The Ringer NBA Show - Mailbag: Ingram Extension, Russ for MIP, All-NBA in 2030, and Much More | Group Chat

Episode Date: February 14, 2025

With no Justin for this episode, Rob and Wos open up the listener mailbag! They start by giving their thoughts on the Brandon Ingram extension (5:41) before answering your questions about the Warriors (15:25), the Sixers' disastrous season (26:07), Russell Westbrook for Most Improved Player (37:51), who makes first-team All-NBA in 2030 (43:55), and much more. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Hosts: Rob Mahoney and Wosny Lambre Producer: Isaiah Blakely Additional Production Supervision: Ben Cruz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi, everyone, it's Amy Polar, and I'm launching a new podcast called Good Hang. In preparation for that, I asked some of my friends to send in some videos and give me some advice. Just be yourself, and the guests will come. Don't be the celebrity that this is their, like, sixth thing they're doing. I love true crime and cooking podcasts. Is there any way you could combine the two? Well, everyone has an opinion and a podcast. So, join me for Good Hang. It's rough out there. We're just trying to lighten it up a little. group chat. I am Rob Mahoney. That's not just a barrier. This is, you know, we don't have Justin

today, but we do have my, my only true and loyal friend in the world, Big Waswaz, how are you doing today? I'm doing good, man. I feel like a Somali pirate right now. I'm in charge of this ship now. I'm the captain of this ship now, baby. We are seizing the means of the podcast, that's for sure. That's right. But we're also leading into All-Star weekend, Was. How are you prepared physically, mentally spiritually, you're coming out to San Francisco. We're going to see each other in a matter of days in the flesh. Are you prepared for the All-Star experience? Listen, the last two years we're in Salt Lake City and Indianapolis.

God bless those two cities. But Indianapolis, particularly, it was cold as hell. It was insane. I just checked my weather app right before we got on. 50s, low in the 40s. I'm golden, baby. I'm good. I don't need long johns.

I don't got to wear extra. under shirts, I'm good to go. I'm happy. Going to run into a bunch of friends from the NBA world, ready for the weekend. I just got to warn you, though, San Francisco 50 is not a normal 50. It's going to feel like 32 when it's 50 at some point.

It's going to be murky and foggy some of those days. I mean, just one of the most confounding weather cities in the world. And I look forward to seeing our media brethren in addition to the broader NBA ranks reckoning with that, reckoning with the realities of San Francisco City life. it ain't going to be indie. I'll tell you that much. That's true.

But shout out to Indy. Shout to everyone who came to our live show last year at the Indy All-Star game. Those are the real ones. But, was you also soft launched an idea before the pod today about how to jazz up All-Star weekend a little bit. In particular, the idea of W-W-Eing All-Star. And this is an idea that as soon as the words came out of your mouth, I'm like, how is this not the billion-dollar idea that the NBA needs? We need to W.W.E. FI. the tournament. I mean, excuse me, it's All-Star Saturday, specifically. The tournament could be the tournament. Whatever, Adam Silver. We get it. Whatever. We're going to do a little round robin, whatever. But All-Star Saturday night where we, like, announced Matt McClung and a bunch of other G-leaguers as the dunkers. And then, you know, somebody's about, they're warming up and they're about to do their first dunk. And then the freaking music starts. And then it's, oh, my God, is that Anthony Edwards? Anthony Edwards is going to be in the dunk contest this year

Blah blah blah It's his first time He's one of the most electrifying dunkers ever Blah blah blah The next is John Moran The next is Zion And then We just surprised him like

Every other You know like how WWE does it The Rock barely ever shows up But like when he does It's like this crazy big You know the crowd goes nuts Same for Steph Curry in the three point contest this year That's a gimmie

That one is so easy. Surprise the audience. It wasn't announced. They just see Steph come out and be like, nah, I'm ready to win this thing. Like, let's do that. Let's get this thing to get the people talking and exciting. It feel like they're going to see something they've never seen before.

So, yeah, man, WWE knows how to put an event on. They know how to get their fans going. I think this would be something that get the people going. Yeah, and that's a sustainable thing too, right? Like, there's one way to bring people into All-Star Saturday, and it's to put Aunt Edwards or Steph Curry on the board to begin with and say you can come watch these guys

but in some ways it's even more powerful if you instill the idea that anything could happen, the element of surprise like anyone could walk into the dunk contest anyone could jump into the three point contest and the best players in the world are already here. I really feel like this is right there for the NBA's taking.

Or like you know like Aunt Edwards is like sitting court side pretending to have his camp courted like the old school NBA stuff and a guy goes for a dunk and he blocks it. He's like, it's my turn to actually do a dunk right now. Are you kidding me? Get some out of nowhere. Like, come on, man.

Let's surprise the people. We spend a lot of time talking about the sacred nature of sports. Oh, you can't change the 82 game schedule. It's too important to the record books. Oh, you can't change the playoff format, the regular season format. We all acknowledge that this shit among all the other shit is fake. We have created All-Star Weekend within a child's, game within a sport. Let people do weird and exciting things. I think this is a wonderful premise

that we should take straight to the commissioner this weekend. We're just kind of like corner him in a hallway somewhere and we're going to make the change that we want to see in the world. Or we get, you know, we can even get spicy. We get a Kyle Kuzma, a hero one-on-one game. The Battle of the X's. No. Come on, man. Come on, Rob. Let's so proprification. It's too. Listen, I'm ready for anything. You have officially lost me and maybe lost the plot. But I'm sure there's a lot of people out there for whom that idea resonates very strongly. One idea that resonated with me very strongly this week was we've talked a lot about Brandon Ingram over the last couple weeks, particularly since he got traded to the Toronto Raptors.

It is no secret to the frequent recurring group chat listeners that we are not the biggest Brandon Ingram fans in the world. Did that stop the Raptors from giving him a three-year $120 million extension? No, it did not. what was your reaction to seeing that news given like i know it was kind of baked in to begin with the expectation that he would probably be a raptor for the near term but how did it hit you um it felt like the latest kind of humble pie deal a member before the season started we talked about jalen green's three-year deal where it's like he's obviously not quite a max

rookie extension guy but he's not so bad that the the rockets don't think he can out outperform whatever this $33 million is this year. So, like, they kind of met in the middle, not a five-year extension, but a three-year player option after two. This felt like the exact same thing, but for a veteran, right? This idea, like, no, you are not a $200 million player. You have not proven yourself to be that. And maybe in New Orleans, you could say to that management group, like, yo, I got us to the

playoffs. And in that first round where we showed some spunk, I was the best player. and blah, blah, blah, I earned this deal. Maybe you could have tried, and you did try to persuade them to that effect, and you failed, and so they traded you. But in Toronto, you couldn't make that argument that you were worth a $200 million extension, coupled with the fact that the market is going to be super stingy. Next summers is basically going to be the nets that can open up like $40 million,

and also to pat ourselves on the back here. We kind of predicted this would be the deal, sort of two, two, two, two to three years or, you know, two years with the player option, 35 to 40 million dollars per. Yep. And that's what it ended up being. It is what it ended up being. I mean, I am inclined to want to see what the Raptors see.

Want to get on their wavelength as far as like, what is the process explanation for bringing in Brandon Ingram for making this kind of value play when, as we outlined in the aftermath of the deadline, not a great fit for their style of play, not necessarily the most cogent fit next to Scotty Barnes. They're going to have to figure out a way to make it work. The best I can come up with, one, there's just an obvious need for scoring, period. Go to scoring, any kind of scoring.

The fact that Brandon Ingram is a guy who needs the ball on his hands maybe isn't as much of an issue, given that he might need to be the endpoint of a lot of possessions, and they need him to be. So that's fine. And I get it also from the perspective of as a franchise, if you've basically made the decision that you cannot be a big time free agent draw, that this is how you bring in really talented players, is you find sort of distressed assets on the market, guys who are good, are talented,

but haven't worked out for whatever reason, bring them in, laid in their deals, get them extensions, re-sign them using bird rights, restricted free agency, whatever kind of means are available to you with that given player. I get it.

I think I'm just fumbling up against the wall of, the Pelicans just spent the last several years figuring out if they could trade this guy and if so to what other team and for how much and the answers were very, very underwhelming and that was with Brandon Ingram making like $33 million a year rather than closer to $40 million a year.

If he's going to be on this new deal and I don't think even the more optimistic Raptors faithful would say Brandon Ingram is going to be an integral part of the next great Raptors team, then what is the sort of intermediary path here given that we know that Brandon Ingram's trade market is not all that.

I don't know. I think the only thing you're hoping for if you're Raptors fans is professional pride. And, you know, this guy was obviously spurned by the pelicans by one not paying him and two just like jettisoning him for basically nothing. And this guy comes back with something to prove with a chip on his shoulder to show everybody that he was worth what he was asking for and that he's going to make his new team happy. I think that's all you could hope for. I think it is not what you want.

want to hear coming off of a massive extension. Ultimately, too, we need to reiterate what the Raptors gave up to trade for Ingram is not overwhelming, right? It's Bruce Brown, who was going to be a phrygeon anyway. Kelly Olinick, who's a perfectly fine player. And a 2026 first that was probably going to be in the 20s, ultimately, not unreasonable to trade for a player this talented and a scorer this talented. It's just I still strain to see the vision.

I do hope that he has that sort of professional pride that you're talking about. we've seen great stretches and great moments from Brandon Ingram. We're all waiting to see it come together. It's just we've been waiting for a long time. When the game tips off, the NBA action is just beginning on Fandul, America's number one sports book, because Fandual is your home for NBA live betting. So even if you miss the first few minutes of the game or want to bet on a fourth quarter comeback, you can make your picks from the first whistle until the final buzzer.

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which expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook. Fanduel.com. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-HELP.com. As far as professional pride goes, though, was, you and I don't have a lot of it, to the point that every time Justin leaves the podcast,

we do the same thing, a tried and true tradition. We consult the vast group chat listenership for their questions. We go full mailbag mode. we turn on the video, substitute teacher style, and we let the class teach itself. I'm very excited about the crop of questions we've gotten. Thank you to everyone who emailed us in, ringer group chat at gmail.com with their questions. Keep them coming. Some of these honestly came from a couple weeks ago.

People have been kind of streaming in with interesting thoughts. So I tried to work in some older ones as well, in addition to the crush of new ones that we got after our call for questions this week. And guys, reach out to us. Rob will read your messages. Unfortunately, it is a character flaw. I will read it. I will read it.

So be nice. Be nice. Send us good and thoughtful questions, and you may just end up on the podcast. But Isaiah has very graciously offered to help read us these questions. So, Isaiah, if you could jump in with the first question we have for this week. Yeah, we got a good one. It's from somebody named Justin Verrier.

Oh, okay. His question is, for the two less active participants in the creation of the show, If you were to come up with your own idea for an episode, rather than rely on Davies hilarious and thought-provoking outlines all the time, what would it be? Easy. Mailbag. Mailbag is no different than, you know,

me listening to WFAM, Mike Francesa and the Mad Dog, letting guys from the Bronx and Queens call in with their Yankees and Giants opinions. Same thing. That's what we're doing here. We're empowering the fan. Yeah. We're of the people. You know, Justin's up there in his ivory tower, dictating terms to not only them but us, Waz.

Exactly. We're out here. And we're mingling. We're trying to get some listener feedback. We're trying to really speak to the issues that are important to them. But also we should say literally every week our process is the same, which is mostly crickets from me and Waz until Justin decides. Yeah, pretty much. In ways, we are very thankful for what we're going to talk about that week.

Hold on. Just one thing, which was. a group effort. We are going to bring you our NBA All Hard Hat team at some point before the season is over. And that is an idea we cooked up together. Justin didn't just pull that one out of his keyster.

We are going to do that one day. And we did do that one idea as a group. So look out for the Hard Hat team. We did exactly one thing. It hasn't happened yet. Maybe it won't, but I hope it will. Honestly, I've been noting some guys

since we talked about it that could be eligible for the All Hard Hat team. if you have ideas for who you would like to see on the all hard hat team email us at ringer group chat at gmail.com. But yeah, look, I appreciate that Justin is such a sicko that even on a long weekend where he is trying to unplug, he cannot help but email in to be a part of the group chat experience. I just, I better not see him tweet one time about Delano Bannon when he's supposed to be on vacation. I hope that for him. Let's, we can only pray. What we got to say?

Next question is from JM. With the demise of the Jimmy Butler Heat, the NBA has lost a great feature of the past half decade, a true playoff wildcard. Are there any teams that might be as surprising and effective in the postseason as the Butler Heat were during their great playoff runs? Could Golden State plus Butler have the same mercurial impact or could we get that from another team? What have you thought of the Jimmy Butler Warriors so far was? I personally love it last night's loss, notwithstanding. I just like that he brings a whole new element that they haven't had in I don't know how long,

which is he just attacks the paint relentlessly and is a magnet for free throws. It's just the area of the court that the Warriors just have not consistently threatened for years now. And having Jimmy be like the person that checks that box, which is so important in the playoffs when like a team is like scored seven straight

and it feels like it's going down. to just like get to the line, stop the sort of run of play, like, get your bearings about you. Like, having somebody who can do that stuff very consistently just matchup hunt and just destroy, you know, certain matchups, man. I just think it's a big deal. And I just think temperamentally, he just brings another element to the team that just ups everything for them. So I'm personally looking forward to the Jimmy situation.

I think it was a great move on their part. I think people were just underrating Jimmy. And I'm loving the results so far. As am I. And I think to this question from JM, they do seem like the natural candidate, if you are going to pick a wild card team. And maybe, look, maybe that's easy on our part.

Jimmy Butler is now a part of this group. We have seen that temperament that you cited, not only in revving teams to regular season's success, but urging them, pushing them through the playoffs, through upset after upset after upset. And for Golden State to have Jimmy, they have Steph, they have Draymond. They have all these like heart of a champion intangibles going on all at once that are exactly

the thing that tend to fuel some kind of surprise run. And I think most importantly to the wildcard element of this question too, their rotation is just rickety enough that you wouldn't look at them against any of the top teams in the West and say, oh, Golden State's going to beat that team. They're definitely going to beat that team. They're going to have to prove it. And they're going to have to prove, I mean, for starters, when Jonathan Coominga comes back, how this rotation is going to work together.

how the pieces are going to fit. There's like an incremental building where they're figuring out how to play with Jimmy Butler. Then they're going to figure out how to play with a reintegrated Cumminga. They might not really hit their stride until April. And that to me is sort of the perfect wildcard formula.

Yeah, I think so. Another team that I thought about was the Bucks, just in the sense, they've been so Dr. Jekyll and Hyde this the past two years, just so up and down, like the idea that you would expect in the walking to any series

and kill somebody makes no sense. but they do have Janice. They do have Dame who is like capable of exploding, you know. And in a short series, you know, you got to win four games. I think the box is somebody that I would keep my eye on as a team that could just wildly overperform expectations because of the ceiling of their two best players being so freaking high, even in a postseason formula where they could play 43 minutes. And if these guys are playing at their absolute best against any opponent, Janice and Dame, that's a, you know, That has the potential to do some things, but I do like the Jimmy and stuff factor for sure.

The Bucks also do have not a favorable matchup, but if they do end up in that four-five zone, you can see them beating the Pacers or beating the pistons or the magic or the heat or whoever ends up in that other four-five spot. And then they would have a series against the Cavs that would be very difficult. And I think would stretch particularly the style of offense that Cleveland plays would stretch out the Biggs a little bit. and would really force them to rotate and cover a lot of ground in a way that would be challenging. But I also could totally see my Milwaukee winning that series. That feels like something that's within their power to do. And so if you're figuring out like a reasonable course for these teams, I think that one is right there.

Does Minnesota count? You know, they're currently the seventh seed. And here's the thing. If you told me the wolves make the Western Conference finals this year, I would not be floored by that information. and maybe that in itself tells me that they're not enough of a wild card to really fit the prompt here. Yeah, they went to the Western Conference Finals last year.

They're missing, you know, the second best player from that team. But yeah, I think it still counts. I think that would be a wild card because of how this season is played out and the Julius Randall of it all would have to surprise people. All right, Isaiah, what do we have for our next question?

Next one is from Ben. taking into account rosters plus assets, not cities, owners, net worth, etc. Would the thunder swap positions with any other team in the league? Would the thunder trade everything they have for everything someone else has? So to preempt was, let me lay out for you what the thunder have. They have the best record in the league at the time we're recording this pod, although it's close with the calves, and a chance to compete for the title for basically the foreseeable future, barring serious injuries.

They have a 26-year-old superstar who might be the MVP this season. They have two other stars who have not come close to playing their best basketball yet. They have the fourth youngest roster in the league. And they have all of their own future first round picks. Plus, by my count, seven additional firsts, three pick swaps and a boatload of second round picks. Is there any situation that you would trade all of that for that's out there on the theoretical position trading market? I mean, the only thing that even comes close is Boston. and they are so capped out in terms of the money

that they owe to the players on this team. Like, there's nobody on a value deal in this rotation. Damn, shots fired at Luke Cornett, you know? Well, maybe Luke Cornett. I actually like Luke Cornynett. I know people, like, were talking shit and hated all of his minutes last year. I think he's, like, a nice player.

But Porzingis, absolutely at the top of his market. Jason Tatum obviously Jaylen Brown some people might say okay cool Drew Holiday you wouldn't say but some people might say

but some people might say that Drew Holiday getting absolutely paid Derek White the same thing and so I think the money situation in the Celtics I think the Celtics have a better roster I don't really think it's particularly

close today in 2025 but like the way that it's going to they're going to have to shed salary in the future. Like, it's just not sustainable with the way the current rules are. And so even the Celtics, I don't think, they would trade places with. And that's the only team that can definitively say is better than them right now. Which is crazy. But you're exactly right.

Like, the Celtics are that expensive. And I think that not only creates the complications you're talking about, just in terms of your rock. And we know, OK, C's broke ass on this can't afford that. They, too, I'm boys broke. Boy, oh my goodness. Broke boys. They can never get a date on Twitter. I'll tell you, boy.

Broke as hell. I want to hear about that. I want to hear about that. But the Thunder are not going to be a second apron team. I don't envision at any point in their life. Even when the extensions start kicking in, I don't see that for them. Are they even a tax team right now? I actually don't know.

Let me let's do a, no, no, actually no. I know that they're not because they have one of the, they have one of the lowest payrolls in the league right now. believe like fourth or fifth lowest in the entire league in terms of total payroll. So yeah, they are definitively not a tax team. They also don't have to do the thing that the Celtics are going to do. If you're talking about swapping positions, it's not just can you contend this year. It's what do you want going forward?

The Celtics are very expensive in a way that they're going to have to make some hard choices. They're also going to have to replace Al Horford at some point and probably going to have to replace Drew Holiday at some point. If not literally trading those guys away, then at least in terms of the import within the rotation, they're going to have to bring in guys who can do those things or something similar. That's really hard when you're already over the second apron. It's really hard when your expensive team is only getting more expensive. And I'm tempted by the Celtics, given everything that we've laid out, given how, you know, it's hard to turn down a champion. And we should say,

in particular, a champion where Jason Tatum is basically the same age as Shay. And we talk about him as if he's this more advanced finished product. He has years and years and years of super high level play ahead of him. And that is an incredibly tempting thing. Were there any other team, teams you even thought about? No, not no. Like, I love Memphis, but no. No. Why would I know? Like, I'm trading, I'm trading the model citizen, Shea Gildjus for, look, I love John

Morant. No, not doing it. Nope. You know, people love Houston's youth and those guys, but no. Definitely nobody in the East for damn sure. I don't think so. Even Denver, it's like, oh, I get to have Yolkich. I got Shea.

Like, I'm sorry. The guy's been at least the second best player in the NBA. Like, there's just, there's just nothing, nothing out there that would be more appealing. There is one, I considered, from a quality of life standpoint. And that's the San Antonio Spurs. And I say this because if you talk to people who work in front offices, you will find almost across the board, the building the team part is the fun part. And the contending part is kind of miserable.

Like the stakes are so high. So high. Yeah. It's just misery. all the time. It just rings you out at the risk of some dumb little thing like say hypothetically like a player punching a teammate during practice

could just blow it up at any point in time. But like the just the sort of theoretical nature of a build is so fun because you can just project anything onto what you're building. Like Castle what? He's going to be the next Alan Iverson. What are you

talking about? Like yeah, I get it. Are you telling me he's not? Probably not. But I like Castle. He's got to some jumpers, but I like them. I too like Castle. I too love what the Spurs have cooking. You couldn't trade what the Thunder have for it. They're just a little more certain. Wembenyama. Sorry. Which is, I think, a testament to what the Thunder have built. But, uh, Isaiah, what's our next question? Next question is from Asker in Norway. I hope I said it right. Oscar. Oscar?

Oscar. Okay. Is the 76th situation the worst in the NBA? Two giant contracts in PG and Embed, who they probably have to attach a pick to get rid of. They are just good enough to never get a good pick and just bad enough not to accomplish anything in the playoffs. Was, this is a great time for today's hard to handle segment presented by State Farm. Life's big moments like buying a house can trigger big reactions. Like, I can't handle this. Dang. Or, oh, come on. But what you should say is, like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Let's talk about what's hard to handle. And that's literally everything going on with the Philadelphia 76ers,

the evil twin scenario of everything we just talked about with the Thunder. How do you feel about where the Sixers find themselves? And I guess how do you compare their position if you could trade it against some of the other horrid positions

across the NBA right now? I think, okay, so I don't think it's the worst than the NBA because you still have Maxie. MBE does, look, he's not playing at an MVP level, but last year, like before he went down, this guy was scoring like 30s. six points a game. He's an awesome score when he's healthy.

There's no doubt about it. There's like a hope that he can get closer than he's been to what he was before going down last year. So all is not lost over there. Like you shouldn't feel completely miserable about everything. However, the Paul George deal has been an utter disaster. He's got three max years after this one. just god awful.

Yeah, he's owed about $162 million over the next three years. And we're coming, we're recording this coming off of what might be the single worst game of his entire career against the Brooklyn Nets, a game where Maxie and B did not play. And frankly, I'm not sure Paul did,

Paul George did either. It was horrendous and vacant from him in a way that even I, a relative Paul George defender, could not possibly justify to you. And I think that the, the worst part about this is just the degenerative nature of M.B.'s knee. I know you heard about this report on the last national TV game where they're like,

they talked to M.B., and he said he needs another surgery in the off season, which is just like, if you need a surgery now, why aren't you getting the surgery now? And then it's like, what is he repairing in there? Yeah. Like, at a certain point, like, your meniscus is cooked. You know, it's just, it's just sad, honestly, the state of Joelle's body, man. And that, to me, is the darkest cloud looming. It's just like, this is the injury situation is never going to get better.

And that just totally sucks the way that is derailed this guy's career. Because the talent, I mean, I don't know that we've ever seen a big this freaking skilled in our lives. I'm talking about you pick a big man, pick a seven footer. Kareem included, man, like this guy, Embed with the handle and the pull-up jumpers and the three-point range

and the post work and the footwork and just like the most skilled guy I've ever seen at that size. And the way the injuries, I guess Yokic is the most. I mean, whatever, outside of the Yokic category. This is the class of talent and skill that Ambed has put himself in.

I think this has been a sort of year. of gradual realization for Sixers fans, for people following the NBA across the league, that that guy, the MVP level every night performer,

to the extent that Joelle ever was that, he's fought through injuries his entire career, that guy is gone. And that era of Sixers Basketball is probably over without ever having really achieved anything that it set out to achieve.

But be real, Rob. Would you rather be Portland and Charlotte? No. I just absolutely not. This is the thing. So Joelle Embed is owed $250 million over the next four years. He's still Joelle Embed. And if you're going to give me the choice between, yes, Charlotte's position is a great, like a great point of contrast.

Like, I'm not eager to do that. You're telling me you would rather have Zion Williamson's health concerns with the Pelicans. You're telling me you would rather, even a team that's like very draft capital rich in the jazz, for example, I'm not like jumping at the chance to be the Utah jazz right now. That's a hard way to live. Watching the jazz every night for the next two years is not going to be anybody's idea of great. Like, no. And nor the Brooklyn Nets, despite the fact that they've been surprisingly ficedy lately. They have nothing on their team of any value or substance.

But notably, we are talking about a team with one of the most talented players in the league. And we are not talking about switching their position with the Indiana Pacers or the Orlando Magic or even the Los Angeles Clippers. You know, like there are these teams that are in the middle of the pack that have distinctly separated themselves from the misery that the Sixers find themselves in. And it's it's been awful to watch. Like I hate watching the Sixers play right now, but even more so, I hate everything that's in the air with that team. Yeah. Tough. So you know what?

So when things do feel hard to handle, like when you need help protecting what matters most, remember to say, like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. With State Farm, you can talk to your agent to help choose the coverage you need. You can select from coverage options to protect the things you value most. You can file a claim right under the State Farm mobile app and reach a real person when you need to talk somebody. So visit StateFarm.com to learn more about insurance, about the Sixers, about the fate of the world. Hold on.

And one last thing, because of group chat, we're not just faking the funk here. This isn't just SponCon. I'm a State Farm customer, okay? This is a birthday card. For those of you watching on YouTube, this is a birthday card sent to me by my lady at the State Farm office here in Encino, Rita. So shouts to Rita for remembering it was my birthday and mailing me a card, much appreciated.

And, you know, Hallmark is State Farm. Even Hallmark getting up in there. Come on. Hell yeah. Shout out to Rita. We really are going to need that super cut at the end of the year of every shout-out Wazz is given. Now Rita included.

Yes, sir. Thank you to Rita. Thank you to State Farm. Isaiah, what do we have next? Next question is from Stephen. advances in medicine and rehabilitation and changes in nutrition are extending the careers of NBA players

how will the fact that players are playing longer affect the NBA and in particular the steady stream of young ins entering the league how do you feel about where we are right now was with a 40 year old LeBron for example still being a really high level player but beyond him you know I think there's some guys

who are playing pretty effectively laid into their 30s Big Al another great example Chris Paul Mike Conley still out there kicking it A lot of guys who are still real quality rotation level players, if not the stars they once were. Do you see that affecting the NBA as a whole in any particular way? It's how I'd like to see it affected.

Honestly, it's the load management stuff. I'm generally, like, pro player with all of this stuff. But, like, with load management, this idea that, like, we need to be ensuring that players can play as long as possible. I think it's crap. I think that's what the money is for. You get paid to play. Guys should be out there more. Like, that's just what I see it as.

Like, if these guys at all of these minutes that they played can play into their 40s, then I think we need to be a little bit less conservative with the load management stuff and keep guys out there game the game. And I'm not mad at, like, sort of, like, John Moran's playing less than 30 minutes this year. I'm not mad at that.

I think being there, though, matters, okay? And I know the Grizzly specifically have been, like, ultra-cautious with Jha and his injuries this year. I think we need to kind of scale that back and let guys play more. That's where I'm at with it. I'd like to see guys play more. I love that call. I mean, clearly we've seen enough players cross this threshold at this point to have long

successful careers that maybe you can afford to be a little less cautious in certain circumstances. And it's tough because I don't want to tell players or teams to not be proactive about player health or proactive about entry. And with Jha, it's not just a question of, you know, load management throughout a long regular season and a general sense. It's these nagging injuries that are popping up all across his body. He's such a rough and tumble player who takes some really hard falls, who takes some real hits. And that's a guy you do want to protect instinctively to wrap and bubble wrap as often as you can get away with that. But it's not good for the NBA product.

It's ultimately not good for the Grizzlies, even though they're as deep as they are. I can get by in games without jaw. Like ultimately, the best version of the Gris is very jaw driven, even if they're trying to diversify what they can do at the end of the day. and easing back on some things like load management, I think would certainly be a testament to that. But as far as the age piece of this,

there's also like the zero-sum aspect of every roster spot that is occupied by a 38-year-old guy is a roster spot that a young player cannot take. And so there are trade-offs with this stuff that naturally happen. It's less like LeBron is a fringe case. Yeah. No one has ever done at 40 what he is doing. Oh, I would like to read for you,

LeBron's stats, since January 1st, just to put it out here on the record. 26 points, 8 rebounds, 9 assists on 55, 44, 74 splits. That's like over a 20-game stretch of the season at this point for a guy who's 40 years old. Fucking preposterous. Yeah, it's crazy. But it's not just LeBron. It's Joe Ingalls and Taj Gibson and Kyle Lowry.

And I would say overall, there is a shift in the way that NBA teams are thinking about sort of the old head model. And like, do you need the veteran at the end of the bench who might not actually play that much to be a sage voice within your team? And frankly, teams look at that stuff very, very differently. Overall, though, by and large, the league is younger than it was 20 years ago. Like, it is moved in a direction of many of these old guys, unless you are of the caliber of Star who's hanging around. Guys do get played out of the mix. I think some of that is just the quality of play and the style of play is really hard. for someone in like a 38 year old's hips are not meant to swivel

the way that they are now asked to swivel. But I do, I just think we should have, Eudanus Haslam types, you know, at the end of the bench. Yeah. Just being like a voice of like, all right, yeah, I'm a player too. I've done this for a long time and like can be an extension of coaching and stuff like that and culture setting and stuff. Definitely.

You know, and just generally speaking, obviously y'all know my MO up here. I don't care for the young people. And so I'm all for keeping the old heads around longer too. I think if there is like a longer term impact where more and more guys are starting to buck the age curve and hang around in the league, it really increases the need for the G League to be an even more fully fleshed out developmental system, which it is to some degrees. And guys have clearly come on to great success from working there. From role players to stars to just like sturdy end of bench guys, you know, the whole gamut.

But if there's not going to be roster spots because these guys in their late 30s are, Udonis has them old head types, or they are Chris Paul types or Mike Conley types or what have you, the young guys got to play somewhere. And if they want to play for big money right now, they're still going overseas. If they want to stay home, which many of them still do, they wind up in the G league. But it can still be a tough living for those guys until you get picked up. What else do we have, Isaiah? Next question is from Phil.

Why isn't Russell Westbrook the league's most improved player? I know it would be an unprecedented choice, but I don't think that anyone's production or value has increased more over the last year. I love this question because it speaks to, yeah, his production is up because he's playing so much more on the nuggets, but like it speaks to a change in his style of play.

Yeah. He's fully optimizing the talents that he still possesses in a way that he just was not on the clippers. And, you know, some of it is just, you know, we've said it a million times, it's playing with Nicole Yokic. Help. And I don't think it's a coincidence that Yokic is scoring all of these damn points while Russ is on the court with him.

Like, Russ is literally, you know, he is a high-quality pastor. And he's like, yo, the big fella's unstoppable. I'm going to feed this dude and get my assists up. Like, I love this question because it's like, sure, there's the production element to it. But it's just like he's playing different. And it's an improvement on a more losing style of basketball that he used to do in the past. And like, I love that. So you, I mean, I think we all agree Russ is playing different.

Do you think he is a fundamentally better player than he was over the last couple of years? This is what I come back to with Most Improved specifically is if a guy moves context, and it's clear the Nuggets are a better fit for Russell Westbrook and what he does, how much do you think Russell Westbrook has changed and how much do you think he has actually improved relative to who he was a year ago? So I love this question because it was something we had to tackle when Russ won the MVP

where it's like, okay, like maybe the player so just to run it back, like him and Hardin were like neck and neck for MVP and a lot of people felt like Russ was like compiling stats and blah blah, blah, and it was obvious that Hardin. was the better player, like, did more to contribute to winning. And I think, like, or his game was just more suited to winning.

Like, to me, you kind of are what your production is. You know, like, if there's a, like, theoretically, like, you have a more pleasing game or, like, it's a more winning game or whatever. It's a more team-friendly game or it's more easily to incorporate into whatever context. But to me, like, you are whatever your production is. And like, and just like in Russ's MVP year, to me, he had put the production out on the court. Like, at a certain point, like, if an employee works, you know, overtime, like, you got to pay them that overtime pay. Like, and that's what it felt like to me with Russ.

Like, he's just doing mad work. And so I think he should be rewarded for it. And I think that's the same that's happening this year. It's like, he's just doing way more work on the course. court than he was last year. And so to me, ultimately, it is an improvement. Yeah. Even if he just, like, isn't, like, he didn't transform into a new Russ.

It's just more, it's just better usage of him. It is better usage of him. And that bears out in the efficiency, certainly. It bears out in the fact that Russell Westbrook to Yokic is one of the most prolific assist combinations in the NBA. That's Russ setting up Yokic in a way that. It's crazy. Honestly, no one besides Jamal Murray.

and I would say to a marginal extent maybe Will Barton has ever done like those are... That's how deep you have to dig to find like an actual assist comp and Russ is doing above and beyond anything that Will Barton did as a playmaker.

But like in terms of production I agree with you that ultimately it bears out and it says what it says and those numbers are reflective of something in and of themselves. By production he's not that different a player than he was a year ago but he is more efficient. the minutes do feel different.

And I think, look, he's not going to win most improved because players like Russell Westbrook do not win most improved. But I would love to live in a world where he could. I would love to live in a world where, and increasingly I think we're getting to this point, it's not just the second or third player who popped. You're finding guys who are actually having sort of a mid-career Renaissance, who have shifted context, but have found a new part of their games. Or in Russ's case, a guy who teams have been asking to change and adjust their

styles for a really long time. And I don't think he's transformed, but he's adjusted slightly enough and found the best possible fit for him that everything feels so different about what he does. I just like the idea of like some, like, let's just say next year, Michael Porter Jr., like learn to like pass every now and again. And we're just like, dude, that's such an improvement on what you were doing before. What the hell? You're the most approved, dude.

You finally learn to give it up every night. down again. Wow. I love this idea. The real, you know, the inefficiency of the Most Improved Player Award is the guy who's averaging like zero assists per game and could go to three. It's like, oh, yes. Give that guy a trophy. Honestly, give that guy a trophy. Genuinely, please do. I'm all for encouraging good and healthy habits. But yeah, like the last five winners of Most Improved, Tyrese Maxie last year, Laurie Markinen, John Morant, but it should have been Desmond Bain, and we all know it. Julius Randall, Brandon Ingram.

Honestly, better than I would have thought about rewarding, interesting fringe, like, renovation cases, actual improvement for a lot of those guys. So maybe there's hope for us yet, was, of coming up with, like, better criteria for how to actually evaluate what admittedly is one of the fuzziest and most nebulous of all the awards. It's very seven graders award. It is. All right, Isaiah, what do we have next? This one is from how predict the all-N-Ba first team in 2030. This was tougher. This is very hard.

It's very hard. Than I thought. But I've come to when be number one with a bullet. Got to be on there. And it's still young enough that I think when he's like 28, like you'll just be way smarter than he is now, while still being a pretty physically imposing guy. Also becoming randomly one of the best three-point shooters in the league at volume

is going to do wonders for his 28-year-old self. And I have there. So that's Wemby and. Yep. Mowgli. Hell yeah. Evan Mowgli. Yep. My fourth was Cade Cunningham.

Wow. Okay. And the last. Yeah. Cooper Flag. This is why they. You're the big bucks wise. You have the fucking vision. Cooper flag.

Who is absolutely wrecking shop at Duke right now. And it's just like, again, man, that's the thing that I like about these new young guys, man, that are even stars. Like, we talk about Chet. We talk about Wemby. Like, these guys are stars, but, like, play basketball the right way. Have winning habits. Like, understand, like, scoring isn't everything.

And, like, there's multiple ways to. you know, positively affect the outcome for your team and Cooper flag embodies that. So, yeah, I can see him in five years, first team all-N-B-A. I could honestly see it too. You can see that part of his game coming out.

We have three in common, was. I also have Wembe, I also have Ant, I also have Evan Mobley. I salute you for your work for the Evan Mobley caucus. It's very important. I had to, I had to. I also have Luca in here, who is probably on the edge of aging out of this.

range. And if that sounds insane to you, I would just, I would present this. Was, I have a little bit of trivia for you. Over the last five years, so that's 25 first team slots over the last five years. How many times do you think a player who is 30 or older has made all NBA first team over the last five years? Steph in 22. Steph did make it in 21. Okay. Oh, in 21. Steph, KD, had to have one. No KD first team. Dame? No dame. Again, guys who have made all-MBA, but not all-M-B-A first team in the last five years.

Over 30, huh? Yep. There's two other guys. LeBron? LeBron at 35 in 2020. And then the other one is James Harden in 2020 at 30. Wow. Wow.

I wouldn't guess James. It really doesn't happen as often as you think. It doesn't happen. If you want to zoom, like go even further back. I picked, I was under 30. I'm like, you've got to be under 30 for this. Luca is on that borderline. She is going to be on that borderline.

I think Luca could have the body type and the style of play where he's just going to put up massive numbers as long as he stays healthy. Shea was very tempting for me and he's going to be on that cusp. But these huge volume scores earlier in their careers tend to try to scale back a little bit by the time they hit 30 or so. In the 30s, I can't do it. They can't do it and they shouldn't do it.

And that's like a wise overall progression for their careers. And you know what? Fuck it. I put Amen Thompson on my team. He was a dark horse for me. He was a dark horse. Definitely my dark horse. He could be the second best defensive player in the world by 2030.

And doing all kinds of insane shit on a regular basis. And I have no idea what position he plays. And I think he's going to get better at offense at all of it. At playmaking, at shooting, at his one-on-one work with the dribble. I think he's going to improve on all of those things. I think so too. But look, it is tough to put him on this team over John Morant, Paolo Bancaro,

Franz Wagner, Scotty Barnes, Tyreys Halliburton, as you said, Cooper Flagg, who else am I forgetting? Jaron Jackson Jr. I actually thought about Brandon Miller for a second just as a player archetype that I like a lot. Also needs to stay healthy.

Also needs to keep improving. But honestly, it's a shorter list and a more complicated exercise than you think. Like, Paulo and Franz or guys, I think they have potential. Yeah. Also, Chet, I don't know if I listen to him, but Chet Holmgren, who I think. Definitely Chet is the one who I'm just like, I don't know if he's going to be a first team.

I don't know if he's ever going to be the kind of bucket getter, offense driver, sort of person. Or even like a top flight finisher, which I think Cooper Flag can be. like a top flight Anthony Davis-style finisher. I don't know if Chet's going to be that. And I love Chet. I think Chet is going to be just a type of no weakness in my game kind of player that becomes indispensable. You know, like a more improved Al Horford type of situation. But like.

See, I think he could go higher than that. Like I wouldn't be shocked if Chet is a top 15 or so player in the league. No, and I'd say more improved meaning like Al-Hawfer's never been a dominant different. offensive player, but like, he's been good to freaking great. Oh, yeah. A star for the majority of his career, rock solid. The Al Horford that we know now was not Atlanta Hawks Alhorford for a long time. That guy was a beast.

And so I think, yeah, I think Chet is on the fringes, just because I don't think he'll get enough buckets. But it's tough, too, for multiple teammates to be in the running. And so so long as he plays with Shea, it's going to be hard for both of those guys to make it. But I love that question. Thanks so much to Hal for asking it. What do we have next, Isaiah? This might be the most important question. It's from Shane.

If each one of you got a dollar for every chicken nugget you could eat in an hour, who would get the most money and how much? It's definitely Rob Mahoney, folks. I don't know how much he would make, but Rob Mahoney is definitely our best eater. I can eat. This guy, first of all, Rob Mahoney's bigger than you guys, think he's tall as hell.

That's a one. Second, this man has appetites. y'all. This guy, I'm talking about two hours after meal, Rob Mahoney is ready to fire him back up again. It's crazy. I'm detecting, I'm hoping that's joy in your voice and appreciation and not judgment wise. Listen, I've been known that my family is the greediest person in the family my whole life. So game recognized game. Oh, my Lord have mercy. Do you have an answer to this question? I did, in fairness, tell people they could ask non-basketball questions and they certainly did. I have two

Here I have two semi-standard measurements for a chicken nugget. There's the McDonald's chicken nugget and there's the Chick-fil-A chicken nugget. So either way you want to measure it, I encourage you to take it in that direction. Chick-fil-A chicken, come on. I can probably eat 100 in an hour.

I mean, that's the thing. That's the juicing era of eating chicken nuggets. Chick-fil-A, that's too easy. But like the regular 20-piece nuggets, I could see myself bodying if I really tried to and didn't care about making myself, I got to see myself body two nuggets, two 20 pieces in an hour.

I mean, that's a lot. It's a lot. It's a lot. I can see myself doing it, though. I remember when I was in college at UT, there was one specific McDonald's that on game days, you could get a 50 piece bucket for $10. And once attempting with some friends to each get a bucket,

and just endeavor to see how far you can get it to the bottom of it, I mean, granted, in those situations, you know, like we're watching football. I also want, I also want to eat some fries. It's more complicated than like a Kobayashi style eating scenario, a Joey chestnut style eating display. In that situation, 50 was tough. But, and I was a much, a much younger man and a much bigger eater in that way. But I, I'm with you that I think, I feel like 30 to 40.

Yeah, that's my range. chicken nuggets could be attainable. That's a reasonable goal for us. In an hour, yeah, it's my range. I'd be cooked afterwards, but that's my range. Absolutely devastated. Do not bother me for several days after consuming 40 McDonald's chicken nuggets. But I don't know who's paying us a dollar an hour per the framing of this question, but there's some real sickos out there, I guess. You want to watch us eat chicken nuggets. Isaiah, what do we have next? I feel like this has to be the next group chat bet. It's like the loser has to eat. There's so many nuggets in an hour.

I just think this has to be. But the next question is from Jim. From the absolute nadir of the Pistons basketball last season, I'm so excited with their progress this season. I'm hoping I'll be able to watch them in the playoffs later this year. How far do you think they can go and why? Was, where are you on the Pistons right now? I believe the stat I saw going around is this is the first time

they've gone into the All-Star break with a winning record since 2008. Jesus Christ, that's crazy. I think the Cade thing finally happening huge. Has been amazing to see. And the way that he's doing it, that he's not just, we thought he was going to eventually, and the tunnel was still pretty high than we want.

Sure. But like, we thought he would eventually master pick and roll operation when, you know, guys guard your pick and roll conventionally. Like, we thought he would one day become a guy that kills that coverage. Just his know-how, his size, his feel, whatever. The stuff he's doing in one-on-one creation has been a revelation. And it's so cool because people don't realize this. But Cade in his class was, like, seen as the guy.

Yeah. By even his own peers. Like, you go listen to Scotty Barnes talk about Cade Cunningham. It's like, no, dude. Like, everybody looked at Cade. It's like, this guy has everything figured out. He's the guy. Like, he's been sort of pegged as the person from that class.

that was going to achieve, you know, most likely to achieve. And that is finally coming to fruition that he got paid and he's not looking like a lemon. He's looking like worthy of his max rookie extension. I'm just happy for the Pistons, man. And, you know, all it took was like a competent basketball environment where he's not playing with four non-shooters of all of his minutes. Who knew? Just really cool, man, to watch. And so I don't think they're going to get out there.

first round, if I'm being honest with you. Yeah. But then making the real playoffs and Cade getting to be on that stage and sort of, you know, work on becoming the kind of player who succeeds on that stage is really dope. And if they were to make the playoffs by locking in that succeed and have a guaranteed spot, that is a huge achievement. No matter what you think of the middle ranks of the Eastern Conference, where the Pistons have come from, that's incredible. Where Kate has come from, as you outlined was, in terms of his injuries and his development,

that's amazing. And from a team building perspective, how this group is coming together is promising. They still have stuff they need to sort out in terms of the shooting is better and the floor balance is better, but there's still a lot of young guys. They're trying to figure out how they can play together and how non-shooting wings can sort of complement and augment each other in the rotation. But over the last couple weeks, they've just been one of the most successful teams in the league on both sides of the ball. They are finally hitting their stride. The game they played against the Bulls the other night in which I believe they held Chicago to a 29.5. Also says a lot about the Bulls,

but says something about the Pistons, and I think most crucially, at this stage in their development, they're not skipping steps, they are taking every game very seriously. They're leveling up, and they're growing up as a team in a way that I think is really inspiring to see,

and I think the Cade part of that first and foremost, just gives you a lot of confidence in the idea of where the Pistons could be four or five years from now. I want to circle back to the Pistons, at some point when JV is back just because I feel like if this continues, if they're still playing well

for an even longer period of time, they're probably deserving of an even deeper dive on a pod coming up. But for now, great season so far in progress. Love where they are, love where they're going. Love a lot of the members of this team.

Shout out to Tobias Harris for upending all the Paul George comparisons and just being like a really solid rotation contributor for Detroit in a way that Paul George, especially of late as not for the Sixers. Shout out to Toby. But what else do we have going for us, Isaiah? Pistons Knicks could be a fun first round matchup.

Like, Knicks win for sure, but like... They beat him the other night. Like, I don't hate it. Yeah, I think it could be fun. Next question is from Wes. Let's just say for the sake of argument that we accept Nico Harrison's reasoning behind trading Luca and Dallas. I like kid who get through it.

Luca and Dallas are one of the best player possible return. Is there a single... Is there another single player besides Anthony Davis that Nico should have targeted, presuming winning now with Kyrie is still a priority. To me, the main mistake of this win now, all right, star for star thing is that it was for a big. Like replacing Luca, a guy who has the ball in his hands all the time,

and is creating insane offense with a big just seems, that's another. It's just like, it's not even like for like. It just didn't make any sense in that sense. And so to me, it's like you come up with guys as like the other, the team is hands. hanging up on you. Like, look, if you could have got Tatum, yeah, Tatum for Luca, Tatum with the cost control. It's worth a call. It's worth a call. Tatum, yeah, yeah, yeah. Now your fans are like, oh, Tatum, a champion, just beat us. Like,

oh, okay. And notably 22-way player. 26 years old. And actually, like, embodies all the things that you said, Luca doesn't. Like, actually fits the description of can soak up possessions, like, Contimate Pro, also a Kobe system guy, also an Iron Man, also like a defensive just beast. Boston hangs up on you, but Tatum, Ant. I think Ant, if you got Ant for this, another cost-controlled guy, Soka possessions on offense, good defender, plays a reasonable amount of games every single season. And like, obviously, OKC's like, no, we're not breaking up our cops.

The college atmosphere for Shea and all of that. But Shea's, like, that's it to me. Yeah. I mean, if people want to talk to themselves in the Cade Cunningham because he's having a breakout season, cool, knock yourself out. And he is doing a Luca imitation. It's a cheap one, but he's doing a Luca imitation in Detroit. But, like, no. No, it's Tatum and Ant.

That's it. Tatum and Ant. Like, those are the exact guys I have listed as you have to make this call. because I do think OKC is so not interested that they would have I don't know that they would hang up on you they would probably politely decline

Nicole Yokic there's not really a conversation but if you want to kick the tires you should Victor Webbenyama it's worth it's worth investigating it and this is the problem with all this stuff is it's all these things are worth investigating and the Mavericks did not really investigate it the one exception it seems

and this is where you and I might disagree on the big a little bit. If you are going to trade for a big, it's Janus. Sure. It's a guy who has all the qualities you love in Anthony Davis, but also some of not Luca style creation, but transition creation can take advantage, can work off the dribble in more significant ways.

It's probably unlikely that you could get Janus, and we have some reported tidbits that maybe the MAVs even checked into this possibility, that this was the other guy, that they might have. The other guy was Janus, yeah. back channeled on. The only asterisk I would put on those sorts of reports,

not with any insider knowledge of them. I think there are many general managers in the league who if you try to softly gauge whether they would be interested in trading for Luca Donchich, especially if it involves their franchise players, would be like, not sure whether to take you seriously in the way that Rob Polinka has said he didn't know if he should take Nico Harrison seriously. He laughed at the conversation when it was brought up. So I don't know to what extent John Horst if he was quietly offered

Luca Donchich would even know that this is a real thing. That's it. Yeah, those are the guys for me. I think that's it. And this is the problem, frankly, if you're going to do like a one player for one player. And I guess Janice is the type of big. He does more with the ball. Like, that's fair. But to me, it's like, why am I replacing my freaking all-world, like, heliocentric superstar for big? I don't understand that. I genuinely don't know. I don't know why you're replacing him at all, but if you are going to replace him,

the reason why teams like Houston or Memphis come up in these conversations is because it is so hard to compare Luca one to one against any star in the league. And so the ways you get inroads and traction and negotiations by saying, okay, we don't have the Anthony Davis type player that you want, but we have all of this other stuff. And you can have all of this other stuff in exchange for your star. That's not the route Dallas chose to go.

and in fairness, and to kind of set up our next question, too, Anthony Davis, not the only player that they got in this deal. Isaiah, can you read our question from our friend of the pod, Kirk Henderson of Mavs Moneyball? My brother. This is from Kirk. What is Max Christie's ceiling? Simple question.

He's been a light in these trying times as a Mavs fan, long arms, great motor. It gives me early Josh Howard vibes with a better shot. I don't mind that comp. I look, coming into the season, I think I, I think a few of us were like Max Christie, you know, enthusiasts. We've been around. It started off a little shaky.

Like, people will remember. He started off the season badly. And then recently, man, he just found himself in terms of busting his hump on defense, which I know J.Kitt is going to love. Like, Max Chrissy put it like this. If he was on a Knicks, he'd begin Josh Hart Minutes, telling you, boy. That boy, he would never come off the court. And so he plays his ass off and he's making shots now.

So yeah, I mean, what does he top out as? Yeah. I mean, he's getting serious minutes right now. Since the trade five games with the Mavs, 17 points, five rebounds and three assists on 51, 55, 83 splits, including some clutch-ass free throws to lock up a game against the Warriors last night. That's really nice. I think the variable, if you're talking about his ceiling, is how much can he be a ball handler? He's already handling a lot more for Dallas than he ultimately did for L.A. for obvious reasons. And maybe when AD is back, some of that stuff goes away, some of that usage, some of the opportunity to flex out his game.

But there is a nice window here for him to develop into the sort of, I'm not going to say secondary, maybe tertiary creator that the Mavericks need. They need him to do some stuff with the ball. And he's so far proven to be pretty credible in doing it. one name that came up for me as I was thinking about a comp because I like the Josh Howard comparison but I would say Christie is probably a little less lanky slasher and more a shooter. He's not going to have that juice on the ball that

like Howard could just like take people to the rack with no problem. And finish over and around them. And it was such a huge thing during that era too where it was just like they would give him the ball in the first quarter. Yep. Yeah.

And he would cook. Like he could do that. He was a fun player. I think Christy is going to be a little more. provisional than that, a little more the ball finds him than you set him up. But the name that I kind of have on my cork board right now to say,

could Max Christie become this guy is Devin Vassell? Could Max Christi become a Devin Vassell type player? Which is not out of line with the numbers he's putting up right now, but you've got to do it consistently. You got to do over time. And I think most importantly, you have to do it with the ball in your hands running at least some amount of

pick and roll. The Spurs gate had do $25 million and I was like, what the hell? 25 He's proving me wrong. He's doing his thing. He is doing his things. Maybe Max Christie will be in line for a similar payday sooner than later, but a lot to like about the way he's playing right now, to say the least. What do we have next? This is from Sam. Five years from now, what are we going to say about the Timberwell's

organization during this period? How will we look back on the transition and ownership, the rise of Anthony Edwards, and the cat trade? You know, man, I got to say, A-Rod and them bringing in Tim Connolly. was major and the idea that they were like, yo, not only are we bringing him in, we're going to pay his ass to make him know that we really want him and we want to empower him,

I think he's major. I think Connolly's pretty freaking good. And if they retain him, which I think was contingent upon A-Rod and them keeping the team, I think their future is going to be fine. I think he's going to, like, he's used to working with a sort of smaller market budget.

A-Rod and them said they're not going to be afraid. to spend. I think they're going to be fine. We'll see how afraid to spend they are. This is not. It's easy to say that when you don't own the team and it's like not coming out of your pockets in the moment yet. But I think just having aunt and having a competent GM, I like their future going forward to be honest with you. I think their future is going to be really solid. And to qualify some of what you said there about A Rod and Mark Lurie too, we should note the arbitration has now, the arbitrator

have now ruled in their favor to continue and be the future owners of the wolves, despite Glenn Taylor's objections. He's meddling and is trying to throw a monkey wrench and a deal that he signed. It's so dishonorable, to be honest with you. And I get it. There's no honor amongst thieves, but this guy literally presided over 30 years of incompetence. Yes. Like there were like three decent KG seasons.

The rest of it was pure incompetence. One of them was under the table dealing with Joe freaking Smith that caused a mad future furs. Like this guy was a disastrous owner. And the team finally becomes good. And partly, yo, let's face it, based off of the stuff that Arod and Lori pioneered in there. They pushed for this stuff to happen.

It was based over the moves these guys where adamant should happen. And they're finally good. And this guy basically renegs on his deal. You know, it's just so. So freaking gross and dishonorable. And then he, you know, he kind of did the PR smear campaign against the guys who he did a deal with. He agreed to it. He like, yeah, there's really no defense for the Glenn Taylor part of this experience over the last recent stretch.

But to Sam's point about this like five year timeline, five years from now, how are we going to feel about all this and where the wolves are and kind of this stretch of wolf's history? there is the answer that's relative to the wolves, which as you said have gone through decades now of incompetence of teams almost coming together and then falling apart for all sorts of reasons, just like no sustained success of any kind. Both fans are like the Israelites with Moses, boy, they endured famine and freaking adverse weather.

These people have been through, they've been through so much. They've been through a lot. they have been through the adverse weather. There's no question about that. And yeah, one of the longest suffering fan bases in the entire NBA. And so relative to that, I think the next five years

are going to feel a lot better. This is going to be successful. Ultimately, this is going to be a winning team. It's going to be a team that's in the mix fighting for things. All of that said, I think there's a decent chance that over the next five years,

the wolves never get any further in the playoffs than they just did. Oh, yeah. That's something we need to kind of square. It's really, really hard to make the final. They called Lightning in the bottle last year with that group. They absolutely did. Carl Towns figuring out how to be competent at Power Forward,

them figuring out the sort of how to make a respectable offense while having Rudy Gobert out there was just, I don't know, like that team last year was a revelation, man, making themselves into the best defense in the league. Yeah, I don't know that they have a team as good as last year's team for the next five years, but I don't think that's the end of the world. No.

And that's the kind of run that for any fan base means something. Like that's a team you can identify with. And like I think that's what's hard about the cat trade part of this is not only seeing him be so successful so far in New York

and really fit in there and find, you know, a different group and a different alignment, but not having the chance to build on the lightning in the bottle to take it and try to make something of it over time. That's painful.

And I think especially when it's, presumably being done by every indication we have around that trade for financial reasons and for flexibility reasons. Like the wolves did not trade for Julius Randall and Dante DiVincenzo because they think Julius Randall is a better player than Carl Anthony Towns. They did it because they were worried about being hamstrung financially. And this is where it takes you is to some, you know, some topsy-turvy seasons, some runs where you have to figure it out all over again and put it together. But you do have Anthony Edwards. You do have a pretty successful front office. You do have a lot of good players on this team who can play together to varying

extent that you still have some stuff to figure out. This is not a bad place to be for a team. What do we got, JV? I mean JV. Zay. The last one is from Marco. What do y'all think of this proposal for making the NBA regular season more meaningful? Award a significant prize for the team that has the best overall record along

the lines of European football. Maybe we pay the players on the winning team, five million each with small. sums for the second, third, and fourth teams. Maybe we go with Waz's 58 game schedule and separate out the cup into our proper round robin. Is it too late to do something like this,

too European? Is it too European? Maybe. Maybe, but I think two things need to happen in conjunction. Okay. Less playoff teams and abolish the lottery odds.

So you want like, do you want flat odds? Do you want rookie free agents? system, what do you want to do? I want rookie free agent system. I mean, as do I. Rookie free agent system. And there's a cap on how much you can spend on the rookie, but like you have to convince these people that they should be a part of your organization.

You should recruit them. Yep. Like we do at every other freaking industry. You should have to try to win them over. Yes. God forbid. So, yeah, those are two things. That's one area too was where like with the rookie free agent thing,

there's the flat rookie exception idea where, If, say, we abolish the draft, all rookies into a separate free agent pool, teams have the opportunity to sign them. There's a version of that where every team has the same, say, like, allowance of salary that they can use to sign rookies. There's also the version where, in place of lottery odds, say the team that ends up with the worst record has a bigger budget to spend on rookies and therefore could offer Cooper Flagg.

Maybe, you know, the Hornets could offer Cooper Flagg more money than the Lakers could. But ultimately, Cooper Flagg gets to look at those offers and decide. do I want $10 million to go play for the Hornets or do I want $2 million to go play for the Lakers? And I think putting the choice in his hands would be a helpful thing. Yeah, because what a lot of people would say or the league would say is like, oh, you know,

because we have the plan, there's less teams like tanking at the end of the season, blah, blah, blah, take away the tank incentive. Yep. Okay. So one, make it harder to get into the playoffs. So that makes the regular season more meaningful. And two, disincentivize losing.

Stop making it appealing. for teams to lose. Okay, so you're not getting this playoff money and you're not guaranteed to get Cooper flag. You're not even guaranteed to be in the running because you're so incompetent. He's not going to want to be a part of your shit organization. Okay?

And so that's why, that's what I think they need to do is to make the playoffs more special and stop letting bad teams get good players just because they're bad. Like, these people need to embrace these freaking ultra-capital. They need to embrace competition. Let's go.

They need to embrace the competition of the market and make your freaking organization appealing to young people to want to come and build you up and make you rich as hell. So yeah, get that out of here. Get the lottery. Get the draft system. Get it all out of here. I'm done with it.

Rookie free agency is something. And if you don't like it, sell your team. Many people should sell their teams, honestly. Rookie free agency is something I genuinely do believe very strongly in. Not just for the sort of moral. reasons of letting people choose where they work, but it is good for competition. I think it also creates a lot of interesting dynamics within the league.

Say, if you are a highly-totted prospect and the Lakers don't offer you or they choose someone over you. Now we have all of this new, like, interpersonal stuff to mine and relationships between teams and players that haven't even had a former working relationship in any capacity. To me, it's taking what's interesting about like,

you know, the guy who goes to the second round and can name all the teams that passed on him and supercharged. charging it and giving it an influx of money and stakes and cash that would heighten the experience for everybody involved. And I like the idea that, like, let's just say, let's call it $10 million. I like the idea that one team would be like, no, we're going all in on this kid and we're going to give them all 10 of our money.

And other teams being like, no, we got three kids that we're going to give $3 million a piece to, you know, or $4,4 and 2, and we like really think the world of these kids. We think they're like under the radar, that kind of thing. I love that idea too. Doing that too, there's this thing that happens when guys come out as the number one pick in a relatively weak draft or a number two pick in a relatively weak draft. And they're held to the standard basically throughout their careers of, oh, you were the number one pick. Why can you not be this other guy?

Why can you not be a star? And if you allowed teams to break up their rookie exception, if we're going to call it that, as you say, rather than sign one Cooper flag, you're signing three really good players. in a different sort of draft class that's represented in the outcome, right? Because you'll see the number one, the projected number one overall pick level talent isn't going to make dramatically more

than some of these other guys might. But you'll see the overall flattening of the field and it'll look more equitable because it is more equitable. That's the kind of thing that I think just makes sense in terms of the way we conceptualize players. So are you opposed it all to this sort of cash incentive

for regular season performance? Like a bonus for winning the regular season. I'm not opposed to it, but how much could it, like, realistically be? And who's actually going to pay for it? Great question. I guess Adam Silver could find a bag for it or whatever. But, like, the thing about the Emirates. Hey, listen, you got bags for everything, apparently.

So do the Saudis. Like, the thing about, you know, European soccer, which I guess people point to as Adam getting a lot of his ideas from, It's like the relegation thing just can't be overstated. Like, teams literally get kicked out of the top money-making league. Like, they don't get to share in this huge amount of money when they lose. Like, every game matters because we might get kicked out of the league. Because three teams get kicked out every year.

Like, you can't replicate that. And, you know, that's why they try to do this too, because no team, no league owner is going to sign up in that. Wait, you mean there's years that I get cut out? out of the money? No, absolutely not. So, like, you can't replicate that. You'll never be able to replicate that, like, truth of that system. Like that is just like, you have to try to win everything or else you will be in financial ruin if you don't. But I do think, yeah, there can be tweaks to make the regular season more special. Here's one thing just to throw it out. You know, if the lottery odds are going to maintain the way that they are, you know, whether

flat for the bottom four, I believe, and then kind of scaling down from there. If you're in that bottom four, let's say hypothetically, you don't get the luxury tax payout that all the other teams get. So the way the system works currently is if you pay the luxury tax,

it goes into a big pot, and then that money is dispensed to all the teams that did not pay the luxury tax. It feels like if you're going to pay, if you're going to lose, not on purpose, but you're going to lean into it to get optimal drafts,

because that's the way the system is set up, you should not also be financially compensated for doing it. And I wonder if there's some sort of tradeoff where you put owners of these teams, governors of these teams, in difficult positions to say, are you sure you wanted this badly? Are you sure that the odds are set up as they are? But are you willing to tank at the expense of millions of dollars? I think that's a fair position to put these teams in.

Yeah, they'll just start signing bums to beat the financial threshold. and like these these cheap teams they they're cheap for a reason they're dedicated to the cheapness like they just are i think we should wrap it there with everyone in the world being cheap especially these broke boy billionaires who are trying to run NBA teams but thank you to isaiah blakley as always our producer today our proctor for these questions as well thank you to ben cruz thank you to everyone who send in questions keep them coming at ringer group chat at gmell dot com i will read them I will. I promise I will. Will they make it on the show? I guess it depends on your question. But thank you to everyone who listened. Thank you to everyone who's sending questions.

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