The Ringer NBA Show - Jokic-Murray the Best Two-Man Game Ever? Plus, Chris Paul’s Potential New Team and Mailbag Time! | Off Guard

Episode Date: June 9, 2023

Austin and Pausha break down Game 3 of the Finals and break down why the Nuggets took a firm 2-1 lead (4:43). They discuss another dominant Jokic performance and his potential to go down as the best center ever, and then touch on Jamal Murray’s role in making them such a lethal duo (12:53). Later, they discuss which team could suit Chris Paul best (38:52), and then answer your questions with an ‘Off Guard’ mailbag (52:20)! Hosts: Austin Rivers and Pausha Haghighi Producer: Erika Cervantes and Ben Cruz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's official. One Shining Podcast is back, and I am your host, Tate Frazier. And as March Badness begins, we're covering everything from Selection Sunday all the way to the championship and beyond. We're going to have great guests that are coming through on the show. And look, if you're a friend of the program and you're already subscribed, you don't have to do anything. OSP is back. It's going to be right back in your feed. And if you're not a friend of the program, and this is your first time on the rodeo, then let me tell you this. You need to go to Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcast and smash subscribe today because the OSP show is back. What's up everybody?

Hope all as well. We are back with another episode of Offguard. I'm Austin Rivers with my co-host, Pasha Hagigi. We are in the building and we got a lot to talk about. I don't think I've ever heard you. My last name, it's just Pasha. Hagigi's tough. I don't say it right?

No, no, you say it perfectly fine, but like, does anywhere ever even, we hang out a lot? You don't want your last name out there? No, no, I'm not like embarrassed. but I just feel like how many times we all hung out definitely heard your last name it's a pretty big time last name no whatever I'm like it's just not

that's why we're putting it out there now you're going to be the difference between you and me is you're going to be the one to make that name famous whereas for me I almost kept I'm keeping the name going but also he is too because he's still coaching and stuff but like you get it the name was already there I didn't

I didn't create the river's name I know but Rivers is like a cool last name My last name sounds like someone sneezed or something. Like, it's, I didn't pick it, you know what I mean? But it's a dope. It sounds like I'm embarrassed by it. Never mind. Let's just keep going.

Yeah, but just. I'm a little sore from pickup yesterday. Yeah, it was nice getting out there. We played a little basketball with our guy, Alex O'Connell, played at Duke and Creighton, currently on the Stockton Kings. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, just give a little shout out. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Awesome, do you want to tell the listeners how we played? Well, first off, everyone in the gym was blown away by your performance. This guy was efficient. You know what you were yesterday? You were a, you were a Gary Neal. Can we, do me one better? He was good for the Spurs. Yeah, no, but I think I was a little bit yesterday.

Their championship run, Gary Neal was a little bucket off the bench. That's kind of what you were yesterday. You had some games he didn't shoot. Some games you shot like four or five shots, but you were like four for five. Yeah. Hit a little in and out dribble, double cross to the lane, lefty off the glass. I mean, you blow. I have a secret for you.

I'm not left-handed. That was my off-hand. I did that way. Oh, my goodness. No, you played well, but it was fun to get out there, get a little exercise, get back in the lab.

I'm obviously back in the gym now at this point, but it's all like individual stuff. I usually don't play pickup until a contract signed or there's some direction, you know, of where I'm going, but, you know,

sometimes it's hard to resist and, you know, guys are playing. I felt it's so tough watching you play out there because they're the restraint. Those guys are playing so hard. This is their opportunity to, like, I'm going to play against the NBA, player and score on them and tell all my friends.

So they're playing as hard as they can. And you're trying to find the sweet spot of, I'm going to play a little hard, but like not totally there. You know what I mean? Like you're playing, but it's like you're holding back, obviously. Yeah. It is difficult because you want to win to stay in the court as well. And it's like if I wanted to drive to the basket every time and finish on somebody,

I would. It's also dangerous. Knock on wood. But like, yeah, with no contract signed and like I'm a free agent, like I just can't. You know what I mean? So these guys are going like, hard as they can. They don't understand I'm coming to the gym to like work on shooting or moving up, whatever it is. You know what I mean? And it's, it's difficult. But that's where you just

block out the noise. A lot of people are oblivious to like having a common sense understanding how a pro is going to play and pick up. You know what I mean? Unless I'm playing on the floor with like 10 pros or like I'm going on a whole bunch of pros or whatever it is. And then like, bro, I'm not about to be out there diving for the ball or like giving you my best. You know, I'm usually out there just to get some conditioning in or work on something, but whatever. It was those guys game seven. Oh, no, those guys were like serious. It was the one game, they were like

both games. I mean, every game, they were like, man, we got to step it up next game. I was like, step it up. I could have sworn I saw team huddle right at one point right before they got on. The game planning, strategy, the whole thing. It's all good, though. It's a sign of respect. Yeah, if anything, so I'll take it. Well, they were leaving me wide open,

so it was the opposite of respect. It was disrespect. At first, but then you made a couple shots and that quickly changed. All right, let's get into the game. last night. Nuggets win 109 to 94. The big takeaway, you know, everyone's talking about is two 30 point triple doubles by teammates, obviously Yolkich and Jamal Murray. Yeah.

Also, Christian, is it, it's Brown? Christian Brown. Everyone says Braun, Christian Brown. Is it, I think it's Braun. I think it's Brown. It's pronounced, spelled Braun. Of course. So how's it pronounced Brown? I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure it's Braun.

Our producer, Ben said it's brown. Pronounce Brown. Yeah. There it is. There you go. Yeah, Bruce Brown and Christian Brown. Yep. Oh, he had a big game, seven out of eight from the field, 15 points.

What were your biggest takeaways from the game? I mean, yeah, Christian played well. I'm going to leave it at that. One, like a, there's like this thing with, like, I think it's because he's a rookie as well. You know what I mean? So it's like, it's exciting to see a guy like that play in the finals, let alone put up 15 points. but like Cody Martin or like Strauss or whoever has done that like 20 times in the playoffs

it's like it's not over exaggerated and matter of fact who's the other Brown on the team? Bruce Browns had 15 points multiple games like what are we talking about here? He had a great game. I'm happy for him, but it's like people like Christian Brown

won in the game and he was spectacular. It's definitely because he's a rookie. Is that all it is or? Yeah. Oh, oh, I'm not going there. The fact that that's all I had to say and you were already like, The media, the media sees it and they just go for it, man.

It's like the Austin Reeves effect. He's a great player, but is there a little added sense to the matter that he's... I don't want to take away from his game. We're not taking away from his game. This is like this is the problem like with what we're in today is because like if you're honest and truthful, you get looked at as being like a hater or like trying to take away from his game. Yeah.

When I've only ever been complimentary of Austin Reeves. In fact, the only negative thing I've ever even said along those lines of his name would be that he's not as good as Jordan Pool skill-wise, which some people, I don't even know how you can disagree with that, but whatever. I've always said he's a spectacular player. I also have said Christian Brown has helped him multiple times in a playoff. Yeah, you said it's a seven-man rotation, but Christian Brown is making it. As a rookie, you know what I mean? And he's been very impressive as a rookie. I'm just saying the obvious. When it seems they get one, the media, the NBA, whoever it is, they push it

a little extra hard. That's all I'm saying. I know a lot of guys who have had 15 points in the playoffs, 16 points in playoffs, and they weren't getting media coverage. Yeah. Or the NBA, Instagram wasn't. They're calling it the Christian Brown game. That's a, even though they had two teammates had 30 points.

That's what I'm saying. You're proving my point right now, man. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? It's just always a little something there. It is what it is. So I have a question for you then. Kendrick Perkins recently said this.

He says, we're not doing, or the NBA or whoever we is, we're not doing a good enough job promoting Yokic. Isn't that under the same umbrella though? So why aren't we doing a good? enough job promoting yoke's because yokech isn't even considered white american he's not this guy has a military cut looks like a goddamn soldier out of out of the cold war i don't even know what's what i'm saying well he's german no i don't have i'm just okay i mean he he doesn't have a media presence he doesn't have social media he's not on his instagram he's not on his twitter he doesn't

spend time here in america he doesn't really advertise or advocate for anything in america As soon as the season's over, in fact, this guy will have a one-way flight back to Missouri, where he hangs out with his family and his friends and he races horses, his culture, everything about him. The music he listens to is non-American. So there's no need to like push him like that. He's already an MVP, so he gets enough attention. So you agree with what Kendrick Perkins said that we don't do a good enough job promoting him?

I think they have to do a better job, you know, but a lot of that is not really the NBA. A lot of that is him. Yeah. So I don't really know if I, agree with that or not. I mean, it's like... Look at Jimmy Butler how he's been promoting himself. He's on every commercial doing everything. Jimmy is getting to the point where people getting sick of him because

you see him so much. I mean, I can't get on my Instagram feed without seeing something with fucking Jimmy Butler or Big Face Coffee. Which, that means he's doing exactly what he wants to do. Start the season off with extensions in his hair. No, no, no. The guy, the guy definitely loves

some attention, but he's not like obnoxious with it. the reason people don't have a problem with Jimmy seeking attention or doing things for attention because he backs it up on the court. And he's a, you know, he's had a special run to the playoffs. But I think people like Yolch, someone talked about this the other day where I forgot, I was, I was watching it on ESPN. But another, you know, analyst was really talking about how Yokic is, how good he is for the game, but how he's not really pushing the game just because his presence isn't like, like you said, they're not, the NBA's not. But, you know, you see Instagram,

post by, you know, the NBA page and other things, but it has to start at home. It has to start with yourself. Well, every interview is also, what do you think about this? I do you feel about that? And he goes, oh, I don't care, brother. Look, I don't really care. Like, he's just, he's pushing the whole, I don't care.

No, but that's who he is. He does not care. He doesn't. You know, playing it all the more impressive. Yeah, I mean, playing with him for two years, you get a sense of like, oh, wow, okay, this guy doesn't really. he doesn't even care about any of the things that come with being not only an NBA player,

but he's a superstar. And now probably arguably the best player in the NBA, which we can get to that in a little bit. But, you know, he just doesn't care about all the things that come along with it. In fact, he takes pride in going against it. You know, I don't care about me an MVP. I don't care about this trophy. I don't care about this. You know, he just wants to win a championship.

He'll win that championship and he's going to take that thing and go, right back to overseas, just like he did with the MVP award. Remember, they presented the MVP award to him back across the water. It was not here in America. Yeah. Meaning he took it back to his homeland. He's not an American. He's the last guy you're going to see at like the Met Gala.

Like, he's not. The day you see him at the Met Gala, I mean, yeah, bro, the world's ending. So it's just like that, that's, that's, it's tough, man. You know, he's not like Janus in terms of being so personal and being so out there. So, you know, you could push him, you know. Yokich is just so family-oriented. He's a quiet guy, handles his business, he does his business, he goes back home. He makes it very clear.

I love playing in the NBA and being here, but my love and passion and energy and everything he wants to push and focus is back home in Serbia or overseas in general. So, yeah, you know, I don't know if I really agree with Kendrick on that one, just because, you know, the NBA posts them all the time on their IG page and other things. They bring up Yokage every damn day. Basically, you're promoting the guy as much as he's letting us. Yes. They're promoting him as much as he's letting them.

And I'm sure the NBA wishes that Yokoj would do more, but that's just part of what makes him great, you know, and what makes him him. So regardless, bronze played great as a rookie. Brown. Brown. I think it just, it's so, it's tough. I know, I know.

It's so trippy because you look at the name. Christian Bronze sounds good. I kind of like Christian Braun. I like the name Christian Braun. Yeah, yeah. He's been fantastic for Denver. As a rookie, he was great for us in the first round. He's going to have a long career.

He will. His game is like he's a Swiss Army knife in terms of his body. He's incredible. He's six five. He's strong. He could defend. He could rebound. He could definitely finish. He had a lot of good finishes last night and has shown abilities to hit the open jump shot. And then like last night, I mean, he had some physical drives. A couple of on Jimmy, a couple on some other players where he's driving, using his force, using his shoulder to make plays. Actually, I like, I like his game. I said it to him when we played in the series after we lost, a lot of us players went up to him like, hey, man, like, you know, you keep going. bro, you're a rookie and you play with such poise. You can see he played college for a little bit of time. Well, he won the national title last year. This year he won the NBA title back to back years. Obviously, he plays winning basketball.

He's been on big stages and knows how to play. So, yeah, you know, shout out to Christian Brown, man, doing his thing. He was hooping. He's been hooping. When you have two guys having 30-point triple doubles in NBA finals, you can't help but ask, is this the best duo in NBA? You think Yokic and Jamal Murray are the best duo now? Yeah.

It's like you said, we've talked about it before. He's never made an all-star team. And now we're saying- Only due to injuries. And then this year was his first year back. So he started up to year slow as expected. You know, he had to still get his legs under him, still get like really back playing to full strength.

I think now that he's at full strength and you're seeing him playing back to that Jamal Murray-like type basketball, the bubble Murray is dead. Like that's been killed. Yeah. And he has shown that it's no such thing as a bubble Murray. And I don't even believe people like, it's playoff Murray. No, bro.

He's just, he's like locked in and tapped into like his body now. I guarantee you next year he'll be averaging 20-something probably be an all-star. They're the best duo in basketball. And I don't even... Do you want to name a couple other ones?

Go ahead. Devin Booker, Kevin Durant. No. Jason Tatum, Jell and Ron. Anthony Davis's run. That'd be second. By the way. And it's not due to the players.

It's due to like how they play off one another. That's why Kobe and Shack. are so iconic. You got the big dog, you got the big dude, you know, you got the guard. They both, like, coexist, and they work,

they throw lives to each other, and they had this, like, game where, like, Jason Tatum and Brown, I mean, I'm a, yeah, Tatum and Brown are like, you shoot, I shoot. Yeah. You shoot.

I shoot. I shoot. And that's what made, like, the Miami Heat good with Dwayne Wade and LeBron. They were playing well with each other. No, they were playing, dribbling out of the glass.

I mean, they had, like, their games complemented each other where those, those two group of pairs of guys, the sons and the, in the Celtics have two one-on-one elite one-on-one players and they're out there just like you know carrying the team on their shoulders getting buckets right where like yokech mall man it's there's a chemistry there's a flow the handoffs the the the pick and rolls the pick and pops you know

the the the dunker spots drive they they know exactly where each other's at on the on the floor they actually help one another play better there's just a difference there and i think that's why they're the they're the best doing the basketball and i think that's why you're seeing all these comparisons between them to Kobe and Shaq. In fact, numbers came out today that their numbers have been better than Kobe and Shaqs. Right. Well, the numbers, you can't do that.

Statistically, the stats these days are just through the roof. They are different. And they're both more passing players, so their assist numbers through the roof where, like, Kobe and Shaq were, like, not really diamond as much. But, yeah, regardless, it just shows the level of play that they're playing.

I know you can't put all the numbers, you know, out there and live by them. But their play has been spectacular. And it's been fun to watch. The heat, we were talking about yesterday when we're watching the game. They're still getting open looks. They just weren't making them in this game. They didn't make them in game one.

They didn't make them in game three. They made them in game two. The heat shot 37% from the field. The Nugget shot 51% from the field. Is it, do you think that the heat should be encouraged that they're still getting these open looks? They just weren't knocking them down. Maybe next game they will. I mean, all you can ask for is open looks.

So if that's what you're getting, there's really nowhere else to turn. Listen, the heat have played well. and we were surprised they went into Denver and won that game. They just keep coming back every time their backs against the wall. You know, again, we'll see tomorrow. But Denver's just a better team, but just the better team. And their stars are better than. But I think the heat have been the worst team every series they play.

They have, but they're just the way, the way Denver plays is so consistent between the two. Everybody else is up and down. Michael Porter Jr. has one good game. He has one game. We'll get to his player. Aaron Gore in this game. Well, Aaron's been pretty damn solid, but everyone's kind of up and down.

You know what I mean? But like Jamal and Yokic have been consistently dominant throughout the playoffs for the most part. And I think their consistency of their dominance has just been, it's just overpowered every team that they've played. And it's overpowering Miami. You know, you got Jimmy Butler, you had 28, but he shot 24 shots.

He had 24 shots to get 28 points. Bam had 22 last night on 21 shots. If you look at the two stars on each team, It's not as efficient. It's not as efficient, bro. These guys are having 30 and 10 and 10, and these guys are having 20 on 20 shots. Right.

28 on 24 shots. I think Bam had 22 on 21 shots. It's just, and then you got these two guys have 34, 35, 36, 32, 10 assists, 10, 11 assist, 10 rebounds, 15 rebounds. Like, bro, it's not even in the same ballpark, man. So they're literally outplaying everyone. Those two have put that team on their shoulders. you add that they've had some good complimentary play around it.

But let's not get it twisted, man. Like, it's those two. And that's why you're seeing all these things. Caldwell Pope had two points last night. Do you see a mini version of them with Dearen Fox and Sabonis? Should they be watching this thinking that we could be doing something like this? I love Sabonis and I think he's a really good player. But at the end of the day, man, Nicole Yokic is probably possibly.

But they should be watching the same. They're going to go down as the greatest center to ever play. Yeah, you say that again? I think, I think Yokic can end up being the greatest senator ever play. Yes. Do you know what that means? You know what, you know what Karamil-Jabar is that? Like, his, it's...

I don't like going back that far. I'm talking about modern-day era. I'm not comparing him to Bill Russell or what Chamberl. Bill Russell playing the NBA and there's 12 teams. Or there's like 10 teams, man. It's like two different eras, dog. Well, Kareen played to the late 80s. It's still a different type of basketball.

This guy shoot in the skypox. If you should have a 3 in the 80s, people are like, holy shit. Do you understand? know what I'm saying? Like, it was, we're launching 503s a game now, man. Like, it's just, I don't like to compare because it's not fair to us, and it's mostly not fair. Well, that his biggest competition would be shocked.

It's not fair to them. That's his biggest competition. Four titles. Yeah, four titles. That's why I said possibly. Yeah. But Yokic does things that no center could do. His passing is he's the best passing center to ever play.

He's been that for a few years. That's already solidified. So he's already on his way. Two-time MVP, probably could have won a third one. But, you know, Joe played well enough to where they had to give him one. It was like when they gave Carl Maloney. And don't make any mistake about it, Joel campaign. There was a lot of campaigning going on for that.

Like everyone wanted Joel to win that champion. Yeah, that because he had been. Not that he didn't kill this year. No, no, no. Joel was dominant. But I don't think anybody would take. And again, Joel Embed is a great player. I don't know a lot of people that's taking Joel and beat over Yokes.

Yeah. In fact, I don't think anyone is. No. But that has no slight against Joel. Joel's an unbelievable basketball player, probably, but not probably he is. He's what do you say? The second best son of the NBA? He's definitely.

It's absolutely, that is just, he is. He's definitely not third. But you know what's crazy? Three months ago, there were a lot of people that were in the Joel and B, he's the best center of NBA. Because he was playing at a level that was insane, scoring-wise. And then he had the game versus Yokic, where he had like 40-something, something. But anybody can best you in a game, man.

That happens with players that aren't even. All-Stars. I've had games where I've put up 30 on your favorite player. It doesn't mean I'm better than your favorite player. Do you know what I'm saying? Like I just yeah, I had a hot game and I'm a pro. Anything can happen like well he left 50 against the Celtics let alone a yokech, let alone a joll and B type who's putting up 30 a night like that guy could beat anybody he could give anybody buckets it doesn't mean over 82 in a playoff run you think he's better than yokech. That's the difference the playoff run is yeah yeah it's just you see the difference in how he plays and how yokech is able to dominate and control the game through passing and

scoring. He does everything. He is the best player in the NBA right now, is Nicola Yokes. And I don't think anybody would even argue that at this point. I think even like LeBron James would probably be on, which, you know, LeBron's in year 20, he's got nothing to prove anymore. I think even he would probably be like, if you ask him, who's the best playing in the NBA right now? He's probably, probably, Nicola. It's the most dominant for sure. I don't know how you say who's the best, because you go skill for skill, you know, you still got the KDs of the world and whatever, whatever, but you want the most dominant, efficient player in the NBA right now. He's been the most efficient. His numbers efficiency-wise

have broken every record, by the way. He's unbelievable. It's funny you say that because every time he shoots, I'm wondering why he doesn't shoot more threes. Because he doesn't... I think it just takes away from their offense. He knows he can get that three anytime. He has every play. In fact, every time down the

floor, Miami will like literally kind of give it to him a little bit. They'd rather him shoot threes. They want him to shoot 10-15 threes. It takes away from Cowell-Pup getting an open one and Brown and the other Brown getting one and P. M.P.J. getting one. And Aaron getting a lob and Murray and Yoka Jackson, that's what's beating teams right now. And Jamal is what's really putting this team over the home because Nicole has been this

dominant. He's dominant like this last year and he's dominant like this year before. Why didn't we last year when I played the Nuggets to go to the finals? We didn't have, we didn't have, we didn't have, we didn't have, this guy's averaging 30. If we had Jamal Murray, we would have been in the finals last year. I think this is the best team in the NBA and I think they've had that makeup. But Jamal, an all-star caliber point guard, not being healthy is a big deal. Do you think Jamal Murray is a top 20 player in the NBA? Right now, when he's healthy, absolutely.

Yeah. Give me 19 players that have played better than him in the playoffs or even... Do you want to go top 15? Go ahead. No, I'm saying. I'm asking you, do you think he's top 15? Top 15? He's around there.

I don't know if he's in there, but he's around there. Yeah. You start to name some names and it gets a little nutty in there. You know, you got... You know what I mean? Oh, of course. We don't have to go through it, but yeah. I don't know if he's top 15, but he's around there.

And again, in his defense, he would say, has there been 15 better players in the playoffs? Right. I don't even know if you can name four. Yeah. He's been a top five player in the NBA in the playoffs. So I'll give him that. Overall, is he like better than the guys like Luca and...

Would you rather have Jamal than John Moray? Oh, that's such a tough. Look what's going on. Look what we're doing. Take aside. Take aside. It's harder than lava right now in the NBA finals versus a guy that's had always off-court issues. Yeah, yeah.

Take aside all the bullshit. Okay. Take aside all the bullshit. even take away like the hot streak Jamal's on. Player for player, starting next week, the season starts. Are you going Jamal? I'm a sucker for a guy. I'd rather have the guy that has more skill and less,

I don't like to rely on athleticism. That's not my kind of player. It's all preference. Right. I'd rather have the guy that can shoot better. That's probably more durable long term. You'd rather have a- than John Morant, who, he's just so athletic.

And this is actually a credit to him. He's so athletic that it scares me every time he jumps that high. John Morant's, he's trying to put his head over the room. And I, that just, from the, you know, the owner of the Grizzlies, I'm freaking out every time he does that. I'm just like, Jesus. And it's crazy because Jamarry is the less healthy one over his career. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's contradictory what I'm saying, but I'm going with the shooter. I feel what you're saying. Who are you picking? His game is more complimentary, I think, to anybody, just due to a shooting, where Ja is like a tailored, you got to tailor your whole offense around him. Yeah. You know what I mean? Right.

And it's always interesting with how well Memphis does without him. Yeah. I think that's also just a- That's credit to Ty's Jones. Yeah, yeah. That's credit to them having two starting point guards. Yeah. ties is a starting point guard in a lot of teams in NBA.

Let NBA in a system turnover ratio of four or five straight years. Yeah, yeah. That's your backup. So that's probably more so what that is. Yeah. Okay, so that's the case. And yeah, he's close to that top 15.

Yeah, he's in there. That's a really going. I don't know. I was about to push the limits and ask another one, but we're not going to do it. I don't know if he's top 15. Would you take him over Kyrie? And I know you,

Kyrie is one of your favorites. See, here's the thing, like, I can't. The answer is, yeah, you would take him over Kyrie. Yeah, I would take him over Kyrie. He's younger and he's he's less problematic in every aspect of the game. Yeah. That's what. So then if we're talking Jha, then yeah.

Because if you, if we have to, I think it was wrong of me to be like, let's take everything else out of account. Because that's, that's just not real life. Yeah. If we're talking real life. And we're picking on Jha when he's, it's low right now. Yeah. I don't want to beat a guy all he's down. Yeah, either do I.

That's why I don't want to say anything about Jaya. He's already going to enough. He's got enough heat already. They're about to announce a suspension. that's going to sound pretty lengthy here soon after the finals. Yeah, 40 games is... Yeah, that's a lot. Compared to Gilbert Arenas who got suspended 50,

but he brought guns to the facility, which is a whole different... Gilbert Arena's got... What do you get? 50 games, and he had... Him and Javars had guns in the fucking locker room. Yeah. This guy was just in his car,

and his friend, his dumb-ass friend, decides to record him. Right. And now he's in trouble again. Yeah. He shouldn't be waving guns in the air anyway. It's also a different time, though. In the NBA, you know, suspensions are given a little more maybe.

The reason, the reason you don't feel bad for Jaws because it happened already. Right. So that's why people are, like, frustrated with him. Because, like, the actual incident itself, he didn't hurt anybody. Yeah. He didn't try to hurt anybody. He didn't threaten anybody.

He didn't do anything illegal. Yeah. But Adam Silver said there was a lot more that they uncovered or something. Okay. That's a very vague. We don't know specifics. Let's not even talk about it until it gets announced. And then we'll have a whole pot on it.

Fair enough. Let's get to your guy, MPJ. He was one for seven, two points. The second game in a row. He's really struggled. While we were watching the game, you actually said a pretty crazy statement yesterday about him, which was positive.

I stand by. And what is it? He's the best shooter I've ever played with. Best shoot I've ever been in the gym with? He's the best shooter I've ever been in the gym with. He's that the best shooter ever been in the gym with. I've been in the gym with Steck and Curry and Clay Thompson and Kevin Duran and list fucking goes on.

I mean, Right. He's not the best shooter ever. Yesterday he sounded pretty. He's the best shooter on back. That's your guy. And I played with some great shooters, man. I played with JJ.

This guy, like JJ, I love JJ, but JJ couldn't shoot better than Michael. Really? No. Michael just had healthy. If I put them both in a gym in their prime, I'm going on Michael. I've seen them both shoot. Michael's so effortless, that's ridiculous. Michael's problem has nothing to do with his shooting, man.

It has to do with every other aspect of his game. How good is he off the dribble? How healthy is his back? How well can he move still? Where's his explosion level at? How many touches is he getting? How many tough shots does he take? his shot selection choice.

Those are the things that surround Michael Porter Jr. You want to talk about just sitting standing right there and shooting a jump shot? There's like three or four guys in a league, maybe that could shoot better than him. Maybe. Steph Clay, it gets a little shaky after that.

You could ask anybody, by the way, who shot with Michael. Like, I'm not saying anything that's crazy. You can even ask Jamal, like, yo, shooter for shooter. If you guys are shooting 100 shots in the gym. I just think a lot of people wouldn't know that. Obviously, they know he's a good shooter. And he gets a shot off on anybody.

He shoots tough shots, which brings his percentage down. He doesn't get the offense run through him. So he's not getting a lot of balls. Like you said, he was one for what last night? One for seven. Yeah, he's not seven shots, man. Okay, he's not shooting 18. Right.

You know what I mean? And he's not getting wide open threes where he's missing all day. Put it this way. You put Michael Porter Jr. in the heat, and he's getting those same wide open threes. He would have 20 last night. I know I sound biased because that's the homie. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you're a lot of you, though.

But like, I think. Qualifying by saying that. I just, I've been in the gym with him multiple times and seen him shoot. And again, I know the NBA. Better shooter than JJ Redix. That's going to be a tough one. I'm saying pure shooting. Because in a game, JJ was one of the most dominant shooters.

If we're talking about just pure shooting. Right. I mean, he would light offenses up, especially in the first quarter. Everybody knows JJ had had 10 points in the first quarter to end with 14. He'd give you two or four the rest of the game. Usually not in the fourth quarter. But in the first quarter, he'd give you some buckets. And JJ's one of the best shooters

ever play in the NBA. So I know that's a crazy statement. I'm not saying in-game shooting, which is the only thing that really matters anyway, but I'm talking just shooter for shooter, life depended on it. They each got to shoot 20 shots per spot. Someone's rebounding and passing to him.

Who am I having win that? I'm going Michael Ford Jr. He's making at least 92. That's crazy. He's like that type of scary shooting. Yeah. How that translates to a game is two different things, guys. That's a different argument. I'm not saying he's a better in-game shooter than JJ. He's not.

JJ, JJ was a different level in terms of like running around screams, affecting the game shooting. His consistency is efficiency. That's like top tier. I wouldn't say that. When Chandler Parsons played on the Rockets, he had a teammate Troy Daniels. And he told me straight up, he goes, posture this guy doesn't miss. Right, right. He just doesn't. And I'm like, what do you mean by that? He goes, he just doesn't. It's just a thing. It's not a thing. And how that's the best shooter he's ever seen. Exactly. Troy was a knockdown. Now, how that translates to the game is two different things. situation. There's a lot of variables there that like why a player doesn't get to do this or why

he doesn't have the success he has. Mind you, Michael signed a $170 million contract. So I'm not saying anything out of pocket here. JJ or anybody else never signed any contracts like that. So like it's not like I'm saying something crazy. But JJ has a long resume of being an elite shooter where like Michael's had some up and down years and he's been hurt. Mostly it's all, not mostly. It's all been due to injury. It's only been due to injury. But he's also not first fiddle or second fiddle on that team. So he has to play off of these two guys and kind of get his shots when he can. And sometimes he gets it. And this is where that growth is creeping in with Michael. When he does get it, sometimes he thinks I have to shoot because I haven't gotten the ball because every possession is

through Yoko Jokid Jamal. So when he gets it, he'll shoot a tough one or force it sometimes instead of kind of like waiting for the right one. But a lot of that's due to him being like, yeah, I've been playing for three minutes out here and haven't touched the ball once. Yeah. Put it up. I just don't understand what makes. Which I don't believe. I don't think that's the right way to play.

But he also gets paid a certain amount. He's probably trying to do his part. You know, I don't know what's going through his mind. You got that as Michael. But he got six or seven shots last night. It's not going to one for 18. Anybody can go one for six. He could have made his next six.

They won anyway. You know, I'm not really concerned about Michael's performance. But it's two games in a row. That's probably problematic. And you may have talked about it before. Could this be a big three instead of a big two? If Michael's back was healthier to the point where I felt like he had his explosion like he used to, then yes. Could he get it back?

Sure, man. The guy's a work addict. You know, he works at it. He's in the gym all the time. He's constantly doing stuff for his back. You know, this year he played most of the season. So it looks like he's getting back to that point. You know, a back is a fickle thing, man.

It's like a whole different issue. There's so many different nerves and bones and just, just a lot of stuff going on back there. So he's obviously had three surgeries. To overcome that, people got to be a little sympathetic to the fact that this kid, how old is he? 25, 24. He's been in the NBA for how long? Five seasons? He came in the same draft as Shea, so 24?

So this is his, what, fifth, six season? Yeah. Fifth? Yeah. It's his fifth season, and he's had three back surgeries in five years. Right. So it's just like, you know, take it for what it's worth, man. It's just a lot.

One back surgery can be the end of somebody. This guy's had three. So I don't know if they could be the big three with that. But if he can get his back back to even 80% to where he was, yeah, they could be because he could score the ball and shoot the ball at that level. So, yeah. One thing we talked about also during the finals game last night was we were talking about how Kyle Lowry is just complete, possibly a Hall of Famer.

It's fine coming off the bench. Doesn't change anything about him. Still, you know, it isn't like it's been a problem at all, seamlessly coming off the bench. Kevin Love gets a DMP game one, comes in game two starts. It doesn't affect him. is this a standard set you think like look at the two teams in the finals right now most unselfish teams where people it doesn't matter who's in front of them who's playing they just want to win it doesn't matter how many minutes you play or anything like that and the same on the nugget side

yokic most unselfish unselfish superstar look at like these are the teams in the finals they don't care who scores yokech would be totally fine with zero points 20 assists as long as they win he doesn't care i think you're seeing two of the more least problematic teams in the league Yeah. You know, there's no drama, no circus surrounding any of them. You know, you start with Denver. They don't have any egos. In fact, the only person on the ego with that team is a coach.

Yeah. You know what I mean? And that's not a bad thing. It's not a bad thing that Malone moves like that. But he's the only guy like in the, every press conference is a fucking speech or like a. So it's kind of a lot. It's like, you know, legger. We beat them with a sweep.

We swept them. Like, bro, why are you still talking about the legons? Beat him like two weeks ago. Yeah. What's going on? It's got a real chip on his shoulder. He's got a chip on his shoulders, which I, listen, I could relate to. I could relate to.

He also is a coach's son, so he's always had that. And he's having a moment in the sun. They're teams in the finals right now, and he probably knows for the next two, three, four years. They have a chance to be right back here. They have a chance to really do something special here to where lives are changed. And Malone is being a part of that. He's got this guy named Yokic, you hold on to that jersey, and you let them just take you up, man. You know what I mean?

Yeah, everyone is just on for the wrong. You get Shaq and Kobe, you get Steph and Clay, step and clay, take that on. You ride that wave, man. You know what I mean? You ride the wave. And I think he's doing that. But, you know, he does talk a lot. Malone's been a little, he's been a little chirpy in these.

Yeah, he's once, he doesn't want, like, he's mad that other people are talking about different things besides what's going on in the finals. I still understand that. The Lakers have, what? How many banners they have? 17, 18. I can't even keep count at this point. Okay.

Yeah. How many Hall of Famers they have? have how many greatest players of all time they have it's crazy so people are going to fucking talk where where where's the city located in los angeles people talk about the cowboys people talk about the knicks people talk about the nicks people talk about the bulls people talk about the bulls are really good they'd be all over the media too but they're not yeah any of those teams that are like top tier they're going to blow them up especially the nicks and the lakers just like the cowboys it doesn't matter people would rather watch the cowboys have a bad game than go

watch the nuggets have a good game it's just the reality situation i'd rather have i'd rather go watch Michael Jordan go two for 28, then go watch the ninth man have 30. I know that makes no sense, but I'd rather, I'd rather enjoy watching Michael. He's the big deal. People rather watch the Lakers. That's why the views and the ratings, I'm sure, for this NBA are not the best. You got a weird heat team, heart and hustle heat team versus the Nuggets who superstar doesn't even have an Instagram handle. This is like a whole different finals that we were possibly could have Celtics Lakers, but right now God knows what would be happening. No, Saltics Lakers.

Well, the NBA would just be like, you know, so it's just like, you know, Malone takes that as a chip on his shoulder and he takes pride. He is a coach of that team, so he's one of the head captains of the team. And he's a little sensitive about it. I don't mind it. I don't mind the chip on the shoulder. How salty was he? I do think he's talking a little, I think he's talking a lot, you know, in his interviews, like all the speeches and the stories. But again, like, I like the chip on a shoulder.

I related to it when I played for him. Yeah. I don't mind it. And obviously, it's had an effect on their team in a positive way. he's the only one that really talks like that anyways Aaron Gordon is like the sweetest, nicest guy in the world like great guy. Yokers is a sweet guy. M.P.J. is a sweet guy. Like, they had good guy. Is Aaron Gordon nice?

He tried to fight LeBron. Not one game. I know he has a, I mean, he plays a man. I'm just a mess on. He plays physical, but he's like the greatest guy in the world. But they got like good dudes, man. You know what I mean? Like Jamal Murray is, you want to talk about like low maintenance, man.

Yeah. This guy just hoops and stays out of people's way. Yeah. So, you know, it works that Malone is able to do this because he's really the only one. You know what I mean? And it fits their team. So, yeah, they have a special thing building. And I don't think they're contending just for this year.

I do believe in the next five years. Yeah, I think it's that long just due to Yoko's dominance and he's healthy. You know, I think over the next five years, Demer has a possibility to win not only one, but multiple championships. I do believe that. All right. Let's take a break. It's almost time to crown an NBA champion, and Fandul wants you to be a part of the excitement. Because right now, new customers can get a no-swet first bet up to $2,500.

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Chris Paul was, seems like he's waived. I know a lot of other reports said that they're meeting and figuring out the future. For the most part, I think his career with the suns is over. Yeah, it's done. How shocked were you on that? Scale 1 to 10.

Not shocked at all. Get out of here. Come on. I wouldn't shock that at all. I had no idea that was even on the table. They were talking about this all seasons. trading him. Trading him maybe, not just.

Yes. Yes. But then possibly towards the end, people started to whisper the murmurs of a buyout. That's been in the car. I mean, that's been like oral waving or anything like that, just getting him out of there.

And I think he wants to get out there. Especially with the departure of Moni, who I think was close with Chris, you know, you get, he obviously got fired and let go and then ended up going to Detroit. I think Devin and Kevin are making all the decisions here i thought you got the new owner mad ispia coming in and he is just shaking it up

to like he's he's taking a team that won 60 games a couple years ago to like last year to they're just did a lot of moves yeah yeah they have they've made a lot of moves um you know they hired who the fuck did they hire well i think isn't isaiah thomas working with bogel right well yeah frank bogus is helping out with decision making i think yes the NBA is just I don't know, we have to have the end of this house. It's a cesspool of you guys just recycling the same people over and over again. It's also just whoever you know and who you trust.

It's crazy. Who you know and who you trust is who get hired. It's not about who's qualified. It's not about who's the best. Otherwise, like I've told you before, guys like Sam Cassell would have been a head coach 10 years ago. Yeah. How do you, how do you present yourself? Who do you know?

How well do people like you? Who are you networked with? Who trust you? Those are the things that qualify you to be a president and to be a coach. It's not about always knowledge and experience. That's a big part of it. But it's not the whole story. So, yeah, that's why you see recycling because people see someone like,

oh, he's done this before. I know how I try it. I like him. I mean, whatever, man. The sons have, I didn't like their team last year. As it's currently constructed, I still don't like it. They have two really good players. And after that, it's just a weird combination of players around them.

They have zero depth. They have an Aitin situation that have to figure out. Like, I don't know. what they do with that team but they have some talented pieces there you know chris paul departing what does that do for them i don't know where does chris paul go i don't fucking know what would you like him to go well chris wants to win i know a team that has needed a point guard for a long time is it a team in a big city yes a big city with good weather yes a big city that mean you both spent a lot of time in absolutely yeah okay yeah the clippers it could be a re-eaned

a beautiful reunion. And they've been needing a point out for a long time that John Wall thing didn't work out. Reggie Jackson in and out. I don't think anybody thought John Wall was going to come there. Oh, come on. There was a highlight tape into someone they signed John Wall.

Get out of here, man. And they were like, he's back scary hours. Who said that? The social media. Oh, get out of here. Yes. Your best friend. John came there to be a backup.

Right. And it didn't work out between him and like Reggie and that whole thing. Whatever, whatever. They all went their separate ways. But come on, man. But what do you think about? Chris Paul going there.

And I say that because at that point in John's career with his injuries and stuff, he wasn't able to move the John that, you know, we grew up playing against. The John that I played with in D.C., who was like just dominant, you know, I mean, All-Star. Remember, this is a sidebar. Remember, I was listening to that little baby song you were showing me? And you were like, you were showing me like hip-hop. I don't know anything about new hip-hop.

And in the song, he goes, Hard on the Pain, like, my name is John Wall. And you were like, this is a really old song. Well, that's because you look to me, you go, hard. That's because you look to me. I mean you go heart in the paint like John Wall. I was like this song was made like five, six years ago. You got a 10, five six years ago. John Wall's coming down to paint, dunking on people, man.

Yeah. People forget how nasty and explosive John was. No, no, come on. People do. When they went to the game seven against the Celtics and that was at 2017, he was really good that year. Yeah. John, John had a hell of a career, man.

Hell of a career. Multi-time All-Star. He made a whole bunch of money as well on the court. to court, you know, he's done his thing. I think I'm sure he's at peace with himself and what he's been able to accomplish in the game of basketball. But I don't think the clippers brought him there last year to be like, yo, he's going to be our starting future point guard. Like, I think they needed depth. I think they needed a backup plan just in case Reggie wasn't. I think you're like, you take a risk on John. He's coming out of that Houston situation. He was looking healthier

in the summer. There was videos and tapes of him playing. So people got really excited because people know what a healthy John Wall looks like. Obviously, that situation and fit wasn't able to work out long term, but, you know, anyways, yeah, whatever. Well, do you think, so Chris Paul was third team all NBA last year? Do you think he's that far removed from that guy? He can still start on a championship contending team. Do you see him as, like, is he on a Mike Conley level?

Yeah, I think he could, I think he could still play. Yeah. I think Chris. Because Mike was great for you guys. Yeah, Mike was great for our team last year. I think Chris can still be a starting point guard for a team that's making a run out of the championship. Do you have a team in mind?

I like the Clippers. I like the Lakers. The Lakers have so much. Who? Who's their starting point guard? So you're taking out the shooter, Dilo, that's what a decision. Over Chris Paul?

No, no, not over Chris Paul, but they found something last year with their team. Found something? What do you mean? They went to the conference finals. Oh, like, give me a fucking, yeah, because LeBron and AD were playing out of their mind. and you had a couple good games from some of these.

Are you serious about you? I'm not saying DeLowe. That same roster is going to come back this year and win it all. Belique Beasley said if they had this team with full training camp, they'd be a lot better. Malik Beasley. Listen, man, I want to keep this. We're going to keep this respect.

But I like Malik. Malik's a hell of a player. It's a good, good accommodating play. Honestly, he played great for the Jais last year. Malik's a good player. I like playing against Malik. He could shoot. He could, you know, he could score.

We're not going to go down this. I like Malik. Beasel. Whatever. Take that. He's not going to. So you like Chris Paul. You like his fit with the Lakers. Him having the ball on his hands because he's not an off the ball.

He wouldn't have the ball in his hands that much. That point of his career is over. He's not going to any team in dominating the ball all game like he used. Do you think he's good off the ball? I never even seen Chris Paul off the ball. I didn't say he had to be off the ball. I just said you can't dominate the ball. You can't be Luca Donkage anymore.

Can't be Trey Young. Those days of Chris Paul are past. Is Chris Ball still a starting point guard? My colleague doesn't dominate the ball. It does. But he can play off the ball. Chris Paul can shoot the shit out of the ball. He can still space it.

If Chris Paul's open in a slot and someone drives, if you guys don't think Chris Ball has the ability to play off the ball and catch and shoot, a guy that's skill and talented, he does. Do you understand what I'm saying? Yeah, I don't think he's not taking anything like Chris Paul. You don't think him playing with LeBron? I just have never seen it, I guess.

LeBron who's like his best friend, who's always been like the guy in that group of friends that they have. You don't think he could play against the LeBron and LeBron tells him to space out and be ready to shoot. You don't think Chris would be like, I got you, Braun. or you think he's like, nah, I want to run to pick a roll. No, man.

Like Chris Paul's a high-in-cue basketball player. You put him in there for insurance that way. When LeBron's out of the game, you got someone who can run shit. It actually helps Chris. Chris doesn't have to have the ball in his hands all the time. He's aged, whatever. They're both old. You help each other out.

The only reason the Lakers wouldn't want to do that is because it makes them older. And they're like trying to like after LeBron's. Well, they saw that influx of like that youth that they got shot in the arm. of youth that they got in the trade deadline it propelled them. They're like, you know, what's LeBron's over? Like, do we just catapult into like a whole rebuilding or like, are we still trying to set our stuff up? So that's why I don't know if they would like to bring in it, Chris.

But if they're like trying to put all their cards into winning right now, you talk about point guards on the market. Yeah. Like, name me two point guards on the market that are better than Chris. Right. Name me one. Fred Van Bainbley. It's questionable.

No. Locked in healthy, Chris. Chris Paul is still better than just about every point in the NBA with exception of like the superstars. Chris Paul's next season. Who would you rather have for a whole season? Fred, yeah. Well, Fred's younger. So yeah, I'd go Fred.

That's the only reason. I'd go with Fred Young. If I had one, if I had one playoff series and they're both healthy, going into playoff series and Chris is healthy, I'm going Chris Paul. And I like Fram Van Fleet. By the way,

I think that's one of those questions is no wrong answer. I don't think I'm disrespecting Fred Van Fleet by saying Chris fucking Paul is a little bit better, even at age 38. And I only say that due to the Lakers fit, because I don't think him with the Lakers, first off, off Chris Paul in the pick and roll with Anthony Davis would be pretty special. It would relieve pressure off LeBron to have to create every goddamn shot. And LeBron will relieve off Chris of having so much of a toll on him. Well, they're both going to take a backseat to Austin Reeves anyways, when they pay him

that bag. Exactly. Exactly. So, you know, I do think he can play for both teams in L.A. I do. Yeah. But yeah, there's a lot of teams you can play. A lot of teams need good point guards.

Celtics? Celtics need a good point guard. The Celtics would be a really good one. I think they need someone to come in there and be that guy. See, that's all the underestimated thing about Chris does. People always like to talk about Chris not winning a championship. People don't talk about that every team Chris goes to, they get better. And every team he loses, they usually get worse.

Yeah. Historically. He was in New Orleans. They were a playoff team. When they left, they were ass. He came to Houston, we were really, really good. When we did that trade for Russ, I love Russie, but that fit wasn't as good. We weren't as a good team with when we didn't, when we had Chris. Yeah.

When I played with him in LA, we were top tiered team. We were contending for championships. We never won, no. Without Chris, we didn't make it. We didn't make it by a game, but nonetheless, we didn't make it. He goes to OKC for that weird year. They made the playoffs with a young team. That was one of the, his best, he leaves.

They've been a lottery team ever since. He goes to the sons who are a team that didn't make the playoffs and were in the bubble the year before. They go to the finals the year they have. There is a consistency of wherever Chris goes, they get better. They have not won a championship yet, but his impact is felt. So I don't think it's crazy of me to say

that if he went to the Lakers or the clippers or the Celtics, they would be a better team. And that's why it's hard for me to take a lot of point guards over him. I think his health has been his main issue. I think he's a little, you know, he could be worn down by the playoffs. That's because his toll or his load is too high on a nightly basis. I think him going to a really star-studded team where he doesn't have to do too much and where his need is mostly playoffs.

Like, you know, Chris in the playoffs is where we need you to play more. I think that's the way you have to approach with Chris. So you'd rather have him than, let's say Kyle Lowry at this point in his career? I'd rather have Chris Ball. Did you see the team USA? Kyle does do a lot of little shit though, man. The charges, the defense, you know, just all over the little rebate. Kyle makes like little fucking play.

Yeah. But Chris is a better player. And it's cool. Like we said, he's cool with coming on. Yeah. You can play Kyle five minutes in game forward. He won't say Pete. Yeah.

I don't know if you play Chris Paul four minutes. There's not going to be some issues there. Right. You know, I can't speak for him, but I, that's something you have to wonder. Yeah. Did you see the team USA roster kind of getting built out? There's like eight guys that can be that so far. What do you think so far?

We need help. Do you hear some of the names? Go ahead. McHale Bridges, Jalen Brunson, Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Halliburton, Brandon Ingram, Jaron Jackson, Bobby Portis, Austin Reeves. What do you want me to say to that? Do I think we're going to be like Spain? McHill Bridges, I think it would be a really good international player.

Do you think your boy, Ann Edwards would be good for Fiba? I mean, I think Ann could be good anywhere. I think he's the best shooting guard in the NBA. You think he's the best shooting guard in the NBA? I think Anthony Edwards is, yeah. Better than Devin Booker? I think Devin's more polished than him right now, so you'd put Devin one. but I think Anthony is a better player.

Better than Donovan Mitchell, Devin Booker. Anthony Edwards is the best shooting guy in the NBA. He's just not as polished as those guys yet. So let's say he's on the way to be. He's on the way. Next year he'll be the best shooting on the NBA. How about that?

That's what I'll say. But yeah, last year, Devin was the best. Yeah. And after him, you could arguably him or Donovan Mitchell. In the past couple years, I think Devin or Donovan Mitchell have been the best shooting guards in the league. Do I think that is going to change? And I think Anthony throws himself in that conversation?

I do. That's not even me being, I'm not even on the timber. I don't think that's like the craziest, hottest take. He was an all-star. That's a hot take. And you can look at Anthony's game and be like, this kid is headed there. His talent, his athleticism is far beyond those other guys. But he has the skill that those other guys have.

Like, it's just a kid. This guy's, yeah, man. Like, I'm not saying anything out of pocket here. I think Devin and Donovan and Mitchell have been the two best shooting guards the past couple of years. I think they're going to continue to be in that conversation the next couple years. Do I think Anthony Edwards is a better player overall on both ends of the floor, how he can defend in the things that is capable of doing,

I think he's the best player. That's my point. I just don't think he has the polished in certain areas of some of those guys, but I think he's on the way. And I think another summer under his belt, yeah. But he keeps improving, too, every year. He gets better.

So that tells you, if he gets better than he was last year, yeah, he's the best shooting on the NBA. All right, so you asked Twitter, you posted on Twitter for people to ask you questions that you're going to answer on the pod. I got a couple here that I picked. I'm going to go ahead and say,

underwhelmed by the variety of the different, like, it's all kind of basketball questions, which I thought we were going to get, you know, different subjects, but it's okay. You're a basketball player, it makes sense. We'll start with, this is from at Blamgum. I hope I'm pronouncing that, right?

Las Vegas, Seattle are great expansion cities. What other cities we like to see have an NBA franchise? Okay, so you have Vegas, Seattle. I think, I don't want to say what I want to say I think certain teams should move from cities and I don't want to anger a whole fan base. You think Memphis drafted John Moran

and then they had their chance, they had their chance at a star and I'm just kidding. We're always going to add that up. I don't think it's out of pocket to say that Memphis might not be the best accommodating city for a young African American basketball player. Do you know what Memphis is, bro? Memphis is number one of the country in unsolved murders.

That means they're still out there. And I don't need them coming after me. I'm not going to see anything bad about Memphis. We're not doing anything bad about Memphis. We're going to edit all of that stuff out. Go ahead. They're still out there is the funniest thing I've ever heard. There's no way we're writing that out.

They got away with it. Let's put it that way. If you get away with something, you'd do it again. I think like I would like San Antonio. There's no, they just dropped in Wembe. They're staying. I know. You're saying Best King scenario.

Great fan base. Austin, Texas would be lit. I like Austin's a great city that doesn't have a team for sure. Yeah, that's the team that comes to mind is Austin, Texas. But it's way too close, I guess, to San Antonio. It is.

But there's also two teams in multiple cities? It's 40 minutes away. It's Brooklyn close to Madison Square Garden? I like Austin, Texas. Seattle's an obvious choice, and Vegas is, like, going to happen, right? And I think Seattle will eventually happen as well. It's about it.

I mean, maybe, maybe, uh, Tampa. Tampa's close. You know, you got like San Diego, you know, you got, um, there've been to San Diego. Nice. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. Um, they got a football team. So they've, they've proven that they lost their football team, but they had one.

And they had a fan base there. They, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, I've said marketability like seven times in this. We're going to edit something this time. No, no, that's because it's your new word. It's good. No, when I get one, I'll run it for like two, three days and I'll, I'll trash it out for something else. I learned the word suffice.

the other day. Yeah. And I have just been throwing that word around left or right like I've been using it my whole life. People look at me when I said, they're like, oh, this guy's got a shit together.

Suffice, it makes you think, do you think you're out of it? That is, I don't think suffice is really getting the job done. Yeah, I'm sorry. Yeah, I think San Diego, Tampa,

Austin, Texas, Seattle, Vegas. You know what? It would be nice to see Vancouver get another shot. Vancouver. Vancouver. Because it's an awesome city I heard. Vancouver did go.

I don't know, players that want to play there back then and Steve Francis famously like wouldn't go. It got drafted and you had that sour face, which was embarrassing. On draft 9, we had to put that Vancouver Grizzies hat on. They should get another shot. Vancouver would be dope. It's a good call, by the way.

I'm blanking outside of that. Every big city has a team. All right. Next question. This is from Kyle A. Madsen. What impact do you think Sam Cassell will have in Boston? I think we'll have a huge impact on Tatum and Brown. specifically on them making reeds being able to playmate not only for themselves but for

somebody else he did it with john and brad sam cassell was one of the biggest reasons for my elevation of my game when my clipper's years um i think he's one of the best development coaches in the NBA i also think he's one of the more knowledgeable coaches out there through his experience as a player and as a coach. Yeah, he's a multi-champian. I believe a three-type champion. I think he won two with Houston and one with Boston, if I'm not correct. So, if I'm correct, I would say he's going to have an impact on Tatum and Brown,

and I think he can really help them with, I think, just decision-making and playmaking and a feel for the game. All right. Captain Jack CSA asked. What did it feel like walking around campus after hitting that shot against UNC? Wow. Yeah, that was a surreal moment, man. I mean, it's tough looking back at it now because when it happened, everything was just happening so fast that I kind of like forgot to live in a moment.

I was just like so like, you know, my head was kind of on a swivel after that. The rest of the night was chaos. You know, you go back to the locker room. Everybody's spraying water on each other, jumping up and down. Coach, we're going crazy. You're all like this adrenaline. Quick showers. We're on the bus.

We're on our phones. We're seeing like this is all over the place. We just beat them. We drive back to the campus. And there's thousands, thousands of people sitting there waiting. And it's just like, you're like walking through this crowd. Like I didn't even have time to be like, you know, I remember I went to my room, straight to my room.

And that was the end of my night. No, what? Yeah, it's boring, man. It's actually disappointing. After I hit the Carolina shot, I literally went back to my campus, went back to our place, walked through the crowd, they're partying. It was nuts, man. It was a big night in Durham.

And when we got to campus, I went right back to the room, and I remember getting text from my teammates. Alex Murphy told me, he was like, I need you at the bar. I need you here right now. You don't got to say a word. I just need you as a prop. I go just sit here right now. I need some entertainment from ladies.

And I was just dying laughing. But I went back to my room and played video games. It was actually a, it was a, I look back. It's one of my regrets of not like enjoying that whole process I do. I was so caught up in trying to go to the NBA, man. And I didn't stop and take a second and look around me and realize how special everything was. Forget the shot versus North Carolina. I think that's everyone in any.

Yeah, man. Like you just around the world, you just kind of like maybe didn't appreciate it. like so focused on what's forward that like you don't stop and like take a look around and say what's happening now man like life is quick life goes by quick and and you should probably like just take a stop every once in a while and try to enjoy it instead of always looking and moving and hustling and bustling and at that time when I hit that shot bro like I was just like man this is going to help this and I'm going to go like you're thinking NBA and this that and the next game I want to have this many points and I'm going back to my room talking to my friend like well like my teammates

are all out of bars having the time of their life like you know I do wish some of those times I I got to enjoy that. But to answer his question, I didn't do anything. I just, there's like 15,000 people when we got back. That's crazy. In front of my dorm. All right. Avery Torf asked, did you ever had to go through rookie hazing?

And if so, what did you have to do? I didn't go through a lot of rookie hazing. The worst thing that ever happened was I had a vet, Jason Smith, Vaseline, Vaseline, the outside of me and Anthony's cars. Okay. What'd you just do? You just went to a car wash and it's painted. I don't know how, if you know how difficult it is, I fucking get Vaseline off of a car that's been beaming in the sun all day. But it was a mess, man. I was hot. It wouldn't popcorn. It wouldn't popcorn where you open the door and it spills out and you get a vacuum, a couple air fresheners, windows down and it's over. Like, I had to get like shit repainted and stuff.

That's just me. That's not even hazing at that point. I don't think he meant for that to happen. I think he was trying to be funny. I think they found Vaseline in the locker. I'm like, let's just put this because they didn't have popcorn. You think they put the Vaseline all over your car? Who? Like the player? Yes. No, I think he obviously had someone do it.

No, they did it. What are you talking about? They did it. Jason swims out there was just a tub of gasoline? Yeah, the 7-4s outta fucking smearing Vaseline all in my cars, yes. Oh, I thought you had someone go do it. And me and Anthony came out, and I remember it was the second day of my, I just had gotten a new car. I had gotten a Porsche tie in, which I know isn't like the craziest car, but like your second year in the league, man.

Oh, it's super. A lot of the Winter Park House moms have Porsche Cuy. See, there you go. Yeah. I thought I was bombed. I mean, I had the Porsche kind, and I was doing my thing. I think 80 had like a Bentley. You know, he's the number one pick, a little different salary.

Yeah. And they were covered in Vaseline. I remember both of us, 80 was hot too. Yeah. But you got to laugh it off. And you're a rookie, man. You just got to shut up and deal with it. You know, at that time, I think Jason had been to league for eight or nine years.

You know, you just kind of had to pay your specs and take it, take that one on the chin. So it was cool. Shout out of Jason Smith, by the way. Seb Bucer asked is a hot dog a sandwich. No. It's not a sandwich. It's a hot dog. It's not a rap either.

When you ask for a sandwich, you're asking for a fucking sandwich. If I ask for a sandwich, if I ask for a sandwich, just don't keep up with a hot dog. It's its own thing. It's its own identity. It's its own... It's a hot dog.

You wouldn't call a wrap a sandwich. Hey, we have wraps and sandwiches. And hot dogs. It's a form. Yes, it's a bread, but it's a whole different thing. What was the time you had a glizzy? A lot of time I had a glizzy.

I promise you that They call it a glizzy Yeah, New York They do that I'm not from New York And I don't eat glizzies Have I had a hot dog Have I had an American hot dog

Yes, I had one like two weeks ago I went to a hot dog stand here A little popular one here Went to a hot dog stand in Orlando There's a famous hot dog Chicago hot dog Place here People go for hot dogs

In the suburbs No, it's like 15 minutes away from here It's packed If you go at lunchtime It's packed for these hot dogs I went I got hot dogs and chips It was fantastic.

What he did you eat joey chestnut? You eating hot dogs in the middle of the day. It's crazy. I had a craving for something, and I went to go get that. You were the last person to be talking about food and what you eat at different times. You're all over the fucking place.

I think I'm pretty solid. Last night, you were like, I'm craving something a little bit cold and a little bit sweet. That's you. You want a Greek yogurt at 1130 p.m. I get out of here. I want a hot dog on a hot summer day.

It's not out of part. It's not like, that's a normal thing. When you go to a baseball game, what's the first thing you get? You get a beer and a hot dog. It's like a must. Anything else is weird. All right. Last question.

At press merch asked, will you come to my party next Saturday? Jesus Christ. I need the details. It's a maybe. It's a maybe. You're saying there's a chance. I'm not a blind date guy. I'm out of blind party guy.

Someone's inviting you a party. Going into a party blind is not only dangerous. It's worries. I don't know the person. I don't know. you. What's the name? It's at pressed merch. That's even crazier. We don't even know who's behind that handle. It looks like you're leaving with a t-shirt. Makes it more interesting. Souvenirs are nice. Souvenirs are always nice. I'm not going to say yes. I'm not going to say no. Send us more deeds

on the party. It's the classic who's all going to be there. That's the response. I need to know who's going to be there. What you're inviting there. That'll entell them and if my answer is. Are you a big bring something to the party guy? I'll bring like some tequila or something like that You went to our boy Murph's birthday party You came with a bottle of 42 Magnum It's crazy

Don't hold me there Well it came with the big boy Not the little 42 I came in the big dog He took a picture with you and the bottle together It was like it was like a moment That's because we were friends Were

Shout out to Murph out there Yeah no You bring something to the party I don't think you ever come to a party empty handed I think it's weird Especially for like a close friend If you're like an outside invite, you don't have to.

It's still nice to. It doesn't have to be 42. It could be a, I don't even know, Casamigos. It could be any brand of tequila. Last party you had. Tito's patroned. Titos is box. I texted you on the way to your last party and I said, you need me to bring anything.

Yeah. You said bring the good, good energy. I said bring good energy. That's all I need. And I provided. Good energy and what is you? You didn't bring any females. What did you bring?

I provided good energy. That's what you asked for. No, yeah, oh, you did. You said, you said, like you were bringing vibes to the party. You're like, damn bulls-eering, I'm just bringing females around.

It'd be nice. I always tell people, people like, don't you have, don't you have a bunch of people? I'm like, bro, I have a whole bunch of single friends here.

When I say bring girls to a dinner or bring girls to bring girls to a party, that doesn't mean I have any intention with the female. Right, if you're throwing a party, I want to be all guys, even if it's not for you. I want vibes there to create a vibes.

I want good energy there. I want, I want girls make guys loosen up. Girls give guys a reason to have a drink. Girls give guys a reason to let their guard down and start talking. Some guys have a reason to show up. Yeah, guys will show up. You tell them guys, hey, we got a whole bunch of girls coming over here.

They're really cool. They're going to be there. All right, that's a good place to stop. Austin, game four, can I get a prediction? Game four, I'm going with the Miami Heat. Really? You think it's going? It'd be silly to question them.

And every time their back has been against the wall, they come back and win. we said this after game one when everybody's like oh the series is over they came back in one game two and we actually both thought Denver would still win but like they they just keep doing this thing man like there's no quitting them so why would i believe they'd have any quit now in the NBA finals no i i think they they went they went game two i game four i had um denver winning yesterday they won i have miami winning game four tied up and then i have the next two going to denver it's not going seven i think it goes six um i had originally i think the series going five. But with the win in Denver, I do think Miami has a possibility to win tomorrow. So I'm going

Miami Heat. I hope Miami Heat wins this make a series more interesting. But I don't think they're winning the series. So take that for whatever it's worth. All right, everyone, thanks for listening. We'll check back in next week.