The Ringer NBA Show - Opening Night First Impressions | Group Chat

Episode Date: October 25, 2023

Justin, Rob, and Wos give their thoughts on the NBA’s opening night games. They start off with Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets, who didn't skip a beat against the Lakers (03:47). They then discuss the Suns’ win over the Warriors, Devin Booker’s continued improvement, and Chris Paul’s debut in Golden State (28:13). After, they touch on Giannis’s extension with the Bucks (47:35) and the wave of rookie contract extensions (54:54). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please check out theringer.com/RG to find out more or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Hosts: Justin Verrier, Rob Mahoney, and Wosny Lambre Producer: Eduardo Ocampo Additional Production Support: Ben Cruz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up everybody, it's Austin Rivers from Offguard, and I've got some exciting news. Offguard hosted by me and my guide Pasha Giggi is officially moving to our own podcast feed. We are now dropping two shows every week. Me and Pasha go way back and talk so much hoops already that we figured it was time to fire up the mics and let you in on these conversations. Every week, Pasha and myself will hit on the biggest stories happening around the league. Tap into the show twice a week on our new Offguard feed on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome to Group Chat.

and joining me, Rob Mahoney, Big Waz. Boys, the season has officially started. Rob, are you as ready for some action as James Harden reportedly is by showing up to work and not being allowed to work? Yeah, I showed up for this pod today. My bags are packed. I'm ready to go. And you told me right before we started recording, you didn't even want me to come with you guys. So what exactly is the deal here? No, I think you just got to do more reps on binge mode first. So that when you come up here, you're absolutely refreshed. Do you feel me? I feel you. I definitely don't feel like I'm fully in regular season shape yet, but we are being eased in gently, as is custom.

Pretty light opening night in terms of games. And then tonight, Wednesday night, is for the real sickos. The real, you know, buzzing between games, 10 or 11 games on the dial. This is when it gets pretty real. And honestly, this is when it gets pretty fun. So what you're saying is you do not need a ramp up process in order to get up for tonight's Slater

games. I don't personally, but look, at some point in any trade request saga, you have to just step back and really admire the artistry of what's happening here. You know, the Sixers are doing the classic, like, we invited you, but we didn't think you were actually going to show up kind of maneuver. And then Harden showing up with just the cadence to not get in any more serious trouble. It's inspiring stuff, genuinely inspiring stuff. Also, I like the move of you're not traveling with the team, i.e., you're basically not part of the team right now.

But it's not a, oh, we sent you home because that's now illegal. You can't send a player home who's eligible, who's, you know, ready to play. It's like this nice little gray area they get to manipulate by saying, well, he didn't do training camp. He hasn't practiced that much. He needs to, you know, get his body acclimated with NBA. speed again. And so it's pretty brilliant, honestly. Well, as we all know, the training

camp for a veteran playoff down team, incredibly rigorous stuff. So Hardin was definitely missing out on a lot in terms of those reps. I mean, and everywhere that is in Miami, we can say that. Yeah. What this situation needed is people now fighting over logistics

and semantics and like what is showing up for work versus what is not showing up for work and what you're allowed to do and not do. So, but show us to Rob. subtle leaving on a jet plane reference, just right off the bat. Wait, actually, did I? Did I walk into a leaving on a jet plane reference?

All his bags are packed. He's ready to go. I mean, that's... Unfortunately, he's not actually allowed to leave on a jet plane is the one sticking point. That's like such a reference. It's just colloquial. Like, that's John Denver fully integrating

into the consciousness of Americana at this point. So I guess you're right. I guess I did kind of waltz into that one. Yeah, you're a man of the people. we'll get into some look-ahead stuff for late in the week, but we have convened here today to talk about opening night

a pretty excellent slate even though things got a little messy. The first game in particular was really interesting. I have to say, though, it was a bit of a weird vibe to start because I'm not used to ring night happening in the middle of the day,

especially Pacific time in L.A. It was like bright and sunshiney out when the Nuggets then receive their rings. But I guess it didn't ultimately matter because unlike a lot of teams in that situation, Rob, the Nuggets just did not skip a B. Nicola Yokic in particular.

Well, do we have any sense of why it was scheduled this way? Because less important than what it was like on the West Coast, in Denver local time, that's very early for a celebration of a championship team. And by all accounts, that arena was packed and rocking, and the energy in the building looked great over the broadcast. Like no shots fired at everyone who clearly showed up, but you're kind of pushing the schedule a little bit

for people getting off work to get to the arena in time, especially when all it was in support of was so that we could have two West games. Like why do we not have Bucksixers or Celtics heat or whatever you want to run in that early slot and let the Nuggets play the Lakers or wherever you would like to run later so that we can actually get this thing like a full primetime celebration?

Well, because like, certain people who are involved with the planning of this program, Rob, the networks hate the Nuggets because they don't do numbers, right? And so I think that's... So you're talking about Ben Cruz. Yeah. I think that... Hey, Ben Cruz is not exempt from that dig. I think that's just what it is.

But also, to me, I looked at it as almost like homecoming, right? Where the team schedules a bum to celebrate homecoming or a team that they know they're going to smoke, in which case the Nuggets were like, look, let's just run this as if this was game five of a best of nine series in which we still sweep these cats. And a lot of the themes from last year's conference finals played out all over again in quite hilarious ways, which I'm sure we're going to get into. But Denver just looked like the same team, just impossible to stop when Yokic is out there and doing just enough on defense against the Lakers' two biggest stars

to get the W in the end. Yeah, Yokic was incredible, just stepped right out of the horse tables. Like the shot was as pure as has ever been. He just looked incredibly comfortable out there. I want to talk a little bit about Aaron Gordon, though, because what is the opposite of the disease of Moore? Is it like the advantage of more? Because this guy seems like he came off of just what seemed to be quite a fun summer for himself.

he walked into the arena and shorts and like a vest with nothing else on underneath it, which I respect, especially if you've just won the title. And it seems like he's almost stepped into a role where like they're now allowing him to do a lot of different things maybe that he didn't have to. Or at the very least playing with a confidence offensively that he probably didn't before. He looked great last night. Yeah, I think most of the stuff he did was not exactly new, either for the Nuggets version of Aaron Gordon.

I mean, that's, we saw that all playoff long. clockwork at this point. It's so, like, his game is so lean and so punishing at this point. I just really love what his game has become over the course of his career. And it fits Denver so perfectly. Like, there is a time for finesse. And Aaron Gordon understands that there's a time to just, like, bowl people out of your way. And it's exactly what the nuggets need.

And a lot of those, like, dump off or cut or driving situations. And he's really cracked the code on, like, how to be the most effective version of himself. I don't think that's a huge surprise if you've, especially over the last couple of years, heard him do interviews or read many interviews involving Aaron Gordon. Like, that dude, he is real perspective. Like, nothing gets blown out of proportion.

Nothing is a bigger deal than it is. He has such a clear sense that there is something here that is bigger than him in terms of what the nuggets are doing and exactly how he slots into it. And so to see that play out exactly in this kind of fashion against the Lakers in the playoffs,

against every team in the playoffs, and then here in a brand new season where he's just delivering so much of what they need. I mean, he's just, you really can't say enough about how perfect a fit he's been there. He's the ring inside the ring, you know? It's like, he's the extra that you didn't know that you had, but oh my God, there's this extra awesome thing here. Yeah. I love that. That little gold ring, I saw that on Instagram. I was quite, quite impressed. I think the opposite of the disease of Moore, Justin, is the hunger for more. That's a Lloyd Banks album for all my G-unit heads

out there. But more importantly, honestly, is, that this hunger is rewarded by the biggest dog on the team. His willingness to share the pie, share the steak, if you will, if we're going to keep this dog reference going. And a guy like Eric Gordon, who's got that dog in him, by the way. Oh, yeah. He's enjoying that. And I think that's what makes this team special.

I think that's why I was so high on them last year. I think that's why I'm just as high, if not even higher, on them this year is that I know these guys are absolutely playing for each other at every single moment. On both ends of the court, how often do we see that this selflessness

on offense and on defense, right? Picking up for each other for their deficiencies because look, a guy like Yokit, a guy like Murray, these guys are limited in a lot of ways of what they can do on defense, but the guys around them are picking them up and that's why I think we have

a well-balanced group that's probably to make a great run this season. We have a well-bound through. We as basketball viewing public, just just relax. Just please, please relax. I have to say, just, so Justin is our usual punching bag where this stuff is concerned.

All things nuggets are concerned. But I went to the old ringer.com, and I looked at our NBA entrance survey, and how many of our wonderful colleagues picked the Denver Nuggets to return, not to win the championship, but just to return to the NBA. finals. There were eight of us,

myself included, and Justin included on that panel. Only one other person out of eight total people pick the Nuggets to return to the finals, and that's that cram. Because you guys are all fucking psychos who like think that nobody actually respects the Nuggets. Nobody

is saying that the Nuggets is back. This is just like a long running bit in which you guys are like pretending like, no, no. The world doesn't reflect. No, we're actually confirming that we're not cycles. Just as three out of eight people. don't think the nuggets are going back to the finals. No, no, no, no.

Three out of eight, me, Justin, and Zach are the only people who pick the nuggets to return to the finals. Everyone else, sorry. Everyone else picked the Lakers, our friend Mike Pena, pick the Clippers because, look, here we are again. Sicken the head. And Danny Chow picked the sons to go back to the finals, which, look, I understand the cases for all of the above, but three out of eight for a team that does this to one of

their prime rivals in the conference. And I think we'll continue to do this. This matchup against the Lakers, this is kind of what it is. And it's the Lakers struggling offensively to keep up what the Nuggets can do. Did you guys see how quickly I defaulted to like defensive?

Yeah, yeah, I know. It's your classic Northeastern psycho bro. It's like that quick. The Agro-Northeastern bro who was just at every single turn wanting to bite somebody's head off. just so obvious. But no, but back to Rob's point, I'm ready to scrap. I love it. Back to, back to Rob's point about the Lakers, though. I thought it was interesting that LeBron just straight

up, he's not doing anything on offense, meaning LeBron of old where his imprint is on every single possession where he's orchestrated. Not to say he's not helping them organize, but he's not initiating all of this offense. They're not running the entire offense through him. That combined with him playing 29 minutes, this is a guy who is lowering his workload, at least for now. We'll see how successful it can be as far as, you know, their seating and stuff in the Western Conference. But this first game, any indication against the world freaking champs, a team that you might want to wrestle control of the game against, but Braun did the opposite, which I thought was very, very telling. Yeah, it was a return to form for the Nuggets. And unfortunately,

a little bit of a return to where we last left off with the Lakers. They made all of these different roster adjustments, or at the very least brought back a lot of the guys they brought in around the trade deadline, made a couple of new additions, Tori and Prince. So we could talk about later, I thought, did a good job in that starting lineup playing over. Jared Vanderbilt, who wasn't available there. But, yeah, it was a little concerning, if only because, one, the minutes without LeBron also still an issue.

Daniel Russell looked like crap. Gabe Vinson, who we talked about leading into the season, didn't do much of anything. Invisible. Invisible in this game for Gabe Vincent, really. Yeah, really bad one for him. And then we got the full Anthony Davis experience where he comes out, looks like he's ready to make an MVP run, looks pretty incredible in the first half.

Then it seemed like he cut his hand or something happened, and then all of a sudden he just disappeared. I just cannot remember a single other Anthony Davis play after halftime. He did not make a shot after halftime, 0 for 6. Didn't score a point. No points. No points.

From the 246 mark of the second quarter, so finishing out a little bit of the second, and then all his time in the second half, that's about 20 minutes of playing time, in which Anthony Davis did not score a single point. I just don't know what happened. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, like,

he had about seven isolation possessions in the first half. He had zero in the second. And the bottom line is, If the Lakers are going to beat this team with any level of consistency, AD has to beat his matchup 101. All of this chatter about Yokic being, you know, the worst defenders since God knows what. He's so terrible. How are the nuggets ever going to do anything meaningful with a terrible big man defender? AD, all NBA, top 75 of all time.

A lot of people thought possibly a Dark Horse MVP candidate. He's got to be able to beat that guy. more than zero times in the second half of a game, man. That's just what it boils down to. And I know sometimes we get a little bit too simplistic when it comes to, like, you know, points. And some of it is just watch it. It just doesn't look like he's attacking this guy

in any meaningful way. And so, yeah, I think the Lakers are going to have a problem against this individual team if AD can't make this matchup a little bit, you know, more favorable for the Lakers, right? Not that he's going to win it, but goddamn, don't get blown out of it. I thought Yokic had a lot better chance stopping Anthony Davis than vice versa when those two were matched up. Some of that is the way this game was officiated.

I think you could look at some of the Lakers drives, AD, Austin Reeves, some of these guys were trying to create contact and draw fouls, weren't necessarily getting them. Those are going to come some nights and not others. That's fine. But overall, the ease with which Yokich was scoring on AD on some of these possessions, I know we saw some of that in the Western Conference finals, but Justin, I know you and I flagged the same play in the second quarter

where Yokic basically just took like two or three dribbles back and down with ease, a little up and under. Like a chair. He just moved him. It was eye-opening how easy it was. And that's not great when you're talking about maybe the best defensive player in the league

trying to match up with Nicola Yokic. And it's obviously the crux of what so much of what Denver runs. Like there were so many possessions. where I was like, oh, like, Yokits probably could have taken that three, probably could have taken that shot. And yet he still ends up with 29 points anyway and runs a hyper-efficient offense that gets everybody involved. It's sensational. Yeah, Eddie looked great early. And I think there's definitely a correlation between how aggressive he is versus, like, how successfully he is.

But I think we've talked about this, honestly, ad nauseum at this point, like, you could only do so much against Yokch. You really have to be able to score on the other end. And, like, the Lakers just didn't have the punch. And, like, a lot of it does ultimately have to come down. to AD providing that. And unfortunately, like everything for the Lakers over the past few years

has been pushing AD toward the spotlight. LeBron in particular, the noise has been very loud this off season about him having to be that guy finally. And we are getting more and more signs with that, including LeBron, only playing 29 minutes in this game.

Now, the game wrapped a little bit earlier, and so he probably could have stretched that into the 30s. But Darban Ham was basically said that LeBron's going to be playing around this sort of minute load over the season. And so AD, some of these other guys they brought in have to do more because LeBron's not going to be there. Yeah, I think in a playoff series, you could expect LeBron to be that high 30s guy, close to 40s guy, minutes-wise.

I think he's still be able to do that. But when he's dealt with the amount of injuries that he's dealt with the past two or three seasons, I understand the precaution that they're taking with him, right? I just wonder how good they can be throughout the course of a season with him just playing that little. Obviously, we expect AD to be better. You know, and again, the reason why I bring up the surrounding characters, right, like Austin Reeves, like DeAngelo Russell, because it's going to be on them to do the things that we've come to expect LeBron to be doing

on a game-by-game basis. And I don't, like, what do you call? Because we've all made the jokes about Delo's contract being signed simply so it can be traded. What do, and he, you know, essentially they're trying to showcase. what he does, what do you call a showcase when it's just absolutely falling apart? It's like if you were showcasing an art piece

and there were like cigarette burns in it. Like what is happening with this DeLo showcase? Do you guys see the showcase working going forward? I don't. This feels like to put it in real estate terms, there are some houses you put on the market and you don't allow inspection. And I feel like Deelow is,

that kind of, that kind of player. Like, you don't want anyone to look too closely. I thought there was a very telling clip that was going around online during and after this game where LeBron and Dilo were kind of like conferencing over on the sideline talking about how to execute the pick and roll. And LeBron is saying, like, hit me at that elbow because, you know, you don't have to make the home run play. Like, I can survey the floor.

I can see everything. I'm going to redirect this possession if you just hit me at the elbow. The next time the Lakers run it, LeBron gets to the elbow. DeAngel Russell immediately pulls up for a long, awful pull up three misses it. Yeah. And that, you know, he had some,

he had some nice moments, but the on ball stuff for DeLo was not great. He was getting hunted on the other side of the ball. Like, Steph Curry is trying to, or sorry, Steph, I'm getting my games mixed up. Jamal Murray was hunting him

in some of those lineups who was like Jamal and the bench and they were desperate for offense. They're like, oh, let's just get Deelow in this pick and roll and we'll get something good out of that. And guess what? They were right.

He is a bit of a vulnerability, no matter how you slice it. Yeah, I guess the one advantage for DeLo is he probably won't get pushed much from Gabe Vincent if he continues to play like this. Minus 19. He looked very small in this game. Also, it didn't hit a three-pointer. Delo four for 12 overall. Yeah, they need an upgrade at that position. The one advantage with Delo is that his contract is only two years. And I guess if you want to be an optimist, it is priced to move. It just seems like the type of money that you could aggregate with one or two other players and then get the sort of help that you need. But I don't know. I mean, it's the first game.

We should say that right off the bat. Disclaimer to all of this. This is like really early. We're really, I think, overall, pretty high on the Lakers. But what we're saying all offseason is like, we kind of expect them to get to a ceiling at a certain point. And the nuggets are above that ceiling. I want to counterbalance a little bit, too,

because I do think the Lakers are better equipped now to deal with the non-Lebron minich, which were a disaster in this game. But overall, I think they're better equipped to deal with them. and if LeBron ends up missing time with injury, I think they're better equipped to deal with that. They're just not better equipped to do it against the nuggets. And they're going to look really good

against the vast majority of teams. This matchup is just tough for them. And I thought, as far as the LeBron piece of it in particular, one of the reasons he was so important to them was he was so important to their pace. This was a very fast offense last season. They're going to try to be fast-paced again. When LeBron was getting them out on the break,

whether with hit-ahead passes or by running himself. Their offense was really good and competitive, and they were hanging around in the game, they were making runs. And LeBron, it should be noted, is just maybe the best ever at timing his steps through contact,

like driving into a one-on-three break, absorbing hits, still finishing. He was unbelievable. The fact that he's still doing that at this age is what is keeping the Lakers' hopes alive, and it's why you keep his minutes down in the hopes that he is still that guy in April and May, if all goes well for the Lakers into June.

Anything else in this one? About to you guys? No, that's about it, man. I think, again, if the Lakers can get to something that's between prime usage, LeBron and what he did today, I personally think they will be much better off for it. But I can understand why they don't necessarily push

on that too early again. This is game one of freaking 82. So, you know, this time, folks. Yep. Did we want to talk about Torian Prince at all about like that kind of decision that the Lakers will ultimately have as far as like who to start there? Sure, yeah. So I couldn't tell

if they want to start Prince long term or if this was because Vanderbilt was out. I personally like the look with Prince just because he gives them the additional stretch. He was really good in this game. 18 points, four for six from three. Look like you fit right away. I guess, Rob, what do you think in terms of just like

the lineup janga? Do you think he makes the most sense in that fifth spot? I think it makes the most sense to do it matchup by matchup where when you can get away with it defensively, having Prince out there for the shooting is crucial. Not only because he hit a bunch of shots in this game, that's great, but he was also abundantly

clear that the Lakers expect him and trust him to make those shots. Like they're hitting him for threes as soon as he is open, right? As soon as possible they are looking for him, which is a meaningful thing. But Vanderbilt's pretty important when you're back, when,

like, when you're back court is DeAngelo Russell and Austin Reeves. Like there are some matchups that Reeves is just not going to be suited to chase guys around and you're kind of want Vando's length there. I would, I would really like to see Darwin Ham kind of juggle between those guys. And, you know,

maybe there's even nights where Rue Hachamura is, is the best option. But I don't see any reason to be married to any one role player in this rotation. As far as like, you are our every night starter, right? It is, I think LeBron and A.D. and Reeves are,

are staples in there. Everything else is pretty negotiable as far as I'm concerned. I think the best option is honestly Gabe Vincent for that point of attack role. But again, not to sound like a broken record, that would put a bigger offensive, creative onus on LeBron, right? Like, essentially, Gabe Vincent becomes that classic Mario Chalmers type of role where, you know, you're our point guard in name only. You don't actually run this offense.

And I think Gabe Vincent would be, you know, qualified to do that. But again, it would put a strain on LeBron on the other end because Gabe Vincent isn't some incredible offensive hub creator. He is, you know, ancillary off the ball, hopefully when the shot is falling, making some, you know, decently tough shots. Well, the only alternative to that would be, do you really put a lot of trust in Austin Reeves

and basically run him as your point guard on a lot of possession? That feels like a lot, man. If you're going to be asking him to pick up the slack for Braun on offense, I don't know. I think, again, a team like the Nuggets, it's a lot of difficulties. And even Vando, like, everybody was like, oh, they didn't have Vando, so that fucked everything up. It's like, guys, when Vando actually played against the Nuggets, his offense was so non-existent, you know, whatever he was contributing on defense became irrelevant. it made scoring so stifling and suffocating. I don't think he mitigates those problems for them.

And that's kind of what I mean by the Nuggets being an especially bad matchup for the Lakers. Like Reeves is going to look great against a vast majority of teams. He was okay in this game, but there were also possessions where he just kind of like swallowed up by the length that the Nuggets have on the floor. Like there was one possession where he tried to drive and kick and he literally just like could not get a pass around Michael Porter Jr. because of the size difference between those two guys.

So they're going to be nights for all of these Laker role players. They're all going to have their time. You know, Darwin Ham's going to have to figure out like, when do we play Jackson Hayes versus Christian Wood? When, you know, how much Cam Reddish can I get away with? There's a lot to suss out for the Lakers.

That's a hell of a job to have. They're going to be better than this, though. Yeah, that was the one thing I was going to add is I assume that they're going to get more double big going in the regular season. I almost wonder if this was like a nice, show things to let AD like go one-on-one versus Yokic. But I wonder, they made a lot of, just kicked up a lot of dust in the preseason about the double big stuff. And I wonder if Adi's going to be like, all right, now that I've done that and shown that I can do that, let me go

and Coase for a little bit of them. They kicked up a lot of dust in the preseason in general. And just about everything. Yes. AD was a huge part of that. Like he was talking in camp about how he and LeBron were talking and they were so looking forward to playing the nuggets again. I don't know that you can do all that and then just roll into a game like this. Do all that scoffing and then just lose pretty squarely where the Denver crowd is chanting, who's your daddy at you? Yes.

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Second game on the docket, sons, warriors. The air kind of went out of this balloon pretty early when Bradley Beal couldn't even suit up for opening night. Dremont still nursing his ankle sprain, but managed to do a full, like, quarter-length interview with the guys on T&T. while on the bench in sunglasses indoors. So he managed to have quite a performance, even though he didn't play. I thought it was interesting, almost watching rubbernecking Warriors fans in this game go through the process of acceptance of Chris Paul,

where it was like so much time has been spent just yelling at this guy and the vitriol probably being sued at this guy. And then there was almost like a point of acceptance around the time where he was running the same. second unit and getting some of the younger guys involved. And at the end, kind of fell flat. Where are you personally on Chris Paul experience after this first game? I don't think he had a great night shooting.

It was not that I don't think. We know he didn't have a great night shooting. But if you're a Warriors fans and the people who were sober about this deal and why they liked it, it's that he just made sense for making the bench unit functional. This might be the first, as bad as it was at times, you know, personally for Paul. I think this bench unit makes sense in a way that I can't remember the last time Golden State at a functional bench. I really don't know. I'm talking about six years, seven years of whenever Steph's not in there, it's absolute unmitigated disaster for the bench unit.

And I think last night was proof of concept. Chris Paul just makes sense, man. Like, you know, just what he was doing with Dario Sarich alone, just being a function. functional, you know, big man who could roll and catch and make a layup. And it just looked better. I thought comminga looked nice in his minutes next to Chris Paul. So as much as the shot wasn't falling, I like the aggression with which he took those three-pointers. In the past, he's been a very reticent three-point shooter.

He's not this kind of guy who just catches it, fires it, you know, unconsciously. And so I thought some of that stuff was really, really encouraging. stuff from Chris Paul, he looked pretty spry to me, you know, way more so than he did in the playoffs last year. And so I was encouraged by this because I know it like the vision of how they want to use him became very crystal clear last night. And it seemed to make sense. And so I don't know. I came out of the Chris Paul thing pretty positive overall. Yeah, once you see the contours of some of these lineups he's going to be involved in, It's like, oh yeah, this makes total sense.

Like there was a group out there. There was Chris, Gary Payton, Clay, Jonathan Coiminga, and Kvonne Looney. And it's like, that's a tough lineup, right? That is a tough lineup that can do a lot of different things that has enough offense to sustain that can be pretty competitive defensively. And they, you know, that lineups all very minimal time, but was part of that third quarter run where the Warriors were closing the gap, where they were kind of going on their spurt.

I think there's going to be a lot of combinations like that because Chris can help guys like Jonathan Cuminga. Moses Moody had an incredible game playing with all sorts of players. Woody got to get more tick. I think he definitely does. This might have been some of the best team defense I've seen him play so far.

Like reading the game really well, getting deflections, rotating in terms of like showing and help. Really good stuff from Moses Moody. But good Lord, the second unit, somebody has to finish a single shot in the paint. Like I don't know the shooting numbers

for Sarich and Gary Payton and to some extent, Cuminga on shots within five feet in this game, I just don't want that kind of negativity in my day, but it was brutal. Those guys could not finish. And Chris and other mechanisms of the offense were getting good looks for them.

If those shots start to go, or the actions are a little bit cleaner, a little less cluttered in terms of the number of defenders are in the paint, that stuff could really, really help them. Like, you can see the bones of something that could really work here. It's just not quite there yet.

Yeah, I think Chris makes a lot. lot of sense as kind of a caretaker for the second unit. He looked pretty good. He had that one move where he basically drove past Nurk at Chubb didn't have a particularly great defensive game, especially in the second half where he

didn't really hesitate in order to get by him. It was more he just like slow leaned and then just spurred by him, which was interesting. A 38 year old point guard just cooked him. It was not great. But he clearly, his

organizational skills, his mastery of logistics is definitely going to be an impact for some of the younger guys. I think I'm just a little worried, a little like concerned trolley that like it does create almost two separate environments where it's like Chris has his time and then Steph has his time. And it seemed like Curry was a little perturbed throughout and he was in foul trouble. And so that probably was a big part of it. Didn't seem to love the elongated break he had while Chris Paul had his Bosch time essentially. And then late in the game where Chris Paul just jacked those threes

and missed, and then Curry got an offense, the ball ultimately got back to him and he made it. Kind of like, the aura was kind of like, yeah, I do this shit. Can you just let me do this? And so maybe they'll figure that out, but clearly there's still stuff

maybe to figure out. I just didn't think it was that confrontational. Like, I saw stuff from Chris too, where it was very first game of the season. I'm overpassing to try to make everybody happy, you know, to try to make friends with this new team. And Steph, I agree was, he was in a weird rhythm, like dominant at points in this game.

Obviously, he's going to be effective. He's Steph Curry. Maybe it was the foul trouble. Maybe it was the rotation. Maybe it's getting used to a new roster. But like, he threw some turn, he had some turnovers in this game, some awful passes that were just miserable,

even by Steph Curry standards. Maybe it was having to play with Corey Joseph, which I'm a Corey, Joseph Guy, but like playing him and stuff at the same time, I don't know what that, what that is or why that is. That doesn't make that much sense to me. But, you know, again, it seemed like first game jitters. I thought another thing to be, you know, not to get too concerned Charlie Looney.

You know, I was getting flashbacks of the second round of the playoffs. Why, at times Kerr, who absolutely loves Kavanaughan Looney, had to pull him at certain point. Because the offense just got so bogged down while he was out there, right? Looney's definitely a fan favorite. But man, the stone hands and the just inability to finish two feet from the basket, it gets a little frustrating at points. Do you think he was just nervous playing against Nurkich? It's intimidating.

Yeah, I don't know what to make of the Nurkich debut. On the one hand, he had a good start to the game. And you definitely saw the thinking probably that went into the trade that like maybe an addition by subtraction just makes sense of this team a little bit more than having to constantly deal with the dominating experience where it's like the ease of use. You know, he's going to muck things up in the paint. He's a big old Sasquatch just able to exert a certain physicality into the paint. And it's just like, okay, I can kind of get it.

definitely fell apart in the second half. The Chris Paul play I referenced, probably the most prominent in my mind that I probably won't be able to forget for a couple weeks now. But like, you know, in the last play of the game, Devin Booker found him on the role. He has the hands and the ability to score on the role.

And that was like, that's enough. And so, Rob, where did you end up with Nirkage? Like, that play alone is a huge, huge play for the Sons. The fact that when Devin Booker gets trapped on a crunch time possession, you're dumping it to Nerkich at the elbow or a little above on the roll and he's going in finishing really cleanly, really impressively. Those are shots that I don't know that Nerkich is always going to make,

but he delivered in a big moment in this one. And I thought he had enough big moments, right? He had enough of these times where he's showing up offensively or defensively in the ways that they need. He wasn't good defending in space. He obviously wasn't good contesting out to the perimeter. But he got some blocks, he got some challenges inside. He was big in ways that they needed him.

to be big. And frankly, like, you know, the Warriors were sloppy offensively, but I thought the Sons did enough to kind of like muck things up for them overall, whether it was just like crowding the lane whenever it was that they tried to drive or just getting like enough in the way. Obviously being a presence on the boards on both sides of the ball was really important for Phoenix. I think it's a decent first look at the Sons overall. They have a lot of stuff to clean up for themselves. And I think we can get into some of that. And a lot of it connects just like not having Beal out there and what that does to the rotation, but some positive signs for how devastating Phoenix could ultimately be.

Devin Booker last night, obviously ever since last, not even the playoffs last year, sort of the second half of the season last year into the playoffs. He just looked like an MVP caliber player. And at points in the postseason, he just looked absolutely sublime as just both a score, just controlling the game, making the right reads when he had to his transition, you know, the fact that he was just pushing it and pushing it and pushing it and attacking with that level of consistency and ferocity. You know, of course, he ended up making the key passes at the end of the game where Golden State,

I think, quite smartly decided Okogee would be the guy that they would help off of. And Booker just made the right reads. You know, his ability to just be absolutely dynamite. in the one-on-one, and when you're sending extra defenders, extra help, his, you know, finding the creases, finding the openings, he's just a bona fide superstar. There's no other way to put it. On a night that KD., you know, he didn't look like the Slim Reaper

or the servant or whatever nickname we were coming up with KD. He just didn't look like himself last night, and Booker just took the challenge and took it himself. I mean, that's interesting, too, because in terms of how the warriors were navigating those defensive matchups, seem like they put, they kind of prioritized book. They put their toughest defenders on Booker pretty consistently.

And yet he's still scoring over Andrew Wiggins, contesting really well, just like does not matter. I think we could be entering into kind of a Devin Booker era where the contest is pretty irrelevant. Like, if you are not taking away his shot before he goes up, like denying him,

challenging the dribble, challenging his rhythm before he's able to collect, Once he gets up in the air, it's kind of all on his terms. And he doesn't necessarily have to shoot over the top of you like Durant does, like some of the bigger, you know, the Kauai-sized wings do. He just has such good balance and coordination and timing. And he's just such a freaking good shooter. Like he's just able to convert so many of these contested shots.

Incredibly impressive stuff from him. And I do hope, you know, once we get the full Beal Durant-Durant Booker experience, we're not taking too much away from Devin Booker just being fucking awesome on a consistent basis because this is a hell of a thing to watch. So in years previous, we would put Devin Booker, obviously, outside the staff and even a Dame Lillard tier of shot creator and offensive driver. We kind of had him in the ironically Bradley Beal and Donovan Mitchell tier of things. Obviously, he surpassed those two guys.

And I think the biggest thing is just he's huge, man. Like, he's just so much bigger than those dudes. so much more physical and I think just so much more cerebral honestly he's just a complete package at this point and last night that was on display

that's going to be fun to watch this year yeah I think everyone kind of wrote him off as an even Dark Horse MVP because it would have been just too hard to parcel off the praise pie between him and the rant maybe even beel but it almost seems like KD

and again first game we'll see but he is 35 at this point And I wonder if maybe even he himself recognizes this opportunity is almost as a setup like LeBron and AD had. But just like from year one and year two where it's like, you're going to be the guy. I'm going to be the guy when you need me to be the guy. But like you have to be the driving force. And I think we were like there's a lot of buzz in preseason like, oh, Devin Booker's the best guy in this team. I feel like this is one of the cases where it might be like not only.

Yeah. Like we saw it. Like the results really just have a way of clarifying things where it just like cuts through the noise in a lot of ways. I mean, he's a decade younger than the guy. So, you know, he's squarely in his prime years. You know, it's nice that this is unfolding this way for Phoenix fans. And so, again, this would be exciting. And to be clear, I don't think Phoenix's offense was as dynamic as it's going to be this year. Of course. They didn't have Bradley Bill. But, you know, what I had in my notes here was that, funny enough, me and Rob were both right about our optics.

and skepticism in the sense that even without Bradley Bill, looking at what these guys are doing on offense, but they didn't have Bradley Bill today. It's just like it's what this team, the story of this team is going to be. Can these guys actually make it onto the court? And that's where in the absence of specifically Booker or Beal,

the way that bends the Sun's rotation is something worth watching, I think we saw it in this game in terms of a rotation that really doesn't have traditional point card play. And it's the first game of the season. There's obviously going to be some kinks to work out in the offense. But the Suns had 19 turnovers. They turned it over on like 20% of their possessions in this game. And they still, you know, they have stars who can shoot the lights out, who can catch fire.

And again, having another ball handler in Beal will help seal some of that stuff up and iron out some of those difficulties. But it's going to be something to watch, right? That is a concern if you're the good side of the, the good side of the, the outcomes is Booker is kind of your point guard. And he gets into the MVP conversation somewhat on those grounds. Like this is the guy playing out of position. And he's still so productive. And the sons are, you know,

the first or second seat in the West. And look at their offense is the best of all time by points per possession. Like that's kind of what the Devin Booker MVP case looks like. But you could also see an outcome where the sons are first in the league or second in the league in effective field goal percentage and like 20th in turnover rate. Right? Like it could be a big, big problem for them. they're not careful with how they manage all this.

And Eric Gordon, who I think is one of the best big shot makers in the league, couldn't hit the broadside of a barn last night. Or as my JV coach would say, he couldn't hit the ocean from the Titanic. But again, these are shots that I expect this guy to freaking make, right? And so I'm still really bullish on what these guys. Because, you know, there was this sense, whenever you, because we can be critics in a sense as basketball analysts

you know I use that word quite lightly but just to be like well you know there's one ball and who's going to be the point guard and how's this all going to work guys this team's going to put the ball in the basket they are has the one ball thing ever not worked

like there's been so much consternation about like stars coming together I'm trying to think of an instance where it just did not work I would say okay C it worked but it definitely contributed to why Harding didn't want to be there anymore why, you know, it felt like he was expendable because there's one ball. You know what I mean?

I think you can see it in those instances, but it not working on the floor? No, that's never happening. I think sometimes it folds into like the star teams that don't have great spacing, right? That's kind of what it becomes at kind of our style of conversation. It's like, oh, Russell Westbrook and Harden out there together, whether it's an OKC or in Houston, you know, all of a sudden, Houston has to trade away at center

because there's not enough space on the floor. That's kind of the way it goes. It's pretty much just every team with Russell Westbrook, right? Maybe. I mean,

it follows him a little bit. But again, that's kind of the consideration. If you can shoot, there is room for you to coexist. Before we move on, I feel like we have to talk about Josh Akogi.

Yes. Okay. So he was excellent. I think we literally have to. Like, he changed this whole ass game. Well, I mean, it's a similar situation at the Lakers where it's like they have a lot of options for this

fifth role. You are saying a Kogi clear cut should happen. I think so, just because especially when you have Beal and Booker and Durant out there, you're going to have enough shooting and spacing and scoring. I get why in a case like this,

you know, you plug in Grayson Allen who, I mean, just had the most Grayson Allen game I've ever seen in terms of a really good shooter just like cannot hit really good looks. You know, Eric Gordon make sense to a certain respect, but like, Akogi was an absolute terror

on the glass in this game. The Warriors could not keep a body on him. And in particular, he's the exact kind of player who gets better the more talent you put around him. The more people are freaking out about Book and Durant and Beal,

the more valuable Akogi becomes. So he's not only going to chase people around defensively, have tough assignments there, it's going to be a factor in these kinds of hustle plays. I mean, honestly, with effort

alone, Josh Okogee pinned two loose ball fouls on Steph Curry, got him in foul trouble, and turned up like eight to ten points. That changed this whole game. His work on the offensive boards, at a certain point, you need some of these junkyard dog, Tasmanian devil type of players to complement all the beauty and the finesse and the artistry of Booker and KD and Bradley Bill. Somebody's got to get nasty. Somebody's got to, you know, roll up the sleeves and do some of the.

stuff that, again, I say it all the time, like, that you don't get girls for. Like, you don't make sports center for. Like, you don't become famous for. Somebody's got to want to do those things because that contributes to winning. And so, if he's going to make himself the guy on this team that's known for that, he's going to be quite valuable for it. That's what Waz told me before this pod. He got my ears.

Like, you've got to get nasty, Rob. You've got to get nasty out here. That's why I'm saying, we got to fucking. talk about Josh Akoki. You're talking about Janice's extension. I'm like, no. Akogee is where it is. We got to do the dirty work.

That is pretty. I was just going to say, like, I've never felt more seen, and then both of you guys talked over me, like, four times. So, great. I look forward to not getting girls or over the money having to deal with you motherfuckers. All right.

Janice's extension. Three years, $186 million. I think it was, not totally unexpected that he would sign one. I think it was a little bit surprising that he signed one so soon because he himself had basically acknowledged that financially had made more sense to do so after this season. Although even that's a little mixed because the talking point out of ESPN is basically, it makes sense long term financially if he signs this short extension and then another one in 2026. And then because over the 38, the over 38 rule,

sign another one in 2028. I would like to think, Rob, that I'm conversational at the very least in like the CBA. I don't really understand what's happening, but I know that it's good for the Milwaukee Bucks, right? Exceptionally good for the Milwaukee Bucks. The fact that you're getting this kind of commitment right now,

incomprehensible. I don't think anyone, anyone that I have talked to in or around the league expected that this would happen, in part because as you said, Janus explicitly said, it doesn't make sense for me to do it right now. And yet he did it.

I get the mechanisms you're describing that can offset some of the financial difference. But the fact remains, if he had waited and made the same kind of commitment next year, it would have been a much bigger, guaranteed chunk of money. Just a massive, massive contract that he would have been able to lock himself into,

not that Janus at this point needs generational wealth on top of his generational wealth. But when you're in a position to, why not? So I'm a little flabbergasted that it happened just because this is not usually the way NBA guys operate. But you're right. And ESPN is correct that if everything goes according to plan, some of those financial differences can be offset over time if you sign that sequence of contracts. It's just crazy that a player, even one of Janus's caliber, would turn down the kind of guaranteed money we're talking about by just waiting. And I think the motivation for that, the impetus for that, the reason this is worth talking about is that he's willing to do it because they traded for.

Damian Lillard. Like, that is clear as day. We had the Drew Holiday extension, inked basically as soon as Drew Holiday was a buck. Now we have the Dame Lillard extension, inked effectively as soon as Dame hit the court for the first time as a buck. That's a great bit of business for Milwaukee's front office. I think Jan is signed because he's happy with how things are right now. And also, I think he didn't prioritize this locking of guarantee because it's obvious to me

that flexibility is more important to him at this point. in his career than the overall money is. And I think when this deal is up, I think Yonis will more than make up for the money on his next deal that he's not locking himself into by doing this later. I think people who obsess over transactions

will make a transaction about the next transaction, which I think is quite self-serving. I think realistically, as a human being, he's just happy with the way things are going with this team. He feels satisfied that Dame Lillard is a great piece in trying to achieve the things that they want to ultimately achieve. And also this coincides with Dane's contract as well. You know, again, flexibility matters at this level. And if you're honest, there's no reason to think you're not going to sign a huge deal after this one is over, right?

I think he's going to be fine in that department. So that's all it was to me. I think the reason why he used his contract. as a leverage point was that he wanted things to change. He got his desired outcome and now he signed an extension and guess what? He said, I'm not going to sign

the longest possible extension. I want to do flexibility as a leverage play in the future again because this shit worked like a goddamn charm this time. So to me it's obvious why he would do that. Yeah, but it's also it's flexibility

but also taking flexibility away from himself. So it's like, it is mixed, but I think you're ultimately right. It seems, I mean, he acknowledged himself, like, he just wanted to get this over with going into the season. And, like, I believe it a little bit more for him, because, like, you're saying, like, money is going to be available for him no matter what. He's in the KD ranks where if he just has a, like, a season-ending injury,

teams will still sign him to, like, a max whenever they have it available. And so, I don't know. It's a little weird if only because nobody else is doing things like this, but obviously, if he's cool with it, the bucks are going to be cool with. with it and everyone wins. Yeah, it's hard to argue with it when he's opting into it. He clearly wants it. He seems pretty satisfied with the whole situation.

And it's so unquestionably good for the Bucks. So bravo to everybody. Yeah. The Bucks who, in a weird state after Terry Stats basically kind of walked off the team after getting into a confrontation with Adrian Griffin. Have you guys heard about that situation? Yeah, like that these guys were getting into fight. at practice in front of the team?

That's a new one. That's a new one. I guess it just was like kind of an arranged marriage, you know, because rookie head coach, he's the veteran head coach and maybe Stas just didn't want to play that role. Like, I get it,

but it was a little weird for a team with such high expectations. And some people could get all Game of Thronesy about it, just the idea that if things don't fly out, you know, out of the gates, this guy who game already has a great relationship. relationship with, is looming as the top assistant and has all of this experience.

Could be the obvious choice to replace the guy. If you want to get Game of Thrones, I don't know. I don't know Adrian Griffin personally. I don't know. And more importantly, I don't know the extent to which he's tight with the management group and structure that just brought, literally just brought the guy in. Right? And so I can't speak to any of that.

But it seemed like they were just not getting along at all. and so this is something that seemed to have to be done. It is on the one hand a very understandable thing, as you're saying was, in the Game of Thronesy sense, to be someone like Adrian Griffin, who was interviewed for probably dozens of head coaching jobs at this point, finally got one,

and they put this long-tenured former head coach on your staff. I think it's natural to be looking over your shoulder a little bit and feel a certain way about that whole arrangement. But Rob, would you rather be coaching the goddamn Orlando Magic or some like rebuild? Like this is sort of the tradeoff of doing that. It's hard to parse all this without knowing the specifics. But I will say the idea of getting into a shouting match with Terry Stotz, it's like yelling at a golden retriever or something.

I just can't see. I don't even understand how it would happen. But clearly some feathers were ruffled on one side or the other. or apparently both. Yeah, it's kind of the flip side of the Joe Mazzula situation, right? Where everyone was saying, oh, he needed a veteran coach on his staff

and they went out and got like three or four of them. It seems like maybe Griffin just didn't appreciate someone looming over her shoulder. But we'll see the impact on it. Just briefly, there were just a flurry of rookie contract extensions just before the deadline. Rob, do any of these last-minute buzzer-beaters interest to you

or is one more particularly interested in some of the others? kind of shocked that Anyaka Kangu got a deal that's this, I will say, quote unquote, reasonable from the team perspective. That's a player who is going to be very vital to the future of the Hawks. I think could be very valuable for a number

of teams around the league. I'm a little surprised he didn't wait out the open market to see what he could get, but again, maybe he's just very happy there. Maybe this is something that makes sense and works for him. But four years, 62 million for a player with a Kongu's potential, that's seems great from the Hawks perspective.

that seems like exactly the kind of deal that they would want to lock in. On the other side of that, I love Jaden McDaniels as much as the next guy. Five years and $136 million for Jaden McDaniels. A player who I think

even in the most optimistic projections we're saying is like a very good defender now, everything else is kind of up for grabs. An incredible vote of confidence, probably more of a vote of confidence than I would feel comfortable making, especially for a team

with Minnesota's finances, right? Like, they're going to be pinched by Towns' contract and Gobert's contract and their greater salary situation, and you're adding five years $136 million on top of all that? To me, I thought it was a pretty good team-friendly deal, to be honest. You think so? Yeah, if he's $27 million per for what Jada McDaniels does, a guy who any team can use them,

like any team in the NBA would see him as a valuable chip. Like literally, all 30 teams would be like, no, this is a guy that right now is going to get heavy rotation minutes on my team, no matter the shape or contours of the team. Like, that's a really valuable guy at his age. And so to me, man, if they ever wanted to be like, oh, Jada McDaniels is up for grabs, every single contender is going to be like, wow, a guy with that length has shown himself to be a dedicated player on defense consistently. and isn't, you know, we're not talking about Tony Allen here on offense. There's a lot of tools there on offense.

And so I thought it was a pretty friendly deal, right? Obviously, it's like in the McHale Bridges lane and he's not as good as McHale Bridges. But McHale Bridges got fleeced. He took a team friendly deal. That was a mistake, right? And so I... It's practically what Devin Bissell signed for.

I think it's like right there in the ballpark. So he set the market. and McDaniels basically signed a, and so I think that's actually an interesting question. Like, would you rather have Vesel or McDaniels? I mean,

I'm, I'm cooked on this matter. Like, I'm a Devin, I'm a Devin Vassell guy. In my mind, Devin Vassell has the kind of offensive potential

where you can imagine a scenario where he's like the number two on a very good team and becomes like a fringe all-star level player. I don't see that for Jaden McDaniels necessarily, but Jenne McDaniels is 23 years old, already,

all like all defense team caliber defender. If he comes along even a little bit more offensively, if he reigns in the foul trouble even a little bit, he becomes a massively important and valuable player. As well, I said, not only to the wolves, but potentially to anybody. So I get the potential you're paying for.

I'm just wondering what the arc looks like for McDaniels from this point for. Because I really like him in this context, but it's like, this is the trouble you get into when it's like, I really like that guy as a fourth or fifth guy on a team. And then they start getting paid this amount of money,

some of which is the sticker shock of where the cap is going and just the fact these salaries are going up and up and up. So I'm sure some of it is that for me mentally. But I'm going to have an eye on it. For me, Rob, it's like this. If Carl Towns could get 55, this man can get 27. He can get half of Carl Towns and salary. Like, that's the way I'm looking at it, right?

Like, if the quote-unquote superstars on your team, within the structure that we have in the NBA that was forced upon us by the owners, right? Let's not forget that. Like, where you have to pay your star the quote-unquote max, if because we live in that world, this kid is worth half of what the max star makes. That's just how I see it personally, right? If he's, you know, a high-quality starter. I just hope that A-Rod is selling enough LaVitra or whatever he's advertising that he's,

advertising these days because he's paying for this team on layaway. I don't know if you guys have ever done the PayPal pay for it over four payments. I've done it quite a few times myself. He's doing that with an NBA team. Yeah.

He's doing that with an NBA team. So buying a basketball goal? Yeah. Yeah. All right. Full slate kicks in tonight on Wednesday. One thing to watch over the next couple of days was, what do you like looking out for as some of the sicko sort of games start to kick in here, the Detroit versus Charlotte 4 p.m. sort of games.

I think the calves and nets, because if the calves think they're a serious team, they should beat up on a team like the Nets, right? Meaning a good, good players, good team, but is a cut below you. You know, like they are so clearly below you in quality. I think the Cavs should come out if they're a serious squad and put the beats on the Nets. So to me, that's the kind of game that I watch as far as perception and where teams think of themselves at and where they actually are. And the Cavs have a lot of questions to answer this season. And Brooklyn with the Ben Simmons being back allegedly and, you know, Justin's favorite league pass team.

You know, I'm really looking forward to that game tonight. Yeah, Justin, do you think the Cavs can keep up with the Nets? Do you want to put a bet on that one? the mortgage for your house? Here we go. I know Fandule is a damn sponsor, but we can't be just dropping bets every single podcast. If so, we need to get outside the realm of just money.

Like, I can't remember which podcast it was, but somebody bet like I will eat a shoe live on air if X happens. Like, we need to get a little more creative at this point with our payoff. I will eat my hat. I think it's going to be very hard to turn down the Mavs spurs potential. Of course. With Victor Weim and Yama. I was just trying to be hipster.

Well, here's the thing. You watch that game. But personally, first thing tomorrow morning, I'm watching Blazers Clippers. I want to see the Dominating experience. I want to see scoot out there. I want to see what the hell this Blazers team is because individually,

there's quite a bit of talent there. And yet, collectively, they might be the worst team in the Western Conference. So I can't wait to see how that sorts out. And that is the level of my sicko dumb that I'm like, let's see maybe the worst team in the West on day one. Let's see where they really stack up. I think you said it perfectly because the Portland Clippers game is the game after the

Slater Games, right? Like, you've actually done your work and then the next day you wake up like, oh, I got to catch up on this game and this game. It's like, that's the one, right? It's like the pallet cleanser or whatever the opposite of a pallet cleanser is. What's funny is I didn't realize I mentioned Detroit Charlotte as kind of like the absolute like bare bones. Like you are, you have of problems in your life if you're watching this game. It's actually on the slate on Friday. So I'll be there. I can't wait for that one.

I would just say Milwaukee, like, not only the obvious, just seeing Dame and and Janus running that pick and roll and how Chris Middleton looks, but just like defensively, like it's shaping up that whatever these guys can put forth defensively might ultimately dictate the title race or very least maybe the Eastern Conference race. And so getting to see like the sort of lineups that they put out there, whether Marjanne Bocham can continue on from a pretty excellent preseason. That to me seems really

fun to watch. They had the Sixers up first, then they had the Hawks, two teams where you have to really track dynamic offensive guards. And so like, let's see it in action. I get why this is the case

in terms of the Thursday slate. And maybe this is just like me shaking my fist at the entire system that is capitalism. But we couldn't get two other teams we haven't seen on national TV this week instead of the Lakers and Sons. You know,

like this is a great showcase Yeah. Like put Zion on there, put Victor on there, put Luca on there. In the season. Like what's the point of just running to that immediately again? Like introduce a national audience to some of these other teams. Yeah. You think they'll put Josh Akogi on the promotional photos for it?

They damn well should. Just wait until February, my boy. Akogi versus Tori and Prince this Thursday on TNT. There you go. All right. Let's wrap it there. back on Sunday around the same time that the pod went up last week. Thank you to Eduardo Ocampo. Thank you to Benjamin Cruz on production. We'll be back in a few days. Enjoy the

games. We'll see it.