The Mismatch - What’s Holding the Dallas Mavericks Back From Reaching Their Full Potential?

Episode Date: February 2, 2021

Verno and KOC get into LaMelo Ball’s first start and Malik Monk’s fantastic play in the Hornets’ win over the Heat, as well as how the Heat haven’t been putting the pedal to the metal this season after their Finals run (7:23). Then they talk about what is causing the Mavericks to perform below expectations, including worse shooting than last season and Kristaps Porzingis’s inability to stay on the court and play at a high level (16:26). They take a look at this hungry Rockets team (32:36), the Grizzlies’ winning streak (38:30), the Pelicans’ issues (47:45), and why Bradley Beal likely won’t be traded this season (1:03:37). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, this is Kevin O'Connor. On today's episode of The Mismatch, Chris Vernon and I went through a lot, including with some drama at Atlanta with the Lakers and a fan court side. The Hornets and Malik Monk going off. Lucas frustration. The Grizzlies winning seven in a row, just tearing apart the Spurs. Houston winning six in a row. I mean, what's going on in the West?

We get into all that next. Welcome to The Mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon. Join me as he does every Tuesday from the ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, a.k. Kevin O'Bomber. Kevin O'Compin'O. Klamour. Kevin O'Cannibal, Kevin O'Blessarian. Kevin O'Blessarian. What's up? Well, the biggest story of last night was a story that unfortunately happened off the court. I saw trending on Twitter.com this morning, Kevin, courtside Karen. The case of courtside Karen in Atlanta with King James himself, LeBron James, a fan. was thrown out of the stadium in Atlanta,

which it feels awkward, first of all, because A, rarely this happens, B, it's just awkward to hear about a fan being thrown out because we're so used to there not being any fans at these games. So not only were there fans in Atlanta that were courtside, they were unruly and got thrown out of the game. I guess this, the lady's husband hates LeBron James was getting into it with LeBron.

LeBron fired back at him. You know, it seemed from the story, like, you know, stuff that happens in the game, especially with superstars, right? A guy's yelling at him. He yells back at him. Well, his wife wanted to get involved in the situation and starts yelling. And then made a bigger seat of it by going on Instagram after and chronicling the whole thing. And she appeared to be rather inebriated.

I thought, uh, I thought LeBron. he obviously took the high road on all of this. You know, he's used to it. He gets yelled at in every other arena too. So that's old hat to him. But he said after the game, you know, basically, if I'm paraphrasing, like, I think I think she was kind of drunk, you know, and then she was popping off. And I didn't think she should have been kicked out, but they don't want anything to

escalate. So they kicked her out of the game. And so it caused probably a bigger scene than maybe it would normally. but court side Karen Kevin. Yeah. Comical story in terms of the videos that she posted last night, LeBron's response and all the NBA Twitter drama. Funny. I think one good reason to kick her out is not wearing the masks sitting courtside.

I mean, like, we're really letting people sit courtside and not have their mask on. It's pretty insane to me. She had a mask. She pulled it down. She pulled it down. I walked into a place to go pick up pizza and everybody, like 20 people in. there had their masks pulled down and the people and the bartenders. I mean, like you don't have your mask on if it's pulled down. So, I mean, it's just kind of ridiculous that, you know, she's so

close to the players in that situation. But hey, you know, it's it's handled differently state to state. And that's just a representation of that with how different people are handling the pandemic that we're living in. And ultimately for the NBA, the irony and everything happening last night is that now the NBA wants to return to Atlanta and actually hold an All-Star game according to the reports this morning, Chris. When does Courtside Karen get a reality show? Hopefully never. I feel like she was trying out for a reality show.

I mean, there's a lot of people in the world who exists and act like that, like every day, Chris. She was all, she was ready for that thing to go viral. She really was. I wonder, I wonder if Courtside Karen wakes up this morning and she's happy about what is taking place. I always try to figure this out. Does she wake up and like after all that? She's like, oh no, what just happened?

Or is she, are we going to see her on every, you know, like news channel tonight being interviewed and she's going to like soak this up for this five minutes of thing? Like Tucker Carlson had her on by the end of the week maybe. Right. The person they're calling courtside Karen, you know. I don't know, right? I don't know, man. I think she'll be out of the news and by the end of the day. Because that's the way,

that's the way the news cycle works these days. The only thing being caught LeBron saying old steroid ass was absolutely the best. For her husband. Yeah. Stereoid ass. Yeah. So, I mean, it seemed like. It invest a lot into his body.

Right. It seemed like these guys, you know, you've got a guy that hates LeBron James. He's given to LeBron James. LeBron James is going to take it. He's yelling back. I mean, I see this all of the time. time. I've seen it's not the first time LeBron's talk trashed to the crowd. I remember

like many years ago it was first thing in Cleveland when he acted like he's going to hand the ball to a fan and then pull the back? It was like it's your fault. It's your fault. He was going off that game. Yeah, I mean, it's not the first time and he's used to it ultimately. And so she got all mad about it and obviously

got kicked out of the game. But fans like they look, man, if you're going to go and you're going to drink at the game and you're going to yell at these players, when they pop when they pop back at you, like that's part of it, right? Like, they are trying to get a rise out of these guys. I had a guy last year, but maybe it's two years ago now because he was uninjured, right? And he was like on the front row. I mean, I heard him. And he was like, DeMarcus, cousins, you suck. You know, you're a waste,

blah, blah, blah, you know, just screaming at Dargis. Demarcus goes, like, I'll beat the shit out of you. And, of course, him and all his buddies were like, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? Like, that's what they wanted. They wanted to be, they wanted to be acknowledged, right? They wanted that. And so it's like, but I guess, you know, she got involved. The old court side carry got involved and then she got thrown out of the game and that made an even bigger scene a bit of all.

I mean, there's a small percentage of people increasing year by year that are beginning to act in person the way they do online when they're in on us. These worlds are blending more and more, Chris. Reality, I used to say, when I was a kid, I used to say real-life friends and internet friends. That's what I used to say, the way I used to frame it. It's all blending together in today's world. Well, I think maybe, I think maybe in this particular case, it wasn't as much of somebody acting the same as they do on the internet as much as they had what we call liquid courage. the liquid courage

I think looking at her Instagram page It's a little bit of both Chris Oh she's great Huh She's a character Yeah All the time Yeah okay

Like I said You said she was ready To try out for reality TV What I'm saying is every day is that Every day Every day That's her time for reality TV All right

Enough with Cameron Yes thank you Let's talk about basketball Let's get to basketball Okay So I'm gonna go through these Kind of one by one and things that happened on Monday night

that I think we can draw from or at least extrapolate some conversation from. First, the Hornets beat the heat in overtime. So a couple of things here. There's Lamello's first start because Terry Rozier was out. You have Gordon Hayward continuing to be outstanding this year. He's not far off from like 50, 40, 90.

He wanted a bigger role. He is proving he deserved it. I mean, he's 54. He's 50%. for the field. He's 40% from 3. He's 86% from free throw. He's averaging 23, 5, and 4. And he's

kind of leading what is a pretty good team this Hornets team. Certainly a team that can catch you if you're not ready for him. It was a big opportunity for Malik Monk who we. This is a fascinating one. You and I are both on a text thread

with Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, some other guys. And they are huge. They always, they have kept their stock in Malik Mung. So last night was a fun night with that going on and us knowing that they still believe in this guy because he is, he's one of these fascinating ones. He was a top 10 draft pick, outstanding prep player, great freshman year at Kentucky on a good team with De Aaron Fox, a Bam out of bio. And, you know, it's here four. And it hasn't really taken in terms of him being a big-time quality player of the NBA. And then you see something like last night where he drops 36.

He's only been back for eight games this year. But in those eight games, in his 16 minutes a game, he's scoring 10 points, 50% from the field, 55% from three, which is obviously rather unsustainable. But it is those nights that you think like, hey, maybe this is this guy's destiny as like an off the bench heater. And you can have a great career doing that, right? And maybe he's not your starting, maybe he's not a starting guard in the league,

but he's a dynamite Lou Williams type. Could you see that happening with him? Lou Williams with less ball handling. No, he's not going to help run your offense off the bench or run a ton of pick and roll, but you can kind of have him come off screens, have him run dribble handoff, spot up, cut, you know, all that stuff off the ball

with the occasional stuff off the dribble. I mean, ultimately, with him, I do think physically, there's a ceiling, 6, 3, 200 pounds. He's very small, has a slight frame. So that does affect him with what level he could reach as a guy who can, you know, be a go-to option. But ultimately, you know, he's still only 22 years old. He turns 23 later this month. I believe in a couple days, actually. So, you know, 23 years old effectively, Monk is a guy who can provide a spark for you.

And, you know, we'll see how he continues developing with more games like this. still needs to survive on defense, but ultimately, Malik Monk, having big nights makes the NBA a funner place. It does. He's just a fun player. First time I looked at, okay,

so let's talk, and the Hornet's a bit of fun watch this year. That's for sure. That is one of the, Heyward, man, Hayward, like,

it's every game watching him. It's wild. He bet on himself. Obviously he won in Indiana or Charlotte. He bet on himself and it's showing why. It's impressive to watch. And Lamello's fun. And,

Bridges might like I mean he may be on the side of the backboard and put one in with one hand on PJ Washington is a rock solid big for you. Devante Graham Spark plug guard he had a big night last night even though he's had some struggles from the field this season. They have a lot of fun players.

The Hornets are like just flat out fun even aside from him all. The PJ Washington thing is a trip too because it's a little it's so odd that they used to have a rock solid player like that in PJ Brown so many years It's very reminiscent.

He is very, PJ Brown was an outstanding, you know, role player in the league for a long time. And maybe the ceiling's a little bit higher on Washington. Came to the Celtics and won a championship in, 08. PJ Brown,

rock solid. What about the flip side? So Monk does hit that three to send it to overtime and then the hornets get that win. But what about the flip side? Because you're getting a little behind the eight ball with, when you're only playing 72 games and you're like seven and 13, I think now,

are the heat? I know they've been. ravaged by this COVID season. And they've lost guys for an extended amount of time. They've played a ton of games without Hero, without Jimmy Butler, without their guys. Are we concerned at all on the heat? That is the team that represented the Eastern Conference in what was a very good NBA finals last year.

I'm mildly concerned. Okay. You know, obviously it's early. This is a weird season. All the COVID stuff, as you mentioned, guys in and out. out of the lineup. It's a challenge. It's difficult. Also, I feel like it's worth contrasting this with the Lakers. They have the shortest off season ever in the history of the NBA and the Lakers have responded well, but we expected both teams or even all four finalists that made the

conference finals to have a slow start of the season after such a short and off season. So maybe with Miami, it's affecting them in that way. Physically, mentally, whatever else it might be. that that could play our role too. Ultimately, though, watching the heat defense, it does feel like opponents, and we saw this with the Charlotte game last night,

picking on the weakest link. And a lot of the times that can be Tyler Hero. Sometimes it might be Duncan Robinson, but knowing how openly and freely, the heat will switch screens in the defensive end of the floor, offenses are able to get the matchups that they want. And you can contribute the Charlotte win last night a lot to hot shooting. You know,

sometimes there's only so much. can do about a hot shooter. But the fact that we are seeing teams do that increasingly, I think is something that I'm a little bit concerned about when looking at the heat. Well, and they did, you know, they lost two guys in the offseason that were defense, defense first, don't take many shots, wings in Derek Jones Jr. and Jay Crowder. And that can have an effect on your team, especially when you're trying to keep everything on a string. And those guys are both very switchable, right, in your defensive scheme. And that's

kind of just what they did. They would finish. Crowder would take a three from the corner, but that's mostly it. And then they were there to play defense. That's what they did. And they're just role players, right, on that team. And it all kind of fit together pretty well. I mean, you got to remember, Duncan Robinson wasn't starting games and Tyler Hero wasn't starting games last year for the most part, you know, until the end. And so I kind of feel like this is a team that'll get it back together and it'll still be, you know, by the time you get to the playoffs, I think there, I talked about this a couple of weeks ago and I worried about this a little bit with Denver, that sometimes even when

you have your greatest accomplishment in a team, but it's not the title, but you did get to that finals, then you get a sense, maybe a little loss of hunger for the regular season the next year because you feel like it doesn't matter who we match up with. I mean, and I say that because you're watching this happen. Look at the team that lost because Mike Conley missed a three and the team that won. And I know that Denver's been through some stuff. They lost some guys in the off season. But this, you can tell that that Utah team is hungry.

Like they're going out and they are trying to win every regular season game. And I do think that once you've made your run in the playoffs, you're like, yeah, whoever we play, we're going to have to beat, we're going to have to beat the good teams anyway. So whoever we match up with it. So in the end, the heat will be there. And maybe they'll get burned by their seed or maybe they won't. But it would be unsurprising if they didn't have a pedal to the metal regular season. Frankly, they didn't last year either, you know. They were good in the bubble.

That was it. Until we got to the bubble, they weren't that. It wasn't like they were a home court advantage team. I still think they're a matchup issue for a number of opponents in the East. And ultimately, like you said, this could be the type of thing where it's a slow start, you know, short and off season, a weird start to the season with all everything that I've been going through guys in and out. They haven't had their guys. They can go pedal to the metal.

Yeah, exactly. They can go pedal to the middle at some point. So I think with Miami, they're one team where it's fair to say like it's inconclusive, like give it more time and see how it develops, but there is definitely some concerning trends early on at the least. Yeah, have not been as good this year as we thought they were going to be. Another team that you were higher on than I was,

but I certainly wasn't as low on them as they have performed, is Dallas. And you watched them last night. They take a loss last night again to Phoenix, which is a team you could theoretically meet in the playoffs, like in a four or five or a three six or whatever. You know, I watched that and I texted you over the weekend and I said, man, I know they're losing games, but like Luca looks like mega frustrated to me. Like he like just watching these games. And it's not just at the end.

Like last night, he slammed down that score, slammed on the scores table after he missed a three. It's understandable, right? He's losing. It's getting to him. But I'm just talking during the course of these games. He seems extremely irritated and frustrated by the way things are going with Dallas right now. What do you make of what's happened with Dallas so far this year and kind of how that relates? Because when I texted you that, you're like, man, he is, like, he is showing more emotion this year, to say the least. And it's not, it's not positive emotion. I wrote about this on the ringer on Monday.

I wrote about the Spurs, Mavericks and Rockets and how San Antonio's exceeding expectations. Dallas is underwhelming and Houston is a top defense. Since the Harden Deal, which is no surprise to you, Chris. Right. Yeah, right. But with Dallas, you know, I think with them, it's a number of different factors. They had one of the all-time offensive ratings last season.

They are now dead last in three-point shooting percentage. Guys on that team are not hitting shots. Guys who had career best seasons like Adorian Finney Smith are now down at their career average from the three point line. Chris Habs Porzingis is not hitting a ton of threes. Lucas percentage is still down. You know, it's that. It's the fact KP is not moving well defensively.

He had a couple of good possessions in last night's game against Phoenix. But he is not the same guy that we saw at the end of last season over the final 20, 21 games when he was just a 27 point per game guy, dominant defensively at gripping down 10 rebounds per game. This KP after the meniscus surgery is not moving the same way. And that's scary for the short term and for the long term. And then not only that, like Luca can't just get a pass here. He showed up a little bit chubby, a little bit out of shape, not in peak condition. And I think this is a season where we are, this feels like this to me.

this is a transition year for Luca and the Mavericks. This team might not be making the step forward that we expected for all these different reasons, but also with Lucas specifically, to me, this could be the year he's got to learn how far some guys go with their bodies in order to play at a peak level, that there's more that he can do during the off seasons to keep in shape and get in the best shape of his entire life, rather than working through it over the course of the season, but also as a leader, this is a year where we're going to see Lucas leadership develop. I know when I was in Dallas,

beginning of last season, or maybe, yeah, beginning of last season, talking to Donnie Nelson, he, you know, mentioned how like JJ Berea

was one of loudest voices on the team. It's the veterans, not Luca, not KP. This is the year where we see Luca clearly taking a more vocal role. And it's not, you know, we'll go get them,

guys. Let's go. do better next time it's it's more ferocious and angry and that's not necessarily a bad thing. I think that that drive and desire to win and compete at the highest level can be a good thing for your team. It's just different leadership styles. You look at the great players in NBA history. All of them had different approaches to leadership. You can knock one. Like people said Kobe the way he was or the way Jordan was or how LeBron is with his teammates is a little bit different than those guys. he's more, you know, in the group, you know, part of the team.

Well, we'll see how it develops with Luca. I wonder if he is a follow my lead kind of guy, right? Is that sometimes there are guys that are outstanding players that are, they follow the lead on the court, but like off the court, they're not the guy in the huddle, right? They're not the guy that's going to be yelling at everybody and they're not the kind of guy that's going to get everybody together. You know, they show their frustrations on the court.

but yet when they get in the huddle, they are not the kind of guy that is very vocal, right, in terms of what is going on. It'll be fascinating to watch it play out, right? Because they don't really have veteran guys on that team. He's got to be the guy. You know, you mentioned about, it's fascinating. You're not a big fan of Tim Hardaway's leadership or?

I don't think Tim Hardaway is going to the huddle and say, follow me to victory, you know. Well, the other thing is this, you know, like James Johnson. I mean, tough of guys in the NBA. I took a lot of heat from Mavs fans when I rolled my eyes at another team talking about how awesome Josh Richardson is. And I mean, you see, I know he had a good game last night, but he's not like, I mean, it was like, Philly used him all wrong.

Philly used him all wrong. Like, he's a guy. He's a guy. Right? So let me defend those people for a quick second. Richardson up until last season with Philly was somebody who got better every year. Like his last year in Miami, he looked like the part of a guy. He shot 38% from three.

He looked like somebody who could run pick and roll for you, be a secondary creator and one of the best defenders in the league. I mean, who wouldn't want a guy like that? But then last year in Philly with that whole dumpster fire, I think it's understandable to think that he could have returned back to prior levels that we saw in. Miami. But ultimately, instead, what we've seen is another season in which his offense has declined back to a previous level when he was a younger player, where he wasn't as reliable off the dribble, where he wasn't as reliable as a three-point shooter. And that, that's concerning because Dallas needed the former version of Josh Richardson, not a worse version of the Philly one. Well, one thing that, and I think we do need to take a step back and say, Miami has generally

gotten the best out of you. Whatever you are, right? Whatever they do, they usually can find a way to figure out, this is what this guy does well, this is how we are going to use him, right? We saw it last year with, you know, the Crowder year. I mean, that was as good as, I mean, Jay Crowder, he just, they just turned him into a guy that only shot three-point shots, right? That's all he did, for the most part.

And they got the best out of him. And I think that's true with a lot of players over the years. He's just not a knock-down three-point shooter. And I think you, the guys like Seth Curry, those are the better kind of guys around Luca that truly space the floor. And when your man cheats off, you can just knock that stuff down all the time. I mean, you see if you could surround Luca. Who on that team can you just throw it to? Can Luca drive to the basket, do the kickout and say, that's money?

Well, so, okay, there was a moment in last night's game that you just brought to mind right here. Late in the game, I believe like a minute left, Aiton defending Luca on a switch. And by the way, Aiton did a really nice job and his handful of instances on defense switching on the Luca last night. He contained the dribble drive by Luca. Luca drove the right side of the paint and he made a no look past Dorian Finney Smith in the corner for three. Like it looked like he was going up for a layup. his head kept looking at the rim. I mean, it was a perfect pass.

Devin Booker, the ball was past them by the time he knew it was going to be a pass. And it clanked off the rim. And that sort of just captured what I would assume is his frustration. It's like, man, I'm creating these open shots and pivotal moments and guys aren't coming through. I would imagine that's really frustrating when you're Luca. And I get it. So like when I see him pissed off, I get it. You know, I get mad when I play war zone.

I can't imagine what it's like what it's my job. I'm just doing that all on the court. Like, I just, I get it. And I, I don't, I don't, I don't fall Bradley Beal for that matter with his facial expressions.

Like, like with Washington, everybody's talking about that. Like, the desire to win is so strong. But sometimes it's not as strong as like how much you hate to lose. Yeah. I hate that.

Beals, Beals is a little bit different. I, that is a little bit different considering circumstances. It's a little bit. Luke is not trying. to get out of Dallas. But point is, as I get it, I get the frustration.

And, and that's why, like, I see that desire to win and that, you know, desire to not lose. And you know what? I, I feel like more than anything else, it's almost a waste of time in some ways to talk about Luca's emotions there when really it's about the roster around him more than anything else. It matters, but not as much as the roster on him. Like, KP, he's got to be better.

They got to find shooters to put around Luca. Like, that is the number one thing. more so than whether Luca gets pissed off because his teammates are shooting 29% from three. Right. He commands so much attention. Who do you have that could just bury it? You know what I mean? I throw you.

Your team is playing against Dallas. Luca drives to the basket. You collapse on him. He kicks it out and you go, oh, shit. There's nobody on that team that you go, oh, shit, right? I mean, Maxi Cleba. Maxi Cleva is maybe one of the only guys in that team that I would be

who, woo, I don't have Maxie Cleaver. rather have Maxi Kleba take a three than Luca do whatever he's going to do. Go to the rim and get the and one or whatever. And I like Kleba, but he's just a guy. 46% from 3% this year, Chris. He's a guy, though. 37% last year. He's a good shooter.

How many, how many do you take a game? This season, he's taking 3.5 a game. So he's made only 16 of 35. Last year is 119 out of 319. Yeah, I like Maxi Clever. That can't beat the guy. But he's not a dead eye shooter you're saying. He's not a

he's not for his whole career 40%. He's just 40% this season. Right. And he's not taking 80 a game. Yeah. And we'll see how this season plays out. You also kind of wonder if, and I know that you say with Houston, it's not been the offense as the reason that they're winning, but you do wonder, Stephen Silas was very

highly regarded. And if we, if we accept that Stephen Silas was very highly regarded, Stephen Silas is doing an extremely good job with this Houston team, you do have to wonder a little bit if does that loss hurt also right because he's not on that bench anymore i think that's the type of thing that's probably impossible to quantify how are we going to know possible to know but ultimately i look at this mavericks team and for the most part i feel like the number one difference is kp is not the same guy that's number one and number two teammates just aren't hitting shots well the other thing is this is kp going to be that guy well that's that's

been my focus for like since the Nix trade. I don't know. I don't know. And that's why. You're starting to see it. Are you getting it too? The Nix fans are reminding everybody about what came from the Porzinger's trade. They're like maybe that trade will it's it's it is crazy. You look back at it and that was probably the most roundly criticized trade we've had in a long time. In terms of the return that they got and in retrospect, you never know when a guy's going to get injured or whatever. Maybe you could say, well, you should have known he was going to get injured. But the Porzingis thing has obviously been very underwhelming for Dallas thus far. We know that.

We can accept that. Yeah. I mean, look, dude, the reason why the Nix made that trade is because it was a bet against KP. Yeah. Not paying him the deal was a bet against him being able to stay healthy and maintain an elite level of play. And Dallas took that risk. He also wanted out. He walked into the office and said, get rid of me.

That too. That too. He also wanted out. For them, it was about opening caps based to make a run into KD. They did not get Katie. They struck out there. But it has led to some other good things for them. And ultimately, there's still a chance the Knicks win the deal.

Still a chance. If Dallas were to miss the postseason and will convey their pick to New York this season, there's a chance. I'm not saying they would. But for any Knicks fans listening, you got to feel like, you know, hey, this is why they did it. It hurts. you know, and it stinks to give up, you know, one of the funest players you've had this past decade. But ultimately for Dallas, that was, it was worth the risk too because of KP's upside.

Like that deal, when we look back at that five years from now, 10 years from now, it'll be very, very interesting to see how we look at it. Because with the KP dude, that injury he had to his meniscus was his 13th to his lower body since he entered the NBA. A number of major injuries, multiple surgeries, a number of other issues that he's had, to not his lower body to his back, to his elbow over the years. KP ever since before the NBA has been injury prone. Historically, players who are seven foot have more injuries miss a higher share of games, especially guys who are seven foot three or taller.

KP is the 26th guy in the NBA to be seven foot three or taller. Look at the list of those guys. A lot of them, star players like Yao, role players have had their, like a big Z have had their careers and primes cut short. Some guys have missed entire seasons. It's a scary history for guys that tall. And with KP, I don't feel like it's pessimistic to look at that and be like, oh, oh, could that be bad for Dallas?

I feel like it's just being real about the situation that with him, with KP, you're banking on him being healthy for the right moment in the playoffs and you're banking on him to raise your ceiling then. But my big thing with Dallas is they need a true number two. Your number two behind Luca can't be a guy that you don't know if he'll be available. If you don't know, he'll be at peak performance because of injuries. You're going to have a guy that you can rely on. KP can be the highest upside number three in the NBA.

27 points, 10 rebounds, two blocks, elite efficiency from what we saw at the end of the last season, dominant. But if he can't be that guy consistently, he can't be your number two. So you're going to find somebody else. And that's the big thing with Dallas more than anything else, Chris. Yeah. And they also just, when you watch them, it's so rare. Like, they don't come by last year, and I would have to go look at the number.

But it felt like you could watch a game and you could look up and they dropped 65 on you in the first half. And they won the first quarter 38 to, you know, 14 or something. You know, like they just, they could come out and bury you offensively. And that they just had, they played with this hunger. and I just, they come out flat so often when you watch them. Just flat team. Like when is the, I'm just talking like, it's so few and far between that they ever come out and they're the ones that are up 20 to 4.

They might get, they might be down 20 to 4. Like it's much more likely you turn on their game and you look at the score and you're like, Jesus, it's already 20 to 6 Portland or whoever they're playing. And then they've got to got to scrape back rather than them being. the aggressor right off the front of the game. Now, the flip side of that is some seriously hungry teams, one of which is another team that you chronicled in the article earlier this week, Houston. We talked about that.

We touched on them last week. It has continued. That's now six in a row for the Houston Rockets and another good win last night for them where they just like, we kind of touched on them last week. The defense has been very good, but they play together and they get contributions off of their bench too.

And real kudos to Stephen Silas because he's got them, he's got them playing really good basketball and they're a fun watch right now. Stephen Silas is a coach of the year candidate. He should be. For as long as Houston is plus 500, Steven Silas,

keep him in your coach of the year projections because for Houston to get through the Hardin, you know, drama after trading Russell Westbrook right before the season. And then for this team to have the number one defensive rating in the NBA ever since the Hardin Trade. And oh, by the way, they also had a top 10 defense prior to the trade two. That's a testament to the talent in the locker room, number one, but also Silas's ability to keep this team steady through all the drama and to get better from it. I mean, watching J-Shon Tate gets me excited, Chris. I love watching that guy play defense. The hustle on that end of the floor, you can't help but respect it from guys like Tate,

guys like Eric Gordon playing the best defense of their life. John Wall and Oedipo set in the tone. Christian Wood every night. And I know they're winning. I know they're winning. So obviously your attitude's going to be good. But when you see, like, that is the difference between right now. And I know there's going to be some people in Texas that aren't too happy.

with this, but there is a, like, you see a difference between those two teams, and it's not just that one is losing and the other one is winning all the time. It's just the way they play and the energy and the happiness in which you see emanate from that team. You see the benches, you see the guys, you see the way they interact on the court. Like, Silas has gotten that thing, you know, and it's one of the things that John Wall talked about when all the hardened stuff had gotten at its worst was John what was talking about everybody's got to be pulling the same rope and they've really gotten everybody pulling the same rope and they seem like there's a there's a joy in watching them that is different than some other teams.

There's buy-in that comes from a collective attitude, you know, starting with coaching and the star players on a team and building that trust with each other and that desire to play as hard as you can. We just talked about that a little bit, you know, with Dallas where like the effort's not always there. They come out flat. And Luca last Friday criticized the team for the lack of effort. I think, you know, he could criticize himself too for coming into camp, not in a hundred percent shape. But for Houston, you know, same thing. They had, they dealt with Hardin doing what his thing. He wanted out and all that. But the rest of those guys are all bought in. Like I said, Jay Sean Tate, a year ago was playing with the Sydney Kings, Chris. He's playing with the Sydney Kings.

And like there's a play I had in my article on Monday that I feel like just sums it all up to me. Tate just playing hard-nosed help defense comes over and helps on an Ingram drive stops it. Arms straight up in the air. Stops it. Zion gets an offensive rebound. Tate rotates over again. Arm straight up in the air. Jumps up.

Uses the rule of verticality. Stops a Zion drive. Other end of the floor. Tate gets rewarded with a bucket. And like two consecutive stops and help defense. then a bucket in transition, just kind of captured to me, like the attitude of this team,

that you have somebody who is fighting, Tate is fighting to stay out of, you know, the NBL. He wants to stay in the NBA. And this whole team, Eric Gordon, Eric Gordon, dude, I've never seen him play harder man-to-man defense. It's amazing to watch these guys.

You have a lot of guys. You got a lot of guys that have been humbled, right? You have a lot of guys John Wall. Yeah, John Wall, DeMarcus cousins, Eric Gordon, PJ Tucker, Jayson, Tate.

I mean, like, you could go up and down that roster, and there's a lot of guys that, like, had their humbling moment, and now they've got a chip on their show. They feel like they got something to prove. Yeah. Rather than, like,

the best way for me to say, like the Mabs feel like a team that's full of entitlement, and the Rockets feel like a team filled with, like, hunger. chip on their shoulder. Like, we are going to prove to you that we are good, right?

And that we've been counted out or whatever else. And obviously the Mavs haven't accomplished as much to play like that. It is a lot of guys that have been counted out. Oh, yeah. PJ Tucker was out of the league for five years before we got her to turn. Tate, like I said, was in Australia one year ago. Christian Wood had a short stint in China, played years in the G League. John Wall coming back from a ruptured Achilles injury.

not playing in two years. Victor Oladipo. I know people were making fun of him saying everybody doubted me. People did doubt. Oh, well. It's a player. People did doubt him.

Like the guy's got, he got drafted number two in the draft that he's been on five teams. Yeah. I mean, he got traded by Orlando. People said he was a boss. Like, Oladivo has been doubted.

Like, I mean, I don't know what people are talking about making fun of that. He has a right to feel that way. Guys off the bench, too, that have been in and out of the league. It's like this team is full of guys

with a chip on their shoulder. full of it. And they play like it. They play like it. And it's, I'll tell you what, man, they right now are still one of my favorite teams to watch because of their defense. It's so fun. They have won six in a row, but they do not hold the longest win streak in the NBA.

That win streak belongs to the Memphis Grizzlies. Who have returned. They won five games in a row. Then they were out for like 13 days. They came back and played San Antonio. and bombed them out on Saturday and then played again last night and just absolutely destroyed them.

It was... How'd that feel, Chris? How'd you feel watching that game last night? It was an ass beating. Well, look, I think the... I think they're like, maybe like 10 and 38 or something all time in San Antonio.

So look, I've watched 100... It felt like these two games were payback for the last 20 years. Right? Because they just destroyed them. And what was mega impressive was, A, you have, sometimes these feel like playoff series in the sense that they beat them by 17 on whatever it was, on Saturday night.

So you know when you're playing the same team the next game, now it's, okay, we watch that film. We are making the adjustments to be able to play against this particular team that we just saw. Okay, they just beat our ass. here's what we're going to do to ensure that they don't beat their ass. And the fact that they were able to come back and beat the crap out of San Antonio again, that's what was. And you also have much like that Houston, we're talking about,

for people that haven't watched the Grizzlies, A, Morant is already a superstar. Like he takes over games completely, and he makes everybody better. Last night, they had nine guys in double figures. Nine. It was a franchise record. but and the only one that wasn't was John Contchar who kind of did everything and had a chase down block and a putback dunk.

Contchar is a nice player, isn't he? And keep in mind, they have done, they look like this without Jaron Jackson, without Justice Winslow, who are going to get in the mix. Valanchunis out too, you know, a handful of games. Valchunas has been solid too. Valchunis didn't play last night and Grayson Allen's on safety protocol. And he's been a starter this year. Like they go all the way down.

down the roster. Yeah. So deep. A bunch of guys that can play. I mean, that's three, that's three starters that aren't playing last night. In Balance Junis, Jaron Jackson, Jr. and Justice Winsler. I mean, think of all the young players you have in your rotation. How abnormal. This is why, you know, I made that video a couple weeks back for the void.

It's so abnormal for a young team to have this many quality players. Desmond, Desmond, Desmond, Bain, steady as it gets, Xavier Tillman. I mean, not just steady as it gets, leading the league. in three point percentage. He is. It's crazy. Desmond Bain is leading the league in three point percentage. And at a volume,

like he shoots threes. All right. And Tillman. De Anthony, Anthony Melton, too, who was a rotation player last year who lost a spot this year, but then last night comes in, score 17 at the bench,

plays his typical hard nose defense, Memphis. I mean, like, I feel like over the years, us doing the show together. People like make fun of you for some of us talking about.

Memphis. Memphis is going to be one of those teams the next five years. That is going to be worth talking about a lot. Well, and look, Moranth, I say this honestly, without bias. I think he is the most electric basketball player in the world. I really do. In the world. Yes. More than LeBron? That's LeBron just kind of faded because he's so old now. I just think when you watch him, you will leave your chair. You will. Like, at least. he's twice, you'll go, oh my God. Like, you can't believe it. More than Deany and Lillard taking 44-3s.

You just, it's just what he does at his size and ability to get to the basket, and he might jump over a guy. Like, he might at any given time. Like, he is, he is spectacular. And I cannot believe. I thought he was going to be a superstar. I did not think, you know, that it would happen maybe this quickly to where it's like five minutes left in the game.

game, you've got your guy and they've got their guy. And now let's see what happens. Because he just, he could take over games. He's electric. I want to say the most electric, but he's definitely electric. That's for sure. One of the most electric. And he's also, a lot of times those guys who are electric, you know, like you're saying, sometimes aren't reliable. They make mistakes. John Moran minimizes mistakes on the court as a playmaker and as a decision maker. He has such a good feel for what to do what's the right thing to do should i pass here do i try to score here do i attack do i pull up do i create a shot for my teammate do i reset the offense his feel for that is is at a high level and for only 21 years old you know what man you got a good one chris you got a good one

in jas well and there was a couple of days ago uh after they had gotten what was it was it the saturday win i think it was the saturday win um they jaron jackson Junior. Is this the tweet? Is this the tweet you're bringing out? Yes. Okay. The hangout tweet? He tweeted out. It's because we hang out. I was going to ask you about that. So funny you bring it up. Yes. It's because we hang out. Yeah. It's because we hang out. Yeah. With a hush, you know, emoji. Don't let out the secret. Yeah. What's your take on that, on that tweet? It's because we hang out. It's 100% true. They are. The guys are tight. They're all friends. like real, like they all like each other.

You know what I mean? It's, it's very odd. Like usually there's like the guy that resents the other guys. But frankly, I mean, Taylor Jacobs pays them all the way. Like you play, there's nobody that doesn't play on the team, right? So they all kind of play. They all have their roles. And they're all good dudes.

And so they all just get along, right? And they pull the same rope and they're constantly happy for each other and cheering each other on. Like they really are friends. And I don't think that is not extremely common. I've covered all manner of teams. There's always clicks. There's these three guys that hang out. How about the grind grizzlies?

How does it compare to that? No, but those guys, there was kind of like Mark and Mike, Conley and Gazal, they kind of hung out. And then there was Zibo and Tony. And then they kind of had like whoever, maybe a couple of young guys would jump on with them, like a Dorel Arthur or Ed Davis or whatever. But they were always like, and then there were some guys that didn't, like they kind of have their families at home. Like a Tayshan Prince would just go home, you know?

Like, I mean, this team is all young, for the most part. Like the oldest guys are, Val Tunis is like, what, late 20s? Gorgie Jing. How many are married? Like, obviously Xavier Tillman married, you know, but two kids. Like, how many are? Anders. Kyle Anderson has a kid now.

Family. Grayson, Allen, no. Tyos Jones just had his first child. So he is. But yeah, I mean, so there's some young married on the team. But a lot of young guys who similar age. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're all around the same age and they're all.

And you've got a lot of guys that, you know, had a prior relationship. This is a fascinating one because I wonder if you're going to see this happen. I wonder if other teams are going to do this. So you have guys that were like, so like Grace and Allen and. and Justice Winslow and there's one, Tyos Jones, they were all on the same college together, right? Xavier Tillman and Jaron Jackson

have been buddies since they were in college. If you go look at that, we joke all the time. If you go look at the Memphis Hustle, it's the family and friends team. It really is. There's two guys from Murray State. There's a guy from USC

whose buddies with De Anthony Melton. There's a guy like, it's all these like, Killian Tilly, right, who went to school with Brandon Clark. Right? By the way, it's, and like, it's not like these guys are just, you know, there to be family and friends. These guys are also actually quality players.

But it also keeps all your guys happy. Yes. And like with Killian Tilly, it's like the incentive is that like he's close with Brandon Clark. They played ears together there at Gonzaga. But also, if he weren't, you know, injury prone, if he didn't have injuries, Killian Tilly would have been a lottery pick. he would have been a lot of it's just a fascinating case study because there's a lot of guys that are all like they've been friends before the NBA so it's just this maximum comfort level but they are all friends you know and I thought it was funny Jared Jackson Jr. said you know it's because we hang out and they do they hang out David Stockton on Memphis Hustle too and I'm a Gonzagger guy right?

I'm telling you Shaq Buchanan and another guy from Murray State. It's a fascinating case study. But anyway, the Grizzlies have been super hot and not tomorrow night. Thursday night. They play Indiana tonight, but Thursday night will be Grizzlies versus Rockets.

That's a too hot. Who would have thought two hottest teams in the NBA facing off on Thursday night? Let's talk about some other hot teams. Clippers, Utah have been outstanding. The Lakers

you know, they won their game last night, but record-wise have fallen back behind those two. And then Denver has gotten going now recently. And I wonder if you feel like, do you feel like there's a separation between the two L.A.'s, Denver and Utah, and whoever is five right now? I mean, I think there's a difference between... I mean, because that's like Memphis, Houston,

like teams that have not done it yet. I think there's a difference between the two L.A.s and Utah and Denver. Oh, you do. Yeah, I still do. You don't think Utah deserves to be in that. I'm not wavering off of that. Interesting. No.

I still think the Lakers and Clippers have an elite level of firepower that is required in the postseason to make that finals run. With Utah, they are a great team. I mean, this team is connected. The way in which they play, the rotations on defense, the ball movement on offense, it is a joy to watch. It's beautiful, truly. it is beautiful to watch the Utah Jazz play. But I just think the talent level for the Clippers and Lakers is superior. But ultimately, like to answer your question, like still the top four, Clippers,

Jazz, Lakers, Nuggets, is there a difference between those four and the next clump? Right now, just a, just right now, just outlined for the listeners. Could you see anybody puncturing those four is what I'm saying? Memphis 5, Phoenix 6, 7, Golden State, 8, Portland, 9, Houston, 10, San Antonio. you know, we can stop there. All right. So, would Phoenix be the one that you could see puncturing that?

I still think Phoenix could puncture that top four. Other than that, I mean, probably not. I mean, Dallas still, like if they were to theoretically get back to what people

expected in the preseason, which I'm less confident about right now, could say that too. But other than that, I still don't think Portland's defense is good enough. Golden State, you know, two up and down right now for me to put them in there. Dallas may have to play for their seed at the end of the year.

Isn't that crazy? Isn't that crazy? Like really. There's always, well, we talked about this at the beginning of the season, Kev, we said there is always the team.

Mm-hmm. That it's just like, we pencil them in, and it's just not the season we thought, right? And there's, like, they can't blame,

like, massive injury. You know what I'm saying? Like, they got, I know KP was out, but they got him back. And all these teams have COVID problems or injuries or whatever. Yeah, it's not unique to Dallas because they've had some guys in an up too. Portland lost frigate C.J. McCollum.

Like they can't. And Nurkich too, to the hand injury. But ultimately, you know, every team is dealing with their own set of unique challenges this year. So I mean, like you can't use that as a reason for one team, but not for others who are getting through it, which is a testament to the importance of depth this year more than any other having a roster of good players who don't, you know, screw up and makes mistakes. You need to have your John Contrar, who you mentioned earlier with Memphis who can come slide in and reliably fill a role. Depth matters a ton this regular season. And for Memphis, like, they're kind of that team.

I remember before the season. I had New Orleans of one spot ahead of them in my power rankings. And you're like, yeah, I get it. I get it. You know, ultimately Memphis is proving to be that team that is better than expected, that is breaking through into the top base. and by the way, they keep this up, Chris, you might not even have to have a playing game. It's not crazy. How about them subbing out Zion for defensive purposes last night?

People can get mad at us all they want. And I know that some people got mad about the video a couple of weeks ago where it's like, you know, because I got the, yeah, he's averaging 24 and 9 and you guys are poking holes into what he, you know, like he, like watch that team. If you watch that team, it is, their defense is disgraceful for the personnel they have.

The Jackson Hayes, the Jackson Hayes Zion front court. I mean, for the person, their personnel does not, there are some teams where you look at it and you go, all right, I see it, right? How good could they possibly be defensively? But you see some of these teams with the wherewithal, they're getting by, like the Knicks have got their nine wins because they play defense. and the Houston's got this street going because they play defense, Memphis is in the top five in defense. They don't have Tony Allen and Marcosol anymore.

They're starting Xavier Tillman at Kyle Anderson in the front court, for God's sakes. I mean, that's the front court. So what is the reason that they should be great defensively? You watch that team and you see their length and their athletic. and their personnel and you go, how? Like, how do teams just score on you when they want to score on you? It's bananas. With Zion, that video that people, you know, some Pelicans fans got mad at us for,

the video was about his defense. Like, it almost goes without saying that Zion is a brilliant offensive force. It's, I mean, it's transcendent his talent. You become a guy that, like, there's a difference between a guy that puts up a bunch of numbers and a guy that wins. And the guy that can will his team the victory, and those guys, those true superstars, they make the plays on both ends.

The other ones are just, they're offensive players. They're going to get you those numbers every night, but they also give up 25 points. You know what I mean? They score you 25, but they give up 25 too. And that's what we got to see out of Zion. We want him to be the guy that scores 25 and the other guy gets 12. You know what I mean?

Like that he's actually keeping points off the board rather than, I mean, look, it's a runway to the basket against that team, so many possessions. It's crazy. So I mentioned the Jackson Hayes Zion front court earlier, Chris. This season in 134 minutes, they're allowing 122 points per 100 possessions. and that's one of the worst, you know, two-man combinations in the league of combos that have played that amount of minutes. It's not good, man. That's what you say.

I don't care what anybody can argue about what he's done. He's still in his second. See, we get all that, right? But look, this is what comes with being put on national TV 750 times. Right? And you are now, we have already put you into a different class of player. and he is capable of being in a different class of player right now. There is absolutely no reason a Zion Jackson Hayes front court

should be one of the worst defensive front courts you could put out there in the league. With him being pulled out of the game, late for defensive purposes, I thought Shamit Dua from Bourbon Street Shots, really smart Pelicans rider started following him recently. He's very insightful. And so Shamet had a threat. this morning about the idea and the decision to pull his eye on late.

And his point was, you know, what is the incentive to do that? Like the process of pulling out, you know, your number one pick in a late game situation because of defensive purposes. This has been done before with him. It's not the first time. What is he learning watching from the bench in that situation? Are you better off having him on the court? I can see the argument for either because you're trying to win games.

ultimately and if the best thing for your team is to pull them off the court, then that's the best thing. But ultimately, I do feel like, as he pointed out in this thread, it is a bit odd. Like from a process standpoint, the way they're building this team out, you're pulling your number one pick late. You're putting a lot of non-shooters around him. The way the team is built around him, the decisions, you know, with coaching late in games, from a process standpoint, it's a little bit weird, you know, what's happening there in New Orleans with Zion.

What are your thoughts on that decision? Chris is it simply just SVG, standing gunny, trying to win a game? Is that all it is? I think it's trying to make a point and it can go one way or another, right? I've seen this happen before where you can lose a guy

because it feels humiliated, right? I'm supposed to be the guy, I'm supposed to be one of the guys. And now you are doing this publicly to make a point. Because it does make news and it does reverberate when you pull out your best guy

when it matters most. It just does. I mean, I tell you this. I saw this happen. This was, and again, we'll see. Hopefully it has the profound effect on Zion the next time around, right? And he responds.

and the next time he's pinning stuff against the backboard. But I saw this happen, and again, it was a veteran, so it's a little different. But I saw this happen with very publicly with David Fisdale and Mark Asaw. And Mark was out on him. Out. And Fisdale was gone. He was gone. Markisaw also was a vet at the time.

Understood. No, I said that. I said that. But I'm just saying when he didn't put him back in. in a game, you know, when it was the end of the game and Marcosol got up off the bench like it was time for him to go back in and he directed him back to the bench. Curtain. So this, this touches on a quote that I had on my Pelican story last week from David Griffin.

And Griff said to me, this is the quote that we use the closer article, we're not in a position where we have to cater to anybody. We're not in a position we have to cater to anybody. And that's so like the Stan Van Gundy hiring has been criticized by people around the league who say like people don't like to play for Stan Van Gundy that he's annoying to play for because he's, you know, he holds players so accountable. That can be frustrating. Young players have to be. They have to be held accountable. And so and I think that ties into the decision to Poles Zion late.

You're holding him accountable saying, I'm not pointing you in the game. If you're going to play defense like this, you got to be better. I don't care you're number one pick. It's that. But it could go sour. No, that's where there's the old, I'll never forget, God rest her soul, Pat Summitt, before she passed away, I had interviewed her to one of my favorite interviews I ever did years ago.

And I think about this all the time. And people could say it doesn't matter in the NBA as much as it does in college, but things have changed. And especially with how emotional so many of these. players become. She said they won't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

And I think about that all the time. And I think about that with these teams. And I promise you, and there is a younger group of coaches in the NBA, like the Stephen Silas is, like the Taylor Jenkins is, like, and you see it throughout the league, that they build these relationships with these players as men, as people. And it did not, I am here to tell you, it did not used to be like

that. I have covered the NBA long enough that there was, there was the coach and there was the coach that did this, but they would not just sit on the bench at a practice and talk to a guy about all non-basketball things for 20 minutes. And that's what the job is now. They now have relationships with these guys. And I say all that in that that sometimes where the old school guy can have a bit of an issue. And so that's where the Zion thing, like Stephen Zilis, he can bench people. Taylor Jacobs, he can bench people. There are other guys throughout the league. They can bench people of Greg Popovich. He can bench people. And that's who a lot of these guys learned from. Because Greg Popovich knows these guys wives. And he is, that is a family, right? And he creates this,

you know, aura of I care about you as a person. And that's the thing. You know, going back to the Pat Summit quote, they don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. That now is very significant with the NBA and young players. And if Zion doesn't feel, he's not going to care about Stave Agone, holding him accountable or teaching him how to play basketball, unless he feels like he cares about him outside of just you can help me win basketball games.

Yep. You know? And ultimately, I don't know what the relationship is. Sure. Yeah, for sure. And ultimately, that will be the challenge is maintaining that relationship while also holding players accountable

to do the things. Because look, I mean, if it doesn't work with Sam Van Gundy, that doesn't mean he was wrong about like what these guys need to be in the defensive end of the court. It just might not work because of the personality. mix because of the way staming and he is with his coaching style whatever it is but with new orleans right now i'll tell you what they are a team to watch with how these guys develop

with how their chemistry develops with how they start to defend if by the end of the season i don't see zion putting in a 100% effort if i don't see ingram putting him in a 100% effort this is my issue with ingram winning most improved player last year i know i love ingram you know you know how much i love ingram chris he got worse defensively his first season and in New Orleans last year. He was better with the Lakers. And this year, he's a little bit better. He's more locked in off ball, but he's still not the guy that I saw in L.A. His last two years with the Lakers, he was really

good defensively. And you need... He's got to be better. Bledsoe's not that guy. You got, you also, look, in fairness, to the coaching thing, you got to have a player that holds guys accountable. When you, and the reason I say that is because when you say Ingram got worse, it's because you can't, you're not bullshit with LeBron?

You know what I'm saying? Yeah. He'll sub you out. He will sub you out. Yeah. If you switch, if you don't switch and the guy scores, LeBron will sub your ass out.

And Frank Vogel would just be like, I agree, like, get your ass on the bed. Like, but you have the great, the good teams have somebody that holds everybody accountable, right? A player. And who is that guy on New Orleans that holds that, that holds everybody accountable?

There isn't somebody, right? That Lakers team was funny. That was the Luke Walt in the air with Magic Chops and say, like, Dewey was going to leave. Yes. That Laker season was wild. Wild to say the least.

Last thing. We think Brad Beals getting traded. We mentioned it briefly about his, you know, sulking and, you know, he's doing some performance. Hart a little bit with the you know in the first half of that game against Brooklyn where you know the cameras on him and it's disappointing to me because look I'm a huge

Brad Beale fan and it does feel like he's overdoing it like he's like he's acting a little bit he wants everybody to know his level of because he's never conducted himself that way before and there they were they won that game against Brooklyn It was insane. There was happiness all around.

That was the same games I've ever seen in my life. Yeah, who could I ever saw Russ breaking out? That was unbelievable. That was wild. And by the way, I think I speak for everyone. So Russ hit that three that, you know, to win the game. I feel like nobody has any idea. how Russ hit that three to win that game.

It was a steal by Garrison Matthews, who was the perfect, who are you? And he was there in the game in Crunchtime, Garrison Matthews, who was playing throughout that game. And he was getting switched onto KD in Crunchtime, and I'm like, who is this? Why is he in the game?

Why is he? And there he was who made this steal that threw it to Russ for them to win that game over the weekend against Brooklyn. Gerson Matthews, the perfect one. Who are you? So with Washington, there was the report this morning from Shams Sharania and Fred Katz from the athletic, clarifying, you know, that with Washington, there's been no, no, no words from Beal towards the front office or ownership that indicates he wants to leave that, you know,

with Beal, he's just frustrated and, and that's about it. it's interesting chris because so i feel comfortable saying this after that report this morning someone told me this past week that with the with beel's frustration that he doesn't want to be traded during the season partially because of the pandemic he doesn't want to have to uprored his family during a pandemic in the middle of the season and would rather wait for down the line give washington more time see if things can get figured out russell westbrook you know dealing with his own, you know, physical issues. Maybe he gets back to 100% that he wants to give it time for family reasons. They're comfortable in Washington, but also for Russ reasons to see if he can

get back, see if Bertons can become the guy we saw last season. So, you know, I get it and we'll see how the season develops. March 25th is still a long ways away, but it'll also be here before we know it. And it wouldn't shock me one bit if we see Beal ride out this season, head into the off season and hopefully by that point and you know July, August, hopefully by that point, we really can see the light at the end of the tunnel or we're through it. And at that point, maybe be a lot of your workup to the insurance. It is always, like I've learned this over the years, it is always different with guys with families. Yep. Exactly. You know, you can just pick up and go and you don't, you don't have to leave a ton of stuff behind. When you're young and single,

you can do that. Yes. he's got family. Think about all the guys that have, like, forced their way out or moved on, you know, even in free agency as much. Like, generally, they're not guys with families. They're just usually not. They're usually not guys with families and usually guys with families. They want to do everything to not have to move.

They would love to, it would be so much easier if we could just, you know, because the other thing is, that becomes your priority, you know, that becomes your priority. Your family becomes your priority. And your career is your priority until you have children. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's interesting.

It's true. And they're comfortable. They're happy right there. And ultimately for him, I mean, they have a, I know from doing my Google research, Beal and his wife and family stay in Los Angeles. during the off seasons. And they live in Washington during the season. I don't know their family situation,

but I can't imagine it would be easy, especially during a pandemic, to move to wherever it might be, Miami, Philly. Who knows? Who knows where you get traded? It's just, you know, maybe it's not worth the hassle. And ultimately you'd rather wait till the off season.

Plus, if you'd like Washington, and if you're frustrated now, maybe things do get better. It's possible. Like with Russell Westbrook, he could turn back to the guy we saw last season when he was, having career best efficient season with Houston.

Well, it's one of the best stretches of his career. And it's been a ridiculously frustrating season for them. They got parked. They lost Thomas Bryant, who they need. And they're playing with guys like Garrison Matthews. They've played games with seven players.

Like, it sucks. It does. Like, they have not gotten, like, this is not the- Garrison Matthews crush shooting 40% from three.

I know. I know. They need shooting. It's just not. what you expected in crunch time. Yeah. You know what I mean? Plus with Bertons.

I mean, this season, he's still shooting away 33% from three, down from 42% last year, down from 43% the year before, down from 37% and he gets targeted and he gets targeted defensively. He's a knockdown guy not hitting his shots. So all that adds up. Ross underwhelming until recently. Guys not hitting shots. Guys getting in and out of the lineup.

Brian getting hurt that all. up, but I still look at this wizard's team. And on paper, I see Beal and I see Russ, I see Bertons and see some of the names on here. It's like they can be solid. They can be solid. Defense things. I know.

And that's where I look at this defense. That game was atrocious defense. I mean, it's just who's going to score? Because that thing was, I mean, it was like a Globetrotter game. It was something else to watch. It really was. It's so an all-star game. It's what it felt like.

It was. We don't need an all-star game in Atlanta. Just have the Wizards and Nets player. That's right. That's right. I'm with Kevin. It is always a pleasure. That's going to do it for another episode of the mismatch.

We'll be back on Friday. Thanks to producer, Sasha, as always. We'll talk to you later this week. Have a good week, everybody.