The Ringer NBA Show - LeBron-to-Philly Rumors, Plus Locker Room Check-Ins | Sources Say (Ep. 219)

Episode Date: February 28, 2018

The Ringer's Chris Ryan and Juliet Litman sit down to talk about teams tanking (2:55) and rumors about LeBron leaning toward joining the 76ers and what that would mean for Philadelphia (9:15). Then they do locker room check-ins for the Lakers, Cavs, Clippers, and more (14:55). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chris, Juliet. We're going to talk about basketball, but first, I want to talk about Belvedere vodka. Produced in one of the world's longest-running distilleries, Belvedere vodka is the world's finest, all-natural vodka, crafted by a collective of master's distillers. Belvedere is made with non-GMO, Polish rye, pure water, and no additives. Recognized for quality, Belvedere was named the ISC World Vodka producer of the year in 2015, 16, and 17. Enjoy delicious cocktail, perhaps a Juliet. Once again, that's a vodka soda, the splash of pineapple, pineapple.

and make that vodka, Belvedere vodka. Remember, always drink responsibly. Sources say on The Ringer NBA show. I'm Juliet Litman. I'm Chris Ryan. We're going to get into major NBA topics. But first, let's just talk about the Ringer for like 30 seconds. I love talking about the Ringer.

There's a lot of good stuff happening on the site this week. It's a banner day for the actual editorial website. Yeah, shout out to all of our writers and our editors. Great stuff. Should we go through some of our faves? Yeah, let's do it. Rob Harvilla on Donald Glover. Atlanta comes back tomorrow.

I'll check that out. Michael Bowman on Better. Orrk? Could he unseat Ted Cruz of the state of Texas? Who knows? Who knows? And how to make soccer in America

a big deal? Yeah. Check it all out on the ringer.com. And just a note, if you like football, cool. And you might like the show GM Street with Michael Lombardi

and Tate Frazier. Move to Monday this week. So don't be confused. Also, I hear on our IG that Kevin Clark is documenting his coworkers eating habits at the draft combine. Rumor has it.

Danny Kelly will be having a seafood dish for the first time ever today. I won't say, I won't say what it is. I'm sorry, he's had seafood for this one particular delicacy. He'll be, some call it a delicacy. Check it out at Ringer on Instagram. The ringer.com on your URL

game and that doesn't make any sense. And GM Street, check it all out. Okay. Do you know how you, when you said sound the alarm? It was like not with the it was a little muted. It was? It wasn't like you were low energy. I was going to say that it's because this is not like we're not having it.

not striking a rich vein of sources say material this week. No one's fighting. No one's pregnant. No one's getting divorced. Yeah. It's a little, it's a little bit of a bummer. I will say I'm just so confused about the state of Carmel and Lala Anthony. I think about it. They've been pretty private about it. Super private. Super private, but I still. Has she ever been spotted in Oklahoma? Not that I know of, but maybe she just doesn't want to go to Oklahoma. Who knows? I'm very confused about that one. That's like, that's my white whale. I will get to the bottom of it, but not this week. So instead, call her Ahab. Call her A-Bah,

the way she's my white whale. Call me A-Hab the way she's my white whale. Let's talk about basketball, kind of. Kind of. Let's talk about what the NBA is talking about, which is this dumb topic of tanking. It's been, it's pretty consistently, like, lined up

with the experience of us working together. So, like, since Grant-Land, I feel like tanking has been a major thing. Who was the first team to, I mean, I guess it's Hanky and the Sixers sort of brought tanking to the four. like when the Spurs, the Spurs, David Robinson got hurt and the Spurs pretty much tanked to get Tim Duncan that one year. Sure. Back in the 90s.

Back in the 90s, it's been with us far too long. And then the last like five or six years, it's really become a thing of like how do you get, how to game. Yeah, benching starters, guys getting like quote unquote hurt and staying out for weeks on end, playing the kids, quote unquote, buying out veterans that are pretty good. It's just an overall increase in like gamification of the NBA. Well, it just sucks because it's like if you're going to have an 82 game season, you can't write off 20 of those games. But many teams do. Yes.

Nonetheless. But even the teams that aren't tanking, and we can talk about who is tanking in a second, they still, 82 is like still too many. You know what I mean? Maybe tanking would be less of an issue if they only did 70 games, 75 games. They wouldn't have as much an opportunity. Exactly.

Because if you say like, okay, let's try and be competitive for the first 35, 40 games. Yeah, I mean, it would just be impossible. Less of a cushion to be like, okay, it's time to tank. Yeah, or at least it wouldn't feel like you guys have really, like, screwed your fans out of, like, the last quarter of the season. Right, right. So, this came back into the forefront last week when Mark Cuban, who has been in the news for all the wrong reasons this week, went on Dr. Jay's podcast. Who knew Dr. Jay had a podcast, by the way? Yeah.

It's funny how many, if you look at the iTunes front page, how many, like, celebrities have their own podcast. Yeah, I mean, you get why. Dax Shepherd getting a lot of looks. Dax Shepherd and Kristen Bell are everywhere. I'm perpetually concerned about them, even though they see. and my things are great, but whatever. I hope his podcast is going well. Anyway, Mark Cuban went on Julius Irving's podcast and said thusly,

I'm probably not supposed to say this, but like I just had dinner with a bunch of our guys the other night. And here we are, you know, we weren't competing for the playoffs. I was like, look, losing is our best option. And then he added, Commissioner Adam Silver would hate hearing that, but I at least sat down and explained it to them. And I explained what our plans were going to be the summer that we're not going to tank again. This was like a year and a half tanking.

And that was too brutal for me. but being transparent, I think that's the key to being kind of players, a kind of players owner and having stability. All of that really,

we're going to talk with the tanking. Obviously, Mark Cuban was then embroiled in the MAV scandal with their CEO and one of their staff writers being accused of sexual harassment

and they have a whole cultural problem with that organization. This is separate. Let's just talk with the tanking stuff right now. It's hard, it's hard to walk this back, which Mark Cuban has kind of tried to do. Right. He said that he was starstruck by Irving, and that's why he kind of like sort of blurted this out.

Yes. So it's not that he said, he's more saying I shouldn't have said it, right? Yeah. Then he is like, we aren't tanking. Yes, he's, exactly. He's more saying, I shouldn't have said it. Shouldn't have admitted it, basically. Yeah.

We regrets getting caught. He doesn't regret the tanking. That's, yeah. And I find the whole MAVs, again, outside of obviously the scandal that's kind of, they're embroiled in. the post title Mavs are kind of weird. Totally weird. Multiple failed attempts at bringing in star players. I don't even know, like, besides DSJ,

like, who else have they, like, really drafted over the years? Like, have they had, like, what is this team? What are they? They've gone to the playoffs a couple times. Yeah, but always, like, lower siege. Sure, but I'm just saying it hurts their drafts. Like, they're not in the lottery. Sure.

So they haven't really been a lottery team for a while. I think also Dirk actually doesn't want to. to tank, which he spoke about after that came out. I hate to break it to him. Yeah, well, he... They're tanking. Yeah, of course. They were taking when the season started and they were bad.

They were bad. They were like that. This was not a competitive basketball team. It's a boring conversation. Well, because I think that what happens is the Mavericks try to go for a big pre-agent every summer, don't get it. And then they're like, no plan B. No plan B at all. Yeah. And they just then they get stuck with Seth Kirby and spare parts. Neurlins.

Yeah. Still on the team, he is. Yeah. She's not playing. Yeah. Everyone's in a while. They're like, Neurlins might play tonight. I have no idea what's going on there. so bizarre. NBA responded and the memo is making the rounds. This is from Sam Amick's Twitter, which is really a very helpful Twitter.

I recommend it if you don't follow. The former can be a legitimate strategy to construct a successful team within the confines of league rules. The latter, which we have not found and hope never to see in the NBA has no place in our game, referring to tanking. If we ever received evidence

that players or coaches were attempting to lose or otherwise taking steps to cause any game to result otherwise on its competitive merits, that conduct would be met with the swiftest and harshest response possible from the league office.

We have no basis at this time to conclude the Mavericks team is giving anything less and its best effort on the court. And Mark Cuban has assured us that this is not the case. But even a suggestion that such conduct could be occurring is obviously damaging to our game as it creates a perception of impropriety. It's also extraordinarily unfair to the players and coaches who are, in fact, competing at their highest possible level every night.

You are therefore advised to avoid such statements and to pass along this admonition to all other key personality organizations. We will continue to monitor closely to play of all teams during the remainder of the season. TLDR, Adam. TLD, Cupid said they're tanking. We don't see any evidence of them tanking. Don't say it again, anyone.

That's basically what he said. It's a joke to say there's no evidence. I mean... He's like, okay, you don't want people point shaving. Yes, which I... Hmm. I am certain point shaving happens in the NBA. As much as people like, there's stat inflation,

I'm also sure there's point shaving. Sure. Yeah. I mean, it's just... I have no evidence of it, but it just would be hard for me to believe doesn't happen ever. I think you and I are,

the point you and I are trying to make is more that, though, this is bad for fans. Yeah. This interests a minuscule sliver of the NBA population, which is mostly people like us

in terms of like being media, right? And writing about team building and writing about reconstructing your squad over for the future. But this is, it just sucks for fans. It sucks to be like,

okay, you put together a mediocre team, and now you're going to actively make this team worse over the last 30 games of the season. Yeah. Who would know better than you, Philly fan? Well, that's a really good segue to where we're coming, the end of the process.

Let's do it. Let's talk about LeBron James. Three billboards outside of Ohio. Three billboards outside of Ohio, could it be? So this company put up three billboards telling LeBron to come to play with M.B., Simmons, Sharich, and the other young kids there. Yeah, Bobby Cove. Bobby Cove.

Is that where you landed? I like rock. I like Rock Covington too. Yeah. That's a pretty good one. Yeah. I think it was like a laundry company. I also like Bobby Rock.

Bobby Rock is good too. So yeah, this is really weird for me. Do you want LeBron? Last Friday, Bill stopped by my office or last Thursday, he stopped by my office and he was like a nice little tidbit at the end of my column. And Bill wrote this column about LeBron and where to where to next for LeBron and sort of the parallels between where LeBron is and where Jordan was at the end of the second run with the Bulls after his retirement. Just a side note. if you haven't read it, please do. It's kind of a Bill Simmons banger.

It's one of Bill's best pieces like ever. Yeah, it's really good. It's so good. And he captures Michael Jordan better than pretty much anyone. Yeah, he has like that. It really does feel like you're back in it. You're back watching him. I got the chills and there was a new R reference.

Check it out. But at the end of the piece, he talks about how Philadelphia makes a lot of sense for LeBrona and that there has been growing buzz about LeBron to Philly. And of course, this is in conjunction with rumors that LeBron was in Philadelphia or the suburban Philadelphia area after the All-Star game checking out private schools in Philly and a lot of circumstantial evidence

of like LeBron playing with the Sixers on 2K on his Instagram story. LeBron watching the Sixers while chilling out with an adult beverage on his Instagram story. The clutch connection between LeBron and Ben Simmons and apparently like a real deepening relationship there. And this is in the air. It's like definitely like,

definitely like being talked about. First of all, is there any actual, like, what's, what are the, other than the rumors, what's the data saying about LeBron visiting Philadelphia during the last break? There's, it's a friend of a friend of the color commentator. I'll have Dahl Nabi, yeah. Okay. Because LeBron has a home in California. Yeah.

And I don't think he wanted to, like, leave the sun to go back to the same kind of weather. So you don't think he took a quick jaunt from L.A. To Philly up to Cleveland after? Yeah. I suppose we can't rule it out, but I just don't believe that. Yeah. However, I will say one thing with the brawn and all the times he has switched teams, the tea leaves are often correct.

Like there's Savannah, like the home needle point? Yes. And from the Instagram when she, and that was like, that was the first sign. And also the metadata about the colors of his, uh, changing on his personal website. Also correct.

Uh, the Dan Gilbert plane flying down to my head. All of those things were right. So it's hard to discise. count some of these like kooky theories. The question is, do you want LeBron in Philadelphia? I don't know. I don't know.

Yes. Yeah, obviously anybody would want LeBron James, but there's a certain personality to this team now and there's a certain story that I'm in love with about this team. And that changes if LeBron comes. Expectations completely change if LeBron comes. Next year, if LeBron's not there, you're hoping that they can add a couple of things that Ban and Joelle get better, that Markell comes back,

that Dario plays better, all these things and that they make the next step, you know, and that they're in the second round of the playoffs or the conference finals even or whatever. If LeBron's there, it's finals or bust. Sure. That's the only... And that's one of the reasons why Cleveland

is kind of cracked a little bit under pressure is because there is no in between. Right. And if you have LeBron James and if you have LeBron James, who's perpetually in a contract year, and he's like, it's finals or bust, then what does that do to Embedon Simmons if things wind up being

not even like the way the first half of this Cleveland season was, but the second half where it's like we win to, we lose two. Sure. And also with LeBron comes all of the locker room agitation, the media frenzy. They can't be like a young fun team. And I think like in this era of basketball

they can't be like the 2010 Thunder. No. Which is kind of the similar vibe. But honestly, Mbid is so good and Simmons ceiling is so high. They're really, they're so, such different players than we're used to being young players are used to being excited about. Like their skill sets are so much more unique

than many of the other like young prospects. And even the ones we've just been excited about over the last five years, it's hard to like really compare them to another team. I don't know. And who knows when Fultz comes back with his revamped jumper, how great they'll be. I also just, I wonder whether or not like, I'm just going to skip right over it. Okay.

Just checking. He's looking okay in videos. Okay. Markell. Sure. But do you think that LeBron would bring like would LeBron want front office control of the Sixers? Would Brian Colangelo give him that?

Yes, he would want it. And you could speak better to whether Brian Clemangel would give it to him, but do you think maybe LeBron would move on into this like, this is the best place for me, but like I'm not going to tell these guys how to run their team because I can maybe just sound like a one-year deal. No, I don't think he would do that. I have a hard time believing LeBron would go anywhere and be like,

okay, you guys can make all the decisions. I'm just here to play. I think that at the end of the day, he's going to go to L.A. or Houston. if he leaves Cleveland. Yeah. Yeah. It's definitely, it's really intriguing.

They've got a good team. I mean, three weeks ago, or maybe more like six weeks ago, I would have just been like, why would you come to the Lakers? Yeah. And then for some, and you know,

there's a couple of signs now that makes me think that like maybe he would. Should we talk about the Lakers a little bit? Sure. Let's start. Let's do some locker room check in. Post trade deadline, post All-Star.

How are we feeling on, how are they feeling on some of these new, new look teams? Yeah. Well, let's be going to the Lakers. where we have Isaiah Thomas coming up. Never a dull moment.

Never a dull moment. I just, it's amazing. At the end of the season, perhaps we can work with our wonderful video and team here to do a super cut of all of Isaiah Thomas's interviews. Yeah. And like all of them

because he always says something that's quite quotable. This week he spoke to Bill Oram of the Orange County Register about Lonzo. And here's a few things that he said about his jump shot. It's ugly as hell.

It's an ugly shot, but he's been successful with his whole life. So you get to the, highest level. There's no need to change it. And then he added. I think he should coach the Sixers. Yeah. Tom to Markele about that. And then he also said, so we can fit in with each other easy. He's a very smart basketball player with a lot of talent. So it's easy to play with a guy like that. He certainly seems happier. And he also has not dropped Zachs against Cleveland, by the way. He gave an interview

at E60 on ESPN saying they panicked when they traded him. Yeah. And they traded them too soon. I think that Isaiah does a really good job of talking a lot of shit so that nobody talks about how he's playing. But everybody talks about he's playing. So it's not really working. I also think he truly believes all this. Oh, I'm sure he does. I'm sure he's like, I'm at 60%. And this is like, you guys are evaluating me without giving me credit for coming back to help the teams.

But he's clearly come back because he wants to put up some numbers to try and get a big deal. And I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen with that. I want to go. I really. So obviously if LeBron would come to Lakers, Isaiah would not be here.

No. And you would have to assume that Lanzo would not be here. I don't think Isaiah will be here next year. Would you rather have the, The next two years of Lebrano, the next 10 years of Lonzo. I'm going to go next 10 years of Lonzo. Interesting. What do you think?

I don't want Lonzo to leave the Lakers. I just feel like it's just too perfect. I also just think the Lakers are like they aren't looking for a quick one-off. I feel like if the Rockets win, no offense to Sean, you, it would be like a one-time thing. And it's not like a really a dynasty. You think the Lakers want to get back to like championship after championship. Yes, to dominating. And I would like them too as well.

I know dynasties aren't fun for some people, but I enjoy them. I like this stability of a winner. What can I say? Well, no. I'd also think that like having Lakers and Knicks teams that are good makes the league better. We've talked about this core. Lakers, they've won three in a row. They seem much happier.

Yeah. Congrats to them. Also, everyone's really coming around on Brandon Ingram. It's interesting. Let's talk more about what's going on inside locker rooms. But first, let's hear a message from our colleague, J.J. Reddick. This is J.J. Reddick here to talk to you about the J.J. Reddick podcast, part of the Ringer podcast network. Currently, I play in the NBA for the Philadelphia.

healthy 76ers, but you may know me from my previous teams, the LA Clippers, Milwaukee Bucks, and the Orlando Magic, or from my college days at Duke University. Being a professional basketball player, I have a great opportunity to talk to a lot of interesting people, and the podcast is a place where I can share those conversations with you, the listener. On my show, I sit down with athletes, celebrities, and a variety of other special guests. If you haven't already, please subscribe to the JJ Reddick podcast on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcast. Let's talk a little bit about Isaiah's old team. One of his old teams. One of his old teams. Cleveland, first of all, we'll get into some quotes here. I just want to note, Kevin Love, if you don't follow him

on Instagram, you're fucking missing out. I love his Instagram stories. Give me a rundown. What's been going on? Well, he ran a poll asking his followers what book he should read next. Either Ken Kese's classic, One Flew or the Cuckoooo's Necks or Mario Puzza's The Godfather. What did you vote for? I voted for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, obviously. Yeah. Shout out to the B generation. But he went with the Godfather, who was surprised. Meanwhile, he's also watching basically every best picture nominee, like one at a time and Instagramming it.

Just it seems like he's alone in a dark room. Maybe his girlfriend's around. Maybe I don't know. He's just, I think, a film buff. I loved his all-star game look. Oh, my God. Me too. I loved it.

I think Kevin Love also seems happier. Even though he's not playing right now, he'll be back. And there's kind of a clearer role for him once he returns. Yeah. You're friends with a lot of your childhood friends, but it can be complicated to be reunited with them, you know? So maybe the Isaiah Thomas thing wasn't that great for him. Sure.

Also, the media has tried to make several Kevin Love friendship, like childhood friendship storylines happen. I've never believed a single one. Like him and Russ. And him and Clay. Like those aren't real. Yeah. I'm sure Kevin Love has some dear friends, but they're not the NBA.

Meanwhile, LeBron James seemed happy before the break. They went to, they got two decisive victories with the edition of Clarkson, Hood, Nance, and Jordan, George Hill, excuse me, Jordan Hill, not really anymore. I think he's souring a little bit after they lost to the Spurs on Sunday on national TV. The Cavs don't play well on the early afternoon games. I just want to note, so perhaps there's better nightlife in Cleveland than Joe Kim Noah led us to believe. Here's what he said to Jason Lloyd. Did I not tell you guys this?

We're going to have some games where we look great. We're going to have games where we don't look as great. I think we played well tonight. We just didn't make shots. Same with the Washington game. I think we played well that night. Defensively, we were in tune. They started making shots.

You couldn't make no shots. It's not a surprise. Not to me. I know I've been through this. There's going to be a Trude's transition. Thoughts on that, Chris. I think that the calves are starting to look better because the rest of the league is starting to look a little bit more like the calves.

With the exception of Houston, I feel like a lot of teams have had some ups and downs. Sure. If you look at the playoff seedings, there's like three games that separate being the third seed from the ninth seed. and there's a lot of volatility right now so the calves can kind of duck under this a little bit

it's an unprecedented overhaul of the roster so I wouldn't actually be as alarmed I mean I think we were alarmed because Isaiah being on the court meant that the calves had a really bad defense and that they were just going to get smoked and they were giving up like 150 points it's not a big deal if they lose

by a couple points to Washington and didn't make some shots I also don't think they have a playbook right now sure so I imagine it's pretty difficult I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't make it to the finals. And I think that it doesn't necessarily mean LeBron's not coming back. Right. So right now they're the 3C, which means they would play the Bucks.

It's all very much in the first round. Yeah. In the first round, that would be amazing. It would be fantastic. But you know what? Like watching the Bucks and the Wizards last night, I was like, I don't know who this Bucs team is. Yeah.

I do think the problem with Cleveland and why they probably will not win the championship, seems very unlikely, is because LeBron is great and this team has improved. but they still traded to get George Hill, Rodney Hood, Larry Nance, Jordan Clarkson. It's not like winning a championship. Yeah. No offense, guys. Before we move on from the Cavs, I just want to say, they switched up their lockers, obviously. Larry Nance has Amon Shumperts.

Jordan Clarkson has Derek Roses. Rodney Hood has Isaiah Thomas's and George Hill has Jay Crowders. This is information from Dave McManneman. Anybody sitting next to each other that makes for interesting partnerships, interesting chatter? I'm not positive. However, Jordan Clarkson, I would not want Derek Rose's locker. I would have fought to not have it. Bad juju.

What do you think? They should just put like, you know, like under construction. Something. Yeah. Something like that. Should we talk about the clippers? Yeah, let's talk about the clippers who had a big win last night in Denver against the Nuggets. Yeah.

Do you follow up by his Harris on Twitter? I don't, but I know about this romance he's got with bromance with Bobin. Boban. It's pretty cute. He also, he tweeted the picture of him after Bobin had a really big game last night and help them win. And, but he's like just a fan, like, he's just a fan of his in general. He, uh, retweets a lot of things about he retweets Bobin highlights. He re-treated some pictures. He seems like he's enjoying himself. And Bill tweeted this today. His PR is higher with the clippers than

Blake Giffin does with the Pistons. And by all accounts, this is like a good competitive team that I would be a little scared of in the first round. Then the clippers are feeling good. Yeah. And they don't really seem to have like any like Austin Rivers baggage. Like no one's like trying to kill Austin as far as I can tell. And things are actually seem that they're going well. There's a much more important Clipper story that we don't have to talk about the team. We need to talk about Malibu real estate. Okay.

You're probably one of the world's foremost experts in Malibu real estate. Yes, I would like to be. I spent a lot of time looking at it and aspiring to buy some. So let's talk about DeAndre Jordan's Malibu home. Sources say he's moved around in L.A. while he's been the Clippers a few times. however for the last few years, he has been living in Malibu,

at home up in the hills. I find this has to be a gated community. Insanely anonymous. We're able to look at it because he listed it. He's selling it for $6.5 million. When you sell something,

it's because you're planning on moving. And so is he looking to stay in L.A.? I don't know. I just don't think L.A. real estate is a good indicator of whether someone's stay or going. If it's your primary residence of Chris? But if I was a rich Los Angeles person,

I would constantly be moving because I would want to just get a taste of all of it. I guess. Didn't Chris Paul. have two houses here? Yeah, but one was for his family. One was for him. What?

Yeah, he like... Oh, his extended family. Sorry. He didn't know. It wasn't like he like sent his kids and his wife elsewhere. It was for his extended family. That was the one that was in the valley.

He lived in Bel Air, I think. This DeAndre Jordan one makes me go, hmm, and he was on the trading block. He didn't get traded. He's up at the end of the year. Why would he want to stay with his team? He already almost left once before and he was convinced to stay by a nucleus

that is completely gone. The people who got him, him to stay were Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, and JJ Reddick. The only person who needs to get traded is DeAndre Jordan's interior designer. Because you hate his house. Wow. I just think it's like a really, I don't like the, it's like a really heavy on brown and gray. Yeah. And the furniture is really anonymous. It's a new construction. It's a new construction.

It's a new construction. I will say it's possible. These are old photos from before he purchased it. This could be like what it looked like when he first bought it. Okay. There's some really suspect art in it, though, like some kind of really high end drawing of Batman, which I just find to be incredibly childish and I cannot stand. And that's like by a ping pong table. So it's like, okay, dude, get it together. You're really bucking against

adolescent male room design. Yes. We have two fatheads in our office and I'm very self-conscious about it. But you're acting like I was advocating for fatheads to be on our office walls. I don't blame you. I'm just saying it's where we've netted out. The best feature of DeAndre Jordan's home

is that the living room with a nice TV opens up completely the whole wall's windows and it opens up to the terrace in the pool. That's really nice. But DeAndre, if you can afford a $6.5 million house in Malibu, get one on the fucking beach. But maybe it's inventory. I think he lives here.

I've heard he lives here because I heard he hangs out at Malibu's a house quite a bit in Shorebar. Okay. So I'm pretty sure this is his home. I will say he does have a really nice TV room. It's like our movie home theater instead of it being like, I don't understand like you're going to have a home theater why you'd get like movie seat or seats, but like deluxe ones. Like just get more comfortable than that.

And he has like a large, like couch. I actually disagree. I was sitting in Arc Light yesterday. And I was like, you know what? This is really ideal. I feel like comfortable watching something for two hours. Where sometimes with couches, you're like flipping around a lot. Like, you know, I'm fidgety.

Like it's hard for me to find the right position for a while. And then there's also a major question with couch to television placement. Do you want to make the television the dominant force in your living room? Or do you want to make it like a side thing? But if you make it a side thing, often the furniture isn't positioned to look at the television. Sure. I will say, though, if it's a home theater,

there's no question that the focal point is the screen. Okay. Just two more notes on his house. First of all, he has a bar. It's made of, like, reclaimed wood, which doesn't fit the rest of the theme. It's really weird. But a great, great, great bathroom with a double shower

and then a separate tub, just really into that. You know, there's a lot to work with here. A lot of this might have something to do with the track lighting that he's got. Maybe. The point is, if you are, If you're spending this much money on a house, you can get one on the beach that then you could design, like, redo for like $100,000, $200,000, and then you'd almost double the value of your home. I've looked at this extensively. Let me tell you.

DeAndre Jordan, I wish you all. Can we wait to see where you buy a home? And thank you to the LA Times hot property. They really keep me abreast of what I want to know. While we're on topic of locker room check-ins, unfortunately, they seem like the rockets are having the most fun of anyone in the league. I know. Do you believe in the rockets? This is a good place to end because this is where we're all NBA.

conversations end. Unfortunately, I do believe in the Rockets. I think they're really good. I guess the big question is, does Chris Paul stay healthy? Yeah. I mean, do all of them stay healthy? And does James Hardin continue to play a full series? And do they have any, is there any just sort of curse on this team to get past a certain

point in the playoffs? I don't know. It just really feels like a different vibe from them. I really, really liked the trolling of Mike Dantone coming out of All-Star. I'm just like, oh, is that like your clipboard magic for when it gets? close in a playoff game. Yeah, that wasn't really fair. I'm not in my Antonio defender,

but I don't think we can judge him by the last 90 seconds of the All-Star game. A couple of key data points that make me believe in them. Chris Paul committing a turnover because he wanted to say

how to James Hardin's mom. That's pretty major. Chris Paul is so dialed in and so intense about what's happening on the court at nearly all times. The fact that he was so relaxed to like take in the scene

with Mrs. Hardin is a big deal. deal. It's not just like a funny highlight, but it speaks to his mindset, in my opinion. Okay. Number two, the biggest inhibitor of the rocket success has been James Harden, in my opinion. Ultimate success. Ultimately he is why they are so great. But like I will never, until he gives me another lasting image, I will never forget his

performance in game six against the Spurs last year. Ever. In the second round, that was like one of the most bizarre, inexplicable no shows I've ever witnessed. Sure is inexplicable. Sure is inexplicable. Hit me in the DMs if you want to talk about some theories, I guess. So I don't know, but he just seems so much more engaged and much more. Yeah, I know Capella Hardin and Paul, when they play together, are something like 33 and 1.

Congratulations to Houston. I'm really looking forward to the Western Conference finals, no matter who's it playing it, I still think the Thunder are going to make it. That's amazing. So one final question for you, which we began discussing yesterday. As a Thunder superfan. I'm not a Thunder Superfan. I just support Russell Westbrook. As a Russell Westbrook super fan.

and a thunder enthusiast. The thunder are currently sitting at the seven seed. There are, but they're only half a game back from the five, which is Portland, and one and a half back from San Antonio the four and two back from Minnesota, the three. Would you rather, and Houston is number one right now, would you rather be four or five to face Houston in the second round? Or would you rather get the three seed or the six seed to face Golden State in the second round? I think I'd, if I were the thunder, I'd probably rather see Houston earth. and try to make, try to disrupt them. I think that the last time that the Thunder played the Warriors

was a little bit of a return to reality. It's going to be really tough to kind of like game it out. I think you just have to go for probably the best seed possible. But I would think about it. I would definitely rather face the Rockets than the Thunder. I mean, the Rockets and the Warriors, even though I believe in the Rockets. But Golden State's only half a game back right now.

It's going to be so tight between the two of them. I guess, well, I guess Houston has the tie break. Yeah. So I would rather position myself in four or five to face Houston sooner. It's going to be such a strange playoffs because we don't know what's going to happen with Jimmy Butler. We don't know what's going to happen with Kwai Leonard. Obviously, you know what I mean?

There's these good teams that are going to be missing key players. Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a couple more injuries. It could be a real, we could see some upsets. This is the opposite of the Tibbs and Jimmy Butler ethos. But I'm sorry, the wolves are not winning this year that there's just not going to. So they should shut them down. Yeah, sit in me the rest of the season.

He's only 27. He is incredible. He is that was in the MVP conversation. Never going to happen. I mean, never. It would also be a really good opportunity to be like Wiggins, you have to step up. Yeah, I mean, it definitely will never happen, but like that's what they should do. They're not one in the championship.

Don't force it. That's all I have to say. Great show by you. Great show by you, Chris. And thanks to the NBA for being fun as always. Don't tank. Never tank.