The Mismatch - Running With T-Wolves, "Dirk" Valanciunas, and the Warriors Are Standing Their Ground

Episode Date: November 30, 2021

KOC tried to recap his Thanksgiving holiday, but Verno wasn’t having it and the two get right down to the NBA action. Despite the league being more balanced than in years past, last night’s slate of games didn’t reflect that (01:48). Out of the nine games played yesterday, only one was competitive. Verno and KOC discuss the underappreciated play of Rockets big man Christian Wood before debating what the team should do with John Wall (08:40). Don’t look now, but the Timberwolves are rolling, having won seven of their past eight games, and the guys talk about the great play of Anthony Edwards and other T-Wolves during their hot stretch (15:26). Jonas Valanciunas did his best Dirk impression as he helped the Pelicans take down the Clippers with seven 3s and a career-high 39 points (23:00). The guys also discus how the Warriors are simply “murdering” teams in the third quarter before getting into tonight’s matchup versus the Suns (29:04). Kemba Walker has been officially benched by Thibs, and they consider what the future holds for Kemba before going into the other issues with the Knicks (38:36). Lastly, they discuss the Bucks' signing of Boogie Cousins (55:34).  Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Jessie Lopez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Football is back and so is the Ringer NFL show. Coming at you five days a week with wall-to-wall coverage from recapping the Sunday games, giving a player perspective, deep dives, and previewing the coming slate. Check out the Ringer NFL show on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to The Misfatch. I'm Chris Vernon. Join me as he does every Tuesday from the Ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, A.K. Kevin O'Connor, A.K., Kevin O'Connor, Kavanaugh, Kevin O'Kleon, Kevin O'Kleon, Kevin O'Klein, Kevin O'Kleck. What's going on this Tuesday, boy? I missed you a lot.

It's still a week. Did you have a good Thanksgiving holiday? Yeah, I mean, Turkey, what is the best turkey? The best turkey's average, right? Is that fair to say? The best turkey's average? Yes. Yeah.

Yes. I mean, the food was fine. The meal is not. It's about family, Kevin. Exactly. It's not about the food. And I am currently still here in Massachusetts, spending the whole last, you know, 10 days with my mom,

which has been absolutely wonderful. Perfect. And saw some friends over the last couple days and everything, which is great. Surprise birthday party for one of my friends. There you go. We have got a strange NBA season going on, Kevin. Chris was like,

F your friend. Yeah. Who cares? Who cares? I'm glad he had a surprise birthday party. What are you six? You had a good time, Chris? What are you six years old?

Yeah, I had a good time. Okay. Yeah, I mean, it's five years. Surprise. We got a weird NBA season going on, Kevin. After last night, we now have 12 teams that are within a game of 500. And it's not just that you have so many teams that are kind of in the middle. It's feeling a little NFL-esque, honestly.

And I know that once they put in the salary cap and once someone, of the restrictions have been made, there has been more parity and they have made more moves rule-wise throughout the NBA to encourage parity, right? To have more competitive teams. And then even with the flattening out of the lottery odds and other things that have been done, a play-in tournament that was added, you get even more incentive to be competitive. And what we've got now is a lot of teams in this middle tier that there's very little separation. As I mentioned, there's almost half the league that is within a game of 500, a quarter of the way through the season. And just the results of some of these games, the way these teams have gotten to these

records is very, very, very strange because you see a night like last night. So you would think that you've got a lot of competitive teams, which is leading to a lot of great games. And yet you have an average night like last night where there's nine games on. And there's one that's like super competitive. And that's Minnesota and Indiana. And the rest of them are all by these big margins. And it's kind of strange to me that you've got, yes, record-wise, a tremendous amount of parity.

And yet it seems to me, and I would have to go through all of the results, but it seems to me that there have been an extreme amount of large margin of victories that take place, i.e. not necessarily competitive games that these teams have gotten to these records by big wins and big losses and then it kind of evens out more so than all these teams you never know who's going to win on any night. We had nine games. We had one good one. That's impossible to me. I don't get it. I mean that this speaks to, you know, one of the topics we talked about a couple weeks back, Chris, the three-point shooting variance. Yeah. As more and more teams start shooting more and more three-pointers, we're going to just get more and more nights like this as the years develop.

You know, I mean, I think like next year there could be even more, there could be even more and more and more every single year. And, I mean, ultimately, though, I think it's not a bad thing to have so many teams that are in it. I think it's a good thing to have so many teams in it. I look at the league right now, and like I try to put myself in the shoes of fans for every team. Like, even if you're rooting for Houston, you're riding the three game winning streak right now. You're having a good time.

You're watching Kristen Wood go off, averaging 25 points per game. Like, it feels like your team at least has a chance to be competitive. And whether that's because of three-point shooting variants or not, or like just hot performances, right now I feel like it's a good time just to be a fan of, of any team in the league. And ultimately, though, like, it is kind of strange, though,

how we have this kind of flatness throughout the league, Chris, but then up top, you have Golden State at 18 and 2 and Phoenix at 17 and 3, and they've sort of separated themselves from the pack through a quarter of the season. So it's like we have these two juggernauts early on, but then everything else feels flat. And then you have, like, these real bottom feeders,

and even those bottom feeders are having their moments too. But, and the weird thing is, I guess you can say kind of like the NFL because you did have just in November you had, I believe it was 24 outright upset. So teams that were the underdogs won the game outright. And some of those were just unbelievable like that Jaguars Bills game. Some of the odd ones. But I do feel like we are seeing that in the NBA.

You see these 15 and 20 point margins seemingly regularly. And you're flipping around last night. And I know we're on a group text together, but the entire group text had flipped over to Indiana versus Minnesota because it was the only game coming down to the wire. And we had nine games that were going on last night. And that just doesn't feel. Last night didn't feel like an outlier.

It feels like when I'm flipping around on league pass, that there might be one or two of these games going down to the end. And then margin of victory, there's not that many that feel like they're the game-winning shots or game-winning plays, something that really came down to the very end. I wish I looked this up in advance. I mean, I'd be curious to see, if anybody's able to find the number quite easily, what's the amount of games, what percentage of games in the final two minutes are within a point? or something like that,

or how many games have had a game-winning opportunity? How many do you remember? I mean, I know your memory's not good, but mine is. I'm serious. How many? Cy Grant's a factual statement. How many of those, like, big, like, game-winner moments

do you remember from this year so far? It's very few and far between. There was the unbelievable Luca one. I remember earlier this year, right? That walk-off? that he had. I mean, there's been some daggers that have been hit at the end of games, but teams had an opportunity going the other way. But it just doesn't seem like to me that a lot of these games are coming down to last shot even. And it does feel like you get this wide variance

in performance that some of these teams, you catch them on one night and you may see them winning by 20. You catch them another night. You may see them losing by 20. Yeah, and I think, you know, early in the season here, Chris, I mean, you mentioned that Minnesota-Indiana game. Some of these teams are trying to figure themselves out, too. Well, and you mentioned Houston?

I mean, it took them 20 games to figure out not to put Christian Wood next to another big guy. Yeah, Christian Wood's been awesome. Well, that's because they got rid of Tyson the starting lineup. You know, they finally said, all right, get somebody out of the way for the guy. And all of a sudden, he's been fantastic. Now they're going to get Schengu in more minutes.

Well, they had him out there last night. Him and Poku were both out on the court. Same time. It'll be interesting to see what Houston does. I reported yesterday on the ringer that executives are on the league fully expect. There will be a lot of interest for Christian Wood. In the second year of a three-year contract right now, Christian Wood's still a young guy.

Houston could very well keep him. But, I mean, watching him play, Chris, last season, this season, some of the great games that he's had, he could offer a lot to a lot of different games. Oh, he's fantastic. Yeah. Yes, I would love to see him on a good team. I mean, even Daniel Tice, if you need a backup center, I mean, you could do worse than Daniel Tice if you need a five coming off your bench.

Yeah, I mean, look, that's one of those guys where it's like you can write off as great numbers. his bad team because of course he did it in Detroit now he's having to do it in Houston which are two of the worst teams in these respective years but you see that guy in person and you immediately recognize that this is not somebody just

doing it on a bad team. This guy would be able to do it no matter he's fantastic I mean the funny thing is with him is he last off season I wrote a thing saying like he's like the underrated you know free agent that

people should be going after. And I think his market was a little bit less than a lot of people expected. So he goes to Houston with the expectation of playing with James Hardin. And like a three-year deal with Hardin, you hope that that works out there. And then you raise your value to the point that maybe you're, you know, a 20 plus million dollar player at when you enter free agency again in 2023. That didn't happen. Hardin's gone within weeks. And now he's got this weird team where John Wall is having his whole situation where he wants to come back after the team originally was going to have him sit out the entire season. And now with Christian Wood, I think for Houston, a lot of Rockets fans, you know, from my report yesterday,

they responded, like, we'd rather keep Christian Wood. And I think that's fair. He's 26 years old. Like, it would make sense to keep him. But also, with only one more year remaining on his contract, though, there's no guarantee that he would stay with the Rockets for the foreseeable future if that's not the best situation for him. So I think for Houston as a team in their current situation, they have to think about it's Even though this guy's only 26, could we get a lot more for him than we might, when we could risk losing him for nothing in 2023?

Because he's a damn good player. It'd be really funny. Even better with a point guard who can get him the ball. It'd be really funny if they traded him right when John Wall comes back. Oh, that would be hilarious. That's like a full-on tank move, Chris. I ranted and raved about that situation, you know, two weeks ago. And just seeing the news that's come out over the last couple of.

days. It's just, it's unbelievable. It truly unbelievable to me, Kevin. It really is. Like, what kind of great minds got together and finally realized if he doesn't play basketball, he might not play basketball again. Nobody is trading for that. The only chance you have in hell of anybody taking on that contract, even in its last year, as a dump-off buyout type situation, is if he is a player. I mean, it's just, otherwise, it's just dead money sitting around and you have literally no value. You might be able to, if you played and proved, I can.

contribute to a basketball team. And then you're talking about two more years this year and next year. You know, the best, the apex of what John Wall could possibly be, in my opinion, is the trajectory of another former John CalPerry Point Guard, who was crazy dynamic, all-N-B-A-level performer, devastating amount of injuries and now has found a niche as an outstanding backup point guard in the league. And that is Derek Rose. And if you're John Wall, I think that's the best you could hope for, you know,

is that this guy is able to come off the bench and be a guy that can flip games for you. Be a guy that can really play, you know, a guy that can, you know, prove his shot and yes he's not what he used to be but bringing him off his bench is a lot better than a lot of guys that other teams are bringing off their bench and that's kind of how you would be able to extend a career that that was the reporting over the past week he wants to come back and be a starter they want him to come off of a bench and there's disagree i know but like do you think he should just come off the bench right now small your pride come off the bench and then maybe you you know towards the situation whether there's a fair buyout or even a

potentially a trade. No? I do not think you should come off the bench for Houston. They don't even know a point guard.

That's ridiculous. What are we doing here? Come off the bench. Like, he should play for Houston. He should come off the bench

for like the warriors. John Wall should start over Garrison Matthews. I mean, what are we doing? Like, I mean, if I'm going to, is that such a joke.

Like, I'm not, I'm not coming off the bench. Like, Garras of Faddy, what are we doing? Is there anything? more that says we're trying to lose games than

hey we want Garrison Matthews to start over you. I mean, that's just, that's more humiliating to being a street close to me. I'll be like, all right, I don't just go to stay much less. I think as silly as that might be, he should just come off the bench.

Just come off the bench. Whatever. I mean, look, I think he's been on the bench the whole year. He just hadn't been in a uniform. Yeah, well, come off the bench in uniform. Just come off.

off the bench. It's okay. You probably really get the most out of it. What matters is finishing games? Yeah, well, I'd imagine his mentorship would just be outstanding for that young group with coming off the bench. It's just a, it's a mess. What a mess of a situation. It really is. I look forward to seeing how that resolves. I do. Let's get back to that one competitive game last night because it is worth mentioning. The Minnesota, the team that won their competitive game last night against Indiana. Rolling.

They've won seven and eight. They're rolling. They're not dead, Chris. They're not dead. They are not dead at all. And in fact, everyone's seven of eight games. Now,

we said that like, hey, their schedule's about to get a little tougher when we talked about their streak early in it. And they beat the Miami Heat in that game that we had talked about that was going to be coming up.

Went on the road and dropped one. But I mean, I mean, winners of seven of eight games after starting off the season extremely slow. And in the second half, like once they brought in their new coach last year, things did turn up. Things started looking better. And they looked like a much better basketball team as the season came to a close. And now this year got off to a slow start. But they are there's certainly a game team and they've got some talent. They got at least three guys that can go for 30 points on a given night with Russell

Towns and Edwards. A couple of them that can go for 40. And then you can even have the weird, you know, Malik Beasley gets you 30 off the bench one night type of game. I mean, they do have some in a league where there is variance in the scoring. They've got some guys that can put. the ball in the basket. And Edwards is, boy, he is a fun watch, Kevin.

He really is. He is. You see him. I saw him in person earlier this year and he is a house. I mean, it's like a, it's like when you see LeBron and you realize how huge he is, to be as quick and as explosive as Edwards is at his size is truly a marvel. There's not many guys like him in the league. it's 99th percentile type of stuff.

It is. It really is like regardless of the sport, this guy's a 99th percentile athlete. And I think with him, you know, like he's so young and he needs to work out sometimes. He holds the ball too long. Sometimes the offense really stutters, you know, in those fourth quarters. But like the flashes you see his ability just to go from zero to 60 so quickly, there was a drive he had in the fourth quarter where he just crossed over left to right. went from, you know, looking like he was just getting into the offense to suddenly he's at the

rim dunking it over the entire Pacers defense in like half a second. And he's just, he accelerates so quickly, so powerful at the rim. I think with this guy, like I said, got to work through some of the stuff. A lot of young guys do. Got to improve it's a playmaker. But that stuff can happen over the course of time. And I like the fact that, you know, we've seen, like this is kind of an X-factor thing here, Chris, but I like the fact that he's got that swagger and personality, because when you think about the wolves, they need, you know, a leader. We've talked about this I think last season, maybe. He has said he wants to grow into a leader. He's funny. Seems like teammates really like to play with him. If he can grow into that, that's what Kat needs. That's what

Dilo needs because those guys in their own respective ways can play their roles. You know, cat can get buckets for you. He was one of the best shooters in basketball. He can score. Dilo, We're seeing that basketball IQ really pop up these last couple weeks. I mean, that dude can pass it. He can facilitate in the half court for you. What they need is that scoring presence, that leader, that X factor, and that's what Edwards can grow into becoming. The athleticism, that's already there, just about everything else.

Yeah, a couple notes on the walls. Russell is one of 19 players who's attempted at least 200 clutch shots over the last four seasons. and he has the best clutch effective field goal percentage amongst the 19 guys. And also... What? That's surprising, isn't it? I know. And then a crazy note.

Ice in his veins. And this was John Schumann's in his power rank. He said, an abductor injury to Patrick Beverly temporarily disbanded what had been the league's best starting lineup. Now, imagine this. Imagine if I would have asked people, what do you? think the best starting lineup in the league is. Like, how is it not somebody for the sons or for the warriors or for Brooklyn or some of these

these things? But in fact, now it's only 92 minutes. But the league's best starting lineup was in Minnesota, plus 48.3 points per 100 possessions in 92 minutes. I mean, that is two full games almost worth of minutes. playing together as a starting lineup. Plus 48? What in the world?

And that's their lineup with Beverly and Vanderbilt, alongside DeLo, Kat, and Edwards. That is unbelievable. Yeah. Plus 48? That is incredible. And just to give the others that are in the top five minimum of 50 minutes, it's Atlanta with their starting five,

Capella, But Collins, Trey, Bogdanovich, Herder, Milwaukee with Janus, Middleton, Holiday, Portis, Grayson Allen, then Chicago, the Rose and Levine Caruso Ball, Bradley. And then the fifth one is the Knicks with their bench unit, Rose Gibson Perks, top in quickly, which has now changed because of the Kemmel Walker situation, which we'll talk about later. But, I mean, the Minnesota one, some of those others, I don't think you'd be necessarily surprised to see the bucks there, the bowls there, the Knicks bench unit, people have talked

them for quite some time now. But it is surprising the wolves are that high up. But it really does speak to how great they've been when Beverly and Vanderbilt, by the way, isn't Jared Vanderbilt such a fun player to watch? Yes. He's great, dude. I mean, he didn't play in last night's game. A lot of energy, though.

Yeah. A lot of energy. I love to watch that dude play. I do. Going back to Kentucky, he's one of the better rebounders on a permanent basis he'll ever watch. He has such a nose for the ball. Yeah, and he's one of those. those like guys that can easily become a fan favorite.

Kind of Bobby Portisie. You know what I mean? He's just constant energy. Yeah, it's like this guy. Like he's always, he just feels like he's in the mix all time, doing something. He loves to play defense. Like there's some guys who love the score. They like to, you know, get three-point shots off.

At the end of the shot clock, Jerry Vinderville's like, nah, man, I like the box out. I like to dive for a loose ball. That's what he likes to do. I don't know, man. I love watching him play. I'm so glad that he's actually carved out a role in the NBA because it was questionable. Sure. Out of college, because he doesn't really have a jump shot necessarily, but he's found a lane as that guy doing all the dirty work we're talking about.

But he can pass too. He can handle the ball as well. He's not just some zero on offense. He can do some stuff with the ball, especially in the open court. I love Vanderbilt. I can't wait to watch him play a guy. I miss watching him last night, even though that was a great game. The other thing that is worth mentioning the top.

took place last night was this insane Yonis Valentunus game that took place for the Pelicans last night. The quote after the game from Willie Green was, the guys were calling him Dirk Valentinus. Seven for seven from three in the first half, finished with a career eye 39 points. Just, I mean, look, you know I've covered Valentunis the last couple of years. This was absolutely astonishing. It was not that long ago, Yotas Valtunas wasn't shooting threes at all. And so for the guide to bury seven of seven in that first half last night was truly incredible. And he had, I mean, he had historical marks all across the board with his performance last night.

You had, you know, like all these, all these names that were coming up, it was like Steph Curry. Like it's all these like great shooters and their names that were coming up in reference to what Jonas Valchutus was doing last night. And, you know, they've, they've had, honestly, a very, very difficult schedule to start the season. Now, of course, they have not been good this season. but in fairness to them, they have had a very difficult schedule. They say Zion Williamson is cleared to participate in more activities. And so not only help, but possibly huge help, could be on the way for them. They clearly really put themselves behind the eight ball.

But Yonis, honestly, one of my favorite guys that I've covered. he's averaging, I think, 18, 12, 2.4 assists, making a three-pointer a game on 46%. And as we mentioned last night, seven for seven, and then ended up seven for eight. So he was 88% from three-point range last night. And according to ESPN stats and info, is the Valentune is first player to go seven for seven on three the first half. Since Trevor Areza did it in 2014, and how about these names? The other players to go seven for seven from three and a half since 1996-97, Trevor Arisa, Steph Curry, Ben Gordon, Sean Williams, and Rafe of Friends. That's the most impossible trivia question ever.

No kidding. If you were going to name off, all right, who do you? you think has gone seven for seven from three and a half? No chance. I mean, that is impossible. And the only guys that have had 35 points, 10 rebounds, and knock down seven three pointers in a game this year, Steph Curry and Jonas Valachunis, of course. Remarkable. I mean, Chris, we argued about it during the off season.

I said he could shoot more threes. You're like, yeah, he's not a shooter. So did everybody else. He's a step Curry. He's in the company with Steph Curry. Chris now. How about that? I told you so. I'm just kidding. Nobody could have seen this coming.

Yeah. Nobody could have seen this coming. David Griffin. I told you he'd stretch the floor. Hey, I'll tell you what, Chris, with New Orleans, we're talking about how at the top of the show, how flat the league is right now. New Orleans right now, there's still five games back from Portland for the 10 spot in the playing. Still five games. That's a lot. You get O.K.A. ahead of you, San Antonio, ahead of you. Sacramento ahead of you. You're in 14th in the West, but you're still only five games back. That's not, like, impossible to come back from. It's really not. It's not. It's a good week. You could have, like, an eight and two stretch,

and you're, like, right there. Yeah, but, and we're seeing some of the potential if Zion's back. You have a center in Valanchunis who can space the floor for you. Ingram's had some spectacular night. Herb Jones is just, I mean, like we talked about with Jared Vanderbilt, Herb Jones, same feelings there. Herb Jones just loves to play defense. He loves to get stops. That dude's awesome on that end of floor. And he can pass. He's hitting spot-off threes for you. Josh Hart last night, like you look at the box score, you're like, oh, four points, one for nine. But that dude is everywhere, everywhere with his defense, with his rebounding, playmaking. They have some guys on that team where if you plug in, you know, a top

10, 15, 20 guy in Zion Williamson, they could start racking up some wins. They could. So I don't think you can bury this team, and I think this speaks to just where the league is right now. You can't bury many teams at all right now when it comes to getting into the playing. You can bury them when it comes to finals contention,

when it comes to going deep in the playoffs. But getting into the playing and being competitive, I'm not really, I don't feel good about burying many teams out there right now. But for New Orleans, though, like the longer Zion out, of course, the wider that deficit is going to get for them. So getting him back sooner than later is what's going to give him an opportunity to actually get in and actually be a team that's going to be in it. We talked about how there's very little separation between so many of the teams that are

hovering around 500 and that seedings can change dramatically over the course of even a week. But that is not so with two teams that have absolutely separated them. and that is Golden State and Phoenix. Golden State. Can't wait until tonight, baby. Yeah, they're playing against each other tonight, and I believe they play again within a week's time. Yeah, they do.

Yeah. Those teams have just been out of control great. And over the last 15 games, the Warriors, the story of the Warriors this year in many ways has been the same story that they had in their glory years when they were winning titles, which is they murder people in the third quarters of games. They are winning. They're outscoring their opponents by 35 points per 100 possessions in third quarters.

Kevin, that is just, I mean, to do it over the course of 15 games, because you know everybody's going into halftime going, all right, guys, this is when they've been kicking everybody's ass. And they still come out and kick their ass. I read this article a couple weeks ago. I can't remember who wrote it. So forgive me. But it was about how Steve Kerr had gone to Steph Curry. And he kind of, his whole career there has had a way in which he's been subbed, like the first six minutes of this, last six minutes of that.

And that they changed that in order to get. him on the court at end of quarter situations because he's so devastating at those that he's been, you know, those last two minutes of quarters, he can really just flip the game completely. And either if they're behind, get them the lead or get them in a much more competitive spot. And if they are winning, just bury the other team completely. And they have just buried teams in third quarters this year. It's truly astonishing. Their third quarter differential is plus 29 per 100 possessions, which is almost double the differential for any other team in any other quarter.

Indiana, their first quarters are a plus 15 differential. They've been an outstanding first quarter team. But plus 29, that's how good. It's not just like, wow, they've been really good in the third quarter. They've been twice as good as any team has in any quarter. And to do it every night when another team knows this is when they are killing people is just, that's just unbelievable unbelievable and they don't even have clay doms are back yet they are i can't i can't get over one of these two teams playing tonight is that riding a

16 game winning streak and yet they're still in second place that that's remarkable it really speaks to how excellent golden state has also been um this team chris both of these teams phoenix and golden state i feel like while you're talking about with those rotation sub-patterns that speaks to why these teams are continuing to get even better and better and better because they're experimenting. I mean, I like that. The quote from Steve Kerr, he said around 95-7 the game in the Bay Area a couple weeks ago. He said, we're going to take Steph out in the middle of every quarter for a few minutes.

He's always like to play the first and the third, then sit out the first six minutes of the second and fourth. That's what we've done for years. We asked him to think about changing that this year. And of course, Steph is always open to anything. So accommodating him as a player, even though it probably took him out of his rhythm of his first few games, he's gotten used to it. That speaks to really the greatness of Stefan Curry, right? He is open to adding a co-megasar and Kevin Durant when that opportunity comes. Some guys would be like, no, I want to keep winning MVP's.

I want to keep being the guy. He's willing to sacrifice. He's willing to play off ball, set screens, do all the dirty work that a lot of guys aren't willing to do. He's willing to change his rotation sub-patterns when for years he's been at the highest, level possible doing what he's done for so long. He's like, okay, yeah, I'll try something new. He's a guy always willing to change an experiment in order to adapt and continue getting better and better and better. And I think that's representative of his game. It's representative of the Warriors and also the sons in a way too, right? Like DeAndre Aten's the number one pick. He could be

angry and disappointed that he's not shooting 15, 16, 17 times per game like other number one picks typically do, but instead he's accepting and embracing a role as a guy who's playing hard on defense, who's setting hard screens, rolling to the rim, and sometimes not getting touches, all in the name of winning. And that's what both Golden State and Phoenix represent to me is sacrifice, togetherness, playing really for the greater good as a team, as a collective. And so I'm excited to watch these teams tonight. I think they're both legit. And they're playing again Friday, as you said earlier. These are two must-watch games. They have been a astonishing so far this season, but I do want to couch it just a little bit. As I mentioned earlier

in the show, New Orleans has played the hardest schedule in the league. The three hardest schedules in the league have been New Orleans, Cleveland, and Houston. Now, I think it speaks to- Can I ask, what does hardest schedule mean? Like, how is that measured a quarter of the season? It's based on opponent record and adjusted for home and away and days of rest. If you suck, if you suck, your opponent's records are naturally going to be better because it's such a small sample, right? If you're Houston, if you've played 25 games and you've won only three of them, I mean, naturally, your opponents are going to, like, have a much better record and therefore, make it look like you have a harder schedule.

Does that make sense what I'm saying? No, no, because you could easily play Minnesota, who is 500, or you could play against Golden State, who's 18 and 3. And so it is weighted towards the teams that have the better records. If you play somebody better, it's their record when, you know, at the time. It feels their coincidence that you're telling me these two teams at the bottom of the barrel of the league, they have the hardest schedule so far. Well, they do.

New Orleans, Cleveland, and Houston. The easiest schedule so far, Utah, Phoenix, and Golden State. Yeah, I don't know about that. Maybe these teams are just better. Okay. Roll up Golden State or Phoenix. his record. Pick either one of them. Pick either one of those teams.

And then go look at their schedule. Okay, fine. Now go look at their schedule. All right, they beat the Lakers, they beat the Clippers. The Lakers think the Clippers are 500. They beat the Kings. They beat OKC. They lost to Memphis. They beat OKC again. They beat Charlotte. They beat Norlands, Houston, Atlanta, Minnesota, Chicago, lost to Charlotte.

They beat Brooklyn, Detroit, Toronto, Philly, Portland, Clippers again. Okay, so Chicago and Brooklyn. Is that an easy schedule? Yes. Chicago and Brooklyn are the only two teams you mentioned that are good. Like legitimately good. But we're talking about how there's a lot of good teams this year.

No, we said there's a lot of average teams this year. It's competitive. Sure. Right? But those teams are all within a game of 500. I don't know. I guess maybe I'm over thinking it. But I've just never been the type that looks at straightened schedule so far.

I like middle of the season, end of the season when it comes to playoff races, when nearly all the games have been played and you know who everybody is. And like, then you look at remaining strength of schedule. That to me is like more valuable than the quarter of the season. Because I told you whatever it was two weeks ago, I told you when the clippers were like the four seed and they were like, whatever 10 and two or whatever the hell their record was, that they had had the easiest schedule in the league at the time. And it's about, and they had played a home heavy schedule. and they had three wins over Minnesota, they had a win over OKC, and so their schedule had broke so that their record was really good at that time. And as you have seen, that has evened out in a more dramatic way than I would have even expected. I mean, I think that's what I'm getting at.

If on November 14th or whatever, whatever it was, if they were like 8 and 4, 9 and 4, whatever it was, if at the time you looked at strength of schedule so far, that would have influenced teams that have played the clippers. Because the sample is so small is what I'm saying. Or I just, I don't know, I just don't find much value in it. We're probably talking about this for too long. Strength and schedule.

I mean, I don't understand. You're an analytics guy. How can you not understand playing good teams versus playing crappy teams? Yeah, I just think the sample is so small. I'm just saying I think the sample's so small. We've played a fourth of the seas. That's not relevant. Yeah, it's still small.

Okay. Their schedules. It is, Chris. Like, you can have, you like, Val, you mentioned Valanchunis, like earlier he's shooting 40, he's actually shooting from three. Oh, after last night. Like, what I'm saying is he goes from 18 points per game to 19 points per game. Like the sample sizes are still so small that one huge night or one horrible night,

can dramatically change your numbers with lineup data, with points per game, with strength of schedule. It's still so early on that some of that stuff, it's like, eh, you know, all I'm saying is their schedules are both going to get a lot more difficult,

starting tonight as they play against each other. We got a bunch of quick hits to get to. Tibbs is done with Kemba Walker. Boy, the Kemba back in the garden thing did not work out, Kiv. Yeah, it's too bad.

His knees are done. That's why. Yeah. And I wonder if, I wonder what his plight's going to be. Do you think that we will see him move? I guess what does he got left on this deal? You know, because they got him in the off season to go there. The Boston thing did not go extremely well by any means.

And now, he's got one more year left on his deal. He's making $8.7 million this season than $9.2 next year. Yeah, which is, I mean, it's not crazy to pay a backup point guard. million bucks. No. Not at all. Not at all. You think he goes and becomes a backup somewhere? Would somebody trade for Kemba Walker to be a backup heater? I mean, I'm a little bit surprised you're not

plugging him in that, plugging him into that role, but that's, I mean, I guess you have Derek Rose. So can you play a Rose Walker back court off the bench? Maybe not. I mean, I still think Kemba, you know, despite his knees are done, like I said, he's never going to be a guy who is what he was in Charlotte.

This is not going to happen ever again, which is sad to say. But with Kemba, I still think he can be a heater off the bench as you're suggesting, Chris. I can see that. Why not? Especially in his contracts. Yeah, at 9 million bucks, you actually have some value possibly to somebody else. And I'd imagine he'll want to go play somewhere else.

And so I could see that. I could see him actually having an impact for somebody on a, you know, where you bring him in off your bench. And that's just kind of what he's going to have to. that's that's what he's going to have to decide this like the trajectory of his career right like where to that point now where you could extend your career and be a you know valuable asset coming off the bench on a couple nights you know and he gets you 27 on some weird night that he comes in and and catches a heater um they just you know it's a Tibbs team and they went got Kemble Walker and Evan Fournier, and you're going to put them, like, surprise, surprise.

You can't stop the ball and then you're scrambling around. Their defense was terrible. And yet that bench unit that they have has been fantastic. And it's just, I guess on the surface, I was like, man, just going from Alfred Payton to to Kemper Walker will have a, they'll have an effect. You know, maybe maybe some of these guys don't have to take as hard as shots.

You know, especially Randall, who was an all-MBA level performer last year, but that just hasn't been. Randall's got to be better, man. The one that, look, Randall for sure has to be better, the massive disappointment has been RJ.

RJ Barrett, too. Oh, my goodness. RJ Barrett. Look at his numbers. Oh. Yeah. I mean, RJ Barrett, I'll share those numbers right now. 14.6 points per game, down from 17.6 last season.

The efficiency drop off is what's so worrisome, though. He's 40% from three last season, down to 32% so far this year. And again, small sample size, you know, if he hits five more three-pointers, suddenly he's shooting a significantly higher percentage. But the efficiency has not been there from two-point range. There seems to be like a lack of comfortability on the floor right now with him on the offensive end. his defense has been good. I mean, I think that's fair to say there.

But with RJ, the offense does need to progress forward. I still think it's Julius Randall, though, Chris. I mean, like, RJ has been a disappointment, but he's still only 21 years old. We see, you know, these ups and downs with young guys all the time throughout sports. Like, it happens with young guys. Julius Randall is 27 years old. He made it all NBA team last season. Then he has paid his huge contract.

And I'm not saying that has to do with him declining here. But I think with him, the fact is that he's falling into some. some of these old habits. In his first year in New York, Nick's fans hated seeing him on the court because of his lazy defense because he was ball stopping on offense. That's back.

It's back in a bad way for him. So with the defensive aspect, how much of it is I got paid, I'm not going to try as hard, I hope it's not that, how much of it is I got smoked in the playoffs last year, I need to pace myself. And if it's that, I understand.

I totally understand. Because I think with him, though, regardless of whatever the factors are here, he's got to be better on defense. It can't be the short burst where he's playing hard and he's defending moving laterally and hustling and doing all the stuff we saw from him all of last season, all the last season. Julius Randalls, look, dude, before the season, Chris, I pitched a story to my editor, Justin. I was like, let's do something on how Julius Randall became the defender that he has. how did he become this versatile, switchable piece that's locking down people across positions? And Justin rightfully was like,

let's hold on that and see how the season goes before we pursue it. Because he's been a negative on that end of the floor. He's been a negative. So I don't know what the factors are that go into it, but he needs to fix it because for this next team, for them to reach expectations during the regular season, he's got to be the guy we saw last year. If he doesn't, I just worry he's a one-hit wonder.

I worry about that. And I don't think it's just all Randall, though. I mean, their whole team has been. It's not all Randall, but he, but a lot of it, that effort is in your control, though, Chris. Yeah, they're starting to control your effort. I mean, that was a defense that was a top 10 defense and it was on a string last year. And this year, they made personnel changes. And it's just, it's been atrocious.

And that's why they're pulling the plug. They're pulling the plug on what they were rolling with because it's just, Tibbs will have an angerism. Fiesta watch this anymore in terms of them not being able to, you know, and it switched. Their last four wins, they have been back to playing really good defense. And we'll see. We'll see if it, you know, teams have typically been outstanding defensive teams. I think that partly, if you want to blame Randall, that's fair.

But personnel wise, the personnel moves they made made. them a much worse defensive team. And they have to be good defensively. It's all of it, Chris. It's not just one thing for sure. I mean, it's the fact that you go from Bullock and Peyton to having 48

and Kemba Walker in the starting five. That's part of it too. You're not getting stops on the perimeter as much. There's more penetration inside that's porting more responsibility on Randall and Robinson to help inside and to stop all these guys who are getting into the paint. Whereas last season, maybe you're making it harder

on guys on the perimeter. And bigs go crazy. But like I said, though, Chris, effort is in your control. The effort and the energy has not been there from Julius Randall in the way that it was last season.

It's more like it was the rest of his career. The three-point shooting is more like it was the rest of his career. The ball stopping is more like it was the rest of his career. And so he needs to get back to becoming the all-N-B-a guy

he was last season or else this next team is going to continue to overwhelm. We have had terrible injury run here. lost a rookie. Now, we've just gotten Mowbly back in the lineup for Cleveland, but now we've lost Suggs, who it had been really, really, really difficult start to his season in Orlando anyway, and now breaks his thumb.

So this will be an extended amount of time that he's out. And, you know, you just like for a guy. At least they have Franz Wagner, though. Yeah, they do have Franz Wagner. The Lager last night was extraordinary. He had 27, didn't they? I think I saw it 27. Yeah.

Yeah. They got beat by 100. They got beat by 100, but he did at 27. You got Bobba had like a thousand rebounds. Mo Obama, man. I'm telling you. I think he did. I think he had like 17 rebounds or something like that.

He had 17 last night. But I hate it. I mean, I'll tell you what, this Orlando team, they get some good stuff there. Jackson Frank, good writer, cover in the NBA, had an article on Orlando. know yesterday. I thought that was pretty good outlining their improvements that they've seen from Bamba, Wendell Carter, and Wagner just being the guy he's been as a rookie. There's a lot of promising talent on the magic, even though they stink. You and me both have our Wendell Carter stock still. How about him banging threes? He looks good shooting it.

0 for 6 last night. Well, that's not last night. But one game, though. But still, yeah, he's looking good shooting threes. Remember when Boylan? Wasn't letting him shoot threes in Chicago? Boyle. Jim Boylan. That is. Boy, talk about an era that is forgettable. None of the players like the guy and they stunk. That's about as bad as it gets.

That's the guy that did the time cards, right? He was like making them clock in like they had like a, like they were working in a factory. He was like tracking. Suicide splits and whatnot. They like bring their time. I'm car doing they were in it out of the gym. Like they were working at a factory or something?

Unbelievable. Unreal. Michael Porter Jr. Oye, yo. Out for the season. And now I saw a headline. I did not read this story. So forgive me.

I saw his headline this morning that he's getting back surgery. Oh, my God. I don't know if you've ever heard Steve Kerr talk about this. But there's, I think it's on an old simple. You can hear Kerr talk about it. You know, remember when he missed all that time. He couldn't even like sit on the bench. And there were those spurts of time where like Mike Brown coached him or Luke

Walton coached him. But Kerr had this horrible, horrible back issue. And he what I remember for whatever reason this always stands out to me, him saying, I would tell everybody that is listening to this podcast. do not get back surgery unless you absolutely have to. Like he was like a advocate for this is just. And we've seen what Tiger Woods has gone through. I'm trying to think of guys that have had back surgery at the past.

People I know even in my own family that have had back surgeries. It's not like they were fine. I forget what they wanted to give them, but it was like double fusion or something like that. And it's like, I'll wait until it's at a point where, like, you got to have it, as you said, Chris. What's this guy, 21, 22 years old? And he's getting, he's got nerve issue and he's getting back surgery. His family injury history. It's alarming, man.

One of his sisters has, like, five torn ACLs. The other sister had, like, a traumatic knee injury that ended her career early. Jonte Porter, his brother, as you know, in Memphis has suffered a long list of injuries. Porter Jr. himself with the back issues, drop foot, among other issues that he's had. That family, I don't know, is genetics, is it diet, is it curse? I don't know what it is. He missed this year of Missouri. There's a lack of durability here. When you think about the contract that Denver gave him, I hope this doesn't happen, but this does have potential to go down as one of the worst contracts

in the history of sports. If he's unable to get back on the court and be the guy that we saw last season, if he's unable to be productive or even play at all, because injuries have always been part of his life, have always been part of his family's lives. So for him here, man, and Denver, it's so funny talking about this team because on one hand, you got Nicole Yokic who's even better than his MVP season. You get chemistry developing with a guy like Aaron Gordon. The rest of the roster is coming together. Jamal Murray will be coming back from a torn ACL.

this team on paper with Michael Porter Jr. is a legitimate finals contender, but you don't have Michael Porter Jr. You don't have that X factor, that 6'10 shotmaker who was so important to your team last season. So you have this extremely worrisome storyline happening with Porter.

I know. Yeah, like you don't have free agents. You don't even have the cab space for that matter because you're signing investing in MPJ. So you have this extremely worrisome potential, you know, timeline happening with MPJ's contract, which could be an albatross if he's unable to stay healthy. But then you have all this good happening at the same time. It's just a, it's a weird spot to be in if you're a Nuggets fan right now. No, and you're talking about the,

you know, with the more prime years of Yokic. And theoretically, Yolkich and Murray both at their apex in unison. And you've got this, what, $25, $30 million? $30 million. anvil on the salary cap just that you get nothing out of. He's getting back surgery right now. I mean, 30 million, then 30 million, then 35, then 37. And he's having like his 100th back surgery. You do wonder, and it hasn't been reported yet if there was anything in there. Yeah.

You know, injury. I don't have these specific details on that. I'm not sure. You would hope so. You know that happened with the, you remember the, who was, contract. Oh, the Jonathan Isaac one. Jonathan Isaac's right, where they kind of insured towards injury or you only get X number of dollars because that was part of the Porter one too. Because I do remember the first number, which was almost a max level, was reported. And then

it came out. He was only getting X amount guaranteed. So say it was like 150 or whatever it was, guaranteed that the other stuff was incentive-based, right? You had to play this amount of games or achieve this amount of goals, become an All-Star or average X amount of points. But in terms of games played, poor kid, you know, 6-11. And for what it's worth with MPJ, of the details we do know, $145 million of it is guaranteed. And that last year, the contract that I said is up $39 million,

$13. I think $12 million of that is guaranteed. So the last year is only a partial. But that's still a lot of guaranteed money for his deal. A lot of guaranteed money. No question. Joe Harris is going to get ankle surgery. So he's going to be out for quite a while for that Brooklyn team.

How about them going with the DMP CDs with Blake Griffin? the last couple of games. He's looking more like Detroit. He had been in the lineup. A little more of the Marcus Aldridge action, who has been mid-range monster, of course. But yeah, Joe Harris is, I mean, he's a big portion of being able to space out the floor

for their outstanding players. You know, he's a big part of what they do. Just sometimes it's not just the individual stats of guys. It's the fact that you got somebody out there that has to be honored 40 feet away from the basket. And Harris applies to that, you know, if you're going, if his man is going to pinch in, they can kick out to him and he can bang down open threes. And if he doesn't, then that just creates more requisite space for Kevin Durant, who is still playing at just incredible level. But I do think the Harris thing is significant. Just depended upon, you know, kind of what they do to replace them.

But they're going to be out. And for a couple months, it sounds like, you know, coming back from him. At some point, he elected to get surgery. He should return. And hopefully he continues to shoot 40 plus percent for three. In the meantime, you'll see DeAndre, Benbri starting games. Maybe, you know, you get Cam Thomas getting some more minutes off the bench. So, you know, the silver lining here is you get to see what some of your other guys have.

Yeah. Bembrey don't have to honor him 30 feet away, but maybe Kim Thomas, I don't know, maybe your guy could get a little run here. 15% from three. Exactly. Small sample. That's a small sample, small sample. It's probably taking only like 20 shots or something like that.

We know we could put the ball. Yeah, he can, he can struck the ball in the bucket. And then we were, I was talking about, you know, some of these guys earlier, whether it was John Wall or Campbell Walker and coming to terms of the fact that maybe they can extend their careers by being backups. That has been the case with DeMarcus Cousins, and DeMarcus cousins just got signed again this time by the reigning NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks. Now, Milwaukee, who started off the season, I believe 6 and 8 to start off their year, they have gone on a tear, and they are 7 and 0 since Chris Middleton came back.

and when they have had their three guys, Middleton, Holiday, and Janice, they haven't lost a game this season. They're nine and oh when they have had those three guys, but I think it just speaks to, they just have not had their three guys available all but nine games, all of which they have won. They're four and eight in the other games. But when they have had, I think that it, you know, I think it speaks to how devastating they still can be when they have their guys. And that their record is probably just more indicative of some injuries rather than a championship hangover or whatever else. When they've had Middleton Holiday and Yannis, they're 9 and 0. And one of the things that I did wonder, though, when they signed cousins is, you know, there's some weirdness with that.

his back injury. Lopez thing. There's concern there, which is why Milwaukee is signing boogie. It's really just about depth in case Brooke Lopez can't get right with his back injury. That's why they're doing this.

Yeah. And I mean, we just talked about back issues with Porter Jr., but Lopez has been out since opening night. And then it's just, it's an odd time to sign somebody. And so you do wonder if there was some

But like I said, it's in case you can't get right. So, and there was more, yeah, it was a stronger feeling towards that, I suppose. Right. Yes. We better go find something or get what's available now. Oh, yeah. Bobby, I mean, like, you could already body force could should and continue to start,

even when Brooke Lopez returns. I mean, he's been that good. I mean, like, I, yeah, ideally you. Yeah, yeah, but you've got the. Of course. When you're playing the yoke edges and you're playing the big guys, the NBs, you need somebody with some size. mean, I'm not even sure Boogie's that answer for you either.

You know, replacing Brooke Lopez, but at least he has size. Yeah. I mean, he'll play out of him. I'm happy to see Boogie get another opportunity. I hope he's able to produce here. Hasn't been so hot in his past couple of opportunities, though. No. But he'll rack up fouls really quick.

And he'll come and grab some offensive rebounds, get some putbacks. And also, I think, you know, when you're surrounded by, you know, some of the guys that they have on the defensive end of the floor, his own individual shortcomings maybe are minimized a bit. When you're playing next to a Janus, who can help cleanups and mistakes, it puts less responsibility on him to be an anchor in the paint. Whereas, like, Houston or the Clippers, the last couple of years, you know, since his last injury, the torn ACL with Golden State, it's been all on him. So, I mean, I think for him, maybe it could work out.

But this is really just about in cases of emergency, where if Brooke Lopez can't, stay healthy, can't perform at the level he needs to. That's why they're doing this. It's a good proactive move. You got a major showdown. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the only thing is I like it to do.

Absolutely. It just scares you on the Lopez front, which is like, oh boy, is he not going to be available for them? Because he has been, he's been part of a lot of winning and was certainly a big part of that championship of run that they had last year. We have a possible Western finals. preview. It's possible.

Certainly these two teams have separated themselves that we're going to get to see tonight, the Warriors and the Suns. So while we talked about there haven't been a tremendous amount

of competitive games that has not felt like I am very hopeful that this one is as good as it can be. It better be, man. You know, between these two teams.

It better be. I know. We cannot see a dot competitive game between these two. Hopefully we do. And hopefully we have a really good week throughout the NBA and we stopped getting this injury news because this has been a tough run over the course of the last four or five days on the injury front. Good. Okay. All right. Oh, I'm fine. Four of the five best players on the team out. No, Amari Cooper, no CD Lamb, no to Marcus Lawrence. Washington right now. I mean, you get it, you get a cushion. Yeah. You got a cushion. No Randy Gregory. Yeah. Yeah. There's a bunch of guys out.

Yeah. I was still mad. Dad at that fourth quarter. He was like, you know, throwing the ball through a pinhole for, you know, and then he missed that one. But he was throwing some unbelievable passes in that fourth quarter last week. I'm feeling good about my guy, Chris. Mac Jones, Mac Jones, baby.

I guess you are. You should feel good about him. He doesn't feel like a rookie. I tell you this, though, the NFL's. NFL same way, though. It's like every time we think we know something about these teams, then the next week it's like, what? I thought they were good or I thought they stunk.

It's so bizarre, truly. Every week you have these crazy results that are taking place, and especially throughout November the NFL, as I said, there's 24 outright upsets, which is just an extreme number. And it just goes to show like this year, if it holds, this is going to be the biggest underdog year

in the history of the NFL. Wow. That just goes to speak of not being able to get a beat on these teams. You had Warren Sharp discussed on your Monday show, on the ringer gambling show. We talked about it yesterday. Yep. We talked about it yesterday.

I mean, these massive, I mean, just an inordinate, amount of underdogs. I love that, though. That's made the NFL season really fun. Yeah.

There's no question. It has been a very, very, very fun. I think you have, like, what, 24 teams, maybe even 20, well, Seattle's out of it now. So I think it's like something like 24, 25 that are still in it. I mean, because you're going to be able to get the seven, you're going to be able to get the seven seed being 500 or maybe a game below in the NFL. Do you, do you believe in the Patriots? Yeah. Chris, are you a believer in their Super Bowl chances?

I do. Oh, I mean, look, the AFC, there's nobody that has separated themselves. Baltimore's good issues. Obviously, no Derek Henry now for Tennessee, even though there are two backups had, you know, it's a couple big runs against the Patriots. Kansas City with Mahomes, you know, four in a row now. They're still the favorite to me, Kansas City. But a lot of teams have a chance, including the Patriots,

with their elite defense, the way Mac Jones manages the game on offense. I feel like this Patriots team can get even better over the course of the year, Chris. I'm feeling really, really good right now. And I'll tell you what, I think with them, they're still holding some things back with their tight ends. Hunter Henry and Johnny Smith. I know it might sound silly here, but I'm going back. Mike Giardy, who's always been a plugged-in Patriots reporter during the offseason. He said they were using Johnny Smith in like crazy ways.

You know, like it's sort of like they used Aaron Hernandez way back in the day before that fell apart. And they've done a little bit. Fell apart. You mean before he murdered people? Fell apart. It's a nicest way to. I mean, yeah, Gronk and Hernandez, if only that had worked out. Before that all fell apart.

They're doing some stuff with John and Smith, getting creative. And I look forward to seeing what they unleashed during the playoffs with their tight ends. Belichick loves his tight ends. McDaniels loves his tight ends in the offense. Okay. Well, get back to me after this week. We'll see how good you feel. Isn't it the bills?

And the Bills? All right. All right. There you go. I think it's the Bills, right? Then the Bills this week. Then the buy. Then Indianapolis.

Then the Bills again. So there's some tough games coming up. Oh, dude. Indianapolis is good, too. right? That, I tell you this, that game between them and the bucks was a good football game.

That was two good teams. It really was. But as usual, it's great to see Tom Brady come out on on top. Those bucks, how many out of a touchdowns? It was a fun game.

Yeah, Gronk, I know. It was Gronk, too. Yeah, I got a hundred and forty yards or something. You know, when he runs routes is the highest, you know, target percentage of all tight ends in the NFL. I mean, he's not running a lot of routes because they haven't blocking a lot.

there maintaining him over the course of the year. But I thought that was a good stat. Well, he might have, he might have some level of, he might have some level of chemistry with this quarterback. But Kevin, it is always a pleasure. Hey, we do want to introduce our new producer, Jesse Lopez, of course. Yes, you know, we've gotten dumped again. We're like, who was, who was the guy that had like the million marriages?

Larry King. We're like Larry King. We just keep on, yeah, he had like, what, he had like, why? like eight wives or something like that. I'm just kidding. He did have a notorious, uh, lots of divorce.

Oh yeah, yeah. I'm, I'm seeing that now. Yeah. Yeah. He had one, two,

three, how many? How many was it? Seven. Seven. So we are, we're, we're almost Larry King level

in terms of producers. First one was in 1952. Last. Ours was not in 1950s. Jesse Lopez joining the show now. And Jesse, we'll do like we have our last six producers, which is promise you won't leave us.

I promise. We're damaged. I will take it one step further and buy a ring. Try to, try to etch an M and an M in there. That way I'm married to mismatch. That way, if anyone try to take me up, I just show him the ring.

Don't do it. I'm attached. Hey, don't do it. My man, Tom Shady, Kyle, he got a frigid one shining podcast tattoo and then Tate and Titus left. Tough scene Yeah

I guess the ring You could just take off You can throw that in the gutter Don't just don't spend a lot on it I'll hold off on that one Jesse you're a Lakers fan Yes I am indeed It's a growing pain

Like I need to see what this LeBron Westbrook AD need to do I haven't really shown me a lot So I just it's it's a waiting game You know it's as a Laker fan You know we don't care about regular season. Just get to the playoffs and then, you know, as long as it works in the playoffs, I'm fine by that. Should, should Frank Vogel be fired, Jesse for starting DeAndre Jordan

and Aver Bradley? Should he be fired? Don't even get me started on that. Lakers Twitter is insane. When it comes to DeAndre Jordan and Kent Baysmore, um, I wouldn't give so many minutes to DJ, but, you know, there's a reason why I'm just your guys as producer and not an NBA head coach. Fair enough. He is Jesse Lopez. He's going to not be our producer. So you're going to be hearing him regularly as part of the show. Kevin, it's always a pleasure. I will talk to you on Friday. Looking forward to it.