The Ringer NBA Show - Ep. 56: The Kyle Korver Trade, the MVP Race, and All-Star Voting With Tim Bontemps

Episode Date: January 6, 2017

The Ringer’s Chris Vernon is joined by Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post to discuss the huge trade that brought Kyle Korver to the Cavs (0:50) and possible other moves before the deadline (4:15). They also discuss the MVP race (19:45) and voting for the All-Star Game (27:20). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's episode is brought to you by the Ringer MLB show. Every Monday, The Ringer's Ben Lindberg and Michael Bauman, break down baseball's biggest and silliest stories, mixing it in with interviews with other Ringer writers, plugged in media members and insiders from the front office to the dugout. You can subscribe to the Ringer MLB show on iTunes by going to iTunes.com backslash the Ringer, finding it wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome to the Ringer NBA show Friday edition, and our guest today is Tim Bond Tems from The Washington Post. He is a national NBA writer. Timmy. Bruno. Hey, man. Well, we got a trade, a big trade, right? I don't know if at least one of the names is big,

and that is Kyle Corver going to the prohibitive favorite in the Easter conference, the Cleveland Cavaliers. Give me your thoughts on Corver going to the calves and how much it moves the needle. You know, the trade still isn't even finalized us. We're talking now, but it's just they've just kind of court a few things out before it's finished because it's a pretty complicated deal. But I think it's a significant trade for a few reasons. I think if you watch that Christmas Day game, yes, Cleveland won the game. But Golden State dominated most of that game.

And in the arena that doesn't that game, one of those guys was DeAndre Liggins, who is just a complete non-factor. So they needed to get another. guy are too deeper in their rotation, which they were pretty open about, the fact, six weeks before the trade deadline. And getting Kyle Corver, even at 35, he's still in the league. So getting another guy like that to put around LeBron James and just really drastically upgrade on also saving a little money was a pretty big move for them. In the bigger scheme, you know, while the bigger thing for the league is that for business

now, trade now, when they kind of eased off of, you know, they could have made one this summer and decided not to. Now that a guy like Paul Millsap is on the market, he is very likely to be the best player that's going to be available between the next month. So,

you know, seeing a guy like that changed teams to somebody like Toronto that could make the Easter conference finals a little more competitive. It also means that for a lot of these teams like your Knicks, the end of the playoffs in the east, they make the playoffs. So I think it's a pretty, a pretty significant trade for a lot of different reasons, and it will be interesting to see kind of how

all of it shakes out over the next few weeks here. Well, if they don't trade Millsap, they'll make the playoffs. I mean, it's not like losing Kyle Corver is going to stop them from making the playoffs. Right. When I say that, I mean, I think they're going to trade Dobblesepalosha. They're going to trade Bilsap. They pretty clearly have shifted to we're not good enough to really do anything this year. Let's get some assets for these guys who are going to walk for free and for agency.

Paul Milsaab is not resigning with the land. as far as anybody can tell. Situation now where they'd like to get something for them or have a walk away for a gigantic contract this summer and get nothing in return. It's interesting because somebody's going to max out Millsap and given his age, would you? I mean, it's quite the quandary, right, if you're Atlanta?

I think it depends on the situation that your team is in, honestly. I know it's probably kind of a cop-out, but, like Denver has been rumored as a target for him. I don't understand that at all. He's a fantastic player, but everybody on their team that's good. I mean, they have Dan Larian Wilson Chandler who are going to be free agents. Everybody else is like 22 years old. So I don't know why you would sign or why you trade and give him a $200 million contract.

I mean, that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. If you're Toronto, though, and you're close and you have, you've never really been good before the last couple of years. You have Kyle Lauer, you have DeMar de Rosen. Your team is kind of built to win right. now, then yeah, if I could trade a bunch of, if I could trade some stuff and get Paul Millsap and dramatically improve, you know, the one week spot on my team and then keep him in free agency. I mean, I could, I could see that. But I do think that it would have to depend on the situation he's going to, for, for me to justify it. Because like you said, at his age,

even though he doesn't have as much wear and tear on him as a normal 32-year-old guy, I think he played four years in college. He was a bench player earlier in his career. Hard for me to see that contract really looking good when you get the last two or three years of it at this point. Let's say the deal goes down as reported, which is like Moe Williams, Dunleavy, protected pick. Did Atlanta get good enough return for Corver? Oh, I mean, I don't really know what they were supposed to do. I mean, people are freaking out.

I mean, Kyle Corver is kind of a name, like you said, right? So people see the Kyle Corver's going to Cass and, oh, my God, how could Atlanta only get a protected first-round pick first? him. But, I mean, Kyle Corver is 35. He is coming off the bench for the hawk, really know what else they were supposed to get. He's an expiring contract on top of that. So, I mean, if Atlanta gets a late first round pick for a 35-year-old expiring contract, I mean, I think that's a good trade, especially when, you know, it's not like there was a gigantic market for his services. I don't think at this point. So, yeah, I think they did, I think assuming the trade comes off as we, as we've heard about. I think they did fine. Who knows? Maybe they can get a, maybe they can wheel

Dunleavy off somewhere else for another second round pick and increase their hall a little bit. Is it an indictment of their offseason? You know, Teague going to Indiana and then signing Dwight. There was some people saying that last night on social media and I just didn't really get that. I mean, look, they, they were always going to choose between Dennis Schroeder and Jeff Teague and they chose the significantly younger guy who was always kind of the guy who was like more I mean, I think that's fine. And look, they signed a player who was a comparable skill level to Al Horford, Dwight Howard. Dwight even might be a little better player than that.

They signed him for significantly less dollars per year and in one year less than his contract. I thought that swap was fine. And I think if you get through halfway through the season and you look at your team and you go, we are nowhere near as good as Cleveland. We're not really anywhere near as good as even Toronto. Yeah, we can make the playoffs. We can maybe win a series. But if we're going to lose all these guys for nothing in free agency, why don't we just

move these guys now, get some assets for them? And then this summer, maybe we can be a team that could be a player in free. I don't think that's a bad, I don't really think that was a bad plan on their part. And frankly, if they won, I think they could probably turn around and trade Dwight, too, if they wanted to. I think he's got two more years after this one. One of them might be an option year, but he's only got two more years either way. and at $22, $23 million a year, you look around the league at something.

That deal is vastly superior to having, you know, Timothy and Moscoff at 16 a year, or Bismathebionbo, 18 a year, certainly Joky Noah at 18 a year. So I think that Atlanta signing him was perfectly reasonable, and I thought their summer was fine. And I think looking around and deciding you're better off, instead of just kind of, you know, blindfully going down a hole and finishing fifth or sixth off games. and getting some playoff revenue and going home.

I think this is a much... We've had a thought for a long time that there's an expectation that Danny Age has been doing everything he is doing over the last several years to be loaded up to make another deal. Think we could see a Millsap Horford reunion in Boston? Possible. They certainly have the pieces

to go get a guy like Millsap, but the Celtics have also kind of famously gotten, you know, gotten through the trade deadline every year, not traded for somebody. And then Danny just gone on the radio or on an interview and said, oh, we were so close to making a huge trade at the deadline. My guess is they probably, I'm sure they'll be interested in Millsap.

I don't know what they're willing to give up to get them. I mean, to me, I think, I would say Toronto is probably more motivated to make that kind of a trade. Boston still has these Nets picks, five pick this year and what seems to be a loaded draft. That should, that could maybe get them the star they need, at least long term. I certainly think it's possible he ends up in Boston. I would say Toronto's a more likely destination just given their, I think they would probably have a greater desire to give up more to get them.

But who knows, at some point, maybe this is the time Boston decides to push their chips in the table and get somebody like that. But I would think they would probably prefer to wait for a bit younger guy at a longer-term deal before they're going to give up any of their real, you know, significant assets to go get a guy. Which becomes more dangerous to the calves, if they have. obtain them. That's a good question. I think Toronto, I think Toronto's just a significantly better team than is at this point. They've played together longer. They're deeper. I think. Kyle Lowry has been incredible this year. For as good as Isaiah Thomas's past a year,

they, you know, Passes is a good power for it, but they need to upgrade there. And if they could, if they could go from starting, you know, Pascal Siakum to starting Paul Millsap, that'd be a pretty gigantic change. I think Toronto would be better, you know, would be more dangerous if they got him, but, but Boston would also be pretty good. I mean, having, you know, Palmil's and App and Al Orford, you can do a lot of

stuff defensively, they can both shoot. So it's a good question, but I think, I think Toronto is the better team, and I think if they got fall, they'd be, they'd be, they'd still be more dangerous to Cleveland going forward. I'll ask you about a couple things you've recently written about, one of which was you saw Lillard and McCollum playing

and wrote about that. and this whole idea of, all right, they're both outstanding players, great guards. Is it right to be building around them? Like, is it long term? Do you rock with Lillard and McCollum? What say you? I think you can win with a back court like that in theory. But I also look at what Portland did this summer and what their team looks like now.

And I don't really see the path forward for them to being a contender. You know, they spent $72, $7, $72 million on Evan Turner. They spent $41, all of those guys are bench players. I mean, they spent $200 million in present and future money on bench players, and none of them are. And if you have Daniel Lillard and C.J. McCollum, you need elite defender. I just feel like their team is kind of stuck. They're not bad.

They're going to be wildly entertaining. They should wind up getting the 8th seed this year. Maybe if Oklahoma City really falls off and has some injuries, maybe they can get to the 7 seed. or he falls off, they can maybe catch them if things go right. But they're probably going to make the playoffs. They're probably going to be the 8th. They're going to get row.

And I just don't, long term, I just don't see the upside for them. And I think the one way for that to potentially happen be to maybe trade one of those guys and kind of balance out the roster better. The problem is look around and try to figure out the trade that makes sense. And say that they love to trade for DeMarcus Cous. The Marcus Couss isn't on the market. He's going to sign a five-year extension in Sacramento, almost certainly this summer.

So, you know, that's not going to work. And if you look around, it's hard to find another big guy to go get that guy. And they're just in a tough spot. And I think that, you know, they're going to, like I said, they're going to be a very fun team to watch. But it's hard for me to have, I think they have 11 guys signed for next year, already committed to paying $130 million, which be in the luxury tax. That's before they re-sign Mason Plumley, who's going to get probably another 15 to 20 million a year on top of all. those other guys. So if you're talking paying

a ton of luxury tax money, fascinated to see where that team goes going forward. Right now, see the path to contention for them for what they've got. You think McCallel makes an all-star team? Not this year, but I'm saying, when we look up, if I fast forward five years, as C.J. McCallum made an all-star team.

What do you think? I had that exact contract. I had that exact same conversation with a couple people after the game Wednesday. I'm not sure. I feel like he definitely could make one, but at the same time, like, could he fall into the Mike Conley considered for a couple and doesn't make it? Yeah, I mean, I think that's probably, you know, he also could get traded somewhere and average 27 a game, too.

I mean, you know, I didn't think Isaiah Thomas, you know, necessarily would have made the awesome team last year. I certainly didn't expect him to go to averaging 27 points a game this year. So I had to say now, I would say probably not. It is crazy, right? Because McCollum kind of, I think he kind of falls in that Clay Thompson conversation, which is, would he be the best guy? Could he be the best guy on a really good team, theoretically, and really blow up? I mean, listen, once upon a time, and I'm not saying that neither of these guys are going to be, like, Hardin.

But that was the conversation years ago, right? That if you, as he's the guy in Oklahoma City, what would happen if he was the man? Well, we found out. They made him the man and the guys like, you know, one of the best players in the league. I don't know if we'd ever look up in Clay or McCollum is like that. But it would be a fascinating case study if we put them on another team, you know. Are they worse? Are they better, right?

Are they better for the situations that they're playing in? Oh, I mean, they would definitely put up more numbers. Those guys, I think you're 100% right, Bruno, and that those guys would definitely put up more numbers. Yeah. You know, McCallum, McCallon the other night with Lillard Al playing the Warriors sport 35. Right. And was really good. Like, in the first half, he had 26.

Second half, he missed, he only scored nine points. He missed some shots. But a lot of it was just him missing some shots he made in the first half. I mean, he would put up real numbers. And if you got, if you got Clay Thompson, an extra five, six shots a game, he'd be averaging 27 points of game, too. Like, I mean, those guys are, those guys are lethal scores. Yeah.

But, you know, the better question is, you know, would they be doing what Harden, could they do what the same thing, Hardin did Houston? I mean, question. But there's no question that both those guys are big-time talents. And if they were ever on their own team or given their own team, numbers. You've had this crazy deal where you've been on the East Coast for so long in between New York and then obviously, now you've taken this job with the Post a couple years ago. And you've moved out to California for this year. to watch the Warriors all year long. Of those guys on that team,

Durant, Curry, Draymond, Clay, who do you think your opinion has changed the most of? Like seeing them nightly. They're obviously a very popular team. You see them from afar. But like when you're in the arena, you're in the locker room, you see them all the time against all manner of teams.

You see them against the good teams. You see them against the bad teams. Who's your opinion changed the most of? I have an answer on that just because I was around them a lot last year already. And I've been around at a pretty good impression of all those guys. What I would say about this year is that it has been utterly spectacular. And I think it's kind of, I think it's kind of been overlooked, both because of, you know, move to, you know, moved to Oklahoma City. Or if you watch him on a nightly basis, you see the stuff he's doing on defense.

He's been fantastic at the rim for them. He's been unbelievably efficient. The other night, he had 30 on, I want to say, 16 shots. shots. And that's kind of been a nightly thing where he's getting, you know, basically double his shots and points a lot of nights. So I wouldn't say my opinion is really change of anybody, but I would say that I think Durant has been even better than people might realize if they hadn't been really closely watching them a lot. That segues perfectly into what I wanted to ask you about. You did this article about

the MVP and Russell Westbrook's quest. If you were to be able to be. able to win the MVP that he'd have to, you know, it's framed even in your headline that he would have to surpass Hardin, that Hardin would be the prohibitive favorite as of now. I mean, it's crazy, right? We're this far into the season. And like, I think if you went around and pulled most people, they tell you the best player in the league is LeBron James. They might say the second best player in in the league is Kevin Durant. And of course, the guy that's won the two, the last two MVPs, he's not even in the conversation at all. Right. So just tell you, you do this article. You try, to talk to a bunch of people and compile thoughts on the MVP race and these spectacular

statistical seasons these guys are having. And what did you find? Yeah, it was a fun story to do. I mean, obviously, you know, it was a good time to write a given that Rossin an awesome game in Houston. On the 49 points, I think James had 26 and 12 assists. Both were fantastic. You know, the Rockets wind up winning the game.

you know, on a last sex to Nenei at the rim where Brook had gotten isolated on prior possession and chucked up a pull-up three-pointer, which kind of, you know, in a nutshell, really kind of approached this season. And, you know, the fact that Hardin got the edge last night and won the game was kind of, was kind of symbolic because, you know, although I think, to your point, I think in the general public, a lot of people would just assume that Westbrook is going to be a shoe-in for for MVP this year because he's on his way to winning to having a triple double for a whole season.

If you talk to people around the league, you know, it was pretty surprisingly one-sided in favor of Hardin-Wittany Award. I talked to 90 media people, a combination of 90 media people, scouts, executives, and coaches for draw-pull for this story. Pardon, I think got 61 votes

and Russell only got 18, six and Durant got five. It said some combination of either I can't give a tie. I can't pick between these three guys. So I definitely think that, you know, even though Hardin's got a pretty big lead in that, you know, just that one snapshot, you know, anybody could win it. But it is just, to me, it's just crazy that Westbrook is averaging a triple double.

And there are so many other really good candidates this year that he's not just automatically being given the award. I mean, I think if, I think if you told anybody before the season that Westbrook triple double for 82 games, I think they would have probably immediately jumped to, well, that guy's got to win the MVP, right? If I give you a ballot this morning, would you vote Hardin? Right now, yeah. I think, I mean, the biggest thing that everybody cited was that the Rockets are 28 and 9.

Right. And I think Oklahoma City is now, I want to say 21 and 15. You know, so, I mean, Hardin has been absolutely incredible in Mike Dantony's offense. Houston has been far better than even, I think, the most optimistic people thought they were going to be. I think that's why Hardin's candidacy has been so strong. Also, the fact that it seems like Houston is pretty clearly, you know, barring, unless Hardin gets hurt, it looks like Houston's probably going to finish in the top three in the West ahead of the Clippers,

which would be a pretty huge boost to his candidacy. I think it's most likely that the Thunder settle in is probably the same. or seven seed, I would say the seven seed behind Memphis and the West. And for as great as Westbrook has been, it's kind of where they were supposed to be. If things kind of stay and they both keep playing at the same level they are, a number of wins. Especially because James is averaging, like, I want to say 28, 12 assists a game and like eight and a half rebounds a game.

That's the thing about this season. Like with the way that the pace of play is up and how fast everybody's playing and the number of three-point shots people are getting up, the offensive numbers for everybody are just out of control. And I think that's, you know, the fact that James can have close to the same numbers as Westbrook and his team is much better, I think are going to wind up giving in the edge. It stays the same as it is now. The team is much better as the big thing.

I mean, if history holds, when I went back and looked at the last 30, 40 years, every MVP has come from a one or a two seed. There's only one. I think the only time it did was Moses Malone once in like 1980 or 1880 or 18. The only time. Jordan was a three seed. but he had like a, you know, 35, 7, and 6 year, you know, and two steals and was the back. Like, he had a, he was on a three-seat team. And then the other one, the year Carl Malone did, they were third, but they all had the same record, right?

There was three teams with the same record. Right. So they weren't really. Yeah, I don't like anybody other than Malone finished outside the top three. Yeah, crazy. Moses Malone, I mean. Yeah, crazy. So, I mean, it's usually, you know, the standard is the best guy on the best team.

And they may not be the best team. Yep. when it's all said and done. But it's great. How about this? You know, and I've mentioned this before on these pods, you would have theoretically,

Westbrook, Hardin, Duran could very well. If you, just on your straw pole, right? On your straw pole, those are- Oh, no, they could easily finish one, two, three. It could be. Absolutely insane. And they were all on the same damn team. They're all the same team.

It's absolutely unbelievable. I mean, that's, that was, something I was thinking about as I was starting to put this together. You know, I mean, you kind of, it's not like we forget the fact that those guys are awesome. Yeah. But it does really kind of zero in on it when you're like, wow, you know, these guys, it wasn't very long ago when all three of these guys were on the same team in the NBA finals. And now all three of them could finish one, two, three in MVP balloting, which I honestly

don't know if that's ever been done before. three guys on three different teams that used to play together finishing one, two, three. I can't imagine it has. No way. It's just, well, I'm right. I can't imagine it. I could have been with that team because, you know, it's really, I think, becoming one of the great what-ifs of all time in sports even,

but specifically in the NBA, because you just go, man, like, you just wonder what it could have looked like if they had stuck together in OKC. And wait until Reggie Jackson wins the MVP. next year. All right. Tell me what's going on with Zaza Pichulia in this fan voting for Zaza.

People are stuff in the ballot box for Zaza. People in Eastern Europe in the Republic of Georgia are very excited about Zaza Picholias All-Star game Canada State. I mean, look, people wondered why the

NBA changed the voting rules for the all- our game this year earlier this summer. You know, when they did, it's kind of all of a sudden announced, well, we're changing the all-star voting. And people are like, why did they take it away from the fans? Like, it should be a fan, like, it's for the fans. It's a fun game. Who cares?

Well, the NBA cared because the NBA didn't want to have happened to it. What happened to the NHL last year when John Scott, a, you know, a longtime journeyman defenseman, borderline NHL player, was voted into starting the All-Star game. thousand votes. The NBA could see, you know, the NBA is using all this. They could see what was coming, that there were these, you know, places that could kind of rig the vote and pump a bunch of votes in for a certain player and try to prevent that. So they instituted some rules that basically have eliminated the fan vote without getting too complicated. And media and players have half the vote. And so basically, if Zaza-Pachulio, he's not going to get any

votes from the media, he's not going to get any votes from the players. So he's going to fall so far down those categories that he's not going to get into the game. So it would be hilarious. Zaza made the All-Star game. One of the best guys in the league. It would be a fun story. Why do you like him so much?

Have you ever done? Have you ever been around him? No, I've never been around Zaza Pachulah. He's an awesome, he's just an awesome guy. Perfect, perfect. Like anybody that's ever been on his team loves him. I mean, everybody's seen the nothing easy video from 2000.

2008, after game six in the first round, he gets interviewed. I don't even know why he got interviewed after the game. I can't even, I mean, that team had Joe Johnson and Al Horford and all these guys on Josh Smith. So I don't know why he got interviewed. But he got interviewed after the game and starts screaming, nothing easy. We're going to game seven, which was just one of the all-time hilarious basketball memes. He's just a really decent, decent, funny guy. So it would be cool if he made the All-Star game.

I think it'd be a fun story for the league. But these All-Star games are important. And they say this year, you know, let's say C.G. McCallel making it in this year. And starting the game meant that he wouldn't get a spot. Like that results like that wouldn't. It is too bad because it would have been that way. Who are you going to vote for? All right.

Listen, so we got Hardin and Westbrook, right? But Curry was leading. Well, to be clear, I'm not allowed to vote. Oh, you're not? Because of my newspaper's policies. But no, we don't vote for awards. What are you talking? Is that true?

That's why why I make it up? You are a, look at your journalistic integrity. You don't vote for stuff, huh? I used to vote for awards. I'll happily give you who I would vote for. Yeah, please. Making it clear, I'm not, I don't have a vote. Please do.

Free Tim Bond temps. Come on. Let the man. Hey, give the fact that all this stuff leads to guys getting paid more money now. I don't really mind having an excuse. You know, that's actually, that's actually, especially, especially after that Especially after that whole new CBA thing. That's real.

You know what I mean? That, like, it can... Oh, yeah. It's going to affect how much money a guy makes. Just some mustard-stained... Well, look, it happened last year with Anthony Davis, too. I know, I know. Some mustard-stained schmo that we're buddies with

could cost somebody $40 million or something. It's crazy. I mean, Anthony Davis made $20,000, has made like $25 or $30 million over the life of this current contract he's on because he didn't get voted on to it all in the B-18. I mean, it's, and the other reason was he didn't get voted. I mean, frankly, now they just thought of it. Anthony Davis also didn't get that Rose Rule contract because he didn't get voted in to start the All-Star game,

which is another reason why they have instituted this stuff is out of the Petulia. But anyway, the whole thing is silly. Who were your starters in each conference? I'll give you mine. Okay, well, no, no, no. The West, we go Harden Westbrook, 100%, right? And then I think it'll be Durant, Kauai, and Anthony Davis. I think that's probably good.

I'm trying to think of who else could even be in the mix. I mean, is there, I mean, I guess if you were trying to pick on merit, you could maybe say Draymond Green has been better than Davis maybe. But, I mean, I think that's your five. Hey, there was a conversation that was going on the other night when I was at the Grizzlies Clippers game. And there's some media. Oh, what about your guy, Marcus Saul?

Yeah, no, some media, you know what the, a couple media guys were asking me. I was actually talking to our mutual buddy. I would say Marcus, I would say Marcus all over Anthony Davis. No, I was talking to our mutual buddy, Zach Lowe the other night. And you know what we were talking about was he was asking me? He was like, what do you think about Gassall or cousins? What's going to happen there? Because cousins is not, he's having this.

Just in terms of being it. You know, All Star. He's having a great year, right? Cous has kind of really held everything together for the Grizzlies. and he's had this amazing year. And I don't know if it's going to be a choose between the two, but it's interesting. I think they'll both make it. And Davis?

I think so, yeah. And Draymond? I think so I'll make it. Yeah, maybe. Well, I mean, I mean, just, are we talking making the team or are we talking starting? No, I'm talking making it. I'm talking about making the team. Yeah, I'll be stunned.

I'll be stunned if they don't all make the team. Stunt. So no on towns. I think they're all locked. Towns would be the one left out. No, he's not, no, he's not going to. to make you. I mean, look, Carl Towns is a fantastic talent, but that team has been a disaster. I mean, they're not getting an All-Star. You know, you know what's hilarious?

If you ask Gasol, he will tell you, I've already made plans. I do not want to be at the All-Star game. Right. Well, yeah, that's the funny thing about the All-Star game is that at least half the guys there every year would much rather be, like, on a beach or in bed or anywhere but there. but I would actually pick Mark to start. Well, you know, they always do this. I would take him over David. You know, they always do that. I hope he starts the All-Star game also.

I really do. I am, uh, now Davis is having a crazy statistical year once again. Oh, no, he's been great. He's been, Davis has been fantastic. But to your point, Mark has been incredible and he's kept that team afloat. Oh, yeah. I mean, we were, the last time I think goes on this podcast was right, either when or right after Mike got hurt, Mike Conley.

Yep. And I thought the Grizzlies were screwed. Of course, Conley, in typical grizzly fashion, comes back four weeks ahead of time after breaking his back. But even before he came back, the Grizzlies did won like five out of six because Mark was incredible. He missed nine games and they were seven and two. Which is completely insane. I mean, it's just absolutely ridiculous.

And Gasol has been fantastic. I mean, now he's shooting threes. Yeah. He looks great. So, yeah, I think that he should, if you're just going strictly on merit, I think he should start. I think Davis is going to wind up being the starter. Yeah, no. And listen, I'm just talking about reality because right now, if we throw this Zaza thing out, then Durant, Kauai, and Anthony Davis are the three leading vote getters.

Right. And just in terms of fan voting, you're talking about three times as many votes for Davis with somebody like Gassal, right? Yeah, he's not going to get voted in over Davis, but I do think he'll make the team. If we're talking about who's going to win the fan vote, Curry's going to wind up started. But Hardin and Westbrook should. Curry's been great, but those guys have obviously been on the world.

All right, the East may be a little more murky because in terms of if we just looked at fan voting recently, Kyrie Irving had the most votes in the back court, but then he has followed closely by Dwayne Wade. And so, because Wade's a monster. for sure. He's playing in Chicago. Yep. You think Wade's going to start the all-star?

I mean, who is, I'll say, Kyrie will, so who's going to start alongside him? This is, like, Dwayne Wade is a good example of where this new formula is going to be interesting. Right, right. Because like, like last

year, Kobe Bryant would have started the All-Star game anyway because, like, I think some media people would have said, I'd be fun to have Kobe start. And I think, the players would have like all voted for Kobe. Right. And I kind of wonder with guys like Dwayne Wade and Carmelo, like, are they going to get like the lifetime, like, are they going to get the long term respect from guys? Like, well, Carmelo's an All-Star vote for these guys to start the All-Star game.

Like, I vote on guys like that. Will we vote like the media and say Dwayne Wade has been above knee, can't play back to backs basically now? I'll be curious to see. I'm trying to think of where Jimmy Butler, I don't know if Jimmy Butler's classified as a guard. He's listed as a front court. He's listed front court. How about Isaiah Thomas, who you,

the aforementioned, you know, Isaiah Thomas, who's average just like 27 points in game. Well, there's an, I mean, the battle for the guard spot is pretty fascinating. I tweeted this the other day. There are five point guards who are having an all-star season. Kyle Lowry, Isaiah Thomas, Kyrie Irving, John Wall, and Campbell Walker. I don't think all five can make the team.

And it's pretty hard to pick one of them and say that guy shouldn't be. It'll be fascinating to see. I think Kyle Lowry is definitely deserving of being a starter. I think you can probably make good arguments for Irving, Thomas, or John Wall to start that other spot. You could also throw Rosen in there if you want. I would say probably Kyrie.

Both have been incredible. Isaiah has been on fire for the last few weeks for Boston. Yeah. Well, the front court, the front court in terms of just the fan voting as of yesterday, LeBron, obviously, far and away, number one. Number two is Janus, the Greek freak. And I was shocked and only shocked not because he's not totally deserving. Obviously, I cannot wait for him to be an all-star.

This damn name. Like, doesn't, like, in terms of the tracking. Like, I thought he was really up against it in this fanboating and tracking it with the hashtags and everything simply because, like, who the hell can spell his name? And you have to, like, spell it correctly. Yeah, I think there's like an extra key. I'm sure they still count it. I think, listen, I could just, I could just go to my computer and put an A and then just let my fingers go wild and he probably gets it counted. Because I would have literally no chance of spelling his name.

name. None. None. Zero chance. It might as well just be letters to me. I think he could start it? He probably won't start it, right? I'll start it. Oh, I think he's going to.

I would pick him to start it. I would too. Oh, that'll be awesome. And then, all right, so we go, LeBron and Greek freak. Who gets the other front court spot? Is it Love? Do you think Embed's going to make this?

That would be great. I think M. B is going to get voted in. Oh, that would be awesome. I think it'll be. Oh, Carmelo. No, Carmelo, you're right. You'll do the whole, you know, status. No, I think, I think, no, I think, I think, well, yeah, I mean, I think Mb is going to win the fan boat.

Yeah. I don't, you know, Carmelo, Carmelo is going to be in the mix there. Love will be in the mix there. Jimmy Butler will be in the mix there. I could see Jimmy Butler getting a ton of media and fan votes, our media and player votes. same from Paul George. But, I mean, Embed might get player votes, too.

Like, Embed has been unbelievable. And he is a really charismatic guy. You know, he did this Donald Trump endorsement video for his cases. He's going back and forth on Instagram all the time. It wouldn't shock me if he started the game. And it would be pretty, it'd be pretty fun if we get to the officer game next month. And it'd be Chris Sperzenghis and Janus are all there. I mean, that would be, that would be a pretty,

a pretty fun changing of the guard in a lot of ways to see some young guys like that get some shine at the All-Star game. None of which are American. That's right. You know what I mean? The future is bright for the overseas players. That is for sure.

I mean, you're talking about we could look up and, you know, in five years and the best players in the league are none of which are from the States. I mean, because these guys. Yeah, I mean, you look at those three guys in Carl Towns, even though he's from New Jersey, you know, plays for the DR. I mean, all four of those guys, you know, you could make an easy argument that at some point those are four of the five best players in the league. And like you said, none of them is pretty fascinating.

Trump's not going to like that. I'll tell you that. The NBA is. Don't touch our NBA, Trump. Don't do it. Just leave Greek freak alone. Leave Greek freak alone. That's right.

Leave the Greek freak alone, man. We're going to look up and they're going to look up and they're going to try to make it like the damn NHL in, you know, 10 years. It's going to be USA versus the world. I don't want to make this too political of a podcast. I don't want to make this too political a podcast. Can you possibly imagine Donald Trump trying to say Janice's name? Like if somehow he ever met him, like, if you imagine trying to say his full man, it would be fantastic.

It would be absolutely fantastic. Tim Bondess with the Washington Post. You are the man. Enjoy your weekend. We'll catch up soon. Not anytime. Thanks for having me. Thanks, buddy.

That's another edition of the Ringer MBA podcast, and we'll catch up with you next week. If you like what you're hearing, go give us a rating and review on iTunes. Everybody, have a great week.