The Mismatch - Loves and Loathes, Victor Wembanyama’s Case for MVP, and Who Is the Real Iceman?

Episode Date: March 27, 2026

Verno and Jacoby jump right into their Loves and Loathes, including Wemby’s case for MVP and why Draymond agrees and disagrees with it, George Gervin’s case as the real Iceman, Shai’s and JB’s jabs at each other, and more. (:17) Welcome to The Mismatch! (:23) Sweet 16 started: Purdue and Iowa deliver victories (2:31) 76ers rout the Bulls with 157 points (7:58) The Thunder and Celtics silently dissing each other (11:16) The latest saga with Giannis and the Bucks (21:04) The Celtics are not supposed to be this good (24:42) The Atlanta Hawks' run to 41-32 (31:46) Key players returning for the playoffs (33:11) Rudy Gobert and his longevity diet (37:37) Scott Foster and every one of his calls (40:50) Victor Wembanyama’s case for MVP (50:28) The Hornets and the defense that they play (54:17) Draymond Green and his case for MVP (59:23) The Rockets and all of their problems (1:02:09) Jokic reminds the league he’s MVP-caliber (1:07:35) Zion playing all these games for the Pelicans (1:09:53) There's only one “Iceman,” and that is George Gervin (1:12:45) Long TSA lines! The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Leave us a message on our Mismatch Voicemail line! [phone] Hosts: Chris Vernon and David Jacoby Producers: Brian H. Waters and Jeff Shearin Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon and joining me to see us every week from the ringer.com. It's Dave Chicobe. It is Thursday night. We just watched the boiler makers send the long horns home. We did. We watched Purdue win and we saw on the other channel Iowa win, which, you know, that guy from Iowa, Ben McCollum, that's coaching them, he reminds me so much of Brad Stevens for some reason. So he'll probably be running the Celtics in a couple of years. He like, like his Iowa team, it reminds me of those old Butler teams where I'm sitting there going like, they are only doing this because they are so expertly coached. Like this is crazy how they have pulled it off. And I guess he's got the point guard that's going to be a first round draft pick possibly Bennett Sturts. But I mean, it's kind of like how Butler had Gordon Hayward back in the day.

But great college games. And then I will tell you, prospectors coming over later tonight. for Arkansas, Arizona. Big one he's looking forward to. Yeah, that's a big one for the prospector. And Houston versus Illinois. Kingston Fleming. What does he eat?

What does he drink? Does he do like, does he do like bud heavies? Like, what does the prospector drink? Whiskey? Yes. Whiskey. Come on. Whiskey.

Bourbon. Yeah. Bourbon rocks. Yes. I apologize to the prospector. NBA game that went on. This was a very light night NBA schedule-wise for good reason with the Sweet 16 going on. But you had to watch your New York Knicks fall to,

to the Charlotte Hornets. Oh, I watched every second of it. And let me hear it. Oh, we'll get to that later because that's going to be in my loves and lows. But let me tell you something, man, the hornets look good. The hornets look good. I don't want to play that team in the first round. They may not be in the first round.

We'll get to that as well. Like, this thing is so jumbled up that somebody that we either want or expected to be performing in the Eastern Conference playoffs is not going to be performing in the Eastern Conference playoffs this year. Let's get to our loves and lows of the last week of the NBA. I will start with my first love.

Did you see Philadelphia? Sure did. Yeah, they got them back. Philadelphia, now I know they're playing the tanking hapless, ridiculous Chicago, balls. But 157 points is a lot of points no matter who you're playing. I mean, they gave up 137. They did. But Embed was getting it. He had his mid range going. He was getting it around the rim. Like, he looked good. All right. Joel Embed and Paul George both coming back. So you had 35 points,

12 of 17 for Embed three of three from three. Paul George had 28, right? And that's the little thing that goes across the scorebug. What doesn't go across the scorebug? He had 28, six rebounds, four assists, four steals, a block. And that was his first game back since January 29. And I did think it was funny. One of the little headlines before that game was Nick Nurse says Paul George will not need ramp up for return to play. And I was like, you don't say. He was, he wasn't He was suspended. He should be the healthiest he has ever been in his life. And honestly, talk me down. Talk me down. Oh, I can't. Because I'm watching it and I'm going, man, they get Maxie back in the fold and I'm throwing and Ubra's coming back. And they got Maxie Edgecombe, George, Ubre, and B,

little Don Barlow, little Quintney Grimes and campaigns sprinkled in, maybe a little bona in a case of emergency. I got it. I understand over the course of the extent of the playoffs, you're not sitting there counting on Joel and B to be available throughout those. But, just hear me out. You watch them and you're like, man, if Paul George is going to be back. in the mix. And Joel and Bede, what if they've just been crazy slow play in this all year

for this exact reason, right? Which is have him be able to ramp up and then be able to perform in the playoffs. It just, I think we had made the Sixers an afterthought and just seeing it at least. I was like, damn it, they got a lot of talent. If I'm one of those top teams, I would now want to see them. They were fielding starting lineups were just straight up like two-way guys and G-League guys like two weeks ago. And now they could field a starting lineup in two weeks.

That is, as you said, Ubre, Maxie, Edgecombe, and Bede. Yeah. And then you like their bench. Like the guys that come up, Dom Barlow is good. And, you know, these other guys that could come up their bench. Grimes?

Grimes like a real, like Grimes. Like, Grimes is the reason that Jared McCain is in Oklahoma City right now. And I'm just saying they ain't got a talent problem if they can get them all. Their problem is being able to get them all on the court. If they can get them all on the court, that is a team that could wildly outperform their regular season production. There is. There's also the five through 10 is interesting because there is only two games difference

between the Hawks and the heat. Yep. It's only like that could like we're talking about winning two games just to make the playoffs versus being in is like two games in the lost column right now. Right. And that six spot is going to be, it's going to be the Knicks, most likely. Yeah. That six spots can be against the Knicks.

And if it's the, then Sixers, it's scary. It is. That's scary. It's just that team is one of, of these odd teams that we have that is much better than their seat. If they bring all of this to the table, if they bring all of this to the table, they are a team that would have an infinitely better record than whatever they have

because the record's not terrible. I mean, they're still in the mix. But they would have a much better record if they had healthy lineups throughout the season. But they just have so few games. that these guys all play together. What if they could have them all together and healthy and available for a first round playoff series?

They are somebody that you would not want to see. Maxie's had a couple of huge games against Knicks. They're like forgotten now, but like they cannot stay in front of that kid. And you know, who knows though? You don't know how this stuff is going to shake out. You know, MBE, anything can happen with him? You just don't know.

And also like they had gaudy numbers, but they, they did. Let them score, the Bulls score 137 points. He's going to 157. So it's going to like, you look, it's like, oh, 33 for me and 28 for George. Like that's out of 160 points. It was like, they kind of played like two games. All-Star game.

Yeah. All right. What's your first love? I love, I mean, the Thunder Celtics game, the games last night, being Wednesday night, for listening to this on Friday, were just fantastic. Like, they were just top-notch basketball games. three just great, great games, one of which was the Celtics Thunder game. And we'll get into sort of more about the basketball part of it. But my first love is Shea and Jalen Brown just sort of

like sub-dissing each other in the post games. And like this Jalen Brown game was really interesting because they have a lot of people to throw at him. You know, because I was like rewatching it this morning, which is something I rarely do during the regular season. But it was, they've got Dort in front of them and and they've got Gildes Alexander from them. They got caruso on. I'm like they've got a lot to throw at a good wing player. And it frustrated Brown at first. He was like 0 for six to start the game. It seemed like he couldn't hit anything. And then we know what happened in the second half. And then after the game, remember, Shea Gilders Alexander, who has a reputation for getting to the free throw line, and that's a gross

understatement, is wearing the Cameron pink fur jacket. And here is what he said about Jalen Brown's night. He's done a really good job of getting to the free-to line, especially against us. I think it's 14 twice. So 28 free-dos in two games, pretty good job. Yeah, I mean, the best praise of the history of the game is a free-doll. So it's part of the game. It's the most efficient way to score points statistically.

So, yeah, just going out there playing, keeping defenders off balance, take one they get it's so loaded those comments chris i don't feel so i i think he's actually being complimentary he is because he thinks that that is the right way to play basketball yeah exactly like he's he's not like dissing him directly yeah he's saying the best players get to the free throw line but when asked about his night the first thing he mentions is in two games he's gone to the free throw line 28 times right that is worth noting and then jaylon Brown, as he often does, was on a stream after the game, because he's like, I show speed now or whatever.

I wonder how many people are actually watching these things, because I am not, like, on Twitch watching Julian Brown to sort of like BS in his living room. But he said his favorite play of the game. And we all know which play it was when he has the ball. Yeah. And he pushes off with his right hand, much like Shea Gildas, Alexandria, right in Shea Gildas, Alexander's favorite spot, the right elbow. And then he upbakes, Shea bites, and then he bongs into Shea on his way up and gets an and one.

And he's like, that was my favorite play of the game. Now, both of these statements are not direct disrespect towards each other, but they're not, not. And that's what I loved. Let me get your thoughts on the game. What did you think? Do you think it was a better way to phrase it? How meaningful do you think it was that the Celtics beat the. thunder. That is going to be my first loat. So stand by. Put a pin in that. Let's get to your first

load. Fair enough. My first loat is this whole Janus Bucks thing. Jacobi, like the NBA PA getting involved. Now Doc Rivers is getting involved in this. So just a quick little rundown. Obviously the buck season has gone to hell. The whole Yonis thing has been hanging out there all year. And now we're dealing with the whole, the best thing for their franchise going forward is to lose a bunch of games and not play Yonis and have him not come back and re-injure himself, God forbid. But Janus is like, anytime I can play, I want to be out there. And so now Doc Rivers is coming out saying, no, he's actually really injured. And so he has to take the task, the MVPA thing. And it's like,

what is wrong with you people? How? I don't. understand how situations like this happen. I'm being totally honest. This is a conversation that is so easy to take place. Like, how is this playing out in the public with Schaam's report, with MBPA, NBA, you know, press releases with Doc Rivers press conferences, how can the bucks not get in a room and come to an agreement and an understanding about the way things are going to be handled?

It is so beyond perplexing. And like, it is an astonishing, appalling lack of communication. that has to take place for this to play out the way that it has. I just don't, I'll never in a million years understand why you can't get in a room and talk and have a conversation with the player and just say, hey, man, look, right? Like, especially when it's your franchise is like hero, all-time greatest player. And it's not that hard. Look, bro, we're going to move you this offseason, okay? We're going to get you to a better spot. This is run its course. What cannot happen is risking you having some kind of another terrible injury before the season ends. And honestly, honest, you've been around the league a long time. You understand the way this is going. And what's best for our franchise going forward is not necessarily. putting our best step forward. So this is twofold. A, we don't think it will be good for you. There is

no reason for you to play the rest of the year. And in fact, the only thing that can happen with you playing the rest of the year is bad. Bad for you and bad for the franchise. So if you want what's best for you and this franchise like, this is a, I'm not kidding, Jacoby, a four-minute but for some reason these people cannot get in a room and then it just plays out and this thing has been dragging on. And honestly, everything about it because this whole season, we've been talking about Janus literally since last July. Nope. Them not being able to get in a room and discuss the state of Janus within the context of the franchise,

especially when you should have, theoretically, a great relationship with him. He's been there his entire career. And it's not like these are all new people running it. And Doc Rivers has been around the league for 30, 40 years. So, I mean, he could be in the room too. Like, again, I'll just leave it at that. This is a three to four minute conversation that's very easy to understand. And yet, this gets drug out in public with all of these embarrassing stories.

end quote, just everything about this whole Janus year has been total bull crap. It all started with the, oh, I spoke to the owner. The owner's like, I spoke to Janus and he wants to be here. And the honest is like, I have no idea what you're talking about. So there's not the same page in the summer. And now the winter's already broken and started spring again. And more stuff like this comes out. Just get on the same page.

Their interests are aligned. The bucks want to lose basketball games and they want to trade Janus. And Janus wants to be traded. But he refuses to just say that out loud. If Janice wants to be traded, he should not be playing basketball right now. Well, and he also doesn't need to be the face of anti-tanking when they're fixing everything this whole season anyway. But at the same time, we shouldn't be here. The NBA PA should not be like, allow our basketball players that you pay millions of dollars to play basketball, please.

Like, that's just so backwards. It's so backwards. Of course it is. But, I mean, again, it all plays into the whole Adam Silver doing the We Are Fixed, tanking full stop, which, I mean, the only other person I hear say that all the time is every time I see an interview with Gavin Newsom. So it's like, you just took that from Gavin Newsom. We are fixing tanking full stop. I'm like, all right, slow down on that one. That being said, again, you don't have to be the face of anti-tanking anymore. It's getting fixed this offseason.

Like we don't need the, we don't need the hero. The hero, great player that's like, I'm not going to let my team tank. So there's something to this that Rich Paul, you can listen to Rich Paul and Max Kellerman on Game Over. So it's a show that I, you know, help produce and work on. And I'm not violating his, you know, privacy here because this is something he was going to say on the show. But he had an angle on this. It's always nice when you talk to people that offer brand new perspective on things you didn't think about. Because he's like in the trench.

is with the contracts. Sure. He's like, he might have something in his shoe deal that says he has to play a certain amount of games or minutes. And that is like, it's so nice when you get a new perspective. Because I thought this was like a Janus trying to prove that he's a competitor thing. And again, Rich has no inside information about Janus's shoe deal. He does not represent Janus.

He's just speculating. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't want to get it backwards. But I thought that was a really interesting angle of like, oh, maybe there is a financial incentive for Janus to get back. on the basketball court. Again, I'm not reporting that. No one knows the details of his shoe deal.

But I thought that was a really interesting thing to think about because then if you're the NBA PA, you're like, wait a second. I know you guys are trying to lose games. I know you want to shut him down for the season. But now you're sort of keeping him from his money, which I don't know is a fact, but it's an interesting angle on this story.

Because I thought it was like, Janus being a hardo being like, I want to play, I'm a basketball player. I want to prove how tough I am. But like something like that could be in play. I'd say it. if you're Janus what

he's been he's been disingenuous this entire process so he's just not that type of guy I'm saying but everybody would be on your side oh yeah I mean

right like everybody's just tried to play seven sides of the fence this entire time and I'm getting kind of sick of it and like my my the way I feel about Janus Tentacupo has changed

pretty dramatically over the past I'm just saying like and none of the things that have annoyed us are basketball. But they're also not easily preventable things. Oh, yeah.

It does feel like if you get the right people in the room and just get on the same page. The mismatch is brought to you by our friends at Fandul. Basketball fans, the NBA season isn't over yet. It's just heating up. And Fandul is giving everyone a chance to hit the court with their latest offer.

Guess what right now? New customers can score up to, $300 back in bonus bets every day for 10 days from NBA bets that don't win. It's 10 days of second chances. Banduel is the best place to bet your favorite NBA players, build a same game parlay, or try live betting. It is Friday, and I have my eye on the marquee matchup on the schedule. The Hawks, one of the hottest teams in the league.

rising through the ranks in the Eastern Conference, are going up against the Celtics fresh off a win against defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder. And you know what I like? I like the over. I like Jalen Johnson's individual stats to be good. And I like the Hawks to win this one. If you want to bet with me or if you want to bet

the NCAA tournament that is also going on right now. That is also on Fanduil. And Fandul is now live in Arkansas. Visit Fandul.com slash mismatch to join today. Everyone deserves a second shot at greatness with Fandul, an official partner of the NBA. Remember, you must be 21 or over in select states or 18 and over in D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming.

Bonus bets are not. non-withdrawable and expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook. Fendool.com. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-Gambler or call 1-88-79-777 or visit ccpg. Dot or slash chat in Connecticut.

All right. Your first load. It's just how good the Celtics are. You know, as a fan of an Eastern Conference team who could see them in the second round, like, this is not supposed to be this way. you know, Tatum goes out. Right. Holiday's gone.

Chris Asper's thing as this is gone. It seems like they're making moves to sort of like get under the tax. And it sort of felt like this was a gap year. The first month it kind of looked like trash. And this team is not supposed to be this good. And I'm watching them last night. Like they're so good. I mean, like what they did with SGA, who had a very efficient night, right?

He was like nine for 12. But he only took 12 shots for a reason. Then what, Chet, unimpactful. J. Dub, you know, looked great in his first game back from injury, but he did not look great last night. Well, and you saw, did you see those screen caps of the, all the Celtics in one area stopping the Gilges Alexander drives? It's like, all right, you're not getting to do this.

And so if these guys want to try to shoot this out of a, go ahead. He only took 12 shots, which is, you know, that's really low for, for Shay. Now, obviously, he gets the line. He was very efficient with those. 12 shots. But like this Boston team is just so good. They had six players in double figures. Hauser had nine.

It just seemed like everybody that subs in they're always on the same page defensively. There's no sort of like blown coverages like you see with a lot of other good teams too. Like the Knicks or the Lakers. Like you see just like backdoor cuts and layups all the time with those kind of teams. Like this Boston team is just

they're just so much better than I thought they would be. And Tatum had a couple kind of like, I guess he is still working his way back games, but he looked good last night. And like I said earlier, Brown started rough. It just really felt like they had the antidote for Brown. And it seemed like at halftime, looking at film, recognizing how they were sort of attacking him defensively, he made the right adjustments and had a great fourth quarter. And it was such a great win for the Celtics. They looked so good. Well, and I mean, obviously immense credit, which has been given by Joe Mizzula. I mean,

I remember Joe Missoula's done a great job. And also Joe Missoula has gone out of his way to give credit to Brad Stevens for building this because I saw them in the preseason that thought they weren't going to be any good. That this was just going to be a gap year. I'm like, really? They're going to go into the year with Ceda and Garza and expect this to be okay. Like, I mean, this is crazy. And one of the things that the Missoula talked about earlier in the year, and I keep remembering

this phrase, competitive character. He went and found guys with competitive character. These guys will play together and they will play hard. And they replaced Drew Holiday. Chris As for Zingis and Al Horford with just guys. You know what I mean? Like that Derek White, Wall, Gonzalez. Like, who are these are just guys.

Kada. Kada was not a guy last year. Anybody could have had him. He was cut by, he was thrown away by the Sacramento. Kings. Anybody could have had him. He's been awesome. When the pistons were terrible, they weren't playing Luca Garza. When they were terrible. They were so bad,

Verno. And they were not playing Luca Garza. And now he's getting minutes on the number two team in the East. The same guy. Super valuable. Yeah. It's crazy. They're not supposed to be this good. That's why it's my first load. And I don't want to spend any more time celebrating the Celtics on a Ringer podcast because Bill

does that plenty. Fair enough. All right. My next love, this Atlanta Hawks run. Okay, so I got it. Everybody's poking holes in it. Well, when you're really looking at it, they haven't beaten that many good teams. They didn't.

They're right, but they're good. Go ahead. I got it. But here's the deal. They're 41 and 32 now. Okay? So I remember this from earlier in the year when we were doing dirty, the trade deadline.

And we were talking about this stuff. So just remember that number, 41 and 32. Okay. So the number I remember from the, trade deadline is two and eight. Okay. Two and eight was the record in the 10 games that Tray Young played for the Atlanta Hawks. So what do we do? We pull those out because Trey Young, as you may have noticed, does not play for the Atlanta Hawks anymore. So if you do, that makes your record 39 and 24. Plug that in. That's 62%.

a 62% win rate over the course of 82 games. They, without Trey Young, they have played equivalent to a 51 win team this year. If you extract the Trey Young games, so everybody can say like, yeah, I know they've won a bunch of games as up late,

but like they're not playing anybody, whatever. Okay, but take away the two at eight that they played to Trey Young. and the record's 39 and 24 in those games, which is a 62% win rate. Now, in fairness, we're going to find out. This podcast is going to come out on Friday. People are going to be able to watch on Friday night at Boston.

Oh, yeah. If you want a mark, now the next game is Sacramento, that's of no count. I think, but haven't they beaten Boston twice already this year? Get ready for this. Hey, hey, get ready for this, Jacoby. Friday night, Atlanta at Boston. Then they turn around and play Sacramento. And then Monday night in Atlanta against Boston.

Really? You just used your last load to talk about how awesome Boston is. Well, the hottest team in the NBA over the course of the last couple of weeks, regardless, I got it. Their schedule has not been some kind of, amazed to deal with. But they are at Boston Friday, Sacramento, Boston.

They're up to the five seed right now, and there's only two and a half games separating them and Orlando and Charlotte, who are nine and ten. The top four are probably

set, given the amount of games left, with Detroit, Boston, New York, and Cleveland. But that rest of five through 10 is absolutely up in the air. And one of the things that we have talked about throughout this season on the mismatch, which I do think needs to be highlighted again, because you text me last night during the game about Jaylon Johnson. And one of the things that needs to be highlighted, once again, because I got it, his games are non-national TV. This guy is about to put up

one of the greatest all around seasons by a young player in NBA history. He is currently averaging 23, 10, and 8, and it was a few weeks ago that I first mentioned this on the mismatch that the only guys at that age that have done that were Oscar Robertson and Nicola Yogic. What about magic? Not even magic? No, no, not 23, 10, and 8. Jesus.

He is having a crazy season. Now, again, by the time people listen to this, you'll be able to tune it, find out what Atlanta did against at Boston on Friday night. And then again, we're going to get to turn around and see him play Boston on Monday night. That Sacramento game, you know, come on. They did. They played them at Boston on January 28th and won 117 to 106. My memory does serve me there.

But I want to get to the Jaylon Johnson thing. I was watching that game last night. I did text a group chat. it was like four or five straight possessions he had a block he had a rebound led the break in transition and then sprayed out for an open three he had a three himself he locked up a defense and he was on defense and just locked somebody up to the point where it was clearly an iso for them and they just ended up breaking the play and passing it out and and he had like a a broke down his man took on the help defender and then scored a layup it was within like

in actual real time like two and a half minutes and he had like a He does everything. There's nothing he cannot do. And because his games are not nationally televised, no one really talks about the Hawks. I'm like, he is going to be a top five player in the league. Whoa.

At some point during his career, he does too much. He's too good. Here's the thing, and the reason I'm highlighting the Hawks, they're an absolute afterthought. And when I thought about the whole Tray Young thing, I was like, you know what, man,

like I got it. their recent record, you can poke holes in it because of the opponents. What you can't poke holes in is the fact that they played at a 51 win rate in the absence of Trey Young. And this offseason. That's a lot of games, Jacoby. That's 63 games. This offseason, we were all high on the Hawks and the Magic, both of which have, you know,

done what they've done. But a lot of the reason that we were high in the Hawks was because they had Chris Dasporzinger's and Trey Young. Unbelievable. Seriously. I was like, oh, they've got Chris Das Brazingis. He's a picking pop guy, pick and roll guy, Trey Young, one of the best pick and roll offenses in the league.

And they don't have either of them. Oh, and the McCollum thing has worked out great. I love McCollum. And you know who is absolutely awesome? Alexander Walker. Oh, God. He is great. He really is.

He's a menace on defense and a bucket on offense. He is like, again, they got good. players. I don't really look at like most improved that much, but he's got to be in consideration, right? Yeah, you wonder how much Minnesota is going to miss him when it comes playoff time. He has leaped. He has truly leaped. Like, he was a very valuable player for Minnesota and two straight back-to-back, you know, Western Conference Finals teams. So it's not like he came out of nowhere. Yeah. But like he has taken a true leap offensively this season. Well, and I think, you know, you obviously weren't able to pay him. But what a great, what an amazing signing by Atlanta, honestly.

a great siding by land. I know you weren't able to pay him in Minnesota, especially given their salary situation. You have to lose something. And he had worked his way into that. But I mean, that whole, hey, well, we'll just fill it with Terrence Shannon and Rob Dillingham like that. That has a take. That has a take. Yeah. My next love is watching a lot of these games, you know, like the Pissons Hawks game was great last night. I loved it over time. But you sit there being like, well, Kade's not playing. And then you've got the Timberwolves Rockets game, which I'm sure we'll discuss. But you're like, ah, Anthony's in street clothes.

And then you watch the Celtics against the Thunder. And they don't have Boussabitch. And they just said, the Sixers, they get Embed and George back, but they don't have Maxi. And like, J. Dub just got back. Steph Curry is, like, close to coming back. The thing that I love is these players aren't out for the year. we will hear from all of these players again. And I'm sure I'm missing a couple on this list.

But there are certain games like, yeah, but they're missing a person, but they're not season-ending injuries. We're going to see all of these star players when the lights are the brightest and when there's only one game on at a time. And all of these guys will be back in our lives and be impactful for championship contending or playoff teams. And that's something that sort of had to remind myself

because there are some yeah, but about a lot of these games. with people out. Duce McBride. He was warming up yesterday. Like a lot of teams are adding key players in these two weeks as we head into April.

And I think that that will make a big difference for their sort of the ceiling of where they can go. All right. My next loathe. You know what? I'm going to throw in a goofy one here. I'm just going to throw in a goofy one

because there was a Mark Spears article about Rudy Gobert and how he has been able to play so many games. He's played in 69 of the Timberwolf 72 games on pace to reach 70 games for a fourth consecutive season for defensive players of the year credits. And what's the reason pristine diet? He credits this pristine diet and unbelievable for his health and longevity. And, you know, he did it if you eat food that nourishes you, that removes you, that remove moves inflammation from your body. Obviously, you're giving your joints, your muscles, your

tendons, all of your cells. You're giving them a chance to recover better. So obviously, you lengthen your career and your life. This is noble. Look, I'm not, you know, I'm no Gobert fan, but I'm like, hey, this is a giant and he happened to play all the time. It's a good point. There's not a lot of footers to play 70 games a year. And I'm super interested by this. And so then I'm like, all right, and you're wondering, well, then why do you load this? Because, look, I'm like, you know what? I'm no beacon of health here. But what is the guy eat? You know what I mean? Just tell me. Just tell me what he eats. And maybe, I don't know, maybe I'll find it to be palatable. And I could increase my longevity. I could have less inflammation.

These are things that I feel like I need. I would love to be less inflamed. I would love to have more longevity. I would love to be less inflamed. Right? I feel like I'm inflamed everywhere. You're too inflamed. So then it says, I'm like, come on, man.

Just tell me what the guy eats. Right? What is it? What's the secret? I don't know this. I didn't read this article. For breakfast. Okay.

He loves to have eggs and avocado. Sure. A glass of warm water and fresh squeezed fruit juice with carrot, ginger, turmeric, and cayenne pepper included. Oh, that sounds delicious. That sounds classic. That's good. He typically, he doesn't eat pork. All right, I'm out.

I live in Memphis. Memphis. No wonder I'm so inflamed. Breakfast rooms, lunch rooms. When I came back from Memphis, I took a piston. next day and it smelled like barbecue sauce. Jeez, why am I so inflamed? So he doesn't eat pork.

All right, well, I'm screwed there. He typically will eat grass-fed steak on a regular basis, but not on game day. And then enjoys whole wheat, pasta, and fish for lunch. Sounds fine. Okay, I got it. You're healthier than me. Like, how long would I last? That's not crazy.

How long would I last with eggs and avocado and warm water? And then no pork and then fish and grass-fed. I mean, I'm just, it's so much work. I just, I thought, I don't know. I don't know what I thought it was going to be. No. But here's the deal. I'm just going to have to come to terms.

I'm just going to live in inflamed life. Yeah, just live in flame. It's fine. I'm living in flame. Sometimes I'll be in the middle of a really hard workout class and halfway through. I'm like, why am I even here? I'm married. I'm almost 50.

What I don't need a six-pack? Who am I trying to impress? Why are working this hard? You would really just, eat eggs and avocado and a warm glass. I try to be healthy. That sounds pretty good. I can do it for a couple days.

This one the guy. No, this is what you got to do it all the time. You can't do it for a couple of days. I just cheat. If I do that for a couple days, then I'm going burgers and fries on day three. That's what I'm doing. And then we're inflamed.

And then we're inflamed. Anti-inflammation. No, credit to him. But I mean, I don't know. I don't know what I was thinking the diet was going to be. But I ain't trying to drink cayenne pepper and turmeric and warm water.

All right. My next loathe is simple. I'm not going to belabor it because everyone listen to it. If you're listening to the mismatch, then you know the exact point I'm going to make. I loathe Scott Foster and everything about Scott Foster. The fact that I know him, the fact that he has earned this reputation,

I hate his face, I hate his body language, I hate the way that he makes calls, I hate the way his arms move when he makes the calls. I hate his hair. I just hate everything about him. him. And we've all seen the clip circulating about Nas Reid was like he's moving. And I don't, I've been like fooled by those lip reading things before. So who knows what Nas Reid said to get

ejected, but it didn't seem warranted. Okay. Hold on. Hold on time, quick, two second. I'm going to help me. I actually did. I saw that clip too. Yeah. And then I saw somebody else pull the what was not showed on the clip. So he does say, he very clearly, you can hear it. He goes, he was moving. Moving. Yeah. Okay. And, And that's what was extracted. And they said, they just kicked Nasreed out for saying he was moving. She probably said more than that.

Right before that, he looks at him and he goes, stop that shit, Scott. I'm making a T-shirt. Stop that shit, Scott. Which is a fair thing to say as well. So then I do a little research on him. Remember game four last year in the finals?

He called 23 fouls, just him personally. He's got personal vendettas against Chris Paul, well documented, Jason Kidd, well documented, and early on his career, Magic Johnson, and Magic Johnson is the sweetest man in the whole entire world, maybe on the basketball court could be a little different.

And I saw Habistro pulled this from Owen Phillips of the FS substack. Shout to that guy. Quote, Foster calls more fouls than anybody in the league, averaging 2.31 more fouls called per 100 possessions than the average official. Scott Foster, like, you shouldn't have bad stats as a referee. You shouldn't have a reputation as a referee. Like, I just shouldn't know your name.

You shouldn't be this much of a thing in the playoffs where we're all tracking what game Scott Foster is officiating. It just bothers me. And that game last night was so good with Gobert already gone. And then Nas Reid gone. It was frustrating. And that was also, a bang-bang-bang call.

Like, it was whatever. And you may have seen, I follow all of these, the Minnesota reporters and they were saying that, I don't know if you saw at the very end of the game, Julius Randall be-lined

at Scott Foster and started pointing at him and yelling at him. And then they said Randall went to the tunnel and was screaming out that shit didn't work, Scott. That shit didn't work.

Oh, wow. Don't try to pull that stuff again. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. He was screaming out. I also don't believe in like some sort of conspiracy. I don't think that the league like higher things. And when they do the money sign thing, I find that disrespectful as well. I think that they're trying to be fair, unbiased officials.

I really do. But he's earned this reputation for a reason. You shouldn't have a reputation as an official unless you're really good at doing the replay results. That's it. my next love Victor Wembeñama's case for being the MVP. Big credit to my buddy Jared Weiss from the athletic. So Jared obviously was in the locker room and it was going to do a story and got into a banter back and forth with Victor Wenbenyama about the MVP and how Victor was obviously telling

him that he wants to be the MVP. right? So this is something that is taking place in the locker room away from everybody. But Jared allows the world to hear this because now they go to the podium after they've already talked, Wembe's up on the podium and Jared says, hey man, that conversation we were just having, can you lay that out for everybody and maybe give us some bullet points as to why you think you should be the MVP of the NBA? And Victor Wembeidiyama had his bullet points. I mean, I think the reason. But I said, I think right now it is still reasonable that there is a debate. But as I said, I want to make sure, like always to make sure there's no debate anymore. I do it.

So what are your merits? What would you say your, what are your, like your three campaign speech items? Three arguments? Yeah. My first one would be that. defense is 50% of the game and that it is standard value so far in during your race because I believe I'm the most impactful player defense in the Emily second argument would be that we almost swept away mesquism and we dominated them three times with their real team and four time doing that more rotation players and um My third argument would be that Buffett's impact is not just worse.

Okay. I know you don't like this guy. I love this so much. I love that he has this ready. It's like a debater. He has it ready to go. Here's, oh, the reasons. I mean, okay, I think I should be the MVP.

And here's why I think I should be the MVP. Number one, I love. that he has his talking points. I love that he is campaigning. They said campaign points. Willing to. Willing to campaign for what he wants. It has no problem telling you he thinks that's what he should be. The other thing. I love what I love about is it's not like all I care about is the Larry O'Brien trophy. Individual awards are nice, but they mean nothing to me. I'm just here for this team and getting wins the next team, next game. That's all that matters. Like that's what what you hear a lot of the time. And he's like, no, no, no, I've got this prepared. Let me walk you

through it. Continue. So that was unbelievable. And I want to give a little quick side note. I saw him in person last night and the San Antonio Spurs in Memphis. Obviously, I've seen him in person several times. But watching him last night and then thinking about it through the prism of, you know, these words or whatever and like him talking about how he impacts the team defensively or whatever else. I mean, I would tell anybody out there that is listening or watching this, if you get the opportunity to see this guy in person, you have to see it in person because it is truly unlike anything you have ever seen

and I think we'll ever see. It is ridiculous that like I, you watch, so I sat upstairs so I could see the whole court and you watch guys. game long. Like, all right, can't go there. Like, oh, right, can't go there. He closes out. The only chance you're going to have against them is if you've got somebody that can pull him away from the basket.

But he stands in that, like, middle area. And he, you think you have a step on him, but he just closes out and blocks your layup. And then he blocks your, he blocks jump shooters, three point shooters. Like, he covers the whole. area, everything. He's just something to behold. And the reason I'm bringing up getting to watch him last night is because, and we'll make this part of this,

I just want to explain to everybody that's out in the audience right now, you have heard me be one of the only people probably in the world that has defended the 65 Gabriel. It's become infinitely popular this year to, trash it and say that this is. And I've tried to tell you over and over again what would happen if we didn't and what did happen if you didn't have the rule. And I will tell you that obviously the Grizzlies are a tanking team that never wins any games and is playing a lot of people that you can't even recognize. Okay. I walked into that arena last night. There were kids

everywhere. Of course. With Wenbinima jerseys. everywhere, right? He has taken hold and kids wanted to go see them. I saw families, you know, and little kids too. We're in Wemby, right? You know, showing up because he's in town and then we'll see him. And this is exactly what I hope you hear when I talk about this. There is a 0.0% chance that any of those little kids would,

have seen Victor Wenbinoa play basketball last night if that rule was not in place. The only reason he played a game in Memphis last night because look, they can win without him. And the smart thing to do, you are incentivized at this point in the year, is to get to the playoffs healthy, right? Right. But he wants these awards. He's got to play them all. He has to play these games. But on a random Wednesday night in Minnesota, against a team that has no chance of beating them, that is exactly the moment. So when I say that people actively root against the one thing

that was done for fans, I am appalled by that. I can't believe that people would be out there fighting for this to be abolished because I'm telling you this exactly what happens. And you know how many of those kids? And you can say, well, who cares of a bunch of little kids at Memphis are disappointed?

but I'm telling you, there was tons of them there last night. And if they, and they absolutely could have just announced at 5 o'clock. He's not playing tonight. He's out for rest. Because what does it matter? I just want to say that I'm proud to be your co-hosts, and you've taken a great Zag stance here, and you've backed it up with real life experiential.

Perfect one last night. It's the perfect examples. It's a good point. You make a very good point. He would never have played in that game. Why would he? It's a 65 game rule existed. No, it's not on national TV.

Who started at center? Who was guarding him? Taylor Hendricks. Exactly. Exactly. Right. The Grizzles don't even have a center. I know.

I know. So they didn't need, he didn't need to play. They could have played Bismac Bianbo and won the game. Would it matter. It's a great job. Great job by you. And you know what? There are, that costs a lot of money for these.

There's a lot of people that bought tickets to that game to go see him. To go see him. It is a thing. People are like, have you seen Victor Women Yama in person. I have not personally. And it's like a thing that it's like a life experience you have to check off. And a lot of people in Memphis circled this game on a Wednesday night,

bought their jerseys, told the kids about it in the morning and went there to see Victor. And they saw Victor because of the 65 game rule. Well, and you got to remember. case. I think they should abolish a 65 game rule, but you're making a great case. And being in the South, I'm telling you, I met people that drove from Nashville. I met people that drove from Little Rock. I met people that drove. There's people there from Texas, for God's sakes, that came in, because they're just going to make it a long weekend or whatever, right? Like that there's a lot of people that plan trips and plan stuff to go, like. Speaking of, he was the, he was the marquee thing.

And I'll tell you this, they got to see it, buddy. Him. And that Spurs team put on a dunk contest last night. Castle, Champany, Wimpy. I mean, they had 12 dunks in the game, and four of them I almost tipped over my chair. I was like, oh, my God. Unbelievable. I'm threatening to come there April 1st for the next game.

Next week? Yeah, I'm threatening. That doesn't mean I'm coming. It's on my radar. It's on my radar. All right, where we are at loves? So the Hornets have had no shortage of podcast praise. So I'm not here to do that, right?

But I watched damn near every second of that Nick's Hornets game tonight. And I walked away with this, man, these guys are trying harder on defense than I thought they would be. There is not a single player in their lineup that is a quote unquote defensive stopper. They don't have like a Dyson Daniels, like a Keon Ellis, Davion Mitchell, like that guy. that, you know, that's just whoever they're, like, Clay Thompson back in the day. Yeah, but he's not a starter.

And Grant Williams goes hard when he plays for them. But those guys aren't like, they're not, they don't have like a defensive reputation. Diabate, Diabate, Deiabate can rip protect. Diabate can rip protect. But Bridges, Miller, Khan, Ball. Those guys are not defensive oriented players. And I'm watching, I'm like, God, man,

like, Brunson's having a tough time. The wings are having a real tough time. Cats having a tough time. So I was like, I've thought about this before. Let me just do a little research to see like if the numbers back up the eye test at all. And I found some interesting numbers. This is like a dumb stat that you don't think about. But they are third in defensive rebounding percentage, which is if a rebound goes up,

what percentage on your side of the floor, what percentage of the time do you come down with the rebound? they're third in the league behind the spurs and the Knicks. So they're rebounding the basketball. And again, like Diabate and Bridges are not like ball vacuums. Right. You know what I mean? Like they're just, they're good. They're 12th in defensive rating, which is middle of the pack,

but better than you would think for a team, which everybody just talks about their offense. And their eighth in opponent effective field goal percentage. Eighth in the league. Like, I wanted to talk about their defense because everybody talks about their offense. And they're not winning all of these games just by outscoring people. And they don't have a defensive reputation. And it all points back to a point that you made two seasons ago in the off season.

What was that Chris Vernon? They love Charles Lee. He's got a handle on the team. And do you know what? After you said that going into last season, they sucked all season long. They sucked. They were awful. I just thought he was likable.

Yeah. But listen, you don't have players. without defensive reputation, play this good team defense unless you're well organized and communicate and have defensive principles that are instilled from the coaching staff. And I just wanted to salute the hornets,

not for their offense, not for all the threes that they make, not for La Mello Ball and Brandon Miller and Concanipple, but for the defense they play because I was watching tonight and it really struck me just how good they were on defense without having quote unquote defensive stop. Look, you laughed me off the show a couple months ago when I told you

the new money ball is playing hard. Try hard. Oh my God. That was because, hey, and I heard Kyle Mayn call it the effort era the other day when he was on with Bill. But you look at all these teams.

It's these young teams, and they all play hard as crap. It is the Pistons. It's that competitive character group that we talked about with Boston. Spurs. It's the Spurs. It's OKC.

It's the surprise team in the league, Phoenix. The other surprise team post-January Charlotte. like they give an honest effort they play hard as crap every night. Just sliding their feet and just like denying it denying a pass to the wing. Yes. Just being I know this is like part of your offensive possession to easily pass to the wing. I'm going to not let you do that.

And then it's going to suck six seconds off the shot clock. We try to figure something out. All right. So my next loat is and this was, this is in conjunction with the Wembe making his case for MVP. Then of course, I swear I have to do this. like every week with frigging Dremont. So now we get, because it's headlines everywhere.

Everything Dremont says is headlines. So Dremont gets to the podium and is asked about Victor Wimbunyama's case for MVP. And he was like, I loved it and I hated it. And then everybody's like, oh, I wonder why Dremont hated it.

And he hated it. He's because, because, oh, now everybody perks up when he says that defense is 50% of the game. Now everybody, you know, is like, oh, yeah, defense does matter. It defense, this guy, I can't take it, Jacoby. You've always had a thing with him.

Bro, this is, because he's sitting there acting like the nerds are sitting there going, oh, actually defense does matter. You know, thank God. It took Victor Wimbunyama for everybody to realize that defense matters. That's what he's framing this as. Okay, Draymond Green is framing it. Like, there's a whole group of people out there voters that are sitting there going, oh, you know, I never really thought about it that way, but thank God,

this 7'5 French guy has told me that defense actually matters in basketball and is 50% of the game. Says the guy who has averaged nine points a game for his career and is going to go into the Hall of Fame. What is going on? He has been all defense a thousand times. He's won multiple defensive players in the year. His whole career is people giving him credit for being an awesome defender. And his message is like, oh, finally people are understanding the defense matters.

What? Are we acting like you have, you've averaged nine points. for your life and you're going to be a Hall of Famer. People don't recognize that defense matters. Okay. Okay. So,

okay. Verno, I'm going to make this not personal and make this universal because I found myself doing this and I've made it into one of my little like philosophies. And it is this. People emphasize the attributes that they have in life.

So for me, if you're talking to a girl evaluating a guy, I'll be like, is he tall? Because if he's not tall, it doesn't count. For me, talking about people around the office, I'd be like, well, are they funny? You know what I mean? Because you emphasize the attributes that you have. Okay, so I'll be like, does he have inflammation? Does he look like a 16-year-old? Does he have inflammation?

Does he sound like a 70-year-old but looks like a 17-year-old? That's what he would do. That he doesn't count. Is he inflamed? How inflamed is he? And people do this. And you'll notice this now. And the reason I made this one of my things is because I was doing it myself.

And I found myself and I was like, this is not fair. I'm bringing my own bias to the table. So he's being like, defense is so important. It's 50% of the game. So when you judge me, judge me with that curve as well. We have. Thus, your accolates. What are we talking about?

We didn't judge you for your nine points. We were talking about this stat getting ready for a game over show. And that stat like, you know, the Murray Yokic assists to each other number one and also number four with the reverse. We were trying to think of other duos in the history of the league that that could possibly be. I was like, what about Stefan Dremont? Like didn't Draman average like 18 one year? I looked it up. He did not average 18 one year.

He didn't. No, he did not. His best offensive output was a 14 point average. Okay. Go ahead. So this has been talked about a lot, you know, especially over the last few days. And I think that people have now like overcorrected. Like I've been in one car accident, a really bad one in my life.

And I started to swerve off the road to my right. And I spun back to my left and had a head-on collision with an opposing car. And it's over-correction. Over-correction. Okay. I killed the guy. It was wild. But he was fine.

you know, I tried to sue me. And then I didn't, you know, insurance companies sent people to, like, stand in the woods outside of this guy's house and watch them just, like, shovel snow. Insurance companies do not play. So they do not play. They were not. They were not giving up.

He's like, I can't work because of my back. It's broken. No, give me a million dollars. And the insurance companies, well, here's Exhibit A. Look at this picture of you shoveling snow. Here's exhibit B. Here you are, like, carrying a hundred pound thing. It's like, oh, shit.

You guys were in the bushes across the street from my house. So that's, but point being. Everyone's just so down on the rocket's offense that I don't, I'm going to pile on a little bit. But like, we all know the problems. But when I predicted that Kevin Durant would be a rocket, it was because I thought that he would solve all of these problems. They didn't have a go-to ISO bucket guy, clutch, get a bucket. And Jalen Green was sort of that guy, sort of, but not really. and I thought Durant was going to be sort of the perfect patch for this hole in the jeans, right?

And it has not worked that way. And we've all watched those possessions against the Timberwolves where it's like Alperin Sangoon dribbling with his back to the basket, spinning to his right and spinning to his left and then taking some terrible shot. Or Kevin Durant getting double teamed and them not being able to figure out how to play four on three behind it. So I'm not going to belabor that. but I did, again, do a little research. They're 28th in the league in assist ratio. Like the amount of baskets that are produced with an assist, they're the third worst team in the league.

I mean, worst is a weird word because, you know, like the James Hardin-Rockinson had a high ratio. But like the third lowest assist ratio in the league. They are also third from the bottom in conversations with each other. Oh, yeah. No, they're actually at the bottom. Yeah, they're actually at the bottom. They look like a team whose best players group techs got leaked,

trashing his teammates. It does feel a little bit like that. And they are 20th in clutch winning percentage. And again, I thought that Kevin Durant was going to be the solve for all of that. They're 27th in screen assists. So screens leading to baskets, they're the fourth lowest in the lead. I mean, all of these things would have been fixed with Van Fleet and Adam. Or Stephen Adams, that's the thing.

Yeah. I mean, I do think that those are critical. Yes. I mean, you've seen firsthand in Memphis what a Stephen Adams screen can do for an offense. And also like the second chance point, they're still like leading the league and they think they're, and they're top three right now and second chance points and rebounding. But like, this would all be different if they still at Adams. I promise you.

Yes. It would. I agree. And they play Reed Shepherd now. I was like they need to play Reed Shepherd. They're playing Reed Shepherd. Right. And they, that, that game was so fun last night.

Like when the way they started, they finished the fourth quarter and started overtime, they were absolutely on fire. Think about the overtime possessions they had. Reed Shepherd three. Then it was like three dunks in a row. But there was, there was on fire. That game was over. We all know what happened then.

Buddy. All right. My last love. You know, look, Wembe is up on the podium, you know, extolling his virtues. Shaggilders-Alexander is obviously, you know, a heavy, heavy, heavy, heavy favorite to win MVP. Luca Donchich is running off like 40 points a night, you know, like nine games in a row, averaging 40.

And it's like, hey, maybe we should pay attention to him and then I got the third best team. Meanwhile, I feel like this happens every year. And then Yokeet sits around. He's like, all right, I need to remind some people. This is exactly who I am. His last three games. 23, 21, and 19.

Think about that. Say that again. 23, 21, and 19. In the same game, Murray had 53. So it's like he's also a good room reader. He's like, oh, my guy's hot. I know what to do here. The game before 23, 17 and 17. Jesus.

And the game before 22, 14 and 14. Okay. How many NBA basketball players in the history of the league, would that be the best games, the best game they ever played? 99.9%? Seriously. So I just went to go look just for instance, because I remember doing this at the very beginning of the year

when free injury, like there was this beginning of the year. And I was like, remember when I was saying like the best PER seasons ever? And like when you looked at the best PER seasons, it includes Will Chamberlain, 61, 62 season, and Janus in 21, 22. There's a Jordan season in there, a LeBron season in there. People can poke holes in P.E.R.

But generally, when you look at the best seasons that have ever happened, it's very, you're not going to sit there and go, what? That doesn't make sense. Like, you'll say, oh, wow, that guy was the greatest player ever. Okay. Right now, right now.

So Yokin's had these last three games where I say, like, you know, everybody's been talking about, like, it's almost like, Yokin's just become the afterthought because we've spent the time talking about SGA and Wembe and Luca. And then Luca got in the mix. And then, oh, God, Cades getting true by the 65 game thing. Meanwhile, this guy is putting up stats that are like ungodly.

And I went to go look. He is having the second greatest PER season in the history of the NBA. Is it behind Will? But it is behind only 2021-22, Nicola. Yokic. And then third is Will. And that's when they won the championship, right? Yeah.

And then third is Wilt. 61, 62, Wilt Chamberlain, which was the record forever. That was like the greatest season ever that a guy had statistically. So according to player efficiency ranking, the second greatest season in the history of the NBA is being had right now by Yokic. and he make it forth in MVP. I know. And it's not a perfect stat, but it's a good stat.

You know, it doesn't take defense into account, whatever, but like, yeah, it's a good stat. Look, go look up and down the other names and you tell me what the good is. Tell me what was wrong. Yeah, the outlier. Yeah, tell me. Yeah, no. Was it the, was it the, was it the Yonis season?

No, no, no, Walt season. Was it a Jordan? No, because, oh, well, LeBron's in here. 15, 16 curries in here. Like, these are all. God. These are all amazing seasons. And I also think that Jamal Murray playing at this level from fall to spring has made

all the difference. And I think they really miss Gordon, obviously. And then Watson coming back. Like they are, like I spoke about earlier, a lot of these injuries are coming, a lot of these people that were out in street clothes for quite some time. They were missing Christian Brown forever, too. Like they're, they look like they're going to be healthy. Do you think I'm overreacting to the, to the wave?

I really feel like there's a chance he could not be in the top three now. It feels like the whole MVP wave has gone with Wembe and Luca with NSGA, obviously. Well, no, yeah, that's without. Yeah, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm wrong. The discussion three weeks ago, I'm old enough to remember, like maybe Cade was going to be the MVP because of games, played. Do you remember that from three weeks ago? And now it's like, there are too many MVP's. There are too many. This is probably the best top five that it's ever been in the history of the

NBA. I mean, Jalen Brown is like, Jalen Brown is like performing the way he has on a team that has exceeded expectations like they have would typically put you, I mean, they were second in the Eastern Conference. And we thought they were going to. stink. And he's their best player. The other team in the Eastern Conference that lost their best player to an Achilles just weeks after Tate went down, has 16 wins on the season. Right. Unbelievable. And I just have 48. Your last love. This I just, it's just the pelicans are just so weird that I just loved what Zion playing all these games has done for them. Like, I'm watching them against the Knicks and, you know, fears looked great.

But Zion is like, when he gets to the left side of the basket, there's just absolutely nothing you can do. And if you are- Are you buying back in? No, I'm not buying back in. You mocked me. No, no, no, no, I'm not buying back in. I'm just like, if you are the Pelicans, they're in such a conundrum. I just love the position that Zion has put them in by playing a lot and playing well.

Like, he's going to play like 60-something games, dude. He's there. He's available. The fun part about the Pelicans is that they made the goofy trade. The Pelicans are a great example, a great example of how the anti-tanking measures are going to change things. Because now you see, you've seen a team that is not incentivized to lose because they want that pick to be as low as it can possibly. be. So they are the bad team that threw down the stretch has been incentivized to win games. And so next thing you know, it's like, they bring back to Jante Murray. Yeah. And they're like, and they're playing. They lost in every night. Yeah, they did. Yeah. They lost to the pistons tonight.

Yeah, they did. But they're playing tough. No, they're playing. You know what I mean? Like they're not rolling over for anybody. No, they're trying to win every night. They're like putting out. thought this was a new front office, Queen, Fears, who, everyone was on the block. Jones is on the block. Tray Murphy. We're going to trade Zion. Usher in this new era, sort of recycle the team with this youth movement.

And then you're looking at it, you're like, Murray, Zion, Murphy, Jones, fears, Queen. Like, is that a playoff team next year? I don't know. That's what I love. about this is I can convince myself as a New Orleans fan that they shouldn't trade anybody and that they're going to be a top four seed in the West next season. My last load.

I loved this headline so much. And don't get it wrong because. Well, this one didn't make the rundown. So I don't even know what's coming now. NBA Hall of Famer George Gervin. You're familiar with him. Yeah, of course. He's willing to fight.

Caleb Williams over the Iceman trademark. That name is taken. I loathe Caleb Williams trying to get this. I mean, no. I've never heard of him being called the Iceman. It's one of the greatest nicknames of all time. And George Gervyn fighting for this is so perfect. When you said George Gervin's willing to fight Caleb Williams,

I didn't know if you meant like in court or physically like in the squared circle. No, in the court of law. Oh, see, I thought he meant like actually fight. I was like, this is awesome. Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams developed an act for pulling out the dramatic game winning plays late in the 2025 season. Due to his fourth quarter excellence, Williams embraced the nickname Iceman. I've never heard that, but whatever.

Never once. That's like one of those basketball reference nicknames. You're like, no one calls him that. Nobody calls him that. Turns out there's already was an Iceman in sport. and he's not too happy about Williams trying to trademark it. NBA Hall of Fame or George Gervin decided to fight against Williams trademark or Iceman. Gerben told the Chicago Sun-Times that he respects Williams,

but the Iceman moniker is taken. All I'm saying is, young fella, we've already got one Iceman. Following Williams' excellent 2025 season, a company titled Caleb Williams Holding, Inc., submitted Ford trademarks related to Iceman. Williams filed the trademark so he could sell goods and services using the phrase. Four days later, Gervyn's Interest LLC fired trade filed trademarks for Iceman and Iceman 44, a reference to Gervyn's jersey number. Like, how is this even a fight?

You should be ashamed to yourself. You should be ashamed to yourself. Honestly. Yeah, Caleb Williams. Yeah, Caleb Williams. Yeah. Yes, you should be ashamed. You cannot have Iceman.

bro. You can't have ice man. There's an ice man. It's like Dwight Howard trying to be Superman. It's like there is a Superman. You can't have Iceman. One of the best posters in the history of all time. There is an ice man.

Andy didn't pay his fingernails. Unnecessary roughness. That's 15 yards. I do like Caleb Williams, though. It's fun to watch. He's a fun quarterback to watch play football. He's not the ice man. He's not the ice man.

He's not the ice. man. So my son is having spring break and my sister-in-law is taking him on a trip to Japan. So that means she lives in San Francisco. That means he's flying. What kind of family do you have? What? Look, look, she's very, she's very, very nice to my children. And rich, I guess? She doesn't have any children of her own. So she's, she's embraced ours. She's a real sweetheart. Might won't take my kids to the lake. You're going to Japan? To the lake, I said. I know. Try to get them to take them to the table. trampoline park.

No chance. You're going to, you're going to Japan? And I had to, I had to take an, so he's flying by himself to San Francisco from New York. 7.30 a.m. flight. He's 12. He's done it before. You're on a plane. Like, what are you going to do? You know? And he's done it before. And he's a big kid. He's smart. Whatever. He's fine. So I have an unaccompanied minor ticket for him. So I have to go to the airport with him, right? 7.30 flight. We've heard about these TSA lines.

Oh, yeah. So, like, what time do you think is appropriate to arrive at the airport for a 7.30 a.m. flight? I mean, given what I've seen on television, I would think three hours. Three hours. That would be a 4.30 arrival. I would think three hours I could make my flight. Yeah. I get there at 4.45. Okay.

Go to the desk. get all the documentation, fill out the paperwork. He gets like a little necklace that he has with all this stuff in it so he can fly on accompanied. When I tell you that this line, like, oh my God, Chris Vernon. This is LaGuardia? It's five in the morning at this point.

This is JFK. All right. It's five in the morning. There are thousands of people on this line. How long did it take? His flights. We get on the line. at five in the morning.

Okay. And the line is going places. You know they have like the little setup, like the Disneyland setup where it goes back and forth? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're not even, you don't even see that thing.

That's the home stretch. Like there are people in lines where they're not meant to be lines. The second, you know, there's double doors to get into the terminal. The second door opens, you just see people online. You can't find the back of the line.

Okay. And there's lines merging together where you're like, where did you come from? are you why are you coming why are you and like and there's no one in charge it's lawlessness and everybody's pissed off and then it's like this is this is my nightmare it's it's also mind you it's five in the morning i didn't even had a coffee you know what i mean and so like my son just goes and sits down i'm like you just sit down because i'm going to snake back around

seven times so i'll call you when i'm close and i'm standing there everyone's mad everyone's late. Everyone's worried about missing their flight. And then I use Claude, my preferred AI. And like, I've, I watched the news. I keep in touch and stuff. But I was like, why are the TSA lines so long again? And then what's you, I don't want to get political,

but you're just like, wait, what? Like, the people working TSA are not getting paid right now? They're going to get back paid. Yeah. They better get back paid. I mean, I'm sure they're there. Right. It would be unjust and unfair and probably illegal if they didn't get back paid. Right. But still, like, thousands of people in line.

And to the TSA's credit, the lines did move. It didn't feel hopeless, but it took us. I thought it was fine. You get on the line at 5 in the morning. The flights at 7.30. We ran to the gate. Two and a half hours. In line.

It was two hours in line. We got through security at 7 o'clock, 704. Two hours in line. Because you can't do pre-check or clear if you have an unaccompanied minor. Oh, it's terrible. And you're just, it was so miserable. I can't imagine.

Oh, that would be my, that's a nightmare. That is a nightmare. An absolute nightmare. So the thing I see on TV, you were in it. You were in the minute. Right there. Oh, yeah. But it wasn't like the afternoon where I was like,

had my wits about me. It was the morning and it was just everything. I had to like multiple times that I tell myself, don't start an argument with these people merging in the line with you. Don't be the guy. Who's going to start an argument? I had to just have a conversation with myself and just like, be calm, be a role model. You're in a mature adult.

Do not start yelling at strangers for no reason. The wisdom of Jacobi. Yeah. Thank you to our entire crew. Thanks to Jeff. Thanks to Brian. Thanks to Stefan, everybody for making it happen. Jacobi.

I will talk to you next week. Remember, you must be 21 or over and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino. or 18 and over in present in D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem, call 100 Gambler or 1-800-Gampbellor or 1-800-7-77-7. Or visit ccpg.g.org slash chat in Connecticut. Or you can visit MDGamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gambling help line, ma.org.

Or call 800-3-27-5. for 24-7 support in Massachusetts, or call 8778 Hope NY or text Hope NY in New York for Louisiana. Call 877-770-7-867-7-867.