The Mismatch - The Depressing Lakers, Trae Vs. NY, and Our Loves and Loathes of the Week

Episode Date: December 6, 2024

Verno and Jacoby discuss Ja Morant’s ejection, Jonathan Kuminga’s performance in the Warriors win, and their excitement for the knockout stage of the NBA Cup next week (01:12). They then dive into the teams (11:20), players (31:40), and things (42:18) they loved and loathed this week. 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

Look, it's not that confusing. I'm Rob Harvilla, host of the podcast 60 Songs That Explain the 90s, except we did 120 songs. And now we're back with the 2000s. I refuse to say aughts. 2000 to 2009. The Strokes, Rihanna, Jalo, Kanye, sure. And now the show is called 60 Songs That Explain the 90s, colon the 2000s. Wow.

That's too long a title for me to say anything else right now. Just trust me. That's 60 songs that explain the 90s, in the 2000s, preferably on Spotify. Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Fernin. And joining me see us every week from the ringer.com. It's Dave Jacoby. Jacoby. What's happening, Bruno? Friday.

It is Friday. We've got to go through our loved and loathed from the week that was. In terms of last night, I was at a basketball game. I watched the Sacramento Kings play against the Memphis Grizzlies. First time I've gotten to see the Kings in person. I saw John Morant ejected from a basketball game. First time in a long time, I can remember seeing that. Look, I'm not going to go in depth too much on this, but I will just say, is the first time I saw the Kings.

I think the Kings, when you look at the standings right now, they're a little bit lower than people thought they would be. They have had some injury problems this year. I will just tell you that as seeing them in person last night, they still have the two great players in Fox and Subonis. Of course, they've added to Rosen, but it is a little, we don't have role players.

We don't have depth anymore. There is, you know, the starting lineup, I think you watch it, and now Monk is in the starting lineup, and there's part of it. And so that obviously hurts the bench, but you're watching that game, and you're going, who doesn't need the ball?

And so I think after just seeing them in person, seeing it up close, maybe a little bit lower than I was without seeing them and watching it play out. Obviously, the grizzlies bench just absolutely decimated them. They bring nothing off the bench. Now that Monk is in the starting lineup, they bring nothing off the bench.

But it's an interesting game. unfortunately fourth quarter took 100 years like many of them have we will get to that a little bit later in the show but I don't know all in all Berno yeah

elephant in the room what's up with your guy Jha I mean everyone's talking about him getting ejected but prior to him being ejected it was a very we were texting about it it was a very unjaw like performance I've never seen him like he was in that game and I don't

know if he had a bad day. I don't know if he had some kind of injury, but he was completely disengaged. And so I'll wait to worry about it. You know, they play against Boston this weekend. So you're going to find out how engaged he is or not. But for that, for last night's game, he was, he didn't even want the ball. It was very bizarre. It felt like today we're going to find out he had a 102 degree fever. You know what I mean? That's kind of what it felt like. He ran to the corner and stood there. I know. Like he was Steve Novak.

It was just like, what are you doing? Like your job, get the ball. And incredibly bad timing, considering he gave the quote to Tim McMahon while they were in Dallas that he wasn't going to dunk anymore. It's like, hey, bro. Okay, understandable that you are attempting to keep yourself out of harm's way as much as you can. You're not going to attack with the same ferocity because you've gotten clipped and you've already missed a bunch of games because you got, you know, somebody clipped you. But that doesn't mean you

you, okay. Stand in the corner. Not talking is one thing, John, but not touching the ball. It's going to keep you healthy. It's going to help you win games. Yeah, that's not how we need like, okay, fine. I can go along with you where you don't want to dunk as much, but this is. stream. And so the timing of it was just bad. It was. Anyways, and I think I'm a little bit lower on the Kings, obviously.

That's fair. After watching them, it's just, it's a little clunky. I felt like they were very, very difficult to defend these last couple of years. And I did not think they were as hard to defend. There's less movement. And a plot of that is because you had some guys playing for them that really popped that ball around. There are really the two guys that were going to make it happen and everybody else kind of played off of them. That DeRosen fit is a little odd because individually he is

going to be very successful. But in terms of being a part of a team that bops a ball around all the time and is constantly moving. And I just thought they're very like European style, put a ton of pressure on your defense. Everything functions off that Fox's a bonus. pick and roll and it's very hard to deal with. I don't know. I didn't love it. I didn't love it, but it was fine. I mean, I might have just caught him on a bad night. My basketball experience last night is another Thursday night where I'm being held hostage by the late game, you know, because we tape Friday morning, so I usually want to get a little rest. But the Rockets Warriors game was just

absolutely fascinating. And it was a really interesting story for Jonathan Kaminga because Draymond's out, Steph is out, where are they going to get baskets? Where is their offense going to come from? Because we all say, oh, they play 13 people. Oh, they're so deep.

Yeah, they're deep, but they're not deep with guys that can get you baskets. And you're looking at Wiggins and Kaminga. Kaminga had himself a really good night. You know, he had a couple big buckets at the end. And one of the things that I really found heartwarming

was he gets this and one at the end of the game right in front of their bench. And Steph and Dremond are the, the first two out there, and they're so excited. They're so secondhand excited. They're thumping their own chest because of something that Kaminga did. And it makes me think about the franchise's lack of commitment to Kaminga this summer. You know?

And I think a moment like that in a game like that. I think he had 33. I don't have like the box room in front of me. Well, it's all about like, you can say lack of commitment. But I think it would have been hard for them to spend a fortune on Jonathan Kaminga, which is what he wanted. By all accounts, that's what he wanted. He didn't want like a Jalen Green type deal.

He wanted to get paid a fortune. I think it would have been very difficult to pay him a fortune while in the same summer that you let Clay Thompson walk. I think the story is going to be Cominga, but there's a Jalen Green turnover at a very key point with like two possessions left in the game. He drives to the hoop and does the like get under the hoop and try to kick it back out to a wing shooter.

but it wasn't a wing shooter. It was a warrior, and it was just like such a deflating possession. Jalen Green, as much as I love him, and as much as I love this Rockets team, like he's, he's very feaster famine.

He's, he's really got to work some stuff out. And, yeah, that was the end of my, the cabs nuggets was kind of whatever, to be honest with you. Caves Nuggets did not hold my attention

the way I expect them. They ran them out. They really did not hold my attention the way they expected. They look, they looked good. Well, And it's good that that Rockets Warriors thing gets a little juice because one thing that has taken place since we last spoke is this NBA Cup is set. The Emirates Cup is set.

And those teams are going to face each other. We got two games next Tuesday night, which of course we'll get to on our Monday or on our Tuesday show. But Buck's Magic Dallas OKC, two good matchups. Loved. And the expectation is that Chris Middleton is going to be making his debut. before that time. It's evening. And then Trey Young versus the Knicks in the Garden, Golden State, Houston.

Trey Young coming back to the Guard in, in a win and you're in, losing you go home scenario. It's just the basketball gods have blessed us. You love it. Oh, I love it. They scream F. Trey. They chant F. Trey Young at Yankees games. They chant F. Trey Young when it's rush hour and the subway is delayed.

Like, it's just any sort of, any sort of group gathering of people that live in the five boroughs of New York in F. Trey Young Chan will break out. Like, I think it happens at Thanksgiving dinners. Would you say in terms of you're in the city, if I were going to say, like, a current ranking of who New Yorkers hate, sports-wise. Oh, sports-wise. That makes it easier. I was like, well, the mayor's not very popular right now. You think he's there at the very top? Well, Aaron Rogers is probably number one.

Come on. And then, you know, there's a certain owner for the Knicks. Is it because of his poor football player? Or is it because he refuses to wear a mask everywhere? Did you see the trailer for his documentary? Oh, no. It's everything you want. It's everything you want.

Oh, I can't wait. He's like got like paint on his face and they're blowing smoke at his face and he's in like an ayahuasca circle. Like I really hope I get to watch Aaron Rogers trip balls on ayahuasca on film. But that's either here nor there. Yes, Trey Young is he's the number one basketball villain. But it's also like it's a respectful fun thing. It's funny. This is the most New York thing ever.

I ask you who New Yorkers hate the most in sports? And your first three-A-Stars were players that play for New York teams. Yes. Yes. And the owner of the Knicks. He's high up there. But I'll say it's fun because I think it's like a mutual

respect and this is a little rivalry thing. And he really like plays into it and plays it up and does the bow after the game. He won last time. So it's honestly like more fun than like a heated, heated rivalry. You know what I mean? Like a Yankees Red Sox thing. It's more just like fun. It's like a Broadway show. Yeah, it's like, it's fun.

And he's great at the being the villain. He's great now. Yes, and the Hawks are playing great right now, and we get to them later. That's the team I love this week. Okay, well, let's get to the teams that we loved and loved throughout the week. Because I am going to start. This is perfect, actually. We said that these two teams are going to match up in the Emirates Cup.

My love team is, of course, the New York Knicks, who earlier this week, Dave Jacoby said to me, the team that I like less than I expected to is his own beloved Knicks. They are now 14 and 8. They're third in the Easter conference. They have won four in a row. They have won eight of their 10 games that they have played in Madison Square Garden. They are third in point differential in the east behind only Cleveland and Boston. And it was one thing, like, you know, they beat the horn.

It's fine. the Pelicans fine. But then they had this massive matchup where they were going to be playing against the Orlando Magic, as hot as any team has been in the entire NBA. And the pressure of an Emirates NBA Cup game as well. And they dropped 106 in the first three quarters of the game and were up by 30 before they lost the fourth quarter by 15,

which made absolutely no difference. No, it did. It did. because if the magic lost by 37, they're out of the cup. Okay. Yeah. So they didn't put their foot on the gas? Yeah, yeah.

So the magic, we're like, we can't lose by 40 or else we're out of this city. They must have to call time out at some point. But before you continue, Bruno, I want to tell you a little story about that evening. Just a brief personal aside, we, my wife back in October, it's like December 3rd, we're going out with my friends for dinner. And in October, I'm just like, yeah, sure, whatever. I'm not cross-referencing it with the Emirates Cup skin. You know what I mean?

It might as well be 2027. When I talked to home, you're like December 3rd, marked this date. So we have to go out. It's this Tuesday when they have the game against the magic. It's literally at 7.30. The game starts at 7.30. So we have a babysitter. My wife and we have three kids and she's pregnant.

I'm going to have a fourth kid. So I've got a pregnant wife. She's throwing up. So she's pregnant. She's throwing up. She doesn't feel well. She has to cancel the dinner. But we didn't cancel the babysitter because it was

too late. So there I am at the house. My wife is sick in the back room. The kids, I get them PJs, get them fed. The babysitter's there. I'd go into my wife's room. I say, Joey, the kids are all set. Do you need anything from me? Are you okay? She's like, no, I'm okay. I feel pretty good. I stop you. I was like, can I go to the Knicks game? No. The babysitter was there. Wait. So I left my pregnant sister. wife in the house to go to the next game.

Oh, she's the best. She doesn't listen to the mismatch so I can tell these stories. But yeah, that happened in real life. I went to the game. What was her real response? No, her real response. I did, I may have

like, did it look like, it's good for work. I did that thing. What did the babysitter say? Babysitter doesn't care. She's the best. Yeah. She does. She's like, she's like, 19 years old.

And the kids are all set. And she's a sweetie. I was like, yeah, take care of Joey. She's like, I got it. Go ahead. Go to the game. So I went to the Knicks. I was at the Magic Knicks game.

And the garden was rocking. And it was a perfect performance from New York Knicks. So did somebody have a ticket or are you now trying to acquire tickets at that time? Acquire a ticket via one of the ticket serving apps, which is an annoying experience. Because right before the game, they all kind of get scooped up. So I'd find one that I like, but then it would get scooped up. But I ended up. to download 17 apps, create seven profiles, put in my credit card, $250.

Oh, that's not as bad as I thought of you were going to say. Well, the thing is, I didn't have a great seat, but I also didn't take my family. Because if I take the kids, that turns into $1,000. You know what I mean? Yeah, bumped into some friends, had a couple adult beverages, came home after the games. Great experience. So what did you think about watching them live? I was part of it.

Did you fall back in love with the Knicks? Oh, absolutely. my favorite team to watch the lead. Just think about this. Cat 23, Brunton 21, Hart 11, 13, and 10, Bridges 19, OG 18, Deuce McBride 18. It was a perfect Knicks game.

Perfect game. And the only thing that could have been better is I'm sure you've seen the between the legs swing spin pass that Kat did from the top of the key to Bridges in the corner. You know what I'm talking about? Too amazing highlights from that game. The unnecessary.

saucy pass. But also the the refs there down. Banging into Mo Wagner staring down the ref and then turning around and hitting a fadeaway jumper.

A really good looking turnaround jumper too. It was a great. It was honestly I was worried about this game. That's kind of one of the reasons I went. I was like straight up. I was like concerned about them losing this game. And it was an absolute blowout. But continue.

He's averaging 25 and 13 in shooting. 45% from three Towns is he really I mean he was like 52% from three like a week ago but like that's insane that's insane and he's leading the league in rebound and you're talking about the Kings and DeRosen and the fit there and we brought it before like we're always talking about these fits with these new guys

and Carl Anthony Towns is just like it seems like he's been on the team for four years the Knicks are my love and I am so glad to hear that you have fallen back in love with them Yeah. I might have had done do some soul searching after Tuesday's pod. This is going to be super fascinating because you have to build up the proper vitriol for Nick's Hawks next week.

And I fear that you're about to say the Hawks. You know that the team I love is the Hawks this week. Oh, boy. And they deserve it. Five straight wins. This season, they've beaten the Cavs twice and the Celtics. And they had, they did something last night. against the bucks.

Who had won seven straight? Who I do want to mention that we saw this coming, that we'd say, oh, the bucks are right, the bucks are back, but they have a nice little schedule there. We called our shot on this. If anybody listens to the mismatch, we said a couple of weeks ago, they will fool us. Yes.

Because we looked at that schedule and we said what was going to happen. It's like wizards, pistons, wizards, pistons. And the Hawks game is a winnable game. It's a winnable game. And the Hawks did something last night, which I was just so impressed by, and it was just swarming defense, not just Dyson Daniels doing it himself. I think Bogdanovich had a bunch of steals. They had 16 steals last night.

I saw a clip because I was bopping around, so I didn't watch every possession of every game, but I saw a clip. I'll send it to you. Look it up if you're listening to this podcast. Trey Young closes out on three different three-point shooters at three different parts of the court, like one on the left wing, one in the corner, one in the right wing, in one possession. He's flying around on defense.

I saw that as it can't be popped up on like Reddit or like what am I algorithm or whatever. And I was like, let me see this. Like this can't be real. It's real. They play great. And Jalen Johnson, who they just signed, looks, that's, that deal already looks like a steal.

He's averaging 2010 and five and a half assists. Remember when DeAndre Hunter was going to be DeAndre Hunter? Oh, do I ever? I think he might be DeAndre Hunter all of a sudden. Have you noticed that? You like this. Johnry Hunter might be DeAndre Hunter. The Hawks are hot.

They're coming into the garden. This is a perfect storm. Are you building them up just in preparation for the Emirates Cup? No, no. Preseason, if you listen to the mismatch, preseason, I like them. And I've been really impressed by Risa Shea. Daniels has come out of nowhere. And, you know, Jalen Johnson, everyone thought was going to have a great year, and he's having an even better year than everybody thought.

Do you have a sickness and babysitter booked for P. I don't know if I can pull that off again. I'm going to poison my wife, my pregnant wife. Honey, why did you book a babysitter for Tuesday? Just eat this, just drink this shake. I just made you. I've got to go see my. beloved hawks. That's what you're going to tell her. I got to go see my beloved hawk. Oh, let's go to the team. Loathed. All right. The team I load is, of course, the Los Angeles

Lakers, who else going to be? I mean, come on. 40. I talked about it earlier this week. I talked about how Franz Wagner, we made the clip out of it that after they lost 119 to 118 to the Orlando Magic. They then proceeded to lose to Denver by 25 to the Sons by 27. They beat the Spurs. Then they lost to OKC by 18. Then they beat Utah when Will Hardy called a timeout on college sexton's game winner.

Then Minnesota beat him by 29. I mean, they just have stayed getting their ass beat. And so it's like, okay, time to stop the bleeding. Enough is enough. Yeah. Everything said that is needed to be said. I mean, look, Jacoby, the only thing that's left now is a player's only meeting because you had after they got absolutely humiliated by Tyler Hero and the Miami Heat,

you have LeBron James coming out and saying, it's not on the coaches, it's on us. and when he is asked by, I believe it was Dave McMinneman, a couple different times about what JJ said. You don't have to tell me what JJ said. I agree with everything that JJ said. I agree with everything he said. You can bring up anything.

If JJ said it, I agree with it. I agree with everything that JJ said. And so basically it's on the players. It's not on JJ Reddick. but as the humiliation has continued, it's getting pretty bleak, man, when your response to getting your ass kicked for the last two weeks is to go get your ass kicked even worse.

Yeah. I mean, there's some really damning clips from that game. Because it was such a blowout, and I started watching other games, but there's that one possession that's making the rounds where Duncan Robinson gets the ball underneath the hoop. It's like a wide open shooter sees Duncan Robinson wide open under the hoop.

They kick it into Duncan Robinson. He's like, I don't like to shoot from here. And then he kicks it out to another wide open shooter. It's just like, honestly, it's ridiculous. There's some defensive possessions in that game that honestly make it feel like Fandall should be investigated. Well, and here's the deal. Not letting them off the hook on this where we get to,

now we have to look at this situation different than every other situation that we ever look at in the NBA, okay? You don't get to say it's on the players, it's not on the coaches. I can't joystick this. You know, they've got to compete. They've got to play hard. Jacoby, that's the job. That's the job.

Okay? Stop acting. Then what do you do? What do you do? Because I can find a guy that can X and O's. The job is that they can. play. The job is that they play for you. And in fact, every year we fire coaches because teams don't play for them anymore. We watch them play and we say they don't have the motivation. They're not

playing for it. There's got to be a change. But instead, in this particular situation, what we're saying is, this isn't about the coaches. This is the players. I can't coach effort. Like, bro, that is the job. you could find a million guys that can X and O. In fact, most of these teams are not running some kind of complex, schematic advantage. It's a high pick and roll. Yeah. It's a high pick and roll. And it's a kickout.

Right? So if they're not playing, then what is the job of the coach? If the job is not for them to play. I think that's a great point. And I also just want to say this. This is the opposite of the bucks. This is who the Lakers really are. Like that 9 and 4 start, they were beating up on bad teams,

which is a thing that good teams do, but they've had a stress where they're going against mediocre to good teams, and they're losing dramatically. And this is who the Lakers are. We were fooled before by thinking that they were a good team or a playoff team. This is who they are. And this is the thing, look, the roster is not good enough. Let's set that aside, okay?

no defenders. Okay, look, with any team that is faltering, we blame two things. We blame the coach and we blame the best player. Those are the leaders of the team. Right now, everybody is giving, like, they're going to go to them and they're going to say, look, LeBron's playing hard and LeBron's having a good season. It's everybody else's fault. LeBron's going to say, J.J. Reddick, it's not his fault. It's everybody else's fault, right? They're not following you guys. That's the gig. That's the gig of the coach. That's the gig of the best player.

If the rest of the team is not playing hard or you don't think they're playing hard, it's because they are not accountable to you. So I'm going to just pile on with the player that I load this week and we'll get back to

regularly scheduled programming because it's LeBron James. I'm a huge LeBron James guy. I'm in LeBron James Stan, admittedly. But he's not the player I load this week because he missed a million threes in a row. Everyone's seen the stat. He missed 19 threes or whatever he did. And he played, oh, he scored 29 or whatever in that game against the heat.

Fine. The thing that I loathed about LeBron James this week, which of why I'm putting it here, because you so elegantly spoke about the leaders of the team being the leaves of the team, it was, I saw the clip. Tyler Hero hit seven threes in the third quarter. and I said to myself, because I didn't watch the game, they're down by 30. I'm going to watch another game. And I click on that clip.

In every single one of those makes from Tyler Hero, LeBron James is underneath the basket because he's hidden, he's hidden on defense against like Bameta Bio or whoever he's covering. He's not running around. And every single time the ball goes through the hoop, LeBron James' body language is the exact same. Slumped shoulders, looking at the guy who contested the shot,

throwing his arms up, like how come you guys can't do better? And when you talk about the leadership, and it happens, watch this clip. I'll send it to you. It happens on the first shot, the second shot, the third shot, the fourth shot,

the fifth shot, and the seventh shot in the third quarter. It's the exact same. He sees the ball go through, and he slumps his shoulders, and he blames his teammates, and then he takes the ball out of bounds. It's the exact same thing on all seven shots.

And when you talk about leadership, and we talk about vibes, and we talk about, you know, which teams are having fun playing basketball. Of course, you're not going to have fun when you're down 30, but it wasn't a, we need to get it together. Let's, let's, let's really work hard to dig ourselves out of this hole. It was, what are you guys doing out there? You need to be better.

That was his body language. That's right. It feels like the best player and the coach probably go into the coach's office and bitch about the rest of them. Yeah, that's what it does feel like. That's exactly what it feels like. And it felt like LeBron, we're standing under the basket because he doesn't play anybody on defense. And he was like, you guys need to be better.

That's not my job. He's like, we'll make it your job. It's frustrating. That was the player I love this week. Team I load this week. Yep. We'll pick up the pace here. Pun intended.

I might just load this team because they beat the Knicks in the playoffs last year. But the Pacers are bad. Like, this team was in the Eastern Conference finals. Like months ago. they lost to the Pistons, the Grizzlies, the Raptors, and the Nets. The Grizzlies are the only good team in there. So we've thought about Halliburton a lot and this downtrend that he has had this year. So I saw them this past week.

And I didn't mention it on Monday, but it was something that I thought as I was watching them. I felt like Halliburton is one of those guys that, the ball is in his hands and he can make something happen. Yeah. I thought he was off the ball a lot. And he is beyond useless off the ball. That's how I felt when I was watching it. I was like, what is he?

He's not like he's cutting. It's not like he's setting a screen. It's not like he's a standstill shooter. So you're kicking it out to him. It just felt very like there are a lot of possessions where he's not engaged in the same way that I felt like he was the total engine last year. Oh, yeah. He'd let the league an assist. Yeah.

I mean, he was right around this time last year. Now, Grant, he got hurt. And I feel like those injuries were still feeling the repercussions of him getting back from those injuries. He's still the same human he was a year ago. I just don't think his body is the same a year ago. But last year, a year ago today, he was Breakthrough Star 27 points, 15 assists, five rebounds, putting the team on his back, winning cup games. Now, I mean, he has a game here and there where he'll score 30, but this is where he shot from three in those four losses. One for seven, four for nine, two for nine, three for eight.

That's not good. There's something wrong. These are the quotes. We haven't won a road game in over a month. I think as a group, I've got to be better. I think it's testing us right now. I can't give you a ton of positives. Maybe that's a negative way of viewing it right now.

I just feel like as a group, we can get better in every aspect. The great thing is there's 82 games that we have about 60 more to figure it out. But there's got to be a sense of urgency. You can only say that so many times. As a group, I think we've got a lot of growing to do. If we don't do that, the league is going to. He said there are times like right now the league could either bury you or you can dig yourself out of the hole. And it says, you know, then the article goes on

and says, Indiana covered up a bottom 10 defense with an elite fast-paced offense a season ago. The defense, unsurprisingly, is still terrible, bottom 10, but their offense has slowed down. 15% of their offensive possessions start in transition, which is 16th in the league, which is down from a season ago where they were seventh. in the league. So, I mean, they were, they were flying up and down last year. Last year, they're the number one in pace. That was the thing about them was the pace. It was just like, it was like they're going, yeah, they can't play defense, but they're going to turn this into like 115 possessions per game, and they're just going to offense

them with their way to wins. And they did it successfully. They're eighth in pace this year. They were like breaking pace records last year. It's, and I think a lot of it is Halliburton, and I'm of the mind that he is not right. Like, he just doesn't seem right based on what I saw last year around this time before he got hurt. That's team I love. Let's get back to positivity, Ferno. What's the player you love? Vucci Maine?

Vucci Maine! Nikola Vosevic. There are two players in the NBA that are averaging 20 and 10 and making two threes a game while shooting 55% from the field and 45% from three. They are

Nikola Yokic and Mr. Vucevich. over the last three games, 31 points for game 10 rebounds, 71% from the field, 55% from three for the season. He's got like career highs in most of his statistics, but he is averaging 22 and 10 and shooting 47% from three. You know, play for the Bulls right now.

Right now. Yeah, right now. I mean, man, if there was ever a debut for, you to be able to get to another team. He's 34 years old too. Who would you rather build a team around? Yo, get your Busevich. Stop.

Look, I'm giving the guy credit while I can. He has been absolutely offensively unbelievable. And exactly what you want, offensively as a center right now, with the guy with the ability to make threes like he does and space out the floor like he does, if he does get moved, he could be a key cog for somebody. can score around the basket too.

You know what I mean? Hell yeah. If you don't have a big, if you don't have a big, like the Spurs had to play without Wemby earlier this week, or even look, the game he had against Boston was a monster game. If you don't have somebody big to go up against him, he'll torch you. And so I got to give you,

this has been a great week that has highlighted the great season he has had thus far. Player I love this week only competed in one single NBA. contest this week. Okay. And it was last night. Coming back from injury, the team has been decimated by injuries, going up against the sons,

also injured themselves. No Nirkich, no Durant, no Dunn. But this is Brandon Ingram. He's been on the trade block for three years. Seriously. Name a team that's not been in a Brandon Ingram rumor in the National Basketball Association. And he came back.

And like we talk about, Some guys come back and look ready, and some guys don't. And Brandon Ingram just gets to his spot, man. When it is right with Ingram, it looks so, it looks unstoppable. It's very Kevin Durantish. When he gets to his 15-footer, he gets one dribble into you, you're on your heels, and he just rises up. He releases the ball nine feet in the air.

And when he's got his touch going and his shot going, it just looks unstoppable as it did last night against the sun. They had no answer for him. He was just hitting 15 footers, fadeaways, turnarounds. And in the third quarter, there's a 36 second run where he hit three threes, just absolutely on fire. He offensively played really, really well. Admittedly, without Durant, a son's team that really doesn't have an answer for him. There's a lot of O'Neill on him.

It's just like, this didn't really have an answer for his size and, offensive talent. But I think the story of Ingram is what team is he going to get traded to always. And for him to come to a team that had lost nine straight games and to put the team on his back

and get them a win over a decimated son's team, but still a game that they were not favored to win. I thought it was great. To put the little cherry on top of what I love about Brandon Bingham Sunday is after the game, he said it was great to have Herb Jones. back. He's the heart and soul of the team. You know, they did the little dual interview.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was like, hey, it was great to be back. You know, I felt good out there. It was, it was, it was Herb Jones is our guy. He's the heart and soul of the team. It's great to have him back. I love that about him too. Great, great day for Brandon Ingram and whatever team is trying to trade for Brennan. The other thing that is positive about Ingram is in this league where everybody is just lay it up or tray it up. He is one of the very few. That's not how I play.

But it is weird. Like the guys that do shoot a high volume of mid-range shots are like, I don't know, five of the top 15 scores in the league. Yeah, I know. But I'm saying like this guy, it's almost like a throwback because he's not going to take 12-3s in a game. And he's not driving to the basket and going to the line a hundred times in the game. No. When he has his big games and he scores, it is in a different method than 99% of his peers.

Yeah, and it works. And it's always been that way. And you know it, you cannot stop it. When he pulls up from like 13 feet, it's a layout. You already did the player that you loathed. Yeah, LeBron James. Yeah, so I'm just going to, I'm just going to mention, and I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this.

I'm not sure if he's number one on the players I hate watching the most. Oh, wow. But he might be. I cannot stand. DeAndre Aiton. I can't stand it. That's a good one. He might as well play basketball with AirPods in.

I really feel like he's just on a jog. And because he's seven foot tall, he gets his requisite. He's going to get some points and he's going to get some rebounds. But it is the most low T basketball that you can possibly play. he never passes he never blocks a shot he never gets a steel you ever hit the floor intentionally yes it he is the he is the epitome of t fn tall for nothing you know when they would when we were kids and there would be a kid that there would always be somebody yelling at the crowd if there was

just some tall kid that was out there there be somebody yelling in the crowd tfn tfn That's who he is. He's been TFN forever. And I know people, he used to, he even brought that up when he cared for like six months in Phoenix because he was just tired of Chris Paul telling him he's a P word. He, he would say that, you know, people used to say TFN to me when I was playing, you know. And like now he, he is the epitome. And I went and looked and everyone's all looking at the standing because forgive me, I'm not

watching Portland unless you. Like, in fact, unless you made me and held my eyeballs open, I probably wouldn't watch them unless they're the only close thing on. But I swear to God. It's like the Mabbs game a couple weeks ago. It's like, oh, it's in the fourth quarter. There's three minutes left. It's a close game.

Like, all right, I'm in. But I'm not watching all four quarters of a Portland game. And then every once or a while, I'll look at the standings and I'll be like, how the hell do they have eight wins? Like, I've seen them twice. And it was. I mean, an abomination before the eyes of God and man. And I look at them and I'm like, how do they have eight wins?

And then I go and look, I'm like, oh, Diadre Aitin hasn't played in half of them. Of course. I mean, they're only wins with DeAndre Aitin are like Pelicans wins and, you know, other Bozo wins. The sons were up in the finals, 2-0 on the bucks, right? That was a real thing that happened in real life. Oh, yeah. And do you remember the DeAndre Ate? Aiton narrative around that time.

This is not that long ago. No. This is not that long ago. When the sons are up to O in the finals, we're already talking about Chris Paul's first ring. And the player comps that DeAndre Aiton was getting on the airwaves. Oh, I know. We're wild.

We're wild. And it was like, we should have, we should have all known. There was enough smoke coming out of Phoenix about his, work ethic, about his attitude, about the dinners that he had with the owner. And there was just enough out there that we should have known that this is who DeAndre Aten is. TFN, low T, AirPods, I mean, I just watched. The other night was it Tuesday night during the Emirates Cup. I'm watching Memphis versus Dallas.

And you watch Derek lively and then you watch DeAndre Aiton. Oh. And it's like, here's a guy that is making the absolute most of being a genetic freak of nature. Derek lively tries to rip the rim off of the backboard every time. Every time. It's almost like they're like, we're going to put Gafford back in unless you go 110%. He's like, yes, sir. I'm in.

I feel like he's just constantly sprinting. He is constantly jumping, and every time he gets the opportunity, he tries to rip the rim off the hinges. It's great. I love him. Absolutely love him. And you can't believe it's like, bro, that could be you. You just got low tea. Low tea.

I think we, let's send in a little package. I'll go to GNC later. We'll send it over. We'll send it over there. The thing I love this week, this is a small thing. It might be the only sports podcast not sponsored by. But it's a testosterone package. I think we just both have two high tea.

We all have that one guy in the friend group. It wouldn't be believable. Every friend group in the late 30s or 40s says that one guy that does the tea. And he's like, he's like, bro, let me tell you, I go to the gym three times a day. I'm growing hair out of my earballs. I'm like, what? I guess it just wouldn't be believable. I'm too aggressive and you won't stop.

Stop hunting, humping. You got like another kid on the way. Good grief, bro. You need to stop. You need to slow down. My wife's never touching me again after going to that next game. After that next game, there's been a pattern of behavior from OG and Anobie that has been recognized and brought to the forefront and it involves my guy, my guy, former colleague of mine, great guy. and let's just play the sound of the post-game interview

with Oji Nanovi that gets interrupted. OJ, you look at you were having a lot of fun out there. We don't often get to see you smile much, but in that third quarter, the smile was out. What was working for you in that third quarter? I mean, winning is fun, so we're playing good. I knew this was going to be an adventure. It always is.

Next time we're going to get you your own mic. That is Carl Anthony Townsend. Stop grabbing the mic because he always grabs the mic. Like, this happens a lot. It's gone viral. It's gone viral. This happens a lot in UFC fights. It's one of my favorite subplots after every UFC fight where there's the guy in the middle of the ring, sometimes Joe Rogan, whoever else it is.

And the fighter always wants to grab the mic. And you've been taught ever since you're like, start in broadcasts. You're like, never give up the microphone to the interviewee. It can, it's not going to go well. That is like the only power that you have of any control over anything. And OG just keeps grabbing the mic from Alan Hahn over and over again. love it. That was the thing I love this week. The thing that I

loved is as a massive NBA fan, but also someone in the media that covers the league, you know that you're always on alert. And nowadays, we have the ability to set notifications for when newsbreakers

are breaking news. And so things will then come to my phone. So I have one. Obviously, Adrian Wojianowski's now. If I get those alerts, it's about St. Bonaventure. And I haven't taken him off because I love Woj. Well, also, we have to recognize the news.

Woj announced that he has prostate cancer, which is a real thing. And he said that he brought that out to the public to sort of raise awareness and to get people, men, especially in late 30s and 40s, to get checked. So shout to Woj. And obviously, our thoughts are with him. I still have his alert on.

I'm not getting rid of it. And then the other one I have is obviously Sham Shirani, who is the preeminent NBA newsbreaker, Nemia. And so there will be times where I'm out and about or I'm doing whatever I'm doing. And I'll look down at my phone and it'll pop up the little thing and it says Sham Sharania. I'm like, what happened? Here comes news. So I open it. And it says, Paul Millsap has announced his retirement.

I'm like, what? Okay. When is the last time you thought about Paul Milton? I mean, God. I don't think this is allowed. I don't think you can announce your retirement three years after anybody has thought about. What was he last on the Hawks? Is he last on the Hawks?

I actually did this on my local show yesterday where Devin asked us. who is the last team that Paul Millsap played for, and we named, I'm not kidding you, 20 teams, Jacoby. So let's not do that now. Before we landed on the Philadelphia 76. Oh, oh. Yeah. I don't remember him in his Sixers uniform.

He was part of the James Harden trade, I believe. I don't, again. I just thought that. Look, this is the thing I loved because I ought to, laughed when I opened up the alert. I thought it was like a goo. Like, what do you mean?

Like, was anybody sitting around waiting for the Paul Millsap? I also want to know how this works. Why is this? Why is this a thing? Shoms gets a text from an agent. And he's like, I want you to announce that Paul Milsap is retired.

And Shams is like, yeah, I don't know if that's news. And the agents like, listen, if you ever want to get a scoop from me again, you're going to announce that Paul Milsap is retired. And I'm just like, all right, got you, got it. I understand the assignment.

Yeah, well, that makes a, look, at least you're coming up with a reasonable theory because for sure when I read it, I was like, who is this for? Yeah. Who is this for? GMs around the league that had them on their board. Just like, Jay Crowder, Elfried Payton, Paul Millsap. Hey, we just wanted to be clear. He was done for the last two years, but also he has.

it played in two years, but we just want to make it clear. He's officially done. He's not playing any more bad. So don't even call. Stop calling. Hey, hey, hey, don't even think about Paul. Paul is officially. He wanted none of it.

I'm out. I am officially retired. It's Megatron, Barry Sanders, and Paul Millsap retired at their peak. I'm not sure that I needed it to be official. Did you see that Alfred Payton is no longer on the Pelicans? 21 assists last week. Yeah, that's terrible. Someone pick them up.

21 assists. If you can get 21 assists in an NBA game, you should be out of roster. Maybe he ends up back with the Knicks. Oh, wow. I think, yeah, we were not very deep. You're going to have to do the thing that you lobed this week first because mine has to go last because...

Oh, D. Again, I'm not going to belabor this because I'm bitched about it throughout the year. Deja, all over again, and this week was a perfect highlight of it. We went through this last year, and maybe it is in conjunction with the last year in season tournament, now it's Emirates Cup, where there is a heightened awareness, but also a heightened level of competition. But this was a disastrous week for officials.

I watched Dallas take 26 free throws in a quarter. In a quarter? In the fourth quarter. That's like a three-hour game. Against Chris. Look, I have watched two games. The last two Memphis games, the fourth quarter at Dallas took 42 minutes.

The fourth quarter last night against the Kings took 39 minutes. What? It's a 12-minute quarter. These games now you have seen Tari Isan, Alper and Shengoon, Imi Adoka, Ive Adoka all get fined. Yep.

Well, Tari, like, try to get after a fan or something. I don't know what I was. Yeah, you saw the Warriors freak out earlier this week, and Steve Kerr blow a gasket earlier this week. You're allowed to say John Morant. You're allowed to say that Morant call. They already came out and that wasn't about. I saw him ejected last night.

It's the, the interactions between the coaches and, so last night, to wit. There were 21 fouls, 12 free throws, and four reviews in the fourth quarter. Oh, my God. At the game I was at. It's unwatchable. It's truly unwatchable. I can't, I can't get over it.

And then the interactions, the refs have gotten continuously worse as the season has gone on, which has made the coaches matter, which has made the players matter. And then the refs, they don't. deal with it well. And so now we are, I'm telling you, look, I hope it was not because they needed to sign an $11 billion TV contract last year. And so they said, hey, we need to make this product more watchable because they obviously had a powwow right around All Star Time and said, hey, people would actually like to watch

these guys run up and down the court and play basketball. Like last night, you could have made a choice to watch. Wicked, which is two hours and 40 minutes. It's a hostage situation. That movie is way too long. Way too long. Or you could have watched Grizzlies Kings. Again, both.

Way too long. Yes, yes. But look, it was highlighted this week. Maybe it was because it was heightened because of the Emirates Cup. And so people are even a little more fired up. But there should never be more. fouls than minutes in the game. There should never be more free throws than minutes in the game and is going that direction. And we did this last year and then we had to free things up and everybody

that's a basketball fan started to love it more. They were allowing teams to play basketball to run up and down the court and play basketball instead of have free throw shooting contest and foul fast. I didn't hear anything you just said. They can't decide if John Ramirez Morifalba or Belinda. Elphaba. How dare you? I was asleep for half that movie. That was too long.

I saw it on. I haven't seen the movie. I will say, rave reviews from the girls in my house. My wife loved it. My daughter loved it. I saw it on Broadway and I loved it. You're not a fan.

I liked it. I liked it. I liked the world that I was in. I was just there too long. Did your daughters and wife love it? Yeah, but they kept pump baking the ending. Don't don't give it away. Oh, God.

Well, the thing I loathe this week is honestly myself. Not just because I'm a terrible husband. That's just one of the reasons. The thing I loaves this week to take a page out of your book is myself. Because I think you're going to have to sign off after this. Uh-oh. This is so funny. Didn't need to.

It didn't need to. Great anticipation on Wiggins. They tried to go backdoor with Dick. Wiggins sniffed it out. Sign off. Come. Come. Snipped it out.

We'll be back next week. Maybe. Must be 21 and over in present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 over and present in D.C. You got a gambling problem? call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Help.com. Call 1-88-78-88-88-98-9-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit MDGamblinghelp.org in Maryland.

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