The Mismatch - NBA Playoff Seed Straddling, Wemby’s Viral Moment, and Discussing the New CBA

Episode Date: April 4, 2023

Entering the final week of the season, Verno and KOC go through the possible playoff scenarios and debate which first-round series would be the most entertaining (01:36). While discussing the teams jockeying for playoff seeding, KOC tries to convince Verno about a different incentive for the top seeds in each conference (12:27). Next, the guys completely gush over the latest Victor Wembanyama viral highlight of his putback dunk off his own missed step-back shot from the 3-point line (34:37). Also, they dive into the new CBA that was completed just before the deadline (45:13). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Jessie Lopez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's official. One Shining Podcast is back, and I am your host, Tate Frazier. And as March Badness begins, we're covering everything from Selection Sunday all the way to the championship and beyond. We're going to have great guests that are coming through on the show. And look, if you're a friend of the program and you're already subscribed, you don't have to do anything. OSP is back. It's going to be right back in your feed. And if you're not a friend of the program, and this is your first time on the rodeo, then let me tell you this. You need to go to Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcast. and smash subscribe today because the OSP show is back. Welcome to The Mismatch.

I'm Chris Vernon and joining me every Tuesday from the ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, aka Kevin O'Bomber, Kevin O'Brien, Kevin O'Clymer, Kevin O'Chammer, Kevin O'Candilion, Kevin O'Blessarian, Kevin O'Brdow. How are you doing today? Home stretch.

We only have... Oh, next week, We are going to be talking about playoff matchups. Playoffs. Playoffs. By the end of this week, we possibly will have a more clear view. But when going through this, Kev, for this week's show, it is rather unbelievable how much is up in the air. we really only have two absolute lock matchups.

The 76ers are going to be playing the Nets in the first round of the NBA playoffs. That we know for certain. I mean, one quick thing. Do we know that with like 100% certainty or could the heat went out and the Nets lose out and like the Nets fall? Well, it's 96%. So it is not absolute certainty, but nearly certain. Now, what is a 99% chance? So that's even closer.

Yeah. Is the Cavs and the Knicks. We are going to see them play against each other. We just saw Jalen Brunson last week have, what, 48 in that game, a game that they've been playing without. They didn't play with Julius Randall. He is, he is unbelievable. believable. He's unbelievable.

He is something special. He really is. Imagine this. He gets the calves too, by the way. That wasn't against, you know, the Wizards, like a mid-team. It wasn't against the Rockets, a team at the bottom. It was against the Cavs. And that series has a chance to be absolutely unbelievable.

Just thinking about those two teams, there's just no way that thing is not going six or seven between those two. It's a great matchup. You've got that whole storyline with Donovan Mitchell and the Knicks was a marriage made in heaven. That's all we ever talked about. And the deal that didn't happen and they end up with Brunson. Now Brunson's in all NBA discussions.

Mitchell himself is in all NBA discussions. And now they're going to face off against each other. And that is, you know, if we got one, that's sealed away. That's an incredible one to be sealed away. 76ers Nets is going to be on the Discovery Channel or whatever they're going to put that thing. I mean, who cares? Well, I mean, yeah.

Come on. Yeah, sure. But at the same time. Yeah. But at the same time, I mean, like it's cool to see McKell Bridges dominating even more than he was the last month with the Suns. You got hardened with an Achilles injury right now. he's limited big time. I'm not saying the Nets would win the series.

They wouldn't. I'd pick the Sixers. But yes, it'll be on the Discovery Channel. But there's some cool stuff to watch. You can tune in. Hey, look, I've had college basketball guys selling me San Diego State FAU. Might as well. It don't pull out.

And that turned out to be amazing. No, that's actually a good one, right? Because that came turned out to be incredible. It was a great game. That's what I'm saying. There could be some really good games. And I think it is from the Nets side of things. I mean, we'll talk about this with our playoff preview next week,

but it is going to be really cool to see McKell Bridges as the guy in a postseason series. Like that's a different monster than being the guy for the Nets during the regular season. I don't know. It's just going to be very cool. It's going to be a good barometer test for Bridges to see where he's really at with his progress that we've seen this year, which is very believable. He's averaging 27.6 points for the Nets. He's been incredible.

Who do we want to see these other teams play? If we can pick it and it is realistic, if it's a realistic thing that could take place, okay? So for Bucks and Celtics in the East, right here. Yeah, let's go with that. Let's start with that. So the Bucks have an 80% chance of getting first place, Celtics, 80% chance of getting second.

So more than likely they're going to be in those spots. that's on basketball reference. Okay. So on basketball reference, they have it. They do their whatever, 10,000 simulations of the season. And so the bucks we'd be choosing from that group of Heat Raptors, Hawks Bulls. So it's clearly more likely that the heat would end up getting the seventh spot. meaning that they'd have to win one to face the two.

Correct. So it's probably most likely it would be raptors, hawks, and bulls. But maybe not. What if they'd lose that first game and then have to... We're picking the best matchups. That's what we want here. Okay. Okay.

All right. Okay. So for the bucks. Is it Hawks, which would be, you know, Quinn versus, you know, the protege versus the teacher? You know, because Quinn was a Budenholzer guy. And so then you get Trey Young in that group against the bucks. Or is it the Bulls against the Bucks?

Bulls have actually been playing really good defense over the course of the last. You know, they made, I think the number one defense, it's like the beginning of January. And, you know, they got firepower. Levine's been averaging over 30. Can we take the heat out of this and match them up with the Celtics? Because I think the Heat Celtics playoff history. that's the best one. Two, yeah, two of the last three years,

Heat Celtics have faced off. That's something that'd be kind of cool to see again with those games. I think that's, that's, I don't want them to face the Bucks. I'd like Celtics Heat. All right. Would you rather see the Bucks play the Raptors, the Bucs play the Bulls, or the Bucs play the Bulls? If you could choose.

Me and you agree on Celtics Heat. I agree. And that game, I mean, come on, it went down to Jimmy Butler, missed three in transition. It'd be really great. It'd be great to run that back. Yeah, and of course, the, you know, in the bubble, the heat won.

Yep. So, yeah, that'd be super cool. Hawks, Raptors, or Bulls for facing the Bucks. I mean, you're picking the Bucks in any of those series, probably in four or five games. I mean, hell, the Bulls one, you want to talk about no travel issues. They could just drive to each other's arenas.

Seriously, they could jump in a bus and go. Part of me is thinking here, like, which team do I want in the lottery instead? it, you know? Is there a way, factoring that into the situation here? I'm overthinking this theoretical here, Chris. I think balls. Bulls would be the most fun.

Couldn't you see them winning a couple games from the bucks? They're trending up. I could see them winning a couple games. I can see them winning a couple games. I don't. No? No. I don't.

I mean, I think the raptors and the hawks that get wiped out, don't you believe? maybe Quinn, maybe that's an advantage. Well, that'd be the cool thing about seeing Atlanta in the postseason because the thing there in the regular season is there's no practice time for Quinn Snyder to install a lot of the concepts that he's hoping he's planning to do. And Trey Young is a drop coverage killer. He is.

In theory he is. He's not shooting the ball nearly as well this year. Yeah, but he gets in that lane and he either throws those little lobs to Capella or Collins. You know what, let's go Atlanta, Because Atlanta, Milwaukee had their pretty entertaining series a couple years ago. So let's go with Atlanta. Yeah, okay.

All right. I'm thinking rivalries here. Plus, I want to see the Bulls in the lottery. Okay, so then we would get, well, but then they might lose their pick, right? Well, they're going to lose their pick if it's not top four. Yeah, it has to be top four. It has to be top four. So they would really have to get lucky.

Yeah, they've pretty much screwed their chances of moving up. At the 12th spot right now, they have a 7.1% chance of moving into the lottery. And we've seen the 11th spot move up once before, so it's not unfathomable for them to go up. Yep. All right, I think we're on the same page on this. I think I'd probably rather see Buck's Bulls, but Buck's Hawks. I mean, neither of us pick the Raptors as the team we want to see play against the bucks. Hawks missing the playoffs, though, Chris, that'd be great drama entering the off season.

It'd be drama, all right. I mean, they've got their coach locked up. Yeah. You know that. Their coach is locked up for the next five years or whatever it is. So, yeah, I think if we can get the, if we can get Celtics heat, then that ends up good. We would have at least, you know, two mustsies. And then Buck's versus either hawks or pools could be pretty, you know.

It might could get interesting. But Cavs Nix is premier. Yeah. And we would need Celtics. Celtics Heat is the only other thing that would be like, all right, let's carve it out of the schedule, make sure I'm there beginning to end. Yeah, the East Series are not, like the Cat's Knicks would be awesome. Yeah, but those series in the East are not nearly as good. Like you can shuffle the West any way you want to almost, I mean, in all likelihood, all four of them are going to be must watch.

Well, and we have one thing that seems certain because one, two, three, and four are all locked in in the West. Yep. So one thing that seems certain. Like 90 plus percent locked in because Kings could theoretically still get the two. Unlikely that. Correct.

Yeah. But those are locked in. Yeah, last night losing to San Antonio. The Grizzlies could fall. I just like to. I know you do, but again, Bozo commentary a couple weeks ago by you when I said, let's talk about things that could happen. So one, two, three.

It could happen. And the Pelicans facing the Grizzlies in the first round, beating them, could happen. Well, I suppose. Eye in your face if that happens. I got to tell you something, Kip. I hope it does. I hope that ends up being the matchup. Because it would be, I mean, a world of crap for you.

Oh, boy. Wow. And then you could just say, well, they didn't have Zion. They didn't have Zion. They didn't have, if they would have Zion. You're right. If they would have. You're right.

Oh, here we go. So here we got, we got. Sons are probably playing Clipped Warriors or Lakers. There's no bad. Ingram is crushing, though. Ingram is crushing. Oh, for sure. We'll get to them.

Yeah, okay. The sons, they're four, pretty well locked into four, 97% chance. Yeah. That they're four, okay? Clips, Warriors, Lakers are three best chances at playing them, that be in five. Boy, that's going to be something to see who, like, who tries to, does anybody try to fall out of a five to avoid the suns? I think the clippers are. Yeah, it does seem like they are.

I've never seen anything like this in my life, Kevin. Can I just speak on this? Yeah. I was at the game on Friday night and went to Grizzlies Clippers. And first quarter, Clippers came out, House of Fire. Eric Gordon knocking down shots. Kauai Leonard looks like Kauai Leonard, circa 2020 or 2020. He was outstanding.

And then, you know, Grizzlies flipped the game in the second quarter. Their bench just runs out on the Clippers, flip the game completely. It's a four-point game at half. They come out after half time, and Eric Gordon is not on the court. And they say, Eric Gordon's got an injury. And then it's about two minutes into the second half. And I'm like, wait, where the hell is Kawhi Leonard? So I start darting around.

I'm like, we've got to find out what's going on. I'm like, does anybody got word on this yet? And then they said, uh, Coi Leonard is not returning to the gang undisclosed. And then it gets to the lock. And so nobody, nobody says anything. Didn't say anything. Didn't say anything.

Didn't say anything. Went on. Nothing. It's a four-point game, a very winnable game. He's the best player on the floor, probably in the first half. And then doesn't play in the second half. And then we get to the end of the game. And Tailu says, Kauai is playing tomorrow night.

Like they asked him, would he be available to be playing in New World? Portland the next night. And he said, yes, Kauai's going to be playing tomorrow night. And then they asked Russell Westbrook about it. And Russell Westbrook comes out and he's like, yeah, nobody told us we were as shocked as you that Kauai wasn't out there in the second half. So like, there was some communication breakdown that took place on this. Russ was under the impression Kauai Leonard was going to be out there playing. So, and they didn't come up with some cockamamie injury, you know, you could at least just say like, oh, he's got, you know, a stomach bug or he's got a lower leg injury or his elbow got hit when he came down hard or whatever.

And I saw somebody tweet like, Kauai Leonard, not playing in the second half because the plan is for him to play the back to back in New Orleans. And I was like, what in the heck is going on? And a game where he had like, I mean, he played like 40 minutes or something in that game, and they lost anyway. And it's talking to some Clippers people, just to try to get the sense. And just from being there,

let me just say, I got the impression that they do not want to play Phoenix and would love to drop to six. That's the impression that I got. And this is tough to do because you don't want to fall to step. Because you're not good enough to dictate when you win and when you lose. Clearly,

because they tried to win against New Orleans. And they couldn't do it. So this is the hard part about jockeying. You can punt a game for sure. But can you win it when you need to win it? And now put yourself out of some peril. And so, man, I just don't have any confidence. I know they are the projected one to stay at five.

I don't believe it. I don't believe they're going to stay at five. I think it could end up being the Lakers. I think they could sweep the board the rest of the way, win the four games, and get there. Well, the Lakers have the Jazz. That would put them at 44 wins, right? The Lakers have the Jazz,

who now Walker Kessler out for the season, concussion. They have the Clippers on the second night of a back-to-back against the Clippers on Wednesday night. And I read this morning, the Clippers have beaten them 10 times in a row. I did not realize that. And the Clippers are going to be on three days' rests for that game. They beat them 10 times in a row?

How is that possible? I read that this morning and I double-taped. And I was like, what? Yes. I don't think that's true. They've dominated that. Is that true? Go back in love, God.

I'm telling you I read it this morning. Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, ten. times in a row, yeah. That's crazy. That is crazy, yeah. The last time the Lakers beat the Clippers was July 30th, 2020. I mean, that's insane. In the bubble was the last time.

And the Clippers have guys that never play. Yeah. How have the Clippers beaten anyone 10 times in a row? I guess I'd have to look at all those games individually, but that's just bizarre. Isn't this all so stupid? though, Chris. All this jockeying for playoff seeding is not better than the alternative, which is doing what the NBA D league when it was the D league did before.

And that's letting the top seeds choose their playoff opponents. Why should we be in a position now where we're talking about, well, the clippers are going to try to lose this game. The Warriors are going to try to lose this game. The Lakers, well, they want to win, but you don't want to win too many because then you're the five seed, the only goal for teams that are trying to make the playoffs should be to win games. And if the NBA had a system in place in which one, two, and three chose their first round opponent, that would mean the fourth seed gets the leftover. That would mean five and six.

They're locked into the playoffs no matter what. That would mean seven and eight as it currently is in the play. I know, look, I know this has been a pet project of yours forever. I like it this way. You like jockeying? You like, you like this intentional sitting of guys. No, I like the matchups. The matchups are inherently better when you do it this way. You do you get great matchups the other way. You wouldn't get matchups because you're.

No, why would you not? Because the top seats are intentionally choosing someone they think they can beat rather than who would be most competitive against that. But that doesn't mean that it's going to be right choice. That doesn't mean that it will be upset. But it also makes it a less entertaining product. I don't think that's always the case.

What are you talking about? Would you rather see the grizzly play the Warriors or the Grizzlies play the Pelicans? Would you rather see the Grizzlies play the Warriors or Lakers or would you rather see them play the team wolves? Let's go through this then. Let's shoot. Who wins the playing of the current teams? Lakers Pelicans.

Lakers win the game. They're the seven right now. Okay. And then the Pelican, who wins Wolfs or Thunder? Who wins that game for the 9-10? I'll say wolves. Okay, so then Pelicans, wolves, who wins? Wolves.

Wolf. Wolf, okay. I'm just messing with you. All right, I don't care. Let's pick the wolves. So the nuggets, the nuggets, who do they pick between the clippers, warriors, Lakers, and wolves? The Nuggets picked the wolves, right?

Probably the most injured. Yeah, whoever's most injured. Okay. Well, they're probably, okay, who do the grizzlies take? Who do your grizzlies select? Between now the clippers, the warriors, and the Lakers. Probably. All three of those are good series.

Probably the clippers. All three of them are good series. All three of them. Okay, so then who did the Kings take? The Kings... That's the same way it's going to be either way, Keff, except it's not dictated. Yes, exactly.

It might be the same as it otherwise would be, but then the end of the season is these teams always trying to win, always trying to win games, rather than we're going to sit Kyle Leonard here. I mean, it's not a big problem, though. I mean, it's not a big problem when we're talking about It doesn't happen until the last couple of games of the season.

Yeah, but I think every game should matter. Like these games. Oh, shit. You, you, we just went through 82 games that didn't matter. What the hell? Now, every game should matter. They literally had to implement shit to make it matter. They're doing a playing tournament.

They're making guys play a minimum game for a word. Exactly. Everything should be about trying to. to make these games matter more. Well, then let's get rid of tanking completely. I mean, there's other ways to do that, which is a completely different conversation. You don't want to talk to me about the lottery wheel and how I'm in favor of that either. That's an extreme.

The lottery wheel. That's an extremist position when it comes to the draft. Extremest. I mean, Adam Silver gets a lot of things wrong. But I do like the fact that he's willing to try things. out. And I'm like, I just, by the way, like, yes, maybe the games ended up the same. But then you create rivalries.

If you're, if the, if the Grizzlies are picking the clippers. Mm-hmm. Or what if the Grizzlies selected the Warriors? That's amazing. Wouldn't that be incredible? Like, would that be so much cooler if the Grizzlies pick the Warriors instead of, oh, they just happen to be seven? And by the way, creating rivalries and,

in this organic way is also what makes games matter more in the future. Because if you're a grizzlies have gotten selected by a team in the past and then you're facing them the following season in the regular season, that game's going to feel like it matters more

to you as a fan, to the players on that roster who feel like they have a chip on their shoulder. That's, I don't know. To me, like, letting them choose the opponent is something that would be unbelievable. Just unbelievable. And it creates, by the way,

more incentive for teams at the top to keep winning because then you get that first choice. Do you think I should do this in the NFL also? I don't know. I'm not really following the NFL as much these days. I mean, I like the randomness of everything. And the NFL is a little different, though, when it's... I like the randomness of everything. You know what I mean?

I like the idea that it falls where it falls. And most of the time, these teams try to dictate things and it doesn't work out. The NBA season is coming down to the wide. and now is the perfect time to download Fandul, America's number one sportsbook, because new customers get a no-sweat first bet up to $1,000. That's bonus bets back if your first bet doesn't win. Just download the Fandul Sportsbook app.

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In Wyoming, visit 1,900, 522, 4,700. And West Virginia, visit 1,800 gambler.net. Who do you think would want to play the sons? They would rather have five. I don't know. I don't know if there's anybody that would rather have the sons, but I think there's teams that would say,

you know what, screw it, let's just keep winning. And that's the Lakers, number one above all else. You think the Lakers have the best chance at knocking off the Sons if they're five? Yeah, I mean, I have the Lakers as the, you know, fifth on my finals power rankings or whatever. But they're behind the Sons, right? Yes, yes, behind the Sons. Okay. So when we say that, do we think Phoenix and the Lakers is better, let's throw away the clips, okay?

That's not better. Yeah. With the Paul George, you know, asterisk next to him for now. I know. Yeah, that's not as good. Would we rather watch Suns Warriors or Suns Lakers? I mean, those would both be really good. Well, because the other one would play the Kings.

I think Kings Warrior. Don't you think Kings Warriors? I want Warriors Grizzlies, though. That's what I want. It's Warriors Grizzlies. Well, you might end up getting it anyway in the West Finals. But Kings. And your dreams.

I think Kings Warriors, Lakers, Sons, I think it's the most entertained. I think that's the most entertaining. Kings Warriors would be great, you know, with Mike Brown versus Steve Kerr. Flying up and down, too. Yeah, that'd be really fun. Fun open basketball. Yeah, it would also be cool from a drama perspective to see Kings Lakers for the reasons we've talked about throughout the season. Not for the Kings.

Yeah, not for the Kings. Monty and Monty Williams is going to have an aneurysm over all the Falcons. Yeah, but also if the Kings were to win that series, though, I really think for a Kings fan, there'd be nothing sweeter that beating the Lakers in the first round. Like, that would be, like, winning any series would be amazing. But if you beat the Lakers with the high that they're on right now, or the Warriors.

Yeah, Warriors, too. Yeah. I mean, the Warriors are the defending chance. Yeah, so I think Suns Lakers, King. Warriors. But I want Grizzly's Warriors. But Grizzly, then you could get your Grizzly's Pelicans, maybe.

Yeah, but Pelicans are because if it plays out that way. But without Zion. But then it's Pelicans Clippers for seven. One thing Grizzly's Pelicans is selfish. I kind of think I actually think it's going to end up

Pelicans Clippers for seven. I'm serious. I think Clippers are going to fall back. And so then it'll be I think I don't know I think those matchups are going to turn out like we're talking

but they got Portland on Saturday and then the suns might the sons might be resting guys on Sunday like that Portland team I got a text

they gotta win two games to avoid the seven and you you gotta think they win two but I don't know maybe not maybe Phoenix

crushes them on Sunday you never know I got a text tonight that sent me Portland's injury list for tonight. There were one, two, three, four,

five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve guys on the list. Twelve guys. Including Jeremy Grant Keon Johnson.

Kevin Knox was questionable. Cam Reddish was questionable. Trindon Reddish was questionable. Kevin Knox. Kevin Knox scores 19 against the wolves. They're not going to play him anymore. And this is what they're saying. Justice Winslow,

Amfordy Simons, Nirkman. Nasir Little, Damian Lillard, Keon Johnson, Jeremy Grant, Abu Baji, all out. And then questionables, John Butler Jr., Kevin Knox, Cam Reddish, Trondon Watford.

You'll have like seven guys healthy. Well, you know, that wolves lost to them. A biggest, like, point spread upset ever, right? But I read this article that is absolutely crippling. crippling loss.

So, yes, like you were saying, in 30 years, no one had lost as a 19.5 point favorite. It's never happened. Okay? And now they put their end, because of that loss, they've put themselves in a position where they're more than likely going to have to win two games to get into the playoffs. Late last week before they lost to the Lakers,

which is a toss-up game between them. That basketball reference that I've been talking about, they gave the wolves a 75% chance at the playoffs and a 40% chance at a top six seat. Those numbers now are 43% at the playoffs and 6% at a top 6 seat. They are ninth, and they trail everyone above them by two games in the loss column.

And so just that one never in a million years expected loss was beyond crippling. Beyond crippling. I mean, that's the thing. When we're talking about being able to jockey for position, I mean, we had everybody had that marked down as a win for the wolves, including, unfortunately, the wolves. Yeah, they definitely did, dude. Shannon Sharp and Kevin Knox said no. I guess they said they could just show up and they could do it.

That really, our friend John Krasinski, I believe he tweeted something along the lines of, you know, I've seen a lot of bad Minnesota Tribol's losses in my career covering this team. I'll have to think hard to find one worse than this one against the Blazers. That is an unforgivable loss. terrible. I mean, you just, you don't ever see a 19.5. Point favorite, it's impossible. No.

And the funniest thing ever is the reaction from Portland. You know, they were like, are you kidding me? You idiots. It's like Major League, right? Like, what are you doing? And so they're like, fine, eff it. We're not playing Knox. Like, these idiots can't do anything.

right. We tried to win all year and you idiots couldn't win. Now we're no want to win and you're winning? What's wrong with you? What is going on? They get some big ones coming up, Portland does. Chaunty Billups. I mean, honestly, look, he may not keep his job anyway, but clearly not the guy you want at the helm when the job is to intentionally lose. Not the guy. you've got to be savvier than that. You've got to pull out all the stops at that point, you know? You know what's cool? When your team has a chance to win.

It's cool, like, with a team like Portland at this point of the season, because you get to see guys like Shaden Sharp get increased usage in games. And with Sharp, one of the things that I really liked about him in the draft is, of course, like, this dude can score. We know Shaden Sharp can score. He's had 30 points, 27 points, and 27 points. but with the increased playmaking opportunities that he has, I liked his passing when he wanted to pass in high school.

And you're seeing him deliver like good, you know, bounce passes out of the pick and roll. You're seeing him find shooters across the court. It's like these little things that Sharp's doing where, you know, you saw flashes of this in high school and I don't know. I just think he's showing dimensions of his game that you wouldn't have expected to see from a 19-year-old player as a passer that are encouraging for him moving forward into his future

because his goal is to score. That's his number one responsibility. But when he wants to pass, he can do it a little bit. I will say that they can probably be excited about Shaden Sharp and, you know, that while they've been, quote, intentionally losing

and shut down Damien Lillard and just came to terms of the fact that there are going to be a lottery team that he has put up some good numbers and had some good plays. But it's always one of those fascinating developments when you've probably got a group of fans that were upset. You have two fan bases upset over one of the greatest upsets in NBA history. How is that? How is that possible?

Wolf's fans furious, Blazers fans furious. And I got to tell you, Kevin, this on a side note, that wouldn't be on my highlight that was going around the internet yesterday. Oh, so this is the step back three-pointer by Wembe, where he's crossing over his point, and steps back to me. How is that not CGI? But then he notices as soon as it leaves his hands that this ball is going to miss. But he leaves the picture. in the video that was going around.

So you only see the step back shot. Oh, with the close up. And then the next frame, he's talking it. It's like if I showed you Lamar Jackson dropping back and throwing it, and then you saw him catching it at like the 20-yard line. Yeah. And you would be like, wait, what? That's really how it felt.

It felt like a quarterback throwing a pass. and then the screen you're not seeing what happened and then he runs underneath it I hadn't thought about it I hadn't thought about it like that because I saw like the full screen the broadcast view first

but like if you had seen the close up you know that one first I can't imagine the feeling I really can't imagine what the feeling would be like because you're thinking oh my God a crossover step back three pointer but then the shot misses I showed my son

We were at a restaurant after my daughter's soccer game yesterday. And I was scrolling through, we were waiting for our food to come. And I was just scrolling through Twitter. And it was the NBA.com, like whatever, phantom cam video or whatever they put up. And that's the one I saw. And I was like, hold on. How? How is this dude dunking his own shot?

Not even a free throw. Yeah. maybe like a free throw it's happened. I doubt it though. Yeah, but like a step back three or even a pull-up three, any type of three-pointer. Has a player ever missed a three-pointer and had a foot that dunk? There's no way.

It really looks. It looks fate. It really does not look like that. A human being could do that. You know, the crazy thing is with Webby is like it felt like early in the season he was going viral on social media a lot. And then people started getting used to some of the stuff that he would do.

Come on. You know what I mean? But this one nobody has ever seen this before. He's 7-4. And by the way, the crossover stepback three. Oh, it's beautiful. Oh, my God. gorgeous. Like to create the space off the dribble like that. Well, that's why, but that's

why even if he hit the three, it would have been a highlight. This is a dude. Like, oh, man, I watch those. It makes me think about coming to the dark side with you and just saying lose, bro. Like this guy. And you imagine having him on your team? Oh, my God.

I really can't fathom. Like, the feeling. Oh, my God. His dude dunked a three-point miss. His own. That's impossible, bro. I don't know if the end, I was invited to the private room, you know, where they do the lottery balls, bouncing around for the Zion draft.

I don't know if I were to get invited again. But if I got invited, I'm not sure if I'd rather be in that room where you're there and it happens, right? Like Alvin Gentry going crazy, you know, when they get Zion. I don't know if I'd rather be in there where it happens live to feel the disappointment of the others,

to feel the thrill of the team that wins it, or if I'd rather be watching live on TV with everybody else for the Wendy one. Because for Wendy, it's going to be nutty. I mean, because imagine, you know, that year that the Pelicans got one and the Grizzlies got two and they were move-ups, it's like, imagine you went through some kind of dreadful, horrible season like Houston. Oh, I know. And it doesn't go your way. I know.

And it's like just so crushing. I can't imagine. So crushing. I'm going to do a spin on the tankathon wheel right now. I just did one. And this is what came up. Utah moves up eight spots. Oh my God.

The number one. Detroit goes down to two. Dallas moves up seven to three. And Washington moves up three spots to four, which would mean Houston goes down to five. San Antonio. Oh, six. Like, can you imagine? It would be.

They have Houston has 19 wins right now during this painful season. I know. Can you imagine if that were to happen? But if you're Detroit, I think you're really depressed, but you still get the second pick. I got to text the other night when I was at the Grizzly's Magic game. One of my buddies texts me and he said, he was at the game and he said, you know what, this team deserves Wembeama. This is the one. That Orlando team.

Orlando getting Wemby would be wild. He said, they're the ones playing it out. Yeah, they are. You believe in karma and you believe that like, hey, you're not cramping on your family. Like, you're playing this thing out. Whatever happens happens. You know, it happened with Detroit. Detroit was winning those games with Cade Cunningham, you know, a couple years ago.

Like, they're trying to play it out, right? Yeah. And they ended up with, they ended up with Ivy. But even the year before, they got in Cunningham. It's like, I don't know. Like, there's a lot of different teams where it could be really fun. but no lie. That highlight, it's not even,

it seriously, it looks like something that's like CGIed. I don't even, I don't even know how that's a real human being. When I tweeted it out, Ronnie 2K, that 2K influencer dude. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ratings and all that. He said, I don't even think this is possible in 2K. There's no way it is. Like, you can't do that in 2K. It's like something from the old NBA jam. Yeah. You know, when you play in the arcade.

Yeah. Yeah. And you would like have a guy that leads from the three point line dunk game. It's crazy. It's something. He's on fire. Being there in Vegas for the Webby scoot game last year, that that's where it felt like seeing it in person. You're like, oh, it's real.

Oh, like, wow, this is not just, you know, hype or grainy video footage. This is real. It's a real human being. It's a real human being. I mean, you've probably seen it going around all the clips of stars talking about him. Yeah. Like when you hear Janice talk about him and you hear Curry talk about him and you hear all the guys that have seen him and all the guys that have been around him. Like they talk about him like, he's coming.

Yeah. Like I tell them, watch out. Like this is happening. because they're there's when yonis is like i've never seen anything like that it's like bro we never seen anything like you yeah you're seven foot grabbing rebounds driving 94 feet and dunking on everyone and scoring 50 points and you can't even shoot he scored 50 points with the finals on the line and he's like i've never seen anything like this guy and he had one of the greatest blocks ever in the history of the finals.

With that block on Aiton, where Aiton caught the ball out of the pick and roll and Yannis kind of just spun. We could have in the future five non-American-born players finish in the top five for MVP someday. We have Yokic.

We're going to four this year, probably. Yeah, I mean, depending on if Luca makes it or not, but like Yokic and Bid and Yannis, somewhere in the top three in some order. Luca, maybe he doesn't finish top five this year, but he will again in the first. future at some point and then Wemby. Like those five,

all. And I'm going to tell you something, Kep, I was at the All-Star game. You were to, I saw you all, or I didn't. I was not at the All-Star game. I was there only Saturday night for the ringers. You were there for Saturday enough for that thing. So I was there the whole weekend and I ran into a bunch of different people,

executives and whatnot that had gone to, they always bring into wherever All-Star weekend is they bring in like basketball with, Borders. And so there's a group of guys. First time I ever became aware of this was a couple of years ago when the All-Star game was in Charlotte. I was walking into the stadium.

A bus pulls up and the door opens and there's these just giants getting off of it. But they all have baby faces. And I'm like, what the hell is this? It looked like another All-Star team or something. And they were like, that's basketball without borders. Basically, they bring in the best players from around the world. they have a closed gym

and then talent evaluator scouts, GMs, and the like can all be in there. And I talked to two different guys that were in there and I was like, give me some names for like the future.

Like, you know, because you want to know if there's going to be like a next Turk or a next Wembee or a next whoever, right? They told me that that's that Mattas guy,

Mattas, the one that's going to the G League next year, the one that's like on all the viral clips right now, how do I say his name? Matas or Mattas. he's on the number one draft.

He's like number one on the projected draft board. Let me get the proper proxiation. One second. Matas Bozellas, 6-9 guy at Sunrise Christian. Matas-Buzellis. Matas-Buzellis. It's the proper pronunciation. Mataz Buzellis.

So there's another one. He's Lithuanian. Yeah, and he's like 6-10 guard type. Projected number one pick in 2024 already. So there's another one, by the way. So the next number one pick, possibly is another guy. Yeah, I think he's just looking at

Gavoni for his 2024 mock. He had him number one and his 2024 mock. And by the way, that's another non-college player that could go number one. If a G-lear goes number one for the first time. That's a good segue into the CBA stuff. They did not abolish one and done.

It's the right choice, I think. Okay. hear it. I think it's the right choice because of all these other paths that exist right now. Players are able to make money going to college, you know, through the NIL. They're able to make money going to the G League or overtime elite like we see with Amen and Osar Thompson. They're able to go to Australia if they want to, like Lamello Ball did. There's so many paths for them to make money. And for the NBA side of things, front offices, like you talk to people around the league, it is hard to find an NBA executive

that says they would want to go into small high school gyms and scout players where like it's tough to get a feel for strength of competition. You know, like look at high school rankings, man. High school rankings, like you think NBA teams make mistakes that we like me like Devone and Sam Vesini and all these draft availability make mistakes? High school rankings are rough when it comes to like

figuring out how these players end up, you know, panning out and as they, you know, turn 18, 19, 20, 21 years old, it's tough. So talk about randomness in the draft, it introduces a lot more randomness if you have high school players going straight to the NBA. It is preferable from the league, you know, team perspective to have players come in more ready. I think for the league as a whole, like the NBA,

I think it's better to have players coming in a bit more developed rather than raw. I also think it's a little bone to throw to the veteran players. It is. That too, because they lose roster spots. Oh, constantly. They did two different things for that case. One, they added another two-way players. So now instead of two, you could have three.

Which is a great move. It gives you another opportunity to have a young player that can develop within your system and also participate on your team without forcing you to use one of your 15 roster spots on it. because vet minimum had gotten so high that if you're not playing, it used to be that you wanted your 14th, 15th guy to be good, solid vets that are good to have in the locker room. They've been around winning. They've been around good cultures.

They're almost like employing another coach. And now the price of that is punitive enough that they just say, all right, we'll give our second round pick or a second round pick or maybe we'll even get two second round picks we'll just get cheap guys on the end of the roster so instead of the the 14th you know your guys 11 through 15 that those would be more veteran leadership type guys or guys that have had years in the league that been around stuff and those guys it's a lot harder to have a long career now unless you are top tier, right? Your top tier, you're clearly, you're going to make a billion dollars and you're going to be around a long time.

But with the way it's structured now, with so much money being spent on the best players, you know, you don't have as much of a middle class. And that's really what those veteran players are. The guys that are just like rotation level veteran players, those guys are like would be middle class because of what they get paid. And so we'll just take the guy that makes 700 grand, 800 grand. We'll have him at the end of the bench. They're probably not playing, but they can practice with us. They can develop.

They can go down to our G league some, whatever else. But I do think it's much more valuable if you've got some veterans there to kind of keep the peace, to help young guys come along. And so I think two different, you know, strategies that were used. if they would have done the one and done, the league just keeps getting younger and younger and younger and younger. Yeah, yeah. And obviously for some players, you know, a Wembe, a scoot. Sure.

You know, it's unfortunate for them. They can't go straight to the NBA. But for the most part, the 99% of players that enter the league, it's better for the league that they don't right away. And for a lot of these young players, it can be better too. Because now you can make your money in college. You can make, you know, $800,000. or two, three million dollars, whatever it might be, going to college, going to the G League,

and then develop into a better player, potentially, and then enter the league. And rather than, like, you know, rush into things, you know, like, it's just a better option right now with everything that the league has and all these other leagues have. So we're not going to get too into the weeds on the new CBA stuff, but just a couple things. Obviously, we saw a lot of grousing about the penalties of spending teams way, way above the luxury. tax and the penalties where they're not going to be able to sign players, you know, that are just opt-out guys. They're not going to be able to, and they're going to have to spend an absolute fortune.

And then they've got some restrictions that are laid upon them. People are saying this is targeted at the Warriors, targeted at the Lakers, Targeted at the clippers. And this is with the second apron tax line, which is $17.5 million above the tax, right? Yeah, I mean, and really, it's. If you're, like, complaining about not being able to spend $18 million over the luxury tax. Like, I mean, I guess if you want baseball, you get baseball, but I don't think that's particularly a good way to do it. I mean, the interesting thing with this is, so, like, this second apron takes away certain exceptions for them to use.

So, like, the Warriors would not have been able to add Dante DiVincenzo. You know, the Celtics would not have been able to add the Nilo Galanari. You know, the Bucks would not have been able to add Joe Ingalls, just as some examples. And I would say none of those are moving the needle drastically. Clearly, Gallinari's not. But the other two aren't moving the needle drastically in terms of title hopes. However, though, the NBA now also through some still, unclear mechanisms.

Like we don't know all the fine details of it yet, but players are going to be able to invest in teams. But we don't know how that's going to work exactly, but let's say, will we see on July 1st this year, Clay Thompson signs a four-year, $65 million extension with the Warriors? And they're like, huh, that number seems low.

But then do you see the next day, Clay Thompson is a minority investor in the Golden State Warriors. Like, is that the way it's going to be for now on? You know what I'm saying? I guess it's a possibility. What would be funnier is if a guy invested in another team. Is that going to be allowed? I mean, can you, can you invest in somebody else?

Like, you know what? I don't want my franchise, but I'll invest in the, if somebody else wants another part owner, I'll invest in them. they got good management over there. Yeah, I don't know. Like, we don't know all the details yet. Well, look, and there's so much, yes, we don't know all the details. That's why we're not going to get too in the weeds.

I also thought it was funny that they can make money off of gambling companies and cannabis companies. They can only do it if cannabis is legal in their state. And they can also, hey, and then also they can't, like, promote gambling or whatever. So I guess, like, I guess CJ McCollum can't give out. his same game parlay that he believes in tonight they should get what's his name to do it uh what's a guy that got suspended from the NFL Calvin Ridley oh yeah calvin calvin ridley that was so damn funny you see those quotes last week where he wanted to make clear that he won his bet yeah this will be clear i won the bet okay it wasn't worth losing a year of football but um what if and what if it's like uh

this is lebron james for weed warehouse Come on down for the best weed on Sunset Boulevard. Come down here. They got all kinds of edibles, five grand, ten grand. Cura Leaf presented by Stephen Curry. Yeah. 100 milligrams. Come on down.

If I saw, like, you know, big billboard with LeBron James and a huge pot leaf next to it, that would be the best thing. I guess It should get Look I'll tell you this As soon as that Clause came out

The CBA Every dispensary in Denver Was calling Aaron Gordon They're like Yo We got a deal We got a deal for you

You think Yokic You think Yokch could be I don't know Paid enough What do you give you I mean I guess another would surprise me He didn't seem like a weed guy though

No he doesn't He seems like a cocktail or do I have some wine. Yes. No, like vodka straight. Yeah, chugs of beers. Yeah.

Just kettle one. I just want a kettle one. Yeah. The minimum amount of games is the big one that is in the CBA. We do know. We don't need details on this. That it's 65 games in order to be eligible for awards. This was their way to try to combat everybody's sitting out so many games.

This would affect a massive amount of players this year. as we know, not be eligible for awards that they very well may win or be given this year. There's one thing that I thought when this happened. So this came down on like Friday night. And it just so happened. I was at that game that I spoke to you about. And then after the game, after I got out that night, I guess it was maybe Saturday morning I saw these. And so, of course, what was most fresh in my mind is what I just.

witness the night before. And I read this and my first reaction because of what I had seen the night before was oh this is if they didn't close the loophole

this is going to be super annoying because I was thinking I don't know if these guys are going to play all these games but I know this you could very well see them gaming the system

like I had just seen in that Kauai deal so the guys that are just going to play a half the guys that are just going to step out on the court remember the Drew Holiday thing go in take a foul whatever now obviously you would hurt your averages on the season if you don't play in the game but you know

I could see this getting gained I could see them gaming the system on this to where it's like, okay, we've got it back to back. We're going to do the Kauai thing. You know, Kauai is like the godfather of load management. So this may have been a trend setting move where it was like, oh, back to back, okay, I'll play the first half of that one. And that that's actually what you see the next time.

Or you see a guy just like check in, play maybe the first quarter, then he just checks out. Right? Now I got that on my game log. I played in that game, right? When it gets to the, you know, because in some cases, like in the case of, you know, a Jalen Brown or a John Morant or some of these guys, you're talking $30, 40, 50 million, that could be worth in some case for playing just one or two more games than you did during the season.

And so if they didn't close the loophole, I'm not sure. Guys are always going to find a way to take advantage of things. And so what I'd like to believe My pie in the sky version is that guys would play a lot more What scares me is that you'd get the Kauai situation Which is in an effort to You're like artificially getting that games played number Enough to a number where you'll be eligible for

The stuff that you want to be able to get But in order to get that they didn't really play 65 games I hope that's wrong Yeah, I mean, we'll see, you know, again, like with all of this, not every detail has been released. Not every detail is known by the Shams and the Wodges of the world yet at this point. So I think, you know, we're still figuring out everything that's going to be in there. If there are, there are those protective measures to, you know, curtail the potential workarounds that you're talking about. I think if personally, I think if a player, you know, appears in a game for a half, that's fine.

there should probably be a minimum minutes threshold in addition to the games being played for it to be eligible for the postseason awards. But otherwise, these guys are going to make a mockery of it. They will. But even if there is a minimum minutes and even with the 65 game minimum, that doesn't mean that behavior is necessarily going to change because so many of these decisions that are made for load management and all that are done through the medical staffs on the team.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, let me be clear. I'm not putting this all in the players. Yes, of course. But if those, but if they say, if the teams know, like, hey, in order to be eligible for this, so yeah, we've got this, we got three games in the next five days. And instead of just sitting out that middle one,

let's just play in the first half. But that is better, though. I guess it's better. That is better. That is better. Like, I've been to games, you know, growing up where, you know, a pitcher is on a pitch count. right, you know, coming back from injury or whatever it might be.

I think that's better to at least see the guy if you're a fan in the stands than not. Unless it's five minutes. You're right. It's only a mockery if they do the Drew Holiday thing. Yes, then it makes no sense at all. Go in, take a foul, then go sit. But if a guy plays a quarter of competitive basketball or a half of competitive basketball, I'd much rather have that as a step forward than...

I don't know. I don't know, though. I had just, again, maybe I'm prisoner of the moment. I had just seen the Kauai thing. I thought that was such bullshit. Yeah. I did. I know.

I was like, this is a four-point game. Yeah. Like, yeah, okay, cool. The Grizzlies, you know, bombed him out in the second half. But, like, you just punted this. It was almost worse than if they wouldn't have played him at all. It's like, why you're just intentionally being less competitive? I don't understand it.

And the crazy thing was not even making up some baloney reason. Yeah, but if you're a mega Kauai fan who lives in Tennessee and you drove to that game, there's no such thing. I know, but let's just say they exist. Let's just say they do for the sake of the conversation. If you're a mega Kauai fan and you go to that game, at least you got to see them for a half. No, fuck bad. I'd be mad.

I'd be like, what the hell? But that's better than not seeing him. I guess if you're a mega Kauai fan, seeing him a half is like seeing Bigfoot. Like seeing Loch Ness Monster. No, we already saw Bigfoot. That was Wemby hitting a stepback. Yeah, maybe that was.

Footback dunk. The other thing that came out that's gotten a lot of talk is the all NBA. And oh, my God, this is why we're the mismatch, because I know we're going to disagree on this. Positionless, maybe. Ooh, I won. I won. I'm with Bill Simmons on this.

I think it's lame. That's so cool. I just wish I would have done at least front court back court. Yeah, but what is front court back court? Forward and center. Where do you put Luca? Huh?

Where do you put Luca? I'd have him as a back court player. Where would you put LeBron? I'd have him as a front court player. Why? I don't get it. He starts a small forward. Yeah, but where does Lucas start?

Well, why is LeBron not a, well, now is LeBron not a point guard? He handles the ball more than anybody. He runs the offense. Well, that's fine. He can plug. played that way, but in terms of the position that he plays at. Where do you put Andrew Wiggins?

He's a small forward. Is he? Sometimes. Starts a small forward. Next day, it's Curry, Clay, Wiggins. This isn't hard. These guys have assigned positions. The way the game plays out and the way the game is actually played.

But, I mean, having four-center, it's the best. What is Jason Tatum? I mean, I think he's probably a backboard player. What is Jalen Brown? I would say he plays the majority of the time as a front court player. Yeah, but the NBA in past years saw that differently than you. They had Tatum as forward. They had Brown as guard.

Well, I mean, we have numbers that can tell you what positions they most likely play, whether they play in the front quarter to the backboard more often. And those numbers are usually rubbish. I mean, come on, dude, this is not like with 99% of the league has a position. What is Nicola Yokic? He's a center. But he runs the offense like a point guard. Fine.

He's still a center. Yeah. I mean, it's like, it's like saying, Christian McCaffrey's not a running back because he caught 80 balls. Like, what? I mean, he's still, or Travis Kelsey's not a tight end because he caught 100 balls. Like, you're still that position. I just don't want it being four centers and a guard if that's the five. I mean, I like that we have to judge, like, all right, we're the best two forwards,

who are the best two guards, who's the best center. I understand. There's ebbs and flows of this as the years go on. Of course, some years there's going to be, you know, there's going to be a Joe L.MB, right? But then there's going to be years where, like, some guy who's undeserving gets the third center spot. And that is not cool. It's not cool. Because then that means somebody else is getting screwed.

I mean, you don't have to make this about Bruce Lopez. There's years where, like, there was a couple years ago where Chris Middleton got, like, 85 points. But he got them split between forward and guard, which gave the nod to Ben Simmons and Russell Westbrook, who were only listening. as guard. So because Middleton was listed at Ford and Guard and voters split the vote, he got screwed out of all of the year. Yeah, that should be more clear. But there's a way to give that more clarity. With front court, back court, what is Chris Middleton, front court or back court? I would say Chris Middleton is, and I guess he would probably start alongside. Yeah, but you can't give me, you can't give me an answer in a heartbeat, then I don't want to hear it. Like,

what is he? I don't know what he is. Sometimes he's front court. Sometimes, he's backcourt. Sometimes he runs point. Sometimes he's defending bigger players. He's more of a front court guy. Like, the positions don't mean anything. The NBA made the right choice. It's not even close. The fact you say Lucas back court and LeBrona's front court says all I need to know. I mean, I'm talking about where they start. Like, you know what I mean? Like they have a starting five. They're assigned position as it were. Yeah, but the positions don't really mean anything, though. I get it. I get the positions don't mean anything. I get the positions don't mean anything. but we have now, like you say positions don't mean anything and yet you can name the centers and have a problem with who is third team center.

Yeah, I think centers are probably the easiest position to name personally. I think so. Like guard, wings, forwards, that's like all so wishy-washy. It's hard to name those guys. Centers are a lot of the time.

I mean, you named like 10 guys in the league and that's just, I mean, and you can cherry pick But there's 400 and something players in the in the league, most of which there's not some debate about what they all. Yeah, but I think I think with the way the game has changed, there are so many big ball handlers and playmaking presences in the league nowadays. Like they can be classified as guards. Ben Simmons for years in all NBA was labeled as a guard, even though in the fourth quarters he became a center. I mean, like it's just it's different roles.

It's different. Like your size doesn't dictate your position. anymore. It's your skills that dictate your position. That's why I think we used to make decisions about guys getting left out of stuff. Now we made decisions on guys getting

left out of things like first team all NBA. It's not because guys are being left out of the all NBAs because we do it by positions. It's because Joe L.M.B. didn't get to be first team because Nicola

Yokic was voted first team. I mean, the truth is, Chris, that's what this is about. The truth is, the truth is, I'm the traditionalist here and you're not, because from 1946

through 195, the All-NBA ballots were positionless. So I'm actually the one who... The all-N-Ba ballast were positionless from 1946 through 1955,

which means I'm the one who wants to go back to the way things used to be. I had a vote in those. I had a vote in those. And we had a big meeting amongst the All-M-B-A voters. And we voted to change it.

We said this way is archaic. We have positions in this game now. Dolph Shays and Bob Poozy. They were making arguments to change it. No, we said, look, we have to change it because otherwise, none of these little guys are ever going to make it. The All-MBA team is just going to be

George Mike and Bill Russell, Will Chamberlain It's just going to be All the Giants It's going to be Jerry Lucas And it's going to be None of these little runs Are ever going to make the thing

That's probably why they changed it, no lie I guarantee that's why they change it I'd have to go back and look But I mean, I don't know I guess, you know Look, everybody cried enough about Joe L&B not getting first team all NBA alongside Nicoliochich that finally got their way.

I'll tell you what. Position list, all NBA, and I can't wait until somebody votes five centers because they love 538's Draymond rating that says that the most important players on the floor are actually the rim protectors. Therefore, Brooke Lopez deserves a first team all-end. be a vote. And so it could be, it could be Nicola Yocch, Joelle Mbid, Yadis

Adjcunpo, Brooke Lopez, and Jakop portal. You are so full of it. It's not going to happen. It could be the other guy. What you're going to see is a year in which the top five MVP's, like we just said earlier, the five international guys that you see Janus, Yokic, Embed, Victor, and Luca. all those five, it's the top five MVP guys make the top five on all NBA. See, the way I look at it is like you can organize your teams

with your smaller players who sometimes are guards, but not always, and your bigger players who sometimes are, you know, quote unquote forwards and bigs, but not always. You can still do that with those 15 players. You can still assemble teams

from those 15 players if you want to. You can still do that. if you really want to. But ultimately, now the All-NBA becomes a clear list of which is what it's intended to be the 15 best players in a particular season.

Now it's regardless of the traditional positions which have no meaning nowadays. It's close. I mean, it doesn't make that big of a difference. It's not going to make that big of a difference. What I'm going to do, and I haven't done it yet this year, but I'm going to figure out what would my ballot be with just the top 15

and what's my ballot actually going to be under the current rules where you do have center two forwards and two guards. Like, will it be any different or not? And I haven't gone through the process yet, but I will by next Monday when my ballot is due.

But I don't think it's going to be much different, Chris. I don't. You don't? No. I don't think it'll be much different. It's just more about improving the process. Yeah. I guess we are the mismatch there.

Let everybody get a trophy. They can all get their first teams Even if they're not the best at their position All right I mean there's been 75 years In the history of this Where we've been able to take a snapshot of the season Not quite 75

Yeah I know But a snapshot of the season That tells the story of the season These are the two best guards These are the two best world words And nobody sits around Getting confused and goes Well it's LeBrow LeBron Jain really has the ball

All the time So is he truly a forward Like no one does it Come on Nobody does that. I mean, I think people do nowadays. But what people do, somebody's going to look back, you know,

when they're older and be like, wait, aren't these guys all centers? No. I mean, yeah, but Janus M.B. Yolkich. No, because then you're going to look at it and you're going to say, wow, so this era of basketball was dominated by bigs. Wow, for four years straight,

there were four players taller than six foot 10 that made the first team all NBA. Oh, and then from 233 through 2042, there was seven of those nine years, all guards. The league was dominated by six two, six three, six four guys. And all five of the first team, All-MBA made it. Then you look at the league in that sense, historically, which to me is more appealing than, okay, these are arbitrary positions of the two guards, two forwards, two centers. Then you get to see what truly reflects what that.

the era of basketball was, in my opinion. Even though those players do actually play those positions generally. There's no real debate on what Yonness is or what Yokic is or what M.P.E. it is or what most of the players say Gilchus Alexander is going to be in there. It depends on your definition of what that position is and what it means. Is the position more due to the size of the player or their roles in or their roles in responsibilities. We should just call it what it is.

They should just call it what it is. Joel and Bede and Gerald Mory bitched enough to get this changed. Good for them. They were in the right. They've ruined basketball, so might as well ruin the awards, too. Mori with his numbers and it's sloppant.

Congratulations. When is your reign of tyranny over? Kevin, it is always a pleasure about up against a Friday, we are going to know a lot. We had news, Chris. There's news. Beep, beep, peep, peep,

wait, no, no, I mean, Wiggins is coming back. Oh, yeah, Andrew Wiggins is coming back. And the Mavs might be resting Carrie Irving and Luca the rest of the season. Yeah, well, why would they? Yeah, they're seriously considering shutting them down, according to Shom Sharania on Fandul TV.

I mean, it's going to be up to Luca. Just ask him, look, here's the deal here. Yeah. We took a run at it. But what is better for us going forward is this. And our odds are so inimically low right now at being able to do this.

And I think he wants it to be over to, honestly. Do you really want to keep playing with these guys? Well, I mean, that was something I noted in my article last week. Like, if you're Luca, you could use the rest. I mean, you've been playing nonstop pretty much for a year now. I mean, right. Like, if you look at, like, his history, considering playing last year over the summer with Eurobasket, he's played off on last year. Then the Slovenian National Squad in August, Eurobasket in September, match training camp in the season.

I mean, it's like no time out. Well, and the Wiggins thing is mega fascinating because they say he's been working out while, he's been dealing with his personal issue. And, you know, they, I told you, I saw them a couple weeks ago. I mean, they just, you have to have a wing defender. You have to. Yeah. It was a gaping hole for them, gaping.

And he feels that. And he was, he's probably second best player on their team right now. Yeah. I know it sounds crazy, but that's true. Like in terms of night in, night out, like, you really. need him. You can get by. I mean, Draymond is probably the most essential

outside of Curry. But Wiggins is right there. And Wiggins certainly, last year when you go back to the playoffs, whether it was the finals against the Celtics, but even before that, in that series against the Grizzlies, it was Wiggins and Loonie that did the damage.

Like, those guys stepped up in a massive, massive way. And nothing has been right for the Warriors this year, it's all been off. And so people say like, yeah, well, if they get Wiggins back, I mean, they will at least have their full squad of guys to go with it. But, I mean, they did have Wiggins before. And it was still just something's been off this year.

Everybody that covers that team says it's just not the same. And everybody kept waiting for the run and waiting for them to look awesome. and it just hasn't taken. But we still have that championship medal fear, you know, that once you do it, it's the same way that, look, guess who sucks this year? The heat, they suck.

They got a frigging negative point differential. Nobody's writing them off against Boston. And that's only because... Oh, I mean, you probably should write them off. No, but I'm always... But we're only giving them respect because they deserve respect for things they have done in the past. And the Golden State Uncle Ricos,

who still believe they could throw the football over that mountain are the exact same. Except they want to remind you about all their accomplishments every time they're down by 20. And you remind them. Yeah. They want to remind you. They have the rings.

It's going to be a big test to see how much the regular season matters anymore with the Warriors, Lakers, some of these bottom seeds. in the West because historically one and two seeds tend to win there all the time. They do. Yep. I mean, it's hard for me to

think Milwaukee or Boston in Philly. I really don't think it's going to come out of the West. Do you? Yeah, I think Boston Milwaukee are above everybody else. Collision, of course. Yeah, but Katie going to the Suns is a game changer.

And the Lakers having the roster they do now with LeBron May D. If those guys stay healthy, is a game changer. Thank you to our executive producer, Jesse Lopez. As always, we'll have a little more clear vision on this by Friday. Kevin, I will talk to you then. Sounds good. Have a good week.