The Mismatch - The NBA’s Disgusting Off-Court Stories Overshadow a Competitive Start to the Season

Episode Date: November 4, 2022

Verno and KOC begin the show discussing Kyrie Irving’s apology (02:11). James Harden is expected to miss a month with a foot injury, but the guys believe the 76ers will be just fine (22:02). Also, they discuss the Cavs-Celtics game from Wednesday night, Darvin Ham finding his groove with the Lakers, and the terrible start for the Warriors (28:05). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Jessie Lopez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey everyone, it's Kevin O'Connor, aka Kevin O'Bomber, aka Kevin O'Connor. Wait a minute, you're not Chris Vernon. No, Kevin, sadly, I'm not as cherubic or as raspy as Verno, but it is I, Jay Kyle, man. And folks, basketball has been and continues to be so very good. That's exactly why Kyle and I are hosting a brand new basketball show on a brand new podcast feed, the ringers NBA draft show. We're going to have you covered every week as we go in-depth and deep dive in hopes of answering an ever-important question in the NBA. Who's got next?

Whether it's an international phenom like Victor Winbenyama or the G-League Scoot Henderson. Or stars from Overtime Elite like A. Men Thompson, as well as a full-blown swarm of talented prospects from the promising 2023 NBA draft class. For sure, Kyle. And we're also going to get into players from the college ranks because this is a loaded class. for us to discuss prospects rising and falling, and we're going to revisit and redraft recent draft classes and get into how the league's evolution could help inform what's valuable in a prospect of the future.

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match. I'm Chris Vernon and joining me as he does every Friday from the ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, aka Kevin O'Bomber, Kevin O'Bondylom, Kevin O'Compter, Kevin O'Compenter, Kevin O'Brien, Kevin O'Compentator, Kevin Berdo! How are you doing this Friday morning? I'm doing well. Now, in the interest of full disclosure, we recorded a podcast late Thursday night, but not late enough because as of the time of recording the Brooklyn Nets had announced they were suspending Kyrie Irving for a minimum of five games and that he, there were going to be different requests that they had made that he was going to have to meet and just kind of left it open ended and said he was unfit to represent their franchise. And then by last evening,

Kyrie Irving sent out a big apology. Now again, in the interest of full disclosure, when we recorded, you and I both had a feeling like, man, who knows if he ever plays for the Brooklyn Nets again? Who knows what this means for his NBA career? Like, if you're really going to dig your heels in on this and it seemed as if, given his media availability yesterday, that that was the case.

And then he knew Brooklyn was not going to be happy with what he said in said media availability. So it looked like, hey, this guy is very prideful. This guy's going to dig his heels in and he's really going to die on this hill. And the idea that he would apologize and so contrition, at that point, seen a little far-fetched. So in the original recording of this pod, we kind of opined like, man, what happens to this guy? Like, really?

You're just going to throw it all away? Because you won't say you're not anti-Semitic. I mean, it was as simple as that. For a quick rundown, for those unaware, Kairie posted a documentary, which any reasonable person would take as a recommendation, upon seeing said documentary, there's people that are like,

whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. This is messed up. And downright anti-Semitic. And promoting that kind of thing's not okay. Use this fake, fake Hitler quotes, suggest the Holocaust wasn't real. And then he was given all manner of opportunity to say, you know,

and he did at the beginning say, I don't agree with everything in there. But, I mean, he was asked very pointedly, yesterday, do you agree with these anti-Semitic messages that are sent in this documentary? And instead of just saying, no, I don't agree with that. Instead, he decided to battle about this. Which he addressed in his message saying, you know, I should have focused on the healing process of my Jewish brothers and sisters. You know, I reacted, you know, out of emotion because I was labeled anti-Semitic.

Right. And the anti-defirmation league said, we don't want your 500 grand when you're not even willing to say you're not anti-Semitic. You had the Brooklyn Nets to spend him. And so I'm well aware that there's going to be a cynical side to this that very well may be so that says it took him having a realization or someone explaining. to him the realization that, well, you could really throw everything away over this. So if that's what you're willing to do, like it might be like your career, you, you think they're already suspending you. You don't know if any other team is going to want to put up with this. So like you're possibly throwing away a career. You're throwing away like your endorsements.

You know, Nike's not going to want anything to do with you. Nobody's going to want anything to do with you. We saw what just happened with Kanye. Yeah, nobody's going to want anything to do with you. And so is it worth this? Like, this ain't the vaccine, bro. And that might have been the worst thing that ever happened. Yeah, it's not the flat earth.

Like the way the whole vaccine thing played out, you know he's got his chest out. Like, see? Told you. Like that type of thing. Yeah. Told you. What did they tell you?

Everything they told you. You know, that didn't play out the same way you thought it was, right? Keep that third eye open. And so that's kind of maybe emboldens the guy, you know, to feel like he was a martyr in that situation. But the truth is, this was, this is very easy to get around. Like, I watched the documentary and now after talking to people, because I'm constantly trying to figure things out, including my heritage and everything else, I understand that that's, not only is it not true. And there's a bunch of things that aren't true. I understand how intensely hurtful that is.

And, you know, I don't think he's some evil guy. I think he's lost. You know, and he's constantly searching. He said it in his post. He said, I'm no different than any other human being. I am a seeker of truth and knowledge, and I know who I am. Well, hold on. He is different than everybody else.

You know, as we, as our buddy, Rahim Palmer chronicled. You know, we're six years removed from a yacht with all white girls to being a vegan, being a Muslim, being a devout Christian being. I mean, he's constantly searching for something, right? And in that search, I mean, not understanding that this was this was not something that was just going to be, hey, I'm. a free thinker and this is okay. Like, you can't. And I get, I see, there's a lot of people that, like, are defending him. And I would just say, come on, man. Like, I'm not, I think throwing it all into the same basket of censorship or not being able to have an opinion on anything or free thought, like all that stuff, sometimes that's getting super bastardized. Because the truth is, we have to be

accountable for what we're putting out there. You know, if you take a picture, if Joe Harris takes an Instagram picture and there's a massive Confederate flag in his living room, you know, somebody's going to ask him like, yo, man, what?

And if he says, like, yeah, I'm, I'm seeking my own truth. And they're going to be, well, hold on, do you agree with that? Like, you understand that this is very bothersome towards people? And he's like, oh, well, sorry if it bothers you, but I'm, you know, I'm not a hateful person.

I love everyone. I didn't do anything wrong. And then people are like, well, hold on. But like, there's a massive Confederate flag in your living room. Like, we've got to assume that you agree with. And like, you racist? And then he's like, I love everyone. I don't think that anything's right. People would go bananas. Bananas. Like, and to act like that's not the case. Like, whether you have a problem with the way things are now or not, that's the reality. And if you are going to, to 17, 20 million people or whatever, say, hey, check this out. And it's filled with a bunch of anti-Semitic things. Or if you recommend some book that's mega hateful or racist or homophobic or whatever the case may be,

yes, you're going to have to answer for whether or not, Why you're recommending that to people, because the assumption is that you agree with what that says. And if you agree with what that says, that that means you are. And so instead of just saying, like, man, I don't agree with all that. I think it's really interesting. I think the guy makes some good points. But I don't agree with what he's saying about the Holocaust. I don't agree with what he's saying about the religion.

and how it was formed. And there's some things in there that I think are truthful, that I think are, that made me think about things differently, but I understand how hurtful this thing is. And, you know, I'm not trying to, I'm not trying to promote this to anyone. I'm sorry I did, you know? Like, I mean, that's if you're a reasonable person, right? So he apologizes this morning.

He says, I'm deeply sorry to have caused you pain, and I apologize to all Jewish families and communities. Sean Marks, their journal manager, comes out and says the apology was a good first step, but the organization wants him to take some more steps talking with Jewish leaders in the area. And if he does all that, then he could potentially play with the Nets again. And Marks also said the organization has never considered releasing Kyrie Irving. The other interesting thing that kind of happened this morning was KD at shoot-around, saying I just didn't like anything that went on.

I felt like it was all unnecessary. I felt like we could have just kept playing basketball and kept quiet as an organization. And that required him to immediately go to Twitter and clarify his comments saying, I just want to clarify some comments made a shoot around. I see some people are confused.

I don't condone hate speech or anti-Semitism. I'm about spreading love always. Our game unites people. And I want to make sure that's at the forefront. So now, Katie's are opened in. into it. Granted, he talked, he clarified those comments very quickly.

We'll see how this Kyrie thing develops, but I'm still, I'm still not sure this is going to go away. Maybe it will. Maybe people turn the page now. I don't know. That's his buddy's fault. That's his buddy's fault.

It could have gone away. He was given every opportunity to just make it go away. Yeah. And he didn't. And he didn't do it, right? And now it's still a thing. It's a Friday.

I mean, maybe by Monday, this will be, over, but I don't think it will be. I personally, I don't. I don't think it's going away. Because he's still suspended, by the way. Like, he's not going to be over at least until he returns to the court. And then when he returns to the court, it's going to be a thing again.

Like I said, if somebody puts out some racist stuff or whatever, and then they say, hold on now, like, that's not me. I did not mean that. I did not intend that. I'm not racist. Everybody sees how I act all time. Everybody sees, and I'm sorry. And that's not.

what's what, then people, there are people that are going to be mad at you no matter what about. Yeah, right, you're full of crap, right?

That is really what you believe. But it was the digging his heels in that got him in the spot. He could have made this go away in two seconds. Just delete the tweet and say, like, yo, I don't agree with that.

Instead, he did the whole, dig your heels in. I'm smarter than you. I know the Oxford Dictionary. Like, just watch. It's like, I don't, I don't think he's, like I told you this a million times, I don't think

you're a bad guy, I don't think he's got some evil heart. I think he's confused, lost, you know, and. Misled. Yeah, and obviously no one was able to get through to him. You know what I mean? No one has been able to get through to him. And the only thing that got through to him was this realization, like, man, I could really lose everything.

Like, and I get it. You got a problem with the media. And maybe sometimes they've been unfair to you and you just can't stand it. And so that's why. This is so much bigger than you versus the media or you feel it like you're caving to them. This is the public at large. These are like real people. And you not being willing to just say, I mean, you just asked like very, very,

pointedly a question that would have gotten him completely off the hook. Really? And he didn't do it. So, I mean, it was all self-inflicted, every bit of it. Nobody did this to him. He did it to himself. He was like, I don't know how any reasonable person couldn't sit back and say, all you had to do was say, I don't agree with it.

That's it. It's gone. Like, man, I shouldn't have posted that documentary. I didn't realize how messed up that was. I'm sorry, I'll think harder about the next time before I post something. I watched it, and I did not realize. Because I would imagine a guy with a, you know, as long as you're not some evil person or anti-Semitic,

and I don't have any reason to believe that he's, you know, people should be judged on how they, how they speak and how they act towards people. Not something they watched. It's because he watched the documentary. Doesn't mean that he subscribes to all that. But he had the opportunity to say, I don't subscribe to that, right?

Like at that point, unless he does subscribe to it. Unless he does, but the apology is just, you know, because he's trying to save his career. I mean, we don't know. We don't know.

Ultimately, that's why the Menets are looking for actions, not just words. they wanted to meet with Jewish leaders they wanted to do more stuff before they have them return to the team. That's what they want to see, is action. Not just money being donated, not just

written apologies. They want to see actionable changes. And we'll see if we get that in the coming weeks. Who knows? There's nothing you can put back. Tom I know the story's not over. We'll be talking about this again. Unfortunately. We didn't expect that he was going to apologize.

No, we did not. So if there's anything, he's unpredictable. I mean, that's for sure. You know what I'm saying? That's for sure, Chris. He's definitely unpredictable. The only thing you could predict from Kyrie Irving is chaos. The guy could meet with the leaders, and the next thing you know, he's Jewish.

Like, we don't know. He's been every, he's been like a devout Christian. He has gone to the Holy Land. He has been done Ramadan. He has, now it's, this one. one is the black Hebrew Israelites, it's like, you don't know, you never know. You never know. And here's me hoping that that was sincere, that sometimes with anybody, that the agent for change can be the reality, that the consequences are very real and that your pride can ruin everything for you.

And it did seem to me, and that was in his explanation, it was pride that got him in that situation. Too proud to just say, hey, no, I'm not. And I'm sorry. And if anybody thought I was, I'm sorry. But that's not who I am. And I got a pretty long track record of how I treat people and the words that I say, saying that that's not who I am. Just because some documentary that I watched believes that.

It doesn't mean I believe that. But instead he went the other route. Now here we are, right? Always a distraction. It's just not basketball. And so what do you think? We think happens from here. I have no idea.

You think we're still going to be talking about the story. I mean, we'll be talking about it again on Tuesday. You think so? Yeah. And then Friday. And then the following Tuesday and Friday. unfortunately. I don't think it's going away. I don't, Chris. He's still suspended. And there'll be more news reports about things that he does or doesn't do, things that he says.

And we're going to continue talking about this until it meets a resolution. Whether it results in the Nets just returning to the floor, trying to win games after their horrible start here, or whether it results with them moving on from Kyrie Irving and a KD trade request. I have no idea. I don't know. All I know is the story's not going away. I wonder who got through me. I wonder who finally, like, got through the way. Because it's a very valuable individual. Whoever actually did.

Said, like, hey, man. Like, you understand what's going on here. And that you're going to throw all of it away over this, over a Amazon documentary that you just watched, or I assume you watched, somebody, Somebody got me. And, you know, let's just hope that he really meant what he said. You have to take people at their word.

You do. We can only judge him from here on out. But the people that are going to just be bad forever, the guy apologized. Guy said what he said. Whether you think you can be cynical and just say it's too late, but there's nothing else he can do except for conduct himself in a manner. going forward that does not portray the values from some goofy Amazon documentary that he watched one time. Here's hoping he finds said inner peace and that that apology was real.

Maybe it can be an agent for change, you know, because I just, he's been searching for a long time. This time he searched for the wrong thing. The NBA season is underway and it's a perfect time to down. download Fandul, America's number one sportsbook, because right now new customers get a no-swet-first bet up to $1,000. And plus, Fandul is the only sportsbook that's giving all customers three months of NBA League pass when they make a $5 bet on the NBA. On the Fandul Sportsbook app, you can combine your bets for a chance at a bigger payout with same game parlays, whether it's with the money line, point spreads, player props, And plus with live betting, you'll get updated odds on games that have already started.

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great over the course of the last week we can have. You will assume that Joel Embed is going to return to being the focal point for that team. And they have, we talked about this going to into the season, they have the requisite depth to be able to deal with injury. And I do not think this might sound crazy, and you might not agree. I don't think their record without Hardin is going to be any worse than their record with him would be, or better for that matter. Like I think it actually could be better. because you typically when a guy like that goes out,

now all of a sudden you start playing together for the greater good. Maxi explodes, Joel Embed. It's a lot like what they, you know, they were a really good team last year, even before the Harden acquisition. And they've got a bunch of role-playing guys around. I think there's like a clear pecking order with Maxi and Maxi on the perimeter and Embed. And those guys are going to be the one.

that carry the water every night. Then you've got these different role players that are going to contribute on a regular basis. I actually think that this is one situation where they're going to be able to withstand this injury just fine. And I would not be surprised if they're able to win quite a few games even without Harden. And then the quest will be after he comes back and they've gotten used to playing this other

way, integrating him back. reassessing those that pecking order. I mean, sure, as long as Joelle Embed looks like the Joel Embed of last season, sure, I would agree with you then

that they'll be fine. But, I mean, we'll see how much Embed can sustain after his bit of a slower start. And I think with Hardin also, just to put some numbers behind what you said, Chris, they've played a hundred possessions

this year with Embed and Maxi on the floor without Hardin. And they have a 109 offensive rating and a 1.30 defensive rating. I mean, you would expect that offense to be a bit better than it's been so far. You'd expect the defense to be a lot better than it has been early on, too. So that's a small sample. But I'm just stating that as their starting point right now. Come on. I mean, the idea there would be like, oh, James Hardin is helping them that much defensively. No, I mean, but that speaks to how underwhelming they've been on defense, period, like in total.

regardless whether it's out there or not. Right. I mean, it's going to be a challenge for them, man. Hardin is their key playmaker. But more than anything else,

to me, it's a big opportunity for Tyrese Maxi here to step up in a role and have an increased opportunity to not only run the show, but continue scoring the way he has

with probably greater volume because we've seen Maxi go off. One of the pieces that didn't make it into my Mori feature that I did for the precee, season was a conversation I had with Hardin, a conversation I had at Maxx. Maybe I should use this for a thing next week.

But like Hardin talked about how him and Maxi spent a lot of time this offseason on changing pace, slowing down, reading the floor. And Hardin remark to me how he thinks, I guess, he's now aging into his 30s. That's the key, like, to your development is figuring out how play at slower paces as you slow down physically. You know, Maxie's so fast, so speedy, that's the next step. him to think the game. So I think this is a real chance for Maxi, you know, over this next little while without a harder to tap into whatever it was that those guys worked on this

offseason to try to make him more of a lead playmaker. So I'm excited in that sense because this could help promote Maxi's development and make it for the greater good of the Sixers in the long run. But I'm not totally there with you, Chris. I think this is going to be a major challenge considering the workload and the amount of responsibility hard and carried in running that offense. Like, we all saw the dribble stats with how much he has the ball in his hands. He's the only real orchestrator on this team. So they're going to have to fill that void, and Max is going to have to be a big part of it.

Yeah, well, I mean, hold on now. Who was the orchestrator last year then? Well, it wasn't Ben Simmons. And it wasn't James Hardin. It was not, well, it's Hardin in February. Yeah. Half the season they had him. I mean, yeah, that's when Joel Embed was still the MVP of the league before they acquired Hardin.

Well, I mean, last season, I'll pull up their numbers for you. And they had a way worse roster than they do right now. I mean, last year, just like, well, we're talking, shake Milton's in the rotation last year. Seth Curry's in the rotation last year prior to that Hardin deal. Of course, he went to Brooklyn in it. So, I mean, you get those two guys, maxy handling the ball and Bid getting more touches than he is now, running less pick and roll.

It's like it was like a group effort early on that season for the Sixers. And that's what I think it'll be now. and they probably can do it successfully. Your assist numbers start going up and everybody starts playing. That's what happens when guys are out. You got guys start playing together and you understand we got to have 25 plus assist

tonight. We can't be playing one-pass basketball. More than anything, though, they need Embed to be back to the dominant guy. No question. His last handful of games were much better. He had the 40-point game and a loss. He was good in his first game back against Chicago.

But as long as they continue, you getting that version of Joan Lombie, the dominant force that we saw last year, they'll be okay. They just need that guy. On Wednesday night, because we have not spoken since then, do you watch that Cleveland Boston game? That was a good one, huh? My God, to be within the first 10 games of the season, that was so high level.

That felt like a playoff game. It really did. So high level. You had these stars being stars. You had Mitchell having his play. Garland, like 29 and 12 with one eyeball. I mean, that's like a playoff. It's like a playoff injury.

God, did you see in that walkoff interview he did with Rose? His eye looked awful. Awful. He was like, I thought I was going to be a month. And he was like after I saw the first one go in, I didn't worry about the eye anymore. He goes, I'm fine. Some of the shot making down the stretch of that game by Mitchell,

the drive by Horford, and then on the following possession, I believe it was, the stepback. against Jalen Brown with Brown in his airspace drilling that three to push the lead to four. Oh my God. Like, what the hell? Mitchell has been unbelievable for the Cavs.

And they are in second place behind only the bucks. And I was reading today that last season, when Darius Garland was on the floor, the Cavs scored 9.1 points per 100 possessions more than when he was on the. the bench, which ranked in the 96th percentile in the league per cleaning the glass. Even more drastic, the Cavs played like a 58 win team when Garland was running last season compared to a 24 win team when he was resting.

And you think about that. So they couldn't win anything if Darius Garland didn't play. Darius Garland had played virtually, I think, what was it, 13 minutes? going into last night, and he came back and he had 29 and 12. I mean, they're still not even used to playing with each other yet. They're going through this for like the first time. Their back court is devastating.

You know I was very, very, very high on the Cavs. One of my predictions that they were going to be a home court advantage team. I loved that acquisition. But it has worked in the absence of Garland. I mean, this is exactly what you bargained for. It's like, hey, does this? help us when we lose somebody like Darius Garland, when they were a terrible team without him on the floor last year, and they have been an outstanding team without him. And now they got

him back last night. And man, that would make for a hell of a playoff series. Those teams have played twice and both of them went to overtime. Great, great games. And meanwhile, Cleveland's for real, man. Yeah, they really are. They're for real. And like we talked about, I think, what was a Tuesday show or last Friday, but they can, you know, if Okoro can be upgraded, right? If they can improve at the three, with a bit more scoring punch there

while maintaining the defense. Like, I mean, they're young. They're a young team. They haven't taken their lumps in the playoffs. That's right. But they get the pieces. They get the pieces. Their, uh,

the game winning shot, which is just back remember by Jay Lamarine. who would have 30 in the game. I mean, he's being guarded by Dean Wade. Yeah. Wade's been really good for them. I mean, he's been a good player. Sometimes it's Wade.

Sometimes it's Lavert, Ocaro, who's been pretty scared to shoot. You know, they just, yeah, they just get them. Jetty Osmond, too, as well. They get themselves a, like a good three,

like a solid three. Woo! I love seeing those teams kind of go with their playoff rotation in that game, too. I mean, both, both teams pretty much played eight guys.

I mean, 10 guys played on each team, or nine guys played it for the Celtics. Cornette got three minutes. I just pulled up the box score. And 10 guys played for Cleveland. No Coro with eight minutes, Robin Lopez, and five. But really, it was an eight-man rotation on each side. Like, that was a playoff battle for those two teams.

Great, great game. Heavy minutes, not a lot of bench minutes. It could be a sign of things to come. I'd take seven of those, Chris. I would. And on the other side, I don't know if you've seen these numbers that have been coming out about the early season Celtics, but they are unbelievable in terms of the way they're playing now under Joe Missoula.

So here this quote the other night, I like math. And so everybody kind of took that and ran with it. But I was reading John Schumann's article on NBA.com. And he had this stat, league-wide three-point rate. So that's the percentage of field goal attempts that are three-point. is actually down from last season, breaking a trend where the rate is increased for 11 straight seasons. Through Wednesday, teams had taken 38.6% of their shots from three, which was down from the all-time record last year of 39.9. So really 40% of the shots that teams took were

three-pointers. But the three-point rate is up in Boston. The Celtics have taken 47% of their shots from beyond the art, the highest rate in the league, and up from, they were eighth highest last year. The Celtics are led by Jason Tatum, who's averaging 30 points a game with a 43% of his field goal attempts,

which is the highest rate of his career, coming from three-point range. 47%, it's like old rockets. It's wild, huh? It is. It really is. I mean, like where you'd see these games and they'd have, you know,

95 possessions and they will have taken 53s. And you're like, what? I believe that the high for Houston was 48 or 49%. I think it was maybe like 48.7% something like that during the 18-19 season. Wow. Yeah, so they're almost there. 47% of the Celtic shot. I mean,

it's just driving kick. Nudy. Driving kick. Driving kick. Over and over. Just spamming the driving kick. They really are. It's all driving kick. and it's obviously been successful and Tatum look at the end of that game last night he got fouled on Jared Allen blocking him on the dunk the dunk was just ferocious

absolutely awesome to tie the game and send it to overtime well actually that didn't set it to overtime but sent it to overtime was Tatum on the other end blocking Donovan Mitchell's three point attempt at the buzzer to sending that thing into overtime Tatum is he's been gargantial so far this year. Like that's a guy that got a taste of the NBA finals last year, fell short, has come back this year, and is even better. Even better.

He, you know, these guys are never finished products. And you could tell that now with a little, maybe a little different game strategy that has benefited him some. But you see his intensity, both on the offensive. and defense event. Special player, and certainly he's going to be there in that MVP race for a long long long time.

It's very early in the season, but the signs are all there for a guy that came back with looking to prove something rather than resting on Laurels. Sometimes you can, sometimes you can make, your team can have a really deep run, and then you come back and it's like

you're a made man or something like that, Trey Young. And other times, guys come back with the ferocious and stupid. Not unfair, Trey. To who? To Trey, you said. I did. I said that.

It must have been a slip. We're still at nine players averaging 30 points or more per game right now. And that doesn't even include Lonnie Walker. He's not there yet, but he's well. on his way. On his way, yeah, especially after last night. Darwin Ham has unlocked

Lonnie Walker. And Russell Westbrook, six man in the air. And Matt Ryan, who saved him. Quarterback to sharpshooter for three. Oh, dude,

the memes, everything were so good on the Matt Ryan versus the Pelicans game. They said they should start calling him Steph Courier, the mailman. And he's knocking down

threes from the corner. A team with Russell, Westbrook and Anthony Davis and LeBron Jays and all these guys and it's like the headlines Matt Ryan saves the Lakeham season. Is that the NFL quarterback? It really felt like that

too, you know? You see his mean mug after the three. He looks very violent after that. It was hilarious. Yes. He's a great mean mug. Matt Ryan was there for it. They got a big win over the Pelicans. It looked like me when I win a game of Warzone.

Yeah. I mean, those Those games really badder against the Pelicans because of the draft big angle to that. Oh, that was a huge game, yeah. But I want to say this, Westbrook has gone to the bench and has been good. He's been way better, yeah. Putting in effort on defense, play make first. I mean, I think we were all a little dubious in the idea that he'd be able to change, but so far so good on the six-man thing.

maybe that shot he took at the end of the Blazers game. Everybody's like, no! And he bricks it and everybody's mad at him. I, you know, I rip him on the ringer. Everybody's ripping Russ. He has the DNP, the next game against Denver, been coming off the bench since. Maybe that was rock bottom for Russ.

Maybe that was it. And ever since then, he's accepted and embraced the role off the bench, been making better decisions. It's not like he has this elite scoring efficiency coming off the bench, but he has been way better focusing on playmaking. You know, it's at least encouraging.

And Darwin Ham has already beaten the drum for sixth man in the year of Russell Westbrook, which is kind of cool. Like, I appreciate that. I think Darwin Ham, you know, you got to respect the fact that he gets hired this summer. He's talking openly to Dan Patrick about all the things Russ needs to do

and all the ways Russ needs to change. He puts Russ coming off the bench and he's still supporting him. Matt Ryan gets an opportunity at the end of the game. Granted, he was the third option on the play they said after the game, but he's out there with the opportunity to score. Darwin, Hamm, it's like he's making these calls that he feels are for the best of the team. And you can kind of see the Lakers, granted, they're still not good.

They're still two and five. They barely snuck past the Pelicans team that was out with Brandon Ingham, Ingram, their best score, without Herb Jones, their best defender. they still have problems. LeBron James, sick, hurt, 80's still dealing with a back injury, which seems to be on and off for him. They still have issues.

But Darwin Ham's trying to make it work the way he can. Troy Brown looks good in that rotation. Lonnie Walker's been empowered. So there's at least some positive signs for the Lakers despite their dismal start of the season. Well, just seeing their locker room after Darwin Ham got that first win made me think different. Fired up. Yeah.

It made me think differently. Like, I think they, I think they, They really like that guy. They do like him. You know what I mean? And that's not an easy job. Not an easy job that he took. Everything we've heard about Darwin here for years is that he's a great coach, respected.

Players love him. And he's a great basketball vibe. So it's like, it's about the, no good coach can succeed without the right personnel. Well, and he was the last. That's what he's figuring out. He was the last of that Boothenhozer Atlanta coaching staff. staff of the group. It was Quinn Snyder, good, Kenny Atkinson, good, Taylor Jenkins, good, Darwin Ham. Darvin was the last one of the five. That staff is incredible. That's like the 60-win

Atlanta Hawks team. But I mean, all those guys have become head coaches. And if Darwin Ham's not good, he'll be the only one. Because the boot and also guys, you've, you've, you've, you've, You've done right, betting on them. And I think the boot knows are, he's, you know, he's big on that whole spursing, creating the culture, creating high character guys, all this kind of stuff. And, you know, obviously, Darwin Ham was dealt the hand. He was dealt with getting that Lakers job. But they clearly like the guy.

No way around that. Whether they had, and could you imagine them ever? I mean, they were throwing tomatoes at Frank Vogel last year. They're dumping this guy with Gatorade. They're throwing tomatoes to Frank Vogel. Lonnie Walker looks damn good right now, man, doesn't he? Yeah, man. He's taking a ton of shots, too.

Yeah, you see those FGAs? Well, somebody's got to be shooting. I know. Did we talk about Miles Turner on Orger's Pod on Tuesday? We did, right? Yeah, we talked about. I mean, that's still on my... I interviewed some Pacers players today

for a thing coming out next week, so it was just on my mind. Did you ask him? I did ask, yeah. They said it wasn't. They said it's not a big deal. He's been in trade rumors for... For me years.

It's like nothing for us. We're over it. Speaking of your writing, you got something coming out about the Pelicans? Yeah, it was last week when they were in L.A. from Saturday till Thursday morning today, and just interviewed a whole bunch of people around the organization. Zion included one-on-one, C.J. McCollum, other players, Willie Green,

their head coach, and writing a story just about kind of taking the temperature of the team, how they got here, where they are today, and where they could be going. Because I think with New Orleans, we saw this last night, Chris. It's a good thing that they're competitive on the road at the end of a long road trip without Ingram, without Herb Jones. But at the same time, you can still see their young team. Dyson Daniels ended that game. He was great. really good all game long but then he misses the two free throws that would advise the game.

Trey Murphy on the Matt Ryan 3 is for whatever reason protecting the paint when he sags off of Matt Ryan how much of that is Murphy's fault versus Willie Green with a lack of preparation. I'm perplexed why Jose Alvarado wasn't in there to end

regulation or an all in overtime which kind of a baffling decision I felt by Willie Green there. So we're still seeing this team is young, man, like we talked about it before the season, how I feel about their upside. The way I'd put it is, I don't think it's crazy to think that they can be a contender this year,

but I do think it's crazy to say that they absolutely will be a contender, considering all these warts and young issues, teams that young issues tend to have. So, I mean, I think that was all put on this play last night, all the good and some of the concern right now. Yeah, and there's, I think, there's been some stuff written recently and those that have watched

that have had some level of concern on the Zion defense. Michael Pena, right? Zion has not been good. But I also think he's been a little better than he was last year, but he's still not good. He's like a very low bar.

I think the idea is you want him to be a force, a force defensive. I think we could fairly say he's not a force. No, he's not. The bar is very, very low. Neither is like John Moran. There's a lot of guys who aren't forced. He's gotten way better this year.

Morant's gotten way better. No doubt. Yes, for sure. And I think that's where I think I asked Zion about his defense too. And I was like, well, what do you need to get better at? And he's, you know, he kind of slow to answer. I'm like, well, a lot of people would say your defense. He's like, yeah, I feel like I'm getting better at defense, though.

And I would agree. I do think he's been better. He's still a bad defender, though. It's just the bar was like on the floor. He did not need to get much better. to be better than bad. He's still bad. That article really like put into,

like Michael Pina's article really did put into, you know, he did a good job outlying all the stuff that's gone wrong with him in recent years on defense. And it's been bad. The lazy closeouts, lack of awareness, inability to stop the ball

when he's out of the perimeter. Like it's been a lot of problems for Zion. I just hope he can keep building with a little bit of progress he has made this year. A couple other things to mention. The Raptors got that 43 point win since we last spoke. Giacom's tear continues, and they are feeling it.

And some of their quotes are OGN and Obie's getting some love recently. And OG said, I've always felt like I was the best defender in the league. He's talking about, I mean, we've got our first defensive player of the year campaign beginning, I feel like. We're like eight, seven, eight games into the season, Kevin. And we've got a, let's throw this name into the hat. OG and and Obey, like very early in the season, we're getting the, I felt like I was the best defender. I feel like I've been the best defender in the league.

And we also got Scottie Barnes stepping up with no Fred Van Bleed out there, running point for them. The Raptors just have a way, just to plug guys into rolls, score 143 and 139 a consecutive games, man, dominant defense, OG, dominant offense led by Scotty Barnes and Pascal Seaccom. Yep. They're crazy, man.

Like, their amount of length on defense. Their switchability. They're fun, too. They're fun, yes. Anybody that could drop 140 on your ass is fun to watch. That's for sure. Speaking of fun to watch, the Wimby game. Are you still doing commentary?

Yep, going all with Kevin Dana on Friday at 1230 Pacific 330, 3.30 Eastern on the NBA app. Yeah, so hopefully people will hear this prior to on Friday. You can hear this and then just either you can, I guess you can't set a DVR or anything, right? No. You got to go to the app. Go to the NBA app. I think you can also watch it on the NBA like on desktop too.

But yeah, we'll be going live at 1230 Pacific and calling the whole Wemby game and focusing on him. I mean, we'll have like, you know, Kevin will have some commentary on what's happening with the other players. but we're focusing on Webby. Awesome. And as we close this out, I will tell you, Kevin,

this is the first time we've ever done this. It's live to tape on a broadcast. The Warriors are down by one to the magic with four seconds left to go, and they are imbounding the ball. So I will let you know what happens. What a monster win this would be

for the very young Orlando Magic. Curry just passed it off to Clay Thompson. Thompson took a runner from the baseline at the buzzer and missed it. Wow. magic. Wow. Break up the magic.

We miss that game, Chris. Break up the magic. Oh, my God. What a force of nature they are. Wow. I got to pull off the box score because we haven't seen this. I have not seen a minute of this game. Suggs had 26.

Jay and Suggs, yo, 26 to 9. Bankero with 22, 8 and 3. How about Chuma O'Kee-Kee-Kee-Kee-E? one of my old babes from the draft 16 and 9 off the bench Wagner, your guy, Chris, your favorite player, potential top 20 player in the NBA.

19 points. Look at the magic girl with all their length. Franz Wagner's suit 19% from three, by the way. Faye Caro with 22 and 8. Bobo with five minutes off the bench. Bobo,

dominant once again. Minus 11. Bo Bo Bo Bo. watching Bobo earlier this week was heaven just absolute heaven oh yeah wasn't that beautiful it was like a dream

poku's been pretty good well the warriors have been some ass so far this season were they three and six now yeah they are golly and it's not like they just gotten beat by a

who's who right I mean they well I guess they lost a dead got smoked by Phoenix. They've lost to Charlotte, Detroit, and Orlando on this trip. I think it's time to end the James Weissom experiment. Start playing Jonathan Cominga. And Michael Green also has not been great for them either.

But start playing Jonathan Camiga more. Start playing Moses Moody more. Hell, play Patrick Baldwin Jr. a little bit. Hey, and they play New Orleans at New Orleans tomorrow night. And the reports are that Ingram's back. Yes, and Herb Jones should be back too. What a disastrous road trip this is. Lose at Charlotte, lose by 14 at Detroit,

lose by 7 at Miami, who had been struggling, lose to Orlando tonight, and then maybe lose to the Pelicans. Whoa. Whoa. An 0-and-5 road trip? Yikes. I mean, we did not see this game,

but just looking basically at the numbers here seems to be some of the continued trends that have been apparent in all the Warriors game, that their starters have been amazing. The bench continues to be an issue. Wiseman has been a big nothing, man. He looks like young Javail McGee out there, not even the veteran Javille McGee

that we've seen contribute on winning teams. He looks like young Javail. I think you've got to start playing Kaminga. you gotta start playing Moody more and I say it like half serious but actually mostly serious Patrick Baldwin looked pretty good

like with the chances he got in preseason he looked pretty good I'd just be curious to throw out you know six foot 10 sharpshooter you know who was a top high school recruit give him a chance Wiseman has not been good man I get it he's been terrible but I mean

you got to it's his I mean first time playing in a long time he drafted him what number Number two? He has no feel, man. Number two in the draft? He's got lead feet on defense.

So what's the answer? Just abandon him? No, I mean, you throw him in the G-League. Oh, wow. Let him play 35 minutes a night. I'm serious. Like, what do you have a G-League team for, if not for development? Wiseman can go to the G-League and play 30 minutes every single night and let him

dominate, let him grow on defense, let him just grow and get experience. rather than these, you know, critical minutes coming off the warrior expense, to me, I think it's backward. They should be playing some of these other guys. And if those guys also can't play, well, then you're going to make a trait. You remember this happened a couple of years ago when they had like, you know, remember the Kelly Ubrae version of the team? And they had thrown these guys together and it was like, all right.

These are not guys that can like read and react and play. like this is the way we play within the Warriors. There is more that is required of a Warriors player than some other teams. And especially with the way they play with each other and kind of who the best players are and kind of what you are as a role player on that team. And so what they do?

They went and got like veterans. They went and got veterans. And they installed those guys. And it was like, all right, now we've got some adults that could just come in here. So the auto porters of the world and these kind of guys, they're able to plug in as a veteran players

that know how to play and can function within the system. They did this. Remember, either guys that had not been a part of that before or young players, and it has not been an easy integration for those players. A lot of teams, it's more simple for

the young player to come in and adapt. Because if you're wise man, I mean, honestly, he's playing on most of other teams. You're just doing the, you're just running pick and rolls with him when he's out there. Yeah, high picket roll over and over and over, yeah.

The problem is defense, though. It's like defensively, he just can't play. Well, the weird thing is, he's got this Condor-esque wingspan. He's bigger than hell. You know, we saw him at Summerlee. I watched him with Rissillo against the, against the spurs in that summer league game.

And I'm like, God, just was dwarfing people. Yeah, big and can't move. That's the problem. Not mobile enough. It's weird because it's like he's got this massive wingspan and this height, but he doesn't use it to his benefit on the defensive end. Yeah. You know?

I used to scream and yell about this all the time when back in the day with the beat. And I'm like, look, the guy stinks. but he's seven foot six or whatever the hell he is. Just put your hands above your head. If he just stood in the paint with his arms above his head, he would do something. The ball's going to hit him. He's taller in everybody.

Or he's going to block some shots. Just stand there with your arms all the way up in the air as long as you can. And you're going to do more than you're doing. By the way, I just watched the last play. Terrible. What the hell was that? Terrible. Something wrong happened.

The Clay Thompson Runner? Oh my God. What was that? You get Ty Jerome and Clay Thompson sprung into the same corner. Something was wrong in the play there. Yeah. They should have just let Steph shoot it from 35 feet away.

Pretty good defense by Orlando using their length. I mean, you can see the pressure they put on Steph trapping him. And then Wendell Carter, a great closeout on Clay. And then Ben Carroll coming in with another good contest. Orlando's got some length, man. They do. You think? Yeah, it's crazy.

They're a lot of fun to watch this year, even though they stink. That game against Oklahoma City was the freakyest thing ever. They're starting lineup because they were out of the guards. They started Terrance Rossu 6'6. Yeah. And then it was. Brown, Carter, Franz, Bencaro, right? Yes, everybody was over 6'10.

and Oklahoma City didn't start anybody over 6'8 That's nuts It was crazy Who was their tallest guy? Kenrick Williams Or Robinson Earl was it? Maybe

Or maybe Jaylen, I don't know Whoever is the tallest Jalen Williams Josh Giddy might have been the tallest No, Giddy wasn't playing He's been out A giddy played that night

Giddy played that or they don't Yeah, he did Okay, he missed the next one Or maybe that's the one he got in Um, let's see. Yeah, he, he, he, he, he, he, he was out. Yes. Yeah, either Williams, giddy or Dort.

Whoever's the tall or Robinson Earl, I guess. The door's not the tallest. So, Robinson Earl? Poku though, man. He's, he's had some good nights, including against Orlando. I know the numbers aren't good, but he's had some good moments. No, he hit the huge three. Hey, he did.

Look, you watch that game or any other game for that matter. This kills his Alexander's out of his mind. He's nuts bad. My God. awesome. Awesome. I'm glad on this show, Chris, we get to talk about any team we want to because SGA, what he's done this year is absolutely remarkable. It has been for a couple of years now with O KC.

Ever since that deal happened, he's gotten better every single year. And this year, it's all clicking. Like, he's taking the leak. Yo, I think he's like fourth in P.E.R. It's like Yon, or Luca, Janus, Morant, Gildesis, Alexander. And that's the spite on a team

that's not good. Like these aren't just empty numbers. These are numbers that can translate to the best teams in basketball. Like he looks like

a guy ready to win. He is awesome. His ability to get to the basket. He is awesome. I love watching him slither in the lane and just fluidly change directions

and then like hit these left foot, left hand layops, leaning past room protectors. Off the glass. Like the stuff he does just blows my mind. It's a lot of fun to watch.

He's gone to where you can watch their game, and he very well, no matter who they're playing, can be the best player on the floor. Yeah, it's just about everything else that needs to get better around him. Yeah. Well, and sometimes you feel like he's better even with Giddy not out there. Because Giddy's got to have the ball. Giddy's got to.

He can't space yet. He can't shoot. He can't shoot. And so he's got to have the ball to be able to be, right, successful. He's either got to drive it or he's got to move it to someone else, but he's not shooting it. You know, so they've got to figure that one out. But, yeah, they've been, I couldn't help the other night watching that game because it's related. I was like, man, I resent the shed injury so much.

I give you anything the chat was out there against these guys. I know. It's too bad. Yeah. But next year, maybe they'll have Wemby and Chet. Well, I'm going to watch Wemby tomorrow. You said 2.30 Central, 3.30 Eastern, right? Yes, sir.

All right. Who are they playing? You don't know? You're just commenting on Wembe cam? It's all Wembe. What if they don't even show the other nine players on the floor? It's a close camera on Wemby. I hope it looks like it did the other night with a tell me,

you saw the Taco Fall highlights in China? No, I did not see that. Oh my God. All right. You and everyone else, please do yourselves a favor and go type in Taco Fall in China. It's Chamberlain. He's Euro stepping and donkin. It looks like the old Wilts Chamberlain highlights with a bunch of like five, eight guys out on the floor.

It's unbelievable. Unbelievable. Taco is killing it in China. He's killing it. It's the best. So, yeah, Taco Paul is there. He went to China and he turned into Wilk Chamberlain. I'll have to watch those.

Yeah, it's the best. It's great. All right, Kevin, it is always a pleasure. Thank you to our executive producer, Jesse Lopez, as always. And Kevin, I'll talk to you next week. I can't wait. Have a good one, everybody.