The Mismatch - Nuggets Clean Up Game 2 Against Lakers, Heat Take Game 1, and Post-Lottery Thoughts

Episode Date: May 19, 2023

Verno and KOC are back after an exciting, if not floppy, Game 2 of the Western Conference finals, in which Jamal Murray’s monster fourth quarter put the Nuggets up 2-0 on the Lakers (1:00). Then, they talk about the Cinderella Heat stealing Game 1 in Boston (37:40), and how they’re feeling after the NBA draft lottery (58:39). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Sasha Ashall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, everybody. I'm Brian Barrett, former Boston Sports Radio Guy, and now host of the new Ringer show Off the Pike that'll cover all your favorite Boston teams and stories from Fenway to Foxborough to the Garden and beyond. We're reacting to all the biggest games and moments with episodes at least three times a week featuring myself and some of your favorite guests at the ringer and in the city. Plus, if the Celtics or the Patriots make a surprise trade, if the Red Sox's going to run, or if any news breaks, will drop instant reaction. episodes too so you're always up to date with the latest chatter get in on the action and follow off the pike with me brian barrett now on spotify welcome to the mismatch i'm chris varnan and joining me to does every friday from the ringer dot combs is kevin o'connor a k, kevin obammer, kevin o'connor, kovac, Kevin o'cimer, Kevin O'clock, Kevin O'Carriott, Kevin O'Brien, how are you doing? night. I saw the picture of you today with the Larry O'Brien trophy.

That's pretty cool, huh? Yeah, some friends from the NBA are going on a tour with the NBA finals trophy. Like, they're doing like an Instagram TikTok thing at NBA Finals trophy. And they said, hey, we want to bring it over to the ringer office. So yeah, had it over. Played a prank on Jay Kyle Mann for my show Beyond the Ark. Took some photos with it. It was pretty cool. Yeah, fun. Is it heavy? 40 pounds. That's what they say. It weighs 40 pounds. It feels it feels heavier because the way the weight is distributed. Like it kind of leans and it's, I don't know, the weights everywhere. It's hard to pick up. It's cool. Super fun. We are recording this after we just got done watching

another epic conference finals game. This was played much differently than game one between the Nuggets and the Lakers. Scoring was at much more of a lot of. a premium. And so it was who is going to show up and get the job done as this game went on. It looked like everybody was exhausted by the end. And the story of the night becomes Jamal Murray, who goes absolutely ballistic in the fourth quarter after not having a great game, certainly not a great shooting game thus far up to that point.

and he explodes for 23 points in the fourth quarter. And when you talk about points being at a premium, if you've got a guy that can go for 23, it's going to go a long way towards victory. The Nuggets now move to 9-0 on their home court in this postseason. As we know, the Lakers are 6-0. So neither of these teams have lost a home game in the playoffs so far. So something's got to give, or maybe it doesn't, and they'll play it out all seven games with all of them winning at home.

But at least now, you know how I always think about these series. The Lakers are in a situation where they've got to beat that Nuggets team four out of five. And you really want to get a split if you can in those first two to not put yourself into that kind of position. but what do you walk away thinking after just watching the nuggets go up to O? I mean, I think, you know, first thought, Chris is Jamal Murray. He had another game like Jason Tatum. You know, he can't find the hoop at all. He's brick and everything.

And then he just, you know, goes nuclear in the fourth quarter. And sometimes that's the type of, you know, good fortune you need on your side that you just have high-level scores who managed to figure it out. Because I felt like through these two games, this is a lot. why game one was such a big L for the Lakers. I think, you know, I understand to an extent the way in which this was like that game was framed as, well, Lakers got to be feeling good about game one. They lose by only six points. You know, they were competitive. They were in it. But like, you had a chance to win the game and you didn't win the game. And then tonight, you know, Anthony Davis had one of his, if not the worst performance he's had throughout the entire

postseason, four for 15 from the floor. He's not the primary guy in Nicola Yokic. That's LeBron James or Rui Hachamora a lot of the time. And you get 22, 10, and 9 night from LeBron. He had some missed layups. He settled for far too many three-pointers. The two mysteries he had in a row before that big nuggets run in the middle of the third quarter, stick on my mind.

But you get a team that shoots eight for 30 from behind the arc. 80 has his worst time to the playoffs. And yet you're in the game. it feels to me like my first thought here is just a missed opportunity by the Lakers to not split here and that feels like something that could be fatal for them because now you get to win the next four out of five and maybe you'd get the next two at home but that's that's a lot to ask considering how great Denver is and you still feel like Yokic I mean he's 9 of 21 tonight you've he's 12 of 17 in the first game but contained in the fourth quarter it feels like you've done a good job on him,

but you know he's going to figure out what you've been doing. And that's why it's so bad that they didn't get one of these two games. Well, and the other thing is you had a 40-point game out of AD in the first game. Oh, for sure. And then tonight, it's a stinker. Yeah. And so, well, and this is how it's been oscillating the whole time. It's every, you know what I mean?

They call alternate day. Yep. And it held true once again. You mentioned the threes by LeBron. Just puzzling. I mean, he gets these little guys switched onto him and he could just go to the basket or he can get to the free throw line seemingly what he wants to. And I saw Tom Hiborstrow put up so far in the postseason,

he is one for 20 from three in fourth quarters. One for 20. Tired legs. well what baffles me, Chris, is like tonight, look at his shot chart. Everything was at the basket or behind the arc. The three-point shot for him right now has abandoned him. Why has he not at all given the mid-range pull-up a chance again? We have seen players find success with drop against drop coverage,

still taking that mid-range up. He's shooting threes as poorly as he has this postseason, especially in fourth quarters as that Haverstrow status. says, why not use the mid-range in those moments? LeBron did that throughout most of his career. Bring it back for these situations. Yeah, it was puzzling. And honestly, like, they just, they went through too long of a stretch and give credit

to Denver's defense also where they just couldn't get a bucket. And, you know, I tweeted about this. This is exactly what, this is how Denver needed to operate. That half-court basketball was exposing, you know, whether it was Aaron Gorge, or whether it was Jeff Green or whether it was Bruce Brown, who actually made some shots. But once they can- And talk a lot of trash, too, Chris. For sure.

Once they- Here, quick 20-second timeout, I love him. Yeah, he's awesome. And he's seriously one of the best contracts in the entire NBA. To get him for $6 million is outrageous. He was good for Brooklyn last year, you know? Yeah, he rebounds as a smaller guy. He makes the right play. He can hit spot up threes for you.

He can defend guys bigger than him. And he talks good trash talk, right? Like looking at the Lakers bench after hitting those threes, John with DeAngelo Russell after talking trashed with him after game one. And then Dilo, Dilo in the game, you know, a minus 16 through two games, Lakers. The Lakers are minus 41 in 59 minutes by DeAngelo Russell, a plus 30 in 37 minutes without DeLow on the floor, minus 41 with Delo, plus 30 without him. That's something that needs to change in this series, whether Darwin Ham goes more with Rui Hachamara,

which seems to be working, but Delo is just not in this series. Dilo is getting completely exploited, and he looks lost on defense. And back to Brown, when they put him in and he had, they had like eight quick points. It was a quick eight-o run after he was inserted. So first he pokes Austin Reeves in the face and then they're yelling at each other. And it just felt, but it just felt like it was this massive shot of adrenaline when he came into the game. Because first he pokes Reeves, now they're yelling at each other. Then he goes down.

He hits the three. He's yelling at the bench. Then he gets another one on a breakout and he goes straight to the basket and makes a layup. Ham's taking a time out. He's yelling again. And I'm like, they were dead in the water. And this kid came in the game and just shook it up. He just shook it up.

He made like two or three plays that got that crowd back into it, got his team, got a little pep in their step. And I really thought like was a massive shot of energy off of the bench. And as I said, they can't play where you've got to get stops or else you're playing off if you're playing off dead balls, which makes or Lakers going to the free throw line, now you're having to play that half court offense. They're abandoning one player virtually every time down the court. They're collapsing on Yokic and you're spending a ton of time trying to get AD away from the basket, which they did with. success with Murray. But, you know, the announcers are talking about Aaron Gordon and what you need to do with Aaron Gordon and Aaron Gordon scared to shoot.

And then it's Bruce Brown and that's Jeff Green. It's all these guys. It's like none of that stuff became relevant when they were flying up and down the court. You saw Porter knocking down threes in transition. You see these crossmasses. You see, I mean, it feels like so much of their offensive prowess just comes from the ability for them to be able to get the pace. going off of misses, more so than other teams, because when the Lakers set up, while their

half-court offense is not fantastic, their half-court defense is a bitch to deal with. Oh, yeah. They've done a great job in the half-court. The transition is a disaster. Like, that's, I mean, I'm sure we might talk about the officiating, which was horrible, but the Lakers lose this game in part because of the missed three-point shooting, because of AD having in a terrible night, but also their transition defense is just, I believe

the word Van Gundy might have used in the broadcast was abhorrent. Abhorrent? Yes, and it absolutely is abhorrent. That's accurate. Yeah, because they don't have the, you know, AD cleaned up virtually everything in the half court, seriously. Yeah. Like, it's just over

and over again. I mean, like I say, I say worst performance of the postseason for him, only because offense and considering the magnitude and considering what he just came off of in game one. But defensively, he still does his job roaming off ball. And I even thought Schroeder was doing a good job chasing Murray all the way around. I agree.

In the half court, right? It's just it all got spaced out in that fourth quarter because they couldn't make any shots. And they were missing threes, long rebounds. Now they're really going. And they're just, man, pace and space, they are devastating. Devastating. Yeah, they are, man. It's amazing how Murray ends up with 37.

That happens so fast, right? Happens so fast. 23. End up with 37. 23 in that fourth quarter. Yeah. And when is the last bucket you can remember Yokic scoring? I know.

Yeah, he didn't have to score much, which is like the scary thing for the Lakers. I know they played well on the road through two games. And like they could very well take the next two. But Yokic, aside from his first three quarters in the series, the last five, he has not been great. He has not because of the way the Lakers are effectively containing him and defending him and showing him so much attention, forcing him to be more of a passer. But he, like, don't you think Yokic is going to figure that out or Denver is going to find a way to account for the fact 80 is sagging off of a Gordon, a green, in some shape or form. Like they had a play in the second half where, you know,

Gordon was in the corner and received the ball, A.D. sagging off. And then they ran a quick dribble handoff with Michael Porter Jr. In the corner. And that caused another switch. And it resulted in a bucket for the nuggets. Like stuff like that, like these design plays to move A.D.

away from Gordon in the corner, I think is inevitable. And that could unleash Yokic more so than we've seen besides the first three quarters when he, looked like a basketball god. Because when you look back through these playoffs up until tonight, I mean, you look at the, you look at the field goals, 12 for 17, 13 for 18, 12 for 20, 20 for 30, 11 for 19, 17 for 30. I mean, you catch a 9 for 21 out of him.

You got to take advantage of it. He's 9 for 21 today. He had game one against Phoenix was 9 for 21, game 5 against Minnesota. He was 8 of 29. So he's had a couple of down nights, but for the majority of the time, he's shooting like 70% on high volume. Right. I mean, too.

And look, if you, and that's just, you'll take that, you'd sign up for 23 points on 21 shots any game, any game. And then that's what they got. Especially that defense, right? I mean, what you're not counting on is Murray making literally every three he takes at the end. I think he's either five for five. He might end up five for six, but I mean, he just exploded at 23 points in the fourth quarter. And 37.

Like, that's the thing. I think it's kind of been Yokic and everybody else. And, you know, one night it's called well, Pope that has a big game. And one night it's this. It's like, I don't know if we have always seen it as, and he's got this huge star as a running mate. but we know that Murray is capable of that. Like, it's kind of crazy, but, I mean, Murray throughout the season, there's a lot of guys in the league that average 20 points a game, Kev.

That's what Murray averaged 20.0 points per game this year. So the 37, you know, and 31, and even in that last Phoenix game, he had 26. He's had a 28 and a 32 in the Phoenix series. Like his output, he's one of these guys that has to be talked about. You know, we got so used to it with Bubbleberry, but he's a radically different player. Like, this is a guy that was average 20 a night throughout the season, and he's much more likely to get you 30 now that we've gotten into the postseason. And to not just be dead at the end of that game.

It looked like everybody was dead. Yeah. I mean, he played every minute, every minute in the second half, he was huffing and buffing. I mean, if the Nuggets go on to win the trophy, the Larry O'Brien Trophy, if they're hoisting it, making it look lighter than 40 pounds as they stand on the stage, if the Nuggets are the team to do that, this game two performance by Jamal Murray will be one of those games that goes down as a legendary performance that helped put them on that path to win it all. because I thought the Lakers, if Murray doesn't go off for 23 points in the fourth quarter, it's a cold take to say the Lakers win this game, right? It goes without saying the Lakers win this game. If Murray doesn't do what he does.

But with everything that led up to that, with him struggling and then going off the way he did, hitting those tough contested shots the way he did, it was absolutely remarkable. And like you said, not the first time we've seen this from him. The Lakers certainly aren't dead yet. No, I agree. They're not. They got the unbelievable performance out of Hachimura in the first half. But, I mean, they really got nothing out of anybody not in their starting five in that second half.

Schrooter hit a couple of shots. It's in, took a dumb shot, end of the third quarter. Like, he took the shot with nine seconds left. What was that? Yeah. And Hachimura like that, like, you know, he was seven for seven, I believe, in the first. half and made one shot in the second half. They just didn't get anything.

And we know those bench guys, those other guys, that's a home thing. Like they always play better at home. And we just saw Denver go up 2-0 and then get it tied on them, you know, tied by Phoenix when Phoenix went back home. So it's certainly not out of the realm of possibility that a team like the Lakers who has not lost a game at home can go and tie this thing up and win the next two in L.A. Because those guys, as I mentioned, you'll probably get a better Russell. You'll probably get a better, like, all those guys.

I will say this. I thought, like, the most impressed was Hachimur in the first half. And then the second half, Reeves is the one. I know he hit the crazy-ass bank three, but he made other plays too. Like, I like the ball being in his hands. Don't, dude, like, don't you feel. like, I mean, Reeves tonight, 8 for 16, 22 points,

five assists, two turnovers. Isn't there part of you feels like, man, how is he not taking 23 shots? How's he not getting more pick and roll opportunities to create off the dribble, especially on a night. LeBron doesn't have it from outside. They're putting their best defenders

on LeBron trying to contain him. Doesn't it feel like they need more out of Reeves, especially if Dito is going to continue to struggle? Especially when he's the one that could shoot even off the dribble. I mean, Reeves is, Rees is it's a big shot. And yes, I agree with you. Like, he plays more like he can run the offense, especially when it's as basic as what they need to.

It can be, you know, he could get that touchscreen and he can either pick and pop if they don't go over it. And he can turn the corner. He could get to the basket. He can also make the one pass that you need to. I mean, it doesn't have to be some kind of complicated thing. you really can just run pick and roll with that kid and he would be able to make plays for you. I thought Ham went away from him too long in the fourth quarter.

He was in the game at the end of the third. Lonnie Walker entered the game for him at the start of the fourth quarter. Lakers up three. Reeves doesn't come back into the game until the 709 mark. And at that point, the Lakers are trailing by four points. And I thought if he had been able to bring back Reeves two minutes earlier, you know, or maybe just rode. him the whole fourth. They missed his creation earlier in that quarter when they were really

struggling. Yeah. And interestingly enough, he was the guy that was plus 13. Yeah. Right. I think they really need to feed him. Things were going well when Austin Reeves are in the game. They got to feed him. They do. And by the way, like, people talking about his upcoming contract, the way in which NBA people talk about him, it's exactly as what we're saying, well, he's playing this great on this usage for the Lakers in these big moments, what happens if we turn him into a 18 shot per game guy? Does his efficiency plummet? Most people around the league don't think so. The executives you talk to when it comes to like the type of money he could get this offseason, I don't think him getting his maximum amount, which is like I think 96, 98 million

is unreasonable at all. I could definitely see a team making that offer and putting the Lakers in a position where they'd have to match something incredibly, incredibly pricey. That's a good discussion for down the line, but it just speaks to what we've seen from him and what the Lakers should be trying to get out of him now. That is what teams imagined for him starting next season. So the Lakers need to do that now in order to get back in it. Let me just say this on behalf of this guy. Obviously, I saw him in person in the first round.

You watch these guys, many of which can become even unplayable when we get to this stage when we get to this heightened stakes basketball. This is the Western Conference Finals against the team that proved itself to be the best team all year long, who has a two-time MVP on it and has a lot of playoff games and a lot of playoff wins under their belt. And you could play in that game on the road, your first time out? What do you want? Like we watch these games and we go, hey, yeah, well, what would this guy look like when it comes to the playoffs?

Like, we're seeing what it looks like when it comes to playoffs. I mean, I watched him win a game by himself, game one of the opening round of these playoffs with just a spectacular fourth quarter. I mean, this is what you want. You want guys that you know are built for the playoffs that can perform when the stakes get the highest. Because a lot of these guys become irrelevant. A lot of players on a lot of teams. These teams are playing seven or eight by the time it gets to the playoffs, and especially when it gets to this stage.

Can you be one of those seven or eight on a really good team? Like he's literally already proven he can be. And he's been better than guys that have a lot of years in the league. You'd much rather have him out there. If you gave me Austin Reeves or DiAngelo Russell, I'm taking Reeves. If you tell me, Austin Reeves or Austin Reeves or Dennis Schroeder, I'm taking Reeves.

Without a doubt. So it's not even like he's the seventh or eighth, you know. He's the three clearly at worst. Sometimes he's the one, as you saw game one against Memphis. Sometimes he's the two. Most of the time he's the three,

but I think he should be getting more than 36 minutes per game. He should be up over 40 with LeBron James and Anthony Davis. It's going to be really hard for them to win four out of five against that team, though. I know. They got to take the next two. They needed to get one of those. Yep. Unless they get the next two.

Unless they get the next two, then it's a three-game series. It is, but two of them are in Denver. I know. I know. I know. You just put yourself behind the eight ball so much when you get to this point. Because that's your best case scenario. Your best case scenario is you're playing Denver, best two out of three, and they've got two home games.

That's where I think, like, you know, there'll be a lot of people that are Laker fans, if they go on to lose this series, that these are the ones that you're kicking yourself over. Because you did have a chance in both of those to steal them. Yeah. You know, it's not at the end of the game that you could. It might give you some confidence that you could win a game there, right? Because you have to play their five. you have to play their seven if the thing goes along. Yeah.

Yep. I mean, just missed opportunities. Even at the end of the game, LeBron makes an absolutely awesome play, you know, intercepting the ball. And then he just whiffs on the layup around the basket. Would have cut the lead and given a real opportunity to what the hell were the nuggets doing with the lead? I don't know. They're trying to throw it away. Dude, they're so lucky that Jamal Murray made virtually all those free throws.

I know. Because, I mean, they're just, they go up six. And next thing, you know, they're up four, four seconds later. It's like they were just let, they let Reeves get the layup. They let LeBron get the layup. They were just letting these guys straight line drive to layups. And I'm like, you know, there's way too much time. All it would take is some miss free throws.

And now you, now you're getting this game tied on you. and the last thing your ass can do is go to overtime in this because everybody's about to fall out already. You know what I mean? Like, they don't want to play five more minutes. Maybe that's why LeBron missed the layup. He's like, you know what? I know Darv will keep me out there for five more.

That's going to put my minutes at, I'll be playing 45 minutes in the game we might not win. And look, they did play those guys big minutes. I mean, all of the key parts, Yokic, 40. Murray 42 and then on the Lakers side LeBron played 40 AD played 40 and you're playing every other day. It's tough.

I can't wait until game three. I'm excited. I'll be at game three. You're going to go? Yeah, I'll be there. I'm expecting a nervous crowd down to O, how could you not be? But yeah, I'm very much looking forward to seeing tactically like Michael Malone after the game.

You know, he's been kind of talking some trash. He's like, after this game, he says the national narrative was that the Lakers were fine. No one talked about Nicola having a historic performance. The narrative wasn't about the nuggets. The narrative wasn't about Nicola. You put that in your pipe and smoke it. You go up to O. I mean, like they're talking. They're up. Yeah, they feel disrespectful. Yeah, they feel disrespectful. They feel like underdogs as the one seed. Well, in fairness, that was a lot of the narrative. It was.

And there was a lot of, ooh, got to feel good if you're the Lakers. That was ridiculous. They moved Rui Hachamura on Nicoliochich. That was the thing that Michael Malone really responded to. He's like, oh, yeah, no one has ever guarded Nicola Yokic different ways. Like, what the hell? Like, what is it? Well, yeah, I know you guys are all having a circle jerk off over an adjustment that was made,

but like, let's get serious. We've seen it all. It was one thing when a master takesman, like Nick Wright said it. Yeah. It was another thing when a bunch of other media members and whatnot, and people in the media circles started saying the same thing. It was like, wait a second here. Like, let's relax.

Slow down. Leave that thought to the takesman. Slow down. Well, the other thing was, I did think on one front, when they were letting the Gordon thing happen again, I was like, what are we doing? Like, what are you doing? Like, seriously, we're seeing this.

Oh, you can't just have him at the dunker spot. If it means he's got to set the screen, if it means he's got to have the ball. But they kind of fell back into that where AD's just stand in front of the basket. It's like jumper or die. And it's just too clogged up because Gordon's just not going to take the shot.

He took that one at the end of the shot clock, and my God, what a brick. I mean, he just can't shoot the shot. So this is the way the playoffs go. But like I said, if they're getting stops, that's not exposed. Because Gordon's a good transition player, too. But in the half court, now you're playing four on five a lot. And it really hurt Memphis and it really hurt the Warriors. You have to have him guarding somebody.

You just do. and those two teams could never really solve that. And now there was at least that portion of the second half where Van Gundy was going crazy over it. The other thing is, and both teams are guilty of this, this flopping does have to stop. It does. It's ridiculous. I mean, they got to start. They did take it seriously for a while, and it got cut down dramatically. They have to go back to that.

They have to go back to the public. shaming, the fining. But more, but more. Like it should, it should, it's like this. Anytime I talk to a friend who is like more of a casual basketball fan, I ask them like, what don't, I tell them, like I say, the NBA is full of so many amazing players. There's so much parody.

What don't you like about basketball? And the answer for years has always been. There's just so much flopping. That's always the number one response. here. Sometimes someone says too many threes. Sometimes somebody says, I don't know, I just don't love the sport, like a general response, but

more often than not, it's too much flopping. And so the NBA, I think if you want to continue to grow the game and make your hardcore fans more hardcore turn more casuals into hardcore fans, you got to do something about this because officials, all

you get to do is fall down and they blow the whistle for you and that's it. We saw it so many times in this one game, we can see it so many times in every single game. And it's a joke. It really is. It hurts the game. It has to be penalized rather than rewarded. Yes, it's rewarded now. It is rewarded. There is now incentive to do it rather than incentive not to do it. It's a joke. And if you were, like, nobody wants to see that, that go out on social media. So-and-so is being fined for flopping.

That's humiliating. It's embarrassing. But the fines need to be bigger. The fines need to be bigger. I think it should be. I like public shaming. I think there's, I think technicals should be on the table for flopping. I know this would be very tough to officiate what is a flop versus what isn't a flop.

No, no, but I'm fine with them doing it retroactively. that's what they ended up doing, which was they reviewed it and they said, oh, God, this guy's flying all over the court and nobody even really hit him. Exactly. Like if those things then add up and it results in heavier and heavier fines every time, technicals add up, which is relative to suspensions, loss of money for games. That's as far as I think the NBA should go to get this embarrassing act out of the game. Just get it out. Get it out. Look, because there's, there is no, other side to this, Kev. Everybody

hates it. Everybody that loves the NBA hates it. Because even as a fan, when your team does it, you're like, oh, well, at least it worked. But you don't, even deep down, you, it's

no good. You know it's dirty. You know it's dirty. And you know it's just an exploitation of the rules. You know, that's all it is. It's manipulating the officials, It's bending the rules. So just get it out. And you get it out by policing it and instructing your officials and having rules in place

to have suspensions, technicals, fines, whatever it is. And yes, the public shaming where you tweeted out from the official account and, you know, you announce it and you say that they have been fined. Well, because here's a real problem. It's not even like your lame-o players or you're like, you know, you're- It's everybody. bro, it's LeBron and Yokic in this game. I know. Yeah. These are the two biggest stars.

Everybody. I mean, did you see Jeremy Sohan tonight from the San Antonio Spurs? He did out about that. He's the only player that I saw do it. I'm sure others might have, but I didn't see it. Sohan said, why does King James flop so much? He had King in an apostrophes. Why does King James flop so much?

You know, this new generation, they, they grew up they grew up step guys yeah they grew up step guys and also they they they well they grew up step guys yes they also grew up watching lebron flop for years he has like you know like my lebron james you know fandom over the years was i loved him when he was drafted he was the first non college first non pro player that i ever really followed i loved him when he made his runs against the pistons and went against the spurs and the finals it was amazing and then i hated him as a south fan hated him. I probably have so many Facebook wall posts from back of the day

saying F, LeBron, you know. You took him for granted at one point in your life. No, I didn't take it. No, I fully embraced the rivalry and the hate. And then when the heat, it was peak hate for me, just like everybody else. But then there was a growth of appreciation and definitely not taking him for granted. But the one thing I've never liked about LeBron, going back to the early days, is the flopping. It's the flopping because it's disgusting.

It's just so extra. He's never, he always acts like he's so much more hurt that he is. That's hilarious. That flying into the bench tonight was, oh my God. I love it. It's outrageous. He definitely did get legitimately hurt tonight, though. Not that, but turning his ankle twice, having to retie his shoes, he was battle

him through something tonight. I thought overall, I mean, we can talk about the performance, but I was impressed by LeBron tonight. The defense against Yokage, the toughness, the quick hands on offense, stripping at the ball three, four times it felt like getting on ball all ball as well. He put up a great defensive performance. He just didn't have it offensively, and he didn't get enough from his teammates either. My favorites, my favorites were the two bricked threes, the missed layup, and then the game being iced by Bruce Brown just. ripping him. He had some bad,

bad offensive moments. Those are my favorite. You know what? It's like we said, and when he flung himself into the first row and got soda dripped on his head, that was impressive. All right,

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we got to talk about the Eastern Conference Finals now. Shocking game one result with the Miami Heat

winning on the road at Boston. Maybe it should not have been so shocking given after the fact

I read all of these stats about how teams that have played in game sevens, game one record is terrible. Eric Spolster teams with over three days of rest have been absolutely amazing. And that's all like after the fact type of stuff. And it's like, well, maybe it should have seen it coming. Just an incredible game for Miami. They lose three of four quarters in the game and still won the game. and ESPN Stats and Info had a stat that said since the...

You sound like Joe Mazzula saying that. We won three out of four quarters. I know, I know. But hey, look, this is why it's not nearly as relevant when you're playing against Miami. Since the bubble, the heat have won seven playoff games where this has happened, where they've only won one quarter. The rest of the NBA has seven playoff wins combined with those. circumstances. And so one of the things is watch out for the massive Miami Heat quarter. And my God, did they get that in the third quarter? Not only did they clean up everything

they needed to clean up from the first half, just a offensive masterpiece with 46 points. What do you leave thinking about the most now that we have had kind of a day to think about Game one. I mean, number one, I mean, Jimmy Butler, but first of all, like, you know, copy, copy and paste a lot of what we said in the past about Butler with him stepping up in the postseason being the dominant force that he is. But I think in that game as well, Bam, Anabio was absolutely outstanding. I did a rewatch of the game this morning. And, and once again, you know, I talked about this with Jake Alman earlier in the week. Like, I felt like first watch just completely outplayed Robert Williams. Second watch, absolute confirmation. He just completely. absorbed any empty space the Celtics game gave him. There's multiple times where Time Lord helped off him. You know, Bam, Atabio would be on the right block area or the right dunker spot. Robert Williams rotate over and Bam would just kind of scurry over into that empty space to make him available for easy passes. He'd hit that little floater shot in the lane. Time Lord would back off him and Bam Etabio would hit that little mid-range shot. I thought he played an absolutely amazing game.

They put the ball in his hands at certain moments as well. And, you know, the other thing as well, Chris, I think for the Celtics side of things, you know, Mo DeKiel did a great video of this on Twitter. Like, they, they were terrible at closing out on heat shooters. They were leaving guys open inexplicably at the end of shot clock situations and like these knockdown guys. There was one wide open shot in the corner that Brogden gave to Struz. Like, I just think for the Celtics, they looked like.

You know, Missoula, I joke with you saying you sound like Joe Missoula, right? Saying they won three out of four quarters. Missoula also said after that game, he's like, you know, we were the harder playing team. You know, we came in prepared. They didn't look like it. I don't think they looked like it with some of that, the boneheaded decision making like that on defense. They did in the first half because, you know, at one point they've got that 20 to 5 run. They're up by 13.

the heat are turning it over like crazy. I think they had like nine turnovers in the first half, all of which Boston scored off of. Like this was like Boston at their best. And then, you know, the lead kind of dwindles. It's still at nine at halftime. And that third quarter was just devastating. It is hard to get to 46 in a quarter.

Kevin, you only play 12 minutes. I know. You've got to score frigging four points a minute, basically. I mean, it's not, it's just the math of it is tough. It's hard to pull that off. Yeah. And they said last night that, you know, that is the highest scoring quarter in heat playoff history.

I was like, well, yeah, of course it is. Like, 46 is huge in the regular season, much less than the playoffs. I mentioned Brogden helping off a Struz, but that's the type of stuff that I was just, like, perplexed by in that quarter. Like, it was Zeller.

It was Zeller standing behind the ark on the left wing. And Brogden's like defending him more than he's defending Max Truce in the corner. It was mistakes like that that allowed the heat to essentially score four points per minute in that, in that entire quarter. It was, uh, dude, uh, like that,

that was an inexplicably bad quarter by Boston. It was. You mentioned Zeller. Zach Lowe had the craziest stat today where he was on with Chris Herring and I was like, come on. He said he went and looked it up on second spectrum, the Kyle Lowry, Cody Zeller pick and roll. And it is in these playoffs averaging, because you always talk about the, you know, points per possession. Yeah.

He said it was 1.8 points per possession. It's like the most dominant pick and roll pairing that you could think of. And, you know, Kyle Lowry had a miserable season this year. And now we get to the playoffs and he's 45% for the field. He's 38% from three. He's running that high pick and roll and squirming around and finding shooters. And you talk about the Struz one. How about in crunch time they throw it down to Butler.

He draws the double. He throws it out to Caleb Martin. wide open. I mean, that was a monster shot to Caleb Martin three, because that looked like the game was really in the balance at that point. They just kept making huge buckets every time it looked like the Celtics were going to catch a run and maybe be able to steal this one at home. And I even texted my buddies last night while I was watching that game. You know how we always joke about the mixtapes? You can, you know, you can type in anybody's name. You find a mix tape, especially at draft time. And this goes now, you can find a middle schooler that they'll say, is this kid the next Magic Johnson or whatever? It'll be something like seventh grader, right? And you can make, you could take three or four minutes of anybody and make them look amazing. But I sent to them, I said, I swear to God, you could take a, you could make a three to four minute highlight tape of Caleb Martin just in these playoffs. And I, I would think he's

a 10-time All-Star. There's never been a player like that that I can remember where so often I watch him and go, are you awesome? Like, he makes the most awesome plays, shots. Like, I can't tell, but I know this, you can put together a hell of a mixtape. He had that one that was up and under, that huge crunch time three that we just talked about. They just get, they get those performances from all around.

They had the one Struis game early in the playoffs. I guess in the play-end game. They get Caleb Martin one night. You highlighted Bam out of bio. We talked about, you know, Lowry and Zeller with a devastating pick and roll duo. It is crazy to behold what they are because you look at that roster and you're like, this has no business being in the Eastern Conference Finals.

I mean, it speaks to Spowe, his ability to get his best out of his players as well. No question. That first half, he goes with Kevin Love at the five for a few. minutes. It doesn't work well at all. Boston dominates. He immediately calls a timeout, gets love out of the game for Bam out of bio. That works. You know, fourth quarter, you know, all third quarter, Joe Missoula doesn't call a timeout. Celtics fans, including Bill Simmons are screaming at the TV tweeting about it. Call timeout. Call time out. Doesn't call timeouts. Fourth quarter, Celtics start off with a seven-oh run. Boom, right away. Spoke calls a timeout, fixes his team,

gets Bam back in the game. They go on and win. Like, it just, feels like there's a major coaching edge here for Miami as well, which is no surprise when we're talking about a rookie head coach in Missoula, who was, you know, surprisingly thrown into a situation versus, you know, a guy who has been at this one of the longest tenured coaches in the league and one of the most highly respected. But I felt like that was pretty apparent in game one as well between Miami's decisions and Boston's decisions. Well, and that's why you've got to take Miami seriously because I know that they were heavy underdogs. And I know that we probably still feel like Boston.

We just feel like they're the better team and they should win the series. That being said, and this happens a lot when we get to the NFL, you know, when it comes to Super Bowl, it's like, let's just keep it simple. Who's got the better coach? Who's got the better quarterback? And it's like in this one, who's got the better coach and who's got the best player? And if Jimmy's going to play like that where he's the most dominant player on both ends of the court, where he's 35 points on the office.

offensive end, and then he's shutting down Tatum on the other end. I don't know if you saw those breakout stats, but it was like Tatum in the half court shot like less than 40% when Butler guarded him and like 60 something percent against everybody else. And he had six steals in the game. Like he can guard anybody on that team. He gives Jalen Brown hell. He gives anybody.

You name it. He can guard him. and if he's going to be dominant at both ends of the court and you've got that coaching thing, then I always look at these through the prism of, all right, how many games do you have to win out of the next how many games? I remember telling you this when the Grizzlies were playing the Lakers. I said, look, they lost game four, and so it's over. You're not beating them three out of four.

Like you might have a chance beating them two out of three with two at home, but you have no chance beating them three out of four or the next three games. Likewise, Miami's just got to win three of the next six.

That doesn't seem that daunting, right? No, not at all, man. To go three and three. They're for real. Yeah.

They're for real. They're straight up for real. They are. I mean, I've said it to you 100 times, Chris. I'll say it again right here, a hundred and first time.

You said it. You can't judge this heat team during the regular season. they become something totally different during the playoffs. And that is 100% what has happened since the middle of April when they, they dropped that playing game. And then they were down double digits in the fourth quarter.

Ever since the real playoffs began, they have proven you correct about them. Isn't it just insane to think about you think back? And it's like it's not just turned it on when it came to the playoffs. Like the Lakers who are in this spot right now, I mean, they're down big. If Minnesota doesn't score for six minutes, which it enables them to, you know, to me, win that first point. It's like when you think about what we thought about those teams after watching them then versus what they have become over the course of the last three weeks and how massively our opinion has changed. Let me go back to the Miami. Before you go back to that, Chris, I thought your point about the playing there, Spow had a comment.

You know, he said, you know, with the plan, he made it like an overarching comment saying I think it's the best thing that's happened in the last decade. You know, we now we see the Lakers in right now. We see the heat in. He felt like the end of the season. There's less teams tanking. Everybody's fighting for the playoffs. Every game felt like must see TV down the stretch. I thought that was interesting to hear from Spow because we're so,

often opposed to change in the NBA. And that made me think about what Zach Lowe talked about on his podcast and had in his article from inside the lottery room where he said one of the things from the GM meetings that they had talked about was they don't like

how there are certain teams straddling for positions, losing games intentionally. And he said GMs had talked about how maybe having a system in which those top seats can choose their opponents could be the next step to further bolster the end of the regular season.

I know you and I are an opposite end of the spectrum of that, but it's at least interesting that we see Spowe. Kevin, hold on, 20 second time out. Might have changed my stance after drawing the Lakers. You might have won me over. Welcome, welcome, Chris.

It's great to have you. You might have won me over. You know, it has to happen to you. That's how people say. People always chase their opinions based on their personal experience, right? So I was tortured by tanking for years. I absolutely detest it. I've seen careers get ruined.

That's my feeling of it. Maybe if I were, maybe if I were San Antonio and ended up with Webby, I would be a disciple. That being said, yeah, if you got to pick your opponent, you sure ain't picking them. Well, it's good to have you. I think, I don't know, it's just interesting to see like these long time coaches and now GMs talking about, you know, maybe going for changes like that. That's all. Just the thought of my mind that came up when you were talking about the plan with Miami and the Lakers there. Because the flip side is let them choose.

We'll see. Do you know what's insane about that is like if you go back, okay? And let's just say, if they, let's say, let's say that was implemented. And it's hard because, you know, of what we know now. Right. We know the way that some of these played out. But let's just say because we had, I think Denver would probably still pick Minnesota. I mean, I guess your other choice would be the Clippers.

Yeah. Right? But they had Kauai. At the beginning, they had Kauai at the beginning. And he looked amazing. and then he tore up his knee. And it's like, well, geez, they look like they were going to be real trouble for Phoenix. Like, I honestly don't know who you would have picked because you probably don't pick seven or,

you probably don't pick six or seven. You don't pick Golden State or the Lakers. I wouldn't think. And so I don't know what you would have picked if you were. Denver, Denver likely takes, Denver takes Minnesota. Minnesota, right? That's what I'm saying. Memphis, I think, I think, I think you're fault.

I think you would have picked the clippers. I do. It's kind of crazy to think about, right? That you would have taken the five seed. Yeah, but without Paul George, though, Paul George was out for the series. That was known at the time that he'd be out. So I think you would have picked the clippers.

And then the kings, would they have picked the Warriors or the Lakers? Well, that's interesting to think about. They probably take Phoenix. No, they can't take Phoenix. If you're, I, well, I think if you let the top three seeds choose, I think the four seed just gets the leftover. like the top four seeds, you know what I'm saying?

I think Sacramento then would have taken Golden State over the Lakers. I think so too, yeah. And then it would have been Sons Lakers in the first round. LeBron versus Durant. Alternate universe is fun to think about if they did have that rule in. All right. So back to Miami and Boston. And I know you've been kind of tough on.

By the way, real quick, I'll tell you what, the bucks wouldn't have picked the heat. Man, you ain't lying. They would not have picked the heat. They would have taken phone with the Nets, right? What are you talking about? People would have been fist fighting to get to play the Nets. I know. Oh, man.

That Nets team had no business being a playoff team as they are constructed. You know what I mean? I mean, I think this would like lessen the chance of upsets, but it would increase the meaning of the entire regular season, which is the large part of the year. Maybe so. But man, these playoffs have been amazing. Oh, they've been so, so good. Isn't it better that we did get Milwaukee in Miami?

Isn't it better that we did get Memphis, L.A.? Isn't it better that we did get Zach and golden? There's pros and cons. There's pros and cons to each side. I would at least be interested in seeing it for a year. Yeah. Like this year, here's the bonus. You know, why not do that?

TV shows do that. They change up the rules and have variables. Do it for one year. See what happens. Regarding Boston and Miami, and I know you've been tough on Missoula. And I'm usually easier on the coaches. I got to tell you, if I, if I were a boss, if I were like hosting a show in Boston,

I would be absolutely hammering this guy for stapling Grant Williams to the bench in a Miami series and putting Peyton pitcher dance out there. Oh my God. Like what? This is the Eastern Conference finals, bro. and his reasoning for doing it was bananas. Like, I'm watching him after the game, and I'm like, you cannot be serious. Because, of course, somebody's going to ask him about it.

Grant Williams played 30 minutes a game last year in the Easter conference playoffs. I don't know why he doesn't like Grant Williams, but he obviously doesn't. But to not have him, when you're only playing eight, because you're going to play white, you're going to play Brogden, you can play one more. and Grant Williams can actually give you some minutes on Butler. He did last year. Nobody's going to do a great job, but the guy is big, he's strong, he's tough, he can move his feet. Can shoot threes off the catch.

Yeah, every once in a while, he'll catch a heater and knock down some threes. He plays hard. 43.4% from three in his playoff career, 55 games. Crazy. How is it? And Peyton Pritchard. He's like a victory cigar. Like, he gets to play after the game's decided.

He doesn't get to help decide the game. And no offense to him, but like so woefully out of place, you might as well have just like this is throwing meat to the lions. Jimmy Butler found his ass immediately. I know. Every time. Like, what did you think was going to happen? And the other thing is, he's like, well, we wanted another playmaker.

Bro, he doesn't even touch the ball. He doesn't even touch the ball on offense. And for good reason, you've got other guys, you've got literally four other guys that are a better option to have the ball to, quote, playmate. I just don't think Missoula is ready. I just don't think Missoula is ready for the stage. I just don't understand what that was. I don't understand what that was.

Yeah. I just, I don't get it. He'll play Grant Williams in game two. Maybe. Of course he will. Maybe. I promise you, you ain't seeing Peyton Richard again. Maybe we'll see Blake Griffin.

Oh, my God. So, yeah, we wanted his veteran savvy. We wanted his toughness or whatever. Sam Houser, we wanted more shooting. Oh, my God. I mean, you're really, that's the crazy thing to be. Bro, you're only playing eight. Seven or a lock.

How do you screw up the eight? How? Like, you're literally only debating one guy. And you made the worst choice possible. By the way, the other guy did play 30 minutes a game with success a year ago in this round against that team. What? Just crazy. That one was crazy to me.

I would be going crazy over that. The second I saw him checking the game, I'm like, bro, what does this dude doing? I know. That was weird. And then immediately as soon as he checked in, And Butler is like, ooh, I'm coming after you. Yeah. Bring me him.

We have not spoken before we get out of here about the lottery with each other. Yes, sir. Did happen the other night. The San Antonio Spurs got Victor Wimbayama. I tweeted immediately. I said that is the best thing that can happen for the kid. Yeah. Unfortunately, your grizzlies are never going to win a title with Victor Wembe Niyama.

Winning the next 10. I'm just kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I never know. I got bigger problems. and worried about him. If you haven't heard.

Watch the news, dick. So, anyways, Victor Woombego goes to San Antonio. I mean, look, there's like 50 reasons as to why it's good. But you've got less pressure in the smaller market and the fanfare and whatever else. You get to grow and develop without, you know, not being able to live any type of normal life whatsoever. you've got a coach who's one of the all-time greatest coaches who has developed not only players lower in the draft like the Parker's and Janobiles and the Danny Greens and everybody else, but also and DeJante Murray even recently, but also the best of the best

in Tim Duncan and David Robbins. Knows how to manage them and push back. Maximized, yeah, maximized those players and Duncan's still around there and they've got a great structure. And I'll say this. Even last year, I was, it was very obvious what they were doing. But when you watched them, they weren't allowed to play terrible basketball. They just had a, they just had a terrible roster. Like, you don't, you don't get to go out there and you're Jamie Sohan, you just get to chuck up 24 shots if you want to and nobody gives shit what you do. Like, they had to play. They just weren't good enough. Yeah, they were just young.

but they do have young talent. You got Sohan, who's an ideal fit in the front court next to Wembe because of his versatility. He can play, make a bit. I mean, he's tough. He plays big. He can rebound. And then you got like Malachi Branum, another young player who ends the season really strong. Like he looked really good for them as a scoring type, pull up from mid-range.

And then the two big names, Devin Vassell and Kelden Johnson. Those guys are already very good players. I love Vassell. He's already got three indie qualities. He's one of the better mid-range pull-up shooters and Kelton Johnson, you know, a down shooting year for him. But he's been better in recent years and he's excellent. He's on a good, excellent in attacking the basket. He's on a good contract.

He can play good defense. And never mind if you have Wemby backing him up. The Spurs, they might go from 30th and defensive rating to top 10 because of Wembe. I think Wembe is going to be an instant impact defender. Like that that's going to happen with him. Kevin, if they added like a vet point guard, do you think they should that situation? Should they? I don't think that's a bad idea at all.

I think they should, too. I think they should try to compete. Hey, look, if it's a Van Fleet, if it's a Paul, if it's a, you might get in the Lillard thing. I agree. Dude, I would go for it. I would be aggressive of hum the spurs. Like you've got wings. You just need one.

You just got to have that solid point card because you got good back. up point cards, whether it's Tray Jones or Branham, you got guys that can get the other minutes. Yeah, guys who can handle the ball and fill that playmaking responsibility. Yeah. But if you just got like a solid, you know, or even an awesome point guard, like, you could be good quick. Yep.

You could be good quick. You're the first person I heard mentioned dame. I had not heard anybody else mentioned dame into like as a San Antonio idea, but that's, that's fascinating to think about. Damien Lillard in San Antonio with Wembe and Vassell and Kelden Johnson and Malachi Branham and you send out some picks to get Dame. That that's really interesting there. We'll see what Portland does, though, because Portland ends up with the number three. Portland gets the number three pick, though, right?

And now they're a team that's going to end up shopping that around trying to bolster the team around Dame. So that was my biggest takeaway from watching the way it hashed out. Obviously, look, if you're a Detroit fan, if you're a Houston fan, you're just, you know, you're barfing all over yourself. We're sorry. We're sorry. Yeah. You went through these miserable seasons. And yet here you are.

And the payoff just was not good. When it broke the way it did, my immediate reaction was I could see all of these teams flipping him. Yes. I'm talking after one. Charlotte. Oh, sure. Yes. Somebody out there is going to love and need Scoot.

This is my great asset. I don't have any assets to be able to make my team significantly better, right? And what if Charlotte wants Amen More? Amman Thompson, they can get him at four. And what if Houston wants to move up the two for Scoot? That could happen. Or what if I just want an awesome player to go along with Lavello Paul, right? I just want to try to find somebody for my front court.

I've got Mark Williams. I've got some young guys that I like. and then I can build out around. And so maybe that's my best asset to improve the next team, right? Once you get past that, Portland, again, very easily could move that for a guy that if you're going to go the Dame route, that's the choice they got to make. If they're sticking with Dame, they move the pick. If they're not sticking with Dame, then they just start this rebuild with Shaden Sharp and whoever you could get at three.

For, same thing to me, if you're Houston. To me, I'm not trying to add another top five pick into the mix. I got Shen Goon, I've got Jabari, I've got Jalen Green. Like, I can use that pick in order to bolster the rest of my roster if I want to. I might be able to go get something really solid. And that might be, but I don't need to keep getting. younger. We've already done the young thing. It didn't play out, right? We didn't get Wimbayama, but at this point, we hired the coach in Udoka. Maybe that asset can actually help me improve my team faster.

Detroit, they're still on the trajectory. I wouldn't be surprised if they just had another young player to go along with Ivy, to go along with Cunningham, to go along with Duren, right? They're not, they're in that mode right now where it's like, all right, just add another young, player and then because he haven't seen all that much. But yeah, like none of the top five, I think, are locked into that. And I saw the video that you did with J. Kyle, man. You know, I love Scoot. I went and saw him in person this year.

I'll be stunned if he is not awesome. Like, I just think he is, I think he would have destroyed college basketball. After going to a bunch of college basketball games. He would have been a huge. he would have destroyed people, destroyed people in college. And I mean, I saw him in a G-league game where he's playing against like grown men and some really good players themselves. And he didn't have that much on that team.

I know there's going to be a couple others from there, Leonard Miller and the Sosko kid or whatever. But that team was not good, that team that he was on. But man, when you see the size, the athleticism, And he's got that fire. I remember that interview you did with him in Vegas. Like, he's just got that, like, confidence where guys will follow behind him. Like, there's no lack of it. And I think he's going to be very, very special.

I also don't think that you maximize him next to Lamello. Yeah. I don't. I don't think he's maximized. I get it that it can work. I get it that it could be cool. Yeah. You're not maximized.

either of them if they're together. And you've got to be able to maximize what you take. You want more of a ball sharing player next to Lamello. And Brennan Miller is more of that type of guy where Miller, Miller can play make. He can run pick and roll. He is a willing passer. Miller, when I interviewed him back in December,

told me I think of myself as a passer first, a score or second, but my role now is to score for Bama. So he can do that. Whereas Scoot, Scoot, the question with him is, well, what level is he going to reach as a jump shooter, both off the catch and off the dribble? He had a very poor year for the G League shooting the ball. He has poor shot selection, very Russ-esque with that pull up early in the clock.

So if you're maximizing scoot, though, it's not as a guy who's standing in the corner waiting for kickout passes. Scoot is at his best in pick and roll with the ball in his hands. What that minimizes Lamello, even though Lamello can do that. I mean, I think it can work. I want either of them with the ball in their hands. It could work. It can work. It can work.

I just don't think it works as well as Miller and Lamello can. Yeah, I just don't think they're maximized. Yeah. I don't think you get the best version of either of them together. You think we're already in misdirection season where, like, you got Woj said on the broadcast on Tuesday night, how all the feedback about Brennan Miller is insanely positive. that teams are raving about his character, how it could be an asset,

how Miller is checking all those boxes in a positive way. But then you get Gavoni on Zach Lowe's podcast this week, saying how he's hearing that Brennan Miller's out of shape and his interviews have been, you know, very uninspiring and have turned some people off. So you get two people in the same camp, Woj and Gavoni, very connected now with opposite reports on the same player in Brennan Miller.

Could just be talking to different people. could be those sources, you know, offering up misdirection. But it's just very interesting to hear that from Gaboni and Woj, as, you know, tied in those guys are with so many sources around the league around Brandon Miller because who knows what Charlotte's going to do. It does seem like Miller is the guy with the edge there right now. That's the smoke coming out of Charlotte. But who knows if that's even misdirection for that matter, too.

To me, though, I trade down. I think Scoot's going to go to. and so even if that means the team behind you. Like you do like what they did with, you know, like what the Bears did, where they're able to flip that and get a King's ransom so that you can take Bryce Young. Yeah.

Like go and use that asset to somebody that really wants scoot. Even if that's Houston, you know, and you can get down to four. Like, I mean, you got to know how the draft's going to play out, obviously. But then like you, do you want to amend Thompson for the same? reasons as you might not want Scoot Henderson next to Lamello? I don't think so.

Osar Thompson, same thing. Is it more maybe a Cam Whitmore type that you want? Maybe the galaxy brain situation with Charlotte is they're going to try to drive down Miller's stock so much that they can get him at four or five. Hey, by the way, how close were they to having Bryce Young and Victor Wembeiyama in the same city? I know. Yeah. They almost had them in the same city, the two number one.

one picks. That would be wild. Yep. The fascinating thing from Zach's story. It's going to be fascinating. Just the way, I think it could have been so easy, right? Like if Houston's two, then they just take Scoot. And so now it's going to be Scoot and Jay LaGree and that's what they'll just do, right?

And they'll go from there because they need a point guard. And so that's natural. And then if one of these other teams and then if Charlotte is three, then it's like, oh, that's natural. Like, Brandon Miller's going to go three. And you could have, your draft could have been pretty easy to throw together. The way it did shake out, though, I think there's going to be a bunch of trades, man. I really do.

And these teams are best suited to use those picks as an asset. And it's very rare that we see top five or top 10 picks moved. But I think that they were so dead set on, like, if we don't get Wemby, then now it's viewed more as an asset maybe than it is the player that you would get. Even though I'm, you know, I know you're a huge Miller fan. I'm a huge scoot fan. So it's not like, I don't think either of them are just consolation prizes. I think they've got a chance to be outstanding NBA players.

Yeah, me too. But we'll see. It was fun. It was fun to watch that lottery. And I am happy for Spurs fans, even though they get luckier than hell. Come on, bro. I know. It's pretty cool.

Three times you get the number one pick, you get literally Naismith Hall of Famers. Victor's still going to do it. He's still got to do it. What about Woj calling Victor Webbenyama the greatest prospect of all time and all of sports? I mean, it's strong. It is strong. Strong. I mean, even if you disagree, the fact you can even say that's a possibility says all that needs to be said.

Yeah. I mean, there's some. that I was, I mean, again, I was, they showed those videos the other night. And again, it doesn't even look real. I can't wait to see this dude in person. It doesn't even look real. It still looks CGI to me. Like, I can't believe a human being that big to do this crap.

That's what made going to Nevada last year so special, Chris, because it's like, you're there and you see it in person. You're like, oh, my God, in Israel. It's not CGI. By the way, so I saw this one that was getting passed around the other. other day. So you know the famous clip where he shoots a three and then he follow Tip Dunks him. Yeah. Yep.

His own shot. So I saw like, I guess a different version of it the other day where it, because I've always seen the one where he shoots it and then runs it and he dunks it, right? Leading up to that, there's like a six foot five guy guarding him and he's crossing over like three times. You didn't

see that? Before he ever shoots that. I didn't ever saw the crossovers and I'm like, this is just stupid. You're going to look at my Twitter page, Chris. put it out there. How is this? I don't know what I figure I would every time I look at your Twitter page, it looks like I got to buy something. What? Isn't there like a it says subscribe, subscribe to Kevin? Oh, on the top of the page. I'm not subscribing to that. I'm not subscribed to him. You don't have to subscribe to anything. I'm a power. I'm a power follower. I want

the little. Oh, the super follower button. Yeah, yeah. Super follow. Power follows. Super follow. the old man, yeah, power follow. Yeah, that would be better. All right. It is always a pleasure,

Kevin. These playoffs continue to be really good. Thank you to our producer, Sasha, Ashaw, and I will talk to you next week. I'm looking forward to it.