The Mismatch - Ten Early Season Observations

Episode Date: December 29, 2020

Verno and KOC talk about 10 observations they've made in the early part of the season, including impressive showings from rookies Precious Achiuwa (18:18) and Tyrese Haliburton (34:45), hot starts by the Cavs (50:30) and Hawks (7:55), and much more. Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, this is Kevin O'Connor on today's episode of The Mismatch. Chris Vernon and I talked about 10 observations from the NBA season. So far, we've gone to Trey Young's dominance, DeMontas Sabona is taking a leap for the Pacers, and Chris went off on stepback jumpers and some of the weird results we've had so far. All that next. Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon. He does every Tuesday from the ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor,

a.k.k. Kevin O'Connor, A.K.K.O.comber. Kevin O'Clymer. Kevin O'O. Kahneman. Kevin O'Kindness. Kevin! What's going on, Chris? Well, we've got to make this show a good one because we do not have a show Friday because of New Year's Day. But there's been a lot of basketball that's been played so far.

But before we get into 10 early season observations, I do want to, just on a side note, a lot of people responded that are listeners of this show to a video I put up since we last spoke of Christmas morning and they noticed that my son did get a PS5 and so I was very thankful for all these listeners

that cared greatly about the outcome of my issue. I had chronicled on the show how I had been inside of a game stop for almost four hours with a ticket in my hand only to be turned away at the register. I had been on every website

I had subscribed to all the different you know, drop accounts, you know, PlayStation 5, drop this, and anybody that would alert you to this, and I came up empty over and over again.

And the week of Christmas, a guy named Chris, who had listened to my local show that I do, was listening as he told me he was raking the leaves and was listening to the podcast, and he heard me tell my story about how I had this 10-year-old who I'm trying to get this for, and I just can't get it, and it's the only thing you want.

And it turned out, as he was listening to it, he's like, oh, my goodness. So he has a job in finance where he's been quarantined like everybody else, and he's doing his job from his home. Well, he wanted to get one originally, and so he said subscribe to all of the different alerts, but he's on his computer all day, every day. And so every time an alert would come up, he'd try to get another one. So he kind of became the guy and people, you know, in his family or his friends were like, hey, if you can get me one, please get me one.

So his brother needed a PlayStation 5 and he was on, he was online. He got through on Best Buy and he got through and he got it. And then his brother called him that day and said, I got through too. I don't need it. So he's like, here I am, listen to your pod. I actually had just gotten one that I didn't have something for. And he said, so I knew that you knew we have a mutual friend. He Facebook messaged him and said, hey, does Vernon still need a PS5?

Random thing, I just end up having an extra. And so I drove over to his house and I got the PS5. It was so crazy. So crazy. I drove over to his house, got the PS5. It was the bundle that came with like a controller and 2K21. And it was literally a Christmas miracle. It was unbelievable.

Your son's reaction was awesome. He just kind of fainted. Well, the day before, the night before, as is customary, the kids begged to open up a present. So they each opened up a present. My son opened up his present. and my daughter, who's seven years old, says, oh, he probably thought it was a PS5.

And he looks over at her, and he says, Haley, I'm not getting the PS5. He's like, they're just impossible to get. I'm probably going to have to wait until, like, maybe my birthday or something like that. And he's like, but he's like, you just can't get him. And I looked over at my wife and I was like, oh, thank God. He had just been resigned to the fact that it wasn't happening.

because I couldn't hide it. He was there when I came home from the store that day. And my daughter had taken my wife's phone and had read the text. So she knew I was sitting at GameStop for an entire Saturday. Like, where's dad? Right? Like, he hasn't been gone. I haven't been gone from my house for three hours in nine months, right?

And it's like, where did he go? And so they already knew. So I explained to him, here's what? happened. Buddy, I gave it everything I had. And I'm sorry, you know. And because I was just resigned to the fact that it wasn't happening. So it was a Christmas miracle. So thank God. When I was around William's age, I got a, I think a PS2 in the year 2001, 2002, whatever year it was. And Grand Theft Auto, Vice City was a game that I really wanted for Christmas in 2002. So I, on Christmas morning, I opened up, you know, all my stuff and one of them was was Grand Theft Auto Vice City.

Wait, your parents let you play Grand Theft Auto when you were 10? No, I was 12. I was 12 years old. I was 12. I'm not sure they knew the extent of the crime and the game and all that. Anyway, so I open it up on Christmas morning, except here's the thing. I open it up and there's no disc inside. Oh, no disc inside Vice City.

And I'm like, what is going on? There's like an instruction booklet, but no disc in here. It's a prank. And then my mom was like freaking out because she bought Vice City from the back of someone's car in front of a Toys R Us. Some guy was selling. It's a life of crime. This guy was really living a life of crime. She said she was distraught.

She's like, there was this guy selling a bunch of games to people. In front of the kids. Like, my parents were the best with Christmas, but I'll never forget that. Unbelievable. It was so good. Man, that guy, he's going to have to account for that when he gets. What a scum, huh? Yeah, he's going to have to account for that one day.

of all the kids in the Brockton, Massachusetts area, waking up with empty Griffith on a high city. And, DJ, you know what? If they were going to teach you a lesson about a life of crime, I don't know which is better. She said he was selling him for like half price. Of course he was. He's got a 12-year-old me's like, you didn't realize it was too good to be true. She bought Grand Deft Auto out of the back of a trunk.

I was like, the Toys R.S is right there. You can get it. behind the case. She was getting a deal, Gab. Oh, yeah, I know. My mom loves getting good deals and loves using her coupons and everything.

Oh, that is hilarious. I can't blame. It was all out of love. All right. Well, we have had a ton of basketball that has already taken place. And we have 10 early season observations, five each.

All right. You want to start or you want me to? Yeah, I'll start. I'll start with the undefeated Atlanta Hawks. Hey. With Trey Young and one observation with him. averaging 15.3 free throw attempts per game. That's more than the team that's 30th in the league

right now. The Toronto Raptors averaging 13.5. And with Trey, this guy's on one right now. He's just on one. And it's fascinating because, you know, obviously we know he can shoot it. We know we can create it off the dribble. But the ability to get to the basket and draw falls in the way he does manipulating defenses and using his body in hard-and-esque ways. It's going to piss off a lot of people that hate watching somebody who draws a lot of files like people feel about Hardin. But I'll tell you what, for a guy who's so tiny, who's so small, who's 180 pounds, who's only six foot, six foot one, it's remarkable to see this evolution since he was

in college where he didn't draw a lot of files, but he's used, he knows how to use his body to his advantage now, and it's turned him into one of the league's best scores in all of basketball. Well, let me say that I happen to be at one of those. games where he drew a lot of fouls. And it was the source of tremendous discontent from the opposing team. For sure. The Grizzlies.

He got, he had 17. 17 free throws in the game. And most of them are like floor fouls. It's the, you know, these guys are doing such a good job of when they go around the screen, they act like they were, you know, they had flailing around a little bit. They're flailing around everywhere. And, you know, meanwhile. And I really thought.

But Morant was going to get fined after that game because he lost his mind because what would happen is Tray would come down one end. He'd get the call. Jah would go down the other end. It would not get the call, right? And that's the, you got to flail your body. Right. You got to flail a little more if you're going to get it. But that being said, the guy's got his ball in his hands all the time.

People are trying to run him off the three point line. And when he run him off the three point line, he's done a good job of developing that. that move where you hug that screen and then the guy tries to get, you know, through the screen, but you just act like you're dying, right, when the guy tries to get through. And I will also tell you this, because I actually had a guy that was down on the court. And I'll give him credit because he talks to the refs a lot. And at one point in the first quarter, he went over to the referee. And he said, are you watching this game?

Are you watching the game? Like, are you watching this game? Because I'm at the end of my line. I'm getting foul and I'm getting fouled all the time. Why aren't you? And he got like four calls in a row right after that. Wow. Right after that.

Like he is a, he's a ref bitcher. He is. But it works. It works, right? Like, I mean, it works. I mean, it's true. Like you see this smaller guy, 6-1, 180 pounds who's getting beat up when he goes in the lane.

You're like, I got a whistle for this little guy. That's right. And so he's gotten, he's gotten the calls. and I will say their offense has been awesome. That was one of the things that we had talked about going into the year. You know, they've got, you know, this thing that's just built around Trey Young. It is a little hardness in terms of very high usage. But now they have Bogdanovich and Galinari and these guys to throw it to, right?

Yeah, I mean, they leave the NBA in offensive rating as of this morning, Tuesday morning, us recording this. And obviously it's early. It is. It's early for all these teams. The league feels upside down in some ways right now with the way things have started. But with Atlanta, there's no denying that after the offseason that they had, even though they've only beaten the Bulls, the Grizz and Pistons, not like top level teams, it's still encouraging for them to have these games early on in the season,

beating these opponents when they are a team that made moves with the intentions of being a playoff team, because that whole front office and coaching staff is under pressure to do. it and tray young does seem to be taking another step forward in his game and again like we'll see he's not going to average 15 three free throw attempts for the entire season but it's possibly he averages over nine or 10 for a game and that and that would if not lead the league be close to leading the league this guy I mean like the lucca the lucca trey young deal is always going to be connected those two names are always going to be connected I feel like lucas greatness is sometimes who overshadowed the emerging greatness of Tray Young.

They might be, they might both be all-stars year after year after year after year. It certainly looks on that trajectory. Now, in the game I saw them, I saw them without Capella. And, you know, when they can go small and really cause some real problems because Collins can rebound too. You know what I mean? Like they don't get demolished on the glass and they're a hard matchup when they go small. I'm not so sure that some of their best lineups are not. going to include Capella on there, right?

Because Capella's not, you know, they space the floor so much better. And when you got guys like Trey Young and you guys got a guy's got like Bogdanovich and Galinari, that spacing the floor all the way out, it can really cause some serious problems for you, right? Whereas Capella kind of clogs the lane a little bit more. Yeah, I mean, it's nice to have lineup versatility, though. And with Atlanta, they had the value of Capella and their matchup against Detroit and all of their big. So, you know, and some matchups, maybe Capella's playing 20 minutes, some matchups maybe he's playing only 10 or 12. Yeah.

All right. I will tell you this. My first observation is this. And so I have been to two games in person so far. And I am here to tell you, and I don't think that this is different anywhere around the league. This year, unlike any other year, and I didn't really know what it would be like, home court advantage is gone. Gone. There is no home court advantage.

I'm telling you that from being in that arena, like where a ref, the home court could really come in where a team makes a run and a team gets inspired by that. Or it's time to get a stop and they really buckle down on defense. Or most importantly, when the refs are on some BS and the fans just go bonkers over it every time they're making a call. all of that is gone. Like I know they are playing in these other markets,

but the other thing is these teams are going and they're playing in these series where, you know, they don't have, it's not like they're flying from Denver the night before to play a back to back, right, in the same manner, right? The schedule is more spread out. A lot of times they're playing two games in one city. But most importantly, in the actual arena,

like none of the things that go along with it being a home court advantage, none of those exist anymore. And it was weird because we went through the bubble. And obviously, we're just watching that visually on TV. But I will tell you that being inside that arena, it is an extremely bizarre feeling to watch a basketball game where there's nobody in the stands. When a call is made, you know, yeah, you might have a couple guys yelling on the sideline. or something.

From office guys, right? Yeah, yeah. But that's it. Or your team or the injured guys, you know, might be saying something. But other than that, it just doesn't exist. And even even the announcers not being down on the floor, which they're not this year, as someone, I have typically been on the floor for the last whatever over a decade. And I routinely would see coaches go over to their announcing crew and find out,

what they thought about that call, right? Because they're the ones with the monitor right there in front of them. And so the coach would decide whether or not he should freak out or not, based upon that information that he was getting from his own broadcast. The broadcast crew all the time is telling the coaches and the other players what has taken place in the game. But those guys are now upstairs. And so that doesn't exist.

And so everything that goes along with it being home court. And I know I was reading the other day, I mean, it's about 50-50 home and road. I think wins, wins and losses so far right now. It hasn't been. And you have a lot of these teams. It'll be interesting to see because a lot of these teams have had a drastic home court advantage over the years. You remember last year what?

Philly was like a mediocre to bad team on the road. And they were like, they lost like five games at home or something crazy like that, right? until we ended up calling off the season. But anyway, it'll be fascinating to see as this season goes on. But I'll tell you, like, it's just like, it doesn't matter whether your team's playing at home or on the road. The other thing is they're not going out at night when they go to the other city. Well-behaved citizens. And that's a big part of-hanging out in Verdantz with me.

I know. And that's a big part of it. Guys fly in. Like, I think fans would be shocked. Guys fly in and they get in at like midnight or one, they go out a lot, a lot of them do. And then they go and catch some sleep and then they go to shoot around and then they go back and they take a long nap and then they go to the arena to get ready for the game. And that's kind of their lifestyle. But when you're taking away flying into New York and going out at night, like I mean, again, your home court advantage that you would typically have, that's null and void.

Yeah, you're right. I think there's so many factors that are going to play into that and make the season very unusual. We'll see how it closes. Obviously, you have Mark Cuban and others who think there'll be fans in the stands by the end of the season because of the vaccine, improved treatments and, you know, everything else. We'll see. We'll see what happens. But ultimately, it is a weird, weird start for sure. I think it's sort of reflected in the standings.

All right. What's your second one? let's go with precious Achua. Hey. This is just a real basic thought here, but it's really, really cool to see him drafted 20th by Miami already. Getting tasks with defending Zion Williamson and Brennan Ingram

in that Heat Pelicans matchup. And Achua came through, man. Like he gave trouble to Zion, forced him into a couple turnovers. He stuck with Ingram well, who looks fantastic on offense, by the way.

But Achua. seems to me like he's already qualifying as steel as a steel in the draft already looks the part of a guy who spolstra trusts on defense. And that's the key word there. He trusts Achua, a rookie player who's just coming in, still learning the game, and hasn't even shown everything that he can do yet. But if you're able to develop this guy over the course of the season and you have another big six foot nine, strong bodied player who's built for a Zion,

who's built for a Janus in a playoff series, Miami to me, like, it was so easy to underwrite them and during the season, you're like, a little bit fluky, you know, that they made the finals.

But even if it was a little bit fluky, considering the circumstances, there's no denying the talent on this team. And to me, like, I compare them to the pistons of the early 2000s, the 02-03 pistons, lost in the Eastern Conference finals.

Tashon Prince was a rookie. It didn't have Rashid Wallace yet. well, they got Wallace the next year. Prince got way better. He went from a bench player to a great starter as a second year player in the league. Miami to me, they have the young guys and Hero and Duncan Robinson and Achua and Bam himself. Those guys can all get better. They can all get better from a team that just made the finals to possibly making another run starting in May. And we'll see how these players get better over the course of the year. But I'm very, very impressed by them at Miami Heat. And one of the reasons why is because I think

they're better because of their rookie precious at Chua. All right. Two things that you're going to like about this. Obviously, I covered Precious all last year because he played in Memphis. The first time I ever saw Precious Chua in person, I took my son to a basketball camp. It was a Penny Hardaway basketball camp. And we walk into the gym. And the first thing I see is a ball came off the rim.

And Achua caught it at his waist off a rebound, caught it at his waist and windmilled it. And he looked like a groan. And I, my son, my son looked at me and he's like, what was that? And I'm like, that's the new kid, Precious Situ. He's the big recruit. Watch them all last year. Motor is out of this world. We talk so much.

We talk so much about opportunity and fit. There was no greater fit in the NBA draft than Precious going to Miami. They will develop him. He will fit right into that. heat culture as it were. And I will tell you the other thing, Kevin, and this has been noticeable. And I know that people aren't keeping up much with college basketball.

But this year, Memphis is awful. And the only difference is precious to chew is not there. Weissman played four games last year. They were not a bad team last year. And they were a team that was probably going to have to win their conference tournament to get or be right on the bubble, but probably have to win their conference tournament. But precious was that dude, and you have extracted him from that, and they look like they can't play at all.

And I think it speaks to how – I think that all of us that watched that team last year maybe underrated a little bit how amazing he really was. Because you don't get a lot of love when the college team's not that good, and especially when the college team doesn't even finish their season. But he is – I love him. I love him. You know, he's my kind of guy. The energy he brings is just contagious.

Yes. And I wonder how much for the Memphis Tigers, how much of that is just the intangible aspect of how he just brings energy to the floor anytime he's on it. Even from the bench, I mean, he's a vocal guy. I mean, he's somebody that you want on your side when you're battling and you're trying to win games. And from Miami, I'll tell you what, man. It looks like they have another Bam-esque steel today.

And we'll see how his office. develops over time. But that defensive ability in the at-room finishing, he's already really good and he's only in his first week in the NBA. Okay, you're going to like my second one.

The stepback trash. This has got to stop. Luca, outstanding, Hardin, outstanding. Some of the best scorers in the league, they're great at this. We have a problem

in the NBA. with all of these guys. It reminds me of when all these teams started to try to play like the Warriors, but they didn't have Curry and they didn't have clay and they didn't have the shooters to be able to do it. And so it just made for ugliness. You watch these game on the line shots and Tatum was a culprit the other night. And Tatum has been guilty of this before. Look, I watched it happen with Lavert last night in the Brooklyn Memphis game.

Twice I saw it happen with Dylan Brooks. It's every game you watch. The shot is now these guys trying to create space doing the, it's like they all practiced this ridiculous step back because Hardin can do it, because Luca can do it, and because some of the great scorers in the league, and it is awful because most of them cannot hit that with any accuracy. And all the game, watch for game winners.

Watch how many guys are like going to the basket. or they're running a play or they're making a move. It's now just spread out the court and then take a step and then take a step back and try a fadeaway shot. And it happens every night, every single night I am watching. We need to call it like the crap back or something like this instead of the step back. It is awful, Kevin. I can't take it.

Why does nobody goes to the rim to win the? the only one that goes to the rim anymore is DeMontes Sabonis. Right? He got the ball. He went straight to the basket to win the game. And it is the difference. It's the difference between what Sabonis did when they had to beat the Celtics and what Tatum did.

And I know Tatum hit the one over Janus. But again, that was a step back too. It's like, why is everybody taking this shot all the time? Like, just because two guys in the league are great at it, most of them. them are not good at this shot. And yet that is the go-to move now. And I'm watching it every single night at the NBA at the end of shot clocks and at the end of games when teams need a bucket.

Like that becomes the offensive play. And I can't take it. It's so bad. I don't mind the setback as much as you do. But I do mind quite a lot when the team has like a three on one in transition and they end up with a three-pointer instead of a wide-open layup. If they just pass a little bit and attack the basket, there's so many instances in which a team could have had a layup or even a dunk.

Instead, they end up with a three-pointer by a guy who shoots like 33% from beyond the arc. And that, to me, it's like a bit much. Look, I mean, obviously the Tatum one stands out because it was a big game the other night. But watch how many times at the end of these games, nobody's running plays anymore, it seems. There's always a lot of isolation at the end of game. I know, but it used to be two dribble pull-ups or it used to be I'm going to the rim and you got to meet me at the rim. Now everybody is- Get off my lawn.

I know. Everybody is standing 30 feet from the basket and take us a bullshit. I can't take it. Stop it already. You're not James Harding. Let's talk about my next one then, DeMontza-Bonis. That's my next one. That last play when he hit the game winner against the Celtics, it was a fake handoff play in which he faked the handoff to the end-off to the end-back.

and then drove to the basket, finished, flexed in the Celtics, and completed what was just an amazing, amazing three-game stretch to start the season. 32, 13-5 against the Knicks, 22, 10, and 11 against the Bulls, and 1910 and 5 against the Celtics. Sub-Bonis, night in, night out, has built on what was an all-star season last year for him. I think sometimes it's easy to forget, Sabonis made the All-Star team. This year, he's averaging 24 points, 11 rebounds. Seven assists. Aside from Nicola Yokic at the big man position,

Sabonis is the best offensive hub in the NBA, the ability to create for himself or others. When I saw him flex, after that game winning lay up against the Celtics, I thought about what he looked like as a rookie. When he looked like a deer in the headlights, playing for Oklahoma City, all he was really doing was spotting up from three and missing a lot of shots.

He looks scared at times as a rookie player. And now for him in year five, now with the Pacers and All Star in his past and brighter, even a brighter future ahead for him. This is a guy who's emerging into a star big man before our rise. That's what Sabonis is doing. And I'm glad you brought up Yokic because you watched that game the other night. It was very Yokic-esque in terms of running the offense through him.

That's what the difference has been when you've watched this year. That's no longer Victor Oladipo's team. It's Sabonis's too. It is Sabon as his team. It goes through him. Every play down the stretch, they used him like Denver does Yokic, right? The ball's going to be in his hands and he's the dude. And that's what's crazy about this year so far.

I mean, that's one of those things that, yes, it's only three games, but you can tell the way that team functions. And that has morphed from that used to be Oladipo's team. And he would be the guy that is going to decide games. and it's pretty clear that's that's the bonus now it's sort of the the i mean Denver and Miami Miami with bam too I would say subonis is a better offensive player than ban because he can shoot bam isn't an outside shooter yet um but subonis right now on the season borkeran their new head coach has subonis finally shooting three pointers again that i mean it's nice to see more modernized offense there for subonis for their big so you know what they're

doing there man like victor olidipo still isn't pre-injury oladipo yet and you hope he can get back to that. But Indiana, to me, a lot of Pacers fans are pissed off at me for where I had, had them in my power rankings released this week in the ringer where I had, you know, I did like 30 observations like we're doing here for every team in a power ranking structure. I still had the Pacers 15th. And you know what?

Maybe I didn't have them a little bit too low. But ultimately, I'm not going to overreact to the first week of action. But I'll tell you what, you know, the Pacers, the way in which they're playing, I will say I was overall too low on them and during the season and it's because of Sabonis going from good to great. If he sustains this, you'll see Indiana much, much higher in power rankings in three weeks when I do the next update. There are certainly things like that that warrant us taking notice and it does seem like there's a sea change with the way a team's going to function. But my third one is this and this is the with the early season observations, the outcomes so far, and I am doing my best not to overreact to said outcomes so far,

because we have seen some of the goofiest stuff that I can remember happen at the beginning of the season. And we will see if this foretells what will take place this season or if this is just a first week thing, right? But when you are watching these scoreboards on regular occasion, there has not been a, the night that has gone by, right? Like, so we're all going crazy about the nets and what they look like and how devastating they look. And then they played full strength at Charlotte and lost heads up. And then the clippers got beat by 50, right?

Oh, man. And then the Knicks stumped the box. It's like, that's what I'm saying. Like, I just can't. I can't. I'm doing my best to not overreact because we are always, a day away from something falling on its face, right? As soon as you're like, oh, my God, the Nets,

who's going to be able to deal with them? They're too devastating. And then they lose to Charlotte or the clippers and they beat the Lakers to begin the season and they turn around and they end up getting beat by 50 points by Dallas. And so on the other hand, do I overreact to what Dallas did to them? And the same thing goes with like I was saying, with the Knicks and the Bucks, like, what the hell was that? I don't even understand.

Like, I, it's almost like it was the Elford Payton show with Julius Randall. Oh, exciting. And your boy, Frankie Smokes. Franky smokes. He went off. He went off at the game. I'm saying, Frank, let's go. Everything was goofy about it. I'm not giving up on any of my French point cards.

Frank Militina or Killian Hayes. Oh, boy. Hey, I've got to, you're going to, you're going to laugh your ass off. Okay. Because I'm about to call you out. the minute, not on, not on that, not on that stuff. But. I wouldn't blame you if you did.

Not a, oh, Killian Hayst stinks. It's too early. It's too early. It's too early. No, it's not too early. He stinks. I watch them. He stinks.

It's too early. These things. Week one, Chris. Let's relax here. His defense is still pretty good. No, it's not. All right. But anyway, not overreacted to the outcomes.

After making these grand sweeping judgment so far. But we got to get a sample size in here because I've made the mistake in years past. But now this year, holy mackerel. I have never seen. I can't remember as weird a sensation as checking these box scores nightly. I can't remember saying, what the hell? More times than I have said in the first week of this season. I mean, usually there's a couple of these. Here, and there, and it's like a second night of a back-to-back with a bunch of guys sitting people or something like that. But like these have just been heads up weird ass games. I thought, you know, as soon as you think Charlotte stinks, they beat the nets. And as soon as you think the clippers

are going to be just fine because they beat the Lakers, they're at least by 50. Like, I'm not, I'm not making any judgments for a couple of weeks. I mean, I'll tell you what, dude, that's why in my power rankings, I stuck pretty close to what I. had for preseason because I'm like, this is a weird first week, man. You should have dropped the Warriors. I did drop them. Not bad though. I'm like 11 to 14. I should have dropped them a little bit more. I should have had them behind Indiana. That was a mistake. And I should have had them behind the Pacers. But much lower than that, I still got to see them with Draymond Green. Okay. I still get to see them when Kelly Ubre is not shooting 0 for 33 away from the rim.

Some of these guys, I'm serious. Like some of these guys are better than they've shown in the first week. And like I'm not going to plummet them down the rankings after just a short amount of time. Maybe in three weeks when the update happens, it'll be apparent that even with Dreamongering that this team is just competing for a playing spot, if that, because their role players just might not be good. But I think they're better than that they've shown so far.

You mean better than historically. Yes. horrendous. Exactly. I mean, they had like the two worst losses to start a season since like the 70s. They're better than that. Hey, don't go out too big of a limb, Kev.

They are better than the worst team ever. Yes. El Ubray is better than 0 for 33. That's my bold prediction. I'm not sure Wiggins is. All right. What's four for you? I have a couple others.

Let's go with this one. Tyree's Halliburton, baby. Oh. Let's go. Let's go Kings. Kings get some hope. And Halliburton is so fun to watch. I hope voters, when it comes down to it, if he keeps this up, consider him as rookie of the year because Halliburton is doing things that go way beyond the box score.

On Reddit yesterday, there was a big 90-second compilation video posted already. 90 seconds, a minute and a half posted of him making winning plays on the defensive end of the floor, deflections, stopping transition attacks by getting his hands in the passing lanes, intercepting and deflecting passes in the half court, making quality. he passes. 90 seconds already after his first week. He's made that many winning plays already. And that video that you can make with his winning plays is only going to get longer. This season, Halliburton has 15 assists to one turnover. Just one. Just one turnover for a rookie player in this first week of professional basketball. Halliburton already, it was obvious he was a steal on the night of the draft. It's even more clear now how much of a steel this guy has. And I look back at my rankings and I'm like, oh, shucks.

I mean, I should have had him just, I should have had him higher. Even though you might not have the superstar upside, this is one of those guys who can be a star in his role. And that's what Sacramento needed to start turning things around and start winning games with the Aaron Fox and that core. Well, I watched them the other night. And, you know, it was a year, I think it was a year ago. I saw them at the beginning of the season.

And I, I remember tweeting out something the effect of, if you don't screw this up, with Fox and Bagley and Heald and Harrison Barnes who can play. And like they've got you've got stuff to build around. Like you do have a young core that fits that you can build around. And of course, they did screw it up last year. But Barnes looked bigger, by the way. I don't know if you've seen Harrison Barnes. Like the quarantine, he used that to put on some muscle because he was a

Harrison Barnes. He was a skinny guy. You know, obviously he's both Barnes now. And they had that crazy win the other night where he tried to yak one at the, to win the game and then Buddy Heald had to finish it at the end. That's a fun team to watch, man. They are a fun team to watch. They are.

They are. It's the type of team where it's like, I don't care if they're wake the playoffs. But they're always going to be fun. They are. Even if they're not a great team, they're going to be one of the funest teams in the way to watch. And they figured out how to get Halliburton on the court. and make it, you know, because that was a weird, you, you sat there and you went, well, geez, man, like, of all the fits for Halliburton,

I don't know how this one is going to work as compared to some of the other teams because you're pretty entrenched with Fox and Healed, you know, with the amount of money that you have committed to those two. And so where does Halliburton fit in this mix? But they've certainly found a way to get him on the court. and he's been very effective. He's fun. He's fun to watch too.

They got fun players. One of the reasons why they were willing to let go of Boganovich. One of the reasons because they had it to create more minutes and they're playing those three guys together at times. They haven't done on a lot. Usually it's just two of them. But ultimately, Hallibur and they felt comfortable that he's somebody even come in and play right away.

And he sure is. He looks great, dude. Like the numbers, if you look at the numbers, like I said, averaging 9.7 points, five assists, one point seven rebounds. and 27.7 minutes per game off the bench. You look at that and it's like, oh, that's not a rookie of the year. And obviously it's just week one here,

but I'm saying like he's somebody, don't just look at the numbers. He's somebody who does so much beyond the box score. He's that type of player where the things he does are apparent when you watch games and see him deflecting passes, making perfect rotations that stop an offensive attack. Like he is one of those guys,

just one of those PJ Tucker Esk players, somebody who just makes winning plays. And for Sacramento, it's really fun to see a guy like that next to all that other talent that's drafted way up high in the lottery. All right. You're going to love this one because this one is not a serious necessarily observation about what that has taken place so far in the early season. But I'm going to go ahead and move it up because it'll be four on my list in honor

of watching the Kings and seeing Rishon Holmes playing center. for those that are very long-time listeners of the mismatch, you will recall that in year one, Kevin ribbing me for not knowing who Rishon Holmes was, who had just been on like a 10-win Philadelphia 76ers team. And Rishon Holmes has been on seven different teams since, it feels like. But there he is on the Sacramento Kings. And so in honor of Rishon Holmes, I'm going to let you, look, I am fair with the listeners.

There are people that are going to be out there. They're going to be like, you cover the NBA for a living. How do you not know that guy? There are always guys that show up in these games. And I'm going, who the hell is that? Who he played for? All right.

Charles Barkley thing. Oh, yeah, yeah. But Charles, it'll be like, I mean, it'll be somebody that everybody really should know. He won't know Tyree Saliborne. Right. All right. I'm going to give you three.

And I'm talking, It's not who he played for. This is, who are you? Three. Okay. And that have happened to be so far. And I'm going to try to... Can I guess one of them real quick?

Nathan Knight. Who is Nathan Knight? Bro, he came in the game and cracked on Brandon Clark. And I'm like, who in the hell is Nathan Knight? I don't look it up. Played it William and Mary. Or something like, right? Didn't he play?

Four years. Yeah, four years. Is he a rookie? He's a, he's a undrafted rookie. And there's a great quote from Lloyd Pierce, the Hawkshead coach after that game. He said, I'm only here to talk about Nathan Knight.

If you don't have a question about Nathan Knight, I don't have time for you. Unbelievable. Nathan Knight was pretty good that night. And then he got a DNP in last night's games. No idea who that was until the other night. He looked pretty good. He can stroke it a little bit,

drive. It looks skilled for a 610 big, huh? Now, I have heard this name before, but I did not know who it was when he took the shot the other night, okay? Okay. I'm watching the Warriors and the Bulls. This is the Damien League game. And Steph Curry dribbles in. He kicks it out to the corner. And they said, Mulder for three. And I said, who? Michael Mulder. I go and look it up. He played it. Kentucky? And I'm like, wait, hold on now. Kentucky's on TV every night. Like, I've known all of these Kentucky teams for the last 10 years. Like, there's no way. Like, you know, you could name the average NBA fan could name 20 guys that has played at Kentucky over the last like 10 years. All right. At minimum. Like you easily. I bet I bet I could name 20 that have played there. I don't even know. who this is. He's 26 years old. I go back and look. Evidently, I think he was on the Deeran Fox Bam out of bio team. 2016, 17. But he averaged like four points a game. I, who is that? It's almost impossible not to be famous playing Kentucky. And I don't even know who that person is. And he hit the, he hit a quarter three for the Warriors the other night when I was watching the game. And they said, Mulder for three. And I said, Molder.

Who is Mulder? And then to go look it up, it's not like Nathan Knight where he played it Bill and Mary. And they didn't even have a camera. They didn't even have a camera at their games, right? Like this guy who's on a team who's never played a game that wasn't on national television. Well, I mean,

this kind of speaks to Golden State's problems so far earlier. You know, there's some guys that you're not familiar with. Michael Mulder? Things have changed quickly in Golden State, haven't they? Yeah, who didn't start at Kentucky 10 years ago? I don't even understand it. And then the third one, and I am so disappointed in you.

Why? Now, this is what I told you, I was going to rib you. Okay, go ahead. So I've had to listen to Frank Nilakina this, Frank Nilakina that. I've had to listen to Killian Hayes this, Killian Hayes that. There I am watching a game the other night. And I watch a guy, he takes a three-pointer, he makes it. And they said, Maladon for three.

I said, who win? Who in the hell is Theo Maladon? Teo. Teo Maladon. And then I go and look it up, a French point guard. Do I never tell you about him? No. You spent your whole life telling me about Frank Nilakina, Killian Hayes.

I feel like this is the disregarded French point guard in the Kevin O'Connor Pantheon of Love. Who is Teo Maladon? was a game managing point guard. He's steady. He's just steady, man. He knows how to run the show. He plays beyond his years of 19.

I think you still 19, 19 years old? Just turn 19 and June. But what? How is there a French point guard that you have been diffusive in your praise about? I mean, I don't feel like I've wanted to be a few. You don't love the Tio, Maladon. I don't like, I don't love Maladon.

He's a good player and he might exceed his draft spot. He was drafted 34th this year. He was a guy who entering the season, a lot of people thought could be a lottery pick, and then he underwhelmed. But so far with OKC, he does look pretty solid. By the way, OKC, they're feisty. If I was Teo Maladon, I would be,

I would really have, I would harbor a tremendous amount of resentment for you. He might. If he's a listener of the show, I don't know. I hope he is. Surely, I think, surely we, like all the French point guard fans love our show. they have to. This is where they get all the love. We talk a lot of Nilakina.

We talk a lot of Killian Hayes. Teo Maladon's like, what the hell? Have you ever been to France? No. I haven't either. All right. You ready for this? I've never been out of the country.

Wow. You've never even been to Canada. No. Wow. Mexico, Canada. No. I've never been to Canada twice. Once in Montreal, I went with my friends.

I organized a trip there in, in 2011. I was eager to explore. I was sick of being in the Brockton area. I was like, we were going to Montreal. And it turned out eight other people that came was too big of a group. But it was a great time out there. And then for the finals. Oh, yeah. The Raptors Warriors. And it's really, it's, I like Canada. It's great. I enjoy it. You should go. But I really want to go to Europe. I've never been to Europe. The only time I almost went was, and I didn't have a passport with me, so I couldn't. But I I went.

That's not going to work. I covered the, well, actually, we're going to drive because I covered the NCAA tournament in Detroit, Michigan, in, actually in Auburn Hills. When the year that Michigan had like Trey Burke, Tim Hardaway, Mitch McGarry, that whole team, and Michigan State was also in the pod. And they had Gary Harris and that whole crew. and I'm trying to think who else was there. St. Mary's at Delavadova. They were there. Anyways, so I was there from, I can't remember,

I guess you get in there on a Wednesday, and then you have Thursday, Saturday games or so. So I was probably there from like a Wednesday to a Sunday or something like that were the flights. But anyways, that day in between or one of those days, a bunch of the media guys were going to go over to the casinos in wherever you can drive to right across from Detroit. But I couldn't go.

Probably saved me a lot of money in retrospect. You know, I probably lost my ass. Do you plan on doing it and traveling with your family? Like big trips? I do. I do. When the kids get a little older maybe? Yeah, I would like to. They can enjoy it more.

Europe is where I want to go to Europe. I do. I want to do the, Rome is the one I want to go to the most. Like I want to do that whole trip. I want to do the, I want to see Italy. Me too. Me too. I'd love to visit, like, Japan and.

in South Korea too. There's so many places around the world. Like this, this planet is, you know, it's so big, yet, you know, the more you see it,

sometimes the smaller it feels. I want, I want these places that I've never been to, to start feeling close. I care, I care a lot more about traveling now

than I did when I was young. I don't know why I didn't care about it when I was young. I was just so busy. I was so busy. I was so worried about my career. I was so worried about, yeah,

so many other things. I didn't. I was never on a plane for the first time until I think I was 24. Oh, wow. So my first time on a plane was, I think, going to, it was Chicago for the NBA Combine in 2014. That's what it was.

It's the first time you ever wrote a plane. I believe, ever. And so here, so my first day, so the first day, the plane had an issue. Oh, no. I got on the plane. I was on the plane in the plane had an issue where I had to get off and go back the next day. Seriously, no lie. My first time on a plane,

We never took off the ground. That's wild. That's because your mom found the pilot outside of Toys R Us. Dude. Traveling great, dude. She's like, that's the guy that told me great that's on him. He's not a pilot? Oh, geez.

My mom still feels bad about that 20 years later almost. It's so funny. But yeah, traveling's great. And I look forward in a post-COVID world, whenever that comes. sometime next year or 2020. We'll see when. I look forward to seeing more of the world and more of the country, too. There's still so much in this country that I haven't seen.

Like, I was just texting with a couple of people yesterday about Indiana. I've never been to Indiana. Oh, I have. I never have. It might not be until 2024. When did I go to... When did I go to... When did I go to Indiana for?

When I was in college, my father and I took a road trip to the old RCA dome, which is an absolute dump to watch the Cowboys play the Colts. It's Peyton Manning and that grew, it was when Peyton Manning was played for the Colts. But anyway, I don't remember how that came about, but we drove up there and went to Indianapolis for the game. But I think that's the only other time I've been there. Maybe for an NCAA tournament I went there.

That's a big hub. I've never been to the Pacers Arena, though, which by all accounts still holds up amazing to this day. And I do want to do that. All right. What's your fifth one? Worried, you are going to take my last one of our 10 early season observations. But I'm letting you go first anyway.

All right. I'll be surprised if you have this one. Okay. We'll see. Larry Nance. It's close enough. It's mine's sex land. Okay.

The back court. Well, we can add that we can add these in and then I'm going to give another one. But I have sex land, which everybody has wanted, Colin Sexton and Darius Garland. They look great. Sex land. And the Sexland back court is the best name ever. It is.

It really is. And Garland looks awesome so far this year. And obviously Colin Sexton. And Sexton, like he has learned how to change speeds. Yeah. He was somebody who was like full like 100% speed all the time. Always pressing turbo. And now he's going fast.

He's going slow. He's in hesitations. like it's so fun to watch him and then larry nance at the three you have this swiss army knife helping out this back hole with versatile defense defending smaller guys and bigger guys hitting threes for you offering secondary creation i mean Cleveland i had a hunch entering the season that they'd be a feisty team you know better than like you know more competitive than people gave them credit for i didn't see this undefeated start i mean you know and i'm not sure how much they're going to sustain this but this is a this is a this is a

fun team. Is Andre do we need to reconsider Andre Drummond? Like that was like ace. I don't mean like he's a he's a good player. It's just he's not worth the max. But I'm just, I'm just talking about the numbers that this guy's putting up Kevin. I mean, he's a good player.

It's a lot of points. That's a lot of rebounds. He's averaging 20 points, 15 rebounds, four assists. I mean, three steals, two blocks right now. That's, those are a big time numbers. That's what I'm saying. And they were like, Detroit was like doing their damnedest to not have to attach a first round pick to get off his contract. I don't know.

You know what I mean? Pretty good. That doesn't feel like the kind of guy that you should have to attach a first rounder to get off of. But it was like last trade deadline. And it's like, okay, like something's awry here, right? Like you typically shouldn't have to attach a first rounder to get off the contract of a guy that's going out there and giving you 20 and 15. Unfortunately for them, Kevin Love is out for three to four weeks of the right calf strain. God, he came back for one game and then was out again.

Three to four weeks now. We'll be reevaluated in three to four weeks. That's disappointing. That's disappointing. He needs to start eating cheeseburgers again. You know what I mean? I mean, I know he looks good in GQ and everything. Yes.

But not as much on the court anymore. No. Yeah. Get that man some cheeseburger and fries. Enough with this, Justin's peanut butter and rice cakes or whatever he's eaten. The last thing is this. The injuries in COVID. Okay.

So this was going to be of grand concern. And knock on wood, we've done decently so far on the injury front. Though Spencer Dinwiddie lost for the season. I hate it for the kid. I hate it for Brooklyn. He is a massive part of what they are, what they're, what they're, ceiling is when it comes playoff time. I mean, that's one of the five guys that's going to get the most minutes on that team.

And to lose one of the four or five guys that is going to get the most minutes on your team is a big, big deal. And I feel like that kind of, I feel like it hasn't gotten a lot of attention is something that is very hurtful because when you spend the kind of money that they have allotted towards KD and they have allotted towards Kyrie. and they have allotted towards Levert, like, and obviously they just paid Joe Harris.

Like, you need the Dinwiddies of the world. You need those guys available because the drop off from the minutes that you were giving to Dinwiddie to whoever you're going to have to give it to, like last night, in their case was Christchioza or whoever it may be,

can be rather significant. And he was starting for him as they convinced Lavert to kind of, to come off the bench in that role. And I hate it for them. You know, injuries always determine what happens with these teams as the season goes on. And usually the healthiest teams are the ones that surpass their preseason prognostications the most. But I mean, God dang it, man.

I'll be a week into the season, not even a week into the season. He's an immensely likable guy, too, hated that. And then obviously last night, John Moran. Oh, that was terrifying. Look, I'm watching that game last night with my 10-year-old who, like, people have heroes, right? And this poor kid, you know, it's probably my fault for, he likes the teams that I like. He watched Dak Prescott break his leg on national television and just rip his, he was crying. He's crying, literally watching the game.

And then last night, you know. I'm down about it. Obviously, I'm crushed to watch Jabberico down. And here's knock on wood. It's just a sprained ankle, a bad sprain. And it's not, it was not fractured. They ran the x-rays last night. That's what they determined already, which is great.

So here's hope it. But it was a full-ass ankle twist. It looked terrible when it happened. And it typically you can at least gingerly, you know, move. He couldn't even get off the ground. And he was obviously writhing in pain. and they drug him up into a wheelchair, and I'm like, oh, my God.

But to watch a 10-year-old, watch that happen to his favorite player, oh, my God. That was the worst. I mean, it's literally a nightmare, right? He just got two more Jameran jerseys. It's just a nightmare to watch it. And so here's hoping that kid comes back,

fine, within the next, you know, month to however long it takes. But we had to. a huge problem with this in the NFL Cove. All kinds of guys were lost in the first month of the season because we did have a shortened run up to the season

and we had a shortened preseason in the case of the NFL they didn't have a preseason at all. You had much less basketball time and practices and so so far we have not had a rash but I'm very very hopeful

and I'm scared about it. And the COVID thing you've had some some rockets act irresponsibly and that hurt the situation but they still have been able to plug on and play games at least while those guys are out and the numbers

that have come back so far I will at least in a week I'll give the league some kudos for so far it seems like the players are acting very responsibly because this would be this is something we had grand fear of you know is especially

as the traveling goes around, seeing people from other markets. You're seeing it spread like wildfire still all across the country. And so the fact that at least we've gotten through the first week of the season with minimal, because they're getting tested every day. So we're all bracing for it. But in terms of injuries and COVID, those are the two things that we've been through in these other sports that scared us the most. then at least we're doing okay so far. Hopefully, I mean, hopefully NBA continues to do a solid job overall.

Yeah. I mean, we'll see how it goes over the course of the season and month three of the year when some teams are out of it. And that, like, guys aren't focused as much. They're ready for their off seasons to start. That's when I do worry about some things with some of the teams on the lower end of the standings. Yeah. So we'll see how things develop. But so far, just Houston, you know, you had Carmelo, who is part of the health and safety protocol that in travel with Portland.

into their most recent game against the Lakers. But overall, solid. Yeah. Solid start. Overall, we'll see how it continues, though. But I'm encouraged. Well, yeah, and especially, you know, like I said, when I was talking about the home court advantage thing, there's no place to go.

You know what I mean? So it's really about inviting people to your hotel. So be responsible, guys. Yeah. Kevin, it is always. To play wars on. right? Yeah, to play with a Cores.

They play a videos. Right? That's all I do. I'm nearing 200 wins. Are you serious? Yeah, nearing 200. I look at that as like a badge of like responsibility in the year 2020. Or a badge of being a loser.

The better you, the better you are a video game is the more serious you were about COVID. Yes, exactly. It's a correlation there. That's what it says about you. me and my friends who play too often joke about that. We're like, yeah, we're just responsible citizens. That's it. This is a way to cover our shame.

All right. That is going to do it for today's show. Oh, before we get out of here, look, 2020 has obviously been an absolute bitch for everybody, but we were able to, as the season stopped and then restarted in the bubble, we did shows the entire way through and that was only possible. because people listen to it. And you enabled us to have enough success today. Obviously this year, Spotify broke off with our own mismatch feed.

And so despite the fact that 2020 has been so rough, we are deeply appreciative to everybody that listened to us throughout this year for how you helped us still able to keep this thing going and improve it and improve our situations despite the fact that this year's just been awful. And doing those shows, there were a lot of,

there were a lot of weeks where the listeners got us by, for sure, with good questions. And so, no doubt about it. Big Happy New Year to everybody out there. Yeah,

happy New Year and everybody. Hopefully 2021 brings, you know, better times and, you know, for everybody, personal level and collectively. You know,

I miss going into crowded restaurants. I'm just seeing a bunch of people hearing the noise, the click into the plates. You know, I miss hearing the conversation as you walk past people. I miss that. I miss seeing people live their life. I watched the movie Seoul the other night. Yeah. And did you see that yet, Chris?

My daughter was watching it last night and I walked through. And you know what? I walked through it apart. Okay. What part? I mean, don't know spoilers. No. There was a lady and she was talking to the Jamie Fox character.

Okay. And I don't know if you noticed it, but she, it was insanely profound. Like, I don't know if I was just, if I was just supposed to be in that moment, but she said, I want to tell you a story about a fish. Do you know the part I'll talk about? Yeah, yeah, I know exactly. She says, I want to tell you a story about a fish and a fish like runs up to an, an older fish and says, I'm looking for the ocean.

And the older fish says, what are you talking about? you're in the ocean and he says, no, this is just water. And I like, I got chills watching it, right? Because it was like,

that is like, my daughter has no idea what that means. Right? Like she's seven. She doesn't get that. But I got that. And as I was walking through, I was like,

damn, that's pretty profound. Exactly. Like I was talking with one of my friends, my friend Bill, not Bill Simmons, my friend Bill Mollon. about this and we have the same thought that this is the type of movie that will resonate

emotionally more with an adult than it will for a kid. Like I teared up multiple times in the latter half of the movie because it's really a movie about just living life, the little things in life that you enjoy. And that's, you know, I think this year in 2020, we've all adapted it in our own ways to continue enjoying our regular old living. But in 2021, I look forward to seeing more of what. what we knew before coming back slowly but surely progressively step by step month by month and getting back to enjoying that.

And I think in a post-corona world, like, I think I've done a good job about cherishing the moment, but I feel like I'm going to really hold it tightly, you know, once we get all those moments back more than ever. So I look forward to having that in the new year. And watch Soul, too, if you can. Like that, that's a really great movie that does do a good job of teaching those lessons about being present and enjoying all the little things that we have in our life. You're in the ocean.

We're in the ocean. Everybody have a great new year and we will talk to you in 2021. Until then. Thanks everybody. Thanks for listening to the mismatch in 2020.