The Ringer NBA Show - News Dump: The Way of Wos

Episode Date: January 11, 2023

Justin and Wos run through some of the recent news around the Association, including Steph Curry’s return, Kevin Durant’s injury, and more. Hosts: Justin Verrier and Wosny Lambre Associate Producer: Isaiah Blakely Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up everybody? It's Austin Rivers from the Minnesota Timberwolves. It's a new year and I have a new podcast here at the Ringer, Offguard, hosted by me and my guide Pasha Higigee. Austin and I go way back and talk so much hoop already that we figure those time to fire up the mics and let you in on all of these conversations. Every week, Pasha and I will hit on the biggest stories happening in the league.

And get Austin's perspective of someone currently hooping in the NBA. Tap into Offguard every Friday on the Ringer NBA show feed on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. The group chat. I am Justin Barrier. Joining me, as always, Big Was. And that's it. It's just me and Woz today. What's up, Was. I'm good, man. Can't complain.

I know my man Rob Mahoney is out on assignment or whatever he's doing. I'm sure it's fantastic. Well, that's the problem here because I think Rob is just on vacation. Oh, even better. I have to say, Rob is probably one of the more, let's say, regimented colleagues. that we have here at the ringer. And yesterday morning, I sent out a topic and all of a sudden, Rob, just like, nope, see you guys.

Have fun. Well, listen, vacation is always better than work, so I'm happy for him. Yeah. Well, we were going to do a certain topic that we might reprise next week or bring up maybe somewhere down the road. But I figure since I have was here one-on-one,

I wanted to really lean into that. So I have a bunch of recent news items that I specifically want to ask Waz and get his take on. So we're calling this the way of Waz in honor of our friends in the Navi. I love that. It reminds me of I would have been in 6th or 7th grade. We had to do a project where you made your own country. And like you had to assign what your natural resources were and all of this other stuff.

and I named my country, Woznia, like Bosnia. Okay. I don't remember nothing about any of the other characteristics about the country, but it was called Woznia. Was it a communist regime? What was the union situation like there? We would have to take that offline, Justin. that is one of the key issues with asking wise things i want to know from was is that a lot of them

didn't make the cut here um for for reasons for employment reasons let's just say that uh all right let's uh let's start with uh the big news coming out of last night stephen curry is back uh 11 game absence he's back uh you got andrea i wadala back you got andrew wiggins back and they got almost smash, blown off the floor by the Sun. There was a late rally that I think you could kind of see the signs of what this team could be if they do put it all together. But I don't think it was the same triumphant return that I think a lot of people were expecting, especially because the Sun's team is basically like a G-League team at this point. Chris Paul's not playing, Dembooger's not playing DeAndre Ait and didn't play. So how are you feeling? Let's do maybe like a check-in on the

Warriors. I know you've been high on them overall. Like, do you feel like this is the time when the Warriors pivot to the world beaters that I think a lot of people, including you are expecting? Or did this deflate things for you at all? No, it's one game. I will say this just anecdotally, I was watching the Mavs and Clippers, and I just peaked at the Sun's score. And I assumed that Steph had to come back to last night, just looking at the score.

That's the funny thing about that. Then I ended up watching a little bit of it this. morning. But no, I hate to be this like, you know, oh, this is not what the numbers are saying, blah, blah, blah. But I just don't, I'm not worried about them specifically because the West just doesn't look that great. Even the teams at the top of the standings, whether it be New Orleans who Justin clearly hates, whether it be the Memphis Grizzlies, who I think the Warriors know exactly what to do and how to beat that squad, or even Denver, whose greatest weakness, which is at, you know, the center position defensively.

Not that he's a bum, but a team that's that good. They have to have a weakness. Golden State is especially positioned to exploit that weakness. And so mainly because of the competition, I think they could still do great things in the West. Now, I would probably still pick Boston or even a very, relatively healthy Milwaukee over them in a finals matchup. But out West, I think the way that the specific matchups and who can exploit what weakness,

whose strengths are multiplied by having played a certain opponent, that's what I think is going to dictate who gets out of there. And yeah, I just still like what they got. It's tough because I think you look out on the court and you just see the sheer breadth of talent. that even when Steph Curry isn't on, when Andrew Wiggins is still clearly working his way back in, it's a goddamn All-Star team out there. And it's tough to look at that and be pessimistic, especially as you're mentioning, the West is pretty wide open outside of maybe the top couple spots. The problem I have with the Warriors is that they typically need to be solid 10 deep in order for this team really to run because of all the ball finds energy,

Steve Kerr offense type of thing. And it seems like if they are not, strengthen numbers one through 10 and they know they're 10 guys and it works as well as they hope for it to work. I feel like they're just a little off kilter and I definitely think they haven't figured out a lot of those spots and I think they still need to figure out those spots yet. Steve Kerr talking after this game like Draymond Green is playing a lot of minutes at center. Kavon Lune is playing a lot of long minutes at center in part because our guy James Wiseman is nowhere to be found. But I do think they need like. like the auto porters, those type of guys.

They need to find those guys sooner than later, and the trade deadline's coming up pretty quickly. Yeah, and that's specifically a regular season situation, right? And I want to preface with my bullishness on the Warriors in the sense that I think in the playoffs, they will be an extremely tough out because it's not going to be so much of this 10-man rotation, egalitarian, beautiful game stuff. We've seen when push come to shove, when it's do or die time. Steve Kerr's like, yeah, let's just span, pick and roll with Steph, please.

Thank you. You know, and so I have the confidence that in those moments, they will be their best selves. And they got, they have seven guys. You know, it's a matter of finding that eighth and then, you know, depending on the matchup, that ninth guy that becomes matchup specific. And so, again, I hate to be the. person, but I don't want to sound the alarm on Golden State, even though, as you mentioned here on our cheat sheet, they are 3 and 16 on the road.

They ain't never been, there's never been an NBA finals team who in the first 19 world games of the season was 3 and 6. That's never happened. I feel, I haven't looked at the stats. I feel confident saying that's never freaking happened before. Yeah, like they'll go into Orlando, which isn't the most raucous crowd. I've been there before. and they'll just look like the Kemba Walker Bobcats.

And I'm like, what is this going on here? I can't explain it. I have no idea what's going on there. What do you think? So how do you feel about their prospects going into April and stuff? I'm getting a little worried, but I'm not at the point where like you, I'm ready to really hand ring about it because there's just so much talent here. And they do have like a 10 to 15 game stretch here before the trade deadline before they need

to do something. But I do think they're getting dangerously close to be. being a flip the switch team. Like they need to be a flip to switch team. And I think they have that in them, considering like the type of dudes they have on this team. But like, I don't think you want to need to do anything,

especially considering some of the competition they have going on. I kind of think they just need to get to the six seed. Just get out of the playing. And they'll be fine. But that's the thing, though. Like, if they're the sixth seed, like historically, it's not going to end well for them.

Like, those type of teams don't win the title. This is a historically strange season, though. This season doesn't have any precedence, right? Like, I've never seen the NBA this jumbled, not jumbled, excuse me, this spread out at the top with teams that can conceivably take it all. Like, I've never seen this before, right? And then, of course, there's the scoring boom. There's just what feel, and I know that the numbers might not bear this out, but the number. numbers of injuries, just people missing games.

Like people who are all-MBA, all-star caliber guys missing games. It just feels different. And so I don't think you can use history as a precedent, even though right now I'm about to. And I'm definitely, I think of these warriors as like the second of the two Pete Rockets, right, where they went. They did end up getting a sixth seed. And then the playoffs came and they were just better than everything.

everybody. And it was a lot of that heart of a champion stuff, you know, Clutch City stuff. And so that's how I view this Warriors team. Yeah, I mean, they have a lot going in their favor. Like, there's just the institutional knowledge. I think Iguodalic being back on the court was a bit of a boom. Even though, like, I think as the season goes on, he's like, I think it's a lot of putting a lot of stock in a guy who's probably been like two years washed at this point. He's put it all on the court. It's nice that he's still with the team. Like, it gives me the warm and fuzzies that the core four of the warriors is still around. But as far as actual tangible on court impact, yeah, Iggy, that is, it's tough at times. Yeah. And they do have

probably more than most contenders, the assets to make a move at the deadline if they so choose, right? They have all these young guys. They could trade one or two of them and still have some sort of like long runway of a future with like a Jordan Poole and Moses Moody if you just tradeoffs maybe some of the other guys they have in reserve here. The problem though, well, it's twofold now. One is they typically don't make a move at the deadline. I would assume that changes this year just because it's pretty obvious that something needs to happen here, if only just like getting a couple veteran steady hands back in the back of the rotation. The second part is did you see that Bob Myers came out with an ESPN podcast today?

Yes, sir. So it is from Omaha Productions, which is the Manning Corporation. It is called Lead with Example with Bob Myers. First guest, Stephen Curry. So he has the role that. That's really busy. I wonder how tough it was for his boss ostensibly to get him on his podcast. I got to say I'm a little concerned.

about Bob Myers State because we had the report from, what was it, Woge on Christmas or leading into a big game where it's like, hey, by the way, Bob Myers doesn't have an extension here. And he's like, he's coming up for his contract. And now he's doing media. And the media is coming out right before probably the busiest time in his yearly calendar. And so I'm just worried that there are too many of these things happening where it's like championship fatigue, which Shaq actually talked about last night if you watch T&T. It was like, yeah, it gets boring when you just win so much. You just have to, like, get through the slog of the regular season, et cetera.

But also, like, everyone on this team has a fucking podcast now, including the guy who's probably should be telling people not to do podcasts during the middle of the season. Okay. I'll say this. At the risk of our bosses hearing this, Justin, it ain't that hard to do a podcast. I'm sorry. If you know what you want to do up there and say, which I, you know, what little I know of Bob Myers just from talking to people who have a better understanding of the type of cat that he is, he's not going up there winging it. There's a purpose and there's a reason why he's doing this podcast.

And so I don't think it's going to be this thing that he's did. Like, you know, I remember I used to watch first take and Skip used to talk about he can't trust Tony Romo because he's a golf addict. And he's like, and he's like, yo, golf is a demanding mistress. He used to always say that about golf. And it's like, you can't be no NFL quarterback and be addicted to this game. I'm telling you it takes over people's lives, right? Podcasting ain't that, y'all. Bob Myers has an agenda.

He knows what he's going up there to do. And I'm not really too worried about that. And the other reason that I'm not, I think this is absolutely, PR spin 100%. That's the purpose of this podcast. And I don't think it's a coincidence that he's doing this with a contract coming up. That he's a broadcast deal with ESPN

so he could show every single other team out there. Look how smart I am. Look how connected I am. Look how the best player in the league. Best playing in the history of my franchise, my jobs franchise. He loves me so much. He'll come on my podcast and give me an hour.

These are the relationships I cultivate. This is just a commercial for the greatness of Bob Myers. And the reason why this makes me chuckles, kind of like everybody has had to do this on the Warriors, had to basically do the song and dance to Joe Lachop. Like, no, sir, like, you don't want to lose me. I'm actually really valuable. Steph had to do this.

If people who remember, if you could hear some of the sort of comments that Lacob was making, heading into Steph's, the deal that Steph is on now, like kind of pretending, like, that it was a possibility that this guy wouldn't get the full five years and the $250 million. Clay, Draymond, Iggy had to go out and get other deals before Lakeb ultimately paid him. Everybody in this, in the Warriors situation, has had to go out and show Lacob, like, no, sir, I know you have an inkling that I'm valuable. It's true, sir. Like you want me back here. And so this is just the latest episode of that.

And say what you want about Lakeham. To me, the reason why he's as good as any owner in the NBA is one, he's empowered very competent people like Bob Myers, like Steve Kerr, and then he's gone out and paid the hell out of them. And so I just think Bob Myers is going to get paid. So what you're saying is you won't be listening to lead with example with Bob Myers. So listen, I remember I was on Rasillo's podcast and I was explaining to him and Sir Rudy.

I was like, I listen to every single, I'd listen to damn near every single episode and because Ryan is Ryan, he was like, oh, really? What episodes don't you listen to? I was like, I don't want to hear players. I don't want to hear currently employed GMs and coaches. I don't want to hear what they have to say in public. They're just lying to us.

They're feeding us PR spin. They're never going to be candid. They're up there with an agenda. I don't listen to players and current coaches and GMs. Like, I love you, Ryan. I think you're the best at what you do. Interviewer, nobody's fucking with you. I don't want to hear what you have to say when it comes.

What coaches have to say on your platform, neither GMs or any of that stuff. And so no, I won't be listening to Bob Myers' podcast. No, sir. All right. Well, just to wrap up this warrior section, so they are currently eighth. in the West right now. They're 20 and 21. So I have listed here the West playing teams right now.

So, and I would assume this would be the race for the most part going forward. Which of these four teams out of the seven do you most believe in? So you think these are the four teams that are ultimately going to make the cut. Do I most believe in to like be in the playing mix or just do stuff in the playoffs? To make the play in at this point. you got the suns, warriors, wolves, jazz, Blazers, Lakers, and I threw in the thunder just for the hell of it. I think the Blazers are going to overtake the jazz

because their incentives just point in different directions. The jazz, we know, don't want to actually be doing as well as they're doing. And I have all the confidence in the world that they're going to find a way somehow how, Justin, to achieve that end. And so the Blazers and Jazz have flipped. And of course, I think ultimately the Warriors won't even be in the play in. And I compare it to just being at like a nightclub, right,

where the playing is like general admin, sort of gen pop. And the top six is VIP. Just get a table, Golden State. You're not going to regret it. I know it's going to cost you energy and time and effort to do that, but just get the table. You know, you want the bottle girls. You want the sign that says your name.

You, you, you're there anyway. You want to be in the postseason anyway. You're not a taking team. And so if you want to be in the playoffs, just do it right. Get in the real playoffs automatically. So you have the Warriors. You have the Blazers. Do you have the Sons?

Yeah, the Sons will ultimately make the playing at least. Yeah. Okay. and you have the wolves, not the Lakers. Wolves, not the Lakers. Unless, of course, the Lakers get real players in there, which I'm starting to think they're not. Should we just flip to that right now then?

Yeah. Okay. So I would have the Lakers in there probably just because of blind faith and because they've been halfway decent, even though Anthony Davis is on the mend and LeBron has been in and out of the lineup. So LeBron, as we know,

is kind of like slowly creeping up on the scoring record, cream scoring record. And ostensibly, that is why he is now on a media blitz where he's going and doing sit downs with the amen, which he hasn't done in a little while. He's doing sit downs with reporters. He's saying very pointed things,

very much from the playbook of LeBron. And then there was this weird CM Amic interview. I don't know if you saw this. on the athletic where it was basically Sam Amyick that's my guy yeah I love Sam Amyick

but there was like he basically transcribed all of their walk and talk wherein LeBron basically shot down and gave him non-answer for like eight questions in a row and then said something

what he maybe he thought he was off the record I don't know he's like you know what we should be doing anyway it just seems like the heat is on here Yeah. One, how does it feel to be back to old school LeBron?

Like does this feel like the first time, the very first time? You know what's so funny? This isn't really old school LeBron. Like the old LeBron was just way more passive-aggressive about this kind of thing. It's the kind of criticism that he used to, that used to be levied on him. It's like, you know, he's going to say snide things in the media. In the actual building, he's going to be icy to certain kind of people. You know, like he's going to do his behavioral stuff in such a way that the powers that be are going to take the hint.

I think this seems like desperation. This is not the acts of a guy who has the full confidence of what his front office is going to do or is in the pursuit of doing, right? Like, they're not. And so that's why we see this panic, and he's been doing it for days, for like a week and some change now. And it's kind of hilarious,

honestly watching it. It's just like, yo, LeBron, you have these people's phone numbers. Like, you have Rob Polinka's number. You have Jeannie Bus's number. you might have Kurt Ramis's number, right? You can get in touch with these people and let your feelings be known

and we have to assume that he already has. And so, yeah, this is comical, but it also, you know, it's like somebody the other day brought it to me. It's like LeBron is literally a child actor in the sense that he's been in the spotlight since he was a kid since he was 16, 15 years old. And this is kind of the only way

he knows how to get things. done is this sort of temper tantrum sort of thing. And so it's just hilarious. But like seeing all of this desperation makes me really believe that the Lakers is just like, we're fine with however this season turns out. We're not going to give up future assets for it. At a certain point, we have to stop doing this for you, LeBron, and just be like even semi-sensible, use our money to attract people, use the market to attract the right people.

and do it like a normal team. Like, let's just say a competent GM was running the Lakers, right? Like somebody who we really trust and believe in. Let's just say it was like Andy Ellsberg or something, right? They would not be trading away 2027 and 29 when they got all this money coming off the books. They would figure out something more creative than that. And so I think the Lakers are just like,

yo, we can eat this season and LeBron. Like, you're going to be damn good next year too. You probably only play 62 games. but you're going to be damn good. And we got faith in that. And we'll just stand pat. Like Russ comes off the books. All these other things come off the books.

The Lakers are the Lakers. People still want to be in this city, want to play for this franchise. I think they can be smarter about this than just doing another, let's trade away draft pick six years down. Like, this is crazy. Yeah, I almost feel like this is a long con by Rob Polinga. Like, this is slowly becoming self-fulfilling prophecy that he has. is taking his time and waiting for the right deal.

And he's waited so long at this point that the most prudent path to anyone. And maybe even LeBron eventually, when he actually steps back and tries to look at it objectively, is to wait. Because, like, best case scenario, I mean, the West is like topsy-turvy right now. And you could see them maybe getting into the top six if they do make the right deal and everything went right, but nothing ever goes right for this franchise, let alone any franchise. So this, like, what's most likely to happen is the Lakers get into the play-in,

and from there, it's an absolute slog. You're going to have to win one, if not two games, just to make the big boy playoffs. And then you're going to not have home court advantage for the entire playoffs against teams that have had rest and have deep benches that have, like, been waiting for these series for weeks, if not months in advance. And so I think that sort of evidence is tough, But at the same time, like, I do think it would have made sense to do this earlier.

But at the same time, I think it's like Rob Polinkas's like long strategy, basically to tease this out as long as possible. So this becomes the most important, easiest decision. Does that make sense? Yeah, 100%. It's like we're 19 and 22. You and AD are having a hard time staying on the court. This isn't the type of thing that we need to make a throw a desperation trade at. And all of that being said, well, I think the right thing to do is like,

and the problem with the strategy is that Rob Polinka and Jeannie Bus and her brain trust and, you know, heavy quote marks on the brain trust there are the ones in charge of it. And so it's like, what's going to make that strategy any better than whatever this trade would be? That's the monkey wrench in it. But, you know, I'll say this. if LeBron and AD were surrounded by like actual competence, I would put them up with anybody in the West. You know, that's the saddest part about all of this.

They, like, they are still so damn good that they, if they even had something resembling a team that made sense, you know, like Denver, who I picked to come out of the West before the season, their front office was like, man, we need guys that could chase dudes around at the point of attack. We need smart people that can move off the ball, move around the ball around what Yolkis does. Let's go out and get KCP.

Let's get Bruce Brown. Like these guys make sense next to what we're doing here. If they had a front office that knew like, all right, this is when LeBron and AD bring to the table. Let's bring in guys that make sense. This would be so good. And it's just such a shame that it's not. I will say this, though. Some of the guys that they've brought in over the past six months, some of the complimentary guys they found on the scrap.

Johnny Walker, great, great ad. Thomas Bryant has been solid as just like an offense. Did you watch a Sacramento game? I did. Oh my goodness. Like, like, Shooter is just shooting well. I don't know for how long that's going to work.

But there have been a lot of these moves on the fringes that have paid off. It's just, I don't know. This is just so tough. But Justin, that's what makes it even more egregious. It's not hard. To figure out what's going to work around LeBron and AD.

This isn't the Sixers trying to make Ben Simmons work, where it's this like complicated equation with a guy who, well, he has good court vision, but he can't shoot, and he's scared to shoot, and he can't do free doors and blah, blah, blah, and this, man. Like, this is so simple, you know, the fact that they've gotten it wrong so many times and so badly is almost an even bigger indictment.

Well, let me ask you this. Did they get this wrong this time? Like the Russell Westbrook. No, they got it right after the rusting. Yes. Yes. Like, yeah. This seems like a decent team.

I actually think the biggest issue right now is just Anthony Davis. It's just he's just not on the court. And the latest ESPN report is that he plans to begin the ramp up process. So he's not even ramping up. He is thinking about ramping up. So we're probably talking about trade deadline, all-star break. and they have to hold the line. That's like, what, 14, 15 games?

Basically what we're expecting the Warriors, like in the same time, we're expecting the Warriors to really, like, come to form. The Warriors, the Lakers need to play around 500 ball, and they've done that thus far, but I think it's a lot to be asking LeBron at age 38, like, empowering Thomas Bryan and the Austin Reeves of the world, who I believe has been hurt recently.

It's just, it's tough. I'm actually surprised, and maybe I shouldn't be at this point, that LeBron hasn't been more pointed. I know that he loves doing the passive-aggressive thing, as you mentioned. He almost acts like he's in the mafia or something where he just can't put anything on paper. Like, he just can't be on record. He would have to go out and say, like,

Rob Polinka, you're screwing this up. Jeannie Bus, get on this guy's ass. You're the ultimate decision-maker. I don't know what would be the positive. outcome of that. You know. Because they're not going to do it anyway. Yeah.

Like, yeah, I don't, to me, now you put yourself in a position where it's like, can, can things, can fences be mended from that type of scorched earth policy where you name names and point fingers? Because, like, really, but, you know, and part of it, too, this is partly your own fault, LeBron. Like, you're the one that had that, you know, that powwow and Brentwood at your crib with West where you guys had the master plan and it was like, yeah, we talked to Russ and it's going to be great.

Like, you, that happened. These stuff is reported. Like, you participated in this. Everybody knows that you were heavily instrumental in moving heaven and earth to bring Russell Westbrook to Los Angeles. So you have to eat some of this too. Some of this is like, you have to eat your vegetables, LeBron. Like, you ask for this.

You're getting what you want. You made your bed laying it. Too many cliches I know in that sentence, but damn. My conspiracy theory is that there are a lot more bodies buried, that if LeBron did go scorched earth, that we would start to see. Like, this is starting to sound like an episode of succession at this point. But I also think, like, there were some truths to how powerful people act in that, that, like, probably apply here.

We might find out that, like, maybe, like, I don't know, who's, like, J.R. Smith is getting a consultant fee on the line. I mean, yeah, look, again, as it pertains to the Lakers, what a lot of people don't understand is that Jeannie Bus is such a bad owner in the sense that she's very hands off. And that's why you hear about, you know, she even went on record when she was on rich eyes and shows like, there's nothing wrong with delegating responsibility and having people people that you trust and getting ideas. And these are people that I've known my whole life and blah, blah, blah, blah.

And she painted it as this great thing. But what people got to understand about a sports franchise is that when the person who actually holds the power sort of abdicates it, it doesn't just remain in the ether. That power vacuum gets filled by something and somebody. And in this case, it's been clut. You know, clutch is coming and be like, well, if nobody's going to steer this wheel, Rob Polink is the emptiest suit in America. We're going to take a open.

We're going to suggest bringing in 80 different clutch guys. We're going to be the ones that do that. But it starts at the top. Like, they can't fill that power vacuum if Jeannie Bus is actually fulfilling her duties as an owner, as the chairman and CEO of this team. Right. And so because she's such a horrible owner, and let's be honest, there would have already been a bunch of Jeannie Bus, like, real deal hit pieces if she wasn't at least savvy enough to cultivate enough relationships in the media with powerful people. And so that hasn't happened.

Like, the biggest dogs in the game are not going to go after Jeannie Bus. They're just not. She has the right idea of the wrong execution. Like she just believes too much in this idea of Laker history, the mythology, the manifest destiny of it all. And she just trust the people that she knows. Because I watched so much league pass, I was watching the Laker game at somebody's house who had cable. And I hadn't watched it. I never watched the studio show to James Worthy joint.

And I look up there and is Derek Fisher. on that damn panel. Derek Fisher just got fired by the organization from the WMBA team, the Sparks. He got fired. And now he's doing studio work. And the only explanation is this La Familia. Oh, he's, that's Justin, that's crazy.

That's insane. You just fired him. You know, and somebody pointed out to me, It was like, well, you know, it's kind of like Dolan fired Isaiah and he just stayed around or whatever. But like, you like, and he has his own like coach's corner graphic and they're calling him coach. And it's like, bro, this doesn't make any type of sense whatsoever except for in Lakerland. And so, yeah, man, it's like, all right, even if they're doing something sound, just to bring it all the way back, even if I think they're doing something sound by just what LeBron feels like. is a punt of the season.

What I feel like is just eating your vegetables and not chasing bad after bad after bad money. Do we trust his brain trust to make it right in the summer? I don't know. Who else is on that broadcast? It's like Robert Ory. It's worthy. It's worthy.

It's for the Kings game, it was worthy. It was Fisher and the host. Some middle-aged white guy. I think it's Geeter. I love that broadcast because I watch a lot of those games because I do have cable, one of five people in my age range. And like they're always wearing like these really nice suits, but then these like sneakers and they're always tossing a ball back and forth as they're waiting for the break.

It's like, what's going on here? Are we going to play two on two or are we going to talk about the shitty team? Just the last little nugget, man. The Lakers, you definitely got to. to watch out for them because I think they had threat to be sold to because what you hear anyway from people who would know is that there's like seven bus kids. None of them have real jobs and successful businesses on their own. They split that Laker revenue, all of them. And, you know, the windfall that would come to all of them from just outright moving the team,

there's more and more pressure building to do that because these people, you know, you know, and I think there's a good and a bad to it, Justin, when there's the sort of hedge fund VC type of people like the Lake Ubs and the Sixers Ownership Group and, you know, all these other kind of guys, the way they ultra-corporatized and professionalize the operation and some of these mom-and-pop outfits like the, like the Lakers are, like there's the good and the bad, but the bad for the Lakers is like, this is their revenue. This is why they're, this why they cheaped out on Ty Lou. This is why they, like, cut corners

every now and again, even though they're printing money. It's like, no, this is like literally the only money we make, you know. And so that's why you see all, like, that's why it's ran like some rinky dink mom and pop operation where it's like people who are relevant in 1984 are still making important

basketball decision because they once had a connection to the team, right? And so be on a lookout for the Lakers selling. that thing because, you know, as the days go by and these franchise values and this bubble going burst to some point, y'all, there's more and more pressure to sell the team and get the billions and billions and billions that a Lakers franchise would demand. It's always funny when people say that, that the Lakers kids all only get money off of the Lakers.

I'm like, what are you doing with your wealth that's been accruing for decades of your life? Like, isn't it like the easiest thing in the world to take money that was given to you and just make more money off of that? Like, can't you just put it in like the S&P and just like make a typical 5% and just like be fine for the rest of your life? Like what are they doing with their time? Yes, you could. You could in Wisconsin. However, in Los Angeles and the circles that these people run around in, it ain't going to be good enough to drive a fort explore to, you know, live in a certain. or to eat at certain places.

Like, it ain't going to be good enough, Justin. Like, I think what you're saying makes sense in a different place than a different, different sort of social environment. I don't think the bus kids can do that. Buy real estate, man. You've lived in the city forever. It's working for a lot of people. All right.

Last thing here, Kevin Durant. Now out. We already did our celebration of the Nets and how good they were last week. But perhaps that changed. I put together a watch party on Thursday for Celtics Nets. I was like, oh, this is going to be one of the best games of the season. This is going to be incredible. Sorry, next time.

This is going to be so great. And then, of course, this happens. So how are you feeling about the Nets? So just basics, which pretty much anyone, if you're listening to Stephen in the podcast, know at this point. Kevin Durant, MCL, sprain, third of his career, out for reevalue. you it in two weeks, but let's be honest, probably going to be out through, or up until

the All-Star break. How are you feeling about your Nets now? I think it's, you know, I think they've built up a nice enough cushion as far as, you know, they got one of the best records in the NBA now. Most of their other guys are back. So it's not like they're going to just create it without KD. They haven't been very good with KD off the floor all year.

But it's kind of different when you know the guy's not coming back. you play differently knowing that. And so a lot of their guys are back. Kairi's playing his best ball and God knows how long. And I don't think they're going to fall off of a cliff necessarily. And I think they're going to come back and be fine. I think they'll be able to play 500 ball in his absence.

The All-Star game break will fall in between it. So that would be even more time, the rest, while not having to miss actual real games. So I think they'll be fine coming out of this long term. I'm not very bullish on the Nets. I just think they're too heavily mid-range oriented. In the playoffs, I think that hurts them. Like having your offense be so dependent on making mid-rangers is going to ultimately hurt them.

They don't get to the line. They just don't score inside very much. And so I don't like their long-term prospects, but regular season-wise, I think they could tread water while KD's gone, and they'll finish the season up strong with KD back and tow. So I have two big concerns, at least for the immediate. One is just on the defensive side. Durant has been a huge part of that defense.

It's this second best defensive player. In part because they just don't have a lot of tall, long players who can ostensibly play center. Like, it's really just him and Nick Claxton. I assume that was going to be on their wish list going to the trade deadline anyways, but not having him as well, I think it's going to be a problem because although this is an offensive power team, the fact that they've been not just competent, but pretty good on defense has been a big part of the rise over the past month plus here. The second part is like you're trusting that Kyrie is going to buoy them in the absence.

And I don't think that's ever happened in his career where Kyrie's just been the guy who's like rally around me, get on my back. Like there's only so much you can say about game seven in the shot. I'll say this. The first Boston year was fantastic. He ended up ultimately getting hurt at the end of it, but it was fantastic. They started like 50 and 10 or something crazy like that. Like they were legitimately great. Kyrie was incredible.

The one Boston year. That's the beginning in the end of it. That's the beginning at the end of Kyrie as anything resembling savior or leader. And success. So, yeah, I understand that. But I just think Kyrie's playing for more than anything he's ever had to play for in his life. I think he's been brought low by a lot of this stuff was self-inflicted. Obviously, the, you know, taking days off on January 6 and his birthday,

the horrible stuff that he's posting to his Instagram with Amazon movies and all of that, the anti-Semitism stuff. Just the general ridiculousness that he's done, which has been. which has resulted in all of that embarrassment coming from the Amazon movie the Nike deal being lost this summer threatening Brooklyn

oh don't worry I'm going to go out and get a deal and there being no deals out there for him I think for the first time in his career in his life as a Hooper Kyrie's been humbled at all for the first time ever where he's for the first time

he's heard nose consistently you know, was this past year. And so that's what I think is the difference. I think he's playing for more personally than he's ever had to in the past. And so that makes me think that this might be slightly different from before. There's just a level of like, bro, like you ain't what we thought, what you think you are from corporate partners, from potential teams and suitors and stuff like that. So I think he knows he's playing for his next deal and you might see his play reflect that.

I think that's the big thing. This is contract year, Kyrie right now. And if he doesn't get hurt, which he is prone to do, and he's due for this season because I believe most of his absences have been a result of him just being sent away from the team. You're probably going to see that at some point. But he's like, he is motivated. So, like, he is the type of guy to carry a team for, like, a 10-game stretch and they can be fine. So I think my biggest concern is if it's not talking about Kyrie or the defense,

what I've heard a lot of out there in the internet ether is can Ben Simmons step up type of content? I'm just like, why are we even asking the question at this point? He's been playing well and credit to him. He's found a good role for him. I don't think he'll ever make it back to All-Star Ben Simmons guy leading a team, all this. He's a mid-level exception level player. Number 100 on our player rankings, by the way. Bro, mid-level exception type of player.

Okay, you wouldn't ask this of any other mid-level exception guy. Yes, he's getting paid max, but the quality of player that he truly is, value-wise, is mid-level exception. He ain't saving nothing for the nets. Let's get that out of our brains. This dude has barely evolved as a hoop-yphobic, since his rookie season in the NBA.

We need to stop pretending that he's going to do something besides be who he is. And now he's dealing with a nagging back issue. He's not going to save you, guys. He is not going to save you. Y'all better pray the Lord Jesus or Yahweh or Allah or Buddha or Jehovah, whoever it is that you pray to. Rich Paul, yeah.

It ain't going to be Ben Simmons that save you guys. So one of the kind of deeper cut storylines coming out of this, I think. KD was, I think, on the fringes on the MVP discussions. We talked about MVP a couple weeks ago. We didn't mention him, but I think if Tate was on it, then KD is certainly on it. 31 points a game, basically, seven rebounds, five assists. He's in the midst of just one of his better seasons. His best runs, yeah.

And the defense, as you mentioned. Yeah, right. Probably among his best two A seasons. Real shame for him to get cut down because it seemed like this was going to be the season where he actually played enough games to be in the thick of that conversation. And once we get down to it, it tends to lean toward the guys who have been playing most often. But now we're probably looking at another sub-70 game season. Hasn't played more than 55 since leaving Golden's State. I'm just a little worried. Like, I wonder if KD not only will not win another MVP, I wonder if he'll ever be in the thick of the conversation again. Oh, that's tough to say. I'll say this about this. At least this injury and the other MCLs, people fell on his leg. You know, I don't look at this the same way.

I look at like Devin Booker's always dealing with some nagging injury. It's always coming up with him. quad, hamstring, groin. He's always dealing with that type of nagging situation. KD, like a dude fell on his leg. You know, maybe he will have better luck next year if people are not falling on him. But, you know, I think he's still just so good.

And as long as he wants to, as far as, like, you know, as long as he's not putting Steve Nash's head coach level efforts, into things, I think he can get back to it. You know, and I say this as somebody who, I just didn't think Katie was ever going to be this good after the Achilles. I was like, how is this dude supposed to generate that level of separation and burst and, you know, get by people and rise and fire over people with a bum Achilles? And, man, to his credit, he's just looked incredible.

Basically, from the get-go. Soon as he came back playing from that Achilles, he's looked incredible. And so I don't see why he can't come back and do that. And, you know, reports out of Nets world is that this might be faster than the other previous strain. So maybe he'll come back quick enough to even stay in the thick of things. Yeah, I hope that this isn't the case that we see him right back in the MVP conversation next season, if not this season. I just, I wonder, given his age, if this is how things are going to go for it. I mean, she's not going to be playing as often.

And it's just weird because, like, I just feel like, LeBron, KD, we're getting toward the ends, like the twilights of these guys' career now, and it just seems like everything is just so weird. Maybe this is just aging for guys of this caliber, and I'm just not as familiar with it, or not as intimate with some of these players as some of the guys that have came before them. But it's just like Abron being wishy-washy about leaving L.A. when it's very clear that he should leave L.A., all the Kyrie stuff with KD. and now the injuries, just like very messy final chapters.

So I think the difference between what we're seeing with, LeBron and KD and what we saw with Tim Duncan and what we're now seeing with Steph is just the lack of institutional trust. And Steph and Tim Duncan and God bless them. They were smart enough to realize their situation was incredible as far as organizationally and managerially. And they could trust these guys, even if there were some lulls, even if there were some dips, they could trust the people around them to ensure that they would be in a good place professionally.

LeBron and KD have not felt that trust anywhere that they played, or in KD's case, I think playing in Oklahoma just got old, corny, boring, and whack, which I can understand. I probably wouldn't want to play in the Prairie for 20 years. But I think that's what you're seeing. It's just a lack of institutional trust. the nature, like, bouncing around, organizations doing what it takes to acquire free agents and, you know, trade for the AD types.

Like, that causes instability, you know, and this is the result of instability. This is the result of resets and shakeups and all of that stuff, constantly being the norm. And, you know, they're reaping those benefits, unfortunately, or those chickens are coming home to roost. I'm full of cliche. Chase this this this morning um but yeah i think that's what you're seeing honestly it's it's that's

what bouncing around gets you yeah definitely messier than i expected but i guess this is this is where we are um why don't we wrap it there unless you want to talk about jonathan isa coming back the preacher man i mean look when he was right a lot of people were really excited about him as like you know a new wage defensive type of center defensive players of the year potential kind of guy game changing kind of defender the type like Robert Williams type of stuff you know

when he's right and so I think if you're a fan of the game and if you're a fan of excellence of any kind you want to see this guy healthy but I just have I just I forgot this dude even was coming back like he's in the Lonzo Wall territory

for me where it's just like are these do these dudes have the the legs to even do this anymore. And so I hope he's reasonably healthy because when he was, he was a pretty fun type of cat to watch. And I hope he's done patronizing his teammates with Bible banging and all that kind of crazy shit that he was doing before.

Two and a half years since he last played. Crazy. Bigger comeback. Jonathan Isaac or Kevin McCarthy? Yo, I will say this, man. I have never seen somebody take a public beating so embarrassingly. as I have Kevin McCarthy you know what it was

you know what it reminded me of the last dance and how Michael Jordan was treating Jerry Krause it's like we can't I can't fire you but boy am I going to make you look ridiculous in public and it just embarrass you

and flog you just give you lashes all day this this reminded me of watching the TV series Roots in the Kuntikinti moment where they kept asking him his name and he kept saying Kuntikente and then finally he said

Toby, that was Kevin McCarthy. He was Kuntikente up in the house of representing Freedom Caucus made him say Toby, boy. Oh my Lord, have mercy. Yeah, when I think about Kevin McCarthy I immediately think of roots.

All right, why don't we wrap it there? Thank you to Isaiah Blakely on production. Thank you to Eduardo Ocampo for helping out. We'll be back next week. We'll see it.