The Mismatch - Zion’s Weight Loss, Yabu to Philly, and Mailbag Questions

Episode Date: August 20, 2024

Verno and KOC discuss Zion Williamson’s viral photo that shows him in great shape ahead of the season and how a healthy Zion impacts how the Pelicans are viewed (01:20). They then discuss the 76ers��� signing of Guerschon Yabusele after an impressive Olympics run for the French team, as well as the fantastic offseason the Sixers have had (11:44). Next, the guys continue to open up the mailbag to answer some of your questions (18:14). Got a question for Verno and KOC? Send them an email at [e-mail]! Or you can send the guys a tweet @ChrisVernonShow and @KevinOConnorNBA! The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Producer: Jessie Lopez Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the fall of 2014, a group of hackers pulled off the biggest Hollywood heist of all time. They broke into computer servers belonging to Sony Pictures and released hundreds of thousands of top secret documents. The attack would cause an international incident, upend thousands of lives, and change the movie industry forever. From Spotify and the Ringer Podcast Network, I'm Brian Raftery, and this is the Hollywood Hack. Listen on the Big Picture Feed. Welcome to The Mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon. Macy does every Monday night from the ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, a.kha, Kevin O'Bomber, Kevin O'Climber, Kevin O'Champer, Kevin O'Campbell, Kevin O'Cand, Kevin O'Candle-W

Kavanaugh! What's going on, man? How are you doing? How was your weekend? Everything was great. We've got a bunch to get to on the show because we have gotten a lot of questions in our mailbag, which we have asked for for the summer episodes, and so we will get to a bunch of those. But two news items that we need to hit. Right before we were about to start recording, I mentioned to you, I said, look, we've got to talk about the Zion picture. You had not seen the Zion pitcher. I wish we would have gotten your reaction live on the pod.

But utter disbelief, for people that haven't, you could just go Google search it. There's a picture that was posted, Zion Williamson at a basketball camp with a kid. And immediately, anyone who has paid attention to Zion Williams' career, from Duke on is in stunned disbelief. This is a guy that had a weight clause, I believe, in his contract, and that was news when it first happened, but he seriously looks to be in the best shape of his life. Everybody always jokes about so-and-so put on all of this muscle

and so-and-so is down X number of pounds. you if this picture is real there is no like you just see the visual of him and he looks like a different human being than what we have seen he even is quoted as saying he is down from his playing weight at Duke so we truthfully have never seen Zion Williamson at this size and so mega impressive we have talked for six years about how he could be one of the best players in the world and a lot of people have criticized him for his weight and thought that that may be holding him back but my god kevin we may be in for getting to see the best of is truly yet to come and for the time being for zion he looks like a guy that can do better than maria mills for the pelicans of course

come on come on leave the guy alone For the Pelicans, Chris. He was listed last year at the Pelicans at 284 pounds, which is, that's ridiculous. If he was 284 pounds, then I'm 140. The Pelicans look like they are the bright future pelicans again. With Zion looking like this, it reminds me of, remember that old video in high school with him next to that little white boy kind of like trawling him, right? Zion was lean then, thin, but still super athletic.

He looks just like an older version of that young kid in high school at this point with the level of weight that he's burned off of his body. It's impressive. He looks good. He also had the quote saying, I want to win it all. I saw that on the graphic with the photo posted on social media. So for Zion, man, like impressive. And for the Pelicans, it makes me think about, you know, if he stays healthy, if he looks good,

Is it actually worth holding on Ingram here? Maybe this is one of the reasons why they haven't settled for anything cheap. Maybe they're like, hey, let's take a look at New Look Zion with Brandon Ingram. Maybe this is something that could work even better than it did last season when, you know, those guys did look better than they had in previous years when they barely played it all together. I still want to get Ingram out of the way. I want to make this a Zion team. He's obviously got a different focus.

But we just watched the Celtics win the finals with Jalen Brown. and Jason Tatum after years of those two guys. Should they split them up? Shouldn't they split them up? And I know Ingram and Zion don't have playoff success. They haven't made deep runs like Jaylon Brown and Jason Tatum. I know. But I'm just saying.

Those who are arguing about guys that were like at East Finals when they were NBA fetuses. Yeah, but my point, yes, I know. But my point is that circumstances are dramatically different. The only comparison here is with two teammates, with different circumstances here, and they did show some flashes together last year. Maybe it's time to let it grow for another year before Ingram hits free agency. Maybe you trade them at the deadline,

but maybe you give it just a little bit more time when there's nothing out there that makes sense to take right now. That's my only point. Well, maybe if, look, the sooner the Pelicans realize that Zion Williamson is the best player, he's got to be taking the maximum amount of shots and then everybody else revolves around him,

the better off they will be as a franchise. that maybe this is the turning point moment because it's always been hard to turn it over to him when he's a guy you can't count on. And so hopefully this weight loss will then turn him into the guy that you can count on. He said he's at 281 right now. He was 285 at Duke and he said by training camp he wants to be down to 272. I mean, that's a different human being, you know, because, I mean, he was way over 300 last year for sure. You remember me and you sitting next to each other at the in-season tournament.

I mean, he's walking. I mean, LeBron James, who's 40 years old, I remember us doing the pod after and going, why is the 40-year-old guy the most explosive athlete on this court right now when Zaya Williams is on it? It was just, it's crazy. It was like you're wishing for things that hadn't taken place yet because you know he is an absolute total force of nests. nature when he is at his best. And he is that athlete that gets his hand on, you know, in a

passing lane, and he's at the other rim before you know it. I mean, there's just a level of explosion he has that is a top point 0.001 percentile in the world. And so, man, it'd be cool to see him put it all together at some point. And this is certainly the best he has looked ever since we've seen him in an NBA uniform. And so maybe it'll be good for him. It certainly could help his injury thing too, right? Yeah. Carrying all that weight is hard.

Yeah, it was a big part of it. I mean, last season, you know, final, his final game of the season, you know, he plays 70 games, a career high for him. In the last month of the year, he was on an absolute ferocious tear for the Pelicans. I mean, over his last 17, 20 games or so, he was, you know, 25 points per game on elite efficiency still. He was passing the ball. He was rebounding, but he couldn't last. He couldn't make it to the postseason. And then the Pelicans get swept. And Zion, despite, you know, he's been an all-star twice. He's been on an all-rooky team. He's, you know, had these great highs. But in five years, he hasn't played in the

playoffs. He hasn't been to the playoffs. He hasn't appeared in a single playoff game. Ingram played in playoffs, Zion has not. And I wonder if this was finally the year where he's like, I played 70 games and I still couldn't make it. I actually, maybe he had awakening this offseason. And he said, okay, this is time to get serious. I'm entering my mid-20s. It's now time to start winning. And maybe we're about to see a completely different version of Zion Williamson, one that elevates the Pelicans, the heights that we haven't seen in recent years. His weight alone, if it improves his durability and improves his play, that changes, I think, the way we have to talk about the Pelicans. I don't think there are, I don't think at his peak, there are 10 players in the league

better than him. I really don't. I think he's just an impossible guard because he is too fast for your big guys and he is too strong for your others. And I would love to see the best of him. Wouldn't that be the craziest thing ever? they finally just ditch them on the national TV schedule, and then he becomes the guy. You know what I mean?

They've gotten burned by it year after year after. For five years, they've gotten burned by it trying to put this guy on TV. And now they finally don't put the pelicans on TV. They've got this paltry number of nationally televised games. And if he becomes the Zion that was always expected to be, and then we've got to just catch him on league pads. It's hilarious. It's kind of wild in retrospect.

I really wish the NBA had better mechanism for flexing games in and out of those schedules. Second half of the season, it's better. Yeah, no, it's definitely better. But even early season, it would be nice if it were just more flexible, even early season. I know it can't be perfect like that. But, I mean, look, like I said, for the Pelicans, people wonder about their center position. They'd sign Daniel Tice. They draft Misi from Baylor.

they don't have a lot of clarity at the center position. But if Misi's really good early on in his career, he's going to be a versatile defender, he's going to be a shop locker, he's going to be a lob threat. I think at a minimum he'll be able to play 15, 20 minutes per game for you. I wonder, like, there was rumors about the Pelicans playing more small. Will Zion not actually be the center in those situations?

Will it actually be Missy in those situations with him being such a switchable piece, but Zion could actually defend better on the perimeter now. I wonder if that's actually the vision for New Orleans, because he's not going to be a small ball center, especially now at this weight, I don't think, but maybe he can be more switchable for you. And they've got to have somebody that can play some defense behind them.

Well, Misi could be that guy. I mean, I really, really like him. You know, I think getting him at Pick 21 for New Orleans, that's like really good value. 6-11, 7 feet almost. great long length, great shop blocker, lob threat. Like he could have great chemistry with Murray, McCollum, and Pickett Rolls, Ingram for that matter, too. So you get shooting on that team with Trey Murphy.

Hopefully Herb Jones can sustain his shooting success moving forward. They're an interesting team, man. They are. I still think they got to flip somebody, probably McCollum. But I'm intrigued. I'm intrigued by the fact that they're keeping Ingram into the season, as we assume, it's mid-August at this point. You got to be intrigued.

You're Kevin O. Pelican. You can't ditch him now. Of course I would not ditch them. But I'm especially intrigued with the Zion weight loss. For sure. It changes the way we have to project the pelicans. I agree. And hopefully we get to see the best of him.

The other NBA note that we do need to mention before we get to the mailback stuff is Gersaun Yubeselli, who dunked on LeBron. I said, man, I think he's an NBA player. Like, I don't think this is just playing European basketball, and you had talked him up and talked about his, you know, how he did not shoot the three all that well throughout the tournament that was the Olympics. And yet in his seasons playing overseas, that is something that he has proven to be able to do at a reliable tick. And if you see a guy that can, he could defend, he's big, he's strong, in shape,

and he can knock down corner threes, man, what an unbelievable. possible fit it is that the Sixers are able to get this guy for $2 million. You know, if we're right about him and he's a guy that could be at an NBA rotation, what an unbelievable fit because, golly, your fourth, fifth option, you know, you might be coming off the bench, but you've got a perfect opportunity. That's the team that needs guys that can just space out the floor and knock down corner threes. You've got Maxie. You've got Embed getting all that of attention, right?

The corner guy pulls over to him to bring in the double and he could kick it back out to you. So this guy can do the 3 and D thing. I think they got a, if you could get a guy that could be in your rotation for $2 million, that is absolute gold, diamonds, in fact. And so I, you know, I'm unsurprised that Daryl is the one that pulled it off. And I am, I think, more surprised that somebody else didn't go grab him because I wouldn't be surprised at all if he turns into a rotation player in the NBA. And like I said, for two million bucks, geez Louise, that's unbelievable. No, I said it to you in the, you know, a couple games in the Olympics.

Yabu looks like an NBA player. And like you said, he didn't shoot it well in the knockout rounds in the Olympics. He didn't shoot it well really the entire Olympics. But Gershaw and Yav Usela was a guy with the Celtics in the NBA, 32 percent from three. and he goes overseas his first year, he shot 33% from three. Not a great year for him overseas his first year. But then ever since then, 20, 20, 21 season, right? 44% from three.

2022, 40% from three. 2023, 36 from three. And then 2024, 45% from three. So he's been over 40% over the last four seasons overseas. His free throw percentage has dramatically improved in those years, too. up from the high 60s or low 70s and years prior with Boston and its first year overseas. So something shifted with his jumper mechanics or something shifted with his feel. And that improved his jumper dramatically.

And if you have a guy that puts in great effort on defense as we saw for France, that hustles, that rebounds, that's a big body that can finish inside the paint, and he can shoot threes at a really good level, that guy is going to be an NBA player. And so for the Sixers getting him at that real low price point, taking him from Real Madrid, I think he could be a guy

that's part of that rotation for Philadelphia. It could work next to Joelle and Bede. Hell, maybe you can play a little bit of small with him for that matter too. And I think for Philly, their roster, they just feel just like they don't have any holes. Like what are the real flaws

with Philadelphia right now other than durability with a beat. That's it. It's all dependent on health. Yeah. When they were healthy last year, they were awesome. I know. That's about it.

They're their additions, the veterans, Caleb Martin, Eric Gordon, Kyle Lowry bringing him back, like the draft picks, Jared McCain, Bona. This is a year with championship dreams for sure.

Yeah. I think so. And we wondered, the reason we're bringing up a guy who is not some premier player in the league is, you know, we had talked a lot throughout the summer of like, who's the guy that's going to make the impression in the Olympics and get an NBA gig out of this? And sure enough, he did.

I mean, and he, well, look, he's on the court against the best players in the world. All the famers. And he did not look out of place at all, right? Not at all. Every game he had moments. No, he destroyed LeBron on that dunk. You know what I mean? That says something to me.

and not just that one play, but like good grief, a guy that is that tenacious willingness to go to the basket, but could also shoot some threes and defend. I'm with it. So good job by you, Darrell Maury. Really good. Really good job by you. Yeah, I like the addition a lot.

I mean, Philly really had an A plus off season. They got their dream guy with Ball George. They filled out the bench with a bunch of quality players. They have lineup flexibility now. They have star depth. that B does have to miss any time. You'd expect Tyrese after his rate of improvement every single year

Maxi gets better. Why not now at age 23? He takes another leap. Why can't he get better? He went from eight points per game to 17 to 20 to 26. Why can't he improve a little bit more as a playmaker, as a shot creator, as a decision maker? I think Philadelphia is right up there

with the best teams in the East with a real shot to win at all. Well, and Boston's the one you've got to worry about. And now you've loaded up with some big wings. That's been a big, you know, soft spot for them. It's like they didn't really had the wings in the same way, right? They're running Tobias Harris out there. Like, it's not, you're dealing with Tatum and Brown. In the end, you've got to beat Tatum and Brown.

And so you're a lot better off with the group they've got now by going and grabbing Caleb Martin, grabbing Paul George, grabbing Yaviseli, grabbing these guys that might be able to give you some minutes here and there. and find the right mix to be able to deal with that group. And then maybe present your own problems, you know, on the other end by having super speedy guard and at his best, as dominant a big man as we've had.

So, again, they just got to stay healthy. But the roster's great. Rastor's great. All right. We got a lot of questions that we've got to get to from our listeners that have sent in for the mailbag.

go ahead kib what do we got all right we were just talking about a team that should be at the top of the east let's talk about a team that will be at the bottom of the east this question is from dv he said i grew up in dc and caught bullets fever when they made it to the finals back to back in 78 and 79 they haven't won 50 games in a season since i'm 55 years old now what do you think the chances are that i'll still be around to enjoy it when the wizards finally win another title I mean, not knowing Dave's health. What's the average age of a man in America? Like, 79, 80? I mean, geez, this is tough. I don't like, I don't like. I know sometimes it can come off like I like being mean, but I'm just goofing. I love people that are diehard fans of something.

And, you know, my beloved Joe House is a diehard fan. I mean, it's hard to say, look, man, maybe you could get Cooper Flag and he turns into be the next great thing in the NBA. Maybe with this year, right? Sometimes this can happen faster than you think. Look, I would certainly say it's not happening in the next 10 years, okay? Because you've got to count on drafting. a generational

superstar. Isn't that all it comes down to, Chris? Isn't that it? Isn't it all about what they end up with in 25 or 26 in the draft with Cooper Flagg and Boozer and the best of all these guys? So if they're a generational superstar

and you get them, now we're putting that probably two, three years from now for a rookie year, then we know that you don't win until you're usually 27, 28, somewhere in there. So another nine years or so.

All right, bro. Look, you cross your fingers, hope you get a generational superstar, and then in 10 years, you know what, Dave? I'm going to tell you it's not impossible. Look, you still got to beat 29 other teams, but.

Well, 31 other teams with expansion, 31 other teams. Yeah, right. If people are right, if people are right, and these guys are truly like franchise changing guys that gives you a chance. You then got to build out around them.

And I'm not telling you that Cooper Flag or AJ DeBance or any of the guys that are on their way, but somebody's going to pop. Somebody's going to be that Yokit or Janice or Kauai or whoever, right? And so these years of misery, you know, the John Wall years were fun. of those John Wall years were fun. A couple of those Gilbert Arena's years when he was age at zero were fun. But John Wall wasn't the franchise altering superstar with the number one pick. You're going to get hopefully the number one or number two or number three pick in the next couple of drafts.

And so you've just got to pray for that. And then you never know. But you have to get a generational superstar. And that's your means to get it. and you'll certainly be in position to at least get a high draft pick in these next few years. So I'm going to say you're not dead yet. I'm going to say, you know, look at it, glass half full. But you just better hope you don't catch these.

Sorry Detroit. These Detroit luck where you had the sorriest team ever and then you end up with like the fourth or fifth pick in these drafts. You just got to hope you get lucky one time and it's the right time. a comment from Simon. He said, I listened to the last pod, and I was shocked that Verna was aligned with the Sydney Kings out here. He says, they're the common day Lakers of the Australian League and nowhere near the equivalent to Memphis.

And then he says some stuff about how Sydney people are snobby wankers who sniff their own farts. And he says, they don't follow basketball in a genuine way. Australians who disagree with that, I apologize with Simon's comments. He says, disgrace, Furno, make it right and try again to find an Aussie team to follow. I love our Australian listeners to respond to Simon's comments. I would love, we have many of them around the world. We very much love our Denmarkian friends are Australian friends, but our Aussie fans, is Simon right?

Is Chris making the wrong choice here? What's going on? Okay. This is going to hurt my credibility. with my Australian brethren. I know literally nothing about that league. No, I don't know anything about the league or the fans.

I know that they've won the title. I know that they have had the likes of former Memphis Grizzly Jarrell Martin. I know they have had other guys that I have known over the course of the past couple of years. But my buddy's the president of the team. Like, I mean, and I was, that's why I root for them. Like, I love Chris Pondress.

That's why I root for the Sydney Kings. It ain't like I'm watching all the games. It is not like, I like my friend. So honestly, if he left, I'll go to wherever team he goes to. I don't care. I ain't rooting for them. I'm rooting for him. I hope the pelicans hire them.

Yeah. Well, then we might have to have a discussion. But I'm saying another Australian team. But yeah, I just want him to do well. I don't know anything about the dynamics of Australia basketball. But by the way, shout out to the guy being named Simon. Very, very rare name that I've always had a fondness for. Like a Simon, Simon says.

No, I think it was the chipmunks. He was the one with glasses. You know what I mean? I always liked Alvin and the chipmunks. inside right alvin simon simon the glasses yeah let's google it to confirm yes he had the glasses yeah you were in when you were a kid or do you still wear glasses now often yeah i mean no no my both my kids do but they um i uh you're a contacts guy now i no i just can't read like things like super up close usually oh okay and then a lot of times i'll wear uh

I had to start wearing those blue light glasses because I was a terrible squinter on TV. Yes. Why? Because of the lights? The lights would bother me. But those glasses, what I found is they dulled them. And so I could keep my eyes open regular. I had an experience like that once before.

It was at the ringer's offices and Studio C we call it. And there was one time I was recording through the ringer with Tate and like I was just like, I found myself squinting. It's like when you step outside of the movies into the light after two, three hours inside the movie theater and you're like, like you can't look at anything. That's what I felt like. That's only happened to me once, though,

of all the times, like with TV lights and everything like that. Well, so Simon, uh, it's a name I was always fond of and I've never known anybody named Simon in my life either. I mean, obviously Simon Cowell became big on TV. Of course,

but I've never known. I've never known. No, I've never worked with one. I've never been around one. I've never, no, I've never known any, I've never, like, my kids have never been on a team with a kid named Simon. I've never known a parent name Simon. It's just a name that doesn't exist, but I do like that name. Last name, Simon.

Have you ever known someone with the last name Simon? Carly Simon? I don't know. Paul Simon, I love him. There's an assistant coach in the NBA Miles Simon, but not first name. He played at Arizona. I remember him as a player. He's an assistant coach in the NBA?

Yeah, the sons. I'll beat them. He was the Lakers G-League, South Bay Lakers head coach for a few years after being their assistant. Awesome player at Arizona. You know, he's the way. And that was the famous Jim Nance call. Simon says national championship when they won the title. He won the title at Arizona.

Actually, I just looked at up. this crap. Myel Simon no longer with the Sons after Boodenholzer was hired. I'm not sure where he is right now. Anyway, enough Simon Simon talk. I've also never known a Simon for what it's worth. But thank you, Simon. Let's

let's go with this one. Wayne asked us, well he mentions first, your debate about whose career you would pick between all-star role player with NBA champs versus superstar with no championships is perfectly embodied in Drew Hall

versus Damien Lillard. Considering the fact that you both agreed on picking the role player career with championships, would you still pick Drew Holiday over Damian Lillard so far in their careers? I would. I'd still pick Drew. He's won two. He did it in different circumstances. He had the amazing moments in his career,

the steel on Halliburton for the Celtics in the East Finals, the lob to Janus and the NBA finals. Dame has playoff moments, but not rings. So unless Dame wins one or two or more with Janus for the remainder of his career, I'll take Drew's career. Well, the other thing is he's made hundreds of millions of dollars as well. So that was part of it. That was the big part of the argument, right?

Yeah, how much money. But I must tell you. Drew career earnings just to give you this number, Chris. Drew career earnings, Drew Holiday, $252 million. He also has moments, right? Like he made one of the biggest plays. He made some big, some of the biggest plays in the finals, right?

He certainly did it with Milwaukee against Phoenix, like memorable moments with the steel, the alley-oop and all that stuff. And so, man, Lillard, though, has some of the greatest moments, like truly it'd be a history. But no rings.

I got it. No. rings. And only also, wave and goodbye to the thunder is like, that's worth like, I mean, it's at least worth a ring to me.

No, it's not. The way, yes, it is. He would trade that moment for a ring. I mean, I'm sure,

I'm sure he would. I'm saying I probably wouldn't. That's forever. It's truly, I know you can say, a ring us forever, but like, you know,

he's has a badass moment in his NBA career. He's a badass player. And he's had the, shoe and he's had you know he's totally beloved in a city for a long time you know holiday's kind of bounced around and bounced around like who what is what is that is the other thing too it's interesting when you put a name with it because he's been a traveler like who Drew Holiday is a what to you he's a nothing he retires tomorrow no uh who he's nobody he's four years with the Sixers,

seven years of the Pelicans. Who do you associate him with, though? Four years with the Sixers, seven years with the Pelicans, three years with the Bucks one season with Boston. I don't really remember him as any of those things specifically, but I do remember him as a champion. And maybe he wins more in Boston.

Maybe, I mean, he might. It's possible if the Celtics could run it back. They could be better next season. Revenge year, Tatum and Brown after the Olympics. They could come back better. Who really knows? Maybe they prove doubters, like myself wrong. And maybe they come back better and Drew wins a third ring.

Maybe Drew Holiday plays until he's 37, 38 years old and the Celtics retire his jersey like they do every other jersey. And they have a Drew Holiday banner hanging up on the Rafters. Maybe he's remembered, remembered as a Celtic. I do like the being beloved forever, though, like Dame is like kill forever. But it's not, it's not over yet for Drew, though, when it comes to that. He could, the way the way Celtics fans are. It is over.

He could be remembered as a selfish. He could be. Nah. It could be. You don't think so, Chris? Really? I'm surprised. Honestly, I'm surprised.

He just, I mean, he signed. And that's like saying I would think, I would think of Clyde Drexler as a rocket. I mean, I'm just not. I'm not going to think of it as a rocket. You're going to think of these guys for, I mean, honestly. Yeah, but. But Clyde, you have a Chris. Clyde had the Blazers his entire career.

You can't compare Clyde Drexler to a guy who's always been bouncing around like Drew Holiday. So with Drew Holiday, he doesn't have what he's remembered as yet, but he could want by the time it's over with Boston. By the time his contract is over. But what's a maximum amount of years you could see him in a Celtics uniform? True. 2028 when that contract is up. 2028. He's 34 years old right now.

So he'll be 34 this season. so that he'd be 35 36 ain't no way Jeff Bezos is going to buy that team and then keep Drew Holiday around with that money maybe

do you hear did you hear 37 say that of course are you surprised by that that's a wild one I mean Bezos when has he not been involved and some of the you know

teams that have been for sale he's always a rumor name but it sounds like the way Bill framed it is that this is legit that Bezos could actually be in on Boston I don't want to get into some kind of bidding war with him. Yeah, but if you're Bezos, to me, this is the team I'd want.

Boston, with their history, you can be part of that, and you can, if out your Bezos, you think in your eyes, I can make it even better for many years to come and help this team sustain this. And I thought it was interesting also how Bill mentioned how Bezos might want to build, like, the Amazon Dome. The Celtics, the Celtics, like, they don't own TD Garden where they play home games, but the garden's in a great location in Boston. It's right off of North Station, like the train station is literally under TD Garden. You get off the train and you are underneath the arena and you go up and it's easy to get there. But I do think it's intriguing like building a better facility, a bigger facility, but they also just built a new practice facility. It's not connected to the arena though.

So maybe that there's ways to, you know, improve it even further. But I don't know, Boston's done a good job building the concourse around the garden. There's a lot of new restaurants. It looks nicer now. I feel like that's more long-term that those changes would have to be made for Bezos or whoever the new owner is. But just something that was interesting to me when Bill was talking about it on his pod. Because I think it's more about the basketball side, the history aspect of your Bezels buying that team more so than building an arena or all that. That's fair. To go back to that original question, I actually, I want to give a shout-out, because that was an amazing one. And I do think that's very hard. And I do think people would be very split on that one, Drew Holiday and Dame Lillard and whose career you would rather have. I think most people will say Dame Lillard. I think most people say that. And I will tell you, I am torn on that one.

Yeah. I would love our listeners to get back to us either, you know, through the email, NBA mailbaggage email.com or hit us up on X. whose career would you rather have Drew Holliday or Damien the Lord? Yeah, I'm torn on that. Yeah, let's move on to the next question from Tinfoil Timothy. Referencing our conversation last week about Wilt's 100 game, he asks, what's your favorite basketball conspiracy theory? He says his favorite is Wilt. Did he actually never score 100?

It's a little suspicious. There's no photos, no videos from the game. the only photo we know of is the one after the game. It's a little suspicious he scored exactly 100, isn't it? Says tin foil Timothy. So, Chris, what's your favorite basketball conspiracy theory? I like the wilt ones. I love all of them.

Let me just say. I love all of them. I always love that guy's older. So anybody that they say, I love to believe that. with Serge Abaka or, you know, the old Manute Bull story about him being like 50 playing in the NBA. Or you remember the Shabazz Muhammad thing came out or Buddy Healed or Thon McCur and all those ones. Like all those, I love that. Obviously, the Jordan one.

Yeah, the Jordan one's my favorite. Yeah. 85 draft. I love the frozen envelope and delivering Patrick Ewing to the Knicks when they needed it most. I'm going to give you one that's not on, it's not like talked about all that much, but it's always been one of mine as someone who's covered the league for now over 20 years. Like the fact that every other sport,

truly has been marred by PEDs, and they have just never, been marred by PEDs. Oh, yeah. Is truly amazing. Like, we just get through it with the Olympics, right? Obviously, I mean, you're talking Olympics, cycling, the NFL. We've had guys suspended like crazy in the NFL going all the way back to like Brian

Bosworth, for God's sakes. Obviously, baseball, I mean, it's now kept a huge amount of guys and the greatest players of all time in many cases out of the Hall of Fame, for God's sakes. we've had it pretty much in every other sport, and yet it's never really touched basketball in a massive way to where there was like any kind of a scandal or we questioned anything about what a guy's done or records. And I don't know if that's just,

and now we're at a different era, but like the way they just never got involved in that to me, I don't even think that's a conspiracy, honestly, but it's always been fascinating to me that like that's just been separate and apart. And there have been all manner of allegations and people saying stuff over the years. And names have come up in documents and no one's ever cared. No one's ever cared. And it really just, I think they just intentionally in the same way that people said like,

oh, baseball just let it happen. And they wanted it to happen. And whatever like, okay, well, if we stand to read, I mean, because look, man, look at all the old photos. You can say, yeah, well, players have changed so much and diets have changed so much and training habits have changed so much. Bro, you run so many miles every night for 82 games. It is so hard to keep on the level of muscle that we see.

It just is. It's always been like that. And now you got guys, I mean, there's guys that look like they're NFL players, for going to sakes in the NBA. And so, look, I don't really care. Honestly, I just find it fascinating that it's the only sport it really didn't touch. And every once in a while, there'd be somebody get suspended for dick pills or there'll be somebody suspended for, like, I remember one of the PED suspensions was like Richard

Lewis. A guy weighed like 110 pounds. It's like ridiculous, right? And yet, meanwhile, you were watching. guys hulk up like crazy in those like the same time it was happening in baseball like you know bonds is hitting 73 home runs and all of a sudden NBA players start having big gigantic muscles and you saw it with the NFL and so that's not really a conspiracy theory but it's always been something that super fascinated me basketball somehow the only sport that

PEDs did not infiltrate in a massive way and my answer would be of course it did they just didn't care. I have one question from your five minute ranch. Yep. You said players being suspended for Dick pills? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Who? I mean, that happened with Nick Colathis like it, when he was with the Grizzlies. Go look it up. It was Dick Pills? Yeah. Like,

they said it. That's what they said it was. He said it was something he bought at the supermarket. Or not, I mean, at the gas station. I swear. that's happened before go look it up you got a he got a NBA suspension for it but that's what he claims I mean that's what they said right I think it says it probably in the press release

for his statement says it positive for Tamo Xfin okay he said he took something that he got at the gas station a medication used to treat and prevent breast cancer yeah right interesting that's not a dick pill is it See, Alice? I'm just telling him. Viagra? Those are dick pills, right? Yeah.

Not, though. I don't think those are illegal. I can't imagine those. They shouldn't be illegal. No. I don't know. No idea. I also don't think you need them if you're an NBA player.

No. I think you. Yeah, if you're working out that much, you're in that physical condition, you should be okay if you're an NBA player. Oh, that's what you're talking about. I was talking about the girls. Go ahead. What? I'm saying it shouldn't be hard to get it up if you're an NBA player.

I mean, you ever been in a lobby, at a hotel after a game? Sure. Yes. I understand what you're saying. I get it. I get it. I understand. I know it's an NBA podcast, says Zach.

But I'm wondering Verno's opinion on the current state of the St. Louis Cardinals. Oh, gee. No, boo this man. Okay. All right. Move on. Okay. All right.

They've lost six of seven. They're freaking two games under 500. They suck. Soon as Yaddy retired, the whole thing, what the hell? I mean, I looked at the standings. They're, you know, 61 and 63. I'm aware. It looks like they're kind of out of the wild card right now, right?

Five out, yeah. Five out. Yeah, so not good odds to get in. They stink. They're the most frustrating, ridiculous team ever. Yeah, they stink. Manager stinks. They stink.

I don't want to talk about the Cardinals. All right. Question from Harrison. Let's make this the last one for today, and then we'll answer a hell of a lot more questions on Thursday nights of recording. Harrison said he's a listener since the bubble. He just got married. He's about to go into the Air Force.

But then the day he was supposed to go to the Air Force, he got sick and tested positive for COVID. So now he has to wait, and he only has a one and six chance to actually get the opportunity to go into the Air Force again. So Harrison wrote, this whole process has reminded me about Verno's quote about unanswered prayers being a blessing at times. What non-basketball examples do you both have in your life

with this happening? Oh, wow. I think the most clear one in my mind is the year that the Ringer hired me in 2016, I had a job offer from Draft Express, and NBC Sports, then known as Comcast Sportsnet, New England, was trying to hire me. I wanted to go to Comcast Sportsnet, but they had to create a new position for me. And with all the corporate tape and everything, you know, on a small local level,

it was hard for them to create the job for me, you know, throughout that year, because I was just freelancing, I was young and all that. So it was like a tough, long process. My prayers that year were, man, I hope I can actually get this full-time position at NBC. I love working here. I love the culture. This is where I want to be. And that job, you know, it just got strung along until July.

And then boom, in my inbox, I get an email from Chris Ryan. Like, hey, want to talk on the phone? And I'm like, oh, my God. Chris Ryan from Grantland? Now with the ringer? And I hop on the phone with CR. And we have a great conversation. And a week later, I'm talking to Sean Fennacy.

and the job offers made, and I'm like, oh my God, like, forget Traffic Express, you know, forget, you know, NBC Boston. Like, I have to take this amazing opportunity with the ringer. And so, you know, I think that's a good example in my own life, Harrison, where, you know, everything I hope for for seven months of that entire year ended up, you know, it led to something new, something better and something that, you know, set me on a path that, you know, I'm very much happy with the last eight years. So I think that's the one that comes to mind in my life.

getting that opportunity of a lifetime very much unexpectedly. And if I had taken, you know, a job in January, you know, maybe that never, never comes. Yeah, I think there's always ones that are like family or relationship. But on the job front, for certain for me, was a long time ago now, it's 2010, I believe, or 20, I guess the fall of 2009. I had gotten into it. I had been offered to leave the radio station that I was at for a lot more money. And I went to a guy who I thought was my friend, who I was working with,

and I told him. And then they basically said, like, you know, don't worry about it. We'll take care of you. So I turned on the gig, basically. And then I went back to them and they ended up offering me not only not what I was being offered elsewhere, but less. And I lost it. I was I was younger and I certainly was all

stressed out. I was about to have my first kid. And I said, I'm done. I promise you I'll leave this place. I promise you. I got it all set up and I was going to move. I was moving to a different city. Wow. Away from Memphis. I was. What city? I mean, I'll tell you.

So at the time, I had a friend who was a friend named Ian Fitzsimmons. He's with ESPN still to this day. And Ian was with my other buddy, Lance Taylor, on WJOX in Birmingham. And I used to do a weekly bid on their show anyway. So I was connected there. Ian had gotten a job with ESPN. and it was moving back to Texas.

I believe that's where, uh, I believe that's where his wife was from. So he's moving back to Texas. So they called me and they said, Hey, will you come do the show with Lance? I'm like,

I'm already set up here. I'm going to stay here. And so it's hard to describe what the radio landscape was like at that time. But WJOX was one of the biggest stations in the entire south. And every after. that entire state and surrounding area tuned in to listen to Paul Feinbaum. You know him.

You know Paul Feinbaum is. He's now, he left and went to Charlotte when they started the SEC Network and everything. But Paul Feinbaum was the biggest thing in the world down there. And so this was the show that led up to Feinbaum. I'm like, this is Kate. It was going to pay a lot more money than I was making. A lot more.

I'm like, I'm in, I'm doing it. Told my wife, I'm going to quit this place. I'm leaving. It gets to December of that year. It gets to December of that year and I get a call and they have fired the general manager at the station. And things are changing rapidly and they're no longer going to be able to bring me. Okay. So that's falling apart.

The people that had made the decision to bring me are now gone. P.S., I have gone. I have told my best friend to leave the station. I have told everybody I'm going to burn this place down. My producer is coming with me. And I have told my quasi boss at the time where to put his head and that I'm done and I'm going to and this is over. And I'm leaving. So now they call me.

I'm like, oh my God. I'm dead. Kevin, I'm dead. My first son was born January 18, 2010. This is December of 2009. I have quit my job, told them I'm leaving. I have basically agreed to another job, and now that job is gone. What am I going to do?

And no lie, I went back into the office. I said, hey, hold on. I've thought this through. I don't really want to move. You win an Oscar for that performance, huh? I'm like, I don't really want to move. So how can we work this out? And I swear, this is what I did.

I was upset about what they were paying me. They were, they were not going to be able to, now all that money that I was going to make a Birmingham's gone. Now the money that I was going to make there, I was like, I don't want that salary. I think I should be making more. I went in there. And it's crazy that I did this in retrospect, but this is true. I walked into the office and I said, look, give me my show.

I will do every afternoon from three to six. Don't pay me anything. Don't pay me anything. Put me on the health insurance. put my family on the health insurance. So I'm an employee. And we and give me the commercials. Let me sell blank amount of commercials every hour.

And they were like, okay. Okay, sure. Go ahead. So I put on a suit and I went out and every day I sold that radio show. Wow. Every day. And I ended up rallying. that radio show people jump behind it and I'll forever be thankful to all of those sponsors but I mean

this was like you know I mean I now got my first kid on the way like I've got to I got to survive man and I sold that thing and it had gotten big enough to win the biggest than another radio station offered me and by that time I was able to walk into that guy's office and I threw down every advertising contract I had signed at the other station. And I said, look, I will bring all of this with me. You will not pay me a dime less. So I had created my own. And I was making triple at that point. Wow. What I had made before. And it was all, but I had to go do it myself. No sale. It was all me. No sales staff, no nothing. I just went out and sold it myself. And it was, I, and that's the best example I could give. That's a long winded story. But that is the best, it is the best thing that ever happened to me. because it taught me a lot about the business.

It taught me a lot about myself. It taught me a lot about survival. It taught me a lot about being valued that like if this lesson that if, and I think it's hard now, especially, I don't always want to say this to a new generation because I know how it comes off. But in the end, we live in this society and especially when you're working for a business. I think one of the questions you always have to ask yourself is if they get rid of me, what do they lose? What do they lose if they get rid of me? Sometimes you can be caught up in the ego of it all and you can say, oh, well, they'll lose

my brilliance. They'll lose my ability. They'll lose whatever. It has to be something tangible. And that tangible is an audience and that tangible is more importantly money. If they fire me, they lose money. And I always had, I think that gave me that perspective. And from the day I walked in and walked in with all of those sponsors, I then had the leverage.

I then had the leverage. So now if you want to get rid of me, here's what happens. You're going to lose money by doing it. And I think that learning the other side of it, learning how to sell, really on the fly, learning about people and also learning about a lot of businesses because it was like car dealerships. It was restaurants. It was dentists. It was all manner of different kinds of sponsors.

But it's part of the reason I think I'll always be indebted to Memphis as a city. like they really truly rallied behind me when I needed them most. And a lot of business owners did too because my son is now 14 years old. So that happened 14 years ago. But if you would have asked me at the time, I thought it was the worst thing that had ever happened. I'm like, I have no job. I have no health insurance. We're having a baby in three weeks.

I mean, you can't get a bigger nightmare than that. It was a nightmare. A nightmare. My health insurance is gone, and I'm literally going to have a baby in January. And you're first. And my first. It's stressful for anybody. Yeah.

And it's like, what have I done? I've ruined my life. Yeah. But instead it set the tone for making my life infinitely better, you know. Yeah, I've never really talked about that on the, certainly. not on this show. And I really don't talk about it all that much, but you asked me a question about it on answer prayers. I think that one fits the best, right? Like, I mean, it's a great, it's a great question by Harrison. I mean, especially at a time in his life where, you know,

he's excited about the future. He's gotten something that he wanted and then it's taken away from you because you get sick, right? That's right. But hopefully it leads to better timing of going into the Air Force or a new opportunity or it turns out having to be home for some amount of time that ends up being a blessing in disguise. And I just think your example was perfect in that sometimes in life I find like whether like you said it's job stuff, you know, the relationships, whatever it might be, something in school, like you apply for a certain college and you get declined, whatever it might be. Sometimes in life, the thing that you think is best for you isn't actually, it can be the worst thing for you. Sometimes the thing that seems worse for you can actually be the

best for you. And I think with all the experiences in my life, you know, from severe to, you know, minuscule, it's allowed me kind of to divorce myself from feeling down from those outcomes and it has allowed me to really hone my focus and what are the things that I can control regardless of what happens, regardless of what is dealt my way that's out of my control. What can I control in my own life to make the most of it? And you certainly did that in that situation where everything seemed to be going wrong, but then you put yourself in a position to make the best out of it and ended up being the best possible path for you. And in your entire life, how you became this amazing figure in Memphis. You have become, you know, that's led to

opportunities here with the ringer with Bill Simmons. It has led you down a path that you never could have anticipated what everything that you wanted was in Birmingham, Alabama. And maybe your life could have ended up extremely happy in Birmingham. You don't know. I just wanted security. Yes, exactly. But the path that led you down is really special. And you never could have anticipated that in that moment. But what were you going to say, sorry? Yeah, no, like for anybody out there, this is going to sound crazy.

I literally just sent the video a couple days ago to a friend who was kind of going through it. And I said, look, sometimes what you feel is the worst thing is the best thing. And it was this video I had seen on TikTok and this is going to sound crazy. It was Shia LaBuff, the actor. If you type in Shia LaBuff and the Chinese farmer, He tells this whole story about his life. And he talks about listening to this. I don't know if it was a podcast or an audiobook.

And he tells this parable of the Chinese farmer. And a lot of people have used the Chinese farmer parable in like different speeches or TED talks or whatever else. But he tells this story. And man, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Because he's an actor, right? So his delivery of it. But anybody, if you just went to TikTok and typed in Shia LaBuff, the Chinese farmer,

I promise it will impact you in some kind of way. It will impact you because it's incredible, truly. And I just sent that to someone who, and it's the whole point of it is sometimes things are not always what they seem. Right. And it's a lesson that I think we all have to be reminded of over and over and over again, you know. Are we allowed to slap on the Shia LeBuff Chinese farmer story at the end of the podcast after the credits? doubt that. I doubt. I don't know. Go find. If you don't see three, four minutes tacked on after we say goodbye here, that means go look it up yourself. Yeah, go look it up yourself. It's easy to look it up. I'm sure you can find it a lot of different places. Thank you to our executive producer, Jesse Lopez, as always. And Kevin, I'll talk to you on Thursday.

Have a good week.