The Mismatch - The Ethical Cavs, Why Beal Was Really Benched, Paolo's Return, and Kessler’s Wingman

Episode Date: January 10, 2025

Verno and Jacoby discuss Anthony Edwards’s aggressiveness during the Wolves' three-game winning streak, Paolo Banchero’s return to the Magic, as well as the dirty secret behind Bradley Beal’s benching, and Jared McCain’s season-ending injury (04:35). They then dive into this week’s teams (25:45), players (51:00), and things (01:06:07) they loved and loathed from the week that was.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

Hey y'all, Sirot Sohey from The Ringer here, and I wanted to let you guys know about a new show that I'm hosting. The Ringer WNBA show. We're going to be talking about all the biggest personalities, breaking down and analyzing the latest happenings that make the W so fascinating, featuring some of the best guests and experts from around the league. Tap in with us on the brand new Ringer WNBA show feed on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to The Mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon. And join me as he does every Friday from The Ringer.com. Jacobi Jacoby.

Jacobi. Good morning, Bernard! Let's get it. Man, we have had a ton of stuff that has gone on this week. First things first. Our thoughts and prayers,

obviously, to our brethren, not only at Spotify, but all of our friends and family that are in the state of California. This has been an incredibly hard week for everyone. And hopefully, um, hopefully we can give you a brief respite from the trauma

that has gone on throughout the week. as we talk about some basketball. It's always hard when there's something so serious going on. But our thoughts are with everybody out there. And as you know, many of our coworkers and their friends and family have been going through this as well. And so hopefully everything can get solved rather quickly. Our job is to talk about basketball. So that's what we're going to be doing today.

But we'd be remiss if we did not mention that we are well aware of everything that has taken place on the news. how hard it has been for everybody there. Last night, a lot of games. Where do I want to start? Where do you want to start? I was at a game and we're going to save that. Let's start with very rarely, has there been a time where I have been at a game this year

and I'm on Media Row and everybody starts like kind of buzzing about and everybody starts walking up and down. Usually I find out about these things via text message, but I will tell you. But take us there. You say media roll. You're like right behind the, where are you right behind the scores tables?

Because they've changed it in different arenas. Okay. So typically I am at the top of the lower bowl in the radio section. Yeah. The Houston Rockets had Spanish radio last night. So they took my seat. So if the there's very this is very strange here's a little inside baseball There's only a couple teams in the league that have a Spanish radio broadcast

Okay One of which is the Cleveland Cavaliers who had a Spanish radio broadcast when LeBron was there and I guess they've just never gotten rid of it But it's usually like maybe like an LA team, a Texas team, or the cabs. Like, they're the only ones that have Spanish radio. So if that takes place, my seat on radio, where the radio section is, gets moved. And so I moved to the upper bowl. And so that's where I was last night amongst many of my media brethren.

So the point was, a lot of times I'll find out about something going on in the NBA via text while I'm live at the game. But this was one where people started walking up and down the little corridor thing going, Did you see the ant dunk? Did you see the ant dunk? Oh my God. Did you see the ant dunk? And I was like, wait, what? Like something really spectacular has to take place for the buzz to be like that.

And so then while I'm at a game, you see everybody simultaneously pulling it up on their laptop or their phone watching the ant dunk class. night. So I will say he had a profound impact on even people that were at a live game. And by the way, the national championship playoff is going on. So we all stopped. We all pulled, we all turned that off. You know, right? Because you got that either pulled up on your phone or your laptop. And we're all watching the football game to make sure we're keeping up tabs with that. But there was that brief respite where everybody pulled up the ant dunk. And man, Ever since he said he doesn't like to pass, he has been on a warpath year.

But I'll say, I'll say this, just as a cynical, generally negative person, I want to say this. I'm not so much concerned with Anthony Edwards' participation in that dunk. It's the Anthony Black participation in that dunk that I want to really zone in on. Because I've watched this many times. And he comes over from the help side and he's like, I'm going to contest this shot at the rim.

And then he sees Anthony Edwards. launching off of two feet from the perfect dunking position, cocked back his hand, and then Anthony Black makes a business decision. He's like, I'm not going to contest this shot, but I'm not going to try to take a charge. What he literally tries to do is get himself. He's very online, as we know from the Black Dick,

the famous Black Dick jersey swap last year. He tries to duck his way out of the picture. The turtle. He literally puts his head below his hips and tries to just completely, remove himself from the situation. He didn't contest the shot. He didn't foul. He didn't take a charge.

He was just like, get me far away from this as possible. And it still didn't work. Yeah. The turtle. He turtled up to try to get out of the way. And I will say, it's one of those moments where you watch it. And the first couple times that anybody, they're like, whoa,

is that Anthony Black? Because I think for people that are not aware of the Orlando Magic or familiar with Anthony Black's work. One of the things that stands out is how big Anthony Black is, right? Because he is like,

he is not guard size. He's not guard size. Yeah. And also he goes from Afro to to Braids to Afro again, which is also confusing. So he's back to Afro now. He's constantly keeping you on your toes. Yes. Yes. But look, hey, Ant's been wearing it out. He's had

some big games recently and certainly coming with a level of aggression on a night in, night out basis, ever since he made those comments after the game about how he hated passing out of double teams. He hasn't passed since. He's not past since. But it's also worth mentioning that the magic

were in this game and the magic have been a story of the season with just how resilient they have been with losing Bencaro and then Wagner and then Wagner and now Suggs and Harris is out. But they're in these games, even in losses. And reportedly this evening, we get Palo. Yeah, this is huge. Help is on the way for the Orlando Magic.

And as we chronicled earlier this week, their ability to hold down the fort, Orlando Magic, Orlando Magic. Their ability to hold down the fort without the help being on the way, and they've just kept on losing guys that they were rallying behind. So first they rallied around Palo Beckerro to start off the season. Then they rallied around Franz Wagner. Then they had this team meeting and said, hey, follow Jalen Suggs lead. He's the guy. Yeah. And so every time they rally behind somebody and Mo Wagner, who has been outstanding

off of their bench, they lost him as well. So he lost both Wagner brothers, Palo Beak Arrow, and Jalen Suggs in an amount of time. But they have really been able to hold down the fort. And as we have said, defense, defense, defense. Their ability, you look, obviously. their depth has been tested, a great deal. But their ability to collectively defend night in, night out, has been beyond astonishing, given that they have started games with Caleb Houston and Tristan de Silva and Cole Anthony

and Contagius, featuring Batasia, I mean. You look at their starting five some of these nights and you're like, how? How are they competitive? But it's interesting. this is how they're competitive. We always talk about defensive rating and like where they're defensive ranking and oh, per 100% this, this and that.

The Orlando Magic hold the opponent to the least amount of points per game in the National Basketball Association. They hold their opponent to scoring the least amount of points in the NBA. Now, on the flip side, they literally score the least amount of points on offense in the NBA, which is sort of the magic experience at the moment,

but that has a lot to do with their defensive foundation and philosophy being in place to matter who's on the floor. Because on offense, it much matters more which individual talents you have on the floor. And obviously when you're missing Franz Wagner, Mo Wagner, and Paolo Bancaro, who is coming back tonight. And let's not forget what a tear Paolo was on before he got hurt. Now, he's not going to reenter tonight and play 38 minutes and have 30, 20, and 10. but he will get back to that overtime. And this Magic Team is going to be a playoff positioned, difficult first round matchup for whoever they play. Well, let's go ahead while we're talking about Paulo.

Let's go ahead and mention that the second fan returns for All-Star voting came out because it is worth mentioning that the only front court players in the Eastern Conference that have gotten more votes than Paulo Bankero. are Janice Ante Cucco, Jason Tatum and Carl Anthony Towns. Obviously, Janice and Tatum are superstar level players with incredible name recognition, their own shoes, the whole nine, right? Towns right there. Towns is having a huge year, and he's in New York. And he's in New York, yeah. Palo being fourth, playing in Orlando and playing five games this year.

I, that might be the most shocking of all of the. fan returns. His stardom. He's not going to get you in the All-Star. No, no, no, but his, I'm saying I didn't think that his stardom had grown to that extent, to that extent where he would be ahead of getting more votes than Jalen Brown. And honestly, shout out to Orlando, because they are doing an unbelievable job of getting the word out because Paulo is fourth.

Franz Wagner is seventh on the front court list. So, Franz played like, what, 20 games? He just played many more games than palis. These teams are, this team is not on TV. And so the message of the Orlando Magic is coming through loud and clear to where people have an awareness of how outstanding those guys have been. And truly, they have done a very good job of building up the names of their best players. Because those fan returns, I was, I was shocked. It is.

it also shows in the Eastern Conference just how stacked the back court is and how sort of like needing the front court is. When you're going to start dividing it by front court and back court, there are way too many good guards in the East and not enough good bigs. It's just that simple. Can we figure out how Jordan Pools in the top 10 guards

in the Eastern Conference fan return? How did this happen? No, we cannot figure that out. How did this happen? I mean, counting stats? I don't know. Cool outfits? I have no idea.

No, who is voting for Jordan Poole? Yeah, like the huge Wizards fan base? Is this a K-pop thing again? We have to get down to this. I know. Who is voting? It's got something to do with Jello. It's got something to do with Jello song Tweaker.

I can't figure out how it's related. But it's every time you play Tweaker, it also is a vote for Jordan Poole in the All-Star. People that feel bad for him getting punched a couple of years ago? I don't think there's a sympathy punch All-Star vote from two years ago. Jordan Poole has more votes than Tarius Garland. That's ridiculous. I don't get too, like, locked into this fan vote stuff because the All-Star team ends up being the right team.

I got it, but it is 50% of the equation. Sure, but the other 50% is like coaches. I cannot believe 260,000 people filled out a ballot and had Jordan Poole is one of the guards. Who are those people? Who are you? Who are you? Step forward. Raise your hand and step forward and step forward and explain.

yourself. With all of the guards in the Eastern Conference to choose from, how do you land on Jordan Pool? 260,000 of you land on Jordan Pool. I will tell you, as we are both friends with our beloved Joe House, not even Joe House is voting Jordan Pool as an all-star. And he's the only wizard's fan we know.

It makes no sense. It makes no sense. Yeah, honestly, of all the names that come through, Because even the Wiggins thing, you could say, oh, this is still carryover. He's got the name recognition for being with the Warriors. And we knew about the K-pop thing a couple of years ago. On all the names, on the second fan return, Jordan Poole is the only one that absolutely shocks me.

I am shocked that some of the guys are as popular as they are, especially given, as I mentioned with Palo. And Orlando's done a great job of promoting their guys, obviously. And there are some guys that are clearly getting it on merit, right? The Alper and Shengoons of the world, the subonuses of the world, these kind of guys. And then there's obviously a lot of big, Norm Powell as well, who is doing it based upon, you know, his name is mentioned in those fan returns because he's having such an outstanding season this year and has had such a growth this year. Kate Cunningham as well, having a great season.

But the Jordan Poole thing is just, it stands out like a. Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins. It's unbelievable that those guys are two guys mentioned in the Fander Turns. I thought I talked about Aaron Wiggins. Maybe Aaron Wiggins should be in the Fander Turns instead of Andrew Wiggins. Maybe I'm wrong about that. Maybe it should be Aaron Wiggins. Bradley Beale has gone to the bench and it's worked.

it's weird. No. So here's my question for you about this. Was Bradley Beal going to the bench at its very core? If you're being 100% honest and you're Coach Bud or your Ishbja, whoever, Isaiah Thomas, whoever runs the Sons nowadays, was moving him to the bench in attempt to fix the on-court basketball problems the Phoenix Sons were having and maximize Bradley Biel's effectiveness?

or was it, let's piss Bradley Beal off enough so he will wave his no trade clause? Because it seems like both things were the intention and they're both happening. That's where I would land. I would land that, look, sometimes when they're not playing like 2K, as we've talked about many times,

you're augmenting your stars. There's got to be guys that don't need the ball in order to be, to be, to, to get the most out of them. And when you have a plethora of guys that are fantastic with the ball in their hands, then you need to augment them with role players. It's stars and role players. That's the way great teams are constructed.

And it is very difficult to throw, and we've seen it, over and over again. three outstanding offensive players together and then get one of them to sacrifice so much that while the other two are simultaneously able to be as good as they can be. And I think what you've seen is, you know, the ball's been in Devin Booker's hands a lot. He is, his assist numbers have been way up recently. And you give the opportunity for Brad Beal to come off the bench and he can be the offense when he comes off the bench, right? opportunities. He is capable of doing more, but obviously, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and the truth is,

I don't think it's nearly as much about Brad Beale and what he has done this year as it is about Booker. Yes. The dirty little secret is that Booker's been bad. Thank you. Thank you. It's not no. I don't know. It's hard to say he's been bad. Against the expectations that you have for Devin Booker. No, no, no, no. In the preseason conversations that we had where, oh, I don't think either KD or Booker will be in the MVP conversation because they'll cancel each other out. Do you remember those preseason conversations?

Devin Booker has not played up to the standards that he has set for himself. He's not played poorly, but he has not done what we expect from him. Hey, look, Jacob, this season, he is shooting 42% from the field, okay?

That's not good. He's shooting 42% from the field this year. So, like, some of the counting numbers are okay, but he's shooting 40, actually it's up to 43, 43%, 33% from three. I mean, for Brad Beal, that's terrible. As compared to what we've been used to.

To wit, last year, he was 49% from the field and 36% from three. I mean, he never was like a three point, Bomber. He's more of like a mid-range slashy-drive kick guy, but he's been 35 to 40. 35 to 40 virtually his whole career and now it's been, and that's a big difference, a big difference. And so, but you've seen the assist numbers and you've seen some of his games recently. I mean, you look at these, and in fairness, they've played Atlanta, they've played Charlotte, they played Philly, they played Indiana. This is not exactly a who's who of.

defensive stalwart. Yeah, yeah. And he still shot threes like absolute crap. But he's had 12 assists, 10 assist, 10 assist, 9 assists. Yeah, he's been playmaking for others in a way that he never has in his career, but he's also not scoring the way that he has in his career either. Correct. And so they've got to get him right.

If you're going to move Bradley Beal to the bench, you need Devin Booker to be a scorer. Absolutely. And it's been a struggle thus far this year. But I do think to your original point, it was, it's serving two masters. But he's not going to be happy about it. I feel like they brought up to the bench with the purpose of pissing him off so he waves his no trade clause. And it just so happened that unlike Jimmy Butler who's pushing the sabotage button,

Bradley Beale is pushing the I'm motivated, I'll show you, and the rest of the league that I am still Bradley Beal, $50 million basketball play. Well, the other thing is they got Grayson Allen back as well. Like they just need, look, with the amount of money they have sunk into their guys, I don't think there's anybody that needs to stay healthy like that team does. Now, it is the biggest ask for that team to stay healthy. But nobody needs to, when you have a finite amount of good players, you need them available. And so even somebody like Grace and Allen can have a profound effect on your team when you are in the situation that they are in.

And I think it's also worth mentioning. I think that it's been very quiet that Devin Booker has not been playing up to standards, but it's been extremely loud for good reason that Nerkich is just not an asset on the basketball court anymore. And you're going to need a center, and it's not going to be plumbly, it's not going to be Nerkich,

and if you don't have someone in that position, I don't know what you do to get through two rounds of playoff basketball. I don't know what you do. You have zero chance. In the Western Conference right now, when you go through every team that you might feasibly face when it comes to the playoffs,

you can go through it one by one and you say, we're going to have to face Isaiah Hartenstein and we're going to have to face Chad Holmgren. We're going to have to face Alperin Shengoon and Jaboury Smith. We're going to have to face Yokic. We're going to have to face Lively and Gafford. We're going to have to face Ad. We're going to have to face Go Bear.

We're going to have to face Zubots. You can go all the way down. Everybody's got somebody. Like, their front court gives them no opportunity. I mean, they're just going to get absolutely smashed with size. So they do have to fix that. And they don't have a like, let's go small and put Katie at the five lineup that's going to do anything either. A couple other news and notes that we do need to mention.

Jared McCain, incredibly famous TikToker and was on his way to having a great rookie season, possibly a rookie of the year season was in the card for McCain. but the Sixers announced that he is out for the rest of the year. So when I read this, I had some level of understanding about what's going on because this happened with Jaron Jackson Jr. a few years ago. And guys do it different ways and especially do it different ways dependent upon where they are in the course of their careers. And you tear that meniscus and if you can either get it taken out and then a lot of times

you will have and then you get the bone on bone thing later at life and it's, you know, like you're, but for young guys, if it is a possible opportunity to repair it, rather than to remove it, then it is a much longer recovery, but it gives you a much greater opportunity of this not being a recurring problem for years and years. And so when you look at a guy and an organization has a guy that you say, hey, this guy is going to be a part of this for, you're hoping to have a 10 to 15 to hopefully 20 year career, right? and sometimes guys can make rash decisions on this and get their meniscus removed,

depending upon where they're, you know, he has the luxury of having this already status in the league and a belief from his organization that like, hey, we're in this for the long term. Okay. And there are guys that there's, you could find hundreds of guys that over the years are later in their career. You could, you know, you could feel like you're not going to have your job. you can feel like you're not going to be able to get that contract that you need because it might be a contract year. So they have the luxury of.

He's in the first year of a rookie contract and he has the commitment from said organization. And so it sucks that he's going to lose a year, but it will be theoretically much better for his career long term. Yeah. And all we can hope for is, I mean, first of all, the expectations for him were pretty low coming in. And he blew them out of the water. And there's comparison to Steph Curry about four years. in his little run there. And I think that all we can do is we'll forget about him until next season.

And then hopefully he can pick up where he left off. Because right now he'll be an afterthought. And it's not like Czech Holmgren or something. It was like this high pick that they were relying on. They're not going to get. He was a bit of found money. And guess what? You've lost that found money.

And now go win some games with Paul George and Joel Embed and Tyrese. Like you plan to in the preseason. Go do that. You say we're going to forget about him. But I mean, I guess that is totally dependent on. what happens with the Supreme Court in TikTok because you will not forget about Jared McCain if that doesn't get banned.

Are you on TikTok? Are you scrolling TikTok actively? Yeah, yeah. I mean, I would say it's a distant third. Yeah. It's a distant third. I would say Instagram, Twitter, and, yeah, I'd say TikTok is a distant third for me.

But that's too loud. It's loud. That's because of my age. Yeah, mine too. I've got Jacoby on soup on TikTok where every once in a while I post a soup that I eat because I love soup. But outside of that, I don't have a lot of engagement on TikTok. And I don't even mess with Twitter X that much anymore right now. It's just people yelling at you about the Thunder in my mentions.

We should mention the Thunder loss of the Cavs. We should mention that before we move on. It feels like it out. It feels like seven years ago because it was, what, Wednesday night. But, you know, the Cavs got a good win. Cabs looking good. Perfect segue, Jacoby, because we're about to go into what we love and loat from this week in the NBA. And the team I loved was the Cleveland Cavaliers.

They enabled me to perform on this show today. Because as I mentioned in our first early in the week when we recorded, if Oklahoma City would have gone and beaten the Cleveland Cavaliers, I don't know if I'd have been able to show my face. Oh, I see what's happening. The team that you love is actually the team that beat the team that you love, therefore you love them. The transitive properties are fully in play here. I understand how this works.

You just happen to pick today to celebrate the Cavs because they happen to get a big win over the Raptors, or because Wednesday night, they beat the thunder. Your thunder. Your nemesis. I'm doing this. Big Brother, your father. Because the 1996 Spurs are the only ones that have had a better home record thus far than the Cleveland Cavaliers do. They're 20 and 1 at home, Jacoby.

20 and 1 so far this season. They have won 12 straight games. And they've done it six times in their franchise history. They've done it twice already this year. obviously Donovan Mitchell unavailable for last night's game, but Darius Garland then stepped up with a 40.9 assist game, and you had the two big guys Mowgli and Allen, both be simultaneously fantastic once again.

And I do want to give a slow clap. I did tweet about this on Wednesday night. You and I were looking forward to a game that was going to feature a 31 and 4 team and a 30 and 5 team so much. and we knew that this was going to be like kind of standalone. It's on a great night to have it. And it's going to be on ESPN and it's going to be at 6 o'clock. So it's an early game and you'd be able to tune in.

And this blew all of my expectations out of water. Oh, my God. This game was so. I got done watching that game and I'm like, both of those teams are absolutely awesome. And that was so high level. Everything about it was perfect. I'm not kidding.

Regardless of the outcome of that game. And I know you're going to bust me on that. But regardless of outcome, it was perfect. Because I think what you had was you had these teams able to scout each other and put in some wrinkles that you saw come to pass in that game. in that game. You saw them both have no games since Sunday, right? So you didn't have somebody have like three and five nights or

come back to back or whatever. Yeah, it was like this felt like game one of a playoff series. It really did, right, where they got the opportunity to do a better scout on each other than you normally would. And then I thought both of them played great in this game. Somehow I walked away being like those are the two best defenses I've seen. And it was like 129. It's like 135.

I mean, you're trying to look, anybody, if you try to dribble around that Oklahoma City Thunder team. Don't pass it. Don't pass it. Oh, my God. And then Cleveland with some of the, obviously the, their size was a huge problem. And so you foresee a circumstance where it's like, hey, maybe this would be different

if they would have Chad Holmgren in there to go alongside Hartnstein. You saw the activity from Moble, the activity from Jared Allen, how profound that was. You saw this bench heater that Ty Jerome pulled off where he had the 15 points in the 12 minutes. Verno, hold on.

Yeah. Donovan Mitchell was pretty bad in that game. He was in the Georgia Chamber. Be honest. Donovan Mitchell was not Donovan Mitchell in that game and the Cavs still won. You would assume that Donovan Mitchell plays the game that he played. Not only would the Cavs lose, they would lose handily to the best team in the Western Conference. Because I tell you this, whoever they deploy, we just saw, and we talked about this last week, where after the game, Daglan Brown's first half for second half. Yeah, Dagnold said, hey, Jalen Brown had 21 in the first half.

You know, what'd you do in the second half? He said, we put Dort on him. So, and we talked about who is Dort going to be on? Who are they going to use him on when it comes, probably Mitchell, when it comes time for the Cleveland game? Look, I promise you, if Darius Garland would have gotten. Is he hot like that again? No, but I'm saying if he would have caught the Dord assignment. I mean, that, look, Donovan was in hell.

You can't do anything. And that's where he is super profound. because he's got such, he's like a linebacker out there, and he's just on your neck from the minute the game starts. He is such a defensive presence, Dort is. So I didn't, I don't bang on Mitchell so much for that game. To me, that was a lot more about Dort than it was Mitchell. Well, so what I'm saying is for the Cavs to win that game against that opponent

with their best player not playing their best. It makes it more impressive. And I'm not going to make too much of these two. losses that the Thunder have had in like the last year or whatever. But in both the loss of the bucks and the loss of the calves, you just look at Chet and street clothes and you say they need, they need Chet, they need someone else. Hardinstein is trying to do everything he can, but there's only so much you can do when you're going up against Allen and Mowgli who are playing great. It's almost impossible not to have four files in the middle of the third quarter,

which he did. And it just limited everything that he could do. Like they just need a second big that's not the other Jalen Williams. Like they need Chet Hongren to go this deep. Like it really, against the bucks and in this game, they just felt a little small. There's only so much

that Isaiah Hartnstein can do defensively without getting in foul trouble. And then you saw Kenny Ackinson deployed that zone against them and throw that in. I mean, like it was just, it was so high level. That game was so,

it really did feel like a playoff game. It did. And I thought both of them showed incredibly well in that game. I walked away from both of them going, I think if you're another player on another team watching this game, you're going, we've got to get better. Yeah. That's how good those teams.

I would say the Celtics probably don't feel that way. Maybe not. Because they've got ultimate confidence. And there's so much playoff experience as a group that I don't think the Celtics are like, we have to get better. but I would say that every in the Western Conference, it is clearly they are the best team in the Western Conference. I'm not going to guarantee they win three playoff series and go to the finals,

but they're the best regular season team in the Western Conference by far. The other thing is how many times were these teams able to score, and do you think about even the big buckets that took place down the stretch? And the three-point shot was like a lot of the criticisms of the NBA and the way the game is played or whatever. Like these teams were scoring all manner, of ways, whether it was big guys, big to big stuff, whether it was Darrys Garland, driving past Kaysaun Wallace. I mean, it was just

I was just so mega impressed with both of them. I thought they were great. And I think there's a lot of discussion about NBA ratings are down, ratings are down. That doesn't really affect my enjoyment of basketball. I don't care if someone else is on their couch watching the game that I'm watching. That doesn't change the way that I experience it. And there is also talking to some of my friends on my rec league team, whatever. They're like, wow, this is the finals matchup. The NBA doesn't want. And that's fine. I understand it that if it's going to be Lakers Celtics, you're going to get

more people watching the finals. But if this is the finals matchup we get, I'm good. Maybe the ratings will be down, but I will be up. That's all that matters to me. Oh, two small markets. The numbers are going to be down. The numbers don't change how much money I make or any NBA fan. If you love the game, this is the kind of finals matchup that you want. Yes, if you're Adam Silver, you want the Knicks and the Lakers. But guess what? This is an appropriate finals matchup, but I will take seven of those games. Thank you very much. If you told me, now this is the greatest compliment I could give them. If you told me Cavs Oklahoma City are playing tomorrow morning at 730 Central, I would get up to watch it. Oh, hell. First of all, I'm up way before 7.30. I don't know what your kids are older,

I guess. It's Saturday. I'm up at 6 every day. It's Saturday. So Saturday, my routine is I wake up at 6.45, I throw some cereal at the children, then I go back to sleep for three hours while they play video games. I would say I'm generally up by 6.30. Yeah. But I'll be up late tonight after the Texas, Ohio State game, and then I'll probably watch some late basketball. And I'll try to make it to 7.30 tomorrow morning. You know what I'm doing? It's a quick personal story for 10 seconds.

I'm doing something with my wife that we haven't done in years. Literally, I can't even, no, she's pregnant. I literally, I think it's mine. I'm pretty sure it's mine. Who knows? We're going to a movie together, not like Sonic 3 with the kids. We're going to see Nosferatu at the I-Pick, where you can sit down and lounge and recline and order food from a server.

And I'm going to sit there and I'm going to watch Nosferatu eat people. And there's going to be no kids around. It's going to be a scary movie. I haven't gone to a movie with just my wife in years. I'm so excited about that. It's funny you mentioned that. I cannot remember the last adult movie I saw in the movie theater. I'm not kidding.

I go to every kid's movie. I've seen Red One twice. And it's January 10th. I'm trying to think. I'm not kidding, Jacoby. I cannot remember the last adult. That's why I brought it up. Like an adult movie?

Movie, yeah. It doesn't happen. Like just for funzies going to the movies does not happen when you get to our stage in life. I'm excited about that. But here's the team I love this. It might be the, no, it really might be the depressing Lady Gaga, Bradley Bradley. No, you saw a star is born? On my birthday.

I didn't know how it ends. On your birthday, you went to a star is born? I didn't know. To watch Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper have like a love story. bro, I didn't know how it ends. I didn't pay attention to the one from the 80s. I was like, oh, yeah, Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. I just, I've tried to watch that before, and I'm on the airplane.

I just fell asleep. Bradley Cooper now has like a cheese steak shop in like the East Village in New York. He's like slinging cheese steaks. Like, he's back there in the kitchen, like chopping up cheese sticks. Is he really? Yeah. Then let's go when I come to New York. Oh, I'm not waiting online for a cheesecake.

I'll make you a cheesecake. I make great cheese sticks. Moving on. Nossferrati. Nots for Rosh. I'm excited about Nassferazzi. I like horrible. Moving on.

Team that I love. You saw them up close last night. And I'm not talking about the Grizzlies. It is the Houston Rockets. Since they've lost to the Celtics, they've won three straight. Alpe Sengoon, he's an all-star. Can we agree on that? Yes.

He'll be an all-star. And he had 32 last night. 12 for 20, 26 against the Wizards, since the Wizards, 12 for 23. He averages 20 and 10, shoots 50% from the floor, and he averages five assists. And you know, one thing I love about basketball

are fancy, unnecessarily fancy passes, and Alpern Sungoon will give you one a game. I love his game. One of the criticisms about the Rockets is they don't have that, give this guy the ball, get out of the way, crunch time score. They don't.

Jalen Green is supposed to be it. He's not. not Fred Van Vleet. It's, it's, they've got a lot of great players, but no sort of singular, give this man the ball and he'll get you a bucket star. And they don't truly have that,

but Alpi is the closest thing they have. And he can score on bigs, he can score on smalls. He can, he's crafty. He's got, he's got great footwork. I love this Rockets team.

I love their defense in particular, but I'm on an Alpy kick and he kicked your Grizzly's ass last night. The Rockets are the team that I love. love this week. I will say. I'm not going to try to throw any water on it. But I text you at the end of the third quarter and I said, this guy is murdering the Grizzlies. He's got 31 and 13. He ended with like 32 and 13. He ended with 32 and 14. So he had one and one in a fourth quarter where they scored 18 points. So save me the go-toes score thing. You know he reminded me up. You get a

lot of the Yokic, you know, ridiculous, like the baby Yokic stuff with him. Yeah, yeah. He reminds me, he reminded me much more of Sabonis last night. That's who he reminded us. Arvetus or DeMontas? Demontas. Oh. Who is awesome and underrated as well.

Yeah, sure. And is, uh, I don't see that. He is a load to deal with. Demandas Sabonis is kind of like a boring, good basketball player. And Sangoon is more of like an. citing pretty good basketball player. Stop. But I will say this.

Here's what I want to say about the Rockets is the team that I love this week. And I want to hear what you think about this. I do not want them to make a single significant move at the trade deadline. Just going to the playoffs with this team and losing the first round. That's fine. No. That is fine. Losing six in the first round or get to the second round and losing six.

But like for them to bring on a butler or like a Levine or. some sort of like, we need a go-to-scorer playmaker guy to make a title run. This isn't the year for that. You're progressing great. You finished the season on a hot streak last year, didn't make the playing fine. Then you're going to be a playoff team or a playing team this year, guaranteed. Just progress naturally with the team that you've drafted, aside from Van Vlead, who you acquired. Just keep it moving in this direction.

The team I loath was the Memphis Grizzlies. What? Since we're already talking about that. Oh, this was a pitiful week. They beat the hapless Dallas Mats, who, by the way, responded by getting two good wins in a row. Yeah, they did. They had a good win last night.

They were down the place. The game on Monday night was the dregs. But Memphis has lost three out of four games. I know they had been without their guys. Not last night. They gave up 20-something three-pointers to the Golden State Warriors. they gave up 20-something three-pointers to the Sacramento Kings. Over the course of the past week, they have given up 45 plus in two different first quarters, including last night.

Wait, wait, wait, 45 points in two different four-scarters? First to the Kings, and then they did it again last night. The other thing is, and then they got their guys back last night with John Morant, Desmond Bain, Satya Altama. they all came back into the lineup. But, and, and here's the thing. There's, at some point, guys, I'm talking about the type of basketball that is not for, that is not best suited for them.

And that is, and I've said this many times on this podcast, and we've talked about other teams that, young teams, in many cases, struggle with this, that when you're playing a ton of dead ball basketball, right?

And last night, I mean, look, if the Rockets could make free throws, they would have run the Grizzlies out. Okay? But they couldn't make free throws last night. Schengun couldn't make,

they just could not make their free throws or they would have run them out. So let me just say, I am not saying this game, if anything, this game with the way it was officiated, if the Rockets would have made their free throws, they would have killed them, right?

But there is no basketball game on earth that should have 71 free throws. Jacoby, I do the postgame show. We didn't go on the air until 9.45 last night. And so, look, whether it was the Dallas game, whether it was the Clippers game, whether it was this game, the answer is not these games should not all be this way. The answer is these games are in many cases this way and Memphis can't win those. You have got to be able to win those, the ones that turn into slogs, the ones where you don't get to just run up and down the court and play consecutive possessions on a regular basis, right?

Like those other games and many cases. Remember we were talking about the cast under game? Correct. That flow. win. That was the perfect basketball contest in the perfect spot from two great teams. It was the antithesis of what you are discussing now, but continue. Correct. And so look, in the end, Memphis has this fantastic record. Their depth has showed really well. But like the depth and the defense and that kind of stuff, that's a regular

season deal. When you have watched them play against the best teams in the Western Conference, they're not good enough. And that's why you've seen their name come. up so often, whether it has been going back with O'GNanobie or McKell Bridges or Dorian Finney Smith or more recently Jimmy Butler. It's, they've got to, they've got to be additive because the, the depth, you don't need depth when it comes to the playoffs, right? And Memphis has got to keep their guys on the court and they have got to show the ability that they can compete with the best teams.

They obviously got a good win against Boston earlier this year. They've had some good wins throughout. But going into last night's game, they had had John Morant, Desmond Bain, and Jared Jackson, Jr. on the court together, a 199 minutes.

I mean, that is the equivalent of four games, which they played 30. So, Grizzly's guy, let me ask you a real question. Yeah. So you've chosen your team as a team you loathe this week. The team that you're not at every game, you're at every practice,

you do a show from the facility every day. My question for you is that you don't play in the practices, but you attend them. So my question for you is this. What trade do you actually want to see happen for your team that you love so much that you loat this week? So you're admitting there are weaknesses. You're winning there are areas of improvement.

You're admitting that there are players out there in the world that have been rumored as potentially landing in Memphis, what deal do you want to see them make? You've got to get, look, they have been searching for it even since when they had Dylan Brooks. You have to get a real 3-&D guy. Who's that? End of story. Who's that?

I mean, it was Dorian Finney Smith. Yeah, he sounds like a dreamtie guy. Because Camp Johnson's not, he'll give you the threes. And time of time. He's not stopping anybody. Who's the best defensive player in the Grizzas? They have a great defensive team. Jaron Jackson.

Who's the best perimeter defensive players? Are you serious? Jared Jackson had six blocks last night. I did. I said Jaron Jackson. Who's it? Pippin? Marcus Smart would be the best perimeter defender, but he's always hurt.

Marcus Smart. He's a coach. He's coaching. He is coaching. No, he can still guard. He is coaching right now. He's a coach. Marcus Smart is still guard.

Do you want him to give to Jimmy Butler? That's not happening. It's not happening. No. No. I don't see it happen. It doesn't feel. I don't know. Imagine if he picked up his player option,

he had to pay him $52 million. Then imagine you have an offer of an extension for 150 for years, no thing. Here's the team that I loat. This is very simple, very quick. We don't discuss enough just how much the Toronto Raptors suck at basketball. I think that we talk about the wizards all the time as being terrible. We talk about the pelicans being terrible. for some reason, we just breeze over the Toronto Raptors who just absolutely are atrocious.

In their last 16 games, they've won one. They've won one. We never talk about how bad they are. And here's something that I've been, I'll take that I've been harboring for quite some time. It's a bit of an unpopular opinion because sometimes when the basketball Nerderati gets so involved in a player that I will sometimes defer to them. Sometimes I'll be like, well, everyone else says that this guy's so great.

So the nerderati must be right about this. The nerderati had crowned Scotty Barnes as this like future face of the league when he won rookie of the year. I'm just going to say it out loud now. It might be unpopular. I don't see it with Scotty Barnes. What is Scotty Barnes so good at?

Because everyone told me it was defense, but I watched Darius Garland just go past him like he was a traffic cone last night. And what is he doing on offense? That's so great. He shoots 29% from three. Like, I don't see budding superstar Scotty Barnes. I don't even see future all-star Scotty Barnes.

And everyone told me for years how great Scottie Barnes was. And I'm not re-watching Raptors games. I'll see it from time to time if a good team is playing them, if they're going down the wire with somebody. So I just sort of assume that Scottie Barnes was this guy who Scottie Barnes was. But I've been checking in on some Raptors games this year. And Scottie Barnes does not impress me. So tell me what I'm missing about Scotty Barnes because the Nerderati loves Scotty Barnes.

Oh, we got to build around Scotty Barnes. We got to tear it all down to the studs. But Scotty Barnes is untouchable. He's the future of the franchise. What am I missing here? Maybe some are a little higher on Scottie Barnes than they should be. But I am not. look, if we are looking at the Toronto Raptors

and we're lining him up on a wall, he is by far the best player to me and the one I would take. Oh, he's also the tallest of the seven dwarves in Snow White, but that doesn't mean he's tall. I understand. You really threw me for a loop. When you started going in on Nerderati and the Nerderati loves this guy, whatever,

I thought for certain you were talking about quickly. No. Because when that trade took place, much like the Carl Towns trade, the New York bump created this scenario where people were like, oh, but you talk around the league and they got DeVincenzo.

And then when they made that deal, it was like, when you talk around the league, you know, yeah, there's RJ Bear, but it's Emmanuel quickly. And you look at their salary cap sheet and you just want to barf. Oh, my God. Like, I don't know, man.

How do you win one of 16? Like, how do you win one of 16 when you have, they've got players. They've got RJ, quickly's been hurt, but he's back now. Portals fine. And, you know, you've got Scotty Barnes, future face of the league over there. Boucher, I don't know. They are in a very tenuous situation because you wonder, like, what direction, like, she's. And so they don't, because they don't have a rookie on this team.

because of that stupid portal deal. Yeah. I mean, they've got their own pick this year, next year and the year after that. But if you look at someone like the hornets who are also just deplorable basketball team or the Wizards, but you see young pieces that you can build around.

When I'm looking at the Raptors, it's supposed to be Scotty Barnes. It's supposed to be RJ Barrett. But who are like the guy, we're like, you know what? We've got one of our five championship starters in-house. I don't see it.

I do not see it. Player that I loved this week, and this is going to shock you, because it is not one of the players that was on one of the big time teams or somebody that was involved in games that any of us particularly paid attention to outside of the Trey Young game winner that took place against them. I am saying the player that I love this week,

was Walker Kessler. Huh. And the reason I am saying Walker Kessler is you could go back and you could look and he'd say, hey, his rebounding numbers and field goal percentage a bit through the roof. So if you're trying to get your value up as a guy who's been in trade talks for literally the last two years, 15 rebounds, 10 rebounds, 17 rebounds, 16 rebounds. So you're doing that job. And then every time you shoot it, it practically goes in because you're shooting 76% from the field.

during that run. So he's rebounding and he finishes stuff. And, you know, if you're getting, if you're trying to get your trade value up, then so be it. But the reason that I am shouting out Walker Kessler is the player that I love this week is because his girlfriend won Miss America. Oh, that's right. His girlfriend won Miss America this week. And then Walker Kessler, I'm going to give you something you don't know and the audience doesn't know because I'm going to guess. They haven't paid attention to this. So his girlfriend, who won Miss America this week,

is still at Auburn. Okay? Oh, yeah, she's still at Auburn. And you may wonder, you know, of course, Walker Kessler played at Auburn. So you would think Walker Kessler and this girl, oh, this is his college girlfriend, right? Walker Kessler was a big star at Auburn.

this girl goes to Auburn. Yeah, that's how it works. Pretty girl, star basketball player. Met in college. Met in college. And now she's Miss America. That's got to be the case. No.

What? Quote, it was my rookie year. My mom and dad got invited to an Alabama Auburn game. You know how moms are. So she takes a picture of this random girl who's a dancer on the court.

It says, do you know who this is? I'm like, mom, you can't take pictures of random people. Like, that's weird. Three weeks later, she texts me. Mom does. This is her name so you can have it. I was like, well, I might as well hit her up on Instagram, and the rest was history, Mom for the Win.

What? So you're telling me, I just want to try the facts trade. Yes. Mama Kessler is at a basketball contest between Auburn and Alabama in which her son is not involved. And she's watching sort of like a during the commercial entertainment and the Auburn dance team goes out there, does a routine to the black eyed peas or whatever. And first of all, this is something I thought only I did focused on one dancer that's your favorite for the entire routine. But apparently Mama Kessler and I have that in common. And not only that, she takes out her phone, takes a picture of said,

dancer sends it to Walker Kessler, her son, and is like, oh, by the way, this girl is the girl for you. And then three weeks later, somehow tracks down her name and sends that to her son. And now they're together. And now she's Miss America. I mean, Abby Stockard is her name. This is wild. It's amazing.

What a mom. What a mom. What a mom. What a mom. What a mom. What a scouting department to have. What a great recognition of talent she is. Mama Kessler not only knows what's right for her son.

I wonder if he mentioned that in his first, like, Instagram DM to her. Oh, yeah. When do you reveal that in the relationship? Like, hey, I know this is crazy, but my mom thinks we should know each other. I don't think you can lead with that. That's not a great lead. I think that comes out, like, date five. It's almost like the movie where, like, the buddy hires the prostitute to sleep with the friend,

but the prostitute and the friend end up getting together. It's like one of those things where it's like at some point he has to be like, remember when I reach out and DMD you? It's because my mom's in your profile. How crazy is that? You would think that they were college sweetheart. You know what the player I love this week is is Mama Kessler? That's the player I love.

I'm sorry. He said, mom for the win. Mom for the win. I was all prepared to do this Jaime Hakez celebration for the player that I love this week. but the player that I love this week is Walker Kessler's mom. Jaime Hakez, you can wait for another time to be celebrated on the mismatch. Great week by you, but you've been supplanted. The player that I love this week is Walker Kessler's mom.

Jaime, great job. You're doing great with Jimmy Butler out. But Walker Kessler's mom is the player I love this week. Player that I load. You always rope me back in Zion Williamson. Earlier this year, and there's a clip of me saying, done. I'm done.

I can't do it anymore. No, Verno. All it took was a breakaway, 360 reverse windmill. And I was like, oh my God. And then you want to hear something crazy? My son was on a school trip to New Orleans. Oh, that's exciting.

And the school sends us this thing and it's like, hey, we've gotten this. great opportunity to buy, to take all the kids to an NBA game. Oh. Now, of course, my son goes to, and watches the NBA all the time.

So this is going to be exciting. And so, and I said, and so they said, we've got an opportunity while we're in New Orleans to go to a game. We're going to go. We got a group package on a great deal with a special thing that the kids are going to get to do.

Basically, they were in like whatever it's called the fan tunnel. So when the players like ran out, they got the high five or whatever. But they said, and so we will be taking the kids to Pelicans Blazers on Wednesday night. And I text him immediately. And I was like,

oh my God. Pelicans Blazers. And then Zion played Tuesday night. And I was like, dude, you're going to get to see him. I'm like, you just came back. And you get, 360 dunk. You might actually get to see. I was like, that game just got cool.

And then, of course, Zion sat out Wednesday night. And he watched the Blazers score 75 points on the Pelicans in the first half. Yeah. I'm still out on Zion. I don't care how many windmill dunks he has in front of no competition. I'm out. That was awesome. The better he plays, the worse it is.

Because he's going to get hurt again and hit the bench again. And the Pelicans should just trade him for like one first round. pick. Seriously, just get off of Zion. If I'm the Pelicans, I'm getting off of Zion. He looked lean, Jacoby. He looked really lean. He did. He looked like he'd been working out. He looked lean. I cannot think of another

player who desperately needs just a change of franchise, a change of city, a change of culture, a change of organization. And I'm not going to be so, like, dumb and thoughtless to be like, well, the food in New Orleans is the problem. Because that's not

it. They got fat, fried food. everywhere. Okay? That's not the problem. I just think that this thing with the Pelicans and Zion has not not going to 100% blame Zion and I'm not going to 100% blame the Pelicans and we can argue about how to split up that pie, but who cares? The net is the net and it's not working and he needs a new team in a new city. I just want to see it happen. I got you, but he's 24 and all it took. I'm out. He robs me back in every time. He robs me back in every time. He roams me back in every time. The guy, break a week. And all that took a way. It was awesome.

Does a 360 and stares at the bench and acts like he's back. He's not back. He didn't play in back to back. And he looked. What? That's the best he's looked since college. While he was sleeping, someone gave him Ozempic once a week. That's what happened.

While he was asleep. I don't care what he's on. The security for the Pelicans just has the key to his apartment and hits him up with those Zentic once a week. I just want to believe. I want to believe that it could happen. It's not going to happen. The player that I loathe is, is, I really worked, I really worked.

I really just had to workshop this one to get to where I wanted to go. The player that I loathe this week is Brandon Jennings. Now, I actually love Brandon Jennings. I think that Brandon Jennings doesn't get enough credit. Because you and I are of age, we remember Brandon Jennings out of high school. He was so highly touted. And he ended up going to Italy for a year and playing pro. And at the time, it was absolutely unheard of.

The idea that someone would forego the American college system and get paid and play overseas and become a pro and get pro experience and live by themselves and being a foreign country and experience all of that is something that Brandon Jennings did first. I can't say first unequivocally, but did early, did in a big spot and was very influential and sort of groundbreaking for high school stars. I'll give you a crazy thing. I was in the middle, not personally in the middle of all of this, but at the time, my beloved friend's son. Sonny Vaccaro was a weekly guest on my show, and he ushered all of that. Oh, yeah. Sonny's the one that made it happen, and then the Under Armour Deal and everything else that took place. So, I mean, I remember that whole thing very, very well.

And then, of course, he came as a rookie and had some really big moments. And it was like kind of, in some ways it felt like, hey, maybe this is justified, you know, that this served him well, even though he struggled in his one year over there. Yeah. And I think that he's a groundbreakinger for that. And I think a lot of people poo-poo careers because they didn't play out the way that we wanted them to. But he got some buckets and got some big wins and had some games. And he is now like us in the media and he's on Gilbert Arena's show. And I don't do like media on media criticism. So I'm really just here to get to the zone with Joe Missoula part.

But what he did say was that Jason Tatum is like the softest superstar we have or whatever. Jason Tatum responded on Instagram. Softest Celtics superstar. Sorry, softest Celtic superstar, sure. But this is why I am here because of the Joe Missoula coins concept. Here's what Joe Missoula responded to when he was prompted about this back and forth between Jennings and Tatum. And I'll explain what the coins are afterwards. Here's Missoula.

What do you think when you hear something like Tatum is soft? First thought was that's when you use one of your coins. Yes. Yes. Yep. So here's what the coins are. On a previous radio show, here's what Joel Mazzula explained about the coins. Quote, what if we all walked around with like five coins, right?

And at any point in time, you can just hand one out and just challenge a guy to like combat. If you do pull a coin on a guy and he beats you up, like, that's your fault. You've got to train harder or pick and choose your coins better. This one got overshadowed because it was the same interview in which he said fighting should be back in the NBA. But Joe Missoula has created a society in which we all hold these coins, which can guarantee us hand-to-hand combat with whoever we give them to. Joe Missoula doesn't just want fighting in the NBA.

He wants fighting all over the place. He wants us to settle all of our disputes through fighting. and if you have five coins in your life. And he said one of those coins would be for Brandon Jennings. I just love the idea that Joe Missoula is just a psychopath with violence and the town and the Celtics on his mind at all times. He is not like the rest of us. The other thing that's crazy about that is that is a drunk conversation that is being had dead sober. Yes.

Like you would never fathom me and you going out to dinner. and me, you could totally see if we've been out for a night and we were out drinking and then I was like, bro, what if you? And then like I come up with this idea and then it like oddly makes sense to both of us at the time and and our buddies because everybody's been drinking and you're just throwing out crazy stuff. But if I went out to dinner with you dead sober and explained my coin idea, you would think I was crazy.

Like if my wife was there on the Uber ride home, I'd be like, I don't know if I can do the show with this man. I didn't know what sort of levels. That is insane. What's wrong with this guy? Psychosis were going on in his brain. Yeah. Joe Azula really wants to fight people. He really, really does.

And he wants to live in a society which all of us at all times are holding five coins. It's like a black mirror episode. Like, this guy is a psycho and I love it and I'm here for it. And Brandon Jennings, I love you too. I just had to put you in the player I load to get to Joe Azula's coins. You know what we need. We need. Jake Paul to challenge him.

No, I, that's even, Vegas, Fandall has that at even odds. Fandall has that, in MMA, it's not just striking, Fandall has that at even odds. I believe in Joe Mazzula's ability to win fights, I do. Jake Paul versus Joe Mizzula on Netflix.

I love it. And Jake, Jake Paul needs to like start wearing like Cavs gear or like Brandon Jennings throwbacks or whatever. Brandon Jennings could walk in out to the ring. We just need like, it's like Jake Paul,

Joe Mazula, and three angry Wolverines in an octagon. Just sign me up for that. Hey, Jacoby, I'm being dead serious when I say this. It's getting to the point where I desperately want to see him fight. Oh, he's going to win. Anyone who knows Jiu Zitzu of wrestling

wins every single fight. I just want to watch him fight. If you go to the gym and you can bench 500 pounds, you're going to get your ass kicked by a high school wrestler who weighs 150 pounds. to watch Joe Missoula fight someone. You will. He's going to fight somebody.

He's headed that direction. He tried to fight a ref like three weeks ago. That's the player I loath. What's the thing you love this week? The thing that I loved this week is Cooper Flagg living up to the hype. So I don't know if he's going to win college basketball player of the year. He's going to have a chance. It's probably going to be Joan I Broome from Auburn, who is devastating.

stating. But, and there's, and there's only been a few, like Zion Williamson did it, Anthony Davis did it. I mean, it's, there's a, it's a short list and most of them have been transcendent players. I, a few years ago, went to an YBL event here in Memphis, and his team from Maine came and entered the event. He was on the circuit that year. It was prior to the peach jam. And Cooper Flagg was going to be coming in. He had already been, you know, kind of, you'd seem. him on House of Highlights or Slam Magazine or whatever. So me and my son went over there to go watch him. And I remember I came on this very show, The Mismatch. And I was talking to Kevin at the time. And I said, that's the best 16-year-old basketball player I've ever seen. I mean, I said, I just watched that kid have 12 blocks. I mean, and they're like above the rim stuff.

This guy is a freak of nature. He was on this main team with like his brother and a bunch of guys that were like five, eight. It was crazy. And he was amazing, absolutely amazing. And so obviously I followed him since that point. And then the hype is the hype. And now he has gone to Duke.

And he's been fantastic. And then everybody gets to see that, you know, what you want is somebody that comes in and they've got all this hype and everybody's like, oh, this guy's worth tanking for. This guy's got a chance to be one of the next big things. And then you tune him in on TV. And he's that. Because it's harder to score in college than it is on the NBA level.

Oh, my God, Jacoby. I mean, trust what I tell you, I am, there's going to be people that knock it. There's going to be, and I'm not saying that Ace Bailey or Dylan Harper or whoever is not fantastic as well. I don't feel like I need to tear down somebody else to build another guy up because I think they're all. I think there's going to be a lot of guys in this draft possibly at the top. that could really alter your chances of a franchise. But I just, I foresee no circumstance. He is not awesome as a pro.

And I feel like he's gone into Duke. And if you flip it on, he shows you that. Because you think about what he's going to look like in two and three years. If he fulfills his potential, brother, he's awesome, awesome. This draft is fun. This draft has like four or five guys. We're like, oh, they build a franchise around him. A Cooper flag is A number one there.

And I haven't watched every Duke game, but when I do turn in, tune in, he's living up to it. And play defense, too. You know what I mean? Like, he plays a lot of defense and just gets to his spots, hits buckets. I was that. The game against Kentucky, he was bad. He had two bad turnovers at the end. That was early in the season, but he's certainly figured out.

I love him so much. The thing that I love this week is, it's just a story about opportunity. because there's a guy who was drafted last year. And because of where he landed and because of his abilities, there were people talking about rookie of the year. And there were people saying he's the steal of the draft. And there were people saying that of everybody that got, Risa Shea, Sarr, all these high ceiling guys,

be like, actually the best pro is going to be this guy. But guess what? He couldn't get on the court. Couldn't get on the court. But this week, he got on the court. for the Rio Grande Vipers. Oh, come on. And I'm talking about Reed Shepherd.

Reed Shepherd, who's been behind Brooks, he's been behind Jalen Green, he's been behind Fred Van Vleet, they can't really find, like, time for him outside of garbage time on the Rockets. And E-May is not the type of coach to dedicate time to developing young players. He's like, we're, if it doesn't get us towards winning the basketball game in front of me, then I'm not going to do it. So they send Reed Shepherd down to play in the G League. This guy had 49 points, 8 for 19 from three, four for four from the line, six assists, five rebounds, and three steals. And I think two of those three steals went straight for Reed Shepherd buckets and transition. Like it is one thing to say, oh, it's the G league, but 49 points is 49 points.

And it was just such a great thing to see for him as someone who, was Bally Hood hyped going in after the draft, like, oh, well, he's in a position to win. They need shooting, and that's what he provides. He's going to be rookie of the year. And he doesn't even see the court. And he goes down to the G League and puts up 49. And I put myself in his shoes. When he brushed his teeth that night and looked in the mirror, he was like, I am a bad

motherfucker. I am. And I'm not going to let Eme Udoca or lack of playing time or I'm not going to watch Dylan Brooks and say I should be in that spot. He put his head down, did the work, and scored 49 in the G League. And that was the thing that I love this week. All right. I'm going to preemptively defend us

because the players we loved were both Great White Hope, white American basketball players. But look, it's all we've got, guys. It's all we've got is hanging on to Reed Shepherd and Cooper Flagg.

I mean, the best we've got is Tyler Hero and he got frigging chucked earlier this year. It was the worst, I mean, look, it was the worst thing that could have happened. The only guy we got is Tyler Hero. He's going to be the all star of the group. I didn't realize it, but this has been a very heavy white American podcast.

We're talking about the Miss America and the mom that got them together. We got Reed Shepherd and his mustache. Cooper Flagg and his main team. This is a direct response to last. Very heavy white American. To win. Someone should put us on the, on the, the psychotherapy couch.

Last week, we haven't figured out. My player I loathed was Tyler Hero for getting thrown down. You can't do that. Okay. We've been picked last at the, we've been picked last at the park. Too much for this to happen, Tyler.

You can't get, you can't be the guy that gets chocked. The thing that I loathe. Jimmy Butler Bro What? You can't say Hey

I'm gonna tell his agent goes and says Hey I'll play in Dallas I'll play in Houston I'll play in Phoenix I'll play at Golden State And they're like you know what I'll play anywhere

So Memphis steps up Obviously Milwaukee steps up obviously Because those names And then You get Chris Haines The League He's told them

DNA YA. No, I didn't mean anywhere. So as someone who loves Memphis, and someone who loves Memphis, go to hell. I love this. She's like, so Memphis starts being like the leader in like the odds and all of a sudden. It's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,

when I said I'll play anywhere but here, I didn't mean Memphis. Or Milwaukee. Yeah. Right? Because that was the other team that came out. Which by the way, our two teams that would have chances at a title with Jimmy Butler.

Absolutely. What's your problem, bro? What is your problem? You just want to be in the sun. That's it. Memphis is lovely. I love Memphis. Unbelievable.

Unbelievable. I mean, you're not allowed to say, okay, I'll be traded anywhere. And they'd be like, wait, not there. Yeah, I like that. The thing that I load this week is it happened last night. The Warriors are handling the pistons, right? This is two teams going in two different directions. The Pistons are winning games.

The Warriors are losing games. The Warriors are doing a good job handling the Pistons, but there's a little flurry at the end. Just a little glimmer of hope that the Pistons could maybe, maybe tie it, maybe make something happen. Cade goes in line. They're down four. He makes the first one.

And then it gets to this point where it's like the basketball version of the on sides kick. Where you have to intentionally miss the shot. Because there's about 4.8 left. They have no timeouts. We know how the math works. There's really like nothing you can do. Best case scenario,

they miss two free. and you heave an 80-foot desperation miracle shot. So you end up trying to get the rebound off of the free throw. I've always felt like NBA players should be better at missing free throws than they are. Cade Cunningham goes with the old. I'm going to bounce it off the front rim and have it come right back to me, move. He bounces off the front rim, it hits the front rim, bounces off the backboard, and goes right to Cade Cunningham.

Cade Cunningham then kicks it to Bontechio, not a household name, but who dude can hit some threes. And right as Vontecchio is about to shoot a three to tie the game, after this perfectly executed on-sides kick of basketball from Kate Cunningham, the referee blows the whistle because he wants to review whether or not the ball hit the rim. Now, let me tell you, as someone who watched it live, there is a very distinct sound of the ball hitting the rim and then the backboard. And not only that, there's a distinct change in the ring.

direction of the basketball. And I'm watching at home. I have the benefit of a microphone on the hoop. Fine. But if you're an NBA referee, your job is to pay attention to these details. You know he's going to try

to intentionally miss the shot because you watch a ton of basketball games up close on the court. You understand the nuances that are at play here. Your job is to make sure it hits the rim. It hit the rim. It put him in a perfect spot to tie the game. And this guy has to blow the

missile so he can look at the review and forget the whole review thing about slowing it down and breaking the flow and all of this literally gave the Warriors an advantage. Unbelievable. If he lets that play out, they get an open corner three and Vanteco makes or misses on the players decide the game. But instead, he stops the flow of the game so they can look on it at the board, at the stupid table, takes them way too long to see what everybody saw in the live shot, which was that it hit the front rim and then went back to the game.

Cunningham. And then he says, okay, side out Pistons ball. So now the Warriors have had a whole time out to set up their defense. And Malik Beasley ends up getting

a good shot, but it's a tough shot. It's like 28 feet with defense in front of him. And he misses it and it goes away. But like, it's another example of referees in an attempt to use review to get the right call, making the wrong call, breaking the flow of the game,

and making some, something that was exciting and live turned to something that was dead and predetermined. Piss me off. It's just not something that you should miss either. Thank you. Disgusting. Thank you. It was very clear.

I knew he was going to miss. The announces were deciding whether or not he should miss. I was like, well, making this shot makes it a two-point game. And then you foul. You have no time. It's like there's no sense in anything but intentionally missing the shot. the refs should be aware of that, no down in distance and understand that, and the refs should be looking for it.

And out of the three refs, all of you should have seen that it hit the front room because it was obvious. It was obvious. Really great week for the NBA, I think. Obviously, headline by that Cavs Oklahoma City game, but good week all at all for sure. Thank you to our executive producer, Jesse Lopez, as always, and Jacoby. I'll talk to you next week. Must be 21 and over in present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star, or 18 over and present in D.C.

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