The Mismatch - The Wembanyama Experience, Summer League Observations, and Will People Care about the In-Season Tournament?

Episode Date: July 10, 2023

Verno and KOC are in Las Vegas for NBA Summer League, as they discuss what made Victor Wembanyama’s debut feel so special (03:04). After discussing Marcus Smart’s introductory press conference in Memphis, the guys discuss some of the players that have stood out over the weekend at Summer League (19:55). Also, they dive into the newly introduced in-season tournament, as well as Gregg Popovich’s contract extension (38:06). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming, please checkout http://theringer.com/RG to find out more or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Jessie Lopez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Bill Simmons from The Ringer, and this is a podcast called The Rewatchables. We have been doing it. Really since 2017, it started with how much we love the movie Heat. We decided to structure a whole podcast with categories, most rewatchable scene. Who on the movie, Apex Mountain, what age the best? But here's the thing. If you want the full archive, you can hear them only on Spotify for free, by the way. So make sure to follow the rewatchables on Spotify.

Welcome to The Misfatchables. And joining me in Las Vegas, live and in person. From the ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, aka Kevin Obama, Kevin O'Connor, Kevin O'Clymer, Kevin O'Conflict, Kevin O'Candyland. Kevin O'Brien. We're in person. In person at the palatial ringer suite. This is unbelievable. And I guess you've been here for a couple days now set up.

Yeah, yeah. A lot of interviews, a lot of conversations, tons of stuff. Beyond the Arc, NBA draft show, through the ringer with Tate, a bunch of stuff. Who have you talked to? Who have you interviewed? I interviewed Scoot Henderson from the Portland Trailblazers. That's great conversation.

He's an awesome kid, man. I interviewed him back in October with the Mets 92 Ignite game, and I loved him then. We spoke for over an hour. He was amazing. And this conversation, we went like 20, 30 minutes. I'll do something probably for the website. Not like a podcast or anything like that,

but Scute was awesome. And so now you have vaulted him ahead of Brandon Miller. I mean, I like Scoot more as a person, but I like Miller slightly more as a player. All right. So Summer League, unfortunately, it's kind of been one of the stories of Summer League thus far is that we get there that first night and Amman Thompson goes down, Scoot Henderson goes down. And what a game that was. That was the game of the weekend so far.

Unbelievable. Jabari with the huge game. the game winner. But both those guys going down, and then we had set up for today as we were recording this on Sunday afternoon, two things that aren't going to materialize. The first of which was the Wemby Scoot game,

I guess the rematch in Las Vegas from when the Metropolitan 92 played against the Ignite and the Thompson brothers match up. And so both of those, a damper on both of those, you hate to see these injuries, And that night, that was kind of when we saw Scoot and we saw Thompson, everybody was buzzing about them. Everybody was buzzing about them and loved what they had seen in a very short amount of time we got to see both of them before they got hurt.

And I was able to make it over to the arena, so I saw that. And I got to tell you, I was down on the baseline. I had to watch that on the Jumbotron materialized. There were no seats anywhere for that. None. And Wimbayama was coming up next. And so me and Rosa, my producer from back home, we walked, I'm not kidding you, to the last row of section 213 in the upper deck to go find some seats. That's where we walked up to go sit.

And I texted you during that. I said, I've never seen anything like this. I mean, I was there, I remember with Zion year, Lonzo Year. With Titus and Tate, I was sitting like, I don't know, first couple rows of the upper deck or something, just because we wanted to spread out. For the Lonzo year,

I broke the rules. Oh. I sat in the reserve seating section without a reserve ticket. Oh, my goodness. I felt terrible about that. I felt amazing. You felt amazing. The Wimbi Yamatang thing, like you could tell,

the effect was real. Everybody was there. Because I think the other thing is this. you know, even with, I was trying to think about why this was so, such a big deal. A, Summer League has gotten that much bigger and just sold out venue after sold out venue. And then the second thing is he was like this great unknown, which even though people have called him like this amazing prospect, it's like we saw, and you could have seen possibly LeBron in person prior to. him coming into the NBA. Zion certainly,

we saw a ton of, you know, we saw damn near every Duke game that he played his freshman year. When the shoe broke, Obama and the crowd and all that. I know Wembeamo was getting, you know,

run on NBA.com and NBA TV some, but you had to really seek that out to find it. Well, I mean, you say that, but, I mean,

he was on social media. And I assume a lot of the hardcore fans, who are at Summer League are people who watch games on their phone. They see clips. That's right. But full games, yeah, you do have to go to the app or whatever else, you know. So I think for the NBA, I wonder if this is actually a sign that they properly marketed

a nice young player through social media. I think so, too. Could that be the case here where now they're doing this, you see the Cameron Boozer highlights, the Cooper flag highlights. They're already invested in 2026 prospects. That's right. Those guys aren't coming up next year. But they will be doing that with guys next year

because there's Ron Holland, Matas Buzellas, potentially the top two picks playing for the G League Ignite. So I think for the NBA, maybe they kind of, you know, cracked the code a little bit with drawing up Pike

with a Victor Wenbenyama. But at the same time, I mean, maybe, and you also have to consider like Adrian Wojernowski is on ESPN calling him the greatest prospect maybe ever. Right. So it's like a lot of factors that go into it, not just social media clips.

Yeah. And well, and the interesting thing is it's not like a team that would, it's not like you looked around and you saw tons of Spurs jerseys in the crowd. It's not like they're all traveling. Metz 92 jerseys.

I did. You know who the most popular jersey at the arena is by a pretty wide margin when I've walked around for two days? Kobe Bryant. Yeah, a lot of cobies. Tons of Kobe.

It is the most popular jersey. The jerseys. Yes. Just tons of Kobe jerseys. Are you seeing more number eights or 24s? I'm seeing more 24s. I think 24s. Yeah, because they're more recent.

And then you see the scattered fans of the different teams. You know, I sat by some kids that were both in Phoenix jerseys. I met a dad and his kid who were huge mismatch fans that stopped me that were wearing bucks things. I met a group from Canada. I met a group from Australia. Everybody was so nice. Everybody that I ran into and a lot of people that listen to the mismatch. Is that one makes this the best?

Yeah, it was great. It was great. on the concourse. After my scoot Henderson interview, I met somebody who's a huge fan of our show. He's like,

I listened to every episode for years now. It was super cool. Say hello. All these NBA fans. And like, I'll tell you this. Like, just going yesterday,

I went to go watch to the Grizzlies and the Bulls at Cox Pavilion. And that's a small arena for people who have not been to Vegas. I bet it took me 10 minutes to get in to the arena. Because we were piling in.

And then I sat at the very top. So they were, clearing out Nick Sixers and then I got in there for the Grizzlies Bulls and then I cleared out and there were in the middle. This is how packed this place is this year. In the middle of the game, they said, ladies and gentlemen, if there is an empty seat next to you, please squeeze. There is a massive line outside to get in. You can't even get into the freaking Cox Pavilion. I've been in some in that Cox Pavilion, some busy games.

I've never had that happen. Never. There's always empty seats. Never. And there were hundreds, no lie, hundreds of people in line to get in there when I walked out of the arena. This is precisely why you see the NBA starting stuff like NBA con, which I didn't go to. It seems like a fun event for fans. It reminds me of like when I was like, I don't know, seven, eight years old.

All-Star game was at Fenway Park. My dad and my mom brought me. It was like a cool event for kids and all that, right? that's what I think this is largely for for younger people. But they also have some presentations that anybody of any age would want to go hear a player talk or whatever else.

I think the NBA, maybe they're adding another thing for people to go to rather than just going to the gym. Like giving you another destination because it's never been this pack. Well, and there's so many guys here from around the league that are just doing appearances. Because guys that I've run

into throughout this time while I've been here because there's a lot of people that when you're walking through, you're surprised that those guys are even here. You'll love this. Guess who on my way here to record this podcast, I'm walking out of my hotel and guess who I run straight into?

This is destiny. And I hope there's not a problem with this podcast because of it. Mark Davis. I'm like, what is he doing here? Is he like analyzing referees or something? Maybe they have a meeting or something. Mark Davis. I've seen all manner of people here.

Mark Davis is here to party. He might be here to party. I don't know. But there's just all kinds of people in town. You know, I had to get here early. I had to change my flight because I got here early on Friday because Marcus Smart was going to be doing his first press conference since the deal went down.

And I got a chance to sit with him and interview him. And I got the experience of what all the Boston people were telling me. And it was interesting, there were Boston people there. I saw Gary Washburn there. I saw our buddy Jared Weiss was there. I saw Jay King. There was a Boston contingent that was there at this press conference. But I got to tell you, since weirdly the last player that I remember getting an immense,

amount of you're going to love him, everybody here loves him stuff about was Gorgie Jing from Minnesota. Everybody loved Gorgi Jig in Minnesota, but nothing like this smart thing. And especially for what is a tough media town, I have, I bet I have had at least 20 people reach out to me and tell me how much I am going to love him. You interviewed him for 12, 15 minutes. I love the guy. I did. I love the guy. He's going to dye his hair blue now.

I don't know. So cool. He loves what he said, right? Didn't he say that? Not with me, but he did say that. I think the presser, he said so, yes. Well, he's not going to have it blue. I don't think for his, he's getting married this summer.

Yeah. And so he was going to be getting ready for a wedding and everything. But I saw what people like so much. He's amazing. He's amazing. He's amazing. I did mention. I mentioned to him that you and I do this show.

I mentioned to him that you had mentioned on the show. about the jersey that he had signed. And he was like, oh, his dad was the best, blah, blah. And I was like, oh, my God. When I tell him this, he's going to feel so bad. No, but he was. He was great. He was great.

And I got all kinds of, even after I posted that interview, more Boston people like, wow. I mean, he's such a lovable player. Authent guy, man. It really is. It's amazing. When the trade happened, I went on Bill Simmons podcast. We kind of talked about the parallels between Tony Allen and Marcus Smart. It's like they both go to Oklahoma State.

They both go to Boston. Same age. Same age. Same age going to Memphis. It's crazy. It's unbelievable. And you hope for Marcus Smart, granted, like, the grit and grind era was amazing. Just didn't win a championship.

You hope Memphis can reach that level someday. Yeah. With Marcus Smart and John Morant and Jaron and Jaron Jackson Jr. Like, this Grizzlies team does have more upside. Yeah, I will tell you, I'll tell you a crazy story. So somebody brought it up to him. And he said, you know, when I was in high school. But winning a title?

No, no, no, no, no. I'm sorry, the Tony stuff. He said, you know, when I was in high school, I made the Top 100 camp, and he was a counselor there. Oh, yeah. And there was one of the big time players that was there, and nobody could get a stop on him. And Tony started rant and raving. Who could get a stop on this guy? And Marcus Smart raised his hand, and he said, who are you?

And Marcus Smart went out there, and he said, he got to stop on the guy, and the whole camp at Tony goes crazy. And he's like, where are you going to school? And Marcus was like, Oklahoma State. He's like, I knew it. I knew it. Oh, go pokes. Blah, blah, blah. It was great.

It was a cool little story about how they had first kind of met. But anyways, you know, he was here. Somebody told me Derek Rose was, he's doing like a chess tournament here. There's all kinds of guys that are doing like, I know. There's all kinds of guys that are doing like autograph signings, all manner of things. And you see everybody bopping around, whether it's owners, whether it's executives, whether it's whoever it may be. But at the gym, the first buzz was a.

about the injuries and everybody be kind of depressed that, because they had it all kind of set up where we had the Wimby thing and the Scoot thing on night one. And then it was all set up for Sunday. We were going to get the Thompson twins matching up. We were going to get Scoot-Wimmy matching up. And it all got screwed up.

They really should have flipped it the other way, but they couldn't have known when they were, you know, at the schedule before the draft. Yeah, a couple other guys that have gotten buzzed. Oh, well, first thing, what do you think about the Wemby debut? I must tell you that the videos that are sent to Britney Spears song of Kai Jones

dunking on Wemby might have been the best part of the internet it's all worth it for those Amazing Hit me baby one more time with Guy Jones Dunking on Wemby was the best I mean that moment was wild

like at the arena because it's like he gets dunked on we see it live but then they show the replay on the Jumbotron the crowd everybody's like whoa I think it was a cool night for like Wembe haters because he gave them enough.

He gave a lot. He gave them enough to be like, man, y'all built this dude, because there's always the people around there. He gave a lot. He was two for 13. He gave a lot. And I think for Wemby,

you know, again, we're recording this before. Room and three. Before the Sunday game. That's right. So maybe today he comes out and he dominates,

but let's just assume he doesn't dominate today. And it's like a, it's a net game or a disappointing bummer of a game. this entire week, think about what Stephen A conversation's going to be like. Think about what podcast conversations are going to be like. I mean,

like people are going to be questioning throughout the summer if he struggles today about is this guy really? Is the real deal? Did he deserve all the hype? Is he going to be a bust? Brickter, Wem bust Yama? That's what people will be saying.

Not Brickder. I mean, ultimately, though, Chris, I think in that game, Let's look at the silver linings. He didn't score. Didn't hit threes. But what he did do, he still was great on defense.

He had the five blocks. He was a turn around the rim. And offensively, he did have those plays where he showed off his playmaking potential. He's been asked to be a suck. He did. I said silver lining. Silver linings. Silver linings.

That game was terrible. Oh, that was, dude. It was almost unwatchable. I said this to Kyle Mann on the draft show. I was like, I thought after, you know, DeBari Smith hits the game winning jumper, everybody's standing. You might have been standing even in the back row.

You know who I was with? The old starters crew. Oh, those guys were awesome. Taz was there, Skeets was there, Trey was there. I was back there on the back wall next to them. And guess who was standing next to me? Who? Jay Cole.

Really? Jay Cole. I saw Jay Cole twice on Saturday. Jesse told me that. Yeah, twice. at Foo-Hoo for dinner. I don't know. I can reveal a location.

Foo-hoo for dinner and then the lift bar. So I'm twice on Saturday night. He was just kind of walking. He was just there by himself. It was kind of weird. Really? In the end zone? He was just kind of.

He was like 15 people where I saw him both times. Like I had been around like by himself at the arena. I mean, he had maybe a buddy with him, but it was not like security. Yeah, yeah. Interesting. Because I've been around like there was a time, one time at an arena. I was there and I turned around and I heard people like

kind of buzzing and Drake had showed up to the arena and Kevin when I tell you that he had the biggest human beings I have ever seen in my life surrounding him like it was like four

Orlando paces like 6 8 360 walking I'm like Jesus like you aren't getting anywhere near this dude. He's just fine. He's just like, yeah, like he had an offensive line.

Yeah, he looks for like the undrafted free agent offensive line. Yes. And says, I'll pay you more than an NFL team. And they look meaner than hell. And they're all walking with him. And there I like walked and I'm like,

Jake Cole. And like there was like a kid that like yelled it. He's like, hey, Jake Cole like from the crowd. Yeah. And Jay Cole like looked up to him and like started back and talking back and bored of the day. And it was kind of weird.

But I think he was there. They told me he's a, Hornet's part owner. I guess he's got a piece of it. Good for him, huh? I'm a minority owner in the Hornet, so he was there. I wonder if he wanted Scoot or Brenna Miller. Well, and then he played a show that night.

Oh, on Saturday night. This is Friday, Friday night. So I learned my lesson when I was very young. I was never very young coming to these, but much younger. Enough where I would stay out at night. So a group of my friends were going to go to this concert. he was playing at Resort World and I was like, absolutely not

because I know how this goes. I was like, this is where, you know when we talk about you need vets on your team? Yeah. I'm the vet. They don't want to learn from me. I said, I'm going to tell you what's going to happen. You're going to show up there.

It says 11 o'clock. It's not going to be until 1 o'clock. No, it's not going to be until later than that. Yeah. What time did it come on? And then the guy's going to show up and then he's going to play about 40 minutes and then he's going to leave.

And next thing you know, you're drunk. You're there, and it's the morning. He showed up at 2.30. 2.30, he showed up? 2.30. That's when they... 2.30. Yep.

Jack Arlo was last night. Did anybody play? Absolutely not. I'm not going to... Wait, did anybody play before him? Yeah, one dude. Okay. One dude, so from 11 until 2.30, one person plays.

That's the way they're going to learn the hard way. Yeah. Because I had another friend last year, went to Torrey Lanes, and Torrey Lanes showed up at three. I'm glad I can't name a single J. Cole, so. You can't? I know I can't.

Come on. I had no interest in going. All right. I saw him at the All-Star game. He played a half-time at the All-Star game. I was sound asleep. Yeah.

Well, you might have been a J-Cole as well. Yeah, true. It's not really your thing. The other names that people were buzzing about heard a lot of chat. And also, Case and Wallace. Yeah.

You know, and I'm just going to give you names that were buzzed about while I was over there. Chet, one person mentioned to me, what do you think the chances are everybody's got Wemby locked up for this rookie of the year, but Scoot- It's not a lot.

It's not a lot. Everybody's forgotten Chet. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like we're talking about Scoot. We're talking about Wimby. We're talking about, you know,

Thompson twins, all these guys. But Chet is, he's going to pull the, the Blake Griffin, right, which is I got drafted one year, but the next year.

And then, of course, you know, everybody got mad that he won rookie of the year because he's not technically a rookie. But, um, Chet kind of started off slow in the Utah one, but man, they are running him out there because I was surprised that he played in Vegas. But they, um, they played him in Utah the whole time. And now he's playing in Vegas. And it looked like, you know, they got another one maybe in Case and Wallace who they got a lot of them. Yeah, they got, I mean, we talk about how much promise that team has. And obviously, Presti's had some really good hits over the years. I mean, Chet definitely has a shot, though, over Wemby.

This is a real chance. I mean, first of all, like, Oklahoma City could be a, they could win more games straight off the bat. They could be a more winning team. People could look at Chet as a guy contributing to a winner. They could put up comparable numbers. That could be a tiebreaker there. And with Chet, I mean, look, it's just the reality of it. He has had a year to prepare for him.

his rookie season. That's right. And with Chet Holmgren, I mean, he added the weight, Victor still needs to add some weight. Chad Holmgren, like, there's similar types of players. Chet's probably even slightly ahead on defense right now. Victor has longer term upside to be greater than Chet. But Chet is unbelievable.

He does a lot of the same things. He's in an ecosystem with so much other talent with Chey Gildas Alexander, did both Jalen Williams, Josh Giddy. Or he could be super efficient. He could have opportunities to prove himself as a career. as well. That OKC team, I think, on paper, especially if SGA gets even better as he has every year of his career, like, they could be a, you know, to compete for a six seat. They were close. They were close last year to being in there.

They were right in there, yes. No, I liked what I saw from Ched. I mean, you could see the glimpses. The other thing is, and this may be a function of playing at Gonzaga in big games also may just be his demeanor, but, you know, if we're comparing the two, he plays more physical now. He's willing to get in the mix a little bit more than I think people recognize. You know, he's not a shrinking violet, you know, when it comes to like ball comes off the rim, he fights. He's an MFer, man. He's the opposite.

I like it. Is there anybody else that could be like a sleeper for it, Keonté George for maybe from Utah? Keanu George is crazy yesterday. 33 points. Yeah. Well, he also had, I believe it was 10 assists in the game. He did everything. Yeah, I think it was, let me get this right.

Yeah, 10 assists in the game. Kiante, he lost, I don't know, like 10, 15 pounds. He looks lean. He looks fast. He looks like he's super explosive right now. The thing I had Kianti, I'm almost disappointed. Like, I had him at one point start of the year in January when I launched a big board was number six on my board.

He ended up at 14 because the second half of the year was super up and down. Some of, you know, mixed reports pre-draft and all that. You know, like there's still concerns with like playmaking. with decision-making on the court. But I like him a lot. He was still a lottery pick in my eyes. And now for Utah, that situation, he's one of those types of players where, like,

you know, we talked about Jalen Pickett. Remember Jalen Pickett as a second rounder? Oh, he lands with Denver. Oh, I would have ranked him way higher if I knew he would have landed with the Denver Nuggets. Kianti George, same thing as a first rounder. If I knew he would have landed with the Utah Jazz with Laurie Barker already there,

after drafting Taylor Hendricks, all the wings that they had. like Bodhi, Walker Kessler, protecting the basket. I would have ranked him probably closer to six, like where it was kind of flat after that top four, five. It's like, Keonté, George, he's showing all of the skills that make him a super appealing player. And I wonder, could he be a sleeper pick for rookie of the year?

I don't have the odds in front of me, but I know they're not high for sure. They're definitely not higher than a scoot. They're definitely not higher than a Thompson twin. I wonder if he could be the guy that ends up running that offense, gets a ton of opportunities, and puts up good numbers. Let me tell you something. Keante George signed with Mike Miller. And I'm going to tell you a little story.

I don't think I've ever talked about this. Not even on your local? No. But this is one of those where Orlando Magic fans are going to have to swear by me till the end of time when I tell this story. So you remember after last year the draft, Paolo wasn't supposed to go number one. There was Jabari and there were some other names that were in there. But Palo was-Jabari won, Chet two, then Ben Carroll through to Houston was the noise.

That's what everybody thought. And so anyways, and that was what was going to happen. And Mike Miller was his agent. And so I get a random text. This is the week before the draft. And so I get this random text and it says, hey, Mike Miller was on Ringer MBA show when I was doing it with you. When I first started out, and I've talked about this on the air before, where he told me that he thought, Nicola Yokic, and this is in like 2016 or something, Nigley Yogich could be like a 10-time all-pro.

And it was ridiculous at the time to think that. He's like, I'm telling you, this guy is the one. This guy's going to be the guy. And so anyways, he wanted me to find this podcast that we had done years ago. And I thought, oh, he needs this because he's trying to recruit a client, whatever. You know, he's got the area is talking about, he's talking about Yokic and how good he's going to be. and whatever else. And so got an eye for talent.

And so anyways, long story short, I send the pod to him. And so about three weeks later, I saw him and I said, hey man, I said, I hope he got whoever you needed after I sent that pot. And he's like, no, no, no. And he walks up to him. And he goes, I think you. And I was like, what? And he said, the kid decided he wanted to go number one in the draft.

At that point, I got to be an agent. And that's why I asked you for that. He said, I sent that podcast to the magic. And I said, I want you to listen to this. I don't miss. I swear to God, I don't miss. And it was him talking about Yowicz on the ringer. And sure enough, Kig is number one.

tracking it back, he's got Keante George. If he's right and he doesn't miss, you know what I mean? That was his highest traffic this year. You know what I mean? And so... Keante George has that, I mean, like, you know, the thing that everybody loves about Scoot, that it factor?

Keonti has some of that, too. He does. Yes. Right? I think Keonté, like, the last three he hit to get the 33rd point, like it was like this kind of off balance, like his feet weren't said, launched himself mid-air. take a three or one of the like he was like almost surprised by himself type of shots and he does all

those crazy things but he also does like the fundamentals and he's a good character kid yeah and he plays hard he's not just like some scoring guard he plays hard on defense he's a willing passer it's just about like rounding out the edges of his game i have not seen he he could he could end up like top five redraft type of guy listen to this you're gonna love this i've not seen miller out here you know the last time i saw him sitting on the front row at Cooper Flagg's game. Oh, my God. Cooper Flagg.

I know. Nobody can miss on Cooper Flagg. Nobody can miss on him. He was there, and I was like, this dude is working. Dude, Cooper Flagg. This dude is working. And Camboozer. How are those guys 15, 16 years old?

They look like they could play in the NBA right now. It's ridiculous. I mean, all the talk about Victor Weniama being the best prospect since LeBron, and like those guys are going to be the best prospects since Victor Wenbanyama, but maybe better prospects. I like that. It's just the honest truth.

It's just the honest truth. When you're talking about Cooper Flag is a 6'10 defensive monster, who has multi-positional versatility against guards and wings, and he can block shots. He had the big block shot that clinched the game last week. He can score up the dribble. He can pass. He can do everything.

And copy and paste everything I just said to Camboozer. just a different type of way. Cooper flags more of that like dog on defense, but Camboosur can defend it at a high level too, and he's got the better shot at this point. Kids are so good. Six-nine, six-ten, forty percent guy from three. I mean, my goodness. Those guys, like, they're both the 26 drafts. That's right. It's wild to think about how good, like, they could be. And I almost wish they could play for like the GLEE night right now. Their peach jam game was on. Unbelievable. TV last week. I mean, this is like what we're talking about earlier. The NBA's

for both of these guys already. They are, as they should be. They are that good. Other buzz that I heard, got some Jaden Hardy buzz. Of course, I saw him in person in the NBA last year, and we talked about him. See the Jared Dudley quote about him? You know, he needs to do all these things besides scoring. Yeah.

That's a great quote. Yeah, and it's also great to have Dudley as a guy that can, you know, be the, you know, he, Dudley's one of those personable guys that can do the good cop, bad cop thing. And so it's like, hey, trying to make this guy the best. But man, he can really score. He can really score. And I know he had that very uneven G-League deal and it cost him his draft spot. But boy, he was a huge recruit coming out of high school.

And you see the talent. I mean, he's one of those guys. when I saw him at person, I was like, man, I don't know in terms of like every night, like being a, being a guy that can hold up on defense enough, you have to just be, if you're not going to be good defensively, you need to be unbelievable offensively. But you see a lot of that Lou Williams, you know, Jamal Crawford, like, you can absolutely see him as a heater guy, like immediately. And he was another guy that scored, you know, he put up a bunch of points in this summer.

thing. He is, you watch him and he's clearly more refined and better offensively than many of his peers that are playing in Summer League. And that Mavericks roster, I got to be honest with you, looks a lot better today than it did even just

a few weeks ago. And one of the things that has happened since we last spoke was the Grant Williams thing. Just a really good addition for that. Yeah, it's perfect. It's going to be great with Luca. I think like we're talking all about draft and whatnot now. I think with Grant Williams, go back to his year at Tennessee. Grant Williams was more than just a 3-indy guy like he's been for the

Celtors. Grant Williams was a playmaker. He was a guy who could put the ball on his hands and have him make a play, elbow actions. And I was like, oh, he could kind of, you know, do the short roll thing, you know, screen, make plays from the middle of the floor. That is what's going to happen with Luca. You're going to see him in positions that you haven't seen him with Boston. And I think the Mavericks, that's going to be their vision for him. And we could see possibly the best version of Grant Williams that we've ever seen where we know he can defend. We know he can hit threes. We know he can attack closeouts.

What we haven't seen is the playmaking. And granted, Luca controls the offense there. Luca, you know, feeding him the ball can empower him. So I just look forward to seeing Grant Williams with what he does. And I think with Dallas, think about, like, we've talked about last year. You said, I don't like their roster. And we were right, right? Like, their roster was weak.

Better now? It's way better now. And they got him on an amazing deal. Yeah. I like he was not he wasn't anywhere close to an overpay like we talk about getting guys that can outperform their contracts grand william's going to outperform that contract there's no doubt in my mind are you a little surprised the southwark center bring him back at that number yes i want i think they offended him last year yeah i want to you know what i'm saying i'm sure i granted a restricted free agent you don't have a choice but that's right probably didn't want to be there here's the thing man the reason i can't believe it is because your window to win, and I know it's been extended for them, but this is championship time. Right now.

Boston. Yeah, this is title time, right? And you lost market smart. Like, if you pay a little bit of luxury tax for it, then, like, this is the time to do it, I'm saying. The time to do it is when you got a chance of winning the title. That's when you pay the money, right? Definitely.

I understand. If you're not in position, like, if you're not in position to win, if you don't have like a real chance at the title, but if you think this guy can, you know, help you win the title, which he can. Sure. I mean, yeah, I am surprised. I totally understand if that number would have gotten freaky. The other thing is this.

Let's just say we're right. And Jalen is, they're going to re-up him, but then it's not for long. You know, you're going to wish you still had grand, Williams, I think. I mean, listen, I like that, the Jalen Brown stuff is interesting. I wonder, like, there's been reports about them haggling, you know,

player options. I wonder if Boston could, like, offer slightly less than the Supermax and try to have incentives to get to that. There's different ways to do it. But I also still wonder about the Damien-Lillard stuff. Because the Portland Trillianzers, they want more than what the heat are

offering. The heat have the best offer at the moment. But so it appears, it is not an acceptable offer in the eyes of the Blazers, at least as of today's Sunday recording. But, but hold on, that offer, as far as I know, did not include Summer League,

Wilts Chamberlain, Orlando Robinson. It did not. Who had 36, 11, four assists, two blocks, and was three of four from three. The seven foot, undrafted free agent out of president. I'm like watching this guy and the

highlights and I'm like, come on. Seriously. Maybe if they throw Roberts in a deal. They'll get it done, give the Blazers they're big at the future. But I mean, ultimately, the Blazers want to do better. The conversations I've been having with some executives out here this weekend has been, well, like, what's the deal?

What do you think it's going to happen? Most people still think he'll end up with Miami. I still think that. At the end of the day, Blazers will take their offer. Whatever shape it takes, three-team trade, four-team trade, that Dame ends up with Miami, the team he wants to go to. However, when you ask, well, who are the teams that you still think could actually top that offer? People go to the Sixers with creative three ways and send Maxey to

a third team and Harden to the Clippers. Some people still say the Jazz, Danny Aange, I don't, I don't think so. I think the Jazz will stay young, the Spurs as well. I don't think the Pelicans, the other team people still say is Boston. Even though Dame, according to Chris Haynes and said he doesn't want to go to Boston. Like, they still can put together. They can trade three of their own first-round draft picks. They have a warrior's pick that's lightly protected, then it becomes unprotected in 2026, by the way.

I just think Boston with four-first, Robert Williams, a center of the future, better than Orlando Robinson, maybe not at Summer League. No. No. With salary fill, it's at least in the ballpark of what the heater currently. offering. So I just, I'd wonder, you know, how could that manifest with a three-team deal as well? How much more creative could Boston get if they wanted to get in on Dame? It feels like they're figuring out any kind of way to get him to Miami because they want to do

right by him, even though it's not fair. It's not fair. But it depends on what Hero gets flipped for. That's right. And at this time, it's unclear. Yeah, that's right. It's going to be interesting. It could drop at any moment, but it can also linger a while, too, because, If it is Miami, they can't trade Hamay Hakez until July 31st, if he's even in the deal. And things can become, you know, things can move very fast out in Vegas because you remember the one night we, I was actually up the night the Kauai Leonard and Paul George to the clippers ended up taking place. Yeah. We were up that night and it like happened in the middle of the night. It was crazy.

That was something. There's a bunch of people that are around each other out here. And so you never know what could happen. Negotiations can happen quicker and happen super fast. God forbid somebody from Portland was at that Orlando Robinson game. I mean, look. It'd be like, oh my God, put this guy in. My prediction would be that he ends up with the heat.

Yeah. That seems to be the sense from mostly everybody. But I think there are those variable teams that Portland is waiting for, particularly Philly. Because Darrell is going to try to get creative. Other things that have taken place since we last spoke, they made a big deal out here regarding the in-season tournament and giving out all of the details.

I know you've been a huge fan of the mid-season tournament. Oh, I'm fired up. The in-season tournament. So I will tell you that just talking to people and after it was all announced and all the details came out, the general sentiment I got from people was, yeah, that's cool, whatever.

And then the, how do I say this? Complete lack of motivation to even understand what it's going to be. And it's just like, all right, whenever it happens, it happens. But I don't think that people, I know, but I don't think that people are necessarily seeking out the details of how this is going to work in the way that it's like, oh, well, here's going to be the bracket and here's going to be the pods. Ooh, and thinking about whether or not my team can win it or not, I feel like it's one of those things that, like, they make the announcement and people are like, cool, we'll see how it

is because nobody knows what to expect. And then the trick is going to be, once it happens, getting people to care, which I think, you know, if it works out well, will come naturally, right, regarding the trick. those games and but nobody really knows what it is and so we're going to have to kind of go through it first and hopefully have some meaning to it first in order for people to get any kind of level of excitement about it i mean look like anything else same thing with the playing tournament when that was announced you're like oh this is silly yeah this is silly why would they do that and then people happen and people loved it these people most people still really enjoy it today and then with

the in-season tournament's the same thing What's the point of this? What's the point? The point is that the regular season right now in November or December, it's kind of a slog. Just anything with states. It is better than the very low bar of November, December, NBA basketball right now. It has stakes. Those games on every Tuesday, just to explain it very briefly, six groups, five teams each, three in each conference,

the team with the best record from each of those groups, move on to the final eight, plus two wild cards, one in each conference with the best record from the group. then those eight teams to face off. The last four teams go to Vegas. All these games count for the regular season until the finale. That game does not count for the finale. That is for the big money prize. 500K, not big money for a lot of NBA players, but it is for some.

A lot of guys. For like 10 guys on the Miami Heat, probably? No kidding. I mean, really? All of the sons that aren't named Beal Booker and Durand. It's a lot of money for like over time. two-thirds of every roster. Yes.

So I think for, I think players are going to care. I think fans are going to learn to care. I think the fact that they're having every game scheduled on every Tuesday and Friday, there's never going to be a question of, is this a tournament game or not? It's Tuesdays and Fridays in November leading into December when they have a December 7th and night here in Las Vegas. I'm excited for it. I'm fired up.

Yeah, you've been a huge proponent. I've liked the way they set it up. Totally cool. You like it. I think it's great. And I think the games have inherent meaning with the fact that they, count towards the regular season standings. You're still playing to win every game.

So I think maybe you'll see a team load manage once. I could see that happening. Just because it's still the regular season. But the games do have increased meaning. And having that NBA Cup for the mid-season. Like you look at the standings last year. Boston was like early December 20 and 5. New Orleans was the top seat above Memphis early in the year.

Like maybe one of these teams can at least say, hey, we were the best team in the first half before everything fell apart with injuries or you're the team that wins the finals after you had a terrible start to the year. It just kind of, I think, cuts the season in half. Here's my prediction.

I like it. I like that there's stakes to these games and have no stakes whatsoever. They matter. I think it's more likely that guys won't sit out for those games. But. You'll sit out on the Sunday instead of the Tuesday

or Friday you'd hope. But my prediction is this. We're going to go through it. It's going to be fun. But at the end, people are going to say that that needs to matter in some kind of way that it affects fans. That fans of a team are going because nobody cares if these guys get extra money. Nobody cares. I don't say nobody's sitting around going, oh, thank God, Orlando Robinson got 500 grand.

Yeah, but why does it not matter that a team like wins a single, elimination tournament. Everybody loves single elimination. I understand, but I'm saying in the end, there will be some meaning attached to it. That's what I, that's what I predict, that there's going to be some kind of meaning, whether that means something for the playoffs, whether that means, and I know that sometimes

we make decisions like that in other sports like they did with the All-Star game, meaning home court or a home field advantage or whatever and people didn't like that. The meaning is that you won a lot of games in November or December and you help their standings. But the reward is money for the players. And nobody

cares about that. Yeah, but what is the reward for winning the NBA finals? It has, you know, 75. That means for the fans. Yeah, I know, but it's like, yeah, because it has history. So for this, over time, it builds history. No. Because at some point, at some point in the future,

there will be a team that wins the cup at the in-season tournament, then they have the best regular season record, and then they win the NBA finals. That will be the first team in NBA history that wins the NBA triple cup, where they win all the trophies. Ain't anybody hanging a banner for a mid-season tournament. then you're the first team that ever did that. It will gain meaning over the course of time.

And if it doesn't, if it doesn't, then they can change it. I'm just saying there will be something attached. That's my prediction. There will be something that becomes attached to it. Like they get the 31st pick in the drafts. Yes. Something. Something that affects fandom.

Yeah. Because the reward is 500 grand for the players. Yeah. And nobody cares about that. The team also gets like the first pick in the second round, that type of thing. Sure. Yeah. Or maybe they have some, maybe there's some kind of,

something that is attached to playoff seeding or something like that, right? Something that affects them at the end so that fans have some kind of stake in it beyond like, hey, my team won the mid-season tournament. I just think the NBA personally

made a wise move starting out with the minimum of cash award. And then if they have to add more incentive over the course of time, then they will. I'm saying that's how they got the players to care about it. The next step will be fans caring about it in some real way. I think you'll go nuts if the Grizzlies are in that without John Morant in early December and like the people are thriving. If Jaron Jackson Jr. is having the best

season of his career, I think you go nuts. I think if the Thunder have a big run earlier in the season and they're like taking a step up, Chet's in the rookie of the year race, OKC fans are going to oh my God, let's go win this. Let's ride this earlier in the year. I would like you because I would get a trip out to Vegas during football season. That was the first thing that stood out to me. The championships on Saturday. Yes. And then football Sunday the next day. First thing that stood after me.

You're making a full weekend. I was like, oh, it's a Vegas. I was like, all right. So now that would be fun. You should come out here anyway. We should do it like we should do. Let's just talk on the fire. Thursday.

Thursday is the final four. Yep. We should do a live show on the 8th on Friday, the final, the championship on Saturday, and then football Sunday get to enjoy ourselves. That's what we should do. We should come out here. It's not a bad idea. That's a good idea.

I have never been to Las Vegas when it's not July. Me neither, ever. No, no, October. October last year when I came for Scoot. That's the only other time. It's always been 105 every time I've been here. It seems like it gets really cold in December. Is that right?

Yeah, it's like a high of like 80 and then a low of like 40. I'm with it. I'm fine with that. That's not really cold, but it's cold when it's 80 degrees during the day. You know what I'm saying? Not to me. You're a L.A. guy. You forgot your Boston Roos.

You're freaking L.A. guy. That's such a wild disparity in temperatures over the course of a single day. Roads get icy. I mean. Well, look, maybe we can plan a trip to come out to Vegas for the mid-season tournament. We got to. We got to. That would be fun.

Especially because I've wanted this for years. How many years have we been talking about this? You have wanted this for a long, long time. So I hope it works out. Maybe Adam Silver is a listener. Maybe motivated him a little bit. You never know. I haven't run into it.

him yet. Me neither. I typically see him out here. Last thing is Greg Popovich. Five-year extension. Wow. I mean, he got a crazy amount of money. And I saw more than Monty Williams.

Good for him. Yeah, who was actually a pop guy. But five more years, you know, do you think that Greg Fabovich is coaching five more years if they get the third pick in the draft? Oh, this coming year? No, last year. Oh, last year. Oh, maybe.

Why not? No chance. Why not? I don't know. Maybe. Why not? Five more, I mean, he'll be 79. You know who I did see last night, Coach K?

I saw Steve Kerr last night. That's the coach I saw. I also saw Eric Spolstra. He was around. Oh, okay. Almost stopped him to ask him about the dame stuff, but I didn't. But anyway, back to the Popovich thing. Maybe you're right.

Maybe you just, you know, wants to coach. basketball for forever. But man, oh man. Like, I do kind of feel like I don't know like of coaches right now.

It's always odd to me or interesting to me maybe is a better term when the money gets released. Because I was thinking about this when his money came out. It's like we all know what all of these

we know what every even sorry player gets paid in the NBA. A, it's public knowledge and B, we have an awareness of the contracts. And we talk about that all of the time. I have no idea what most coaches get paid or what their

contract is right now. And on the guarantees, like, it's only like if they're in peril of getting fired, right? Like Frank Vogel's got this contract left or this is what, or if it's a one. But I feel like it has been a more recent thing

that has taken place where we're getting reports on what coaches are making. It's these coaching agents that probably want. I know. They're trying to appeal to other coaches. Well, the other thing is, I do wonder that a lot of these teams

want to hire younger guys that they can control. Yeah. That's just the way it is. For an office. Influencing decisions in lineups. Yeah, and they get them in lockstep. And so, and a lot of times, even with the owners, they pitch those guys and then it doesn't, it doesn't materialize, right? That was like kind of the story in Phoenix that they were pitching some of those guys. He goes out and gets Frank Vogel.

I was told that they pitched a bunch of guys in Detroit. And the owner's like, no, I want a real solid, you know, and that's how they end up with Monty Williams. And so I think that that is, I think that's the case around the league. But now, once those numbers have come out, I do wonder what kind of effect this has on all the other coaches. Like, again, with Greg Popovich or... I want to be the highest pain. I want more than Pop. But Pop and Spolstra and those kind of guys.

I actually think it is a very good thing that the Popovich contract was what it was and reported as it was. Because I wondered if the Monty Williams thing was going to be the... and I'm not the Rudy Gobert trade of coaching news because look there's a lot of coaches out there they can say hey oh okay fine I haven't won his regular season games but like why why is Monty Williams getting this kind of money and I'm not getting this kind of money I would be yeah if I were a coach in the NBA it had titles under my belt or finals under my belt it raised the bar it really did but I think it's good that it's you know they maybe maybe that maybe that's That's why Pop decided to stay around no more, not Victor Weniama. Maybe $80 million. But, I mean, like, now if you sit there and you go, hey, I need to get paid, I want to be the highest paid coach. You're not better than Greg Popovich. And then it's right.

Sure. You know what I mean? Second highest paid. Right. I want to be the second highest pay because I'm better than, I'm still better than Bonnie Williams. Come on. I am excited for the rest of this summer league. Is there anybody that you do want to see that you haven't or that.

that you have heard buzz about that you think might be worthy of going to check out. I mean, I want to see Osar Thompson play again. I didn't see him live yesterday, but like just reading about the game and, you know, seeing highlights. People said he kind of just blended in, you know, demand the ball. He kind of just was mixed in. I want to see Osar demand the ball and carry the show a little bit, you know. Man, they got a bunch of guys on the Detroit team, but they have not been depressive and Ivy was suffering.

Yeah, Marcus Sasser on that team as well. They have a lot of ball handlers. I'd like to see, you know, Osar, especially since we can't see, Ah, man. Oh, it stinks that we lost scooting. Amen right off the bad. I mean, really. And you know they'll shut down Wimby after today. Probably, yeah. Because they said at the beginning they were going to play him two games. Yep, yep.

So, I mean, hopefully the people that were trying to pack into those arenas of the first point, were able to go in there and see it when they did. Because it's everything, you know, it's crazy. It's like that Zion year, where he went out. Yeah. after playing because those second year guys, they really just play at the beginning too. I remember seeing some of the guys and they come out,

they show that they're awesome and show that they're better than these guys. And then they're done. That's right. So I'd imagine that that'll probably be the case of the last second year guys. But there will for sure be guys that step up as time, you know, as this thing goes on, there will be some of these rookies that start to show out big time.

But it's been good so far. Orlando Robinson. Yep. Orlando Robinson. Who knew? You mentioned the place that you went to go eat. You're like foodie guy. You always find good restaurants when you're out here.

It's good. Where did you go foohoo? Fu-hoo, yeah. And where else? That was at Resorts World, went to cut. Steakhouse. Yeah, amazing. It is.

Yeah, it's so good. Yeah, second year going there. How expensive is it? Really expensive? I mean, it's expensive, yeah. Will you turn it into the ringer? It's expensive. But when you have a big group, like you're able to split more, yeah.

So that's helpful. And then Momo Fuku as well, we'll be going there. Jeez. Speaking of splitting, all I did was Carmines. The Italian family style place. That's amazing, though. I went to some French place on Friday night. Bardo, I think it's called.

French place. To celebrate Wembe and Killian and all my friends. You like the small plate, one bite. I got some. Some of us ordered French onion soup. I hated it. You hated it. I thought it was gross.

But the rest of the meal was great. I got some roasted chicken that was awesome. But the French onion soup, geez. Disgusting, you say. It was worse than Wemby's debut. You trying to skip silver linings to him was unbelievable. I mean, you got to try. Sometimes things don't go away.

Well, look, maybe it goes crazy today on Sunday and this pot even looks stupid by the time we posted. I mean, it's very well might, you know, hopefully. We go through 30 and 20 or something. We might have to do a 10-minute reaction pod if that's the case.

Nah, you can't. Bruno's going to go out of party. I'm out of here. I don't party anymore. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Unfortunately,

Vegas used to be a lot different. So what are you doing after Wemby's game? You're just going to go back to your hotel and sleep? Are you got dinner plans? No, I'll go eat somewhere. I'll go eat somewhere. And then I'll probably drop into the, there's like an.

NBA party tonight. You already golfed, right? Or I'll try to get into Michael Rubin's party, or was that last night? They didn't invite me. Michael Rupert didn't invite me. Can you believe that? You golfed, right at the cool golf course there? The win golf course.

It's great. Unbelievable. How'd you do? It's expensive. I played pretty well. You know, this is where they just did the match. I'll tell you this. Out of smoke Clay Thompson's ass.

Clay Thompson stinks. Yeah. Terrible. He mean, he destroyed Curry in that match thing. Would they play it against... Would Steph had won with a better teammate? There's no question. He would have had a lot better chance.

But evidently, my caddy at the win told me that those guys were running into a buzzsaw because Mahomes and Kelsey have played as a team there several times. Wow, I see. Several times. And in fact, there's a famous hole on 18. They've got a big waterfall in the background. And if you go to it, there's like a little pond that's on the side. of the 17th green and there's a sign right outside the pond and they always tell you this

story when you're going by and it says Lake Travis it's a little pot yeah right and it says something and then it's got some kind of like saying on there but this is what he said he said that the reason that that is called Lake Travis is because Timberlake has a big golf tournament out there Mahomes and Kelsey actually won it so again another chance where they were there as a team But that those guys won it and that Jimmy Fallon got so mad during the whole thing that he took Kelsey's putter, which was, and the name won't mean anything to you, but it's a Scotty Cameron putter that evidently caught like this special made one that was like $6,000. Jimmy Fallon took the Scotty camera putter and threw it in this pond. And he didn't know it cost $6,000. Anyway, through the thing in the pond.

And so then they have named now this thing, Lake Travis that's out there. It's named after Travis Kelsey. That's amazing. Because his putter was thrown in the middle of it by Jimmy Fallon. Did he pick up Jimmy Fallon, like a big high school bully against the locker? I'm sure he did. But no, that golf course is fantastic. And now I see it on TV so often with that the match they do on TNT with so many different people that I had to go play it when I got the chance.

But yeah, that's the kind of stuff I do now. Old man stuff. Have you seen the sphere lit up at night? I haven't yet. I have not seen it lit up at night. I've seen it during the day, bunch. During the day, yes. Photos are amazing.

I got to see it before. Maybe tonight I'll see it. So the guy told me when you see it the whole time when you're on the golf course? Yeah. Do you read what that thing cost? Was it 2.3 something? 3.2 billion. 3.2 billion.

That's amazing. Billion. Wow. How is James home? How are they making their money back on this thing? Well, they're going to have like a lot of concerts there, right? Do you see what the first one is? You too.

But somebody told me they're doing the Actung baby. They're playing it the whole way through. That's going to be like the concert thing. That's the show. They're doing that album. I went and looked it up online. The cheapest ticket is $600. Probably back row.

But I wonder if back row is enjoyable experience. Oh, yeah. Everything I've looked up that I wanted to go to, there's too many people out here right now with that NBA con, summer league, everything. Because you can't get in, I tried to get into that UFC. That was super expensive. $500.

Yeah, like minimum. You know who was, Usher was $600 last night? Really? Minimum? Back row, 600? Garth Brooks at Caesars was a thousand. Yeah, man. Vegas is popping.

You ain't getting into Garth Brooks. None of that. I can get it. I got to see damn David Copperfield. Carrot type or some shit. There's no one thing I can get into. Britney Smith has never residents here anymore. No.

I might see her over the aria. I'm going to just walk around at the aria and look for Britney Spears. Just be careful. Yeah. I saw what's his name's playing an outdoor concert, the rapper from when I was a young guy, Chingy. Maybe I'll go see Chingy outdoors. Do it up.

Something like that. Or find out where DJ Diesel's playing Shaq. Oh, is he playing out here? Yeah, he's like, he's DJing some party today. So some of my friends were going over to do it. You're done partying. You're not going to be there. I'm too old, man.

No. No more IVs for me, Kev. Husband and father. Yeah. I know. I get up in the morning and I see these people that are still gambling or they're still like in their clothes from the night before. And I'm like, man, I've lived that life. I never did.

No more. You never lived that life. You should do it one time. Just to see. You should go to one of these shows. Yeah, you should go see. Oh, I will. You should go to Dreyes.

That's the big club where all the NBA guys go. DeBaby performed last night. I'm still young. I'm only 32. Rick Ross the night before. I don't know. You can find one. When there's an artist, I'm not on Tinder chicks to take.

When there's an artist, I'm not on Tinder. Yes, you are. I haven't been on Tinder for years. You aren't? I don't like Tinder. You got all? I've been off the dating apps for a while now. Dang, can't.

I'll return at some point. What happens to you? What happened to me? You got all you lost all this weight. Then you get off Tinder. That's what it's not. I mean, I haven't lost all the way yet. I'm still in the process of losing the weight.

This weekend, not helpful. No. For losing weight. No. Vegas is tough. At least you get the steps in. Yeah, lots of steps. I love walking around Vegas.

Great people watching. It is for sure. Great people watch it for sure. Yeah, I do wonder. I wonder like, give me an artist that I know their songs, and I'll go to a show. You know their songs?

You're like, Jake Olds, man. Well, I know, I could have went to Usher. I could have. I think John Fogarty might be out here. I don't want to see John Fogarty. I think he's out here. Who else out here? Bear Manolo, you know, his songs.

Yeah, I mean, I'd rather hang out with friends. Yeah, you, I don't know. I don't know if there's anybody that you would know their songs. I'd like to come to one of the U-2 shows at the sphere. Even if it's not opening night, I just want to experience a concert there. It looks unbelievable. Have you ever written anything bad about James Dolan?

I don't know. You know he's going to have that facial recognition there. You ain't getting into YouTube. You ain't getting into YouTube. I mean, over the course of time, I mean, you probably did. Some Knicks fans have probably said some bad things. But I know I've also said at least he lets his front offices

just be front offices. Mistakes or not, he kind of does give him freedom. So that's the compliment that I've given. You don't think you're on the facial regulation. I don't think I am. I don't think I've said enough to bash James Dolan over the years.

That's good. So maybe between now and September when those shows are, might say something. Who knows? Maybe so. I'm going to avoid it. It's been fun.

It's been fun being out of Vegas. I love getting to do the show in person at this palatial ringer suite. And Kevin? I'll talk to you next week. Looking forward to work, Chris. Enjoy Vegas.