The Ringer NBA Show - Creative Ideas to Bring Basketball Back and Even More Mailbag Questions | The Mismatch

Episode Date: April 7, 2020

The guys discuss the emerging ideas about how to bring back the NBA, including a H-O-R-S-E competition and rapid testing to resume the season (0:41), before answering more mailbag questions on: potential expansion team locations, greatest teams to never win a championship, Giannis destinations, and more (14:01). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Liz Kelly, and welcome to The Ringer Podcast Network. We hope The Ringer can provide you entertainment and companionship during this time. So as always, feel free to check out The Ringer.com, where we're still covering the latest in sports, pop culture, tech, and media. And The Ringer's YouTube channel can provide endless amounts of entertainment. You can find that at YouTube.com slash The Ringer. Welcome to The Ringer NBA show. I'm Chris Varner. And join him as he does every Tuesday from The Ringer.com.

It's Kevin O'Connor, A.K. Kevin O'C. Kevin O'C. O'C.? Kevin O'Cestensre. Kevin O'Cestensent. Kevin O controversy. Kevin O camera. Kevin. Verdo. Did you see one of our listeners made a mock up T-shirt? I did see that. For all the nicknames? I did see that T-shirt with all. So one of our listeners did send us in the mailbag a t-shirt that had all of the Kevin O's on there. And there were some of them I had even forgotten that we had used. I mean, look, we've been doing it three or four years. I used many of them several times. But there are some that I even forget. over the year. So it was nice to revisit some of those. I should have thrown them in today. Oh, no. I know. I should have just read that one verbatim. It's pretty good. I think it was

Hunter. I'm not sure if that was the name of the company or his name, but thank you Hunter for sending those. It was really cool to see those. Hopefully we can get, we're going to get those made. I know. I know. We haven't had a lot of news happened since we last spoke on Friday, but there were a few things. The first of which was, I don't know if you tuned into. it at all. But I did tune in on Friday night. I just happened to be flipping the channels that ESPN was doing that 2K tournament. And the only things that came out, I don't even know who ended up winning the thing, but I did watch for a little bit when it was DeAndre Aiton and Zach Levine playing against each other. And then as the days went on, Devin Booker was involved.

Dude, tell me you've seen the clip of Devin Booker when I can't remember who his opponent was, called him out for not playing with the sons. And he's like, You're not going to play with the sons And Devin Booker's like, oh, no. Yeah, I didn't see that. He was facing Michael Porter Jr. I'm trying to win here, right? I'm trying to win.

And I'm pretty sure Booker chose the bucks. Yeah, but when I was watching Aiton versus Levine, there was at one point, I think it was, I think it was Aiton that said it. Forgive me if it was Levine. But the moment is what I remember. So, you know, they have auto subs on and Chris Silva came in for the heat and Aiton was like, Who is Silva?

I was like, all right. This is actually, this is kind of why I've got this thing tuned in. I want to see what these guys are going to say. There's nothing worse than another NBA player not knowing that you exist. Who's good? I haven't watched. I've just seen the clips online. All I care about is the trash talk.

I want to see Patrick Beverly doing what he's been doing, just talking constantly. and trash because that was me when I played video games online. I'm just constantly talking. I would tone it down nowadays, but back in the day, that's all I love to do. So I like to see players talking trash, but who's actually good at playing the games? I don't know. I don't know. I honestly don't know.

And I wouldn't be able to watch it and tell you who's really good. I texted my buddy who plays all the time. And I'm like, are these guys really good? And he's like, eh. Well, aren't they also playing on like rookie mode? I don't know if they're all right so the shots get made easy. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that may be so.

It's like the juice ball, you know, in a video game. Over the weekend, also Wode's reports that the NBA is talking to several high-profile players about putting together some kind of a horse tournament. And look, I don't know how this plays out. I don't know how they even pull it off. But at this point, any programming, if you tell me it's on, I'll watch it. I think I speak for a lot of people out there, right? If you told me there's going to be NBA sanctioned horse tournament going on, and it's going to be on at 7 o'clock tonight,

I would certainly at the very least set it up to record, but I'd probably be in front of my TV to watch it, whatever it was. So I'm in favor of anything. Sure. Anything that we get will be awesome. However, I do hope that the players are encouraged to do tricky shots, exciting shots, fun shots, rather than what we saw in the horse tournament at All Star Weekend in 09 and 10. Those years, it was a snooze fest. Rondo and Durant just taken threes from the top of the key to

determine the winner. I understand there was a rush because they're running out of TV time for that, but it just wasn't fun to watch. And so hopefully players make this fun because the shots that they take is going to determine how exciting it is for the viewer and for themselves for that matter, too. Yeah. And then regardless of the shots. Starting sports and when it could possibly resume, there was, there's a big story in baseball that broke from Jeff Passon about the possibility of Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association, putting a plan together that's backed by federal health officials that would basically have players in training camps by May and then games soon thereafter. Now, MLB put out a statement this morning saying nothing's been decided on and yada, yada, yada. But what becomes of interest then is Adam Silver had spoken last night in an interview with Ernie Johnson. And some of the things he said was, did he know where things stand now any better than he did when the NBA was shut down?

And he said the short answer is no. He said the minimum would be May 1st before they could really know. that would be when anything could possibly even be thought about starting. He said no decisions have been made whether they're going to play regular season games or not. If the season resumes, he said in an ideal world, there would be some regular season games. And he said they've looked a lot at playing games without fans. And then he also talked a little bit about the meeting that they had with President Trump. And then he talked about, you know, the thing that was keeping him up at night is that 55,000 jobs the league creates, including all of its game day workers, that those people are going without right now.

Now, a lot of these teams have taken care of them. But look, we're about to be where the season would be ending. And we're about a week from that where the season would be ending in the playoffs would be starting. And so it feels like, you know, in one sense with that MLB story, the same will go for the NBA and the same will go for every other sport. And that is the advent of rapid testing. And that is the only thing that matters in all of this is the ability to test and the ability to not have the appearance or rather the reality of a bunch of professional athletes getting preferential. treatment when people around the country don't have access to test. And so hopefully, you know, the sooner the better, but the sooner you get rapid testing, the sooner more things become a

possibility, right? I mean, rapid testing is going to be one of the keys I reported last month that for any games to resume in the NBA, they would need to have players, coaches, other team personnel, executives, trainers, whoever it may be tested regularly. I mean, that might be two or three times a week you're having the full test, which is what's going to give you 100% definitive results. The rapid test is something that you would do like maybe each day. And that's a lot of tests, you know, for a lot of people that are necessities to be there in this bubble and whatever they theoretically want to build. This is a lot to ask for baseball. It's a lot to ask for basketball.

Who knows if we'll get to that point. And that's what MLB said this morning in their statement. That's what Adam Silver said last night, that they're not in a position right now to make any decisions. They can only plan ahead. And anything that comes isn't going to happen until we have more clarity next month and the month after that. And one of the notes in Jeff Passon's column and his reporting about MLB,

as he noted that for baseball, they could build this quote unquote bubble in Arizona. They have all 30 teams there and all the other personnel for three to four weeks of, you know, training camp. And if all worked out after those three to four weeks, then they would approve the play of games. And I would assume, based off my conversations with people around the league, is that a similar thing would happen in the NBA. You would get players together in whatever city or cities that game action would happen for their, you know, training camp part two.

and if all was well in terms of testing, in terms of there be, that there's no community spread within teams and players, then you can approve the games. It's taking it one step at a time. And even though Jeff Passon's reporting, it made it out,

made it to sound like things are a bit more definitive, like this is what's going to happen. It's actually just a plan. They can only look so far ahead. And that's also what we're going to find out in the coming weeks and maybe months with the NBA as well, one step at a time.

Yep. One other thing, congratulations. I guess it's probably that he wasn't expressed it right now. It's probably the Chicago Sun-Times fault. But they're out of nowhere as I'm scanning through news articles yesterday. I read this thing about Lori Mark and wants out of Chicago. I was like, nice timing. Like, nothing is going on. There's no season going on. The Chicago sometimes put out this story about how he's one unhappy camper. And before the NBA season, suspended its season because of the coronavirus outbreak, the report said so much that if the direction of the organization was going to stay unchanged, he'd rather be elsewhere. And I was like, what in the, this is just bizarre. You know, I had heard the, I had heard the, I had heard the inverse, Chris, back in November or December. I had heard that it was the Bulls coaching staff that was souring a bit on Lowry marketing it. Interesting. And so if you're putting these two things together, or maybe there's just some disagreement from the coaches and the executives and Lowry on what his role should be. And look, Lowry is a talented prospect, a talented offensive player.

He's also had until recently when games were last played, he was really struggling. But he's also hurt too. And he's always been hurt throughout his career. So for the Bulls and Lowry, it's very possible that they're just not a fit together based off the way Boylan or perhaps the Bulls front office wants to build this thing out. And if that's the case, that's the case. For Lowry, there's better fits out there, better opportunities out there. And for the Bulls, maybe whatever they could potentially get in return for him makes more sense for their vision of the team. I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing that Lowry might also see that because I think the team does too.

It's just surprising that it happened to leak at this time. Last thing that we want to get to is the Basketball Hall of Fame. It did announce their class and what a class it is going to be. with Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Garnett headlining the group. Also, a four-time national coach of the year from Oklahoma State, Eddie Sutton. And Eddie has been in poor health. And so I'm very glad that Eddie Sutton is getting into the basketball Hall of Fame. And hopefully he will be able to enjoy that on Hall of Fame weekend also,

or, you know, All-Star weekend when they honor everybody. Two-time NBA champion, Rudy Tom Jonovich, also, So 10-time WMBA All-Star and Olympic gold medalist Tamika Catchings. Kim Mulkey from Baylor got in Barbara Stevens and longtime Phoebe executive Patrick Bowman. So the headliners, Garnett, Kobe, and Duncan. I mean, they clearly marked a time in NBA history. And to have those three guys who are three of the greatest players of all time, it is obviously so sad that Kobe won't be there for the ceremony.

but that's an unbelievable class and especially for so many people spanning from my age to your age that grew up on those guys. I mean, think about this class for the NBA, right? You have Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan. These are probably three of the 10, 12, 15 greatest players of all time going into the same Hall of Fame class. It's remarkable. And, you know, I think about whenever that ceremony is going to happen. I mean, it's scheduled for August. Who knows if the world will be in a position where you can have groups of people in a room together at that point.

But whenever the ceremony happens, it's definitely going to be emotionally charged day. And I look forward to hearing KG speak. I look forward to seeing Tim Duncan open up, a guy that, you know, has been so quiet over the years. It's just sad that we won't get to hear from Kobe, though. look forward to hearing the tributes in the words from others on that day, whenever that day comes. And I look forward to that day, man. All right. The mailbag has continued to be truly unbelievable. We have gotten questions from all over the world. And we have gone through some the last couple of weeks. We still have more

to get to that we have widowed through. Today, Isaac Lee makes a triumphant return to the show. Unbelievable. We thought you were done with us forever. Only an international, a world pandemic could bring you back to the mismatch. Welcome back, Isaac. It's good to me back. It's good to fill in for Bobby,

who's done an exceptional job since I left the show. And honestly, I'm looking at these mailback questions, and man, your listeners are smart, man. Your listeners know exactly what makes good content. That really happened since Bobby took over, though. The listeners are created? Wow. Zero credit for the two years I put in on the show. Yeah, we just, we dealt with a bunch of dummies during your time.

But now we got MENSA members everywhere. Worldwide. We got people from the London chapter of MENSA that are now sending us questions. Right. The cutoff to listen to this podcast is your IQ has to be 130. and higher. I don't even... Is that good?

I don't even know. I actually don't even know. I'm just saying a random number. Oh, okay, good. Three dummies describing IQ. Yes, all of us are dumb. All three of us are dumb. All right.

So what do we got this week? Let's start with the question from Ben. If the NBA were to expand to 32 teams, what two cities would each of you choose and why, with an addendum of... From Jared and a few other people. Is there a world that the Sonics are back in the next three to five years.

Oh, I think there's probably a world where that exists. I don't know. You know, I worry that if they expand, that it is going to be something more global, right? They've been doing these things in Mexico City. They have talked to Adam Silver's obviously got his sights set on expanding maybe outside of the continental United States. within the United States off the top of my head I would say Seattle for sure

Seattle 100%. Yeah, that's a rich rich history. You know, maybe Vegas, you know, they've already got a foothold in there. Hell, they may end up completing the whole season out there. Summer League's become a big deal out there and they already got an NFL team. So like the whole wall towards having professional sports there

has been kind of broken down. Kansas City, you know, is a big market that doesn't have. have one and it's in them and it's a it give you another Midwest team um and I know that there's a lot of people at Kansas City that would really like to have an NBA team yeah I mean look they had one once upon a time mm-hmm they did the grisness and yeah and it's a huge huge city um Seattle's obviously the look especially with all the money and all the tech that's going on there um you you certainly you've got enough insanely wealthy people to pull that one on and build their own arena, so that's not even a mess anymore.

I kind of think that they might not expand within the States. And you also have to wonder about the long-term viability of all of the teams. Anybody that's in a small market is always at some level of risk, whether you're a Charlotte and New Orleans of Memphis, anybody, right? I'm talking long-term, unless you have, you know, I will just speak to this because, obviously I've been covering Memphis for such a long time. You know, when you have ironclad leases and when the city pays for and funds in arena, then in those contracts, you get to have right of first refusal.

And in a city like this, you would never lose your team because the rich people in the town would step up and make sure you keep the team. But that's part of, you know, that's part of the yin and yang of signing these deals. right? Like if you if you decide that it is going to be taxpayer funded to build an arena, then the one of the bonuses of that is that somebody can't just come in here and move the move it out. You know, you've got 20 year leases, 25 year leases, and the NBA doesn't want to set that precedent because they let teams leave because of no public funding. Because they set the precedent that, hey, you know, if you'll publicly fund it, then, you know, you're going to be able to get a team because this.

other market won't. And so anybody that's like, you know, the smaller markets is always at risk, but in terms of expansion, I don't know, Kev. I kind of worried that if we get expansion in the NBA, it probably wouldn't be within the continental United States. But maybe I'm wrong. I mean, I don't worry about that. I think that could end up being a good thing. If you have a team in Mexico City, I think that could be really great for the league. And it would not be shocking if that's part of their long-term vision. It's like we talked about with planning ahead on the schedule, with resuming games. By having a G-League team in Mexico City,

it's trying to foster a fan base. It's creating a place where neutral site games could potentially be played. And maybe in the distant future, 10 years from now, if expansion is back on the table again, then Mexico City could potentially be a more appealing option.

Otherwise, as you mentioned, there's so many others. Seattle is a no-brainer. Vegas, of course, could be an option as well. Vancouver, you could think about Louisville, Kansas City. There's a handful of cities out there that makes some sense. But to answer the original question, Seattle for sure, Ben, and the second one I would choose, I would like to see a team in Vancouver, two more teams on the West Coast. I think Vegas is best for neutral site games. And I would say the same from Mexico City, at least for now. But we'll see how that changes over this decade. Well, before we move on, let me just give a quick shout out to the Sonic Boom podcast, podcast that I produced along with a few other.

here at the Ringer last year about the Seattle Supersonics and how they moved from Seattle to Oklahoma and how you know there's a possibility that they'll come back. So just, you know, check that out if you can. And what else you're going to do? That's an unbelievable promo.

In fact, I think that's how every, anybody that is promoting some level of entertainment, the tagline should be, what else are you going to do? All right. All right, we're ready for the next question, but first we have to hear from today's sponsor. Today's episode of The Mismatch is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. Right now, we cannot be overwhelmed.

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the innovators, and the manufacturing, transportation, and food distribution industries to make sure we are finding the right people for the right jobs right now. Let's work together. ZipRecruiter.com slash work together. Let's get back to the mismatch. Next question.

Next question. From Dylan. Assuming that the Lakers and Clippers make the Western Conference finals, who do you think this break is going to help more? LeBron or Kauai. A big plus for the Lakers was another long back-to-back postseason run for

Kauai and now he'll be fully rested. But LeBron James will also be rested more. I'm dead ass about LeBron winning the finals and finals MVP, but arrested Kauai worries me. The answer's Kauai. Yes, Mr. Lode management, of course. Yes. He misses two out every,

one out of every four games. So, I mean, imagine if he didn't have to miss one out of every four games. games. Yes, it's Kauai, right? I mean, we don't know if he does it just to amp up for the playoffs, or is it necessary? You know, because it's not like we're going to get any kind of information. Like, what does a world look like that Kauai's played every single game? We don't know. But the short answer is, I mean, LeBron is a freco. He could, I mean, the guy's played 100 games for the last 50 years until he shows. that he's unable to do that.

And I also think that, like, I also sense, and I'm sure Kauai's this way too, but don't you sense that LeBron James is going to be the guy that comes back bigger and more ripped up and in the best shape of his life? Like, some of these guys are going to get lazy and not do all that much. I feel like LeBron James has used this time probably as an off season

to just get into peak condition. Though LeBron did say recently, that this is the time of year where he starts to really ramp up for the playoffs. And not getting to do that is going to change things for him. So who knows what happens with LeBron? Obviously, he's going to be in peak condition to his fullest abilities. When I read that question or heard that question, I was thinking, well, how are they helped? I mean, how is Kauai helped from other players on his team getting healthy?

Lou Williams recently had it was dinged up a little bit. AD obviously has the arm injury. So these guys, you know, indirectly help LeBron and Kauai respectively as well by getting healthy over time. This is what I'll also say. It's not just Kauai. It's the whole Klipper team. I mean, you can speak to this as a Clipper fan, Isaac. It wasn't until recently.

I mean, I was watching a game a couple weeks ago, and they said it was the first game this year. They had their entire roster healthy. Yeah. Like sham it and everybody. And they've used more starting lineups than any team in the league. So it's them. The answer's them. They've been injured all year.

Yeah, something that a phrase that's been thrown out within Clippers fan circles is that the only consistency this year has been inconsistency. And to actually have a healthy squad and they were really ramping up before the whole pandemic. And, of course, the NB. Got suspended just when the Clippers are hitting their stride. Well, the other thing is, look, Paul George hasn't been the beacon of health either. Yeah, yeah. him getting all this time off too. I mean, you got, it's both of them.

I mean, same with Pat Bev, same with Lou Will, you know. Yeah, but I mean, like, look, AD and LeBron have been way healthier than George and Kauai this year. You know who this could potentially help most, though, in the West. Houston. James Hardham typically gets tired towards the playoffs because he's carrying such a heavy load towards the end of the season. Same with Russell Westbrook, too. Those guys carry such a load over the full year.

and now they're getting some time off but before games could potentially resume. I wonder if this injects some more energy in them for that shortened season, shortened playoff run, whatever it ends up being. I look at a guy like that that had a heavy, heavy workload over the course of the year. It could help them out too. Yeah, PJ Tucker, not to mention PJ Tucker, playing center, you know, for all those minutes getting banged down in the post. Like, he's definitely going to help for him to get a break.

Yeah, well, he's also the kind of guy. that is susceptible to coming in 20 pounds heavier than what he was. PJ puts on weight quick. No. He gets into shape as the season goes on. There's going to be guys that come back that are just not in shape at all. Trust me. You see it every year.

And now, I mean, it's hard right now. You have to be severely self-motivated. Wait, when's the last time PJ Tucker came in overweight? Two years ago. Remember, it was a huge thing on our show. I told you, I saw. him in the preseason. It was huge. Yeah. And then like two months later,

he was leaned out. I don't remember the argument, but I don't. It was me call. I called PJ Tucker fat. I had just seen him. I mean, he had boobs, the whole nine. The two months, two months later, he was leaned out. I love PJ Tucker. I love him. But, I mean, he was not in shape.

I feel like if we argue, if you had said that on the podcast, I'd be like, I would have disagreed with you and it probably turned into an argument with me saying no, PG-Tech is in shape. You're wrong. And it's just the way he has. Stop body shaming him. Yeah, right. No, I mean, he went Was that the argument? Is that what I said to you? He goes from 260 to 240, you know?

Or whatever. I mean, the guy's a truck. Anyways. All right. Next question. All right. From Peter D. Top five teams to never win a title with the addendum from Jared. What is the greatest finals losing team of the 21st century? So two questions there. All right. Well, here.

The grit and grind grizzlies. No. Let me do this because I am going to switch this up, okay? Look, I am aware of the history of the NBA. Jerry West went to the finals a thousand times and lost them all. I'm sure those teams, there are many teams throughout the 50, 60, 70s that could be on the list. To me, I'm not going to speak with authority on some of these teams that obviously video footage is sparse. and I would be going on the historical chronicles of others, right?

Like, to me, that's not necessarily fair. What I can speak to is teams that I have seen over the years. And the first one that, you know what's funny? When you said that, I'm not going to give you five. I can't list you five. But I will tell you the first one that came to my mind. You can get four. You can get four.

We can only count to four. Oh, no. Two that I loved that immediately came to my mind were the King's team. with Weber, Pesia, yes, Bibby, you know, Doug Christie, you know,

they got their heart ripped out. First one on my mind too. First one. Yeah, I mean, that team got their heart rid out. And a team that, you know,

look, history, you know, there's going to be a book that people can go read Jack McCallum seven seconds or less. But that's son's team

with Amari and Steve Nash and Marion, that whole group, the one that, you know, the suspension against the spurs,

if that doesn't happen, is it a different story. I mean, look, you got to remember, Amari Stademeyer was getting like, you know, 30 and 20 against Tim Duncan in playoff games. Like, this guy was, he was, he was as good as anybody in the entire NBA at the highest level against the best guy. And so they had, they had the juice and they had obviously the MVP playing point guard. But those were the first two that I think I can speak to with authority and saying those teams in another dimension are NBA championship caliber teams. I'll give you two more so we can get to four.

The early 2010's Oklahoma City Thunder with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Hardin, that trio of MVP's, they were a great team. They were a young team, but they were a great team. They won 60 games in 2012, 2013. that was a championship caliber team losing to Memphis. But they were young, though. Just young, just young. But still, one of the greatest teams didn't win a title, though.

When you think about three Hall of Famers on the same team, remarkable. And then another team from this past decade, the 2011, 2012 Chicago Bulls come to mind when Derek Rose tore his ACL in the first round and they lost the Sixers. That might not qualify as greatest team that's ever won a title. But I do think about that year for Derek Rose and how. he was producing it in the importance of having great players in the postseason. There are a team that would have went a lot further than they ended up going because of that injury. Yeah, I mean, look, the easiest one, the greatest, I think if it's not the greatest team ever,

certainly they would be, people could argue, but it's that 15, 16 Warriors team. Of course. Individual team, yeah. They were 73 and 9. Yep. You know, and they lost. So that team's got to be up there. was a kid, the Sonics team, I thought, of the Bulls opponents, that Sonic's team with Gary

Peyton and, uh, and, and, and Sean Kemp in that group was, I mean, they had a bunch of guys. Nate McMill was on that team. Kendall Gill, Sam Perkins, that left Frimp. Also that son's team with Barclay and, and KJ, um, you know, and obviously, and the jazz got knocked. Utah, Utah, too. Yeah, the jazz got knocked off too. So I mean, you've, the early 90s next to, you know, the Ewing led teams. Those teams, there are some great, great Knicks teams

in that group that, you know, were, you know, a game, sometimes a shot away from a whole different story being written about them. So that would be,

we got to certainly over five. And most of them were those fun teams we liked, right? Like the kings, the sons, the warriors,

those teams were all fun to watch too. No love for the Lopsity Clippers, huh? All right, it's fine. Hell. One more that just came to mind because I was just on my mind as Kevin Garnett getting inducted into the Hall of Fame.

Celtics obviously won the finals in 08, but that 08-09 Celtics team was better until KG got hurt in the postseason. Yeah. We probably would have had a Celtics Lakers trilogy in the finals. Yeah, Perkins was hurt too, right? Perkins was hurt the year after in 2010. Perkins was hurt in 10? Okay.

The year after. So, but you know, we probably would have had a Celtics. Celtics Lakers trilogy had KG not gotten hurt. That Celtics team in 2009 was ridiculous. So that's another team that comes to mind to from recent years. All right. Next question. All right.

This is from Megan. Where's the first place you want to visit after COVID-19 is over? Isaac, you know my answer. Of course I do. Of course I do. It's spoon by H in Los Angeles, California. Isaac, you took me there for the first time last March in 2019. And it was really a life-changing experience for me in terms of broadening my taste buds and enjoying communal dining, eating with friends and enjoying a dish together.

And I just look, I've brought friends there over the past year many times. I've gone solo many times. And that's a place that I truly love. It's it's a, it's across 3,000 miles across the country away from my home in Brockton, Massachusetts. But with L.A. being my new home, that makes me feel at home just going in there and enjoying food with friends and loved ones. So I look forward to the day when restaurants open back up and people able to dine together, go all with family and friends. And then have that experience. I look forward to going with you, Isaac, next time we get to go to Spoon. Yeah, the two things I would say in an arena with fans, I miss that so greatly.

I do. I love going to games. I love it. And I've missed it greatly. On a personal level, though, like outside, it's going on like a family vacation, like and probably to the beach or something like that to just get away. Because I had a whole, my whole spring break thing. this all hit that same week as my kids spring break from school.

And so it ruined the trip. And we weren't able to do it. We had a whole trip planned to a water park and the whole nine. And we weren't able to do it. I've got another one. I mean, there's one that's already booked in June. And I'm hoping that by that time, I don't know. I guess I'm going to have to make a decision soon on whether or not to cancel the reservation.

Because I think it's like 45 days out or something. Because it's hard to know if by June, right? I mean, I've rented a house. in Florida or whatever with a couple other friends of mine and their families. And so we rented this house out there. And so I've been so looking forward to that and hoping that can play out. I would just say, yeah, like getting some, like a vacation that we didn't get. We didn't get to go anywhere for spring break when that was all planned out.

And then obviously right about now would be towards the end of the NBA season. And so when this is all said and done and you can travel. I haven't, I haven't gone anywhere since, I think, last, maybe a year ago, I guess, you know, I went last summer. I went to Chicago. And that was it. I haven't been out of town other than that. Wow.

You know, everything you just mentioned, I just look forward to those, to those shared experiences again. I mean, I think about first time what it's going to feel like going out to eat. I think about what it's going to be like at a game with a full packed crowd. I think about what it would be like at a concert or like Coachella next year. Coachella, if it gets canceled in October after being postponed, what's that music festival going to be like for people just releasing emotion, getting out for the first time, maybe, we hope,

in many, many months with a large group of people. It's going to be an emotional experience whenever that happens, all relative to what your own interests are, even something like going to the movie theater, man, And this past month or so, about the last two months, after my dad passed away, my mom and I were, like, looking forward to going to movies together on Tuesdays because you get a cheap ticket, see some movies together, because that's something we've always loved doing over the years. And, you know, not able to go to the movies now, it's, it's, you know, for any person who's a moviegoer, being in a full theater on an opening night or something like that, that's a fun experience. I just look forward to when those days are back. And as I always say, Chris, don't take LeBron James for granted.

I'm not going to take any of that for granted once it's back. That's for sure. All right. Next question. All right. This is from Duke. If Janus does decide to leave next year, where would be the best destination for him? Oh, I don't even want to entertain this. I mean, look, I am rooting for him to stay in Milwaukee for his career. and I hope that because I've lived through this,

you know, my entire NBA covering it life. I mean, like every time any of the players went to a big market from OJ Mayo to Rudy Gay to Mark Gassaud to Mike Conley, every one of them was going to leave for L.A. and New York and somewhere other than where they were. And so I've got a soft spot for Milwaukee and having to deal with this all the time. My short answer would also be, it doesn't matter.

like it doesn't matter where he would go. He's frigging Janus. I mean, he would make any team exponentially better. And that's why, look, you can look at the options. People talk about Toronto, right? The connection with Masayu Jiri from with basketball without borders. You can look at Golden State, the connection with Steph Curry and Steph suddenly recruiting Janus. But if he went to Golden State, it would be the same thing like with KD.

he'd be joining, you know, a favorite because Golden State's going to be great next year. The team that is best for Giannis, if he leaves, which I hope he doesn't, but if he leaves, to answer the question is New York. It's the Knicks. It's the Knicks. Be the savior? Yes. If he's the savior of the Knicks, I know it's big market bias. You're just choosing a big market team.

Yeah. But I'm not choosing the Knicks because they're a big market team. I'm choosing the Knicks because they suck. We've done that for every star, but every star, we've said that. And eventually, eventually there's going to be one. It was LeBron. It was Anthony Davis. It was, obviously Carmelo went there.

Amari Stodemeyer, you know, it landed there. But also like, well, like every big star that has come up, it's like, well, what about the Knicks? Right. It was Katie and Kyrie just recently. And no one ever does it. I mean, it's been now 15, 20 years. Nobody pulls the trigger and decides to sign up for the Knicks. And that's why I'm saying, you know, the best destination for him is the Knicks.

The best destination is Milwaukee and just stay there. If he leaves, if he leaves. Don't leave. Don't leave. Don't leave, Janus. Don't listen to Duke. Thank you for the question, Duke. All right. I think we can finish on a silly question here.

This is from Evan. Kev, who would you cast as Verno in a movie about Verno? And Verno, who would you cast as Kev? Oh, boy. You go first here, Chris. That dude that played McLevin? Oh, come on. What's that dude's name?

What's that dude's name? I should have Brad Pitt playing me. Christopher Mintz. Yeah. That's his name. Christopher Mint. He's in Super Bad, right? I know the answer, but I want you to

say why. Why Christopher Mince? And why McLevin specifically? I just think I think you guys, I think you guys favor each other. You know what I mean? Can he grow a beard like me? I have a beard now. Yeah, probably. I bet he's probably got a big beard now. I don't know what he's done. I don't know what he's done recently. Well, I was going to choose Jack Nicholson for you. Oh, Jack Nicholson. Yeah. Oh my goodness. I'm looking at this guy. Look, he does have facial. Where? Even if you go to his Wikipedia and you guys aren't far off age-wise. He's got a little stuff on his chin. And he's a good-looking guy now.

He's got a little Jamal Murray on his chin, you know? There's some patchiness there. Jamal Murray, huh? But as I was saying. I hadn't thought I had anything on Jamal-Marie's chin in a minute. promise you that some contgeness is all i'm saying yeah see you're thinking of you're thinking of him from that movie super bad i know that's not fair no i'm real he said mclovin uh you're you're kind of mcloveny no i know that's okay but anyway as i'm saying

for you jack nicholson because jack niggleson how dare you that why jack he's a hundred years old we have de-aging technology now. We have deep, we have deep fake technology that they can super, terrible. No, I'm dead ass serious, man. You can go ahead.

You can super- insult me. I'm not insulting you. I told you, I finally, I finally broke down last week. I said, enough is enough.

I am now, I am putting, I have like a folder of, I get more you look like this person or like, and it's, it's, It's girls, it's kids, it's goofy-looking dudes, it's people with buck teeth, like anything.

Anything like they could, like 90% of them, honestly, I'm not kidding. I look at them and they look nothing like me. Every once in a while there will be one. But I get one of these like, no lie, three to five times a week. And I'm now just creating a folder of these because they're outrageous. But anyway, with Jack Nicholson, the reason why I choose that is because as an actor, he is terrific at playing sentimental character, but he's also the best at playing a angry character. And you get very angry.

So I think Jack Nicholson has the range as an actor to accurately portray the man, Chris Vernon. I almost responded. There was a guy that sent us the other day, and he says, you know, I'm listening to these podcasts. I'm doing a little catch-up, and is Kevin O'Connor really like that in person? If so, he's a Hall of Fame good guy. And I have it in my drafts where I was going to respond to the guy. You've got it all wrong. He's an absolute scumbag.

But I didn't do it because I thought maybe you would get upset. And now I'm fine. Now I've got to make you feel good. I'll switch yours to Paul Rudd. You can be Paul Rudd. Oh, yeah. I guess you say, I think I was like Sekiest Man Alive, wasn't he?

Was he? I think he's one sexiest man alive. Was he really? I think he has. Am I wrong about that? Paul Rudd not win. I'm Googling right now. I think he did.

He was one of People magazine's Sexiest Men Alive. I don't think he was named Sexiest Man Alive. Oh, he's just one of them. But he was on the list. Oh, he got a blurt. Yes, he got an honorable mention. Isaac, thanks for coming back to the show. Of course, it was great being back.

Thank you, Isaac. Thanks to Kevin O'Connor, everybody. Have a good week. We will be back on Friday. If you dig what you're hearing. Go give us a rating review on iTunes, five stars, five stars. It really helps.

And we will talk to you on Friday.