The Mismatch - The Biggest Questions Leading Up to the NBA Season

Episode Date: October 18, 2024

Verno and Jacoby go through some of the most burning questions leading up to the start of the NBA season (02:00). They talk about Joel Embiid’s comments about not playing anymore back-to-backs, which teams other than the Thunder can reach the 1-seed in the West, Donte DiVincenzo, Zach Edey, and so much more. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Chris Vernon and David Jacoby Producer: Jessie Lopez Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Okay, this is a true story. I have a friend who once faked his own death so he could have more time to watch his favorite TV show. In my new podcast, Truthless, I'm talking to people about the lies they tell, from forging new identities to taking their love of Game of Thrones a little too far. From Spotify and the Ringer podcast network,

I'm Brian Phillips. Listen to Truthless on Spotify or wherever. for you get your podcasts. Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon and joining me for the 2024-2020 NBA season, David Jacoby.

Jacoby! What's up? What's up, Bruno? Oh, I could not be more excited. Thank you. Thank you so much for becoming part of the mismatch. I cannot wait for this season. I can't wait for this either. We recorded last time. I'm actually shocked that you brought me back.

Yeah, no. I'm shocked. The rave reviews. And then I talked to the guys from Spotify and they were like, look, this guy is raking us over the coals. Every time we call him, it's more money, more. And I'm like, yo, just make it happen. And they're like, he's really.

And I'm like, just make it happen. And then they call me tonight. And they're like, it's done. Jacoby is sealed. Start recording. And so we turn on the microphones and here we go. Yeah, and I just had to go to a different wing my mansion just as I could get some space. So I had some quiet space so I could record this.

I had my butler put the kids to sleep in the other wing and here I am. Thank God. All right, we got questions leading into this NBA season. We're going to get right to it. All right. First one, news came out today about Kauai Leonard being out indefinitely to start the season. The Clippers said they are taking their time with it and have a handle on it. Jacoby, do you have any faith we see a Kauai Leonard playoff run ever again. Of course not. Of course not. What evidence do we have that there's going to be a Kauai Leonard playoff run?

And I like to think back to the Spurs Championship and the Raptors Championship. And he was the king of the NBA Mountain. If you had Kauai Leonard, you were going to the finals. He was prime LeBron James, nope, prime Kevin Durant, no, prime Steph Curry, nope. It was Kauai Leonard. He was the best player, hands down in the NBA. goes to the Clippers. He plays the entire playoffs then.

And then he played 11 and 21. Then he was out. He didn't play in 22. Played two games in 23. Oh, MCL out. And then last year, now, you remember last year, he didn't play at the end of the regular season

because he was so laser-focused on getting ready for the playoffs. And I was like, this is brilliant. This is so smart. This is load management done right. Plays two games and he's out. So he has not played full playoffs since 2020.

So why would I ever believe there's going to be another Kauai Leonard playoff run? And my favorite aspect to this is he just signed a $150 million extension. $150 million extension. He's like, you know what? I'm not playing. Brilliant. I don't know. Like they let Paul George go.

Right? They let him walk. And all of their future assets were let go because of the Paul George deal. So it's not like you could just say, okay, what are we going to do? We're just going to decide to be bad, then reload, and whatever the next iteration of the Clippers is. You've got this unbelievable arena that everybody's excited about that's going to be opening. And now, right before the season's about to start, they announced, Kauai Leonard is going to be out indefinitely.

And his quotes are weird, like we think we have a handle on it. Because, you know, even at the end of last year, he had stayed reasonably during. and great throughout the year, last year. And then it went to hell again. And so now it's like, you know, there's this feeling, I think, amongst most people that observe this go, his knees are just shot. Like, it's never going to be right.

And he's never going to be able to play any amount of NBA games that would enable you to have him. be your best player. And so now we're just going to be left with the Intuit Dome and James Harden doing whatever he wants to do. James, they're like, welcome to the Intuit Dome. James Hard, Norman Powell, Terrence Mann, Derek Jones, and Zubach. That's how we're starting this off. That was not Steve Bomber's plan. Steve Bomber is worth $125 billion. Billion. And you know he's so pissed about this. Like you can have $125 billion in the bank and he still got this news. He was like,

God damn it, Kauai Leonard. I can't believe this man took $150 million from me. Well, and how did he fool them into believing that it was like a good long-term investment? Like, it was like he was good and healthy just long enough to get that deal. Really? That's how it feels. It feels like he was good long enough because that was like the one extended stretch. And last year, I will tell you.

Jacoby, last year, when I saw them in person in the middle of that crazy run, where they were like 24 and 8 or whatever it was. I mean, right in the middle of that, like 30 game span. And when I saw them and they had everybody healthy and they were like bringing guys off the bench that were making shots and Russ would come off the bench. And it's like as soon as you caught like a little break, he was like shot out of a camera. and Amir coffee's making plays and Norm Powell's knocking down threes. It was the one of the top three best teams that I saw in person last year was, and again, this is all during the span.

It's like, this is Kauai Leonard. He's back to being Kauai Leonard. He's one of the best players in the entire league. Efficiency was off the charts. He was like 50, 40, 90 guy for a stretch during the regular season. season. And then, of course, we know how it ended last year. Now Paul George is gone. Now Kauai Leonard's future. Who the hell knows? And they're opening this brand new arena. It's, I mean, and they have no assets in the future. Like Oklahoma City gets their pick. Oklahoma City gets their

pick. I mean, they can't be terrible. When Kauai Leonard gets hurt, he never gets hurt. You know what I mean? Like he never like rolls an ang, goal or there's no moment you can look back to where he pops a knee or something. He'll score 45 in game two and be like, ah, I'm going to shut it down. You're like, what, like, game one last year when Zubash just pounded? Remember Lively and Gaffir, like the story of the playoffs last year? Zubach made them look like children in that first game and they just pounded him. And I was like, oh, the clippers are going to make a run.

And then we see, we know what happened there. He never really has an incident on the court that says that's when he hurt himself. The craziest thing, I was at a game, maybe a year and a half ago. I saw him go crazy in the first half. It's a tie game in the first half. It's a game in Memphis. I know what you're talking about. Bro, he left the game.

Didn't play. After the game, Russell Westbrook is asked. He has no idea why he didn't play. Ty Lou has no idea why he didn't play. Says he expects him to be available for New Orleans on the back-to-back the next night. And it was,

And what happens in games is you're sitting down there in the media section, and as soon as an injury takes place, then the PR team for the other team, you know, gives you a release, saying questionable to return out for tonight. And then they'll tell you what the injury. It never came. They never even said. It was like the guy just said, you know what, I'm not playing the second half. I bet he didn't even say anything.

He doesn't communicate. He does not communicate. No, he didn't even come back out of the locker for the second half. Like, all right, I'm just not going to, I'm not going to play the second half. I can honestly say. You give him this extension, given his injury history, and you're opening this new arena, but it's not like he's a vibe guy. It's not like he's ingratiate himself with the community.

It's not like he's like a fan favorite. Like, he's just an enigma that five years ago was the best player in basketball and since shows flashes but is never available. And now, if you're the clippers, you're like, James Hardin's like doing the Birdman rubbing the hands meme right now. now. He's like, it's, it's my turn. I'm captain now. Can you imagine how bad Kauai Leonard would get trashed and criticized if he ever did speak? He just doesn't talk. And so it's like, no, he is the weirdest, like, his actions are those of, it's the worst of the worst. Seriously, because it's not just

injuries, right? Usually you just feel bad for guys to get injured. It's the mystery around the whole thing. And it's, you know, a franchise has built out around a guy. And it's just been an abject disaster. And you know what you hear like about Bill Belichick and like Tim Duncan? They're pretty like quiet, soft-spoken people very serious. But everyone says like, oh, behind the scenes, like they're really a riot. Like when you really get to know Tim Duncan, like he's got a big personality.

No one's ever said that about Kauai Leonard. No one's ever been like, you know what? When the cameras are off and we're in practice, that guy's so much fun. No one has ever said that about Kauai Leonard. No one ever. All right, let's get the number two. What do you got? Number two, from Lod Managing Superstar to Load Managing Superstar,

the man who made, Kauai Leonard made him cry after knocking down the shot in Toronto, walking to the tunnel, Joel Embed. Joel Embed says he's focused on being healthy for the postseason, the postseason only. He's focused on not individual, but winning as a team. And he also said, for the rest of his career, not this season. for the rest of his career,

he can't see himself playing in back-to-back games. Now, if you are a Sixers fan, are you encouraged by this, or are you concerned by this? Concerned? What do you mean you're not going to play back-to-back games for the rest of your career? Rest your career!

Did he really say rest of my career? Yes, he said that. That's a quote. Okay, that's outrageous. It's outrageous to not play back-to-backed for the rest of your career. I understand if you're not feeling that good. I understand if you're injured, take some time off. Look, here's the one thing I have noticed about Philadelphia fans.

They will get mad at you or me if we criticize Joel M. B. for saying such things, but they will defend him to the death if we, we criticize him for it, right? Like, they can be mad about it and they can say it's goofy. But if we say it's goofy, then they're going to take up for Joel and Bid and, hey, look, he's right. And the only thing that matters, look, you get to have the last laugh if he ends up being, you know, if we end up winning the championship, right? It's kind of like, honestly, it's perfect because it follows along with the process.

You couldn't criticize the process because, well, let's just see how it works out. know, and now we have seen the way it's worked out and whether or not you were able to criticize if it was worth all of that losing in order to put themselves in a place to never get to an Easter conference finals. That is maybe a debate forever. But the point is, if they do it, they will defend it and say it's the right thing. And so I'm interested on the Embed front, on the your first question was would you be concerned

and of course yes that is concerning no I would be concerned what are we talking about it's an 82 game season do you know what Joel M. Jol Mede my impression of Jol Mbine Bid has changed

dramatically over the past two years like the MVP season he's so good but last year against the Nix he was twisting Mitchell Robinson's like ankle and he was doing all this weird dirty stuff and like Knicks fans were circulating these like like mashups of Joel M. B.

Dirty plays during his career. And it's not like one or two or three or four. There's like 14 of these things. And the way he was speaking to the media, like remember how good he was on social media, and tro L&B, and he was hilarious. And like he was just such a big personality. He kind of like reminded me of like Greg Oden when he came in the league.

It was just like such a great personality, so lovable, so likable. Obviously, we know what happened with Odin on the court. But Joel Embed went from like a guy I want to have a beer with, one of the best players and most fun personalities in the league. So now I'm like, I don't know, kind of seems like a jerk. I don't know. Maybe he heads out in the right place. It's going to be interesting to see if you really meant that,

if that's the way it actually goes. It's terrible for the NBA. Terrible if one of the best players, right? I mean, like, he is one of those guys that everybody wants to go and buy tickets to see in person. You're just crapping on the fans. And it's all for this as long as I'm healthy for the postseason. Look, we have had so many guys that have tried to pull this off.

I am a believer. We have gone, I think, the extreme wrong way on this stuff. There is, as far as anybody can show you, there is no evidence to suggest that load management works at keeping guys healthy. None. Every scientist in the world is trying to figure this out. And there's no, there's no buddy telling you that that has made guys healthier. I am of the belief that you train yourself to deal with the schedule.

The answer is not more rest. It is putting yourself through the physicality that it takes to be able and preparing your body to be able to get through the grind that is an NBA season. Because news flash, they play every other day as it gets to the highest levels of the conference playoffs. and then the NBA finals if you're able to make that, right? You are playing every other day when it comes to that time. You're more spread out at the beginning of the playoffs. But if somebody wants to give me the evidence that sitting guys down

and that this has had some kind of profound effect on keeping guys healthy, but I don't believe that's true at all. I think, in fact, the opposite may be true. In the playoffs, when he's on the court, he disappears in the second half and fourth quarter because he seems fatigued. It's not just about whether or not he is hurt or injured or playing or not. When he does play, he seems out of shape. So I think there is something to be said for that.

He seems to be someone who has not, like a Luca Donchish type. It's like, you're great, top five player, one of the best in the league. But like, I don't know. I wouldn't mind if you're kind of like, we're in shape. Is that too much to ask for a professional basketball player? I also just don't think it sets a good precedent at all, Jacoby. I just don't. I mean, everybody could do this.

Everybody could just say, you know what? We all know the most important thing of the season is the playoffs. So we could bubble wrap everybody. We could play all the awesome players for 50 games because the only thing that matters is the end. We could. But, I mean, you have an entire season that you're going to play and you, and you sell tickets to this. You sell 77 billion dollar TV rights. to this.

And so it's not a good precedent. You know, they say, hey, look, the only thing that matters is the playoffs and that I'm healthy, healthy for the playoffs. Like, that's great. We all decide that you need to be able to win a championship, but training to be able to get through that grind that is the playoffs,

I don't think that the answer is, you know what, I just don't need to be playing any back-to-backs. Do you know who I really want to hear from on this? one. I want to hear from like the guys that played in the 90s and the 80s. You know what I mean? I was, I would just love to be a fly on the wall. After they have a few beers just to be a fly on the wall when someone brings up to, oh, you know what, Joel is he's not playing it back to back to the rest of his career. I would just love to hear what some of them have to say about it. So sometimes people get that opportunity later this

And it's not just them. I mean, obviously he's such a high profile guy. The teams are doing this all the time. I go to games all the time. And I cannot believe who is sitting out. And I, How many times are you watching a game and guys are sitting out? It's fine if the guys are injured. The guys are injured. But there's so much rest management, load management, et cetera, that takes place in the league. And it seemed like that 65 game thing solved a lot of it. And now we're to the point where a guy like MB, it says, basically, I'm a made man.

I don't need to make all NBA. I don't need to win an MVP. I don't need any individual accolades. anymore. I just want to be healthy for the playoffs. If you're the league and you just bring in two new partners that pay billions and billions of dollars and he says something like this, you just got to be like,

come on, man. Come on. Come on, man. Like, there's billions of dollars at stake here. Moving on. All right. Next question. Who is the team you are confident? You got to leave this. This is crazy. All right.

Leave it in. Leave it in. Jesse. Jesse. Jesse, no. Save me. Jesse. Who is the team you are confident that you are higher on than most NBA observers? Okay. See, this is a trick question.

Because it's not who am I confident on it? It's like who am I confident on than other NBA observers? Yes. So I did my thing last time when I came on the mismatch. And I did my thing about the Rockets, right? I love the Rockets. That was more like I'm excited to watch them. But a team that I think that will win more games.

then most people that are sort of in NBA circles and pay close attention is the Atlanta Hawks. It's the Atlanta Hawks. Their over-under-win totals is 41 and a half. So basically like a 500 team. And I think that you obviously get picks back from Desjante Murray when you bring in Daniels and Nance, right? So that's basically saying we're losing the better player in the trade. Right. So, but how does that?

But I think they're actually going to be a better team because Trey Young, while he has many faults and hasn't played defense in his entire career, is like a one-man offensive machine. And I really believe in Jalen Johnson. And I think that I've always been a bogey fan, always been a bogey fan since he was with the Kings. And I think that Quinn Snyder with this team will have this team over 500. I'm, I can't bet futures because I'm too lazy. I can't wait for it to play out over six months. Like, I just can't. But if I did, I would bet it be over on this team.

I'm higher on the Hawks. Again, am I high on the Hawks? No, but I'm higher on the Hawks than most people that I know. That's fair. I'm going to give you a couple that we talked about the last time that we spoke. You know, I like Detroit. I love J.B. Bicker's staff. I've known him.

He coached in Memphis. And I love that young team. Yeah. And I think it's been, they've been wildly miscast with the, that whole Monty Williams thing was a debacle. And I do think J.B. is going to prove them a great deal. But I'm going to give you one that I would have never suspected. And you got, you might have to talk me out of this. Okay.

So I am able to overreact and or be persuaded by something I've seen in the preseason. And this just makes me normal. Hell, I was listening to Bill's Over Underpod, and he's on Risa Shea Island because he watched him play. Heard the pre-in. Notice I didn't mention him. You didn't mention Risa Shay. So anyways, I went to a basketball game last week in the preseason, and I sat next to the Charlotte Hornets bench. Oh.

And I watched them the whole game. close and personal, and I watched them interact with their new coach, Charles Lee, and I watched different guys rotate in it out of the lineup. And I saw, and I didn't see, La Mello Ball didn't play that night. But I saw, I saw a man playing, and I saw Brandon Miller started out like six for seven from the field and looked like, freaking Prime KD in the first quarter of the game. I see these weird like vets that are there that are like in the huddles and coming off the bench. Just an odd collection.

It's like guys, there's going to be times where you turn on league pass and you're like, wait, what? He's placed for Charlotte and you're going to see Todd Gibson and you're going to see Seth Curry and you're going to see Grant Williams. And it's like, wait, what is going on? Bridges is back. Yeah, so here's what I'm saying. They got these guys that they're bringing in off the bench, and then they've got the, you know, Mark Williams wasn't available, and he's supposed to be coming back, a big that I like.

And then there's, I'm sitting there. I love the way they're interacting with the coach, and I juxtapose this from watching them under Steve Clifford, which is maybe the worst fit ever for a young team, right? Like, there's nothing fun about Steve Clifford. Steve Clifford is going to get you to play the right way for sure, but he should be a veteran team's coach, right? And so now they've got this younger guy who I can watch coaching them.

He's relating to them. And I'm kind of overtaken by watching this playing out. And I'm like, you know, if Miller is really good, and as I'm watching him, he appears to be really good. And Lamello stays healthy. I mean, if you've got Lamello, Miller, and Bridges, that's three like under 26es, under 25s that are all, like, possibly all-star caliber players.

And then if Williams is good, and obviously you got man coming off the bench, I mean, I'm like, you know, I actually think this team is not going to be, I think they're over under a Vegas was like 29 and a half. And I'm like, this team can for sure win 30 something games. I actually don't think they're going to be terrible. I don't.

I think if I'm just looking at like young teams that might be frisky, oh, I saw the number six picks salon. He is big, big wing. He's like a six nine wing and he's mega active. Like, I don't know, man. Maybe I just saw him the right night. Trey Man looks cool. He's got both arms.

Hey, both arms completely tatted. Big headband. Big baggy jersey, baggy short. He looks like frigging Iverson or something out there. It's awesome. I don't know. You know you sold me on the whole thing? There's a whole rent.

One thing that sold me on it was I sat near the bench and I liked the way they interacted with their coach. I did. That's the part that really has me. It's like what you're saying is, in terms of them actually winning basketball games, I think it really swings on, on Miller and Ball being all-stars.

You know what I mean? Like, if they're really going to win games, it's going to be because they're a team powered to wins by performances from Ball and Miller. And you remember Miller didn't start great last year, but he finished great. Oh, yeah. And Ball, when Ball's right,

and if this new coach can sort of iron out some of the kinks that are very obvious in Ball's game, then I think that that is the bet you're making. But when you say this team is not going to be terrible, you're wrong. They're going to be terrible. I don't think so. I think they're going to be terrible.

I'm just telling you. You think so? We're recording this. This is recording. You know that, right? All right. We'll see. We'll see.

Moving on. We've all prepared for the season. And we've all done the research, you know, new faces, new places, which teams are gotten better, which teams we think have gotten worse, and like one consistent, one variable that is locked in the equation from anyone who ever speaks or thinks

professionally or at a bar about basketball is that the Oklahoma City Thunder will be the number one seed in the West. Like there's no one proposing a second team that could even possibly challenge the Thunder as the number one team in the West. What team, if not the Thunder, could be the number one team in the West?

Oh, I like this. I like this. And this is the moment where you think I could be a homer and I'm not going to be. Yeah, that would not be, that would not be responsible. It's not the question. It would not be responsible. I would say Phoenix. Hmm.

Yeah. I am a, I am a coach bud believer. Say whatever you want. You can criticize him when it comes to the postseason. If you want to say that he doesn't do this right, he doesn't do that right. This guy, this guy won 60 games in Atlanta, went to Milwaukee and won like crazy every year, then ended up winning a title. I loved, not like loved the Tyos Jones acquisition. Loved it.

Now you got Tyos Jones, and they got him for nothing. And the way they built out around those guys, they didn't really have any kind of, they had no method. to be able to build out a team like they did. And, you know, you get Bill, you get Durant, you get Booker. Now I got Tyos Jones. Grayson Allen shot the cover off the ball. And I don't know if you've seen the pictures of him. He looks like the damn incredible Hulk now.

I thought they were Photoshop. I did. I thought he was AI. I did too. I was like, that's not his arms. I didn't do certain angles. Like you could look muscular, even us. There's no angle that makes me.

Grace and how it look like Zion. No, right. We start calling him white Zion now? Maybe. And then they've got all these other guys like, you know, just guys that can at least give you minutes, the Monty Morris's and the Royce O'Neils of the world. But more than anything, it's Coach Bud.

And it's like, I've watched him unlock teams offensively and have them prepared each and every night to be able to be offensive juggernauts with a lot less. offensive talent than what he's about to have at his disposal. And I think it's a great match of coach and personnel. And if they get any amount of games of those guys together, because they still won a good amount of games last year and had nobody healthy. And I think people are a little down on them because they got their ass kicked by Minnesota so bad.

Yeah. I just think, I think talent-wise and regular season, night in, night out, win the game-wise. I could see Phoenix being really good this year, really good, and winning a whole lot of games. I can see it too. I mean, I don't know. It's going to be tricky with what they have happening at the center position. I mean, I think they can sort of like make up with it with saying, like, guess what? We've got two of the top, whatever, eight offensive players in the world.

And Coach Bud, what he did in Milwaukee, you talk about how he unlocks teams defensively, but he had a really interesting sort of offensively. He had an interesting defensive system in Milwaukee. He's like, we got Lopez. We got a tentacompo. We're going to put them. You're not scoring around the basket. Right.

You want to shoot a million threes? Go ahead. Shoot a million threes. And sometimes we're going to lose because you guys shot 45% from three, 50% from three. We're going to lose those games. But most of the time, you're going to shoot 33% from three. And we're going to kind of let you do that. And I'm not saying he's going to employ that same strategy in Phoenix, but I think that

that's overlooked that it was like, it was like some of that plays blackjack with a system. You know what I mean? It's like, I've got a system. They had a really good defensive system in Milwaukee underbud. So I think that. that he can even sort of, I'm not going to say

that this is going to be a defensive juggernaut the Phoenix Suns. It's sort of like not what they do. But he will, he will figure out a way to maximize what they do defensively to get them to a lot of wins.

I just, I think the Tyos Jones thing is going to unlock. It's a good point. So much. That's crazy offensive talent. And this guy, you know,

I witnessed him first hand for three years. Just absolutely. He never, turns a ball over and there are very few players in the NBA that truly make everybody on their team better. He's an unbelievable locker room guy. He's a great player. And I think this is the absolute ideal fit for him.

He's now just, I just run the offense and I am getting Devin Booker into the spot that he needs to be in. I am getting. And I always felt like it was clunky. They were like, oh, it doesn't matter. We don't need a point guard. anybody can bring the ball up. And that's why they were like 30th out of 30 and fourth quarter scoring.

If they just had somebody like, hey, man, now we're running KD off a curl. Booker. It's on stag. Booker off a curl. And now I've got a guy. I can, but I'm saying now I've got a guy that can just deliver the pass to these guys where they need it. So, I don't know, long-winded way. I'd say, I'd say Phoenix because I'm a believer.

I think that's a good call. I think that, I think with Nurkich and Plumlee at center, it's going to be tricky to win seven game series against some of the better bigs in the world. But we're not talking about the playoffs. We'll talk about the playoffs when it's playoffs time. For regular season, I think that if Oklahoma City's injuries or, you know, put it together or whatever, it's close, I could see the Suns being the number one.

Nick's talk. Yes. What's your opinion of things after seeing CAD in action with the team? And what effect did Dante? versus Rick Brunton have on your conversations surrounding this team. Okay. First of all, I'll answer them in order. Number one, the Knicks are undefeated.

Okay, they're undefeated. All right. Undefeated, New York Knicks. Undefeated. Carl Anthony, the bodega cat has never lost a game for the New York Knicks. Let me tell you a little bit about the city's feeling about this trade. And it has been a roller coaster ride. Like, initially, even the rumors of,

of their going after Carl Lansing Towns. It's been a couple years now. That's always been like, no, no, no, not cat, not him. Doesn't work, doesn't fit with the city, doesn't fit with Tibbs. It's already tried it. We don't want him, don't want him, don't want him. Let's wait for someone else.

Don't want him, don't want him, don't want him. Then they trade for him, and it was like, man, Julius Randall wasn't really loved here. I think that's well documented. Dante Devenzo was. And there was a little bit of this like, I don't know, Carltonetowns. But then you start thinking about the spacing

and what it means for Brunson. And Robinson and Hartenstein are very valuable centers, and they did a lot of great things for the Knicks. Not exactly space on the floor. No one's covering them from outside the three point line. And it gives Brunton a lot of room to operate. So from an X and no standpoint, you convince yourself and your friends

that this is going to be great for the Knicks and he's going to be great. So it's kind of like Aeron, right? He's never going to be beloved. No. We can't stand him. But if he's going to help us win a title, then we'll get down with it. It's a very good comparison.

And personally, I felt that. as well. I was like, from a basketball standpoint, Carlante Towns is going to fall in line with the culture. The Knicks have an identity under Tips. We are hard-nosed. We hustle. We play defense. We play a lot of minutes. We don't complain about it. It's like a military

thing. And I really like the cohesiveness. The certain players are brought in to play the Tib's way. And every player, think about these players that have come in. What you thought about Jalen Brunson before he was a Knick and after? What Oginobi was as a rafter and those those five games he played as a Nick.

Dante DiVincenzo as a warrior and as a Nick, precious, Hartnstein. Like, Tibbs gets the most out of his players, and I think he will do that with Kat. However, it all turned with Dante Devincento. He plays them 47 and a half minutes. Bro, it all turned. Of course he gets the most out of him.

They get 30 seconds of rest. There's only 30 extra seconds that they could have possibly played more, Jacoby. I felt so good at the, about this until that preseason game with Dante Jimintenzo. I felt so good about this until he's on the free throw line and he's, he's barking at Tibbs. He's like, this is what happens when they let you run the show.

And then after the game, you got to remember, he went to college with Jalen Brunson. So he's known Rick Brunson for years. He wasn't as his coach last year. That's Uncle Rick. Like Jalen Brunson and Donsey DiVincenzo, they have known each other for a long time. Rick Brunson, I'm not, I don't think the first time they met was when he was the assistant coach. for the Knicks. And he's going, barking at him after the game.

And I'm thinking to myself, I was like, I understand that there's certain hard feelings about getting traded, but he was passionate and angry. And it really made me feel like maybe not everyone's happy with this. Maybe the whole Nova Nix thing, maybe the chemistry that they had together and bringing bridges in,

maybe that was that intangible that was going to put them over the edge. And now I'm starting to think that everything is not right in that locker room. Like, like, Devin Chancel's pissed. And you got to remember, Devin Chancel, heart and Bridges and Brunton, they all played together in college. They're buddies. Like, I'm really starting to think, like, now what he says, look what happens when they let you run the show.

So the idea I thought, now you tell me if this is, if this is a fair thing, that he was yelling at Brunton's dad. because Brunson's dad is best buddies with Leon, who is the guy that actually runs a team. And the idea being, look, bro, we're going to take a lot less money on this deal with my kid. But you better go make something happen. Like, you got to go get us another star.

And the sacrifice was Dante DiVincenzo. Like Minnesota, that's the only way that they were going to move cat. From all accounts, they desperately wanted Dante Divencenzo. And so if that's the cost, then that's the cost. But the reason that it wasn't just to play with all of his buddies, even though that's what he said, right? I want this. I'm taking less so that all of this can happen.

So the idea being that I'm taking less, but like, look, you got to give me a, enough to be able to win a title here. And so we're now, I'm taking a little less. That gives us the opportunity to bring in somebody like this if it becomes available. I don't know. I think the inference is that the Timberwells have been asking for Devin Chenzzo to be a part of this for a long time. They've said no for a long time.

And I imagine, I don't know this for a fact, I imagine that that information got to Dante Devenzo and he felt like he was protected. This team loves me. This team has told me that. they're not going to trade me, that other teams want me, but they think I'm part of the future. They want to build around me as part of the core. And what he did to Nick's fans in that franchise in the playoffs, we don't have to go through again because he was fantastic.

And at some point, he saw a tweet that said he got traded. And I think that he felt like he was lied to. I think he felt like he was wronged. And he was clearly angry about it. And I think that that could trickle down into the chemistry of the team. I really think it could. It's made me concerned. It's made me concerned.

Okay, here's what I'd say. The best thing that could have ever happened was that that all took place in the preseason before this season ever even start. That's done now. That's out of the way. Dante was mad. This guy's mad.

And Dante got so mad that now all the friends are all communicating with each other. Like, man, you see how mad he was? You know what I mean? Like, right? And then it's all, but it's done now, right? that happened. There's not going to be some kind of moment during the season than when they're playing each other.

And that all explodes. It takes place and whatever. Like, it's all getting hashed out before the season starts next week. And so by that point, I think it'll be water under the bridge and I think your team's going to be just fine. I don't think it's going to cause some kind of massive fracture. I don't think so either,

really. But it feels that way. It just feels everything was so positive until that moment. And I'm like, wait a second. What's going on behind the scenes here? And you know Dante knows when he's on the free throw line that there are cameras pointed at him. When he turns his head and starts barking at the next bench, he knows that we're going to be talking about it six days later. Well, of course he's mad about it, right?

Of course he's mad about it. They moved him away from his buddies and he probably feels like he was lied to and whatever else. Did it bother you at all? The Carl Anthony Towns was at a Billy Irish concert watching a Minnesota Timberwell's preseason game on his phone. while the Billy, while the Billy Ilish concert was going on? I mean, what are you doing? Like, watch the concert. You know what I'm not a big Billy Irish fan, but like, watch the, why are you watching a Timberwolves preseason game at an MSG concert with Billy Island?

Just sit down and relax, man. You can watch the YouTube clips after the game is over. Well, and his girlfriend posted it. Well, that's the thing is he didn't, see, here's my thing about that is it's not like she posted it and he didn't know about it. So I think that I think he's, because here's the thing about Carlington Townsend might not work in New York is he feels like a tryhard. He doesn't feel like himself. And I think that he's like, oh, when she posts this, people think I'm grinding tape.

I'm so dedicated. I'm not even watching Billy Eilish. I'm grinding tape. And it's just like, it just feels inauthentic. And I just hope that he plays well enough that the city as a whole can kind of get over his quirkiness. All right. Moving on.

Okay. Jimmy Butler wants the extension in Miami. Okay. Jimmy Butler does not get an extension in Miami. Pat Riley, very critical of Jimmy Butler specifically after the season's over, pulls no punches. What is going on with Jimmy Butler in the heat and does he finish the season on the heat? So, Pat Riley actually sat down with the might as. media today. Here's part of the article from the Miami Herald that came out this afternoon.

With a $52 million player option in his contract for next season, Butler can become a free agent this upcoming summer. If Butler opts out and becomes a free agent next off season, he'll be eligible for a four-year max extension projected to be about $243 million with the heat or a max three-year deal worth $171 million elsewhere. Does Riley worry about losing Butler for nothing in free agency next summer? That's the big question. So Pat Riley had a selected group of people that cover the heat in his layer to answer their question. Here's his, here is his answer. Does Riley worry about losing Butler for nothing in free agency next summer? I wouldn't want to, Riley said when asked about the possibility.

He's going to have the ability to opt. and we're going to have the ability to extend. So I'm trying to get all of that thinking out of our heads because it's living in the present moment and playing basketball. So if there's something that's going to drag me down or him down because of that, then we're not going to perform at a certain level. But I think he's embraced exactly where he's at. I think he understands where we're at.

They have until June 30th assigned Butler to a two-year extension worth about $113 million that he was initially seeking at the beginning of the past off-season. season. And then it goes on to talk about the extension of the extension. I've had a lot of conversations with Jimmy about it. Oh, I haven't had a lot of conversation with Jimmy about it. I've talked to his agent at times.

I don't have to sit down and have these meetings with Jimmy anymore. He's a very intelligent man. And so this whole idea, evidently, he has gone out and has destroyed everyone during this preseason. He has played in every preseason game. And he has been awesome. And by the way, it's when the knock on Jimmy is like,

he doesn't take the regular season serious. Now he's taking the preseason serious. He didn't even play in the preseason last year. Okay? Butler's production was down across the board. He also missed 20 or more regular season games for the third time in the last four seasons. And then Riley actually says,

like, look, man, his father passed away. He had a really difficult year last year. I myself lost a couple people very close to me. I know the toll that that can take on you. He said, but in the end, all of these guys, we've kind of had this core together, and all of these guys have to be able to play. Jimmy, Tyler, and Bam have to be able to play.

We can't be doing this 35, 40 different lineups thing. All of these guys, and they do understand that. The interesting thing, he said, Last year, 35 different starting lineups were used. 35. 18 different heat players started at least one game. He says we don't have this team because we don't know about this team because you can't have Tyler and you can't have Bam and you can't have Jimmy playing 30 games.

It would be like me saying when I was coaching Magic and Kareem and Worthy, well, they only played 30 games. from the reality standpoint, we need everybody. I hope and pray we can be healthy this season. So I do, you know, look, I think this is going to be, uh, Jimmy Butler understands like he's, he's now going to be 37 years old. And so, and he has missed a lot of time. I think he probably does, he might be a little resentful, but I also think, I also think he probably understands, you know,

the business of basketball at this point in his career. and I also think he appears to be from what's happened so far, gotten himself in this crazy shape, contract year. I've got one more chance to go get this. I am killing people in these preseason games. I'm actually going to get to, assuming he plays in the fifth preseason game, I'm going to get to see him tomorrow night, Friday night, as we're recording this on Thursday night.

I'm going to get to see him on Friday night. but he's been playing throughout this entire thing. And so I think probably Riley's going to let this thing play out if we get towards the All-Star Break slash trade deadline. And this team isn't going anywhere and it's still a hurt mess again. Then, yeah, I think you could probably see a Jimmy Butler trade take place. If it appears this team does not have a chance to make a playoff run. But I would be shocked, if anything, to play. before that.

I would say that the heat are one of my teams that I don't have, I could see them finishing 11th and I could see them finishing third in the east. You know, like I don't, it's just, it's a real low ceiling, high floor team for me right now. A lot of that has to do with health. By the way, in that, for a, but I told you that I'm going to see even the fifth one. So they played Atlanta on Wednesday night. Jimmy Butler, 24 points on 8 of 11. shooting two of two from three, six of eight from the foul line, five rebounds, three steals,

three assists in 21 minutes. 21 minutes. Yeah, 21 minutes. He just went crazy. So like if he's already thinking, like, how seriously can you take something? I love it. Right? I love it.

I'm in. You know what? Hey, this is Pat Riley. This is Pat Riley. What I saw last night and what I hope to see in the future this year. is somebody that is a chance to lead us to the place where we can play for it. Riley said of Butler. That's all you want.

There you go. All right. Remember what I said about the low ceiling, high floor? Now, or whatever I said, now I got them as the four seed in the east. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Just from hearing that alone. All right.

Next, the rookie you will seek out to watch the most. Now, most of these rookies, you're going to have to find them on league pass, right? They're not going to be on national TV a lot because they usually go to a rat team. So who are you looking forward to? Who are you planning on seeking out? Oh, the one that I'm planning on watching, and I'm very excited to see, they're going to be on national TV a lot. And they're going to be in the playoffs, and they're on a contender dealing in. I like you, I overreact to some preseason NBA action.

I watched his debut against the Lakers, right? Now, I'm a casual college fan, right? I don't, like, really lock into college because I'm so locked into the NBA. 21 points in 25 minutes. In his second game, he had nine assists, and he's not going to be asked to do too much, but I really feel like he could be a contributor on a contender.

And I feel like when, you know, that you're going to hear the horn sound, and Anthony Edwards is going to come out, and Dillingham is going to come in, He's going to be give me the ball. For the next six minutes, it's Dillingham time. And he's got floaters, threes, assists. Like, he's just electric with the basketball.

And he is the rookie by far that I'm most excited to see on the floor. Will he get to play, though? Because now that they, after the DiVincenzo thing, that's the one thing, you know. Because that's going to be the DeVincenzo spot, right? I don't think that when they drafted him, they knew DeLenzo. Vincenzo was coming. Right. But it's, you know, it's, um, injuries happen, things happen.

He'll, he'll get some time and I think that he'll make the most of it. I was, I was, I'm overreacting to like literally like one hour on my couch, but he, he popped off the screen when he was on the floor in that game. It's Reed Shepherd for me. That's easy. I, I, I searched him out of Kentucky. That's easy. I searched him out of Kentucky.

Oh, well, they're both the Kentucky guards. Right? Yeah. I mean, come on. It's not like you took some unknown guy from Europe or something. Oh, no. Give me a break. I actually like the other guy of Minnesota, too.

Terrence Shannon. I thought he was awesome in college. Jeez, I wait. Oh, that's easy to read Jeff or not. I choose Rob Dillingham, who's been famous for 10 years. It's a good point. It's a good point. It was like the face of overtime elite.

So literally. The rookie that everyone is most curious about is right in your backyard. Like literally, so I went and visited Verno in his studio where he works. Verno's basically a grizzly. He is a grizzly. When you watch the game, he's the guy in the suit. He's the guy. He is the mascot.

He works at the arena, and he pulls me over to a window. He's like, look, there they are practicing. You look through this window. You look down. It's an adjacent. A recent building. You are a grizzly. You are a Memphis Grizzly.

And I was watching this man play basketball live. Zach Eadie is in like, he's just in like an undershirt shooting hook shots, getting coached up. Right there live in front of me. You can't miss him. He's 7.5. He's 7.5. If you watch Grizzly's games, you'll see that Verno, who does the, you know, the local coverage, he's always sweating because he has to take the mascot suit off. You know, he's got to take the mascot suit off

And then put the real suit on So you don't always get the sweat out But Zach Eady Is he's probably the most I think it's fair to say he's the most talked about rookie And he is truly like the most anticipated rookie Because like there's a part of you That thinks he's going to change the game

Bring back the post up big man Or this part of you's like oh he's just Canadian Taco Fall Okay So number one The second part of that is the most offensive thing I've ever heard heard of my life. Number two.

I was poking the bear, as they say. Anybody can go back and watch the highlights from the Indiana preseason game, which is, I mean, one of the greatest preseason performances in the history of man for a rookie. He was an unstoppable force of nature. Some have called him Maple Ming. he is seven foot five and was posting up and they're throwing him the ball

and he's drop stepping and dunking on people if the question is do I think this is all going to work certainly I have been most enthused by when the other team has a big guy like a traditional big guy I think he is a massive asset to have. Not one that pulls you far away from the basket, right?

And there's a lot of those in the Western conference. Yes. And not only that is a lot of teams can play that way if they want to. Correct. So I think he's going to be a massive asset for that. and I don't know how many post-ups he's going to get. I do think that him just being around the basket. I saw this with Stephen Adams.

I saw this as the under Valchunis. John Moran, after you set that screen, he drives hard to the basket. And if anybody jumps with him, a lot of times, he'll just dish it to the guy that's standing underneath the basket. And now you've got a guy that doesn't even have to jump to dunk. So I think he's going to be,

I think he's going to get a lot of those. I think he's going to be a huge asset against teams that have big guys. And what was interesting about the Indiana game in the preseason was they actually brought him off the bench. And that is an interesting one to me that I'm going to monitor. What if he was used like that? So you're the fourth option. You're the fourth option on offense, right?

You are not going to get as many shots as Desmond Bain or John Morant or. or Jaron Jackson Jr. You're probably going to get more shots of Marcus Smart, but maybe not, but at best your fourth or fifth option. But what if I ran you out there with the second unit, and we did do the post-up crap? And there's nobody that they're bringing off the bench.

And we let you cook. Like, you're going to go and get buckets almost in the... You remember when they used to do this with Enus Cantor? And Cantor would just go in and get like... You remember he played in New York even. But, I mean, there were nights. Canter gets you frigging 30 and 20.

Thunder cancer, blazer cancer. Yeah, that cancer, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Before he was Fox News canter, he was a guy that you would bring off and could like, but he would heat up and get you buckets and you could just, he would just dominate. Dominate you. And so I do wonder if there's like a little throwback to that. I think he's going to be super useful to have as a big guy against other big guy team.

And I think that on the teams that like play small ball, I'll be interested to see if they use him as an advantage and actually do post them up. People just don't post up in the NBA anymore. I know they did it in that preseason game. And you're still running everything to John Moran's going to be the guy. And so I do wonder if that's like an option where you will get to see him running out with second units to. and they kind of space out the floor a lot of times when they're playing against these small teams

but he comes off the bench and then they just they do they throw the ball into him and gets buckets. I have a couple Edy thoughts. One is I always like it when there's a player that when he gets up off the bench and goes to the scorer's table the other coach has to make a decision. And that's what Edy does for you. When he sees Edy, it's important.

possible not to see him because he's eight feet tall, stand up and check in and check in at the table. The other coach says, what am I going to do? What is my counter move? Do I go small and try drag him out? It just forces him to make a decision, which is always a good thing to have. Another Edy thought is one thing I want everyone to remember is he is a rookie in the National Basketball Association. So whoever he is this year might not ultimately be what he is eventually. This will likely be his worst year professionally. So I'm reserving judgment on where he fits and whether or not he's a viable NBA player. And here's, I know we're going to do predictions next week, but I have one prediction.

I want to get your thoughts on. At one point this season, I predict J. Marant dunks on Zach Edy, just to do it. He's just going to dunk on his own teammate. Just to do it. He's just going to dunk on. Zach, he's going to be turned around or something. And Josh is going to rise up and dunk on Zach Eadie because he just can't help himself.

That's going to happen at least once, maybe twice, in the regular season this year. And it's not going to be because Jock can't help himself. it's going to be because Edie's in the way. In the way. Yeah, he's just in the way. Bro, get out of the way. And if you're not going to get out of the way, then I'm just going to jump over you. It is a legitimate question.

Having a slow giant in the middle of the lane when you got one of the most explosive drivers in the National Basketball Association seems like a bad match. I know you are a Grizzly guy. No, you set the high screen. It seems like a bad match. No, he's a great screen setter. That's the trick. all you need to do is be at the top of the key set that screen

it doesn't take but one second for morant to get to the basket chikobi it's not like they're running in unison he sets that high screen and now it's off to the race durant's going to be at the rim and he's going to be at the foul line not exactly ready to catch a lop dude let me tell you something if you just let morant turn that corner he's there he's there so just set the screen

big fella oh I like this one the player who has been built up but people are going to turn on in the 24 25 season I had to think about this one oh really you had to think about it for zero seconds

for zero seconds I had to think about this one I've already turned on this guy and I turned on him a while ago and the world has already started to turn on him but I also mean turn on them as a basketball person and as a person person. And I think the obvious answer to this is someone who was celebrated as a champion. Just so recently, this is Jamal Murray. This is the year that everyone turns on Jamal Murray.

Nobody cares about Jamal Murray. Oh, everyone's going to turn on Jamal Murray this year. As a basketball player and as a person, he's. He's eligible for an extension. Yeah, because there's all this weird, like this whole like I want an extension things. He doesn't seem happy. He didn't play well last year. Like, like there's, I really think that we all saw what happened in the playoffs.

I don't accept this answer. This is the answer. He's not beloved. He's not, nobody gives a shit about Jamal Murray. Jamal Murray, after they won the championship, we were talking about. the future of the league. You have never seen a Jamal Murray jersey in your life in the wild. I know what you do.

You know what? And tell me if you've seen, they don't even sell Jamal Murray jerseys at the NBA store. Go up down the street. They're not even there. Come on. Nobody cares. All right. I'll give you another answer.

And I know the answer you want me to say. You engineered this just so. I would say that everyone's going to turn on Anthony Edwards. I know you. I was on your local show, and I might have raised some questions about Anthony Edwards finishing down the stretch in the playoffs. And I might have said that Anthony Edwards was overrated. I might have said that into a microphone.

And you wrote this question to get me to say Anthony Edwards. That's what you did. That's what you did. The first show is the official co-host. You set me up to say Anthony Edwards is overrated because you want the audience to love you. more. That's what this is about. This is a psychological issue that you are dealing with. You want to be the listener's favorite on the mismatch. And guess what? I'll say it then. You want me to do it? I'll do it. You ready? Anthony Edwards might be overrated. He didn't look

great at the end of the playoffs. Don't say might. Don't say Mike. He's overrated right now. Everybody loves him so much. You set me up to say this. You did. Admit it. Be honest with yourself and be honest to the audience. You set me up to say that. Can't let me, just give me a chance. Okay. I for sure set you up to make myself look better. For sure did that. Yeah. I'm for sure. I mean, and you trying to get away with the four Mulmourri fans out there are going to turn on him is bananas.

Nobody cares. about Jamal Murray. These four fans are out there like, what do you mean? People are going to start hating Jamal. Okay. You know what? Not me.

I'll never hate him. That's totally fair. I will be honest and say that Jamal Murray might not be the best answer as long as you're honest and say that you set me up to say Anthony Edwards. I know. Have you watched the Netflix show?

He is the only redeeming thing. Oh, yeah. Seriously. I mean, his personality. The rest of them are in. intensely boring people. Honestly, I want to go to Anthony Edwards and say, whatever it is, let me be your agent when you retire because he's going into media. I love him.

I love him and I love him as a personality and he doesn't care. He's like the realist one. The rest of it feels like it's all being filmed. Like they all know they're in a movie. Right. And right. Like, I mean, like, you know, everything is, it's, again, You're very aware that there's cameras around.

I don't think he cares that there's cameras around. I think he just acts however he's going to act. And he's so not overrated. And I can't believe you said that. Frankly, it's very offensive to everyone. Everyone's got to miss the face of the league. Oh, he might be Michael Jordan's son. And la la, la, it's like, well, I, do you see his last four games?

The last four times he played in competitive NBA games. Not great. Game 7, he was good. I'll say that. But game 4, 5, and 6, I was waiting for Anthony Edwards to take over. He did not take over. He looked great. He looked great against Durant, look great in that series. But as the playoffs went on, his production went down. And not just points. Like, everything he did went down a little bit. Might be overrated. Might be. Might be. We'll see. Jerry's still out on Anthony Edwards.

Everybody loves to be, you know, right? Everybody gets built up and then they get torn down. And so who is who is the guy that right now is built so high up almost that it's gotten extreme, almost that it's gotten extreme. Because that's when people start to recoil. That's Anthony Edwards. I'm just leading, I'm starting to recoil. That is Anthony Edwards.

How about this one? What do you got? Did you happen to see? So they did this shoot. huge thing on ESPN is like ESPN rank and we're going to announce the top 10 players in the NBA, right? Four was Shea Gilles, Alexander.

Wasn't he four an MVP voting, right? I would just tell you that your beloved Anthony Edwards went farther than him. I'd much rather have SGA than Anthony Edwards. He knocked off the nuggets. Anthony Edwards knocked off the nuggets, bro. The way The No

They knocked off the The Timberwolves knocked off the nuggets Anthony Edward That's why everybody was talking about Michael Jordan stuff Because he took down the nuggets He took down Yokic He took down the MVP

Might be a little soon On the SGA Fourth Best Players Is all I'm saying Really Well he's been elevated To where everybody loves him I'm trying to find

Who's the guy that gets torn down So you think people are going to turn on SGA? If they don't win at the highest level, for sure. With great gift comes great expectation, right? And so if you're already telling me that he's the fourth best player in the league, go look at the other guys that are listed in that top 10. He's won the least.

He's won the least. I can't believe you trap me. You trap me. He's one the least. he has won the least of the top guys in the league sure I mean I think

I think but when you talk about expectations he was not he has not been expected he has not been on a true championship contender one season of his whole entire career you could say last year but they kind of they broke out last year

they broke out that's fine they broke out last year and so the way all I'm saying is the wave right and then they start to tear you down as soon as it doesn't go right now you're I'm telling you he's never been put in a position to be called overrated.

And the Edwards. And now they have elevated him to that moment. Anthony Edwards is awesome. I can't believe he would say this. I like him. I'm just saying a couple of playoffs performances. A couple of playoff performances. I was just waiting for him to take over.

Just waiting. Against the map. He has the map. He's just waiting for him to take over on his home floor. He's like 22. Give him a break. let him grow last one

last one before we get to the bonus round which player that no one is talking about right now we'll break out and I think stars is strong

we'll break out and be like a nationally recognized contributing starting basketball player because right now is just sort of like

off the radar oh I've got one way off oh do I have one yeah this is my guy I absolutely loved him coming out of the draft and it's one of those where it's like

if you have conviction about a guy then what you do is you blame his coaches and you blame his situation if it hasn't worked out thus far that's if you have true conviction and you really love the player

and I love this player and so I have blamed his coaches and I have blamed his situation. I wasn't wrong. He has been done wrong. For two straight years has been in a miserable situation. I know who it is. Miserable coaching. And now in year three, he is going to prove me right that this guy coming out of the draft has all the star potential. you could have wanted and nobody thinks that anymore. Jaden Ivy. Ah, I thought you were to go with his teammate.

Jaden Ivy. Interesting. He has, go look through what he's done in the preseason so far. He is now under J.B. Bickerstaff. That Monty Williams thing was the most abhorrent mismanagement of a roster and players. I mean, he was.

Somewhere Kauai led it in Monty. Williams, they're just, get there on a face time with each other just laughing. I mean, and so, and obviously the first year, it was like Dwayne Casey and that was all a mess as well, right? So he's had two different coaches, the second coach. It got, it was terrible from the very beginning. The guy favored everybody under the sun. I don't know why him and Ivy got off to the bad foot, but it was like Killian Hayes and Sasser. And he would, he would have played anybody.

They'll go get them. They signed Kevin Knox off literally his couch. and gave him more minutes than Jade Nivey. It's like, what are we doing? What is going on? So that whole situation was a mess. I don't have to do any convincing about that. He has gotten bigger.

He's gotten stronger, if you've seen him. And through four preseason games, through the first four preseason games, 18 points, 61% from the field, 53% from three, and go into the free throw line, where he has shot 86% from the free throw line. So they had, they hired, if you remember, they hired Vincent the greatest shooting coach, the guy from New Orleans.

They got him. And they, remember they hired him before they hired a coach in Detroit? They hired him before they had even fired Monty. And he's there, and evidently he's been working with Jaden Ivy. and he is the guy that got even Herb Jones knocking down threes in New Orleans and his his track record is unbelievable over the years

his track record is unbelievable over the years but I think I think that he now has in between the muscle now he has the opportunity I see that they're using him and as I told you I'm a I'm a Bickerstaff fan And I think Bickerstaff can inject this kid with confidence because what they did is just tried to shatter his confidence these first two years. And that's not what that kid needed.

That kid needed to be built up. And now you're seeing the results, at least so far in the preseason. I think I thought Jaden Ivy was going to be a star in the NBA when he was drafted. And I refused to come off that. I refuse to blame him for his plight so far. because I think he's got top 1% athleticism and speed with the ball and now he can shoot.

I think he's going to be a star. I do. When they drafted him and then I was like six or seven picks later got Jalen Duren and they already had Cade. I said to myself that this is the nucleus of the future. And obviously it is not played out that way. You could also say Jalen Dern

it goes everything you said about Ivy you could also say about him, right? Yep. obviously wasn't drafted as high. But when they had those three, I was like, oh, I now see what's happening in Detroit. But here's my follow-up question for you. When you lose like that, the way they did last year, and you're that young, literally every time you put on sneakers, you lose.

What, they lose, like 21 in a row? They're breaking records. Can that have repercussions on your career? I'm not going to say last forever, but last that bleed into this year, the bleed into next year. Of course it can, but I think I am of the opinion, yes, and I think it can ruin careers. I've witnessed this and I've covered all manner of guys. And, you know, I've talked about this a lot over the years. It's almost like you've got to have a conviction about the guy, all right, the same way I do about Ivy.

And I'll give you a good example on this. There's a lot of guys that are going to fall off the wayside when you are horrible for a bunch of years and you are Phoenix. And you remember, and I would say that the situation there and the players drafted and the turnovers and coaches and firing this guy and firing that guy and tanking every year, that it ruined a bunch of them. That there's probably a lot of those guys from Alex Lend to Dragonbender to Josh Jackson to you could go through the list of all the guys, right? Were they all just misses or were they put into terrible situations?

and it's like there are kids and you have kids as well. I look at it as good school, bad school. And there's some kids that you could take the same kids. And if you put them in a good school, that they're going to be nurtured and they're going to be able to do, they are going to be able to reach whatever potential they have. And if you would have put them in the bad school, they might have just fallen off by the wayside. But there's also kids that are those exceptional kids that you can put in the, the bad school and it doesn't matter where you put them.

They're going to succeed. Doesn't make any difference. That's Devin Booker. Yeah. He was around for all of it. He was around for all the bad habits. He was around for all the losing night. He's around for all that.

But he's so damn good that it didn't matter. And he's so self-driven that it didn't matter. And I think that that's when there's some that you can even have in those situations and it's not going to have that profound effect on them. And so I do think that there are others that for sure, right? They might have just ruined their career being a part of that. They never learned how to like truly play basketball. They never learned what winning basketball is.

The sting of losing got taken away from them. I am vehemently anti-tank, vehemently, and do think it has a profound effect on people. but if you're exceptional, I think you can overcome it. And I think he's exceptional. I think that's a great call. Before we wrap, I do have to recognize something that's happening here in New York City. This is indicative of something that's happening nationwide. But I've lived here for, God, since the mid-90s.

And some things catch on. And the New York Liberty have this city in an absolute chokehold. The Yankees are going on right now. I would say, like, the Mets are kind of more important than the Yankees at the moment. And the Liberty, there's, like, at, what was it? Last night. Yeah, game three was last night and half of the TVs are on the Mets. And half of the TVs are on the Liberty.

And when Sabrina hits that shot, the bar explodes. It's like, and you, there's Liberty hats, Liberty sweatshirts, you know, Liberty stuff all over the city. The, the games are packed. It's been building all year. It's been building all year. There's a, there's a billboard right, right outside MSG that's Yerenescu,

and it has a picture of her hitting the shot. Like, that, the way that they lost game one was absolutely heartbreaking. And that was, that was a fantastic game. That Courtney Williams three, they were up by so much. And watching the game last night, felt like they were going to go down into two, one hole. And Sabrina, I think one thing I want to say for those that watched the game is, if you didn't see the game, you saw Sabrina shot, right? Like, wow, big shot, tie game.

I can't believe she took that in that spot. Yeah, you saw that. But what you did not see is three possessions earlier, she hit another three that I think was even bigger. I think that put them up three. That was like an even bigger shot than the was. She hit two huge threes. I think she only had like 15 points. It's not like she was like lighting it up.

Stewie had 30. But that shot, when you have a crystallization moment like that, that as you said, can go viral because if you're watching social, it only takes four seconds to watch it. And it blows your mind. And like in today's society, a moment like that, and the WMBA has had many of them this season, it's going to echo for years.

I promise you. If they win the championship. Okay, here's what I'll say. Right now you've got, The Mets going on. You got the Yankees going on. The Yankees. You've got Devante Adams just getting traded.

Yeah. Devonte Adams just going to the Jets. The Knicks getting cat. And the Knicks getting cat. The Rangers just starting, right? Like so, I mean, there's another team that's playing. Obviously, everybody is so excited about this upcoming Brooklyn net season. So that's on the radar.

It's up. I wonder, I bet not the finals aren't fair, but I bet a regular season ticket for the Nets would be probably the same as the Liberty right now. No, but you're saying the Liberty is for sure registering even in the midst of all of that. Yeah. And I'm not going to say these are hardcore Liberty fans that can name Three Liberty, but like they're buying hats. Kids are wearing hats and, you know, and little boys are wearing hats,

sweatshirts, you can't keep the Liberty stuff in stores. It's kind of like, it's a buzzy, trendy thing that has, it's like, viral is not the right word, but it's, it's spreading. You can feel it. You know what I mean? Like, like, when you walk around the city on Game Day, there's a lot of people wearing

liberty stuff. You know, like, like, in certain cities, like when the team succeeds, the fans come out, it's a little bit like that. Like, like, people are really embracing this team and there's stars, like there's stars on this team. And, um, it's, it's, If they win by 30, it's not the same, but winning like that, the way they won last night.

And the way, as you said, like, you can take that 10 second clip and everyone has seen it. It's hit everyone's algorithm. It's gone across everybody's timeline. You can encapsulate it into a one moment like that. And her reaction, you know, like that sort of like stone cold, like no fist pump, just kind of like grit the teeth, Kobe Bryant kind of a reaction. It's just like it's so emotional. I get chills just even like talking about it. Like that moment like that, which I think they will win the championship.

I think that moment will be a moment that will sort of like forever, forever echo in sort of like basketball history here. And I can't think of another women's basketball moment that has done that in this city. It's going to make a hell of a Nike commercial. And I'll tell you, my daughter's 11, she's got the Sabrina's. She loves them. Yeah, they're good shoes. No, they think they're great.

I mean, like, I would say, I would say the ones that she is, worn the most you know, because you buy her different shoes and then she wears them for whether it's volleyball, basketball, whatever. I'd say the Janus twos, she had like the purple ones of those. Because kids will just

they just end up wearing whatever's the most comfortable thing, right? If their tennis shoes aren't comfortable, then they're just wear crocks, right? And so my kid just, my kid wears the one that he doesn't have to tie. So he's got like a pair of running shoes. He can just slip on. He's got Jordan ones. We got to unlace those.

And then lace them back up and then tie them. But I'm going to slip into these ones. I would say the ones she's worn the most were the Janus twos and then now these Sabrina. She wears the Sabrina's all the time. She says they're comfortable as hell. It reminded me of the Larry Johnson four point play. Obviously, you can't compare those two. It doesn't have the same social impact.

It won't, you know. But it is analogous in the way that it's one small clip that changed the game, changed the franchise, advanced to everything. And I think that I think they will remember that shot. for a very long time. I do too. I could not be more thrilled that we're getting to do this together. We're going to be doing it throughout the entire season.

On Monday night, we're going to be back. We're going to be doing our predictions for the upcoming season, the standings, the awards, our champion, the playoffs, the whole thing. Thank you to our executive producer, Jesse Lopez, as always, and Jacoby. I will talk to you next week. He's the executive producer.