The Mismatch - Thunder Sweep Lakers, Cavs Tie it at 2 and Pivotal Game 5 for Spurs-T’Wolves

Episode Date: May 12, 2026

Verno and Jacoby return to react to Monday’s playoff matchups. The Thunder remain undefeated as they sweep the Lakers, and the Cavs tie the series at 2 with the Pistons. They also preview Game 5 between the Spurs and the T’Wolves and examine the Knicks' run and the NBA Draft Lottery. Welcome to The Mismatch! (2:05) Thunder-Lakers: Lakers fought hard in a 115-110 loss (7:41) Thunder Dominate playoffs, Sweep Suns and Lakers (10:11) Lebron Swept: Time to take a pay cut or retire? (16:20) Pistons-Cavs: Mitchell drops 43 pts in 112-103 Win, series tied 2-2 (25:44) Knicks Sweep Sixers 4-0: 497points, averaging 124+ PPG (30:31) Plenty of rest for Anunoby and crew before Eastern Conference Finals (37:35) Wemby was tossed for Flagrant 2 in the 2nd quarter, time served by the NBA. (44:00) Wolves need ‘Super’ Ant: Edwards needs to go off to Advance. (46:00)  Dylan Harper: Rookies having moments in the Playoffs (54:21) NBA Draft Lottery: Verno Jumps off the Couch, Grizzlies land no. 3 pick (58:17) 2026 NBA Draft Top Four: 1. Dybansta, 2. Peterson, 3. Boozer, 4. Wilson Leave us a message on our Mismatch Voicemail line! [phone] Hosts: Chris Vernon and David Jacoby Producers: Stefan Anderson and Jeff Shearin Social: Keith Fujimoto Protect your summer today at WeatherTech.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

To the mismatch, I'm Chris Farnan and joining me to see us every week from the wringer.com. It's Dave Jacoby. Chobby. Verno, it's 1.30 in the morning in New York. We just watched a great game. Lakers swept. I don't know if I want to talk to you more about the wimby elbow thing that felt like three weeks ago. The fact that the Grizzlies got the number three pick in the draft or the New York Knickerbockers. You pick. We're going to start with the games that went on tonight.

Okay. First of which was we finally got, we've gotten two semi-close games in the eight Thunder victories thus far as they have now bowed their way to the Western Conference finals. They've won eight. They beat the Lakers by 18, 18, 23, and we finally got a single digit of five at the very end. This was a good one. This was close.

This was. Oh, you know what? Well, and credit to Phoenix. At the end, they got beat by nine as well, right? Like, they were, their last game was a single-digit game. This episode of The Mismatch is presented to you by WeatherTech. Everyone knows Winter is the MVP in making a mess. You don't need WeatherTech floor liners in the summer.

Unless you hit the beach or go camping, then you'd want a cargo liner. Or a road trip goes sideways. ketchup goes rogue, ice cream drips, yeah, you'd be pretty happy about those weather tech seat protectors. So just to be clear, as the mud you're inevitably going to step in this summer, you don't need weather tech unless you plan on doing summer. So visit weathertech.com today. This was the first like real tester for Oklahoma City. like, all right, nip-tuck game. You've got to make all the plays

down the stretch. And of course, as they have throughout the last two seasons, they passed said tests. And it's a different guy seemingly every time. I thought the Lakers played really, really well in this game. And I felt like everybody, the viewing public and even

Dwayne Wade, who was on the call, was waiting for there to be the blood in the water that the thunder smelled and then they would pounce on it. And the Lakers, like, they never let go of the rope. He even used that exact term, right, waiting for them to let go of the rope, especially when it could be one, two, three, Cancun.

The Lakers played this all the way to the very end, got a pretty good look from Austin Reeves to tie it at the end when they were down by three. But they head to the summer and the Thunder have not lost a playoff game. I mean, let's focus on down the stretch a little bit before we start going to a big picture. And I thought that LeBron had a great look going to his right. LeBron wanted Caruso. Like, remember when they were like talking last game? Like it seemed LeBron backed down Caruso for 10 seconds like on five different possessions during this game.

And scored on most of them in the end going to his right, got past Caruso, had a nice little like, you know, tough angle, but like a six foot little thing that we've seen him hit a million times he couldn't hit. But there were one play that really killed the Lakers was they got to stop. the balls in the bronze hands. I think they didn't show a replay, but I think it was I heart just kind of poked it out. And it turned into a turnover like right under the Lakers basket. You could hear Dwayne would go, oh, brawny.

It's just like, he goes, oh, brawny. Yeah. That was a huge turnover. And like, you know, Reeves had a good look too. Well, and they run this unbelievable play where they just, I mean, it's just bop the ball around from SGA to eye heart. down to Chet. Chet gathers himself under the basket and dunks it

in order for them to take the lead. It's interesting to see the way this thing played out because by the time you get to your whole season's on the line, JJ really buttoned it up and it was really counting on like six by the end because he just, he was done with Ait. So Aiton was done. Oh, Aiton.

Aitin's in street clothes. It's gone. Jackson Hays was doing. It's good. All game. Yeah, no, he was really good. Playoff Rui continued to be a thing for them. Obviously, Austin Reeves had a nice game for them. And then on the other side, I mean, this AJ Mitchell has been an absolute revelation. I mean, it would be being, getting that basically the Jalen Williams role and then performing at the Jalen Williams level. You know, he has another 28 tonight. It's mega efficient. And he is just absolutely awesome. And I think everybody that's watching it is like, seriously? Like, this is what this guy is capable of doing.

Like, imagine if he got the big minutes, right? Because he's clearly worthy of big minutes because he's, I mean, this is now the second round of the playoffs. And the guy looks like one of the best players on the floor. He's great. It makes me think that like Sorber is going to win rookie of the year next year. See what I mean? I'm just like it just seems like once you put that uniform on,

become the best version of yourself. Mitchell had a naked three at the end that would have been huge that he missed. Would have been. And I totally thought that was going down, didn't you? Yes. Of course. I thought it was going down. He was wide open. Naked. And Jared McCain

off the bench, gives him 13, continues to hit threes off of their bench, and the world of the NBA just keeps lamenting the fact that the Philadelphia 76ers who just I mean, he just went home by getting completely blown out and three balled out of their minds.

They might could have used somebody that could knock down threes for that Sixers team. But nevertheless, he is an Oklahoma City Thunder. And as we talked about when that happened at the trade deadline, it's like, this guy's got to do something in the playoffs too. And sure enough, he's done stuff in the playoffs. going they said they said before tonight you know he shot well from three tonight and they said his average went down because he was shooting 82% from three prior to the evening and i was like come he was three for eight but he hit some big ones and like it just felt like i've actually i honestly

like the lakers played pretty good in game three too but when you watch when you watch them operate in offense for the lakers to score it's like three plays three plays have to make a great play. You know, it's like someone has to break down their man and then a swing and then an upbake and then, you know, and then like a shot and something makes a great rebound and put back. It seems like, but the Thunder just basically

one person has to do one thing and then they've got you completely screwed. Well, and the trick is, can you keep the turnovers low and can you make it a half-core basketball game? And because of the ridiculous amount of fouls and foul shooting, that's why in that third quarter, there was nine free throws for the Lakers. There's 11 free throws for Oklahoma City.

And so you're playing a bunch of dead ball basketball. What you can't do, the way you're getting run out by Oklahoma City is that that game is moving up and down. You want to be able to play as much deadball basketball as you can against them because their, their MO is just they're going to, they're going to scatter you and turn to you over and kill you in transition. And the Lakers had 19 turnovers. Some of those were really bad. And, you know, we have a full summer to talk about sort of like off season moves or whatever. But like Austin Reeves did not cover himself in glory in this series. But that third quarter when LeBron was on the bench, Austin was cooking.

Like that's how they got back in the game and got the lead. Like Austin Reeves was just cooking in that third quarter. And in the first half, he had one of the best moves in the NBA season, his crossover that he finished at the. rim. I mean, he put on a show for the L.A. fans for, uh, we had wondered when I was on Simmons podcast about the, who the fans would be. He had Jessica Alba. I saw was there. Love her. There, yeah, everybody. I've been an Alba guy my entire life. There was a couple, there was a couple other ones that were there at the game tonight. Sean Connery sat next to Leo. Oh, no, no, Sean Penn. Sean Penn. That's right. Yeah. Sean Connery. I bought the cigarette from

Sean Penn in like 2002, what time. Didn't even know it was. him. It would have been amazing because Sean Connery's dead for a long time. Yeah, rest of peace, James Bond. Anyways. But tomorrow never dies. Yeah. But they ended up like they did have some celebrities there and they did put forth a good effort.

It was just in the absence of Luca Donchitz, it was never enough. Frankly, I think they overachieve to even be in this position. I mean, I thought that I think they played as good as they possibly could. and I did sort of like forget they had Luca Donchich. You know, sometimes I'm like, I wonder what this would look like if they had Luca Donchich. You know, like, that'd be nice. A lot better. Yeah, if Rui can still shoot like that.

And all of a sudden, LeBron's like that third option in LeBron that they had. Like, you never know. I mean, again, we have the entire summer to speculate about LeBron James's future. So we don't need to waste time on that tonight. But like, I don't know. Oh, it's totally reasonable to think that that was the last time we saw him in the Laker uniform. Of course.

But in fact, if Fanduel calls you, because I know you have a direct line to Fandall, our sponsor, what, what odds would you put on LeBron as a Laker?

Right now on Fandle, they said, Vernon, we know you're tapped into the NBA. Plus 200. We listen to the mismatch. Plus 200. Oh, no.

Oh, no, no, no, no. No, no. You just got fired from your position. No. No. I don't, I look, I think I'm taking money on that because of bozos like you.

He's not going to be a Laker. It's over. It's over. It's a Luke operation now, and they're going to pay Reeves. And so unless he's going to play for a dollar, he's not going to play. Do they have to pay Reeves?

Like sometimes I'm like, is this? Yeah, have to. Yes, he's 20 years younger. Well, no. I mean, yeah, I think one thing that Dwayne Wade said was they floated the idea of, like, LeBron sort of like, playing for less money, which he has to at this point.

Like giving him a lot. He's $60 million is ridiculous. And he's like, well, he doesn't really take discounts. I'm like, so here's, all right. So a Fanduil consultant over under LeBron's salary next to me, regardless of where he plays. It's an interesting question, right? Yeah, 20 million? I don't know.

Sure. I don't know either. But like, if he wants to contend, he should take less money. Yeah, I mean, the money I don't think LeBron wants to play for the vet minimum. Yeah, but the money's not going to be in the salary. The money is going to be in the, I don't want to do this. We have all summer to do this.

It's going to be the intensely insufferable farewell to the king. Go to every arena, get a gift, bow to me. Here's my documentary film group following me. like, that's the money. We don't have to do this now. The money's going to be in the... Do you know how many times we're going to have to readdress LeBron's future

over the next three months? There's going to be a report. Every two days there's going to be a report. Okay. Times that we address LeBron's future, over under the amount of times that we have addressed Janice's future with nothing happening.

Over. You say, every single pod that we do. Because in the off season, we do once a week. Every pod, It's going to be every, it's good. You know what? I'm already tired of talking about LeBron's off season.

It's been four minutes. All right. Well, look, the Thunder have given us no reason to believe. Good job, Thunder. That they cannot truck through this thing once again. They will have, we will, it's going to take a Western Conference Finals to test them. That's what we do know, because they've mowed through these first two rounds completely. Now, it's not exactly, look, the sun.

and the Lakers in their current state are not, those teams are drawn dead anyway. Oh, absolutely. Because even the Sons were having to deal with guys being out, right? They could have really used probably Mark Williams, Jordan Goodwin. Look, they wouldn't have, they wouldn't have won the series. They wouldn't have probably won multiple games, but they could have been more competitive. That's all I'll say.

But neither of these teams had a chance against them. and at least in the West finals, they're going to be facing a team that has a chance. What? Because I remember last year, the Thunder's weaknesses were rebounding and three-point shoot. Right. Seems pretty short up at this point.

When, you know, you got McCain knocking everything down and Mitchell knocking everything down. I don't know. Like, I don't see a lot of weaknesses with this team. I mean, it is honestly, you have to try to get them into half-court basketball. And it is almost impossible. I think it's also worth mentioning.

They played, like, again, semi- hobbled sons and extremely hobbled Lakers. That's right. I mean, you know, if you look at the odds before the series started, it's not like they're blowing through great competition in these two series. But it will take either Minnesota or San Antonio

to show us what the issue is, right? Because now you are playing against really well-coached teams, stacked with players that also is just going to be game planning specifically against you. What we're saying is these teams didn't have the goods, even if they had the game plan, they didn't have the goods to execute it. I will also say this though, Bruno. I think it's worth saying this. We won't know their weaknesses until somebody exposes their weaknesses,

which these two teams were incapable of doing. That's what I'm trying to. I wouldn't say incapable because I think it's been a pretty, for his, standards pedestrian SGA so far, especially in that Laker series. I mean, he just had to score for it. He had like 38 tonight, didn't. No. Let me look at it.

I guarantee he ended up with 35. Yeah, 35 points. Jesus Christ. Didn't feel like it. You don't notice it. God. It's surgical. 50% from the field 35 points.

I'm like, he hasn't been great. This is ridiculous. Yeah. You don't even notice. Like it's it's what he does every night. It's what he does every night. It's never going to jump off the screen at you. And then you look up at the end and you're like, oh, my God.

That's the great ones. The great ones at the end when you're looking at their box score, you're like, I literally just watched that game. Yeah, he had 18, 22, 23, and 35 in this series. Yeah. Well, I mean, they also, they won those games by 1880. Yeah, they don't need them. Yeah, yeah.

Twenty-three. Jesus. Yeah. So now they are, they're going to get to kick their feet up, much like your New York Knicks. And they swept the Sixers. Well, let's do just do Caves. Let's do tonight's games first.

We stayed up to $130 for a reason. Okay. I was blown away with the calves. I did not see that coming. Donovan Mitchell was it, it was 56 to 50 pistons. And then it was 75 to 56 cats. So the pistons had the same score.

It's a 25-0 run. And I watched it all happening. I'm texting you during it. And I still can't believe it's happening. I can't believe it. I never thought the pistons are giving up a 25-0 run. But it was just an absolute tsunami. and Mitchell in the third quarter in seven minutes had 21 points on eight of nine,

two of three from three and just blew the doors off the pistons there. So I think my biggest takeaway from this one, because, you know, we all, you've got the spiral notebook and I've got my own system. And I take like individual detailed notes about every possession, possessions to stick out to me. And then I've got a separate section, which is like big picture notes that I'll use for the show. And in the first half, one of my big picture notes I want to use for the show was,

what the fuck is up with Donovan Mitchell? In the second half, one of my big picture notes was, what the fuck is up with Donovan Mitchell? It was so bad in the first half. Like, what are you going to end up with like four? Four. Four points? Yeah.

But yeah, I think, yeah, I think, yeah, on like, how many attempts I don't have in front of me? It was like, it wasn't like he was missing shots. It was kind of like passive and Harden started hot. And then in the third quarter, whatever happened at halftime, and he said, I've got the quote here. He said, I told the guys it's on me. I tried to make a statement in the second half. Did he ever? He made a statement in the second half.

Did he ever? And you know, when we were talking about, can a team expose your weaknesses? I mean, they made Osir Thompson totally unplayable and now have a debate going on about where, where after the game, J.B. Vickerstaff is having to explain why Jalen Duren is playing. It's gotten that bad. It's crazy. Because the Duren thing, it was, it was like, because, you know, he kind of redeemed himself in the game seven against Orlando, which kind of for at least a moment made people forget how dismal he had been in that series. But, yeah, let's not, let's remind people.

there were six games of bad before one game of pretty good. But there was that whole like Wendell Carter, Angel Reese thing hanging out there and like extenuating circumstances. But there's no way, there's no Wendell Carter or Angel Reese involved in this one. The guy just stinks. He has been so bad. Two rebounds. He might have cost himself a hundred million dollars throughout this. I mean, and it's one of those things that we've talked about.

Sometimes guys are too young. to be granted what they are granted, and then the expectations come along with that, right? Cade Cunningham's going through it right now because when he's amazing, he's the talk of the town. And then in game three, he's 10 for 27 with eight turnovers. In game four, he's five for 14 with four turnovers. He shoots less than, you know, 30, 35 percent in the last two games.

So I think you're being a little unfair to Cade because they're just, they're doubling him, they're blitzing them, I'm taking roles. They're getting the ball out of his hands. Like the story is, it's like, they don't have other creators. And they had Caris LaVert and Tobias Harris Harris in the first half. They look great. Like, but they are, it's not just like, oh, Cade is, how do I say it? Cade is not performing poorly.

The defense is saying someone else beat us. No. Cade has been crap. I mean, what is you watching? What are you watching? He turned the ball over three times in 90 seconds. in game four at the end of the game, just reckless. And then this, and then this game, I mean, he's 10 for,

he was 10 for 27 in game three. And then tonight, like, again, this is the figuring out. This is what being a superstar is that you've got to figure it out. And so that's going to be the trick. Either he figures it out and he's not crap against Cleveland or they're going to lose. That's it. because he's the one that makes that whole thing go. And obviously he doesn't have his running buddy Duren.

These numbers on Duren, that was his, I mean, he had two rebounds, four turnovers, and five fouls. I think it was sixth single digit game. He had seven, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, 70 regular season games this year is what he played in. He had single digit six times. He has had single digits as many times in playoff games as he did the entire season. This guy was 20 and 10 every night.

And he's, now you can't even get 10 out of him. It's just such a different sport. Wild. It's such a different sport. It's a completely different sport. And, you know, how many of those, it's one of those things where it's like, oh, Jalen Dern, All Star, 20 and 10 every single night. Even Kade was out.

Remember, he kind of like went on a run, another couple 30-point games, whatever? he gets spoon fed so many points and so many possessions. And then in the playoffs, they're just cutting that off. And Donovan Mitchell was catching a lot of heat because Cade Cunningham, again, like you're playing in a playoff series. The best player on the floor was Cade Cunningham. Like Mitchell needed this tonight because Hardin failed him out of the last game, game three, their first win.

But this was like the, the Mitchell night. And obviously, Mowgli was great. tonight too. Like the two guys, the two guys that they really, and Hardin was good in this game. But the story was Mitchell and Mobley, both simultaneously being fantastic

because those guys have caught a tremendous amount of heat, well-deserved heat. I mean, even in, you know, in game two, what, Mobley had one rebound or something like that? I think it was game three. Or that was game two. Yeah, whatever it was. Yeah, he had eight rebounds tonight, five big blocks.

Like he was just so much more of a presence. And just like poking the ball away and get in front of people and switching. He was that like deep, DPOY, Mowgli that we haven't seen this entire postseason. Like he, he looked really good. But this this Cavs team in the second half tonight reminded me of the Cavs team I saw in game one, game two against the Raptors. Where it was like, oh, yeah, this is everyone's playing the role. Everyone's doing what they're supposed to do. Struces is making buckets and making energy plays.

Steele, game three was awesome. Strues's dunking, Strues talking trash. They were doing, I mean, listen, when your leader, when your team leader franchise guy at halftime says,

guys, this is on me, I'm going to make a statement in the second half, and then comes out and just flames, just like flames the entire thing. That rising tide just lifts all the, votes. When your lead guy is, you know, has four points in the first half, at 39 in the second, ties the most in the second half of playoff game ever. Like, that's going to make you feel better.

That's going to make everything a little easier on you. Now, this was the night of Donovan Mitchell for sure. And now that leads us to what will be a pivotal game five, but step back, neither of these teams has proven to be trustworthy to be able to, you know what I mean, because I thought, I thought the Pistons would respond after the game three. And three felt like if it weren't for a couple of hardened stepbacks at the end, you know, we were on our way to a sweep. I think as a Knicks guy, you've got to be sitting back and just like, this is Cheshire or cat stuff because you're watching this like, okay,

whichever one, come on, like, neither of you. Like watching them battle it out with each other. That's, I mean, yeah, it's a. Neither of them. We don't walk away going, wow, these teams are mega impressive because they have both given us reasons to be impressed by them

when they're at their best and both given us reason to watch them and be like, what the hell? Like the pistons, what the hell? 25 to zero run. Like, you're built on defense. How can that ever happen in life? Doesn't it feel like

at some point J.B. should call time out and be like, okay, guys, let's change up our Mitchell coverage. You know what I mean? It's like, it just feels like, just call time out. I'm like, hey, how about we get the ball out of his hands, maybe double him or put Thompson on him or something? Like, it's just like...

There's a tsunami. I don't know. It was tough. It was tough. Well, and as we... There was a cavalanche. It was a cavalanche. A cavalanche, as they say.

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Yeah. And your nicks are sitting there up with their feet up. Because they won their close-out game by 30 over the Sixers. They swept them out. Yeah. 30. They scored 140. They scored 144.

They're now eight and two in the playoffs. They have got eight wins by a hundred and ninety six points and two losses by two points. A combined two. I mean. I mean, what has happened where it just all seemingly. has clicked at the absolute perfect time. And you got to do it without Ananova. Well, a lot has happened.

Carl Anthony Towns, a lot of, everyone's saying, oh, in game four, the Hawks series, Carl Anthony Towns, they made him like a fulcrum of the offense, and he's getting all these assists or whatever. But, like, for me, he's playing great defense. Their defense in the last month of the regular season, their defense has been just fantastic. Like, I've never seen Carl Anthony Towns play.

the defense like this. I think we, I think you, we do have to credit the involvement on offense to that, though. It's something that we talked about long ago, which is how many times this guy can just run up and down the court and never touch the ball. And then you expect him to rebound and defend. And a lot of times, like, you've got to make big guys feel involved. And it feels like there is such an onus. But even if it isn't, you know, running plays for him, scoring.

wise, he is a major part of the offense where he is touching the ball. Like, he's involved all the time and I think it has led to them getting the best version of him defense. Yeah, I agree. And he's always been a good passer. Like, he kind of has like a highlight pass

every once in a while, like a great back cut or something sort of like behind the back thing. Like he's kind of like a flashy passer. But like this has been great. And he had nine assists in the first half. Nine assists the first half of game four. Well, I mean, they're shooting. They're shooting fireballs.

I mean, it was insane. That was insane. Deuce McBride, he was like, what, six for seven or something at one point? Also insane, the amount of cheering every time they paid the shots. Before he even, like, the ball would be headed his direction in the entire crowd.

Just like, doze. And then Shamit comes in, just starts hitting shots. It was nuts, dude. It was nuts. And the amount of Knicks fans there. I mean, it was just all, I mean, just so depressing.

So depressing. If you're a, if you're a Philly fan watching that unfold as your whole arena has just been overtaken by Knicks fans. I saw like the local news broadcast where it's just like bombarded by Nick's fans. I thought that Maxie had the right answer to that. He's like, it's on us to win the games. Because if they win game three, that's, it's not going to look like that in game four. But when you're down 3-0 in a series. and it's kind of like the perfect storm too

because it's an hour and a half away. Yeah. It's a quick train ride. It's what's also in the middle of the day. Right. So it's not even a night game. You can sleep in your bed. You can go there and sleep in your bed.

And I heard somebody explaining that because of the proximity to it and the fact that with the amount of Knicks fans that are in this, you know, everything's at a fever pitch with this playoff run and how much everybody's in love with this team and their championship opportunity and whatever else. This is the chance for New Yorkers, New

Jerseyers, whoever, to be able to go to a game because the garden, as you have explained to us on it, it's too damn expensive. I can't go. I can't go to a game. Right. You could get in, you could drive an hour and a half and get into a game. Yeah, and just like, you know, if you're listening to this in

Australia or whatever, huge international audience for the mismatch. It's not, people think like, oh, New York, it's a train ride to Philadelphia, but New Jersey's in between Pennsylvania and New York, and it's a kind of, there's like a Philadelphia side of New Jersey and New York side of New Jersey. So it's not, like, there's, there are Knicks fans an hour away from Philadelphia. Right. You know what I mean?

By car. So, like, you know, and a lot of fans drive an hour to their games anyway, you know, so it's like, it's not so crazy that there was so many Knicks fans there. Well, and inevitably, there's probably a ton of Knicks fans in Philadelphia proper as well. I mean, there's Knicks fans everywhere. Yeah. They're one of the huge brands that's going. But honestly, you have to be feeling great with your series being over and then watching these two,

the Cleveland and Pistons being this dog fight that's probably going to end up going seven games. It's what is this outside. Okay. What I love is the sweep gives OG time, right? So he gets healthy. That's bad thing. OG and Obie is a huge part of what they do. He's been excellent, especially in the playoffs.

He's very important. Him being hurt is bad, right? But outside of that, it allows bridges to get his confidence. Don't forget, after game three of the Hawks series, how many, you know, everyone started talking about how many picks and traded for bridges and, you know, how many things I saw in my algorithm about how much bridges sucks and this is and that. And then you get sham it going and you get deuce going.

Like silver lining of OG's injury is now. everybody's competent going into the Eastern Conference Fathers. Oh, how far we removed? How far are we removed from McAll Bridges sitting at his locker fighting back tears and then getting benched like the next game? It was crazy. I know. And you remember we did a show where we were like, I'm sitting here going, you can't lose him. Like you can't just, you can't just lose it. You can't just punked on this experience. And like, because he had just gotten to where he was like

starting the game and then he just wouldn't come back in the game and he was all down and out. The other guys are trying to cheer him up and I'm like, good grief. If you're going to make a run at this thing, you're going to need him. Like this can't be, you can't have him shutting down and being sad. And it's sort of like the opposite of Kat. Like his defense is getting the offense going and like it just, they're hit on all cylinders right now. And, you know, there's a natural pessimism that I have in general, but also just like sort of like,

not winning a championship for half a century, that you're just kind of like, maybe they're waiting too long. You know, it's just like they're so hot right now. Like maybe they'll cool off, Russ versus rest. You know what I mean?

Like there is like a natural pessimism. Like, well, the other teams will be coming off a win and they're going to be like sort of ready for the rhythms and this and that. And can they carry this over? It's like you want to roll over some of those threes

against the Sixers from Game 4. It's a game one of the conference finals. All right. So here's the deal. The way that this could, all right, I'll talk you away from that. What needed to happen in order to feel like we were going to have an ultra-competitive Eastern Conference finals was for one of these two teams to bomb out the other one. Right? Because.

Yes, because the Cavs dicked around with Toronto and the pistons. needed seven to beat Orlando, and now they're playing against each other. Like, you wanted one of those to separate themselves. Is this just people, is this just a bunch of teams like pillow fighting each other? And that's, meanwhile, your team has literally laid waste to opponents. They have eight wins by a hundred and ninety six points. I mean, it just doesn't feel. here's what I'll say.

When you watch Pistons Cats, and I'm not trying, you know I love these Pistons, and I'm not trying to disrespect this series, it does not feel to me like you couldn't throw in Boston or Atlanta or Philly into this series, in the place of one of those teams, and have a competitive series between them. Like I feel like the Knicks have separated themselves in a,

massive way they have proven to be the best of these Eastern Conference teams with the way they've performed. And the rest of them would all just be fighting each other. Because I have no reason to believe that Philadelphia or Boston or Atlanta, these other teams that have been eliminated already wouldn't be competitive because, frankly, I saw Orlando go seven games and lose Franz against Detroit. And I saw Toronto who didn't have quickly, who, you know, was

down guys like really just had Scotty Barnes and RJ Barrett. Didn't have a front court. And they took that to the end. Yeah. Yeah. Like, what a. And so I just think the Knicks are,

they, they've proven they got a, they've got a way different level than any of these other teams in the east. What we needed was either the pistons or the calves to bomb the other one out. To look better. Yeah. And then we'd be feeling like, oh, okay,

they've got a level too. But instead, it just looks like they're about like everybody else. was. But so I'm, you know, I'm going around town and everyone talks about the Knicks constantly, like Mother's Day, because I remember it was Mother's Day yesterday. It feels like seven years ago. But it was Mother's Day yesterday.

So everyone's got their Knicks gear on. And anyone with a Nick logo on themselves, and, you know, on Mother's Day, one of my traditions in my family is on Mother's Day, you don't have to be a mother. On a Father's Day, you don't have to be a father. So I take all the kids out. I was taking them to, like, some stupid mall of state or whatever, just going to Cheesecake Factory killing time, like I said, I would, right? And one of my daughters wants a Nick's shirt.

She wants a Deuce McBride jersey. I'm like, first of all, you're not getting a jersey. You're getting a shirzy. You're 10 years old. I'm not spending $100 from Jersey. Yeah, like you're crazy. And of course, like Dick's sporting goods in Westchester doesn't have like a Duce McBride shirt.

They don't? No, they don't. They don't. Yeah. Tons of Shaman stuff, though. And D.O.R. stuff. So I got her like a Brunton thing.

So she's wearing it for the rest of the day. High fives all day. Like, there's the energy. Like, if you see, if you're wearing the logo and someone else is wearing the logo, on that day, it's like high energy all over the city. And, you know, some people mismatch is an extremely popular Netflix show. I think we're number three at Netflix right now, right? It's like poop crews and then us, I think. We're poop crews, too.

Poop. Poop cooopier. More poop. Yeah. And so people recognize me. about the Knicks. And they're like, I'm worried about the Pistons. Pistons, they really had our numbers during the regular season.

I say the same thing. I'm like, it's just, it's a completely different thing in the playoffs. Yeah, Jaylorne was good in those. Yeah, exactly. That's what Jayle Dern was good. A walking triple double with 30, you know, 38 and 15. Yeah. So like, it's just, I'm pretty confident about the Knicks right now.

I do think, I do think if the Pistons are able to win, you know, they're able to win the series. They're not going to, they ain't going down without a fight against New York, but I do think you're an absolute pole position. Yeah, for good reason. And likewise, on the Western Conference side, now by virtue of them winning tonight in a sweep, the Thunder get to kick their feet up while these guys battle it out between Minnesota and San Antonio,

because this is a war. And now it's a pivotal game five between those two teams. in San Antonio after what was an extremely memorable game for. Yes. Never in a million years. If I were going to say, if I were just, if we were just going to list players that get thrown out of games, and I will tell you that it is a flagrant elbow to the head.

There's a, there would be a bigger chance that Dylan Brooks got up from his course side seat and elbowed somebody into night's game, then Victor Wimbled Yama did it last night's game. Like seriously, I mean, we're listening like the whole league before we get to that, but here we are. And it was vicious,

too. A vicious elbow. I do think if he was somebody else, he'd have been suspended. I'm serious. I think it was that bad. I mean, I've watched guys. All things considered. No, I watch Zach Randolph. You can go find it on YouTube.

Zach Randolph got thrown out, got suspended for a game seven against Oklahoma City for, quote, punching Stephen Adam. And it was not nearly as bad as that elbow to nods. Do you know what the biggest one is that no one talks about? I probably said it before in this pod, but I'll say it again. Steph Curry took his mouthpiece out and threw it at a fan, dude, in the middle of the finals. He took the only projectile he had. He's like, what can I throw at this guy? And he's accurate too and hit him, takes his mouthpiece out,

throws it at a fan. Like this is like, this is the mouse in the palace, kind of. And he doesn't get suspended or even punished at all, at all. I also want to say, agree with the NBA wholeheartedly. On both counts. Nobody. On both counts.

Nobody wants this series. He already missed the game. He did miss. that game, right? Oh, yeah. I thought it was adjudicated perfectly. What are we going to do? Yeah.

What else do you want to have a... Oh, you want to suspend Victor Wimbled Yama for game five? You can't, you can't. You want to see Cornette? Who played pretty good? But I do want to talk about the elbow a little bit because I put this in the group chat and I...

Because there was this Terence Shannon attempt when he was driving baseline and you wouldn't even notice it on the live action but they showed a replay, and Terrence Shannon, I wrote it down, it was at 1020, right? 1020 left.

I did a lot of reconnaissance on this today. I'm prepared for this discussion. And Terrence Shannon goes up, and in his shooting motion, with his right elbow, he clocks Wimbabh, like, under the chin. You know, he kind of, like, bite your tongue? It just sucks when you get hit under the chin.

Yeah. It hits him hard. And then I think he missed it. Wimbeniama gets the rebound, gets fouled. He ends up on the floor, and he's complaining. to the ref. He's pissed. He's like, I just got elbowed in the face and nobody did anything.

And it was at having my notes here, 839, so it's two minutes of game time later when the actual elbow happens. So I think that it was a frustration level of him and the physicality that they were giving him that led to that. I don't think it was a reaction to that

singular play. I also saw video going around of Nas Reid just basically two-hand pushing him in the back. he went flying at some point. It was like, he just,

yes, he just lost his mind. Yeah, he absolutely lost his mind. Yes. And Mitch Johnson was talking about the physicality

that he's played with and he's like, he has to be a vigilante because the refs aren't taking care of it, so he has to take matters into his own hands and call disgusting,

which is like, defend your guy, but that's a ludicrous claim. So, Bruno, I had some time today. Okay. I watched the game

over again. again and logged every sort of like physical play against Wimbunyama. Okay. It's not that bad. It's not. It's not. Rudy hits him on a screen. I won't bore you with all of it.

He pushes Shannon out of bounds at one point. Iyo like undercuts him on a shot attempt, but that kind of sucked. I don't know if you remember like, because he's so tall that Iio kind of got under him and he ended up on the ground. Gobert, elbows him in the back on a rebound. he kind of gets trips and falls over. I mean, these don't, these don't sound great, honestly, Jacoby.

I mean, a guy trying to undercut him. Okay, okay, okay. But it's not like a lot of this is just in the flow of the game. Like, none of it seems deliberate. Like, I watched the Spurs Pistons game. Do you remember this? When it was like the second possession, he was setting a screen and Kay just,

and throws his shoulder into the center of his chest. Like, this isn't like intentionally, let's get after him. Oh, no. Watching everything up to that point. It wasn't like this is so bad. They're being so physical against Wembe that he has to take matters into his own hands. I agree.

But that is also, you've got to know, it is the game playing. And just like we were talking about with Cade, this is the evolution of being a superstar in the league. Like the gig is we're going to put Randall on you. We're going to put Naz. It is get physical with him. That is the only chance you have.

Also, don't forget this. A huge part of this is Friday night, he was crazy. That 39 points, it was like, it was like honestly, like we, I'm like like Tanya Harding this guy. Unbelievable. If I'm Minnesota, like there's honestly, like there's you, that Friday night performance, which we don't talk about because it's now, you know, Tuesday's show. But it was like, that was crazy. And if you are the wolves, you're like, what can we do? We cannot stop it.

We cannot defend him, so we have to be physical against him. But watching it back again with the Miss Johnson filter on, like, let's just see exactly how physical they were with him. It didn't look that bad. I am one of Motenui. On July 10th. Maui, you will board my boat and restore the heart of Tefiti. And here we go.

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and a wide leg that feels modern, not overwhelming. Plus, that signature, wait, for this price, moment. Old Navy's drapy denim wide leg. They are going to have to have superhuman ant. We know that. And he has looked much different in three and four. And is that a function of the home crowd? Is that a function of him feeling bad?

Is that adrenaline that's like running through? Because, boy, he is playing to the crowd. I mean, he's like gladiator out there. And he was otherworldly. and they needed every bit of it because Dylan Harper and Steph Castle and them on the other side, Damned here came back and made it happen even without Wembe. Oh, they, they, man, they almost lost that game. The Wembyless game, they almost lost.

I mean, Dylan Harper. They couldn't even get the ball up the court. How you get trapped in the corner in the NBA. I coached Haley, my daughter's third grade basketball team, and I would lose my mind when they got trapped in the corner. That's like, this is day one stuff. Why is IOT the soon move? This happened all through the NCAA tournament, too.

What is going on with people not being able to get the ball in bounds anymore against pressure defense? It's crazy. We're losing the recipes. The full-length pass to I-O, like, they're so lucky that he got that. I still think it was a kick. I put it on the group chat. I think it was a kick. I really do. And what they're trying to avoid the eight second call, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it had to be in the front court. But I want to celebrate Harper for a second because, you know, you don't really talk about like the performances in the losing team. But like, we talk about Khan and Cooper and Vijay Edgecombe had some moments. But Harper is just, oh, he missed a shot. And I was just like, what the hell was that?

What kind of star is he going to? he did this like full speed mini Euro step to his left hand on a defender in the first half and I was just like I've never seen that move before and he's like 19 now you watch these guys I was having a discussion today with somebody about it

and I was like because we're talking about the NBA draft coming up and I'm like and obviously I've been watching all kinds of prospects and I watch this stuff and I'm like these guys are so much better than they used to be. I think they just, they just frigging, they've been training like NBA players since the time they're like 10.

Half of them have, you know, NBA dads and like, but they are so much more skilled. They're so much like more fully formed basketball players years ago. And this is now probably 2015, something like that. I remember I did this bit. And at that time, think about this. This is not that long ago, probably 10 years ago or something, or maybe a little longer. But the point is, Grizzly fans were mad because Jordan Adams,

who was like a rookie on the team and Russ Smith, who's a rookie on the team, they weren't getting to play. They thought that was going to solve things. Why don't we play these guys, right? And I remember going through all the playoff lineups at that time. The only guy that was getting any kind of play, The only rookie in the league that was getting any kind of playoff minutes was Clint Capella. And he was getting minor minutes.

And he had spent almost the whole year in the G league that year. And that's like, you know, when you think about whatever, Clint Capella was a rookie, it's not that long ago, right? But rookies just never played for good teams. That was it. And now they're playing for the best teams. Like, we started the show. We're talking about this Thunder Lake game tonight, right? AJ Mitchell, like, missed a lot of his rookie season last year with injury.

He's in his second year in the NBA. This guy is awesome. And the defense is like, we're going to get the ball out of SGA's hands. And they're like, fine. We've got a second SGA. He's over on the other side. BJ Edgecombe had a massive game seven against Boston. You know what I mean?

But no, game two, I think it was. when he had like 32 or whatever. They're so good. Do you remember Hedgecombe's first game? Yeah. Do you remember his first game? Of its career. Yeah.

Yes. Like, again, he's also 19. You talk about the NBA dads. The NBA dads were like playing at the park and were on their high school teams. You know what I mean? Like they weren't like, they didn't have like a shooting coach and a physical trainer and a nutritionist when they were 14. They're eating McDonald's and going to the park. I know.

It's so wild. And Harper, dude, Harper is, like, it's, people are talking about. He doesn't even seem like he could have been in college last year. When you watch him and how did his college team suck? Like, there could be a 30 for 30. Yes, tell me that. Him and Ace Bailey.

Didn't make the tournament? They didn't have a winning record. I don't understand this. No, we need a 30 for 30 of the Rutgers season. Like, what happened? What happened? What really happened? This guy looks like a friggin'

30-year-old pent-time all-star last night. He effortlessly, effortlessly gets past his man. And in my notes, it says, I talked about that Euro step. And then he goes, oh,

then he scores again, and then a three. And that's like five possessions. He also caused the turnover on said trap in the corner. Oh, that was him on the baseline jumping up in the air.

Yeah. Sam. God. And he's all. And he's like, smiling the whole time, having a great time. He's awesome. I think ultimately he'll be more important than Castle.

Like with him Castle and Wembe, all on rookie deals, this good, this early. Yes. It's terrifying. Well, and they are, that game tomorrow night is absolute must see people. I mean, game five between those two teams after the Wendbiyama. And it's after the Wembenyama, you know, ejection from the last. last game so you know he's going to want to go big and it's going to be in San Antonio Antonio and they'll have the pastel colors out in the thing.

It's a, I don't think they can do double pastels. I don't think you can do the Fiesta colors twice. I'll tell you this. Well, Deer Fox is questionable. You see that? Okay,

I'm about to blow your mind on this. If this is right, I just pulled this up. It says San Antonio 10 and a half. What? 10 and a half what tacos breakfast tacos that's what it says spurs 10 and a half minus 10 and a half yes all right oh wow hold on hold on points was it over under 450 it says 10 and a half it says it says it says san antonio minus 10 and a half over under 218 and a half

I'm going to look at this because I don't even believe you. I can't believe it either. I was just looking to see what the line was. All right. Here's a couple things I wanted to talk to you about. Because I'm pretty fascinated about it. Why would I lie about that? I know.

I'm just trying to be dramatic. Nasreid gets an intentional elbow to the head. Right in front of everybody. Because it wasn't like Terrence Shannon's elbow to the head. It was like, I was shooting, like unintentional or you're sort of in the motion. I thought that Jaden McDaniels was going to put. put him in a rear naked choke and just like break his neck. Because remember how McDaniels at the time has his arm sort of like over his shoulder?

And he's a crash out. I was so surprised that there was no sort of melee or physical anything afterwards. I think everyone was so Dylan Harper shocked that like, aren't you surprised? Like usually there's some sort of like getting each other's face. Like think about the Hornets, the Diabate, and Duran thing, right? the physicality that led to that melee was so minor in comparison to what Wimbunyama said. I know it's the playoffs and blah, blah, blah. No, no, no, no.

I think it is, I think it is the lack of feeling it was intentional. You know what I'm saying? I think people, I think the players, you did. It looked pretty intentional. No, I don't think they thought that was intentional. In the moment, in the moment. That's what I would tell you that something like that happens. And it's like so shocking that that happened.

But the guy is swinging his elbows. It's not like he can't, you know, it's different than if a clothes line a guy or something like that at a midair. Like a Kurt Ramos move. None of our listeners know that. But, um, or Dylan Brooks against Gary Payton, of which he got suspended for too.

Yeah. Um, okay, follow question. Your friend, Draymond Green, talked about sort of like, you know, getbacks. You elbowed our guy in the face intentionally. In the moment, maybe we didn't think it was intentional.

But in the replays, you can clearly see him spot it and then land it. Do I think somebody would do something to Wembe? I think it's not certainly not out of the realm of possibility. You know, like if, I mean, I'm not going to say they're going to put it in the game plan. I think you would have to, I think it would have to be McDaniels. It would have to be McDaniels or Reed. Those are the two guys that would do it. I don't think.

They need McDaniels and Reed. That's the problem. No, but I mean, those would be the ones that would do it. Yeah. I don't know. I'm trying to think. I'm looking at the Joe Ingalls. Yeah, Joe Ingalls.

If they start Joe Ingalls, just let him go go gooon it up. Like a hockey fight. Let him go go gooon it up. Joe Ingalls, you got one job, all right? I can't. There's some ligaments on this guy. I can't wait. It's going to be a movie.

It's going to be great. The NBA draft lottery was on Sunday. Buddy, when I tell you, I jumped off my couch so hard. Oh, my God, I jumped off. As soon as they said, and they mean the grizzlies have moved up. I was like, oh, because look, I had to watch Adama ball. And I had to watch. I watched a lineup with Adama Ball,

Lucas Williamson and Dorek Whitehead. And it's in those nights where I'm down at the arena and I'm watching this game and I'm going, what is, what, what, what, what, what happened in my life? Why am I doing this? And you just have this overwhelming feeling of, please God let this all be worth it. Let me having to watch Adama ball play basketball be worth it.

And if you don't get one of those top four picks, you feel like it wasn't worth it. But when you do, it's like, okay, the ends justified the means. And sure enough, when it pops up last night, you have the Washington Wizards, get the number one pick. I'm obviously super thrilled for Joe House. He deserves it. Oh, he deserves it.

He does. He deserves it. Right. It's like everybody in the world knows one Wizards fan and it's Joe. And so I think we call it. I think we collectively could feel happy for him. Utah pops up number two, the Grizzlies number three and the Bulls number four.

Obviously the Pacers just crushing to have. to give their pickup to the clippers, but that was the risk that they took. I didn't mind. I did not mind. It's a risk they took. And then, you know, it's, I just, you think about these other franchises that, that, you know, lost on purpose. That's what they do. And, like, when it doesn't pay off and you're like the kings and you're like the nets,

it's just, it's a disaster. I mean, it's, truly, it is an absolute disaster. The only thing that can make it worth it. is you getting a high pick and you getting in the lottery. And when you don't, it's like, what the hell was all that for? Right. And all drafts are not created equal. And in this particular draft, it feels, I mean, we've all talked about it at length.

But there's, there's four. And then there's a lot of other really good prospects. Okay. And so I'm, obviously, I'm right in the middle of this now. Have you talked to the prospector? It's all, oh, sure. Yes, he's got tons of thoughts. But he doesn't text, right?

He doesn't have a phone. No, good grief. It's from a long time ago, bro. He doesn't believe in phones. Look, Wilson and Boozer was the debate we thought we were going to be having. But now, even today is played out. It's like, hey, man, you don't know if the Wizards might end up taking Darren Peterson. And who knows if Utah trades up to be able to make that happen.

And I see this. Zach Lowe has on John. Jonathan Gavoni, and he's like, this is what Jonathan Gavoni said. He says eight to ten times. I've been in the gym with Darren Peterson and A.J. DeBonsta. And not once did I ever walk out thinking A.J. Devonsda is the better prospect. And I was like, oh, let's. Oh, this is good.

And then this, but there's also like the Wilson stuff. Like, you know, right. And then, no, but Verno. Love superstar upside. Forno, I do want to discuss this with you because I listen to you and Bill and House, three of my favorite people in the world, right? And you had the right read. At the end, Bill is like, well, who would you rather have Boozer or Wilson?

And you're like, it's not about that. It's about talking about it for two months. And over the course of those two months, there are going to be so many reports. Oh, Washington had a workout with a cuff. 24 hours. No, it's like, and they think that he might be a better fit. So that means that they might, and then there's going to be this thing. Well, Wilson is actually fully healed.

And when you look at him next to Utah's roster, it's just going to be so much movement over the next couple months. They just, you're just milk this and ride this. It's no way it ends up bad for you. Oh, that's the thing. I know. There's no way it ends up bad, especially at, three because you kind of control everything.

You have a choice. Yeah. If you're four, you don't have a choice. You always have a choice. You always have a choice. Anything you've been in number one. You always have a choice, right? But like, there are four prospects that will likely be the first four picks. Obviously, there'll be other mock drafts that I don't have it like that, whatever.

But even, I'm telling you, all right, it has, it's been 24 hours since that happened. And I've already heard, hold on, Darren Peterson is the best player. in this draft. It's not even the Bondstaff. Then I saw Jeff Goodman say he went and pulled 15 GMs at the Combine. 12 of them would take DeBonsta, three of them would take Peterson. Then I watched

the Caleb Wilson highlights and I start reading about Caleb Wilson and I'm all in. Then I scroll through and I read this. It said, listen to what I wrote this down. Is this the boozer quote? No. Oh, yeah. The team that drafts me will hang a banner. Oh no. This

was the article I was reading. It said, The 18-year-old with two FBA MVP's and gold medals, four high school state championships, three EYPL peach jam titles, and could have led Duke to the national championship, and there'll still be evaluators who are going to worry about as heightened athleticism. And I was like, I'm reading this thing,

and I'm like, bro, this dude has, the amount of trophies in the boozer house is crazy. And so I'm like, then I'm in on him. I can't wait. I can't wait. This is just going to be great summer for you. It's going to be amazing. What's the date of the draft?

It's good. We've got a month and a half. It's June 20 something. Oh, this is great. This is great for the mismatch. No, it's going to be awesome. And also, like, the amount of, the amount of chatter there's going to be about these because of the way it broke.

I mean, bro, people paid to have AJ. AJ Devons to played his last year of high school in Utah. Okay. So this storyline confuses me. Like, it's like, oh, well, Ryan Smith invested in him three years ago. It's like, did he, like, is this, you can't have a three year strategy on one prospect. No, I don't know. And not when there's a lottery involved.

I don't get this storyline. Explain it to me. What about it is? I don't, I don't understand completely, but I do know this. The kid went to high school and was paid to play in high school in Utah. Yes. Then he went to BYU. Not exactly.

Not exactly where the best prospects in the world typically are going. What? I mean, no disrespect to Jimmer. Name another B. I don't think three years ago. I don't think three years ago, Ryan Smith was like, here's how it's going to work. I'm going to, I think if anything, he's like, I'm going to funnel this guy to BYU. I don't think the plan was like, hey, it'd be nice if he was on the jazz.

I don't think the plan was always like BYU pipeline to the jazz via a lottery ball. dropping in my perfect direction. Like, I just don't see that being the way it goes. But now it's right there. It's right there. It's right there. And so you sit there and you say, all right. And if you're,

and if you're Washington, I mean, you just listen. You're like, because you may fancy Peters and her booze or more. I'm not listening if I'm Washington. I'm not even taking calls for like weeks. And then I'm going to be like, I love to ban.

I'm not dropping it to everybody. I love to ban. I'm not even talking to anybody. But that's the way this stuff goes. And they're just like, we love the band. We're locked and on the bansa. Print it. Go ahead, Shams.

Just tweet it, Shams. I will promise you this. You will find an article about all four of them being the best player in the draft. You will find somebody that is either written or mocked it saying, no. If it were me, I'd take Caleb Wilson one. Or if it were me, I'd take Camboosur one. He's the best college prospect we've seen in Boston. blah, blah, blah.

If it were me, you cannot, you cannot pass on Darren Peterson. And then we'll go back to you. Because once something has become like commonplace, which is DeBanza was got up to one in the mocks ahead of Darren Peterson and then we just all accepted it. But now that it's all shaking out the way it has, now it's just debate time. It also reminds me of the MVP award. It's like you can make a great case for, you can make a great case for Yokit. You can make a great case for Wemby.

You can make a great case. You know what I mean? For SGA. Like it's like, no one's wrong. No one's wrong. They're great prospects. All of them. All of them.

So no one's wrong. You can make a great case for all four of them and no one's wrong. And you're going to get a choice between two of them. Well, and one of the things we're learning is that these kids are just all so much better, as we're talking about. Whether it was, whether it's been Dylan Harper, whether it's been A.J. Mitchell who was drafted like 38th in the draft or something two years ago. Like even for, down. There's going to be stars that are taken further down to this track.

We're going to focus on the four and then we're going to look up at the end. Right? That's the way it goes. You focus on Luca Dodgich and Trey Young and DeAndre Aiton and then you're going to look up at five years and She Gilges Alexander's won two MVPs

or eight years, whatever. A.J. Mitchell's taking over a playoff game. This is how it works. Who knows? You know this stuff. But I have a couple questions. before we move on. You have two assets in your corner already that are going to be very important during this process.

There are two things that the Memphis Grizzlies have that no other team has during this process over the next six weeks to figure out what the right selection for this team is. Target guy. Target guy in the prospector. Yeah. I mean...

We'll confer with both of them, certainly before the draft. Yeah, because Target guy you don't know. Last year. And the prospector has been working very hard on this. This is going to be great. It's going to be great. I cannot wait for this game five

between San Antonio and Minnesota and then watch Detroit and Cleveland just ferret out while Oklahoma City and the Knicks both just have their legs up waiting. So maybe we'll get two seven game series out of this. It's totally

possible. Do I have to get Annie Hathaway to like cast a spell to fix O.G? No, I think he's got enough time now. I think it's going to happen. I think wait, we saved that, right? Because you only throw, you can only do that once. He's got, he's got enough time. He's got enough time.

He has enough time now. I don't think you need. I watched him on Friends and Neighbors with Zach Lowe, who was awesome. I watched that show anyway. It's a good show. It was awesome. Thanks to Jeff And Steph as always, Jacoby. I'll talk to you later this week.