The Mismatch - Unstoppable Steph, Harden’s Scoring Slump, Chicago’s Hot Start, and Jokic’s Cheap Shot

Episode Date: November 9, 2021

Verno and KOC begin by discussing the Bulls’ 7-3 start and how uncommon it is for new rosters to come roaring out of the gates like this. Then, the guys talk about another huge performance from Stephen Curry and why it feels like Golden State could recapture its former glory this season (20:43). Plus, the guys react to rule changes affecting James Harden and Trae Young, trade rumors around Ben Simmons and Jaylen Brown (50:53), Carmelo Anthony’s resurgence as a role player, and much more. Hosts: Chris Vernon, Kevin O’Connor Producer: Troy Farkas Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The ringer gambling show is here to help you place your bets on the biggest sports around the world. Join NFL analyst Warren Sharp on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays with guests Chris Vernon, Ben Solac, and Joe House to guide you through the NFL betting landscape. Each week, they'll cover everything from spreads, game totals, and parlays to player props, futures, post-game reactions, and more. Check out the ringer gambling show on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon and joining me as he does every Tuesday from the ringer.com. is Kevin O'Connor, A.K. Kevin O'Climber, Kevin O'Climber, Kevin O'Conflict, Kevin O'Candyland, Kevin O'Berno. What's going on this Tuesday? You had a fun time last night,

I'm sure, NBA overall. Wow, what a weird night. That was a fun time. Unbelievable night. Yeah, let's go through them kind of one by one. Let's start with the Bulls, because as I am checking the scoreboard at the game I am at, that was one that I was keenly aware of, simply because as we have talked about the Bulls, as the season has gone on, they have continued to prove that this works, this collection of talent that they have put together works. And even when we said, okay, competition hasn't been that great, let's see. And we had looked at their next week or two. And this was one of the games, the Brooklyn game. All right. Well, like, this is still the beginning of the season, but what are they going to look like when they play against the

Brooklyn's of the world? And that felt like more than just a regular win, at least to me, simply because of the margin and the way that they were able to perform against that Brooklyn team last night. Going back and scanning through it this morning, I just, I got to tell you, I am shocked and how fast it has come together. It's not, you know, there was always a question of, is it going to work? But even if it's going to work, there's always growing pains to throwing together a new collection of talent.

And yet they have been so good, so quickly have the Chicago Bulls that, you know, the longer this sample goes, the more it becomes, you know, very real that this is going to be a team. to be trifled with throughout the season and maybe even as a playoff basketball team. Yeah, I mean, absolutely. I think with this team, you could look at their two losses back to back with the home and home against Philadelphia. They were six for 21 from three,

and the first one, seven for 29 from three. And the second one, both close games. You know, maybe you shoot the ball better from three. You win one of them. You split against Philly. But overall, at seven and three after 10 games, beating some of the tough teams that they have and playing in the manner that they have

because here's the thing, Chris, what was the big question with Chicago before the season? It wasn't offense. It wasn't can this team score? Right. Can they shoot? Can De Rosen score? Can Levine score?

It wasn't that. It was defense. Yep. Can this team get stops? Can they contain teams from attacking the basket, getting to the rim? Can they stop teams, you know, inside with their collection of bigs that they have, with their help defenders?

And the answer so far has been yes. They have the fourth defensive rating in the NBA. Warriors are first. Nuggets are second. Clippers are third. Bowls are fourth in defensive rating so far this NBA season. And it's just like overall from Alex Caruso who's, in my opinion, like if you're doing all defensive teams after 10 games, Caruso's on one of those two teams.

Lonzo Ball has been unbelievable. Some of these guys who, you know, have reputations as, you know, poor or below average defenders have done a good job. whether it's Vouchavich, whether it's Lovine, I mean, whether it's DeRosen, for that matter. Collectively, the Bulls are playing great team defense. They're playing together. And, you know, it's really, that's what's been fueling so many of their victories, not their offense. Yeah.

Which is crazy to say. But, I mean, you really get to give credit to just this overall unit of like star players, buying in, playing together and playing hard. Well, and you got to keep in mind, on the Philly front, I know that they've got a different set of circumstances now. but they had the best record going into yesterday. And now they're going to have to live without Embed for a while. But so when your two losses are to the best team, you know, outside of the one you took at the beginning of the year. But those Philly losses, I mean, look, everybody else is losing to Philly too for the most part.

So, no kidding. Right. So that Chicago team, you know, you know, even you can go back, even with, with Ways, LeBron and Bosch. There's growing pains, right? It got to December and it's like, hey, is this going to work? I mean, usually this takes time when you are throwing together a new collection of talent. And I think it speaks to those players, where they are in their careers, and their willingness

to sacrifice, right? In order to, you know, and they're guys that obviously, live. Bonzo probably starving to win, as he's never won. You know, DeRosen, once he left Toronto, did not do a lot of winning in his time. He got lost in San Antonio. Yeah. He got lost there. And he got better in San Antonio.

Right. Just nobody was watching them. That's right. And so now, you know, maybe you just get the right guys at the right time to throw together. And, like, also, I mean, think about they lose. Patrick Williams. Yep. And then Javante Green steps into that starting role, spent two years in Boston.

This is the second year in Chicago, kind of like a besides the fact that it's a J. Dot Green. Is that Jeff Green? Is that your Michael Green? No, it's Javante Green. I mean, like he's a player, kind of an unknown player to most casual fans, but he's been really solid on both ends of the floor for the Chicago Bulls. Never mind Dosunu, their rookie guard coming off the bench.

He's had some big nights, including last night against Brooklyn. He had 15 points on six. of 10 shooting always plays hard on defense he rebounds for a guard he makes the right play as a rookie yeah so like this bulls team they just have so many options up and down the roster on offense on defense guys who are reliable defensively guys who can get a bucket for you offensively but chris i watching last night's game like crusoe stat line only five points one or four nothing special you know he only has two steals you have to watch the guys you have to watch the guys You do.

You have to watch the games. You do. You got to. He makes so many plays beyond the box score. Like, it's just absurd. Like, this week on The Void, we're doing a video every day. And I was working on the Crusoe one last night. And it's just like there's certain plays that he makes where he just doesn't get credit

for a steal or deflection because it's just the nature of the game. But it's like he's what causes a turnover to happen. He's what causes a play to get flubbed up because he's in the right position at the right time, the way he navigates through screens. Like, he is. The winning player. He's a winning player. He's a winning player.

He's a magnificent on defense, truly. Him and Lonzo, like, a guard slash wing for them. I mean, what a combination. Like, it's so disruptive to the offense. It's so disruptive. Your normal actions that you run become much harder to do because of those two guys. I was thinking about a common refrain from many GMs years ago. I would hear them say when I was talking to them about teams.

And I would say, well, but is that going to fit together? Is that going to fit together? And most will tell you, get the talent and then figure it out. You know, and if there was ever a get the talent and figure it out situation, they don't all work. But this is one of those that can be held up as a get the talent and figure it out. Because guess what the hardest thing to get is? the hardest thing to get is talent. You know what I mean?

We have better players than you across the board, right? And then you can worry about how it all fits, but get the best players that you can get. And so while they were criticized for going and signing DeRosen to the contract that they did, while they were criticized for, you know, is the Vucevich, you know, it's a trade, but is the Vucevich Levine? Is that really a fit?

You know, like there were things that were you didn't know if it's all going to work, but I harken back to that old phrase, which was just get the talent and then figure it out. And then if it doesn't work, guess what? You've got talent that you can turn into something that will fit. But get the talent and then figure it out. And I'll be damned. They got the talent and have figured it out quickly. they've been a really good story that they've forced us to talk about them a lot now let's flip to

the other side though the hell. Yes, please. I mean, Durant is like playing like the best player in the world. Yeah, he might be the MVP. It's like him and Steph are probably one, two in whatever order you want to put him at the moment. But what we would have not predicted is that this would be like an old like when Russell Westbrook was out, Kevin Durant and four other guys. And that's really kind of what it's turned into, right?

We're now 11 games in with Hardin now, Chris. 18.3 points per game, 39.9% from the field, 40% from 3. He's racking up assists, you know, still passing the hell out of the ball. But the scoring just hasn't been there for him still. And by the way, still through 11 games, 4.6 free throw attempts per game, down from 7.3 last year, down from 7.5 the year before, down from, I'm sorry, down from 7.4 last season,

down from 11.8 the year before that. I mean, and you've got to take into consideration, Kev. If I'm not mistaken, he led the NBA and assists last year. He was the assist leader. Yep, he was. Average nearly 11 last year. So in terms of, you know, just playmaking.

And like just, all right, maybe even in the game, games he didn't score, you would look up and he would, I mean, he's always got to score, but you would still see just kind of, I dominate the ball and I run the show, and it's not, it's not the same. Anybody that has watched him, he is, he is not the same player. And I know that there's been so much made of the rule changes, and that is certainly part of it. There's no way around it. when your game is dictated on drawing fouls and intentionally playing basketball with the intent of drawing a foul rather than the intent of making a shot, you take away a lot of what a guy does. You really do.

I mean, the whole abruptly stopping as you turn the corner on a screen and just throwing it up. the throw both my arms up in the air as I drive to the basket. You know, there's no intention to bake the basket on those. I mean, like all of those plays, this is how he functioned. And it's all different, but I am surprised that there's been this big of a dip in terms of just how impactful you can be on the floor, even if you're not going to the line, even if you're not making the shots in the same way, you figure he could still be very impactful as a playmaker and a guy just kind of running the show.

Sure. I mean, his passing still is great. It's just, you know, the way it's impacting the game isn't the same level as it was in the past. I thought Josh Eberley had a good tweet yesterday. He said the net so far this season have a minus 5.3 net rating when Durant and Hardin share the floor. When Durant is on the floor without Hardin, they outscore teams by 28.5.5. points per 100 possession. So their net rating is plus 28 when Durant is on without hard and minus 5 when they're both on the floor,

which there's a lot of factors, small sample size, the fact that when both of them are on the floor, they're typically going against starters, whereas when just Durant is on the floor, it might be more bench or mixed units. That's still a shocking number. But regardless. I know. It's a 33 point difference. And I mean, it's just fascinating to see that number.

because watching games, you kind of sense that. But seeing the number, like, really makes you pop. You know, it's like, whoa, whoa. I don't, I, I am still at a point, Chris, where I am in a wait and C mode with Hardin. I still am. I still think with any of these star players, there's going to be an adjustment period to these new rules

because this is different. The game does feel different. It's more aggressive. It's tougher. We're not seeing as much of that BS. Like it is different. It feels different. It feels better for what it's worth.

It definitely feels better. So for any of these star players, I'm still giving it like at least until the true quarter mark of the season to see what's actually happening. Because with Hardin here, he's only had one game with more than 10 free throw attempts. Just one. It's kind of crazy. Like this season he's had four, four, four, one, three, three, 19. three, one, four, six, three free throw attempts.

He's only had one, quote, unquote, normal hard in game. Not much was made. Not, I don't think, well, I don't want to say not much, but, well, yeah, not much. Not much was made of him not signing the extension. That wasn't a massive story. You do wonder if this continues. You know what I mean? Because you are trying to maximize KD.

and we still have no inclination of whether we're going to watch Kyrie Irving play basketball or not. So for what it's worth, Eric Adams, the new mayor of New York, did say that he doesn't plan on changing the vaccine mandate rule. Wow. Whether there are no plans for that to change. So you do wonder, is this where, you know, Daryl sweeps in and tries to get his guy? I don't know. I don't think so. I'm saying if it continues.

No, no, that's not happening. You don't, you think there's no way. They're not going to trade James Hardin. Brooklyn's not going to. Without an extension? They're not going to trade them. You really don't think so? No.

They're going to keep him. And he's probably going to stay. I'll tell you this. You let this go 10 or 20 more games and they're not that good. And it's not working that well with Durant. And Durant's getting mad at him. I, man. You know, it would be the ultimate heel turn?

He goes to the Knicks. Oh, good grief. That would be the ultimate heel turn. And then plays great. And then plays great. Yeah. It starts getting calls. Yeah.

Yeah. Next off season, he signs of the Knicks. That would be the ultimate heel turn. If any of these guys, Kyrie, Hardin, or like, whatever Katie's deal is up in, you know, four or five years. If any of those guys. went to New York. I don't know. It was hilarious.

Can you imagine that if Hardin went to the next, next off season? All I know is this. Again, I'm not saying now. I'm saying if this were to continue and the numbers remain the same, where it's for whatever reason, not great in tandem,

then you can certainly, you're at the point right now where you have got to maximize this guy who is probably the best player in the league as it stands right now. And so he is right now. And so if that's not happening, I know you say they won't trade the guy, but if it's not happening and it's not working, you know, to the point where you think like this is good enough to win a title and we get to, you know, January, you better believe it'll be a thing.

100% it'll be a thing. Now, speaking of maximizing. Yeah, the hardens his guy, Chris. He's his guy. They wanted him. Yeah, well, you're his... He wanted him. Well, I think he was probably his guy when he was a guy that could get you 30.

And also, I don't think it's... I don't think it's so horrible that... I mean, look, it's not like he's not creating shots from three. He's shooting 41% on three-pointers off the dribble. He's still, like, getting buckets from the perimeter. It's just about figuring out the mid-range floater layup range. Yeah, but I mean, look, this is when I know that a guy's not having that good of a year, when you have to get super specific on the type of shot that he's shooting well.

Yeah, but can I like, he's shooting 41% and three-pointers off the dribbles. Like, who gives this shit? This is what I mean. This is what I mean by the adjustment period. What if, what if for James Harden, the adjustment is like instead, okay, maybe at some point he realizes, I can't get all the way to the basket and draw files the way I did before. I can't be as efficient as I once was before getting into the paint. drawing files, putting up floaters, layups, whatever,

and he starts taking more pull-up twos. Like what if he becomes a type of guy who's taking more pull-up twos because he's a knockdown shooter off the dribble, he starts integrating more of that into his game, like many, many, many other star scorers do across the league. I mean, the mid-range has not disappeared for stars. Maybe Hardin's key is to do a little bit less in the paint and do a little bit more for mid-range.

I'm just throwing that thought out there that that's a potential adjustment for him because I think Hardin is still so good that it would be foolish to give up on him and assume that he's done or whatever. Nobody's assumed that he's done. I'm talking about maximizing Durant. That's what I'm talking about. I still think Hardin can be that guy.

I do. I believe in Hardin. I'm firmly on that side. I still believe in James Hardin that he can figure it out. I still firmly am in that bucket. He's a below the rim finisher that made his whole life by drawing fouls, not by making shots necessarily. And you're going to have to get,

If you want them to do mid-range, you've got to get rid of like eight years of Daryl programming to not take that shot. Here's the funny thing, though, Chris, about Hardin there. I'm going to try to pull up the stats from cleaning the glass as I'm talking here. But with Hardin, he was a mid-range guy. He was not a mid-range guy even before Houston. He was more of a mid-range guy than he was in Houston. But according to the numbers here, okay? So just to pull it up.

In Oklahoma City, his rookie year, 24% of his shots came from mid-range. His first year, his last year in OKC, 19%. His first year in Houston, 31%. His final full season in Houston was down to 20% of total mid-range shot attempts. That includes short ones like floaters and runners and pull-ups from two. Just to speakly talk about longer mid-range jumpers, his last season in Houston was 2%. So he never took long mid-range jump shots. His final season in OKC was 9%.

So he didn't take many mid-range pull-up twos, even in OKC. It was 9% his last season. So he's always kind of been that guy, but maybe ramping it up a little bit more back to that 10 to 20% range from long mid-range would be better for him. It has been alarming thus far, his performance. Now, I talked about maximizing Durant right now while he's in this mode where he's probably the best player in the league. And you see, speaking of maximizing that guy, it's the pivot that the warriors made this offseason by saying basically, and it started to happen last year really when Wiseman went out, which was the, all right, we're not in.

the years down the road serving two masters, be good now, but also develop guys for the future. They went out and got guys that know how to play basketball, that know how to play around Steph Curry, and then they've got some new contributors. Gary Payton has been a revelation for most. But they went out and they got guys that know how to play and that know how to play within that system

and know how to play around Steph. They don't have to worry about guys screwing it up. They don't have to worry about guys knowing what the, you know, how to play. They went and got veteran guys because you understand, the window is now, right? Like, we tried the whole, let's, we can be young and have Steph Curry. But now they went out and got some veterans. They're playing those veterans that know how to play around Draymond and Curry. And, you know, you get spot minutes if you're comming.

You get spot minutes if you're moody. Inevitably, Wiseman, you know, you're not going to be playing as much because you're trying to maximize what you've got right now in Curry. And you see, like, the best of last night where, of course, he's got 50 points in 35 minutes. And, you know, look, they're already playing fantastic basketball. and you're going to get back Clay Thompson. And so this was, in my opinion, a team that was just going to try to hold down the fort until they get back. But the truth is, they went out and got guys that know how to play, and it has reaped incredible benefits for them. Curry is at a level that is just, I mean, he's truly unstoppable in a night like last night.

Chris, there's nothing you can do. There's nothing you can do. Like, Steph Curry in last night's game, there's no defense you can play. Boxing one, about the only thing you could do. Forced the ball out of his hands, but then you get an open three-point shooter. You got my guy Otto Porter. You got Jordan Poole out there. You got Bialica.

I mean, you have a knockdown shooter who would get the ball if you're going to do that. But if you're playing straight up, normal defense, nothing you can do about Steph Curry. I mean, I feel like last year, some of the criticism that I, I had for Steve Kerr, like run more high pick and roll with Wiseman. A lot of people felt that way. And I think a lot of that was grounded in truth. But ultimately, Steve Kerr, despite having a roster that maybe wasn't a perfect fit, stuck with the fundamentals of what made Golden State what it was in the first place,

with the movement, with all the screening, with all the motion. And now some of the tweaks to the roster that Bob Myers in that front office made, they found talent that fits the system. rather than fitting the system to the talent. And they have empowered Steph Curry to shoot more than ever. They're riding Steph. But all these pieces just fit together so, so, so, so well. A bunch of high IQ guys.

I mean, it just feels to me like the Warriors are back to that 14, 15, 15, 16 mode where it's just pure joy watching them play. It's pure joy. Yeah, they've been fantastic. And we'll only get better when they add Clay Tom. into the mix. We were talking about Hardin earlier. The rule changes have clearly affected the best player on the Hawks. And that was Trey Young, yeah.

And that Hawks team, we talked about this on Friday. And I said, you go from the hunter to the hunted. They had that success. They made it all the way to the Easter conference finals last year. And then they come back around. and you only get to go through one season where you're the team on the schedule that everybody just chalks up as a win

or a team that they can just turn it up in the second half against you. And that's even if you just get pretty good, much less if you make it all the way to the level that they did last year. And so now every team, every team that comes to town, in Atlanta, and every time they go play on the road, people know, like, they are a team to be reckoned

with, and it is just not going their way. This is stumbling out of the gates to make an Easter conference finals, and you figure, come back healthy, come back together, and to start off four and seven to start the year, it's actually kind of surprising. And I believe you mentioned this last week, but the only teams they've beaten were Dallas on opening night, Detroit, New Orleans, Washington. Right. That's it.

Their losses are to Cleveland, who's been tough, really, really solid. Washington, who's been good, Philly, Brooklyn, Utah, Phoenix, Golden State. And in some of these games against those good teams, they've just gotten smoked. Yeah. They've gotten beaten up. I mean, like, where's your concern level for Atlanta right now? Like, from like 1 to 10. One being not very concerned, 10 being, you know, pressing the panic button.

I would say I mean it's probably six yeah I'd say I'm like maybe above average yeah yeah a little 7 something like that nice um a little I mean a little it's a little concern I'm not down the middle

where it's like I'm convinced ah they could get it back together I'm more on the side of you know what's going on here and part of what's going on here on here is not just the we had success. And so now this is what it's like to be a good team in the NBA and the level of competition that you get every single night.

The other thing, the big thing is the Trey thing. And it's like, okay, how do I function in this new NBA? Because this is, it is affected James and it has affected Trey the most. And, you know, I'm more worried about Trey because Hardin is an elite shooter. Trey Young is not. Trey Young is not an elite shooter. He has never been an elite shooter going back to high school. He's a very good shooter, a good shooter, you know, but not elite.

And that's like the big difference between him and some of these other guys where I think Hardin can be even more of a shooter if he needs to be. Trey has never been like an elite in efficiency from three point range, from mid range for that matter either. So with Atlanta, I think part of it is, part of it is like they've had a number of early season injuries. Maybe like Trey talked about last week, they need to get up for these regular season games, whereas last year they got a taste of the playoffs. They get to adjust to that. It's probably a lot of different factors. But also one of the reasons why I'm a little bit more concerned, Chris, is because of what's out of their control. And that's the performance of other teams in the Eastern Conference.

I think you look at the teams above them in the standings. I mean, Philly, Miami, Miami's for real. Like, they're for real, for real. Chicago, I don't think Washington's going to slip. They look really deep and strong to me. Cleveland's and competitive. Brooklyn should get better if Hardin gets better. The Knicks, the Raptors are ahead of them.

They've been very tough defensively. Their offense is clunky, but I'm a believer in their defense. Milwaukee's 4 and 6. That's not going to stick. They're going to get better at some point. Charlotte five and seven. We'll see. I mean, but for Atlanta,

point being here is that there are at least six or seven teams ahead of them where I'm like, I'm a believer. I'm a believer in what they are. Or like with Milwaukee, there's just some early season. Well, and if post-championship, you know, drought happening now. But for Atlanta,

they're suddenly kind of in that playing conversation, not maybe top four seed conversation. Well, and you, I think there is a license that has been given. to defenders of those players that did not previously exist. And they won't, they're never going to talk about that, right? Because they're not going to talk about how it has affected them in any kind of way other than the officiating.

But if I am an opposing player and I am much less concerned about them driving, because they're both below the rim guys, if typically their drives are ending in foul, and that's what you're most concerned about. You're not concerned about them finishing over you. You're concerned about fouling them or bumping them. And on even like outside of when they're coming off of screens and they were doing the abrupt stop that would make you run over them. Like the airspace now that you can have while they're shooting is different.

If you're not as worried about getting a foul called on you, every single time. And because they're not looking for as much you fouling as they are them trying to draw a foul on you. It's almost like the onus has been put on them as the offensive player. And are they getting a fair whistle? I would say, I mean, across the board probably no. But they are the shining examples. They also, nobody's going to be crying for them because they're,

were also the benefactor of the opposite way, right? So if you want to cry about not getting calls now, bro, you got every call for the last nine years. So I do think that there has been a license given to defenders on those guys. And that would be my level of concern for both of them is because now I can defend you aggressively and not worry about, you know, the whistle every time. Because that is how, I mean, look, every time you played against Houston, your coach in the walkthrough that day, and I had been privy to those, would, I mean, there would be a tutorial on keeping your hands out of the cookie jar,

as they say, because this is what this guy is a master at. There would be a tutorial on coming around the screen or how we're going to defend this so that you don't catch that foul where he can just throw it up. the end. And so I do think that there's a level of intensity that now was reserved only for probably the best defenders in the league. Now guys can have some level of confidence defending them without feeling like they're going to get the whistle blown on them at the drop of a hat. Definitely. Yeah. I mean, I still think Atlanta can be better over the course of the season. But there was talk about them. Can they get a top four seed? I don't feel I don't feel. I don't feel great

about that with the way we've seen some of these other teams developed. And I mentioned Miami in there, seven and three. Obviously, they lost last night. Yeah, we may have buried the lead because, look, we had bulls. Look, we don't want to act like this was the least significant because it was probably the most significant thing that happened. But you had the bulls beating the nets in the fashion that they did. You had Steph's 50.

And then you also have, which the game is not that big of a story, even though it was a very impressive win for Denver. Definitely. But you have at the end of the game with, and this needs to be talked about more. Because for whatever reason in the, everybody sees a clip on Twitter. For those that we're not watching it live, everybody sees the clip on Twitter with no real context to what's going on. Really?

Chris, no. context on Twitter. So here is... Really? Are you serious? And I think that... That's a thing? But the reason I think that it's important in this one is because it does, to me, explain better why this took place. What took place, Chris, for the listeners.

Okay. So Denver is kicking the crap out of them. Yeah. It was a 113-196 victory. for Denver. Yeah, but they're up. I mean, this is, you know, this is in the fourth quarter, and they're killing them then, right? Yeah. And so now in the middle of the game, as Yokic is coming across half court, you had 39 left in the game, 239.

And they're up by what, 17? It was 11, 94 at the time. Okay, 17 points. So they're up by, is that right? Yeah, yeah. So they're up by 17, up by 17 with less than three minutes to go. Okay, and this is just straight goon stuff with Morris, forearm shivering or whatever you want to call it, elbowing, uh, Yokic.

I mean, it's an open floor. Look. There's a take, take file, right? Yo, it's a 17 point game with two minutes to go. That's how this kind of stuff happens. Like, what are you doing? What are you doing, right? Like, the only thing you're trying to do is send a message or be physical.

or hurt the guy or whatever you want to do. Yokic, I mean, look, you're not supposed to, when you get a cheap shot, you probably shouldn't administer a cheap shot, but make no mistake. They were both cheap shots. The original sin is Morris's, because what are you doing? You know, doing that to a guy when you're down by 17 with two minutes left to go. You're just being frustrated yourself. And then Yokic's retaliation, as I would.

I think I would be more, I think I would be more furious about the Yokic thing if I didn't think that he would do it if the guy was turned around. Like, I don't think Patrick Beverly would have run up and push Chris Paul if Chris Paul wasn't turned around. I do think Yokic, I think it just, it happened that Morris has turned around. And of course, Morris has gone on Twitter and said, wait till a guy's turned around. Like, I honestly think. think that Nicola Eokic would have gone after Morris, turned around, turned towards him.

Like, I don't think that he's the guy that I, I question whether Patrick Beverly would have gone and shoved Chris Paul from behind if he was facing him. And I don't want to play two different sides of this because I criticize Patrick Beverly for doing it. It is a cheap shot. There's no way around it. But, you know, he got cheap shot. and then that's what he did.

And then you have Jimmy Butler screaming, meet me outside. You have evidently the heat trying to go back to their, I guess their locker room or something. But a big, you know, tall, white balding man walked the hallway. Yes. That was it. Can it get by them.

Can't get past them. Now these teams... Good photo opportunity, though. These teams do play again in three weeks. That was a beautiful photo. For anybody you haven't seen it. You got it. You see the back of like that.

big, tall, balding white security guard. And then you see all the heat players in the back are kind of looking through the door. It's a great picture. You're not a wrestling guy, right? So he looks like from the back, it looks like it's Paul Heyman to me, the guy who's the, he's the, he was like Brock Lesnar's manager in WWE.

It looks like that's who's guarding the door, Paul Heyman, when I saw that picture. Oh, wow. Yeah. It does look like it does look like it's what it looks like. Maybe it was him. Maybe it's Paul Heyman. Yeah.

Is that Paul Hammond? That's what they're actually looking at. Is that Paul Hammond? So is Brock had hit Brock Leser here? Oh, that would have been awesome. But yeah, anyway, so this this Nuggets heat thing, Chris. Yeah. I mean, first of all, it, when Morris hit Yokic hard, open floor, right in the side,

if Yokin's just flopped and flailed on the ground, Morris would have been the one to get a flagrant or a Nicole or something. And everybody would have thought, my God, what are you doing? That Morris was the dirty player. Yeah. If Morris was the, if that happened, but it didn't happen. Yokic took the hit. And he did something that he shouldn't do.

No. He shouldn't have done what he did. He loaded up with his forearm shiver to Morris with his back turn. It was a dirty, dirty, dirty, dirty moment for Yokic. And he himself admitted after the game, I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have done that. And he shouldn't have. It was a moment we've seen Yokic over the years get heated sometimes with the officials,

at other guys. He loses his cool. He lost his cool maybe more than ever in that moment last night with Morris. And understandably so, because what Morris did was also a cheap shot to him in the open floor. He could have hurt Yokic in that way. And he also could have gone to flagrant had Yokch flopped to the ground. Thankfully, it seems like Morris is okay. They at one point pulled out the stretcher for precautionary reasons, and he's walked right off immediately afterwards.

The other thing is he's the MVP of the league. Yeah, the MVP of the league. I mean, look, I don't want to sound like I'm supportive of cheap shots because I'm not. What I am supported of is aggressive play, though. And I like seeing intensity this year overall in the NBA. I like the intensity. I can't lie about that. And I'll say this.

Not that this play was representative of the type of intensity that you want to see, but I like the fact that we're getting intensity during what is something. times a boring regular season. Seriously. I like that. I appreciate when guys are bought in. Well, the last time that we have talked about this regarding the, you know, there was that Pat Bev, Chris Paul thing. I mean, look, nobody hit Patrick Pepperley either.

He was just getting his ass beat. He was just mad. He was just mad. Got his ass kid. He was just mad that he was losing. And so we ran up and shoved a guy from behind. Yeah. That was barking at him, right? At least. That was.

At least Yokic got hit. You know what I mean? Like he got hit and you can see his retaliation, though it is not what you should be doing. But this led to all better things. You have Jimmy Butler talking about, you know, come outside, come outside. Then you get, for sure, everybody debating Jimmy Butler and Nicola Yokic

and people taking sides and people deciding who they think would want to fight between the guys and whatever else. Look, who would you take? Let me tell you this. Neither of those two guys are to be trifled with. No, definitely not. No. And not their brothers either.

And this I would tell you, it's so funny because everybody brings up the Yokic brothers. I can't speak for Yokic. I know he's huge. I know he's tough. Those Yokic brothers are scary. I don't, look, I'm rather confident that the older brothers have probably been in a scuffer. fuller to our 20 or a thousand in their lives. They look like, again, just from looking at them and then reading some of the stories,

they look like some rough dudes now. Right? So on the other hand, if we're just talking about like fighting is a different deal, man. And I'll bet you Jimmy Butler's been in his share of real fist fights. I don't know how many fights Yokic has been in. People could say, well, look at his brothers and look at where, you know, he's from. a war-torn country. And I also, you know, he was also chubby drinking six liters of Coke a day.

You know what I mean? Like, Jimmy, I guarantee you, Jimmy Butler has, has fought some guys that you, you wouldn't, in a million years. I mean, you would be petrified of the, all right, guys. Chris, just on Twitter this morning, Marcus Morris, brother of Mark Heath, Markief Morris. Just to make this clear. Markief Morris is the one who got pushed last night by Yokic. Marcus Morris tweeted 11 hours ago at time of recording,

waited till bro turned his back, shake my head, noted. And the Yokic brothers made a Twitter account. This was confirmed by Mike Singer of the Denver Post. Okay. That at Yokage Brothers was created on Twitter this morning. They responded to that Marcus Morris tweet saying, you should leave this the way it is instead of publicly threatening our brother. Your brother made a dirty play first. If you want to make a step further, be sure we will

be waiting for you, Yokic brothers. And so they made an account just to respond to Marcus Morris. So the Yokch brothers responded to the Morris twin brother. I think this should be another celebrity death match. Well, like, didn't we just get that thing? What was that crazy-ass thing? Forget, yeah, what was that thing I read earlier this week? It was like, who is Darren Williams? is going to fight. Did you see... Frank Gore. Who?

Frank Gore. Yeah. And I was like, what... I was like, what the hell? It's like on the Jake Paul card or something? I'm taking Frank Gore in that fight for what it's worth. Frank Gore is tough, dude. Yeah, there's no question.

I mean, nothing against Darren Williams. The one thing I will say is this, though, Chris. Frank Gore's only five foot nine. Five foot nine. Darren Williams is six three. That four inch height difference. I'm sure there's a long wingspan difference as well. Not that we're any experts here with fighting,

but length does make a difference and height. So for Frank Gore here. This is a, no, I agree with you. That's going to be tough. This is a huge mistake for Darren Williams. It's a huge mistake.

I mean, I think despite the size difference, Frank Gore, what was it, like 20 years in the NFL? Yes. How many years did he play? Yes.

I mean, I think last year he was in the NFL. for good of sakes. Yeah, he was last year with the Jets. Yeah, last year. I mean, the crazy thing is this. 16 years. 16 years.

Wow. I will 100% pay for, to watch the Yokic brothers fight. Yes. The Morris brothers. No, I'm saying, I'll watch the Yokch brothers fight anybody. Fight each other. And again, watch that too. This is all I need.

This is all that said, though. Every time that the. Are you going to pay to watch Darren Williams and Frank Gore fight and Jake Paul and the Fury brother? Are you going to pay for it? 100% Really? Yeah, I would not miss that.

Okay. Yes, I would not miss that. For the Paul Fury fight? Yes, I will watch it. How come? I'm like, what is, I'm curious because I find it. I'm fascinated by it. Yes.

I find it amusing too. It's good entertainment. It is. That's it. I agree. I like the entertainment. I agree. It's good entertainment.

I laugh. I laugh about it. It's fun. The announcing, they have celebrity announcers. It's great entertainment. It's entertainment. It's entertaining. I know,

I know, like, there are probably a lot of boxing or, you know, fight enthusiasts that are like, this is ruining the sport. What if it's, what if it's,

like actually helping the sport because you're creating new fans. Yeah, it's fun to watch. And then you watch real fighters. I don't care about it. I don't care about all that, you know,

it's hurting or it's helping. All I know is if it's on, it entertains me. It's fun. I get entertained by the thing. And I want to see it. I get a kick out of watching those Paul brothers in the ring. Yeah.

It's so fun. But look, here's what I know. People were like, the weird thing about the Yokic thing, like, you know, leave Yokic's brothers out of the deal and now his brothers are there on Twitter and whatever. It was just odd. Like, as soon as Yokic got into it and people were like, oh, you don't want any problem with Yokic, have you seen his brothers? Like, bro, you know what I'm saying?

Like, why has everybody got to bring up his brothers? It's not like. Because his brothers are scary. That's why. I get it, but that's not Yokes. Yokes ain't got, you know, tats head and toe. Yeah, they look. Those guys have been involved in.

Rough incidents from the sidelines with Booker just a couple months ago. I'm with you. Those guys. Screaming and yelling at Devin Booker. Those guys. And Jay Crowder. Those guys are rough. But they're not like, I don't know why they have to get included in this. Like, you know what I'm saying?

Like, fine. If you want to include the brothers, yes. I would not mess with those dudes. But it's like, I don't know. The video of them yelling at the suns fires back in June. Unbelievable. Oh, no, those guys are not to be messed with. Let me let me make that clear.

Stay away. Right? But, Nickley. They're like both seven footers. But when you are debating the little brother that they obviously picked on, I'm not saying he's not tough. I'm just saying, you know, Nicola Yokic, we don't know. I don't know how many.

My gut tells me Nicole Iokic has been in his share of fights. That's what my gut says. I don't know this for sure, but I bet you when he was a kid, he used to brawl. I think those guys beat the shit out of each other and that he was probably the baby. That's my guess. That yes. The big, big honey was the baby? Yeah, that they picked on, right?

He's their little brother. but they didn't beat the crap out of him in the same way that they beat the crap out of each other because they're more peers, right? He was probably the, you know, he was the golden child, I would imagine. You know? You don't want to beat him up.

He's been awesome at basketball since he was, what, probably 12 or 13 they knew. Like, this guy's special. Well, I mean, he ain't at there whipping his ass. Those other two guys, who knows? They've been flanking him forever, right? They've been flanking him forever, right? They've been flanking Yokin' it for a long time.

Yeah. Yeah, I wouldn't mess with them. That would be a pretty good celebrity death match. But yeah, I mean, I'm not sure what else there is. Just like, yeah, let the Morris brothers just retire so we can get that on the Jake Paul, whatever. Maybe someday we might. On the card. No, let's get it.

Five, five, ten years from now, you know. Let's get it on the, let's get it on the Frank Gore, Darren Williams card. Yeah, that could be fun. Much more. I would much rather why. I think tag team wrestling would be better than just like an actual boxing match. All right, let me be honest. But, you know, I would be legit wrestling.

I would much rather watch the Morris brothers fight than play basketball. Those guys could probably fight. Yes. They could fight. Yes. Yes. I don't think either of them are shrinking violets. They could be heavy weights.

Yes. If they really trained fully boxing, they could be heavy weights. Yeah. I don't think they're. Morse Fury. Morris Tyson Fury Underneath Paul Fury A couple other things to hit real quick

Lakers sneaking one out against the Hornets I mean the reinvention of Carmelo Anthony As this It's beautiful It really is Dead eye three point shooter You know we've talked about in the past guys that are able to

extend their careers For an amount of time by reinventing themselves. They're no longer the man. They're no longer the go-to guy necessarily. And yet they can still help a team in a huge way and adapt to being what amounts to, you know, a super role player. And that is kind of exactly what Mello has fallen into.

And he has now unbelievably become this. guy that when the ball swings to him, you're like, uh-oh. Yeah, lights up. Like, he is a truly outstanding shooter now. There's nothing I respect more than guys who reinvent themselves in the twilight years of their career. Seriously. I mean, like, you go from a Hall of Fame talent, All-Star every single year, all-N-B-A,

and then you become, you know, Kyle Corver. It's pretty cool. It really is. Hey, imagine this, Kiv. imagine that we're this far into the season, you know, whatever, it's probably like an eighth of the way into the season. And I could, and I could say, in all seriousness, where would the Lakers be without Carmelo? Like, really? Where would they be? He has saved them up to this point in the season. Truly, he's been that good and that essential. And I don't know if we

necessarily expected that, you know, when they, when they added him to the squad in this offseason. Let's touch on the M-Bid thing. Got COVID. It's going to be out at least 10 days, they're saying. Philly's going to have a tough deal here. No Simmons, clearly, no M-Beed. and then you have this story come out yesterday, which of course gets aggregated and becomes a headline everywhere, as is the case with any kind of, you know, rumor that comes out. But Shams Sharania puts out that there's been talks or chatter with Boston and Philly.

and then he floats out of Ben Simmons Jalen Brown. Saying that Philly would require Jalen Brown. Yes. Not that Boston would give Jalen Brown. Mark Murphy, a great longtime Boston writer followed up saying that Jalen Brown for Ben Simmons would not happen. That came out very, very quickly. It's fair to assume that that likely comes from the Celtics. Of course it does.

Well, I don't see any chance of a Jalen Brown for Ben Simmons deal. either. I think that I don't know why that was floated out there from Shams. To drive up the Ben Simmons price? What are you talking about? What? I mean, it's as obvious as can be. What? Why drive up the best. So what you're saying did it for Philly, for Mori and all that. I mean, that's the way all these stories work. You never know what the intention is on. I mean, come on. We can we can all say with any story. It's just the news. And that's the news. And everybody gives you different stuff. And yeah, but what I, one, what I'm saying is it's like he wrote the words that he wrote were talks have been fluid with no traction as of yet these those sources say any potential Simmons deal with the selects would have to include all star forward jalen brown and so that's from the Philly side of course but like I think the way in which social media reacted to it doesn't necessarily fit what he has in there in there he's saying Philly would demand Jalen Brown which Boston is not going to give Jalen Brown right so like

I think I looked at it when I originally read it was that he's just saying this is another example of Philadelphia having a sky high demand for Ben Simmons. But teams aren't willing to meet that yet. And in all likelihood, Boston wouldn't be willing to be do that at any point. Boston would want to give up like Marker Smart, another salary, and draft picks. That's what Boston will want to give. You know what you're doing when you include the other dude's name in there. You know what. You're driving interest to your story.

You know what you're doing. You know what you're doing? Everybody's going to be like, Ben Simmons for Jalen Brown. It doesn't matter. You're driving interest to the story. Most people aren't even reading the shit. Most people who don't even...

They're just seeing the tweet. And they're like Ben Simmons for Jalen Brown, and then they debate that. Whether it matters, right, the second that you put those two names in there, and if you're Boston, that's why they immediately call a writer. Get this news out there.

Because the last thing you want is Jailan Brown. who's about to undergo a one to two week rehab or whatever he's going through, feeling like they're talking about trading him. They want to get it out there quick way. Yo, we're not talking about trading you. Right. You're talking about trading Marcus Smart. Yeah.

Like, we're not talking about. And by the way, but by the way, another reason why that name, you know, today makes sense to include because that's the only salary besides Tatum or Horford that would realistically be available. Like Marcus Smart is not eligible to be traded yet. because of the extension he signed during the offseason. So for Boston, like, there's just no deal that he made right now. Those talks have been fluid or whatever,

but there's been no traction because there's no traction to be had right now. And in all likelihood, Boston's just not a good fit for Ben Simmons. You, I mean, I think. To me, I think you put that name in there as to say, here's the price of doing business, right? Like, that's the kind of return that we want to get. We want to get some kind of player like a Jailen. Brown if we're moving Ben Simmons.

That's the cost of doing business on this. And the shrapnel is, you know, Boston has to go to their guy and say, I mean, you could do this with any team, Kevin. You could say it hasn't gained any traction. And you could go and screw somebody else. Like you could say, oh, Ben Simmons, you know, if Ben Simmons is getting. move to the Memphis Grizzlies, the cost is going to be John Morant and Jerry Jackson Jr. And then like those guys, now the team has to go to those guys, be like, yo, we have never

even talked to their ass about trading you to them. Like, that's ridiculous. And that's exactly what Boston had to do yesterday. Guaranteed with Jaylen. And you could say that shit doesn't affect guys. It does. Because even if you tell them that, there's a twinge of them in the back of their mind. They're going, it is a business.

they might have talked to them about moving me for him. They might have. I don't know. These guys might be lying to me. You know what I'm saying? Like I've seen them trade other guys out of nowhere and not say anything. And so it's like, I don't know, man, that's not. If they have not spoken to each other specifically about that deal, I don't think that's

fair to Boston. I don't think that's fair to Jalen Brown. And I say that as someone who has covered guys that have been involved in trade. trade rumors, and I've watched it affect them in a negative way because all of a sudden, that trust, which is always tenuous, is broken. It is. You can do that with any player in the league. Seriously.

If they haven't had real conversations about a deal for Ben Simmons for Jalen Brown, that to me, that's not right, man, because you could do that. You could say the cost of doing business for Ben Simmons is, and then name the awesome player on any team. I mean, this is the tough part here with social media because we're talking specifically about the report by Shams itself. But then there's also the aggregate accounts that pick stuff up and tweeted up. But there's also the fake aggregate accounts.

Because yesterday on social media, there was a Twitter account that was imitating at NBA Central. with a name at NBA central with an F instead of a T. And it got thousands of retweets with a fake thing saying that Shams reported that Darrell Mori asked for Jalen Brown, Marcus Marcos Marte, Robert Williams, and a first for Ben Samadena Green. The Celtics hung out without saying any words. And that was fabricated. That's it.

It was 100% untrue. Like that wasn't in the Shams report, but it was tweeted by an account that looked like another aggregate account. It got thousands of retweets. And tons of people are going to believe that now to be true. And it's just, I don't, like, this is the way social media is nowadays. It's like one thing is said, I don't think what Shams wrote was actually that bad. Maybe it could have used a little bit more elaboration, you know, to say like, Philly asked for this.

There's nothing there. Maybe it could have been, you know, written a little bit better in that sense to clarify things. But things still get picked up on social media, spread around, turn into something else that it's not. not and that's what infects the player in the way that you're talking about. Is it the responsibility of the reporter not to put that name in there? If they do know that Philly asked for Jalen Brown, I don't know. I mean, that's a difficult thing. It's tough because it is a business and information is information.

But I'm not, I don't think there's any solution here in terms of news you're putting out there. I think it's just like you've got to be careful. If you've got that news, though, then you say they rebuffed it. That's what you say. I think Shams should have put that in there. Yeah, they rebuffed it. If that's the truth. Now, if they engaged in it and said, hey, you know, all right, what could we do here?

Then that's a different deal. But if they just said, you know, he said, hey, you want Ben Simmons? How about Jalen Brown? And they said, go to hell. Like, that needs to be in there. And that's obviously what Boston wants you to believe. And I actually believe that's true. I don't think you give up a 25 plus point per game two-way player.

Like that's not the cost of doing business to get Ben Simmons right now to get an all-star that average is 25 a game. I thought our big boss, Bill Simmons, had the tweet that explained it best. Bill tweeted out, hey, Daryl, it's Brad. Hey, what's going on with that guy who, quit on your team and now does the bare minimum and completely torpedoed his trade value. Any interest in discussing a deal? We'd want Jalen Brown. Okay.

I'm hanging up. Have a great rest of the day. That's probably actually how the conversation went. That's probably how it actually went. You ain't giving up Jalen Brown to get Ben Simmons now? Jalen Brown is a better player than Ben Simmons right now. And forget about better player on the court. He has far more value than Ben Simmons right now.

I went to Grizzlies T. T. Wolves last night. Down, I think, two with two minutes left to go. John Morant drives and dunks on everybody and then comes down. It hits a three. The game ends up going to go. Superstar. But they were, look, it was a, the Grizzlies ended that before Towns hit a crazy

half-court banked three to send the game to overtime. That was crazy. That was a 20 to four run to end the game. And I'm going to tell you something, Kevin. Minnesota turns into a my turn, your turn, ISO team. And they just, they don't play together. They don't. It was bad, man.

They've got three individual talents in Russell Edwards and towns, but it's like they don't do it as a collective. It really is a lot of my turn, your turn stuff that goes on. And of course, they also, when the runs, you know, when there's this title wave that the Grizzies are on to end that game, you know, one of my buddies turned to me and he said, who you always talk about this, Chris, who's the guy that's going in that huddle and saying, this shit ain't happening? Like, they don't have it. They don't have that guy. There's no leader, you know, and you can. And it needs to come from a start. It can't always be Patrick Breverley.

Right. No. No. For goodness sakes, no, not, especially not. when he's, you know, got track marks on his back. They just, I don't know, man. Like, I feel so bad for Timberwolves fans. I really do.

Because I watched that last night, and, you know, I have covered a lot of teams that are like 20 win, 30 win teams over the course of the years. I know that feeling, which is even when you're excited and you're up by 13 with four minutes left to go, your team could still lose because they just, suck. You've seen it happen too many times before.

And it's until you build a real culture and get a real structure and here's hoping for those fans that new ownership can turn the corner on that. But it's like you've got these good players, but here's going to be another season where you're not a playoff team.

You're not. Yeah. And I... It's going to be tough to find the solutions too. Yeah. Not only do you need internal development, you get to make some moves too. And that offense was just absolutely disgusting, just gross, hideous to watch last night. I mean, I think a lot of the times you can credit the defense and say, oh, yeah, they made things difficult for the offense. And to an extent, you could say that about Memphis down the stretch.

But primarily watching that game last night, it was Minnesota just shooting itself on the foot. That was some horrible, just bad offense. Truly. Every possession it felt like, every possession there was no movement, no ball movement, ISO. It was horrible. And let me take it. Ryan Saunders was still coaching the team. Let me tell you something.

And my broadcast partner. Maybe it's the players, not the coaches, Chris. Maybe it's the players. Brevin Knight lost his absolute mind last night as a broadcaster, because he's a grizzly's broadcaster, but he is just a basketball fan. and we ran the clip over and over again on our postgame show. So at the end of the game, I mean, this is like a one possession game. The T-wolves have a chance to win the game.

Actually, there was a block that, there was a goaltend that was overturned. Now they're tipping it off. It's a jump ball at mid-court. Jaron Jackson hits the ball out of bounds. So now it's side out, right? Minnesota's got the ball. Two guys run to DeAngelo Russell, right? And so now they're bracketing.

him. There's two guys guarding him. Kevin, you can go back. Anybody can go back and watch this. And I've never seen this either. There are three guys for the Timberwolves. They are all standing on the complete other side of the court. None of them ever moved. They never moved. This is to win the game. Five second call. No guy moved. In fact, if you watch the replay, you never see them in the picture. You have DeAngelo Russell trying to break free with two guys guarding him and three guys that never moved, ever.

And there's a five-second call, and they lose the ball. And, of course, they end up losing the game. It's just like, what is this? What is this? That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. It's like for a while,

it's like you're talking about if you're a Wolf's fan, oh yeah, we'll change the coach from Ryan Saunders to Finch. And in some ways it did help, but the fourth quarter offense has not been totally resolved there. And that makes me feel like this is a player's problem, not a coaching problem. It's a player's problem. They got three individual really good players.

There's no question about that. And that Edwards, seeing him in person is something different because his first step and explosiveness at his size is just unbelievable. it's unbelievable how fast he is his first step when he wants to get to the basket and he is strong as an ox he is a special talent man what was the mistake i still think edwards and towns can work i do i think edwards his development uh on the defensive end of the floor some of the little subtle things he's doing on offense the chemistry him and towns have developed some good two two man game chemistry with dribble handoff pick and roll actions I like the way they play together.

The mistake was probably D-Lo. That gold state deal, the mistake was D-Lo. Is a solution getting Ben Simmons? Is that a solution? Or does it not resolve the underlying issue that you're talking about, Chris, about who's the guy that goes into that huddle and says, this is enough. We're done. We're done.

We've got to turn it up here. They still wouldn't have that leader unless Edwards were to become that guy. He's still only 20 years old. He himself has said in post-game press conferences, I got to be the guy who's talking already a 20-year-old in his second year is talking about how he's going to be the leader. Is it a two-solution thing here? I think it's always going to be.

Getting Ben Simmons and Edwards growing into a leader. Does that resolve? I think it's going to be very hard for Edwards to be the guy, for that to be Edwards' team until Towns moves on. Why, though? Because Towns is the elder statement. Towns is the guy that they've been promoted for you. I'm not disagreeing.

I'm just curious. No, he's the, because he's the elder statesman. He's the guy that's been promoting. He's the guy on the billboards. He's the guy with the jerseys. He's the, he's been the guy for so long. Can't he be all that but also just not be the vocal leader? I mean, I don't think that they tried that and they brought in Jimmy Butler and that worked out famously.

Also, I still think Towns should shoot more. I think Town should be averaging 30 points a game. I think Towns is too dynamic of a score. to only be shooting 16 times per game. I think Towns is so remarkable offensively. He is, but half the game now. He should get 22 shots per game. He should be like near the top of the NBA and field goal attack.

16's not enough. Half the game, he just plays like 90 Sam Perkins, just runs from three point line to three point line and jacks up threes. And dude, I mean, that's part of it. Part of it's on him. It's true. Part of it's on him for having passive stretches. Like he should be shooting over 20 times per game.

He's so unbelievable offensively. He's not only one of the greatest shooting bigs we've ever had. He's an unbelievable shooter in the league today in a league full of great shooters. He's aloof. He's just aloof. He doesn't have that. He doesn't have that fight. And that, of course, affects him on defense, too.

He's 35th in the NBA and shot attempts per game. 35th behind Jimmy Butler, Tyler, Tyler, Hara, Reggie Jackson. I mean, come on, dude. Reggie Jackson, Dejante Murray, Deerrin Fox. He should be shooting more than the guy. OG and an OB and Obie is shooting more than Carl Anthony Towns. It doesn't make any sense. Last thing, college basketball is starting tonight.

And I got to tell you, I am super feed him. I am super excited to watch Paulo Bancherro because he's awesome. You know, all these people are already voting him as like, you know, newcomer of the year. Everybody's so excited to see him. The kid at 610 from Duke. He's number one on a lot of draft boards already. And so he's one of them. There's the kid at Gonzaga,

Chet Holmgren. Chad Holmgren. So tall and lanky. He's like a good pocus. 7-1. There's the two kids at Memphis, Jalen Duren and Amani Bates, who are both at the University of Memphis.

How are you liking those guys from the scrimmages? Have you watched much of them? I have not watched much of them yet. No, because they played against, I mean, well, they didn't,

Bates didn't play in the first exhibition game. So he's only played in the one exhibition game. And that was against... I'm really looking forward to watching Bates, seeing how he performs at the college level. Yeah, they're on tonight. They're on... I look forward to them.

I think they're on like ESPN Plus or something like that. Anyways, Jabari Smith Jr. from Auburn. So there's one to keep an eye on. Patrick Baldwin, who's playing for Milwaukee, to play for his dad. So you don't see that a lot. It's kind of reminiscent of years ago.

There was the McDonald's All-American. Oh, what was the kid's name that played at, he went to go play for his dad at Detroit. Ray McCallum, Ray McCallum years ago. You usually don't see guys going to the Milwaukee's of the world that are projected lottery picks, but there he is.

There's another kid on Duke, A.J. Griffin. It's very highly thought of. Jaden Ivy at Purdue. Peyton Watson at UCLA. I was scrolling through my buddy Sam Vassini's. He put one up on the athletic, his early draft board before this college season starts. This is much different than the last couple of years. There's like two guys, I think, from either the ignite or from overseas

and the rest of the entire lottery, at least going into it is college basketball players. So this should actually be a great, great year. Yeah, there's a handful of, you know, Jaden Hardy from the G League. He could be a top three pick. He could, I mean, even be the number one pick. There's a chance of that. You mentioned overseas, Nicola Yovich. Yeah, Yovic.

Yovic, Nicola Yovic. He could end up being a top 10 pick. But yeah, there's a handful of non-college players that could end up being lottery picks or first-round picks. But you're right. It's primarily a college basketball season. You know, Bancaro with Duke, I'm fired up to watch him, man. I think he's probably number one on my board right now. I haven't done my four lines.

So you buy it. You buy the hype. Oh, yeah, definitely. Yeah, I mean, his level of feel for the game. And I think if you go, if you backtrack him in high school, he's improved as a perimeter player every single year. And from the scrimmages for Duke, those preseason games, it seems like he's even better now. So I look at him.

He's one of those players. he checks every box. He plays hard for the most part. Any young players, sometimes their effort fluctuates, but he's a competitor, dude. That guy plays hard. And in addition to being extremely skilled with size and playmaking ability, scoring ability,

rebounding, defense, he plays hard on top of all that. So I'm very excited to see him playing this year for Duke. I can't wait to watch him. That's going to be fun. Yeah, he's going to be fantastic. I'm excited for college basketball to start tonight. That is for sure. Kevin, I will talk to you on Friday.

Thank you, as always, our producer. This week, Troy Farquess for fill it in for us. We will talk to you on Friday. Chris, we got a little rotating producers right now. I know, I know. A lot of rotation here. But, yeah, we'll talk to everybody on Friday.