The Mismatch - Would You Rather Have LaMelo Ball or Ja Morant? Plus: Full Slate of NBA Games and LaMarcus Aldridge and PJ Tucker Are on the Market.

Episode Date: March 12, 2021

Verno and KOC first get into a little beef this Friday because Kevin said he would take LaMelo Ball over Ja Morant on 'Ringer NBA University' (0:45). Then they get into all the games that have happened since the second half of the season commenced, including the 76ers’ bench win over the Bulls (21:07), the Pelicans' icky loss to the Timberwolves (24:06), Aleksej Pokusevski’s first NBA start for the Thunder against the Mavericks (36:05), Tony Snell’s death knell to beat the Raptors (47:34), Kyrie’s incredible game against the Celtics (49:32), and the Bucks looking better than ever against the Knicks (54:05). Finally, they discuss whether they’d rather have newly available LaMarcus Aldridge or PJ Tucker on a winning team (57:05) and Caris LeVert’s return to the court after a surgery to remove a mass on his kidney (67:10). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Baseball season is right around the corner, and Jake Mintz and Jordan Schusterman will serve as your guides to the good, the bad, and the utterly bizarre corners of the baseball world on baseball barbecue. In the run-up to the season, they'll dive into the rabbit hole on some of their favorite fascinations, from the home run derby to baseball brawls and more. Once the MLB season returns, they'll break down the latest news and developments with their trademark wit and irreverence. Check out baseball barbecue on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to The Mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon, and join me as he does every Friday for. on the Ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, A.K. Kevin O'Bomber, Kevin O'Candek, Kevin O'Connor, Kevin O'Brienness, Kevin O'Reactor. What's that overreactor statement?

There I am yesterday. What is that? Minding my own business. Just minding my own business. And here I start getting inundated with mentions on Twitter. Twitter.com. Twitter. I never heard of that site.

What's that? People are sending me the following tweet. Quote, if you're looking for, if you're looking at players who are 23 and under right now, maybe Luca Zion Tatum, I mean,

I'd take Lamello right now over Trey Young and John Morant. No question about that. Kevin O'Connor on the young players he'd take over Lamello Ball via Ringer NBA show. And immediately, I then sent to you, say it ain't so.

Say it ain't so. But then you proceeded to allow everybody to know that, in fact, you did say that. I went straight to the podcast because I needed to hear it out of the horse's mouth. Yes. And I heard it for myself, along with 30 minutes of Lamello Ball is the greatest player since Michael Jordan. We did go a little long on Lamello, a little too long. I got to get better at steering conversations like you, Chris. Just keeping it moving.

Look, on a scale of 1 to 10, in terms of disappointment, I'd say I was at a 10. A 10? But it got, maybe 9, but it got to 10 last night. My 11-year-old son, my beloved William, walks downstairs. And he says to me, Dad. And I said, yes, son. And he said, I just saw on TikTok that Kevin O'Connor said he'd take Lamello over John. Oh, was I on TikTok?

And I said, hold on. I said, you saw that? And he said, somebody, like, screen captured the tweet. And so the tweet was on there. And I read it. He didn't say that. Did he, Dad? And I said, William, sometimes people are going to disappoint.

point you in life. And it was like, this is a life less of a moment. And I said, and this is one of those times. He said, that wasn't fake. And I said, unfortunately no, William, it wasn't fake. And I am going to have to deal with the repercussions of this horrible decision tomorrow, because Kevin has made a horrible decision here. And he said, well, I can't believe that. And I said, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Maybe the next take will get you. you back on his side. I said, but if you're mad at Kevin right now, I don't blame you because I am too.

I understand. And so there was yesterday, not only, I mean, you've disappointed literally my entire family. Yes. I last thing I wanted to do, Chris. Yes. Was I really on TikTok? Was there really a screenshot?

Yes. He, you would not believe, like now, nowadays, these kids, he sees everything before I have the chance to tell him or show him. Like if there's a highlight, if there's something going on. And the way this stood out to me the most was, do you remember a couple of weeks ago

when Jamal Murray was, he was the post-game interview and he was getting interviewed by Richard Jefferson and it became a meme where Richard Jefferson's like, don't talk to me like that. And he didn't know who was on the headset. And he's like, who is this? Whatever.

And it made for this great post-game moment. People were passing around the video. That happened that night. He came downstairs and I was like, yo, did you see the Jamal Murray thing? He's like, yeah.

Wow. I'm like, how, how did you see it? How? Seriously. I just saw it. How did you see this?

But yeah, he saw it last night and his disappointment was immense. You know, he feels, he feels like you're a huge traitor. Well, I don't feel that way. I would say I'm sorry to William.

I'm not sorry to you, Chris, but I am sorry. to William. Okay, look. All right. I hope you have, and we were inundated to tweet yesterday after you tweeted out about this. I hope you have reconsidered. No. No. I mean, come on. I don't think. Come on. I don't think the take the thought, the opinion, whatever you want to call it was that extreme that we were talking about Charks's question posed, which was, you know, where would you take Lamello of the young, players in the NBA. Where'd you take him? And I said, I wouldn't take him over Zion.

I wouldn't take him over Luca. Wouldn't take him over Tatum. And I said, I'd take him over, Trey and Jha, the other point cards. I don't think that's unreasonable when you consider that Trey Young, obviously a magnificent offensive player, but he was also somebody who does in terms of stylistically hold the ball a lot. I would prefer a guy who mixes in, blends in with it. Well, wait, wait, and it trade's also one of the worst defenders in the league.

Lamello is 6.6, 190 pounds with room to gain even more muscle. Jamarant is shooting 22% outside of 14 feet. And at 6.3, 180 pounds, there is an upside that can be reached, the ceiling that can be reached to his defensive potential. Well, the mellow, the ceiling is higher on the defensive end of the floor. And offensively, the ability to play with and without the ball, the shooting ability already shooting around 40% from three. looking good off the dribble and off the catch.

Look, man. It's like, it's picking styles. Here's the problem. It's not picking styles. The problem is it's like 20-something games. It's like 20-something games of which he is, of which he is a bit player. Like, John Morant has had to take a team that was projected to be the worst team in the NBA and they were one game away or rather the series versus the short series versus

Portland, of which he had a career high with the season on the line, from being a playoff team in the Western Conference last year. He turns around this year and again is the guy. He was sixth in the NBA in the whole league in fourth quarter scoring. Sixth, he was fourth in field goal percentage in fourth quarters. He literally decided games. He was the man for a team as a rookie. Lamello is like the fifth leading scorer on the Hornets in fourth quarters.

He's behind Terry Rose. And he hasn't had to have people decide tonight we are gearing our defense to deal with Lamello ball. He hasn't had to take over a game at the end of a game in four. quarters because he's the guy that can do it. It's Terry Rozier that takes over. And if it's not him, it's Gordon Award. If it's not him, it's Davante Graham. And if it's not him, it's Malick Monk. And then it's Lamello Ball. He doesn't have to do any of that. And so, and again, it's less than 30 games. Like, I feel like this is like the Buzz Lightyear Woody thing, right? Like, he's the new toy. And so now, like, you got to let this play out to where,

he does have to be the man. He does have to deal with opposing point guards coming at his neck every night and teams deciding you're not getting to play well tonight, right? We are going to gear our defense to stop you. And there's like a hundred and something game sample size of people trying to do that with Morant already. And taking over games and elevating a team that was supposed to be the worst in the NBA. immediately.

That's what I'd say. You've got to let this play out to where, how do we know if he can shoulder the load of being the man on a team? All I'll say is that the question posed was how were you taking him of the guys that are under 23 years old in the NBA? And I said right now I take him above.

I mean, like, Jail obviously is a far larger sample. Trey Young has a two and a half year sample now. Like, no kidding, their samples are far bigger. With Lamello Ball, All I'm saying is that this guy and those 30 or so games has addressed already some of those concerns that I had about him prior to the draft that many had about him prior to the draft. The shooting form, it has improved. The shot selection, it has improved.

The defensive focus and awareness that has improved. Like all these concerns that were there and were real are being addressed already. And not only that, the strengths have already gotten better. the level of progress that he's made since the end of that season in Australia is remarkable. It's remarkable what Lamello has done just as what Jha and Trey have done in their years in the NBA is really, really impressive. We are in a place right now in the NBA where we have a lot of young point cards. We didn't even mention just now or on the podcast, the name Shay Gildes-Alexander, in that same breath. But he's a guy that belongs in that.

There's a lot of insanely talented young guards in the league right now. And it's really about style how you might want to build your team out. And like in some ways, it's it's some of these, uh, these tiebreakers. It might be defense giving a guy a lead. It might be rebounding even. The little things like that that all that up beyond the offensive brilliance that you're talking about with Jha with his ability to get to the rim or Tray's ability just

to pull up from 30 feet. It's about different styles. And that's what makes it fun to watch. Well, and Trey has that also. For me, for me, like, I get the sample small. I get, and this isn't me like pat myself on the back because you can also say I had Killion Hayes ranked ahead of him. But like I'm saying, I said Luca was a top 10 player before anybody else.

And I look back at my mentions on that back in November 2019. And everybody's like, it's too soon. It's too soon. What a take. KOC. You're usually so rational and nuance. Why are you saying this? It's like, because it's what I feel.

It's what I feel. And I think that turned out to be true with Luca. and we'll see with the Mello. It might just be a small sample here and his near 40% three-point shot might fall off a cliff. It might fall down to 25%. Maybe that happens. But I'm doubtful. I'm doubtful because of everything I said earlier.

The shot selection has improved. The shooting form has improved. Jake Hylman did a great video outlining that a couple months back about how Lamello during his season in Australia began to tweak his form. Lamello himself said before the draft, he doesn't want to tweak his form. He's not making any changes. Well, he was, he did make changes. And it looks great. So, like, it's like, it's not just he's hot shooting. There's evidence that he made change, conscious change. And that's what I look at is the evidence that like this guy's actually

gotten way better. Oh, so say this though, but Luca was the man like immediately, Kevin. I think I think that's fair. That's totally fair, Chris. He was the man immediately. Trey was the man immediately. Ja was the man immediately. Like, we got to see that with Lamello in order for me to take the step of this guy is destined for absolute superstardom because it is a different burden when you are the guy. And Trey and Luca and Jha were all thrown into the fire and were immediately the guy and have performed at insane levels while being the guy. Like Lamello has been able to, and this is great for his development in some sense, that he doesn't have to, he doesn't have to be the guy that decides games, right? You don't know that with five minutes left to go, or last

night, a perfect example. Like, there's three minutes left to go in a game that they're in a dog fight with Detroit for whatever reason. But Terry Rozier scored 12 points in the last three minutes of the game. They dribble the ball up the court. They throw the ball to Terry Rozier, and he's the guy that's going to go get the buckets. And again, if it's not him, it's Gordon Hayward. And That burden is not on Lamello. And so what I would say is after 30-something games, I don't think it's fair to already elevate him above guys that have proven to be able to carry such a load and really win games for their franchises. Obviously, I am more set on job than I am Trey Young. And the only thing is with Trey, I think it's still a fair way.

wonder, does his, when you get the most out of him, does it equate to winning basketball? Can he be the guy that gets you those ins, no, no, I'm saying, Trey, can he be that guy that gets those insane stats while also impacting winning? Like, his team wins a lot in conjunction with those numbers. And I get it, it's not all of his fault, right? they're typically winning when he's on the court with the best players on that team. But that's all I tell you. Like with the Lamello thing, it's like, I don't, I don't know, man.

Like, you weren't that high on him coming into the draft. I liked it. I had them rank top three. I like them a lot. And what we all agreed, this wasn't like franchise changing guys in this draft. This wasn't potential superstars and MVP's in this draft. And we did with Zion and Jaya. And we did with Luca and that group, right?

Yeah. Well, and well, I think a lot of people thought that John Morant was going to be a superstar. There was a reason. I did not have him like on that. Nick's fans were caught. I had John a little too low. Item third, I think, or fourth, something like that. Behind our team.

Yeah. Right. And so now, I mean, after 30-something games, now we're all of a sudden going to say, Lamello is going to be this kind of guy where I would take him over guys that have already proven much more at this point. I mean, the points you're making, I'm not going to argue against fourth quarter production. I think you can look at the Mello and some of the clutch performances he had,

like against the Phoenix Sons. I think you can look at his willingness to give the ball up in certain moments as a positive in some ways too. That unselfishness is a positive trait. And obviously that's because of the situation he's in where he doesn't need to give it up. It doesn't mean Jha wouldn't give it up. He does give it up when he needs to. But the point being is that Lamello has,

has shown flashes in those fourth quarters in situations to win games. I look at it like this. We have another 30-ish games of sample of a player's development. Like I look at it like a constant stream of intel of information you're getting from a player. And I underrated lamello ball in the draft. I underrated them. And I would move him clearly and firmly up to number one right now because of this new evidence that we have, these games with preseason games, regular season games now.

This is a player who has improved dramatically. Since we last saw him play basketball in Australia. Like, it's not even close. This guy is so much better than he was last year in so many different ways. And you project ahead with him, somebody who in his 16 games is a starter. Again, only 16 games, but is averaging 21 points, seven assists, six rebounds, a pretty good defense, impactful defense, near the top of the league and steals. and deflections, impactful, focused off ball.

I like the way he plays defense right now compared to what he did in Australia. The improvement is in every single category, both with weaknesses getting better, strengths getting even more enhanced, you know, mastering some of those strengths even more. Like looking ahead with this guy, yes, there is a chance that La Mello Ball becomes a franchise changing player. I would say, I would argue, he has already changed what the Charlotte Hornets are today, and he can change what they are in the future. as well in terms of their hopes to be contenders.

Lamello has reached that level of status, and I underrated him. I underrated him. And look, one of the things probably you've noticed is, like, I am not, I'm not in the business of tearing that kid down. I think he's awesome.

Yeah, he's awesome. You're right? I think he's, like, so I don't have to, I don't have to tear him down to pump up the other guys. I'm just saying it's,

it's too soon until we see. And once he does, right? Once he does, like he's got that ball and he's going to decide. games for teams for that team, then he is the guy that teams are coming in and game planning against. We've got to slow this guy down tonight and then you and then you're able to deal with that and you're able to thrive with that. That's when I think he deserves to be thrown into the

class of Luca, Trey, Jha, guys that have already had to deal with that. And, He just does. He doesn't. Like I said, that win over Phoenix. The clutch lay up when he drove, you know, crossed over, drove right past J. Crowder, got to the basket, scored, ice the game, less than two minutes left. He had various moments in that fourth quarter. I don't think it's that Lamello can't do it.

It's just he happens to be on a team where there's a Gordon Hayward, where there's a Malik Monk. And there's some other options. Scary Terry. I mean, Terry Rose here, Chris, I was thinking about this last night. I don't have a list of like my favorite players to watch, but I've been thinking it would be fun to put together a favorite funnest players to watch. Listen, Terry Rosary would be pretty high at that list. Top 25, 30.

Like he's so freaking fun to watch play basketball. You know what I was thinking about watching him last night? And there it was. He's just going off. What's the guy? I can't say his last name. Svi. Poor Svee. Svi.

Svi, McIuluk. Yeah, but Michael, he's out on an island. you know, like Lamello throws it to Terry Rozier, and now it's Terry Rozier versus Svee. And me and my kid were watching it, and I said, how many times out of a hundred you think Terry Rozier would score on Svee? A hundred?

You think it's a hundred? Like, he just, he lit the guy on fire. It was ridiculous. He had 12 points in the last three minutes of the game. And he was like coming into it, he didn't have it going. Like he was like three for 12 or two for nine or, some crap going into that, like this stretch and that he just took over the game completely. But, and I was thinking about, it's the first time I thought about it a long time.

Terry Rozier, that Celtics run they made when Kyrie was out. Yeah. And he emasculated Eric Bledsoe and wore a Drew Blitzelso jersey as his like league fit into the game. I mean, that is an all-timer. Like not only. And so there he is last night. He's scoring the 12 points of three minutes, and they keep on panning over to the sideline,

and who's going crazy? Michael Jordan. What a feeling that was the bid, right? Jordan is like, he can't get enough of this. Terry Roarzeer is, it's a little different when they pan in the Clippers game, and you got, you know, a Steve bomber, you know, losing his mind and kicking his legs all up in the air

and, you know, convulsing. and then you like flip over to Jordan and when you see Jordan like legitimately giddy watching Terry Rozier playing, it's an odd experience to say the least. Let's get to some of the things that happened

last night. Weird stuff. Let's start with the weird scores. So, Darrell Mori got to go on Twitter last night and say put some respect on the Sixers' benches names because even when

I was watching Brooklyn versus the Celtics, the announcers were saying, you know, Brooklyn wins this game tonight. They'll be the first they'll be in first place in the Eastern Conference. And then they said, which you'd suspect that's going to happen because Philly

is going to take a loss at Chicago because they're having to play without Ben Simmons and they're playing without Joe L.M. Not so fast. And when I, the first I, when I checked that score, I was like, what in the world? A bunch of guys that do not always get the opportunity to play real minutes seized their opportunity last night.

And that is a, I mean, that's a tough loss for Chicago who's going to be fighting to the nail to try to get one of those 10 spots in the Eastern Conference. When you catch that kind of a blessing playing Philly without those two guys, you have got to take advantage of that. Did they not take advantage of it? They got their ass kick, Kevin. Well, it's like Joel Embed tweeted last night. Time to build around Tony Bradley. Seven for seven from the field last night. 14 points, Chris.

You got to build around Tony Bradley now. That's the move. Look at Dwight Howard's line. Yeah. 18 points, 8 of 12 with 12 rebounds to. 18 and 12. Dwight's back. He's back.

Crazy. Dwight's back. I mean, Thibel got the start. Yeah. Clark Miles with 16 points off the bench. You know, they had some big performances. I mean, but it does. Look, I will say this.

And it is the first game out of the All-Star break. And so you never know. But I do think it is worth noting that they do have depth. They do have play games. Yeah, they do. Right? Because when you get, when you get into the playoffs, there is always,

there are always going to be those games where the benches flip the game. some way somehow, right? The benches usually get shorter, but as time goes on it, especially if you incur an injury. And so that was a moment where it was, okay, here's what it looks like,

or without our two huge stars, and they had guys, obviously, they had guys. And maybe Chicago just, you know, it's psychological. You walk in, you see Ben Simmons ain't there, M. Bid's not there. You take it easy.

You know what I mean? You think. you're going to be able to turn it on when you when you want to and instead you just get caught by a team that's hungry you know um the the the weirdest score so that wasn't even the weirdest score the weirdest score the weirdest score was the pelicans versus the tee wolves what in the hell was that an embarrassing defensive performance by new Willans. embarrassing. How many times have we talked about, I just cannot figure out that team for anything.

You can watch them sometimes and they are, you know, they can play with anybody, right? And you sit there and you watch it and you go, God, like Zion is just, he's the advantage, no matter what.

It doesn't matter who you're playing. He's the advantage. Nobody has a guy that is a good matchup for that. And there's times like Josh Hart will be knocking down threes and Redick will be knocking down threes and and they're going. And then they have these moments like last night. This is Van Gundy after the game. Look, I understand it's on me and what we're putting out there defensively is embarrassing, quite honestly. We've all got to take ownership of it, blah, blah, blah. We didn't

compete. We didn't help each other. We didn't play together on either end of the floor. A really embarrassing evening for us. And he said, we didn't shoot the ball well. And honestly, we are so bad defensively, we can't have a bad offensive night. We can't even have a mediocre night. If we have a bad offensive night, we'll get crushed like we did tonight. And then he said that they, he said we got what we deserved. We didn't have any energy in practice yesterday. One of the worst practices I've been a part of in my career.

I don't know. Sometimes the days off make you lazy, blah, blah, blah. Whoa. Whoa. I mean, the Pelicans defense. Brennan Ingram needs to go back and watch some film of himself in L.A. Eric Bletsow needs to take some pride on defense. I look at this team and I see individuals who are not locked in and are not playing together.

And like there's been some minor improvements. There's been some good moments for Zion, some moments of intensity. But these guys, all of them need to bring it consistently every single night. That quote you just read really sums it up. I mean, if they have an average offensive performance, they're going to get destroyed. Like, it's at that level. They have to be amazing. Yeah.

Because they are at the tops of the league in offense and second to last in defense. Exactly. The defense is beyond system fixes. It's beyond a couple tweaks, you know, to personnel. It needs to come from the guys there. Like, you know what I mean, Chris? It has to come from Ingram. It has to come from Bledsoe.

It has to come from Zion. and all up and down the list, the entire roster. The players need to take pride in that end of the floor. And how much of that is like maybe Stan Van Gundy's voice isn't resonating? I don't know. Because with Ingram, it was like this last year under Alvin Gentry. It wasn't like this in L.A. where McGrathes is a teammate. It wasn't even like this in L.A. the year before with Luke Walton as his head coach.

I think back to something, Stan Van Gundy said weeks back, maybe even, I think back in January. and he was talking about Zion becoming a guy who brings the ball up the floor all the time. And he mentioned how there's a different level of conditioning a player needs to reach to go from like, you know, someone who just sometimes does it to somebody who's doing it all the time. And in order to maintain your energy offensively and still be competent or good defensively. And I wonder how much of it is that. Ingram is still adjusting to being a go-to score. and Zion is becoming a go-to score,

a go-to playmaking option, how much of it is that for the two best players? Is it conditioning? Is it a focus? Is it intensely? I don't know what it is. But whatever it is, it needs to be resolved from within.

That's the way I think of this is team. And the crazy thing is that you, you attain Eric Bletsoe and you attain Stephen Adams. And those are defensive additions, theoretically. And Bledso has not been at all. I mean, they're not there for offense. That's not who, you know, if you were trying to figure out, okay, what are the ideal guys to put around what I've got? You would look at those guys and say, okay, this is how we can, this is how we can bolster our defense.

And do you remember last year, like, their numbers, I remember us talking about this, their numbers, even under Gentry were like, they were so much better with Derek Favors being healthy. Like when favors got healthy, it added, you know, just an immense amount of points to that point differential. They started playing like an actual good team. And, you know, look, you can't say that like they lost Eric favors. But all I know is when you bring in Stephen Adams and you bring in Eric Bledsoe and that's your point guard and that's your center, I don't know how you suck defensively. It's hard to fathom how you suck defensively. And I talked a couple weeks ago about the lack of communication that you see,

you know, great defenses play on a string. But even it's not an excuse to be a young team that hasn't played that many games together. That's all bullshit. Because watch Oklahoma City. Yeah. Watch them. Watch them.

Well, OKC has a lot of players who take pride in the defensive floor. Look, defense, I don't I it's so much of it is effort it's mindset yes it's approach it's taking pride in what you do and be having a willingness to put the full effort in to that end of the floor okay see he has guys to do that gildes alexander dort diallo the entire roster pokershefsky Kenny hustle Kenny hustle like they have so many guys who just play with effort and heart and intensity and love for the game I don't feel that with a lot of players on New Orleans.

And, you know, I think we also do need to give credit to the Minnesota side, a team that's had a horrible year. But last night, they showed some of the good Jaden McDaniels going off for 20 points off their bench. He's been very impressive defensively as an individual for Minnesota. Offense is coming together as a young player, as a rookie. They have some nice young players in that team that had big nights. And of course, Anthony Edwards at 27. Well, and the odd thing is you look at that box score. and it was not a big cat night at all.

Yep, yep. Like, if you would figure if they bombed out, you know, the Pelicans that he's got 30 and 20. He had like 19 and 7 or something, right? I said it was Noel with 28. It was McDaniels with 20. It was Edwards with 27. It was the other young guys.

Yeah, what was the story on McDaniels? Wouldn't he like a huge recruit one point? And then, like, then kind of an overwhelming, underwhelming season at Washington. Yeah. But Jaden McDaniels is somebody who, you know, very raw offensively, 6-9, 6-10, raw, but defensively, there's no question about his talent. And already in the NBA that sort of began to unfold, he's a nice player, dude.

I think we'll see how Anthony Edwards, that decision pans out at number one. You know, we talked about Lamello a little bit earlier. Edwards looked good last night, and he's had some good moments. You drafted Edwards knowing he's raw, and we'll see how the development happens over time. but McDaniels has been very, very impressive. Like theoretically, Chris, Cat, Edwards, McDaniels, you've got some nice young talent to build with.

It's just that deal, that de-low decision. Like when you look back at that, we'll see how that develops over time. Well, I don't think we need to see how it develops, Kevin. That is, it, they,

for them to possibly lose their pick over that. Well, they're going to lose one of them at least, 20, Yeah, and I don't know how many people would take away. So take the pick away. I don't know.

I do not think it is unanimous if somebody said trading DeAngelo Russell for Andrew Wiggins. Like if they just said that's the trade. I do not think it's unanimous. So that's set aside the pick. When you add in the pick, that is a devastating error in judgment. You know what I mean? I mean, that's terrible. In an alternate universe somewhere.

somewhere out there in the galaxy. They didn't do the DeLo trade. They drafted LeMello Ball. And they have Lamello and Kat. And they have maybe McDaniels still. And they saw their picks. I'm just saying like in an alternate

universe, that could be the case. Not that this one won't work out. We'll see what happens. Yeah. And we must say, right, when we talked about Lamello and he does have that benefit right now, where I talked about, you know, these guys on his team that can carry the load.

But that is good when you don't have to be thrown directly in the fire and be expected to carry a team and whatever else. And so he, Lamello has gotten into a good culture, a team that shares the ball with good veterans, with guys that can do other stuff. Edward Edwards, his situation sucks. Yeah, it's a rough situation. You've won six games, you know, guys are hurt. guys have been out, all that.

Your coach got fired. Yeah. You know, your GMs are the ropes. Kevin Garnett's pissed. He could have known the team. Like, it is all. Think about how unique of a situation it is to have a coach from a different organization come in midseason and make changes.

Like that must be very odd for a rookie. I mean, fraud for anybody to have to go through that. You know, as a player on a team, it's very weird. I will say this, though, because I have not, forgive me, I have not paid attention enough to T. Wolves games. Since the change, they aren't one of the teams that I go out of my way to see all the time. But as I tweeted about that score being so weird last night, I did get the good amount of T-Wolves fans that were very effusive in praise on Finch and what the team has looked like since the change in coach. So, I mean, I will say, again, for what it's worth, Minnesota fans have been rather enthundred.

by what they've seen in a very short amount of time. I believe that was their first win under him, but just in terms of the way they play, the product that is out there, the guys they're playing, that they have, I think the quick reviews on Finch have been very, very good amongst that fan base.

That's what I gathered. Yeah, and just on the note of Finch real quick, one of the reasons why I would assume Minnesota made this higher is because of the work that he did with past situations, working with Denver to install the Yokach offense, he was in New Orleans the year that they had 80 and Boogie. You know, remember when they were running some cool kind of sets with the two bigs and all that?

It was fun to watch. Yeah. And part of that was the Chris Finch influence. And one of the things we're seeing early on, small sample again, but I had this in my power rankings earlier this week. Towns has nearly doubled his elbow touches per game. You know, he's below, he was at 2.5 per game prior to Finch, 4.6 cents. So nearly doubled it. And that's an area of the court where it feels like cat.

could really thrive as like that dribble handoff situations where sometimes he's fake hand off, attacking off the dribble. He can make beautiful passes and it's never been fully utilized by past coaches with the system that they had. We're starting to see that with Kat. So that's encouraging to me. You can put a look, if you've got a big guy like that, like the, like the, like the, like you do with Vosovic or Prime Mark Nassol, you can put a like a like a lot of

lot of pressure on a defense because you got if you got guys that can cut to the basket they've got that available. If you've got guys that can throw out knock down threes, you've got that available and then you got your own. I mean guys like caddy's got such good touch, he could knock down a million

elbow jumpers. Bingo, exactly. You let him. A couple other things that we do need to touch on. You mentioned his name briefly earlier. Do you believe since you are Kevin O. Overreactor

today. Now, as we have thought that the Oklahoma City Thunder was going to be there vying for a lottery spot, is it possible that everything has changed now that Poku has entered the starting lineup and we need teams that are vying for the top 10 seeds in the Western Conference need to watch out more than teams that are vying for the worst record. Pokushevsky, a.K. Pocouman, aka the chef. How do you like that nickname? The chef. It's pretty good with the creativity on the floor. I saw last night he took his first career free throws.

I saw Haberstro say that he'll remember where he was. Not only did he take his first ones, I believe he was four for four, which makes him the greatest free throw shooter in NBA history. Remarkable player, really. A hundred percent from the line. In all seriousness, though, like, we touched on O KC's, you know, depth of talent, you know, earlier, like the pride they'd take on defense. Don't want to hit that again. But Pocoshevsky.

He had some good moments, Chris. Like, like, I was thinking of hitting you all up last night. I just say, hey, hey, look at Poku. Look at Dallas without Luca. Jesus. Yeah, well, this is the Poku show here. I know. But he had the blocks.

He had caught shot. not, Poku has no fear. My buddy, Jay Cowell man, who does ring her NBA university with us. That's every other Wednesday. So this week's episode is on Wednesday. Check that out after you listen to the mismatch. Jake Howell Man had a great tweet last night about how earlier in the game,

Pocushevsky made a mistake. He made a mistake. And he had no fear the next time up the court. He made a play in response to it. He doesn't care. He doesn't care. He has no fear. Next play.

Next play. And that's a little thing. but I like to see that from players because sometimes you see players turn the ball over, they get mad at themselves, they don't get back in defense, they don't try to make up for it. Sometimes you see a guy get pissed off at himself, missing

a defensive rotation, then he starts clanking jumpers off the backboard because it affects them, they keep it. Some players just have an ex-play mentality and they move on. So that's a little thing, but I like to see that from young players. So it was just cool to see Jake Colliman also observe that. And wait

until he discovers sandwiches. and ice cream. And he said he could eat because he is on absolute rail. I can't believe you could be that tall and that skinny. It's crazy. It is crazy to look at it, to see him and to think he is the perfect in the history of the NBA. Janus is really good when you see those old like before and afters when he came in the league versus what he looks like now because he looks like the damn incredible Hulk now. But Pocushkyshev is set up to have the greatest before and after pictures in four or five years time.

The glow up could be insane. Oh, my God. I mean, Porzingis did it, too. You remember, like, there was that summer where Porzengis started getting real tan and lifting tons of weights. And he was doing, and we were like, wow. The photos shoots of him lifting. Yeah. Yeah.

Like, yeah. Right. I could see that happening with Pococos. We'll see that. In Forge worth the mistake he made, I just pulled up Kyle's tweet. It was when he made an unnecessary behind the back pass. It was like a total Poku moment. He's so flashy.

Too much sauce. Poku's got too much sauce. But then the next play came back and hit a dribble jumper. Let me say this real quickly. People that have not heard that NBA show yet. I have, I think, maybe even a greater respect. And I know you guys respected it quite a bit. even greater respect,

uh, spending the last, you know, massive part of my life in, in the South, uh, for J. Kyle Man's

Kentucky accent answer. No, no, you don't understand. Kevin, that was like movie actor level. It was so dead on,

so perfect that it is, if you live, Listen back to that. It is shocking that it is him doing that voice. Like he, I know he spent this time. You know what I mean? He's a Kentucky guy. So Lord knows he's heard those exact type phrases and everything his whole, you know what I mean, his whole life. But I mean, he has got that thing down. He could really do an entire show in a thick, deep Kentucky accent. Like he sounds like the old dude. on the radio when I first started in radio in the South. I mean, they were like, you got to run the ball and you got to stop the run. You know? And if George is not going to run the ball and stop the run this weekend,

then they're going to be in a heap of trouble. You know, and you would listen and be like, they're dead serious. That's just how they sound when they talk. But him speaking in that way, I need, I'm going to do a fake show with him at some point. Yeah. Where I can pull off the, we could be the southern host. talking about something. We were thinking, I mean, while he was doing that, I was like, should, like,

if we have sharks talk like a Texan and me talk with a Boston accent, just for the rest of the show. I don't think, I don't, can you do Boston? Yeah, I can do Boston if I, if I'm in the headspace. Do you fall into it when you're around your buddies? No. No, no, you don't, you don't start saying like, uh, Boston and, you know. It's funny. My mom and I went for a drive yesterday and there's like this, like, local restaurant.

nearby and like it's advertising lobster lobster but you don't say it like that well no I'm saying like no I'm saying the sign says lobster like they don't even have it was like L-O-B-S-T-A-H-H-H-H-H-H-H-Lobstah Lobstah got a lobster roll that's so people know what they're talking about yeah like lobster what is that oh lobster yeah that's pretty good Chris I like that's pretty good Chris Oh, that sounds good? That's good. What is lobster? Lobster. Lobster.

Lobster. Lobster. Lobster. Lobster. That's the organic lobster. Yeah. That's what sounds for me. Naturally. We've got to.

When I say naturally, I think, let's talk about accents for one more second, Chris. Okay. I used to have more of an accent. Like, up until like 2012, 2013. I don't know why. But that's because you became, Kevin O California. No,

I didn't move to California until 2018. Oh. I don't know. I don't know. It just sort of in my 20s. It just kind of, I think I used to talk a little bit more chilled out. And then I became a bit more upbeat.

And it kind of came out of me. It just left me. But it was never a heavy Boston accent. Some people have the real heavy ones. The guys outside of TD Garden who sell tickets. Tickets here. Those guys got serious. Those are the serious Boston accents.

Tickets here. That's funny. As soon as you said that, I have not thought about that in so many years. But my father used to take me to St. Louis Cardinals games when I was a kid. And we walked in the same entrance every time. And I wonder if the guy is still there. I need to go because that would be a hell of a, you know, as the world turns moment. Right?

If I could see, if that guy is still there, I need to walk around next time I go to a game. But every time you walked in and he would yell it. And he would say it. like it was ingrained in my mind as this moment when I know I'm about to walk into a baseball game because there's a guy standing there and he's got this big wood like, you know, whatever, like a stand in front of him. And he would go, uh, score cards, programs, media guides and yearbooks, score cards, programs, media guides and yearbooks. over and over and over again. And then like every once in a while,

somebody would come up and be like, hey, I need a scorecard. And then he would like be like, that's a dollar. And you'd give him a dollar. And he'd give you your scorecard right back to it. Scorecards, programs, media guides and earbooks. That's amazing.

It's kind of like the audio I have in my head is just the guy who goes like, buy and selling tickets here, buy and selling tickets here, buy and selling. Tickets here. Buy and selling tickets here. There was also a dude, now that I'm saying this, I have not thought about this in 30 years. A guy that was in the outfield, and he had this big white headband on,

big heavyset guy, and he walked around and he'd go, and his headband said bushy-wushy on it. What? And he called himself the bushy-wushy-bier-man. He goes, Boushy-wish- Beer Man. Bush and Bush and

You know this conversation is making me Miss going to an arena With people just Masses of people filtering in And you see the guy that's on Like the Jumbotron sometimes You're like

Oh, that's the guy that wears the chicken suit You know what We need to bring that back People like guys that are Stadium vendors I feel like now That's odd Because I have not

You jarred something Losing by memory thinking about these guys. People don't act. I go to games all time. People don't they don't do that anymore. We need characters. TD Garden still has characters. TD Garden. For Celtics games, there's an older

guy who beats his chest. It's like hilarious. There's people who dress up in numerous random outfits. Oh, man. Tidy Garden. Yeah, like Celtics games, dude, are great. They're a great time. A really great time. The last time I can remember

somebody doing something like that. And it was so funny that I remember it was when I the last time I was in New York and we went to a Broadway show and they walk around like there's just one person and walks around with like water bottles

and the guy's line was um dehydration is the number one killer of people in the theater. Oh my God. Don't let it be you. And so people are like buying water for the guy.

And I was like, this is unbelievable. It's so funny. Unbelievable. Like he had like a bit that he was doing. Makes it fun. It's like taking pride in defense. Yep. Not really.

All right. A couple things we do need to mention. Thoughts and prayers with the Tampa Raptors. I would never wish Tony Snow game winner happening against you on anyone. But that was just, I watched the replay. So I've known Matt Devlin for like 25 years, the guy that was, he's the Raptors, Play-by-Play announcer on TV.

And Devlin, I hear his calls that he was like, Tony Snail, you know, like, he made it. You know, this crushing, like Tony Snell made it. He made it and the Raptors lose and it's like oh geez But look I guess good awareness by Trey Young If he throws it out to Toney Snow And Tony Snowe bags a three

And so I Look the Hawks have been They've won some games Since they got rid of Lloyd Pierce You knew When you didn't see any of the players Coming out saying This is messed up or whatever

You kind of know how they felt about Getting a new voice in the locker room just typically, you know, look, if somebody's let go, you will see quite a few people usually on the team say, like, yo, this is messed up, this shouldn't be happening, whatever else, but certainly felt afterwards, and with all the stories that came out afterwards on the athletic that, you know, they were ready to move on,

but they've won some games, you know what I mean, under Nate McMillan, and they did so in a, very strange fashion last night. You know, I don't think anybody will ever forget where they were when Tony Snow hit a three to knock off the raptors. A memorable night in NBA history. Yeah.

No Fred Van Fleet last night. Kyrie went off, matched his season high, and just took over the game, honestly, against the Celtics last night. Those last few minutes of the game, and that is,

those are really the moments where you're starting to see this Brooklyn team. They're not always running out on people, but if you're in a close game with them, so many of these games in the NBA become ISO Fest, you know, in the last three minutes. You saw it last night, as I mentioned, with Terry Rozier. He had this matchup with Svi, whatever his name is. Svi, McIlluluk, Chris.

It's not a hard name to pronounce. McIulke. Svi McIuluk. So, and then he, you know, he torched him. And then you see so many times where it becomes, you know, ISO basketball, somebody with a good matchup. And that's how teams aren't bopping the ball around like they do earlier in the games. And, man, if you get into an ISO contest with that Brooklyn Nets team, good luck. Because if you saw it last night.

And then that is kind of the issue. And I thought about this last night when you. brought up those numbers about the Tatum numbers in isolation being down. And so usually it's like I got my guy, you got your guy, and now we're about to decide this game. And they're more, if you double them or you guard them, now they're going to kick out to the Tony Snells of the world.

But other than that, they're going to go try to get a bucket here. And boy, if it's a bucket getting contest down the stretch, good luck and you saw Kyrie it's one of those moments where you watch him and you're like okay like this dude is so insanely talented here's the thing Chris we've never seen a collection of talent like what the Brooklyn Nets have with Kevin Durant Kyrie Irving and James Hardin like the Warriors big four what they had you had the two elite shot creators who are elite scores in the

half court in KD and Stephiel you get three of them now Clay's an offball guy Three that can close you out. Yes, all of them. And they can beat you in so many different ways. And it's not just that they can close you out. It's that they have shooters to kick out to. Joe Harris is one of the best shooters in basketball. Jeff Green, Landry, Shaman are shooting the ball really well.

They have a lot of guys who can hit shots on that team. They have so many different types of bigs. If I look at the Eastern Conference landscape right now, Chris, I was thinking about this last night. There's not a team except for Brooklyn. Brooklyn is the only team that I would say can run through the East. like, you know, lose a game or two throughout the first three rounds. I wouldn't say that about Philly. I wouldn't say that about Milwaukee.

I want to say that about anybody else. Not that Brooklyn will, but I'm saying they could. They can. They have that level of upside. Because if this team gets average, above average level defense in a postseason, their offensive upside is just unmatched in the entire league, maybe ever, with those guys. It's ludicrous what these guys are going to be, could do in the playoffs. Let's say they get that number one seed though, Kev, let's say.

I mean, look, people had them ranked very, very highly in the standings without James Hardin. They've had it, James Hardin. Exactly. But would they be able to deal with lamello ball in round one? I mean, I was honestly thinking if they got Tony Snell. That's what I was thinking about. How would they deal with that? I'm talking about the matchup.

Yeah. They really, that would be fun as hell if the hornets ended up eight. You know, right? And then played them in the first round. Yeah. It would be fun to take your lumps like that. Not as hard as Chicago or Tony Snell or, you know, you know, you don't want to have to deal with that shit. I don't want to deal with that.

No, no, no, no. No, no. That's bad news. If you get, if you get, if you get. I don't know if they're going to, I don't know if they're going to lock down on you defensively, you know, every game. though. Like, I feel like they will, they'll, they'll, they'll get into track meets for fun of course. You know what I'm saying? They're going to have, I mean, even in the playoffs, they're going to get into track meets for funsies and they're, they don't mind playing you

142 to 136, you know? In all serious is like, that would be a fun matchup. I'd love to see that. It'd be exciting to see that. We'll see when it's up happening. The playing tournament, it's going to be great, man. Oh, it will. It's going to be great. Because there's, because there's, because there's not many teams that just absolutely suck. A couple others that we do need to mention, the bucks have really gotten going. They continued it after this All-Star break, and they dumped the Knicks last night, but they've gotten Holiday back, and, you know, next thing you know, while they started off the season, kind of dicey, and we wondered about the additions they made in the off-season,

is it all going to work? There they are. I mean, they're going to end up with a great, great record, and they're already in third. You know, by now. And they started off kind of slow. But it does feel like they've started to hit a stride here the bucks have in a way that they certainly had not at the very beginning of the season. And Janus has been otherworldly again. It's fair to say that Janus has reentered the MVP discussion.

Yes. Very fair, right? I don't think they're ever going to, I don't think they'd give it to him. He would just have to average 40 and 20. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, we'll see what happens, man. I mean, it seems like today it's Embed, Yokic, LeBron, are their main three that media members, voters talk about. Brown's falling out of it.

Fallen out of it. You used to have him as the leader. Fallen out of it. Yeah, he's falling out of it. I see, I don't buy that. Yeah. They are outrageously great when LeBron is on the floor. They are a, but they're not going to win it.

They're just not going to win enough games with Davis Howard. He's still going to be out for a long time. Yeah. I mean, if they went nine and one in their next 10, I just don't believe they will. You know what I mean? So that's why I'm saying that. I mean, that's a long time without Davis. You see what they look like without him.

And I thought they were better equipped to deal with him not being there. Montrez has not been, I mean, he just has not been even the guy that we saw that was like six men of the year good last year, you know. I thought I thought that if they lost Davis, they, the roster. they had built was much better equipped. Do you think Drummond helps them if they get him? I mean, I don't think. Two 80s, 80 and 80. I understand there's been a level of disenchantment with Markis all.

Right? Really? Amongst Laker fans. Oh, okay, okay, amongst Lakers. That's what I'm saying? Like, that hasn't worked out like they wanted it to. I was texting with some of my Lakers buddies the other days. You know, I always tried to check in with my friends who are fans of teams.

and yeah, they're still into Mark. My friends were, you know, I checked in with, yeah, yeah. Oh, okay. But I'm sure a lot of Lakers fans probably are not, though. I mean, look, Dwight Howard helped them during the regular season. He didn't really help him when it mattered most, but he helped him during the regular season. So, I mean, why would Andre Drummond not be able to help him?

Right. I mean, if you just need a guy that's going to go out there and get rebounds. Sons are still trucking, very impressive last night. Maybe. Yeah, baby. Portland. And we need to talk about a couple of these guys that are out. So the last night, Houston, you know, they got beat again.

But they were playing that game without PJ Tucker in the lineup. And the story comes out that he has been upset, that he hasn't been moved already to a different team. And so Silas had to, you know, acknowledge this last night. He's sitting out until they can find. him somewhere. The same thing goes with Lamarcus Aldridge, who wasn't thrilled about, you know, being a bench guy. And so

you know, you had Popovich come out and say, hey, Lamarcus is going to go his way. We're going to go our way. So he's not going to be performing for us anymore. And so we have those two guys out there. P.J. Tucker, Lamarcus, Aldridge.

Which of those do you think has more left in the tank? they both look like they've been running on empty this season if you could have one of them they're near e right now if you could have one of them the question i mean it depends on what my team needs i know that's a cop-out answer but like what does my team need am i do any defense so i need a guy to be an offensive spark for me it all depends on my own individual needs because with aldridge he's been horrific defensively for san antonio like some of the closeouts on shooting

pick and pop bigs it's that kind of hilarious he'll put his arm up from like inside the free throw line goes as if he's contesting the shot one no that's not that's not a contest that's that's playing like you're on the pelicans defense right and but then you have p j tucker who is shooting worse than he has in many years whose defense has not been the same probably because of effort it's not a winning situation right now harden's gone it's a rough situation he wants out i think p j tucker is fairer bet to be impactful in his role as a as a guy who hits spot up threes from the corner who makes the right pass off the dribble and who plays the best most versatile defense he possibly can aldridge their questions are well is he willing to be a pick and pop guy he was

reluctant to do that at times at times in san antonio will he put an effort on defense something he hasn't done in quite some time and be impactful on defense i i'm not so sure about that so i have more questions about Aldrich. No, I agree with you, actually. I agree with you on the PJ Tucker front. I would, you know, Tucker, I think that when, this is how I view it, when you get to the playoffs,

and let's say you got a really good team, you're the second round of the playoffs, you're the third round of the playoffs, whatever, conference finals, NBA finals, I think he can play and he can play in the biggest moment. for you. I can see scenarios in which P.J. Tucker is on the court for an awesome team when it matters most. When it's winning time and you need winning plays and you need guys

that can just keep the ball moving on offense, maybe knock down the occasional corner three, but at least have to be honored all the way out there. There is under no circumstance do I see Lamarcus Aldridge on a winning team on the court when it. it matters most in a winning situation. Like that. So to me, if I can envision a scenario where one of those two guys can play for me when it matters most, then that's a guy, that's the guy I would take. I think that, you know, Audrey, obviously he's not thrilled about being, uh, coming off the bench anyway.

Like he's a, bring him off the bench against second units. He gets me eight to 12 points, you know? like I kind of and if Marcus Alder's got to be your starting power forward I'm man I'm not sure about that right and so it'll be

fascinating to see if somebody wants to attain him to be their starter and maybe he's got more left than I think maybe there's some reason that he has been playing this kind of lame-ass way in San Antonio

but just We're not far removed from PJ Tucker, you know, being in big moments, making big plays, getting a huge rebound when you need it, throwing it off of somebody out of bounds when you need it. Like he's, he's that kind of dude. Whereas Aldridge is, I mean, it feels like he's, you know, I don't know, from the 80s. Yeah, he's more of a. At this point, that's what it feels like. Yeah, it feels like he's from the 80s. He's like an awesome Greg Monroe who's out of the league.

And we'll see what happens with PJ Tucker. I've reported recently that the teams with interest seems like are the Nets, Lakers, Heat, Bucks. Those are some teams to keep an eye on. It's all good teams. All good teams. So why wouldn't he want to go there? And it's going to be fascinating to see what level offers reach. Because earlier in the season, I was told they wanted two second round draft picks for him,

which isn't a lot, but it is a lot for a guy who's in his mid-30s and is about to be a free agent in a couple of months. So that's a lot for a guy with that, in the terms of that situation. What, does he fit the, I mean, does he fit the heat or what? Holy mackerel. If you throw out Bam and Tucker and then you've got your wings or Butler and Hero, and then you've got Gore and Dragage. That's great nice. That's a really nice group.

And like you can plug and play Iguidala into that. I mean, there's so many different combinations that would be high. That's, yeah, that's really tough, high level basketball, you know. So I would be excited about any. of those situations. What about Milwaukee? If you if you play small in a playoff series with Yonis at the five, Tucker at the four,

Middleton and Holiday, and then plug and play that fifth player in that lineup, maybe it's Steven Chenzo, maybe it's somebody else. That's really impressive on both ends of the court, man. No, it's not even a question. Now that we've talked about it more, it's not even a question. Like take that the exact thing that we just talked about and now say,

and we're throwing Lamarcus Aldridge, at the four and it's like who gives a shit like whereas with b j tucker it depends on situation sometimes sometimes you might want aldridge more you still just we respect Tucker in the manner that you don't want to face him you look over at the other side like all right you got a fight on your hands right whereas all one quick question about milwaukee would you trade dante dvincenzo in a trade for p j tucker that's what houston wants they want a young player back if milwaukee gave Di Vincenzo today, it'd be a done deal. Yeah, I'd be

I, I, I, I would not want to do that. 24 years old. I said, can I give you, can I give you back Bryn Forbes? Yeah, I mean, I'm sure Milwaukee would help to do that, yeah. Milwaukee would love to do that. No, I don't know, man. Forbes might like that, too, for that matter. I don't know, because I mean,

honestly, yeah, I, I, I, I, I, I don't think I would. I like Dante. That's tough, man. Don't know, Dante's got, Dante's got some winning quality. That's really. He hits, he hits, he has, a knack for the moment, you know? That is getting loose balls,

you know, grabbing rebounds, hitting clutch shots. He's got a feel for those moments. And I think we talked about who's that fifth guy in that lineup. If you had Janus, Tucker, Middleton, Holiday, the fifth very well could be Devincento. Yeah, I would not do that. I would not. I should not have to give up that much.

I'm with you. In order to get PJ Tucker. I understand me giving it up to get Bogdanovich like they tried to in the off season. but that's too big of a price for PJ Tucker who if I was going to get PJ Tucker even for two or three years then it's a little different but I mean that's probably and that's what's going to be so fascinating here are there certain teams that have higher certainty that they can keep Tucker for more than just the next couple months like let's just say Brooklyn he has a relationship with James Hard and Mike Dan Tony that team Brooklyn's going to have a pretty good

idea of yeah yeah we're going to get a three year deal with Tucker after this Like, you know, the back channeling that goes on. It's also New York. Yeah. That's part of it, right? So I do question that. Maybe some teams are more willing to give up more than Milwaukee would if they don't have that level of certainty that this is a guy we're going to keep beyond just a couple months in one playoff run. Also a Texas guy like KD.

Yeah, man. So you got that connection. You're right. He's buddies with KD. Yeah. 100%. There's a lot of connections there. I'll tell you what, Brooklyn.

I swear. Why is Brooklyn? the only team that comes up with everybody. It's like, they're not done. I know, but it's like Spencer did witty. Like,

even though he's out now with a torn ACL, even though he has a player option for next season, that's a young point guard who has talent. And if you're another team, if you bring on Spencer did when you get him in for a couple months before he can hit free agency. You're like, we want you to be part of this.

Having his bird rights and everything gives you an advantage when it comes to free agency. So for some teams, they might view Spencer Dindwitty and getting a good player like him in as a higher value, you know, of return than draft picks. Or even more than DeVincenzo. Dinwiddie is the tradable player in Brooklyn that people should not overlook because he has value to other teams in the league, even if that value is diminished right now because of the injury and the free agency and all that. He absolutely has value. Spencer Dinwiddie's really good player.

He's a good player. He's a really good player. Only 27 years old. He'll turn 28 this year, so he's still young. And he just doesn't fit in Brooklyn anymore, I don't think. Not with the level of ball handlers they have. But it's not great there. But for somebody else,

he's great insurance. Right. That's a good way to play. That's what he is. I mean, he averaged over 20 last year, Chris. It's kind of wild. Yep. Well, another guy that was at the beginning,

going to possibly be great insurance, but moved on. And this will be the last thing is, it will be super cool to see Caras, back on an NBA floor. I can't wait. And they announced that he's been in full contact practices and it's going to be able to happen this weekend.

Guy had, I mean, guy gets traded and, you know, you read those stories about it. It literally saved his life. You know, it's one of those things where it's like,

would I have even known? Would I have even know that this was going on in my body if it weren't for this moment? in which I get trade, I have to do this full on extensive physical and they catch what's going on with me. And he had obviously very serious ailment. And to be able to catch it, deal with it, and now within the course of just a few months' time, be able to get back on an NBA court, what a blessing.

Because, you know, so many times you can not catch something until it's too late and they were able to catch it. And you think if it's, you know, God, what if it, what if he doesn't get traded, you know, what if he doesn't get traded? And I know he's said that a lot of times, you know, just you never know, such a blessing that that took place when it did, the timing of it all and him being able to deal with it and now be recovered and we'll get to see him back on in NBA court for the Pacers who need him. And I think could help a lot. Yeah. I mean, what you just said is true. I mean, my family felt that obviously with my dad's cancer. Like it's just the symptoms came up too late. And that's what happens a lot of the time where people like you don't know you have it. And, you know, for Lavert being a pro athlete and getting traded, you never want to get traded and have to uproot your life. But it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. And for Lavert, you know, I'm rooting for that guy. He's been through a lot of adversity throughout his life. And this is another one of those challenges than every step of the way. Harris Lavert has proven that he can get better and better from that adversity.

And I hope Pacers fans, and especially young Pacers fans, see him as like a role model. And I can't wait to see him out there on the court. It's going to be a good day when Caris LaVord is back on the basketball court. I mean, it's so crazy because you think about it this year, this season. I watched him go for almost 50 in Memphis earlier this year. Like, I saw it. And that's before the trade and everything happened. I mean, he was just, that is a talented dude, man.

That is a talented. He could be a big time scorer in the league. He could. On the scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the most, how much regret do you think the Houston Rockets feel not taking Levert when they could have instead of flipping him for Oladipo and the big James Hardin Blockbuster? They could have had Levert. I guess it's good. It'll just depend on what the return is for Ola Depot. So we don't know the level of regret yet.

I think the regret is not trading for Ben Simmons. That's my opinion. I mean, there could be double regret there. We'll see. We'll see what happens with the picks moving forward. We'll see. That won't unfold for many years to come. But, yeah, that looks tough right now

with the way Ben Simmons is playing basketball for Philadelphia. Inspired. That is going to do it for our show today. Thanks to producer Sasha, as always. Kevin, I will talk to you next week. I'm looking forward to have a good weekend. everybody.