The Ringer NBA Show - Are the Sixers Cursed? Plus, the Best Team, Player, and More One Month In. | Group Chat

Episode Date: November 21, 2024

Justin, Rob, and Wos have their picks for one-month-in superlatives. They start with a discussion about the biggest disappointment of the season, which they all agree is the Philadelphia 76ers (2:30). Then they discuss the best player (22:18), best team (31:25), biggest surprise (37:49), and much more. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Justin Verrier, Rob Mahoney, Wosny Lambre Producer: Isaiah Blakely Additional Production Supervision: Ben Cruz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey y'all. Sirot Sohi from The Ringer here, and I wanted to let you guys know about a new show that I'm hosting. The Ringer WNBA show. We're going to be talking about all the biggest personalities, breaking down and analyzing the latest happenings that make the W so fascinating, featuring some of the best guests and experts from around the league. Tap in with us on the brand new Ringer WNBA show feed on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Justin Verrier and joining me. Rob Mahoney, Big Waz. guys, I think we need to have a team meeting. Do we? Rob, you have been no more than five minute late to these zooms. For a little bit now.

And a half years. You're disrupting our chemistry. Big fellow, this can't happen. First of all, whoever leaked that, you're a piece of shit. I want to say that off the top. Second, this is slander. This is libel. want to put it in print. I would say five minutes is like my zone. I am a categorical five minutes

late kind of person. And it brings me no joy to say that. But also let me let me say this. You guys are both flexing your privilege in terms of being able to have your podcasting setups fully assembled at all times. I'm out here reconstructing it every day in my closet to try to get you guys the best audio fidelity possible. Today, that wasn't a problem. And guess what? We're right on time. Those San Francisco rents don't permit him to have a desk, y'all. That's, that's that's the thing. It's saying. This is a housing issue. Okay. Well, I'm just saying it's the elephant in the room. I just felt like we should talk about it. That's it. I appreciate you calling it out. Okay. We'll be better going forward. Today we're doing a typical thing we do every year,

one month in going through a survey, superlatives, whatever you want to call it. Just don't call it awards because it's not that. Nope. Best team, best player. But I think we have to start with the most important one we have on our list, which is the biggest disappointment. I assume we all agree who that is, and that is the Philadelphia 76ers. They brought everybody back last night, Rob, didn't matter because they all looked hurt.

And then Paul George actually got hurt even more, same injury he had before. is a goddamn mess. Complete mess. They lost to the Grizzlies, who not only didn't have John Morant, but didn't have four other rotation players, and just looked out classed.

And to have the wind taken out of your sales so quickly in what was supposed to be the first game of the proper Big Three era in Philadelphia, it's painful to watch in a season that was already

extremely painful to watch on a nightly basis. And we can take this any number of directions that we want because everyone, basically outside of Jared McCain, has looked bad for Philadelphia when they have played or coached or done anything in association with that franchise right now.

But I think Joelle Embed is kind of the natural place to start because he technically had his best game. And I left it feeling no more confident about his ability to literally move right now. Where do we? I don't even know where to begin with this. When the report comes out that they're having a closed door meeting, not even 20% into the season. automatically your antenna go up. Andy, I did that Joe Ellen Bede is being called out.

I think it's important, honestly, because listeners to this show will remember that I thought it was bad, that he was signaling that, like, I'm taking the regular season easy. I'm going to ease into coming back. All that matters is that we, you know, we get far in the playoffs.

Like, that's ultimately what I'm going to be. be judged on. I'm going to just cruise into what it is that we're doing this year. I thought that was a bad sort of thing, the signal in a year as important as it is. And most importantly, because this is a brand new construction of your team. Like, you don't just bring Paul George in and think that it's like this seamless thing that he doesn't need to be integrated in that you don't need to do on the floor. And also, like, the thing that informed my opinion to that was the last time Paul George joined a big

ass team, which is the Clippers, where they did take this approach to the regular season, where it's like, look, we're going to pick our spots. We're really talented. All that matters is the playoffs. And then when they got punched in the mouth in the playoffs, they had no answers because they never developed anything to lean back on

in the regular season. And so I thought that was problematic. And for one of his own teammates to come out and say, look, man, your approach, which is basically it's not like, oh, like you need to be 10 minutes early to every single thing that we do, Joel. But it conveys an attitude of blasé to what the operation is doing. And obviously that approach isn't working.

And I don't think it's coincidental to Joelle and Bede already has had his best game of the season directly after that meeting. Yeah, I think there are two things here. I think it's Joel's limitations based on his body. And to a certain extent, I get it. if this is all he's capable of doing, if he can't do back to backs and then just the reality of the situation, he's so good when he does play that you just have to roll with it. I think the problem is one, now that he is back, he just doesn't look right. So even the games that you've gotten from him, he's looked slow and sluggish. And on top of that, he's still doing some of the

hardenedness, let me just like manufacture trips to the line bullshit. And if anything, that's getting worse. The play where Jaron Jackson was on the ground and he tried to fake being tripped by him was my point where I was like, I think I'm fucking out on this in perpetuity. Like, it's just like, it's just a mess. And it's kind of like outside of basketball in a way that I wonder if his teammates are looking at. Like, dude, what are you doing? Because I think that was what everyone watching that game was saying. And then on top of that, it is what guys around him and how they feel about that. The fact that it was Maxie, a guy who's been there probably as long. his star teammate he might have outside of Ben Simmons, who also didn't have a good relationship with

Wow. Tobias Harris erasure is crazy. Oh, yeah. Come on. That's insane. Sorry for Tobias. I don't think he's covered himself in glory since leaving the bosom of Embed. But like it feels like he's wearing on people. It almost feels like he got away with things because he was a superstar.

But now that he's not playing up to that, everyone's like, dude, can you get in line? He's lost the privileges probably that he had when he was just. just the MVP, frankly. I agree that that stuff does wear on people, especially over time, even if you're a superstar. And when you're not able to perform like an MVP caliber player, there's just less like tolerance for that kind of behavior and that kind of approach overall. That said, most winning teams in the NBA, specifically contending ones, end up with some sort of confrontation like this with some member of the organization. Like these guys are not always model employees for this reason or that. somebody's work ethic is always under question.

I think the thing with Embed is that there's been a kind of a consistent drumbeat about that in the background for a long time. And it just hasn't been as big of a deal because he's been so great. And if he's not going to be great, then he needs to be professional. Like he needs to be able to participate in this team in a more meaningful way on like a functional basis. Show up to the Zooms on time. Yeah. Look, I want to clarify one thing, which is Rob Mahoney five minutes late time and end.

player running late time are not the same thing. Yeah. NBA players. It's actually kind of nice. You know, I'm just trying to give you guys the space to talk amongst yourselves. There you go. But yeah,

I say that with no knowledge of like how late Mbid is running, but these things, that tends to be measured in hours with NBA players, not minutes. And we want to, you know, be clear to the audience. Like,

winning is the ultimate elixir. It cures everything. If these guys were 12 and 2, and Embedde was laid in doing his typical Blase routine. And, you know, if you guys will remember, before he went out last season, where he was scoring at rates we haven't seen since Michael freaking Jordan in 1988.

Like, if he was playing like he played last season, first of all, they'd be winning way more games and nobody would really care. But it's just like, you have to have, you have to read the room. You have to have some situational awareness. awareness. You can't be two and seven and be running around like nothing is wrong. And you're the best team. And they just extended you for $200 million over three years this pass off season. Like, bro, it's your team. And if you're treating your thing, like you don't give a damn, okay,

like that's how everybody else is going to treat it. Like it's almost like you go to somebody's crib and we know those people, right? Like, you know, as soon as you step in, you got to take your shoes off. As soon as they hand you a drink, they put in a coaster right underneath it. You know, you eat a cooking. You see a crumb fall on the floor. You're like, oh, shit, I got to pick this up, right? Like, they're setting the tone for how you're supposed to treat their house. Joel and B is setting the opposite tone.

And I think he should be getting killed for it and rightfully so. Well, I do have some bad news, which is the Sixers are not two and seven anymore. They're now two and 12th with the worst record in the entire league. Completely miserable on offense to this point. And granted, that has been with significant injuries. And this is where I want to be a little bit delicate about how we talk about Embed's on-court play. Because there's the part of it where this is clearly a guy who is still injured and who just looks tentative, looks like he cannot launch off that leg, does not look like the healthy Joelle Embed or at least the healthier version that we've seen over the past couple years when he's been really thriving and at his best. There's probably also the part of that where he doesn't look like he's in NBA condition.

And there's also the part of it where he is doing this stuff on the floor. you alluded to, Justin, where for a guy who's hurt, maybe trying to deliberately trip over a guy on the ground to draw a foul is like not the move at this point in time. Maybe settling for threes and airballing them is not the move at this point in time. Maybe staying in a double team for so long you have to hook shot a three from the corner is not the move. And again, this is all from his best game. Like I really don't even know what to say other than this is not good enough from Joelle Embed. And the rest of the Sixers clearly have not been good enough to make up for whatever it is that is ailing him right now. Yeah, I watched that game last night and my thought was,

are we going to just have a repeat of what happened last year, where we shamed Joelle to come back in and he hurt himself even more. And now maybe it was his own teammates doing the shaming as much as it was just the audience and us. But he seemed like he was on the verge of just like spinning out. And him tripping over himself, you're right. I was like, what are you doing if you're taking an easy? but then you're just like jumping on the floor. Like that's not going to help matters. I think the problem on top of that is Maxi also looked like he shouldn't have been out there. He played five minutes in the first half and then played like a pretty typical minute load in the second half.

He didn't play the second quarter. Joel played the entire third quarter despite what we're saying. And then Paul George leaves early in the third quarter because he actually re-injured himself. And so it's like I don't know where this gets better because it seems. like they are clearly gripping the steering wheel pretty tight right now was, and they're trying to rush guys back. And if they don't have two of them at full speed, we've seen how bad it can get.

And so I don't know, I'm getting flashbacks to like some of the worst early season returns we've had in recent years. And the one that keeps coming to mind is that now this is going to be fun Lakers. Now, that was a lot of older guys because Steve Nash was on the team. He was at the end of his rope. Kobe also older. Dwight just was Dwight and nobody liked him.

But it seems like what ends up felling these teams, what ends up undercutting them is injuries. And I don't know how they spin out of this kind of chaos spiral they're in right now. It just seems to me that even with the limited Joel and Maxi, that they should be able to provide returns that are better than the Wizards. Yep. You know, that are better than the Nets. The bench isn't that bad, too. Well, but they've been that bad.

They've played poorly, yeah. have. I like that's what's confusing is there are a lot of players. The worst offense in the NBA. It's wild. It's crazy to think about. And there's a bunch of things layered into that. Joel and Bid being out clearly chief among them.

Tyrese maxi, when he was healthy, not being able to scale up into the way that kind of supporting stars are often asked to do. Granted, Paul George is also out for a significant amount of time. Eric Gordon does not look playable. The reflection is finally starting to reflect.

that. I thought Ricky counsel, like his energy and cutting in this game against the Grizzlies was such a breath of fresh air because so many guys among that supporting guys just don't really move the way that you need them to move. Andre Drummond, I thought I made the mistake of thinking his rebounding alone might make him kind of helpful for this team. It has not. He's been quite poor in terms of his actual returns. I think Yabusele has been the one exception in terms of the new guys they brought in who's actually looked pretty good. And he needs to play more, frankly. is part of the issue. And McCain.

Well, again, McCain is his own category. I think McCain far and away, the best of the new edition Sixers. And even among the guys that they brought back, Kelly Ubra has struggled. Kyle Lowry, I think, has been okay, but is 38 years old.

And you can't really expect him to be more than 38-year-old Kyle Lowry. So who are you supposed to turn to in these situations if you're the Sixers? And Paul George was never going to be like this dominant, offensive force for them, by the way. Like, he was always going to be sort of additive to everything that Joel and Maxie

had established as a two-man last year. Now, if Joelle was going to miss time, him and Maxie were going to have to learn some stuff kind of advance, you know, quite quickly their chemistry. But, like, everybody's been gone. And, yeah, I don't think Paul George is going to come back and just start killing people. I just don't think that's who. he is at this point. I think he's supposed to be just a supercharged third option, you know, in a way that's just

like he's way overqualified to do what Toby Harris was doing. But, you know, like he's coming. Now he's got a bad knee. He couldn't turn the corner on guys last year. Exactly. And his knee is cooked. That was the kind of sneaky secret about Paul George's hyper-efficient season last season. Part of that was he just wasn't as a good.

aggressive getting to the basket anymore. And I didn't think he was going to get more aggressive when he was joining this team where presumably Maxi was going to take the lead on a lot of that driving into the gut of the defense sort of stuff. He's just perplexing in his own right. And then I think we have to talk about the Nick Nurse piece of this all. Oh, the Reddit conspiracy? I don't even know if it's a Reddit conspiracy so much as it is. It seems pretty likely given the type of quotes that he gives, that he might have been the one leaking misinformation to Shams. By the way, Nick Nurse is a clutch sports client.

Shams obviously has a big relationship with them. If that's the case, like, then somehow this explosive situation can get even more explosive, I think. I'm trying to figure out what the Justin Varyer turn of phrase is when you leak something about the group chat podcasts. Calling someone a C word. Oh, Lord. Honestly, that might be it.

But yeah, I mean, like, I don't know, Joel's postgame press conference in Memphis, he also didn't like really take the blame. Like, if anything, he was like, yeah, it was, I was late, but, you know, I was hurt. So it's not that big of a deal. Like, he also did the like, oh,

because it's a Joelle and Bede's story. Of course, it's we're going to blow it out of proportion. It's like, you're the superstar of a franchise with contending aspirations. everything you do is a big deal. And the fact that he doesn't grasp that or he's poking at it in a way as to say like, look at how ridiculous this is. No, it's a story because the story came out

your 2 and 11, Joelle. Yep. That's why it's a story. You're 2 and 11. You have the worst record in the NBA. It's a story. Like people thought that you might beat Boston to go to the championship.

Like, that's why it's a story. It's not because it's, oh, it's Joel and B. So every time I sneeze or scratch my ass, It's like people report about it. It's like, nah, dog, you guys are playing horrifically. And the idea that, you know, like, no blame should be ascribed to Joelle and how you go about your businesses is crazy. And yeah, look, I do think it's messed up that the stuff leaked, even as a media member. I think that kind of thing were like the actual details of what was said.

And not just conveying like, yo, there was a serious tone. Right. People called each other out. whatever, but to be like, yeah, they call them out for being late. Like, the part where they said, like, where it's like, and I think everybody latched onto this was like, well, you know, what is he late to? It's like everything.

I'm like, yeah, that's crazy. Everything that's crazy, you know, and I can understand why he could feel blindsided by it's like, yo, we was having a real moment to have this spill out into the public kind of sucks. And I tend to agree with him on that. But at the same time, like, the stuff that comes out makes you look horrible, bro. Well, when you hit this sort of early season two and 12 kind of adversity, there are the people who are in the room having the closed door meeting trying to figure out constructively like, how do we solve this? And then there are the people who are like looking for the lifeboat.

And when these leaks happen, it's usually people looking for like, I'm looking for a light boat. It ain't my fault. Not my. I am abdicating responsibility. I did my part. I'm observing how ridiculous this is. I'm judging Joelle and Beed's behavior. This shit. Classic, y'all see this shit.

Look, who among us is not above an occasional, y'all see this shit? But it's not going to help the Sixers be any better, that's for sure. Yeah, I kind of agree with Waz, too, where it's like the offenses that Joelle was kind of dinged for are fairly minor, especially in the NBA. I just think also after you shoved a reporter like a couple days ago, also not the time to really be taking the higher ground. And so him not. Or is it? Like, we're not even talking about. about the shoving of a reporter anymore.

Just push that off of the front page. We just have your poor play to talk about. Yeah, so I don't know. I think this franchise might be cursed. They haven't had a normal season since they traded Drew Holiday to start the process, which was like what? Like 10 years ago, more?

I think it was like 2012 maybe. Is there a Drew Holiday hex? Maybe it's not a Sixers thing. It's just a Drew Holiday. You trade Drew Holiday and you're cooked. New Orleans. Look at New Orleans. Oh, my God.

God guy. You know, maybe sick them on them. I don't think that's how hex is work necessarily, but sure. He got traded summer 2013. It hasn't been good since. Yikes. Isaiah Joe's just out here cooking now that he's outside of the process, you know? It could be the case.

That's all I'm saying. Do you think this gets better? Like, do we think we're talking playing here? It's absolutely going to be better. I don't think they're going to play. 82 games at a 2 and 12 pace. So it's going to be better because it has to. Like there's just no way to be this horrible going forward.

But like in terms of them figuring out how to be a functional team that makes sense and has a like a reason for being in terms of what they do on a like possession by possession basis, like that they're going to get this down pat by the playoffs. I don't see it, dog. We might be running this back to next year. To them being like, oh, we got a full training can. Joelle is right and blah, blah, blah. I think this year might be done.

It could be in a vibe sense. There's a lot of time to get things right. There's a lot of time to iron things out. There's a lot of time to forget about all this shit by March. But I would not be surprised if it hangs over them for a while. I think the only thing really working in their favor is the fact that the east and the bottom of the east is so bad. So terrible. Right now, there are three teams tied for eighth place in the East.

They are currently on a 33 win pace for the season. I think the Sixers for as bad as they've been can win 33 games. And if that's all it takes to just get into play indoor, see what happens. You got Joelle and Bid, hopefully healthy by then. You've got Paul George, hopefully healthy by then. You got Tyree Canxie. The Sixes have a chance to win 37 games this year, folks. Lord.

Look, that's rock is. That's where. the bar is right now. Yeah, he could trip his way to at least like 15 wins, I would think, Embed fake trip his way. Okay. They're currently three and a half games back of 10th right now. And in 10th, technically, but it is a three-way tie, as Rob mentioned, the Milwaukee Bucks.

Yeah. What a fucking shit through this Eastern conferences. Good Lord. Um, all right, let's get to something a little bit more cheery here. Let's do best player. I have to assume we all agree on this one. Yeah. It's Dalton Kineck.

No, it's Nickley Yokic. Yeah. Go ahead, Rob. I don't really see an argument for anybody else. Like, we can go into some honorable mentions if we want, but right now, the Nuggets offense is swinging by 34 points with whether Yokic is on the floor or not. 34 points.

That's insane. From the best offense in the league too far and away the worst, they are barely functional without. him out there. And look, the conversation about like how much responsibility, how much help star level players has, I think can always get very thorny in an MVP kind of context. But watch the Nuggets play and tell me this guy is not carrying this entire team on his back right now. Tell me he's not the most sophisticated creator and playmaker that's working. It's all of that coming together. It's the responsibility. It's the skill. It's the talent. It's the fact that he's having a great

individual season. Like the numbers, the impact, a guy who's nails in crunch time, he lifts up every single player around him. I would love to hear a compelling case for anybody else, but I don't think there's one out there. Man, it's just funny how time flies when, you know, there was a time where we were having conversation about Joe Ellen Bede and Nicola Yokicich and who is it? Who's the better player? Who would you rather have?

It's not even contested. Yeah. For the record, you and I were not having that discussion was. That was asked and answered for us. Well, okay. Let's walk that. one back. Joel was quite good. It was very good.

But I, someone, someone actually made the comparison between Duran Williams and Chris Paul and that like this is the division. Ron Williams? Whatever. I don't.

He doesn't deserve a full pronunciation. Darren Williams in his retirement does reserve the pronunciation of his name. Dallas got a, Dallas got a step up for Dallas there. That's right. You know what that is.

Protecting their own. Yeah, the colony's own. Darren Williams. And obviously, is a different context, right? But when the season started and, you know, even I was like semi-panicking, like, what the fuck is going on with the supporting cast? And Yokic was openly complaining about not having shooting or whatever.

Yokic did the thing that he is not hardwired to automatically do, which is just hog the glory, hog the shine, hog every possession, just be like, you know what? It's going to be the Nicola Yokic show. And he said, you know what? fuck it. This is what my team needs in order for us to keep our season on track. And, you know, in terms of dominating possession and being the person that generates every single shot for this team, whether it's by his own hand or he's setting up some other teammate, he went out and he did that. And literally, as we mentioned before, is it you guys can go check out Zach Graham's article about it. He had the best 10 games stretch of his freaking career, you know, because that's what it called for in order for.

in order for Denver to keep pace in a highly competitive Western conference. And, yeah, I like the scoring is just ridiculous. Like the one-on-one scoring, the three-point shot is back. You know, he's his head fake, like, just the fact that Yokish, when you look at him, he's a dribble drive threat is ridiculous. He's a fast break threat on every single rebound. It's just been nuts. He's ratcheted up all the things that have already made him.

an MVP three times over. And so, yeah, man, I think he's been the best player to start the season. Averaging a 30 point triple double right now, leading the league in rebounds, leading the league in assists. I believe he's leading the league in three point percentage at 56%. Good Lord. Pretty good. He has had, I guess, the benefit of missing three games right now, which for personal

reasons. So I think we're getting close to where he might not be eligible if we wanted to say that. But I think he's far and away the leader here. I think in the conversation would be Anthony Davis. The Lakers have looked good of late, at least offensively, still pretty bad defensively. But he is not the reason why 31, 11 and 3. Best season of his career getting to line at ungodly rates at this point. We'll see if that continues probably well.

A more willing jump shooter, which I think has helped to. Yeah. He's having the best start of his career that I can remember. Definitely. And then Jason Tatum, who is best player, best team. and clearly the best player in a way that he probably hadn't really stepped forward as in years past, 38 and 6, 46, 40, 81 on the splits. He's been electric for a team we're probably going to talk about in a little bit here

is probably the best team in the league or certainly among them. So any other guys? I just on the Tatum bit, like, and we had talked to Zay about this, like this idea that Jason Tatum can't shoot anymore. I'm glad that's been just completely dispensed. Like, this guy has been a premium shooter since the day he stepped in the NBA. Yes, he had a weird blip in the playoffs and for Team USA, but, like, I'm glad that's back and he's hunting it.

I just think he's so much smarter about his shot diet now, man. Like, it's just way more, like, take what the defense gives you, except in spots where it's like, no, I'm going to force the issue on this drive here, and I'm going to draw some help. I'm going to kick. He's just so, he's unlocked the mental part of the game in a way that. that, you know, had always been kind of lagging with his beautiful physical gifts in the past. And it's just obvious. He's playing the best ball of his career.

And this is not like last year when they were like, oh, Tatum's or MVP candidate because his team has the best record. No, he's playing like one of the four best players, three best players in the NBA right now. He's playing at that level. And I'm sorry, Celtics fans, he did not play this well in the finals. He did not play this well in the Olympics. Yeah, I think it's okay to say that he's, elevated his play. Elevation.

That is a compliment to Jason Tatum to say that this is the best version of him we've ever seen. And I think a lot of it was is what you mentioned about him, understanding when and how to force the issue. And his dynamism, his ISO work, like, he's been awesome creating offensively this season in a way that is not uncharacteristic for the Jason Tatum of old, but is evolved. And I think him taking that step forward has been super meaningful for that team, especially when there are so many players on the Celtics who, like Derek White doesn't want to force the issue. Drew Holiday does not want to force the issue. Jalen Brown, sure,

you have to rein in occasionally from maybe forcing a little too much. But they need that from him too. Like there are guys on your team who are called upon to do this in the way that we're saying, Yokic has been called upon to do this. And Tatum being will, not just willing to do it, but really skilled and really careful in how he's going about it. I think is a huge reason why the Celtics have been so dominant. Yeah. So if I had a ballot for this fake one month in best player of the, the month award. I would do Yokic, Adi, Tatum, Shea, and probably Janus.

Yeah. Unfortunately, Connect doesn't make it, but, you know, there's a long season ahead of us. This time. Braun tried to tell you. Braun tried to tell y'all, man. He watched so many Tennessee games, man.

Y'all didn't want to believe. Y'all didn't want to believe. Shouts to Alex Haley, man. And, you know, the autobiography of Malcolm X and crime. I want to figure out why people don't believe his ass. He can, he can, he can go back to that right there. We're going to need Twitter because everyone was mad at him that he got caught lying like a shit

a ton of the time. I'm just like, I can't, I can't do it, man. I need someone listening to this podcast to keep a running tally over the course of the season as to the random shoutouts that Was has given, including today to the autobiography of Malcolm X. That was my one because Oh, it's the go-to for this for sure. It was in the bubble. It was, I think it was Taylor Brooks who asked him.

It was the most, it wasn't even like, yo, like, what did you think about when, you know, Malcolm X went to, you know, Saudi Arabia and did his pilgrimage to Mecca? And, you know, like, he hung out with all these Sunni Muslims and he changed his militant. Like, no, it was, what's your takeaway? Early takeaways. Early takeaways. We do it on this pod all the freaking time. And he didn't have one.

I want to say he did have one and it was, I may be paraphrasing, forgive me if the quote is wrong, but that he was a great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great man or something to that. There were like eight greats. He's not wrong, though.

He's not wrong. That's a good take. That's a podcast take. That is a podcast take. How long until we get LeBron on Blue Sky? Oh, I don't know. He might be burned out on engagement at this point. He might break if that happened.

King James.biscish.com. Social. I'll follow them. All right, best team. Yeah, it's the Boston Celtics. For me, it's the Celtics. It's definitely the Celtics. It's because that Cavs game,

that Cavs game was a great reminder in that first half where I think the Celtics, Obviously, like, the offense is a given at this point. Like, the proof is in the pudding. The sample size is what it is. Like, they are an offensive juggernaut. I've come to expect that. But the way they got Cleveland out of their shit and forced them to be more matchup-hunting,

more, you know, basic pick and roll with Garland and Mitchell, just so one-dimensional and predictable. The fact that their defense could dictate that to the team that was undefeated and best offense in the league. Like the best offense in the league is getting so thrown off, thoroughly thrown off of their game. To me, Boston is showing you like, yeah, we're jugging out on offense,

but we're also that shit on defense too. They're the most well-balanced team in the NBA. Like, I don't think you can argue that. They came out with some playoff intensity, and they smacked the calves in the mouth for that first half. Now, granted, I love the cab's response showing that they're not the same team from last year. They got back to their cutting,

more unpredictable nature of the offense. What I was excited about is I text you guys in the group chat. Evan Mowbly, not letting little guys guard him. Let's go. But get out of here. Elbow to your fucking grill, man. Derek White, get the fuck out of here. Like, I'm beating these little dudes up.

I love that. That's what I was really excited about. But I think right now, you can't say that the calves are to the level of the Celtics, just yet. But the fight back that they had, the adjustments that they made in the second half, I was encouraged by it, but for my money, you still got to take the Celtics as the best team in the league. I think it's three things for me. One, the benefit of the doubt that comes with their playoff success and knowing exactly what the Celtics team is does give them a slight

edge over even an incendiary start from the Cavs. Two, I think the Celtics are just like an absolute buzzsaw and not just by elite record by the fact that they destroy other. high-level teams. And the Cavs have been good against high-level teams. This is maybe an area where the thunder drop a little bit

in this conversation. They just haven't quite measured up in some other higher-leverage match-ups so far. The Celtics has never a question. And that's the third part of this, which is there are games

when you watch Boston play where the other team just has no chance, where they take and make a number of threes that just blows people off the floor. And they're so good at creating high-quality shots in that way. It's like, they're just going to be a certain number

of games they win by default this season. And that to me is that that spells dominance. We're not going to do best coach in this, but I have to say, I think Waz might be in the running because I'm like ready to run through a fucking wall after that speech right there. Fucking Malcolm X of podcasting.

NBA podcasting. So I split this into like four different groups, basically, because I feel a certain way about four different teams that I think are in this conversation. Best body of work for just looking at the resume. It's probably the cast. Sure. First in point differential. First in net, first in offense. Like they've lost one game and that was to the Celtics, but that probably is the deciding act on the road. You know, like a tough, true, tough. They have been incredible thus far. I would say the team I've been most impressed with in this category, the Warriors just because they've kind of pushed my wig back. I didn't think they still had this in them. That's probably more surprised than best. And so we'll get to them in a little bit. You're stepping on your freaking categories. I know, I know. This is, this is. This is bad hosting.

Most potential to eventually get into this mix, I think is okay. See, unfortunately, they just keep bleeding three-point shooters. But the fact that Isaiah Hartinstein was back out there last night, it's like, there's a whole different level to this scene that they haven't gotten to you. Yes. He already looked good. Doesn't disrupt the flow that they're playing with. The handoff stuff is going to be beautiful.

Like, they're number one with a bullet on defense. And we've talked about their defense at length, so we don't have to go into it here. but like, those are some goddamn dogs. And so if they get the offense to match that, I think they could be really, really, really good. Check comes back and Hartinstein is in there. They're going to be formidable in terms of their balance for sure. Completely.

Hartnstein is a great, great, great, great, great, great man. He is. We all agree. Did you see the behind the back passes last night? He was wheeling and dealing. He's going to be unlocked in a way that he probably hasn't been at previous stops, and I'm here for that. Yeah.

But best team, I agree with you guys. And just a hero to just all young black. kids out there, man, that you can start off as like, you know, barely a rotational guy on the clippers, make your way to New York, make a name for yourself, get a bag, and actually prove that you're worth it, man. This guy is a, he's a credit to his race for sure. Tell him, loss. Land of Opportunity. The NBA is back in Fandle. America's number one sports book wants you to catch all the action because right now Fandle is giving everyone three months of NBA League pass. All you have to do to catch every tip off and buzzer-beater is plays any $5 bet on the NBA.

You know who I'm excited about right now in the midst of this season? It's the Houston Rockets. You're goddamn right. They are just so much fun to watch. There are so many young guys to explore, see new parts of their game. What are they working on? And a men Thompson, Tari Easton, off the bench. Those are basically the bash bros for the NBA.

So that's my hunch. I think you should check out the Houston Rockets. But the next time you get a hunch on who's going to win and on how many points a player will score, you could watch your picks come to life live. Just visit fandle.com slash ringer MBA to get three months of NBA League Pass, courtesy of Fandul.

Make every moment more with Fandle, official sportsbook partner of the NBA. Must be 21 plus in present in select states or 18 plus in present in D.C. After three month free trial, the full price of league pass will be automatically charged monthly, cancel any time, no refunds, terms, restrictions, and embargoes apply,

limit one pass per customer, see terms at sportsbook. Fandle.com. Gambling problem, call 1,800 gambler or visit RG-dashhelp.com. All right, should we get into biggest surprise now?

Yeah. Rob, you want to go? I think this is where your Golden State Warriors come up. Fact of it. Yes.

It is incredible that this collection of players is top 10 on both sides of the ball. I am flabbergasted. I am amazed. All credit due, I think,

to Mike Dunleaving and staff are putting together the deepest Warriors team in years. and to Steve Kerr for managing a really smart deep rotation that puts all of those guys in positions to succeed. They just have a lot of players who know how to work without the ball

and play smart positional defense. And guess what? That really pays off. It turns out when you stack them 10 and 11 and 12 deep. Yeah, I mean, I have two surprises here, one of them being the Warriors defense. I just didn't think that they would be able to get to these levels, which I think in 2022 is what ultimately catapulted them

the championship. Like, Steph obviously was Steph and sort of cemented himself as one of the greatest ever on an echelon with anybody you want to name. But the fact that it matters in that finals against Boston, they just guarded the hell out of these dudes. And that's the side of the ball that I think they ultimately won that championship on. And I just thought those days were long, dead and gone. But this year, man, I'll be damned if Dremont Green, bro, like, you can say whatever the

hell you want about how much of a psychopath he's. is. And he is. The shit that he did to Edy the other day was completely unhinged and, and, like, out of control. And, like, why are you still doing this? But that defense goes because Draymond, man, it's not even just Draymond still having, you know, the anticipation, the, his instincts for, like, what spot to be and, like, which buttons to push. But he's also, what you don't really appreciate until you watch. the Warriors in person. He's like quarterback

in the defense from behind and barking out instructions like he's freaking Bill Belichick to his teammates that are on the floor with him. You know, like he's telling him what to do. Yo, that guy's come and do this.

Yo, it's amazing what Draymond is doing, man. And so the Warriors defense definitely, you know, one of my biggest surprises. And it's no surprise in that way that to your point about the Belichick comp wise, like if you have buddy healed, a guy who's never really

been able to guard anybody. But he has an earpiece with Draymond Green in it. Like, Buddy Heald can move his feet, right? Like, I think having someone barked those orders to get you in the right places, to get you organized, plus a collection of players that naturally, you know, maybe Heald accepted will play up and into people, right? Like, can apply pressure.

That combination is really potent. He's got the personnel this year because you do have guys like Gary Payton back in the mix there. Melton would have fit that. Unfortunately, he's not going to be with them for the rest of the season. But like, even Wiggins has showed a lot of umph. in a way that he hasn't in his past. Best defensive intensity since 22.

Yeah. And I mean, Dremont isn't getting up as much to contest shots, but I do think like whatever vegan or like pescatarian sort of diet he's on, it's working because he looks leaner and he does. Exactly. He does look like he's a little bit more spry than he has in the past. But you're right.

Was I think just to the computer brain watching him organize things on the fly. Like he can play like at this level for a couple more years just because because his brain works on a way that nobody else does. And so you got to give the Warriors a lot of credit here. Also that game against Dallas where, like, he was so tuned up, dude, and so ready to kick Clay Thompson's ass that game to prove him like, Clay, the reason why they took care of me financially, because I'm way better than you right now. Like, it just says what it is. Like, I can actually anchor a side of the ball, man. Yeah.

And Trace Jackson Davis, don't get a twisted. He's been good. Kaminga on defense. These guys are, they're really believing. And, you know, of course, Steph Curry just being the other leader who is just setting a sort of tone of calm, never panic, let's run our stuff,

let's get everybody involved. It's been, I couldn't imagine the dubs would be this dope coming into the season. I think they have a really great balance right now, too, to get on, I think it was becoming a weirdly our theme of the day in terms of the balance of like when to press offensively versus when to facilitate.

That's been a bit of a problem for the Warriors. Like Draymond has been centering that conversation for a long time. A guy who just like does not look for his own shot. And when you look across this roster, she's shooting it this year. And I think overall the combination of players that they have is a little healthier in terms of the guys who want to press and the guys

who want to facilitate. And when you can get that to a point where Steph doesn't have to do it all the time. Or as we saw last year when Clay isn't the person calling upon himself to do it all the time. This is what the result of that stuff can be. And so up and down,

you just have guys in the rotation that makes sense, like guys who know their roles, who know how they play, and have good complimentary talent around them. I think we expected Jonathan Kaminga to be their second most important player this season, if not maybe third.

He's probably 10th, nice, somewhere deeper in the rotation. Behind Kavanaughn, I would say. Yeah. Also, and why that's important is that they're winning. so he's it's not like they've de-emphasized him it's just bro you're not you're not that guy you're like you're just not going to be the guy who dominates possession and just cooks people with

efficient offense you know just by your shot creation they've given him the space to try but i think he's sort of receded into the role of like all right i got to be more judicious about picking my spots but if they weren't winning and this kid is trying to get his, you know, his second contract, which is drilled into all of these dudes. You're playing for your second deal. The second you step into the NBA, everybody's telling you, the deal that matters is that second deal. That's what's going to set the tone for your career, right?

And the fact that, like, it's not working the way I'm sure he thought it might, and he's still being a good soldier. It's beautiful what's happening in the Golden State, y'all. Yeah. Yeah. Go do that shit against second units because that's where it's effective right now. It just is what it is. Can I rip through a bunch of like honorable mention surprises?

Yeah, I have a couple two. Yeah, yeah. What do you guys have? Mine is the Cavaliers offense and Evan Mowgli. That like, dude, number one in the NBA and offensive efficiency. That was not on my bingo card coming into the year. I thought they would be improved in Atkinson, you know, spend some time with Steve Kerr, a lot of that beautiful game.

Come by on, baby. Listen, man. And it's actually been in. injected into this offense. Donovan Mitchell, he gave the quote after the Celtics game where he's like, I got into some of my older habits. I got

to get off the ball. I got to stop being so thirsty to be this, you know, pick and roll dominant player. And the fact that Atkinson has coached it into these guys, they're like, yo, have trust that the ball will find you back. You know, you can do other things besides

having the ball in your hand to put yourself in a position to score. That's been amazing and then, you know, unlocking Evan Mobley as like, nah, dude, we're going to, like, in the playoffs, these teams are going to try to switch these little kids, these little wings, these little whippers snappers on you, and you

got to beat them up, make them pay. And Mobley, and not only just that, just giving them more responsibility on the perimeter, empowering him to use his dribble game to attack guys. The offense is, that has been a, the offense alone is why

Kenny Atkinson is like, coached a year number one with a bullet for me. The only time someone has improved without a plant-based diet, you know, it actually came down to taxes and O's and figuring this out. I would like to nominate one Franz Wagner, who is good. It turns out. He's making threes. And if anything, like the percentages are dipping because if you watch the magic these days,

God bless you, they are not an offense for the faint of heart. If last year was a sludge factory, then without Paulo is more like a. sludge emporium. Wow. This is like, this is sludgy land out there. It's like, it's a very,

very, very tough watch. But he has looked about as good as you could hope for without the requisite amount of spacing, 23, six, and five.

It just seems like he is activated in the way that I think you'd hope for. I think the shot does open things up for him. But he's just like he's driving. He's like he's within the flow of the offense. I've liked the pairing with him and Anthony Black. We were talking about this before we came on. I think he probably needs to get a little bit

more run with Polow in that first unit because things do move with him in there. But like Suggs has made progress as an offensive player for them. He's doing more. Isn't particularly doing it well at this point. We'll see down the road. But it really is the Frans show. And he's kind of stepped up in Paulo's absence. They've been a very, very good team. They're now, I believe, third in the east, in part because he's basically carrying them and their defense has been so lock solid. Yeah, he has to do a lot for them to work offensively. And there are games where it still doesn't, right, where they make the right passes, they set up the right shots, and they just can't hit enough threes to really compete with some of these teams on offense. That's where having the number one defense in

the league comes in. And that's where having Franz, who is a good defender in his own right, contributes to that. Right. Like when your star is a two-way player in that kind of way, it changes a lot of things, even if they do have a super high usage. I think Franz has been super impressive as a lead guy, really and truly for the first time in his NBA career. That's been awesome to see. He's earning that bread. Thank God. No, no doubt. No doubt. No, doubt. Payton Pritchard. Top 10 and three's made this season so far. Six-man candidate out of thin air. Very impressive. Yacob Pertl. I don't know if this is a recent. I knew you're going to do it. I opened up blue sky for like the first time since I signed up the other day. And the first thing

talking about the wonders of libraries like they were in my freaking four-U tab. I didn't see that one. But I did get fed, Rob having a pretty like just tepid like, what? What's up with Jakub? I'm trying to figure it out. I was like, get me the fuck out of here. Let me go back to toxic ass Twitter to get away from these like just normal discussions. Well, let me ask you, Justin Verrier. What is going on with Jakub Perl?

Can you explain to me why he's averaging 30 and 15 on 72% shooting over three games randomly? Very recent among the body of work for the NBA season. But Jakop Perl becoming a relevant offensive factor has been startling and shaking. to me to my core in a way that I'm trying to reconcile even still. We talked about Dyson Daniels a bunch already on this pod. He's clearly one of the big surprises of the season. Brooklyn's offense, eighth in offense right now.

That's crazy still. Unsustainable. But I remember us talking about the only way they might be even decent would be that it's a scrappy defensive bunch. That has not turned out to be the way that they're winning games right now. Nicola Vukovitchvich, dude could not shoot straight for three years and now is shooting 50% from 3%. three, Ben Matherin, Tyler Hero, Jaron Jackson, Christian Brown.

And I got to say a team that probably deserves a little bit more spotlight in the surprise capacity, the Houston Rockets, who I think was probably the biggest delta between where we had them in the preseason power rankings and where they are right now, even more so than the Cavs. So I think we thought the calves were going to be really good. Especially with Justin had them for sure. Absolutely. The Rockets? Oh, yeah. I did have them below spurs. That's right. Well, that's my Morgan then. I like them.

I just didn't think they'd put it together this quickly. Completely. They've been awesome. Also, my Jalen Green stock taking a hit. It's like a, I don't know if you saw a Tesla went down by, you know, a quarter. That's what it's felt like with Jalen Green these past two weeks. Jaylen Green is the Tesla of NBA players. For me.

Not a bad comp. Yeah. They zip around, you know, no torque. But if you look too closely, all of the installation is kind of like falling apart. Yeah. Jaylen Green has come back down to Earth insofar as he was like in the orbit. But like, I think, you know, Tari Isson and Thompson just says like defensive dynamos, like, you know. They're like the Mighty Ducks.

The Bash Bros. The Bash Bros. Yeah, right? I like it. Bullies who are actually just like kind dudes who just want to like come in and wreck shit up and wear leather jackets. Yeah. See, the Bash Brothers is a wrestling. reference for me. Well, it's a baseball reference. It's every and everything reference. But these are our bash bros. That's what's really important. Are you worried a little bit about the rockets? I worry it's

like too much too soon in that I do wonder like for how long are Tarry Easton and men Thompson going to be cool with being like this spunky bench unit coming into wreck things where it's like I'm kind of the heart of this team. Like I'm actually what's the behind a lot of the success we're having. Like, can I actually supplant Jalen Green in the starting lineup, especially because he's not long for this world based on the extension we gave him? Those sorts of things pop up when I think a young team is successful in a way that a veteran team is probably more used to. I don't know. It's more speculative than anything, but I'm keeping track of it.

I mean, Thompson's only in the second year. He doesn't become extension eligible until after year three. So I would say all-star break of next year is when you need to start worrying about it. So, 2026, we're good until 20, 26. Yeah, I think those problems usually start to arise after the big breakout season, right? Like you get through the tremendous momentum and vibes of the opening gambit, of everyone's starting to pull together and starting to figure it out. And then you need to look around and say, okay, how am I getting mine within this very deep and complex ecosystem?

Yeah. There's just too much smoke around like, oh, rockets are in the mix. Like, KD, Yonis. It's just like, I don't love that that's popping up because that's not coming from nowhere. But we'll see. I love watching them. They're definitely like, if not top three, then definitely top five in my league pass. Preseason Mologan. This one was, so does this take you want back from the preseason? This one was tough for me because as you guys know, I have no bad takes, except for I guess the Rockets were in the Rockets. We literally just highlighted. My Mologna, I think, is not leaning into the fact that Tyrese Halliburton isn't very good. I didn't do that strong enough. You wanted to say it more strongly.

You wanted to say it with my chest, but there was somewhat blowback by floating it. I was like, I was a little tepid. But, you know, I think it's just a lesson to all y'all out there. It's just like believe in your random opinions that are largely based on just vibes. So, I know, but he's been awful. Tyree Taliburton is still a good player, but has not played well. Like there's no defense of how he's played. There's no defense of the tentative way in which he's.

has attacked or lack there of. Like his complete disengagement with trying to actually advance the offense, I think has been a huge problem for them. I actually, my Mulligan is along these same lines, Justin, which I floated the idea that the Pacers could be potential like a 50 win team this year. That doesn't seem to be in the cards at all. Paces for me. I'm coming up.

We're all coming up Pacers for me. And for Halliburton, it's not just that he's not playing well. It's some of the off court stuff is kind of concerning me, wishing 50 cent happy birthday, surrounded by like three, six and a halfs. Like, what are you doing? Tarees Halliburton? So you're saying he's not a master coxman. It's just like, I don't like what he's projecting,

combined with the contract, combined with the severe, like decrease in production. It's like, it's a nasty cocktail to me of that situation over there. And I think he's self-aware enough to know that like, bro, I'm not playing up to what is expected of me right now. You know, and the best players turn it around after hitting a blip. Maybe the league figures something out about you and you now have to make the adjustment to that adjustment.

But that's the thing that worries me. It's like, something feels. off about what's emanating from the Tyrese Halliburton situation. I agree. It's a back issue. Well, it is a back issue. Like, I know that definitively.

I mean, he fell hard on his, he fell hard on his back, has not played well ever since, looks very much like a guy with a bad back. And I think Kael and Cooper's been all over this all season so far, banging that drum. I think there's significant last year or,

no, no, this is separate. No, no, there's the hamstring thing last year. And then there's what appears. to be a back thing this year, which,

look, if we want to talk about Tyrese Alliburton's play, I think the home road splits are pretty instructive. Like, he is a completely different player on the road. And you can assign whatever causality to that you want, but he just hasn't been good enough. Like, I, I think there's a huge problem where defenses have just been able to slow the pacer's down a lot. And they slow Tyrese down a lot.

They slow the overall movement of the offense down a lot. It has taken a lot of the possessions that, used to be streaks right to the rim and the Pacers were so good at getting to the rim last year into walking possessions that never really develop and just kind of flounder and die on the vine. That's a big problem. Like this team having to settle for so much mid-range offense when they are not built for it is a huge problem. Even Pascal Seacom was like probably one of the better mid-range shooters on the team just hasn't

really been good enough. And I think I expected their offense to carry over more year over year. I certainly expected Tyrese to be better than this. He hasn't been. I also thought they might make some progress on defense, and they have not. I think it's been really bad individual defensive effort, basically across the board, compounded by really bad team communication on defense. You're not going to win that way, even if you do score a lot.

And the Pacers are not scoring a lot. So they need to change an awful lot, starting with getting healthy, but also just playing a lot better and being prouder in their individual performance to make this work. I think Pace at this extreme level is an enhancement, is an augmentation of something. It cannot be your entire identity. And it just feels like they are easier to figure out, especially when you tell Heilberg.

Yeah, just like, it just seems like especially if he's not going to be the engine that he was at the beginning of last season, if he's hurt, whatever it may be. It's just, it seems very easy right now.

And even Mathuron is playing electric at times. He's been great. They have some bright spots in there, but it just seems like they're reliant on a one-way approach based on just getting the ball up the court quicker and quick hits and all this other stuff. And I just don't think you could win consistently before the league catches up to that. That's all. The best teams will get you out of that quick pace will get you out of transition.

Like that's just been proven over time. Like if you're heavily reliant on, you know, a fast pace, it kind of reminds me of Chip Kelly with the Eagles where like everybody was like, oh my God, he's revolutionized the game. And then the second go around, everybody was like, We know how to guard this now. That's what it feels like with the Pacers as a team in Halliburton as a player as a lead man. But they just have to be better in half court, man.

Like you got to be able to attack teams in the half court. If you consider yourself to be, you know, like we're going to threaten for the Eastern Conference finals again or we're going to get out the first damn round this year. They have to be more surgical and deliberate in the half court than they've been. I think the problem with this and why it's maybe even bigger. issue than the way we're kind of framing the conversation right now is this isn't a matter of good teams taking them out of their pace. This is like the Toronto Raptors taking them out of their pace, right? This is the Charlotte Hornets taking them out of their pace. This is a terrible

version of the Sixers taking them out of their pace. Like this isn't playoff intensity. This isn't playoff scrutiny. This is just regular all regular season basketball and they can't get their shit together enough to do the one thing that this is where I would disagree with you a little bit, just as I think pace does usually play pretty well. in the first 82, right? Like a regular season teams can play fast and hold to that and find a style and identity in it. This is supposed to be the easy part. This is supposed to be the part that comes naturally to them and they can't even get that right.

Yeah, I don't disagree with you per se. I think it tends to be best served as a starter pack to something else. I think if that is like your main asset, I think that's when you get into trouble. They're just like a little too easy to figure out right now. And I think that might be why a team like the Raptors, who's three and 12, we should mention. and probably a big reason why Jakub Pertl is getting to showcase, is he able to kind of slow them down and get into them a little bit. Can I ask you guys about one more off-court Tyrese Halliburton thing that has been very

prominent on television lately, which he is a part of an ongoing watch campaign for a brand that we will not name because no free ads. This is the slew of celebrities who are endorsing this watch brand. Tyrese Hallibird, one, ludicrous, sure. He's out on TV these days. Jessica Alba. the Queen Julianne Moore and a football player

I could not identify by sight who turns out to be Christian McCaffrey what is this collection of people like who who tethered this together I wouldn't put any faith in whatever Halliburton is doing with style so the fact that someone is paying him in order to be stylish

is just a problem in and of itself I'm just seeing him and Julianne Moore like winking at each other and I'm like what world do I live in It sounds like a cross-section of your two things. It really is. It's. I'm not mad about it.

I'm just confused by it. Halliburton has made a concerted effort to get more attention on himself, more eyeballs on himself. And, you know, that can be good for your career to, like, be more visible. You get more brand endorsements, more money outside of your NBA contract. Plus, it's nice. Being a celebrity is nice. You know, you show up to a restaurant and they're like, Oh shit, we just going to throw you in the back.

We didn't know who the hell Halliburton is. Now that you're here, oh, we're going to give you our best. Like, it's nice. I get it on a certain level. It's just, it just looks nasty when you're going one for seven in losses and scoring four points. In a team, in the game, your team desperately needed you to be a way better offensive player. You know, a lot of it is optics, man. Don't show up like a newsboy from the fucking 1960s before you get blown out by a,

the Raptors. How about that? I was going to mention the Knicks here. He's a painful boy. I was going to mention the Knicks here. I don't think I'm ready to pull that one back. I was way over my skis suggesting that they might be in the finals this year. That seems unlikely at best. But I think they're on the path to being the team that I think we all kind of expected.

Like OG's been very good. Like Kat has been really, really good offensively. Obviously Bridges has had his weird start. but I think he's kind of rounding back into what you would need from it at this point. Maybe not five first-round picks good, but I don't know. There's enough to like here where they're like on watch in the same way like the spurs are because we did have a big old bet about the spurs making the play in. I think the spurs are in the mix there.

I think they still might prove me right. So once again, no bad. Justify your rockets take through the spurs. Like I won't allow you to launder it that way. The Rockets component was wrong. But I do think the spurs will be in the playing mix. We need to review the tape to see if the bet was. just the Spurs or if the Spurs would have a better record than the Rockets.

I don't even think you remembered what the bet was. I didn't even know we made a bet until you told me. So now I needed in writing, I need like a full confirmation of what these terms were. My understanding was the Spurs making the play in was the only part of the bet. Okay. I still feel pretty good about that. Wembe, he needs to get healthy soon, but it seems like he's figuring out the offensive side of things in the same way he did defensively last year.

He just seems to process mistakes really quickly in a way that's like kind of of concerning for the rest of the league. All right. Last one. Whose stock are you buying low on from this point forward? McHale Bridges. I understand that everybody's like, I think killing him rightfully. I think my man Fred Kat said he's shooting 40% percent on corner threes.

We don't want to quote what he's shooting on above the break. But listen, he's making the corner three, which is a shot they're going to need from him. He's making his mid-rangers. he's not getting to the line for anything, which is like I think the offensive stuff, I thought it was going to take a while to figure it out. I just think like, look, don't be all NBA defense. Cool.

But we need to figure out a way that him, OG, Josh Hart, and Towns are in unison on the defensive floor. And I have to believe that they can be better than 21st in the NBA. And I think, and I have to believe that McHale Bridges can be better than terrible on defense. Like, I have to believe that. And so that's why I'm buying his stock at its lowest. You know, I thought about the bucks, but like Middleton and his two bad feet, I don't know how much better he's really going to make things. He's still going to be horrible at defense.

But I think McHale Bridges is safe to say he has to be way better than what he's shown. Yes. it's just been so inexplicable with McAil that I can't help but think he will be better. As we said, the shot has already started to turn a little bit. I think the defense as a team, as you mentioned was, will turn overall. Ultimately, you're still going to be a team that is playing Carl and Anthony Towns

in the middle and there are limitations that come with that. But what you can be as a wing group and in particular, I think you hit the nail on the head with the connectivity of those players just has to be better. And I think over the course of a season naturally will be. These are guys who are figuring out how to play alongside one another, how to compliment each other, how to pick up the slack when one guy isn't doing exactly the right thing at exactly the right time. Those habits are going to become a little bit cleaner and easier by March and April. And that's where I would expect McHale Bridges is going to be a meaningful NBA player, if not everything that they need him to be all the time.

Yeah, we're also far enough away from seeing Mitchell Robinson last that I'm starting to convince myself that he is the solution to the room protection problems. like the fact that he is perpetually injured. And even when he is playing is kind of like taking shots on Instagram at the team. Like, let's just forget all that. We'll see if he even does come back and is healthy and can play next to towns and they have enough offense to support him. I think there's a good chance that that happens. I think it's more of like a look rather than their base unit. I still think the starting five that they're shrouding out will be what they close with and not start with.

But him in the mix, I think might solve things in a way that gets them to, where they need to go long term. Like they just need the big old look when they face a big old team. And so for that reason, like, yeah, there's enough here to like, OG's been really good offensively. How much you want OG to do offensively

is like always a problem. But when he's gotten it, I think he's been the best version of that sort of player than he has been even in like his best Raptors days, frankly. I don't think any of us are worried about the offense. Like the Knicks are an incendiary offensive team.

They just need to figure out what the balance of their defense is going to be and especially what it's going to be against the best teams in the Eastern Conference. Like, not just the Celtics now, but you've got to be able to keep up with the movement of the calves and the dynamism that they've layered into the way that they attack. That's harder and harder to do, not just with guys like Kat who are covering space or defending the rim

or whatever he's asked to do. But if you want to throw Mitchell Robinson into that mix too, like now he's in the blender. And it's one thing if he's only guarding Jared Allen, but if he's being pulled out to the perimeter, I know he's a guy who can block threes pretty effectively. He also picks up so many fouls. sometimes he can only play like 18 minutes in a game.

So all of that is going to be a part of a very complicated puzzle, but one that I think the Knicks will be better at solving in a couple months. Also the offensive rebounds. We'll juice the offense in a way that it probably doesn't need to be juice, but there's an extra component to it. I have the Grizzlies because I feel like even though they've been injured. What's the buy low on a team that is already very good? Well, they're 500 at this point, 9 and 7.

They've played probably below the optimist view of them going, into the season. Ja has been hurt. Obviously, I mean, it feels like smart is in it on the lineup pretty much every night. They've had a lot to disrupt what's going on there, but they didn't start particularly well. It seemed a little disjointed. It seemed like they were trying to figure things out with their full complement of guys. And they have about as deep a roster as like any team in the league. It's really them and probably the Warriors and the Thunder. But I do see a pathway where when Jha comes back, that this could be pretty good. Like I'm talking like top four in the West sort of good. And that's a pretty thick competition if we think the rockets are going to

stick there especially. I just think I just like what they have. They have and have guys who will fall naturally into roles when Jha comes back. We talked about Scotty Pippen last week. Jay Huff, I think is like really good. Jalen Wells, I think is also really good as a rookie. Like there's just a lot to like with this team, which is typically what we say about them. But adding the little spice there to kick it up a notch in Jha, I think, especially because he's been in distribution. mode this season. And I think that behooves, like, trying to make sense of all these guys, Bain and all these guys back, Jaron Jackson with this extra dimension to him after last season. Like, I think they're going to flow in a way that I am optimistic that they could be in the mix

here, if not in contention, like title contention, then definitely in that next year. Yeah, they have a really good mix of obviously Jaws kind of high-end athletic pop when he comes back, plus all of the kind of tangential benefits of last season and Jaron Jackson, Jr. being kind of at the top of the list in terms of just, I know you've been on two. his ball handling this season, the way he's attacked the basket off the dribble against bigs and smalls alike, has been really meaningful.

Taking everything you were able to develop last year in what was kind of a lost season and pulling it into this new version of the Grizzlies, all the depth that we talked about to the point that there are guys in this team who are popping who I just did not even count on to pop. Like Jake Laravia has had really good games and like I don't even know quite how he does it

or what he does. And yet he figures it out and finds a way to contribute to the flow of the offense. Like there are just rotation, players sprouting up everywhere for the Grizzlies in a way that it's really impressive. And when you have to put everyone back in the rolls and everyone back in the box, like the one game where you really need these guys coming off the bench to have a meaningful impact, they're going to be prepared to do it.

And so I just really like the overall layout of that kind of team. Yeah, I can't wait until they get all of their guys back because I think what will make the Grizzlies is that they can't put bad lineups out there when they have their full rotation. Like even when, you know, they're letting their starters rest, it's just high quality at all the positions, which, you know, you can't say for a team like the aforementioned Knicks, right? Like, there are lineups where it's just like, holy hell, why is this guy getting NBA minutes? And there's a lot of them throughout the course of a game. Memphis, when they have their full complement of guys, that will not be the case. And I think that's what's going to

lift them through the regular season. Yeah. I mean, Smart basically hasn't played for this team. And I kind of start to wonder if like he might not matter all that much. Like I think at the end of the day, like, Santiel Dama is going to be starting an NBA finals game or like, wait, what just happened? Because he's always there to start. But yeah, I just like what they have right now. That's been my entire career is just be the Santiago Dama, wait for the other people to fall out of the mix. And I'm just going to jump in. You know what? I'm here, guys. I'm around. You're knocking on your neighbor's doors. Can I interest you in Santi Aldama, the church of Aldama. I definitely took that brochure.

I signed up for that particular church and service. God bless all of us. I am buying low on a player who had a tough postseason run, a crummy stint in the Olympics, an underwhelming start to this season. I have not given up on Jamal Murray, and I will not give up on Jamal Murray. Had a nice game the other day, yep.

He did finally have a nice game against Memphis, without Nicola Yokic in the mix, a rare win without Yokic. I kind of wonder if given the season he's had where he's looked also very tentative also look kind of withdrawn for Jamal Murray standards if these games without Nicola might wind him up a little bit

and get him into a more aggressive space as a score where the nuggets frankly need him to be but ultimately I just think I trust who he can be in big games and I trust that he can be better than the baseline of what we've seen over the last month which would really be just the worst season of his career basically so far. Yeah, I don't know that we're

It's crazy to say this stage of his career, but I don't know that we're ever going to see the 2020 and 2022 versions of Jamal Murray, or 2023, excuse me, versions of Jamal Murray again. Ever. Ever. I don't know that we're going to get, because that guy was, like, explosive in, like, the separation that he could create for his shot all on his own. He's 27 years old.

But remember when he used to dunk? Dude, it's not even just that. That was fun. I hear you. I think people underestimate the fact that he came into the league with a bad wheel. Like, he always had, like, some lingering sort of problems with his knee. And they cleaned it up and all of that. But I don't know that he's ever going to be, like, as explosive as he was when he was 23.

Like, I just don't think so. And, you know, like, it's not like he needs to be. But I think, like, the guy that we saw in the Olympics is not Jamal Murray. No. Right? Like, he's just a. way better, smarter, more explosive player than that. And I think, like, this time without Nicola, you're right, Rob, is going to help him more fully realize that.

But, you know, the bottom line is, so long as he gets to stick around with Nicola Yokic, he's going to be fine. It's going to be cool. He's not going to be asked to be Superman pretty much, you know, most nights. It's just picking the spots where he could show that he still has some of that pop, some of that ability to, like, separate in the mid-range in ways that, like, so many guys can't. And he's back to making some of his threes again. You know, I agree with Rob. Like, he's not as horrible as he's shown in the calendar year of 2024.

But, you know, I'm glad to see him turning it around finally. I think we've talked about how the Nuggets' lack of depth is kind of a sin because they might be wasting Yokic's prime. I think the real, like, practical impact is that they're not able to pace Murray in a way that he probably should be at this point in his career, like especially coming off of the Olympics, should he have been on more of a restriction and where you're just like slowly building him back up

because I think about in that finals run that they had, where they won the title, obviously, he kind of like steadily got better over the course of the season and then peaked during the playoffs, and that seemed to be the best usage of him. I don't know if what he's dealing with is the same sort of thing, but if he's able to kind of contribute and not be the guy,

the like, oh, he should make an all-star team this year sort of guy. I think it's best for them because he has moments like he did the other night against the Grizzlies, but they are few and far between. I think the video that's circulating out of my head where it is just like he was kind of lingering on the perimeter, couldn't get by our guy, Sonti Aldama, and just like kind of kicked it back out and the possession was wasted. Like those happen more than they should for a player on the level that he could be. I don't know how to get there, but I think you're right. Like can he just be enough of that, enough times that they needed to be. Obviously, that's all that Yokic needs.

He could definitely turn out to be one of those guys who at the end of his career, we look back and never made the All-Star team, never put it together for an entire regular season, and still ends up being like such a good postseason and big game performer that he has an incredible resume. I could see that for him, even with the version of Jamal Murray that we have in front of us right now. Like, I still see that player in him.

I'm almost like more concerned with overall the mental, part of it for him than the physical part. Because the issue with not being able to get around Santi Aldama, like that's a problem. But the passing out and refusing to attack in certain situations this season, that's not who Jamal Murray is and needs

to be. And so it's hard when you're struggling, and especially when you're not hitting shots, to feel like you should be entitled to push, particularly when the guy over there is averaging like 30, 14, and 12, right? Like, that is a hard lever to pull to say, this is my time when we could just

run through Nicola for another possession. But the Nuggets are not going to win anything if it's not Jamal Murray time sometimes. And so his evolution into that headspace again is something I'm going to be watching all year to figure out if he can be mentally the kind of guy who pushes in the way that he needs to push. Yeah. Last one I have on my list here is I am buying low on the Wizards being the actual worst team in the NBA.

I think they're actually the clubhouse favorite for the Sag for Flagg Derby, whatever you want to call. it. They've lost nine games in a row. So I'm buying even lower on where they are now, but in the future, that's going to be a high point because that means they're going to be all the way up there in terms of draft odds.

I don't think you're going to get a lot of pushback on this. Yeah. I'm right there with you in the terms that like they're low now. They can get lower. They're low. They're young. They're sticking with the young guys. One thing I will say feather in their cap, Jordan pool, totally normal NBA player.

I think this is what they were hoping for when they traded for him. He's just like, he's not great, but he is what I think you come to expect from pool. He's a scorer, you know, and he has legitimate juice in that regard. And that's fine. You know, sometimes that's all we are, you know? It's in the wind. Yeah. I, uh, I don't see.

All we are is Jordan pool. Okay. and now we're off the rails. All right. Group chat karaoke just has diminishing returns every single time. I don't know where we're going to be in the songbook by the end of this year. But, oh, group chat karaoke.

Should we do that? Do as do as it. Maybe that's the next live show. Let's just roll us out there. Audience submitted songs. Let's go for it. All right. Why don't we wrap it there?

We'll be back on Monday, but no pod on Thursday because nobody has a work ethic anymore. And we're only doing one pod on a holiday week. Uh, that's right. Thank you to Isaiah Blakely. Thank you to Ben Cruz. We're back on Monday. Look, luck action.

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