The Ringer NBA Show - Jamal Murray Is Back, LeBron Looks Old, and More From Wednesday’s Game 2s | Group Chat

Episode Date: April 20, 2023

Justin, Rob, and Wos recap Wednesday night’s slate of Game 2s, starting with the Nuggets’ defeat of the Timberwolves (02:36). They discuss Jamal Murray’s return to playoff mode and the Wolves’ third-quarter surge. Then they discuss the Grizzlies’ victory over the Lakers and the subpar performances from Anthony Davis and D’Angelo Russell (16:51). After, they discuss the Bucks’ convincing win over the Heat without Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Wizards parting ways with GM Tommy Sheppard (36:02). The guys end the pod by opening up the suggestion box (52:48). Hosts: Justin Verrier, Rob Mahoney, and Wosny Lambre Producer: Eduardo Ocampo Additional Production Supervision: Ben Cruz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey there, humanoids. This is David Chewaker here with a very exciting announcement. Your favorite wrestling podcast feed, The Ring of Wrestling show, is now going daily. And you can hang out with me and Kaz on Mondays and Thursdays for the Masked Man Show. And you can join me, Peter Rosenberg, alongside Stack Guy Greg and Dip every Tuesday with cheap heat. And on Fridays, I'll welcome a friend or special guest from the world of wrestling. And on Wednesdays, we have a very special new show called Wednesday Worldwide that you're going to want to check out. Paperview reaction, one-of-a-kind interviews, fantasy booking, talking about bagels. That's what we do here on the Ring of Wrestling show.

Follow the show now on Spotify. And do us a favor. Give us five stars. And do us another favor. And stay major. Hello and welcome to group chat. I am Justin Barrier. And joining me, the expert medical board of pimple poppers.

We've got Dr. Rob Mahoney, Professor Wozney Lambray, my distinguished colleagues. Thank you for joining me on this playoff night. Is our long national nightmare over? I feel like I haven't seen a pimple popper commercial in 48 hours. I'm living large. Are we finally free and clear? You know, I don't even know what you guys are referring to because I watch these games on League Pass.

And so I get to enjoy the in arena entertainment during the awkward kiss cam, you know, weird dancing and stuff like that. That's what I get to watch during commercial breaks. So you are not privy to the Dr. Pimpleperper. Popper commercials that have been insulting us from the start. But no, to Rob's point, like, I haven't seen much of them.

A lot of the wing stop and the Lemon Pepper guy. Sure. The really scary horror movie commercial. Yeah, the evil starting to print commercial. Yeah. But not a lot of pimple poppers.

I got to say, though, kind of interested in the pimple popping. Like, what's going on with that guy's head? No, absolutely not. What's in there? Nope, nope, nope, nope, don't want to know. Some things are better left unsaid and undiscovered. Okay.

That'll be our after after dark podcast potentially. Three games on a substack. Or only fans. Three games on tonight's docket. We're going to get into some suggestion box later on. Maybe a little Tommy Shepard News.

Let's start with the last game on tonight's slate. Nuggets 122, Timberwolves, 113. Rob, Jamal Murray is back, or at least the bubble version. What a great time for him to show up, especially when the Nuggets concede 40 points themselves in the third quarter. Murray scores 40 overall in this game, though. Pretty good sign overall for the Nuggets,

no? I don't know that you could look at this game overall as a good sign, right? It was a bit distressing there in the third, and really, Jamal saved them from a pretty antsy few days and having a lot of questions to answer. But I love a Jamal Murray game under pressure. He is just one of those dudes. And it's great to see, you know, the circle is now complete with Aunt Edwards becoming proto Donovan Mitchell down to the fact that Rudy Gober's his running mate. We've seen this play before, these two guys dueling. Now it's just Jamal and Ann Edwards. And that's a delight. Yeah, that was the really cool thing. He just had a spring in his step that hasn't been there all regular season long. I think he's done, we hear about guys sort of ramping up. I think

Jamal Murray actually did that this regular season. He didn't start off in this form, certainly not. And I don't think he was really pressing the issue either. I think he understood that it would be a long road to the postseason. But tonight, he was creating separation off the dribble, right, on his stepbacks and sort of getting to his spots. And then, of course, like, his two-man game with Yokic is just, that was just beautiful to see back. So that's a really exciting.

proposition for the Nuggets going forward. However, you mentioned that third quarter. Ooh, Jesus, Lord, have mercy. It's good to be scared sometimes, you know? Scared for the Nuggets prospects. Jump scared into thinking Jamal Murray might have blown out his knee again when he landed kind of awkwardly in the middle of this game,

but stayed in the game, rallied, was just as active, just as, you know, hustling just as much, getting as much separation as you said, was. But yeah, this, I would hope this is kind of a reality check for Denver of when you let your guard down, this kind of third quarter is what can, what can happen to you? Yeah, I think that's the question going forward here, is how much is that third quarter just indicative of what's going to come here? On the one hand, I thought I was pretty

optimistic about how it netted out because it did give them and galvanize them to the point where they did have to rally back. And Murray had this game. And you wonder if that sort of confidence boost or something that he's probably lacked at times, if we're being honest throughout the course of the season, is maybe a net benefit, that's maybe like the best possible scenario that he has one of these games early on and he rolls into the rest of the postseason. On the other hand, you know, if offense that's pretty sludgy at times like the wolves robs is able to put up 40 on your defense, like, I don't know. So I guess where do you net out overall? Are you more concerned or are you more just like optimistic based on just getting the win and powering through it? I mean, I guess it depends on where

you started, right? Me and Waz, we're starting with the assumption that the nuggets are good enough to win the West despite these limitations. right? They are who we thought they were, right? They are a team that is capable of, like, they really gave the whole PowerPoint presentation of every doubt in their ability to contend during that third quarter.

But to the point of the wolves being sludgy, Anthony Edwards is not sludgy. And he was the one carving them up, really. Pick and roll, pick and roll, pick and roll. Attacking an ISO, beating, you know, Yokic, Gordon, whoever was trying to rotate to the spot, to the rim. That's something that's going to be a challenge for them at every

step, no matter who they play, any team that has those kinds of players. I don't know that every team has an athlete like Anthony Edwards, though. They don't always necessarily have someone with that kind of explosiveness. That isn't to say the Nuggets can't find other ways to blow it defensively, because they can and will. But I see this is more of something that they can endure with their offense, right? You're going to have a good game from Jamal Murray. Nicole Yokic had the quietest 27 point near triple double you'll ever see. And Michael Porter Jr. hit some huge clutch baskets, especially in the early fourth quarter when things were getting a little wobbly. So to your point, like, is this a confidence booster in your esteem of the nuggets?

I think this is probably just kind of affirming wherever you stood in the first place. Yeah. And as good as Anthony Edwards is, and I'm a big Anthony Edwards believer, I think one of the main holes in his game, to be honest, is that he doesn't always get to the rack. And even when he's getting there, he's not always finishing explosively. in a way that you would think that somebody with his athletic gifts would be able to, right? And so to watch him do that in the third was crazy. I think my main problem with that third quarter is that it happened while Rudy Gobert was on the floor.

And no offense with Rudy Gobert on the floor should go 17 of 21 against you. I don't care who you are. I don't care that you, you know, you went up 15 points and kind of looked at this. Like, we already smoked this team in game one. They're about to lay down and die. We're kind of chilling. We're clearly better than these guys. We're going to smoke them.

I understand that. Like, the team that's up 15 is going to play with less desperation and less effort than the team that is not. Like, it's just human nature. These guys, they can read the scoreboard. They understand what it's going to take to sort of finish this thing out. I get all of that. That being said, like, as explosive as the aunt is for him, they just be getting blatant layups. and I'm seeing Rudy catch the ball on four and threes and throwing lasers to guys.

It was just not. That was a nasty, scary display. But as, again, as Rob mentioned, as terrible as that thing looked in the third, in the fourth, man, when Murray and Yolkich are doing what they do. And inevitably, like, other teams are going to be like, hold on, like, I really have to plug that Murray situation up. and that's going to open up so much more on the weak side and the back end for these other guys who were great at movement, great at cutting. And, you know, Michael Porter Jr. just doesn't miss when he gets an open look.

Their offenses is legitimately scary again. Was it offense from Rudy Gobert or was it just like discrete bare knuckle boxing? Because there were some times there where, like, he and Yokic were practically committing. like secret assault on each other and then would at the same time pretend like they've never committed a foul in their entire life. It was really a masterclass of walking the line between like near murder

and just like not doing anything at all just being complete like upstanding citizens. Tell me the playoff series where that's not happening right now. Right? I guess. The rest are letting guys play. These are two European bigs. We always hear about, oh, the game is so much more physical in Europe.

you know, they just reverting back the form. I guess. It also, I have to say, like, the flopping to the point until the whistle blows has also filtered down to their team, especially on the nuggets. Like, there were multiple times where Aaron Gordon was on the floor and you'd think he'd just, like, broken half of his face. And then the whistle blows. And he's like, all right, I'm getting up. The two charges that Mike Conley drew on Jamal Murray. Some good salesmanship.

The one, you know what? That move where you jump. jump back into the defender, even though Murray didn't actually jump back. He sort of just like stiffened his arm and let him run into it. That's a borderline. The other one where the dude just ran into his back

and they called it on Murray, the guy with the ball in his hand standing still. That was despicable refereeing there. That guy deserves to be fine or something. Put on notice, a warning or something, whoever made that call. But, yeah, the flopping was a little. a bit much coming down the stretch it is.

So Nuggets also shortened the rotation at this point, what we expected, probably why we're seeing them a little tighter than we did toward the end of the regular season. I think my question, Rob, is, do we think that's going to give them an edge, especially as we carry on into the second round and maybe into the third? Because on the one hand, you look at the potential next round, Clippers, sons, like, okay, not a lot of heft there. I guess DeAndre Aiton, but we've seen Aiton kind of come and go. But then, like, I don't know, maybe the Lakers are going to be looming there in the

West finals. We'll get to them later. They're basically running an eight-man rotation with Jeff Green. We'll get to the Lakers while. Just hold on. Jeff Green is basically like a small ball center. And it's working. I guess it's a seven-man rotation because Christian Brun only got seven minutes here. But do we think this is like them enhancing a strength and that's going to ultimately benefit them? Or is this more of a worry spot where it's like, you know, they're kind of riding the lightning here. They are writing the lightning. I think walking the line, of that is going to be can they get out of this series in relatively short order and not have especially yokech have to do a lot of manual labor to dig them out of close games like this

if they can ride big leads and get some separation then obviously it's not as big of a deal if you're playing your starters huge minutes this is one of the best and most complete starting fives in the NBA it's going to be their strength throughout these playoffs they're just going to have to make do with the other minutes and i mean this might be a best case scenario jeff green game I can't say I love the Jeff Green, Aaron Gordon, four or five combo as your backup situation, but maybe I like it better than DeAndre Jordan. You know, like if those are the options,

like, you know, apparently Zieg Najee is kind of out of the mix there. That would have been my preferred choice. But given what we have, they're making do. They made those bench minutes work. It was some of the other stuff in the third quarter that really fell apart for them.

Anything else on this one? Should we move on? Anthony Edwards just, you know, he's must see, TV every time he touches the floor. There was just moments where, you know, he's making these fadeaways fall into the baseline. Just incredible, incredible stuff. And, you know, that made me excited for next year watching this guy and just seeing where he

could take it. But the Anthony Edwards part of this is cool. And I think it was cool to just see the timbrel's not lay down and die, man. You know, they do all of this desperation plan to play in. They get smoke. you know, on the road and gain one of this series. And it was nice to see them put forth an incredible effort and make this an actual game, make Denver have to sweat

and play this out to the last possession damn there. So I want to tip my cap to them for that, you know. Even though it's our job to watch this anyway. The first half obviously did not go well for them, but Minnesota, they had the right idea of setting up Ant to attack, of establishing Gobert as a role option and a threat inside. It didn't work initially, but when they were able to kind of refine their approach in the second half, it really popped. The tradeoff for that, and something that's kind of interesting to watch in this series, is Carl Towns is kind of incidental to everything that's happening.

And, you know, 10 points for him in this game, just 12 shots. He's proven to be the kind of guy who you can't just, like, find over the course of a game, who you can trust to find his place in the flow. If you don't make a concentrated effort to get him the ball, you're going to love. lose him sometimes, and we've seen that throughout his playoff career. So this is kind of another interesting wrinkle of this too big alignment and dilemma that Minnesota has is

if you can only emphasize one of those two guys early in the game to try to establish them as an option, do you want to establish cat as a real, especially post-up threat or are you trying to get Rudy on the role to establish him inside? Because, I mean, no matter what you pick, you risk kind of losing track of the other guy. Yeah,

so Towns had 11 in game 1. He finishes his game 2 with 10, Everyone was bad in game one. They scored 80 points. It was a complete just flushed the game down the toilet sort of game. I do think why that's the question going forward here. I don't think it's coincidence that Edwards tends to get lost when towns is prioritized and vice versa. I mean, I hate to default to offseason mode, but I almost wonder if we're saying that the nuggets are going to come out of this series, which I think we all believe.

Like, is this sort of a mini audition on the highest stage for this? sort of set up if they have to do anything extreme over the offseason? I don't think so because, one, they brought in Rudy this year, which disturbed the sort of dynamic of what they had sort of kind of established last year. And then they finally got rid of Delo, which was also nice, but also Towns was out. So they haven't really been able to play for real under this new paradigm. I think there's definitely fruit to be born. Like, you know, leveraging what Carl Towns does with that lightning quick release from three for a guy like Aunt Edwards is going to mean the world to how he's able to attack defenses, man.

And I don't think he's, he's proven that he can figure stuff out, you know. He isn't just a one-trick pony in attacking these defenses. And I think with a little bit more time and understanding where Rudy's going to be and what he's going to do, And the Connolly part of it too. I believe in Conley's presence there. Somebody who can even help him along in that right or regard. Man, I don't think that's something you should give up on. I really do think Carl Towns is a beautifully ideal piece to put next to end.

I mean, this series is good data for Minnesota. Like you're going to see some guys in different contexts. I wouldn't make sweeping assumptions or decisions about your team based on whether the Nuggets beat you. The Nuggets are really good. they're the heavy favorite in the series for a reason. You'll get a look at what this feels like. You'll get to roll into next season with a full training camp and some off-season additions.

I wouldn't make moves based on whether Nicola Yokic beats you. All right. Let's flip to the first game of the night here. Grizzlies 103, Lakers 93. Was, I'm going to give you a choice here. Your All-Everything Center who looks like a goddamn MVP defensive juggernaut in game one, shoots 29% from the field, his worst field goal percentage in 36 playoff games, or your point guard shoots 2 for 11, absolutely dies on defense every

possible opportunity. I believe he threw a lazy inbound pass at one point and then somehow fouled a three-point shooter. I'm of course talking about Anthony Davis, DeAngelo Russell. Who is worse in this game for you? I miss Delo. It's always going to be Delo. Anthony Davis was actually erasing major, major problems and mistakes on the other end,

because this is his job to, quite frankly. Dilo was a tire fire on defense, as always. And some of these turnovers, man, this got, like, there was this idea back in the days that he was all, he was such a, he had such great court vision, and he was just such a good pick and roll person. And he could, his passes were just flawless. And, dude, he sucks. he sucks at this he's so bad he should not be on the ball and to be honest man I think it's proof that LeBron something's wrong with him right now oh yeah because the idea

that he's allowing DeAngelo Russell to manage possessions like I'm talking about large chunks at a time when there was plenty of times in the past was just like yo LeBron get off the ball let somebody else do something with it and he's letting DeLo do this and be a disaster at it Like, I just know he just doesn't have it in him to do this because Dilo's just awful. And the idea that you're going to, you know, pay this dude a significant sum of money to stay on his team this summer is just crazy. Yeah, A.D. stunk up the joint. I will say that. He looked very listless at times, especially on offense.

This was not one of his better performances, but Dilo, man. And the reason why I get so on my nerves, too, is not one just because LeBron needs to get on the ball more. They got Dennis Schrooter. we watched Austin Reeves close the freaking game they have three other people that could be doing this like this dude needs to just spot up

and never be heard from again that's it well to flip the who was worst question who was the best player in this game and why was it Xavier Tillman nuts after the Gris after the wolves game they flashed back

to the TNT like booth and you know how they have those like those big screens in the back on one side you had Jamal Murray on the other side you had Xavier Tillman. I mean, what a man. Yeah. Look, honestly one of the most satisfying kinds of playoff

experiences is when you get an improbable breakout game from like a defense first role player. This was perfect. 22 points on 13 shots, 13 rebounds. He legit exposed some of the Lakers like really sloppy defensive rotations in this game. There was just no

help the helper going on at all for L.A. was not happening. nasty. And to put this in context for people who aren't super fluent in the Xavier Tillman experience, he's basically like, he will be a complete non-threat on offense for months at a time and then randomly have a game like this where he has like 20 points. Other than that, this is not what he does. Not this kind of player at all. And yet, the Lakers allowed him to be. Yeah, I think this is probably, unfortunately, for our friend Xavier, more of Lakers' discussion. I mean, should we just have the LeBron talk now?

I think you already kind of started us off here. So in game one, these stats courtesy of our friend Michael Pina and the piece he did the other day. Four free throws, five drives the entire game, half of his attempts coming from three, one shot in the fourth quarter. LeBron's stats look better in this one, 28 points, 12 rebounds, three assists. The one for eight from three, looking mighty bad, 12 from 23. not ideal. I just think like just what you're seeing on the court there is just like there's something off with them. Clearly he is delaying foot surgery or whatever LeBron of feet is going to do to him

after in the offseason. I got to I got to imagine Rob that like there's going to be a bounce back game coming here from LeBron. Just like Dylan Brooks is talking shit to him right to his face and then also to reporters after the game. But I don't know what LeBron, what peak LeBron can we even get at this point? I don't know. And this was a concerningly efficient performance. And he obviously had an efficient stat line, but I'm talking efficiency of movement.

This was a guy who did not want to move until he had to, did not want to guard until he had to, did not want to drive until he had to. When LeBron has attacked in this series, he's getting great looks. Like he's getting to his spots. He's doing well. He obviously was incredibly productive in this game.

There's just a total difference in volume between LeBron at 38, the foot problem and the guy who basically like revolutionized mismatch basketball, right? That player is gone. The idea of like LeBron hunting Luke Conard over and over in this game is not going to happen. And that's why how you end up with Dylan Brooks talking lots of shit all the time. And really my favorite moment of this game, Ian Eagle, you know, there's, Dylan Brooks hit a shot. He was staring down LeBron. Ian Eagle's like, oh, Brooks is staring down LeBron. LeBron's not returning his gaze. The Chiron comes up and it's like Dylan Brooks, nine points,

four of 12 shooting. That is the Dylan Brooks experience, my friends. But the Grizzlies are, you know, not only is Brooks guarding LeBron, they're just like, you know, David Roddy. Yeah, go ahead.

Tellman, man. Tilderleman, guard LeBron for a little bit. So here's the thing about the matchup hunting. Like, in the past, when LeBron was doing that, especially when guys would be slow on the switch, he would just take it to the rack. Like, and that's part of,

Sometimes it would be like Festus Azili is coming out to guard him at the three point line Sorry Ben And he's just blowing right by him And getting to the rack, right? If Tillman is guarding you 28 feet from the basket

LeBron needs to be able to take him to the rat Not even like Completely blow by him But like put that dude on your hip And be able to finish at the basket On Tillman I understand why you might not want to do that against Jaron Jackson the third.

Like, I understand that, right? Junior. Excuse me, triple J. Sorry, I'm getting my numbers confused. I understand why you might not want to do that. The guy did just win defensive player of the year. But when you can't attack, and even when he's attacked, when he's posting up Dylan Brooks, they're not sending hard doubles.

They're kind of zoning him up and shading him sort of Tibadoe style. And so, like, I don't, you know, he's not being decisive. I think it's, I genuinely think it's something wrong with, like, for real. Yeah, clearly. He's just not beating anyone off the dribble anymore, which is a lot was forcing him to kind of sit back. And that's when he tends to jack three. And in this one, he's one for eight. And it's just not going to work there.

There just wasn't enough in support there, which is kind of why it ultimately always becomes in Anthony Davis conversation. I don't know. this just seemed, I don't think there was anything particularly troubling with this Davis performance. It just seems like he has these here and there. He definitely got hit in the face a couple times. I mean, it's becoming comical at this point, just like how much he falls, like, ass backwards into someone injuring him, like the point where he got elbowed in the eye and like a jump ball at center court. It's just like, he has the worst luck of any human athlete

playing sports these days. He's just going to like, just by exhumpled. He's going to get hurt like two to three times a game. We all get hurt just by existing, Justin. That's really the human experience, isn't it? And look, the Grizzlies have neutralized the LeBron and AD pick and roll, which in the past has been so effective because teams couldn't switch it, right? Like LeBron would blow by your big. And if you put a small guy somehow on him, he would absolutely destroy the dude.

They neutralized that. DeAngelo Russell is who. who we all know him to be, not very good, at least not right now anyway. And, you know, for whatever reason, they're not letting Dennis cook. To me,

you got to let Dennis Schrooter and Austin Reeves initiate pick and roll with this guy. Right now, they seem like the best options. Like, Austin Reeves is, you know, like he's been doing all year. He's generating contact. And Dennis is the few guy

that could beat a switch. If a big man is guarding him out to three, he can actually blow by this dude. He's one of the few people on the team who can actually do that off the bounce. And so, you know, I think they could be different about how they attack on offensive. Yeah, some of the stuff that, some of the stuff they gave up defensively was just embarrassing. I just knew this Lakers letdown was coming. And to be clear, I know we're going to get into the wide open West.

And the Lakers have as good a shot as anybody, allegedly, to come out of the West. I don't think Memphis can beat the Lakers without Jahn. I think eventually, even if it took seven games, the Lakers would beat this team without Jai. I don't think they're beating anybody else with any credibility in these playoffs. That's the thing, right? You're right.

They will do things differently. They can try lots of things. This game felt like a needed reminder to the world that the Laker half-court offense is not very good and has not been good all season. slice the dice the data, the schedule, however you want, before the trades, after the trades, it was never good. This is what we are.

This is what we have been given all year from the Lakers. They have improved, but like Kenny Smith was talking at halftime about how this game was like the Lakers not respecting their opponent. I think there were moments where that was true. You know, your Xavier Tillman moments. Certainly there was some of that. But was that really what happened in this game? Because to me it felt like an injured team without John Morant

playing a pretty flawed team that has been flawed for a long time. time. I think we're taking a little too far here. Are we? Oh, here we go. To completely discredit like everything the Lakers have done since the trade deadline, I think is a bit far here. And I'm not like, who is doing that? Like, I'm just saying they're off. It sounds like you both of you. No, no, it sounds like there is discrediting the triple over time jazz game that was resting every single good player left on their team that they hadn't already traded away. Listen, I'm not counting that. I'm not the guy with the playoffs lives were on the line. I'm not the guy with the Lakers chain, like, flashing in your face and then putting up the Lakers.

That's not me right now. Like, I have serious doubts about, like, what the Lakers can do in the first round. I'll have doubts about them in the second round. I'll have doubts about them if they ever make to the West Finals. I just think that, like, the bracket has, like, worked out pretty nicely for them. And it's like, yes, the Kings are playing absolutely lights out. But the Warriors don't really have the front court to threaten them. And I think AD, if Optimize, would be a really big threat to what has been a pretty soft underbelly of a front court there.

So, like, the path is there. It's not necessarily that the Lakers are world beaters. It's just like they're good enough in a completely muddled Western Conference that they could do this. And I do think, like, there's enough probably here, even with John Morant back there, to come away from this pretty shitty performance in Baudits back from it. I would like to see a little bit more Michael, not Michael Beez-a-God, Malik Beasley. Michael Beasley, Lakers legend, Malik Beasley, current Lakers legend. Like,

it felt like it was a little too easy to guard them because you could just pack the paint and not worry about the shooters. If you had a little bit more space there, then you get AD going. Then Austin Reeves doesn't have to beat people off the dribble. He's a little bit more better going in between in and out guys.

It's just, it's, this is a bad game. And I have concerns. But I think, like, let's pump the brakes on the Lakers are the fucking, Houston Rockets, you know? No one is said, look, let's talk tomorrow when the tracking data comes out and LeBron

took like 12 total steps in this game. Yeah. I listen, I can't say that they are world beaters, you know, but I think there's still some stuff here. If LeBron looked like the guy, basically, you know, for most of last season, he was pretty damn good. Like, on the dumpster fire, Russell Westbrook. team, right?

Like, LeBron personally was good. He was good this year, too. He was running in transition, doing all of those things. The guy that I'm watching right now, who will not take anybody to the hole, is not that player. And again, he's aligned. They beat the Grizzlies in game one with Jha, though.

Okay, yes. And Austin Reeves looked like Jordan. Rui Hachamora was Reggie Miller. Like, I know I'm dead. dating myself with these references. But like, this has to matter at a certain point. And, like, the dude is lying about not needing foot surgery. He's just lying to us.

He knows he needs it, but he doesn't want to come out and say that. Because it's, you know, you don't want to show that type of weakness. So, like, knowing that it came out initially that the guy would need surgery, he's back and he's playing and he barely wants to move. What else am I supposed to do? with that. He's the most important player on the team, or if not the second most, if you want to count AD, and he's not himself. I don't know why I should think they're going to cook. If Steph Curry was at 60, 70% of his capabilities, we wouldn't think the Warriors could win.

Same with, you know, the sons, if that was the case with KD. Same with the nuggets. If that was the case with Yolkich, why should I think this with a much worse team? I don't understand that. It's a one-one series against the number two team in the West. I just love that we're backing Justin into this corner where he's going to be part of like deep state Lakers Twitter in five days. I know. Listen, I'll say this.

Like, Rui Hachamura is doing a lot on offense for this team. Like, they're really coming down to like Rui attacking this message. But like, here's the thing. At the deadline, they loaded up on options so that if one guy isn't doing it, they can plug and play someone else. Delo is going to have

one game a series, maybe where he shows up and hits some threes. Like there are options here. They just need to cycle through them and get through enough of them. The fact that they split in Memphis is something.

And so we'll see. It's kind of wearing it out. Justin, you might want to start photoshopping that purple and gold onto Kyrie. Make yourself useful as a Laker fan, please.

Can we talk a little more about the Grizzlies, though? Yeah, go ahead. Sure. Jaron Jackson, Jr., I thought maybe at the best game of his career in game one. was going to be hard to follow that up.

He was insane. Obviously, it was not as sensational offensively, but I thought his ability to get to the line in this one was really critical. And that's what we've seen over these first two games from him. Whether they have space, whether they don't, he's finding ways to either bully his way to the rim against Yeruri Hachimura's or dig out offensive rebounds, like draw fouls on drives.

That stuff's really important for his development. It's going to be one of those things that's crucial, whether you have Jha or not. And it kept them afloat during stretch of this game where the floor fell out. on the Memphis offense at points in the second half. And that he was able to generate some points at all, I thought kind of bailed them out of this game.

Wazers doesn't even want to comment. Not even on Jaron Jackson the third? No, look, he would, he, I like what he did on defense. He, you know, he got dangerously close to terrible Jaron Jackson fouls where that could, that could have literally cost them. Because if this guy's not playing, you know, even with all the effort and the gritting in the, grinding that this team does, that's not going to be good.

So I thought he was good. I thought, look, I thought what Dylan Brooks did against LeBron was impressive. Like, he didn't back down. He would, bro, he would not spend any time not touching LeBron on defense. As soon as LeBron hit half court, he was freaking forearm shivering him as soon as he crossed half court. Like, he took that assignment so seriously. And so when he wants to talk all of his crap after the game, guess what?

What, man, he did that. And it wasn't always on the island, but he held up when he had to. I thought that was really impressive. And, you know, other than that, I don't, you know, I don't think anybody – Desmond Bain in the first half was incredible. He looked like a damn near borderline all-star kind of player. You know, he's the one that created some separation for them in that first quarter in first half. So, like, yeah, guys played well.

But, I mean, did you see – like, did you see this as, like, Like, wow, the Grizzies without John Moran. They were just world beaters out there. I did not feel that way watching this game. No, no, no, no, no. Of course not. At all. The Lakers just laid down, unfortunately.

Yes, that's what happened. I feel like the Lakers Lakers Lakers, you know? Yeah. This is what you get. He's classic, classic coastal elitists. It's not being appreciative of what you have. Is that one coastal elitism now? They clearly ain't have enough ribs on Bill Street.

They played like they had too many. I'm telling you, they played like a team that just body three bowls and mashed potatoes, some baked beans. And it was like, all right, let's play an NBA playoff game. Was, who among us has not? I know, right. Brooks after the game on LeBron James, I don't care. He's old.

I poke bears. I don't respect someone until he gives me 40. Did you see what he's wearing? Yes, he said that. But you got to look what he's wearing. He's wearing white sunglasses inside of the locker room. His shirt is completely unbuttoned. And yeah, like, he's, he's playing a character.

So basically what JV is wearing right now is what you're saying. Yes, exactly. That's why I'm mad. Just taking my bit before I could do it. Yeah. He's playing up the heel character, but he's doing a fantastic job of it. Oh, yeah. The shit talk is pretty nice, pretty inventive.

You know, him saying he wished he had a chance to guard Miami or Cleveland LeBron because it would have been harder. That's beautiful stuff. Beautiful. He's got his eight. W audition tape going right now. It's good to have fallback crews, you know? That's what we're getting out of this.

All right. Last game on the docket. Tough one to watch because the other two were going simultaneously. Bucks 138, heat 122. Fortunately, there wasn't much to watch in this one because the Bucks absolutely bodied the heat here. 51% from three on 49 three-point attempts. I watched the first half of this game and True Holiday.

looked like, I don't know, like, prime LeBron at times the way that he was warping the defense, like putting guys into the pose, and then just spraying it out to three-point shooters. Rob, what's your kind of takeaway from this one if you could find someone amidst all the blood? Oh, I think there's definitely takeaways.

I think if anything, the three-point shooting, which was crazy for Milwaukee, that was kind of like the reaction to the actual action, which was it was as if the Bucks woke up the morning after game one and remembered they're bigger at every, reposition even without Janus.

And especially look, Jimmy Butler is guarding Drew. Bam out of bio was guarding Janus initially. Now he's guarding Bobby Portis. That means our friend Max Drews is guarding Brooke Lopez. That is the layout of the land here. And the Bucks finally remembered that they could practically

like, you could see the walkthrough on Bobby Portis's face when he caught the ball wide open at the three point line. Bobby Portis turned down a wide open shot and immediately is feeding Brooke Lopez. There's like throwing lobs, him over the top of fronting defenses, letting Brooke hit the offensive glass. It just became so obvious

that if they moved the ball enough, either Portis or Lopez is going to get the ball inside against someone who is tiny. And once they established that, the heat started freaking out. And they short-circuited and they could not cover the arc and every buck's role player started hitting.

Yeah, and it's also feels like a series where one team since the bubble debacle has made it their mission to destroy Miami's soul. Ever since they got pants in the bubble by the heat where everybody, and this is what people forget when they're like, oh, Janice got the MVP. People were questioning and stuff.

He got embarrassed, dude, after winning that MVP. Like, people were like, what in the hell is going on with this guy and his team? You know, and that's before losing four in a row, after, excuse me, losing four in a row to Kawhi Leonard in the playoffs in 2019, right? But ever since then,

whenever Miami is on the calendar, I swear they did, they're just out for blood against these guys. Game one was an aberration. They've seen the, they seem to own these cats and fig completely figured them out. And that was plainly evident in this game.

Yeah, game one, if anything, felt like, it kind of illustrated the tangible difference to me between games where you know what you're getting into and games where you don't. The Bucks had a game plan. They roll out there with Yannis. Yonis is to leave in relatively short order. They were clear pretty shaken up,

just like did not know where to go offensively. But if you're better prepared, all that stuff that looked really hard in game one, Chris Middleton, like gutting out, tough shots, Drew Holiday, I mean, whatever he's shot in game one, like 25% from the field or something, all of a sudden that's cleaned up. Like you have game plan, you have direction,

everything's opening up, all your shooters start hitting, everything starts to feel like it's going downhill a little bit. And that's where the Bucks got to in this game is just like strength of game planning, ease of execution. They're just a much better team. And if Yannis comes back, I think it's going to put a punctuation on that. But ultimately, they're good enough to beat the heat even without him. Yeah, that was kind of the sobering fact I took away from this one. It said the Bucks without Yannis looked like they could just steamroll the heat here.

I mean, Pat Conantin got in there. That was good to see. He looked like kind of the playoff wild card that he has. been in years past. But like, man, the heat were just so overmatched. They had to start Duncan Robinson, so they were already playing from behind because Tyler Hero had the broken hand. Victorola Depot gets 26

minutes in this one, and like, they're okay? I guess, but even losing Tyler Hero is a brutal blow for Miami. Yeah. It's just like this feels like the type of dispiriting loss where you probably have to look yourself in the mirror and be like, damn, we just don't have it. Like, I wonder

if Pat Riley does his season ending press conference where he calls out half a team just like in the middle of the series at this point. Something needs to change here. Was earning an 8 seed in the East not an indication enough that damn we don't have it? I know. When Jimmy has

games like game one, you're like man, this guy can do anything and it's very clearly he cannot overcome just like everything. That's what I was going to say. I think Jimmy is still an incredible player, still an incredible player. He was an awesome playoff performer. One of the best status position, honestly.

Like, you know, this Kawhi and his KD and all of that stuff. But after that, man, give me Jimmy, you know, above a lot of these wing guys. But the team is just so depleted. And their resources have been used in such misguided ways, man. It's tough. It's tough. Yeah, honestly, coming out of game one, Jimmy was so good. And Drew Holiday was expending so much energy trying to guard him.

I kind of had the thought of like, okay, Janus is going to be out. Who do you want to start in? dead, do you throw like a Jay Crowder in there to just like guard Jimmy Butler? I'm not like Jay hasn't been great. His defense hasn't been very good, honestly. But just because Drew is now going to be so important to driving your offense, they managed to do it without that. Like they started Bobby Portis.

They started huge. They, Jimmy, or Drew still guarding Jimmy Butler. Jimmy Butler still has a really good game. And yet they were able to just shut down almost everything else. And even the numbers you see from this game, if you didn't watch it, it seems like based on the box score closer than it was. was there was some fourth quarter like, you know, gusing of the numbers and especially the three-point shooting for Miami was a complete reversal from game one. That's kind of what they're going to be.

If Miami hits a ton of threes, they're going to be in some of these games. If they don't, they're going to lose pretty quickly. And you can see that in guys like Kevin Love, for example, one of the heroes of game one for Miami, complete non-factor in game two. Yeah, this game was probably over when I think it was in the first quarter and Kyle Lauer tried to flop his way to a call. I think he got it on Bobby Portis. And Bobby Portis had some very choice words for him. Just went right at him for the jugular and got a tech. And Lowry in last year's postseason, injured, but like really the totem of that team, you know,

a guy that will just grind it out, a real dog who will just make things happen. He really kind of got punked at that point and then through the rest of the game. I think it's really kind of crystallizes where I think the heat and the bucks are at this point. The bucks are like the top dog and the heater kind of look in their wounds. They got that top dog in them, is what you're saying. Exactly. Right now, the heat got the mid dog, you know? It comes for us all.

Yeah. Quickly, a little bit of news just before we get to the suggestion box here. Tommy Shepard fired in Washington, D.C., probably not all that surprising, but a little bit if you know the heat's track record. So he takes over for Ernie Grunfield, who I believe was. Or the wizard's track record. What did I say? He's a heat. I said the heat.

Yeah. Yeah, heat on the brain. the Wizards. Ernie Grunfield led the Wizards for what? 50 years? 60? A minute. Yeah. And then Shepard was his number two. He assumed the top position after a brief flirtation

with, I believe Tim Connolly, what, in the 2018-2020 office? Yeah. Like the Pittsburgh Steelers of not firing people, but only no championships. Yeah. But he's out now. Four seasons finished with the 42% winning percentage. Apparently, the tipping point was not making the playoffs twice in a row, which like, it's like they didn't get to 40 wins as opposed to like 37 or whatever it was. I think the one ripple effect here, though, Rob, is it seems

like they're going to search again outside of the doors of the facility, which probably was a problem this time around. I'll give Shepard credit for this. It seems like Grunfield was the type of person who was only trying to make the most out of an already mediocre team, and he sacrificed draft picks for that. Shepard with the opposite way. Unfortunately, none of those draft picks worked. So I don't know.

I think the question here is, do you hand it over to someone and to keep doing a similar thing, keep aspiring to the middle? Or do you bring in someone a real house flipper to really tear this down to the studs and let's start fresh here?

I mean, I don't think we need to pretend that even your top executive is the one who's aspiring to the middle. Like, no one becomes a general manager to become an eighth seed, right? Like, that's not what they're doing.

Well, what the check cash is, I think it changes some minds. This is what I'm saying. Like, people take a job, they do the best with what they have. Ultimately, there's going to be like certain motivations, certain directions, especially at the ownership level that are going to dictate what kind of team you are. And that's dictated what the

Wizards have been for a long time. That said, within those confines, you know, Rui Hachamuro with the ninth pick, Denny Avdio with the ninth pick, Corey Kisper with the 15th pick, Johnny Davis with the 10th pick. That'll get you fired. You know?

Not to say that any of those are, I mean, some of them are not great. None of them are totally disastrous yet. I guess we'll see on Johnny Davis. He's barely played in the NBA at this point, which is not great in itself. But you got a hit with something, you know? You can't be making those kinds of picks and be giving Davos Bertans $80 million. Like, you're just not going to be in that job for that long. Was, I hate even asking you, but can we get Bradley Beal out of Washington for once?

Like, I'm even sick of asking the question because I think all of signs are pointed to him leaving for five years at this point. But, like, can this please be the tipping point where they decide to finally set him free? Yeah, but who's a candidate at this point? I don't think he's a Knicks candidate. It doesn't feel like it. Maybe those guys that get desperate over there, but he doesn't feel like a Knicks guy. And beyond that, I don't think the Nets are necessarily. too thirsty to try to go

in that direction. Who are these teams that are sort of on the cusp? Maybe Dallas would have been somebody who would have tried like hell to do it, but that's done. What about Miami?

I guess Miami's always sort of in the mix for every single superstar that's ever existed since Pat Riley took that job 30 years ago. But sure, I mean, sure, I would be intrigued by that. I just don't see it like a real, you know, like some people would have said, oh, Toronto should try to get in the mix, right?

Because they're like, quote unquote, right there. But, I mean, like, is Toronto like way better spending $60 million on Bradley Bill? That's the thing. That makes him, like, really counterproductive and I think cost prohibitive to specifically, Toronto is not in this group, but small markets. teams that are not that willing to spend that are very conscious of the luxury tax, why would you pay Bradley Beale salary for the Bradley Beal product? It doesn't really make sense.

I don't even think they'll get the opportunity too because he has a no trade clause, so he's going to dictate wherever he goes, if he goes anywhere. Like, for instance, if you were Denver, right, and things didn't work out for you this year, and you wanted to switch things up and you were like, yo, we'll throw Michael Porter in there

or Jamal Murray, God forbid, right? If you became that fed up, Is Bradley Bill the kind of guy you do that for? I don't think so. No, not with the injuries. I don't know. I feel like a team that's veteran-laden and desperate enough, like the Heat, who has quietly, we should mention,

been stockpiling draft picks for a situation like this. In recent years, the Heat have been out of all the negotiation sort of assets in order to make a deal like this. They only have one pick owed to the, I believe, the Thunder in 2024. that becomes unprotected in 2026. And so, like, you could see a team like that just being like, here, have our draft, start fresh. Because we should note here that Christophs Porzingis had a really good year, but he is a free agent this summer. There were reports of a contract negotiation.

I wonder if that's kind of scuttled now with the front office changing over. Kyle Kuzma, same situation. So you do have a clear point where you can blow it up. I hate like the idea of needing to do that because I do think there are more nuanced ways to build with someone. with someone in-house like Bradley Beale, but clearly they've kind of tried that already and it hasn't worked. I think the clock might have run out on that sort of approach.

But think about it though, Justin. Think about like all the tough talking that Portland did. Does that make sense for them? I know. Like, oh, we're going to get into the veteran business. Let's move on from Shaden Sharp and all of these picks and bringing Brad Bill. Well, here's a question.

No great shakes for them either. What is Brad Beals like optimal role on a contending team? And what is that team? Third option, probably. It's crazy. Yeah. I agree. At his number though, and I know the cap is going to go up and spike.

Like, he's not on the Wiggins rookie Max deal, right? Where Wiggins gets traded and he becomes this sort of ancillary thing on a rookie Max Deal on the richest team in the history of the sport. He's not that. He's on a real Max deal. Let me throw this out here. Would you rather have Bradley Beal on his contract

or Kyrie Irving, let's just say a four-year contract if you're the Mavericks? Bradley Bill. Bradley Bill has never... But if we're just talking about the player... Bradley Bill is not a black Israelite. Sorry. Give me Bradley Bill.

Thank you. But we're just talking about the player. I do think Kyrie is more impactful than Beal has over the past two, three years at this point. What is the, like, how can you separate the player from the chaos agent, you know? I know. But it's just such a weird situation where one team is valuing as one of the top 10 players in the NBA, but we're saying here that he's like a number three on a good team. It's just like it's tough to bridge that gap in a negotiation.

There was a time with like Bradley Bill because he's, you know, he's fairly athletic, you know, pretty long. So he played bigger than his position, you know, where you could be like, man, this guy was, he's got two-way ability. He's got one-on-one stuff that you can use at the end of games.

He was thought of. Yo, man, when he got drafted, they was throwing around Ray Allen comparisons to this dude and his shooting ability. Right? But like, nobody's falling for that shit anymore. Everybody knows who this guy is. And so to pay him like he's a Yokic, you know, like he's a Carl Towns,

he got the same deal as those dudes, you know. And I think him and Carl Towns are pretty comparable, to be quite honest. Guys that are vastly overpaid and cannot be the best player on a decent team. And by decent, I'm talking about like a, you know, like a five seed. Bradley, what kind of team is he the best on? Like, he's clearly not even a 10 seed. He's not the best player on a 10 seed. Would you flip the two?

I haven't looked at the contract, so I don't know what would need to be put in there to make it work. Towns for Beal? Do we got to play up a position? I'm intrigued by it. I'm not. Rob says no.

I'm not interested. I'm not completely annoyed by it. I just, I don't know. I don't want a lot of, I don't want perimeter impediments to Anthony Edwards, you know, just not what I'm looking for. Like, and especially when you think, you know, and not a lot of people are like Kauai where it's like, yeah, I could be Paul Dominic with three dribbles and I'm finished. You know, like Bradley Bill's not that kind of player. And again, he doesn't shoot it like that.

So, I don't know. And again, financially, Minnesota is not the kind of situation that should want to absorb that contract. As rich as Arod looked Courtside. He looked. Looked great. So rich sitting courtside. A lot of finely pressed zip-ups or like quarter zips going on there. Yeah.

All right. Let's do a suggestion box now. And today's suggestion box is brought to you by State Farm. State Farm provides support when you start to question life's what ifs. They have a fresh take on insurance with agents who could help you over the phone in person or answer questions right away on the State Farm app.

So no matter what life throws your way, state farm agents are here to help. Like a good neighbor, state farm is there. Call or go to statefarm.com for a quote today. Isaiah is not with us. So I'll read today's option. This is from Chris Rose chiming in from the UK. He writes, hi, Justin Waz, Rob, just to note the order there. Wow.

Love the podcast. My question is whether the NBA has missed a trick with the in-season tournament and incentives for the playoffs, the incentives for the in-season tournament. were released recently, and if we're being honest, don't do much for the wider team organization. Could the NBA have included a team-based incentive for winning, such as a guaranteed home court in the first round, the team would have been away from home?

Basically, what he's alluding to is in the new CBA, which is still ongoing. We don't know the whole thing, but we're getting the in-season tournament. And it seems like the only incentive is money. I believe it's something like $500,000 for each player for winning the thing, and it goes down from there, based on where you finish.

Wads, do you think it's enough to make this in season tournament matter, which I believe is what Chris's question is, or does there have to be some more retruing here to impact, you know, home court advantage like they do, for, for instance, the baseball all-star game? I don't know, man. There's these certain things that NBA players end up caring about. And I don't know that they happen by design, right?

Think about how many players care about like starting, for instance, more so than even closing, even. Like, there's just a prestige associated with starting or, like, a player would be like, I want my max, not a dollar less. That guy over there got the, got every single max. So that means his team really cares about them. There are these things that they like tend to care about and take pride in. And I wonder, but none of them ever seem to be goosed by the league.

It's more, you know, born out of what basketball culture is. So I wonder how they can make this tournament a thing that players just intuitively care about. I wonder how they could, you know, lend some prestige or cachet to this tournament. Obviously, I'm going to watch it, you know, and folks drink at home. I think about the Premier League in something like the F.A. Cup. And I'm like, like, certain years, a lot of teams. teams care about this thing, this in-season tournament, right? And I wonder how the NBA would achieve that.

I think money is the starting point, right? You're hoping that the money gets the ball rolling, creates some momentum for something like that. Because look, this is sports. None of this matters. Like a championship doesn't matter. Maybe you get a performance bonus in your contract. But it matters because people who care about sports make it matter.

And the athletes who participate make it matter. And if we can get closer to that point with $500,000, let's do it. Like, let's, let's, let's, let's, let's, let's, let's dangle that carrot and see who cares. See if anybody wants that. See if it can give this thing some credibility and create some interest. But otherwise, ultimately, man, this stuff is on the players to feel like they want to put out a product that people should care about. You know, like, that's, like, we see it in the regular season where they come out. And it's not even that is reflected.

their play, they'll go on podcasts and say, I can't get up for scrubby teams and, you know, people delight. And that's Draymond Green, right, four-time NBA championships. People the likes of Trey Young will come out and say how disinterested he is in the regular season, right? Ultimately, it's their responsibility to make this into a product that people find compelling. It's going to be on them. It's not going to be some whatever dollar amount or, whatever, it's going to be on the place to be like, now I'm going there to win. I'm going there to kick people's butts.

That's what it's going to come down to me. I just don't think humans work like that. I think there needs to be enough of incentive to give a shit because, like, I don't know, they're just kind of just hoping that because it worked in soccer, that it's going to instantly

apply here. I think at the very least it's going to take a couple of years to like build something. There has to be like a rivalry that spawned. from this or whatever. It's like this is going to be a long process. And I am also kind of, I have a half fake take that don't really fully believe in.

But I almost wonder if Adam Silver's like very public lusting to try to be European soccer is actually doing the wrong thing where it's diminishing his own product where he's like, I really want to be this other thing rather than just kind of embracing how good

the NBA already is. It's an optics thing. how much it actually matters, but I'm kind of like, can we just pump the brakes on trying to be like the Champions League here? Like I think the everything doesn't need to be hoop idea. I guess it's what I'm saying. Like, can we just like love what we have? So America first, Justin Barrier. I see your game.

I see what you're up to. There's another problem though, right? There's a culture that media has absolutely participated in. of if it's not an NBA championship, you're an idiot for trying to do it. Period. It's a cult. Like, why are you celebrating a playing win?

Pat, Baff, what an idiot. He's celebrating his playoffs. They're going to the playoffs, and he's jumping on the table. He's an idiot. So, like, we've created this culture where absolutely nothing else matters if you're not holding that trophy

at the end of the season. That's what's been fed into it. Oh, Sam Hinkie's a genius. because he loses a trillion games for the chances to draft Ben Simmons. Okay? We made that do the genius to do that.

You know, okay? They did all right with some of those picks. But listen, that's my point is we lauded this dude for completely crapping on hundreds of basketball games. We've created this culture where people don't give a damn about nothing else.

Honestly, we've created these incentives in media as well. When people, and like when Chuck's talking about the ring culture, he's right. When Dames talking about the ring culture, these people are right. We've devalued a lot of this other stuff that, you know, let's face it. Like, yes, people like me and you and Rob think are great. You know, these random regular season games and these moments of random greatness. But like out in the greater culture, man, we've, bro, we have crapped all over this stuff all the time.

I wonder how we would even build that back up with any credibility. to fans ultimately. See, this is why I like the idea of the cash prize. To me, if you make the prize for winning an in-season tournament home court advantage, for example, what you're doing, in my opinion, is saying that the rest of these regular season games that are not the tournament games, they really don't matter at all, right? You're devaluing the thing you're trying to prop up. The NBA is notorious for creating lots of unintended consequences when they try to make structural

changes. I think, you know, being a little conservative here, doing more of a cash prize, not a formula like draft picks or structural advantage in the playoffs, that feels like the way to go. Well, I also wonder if by popping the in-season tournament in the middle of the regular season, they're already going to diminish the regular season because what's going to happen to the games leading up to this tournament? Aren't they like, they're like cup games leading, I assume for seeding reasons or something like that? I know, but like, is Kauai Leonard not going to play for two weeks going into this? Is Paul George not going to play for two weeks coming out of this?

Like, is there going to be more load management in order to make this work? It seems like, listen, I love how ambitious they're being. I think I'm going to watch this. I'm sure it's going to be fun. I probably would have rather seen like full-scale lottery reform where it just forced everyone to compete every single year in order instead of just like having the option two tank. We've talked about the wheel in years past.

I think that probably would have made the regular season better and not have caused all these sort of byproducts that we're probably going to deal with. But I'm interested to see what happens, ultimately. I mean, that's a pipe dream, Justin. That's the election reform of the NBA. Like, we're just not going to get what we need at the end of the day when it comes to the NBA draft.

So let's not let perfect be the enemy of good. Let's not let our dream scenarios get in the way of something that could be really fun. Yeah. We have actually one more suggestion box. It comes from longtime listener Benjamin Cruz here. Local Bay Area legend. Wrestling podcaster extraordinaire.

What's up, Ben? Yeah. Hey guys. First time long time. You all seem very well versed in the medical field with Robb. You're a doctor, was a professor. JV.

You're a diehard Lakers fan. apparently. So I have a two-partner here for you guys. Is an x-ray really necessary to reveal a sturdum contusion, aka a bruise? And two, is it a HIPAA violation to request to see said bruise? Because there's no way in hell DeMata Sabonis got a freaking bruise on his chest after his failed ankle lock attempt, Andre Montgomery.

I'll take my answer off the air. Peace. I'm gonna let the white brothers on this pod answer that bruised question. I gotta say was your sub bonus takes vis-a-vis the stomp I feel like our next level. He definitely got stomped.

It was, bro, it was a wrestling stomp, honestly. You think Draymond slammed his other foot to make the noise as he was doing it? Dude, he did not like really like curb stomped this dude like really like put his all into like

hurting this guy. That was not the case. It was a complete cell job. It was, the dude was acting. And he clearly grabbed and twisted that dude's ankle right before that. Which is why he knew he had to do that. He was like, that's going to get reviewed. I'm going to be seen twisting this dude's ankle. And so he acted like he got shot. But come on, man, Tramani really kicked that dude. I like how Wads' response is anything short of American History X is like totally fine. Period.

Period. No blood, no foul, baby. So we're all on the same page. Sternum, contusion, or no. This suspension is bogus. Draymond Green should not be suspended for game three. That's crazy. That's my point.

Like, if you could see that, if you see that stomp that we're calling it and say that was like, He had some extreme malicious intent, meaning he was trying to hurt that man. I'm sorry. You got to leave whatever freaking bubble you live in and like go see an actual fight somewhere out in the world. That's not how people kick people when they are trying to hurt them. I'm talking about seven-year-olds kick harder than that when they're fighting each other. I promise you that, guys. Yeah, get outside and go to a fight.

listener. Yes. It was more of like a springboard. It was more like he was getting off a diving board and trying to like launch himself off of there. And he was doing so much in order to sell it that he's like, oh, I'm being held behind that it actually looked worse than it did. But I think the sad thing about this is, is it seems like the penalty was as much

for what Dremont did afterward, which was, you know, probably shouldn't have done that. And the fact that like the league office just seems sick of him. Umar's who was in charge of handing out this suspension from the league office, practically admitted to as much. He said that if it wasn't the history, if he didn't do the thing afterward, and then he didn't have the actual incident, like, Oh, he didn't practically admitted it. It was in the press release that this was because of Draymond Green's history of these incidents.

Like, it was above board. That is the text, not the subtext. Yeah, I mean, to me, I don't really, I don't think this was suspension. worthy. But while I don't think his quote unquote history, like are we counting the Stephen Adams thing, which he already received the suspension for because of the LeBron thing, you know, like if we're really counting that, I think that's kind of ridiculous. But also at the same time, I think if the league office is like, bro, we were at this game and he showed us up, essentially. I think that's part of it. He showed us up. He made us look like idiots while we're at this

game and he's damn near inciting a whole riot in this freaking stadium. I don't see, I don't think that's wrong either. I think they had the right to suspend him. And I think Draymond has spent so much time behaving like an idiot. He's put himself in a position to get this suspension. So I'm not like mad at it. I just think, man, the chances down 02. you know, they're the most popular team in the freaking sport

and it's not even close and you're just going to do this, their best, their second best, third best player, you're just going to bench them for the, you know, pivotal game of the series. I think that's corny.

That's so short-sighted. I don't think this is the kind of thing that if they didn't suspend Dremont for, like the game would have suffered for it. This is crazy to me. Yeah, bad results, bad for the entertainment value. Honestly, my favorite part of this was after the Kings announced that Sabonis had had this x-ray with the sternum contusion, there was also an announcement that Dremont Green was going to

get an x-ray to examine his ankle. Asked for one. We don't know if we got one, but it was reported that he asked for one. Love it. That was great. That was ultimate trolling. Well, the good news is that E-40, amidst all of this, is going to be allowed back into Golden One Center in Sacramento.

I know there was peace hashed out. They released the do. All he had to do was call 50. All he had to do was call 50 and 50 would talk to VyVak and it'll be straight. Yeah. I mean, while we're punishing people for like the threat of recidivism for Draymond Green, I mean, excessive standing on E40s part. That's, you know, is he not going to do that again?

Is he allowed to stand for potential, what, game five? All right. So today's suggestion box was brought to you by State Farm. defend yourself against life's what-ifs with State Farm. When you need to move quickly, you could rely on the State Farm app to answer your questions immediately. And for those more complicated plays, they have agents in the paint ready to field your concerns in real life. It's the type of competitive strategy that makes sure you're covered, win in how you need, so you don't have to pause for a timeout. And that's how you get a win.

Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Call or go to StateFarm.com for a quote today. We'll wrap it there. Thank you to Eduardo Ocampo for filling in an on a number. production. Thank you to Ben Cruz for calling in and also to Chris Rose in the UK for your response. Keep sending things in at SuggestionBossGC at gmail.com. We've got two episodes a week now. So we'll need the material. We'll be back Sunday morning to recap some of the action on Saturday. Until then, we'll see you.