The Mismatch - Looking at the Mitchell Trade From the Cavs’ and Jazz’s Perspectives, Plus ‘2K’ Ratings and Wembanyama Coming Soon to the U.S.

Episode Date: September 7, 2022

Verno and KOC give their first reaction to the Cavs’ trade for Donovan Mitchell (01:07). Can Cleveland take the next step to compete for a championship with Mitchell? They also look at the deal from the Jazz’s perspective (15:30). Even though Utah is set up for a “tank-tastic” season, Danny Ainge has primed the franchise for future success. After some offseason trouble, Montrezl Harrell signed with the 76ers; the guys react to the signing (33:16). Finally, they go through the release of the 'NBA 2K' ratings and Victor Wembanyama playing in the United States (42:34). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Jessie Lopez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, my name is Kevin Clark. I'm the host of a new football podcast called Slow Newsday. I want to tell you about it. On Mondays, Lindsay Jones and I will recap the weekend in football that was, as well as look ahead to what's next. On Wednesday, the normal Slow Newsday, the thing you've been watching for years, current players, current coaches, current analysts talking about the football world. And on Friday, it's a wild card.

Could be some college football. Could be more pro stuff. It's a video podcast so you can watch it on Spotify or listen to it wherever you get your podcasts. Follow on Spotify. It's Slow Newsday. Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon.

And Jordan Meese does every Tuesday from the ringer.com. It's Kevin O'Connor, A.K., Kevin O'Bomber, Kevin O'Brien, Kevin O'Candil, Kevin O'Clymer. What's going on, man? Well, Kevon, since we last spoke it, we have had a big trade that we have not talked about with each other yet. Three-time All-Star Garddonovan Mitchell is gone from Utah, though there was a tremendous amount of time spent on his possible landing spot being the Knicks, it turns out to be the Cleveland Cavaliers. They give up Markinen, Agbaji, and Colin Sexton, three unprotected first round picks and two pick swaps for Donovan Mitchell.

With that, Colin Sexton agreed to a four-year, $72 million sign-and-trade deal with the Jazz. All right, Kevin, so we now have had a tremendous amount of time to have other people comment on this and process this, when the trade came down the line, what was your instant reaction? And then has that changed at all after thinking about it more? Well, I had just gotten out of the California Science Center with my mom. We were watching the IMAX movie there. And I checked my phone, which is, you know, on silence.

And I'm like, whoa, whoa. Cannot have expected Cleveland, Chris, to actually end up with Donovan Mitchell after, everything. Like you said, I mean, we were talking about New York, New York, New York, New York, and, you know, maybe Charlotte, maybe this team, maybe that team, but not so much Cleveland. So my first thought was like, wait a minute, we're not going to get to the exhibit yet. I need to send us some text and organize my thoughts. So my thoughts haven't really changed a lot since then. I guess, you know, the first thought is from the Cleveland perspective.

An aggressive move here. To me, this is a big bet. on Evan Mobley. What Cleveland's doing here, you pair up Donovan Mitchell with Darius Garland. You have the makings of a dynamic backcourt duo. I mean, like you could compare them in some ways

to Damien Lillard, C.J. McCollum, and the fact that you have two smaller guards that are excellent shot creators, the difference between the Portland iterations of that team construct and what now Cleveland has is the fact you have

Evan Mobley, Jared Allen, Isaac O'Corps, a large number of great defensive players, particularly Mowbly and Allen. So they have support on defense. They have the offensive shot creators. Now it's about can Donovan Mitchell step it up on defense like we talked about last week and he elevated his play to be more like he was in college? And can Evan Mowgli, can he take a leap on the offensive end of the floor

and provide the offensive shot creation from the front court position that Cleveland is going to need to go from really, really good young, team in the Eastern Conference that has definitely potentially surpassed some of these other young squads, maybe Atlanta. It's going to come down to Evan Mobley in his development for the Cavaliers to take a leap to becoming a true

finals contender. I love this Cleveland team now. I mean, absolutely love them. It's so fascinating that you bring up the Portland thing because I think it's fair to look at that and say, this is really what could have changed everything for Portland. They never flanked

those guys with rim protection, with rebounding in the way that is needed to win at the highest level. Now, we will see, right, when you're talking about Mowbly and Allen, if they are. You know, to win, when it matters most, are those guys, guys that you can. And I tend to believe yes, right? I mean, I remember during the playoffs last year, tweeting out, boy, if I could buy stock and Cleveland. This Garland-Mobly thing, you want to talk about something you would want for the next 10 years. Good grief. I mean, they nailed both of those picks. Both these guys are going to be big,

big, big stars in the league. And now they cannot be the best player, the go-to guy. They don't have to be. right we always talk about there's a there's a timeline for all of this stuff and typically what we found is that teams that win the title at minimum their best player yonis was kind of an exception remember we talked about being 27 28 29 all these guys throughout history whether it's jordan or lebron or curry or you name it so many of them are older veterans in the league that's the guy on the team. Well, that's a long ways off for both Mowbly and Mitchell.

But it's not a long ways off, or I'm sorry for Mowbly and Garland. It's not a long ways off for Mitchell. And, you know, I understand that they have had their flameouts in Utah. But I thought it was very fascinating to see when they had made this deal. And I think you and I get to come by this honest

because we're both still huge Mitchell fans and thought he was an outstanding, piece that somebody was going to be able to attain. I think you and I are higher on Mitchell than the general consensus. A lot of people have soured on him in a way that has been a bit surprising to me because if you go through career playoff scoring, these are the players with higher career playoff points per game than Donovan Mitchell. Michael Jordan,

Luca Donchich, Alan Iverson, Kevin Durant, Jerry West, LeBron James. That's the list. He is seven. And it's not like he's only played in one series.

He is seven in NBA history right now for playoff career points per game. Jordan, Donchich, Iverson, Durant, West, James. And what we always ask for is show up when it matters most. And this guy has proven to be able to be a playoff performer. All right?

And so now he's in a different situation where he's in Cleveland. And he doesn't even have to be that guy every single night. Sometimes it's going to be garland, Chris. Sometimes it was CJ. Yeah. There's always the great Lillard moment, but CJ McCollum is the one that put away Denver on the road,

you know, and had the epic performance. What they didn't have in Portland was a potential mobility. Yeah. And then they've got, you know I love J.B. And players typically love him.

And so I always kind of root for him anyway. And they got good, solid veterans that he got to buy in. They brought Rubio back, who when Rubio went down last year, it really hurt them badly. They kept searching after that. They bring Kevin Love back, who is either an outstanding bench piece to have that helps stretch the floor or an amazing trade piece because of where his contract stands now in relation to the league. And so I love the way they are set up and where they're set up going forward. I think this is a huge swing at something special and certainly one that I think is going to work out very, very well for them.

I think Cleveland's going to be competing for home court advantage this year. I do. I really appreciate the aggression by them. I think they're trying to capitalize off what is a – it's a good team, right? a good team right now. And then you had Donovan Mitchell, as you said, that playoff stat you mentioned, it's indicative of the highs that you can experience

from him on the offensive end. So you pair him with Garland, who is the best back court partner he's ever had in his entire career, all due respect to Mike Conley and some of the other guys that they've had through the different iterations of that jazz roster. Garland at his young

age after year two, he should only continue getting better as well. That's the best he's had. And as much as I love Rudy Gobert. You know my love for Rudy Gobert. Gobert doesn't bring on offense what Evan Mobley potentially could. And he also doesn't bring the combination of what

Mobley and Allen have together on defense in combination with Okoro if you want to put him out there. Like, they have strong defense on the interior and with Mobley, he can step out on the perimeter, defend any position really

more than most bigs in the league despite being a rookie. So they have a combination that can play with different front court alignments. You could put love out there for more spacing. You could put Mowbly out there as a lone five. You can play with the two bigs. You can throw out different sets around Mitchell and Garland to give them the support they need. So for the calves and bigger staff as a head coach, that's all you can ask for. And now for

them it's about how much do these young guys continue to improve? And I think comes back to Mobley for me, it's a bet on him. Sure. If he pops, man, they're not going to just be competing for home court this year. They're going to be competing for home court for the next five plus years. Because Mitchell was so young. There's no, well, look, there is a if he popped now, I guess. Kevin, he's going to pop.

When I saw this kid in person, I was like, holy mackerel. And he did nothing throughout that rookie season. season. We have gotten so spoiled with these rookies being so awesome, whether it's Donchich or Morant or Zion or all these guys. Like, you forget that's not what rookies are supposed to be like. It's not normal for a rookie big to be one of the best defensive players in the league. That's not normal. No, this kid is an outstanding player already and he's going to be a big time star in this league for a long, long time. And I always talk about it. Can I push back? real quick, Chris?

Yeah. With Mobley, how much of it has to do with the jumper, though? Can he become a premier offensive player if he continues shooting

below 30% from three, below 70% on the free throw line? Like, does he need that? Of course he does, but that shot does not look bad. So you have a high level of confidence in Mobley's jumper development? Yes.

Yes. I hope it does. I mean, he's got touch around the rim. Yeah. It's just he's never shot great. It just looks good, but it's never, never fallen.

Look, and I don't think that, I think everybody, not everybody has to be a three-point shooter, right? They got him beat a lot closer to the basket, and it's worked out pretty well. He's, you know, not everybody. You've got to be able to space the floor where you're honored. Are you honored out there?

That's what matters to me more than, as a big, then are you making a high high percentage. Is that the potential flaw though? Is that the potential flaw with the calves now that in the Garland Mitchell, O'Coro, Mobley, Allen lineup, that could have three non-honored three-point shooters that you're talking about there.

O'Coro is not a threat yet. Of course it's a potential flaw. Alan is not a three-point shooter by any means. That's where the love thing comes in. Because he can space. Of course he can. Yep. So you can play.

The small ball lineup works with Allen. or Mobley. If that particular combination isn't applicable for a potential playoff series, they've got other guys that can do it. They ran marketing out there as a four and it worked pretty well.

And I also love, I always talk about having stars and role players, you know, that that's the proper construct for a team. When you look through NBA history, that's how you get there. There's some of these guys

that don't need the ball. That's going to be Corro or whatever wing they have, and that's going to be Jared Allen. So they've got these three other guys. There is a pecking order that is going to work itself out rather easily when you have stars and role players and guys that can star in their role, right? That's the way, you know, there's McKell Bridges and there's Jay Crowder, you know. Yeah, I mean, you could go on or not with all, with all, all the good teams have guys that play a

understand their role and don't need 15 shots in order to be successful basketball players. And they've got some guys that fit into that mode absolutely perfectly. So I just, I love it. I do. I love it. I think they were very, very good before they got ravaged by injury last year. Now on the flip side. Well, and you don't mind the price they paid, right?

Hell no. They weren't going to have Colin anyway. Okay. You know I love Colin. Yeah, good player. But if that's the biggest asset you moved to get Donovan Mitchell, come on. Because the picks, if I'm right, Kev, and that team is dynamite for five to ten years, those picks aren't any good.

Yeah, and they still got their 2024. So next year in a pretty good draft, you know, they're still going to have that pick to either move on drafts. night with a trade or just to take one more young player and then that's their guy and then all their picks go to Utah aside from the swaps. And they would have to get super ravaged by injury to suck. Oh yeah, for sure. They're not one player, right? LeBron James gets hurt and the Lakers are going to suck.

Like, it's what it is. There's a bunch of teams that are like that. If one guy got hurt, man, we might be talking about tanking. but they got so many guys now that them being bad at any point when those picks are applicable, I think is not a great bet. And so I don't think their price is too high. Oddly, I do not hate it for Utah, though. I'm a huge sexton fan.

And if if sexton pops, you're going to be able to get something of more value. Oddly, out of that too. I don't think that's going to turn into nothing, you know, that you either keep him, and he's on a great contract. I don't hate that contract at all. I think Sexton is going to be a really good player for a long time in the league and has and will have like real value. Hell, he might average 50 points a game next year if they run him out there with the rest of those

Bums. But you can move him for something of value. And you did get a lot of picks. Where are you at on the Kansas kid? Because no one has mentioned that as an asset acquired. And I find it interesting that maybe it was just the best Danny Hage could do, or maybe Danny Hange really wanted that guy. And there have been a lot of guys in that range that have popped.

A lot. We chronicle it every year. Guys that were drafted in the same range as that kid, who's awesome in college, absolutely awesome. Is it possible that that's a better asset than anybody's giving it credit for? I think Agbaji could be a better asset. I mean, the great part about for him now in Utah, he's going to get a lot of opportunity, 22 years old, so he's a bit on the older end for a prospects coming out of Kansas. He played all four years there. It's not necessarily a bad thing. Like you saw with Desmond Bain, you experienced that in Memphis, Chris. An older prospect comes in.

Brandon Clark, too. Right? Doesn't necessarily mean a late bloomer can't continue ascending. Everybody's on a different path with their own personal development and true for players as well. We've seen it time and time again in every sport and every league. It doesn't matter, right? So with I baji, I think that is definitely the underrated asset here. I mean, isn't it?

Doesn't it feel like, you know, it's like when a car leaves, lot suddenly instead of like a first round draft pick and it becomes ohi like bodji right like the name just loses its luster even though he's still an impressive young prospect worthy of being drafted in the lottery so i mean the thing with him is just from a draft point of view how real is his jump shot uh he improved as a shooter as a senior did not shoot nearly as well prior to that um and he was still streaky throughout the college year for for kansas as well so that's the big question with him with how great he'll be as a rookie. But yeah, I like this deal for Utah. They have 12 future first round draft picks now. They're set up to tank in a year that has Victor

Wenban Yamma. French prospects, we've talked about a bunch. Same agent as Rudy Gobert. There's some familiarity there. Perhaps there could even be interest in him landing there. So I think for the Utah Jazz, they're set up for having the type of tank-tastic year that they need to have, while also developing young players with a first year head coach. To me, if you're a jazz fan, you're not rooting for a playoff team like you have been for many years now,

but you're rooting for a young team, Larry Markinen, Walker Kessler, like Baji, Colin Sexton coming back, Jared Vanderbilt, another name, Tailing Horton Tucker, like there's so much young talent on this team, and some of them are inevitably going to pop as young players that you want to keep

as keepers moving forward. This is the Boston thing all of, over again, isn't it? This is Al Jefferson, Tony Allen, Delante West, just like stock up on a bunch of them, see what hits, and they will become assets for what I really want to do.

It feels like Danny Age is going down that path for sure. It's like a mixture of that, Boston, and also the blowing it up with trading Pearson KG, that type of vibe too. Yes. I mean, 12 first round draft picks in the future, that's amazing. And that doesn't even factor and the swaps that they have either. Right.

So he's got all these assets. And I do feel like the Abaji thing, I don't know. Maybe it's just because he went 14th in the draft. I kind of feel like if maybe some of the other names that were right behind him were in the trade, that people would feel differently about it. Mark Williams, A.J. Griffin, Tarisan.

They'd be like, ooh, and they got him. But, like, I didn't hear one person talk about Abaji as, like, a real asset that they'd be able to. got back in this. It's just kind of like, oh yeah, and they got that draft pick from Kansas.

Like, he was the 14th pick of the draft. He might be good. He might be great. We don't know, you know what I mean? We've seen a lot of guys in that range.

Pop. I'm not saying he's going to be one of those guys, but it's worth mentioning that the aforementioned Donovan Mitchell and Paul George and Kauai Leonard

and the best player in the league, Gianna Zatatatine Coupo and Devin Booker and on and on and on. Like, I don't know. Maybe it doesn't turn out to be anything. Or maybe he becomes a star and Danny Age, like, I stole it out of this. Kauai Leonard, another one. Like that you could go on and there's a bit of ton of those guys in that range that have really hit.

And I just found it fascinating. I didn't hear one person talk about that like it mattered at all. Poor guy. Wasn't he college player of the year? I think he was. I think he was college basketball player of the year. And just nobody cared. They won the title.

He was a big 12 player of the year. Oh, big 12 player of the year. Who was college player of the year? Was it, uh, was it, it wasn't Apollo.

Was it Keegan Murray? I don't even remember. It was, wasn't it Walker Kessler or is he just the files? Hell no. No, it was Johnny Davis. Johnny Davis was. Walker Kessler was a finalist, though, I believe, right?

Or maybe he was a finalist for his conference, too. He was a finalist for... Walker Kessler was a... He was a finalist for getting played off the court by Miami in the tournament. I know he's a finalist for that. Boy, they got to be... He was defensive player of the year. He's new...

Well, Kessler was defensive player of the year. He was. Yeah, I know. They've got the Rudy Gobert experience. all again. That's all him get played straight off. He's such a hater. They do.

They thought they were done with watching pigs getting played off the court. So they get marketing in this, Sexton. Do you think they made the right choice

going with the Cleveland package rather than going the New York path with R.J. Barrett? Probably not. Really? Yeah, probably not. Do you think it makes

more sense to... R.J. Barrett got $100 million. Colin Sexton got 72. Does it make more sense to bet against Cleveland, a smaller market team? No. With Mitchell, who could leave? Mitchell could leave in a couple years.

You know, how about 40 years of being crap? That's what I'd bet against. So you'd bet against the Knicks more. Big market with Mitchell who. I know, I know, I know, since like the 70s. You're right. You're right. Yeah, I mean.

But it's not about what happened in the past. It's about projecting forward. their owner. As long as their owner is James Dolan, I would bet against them before I bet against a team that's got Darrys Garland and Evan Mowley. I mean, that is the difference. They've got Darius Garland and Evan Mowley with their picks, and they've got R.J. Barrett and Obie Topping with their... So you wouldn't be concerned at all from a Cleveland point of view

that Mitchell just will demand a trade in two years or leave in a free agency in three? Absolutely not. Not with a guy that's been there. he signed another monster contract in a small market. I think it took extenuating circumstances for him to leave Utah. I would not be worried about that. He signed that contract

because it was after his rookie deal. You know what makes guys happy? Winning. Yep. And the Cleveland is set up to win for many, many years. So all Cleveland really has to do is win. It's winning. I agree, for sure.

And if he wins there, Like this could be a Cavs team that's winning. You're talking about the past 40 years. Their first time winning without LeBron James. This is special if Cleveland is able to build a winner without him. And I know a bunch of guys that know Garland. They love him. Yeah, he's a great teammate.

Like, know him personally. Because he's from Nashville. And so I know a lot of people that know him and just they swear by Garland. They say he's the best. And he works like crazy. Oh, yeah. So that's the kind of guy you want to bank on, right? Yeah.

It's the kind of guy you want to bank on. I think I could see that working out. And by all accounts, Bobi's a good dude too. So that's, you don't see a lot of, you know, I don't foresee the ego banging heads, Lillard Aldridge thing that can take place, right? They're all kind of, they're all kind of coming up together. and they all seem to have, you know, these really good personality traits. So, yeah, I would, it's just because of the next thing with their owner, you know,

that I would be less trustworthy of for a winning situation. And RJ, I mean, I love Colin, but you and I went through our discussion about RJ last week after he signed the contract. The truth is, Colin got 72. Every team had a chance to go, you know, try to sign him. And he got 72 million. So as much as I love him,

numbers the number. And I don't think that the Knicks are the only one that would have paid R.J. Barrett $100 million. I really don't. I don't think that that was just a hometown deal. I think you put them out there Somebody would offer them A bunch of money

Next year Maybe more Is it more that the Knicks Didn't screw this up And more the Jazz just took the worst offer You think I don't know if they took the worst offer I'm sure there were worse

Offer No no no not not not I didn't say worst I said the worst offer Oh I think he'd Danians got pissed off Okay Yeah They got a spite Yeah

Yes I believe that don't you? I read the Winn Horse story about it. It's like they were talking, they were talking. And then they said, okay, we've got a deadline to get this thing done. And then they're like, fine, forget it. We're just signing R.J. Barrett.

And so Danny Angel's like, fine. F you, I'm trading them to Cleveland. I mean, I do think there's, I think some emotion probably went into it. I do. I think some emotion went into it. It's not that great. of a deal. It's not that great of a deal. Danny's done better.

And he probably could have held out and done better. So that's what makes me feel like this was a F you. Unless, as reported, weeks ago, maybe even at the beginning of those months ago, Aangin the Jazz just didn't

love R.J. Barrett. Maybe they just didn't love R.J. Didn't want to pay him. That's possible. You didn't want to pay him, but also maybe just didn't love him as a player. What was that story about them not including Grimes and that that was like a deal breaker. That can't be so. Grimes had a great summer to be fair.

And he's already a good shooter, good defender. That can't be true. It can't be true. Well, the final offer was reported as R.J. Barrett, Emmanuel quickly, three unprotected firsts and multiple pick swaps. That was from Shams Sharania. And others have reported that too, I believe. So, like, that's comparable.

I mean, I wouldn't say it's dramatic. dramatically better than the Cleveland offer. Maybe it's not better at all. Like if you're betting on Iqbaji coming on a rookie deal in a similar mold of R.J. Kind of a bigger wing, you know, that type of mold. Maybe you want him instead. Lowry market in the deal to a young stretch big. I see the appeal from the Utah perspective in taking the Cleveland deal.

And I disagree with you on betting. I'd rather bet against Cleveland, the smaller market than bet against New York, the bigger market with Mitchell who wants to be. there. So, I mean, like, that part's almost less important to me than the players and the assets. If it's just Barrett and just quickly, versus Sexton, like Baji and

Marketing, it's close. It's close between those two. And if the emotion does play into it a little bit, I mean, sure, yeah, out of spite against the Knicks. I can understand that. I think, you know, that one, I think they went back and forth and back and forth so much. I cannot fathom

that Quentin Grimes held it up. You know, I can't. And I like Grime. I like Grimes. I like Grimes in college. This guy's the seventh leading points per game guy in playoff history in the NBA. You cannot like Quentin Grimes stand in the way of that.

Okay. That's ridiculous. If you're the Knicks right now, how are you feeling? You're in their front office right now. How are you feeling? I told you this when we talked about. the RJ thing.

If you and I believe R.J. Barrett could be, like the ceiling is much greater than maybe some of our peers believe. If that is so, I don't sweat this at all. And I wait till the next time around and the disgruntled. Because, look, we had a whole clip that was out there.

I hated the fit with Mitchell anyway. Yeah. If I spent $100 million on Barrett, I spent $100 million on Brunson, I cannot have, I can't maximize Brunton, Mitchell, and Barrett. Now, if you want to say Barrett would have been on the go, I still don't love Brunson and Mitchell as the back court as much when I don't feel like they're flanked.

You know, it's fun for sure. But I mean, as soon as that came up, you were talking about, well, but maybe you just get the asset and then you got to move Brunton. Like, I'm already talking about trading a guy. I just paid $100 million, too. Like, if that's where the conversation's headed, this is the wrong conversation to have. So, yeah, I wouldn't feel bad at all if I were the next.

I wouldn't. I don't think that that's the right fit for what they're trying to do. I'd say Brunson's my point guard going forward. Feel good about it. Barrett's my two guard going forward. Feel good about it. Now I've got to figure out the right. I gotta hope a couple of these guys pop.

I hate that we agree on this. Yeah. But we do. Just like we talked about last week's episode. I wouldn't feel bad about it, honestly. No, I mean, like, look, Donovan Mitchell's a great player like we're talking about. And he would have brought them closer to becoming an appealing team to add another star. But they still would have had and make another big move, whether it was trading away Brunson in the years to come or whether it was trading away other pieces on this team.

Like the thing is, like the way we talked about. it was them keeping RJ, if I remember correctly. We were talking about the RJ Brunson Mitchell fit. They wouldn't even have been able to keep RJ Barrett in this type of situation. And then you have Brunson Mitchell. That back court just doesn't make total sense. And people will, I know there's probably somebody saying, wait, but you like the Cleveland back court?

That's not that big. They don't have Alan and Moldley. They don't have Alton Mold. They have Julius Randall, who Nix fans are booing off the court. And Evan Fortier. No kidding. That's who they got. So like for the Nix's.

here. He plays with a red cake. He holds it all the time. He's the Ole God. Jalen Brunson is going to elevate RJ Barrett. He's going to elevate Mitchell Robbins and having a real point guard for the Knicks here with Grant Quentin

Rimes hopefully continuing to get better. Obi Topin, hopefully Tompito's feeding him more and more minutes. Hopefully the front office can move off Randall and open up more minutes for some of these young guys. The Knicks are still set up to be better. And a lot of that has to do with just because they got

Jalen Brunson. So I think if you're a Knicks fan or you work for the Knicks right now, you're disappointed but you still have RJ Barrett on your team and you still have all these future draft picks that you could flip from the next guy who becomes available. It's just a matter of who that's going to be

when you've been saying that for many years now. Like you said, they've had so few moments over the last three decades. Yeah, for the Knicks here, like you're still kicking the can forward, but it's not such a bad place to be. Maybe Quinn Grimes is going to be a Hall of Famer.

As we record this on Tuesday evening, there's been news come out that Montrez Harold is signing with the Philadelphia 76ers. Not a great summer for old Montresel, but Darryl, man, he can never quit his guys, can he love Darry. It's a great GM. He can never quit his guys. Can I get Hardin? Can I get housed?

Can I get, we're going to get the Houston band back together. Tucker. Yeah. Oh, yeah, Tucker, too. Yeah, who else? Can we go get Eric Gordon? What are we doing here? Let's just get the band.

Maybe during the season. Why not? Get the band back together. Capella's probably available in Atlanta. Get the band back together, Daryl. Can you imagine those rocket teams with Joella B, the MVP candidate? They would have smoked the warriors. We're back to find out.

Because it's the same damn thing. I'm kidding. Not a great summer for. old mantras. I didn't know what was going on. I guess times passed enough. Anybody can go look up his arrest. It was not pretty.

In Kentucky. Well, yeah, the weed smoking thing, right? Well, it wasn't just, it wasn't weed smoking. This was a distribution thing. And then they tried to say, it wasn't his, right? Of course, it's never theirs. Yeah, Woj tweeted out, Harold had charges of marijuana trafficking reduced to a

misdemeanor possession in Madison County, Kentucky Courthouse recently. Charge will be expunged from his record after 12 months if Harold gets in no further legal trouble. Which is a great, great deal because when that story came out, it was not great. He got pulled over at like 10 o'clock in the morning, no less. And then they smelled marijuana. He was driving a 2020 Honda pilot. And so they smell it.

And then they go and they look at the, they look in it. They find three pounds of marijuana. Pounds, Kevin. That's why he got the, I mean, it was felony charges. He could have faced one to five years in prison plus a $10,000 fine. He said that the car was rented, which I actually believe that.

It was a 2020 Honda pilot. I don't think that... Does that matter if your car is rented or not? The sixth man of the year. I don't think it matters, but I don't know. I don't know how he got out of this. And frankly, I don't care to read all of it. But three pounds of marijuana gets you.

It's a lot of wheat. It's a real charge now. It's a real charge. But got to reduce to a misdemeanor, and now he's got to deal with the Sixers. So, I mean, thank goodness that didn't happen in Russia, I guess, for him. I mean, it's- Buddy, you ain't lying.

It speaks to the difference in laws. I mean, these different countries with a grinders going through. He won a national title in Louisville. Yeah, that might help. All he needed was a Louisville judge. Guys like, like, Montrez, gave me one of the greatest moments of my life. I love your game. I love you.

You were great. You were probably wearing a Herald jersey at the hearing. I remember when you. hook my wife. So anyways, he's now with the Philadelphia 76ers. Kind of ma' with Charlotte. Obviously super ma'am with the Lakers. Unbelievable with the Clippers.

But it's been a minute for Harold. That sixth man of the year season, it's a little while back. But I do think I'd love to have him. And the weirdest thing was, remember even that sixth man of the year, year. God, he was horrendous in the bubble. That's when it all kind of fell apart. Terrible.

You think there's a correlation between... Who cracked on him? Wait, wait, wait, you think there's... Who dumped on him? Do you remember it? No, I don't. I think it changed his career. No, I think it's something else.

When did the NBA stop testing for weed? It helps some players. It probably hurts others. That's a strong theory, Chris. What was the? It was the bubble when they stopped testing. I know, but who was the dunk? Who dunked on Montres Herald?

Something horrible. I'm looking at it. I got this. In the bubble. It was, I mean, I can remember it. Michael Porter Jr. Yes. Yeah, that's right.

I remember that. I'm pulling up the dunk right now. Terrible. Yokic posted up, Harold. and he got double-teamed, swung the ball around, Porter Jr. drives, and Harold went to go take a charge

and just got destroyed. Absolutely destroyed. And Porter Jr.'s dead is in the crowd going bananas. Yep. That's who it was. Yeah, once you get cracked on by Michael Porter Jr. like that. Yeah, who can't jump? I mean, he's got injuries.

He's got drop foot, bad back. His whole family tears their ACLs when they get out of bed in the morning. Hey, and mine, Trace Harold was never the same. Never the same. Hey, it happened to Brandon Knight, man. Brandon Knight was doing good. And DeAndre Jordan spiked on his head.

All changed. You know what I mean? I mean, look, here's never the same. Here's the thing with Harold now, though, Chris. He's going from spending time with young guys like LaMello and, you know, Bradley Beale on a down year and Didwitty when he's not happy in Washington. And now he's going to play with James Hardin, who had the best pick and roll duo in the NBA last year, statistically with Joelle and Bede. Hardin and Bede was number one in the NBA and pick and roll duos.

Say what you want about how they produce. The numbers say what they do. And now he's going back to play with James Hardin, who he spent a year in 2016-17. They produced at a high level together. I look back at the second special stats, scored 1.05 points per chance together in the pick and roll. Watch a lot of film of it earlier today. Those guys had great chemistry.

When they shared the court together with Harold as a young player, they thrived. Obviously, Hardin's not the same guy anymore as a scorer, but he's different as a passer. He's better as a playmaker at this point, leaning into that. This could elevate Harold back to some of the levels that we saw when he was with Lou Williams, when he was producing at an elite level with that bench unit together. So now for Philadelphia, their big main hole after all their changes in the summer, Tucker House, Belton,

all that you mentioned previously, the one hole was the backup center slot. And now you have Harold, who with Embed

and Hardin and Maxi mix and match those guys and the pick and roll together, all of them can produce at a

high level now. If Embed's going to sit for rest or injury, Harold can slide right in. Paul Reed can be your

backup center. This move is a minor one here late in the summer, but a big one for Philadelphia. Yeah. So I guess what you're saying is we just got to hope Harden and Montrez both get in the same exact time machine and go back to 2017 when both of them were awesome.

No, I'm not saying. Harold wasn't even in his prime yet, man. He wasn't in L.A. yet. He spent one year. Yeah, he did so much more. I mean, he is what he is. He's a good bench player. He's a great energy player.

Yeah, and that's all he's going to be now. And you got him coming off a bench with Tucker and Melton and House. They got dogs on their team, man. Yep. Bible? They get a lot of tough, hard-nosed defenders coming off that bench.

He's fixed that roster. I mean, would you really be all that surprised at Phillies in the NBA finals? Of course not. No, that's what I'm saying. Like, now you get Harold Adams. Now he's just a role player,

but you just said it earlier. Roll players and stars. Howell is a guy that has embraced his role and now he goes from, you know, solid players to former MVP and James Farman. That's a guy you want to bring it. I mean, you just hope that he regains what he was. Yes.

He has not been that in a while. We haven't really seen it since the Clippers. Lou Will unlocked Montres Harrell, and he has them in the same without Lou Will. But now you hope James Harder can bring out of him what they once had together when they were in Houston for that one year. Yeah. Another, yeah, because it didn't even work when he was playing with LeBron. I'm, I think one of the differences with him, because he's a roller, is having that. that guy in the pick and roll who has gravity from the perimeter.

Lou Will could pull up going to his left at an amazing level. Dinwiddie, no. Bradley Beale last season, no, maybe past years. Williams Harrell was just devastating for that Clippers team. Oh, it was amazing. Until the playoffs. By the way, Lamello, Harold, they were good statistically together. Those guys put up really high numbers.

So I think Harrell can still do it with the right guard. And to me, Hardin and Maxi, they fit the profile of the types of guards that have just excelled at a high level with Montrose Harrell. Other thing we do want to mention is the 2K ratings are out, so now we're in Mad Player season. Did not suspect. Look, when I saw the ratings getting posted throughout the day, the player that got upset,

I think was probably, I mean, I would have had very low on the list in terms of players, I think will get upset about the rating. Westbrook should be irate. Why? What's his rating? Because they obviously did this on purpose. See, rated lower than like a Caruso?

That'd be appropriate. He is one point lower than Pat Bev. I think that's fair. No, but that is so intentional. To make Pat Bev, I think it's like a 79 and Westbrook a 78. That is so messed up. 2K so I can see you blip it out

wait a minute why is Kendrick Nunn a 78 he's rated the same as Russ who makes these ratings so Ronnie 2K does Ronnie 2K do this all on his own that's who everybody blame so I will too yeah they blame him by wonder like who

why is Kendrick Nunn of the 70 he didn't play last year we don't know if he's even going to play this year anyway the one that actually gets mad of all people is Kevin Durrano He's the one that gets mad about his rating. And I can't tell with him anymore if he's ever joking or not. But Kevin Durant was rated a 96 on the game.

The only player that's got a 97 is Janus. Then the 96s are LeBron, Curry, Durant, Yokic, and M.B. That seems totally fair to me, right? It's a little high for LeBron probably. Embed and then Yokic 95, Kauai 94, Morant 93, Tatum and Butler 93. I mean, it's a pretty reasonable compilation of the best players in the NBA and they're rated, you know, as such.

That being said, and I guess Phoenix fans are mad about Booker, the cover athlete because he's not on that list. But Durant, not happy with his 96. Thought he should have been, I guess, a 99. But nobody get a 99. Giannis is 97. And then that group of 96 is as LeBron Curry, Durant, Yokich, and Mbeat.

You know who should be the angriest of all? Clay Thompson. Rated in 88 as a three-point shooter equal to Desmond Bain, Kevin Durant, and Luke Kinnard? Luke canard led the league in three points. I understand, but 88? Why is Steph Curry? Desmond Bain was in there.

I know, I know, but Steph Curry at 99 and nobody else above 90. It just doesn't make sense to me how Bain Canard, like during, like some of these guys should be above 90, right? Yeah. Especially Clay, he can still stroke it from three. Yep. And he was mad. He, you know, put up the throw-up emoji on Instagram, you know, put some respect on my name. You want me tell you one.

Hey, let me tell you, let me tell you who I have, I don't play very much. And I have not played my son in probably two or three years. Because the last time I played against him, he got so mad. And you know, it's funny, you're talking about the three-point shooters. I played him, and I was Brooklyn. I think I hit 14 threes with Joe Harris. And he was so mad. he turned the, like, he was like, I don't, it was going to damage our relationship if I hit

another Joe Harris three. And I was here, I was letting him hear about every one of them. Just green, green, green. Oh, I was passing up wide open layups to throw it out to Joe Harris. Bang, Joe Harris was automatic like two or three years ago in that game. He never missed green, green, green, whenever he was at the peak of his powers. And I don't know what Joe Harris is. now. But I swear to God, they had him as the best three-point shooter I've ever seen in my life

on that game. It was hilarious. I was playing, and we have not, I mean, it almost ruined our relationship, me and my son. So we don't even play because of Joe Harris. That's why. I want you two to play again this year. Yeah, I think. I don't think I want to anymore. He plays a lot. Dude, like Nets versus Grizzlies. He's final. Finals. review. That's my problem. He would smash me now. He would. He's really good at it now. He's got all the crossovers now. He just plays so much. Yeah.

You know what I mean? And then I'd get mad, so then it would hurt our relationship. Probably better. I've never been that good at 2K. For some reason, I could never grasp that game. Even when I was young. I don't know why. I could never never played that game at a high level. One of the reasons

why I don't love playing it. One other thing we've got to mention, Victor Wimbayama. is going to play in the United States. I love this story. Well, this isn't official yet, right? This is not official. Yes, it is.

It is official? This is 100% now. Yes. Okay. He's going to play against Scoot Henderson. Official official. Yes. Okay.

Official official. I see it. Jonathan Giovanni. Yeah. It's going to be October 4th and October 6th. I saw the Raphael Barlow report from a couple days ago, that there were ongoing discussion. So I see Giovanni reported this a couple of hours ago.

Wow. They're going to put this on ESPN, and everybody's been talking about this generational talent, Victor Wimbayama, and his Metropolitan's 92 from Paris, are going to play the G League at night on October 4th and October 6th, and it's about a month away. And the games are going to be on the ESPN family of networks,

18 years old, 7 foot 4 barefoot with an 8-foot wingspan. and I'm going. I'm going for damn sure, man. In Henderson, Nevada. Oh, yeah, no doubt about it. He's going to be there. And I don't know how many people, you know, everybody's been talking about one by Yamma for some time

and they're talking about the tanking for him. And like this is, this is a generational prospect worthy of tanking for. Totally understand. Anybody that has not pulled up like the Scoot Henderson highlights. Do it. What are you waiting for? Hey, this is what I got to do with you.

You were talking about a trip to Memphis. At some point, I'll get with you and plan. I was so excited. So the G-League schedule came out, and the Memphis Hustle played that Ignite team twice. I'm going to get to see that kid in person twice. Hell yeah. Because they're playing a real G-League schedule this year.

Yeah, full season. And I was so worried, you know, because all these G-League teams don't play each other. And so I was like, oh, man, I hope that Ignite team comes to where I could see them in person. And sure enough, they're coming twice to play. And so I'll get to see that kid in person later this year. There's a couple others. There's on that Ignite team, there's that Leonard Miller kid who's a Canadian wing, and then City Sisoko.

And those guys on at least ESPN's rankings are like 19th and 23rd in the upcoming draft respectively. So some other draft prospects too on that ignite team. But yeah, this guy is this one by Ami's coming to the States and going to play on ESPN. So you know everybody's going to be watching that. I'm fired up, man. Yeah. I did not see that Giovanni report a couple hours ago. I've been taking some apartment deliveries.

It's happening. It's happening. It's happening. Dude, that's amazing. Well, they start that Metropolitan's 92. They're the Metropolitan 92s. That's their name. We looked that up.

Why are they called that? Why are they called the 92s? That is an odd name for sure. The 92s. What year do you think they were established? Stop. Is that really? really what it is.

No, they're established in 2007. Okay. So why are they called the 92? I'm trying to figure that out. What's the significance of that number? Give me a minute. All right. Their season starts later this month.

Three games slated for September 23rd, 27th, the 30th. So they play three games and then they're going to travel to the United States for a week of training and exhibition games in Nevada. And that's when they're going to play against G-League Ignite and they're going to put the thing on TV. So that's going to be fantastic. An opportunity to see the showcase of this projected number one pick that everybody's been talking about now for a couple of years. Let me hit up Killian and Rudy O'Barre and ask about the significance. No, I don't know French history.

I mean, I barely know American history. Never mind French history, Chris. You know who the president of their team is. team is. Boris Dia, I saw that before. I know he's with them. That's one of the reasons

why Wen Ban Yama went there, that relationship. Is that right? Yeah. Diaz got a big presence on that team. How about that? I had no idea.

Can somebody from France, one of our listeners, help us out there? Yeah. I mean, we're one of the biggest basketball podcast in France. And

I mean, I'll thank Kevin for that, for sure. Yeah, for sure. No doubt about it. He loves the French guys. The French love us. And so, tell us. You, I don't know. Look, we did the very basic.

Look it up. No, they love me. Look, John Moran had a way higher selling jersey than Rudy Gobair. Let's go. Look it up. Highest selling jerseys in France. You're not wrong. That's factual.

I'm not wrong. They don't like him either. So somebody, our French fans, send us why it doesn't say on Wikipedia, that is the extent of the research that we are going to do. We don't care that much. So if Wikipedia cannot tell us the answer, then we will now just ask for our French friends to tell us, why are they the 92? because we don't know. It's going to do it for this edition of the mismatch. Thank you to our executive producer, Jesse Lopez, as always.

Kevin, I will talk to you next week. Looking forward to where Chris. We get a mega mailbag coming up next week. We put out a co-tweet on Twitter asking for mailbag questions. We're going to answer a whole bunch of them on next week's episode. Have a good one.