The Ringer NBA Show - Future Power Rankings | Group Chat

Episode Date: March 6, 2025

Justin, Rob, and Wos follow up their No-Power Rankings pod with the Future Power Rankings discussion. This time, they're ranking the best situations in the NBA from this point onward, excluding the Thunder, Celtics, and Cavs. Hosts: Justin Verrier, Rob Mahoney, and Wosny Lambre Producers: Isaiah Blakely and Ben Cruz Social: Keith Fujimoto This episode is sponsored by State Farm®. A State Farm agent can help you choose the coverage you need. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.® Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello and welcome group chat. I am Justin Verrier and joining me, Rob Mahoney, Bigwas. Welcome to today's episode, which is our annual worst episode of the season. This is where I correctly predict the future of the NBA and a bunch of heretics. Tell me that I don't know what I'm talking about. And then I'm proven right a year later. Yet another example of Justin creating a bit and then growing to despise the bit as we co-opted with truth. I don't know what to tell you. Is that what you'd call it?

I would say lies and just misperceptions and just not appreciating the knowledge that I'm dropping here. That's what I would say. All right. Would you like to explain the premise of what we're doing today? We're doing the future power rankings, which is the inevitable counterpart to the no power rankings. We talked about the worst five situations in the league. We are today doing the five best situations from this point going, going. forward. We should mention we're recording this

a day early. It's 4 p.m. Pacific time on Wednesday. So if we missed something in last night's games, that's why. We're also doing this a little bit differently this year because I had some feedback about my participants, my fellow co-hosts, picks in years past here. Yeah. One might say leaned a little bit more

on the best players in the league than necessarily the best situations. I understand that those two things are intertwined. But you know what? We're trying to have a fucking podcast here. We're just trying to talk about the gray area. So no Janus. If I see the fucking bucks on this list, we're rejecting the pot immediately. I wouldn't put it past us.

But look, Waz, isn't it so crazy that a team with like a superstar in their mid-20s that is also great might also be great in the future? Yeah, insane. That like, you know, say somebody like Phil Jackson, for instance, when picking jobs would consider the fact that a team had Kobe and Shaq on it? Yeah, that might matter. To the quality of a job and its future. So, yeah, I think picking teams with good players tends to be the best situations.

I don't know. Call me crazy. It matters. But we're trying to get into the texture here, you know, the nuance of all the other different things. So Rob, Rob introduced this. We're going to call this the Rob rule. So this will go into the group chat CDA immediately. But for group chat,

future rankings. So for our rankings, of which we're going to give the top five future situations in the league, you cannot have these three teams, the Celtics, the Cavaliers, the Oklahoma City Thunder, because all three of those teams are not only good right now, but also good moving forward. I think all three of us would have all three teams on our list in some order. Yes. Goes without saying that they would be involved. Now, now that we've kicked them out, will we still have very similar lists?

I honestly don't know. I don't know what to expect. And I, well, I do know what to expect, which is JV's list is not going to make sense. Juan and I are again going to be on the right side of history, kicking the best players on the best teams. Yes. And we're going to go from there. Yes. So if you at home are listening right now, you could basically just go to the standings of ESPN.com, whichever browser of your choice, look at the top five teams beyond the top three teams.

Those are going to be the list. Not true. Not quite. Not quite. Okay. Mine definitely veers. I'm strapped up, motherfucker. Rob, since you instituted the Rob Rule,

do you want to kick us off with your number five here? I would love to. My number five this year is actually the same as my number five last year, and that's the Memphis Grizzlies. Top ten on both sides of the ball with the fifth youngest roster in the league, one of the cheapest payrolls in the league.

That sounds like sustainable success to me. I understand the caveats, the concerns about half-court execution, about having a deep roster versus like a really rock solid eight-man roster for the postseason for, you know, the machinations of this offense and how it could get stalled out in a seven-game series. I hear all of that. This is a team that wins 50 games, basically any time they're healthy. They have really good young talent. They have a stable of really good players.

I feel very confident in whatever it is that's going to happen to the Grizzlies and whatever kind of shape their team ultimately takes. Yeah, to me, this list is about not just having great players, but great players who are young. young. And Memphis has two bona fide all-stars, all-N-B-A-level players in Jaron Jackson, Jr., or he's either third. I always forget. The junior. It's three Jays.

Three Jays. Jaron. Jans Jr., John Moran. And then, of course, Desmond Bain, who in a given year, could be All-Star to borderline All-Star. And so having those three guys, having them all under contract, in a market like Memphis, I think that matters. Jackson seems to be in line for a nice extension this summer.

And so, yeah, give me Memphis, but I have them a lot higher than Rob does. Ooh. I've actually got them as my number two situation in the NBA. Yeah, number two. I just really love that they've got these guys in-house. They have a decent amount of their draft capital. Also, like, they're young guys that they've drafted, like, their ancillary guys and G.G. Jackson's and the rest of these guys.

I just love the future for them. So Memphis is my number two team. So they were my first team out. And I should say that I would say my bottom two teams. So five and four are my list. Really not that much of a difference between my first three teams out. There was a couple teams in the mix for me. And they're all kind of similar where it's like great institution,

but not necessarily the star power or star power doesn't necessarily have the track record, the assets down the road. We'll get to that. Very interesting. Very interesting that you're leaning on star power. You never would do such a thing. Star power plus good assets, a competent, well-run organization. That qualifies as a good future power ranking, my friend.

But I think my concern with Memphis, and again, I had them just out of there, is that I do worry with Jott at this point. I think Jaron Jackson is playing on a different level this season. I do wonder what his ceiling is. I think we have to almost recalibrate how we think about him. I think he's played very well, especially isolating and in their new kind of ball movement, like everybody's passed in 19 times of possession sort of offense. James Herbert at CBS wrote a very good piece about that offense and how they kind of cracked it based off of, was it a D3 team, D2 team?

But you should go check that piece out. I think it's a really good one. John just, I don't know, man. He's missed 24 games this season. And I have down seven different issues he's had that's contributed to those 24 misses knee bruise, brain shoulder, shoulder soreness, thigh soreness, foot soreness, back soreness, and an illness. And a lot of it seems to be this AC joint spring that he had.

That's the one that's been more persistent. But if they don't have JAA, then it's a pretty good team. They've won without Jop. Then I'm starting to wonder what their ceiling is. It's a fair question. I think the reason I'm a little more bullish on that ceiling is Jha is a bit of a question mark, health and otherwise. Every member of the rotation, though, I think you could make the argument is going to get better. They're one of these teams that they don't have some stray veteran really in the mix at this point.

even guys like Brandon Clark at Luke Canard, who are the old heads by comparison, are just 28. Everyone else is in that like 20 to 26 bracket. And so while none of those guys may be a jaw Morant level transcendent draw and driver of offense and, you know, like potential superstar, you're just going to have a lot of really quality players to the point that if Memphis ever does need to recalibrate, if they ever do need to consider, you know, a post-jaw existence or a pivot away given some of the liabilities that his injuries present, there is. capable as anybody of putting a really compelling

trait package together, of putting together some of these great young players that they've drafted and developed. And also they do have not a bunch of incoming picks, but they have some swaps with Phoenix that could really pay off if you think the suns are going to be bad long term, as certainly one Justin Verrier does. And so if you want to bet against the suns going forward, then the Grizzlies might be

one of the teams that you call to do it. Clean books as well. if only because they had to extend a lot of their guys in years past, now those contracts almost look like bargains to the point where like Desmond Bain on the books for 36 million doesn't seem that bad. I know Jaron Jackson is due for another extension. It'll probably get it this offseason considering what they did at the deadline, basically opening up cap space in order to renegotiate and extend.

23 million on the books for next year. That's incredible. And so they have to pay Sonti Aldama, but they just get things right. Their draft pick success is better than most teams in the league. And they might even be the best there if you're to really go all the way first round, second round with them. So I get the pick. I just had them just on the outside looking in.

You hate Memphis. Is it barbecue? Is it the music scene? Is it Jaron Jackson, Jr.? Personally? What is it that you're holding against them? I think Memphis is fine. You know,

it's a okay place. I don't know if I would put it on my list of NBA cities to live. but you know it's actually it's a fun market really you would rob i would live in memphis look i i you don't need to twist my arm to live in a southern state with warm weather and good food like i you know i think there are some exceptions to that rule of the memphis i think i would be amenable to okay uh waz who do you have at number five my number five team are your new york new york go new york go. They're number five for me because, again, I get it.

Like, all of their main guys are paid up. Brunson on a value deal, although, like, I think we overrated the value of it at the time. But on a value deal. But, like, again, these guys are all under 28 years old, 27 years old. They're going to grow together, build more continuity. I think they need to add some different dimensions. I think they need to become a little bit more forceful on the perimeter somehow. Maybe Mitchell Robinson being back allows them to play a little bit more, you know, aggressive defensively on the perimeter.

But even that being said, like, I think if they turned around and was like, oh, we need to try to get off an OG and do something with that. Or we need to get off of McKell Bridges or, you know, anything like that I think is completely easy and, doable. And so, yes, they don't have the picks anymore and all of that stuff. But I think the talent that they have in-house is so imminently flippable that they can go in different directions if they have to. And Jalen Brunson has just assumed the mantle of like capital F franchise player, right? Like he just embodies that shit so much. So I just think the future is in great hands for these guys. A bunch of good players already signed up, still pretty damn young. So, yeah, like I said, I value talent that is still young.

And so the Knicks for me are my number five team. Yeah. To that point, none of their core players, as we're recording this podcast, are over the age of 30 right now. Well, unfortunately, when- On Thursday, happy birthday, Josh Hart, you're now officially 30. It's one of the better young cores in the league. And obviously, we've got to talk about the market muscle. Like, players want to play in New York.

And they specifically want to play at MSG. they did even when James Dolan was like had his fingers and everything and the team was just struggling. The fact that they could do that with a really poor product just shows you what they could be capable of now that they've kind of turned the page on that. I think they're just in a race against Tibbs at this point. Basically is he's going to grind down some of these young, sprightly young fellas to the point where like they're going to start showing signs of aging at like 32, 31. I think it's definitely possible considering the long, hard minutes for playing this season. But on the other hand, if they just had like another. bench player if they had two more reserves i think it trickles down to the point where all your good players just get even better and you have them for a longer runway here so i had them squarely at number five yeah the question about getting more bench players is how do you do it given the financial constraints that the nicks now find themselves in this is a very expensive team that does not have

a lot of maneuverability because their core five are so good and are fairly well compensated and so waz is right if you want to flip a bridges or an o g or any component member of that you you can do it. Teams are going to take your calls. They would love to get Mikhail Bridges or Ogen and Obey on their team. But you're going to have to like compensate for whatever you're losing with either of those guys, specifically on a defense that already I'm wondering, is this like a quirk that they're going to have to overcome or is this a fatal flaw in the design

of this core of the team? Like is this going to be the kind of thing where they can ever be a championship level defense or are they going to have to make those changes? And that combination where you may have to make changes, And also you have severe financial constraints is just enough to make them more of an honorable mention for me. But we all love the core of the team overall. We love the potency of the offense.

We love how these guys have found an ability to play together and certainly what Kat has brought in terms of the dimensionality of that offense. I love the Knicks. I just think that if we're comparing them to the Grizzlies, I see a little bit more to believe in as a long-term project. I love Josh Hart, if only because I just saw a clip from his podcast where he called out J.J. Redigan said he was lying. about not having slept for two days before playing the nuggets.

He was like, man, that guy's asleep by 10 p.m. every night. A man, after Davey's heart. Just a great group of guys, man. And so just on the sentimental factor, like I just have a deep affection for the dudes on this team. And so, yeah, my number five. I also think that, like, on the one hand, they have this Villanova thing still going,

even though they kind of throw throw aside Dante Divenzo before it even starts. I don't think they get to do that anymore. I think once you, once you betray your brother, you don't get to claim the Wildcat pride. Although it was pretty sick that like,

I think they had like a GQ or one of those glossy New York magazines come out after they traded him and it was like, everyone back together. It's like, nope. I actually almost wonder if that plays into their favor,

so they're not going to be too precious about, for instance, if Bridges isn't the lock solid number four or number five guy in this team, they can move them for spare parts. I will say one thing, though. I think Rob is right that it is going to be difficult to maybe just generate bench players on the fly here, but you can't do that through your feeder system.

Right now, they're like severely constrained to the point where they're counting every penny. Like next year, it's like, can we, the second rounders, can we get guys up through the feeder system? But it is incumbent on them to basically get their Darryl on and find these guys in the way that they really haven't this year. They've been relying on the campaign types and other guys that just really haven't given them much. But you're going to have to because you need other guys to play other than your five starters. They're basically playing 40 minutes a game right now. The other part of that,

that's kind of a problem as far as these kind of motivations working against each other, in theory, to make those sorts of diamond in the rough discoveries, you want as many cracks at those kinds of players as you can get, right? You want like four or five different young prospects on your roster. You cycle them in. You see who works. You give them a little bit of burn here and there. And most importantly, you have a coach who is willing to trust young players. with that kind of responsibility. If Tim's is going to play these guys 40 plus minutes a night and he already doesn't trust young players,

where is the diamond and the rough fine going to come from? It's true. I will also say that they are currently, as we're recording this 19th on defense, which is quite poor. And it seems like it's only getting worse as the season goes along. I wonder if fatigue is starting to play a factor there. They were slightly better than that.

They were close to league average. I think that's all they need to get to in order for the offense to pop. because as we've seen, the offense can just, like, put up 140, like, it's nothing on a random Friday against a very good team. So right now, they are fifth on offense. I think they can easily be the top offense in years to come. So there's a lot to like about the Knicks. But, Rob, did you have them on your list at all? I don't. They're an honorable mention for me. Okay. So I guess you have no Eastern Conference teams.

I have no comment. Oh, let's go. Well, I have an Eastern Conference team in addition to the Knicks at number four. I'll go with my number four. I have the Orlando Magic, which honestly, honestly, I struggled with because I do worry if the KCP experiment will only get them to like revert back into their shell and to do nothing except for like exercise the team option on Mo Wagner this offseason or like actually Gary Harris, you don't exercise it, but you extend him four more years with the team option on that year.

Like just there needs to be something new here. I think that is the one thing that this season is. shown as their offense struggles to get up 80 to 90 points a game is that they do need a little juice. And I'm hoping that this kind of fall on their face experiment, a lot of it driven by injuries and other stuff, shows them that they need to go a little outside the system in order to supplement what they have because what they have is very good. Paulo, Franz, Paulo needs to get extended over this offseason, I believe. But they have with Suggs in the mix, there are three players that would be the core of any really good team and any team would want to have. So I found it hard to

not put them on this list because what they have already is so much of what I think a lot of teams are after. It's really true. I think the only thing that held me back a little bit from putting them on my list, and I wrote extensively about the magic on the ringer.com this week. You can go read the feature that I just published on them. And it's real, the core of it is this, which is there comes this tension point between the philosophy of the team you want to have. And that's for the magic, this big physical, aggressive team that is trying to mash you out of games, and then the need to progress forward, which for them stems at least from shooting and probably also from a slight shift in the playmaking structure of that team as well.

That's a team that they did try the KCP route. He has not shot well for them at all. It's just it just hasn't panned out in the way that they needed it to. That may nudge them more in a direction of going after a different kind of ball handler in terms of an offseason addition. I don't get the sense that the magic are so precious they won't make moves. I just think that they are being very careful for the right move and the right moment. And that can look like a team being tentative. But sometimes it's just a team being prudent. Like they don't have unlimited pushes, right?

They can only take so many big swings at this thing. And they don't want to give up some young players who are pretty solid, if not at all, perfectly fitting right now in order to make that happen. The only other big catch I have with the magic is I love Jalen Suggs and the way he plays basketball. He gets hurt a lot. And it takes a toll on him. It takes a toll on the team.

we're seeing right now right in front of us what the magic look like when Suggs isn't out there. Which is crazy. It's crazy how bad they are just because Jalen Suggs can't play. He's their best shooter somehow. Like, and I'm talking about off the dribble, movement shooting. Like, he's kind of the only person on the team who was providing like that sort of dynamism on the ball when it comes to this shooting ability. And obviously, he brings a tough. factor that is second to none.

Obviously one of our hard-haired guys. And so, yeah, him being young, them getting him on a good deal, that extension is looking mighty pretty these days is beautiful for them. They would just kind of just got cut off from my list, but I see the vision we're putting them at number four for sure. You're never going to believe this, but Jalen Suggs on a five-year extension that descends and has a team option on the end of it. Look, they have a style.

They have a style of contract resolution. That's for sure. When it works, that's going to work like gangbusters. Like that's an incredible extension. If he's going to be healthy currently out for the season with his quad injury. But there's a lot to like here. I think they need that next move. And I'm giving them the benefit of a doubt right now.

If they don't do it next year, off the list entirely. They never get another look. I also want to say, I think it's fair to go through this season and feel a little bit of growing pessimism, a little bit of resistance in Paolo's piece of this specific. Like he's had some real troubles with his efficiency. He's had some troubles like really applying his scoring in these games and trying to stretch out and be more aggressive. I'm not worried about that from a Paulo Bancaro perspective.

I think you clean out that lane and he looks like a totally different player all of a sudden. And so so much of the magic operates that way where you can find clips, still shots, like watch a magic game, freeze frame. You will find four bodies around Palo Bancaro on any given possession. As soon as that evens out, I think his game. is really going to sing. So who do you have Rob at number four on your list? I have the Houston Rockets at number four.

Do you guys have the Rockets on your list? Just got snipped from my list. I have them at number two. They're literally my number six. Okay. We are just chipping away at JV's list along the way. That's right. I think the only reason they're not higher for me in that two range is they don't have

the guy. They don't. So I don't see how people can pick them up over Memphis, who has two of the guys, you know? They do have maybe two of the guys. I think the difference is they don't have the guy, but they have a lot of stuff they could trade for the guy. Yes.

They have everything else just about. And those guys are all impressing within their relative roles, right? We are getting the annual Jalen Green post-all-Star Break swell. We are, I think, legally not allowed to praise Amen Thompson anymore on this podcast. We have reached the limit of what the law will allow us to do. I'm going to get a restraining order at some point, the Thompson family. I think so. And I continue to be very impressed by Alper and Shangun, not just as a hub, not just as a

score and a passer, but what he's doing defensively and what IMA O'Dok is doing with him defensively. Like, I may is a great defensive coach that has his team way ahead of schedule in terms of its professionalism, in terms of its discipline on defense. Holding these guys accountable. Yep. And so you have the kind of steady foundation of the defense. You have the high upside guys specifically in a men. but even Jabari Smith, I would say,

is still such a wild card for this team where they don't know what to do with him yet. We'll see how much he ends up being a piece of things there. And then you can go out and get a Kevin Durant. You can go out and trade for another potentially high-level star that comes available whenever the time is right. And it feels like that time might be quite soon. If not this upcoming off season,

then maybe over the course of the year. What I think is sort of bolsters both of you guys' enthusiasm for their future in mind, too, is that they look so big. bad without Fred Van Vleet, which is like a knock, but also like they can get a guy better than Fred Van Vleet in there, right? Like we have to believe that that's possible. And like upgrading that will take them to new heights, man, upgrading that like this,

whoever's going to be the sort of focal point of ball handling and playmaking duties and adding some scoring punch, I think we'll make these guys like a Devin Booker say, you know, if they want to blow Phoenix out the water and help their future along, you know, I think, I think they're so prime to become way better than what this is right now. So I get the enthusiasm about, you know, what they got going forward. Well, they're also a natural trade partner for Phoenix because they have Phoenix's 2027 first. Yeah, give more future back. They have the 2027 swap with the Nets as well with their own pick.

And this one is kind of crazy potentially. they get the two most favorable picks between theirs, Dallas, and Phoenix in 2029. So if the Mavericks go off the deep end, that's beyond the scope of this current roster that the Mavericks have built, particularly now with Kyrie Irving injured. And if the Suns also end up going off the deep end

in terms of that experiment falling apart, maybe by 2029 Devin Booker is not even in Phoenix anymore, those could be wildly valuable picks. That's what I see. Like, not only do they have a young player context left over when they do trade inevitably some of these other guys, they just have the right package in order to sway any team and they have the right motivation to do that. We talk about OKC, like, will they ever make a move considering that their feeder system is pretty meticulously planned

out at this point? And their books are so meticulously plotted out at this point. I'm not quite sure, but I know for a fact that what the Rockets need is a star. And it almost seems like they agree that they need to start, but they're actually slow playing it because they have everything in order to go out and do that. They're just like hovering over that button ready to hit the hit it. And they could basically wait at least until the next year or so. I do think they're going to reach a point where they might have waited too long because some of the extensions that they're due are starting to come up. Jabari, Tar Yason, this summer need to get paid, him in Thompson the year after that. And so you get pretty pricey pretty quickly. And even a guy like Jaylon Green, who I think we would all agree,

is like mixed at best as like a potential player in this league or potential high level player in this league at the very least making $33 million. And that's just like, you can't carry that on your books if you're paying four to five of these guys. Like guys who were drafted high make about that amount. So even someone like Jabari Smith as we talked about, I think we like him. He's going to want to get paid in the 30s. He's a comming good type who thinks he should be getting 30, 35 million dollars.

Exactly. That makes me a little bit nervous. Yeah. But I think the fact that they're almost being choosy about like, oh, I don't know about Kevin Durant because we actually want to wait out Devin Booker, I think it just speaks to what a good position they're in right now. They also have another guy

who just like does not play for them and we were reminded this week can fucking cook and that's Reed Shepard who is goddamn right Dashbrose. There are teams out there that would still love to take a swing on Reed Shepard. He's very small. He's going to have to overcome that his entire career. He's going to be kind of working against the grain.

Sure. I think he's going to be a factor. I don't know whether it's for the Rockets or otherwise, but you would think if there is a star trade to swing, Shepard could find his way into it. Do you remember we were so starved as like NBA consumers that we thought Stash Bros was like a totally hilarious thing with Stephen Adams and his canter? We love a nickname.

We love a group nickname above all. If you, if there's an organically created group nickname we're going to latch on to it. It's just it's tough sledding out there these days. I would love, look, given the news climate this week, I would love a statutes. bros to cling on to. Well, Waz and I are already stash bro.

Do you need to get it out of the mix here? That's fair. Let me ask you this. After one good game of Reed Shepard, are you guys already like rethinking your draft boards

from the other day when we redrafted the 2024 draft? Because I kind of am. No. No, no, no. It's just one game. But I, you know, I still remained freaking high on Reed Shepard.

I just let guys bully me into, you know, picking the Philly kid over him. But I'm, I remember. I remain, I remain very optimistic about that kid's future. I think it's okay to say that he's not going to be the third best player in that draft class and also he's going to be a good NBA player.

It's just going to be somewhere in the middle. Yeah, I just wonder if he did play for a worst team that didn't need you to like grind out defensive possessions if we would be thinking of him already as like a top three guy. Maybe we'll see. This episode of the Ringer NBA shows brought to you by State Farm. There's a lot to say when buying a new home or car. car, but only one thing to say when you need help to protect them. Like a good neighbor, state farm is there.

A state farm agent can help you choose the coverage you need, like a good neighbor, state farm is there. So, was, you've done how many so far, too? Well, yeah. So you guys have mentioned Memphis. That's my number two. The Knicks are my number five. And my number four team, speaking of having the guy, is the Los Angeles Lakers.

to me, once you have basically a perennial MVP candidate and this guy is 25 years old, your future is going to be pretty bright. Of course, you know, LeBron is not going to play forever, despite what it looks and feels like on a day-to-day if you're watching the freaking Lakers. Are we sure? Like, how and why can this guy be stopped?

But even when they decide to move on, I don't know how you can put it in your head that they're not going to get another star to play next to Luca. Like it's going to happen somehow. And the crowd, the fans are already completely bought in. The Lakers, you know, local broadcast is already giving them the nickname the Dawn, Luca the Dawn. Well, they tried this in Dallas too. This is the Dawn is a bad nickname. Very, very bad.

Very bad. We don't need nicknames. We always default to just like a first. name or just like a shortened version of your last name. All nicknames are bad. That's the take. Well, the Don is an attempted shortened version of his last name. It's just a bad short version of his last name.

Yes. Or if you or if your name is like buzz or like you know, Buster or like one of these, yes. One of these weird like down south type of nicknames

then that'll stick. But yeah, man, to me, the Lakers got Luca Donchich. It's really that simple. He's 25. He's going to be a perennial MVP candidate. And it's like he's one of these superstars who actually does elevate the talent around. Yes. Like, everybody becomes better.

Their jobs become easier because they're playing next to him. And so, like, you know, I don't know. Like, you could have, like, say, like, Aunt Edwards right now. He's a great player, great talent. I even thought about putting the wolves on my list simply because they're in. But he's not an elevation superstar as of yet. He's just not.

And some people like producers A would say he's never going to be that kind of guy that, you know, empowers his other teammates and makes them better. Lucas already that. You don't need to nail every single transaction when it comes to filling out a roster next to this guy because he's that good at making things better. And, you know, look, I think people are getting a little bit

crazy about the Lakers chances of going to the finals right now. Like people are just like, oh, this is a championship team right now. I'm not there yet. But I don't, I think the path to getting there is crystal clear for the Lakers in the future. And so that's why they're my number 14. Listen, guys, I consider myself a man of nuance. And this actual episode is a prime example of that where I want to quibble about the asset war chests, all this other stuff.

I cannot believe you. I can't believe you're doing this. I would even tell you that it's a little suspicious that Shams is almost going on a world tour telling everybody how committed Luca was to Dallas and that boy, howdy, he's going to be committed to the Lakers yet again. We should mention Luca is basically on a one plus one after this season. He has one year, then the player option. So things could fall apart very quickly if things were to fall apart. But I'm so worn down by this fucking trade experience. And the fact that we're not that far away from the Paul Gasol experience where I'm just like, fuck it.

Just put him at one on his list because things are just going to. going to happen for them. Guys are going to want to go there. LeBron is probably going to play until he's fucking 50. Until his daughter is actually in the league. Not only his two sons, it's going to be three of the four of the Bronnies plus Luca Donchins out there in the starting lineup.

And so I haven't met one because I can't like resist the fact that like they keep making things happen. I don't think you're allowed to put them at one. After all the belly aching you've been doing. I have them at two. Because the text, the text. around the team and blah blah and the war

I set you up and I zag unbelievable this guy it's what they call me the zagger unreal they do call you the zagger so Lakers are number two for you Rob I have them a number two I just think like I share your slight hesitation was as far as

as ready made championship contender I just like they're really good they're already one of the best defense Jackson Hayes looks good Luke has turned Jackson Hayes into a player 20 in the first tafty the day. That's insane. Turning Gabe Vincent into a player. Everything you said about

how he changes the way you build a team. It's true. And congratulations to the Dallas Mavericks for trading their way right out of this list. Because they would have been here coming off the NBA finals with Luca Donchitz. You would have been on our future power rankings. Now there's absolutely no argument for it. The Lakers steal all of that valor.

And we just have to accept, even as sometimes Lakers skeptics on this podcast. Yeah. This team is inevitable. This is what they do. There is a slight hiccup in between contending championship level runs, and then the next guy comes in the door, and it just starts all over again. And you can say whatever you want about the mechanisms

that make that possible and why it happens, but it happens. And right now, the most popular team in the league in terms of the market that players want to be in and the glamour of a franchise that's long established and has an actual pull because of Kobe, because of magic, because of Kareem, because of Shaq, because of LeBron, on the players in the league,

that team has Luca Dantzic now. And he's going to make you look so much better when you come play there. And so the only reason they're not at one for me is because LeBron is so good right now. And they will eventually have to come to terms with him not being this awesome every second. That time is not now. But at some point they're going to have to do it. And they're going to have to do it with a couple of draft picks already out the door. They're going to have to do it without a lot of like hugely tradable pieces around that are going to get you a star in return unless Austin Reeves really starts popping off.

And he's been really good. I just think that absolutely loves playing with Austin Reeves. They work well together. Like honestly, this team is for a team that has thrown Luca into the mix midstream, I think it's starting to gel really, really well. Yeah. Those three and D guys that they acquired on the fringes like during Finney Smith, they're just like perfect for what they want to do.

Have you seen the Finney Smith on off numbers? It's like he just unlocked something within these guys, man. Just to have like a ready made friend for Luca, like a familiar face, like right there. to greet him, basically like the Tyson Chandler hanging out in the closet to greet Marcus Aldrich. How do you guys think people are receiving the Luca Lakers right now?

I'm of the belief that when the playoffs get here, people are going to absolutely fall in love because as we've seen, people just love top heavy teams, the Warriors Cavs Clashes on and on. But right now, a lot of my friends who are just like casual NBA fans are like actually asking me if the league is fixed. And if anything,

it almost feels like they're turned off by the fact that this happened because they almost wonder if the fix is in. Interesting. I've seen almost the opposite. Once the playoff start and this guy is making big plays and crowds are losing their minds, I think people are going to get on board with this thing quickly because Luca is another thing.

It's like he's playing to the crowd already. Like he is absorbing the freaking crypto.com arena energy and harnessing it in a way that just like, you know, basically nine games. in. I didn't think it would be like this, but here we are. I think there's an element to it with the trade where it was so like lampooned so quickly. It was so obvious to so many people that this was a weird, bad, unfound, like poorly conceived trade. That there is, I find in terms of when I'm just like gauging neutral reaction, people who follow other teams who don't have a dog in this fight, it feels like there's a want for

carmic justice. It's like there's a want for Luca to succeed and the Mavericks to fail. And look, everything is falling apart for the Mavs right now. I don't wish that upon anyone who follows that team. It's dark, dark days.

But that's kind of what's in the air right now. It does feel like people want Luca to have his moment and good Lord, when he goes back to Dallas in April, the scenes that are going to come out of that game are going to be insane. Yeah, and even like Luca was obviously one of the biggest stars in the league. But even like being on the math,

like he would get like the late TNT game in the playoffs against the clippers where it's like oh people are interested especially if you're NBA fans like us who are going to watch all these games but like there wasn't that draw there wasn't that mom factor and I do think that is going to kick in when they like turn on LeBron and all of a sudden the best player in the world is right there playing next to him but I don't know it just feels like people are like are you fucking kidding me at least people that are fans of opposing teams like I know a lot of Celtics fans They're just like, we gotta go through this fucking guy. Yeah.

I agree with you guys. So I had them at one. Rob, you had, you had them at two. That's correct. You had them at four? Four. Four. Okay.

So I think all of our fours and fives are accounted for. So I think our next up is actually potential any of one of our threes. Whoever wants to take the baton. I only have my three left. So one of you guys should go. You want to go with mine? I've got the San Antonio Spurs at three. They're my three.

Yep. Bingo. I'm tempted. to put them at two. But it's hard to make a swing that aggressive when the reason to put the spurs higher is out with a very serious health issue and we just don't know enough about it yet. And every indication points to Wemby being healthy and making a recovery by next season. We'll have to see what that looks like for him, kind of what sorts of accommodations have

to be made around a blood clot. It can be a long lasting thing, can be something that a player has to deal with for the entirety of his career. There's a wait and see uncertainty that makes it hard to put him, put the spurs and Wemby over the teams that I have at one and two, mystery team and the Lakers. That said, they have Victor Webenyama. Now they have Deeran Fox.

They have Stefan Castle, who is a dog among dogs. They have a lot of players that I think we can expect to get better, right? Like you still have Devin Vassell, who I still believe in, Jeremy Sohan, who I think is still an odd fit for this team, but I think we'll get better. Even guys like Julian Champany, I think will get better over time. And maybe most importantly, they have the ninth and tenth best odds for the this upcoming lottery because of their pick and Atlanta's pick come that means altogether they have like a roughly 30 to 35 percent chance of getting in the top four of this draft holy fuck if they

if they hit on one of those picks and it not even with a Cooper flag but just a top four talent and wemby is in good health they're just going to assent yeah that's why they're actually my number one team um okay i just operate as if wemby's going to come back 100% fine and for me it's pretty simple. The kid's what, 21, 22 years old. He was on his way to winning defensive player of the year, damn there unanimously. So he's the best defensive player

in the league, averaging 24 and a half points a game, which means like he's going to be a 30 point score at some point. So you got a freaking 30 point scorer who is a defensive eraser who's under 22 years. Like this is crazy. Like to me

it's really that simple. Like your defense is going to be top tier, no matter what, as long as this guy is on the floor. Like, we talked about Luca being a floor raiser for offenses. Wembe is that for defenses. You can put damn there anything around this guy, and he will find a way to make that defense work. And so to me, like, that's got to be the number one future.

Like, we all think this guy's going to be an MVP candidate every single year. He is a maniac competitor, you know, put it like this. All of the things that Nico Harrison and them, speaking about Luca Donchich and his work habits coming out of Dallas. It's the opposite of what you hear about Wenbingiama and his work ethic and his dedication and his competitive spirit. She's just everything you want in a franchise player. And again, I'm just going to choose to believe that he's going to be back 100% healthy.

So they were my number one team, actually. Just watched a bunch of Kobe highlights. He would be the perfect math player. You guys said I probably would have had. them number one if we knew about Wembe's health status. I also think if you look at their pick allotment, which has become a little bit of a side project for me, it's basically my part-time job just like pouring over pick protections. I do like their allotment of future picks better than most teams, maybe even Houston, but it's very close. If only because they have a nice little

block of Hawks picks, so they basically control the Hawks future for the next three years, which I think is a really interesting strategy because the Hawks can't really wriggle out of this. Like even if they tank one year, like the next year, or excuse me, if they get out of the tank one year, they're basically facing the same thing the next year. And so they really have them in a bind. Plus, on top of that, they have a Boston fuser pick, probably not much there, but they have a swap for Minnesota or Dallas in 2030, a swap from the Kings in 2013, which could be particularly juicy. And the one thing that's different between them in OKC, who I think has more picks, I almost wonder if the value of those picks is better, because if you actually look at OKC's picks,

A lot of them are protected because they almost feel like they started the trend earlier to the point where like a lot of teams were still protecting their picks. The spurs got in more recently where nobody's protecting any of these. So they have basically free reign on teams' future, whereas OKC-stee is still having to navigate like, oh, maybe this pick falls into the top 13 so we don't get the heats one. So I think they have every little building block you want in order to put the right team around Wembe, including caps speeds, because they don't have a lot of contracts on their books outside of Fox.

and Vassell, who we could talk about, but I'm kind of ready to be like, will you play well when the stakes are high as opposed to just when we're losing 20 games in a row? But other than that, I think they're doing an awesome job. I think so too. The picks conversation is interesting.

And I think some of it comes down to, as you outlined, Justin, the swaps that the Spurs have are really, really valuable potentially, right? They have a lot of opportunity to trade what we expect to be their low picks because the spurs with Wemby are probably going to be good sooner than later.

for, you know, Dallas down the line, Minnesota down the line, Sacramento down the line, Atlanta in one of these off years. What Oklahoma City is doing is a little bit different, and I think it has to do with sort of what their market is going to be. Because if you're trading to a lesser team, those teams want outright picks. They don't want to trade their potential first in a swap for the wolves because they are probably planning to be bad at that point. And so I think the markets are just totally different in terms of the kinds of teams that they're going to ultimately be talking to. Yeah. So my entire board is off at this point. One through five. Once first thing we should at least mention, the coaching element is a huge question mark. We don't know what Greg Popovich's status is going to be going forward. I honestly don't really know what to make of Mitch Johnson and the job he's done yet.

It's really hard to gauge a coach when they didn't have a training camp to put in their stuff and run the team the way that they want to run it. And so it's just kind of a shrug at this point. I don't know what to anticipate if they would say if Greg Popovich decides to retire. to step back to change his role in some capacity. Is there a reason why he hasn't announced that he's retired? Well, he announced that he's not coming back this season. But I think he's trying to leave the door open. To just come back, will he just be like a sort of like a Bobby Bowden type where he's just there as the head coach?

But everybody else is actually doing the coaches. It seems like strange that he would come back from like a major stroke like this to coach an NBA team and like do all of that travel and all the course. crazy shit they got to do, man, that's interesting to me. It's rigorous, stressful work being an NBA head coach. And whatever Popovich decides to do, that's his choice. If he does decide to step back, do they formally promote Mitch Johnson into the job? Do they go bring home one of the other pop disciples who's kind of, you know, dangling out there with another team, run on their staff or even within their own staff?

I have no idea what they would do. But then so when you're thinking about, like to me, our guy JJ Reddick, I think has become a plus for the Lakers. He has established himself as something that is adding to the future of that team that is making these guys play hard. They play in a way that makes sense. Tactically, everything is kind of checking out for them right now. But the Spurs, I don't know what's going to happen. And this is a team that has a lot of developmental interests in a lot of different prospects on their roster. And with that, you want some stability in the coaching ranks.

So are you making the backdoor case that the Spur should hire a current podcaster in order to coach their team next season? Are you volunteering? hearing? I was going to say was I would track stars down to San Antonio. I thought you were going to say Lou Will or something like that. I don't think I don't think Lou Will would be a good coach for the record.

Him and Chandler Parsons co-coaches of the St. Induspers. Let's go. Let's get it. A good hang does not a good coach make in some cases. A lot of parties for that team. I promise you. All right. So who has any teams left at this point? I have one team. Yeah. As do I. My number one.

Was is number three. I'm going to guess that they're the same team. It's the Denver Nuggets. It certainly is. Come on, baby. Jesus fucking Christ. Denver Nuggets. They have Nicola Yokic. You can shame us, Justin. You can try to change the rules. You cannot stop us from picking the Nuggets. Delete the pod. The only reason

they're not my number one is because Jamal Murray man is so freaking up and down. If Jamal Murray, that's it. That's it. If Jamal Murray could be consistently close to as good as he was in the 23 playoffs, then this is a blowout to me.

This is, this team is like a metronome. Like, they will get shit done. What have, what have we been watching this entire season? They're like, they're really good. What, the second best team of the West? Third best. I think that

like, if they lost one of their top five players, they wouldn't have any other players to play those minutes, because the bench is so thinned out by their ridiculous strategy of like trying to base it all on traffic, but virtually none of these guys actually hitting. To the point where like they're already capped. Christian Broad is very good, I will say. Yeah.

But here's a very important caveat. That's true. I would say that's the other part of this is now those good players that they did hit on are two extensions. And so they're already capped out to their eyes. And now they have to both pay Brown and I assume Peyton Watson. I don't know what else you're going to do except for bring Peyton Watson back. And as we just outlined, like, good young players make way more than they should. I can see Peyton Watson making like 15 to $25 million a year.

I don't know what I get. For him would be so wild to me. This is what like rotation level players do. Yeah, you're right. I just don't know what they do. And like on the one hand, they have Russ come in. So like, oh, they did a good job finding something on this crap heap and letting Yoko him into something.

On the other hand, Dargo Sarich can't play. And so that's one of their very few success stories, just like going up. I guess Jeff Green would be that case. Yokic can't make bad centers into good ones. No. No matter of his job. What? So, yes, that's tough.

That's the best way to put it. They have Yokish, but Yokic literally can't build the team around him. It's, I think he kind of does, though. I think the Rust thing is proof of what I'm saying. You don't need to knock it out the park, man. You hit a single on a signing. Yokic is going to make this thing look way better than it has any business looking. And so for me, I can do all things to Nicola Yokic who strengthens me.

And so that's why the Nuggets are still number three, brightest future in the NBA. My Serbian lord and king, Nicola Yokicch, love you, kid. This got very personal and very touching, honestly. I appreciate the connection that you and Yokic have was this is why they're number one on my list. I just think the floor with Yokic is so high. So high. It's so high.

He does make role players better in a similar way as we were just saying with Luca, but I would say an even wider variety of role players he gets the most out of. He's one of the most consistently healthy superstars in the league, which is if you're going to poke holes in the Luca argument and the John Moran argument in a lot of these other teams. Scott shows up.

He shows up. He's healthy. He plays huge. Absentee father, Justin. This guy, he takes his kids out to play catch. You understand? This guy takes his kid to the barbershop. He is a great dad.

He goes with his wife to the mall. Yeah, a little chair. Dude, oh, my God. Anytime I go out with my woman, I'm just like, yeah, where is the chair? Oh, my goodness. I cannot walk around this store for an hour and a half, dude. And what I love too about Yokic is like The Nuggets, ownership, let's face it,

it's ownership being cheap as hell Which is why they couldn't field a more respectable supporting cast And Yokic looked around and said So you're telling me I just got to drop 30, 35 a game And 15 assists and get every board And like, all right, cool, I'll go on and do it. Fuck it. That's what it takes for us to win.

That's what I'll do. It goes against everything I believe in As a basketball player In terms of a shared ownership and responsibility and, you know, the sort of egalitarian way of playing. And he just goes out and does it, man. Like, this guy is the best.

He's no maintenance. He's not a diva like some of these other superstars out here. He's just great. I just can't say enough about the guy. Listen, Yokic isn't the problem. It's the one thing I am not worried about with this team. If anything, it's basically everything else. If anything, like even Murray is like one of the more bankable things here

because now it's this point. I just assume that he's just going to be bad for half a season, but I know he's going to show up once the all-star break happens. I mean, Michael Porter Jr., basically only has two years left, and so you have to figure that one now. Aaron Gordon, going to be on a new extension that's going to be pretty cumbersome at this point, especially because he's not playing a lay, although his plus minus numbers are kind of miraculous this year.

I don't know if you guys have seen this. He basically has the same net rating as Yokic, so somebody to keep track of. He's making all his threes. Yeah. We could point to a couple guys that Yokic has breed like. into, Russ being the prime example of it. There are a couple guys on this bench that are basically dead on arrival at this point. Like, what's going on with Zignashi? I know he's playing a couple more minutes now. I don't see him as a viable. He's taking corner threes now, Justin.

Good for him. I mean, when's Strother going to click into place? Dayron Holmes is a big question mark. We'll see. Obviously, couldn't play this year. So, I don't know. And like, even if we look at the free agent success, like, track record, I just don't know if we've ever gotten the Yokic effect really take hold on the league. where guys are targeting the nuggets and being like, I want to go there. Guys just don't want to go to fucking Miami and just party when they're not playing for 10 minutes a game off the bench. And more power to them.

Whatever you want to do, that's fine. But guys aren't going to Denver first and foremost in order to go on a championship run at this point. Except for Dandre Jordan, who's just like a good hang. He is a good hang. I mean, it doesn't seem like they've had during the Yokic era a lot of like big expenditures to make, right? This is a team that especially now, the roster is pretty expensive. They don't have a lot to flex.

They don't have a lot of financial capital to throw at people to say, hey, come play with this great team and get paid what you're worth in the process in addition to the financial constraints of the ownership, I should say. I just think you're being, you're glossing over the core of this team a little too much where Michael Porter Jr. is playing the best basketball of his career this season. Christian Brown has been a fucking revelation. Like, he's been really, really good. And the highs of Jamal Murray are all-star level highs that would go toe to toe with almost any of the non-superstar guards that we've talked about today, if not exceed them. Like he shows up in games that matter. He delivers in those moments.

I believe in Jamal Murray. Aaron Gordon, too, like he feels like he's been around forever. He's 29 years old. 29 years old for a rock solid defender who has Waz said is making every damn three this season. And so you have that. You have that core in house right now. And if you want to make dramatic changes and trade Michael Porter Jr.

going forward or trade Aaron Gordon going forward, you can do that and you can reconceptualize the team a little bit. but they have really good stability. They just need to work around the edges, a tiny, tiny bit. And I will say this too. The Murray injury stuff worries me more than the Murray inconsistency stuff does. But I think they're related, though, Rob. They are a little bit.

The Michael Porter Jr. part of that, though, we're now looking at basically two seasons so far of MPJ being really healthy and quite good. And if he gets through this whole season intact and plays well throughout, it might be worth revisiting kind of how we think of him as far as being an injury prone player at the end of the day. And let me just be clear here.

I'm not necessarily critiquing the performance of those guys and how good it is to have those four. It's more about the money on the books for an organization that has been so prudent over the past couple years. I'm actually curious, now that KCP has done poorly,

do you guys look at that move over the summer any differently? Not really. Not really, dude. I think the context matters. Like there's very few NBA players whose production isn't based around a context. Like, I think, you know, the situation in Orlando

just hasn't been ideal for him. But I don't think he'd be stinking up the joint if he was still in Denver this year. I just, I don't know why I should believe that. I think, you know, for other, for most players, it's their production is heavily dependent upon their situation. And so I think that that KCP has come out on the negative side of that. I think Russell Westbrook, on the other hand, is coming out on the positive side of that, right?

I think it does matter to the context. So I think they should have brought them back. I just refused to believe that that was a great thing that they did was get rid of KCP. Yeah, it was always kind of a why not both question. Especially after, like, think about what you just said about Strother. You know, like, that dude would not be getting tick if KCP was still on the team. I think it's realistic and maybe possible that KCP is having some age-related decline. Like he's just at that point in his career where that's a realistic thing.

But he's been one of the steadiest three-point shooters in the lake for like five years running. And then all of a sudden the shooting falls off a cliff. That to me says aberration. It says it's a little bit fluky. It says that there's something happening here. I mean, obviously it's a huge life change, uprooting, moving to a totally new place, learning a new system, working with all these new players. and yeah, like the Nicola Yokic bump is real.

But who KCP is to the magic is not really relevant to who he would be as a nugget. And I think he would still be really good as a nugget if they had kept him. I agree. I'm just worried that our guy Christian gets to the offseason, just looking for a new house, just like already puts the down payment down. And all of a sudden, here he is in Los Angeles playing next to Luca. The Luca Austin Reeves, Christian Brown triumvirate. You see that?

Yes. bring basketball back, baby. The Don, real orchestrating all of it. I did have the nuggets in my grouping of like honorable mentions. I had the Grizzlies nuggets and I had the Timberwolves is like just on the outside looking in. Timberwolves are fascinating.

It almost feels like they're in the process of like a two to three step move of recalibrating the team's timeline more to fit Anthony Edwards. But they're still kind of in the midst of that and I don't totally see the end of the tunnel. They have a pretty awesome young court with Edward McDaniels, especially considering

how well he's been playing of late. No, they need to bring a kill back. Dante DiVincenzo is still there. But then like the older group, it's just like, are they going to be around for when this team really hits the gas pedal again?

Are they going to get in the KD mix this year? What's going on with the go bear? And so for those reasons, I have them just on the outside looking in. But they have Jalen Clark now. All problems are solved. They're fucking cooking. Darren Shannon.

Like, honestly, like the young guys have given them a nice breath of fresh air in the middle of this season. I do think that is like what a lot of, lot of kind of the Michael Malone type should almost look at because Finch was basically forced to play the young guys because he ran out of older guys because you just kept getting hurt. And look what it's done to them. I just think like you cannot go eight deep for a rotation

throughout the course of an 82 game regular season anymore. It's just like you got to throw the young bodies out at the very least to give a little bit of a zip to what you're doing there. And like honestly, if the Nuggets had a little, like if Malone was a little bit more open to playing through mistakes. I don't know. Maybe Yokish could not play 35 minutes a game anymore. That's true. I also thought about the Pacers. I thought about the Pistons. I didn't.

Pistons, kind of. I didn't think about it. The Pacers are right back there on like a 48 win pace. That's not good enough for you? No. Rob is going to like cut the ribbon for the Indianapolis 500. We're going to be like, I wonder why. I'm just looking forward to when

you guys have to explain again why the, why the Pacers are just like in the second round of playoffs in the Eastern Conference finals, why it's just like happening. And I'm going to be like, have you watched the last four months of basketball? They've been playing really well. At no point this season, have you thought to yourself, this is a finals kind of team? No, I'm not saying that, but they are a good team and a young team and a team that can get better. Do you think they have a realistic path to becoming a finals type of team anytime soon?

I think that is, that's the conversation worth having. That's why they're not on my list. I think they are well positioned to win 48 to 52 games for a good for a good chunk of time. I don't poo-poo that outcome. Nor should you. That's a great achievement, though. Like if we haven't talked about the best futures, I'm talking about teams that can realistically say like, we put our name on the table for a team that can win a championship this season and seasons going forward.

I just, I don't see it for Indianapolis. I don't I can't on your list no the bucks were not on my list they're too old they're too freaking old

yonest though still doing it doing everything he damn well can and I want to say since Bobby Portis has been ruled out ineligible to play

because of a performance enhancing substance all of a sudden the bucks on your thing there well the bucks are pretty good without Bobby Portis

quite a bit of an eyebrow raise as to you know this guy's getting up shots. He certainly plays a significant role within that team. I was worried. I was how Kuzma looked. I'm wondering. I have no comment on that. Well, actually, I do. It's been very Kyle Kuzma up and down.

I think I think we're both, we're both right on Kyle Kuzna somehow. But they have looked better despite, I'm going to say despite not having Bobby Portis to be polite. Well, our intrepid producer, Isaiah Blakely, sent us our list from last year. and I'm just noticing as I'm going through here, bucks at four, bucks at four, and then I'm looking at my list, which is just so perfect and beautiful.

Yeah, what do you have? No bucks. What was the rest of your list? I had five through one, Spurs, Nix, Celtics, Celtics, Celtics, Nuggets Thunder.

Pretty good. And you betrayed the nuggets. Perfect, I would say. Perfect. I didn't betray, they portrayed me by pinching them pennies, is what I would say. This is the thing about Justin

is he will be in on you for exactly one season. and if you meet his expectations, you're just going to jettison you, even though you met them. And if you fail his expectations, he's also going to jettison you. He needs a churn.

This is a guy who needs the rotation in his life to live. These takes are honest. They're not for sale. I'm not just giving them to the highest bidder in order to curry favor. These are real. I just worry what it says about you,

you know, that you need that kind of... I don't know that it's that, but I want you to live your truth. Ethical list-making, Rob. There you go. I would just throw out the heat as well, just have to be acknowledged if only because they're at the market.

And they are kind of turning in nature. But they're nowhere that. Wow. Okay. Guys like Miami. Guys love Miami. I will believe in that like every time I can. They are not close to the top five situations.

There's a big, there's a big comfy middle here where they have no business being in the bottom five and they have no business being in the top five. And that is where the Miami Heat find themselves. I will say they're above the pacer's though. Whatever list we're on. That's so wrong. It's so wrong.

It's right. It's correct. Ethical as well. All right. Let's type of there. Thank you to Isaiah Blakely on production. Thank you to Ben Cruz. We'll be back on Monday.

Rob will not be here on Monday. So, Waz and I will have to find another guest. Maybe Timothy Shalmay. Do you think he's free now that he's off the ward circuit? Yeah, he's done trying to win Academy Award. Yeah. I think no media appearances anymore because of that. Like your time has already passed.

Damn it. All right. We'll find somebody, but we'll be back on Monday. We will talk to you then.