The Ringer NBA Show - One Burning Question for Each Game 1 of Opening Playoffs Weekend | Real Ones

Episode Date: April 22, 2024

Logan, Howard, and Raja are back to help you digest a weekend of Game 1s and kick off the 2024 NBA playoffs. Along the way, the guys discuss the Pelicans and Thunder game, which came down to the wire (05:00); whether James Harden’s Game 1 against the Mavericks is fool's gold (12:00); a disappointing outing for Tyrese Haliburton (36:00); and much more. Later, producer Kerm reads your questions for Logan, Howard, and Raja to answer (57:00). Hosts: Logan Murdock, Howard Beck, and Raja Bell Guest: Jomi Adeniran Producer: Jonathan Kermah Production Assistant: Kai Grady Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Have you ever wondered about the meaning behind your favorite song lyric or why certain melodies make your skin tingle? I'm Cole Kushner and these are the kinds of questions I try to answer on Dissect, a podcast that dives deep into one album per season examining the music, lyrics, and meaning of one song per episode. I've dissected full albums by Kendrick Lamar, Radiohead, Tyro the Creator, Beyonce, Kanye, and more. Our latest season just launched all about MF Doom's Mad Villany. Listen to Dissect wherever you get your podcast because great art deserves more than a swipe. The playoffs are where fables are written. Real ones rise while the fallacy stays sitting.

The Coliseum calls for demise of away teams. Just listen. When the refs ain't calling is you gonna start bitching. When the shots ain't falling is you gonna start switching. Speaking of switching, can you guard your position? Because if you can't guard, then scouts gonna start snitching. And if they start snitching next year, you are on the pissed. Who's the best in the world when it's time to go the hardest?

What's akin to a joke? akin to a joker when he deals the cards. Is a two-headed maverick enough to topple the clippers? Can a pelican survive flight through a thunderstorm? Can the bucks be outpaced with the freak gone? Can the calves win their way off of NBA TV? Can the Knicks stomp over Joelle and Bede? Will we witness an aunt leaping over the suns?

are the self-ex really them ones? I can't answer these questions. But surviving the first round is just step one in this race for eternal victory. Let the real ones rise or let their playoff exits be televised. What's popping? Logan Murdoch here, Roger Bell there. Howard Beck and the motherfucking kiss out. This is Motherfucking Monday's the first of the 2024 playoffs.

We are here. Guys, I got one question for you guys for each playoff series. So we're going to start this off and we're going to go into the mailbag. It was a great, great, great, first weekend of postseason basketball. A lot of blowouts, but some vibes as well. I want to start, guys. First, how are you guys doing? What's going on?

Hello, Howard. What's going on? How's everybody doing? What's happened? I'm good. I was just going to immediately interrupt and contest your character. characterization of a great opening weekend because it was mostly blowouts. But that's fine.

You know, we should hype it up. It's cool. I was trying to, you know, just for the ratings sake, there were a lot of blowouts. I think Sunday,

Sunday was pretty bad in terms of the blowouts where like, that was the day where I was like, I'm going to sit down, I'm going to watch everything. I'm going to, I'm just going to chill. I'm going to do everything. And then Boston kicks the shit out of Miami and,

and, oh, okay, we're good. We're cool. All right. That's fine. We kind of expected. that, you know, and then who, then

it was, it was Clippers. Clippers Mabs. I'm like, oh, this is going to be the game of the day. This is what we're here for. Blowout. Nope. Then, oh, okay, but like, me and, me and, me and, uh, Raja hyped up Bucks, uh, pacer so well, it has to be good, right? No. No. Went to dinner. Came back. It was a blowout.

Then we finally get Pelicans Thunder, which, which is what we were all waiting for. Yeah. And Mofo's on the East Coast fell asleep at halftime. Like you. Were you the Mofo? Are you?

Had to watch it the next morning. Yeah. Waited it all day for the shit and then had to wait and watch it in the morning. Roger, did you fall asleep on the couch? Was it one of those things? Did you just tap out and it didn't wake? I made it to the bed. Like, and I'm like, I'm going to catch this second half.

Like at halftime, I'm going. I'm going to catch the second half in the bed. And then fell asleep. Like didn't even had a phone on a charger. It just was just all the way out. It's all discombodied. It's all fucked up, huh? Happens that way.

Let's start with that, though. Let's start with Pelicans Thunder. Thunder eke out a 94-92 win. It was a really, really, really fun, entertaining, competitive game. Larry Nance got all the offensive rebounds down the stretch. There were a lot of great C.J. McClellum game. But it was one of those games where, you know, me and Roger and Howard have always talked about how the thunder, you know, will need to prove themselves beyond their youthfulness

and prove that they can win on this postseason stage. Based on all the narrative this whole season, Howard, about how or if the thunder can adjust to this type of play, how did you think that they did and how big of a win is this considering, you know, all of the doubts that, you know, we may have had or the least, you league may have had at large and maybe they may have had about themselves. How big of a first game was this for the Thunder, Howard? Huge for the Thunder, but I also kind of thought huge for the Pelicans. No Zion and I think everybody, certainly I had already kind of written them off like that this is the Thunder.

We're just going to roll them. And so, yeah, I mean, we could talk about the Thunder, but I just, I want to just note right off the bat. Like, the fact that it comes down to a final shot and the Pelicans had a chance to steal home court advantage in game one after losing Zion and, you know, Ingram had just gotten back and looked like crap and then the first playing game just a week ago and everything. Like, that was a like really seriously gutty, impressive performance from the Pelicans who, you know, I think we've all been kind of not sure what to make of them all season. So who knows?

This might be a really competitive, really interesting series as it turns out. And the Thunder, yeah, I mean, I don't think that the league has doubts about who the Thunder are in terms of their talent, their ability, their upside, their long-term upside. But I do think that when you see a team in the playoffs for the first time and they're that young and that little playoff experience and coming in as a one seed, so now a bigger target on you than there would be otherwise, like it's important to kind of like show what you got right off the bat.

And they did. Shea was incredible. Jela Williams was awesome. And it was just a fun game, a fun competitive game. I mean, I guess if you wanted to do the glass half-empty thing, you'd say, well, no, Zion, the Thunderoff, they're really all that. They should be smashing them. But, you know, the NBA is never that simple. It was just interesting because, you know, if there was ever a team that can weather a storm without a star player at a high level, it's the Pelicans.

because of just the years and year in and year out over the last few years where they had to go to the postseason without Zion, whether injury or otherwise. What do you think of this Pelicans team, Raja? And how do they, I feel like, again, they're one of the unique teams that can still make this a competitive series

even without a star. Like I could still see this going six or seven games. Where do you see them at this point of the series after one game? Yeah, I thought that the Pelicans showed well in game one. I think that they have defensively the type of team with their length and their size that could give Oklahoma City some problems. If you let them control the tempo of this series, then they'll be even more problematic. I mean, CJ played well, but didn't shoot great.

I mean, I can point to, you know, I could point to meat left on the bone for them. B.I. 5 for 17. Like, if I'm looking for glass half full for them, we were right there and we don't think we played great offensively. Now, some of that we tip our hat to Oklahoma City for what they did defensively. But the reality is when this happens, you know, weirdly in the playoffs that we don't need to win every game in this series. Like we just need to steal one. And we were right there. We feel like we have a good recipe to get that.

done, provided we make a couple more shots in game two. So I like the Pelicans. I'm not ready to say I'm picking them to win it, but I like this to be a really competitive series. And, you know, Oklahoma City, they have great players. It was a good win for them. I agree with Howard and there was a good win, especially in the way you had to win that game.

Sometimes that win could mean more to you than just a blowout runaway win as a team that's trying to learn through the process. but make no mistake, all of this is relatively new for them. So you keep putting them in that situation over and over again. If you're a team like the Pels that have some real, you know, veteran leadership, you know, offensively and really hang their hat on defense,

you could put them in some precarious spots as an OKC Thunder team. So I'd feel pretty good, like, if I were the Pelicans after that game. I would have liked to have won it. That would have been heartbreaking, but, or it was heartbreaking, but I feel pretty good. Well, they're going to, it seems like they're going to go at, they're going to use Valachunas to go at home Grin every single time down the floor

right they're going to use that is how do you see that match up playing out because that was a fun one that I kept watching was those two guys going at each other they're going at home and seeing if he could he's been in the wait room the last few weeks right how does that adjustment play out

as the series goes on in your mind well I think if I were New Orleans I would not focus on trying to punish him with the ball trying to punish Chet defensively by putting the ball in Jonas's hands as much as I did. I mean, there's a ceiling on how many points he's going to score, period, right? No matter how many times we give it to him. And I think to some degree, that's not who they are.

So taking it out of B.I's hands and McCullum's hands and other people's hands ultimately hurt you. So I would let him just punish him the way he did on the glass. I would let him just, you know, we'd give him a touch here and there and let him do what he does. but I wouldn't be so concerned with just force feeding him the ball on the post as an offensive weapon as much as I would ask him to continue to make that assault, you know, on the on the offensive and defensive glass. I mean, we have 20 boards last night. So that's where I think, like physically we have to take our toll on chat more than trying to just force feed him the ball in the post. What do you have one in game two, Roger? Hmm.

Yeah, that's a. This one's a tough one. I might go with the Pelicans in game two. I think I take the Pelicans in game two. I think everyone plays a little bit better offensively for them. The question is whether Oklahoma City does the same. But I think I'll take the Pelicans in game two. Who you got, Howard?

Yeah, I think I'd go Pelicans too. Ingram's still getting his legs back under him, and he went five for 17 in game one. They got plenty elsewhere. But I think the more that Ingram gets his legs under him and gets comfortable. He can, you know, he can resume being that kind of number one option for them. And yeah, the Thunder, look, let's just go, you know, full tilt with the stereotypes here.

Thunder, young team, first time in, happy to get that first win. Maybe they let down a little bit for game two and the pelicans get to steal one and make this an interesting series. It's going to be a long series, which means the pelicans are going to win in game two. We will see what happened. Let's go to the Clippers Mavericks where probably the biggest dud of Sunday. Right. Because like on paper that game was supposed to be an epic, right?

It's one of those afternoon West Coast games that with the star power and all of that. And it was just a complete dud. But one of the highlights for the Clippers was, was Rogers guy James Harden, who had 28 points, eight assists, six of 11, 50 point range, but really played well in the first half. and kind of took a victory lap out after the game. Just like, I can still score. I still got it. I'll start this with Rajah.

How much do you trust hard to sustain this level of play at this stage of his career consistently at this stage of the postseason? After one game of what you saw, is the jury still out on Hardin for you? Yeah, of course the jury is still out. The trust level isn't there, but I'm not naive enough to think that a player like that, once he gets it cooking and he feels like he's in a good space, can't keep that up and cook you in a series.

Like I think he's fully capable of that, even at this point in his career. Do I trust it? I don't have a lot of examples of why I should, but I'm not crazy. Like, I mean, he clearly can still get it cooking. How much does he have to prove to this year, Howard? Because we saw what happened last year in Philly, even when he had a game, when he had a, I guess the biggest games that stand out or the biggest series that stands out. is the Sixers Celtic series where he goes does really well to start the series and then kind of flames out, which brings all of the, I told you so, about Hardin.

He has a chance, especially with Kauai's injury, which we don't know how long Kauai is going to be out. It seems to be the recurring thing that happens every postseason now. But how important is this postseason for him in all regards in terms of, I mean, it's a contract year and all those things, but in terms of how we view Harden, how important is this for him in this postseason to do well? No, it's huge on every level, not least of which, as you just kind of alluded to, like, are the Clippers resigning him long term this summer?

Is he part of that move to the brand new arena in Inglewood and all of that? And the Clippers need James Harden to still be, you know, somewhere in that all-starish level to make it worthwhile. That was the whole point of the exercise, you know, Tailu has been pining for a point guard for years to go with Paul George and Kauai Leonard. The funny thing is, the funny thing is, with Kauai out, suddenly there's so much more responsibilities shifted to James Hardin yesterday. And my first thought would have been, and I think a lot of people's would be, well, all right,

the beauty of the Clippers situation for James Hardin is he doesn't have to carry the whole thing anymore. It's not Houston where he had to carry the whole thing. It's not even Philly where a lot was still on him in a two-person partnership with Mb. Now it's like you have two guys who are both absolutely capable of winning a ton of games on their own. You just have to be a great facilitator and situational score. You don't have to be the high usage guy. You don't have to pound the ball into oblivion.

And here it was suddenly they needed him to actually be old school James Harden. And he was in a really important moment. I think most people kind of like I haven't seen anybody prior to this series picking the Clippers. Everybody was picking the Mavericks based on the Luca Kyrie. Guilty. Yeah, right? And then when Kauai's out, it's like, well, there you go. That's it.

Game over. And it's a blowout in the other direction. So all the credit in the world is James Harden for stepping up at the exact moment that they needed him. But to your question, Logan, like, it's not going to mean anything if they don't win this series. And it's not going to mean anything if Hardin can't keep repeating that over the course of the next however many games it takes. So if the Clippers win the series and Hardin keeps it up at this level with or without Kauai, it's going to do a lot. Because I do think the closer he gets to the end of his career, every one of these games, the postseason games, become absolutely critical to kind of, you know, just kind of buffing up his reputation a little bit. Right.

Like he's going to go to the Hall of Fame. He's an all-time great. I think he was on the 75th anniversary team. He's got the MVP. Like, all that's fine. But his postseason resume has always been in question for good reason. And this is a great opportunity to change that. Roger, how do you prepare for a game or a series when you don't have no idea if your star player is going to be there on it?

Or your best player is going to be there on a night-and-night-out basis, right? Like the Clippers have had to have experience with doing that. but it still doesn't it doesn't help that you've been planning all year. Oh, this guy, Kauai's been healthy. All season is the healthy he's been, healthiest he's been. And then all of a sudden he goes down.

And there's always, and I don't know if there's a criticism for this, but there's always been this air of mystery around Kauai's injury that no one can ever explain or his availability of no one ever can explain. How do you prepare alongside that as a teammate when you never know on a game? given day if he's going to make it to a game.

It's difficult. I think a few things, though. They're used to it, at least to some degree. So you've got experience in that space. Today's game lends itself to being able to kind of transition into playing without one of your stars more so than yesteryear's game because there were more specialists maybe in our era. So if one of your primary ball handlers, creators was out,

There were less people on a roster. They were going to be able to assume those responsibilities. In today's game, everyone pretty much, not everyone, but a lot of your roster can create. So organically, I think it's less of a problem, but especially on a team like the Clippers who have, to Howard's point, a guy who you've asked to not do that for the better, you know, for the betterment of the team,

for the greater good. And now he just gets to step back into that role in James Harden. And he's like, okay, we're fine. I got that. I mean, even Russ a little bit in a diminished capacity. But like, you have guys, Paul George, that it's not a big deal. Like, sure, we miss something and we're better with him. And, you know, there'll be reasons on both sides of the ball that we can point to.

But you're positioned in a place where you just kind of go out and do what you do. Like, and you couple that with the fact that they've had to navigate those waters before. I think they're okay. I kind of like Russ as a guy that, Like, he's similar to the 2012 Olympics here where he's just like a guy that has a specialized role. I love specialized role, Russ, right? Who's just talking shit and is playing defense and hits an occasional three. Provides energy.

Yeah. But doesn't have the full responsibility of the offense. I kind of like this, Russ. I'm excited to see this. But let's go quickly before we get our predictions for this series. For the Mavericks, you know, I'm looking at the stats right now. Dodgers and Irving combined for 64 points and they lose by double-digit steel.

Roger, you've been in a situation where the scoring, guz fluctuate between, well, the scoring is held down by star players, but you need to figure out on a given night who's going to be that third option. Where do we find this third option on this Mavericks team?

I don't have the answer for where you're going to find it, but they better find it. Someone's got to chip in from night to night. I mean, PJ had 11. You know, I'm going to need him hard a way to get involved. I'm going to need Daniel Gaffer. We have to figure out ways to get someone. You can't, you're not going to.

Clearly, they're going to be your 1A and 1B, but you have to have some supplementation from a bucket standpoint where you have no chance. And then just generally speaking, I know this wasn't the question. They were getting bullied out there. like the clippers the clippers were out there way more physical way more quote unquote playoff style mentality like dallas has to wake up in that space pretty quickly as well or or they're going to get punished again i don't care what luca and kairi do there was a uh i wish i

could remember where i saw it it was on twitter but somebody posted like a little uh handmade graphic of like a little flowchart something about like you know did the mavericks win and it was like arrows down to a couple things. It was like, did the role player, did the guys not named Luca and Kyrie score? No, no. Mavs lost. Did they, you know, did somebody else score? Yes, Mavs won. Like, it was basically all about like, they'll win if, if the role players do something. Because you know Luca and Kyrie are going to score. And they are. Like, this is a classic top heavy team, right? There's not, you know, I mean, Tim Hardaway Jr.'s had his moments in the course of his career where he's going to get hot and, and scoring bunches. But there's no really,

but nobody else really that you're thinking like, okay, that. guy's going to get hot and go off, right? Like, I don't think we're expecting, you know, a 30-point game from Dante Exxon or or something. Like, I get to question. It's a serious question for them. And that is their challenge in this series. And I think if you're the Clippers, you're more than happy to see, you know, Kyrie and Luca, you know, do what they do.

Not a super high efficiency either. Like, Luca didn't, it was not a great Luca game efficiency-wise and see nobody else do anything. I think that was a happy moment for the Glippers. Yeah, we had one, I mean, you got one other player in double figures. He had 11. Nobody else had more than six. Like, we can't do that, fellas.

I mean, I don't, I've never been the focal point of an offense, but. But you're out there, you know, with all-time, like, scores, and you're going to leave, me on the court for 30-some minutes. I got to have 12. Yeah. You know what I mean? Just flying around offensive rebanks. and getting a steal and getting on the break.

I mean, I got to get 12, dog. I can't be out there having four and three and say we can't do that. Yeah, no, it's, it's the interesting thing is like the Mavs offense is and their Mavs team philosophy is Dachach and Kairi impose their will on the other team. And if that doesn't happen, we're fucked. And that's a lot of pressure to put on two guys. So, I mean, I don't know. We'll see what happens.

They'll start with my pick. I'm going to go with the Clippers in game too. I just, I think I saw a good sample size of what can happen. And Dallas doesn't have their supporting cast, then they're kind of cooked in the series. But I think the Clippers hold firm in game two. What do you think, Howard? You know what?

I think the Mavericks, like this is one of those classic moments where we're all going to say like, you know, Mavericks, you know, they just don't look like they're up for the moment or whatever. The Clippers found something that works. The Mavericks will win game too. Like I, like, they've had an incredible season. and we know the better than they were yesterday. One of those weird afternoon games.

In L.A. Yeah, in L.A. It'll be fine for game, too. It's a tough one because that was ugly. Although I don't think the Mavericks look like that again. I had the Mavericks to win the series. I'll go Mavis. I'll go Mazz in game, too.

During the Mavericks Western Conference running in 2022, never won a game one. So those odds are on your guys' side. Let's stay in the Western Conference. Let's go Suns Timberwolves. That was tough. That was a tough watch if you're a Suns fan. Sorry, Roger. Can the Suns match, can the Suns use their lack of size to an advantage? It looked pretty bad. They were out rebounded, I think, by like 30. They got bullied all game long. can they find some level of defensive prowess considering their size and their I don't know

in the in the in the roster that they have can they figure out the physicality to be able to match Minnesota Roger yeah I don't I don't think you have to I don't think that trying to out physical Minnesota is is the answer for them I mean you have to be better in that space but that's never going to be what

what ultimately is the reason you beat them. That'll never be that. You have to move. Like, your advantage is that you are smaller. In theory, you are quicker. It should be harder for some of that length and size to chase you around the court. Make them have to do it. Like, you know what I mean?

Like, make them have to do that and then try to get at them like that. If you let them get that defense set and you're not moving and this is ISO basketball, I mean, you're playing right into the hands of length, size. We hang our head on defense mentality. That's what you're doing. Stars have to be stars. Make no mistake. If we can't be out here with Devin Booker and Bradley Bill,

if I'm sitting here telling you this is another team like Luca and Kyrie, where it's top heavy, that's where you're going to get your point production. And we got 17 and 18. That ain't it. That's role player shit. That's their role way. That's what it is. I don't mean, I'm not saying that they're role players.

Clearly, those dudes are dope. But in the playoffs, you're trying to win a series, that is role player like territory. Were you most disappointed? Which, which sub 20-point game were you more disappointed in? The Bradley Bill or the David Booker one? I mean, I'm not, I'm not disappointed. I'm not disappointed in either one of them.

the one that can't do that is Devin Booker. Like, we can't, we can't do that. Like, you're just, you're too good of a score. We've seen you do it in big time moments in the playoffs before. Like Bradley Bills been in and out a little bit this year, maybe still feeling his way around. Clearly was going to be at least 2B in the offense or 2A in the offense.

So like, let's give him some sort of a pass, you know, but like R1B, we cannot do that. How confident are you, Howard, that the Minnesota Timberwolves can maintain this level of play in game two, right? Because like Oklahoma City, they have had the rap of being a young team, even though that they have been in postseason play in the last two or three years. They still have that jacket on them. How confident are you that they can maintain this level of play going into game two? I'm absolutely confident in large part because this is a. a team that's always hung their hat on defense. They're just a big, tough physical team. And I think

that that translates much easier than if you are just a, you know, high-octane offense, young guys running around the court, shooting, scoring, having a great time. Like, sometimes that stuff goes away in the playoffs. You get a little tight and your shots don't fall. You get tight on defense. You're still playing defense. Like, I just, I think that the character of the team, the style of play, translates well. Plus, look, in the past, if we had doubts about the Timberwolves, not just the youth, it was like a team built around towns or a team built around towns and Wiggins or whatever. They just seemed a little soft. And like the Anthony Edwards versus the Timberwolves, not soft. And besides that, you know, whether it's, you know,

Gobert, anchoring the defense or Jaden McDaniels, this is just a team that just plays tough. and like they're making it hard on the suns. Phoenix has never really, like, I don't want to say never really. Phoenix has only occasionally looked really comfortable with their stars, finding a rhythm with each other and being able to be explosive on the same night. And so when Devin Booker's, you know, scoring 18 points in a playoff game, five for 16 from the field, it's just feeling to me like a reminder that this thing has never been all that fluid

and that they really haven't, even in a year plus time together, they haven't had a ton of games. And yeah, like, the suns, we know how they were built. Like, it was extremely top heavy. You know,

you see them only going, Vogel only going really seven deep on the rotation. Like there's a bunch of guys played garbage time. But like, he doesn't trust a lot of guys and they don't have the size. And no, like I'm not saying it's going to be a sweep, but I,

I absolutely think the Timberwolves are winning this thing, and I don't think it's going to take that long. Well, let me just say something else, Logan, because Howard's correct. The way that you would counter a team that can do that to you defensively and at least, you know, theoretically be able to get these guys playing together better offensively is to move a little bit. Like to move, you had 16 assists in that game.

Like, that just speaks to your. standing there watching, you can't do that to good, as a defender, my dream scenario would be you come down the court, give me one little light action, and then somebody goes to work. Nothing changes for me. I get to stare, I know what's happening. And so, you know, only when things start to move and assignments have to be communicated and executed, can you cause some confusion and get good defensive teams to make the mistake that you're able to take advantage of, right? And over the course of a game, you have to create some of those. Or it's just too hard in the NBA to score on defenses, especially good defenses.

So, you know, I think Howard's right. They got to get that thing moving a little bit, man. But how do you find that trust, though, Rajan? Because when I look at the sons, I don't see a team, I mean, Vogel is one thing, but I don't see a team that trusts each other and that's on a string, right? Even after all of these, after all these months of playing together, right? I know there was injury with Bradley Bill, and I know that they have dealt with some things. But I don't see that level of trust.

And I think the postseason exposes that on a grand level, all the problems that you've had during the season. How did they find that on the fly before it's too late? Yeah, I don't have the answer to that. I mean, it's just constant communication within the locker room, in the meetings, in the film session. Just, you know, you're going to wind up being a team that does one-on-man. one type of stuff a lot of the time. And it goes you have brilliant scores. And I'm not saying that not, I'm not saying that that's not how you, you know, operate.

But, you know, season, season on a total for the season, like those dudes were up around 25, I think 26 assists a game, something like that. You were at 16. Again, that's 10 less. So, like, it's not about, like, trying to recreate something that we haven't done all year. Like, let's get back to what we do. Yeah.

Like, especially when we're playing the defense, it's as good as, as, as, Minnesota. I don't know. I don't really have much trust in your Phoenix Suns, Roger. I apologize. I think they're going to lose in game too. What do you think, Howard? Yeah, I agree. I think this is going to be a gentleman sweep, you think? Yes. Yeah, I think that's where this is going. Listen, we were doing our roundtable on the ringer last week, right? We were all talking about, like, one of the questions was the biggest reverberation from these playoffs. And there were so many choices potentially to pick because so many teams have potentially massive consequences for losing too soon this spring, more so than in the average year.

And like the suns are really high on that list. And I did not write about them for that particular item. I went with the bucks who we'll talk about eventually on this show. But yeah, like the flaws of the suns were evident from the beginning. Yeah, Timberwolves are winning game two. Yeah, I'll go with the T-Wills. I'll follow you guys. It's tough.

Yeah, it's tough. I don't, I mean, Ann Edwards is just a monster. Shout out to Aunt Edwards. Like, I like, I like what he's about, just spirit-wise. But I'll go with you, Timberwolves. I'll go to T-Wolves in game two. I'm not telling you that we can't go back to the desert and win two there. I think in game two, I'm going to take the T-Wool.

It's tough, man, because the sons are that older team that could have said, yeah, man, we could beat one of these younger guys. I don't know what team that you could have put in front of them right now, that they could have, you know, a good team where you could, you could just reasonably say, oh, they're going to win seven games. And that's tough when you have the three-headed monster of, you know, of Beal, Booker and Duran. It's just, they're not fun to watch. It's tough to see a team get beat like a drum.

like that and then have confident. Like, that's hard. So anybody listening from the Sun's perspective and you've disappointed in me, I feel you. But did you see the way they got beat? It was not a fun, it was not a fun game at all. It's not a fun game to watch. Yeah, it was tough. Anyway, that's a very sad way to go to break. But let's take a break and we'll come back. We'll maybe some happier topics for Raja. Hello, real ones. It's me, Joe Me, back with another packwatch and fellas.

You're treating me good. Last week, the Warriors, this week the Kings, let's go. I just got one thing to say. No more beam. No more beam. No more beam. We're shutting that thing down.

Look, first and foremost, California, you know what I'm saying? A little energy thing going on. We can't be affording to spend all that. light for the purple thing to attract the aliens, you feel me? That's one. And two, let's talk about the basketball. All right. Here's the thing about Demontas, right? It's really sub-bonous when you get him in the postseason because unless he's playing AD, he looked like a regular dude, all right? Against Traymond, against Dronus Valachunis, he want to play regular. But against AD,

he turned up. Fox can't carry him all the way there. Look, I know, I'm a little harsh. I'm a little harsh. but I do want to send a shout out to Mike Trudeau. He said the Kings would have made the playoffs. And lo and behold, the postseason has started, and they are nowhere to be found. It can be tough. I'll just going to leave y'all on a little, you know, a little song from my friend,

Dwayne the Rock Johnson. I'm sure you've heard it before, but let me spit it for you. Well, I might take a plane. I might take a train. How do you people live here? You must go insane. I'm leaving Sacramento.

Sacramento, I won't stay. See you guys. Thank you. And we are back. Howard kind of previewed it. Let's talk about the Bucks and the Pacers. I feel like, and I just want to, I think this is really too early for my first apology,

but let's just go with it. I want to apologize to Dan Willard and the Milwaukee Bucks for just the disrespect that we have laid on them. I mean, it's very been very warranted, but I didn't know that they had this in them in the game one, where Dame goes for 33 in the first half and they just beat the brakes off of the Pacers. There was nothing that the Pacers could do.

It was pretty over before it began. Just tough. Ken Howard, what did the Bucs show you and can they sustain this level of play without the Bucs? Because I feel like this is a, if they can play like this for the rest of the series and it's tough because going into Indiana begins its own set of challenges.

But can they sustain this level of play? And if they do, maybe get a gentleman sweep or sweep out of this, how much does that help Janice Adikumbo in his return back into the lineup? I mean, the medical question is impossible. Who knows how serious it is and what the odds are of him coming back during the series or if they got to the second round, that part's hard to chart out. But yeah, obviously, the longer the bucks can stay in this thing, the better they have of not just winning this series, but of saving their postseason from potential disaster,

which is something that I did write about, as I think many of us alluded to in various ways in that piece on the ringer last week. I had, there were two things I thought about with no Janus in this series. And I think we, I think all of us, no, not all of us. Most of us, when asked to pick one upset in the first round, a bunch of us picked Pacers over bucks. And we all look dumb today. But the thing I thought about it was like...

Still early, though, Howard. Still early. It's early. We have a chance to still look not dumb. Less dumb. I wondered about how the bucks would deal with Siakum without Janus. And oh, look, Seacom went for 36 and 13. So, okay, I was good there.

And I wondered how they would generate enough offense, given that Damien Lillard, by all statistical indications this season, and over the last couple of years, is just not the same Lillard who could just power you through night after night in the playoffs as he did in Portland for all those years. And lo and behold, Dame Lillard had a throwback kind of game, or at least a throwback first half, which is really all he needed. That was incredible. That was awesome. That was fun.

I am more than happy, always thrilled to be wrong about thinking that a star who has given us as many great moments as Dame Lillard, thinking that, you know what, I'm not sure he's got enough left in the tank anymore, or he's worn down, or he's got too many miles. I'm always happy to be proven wrong on that. Because watching Damon Littleer do that stuff is just awesome. It's fun. So no, did not see that coming.

So the question that obviously becomes, well, all right, can he keep doing this? Because if they don't have that, no, I don't. I'm not looking at that roster and saying, like, well, Chris Middleton is going to carry them night after night. Like, you'll have a Middleton game there somewhere. But, like, you just, it's really hard to replace what Janice does. You can't. But Damien Lillard is an incredible luxury to have, knowing that you can build

an entire offense around him and see him do what he did. Can they win this series playing the way they did yesterday? Yeah, I think they can. And the Pacers have had a really up and down season. They're a mostly very young team, the Siakum edition in midseason notwithstanding. And, you know, obviously Halliburton slowed down over the course of the year after that hamstring injury. Halliburton had a really kind of lackluster game one. You know, in a normal year where Janus were healthy, I would have just said it's not the Pacer's time.

I would have just said, like, fun team, great team, up and coming team, not their time. It's the Bucks. But the Yannis injury

and the Bucks' weird season made me think otherwise. And now I'm waffling. I, what, Roger, when you see that Halliburton has seven shots, what do you think?

I'm shot attempts. He shot attempts. It's not even within the realm of possibilities, dude. It's not, it's not. It's not. It's not.

And this isn't, I'm a Tyrese Hallibur and fan, my dog. Like, you can't be out there taking that level of responsibility, like, in a playoff game. I don't care how many points Siakum had. And, yeah, okay, he hasn't maybe been the same player. But for that team to be what people were excited about early in the season, you have to be a bigger participant in the offense. Even if it ain't clicking, you got to be aggressive. in a way that is setting a tone for people.

I talk about this all the time. Like, we need to look around as role players and see the look in our star player's eyes that is comforting to us, which is, no, dog, I'm good. I'm here. And even if you're not playing great, you're still in attack mode.

And if you don't see that, especially on the road, that can put you in a really weird space. So seven shot attempts is not, I can't foresee it happening again. someone is going to get to him and have that conversation. To Howard's point, you got, you got a Dame Lillard, you know, like a Dame Lillard performance. And you got the Chris Middellon.

You got a Chris Middleton game. Like you got 20, you got 23 from Chris Middleton. And so I'm sitting here saying all of that. And if Janus isn't back, Dame has to play like that for them to beat the Pacers. He's got to play like that. If Dame, if Dame's not playing out of his, not out of his mind. mind, but like to the tune of old dame where he's carrying every single night, I think it's going to be hard to beat them. Now, maybe he, maybe he can. But that remains to be seen. So I'm not

out on the Pacers yet, but they better, if Halliburton isn't able to, you ain't got to be a superstar, but at least put himself back in the conversation for being, for being a star in this league in a playoff series, then they don't have a chance. So I'm not out on the pastures yet, but A lot of that hinges on Halliburton. Roger, what's the difference between a four of seven game and a four of 20 game on a player? Like just even from a level of aggression standpoint. Because I think you'd rather see, it's not the fact of what he made. It's the fact of what he attempted.

So I know you'd rather see four of 27 than four of seven from your star player. What's the difference between those two types of outputs? I mean, would you rather be in a fight and land four 20 punches and get beat or stand there and get hit in the face and only swing seven times? One is I'm fighting back.

The other is I'm not. I guess it depends on how many times I got punched. Yeah, but let's say that fight lasted for like, I don't know, for three hours. Like the one in they live? You would want to be fighting back. It just says, again, all jokes aside, what it says is, like, one of our best players, you know, the driver of this, the conductor, the one who makes it all go, is here.

Now, he might not have it tonight. And that's forgivable. Like, you know, some nights you don't have it. Now, again, that's what separates superstars from stars is the guy who's there more nights than he's not. but you can forgive anyone for not for not having it on any given night, but you're not giving us a chance if you're shooting the ball seven times. You're not giving yourself a chance and you're not giving ourselves a chance. And we can't, we can't play like that.

Let's go to predictions really quickly. I think I got the Pacers going in game too. I think they have a shot just from all the things that you've laid out, right? Like somebody's, and I think Halliburton will take more shots in game two. I think he's going to be a lot more aggressive. I think he's just cut from that claw. and I'm just not confident that a Middleton game is going to supplement a Dane game in that way.

I just, and also I don't trust the Bucks consistency. Not that they say they can't win this series, but I'm going to go with the Pacers for game two. It's the gut feeling. What do you have, what do you have, Roger? I too take the Pacers in game two. I just, I, yeah, I'm going to take the Pacers in game two as well. Who do you have, Howard?

I'm reeling I'm reeling from how badly I buried the bucks last week and to see that So I'm gonna be scared man I'm going to harm I'm going prisoner of the moment I think bucks win game two

But I do think there's a very good chance That this is one of those series where it's just the whole Home Court thing Bucks win the first two Pacers win two back home and this thing goes at least six So bucks in game two All right Um, Sixers Knicks game two, which is where Howard will be tonight.

So, you know, all your real ones say, what's up to Howard when you see him, bow down to a legend, you know what I mean? At the garden, no, the vibes. Um, how concerned are you with, uh, Joellen B's health, Howard going into game too? Oh, God. I mean, I'm not sure what was more worrisome when he went down or when he came back. Like, that looked, that looked horrific when he went down. And even like if you were watching his eyes, you know, they had the overhead look, that overhead camera thing. And like his eyes are rolling back. And like he's one eye is fluttering while the other one is still closed. And what I'm like, what the hell? Like I, it was like a boxer down for the count. And I thought, well, all right, that sucks. And B's gone. That's it. We'll see him again in October, November. And then he came back. And I was more worried. And look, I'm, I'm, I'm,

glad he was able to come back. You'd never want to see. By the way, quick aside, since it's happened already with every series we've hit so far, it absolutely sucks that this is a postseason where we're starting where it's like, Embed's not 100%. Kawhi's not playing yet. Yanis isn't playing yet. On and on.

Like there's so much of this happening. But, like, Embedd is clearly not going to be 100% in this postseason, however long the Sixers post season lasts. So on top of it within the last couple hours, there was a report that Maxie is now listed as questionable because he's got an illness. None of that bodes well for the Sixers. But this is a tough team. I respect an honor the hell out of the fact that Embed came back and is going to keep gutting through this. He's listed as questionable too.

But I'm not sure of the wisdom of it. I'll leave that to smarter people with like degrees in medicine and stuff. But man, it's just really, it's really worried. some. And look, the fact is that the Sixers are going to have any chance of winning this series or having any kind of lifespan in this postseason, it's because Embed is their most unstoppable force. And you saw even Embed at 65, 70%, whatever he was to start that game, there's still not a whole lot that Hartnstein or Mitchell Robinson or anybody else can do with him. So I hope we see him close to 100%, but it doesn't look great for him in the Sixers.

How do you feel about where this series is going, Rajah? I think the Knicks probably win game two. And then it's all predicated on Joel NBee's health. I don't, I don't know. I'm with Howard, man. When I saw a dude go down and I saw the look in his face on his face, I just thought it was catastrophic. I thought it was one of those where you played on something you shouldn't have

and you did even more damage. And now we have a bigger injury to deal with. And the fact that he came back was kind of strange. I don't know what we're dealing with there. I don't think it gets better this series, though. And even if they did get out of the series, like it's always going to get worse, it seems like, right?

He's not going to last throughout the playoffs. Yeah. Not getting better. That's not getting better. The only thing that's going to get that better is rest. And even in the second half, I mean, he had a couple moments, but a lot of stuff was short, late.

That's legs. That's lift. I don't think it ends well for them. I don't think Jalen Brunson, while he was affected in game one, I think they go back to the draw on board and they have some answers for what Philly did to them defensively. So I don't think it's a great look for the Sixers. So you have Nixon game two?

Yep. Who you got, Howard? Same. Same. All right, quickly. Let's go through this. It's going to be very fast, I promise you guys. Cab's magic.

Who do you guys have in that series? They played? Yeah, they played. They played on Turner. They played on T&T. But now they're going back to their rightful place of NBA TV for Game 2 tonight. So who do you have winning game two of that series? Cavs.

Caves. Caves. I don't think that the, I don't think that I watched actually on Saturday. I watched a bit of that game. very tough to watch the Orlando Magic offensively. Just a tough, tough, tough watch, man. It's just really gritty to get through that. I'm going to go with the Cavs as well.

But I'm going to be watching, like Howard, I'm going to be watching Sixers Knicks in the early game. All right, let's finish this. Let's finish up this slate and make Kerm cry during the podcast. We're going to talk about Lakers Nuggets a really quick. quickly. Can the Lakers find any bit of bench play in this series? Because right now they're relying on DeAngelo Russell to be a guy, and he's historically

not been a guy during the postseason. He got 20-something shots, and it went about as well as you guys could expect in an opening round game. The Lakers, it's going to be a quick series. Nuggets are going to make do with them, but do the Lakers have any shot? with their bench. Do you guys see anything, anything that can deter the nuggets from winning

and four or five games based on what you've seen? Not only this first game, but all of last year. You know how you came out and you had to apologize to, to, you had to apologize the dame. Yeah. I'm gonna,

I'm gonna reverse, I'm gonna pull the old Uno reverse card and have to take mine back from DeAngelo. as flowers on the last spot. Give my motherfucking flowers. Give my shit back. Give my fucking shit back.

Damn. But no, no, no, no. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that. Does the florist give a refund? Can you return flowers? I don't know.

They fucking, um, he, does FTD feel about this? He's just got to. That's why he, but look, that's, that's why he is who he is, right?

Like, and that's, and that's why you're, you're a number three, because you're going to have nights like that. They just have to get, if he's off, someone else has to step, you're going to need more from Reeves,

or you're going to need more from Rui. You're going to need more from someone. Because, like, that's, DeAngelo might not be great from night to night. That's why he isn't a number two. And I just felt for LeBron because some of those shots as the game was unfolding, and he's sitting over there on the bench.

They call him, I guess the LeBronless minutes is what they were calling him on the broadcast. Did you see the look in his face? demoralized. It was just, it was. It was like, I felt for him. So it doesn't look great for them. But if any of those dudes, if they get the game where LeBron is LeBron and AD plays great

and they get supplementation from those dudes, they'll look like a completely different team. It's just, do you get that consistently enough to beat, to be Denver? And Denver's surgical. They're just, yeah. You know, you take that for granted, but they're surgical, man. And they almost play possum for like three quarters of a game. They're just chilling, chilling, chilling. And then they just got that championship stuff to them.

So that's a tough draw for the Lakers for sure. How tough is it, Howard, to see a quote from Anthony Davis talking about how he'll never get a defensive player of the year award after he gives up 32, 12, and 7 to Yokic. Tough look is that. timing is everything in life. Context is kind of important too. Like just, I get it. Turn your ego off at a time like now.

Just try to win the series. Don't worry about the finalists that were just announced or that you're not on the list or that you got snubbed or whatever. Like, let the fans do that. I saw everybody already whining on social media about fine. Let the fans whine and complain and have their grievances. Players should just like,

if you want to complain about it. Howard, Laker fans be out here whining on the timeline? Are you saying it to be true? Is that what happens? In fairness, in fairness, 30 fucking fan bases, all right? All of them. Fan grievance is the defining energy of Twitter. It's nobody's even celebrating the teams anymore.

It's just about how they were disrespected or snubbed or something. He doesn't have to make that point right now. Anthony Davis is a fantastic player. and has been a great defensive player in the course of his career. The Lakers were not a great defensive team, and that tends to drag down your candidacy a defensive player of the year voting. It just does.

Sorry. So, yeah, no sympathy there and on a night that, listen, he worked his ass off and it was a tough game, and Anthony Davis put in 45 minutes and had good numbers himself. But, like, yeah, like, you can't, I mean, at least he matched Yokic, point for point. But that's the thing, man. Like, that's the thing, though, with those two, right?

Like, it doesn't matter how good. Like, this is the only matchup for Anthony Davis, where it doesn't matter how good he is against this, against Yokic. It doesn't matter. It's the only player that I've seen of his that were, where, where that can make Anthony Davis look like a second tier defensive player. And it's tough. Like, that's such a tough matchup for him, Yokic is.

And it's not all on him. Like, you know, today's NBA, like, it's never one-on-one matchups. Like, yeah, you want to win your particular matchup. But, like, it's not, it's never one guy. So I don't think we should put it all on him. But no, I think the DeAngelo Russell piece of this is the far bigger problem. And, like, I know, like, I've got a good friend who's a Laker fan who's been trying to convince me all season that the Lakers are better than they're giving credit for, in part because he's totally sold on DeAngelo Russell. And all I keep saying gently is, listen, DeAngelisle Russell's been in this league a long time.

he's always had this kind of talent and he's been with multiple teams who tend to pass him around because there are other concerns with DeAngela Russell, inconsistencies and other things on and off the court that like you just can't rely on him. And like game one, I hate to do that I told you so thing. But like that was like, you know, prime example of why you can't always trust DeAngelo Russell or assume that you're, you know, or put your playoff fate in his hands. So I don't know where that leaves them. Yeah. You know, I'm looking at their bench, man. Like it's tough. Spencer Denwitty, zero points, 13 minutes,

didn't even get a shot up. Gabe Vincent, same deal. It's a tough look right here for the Lakers. It's going to be quick work. I got the Nuggets winning game too pretty handily. Who you got, who you got, Raja? Nuggets.

Yeah, nuggets. All right, and with that, we bring in Kiggity Kerm out of the motherfucking cut for our weekly mailbag. You all right, Kerm? I'm tired. man. I'm real tired. Let's not talk about

what happens on Saturday. We don't need to talk about that Lakers game, but who do you have in game too? Kerm, who do you have? No comment, no comment. I'm not going to sit here and say the Lakers aren't going to win, but I'm just going to say nothing.

Okay. Have you talked yourself into DeAngelo Russell 17 times in the last two years? Probably. Yes. Yes. That's why I'm so Dude. Let's just get these questions.

I don't want to talk about it. I'm sorry. The first question is from Kevin. It's in the title. Is KD a superstar journeyman? The title sort of says it all. I'm starting to think that Katie is such an insular hooper. Sorry, that he's essentially a journeyman.

He's fantastic for sure. But it feels like when you get him, you get his stats, plug and play, and nothing else. He will not holistically move the needle for your team. team outside of the numbers discuss what do you guys think is katie a superstar journeyman i think that he is i mean i wrote about this last postseason he's a he's a basketball nomad that's what he is that's also just been his life forever right like growing up in dc going it all the way to texas he's about experiences and those vibes um he has been it's interesting because just like this the different iterations of his career with OKC.

Like he, if you look back at his OKC career, I think that's the longest he's ever played with a franchise. He was definitely entrenched in there. And once he left there, he just wanted to see different types of experiences. So he is a nomad. I don't know. What was the last part of the question?

Because I disagree with the last part of the question. Just like, can you read the last part where he was just talking about? Says he doesn't holistically change your. Yeah, he doesn't holistically move the needle for your team. outside the numbers. I completely disagree with that. I mean, you can ask everybody in Golden State how he holistically changed that group.

And you could talk about, even this time in Oklahoma City, about how he holistically changed that organization just generally just by his presence. I think that, and I think me and Howard have talked about this just over very great dinners in Brooklyn. Just how he, this last bit

in that one decision that he made to go Brooklyn is really going to change how people view him. I don't think that, and it's unfair, but that is what it is, and that's the decision that you make. And I think the decision in Brooklyn to put out, trust the rest of his prime with Kyrie in that organization, just messed up a lot of things. And now you get him at this stage of his career in Phoenix where he's almost towards the end of his career.

And while he, yes, he is putting up those big numbers, you can't expect him to have the same level of production that he would have in 2012. So I think that he does holistically change people, uh, team's outlook, but he's going to get a bad rap because of these last two stops. And that's life. And he made those decisions.

So he's going to have to live with him. I got hung up for a minute on like just journeymen because like, we use that in sports generally to mean like role player and like somebody who bounces around like, you know, a couple seasons here, a couple seasons there. And is a supplement. guy and there's nothing supplementary or role player about Kevin Durant. He's one of the greatest scores and one of the greatest players of all time. And he's he's got an MVP and two finals

MPPs and those two championships and a bazillion other accolades to go behind it. So I actually so I googled journeyman definition. The number two definition is any experienced competent but routine worker performer. Ain't nothing just routine about Kevin Durant. But it's an unfair a prism right now to even view him because this is older Kevin Durant. This is on Wonky Sun's team Kevin Durant. This is five years removed from an Achilles blowout Kevin Durant. And yeah, I mean, as Logan mentioned, he changed the arc of his career. I mean, he's changed it a couple times, but he changed it for the worst by leaving the Warriors when he could have just stayed and competed for more titles. And he decided to tie Hitch's Wagon to Kyrie Irving and go to Brooklyn.

and that went badly, and now he's in Phoenix. But he's 35 with a lot of miles, the repaired Achilles. He's been incredible the last couple years, despite the miles and the Achilles. But he's also not on, like, this is a wonky roster. If you just threw Kevin Durant on a more functional roster, and look, he's not blameless in that. He wanted the trade to Phoenix, and it cost them a shit ton of players and picks and everything else. and it left them in a tough spot to try to keep adding.

But the fact is, this isn't the greatest context to judge him in. And no, I mean, I just, I don't, I dismiss the premise of the question entirely. I think he's not a joke. Roger, I think that, like, we talk about this with AD a lot, but I think that Kevin right now, as great as he is, would be great if we had a player on the roster that was better than him, which is tough to find out, right? It's the same thing with LeBron is going through right now where he needed AD to be better than him.

And I think that if just for the, just for the team to be in a championship level. And I don't think that Kevin has that right now. I think it would be better served if he had that. If he could be, it's crazy to even think of him as the number two option, but you get what I'm, you don't, you see where I'm going. Yeah. Yeah. And allow me, but I'm not, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but this is, this is the way I see it. no part of a journeyman in terms of all the stuff Howard talked about,

but in terms of purely being what Logan said, which is kind of a basketball nomad, then yeah, I mean, he takes his incredible, like otherworldly talents, and he goes, you know,

from kind of from place to place with them. And here's where I think I would say, KD and all his brilliance needs to probably clear a hurdle before we give him maybe the credit that he's due. And I'm not sure that he isn't do it already, but I just don't know. It's in that leadership capacity. And that's what I think you're talking about there, Logan. It's in, you know, we expect a leader to look and act a certain way.

We do it with Steph sometimes. And that's not fair to leadership because leaders come in all different shapes, shapes, forms, their messaging's different. Their body language can be different. So that's not always fair, but, you know, when you go with Kyrie to Brooklyn, someone has to take the reins there and be the voice of reason amidst all of that crazy shit that was going on. And it can't always be the organization. Like, you know, I just say this all the time.

Like, players have to control that. They have to police that in a way that holds each other accountable. That can't always come from your coach like Nash or even, you know, Sean Marks or the owner. And in that space, I think you see it in Phoenix also. Devin Booker is a great player. It's not about necessarily the fits. Now, clearly they don't have everything because they had to bear some cupboards to get him. But what you would want to see from him, and I'm not saying he owes it to anyone,

but what you would want to see from him, at least optics-wise, in the leadership space, sometimes leaves you wanting. And I don't know that that's fair to KD, but like that's, That's kind of what I see. That's kind of what I think you're getting at. Logan, you want someone as good as him that will lead that shit. Yeah.

I mean, in every place that he's been successful, he's had an alpha that was that for him. Like, he had Russ and OKC, right? That could be the bad guy or Draymond and, um,

and go to say even like Kyrie in Brooklyn, right, like was an alpha personality. That was what he kind of like veers towards, right? I don't think he actually has that. in Phoenix because like he's getting older and longer in the tooth and he's such a legend that you know, Devin Booker as alpha as he is, refers Kevin like in that way.

Yeah, there's deference there in that relationship. Like that's sure. That's big bro. Yeah. So, you know, it's interesting, but I will say just put a bow on it. Huh? Who's clicking the pen? Not clicking.

I was, uh, that was my keyboard possible. That's Roger. Okay. Uh, anyways. Let's like clicking. I was clicking it. Keep all that in. Keep all that in.

But no, to put a bow on it, though, I just think that Katie's a nomad. He's not a journeyman just by definition. But he is one of the best basketball nomads that we've ever seen, if not the best. We're going to say, Kerr, what's the next question before you blow another gasket on Raja? What? Damn. Go ahead, Kerr. Sorry, guys.

The next question's from Connor. Says, what's popping real ones? With the draft lottery coming up, I'm curious. why the NBA still has a lottery. No other major sport has a lottery. It hasn't hurt the league as a whole. If the team wants to tank, let them tank, why should we care?

Also, Logan, your songs are right two playlists is fire. Help me write my college essays. Hope to hear this on the show. Connor. Hey, Connor, I'm going to bow out before we even get started drafting the lottery is not my forte.

I leave it to you all. Yeah. You got it, Howard. Oh, man. Also, I got you, bro. Shout out. Every time I put out some songs to write two playlist, I got you champ. It's all good, man.

I don't know what I could do with the college essays. I didn't do well in college. Sorry. I don't know how well I can do in that regard. Go ahead, Howard. Kids, come back with me to the year 1983. I'm not going to do that too. Oh, I was in. Oh, I was fucking in.

Howard. I was a lot of here. We're ready to go. One of the last conversations I had with David Stern. was I was doing I can't remember what the broadest part of the premise was but it had something to do with like how the lottery began all like literally the roots of it all and and stern being stern was like he goes I can't do his voice but you know everybody knows how David sounded but like he was like let me give you a little history lesson and he started all in on the whole thing and it was awesome right because like David that was his thing he was always like let me educate you and it was very condescending but at the same time fatherly and helpful. Razor again triggered.

Razor again triggered. Raz again triggered. He's twitching. He's twitching. No, look. I mean, I appreciate where the listeners coming from here. There's a certain amount of

like, I didn't mind entirely what the Sixers were doing during the process, right? Like, I get it. This is the system. And that was with a lottery in place. They're still trying to game the system. The lottery exists because you're trying to prevent tanking, obviously. And then all the different iterations and changes to the lottery over the

years are because it's in the league's best interest to have a product that feels legitimate, as legitimate as possible at all times, where everybody looks like they're trying to compete. And whether that's the actual players on the court or whether it's the front offices, engineering things, it's just not good business. It's not good sports. It's not good competition. It's not good faith with your fans to say, let's have a system where if a team just decides to lose 70 games, they can do that because they want to get Victor Wambayama. Like, that's just, that's not good for the league. If we eliminated the lottery tomorrow and said, let's just have the same reverse draft that has been there throughout the history of pro sports,

but no lottery. Let's go back to how it was in the 70s or whatever. By this time next year, everybody would be clamoring for a lottery. It would get ugly. It would get ugly. So, no. I mean, Listen, there have been other methods, people have, or strategies people have proposed over the years. Mike Zarin, longtime exec with the Boston Celtics, had the idea of a wheel that over a 30-year cycle, every team would at some point get the number one pick. Every team would at some point get number two, three all the way through 30. And over the course of it, every, I think within every five to six years, you would end up with a top five pick. So it was really cool.

And it was very egalitarian. And it was like everybody at some point will pick everywhere in the draft. And you'll pick high enough, often enough that you'll have a shot and low enough, often enough that you won't be incentivized necessarily to do anything in particular. Presumably, you'll just try to win every year and then see where the wheel ends up or where you are in that cycle. But the NBA was never going for that. That's never going to happen. Some version of the lottery, I think, is just always going to be the case unless we someday get to a point where other people have proposed, which is let's just have no draft at all. you should just guys come out of high school come out of college come out of europe come out of wherever

and they're all just free agents and if you've got room you sign them and if you've got more room you can offer them more but i don't think we're going to get there anytime soon either well said howard what's our last question car last question's from jesse a a what's popping jesse here with a question there i'm a nuggetts fan who grew up watching mellow but my first jersey was Manimal bright Yellow City edition. My girlfriend is a hardcore Celtics fan, so we're hoping it's Nugget Celtics finals. Anyway, question about the Celtics.

Do y'all think the Celtics having Missoula as a coach is hurting Tatum's development as a superstar? Also, do you think the brown prozingis two-man game is maybe the future of the Celtics? Love the show. Bye! Yes, sir. Okay.

All right. Wow. I think Missoula's getting a bad rap, guys. I just like, come on, dude. Missoula's not standing in the way of anything. He's not standing. In fact, Tatum was an MVP candidate this year, guys, and was last year. And in fact, last year I unlocked his game was they shot way more threes.

I don't like the narrative that Missoula's is like a terrible coach. I'm just not here for that, dude. Like, he's done too much in the small sample size for me to just say like, oh, man. we've seen too many coaches that have fucked up a lot of good things for us to say that Missoula's has been bad. They won 64 games, man. Come on. Agreed.

Now, if he's not, I mean, look, if there's another, I mean, if he's getting circles coached around him by someone in a playoff series, it's got to be discussed. But I don't think he's standing in the way of Jason Tatum's development at all. Yeah, I think that's a bad rap for him. And he, you know, you got to remember.

We need to call a time out on the Zulus slander. I see what you did there. Yeah, no, I don't think he's standing in the way of that. The Tatum Porzingis pick and roll being the future. I think it was a Brown Pregingus pick and roll. Do any of you have thoughts on that? I don't know. I don't know that that's accurate.

We'll see. I don't know. Didn't see that one coming? I didn't see that one coming. If they lose, then they're going to have to. As the future, he said, right, Kerm, as the future of the Celtics? They better start winning. Championships because, you know,

something's going to have to give with that, with that tandem if they don't win championships. And there might not be a future of a pick and roll between anyone with Brown. But anyway, go ahead, Howard. No, I mean, I don't, this is one of those cases where it's like if this were talk radio and it was a caller, and if we hadn't already, like, hung up on them,

you'd be like, can you elaborate? Like, what exactly is it about the last season that makes you think that Tatum is somehow being held down and why would there be a future of Brown and Porzingis? Does that mean that Tatum is a role player now? Did they trade him? What has happened in this weird

future we're talking about? Did they put the keys in Brown's hands without us knowing? Like just all of a sudden? I'm confused. I don't know. Jason Tatum I will say I bumped him from my MVP ballot for Jalen Brunson at the bottom. That was a really

really tough call. But Jason Tatum is going to get a lot of votes, maybe even some fourth place votes, but definitely a lot of fifth place votes. He might even finish fifth. And he finished fourth last year in MVP voting under Missoula, in Missoula's first year. Like, I don't think there's anything going on that is holding down Jason Tatum.

And besides that, like, if anything, like, I don't know, it's like, maybe the listener is, like,

his scoring going down a little bit from last season and his shot attempts. But, like, that's because they've got, like, this incredible array of weapons now. And actually, it's,

it's better for the Celtics that they're not over relans. on anyone guy. Their strength is being an ensemble in a lot of ways. It goes back to my whole early 2000s, Sacramento Kings, Chris Weber analogy that I brought up a couple weeks back. They're just really freaking good all the way through. And he does not have to have a like a 35 usage rate,

like Hardin or Luca or something for them to win. That's a good thing. Thanks for the question, bud. Thanks for all your questions on motherfucking Mondays. Real ones mailbag at gmail.com. Real ones mailbag at gmail.com. Real Onesmailbag at gmail.com.

We'll do this every Monday. That has been our Monday episode. It's been a long time. Roger's going back to sleep. He's yon seven times over the course of this podcast. So we're going to get him back to sleep. We'll talk to you guys on Friday. See you then.

Talk soon. He's clicking his pin. Kerm's going to kill him. Bye.