The Mismatch - Mismatch Mailbag! Plus: Lauri Markkanen Is Headed to the Cavaliers and Emoni Bates Commits to Memphis

Episode Date: August 27, 2021

Up top, Verno and KOC chat about the stacked team the University of Memphis has put together for this upcoming season with Emoni Bates (0:30) and then react to the breaking news that Lauri Markkanen has finally been dealt in a three-team trade to the Cavaliers, sending Larry Nance Jr. to the Blazers and Derrick Jones Jr. plus draft assets to the Bulls (9:10). Then we get into listener questions, starting with a couple on the Hornets and LaMelo Ball’s ascension (13:50), the Mavericks and Kristaps Porzingis’s decline (22:05), and quite a lot more! Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Associate Producer: Sasha Ashall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Head into the Ringerverse to stay up to date with all things superheroes and nerd culture entertainment. Hosted by a rotating lineup of superfans at The Ringer, including Mallory Rubin and Van Lathen, shows will provide instant reactions to blockbuster releases, insightful backstories on canon, and mind-bending theories, as well as fresh takes on the latest news and rumors. Check out The Ringerverse on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to The Mishmer. And I'm Chris Vernon. Join me as he does every Friday from The Ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, A. K. Kevin O. Bomber. Kevin O. Concert. Kevin O. Kavana. Kevin O. Kavanaugh. Kevin O. Kavanaugh.

What's going on this Friday? I'm doing great. This has been a good week, Kevin. Why are you doing great today, Chris? What's going on? It's really just been a summation of the week. I don't know if you know, but Imani Bates, the best amateur basketball player possibly in the world is going to be playing. in the city in which I dwell. And so that to go along with Jalen Duren, who is very highly regarded in all of the mock drafts. Penny Hardaway got some guys. And so, you know, one night down at FedEx Forum,

you watch John Morant and Jaron Jackson and that whole group, and then another night get to go check out Imani Bates and the others. And I'll tell you that it's been, you know, obviously everybody gets super excited. And I also think, especially in regards to what we talked about earlier this week with overtime elite and kind of what the future basketball is going to look, I do think it's a good sign that some of the best prospects are going to be playing college basketball, right? That maybe it's not the end of days for college basketball as it might have seemed.

And what I do wonder, though, with Bates and Duren going to play college basketball at the University of Memphis is what this means for the G League. Because it felt kind of like at a crossroads. I mean, he gave half a million bucks to Jaila Green, comminga, you know, and then Isaiah Todd and some of those other guys on a lesser level. And had that going last year. And it seemed like they were going to be the option for kids. that wanted to make money playing basketball out of high school instead of going to play college. But now with the NIL in college and with overtime elite, you know, picking these kids off even earlier, their sophomore junior years of high school, I don't know what becomes of the G League on that level.

Maybe it just becomes what it has become, which is a good training ground. etc for young players and would-be players in the NBA, but not necessarily a stop for elite prospects, right? I thought they may come over the top, honestly, Kev. I thought, you know, what if they just come over the top and they say, you know what, we wanted to make this thing work? We're going to give, and Monty Bates, 10 million bucks for two years to come play here, right? You know what I mean?

Like, you never know, because you are at the cross. crossroads of deciding what we're what are we going to do regarding these prospects and wanting it to be the place they go well that that's what was suggested uh in Vegas uh someone that I spoke with was like I don't get why the G league just doesn't drop five million a year for Victor Wembeianama you know the top you know prospect internationally and not just internationally in the world right now he's only 17 years old turns 18 next year um French prospect but um you know that that's like why doesn't the G league just make that big investment. Maybe it operates at a loss early, but the amount of interest and eyeballs that

would be on the G-Lea because of having the number one player, right? Or having Amani Bates, who is, you know, some people say the number one prospect, as you said, some people argue otherwise. Jeline Durenne, the other prospects surpassed him on a lot of rankings earlier this year, originally for the 2022 class before reclassifying. But the fact now Memphis gets both of those guys, dude, that team is going to be really fun to watch. Because you especially you get maybe two years of Bates as well. Yeah, and obviously the, the Wiser thing got ripped away and he was very highly regarded prospect.

But, I mean, I was around during the Derek Rose thing. And you just, you wanted to go to every game to see him. You knew what was going on. And Imani Bates already, I mean, he's been famous forever. I mean, he's been on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He's been on the cover of Slam magazine. Yeah. I mean, I was hearing about the kids.

when he was a freshman in high school he's been posting stuff on instagram uh like how to how to gain more followers follow this guy he's still a high school kid unbelievable it's just funny to see some of the stuff he puts up there but uh yeah bait's super talented six eight can stroke it can can can handle the ball talented and i i think what you're going to love about him chris is he's got that intensity he's got that like real anger sometimes in his game. He'll talk trash, not afraid to get in people's faces. And I love that energy.

Like I think, you know, some NBA people might look at that as like there's a little bit of immaturity there. But if that can be seasoned and developed and matured, he's got that like real killer mentality. And I hope the talent can match what we've seen with highlights and everything in the last three years because the potential's there. The potential's there. He's just going to put it all together.

Yeah. It's more than the last three. because I went back and looked. And the first video I could find, hey, the first video I could find, it says, I think it's something like 6-5th-6th-grader. Imani Bates is the next Durant. It's something like that, right? And now keep in mind, my son is in sixth grade, all right? And so when Amati Bates, when he committed the other day, I said, I said, William, I said, Amani Bates is coming to Memphis.

Now, he knows of Imani Bates like every other kid does because he's on YouTube, right? I mean, I don't think people understand, like to a different generation, these guys have real fame. Like, they knew of Lamello Ball. They were watching Lamello Ball videos when he was 13 years old. And the same thing goes with this Bates kid. It's like they've been watching him for so long. And so I said, I found this video and it said, 6'5, Imani Bates. sixth grader,

Amani Bates is the next Kevin Durant or whatever. And he says to me, he says, six, five? And I said, yes, six five.

And he goes, I'm four ten. And I said, and like he is a totally normal sized six grader, right? And he's four, 10. And I said,

William, I promise you, if we walked into a gym and we were playing against him, I said, we would get in the car, we would drive right back. I say, we came to the wrong gym.

Yeah. I said, give me a break. Six, five. Yeah. You're six five and six grade? That's outrageous. You know what, Chris? I'm going to have to do a Memphis Tennessee trip this year.

Oh, you have to. I got to give me like a Grizzlies weekend and a Tigers weekend where I see both teams. We're going to do like something. We're going to let me invite everybody. You could come down for the whole weekend. I believe it's like a Monday, Tuesday that it ends. up happening, but even our old buddies, Titus and Tate are going to come in for Memphis.

That's right. They're bringing their show. Memphis versus Alabama. That's a non-conference game. And the night before the Memphis plays, the Grizzlies play Philadelphia. And so it's like two for one in terms of like the big non-conference game, one of the biggest games in college basketball and then the night before being a. the Grizzlies versus 76ers.

Do you have the Memphis Tiger schedule ahead of release or something happening right here? I couldn't find it on the way. No, no, no, they're non-conference. It's already up. Okay, yeah, yeah. Non-converts is already out. I only looked at like the ESPN page.

That's not updated yet. The biggest home game is probably Alabama. I see. Which Alabama had a great season last year. Nate Oates has got that going. So, yeah, you are going to have to make it down at some point. 100% for sure. To see everybody.

I'm sure there's going to be a lot of people coming through town next year. That's for sure. But yeah, fun week to say the least with the whole Imani Bates thing. All right. Wait, wait, wait. Before we move on and do the mailbag, we have breaking news, Chris. Breaking news. We got a trade.

We got a three-way trade according to Shams. Bulls, Cavaliers and Trailblazers are closing in on a three-team deal, sending Lowry Marketing to Cleveland, Larry Nance Jr., to Portland. Derek Jones Jr. A first round pick and additional draft compensation to Chicago. That's a core

and to Sean. This is big. This is big. So. Oh, Larry, Nancy. Larry Nance. You're going to have to like the trailblazers.

Oh, no. I'm a Blazers fan now, Chris. I'll tell you what. Larry Nance, Jr. This could be a great, great acquisition for Portland. Nancy is a very good defender. And he's now the guy

who can screen for Dame. and if they switch or if they trap or they pressure Dame, he's the outlet because he can make plays off the bounce. He can finish loud at the rim with lobs. Larry Nance Jr. is a perfect, a perfect fit for Damien Lillard. Is he a guy that's going to make Dame want to stay?

Well, that remains to be seen. That remains to be seen, but he helps. This is a good trade for Portland. Really good. You think about this, Kev. You got a front line with Nurchich and Nance to go along. Now Covington moves over to the three. with McCallum and Lillard.

I mean, you take that to war with you. I like this. I think that improves them greatly. Good acquisition. And for Cleveland, you know, having Lorry Marketing paired with Evan Mobley and Jared Allen, there's some versatility in that front core. If Markner works out with the shooting he provides,

pretty good fit. Pretty good fit with those guys. No, no. No. No. I have no idea why you want Lori marketed for that team. It doesn't make any sense to me. I don't understand it.

You just drafted Evan Mowbly and you have, you took a Coru last year, right? Well, I mean like you get the defensive players, you know, you get Mowgli who can be a lockdown offender, a room protector or like a lob threat. Markinen could be the guy who's spacing the floor for you. I'm not saying like, I got you. No, no, no. He may not work out. But theoretically, like the version of Markin and that you hope to see, that guy could, is

worth a gamble. I understand what you're saying. Rather than Nance, like, because Nance is a good player, but I think he was there too soon. Like, if that makes any sense, you know what I mean? I understand. You're talking about if he didn't stink.

If he did. He stinks. Larry Nance is good. Lord of what can it stink. He doesn't stink. Yes, that's fair. And for Chicago here, they get,

they get something. They got a first round pick. Derek Jones is solid, you know, had to have another athletic wing player on their team and a pick pretty good. I mean, I like that the Chicago actually got a first out of this. That's a win. That's crazy to me. And it's because of Larry Nance.

Yeah. That's why because of how valuable he can be to Portland. I'm telling you, I've been on the Larry Nance Bayway. I know, year plus. Larry Nance in Portland, that's big. I like it. It's big. I like it a lot.

And, yeah, they're George Jr. You didn't ask it for much. He could be kind of the role he was in Miami. You know, if he play, they needed him to be able to play in Portland. The Bulls with what they got, they don't need him to be able to play. Larry, Lance. How about that? Look at you.

Yeah, now, all right, you and Nirkich, you got to work it out. Because you guys, you got to get on the same page here. He might be cutting into Nirkich's minutes. Let's have a little kumbaya. Oh, that's what you're going to start. What they should do is get rid of Nerkich and play Nantz. the five. They can, that's the thing, though.

They can play them together because Nance has improved so much as a shooter. He can space the floor. And when Nurgrich is off the floor, now they have a guy that can use as a small ball five. It's a big acquisition for Portland. It is. Like I said, is it enough to make Dane want to stay? Is it enough to make a McKenna contender? I don't know.

We'll see how this works out and how some of their younger guys also improve Simons and Little. Like, these younger guys need to get better too. But Larry Nance Jr. is a more important. musician, then I think people will realize on the surface because he was so underrated and overlooked in Cleveland. I agree with you. We agree. We agree on that.

We agree on that part of the train. The Lowry marketing part were a little bit of if you on. Yeah. Time for the mailbag. Time for the mailbag. We asked on Tuesday for people to send us in questions. And my God, our listeners, shout out to all of you out there that send in questions, whether via Twitter or via NBA mailbag at gmail.com because we were overloaded.

We are going to try to get to as many as we can on today's episode. And to do that, producer Sasha is going to feed us said questions. All right, Sasha, what do we got? I'm here. I'm still here. Okay. All right. This first one is from Joseph.

He says, am I crazy for thinking the Hornets had one of the best off seasons and will solidly be pushing for an actual playoff spot and not just play in? I don't think it's crazy. They had a good drafts. Book night, Kai Jones.

Lamella Ball, conceivably should, you know, have experience further improvement. You know, get Gordon Hayward back. Maybe he plays a quarter of the games. Oh,

boom. Boob, boo, boo, boo to you. I'm just saying, I'm being honest here. You hope that he can. And Terry Rozier has not shown any signs of slowing down with his development. He is constantly getting better. So I think I look at this Hornets team. They are at the least.

Very fun, very competitive playing team, at the least. If you get some improvements from some of these younger guys that we're talking about, if Hayward can stay healthy for, you know, the entire season, he looked great last year when he was healthy, Chris, didn't he? Like, first half the year, he looked terrific. So this Horn of the team is deeper and has more upside because of the youth. But I agree they had one of the better off seasons. They added some guys.

They had a Kelly Ubray. They added Ish Smith, who's been on 70 teams, but it's certainly playable as a backup boy guard. Wanamaker, I think, is there now too. You mentioned their draft. When Hayward was healthy, you got to keep in mind, they were like the five seed. And it took a while to get Lamello into the lineup, starting, and then integrated. I think they're going to be a playoff team.

I do. I like that team. I like Charlotte. Now, I will say, I do think once I get to the playoffs in the Eastern Conference, they're going to have some problems until they get some real, like, legitimate size. That's going to be an issue. Because it's not, when you're going up against the Janus and the M-Bs and the Beds and the beyond and the uh you're going to say biombo right there no i wasn't going to say biobo i wasn't

going to say biobo i was going to say otabio i didn't want to say the wrong name um and bam out of bio and the joan beans and the bismacs beyond yeah and they've got beaumbo and like mason plumley and vernon carry and kai jones is playing his first they don't have like i know they've got you know they got miles, bridges. They're really outstanding small. They are because they can go small and five wide. And I really like what they bring to the table. And they can get up and down the court and they're high flying.

I just will say that once you get to the playoffs, that your limit is going to be, or your ceiling's going to be a little bit lower until you get some size on that team. Like some better. How about that? Better size. You have size. It's not good enough.

But that's not that far off. You know what I'm saying? Like, if you did get some size on that team, I love a lot of their perimeter guys, and they are fun as all get out. Their announcer trips me out. And so I'm a Charlotte fan. And again, and again, I'm talking about the ceiling.

I mean, come on. You're just wanting to be a playoff team this year. You're not trying to, it's that the expectations aren't that your second round, third round championship level team. I do think the Charlotte Hornets will make the playoffs. I do. So, yeah, I mean, it's a good off season.

I think their internal improvements more to monitor. Lamello, Bridges, P.J. Washington, these guys should still get better as time goes on. Speaking of which, Dylan had a follow-up question. Well, he didn't know it was going to be a follow-up question, but we're making it a follow-up question. This is the most optimistic I've been about Charlotte basketball since I became a fan in 2004. But at the end of the day, all these good pieces don't matter much unless Lamello becomes a legitimate superstar. What do you think Lamello's ceiling is? I'll tell you what. I mean, Lamello was a guy that I stupidly did not have ranked number one. I think a lot of people made that

same mistake. I mean, you know, some people had Edwards number one instead of Lamello. We'll see how that works out over the course of time. But Edwards looks good as well. But Lamello, what he showed last year, the improvement of his jump shot, the improvement of his shot selection over the course of the year. I think his defense defensive focus got better too. He looked like, you know, that superstar potential player. It's going to be a matter of sustaining his improved efficiency with higher scoring volume. But Chris, I mean, there's very few passers that are as talented as him. There might not be any as dynamic as him with his height and his ability just to make any pass on the court and the creativity and the daring nature that he has on the floor.

He can make guys better. And he can also create shots for himself. And as he continues to develop and improve his skills, like, though these are ingredients on the offensive end of the floor that gave you clear and obvious superstar potential. My thing is, like we made a video breakdown of him earlier in the year. Like is Lamello ball a future MVP, right?

Do you think Lamello has, like, I think he has very clear star upside? Do you think Lamello has even MVP contender upside? is that is that is can he tap that level someday in the future i would not leave that off of the table as a possibility given what we just saw in the one year that he played um i would not leave that off the table i would say you know i think conservatively right now he is sealing i mean when he said can he be a superstar the answer is yes he could be a superstar and i would say it's fair right now to say there's a difference between making all-star teams and being

all-N-B-A. And I mean one of those three teams, so you're one of the six best guards in the NBA, I would say it's fair to say. And those are always superstars, right? Kimball Walker made an all-N-B-A team one of the years as one of the best six guards in the NBA. But you wouldn't say he's a superstar. You can build your team around. But I think it's totally fair to think. that La Mello Ball could make all NBA teams one day. For sure. For sure. I'm with you completely.

And then the superstar thing is, do you make everybody better to the degree that I put you on a team and I'm winning a bunch of games? That's how I look at a superstar. Superstars are very rarely on losing teams, you know? And sometimes we throw that around, that label easily. but to me, they're guys that you can put on a team with a group of guys, and you're still going to win games just because they're such a force of nature,

like we see with Luca, like we see with many guys throughout the league. And could he be that? I mean, that's left to be seen. I mean, you're also the guy that's closing out games when you're that guy, which is something we didn't see much of in year number one. but the potential is all there. There's nothing that could happen with him. There's not a how good he could get that I would be stunned by.

You know, he's awesome. He's awesome. I agree. He's awesome. All right. Okay. Next question is about the Mavericks from Jim. With the Mavericks recently sending a squad of team staff to Lovia to reaffirm their trust in Christop's Porzingis,

do either of y'all see Porzingas thriving playing the five, his preferred position under Jason Kidd, or are the Mav's going to yet again struggle to get KP to be the second star they're paying him to be? KP is just not a second star. And the reason why is because of durability, availability, you can't trust him to stay on the floor and to stay healthy or to maintain his best level of play because of nagging injuries

that hurt his performance. He's a third star, maybe even a fourth star. And that sucks to say when we just saw this guy, you know, a handful of years ago having absolutely dominant moments with the New York Knicks, even just last year towards the end of the 2019-20 season with the Mavericks, he looked great at certain points. And maybe he can have stretches of that.

Maybe he can be that. But your number one and number two star can't, be unavailable. KP is the high upside third star on your team that when he's on, like it raises who you are, but you can survive without him. And for Dallas, I think that's one of the reasons why we're hearing so much conversation

about them looking for other players. I mean, because they're looking like for a big trade. They're looking like they were looking after Kyle Lowry, maybe trying to go after him. They're looking for somebody else that can actually be the number two behind Luca. because KP for the time being is a number three.

And I think whether he's playing more five or four, it doesn't matter. Like he just needs to stay healthy. It's as simple as that. He's got all of the potential to be something he hasn't been the last couple of years. But I'm going to be very fascinated to see how Jason Kidd uses him differently than Rick Carlisle. There's no question.

What's he going to do differently, I wonder, you know? Like, what's it going to be? That's what I'm going to say. I mean, there is a lot of... Better not be post-ups. He stinks in the posts. No, but there is a lot of four guys watching Luca Donchich be really good. Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

There's a lot of that. And so is there more just simple integration of, you know what I mean? That if you're not, like playing with Luca, what you have seen so far is there's a tremendous benefit to being a guy that could just stand out there and bang down shots. and Tim Hardaway thrived in that role. Seth Curry prior to thrived in that role. There have been some other guys that if you're not that, right, where it's almost like, here's the guy that,

I mean, he's the guy that's controlling all of the offense. He is. He's controlling all of the offense. And so how can you get that pairing? And can Jason Kidd find a way to, yes, accentuate Luca at his max ability, but also get more out of Porzingis and get the best version of him. I think it's fair to say he is better than what he has shown. He's better than what he's shown.

You know what I'm saying? He is more talented and he is better than what he has shown. And so could changing things up a little bit change that? And you've got to remember, he is still young. He's still young. He's still young. He's still young. And that's what's frustrating to me.

Like when I was in Dallas before the 2019-20 season, I interviewed Porzingis one-on-one. And I asked him, like, what are the things that you've been working on the past year plus, you know, as you've been out, right? And I asked them specifically about post moves against smaller players. I was like, because of the nature of how teams are switching defenses, you know, what have you been doing so you can pick on some smaller guys? And he admitted, like, I've had guys like Mark are smart who are much shorter than me, you know, be able to slow me down. He's like, I've been working on, you know, moves so I can, you know, defeat those guys. And we just didn't, we just haven't seen the improvement. Last season, I had a stat in a video we did.

He shot 25% when dribbling more than once in a possession. 25%, he's not a guy who can create his own shot. So the idea of having Luca not be the center of the offense, the center of their solar system, well, I'd love to know who are the other options on that team that are deserving. And it's not, of course. And it's not KP. and I wish it were KP. I wish KP has become a guy that you could throw the ball into in the post and get a reliable

bucket. But all he's got is turn around and shoot it. That's all he's got. He doesn't have the footwork. He doesn't have the handle on the post. He doesn't have the ability to face up and create a side step or stepback jump shot. He doesn't have that in his bag. And that's where I look at the skill development.

And it's just disappointing. And maybe part of that isn't his fault. He's always rehabbing. He's always getting back from an injury or surgery. And I also know, look, Luca is the golden boy. He is the chosen one. No one would ever say anything to take away from Luca. But the truth is this, there's about a 10 minute YouTube if it's still up.

There's like 10 minutes of YouTube clips of Porzengis coming up, setting the screen, being wide open. And Luca just like looking him off and him just being despondent. Like, you're never going to give me the ball. So, I mean, like, they don't have. part of it. KP has this reputation as this like flame thrower shooter. He's not. He shoots 36% from three for his entire career. He's an average shooter. Right. Well, here's what I'm telling you. I don't know what his percentage is wide open. And there is when you have, that's a problem when you've got, there's a relationship problem there that then feeds onto the court. They do not play. They don't bring out

the best in each other. That's what I'm saying. I don't think Luca has brought out the best in Porzingis, and I don't think, and I think that, you know, it's either you're going to have to move on from him, or you're going to have to get those guys on the same page because you see them in the huddle and you see them on the court, and they don't have chemistry together. Not good chemistry together. We had another question about the Mavs from Unbeatable Rhino.

He asked, you know, with the recent hire of Jared Dudley and the slowing down of the rumors with Mark and Dragich, and of course, you know, we just saw Marketing get traded today. Are there any other potential moves that Mavericks could still make this off season? Because we're talking about, you know, guys who can help generate offense for Dallas. And even though things have been quiet with Dragich, I don't think that we should, you know, put that to bed here because they acquired Moses Brown who can't be combined in a trade with other players until October 1st. And on October 1st, that's where theoretically they could combine Dwight Powell with Moses Brown and go get Gorin Dragage. So even though that's slowed down, it is slowed down because right now they can't trade for Dragich, but they can trade for him on October 1st. So for Dallas, October 1st is a big date in terms of being able to go after somebody else. All right. What's the next, Sasha? Okay. So we're going to do a non-basketball question now.

How did this pairing come to be who had the bright idea of pairing you two together? What did you think of each other prior? Were you familiar with each other's work? Zach from Philly? I don't think we knew each other at all. It was Bill Simmons idea. Yeah. Yeah, I think so.

I forget, I tried to find the email. Our first show was October 4th, 2016. That was our first show. All right. And I'm Tate Fraser. produce that show. I'm not sure who contacted me saying, hey, you want to hop on the Ringer NBA show with Chris Vernon this week. I'm not sure who said that. I think when did you start at the Ringer? I started in August 2016. August 2016. Okay. Yeah. And I was there right at the very beginning too.

And I think, yeah, it was Bill because I was going to be doing a couple NBA shows and then I was going to be doing this college football show when the Ringer started. cover college football. And so when I had first started, one of the days, he said one of our new, one of our new writers is going to be one of our new writers that we've hired at the ringer young guy. And he's explaining you to me. And he's like, I want him to be our Zach. And he knew I've been friends with Zach for a long, long time.

And I was like, I'm down with it, whatever. come on and so then we got paired together and that was that right you know what i mean and it was like you just stick with it and we'll see how this works and obviously um i don't know if we're the longest pair we're close to the longest pair yeah pretty close yeah i mean i think i think sometimes i mean you do like radio appearances and whatnot and you do podcast appearances and sometimes there's moments during a recording that you're like this feels a little slow. But I'd say like that first show, I was like, oh, that felt good. You know, I remember coming off. They're like, yeah, that felt like a good appearance. I'm happy with how

that went. And I think that was a positive sign early on. So I don't know, did they make it's weekly right after that first appearance? Or I think there might have been a little break. I don't know. I was doing, I was doing two a week. And so the way it worked at the very beginning was I was on with you the first episode of the week and then the second episode I just had to book it somehow right so I booked it with people that I like we had all kinds of people I had like Sonny Vaccaro

a lot I remember I had Dave Yeager on I had um your boy Dave Yeager just people that were in like Mike Miller came in and did an episode at one point which people actually this is crazy because I had not thought about this in years he was on with me when he was playing for he had just played for the Denver Nuggets.

And he said, you know, I was talking to him about like the young guys on the Denver Nuggets. And he was going through like the different guys. And this is at the very beginning of Yokic's career. And he says to me, he goes, I'm going to tell you something. The one is Yokic. And I was like, huh, really? He said he'll be a 10-time All-Star. And I said, what?

He said, he'll be a 10-time All-Star. And I was like, no. And he's like, yes, all-N-B-A, 10-time All-Star. I'm telling you, he's the one. Of all the young guys they've got there, he's the one. And I was like, okay. I mean, the guy just won the MVP. So shouts to Mike Miller.

I still remember that. But yeah, it was guys like that. All the guys. That's right, yeah. Woge came on. All the basketball writers We're going to try to get Wojohn sometime.

Yeah, yeah. We should do it. We should sprinkle in some more guests. I like doing the guests at the beginning of last season. Should sprinkle some in throughout the year. But, um, no, it's,

uh, it's fulfilling doing the show. For sure. It's crazy that it was 2016. Time goes by really fast. Well, look, this is,

in the interest of full disclosure, we can be taking off right now. We could. We could. But we had this discussion a couple weeks ago, and I said, I like doing it. Yeah. And you, Kevin was like, I like doing it too. I was like, let's just do it.

It's good. Let's just keep doing the pod. I mean, I look forward to it. I really do. I look forward to just sitting and talking basketball every week. When I was looking through some of the tweet responses we got, I saw some people saying, you know, I appreciate you, doing the show, a lot of break now. And like sometimes like I'll, uh, one person said, you guys don't disagree as much anymore.

Like you're becoming like a merry couple. You're starting to agree with stuff. And I think I was thinking about that last night. It's like I don't, I really don't think. I think a lot of teams right now in the NBA understand who they are. I almost feel like there's less to disagree on today. That maybe that'll change over the course of time. He missed the, you miss the auto Porter episode?

But I think I think I think that speaks to the the authenticity of our arguments though. Like we never we never have ever not once planned out like anything. And I don't think there's never been a time that we planned a day in advance of what to discuss. So usually it's the morning of. You shoot me a text. Here are the topics today. And then like we hop on. But I think that's what I enjoy most about this is like,

Every episode is always just, you know, we're just chatting. Yes. And sometimes we'll argue. Sometimes we'll agree. And right now, I think a lot of teams understand who they are. But soon enough, there will be a team that's screwed up that we disagree on. And I think we could be nearing that point. We're getting there close.

What's the next, Sasha? This is a good one. This is from Unkit. If there was a team this season that you could have won a hard knock style doc covering preseason and two and all or nothing type dog covering the season, which would it be? Hard knocks is no question. In my opinion, the Lakers.

Without question. Yes, with the way, I mean, just because in Hard Knocks, because I'm watching that now, because I'm a Cowboys fan, you get to see what these guys are really like. You get to see the way they really talk. You get to see what their practices are really like. And if you could throw me into a practice with, Russell Westbrook and with LeBron James.

And the big thing is this too. The LeBron James thing is we have seen LeBron through a prism of which he has created his whole career, right? He's been, he has had the power to be able to do that. I was talking to somebody about this the other day. You never hear LeBron sitting down and doing like real like long form, in-depth interviews about his childhood. and about his life or whatever.

You get more of a glimpse of that on his own show, like the barbershop thing, right? But you've never heard LeBron like on a podcast, like sitting down and just talking about everything generally, except for maybe like his teammates when Channing Frye and them had one. But for the most part, like what he's actually really like. Now, in fairness, there's a camera around everywhere. so you might not get, right?

These guys, at this point, with the reality stuff, they know there's a camera around. And so they're acting some kind of way. But if I could ever get the reality of, you know, what he's really truly like, you know, and what he truly thinks about a lot of things. And again, you get the glimpse of that on his HBO show sometimes, how he really thinks about things.

But, yeah, the whole, that whole dynamic. I mean, and Dwight Howard's there. Because one of the things they do is they break off and they do all these like stories about guys, you know, during those kind of formatted shows. And so I would love to see those like sit down where these guys have to talk or like they're out on the beach with their families or in their houses or whatever. And they just got so much star power on that team. I'd like to see it. You know what I mean? I got to binge watch hard knocks at the Dallas Cowboys.

I haven't caught up with it. But how about the non-playoff teams, though? Because Hard Knocks is usually like teams that didn't make the NFL playoffs. So this year, like the candidates would be Houston, OKC, Minnesota, Sacramento, New Orleans, Detroit, Orlando, Cleveland, Toronto, Chicago. And if you include the playing teams that got knocked out, Charlotte and Indiana, San Antonio, and Golden State. Of those, I mean, I think it's pretty clear a lot of people would want to see the Warriors or the Pelicans. Those would be the first two that I think people would target. I'd love to watch a Golden State one with Clay coming back.

Clay's so fun. You'd get these off-season clips. You'd have the HBO cameras in the car with him, but he's in Mexico. It would just be fun. In his kayak. Yeah, right. You could also see, you know, sometimes you get cooperation from like the front office guys on this. And sometimes you don't really see all that much.

Like I remember that guy that was in, the guy that drafted Baker Mayfield in Cleveland. And he was like the guy that had come from Kansas City and he was always like chewing on a tooth pick. Yeah, John Dorsey. He was always like had a two picket. He always had gum in his mouth. He was always like putting gum in his mouth and he was chewing a big. And he was like a real character.

I could see, you know, Bob Myers knows about public perception. And so I could see like Bob Myers and I could see Steve. Kerr, like being good with like a camera around them all the time. You know what I mean? Like Ed Kerr has the TV experience too. So I could see you going to be good at that. Bob Myers has always been when he's appeared at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, I've always enjoyed Bob Myers.

I think he's been honest with his responses. Like sometimes a GM will sit up there and you can tell. Yeah. They're holding stuff tied to the vest. Bob Myers has always seemed, you know, honest with his answers. So I think you could also see. Yeah. And you could also see them doing the whole, you know,

this is a team that's trying to get back to what they once were. And then they kind of like go back. And perfect for the season too. Like if it can carry it throughout the season, that would be great. And then they kind of go back to like these glory days. And then they relive like some of the things that went wrong. And Iguodala's back in the fold. And so now Iguodal is telling stories.

And he's obviously, right? And so they keep on kind of like recounting what it. taken a place there before. Therefore, you end up getting stories about, you know, things that we maybe didn't necessarily know before that took place during their title runs. And then, you know, the whole Curry family is fun with the, you know, Aisha and the kids. They're pretty, you know, she's got the cooking thing going and everything else. I don't know.

Yeah, I could see, I could see that being good. I could see the Warriors would certainly be a fun watch of the new ones, right? maybe like the whole like bulls getting thrown together the way they are. That'd be a really good one too. Yeah. The way they've been thrown together. You know, and De Mardi Rosen being there and Zach Levine pissed off about a contract and

you have some good stuff. I'd watch O KC for Poku. I know you would. They put that on the Discovery Channel. I'd still watch, Chris. I'd tune in. I get the subscription plan if I had to. what do we get next sasha all right there hey hey for the guy the one that said disagree we disagree

i would i would as i say um if if they were if the thunder were playing in my backyard i wouldn't raise the blinds i would want to see we didn't do the during the season one but i would want to see the nets during the season because i feel like they have the most craziest personalities oh my god Brooklyn would do everything possible to say no to that. Oh my God. I would absolutely say no. I think Kyrie would retire on the spot. I'm not doing this show.

Just to see what people's genuine reaction, like unfiltered reactions to like, yeah, it would just be great. Can you imagine how great that would be? Amazing. The NBA needs to lean into this. There's some great moments that are recorded that never see the light of day. I'd love for the NBA to lean into just being open. authentic. Let's let's have, let's have some of this. That's important. I agree.

Yeah. All right. Next question. This is Klaus from Denmark. We actually got a lot of questions from Denmark that I noticed. Are we underestimating that DeAndre Aiton and Devin Booker will move a year closer to their prime? Could you see them taking a significant leap, especially Aiton? And this was, I think before this, he had said like everybody's saying how Chris Paul is moving. a year away from his prime, but these are going to move a year closer. There's no evidence that Chris Paul is moving away from anything. Chris Paul still looks like the prime Chris Paul. Devin Booker and DeAndre, I think it's a good point.

When we think about finals contenders this year, I mean, Phoenix obviously gets mentioned, considering they were just in the NBA finals. But with DeAndre Aiton, it's true. Like, he's only 23 years old now. we saw him become a steady, reliable, at times, locked down defensive player for Phoenix. We saw him be an important screener and, you know, a rim runner, you know, he can hustle up the floor.

He can finish inside very, very well, great offensive rebounder. And we just saw little moments, though, of him showcasing why he was the number one pick in the draft. And that's the potential of what he can do as a guy you throw the ball to in the post or in the high post and his ability to hit face-up jumpers or take a guy off the dribble. Will that come along this coming season?

I don't know. I don't know if it needs to come along yet. But when I interviewed James Jones earlier in the year, he said to me, like they're emphasizing to DeAndre Aitin, the patience with that. Like that time will come when it's needed. And maybe it'll be needed like next year's playoffs.

Maybe you could argue it was already needed in this year's playoffs. But if that happens, if we see that from him, it definitely changes what we think about Phoenix if they have that option in addition to being able to just run, pick and roll with Chris Ball and Devin Booker. And I mean, Chris, do you think, do you think with Devon, we kind of did see Devin Booker take a little bit of a leap in the postseason. I mean, I did already, you know.

I think there's a couple of things. Number one, inevitably they will, should be better as a team just by playing together a full season. I mean, you've got to remember that iteration of the sons with Chris Paul really running the show, that was their first time through last year. And they clearly exceeded expectation by getting where they got. It would have been more likely that if, you know, say Davis stays healthy and the Lakers beat them, then obviously people think about the Sons very, very differently, but they were able to do what they did. And so I think they overachieved for what they were last year.

And so I do think that they can be better this year. It's also the first time through the playoffs for those guys. And I don't know. I would say I think Booker was fantastic. And I think Aiton was fantastic for the most part. It might be more important that when you're talking about like the guys improving, I don't know if it's as important that the Devin Bookers and the D'Andre Aitans improve as much as it is the Jalen Smith's and the Cam Johnson's and the McKell

bridges and all those other guys if they take if one of those takes a leap now you now it's a different ballgame right and so and those guys we know they should not be anywhere near what they are going to become and so those guys taking a step forward i think could be very very valuable towards their success on the other hand and this happens to teams you know sometimes you could be the victim of your own success i think that there were still teams last year that looked and saw the sons on their schedule and were like, oh, it's a sons and didn't think of them in a class that they do, the jazz and the nuggets and the Lakers and the clippers and all that kind of stuff. And so a lot of people got caught,

not treating that game, like the jazz, like the Lakers, like the clippers, like the, right? You don't get to sneak up on anybody. Once you have your first real success, which They did, obviously, in a big, big way. At that point, you don't get to sneak up on anybody anymore. So, 100%, yeah. Those are circled on your schedule. So it actually, they could theoretically be a better team with not as good a record this year. Sure.

I 100% agree with you. I think with Devin Booker, we saw him average 26 per game the last three seasons. And each year, he improved in subtle ways. We talked about this during their postseason run. And he did show some flashes of doing it. And that's the pull-up three. taking threes off the dribble at a at a higher rate he hits nearly half of his pull up two pointers he hits only 31% of his pull up threes if he can become a guy that's hitting 35 36 37%

of his three pointers off the dribble and he's taking more of them per game he took under three per game last year during the regular season he took four per game during the playoffs if he can get that number up to four or five for the whole season and then higher during the playoffs at a higher percentage, he's going to go from a 26 point per game guy to a 30 point per game guy just by virtue of the shot selection. Like we saw from Bradley Beal, Bradley Beal was a guy who used to be very mid-range heavy. He became a guy who could take more threes off the bounds. This offseason, Bradley Beals talked about wanting to extend his range, not to Damien

Lillard territory, but he wants to extend his range further. That should also be the goal in the game plan for Devin Booker moving forward because that will increase who he is without taking more shots. Yep. And you got to remember they, it took a while last year. I remember we even did a show like, hey, is this going to work? Is this going to, are you going to get to slow start? It was.

Are you going to get the best out of Devin Booker playing next to Chris Paul? Like, is this, is this pairing, you know, what, how they fit together. And then obviously they made it work. They made it work. They figured it out and they made it work at a huge way. And it could get even better between those two. The synergy between Booker and Paul could. could improve even further.

Yeah. I mean, you take away those six weeks to eight weeks that it was rough. This upcoming season, right? You should. Yeah. I mean, they're going to be right back in there in championship contention. What else we got, Sasha? We have a question from Nico.

Are the Bucks a realistic contender for a repeat championship with next year's NBA landscape? Yes. The super teams. What? What? Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. come on. They're a threat. Yes. I think, I think Nico's probably coming from a place because with Brooklyn

theoretically being healthy. Yeah. There's a lot, there's a lot of ifs for Brooklyn to stay healthy. I mean, with the history of Katie, of Hardin,

and Kyreid. Is Yianna still on the team? The man scored 50 points in an elimination game to win a finals. Like, yeah, man,

they have a chance at repeating. Yes. Fifty. He scored. 40 friggin' points. And talk about the potential for improvement. The bucks are also a team that could improve. Yeah.

Like Janus is still only 26 years old. Chris, he's still only 26. Holiday might have been the second most valuable player. In fact, he probably was the second most valuable player on the Olympic team to Duran. What if what if Janus like becomes a far more efficient post score in terms of like, expanding his moves away from that. We have that turnaround jumper.

He can overpower guys. What if he's doing some more like footwork, dream shake, up and unders? He could incorporate that into his game and become even more devastating inside. If that happens, Kevin, I will tell you what I told my son earlier in the week. If we show up and that's what's at the gym, we turn around. We're at the wrong gym. We're playing it's seven footers doing turnaround jumpers. We're at the wrong gym.

Let's turn around, go home. This ain't our gym. And if there's any guy that you're going to bet on to improve, it's Janus. After reading that book, that Mern Fader Book of Bottom, he's going to work at it. He's going to do everything possible to get better.

There's no question. So yes, they are absolutely a title contender. Yeah, no doubt. Okay, so this is another one from Denmark. Here we go. Yesper or Jesterber. I'm sorry.

Denmark. Denmark. Denmark. Denmark. though I've traveled to the United States a few times, I haven't had the chance to watch an NBA game live. What city would you recommend for me to go to and watch an NBA game and do some traveling? New York.

And he says, please don't pick either New York or L.A. He's been to both. I think, yeah, so he hasn't been to games there. But with that said, though, I would still recommend going to a Knicks game. Madison Square Garden just has a vibe. I'd recommend going to Boston for a big Celtics game. Like Celtics games are the energy and Boston's great. I haven't been to Philly, so I can't speak on that.

I would imagine Sixers games are a lot of fun. I'd say this, it would not be just in terms of the timing because they'll have all the stuff and everything and they're coming off the title. Going into Milwaukee and just checking it out, everybody has told me that arena is unbelievable. Yeah, Milwaukee too. And Golden State's got the new arena too. Assuming you're going to be able to get in there as a fan. Yeah.

How about, how about like you, if you could, if you could have a weekend where you see Steph at Madison Square Garden, you see the Warriors Knicks, and then you like go to Boston for a couple of days and see a Celtics game. Just the East Coast thing? Yeah,

then maybe like pick a city like Charlotte, like go see LaMello, something like that. You know, I think it's putting the bill for this. stuff in they got money in Denmark yeah

yeah we got a lot of questions from Denmark Australia and New Zealand a lot of Australian and New Zealand questions Chris I would say Portland I feel like it gets thrown around

like obviously they have great fans and everything so those are fun games don't listen to Sasha with Portland travel. You don't know if they're going to trade dame. It might be like a funeral. You can't. But Portland is a beautiful city. And if you rent a car, you can go down the Columbia Gorge.

What a great place. Seattle's right there. And then you can come and see a Golden State game in San Francisco. It's not that far. That would be great. And obviously, you're welcome to come to Memphis anytime. If you want to see Jabberant go to FedEx Forum. I would love to see my Denmarkian friends.

Is that right? What do I say? Danish. My Danish friends. Denmarkian. What do I know? Here's a moment of truth. I know literally nothing about geography.

If you gave me a globe and like spun it and said stick your finger and say, where is that? I mean, I have no idea. I really don't. Where is Denmark? I mean, I know it's in Europe. I mean, I know it's in Europe, but I mean, where is it next to? It's like right below Sweden and Norway and right, right? Yeah.

I always say when I pull out my phone, this is my brain. This is my brain. Yeah. Like Google Maps, this is how I know geography. This is how I know what direction I'm going. Yeah, Google Maps. Shout out to Denmark. Yeah.

And my Denmarkian friends, come down to Memphis. Come down to Memphis. My demarckey and friends, my name's Chris Vernon. Yep. Okay. Let's do, after that hilarious segment about your GPAs, what are the most memorable parts of your college experiences from Noah? Graduating. I didn't live on campus.

I commuted to school, so I didn't really have men. I took the train sometimes in school. I didn't really have many memory memorable college experiences. This is going to sound so corny because people always say like it wasn't this. It was the friends or we made along the way or whatever. But I mean, like honestly, like some of my best friends in the world came from college. And I would say that. I would say my friends that I made in college for sure.

Yeah. I'd say my friends, I'd tell you like, you know, I don't know when I think back to it. I think about, it's weird. I think about like playing intermurals and stuff with my buddies. I think about hanging out in the dorm with them. Parties. You know, playing fun parties and playing PlayStation and stuff. No, I went to a very strict college. We didn't do parties. So we, I mean, like, yeah, my buddies, my buddies that I was with, that I was there with and that I have still kept up with over the years. I don't have a single college friend. All my friends are from high school.

Yeah, I don't have a single college friend, not one. Yeah, and I had an odd one because I went to school in a very small town where my parents were from. And so I had family there. I went and saw my grandmother a lot during that time. And so kind of when I think about college, I think about going out to my grandma's house, my cousins, and then being back on campus with my friends. And I don't know.

I think that's what I think about the most, probably. it's so funny you say that because we are exactly reversed. High school, I couldn't care less about. Couldn't care. I mean, I did it, but I just didn't keep up with anybody, really. I moved and then I went to my, you know, like reunion and stuff like that. But I don't really have like some unbelievable memories from high school. I really don't.

Or like friends that I've kept for my life. maybe two that I still talk to. Wow. Yeah. Like almost all of, you know, my friends from home are high school friends, nearly all of them, except for some people I met through, you know, sports, you know, working, you know, covering Celtics games and whatnot. But like, other than that, it's all high school friends. I'm thankful for that.

They're great. I'm lucky. All right. What else we got? This one's from Twitter. It's Justin. I need something to hold me over until the new NBA season starts. What are some of your?

personal recommendations a la movies, TV, music, video games. White Lotus. I binge watch that in a day. Yeah. White Lotus is really, really enjoyable. I like that a bunch. You've been watching anything, Chris? I don't really watch much.

I mean, I watch, I mean, I pretty well watch sports every night, something on. The only things I can recall that I've watched, obviously, I watch Hard Knocks. I have watched You know what's interesting With my son I have watched Some old Like mystery science theater 3,000s

Okay And we have laughed harder than we've ever laughed Ever Like truly ever Like the older ones I had like a DVD collection For when I was in high school You know and it did they

I don't know if you know the concept But they just watch The worst movies ever made So they watch the worst movies ever made so they watch the worst movies ever made and then there's three guys that sit in the front row a guy and two robots and they just make fun of the movies the entire time

and damn it's funny and it holds up so I watch those and the reason I found that is because I have one of those TVs that has like Roku built in and there's a thing for anybody out there that doesn't know about this if you go to like Roku TV

like there's like it says on the on the thing, on the app, it says Roku channel, right? I never clicked on the damn thing. I clicked on it. There's like 300 channels on there. Like crazy stuff, too. Like, there'll be a channel, and it's just like all Yo MTV Raps videos from when you were a kid.

And then there'll be another channel, and it's like all rock videos. And then there'll be another channel, and it's like some show that you watched in the 80s. And there is on that damn thing, there is an entire mystery science theater 300 channel. Sounds a lot like for Comcast, Xfinity up in the Northeast. Oh, really? On demand. Like, that's very similar to that. It's crazy. Like, if I pulled it up, you wouldn't believe it. Like some of the- Sometimes about finding new shows, it's just taking a scroll through. Sometimes it's like the popular show of the week or the month, like White Lotus or Marravee's Town or Hacks. Hacks is really good.

Um, I think the circle is coming back September 8th. The circle's coming back soon. I don't, this year earlier this year, I think maybe last year too, I, I watched Curb Your Enthusiasm for the first time. Oh, yeah. Season 11 will be coming out in November. So if you haven't watched that, you could watch Curb Your Enthusiasm. You could watch Secession.

Season 3 will be coming out soon. Um, I think the only one, I'm still just playing war zone. Like I'm not, I'm not buying the new Madden. I am part of the army of people who have determined they are not, not going to give their $60 to $100 to EA Sports until they make a playable game. I've not purchased Madden. I'm holding out for now. Wow.

So I'm part of the resistance until they make a playable Madden. It's an embarrassment. Here's another thing that we disagree on. I bought the MVP legendary edition or whatever. The $500 version. Right. Really, one 10, I think something like that. And got all these like packs for some, my team or something that I don't even use.

But I think it was, I told you the way I play these games. I don't sit there and play them forever. I just do it, kill time or have fun or play with my son. And so I like it. I like it. I like playing it still. And it's all the same controls as when I was a kid. So it's easy.

Okay. This is the last question. This is from Hunter. He says, I'm getting married. this Saturday, August 28th. I'm 22, marrying my 22-year-old girlfriend. What's the best advice you can give us

as a young married couple? You go, Chris. I'm 31 single. And I didn't do much dating when I was 22. Yesterday was my 14th anniversary, actually. Wow.

I would say, I'd say there's good, there's very good advice. and you hear this a lot about not going to bed angry, right? That's great advice. You know what I mean? I do think that that is extremely important. And I also think that whatever you are going through in something, the best advice I can give you.

And again, this is not like me being some professional reading a book. I would just say you have to talk about it. You have to. Communication is vital. Yeah. What ends up happening is stuff begins to simmer and then it comes to a head at some point, right? And there's all of these levels of, and this is just going to happen. It's going to happen with you.

It happens with everybody. My parents have been married over 50 years, you know, and I witnessed it when I was a kid. So don't think that there's something wrong with you. They are, marriages are work. but I think we learned very early. I would say there's only one time that we've ever gotten into it, into it, like where we were both very angry about something. And it was a function of not like a bunch of stress,

we're new parents, all that stuff, and just not talking about the stuff. And then what ends up happening is both people just keep on going with their life and she resents you for something and you resent her for something, but it never really gets aired out, and then all of a sudden it blows up. And, you know, that's not, that doesn't mean something's wrong.

You know what I mean? That means, and if you care about the person, you love the other person, then you change. You do things, right? But the problem is, what you hope is it never gets to that point, right? And the other thing I would tell you is, yes, it is work.

But the grass is not always greener. I have a lot of buddies that got married either younger than me or even my peers, right? And they have gotten divorced, and I know that there's a lot of people that, you know, end up being happy afterwards. I can only tell you from my personal experience, I think 90% of my buddies probably regret it. Certainly the ones with kids. Yeah. You know what I mean? They wish they would have worked it out.

They wish they would have figured out because it'll be fun for about six months. You know what I mean? And then you realize everybody's got their stuff. You know what I mean? And so I think remember why you like her would be the other one. Why you like her. Not love her. People love each other.

Do you like her? You know what I mean? That's great advice. Remember why you like her. remember why you like her, right? I would say that's probably the case. That's really great advice. And to Hunter and his 20-year-old girlfriend, soon-to-be wife.

Congratulations to you both. Absolutely. It's awesome. Congrats. And thank you for listening to the show. I was not mature enough at 22. I envy you. He's probably from Denmark.

That's all I have for you guys. Thank you, Sasha. For today. We'll do another mail bag. next Friday. These were fun. Yeah. plenty of questions.

That is going to do it for another episode of the mismatch. Thank you to producer Sasha as always. And we will talk to you next week.