The Ringer NBA Show - Shake’s Big Shot, Zion Bounces Back, and the Jimmy Butler Mystery | The Mismatch

Episode Date: August 4, 2020

Verno and KOC react to Shake Milton’s clutch game-winner against the Spurs (0:43), the fight for the 8-seed (13:26), the micro-ball Rockets (23:40), the defending champion Toronto Raptors (41:21), the bizarre Jimmy Butler story (50:06), and more. Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, everyone, it's Kevin O'Connor. Before we get into today's Ringer NBA show, we just wanted to thank all of our listeners who follow us on Spotify, because the Ringer NBA show made it on the top podcast chart on Spotify. Podcast charts is a recently added feature in the Spotify app,

and we were delighted to see our show on both the overall top podcast chart and the top sports chart. If you want to see what other podcasts made it on the charts, go to the podcast hub on Spotify. Now it's time for the mismatch. Welcome to the Ringer NBA show. I'm Chris Vernon.

Joining me as he does every Tuesday from the Ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, aka Kevin O'Bomber, Kevin O Candyland, Kevin O'Campra, Kevin O'Connor, Kevin O'Conflict, Kevin O'Brien, Kevin O'Cierrez, Kevin O'Brien, Kevin O'Brien, what a game. It was Shake Milton, the Savior, that has happened not long before we are recording this podcast late on Monday. night, Jake Milton saved the 76ers in a game against the San Antonio Spurs that has all manner of implications, Kevin. We could look back at that shot and it decided who plays in for the playoffs in the Western Conference, who is even in the play-in game in the Western

conference because it seems like a 100% chance there will be a play-in game for the eighth seed in the Western Conference. But that shake Milton shot, it's possible that we look back at that and we say that Milton shot changed the entire Western Conference playoffs or at least one of the opponents in the first round. And likewise, on the flip side, look, they're now one game back from the Pacers. Now, the Pacers do hold that tie break, but there is a real possibility that that would have kept them away from the Celtics.

And so then they wouldn't be playing the Celtics in the first round of the playoffs because the Celtics pretty well, and especially if they beat Miami tomorrow, they'll have sewed up the three seed. So now, from that perspective, you'd just be looking at who has six. So, I mean, it's crazy, but at the end of a game, a game that they almost totally threw away against San Antonio,

got some timely missed free throws down the stretch from San Antonio, and Shake Milton left all alone, bangs down to three, they're able to get one last stop in that game. It might have affected everything, Kevin. And beyond that, you love Shake Milton. I mean, I do love Shake Milton. We made a whole video focused around him just a couple of weeks. ago. I mean, after his stinker in game one for Philly, he played really well in game two against

San Antonio. But boy, that whole fourth quarter was just a weird, weird series of events. You got Demarta Rosen, who again, was awesome playing the four, 30 points, 11 of 20. The Philly, Delphia 76ers could not stop him. And yet, one of the last offensive possessions of the game for the Spurs, Desjante Murray waves him off. He waved a rose and off. And I don't understand why you would do such a thing after the game that he was having, just getting anywhere he wanted on the court. And then on the shake Milton three-pointer to go ahead with 10 seconds left,

San Antonio just kind of forgot about him. He inbound of the ball and got it right back. They were so worried about Embed, who, by the way, was great on the post in that fourth quarter, scoring, facilitating, drawing files. But they forgot about shake millen, who's hit over 40% of his three. going back to college.

You can't forget about a guy like that who's a knockdown shooter off the catch. I mean, for the Philadelphia 76ers, Milton showed his value. He showed his value as a shooter, as a guy who can hit some shots off the dribble. Ben Simmons had a very poor overall game. Only took six shots in that game. We had only eight points, played only 25 minutes. But Schillik Milton and him, you know, they showed good chemistry in the pick and roll with Ben Rowland. There's some encouraging things for the Sixers.

but they got to start defending. Well, here's the fascinating thing. Watching that game play out is you have, at that juncture in time, as you say, they run away from Milton, I'm sitting there watching that going, what are they going to do here, right? Who's getting the ball?

Where are they getting the ball? Who do you go to? And that is the Sixers' interesting conundrum is when you get to, to these games down the stretch, are you having to get the ball into a center who you know is immediately going to be double teamed? And is he going to be able to make a play

while he's got two guys draped on him? Is he kicking it out? Who is he kicking it out too? Right? J.J. Reddick isn't there to just take that shot that you want to throw back out or whip around. And they're light on perimeter shooting. And what redemption for Milton,

who, I don't know if you saw that, you know, you had the Embed. Oh, yeah, I saw that. Yeah. Or fuffle with him. But then, you know, that one got all the attention. How about like seven seconds into the second half? Brett Brown, like, there's something he does wrong, and Brett Brown just pulls him. It's done.

It's like, I can't do this. Yeah. And you saw the frustration from Embedit. I mean, that first game out was just an abject disaster for him. and to see the redemption tonight after what had happened in game one, where it's like the best player on the team is furious at you. The coach is furious at you. Like, Milton deserves credit, man, because I could have buried a lot of young guys in that moment.

And instead, he gets a frigging game winner tonight. I mean, ultimately, though, I mean, I say there's some encouraging things for the Sixers. You know, they got the win. Shake Milton bail them out. but they gave up 43 points to the San Antonio Spurs, a team playing without Lamarcos Aldridge in the fourth quarter. The Sixers are a team that is supposed to be about defense. They entered the season.

I said at the beginning of the year, and it sounds so stupid now, but I said at the beginning of the year that if this team makes a run, it's going to be because of their length and versatility and size, it's going to be like an 04 Piston style defense. I said this team has it upside to be a historic defense. Well, they don't. They don't. They are nothing like they could be on paper with like Ben Simmons,

one of the league's best perimeter defenders, one of those leagues most versatile defenders, period. He defends all-star players, all NBA players, more than anybody else in the league, according to B-ball index data. Joel Embed, one of the league's best anchors, Richardson, a really great wing perimeter defender. They have other guys that can defend.

And yet for some reason, this team just doesn't gel on that end of the floor. They were like sixth ranked in defensive rating the season before the hiatus started. But they should be won with these pieces. And right now they're looking like a bottom 10 defense in the entire league. They just stink right now. You know what? I watch them. They miss having a dog on their team.

They just do. Jimmy Butler. The guy that gets in the huddle says, this shit ain't happening. No, not like this, right? A guy that stops the runs, a guy that will jump you in a huddle, you know, and speak up. Like, who is that guy? Who is the guy that speaks up? Because you got, you know, Embeddead hasn't really morphed into that.

You know that's not really Simmons personality. That's not Tobias' personality. Horford's kind of fish out of water in this situation. And that's never been him anyway. He's quiet. You know what I mean? Like, who's that guy? It's not Ben either.

I mean, Ben talks a bit, but he is not a Jimmy Butler type of guy that you're talking about. And Brett Brown's on either. It's crazy. By the way, the coach isn't either. No. I mean, some teams, like you look at, you know, Eric Spolstra with Miami, he's that. Nick Nurse with Toronto. He's that.

You know, Popovich, Carlisle. I mean, Doc Rivers, there's a lot of coaches who players respect and listen to. and the coach can be that guy who gets into a player's face and motivates him in that way you describe. But even then, those teams, even with those coaches, still need that player to do that. And Philly, I'm not so sure has that. Well, and you also got to give San Antonio credit because they played good basketball since this thing got back going. It is fascinating that Aldridge removed from the equation, though they have gotten, they give up a million points in the paint. and Philadelphia should have had 150 points in the paint tonight.

You know, with the size that they have on their team, they should have had 150 because Sacramento had 70 plus. The Grizzlies had 60 plus against them. I mean, you can get to the basket when you want to against that team. And they're not playing big. Portals, the only guy out there. Philly had 54 points in the paint. How does Philly have less than Sacramento and Memphis?

It's unbelievable. truly it's unbelievable and so but that but i'll give that san antonio credit they do have guys that have playoff experience for sure and been in big moments before and high leverage situations and obviously they've got a coach that's coached in a million type games like that and i do think that one of the things that i've noticed since this return to play this restart as it were, is I don't think there's any coincidence that you have seen, because they were going to move on to what we saw in the Grizzlies Pelicans. Going into the Grizzlies Pelicans, guess what, all those teams that haven't had a lot of playoff minutes, that haven't been in big moments,

that haven't played super high leverage games, they hadn't won a game. The Pelicans were 0-2, the Grizzlies were 0-2, the Kings were 0-and-2. All these young teams, that for the first time, it's not a Tuesday night game where you might get a max effort, you might not. It's treasure the basketball. It is make the most of possessions.

It's down the stretch, get the ball to your best players. Like, it's the first time through, and then you're seeing some of the veteran teams. You know, we wondered who this would, who would have an advantage in this? I think it's pretty clear, and I think part of it is indicative of San Antonio,

who frankly should have, you know, if they've knocked some free throws down, they win that game tonight against Philly, and they've played much better than we would have anticipated and have made themselves a real challenger for this playoff spot, I think part of it's like knowing who you are, being in the moments,

getting the ball to your best players in those nip-tuck games, and the young teams, you know, you don't have time to figure this out. You don't have time to figure it out, right? You're going to be in these tight games, and you better figure out what you want to go to quick. And for the first time, one of those teams had somebody deliver in a big way because Ingram and Zion both got what they wanted

and hit big shots when the game was in the balance. Back to the Spurs real quick. Credit to Popovich for just overhauling what they do. They're playing a totally different brand of basketball right now, spacing the floor. De Rosen's playing power forward, essentially. You know, I mean, it's not traditional positions here, but essentially playing the four role around Pertil, one big man, and he's thriving. It's working.

And Rob Bohoney wrote a great article about that on The Ringer that you should check out after you listen to the podcast. But, you know, San Antonio's ability to always adapt continues. It continues right now. Losing Aldridge, they change what they do on the fly. And it's working quite well. I mean, they're not defending well. And, I mean, it's going to be hard for them to get. get past Portland or even New Orleans for that matter, but they're in it. They're in it, man,

two to one start. And I would not rule them out moving forward, especially considering how hard the schedule is going to be for Portland moving forward. It's not easy for San Antonio either, but they get a chance here if they continue scoring the way they have so far. And that's a big time credit to the coaching staff for adapting and to the players for actually executing this new game plan. And you mentioned these younger teams. Yeah, it's weird, you know, besides the bright future suns going two and oh so far. Right. These younger teams that have struggled for the most part.

But I want to hear your take, though, on that Grizzlies Pelicans game tonight. I mean, I think it was as bad as you will see Morant. I think that Drew Holliday has given Jod the most problems outside of Deerran Fox. Dearen Fox is giving him the most problems, and that's because Fox is, you know, when we're talking about the top 0-0-0-1 percent of athletes in the world, Morant's in that category, and Fox is also in that category. And he's bigger and more mature now. So it's almost like a, I mean, really, I mean, and you know I have such an incredibly high opinion of Fox. And I think that it's kind of, he's somehow become a little underrated, I think, in the landscape

of the NBA. But I've watched Fox just absolutely give. He's one of the few guys that can really stay in front of him. Holiday's not going to stay in front of you step for step, but he would either go under screens or he would fight through all those high screens as to not let him get switched on to somebody else and make it easier. And a lot of times he was starting, you know, he would just prop down somewhere between the three-point line and the free throw line and just say, come on.

And what happened? Morant went one of ten from three. It was like, you got to take that shot to open this up and to keep them honest. And it just was not able to. In fact, how about this? The one he made was contested. I think that you saw a team that was three games in four days, second half of a back-to-back after got their heart ripped out again.

and then when a couple things, and this is very common with young teams, when some stuff doesn't start going your way again, when a couple of shots rim in and out, a couple bunnies don't drop, they make a couple of highly contested shots. Young teams will hang their head. Young teams are devastating when things are going their way.

They're not unlike young people. You know what I mean? And sometimes they just get so deflated. And then it takes, as life goes on, and you realize it ain't going to go all your way and you're going to take a million punches, it's part of getting older as a human. It's also part of getting older

in the landscape of the NBA. And that's why we always say teams have to take their lumps. It was the first time they've had the bad body language. And the truth is, they played Zion like this was their last game on Earth.

25 minutes. Pelicans might have packed it in. Well, he also, you know, he said before the game, we're going to play him a spurt in each quarter. So he basically started out the quarters with him, but then in the fourth he went back to him for the last several minutes. And, I mean, it just highlights. Who the hell do you have guard him? I don't know. I mean, it was like Jonas Valentinus.

He's too fast. He's too fast for most bigger guys. he's too big for most quicker guys. He's a constant matchup problem for the defense. And like New Orleans doesn't even have the ideal build around him because Derek favors so often shares the floor with him, which is good in some ways, favors, passing ability, execution, screening, but he can't space the floor.

And when New Orleans gets a big man who can actually shoot threes, I don't know what you're going to do if you're the defense when it comes to defending Zion Williamson. It's going to be scary at that point, man. And this team, New Orleans, but you know, right now, they beat Memphis on Monday night. Then they get Sacramento, Washington, San Antonio, Sacramento, Orlando. Five winnable games in a row. Moving forward.

They're right during the winning area of their schedule here. After tough losses versus Utah and L.A. They've got a good schedule in front of them. I know that you are very high on them going into this and picked them. I'll tell you, Kevin, their defense still sucks. It does. Look at the three point number. Those are not contested threes.

You just couldn't make them. What were the Grizzlies? Yes, their defense stinks, but they're facing stinky teams or teams in the bubble. Whereas you guys got Utah. OKC, Toronto, Boston, Milwaukee. I mean, I'm not saying that they're going to catch you. But the fact is that. The thing for the Grizzlies?

It's going to be tight. That's all. The last three are probably sealed. And it's going to be very fascinating at the back end of this to see how much guys are playing when they're starting. spot is already sealed for the playoffs. Especially that Bucks Grizzlies game. That last game, Bucks Grizzlies.

That's a good example. Oh, look, that was, that's Budenhouser's right hand, man. You don't think he's going to do him a solid? Well, I know. That's part of what I'm saying. I'd expect you to do me a solid. Yeah. Well, but no, but I'm talking about the, hey, the two before that, Toronto might be

locked in, Boston might be locked in to their spot. It could be. If Boston beats Miami tomorrow, I mean, are you playing all your guys in these games? They're not locked in though even if Boston wins on Tuesday night. They're not locked in I mean they get a Significantly higher chance, but they still get to win some more games still would be tight between those two for the three in the four spot between Boston and Miami Oh no, I'm saying if they win tomorrow. That's what I'm saying yeah. I mean if they went tomorrow, they still get a win a couple more But you know they would all but seal it up But it's not over yet they can still lose some more and you know never know

I'll tell you this, I've seen the three. It just coincidentally, I've watched the three that are challenging the Grizzlies for that spot. One of them went to, it was, you know, obviously a tie game with a couple minutes left to go today against New Orleans. Those other two, they lost an overtime to the Blazers. They just threw it away. And then they lost by two to San Antonio, fouling DeMarterosa with literally one second left on the fly. That play by Dylan Brooks pissed me off, man. That was a bad defense by the

Grizzly. Come on. Everything about Dylan Brooks in that game, piss me off. They could have, I'd tell you this, Portland is the best of the three. They are. They're the best of the three. Of Memphis, New Orleans.

No, New Orleans, San Antonio, Portland. Okay, all right, all right. That's what I'm saying. I'm with you. They're a brand new team with Nurkich. I mean, you saw that game this week against Boston that comeback that they had to make that close. They lost, of course.

Yep. But this team with Nurkich is different. And with Damien Lillard and C.J. McCollum, they can beat anybody on any single night. Like, I'm not saying they would beat the Lakers in a seven-game series. I wouldn't pick them. I'd probably pick them to losing five. But it would not shock me if they pushed it to six? They got a really good team, man, but a lot of great players.

So, yeah, I mean, I feel like you're comparing a team full of all-stars to a young team into another young team with the spurs with one older guy in a Rosen. They by far are the best. And the truth is, none of them are great themes. But Portland's very, very good, though. Oh, no, when they're healthy, but they're all around the same level.

You know what I mean? If they play each other, they just played each other. I just watched them all three play against Memphis who they are behind and they need the game like blood. And the games went to overtime, two points, And then I think today's margin ended up being like 10. But I mean, that's a nip-tuck game with five minutes left to go.

Sharon Jackson rims out of three. Maybe things get a little different. And Morant couldn't hit a shot to save his life. And by the way, Portland's schedule coming up, Houston, Denver, Clippers, Sixers, Mavericks, Nets. They get a real lot of tough games there too. And again, this is one of the reason why before this all started, I picked the Pelicans to take the 9C. Their schedule is easily the simplest for any of these teams to get through. You can say Portland could win or lose any of those games, depending on so many factors,

but New Orleans is probably going to be favored in maybe all of their games. Moving forward, especially now that Zion's playing at least 25 minutes. That'll be up to 30 soon, and maybe he'll be up the 35 by the end of this. And at that point, you're talking about a completely different team than the one that we saw lose against Utah and the fourth quarter and the team that we saw lose against the Clippers. But this team is different with Williamson playing a lot of minutes. And we're about to –

We saw that today or we're about to see it moving forward to. I tell you this, I don't know what happened. We saw that picture a couple weeks ago, and it was like all these guys that we saw the pictures of, I swear, they're as good as these Instagram models. They must be. You know how sometimes you see about the Instagram model, And then they'll be like, yeah, that's not what that girl really looks like.

Unbelievable angles, unbelievable filters, everything else. I'm like, what happened? Like, we saw James Harden, like in a freaking desert. He looked like he weighed 160 pounds. He looked bigger to me now. Mark Gasol was not shredded like he looked in that picture. Yokic doesn't look like he did in that picture. And Williamson today, bro, there was no pipe vein running.

and down his arm today. Like, I don't know if it's, I don't know, I don't know if it's Instagram filters or what, or like none of these guys that we thought made these massive post-workout. Yeah, maybe. I wouldn't know, but from what I hear from my sources, Ryan Rusillo, no, I'm just kidding. That's that post-workout. That's when you get the veins popping out. Yeah, but they also, like, some of these guys look so skinny, even, you know what to be?

Oh, yeah. Like the sole, like, Yoke, it's like Hardin. Hardin looks skinny. in that picture that was like on a mountain they talked about him doing yoga Hardin still looks good no he looks like he's gained weight yeah but I'm saying like

I think he still looks fit well look they've been mega impressive Houston mega impressive huge winning against the bucks huge win that defense is different in the fourth quarter easily one of my favorite

subplots for you for the Houston fans everything I diabolically love this being Russell Westbrook's team. It's unbelievable to watch this all unfold. The guy that was

everything wrong with basketball against James Hardin, the MVP, Houston fans hated Russell Westbrook. And then so many of the media hated Russell Westbrook. I'm not saying that. But I definitely didn't like him.

He's walked straight into Houston and that's his team. That is his team. And with the games on the line, it's not his team. Yes, it is. What are you calling Houston Rockets Russell Westbrook's team?

Their success or failure is going to hinge on him, not the other guy. Okay. You watch the end of these games and Westbrook is there for the fight. The same one that Hardin usually

don't want to throw any more punches, especially when it gets to the bigger and bigger games. Look at what Westbrook's doing. It's ungodly. Okay. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about that. I think this ties nicely to what we talked about a little bit with DeRosen earlier.

DeRosen's in a brand new situation now. It is highlighting his greatest strengths, ability to get to the basket with open floor space, get to his spots anytime he wants to. That's what Westbrook now has in Houston. Space floor. He can attack any time he wants to get to the basket or to get to his spawn on the floor. Doesn't need to shoot threes. He only attempted three.

and that game against the bucks whereas Harden took 12. I mean, they play different styles. I wouldn't say it's Westbrook's team. I think it's going to be matchup dependent. It's going to depend on which player has the best situation, the best matchup to attack and get to wherever it is on the court that they need to. And Westbrook, Westbrook for all his flaws that many people, including myself,

have knocked him for many, many years. And rightfully so, considering his failures, and his inefficiencies. But now in Houston, he's in a situation that does minimize some of those, and it highlights his strengths, which is the ability to draw files, get to the basket,

finish at the basket, kick out to shooters. Those are the things Westbrook is great at. And that's what he's doing here. And it's working. No, you just know, I'm talking about how he is wired, and then when the game is in the balance,

he's making that play. Like, he's just, that's how he's wired. And so their success are filled, And he's delivered. He is delivered. And he delivered against the box. You can say that. And I'm not disagreeing that in that box game, he was the guy down the stretch.

But there's not going to be other nights where it is James Hardin. And I'm not going to say that it's Westbrook's team or Hardin's team. It's both their teams. They're the guys who run the show there. They run it together. And ultimately, Westbrook did handle what he had to on the offensive end. Hardin in that game showed why he's not a zero on defense anymore. It was a group effort.

to contain yannis but hardin and all of his matchups on the defensive end was up for the challenge played hard really defended yonis well and some of the matchups they had against each other and i'm constantly impressed by what i'm seeing from houston's defense with their ability to really play aggressive swarm the opponent rack up deflections and steals and getting passing lanes with their speed they feel small in some ways like when you see bobon like inside the paint just catching a fake Luca shot, you know, that's actually a pass. They feel small in certain situations, but when it comes to just the defensive aspect with their length and their speed,

they don't feel small to me. They feel very long, you know? It's going to be fascinating because we're going to get to see them play against that Portland team tomorrow. And do they play the Nurkiches and the Collinses and the white sides completely off the court? Or does Portland figure out a way? Because they do have some big guys and they got some real muscle. I mean, the truth is, you cannot rebound them by 50 rebounds, and they're still in these games.

It's crazy. It's insane. It's insane. And then the Lakers on Thursday night, which we'll talk about for our next podcast. Lakers Rockets will be recording right after that on Thursday night. I thought Mike D. Anthony is a very good quote, and somebody asked him what he thought, because I think all of us that are basketball observers have thought this since this all started back. damn man i can't believe how good these games are i can't believe how high you know like how good of basketball a lot of it is and how great these players have played even after so much time off and i thought

he said something very fascinating when they asked him about the high level of play he said quote seriously it's a great stage to play there's not a lot of distractions there's not a lot of It's the same court every night. You get your shooting, depth perception, and all that. And it's something that I had not thought of much before. But the idea that you're not going to a different arena, that there is a familiarity by playing on the, you know, virtually the same court when you're playing your games

and that there is somewhat of an advantage to that. And just the sight lines, the arena, the depth perception, all that kind of stuff. That's a good point. And we know about not having the distractions. And we thought that that, I'm surprised that a coach said that that's part of the reason he thought there had been such a high level of play. And then, of course, and I know Bill touched on this in his pod with their silo, you don't have crappy teams there. You know what I mean?

Like there's a couple. But generally, these are the best teams in the league. And so it's really like an extended playoffs. And so many of these games matter so greatly towards, you know, this seeding that you're getting, you're getting a lot of intense basketball games. And they come down to the wire. I mean, some of this stuff feels like March Madness. It's been awesome, man.

I mean, even today earlier, we got Denver, Oklahoma City, went to overtime. Michael Porter scored 37 points, career high, and only 16 shots. I mean, without Gary Harris, without Jamal Murray or Will Burma. Barton, they filled all three of their roles with what Porter did, running off balls, handling the ball at the end of that game in the fourth quarter. It feels like every day we're getting multiple great games because we're getting all these great teams facing each other, as you said. And I'll actually, I'll tell you this, with that Oklahoma City thing, Kev, holy macro.

You're taking Shruder out of the mix on that, my God, when they went to their bench, reel that off. Yeah. I mean, it's amazing how. just Schroeder and he has been an outstanding reserve this year but that when you take him out of that fold and you're rocking with these other guys that are coming in it's like unbelievable like they're starting lineup Gilges so good Paul Gallo I mean Adams I mean they got but then when they went to their bench and they don't have like Schroeder because shrewder can just be the guy

on the second unit, he can just be the guy. He is the guy on the second unit. And then they'll keep him in to play with the starters. But holy crap when he's not there. Hamadu Diallo. Here's a stat to support your point. So before the restart, Oklahoma City this season, outscored teams with Schroeder, Gilgis Alexander,

and Paul on the court at the same time by 26 points per 100 possessions. On the best marks ever, really, with a three-man lineup combination over 400 minutes. With just two of those guys, any two of the three, they got outscored by 0.3 points for 100 possessions. Basically, they played the opponent even, and that was for the far majority of their minutes the season, over 2,300.

When you play with just one, just CP3 or just Schroeder or just SGA, they get outscored by 10 points per 100 possessions. They stunk with just one guard on the court this season, And that's what they're going to be forced to do now that Schroeder has left because he's having his baby soon. I believe his wife, I'm not sure if she's due. Yep. But he did leave to be with her and they're having a child.

And so who knows how long he'll be gone. But it's going to be tough for OKC without him. And I voted him six man of the year. I mean, the numbers weren't great with just him on the floor by himself, which I did weigh against him. But ultimately, I feel like his value is what he provided as a whole. And that was when he shared the floor with another guard. And he provided another secondary scoring presence. The guy could handle the ball who can play off ball, who can cut,

who played the best defense of his entire career. And they're losing that guy. And as you said, I mean, like, they still went to overtime, to be fair here. But Denver was missing guys too. Yeah. That Denver missed three guys, you know? And ultimately for OK, C, it's going to be hard. It's going to be hard without Shrewder.

He's a critical player on that team. But with Denver, though, I mean, Once they get Murray back, Barton back, if Harris is back to being the guy we saw a couple years ago, Michael Porter had some moments like this in January before he hurt his ankle. And if this is the guy that they're getting, I'm curious about your thoughts on their ability to be one of those teams. We talk about Houston as an upset team. Can Denver be an upset team over either of the LA teams if Porter is a guy that can go off for 30? This is just one game.

but he had these before early in the year. He changes things for that offense. 6-10, shooting ability, can score inside, can be used off screens, can handle the ball, shoot off the dribble. What does he do to their chances in an actual seven-game series against the Lakers or Clippers?

This is why I would say no, okay? Because I don't think he has that level of opportunity when the other guys come back. And if we assume, so as currently constructed, the answer would be absolutely no chance. But it is also as currently constructed that Michael Porter would be able to get off in this manner because when Jamal Murray is present

and Will Barton is present and Gary Harris is present, this is not going to be his role. He's not even going to have the opportunity to do that. How do we know that, though? What if he takes it? What if he takes the role? Because his coach is Malone, and we've seen the way he's dealt with Porter the entire season. Sure.

Like, this is by virtue of necessity. Look, dude, this happened. I'm a Millie Beasley fan. This happened with Beasley all the time. And then guess what? You wouldn't hear from him. He'd be coming off the bench. He gets you eight points, 12 points, whatever.

This year, he was nothing before. I mean, you would have thought he stunk before they got, they moved him off to Minnesota. And so that's the deal to me. The deal to me is I've seen the way this is dealt with. I saw that Malik Beasley, Dumas Marie would be hurt, Gary Hears would be hurt, Malik Beasley would be installed in the starting lineup. He'd get 36 points in a game, just like Porter's doing right now. And then when those guys come back, you wouldn't, like, there'd be games that you didn't

even know he's on the team. And I think that will be the trajectory for Porter right now. The bigger question is, not for this year, but in the future, look, if that is what Michael Porter can become, and we will see when they have a fully functioning team, Barton takes shots and Murray takes a lot of shots. Gary Harris kind of now is molded more into a role player. Gary Harris hasn't been the same guy that he wasn't past years. Yeah. I mean, is Porter going to be a guy that ever gets? I mean, he did that on very, very high efficiency today.

typically you've got to take a lot more than 16 shots to get 37 points. Here's what Denver needs to do. Denver needs to move Barton to the bench. That's what they got to do. They get to keep Porter in the starting lineup. Once those guys are back, Barton started all his games this season. They got to put him back on the bench.

Have him be the energizer that that bench unit needs and let him thrive in that role. And he needs to be ready to accept that and flourish with it. because Porter is at his best when he's playing with a playmaking big like Nicola Yokritch. I mean, the way they used Porter in that game, running him off screens, you know, letting him really read the floor himself oftentimes too. Yokh found him every single time. And if he wasn't scoring the ball off a three or a layup near the rim, he was able to draw a foul.

And I think that is what they need to do. pair Porter with Yokic as much as you can. And then in situations maybe where Yokic is off the floor, that's when you can ride Porter with Barton and let those guys share the ball together. But to your point, I don't know if Malone's going to do that. Malone didn't trust young players in the past with Porter. It's been like that too. But the fact is, is that you have a guy who's six foot 10, it can get buckets from anywhere

on the court. You've got to ride that guy to increase your chances. By the way, Porter wasn't a sieve on defense today. which he has been in the past. He stunk on defense a lot. And that's one of the reasons why Malone doesn't trust him, and rightfully so. But today, Porter, I thought, was better and showed more energy and awareness than he has in other games. And that's encouraging to me, and I'm sure it is to Malone.

But it's about being consistent. You know what I mean? It's got to happen again. Like, you've got to see the defense. It's almost like, if Porter doesn't have another 25-point game, the rest of the seating games, it doesn't matter as long as he keeps defending at a competent level. So that's what I'm going to be watching for from Porter moving forward Because he know he can score

It's just he needs to start defending more consistently Yeah And maybe it won't be You know, the next time it might not be Gallo or whoever on the other side Of course Of course 37 is a major anomaly, you know

It's not like OKC has a bad team defense though They have a solid defense And he did some of those buckets Were heavily contested around the ram guys on him, draped over him. A lot of them were through contact. It's not like they're all easy buckets. Yeah, he is.

He is super talented. And Denver, like I said, I'm not picking them against the Lakers or Clippers. All I'm saying is that if you're looking for X factors who can swing a series or steal some games and make things really, really interesting and maybe have an offset, Michael Porter is one of those guys that you look at. And you say, oh, he could change things for Denver. And he could. Before we move on, let's hear from today's sponsors. Today's episode of the Ringer NBA show is brought to you by Fandul.

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Blue Apron, feed your soul. Let's get back to the mismatch. All right. Let me tell you who the most impressive team that I've seen is. Okay. Who do you think I'm going to say? Phoenix. Bright future suns.

No. Okay. Who is it then? Toronto. Oh, yeah. Of course. They are awesome, dude. They are awesome.

They are now, I believe the number is this season. When Markisal is in the lineup, they are 30 and 8, which would be roughly a 64 or 65 win pace. But that does not hold the candle to what I heard today. and I am quoting the Miami announcers. So if this is wrong, it is their fault and not mine. But I did go, hey, to wit, I went and looked up how many games the guy has started because I was not going to be able to go through it and count wins and losses. But they said this during the broadcast today.

As Fred Van Vleet was going all the way the hell off in this game. They said, dude, wait till you hear this. I couldn't believe it. I'm ready. Let's go. In games that Fred Van Vleet has started for the Toronto Raptors in his career, they are now, as of today, they beat Miami, 60 and 18. The Miami announcer said that today. What the hell?

I mean, so I didn't have time to count it up. I go and look. I'm like, well, here, I'm going to know if it's bullshit because I'll just go, look. Does it, has he started 78 games? He started, he started 78 games. Must be true. Let's say that is true.

Well, then I was like, it lines up. Like, I mean, who would make that up? So that means they're now 61 and 18, right? No, no, no, no. Okay, in fairness, on the broadcast, I edited this. On the broadcast, they said, 59 and 18.

Okay, okay. All right. In the 77 games. So I'm giving them the win today. So now that would mean 78 games. He started 60 and 18. Who would ever in a million years suspect that? That's a nice stat.

That's a good step. I mean, they won the title last year, but I mean, unbelievable, man. And by the way, I mean, they went against a really tough team today. That Miami Heat Squad is tough, hard-nosed, well-coached. They fought back, kept punching, punch, and punch, and punching. If it weren't for

a couple sloppy turnovers, unfortunate turnovers at the end of that game, maybe things are a bit different. I'm also making a video about the heat this week, so you should check that out on the Ringer's YouTube channel. Check out the restarts of Obama and a bio. With that said, Toronto was the real threat to the Milwaukee

bucks in the Eastern Conference. Because of that defense, their ability to adapt, come out with a different game plan, every single game. Every single game, they change something with what they do. And their players are so smart, so plugged in, so connected. I mean... It really is. It's old school spurs crap. It really is. You know, that famous, you know, Popovich called it summertime. It was this great, anybody that wants to go back and read this, it's one of the great basketball articles

ever written by Jackie McMullen. You just type in Jackie McMullen's summertime. And it's about how after the Spurs had gotten their heart ripped out by the Miami Heat, that they went back and they had this retreat and they were going to install a new way of playing basketball. And it was like, I can't remember all the, for instances, but it was like within two seconds, you needed to decide what you were doing action-wise. If you're going to take a dribble, if you're going to move the ball, and you remember, they ended up that season absolutely destroying Miami in what many people thought was the most beautiful basketball ever played.

And the first time I've seen a team like that that pops the ball around until they get the great shot and continues to cut and place. So smart is this Toronto team. I mean, you watch them. It is a collective. It truly is a team. You know? And like, you know, I talked about the defense earlier.

You're talking about the offense here with the way they all play together. But they also have guys who we saw it from Fred Van Bleet on Monday. They have guys who can step up and be the guy initiating offense and creating for themselves. Some nights it's Van Bleet. All their nights it's Lowry. All their nights at Sea Ackham. None of those guys are necessarily the quote unquote number one option. You know, they're not that star player.

They're not the guys we've talked about earlier. They're not Hardin. They're not Westbrook. But what they are are players who excel with or without the ball. Siak am one of the best cutters in the league who has turned himself into a very, very good on-ball player. Kyle Lari is a great shooter, knockdown shooter off the catch, smart cutter, a screener for a guard. Also a guy who can create for you. Great playmaker.

Great shooter off the dribble. And Fred Van Blyte, what the player he has turned into is, Remarkable. It really is. Undrafted for an agent to turn into this great defender who plays his ass off every single possession and just plays smart basketball and offense. And he produces no matter what role he's given on any certain night. It's, I mean, like, man, the bucks are the favorite in the East, but Toronto's right there, man. Let's just admit it here. This is a deep, strong team. They're a tick behind Milwaukee. And if these teams face each other, in the postseason, I'd pick it to go seven. I would. It's not going to go five for Milwaukee. Six, maybe, but seven, I'd pick seven between Toronto and Milwaukee. These are two great teams.

And Toronto seems like they've gotten even better. Toronto's better now than they were even during the season. I've loved Fred Van Vleet since college because one of my friends was an assistant coach for Greg Marshall there. Steve Ford, who, interestingly enough, Forbes was at East Tennessee State. He just got the Wake Forest job. He's the new head coach at Wake Forest. But Forbes, who I kept up with, I mean, he swore by this guy, Van Fleet, and was telling me the whole time, and you want to know the crazy twist to this,

his childhood buddy, like best friend that he grew up with, Nick Nurse. So the guy that coached, one of the guys that recruited and coached Van Fleet at Wichita, was childhood friends with now who coaches Van Fleet there at the Raptors. Nick Nurse, they're both actually from Iowa, of all things. But Van Fleet turning it. And look, and we're talking, you're talking about Van Fleet, and you're talking about Laurie, you're talking about Seacom. Kev, you'll be watching one night and frigging Norm Powell has 28.

And then the next night, Terrence Davis, you know, did I say that right? Terrence Davis from Ole Miss. Terence Davis, yeah. Right? Yeah, comes off the bench. he's got 18 or something or O'GN and O.B. It's crazy. Like they, he really true, and this is, this is what the great coaches can do. You feel like everybody on that team is maximized. Yeah. Like, truly, like they're maximized. Like, do you look at anybody on that team and go,

oh, God, could you imagine how much better they would be if they played blank? Like, nobody, nobody. And in fact, you wonder if they would fall off the map if they played somewhere else. You know what I mean? It's just a great spot to be in. Which is the Spurs effect where guys leave the Spurs. You're like, will they ever be as good as they were in San Antonio? Oftentimes, it's never the case.

They're usually worse. But with these Toronto guys, it's like with Fred Van Vleet has a contract coming up this summer. I think he's a guy who could excel anywhere, just with his qualities. Yeah. You had a really weird deal going on with this Toronto game, too, because, Kev, I felt like this story just, like, went by the wayside. It was very bizarre how this was not, like, big covered.

It didn't feel like. The whole Jimmy Butler deal where he is not there. And then if you go back and you read the quotes of the other players, Jay Crowder's like, yeah, it's strange situation to be quarantined at this time, you know, like a quarantine situation, like that we're in, whatever. And so, of course, my immediate reaction when I read that quote was, oh, my God, did somebody get coronavirus? Like, did Jimmy Butler get COVID-19 or something like that?

And then Kelly Olinic says, yeah, he wasn't there, but he tried to, then he kind of makes it sound like he's not sick, but obviously we need Jimmy here and want to back. It was all just so insanely strange with the way. it all played out. And my gut was, dude, he's still pissed about

this Jersey thing. He's mad about the jersey thing. And from what I gather, sources say, he was mad about the jersey thing. We saw it, obviously, right? He went out on the court.

They wouldn't start the game without him. And just to give context, you're saying, you know, for people who don't know, He wanted to wear a jersey without anything on it. None of the phrases that the NBA was given, and he also didn't want to have his last name. And the referees had him change to a jersey with his last name on it. Correct.

So he wanted a blank jersey as to signify, I'm no different than anybody else. Okay. So he's furious about it. You can see they're not going to start the game without it. So the NBA is obviously putting their foot down on this. And then if you noticed yesterday, Kiv, That whole story just went away.

It was just gone. Okay? See you later. What I was told is he put his foot down. And he's like, F this. I'm going back out there and I'm wearing the blank jersey. I'm wearing the blank jersey. And that the NBA said, you know what?

How about you just cool out? That's why Crowder used the quarantine word. Why don't you just cool out and you tell us when you're going to be cool? And finally he was like, all right, I'll wear. I'll wear the other jersey. I think Miami told him to cool off? Adam Silver. Interesting.

Very interesting. So Jimmy Buller just took a day to hang out in his hotel and watch movies instead of practice. Cool off, chill out, and think about things in his own space. You can decide how you want this to play out. We can make a big scene of this or not, but you can make your own decisions on this. For what it's worth, I was told it has nothing to do with any, like, false positive or anything like that from what I was told. There's nothing to do with any

test. It's all about the Jersey. Yeah. Yeah. I'm just supporting where you're reporting here that I was told it had nothing to do with a false positive or anything like that. And he also didn't miss a test or anything. Yes. No. It was all about the jersey. I knew it was about the jersey. Something was going on with that.

And so my understanding is they wanted to let him know like, no, this isn't the way this is going down, right? We've tried to be cool. about this, but enough already. Right? You already just held up the start of a game. You know what I mean?

Like, he did. He did. He went out there with the jersey. And finally, like, you saw a spolsterer. It's like, come on. Like, you know, they're not going to let you play. Like, they called in and said, you're not playing. We're not starting the game with you doing this. So it's obviously something that they were putting their foot down about, right?

And then when he just was absent from the team and then Crowder used that word quarantine. It's like, why is he being quarantined? You know what I mean? And it was, hey, you figure out, you know, we're kind of all in this together. So, I mean, they made it go away. They made it go away. They did.

And he showed up and he was wearing his jersey today. One thing to note, the day of that game where he changed jerseys, his agent, Bernie Lee, tweeted this. This is what it looks like when your employer supports you as a human being. This is action above words. I'm assuming he was referring to the fact that the heat actually gave him a jersey without the name on it. Just noting that, that is the only agent did say that is a positive thing about the way that happened at the beginning of the game. Right.

But the NBA was not going to let that continue. Yeah, exactly. It took a stand on the thing, right? All is well that ends. Well, it doesn't matter. He's not doing anything now. He's playing. He played against Toronto today.

And hopefully, you know, that's the end of that regarding what takes place. with them, but that team that they played, Toronto, I think you and me are on the same page. And the numbers with Gassal, the numbers with Van Vleet are just freaky. I mean, that's a team that wasn't that healthy this year. And yet they were really, really, really, really good. And now they're healthy. And we're seeing what they can be when that team is all together, game planning. I mean, they're special.

They're a special team. I don't know if they're going to win it all, but they're special. And it's a team that I'm going to remember. the only thing that you don't want to run into at this point in the NBA is T.J. Warren. I think he's averaging 43 points a game. By the way, discarded by the bright future sons. I wanted to throw that in that. That's okay.

I understand. Just in case. Just in case. It was a mistake. It was. I mean, I tweeted about that the other day and said how much of a joke it is that they gave him up for cash considerations. And a bunch of sons fans got angry with me saying, like, well, they did this to open up cap space.

for Ricky Rubio. And it's like, yeah, but they got cash considerations back for him. You know what you should have said? You should have said, yeah, I know. I know. That's what they did. And that's stupid.

Well, no, it's not. It's not. Rubio's been really good for them. I've an important player for that team. But they should have at least gotten like a second round pick. They should have gotten something. Yeah. And if they didn't get anything back for him because other teams, 28 other teams were stupid,

it didn't see the potential on T.J. Warren. Then I don't, I don't really understand what, other teams were thinking here. Fact is, is that it's a joke that T.J. Warren only got traded

for cash considerations. And by the way, they also gave up a second round draft pick to get the deal done too. But, you know, for T.J. Warren, you know, dudes,

dude's bawling with Indiana. 53 points in that opener, 34 points today against the Wizards. I know. That guy can get buckets, dude. Hey, 43 and a half points per game.

It's two games. It's hilarious. I don't want to go too long on the Pacers' Wizards game, but just on T.J. Warren, like, this was a guy at NC State in college. He was a bucket getter. I mean, he could get anywhere he wanted on the court. He lived from mid-range. He had one of those beautiful floaters I've ever seen at the college level, draw files, get to the basket, but he couldn't shoot. And he couldn't shoot threes early in his career either with Phoenix. And the guy he's turned into shooting 40% the last two years with Phoenix last year in Indiana.

year total. I mean, credit to him for improving his shot selection, improving his shot shooting range, and Indiana is benefiting right now. Hopefully they can get to Monta Sabona's back. He's due in about a week or in a week and a half to get checked after dealing with his plantar fasciitis, which made him leave the bubble. But if Indiana gets the bonus back, there are another team that you can throw in there to that pile of these teams that make the journey to the final. is quite difficult for anybody. They need a bonus, but it's nice to see Warren having these games for them. It's fun to watch, really.

On an other Eastern Conference note, because we had talked about him the other day, especially after his last exhibition performance, and you and I had been very high on him, to the point where I remember the magic putting like an Instagram post of some of our quotes from Summer League at how much we were in love with Jonathan Isaac and what the future held for him and just to see that image of them bringing out a wheelchair for him. And this poor kid just got back was just absolutely positively devastating, truly. I mean, it's at the point, because obviously with something like that,

you wonder, does your future change completely because of that moment? Obviously, really good kid, good head on his shoulders, but he is a rare, rare talent, Kev. You and I've seen it when he's at his best, and he's just had horrendous luck. And now to go through, this will be a second ACL in such a short amount of time. And the kid just worked to get back on the court and was looking really good again, having big impact on the game. I just, I mean, I just hated it for him. hated it for him and the image of him because that you just feel like I don't know what his future is going to be but you know he's at least robbed of some of it you know from whatever his destiny was going to be if he could have just not torn up these knees earlier this season

he had a posterior lateral corner injury and medial bone contusion to his left knee and that's why he had that wrap on his left knee but you just wanted to wonder if that's one of the reasons why, you know, he was dealing with prior damage to that left knee already and, you know, lack of stability caused that injury to occur. There was a video I saw posted on Twitter how it almost looks identical to the torn ACL injury. Derek Rose had a very similar move was made, landing on both knees at once and one of them just kind of collapses inward. It's sad for Isaac as a person and, I mean, he can miss all of next season. We know when the season's going to start it's hard to predict ahead but this is going to impact

Orlando moving forward as well with one of their best young talents a versatile defender who seemed to be showing signs of blossoming on the offensive end of the floor it just sucks man i i hate that we saw that because it's one of those where he's a perfect example of someone who was drafted where they are people go back and they look at the draft now and they're like what jonathan isaac like i'd rather have this guy and this guy and this guy behind them who might have had more immediate success but that three and four and five years down the road it looks like it's the same honestly it's not unlike what some of the stuff that was said um to me by scouts in the NBA when i was asking them did Memphis do the right thing by taking jackson junior you know over some of these other

guys. And there were a group of NBA scouts who I greatly respect that told me that's the kid that will be the best of all of them in five years. But you're going to have to wait, right? Like you're going to have to wait three, four, five years. He's obviously better already, Jackson Jr. is than a lot of people thought. His development has gone a little faster than people thought. But there was that class of a scout that said, hey, four or five years down the road, he might be the best of all of them.

And I don't know if that was what Isaac's destiny was going to be. But at least there was a chance. You know what I mean? There was a chance that they took him. His development was going to take a little bit longer. He obviously had to overcome a few entries and that you could look back

and it's like, holy mackerel, what a steel they got, right? And then you look back and you go, Can you believe they took so and so ahead of him and so it's so ahead of him? Because the talent is just off the charts. Yeah, I mean, ultimately, I mean, they made the right choice. Orlando did. It's just unfortunate he's to dealt with so many injuries early on in his career.

Yep. We are going to now, I guess we're going to see. It's the first time we really saw a lot of Zion Williamson, you know, was tonight. And we'll see how much we see of him going forward. and is this the new normal, or is he not playing all that much? Because he hadn't played, I think he played almost as many minutes tonight

as he has played so far in the first two games that the Pelicans played. But now they're kind of in must win. All these teams, you know, it's like must win mode. Seriously, like all these Western Conference teams in must win mode. And even like Houston's moved up to four, Kev. that happened quick.

You know, they moved up to four. Only a game and a half back from Denver, only three back from the Clippers. The only team that has basically wrapped it up is the Lakers. They won tonight against Utah. They're up six on the Clippers now. They wrapped up that one spot. And it's interesting to see the jockeying around that will take place because, let's say, you know, Dallas right now, I mean, they've kind of made their bed.

They're probably not catching six. They could. Two and a half back, man. Two and a half back. Oh, that's it. We just talked about our Schroeder left. But you got to, but in order to make up two and a half in six games.

I know, it's hard. I mean, like, you got to get really lucky here. You got to flip it completely. All I'm saying is there's not a zero percent chance. They're not locked in there 100%. They still could move up.

Look, here's what I'd say. I would become a massive Nuggets fan if I'm a Mavs fan. Or whoever, I would want the, the I would want the you know the clippers to drop down because could you imagine if you get the friggin' succeed and that's how you get the clippers and the Mabbs somehow get like you know what I mean

the Mavs Denver could be a great series yeah you know what I mean but I'm not so sure that anybody versus the clippers is going to be a great series maybe I don't know if they don't get Lou Will and Montrez back anything to be great right but I mean good grief you saw them. We had seen some of these teams play at their best. Their game against the Pelicans,

I mean, that was an absolute, I mean, they just pissed on them. They beat them by a thousand. They had 16 threes in the first half of the game. It was just crazy to watch that unfold. And that is, that's

the difference. Every once or while you're reminded of the difference of the caliber of some of these teams when they're at their best. And when the clippers are at their best, they're, they're at a level that only the Lakers, right? Or maybe Toronto, Milwaukee, are playing with them, right? For sure, no doubt. And Lakers showed that tonight with 80, scoring 42 points on 28 shots. Not only was he the best scorer in the game, but he is also the best defensive player on the floor. He was outstanding

for the Lakers tonight. I mean, he granted voting is over. Had the NBA kept voting open I'm sure this game might have swayed some voters' choices to go 80 over Gobert or Janus. He was tremendous, tremendous on the court tonight for the Lakers. Oh, look, you have to get really physical with him. That's what you have to do. And so many of these teams, and especially with the way everybody plays now, they just don't. They don't get physical with him. but that's what you have to attempt to do in the games against L.A.

Or otherwise, if it's an easy game for him and he's able to just fly up and down the court, I mean, hell, I think he had 24 and 7, I think it was, by halftime of that game. And there's just not many teams that can really try to rough it up, bracket him, make it hard on him, get really physical with them. Toronto's the only one we've seen so far that has done it. And they pulled it off the other night. I mean, they made his life miserable. And Marcusal's done that several times before because obviously I witnessed so many

matchups against the Pelicans and guys in the past. But that's what they always knew. With a guy like that that's so skilled, you got to really get physical with him. Because if it's easy for him and you're not physical with him, he's a cheat code. there's no good matchup no I mean I mean tonight four three pointers scored at will

inside I mean 80 I mean 80 everybody considers him a top six seven player in the league but in some ways I feel like he's still sort of underrated I'm not saying with their ranking necessarily but he's right there with some of those guys that are

vying for that one two or three consideration if you're ranking players dude it's really one of a kind in the league. Oh, when he's at his best, there's nobody better. At his best.

Maybe Yonis. Maybe. I'm talking about would you get the best Anthony Davis, the best version of Anthony Davis? Only Yonis would be who I'd say. I'm serious. He's that, I mean, what do you do? He's devastating.

Because he alters the entire game. on both ends. I'm saying when he's at his best, and that's what Yannis does, when he's at his best, he alters the game completely at both ends. You know what's funny is I still feel like we've seen the best from AD in the sense

that there's still some untapped playmaking potential with him. There's some playmaking stuff that he could do in the open court or on a short role that we haven't seen from him with a lot of consistency. It's not any fault of his own. I mean, he's paired with one of the, greatest creators ever right now in LeBron James, so there's less demand for him to be a passer.

But AD, I do wonder if he, as he ages, let's say his athleticism fades a little bit in his 30s, I do wonder if some of that passing ability is going to blossom a bit more than we see now in his 20s where he's putting up high 20s and points, you know, blocking a heck of a lot of shots, defending at an elite level. I feel like that's something we'll see as he ages more often. Everybody has to reinvent themselves when they get old. Yep. But he ain't close to old. He ain't close.

Only 27 years old. Still a young age. God. That is crazy. I mean, imagine. Imagine that 27 years old. I mean, this guy stays healthy. He's,

you got six, seven years of this guy being devastating. You know what I mean? Kevin, this has exceeded all of my wildest expectations. Yeah. I'm serious. It's been great. I'm going to let the restart.

The restart. Oh. It's like every day. My show. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. What are you talking about? Here, let me do my Jason Concepcion.

What am I living in bizarro world? Jason's impression of you. Welcome to desktop. I'm Jason Concepcion. Let me tell you about comic books and warlocks and shit. Wow. Yeah. Screw.

him. I guess you didn't like Jason's impression of you, huh? I'm going to stuff him in a locker. Wow. That's what I do. Jason could sense you out. I love Jason. You've never seen Jason do pushups. I'm pretty sure he can push you into a locker. Shit, he only got to push himself up three inches. Look at his little lizard

arms. Geez, don't start beef between Jason and Chris Vernon. Don't don't me start beef? He started this, Kevin. He started this. Yeah, he did. He did. He did. He did. He did. He did. He did. He did. I didn't start this. All I've ever done is praise him, love him. Treat him with the respect he deserved. His impression of you was pretty funny.

Isaac, can we plug in Jason's impression? Yeah, sure. Can we plug in Jason's impression of Chris Vernon here? Just to get- We don't need to plug in anything. Just to get context to the listeners. He's been a good coach in this league. As Chris Vernon, Verno said recently on the NBA show, Roger Sherman wrote that it was a mistake. Hey, what? Kevin, man. I don't know. When did Tom Timito become a bad coach?

What? Am I in Bazaardo? Watch NBA desktop, everybody. No, that show sucks. Don't watch that crap. I'm Chris Vernon. Tom Pivotto, Roger Sherman. What do you say?

He messed me up, man. That's so funny. That's great. I love Concepcio. He's the man, dude. I love him. If they ain't making fun of you, you're a nobody. That's what I say.

So I'm glad that he goofed on me. His impressions suck, though. Maybe he'll work on him and come back with a better one. Look, let me tell you something. This NBA restart has been sensational. The basketball's been great. The games have been great. And now we got another.

week where it's like wall to wall and I just, I don't know, obviously I missed it. I missed seeing basketball, but this is just so much better than the tail end of a regular season would have ever been. So at least now. And I'm actually way more excited for the playoffs than I thought I would be given the circumstances. Oh, this is going to be weird with them in Orlando and it's going to be weird and is, are the game's going to be the same and whatever? Like, dude, I love this. They're so good. Like the product that we've been getting to watch on TV,

it lost nothing. When Shake Milton hit that three that I lost nothing. Like I guess I could have seen a Philly crowd go wild or something, but like I still in my living room was like, oh, yeah, it's the game. Every night so far we've gotten games like that.

We're probably going to get more of them on Tuesday night, Boston, Miami, Houston, Portland. You know, we got some more big games. It really is. It feels like it, man. And by the way, it's going to feel like that in the first round.

The whole first round is going to have early start games too before it goes back to later starts in the second round. But, I mean, from now until really September, at the end of the first round, it's going to be like this. It's just a heck of a lot of early games all day long, great basketball being played. Dude, the NBA, they stumbled upon something here, man, with a neutral site with just having some of the top teams. I'm telling you, man, the success of this. is going to support the mid-season tournament in the future. The league's going to be able to install that moving forward. And every year we're going to get something that resembles what we're seeing right now

with the best teams facing off at a tournament playing for something. And maybe at that point people will make up bullshit and say, oh, who cares? I don't playing for anything again. But they're playing for seating right now, and it's great. They're playing for seating. That's it. I mean, there's still something to play for if they have a mid-season tournament,

which works in leagues around the world. So I'm happy to see this working now. It's been beyond what I could have expected to, Chris. I'm having a heck of a lot of fun. I'm having fun doing the show with you and Isaac, and I'm having fun talking with the listeners every week. It's been great having basketball back. It's awesome.

Man, you ain't lying. All right, well, we will reconvene on Friday after we have watched an entire slew of games. I mean, look, a lot's going to change between, we're recording this on Monday night, between Monday night and Thursday night. The standings are going to look a lot different.

The playoff race in the Western Conference is going to look a lot different based upon what happens over the next couple of days. That night, we get Bucks Heat. Miami's beating the Bucks twice the season. Dallas Clippers, potential first-round matchup, Lakers, Rockets to end the night. I cannot wait to talk hoops

with Chris Vernon on Thursday night. Well, we will be doing it. Thanks to Isaac Lee, as always. Thanks to all of you for checking out the podcast, and we will talk to you on Friday.