The Mismatch - The Kings' Woes, Fox vs. Morant, and the Hot Suns

Episode Date: November 23, 2021

Verno and KOC discuss the Kings' disgusting loss to the 76ers last night. After Luke Walton’s firing, the guys thought the Kings would show more passion and fight. One thing is for sure: It all starts at the top for the Kings. (07:03) They debate whether De’Aaron Fox is the most overrated point guard in the league and compare his career to Ja Morant's. (17:23) Then they go over the near–'Fight Club' scene between Isaiah Stewart and LeBron James. (29:07) They also discuss Cade Cunningham’s successful start to his rookie campaign. (38:42) Lastly, they discuss last night's epic game between the Grizzles and Jazz (45:56) before discussing the run made by the Suns, who have won 13 straight (57:06). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Jessie Lopez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's good, everybody? I'm John G. Stremski, host of New York, New York with JJ, the first podcast on The Ringer and Spotify, dedicated to you, the New York Sports fan. We've got episode three nights a week, plus bonus episodes whenever news breaks. So make sure you follow the show on Spotify. Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Verney and join me as he does every Tuesday from the Ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, A.K., Kevin O'Brien, Kevin O'Connor, A.K., Kevin O'Connor, A.K.K.O.K.O.K.K. Kevin O'Carly confident. Shout out. Mina Kimes. Kevin O. Coroner. Shout out worldwide, Wobb. Kevin! Chris, look at your influence. You have other people on NBA Twitter, Wobb and Mina. Give it me nicknames. You're such an influential person, Chris. What is this, Time magazine? Like, top 50, top 100,

most influential Americans? I think it's probably fair. I'll be in the mix. You better be, Chris. There's been a lot. that has happened since we last spoke. We had a coach firing, and I would like to begin today's episode of the mismatch with what I woke up to this morning. One of my routines is I go and I get my coffee

and I start getting things together for the day. I catch up on everything that I missed last night, anything that is broken in the morning, and I pulled up a website, Twitter.com. I never heard of that. It was an application on my telephone. phone. And I pulled it up and the first thing I saw was the following tweet and I would like to do a dramatic reading of the tweet. The Kings losing at home to Philly's backups is an utter embarrassment.

Luke Walton had to go, but that won't solve their issues. Major roster change is needed. I am disgusted watching this team. What a hideous product. No wonder the other night that dude, puked all over the court. The author of that tweet was one, Kevin O. Coroner, as he was disgusted and watching this utter embarrassment. And in fact, even went to the length of saying that it was no wonder that a fan vomited while watching this basketball team. So I will presuppose that you were watching.

watching the Kings and the 76ers, it got to a boiling point, and those Twitter fingers got working, and you reeled off one of the most devastating tweets to hit NBA Twitter in a long time. Well, Chris, I mean, if anybody watched the game last night, 102, 94, Philadelphia, without any of their five starters from the postseason last year, starting Andre Drummond, Niang, Thibel, cork-bos, Maxi, Kings,

but their full team out there. After fire, Luke Wallen, you think you come out, you bring some energy, bring some effort, bring some toughness. That's right.

We're going to do this for Alvin Gentry. We're going to do it. Did not have the Nate McMillan impact. They got slaughtered, Chris. I watched that whole second half. It's late night. I'm back on the East Coast for Thanksgiving,

visiting my mom out here. And you know what, Chris? I'm glad I stay up to watch that disgusting affair from the Kings last night. It was hideous. It's going to be their 16th year in a row missing the playoffs. We talked recently about feeling bad for Pelicans fans. My goodness, Kings fans, how do you deal with this?

How do you deal with the fact that this team over the course of time, the best thing you ever had with the DeMarcats Cousin's era? That was the best thing you ever had. Well, this is horrible. Unfortunately, the best thing you ever had ended in 2006, when that was the end of the Rick Adelman era. As Alvin Gentry... I grew up with Pages Storiakovich and some of these fun teams.

I remember watching Paige thinking, oh, my God. Like this 16 guy who can drain threes, they're fun. The Kings are fun. Oh, they're going to beat the Lakers, and they didn't. Those are great teams. They had great teams, great runs. And so since Rick Adelman left the sidelines in 2006 for the Sacramento Kings, Alvin Gentry last night was standing on the sidelines.

Adam and left in 2006. Since then, Eric Musselman, Reggie Theas, Kenny Nat, Paul Westfall, Keith Smart, Michael Malone, Tyrone, Corbyn, George Carl, Dave Yeager, Luke Walton, Alvin Gentry. That is since 2006. Since 2006, Eric Musselman one year, Reggie Theis. Here's the amount of gains that these guys were on the sideline, okay? Musselman 82, Fias, 106, Kenny Nat 58, Paul Westfall, 171, Keith Smart, 141, Mike Malone, Michael Malone 106, 106, 170. games, Tyrone Corbyn, 28 games, George Carl, 112 games, Dave Yeager, 326 by far the most,

and then Luke Walton, 161 games. So the longest amount since Adelman is 326, which was Dave Yeager. That's it. It's disgusting, Chris. It's just disgusting. And I, and I, think with this king's team it all it all starts at the top and by the top i mean you know ownership the veck bought the team in 2013 um by the top i also mean like the past regime bladidey doc kept him too long kept luke walton too long it all starts with veck with ownership and some of the decisions made with the people hired underneath them to run operations here and and like i think with the kings like there's there's some reason to feel good. I mean, you know, you got Tyree

Salliborne. You know, Davian Mitchell has gotten off to a slow start offensively, but the defense is still there. Dearen Fox averaged 25 points per game last season. There's still some good on the team. Rashan Holmes, our guy from our first year during the mismatch, he's turned himself

into a pretty good player. There's still some good. But the fact is that overall, the mix it has started with the mistakes like drafting a Papayanas. Papianas. drafting a Marvin Bagley, no offense, Chris, over Luca. Mistakes happen in the draft every year.

I've made mistakes with my rankings. Every GM makes mistakes. But drafting Luca was an absolute no-brainer. Everybody thought Luca was going to Sacramento. Luca thought he was going to Sacramento. I think every King's fan thought they were getting Luca. And yet they drafted Marvin Bagley. These mistakes add up over the course of time.

And ultimately, though, with this team where it is today, Chris, losing to a game like that last night, It's not just one game. It's been 16 years of this. And the organizational dysfunction has not shown signs of changing, considering the fact they could have fired Luke Walton over the off season and interviewed a whole bunch of candidates. They could have gone through five, 10, 15 people if they wanted to to find the best guy.

But you know what? Even if they did do that, I don't trust that Vec would have made the right choice. I don't trust the people in power in Sacramento. I just don't trust that they can turn this thing around. And so when I think about what can this team do to fix itself, to like not forget about being, forget about being a finals contender. Let's go one step at a time here. Let's go from being like a on the playing bubble to maybe being guaranteed

playoff spot bubble for the six spot. How do you go from here to there? I'm not sure the answer here. Monta McNair, their new general manager from the past couple years, has so much that he needs to change here, so much with this roster. And to me, I'd look at it, Chris. I know he had a good game last night. It's got to start with the Aaron Fox.

I think for Sacramento here, they're in a position where you have to blow up what little you have, go to a full reset with a brand new clean slate for a new general manager to build things the way that he wants to build them. He needs to do that here, in my opinion, when it comes to fixing the Sacramento Kings, making them a team that's competing for a guaranteed playoff spot every year. it's got to be a clean reset. You've got to go through the draft the next couple of years because what you have right now, I'm sorry, nobody's going to sign in Sacramento.

What star players are available? What assets do you have to go get that player? I just don't see what the solutions are with this current core. I'm a sad to say, because they've been constantly rebuilding. I just don't know what the solutions are, Chris. I get it. It's frustrating.

It's frustrating. This is where I would break ways with you because I do think, I saw them a few years ago. And in fact, I tweeted out, I said, look, now they, this is not long after they drafted Bagley. And I saw them and I thought, man, if you have Fox and if you have Bagley and if you have Buddy Healed, you can build around this.

This is not, you've got the shooter, you've got the inside guy that gets buckets around the basket, and then you've got this darting, you know, mega athlete point guard who I think is going to be a multiple time All-Star. This is not that hard to build around. if you don't screw it up. And of course, in true fashion, they screwed it up. And I do think part of that is once you change over management, once you change over coaches, what happens is it does a tremendous disservice to the young talent on your team.

And as we talked about when the Knicks, we talked about this with the Knicks situation last year, who has stock in these guys, right? Like there are always going to be when management is responsible for the selections, in many cases, those guys are going to be given the best chance to thrive because they don't want to admit mistake. They don't want to admit that they didn't draft the right guy. And so those coaches and those general managers are going to make sure that those guys are given every opportunity to succeed.

And sometimes young players then get thrown by the wayside. But when you end up having so many different people that are the guys that can get Vivek on the phone and he listens to them, and sometimes it can be the coach, sometimes. This is, this is, it's an ownership problem, right? And somewhere along the way, yeah, somewhere along the way, those either, those owners either remain terrible forever or they have a come to Jesus and. They change everything. Like at one point, and this will apply. I read a book one time about your favorite team. I don't care about them, but I was interested in the way it all happened.

And there's these stories of how once upon a time, Robert Kraft was like very, very involved. And Pete Carroll was like a player's coach. And they were all involved. And you will remember that once upon a time, Bill Parcell stood in front of a very famous press conference. And he said, you would think if they're going to have you cook the meal, they'd let you shop for the groceries. And this was, you know, and then he was very resentful for their Terry Glenn draft pick. And it was like, why am I not the one that they are listening to with this kind of stuff? And he went through that.

Then he went to the Pete Carroll thing. And he finally just decided, all right, I'm hiring Bill Belichick and I'm getting out of the way. I will fund it. This isn't my expertise. I'm going to hire one guy. He's going to be in charge of the whole damn thing. It's his operation. now. You do football. I'll do business. You do football. The Vec needs to do. You do basketball. I do

do business. That's it. I'm out of this, right? I don't understand basketball, even though I think I do. Five on four. Yeah, right. And so now we need to get somebody in charge. But when you have all of these different, I do not think they are a talentless team. And I do think they have, you know, players there. So I would not, I think you can augment this. The problem is you can't replace owners. And you've just got to pray that this guy has a come to Jesus meeting and he decides, all right, I am going to build this franchise the way other successful teams are running their franchises. And I've seen it all manner of times where there's all different, there's all different cooks in the kitchen.

And sometimes it can work even despite that. It's possible. But I will say your errors in judgment and your big problems come from there being so many different voices in one room. And it is whoever has the ear of the owner is the one that gets to make, in some cases, the free agent signing, in some cases the trade, in some cases the draft. I mean, I have personal experience at this. look, from the time in 2007, from two, think about this,

and the Grizzlies, I think made seven or eight straight playoffs appearances. From the time they were 2007, Mike Conley, to the time that they drafted, Jaron Jackson Jr., who is now, you know, like just got his extension.

Okay, so he's in the first four years of his career. They did not draft a player. that got a second contract with the team. From Mike Conley to Jaron Jackson, Jr. And a large portion of that was there was always too many cooks in the kitchen. Who's got the ear of the guy? Is it the scouting director? Is it the general manager?

Is it the assistant general? Yeah. It's that guy. There's a million guys. And so you always ended up with the fiasco, and you were never able to get on the same page, everybody pulling the same rope and then whoever had the ear of the owner. And so they were just, they had so many good veterans that despite all that they were able to win.

But they blew the draft for like over a decade straight. It's just nobody did notice as much because they were making the playoffs and it wasn't that big of a deal. But I've seen how that happened and it's very, very difficult to pull it off. and unless their owner has this, you know, come to Jesus meeting. But, I mean, you know, it just goes to show. You even see, like, nobody now, obviously, and you saw that's why the agent went out. Nobody now, outside of me, has stocked Marvin Bagley there, right?

Like, he doesn't. Moe Hartless is playing in front of Marvin Bagley, okay? Moe Hartless stinks. He's shooting 35% from the field. and he's your starter and he can't rebound teams demolish them on the offensive glass and it's like what is what is going on

little tiny team like I actually think there is even stuff they can do outside of just playing Bagley with under Andre Romer made them look like JV Chris I know made them look like JV I mean there's stuff outside of their you know within their roster they could even augment that would make

them significantly better. It's the damnest thing. Well, here here's the thing though, Chris. I don't care of Rebecca is sitting courtside saying Cherry pick. Cherry pick. Yeah. I don't care if he's sitting court side. Ultimately it is Montaigneur.

Like he's the guy, right? It doesn't matter like Vivek, what he says, what he does. Montaigneur is the guy who needs to have a loud voice in here and making the choices that he feels best. And whether he's the right guy, we'll see over the course of time. We'll find out over the course of time. We'll find out over the course of time. But when it comes to these guys in this roster, you're 100% right. There's some good.

Tyrese Alliburton, his playmaking ability, he's a good, efficient score, he needs to shoot more. He's too reluctant. He doesn't shoot enough. They're going to get him more touches off the catch, more easier opportunities to score. That needs to happen. Davian Mitchell, you've got to be patient with him. Other than that, Chris, like besides some role players or Sean Holmes, you'd be happy to keep him along. Other than that, I disagree. There's five or six guys off that King's team. I would want.

Okay, well, give me those names and then I want to respond about Deer. I want to talk about Deerun Fox. Okay, there's five or six guys on that team that I would like to have on my team. Okay? Deerrin Fox, one. Tyrese Halliburton, two. Davion Mitchell, three. Buddy healed, four.

Marvin Bagley, five. Roshan Holmes, six. Harrison Barnes 7. Okay, so I'm up to 7 and I haven't even looked at their roster. I don't know if there's anybody else offhand.

Let me pull up their roster and just see if there's anybody else that I would care about. Absolutely not. What are you talking about? I just want to get your reaction. Yeah, I don't care about Alex Lenn either. So, yeah, that's it. I mean, there's seven.

Met two? Nah, I don't care. Seven guys. Yeah, okay. It's not that far off. I could augment that. Yeah, but it's like a, it's not a, not the highest quality seven. I mean, like, how many of those do you want is your one, two, or three? I don't even think I put De Aaron Fox in that category.

I know that might be harsh after he averaged 25 points per game last season. But he's an inefficient guy, dude. The Aaron Fox is the most overrated point guard in all of basketball after what he did last season. He's a solid player. He has a long way to go. His shooting is too inconsistent. And I think I want to compare him to John Morant because they're speedy, athletic point guards who get downhill, who get to the basket. So I want to compare them for that reason.

John Moran is the far superior player for a couple of different reasons. He's a far superior player because his feel for the game is a playmaker. He's such a better passer, ability to manipulate defenders and create opportunities for his teammates. It is just on another level compared to B. Aaron Fox. And secondly, and this is the big differentiator between these two, Fox is just not an efficient score from the perimeter. John Morant has shown every year that he's getting better and better and better and better as a shooter. You see it this season with his ability to pull up from three, his ability to shoot up to catch. He's a better shooter.

You see it from his touch on layups and floaters and runners and from the free throw line. John Morant also, one more thing, Chris, a better leader. a better leader, a guy who motivates his teammates. I can get that with that. A talker, a motivator. I get that with Fox. I don't think Fox is the guy. I love Fox.

I love him. And I think that this is, we break ways on this. I love Fox. I do think he is like a Moran. And I think one of the big differences is. Do you think I'm giving up too early? Yes. Let's say I'm McNair.

I'm running the Kings. I'd be wanting to trade Fox to get other pieces. Absolutely not. I'd be wanting, I'd be wanting to trade Fox to get. get worse. Absolutely not. See, I want higher draft thoughts.

I want to roll the days again. No. I would build, I would build the Fox. This is madness. It took this long, wait,

it took this long for you to care about Lonzo, who was terrible last year, but I'm saying, I don't know, I don't know what you mean. But they're the same draft class. So I mean,

I've liked Lonzo for years. Yeah, but if we're talking about their development and we're talking about where they are in the trajectory of their careers, Lonzo's gotten better every year.

of his career. So is the Aaron Fox. What are you talking about? He started off slow in these first 15 games. Who do you want him to throw the ball to? Seriously. He's playing in a starting lineup with Roshan Holmes, who you have to create the shot for,

Harrison Barnes, who stands out in the corner, Mo Hartless, who couldn't throw it in the ocean, and then he's got a second-year guy in Tyrese Halliburton playing next to him. I mean, John Morant has a much better crew to chuck that ball around, too. and to playmate with.

John's also the guy, dude. John's the leader. John's going to be one of the best leaders in basketball. Fox is, Fox is, isn't that? He's also coming in his development. People see the Jai highlights. Look, it's still coming with him. Of course.

People weren't talking about what an amazing leader he was on Saturday night when they got beat by 40 by Minnesota. It's development. You're young. You're right now, you treat your career much differently when you're 25 and 26 and 27 than you do when you're 21, 22, and 23. That's just the way it is.

Your priorities change. You care about the sleep you get. You care about the food you eat. You just mature. And Fox is an amazing talent. Amazing. If you watch those two play against each other, it's like a mirror.

Like I said, I'm a Fox guy. They're similar, Chris. But like I said, with Darren Fox, he's made some improvements over his now five years in the NBA. He got better at getting to the line, got better at drawing files, got better at finishing at the rim, and he showed flashes of being better as a shooter, but then he'd take steps back,

and he would regress and get worse. It's been very inconsistent for him as a shooter, and with Aaron Fox, I think just my overall point here is, it's not like he's a bad player. I'm not saying he's a bad player. I'm just saying I don't view him in that potential upper echelon of point guards. The league is loaded with guys who handle the ball,

who create, generate offense for you. There's so many of them. And if you're, let's say you did want to trade sack, DR Fox. I'm not sure how many teams are like doing jumping jacks thinking, oh, yeah, I want them, I want them, I want them, I don't, because every team has a guard. So I'm just

thinking in terms of how I would want to build this roster out, Fox to me in year one of his five year max contract is not the guy that I'd want to do it with. I would want another roll of the dice with a clean reset here.

with Davion Mitchell instead, with Tyrese Halliburton instead, and moving Fox out of the way in order to increase your probability or to get back a player in return who's more of a forward, a three, a four, or a five, a bigger player to compliment those younger guys with Tyrese Halliburton and Deaeran Mitchell. So as much as we're talking about Fox specifically and his own talents as a player, I only say that as part of my overall roster construction argument. He's a good player, overrated in terms of, I think, his potential, in my opinion. And I would just want to reshuffle the deck here, get worse this season, forget about the postseason.

You're going to get slaughtered even if you get in. It doesn't matter. I mean, look, it's just a disagreement. And it's fine. I think it's perfectly okay. Yeah, yeah, it's just a disagreement. I think he's going to be a multiple-time all-star, and I think he's one of the great young talents in the NBA still. I do.

I am a fox guy. He's not, he is the least of the king's problems, and I think you're elevating it to the most of them. They need structure in the front office, structure on the sidelines, and a buy-in from everybody pulling the same rope on talent, bringing in talent, and augmenting what they already have.

Because I do think that they've got some desirable young talent on that team still. Yeah, but like bringing in the equine, of one to Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick, you know what those guys would do? They'd change everything on the roster. Oh, there's no question. So that's what I'm arguing.

Oh, I don't believe that's true. I don't think they'd change everything. You know who they would keep? They would keep Tyrese Halliburton, high IQ player, excellent playmaker. He's not going to be an all-star though. Yeah, but I'm saying guys you'd keep, all I'm saying, I'm not saying he's going to be an all-star.

All I'm saying is guys you would keep. you'd keep Tyrese Halliburton, you would keep DeVion Mitchell. And other than that, I'm not sure there's anything in the King's roster that you'd be keeping, other than guys who are placeholders for your hopeful, eventual guys who make you a consistent playoff team every single year. Those, there's the only two in the roster, Halliburton and Mitchell. If we're going to be fair, I mean, Daveon Mitchell has started 37% from the field, 27% for three.

He's not a good player right now. And he's only three years old as a rookie. Like he is very possible. He never develops offensively. So he's like the same age as Deeran Fox? Yeah, he is. Which is crazy to think. Isn't that crazy to think about?

Yeah. And one of those average 25 points a game already. What the hell are we talking about? I know. He's still just a rookie, though, in terms of his development. Age is, he was a late bloomer at Baylor. He could be a late bloomer in the NBA, too. I think that's important to keep in mind.

Whereas Fox was a high achiever in high school. a high achiever in college, a high achiever early in his NBA career. I mean, everybody's developmental trajectory is much different. And Mitchell may not pan out, but he's a keeper because he's in the first year of his rookie team. I think it's very difficult done. And just like, I think in terms of roster construction, to me, McNair drafting Halliburton and drafting Mitchell, that kind of says something about the direction he wants to go with this team. I don't think you can necessarily have all three of those guards if you're concerned.

competing in the playoffs. If all those guys work out and you're paying Halliburton $20 million a year and you're paying Fox $30 million a year. And then you get Mitchell coming up. If he works out and you're paying him $18, $20, $25 million a year, if you're paying like over $80, $90 million of your cap, the three guards who are under six foot five, I don't think that's smart Russia.

I tell you this. I would. That's an indicator of what's going to happen to Fox and it will be a trade at some point. I would right now, well look it might be it is a game but like

whoever takes over if the team doesn't win that guy probably will get to see it through either you know what I'm saying like they'll

they'll replace him because that's what they do they replace management they replace the coaches and so this is your this is your chance if you're him to say it's the coach's fault

the roster is better than how it's performed it's the coach's fault and so now he needs somebody to come through for him I think I would have start the whatever I would take my chances if I'm him and I would say, all right, Alvin's entry is my interim, but I'm not having Alvin's entry coach this entire season. I'm not doing

that. I'm going to, I'm going to bring somebody else in. And I mean, I saw like some of the gambling odds on this and I saw one of the favorites and it's exactly what I would do. I would go attempt to coach Kenny Atkinson right now. It's exactly what I would do. I would say thank you for coaching a few games, Alvin Gentry, and I would bring Kenny Atkinson in, who once did it with a very young Brooklyn team, and I would say, let's try to get a real culture here going. Let's try to establish something here.

How much money would you give Brad Stevens? Oh, God, he's not doing that. How much would you give? He's not doing that. How much would you give? I mean, would you bring him the highest pay coach in basketball? ball, you know, to get him to go to the second level? Again, it's all relative. I mean, do I think you should be the highest-paid coach of basketball? Probably not. Would I, in order to

have him on my sideline, because I have no chance of getting anybody with that kind of pedigree? What does it matter? It doesn't count towards my cap. We've talked enough about the Kings. Let's move on. Yeah, it doesn't count against my cap. We're not going to fix their problems today. Yeah, we're not, or ever for that matter. We had a player erupt since we last spoke, Isaiah Stuart and the LeBron fiasco went down. Very few times where I'll see some, I'll see some tweets about something start to come out, and I won't know, I won't know what's going on,

but I'll see, like, you know, shocked reactions or, oh, reactions, or oh, my God, reactions. And then I click on the video, and I'm still absolutely floored by what I witness. But that was so with the Isaiah Stuart thing. Like, what a temper. Holy moly. Now,

awesome, man. That's, that's, look, LeBron is a cheap shop. There's no way around it, right? And he bloodied the guy up.

And so I understand when you get bloodied, getting furious. Um, and for an enormous crowd of people, especially on social media, that always laugh at the, hold me back, hold me back.

These guys don't really want to do anything. I defy you to tell me that if people would not have gotten in Isaiah Stewart's way, that he would not have done anything. That was not a hold me back, hold me back, but really doesn't want all the smoke situation. Isaiah Stewart would have done serious damage to anything in his way. And they were able to calm it all down. But, you know, as you know, Kev, I'm not an I told you so, guy.

but we did a show a week and a half ago and I said I love the shortness of the games I love the lack of foul calls I love the increased physicality but this is going to boil over and within a week's time we had it happen I mean this is going to happen

it's going to happen I mean if you could if you're at these games you can see these guys and even if you're watching on TV you can see these guys are getting much more frustrated, much more animated, much more heated

than they have in years past. And at some point it was going to boil over. It did. Thank God, you know, no fans were involved or anything like that. You see Kay King Cunningham's defense on Isaiah Stewart, contain him, just moving laterally.

Oh, the best was, on the Zabruder films, the best is the cop. Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm not getting paid enough for this cop who's standing at the opposing free throw line. What are you out there for? What are you security for? Isaiah Stewart is barreling past Cade Gunningham.

And this guy's like got his hands in his pocket. It's like, you could, well, you could specifically defund that cop. Unbelievable. That guy. No, no, no, no. Don't defund him. Look, I don't want to act like I'm criticizing this. guy. That guy, if there was ever, look, I ain't getting paid enough for this shit guy. It was that guy.

I ain't getting it, Isaiah Stewart's way. Are you out of your mind? This guy is, this guy looks like he has murder in his eyes. Like, he's broken free of people like three times already. Like, I'm up 180 pound, you know, higher security here at the game. I'm good. I'm good. I don't get paid enough. Hey, I'll make sure some drunk fan don't come out here, but I ain't trying to get an essay store. Two games for him, one game for LeBron?

I thought our buddy Nick Wright had a good idea on first things first today. He said, you know, a player shouldn't miss an away game. Like a star player, if LeBron gets suspended, he shouldn't like ruin it for all these fans who paid, hundreds of dollars of their hard-earned money to go to the Knicks Lakers game. They shouldn't have missed LeBron. He should miss the home game.

I think it's a good idea. It is. It is. It is. It's a good idea. It's never, uh, the, Nick Wright, um, you know, look, not wrong.

Kansas, Kansas City guy, obviously. So he's from the heartland. He's from a flyover state. But I defy you to tell me that Nick Wright would give a crap if that game was in. New Orleans, if that game was in Memphis, if that game was in Sacramento, if that game was anywhere else, all of a sudden, all of a sudden, we need to change everything because LeBron's going to miss a Knicks game and we want to see him play in the garden. No, but I think it's a good idea.

Like, if the game was at Memphis tonight and if he still said that, I'd be like, okay, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. It does make sense. No, it does. It does make sense. I'm saying the only reason it's the top is because the game is against the next. And totally fair. Regardless of the reasons.

Do you think he should have been suspended? I don't know. I don't know, man. I think it's a physical play. I think you have to when the other guy reacts like that. I don't know. I mean, it's. Yokic got one game.

He swung his arm out and he happened to clock him on the face. I do think. I tend to think, Chris, most of this stuff that happens, including the Dramon kicks. Most of this stuff is accidental. It's just the way your body moves around and the heat of the, moment when you're being physical and you're fighting for positioning or like in the case of some of these kicking motions watch watch guys when they rebound the ball oh i think a lot of their a lot of their limbs flail around i think lebron happens and nobody's nearby i think lebron meant to elbow

him i think lebron didn't mean to bloody him yeah of course not that's all you know that was course he's trying to make a physical play and he just yeah it happened it happened to happen to happen playing pickup basketball. Then that is different. I remember years ago I got a huge black eye because my buddy Bob knocked me in the face. Where's Bob now? Jail?

Prison. I mean, yeah, yeah. He should have been thrown in prison for doing that. Should be. Should be. Just saw him in L.A. Actually, pretty recently. Bob and Val came out and had a good time in L.A. ate lots of time. Oh, you're talking about Heralabob?

No, not Heralabob. not Haralob. Not that Bob. Haralob, back in the tweeting game. Back in the tweet game. I love it. I'm liking Haralob being back in the Twitter.

I do too. I missed his voice when he was with the Dallas Mavericks. I'm going to tell you something. When we had our debate a couple of weeks ago about the Yokic and the Morris Thuant and, you know, guys that want to get the, you wouldn't want to see in the ring or guys that, you you wouldn't want to see outside of basketball, getting very, very angry, et cetera, et cetera.

I will say, since we last spoke, Isaiah Stewart has thrown himself into a different realm. And then I was reading those stories about him that said boxing is his first love. Dude, I was like, oh my God. I want Isaiah Stewart to retire today and become the heavyweight champion of the world. Why not?

Boxing, it's the right time. You can. You get the Paul brothers and all these. these like social media stars watching putting the spotlight on it. I mean, really, look, the guy to get past at this point is Tyson Fury. He's the one you got to beat because while there's been a dud, you know, even though that last fight was amazing, but he has not been what we thought he was. Anthony Josh was like the most dud of all duds, right?

Where we thought he was going to be the next big thing. So there is an opening. there is an opening if Isaiah Stewart wants to go become heavyweight champion of the world. Tyson Fury 6'9, 278 pounds. Isaiah Stewart, 68, 250. Got to add a little bit of weight. Yeah.

But we can do that. Hey, look, how about we don't run four miles a night? You know? Exactly. You could. Exactly. You know? He could shift if he wanted to.

Not the worst idea. I got to be honest with you. And I'm not, look, I'm not, don't take this as a criticism. So Isaiah Stewart, please. I want to make this clear. I don't want any smoke. I would much rather

watch Isaiah Stewart box and play basketball. That's just, and I mean that as a compliment. Yeah, I mean it as a compliment too. I mean, after what we witnessed. Yes. I love to see him in the ring. Oh, can we just mention it real quick? There was a mask.

But also, don't ever do that on the court. Don't do that on the court. Don't do it. There was a over. Don't do it. For post-last fall career, when you're 34, 35 years old, you've made tens of millions of dollars. I don't know if it's going to be. I don't know if it's going to be 34-35.

I don't know if you saw that Instagram post from Gilbert Arenas that was going around. Yeah, well, what was that? It was. Him saying you went going with the king. It was a joke. I know. It was a joke. He's always funny.

He's like, look, you can be out of the league, bro. They don't put up with that. You can't be going at LeBron, James. Are you out of your mind? I do want to mention very quickly. There was a actual basketball game that took place that day. And he started off like one for 21, I think, from three. But, yo, Kate Cunningham has come along quickly.

And if I'm a Detroit fan, I am thrilled. You know, the hot name was all Evan Mowgli at the very beginning of the season. and there have been some moments, certainly, for several other rookies for that matter. You know, at some points, Thunder fans have been excited about Josh Giddy. At some points, Orlando fans have been excited about Franz Wagner. At some points, Houston fans have been excited about Jalen Green. But this Kate Cunningham thing is very real. And it was a slow start.

but now when you watch him there's certainly some things to clean up but my goodness you know you want the number one pick to look like we got a good chance that we nailed this thing

and who knows there's always going to be those comparisons and Mowbly was very good immediately but Cunningham looks he looks outstanding Kevin he really does he's got a long way to go in terms of scoring efficiency shot creation creating easy shots

But if you take away the very beginning. Yeah, I am. It was a horrible start. Last seven games, he's shooting 31% from three, 41% from the field, six assists, three turnover, 16 points per game. Yeah.

You know, if you want to even like condense it even more and do the last four games, he's still only 39% from the field, 28% from three, at 18 points per game. So he's still inefficient, even though over this recent stretch

where he's been better. I'm saying all that to say, despite that, his ability to manipulate the defense and create opportunities for his teammates, his rebounding, his activity on defense, the way in which he helps off ball, his positioning is fantastic on ball, he moves well laterally, he's big enough to defend multiple positions, he's showing enough other than scoring, which you project that that will come along. Absolutely. Everything else is already looking like it's there for a guy who is only 20 years old.

He just turned 20 in September. One of the big things they lauded was his leadership. And say whatever you want, it is not very common for, you know, he didn't, he was obviously unable to corral Isaiah Stewart. But he's out there as a leader trying to stop this guy. Usually rookies are standing on the sidelines as innocent bystanders with their hands on their pockets. It did say something to me. He's a leader. He is.

Yeah. And I think they follow this guy. Yeah, that's something you hear about Kate is that he has those intangibles. I mean, it's like a real basic thing to say, but he's a father. And he's been a man for some time now, like having to be a man, raising a kid. So Kate is a very mature 20 years old. I've probably said this on a podcast before with you, Chris, but I remember years ago, a GM said to me, all these kids come in, 18, 19 years old. Sometimes a 19 year old comes in with the maturity of a 16-year-old.

sometimes a 19 year old comes in with with the maturity of a 25 year old Cade is in that latter category where he has the maturity of a 25 year old man he's not a kid this is a man and he's a leader and he's going to grow into that even more as he continues to mature oh yeah there's even guys now

that like even when you draft them they got like fiances or they've got they might already be married like there's a guy there's a guy here you know Xavier Tillman who was

like eight kids already he's got two and one on the way and he's like married he's like married with a house in the suburbs like his high school sweetheart or something like that oh I think so right but yeah being a dad doesn't necessarily mean that you're mature

but it's just like one of the things that he's had on his plate for I don't know how old his kid is certainly Kate is mature he's a very mature 20 year old kid you know absolutely A couple weird results last night, one of which was the Bulls, bizarre thrashing.

And after that happens, yeah, but to the Pacers. Alex Caruso for MVP, Chris. It's time to start talking about that. They got beat by 30 by the Pacers. Yeah, I don't really. You have seen a lot of those this year, too. I don't know what a great explanation is.

But you have seen some real, like, I mean, the problem with something like what takes place last night. I think the margin ended up being like 32. That's just a point differential killer. Like truly, you take one 32 point loss. It takes a long time to fix. And, you know, we're so used to, you know, point differentials being rather indicative of the level of team you are.

But yet this season, we have seen some, like, crazy results. We've seen the Bucks getting killed. We've seen the, you know, the bulls getting, even some of the best teams have gotten slaughtered. Like even a couple of weeks ago, that Golden State Brooklyn game, Golden State killed them. Right? Like in, so maybe this is the death of point differential with the parity in the league. And now this year, you know, having a non-COVID year in terms of guys being able to go out and do whatever they want on the road, having fans in arenas. So home court advantage may take a little bit of a step up.

Kind of crazy, honestly, that you have seen these incredibly bizarre results. And at some point, somebody's going to do a thing on this. I haven't seen it yet. Well, I mean, I think in a night like this, just to be totally honest here, I did not watch this game live at all. So I didn't see the full ebbs and flows of the game. but I look at 6 for 28 from 3

21.4% Indiana shot 42% from 3 with games like this I think it's 3 point differential to really speak to some of these I think a lot of it does have to do with just how much 3 point shooting it is that creates more variance and so I think with this Bulls

Pacers game that's probably a big component of it and like I said I didn't see it live so I don't know everything that happened but losing Caruso does not help shooting 21% in 3. Like you're not going to win many games like that. I would love to see, and I can't pull it up right now. But then what's a team's record when they shoot like below 25%? Horrendous.

Yeah, yeah. And speaking of, you see these crazy results all of the time. Now, that is just what the NBA is right now. The best game of the night was Utah, Memphis. And you saw two nights ago, Memphis could be by 40. To your point about the three-point differential, Minnesota, who shoots the most threes in the league, I believe, hit almost 50% of their threes, and they end up winning that game by like 40 points. Then now Memphis turns around, they got to go to Utah last night, and they play the absolute thriller of all thrillers against the jazz. And let me just say, at the end of the game, for those that did not see it, you had a very fortuitous call.

for Memphis because John Morant went to the line and they are down by, I believe, four at the time. No, no, no. I'm sorry, they're down by three at the time. Morant goes to the line. He shoots a free throw and he makes it. So now you're down two. He shoots a second one. And there's what appears to be basket interference as the ball is like not coming down from the ring.

And so they call Gobert for basket interference. You see the replay. It looks like Jared Jackson probably hit it first. So now they say there's no basket interference. Inadvert and whistle, we're going to tip it off at mid-court. So this was a great break. Jaron Jackson Jr. versus Rudy Gobert for the tip. Jackson Jr. wins the tip against Gobert.

Morant drives in, throws it out. out to Jackson Jr. Who, because of Rudy Gobert's drop coverage, he's late, runs out and gets a three-point ball hit directly in his face. And I got to tell you, the whole go, it was tough to watch Gobert lose the tip and get a three in his eyeball to lose the game. That was, that was tough. I didn't like seeing that.

Even, even me. I didn't like to see that. You know, you don't like to see that happen to your heroes. But anyways, it was a crazy exciting game. And I do think it speaks to the craziness of the NBA that a team can get beat by 40-something points by Minnesota and then win on the road against Utah. Figure that out.

These teams are very, very difficult to figure out this season. And you have these wide variations in caliber or level of play from so many of them. But the jazz are still I mean they're not a standing team There's no way around that Minnesota the team I've mentioned before Four in a row

Wait a minute, wait a minute Wait a minute Wait a second I just want to talk about that cruise game for a second Rudy Gobert Helping on that play Is a deterrent to Jab Moran Gobert shouldn't have helped as hard as he did

He shouldn't have I thought the defense by Mike Conley On John Morant in that possession Royceau and Neil was position to help as well. It was good enough. Gobert didn't need to help as hard as he did. And that gave, and it was a great recovery to get to Jaron Jackson. It's just it's a beat late and gave him the space to cleanly get that shot off.

I mean, you want John Morant shooting that layup. Exactly. Yeah, I think, I think Gober in that moment, if he could replay that, he would probably stay closer to home to Jaron Jackson Jr. So that close wouldn't be as long as it was. But what a great game, though. I mean, this Grizzly's team, what was it? John Moran last night just simply tweeted the word grit.

Grit grind, dude. It's a new, it's a new version. It's a new version. They're about the most frustrating team in the NBA. They've had, yeah, they are because you mentioned that in Minnesota. They've had eight losses. Seven of them are bloodbats.

Like, not even close. It's crazy. And then on the other hand, you could win at Golden State and win at Utah and went, like, they've got greatness possible, and they've also got, like, worst team in the league efforts that have been possible. By the way, before we move on, I just want to call back to the three-point. The stat that I mentioned, I looked it up. When teams this season shoot below 25% from three, they've played 65 games.

How many games do you think those teams have won that have shot below 20, percent from three. Quiz for you. How many? How many games? 65? How many of they won? Under 25 percent. I'll say four. Oh, really? More than expected. Oh, well, but that's not...

Hold on, it's not necessarily fair. I am presupposing that the other team shot higher. But there's probably a lot... No, there may not. There's probably a lot of situations where both team shot three is terribly. Exactly. Exactly. And I'm not able to fall. taking that into consideration. Yeah, but still, that's a, that's a 19 win pace.

If you shoot below 25% every night, you're going to have a 19. That's better than the Rockets. Pretty bad. Yeah. They're on pace to win five. Five. Dude. Five.

That's something else, man. You see John Wall respond to Chris Mannix. The other day, Chris Mannix had a tweet saying, yeah. It's tough, tough watch on the Rockets. you know, John Wall, John Wall in uniform and the bench traveling with the team. And Manix, he was wrong about the uniform part. John Wall has been in street clothes.

And so John Wall simply responds, not in uniform. It's like, yeah, that's the part you're responding to. Oh, that's great. That's not the embarrassing. Hey, hey, hey, buddy. Watch your mouth. I'm not in a uniform. Yeah.

Watch your mouth, Mann. It's hilarious. They're one in 16. Oh, actually, I guess the pace might be four wins now. My bad. I stand corrected. Hey, hey, hey, hey. It's four wins.

Get it right. Minnesota. Four in a row, Kevin. 4.8 to be specific. 4.8. I had to do the math. The Timberwolves, the aforementioned who smashed the grislies over the weekend. Four in a row, all double-digit wins, killed Sacramento, probably started the Luke

Walt and. killed the spurs. Oh, that started. I mean, it played a part. When you lose by double digits to the T-Wolves, then who are you? Right? But the T-Wolts certainly deserve more respect. Sacramento, Spurs, Grizzlies, Pelicans, all by double digits.

I am actually going to be incredibly fascinated to watch tomorrow night. They play Miami. And so to see, is this real or they beat up on, you know, these not good team? They've not really beaten a bunch of good teams this year. But step one to becoming, you know, playoff relevant or play in relevant is taking care of business against the teams that you are better than. And they have had four decisive wins in a row.

And now they play on Wednesday night against Miami. And that is going to be the first test in a while to see. Because some of those laws, you know, when they played some other teams that have winning records, they already taken, I think, three losses to the, clippers by pretty good margins. I think they play Golden State close. But they've taken some beatdowns themselves.

It'll be fascinating to see. I actually am going to be very keyed into Minnesota, Miami, because there have been moments where they have looked fantastic over the course of the last, you know, week and a half. Yeah, I mean, well, after Miami, then Charlotte, Philly, Indiana, Washington, Brooklyn, Atlanta, Utah. We're finding out quick. in Denver. Lakers, Mavs, Mavs, Jazz, Celtics, jazz, Lakers, Clippers.

Yes. Like, it gets really tough until January. But maybe Chris Finch has got them really, maybe it is real and maybe they're playing much better. Hey, I got to tell you this, meanest fan based by a wide margin to me. Oh. Minnesota?

They, you said, you said, mean they went crazy over that game the other night. y'all meanest though I guess I called them a rat team at some point I don't know boy they they care more about Jared Culver than any fan base cares about a like a misdrapment it's the

well I mean it's their ex they don't want their ex to ever have good things yeah they don't want their ex to have any good happen to them in their life Phoenix absolute we got it wait wait a second one second on Minnesota No, no, no. For this upcoming stretch, Chris,

they get to feed cat the ball more often. Why? He had 21 shots last night. That was a good thing. They get a feed. But they're on a good stretch. They've obviously figured something out. Why are we talking about who's not getting shots?

Because they beat some average team. Edwards is the guy now. You better come to terms. Edwards is the guy now, Ken. Chris, town's the season. Okay. There's 43 guys averaging 15. plus shots per game.

15. 15.15 plus shots per game. Cat is third and true shooting percentage of those guys behind only Yokic and Durant. Okay? This guy needs to be shooting as much as those guys, more than those guys. 18, 19, 20 shots per game. He should not be behind DeAngelo Russell and Anthony Edwards and shot at him's per game. They got a final way to get Carlisthen Towns more shots on the offensive end in order to help their 21st ranked offense against these legitimately good teams.

That's what needs to happen. Their defense has made progress this year. Their defense has been good. Anytime Patrick Beverly and Jared Vanderbilt are in the lineup, they've been better. Better Cat has made progress on defense as well. Edwards has made progress. Even D. Lo, at times, has put in some effort and been better on defense. It's the offense that needs some fixing.

They get to feed the ball to Carl Anthony Towns. Get him more shots. Force it to them. I don't care what you're going to do. get him more shots, run him off screens from three. He's a dominant shooter. Get him more opportunities to score. That, we talked earlier.

We talked earlier about solutions within the roster for Sacramento. Well, Minnesota has one of the best scorers in all of basketball, and he shoots 16 times a game. They have figured out that when you talk about the defense, one of the things that you can do, if your defense is not outstanding in the half quarter, you don't have exceptional rim protection, which they do not.

force a lot of turnovers. I mean, that's what Toronto does. That's what Minnesota has been doing. They get in passing lanes and they can create themselves some extra possessions in these games. And so they do have some real activity. And it is a way to make up for the fact that in many cases, your point guard and your center on many of your best lineups are going to be DeAngelo Russell and towns, which is a much better offensive lineup than it is defensive.

A couple other teams we've got to mention. Phoenix, absolute fire. I can't remember the last time they lost. Who is the last team to meet them? Really? And to come back off of making the finals last year and all the distraction of all that server crap having to deal with that and Aiton got hurt,

you know, for a span of time. You know the last team they lost too, Chris? Sacramento. Is that true? Yeah, it's true. They lost one 10 to 107. Wow.

Yeah, Barnes had 22 healed 26 off the bench. Reminded people of that? I guess it probably ran out. Yeah, he's like, you know, we're the last team to beat Phoenix. You sure you want to fire me? You sure.

How else you got to beat Phoenix? Sure. You need me. When was that? When was that game? That was October 27th, 19th. No, no, no. October 27th, really?

No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Oh, do you have the date of the game? It was October 27th, 2021. It's no. Look, Kev, it's, it's November 23rd. Yeah, it's almost a month ago. They haven't lost in a month?

That's unbelievable. That is unbelievable. I know. I know. It's, it's, this team is this team is something else they're better than last season and i think they're in second place and they haven't lost in a month but but but they're better book remember last season that's right it took a little while to a slow start with their chemistry it took a little bit but they're now they're

building well and you had a note in your you get mickle mckell burges is better jane is better campaign is better i'll show you i read your article you wrote about bridges you had a really crazy note in there too about his efficiency. Oh, that's that stat. Yeah, that stat from Evan Sidre. Sorry if I missed for it. It was a, it was a, McKell Bridges' stat about his efficiency.

Who was he compared to? I forgot the other player. Well, your favorite player. Oh, Rudy Go Bear. Yeah, the stat from Evan was only two starters in the NBA, minimum 30 minutes per game, are carrying a 60 plus

true shooting percentage on offense and a sub 40% a defensive field goal percentage, which means they're holding their opponents to under 40% shooting when they're defending them. That's Rudy Gobert and McElbredges. Those are the only two starters. And the reason that's so amazing

is because I bet McElbredges probably has, I bet I could count on my hand the amount of dunks he has. So to be that efficient, and that's not how you, whereas Rudy Gober, I don't think he, has he made a jump shot this year? I'd imagine not. Maybe. maybe odd jump shot,

but like generally, he's playing, that's what he does. He's a roller. And he gets offensive rebounds and he puts back and he finishes. Mackell Burgess has 18 jumps. Oh, wow,

more than I would have thought. More than I would have thought. Probably a lot of runouts. I mean, it's obviously you're not going to get a bunch of those in the half court. Cut cuts to the basket. Yeah,

transition. More than I would have thought. Rudy Gobert has 55 dunks this season. Shooting 73.3% from the field, Rudy Goberis. Well, I mean, everything is within

five feet at the basket. I would hope so. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, well, I mean, he's still leading the league

and he's an elite finisher around the road. He has hated to see him get a game winner in his eyeball last night. That was tough. Yeah. I'm sure.

I'm sure you definitely, definitely hated that. I'm sure that made you feel horrible. Made you feel as sick as that Kings fan who puked sitting courts up. A couple of things that we need to mention before we get out of here.

The Michael Porter Jr. thing. You know, he got, sucks. I mean, I guess if you want to, you don't feel happy if you're a, if you're a Nuggets fan,

you feel happy. I guess if you're a Michael Porter Jr. friend or family member that he got that contract signed before this takes place. But be not dismayed, Michael Porter Jr. would have gone much higher in the draft had it not been for

an intense amount of red flags for an injury history. and the possibility of injuries coming back in the future, right? He was the number one recruit in the country, didn't get to play much all that much of Missouri. But even so, you know, there were still people that thought, hey, if there's a sleeper that could end up going to the top five, top 10 of this draft, but nobody would take a shot at it until it got to the back end of the lottery.

And we all said this is a, it's a reasonable. risk for sure at that point. And a kid played so well last year, looked like he was on his way, and got a massive contract. I'll tell you this, Kevin, nerve, a nerve issue in your back. Scary. I mean, I don't know. A nerve issue in your back, that would be just petrifying.

and you never know what kind of stipulations are in the contract for injury and whatever else. But, I mean, I don't want to be, I don't want to be an alarmist, but it's not like this is the first time that people were all scared of this prior to this. This is why he went where he went in the draft. And now to see it pop up, that's what makes you freaked out. You know, you thought, I think there was a good sense from a lot of, people were, hey, maybe you're out of the woods on this, right? Maybe you're out of the woods.

He didn't play that whole first year. Maybe you're out of the woods on the debilitating injury. But, I mean, you're 6-11 with a nerve issue in your back. That is, I mean, I would be petrified. And he played like trash. He probably had a nerve issue in his back. It makes sense. All I'm saying is, like, his performance,

makes sense knowing the issue. 21% from three, a guy that shot 45% from three last season. He couldn't finish around the rim. All the progress he made on defense was erased. It's just, I mean, for a guy who missed

all of his real rookie year after being drafted in 2018, he didn't play until 2019-20. For a guy who had some issues, you know, with drop foot as well, and that seemed to be corrected. Now he had,

now the back issue has returned and possibly in a worse manner after signing this massive extension for Denver. Oh, it's terrifying. And for that, that organization too. This could be bad. Because of the financial commitment.

That number is against your cap starting next year. And you're still in absolute peak of powers, Yokic years. Dude, and Yokic is better. Kevin. He's better. that guy is so unbelievable. He's unbelievable.

He's going to go down as one of the all-time grades. If he continues this, because here's the thing with Yokic, remember a couple years ago when people talked to him about him as a defensive liability? Oh, if only Yokic could be good defensively. If only he could get stops. Well, he's like an all defensive guy right now. And had they been able to say, you know what? Jamal Murray's coming back.

And we got Michael Porter averaging over 20 points per game, one of the best shooters in basketball. The Nuggets would have been legitimate finals contenders. Without Michael Porter, Jr., you can't say that. They right now are a team with maybe the best player in all of basketball. And a guy is coming back for a torn ACL without that other guy that they needed. Hopefully Michael Porter Jr. could get back. Hopefully he can stay healthy. But, oh, I don't know, dude.

I don't know. It's just really hard to have. the third, you know, it's hard to get to have that third guy, especially when you've got all that money committed to him, you know, coming up. It's going to be. It's going to get paid $30 million next year. Coming off a nerve issue in his back. And like I said, we don't know for sure he'll be out for the season yet, but as Michael Singer reported for the Denver Post, could happen. Yeah. Congratulations to Imman Shumpert, who won Dancing with the Stars.

First ex-MBA player, have you ever watched Dancing with the Stars? Oh, you have? Yeah, of course I have. I haven't watched it in quite some time, but that's one of those shows sometimes. You know, my mom watches it all the time. I'll sit down on the couch and watch with her. I don't think I ever watched a full season of Dancing with the Stars. No, I definitely did not.

We ever watch a full season. But yeah, it's fun sometimes. Like, if they have a good week with, like, a good theme with cool music. So, look, I'm not a viewer of this show. I did see one of those clips that was going around social media a couple of weeks ago of Amman Shumper. He appeared to be an amazing dancer as far as I'm. I mean, again, I'm no judge. But I was actually very impressed with the dancing ability of Imman Chumpert.

And I thought, yeah, I thought, I thought very, very impressive. Are you watching any shows, Chris? Any? I know you're a busy guy. Any shows not, you're not watching The Bachelorette. It's a Bachelorette. How about a secession? I don't watch anything.

I tell you. I mean, I watch NBA basketball and college basketball at night. And then outside of that, I mean, I got both kids are playing basketball right now. So in between practices and games and shuffling and being an Uber driver, you know, for them every night. You know, somebody, somebody's got to take them two in front. all these different places that they've got to be. So, yeah, when I'm home, I'm pretty well watching games at night.

I watch football on the weekends, and then at night I'm pretty well either watching college basketball or NBA basketball until it's, you know, bedtime. Yeah. I don't know when I would watch a show, honestly. I guess instead of watching games, but I just, I've always just preferred to just watch them.

I mean, it's kind of, yeah. And then my son watches the game. with me. So, you know, I'm... You know, you gotta be... I don't mean, I guess... I guess some people don't. But, like, typically,

um, there's a lot of shows that I would watch that I wouldn't want to watch around the kids. So when am I doing that? You know what I mean? That's pretty... It's another reason why I watch so many games is because that's something that I can watch with him.

Yeah, I watch it with him. You do it with a kid. I can't sit there watch Succession, him? Maybe. He might, you know. He's a late.

I don't think it's appropriate for 11 years old, right? The first show that I really watched with my dad was 24. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. The show with Jack Bowler, when that show, when I first gone to that show,

I think episode two I first watched, that's when my bedtime changed. It's funny you bring up that show. That was like, I defy anyone. To try to watch If you, for our younger audience, you go back and find that show. If you can find it, I'm sure it's stream somewhere.

The first three seasons of that, Kevin, I'm not kidding you, that was in my young 20s. There has never been a show that I thought the cliphangers were so persuasive that I couldn't go to bed until I found out what happened. and the first three seasons, whoever wrote that show, when that clock would come on the screen at the end, and it would stop, like right before something. Every episode,

something huge was about to happen. And I was staying up until two and three, every single day. I probably watched the first three seasons of that in like two weeks time. I'm not kidding. And it was, oh,

and it was like 24 episodes. Yeah, yeah, I got it. Yes. It was on a... I got it. No, this is unbelievable. It was on DVD. I have the DVD collections of the first, you know, like the multiple discs.

I have the first three seasons on DVD. That thing was so frigging exciting. Oh, my God. I just looked it up, by the way. The first episode aired November 6th. Oh my God. 2001. And I think the first episode I watched was probably November 13th, 2001.

So by the anniversary, the 20-year anniversary. Oh, wow. My bedtime. I didn't even. I got going from like 8 a.m. to 10, 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. That's crazy. Just passed. That 24 made me a big boy.

Stay up late, Chris. That was probably the first show that I really watched every episode of my dad. We'd love to watch that show. It's like you said, and we watched it live. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever, Monday night it was on or something like that. And it's like when that clock would come on the screen, you'd be like, oh, my God. Yeah.

I can't wait until next week. Yeah. That's a good, that's probably a good show. Imagine, yeah, that's why I'm telling all the younger audience. Imagine if you had access to the next episode immediately. You could, I couldn't help myself. Oh, my God. I did.

Which you did. Yeah. Well, Netflix, Netflix was a lot of their shows. They do a good job with that too. They do a great job and just say, you know what, one more. I can stay up an extra hour. Oh, yeah.

No, they're really good with the cliffhangers. All right, get to do it for today's show. Kevin, we are not doing a show on Friday. So I want to wish you and all of our listeners are very happy Thanksgiving. Hope everybody has a good safe time. And, you know, maybe a lot of people are going to get to see their families for the first time in a long time.

I'm hopeful. I want to thank our producer Jesse Lopez today for filling in and have a good Thanksgiving, Keth. Everybody have a good Thanksgiving. You have any good plans this week for Thanksgiving, Chris? You do anything good? I'm here back in Massachusetts. My mom and I are going to your parents' house.

That'll be great. My mom and I are going to have Thanksgiving together and then get some other stuff planned with friends. This week I'll be here like a week plus in Massachusetts and the cold, the frigid cold of New England. A little California boy now and me is a little freeze freezing my butt off. But I'll tell you what, Chris. It's nice. It was felt so good yesterday to fly home and give my mom a big hug.

So I'm happy to be here this week and can't wait to see my friends. And yeah, I'm just, I'm thankful. I feel good. We will talk to everybody next week. Looking forward to it.