The Ringer NBA Show - Early Returns on the Eastern Conference Arms Race, Plus Pelicans Talk With Arcade Fire’s Win Butler | The Corner 3 (Ep. 387)

Episode Date: February 15, 2019

We run down the list of the five Eastern Conference contenders that made deadline additions and where they’ll stand in relation to each other come playoff time (1:00). Then, Arcade Fire’s Win Butler joins the show for a second time to discuss the awkward Anthony Davis situation and the NBA Celebrity All-Star Game (37:52). Hosts: Kevin O’Connor, Jonathan Tjarks, Danny Chau Guest: Win Butler Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, guys, and welcome to the Ringer Podcast Network. I'm Liz Kelly. Here's what to check out on The Ringer.com as we head into the 2019 NBA All-Star Weekend. Dan Devine is writing about the five most interesting NBA teams, Shea Serrano's The Disrespectful Dunk Index returns, and Kevin O'Connor analyzes Steph Curry's evolution and how he changed the game of basketball. Also, don't forget to check out Bill Simmons's NBA trade value rankings and much more on the Ringer.com. Welcome to the Ringer NBA show. I'm Kevin O'Connor, and this is The Corner 3.

Joining me here in Rainy, Los Angeles. It's Ringer Associate Editor, Danny Chow. It's raining a lot here, man. Lots of rain, lots of rain. And from Dallas, Texas, it's Ringer staff writer, Jonathan Charks. It's nice to be back on the pod, guys. Ready to drop some takes. I'm ready.

I'm ready. Today's podcast is produced by Bobby Wagner and recording at 908 Pacific Time on Thursday morning. Today on the podcast, we have Pelican superfan, Winn Butler, the front man from Arcade Fire, and he's going to be on to discuss the very, very, very, sad, sad state of the New Orleans Pelicans. But before we do that,

us three are going to discuss the Eastern Conference contenders heading into the break, potential storylines, early reviews of their trades, and what's to come. Danny, let's start off with the Milwaukee Bucks. They're the number one team in the Eastern Conference. They have the number four offense in the league, number one defense,

number one net rating, outscoring teams by 9.6 points per 100 possessions. What's the first thing that comes to your mind, Danny, for the rest of the season with the Bucks? I mean, really, the first thing that comes to mind is generally that 2014-15 Hawks team that won 60 games with Mike Boodenholzer kind of like, oh, they're, you know, they're revolutionizing the way that team basketball is being played. Of course, it didn't last very long. They got outed by LeBron. But the one thing that these bucks have

that the Hawks don't is a transcendent superstar. And so you're kind of just like, all right, no, this all makes sense that they're the best team in the league because you have a great coach and a great system. and you also have one of the three most talented players in the league. Yeah, it's like if LeBraw was on that Hawks team, basically. Our very own Zach Kramm had a very good stat about Janus's game last night, or Wednesday night. He had 33 points, 19 rebounds, 11 assists, and Kram said in NBA history, only Will Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elgin Baylor, Oscar Robertson, and now Janice Anta Kumpo have ever done that. I think that really puts in a perspective, the type of season he's having, an MVP caliber, or whether he wins it or not, we'll see.

But to your point, this team is a great system, Fannie. They've made the right personnel additions with obviously Brooke Lopez and Erasana Eliasova and now Nicola Meritich who hasn't played yet. It's just to surround Janus with this perfect ideal system for his game. I think my big question with Milwaukee, it's been the question all season,

is their system is based around shooting around Janus. So will their shooters, primarily their big men, hold up on defense against the other elite teams. And that's Lopez, Ilyossova. Even Meritich, I'm not sure if he starts getting head hunted by like Kyrie Irving,

I don't know how he can stay on the floor. So to me, that's a big question. I think the guy who's been really big for them who could be huge these playoffs is DJ Wilson. Yeah. How come? Okay, so DJ Wilson, second year big man from Michigan. He basically didn't play last year.

He's been putting the rotation, I think, in the last like two months. He's 6'10. He's basically like a much more athletic. version of Myritish. See, I worry that Bud isn't like bench this guy because he's a young guy. It makes young guy mistakes.

But he can move. He can really shoot it. He's a smart player. I think he can have a really, really important part of their playoff run. It's funny. DJ Wilson kind of like, his potential playoff role

kind of reminds me of what Thawn Maker did last year against the Celtics. When they kind of had to switch things up because they just didn't have any other options to kind of go against Boston. They brought in this, versatile seven-foot guy who could, you know, shoot outside and kind of bring in these energy plays.

And DJ Wilson was basically like left for dead last year. He didn't play at all. The stretches that he did play, he looked awful. And then all of a sudden, they put him in like, yeah, like two, three months ago. And he has like these incredible defensive stretches. It's just individual defense. And you're just like, where did this come from? I like the Thon Maker comparison for him. Thon didn't play in games one or two against Boston. And it's because for obvious reasons because he's really not that good. But then he comes in as this X factor, the rest of the series. And he had some very poor moments, but also some very good moments. The nice thing for Milwaukee this year is with their depth,

they're veterans like Miritich Lopez and Eliasova. You're going to lean on those guys first. They're better players. They're more proven players. But if any of those guys are struggling to your point charts, if Miritage is getting run off the floor on the defensive end, DJ Wilson is somebody the rest of this season heading into the playoffs. I think it's a good time to experiment with him

and see if he continues to develop like he has this season heading into the playoffs where he can be an X factor for you. This team has a luxury of having good depth which I did not have last season. I don't see them moving off being the favorite by the time the playoffs began. I just don't see that changing. Right.

I think one thing that I would say is maybe a key and it's not something that you can really control. But look, if you can get Janus in foul trouble, that's probably the best way to go around, you know, strategizing against this team because I think in their 12 losses, seven of them occurred in games in which Yannis had at least four fouls. So you want to get them out of rhythm, obviously. This is not like rocket science. You want to get their best player in foul trouble. But the entire Bucks system revolves around Janus. So if you take them off the floor, suddenly they become much more ordinary team

that you can kind of game plan much easier for. it's like you said of course they're worse without yannis but just to put that into perspective they outscore teams by 12.9 points per 100 possessions when yeah with yannis is on the floor and they outscore teams by 2.9 points per 100 positions without him on the floor that drop off obviously there's still a plus team without him but that point 10 point differential if you're able to either neutralize him or remove him from the game obviously is a big difference the same thing with houston this year with them being so reliant on james hardin having this one central player that you're relying on.

It's easier to sit than done. He's a great defender too. And I think, too, what I want to see in these playoffs, like, I want to see Janus go full of brawn. Like, if it gets to a game seven, I need Janus to play 48 minutes. Like, I think he can do it. I think he has the ability

to just go the whole game. And if he can do that, like, there's no one of the East who can really match up with Janus. No one in the league can really. He is like the guy that has, there's no answer for him. Moving on to the Toronto Raptors, they're a game back from the Milwaukee Bucks for the best record in the East. They have the fifth

best offense of the NBA, the eighth best defense, and they have another guy, obviously, in Kauai Leonard. Another very hard to stop player. Still hasn't been playing every single game as they're managing his injuries. He hasn't played a single back to back yet. I wonder if that's them being over cautious, Danny,

or maybe there's reason still to be that cautious with him. I mean, the way that he's played, it doesn't really look like it's anything more than a quote unquote load management kind of issue. But yeah, I mean, obviously, we have no idea. Obviously, they're keeping everything pretty close to the chest. But, I mean, he looks healthy. There's nothing about his play that would suggest that, you know, he can't do it. Well, guys, we should talk about last night without Kauai out there. That was

incredible. Pascal and O.G., man. Who needs Kauai? How many points they combined for last night? Pascal Ziacom. It combined for 66. 66. I Yeah, Seacom had 44 points on 15 of 25, and then O'G and Nobie had 22 on 9 of 14, including 4 of 8 from 3 for OG and 4 of 5 from 3 for Seacom. It seems like Seacom entered, he's improved every year. This season, he made a leap in October and November, and then in December, I feel like since around mid-December or so, maybe around the time since Valanchunis went out, it seems like Seacom has taken another leap mid-season with his scoring.

I mean, this dude is doing things that you never really saw him do in college. They're playing him more of the second unit now. They're like staggering his minutes so that he has more time on the ball. Because like in the first minute, obviously you have Kauai and Lowry. But when he goes in the seconds, he kind of gets the ball in his hand because do whatever he wants. I talked to somebody in the league recently who said to me, they're like, I like Seacum. I don't love him because so much of his game is reliance on, you know, hustle and just outrunning guys. And the playoffs, more people are hustling.

And maybe that neutralizes some of his story. strengths. And even in last night's game, a lot of the points he scored was due to just beating guys at the floor or hitting spot jumpers. I guess I'm just curious, what are your thoughts on that perspective? I was just thinking about it, like, not to be reductive, but the best way for him to beat guys athletic ability is playing him at the five. He'll be any five at the four, even if they're hustling, won't he? Yeah, no, I think he's the fastest big man in the game, just end to end, whether he's on the ball or off the ball. It almost feels like Westbrook-esque. in terms of how much he can impact the game just by running.

And like manipulating the defense just by exerting a little bit more effort than anyone else on the floor. That's what, you know, gives him the opportunities to pull off those spin moves that he's kind of, you know, become famous for. They're so beautiful. Yeah. And it's because he kind of creates his own space because of how fast he is. I guess the one thing I'm thinking, like in a series against Milwaukee, like Pascal's kind of doing his thing. But then, like, I could just see Yonnas coming up behind them and like, oh, there's an even bigger shark out there. Right.

That would be quite a battle. I mean, I think with Seacrum, to your point about him playing small ball five, I just don't think it's sustainable to put him there for too long of a stretch. I think you can for a short period of time. But that's why you got Mark a soul. They got Mark a soul. So they have another big presence and upgrade over Valanchunis, who is a better defensive player than Valentunus. and the best passing center they've had a lot of time. Better shoot and Jonas, better passing.

I mean, truly, like, I wrote about this after their game against the Nets. No, Gassal point blank, is the best passing big man they've had in franchise history. Like, there's no debate about it. I said that number two was probably Charles Oakley, who was like 35 in 2000. Like, you'd have to go back 19 years to find the next best passing big man that they've had. Kiosi, I got a question for you. You're talking about, like, Biggs' response. malls at the five position.

But I'm thinking in a series with Toronto, Milwaukee, or Boston, are those teams going to stay very big at the five? Like, who's the five outside of Embed to really demands that you stay big against him in the east? I think, yeah, I still think against Milwaukee, they're going to be playing with size. I still think with Boston, there's going to be stretches where Baines is out there. And I know that's not not a threat, but I'm saying like, I'm not terribly concerned about Baines dictating matches.

But he was out there. You're also taking Ibaka off the floor who's been. very good for Toronto or you're taking Gasol off the floor who has been very good so far granted it's been early I still think those guys are positive contributors to your team and like if you're taking one of those guys off and putting Siakum at the five

who else are you putting on the floor that's probably a lesser player I mean it's not always going to be like your best five small small five line of though in a series against Boston if Gasol's out there isn't Kyrie headhunting him all the time might be head hunting Seacum too I'd rather have Seacchakum I'm guarding Kyrie than Gassol.

I think you would, but then on offense, I think having Gassol out there, or Reebok, those two have been so good for them. That's going to be the question for all these coaches. It always comes back in the playoffs. It's like, how big do you stay at the five? How do you find the weakness? Well, let's tie this to the regular season, though. Like, from Nick Nurse, what do you want to see from him experiment with the rest of the

season? Because he has some new guys on the team now, Jeremy Lynn and Pat McCaw. Oh, yeah. Are these guys who can grow into a role that's strong enough where you feel okay? going with a small wall five, what are you looking for from those younger guys? Yeah, I think with Pat McCaw, it's kind of similar to what I was actually saying

with Pascal Seacom. So the one game that McCaw and Gassal played together was against the Nets, and they just looked completely in sync just because of their specific roles on the team. So Mark became this hub from the high post, and McCaw playing in the Warriors system for the past two years,

kind of instinctively knew how, a cut. And his speed on cuts pretty much opened up the floor for almost everyone else. So it wasn't just Marcus All finding guys open. It was kind of Pat McCaw creating these lanes also. And when I watched that, I was just like, oh my God, he's kind of impacting the game with his speed the same way that Seacum does. So he's kind of like last year's Seacum in guard form that they have now. And I think, I think too, McCaw is like the DeLon Wright replacement possibly. Because the one thing with Toronto know, they've got Lowry, Fred Van Vleet, and Jeremy Lynn. That's a lot of really small point points. And I wonder if, like, they might need a bigger defensive guard at the one at some point

in the playoffs. Is there anything that Toronto could do the rest of the season for, for you to feel they're going to be the favorite of Milwaukee in your eyes heading into the postseason? I think at this point, it's just basically maintaining chemistry and seeing just how much you can get out of guys like OG and McCaw, because these young guys are definitely going to be the ones who or one, the most versatile, like, young athletes that you have on the team. And so if you can rely, like, OG has had a pretty off year so far, you know, on, on and off the court issues. Like, it's, it's been, it's been a tough season for him. But, man, these past two games have been awesome.

It's been really fun seeing him kind of emerge back to being the guy that we saw last year. He's like one of those. He'll never die, Danny. OG for life. He's like one of those swings, he's one of those serious swinging players, as we just talked about. with Milwaukee in terms of Miratech and then the other guys like Yali Sov and whatnot.

Moving on to the Indiana Pacers. A couple of Pacers fans are very angry with me yesterday that Indiana has not been discussed more by the national media. Wait, what did they say? Where is this coming from? They're just wondering as if it's a conspiracy against Indiana.

It's like, no, it's not a conspiracy. They lost their best player in Victor Oladipo. It's a very sad story because this team is good. It's a good team, even without Victor LaDipo. Yeah. balanced offense, a tough defense with Miles Turner, who's a defensive player of the year candidate, Sabonis, who's a six man in the year candidate, a bunch of good wings and forwards. This is a good team still, even without Victor Oladipo.

It's just they're not going to be a finals contender in the Eastern Conference because, sadly, the oldiepo had the injury that he had. Okay, KOC, let me troll these people real quick. Okay. I think the most important thing about the Pacers is they got to stay in that three, so we can see Celtics' stickers in the first round. Like that's what I need to happen. That's like the big storyline for that.

And to be honest, that can happen because the Pacers are such a tough out because of the way they play. Their defense is right there with the Bucks as the number one in the league. And the funny thing is, Oladipo went out. Boyan Bogdanovich has really stepped his game up. He's really good. But the thing is, he's not a guy who's going to be like calling his own shot all the freaking time. Like, he hasn't taken 20 shots yet. And the thing is, he has the green light to.

He may have to in the postseason, which is kind of the issue. Yeah. Well, you know who we'll take 20 shots in the game is Wesley Matthews. Like, he'll have no problem getting those shots up if need be. So they added him. He was bought out by the Knicks last week. And he's kind of, I think he is he starting now in Indiana? You really don't like Wesley Matthews, too, charks.

Every chance you get, you just take a shot. I've watched to take a lot of really bad shots for a long time now. So I don't know. Bowenero. You mentioned Indiana staying in that three spot. Their schedule coming out of the All-Star break is pretty good. New Orleans, Washington, Detroit, Dallas, Minnesota, Orlando, Chicago. But then it gets really tough.

Milwaukee, Philly, New York, OKC, Denver, Portland, Clippers, Golden State, Denver, OKC, Boston. I mean, that's... How many of those are home games versus away games? Mostly away. New York and OKC are at home. And then the second Denver games at home. everything else is on the road, and that's leading up till April, where it gets a little bit easier again.

But boy, I mean, they could be holding on to that three seed going into early March and then just hit that stretch that'll probably knock them down to four or five. Yeah, I mean, and they lost against the Bucks a few days ago. And before that, they kind of fattened up on teams that were basically kind of teetering on the edge of irrelevancy. Like, even that Lakers game, they blew out by, you know, 40. It was like, you know, LeBron had just come back. He wasn't himself. The team is just kind of in shambles in like a psychological way, I guess. So, yeah, like, it's just, it's hard to kind of project this team as, like, a giant killer when they just don't have their biggest weapon.

I'm curious what you all think if they get to that four or five, do you think they have a shot against Boston or Philly in a series? How do you think that would play out? No. I don't think they have the versatility. Yeah. To match up. Yeah. I mean, like, they have two young rising stars on their team and Miles Turner and DeMontas Sabonis.

Those guys are just coming along so well. Turner, like entering the season, he's a good defender, but this year he's become a Yeah, he's been great. Yeah, like a legitimate defensive player of the year candidate at 22 years old. It's impressive. I think the rest of the season with Indiana, I'm just looking for more and more growth from those guys. Turner's been shooting more threes this past month than he was in the beginning of

the year when he was like just frustratingly just pick and popping to mid-range. but just seeing more offensive growth from him. So he becomes not just a stellar defender, but a stellar two-way big man. Because I think those guys, we've talked about this over the course of the season, might not necessarily play them together, but they can still coexist on the same team.

But if Turner can explode offensively, I think then maybe you can play them together in big, big, a lot of us. We're doing like a top 25 thing next week. I think I'll put Turner in there, like in the 20s somewhere. It's like top 25 players in the league. I think I had him at 24, 25 in mine, if I remember correctly.

It's quite good. Yeah, he's been really, really good this season. Guys, imagine if last year's Tyreek Evans was on this team. Like, would that change anything? Dropping 30 points for a game right now? Well, didn't he play like 40 games last year or something? Like, I don't know if he could hold up for a whole season anyways. To think Memphis could have gotten like a, at least a pick for him back for him.

Man, Memphis, this is a lot different story, but their asset management is two twos for holiday when they're rebuilding. Oof, man. At least Memphis has Jaron Jackson, which brings us to the NBA watching. of the night. Friday night we have the Rising Stars game. It's at 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Pacific, and that's on T&T. Yeah. Fratern, Jaron Jackson, Jared Allen, Jason Tatum, DeAndre Aiton, Shea Gildes Alexander. Danny, who are you most looking forward to watching in the Rising Stars game tonight? How the hell did you list all those players and not named Luca Donchich? That's what I was looking for, Danny.

Look, I think he's the best player on either team, and I think that should probably dictate who wins, I say world team, world team wins. Charks, Luca Donchich will also be on our top 25 of the season list as well. I'm sure all three of us, correct? Yeah, I'll have them on there for sure. Yeah, no doubt about it. And remember, if you want to watch every NBA game

subscribe to NBA League Pass on NBA.com or your local cable or satellite provider. And that brings us to the Celtics. They are 37 and 21 in the season with the number nine offense and the number five defense. They've been especially good as we've talked about before since they

inserted the Marcus's Marcus Smart and Marcus Morris into the starting lineup. Really, the conversation with them always gets back to their star players. Gordon Hayward has struggled for the most part the season, but as of late, these last three games, he's been quite good playing as aggressive as he did back in Utah, looking more like himself. Sell me on Hayward, KOC. Are you buying this? I don't know.

I'm not sure of them buying. We've seen these little flashes before, and that's why I'm skeptical. However, when we did see them in the past, I don't. think he came with as much aggression, just the intent on scoring on drive to the room as we've seen this past week or so. And that's why I think for Boston and for him personally,

you know, as an individual player, heading into an all-star break, I think you have to feel a little bit better about his odds of getting back too close to what he was by the playoffs, which is exactly what Boston needs to actually have a chance, I think, against Toronto or Milwaukee. Yeah, I just don't think we'll be publishing any, oh, Gordon Hayward looks like

he's back because every time we've done that, it's just like, oh, okay, well, it's over. I mean, he's 28. It's not crazy he'll get back at some point. Like, people are watching like he's totally cooked. He's the prime, quote, quote, prime of his career. So he should at some point get back, I would think, right? Yeah.

I mean, there's these last three games, the 19 points, 26 points, 18 points, and it was really strong efficiency on top of what he's done all year, which has been really good playmaking. His playmaking has been the one thing that's made him a positive contributor, even without the scoring being there for him. Part of it these past couple games is Carrier Irving has been out for of them. And Neil played 14 minutes in the first one.

So in a way, they've needed Hayward to elevate his play more. Hey, would you say he's the best passer on the roster? Yeah, I think so. Irving is not, but that's okay,

because he's the best score on the team. It's really not his role. So, with Kyrie Irving, the question has been raised as of late. Are they better? Can we say who's raised this question? I believe that.

The question has been raised. Are they better off without Carrie Irving? I think the answer is clearly a no with his scoring prowess. Yeah, we got to keep the U-in theory alive, you know, somehow. Look, sometimes your ball movement is better without Kyrie. But it's like we have talked about with these other teams. I think Brad Stevens said it best for the Celtics to be the best versions of themselves.

They need Kyrie Irving. They need their best player. They need their best player. I think Hayward emerging, though, theoretically gives them more room to maneuver, right? Because if you take Kyrie out their defense, there's no spots to attack them at all on defense, really, at that point. I mean, that's the interesting variable here, where Irving is the guy that you can pick on defense and the player that teams will attack. You know, it's like with the Golden State Warriors during the regular season, Stefan Curry, teams don't really attack him and ball screens or try to get him on switches that frequently, like maybe once or twice per game. But in the playoffs, they are attacking him relentlessly.

and it's the same thing with Kyrie Irving in the East. Whether they're able to support him, whether other defensive players will see. I do think there is some logic to when Irving's off. That's when they're at their best defensively. I just wonder if the gains on defense outweigh the losses that happen on offense. I think, too, like the other thing with attacking is like the best way to guard Kyrie Irving is to attack him on defense, right?

Make him use his energy, wear out his body. So I think that's the other reason why you see it happen more in the playoffs, is because it's both ends of the floor. It really makes a difference when you kind of get them moving. I think one thing that has kind of shocked me and probably shocked most people, it's just like,

Marcus Smart hasn't really stopped shooting three as well. Like, he's been pretty good the entire season, and that kind of changed a lot of things for the way the Celtics were able to try out these finals. Isn't shocked by that? Mark Smart. Mark is smart. Yeah.

It's definitely the longest hot streak of Smart's career. If we could even call it that, It's not even really a hot streak. He's back to like shooting, or he's not back to. He's now starting to shoot league average from three. But that is such a huge improvement over his entire career. Basically, I mean, like he's been pretty much 30% since high school. Looking at his high school numbers, his college numbers,

and then NBA numbers, pretty much 30% on the button, really. If he's able to sustain shooting 36 plus percent at the postseason. Obviously, another one of those swing players for Boston. I think for them, it really comes down to where Gordon Hayward's at entering the postseason, but also Al Horford. We had talked about him early in the season where he had that knee injury and he didn't quite look like himself. As of late, he's looked tremendous, including against that game,

against the Sixers where he again gave Joel Unbeat a hard time. He's giving him a freaking lesson in basketball, man. This is like master's class education. What is it about that matchup charts? It's so hard for Philadelphia. Yeah. Well, I think we talked about it. I'm not sure in this pod. You mentioned it was a good point in the Slack case. You talk about how like Horford never fouls Embed. Like Horford's just smart defensive player that he makes Embed, umb is a thing. So there's nothing easy given, no easy shots to the line. So there's one on the floor is that. In the other end, he just spreads Embed out pick and pops him and just makes him. He's the perfect anti-embid player, really. Yeah. It's like when Embeddneyed dominates people, it's like it feels like the league is playing checkers and Embed is playing battleship. You know, so, but against Horford, you know, he's forcing you to play chess. And if you can't really outsmart him, then you're not going to win that matchup.

And that's kind of been the frustration watching Embed, tried to, like, basically try to punk Horford. And Horford's just not falling for it. Though that last play was a hack in that game. That was a hack. I will say, if I was Philly, I'd be concerned that like, Embedde was like, oh, the rest. Bro, don't worry about the rest right now, man. Right. You better keep your mental game on lock and figure out Horford.

Don't be worrying about the rest. Yeah, honestly, the whole real estate thing, the mental real estate thing that Joel Embed brings up all the time, Horford's in his head. He has to be after everything has happened the last year and a half. Let's move on on Sixers then. They have the number 10 offense in the league, number 11 defensive rating,

37 and 21 on the year. Obviously, they made their big addition of Tobias Harris at the trade deadline. But Charks, when we try ahead of this, it seems like you're not quite as high. As on Harris as I... See, I like Harris a lot, right? But then I'm watching that game against Boston.

And it's like, is he better than Marcus Morris? I don't know. Especially in like a smaller role. I think there's a point where maybe in certain games he won't be better than Marcus Morris because of the diminishing returns of him being utilized in that off ball role. But I think there's like, there's a higher ceiling for him where like in those games where he is hot and they're riding the hottest player, the guy with the best matchup, that's where perhaps Harris is,

that's where his greatest benefit is for you. Because of his versatility scoring as a playmaker coming off screens, handoff. He can score in any way on or off the ball. So I think he's better. It's just a matter of how often will he have the ability to be better than always. I'm thinking about it right now. So maybe the best role

for Harris, we all think about this. Maybe when they take MBE to off the floor, instead of playing a more limited big man, you move Simmons to the five, and you have Simmons and Harris together. And then Simmons is playmaking for Harris with more wings around them. That's actually kind of what I was thinking. Like when you have four like

All-Star caliber players like this, there are so many opportunities for you to kind of mix and match the different lineup arrangements and kind of allow one of those or two of those players to kind of take the spotlight. So I was looking at that. And I think Tobias and Ben Simmons

kind of have a perfect kind of union there. And I looked up the lineup numbers. And they're actually playing 28 minutes per game. together in the past four games. So that's actually higher. That's higher than any other lineup, any other two-man combination

on the Sixers' like roster, period. Yeah, I kind of like pairing those two. A Butler and Embed, and then Simmons and Harris. I think that kind of makes sense as like two different little shifts, basically. Almost regardless of the lineup, like with that combination

or with Embed on the floor, for the rest of this year, I want to see Brett Brown, just install more and more pick and roll. Because I think with this personnel, with Embed, with Simmons, with Harris, with Butler, three of those guys can handle the ball. All four of them can be used as a screener. And you can just pick out mismatches. We talked about earlier how, like, Irving is a guy that could be attacked.

Meritich is a guy that can be attacked. That's the matchups you can find using ball screens with these players. And if they don't switch, you can pick and pop. You can use Ben Simmons as a short role guy looking like Dream on Green or a lob threat, Blake Griffin style. Harris can handle. He's been used at like slipping screens for the clippers earlier this season. He can pop for three as well. Butler,

use him any way you want to use him. I just think this team has so much versatility with who handles and who's uses a screener or uses use off ball that that might be away from them just to maximize their upside with this big four, or big five if you want to include Redick heading into the postseason. But they just don't run a lot of pick and roll right now. I mean, it kind of goes back to the idea of kiss, right? you know, keep it simple, stupid. Like, the pick and roll is such a foundational, like, way to create points in the NBA.

Like, why not go at that play type when you have four of the most gifted offensive players in the league? And I would say, too, like, I'd much rather pick and roll and beat after the pick and roll. Right. Right. Instead of just, like, going against a whore for every time, like, post them after a switch happens. It's so much easier. And Bede, statistically, he is an elite post. post player if you're including drawn fouls.

But if you remove drawn files against a guy like Horford, who is not a foul prone player, he becomes average efficiency. And that's the case for a lot of bigs. But it goes from elite to average against Al Horford. So the better way to get in those post steps is to switch. And maybe at that point, Philadelphia does scram switches and all that.

But I think it's just, it is of the utmost importance of this, this break here heading into the playoffs that they install that into their offense and being a versatile pick and roll team. I don't, I think it's unreasonable to expect them to just undergo this big 180, this big personality shift midseason. But they got to do more of it. They just have to.

And if they don't, I think it's a big mistake by Brett Brown. I think that the other thing though with pick and roll, it's like, if they're running pick and rolls, who do we really trust among their like backup wings to fill those like roll space, floor spacing rule? I mean, is we looking at Jonathan Simmons, James Innes, Firk and Korkmanz? Is that the three options? Brown did say there's like a battle between those three for who wins that role. I don't know if battles the right word. pillify.

I mean, the tough parts for them is, like, who's that winger forward you're going to add on the buyout market? Is it like you're chasing Carmelo Anthony? I saw it on the dock. Is that the only the best option? What a lot of the bad stuff. Yeah, a lot of the good buyouts are gone, including Wesley Matthews, Charg's your favorite player. He's all gone. Okay.

Hey, guys, one thing I want to point out real quick, size, I was looking over these stuff. I just remembered Philly traded Sterling Brown for cash last year in Milwaukee. that might really kill them. Like, Sterling Brown be perfect for this team. You can't leave telling second round picture one be a championship contender, man. It's just terrible.

And Sterling Brown, 6-6-232. Like, he's a truck built... They can shoot it. Yeah, he could definitely shoot it. And he was like a secondary playmaker at SMU. Yeah, I mean, it would have been nice. But also, do you think he would have been...

He would have been someone who Brett Brown would trust. Not why not. Because they have another guy like that in Jake Milton. Oh, there you got. you speak in my language, Danny? Oh my gosh. Shake Milton, yes.

Is there any chance this implodes for them by the postseason? Will Jimmy Buller getting six shots, ten shots? I mean, of course. I had Jimmy Butler. He's always a risk to implode. I mean, yeah, if you're looking at of the top four teams in the east,

are the Pacers still up there? Because, like, I'm obviously not talking about the Pacers, but of the top four teams in the East, they are the most likely to drop out in the first round. Right? Philadelphia. Yeah.

If I was Indiana, I'd want to play out at the other top. Because the odds of them imploding, it'll give you a chance, right? Some kind of chemistry just blows up, and then you're there to take advantage of it. I think it's fair to say that they have the greatest likelihood of losing early in the first round.

But I think they also have perhaps the greatest likelihood of just turning it on by the postseason and becoming that top team in the Eastern Conference in terms of who's most likely to make the finals. But I think it really gets down to the tweaks that they make on the offensive end of the floor and whether they actually happen or not. And I think there's maybe one more personnel change for them to make. I don't know, like, who would actually be out there. But whether it's playing Jonah Bolden more instead of Bobon or maybe it's signing like Marcyon Gortott as an upgrade.

COC. He's not talking about Marcy Gortat. I know, I know, but Boban can't, he's a defensive liability. Like they need, that's why Jonah Bolden to me is the guy because he can actually space the floor for you. Like some of those lineups that they were using. with Ben Simmons and Bowman sharing the floor. There's just zero spacing. Like it looks like 90s basketball.

There's none. It just can't. It's not going to work on the postseason. Well, I think worth pointing out too, before we get out of here, is Reddick. Like for, even in their best lineup, can Reddick still be attacked right by an elite team? Can he stay on the floor in like game 70s conference finals? I'm not sure that he can. For everything else that's going on, they still need to shoot the ball.

And he can be attacked by a lot of guys. Before we move on to my interview with Win Butler from Arcade, buyer. It's All-Star weekend. Friday we get the Rising Stars game, the celebrity game. Well, you'll be there, right? I'm heading out there. Shortly, I'm running home after this to finish packing and then going to the airport. And then on Saturday, we have Saturday, dunk contest, shooting contest, and everything else. Then Sunday we get the game.

Charks, what are you most looking forward to from All-Star Weekend? I really enjoyed basketball without borders last year. There were some good, I got to watch Siku, Dumbaya. That was fun. That's not really, I guess, something. Honestly, sharks, me too. You know what? That's what I'm most looking forward to this weekend.

We are really staying on brand here. Yeah. I would say I'm looking forward to Joe Harris winning the three-point contest. Someone putting slack that he's like plus 700. That feels like a pretty good bet to win. Who's the dunk guys this year, I guess? That's probably. Hamidu Diallo.

We can get up. John Collins, Dennis Smith, and who am I forgetting? I don't know. You're rattling these off the top of your head. I'm very impressed. I'm not sure I could have got one of them. Dennis was robbed last year, by the way. He had the best.

That was incredible. Do you remember that donkey had where he like went between the leg and did it with 360? That was unbelievable. Bridges. Did you get Bridges? Oh, Miles Bridges. Oh. Okay, I'm looking forward to Mon's some young guys in this one.

It's a nice group. I don't know. I don't know if Bridges has like the the wiggle. That's true. He's more of a power duck. The in-air wiggle. I feel like all of his dunks would be like, he should just find a Frederick Weiss-like figure

and just like dunk on him, like for all three rounds. Dennis Smith is the favorite entering the dunk contest. I think as he should be. As he should be, yeah. Although, like, don't sleep on Hamino Diallo. Yeah, he's a crazy one. I think Diallo, he's plus 300. He's least likely to win according to Odd Shark.

I like that. I mean, the last time he was in a dunk contest, he lost against Zion Williamson. So that's not. Bad company. Perhaps we'll see Zion next year's done contests will be

the event of the century. See Zaya next year's All-Star game, man. Looking forward to watching all the events this weekend. It's all we have time

for today, though. Thanks, guys. Absolutely. Yeah, good. Have fun in Charlotte, KOC. Today's Runger NBA show is brought to you by Kavo. Clean up your remote control

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Control Center is available at Cavo.com and Best Buy C-A-A-A-A-V-O-com. Control Center by Cavo, one remote that does it all. And now, back to the corner three. Wynn, how are you doing today? I'm great. Happy, happy Mardi Gras. Happy Mardi Gras to you as well. As I mentioned in the intro recorded before this,

Wynn is a Pelicans fan, so he's down in New Orleans right now. And I know you were at that game last Friday night, and when you and I emailed that night, you said to me that it was one of the weirdest games that you've ever been to with Anthony Davis being booed and then cheered every time he scored. How would you describe the energy at these Pelicans games right now, now that AD's back? Definitely, it's by far the strangest atmosphere I've ever experienced. I mean, it's sort of like if, like, you had an affair with your wife and then got back and, like, oh, technically we're not allowed to divorce. course, what's for dinner? It's weird. It's a weird vibe.

It's like similar to the analogy I used when I wrote about this last week. I said it's like an inevitable split, right? That's like the couple broke up, but they still have five months left on their apartment lease, right? Yeah, exactly. I mean, I feel like it's like a New York, New York apartment standard New York scenario. But I mean, I guess it would make more sense if, like, if you were being paid like $40 million to be in that couple. Oh, yeah. That's a nice incentive. Get to be able to do that.

It'd be easier. Yeah, I can have some awkward dinners. We were at the game last sign as well in New Orleans? I was. It might have even been stranger. Last night, AD had three points on, I think, one of nine shooting after the game. He said, quote, nobody was interested in playing is what it looked like. Yeah, it does seem like that right now.

The difference between the way the team was playing before with, like, Ken or Williams and Check Diallo and Julius Franel, all these younger guys, it's become lifeless, hasn't it? Yeah, and these kind of young dudes, too, they don't, I mean, this is, they have no idea what's going on, really. I mean, I don't, I don't know how you would prepare yourself to this sort of environment. It's, like, really, really strange, you know? And also, like, without AD playing well, it's not a very good team. I mean, it's, you put them on the bench. It's a, it's really, I mean, Drew is amazing. You should be an all-star, but it's, it's pretty, pretty weird by about there. Now, last week, ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported that the Pelicans were threatened with a $100,000 fine for every single game that Anthony Davis sat.

However, the NBA did tell Mark Stein of the New York Times this week that that's not the case. It was really just a refresher on the rules, resting players who are healthy enough to play. I mean, I think they probably should sit him just because if he gets injured, it's like really like such a nightmare for everyone involved. But, you know, like on the flip side, like I really remember when Kobe was like, demanding to be out of L.A. and, you know, it seemed like a done deal. I mean, I feel like that's like the most comparable situation I can remember where it's like he didn't get traded and then it was just business as usual, you know? So it's like, like in some like weird alternate reality, it's kind of, you know, people talk about small market teams in the NBA, but it's like, I mean, you couldn't pay me to live in L.A. or New York.

It's like New Orleans is an amazing culturally rich city. It's not like we're in Oklahoma City. or like shots fired. Like there's worse towns to live in and play basketball but you know

the quality of life is so great I mean there's no it doesn't necessarily follow to me that you couldn't I mean I kind of think of it as like the Drew Breeze model

it's like he just got one but the one that he got meant so much to so many people that it's like the whole like goat debate or whatever it's like you just completely sidestep it because you know like when Akeem won

the championship in Houston And it's like he didn't need to get 100 of them. Just that one is like so meaningful to the city of Houston. And that basically it's like your own version of immortality. It's like he doesn't have to be like who's better like Akeem or or you know like Will Chamberlain. Like it just doesn't matter because he just kind of took care of business and did his thing. He's not taking care of business anymore though. Like with the effort last night.

You said that you would send him home now. Do you think that's kind of the consensus among Pelicans fans? Is that something that people tend to agree with? Because when we chat last week, I think at that point you were like, no, he should play. But seeing the last three games, you've changed your mind there? Well, I don't know. It's like, if he's gone, he's gone, you know? So it's like if I thought there was like a little sliver of a chance that like they could,

but they kind of just, it was really strange because it just felt like they were trying to make a move to make a push for the playoffs for the last couple months. and you were just kind of waiting to see and then it just kind of went the opposite direction. As you were describing the Kobe scenario, is there like any, even if it's a false hope, is there any hope at all that you do have

that it could be resolved in some way by the off season? Well, not anymore. I mean, basically, you know, watching those Kobe years when he would lose to Nash every year in the playoffs was some of the most painful basketball

I've ever watched, like Prime Kobe. I hated watching him play. But then when he got Powell, it was like all of a sudden, then you had a team. It was just that one piece away from, like, there couldn't have been a bigger difference between watching Kobe play with Powell and watching him just like try and score 50 every night, you know?

And AD is that level of player that if you manage to put the right, just one piece next to him, you know, he's going to be the best player on the court 99% of the time. So it's not like it's inconceivable that you could make a move to like put him with someone that would just be magic, you know. Now, Anthony Davis, obviously, was putting up just great MVP level numbers until January, but much like James Harden has for Houston, just elevating his play to an even higher level, or like AD did last year after Pookie got hurt. Is there any disappointment that he didn't reach the next level like he did last season,

just to help this team get into the postseason? I didn't feel that way. I mean, he was still, he plays his ass off. I mean, he put up some crazy numbers. I mean, that's, when I moved to New Orleans, like, just to have the opportunity to watch him play every day. You know, every home game is, like, he just does some shit I've never seen anyone do. So I can't, I haven't seen that at all. Like, up until a couple weeks ago, when the tap just got turned off, but it's not like he's been, like, phoning it in this year.

No. He just didn't really have, I don't know, he's 25, too, you know. I don't think Harton could have done what he's doing now at 25. There's no way. E.D. right now is, you know, at the beginning of the season, was playing the best basketball of his life in terms of, like, he grew up playing point guard in high school, and this was the year where he finally, I think,

more than any other season, was bringing the ball up the floor, even just running a little pick and roll. He had the best passing numbers that he's ever had. It just wasn't enough with the supporting cast. Like, early in the year, the Pelicans, they outscored opponents by 12 points per 100 possessions with Holiday and Davis on the floor. So that's like the equivalent of a 60-win team. And you mentioned earlier how obviously this team isn't very good when AD isn't playing well.

Before, when you polled Holiday or Davis off the floor, they started performing like a 20-win team. The difference in the importance of 80 and Holiday this team is so significant. And like with the issues that they have now, part of me wonders, I'm curious about your thoughts here. Should they have taken that reported Lakers offer as strong as it was? How do you feel about that? Well, I mean, those draft picks are like late first. I don't see any evidence of like any genius draft strategy from the Pelicans.

Like I, the Houston Rockets and the Spurs just always find some dudes in the late first round like consistently. Like they obviously put a lot of investment into that. I don't really see any evidence of that. Though Buddy Hill is looking pretty good. with the Sacramento Kings. That's one. Just one. I know.

Like that, what a shock. Like, he was truly terrible here. I was like, are you, we got boogie for him? Are you crazy?

That's the best rate of all time. And this year, it's like, man, buddy he'll be looking really nice right now. Like, that's pretty much exactly what we need. That was a heartbreaker.

That was a trade they still had to make, though, I think. They had to make that trade. You do that a million times. And don't get a, twisted. I mean, buddy is not he's not that great.

I mean, he's playing in a good system. I'm happy he's playing well. I like the kid, but he was, he was bad here. He would look great on the Pelicans if they were building a younger team. They had to make that boogie move, but moving forward, so you wouldn't have taken that Lakers deal

because it was, you mentioned the draft picks. I don't want, I don't want any of those dudes. So you don't like Brandon Ingram? I don't, I went to a Lakers game last year. They played the Clippers, and it was maybe the worst basketball game I've ever seen. It was like the pre-Lebron Lakers team. Or the Lakers right now even, but they're playing pretty ugly basketball. I don't want to watch that. It's terrible. Like, I mean, maybe ball, I'm not saying that they couldn't be good at some point, but I don't really want to, like, build a franchise around any of

those dudes. I don't know. I still think there's a chance that that offer, you know, because this summer so much is dependent on what happens with Boston. If Boston is able to put Jason Tatum in a deal, Tatum is a guy that could change New Orleans' franchise, like his scoring ability and what he could grow into, but so much is dependent on what Kyrie Irving does. If Irving were to leave Boston for New York or somewhere else, I think that would lessen the possibility

that they would put Tatum out there in an offer for Anthony Davis because 80s interest in Boston, from what I've heard, could be tied to his friendship with Kyrie. So there's a chance this summer that New Orleans enters, you know, the draft, draft season, then free agency. And there's not something out there that's better than the reported offer of Ingram, Kuzma, Ball, Hart, Zubats, and then two first-round draft picks. Like, that offer might not have a quote-unquote guaranteed star, like Tatum is perceived as by some people,

but it still could end up being better what they get this summer. And I think that would be my fear if I'm New Orleans. And that's the risk in waiting, though. To me, like, if we can get Barrett or Zion or Tatum, like, that's the only possible silver lining to the whole thing. I'm glad you brought up the draft. Because I think with AD right now, they're in a spot as of Wednesday afternoon. That's when we're recording this.

The New Orleans Pelicans are two games back from the Memphis Grizzlies for the sixth worst record. and Sixth Worst Record has a 9% chance at the number one pick, but they're also two games ahead of Minnesota, which is a 1.7% chance. So they're smack in the middle of having pretty good odds to very poor odds for a chance to draft Zion Williamson,

who is the best prospect since AD and maybe since KD that Odin draft in 2008, or maybe he's the best prospect since LeBron and 03, for that matter. So I think for New Orleans, is so much incentive for their team to send AD away right now or not play him very often because there's so much to gain in the draft. For you, obviously the product wouldn't be as good not watching AD if he starts playing

like Anthony Davis instead of what we saw on Tuesday night. But does that potential reward in the draft make the season at all a little bit more interesting because of the hope that it provides? I mean, I don't necessarily want to watch it, but I mean, that is what they should do. I mean, they should sit AD and just, you know, have a shot to get one of those top three picks. Because the rest of the draft is like, if you can get in the top three, then that you can, some you can work with. Plus a trade for AD, then you're kind of in business, you know. So Tatum, Tatum's a guy that you want in an AD trade then?

I want Zion or Tatum. I mean, to me, that's the only return approaching not a complete nightmare. Two seasons of Lonzo Ball is really not going to cut it as far as I'm concerned. for trading for like the best big man I've seen since the Kimmelage won. Is there any fear that you have about the team moving if this trade doesn't go well and doesn't reset their franchise in a positive way? I think there's a real missed opportunity in terms of, I don't know, you're in this incredibly vibrant city.

Every time I go to a game and it just feels like a normal NBA game with a stupid jumbotron and everything, you know, it's like New Orleans, you could have like a college brass band atmosphere so easily that it's, If you came into that building, it would be like such a home court advantage. Because it's such an exuberant fan base. I mean, if you go to a Saints game, it's 60,000 people in a city of 300,000 people. But that wasn't the case in the 80s. It was the games were empty.

The reason that people are there is because they won. And it was the same in Houston when I was a kid. Like when they got a team, it wasn't like people were going to the games until they went to the finals against Boston. Then people were like, oh, basketball could be interesting. You know, it's like you have to really win. If you win, people still turn up in Utah. It's not like solid city is like a great city. But like they've been very good for a very long time.

So that's how you build a fan base and just be good. I mean, that's what makes this summer so pivotal. I mean, obviously, like when you're trading an all-time player like AD, but it's not just about the trade. It's about the state of the franchise and being able to build a basketball culture there where there are great fans of the Pelicans. I think you mentioned Zion whether somebody were to trade Zion for AD

or New Orleans being able to get him in the draft, there is a chance for New Orleans if they get a good return, like if they were to get Tatum and Marcus Smart and a couple other picks from the Celtics in addition to other assets from them. And a top three pick. And then I want to go check that out

more than I want to see the like Laker dudes running around and being sad to live in New Orleans. I'm good. I don't need to watch that. Did that turn you off the report about Lonsable, not wanting to play in New Orleans? Because I think, like, basketball-wise, he would be a fascinating fit in Alvin Gentry's up-tempo offense.

But just the fact that he doesn't want to be there, that seems to diminish your interest in even wanting him on the team, knowing that when free agency comes, then he's going to bounce. The whole Gentry thing is like the Steve Nash offense, but we've never had a point guard, except for Rondo, you know, which is

what a coincidence, that's the one year we were actually good is when we had like an actual point guard. It's been strange running this up-tempo Steve Nash offense with, without Steph Curry or Steve Nash. It's like why this doesn't, like there's a pretty mid-key piece missing here if you don't have Steve Nash or Steph Curry. Have only had Alfred Payton even for just 19 games.

Haven't even had your point guard. No, but I mean, Rondo, I mean, I'm like huge Rondo fan always have been. Me too. He's the only, like, AD is so laid back. And Drew is, you know, one of the best two-way players in the NBA. But, like, neither one of them are, like, everyone's just so nice on this team. There's no, like, Edge. Rondo is the only guy we've ever had.

He's, like, he doesn't want to lose the checkers. He doesn't want to, like, he doesn't want to lose a tic-tac toe. Like, he's just not cool losing. And just that kind of competitive, the kind of intelligence and competitive spirits really, really missing this year. Rondo definitely doesn't want to lose to Connect 4. That's one game. He absolutely just not want to lose out. I mean, he'll cut your throat before he loses a Connect 4. With Tatum, the one interesting thing to me is a couple weeks back before the trade doesn't I, I think Bill Simmons and I talked about potential AD trades. And one of the

points that I made on that pod was, I think for New Orleans, part of the mindset with this trade needs to be finding a guy who actually is interested in playing there. So like to the point about that Lakers deal, who knows about Ingram, but Lonsel Ball doesn't. With Tatum, you know, he's from St. Louis, Missouri. He comes from a really good family from down south. Maybe for him, he would find, New Orleans could be like home. There was the report earlier this week that he would even have interest in being the face of a franchise somewhere else. I think Tatum, for basketball reasons, makes a lot of sense, but also for that off-court reason as well. And if you're able to pair him with a high draft pick that they make, whether it's Zion or RJ Barrett or somebody else,

when you have him under contract under team control for eight, nine years, New Orleans, look, like they can salvage this situation if they're able to get a good deal back for AD and be able to set themselves up for an even brighter future with the amount of young assets they can get. It's not the end of the world here as long. I mean, tell damn, so I'm like, honestly, she's going to do it. I'm like, I'm very skeptical. It's sort of insane to expect to have any different outcome just to like have that dude making those calls.

It's like it's like borderline like it's like super irresponsible actually. Like I probably know 10 people that could do a better job just from having friends in the NBA. You know, like I just had I was hanging in my friend Becky Bonner who works for the Orlando Magic. It's like I would hire her as a GM to the Pelicans tomorrow. She's like one of the smartest basketball people I've ever met. But there's so much talent. You have to just bring someone who's like kind of like progressive and kind of not thinking about things in this really old school way.

It seems like a lot of hires for NBA general manager positions are people who are like second in line and other front offices or people who have done it before. It's like New Orleans has Danny Ferry. He was reportedly playing a significant, he was a significant voice in the pre-deadline discussions involving Anthony Davis. And there's been some. always that maybe he would be the guy to take over for Del Demp's if he gets taken over. But so much of it seems to be just the second and line person gets hired these jobs,

not the people who are third, fourth, or fifth in other front offices. No, I mean, it's all about talent and intelligence. And, like, I don't, I don't think you necessarily need to keep hiring the same type of people all the time. But I think the opportunity is there. Like, if you could do it in New Orleans, I mean, the thing is, like, AD, like, I'm a massive fan. he's an amazing, amazing basketball player.

But like at a certain point, you have to just win, you know? So it's like, it doesn't really matter if your team isn't good enough or whatever. No one really cares.

Like if you win, then people in this town will just have you back forever. But you can't like make people get into something just because you're really good of basketball. No one cares. Just go win and then the people will come. Hopefully for New Orleans

they're able to get a significant return this off season. and turning around. He's so good. Fuck. He could get one other good player? Zion. Basketball.

Zion could, if you're able to get Zion, he could win you over pretty quickly win. I mean, it's also weird kind of, I finally, like, I'm not, I'm like the least LeBron fan on planet Earth. And like,

as soon as he started talking about Trump, I was like, oh, you know what? He's a dad now. I'm a dad. I can kind of relate to LeBron. And now it's like, he's just back in my bad books again.

I think it's absurd to talk about, about him as the goat. It's like, give me a break. He's like Shaq. He's like Shaq level. I don't think he's even remotely close to Jordan. I'd take Shaq in a draft over LeBron any day. It guess it depends on your building your team then. I'd take LeBron first. Speaking of the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, did they ask you this year? Because you're 4-0 in these games. Former MVP put on

Hekeem-ask numbers at the celebrity game. Did they ask you? I wasn't available this year where I've been in the studio. I also kind of got lucky the four years I did it. It was like New York, L.A., New Orleans, and Toronto. And Charlotte, I was like, oh, I'm really going to fly to Charlotte right now. It's a tough for aft. I guess they replaced you with Chris Daughtry then. That was the rock music, and they added in there.

You said you're recording. You're in the studio. Is this Arcade Fire or DJ Win these projects? I mean, just working on a track, but it'll actually be out sooner than later. Really? Possible Arcade Fire single coming out this year. Yeah. Well, thank you again for chatting today, Wynn.

I'm bummed that we won't see you in the Celebrity game, but it's exciting that a new single is coming out. Thank you for taking the time. Yeah, pleasure. Thank you again to Win Butler from Arcade Fire for taking the time to chat in New Orleans Pelicans with us. and Danny and John at the top of the show talking about the Eastern Conference. We'll be back next Friday, and thank you for listening to the Quina 3. Please give us a five-star rating on iTunes, tell your friends, tell your family, tell your dog, tell everybody you know, tell Chase Serrano to listen to the show.

That'd be really appreciated. Special shout out to Bobby Wagner for producing the podcast. Thanks again for listening. We'll be back next week.