The Mismatch - The Wemby-less Spurs Impress, Derik Queen and the Young Pels, and What's Going On With LaMelo Ball?

Episode Date: November 21, 2025

Verno and Jacoby return as they briefly discuss the Grizzlies completely dominating the Kings, Tyrese Maxey’s continued ascension into superstardom, as well as how impressive the Spurs looked without their top players. Next, the guys dive into their loves and loathes from this past week in the NBA. (00:00) Welcome to The Mismatch! (00:35) What’s next for the Kings after getting blown out by the Grizzlies? (08:13) Sixers beat Bucks as Maxey's ascension continues (14:48) Verno and Jacoby’s no. 1 loves of the week (22:39) Verno and Jacoby’s no. 1 loathes of the week (32:06) No. 2 loves of the week (38:43) No. 2 loathes of the week (46:19) No. 3 loves of the week (52:26) No. 3 loathes of the week (01:02:07) No. 4 loves of the week (01:05:36) No. 4 loathes of the week The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Leave us a message on our Mismatch Voicemail line! [phone] Hosts: Chris Vernon and David Jacoby Producers: Jessie Lopez and Brian Waters Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon and join him as he does every week from The Ringer.com is Dave Jacoby. Jacoby. Big Grizzlies win last night, Bernal. Season turned around. This is going to start the run to the championship. Give me a break. Look, I was at Grizzlies Kings last night and it was the reason we are mentioning this right off the bat.

I will be very surprised if Doug Christie is not relieved of his duties. Oh, we are recording this. we're recording this on Friday morning, and I know nobody is watching that game. I'm just telling you, watching that unfold last night, at one point, Memphis was up by 48 in the game.

48. By the way, Dennis Schroeder played, Malik Monk played, DeMortar Rosen played, Zach Levine played, like their guys. Sub bonus is out for a month, right? So bonus is out.

He's the only one. But never, go look at how many shots Demarder Rosen took. Go look at how many shots Malik Monk took. I've never seen a game like this, ever. And if you, you're the only one that saw that game, so please let us know. When I tell you not trying. Really? Oh.

Vince Williams is a wing player for Memphis who has now been. charged with playing point guard because four point guards are hurt. All four point guards that Memphis has are hurt. So now Vince Williams is playing point guard. The 14 assists, right? He had 15 assists. And so on the post game show last night, we're running the, you know, the Vince Williams highlights, right? We're running the Vince Williams highlights. And we get done running the highlights. And I'm like, Like, this is awesome. Big time for Vince Williams. You know, there's very few guys in NBA history

that get to have 15 assists in the game. But you can't watch those highlights without noticing. There isn't a player on the team in a defensive stance. Not one. They're just, and in 20 years, I have never, I've seen Russell Westbrook play for the one. Wizards and try. They have even sucked the life out of Russell Westbrook.

He's just, I'm like, dude, this is untenable. You're listening to The Mismatch, presented by Banduel. Fandul now displays your bets directly on your phone's lock screen. And with the latest updates to the live events and player pages, it's never been easier to be part of the game. And Missouri, get excited because Fandall's coming your way. December 1st. Download the Fandual Sportsbook app now

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or visit ccg.org slash chat in Connecticut. I read last night going into that game. Now, think about this. They have, they went through, I think it like 16 years straight before the Light the Beam team without the playoffs, which is unbelievable to go that long when you've got over half the conference makes the playoffs every year.

So you had 16 years or over a decade, a decade and a half, of not making the playoffs. And last night going into the game, their record through 15 games was the worst it's been since 1990. Well, 35 years. And you think about that, that 16 teams at least that weren't playoff teams, like they never started worse. Even those horrible teams did not start worse than this one. Like it is a catastrophe.

I couldn't believe what I was watching. Look, I've been watching a struggling basketball team this year, who was 4 and 11 going in. They were up by 50. I was like, what is this is crazy? This is crazy. I will be absolutely stunned if Doug Christie makes it through the weekend. Stunned.

Wow. I didn't think of those implications. Obviously, I didn't see this game. I even texted you. I was like, there are other games on. I will not be watching this one. You are not to play.

I didn't even click over during commercial breaks. I was like, it wasn't even close. I was like, I'm not even going to pay any attention to this. Honestly, I wouldn't even. I wouldn't even mention this game other than that I saw this team in person,

except it was that significant. significant. I don't expect you or anybody else to have tuned this in when given the opportunity to, right? These are two, they've lost eight games in a row now, Sacramento. But this was like, that was the abyss. When you're playing a team like the Grizzlies who have been reeling and you're down almost 50 to them and your guys aren't even trying. They're not even trying. Well, I saw the Grizzlies had 42 assists, which is some sort of like franchise record or ever. I mean. But now I'm thinking about it with this filter. I'm like, oh, that means there's no pressure on the ball and there's no pressure on the people that they pass to. It's hard to describe what I witnessed last night. Wow. But that was a team that full on just like is not playing.

And they've got like real players, Jacoby. I've seen those guys have big performances before. I've seen Malik Monk have big performances. I've seen DeMarte Rozan at big performances. I've seen, I mean like up and down. down the line. It's a bunch of guys. Like, they're not like talentless. No. When you look at the nets, you're like, I understand why this team is not winning basketball games. Right. Look at who is playing on the floor. But if you just look at it on paper, the Kings should be better. It's a bad

mix for sure. It's a bad mix of players, but, you know, that don't fit properly together. But that was not the bad mix. That's just not even, like, I'm not even. I'm not even even competing. Go look at the shot attempts for two guys that are, I've never seen a game like that, ever. I've never seen a game where DeMarre Rosen takes like three shots, four shots. Malik Monk took like four shots. Like they're not even trying. If you're, I think Scott Perry is the new GM, right?

So they brought him in. If you are him, and obviously they want to trade some guys, right, to get draft assets, young people. I just don't know what the market is. What you get it for return on DeRosen, Levine, and Sabonis. Like, what is the return that you get? You're going to get like 45 cents on the dollar four times over. And it's just a, it's an unbelievable reminder of how fast this stuff can change.

We're not that far removed from them being like the same way we're talking about like the pistons or the raptors or like, look at how fun this is, right? Like, that was, everybody fell in love with the light of being kings. Everybody. And you're probably a hand injury away to Deerrin Fox from them beating the warriors that year. I mean, and then to them just be a few years removed from that to what I witnessed last night is just unbelievable. Truly, unbelievable. I'm glad you brought the pissings because don't forget, it can go the other way too. Depends for the worst team in the league two years ago.

Absolutely. And now look at them. Yep. Let's talk about Sixers. Hey, what a, what a fortuitous deal for us to be talking about superstar Tyrese Maxie on Tuesday morning podcast. And then last night, he delivers us like, we've gotten lucky on these, right? Talk up the pistons and they go crack it. Oh, I did a whole Jalen Dern thing.

Yeah. Jaylen Dirk. And now, like, you know, we've been on this maxi thing and, you know, we even had the clip that went out earlier this weekend. Man, he just continues to deliver in space. This guy is unbelievable and has the career high last night. So I was watching that game because I was not watching the Grizzlies and Kings. And I will say that it's the way he does it. Like he's not just hitting threes.

He's hitting deep threes. Like that sort of like Trey Young. Steph Curry, couple steps away from the line. If you set him a screen and you don't blitz him, he'll just shoot a deep three. And the floaters, he's, it's not just like he has a floater, like Tony Parker or Genoblee or whatever.

You know, there's a lot of guys have Conley. A lot of people get, but he's got a floater with both hands. He's got floaters from weird angles. And he's really mastered, because he's not that big. He's very fast, but he's mastered using contact with his defender around the rim

to create space. If he's going to his left, he's going to bump with his right shoulder and finish with his left hand. He caught one in transition. And you probably didn't see this because you're at your game. I forget who it was, but someone threw him the ball in transition and he caught it with his right hand and never gathered and just went up in transition semi-contested. Like he makes everything look absolutely effortless and he's so fast. And it wasn't even a very loud 54, if that makes sense. It really wasn't that loud.

You know, it's interesting because one of the things that, and I know that Reed Shepard's gotten a lot of buzz over the course of the last week or so. And one of the things that happened when it was the Reed Shepard draft that I kept on saying was, bro, just take the Calipari Guard and see what happens. Right? Because if you're just doing like the evaluation of guards over the years, whether it goes from rows to wall, like your hit rate on those is unbelievable. And the Tyree SMAX is another one, right? Another one of those Kentucky guys. By the way, the guy that won MVP was a Kentucky guard that people did not hold as in high regard, as high regard as a collegiate player as now they do. But the talent evaluation that CalPerry did to get these guys all at Kentucky is unbelievable. And Maxie, another one in that line.

Like it's not like these guys become like pretty good. NBA players, they become unbelievable NBA players more often than not. Well, it's also, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy, too, because you have Derek Rose, and then you're sitting down on the couch with the next guy, and you're like, look at what we did with Derek Rose. Right.

You know what I mean? And they say, well, look at what we did with such and such. Look at what we did quickly. Look at what we did with Maxie. Look at what we did. So you can sort of like, it's a snowball effect in when recruiting used to be a thing in college basketball, but no longer is. Yeah, well, Maxi obviously has the 54 last night.

I think it's worth mentioning Paul George. I was watching that game, and in the first half, Paul George was hitting some shots, you know, and I don't think he's going to, like, swing the, you know, the fate of the Sixers or anything, but he did look pretty good in this game. Well, but this is exactly what we talked about, about earlier in the week, that this is a maxi operation now. Yes. You know, I mean, they got very, very fortunate in the sense of these two big swings, you know, building the franchise around M.B. and then making the huge swing for Paul George, those have had very poor results. And yet, here's this other guy

that now becomes future of the franchise and is so good that you can build out around and then have a future going forward. I think it's also worth mentioning Ben Simmons was another one of those big swings. He was a number one pick. And I think that we, it is good to celebrate Vijay Edgecombe when he starts so hot,

but he has come back to Earth at this point. You know what I mean? like he you know it was going to be hard to keep that clip that he was scoring it early on those first like you know a handful of games but he still looks good but he's come back to earth well and we know that so much of so many of these NBA teams especially now that the salaries are so high are so dependent on their great player being healthy right and the bucks rode without yannis I mean, I read the other day that their offense is like tops in the NBA with him on the court and their offense is worst in the NBA with him off the court.

And so it's like you build the whole thing out. It's like here we got a bunch of guys that can knock down threes and they play around this guy. But then what happens when that guy is unavailable and we're seeing? And so it's just a matter of can you, can you at least scratch out some wins until you're able to get the guy back in the lineup? Because for right now, it seems like wins are going to be very, very, any win is going to be difficult to come by in the absence of Janus.

Well, you know they have those like when they have the matchups either on television or on like NBA.com and they got that one, the one face of the team in the matchup? Like the Heat Warriors, I saw Pajemski. I was like, what? Like, who would you put on it for the bucks? Like, Ryan Rollins? Cusma?

You know what I mean? Like that roster. Miles Turner's probably the most famous. That's fair. But that roster is built to be maximized around Janus. That's exactly how I would do it if I were them as well. But when Janus is not there, it's just a huge gap in production, a huge gap. There are stars that can be missing and the team can perform.

Memphis being won. But that that Bucks roster is not going to hold up. Well, and. To that point, we thought that was the case. In effect, that was part of the analysis of what's going to happen with the Spurs season because it feels very Wembe-centric, like dependent upon Wembeyanma being available for that roster. And yet, they have been able to pull off wins in the absence of Victor Wembe Gama. In fact, that's going to start off.

Well, let's go straight to Loves and Lows. Because that's the first one that I've got is the Wembe-Lis. spurs. Now, I got it. Most, you know, they haven't had this extremely hard schedule since they have lost Victor out of the lineup. That being said, what we just chronicled with the Bucks is true with any of these teams. Like, the wins that you can get while you're waiting to get your guy back in the

lineup, especially when he means so much to your lineup, are any, any of those are good wins regardless of who you're playing. So they had Sacramento at the beginning of the week. And again, they're on a losing streak. Same thing went with Memphis. It's a close game. And then Harrison Barnes and Deere Fox made some big plays down the stretch. Even if you want to write those off and say, oh, so what?

They beat the Kings and the Grizzlies. But last night, that's a good win against the Hawks. That is a really good win. And not only are they down when Benyama, they're down Castle and they're down Dylan Harper. Like that's three guys, three of the best players. on their team. So any win that they're able to get in the absence of three of your best players

is a good win. That's the way this stuff goes. And for them to not only beat Atlanta, but put 135 on Atlanta last night, you've got to give them, I've got to give the wemble-less spurs my first love this week because, as I said,

it's not just wemble-less. It is Wembe-Less and Castle-less and Harperless. That's amazing. That truly amazing. And I think it speaks to the strength of the team when you're able to get wins in the absence of their big-time players. One thing about Wembe being out that I think is worth mentioning is we've focused so much on offense. But think about what he does defensively. He cleans everything up defensively.

If your man beats you, no problem. There's a giant alien rim protector right there to solve all, to clean up everything and to not have that asset on the floor defensively can dramatically change your production. I also want to give Kelly Johnson a shout because whenever we talk about the Spurs, he never gets mentioned. But when you watch the game, he's very consistent and he can be explosive when he used to be. I think he had 25 last night against the Hawks. He did.

And you, I mean, you look up and down. It's a Fox has 26. Champany has 20. Harrison Barnes has 16. Vassel has 15. You have David Jones Garcia has 12. Kelly O'Lennick gets you eight. Like it's just, it's spread up and down.

Everybody that played on their team, they played 10 guys last night. And the only player that didn't have eight or more points was Luke Cornyette and he had five. And it's like, I mean, this is crazy. Like, and by the way, the Hawks, yeah, they're down Trey Young, but they had their guys. Like, you know, Nikola Alexander W. Walker played and Jalen Johnson played and Porzingis played and Daniels played and Reese Shea played like that's a good win. That's a good win for them.

And so it's one thing to knock off Kings Grizzlies, it's another to be able to get a win against Atlanta and to do that without their guys. Put them on the love. All right. My first love is going to be, I like the way Connipal has been playing lately and he is getting a lot of shine and a lot of discussion because he deserves it. consistent and he really looks like a piece to sort of build around. I like that, but I love the story about them going to Milwaukee. And I did a little research on this one. So they're on

the plane in Milwaukee. He's a Milwaukee kid. And they're like, Khan, where should we go the night before the game? And he's like, I don't know. He's like, well, where are you going, Khan? He's like, I'm going to go to my house. And then that turned into the entire team going to the conipal abode. And then they cooked up 25 pounds of chicken fajitas, right? So my wife is already stressed out about Thanksgiving. We have a bunch of people coming to our house for Thanksgiving. I don't know.

It's going to be like 14 people or something, right? And that's already causing stress. But imagine, like, getting a phone call saying the Charlotte Hornets are going to be over tomorrow night or later today. And fajitas is a great call because you can cook it in bulk. You know, it's easy to do. So I thought that was a great call by Ms. Kinnippled there. But I love that story.

and I do love the way that he's playing and I also want to use it as a way to get into the La Mello reports. Well, hold on, on the Concanipple thing, there's two things that ran through my mind. A, he has been absolutely awesome. B, it has to be just the

an absolute nightmare for Danny age going oh, I almost had this. I mean, could anybody be a bigger deal in Utah than Concanipple? He would be president of Utah. tall.

I mean, it just, right? And he was one pick away, right? You know he coveted him. You know he coveted Concanipal. And he's the most Utah jazz guy ever, right? And it was just, oh, one pick away, almost had him. Because it was shocking that Kinple went three in the draft, right? Everybody just assumed that that was going to be Ace Bailey.

And so anyways, that's number one. Number two, did you ever watch it? Like, so he was on that awesome Duke team in college. Mallard, whatever. One of the Duke games that I watched, they had this whole picture. Now look this up, if you got your computer there,

because I can't remember the full details, okay? But just type in con canipal, like brothers and sisters. There was a picture of all of them. They all start with K. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I remember them showing the picture

and everybody in the family's like, name started with K. But I can't remember the names. It was like Khan and da, it's like his brothers. Oh, I got you. It was during one of the Duke games. And they were showing like the canipples. And the reason this jarred my memory is because you said they went over to his house.

Oh, you ready? Yep. How many brothers and sisters? One, two, three, four, five, six. One sister. I think it's a bunch of brothers. We've got Khan Senior, right? And then we have, I think her name is Carrie, C-H-A-R-I.

We've got Kid-Kid-K-K-K-Nipple, which is hilarious. Cash-K-K-Nipple with a K. Amazing. Kinsden Knapple, K-K-R-K-N-P-L-K-E-K-K-K-L-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-L-K-K-K-K-K-K-L- How much research do you want me to do here? Jesus. All I'm saying is I hope he turns out to be. I hope he turns out to be unbelievable. There will be nothing cooler than a guy being amazing at basketball named Kid Canipal. You would be the star.

Yeah, he's youngest. He's the youngest one. I think he's the one that tried to dunk on Lamello. That means he's going to be the best. You see they try to set up Lamello to get dunked on? Oh, he's going to be the best. Kid Cinniple is going to be great. Yeah, I'm buying Kid Caniple stock right now.

I really hope they didn't do middle names with the K2. be a bad look. You can't do that. That's for sure. You cannot do that. Let's move on before I get some trouble. No, no, the Lamello thing. Oh, let's talk to the Lamello. That's one of yours, right? It's one of your love trying to set you up. Well, it's a loathe. Yeah, go to Lowe's. Okay. The Lamello thing. So you have the report, and it's not a report that Lamello wants out of Charlotte. it's a report that he would be open to a trade from Charlotte, which I never know what that means. What is that?

Okay. And then Lamello Ball retweets the article with the clown emoji. I love the way we do this in 2025. And it's like, okay, like I don't, I have no reason to not believe the report or the, I just, I get so confused with this. and like what does that mean he would be open to a trade

like he's not he's not happy with what's going on in Charlotte it's like does he want to get traded or not like does he want are you saying he doesn't want to be in Charlotte he's just like well something better came along I'd be open to it like

I don't know I mean I guess we to me it's unfortunate and because then it's like we just moved to the next guy every other week. Yep. Right? Like it was Maranta. Okay, well, now Marant's hurt, so that's out of the news.

And then like even this week, earlier in the week, it was like, there was a headline somewhere and it was like, Gilbert Arena says Nike's going to try to get Kate Cunningham out of Detroit. And I'm like, what the hell? You know me? And so now we're like, oh, hey, the Hornet stink all about it. I would be open to put him somewhere like. of players least likely to be traded. I think, I think Cade would probably be on it. He'd be top

10, least likely to be traded. Also, he's on a podcast, like, professing his love for Detroit. Like, literally this week, he was on a podcast professing his love for Detroit. And how much he loves it there, and how much he loves the community there. And it's bigger than just the franchise or the team, but it's the city. And it's like, what are we doing? Right. Okay. Surprise. A player that's on a rat team would be open to go. to a good team. Yeah, yeah. I don't know.

I just feel like, and then it becomes like La Mello Ball discussion. Lamello Ball stinks this year. Would anybody even want him? Like, he's 24 years old. And like, I don't want to be the defender of La Mello Ball. But like, look, the guy came in and was unbelievable in one rookie of the year. And then by the second year, he was like a 20-year-old All-Star. And go look at the roster around.

him when he came, like, some of these teams, and I will just say, like, when they have guys around them, like, I'm not making excuse for, like, allowing him to take one-footed fade away three-pointers and all that stuff. Like they, to me, it's a Charlotte problem, more than a lamello problem. I'm talking about the last couple of years, right? Because this is a 24-year-old super talented guy. And when he came, that second, at year, right? When he is, he was rookie of the year, then he's a 20-year-old all-star. Now, look, his health, that's a whole other discussion, and he hasn't been available. We're just talking about him theoretically as a player. If he's able to stay healthy,

you know, from this point going forward, even though this year he's already missed, what, six games, I think. I mean, so the health thing is a guy, I got it, right? In terms of playing, though. It was Miles Bridges. It was Terry Rozier. It was Gordon Hayward. It was PJ Washington. It was Cody Martin. It was Kelly Ubre. It was Mason Plumley. It was Montrez Harrell. It was Ish Smith and Isaiah Thomas. They had a bunch of guys and they had a bunch of vets. That was the year they made the play in. Right. And then you look and you get to like even last year. Again, it's like you train guys to play losing basketball. If you train guys to lose, that's what they will become. and we'll get to the Cade thing, but I mean, we just, we just learned the value of bringing in vets and what that does to your practices and what that does to your culture and what that does to your team. And it's like, I don't know, I look at it and I go, okay, there probably is a portion of watching Lamello ball play is like, this is not winning basketball. But like, why is it not winning basketball? You had this, like, by all accounts, this unbelievable talent. And it's like, you look at what's happened with that franchise.

And obviously they've upended it and they've changed, you know, management. They've changed ownership. They've changed coaches. All this kind of stuff. And it's like, to me, I would look at it now and go, bro, I got a 24-year-old, you know, lamella ball. And I got Miles Bridges and I got Concaniple. And I got Brandon Miller.

It's like, and I got Colgriner. I finally have something to build out. You know what I mean? And now go get you some real vets, you know, to helping the practice, like leadership and all. I don't know. Like, it's a shame to me because I look at it and go, he's still 24 years old. He's still 24, right? I don't know what he's going to look like at 26 and 27.

But what we've learned in history is that, like, bailing on a. talent that big is usually not a great proposition. And so you can do whatever you want to do. But like this, I don't know. The truth is somewhere with him, I've always been a fan of his. I just saw that, you know, the height and the shooting ability. And I love the passing ability too. But like the truth is somewhere in the middle usually. Like on one side of the coin, it's he doesn't take the game seriously. He takes terrible shots. and he's out there, like you say, looking like he has AirPods in, and he does have highlight passes, but they're always home run passes.

He's not running in offense. Like, that's one side. Like, he will never be a true sort of engine of an NBA winning basketball team. And the other side of the coin is, if you ask like a 12-year-old, what do you think of Lamello ball? They're like, oh, best player in the league. But, but, but, Jacoby, all I'm saying is, and again, blame the player, blame the organization, whatever you want to do.

I saw him that year they made the play in when James Barago was his coach. and they had a real roster, like they had, like, adults on the roster. Like, I saw him, and I saw the way he played, and he was an All-Star. And everybody was in love with him. And he was the next big thing. And it's like, so what's happened since?

Injuries. Injuries and, you know, a roster that's... Nobody's telling Lamello Ball, don't do that. You know what I mean? But I saw him with Borago in that. roster. And so I don't know. I saw it and I saw that talent and I'm just, I would not give up on Lamello ball, but he certainly, whether it is there or wherever, like you can't play the way he plays. I would love to see him somewhere else because I don't, I don't think this works.

I would love to see him somewhere else. Let me get to my next loathe. I loathe the Knicks on the road. That Mavericks game, I don't know if you saw it, but it was just, it was so depressing. It was awful. I mean, the Mavericks didn't even have Cooper flag. No AD, no Kyrie, no Cooper flag. And they're just like, and it was, it was competitive, extremely competitive game. And at the end, the Knicks missed six free throws at the end of the game. It was just, it was disgusting. It was like, it was, how is this happening? I mean, that was their only road win. At least the refs bailed you out. that was I don't you know the rest the two mid they did the two minute report on that you know what the

ref said that was the right call what? Yep that was not the right call. I watched it so many times. I was like what are they calling? Then you know what really bothers me? All right. Let me just calm down for a second. Chris, do you know what bothers me?

What? Whatever happened to the no call? Do you know what that is? That's a no call. Yeah, he got bumped. Yeah, he hooked a little bit. Sometimes like, oh, block her charge. How about this?

block charger, I'm not going to blow the whistle. Just, it's a contact sport. Sometimes, sometimes you touch the other player and doesn't have to be a call. In, in that game alone, I can't tell you how many times, like, Josh Hart would just be standing there with his arm straight up and he'd be like moving along with the player and the player would put his shoulder into his chest and it would be a foul on Josh Hart. It's just like, can this, can we just have a no call? If you put your shoulder into someone's chest, can that just, can that just be contact

that we move on from? Like, I just, I just wish so many times, I feel like the. refs feel like they have to blow the whistle to either call an offensive or defensive foul. And I just feel like sometimes we should just let them play, let them go, like a playoff basketball. Then when the playoffs happen, everybody loves it so much, and then they get up in arms about how the refs let them play and it's so physical. That's better basketball to me.

I'm in favor of the no call. My next love, I'm going to go ahead and piggyback on what we were just talking about and the Kate Cunningham thing. So sometimes there, is an athlete podcast or something that comes out. Obviously, Mind the Game has gotten very good. This recent one that they've got Steph Curry on there. And Steph Curry's doing the whole bit about him and laughing about LeBron and KD

both holding up their arms while he hits the three over a triple team. I mean, it's great, right? Great clip. I would encourage anybody, honestly, to check out the Kevin Durant, Cade Cunningham conversation. It is so... great. And there is so much I learned that I don't think you would ever get. This is when it is great. Like I almost think these are the best kind. When the athletes are doing the podcast,

but they're talking to other athletes and they're drawing out these stories about them because they're much more willing to feel like they're confiding and they're just having a conversation with that guy rather than the media member if they don't have a relationship with them, right? And so him and Katie, it's just like two great players talking about life and basketball in this podcast. But as I'm watching it, there are so many things that I learned. And one of the things that I learned was with Kate Cunningham, he tells this whole story. And he even says, you know, I've never really talked about this. And he said, I'm watching, he was a great preps player and he's watching on TV and he's watching Mount Bird. And he's like, I need to be on

that stage. And so his parents don't really want him to go away to a prep school, but he wants to go. He's like, I got to get there. I want to be playing against the best of the best. And I want to go there. He goes, so I finally convinced my parents. And he goes, and I go to Mount Verde. And he goes, and I get to Mount Verde. And in the first month that I'm there, he's like, I'm away from home for the first time. I'm away from my family. I'm by myself. He goes, I've never had somebody close to me die, a family member die. And he goes, and one dies. He goes, and then two more. die. He goes, that's three. He goes, then I go back home. My ex-girlfriend is pregnant. I'm 17. I'm like, what is? I'm like, I've never heard this about, he goes, you want to talk about, he goes, I thought I was

done hooping. Everybody I knew that had a kid, right? Like they had the, you know, now your dad. That's what you're going to do. And he goes, and thank God I had my parents and this structure and whatever else to help me with my daughter. And he goes, but all of, he goes, imagine, he goes, I leave home. I have three people in my family die. He goes, you want to talk about growing up fast, but having to become an adult fast? Like, because he's like, wonder, like, how do you, you know, you seem more grown, right? You seem more.

Very mature. Right. Yeah. You seem more. Well, you want your answer as to why Kate Cunningham is more grown up? He had all the adult stuff thrown at him. And it's like. And he really thought he might be done hooping.

And then even later, so you get that story and you get this perspective. Like, you know, I'm always most interested in people. And it's like this guy, like now you're starting to understand why he is like he is, why he acts like he is, why he seems so mature at a young age. You know, maybe then some of his peers that we look around the league. And you're like, boy, that's an adult, right? Like this guy, he already acts like he's a vet, right? And I told you about J.B. Bickerstaff during the summer when I had,

I'm on just, I've never heard a coach talk about, a player like that. And then he goes on to talk about how the profound impact that adding Tobias Harris, Malik Beasley, and Tim Hardaway had on that team. And he's like, it's the practices. And it's the attention to detail. And it's the seriousness in which the job is taken that happens with older players that does not happen with younger players. And so when you're trying to figure out, things like why is Kate Cunningham the way he is and why is why did that Pistons team like what is the you know beyond just the individual talent him and Durham being awesome or whatever else like what happened there like it's so good it's so good I got to give ultra credit to Kevin Durant

and boardroom for putting that on because it is one of the best conversations and it will let you you will learn a ton about Cunningham and you will learn a ton about why the Pistons have become this, I mean, they are the story in the NBA this year. Because even despite having a surer out and Tobias out and Cada, they still, you know, now Dennis Jenkins gets plugged in and becomes this guy. And it's like, what happened here? And it really gives you an insight that a long conversation is needed to give you, right, rather than a clip or like a press conference or whatever else.

And so shout out to Duran. I thought it was great, honestly. I thought it was great. I gained so much respect for Duran after watching that starting five thing because he's got some real good insight in that. I don't know if you saw this clip, and he's talking about like everyone sort of questions his leadership. And he makes a really good point.

He's like, I've never been the, everybody get on my back, I'll take you to the finish line guy. He's like, he mentions like a road trip. He's like, I feel like we're all in the car and we're taking shifts at the wheel and we're going to get where we're going. Like he's like, I'm just one of the guys. I'm part of the team.

This is a team sport. So, like, everyone's questioning my leadership. He's like, I'm part of this group and I play my role in the group, but I'm not going to say everybody get on my back and I'll take us to the mountaintop. And when he said that, I was like, huh, I get that. You know what I mean? Like, maybe that's just how he leads. But I think it's a good.

There's also something else you get when you're talking to another player and you're in a podcast environment. Like tonight's game, which I think I'll transition into, I'll talk about tonight's game. One thing about Durant, I will say the one time I really did like laugh out loud is they're talking about him going to Oklahoma State. brother being a coach or whatever else. And he's like, and you killed it at Oklahoma State. You know, that turned out being good. You average like, you know, whatever, 26 and 5 or whatever. And Kate Cunningham's like, no, I didn't have no five assists, like three.

And then Durant goes, I average 25, 12, and one. One. I wouldn't blame him. I wouldn't blame him. At Texas, he said I average 25. 12 and 1. Anyway, all right, the game tonight. Yeah, this is one of my loaths.

Okay. I'm so excited for this Rockets Nuggets game. Oh. I just, I loathe the fact that it's going to kill my Friday. Why? I'm supposed to like make plans. I had like these plans. I made these plans.

I had no idea the Nuggets Rockets was on. And like, I'm like, I tried to steer the dinner towards like a sports bar so I can watch the game, but they want to have like a dinner. And I don't, I don't think I can sit down at like, a restaurant while this game is going on and not watch the game. Like, I don't think I can, I think I have to be on my couch. Look, we're roughly the huge game. We're roughly the same age.

I mean, nothing is a bigger nightmare to me than hearing the word plans. Like, I can't believe your story plans at our age. My wife has plans all the time. She's like, how come you, I'm like, she goes, she went out the last two nights. I put all four kids to bed the last two nights and watched all the games. And my wife is like, well, how come you never have plans? Because I'm old. Yeah, plans are for special occasions only.

Yeah, yeah. Is it our anniversary? It's your birthday. One time a year, one time a year, my buddies get together around Christmas. Once. Yeah. Once. And I won't say it's because I want to watch the rockets and the nuggets, but like, in fairness, my wife doesn't want to go anywhere either.

We're all, yeah. It's like, we've got to be. The problem with us is we've got to be so many places. Like, we're just Uber drivers. Honestly. Like, our whole life. is spent either driving to practices or carpools. And so when we get to be home, that is valued.

Like, oh, I don't have to go anywhere. And it starts at 9.30. So, like, the kids will be asleep at, like, 10. And they'll all be asleep. I can just sit on my couch and turn the volume up while my wife watches the housewives in the bedroom. That's, I might even have, like, a medello. There's some muddello in my fridge right now. A dream.

Just a medello with the rockets and the Amazon halftime. Like, you know what? I'm not going out tonight. Screw that. Screw that. No chance. I load that's killing my Friday. My next load is the NBA study about injuries.

Now, I don't load that they're doing it. I can tell you what the findings, the whole biomechanics and everything else and the findings. I just hate that, like, on one side we have, like, the NBA is experiencing its highest ratings in 15 years, and the NBC broadcast is great. We talked about the Amazon thing and how much we love their broadcast team. everything's been cracking, but then also on the other side, I've got Tom Haberstro,

who does great work every day doing like a star count. The 50% of the stars were out last night. 50% of the stars are out tomorrow. And it's like all of these injuries. And now it's we need to do a study to figure out the injuries and all of these theories. It's like, oh, it's because they specialize in basketball. Oh, it's because of the pace of the game. Oh, it's because of the.

I will say one thing that dawned on me the other night that I've been thinking about a lot, right? Which is, you know, we said every time a team is successful, it becomes a copycat league, right? So it's like even if even if the guy was a bum, if he's seven foot tall, I'll employ him because I got a 15 fouls versus Shaq, you know, back in the early 2000s. I know that's the team I've got to beat. And then it's like, oh, well, we're going to need something to deal with Yokic. And then it was, oh, well, here's the Curry Spurs or the Curry Warriors. And it's like, here's how we're going to be able to combat that. Or here's what we can do.

Their best practices that we can mimic, right? And so the best practices change dependent upon who wins, right? So now, let's just say your beloved Rockets, right, who are now dropping back into his own playing tons of half-court basketball with guys that are six foot seven and above, So if that wins, then it's going to be, oh, we need to do, right? Like there's very few original thought in this. But one of the things that has struck me, especially given that the, I read yesterday that the pace of the NBA is being played, this breakneck speed, right? That fastest pace overall as a collective since 1988.

It's forever ago, okay? Okay. It's 37 years ago, for God's sakes. So everybody's like, well, who? who was the team that was fast breaking off of makes last year? Indiana, right? Yeah. They made it to the finals.

Oh, and they're playing deep into their bench and they're breaking next speed. And so now over and over again, I'm watching these press conferences and I'm seeing all these guys talk in print. And it's, we need to play faster, faster, faster, faster, right?

It doesn't allow the defense to set up. So we need multiple ball handlers and we got up with fast, speed, speed, speed, speed, speed, right? Did anybody take a step back and go, all right, Pacers did come within what, 48 minutes of winning a title. 44 minutes. Yeah, 44 minutes of winning a title. The Pacers also had three guys blow out their Achilles and now their team is in shambles with injury.

Did anybody say like, yeah, you know, they did do that, but I don't know. I'm just saying like I'm not so sure the speed speed speed thing I see calf and groin injuries every night all the time right it's like every night and everybody wants to get up the court faster everybody wants to play faster and I know that is an impact of Indiana there's no way around it and Oklahoma City for that matter right because you're not scoring on the set Oklahoma City defense so the way to do it is be able to get up and down the court right don't let them set up their defense right this is how we're going to be be able to get buckets. And it's like, did anybody, like, they did have, they have had three players that tore their Achilles. Like, that is crazy. And they've started off what? I think they got a win. Like, they just got to win. So they're two and 12. Oh, yeah. And been, like, wildly injury riddled. I'm not sure they're the greatest advertisement, despite the fact that they turned it up in the second half of the year and made it all the way. the game seven of the finals.

I'm not sure that they're the greatest advertisement for fast play. That's all I'm saying. Maybe. I don't. On the injuries, there's an Instagram post of like stars that are injured. Yeah, you have to like slide to the left, like swipe left. You can't really see how many pictures there are in the in the carousel. I just kept swiping.

I was like, oh yeah. It was like 20 guys. It was so depressing. And just very briefly in the copycat lead thing is the rockets are starting this like double big. First it was double big, and now it's offensive rebounding. Like, guess what? Offensive rebounding is good for your offense. Like, you think?

But you have to have the horses. You have to have Halliburton if you want to play that way. You have to have, you know, Shangoon and Thompson and Adams if you want to get all those offensive rebounds. So it's a, you kind of have to play to the strengths of your roster. You know, and there's all this discussion about the heat and how they're playing that sort of like Grizzlies, set no screens offense.

Well, I think part of that as a function of not having title, Hero. Right. Because something tells me, because Tyler Hero is great with the pick and roll. But if you don't have Tyler or Tyler Hero, what are you going to have Donovan, Damien Mitchell? You're going to be the main guy in the pick and roll? All right. Where am I now? Love or loathe? Love. There's a lot of attention on Derek Queen's performance against the Nuggets. And he deservedly so. And if you haven't seen it, just watch Derek Queen against the Nuggets. And he got Yokic's attention, right? And I'm glad. that he's getting all these flowers, and I'm glad that he's being spoken about something else

besides the trade, and he looked great in that one particular game. And watching Yokic sort of like turn up his level of intensity on defense because he's getting cooked was amazing. But I love fears, too. Like, let's not forget Jeremiah fears. Now, he's not like lighting it up and he's not, you know, jumping off the screen like Edgecombe was at the beginning of the year, like Cinnipple's been so consistent. But I think there's a lot there with Queen. and fears. And recently, you know, since Willie Green is gone, they started, it was just, I feel like James Brick was like, who are my best and most exciting players?

It was like it was fears, queen, Zion, Jones, and Murphy starting. And I was like, hmm, that could be something. Like, that's a sucker free lineup right there. you know what I mean? Not a lot of size, but Queen and Zion might be able to be competitive. Jones and Murphy and Fears. You know, you got some shooters.

You got some guys who can handle the ball, some playmakers. You know, your queen can do stuff. And Zion, Zion, like, I don't know. It's just between fears and Queen and Zion being back, it's just, it's not all bad in New Orleans. No, I had Queen on my loves for two reasons. Number one, I said when I first saw him at the beginning of the season, I'm like, man, I don't really get this.

Like, is this? here's a four that's like he has to be unbelievably skilled like you have to be like a chingoon or a yokit or one of these kind of guys because or a cousins or whoever and they name the guy right like you have to be so good because you're not going to be like you're not an elite defender right so you're an elite offensive player and you really don't stretch the floor all the way out to three but these guys are so unique i will tell you watching that game and then talking to people, like that is what he is. Like, that is what he is.

He is that special of an offensive talent. He is that skilled that he's going to be able to pull this off. Because that was my concern when I first saw him. It's like, what is this? Right? Well, you see him in college. Like, well, can he do that? No, no.

I saw him in his first game ever. And I even put the caveat. I said, look, now I saw Anthony Edwards at the very, beginning of his career and I was like the number one pick really you know what I felt the same way I felt the same way when he first started yeah yeah because he's just clueless right and so I saw him queen in his first game and all I'm thinking of is through the prism of holy crap the trade they made to give up their lottery pick and he will always like he's always going to be attached to that I never wish that upon anyway that's not his fault but they might have nailed it with him he is a

special, special talent. And he has not only been stamped by Yokic, I'm watching the Pelicans broadcast last week. And they're playing San Antonio. And Antonio Daniels in the broadcast, they put the camera upstairs, and he said he got a text from Tim Duncan during the game. About Queen?

Yes. I'm like, yo, if you're getting Timmy D stamps, if you're getting Yonkid stamps, yeah, yeah. So Queen is, he's, real. Like game recognized game. He's real. And the other thing I'll say is you never want that to be like, I don't know if they're going to, God forbid, they get the number one pick in the draft. And then it's like, well, he's got to be better. You know, that's not his fault. Right. I mean, I saw that happen to a kid this week. And I was like, oh, that's not fair. You know the culture we live in with the stupid memes.

I'm scrolling through Instagram And this poor kid I don't even want to I'm scared to even mention it because it's so ridiculous It is a picture of Rob Dillingham And the friggin

Like captioned The meme on it says Costly bum I mean I was like what And it goes on It's like they gave up a pick swap in 2030 and a first round

Unprotected in 2031 And I'm like He's in his second I give him a break. Well, also, like, what? Like, point cards famously take some time to mature when they get into the league, especially.

I don't know what he's going to be, but give him a break. Like, that's not his fault. Same thing goes to Derek Queen, but it is going to be crazy. Derek Queen may end up being absolutely unbelievable. And at least it's something for a team that's struggling. At least it's something fun to hold on to. It is. He's fun to watch.

Also, look at this draft. We've already talked about Cinnipple. Look, I saw my guy, Coward, have 19 last night. Oh, yeah, Carver was great. And this week, you've got Draymond comparing him to Kawhi Leonard. Now you have Queen, who I told you, is getting stamped by Yokic and Tim Duncan. And he's like the bottom of the lottery. It's like this.

Fears, Edge, cone, flag. Every episode, we're talking about a different rookie. It's unbelievable. I'm on basketball references looking at Fears a little bit because I want to talk about them on the show. And do the player comps are for, this is the basketball reference. They have all this dumb dick. It's kind of like Wikipedia. Like it's just kind of crazy.

Do you what the player comps are for fears? I can't wait. LeBron James and Michael Jordan. Not just like LeBron. LeBron and Michael Jordan. Like a mix of LeBron and Michael Jordan is who Jeremiah Fears is. I was like, all right. That might be a bit too much.

Moving on to my next loathe. I love that Kobe White is. back for the weird bulls. And he's only played in two games because 27 and 25. Like usually people kind of have to work their way back from injury. And he's just like, didn't miss a beat. And we first came back was that weird overtime, lost they had against the jazz. And he missed the Nuggets game.

And then there was that that game against Portland that they won. The Bulls won and then lost and then won again. It was wild watching that one. But I still load that he doesn't go by Jacoby White. It's always going to bother me. I cannot be a fan of Kobe White. How does he not stay true to the Jacoby? That's fun.

I just wanted to celebrate him a little bit and just load the fact that he's abandoned the Jacobes of the world. Also, can we mention the Vucci main game winner? What's he shooting from three this year? It's got to be over 40%. Let me look. Look, I honestly feel like nobody cares about this. He is the most disrespectful player. Like, go look at those like top 100 players lists.

and like he's always like people rank him below like just nothing players he's like even if you can't stand him on defense like he is a weapon and he yeah he's not yurk it's not yurk it's but you look up and you go damn man he had 27 and 16 or what like he's sure 43% from three this year 43% that guy yeah he's a weapon yeah he's a weapon you know he's a weapon you know he's a weapon you know All right. Next one. I'm going to go with my next load. The Mabbs mess.

Okay, so I just want to bitch. Tim McMahon's article about the Mavs Palace Intrigue is truly unbelievable. Like, this is exactly why you want somebody close to the situation. I didn't know how far back. I didn't know how it was going to go that far back. I thought it was going to be about Nico. I was like, oh. Well, and this whole like, I'm selling the team, but Mark

Cuban going out, but I still get to run the team, and then Nico kind of freezing out Cuban and getting the relationship with Dumont, but then Cuban getting the relationship back with Dumont and then getting Nico fired and leading a mutiny for that. It's like, oh, wow, this is, I mean, serious palis-centric. I love it. But then you have that, and it's like, we have had, within the last seven days, the Mavs are going to shop Anthony Davis. And then we have had Mark Cuban telling a reporter from the athletic, we're not shopping. Trying to win games.

You just fired this guy. Nico Harrison. How are you not on the same page now? Like, I mean, shouldn't that be the, shouldn't you've had the meeting? And like, okay, here's, here's who's going to be the voice. Here's what we're going to do going forward. Here's the plan. And it's like immediately.

You have Mark Cuban, like, telling a reporter, we're not getting rid of Anthony Davis, while there's other reports that they may shop Anthony Davis that just start building out around Cooper Flag. Like, what is going on? Like, once you fire the GM, like, that's the time to get the messaging straight. Right? There's the, like, I mean, didn't you have, wasn't that like the first meeting? And so who is saying you're trading, Anthony Davis? is if Mark Cuban, who now has some, like the ear of the owner is saying, we're not trading it.

Like, what a mess. That article read like succession or like gilded age or like some sort of like HBO drama. It was fascinating, the sort of power struggles that are going on there. And one of my first things was when they won the Western Conference, you know, they had the, you know, the little celebration and the trophy and all that. And like Cuban wasn't even like in the shot. like he wasn't even it was one thing for like you know them to hand the trophy to dumont but cuban wasn't even like part of the group that was on the floor and i found that that was when i first started scratching my head like what's going on here i thought he was

still part of this group well i know your another one that you have is palace intrigue and another organization this is yes this is one of my loaths how do i say this i have a bunch of kids you've got kids i just want my kids to be like friendly with each other when they grow up you know what i mean and the buses, like this latest news is the Los Angeles Lakers, I think this is the Champs suite, are reorganizing their basketball operations department and terminating executives, Joey and Jeannie Bus, from their respective front office positions effective immediately. The brothers told ESPN. And then as part of their statement, here's what they said,

quote, we wish things could be different with the way our time ended with the team. At times like this, we wish we could ask our dad what he would think about it all. And I watched that winning time scripted show about sort of like the, you know, Jerry Bus taking over the Lakers. And what's happening with these kids, like Jeannie, so Joey and Jesse, who just got fired, our younger siblings of Jeannie. She also had a public falling out with her older brothers, Johnny and Jim, in 2017 after she removed Jim as president of basketball operations. So she is now sort of like exonerate, not exonerated, she's gotten rid of three. No, four. Four.

Well, she's fired three, brother. Yeah, okay. Yeah, well, yeah, or she, yes. But it's just like, whatever's happening there. You know, I just don't like it. Well, I'm not going to cry too much because that sale just, like, went final recently. And evidently, they all got a billion dollars. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you can give me a billion dollars on my way out the door, I'll happily pack up my things in a cardboard box and walk out.

But it's just kind of like a bummer. It's just a bummer to me. that all these siblings can't get along. Do you have siblings? Yeah, I have an older brother. I was thinking about this. I have an older sister. I could see my sister firing me.

I can see my brother firing me. I deserve it, though. That's not fair. We're the wrong ones. I would deserve it. How much older is your brother? Two years. Yeah.

Oh, well, that's close. Okay, that's way worse. So my sister is seven years older than me, right? So the relationship is always different. That's different. Yeah. Right. I was eight when she was 15. So like when we were in the, when we first had, when we had our first kid, we were in the, we were in like to get the sonogram or whatever it's called, the ultrasound.

And they're like rubbing the thing, you know, and it like shows up on the screen. And the, and the nurse is like, and that's a penis. And I jumped up out of the chair and I went, yes. And I was like, I'm for sure, like, not supposed to do that. But all I knew, when I was first having to keep my terror, all I knew from growing up, my first memories, like real memories are a teenage girl in my house fighting with my parents, right? Like, I'm six, and my sister's 13, and, like, they're just screaming back and forth each other. And I'm like, just let me have a boy first, please.

because I don't think I'm going to I'm already going to be in shambles and like I don't know and so anyways I say all that to say my sister was seven years older than me like if we ended up running something like could I see a day where my sister was like you know what Chris you've done I can see I can yeah you just I can see her firing me I could yeah my brother's like he's very stable and smart and measured and mature you know what I mean so he would for sure yeah he would fire me yeah he would So we can't go too far with this, right? I don't know if she was fired all of her siblings. All of them? All, not one of them? Sticks to stay around? Well, and the crazy thing is, as I understand it, the whole sale thing was originally like four to two.

But it was when they did it. Three to three? No, no, no. The votes were four to two. But she's the one that flipped. It was three and three. That's why they weren't selling. Oh.

And then Jeannie flipped because she was going to get to keep being like whatever. She was going to get, like, basically the deal was I'll get to still be in charge. I'll still get to run things if I flip, right? So it's three, three. Think about it this, right? There's three kids on this side, three kids on this side. but then one of them on one of the threes Jeannie, she goes

well if I get to run it I'll flip over to the cell side and so then they did and she gets to run it that's why it was 3-3 and it was like a stalemate but she flipped and made it 4-2 so 4 now they

Are you insinuating there might have been a deal that was made? I mean no there was oh I like that good for her That's how they ended up getting sold. It flipped to 4-2. Yeah, yeah. Oh, boy, real palace intrigue, right?

I'd love to know. I would love to know the conversations that happen behind closed doors between those siblings. I don't think they're going to be sharing Thanksgiving together. I don't think they're all getting together. And, yeah. Okay. I have some turkey.

One more love and one more low, so I'll do these quick. All right, since we're talking about the Lakers, I'm going to say the LeBron back and can play with anyone. So I love this. I love this number one because he did fall into the background and just kind of pass and have the 12 assist or whatever in their first game back. And, you know, was not nearly the leading shot taker. In fact, he was way down the list. And then he gets to come in the locker room and say, I don't know why everybody was wondering about how I would fit in.

I can play with anyone, which a literal graveyard of 20 years of players. that you didn't want to play with. Roy's this up from the graveyard. I'd be like, you can play with anyone. Who has gotten more people traded than LeBron? Do you remember the Cavs trade deadline? When they traded like his best friend, Dwayne Wade? Like that's his best friend.

They traded him. It was like Dan Thomas and Crowder. And the whole team was traded at the deadline one year. I don't know why everybody's so surprised. I can play with anyone. No one in the history of the NBA has gotten more teammates traded than LeBron. I mean, I respect it, right?

And he's been the best player on earth for 25 years. But like, come on, bro. Really? Well, it's also like the Lakers are so good, like, should they trade LeBron? The Lakers are off to a hot start? How are they going to fold LeBron into the offense? Like, I think it'll be fine.

I don't know. Someone tells me LeBron's going to make it work. He has for 23 years. I think it'll be fine. My quick will love, this is just for you, because I hate what the Grizzlies are doing to you. I just love that Zach Edie's back and he's tall. He went seven for seven last night.

Oh, he was a shot. He drained a three to start the game. Yes, yes. He just like, this was the first minute of the game. It was just like a trail three. And I feel like he felt himself after that. He's so tall.

He's such a monster. He's a handful. He also does change everything on the court. He just does because he's 7.5, right? Yeah. He changes things in front of the rim. and also he actually like defenders die on screens and that is very underrated it then gets an offense going or gets you open shots like if i come around to zach edie screen i get to shoot the ball right

and it's like or someone's going to leave their man in the corner and then he's going to get to shoot the ball yeah yeah yeah it's underrated i would love to see him switch on to a small in the playoffs but uh no yeah but he's tall i just wanted something positive for the for the for the He's also fun to watch. He is just by being, like, it's, it's like, he's so much bigger than everyone. It is fun to watch. It is fun to watch. I love stuff like that.

Sometimes, like, if Wendy's playing, I'll get one of my, like, 10-year-old twins in the room, I'll be like, Margo, come here. See that guy? Look how tall he is. And she's just like, what? Or like, sometimes I've been doing a Yokich is playing. I'll bring one of my twins in the room and I'll be like, that's the best player in the world. They're like, no, no, he's not, dad.

I'm like, he's the best player on the planet that fat dude. Dude, like, what? I mean, you know how big you have to be to look like a giant on an NBA court? Yeah. Like, you see other, like, regular-sized dudes walk up next to him, and you're like, God! You know, like, somebody that's like 6-6 comes up, he's like up to his elbow. Like, how big is this guy?

Yeah, he's fun to watch. She's sort of like in a freak show way. My last loathe. You know, I mentioned that pod that had Curry on it with Lebronad. and Nash. Just the reality of them talking about how Curry's going to be 40 and LeBron like just basically like dismisses the Olympics. Like I'm not like I'll be watching on my couch like you.

And then Curry, Curry's like it doesn't seem like he's very committal about it. And it's like, damn, man. Like I guess we'll always have that. We'll have that documentary on Netflix. And maybe that's how it should end. but it's going to be super annoying if we go to the Olympics.

Finally, it's in the United States after all these years and Wembe comes and then beats us on our heart, right? Like that is a nightmare to me. It's like, oh, shoot. Like, we won there. And it sets up for this revenge. And there's this reality of like, damn, man, when we get to the Olympics,

are we really not going to have Curry or LeBron and Durant? and it's like we're so used to watching them play in the NBA every night and they're all still awesome but then to hear them talk like yeah i don't know like either we're either they're playing at 40 years old or there's a reality of like are you going to be ready for this jelan brunson and anthony edwin flag yeah jason jason tatum like oh shoot like i don't know it's kind of sad it just even them talking about that Olympics and then showing those highlights. You can't underestimate how that was one of my favorite basketball viewing experiences ever. I mean that.

When Curry took over that game. The Serbia game and the France game. The night night. Oh, the Serbia game was also just, what a watch. What a watch. I remember exactly where I was. I was locked in. I thought it would be a blowouts.

wasn't really paying that much attention. It was, what a game. Those two games were fantastic. And it's just like, he bailed us out completely, bailed us out and just took it over and was like, and then did the night night, the whole thing. And it's like, oh, my God, this is iconic. This is unbelievable.

Where are the Olympics when they come here, L.A.? Yes. I forgot that. Do you what I forgot? I was watching, because I love, I casually watch, like, Premier League Soccer, just because it's on, like, Saturday morning. I'll put it on or whatever and like bet $5 on like the spurs or whatever. But I do love the,

there's something about when it says USA across the chest, like it's excited. I was watching the men's national team play Uduay. And they scored like four goals in the first 20 minutes. It was awesome. It was an awesome, awesome experience. And I completely forgot the World Cup is going to be here in like seven months. The World Cup is going to be here.

Like this summer. Yes. Shocked. Like, Don just got creft up on me. That's going to be awesome. It's going to be awesome. I can't wait until the World Cup is here. Because soccer is sort of like not our sport and our team isn't that good and it feels like

the World Cup is always like somewhere else and the games are on at weird times. But it's going to be in our backyard this summer is going to be awesome. It's the time I watch. Yeah. I watch the World Cup. I watch. I'm not a big soccer fan. I respect it.

I'm just not a big soccer fan. I don't have like a favorite team and I don't, you know what I mean, I don't keep up with it. But I watch the entire World Cup. I mean, I watch all of it. I listen to the men and Blazers podcast. Like I go all in. I go all in for that summer. Like that's what I'm,

that's what I'm focused on. And I will know everything about the teams, you know, when they're playing. And the games will be on at like 8 p.m. They'll be on like Sunday at one because they're always on at weird times, which is like kind of frustrating. But it's going to be great. I can't wait for that. I'm going to go to one of the games.

I'm going to go to one games. My final love is this. They say the tickets are crazy. I know. Well, who was it? Someone hit, someone hit me up. I forget who it was.

It was like, it's like some guy, like my barber or something. It was like, can you get me tickets to the rock up? I was like, dude, I can't get myself tickets to the world.

We got to get a Spotify connect. They're an international company. Hook us up, Spotify. Yeah. We'll go watch the Swedes play. Sure. Yeah. Yeah, I'll do that.

My final love is, I love the new story of, about the Nets telling Michael Porter Jr. to chill out on podcasts. Have you seen that? Yes. I don't even want to repeat what he said that led to that, because it's just cockamamie.

But like, now, guys, now, after the summer of terror, after he ripped through every single podcast, making headlines for saying ridiculous things, now they want him to chill out. And I looked at his podcast.

You know, he has a podcast, right? Do you know what's called? What's that? Curious Mike. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Curious Mike.

He has like porn stars. He has like porn stars. He's got, ended up the, you know, like the thinking man, uh, statue.

He's kind of got like one of those, like a pensive look and he's sitting down. And it says, curious Mike in like a thought bubble. It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. And I just want to end with a quick,

um, a quick description from, um, uh, wherever you get your podcast, hopefully Spotify. Curious Mike. Here's the description.

Quote, an interview show hosted by Michael Porter Jr., where he brings on guests to ask questions, learn, and share the insight with his listeners. This is my favorite part. Michael isn't claiming to know all the answers, but wanted to create a space where it's okay to talk about anything and everything. And the Nets were like, no, it's not. And the Nets are like, it is not okay. So you saw that clip that was going around this week with him. Yeah, of course. Lonza. Yeah, of course. I don't even want to discuss it. I hate that. That's one of my least

favorite conversations is when dudes say they can play in the WMBA. I hate it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, the other conversation. I'm sorry. Was that a his podcast? No, I don't think it was his. I think that was the Ball's Ball Brothers or whatever. Okay. Well, they asked, they asked Porter Jr., who was the guy he played with in the preps?

That, I mean, I spit my coffee. Who was the guy that he played with in the preps that he, that did not live up to, whatever? And he names this guy. And he said, and he was a McDonald's All-American, and he was seven foot he was everything and he goes and i like a year ago i looked him up he's like and there was a mug shot and he had transitioned and it got like a full woman now and is whatever

and ronzo ball's response was does she still hoop and i was okay oh god okay you are going to get us canceled okay in all senses of the word said that And the podcast before the net tells us to stop, just stop saying things into microphones. I mean, that clip is everywhere. I didn't see it. It was a crazy story. It was a crazy story. No doubt.

Crazy story. But I mean, like, you're not going to be able to stop him from being a guest. That's the problem. You can tell him to stop doing on his own podcast. It doesn't matter where he goes. That wasn't even supposed to be controversial. And he can't keep himself from it. That's the point here.

Well, somehow the nuggets. Even when he's trying to not get in trouble, he somehow walks down the path where he gets in trouble. Well, the nuggets kept this all under wraps for so long. And you know that quote about Yokic? Like, what was your advice or whatever? He said, like, use condoms. Like, maybe there's a reason that Yolkes said that. Yes.

And also, credit to Denver. Whoever kept him under wraps. Yes. The Communications Department in Denver. It's been doing great work. Great work by them. All right. Big thanks to Jesse Lopez, our executive producer as always and Jacoby.

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