The Mismatch - The Mid Warriors, LeBron’s Future, and Embiid’s Recovery. Plus: What’s Going On With the Celtics?

Episode Date: December 31, 2024

With Verno out, Big Wos joins Jacoby on today’s episode as they go through last night’s NBA games, starting off with the Warriors' loss to the Cavs, which saw Steph Curry call his team "average" (01:36). They then move on to the Sixers' win and debate whether Joel Embiid is finally finding his stride and also why Nikola Jokic has been key for Russell Westbrook’s resurgence in Denver (10:10). After debating Jimmy Butler’s future with the Heat, the guys share why the Amen Thompson–Tyler Herro scuffle is actually good for the league (24:36). Next, they discuss Mike Brown’s firing as head coach of the Kings and debate how much influence De’Aaron Fox had in the decision to let Brown go (30:19). The guys discuss what impact Dorian Finney-Smith could have on the Lakers before shifting their attention to LeBron’s comments about how he could play another five to seven years if he really wanted to (36:14). Last, the debate whether the Celtics' recent struggles are anything to be worried about and whether Wemby’s chess meetup in New York last week was inauthentic (47:39). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: David Jacoby and Wosny Lambre Producer: Jessie Lopez Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up everybody? It's Austin Rivers here and we are back for another season of OffGuard. Me and my guy, Pasha Giggy, are hitting your podcast feeds every Monday and Thursday talking everything hoops. Austin is bringing that 11-year NBA veteran perspective and of course keeping you guys entertained throughout the season. Make sure you tap into OffGard with Austin Rivers on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. And don't forget to follow everything we've got going on social media. The OffGar podcast, Ringer NBA, and of course check us out on Ringer NBA's YouTube channel. Welcome to the Miss Match. It is New Year's Eve.

I'm David Jacoby. Chris Vernon is spending some time with his family. So we have Wozni here in the building on the Zoom to record the pod. Thank you so much to take the time to do this. Hey, man. Appreciate it, man. I'm up here. Obviously, it's early as hell on the West Coast.

But I got the bat signal from Ben Cruz and Jacoby. I was like, I got to step up to the plate, man. You know, KOC abandoned us for greener pastures. at Yahoo. Chris Vernon, got the nerve to want to spend time with his family. I got to step up to the plate, man. It is what it is. Well, we will be hearing from Chris Vernon

later on in this program because he said a lot of things about the Oklahoma City Thunder in advance of their matchup with the Memphis Grizzlies, and he is going to have to address that. But first, we're going to talk about some things that happened last night.

The Cleveland Cavaliers just keep doing what they do, winning games. And this time it was against the Golden State Warriors. And after the game, Wardell, Stefan Curry, had this to say about the state of the Warriors. The team going to the new year, what does I reflect about who you guys are right now, but what you guys can be going forward?

I can't say we're very mid right now, which is very average. We're very mid right now. We're very average. What do you think about that? I mean, the man's not lying. You know, they kind of shot out the game. Gates, 12 and 4, whatever it was.

They might even been 12 and 3. And it's basically been something of the inverse of that since that start. And they're just inconsistent on offense specifically. It's always been an issue of getting offense outside of Steph, even in the best of times back when they had Clay and Iggy and the thing was humming. You know, basically until they got KD in there, the year that they won a championship in 22, They won that championship on the back of an elite defense and Steph being just out of this world. But this year is just so inconsistent on offense.

And, you know, all of the young guys, Pajemski and Kaminga and all of these guys who, in their minds, I'm sure, thought they were going to be taking the reins of something this year and sort of making it their own. It just hasn't materialized. And so the offense is suffering because of it. You know, Dennis Shrewder, I thought, was a great pickup. I'm a fan of Shruder, but, like, he's nobody's idea of, you know, like the second guy of a competent offense. You know, you mentioned a Memphis Grizzles. He's not Desmond Bain, right?

He's not Jaron Jackson III. Like, he is just a good steward when your main guy is out to keep the ship steady, not to carry anything for anybody. And so, yes, that's right. the team is completely average and they're basically 500 record would, you know, suggest that. Now, as we get towards the new year, we all start looking at the trade deadline

and potential trades. And you've got this sort of timeline with Draymond and Steph. And Steph is already talking about his own basketball mortality and seeing the end and knowing, understanding, and recognizing that it could possibly be

in the next few years for him. Do you think that they, the organization sort of needs to make a deal to go on one more run with Dremont and stuff. Yeah, I would like to see it. I think it's funny because the new CBA, not the new CBA, but the new tax ramifications for overspending

second apron and blah, blah, blah, all of that talk. People tend to associate that with the smaller markets and how cheap they are, like people like the Cronkies, which I think is fair. but another group of people that really enjoyed it is the lakeups who you know um has like perennially been one of the more you know uh generous owners we should say in terms of spending more way over the cap spending into the tax like golden state is consistently in the lake up era carried one of the highest salaries in the league but now the apron it makes it so that it's

not even a conversation, right? We don't even have to pretend like, oh, Lakeup's not doing enough to the team. He can just go out to the fan base and say, I can't do anymore. My hands are tied behind my bag. I'm sorry, guys, and pretend to actually be pissed about it. When I know for a fact, you know,

even the richer owners are happy to be, you know, able to justify their cheapness going forward. And so I think what's happening is that Lakeup and his sons, you know, Kendall Roy and them, over there in Golden States front office. I think they just got it in their head. Like, Stefan Dremont, like, we're going to sort of play out the string. They're our legends.

They're the greatest players in the history of our franchise. We're going to play out the string with them. We're not going to put out, you know, a process sixers type of product. But, like, we're not going to really try to lift a finger or take a risk and try to buttress what they're doing right now. That's what it feels like the attack that they've taken because, you know, not pulling the trigger on a Levine or Brandon Ingram or, you know, some of these other guys that have come up. I know they got involved in Jimmy Butler for a little bit, but I'm sure they didn't give them,

you know, Pat Rowley, the godfather offer to get him over there. I think that's just the sign of what it is. It's like, yo, we're good with just being this mediocre team. We're not going to go out of our way to take a chance, you know, possibly, you know, forfeiting some future first round picks and some quote-unquote assets because, you know, these guys, whenever they draft together. God, they just fall in love because they think they're, they believe in their own genius. And so that genius is reflected through a lot of these draft picks in their own mind.

And so I think Golden State is just kind of going to be in a holding pattern because ownership has decided it's time to do that. I don't see Ingram Butler or Levine being traded to Golden State. And they, they were very loud about how they were, they made moves to get Paul George. And I think it's one of those things where they say, look, we're trying. We tried. We're trying. But I don't see them actually doing.

You mean the Danny Ane special? Every time a superstar has ever been moved? Oh, we tried. We tried really hard. I did. I tried to make a reservation. They didn't have anything available. That's what it feels like.

Now, really quick, before we move on from the Warriors, which we will shortly, is, I want to get your take on this because I don't even know how I feel about this, right? We've all seen the clip by now and it happened a few days ago, and it was Draymond Green being picked up by court Mike's yelling at my guy Chavano, Buddy Heald. His real name is Chavano, by the way, which I find fascinating. And then after the game, sort of speaking on that and saying, well, he hasn't played a lot of meaningful basketball and I have. How do you feel about his statement after the game about his statement during the game? As with everything that Draymond does, he's generally right.

Like he's usually, like his hit rate on being like, you know, just the pure fact of is he right or is he wrong about the point that he's trying to make, whether it be with K. whether it be with Steve Kerr, whether it be with all of these people, his teammates, now Jordan Pool, that was just wrong. But like, you know, even that was spiritually right, because we know that Jordan Pool was kind of a bit of a shithead. Um, like, J-Mond is generally always, right? He just delivers it in the worst possible way pretty much every single time. And again, I think he's right here. Obviously, Buddy Heald has not been in a lot of big games. He hasn't played on a bunch of 61 teams. He hasn't been through, you know, the crucible of postseason basketball, which is like the harshest, the most disciplined sort of like you have to get your ducks in a

row every single possession, make every rotation, hit every single assignment, close out on the right guy, leave the right people open. Like, you have to do that at such a high level. Buddy Hill does never experience that. And then also, you know, if you talk to anybody in Golden State, People like Buddy Heald, but Buddy Heald is the actual definition of that stereotype of your buddy and your uncle who loves college basketball more than the NBA. What do I mean by that? Like, yeah, Buddy Heald is like going to have on a bunch of jewelry and all that stuff before the game. He does not care about anything but scoring. Defense is optional.

Like he is the embodiment of when people say, NBA players don't care about the right things. Like they're not fundamental, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's Buddy Heald that they're talking about. And so that's what Draymond is getting at. He's with this guy every single day in practice and shoot. He knows what Buddy Heel cares about. And it's not necessarily, it doesn't always necessarily line up with the ultimate level of winning basketball.

It was all cute when they were 12 and 5 and Buddy Heald was shooting 54% from 3 and they were winning games. And now when they start getting mid to use Steph Curry's term, where, you know, Buddy Heald is taking some shots from Draymond on the post game. A couple of things that happened last night. The Sixers, you know, made light work of the Blazers. I'm very critical of Joel Embed. I was very critical of him last year in the playoffs, and I was very critical of him when he first came back this year.

He didn't look like himself, but I have to say watching him just move on the basketball court, it seems like he is rounding into shape. His lateral mobility has been up. He had 37 and 9. last night. Do you think that Embede is starting to sort of find his stride this season? Yeah, I think he's finally running into form. And, you know, it's taking a little bit of time. But, like, at a certain point, we have to realize that before he went down last season,

he was averaging, like, 36 points a game, right? Like, he was threatening Michael Jordan in 88 levels, scoring efficiency. Like, he was having one of the best scoring seasons in the history of the league. That was just a year ago, right? So the idea. that he would have some like crazy precipitous drop off where he'd be like a 21 point of game got like that was you know sort of out of the questions just wouldn't beat as always you know he has to get his conditioning right he has to start feeling comfortable with his legs and then we'll start seeing better results and i think another thing that i that i would encourage fans to do is just accept like this is what it's going to be this is what it is we're never going to have a joel and b who comes in

in camp, you know, basically running like prime Hakeen and, you know, has all these ripped muscles and is in peak condition and all, like, that's never going to be it. Like, this is going to be how his body is able to manage the rigors of a long-ass NBA season. And all that I asked, man, is just play close to this level in the postseason.

We're not even saying be better than this. We're not even saying, like, you know, outpace what you did in the regular season. You should be even more focused. It's like, yo, play somewhere close to your regular season level in the playoffs. Because God damn, has he never done that ever once in his entire career for postseason? Like, again, the best players is like not asking you to reach some, quote, quote, new height. Be close to or as good as you were throughout the course of an 82 game sample.

Just do that. Everybody will be happy. if Joel and B plays this good in the playoffs consistent. Yeah, the, so one of the things, I'm not going to have this conversation because I'm so sick of hearing, like, they shoot too many threes. We need to get rid of the three point line, limit the amount of threes.

I'm just so tired of that thing because I love watching basketball, but some of the best players, if you look at like the top 10 players in the league, I'd say four of them operate in the mid range, and Joel Bede is one of those. Like these turnarounds, he's hitting turnaround, right shoulder turnarounds like 15, 12 feet, just over.

and over and over. And when he does that short role and catches it at the nail, like he will jab step in the shoot or he'll shoot over you. And it was the same thing with Katie and Chris Paul and Demarge Rosen and Devin Booker.

Like there are so many players that operate in the mid-range that, like, I'm just sick of the narrative. Like, oh, they'll shoot too many threes. Like, watch Jol and B. Watch Kevin Durant. Like some of the best players in the league that score the most points

are getting it done in the mid-range. And that's something he did easily last night against the 17 centers that the Blazers threw at him. Finally, we had the Nuggets last night. They beat the jazz. Everybody beats the jazz. But there's something happening this year.

As a Russell Westbrook doubter, as a Russell Westbrook hater, do you feel that Russell Westbrook is having like a John Travolta in Pulp Fiction? Like I still got it moment this season? Are you feeling that? I think it's two things in combination because I'm at once a Russell Westbrook

ultimate skeptic, but also just the ultimate believer in the greatness of Nicola Yope. and it's healing powers on people that he plays with. Like, I will never stop submitting this as an example. But that fucking Serbian national team had no business being good at all. They had no business. Damn near beating the Americans.

They had no business winning the bronze. Like, but for the fact that Nicola Yokic, and I just believe in his powers to elevate the guys around him. And so I think that's one of the things that is working and his ability to just make anything work with anybody. Like, it doesn't matter who it is. He's going to find a way to make it work. And, you know, to Russell Westbrook's credit, his defiance, his, like, you know, his fuck you nature, like, oh, you think I'm cooked, I'm not. And sometimes that's been to the detriment of his team for sure, where, you know, the guy's just taking 20-foot long tube, dribble, pull up, you know, no matter what, no matter how much a team is daring and begging him to because it's going to hurt his actual team, like, his refusal to stop.

I think that same mentality is working in his favor in Denver where he just refuses to be completely washed and has made himself, you know, an actual useful piece, you know, in terms of a transition team and a team that likes to applaud and be, you know, in the half court and giving them that element and just being an energy guy and also what I do think is important to mention here. If you talk to anybody who has been around Russ

and any of his stops, the guy is genuinely off the court, one of the most beloved characters in the NBA. Like in terms of human character, Russell Westbrook is an A-plus individual in terms of his reputation. So I'm not surprised that the people in Denver have already fallen in love with him

because that's been his reputation every single place that he's gone. And so, yeah, it's nice to see that it's actually working out on the court that way too this year. And when you talk about Yokic being sort of the rising tide that floats all the boats, and the name that comes to mind is Aaron Gordon. Like Aaron Gordon in Orlando was like, I guess a star. Like I guess like they just have anybody else to get their own shot.

But then he gets to Denver. He's like, wait, I just stand in the dunker spot and just catch lobs all day. Like, that's all I have to do. I don't have to shoot a jump shot. I don't have to dribble. And he's got to completely revitalize his career. And Yokic just made him a lot of money. And I think that Jamal Murray can also thank Yokch as well,

because he has been disappointing. He's been so disappointed. It's hard to believe he would have earned all the deals that he has in a different context. And I love Jamal Murray. And the bubble Murray Mitchell matchup, do you remember that there's going 50 against each other? Just going back and forth at 40 point games, 50 point games. And Mitchell has continued on that trajectory and Jamal Murray for injury reasons or whatever reasons. I think it is the injuries.

I think like when people were saying the bubble, I think he would get peed about it because it was like this implication that it was some lightning. in a bottle that he caught. I just thought physically he just felt great. But he's always had these injuries. Pretty much since he came into the league, he's had these nagging concerns. And I think it's finally like truly caught up to him.

And he's now got to, it's almost like Chris Paul, like pre and post knee situation where at first, like Chris Paul would just breeze by every single defense. Like you just could not stay in front of him. He was unstoppable and mega athletic finishing at the cuff. He was just crazy. And then he post that knee situation, he found a new way to be, you know, extremely effective. He was still all-MBA.

He was still on defense and offense. Like he still, but it took some adjusting to the new realities of his physical, you know, body. I think Murray is going through that same adjustment period. He's got to learn how to be effective. with his new, you know, diminished athleticism. I do want to talk about the bubble just for a quick second because there's some things that happen there that I think that history hasn't shine a light on enough.

Daniel House allegedly sleeping with the lady who did the test. Oh, my God. And Louisville, leaving it going to Magic City. Oh, my God. And Jimmy Butler starting a coffee company. Like, in the Disney World. Like, things happened during the pandemic that, like, we just all accept.

I know. There's a whole social justice, like, uprising thing. Like, there was so much happening in that bubble that we just kind of like, COVID was such a strange year that we just breeze past some things. Like, like, Lou Well went to Magic City and Jimmy Butler sold $20 cups of coffee to his peers. Dude, the fact that, you know, it had dawned on me like two or three days ago that we're about to be coming up on five years since Rudy Gobert coughed on that mic and everybody blamed him for an entire. global pandemic.

Like for a while, people were like unironically saying that Rudy Gobert started COVID. It was like that NBA moment that like shook everybody out of their you know, sort of normalcy and be like, wait a second, is something like the Emmy is canceling

their season right now? Yeah, just a crazy, just insane fever dream, man. Yeah, Daniel House was nuts. The Clippers, you know my favorite thing about the Clippers implosion. What a lot of people don't remember, too, is that's the last time Kauai Leonard finished the season on the court was the bubble, the collapse against the Nuggets. That is the last time he's ever finished the season, not on the injured list.

And the Clippers, which I just thought was hilarious, their excuses they wanted to go home, as if these guys like being with their family. It's a joke. No one likes to be with their family. Like, stop it. Like, stop it. These dudes live on the road. They're so used to being transient people. They live on the road.

And this idea of the clippers, they just wanted to go home and be family men. I just found that to be hilarious as to why they lost a 3-1 lead. And Jimmy Butler, that Jimmy Butler was a game five. Remember that Jimmy Butler, like, toe to toe with LeBron. At that moment, I was like, Jimmy Butler might be the best basketball player in the planet. It felt like that for sure. And now, like, I'm not trading for Jimmy Butler. Everyone's talking about Jimmy Butler being traded.

and Pat Riley came out and made a statement and said, we're not going to trade him. Do you believe Pat Riley? Yeah, I believe him. I believe Pat Riley you know, filled it all of the bids and was like, this is garbage. I'm not going to trade him. It's not that he came to some conclusion. Like, I'm stepping in here. We're not going to trade him. It's like, no.

Like, people offered you dog shit for your best player, basically. And you're like, this is embarrassing. I'm not trading him for pennies. That's all that means. So, yeah, I do believe him. But what I really believe is that the offers were horrible. And so Pat Rowley has too much dignity to do something like that. Well, there's always like the people talk about the Rockets is a potential landing spot, right? If I'm the Houston Rockets,

I think that they could use a Jimmy Bellard because they do need someone besides Fred Van Bleet to have the ball in their hands and those final clutch minutes or whatever. But what I'm not interested in is two things. Number one, paying him $52 million if he picks up his player option. And number two, extending him until he's like 39 years old. And I got, you know, I got Tari Easton and Jimmy Butler are just on different timelines. You know what I mean? Like any team that's been rumored to get Jimmy Butler outside the Warriors doesn't really make sense to me

because you're either going to have to pay him $52 million next year or give him extension. And neither one of those things makes any sense to me for all the teams that are being rumored to land here. As much as I love LeBron, I just think, I mean, LeBron, excuse me, as much as I love Jimmy, I just think he's a much more diminished version of himself. And what Houston lacks is a legitimate, you know, number one on ball, just beast. And Jimmy just doesn't seem to be that anymore. I don't know why they would trade for somebody who isn't like on his way to doing that or really close to on the doorstep of becoming that or has, you know, is right now not just has a

proven track rate, but it's doing it this season. Jimmy Butler just isn't doing that this season. And I don't think it's like, oh, he's saving himself for the playoffs, blah, blah, blah. I just think all of these injuries have finally added up. And he's not that guy anymore. He's in his mid-30s. Like, what is he supposed to do? Like, he's had a great long-ass career.

Minutes a log. Don't forget this guy once played for Tom Tibido, y'all. Yeah. This guy has some mileage on him. And so, you know, I echo those sentiments. I don't think Jimmy is the right move for the Rockets. Make your first NBA bet a swish with Fandul. America's number one sportsbook.

FanDuel has all your favorite bets from who will win the game to how many points a player will score. It is New Year's Eve and we've got some good games tonight. So celebrate 2025 by perhaps wagering on Shea Gilders Alexander over 20 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder money line. That's what I'll be doing. I will also be investing some of my hard-earned money into the Cleveland Cavaliers success on the road against the Los Angeles Lakers. I'm sure it will be a star-studded crowd, and the Cavs will do what they do, which is win games. They're 28 and 4 as we record this. They do not get enough love.

Those are some of the bets that I'll be making the games that I'll be watching. And now is the perfect time to get in on the action because right now new customers can bet $5 and get $250. in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Just think about that. If you're a new customer, you get the Bandwil app, you make one $5 bet. And if it wins, you get $250 in bonus bets. All you have to do is visit VanDuel.com slash mismatch

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which expires seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.vandal.com. You've got a gambling problem. Call 100 gambler or visit R.G. dash help.com. While we're talking about the heat and rockets, we have to mention the Thompson hero dust up and the subsequent suspensions.

What did you make of that sort of, It went a little bit further than most sort of NBA skirmishes go moment. I loved it. Loved it. I just, I loved it. I just love the idea that, because I think when people piss and moan about the NBA, oh, and it's in a malaise and blah, blah, blah, I just think there's a general perception that the regular season just has no stakes.

I think that's the beginning and the end of every NBA problem is this perception. that there's no stakes to these games, man. There's 82 of them. 10 teams from each conference makes the playoffs. Like, what are the actual stakes of this? You know, two thirds of your league make it to the playoffs. Okay, what are the actual stakes of these individual NBA games? Like, anybody can just look at it.

Like, an individual NBA game has no stakes whatsoever. Now, when guys are fighting and there's passions flaring and, like, you know, like, Benches clearing. Like to me, that's an indication. They're like, yo, these dudes care are really competitive. They're trying really hard. And they feel very passionately about what's happening on that floor.

And to me, fights are an indication of that. And that's why I personally, you know, and I'm, you know, preemptively kicking motherfuckers off my lawn right now. I love the fighting and the altercations because it's a sign of this shit matters. show me that you care. I want the players to care. That's why we're always trying to fix the All-Star game. And when you see this level of passion,

it makes me feel like they care. And I love Tyler Hero afterwards being like, we're scoring and throwing dimes. I'd be mad at me too. I love Tyler talking trash about them winning the game. And I love E.Mai Udoka getting involved trying to fight. I love Joe Missoula trying to fight a ref. Just show me that you can.

care and I will care, because if you don't care, I don't care. That's, that's literally it, my boy. Yeah. And I just, I loved it. And there's something about Tyler Hero I just, I just love. I've always loved Tyler Hero. Me too. And he's had himself a season this season.

Oh my God, he's playing out of his mind. We're not talking about trading Jimmy Butler if Tyler doesn't play like this. Seriously. 100%. And also what I'm reminded of is the Dame saga where people were laughing because, you know, the sort of chatter out of Miami that Dan Lebertar that report, he's like, yeah, the front office sees him as a Devin Booker type.

And people, oh my God, they were just killing the heat for putting that out. Like, Devin Booker really tightly here, but like, yo, he's played pretty damn close to Devin Booker type level this year. It's finally revealed itself, so I'm proud of him for that. You ever seen a clip where he says he can't swim? No, I have not.

I got to find that. It's like, I think it's him and Bam and Jimmy in an interview. And Tyler here, I was like, I can't swim. And Jimmy looks at him. He's like, you're so black. Perfect. Google that one, if you haven't seen it before. It's absolutely perfect.

Now, you're listening to the mismatch, obviously, and my regular co-host, Chris Vernon is not here. And a lot of people are going to say that he's not here because his team, the Memphis Grizzlies got curb stomped by the, Oklahoma City Thunder, and he had this game circle for quite some time. The people of Oklahoma are very passionate about their thunder. And Chris Vernon is very

passionate about hating on the Thunder. And to Bruno's credit, he did say, if you guys are doing a New Year's Eve show, I need to be a part of it just to address the results of this contest. And to his

word, he sent a voice memo. So here is a message from Verno. Hello, mismatch, I'm on vacation with my family, but I must address something very important. I've talked my fair share about the Oklahoma City Thunder, and I come to you a humbled man. Never in a million years did I imagine that the Oklahoma City Thunder would be able to absolutely paste the Grizzlies without John Morant and six rotation level players all out. I knew it. I think they would be able to beat a team that started John Contchar at Power Forward.

But they did. Congratulations on that huge win. In fact, I think you should put up a banner for it. Probably next to the one where you beat the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round last year. You could even put it next to the runner-up for the end-season tournament this year. But congratulations. As I said, I come a humbled man. And hopefully the matchup that we all want to see will materialize one day. But for now, congratulations.

In classic Bruno style. I knew exactly the tone of what this is going to be. It was a wrestling promo. I love you. It's going to happen. We're going to get a Grizzly Thunder series. And that is going to be everything. And a couple things I want to discuss with you briefly is Mike Brown got fired.

All the other coaches were all upset about the way it happened and the plane flights and this and that. But I want to ask you this. There was rumors about Deerrin Fox before Mike Brown got fired. He was critical of Deerrin Fox in post games. And a gentleman by the name of Rich Paul just happened to come to town to meet with the front office of the Kings to discuss his client, Deeran Fox's future. now that we're a few days separated from Mike Brown being fired, how much do you think Deer & Fox influence had over that decision?

And what do you think that indicates about Deer & Fox's future with the Kings? I don't think Deeran Fox sort of smoke signaled to, you know, management like, yo, we got to get this guy out of here. I think the interviews that were given, the obviously clutch source Shams report that was put out there my man Sam Amick and Anthony Slater at the Athletic, they're also all over this because

they're very plugged in and what's going on up there in Sacramento is that Deerrin Fox is not satisfied with how things are going. He's played in one actual postseason in his whole life. He sees himself as part of the upper echelon of the league, and he wants to play in important games. He wants to play at the highest level,

and it doesn't seem like that's going to happen in Sacramento as things are currently constructed. So I think the management knows that it's true, and they want to present an image that things are not going to be the same. Things are not going to be static. They're trying to signal to him that they're willing to make drastic changes, whether they make sense or not, in order to try to get this thing going in a different direction. And so, yeah, I do think it's because of DeArin Fox. I think Vivek and them, like, De Aaron Fox is the best king since who?

Since Chris Weber and his prime. Boogie Cousins? Come on. Yeah, probably since Boogie Cousins. I guess Boogie Cousins was a pretty good. player, but like, they never were as consistently good as 48 and 46 wins in the season, you know, hosting, you know, home court advantage in the playoffs. They've never done that.

They never achieved that with Boogie Cousins. Last time they did that was, you know, that legendary Sacramento's Kings situation. And so I think Vivek and them are really dedicated to keeping Fox in town. And so because Mike Brown might, you know, like, he was definitely ruffling the feathers of more than just Deerrin Fox. they decided to do something drastic, again, to signal that something grave is going to happen in order to change things. I just don't see it happening for real.

And I feel like the writing is already on the wall that DeAnron Fox is going to bust move at some point here. I used to watch a lot of reality television. Now I pick and choose my spots. And one of the shows that I used to watch was basketball wives. Have you ever seen that program? Oh, Lord.

I've seen glimpses and I know where you're going with this. And Jackie Christie, man. I don't know if she was doing it for the cameras or she was doing it for the TV show or whatever, but she was something else. And the idea that you're going to have the head coach be the husband of Jackie Christie, like that just can't, that can't be a good indication. And I don't know this woman personally, so I can't really speak on her behavior. But on that program, whether it was for the cameras or whether that was truly her, wow,

wow, bro. Just wow. I take pride in not being a Neanderthal and being like a modern man. or whatever, but like, instinctively watching Jackie Christie what popped in my head is like, you need to control your wife, man. Like, bro, like, you need to get some control. Like, this is, she shouldn't be doing this publicly, you know, saying these things about you guys' marriage and public.

Like, you need to get a hold of this woman. Yeah, it's like, people need to look in some of the things. And she said, one of the craziest things to me, the craziest thing Jackie Christie has ever, said in public was that she basically lived on the road with Doug Christie. Yeah, they used to follow the bus. Which is

just like, I guess Pete, like the average person can't really understand the like the travel requirements of an NBA player. Like, imagine, imagine just being on the bus and just having this like, you know,

this Ford Escort followed the bus everywhere. Dude. Because Jackie Christie is driving it behind. It's insane. Like, pretty much all of these guys, like, it's not pretty much, all of these guys significant others, they stay home. Like, they're raising a family, like, they have lives and roots in the cities that, you know, they've ended up living in, like, they're part of the community.

Like, they can't just be on the road basically six to seven, eight months out of the year. You know, it just makes no sense that Jackie Christie was just so paranoid that Doug Christie might get some trim on the side. So she basically, like, Follow this guy around for. Bro, and again, like some of these NBA cities, God, hey, God bless you. And they travel after the game. So they're traveling at midnight or whatever, going from Chicago to Charlotte.

And how do you get there on your own plate? But like, I'm sorry, bro. I'm not voluntarily going to Milwaukee in January. It's not happening. No. I'm not signing up for that. No. Jackie Christie, though, you know.

Shouts to her. Shouts to her. She kept that marriage afloat, y'all. Now, it's been a few days since the DFS trade. What does it do for the Lakers? What does it do for you? Like, does it change the way you feel about the Lakers? It's marginal.

You know, it's marginal. Whatever. He's definitely a benefit for what they need. He definitely provides more needs than Dilo did. Like, Dilo's quote-unquote ball handling and shot creation was just a redundancy when you consider that like Austin Reeves, LeBron, and AD have ownership with the offense. And then you add that to the fact that they put. play zero defense.

It's just they don't need any of the things that he's providing and they're sorely lacking, you know, particularly point of attack defense and just general perimeter defense and physicality on that end that they're lacking. And Finney Smith, like,

he can make him a wide open three, so you can't just leave him alone like he's some kind of bum. And he will bring some physicality to the three and the four defensively. And so he just feels a better need. Now, you know, and I'm mentioned this on our podcast yesterday. At no point during the season watching the Lakers was anybody saying to themselves,

you know, the Lakers are Dorian Finney Smith away from championship contention. Nobody thought that. They go from a first round exit to a first round exit. That's what it looks like to me. Yeah, that's what it feels like. They go from a first round exit to a first round exit with or without Dorian Fannie Smith. I think the problem for the Lakers is still that in order for them to be their best version of themselves, LeBron has to be an first-team all-N-B-A caliber guy, and he's 40.

to me that's their main existential issue his um LeBron is 40 was his birthday yesterday and I got tired of it being his birthday by like 9 a.m. I was tired of it. The algorithm knows I love LeBron and it's like all right everybody we're celebrating

it's his birthday like seriously like we're celebrating it like Jesus Christ and it's Christmas I'm like all right dog it's birthday enough enough social media I've seen it but he did speak about his sort of his basketball future, and here's what he had to say. It's pretty interesting. It won't be because I can't play this game at a high level. It won't be because, to be honest, if I really wanted to,

I probably play this game at a high level, by about another weird that I might say, well, I'll about another five or seven years if I wanted to, but I'm not going to do that. So here's what I find interesting about this, because you think about the end of Shaquille's career, end of Pat Ewing's career, the end of Hakeem's career, the, you know, the end of Dwayne Wade's career, Vince Carter sort of being like a corner three guy on the Hawks.

Like, LeBron's not there. Like, LeBron is an extremely effective, masterful basketball player right now. Like, if you're, if we're just a schoolyard pickup, picking guys, and you want to win one playoff game, a game seven, LeBron's going like fifth. Seriously. Like, he's going like fifth or six. So I do sort of agree with him that while he is 40 years old and he's breaking all these records, he's played more than anybody else and blah, blah, blah, all the records, all the everything.

I think that there are still two or three more extremely effective LeBron years left. How do you see this career playing out? I think LeBron is clearly like, so here's the difference between like NBA veterans at the end of whatever it is they're doing. I think there's what LeBron's doing, which is just completely unprecedented in the sense that like he is His max contract is justifiable. At 40, he's got a max deal and it's justifiable. Most guys LeBron's age or, you know, with his odometer, as Bill would say, are playing close to minimum contract level than they are, you know, max contract.

And then there's those guys sort of in the middle of that, like Al Horford, who is much better than a minimum player, but he's nobody's idea of a max guy. And so I think LeBron is saying, like, I'm going to play as long as I could justify my max contract. I'm not going to play as some vagabond at the end of somebody's bench. And I think he's just clearly so far from being a minimum player.

Like, it's just not even a question. Like Westbrook is taking minimum contract for somebody we just mentioned. But Braun is just nowhere near that. And so I think he's right. But seven years, no. I think his body being cooked by then five years or whatever. But I think he's got like, after this year, you could play definitely probably two more years. This is a pretty effective NBA player.

Here's how it's going to play out. At the end of every season, he's going to pump fake retirement. at the end of every season from here until he's done. But here's what's not going to happen. He's not going to play out losing the first round and then make the announcement in the offseason. He's getting his retirement tour. Oh my God. This man loves attention.

He's going to let everybody know this is his last year. Oh, so. He's going to act like he's going to retire 17 times before next October. But we're going to know when it's his final year because he's going to let us know. And he's going to, he's going to do the whole thing. He's going to do the whole thing. He's going to do the whole. 100%.

Two predictions. One, LeBron, like you said, is going to do a retirement tour because, first of all, like, again, people don't notice, but, like, he's had cameras following for the last, like, four years. He's going to drop a Netflix, you know, basically last dance kind of thing. And so for that reason alone, I know for a fact, because he's going to have it documented by his production company, LeBron is doing a retirement tour. also even kind of related to that, he's going to do this whole

my son and the league, blah, blah, blah, thing with Bryce all over again. It's going to happen. Mark your calendars to it. When Bryce is draft eligible, LeBron's going to do this whole, oh, play with my son, blah, blah, blah, this whole thing is going to happen again.

Buckle of folks, get ready. Guaranteed to happen. And he is, but don't sleep on this, though. At the end of this year, when they lose in the first round, it's going to be like a five games. gentleman sweep or whatever to the Mavs or whatever it is. He's going to go to the podium and he's going to act like he's going to retire.

I promise you, the last thing you hear from LeBron Jamesman, they lose in the playoffs or the playing, he's going to act like he's going to retire. He's going to act like he doesn't hope he's going to come back this year. I guarantee it. And guess what's going to happen next October? He's going to be back. He's going to be a training camp. He's going to let us know.

I love the fact that he spends a million dollars on his body every year to maintain. chain. It's like, that's $500,000 on hair plugs alone. Most of that is hair plugs. You're spending on your body technically, yes. But those are hair plugs. The Cryer Chamber is like a 4K TV. Like the prices have come down on those things, man. You can get a nice one for a good rate these days, y'all. I do want to give him a shout, though. One thing I love about LeBron is when he doesn't play, he brings wine and drinks it on the bench. Like, we don't even talk about this.

My guy brings wine and drinks it on the bench and games he doesn't play. And we just act like that's normal. I love that about him. He's such a Martha's Vineyard, Wine Auntie. It's so ridiculous. He's just the embodiment of Martha Stewart. He's called LeBrona Wine Auntie.

And you're absolutely right. I can't even disagree with Dude, that whole basically, first of all, like, we need to do a meditation on how JJ got this job, where him and LeBron start a podcast about coaching. Oh, God. No, but the whole conceit of the podcast was like, people don't talk about basketball the right way. So we're going to go inside the mind of a basketball player, and we're going to give you the real breakdown of what it's really like to be a high IQ basketball. player. And guess what?

It was fucking boring. It was fucking boring. But they had the world's biggest wine glasses on display. That to me was my favorite part of it. It's like these guys are not only like whatever, pretentious about hoops, but

they are the biggest wine snobs that the world has ever known. I just love, that's my favorite aspect of it. Just LeBron with the wine glass and he's, you know, he's air rating the red and it's just like, yo, this guy's hilarious. So a couple things about wine.

Quick, brief personal aside, it took me until I was like 35 years old that I realized that I don't like wine. I just drink it because everybody else is drinking it. You know what I mean? Like, you go to dinner and we, everyone's like, should we get a bottle of wine? I'm just like, yeah, sure. But like, I don't even like it. It doesn't taste good.

It's acidy. It sort of like fights it. When I drink it, it, like, fights me on the way down. I'd much rather have a cocktail or a beer. But another thing I like about LeBron in that show is I don't respect people that pour like an ounce and a half of wine in the glass. You know what I mean? Like I'm going to drink 10 ounces of this shit. So you might as well to fill the glass up.

You know what I mean? Like I don't understand why we're acting like I'm going to have an ounce and a half of wine. Yeah, no, it's just the proper decorum. You're not supposed to fill your glass damn near three quarters up. Like it's just not what you do. Even if you have the bottom to yourself. Why not? I'm going to end up drinking it.

So why not just put it all the last in the first place? I've never understood that. But I honestly took me until I was like 35 to be like, I don't like wine. I just don't like it. I'm actually a big wine person, but I didn't start really drinking until I was like 30. Yeah, probably like 30. I would say, yeah, I didn't start like really like trying different stuff and like actually thinking about what I like and don't like.

Like obviously I don't like all wine, but the ones that I do, I really do like, you know, can go through bottles of that thing and just be just be drunk as hell. We went to wine country, my wife and I one time, and we went to this really fancy vineyard, like beautiful. It's like on a mountain top. It felt like somewhere like Iron Man would live. You know what I mean? And if they put us out on this deck and we had a flight of wines. So we each had like an ounce and a half, three ounce and a half glasses, right? And we're like, well, can we, let's do another flight.

And they're like, we're sorry. We only serve one flight per customer per visit. And me and my wife looked at this person like, who are you fucking kidding? You think I'm here for the wine? I'm here for the buzz. I'm here for the vibes. I'm never going back to that point. There is a foofy nature to wine culture that can definitely,

definitely be off-putting for sure. But, like, yeah, the best wine people aren't these psychopaths who would, like, restrict the freaking drunkenness of their patrons. That's just nuts. So there's something I've noticed into happening recently in the National

Basketball Association. And no one's talking about it. The Celtics have been losing some games. Yeah. Some whack teams. Like, the Hawks, the Pacers. The, you know, the Bulls. Like, quiet as kept, like, the Celtics have been losing these games.

And what would you consider that a problem? Do you think it's just malaise? Like, what do you think is happening in these games? Do they lose to these Eastern Conference whack teams? So the Celtics are the antithesis of what Draymond was screaming at Chavano Hill. These guys have been in so many huge, important games. and not just individually, but as a collective, as a team, you know, as an organization, they've been in so many big, important games, career-defining, season-defining games

that, like, I'm not surprised that we've hit a wall 30 games in where they're just like, oh, my God, you know, it was nice to prove to everybody to start the season that was still the best, but like get me to freaking April already. Like I'm not surprised that we've gotten to this point. I'm not worried. Like when they play the best teams,

like this date, the Celtics actually have a switch that they could turn on. Well, why did they turn on on Christmas then? I mean, they got a switch. Turn on Christmas.

I think they're, you know, the sixes are on a serious team. I think if they were playing somebody like OKC or something, something that people would like actually think are challenging them it'd be different but i don't think they take the sixes very seriously and i think like early in the season they played like

pretty much all the best teams and like showed up they showed out uh and i'm not i'm just not worried about the celtics at all like i would love to be able to come up here and give you all some detail analysis as to why you should be skeptical as to why the celtics should be worried about the calves and blah. Like, I would, that would, nothing would make me happier than to poke holes in the Celtics armor. I just, I just don't think that's the case sitting here in December, about to be in January with this team that is just so ridiculously stacked, has the institutional sort of, you know,

memory of what it takes to beat people up in the biggest games and will be relatively healthy come post season. Yeah. And they, it seems like. Peyton Pritchard got dramatically better from last season of this season. You know, Peyton Pitchard got, like, he's just embraced the ethos of it. Like, shoot when you're open, bro. He was so freaking timid last year.

It's like, bro, like, nobody's going to be mad at you for hoisting this. In fact, all of those fans in that damn arena are dying for you to take every single shot. Why do you think they love Peyton Pritchard so much, was? It's just a hard-nosed guy, the intangibles. He's got an intangible quality to him. Like, it doesn't show up in a stat sheet what this guy brings to the table. And so, you know, he's beloved by the Celtics faithful. Like, I think he was just too timid.

And this year, like, he has become unconscious and obviously he's much better for it. I was watching this, the random game on like a Saturday at like 1.30, the Oregon Ducks against the Michigan Wolverines. And Peyton Pritchard went off. Like, went absolutely off. And I'm not like a big college basketball guy. I'm certainly not watching the Oregon Ducks every game. But it's happening into this game. And I was just like, who the fuck is this little white guy?

And he was killing. And so he's sort of like found his spot in the league. And it would be interesting to see how long he stays there. Now, there's something else that happened over the last few days that when I knew you were doing the show that we needed to discuss. Because I've been very critical of Victor Luis Vinyama. Very critical of him. And he has been playing really well. especially the last month.

And he came to New York. They played the Knicks on Christmas. Then they were going to play the Nets a few days later. And he ended up going to Washington Square Park to play chess. Now, for anyone who doesn't live in New York, Washington Square Park, chess, there's this little chess corner of Washington Square Park where people sit there all day long and they basically, you kind of give them a few dollars and you can play them in chess, and they're really good at chess and they'll beat you.

He tweets something about, I'm going to be in the Southwest, corner of Washington Square Park and saying, anyone don't want to meet me for chess. And obviously, it was raining outside, and there were some photos that got circulated. And I have to say, my opinion off from the jump, this felt extremely staged,

inauthentic, and kind of whacked to me, and it made me feel it was sort of like a Nike event, not just like some Frenchman that wanted to get a chess game in. What did you think about Wemby sort of like chess appearance? I think Wembe is, both very savvy

in terms of he understands that he's he understands that he's a public figure and he understands that there's a certain power that comes with choosing his words in a certain way. I think he's both that but I do think he is

a more genuine public figure than the average NBA guy. I just do think that. I think he's more often saying what's on his actual mind, you know, then nine out of 10 NBA dudes who have just been just battered and bruised and consultant classed and goddamn, you know, PR to death and will never say or do anything interesting in public ever

for the life of them. I think Wembe's just different from that. And so I, like, and I know people can say it's a cop-out, but I do think it's more genuine than it is media event. Because, like, who wants to actually sit in the rain in December in a soggy-ass park? That's like, it's not like some picturesque thing, guys, if you go there. Like, there's nothing clamorous about this shit. I guess one of the things I didn't like about it was the tweet.

You know what I mean? It sort of felt like he was, like, trying to make it into a thing. Because there'll be someone there playing chess. I know. But, like, I think at a certain point, you do want to touch the actual people. you know like i think there's something to this idea of letting the people touch you and see you and let you know that you're a real person um i think there's something to that and i do admire that instinct like i like i just think there's too many of our of our public figures maybe you know

rightfully so if you're like a health care CEO who are like avoiding of the people and the public right um and and i i think people should be doing more of this like actually you know touching grass but in this case, the grass being New York City residents, which I just love that part of it, like that people can actually go meet this guy who is this, you know, he's like a public figure. He's like a venerated, exalted person in our society. He's like a 19, 20-year-old person. He's like a philosopher. Like sometimes he'll have certain sound bites where I'm like, like, oh, that's, that's deep.

Yeah, yeah. I'm like, oh, this dude is like a thinker-thinker-thinker. His interview with Jay, with JJ actually like hit me. I was like, yo, this guy is like thinking about the nature of existence. Yeah. Like what? Yeah. You're 18, chill, bro.

Damn. You're eight feet tall. Like, what the fuck? There's a brief story I want to tell, which this incident sort of reminded me of, which is one of the more like authentic NBA player interactions with the people of New York. Literally happened around the corner from that is I was at ESPN and I was doing this just in, which was hosted by Max Calameter's on 2 o'clock. and Pat Beb, it was the offseason,

and Pat Bev did that show with me. And he had on white jeans and a short sleeve blue button up, right? And we do the show, and it's over at 3 o'clock, and we say goodbye or whatever. I don't know, Pat Bev, like we just did five minutes of television together. Say goodbye, whatever, he leaves.

And then like around 6 o'clock, I'm looking at my timeline. And it's Pat Beverly, playing at West 4th Street, playing pickup. And what is he wearing? White jeans and a short sleeve blue button up.

And he's playing pickup. And this is right around the corner from where Wimmy played chess. And he didn't tweet about it. It was the some passerby just filmed him and put it online. And that to me, I was like, this dude is a real one.

Like I swear to God, he just probably Googled like, pickup basketball in New York. You know what I mean? Like asked Siri. He was, you know what I mean? And just like took the train there. and wore his jeans and his button up

and just played two games of pickup and I'm sure he won but like that was like to me I was like this dude is really who you think he is. Again, you know, this is one of the things that I talk about when people

are complaining about the NBA. I just think really all it's lacking is this kind of flourish and touch. This sort of, I think Adam, God bless him, is a master at explaining to the part. why they should invest in the product.

And he has enriched the owners and he has enriched the players. And some people would say that's his number one job. And so God bless him for that. I think the things that Adam doesn't really understand are the soul of the game elements. And Pat Bev sort of embodying what it means to be a basketball player. Why people should care is like, this dude will show up to a game with a bunch of strangers in his off-season to who doesn't care. In white jeans, dog. White jeans.

In white jeans. He's just like, we just wanted to play hoops. I'm sure he doesn't come to New York very much. And he's just like, well, I heard the people in New York play basketball on black top. So I'm going to go do that. I swear to God. I was like, because when I saw me in the outfit, I was like, he was just wearing that like two hours ago. And that was right around the corner from Wemby, which, like, he didn't tweet about it.

He didn't seem like he wanted to get any recognition. It wasn't a Nike event. There was no photographers. There was, you know what I mean? Like the Wemby thing kind of felt like he booked a crew for the day. And they were going to, you know, it was on his schedule three weeks ago. Let's close the scene. Yeah.

In between the Knicks and the Nets game, I'm going to play chess. You know what I mean? Whereas, like, the Pat Bev thing just felt so, like, authentic and real. And it's great to have you on the show. And we're going to wrap up soon. But I'm going to do some quick hits with you just to see where your head's at for our mismatch listeners, right? Number one question is, what are you watching right now? A little to off time.

You know what I mean? What are we binging? Oh man Me and my lady have been watching Couples Therapy on Paramount Plus Is that good for the relationship or bad for the relationship? Oh it's great because these people's relationships are so toxic

and horrific It's like, see? You see how great this is? Is this a great, nice reminder that people that there are people just going through just woof Oh my God some of this stuff.

I'm like, this is nuts One of the things that I'll spoil for one of the listeners in season one is like, like this really attractive couple. And the dude basically expects his wife to have sex with him five or six times a day, like, actually. And I'm just like, yeah,

this guy's a maniac. Yeah, that's not. That's not a thing, sir. Yeah. That's just not, that's not a thing anywhere in the world at any time. Like, you can't even be like, well, in the 60s, this, no, bro. Like, this was never a thing. You're insane, bro.

It's like you're diluting the products. It's like the regular thing to the NBA. You know what it does? Too many games. Too many games, right. Show me that you care. We just need a home and home. That's it.

Period. Home and home. Watching that, just finished the jackal, which has its sort of... The jackal? Oh my God. Eddie Redmayne is playing like a basically adjacent born character-ish type of player, type of person.

It's on peacock. It's all over Europe, which I love. I'm a bit of. of a European file. I hate to admit it, but I love Europe. It's really good. He's like an assassin, but he's like all of the like sentimentality and like this sense of like doing the right thing and justice that's in Jason Bourne is just completely gone from

the series. Yeah, it's a pretty gnarly show. Do you have to be? Me and my wife just started. I'm like five episodes in, The Madness. Have you heard of this one? I have not. Where's, who's playing this?

Oh, it's on. I don't speak actor. I don't know actors' names. No, who's showing it? Oh, it's Netflix. It's on Netflix. It's on Netflix. It's a limited series, probably about six episodes.

It's really interesting. I'm digging that one right now. But you brought up couples therapy, but I've learned that sometimes those are bad for the relationship. Oh, yeah. Like the Fleischman's in trouble. I don't know if you remember that show.

Oh, my God. Dodd. I watched it by myself, thank God. Jacob was in trouble. We thought it was we live in that neighborhood. We go to the 90s. Second Street wide. Like, that is our life, except we're not divorced.

And every, like, we got to an argument, every single episode of that one. So I'm not watching a couple therapy. The upper west side, Jews, man. Upper East side, upper east side. So, um, so next, um, what's your, what's an unpopular NBA opinion you have, but no one agrees with? Well, I'm not, I'm not afraid to say this on the show. I said it on bills.

I think league pass should be banned. Um, I think that because, like, I don't think people need to be watching every single game. Like, if you, want to sell it to some people sell it at some crazy high price. It was just like, watch the games on ESPN and TNT. Keep it pushing. Huh. Like, I really do think that.

Like, I don't think it's like cultivating some crazy level of fandom. In fact, it's just people take it for granted that they can watch NBA whenever the fuck they want because it's on literally every single day. All the time. Three trillion times a day. I'm a crunch time guy. I feel that guy. I feel like just because I find the app frustrates me because it's too many clicks to get

from one game to another. You know what I mean? I can't really watch two games at once because they don't have multi-view. So for me, if I'm watching the Knicks, right, I'm on Gotham Sports app. So I got to get out of that, click over to the NBA app,

watch the little circle go, and then click on that game, watch the circle go again. And it's going to be a commercial. So I got to click out of that and go to another game. It's just too many clicks. I got a belated Christmas gift for you.

I'm going to hook you up with an NBA media a league pass account so that you don't get blacked out of any Nick games and you can just stay in the league pass app. Yes, I have one of those. I'm able to watch Clippers and Likers. They try to charge me. They try to charge me for Nets games. It's like an add-on. It's like, it's like supersizing your fries at McDonald's. They're like, do you also want Nets games? I was like, no, no, no, no. It's like $7 a month or something. I was like, nah. We're going to get you situated with a good league pass account because that's unacceptable. How great is it to be named Wosney? man you know what's so funny about that dude like i probably didn't come into my name

until i had to be in my like mid-20s bro um when because when i was younger like one you know my last name starts with an l so like i'm in the middle of the class um and so first they like you know when you're like when your name starts at a or b last name like you get that out the way quickly if you're at a why or something like that or z Like you're at the end of the class, you know, you can just chill and wait. First day of school was just a nightmare. It's like you just literally sitting there waiting for the teacher to make a nasty face. Like they just get to their name.

They adjust their glasses. They start maybe trying to word it. And then they'll never be say my shit wrong. I have to be like, yeah, that's me. It's actually said this way. Another thing that was kind of annoying is like every time I would introduce myself to somebody for the first time. And it still happens. Like I have to say my name like three times.

Every single person that I meet, the doctor's office, the whoever, anybody, receptions, everybody, you have to say your name a bunch of times before they get it wrong. I remember saying to him, I had to be like eight years old. I asked my dad, like, why didn't you just name me something like James? Yes. He's like, you don't like your name? I think your name is great. Blah, blah, blah. No one else's name, Wazdi.

Have you met another Wazdi? No, no, never. there's other people like Wazniak and you know there's like other variations of it but no there's never been and now like yeah like you said

it's like something that I'm like so easily identified by and like people remember my name or they always remember my fucking name like people that I'm just like damn I don't remember your name we only met the one time but people always remember my shit

and so like yeah I've definitely grown into like an appreciation not even just acceptance It's just an appreciation for my name. But growing up, it was brutal, bro. Yeah. It is one of those things. Like, when you wish, you wish, you wish, you wish, your name was John.

Yes. And then you're like, and now you're wise. There's no other wazes. It works. If someone says waz, there's only one person that they're talking about. Yeah, 100%. It's a great name. It's a great name.

Shout to your parents. Thank you. So we're going to wrap with this one because this is a pet peeve of mine. Mm. I don't like wishing people. a happy new year past a certain point. Yeah. So what is the limit?

What day on the calendar can we no longer wish people happy new year? I don't care if you've seen them or not. Oh, I haven't seen you. So I wish you happy New Year on the fucking 15th. Like what day is it unacceptable to wish someone a happy new year? I think you basically have until like the fourth. The fourth. I don't even think a week because a week is just,

No. You're just being cute. I think you have until like the fourth, somebody that you legitimately haven't seen or spoken to, to wish them a happy new year. Outside of that, like, you're doing a lot. You're doing two. I'll say the second.

Another pet people of mine is get the Christmas tree out your house. Oh, my God. Get the Christmas tree out your house. If I see your Christmas tree on January 15th, you're just lazy. You're just lazy. Get it out the house. Dude, somebody in my building was throwing a tree out on the 26, and my woman was disgusted. I've done it.

I've done it before. I'm like, oh, who does that? Oh, you got to take it at least in the January. I'm like, bro, it's over. The gifts are gone. Like, it's over. It's over. I live in this building, and I saw this Christmas tree on, like, Valentine's Day.

Because they had it right in the window and it was lit up. And I was like, there's a dead body. There better be a dead body. dead body in that apartment underneath the tree. Because if there's live bodies in that apartment, I don't know what's going on there. I don't know what is going on there. We got to get the vibes mayor, Eric Adams, on that, man.

Maybe you can take time out of his schedule of attending rap concerts and stuff. It's the morning, he's going to be out so late tonight, Christmas Eve. He's going to go into 17 parties. He's going to have a police escort. He's going to take a helicopter. He's going to end up in Bushwick. Appreciate you coming on the show, Wise. You can always listen to Wise on the group chat.

And where else can we find you? We do with my feelings on YouTube. You know, every now and again, they got me filling in the blanks across the ringer, you know, multiverse. And so, yeah, man, check us out, man. It was just dope to be on here with you, Jacoby. Finally, man, we did it.

We did it, Joe. We did it. We did it. Look at us. Who thought? Appreciate you coming on, Wise. Mismatch. We'll continue with Vernon. and we're going to discuss that loss, the Grizzly suffered to the Thunder.

And much more. That'll be on Friday. Back to our regular schedule. Happen to your schedule. Must be 21 and over in present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 over and present in D.C. Got a gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Help.com. Call 1-888-88-78-9-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or

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