The Mismatch - Recapping Ja’s Epic Night and How Good Are the T-Wolves? Plus, the Lakers Still Have a Chance.

Episode Date: March 1, 2022

Verno is still buzzing from last night’s Grizzlies game after watching Ja Mortant drop 52 points (01:10). KOC points out how Morant has fully embraced the city of Memphis and how he’s revitalized a franchise (05:40). The guys debate just how good the Timberwolves are before discussing their chances to catch the Mavs and Nuggets (14:15). Scottie Barnes continues to shine as a rookie as the guys discuss his potential and take a deeper look at the Raptors roster (19:57). The guys discuss what the Hornets can do now that Gordon Hayward is out with an ankle sprain (29:50). Despite the absolutely terrible play from the Lakers lately, the guys are in agreement that with a healthy LeBron James and Anthony Davis, they still have a chance to make some noise (37:54). Lastly, they give their thoughts on the new-look 76ers with James Harden (53:26). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Jessie Lopez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Top MMA voices, Ariel Hawani, Chuck Mindenhall, and Pizzie Carroll are live on the Spotify Greenroom app for every major MMA card with The Ringer MMA show. Here the guys react to weigh-ins in real time and find out what they think of the fights the moment the final card ends. Plus, when breaking MMA news happens, they'll be live to talk to you about it. And if you miss the green room show, you can hear it as a podcast anytime on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to The Miscatch. I'm Chris Vernon. And joining me as he does every Tuesday from The Ringer.com. Kevin O'Connor, A.K. Kevin O'Climber, Kevin O'Clymer, Kevin O'Conflin, Kevin O'Conflin, Kevin O'Conflin, Kevin O'Conflin, Kevin O'Brien, Kevin. Burdell, how good are you feeling? How good are you feeling? Scale of 1 to 10. I'd say 10. 52?

I'd say, maybe not, maybe not 52. You didn't break the scale last night with John Morant doing everything he did? You know. Tell me what he did. What was the best? John Morant moment in last night's 52 point performance by him. The best moment in many. I tweeted this out, Kep, I almost flipped over the table when he dunked on Fordham. And everything was still buzzing from that, you know, and you're seeing the world react to it on social media.

and then in the meantime he pulls a long three, he snakes all the way through to the basket and hits a layup. And then to cab it off the last play of the half, him catching it in midair and in one motion, throwing it up virtually behind the backboard as he falls into the bench. And that capped off, the best, that is the most spectacular performance. ever seen in a half in my life. I have been going, you could probably count on two hands

the amount of home games I've missed in 21 years, probably two hands. And that includes the 20-win, 22-win seasons. So, I mean, I've been to all of them. And quarter performance, you know, there is a, the first year that started the playoff run, 2011, Zach Randolph had 17 to put away the spurs in a game six in the fourth quarter. And I thought I'd never see anything like that again. And especially probably with the stakes that high. But what this guy was doing last night and the buzz in that arena is like nothing that could ever be replicated in a regular season game.

Like, they've only played, you got to keep in mind, they've been going on this run, they've been playing great, they were eight and two in the last month. They only played three home games in February. So home fans did not get to see them very much. And so this was the opportunity to go and get to see him for the first time. and he had just dropped the franchise record 46 in Chicago over the weekend. And then he turns around and breaks that record and has 52 on the home floor. He had 39 going into the fourth, and we knew he's going to go get this.

He's going to go get 50 tonight. And so he got the 52. But I was honestly, like almost at a loss for words. I posted the video this morning. Somebody cut up all 22 field goals. He's 22 for 30 from the field. And he only made four free throws in the game. So all those 52, that's buckets in all these insane ways that he made them.

And I believe I read that they are, he is the, it's only four times. in NBA history has someone hit less free throws in a 50-point game. That's how rare that was last night to only have four free throws. Because if you're getting to 50, you usually got to have a crazy amount of free throws. But last night, Jamal Murray, and I had forgotten about this, Jamal Murray had a 50-point game where he had zero free throws. I mean, that's insane. DeMont Marie had a 50 that he had zero.

Dana Barrows scored 50 points and had two free throws in a game. And the other one was Chris Weber. Chris Weber scored 51 once with three free throws. And so when you team all that up, you know, and that's probably why it leads to even more spectacular because it's usually a lot of downtime in these games and the game and the and the buckets just aren't all so freaky.

But that was that was unlike anything I have ever seen in my life, honestly. I mean, how many times have I said to you, Chris, I can't imagine what it's like to be 10 years old, 14 years old, whatever age you might be, being a kid rooting for Ja Morant. Just a kid rooting for Ja Moran. like he he does so much magical stuff on the court like you said it's it's not just it's not just him throwing in the ball at the end of the shot clock it's not just

the big pull-up three he took from 40 feet away it's not just the big dunk it's just the way he slices through the lane and glides through to the basket and finishes with either hand it Jaj just feels like a superhero he has a great name John Morant's a great name

and he loves Memphis as well I was thinking about that with him the other night, how many stars have there really been? Like, there have been stars who have been embraced by their cities, but how many stars have embraced the city in the way Jiamerant has? Because I feel like

the way he tweets, the way he talks about it at All Star Weekend, not a lot of guys I can remember that love a city or region the way Jada does. It's a perfect fit because he was he's from a small place in

South Carolina. So he's from the out. A lot of the same things that people value are the same in Memphis, right? Family, loyalty, being a good person, like all of those things, you know what I'm saying, like these ingrained the hospitality, like all of those things. That's what he grew up around, like a community house where everybody was hanging out at their house and coming over to play basketball. And, And the other thing was the count it out or counted against, the chip on the shoulder thing, being a small market and he went to a small school, which he was only there because he was at a basketball camp. He was at a Chandler-Parsons basketball camp. And all of the good players, so-called good players, were in the other gym.

and he was in an auxiliary gym. And a guy named James Kane, who is now one of the assistant coaches for Anthony Grant at Dayton, was driving there and had not stopped. So he was hungry. And he went over to the vending machine to grab something to eat because he was hungry. and the vending machine was next to the auxiliary gym. And he looked in and there was a group of kids playing in the auxiliary gym. And he saw him.

And he went in and he asked who that is. And then like the rest is history. And then nobody wanted it. He wasn't even, he wasn't, imagine this. He's at an AAU camp like a camp for coaches to see. All the college coaches are in the other gym. he's on a side gym. And so you've got all that that comes along with him and like that whole underdog,

nobody believes in me and it all fit perfectly. Not only is it the South, but it is all where he's comfortable, but also that mentality of nobody thinks much of this or that. And he feels like nobody thought that much of him. And so there's something to prove. proof thing. But it is, he has taken this crazy leap that not even, nobody could have expected. It's outrageous. It's truly outrageous. When Isaiah Thomas scored 53 points against the Wizards and the playoffs, I think I've been to a

lot of loud Celtics games, loud Celtics games. I think that might be the loudest one. I ever went to because the emotion in the arena tied to Isaiah Thomas's family situation. at the time and all that with his sister passing. But him coming back from an injury for that matter, too, it was so loud. It just was loud. It felt like a rock concert, but in terms of decibel levels,

but that was fans' chair. Memphis last night through the TV, I wasn't in the arena. It felt loud. How loud was it last night? What was the energy like in that building? It was, yes, it was like a concert. Because it's, because it's absolute pandemonium.

And then I go, one and I'm helping out with the postgame show and we've got glass behind us, I thought there's like little kids beating on that glass. Like they're so fired up. And when you were talking about being a little kid and what did you imagine, my son just turned 12, I'm not lying to you. I would guess 60% of the clothes he wears has John Morant on it in some form. And that's not just because of you,

that's just not because of dad. No. A t-shirt. A t-shirt, a t-shirt jersey, a hoodie, something. Something. So cool. Yeah.

I mean, and, you know, you like you were saying, he texted, he texted me last night. My son did during the game. And he's like,

he has to get 50. Like, right when he's sitting on 39. And yeah. I mean, that's all, it's not, and it's not just kids.

It's all anybody. we'll be talking about in the city for some time. And it's a blessing, honestly, to get to get it. We've never had anything like that in Memphis, nothing. Nothing even close. Not somebody that's leading sports center for six minutes, you know, last night. And so it was great to see. And especially, look, I'm not going to, I'm not going to bag on the Spurs.

The Spurs were, that was the eighth game. of the rodeo road trip last night. But even Greg Popovich after the game, he said, I wish I would have had a camera. I mean, he's seen a lot of great performances in his life. Yeah.

And he's like, I wish I would have had a camera at that one. That was crazy. Josh special, man. What he put on. And so now they ended up finishing out that month, eight and two. And they really do have a chance

the two seed, Kevin, because Golden State, watching them the other night, I still can't believe they lost that Dallas game, you know, after watching it even, I still can't believe. And they had like eight points in the first, like, 10 minutes of that fourth quarter and just gave that thing away. And their record has just not been great. And they desperately need Draymond back. And now, obviously, Clay being out with illness. But that, may be extremely important because the difference between six and seven is going to be immense. If you draw six, you're getting either Dallas, Utah, or Denver. If you draw seven, you're getting whoever comes out of that play in.

Big difference. Big difference. Yeah. I mean, you might end up like it could be the clippers without George and Leonard, even though been a competitive team. Give me that team over the squad with Yokic and possibly Murray and Porter Jr. Or Luca on the role he's on. I mean, it's a no-brainer in terms of matchups, what you're looking for.

Yeah. So that two seed becomes something that is extremely valuable to these teams. Other things that happen around the NBA, how about towns in the place? We know he can shoot threes in that arena. And he hit a monster one last night against Cleveland. We've talked about Cleveland that kind of, you know, I don't want to say the free fall,

but, you know, that they've got a tough road to hoe and they've got a really tough road to hoe without garland. So it's hard to judge when they don't have garland in the mix. Of course, they had Rondo,

which had replaced Rubio, and then they lost Rondo. And so... Now you got Brandon Goodwin starting in the back court. Yep. Brandon Goodwin starting at the back court. and so a little tough for Cleveland right now. But I got to tell you, Minnesota might be the hardest team for me to figure out.

You can, I think they're, and this was what kind of makes them dangerous in a play in a play-in situation, I feel like their ceiling game and their floor game amongst the good teams. like I think it might be the widest discrepancy. Like when they are at their best, they can be devastating. And when they're at their worst, I mean, you feel like, geez, Louise, they could get beat by anybody. And I don't know if anybody else that's good has that wide of a range of possible performances. And, I mean, because you know, if you catch a, you know, whether, that's Russell, Towns, Edwards, any of those guys can be great.

When they are simultaneously great, you've got a massive problem on your hands. So I don't know. What do you make of them? I can't figure them out. I mean, they're such a strange group of it. Remember mid-January-ish or so? We were talking about Minnesota. Oh, they have a top 10 defense, you know?

Are they making the leap on that end of the floor? Can they figure out their offense? I mean, since mid-January, they have the league's number one offensive rating, but their defense has moved into the bottom five. So, like, they've flipped what they were earlier in the season when they were still a competitive team, still in the playing race. Now they've just become the best offense in basketball, but one of the worst defenses. It's just, it's so strange how they can't seem to figure out how to become top 10 in both.

It's a hard thing to do. But for a team that's done both at different times of the same. season, you wonder if somehow down the final stretch here, this is how they can take this time to piece together both ends of the court. Because right now it just seems to be one or the other. When they're scoring, they're not defending. When they're defending, they're not scoring. Just a weird group.

But they're just a young team, though. Doesn't I have a lot of young teams, though? Yeah, I mean, no, but it's a great point. And that actually explains the volatility because it is shots go in or shots don't go in. Coaches will always tell you, we want to be great. on defense because that's something we can count on every night, right? You can count on being very good defensively, and that's going to keep you in games. The nights where you're not knocking down shots, you can still come away with some wins.

And they are in a position now where if you're defensively playing at that level, they have to knock down shots. So on the night that they've got it going, and they're really good on offense. they look like a juggernaut. And then on the nights and shots aren't dropping for them, obviously their defense can't hold the fourth down. So fascinating. You know what I mean?

And maybe that's why, as this season is going on, I've been so confused. How could you not be confused? They were good defensively, and now they're horrendous defensively, and they were okay offensively, and now they're great offensively. Like, they don't know where.

they are. How can I? Do you see any? So right now, like just to set the standings, they're in the seven seed at the moment and there are three and a half games back from Denver for the six and Dallas for the five because Dallas and Denver have the same record. I mean, we just

said earlier, it's likely the six seed will be Denver, Dallas or Utah. There's two and a half games separating those three teams. But like I just said, Minnesota's three and a half back from two of those spots. Do you see any chance? that Minnesota could move up

rather than, you know, stay where they are in the plan. Look, with the amount of games left, it's really hard because you would really need somebody to have a free fall. It's hard to make up three and a half games. Yeah. It is. In 20-ish games, that is a lot to make up.

Because even a bad stretch for those teams is like six and four. But they do have Dallas once. They face Dallas twice, Denver once. they would have to win those, obviously. But they also... That can close the gap pretty quickly. If you do beat Dallas twice,

sure. It's not impossible. I don't think they're beating Dallas twice, but you got to win those. In your scenario, I'm just saying in order to make up three and a half games, you need like these two and eight, three and seven stretches out of those teams.

And I think it is more likely that those teams are going to be playing seven and three, six and four at worst basketball. You know, and then they might very well sprinkle in an eight of ten, nine of ten. Those are good teams. Those are better teams than Minnesota. They are. And so just betting that they would be able to hold their lead and that Minnesota wouldn't play at a much higher win rate than them down these last 20 games, isn't that far-fetched. Other performances last night.

So Morant got all of the headlines, but there was a rookie that certainly should have gotten a lot of notice, and that was Scotty Barnes. We have had a couple of these performances, whether it's a Cunningham game, or it's Josh Giddy, or Jalen Suggs has had some moments. But last night, Scotty Barnes, like, it's one of those moments where, you know, I go back and I watch the highlights. and you're watching them going, Jesus, man, like, what is the ceiling on this dude? Like, he can't even shoot yet. Like, what is he going to be? Because, man, I love his motor.

They're beating the shit out of the nets. He's going hard still. He's always going hard. always and he's long as he can be and this is his first time through doing all of this and it's scary to think that that kid's going to fill out even more he's still just a baby but for for as much as at the beginning when I went through the draft that was kind of a surprise that he went where he did not as much by the time we got to draft day but certainly throughout draft analysis.

But Kevin, Toronto has got a very, very special player on the horizon. Yeah, but Scotty Barnes last night, I guess, you know, first rookies and Shaquille O'Neal to post 25 plus points, 15 plus rebounds and five steals. I mean, impressive, 25, 15, and 5 for him to do that. And I think with Scottie Barnes, everything he did last night was really just a continuation of everything we've seen throughout the season with the versatility on defense. the scoring ability inside, the floater that he has. Does he have such a nice floater, Chris?

His floater is so soft for a big guy. Like, he's come in with a really good floater. And I think with him, it's weird. Like we're talking about how good Scotty Barnes was last night. I feel like if Toronto wanted to, they could get this out of Scotty Barnes even more often. Because like this year, they've been fleets, obviously their main energizer on offense,

but they've had stretches where O'GNan and Obie was the guy getting fed those ISOs and pick and rolls. They had stretches when it was Barnes. Like they haven't had stretches where it was Gary Tren Jr. Gary Tren Jr. is one of the most efficient isolation scores and all the basketball, one of the most efficient shooters off the dribble, but he doesn't get a high usage. But they have guys, Barnes and Trent especially, that I feel like if they wanted to say, hey, go out there and score 25 points every night, you're getting the requisite amount of shots. Those guys could do it.

I think Barnes is that good already. I would be curious to see down the final 20 games here. If they just fed him the ball and said, hey, you're the center of our offense. What would happen? I would just love to see that because last night's game was really just like a continuation of everything we've seen. So hard too, because you talked about, I think you mentioned the other four guys or three guys that are on that court.

You didn't even mention Seaccombe. Who's having an all-star caliber season? I mean, Bart is like... He's ran point this year, too. Barnes is like fifth option stuff for this team. Yep. Yeah, sometimes he is. Right? Because, I mean, they play very balanced,

and Lord knows they play the minutes. He's out there. And there has no chill. That's the thing. They share the ball. And like I say that as some theoretical, but the truth is that that's not the way the Raptors want to play. They want to feature guys at different times of different matchups.

And with Barnes, he's the perfect player for situations like that because he has size, he can provide defense and rebounding on any night, but on the nights where he has some advantageous matchup, you can throw him the ball on the elbow and allow him to be a playmaker. You can throw him the ball at the top of the key and have him run a pick and roll.

you can have him set screens. He can just be plugged into any type of situation at all. And he's a willing passer. We saw that in last night's game with some of the quick decisions that he made. So I don't know, man. Well, and it called for it last night because Fred wasn't playing in that game. Yeah, of course. You know, Ananobe wasn't playing in that game.

But you take those guys, I don't know if I'd have to go look if Ananobe's had 25 in a game. But if you said like your top five guys. All had, because Siakum, Trent, Barnes, with the 28 last night, he had 28 and 16, and he had five steals and a block. And then you say Ananoi and Van Vleet, I mean, that's like their small lineup they can get to. That may be the, I don't know if there's any other five where every guy has got, had a 25-point game. I mean, I'm assuming Ananobe's probably had a 25 this year. So forgive me if he hasn't. But we should probably look that up.

I can look it up to find out. But if he has, then you've got five guys when you're talking about how they can share the ball. They have five guys that have dropped 25 or more points in a game this year. I mean, hell, he's averaging 17 and a half. So I'd imagine he's probably had a 25 sprinkle. then maybe even a 30 for going to sakes this year. It'd be kind of crazy if not. But, yeah, they have just been balanced as can be.

All right, Kevin, you got it? You got their point totals? Yeah, so, all right, Gary Trent Jr. has the high for the Raptors this season at 42 points. He did that against the Rockets in February. Van Bleet, high of 37, O.G. and Ovi, high of 36 back in November against the Knicks long time ago. Seacam, a high against the Nuggets, 35.

five points. So that's what we got. We have multiple guys. All four of them have had over 35. And Barnes, the high, of course, was last night of 28, has not yet cracked 30.

Neither has anybody else in the team. Bouchet had 28 at one point. Boucher had 28. Okay. It feels like, again, I'd have to go do all the research, but is somebody else really had six guys that have had 28 points in a game?

Like, that's crazy. That's a good question. That's great. crazy. They have 28, six different players. And hell, Barnes was the only one

that hasn't had 35. You reeled off four guys that have had 35 points in a game this year. Good grief. And Trent's, like him having 42, I had the stat in my

Monday article on the ringer where like I just kind of found a staff by accident looking up isolation numbers on second spectrum. If you look at like the higher usage ISO guys, guys who have done it a hundred times, O'GN and OBE of the 70 or so players ranks last in isolation efficiency. Fred Van Blyte was second to last in isolation efficiency. But Gary Trent Jr., meanwhile, was third up there with the stars like Kevin Durant and Steph Curry and James Hardin and granted the circumstances and the context is so different.

facing weaker defenders on a more regular basis than those guys are. It just made me think about like, wow, they, they're feeding the ball to some less efficient scorers when they have thus far this year, one of the statistically most efficient scores in Gary Trenzina, we've seen what he can do when you give him 25 shots. He can get 40 for you. He can get 30 plus for you. I guess with Toronto, that's something that's on my mind a lot because they have so much talent. I just wonder, well, what happens if you give Barnes the ball every night and say, you're our lead playmaker? You're our offensive hub in the half court.

You're getting the ball at the elbows. You're facilitating. I wonder what happens if you force feed the ball to Gary Trent Jr. Who has been an elite isolation score, an elite shooter off the catch coming off screens as well on or off ball. I just wonder what happens. I think it's fair to say they're doing it the right way. They're doing it. Yeah, I know, but I'm just I guess it's just a thought.

on my mind, though, with the Raptors because they're a good, not great team, but you have some guys that can do some great things. Well, they're now. I just wonder what happens if they change in the future. Boston and Cleveland are going to have to hold them off because you know they're going to be fighting to getting that 6-seat and get

out of this play-in situation and it looks right now that Cleveland would be the most likely to drop, but they're only a game and a half back from Boston for that six-seat. And that's going to be a dog fight down the stretch just to try to stay out of that play-in scenario.

And Brooklyn is supposed to be getting Kevin Durant back. Either Thursday or Sunday was the optimistic view that came out this week. And so they get their guys back. You know they're going to be trying to get on a wind street so that they can stay out of that play-in situation. Because not only staying out of the play-in situation, but that you would feed into the one or two-seed. depending on what takes place in that play-in situation. So you're desperate going to want to try to get out of that, and they are three and a half out of six right now is Brooklyn.

So they would need a lot of help. They would need a couple of these teams to falter. On the other end of that play-in is Charlotte, who is just, I feel so bad for them. You know, at the beginning of the season, my prediction was based upon Hayward. And I said, I saw what happened when they lost him. They're a really good and possibly dangerous team with Gordon Hayward.

Same thing happened this year. And I just cannot believe he'll stay healthy for a season. And if he doesn't, I saw what effect that has on that team. and I'll be damned. It happened to him again. They lost Hayward and now they're two and eight in their last 10.

They were 26 and 20. 26 and 20. And when he got hurt. Same thing happened last year. They were in a top five scene last year before he got hurt. They're four and 12

since the Hayward injury. I think he played like a little bit of one game during that or maybe two games during that stretch, and they lost all three of those. I mean, it's obviously a lot of money invested in a guy, and so you really have to have depth in order to make it after you lose a high-paid player off of your team

that's not able to contribute. But also, it's that keep the ball moving secondary playmaker for Lamello, too. Because there's a lot of guys. You watch that team, there's a lot of guys that are either, you know, go get a bucket myself or you have to set them up. But it's not a lot of guys that set up each other. And that can even be true with Rozier. It's true with bridges.

It's true with Ubre. It's true with Plumly. Like, just having somebody else that keeps that ball moving seems just essential to what they do. It makes his absence become of outsized importance, if that makes any sense. It shouldn't be like that. You shouldn't lose Gordon A word and turn to crap. But they have two years in a row they have. Lost him and it's just a radically different basketball team.

It sucks for them. I hate it because that's a fun, like up and coming should be getting play. playoff lump's team, and they're going to be fighting to stay in this play-in, and even if they get in the play-in, probably like last year where they get into the play-in and just get drilled. You see that play the other night against Detroit when Lamello Ball stole the inbound from Jeremy Grant. It was kind of a lazy, you know, inbound pass, and Lamello Ball stole it, spun around last second before the clock and missed the jump shot. Almost, almost. That just kind of just felt like the

Hornet's season where it's like very exciting. A lot of great moments, but then an L in the end. Well, were you watching, were you watching that game? Not the whole game, no. Okay, I actually was watching that one. Yo, Sadiq Bay.

He's like hitting like one foot fadeaway threes. I mean, he was awesome and hit big too. And then at the very end of the game, the announcers are like, and the Pistons, they put in Kelly O'Linnock.

Like, Kelly O'Linnick hadn't even been playing. He hadn't even been playing in the game. Like, I hadn't seen Kelly O'Lennick since I started watching this game in the fourth quarter I didn't feel like. Or notice him. And then they throw it into him. A guy hits a damn fadeaway baseline game winner. And I was like, oh, Lord. And I felt bad.

I felt bad for those Hornets announcers. You know, I love that guy. Eric Collins but that was tough that was tough Kelly Olinic dagger in the you know on the baseline

it's going to be interesting to see what Charlotte does I mean because you have a star in Gordon Hayward you know I star you know really quotations around that at this point you have a star in him but you have Miles Bridges who is going to be getting paid this offseason Detroit

or some other team could give him a max contract offer If you match that, you get Lamello's deal coming up in a couple years. You already have Hayward on the books. It's just going to be interesting to see the way they build this thing out around Lamello ball because he's really, really good already. Really good already. And are you going to pay Bridges?

That's the big question. Yeah, I would think you're going to pay Bridges. He's an excellent player. Well, he's also a wonderful fit on the wing next to Lamello Ball. this team severely needs to solve its center problem, and they also got to find somebody they can rely on. You can't rely on Gordon Hayward anymore. As sad as that is to say,

what evidence has he shown in four years to suggest that he can be relied on to stay healthy? There's none of it. It's unfortunate to say, he's been a good player for years, but if you're the Charlotte Hornets right now and you're trying to build a competitive team around a mellow ball while he's on his rookie contract,

take advantage of that. Gordon Hayward moving forward, I don't think that's your answer. I don't know if you could find a place for him, though. I don't know if you can find a place for him. I don't know what you're going to flip him for. Like, what's the value right now for Gordon Hayward? You've got to hope that Indiana wants the reunion. It's a tough spot to be in, man.

I mean, there were the Indiana rumors during this season with the Miles Turner stuff. But of course, Indian ends up trading a bonus. And now they're probably going to keep Turner, unless they wanted to also flip Turner during the offseason. Well, you don't know with their trajectory now,

with the buddy healed, then Tala Burton and kind of how they're thinking about rebuilding on the go or reloading on the go, whichever it is. It'll just be interesting to see what Charlotte does, because there's a lot that could shift and a lot that needs to shift for that team, too.

They were right in the middle. too. I just, I hate, I hate this has happened to them. Since we last spoke, Kevin. They could slip out. They could slip out. They're only up two games on Washington. Two games up on the Wizards. The Wizards are free-flall in, though, the other way. The Knicks are also losing a lot of games. So that's, that's working in Charlotte's favor, that the Wizards and Knicks just aren't winning games.

Since we last spoke, Kevin, you asked me at the beginning of the show. You were like, what was it like in that arena? And so I am going to send you on a recognits mission. I need you to go to the Crypto Center. And I got, I want to know what that's like. They got booed off the damn floor. Bood! Bood!

You see that video of LeBron and Areza and then Westbrook barking at a fan? There, I'm like, this is it a home game? Jeannie Bus and somebody posted that video of her getting up and walking out when they were down by 20? Yo, what is going on? They just got run out by the Pelicans on their home floor. And it felt like, oh, geez, like that's when you know Vogel is going to be safe for the season no matter what. Because if there was going to be a, we're kicking you to the curb, we're blaming the coach, that would have been the moment after that one.

With the murmurs in the crowd, the booing, genie walking out, the whole thing. What do you make of this? I mean, are they even going to be in the damn playing? They are just, I can't believe that they're this bad right now. Yeah. It is shocking that they're this bad. I'd be surprised if they didn't make the play in. They're two and a half games up on Portland,

three and a half up on San Antonio. I'd be surprised if they slipped out unless LeBron got shut down, but I don't see why LeBron would get shut down. I still think the Lakers, at least some people internally believe they can win around. If you get a healthy Anthony Davis back, you get LeBron James, I still think there's belief that they can make a little bit of a

run. But is that belief rooted in some fantasy? Is it rooted in reality? I'm not so sure about that here because I think the one thing with the Lakers, the reason why that team gets booed off the floor is because of the lack of effort. Is the lack of effort that team put out there? I mean, I've been in a lot of arenas where I've seen effort and hustle not get respected in the way that I remember growing up with going to Celtics games where arenas are quiet and they don't respond to that high energy in ways that I'm used to.

But going to, you know, going to Staples Center's games for years and now Crypto Center, I think Lakers fans are the same way. Lakers fans respond to energy and effort. That's why like Caruso became a guy that they loved just in just last season,

why it was so hard to lose a guy like that. Lakers fans respond. to that. And this team, the lack of energy on defense, the way they didn't fight back, uh, this is a team that didn't put out that effort. And they rightfully were boot off the floor. The way they lost of the pelicans without Zion losing by 40 points, it's embarrassing. It really is embarrassing. Is there any hope for this team though? Do you still have like any, even a sliver of hope? Yes. You do? I hate to say that. Because they have LeBron and AD, right? It's as simple as that.

Like I told you, I think if you have those two guys, you can put me, you and Jesse, and you got a chance. Yeah. I mean, I agree with you,

Chris. I hate to say that's true, but it's true. It's the truth. It's the truth. Exactly. I texted some Lakers fans the other day.

I was like, hey, do you think of LeBron should shut it down? And just rest out for the rest of the year to stay healthy for next season. Just out of curiosity

to see what they would say. And most of them said, hell no, he should play, he should go for the points, and we can still win. Like, that's what some Lakers fans were saying. We can still win around with LeBron of AD. I don't think they're necessarily wrong, and I don't think LeBron should shut it down either. I think he should continue playing for the same reasons, but it's just interesting to see the way Lakers fans are talking about this team now.

Let's say they, all right, so seven plays eight and then you play out, right? But let's just say it ended up because we talked about at the beginning. it ended up, the Lakers are playing against Minnesota. Okay? You wouldn't pick the T. Wills tonight. I wouldn't pick the T. Walls tonight. In a scenario, the win to get to the playoffs scenario, come on. Now, if they got Chris Paul back, the sons would bury their ass.

That would be, you know, if you got in the first round. But how about Memphis? What if it's a two-seed Memphis? Grizzlies versus a seven-seed L.A. Lakers. You're nervous in that series, right? You are nervous. More nervous than I would be if it were like the T-Wolves or somebody like that. Of course, you've got to respect these guys and what they've done. They got a lot of playoff scars, you know?

And you play there, they're going to get every damn call. And it's going to turn into a half-court game. And so do I think Memphis would be able to beat them? Of course, they've been better all year. They have not shown that they have been good. You ask me, is there a sliver of hope? And of course, because they have those players. You know, the worst thing for a team is that you don't have enough talent.

That's not their problem. You know, they've got the talent. It's the figuring it out. And we're, you know, we're to the point where you can be like, all right, dude, they're just not figuring this out. But it's still veterans that have been around a long time that really don't give a shit about the regular season, that they just figure they'll turn it up when it matters most. And, of course, it's got a, you know, you've got to give them respect. LeBron is, he's been in a lot of big. games. A lot of big games.

There's been a lot of big series. Now, this team stinks. They have stunk all year long. I'm just speaking to the sliver of hope. It has to exist when you've got those players. Has to. Got to get AD back, though, of course.

Of course. Without him, it's all moot. But, you know, theoretically, if you get a healthy AD back for playing and a potential first round playoffs, there's still little teeny weeny bits of hope for a way. They probably looked

there's a very good chance. They solved all their problems with waving DeAndre Jordan and signing DJ Augustine. That's the fix. That's all they've needed this whole year. They just needed DJ Augustine to start ahead of Russell Westbrook. From DeAndre Jordan, I'm like, oh, this is bullshit.

It's my fault. Like, I'm the one that gets cut. I was just here to be everybody's friend anyway. I haven't been good in three years. You brought me here because you thought I was good. Like, I was just trying to be. cool with everybody. I'm trying to give,

you know, what, good vibes to the locker. Yeah, who are you going to for comic relief now, Dwight? You know what I mean?

I'm the guy, I'm the only one smiling around here. You blame me? Oh, man, that's so funny. We're all like, is Vogel going to be,

get the axe? And then they wake up the next day and they're like, the Lakers have waved DeAndre Jordan. Oh. Problem solved. why do you think Jeannie Bus and that Lakers front office are not firing Vogel? Because it's not his fault?

I know, I know, like, do you think that's why? Like, they think that's the reason internally that they have for not firing Vogel. Like, they know, like, they know the truth is, is everybody deserves some blame, including LeBron and Clutch for pushing for Russell Westbrook. And Paulinkinke for actually listening and doing it instead of doing the heel deal. Right. And I- It's everybody.

Yes. And I think that if you fire the coach, it feels like an admission that our coach and us keeping this coach employed is the problem rather than the other stuff. You know what I'm saying? Like that's one of those. Like if you fire Vogel suddenly like you're the one. Yeah. You're in the crosshairs now. Right.

Oh, you should have fired it. you're right. David Fisdale goes there and now all of a sudden they start playing hard and LeBron is like, you know, going in the press conference talking about how this feels like the Miami days. You know, whatever the hell

he's going to do, right? I love Fizz. I love playing for Fizz. You know, this team's got a new sense of energy, all this baloney. Right? He's something else. Can you see that happen? Right? And then it's like, bro, I wonder. Bro, play hard for Frank Vogel.

Why can't you do? that. We pay you $30 million. I wonder if LeBron wants Polanka gone. If LeBron, like him You wonder? Well, I mean, I'm saying like him call Lamentick Sam Presby, how much

money do you think he'd like to see the Lakers throw at Sam Presby? And the Lakers don't have unlimited money. Infinity. Infinity. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. But I don't know what the L.U. is going to do. Everybody's got a number. I wonder what Sam Presti's number is to leave okay, so you know how Maasai Ujiri has just

leveraged his way into millions of dollars with the Toronto Raptors? Sam Presti should be doing the same thing with the OKC Thunder. I wonder how much they pay you. Yeah, I don't know his salary. No idea. I mean, the highest pay GMs like get 10 plus or like the highest,

not many. Like Maasai Ujiri probably makes that. But then they always like the president thing too, right? Yeah, like the titles are weird. You know, some GMs are lower levels and president of basketball operations. And some people are just team presidents. What was that story I saw?

And I was like, what? Who was somebody announced he's going to be the GM. And I was like, what? I thought, I thought the other guy ran the show there. Oh, it was Mike Gansy. Mike Gansy that played at West Virginia for B-Line back in the day. Mike Gansy, they said he was going to be the GM in Cleveland. But when you think about who runs the show in Cleveland,

you think about Colby, right? Yeah. So you're right on the titles thing. Yeah. So, beside Ejiri, according to the Toronto Star last October, they say $15 million annually.

That's wild. 15? 15, yeah. He's worth it. Yeah, he is. It's terrific. He's worth it. Bobby Webster up in Toronto.

Wow. All right. Other things we've got to get to. We have seen Philly play since we last broke. Kind of one of the random. random thought here. Fred Vincent, the assistant coach of the Pelicans, seeing what he's done now in consecutive years

with Lawns a ball, Brandon Ingram, and now Herb Jones, who we've talked about a lot this year, Chris. He goes from, you know, him in Alabama. You were the first person I ever heard talk about saying, Herb Jones is going to be an NBA player. He didn't shoot the ball well in college or high school. He shoots the ball well.

He's shooting above 80% from the free throw line, shooting 35 plus percent from three. Like, we're talking about Masayu Jiri as a front office guy worth a lot of money. Fred Vincent, like an assistant coach like that, who specializes in improving the success of your key players as a shooter, I wonder if coaches are underpaid too in those types of situations, like guys who can improve a player's jump shot.

Just a thought of my mind there, Chris. What do you think about that? Yeah, I mean, for years it was always, there's only so many that are so good. Not a lot. Especially on the player development side, that there's not a lot that you know their name, but I mean,

I could recite to you, Chip England. I can't tell you how many times I've heard Chip England's name over the last 20 years for San Antonio. Like he's like, he was always held up as like the gold standard. Oh, he worked with Chip England. Chip England did this.

You know, they got Kauai with Chip England. They got this guy, DeJante Murray with Chip England. It's like, but Chip England doesn't leave. You know, like, it's not somebody like comes in and is like,

hey, Chip England will give you $5 million to come over here. So I don't know. I don't know what those guys. I mean, the guy's been there since 2005, for good of sakes. And so I'd imagine he gets taken care of.

Yeah. And also, I think some coaches, which is not, not everybody aspires to be the head honcho. Oh, yeah, right. Because that's where the lack of job security

is oftentimes. I mean, for Chip England and San Antonio, you have so much more job security working under Popovich than almost any other coach in the entire NBA, for that matter,

because there's so much turnover. You just don't know where your family's going to be living. If you ask me shooting coaches, the first day about I would say was Chip England. You know what the second one is? This is so funny.

because I haven't thought about this at a long time. Years ago, this is probably damn near 20 years ago now. Hubey Brown came to coach the Grizzlies, and he came in, and he's like, all right, so you need to build your staff, right? And he said, I'm going to bring in the best staff that you can have, he's going on, right? He's bringing in all these different guys. And he says, and I am going to bring in the best shooting coach in the world.

this guy has taught people, I mean, it's like somebody that, like, he was like talking about, like, ABA stuff, like Kentucky colonels, like, I've known this guy since whatever. And he brings in this guy and he said, the best shooting coach in the world, Dr. Howell Whistle. So he brings it, Dr. Hal Whistle. And he brings him in as like the shooting coach. And like, of course, the grizzlies start, like making all these shots and what, like, you know, as time goes on, they start, like, making all these shots. They end up winning 50 games by the next year. And like, it became this thing.

Like, oh, my God, Dr. Hal Whistle, work with these guys. And all of a sudden, it was just so, and he was like, he was old by the time Hubey brought, man. Now, of course, Hubey was old. But Jerry West had hired Hubey Brown, and then Hubey Brown brings in this guy. And it's like, it was like this old sage, like,

walked in. It's like, Dr. Howell, has been teaching people how to shoot a basketball since like James Naismith. Did it help? Was he successful? Yeah. He was awesome. I see he's still alive, 83 years old right now.

He's 83? Yeah, I could think of some teams that could use this help. They need to call Dr. Hal. You need to learn how to shoot. You need to call Dr. Hal Whistle. That's the guy. Was that the last time he coached was for Hubie? I believe so from what I'm.

I'm looking at here. I mean, that's early 2000. No, he coached Golden State for 06-07 Oh, hello. Oh, they didn't have those guys yet. I was about to give him credit.

I was going to give him credit for Clay and Curry. It's the remnant. They probably found Dr. Hal's notebook playing around there. How to shoot a ball. We get the real story here on the mismatch of how the worst actually happens.

Yeah, the guy behind the scenes. He laid the groundwork a couple of years before they got there. That's what happened. No, they found these old documents laid around. It was like the book was like in the ceiling. Yeah. How to shoot a basketball by Dr. Howell.

All right. We do need to talk about our first impressions from watching Philadelphia. I watch both of their games. to start off. Yeah, what did you think? Give me yours. I thought they were devastating. I thought they were devastating.

I thought they were frigging devastated. I also found it to be downright appalling. That's what I was waiting for. I thought that was going to be the first word out of your mind. Look, I don't understand, I guess people have short memories, but this celebration of James Harden, I don't know how people are celebrating. that. That is, that was just gross to watch how awesome he was in those games and to think back about that Sacramento game and frankly how he has played the entire season. Like you saw that

cockamamie thing that the agent for Kyler Murray put out. And I was trying to think about this. Imagine if like Kyler Murray who was like unhappy with his plight next year he just came out and started like throwing the ball into the ground and shit. throwing the ball to the, and throwing the ball to the other team and just, like, not giving a crap and walking to the sidelines. Like, people would be outraged.

They'd be going crazy. Absolutely crazy. If you thought Kyle Burney was just, like, throwing the ball into the ground, you know, getting sacked, you know, like getting sacked, dicking around, you know, during practices,

all the time or whatever. Flying out and going and partying right after they got their ass kicked by the Ravens. It's like people would lose their minds and he would become like this pariah. And what I watched this weekend and like when we talked about, you know, one of the things I said to you was when that trade happened, I was like, you know, there's a lot of talk that they traded for Houston James Hardin. They didn't trade for Houston James Harder. They traded for a James Hardin that shot like 39% from the field, 30% from three or whatever.

His stats were this year. Not great. And percentage wise, effectiveness wise. And then I watch it and I'm like, holy shit, they traded for Houston James Hardin. Like, he's still that guy. Like, what the hell? I don't know. Like, in terms of basketball, I mean, they were devastating. Devastating. And the way Maxie played with them, but it is appalling to watch him and know he is capable of that and just willfully didn't play that way.

I hope my, the beginning of my workout can go only as well as James Harding getting back into shape. I'm in the war shape of my life personally. So if over the next three weeks I can get in the type of shape that James Hardin did over three weeks since we saw that debacle against the Kings in early February, I'm going to be feeling pretty good in a little while because he just looks springier. He just looks more explosive. He has more burst. Doesn't he just seem quicker? He looks like James Hardin. I know.

He does. he's so annoying it's hilarious I mean I was honestly annoyed watching I'm like this is bullshit like really like bro what he tricked everybody

but they are I'll tell you what they're gonna go to the free throw line 90 times a game it's it's unbelievable I mean we this is this is why I've been saying, Chris, for so long. We've never seen Embed

with a playmaker, a perimeter playmaker like James Harden. And now we're already through two games starting to see just how much he's going to be able to draw free throws. So many of them off those pick and roll actions when Hardin draws the defender, gives it to Embed, and on the roll,

he's just rumbling towards the basket. He's legitimately drawing files. Like, those were fouls a lot of the time that are getting called. Oh, yeah. It's like they're legit files. It's just he's never been in a position where he can get those calls. He's always earned it on the post battling after an offensive rebound, you know,

going back up, driving to the basket himself. He very rarely would get just these easy catch, one dribble, go up, finish, or get files. And let me just say this. But Horton's going to provide those for him. I am a hundred percent. I am not going to make any pretense about this. I am being a bona fide hater on this.

Okay, so let me just get that out of the way. I know how good it is. I saw it. Okay? It's devastating. Now, they are going to have to play, you know, somebody that's not the T-Wolves and the Knicks, and then we'll get a better read on it.

And he will vomit all over himself when it matters most, like he always does. But in the meantime, speaking of vomiting, when he set a screen for Maxie, I just threw all over my floor. I was like, okay, bro, he hasn't set a screen in his career. I'm like, this is so bogus. So bogus. This is so boating screens. bro, you don't you just stand there and dribble the ball into the floor?

And then take a step back three while four other guys stand around. That's what you do. You don't run around. He also had a three-pointer that he hit off the catch when he, when he migrated like into an open spot on the corner. He moved without the ball in his hands to get himself open for a pass. It was remarkable. Dude, Chris.

Paul. We saw Hardin on his best behavior at the beginning of his time with the Nets. We saw some spurts like this with him at that point. With Philly, though, I was thinking about this. It's totally fair, Kevin. I almost, this is when you know I have, I've trained myself. I've gotten some restraint because I typed in like Harden scary hours on Twitter and found like a ton of Hardin and Durant, the most devastating,

duo and like all of these different things. Oh, like tweets popped up. Yeah, numbers they put up together, whatever. I thought you were going to tweet that yourself. I was like, Chris Vernon tweeting her, Arden's scary hours. Who hacked them? No, no, no, no. I did.

I just searched. Okay, I see. Scary, you know, net scary hours or Hardin Durant scary hours, whatever it was. And I mean, there's millions of them, right? And it's about these games they played and how devastating they were. And we've never seen a duo. like this in NBA history and all this stuff. And I almost just started just retweeting them during the game.

While everybody was talking about Hardin and Embed, I started to just, I wanted to just start retweeting all of these. They're like from last year. They're from a year ago to the day. And it's like the most devastating duo we've ever seen and all this stuff. And it's like, okay. Like we just did this a year ago. And I hated it then.

And this is even worse. It's fun to watch. It's fun to watch. It's going to be fun. I know the falls being drawn the other night was not fun. But these guys are going to have some outstanding nights. That dude needs to have a damn diet with the hardened diet. You can talk about how you're in the worst shape?

How do you lose 20 pounds in two weeks? Like he needs to put out the hardened diet. Whatever he does. Yeah. Because the Hardin method, like the TB12 method, just have like a series. The Harding method. Yeah. And maybe it's just, I see.

stop going to the clubs. I stopped drinking. I had one drink instead of two drinks. Yeah. Stop eating, you know, whatever it. I stopped getting pizza at night, whatever it does. I don't know. Yeah, that's a big one.

You get to stop having pizza at night if you want to lose weight. That's a good one. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. The hardened diet. It looks great. He looks great. So it's bogus.

It's working. It's working. I know you love it so much. But it makes me sick to my stomach to watch him how good he is. It really does. I know. I can't take it. I know it hurts after months of hearing me say they should wait for the potential.

Just the slim chance. But who could have seen Hardin look this great this soon? After just a couple of weeks off, the Hardin diet. Get it now. Yeah, like you probably make a billion dollars like he needs some money. Good grief. All right. Well, look, let's watch them play some good teams first.

They didn't eat Minnesota and New York. No, I know, but it doesn't even matter. When they play a good team, guess what? They're going to go to the line 70 times against them, too. I mean, hey, we're going to see that pretty soon. Pretty soon. They do have New York on Wednesday, then Cleveland, then Miami, then Chicago. The Miami game is the big one.

Yes. So they get, they get some tougher games coming up after. The Miami one is the big one, because Miami will get up for that game, big time. It's the second night of a back-to-back, too, for Philly. They're at home against Cleveland or Friday, then away against Miami on Saturday. Oh, you're dead. Schedule. Look, I'm going to go ahead and say this.

I'll celebrate when the heat win, but that is schedule loss times 1,000. Because they'll be on a win streak at that point. They won't have lost probably since Hardin's been there. and you're flying from Cleveland, which will probably be an early game, you get to get there to Miami on your wind street. And James Harden, that's his first chance to take out all the guys.

Oh, boy. They are going to feel like trash on Friday. Trust me. That Miami trip is a death trap anyway for these guys. Yeah. So good luck. good luck. Maybe, hey, maybe part of the hardened diet is you don't go out when you go on Miami.

Business trip. Yeah. All business. No player in NBA history. I've never been to Miami. Have you been to Miami? I don't feel like I'm a Miami type of guy. Am I a Miami guy, Chris?

Would I have fun down there? I don't know. I doubt it. I don't remember last time I went to Vegas. You told me you'd never been to a club. right? Never been to a club, no. No.

I tried back in Montreal back in the day. My friends didn't want to go though. That's a long story. I'll tell that whole story another day. We're going to do that. I'm taking you to a club at Summer League this year. I just got the email saying Summer League is July 7th through the 17th. So you got to...

Where are the best clubs? Is Vegas where you get the best clubs? Vegas pretty damn good. Vegas is pretty good. But I guess Miami, I haven't been to Miami either. But Lord knows, I've heard the stories. Yeah, I don't think you'd fit in.

Send me, I'll go for the All-In Summit. Some tech, some tech summit. That's what I'll go for. I'll do that in Miami. That's going to do it for today's show. Thank you to our executive producer, Jesse Lopez, as always. Kevin, I'll talk to you on Friday. I'm looking forward to have a great week, Chris.