The Mismatch - The Mismatch Awards! Plus: Is the NBA Cup Difficult to Follow?

Episode Date: December 3, 2024

Verno and Jacoby share their thoughts on the NBA Cup and debate whether the point-differential system is making it hard to follow along (04:08). With a quarter of the season done, the guys debut The Mismatch Awards! But instead of the typical awards, the guys discuss their best and worst teams (13:41), players (28:42), quotes (45:04), and moments (01:00:31) of the season so far. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Chris Vernon and David Jacoby Producer: Jessie Lopez Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 Mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon and join a miss he does every week from the ringer.com is Dave Jacoby. Jacoby. What's happening, Mr. Vernon?

I hope we had a good Thanksgiving. I did. I hope you did, too. We are now through a quarter of the NBA season. On today's show, instead of doing the normal awards at the NBA is going to give out at the end of the year, we are going to do some mismatch awards for the first quarter of the season. But before we get to that, since we last spoke, I've seen three teams in person. And it's kind of emblematic of what the NBA is.

now that you never know what you're going to get when you go to the arena. So I saw the Pistons, but I saw him without Cade Cunningham. So not really the Pistons, certainly fully formed, and they need him desperately. I saw the Pelicans with who knows who.

Put you guys out there, I'm just like, ah? I kind of, I, look, when you're, when at the end of the game, game, you're like, you know, I kind of like Missy. I think they might have hit on him. That's when you know, you didn't see Zion Williamson and the boys.

You see what they just did in the garden? Yeah. They scored their first field goal with four minutes and 30 seconds left in the first quarter. They had 10 points at the end of the first quarter, not like an individual, the team. They scored 28 points in the first half. It was ridiculous, ridiculous. And then I saw the Pacers. over the weekend

without Halliburton. Well, they had him. I just don't know what's happened to him. You're on the road. He's on the road. He was in the game. But you wouldn't have really noticed if you watched the game.

And so I don't really have much to glean from any of the teams I saw. I saw these teams, you know, these were teams that came in and I would have loved to be able to talk to you about Cape Cunningham. I'd love to be able to talk to you about Ziault Williamson.

I'd love to be able to talk to you about how Halliburton is taking the next leap after his assent last year at this time during the season. As we were getting ready for this, what is now the Emirates Cup, what was the in-season tournament, and that's where, you know, I headed Vegas, and every billboard is Tyrese Halliburton. But that has not been the case. And so I saw three Memphis wins over these teams and none of which did I walk out of the arena with some kind of strong opinion about where they were. I mean, there's three obvious non-playoff teams. Pistons will have a chance to be in the play in. Pacers are going to be involved. I would imagine at the very bottom of they'll be in the play in. I think they'll probably be in the play in.

And then the Pelicans, obviously, I mean, we're close to pack it up season for them. And so didn't get to see the highest level since we last spoke. We are well aware that as we record this on Tuesday morning, the Emmerch Cup is going to be going on tonight. Let me just say this. One of the things, and you have fallen in love with the cup, but now as we get to this moment, I feel like, and I know, look, to the nerds out there, before you start tweeting me about this, it's very simple. All you have to do, it's, it's not that hard.

All you have to do is, it's not simple. Like, so the pistons are playing the bucks, right? Whoever wins, win or take all, they win the group. But. But if it comes down, I can't be having to keep. up with all this point differential shit. I can't. I don't know. I don't know.

And the Knicks win by more than 15. Then that means the magic are out. The pistons are in. Maybe. I don't know. They're not even the same group. We've got to find a way to make this more simple for me and you who are both in on this. Like, I don't want to get to.

Let me make it simple for you. I don't want to get to this. though, where there's big night tonight, and then me just sit there and say, you know what, after this thing is set, we'll talk about the teams that are in it. That's how you make it simple. That's how I was going to simplify it for you.

Guess what? Just wait until all the dust settles, wait until the eight teams are in in each conference, and then we can talk. Right. Or actually not even each conference. The eight teams are from both conferences right, yeah. Okay, that's what I'm saying, though.

That's got to be fixed. You've got to make it. Yes. you have to make it easier for me to digest this and for me to know the stakes of these games without keeping up with how many points these teams need to win by in order to get in. It shouldn't be a case where they're figuring it out on their end

and I as a fan am just sitting back going, all right, tell me when it's done. Well, one of the fun parts is going to be listening to the announcers who just like me and you have a basic understanding of how this is all working but haven't broke down all the point differentials. You can tell this is going to be a research guy, be like, no, Bob, Bob, Bob, they need to win by 15.

He's like, what we need to lose by 15? Like, no, Bob, win by 15. And the Grizzlies have to also win by 12. Like, okay, whatever. It'll work itself out. We're going to get these, you know what, Verno, just don't overthink it. Just wait until there are games that you can watch

where the winner advances and the loser goes home. Because we're going to be there very, very soon. We're going to be there very soon. I think I think I'm going to be watching tonight and I'm going to be frustrated Probably But that's more of a you problem

That's like my kids say they're bored It's like this is a you problem Not a me problem No that's not true Yeah yeah it's true That's a you problem I want No I want when and you're in

You're gonna get that in a week And tonight it's gonna be Very confusing graphics on the screen As a former television producer I can tell right now They're putting together These full screen graphics Like run in during free throws

like in between two Janus free throws when you get 30 seconds, they're going to put up these full screen graphics like, all right, here are the scenarios for each team in this game. And there's going to be two columns. There's going to be four bullets apiece, and it's going to be very,

very confusing. All right. I just want it easier to get there, but we know that many of you are going to be listening after those games are played. And so hopefully by the time, well, look,

for certain, by the time we get to the end of the week in our podcast that we do on Fridays, we'll know. And it'll be said, And then we'll be able to be excited about it. But before we move on, though, Vernault, I want to bring something up before we move on to our awards.

Something's happened in the league, which I think you've noticed. The Memphis Grizzlies are an absolute tear. And you didn't put it anywhere in the rundown because you don't want to sound like a homer. And we didn't discuss this. It's not in any of the awards, not even being discussed.

But as the mascot for the Memphis Grizzlies in the city of Memphis, I want to give you the floor just to explain how and why this team has been so good, not just lately, but this season with all the decimating injuries that they have had. Oh, that's very interesting. So you mean they're first in the NBA and injury games lost, but they're third in the Western Conference? That's crazy. The Western Conference, that's the easy one, right? Oh, no, that's the tough one.

And just know that I have already talked to Jesse Lopez. And there will be a clip. Oh, there'll be a clip from a couple of weeks ago. I'm not breaking it out there now, not on this show. Okay. But just know, a few weeks ago on this show, while I was taking a lot of guff, I told you that there would be the number one seat in the Western Conference, And you laughed me off the show.

You called me a homer. And you told me I was crazy. And I said, and I quote, jump on the train or get hit by it. Jacoby, that's what friends do. That's what friends do. They invite. Now allow me, again, we're at December 3rd. Allow me to report to you that the top five guys in minutes played on the Memphis

Grizzlies so far this season. Arsanti Aldama, Jaron Jackson Jr., Jalen Wells, who was the 39th pick in the draft, Scotty Pippin Jr., who was a two-way player going into the season, and Jake LaRavia, who was supposed to be out of the rotation. Those are the five guys that have played the most minutes for the third-place team in the Western Conference. Not John Morant, not Desmond Bain, not Zach Edie, not Marcus Smart, not Luke Kinnard, not Vince Williams, not Gigi Jackson. I mean, I could keep going on if you want me to do.

Please, I said 30 seconds, like an hour and a half. Yeah. Okay, so it's six in a row. And look, to make it their ass beat by down. Much of schedule wins. It's possible. It's possible. It's possible.

You just said that you just went through the last three games that you saw in person, and it was not exactly, you know, the murderer's row of contenders. But let me tell you this. Tonight, many will listen to this after the events of this evening. But we have a showdown that is not being promoted by the NBA. But we're going to have to watch. So the expectation is that Luke Dodgant is just going to be back, right? Yeah, he played in Portland.

But Tim McMahon has said, you know, yeah, he did, he did, you know, he did have a little wrist thing, but also led to believe that, hey, he needs to get his conditioning right. What was that? I heard that. And I love McMahon, but I was like, wait a second. So not playing basketball gets you in better shape? Well, you can. How?

allow me to tell you that the showdown is very possibly of two guys did not come into the season in shape. And then had a little bit off, came back, and looked a little bit different than they did before. The beginning of the season, Marcus Smart showed up, and he said, are these jerseys tight? and they said, hell no, you got a dad, Bond. Marcus Smart had food poisoning and was out for like three or four games in over a week and came back and looks like a different human being. He was either on a treadmill going 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off. These guys have the ability to whip into shape like no one you've ever seen.

I understand that, but it feels like if I was a basketball player playing basketball, would be a good way to get in shape. You would think so, but sometimes, all I will say is sometimes you will see towards the beginning of the season, guys that are not in peak condition, they might have something that they're out for a little while, and all of a sudden they've become in much, much better shape. So we may have Fit Marcus Smart versus Fit Luk Adanjic. And by the way, Fit Marcus Smart has been off the meter grade since he has come back.

So I said 30 seconds, Bernard. I said 30 seconds. You invited it. Four minutes ago. You invited it. I gave you the floor for 30 seconds. The next thing you know, we're talking about Marcus Smart's diet.

I tried to get you on the train. I was previewing tonight's game. You preview tonight's game between the Grizzlies and the math. A matchup between Marcus Smart and Luca Donchich. I just said. No one is checking for Marcus Smart. 50% of the people that listen to this podcast right now. The reason I said.

I said that. On the Grizzlies? That's bullshit. The reason I said that, the reason I said that is because they've both recently gotten into shape. Okay. That's the showdown. Okay.

In shape, players, I am not putting Marcus Smart on the same level as Luca Dajic, but they both came in and the jerseys were looking real tight at the beginning of the season, and now they're looking a little looser. When they start pulling at their armpits, that's when you know they've gained too much weight. All right. Let's get to our quarter season awards. Not MVP, six man of the year, rookie of the year, all the baloney that is ridiculous to predict at this point. We are going through the mismatch awards. Category number one, the team we liked more than we thought and the team we liked less than we thought. All right, do 20 games of the season. Who's the team you liked more

than you thought you would. Okay, now, I might have taken this a little differently than you have. This is the team that I found myself enjoying the experience of watching play basketball, not the team that is better than I thought they would be. I looked at this more of like a David Jacoby team I like more than I thought I would, and that is far and away. And I'm going very hometown on this, the Brooklyn Nets. Oh, my God.

Let's get back to the Grizzlies talk. Seriously. What are we doing? The net. This is the team that I found that I like watching way more than I expected to. They're 9 and 13. Stop. Stop.

They could be playing in my backyard and I wouldn't raise the blinds. They lost Cam Johnson and Cam Thomas. They were down 18 to the Warriors and came back to win on the back of Feud. but Dennis Schrooter. Nobody cares about playing them. That's why. They're catching people early in the season. Listen, that's one of the things that helps about being in New York. Perhaps that the flight landed 11 p.m. the night before the game. But I'm telling you, I enjoy the experience of watching this team way more than I thought I would. And it is a bit of a shame that they're just going to sell for parts. They're nine and 13 in an Eastern conference where playing talk, you were talking about

the Pacers and the Pistons earlier. They're really. right in that. They're right in that group. And they're going to end up giving away all their good players. So that's why I feel like now I'm enjoying the experience because I know it will not last. And again, I brought some before, but P.S, you brought this up. I hate to call you out, Jacoby. But you listen to them on the radio. Maybe that's why you like them. I told you. I can't watch them. I have to pay extra. I pay for the Knicks. They have to pay, They have a little add-on. It's like, what you like to supersize your Knicks purchased with the Nets?

And I was like, hell no, I'm on a diet. I'm on a Nets diet right now. No wonder you like the Nets. It's trying to get back in shape. No wonder you like the Nets. You watch them on the radio. That's right. They've got, we'll move on, but they've got their pick.

They got four first-round picks this year. They need them. Four. They've got their own, which is going to be good. They've got this really confusing one between the Thunder, the Rockets, and the Suns. got the Knicks and they've got Milwaukee top four protectants. They're going to have three good picks at least. Fun to watch.

And then every time they do lose, Nick Claxton cheap shot somebody. Yeah, that happened once. No, it happened the other night. You didn't see him punch Franz in the head? Oh, good for him. Someone got slow down Franz. Someone got a hot head. Slow down France.

It's a hot head. All right, speaking of Franz, the team I liked more than I expected. Orlando without Palo. We predicted that this was going to go terribly. Not only has it not gone terribly, they've won like 98% of their game the league. They've won 12 of 13. And a little bit later, I'm going to have them as one of my moments. But not only have they won 12 of 13, it's not like you look at it and go,

just took advantage of a light schedule. Like they will strangle you out defensively. And I think what it spoke to is that they lost Paolo Bancaro, a guy that you and I both think has top five, top ten potential as an NBA superstar in the league. And not only did Franz pick it up and has been playing out of his mind, the rest of that roster collectively has proven to be very talented. Many times what we find, especially at the beginning of the year, is your depth is tested.

As soon as one of your guys go out, now you see, okay, who has the ability to step up? What can they bring to the table when this guy, when this major cog of our team is out? And sometimes it's two terrible results, which I'll get to here in a moment with another team that I wanted to talk about. But with Orlando, I think not only with Franz and his ability to do more and be the guy that carries the water every night for them, just the rest of that team and the collective talent that is obviously shown through. I think we were like mournful. Yeah. What Apollo got hurt. The first four games didn't look good.

The first few, there was an adjustment period, but they have adjusted. And if you go up and down their roster, just think about guys like Batazi, Mo Wagner, Suggs, they're all playing better than you expected them to. It felt like Boncaro leaving at first. That was the low tide that sunk all the boats. And now the tide is rising and everyone is playing better than you expected them too. I didn't expect to see this out of Mo Wagner and Batazi. You know what I mean?

And they're doing it with defense. I mean, their defense is absolutely suffocating and it gives them the chance to win every single. night. And so, yeah, Orlando minus Palo, by far, the team that I liked more than I expected I would. And I like to wager on sports from time to time. It's legal in the state of New York. And I'll say that when you watch a team like the Lakers, right, if they get down, they're going to stay down in the game because they can't get stops. They cannot get stops. But the Orlando Magic and the Houston Rockets, they can always come back if they're down. And that might be helpful information if you put a little money on a basketball game,

especially if you went a live bet on Fandall. The team you like less than you expect it to. This is going to shock you. They've got the best offense in the league. New York Knickerbockers. What? Come on, man. The team I root for.

Okay. This is so northeast New York. What? Just because I pick the Nets and the Knicks and the Knicks. never happy like your team is coming into form Brunson's got like player of the week

Towns is averaging career highs Bridges just had the best game of his career and you're bitching it's unbelievable yes you're right you're absolutely right Bruno I'm not enjoying again you can't disagree with me about what I'm enjoying or not

I could just think it's stupid I expected to enjoy this team more than I am. I expected them to, last year I loved them so much because they were this blue collar defensive, hustling in your face, sort of spicy, built in the image of Tibido, built in the image of Tibido, and now I'm like,

why are they 21st in defense? Why? Like, they're like, last in bench scoring in the entire league. Well, look at their bench. That's what brought them down last year in the playoffs. Guys got hurt.

No depth. And I'm just concerned. I'm not enjoying the experience. In the last couple weeks, they lost to the Jazz. Oh, stop. They lost to the Mabs without Luca. They had, they needed a last second win against the Charlotte Hornets. I'm not enjoying this experience.

I expected more. This was the team that was built to beat the Celtics. And now I'm like, I hope they get a good first round match. Would you rather have it all back? No. Hartinstein. Oh, Devinchenzo.

I thought you meant just the trades. No. Yeah. Oh, the whole thing? Randall DeVincenzo, Hartinstein. Oh, my God. Would you rather have last year's team? That would make it enjoyable to you.

I think long term this team will be better eventually. I'm taking an opportunity right now to say that I expected more, but I will also put a butt in it by saying this. I also expect it to turn around. I don't think a TIBCM is going to be 21st in the end of the year. Turn around. They've got home court advantage right now, Jacoby. It hasn't looked good.

You're talking like they're like eight in the east right now. Allow me to remind everybody they're fourth. They're fourth in the Eastern Conference right now. It's supposed to be second. And haven't played that well. Yeah, that's the part I don't like. They haven't played that well. I expect them to play well.

And I expect them to turn around. And I expect them to be a three seed in the Eastern Conference in the end of the seat. For goodness sakes. I mean, impossible to please. True. You guys would rather have a team that grinds it out and wins 96 to 92 and has this same record. You don't like it because it's offensive. defensively pleasing is the most hilarious thing ever.

I said nothing like that whatsoever. But if you want to put words in my mouth, and if you want to poo-poo grinding teams, then maybe you should move. No, they're 12 and 8, though. They're not 8 and 12. They call it Grind City where you live. No, I love teams that play hard and dive on the floor

and all of that type of stuff. What I'm saying is, I also like teams that are in fourth place. Move on to yours, so I can be a dick about your selection. the team that I like less than I expected, and I'm glad I got it in when I had the opportunity early in the year to talk about Charlotte because I'll never talk about him again. I mean, I love the announcer, obviously. Everybody knows that.

I like Chino Hills, Lamello Ball, averaging 30 points at doing whatever he wanted to do, except for the fact that now he's out and he's got the soft tissue injury. And so they say he'll be re-evaluated in two weeks. Like there's no chance he's back in two weeks. I don't know. Calf strain can be like a couple games or can be like the rest of your career. Calf strain is got the lowest floor and the highest ceiling of any injury.

But look, they beat Detroit 123 to 121. Since the middle of November, that's it. Actually, since November 10th, they've had. had two wins. Milwaukee 114 to 115 and Detroit, 123 to 121. Every other game they've played, they've lost. And so this went very badly, very quickly. And Lamello was scoring a ton, and it's fun to watch the highlights, but that's about the extent of it. You know, it shouldn't matter so much that Grant Williams got hurt and is out for the season, but it does to them. You know, Miles Bridges only played 11 games.

They're finally supposed to get Mark Williams back, who we haven't seen in a year. And now he's evidently going to be coming back when Lamello Ball is out. But I just thought that this is going to be one of my league pass teams that I could count on. There's going to be super fun to watch. And now, no Lamello, and it's gone the wrong way so very quickly that they're going to be watching Ace Bailey and Cooper Flag highlights a lot over the, course in the next couple months as well.

There's a part of me, because unlike the characterization that you have so rudely painted me as, sometimes I see the glasses half full, especially with the team that I like to watch. There's a part of me that said, you know what, this is Brandon Miller's Franz Wagner opportunity.

Oh, God. And it has not gone that way. It is not. It has not. It has not gone that way. For no. It has not. There's that one game. I think it's that win against the pisses

that you're talking about, They went to overtime where Lamello actually fouled out. And Miller just took over in overtime. I think he scored eight points or whatever. He has not made the most of this opportunity with Lamello out. And I think that this team with your guy, Charles Lee, might be looking at the standings sooner than later. Oh, Charles is going to rack up a lot of else in that first year.

He'll be tough to dig out. It's good. Next time they're in New York to play the Knicks and Net. you might sneak out to a Rutgers game to do some scouting. Fair enough. The NBA is back and Fandul, America's number one sportsbook,

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1,800 gambler or visit RG-Help.com. The player that has gotten too much love. So this isn't going to go great for me. This started this summer when I went on your local show and I made the mistake of thinking like, here I'm just a local show in Memphis,

no big deal. I'll just test out one of my takes and say that Anthony Edwards is overrated. And it turns out a lot of people didn't enjoy that content. But the player who gets too much love, in my opinion at the moment, is Anthony Edwards. And let me explain why. This is a reality versus expectations versus perception thing. And the expectations are so high for him, he has not reached those.

The perception is that he is the future phase of the league, that he is one of the most exciting players to watch. The reality is that with the new pieces, this team hasn't looked the same. The reality is, is he is not getting to the rim whatsoever. 16% of his shots are at the rim. When you think in your mind about Anthony Edwards' highlights, Anthony Edwards' game, you think about explosion, you think about getting his shoulder past his defender.

Right now, you think about him just basically taking stepbacks and triple pull-up threes. And what really concerns me, what really is the fuel to the engine behind this motor of being disappointed in Anthony Edwards is the postgame press stuff that he's doing. Calling his team front runners into a microphone. Calling his team soft. Saying his team is like a bunch of kids that don't communicate. I don't think that. You don't like Anthony Edwards being a leader? I don't think that's leadership.

What are you talking about? about. Say that to the team. Say that to the team. Don't say we don't communicate to someone who's not on the team. Talking about lack of communication to the media is backwards to me. I feel like your actions should support your goals. If your goals are to have a team that better communicates with each other, then don't say to the media, our team needs to communicate better. Is that a fair criticism of leadership? I think we have had many times over the course of many years, coaches and or the leaders on the teams publicly call out their teams.

Of course. And it's not like he has said it's everybody else's fault except for mine. He also takes blame for what has taken place there. The reason I hate this choice for you is because I sit there and go, what Anthony Edwards is doing this year statistically while shooting half of his shots from three point range is absolutely incredible because it has played out exactly like I said it would which is this was a terrible trade that was not in service of accentuating your best player. In fact, the deals have made it harder for Anthony Edwards to be the

the fully formed. This guy might be the best player in the league if they would have given him some spacing. But the original sin was Rudy Gobert. You ask why he doesn't drive to the basket. It's because there's no other place for the big to be besides near the basket. And in order to get the fully form Anthony Edwards, which is you look at all of these guys, whether it is John Moran, whether it is Luca Donchich, whether it is you can go on and on and on, back to James Hardin, back to Steph Curry. What you want to do is create the maximum amount of space for that player because they are unguardable. And instead, what Minnesota has done is voluntarily shrink the space available on the floor to where he now has become the spacing. he's taking 11 3s a game because it's clogged and it was always going to be clogged.

Where's defense? To me, I look at that. I look at the situation that he's in and I say, this is incredible what he has accomplished thus far, despite the fact that this team has miserably built around him in my estimation. in my estimation, what you want to do is get guys that space the floor, get guys that he can drive and kick to.

And instead, what they've done is found a bunch of guys that can't space the floor. And even in the guy that they thought was going to be able to space the floor for him, DeVincenzo, he can't hit a shot. Yeah. McDaniels too.

So if anything, Anthony Edwards should be lauded for the season he's having so far. Not ridiculed. I disagree. I like this. We're in a fight today. I'm enjoying this.

The player has gotten too much love. Now this is, it's 2024 and we're all on our phones all the time. Whether I am on TikTok or Instagram, I can't get away from this Jared McCain stuff. And I do think it's because he is such a viral star that it is now carried over to the fact that I'm hearing about Jared McCain. all the time. I'm seeing Jared McCain highlights all the time. And it's nice. He's a rookie. They also lose every single night. And it's not like he's averaging 25. He's averaging 16, 2, and 2. Okay? That's what he's averaging. He's averaging 16, 2 and 2. And yet every other, and maybe it's just because I watched one of them. But I swear to God, I need to clear out my algorithm. Because I see

entirely too much Jared McCain content. Everybody got on these, you know, imagine this guy dropping 30 on you and then doing this and then they like show him, you know, doing his little dances or whatever. But I mean, look, he's having, he's having a good year. It's been a great start. Okay. Your question.

Question for you, Bruno. What's the number one player comp for Jared McCain that you've heard in the last two weeks? Just say it. Curry? Yeah. let's not compare Jared McCain to Wardell, Stefan Curry. Just no one ever fix your lips and do that ever. Please, please do not.

And it's not the TikTok stuff. It's the basketball stuff. He's not there's the thing. He's good. He's good. But somebody has to score on a team that loses every night. The ball's going to go in a basket a minimum amount of times. And so if you're playing 30-something minutes, yeah.

Like you're probably going to be able to score some. enough too much I've gotten too much Jared McCain content early this year it's true it's true I do you know that on Instagram

you can now clear your algorithm I saw like a post about it and I really need to do that because whenever I go to search anything it's just girls shaking their butts and I'm just like this is too much this is just too much I enjoy watching girls shake their butts

but it's just like it's a poor reflection of me and it's also it also makes it very difficult to look at it in public Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. It's just like, I can't let my wife see me search something on Instagram. It's like, oh, God. Oh, no, that page?

Yeah, that page. Oh, you want to talk about a crapshoot. If you want to talk about a crapshoot, hit search and then see what comes up. What populates it. And then what that says about you as a person, it really makes me feel like I need to like re-evaluate everything about myself whenever I click on that page. because I did it to myself. I have no one to blame. I can't blame Instagram.

I can't blame Meta. I can't blame Elon Musk. There's no one that I can't blame Zuckerberg. I can't blame China. I can't blame anybody for that element of my life except for me. They know you. It's something that I need to change. Now it's just like sharks, basketball, and girls in their skivies giving me some reason to,

like the TikTok dance always ends with them shaking their butt for a little second. It's always like a bunch of. of arm movements and a little butt shaking and then and then that noise and then me crying. That's how it always goes. Arm movement, arm movement. Popular song. Quick butt check.

Blop. And then me being like what has happened to my life. I'm 46 years old. The player that has gotten too much hate. I went with more like not enough love. All right. Because he's getting love now. And this

is more like an over-exam. It's more like the perception. reality, expectations sort of thing that I was going with there, but not too much hate. I'll come up with a different player, but for not enough love for me is Peyton Pritchard. And this is a bit of recency biased. But his last four games, five for 12 from three, 25 points, three for 10 from three, 24 points, seven for 11 from three, 29 points, six for 10 from three with 20 points. I mean, this is a guy, like, he was. Six men of the year, they said.

Yeah, six of the year, but he was also, like, not part of the rotation. He was, like, the guy that, like, you know what? When they're up by 15 last year and someone has to dribble over half court and do like that Magic Johnson, put your butt against the defender until the buzzer sounds and then toss the ball of the referee, that was Peyton Pritchard's role last season. This season, against the Cav, we all watched that game on Sunday. Great game. Donovan Mitchell in the fourth quarter was absolutely excellent and drug that team to a win.

but it was also the Peyton Pritchard show in the fourth quarter. It was Peyton Pritchard hitting three. Peyton Pritchard back down Garland. Like it was a mismatch, like mouse in the house, and just took a little jump hook over him. He's Peyton Pritchard. And then if you remember that game, it was a very frustrating game to watch

because it was just, because the Celtics kept getting up by three and then fouling, and then down by, and then the Caz are down by one, so they foul. And then the Celtics are up, by three so they foul. It was like

17, it was like 18 or 17 foul shots within like 30 seconds of gameplay. It just felt like there was no excitement to a very close game. I almost had this. This was one of the moments that I considered as we get later, the worst moment of the season so far. This was one of them I considered.

It was 14 free throws in 14 seconds. Yeah. Watching the game, I was so excited. Is it football Sunday? I was like, screw football. I'm watching the end of this game. I was sitting there being like, Do you need a rule change or something? Because if you decide to foul when your team is up by three,

then you turn into a scenario where both teams are just fouling. The second the opponent touches the ball. And then you get this scenario where it's like every time the ball's inbounded, about 8.8 seconds go by. And if everyone's hitting their free throws, we're going back and forth. But again, to be fair, all it takes is one Celtic to miss a free throw that changes the whole dynamic. But the way it played out, it was just so foul shot heavy.

but it overshadowed a great Peyton Pritchard performance. And I just, like, against the heat yesterday, they're all blowouts on Monday night. So I'm watching the Heat's healthics game. Pritchard is just on a tear. He's just cooking, cooking all of the defenders that the Miami Heat put in front of him. He starts barking at Spolstra.

Seriously, he's doing the like, you can't put him on me to Eric Spolstra in like November, on a Monday when they're up by 17. Like he blacked out. asked about it after the game. He was like, I might have said something. I respect them. I'm just competitive.

I loved it. I love Peyton Pritchard. He probably doesn't get any hate, to be honest with you, but he doesn't get enough love. That's fair. Because mine will actually be it's not as much hate as not enough love. And you're going to love this because it ties right into one of your answers that you've already given.

Oh, God. Carl Anthony Towns. 25 and 13, having a career year, helping the Knicks become one of the best offenses in the entire NBA, seamlessly fitting in with a group of guys he had never played basketball with before, and yet at his best, and is spacing out that team. And yet, through the first quarter of the season, if I say Carl Anthony Towns, this is because of my beloved Tim Bontemps,

If I say Carl Anthony Towns, what has been professed the most about towns early in the season, it's not him having a career year. It's not this ridiculous three-point shooting he's had. It's not him becoming in New York a place that people worried about him playing for those fans, for that media, in that spotlight. not only as he delivered, when you talk about Carl Towns, the thing that's been promoted the most

is how shitty he is at guarding the rim. And it's like, what is going on? What is going on? This guy is having a career year playing in the biggest market, has seamlessly fit in. His old team has gone to hell.

And yet, if you bring him up, it's like, oh, yeah, teams are shooting a hundred. percent at the rim against Carl Towns. It's like, oh, you found the thing to be able to, like they were going to find a way to defecate on towns no matter what. I can't believe a guy that I have loosed almost the most of any player to watch

over the course of the last five years that I have constantly become in his defense. Here's the word that you use that really stuck the landing for me. seamlessly. When we talk about Clay Thompson, the Mavs, oh, they're still, they're working them in. Oh, the Timberwolves, they're going to turn it around. They've got to figure out everyone's role. Embed being back in. Oh, we've got to figure it out. Paul George, all these new elements, the coach is going to take some time. The Warriors are playing like 15 people every night. Then it's like, oh, we still have to figure it out. The dust has to settle is offensively, the way Carl Anthony Towns has fit into this team could not have gone better. It absolutely could not have gone better.

And he does, does not deserve the criticism they get for what's happening defensively. Because the team has taken a step back defensively, it's so easy to point at the new big. But that's not necessarily the beginning, middle, and end of the story. It's someone who's watched all the Knicks. It's not. It's just, I just find it, I just find it interesting that that's the thing. When you think about towns, the thing that was out there the most in the first quarter of the season, was this odd ball stat about how everyone scores.

every time they get the ball within five feet of the basket on Carl Towns. Well, their rotation was, for the most part, Mitchell Robinson and Isaiah Hardenstein. Guess what? Those guys are better at rebounding and protecting the rim. But we know what they can't do? Everything that Carl Anthony Towns can do on offense. Seriously.

Seriously. It was like 25 and 13, for God's sake. Efficient. Efficient. I mean, crazy. All right. Best quote so far, first quarter of the season.

I came up with it. I played against too much hate. while you're speaking, just so I can check the box. I don't have to discuss it for long. James Harden. James Hardin. Everybody hates James Hardin. Everything thinks James Hardin's a loser.

He's never going to win a championship. But here he is what he's doing with this Clippers team I absolutely love. But I'm going to move on. Best quote so far. This one took me four seconds to think about. And it is. We're playing now. My guy, Will Hard.

Obviously in the second half, it seemed like everybody in the gym knew that Dalton Connect was going to shoot the next shot with the exception of a few people the problem was that those few people were on our team so

what makes this so good to me is it's hilarious but he's not joking he did not intend to be humorous when he said that he was dead ass serious he was serious I mean I'm sure knew intellectually what he was saying was funny,

but you can tell us from like the monotone delivery. He was just like, well, everybody in the gym. And I like the mistake. They say gym when it's like it's a high school gym. No, there's 18,000 people there knew that he was going to take the next shot, except for a few people. Unfortunately, those people were on our team. And if you watch the game, it's hard to disagree.

Mine through the first quarter of the season is Joe Missoula. The biggest thing that we rob people are from an entertainment standpoint is you can't fight anymore. I wish you just bring back like fighting I mean I'm not against that I'm not against those days in the NBA what's more yeah

I mean you want to talk about robbing the the league of entertainment what's more entertaining than a little scuffle okay so you and I talked about this a few weeks ago again much like Will Hardy

he's not trying to be funny I don't think like Joe Missoula has a way of talking about things to where you're not sure if like you do wonder sometimes with the things that he says if he goes back into his coach's office he's around his coaches he shuts the doors he says you hear what I hear what I've said up there right but I don't ever get the sense that that happens I don't think he does think that the things that he

says are funny I think he's just saying them and then everybody's like ah ha ha crazy Joe and it's It's like, is he serious? Like, I went and looked it up. And I was like, how old? Because sometimes I lose sight. I was like, maybe he was like, maybe he was young during the malice in the palace. I don't know. Joe Mzoula was 16.

He was 16 years old when the malice in the palace took place. Yeah, it's hard to, it's hard to watch the footage of the malice of the palace and then like sort of make this case. But let me just, let me just say what I think he's thinking. No, he went on further to say that we should have power plagues. Like, Well, I think what he's thinking is in hockey, they can fight. It's also, like, kind of controlled in hockey. Once they go to the ground, it ends.

There's sort of like an unspoken understanding of how we're going to proceed. We should grab each other with our left hand and then just punch away with our right hand and we're wearing helmets. And it's, like, not that violent. And I think in baseball, you could throw at a pitcher. And if you hit the quarterback, then the offensive line is going to take a cheap shot at the guy that hit the quarterback. There is this sort of, like, in other sources, sports, there's a sort of like physical repercussion for line stepping that doesn't exist in the

NBA. And he wants that to happen. That's the best way I can sort of like intellectualize what his point is. But it's hard to be an NBA head coach and be like, you know what the lead needs to change? Forget the All-Star game. You need to bring back fighting. No, hold on. Jacoby.

He said the biggest thing. We rob fans of. Rob the fans of. Never find. It's not back-to-back's load management. That it's literally a cramp shoot if I spend $400 to go to a game whether or not players are going to play. Far down the list. The biggest thing we rob people of is the ability for these guys to fight each other.

And he means it. He means it. Look, Jalen Brown was quoted, was asked, I don't know if you heard this. Again, it's one of those, is he serious? And this will let you know that he is serious. Because Jalen Brown, I don't know if you saw this earlier this year, was asked his favorite quote from Joe Missoula. And Jalen Brown's response was, quote, there's no such thing as a foul you either die or you don't.

Jalen Brown said that? No, that was his favorite Joe Missoula. There's no such thing as a foul. There's no such thing as a foul. You either die or you don't. So, okay, I'm starting to see this. It's no things as a foul, but there is a such thing as murder. We know what murder is, and that's where the line should be drawn.

Let's just throw out, throw out the NBA rule book. Forget charge block. Dead body or no dead body. He should be coaching that like trampoline league where they're allowed to like slam ball. Yeah. Have you seen the Russian stuff?

Joe Musil belongs in slam ball. Oh, have you seen the Russian MMA basketball stuff? It is exactly what it sounds like. I'll send you a link. It's wild. Honestly, like are these actors? Is this like a real thing?

It's a real thing. Well, good. It'll change my algorithm. Yeah. I need that suit. It's out. It's going to be. Russian.

Russian. I'm just start. basketball. I'm just going to start searching math accounts and like self-help stuff and just send it to all my friends. So the algorithm finally stops showing me butt cheeks and the bl-l-l-l-l-l-l-

worst quote so far. This one flew under the radar. And I have to be fully honest with our audience. I don't like to lie to the audience. I did first have this list in its best quote. So it really toes the line. Jesse, let's hear it.

try to like and you know make a joke in the training room about this like I always like pull out in the last second out of the game pull out of the game in the last second Janice why you cannot be the worst

Janice Janice I love how corny he is he is like he's so horny too like he's just like a hornball he's like cornball hornball and he's like the best player in the NBA He is the ordiest guy ever.

He's just like Janice, like, you're married with kids. He's like, come on, man. He somehow, he somehow turned into gronk. You know what I mean? Like 69 and like ballic symbols. Like no one asked you, Janus. You know what I mean? That wasn't an answer to the question.

He's like, I've got this really good pun joke. Sex. The trying to, the trying to, uh, slagy. lap five with Jalen Brown and then doing it like putting his hand the side of his head pulling it away. He's seriously like a 13 year old

trapped in this Greek superhuman's body. I'm going to be honest. It's not the worst quarter of the year. I just wanted it to be in the show. All right? I wanted to be in the show and I couldn't put it as best. I'm not to be transparent with the audience.

I wanted it to be in the show. I like him. My worst quote of the year is after the aforementioned Will Hardy press conference where Dalton Connect went crazy against the Utah Jazz. LeBron had his opportunity

to talk about him and he said same shit I said last year or about the internet called me a liar all the time and shit I lie about that fucking thing. So what am I now? I've been said it. I watched him. I watched Tennessee a lot. I watched a lot

Tennessee last year. Yeah, he watched a lot of Tennessee last year. I watched a lot of Tennessee last year. Okay, by the way, your first talent evaluation was you going on social media saying, I'm watching League Pass and Brony is better than a ton of these guys. That was your first talent evaluation. If we want to talk about talent evaluations, let's be clear. That happened, and that's why he's off social media now, because he doesn't want to hear

about the brawny crap anymore. I guarantee that's why he got off. That being said, you're not allowed to play the martyr on the internet says, I lie about everything, because it's not as if you are falsely accused. There are literally now dozens of video evidence of you lying. You with the first page of a book, you calling the Godfather your favorite movie, yet you can't remember literally one scene from it. Not one. People that haven't seen the movie know four scenes from the movie. For sure.

Predicting Kobe's 81 point game. On the barbershop, the soccer player, when the soccer player says, you know, my coach used to always say, put yourself in situations to make you uncomfortable. and you say, that's my favorite quote. Like, Oh, he was doing an interview. God, he was doing an interview in Europe.

He was doing a thousand baritages to Kobe of him lying. He has been falsely accused in the past as well. But you can, like, my algorithm, along with golf courses, golf equipment, chicks, music stuff. There is also, look, my algorithm will also find me,

not only Jared McCain, it will also find me. They know I love LeBron lying content. And so for him to say, the internet says I lie about everything, or the clip where he is listing off tight ends for national tight end day, that one might be my favorite, where he's listing off and he's clearly looking at the NFL.com.

Tight-end list of tight ends. The best. So anyways, that gets worse quote. Okay, we know. You were for sure dead right about Dalton Connect. No,

he's grinding Tennessee tape. Grinding the all-22 of Tennessee tape. Yep. Is it practice? They scored 80 points last night, by the way. Go ahead. You're a Tennessee fan? No.

I'm a Memphis man. Memphis. Yeah, you can't be both, huh? Best moment of the season so far. This, I was trying to be funny with this one. Okay. But this was very obvious to me.

And I happened to be sitting right here where I am now, waiting for the game to be over to do a pod with Kurt Goldsbury and Bill Simmons. And it was the very end of the Mavs Warriors game. Late night. Claytime. Thompson's return, it was spoken about all day long about how emotional it's going to be. The stupid hats, the employees getting them in the video, the video tribute, will he cry, won't he cry?

Will he play well? The first possession, they'd run a play for him just to get him going. He gets to the line. And, you know, he had a good first game with the Mavs, but he hasn't exactly been lights out with the Mavs. But he had himself a game in that game in the fourth quarter, made some huge threes. And it really felt like the Maver's. we're going to win the game.

It really felt like this was going to be Clay Thompson on Clay Thompson night. He's going to be doing his postgame press conference in one of those stupid hats, and he's going to get the win and he's going to celebrate on the town and say, you know what? I left. I win. And Steph Curry, in that environment on that day, with all that buildup, went on a heater. And not only was the best moment of the year so far, him hitting that three,

it was his emotional reaction to that. three. We have seen this man win championship after championship, different teammates, different eras, be the finals MVP, not be the finals MVP, and we have never seen him release emotionally like he did. And one thing about Steph, which makes us love him so much, but we wish he had a little more of, is he's an assassin, but he's a baby-faced assassin. There's not a lot of edge, not a lot of that in your face, growl to him. But he's a lot of. he had the lit curled, the pointing at the ground, the you didn't want to stay here. Look, give me the camera, looking right down the pipe, screaming a guttural, gross, unsteff

Curry, unpolished. It reminded me of the politician, who was it, like Ross Perra? Or what was that guy with his sleeves rolled up? Oh, what? Howard Dean. Yeah, Howard Dean was, yeah. At one press conference, and his campaign was over. They reminded me of that.

I was Steph Curry just blacked out and became very unsteff Curry-like because the moment was that big, because the atmosphere was so tense, because it was his brother that he's been through so many battles with. And it was just that to me was a moment that I won't forget. I won't forget it. And it was a November game. Got to decide if I'm going to let you get away with this. Why is that? Because I listened to the podcast that you mentioned. I thought maybe he might be overusing the Sleep Selelly.

Okay, that's fine. You know what? Your take after that game was a moment, by the way, that you just named the best moment of the first 20 games of the season. This is fair. This is fair. You went on a podcast after it and said, you know what, the night night things being overused. So in the moment, but now after reflection, you find that to. be the best moment and yet right after it, you weren't there celebrating how Steph Curry showed his

emotion at the end of that game. And in fact, you zagged on it. I'm sorry, Chris. You started by saying that you listened to the podcast. I did. Because if you listened to the podcast, you would have realized that after 20 minutes of discussion of this moment that is the best moment, I was asking direct question about how I felt about the sleep sell.

Did that not happen? Did that not happen? I fast forwarded that part until Goldsparry was talking again. Whenever Goldsparry was talking about it. You're an asshole. I love you, Kirk. I just kept pressing the little 30 thing until Goldsbury started talking again. Stop it.

Let's have Monash. The best moment of the season so far in the first 20 games is Franz Wagner, Wagner, Franz Wagner, Vagner, ending all Lakers and J.J. Reddick talk. Let's see. Franz Wagner surveys the landscape.

Looking for help. Shot clock down to five. He's going to go for the wind. Shot is up. He got it. Fons Wagner. You are fantastic, Frum. Because as Franz Wagner hit a game-winning three to beat the L.A. Lakers, 119 to 118. What has followed is the Lakers losing to Denver by 25.

Then they lost to Phoenix by 27. Then they beat the Spurs. Then they lost to the Thunder by 18. Then they beat Utah 105, 104, because Will Hardy called a timeout before Colin Sexton's game winner. and then last night got beat by 29 by Minnesota. Franz Wagner single-handedly destroyed the Lakers. I love this. They have gotten drilled. Their only two wins are the Spurs and Utah,

and you can argue the Utah one shouldn't have happened, and they're losing by like 25 points a game since Franz Wagner hit that shot. But what about the magic? What about the magic? What did they've been up to? 12 of 13. That's right. I don't think they lost since then.

Unbelievable. I love that moment as well. And again, I brought this up in the pod afterwards, but I'm going to say it again. The previous possession, he did the exact same thing, and the announcers were appalled. Appalled.

Appalled. Oh, he's got a pass. Got to get little people involved. This is to Juliocentric. And then he does the exact same thing again, and he is celebrated. But the implications, I have never thought about the implications

that has had on the psyche of the Lakers and their season moving forward. I also want to give a honorable mention on Best Moment. You might think this could fall into worst moment, but this falls into Best Moment. The Philly League. I mean, the whole damn thing's been a disaster,

but then the leak of the story that has come out about Joel and B. being late to stuff and Tyrese Maxie calling into the carpet for it and all of that stuff. And then I don't know how how NBA dark web do you get on the, have you seen an elephant in the room stuff? Oh yeah, the Nick Nurse. Yeah, the elephant in the room.

He uses that phrase all the time. And that was the quote, Tyrese loves the big fella, but it's the elephant in the room. And then people have, the internet sleuths have chronicled all the times that Nick Nurse has said, the elephant in the room.

And podcast P is like, I don't know who leaked it. And everybody's like, whoever leaked it is a sack of shit and all that stuff. I mean, look, the Philly League is amazing drama. Amazing drama. People trying to figure out who the leak was. And then obviously the point at hand, which is that Tyrese Maxie, this poor kid, the fact that he is, I mean, if he comes out on the other end of all of this. this to become a huge star in this league, which I believe he will be. It will be a different uniform if that's the case.

But it just speaks to him. I mean, they have put his ass through Ben Simmons, James Hardin, and now this stuff. Like, you want to talk about a deal and locker rooms that that Joker has been in. And he's now asked or has taken on the role of being the leader. Anyway, Philly League goes in. Franz and the Philly League are best moments. What about you got? What do you got?

This is the worst moment so far. of the season. And it's a player that I believed in pre-draft. It's a player that I believed in year one, year two was ascending.

I love people, this is just a life lesson very quickly. People over-excentuate the qualities they have and pretend they're important. Like, for example, I'm a tall person. So I think being in tall, you better. Or if you're a fast runner, being fast makes you better. You're good at math. Math is

important. You're good at drawing. Being an artist is important. And I do that on the basketball court. I am a mentally weak non-jump shooting player who loves to get others involved with fancy passes and play defense. Ben Simmons, I loved. At the peak of his powers, I'm talking like second team all defense all star like yonison transition fancy passes all over the place like put the ball in his hands he's like a six 10 operator it was like peak ben simmons was like on a trajectory he signed the clutch i was like this is perfect he will be the next lebron jakes i can see it happening now and we all know what's happened since then but the worst moment this season as someone who really wanted this to be like the benissance in brooklyn and it has to be like the bennyson's in brooklyn and it has

it exactly worked out that way. There's a video of him warming up. And I feel bad for Ben Simmons for everything that he's gone through. How delusional he sounds on a podcast he goes on. And as a mentally weak basketball player, I can understand where he's at and the

yips that he has. But he is a video of him, which he, this isn't during the game filming. This is a person in the arena filming him. And he is at the right elbow with his back to the basket. He catches a pass. He turns over his right shoulder and takes like a little lefty jump hook from like 12, 13 feet.

Misses it. Gets another pass the same spot. Same move. Again, the exact same move, same spot. Misses it. Gets another pass. Exact same move. Same spot.

Doesn't like where the pass was in his hand. Passes it back to get a more perfect pass. because we're warming up to create game conditions, I guess. Misses that one. Then he moves a little closer. Misses that one. Then he takes an extra dribble. Misses that one.

Then he misses again. Then there was one that I can't tell if he missed or not, but I think he missed. And then he finally made one and the clip ends. My guy is either one or two from nine from the same spot with no defense doing the exact same move with a perfect entry pass and no defense. And again, if you have watched NBA players warm up before, I'm talking the fattest, slowest non-jump jump. Mitchell Robinson will go 10 for 10 from the corner warming up.

You've seen it. Like, in non-game conditions, they just knock down shots like it's not even hard. And to watch Ben Simmons struggle like this, knowing everything that he's gone through, no matter how much money he's made, he's just constantly ridiculed, constantly made fun of, someone secretly filming him and putting it on the internet and making it look like a fooling.

Yeah. It's not like he was in a private word out. It might have been 500 people. That's fair. That's fair. That's beside the point. It's Draymond beating up Jordan Poole. So this is what I do with my wife. I pick one word that she gets wrong and then I pinpoint that one. The great Chikobi argument technique that you're using, let's take the word secretly out. You're you're framing this like we should feel bad for him.

I do feel bad for him. You can tell me how I feel. No, this is like because what happens is this is, This is now a perfect example of how everybody always says the internet's not real. We give people the curated versions, the best of, the best of our lives, the best of our vacations, the best of our days, the best of everything. And in Ben Simmons case, it is a ritual of summer to get the Ben Simmons making a ton of shots videos.

Oh, here, here it comes. And so then to me, if there's anybody to feel bad for, it is his video guy. Because how many shots, how much hours of film does he have in the summer in order to come up with a video of him making a bunch of shots? Years ago, we had a social media guy that worked for the Grizzlies and he would go before the games. And the rule was in warmups, you know, because they post players warming up. He's not posting it unless he could get three shots at a row. You made three in a row. That's kind of the clip for the internet.

It's Fidal Sassoon. You don't look good. I don't look good. And at one point, he told me, as we got deep into the season, he said, I've been doing this every game. And I cannot get a Justice Winslow clip. This dude has not made three in a row in warm-ups. Oh, no.

It's unbelievable. another player really believes in he always gets two and then the third one never goes in he's like so i can never post him warming up and so i say as someone who understands that i'm telling you whoever is simmons video guy the curation that he has to do every summer to make us believe that this guy makes basketball shots, when you had this moment where he's being filmed and you see the reality of the situation, that was like reality TV. And what we get is the curated version. It's just the human element of it.

Just like having all those people, all those eyeballs on you. Come on. Oh, there's a no. $40 million a year. Shut up. There was rumors in at LSU that he wouldn't warm up. You read about that? He wouldn't warm up.

He wouldn't go out and warm up. You play golf? You never been on the team and the group behind you is watching. Maybe the clubhouse can see. You just feel those eyeballs on you and you're just like, this sucks. Like, I'm just gonna, I'll follow one of you guys

down the fairway. You know what I mean? Like, I feel like he feels like that at all times and I feel bad for him. Sorry for, sorry for having a heart. Sorry, Verno, for having a heart. Worst moment of the season so far. I'm going to say it's a collection of things.

When I said, when I said, I didn't like watching the Knicks. Is that it? That's up there. It's up there. Top ten. That's up there. I'm going to say what's happened with our first 20 games, through the first 20 games,

what's happened with our hope for the American superstar to ascend. John Moran has only played like half of the games, though he has had more highlights than literally every player in the NBA combined. Anthony Edwards, they've ruined the spacing, and he's now taking 11 of his 20 shots a game from three. So somehow- Palo hurt. Chet Palo's supposed to take leaves.

They're hurt. Chet's hurt. Palo's hurt. Zion's hurt. LeMello's hurt. Maxi is on a rat team. And, you know, I mean, Tatum's boring. Like, we're trying to crack it here.

We're trying to crack this at the top. Yeah. Where it's like everybody is from. somewhere other than America. It can't be Yokic and Donchich and M-B'd and SGA and Janus and, right? Like, Jalen Brusson. We're trying to, we're trying to get up there. Superstars is a bit of a lead for Jalenbrose.

Yeah, and it's like, but these young ones that you're wanting to ascend, right? It's like, oh, okay, well, we're starting with Morant and then he got hurt. And we're starting now with Lamello. At least he's like, you know, he's going to be in the All-Star. game. It'll be fun to watch and he's averaging 30 points a game. And then the Edwards thing, it has not been a fun experience watching Anthony Edwards so far this year. But now he's not ascending. And again, he's 50 years old. I guess like many NBA teams, we just have to put all of our hope in capturing the flag. I've watched a little bit of coop. I've watched a little bit of

Coop. Waving the white flag. You like that one? We're going to get in trouble. We're going to get in trouble. Him and the two Rutgers kids are all awesome. Oh, yeah. I can't tell sometimes. I'm like, I've watched Cooper Flag, but he blew that Kentucky game. And I was like, oh, man, because he has some moments. He has some real moments. But sometimes I'm like, I don't know, it's like, it's hard to, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I,

I do not. I feel bad for NBA scouts to have to watch college basketball games and then extract and then take that player and put them in NBA environments because they're so different. It is apples and oranges to me. Cooper flag is a 100% sure thing.

Oh God. Sure thing. Oh, God. He is. Bro. I just watch former number one pick, Ben Simmons, who was a consensus number one pick.

Oh, stop. Missed him, nine hook shots in a row with no defense. I just watch Zion Williamson sit the bench. The greatest prospect since LeBron James. He hasn't played. The Pelicans would be better if they never drafted him. It's a fact.

Zion Williamson would be great if he could play basketball. We didn't miss on the talent. We didn't miss on the talent with that. All right. We didn't miss on the talent. Former number one pick. Miss nine hook shots. We won for nine with no deal.

defense in the lane in the lane i mean i think everybody always knew he couldn't shoot it was like they liked everything else that he brought to the table i i i do like flag a lot i like flag a lot college basketball's been a lot more fun to watch this year yes it has yes it has i've been paying attention more i found for me it's uh it's actions sometimes about my actions are so loud that i can't hear your words i just find myself just surfing into it and staying on it longer than i ever have. Yeah, Maui is seeking out games. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Season's gotten off to a good start. There's a lot of great players for sure. And obviously, look, the best, the best players are in college now, right? They were being spread out there for a little while. You had a couple in overtime elite. You had a couple playing overseas.

You had a couple that were doing the G league. Like, we went through a time there where it was pretty fractured. But now you look up and down at the best freshman in, whoever the best best, the best incoming would be college basketball players are actually playing college basketball this. Well, it's also and we can put a bow on it by saying this, it's also not just like some name that's playing in the Euro League

that all of our friends have said is good, but we haven't really seen or we've seen a couple of YouTube clips that were highly edited like you were talking about earlier. Like it really does feel like, and obviously there'll be some foreign players, but it does feel like there are some American-born players that will be at the top of the draft that are currently playing a marriage college basketball.

So it's not like some idea out there. there that's going to get drafted. It's people that we can see that went to college is where we know the logos. Absolutely. That is going to do it for today's episode. Thank you to our producer, Jesse Lopez, as always. And Jacob, I'll talk to you later in the week. Executive producer, Jesse Lopez.

What are you doing? You got a demotion, Jesse. That sucks. I'll talk to you later. 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 100 gambler or visit RG-Help.com. Call 1-88-78-88-88-98-9-7777 or visit

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