The Ringer NBA Show - LeVert Gets Locked Up and Dwight Howard Returns. Plus: A Very Mismatch Mailbag. | The Mismatch

Episode Date: August 27, 2019

The Brooklyn Nets extends Caris LeVert for $52.5 million over three years (0:43), and the Los Angeles Lakers sign former All-Star (and former Laker) Dwight Howard (8:27). Plus: the first-ever 'Mismatch' mailbag (22:58)! Hosts: Chris Vernon, Kevin O’Connor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Liz Kelly and welcome to the Ringer podcast network. NFL preseason is in full swing and the Ringer NFL show is now airing four shows each week covering the latest news stories, training camp updates, fantasy football advice, and more. On the site, Robert Mays, Kevin Clark, and Danny Kelly offer up their insight on the 2019 season as we inch closer to kick off. You can read their pieces on the ringer.com and you can listen and subscribe to the Ringer NFL show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to The Ringer NBA show. I'm Chris Vernon. And joining me as he does every Tuesday from the Ringer.com.

Is Kevin O'Connor, A.K.A. Kevin O. Bomber, A.K. Kevin O. Conflict. A.k.a. Kevin O. Conflict. aka Kevin O'Cancel, Kevin O. Pinnonated, aka Kevin O. Candyland, Kevin O. Contrarian. Kevin. Verno, what's going on? I heard that new last one.

O'Contrarian. That was recommended to us in the mailbag that we did. We are going to be doing a mailbag. I was blown away at the response and the depth of questions and the amount of questions that we got. And the other thing is, I stopped writing down after the first two pages of emails where some of these were from. And when I stopped, I had already had Poland, Denmark, New Zealand, Australia, Bosnia, Ontario, South Africa, Peru, London.

Like, it was crazy. I was like, this is wild. And it gives you, we're obviously incredibly grateful to all of you that listen all around the world. and it is always shocking to me when I see those emails from all manner of places. It's so wild, Chris. It's like right now I'm in New York and I feel like I'm so far away from home. And yet there's these people around the world who love basketball enough to listen to us to knuckleheads talk about basketball every Tuesday. It's pretty cool.

So thank you to everybody who sent in questions. And also thank you to David for the recommendation for that O'Contrariant. nickname. Yeah, there were so many good ones. I think there was only one in the whole bunch. This was shocking to me. There was only one that could be considered the least bit negative. And that was the guy that wanted to fight me over Devin Booker.

Oh, yeah, yeah. I remember that one. Yeah, that was good. He asked when we were going to meet up to throw hands over my Devin Booker takes. Did you respond to that one? I haven't yet, no. I don't know what I'm going to be.

As a major opportunity, you can set a place. I don't know. Temecula. Isn't that the place? That's where you go. Yeah, that's true. That's where you settle all NBA fights, I thought. Since we have last spoken, there are a couple of news and notes from the past week.

One is that Caris Lavert got a big extension from the Brooklyn Nets. three years, 52 million or thereabouts. So Levert gets this extension. You know they've already got the money invested into Kyrie. They've got the money invested into Durant. They had already given Dinwiddie a contract. But this kind of, I guess,

solidifies him as a guy they want to go forward with as the third wheel to that Kyrie Durant tandem. Good decision? Great decision. It makes sense for Lavert on his end, consider his injury history going back to Michigan. One of the reasons why he slipped from the lottery, he was a lottery level talent when he left school. But because of concerns about his foot, he slipped to the 20th pick, which in the eyes of some evaluators, because of the injury risk was a bit high. But obviously for Brooklyn, it worked out because of what he did early last season and the development that he's made each year. And so for Lavert to get locked up, get this additional.

security, $50 plus million, around $17 million annually. Smart for him. And then for Brooklyn, suddenly now you have a 25-year-old kid who, early last season when he was totally healthy, looked like one of the more promising players under 25 years old and all of basketball is this overall 3-and-e style wing that could play, make a little bit for you at 6-7, that was scoring off the dribble that could get to the rim. And now you have them for a team-friendly deal. with two superstars and Katie and

Kyrie Irving, he's that perfect third wheel, like you said, Chris. Yeah, it's pretty unbelievable, though, that he has only started 61 games in his NBA career, I mean, and locked down a $52 million contract. That's got to be, I mean, I can't imagine there's been many of those handed out.

There is an injury risk with him. There just is. Well, that's why this deal makes so much sense. that's why it makes so much sense. Yeah, for both sides. For Lavert, because you are an injury risk, but now you're getting financial security. That's going to help you be comfortable for the rest of your life. But for Brooklyn, it's only a three-year deal at a moderate amount, $17 million annually,

for a guy who before he got hurt last season, he was averaging 18 points. He was doing things on the court that he wasn't doing before. He showed his potent playmaking ability as a wing that he last really showed at Michigan. Leverton looked like a really good player. And yet he still does have a lot of room to improve post injury that he needs to get better at. But now it's the type of deal where he's going to become a free agent this next time. He'll be, I believe, 28 years old when he'll be a free agent next. So at that point, still hopefully maybe for him in the prime of his career.

So for him, he could get a payday at that point. And for Brooklyn, maybe you're willing to invest significant money into him at that point when he is on his prime. You hope. If not, it's only a three-year deal. And if it doesn't work out, you know what? It's a tradable contract, too. So for Brooklyn, it gives them flexibility and security and a young player, a guy that they want to continue to invest in. And then for Levert, this is security for you financially for the rest of your life. And it's still only three years. So you're going to have options, hopefully, when you're 28. All right. Well, let me just say I am a lot more on the fence than you are, because, yeah, it's just a three-year deal. But these are the three years that you've got to build.

with those two guys in mind. So he has to be healthy and he has to be good for you if you are investing that kind of money. And he's never played over 26 minutes a game. And he has only started 61 games in three seasons in the NBA. And so I am, I'm a little more not like this is a sure thing to me. But I mean, as it were. Yeah, sure. Yeah.

You can't screw this up. This is your chance to build with two big stars. and if you signed a guy, you're spending $17 million that can only play, you know, X amount of games and only start X amount of half of games for you, you know, these next couple of years,

you've really screwed it up. Yeah, you're right. It's not a sure thing, but how many sure things are there really? And for Bookland, like, what else you know,

there's a lot of guys that haven't been injured, you know, in college and then during their NBA career already. I mean, there are, there are a lot of guys that have been, more healthy than cares Lavert. Let's be honest. Yeah, but the thing is, for Brooklyn, what else are you going to do next summer?

Now you have Lavert locked up. Joe Harris and Tarine Prince are both going to be free agents. Those are both guys that you realistically would like to keep as well. You're not going to have cap space. All Brooklyn would likely have next summer when Lavert hits free agency is probably the mid-level exception. So now they'll probably be a taxpaying team. So that will be a little bit less than what it was before.

But for Brooklyn, I think if anything, this increases, is your flexibility because you don't have the money to sign a guy in free agency anyway, but now you have a guy locked up on a team friendly deal, a guy that you want to keep, you want to keep them, but you have the flexibility moving forward because he's locked up. Dwight Howard signed with the Los Angeles Lakers. Let's go! I mean, this is terrible.

I can't even believe anybody is justifying this. We talk ourselves into, you know, I did this with Carmelo. Obviously, I was right. You were wrong when it was the Houston thing. I mean, we have a track record of guys making teams worse. And Carmelo had made every team he played on worse for the last couple of years. And that is what has befeld Dwight Howard going back to, and he's been put on really good teams, really good teams that underachieved. And it's like, oh, well, if he figures it out.

And if he does this and he does that and he does all of these things that he has shown no ability to be able to do, then he'll be okay. And then they bring up his numbers for some rat team he played for last year, like that matters. And you got all the off the court stuff where it was just all kinds of drama. And I just like that is not what I would add to the mix. If I was a Lakers, like you have one guy out there that is an amazing locker room guy in Joaquinoa. that you worked out and another that is a pitiful locker room guy in Dwight Howard and you went the route of Dwight Howard and I just I cannot understand it to save my life. Have you seen any of those Twitter threads that people are putting out about how Dwight

Howard loses 20 pounds every summer and how Dwight Howard every summer changes his perspective about his role on a team? Oh yeah. Have you seen either of those? They've been pretty great. I like the one from Sean Keene. He tweeted a thread about. Dwight Howard losing 20 pounds every summer.

And this is just the past couple of years. In 2019, Dwight Howard reportedly lost 25 pounds. In 2018, he reportedly lost 23 pounds. In 2017, he reportedly lost 20 pounds. So it's like, if this was all true, we're entering a season now with all the weight Dwight has lost, he would weigh 177 pounds. So good for him, man, trimming all that weight. Yeah, right.

I mean, listen, and good for, good for Milwaukee, because he's probably a big reason that he's probably, he's probably a big reason that Mike Budenhouser is there. I mean, come on. He couldn't even like, produce, like, forget it. I mean, I just, I'm done. Here's the thing. Okay. Can I play devil's advocate for a minute here?

I know you would. What if, look, Dwight's not probably not going to work out here. And that's why the Lakers gave him the non-guaranteed deal, or he's essentially just freelancing for the. the team now where he can get cut at any moment. Any moment Dwight could get cut if something goes wrong here. So for the Lakers, there is a no risk here. You bring in Dwight and he sucks or he causes issues and he's like, I want to post up, give me the ball. I'm not going to set screens. He's gone. He's gone. But this is what you did last year and you say there's no risk. And then

Houston ends up having to play in the second round against Golden State because they lost their ass at the beginning of the season because of the Mello experiment. There is a risk. You always say there's no risk in bringing in some guy. What do you mean they lost there? The reason they got the seed they got is because they started off the season terribly. That's the reason that they got the seed they did. There's no way Houston was the fourth best.

They were one game worse than the two seed. It's not, it's not something of cause and effect here. It's like, yes, yes, Carmelow stunk early in the year. But maybe there's a chance in an alternate. universe, they lose those games anyway. It's not all because of Carmelo Anthony. Like, that's not, like, Carmelo was such a non-factor that it wasn't all on him. Hardin also just suddenly turned into this like Jordan-esque guy midseason that really

drove their year behind him finishing second and MVP voting behind Janus. It's like, it's not just because of Carmelo that they failed. Just like, it's not just because of Dwight that his team's failed. Yes, Dwight has sucked. And yes, like, he. a lot of the reasons why he has not had a great post prime is because he hasn't bought into being a guy that's rolling down the lane, setting screens, playing unselfishly as a big man. That's really frustrating because he could be a productive guy, just like with Carmelo.

If he really bought into playing defense and if he really, really just cut down on the mid-range, it could have worked for him a little bit better in OKC the year before last year, and it could have worked a little bit better with Houston. But the thing with Mello is he sort of just hit a total wall. I mean, his defense is flat out bad, period. His shot was not falling, period. And he still also wanted a greater role when he was coming off the bench for Houston. When, by the way, there's no reason for him to start.

He did not deserve to start. And he does not deserve to start if he does get another opportunity. And neither does Dwight. So for Dwight at this point, if it doesn't work out with him, he's going to be such a non-factor that if the Lakers struggle early, it's not because of Dwight Howard. He's not going to be a big enough factor for it to be a difference. He's just a big name that we're focusing on and throwing blame at if it doesn't go wrong with the Lakers.

But if something goes wrong with the Lakers earlier in the season, it's because something's up with AD or LeBron James. They have to play him, though. I mean, whoever they're signing for that role is going to play. How much is he going to play? Who else is playing? 20 minutes a game? 15, 20 minutes a game.

what other bigs are playing for them Kevin Chavelle McGee, baby oh for God's sake I mean, all right this is this is goofy I don't even know why I'm with you I'm engaging in this

I'm with you I would have signed Noah I agree with you Chris I'm just saying it's a no risk deal for the Lakers to sign Dwight Howard that's all and I'm explaining to you there is a risk because in this battle for Western Conference seeds and for even the playoffs

for that matter losing games at the beginning of the season because you're trying something out with a guy that has made virtually every team he's been on. I mean, look, the team is going to be good. They've got LeBron James. They've got Anthony Davis.

And then I like some of the role players that they put around. You know, Avery Bradley, Quinn Cook, Troy Daniels can knock down threes, Danny Green, Jared Dudley. These are fine. These are good veteran role players that understand their role.

The only way is if they screw it up, up. Yeah. Yeah. And this guy is, I was like, but what, but what if, what if let's look at it this way?

What if Joachim Noah was unwilling to sign the non-guaranteed deal that Dwight Howard did? And like for the Lakers, what if you prefer? And I don't know if that's the case with Noah. I'm just saying the amount of flexibility that they have with the ability to cut loose Dwight without having to pay his deal gives them flexibility to add a new guy if they have to at some point. If another guy gets bought out in mid-ed,

season. Whereas with Noah, maybe he was unwilling to sign that type of contract. I'm just saying like, that's part of the equation here for me that makes this makes a little bit of sense for the Lakers or at least give Dwight one last opportunity. And by the way, this is his last chance. If it doesn't work with this team, nobody else will sign him because there was already very, very few teams that even would have considered giving him an opportunity. This is Dwight's last chance now. This could be the last team that we see Dwight Howard play for. I believe that will be so. Kevin, we got the World Cup, which is right around the corner.

We saw Team USA get taken down by Australia. Patty Mills was giving them work. And that Australia team's kind of fun. They got Patty Mills, Deladova, Bogot, Ingalls, Aaron Baines, some of those guys. The United States, just so we can mention this, is in a group with Turkey, Czech Republic, and Japan. Turkey's got Ilyosova. They've got Furkan Korkman. They've got Jetty Osman.

They also have Scotty Wilburton that played at Florida. I was like, what? Playing for Turkey. I love Jadie Osmond. I just want to make that clear. Czech Republic, the only one that you're really going to know is Tomas Sotaranski, who is now Chicago Bull, who I'm a big fan of. Japan has Rui Hachamura, the Wizards draft pick,

Yudawada Nabi, who's on a grizzlies two-way contract. Rui Hachamara, what I've seen, what I've seen, scene of him, and I've not watched a full game of Japan and the World Cup, but like the clips, the clips of him, very impressive, very impressive. It's always interesting to see a guy play basketball months after Summer League, months after the college season ended, to see what they're doing to their games. And a new wizard general manager, Tommy Shepard, was very stupidly criticized for saying that he didn't watch Ruri Hatchamur alive during the season. And he joked with Rui during Rui's introductory press conference. He's like, Tommy says the Rui, you can shoot

threes, right? Like jokingly saying it, because he, of course he knows Rui can shoot threes now, but we're actually seeing it. We're seeing Rui Hachamara take some of those spot-up threes and even some off the dribble threes. And each year at Gonzaga, Hachimura has constantly expanded his game, expanded his jump shot. And he became a very potent mid-range jump shot this past season at Gonzaga and started a shoot a couple of threes. He shot 36 last year, shot 40 plus percent, but he's taking a higher frequency of them. And that's encouraging that it looks like the shot is working at a good level for him from three point range. And as a guy who is going to be a scorer in the NBA, he looks the part of a potential go-to guy. And so if you're if you're making

bets on some of these rookie of the year candidates that are the non-top guys, eyes, Ruy as the ninth pick with Washington playing next to Beal is going to get an opportunity to maybe be the second or third scorer on that team. And he's somebody that could end up looking at a steal early on in the season because of the opportunity that's provided. So I'm, I'm going to be watching him really closely in the World Cup. The other World Cup teams, and I'm not going to mention every team. There's a million teams in it. And I don't want to do the big oversight thing. But, you know, just scanning. Like Yolkich. Yeah, right. And we'll get to that in a moment.

Lithuania's got a real NBA front line where they've got Jonas Valenciunis and they've got De Monta Sabonis. So Lithuania is worth watching. And then the Serbian team, they've got not only Yokic, who it was a terrible oversight last week when we talked about the best players involved in this tournament.

We left off Yonkich. We did mention him. We just forgot to mention them in the context of like top players in the tournament. And his team, his team has got a bunch of guys that anybody will know. Serbia's got a squad. They've got Bogdan Bogdanovich. They've got Bobon.

They've got Marco Guderich, who just signed an NBA contract with Memphis. They've got Milos Tia dosich. They've got Bialitsa. And then they've got Nikolai Okic. So, I mean, they got a lot of NBA guys on this Serbian team. Certainly one to take a look at and watch as this World Cup begins. And this is the first time at a long time where it looks like it, Team USA is not going to run off with it.

I mean, they just got beat by that Australian team. I think I read that they had won 78 games in a row. It had been like 13 years since they lost an international game like that. And, you know, when you're leading scorers, Jalen Brown, and, you know, your leaders are Jaylon Brown, a Donovan Mitchell and Kimball Walker. It's not the best of the best that the NBA has to offer. And so usually what the international competition has been a runaway for the Americans, that is not going to be so. I don't know if they will win this thing, honestly, against all of these teams.

Because there's a lot of these countries that are bringing real rosters to the table. They very well may end up winning, but this is the first time, you know, look, we've thrown our best players out there and they've been in dog fights and extremely competitive. games, much less when we throw out guys that have not made all-star teams yet in the NBA. And in fact, those two leading scores, in fact, three of the four, Kemba's been an all-star, but Jalen, Donovan, Mitchell, and Miles Turner, who were the other leaders in scoring on the team, none of those guys have made an all-star team yet. And so, I don't know. It's going to be fun to watch, actually, because it should be the most competitive it's ever been.

And I'm not so sure the United States is going to win. I mean, I would pick the field here. I think Serbia, Spain, maybe Greece, even Australia. I mean, that's the thing about that win for Australia last week. It's not the most embarrassing thing for Team USA like everybody was talking about. They're a team that's been patched together over a couple of weeks. Australia has chemistry from years of playing together, years of practices and film sessions. Team USA doesn't have that advantage with this roster that's just really just been put together like a pickup team.

So for USA, that is a disadvantage heading into the tournament. And that's why Serbia is really the team to me. I believe they're, I think if you're looking at the favorites for the tournament, they're second. But Serbia, to me, that roster that you just outlined, Chris, we're going to see Marco, your new favorite Grizzlies player. We're going to get an opportunity to see him ahead of the season. They have a lot of talent on that team led by Yokic.

And if you're looking at like, how do you match up? And this relates to the NBA too. How do you match up against the, the best players, like, who are the players that you're going to have to beat to get to the finals? Well, who are the players that you're going to have to beat to actually win this whole damn tournament? You're going to have to get past Yokic at some point. And for Team U.S.A, they're going to need Brooke Lopez and Miles Turner. And then maybe Mason Plumley coming off the bench to be on the top of their games, because besides those three,

they're a very small roster. And Yokic alongside the other bigs on Serbia's roster are going to be big often with two bigs on the court. So that could be a tough matchup for team. USA, especially because of Yokic. All right. So we mentioned that we petitioned our listeners to reach out to us with questions. And so we created a mailbag. And I'm going to run through a ton of these rapid fire.

I know you wrote down three of your favorites, Kev. And those are probably a little longer answer. So I'm going to go through the ones that I wrote down. Again, we appreciate everybody that sent the emails. I tried to read every one of them. and go through. We got a ton of good questions, but I will just run through one by one as many as we possibly can on this mailbag. You ready? I'm ready. Okay. Abdul had asked about a younger Eastern conference stars and who was most likely to jump to an all-star next year. I like this question. He had

Trey Young, John Collins, Miles Turner, Jason Tatum, and there are clearly others, but there are spots that are available because of some guys that aren't going to be there anymore in the Eastern Conference. And we know that somebody always takes the leap. I, on first glance, it's always harder for guards because there's always a bunch of good guards in both conferences. So I probably put that a little behind Trey, even though I bet his numbers are great. I would say, first glance, Collins, because there aren't that many forwards, you know, Kauai's leaving a spot open. The only other forwards that made the team last year were Chris Middleton and Blake Griffin.

So John Collins. And then I'd say Miles Turner because he, you know, he's a center. And, you know, if you pencil one for Embed, the other center they put on last year was Busevich. And Miles Turner's looked great for this World Cup team. That's who I'd say on first glance. But look, it's obviously very possible, you know, multiple of the, you know, multiple of these guys, I mean, there's nobody that if you told me would be an all-star next year,

I'd tell you're crazy. But what are those names stands out? Trey Collins, Turner Tatum. Miles Turner. You consider last year playing 28 minutes per game. He was a borderline defensive player of the year candidate this year. If he's able to up that back to 31 or 32 minutes per game and sustain the elite defense that he played, while also with Victor Olatipo out until midseason, maybe getting a

bit of an uptick on the offensive end of the floor with his scoring responsibility, picking pop opportunities from three. Maybe he puts up slightly bigger numbers in addition to being one of the game's best room protectors. And then we're talking about a guy who's a clear all-star candidate and maybe a defensive player of the year candidate as well. Yeah. I'm not sure Ola Depot is going to be out that long.

Did you see that video that was floating around yesterday of him playing? Somebody had taken a video of him. I did not. I did not. It does not look like a guy that's going to be out till midseason. Let's just say that. Anybody can look that up. Search for it on Twitter when you get a chance.

All right. Next one. Your favorite parts of the world that you have gone to as a journalist. This came from Andres. I wrote this down because it's funny. I was just having a conversation with somebody yesterday. I have never left the country, Kevin. Ever.

Wow. Not even Canada? I have not. Wow. I've never had a passport because I was saying to somebody, I really want to do that next year. I want to go over to Rome or Greece or go out of the country, but I've never done it. I've been all over America. I've been, you know, to several of the states.

Let's just say, I've been all across the East Coast. I've been all across the West Coast. And I've been to a tone, but I have never left the country. Have you? Outside of Canada? I have only been to Canada. And I was just having a conversation with a friend the other day about this. And we were talking about, you know, traveling aspirations as you just were.

And it's like I went to Montreal in 2011 with my friends. It was a trip that I organized because I wanted to like do something fun outside of the Northeast. And like it was great. We went during wintertime, which was not great. But Montreal is a beautiful city. And I guess the only place that I can say traveling to for work is Toronto for the NBA finals. And Toronto was great. is a really, really nice city.

Other than that, I can only speak within the lower 48 of the United States. And even then, I haven't been that many places. I haven't, I don't know off the top of my head how many states I've been to, but it's very limited. I would say L.A. is like my favorite place that I've traveled to and, you know, living there now half the time. It's been really nice because I love that city. So I don't know. I don't really feel like I have a good answer except for, like you said, Chris, I hope I get an opportunity to travel more. my future. I'm

blown away that you've never actually been to Canada yet. I haven't. I haven't. I almost did. You know what? The one time I almost did was I, where was I? Oh, I was in Detroit. Well, Auburn Hills

for the NCAA tournament. The year that Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway and that whole group won, that year, I covered the NCAA tournament in Auburn Hills and a bunch of guys went and drove across to casinos over Canada. Seriously.

And I didn't go. I didn't go. But that was the one time that I recall being in a situation. But yeah, I've never, I've never, I've never been out of the country. I'm really shocked, man. I mean, I think, I think it's important. I mean, we're both still young. I'm 29.

You're 69. We're both still young. Nice. We're still young. and like there's there's we need to take advantage of this time in our youth it's like you have young children and like it's a good they're like entering the age where probably is a good time to travel with kids right and for me what are you talking about no i'm leaving their ass at home what are you taking them talking about it I'm not taking leave leave well still regardless

whatever that's a babysitter for a week are you out of your mind they're staying with my mom okay fine with or without them it's a good time to travel you want to go you think i want to go see the sistine chapel with somebody telling me i need water like for me it's like i've always sort of used it as that as an excuse but like being single most of the time i've never really you don't need a travel partner to travel but there are certain places that i want to travel to for the first time with like my girlfriend or whatever you know what i mean so it's like i hope someday it'll be really cool to have a partner in crime and you know going overseas and traveling and seeing all these new places together for the first time here comes kevin oh bumble trips i'm not i don't i don't

i don't i don't love the apps i don't do all on apps all right let's get to jack this is an easy one for me who will have a higher win total the nicks or the wizards like this isn't even close to me the Knicks Nix, yeah, next probably. A lot more. A lot more wins. I think the Wizards.

Yeah, I go next. All right. And then the other one was past draft evaluations, which are you proudest of? And which do you regret? Here, I'll make this easy on you

because mine is horrendous. You ready? Yes, I'm ready. The proudest I have been by wide, wide margin. is Jemond Green. I went to a workout that he took part in, and I, it was the year Memphis had the 25th pick, and I in fact wrote an article that this is an absolute no-brainer. This is who you have to take. This guy is fantastic, and they are using the ageism against him, and I went to the

wall for him. And they took friggin' Tony Rotin, who obviously stunk. The worst was I also went, and this can be the peril of draft workouts. I went and watched a draft workout with Paul George, and he was awful and just lazy and did not fight for the loose balls. It didn't do anything. And he had just come off this Fresno team. So I didn't really seen him a lot in college, his team was a they had a losing record in college and I thought this is implausible in college

basketball in a small conference how in the hell can he be on a team with a losing record? So I was already kind of didn't have a great opinion and then watched him just totally dog it and I was like, you can have him. I want nothing to do with this guy. And obviously Paul George is

like probably going to be in the Hall of Fame one day. that's a miss now luckily he was taken early but then i still screwed it up i wanted uh who what damian james from texas that's who i wanted oh and he was a he was a flame back my biggest miss the first one that comes to mind was k j macdainiels i think we've talked about him on this podcast before with how i missed on him but just i guess to summarize again with mcdaniels he was a 21-year-old prospect out of Clemson, just this freakish athlete on both ends of the floor. And I think I got a bit too obsessed with that athleticism. And not about some of the technical aspects of his game, because while at Clemson, he was a tremendous defender,

while he was like a shot blocker and a guy who could attack closeouts and dunk over people, he didn't have a good dribble. He wasn't a smart player. He wasn't a smart player. he made silly mistakes on both ends of the floor as a passer as an off ball helped defender, like his effort was inconsistent. And I don't think, I mean, at the time, I didn't know as many people in the league. But like, I don't think I knew enough about like off the court in terms of like, not personality, but like really just like basketball intelligence on how it would translate.

So KJ, despite the athleticism, it didn't work out. And then I also just overlooked the jump shot. He was not a good shooter from the line or from three. And I figured, hey, man, like, improve his mechanics. You know, maybe he'll become good. Like, he was a solid free throw shooter, but a poor three-point shooter with poor mechanics. And I think I overlooked that too much. But that same year in 2014 was, I think, one of my biggest hits.

And that was Chris Stap's Porzingis. Of course, Porzingis did not stay in the 2014 draft. But I had Porzingis ranked ninth or tenth on my board that year in 2014 before he withdrew. I thought Porzingis looked apart of a potential superstar because of his stretch shooting ability at seven feet, because of his effort and length and shot blocking ability on defense and some of the flashes that he showed as a defender who could switch as well. So to me, I thought at the time Porzingis had a floor of being a stretch shooter guy. who could defend at a high level. So shooting threes is a big and also protecting the rim.

The real only question with him was could he develop a post game because he had none of it at that point of his life and how much would he improve his body to become a really solid post defender, an interior defender, a guy who could do all the things that are necessary to be an elite NBA defender is a big man. And he has over time. And hopefully he's able to stay healthy moving forward. but I'm happy that I was high on Porzingis early, and then in 15 I had him high as well.

And I'm hopeful that he's able to start doing that consistently, rather than just the flashes that we've shown. And I think playing next to Luca Dauntrich in Dallas, assuming he can stay healthy, we're going to see Porzingis next to Luca. Like Dallas could be a potential playoff team this year. Slow down. Thomas asked, come on.

I mean, like, I know you want to be loving. by every fan base, but slow down. No. Slow down. Seriously. I mean, dude, like, talking about it. Look, if poor,

no, no, no, like, no, ran off the 18s and come on. No, no. No, no. If poor Zingis is somewhat like resembling the guy that we've seen him

at his peak powers with New York and Luca Donchish makes another leap this year from what he did playing overseas, then his rookie year. If he gets better, we're talking about a really dynamic duo.

Okay, a really dynamic duo with it. All right, name the next four guys. you really like on the man. That's the problem. I know. They're like a,

stop saying stupid shit. I'm not saying they're two seats. I'm saying they'd fight for the eight. That's it. Play for the eight. Yeah. They're a playoff bubble team with two young guys. One guy that hasn't played since Kauai was on the spurs.

Two players. And one second year player. And they could be a playoff bubble team. That's all. That's impressive. That's a good thing. With two players. And by the way,

like, by the way, let me just say this also. like it's nothing to do with about being like cool with fan bases. The fact is is that right now in the NBA, there are a lot of teams in good positions, period. Right now there are. It's like a couple years ago when you and I started this podcast, there was a lot of teams, as you say, in rat positions,

just like your grizzlies were. Teams that were in rat positions that I thought should have blown it up. Right now I look at the league and I'm like, damn, there's so few teams that can or should blow it up. There are a lot of teams in good spots right now. And I'm happy that it's like that. I'm happy that it's like that. I'm just not sure how long it's going to last.

Those mistakes are probably going to come to fruition over the last couple of years. But right now, Dallas, they're in a good spot. Does it feel strange that the one team that you tabbed as having the bright future is the one that is relentlessly in a terrible spot? All right. Let's go on. Thomas is

Thomas is nine years old. Thomas, yes. This is typically my demographic, nine year old male. Wow. They love the show. They get my humor. He really loves the NBA.

He wants to get more into the data side of things and asked what websites we would recommend. I thought that was interesting. So go ahead, data guy. Data guy. I think, I mean, this, I'm not sure for a nine-year-old here, but let's start this way. NBA.com slash stats, forward slash stats.

That is like the place to start. I mean, most websites, like you're not going to go to NFL.com and get good stats for the NFL. But you can go to NBA.com and get great stats for the NBA. The people that do the work there, they have a wealth of data that they present in a pretty easily consumable manner where it takes a little bit of learning curve in navigating some of the menus, but that's because there's so much good in-depth data. So I would say NBA.com is the place to start if you want them to learn a bit about the stats side.

And then the next level from there is probably play-by-play stats, which is pbpsats.com. That place has, I mean, geez, like just take a look. It's a lot. And it's difficult to navigate at. times, but once you learn it, there's a lot out there with some of the on-off stuff, with data, shot location, some visualization charts that they have on there, that can really help you develop a deeper understanding of the game from a data point of view. But ultimately, I do think reading and also trying to develop your own opinions by taking

in facts from others or listening to opinions with an open ear, like podcasts, or like reading articles, I think that's another way to learn as well, but just trying to accumulate knowledge. And also reading books, which is something that I should do more often, but reading books as well about basketball or not about basketball is one way to learn. How about you, Chris? Yeah, well, I mean, there's some free stuff on the site and then there's a pay portion of this site, but cleaning the glass is fantastic. It is. That'd be a good presents for your birthday or something like that, a cleaning of the glass subscription. That's a good. A cleanly glass subscription. that's a good idea too.

I mean, Ben Folk worked in the NBA for a long time, and he's very, very good at explaining things, you know, that sometimes it can be, as you said, very, very hard to understand. But there's pretty good descriptions of what he is, what he is telling you, like, you know, not only giving you the stat, but giving you the context of why it matters. And it's very good. It's very good side. And it's also easily digestible with colors. Ben,

Ben's done an unbelievable job in that site. It looks great. And the articles that they have on there from his staff, pretty tremendous. Brendan asked, how many TVs is enough with the full slate of games? I have two, but I feel like a degenerate if I put up three.

Now, this cut to the core, Kevin, because last time, last year around Christmas time, I did it. I took the leap. And I did install.

all three on a wall in my game room. Wow. And it has changed it. It's changed everything. Football season, basketball season. I would do it all over again. Here was the thing. I did not have that intention.

But I did. It was actually, I think right after, it was the day after Thanksgiving. You know, whatever, that Black Friday sales. Costco had these like massive TVs for like, you know, 200, 250 bucks or something. Like big TVs. And so I bought a couple of them. And then I bought the mounts. And my brother-in-law was in town.

like, yeah, I know how to do it. And I was like, all right. So I had somebody that was there that could install it. And I, uh, and so I bought them. And I don't my, here, I'll give a tip for everybody out there. So my big thing was, uh, I didn't want to have like three boxes on them. Right. So like one of them, they're all smart TVs. And so one of them streams, one of them is on like HD Rabbit ears and then one of them's on direct TV or whatever it is. Um, but, uh, but, Oh, it's the greatest thing ever. Do not feel like a degenerate. It will change your life when you get the three TVs.

I have only one, but I have a monitor next to it. That essentially serves as like a streaming device. Everybody's always keeping up with a, they got a laptop out or they got a Kindle or an iPad or whatever. You know, so I just threw three up on the wall. You don't, you're not a degenerate if you do that. I'm making you feel good about that. Ultimately, just do what makes you happy. That's all.

Yep. Harrison proposed that we add shot blockers to the dunk contest, and I did just want to mention this one because I don't know if people saw the basketball tournament, that TBT that was going on this past summer. They did that for their dunk contest. Anybody can go look it up on YouTube. Anybody can go look it up on YouTube. It is amazing. It was like a dunked-on dunk contest. They added that.

So somebody did have that idea, and they implemented it on a smaller level. But go check that out when you get a chance that the basketball tournament that they play for, you know, whatever it is, $2 million. Their dunk contest was a dunk. I just pulled up a video. This guy flipped over. Oh, he landed on his back. I know the guy that won it, Will Coleman. He lives in Memphis.

He played at the University of Memphis. And so that's how I knew about it. Yeah, that's how I knew about that. Because I saw the highlights and I was like, damn. I mean, it was, they did not get to love it deserved. It is a great idea and it worked. It worked. There's only 19,301 views on the 2019 dunk contest for TBT.

It deserves more views. I'm just like glancing at some of the videos in here now. The way I just reacted was real is my first time seeing it. And this guy, the guy wearing a white jersey number four, he got dunked on. And like it looks like he was like, he fell horizontally to the ground. It's actually kind of scary the way he fell. There should be like pads below for him to fall on. But yeah, he got dunked on hard.

Go watch that. I don't know what you noticed from all the emails we got, but did you notice we got a lot of Pistons emails? I thought that was very, I thought that was strange. That is not what I expected. Shout out to Pistons fans, but just not what I expected. I didn't figure if we got inundated with a lot from one particular team that that would be the team. But there was, at least in our fan base, a tremendous amount of interest from Pistons fans about their own team.

I picked out one of them because I want to mention this guy. And he said, what are the chances Luke Knard breaks out and averages like 16 points per game or more? All right. Now, this is me going out on a limb. I say the chances are good. I think Luke Kinnard's a player. I do. And you look at what he did at the end of that year.

He shot over 45% from the field and 43% from three. And if he gets a little more action, those minutes go up, which they did post-all-Star break. I think Luke Kinnard, I do think Luke Kinnard could break out. I think he's a real player. You don't. I mean, you're anti-Kinnard. I like Luke Kinnard. I think he's a fine role player, and I hope maybe at some point he grows into being more than that.

But I think behind Blake Griffin, behind Andre Drummond, I'm not sure the opportunity is going to be there for him to have a quote unquote breakout. Maybe he does more what he did towards the end of the season, like 12, 13 points per game. And I'm not sure about 16 plus, no. All right. I do think Kennard could break out. Dylan and Portland asked, Olive Garden has a card for food for the rest of your life. if there was a restaurant that you got a card for, that you could eat there for the rest of your life for free,

that restaurant would be. Major Domo in Los Angeles, because it's so delicious, but also because it's so expensive. So Major Domo would be the spot, but that does relate to a question that I had for you, but I'll ask afterwards. But Major Domo, how about you?

Oh, geez, you picked something good. I guess Rouskris then, because they're everywhere, right? So I could be in any other city. actually that makes a lot of sense picking a location that's everywhere that's smart. Yeah, I need a location. You just Galaxy brained me.

That makes sense. I'm picking like the high-end restaurant that's expensive, but it's only in one place. Yeah, there's like two of those. Yeah. But let me follow up with the question that I had. This is from Miguel Garcia. He asked,

what's your favorite non-famous place in L.A. or Memphis? So it could be food or anything. My answer was related to food. I'm curious about yours. Oh, my favorite non-famous place? In Memphis, yeah. Golly.

I don't want to do food because there's a million. I mean, there's so many great chefs here. So if I pick one of those that, like, you know, I'm going to leave somebody out. There's a bunch of great chefs. So I don't really want to do food. So I guess, I mean, I don't think enough people do know that the national civil rights museums of Memphis. You know, we talked about that in conjunction with the MLK game going on.

Every team that comes here goes to it and it has a profound impact on them. You know, that's two things. And maybe they're, I don't know, maybe they are famous to everybody. Maybe everybody knows where the National Civil Rights Museum and where St. Jude. I didn't know it. Memphis, for what it's worth. Yeah.

I didn't know that. And everybody that comes to visit, I take them by there and you see their reaction. because, I mean, the Lorraine Motel is still intact. And so the famous photo of, you know, Martin Luther King's assassination has a, I mean, I'm getting chills just talking about it. I mean, it's right down the street from where I am right now, but it is an experience. And there's great, great history there. And then the other thing, I guess St. Jude, people hear St. Jude all the time.

But, I mean, their mission, you know, it's childhood cancer. And the people that stay there, nobody pays at St. Jude. And they have places for the families to be housed. and they raise millions of millions of dollars every year. And it is one of, it's not one of the great, like, places in Memphis.

It's one of the great places on earth. And so I guess I would just say those, like, you know, when you're in Memphis, those, those are famous, but they are not famous enough,

in my opinion. I think it's really cool. You took the answer about Memphis to, like, such a personal level. Because, because really it's a type of thing where it's like,

you think of Memphis, oftentimes the first thing that comes to mind is the food. But what comes to mind for you, is the amount of great things happening in the city, the history, things you can learn about our country and our culture, and also the great work that's being done now in that community. That's where your mind goes initially, rather than just food, where foods everywhere. But even though that's what you think about oftentimes with Memphis, that's pretty cool. Well, and I think also people, I mean, look, there's a million thing.

I mean, like real history, like the history of music is here. You can still go into Sun Studio where Elvis and Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis and they all first were recording. I mean, it's incredible. It's like here in New York just the other day, I took the train down and walked past Café Wa, which is where Jimmy Hendrix was first discovered by Chaz Chandler in 1966. So that's where it all started for Jimmy in New York. And it's where Bob Dylan played his first set in New York. So it's this historic venue. And it's just cool just to walk past that place.

And then I walked past Electric Lady Studios, Jimmy Hendrix's recording studio where so many incredible albums have been recorded. And I wish, like, they had tours for a place like that. I'd love to just walk into a recording studio and just being a place where so much art was created. So it's obviously like New York, Memphis everywhere has these historic places. It's just cool just to be in the presence of those places where so much has happened. The place that I had in response to this was a place that. that I hope someday is a famous spot.

And Isaac Lee, producing this podcast, took me for the first time. It's Spooned by H, a restaurant in Los Angeles. And my whole life, I don't think I've ever really truly appreciated food for kind of the art that it is and for all the love that can go into food. It's like, you know, I love my mom's cooking and the love that she puts into it means the world to me. And I've had good meals. But I've never been to a place where I've had a dish.

And it makes me feel. like this childlike joy when it comes out when I eat it. And it's the pork belly dumpling soup that Chef Yun at Spoon by H serves. And it is the most delicious meal that I've ever had is the only meal that I've ever had on my life where I'm like, I can't live without this. It makes my life better. And like Isaac, you know, you did for me talking to you right now as you're producing. Like you brought me there for the first time and you really opened my eyes and expand in my palate in a way that I never knew food like that existed, that could be that good and that delicious.

And for me now, it's like I love bringing friends there like you did with me that also get to experience that joy and eating food at Spoon by H. So for me, Spoon by H is a special place in my heart and in my belly. And it makes me happy to see other people experiencing that for the first time too. And like if you're in L.A., go to Spoon by H, get the dumpling soup, and get what else, maybe the special for the day, get the kimchi fried rice maybe. And Isaac, if you want to pick this up, let me know,

if you have any wrecks, that place is really special to me. Yeah, I've talked about Zumba H on numerous occasions on multiple podcasts, including this one. But yeah, that's definitely a special place for me. They recently got featured on BuzzFeed video, and it really blew up. And now when I go there, there's a ton of people,

and that makes me really happy because it's this little unassuming dessert cafe in Fairfax. that really you wouldn't expect to have one of the best meals of your life there. But yeah, for sure. It's one of my favorite places in Los Angeles that I wish and I hope that more people have discovered. All right. Let's get to, we'll do one more before you got those two or three questions before we get out of here.

And this is one that we do need to hit on. The most improved. We got a bunch of those. Either people asking us specific questions about guys, do we think they could break out? or do what do we think their chances are at most improved. But when you think of guys for this upcoming year, is there anybody that particularly stands out? I will tell you it's usually somebody that's already good,

and then they like take that next big step. The first one that came to my mind is Fox. You know, I'm a huge Fox fan, and I do think he could take a huge move from, like, where he is to, like, one of the best guards in the league. The other one, and I can do this because, I'm not some kind of Boston homer. I think that it could be a Jalen or a Tatum.

And which one of those would you say is a better bet? I mean, you got Kyrie out of the way now. Those guys, one of those guys are going to have to score a bunch, a bunch. And there's no Horford either, right? So, I mean, I know that got Kemba, but somebody, one of those, who's going to be the guy that takes that big leap between those two?

I think between those two, the most likely candidates, Tatum, because of the scoring ability. Right. I think Tatum this past season, his improvement as a defender has been a bit overlooked as well as his improvement since Duke is a passer. He was sort of a black hole at Duke and he's become a really solid, reliable passer with Boston. So he already has this foundation of skills. The scoring just needs to get better with shot selection and further improvement as an isolation score.

He has the skills. All right. Yeah. And that's totally fair. Because I mean, and the other thing is he had a down year last year. So people are kind of down on him. So he came out in the average. It was only a down year compared to his incredible rookie year.

No, I get it. If he comes out on average, it's 24 points a game, though, it's going to look like, oh my God, this is the guy we saw two years ago, and then everybody will get to crap on Kyrie all over again, you know? I would say Jason Tatum is probably the swing player of the league right now. Like, if you look at Boston and what they could be, a lot of it's going to come down to what Tatum becomes this coming season. And, like, he doesn't need to become, like, whatever he's going to be in his prime.

he's only going to be 21 years old this coming season. But for Boston specifically in the 1920 season, they need Tatum to take a leap for them to maximize whatever they could be. All right. All right. Get to the ones you had and we'll try to answer them as quickly as possible. One of them we really already touched on. Okay.

So I won't do that one. But I will just say it was from Spencer Pollock. He asked about what's something you would like to do in your life, whether it's learning, experiencing is a traveling, studying a new subject. I think we really cover that with traveling. That was my response. Is there anything else that comes to mind for you, Chris?

No, no, traveling. That would be number one online. Like getting to go. Yeah, I need to leave the country. Hopefully I can get back in. I think that's the main one for me. Besides, you know, this is like very general, but besides constant self-improvement as a person

and always continuing to feel growth, I think that's the big, big picture one, but specifically traveling. I think that's part. That's part of growing as well as traveling and experiencing new cultures and everything that comes with that. But the other one was from Sam Welk. And you and I have touched on this before, Chris, but I think it's worth going through again.

Sam asks, opportunity is when luck in preparation meet. What was your big break? What was that opportunity that led you to the point you are now? I mean, I guess I would say regarding the Ringer NBA show. Could be anything, man. Yeah, no, I don't know, but I mean, obviously this has been, this has opened me up to a much different audience than what I have done for a long time locally. I mean, there's two, obviously, the advent of the internet and making the world a small place. When I started off, there was this thought that I needed to move markets. And so I got offered all manner of markets as I started to grow in radio and I didn't move. And because I saw the internet come. And coming and I thought if I do stuff, it doesn't matter where I live. People are going to be able to recognize that. And so, you know, I didn't think that I needed to move to New York or Chicago or

St. Louis or any of the places. And so the internet obviously is one, but in terms of like specifically regarding this show, it is, it is meeting Bill. I had always been a massive fan. And so this is a good opportunity meets, right? So I had always been a huge fan of Bill Simmons. That is my, my age bracket. We grew up reading him. He was our guy. I read all his articles. I listened to all of his podcast, et cetera, et cetera. And it just so happened. The year that the Grizzlies made the Western Conference finals, I was still going to every, you know, media availability, every, you know, I always tell everybody the best advice I ever got for somebody in media, be there. be there. And it sounds simple, but go to everything. Be relevant to the players, to the coaches,

to the people that work at that place. You know, every press conference you can go to, every post game you can go to, every pregame you can go to, just being there will give you a relevance and will give you an insight that you wouldn't normally have. And so with that, that advice probably brought me to the point where I met Bill because it was random. I was at a practice, a media availability, and he was doing the ABC gig. That's the year that he was doing TV. Countdown, right? And I was friends with Zach Lowe, and Zach was in town too.

And so I was with Zach, and we were at this deal. And obviously Bill and him were close. so Bill comes up and now me and Bill meet each other for the first time. Jalen Rose was there also. And so I guess that's probably, you know, obviously things have gone for the better. And certainly in part why he was aware of me, knew me for, I mean, I've known him now for several years. And we kind of stayed in touch. And then obviously he hired me to help with the Ringer MBA show.

So that's actually, I mean, that's probably actually a decent confluence. of things. I felt like I needed to be at places, and if I wouldn't have been there, I would have never met him. But I did. I was there. And so I did meet him. And shout out to the Grizzlies for making the West Finals, by the way. I mean, if they don't, if they don't do that, that never happens. He never comes to Memphis. I promise you that. It's always amazing how, you know, regardless of what somebody does, there's always like this random thing that may push you in that direction that sometimes in the moment can seem it's significant, but in hindsight, when you look back, can seem pretty significant. So it's like that advice given to you about be there,

maybe you would have been there anyway, but maybe not. Maybe that advice just, you know, you developed over time to actually be there at those availability that put you in that situation. And then meeting Bill, of course, it's like the opportunity that Bill and everybody that's given, you know, to me at the ringer and to everybody else, like it is, that's what it is. it's an opportunity to work at a place like this. And I'm forever grateful and thankful for that opportunity. It's allowed me to meet so many good friends like you and Isaac and Sean and so many people that I know from the ringer and like have met in Los Angeles moving out there. It's genuine friendships, you know, new relationships working with people.

Like having like Chris Ryan edit me. That blows my mind. I used to read that dude on Grantland and listen to his podcast. And to have a relationship with something is that I'm super thankful for. It's a genuine friendship, really. And that's something I'll forever be thankful for to have that opportunity that's really common. Like, never mind everything that comes before that. Like, the one story that I always tell the people is, like, I never really knew what I wanted to do my whole life.

I always loved two things, and I was sports and music. And that's pretty much all, like, that I've ever really loved. But I never really understood how to pursue those things until, you know, I wrote to some of the story I wrote earlier. in the year about my dad, but my dad pushing me to do an internship, led me to meeting someone there, Andy Levine, who he no longer works with Comcast Sportsnet, but I was on an internship. It was my first time in the field at a Celtic game. And Andy kind of recognized my work ethic and how hard I was working and how much I was pushing to do more at the internship. And he said to me, what are you going to do after this internship? And I'm like, hopefully get hired at Comcast Sportsnet.

He's like, well, we don't hire interns. It's not going to happen. So what are you going to do? And he just sort of directed me to apply to write for Celtics blog, a site that I thought was a place that I would not have an opportunity to write for. But Andy was somebody who really focused my vision and really set me on that path and gave me the little push that I needed to really pursue what we're doing now. And I never expected it to ever lead to anything like this to do what we're doing now. And there's been so many people along the way that I'm not naming.

because I feel like I'll forget somebody. But from Andy where it's kind of started to Bill Simmons and the ringer providing this opportunity, it's really not one person that leads to any of this. It's like, yes, you work hard, but lock an opportunity and those breaks. It's like you said, Chris, ultimately, like you need to be there, but also have an open heart and an open mind for when those opportunities comes and when that advice comes or when those pushes come. Sometimes you're just going to run down that path.

and then also know when not to run down the path too. But yeah, I'm just thankful. That's a good one to end on. Kevin, it is always a pleasure. Thank you to all of you that sent in questions via mailbag, and we'll probably do another one of these in the not-so-distant future. Thanks, Kev. I'll talk to you next week. Hopefully do another one soon, especially if we don't get any news over the coming weeks

before the training camp gets rolling. But by the way, dude, we're a month away from. Training camp and me today. We're almost there. We'll have the World Cup going on, which should be pretty good. At least we've got some basketball starting at the very beginning of September. But then, yeah, the NBA season is not so far away. Thanks to everybody for listening to another edition of the Ringer NBA show, The MISMAT, and we will talk to you next week.