with Alex Sard and Reese Shea and Reed Shepard, even playing and you can go down the line right um but even when we're forget just the we've already mentioned bailey we've already mentioned cooper flag we've already mentioned vj and we didn't even mention cooper flag you didn't have to yeah right um but then these other ones where it's like yacuchunus who had the 10 assist in that miami game he was the one that's got this great chemistry with caliolware already somehow con canipal had 18 points in his first game for charlotte you had Carter Bryant, which the reviews for him, people love him in San Antonio. You even had that big tree from Creighton, Ryan Colkbrunner, have a game for Charlotte.

You have Joan Barringer, Johann Barringer, the big project that Minnesota had. The entire like, like, Nets team. Yeah, you have the whole Nets team. You have this kid that I saw for Boston last night, Hugo Gonzalez, who was fun. You have Cedric Coward, who's playing for Memphis, who's the Tarant's. He played well. He played pretty well. Target?

Yeah, he was fine. It took him about three halves to get going. Game one was a disaster. First half of this second game was a disaster. And then by the second half of the Boston game, he stopped trying to fit in and just started playing basketball, right? The other one, Neat Clifford, the kid from Colorado State, he had nine assists for Sacramento the other night.

Like, I'm telling you, we're going to look up and down, and this thing is loaded with talent. Loaded. Loaded. This rookie class is going to be awesome. I love Tray Johnson. I love Tray Johnson. Oh, and I mean, that fears and New Orleans.

I mean, this thing is loaded. It's going to be awesome this year. I cannot wait for all these rookies and to see how they all turn out because even in the preseason, some of them have shown already. And by the way, we were talking about how they don't like wear or, you know, they be smirk to wear. Boy, they love you. Yacchunis in Miami. Really?

Oh, he called him a pit bull. And you know Sponsor loved Pip. They said him and Davyam Mitchell go at it in practice. Oh, I love Davian Mitchell. He said they go, and that it's wars. Davian Mitchell finished the, finish the, like, playing in regular season, like absolutely on fire. By the way, that, he was hitting like six threes a game, like six for nine from three during the plane.

By the way, that Yacacuchinus? he was the winner of the votes for the GM survey for the biggest steal of the draft. That's who they voted. The Guard from Illinois, the big kid. Who else? Ace Bailey, Carter Bryant, Berenger, Liam McNeely, and Aison Newell. All right, it's my turn. Last one.

I'm going to make this quick, because we're going along. Yep. This isn't even like crazy. I just, we all saw it. We didn't see it. We all heard about it and watched the highlights during Eurobasket. But Alp. Sangoon, man, this dude is just really rounding into form. And, you know, he didn't have a huge stat line in the last game, but they played the Hawks.

He was 19.6 assists in 17 minutes. Whatever. For me, it was the assists. Like, a lot of people compare him to Yokic, and that's fine. But one thing that he does that is very Yokichi is he's not getting cheap assists. Like, he's passing players. into open spots like a quarterback against his own. He's creating baskets for other people with his vision and they're cutting.

Like he got one cheap assist to Kevin Durant who like made a move after he caught the ball. But his other assists were just like, guys sealing but not even know they have the seal and him just passing the ball there. And the balls in midair. And you could see the recipient of the past being like, oh, shit, that's coming to me. I didn't realize I was wide open under the basket. Like his passing ability is smooth. and effective. And his assists are assist that he creates basket for other people.

He's more and more efficient. He was great this summer. I think with Kevin with the with the vacuum gravity effect that Kevin Durant has, means more space for him. I just, I just, I really love this season for Alperinson Green. He's always reminded me more of Sabotus.

And I know. Arvetus, or DeMontas? DeMontas. Oh, he's more Arvetus than DeMontas. I'm just so old that I remember. Remember Arvetus? I know.

Because Arvetus had the fancy passes. The passing stuff is more Arvetus. You think it's fancy. Than DeMontas. Yeah. Oh, yeah. He's got a little flare. Like, he's doing things for funsies, not just like efficiency.

Like, Demontas is boring. Sorry. He's boring. He's a good basketball player. He is effective, though. After this show, I'm going to Google Demontas subonis highlights on YouTube. And it's just going to be like, sorry, no results for that search. How dare you?

Seriously. How dare you? All right. Let's get to our questions. We've got to burn through these. Let's do it quick. It's all Knicks and Cavs on picks for the East. Who would you bet on for the three seed or to be better than one of those two teams? If you had to bet on a third team in the Easter conference, because it appears that in every poll it's Nick's Cavs and then everybody else. So let's go to the GM poll, which is where I'm basing this off of.

Okay. Is the Easter Conference rankings. It's Cleveland, New York. Now they could bet first, second, third, or fourth. Cleveland, New York, then Orlando, Atlanta, and then Detroit is tied with Milwaukee for five and six. I don't understand why Detroit is not higher in that. And if I were to make a pick right now, I would say the Detroit Pistons will be the three seed in the regular season

and will be a very tough out in the second round of the playoffs for whoever they face. And I'm going to say that based on the huge leap they made from two years ago to last year. What I watched in the playoffs against the Knicks is in the foregaten season, Everyone forgot the series now because so much happened after it. But as someone who lived it and went to a game, that was a tough-ass series. They were in jeopardy to losing to the Pistons. They were without Jaden Ivy.

They were without B-S-2. They won in the garden. Yeah. Twice, right? I'm trying to last second shots. Like, things going down to the last second. Brunson standing on his head, assert Thompson completely getting jukeed out of the frame. Bridges missing a shot at the end of one game.

Like, these are like, these are hard-bought games. And I think Cade's going to be in the MVP conversation. I think that Ivy coming back, if he could be as effective as he was before he got hurt, like, why would I put the idea of Desmond Bain on Orlando or the idea of like Chris Staps and Neil Alexander Walker on the Hawks above a team that I watched last year be great, that I watched last year in the playoffs be great? Totally fair. Why would I put the idea of a team in front of a team that has a proven record?

that has young players getting better year after year. For me, it's the Detroit Pistons. Totally fair. Next question. What the hell is going on with the Grizzlies and all these injuries? Oh, stop. What is going on? What is going on?

Zach Eadie had ankle problems and then turned his ankle and ended up just going ahead and get surgery to take care of it. So he'll be the winter. I mean, it'll probably be December. I'd imagine. December. Right. Not an essential part of the rotation. We're being honest, like not an essential part of the rotation.

Yes, he is. Zach Edie is a start. It's going to be the starting center. Yeah. Anyway, Jared Jackson Jr. will be back. Like, if it's not opening night,

it'll be within the first week of the season. So, and then the Brandon Clark had to get another surgery. And Moran's fine. I think he doesn't want to play in the pre-season. That's kind of what I felt about about. LeBron, until the Seattle is going on.

They don't want to play in the press. These guys. Did he turn his ankle? Yes. Probably. Can he play? Yes. Yes.

So that, the only one to be concerned about is the ED one, because he's seven-foot. five. And foot problems, yeah. Well, no, it was an ankle. He went ahead and got the surgery, right? It was one of those things that, like,

it was one of those things that your ankle is just going to keep on turning, right? You're just going to keep being unstable. So he went to stabilize it. And so I'd imagine they put like a part of an oak tree in there or something. What do you do with a 7 foot five guys? It's a big-ass ankle. A little league baseball bat in there with some screws. It was a giant.

He was an absolute giant. only thing that matters is if John Morant, Jared Jackson, Jr. are healthy? That's all. Are they going to be? Yeah, it appears so. Yep. The team are teams. You feel you have no gauge on. So I'm omitting some that are obvious.

Like the Sixers are kind of obvious. It's like the health stuff. The clippers are kind of just like, is Kauai going to play? I'm not really sure. Are they going to get the NBA death penalty? Like this is. Are they going to have to,

are they going to have to rescind Kauai's contract? It's Pablo Tori going to get. Is Pablo Torre done yet? I will say that the team that I look at this is like, I can see a world in which they are one of the championship contenders. I can see a world in which they have like the fourth best odds in the lottery. The lowest floor, highest ceiling, I can see it happening a bunch of different ways are the Dallas Mavericks to me.

Like there's a world where it's like AD, we all forgot how dominant he was. He's playing the four where he wants to play. He doesn't have to bang against five's on defense. and then DeAngelo Russell is a perfectly fine sort of like table setter for Clay Thompson who's knocking down shots and Cooper Flagg just steps into the league like LeBron James and just like doesn't miss a beat and is dominant like there's a world where this team is like also they're putting out these lineups where everyone's like 610 you know it's just like there's a world where this team is offensively and defensively extremely efficient and night after night

just beating teams two out of three games week after week after week. Am I predicting that? No. Because I could also see a world in which DeAngelo Russell's DeAngelo Russell. Cooper Flag is 18 years old and just try to find his way. Anthony Davis is 35 pounds overweight and he's slow and he gets hurt all the time and just like turns into a disaster and they're in the lottery. So that would be the team that I don't truly have a gauge on because there is also a world

where they're like the three seat in the West and all of a sudden, Gary Irving's on the team. Oh, and it's and Nico sitting there going, I told you. I have no idea. how this season is going to play out for them, which is why they're, like, so high in my league pass rankings. And I think that the Cooper flag variable is so huge, too. Like, not every great player has a great rookie season. It's crazy. You're talking about how big they are. And then there's been these stories about how gigantic Houston's going to be with the lineup that they put out,

right? Like, if they put out Shengoon and Jabari and Durant and Thompson, it's like, good grief. I read an article. No, Adams, Shangoon. I know. Durant Smith and Thompson. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I read an article the other day that said that the Atlanta Hawks have 11 guys, 6-8 or taller. I was like, what? 11? 11?

That's a lot. Well, Trey Young's 5'4, so like they got to make up for it. But 11 guys, 6-8 or taller? I was like, good, great. The league has gotten wild. Well, remember a couple years ago the Raptors had 15 guys that were all 6-8s? It wasn't six eight or taller or shorter. They were all exactly six eight.

That didn't exactly fan out. Yep. Next one. Next one. This is based on the recent news that Jason Tatum is trying to come back this year. Is it a bad idea for Jason Tatum to come back this season? Yes. Of course.

I think it's a terrible idea. I saw Boston last night. I mean, what are we talking about? To get to the play in the play in the play in? It's ridiculous. Just take it as a down year. It's a down year. It's a down year.

Get your tax. You know, get your money in order. It's a money in order. If you win a amount of games, right, you don't have to lose on purpose. You win as many as you possibly can. But, I mean, you're not going anywhere. And it's not like, God forbid, you risk bringing the guy back early. And then something catastrophic happens.

It's a lost season. It's a lost season for him. I mean, just have him back 100% getting ready to go try to make a title run with the two. Jay's next year. So there was, you know, I live in New York, and most of my friends are Giants fans. We have a couple of Jets fans friends. And you remember the season a couple years ago when

Aaron Rogers, you know, September 11th, tears his Achilles, and, you know, he gets the speed treatment and he's trying to come back. He's walking without a boot. There's this whole idea of Will here, won't he? And the defense was so good that with mediocre to good quarterback play, like there's a puncher's

chance to make a run, but by the time he was potentially available to come back, they were out of it in the standings. I could see the impact that a quarterback has on a football team, a reason to come back in that scenario. But they're not like Jason Tatum away coming back off an injury from championship contention. No, they got ready to their good ball. They made all the moves in the off season to tell us they're not trying to contend for a championship.

So if he, quote, unquote, comes back and plays 10 minutes a game to get like live action behind him before next season, fine if it's part of his rehab process. But the idea that he's going to come back and they're going to make a deep run or like do a thing just makes no sense to me whatsoever. If you still had Drew Hollett, if you had Drew Holliday, Chris S. Forzingis and Al Horford on this team. And you're fourth in the east because everyone's hurt. And you know, it's like you and the Knicks and the Hawks and the cabs at the top.

And you've got a game one on your home floor. And, you know, a month to ramp up, maybe. But no, this is not the year. I just literally named the other three guys. I mean, again, you don't have holiday, you don't have for, you don't have Forzingis, you don't have like, what do you talk about? No. Do you know what just crossed my mind?

It's going to be a great year for Jolamazooa quotes. Because they're going to shoot like 63s and go like 15 for 60, and he's going to have to talk about it after the game, and he's going to say the wildest shit. It's going to be a great Jolman Zua quote here. Especially because that the writer in Boston that always asked him about why don't you Drive more. Gary Washburn.

They got a little rivalry going about the, why don't you drive to the rim more? Gary Washburn's covered that team for like 30 years. He's all, I mean, Missoula gets so perturbed about it. After scoffing at Wemby's offseason, which you did, you did that. How'd you feel when he drove, threw a guy into the third row, and then Tomahawk dunked on the world in that preseason?

game. I sent you the clip. You saw it. Everybody in the world was like, oh my God, this is a problem. I watched the clip and I watched again and I watch again. Do you know I realized? Inner squad scrimmage. That's a practice. That was Luke Cornet. That was not a competitive game. That's a media fave, Luke Corvette. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, God. When the Spurs side Luke Cornyette, he looked like Shaquille O'Neal. He did the knees up in the air when he dunked like Shaquille O'Neal too. I was just like, this is this is wild another thing i listen you know that was it was it luke cornet was it yeah yeah oh he's sunned him critical sonned him but it's also like i'm not going 100% on defense it's practice no he's sonned him he's sonned him it did not but sonned luke cornet did you see

did you see the video that came out yesterday this is the shit that bothers me about wendy they released the hecim teaching him the dream shake video yesterday oh shit so now we have we have the no one works out harder than me we have the the new york times 4,000 word fluff piece about him going to china and japan and him going to NASA and how hard he works

and then we've got a five or six days after that we've got a release of the him and hecim video learning the dream shake it's like yeah he went to nassas houston like learned about rockets because he's so smart and interesting and worldly or universally i should say

I'm just like, bro, just play basketball. You're the only, hey, this is, you need to just stick to this, being the only guy that hates Wembe, I love it. I'm just sick of it. And then he plays 29, 21 minutes and 39 seconds against the heat, takes nine shots. Nine shots. How many threes?

I will say this. How many threes? How many were they? I'll look it up, but I think it was, no, I think it was actually two. One thing he did do, to be honest, I always say, like, if you've got an open three, you've got an open lane. He did up fake some threes and drive to the basket. Okay. And the threes that he missed were like good shots.

He didn't, the shot selection I didn't have a problem with. I want to see you get up more than nine. And how about let don't tell me about your great offseason. Show me what a great off season you had by playing good basketball. I will say, you are the, you are the kiss of death because last year you decided to be the guy that doesn't like Anthony Edwards. and that turned out horrible. And this year, I predict it's going to turn out horrible again. Because when he's...

Did you see Anthony Edwards in the Western Conference Finals? Yes, I saw him. He was playing, you know? You realize that, right? Yeah, I did happen to see him in the Western Conference Finals for a second-second to be here. We'll see if Victor Luzbenyama and the Spurs make the playoffs. We'll see if Luzman-Yama and the Spurs make the playoffs this year.

Boy, that New York Times thing sent you. over the edge. I hated it. I hated it. I hated it. You didn't have as big a problem about Lucas, you know, body issues. It's men's health. It's men's health. That's where you go for like workout routines and nutrition stuff. The New York Times, the journalists. That was a press release.

All right, now I'm upset. Finally. Yeah. Speaking of press releases. How do you feel about LeBron's announcement and follow-up announcement? for the second decision. I mean, I guess I was one that, like, I didn't know it was going to be an ad.

Like, you know, JJ Reddick was like, anybody who didn't know that was going to be an ad, it's an idiot. Like, all right, JJ Reddick thinks everybody's an idiot anyway, so I'm not going to take too much of that.

He for sure thinks everybody's an idiot. Except himself, of course. I didn't know what it was going to be. I just I guess I should have like some kind of hot take about it. I just thought it was lame. I thought it was lame. My sputty senses,

I came not going to sit here and lie into a microphone and be like, I knew it was an ad. But my spiky senses went up and I was like, who's that guy interviewing him? Because I always thought it weird that Jim Gray got the call. Like, wasn't that weird? Like Jim Gray is going to interview him at the Boys Club in Stanford, I was like,

why that mix of nouns? That was weird. But the fact that he was wearing. like a similar shirt. I was kind of like, what is going on here? This is a weird way to announce your retirement.

So I figured he was going to be announcing like maybe something with that league that he remember that we've been talking about. I mean, I thought it was probably going to be something corny. I did not think it was retirement. I thought it was going to be something corny. But here's,

the other thing is, the Hennessy thing, it's a weird brand match to me. I don't know. The money comes. The money's the money. You know what I mean? So here's what I'll say.

But have you ever ordered it? Do you ever drink it? I did back in the old days, but I've moved on. It's very sweet and make your teeth hurt the next day and give you a hangover in my experience. It's also cultural. But I will say this. He got paid a lot of money to do that. But I believe when the concept was brought to him, he should have said, I'm very excited about this partnership.

But I don't want to launch this partnership by me misleading. basketball fans around the world. Like it's kind of like a boy who cried wolf thing. Like you can only do that so many times. And I just kind of felt like it wasn't worth the money. I would be like, is there another way that we could celebrate the HECD brand besides pump faking my retirement? To me, to me, you know what?

It's corny like to me it's corny like the Snoop Dog thing. I'm done smoking weed. Oh, actually, no, I'm announcing that I'm an ambassador for weed. You know, whatever the hell was. shocking turn of events from should be done right so i will also say like i love lebron james as a basketball player and it's he becomes harder and harder to defend like as every month goes by for his like off-the-court weirdness and cornyness i think he's corny he's just kind of corny that was corny that was corny it was corny it was corny objectively corny yes and it's not going to make me want to run

to the liquor store and buy hennessee bottle i'll say that much yeah totally fair all right it's going to do it for this episode thank you to our executive producer Jesse Lopez, as always. It's Kobe. I'll talk to you next week.