The Mismatch - Why Are the Pelicans Playing So Far Below Their Potential This Season?

Episode Date: January 22, 2021

Chris and Kevin get into the most interesting games of the week, starting with the Lakers’ lackadaisical win over the not-quite-complete Bucks (0:45). Then they get into Tom Thibodeau’s continually surprising positive effect on the Knicks after a win over the Warriors (18:35), the difference in development between RJ Barrett and Zion Williamson, and the Pelicans’ struggles this season (30:00). Finally, they get into the generally unremarked-upon success of the Utah Jazz and Shaq’s bizarre interaction with Donovan Mitchell after their win over the Pelicans (44:00), and the late-night trade of Kevin Porter Jr. from the Cavaliers to the Rockets for a protected second-round pick (54:00). 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 with me and Chris Verna. We got into Thursday nights, great games, the Lakers, beating the bucks on our main takeaways from that. Then we got into the nightcapper, the Knicks beating the Warriors and Zion and the Pelicans struggles continuing against the jazz, who seems like everybody could be sleeping on as one of the best teams in the NBA. All that coming up next. Welcome to The Mismatch.

I'm Chris Vernon. Join him as he does every Friday from the ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, a.k. Kevin O. Bomber. Kevin O. Candyland. Kevin O. Kindness. Kevin O. Climber. Kevin O. Climber. Kevin O Conflict. Kevin. What's going on, Berno? How you doing? Well, we have had a pretty busy week this week. Actually, some very interesting things that have taken place. I think last night was billed as a possible finals preview between the Lakers and the Bucks.

The Lakers are able to come out on top in that game. and they have been rather unstoppable on the road this year. You know, they still haven't lost a game on the road. I've been a little perplexed as to why so many of these teams don't have outstanding home records, yet they do have very good road records. You know, a lot of these teams, because we've got so many. No fans. No fans.

Yeah, I know, but why would they be better on the road? No fans. I don't know. A lot of reasons. It seems like home court advantage is kind of, you know, not a significant right now. The only one that's like holding serve on the whole, we're awesome at home and not as good on the road is Philly. So it must be the rims or something there. Right? Like there must be something about their arena that makes them comfortable.

Let's be real, though. It's not about home or away for the Lakers. They're good everywhere. They just so happen to have won all their away game so far. But this is a dominant force to this Lakers team. is and they showed it again last night with the win over the Milwaukee Bucks. They wait the way in which that they could beat you in so many different ways on the offensive end of the floor with 80 inside on the post taking advantage of countless mismatches.

He had Drew Holiday on him at a couple times. Pat Connethin on him. LeBron James running pick and roll to get Bryn Forbes involved, picking apart defenses, finding an open three-point shooter. They beat you from the perimeter. They beat you from the interior. They have guys who can hit shots and make plays off the dribble. The leg is, are a complete deep team, whereas the Bucks on the other side, they have so many holes. The fact that you have Pat Connaton, Pat Connaton, with all due respect, defending Anthony Davis on some possessions does not work. The fact Drew Holiday, at times could be your best option on LeBron James, speaks to the lack of wing defenders, reliable wing defenders on the Milwaukee Bucks. And that's

going to be an even bigger problem for them in a postseason setting. And by the way, Yonnas ended Akumpo, last night some of the turnovers he had some of the miss free throws he had missed out shy jumpers all those issues we've seen over the years pop up again and again during the regular season and not only that he won defensive player of the year last season understandably so his defense has not been up that caliber this season and there were a couple times the lakers got him involved in on ball actions where he just kind of died on a screen and you know it just seems like he's not quite as locked in as he has been in the past. He was also allowed to play free safety a lot on that team last year, right?

You had you had this, you know, say what you want about him offensively, but Bledsoe is an outstanding defender to put at the top of the key. He had guys on the wings that could, for the most part, stay in front of their man. And then you had Brooke Lopez standing in front of the rim. This enabled Janus to just be this free safety that could go around help everybody. He was constantly, you know, tracking guys down from behind. He was the weak side help on so many blocks and rebounds. And that's not there.

He doesn't – this version of the buck does not give him the ability to be this free reign, just guard everybody defender because he was kind of everybody's help. And he could, if Brooke Lopez was stuck on one side, he could come to the other side and pin it against the rim. If somebody came off a screen and beat their man, they could run into Janus in the middle of the court. And because of the, and it's not like they downgraded greatly with Drew Holiday being up there. But it is just this, as a collective, they have not been the defensive team. And of course, some of that is on Yonis, but I find my. myself watching them and thinking he doesn't get to do all the stuff that he did last year and

just kind of be, I defend five guys guy. There's too many holes. And this was the downside with the Drew Holiday trade. With the Drew Holiday trade, you get a better player than Eric Bletzel. I wrote about him this week on the ringer like Drew Holiday. He makes me feel better when the ball is in his hands. If I'm a Bucks fan and I have Drew Holiday spotting up for three and he's open, I feel better about him catching the ball and shooting it than I do Eric Bledsoe. It's an upgrade. However, losing George Hill and Eric Bledsoe, now you're relying on Pat Conantin more, you're relying on DJ Augustine, you're relying on Bryn Forbes. These guys are not plus defensive players. You're relying more in Dante D. Vincenzo, who is not a lockdown guy by any means. The Bucks just have a lot of

guys on that roster that have been downgrades, not to mention losing West Matthews, not to mention downgrading on the defensive end from Robert Lopez to Bobby Portis who is not the same caliber defender. He looks small when he was defending at 80 in the post at times and you know this this Bucks team

they're still a contender and maybe they get better over the course of the season but I still look at them compared to the Lakers last night. The Lakers to me are a complete team. They have everything. The Bucks have a lot of holes. It's not about

part of it is as simple as, look, the two best players on the Lakers, there's not a massive drop-off. Like, they are peers in terms of greatness. I do think there is a- Top-6, top-seven guys, depending on where you rank 80. And you can like Middleton, you can like Holiday. They're not in that class, right? They're not in that class.

And so you have to do it as a collective. I don't want to overreact greatly to one game that's the 13th game of the season, but I do think it was instructive in watching it and saying, these are, like this isn't a great matchup, right? Like you look at it and you go, the Bucks don't appear to have the goods. If I'm the GM of the Bucks,

who is my best friend John Horst, I look at that game and say, I can't go in with this exact roster into a Lakers series, right? The goal is to win a title. And so, but I, if I go in with this, I'm not going to be able to beat that team. Okay, so let's say that that's the way you feel.

You're talking with your buddy John Horst, you guys are having a nice Zoom call like you do every Thursday night, right? Thursday night is when you guys get together. That's right. If you're John Horst, we didn't last night because they had a game. Yeah, of course, of course. One of the rare nights off.

But of course, the Bucks being on national TV more, you know, you guys get a fine time to talk because ultimately this Bucks team, what are you going to do? What's the move there? I trade middleton. You would trade Middleton. Yes.

For what? For a better fit. I mean, I see here. I think he has value. So you try to find somebody that really needs a two guard, somebody that really needs perimeter offense, right? Well, you need perimeter offense. If you're the box, they don't have a huge problem scoring. Yeah, I know.

But in the playoffs, they do need more perimeter offense. offense in the playoffs. It was just part of the incentive in getting Drew Holiday. He can help boost you there. And we need Drew Holiday to like when the games on the line be a guy. You know what I mean? Like when it's five minutes left in the game. Who are you going to go to go back and forth?

I'm curious. I'm curious. Who are you going to trade Chris Middleton for? I'm just very curious. I can't imagine, you know, there's something that makes a lot of sense for them. He's like a top 25 guy. I do not think that Chris. Middleton.

If I walk into, where is Chris Middleton in, I mean, a heat series? You know what I'm saying? I don't know. I don't know. But like for the bucks, to me, I look at Chris Milton and I think they can get more out of him. I love Chris Milton. I do not think that Chris Middleton is good enough to be the second best player on a title

team. Well, here, I mean, here's the way I look at it. We've talked about this for years. They got to use Janus Moore as a screener. They just have to look at him more. more like AD, more like Shaq. You know, people have written about this in recent weeks. I believe Charks wrote about it today on the ringer.

Like they got to use him or as a screener. That means using Drew Holliday and using Chris Middleton more as a pick and roll shot creator. They don't run a ton of pick and roll with Janus as a screener. They got to do more of it because that, to me, is the way you neutralize the fact that Janus isn't a shooter. The fact, Janus can't hit his free throws. that Yana sometimes just drives into bodies of defenders packing the paint when he has the ball in the perimeter. If you have Yannis as a screener, that changes the formula for what the defense needs to do with how they need to worry about you. And Middleton was one of the league's most efficient pick and roll scores last season.

Drew Holiday is very good. They can lean into that more. The fact Chris Middleton this season is averaging the same amount of shots as he did last season shows to me that Mike Brose, Boone and Holzer, it didn't really change too much here. Yeah, as others have written about, they put a guy in the dunker spot, which changes the way their offense works with the spacing and all that, gives a dump off option, but the results don't really change too much. They also need to change some usage here with players, not just with the positioning on the court. And Chris Middleton, to me, is the easy answer there, more so than making a big move of trading

him. But to your point, when I ask him, what would you do? Yeah, I mean, because he, you want me to come with a specific player to trade him for, but it's for better fit. But that's what I'm saying. When I ask, like, what do you do? Well, if you don't say Chris Millington, what other answer is there? You don't get anything for Bobby Portis. Right. You know what I mean?

Well, to me, it's for a better fit and for a better utilization of that money. You have a lot of money allocated to a guy that I do not think takes you over the hump. I just don't know who that player is that you would trade him for. He's kind of like one of those guys. He's probably more valuable to you than he is to other teams. I could be wrong, but... You don't think there's a market for him? Yeah, I just don't know if there's a market that makes the Bucks a better team.

Whereas I think Boodenholzer can make Middleton more valuable to the bucks by changing his usage. That's the way I look at. Like, I don't... I feel like you can look at the numbers with him and I can pull them up from last season. My thing is this, Kemp, you need a perimeter guy. And we saw this the other night, even when they got into... that Brooklyn game, right? He took that ridiculous contested three, and then he missed that one that he was double-teamed in the corner. And obviously, you need Holiday to be a bigger part of this,

but when you get into playoff games and you get into games where you are playing against competition, your peers, the guy, we want Janice to be the, you know, they use Joel and Bede like this, they use Yokic like this, where those are the guys that get the ball for those teams down the stretch, that is not Yonis. And this is on him in terms of he's got to be able to knock down free throws. You know, it's very hard to give the guy a ball with the game on the line when you know the team can intentionally put him on the line where he shoots a dismal percentage. Right? So I look at that and I say, okay, then I know. need a guy on the perimeter, because these are typically the guys of closed games, that can create

his own shot, a guy that I can give the ball to with the game on the line, and he's going to go get me home. And I don't think Middleton fits that role. Do I think that you could necessarily attain somebody in a trade that is that guy? I don't know. I don't know. I mean, It stands to reason. There's always the names out there of the guys that are either in bad situations right now, or it's a poor fit, or people don't like them for whatever reason. At this point, you know, I'll give you an example. Like, we were on a group text a week ago talking about Zach Levine, right? Yeah.

Now, again, that's not, I'm just throwing out a name. I'm not saying that that would be a wise deal on either side. But there are always guys out there. And so to me, I do need a guy that I can just throw the ball to and he's going to be able to go get me a bucket. Because Janus isn't that guy right now because he's going to get fouled. It may never be. May not be.

And that's what I mean. If you're looking at him as your shack, you're looking at him as your AD rather than as you're LeBron, it changes the way in which you utilize. utilize him as a player. And I think with Chris Middleton, the stats kind of speak for itself. Last season, he was in the 83rd percentile, so better than 83 percent of the NBA at scoring in the pick and roll. This season in the 86 percentile, it's been like that for years with him. The problem is, is he only finishes eight possessions, 8.7 possessions per game using the pick and

roll, according to Synergy Sports. That's about equal to Patty Mills, to RJ Barrett, to Tyrese Maxi to Tomas Satteransky. Just to put it into comparison here, like a DeAngelo Russell runs 20 pick and rolls per game. A Gorin Dragich runs it 14 times per game. You know, I'd like to see his usage up a little bit to that like 13 to 15 range. I don't nearly double the amount of pick and rolls Chris Middleton runs per game. I feel like the bucks, some answers lie within here with some tweaks that Mike

Booneholes or the head coach can make. And this is the core of the, frustration that Bucks fans have with Boodenholzer that Hux fans had with Boodenholzer is the lack of flexibility with the system. I know he made some system changes. Like I said, the Dunker Spot. There's more that can be done that's simple. And I'd like to see that first change happened with Chris Middleton, get him more shots, get him into more pick and rolls, more pick and rolls, specifically with Yonis Ed de Kupo, one of the most scary, rim-running, explosive guys. guys in the league as your screener.

Like in the league history, let's put them in some more pick and rolls per game with a guy who's been really, really good at running them and Chris Middleton. Like, could they find maybe an upgrade as you, as you're suggesting? Perhaps. And maybe you find out Chris Middleton gives you diminishing returns. I just need a better one-on-one player. A guy that I don't have to run pick and roll to get, you know, a guy that's getting to the basket or he's getting to his spot on the court and getting his shot.

I mean, Chris Middleton's been pretty good. and ISO's the last handful of years too. And Larry, like, he's not a top 10 guy. I mean, I'm not sure you're going to get that guy. But I think, I think this roster can be better on the offensive end. I think it can be better on the defensive end. I think some of the answers lie within here. So like you said, we're not going to overreact the game 13.

You know, it's just January right now. But I would like to see some of these tweaks over the course of the season, building towards the playoffs with everything in mind, considering what going to have to go through if they face a Philly or they face in L.A. or whoever it might be or Miami again, there's answers within for the bucks. Yeah. I mean, you always say that. You say that about it.

You say that. You said that when we talked about when we talked about Ingram and Zion, you say there's answers inside. Let me finish. When I asked that question, I was expecting you to talk about buyout guys, not trading Chris Middleton. Oh, yeah. To me, the holes on the roster are wings.

depth, guard depth, not Chris Middleton, not Janus, not Drew Holiday. To me, the top end is perfect. I look at it and I say, I can't, I can't go up against a team that's bringing Anthony Davis and LeBron to the party when I'm bringing Janus and Chris Middleton. We just look at it differently. We just view the roster differently. But when I asked that, when I asked that question, that's what I was expecting, not a Chris Middleton. No, yeah, I look at it. My second best player needs to be better than Chris Middleton. You know what I mean? If I'm going to win. If I'm going to be able to go up against a team like that. I mean, sometimes it just comes down to talent.

You know what I mean? It comes down to talent. And who's got the most talent? And I look at that Lakers team and I say, you better be able to go to war with them. You know what I mean? You better bring something to the table. Another guy that I can believe is going to go big for me. Like four out of seven games.

I just, I don't know. And the team, obviously, it's not nearly as devastating as they were last year. They were historically great last year, to say the least. All right. Other games that went on last night, we moved on from that, and we had this Warriors game. The Warriors game, he had Draymond Green getting thrown out of the game for, the NBA is already, I guess, apologized for this.

Pretty ridiculous. We chronicled on Tuesday how he is a coach on the floor. There's a moment where he is demonstrative yelling at James Wiseman, a very young official takes this as he is yelling at him, I guess. I don't know. I mean, at some point, there has to be able to be an explanation that a referee will hear as to not throw Draymond Green out of the game there, right? Like, to me, if a guy, you know, throws a guy out, you can't just, in my opinion, just stand by that and say it is what it is. If the guy says and everybody says, he wasn't yelling at you, he was yelling at James Wiseman,

at that point, I think you have to reverse the call. Yeah. I do. I do. Because we got to see what the warriors look like without Draymond Green and it's not pretty. Yeah, it's gross. Yes. The Dremont effect is significant on the defensive end of the Florian offense too.

he helps connect that team in the complex system from Steve Kerr, though he has run more pick and roll in recent weeks, which is good. But ultimately, like I just come away more impressed by the Knicks in terms of the effort levels on the defensive end of the floor, the flashes from RJ Barrett. RJ, he's,

you know, he's not shot the ball well, you know, for most of the season and there's still concerns about his perimeter game. But we saw what he could be. last night with his ability to create off

the dribble for you hit outside jumpers he made some really really slick passes had one where he tacked the lane and kicked it out to I believe at the right corner

you know the defensive intensity from the entire team when they're locked in Tibbs influence is pretty clear watching the next right now it's fun to watch you know we

I go to bed much earlier than my West Coast brethren and so there are many times where I will wake up to text messages. And so I woke up this morning and I had a text message from our old buddy, Jason Concepcion, and it simply said, Tibbs is the coach of the year. And I was so happy for him.

I was so happy for him because he's a, you know, he is a beaten-down Knicks fan. And Knicks fans are having an absolute blast so far with this team because they have exceeded every expectation. Anybody, anybody, anybody could go back to the podcast. When they hired him, there were some that were critical of that hiring. I loved the tips hiring. I thought it was brilliant. And, you know, one of the things that people talked about was, you know, what he does with young players. And my point was always he had the youngest NBA rookie of the year in the history of the league in Derek Rose.

Joachim Noah was in the top three in MVP voting. as a young player in the NBA. And so it is unsurprising to me that this is exactly what RJ needed that he was not given his rookie year. He was thrown into an absolute S-storm his rookie year. I mean, management changing over and Fisdale having to go to the podium

and then like early in the season, management putting out a press release, apologizing for how crowsy, crappy they are. And then like guys trying to save their jobs. And then you had all this mess. And you end up with a couple different coaches, a couple different front office people. And, and now it feels like there's some stability and there is a coach that will hold you accountable and also make get the best out of you. And I think that I defended RJ last year. You know, I said, Zion went to a good spot for him.

Jah went to a good spot for him. RJ went to a terrible spot. And so I still held on to all my RJ stock. And he looks like the player more often now that is the one worthy of the third pick that is not some booby prize. Right? Like, I mean, everybody thought there was three guys and a drop off to four. Everybody knew in some order it was going to go Zion, John, RJ. and you just were entitled to your own opinion

about how you'd rank those three. I mean, that's how I felt, right? Like, oh, my God, the Grizzlies end up getting, you know, the Pelicans get Zion and the Grizzlies get Marant and look at what the Knicks end up with. Frigant R.J. Barrett. But, and I don't know if RJ's going to be, you know,

the level of those two, but he's, he's showing at least why we thought this guy was an outstanding prospect. and something that he was not able to show much last year. No doubt. And, you know, in the Grizzlies video I did for The Void that you clearly enjoyed. I'm happy from your tweet. It made me happy that you liked it.

I only made that for you, Chris. I will say this. You might have had, for those that have not watched it, that is, and I say this because I love you, the absolute worst Bain Impression in the history of Bain Impressions. I mean, that was, I couldn't even believe what I was, I rewound it. I was watching it. I did a handful of them. I didn't even try.

I don't know. It's like, what do you say? Like, I was born in the dark or something, right? Can you give me a bad impression? You just have to lower your voice, right? Like, oh, I'll try. Oh, you think darkness is your ally. You like that?

I do this for you. Hold on. Hold on. I'm trying to do it. The people. The people. You just got to lower your voice. And you got to,

like, have you seen the movie? Yeah, for like 10 years ago. It's been a long time. I love that movie. I don't remember. I think I only saw it in theaters and not since then.

Maybe I just felt like you gave a very poor effort. I got to get the voice in my head. I think that take was before I pulled up clip on YouTube. That's what you need to say? Darkness is your ally. Or what does he say at the beginning of the movie? To crash this play.

I don't remember. With no survivors. I'm not going to remember. I'm not going to remembering movie lines. Very bad at it. It's one of my weaknesses. Greatest weaknesses. All right.

Remembering movie in lines. But anyway. I did love the video. But the video, you know, one of the points of the video was, you know, John Morant is this, you know, transcendent prospect for the Grizzlies, you know, a franchise player. But he's also fallen into a great situation. with a lot of, you know, great supporting players around him.

And that's what the video is about was the other guys on the Grizzlies. For the Knicks, R.J. Barrett did not fall into one of those situations. Last season, the Knicks were, you know, kind of a dumpster fires, no spacing on the team. You know, not a great situation with, you know, changing coach and all that. You know, RJ this year, things feel like for the Knicks as a whole, there's more organizational alignment with the roster, with new front office here and that's going to create a better developmental situation for all these young guys

RJ, Kevin Knox and Mitchell Robinson and the Knicks, it's kind of crazy how quickly they can start to feel like a competent team. You know what I mean? Like this team feels like I'm interested in the Knox thing because you know

anytime that a new regime takes over a new front office a new coach, they are not nearly as tied to the past draft picks. They don't have to prove that they were right. In many cases, they stood on the table in order for a guy to get drafted. Or they have a fervent belief in this guy.

Or they got the most out of this guy. Like, I was watching, what was it? I was reading the last week. Oh, the G League draft. You know who got drafted in the G League draft? the guy that Fisdale was starting for the Knicks, Alonzo Trier, right? And that was a former front office, right? They're probably sitting there saying, hey, let's see what we have in Trier, right? And so you wonder about the guys. You know, some will obviously like R.J. Barrett, like Mitchell Robinson. They, and they're going to be able to get invested in because of their level of talent.

You wonder about the more developmental guys and how much stock will be put in their development. Because the truth is, they drafted quickly and they drafted Obie Toppin. So those two, they're going to want those to end up good for sure. And they're going to be most invested in their development. And so what happens with the Knoxes, what happens with the Nillikina's, what happens with the other guys that were the former regime's draft picks that still, need to come into their own. Their development is certainly going to be on the back burner to the ones that this new regime is invested in the most, right?

Yeah, I would think so, and that might not bode well for some of the past regime selections on Knox and Nilakina and so on and so forth. But ultimately, you know, if you're a Knicks fan, if you're Jason Concepcion, tweeting you, middle of the night, tips for coach of the year, it doesn't matter to you. It's really about the fact that there's progress happening. And if you're a Knicks fan, you've got to be feeling good about that. And some of the wins they've had this year have just been really impressive. I come away looking at them as a team that I definitely underrated entering the season.

Everybody did. Everybody. And Julius Randall's progress. Granted, he still turns the ball over way too much. But, you know, he's been a little bit better defensively, making, you know, better passes overall, racking at more assists. It's, it's nice to see these players making. progress and you know RJ especially

RJ is still the guy in that roster that like if he if he can get that perimeter jumper to click with consistency as we saw last night and not shoot below 30% as he is in the full season that changes the course of who they can be and how soon they can get there so RJ's development is still the number one thing to watch so the RJ if we're doing this as stocks the RJ stock is going Up, up, up, up. His college teammate, who was drafted number one, Zion Williamson, you and I were part of a conversation this week about this.

The pals are in a bad way and got beat up by Utah last night, another game that got, you know, so many of their games are in front of a national TV audience. So people get to see this happening. They're only six on national TV, I think, so far this season. Brutal. I mean, absolutely brutal. and, you know, I did not think, I think, how do I say this? You and I at the beginning of this season thought that Zion is going to be a superstar this year. And that's just not happening.

It's just not happening right now for them and for him. And I sensed in the conversation that we were having that you have a little concern as to, you know, what this means going forward. What we're seeing right now versus what we saw last year versus what we saw from him at Duke, the player that we saw at Duke who looked like, you know, the next sure thing LeBron level, this guy is going to be, has got a chance to be. Let's hold our horses with LeBron, you know, that's a little bit much. People thought that Zion could be one of the greatest players of all the time.

Yes, they did. I mean, one of the best players. We can do a Revis this history. But I'm going to say not a LeBron level. That's, LeBron level was a different tier. I'm saying, one of the best players in the game and possibly one of the greats.

Absolutely, that was a conversation, but not like, you know, goat. People were more excited to win that lottery than any lottery in the last decade. We saw the member Elvin Gentry's reactions. Yes.

Inside the lottery. I was in that lottery. Because we thought that this is a transcendent player. That only comes in the league. Transcendent. Yeah, that's a great word. But with Zion, the offensive end of the floor is still highly impressive. You know, his ability to score near the rim is Janus level.

Really fantastic. He's an unselfish passer. And I think he's a better playmaker than what shows in the stats. He averages only 1.8 assists per game. To me, he's a better passer than the stats indicate. Defensively. Oh, boy. What's going on there?

Chris, he does not put in effort. He does not look as explosive. He does not look focused. He doesn't box out. I mean, just like up and down the line of everything you don't want from a defensive player, he has it. And that is very, very concerning, considering what we saw from him in the past. When he was in high school and he was at Duke, this was a guy who, yes, sometimes he would

be a bit slow to rotator. he'd miss a rotation, just like every other young player. But one thing you could always count on from Zion was effort. He would always put in effort. He'd always play hard and set a tone for his defense. Nowadays, it's the utter opposite. And I watch that, and I think multiple things. Either he's not the same level athlete that he was prior to the injuries,

and maybe that's affecting him. It could be conditioning. It could be weight. It could be that he needs to lose weight. he is still heavy. And he uses that to his advantage in some ways on offense, you know, when he's just bullying guys and, you know, just rolling through them. But on defense, maybe it hurts them. But it could also be the fact that like they don't want him to put in this amount of effort because of the injury concern. And they want him to stay healthy long

term. So they don't want him to pick up wear and tear. And that's just, you know, me putting in my tinfoil hat here. But I think it's reasonable considering this guy's body type at 6'4 pounds and the injuries that he had that he's had, isn't it at least reasonable that perhaps I don't want him going full throttle over the course of the full season? Because that's the part that's weird to me. The athleticism from injuries, I get it, all that. But the fact the effort is from like 100 to zero, the closeouts he has that are so lazy. I mean, like, it's just kind of sickening to watch at times. It really is. If we're being honest here, it's sickening.

And it needs to be better for this team to be anything, anything close to what we believe it can be this season or in the future. All right. Let me join you in the tinfoil hat. I'll put mine on and I'll say, and we'll join together. And I'll say, okay, well, I'll say, you're not crazy. Because why the hell else would you get Stephen Adams? Like, why?

Unless you're trying to ease the load, right? He's responsible for, Zion, you're not the guy that protects the rim all the time that's getting too early fouls, right? I got Stephen Adams so that he could be that guy, and you could be the guy next to him, right? And so, because it's not a natural fit. We all admit that. It's not great to have Stephen Adams who, the only offensive,

like he's an outstanding screen setter. That's what he is. And a gray. rebounder, hard-nosed defender. He is absolutely no threat anywhere outside of four feet from the basket. We don't care. You could stand out there. If Stephen Adams wants to stand 12 feet away for the basket, so be it.

Nobody's going out there with him. You know what I mean? And he's also not a guy that's like going to be catching a bunch of lobs or anything like that. So, I mean, if I'm putting on the tip-boiled ad, I say, okay, they did that to lighten the defensive load on Zion because otherwise it makes no sense.

Why would you want him taking up that space down low when you know that's what Zion does? 100%. It's almost sort of relates to what we were talking about with the bucks. You know, you have Brooke Lopez, the big guy down low. You can allow Janus to roam. It alleviates any

need to put Janus at the 5. Over the course of a full, long, tough, regular season. Same concept here. The difference is Steve Adams can't shoot 3s like Brooke Lopez can. And so the offensive spacing is not the same for Zion to drive and get into the pain. He still produces at a high level. Stephen Adams creates no space.

And, and, you know, for you. Oh, I mean, ultimately, like, you know, I'm writing a story about the Pelicans for Monday. And, you know, it's not fully reported or anything like that. But, you know, some of the conversations I've had is very, very apparent that part of the reason for getting Stephen Adams is exactly what you're saying. to alleviate any defensive demand on Zion Williams, and it's to change the culture and bring in somebody there who plays the way he does, Stephen Adams, that is.

And Zion, if that's going to be the case, if you're going to have a rim protected there, he's got to be more active off ball. He needs to be locked in. His closeouts need to be better. The technique is just very poor. And there's an instance earlier this week in a game where it was like four or five plays in a row where a guy just burned him, burned him on closeouts. and that can't happen.

They're like, that's putting undue pressure on Steve and Adams on the rest of that defense to have to rotate. And, you know, there's some ideas about, well, why don't play Zion at the five more?

Oh, please, you expect this guy to anchor your defense? No way. It's not going to work. It's just not going to work. And if you're switching everything, I think it's unreasonable to expect that to work over,

again, over the course of the long, regular season. To me, Zion at the five is something that you go to in certain moments where it makes sense, certain spurts in a game for seven, eight minutes here and there. But that can't be your base defense or your base lineup, right? And that's why you get Stephen Adams. That's why you even have Jackson Hayes developing off your bench. That's why they've made the decisions that they've made. Ultimately, it comes down to

Zion getting better as a defensive player and getting back to the level he was before. Without that, he right now, it's fair to say, and it's sad to say, right now Zion Williams on the defensive end of the floor is a liability. He's not an, he would get voted by fans, but he is not an all-star right now. You know what I mean? Yeah, I mean, I'd have to go through it all, but I'd probably right. I think we thought on a bad team. I mean, you know, if you're picking between the two, Ingram's got great numbers too, right?

And we already did an episode on this. I don't like that fit either. Hey, why don't we move Ingram for Middleton? That's perfect. I like that fit better for both. No, thank you. Now the Bucks would get their guy that can, I could throw the ball to and he could just go get me a bucket.

And the Pelicans would get a good two guard that could actually stretch the floor and knock down some shots. There, I just made the trade. There. Call it up. I don't think who would say no to that. The Pelicans would say no. Pelicans would say now.

Yeah. I don't know. Depends how many games they lose now. They can't win a game. At some point they're going to try to alter some stuff. Here's the thing. You know, the Pelicans, they are not a good team right now. And they're losing a lot of games, as you said.

If you're then, this could be for the best. You don't want to be too good too soon, do you? One of the mistakes that, you know, the early 2000s calves made with LeBron. and you could even argue the bucks with the onus is some of these teams got too good too soon where they didn't get that second high lottery pick to get a chance at drafting another guy to pair with their young stars and i wonder if with the pelicans maybe this will be for the best if they have a down season a disappointing season for multiple reasons it could try to get zion and ingram straight than the defensive end of the four you guys got to be better for us to be a

playoff team. And also, you get a higher pick. Maybe it's seventh. Maybe it's not a top four pick. But if you do get a high pick that gets you another guy in a really good draft to bring in with these young guys here that fit your timeline because this team clearly is not ready yet. And, you know, I've thrown around the idea of like, what if they trade for Bradley Beale? What if they bring Beal in? I don't think they have the culture there and they don't have the defensive of identity to really be ready yet. To me, even if he were to theoretically bring in Bradley Beale with Zionian Ingram, the defense isn't there.

It's just not. And it might not be for three, four years at this point. The other thing, Kev, is I, much like his representation, thought probably wise to not take a deal this time around, play it out, and see what you can get next season if you're Lonzo. And he just has not. He has not taken the next day. They needed that to work.

You know what I mean? Especially when you've attained Bledsoe in the, you know, they moved off a true holiday. They needed that to work. They needed Lonzo to be, because I don't know what the hell happened here. Kev, now it might have been just an anomaly the way he was shooting the ball last year, but Lonzo was good and had gotten good.

you know, and looked like the guy that we, you know, was starting to look like the guy that we thought he was going to be when he was so highly touted coming out of the draft. And then he went to the bubble and he was abysmal, like 20%. Yeah. And like 20% from three. And it was like, okay, maybe he's just a guy that like the bubble affected him at a bad way.

They, but he was just. He's the anti- Jamal Murray. Whatever. He couldn't make a shot to save his life. And so which is true. Is he more like the guy that, you know, was having the season that he was having, which was very, very promising, or more like the guy in the bubble. He looks like a continuation of the bubble more so this year.

And I know he's had the nagging injury, but I mean, well, he was like, he was shooting high 30s, 40 last year, right? 38% from three last year before the bubble. That's a different guy. And that's a different offense. Under 30% since then. It's a different offense. if he can hit 38% of his three.

Yeah. Yeah. Right? I mean, this season, Lonzo Ball is scoring in the 14th percentile in the half court. 39 of 112 in the half court, 35% from the floor, a 43% affect the field goal percentage in the half court.

He is not a good spot up shooter right now. He is not a guy who can run, pick and roll for you because he's not a good shooter. Defense is don't respect his shot off the dribble. And that, you know, neuters all of his strengths as an open floor playmaker. And if he doesn't have the shot, it minimizes everything he can be. And not only that, I still look at Lonzo and I look at his defense in L.A.,

compared to where it is now in New Orleans. He was better defensively with the Lakers. Ingram was still better defensively with the Lakers before that trade happened. The mix here on the defensive end of the floor, even though they've been better this year, for sure. Overall, the Pelicans have been better on defense. To me, a lot of that's due to Stephen Adams and some of the newer editions, even in Eric Bledsoe, more so than the guys they had last season. And until that changes, I have a hard time looking at this team in the loaded Western Conference when you have so many teams that are hungry and foaming at the mouth,

trying to get stops, trying to get the playoffs, and then you have this team with the effort they put in. It's just not at the level it needs to be. Let's talk about that flip side. Well, yeah, and I think you could bring in veterans like you were saying with Stephen Adams, but like who's the guy? Who's the leader on that team, right? That is willing to get into a huddle or to coach guys out on the floor. Like it's not, that has not established itself as like a team captain, as it were. And most good teams, they've got that guy that they look to like the team they played, which has clearly become Donovan Mitchell's team. He has gone absolutely ballistic over the last week.

And that team looks a lot more like the team we thought we were getting last year. When they made those additions, they added Mike Conley, they added Bogdanovich. And they went through the injuries and we didn't see the full version of them when it came into the bubble. Sneaky good move by adding Derek Favors, who was very good for the Pelicans. Last year, all the advanced analytics loved favors on that Pelicans team, and it will pay dividends for the Jazz also. Even Jordan Clarkson, you know, as games, you know, coming off the bench as a heater. That jazz team is one of the very few in the whole league that is five games above 500.

It's them, the two LA teams, and Philly. That's it. Sleeping on Utah. No, no, that's who I'm talking about. I know about it. People are sleeping on Utah. including me. They're not viewed in the same prism as the two LA teams and even Philly for that matter, right?

Because that's Donovan's team. And he now, for this last week and a half, has been one of the best players in the entire NBA. And that team, I think, we both loved them going into last season. And it didn't, it didn't ever. take completely. And all of that was due to Mike Conley last season. He could never get it right with Rudy Gobert. And you had the whole like Ingalls moving to the bench and they're trying to figure out whether to play Royce White in the starting lineup or not. Of course. A lot of it's not just Mike Conley, but the fact is is that when they got Mike Conley, I believe you and I talked about this at the time,

it's like, whoa, this is, you know, the type of secondary creator next to Donovan Mitchell that could change what they are and elevate them to a higher level. Well, Mike Conley's back to being Mike Conley. He looks comfortable with his scoring ability and pick and roll. He looks like he has great chemistry with Rudy Gopair. The way those guys are playing together now is like so far beyond the level we saw last season. It's really fun to watch him with a rim runner. Like that was the reason why he was so used to playing with a Mark or Sol with a Zibo. He never threw a lob in his life. Yeah, exactly. Like, you know, he's throwing lobs now. It's a big difference. And, you know, these guys are clicking. And now you have Mitchell who everything you just said is 100% true.

I mean, this is a guy who was hoisted into this role early in his career and has gotten continuously better. He's shown the flashes of stardom. He's had some moments, you know, where it's shot selection is not great. Or maybe, you know, he's not a great. He's an only above average good shooter, not a great shooter. But when he's on, when he's on, he is. still one of the guys that you can rely on an end game situation to get you a bucket or create a shot for your team. Also gets to the rim.

Gets to the rim. Draws falls. I mean, he just is a do-it-all player. And this Utah Jazz team, we've talked, let's bring it back to the Lakers earlier. Different level of talent with LeBron and AD. But the Lakers feel like a complete deep team. The Jazz feel like a

complete deep team, don't they? I mean, the bench is really strong. They can play big or they can play. smaller. They can play any style they want. And, you know, with Rudy Gaubert, I know Shaq criticizes Gobert. He criticized Mitchell last night, which was a silly thing to say after the game. How bizarre was that?

That was very awkward, very weird. You know, I saw, I saw a Kirk serious face. He writes for one of the, for the Mavericks websites. He tweeted this morning, could you imagine Chris Collinsworth or Troy Aitman like doing a, a post-game interview with Deshawn Watson and being like, you know, I said, I want you to hear it for me. I don't really, I don't think you have it what it takes to get to the next level. I mean, it would just be so bizarre. Like, somehow we've come to accept this.

Like, yeah, but it's just strange. It's odd. It's strange to have like, I'm trying to, I love you. I'm trying to motivate you by telling you I don't believe in you. I just, I don't know. I saw, you know, a tweet coming across my timeline last night. that pointed out how Shaq, you know, this season has told Christian Wood that he wasn't familiar with his game. He, he mixed up the country for Yokic, you know, and really insulting him. He, he last night, obviously, hated on Mitchell. He's torn down Rudy Gobert. And, you know, I understand, like, there's certain people that say, well, what's Shaq doing that's any different than Skip Baylis in the morning? So, or like, even like we might do on a podcast, or how isn't

any different? How's it any different than Shannon Sharp and Skip Bale's going at it over a player? I don't know if it's any different except for the fact that it's a postgame show with a league broadcast partner. And it's just interesting just the way that the NFL with CBS and Fox and ESPN and NBC are with players and interviews and with their broadcasters compared to how partners are with the NBA with Turner especially with the way. way Shaq was lately. And, you know, from a league perspective, that's the way I look at it from like the NBA league office perspective. I can't imagine that I'd be happy about Shaquille O'Neal, one of the greatest players of all time, constantly tearing down modern stars, the way the modern game is played. To me, that does nothing but hurt the way the game is perceived and hurts the overall

popularity and- Let me say this. I love that show. I love Ernie. I love Charles. I love Kenny. I love Shack. I love that. It's been a part of my life for a long, long time. I don't want their show to become one that all of these players resent. Yes. Because we've started to see, all right, it got a lot of good play. I mean, they put that headset on Durant earlier this year. He wouldn't even, like, talk to Charles and gave the worst interview ever. You have this way awkward moment last night. Like, I liked when the players love putting on the headset and talking back to them. And it felt like for. I don't want that to be adversarial, right, to where it's like, oh, these guys say, and I get it, like, that some guys can be too sensitive about what those guys say, especially if it's just joking, right?

If it's just goofing around. But I don't know, like pumping up, like, if we're going to do the not serious thing, then let's do the not serious thing. And let's all be buddies in the grand scheme of things, right? But when it becomes adversarial and these players come off so damn uncomfortable, you know, on camera, to me, that's not great. I don't want those guys to not want to put on that headset. It feels like that has happened more often, right? Where, I don't know, they feel like they need to, they need to say their criticisms right to these guys' faces. in winning situations.

Like the guy that wears the headset just won the game. He didn't lose the game. So it seems pretty hard to make that guy irritated, a guy that just won a basketball game, and yet we've already seen it a couple of times this year where guys get irritated with them.

And I love them both. I love the players and I love Charles and them. So I hate to see it be like that, you know? Just awkward as hell. That was awkward. It's too bad. That's, I thought Chris Herring from ESPN in 538 last week, you know, he had like a string of tweets, you know, really ripping Shaq for mixing up Yokic's country, you know, saying he's from Russia and

just as it being a sign of disrespect. And, you know, I, yeah, I mean, it happens. It happens. But everybody mixed things up. I'm mispronounce names all the time. I mix mispronounce words all the time it happens but ultimately like it's just a it has become more toxic and that's a show that i look to for more of that camaraderie that you're referring to not the advert the i don't know it shouldn't be a place where don't know i'm mitchell puts on the headset and here's you're you're a great player to watch but i don't believe you can take a team the next level or whatever it's like what i just i just won the game i mean that was really his reaction i love i love i love and that was awesome yeah you know what i mean he's been awesome the past week it's he was i mean i mean how great how

great would it be if the question, you know, to Mitchell was like, you know, related to his game, like, what are the things that you're doing to elevate your play, you know, like just basic, you know, getting into analysis, like a Tim Legler, Legler style question. Tim Legler, by the way, on ESVN, who kills it every time he's on TV. I'd love to see more Tim Legler. Like, I'd love to see something like that, a little bit more analysis based, a former player at all-timer talking basketball with Mitchell, one of the leagues rising stars. educating fans on how this player performs in the court,

what they're doing to get better. To me, that's much better TV and much more informative and would lead fans to liking the game more than just ripping a player who just had an awesome night. Let's get to the trade that took place last night. Got an interesting story on this, Kevin. Kevin Porter, Jr., there was a story that came out last week that he has been out.

He got into some trouble in the offseason. He's been out for personal reasons. He showed back up to the Cleveland Cavaliers locker room, and his locker was gone. His locker was given to Taurine Prince. He was moved to the corner where the young players and the rookies are. And he threw a fit over this. He was very, very mad about this and started throwing stuff. And that had an angry outburst to the point where people had to calm him down.

baby Bickerstaff heard the commotion, went into the locker room, and couldn't believe what was going on. And so then after that story comes out, he was like throwing crap and whatever else. The story comes out that Kobe Altman and them, they tried to trade him all weekend, couldn't really find a trade partner, thought about maybe just having to cut him, you know, to not have him be a part of this. And they come up with a trade last night. Now, they traded him for literally nothing. It's like a top 55 protected second round pick. So it's honestly nothing that they traded it.

That is just a getaway trade. Houston takes him in and is going to try to make something of it. Kevin Porter Jr., I brought him up, I guess it was a year and a half ago, and I said, Kevin, I've gone through all of these draft prospects. I've watched all their YouTubes. This kid from USC, he does things. that the other guys ahead of him just don't do. He is clearly more talented than many of his peers.

Now, he went into USC, he had a couple big games, and then he got suspended for the season. So he couldn't even make it through his season at USC. It came draft time, and I still had in my head. I've seen all these YouTube videos. This guy's unbelievable. And, you know, I call around to all manner of people, college coaches, people that cover these teams, NBA executives, you name it.

And I thought about putting him in a list of guys that were like the underrated guys or guys that I thought would have careers. Not one person in the league that I called endorsed it. Every one of them said, do not do it. Don't do it. Don't. And I'm like, why? and they're like, just don't.

Okay, don't do this. It's the same reason, because everybody agreed with me that there is that talent. But whether it's personal issues that he has to get over, his actions off the court from the time he was a prep into, he is immensely talented, and that's how he was able to get drafted in the first round no matter what. but to me it is incredibly sad. Now, I know this kid grew up in a very bad environment from what I gather. So he could be a great story of a guy that, you know,

overcame very difficult circumstances, but instead he has let anger issues and other issues get in the way of his talent. And they will put him with John Lucas in Houston and try to, you know, salvage a career. I've got to, this is it. This is it. When you get, when you get traded for nothing, you know what I mean, when he has not been able to act right.

He didn't act right. He didn't act right. You know, after his rookie year in Cleveland. And you hope that kids like that mature. But it was, it's just sad to me that that prophecy was correct. I wanted it to be that, yeah, there were a bunch of red flags that teams were scared of. but that the kids,

he's going to prove people wrong. He's going to turn out different. But instead, there's a lot of executives around the league saying, see, I told you so. Yeah, and he had,

you know, last October, that Instagram post that, you know, you ever wish to see the end of your time and Cavs fans and NBA fans, you know, reached out like saying,

is everything okay? And, you know, because it's kind of a, you know, suicidal statement. And he, you know,

said nothing, you know, media is the worst, turning this into a story, whatever, appreciate people reaching out though and ultimately for him you know i hope mental health is okay right now i hope houston has the infrastructure there and the support system to help him on the mental side of the game and as a

person to get you know on the court and to improve in those ways so he can have a successful career because there's no doubt about the basketball talent no doubt about it it's about everything else and hopefully houston can help him along there as a person more than anything else. Yeah, I hope he's one of those kids. Because they grow up, man. I mean, I got to know and I was so impressed with last year, Josh Jackson, who ended up getting a contract in Detroit for this year. But I talked to Josh about everything he had been through during his time in Phoenix.

And it was just mistake after mistake. And next thing, he knows, he's playing in Mississippi in the G League. I mean, he was the number what, three pick in the draft, four pick in the draft? I mean, he's top five. Top five pick in the NBA draft. Next thing you know, you're, you know, a couple of years later, you're playing in Mississippi in the G League, you know, I mean, you can't, he got humbled big time. And hopefully this is the humbling for Kevin Porter, right?

When you get drafted in the first round and then a year later, you're traded for nothing, not even a player. They can't get anything. Says everything. It says everything, right? Like, you better get it on track or it's over after this. Yeah. You're not going to get another chance.

Like, this is your chance. So take advantage of it. It's after you do, you do your tour in playing in China, playing overseas, playing in the G League. It's the Christian Wood Route. If this doesn't work out here, you're playing everywhere else, not in the NBA, before you get another opportunity. And you just become a cautionary tale. Yeah, exactly. And ultimately, you know, that might be.

be the path. I hope not. I hope things work out for him in Houston. Like I said, the main thing to me is I hope he has the infrastructure and support in Houston from coaches and from executives and teammates as well for that to be a healthy situation for him. And I'll tell you what, to be

totally honest with you though, Chris, like that's a team with a bunch of guys who, you know, haven't always been the best of teammates in past situations and DeMarcus cousins and John Wall and, you know, it's a It might not be the best structure to be in. not be the best structure, but I hope that there's at least one person, one coach, one executive,

one teammate. Sometimes that's all I can take is one person to be there for you and to help lead you and set an example for you. I hope that person or multiple people are there for him to really get through, you know, this time, you know? And here's a sneaky part about this, Kiff. So a lot of times guys can act any kind of way and teams just put up with it. but how about the calves being so good that they could just discard?

Like, we don't need it, man. We don't need it. We don't need it. Usually you try to power through and you make it work. But the calves look at it and they say, we don't need it. Look how much fun we're having. Look at what our locker rooms like. Like, you see that team going crazy the other night in that Brooklyn game.

Oh, yeah. That is a, but I mean, you see the chemistry and you see. that those guys legit like each other. Yeah. Right? Like those are the fun teams in the league to watch. You know, we had that with that young Brooklyn team a few years ago. I was what to say.

Yeah. That's what it feels like watching the calves. When you watch the calves, like they're all kind of rooting for each other. It feels like they all like each other. Kevin loves even like, you know, dancing on the sidelines when Sexton's going off against the Brooklyn Nets. That was great. Oh, my God. I mean, you know, you know I am the president of the Collins-Sexton fan club.

Also, how cool is it to see Friend of the Mismatch, J.B. Bickerstaff, helping lead that squad. It's pretty cool to watch. I love it. It's great. It's a fun team. Well, and he is, J.B. is one of my favorite people I've ever come across in basketball, and he walks it like he talks it.

Like, he is what he preaches, right? And what he cares about. And I do think that, especially for young players, that that can be extremely impactful. We talk about, we talk about, you know, the lack of African American coaches in the NBA. And even with that young African American coaches within the NBA. And J.B. fits both of those criteria, right? Like, J.B. is hip to, it's not like he's an old guy. He's hip to what these players are hip.

to, but they also looked to him. He's only 41 years old, young guy. They look to him and they see his wife, Nikki, and they see his kids, and they see the way he Kentucky himself, and they see his father, who was a lifer in the NBA, and he'll just show up at practice, and he'll be around. And they, he is truly a real role model for young people. He really is. And I think that that, that, you know, X's and O's is one things, but I do think that you can see the profound effect that that can have on a team, a team with young players on that, and you see them. I tell you this, they look pretty damn good with Jared Allen in the mix. Like, he ditched Drummond down the stretch of that game.

He ditched him. And Jared Allen could knock down some 15 footers. And clearly it was a Jared Allen revenge game because he had just gotten traded. from the net. But, boy, I like the Jared Allen with Colin Sexton and Garland and like the, they got something to build on there for sure. And that night they didn't even have Garland, which it was just crazy. Garland's been had some, had some really good nights.

But Colin Sexton ultimately, 42 points that night on 29 shots, some of the jumpers he hit towards the end of that game, just ludicrous, ludicrous. And that guy, Colin Sexton, him in Alabama, do you remember the game where he played like five on four and then five on three for something yeah five on eventually became five on three like that's sort of reminded me of like i can't get in flashbacks that night where it's like oh my goodness this guy is trying to will his team to victory playing five on three yes and granted there's five guys on the court but he doesn't care it didn't matter he's built he is built for it he's he is built for it i love it oh i i watched him in high school when he was in macdowal's all-american

and went back i remember when when he committed to alabama i mean he was the the slap the floor. Yes. You know, scream at the other guys. I mean, I just, everything about him I loved. I've been in love with him since he was a Cedar at high school. The kid is just awesome. And you're seeing, he is like Pat Bev if Pat Bev was an awesome offensive player.

He really is. He gets into your skin. He gets under your, he's like a super Pat Bev. And his, and people didn't notice because that team stunk last year. The last month of the season, he scored at a level, a superstar level. Like he was averaging like 30 a game shooting 50-something percent from the field. He was out of control great.

One of the most efficient months ever for a player at his age. But people didn't notice because, you know, they lost every single night, the Cavs. And then the season got cut off in March. But leading into when the season got cut off, he was out of control great. And now it's, you know, there's been. that continuation this year. I don't remember the stat off the top of my head, but I know Dan Devine from the ringer had up in the preseason, but I think it was like in 2020, like since January 1st

through the end of the season for the Cavs. He averaged like 26. So it wasn't even just the last month, but it was like prior to that. He was just tearing the league apart. And, you know, I remember putting that in my preseason power rankings thinking, oh, yeah, you know, if sexton may get that version of him, they could be pretty competitive. They're getting that version and more. Oh, yeah.

I mean, and you look at this Cavs team. It's not just Collins, Texan going off. Larry Nance, we've talked about him a bunch this whole past year. We've joked about him how much I love him as a player. You love Larry Nance. His versatile defense,

his shooting ability, leading the league in steals. He's a do-it-all guy who can fit into that lineup any way he needs to. Andre Drummond's having a really good season for them. Got to give him credit there in a contract year. Isaac O'Coroa's a rookie, already a really steady

defender on that end before hopefully shots fall for him with more consistency as time goes on. But up and down that roster, a lot of good talent. They have been the sneak. Now, of course, everybody knows how much I think of and care about J.B. Bickersstaff and I have an undying love for Colin Sexton. So I would have gone out of my way to pay more attention to them anyway, but they have certainly become one of the sneaky, really fun league past teams. play in competitive games and the games are good and they've got fun players to watch and like I said their bench is fun you know what I mean they've got like they're one of those really likable

teams and you usually get to watch a good game with they compete every every night they don't lay down you know um so calves shout out to the cabs yeah shout out to the calves it's pretty fun building something nice last thing I want to ask you about before we get out of here is we talked about how there's only, you know, four of those teams that have really good record so far, the two L.A. teams and Utah. The only one in the east is Philly. And kind of thought that Doc Rivers could have a profound impact on Joe L.M.B., that has played out so far.

You hear Embed-MVP, you know, like it's starting to percolate a little bit. we're only 15 games into the season, but we've got to remember 15 games is like a fourth of this season. You know, so they've played. Get there. They've played maybe close to a fourth of the season. And he's right there as one of the top few players in the entire league with a team that has a great, great record so far.

And that's despite not having Seth Curry, they've gotten the best version of Tobias Harris, which is accredited to Doc Rivers. And Simmons hasn't had a good year. Not yet. But Embed has been another level than we've seen before. And that has been very promising.

Sure. And Joel Embed, to me right now, if I'm ranking my MVP candidates, it's him in Yokic 1 and 2, in some water. You know, I'd dive in deeper if I cared more about ranking MVP's right now. But those two guys, to me, are up top, is crazy to say that the league's two of the three best bigs in the league. You'd have LeBron in there too.

Well, I mean, LeBron would be in the top five still. Best player, best team. Yokic's team is a very good. Of course. That would be fascinating because if we're ranking in terms of just strict production, like when it comes down to it, MVP is also about wins and placing the standings and all that too, but just strictly in terms of individual production.

I'm saying this early on, like in terms of who I'm monitoring for MVP, The rankings right now don't really matter too much. But Embed, the only question will be, can he keep this up over the course of the full season? Can he maintain this elite level of play where he is just wrecking teams on the post over the course of the full year? Hitting his threes, he's hitting 37% of his threes so far this season, remaining an anchor of their defensive unit. If he can do that all over the course of the season, he's going to get a lot of MVP votes. And part of that is because, like, KD is on a team with hard.

and Kyrie that'll hurt him. LeBron is on a team with AD that'll hurt the amount of votes he gets. So Embed is the clear number one star with the Philadelphia 76ers. If you're placing MVP bets, that feels like a fair bet to place on him. But ultimately, my question with him and the reason why I'm not all the way in, all the way in on him being the favorite is because let's see him do this over the course of the full season. That's going to be the challenge here with conditioning over the full year. but ultimately him, Yokic,

Katie, LeBron, Paul George, you know, those guys are all up there right now in that MVP race. There's a lot of options, isn't there? Yeah, but it's just nice to see Mbid move to that, to move to that class of guys.

You know what I'm saying? Like, because we've always known Mbid could be one of the best five players in the league. He has never played like one of the best five players in the league. This year he is. He's playing like one of the best five players in the league. Oh, yeah. He's been fantastic. You wouldn't get past five before you'd get to him in terms of.

He's been unbelievable. Guys, this year. Kevin, have an unbelievable weekend. Thank you to producer Sasha as always. I'll talk to you next Tuesday. Looking forward to it. Have a good weekend, everybody.