The Ringer NBA Show - Potential Playoff Runs and Dunk Contest Disruptions, Plus Mid-Season Awards | Off Guard with Austin Rivers

Episode Date: January 20, 2023

Austin and Pausha recap the Wolves’ close win against the Raptors and discuss how certain teams should handle their playoff aspirations when they’re in that middle ground of tanking or making a run (1:42). Then, they touch on a player’s mentality when trade rumors circulate (4:38), look at how home-court advantage impacts teams (10:41), and revisit their viral highlight culture conversation. Later, they share their mid-season awards for MVP, Rookie of the Year, and best potential dunk contest participant (29:45). Hosts: Austin Rivers and Pausha Haghighi Producer: Ben Cruz Associate Producer: Erika Cervantes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For as long as I've known the NBA, it's been a Stars League. But even among the Stars, there's an exclusive club. Russell and Dr. Jay, Jordan, Kobe. They're all part of a select group that paved the way for the NBA superstar of today. And some even shared secrets with each other along the way. From Spotify and the Ringer podcast network, I'm Jackie McMullen. And this is the icons club. What's up everybody? You're tuned into another episode of Off Guard. My name is Pasha and joining me as always is our co-host, the pride of Winter Park, Florida. Austin Rivers.

Oh man, that might be the best intro you've ever had, man. Are you not? I mean, are you the greatest athlete Winter Park's ever seen? I like to say Orlando, man. I want to claim the whole city. Am I being greedy or? Am I not the pride of Orlando though? It might not. Is that not? Is that not, is that not? When you think, think of like Orlando high school basketball? Is that not the first? It's like that's my, it's like it's my city. Can I take that? Like, Paulo has not, Paulo has not, Paulo that's not his city yet. Well, no, Palo is a Seattle guy. But are you talking about like from Orlando, like born and raised? Just in general. Like the city, the city, if they had to get keys to the city, I feel like I'm on that podium. I'm not going to knock you down this early in the pod, so I'm going to let you take that. We're going to let that one ride. Appreciate you. How you doing, man? What's going on over there?

I know you're in Minnesota right now. Yeah, it's good, man. It's just another beautiful freezing day out here. But no, I'm feeling much better. I've been out the past couple games with a little knee contusion. But I'll be back next game versus Houston. So we got a big win last night versus Toronto. All as well, man.

All as well. Did it? I know you love seeing your boys come back last night and having that big win against the good Raptors team where a Raptors team that definitely needs a win. How much does that suck, though, not being able to be out there. Man, a game like yesterday, those are the games you want to play.

It had like a little bit of a playoff atmosphere. It feels like a lot of these games as of late are starting to kind of get that. It's almost as if like the fans sense the playoffs are like now in the realm of like close, you know, games are starting to matter a lot more. I mean, all games should matter. But you know what I mean? We start to get towards an all-star break because then right after all-star break, the games go by like super quick.

The season goes by super-per-refer. fast. It just seems like we're getting into these high-intensity games. We've won, won, lost some, so we're just getting better at it. Last night was a game I definitely wanted to be in. But we pulled it out, man. It's an incredible game. Yeah, what does that say about your team that, you know, short-handed, missing a bunch of guys, they can come back. I mean, a lot of teams, I mean, when you're losing like that, you guys were down 18, I think, at one point or something like that. Yeah. You guys could easily just, you know, it's a loss, you know, and just move on to the Raptor, I mean, to the Rockets Saturday. Right.

What does that say about your team coming back short-handed like that? I think the first thing it shows is that we care. You know, we got in the night before at 4.15 a.m. You know, we're sleep deprived. We're coming off a back-to-back. And then we go out there versus Toronto. Down 18 early, you can kind of hear like mumblings in the crowd. Like, here we go, you know, type energy.

And, like, we just stayed with it, man. It just shows, like, you got guys that are, like, locked in and care. We have a group of guys that, like, aren't satisfied with the way the season started. know we're a better team. And you could see that as of recently our play is just continually just getting right to where it needs to be. That was kind of like the message early on in the season to fans was it's not about like how you start your first 20 games, especially if you're like a playoff caliber team. You want to hit stride and like peak chemistry going right into the playoffs. It's no different than like the NCAA tournament. It's like you can have a team that's struggled

all year and then right when they hit that tournament, their team is locked in and all. and they just can make a run. That's kind of what you want going into the playoffs. You saw Dallas do it a couple years ago. You will see like a Phoenix did it a cup that run they had and haven't been able to find it since, you know, because it's not easy to do. You know, it's one thing to have talent. It's another thing to have chemistry.

It's like a whole different thing. So I feel like that's where we're getting right now. Everything's starting to click. We just got to keep pushing. So the trade deadlines coming up. The Rocket, the Raptors, a lot of their guys are. have been in rumors. You know, a lot of their, you know, a lot of their starters,

a lot of their best players, OG, Van Bleet, even, you know, Pascal Seaccom. We wouldn't be able to tell if that could affect their play. But have you ever been around guys that were in trade rumors that you could tell affected them on and off the court? Oh, man. Yeah.

I mean, you can see that sometimes with teams or players. I can't say I saw that last night just because it was such a, both teams were playing so hard. And they played well last night. too well enough to win most games. But that stuff's very hard to deal with, man. If you're a player that's playing for a team and, you know, just think the first thing you say when you're on a team, when you bring it in, you put your hands in, everybody says family on three, you know what I mean,

or all in together, you know, something like along those lines and have these thoughts and then also on the other side knowing like, wait, the guys upstairs don't want me here. They don't want me a part of his family. And happen to come to work every day and still be professional and still fight for that team. You know what I mean? It's just a lot of dynamics. It's a lot of players go different ways. You have some guys that continue to do the right things, be professional, try to still do their job. Then you have guys like, all right, well, you know, fuck it. If they don't want me, I'll be here, whatever. I'm just going to do things in my own time. And then when I play, I'm not going to be playing for them.

I'm auditioning for the rest of the NBA. So now it's, you know, are you playing the best benefit of yourself? Or are you playing to do your role for the team? You know, because now you're not thinking as clear because you know this same team doesn't even want you. you. You know what I mean? There's a lot. There's a lot that goes into it for a player, man. That reminds me of Miles Turner, who has been, I feel like, in trade rumors for years now. And he even was pitching himself to the Lakers earlier this year, which was like a bizarre thing. And but the Pacers have been, you know, overachieving and playing well. But yeah, I feel like it's, you know, the average fan or someone could say, you know, you're making millions of dollars, who cares. But imagine anyone going to work and you're going to work every day. knowing, not knowing if you could get sent to another city, another branch of the company.

It's got to be tough. Yeah. I mean, every fan says that with anything that regards anything with feelings. Oh, you're making millions. Who cares? You know, like, disregard every human feeling in nature you have. It's impossible. It is hard to deal with.

The best thing to do is just keep your head down and keep working. A lot of times, sometimes if you do that, you know, things start to go well. Those rumors can stop. You know, usually the rumors are only happening in the first place because sometimes. something's not working, or they see something that can work better. You know, we have our own stuff with that, too. You know, I feel like every team has a couple guys that are rumored to be on that trade block, and it's never fun when your name's being thrown around that mix.

Last time we talked, we went into highlight culture, which made its rounds on the internet, and right after. It did, my goodness. That came out. Well, have players talked to you about that since? Bro, I've been approached by that video, probably like, well, first off, let's talk about this. First off, I had no idea. It was visual.

I looked nutty in the video. I looked absolutely crazy. I was, like, close to the camera. My hair was all different. My hair was, like, in different places. I looked like I had, like, I just came off a bender, and I got in front of a camera. But, yeah, that video, that video came out, and the timing of that video of the third graders highlight video came out, couldn't have been any better.

And then I got approached by, like, I want to say, like, probably eight to nine different players and probably every coach that we've played, an assistant coach in the other team, since that video or that whatever has gone viral, I've been approached by somebody like, oh my God, I showed my kids this video, I showed my cousins, I showed my nephew. Everyone's like, I've showed my kids. I showed my DM inbox is filled with coaches who are agreeing with everything we said. So that's good. I mean, it's one thing to have a video clip go viral.

It's another thing to go viral for the right reasons and get positivity back. I definitely got like a bunch of third graders and fourth graders talking shit, right now on my Instagram in my inbox, but it's okay. You can't win every, you can't be loved by everything. But we're not, we're not saying the third graders should stop playing basketball or stop loving the game. That was the point that was, that was missed there. I was like, I don't mind you guys enjoying the game.

I don't mind you guys having fun with the game. I don't mind you doing like celebrations here and there. I don't get it. Like, go have fun with the game. But there is a line and like, that line's way, we're way past that line now. Like, it's, it's, that video that came out is exactly what's going on. Like, that's not just one video. You could go video any, any game and you would get,

lot of that stuff. Why are the third graders getting videoed though? And that's the biggest question. One of the parents. Yeah. Like who's doing this? Like why is that even an, that's like, why is that even like a thing? Like, let me go record some third graders get some great footage. But I mean, yeah, it works. Look how many views that thing got. You know what I mean? Like, that's what's, that's what's going on right. That's, that's part of the problem too, right? There's a, there's the audience for it. People want to see it. Exactly. There is an audience for it. There is. And then people are like, oh, how are you saying this? You had the biggest mixtape ever. I'm like, that's the dumbest comment I've ever heard. I was number one player in high school. At that point in time, I've

already earned that. You know, like, what are you talking about? I'm like, well, you guys are missing the whole thing. That's the whole point of me having a mixtape so people could see my videos. That's the point of having mixtapes for all the good players in high school. College, NBA. They're like, oh, Steph and them dance. I'm like, because Steph Curry is the best player in the planet. What are you talking about? You know what I mean? Or one of them, whatever you want to call it. Like, that's, that's a, a lot of people missed it. But again, I, there's going to be people out there who get things and don't. I'm not going to dumb it down for people who can't understand what we were trying to say. I saw, I saw somebody, I saw somebody comment under the third grade

video, their favorite team must be the Grizzlies because of the way they were celebrating and stuff. And that's how the grisleys kind of play. And they do all those things. They do the gritty dance and they kind of have their thing out there. So that's kind of like the way they, you know, I get it, but like you said, Steph Curry can do that. The Grizzies can do that. You're in third grade. So since we last spoke,

the Spurs and Warriors set a new attendance record in the NBA with over 68,000 people. A shout out to the Spurs for putting that together. That's really cool. Yeah, that was really dumb. That's cool. It made me think what environment was the craziest for you to ever play in that you were like genuinely nervous.

First thing that came to mind was maybe Duke, North Carolina, or maybe an NBA playoff game. When were you actually nervous? It was your favorite environment, I would say. You're probably the Duke Carolina game was crazy. I think it also means more because I was only in that gym once. It was kind of cool. Like I've only ever been in, was it Dean Dome?

Sounds right. Only ever came once and like that would happen. Like the stamp I left and the game that we had, we won. Obviously, I had a pretty good game and hit that shot. Like that all ties into like that experience just being special. I've only ever stepped foot at a North Carolina gym. gym once and like it went exactly the way that any Duke player would want it to go and uh the environment was crazy i just remember going out to my shooting time and it was already like sold out in the gym like

usually people like filtering in like there's like maybe a thousand people in the gym two hours before the game you know i'm in there two hours for the game getting my shots up and it's like packed and the student section is reacting to every warm-up shot i make or miss i'm just like this is ridiculous you know what i mean but that those you know that's what they do in college college is a whole different experience. That's probably, yeah, that'd probably be number one. And then obviously like playoff games and stuff like that, you know, in the NBA, those games get those high pressure, crazy crowd. That would be up there too. I'm trying to think of like the craziest place I've played. Well, then I could also say what NBA team has like the best home court advantage, for example,

that when you're in there, it gets a little crazy. The Warriors, when they had, when they were an Oracle, was the best. Not now. But when they were in Oracle, they had the best crowd. I don't know what that is, maybe the dynamic of people coming from Oakland or San Francisco. I don't know if those are two different types of people. I'm not too familiar with the infrastructure of San Francisco and whatnot, but over in Oakland, like that, that gym used to get, I mean, when they would get to go on those runs and Steph and Clay are knocking down threes and you got Draymond pumping up the crowd, like that whole dynamic, it got so loud in there, you know what I mean?

Like, that was probably the craziest atmosphere to play in. It's different now, though. It just is maybe the arena is bigger. It's more room. I don't know what it is, you know, but it's just they also raise the prices. So a lot of the original, you know, diehard fans kind of got priced out. Ticket sales are a lot more expensive now for a Warriors game. So they still have a great crowd.

I just think it was, I think when they were in Oakland, it was a little bit just more deep-rooted and true. a little bit louder. They would have been won. As of now, I don't know. Who would be the best? I don't know. Grizzlies have a great crowd.

The Bucks have a pretty solid crowd. Boston, Boston played the Warriors last night. Boston, yeah, Boston has, if you want to talk about like consistently, Boston has the best basketball crowd

or fans in the NBA, in my opinion. They consistently go to every game. They're loud, they're good, They drink, you know what I mean? So they're drunk, but it's a different drunk. It's like Philly, they're booing both teams.

They're booing their home team and the other team. People come to the game to talk shit to both teams. Where Boston, they're only talking, they come to get drunk and talk shit only to the other team, only to the op. Never, never their own. So I'd probably put Boston number one. Do you think that, you know, a crowd can really have a big impact on a game? Do you really believe in home court advantage? Absolutely.

I think it's more people being at home with their, you know, with their routine, being at their own house, being comfortable. Does that play a bigger part in it or is it actually the crowd? I think it's both. Being at home, being in your own bed, being in your environment, you know, being comfortable, being in your routine. And then having a home crowd, having 20,000 people radiate their energy on your side can only help. It can't defeat you. It's just harder to go into a gym when it's super loud, can't hear. crowds go crazy and they're going on a run like that energy is hard to go against uh it's fun to go

against most guys do enjoy playing on the road it's like those are the type of experiences you remember as being in those like crazy away games but i would have to say having a sold out crowd cheer you on only gives you positive energy having home court advantages is important um and anybody says different you know would be lying and there's also those times we're on the road where you go on a big run or you hit a big shot and the energy's sucked out of the arena and you could feel that too, right? Where you could hear the drop of a pin.

Right. And you guys make a big play and you're on the road too. Right. And I'm sure you've been on that side of it too. That's probably got to be just as satisfying. Yeah, it is. It is.

Yeah. I mean, the thought of 20,000 people wanting you to fail, you know, that's pretty much what goes into it. You go into an away game and you got every person in the arena hoping you miss a shot, turn the ball over, just in general you hope you lose. and on the other side you've got this energy that's backing you you know you hit a shot the crowd goes crazy like you feel a certain way i feel like the advantage though of when guys are out or the silver

lining is now a bunch of guys are getting playing time getting reps getting their confidence up and then when those guys come back you're just a deeper team yeah i saw that with the sixers too when maxie and hardin these guys were out d anthony melton and you know thieble and all these guys get to come in and now they're playing more so when everyone comes back you're just a deeper team with guys that are coming off the bench that are more confident, more reps, happier. So your team is definitely going to catch their strength. Yeah, that's definitely one way to look at it. You know, there's another side of that, but that's the happy side.

Well, it's the other side of it, man. Well, the other side of it is if a guy's playing too well or really well while the guy's out, then the question is, well, do we need this guy or when he comes back? Or my man, it's going to go back to what it was before? Like, am I not going to be what I was doing? Because I'm really happy right now. I'm playing really well, coach. like am I going to not play no more you know what I mean that's the other side I'm not saying this has

anything no no and I like I like that you're doing this because I'm always the glasses have full thinking of the positive and you're you're leveling me out here you're telling me the other side of this is like a it's it's a listen it's a that's the thing about the NBA it's not just basketball it's a business guys want to get paid guys want to take care of their families guys want to do this so when they're like hooping especially when guys get an opportunity and they're like crushing it right and then the team comes back fully healthy a lot of the dynamics end up being like, what are we doing here? Like, you know what I mean? It's interesting. You know, it's both sides because everybody wants more in the NBA. And I always say that the hardest job in the

NBA has got to be to be a coach. You got to be. Can't play everybody. Somebody's not going to play, which means somebody's not going to like you. You know what I mean? Like, because everybody wants to play. Everybody wants to get paid. You know what I mean? That's just the dynamic of business and basketball. But yeah, I see what you're saying, though. It, to have guys get their stride to get that confidence. And then then you get the full team back. You've got stars back. And you've got now your players who are coming up the bench playing with such high confidence and energy because they've been doing well. It's definitely a good thing. You can see that that'll benefit Philly. And even us, we're going to be much better. We have Carl. People are

questioning what's going to happen when Carl gets back. I think we'll be better for it. And you're saying the hardest job in the NBA is to be a coach. Has to be. When a guy like Steve Nash, you know, he gets fired and things weren't going well. I mean, since he arrived in Brooklyn, that was a tough situation. And then Jacques Vaughn comes in and the team goes on this big run. I think they're top two, top three record in the east now. Do you think that's a really big difference in coaching? Or, I mean, what else could have came in? You know, I don't want to be unfair to Steve just because I don't know the ends and outs of that organization, but a lot of stuff was out of his hands. It seemed like

before he got there, he wasn't exactly, I don't want to say welcomed, but. Well, kind of When Kyrie made the comment, he said, well, we don't really have a coach. We don't need a coach. Some nights I'm the coach. And that was before Steve ever even coached the game. Yeah, and that's just, obviously, that's not the healthiest way to go about things. And I don't even, I don't know how Kyrie meant that. I don't know if he actually meant like we don't have a coach or if he was trying to say that he's a player's coach.

And, you know, he's an extension of us. Maybe that's how he meant it, given the benefit of the doubt on that. Nonetheless, when that line was thrown out there, it just really creates like, oh, okay, like, we don't really have to listen to Steve or like, We're all player. We're all coach. You know what I mean? That's just not a healthy. That's just now how it works. And then I think he had, you know, again, this is me looking at it from the outside. Again, I don't know.

It just seemed like a lot was set up for Steve to fail. A lot of people were unhappy about Steve getting the job in the first place. Why, I don't know why. I love Stephen A. Smith, a big fan of his, but, you know, he had made tons of comments when Steve Nash had got that job. And he was like, he's never coached before. or how is he qualified? And my answer would be, how is he not qualified?

I mean, there's a lot of guys who sit as an assistant coach for years and years and should never be a head coach. No offense. I've just, I've been around a lot of assistant coaches, and they're good at being assistant coaches. They're not head coach material. If you don't respect Steve Nash, then who would you respect to be a coach? You know what I mean?

Again, I know he didn't have exactly coaching experience, but, you know, Chauncey Billis didn't either when he got that job. And he's been fantastic for Portland. you know what I mean? But he was a floor general, you know, and he was a guy that played the game at a high level for a long time. People respected and knew, okay, this guy has basketball knowledge. He has leadership. This is a guy that can lead a young group, which he's done.

He's building something there in Portland. Steve Nash should be under that same cloth. We're talking about a two-time MVP. You know, he had all the boxes checked. And just the only thing that wasn't checked was actual coaching experience, but that's why he had Dan Tony. It's why he had all these guys around him that could help fill in that void in areas where he wasn't maybe experienced that. I thought it was a good hire. Like, I really wasn't against the Steve Nash thing.

But as soon as these comments came out, they had Amari Stadamire on staff. They had a crazy staff. Like, everything was there. But like, if the stars and you aren't aligned, it doesn't matter. The most important thing for a coach, first and foremost,

is get along with the best player. Have a good chemistry. I assumed, I assumed when Nash got the job that Duran and Kyrie handpicking. Well, that was, isn't Steve, like, didn't, like, related to kind? Didn't he have something with Kyrie or like... Well, I know he worked, he was with the Warriors before when KD was there.

And that was another thing I was thinking about too was he was with the warriors who seemed to have until this year no drama. The stars are super coachable. And then he goes to a team like the Nets, maybe assuming the same thing. And it's the opposite. I mean, the Nets have been a dumpster fire for a few years now. And it's been drama every week. You know, a good example with Steve, you know, look at Jason Kitt with some of his friends. teams that he coached and everybody kind of wrote him off. Not everybody, but a lot of people

wrote Jason Kidd off. And no different from a player, situation is everything. Situation is everything. You got to have guys that want to buy in. You want to got guys that are going to listen to you. You want to have control. You need good assistance. Things just have to work. You know what I mean? Like things have to work. And I think Steve was in a situation where he was coaching a lot of guys that played against him. You know what I mean? Guys his old age, you know, we're on that team, and that can go either way sometimes, you know what I mean?

And once things started to go south, mind you, look what he dealt with. My goodness, we keep talking about Steve Nash. I mean, the dude played half his stars weren't playing. This is, he coached during the midst of all of that stuff that happened last year. Ben Simmons didn't play because he wasn't mentally right. Kyrie wasn't playing because he was going through what he was going through. KD was in and out.

Like, bro, who was he supposed to win with? What was he supposed to do there? Joe Harris wasn't healthy, but they didn't have nobody to play. I mean, this is what Steve has dealt with for most of his coach. I'm not saying all of his coaching time, but a lot of it, he didn't really have a full rostered healthy team, like kind of jock's been given. And then to add to that, again, look at jock. Jock's gone through experiences where he coached and things didn't go well.

You got to go through some lumps and learn stuff. I guarantee if you ask Jock Vaughn, is he a better coach now than when he was in Orlando? I guarantee he'd be like, absolutely. If I went back to Orlando right now, I would do this differently, this differently, this differently. And I know this because I've had conversations with coaches that I was coached by early in my career. Like, man, I made so many mistakes with you, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So it is all situational. It is all a learning curve.

I guarantee Steve Nash will, if he wants, I think we'll get another chance again down the road or whenever. And I guarantee you he'll be better for it. You know what I mean? Situation is everything. For sure. And in the 2021 playoffs, they were up when the bucks won the title that year in the second round, they were blowing the bucks out the first two games would ever want healthy. Kyrie goes down.

They lose in seven because of a KD's toe was on the line. No one would have said anything. And they would have been favored for the rest of the way. Yeah, they playoff there too. No one would have said anything if they won the title that year. That was not, obviously, that wasn't in Nash's hands. 100%. They blew out the champions first two games.

Exactly. That's a good point. Barquif Morris recently got into a Jeremy Sohan and Brooke Lopez got into a Gary Trent Jr. He tossed his headband off him. I wanted to ask you, is there any player in the NBA that everyone knows sort of not to mess with? Like, if there was a Royal Rumble and the entire NBA was involved, who's the last man standing? That's what I want to know. Probably Stephen Adams. Not a bad, not a bad choice. Who would fight that guy? It's like a brick wall. I'd probably say Stephen Adams. Does he set the best screens in the NBA, Stephen Adams? He sets hard screens.

it's it's you know you got to get over under that thing okay uh steve and adams or james uh james jones from the pacer's would probably be like the last two guys standing and you would you would be you would go off somewhere in the middle where would you be an early exit i'm not an early exit i'm not an early exit i'm i'm in the middle of the pack i'm in the middle of the pack i'm a lot fights for what people take out of man I I I've that's another thing I question how many of these young guys have actually ever been in a fight before because the games the games the game so different now man like it's different now like when I was a rookie bro if you talk trash like a vet like you had to you would have to square up sometimes or like you would get hard foul like it was just different 10 11 years

ago in the NBA than what it is now like I don't know how many of these guys actually have like gotten in fights even though they're 6 6 and they're 6 7 and they're 230 pounds 240 pounds like have you ever used your hands before a lot of these guys haven't i think experiences everything in fighting i'm not Connor McGregor over here some like badass but i've had my experiences i i would hold myself up against a lot of guys my size or any guard for the NBA for that matter i i don't really care but i'd say middle of the pack but some of these dudes are just too yeah is there any chance after your playing career is over you could go down to darren williams path

and do some celebrity boxing no celebrity boxing for you i will never be in a celebrity boxing match ever unless the money's right there it is there's a caveat there somewhere come on uh no yeah i'm not into that i i never got into wwee never i was into it a little bit when i was like five or six i was into goldberg stone cold steve austin the rock hawk sting like that era like w w uw was was like the greatest um but like after that it got yeah people who were into it now it's like a whole different thing. But I'm in the middle of the pack. I'm not finishing last. I'm not going to lie to you. Someone would get me out of there eventually. I know some people that would purposely kind of just duck out of the beginning and just get out of it. I might throw a couple hands in there just to get a

couple shots and then eventually I would just like fake one and just get out of my own time. I'm not trying to take a punch from like, you know, Sergei Baca. It just sounds like ridiculous. It sounds like, you know, I mean, I'm, I'd take a couple of heads and then I, you know, I, throw a couple hands and I'll just move myself out of there. All right, let's switch gears. We can switch gears a little bit on that one. So LeBron is about the past Kareem, all-time scoring. It's probably going to happen some time in February.

What does that mean to you? Mostly because LeBron, I don't even think he sees himself as a score for him to pass that. And we'll get to if he is labeled a score or not. But what does that mean to you, first and foremost? Well, he is a scorer. I mean, he average 30 a game or 20-something of points. the game. He's always been a scorer. That, like, logic of him. He's not even a scorer. He is a scorer. He's always been like a top 10 score in the NBA since he's been

the league. He's a score. He just has other attributes that make him an all-around great player. He's a high IQ. He rebounds of all well. And everybody knows he's a very, you know, he's a great passer, right? And he can dominate the game in multiple areas. But if you go back and look at the finals, he wasn't throwing up triple doubles with 10 points. He's thrown up triple doubles with 40 points and 30 points. He's a score. And add to that, the biggest skill set that LeBron has been able to have over his, was an 18-year career? 20-year career is availability. Availability. He's played in so many games that the thumb points is adding up. And now he's going to be, he's going to end up when his career is all-set and then he's going to be that all-time-lean score. He's going to probably

get it this season. That's, that's an attribute to him. And we talked about it earlier in this Paul, just loving the game. Dude takes the game seriously. I mean, he was the one that every football player, every athlete is like tried to copy his regiment in terms of spending a million dollars on your body and investing in your body. I mean, all these stats came out about him and how does he do it? How is he 37?

How is he 38 years old? You know, dominating the NBA. How is he going to be 40 years old playing this well in the NBA? Like he'll be able to do it because he invest so much time and energy, money, assets. Everything he puts, he puts into his craft. And it shows, you know, Jordan and these other guys were so great because of how crazy and nuts they were to basketball. LeBron has the same thing, but I think LeBron's investment in terms of just his body and overall it's just different than any other athlete. And he's also played 18 years, you know.

20. 20, I'm sorry, 20 years with no breaks, no, you know, I'd probably say what, like 90% of it, he's been healthy, even maybe more. So, yeah, it's impressive, man. He's, when it's all sent and done, it's going to be hard not to put him one or solidify, too, you know, however you are. Some people are just straight up Jordan guys. So we'll see. Speaking of breaks, we'll take a short break right now and we'll get back to it. All right, so Austin, last episode, we had a rapid fire segment that people really enjoyed.

So we're going to do that again. But this is going to be kind of a mid-season awards edition since we're about halfway through the season. All right. All right. All right. So who is your MVP so far? Yokage. I know it's crazy to say because he's three times.

Three times is like insane. But like it's hard to find a guy playing better than him consistently. I like that in the beginning of the season. Everyone just started saying, no way he's going to win the third. So let's look at other people, Janus, Embed, whoever else. But he's playing so well. It's just like, yeah, three in a row that that's probably what's going to happen. Yeah, he's probably going to win the third.

third one. He's been incredible. Yeah, it's just hard to say somebody else. I mean, there's other names in there, but I would put Yolkage number one. I would say maybe Jason Tatum could be. Tatum's in the mix. You know, Janus is always in the mix. You know, the usual suspects in Bede has been incredible this year. But just consistently on a night-to-night basis in terms of just all-around impact and dominance, it's hard in efficiency. There's no one better than Nicola. he's just he's got to be the MVP all right and you're a rookie of the year so far and why is it palo paolo paolo is definitely the rookie of the year um you know just in terms of numbers and output and what he's been able to do and you know he's the most 20-point games since this or you know

all these crazy stats that are coming out so you know you got to give him um the rookie of the year. I don't think it's been that great of a of a class overall. I think it's been very top heavy. Like there's some good players like Paolo and some other guys who managed to have good seasons. But then like after that, it hasn't been like one of those special classes where you got like five guys or four guys competing for rookie the year. Like everyone knows Paul is going to win. If you combine the last two drafts and that's the Cade, Jalen Green, Evan Mobley, Scotty Barnes draft. And you combine that with this recent draft, would Palo go number one overall? Yeah, it's still draft Paulo number one. Good, me too.

Yeah, I think he's better than everyone in last year's draft too. Cool. So Evan Mowgli would be the other pick maybe. Evan, Scotty Barnes. Got to see Scotty last night. He's talented as hell. He's really good. But yeah, Apollo's, Apollo be number one.

He's rookie the year. What player does he remind you of? I mean, he has a body size of like a LeBronish, but he has just two different games. He's, I think, like, best. I don't want to say Carmelo because even Mello, his rookie year, was already just so much more even advanced than Paolo. And I love Paolo. Paula's a great player.

But like, if you go back and look at Carmelo Anthony's rookie highlights, like, it was insane, bro. Like, he was already so polished as a score. People saw that. He carried Syracuse his freshman year to national championship. One of the most underrated players, I think, ever in basketball is Carmelo. We're going to do that another time. We're going to have a whole segment about underappreciation of Carmelo Anthony. But yeah, I would go somewhere like that.

Just due to his size, he reminds me of something like that. You know what I mean? He's special. You know, he has a ball handling ability. His shooting's improving. That's going to be his biggest thing. If he can continue just to learn and just put reps that live in the gym this summer in Orlando, just live down there.

And live in that gym, shoot, shoot, shoot. If this guy can become like a 40% or even near high 30% three-point shooter, then it's like, look out, you know, attacking the basket the way he can, he's going to be really special. Yeah, I think that's the thing that's separating, or that's the next step for Palo would be, you know, the people he gets compared to the Carmelos and even like a Jason Tatum type. Those guys, they're knocked down shooters. Yeah, they can't leave them open.

So once Palo gets there, and I think he can because he looks capable. He has a shot. Yeah, he's a nice shot. He's a nice shot, very capable shooter. You know, it just looks like it just needs to get polished tomorrow. He's a rookie. You know what I mean? He's 19 years old.

Whatever is 18? He's already played more games. He's already played more games this year than he did all at Duke, you know, in high school, obviously. Yeah, we're only halfway through the season. Yeah, he's got a long way to go. I mean, I always tell people this. When people talk about Anthony Edwards, right, or this guy, dude, as great as Anthony Edwards is, he is 21 years old. He's like six years away from his prime.

Like six years. Six years ago, he was in middle school or, like, just going into high school. You know what I mean? Like, that's how much time six years is. Like six years from now, these guys will, Apollo will be his best self in, like, five to six. years from now. That's, that is, that's a lot of time, man. You know what I mean? Like, these dudes are people write guys off so quickly. It's a tendency to do with, with young player. And not that these guys are getting written off. These guys were doing the complete

opposite with. Well, a guy like Scotty Barnes was getting written off earlier in the year. Yeah, that was just a joke. We talked about that last pod, you know, him and Evan Mobley being written off like that or even even having negativity towards them. It's just fucking ridiculous. These guys are years and years away from being their best selves. But, but, you know, But when you have a league on average, it's 22 years old, 21 years old, everyone's looking not good enough, next next next thing thing, next thing thing thing, next big thing, when you don't even understand what you have right there. And then these guys will end up going to a different culture where they're appreciated or

where they're valued. Like I said, situations, everything. And then they end up playing well. And everybody's like, what happened? He got so much better. No, he didn't. You know what I mean? He got appreciated and he got put in a situation to succeed.

So you've seen that with a lot of guys. Paulo's in a perfect situation. The ball is being rolled out to him. It's his team. they're not good. They're a very bad team. We've been a 500 team since Fultz came back. It's been solid.

You know what I'm saying, man. Let's not do this. I listen, I'm from Orlando too. I always want the magic you to do well, except when we play them. But other than that, I root for them. But they're not like a, they're not going anywhere.

When I say anywhere, I'm saying to the playoffs. I'm saying to the playoffs. Are they going to the playoffs right now? No, no, no. I mean, we're about four or five games away. The Bulls are separating themselves with this recent win streak. they're in the playing.

We're about four or five games back at this point. I don't even say this as like a slight. They're not supposed to be winning games right now. They're trying to get drafted. So a lot of Orlando Magic Twitter wants to trade now for like a Van Vleek, get a point card now, build around Palo. You think they should, you know, they have the Bulls pick next year. They have their own pick.

You think they should still keep drafting, stacking up picks in Young Talent. Yeah, I would. I think it's still early. I'm not like, if I'm an Orlando Magic fan, I'm not set with the roster yet to just go get a very. Fred Van Fleet and try to start winning now, I would get more, get more talent in there. There's still more talent to be had. Why not?

See what happens this summer. With the guys that are coming in this draft, like some of the special talents, man, like why not see if you at least can get one of the, like, why not? Imagine if they got like that. I'm not saying they're going to get Victor or anybody like that or even Scoot or this guy, but there's like some talent there. Like, let's see if we can go stack a couple more players. Two to three more young talent.

You got Franz, you got Paulo. I love the bowl-ball acquisition. I like Wendell. They got some young, talented players in there. I even like Co-Anthony, who plays hard every night. Foltz is a good player for them. I like, I like their team. When I say, like, they're not going anywhere.

I'm just like, that's not a team that's going to go to the playoffs and compete for something. Even if, like, I'm trying to think where even where they're at right now. But, like, that's a team that if I were them, I would just, I would try to stack a little bit more talent because they got good, they got some good players. Like, this is the first time in a long time, man, that, like, that, like, the magic have had, like, people have hope and positivity here. Paulo brings a lot of that. Franz has done a great job at that.

He's been great for them. Like, they got young talent that you know is going to get better. They got a young coach that guys like. Like, this is trending in the right direction, which we haven't had since Dwight and T-MAC era. You know what I mean? Like, it's exciting to see. If I were them, I would see if we could add some more talent first. You can always go get another guard next year.

Even if they lose the picks, you can figure out ways to trade for players, man. You could bring guys in. You could pay someone to come in. You can always get a good guard, a veteran guard. Like, that can happen. But like drafting good talent, big talent, especially for a team that's not going to be in the playoffs and it's going to have a top pick or a high pick. They got the Bulls pick.

They got other picks. Like, bro, go load it up. Go load that team up with talent. And also, you have to remind people that Palo is, you know, three or four months into his NBA career. Yeah, like we build a round. People already trying to build him. Build around him. Like, bro, let's let's let this guy get, like, better first.

And he's really good now. But, like, Palo's going to be even better next year. He's going to be even better the year after that. Like, what the fuck are you going to rush for? He's 21 years old. Let's build around him when he's 22, 23. Let's try to surround him with, like, the best talent. That way, when he's 23, 24, and he's firing on all cylinders.

Now he's got Franz who's also in his prime. Like, they're starting to enter their prime. They would have drafted a couple more players by then. Like, bro, they got a whole different thing going. I think they're two, three years away from making that move. If they did, I'd be shocked. I think it'd be a little early right now. All right, I'm satisfied.

I snuck in some magic stuff in there, so I'm good on that now. I appreciate that. Yeah, I was going to say, we started with rapid fire and ended up talking about the magic for 20 minutes. What is it going on? I won't throw the magic in any rapid fire segments anymore. That way we can kind of keep it moving. I'm sorry.

My apologies, that's on me. So who's your sixth man of the year? I don't know. I can care less. All right, we'll keep it. We'll say Russell Westbrook and we'll keep it moving. You have a defensive player of the year in mind? Defensive player of the year?

That's a good question. I like that one. Sixth man in the year one is just a matter of who comes up the bench and chucks up the most fucking shots. I'm just not impressed. I get it, but it's just you want to know about a reward that for, and again, I don't know why. Maybe, why does the sixth man award not translate into money for players?

Because you get labeled. when we talked about like maybe like earlier about you get labeled a certain way you get labeled as yeah it's like okay jama carmaud drawford is a guy that has to come off your bench lou will is a guy that has to right right you get labeled that you don't get paid all the guys who win six million of the year they don't they don't get paid you know who you know who beat that label recently Jordan well Jordan Clarkson is starting this year and playing well and I always looked at him as yeah you're right he's a guy that's a title hero was six man in the year last year yeah but he's he got a hundred million though. But he's not a

he starts now, but he starts. Yeah, that was like, the only reason that he was, they were going to start him anyway. Like that was coming. You know, I mean, they just had him coming off the bench and he was playing well so they kept it. You won that award, got paid. They're like, we're starting you. He was always going to be the starting shooting guard there.

It's like when Fabo Cepalosha's starting over James Hardin when OKC went to the finals, James Hardin won six man. You knew James Hardin was eventually going to run that team and other team. Most times, the sixth man of the year, usually translates not into dollars even though it's a big time role like this guy's average 18 19 off a bench why wouldn't you pay him but like that's for whatever

reason like you said labels and other things I don't know but we were on defensive player of the year I have a guy for you Jaron Jackson I put Jada McDaniels in there he's not gonna get it because he doesn't have the personality for it you gotta have a personality you know you gotta say stuff in the media you got to talk you demand yourself as one of the I'm the defensive player like those are the guys that win. They're always talking about it and shit. Jaden doesn't say anything.

Jaden's one of the most impressive defenders I've seen. He's incredible. Just watch him on a night-to-night basis. It's an off-night for wherever he guards. It's crazy. Like, whoever he's guarding tomorrow night is going to have an awful game. That's something that we've got to look at now. Yeah, because that's not in the stat sheet.

It's not in the stat sheet, but this guy blocks three, you know how hard is to block a jump shot? Like, these guys blocking jump shots, not layups. Like he's blocking stepback threes. He's incredible. I'd put Jada McDaniels in there. He should definitely be a first team defensive. Especially when we go to the playoffs,

like that's going to be on, that dude's a big time player, man. I'm not even just saying this. I'm not even being biased right now. I'd put Jada McDaniels in there. Who is the most underrated player in the NBA, in your opinion? Great question.

Most underrated player in the NBA. Ooh. You know, what qualifies is underrated? underpaid, undervalued by fans, undervalued by media. What do we talk about? Well, the reason I ask is because you're telling me

about Jada McDaniels and how people don't really understand how good he is. Maybe a guy that is really, really good that doesn't get maybe the claim that he deserves. Yeah, we might have two of them. Jada McDaniels and Nas Reid. Nas Reid's a good one. Big talent.

He's starting on most teams in NBA. Most teams in NBA, Naazirid is not your backup center. It's going to keep it like that. That dude is the... Even last year when I'd watch the Timberwolves, I've always wanted more Nazareid minutes. I was like, yeah, he played 12, 15 minutes,

but I like the minutes he had. He was always... He always did really well, and he's skilled, man. He's a big guard. He's a big, big guard. He has a handle. He could shoot. He can move.

He's agile. He finishes left hand, right hand. He's really good, man. He's also one of those guys. He was a top recruit, one and done guy. And then people, you just give up on these people.

people. And there are GMs out there that go for those guys that McDonald's All-American, high recruits. And then something happened in college maybe or when they got into the NBA, they weren't in the right situation. And then GMs like to, they'll take a risk on that guy because just a couple years ago, he was in all-American. Yeah, yeah, just a couple years ago, you're the best player in your class. And now suddenly it's still like, is it a mental thing? Can we get past that? Can we put you in a situation to succeed? If we give you confidence and give you all the resources, will you go back to being what you were? And that's like dominant. But, Nas is a big time player, man.

I had no idea he was this good until I played here. And I'm in training camp and I'm like, holy shit, this dude is like, the only reason people don't know, he plays it next to fucking Carl Anthony Towns and Rudy Gober. That's a half a billion on the board right there. So you got both of those guys playing. And then you got this guy behind who's really good. You know what I mean? Like, that's why he's kind of shadow.

But Nas is the real deal, man. I'd put him up there as one of the more underrated and undervalued players as well as myself. All right, I need a little humility here. Who's the hardest player for you to guard? He doesn't have to be in the NBA anymore. Steph. Who's been the hardest guy? Steph.

Yeah, Steph. Staying close. And that's just because you have to guard him all across. I mean, he's running around the entire time. He doesn't stop moving. He's more dangerous when he gives up the ball than when he has it. And obviously, guarding a person with him, you know, he has a handle. He could shoot.

You can't touch him to give him every fucking call. They set illegal screens for him the entire game. Dremont, these guys send illegal screens. They don't call it because they want to see him shoot. because it's good for basketball. It's good for the NBA. It's good for rating. You want to see this guy shoot as many three as possible.

Fans are going crazy. I'm out here getting illegally screened the entire game. It's nuts. And the guy is, he's in incredible shape. So you could be guarding him well for 10, 15 seconds on the shot clock. He'll give up the ball you think you're done. No, he's running across the court to get screened three, four times to get an open fadeaway corner three, catches it in.

You know, like that doesn't happen with any other playing the NBA. he's by far to me in terms of focus, stamina, everything included. He's probably the hardest player to go in the NBA. Sabonis or Bam? Who are you taken? Ooh, that's a good question. That question's dependent on what my team needs. If I need more scoring, if I need someone who's going to have a little more of offensive

presence, I'm going to Subonis. I mean, these guys are going to be fighting for third team all NBA behind Yocuchin and B. I think these are the two guys that are probably going to be going to be going for that. that center position. And Subonis is averaging 19, 13, and 7 of 61% of shooting from the field. Those are crazy numbers.

Well, there's your answer right there. Well, I've decided that's what I'm asking because I want to hear the BAM side of it. Because like it's BAM's athleticism and his like, his, you know, specific skill set could fit teams better than maybe would Subonis. You know what I'm saying? It's a trick.

It's a trickier fit for Subonis to be on your team. Bam, you could throw them on any team. That's what I'm saying. Bam, you could throw on any team. I could throw ban on the Warriors right now, he'd be incredible. You know what I mean? Like, I don't know if Sabonis fits the Warriors playing style.

Do you know what I'm saying? A really good point. So like I don't, it just depends on like what you need. But if I'm the Kings, yeah, I take Sabonis. What he's been in, it was crazy. Has everyone looked at that trade is such a loss because Tyrese Halliburton has turned into like a young star point guard. Everyone was like, I can't believe the Kings did this.

But that's like one of the first trades in a long time where mutual teams really benefited and have done better. Like sometimes a change of scenery, like we've talked about it on today's pod five times. Situation in the NBA is everything. It's everything. There's only like five players, 10 players, maybe, that you could throw in any team

and they're going to be successful no matter what. Everyone else, even some of these young stars that people value and think are so great, bro, it's all situational. You're seeing with Tyres Heiliburton right now. He was in sack, but he was playing with Deeran Fox. It was a terrible fit. He goes to Indiana,

and now he's one of the youngest, you know, brightest point guards in the league. Like, bro, situation's everything. I talk about that all the time with my teammates. So that's just the way the NBA is. I would, I don't know if I could answer that question. Situation is everything. All right. Here's the hard hitting question for you that everyone wants to know.

Are you taking Kemble Walker or Antoine Walker? What kind of quote? Where did you get the, what did you? That is the most ridiculous question I think I've ever been asked. Everyone wants to know. Who is everyone? This is Pasha and Pasha only. That's such a Pasha question.

So who are you taking? There's a better walker. They're completely different walkers. You're the GM. Who are you picking? Prime, I'd go with Kamba. Does I answer a question? They're both in their prime.

I'm going Kamba. That's all I wanted to know. Although I love a good Antoine Shimmy after the three. Yeah, he was ahead of his time, the way he could play through him. He had a lot going on back then. We just didn't know how to, the Celtics just didn't really know how to use him at the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, he was nice. We have the Rockets tomorrow night. That's the team we talked about last pot a lot. Are you going to be able to play for that? Are you going to be available? Yes, I'm playing tomorrow night. Playing tomorrow night. It would be fun to get back out there on the court.

The Rockets are always a team that, like, you look at their record and you might think they're like whatever, but they play really hard. And they're just super talented. Like, they're just so athletic. I shouldn't say that they don't play hard, but they have some, guys that play hard, but they have super high talented guys that if you go in there and play lightly, you know, you could take it out. You know what I mean? KPJ, Jalen Greens, talented score, Kevin Martin Jr. is probably one of the freakiest athletes in the NBA. By the way, every

Rockets game I watch when he comes in, there's three to four highlights every time. He's like Sean Kemp out there. The dudes, it's insane. We played them in Houston. I shit you not, Pasha. He jumped from the fucking free throw line in transition. And it was like the most powerful dunk I've probably ever seen. I'm not even trying to be dramatic. Like, it was one of the most powerful dunks I've ever seen since I've been in the NBA.

And I'm not even over exaggerating. We were like in the middle of a transition play. It was like three or four of us back. So it was like a broken transition. It wasn't like wide open. And he just casually just launches off from the middle of the free throw. Like right foot inside the free throw line off one foot

and just slams it. And his head was like, I'm like, holy, Bro, like, no, don't, their record's just bad, so I just, I don't think people talk about him enough.

He's another guy. You put him on like a competitive team, and you got him flying around there, you know, making plays. Like, that dude, man, holy shit.

His athleticism is just ridiculous. He's your dunk contest favorite then. I don't know, that Shaden Sharp dude can jump so high. It's going to be interesting. What about a little Magma Clung? Yeah, how do you feel about that,

a G-League guy getting a chance kind of on a big stage like that? I think it's good for basketball. I don't want to say anything about that because I actually like Mac. I'm a fan of Mac. As a basketball player, his story. I love how hard he works.

I love how much he loves a game. I don't like that they're letting a G-League guy be in the dunk contest. Let me just say that. I don't like it. The NBA player, it's the NBA dunk contest. If you want to be in the NBA, if you want to be in the NBA,

if you want to be in the NBA, that's just, it's how it's been in the history of time. It's called the NBA dunk contest, right? Right. What do you think they can, So that's just what with that being said, I'm glad Mac's in it. I know I know that's a conflict of interest and that goes against everything I just said.

I just, this is only Mac. If there's any other G-League player, I would not, I would, I would not want him to be in this dunk contest. But Mac, you know, you've seen his high school stuff. Of course. Him in college and even him briefly in the NBA. Also just, I really like his story. He's just a worker. Dude just keeps working, stays after it.

An interesting story about him is, I'll say this quickly. four years ago, five years ago, I got waved with the Wizards. I got bought out and was in the mix of looking for, this is right before I signed with Houston. I was like free for like four days. I was working out in D.C. The wizard situation just wasn't working for me. Figured out a way to get out of that. And Houston was getting ready to sign me.

So I had like three or four days to train. Couldn't go to the Wizards facility, obviously. So I went and trained at Georgetown. And this is when Mack was there, and he was in there every single day. I was there for like a week. So it's not like I was there for a long time, but I'm talking about I'm going late at night, too. So you know he had been in there earlier that day. They had practice and all types of shit.

I'm going in at like 1 a.m. This dude's in the gym every time sitting there. And then after he'd get done working out, he would sit there and watch me work out. And that's what I'm like, man, this dude's really like, this guy's really a gym rat. And then the coach came out to me, one of the assistant coaches came up to me. He was like, yeah, man, this dude, we got to kick him out the gym. He'd be having, like, yo, Matt, go home. Go rest your body.

Dude. So, like, I just have, he's been on various G-League teams. He's had stints in the NBA. He's played well sometimes. Like, I just like the dude, man. I think it's really cool. He's getting his flowers and being in the dunk contest. Again, I'm not really for the G-League guys being able to compete in NBA all-star festivities.

But Mac is, like, the only exception I'll give. I'm really rooting for him. Now I'm rooting for him too after that story, actually. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. But I understand completely what you're saying about a G-League guy being in the NBA dunk contest. What do you think they could do to get the best players back in it like it was in the 80s with, you know, Dominique and Michael and all that? What could they do?

Or do you think that those days are done? Put some money on it. Put some money on it. That's kind of the answer for pretty much any question. Any question. Bro, if you put a million dollars cash prize, a million dollars cash prize, whoever wins the dunk contest, you'd have some guys in there. all I got to do is go out there and dunk what I like to do every day anyways for fun for like 15 minutes, 20 minutes. And I could possibly win.

What's the worst I do? I miss a couple of dunks amount. Who cares? No one remembers. No one remembers anyways. If I go out there and make some dunks, I can run off a mill just quickly like that. That would be, that's, that would be the only way to do it. It's the only way to do it.

I do miss those days. I don't know if we ever get that back. Can I actually, I'm going to blame somebody for that too. Can I throw some blame on that? Uh-oh. If you look at the previous eras, who was the first superstar to never do the dunk contest? NBA dunk contest.

Don, are you blaming LeBron? It is LeBron, and I love LeBron. I'm a huge LeBron. Listen, I'm a big LeBron fan. Everyone knows if you know me, I have the highest amount of respect for LeBron James. This guy is not now. Not now.

Not now. No, no, no. I know. I understand. But this guy's in his 20th season, playing so well. And he's catching strays off a dunk contest. He didn't do 20 years ago.

This is a small stray. This is like a little, it's not even a stray. This is like a, he's catching like a small little dart arrow. We'll call it that. This is like, you know I'm right too. That's why you're able to say his name. Kobe did it. Michael, everybody knows that was like, you know, part of his leg.

But that's part of his, like the pictures of him in the, like, LeBron is one of the best dunkers to ever play to not do it. That's all I'm going to say. Every greatest dunker of all time that was in that mix has done it. Blake Griffin even did it. He didn't even want to. We had to beg Blake to do it, and he did it. And he did it like half ass.

Like, he jumped over, like, the front license plate of a Kia. I don't even remember that. But he won. He didn't jump over the car. He jumped, like, over, like, the first two feet of it. Obviously, I mean, he don't want to get hurt. But he would have won anyways if he, the car thing was, that was the last dunk. That was the last dunk.

No one cared because, you know why? Everyone just wanted to see him dunk. Even if he did a plain Tomahawk dunk, it meant more because, like, this guy's a great in-game dunker. So to see him get that high and dunker, just people, people like that stuff, man. It's like why LeBron won the high school. And this is my example.

LeBron won the McDonald's, right? Yeah. And his dunks weren't the cra, if you go back and look at his dunks, they weren't anything like what's... His head was above the rim, though. Every time. He was throwing him off the bounce.

He's just throwing him off the balance and just catching doing one-hand dunks. He wasn't Zach Levine throwing it between his legs behind his, but he wouldn't doing any crazy dunks. But the fact that he was dunking was such force, such power. And more importantly, because of who it was, because it was LeBron doing this, like it left us all.

all so captivated, man. Like, I wish if there's only one thing, again, this is a small slight. LeBron's done everything you could possibly do in the game of basketball. But the only thing I have, that's a stupid thing because we're talking about an all-star dunk contest, I wish he would have done that once. And I think him not doing it, now you get guys like John Moran and some of these other guys who should damn, everybody knows they should be in the dunk contest. I don't really want to do it.

They're like, eh, I'm good. You know what I mean? Because it's like, I'm being in the All-Star game. I got other things. I ain't trying to get hurt. All these things that they put in their head. whatever. I mean, think about it. The dunk contest is nothing, man. It requires no effort.

You sit there and you wait and then you go up and dunk with something you do every day in practice. You know what I mean? So I do think LeBron is, I think he's got to hold some weight on this. He was the first guy to like not do it. And I feel like everyone wanted him to do it for the longest time. All we needed was one year. He should have did it like a second year

in the league. First year, second year in the league, just got it out the way. Tell me I'm wrong. No, one year he was in the audience. And he said he would do it the next year. He promised that he would do it and he didn't do it that next year. Yeah. And I get it. Like his load management in terms of like he's playing, again, he's playing all the games.

He doesn't get hurt. He's in the All-Star game. He's his media presence is his, I'm sure this guy has a million things going on where the last thing he wants to do is go fucking dunk. He's already got to work on every Sunday of an All-Star game because he's in it. You know, him also teeing it up Saturday in doing it. I get it. Like, well, I don't get it because I've never been in that.

situation, but I could see why that'd be a lot. But he's also arguably the greatest player of all time. And he's also one of the greatest dunkers to ever play. You know, LeBron James is the top five dunker to ever play in the NBA. And he'd be the only one on that list that didn't do the dunk contest. Yeah, when his career is over, they're going to put together kind of a highlight package of all of his greatest in-game dunks. And it's probably going to be a 40-minute video. It would be like, it would be no different. It'd be no different if Steph Curry never did the three-point. Now, what if Steph Curry never did the three-point contest? Would you not be like, what the hell? Why wouldn't you do that? You're the best three-point shooter? Year after year

after year, the best. Like, Steph did it multiple, multiple, multiple times. You think he really wanted to go out there and go around a rack and shoot three? No, he did it because I'm the best, I'm the best shooter. Let me go out here and have some fun. Like, I just think, like, I think, you know, he's the, he's the, he's the, he's the, you've got the best, one of the best all-time dunkers not in the dunk contest. I just wish you would have done that. That's the only thing I have on him. There's nothing else to pick at. I mean, it's slim pick at. I mean, it's slim picking's trying to like pick something that LeBron hasn't done well or hasn't done at all. He's guys done everything.

That's like the one thing I wish, and it's a small thing, but nonetheless, all the other great dunkers did it. I also think he's kind of like maybe set. People, I think even LeBron underestimates how much people follow him. Everything he does sets trends for the NBA. Everything. And I know that's unfair for him because he's a human being just like me. Like if he should have the right to be like, I don't really, am I really in the dunk?

I just want to do it. I just want to watch and spectate. Totally normal, right? unfortunately like you're you are who you are everything he does players follow him and they are going to do exactly what he does and like him not doing it i think it's you know it's it's it's made guys be like uh like because i want to see john moran i want to see john moran in the dunk contest didn't job jop moran i think did that do the dunk contest did we can cut that part out but i think he did yeah don't cut it out i can be wrong just let me be wrong that's fine we get that's totally fine

but I definitely think he did it. When did John Moray did the dunk contest? I want to say he did it. Wait, let me look, I got to see this. I feel like I would have a clip of him doing this. I don't even have a memory of him in the dunk contest. There's no way he did it. I don't think he did it.

Maybe I guess I was wrong. There you go. We'll cut that out for you. Oh, wow, look at this next thing. Yeah, we'll cut it out. It makes me look bad. It says right here this article, John Morant, now receiving similar pressure as LeBron James

to enter the dunk contest. Wow. It's as if I just, it's as if I know what I'm talking about. It's as if I know what I'm talking about. Cut that out. I don't want that in there. Come on. The whole thing is like, the only reason I'm on here is because I know basketball, I can't just go out there and mess up. You can't take that away from me. What do I have? You guys already won't post my face.

All right. We'll back. All right. Can I ask you something? What would be your ideal dunk contest? Like all time? No, man. That's ridiculous. Just right now. My ideal dunk contest, I mean, I don't, I mean, I don't, I, I do want Shaden Sharpen. I do want Kenyon, Martin Jr.

These guys are crazy. I've never said anything like it. I like those two. And I like that. But you want to put the stars in. You want to put the stars in. There's something to sing an all-star compete in those things, right? It's like I loved watching Duncan Robinson shoot threes.

Is it to have the same impact to seeing Steph run around or Clay? Like, no, bro, everybody's in all of these guys because they're the greatest ever. You know, greatest shooters to ever shoot. You know what I mean? Like, there's having John Morant in there, Anthony Edwards in there, like young stars, bouncyy. like that that would be so much fun bro to watch like the young guys go like the like the best so how about this how about this how about if we did it was kenyon martin junior you have shadd the two bouncy young guys and then you bring back like erin gordon zach levine the best duel i've

ever seen in my life contest erin's done erin's done i could this why i said erin's erin he's he's put in too much work and not received any hardware that guy is done with dunker and i've talked to him ever to never win he is the best dunk contest he's had the his dunks he has some of the best dunks to ever be in the dunk contest and has no hardware for it unfortunately he got a win against the guy who also has some of the best dunks ever guys doing it listen we could talk about if he was cheated or not but like Zach Levine doing a twine legs to from the free throw line it's just it's it's insane that's he did he did twine legs from the free throw line but the next year then he lost to i think

Derek Jones Jr and he got cheated out of that one when Aaron Gordon did it again and that was when it was like okay he's if you ask him if you ask him about it, he won't even talk about it. He'll just be like, I'm done. So that's never going to happen. Besides the fact that he's older now and he's like put on more weight because he's playing more of the four with yoke it, uh, with yoke like that like young springy, springy Aaron, he's a little bit more like grounded a little bit more now just with his game and how it's evolved. I like his game this year better than any other year. Like when he was with the magic, we were, we, we had him 30 feet away from the basket shooting threes playmaking. They were trying to make him into like a score.

and now he's more of like a Sean Marion just a run and gun, complimentary player with his athleticism and Yoko just passing. He's playing great, man. He's having a big time year in Denver. In terms of him being like springy in a dunk contest, like that's not going to happen. And either is it was Zach because Zach's dealt with the multitude of injuries. Like, that's done. Those guys are, those guys have done their time. I'm talking about guys who need to do their service. Those guys have done their service. I want guys who need, job or rent is must see TB. Every time turn on the TV, he's giving you a highlight. I would, if he was in the dunk contest, I'm tuning in. If Anthony Edwards is in the dunk contest, I'm tuning in. I'm watching that dunk contest.

I'm going to watch it anyway. I think you're going to watch it anyway. Pasha, if you were in the dunk contest, I swear to God, I'd flip that thing on. If I was in the dunk, I might have, if the LA Fitness, if we did an LA Fitness Combine, I might have the lowest vertical lead. You think, you think I wanted to do the McDonald's? I did the McDonald's All-American dunk contest. But that was legendary. You'd had the jersey. But that's my point. It wasn't even that like I really wanted to do it.

It's just like guys are like, you got to do it. Like you just do it, man. And then you end up just having like moments and experiences, bro. Like I still have like pictures from that like me taking the jersey off and doing a winning on my dad's jersey in a McDonald's All-American game. Like that's a legendary moment. Not for maybe anybody else, but for myself and for my dad it is.

Like I would love Jod to do like a some type of homage. Like he could pay. You know, a lot of guys do that. They take the jury, like, bro, that would be lit. Like, I would love, I'd just say lit. Jesus Christ. I mean, you're 30 now, so I guess you got to start. I got to watch it.

I got to start. You got to start scrapping. Some of these words are my vocab. I really do got to cut out. I play with a bunch of 20-year-old. So, like, I'll come home saying stuff sometimes. And like, my girl look at me, like, what are you doing? Did you see that Stan Van Gundy when he didn't, when KD and him got into that Twitter exchange?

He was like, he spent. He was like, I didn't know what that meant at all. Did he take offense to it or something? No, he explained himself and then KD goes, Stan, I'm agreeing with you. Oh, yeah, he was sorry. I didn't know what that meant. Yeah.

You know, I tell people all the time, they're like, how old are you? I was just 29. I don't even... I don't say 30. I just tell him I was just 29. I was just 29 years old, bro. I'm young as hell.

There's nothing wrong. 30 used to be in the NBA, like, a very good age. It used to be. It used to be. But now, like, I got guys coming up to me like, old head, what's up? I'm like, old head. What are you talking about?

I'm in my prime right now. What are we doing? I don't want to get age, man. I got enough guys doing that for myself. I'm young, I'm springy, I'm lively. I'm a good asset to be had. Let's give you that. This podcast, not only just for me to talk,

let's build me up here. All right? No, if you're taking random shots at LeBron, I can't let, I mean, you're not. I didn't take any shot at LeBron. I didn't take any. This is, this is what's going to happen. This is going to be the next.

is me talking about LeBron not being the dunk contest and everyone's going to take offense to it. Like I said, he's in, I don't need to go through that. You guys already know. Austin, you have a big game tomorrow against the Rockets. Looking forward to watching you play again. Take care of that knee and looking forward to talking to you next week. My guy, I appreciate you as always, man. This has been fun. The first pod went well. I'm hoping people like this. This has been, you know, I got to say, man, this is, I know this is early.

this is only a second episode, but it just feels like this coming together with you too. How many times me and you have talked? This is really enjoyable for me to get to do this. I'm glad people are enjoying this as well. Let's keep building it, man. Yes, sir.