The Ringer NBA Show - Should We Care Whether Kyrie Irving Is Happy? | Group Chat (Ep. 390)

Episode Date: February 21, 2019

We react briefly to the news that top prospect Zion Williamson has a sprained knee (2:40) before diving deep on the recent Kyrie Irving interview with Rachel Nichols (8:40). Then, news breaks that Anthony Davis will not only be active in the Pelicans game Friday night, but also will be the next guest on LeBron James’s ‘The Shop’ on HBO (29:20). Hosts: Justin Verrier, Haley O’Shaughnessy, Paolo Uggetti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Go to hotel tonight.com or download the app now. Basketball is very good. The wizard's underpaid John Wall. AD should resign with the Pelicans. The Nets actually won the Celtics trade. Basketball is very good. Hello and welcome to the Ringer NBA show. This is the group chat.

I am Justin Varyer. Joining me as always, the Nap God, Haley O'Shaughnessy. Oh, my God. Yes. And to her left, Paul O'Gedy. What's up? Hi, everyone.

We're back. The NBA is back tonight. It's Thursday. It seems like it didn't really leave, though. I always find it funny when people are on Twitter during the All-Star break. They're like, oh, man, what am I going to do with my free time? Just go outside, guys. Yeah, shout out to Tristan Thompson.

The NBA never stopped. Oh, man. Yeah. Yeah, well, the NBA never stops. And apparently, neither is he. What a way to start it off. Just to start us here, thank you for all your submissions. A lot of really good takes.

What was the best one? The one that probably won't get there was my personal favorite, which was that Kauai's big hands aren't a real advantage. Just an incredible take. That's like a Justin Varyer take right there. 100%. My favorite was, and I think this was the best one, was just like the whiz underpaid John Wall,

which is just next level. And that one got a lot of likes from the people. And I feel like, you know, crowdsourcing your takes on your podcast podcast intro is the only way to do it, you know. That's our, that's our, that's our, that's our MO right now. So the NBA is back, but we're going to start with some college basketball, which happened last night, a big thing that's probably going to affect the NBA next season in ways that maybe bigger than a lot of players that are playing now.

Zion Williamson obviously got hurt last night. His left shoe busted open, and as a result, his kind of his right leg contorted, and I believe he suffered a knee sprain, a mild knee sprain is what they're calling it. First off, it's good to see that he's doing okay. Yeah. He's really good. I haven't really watched much of Duke, but, you know, clearly he's going to be a big deal in the NBA.

I guess the question for us here, though, is should Zion shut it down as a result of this mishap? You know, I think it would have been interesting to see, like you said, I'm glad it was nothing too serious, but I'm wondering what the conversation would have been like if it was something serious. Because we're talking about Zion as if, you know, he's the next, Anthony Davis next

LeBron James type of prospect and to have that individual who has so much potential not just from a basketball standpoint but from a financial standpoint be playing for nothing right now and basically put his career on the line

in terms of injuries like I wonder what that rhetoric would have been like but I do think now I would personally say yes just shut him down like if I was like his camp or whatever like he's being considered number one draft pick for sure right now. Everybody's talking about him as if he's guaranteed that.

And to your point, I asked Danny this last night if, like, if this was a serious injury, should be right about if Zion should still be number one. And his response was if he's, he would only not go number one if he couldn't play for two years. Because that's how good of a prospect we're looking at right now. But I think it's interesting. I think you're right that if this had been like a catastrophic injury, we would be probably rallying against the NCAA right now. We were having our pitchforks out. We were rallying against the NCAA before the game. Yeah, because of the tickets thing, right?

Yeah, it was pretty ominous timing. The ticket prices were like, what, two grand? They were basically Super Bowl ticket prices to go see Duke UNC last night. And it's interesting the way that the tweets, the Sports Center tweets were painting it where they were like, everyone's so excited to see Zion. It's like, yeah, no shit. And he gets injured in this game and he's not getting paid for this. The NCAA in like a snapshot right there.

And, you know, we see this a lot in football where if it's a season that is not necessarily going anywhere, maybe it's, you know, a bowl is what it comes out to, then the player will rest. And there's a lot of discussion about whether that's right or wrong. I personally think it's fine. You know, go get your money. Right. But the thing about Duke that's different is that Duke is very much going to be in the tournament, very much going to have a shot at a national championship. So that would be a different decision that he had to make. And the other thing, too, is, like, if you read a lot of his quotes and, you know,

And he hasn't had that many, but, you know, he had a GQ interview the other day. And, like, he sounds like the type of guy who probably thinks about the future and the money and the NBA and all that definitely in his mind. But you can tell he just loves, this is maybe cliche, but like, likes playing the game. And, like, would probably, if he had the, if it was this call, it sounded to me like he would continue playing. So maybe he will come back and play. But, you know, how do you weigh those, the pros and cons there? Yeah, yeah, I definitely agree with everything you guys are saying. I think that guy should be able to go straight into the pros.

There's no real reason other than, well, for the NBA side of things, like you get a more established product. And I think Zion is the prime example of that because he's become more of a celebrity as a result of playing at Duke. And he's become almost like more of a cult-like figure than he was going into. I mean, I don't think we were talking about him as the unquestionable, like, number one draft pick going into the college season, right? It was like maybe it's Zion, maybe it's Reddish,

maybe it's Barrett. There were some other guys in the mix. and all of a sudden now he's this superstar. So there's that to it. I guess the devil's advocate would be what you're saying, Paula, it reminds me a lot of when the Warriors were going for that big record a couple years ago where probably wasn't in their best interest.

2015-16. Yeah, so when they had the 7-3 wins, I think it was like 26 or 28 wins. I can't remember the street where they ultimately got beat in Milwaukee. It probably wasn't in their best interest to go for it. Well, then they lost the title. Exactly. because they were burnt out.

And I feel like it's the same thing with Zion where it seems like a pretty special situation that they have down there. This is as close to like the Fab Four, I think, that we've gotten in a really long time. Yeah. And just look at that atmosphere last night.

Barack Obama is playing at your game. So I think... In a dope bomber jacket. Yeah. With 44- very much. It was great. It was a great look.

That's a great look. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing, too, right? It's become an outsized, like, sort of show. And, like, I do think your point is interesting about how, Like if this would have been this way If he wouldn't have gone to college If he could go straight from high school Like I think he still would probably have been like the top one two picks or whatever

But it It does The college effect does create some sort of like Coat-like vibe to it Like a positive one you know Look at Mello Especially if you're going to Duke That is very much you're going there

And you're going to be proud that you're a blue devil And you know actually Chris and I talk about this Like Kevin Durant was with the Longhorns for a year And yet he's still so loyal to them is always like wearing their shirts, cheering for them, tweeting about them. It's the same way if you go to a big program like Duke. You're going there because of Coach Kay. You're going there because of the exposure. But also you're probably going there because you're a huge basketball fan and it's something you've always wanted to do.

Yeah. I think the big thing there is just it was your choice to go there. If you're in the NBA, you don't get to choose your team until your second contract oftentimes. Because while you do theoretically have the choice after four or so years, you are a restricted free agent. And so it's better off and guys ultimately just accept that second deal for max money. And then they force their way out way too soon. But that's a whole other issue. But I think this is a good segue into Kyrie Irving because he's become kind of,

I don't know if disgruntles the right word, but he's definitely become perturbed at any like. Perterb. Yeah, perturbed at any questions about what he's doing in his free time. I think he probably doesn't have as much grounds considering that his free time was spent in Miami with Kevin Durant. And it seemed like there were cameras that caught him there. But there's a lot of, there's a big kerfuffle over Kyrie Irving's upcoming decision, his first time when he will be a free agent. And I think the interesting thing there is he had to sit down with Rachel Nichols in which he pretty much said everything you wouldn't want your star player to say. Sure.

So this is the list of things that Kyrie admitted. he said that it's been a trying year for us because we basically have a lot of young men in our locker room who feel like they're capable of doing a lot more than they're doing. I just want to say, sorry to interject real quick, but they are capable of a lot more than they're doing. Last year they went to the Eastern Conference finals, and Terry Rozier played the most playoff minutes of anyone

in the postseason who was on the Celtics. And after him, it was Jason Tatum, and then Al Horford, which is expected, and then after him, Jalen Brown. and they went that far. And to say it in this way, they think they can do a lot more than they're doing, that's probably going to make them feel very disrespected.

And that's absolutely not the way to try to encourage them to play up to a level even though they're having a reduced role. Right. And to that point, Kyrie actually named Terry Rozier in these comments. He said he called him a natural competition. And he said no one wants to say it, but I will. That's the tagline for Kyra Irving in 2019 No one wants to say it, but I will.

And it's like, maybe you don't have to say it. How's that? You know, like, I think a lot of this, like, I mean, from our perspective, it's great because there's stuff to talk about, right? But at the same time, like, he could be approaching this so much, you know, like, so much better. It could be so much easier on him if he just kind of took a step back and even, like, said a cliche once in a while, you know?

But instead it's all just this sort of, I don't even know what to call it, this projection of himself as a leader. When, for one, he's also still 26. Like, it's not like he's some, like, you know, 30-year-old veteran. Right. First of all, second of all. And went to a team where all of a sudden he was the best player. And maybe not the most senior in terms of age, but the most senior in terms of talent and experience. Yeah, exactly.

My thing is just how can you sort of project yourself as a leader, not just. just by saying some of this stuff, but also with the other situation you have going, where Jason Tandem is never going to do this, but he could easily come back at him and be like, well, we don't even know if you want to be here in the long terms. How are we supposed to trust you want to be our leader? Obviously, that's the thing where, like, players don't really do that

because they're like, go get your money, like free agency, whatever. Like, they're usually pretty good about that. But I wonder if there's an underlying current of this going through the locker room, too. Yeah, the kind of takeaway I've had from this entire thing is kind of be careful what you wish for. it does seem like the Celtics weren't on his original list when he wanted to leave Cleveland and I think that's really important

he ultimately settled on the Celtics when that became an option and he kind of embraced it but it does feel like he's having second thoughts about that whole decision and I think that's the important thing I was trying to get at from the start of this discussion is just that Kyrie did not choose the Celtics and I think that by his own doing

he leaned into the fact that he was the leader of this team and then also it seemed like the Celtics were willing to put him in that position. But I ultimately, I don't fault him for wanting to back out of this now because, again, he didn't choose the situation. He got traded there. Right. But also, in a way, this was a situation that he was asking for. I don't fault him for leaving if he didn't want to, but this is what he wanted.

I think he just might have realized he didn't want it. It's the same thing when he called LeBron and said, this was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be and I owe you an apology. nothing's wrong with any of that. If anything, those are the good things that we know we can all defend Kyrie for. But speaking out in this way against the young players, against, I mean, not really the organization per se, but like the rest of the roster. And then there was that one game when he wanted the ball and Gordon Hayward passed it to... I think it was Tatum.

Tatum. He took that corner three shot. I mean, he was speaking out against Brad Stevens at that point. It's just this is not the way to go quietly into the night if you don't want to be assaulted anymore. It also is one of those things where not to take it all the way back to him talking about the flat earth, but it's always been a case. I was thinking that. It's always been a case of him saying too much. Beginning of the season, he said too much by being like, I'm going to be back. Like, I'm going to be here in the long term if you guys want me or whatever.

Yeah. And it's like you really do not have to do that. Nobody's asking you to do that. You're just like putting yourself in a bad position. That is so true. And then later after the, it's like the same thing with the flatter thing. He was like, oh, no, I was kidding. Like, you guys took it too seriously.

And now he wants to say like, oh, like retract on that earlier. And I thought on the declaration he had before the season. And it's like, you can do that. Like you have, nobody's going to stop you. But do you realize like kind of the effect? Yeah, exactly. Words matter. He's met at everyone for reading too deeply into his actions or into his social life.

But he's partly to blame here because of things he's said in the past. and he's being held accountable for them. I guess the devil's advocate, which I don't know, I'm kind of on the fence in this one, but I do feel like we're getting to the point where we're treating some of these stars almost as if they're like political candidates where we have everything they've said

over the course of their lives. And if they flip-flop on it, we're right there to hold them against the wall and be like, well, you said this. No, that's a great. Yeah, that's a great point. And he is 26. I guess on the other hand, though,

he is saying that he's the mature one of this whole situation. Yeah, that's the thing. He wants to have it in every. way. You know, and you and I were talking about this yesterday, which I think we can agree on, which is just there is an aspect of this that social media, how it contributes to the narrative. And even he, in his quotes yesterday, sort of touched on that, which is, you know, like, he said, like, basically putting fake stuff over stuff that happened.

Yeah, let me read those real quick. So he and Katie were basically spotted together in Miami. It kind of, like, trickled out in the same way things often do. on the internet. It was like Reddit or like maybe the tweets or I don't really know what the kids are doing these days. But the media approached him about it. The way it seemed based on just the recording of that like press scrum was that one of the reporters wanted to talk to him about it first before they've wrote about it to give him a chance to respond to it. And his response was basically why the hell are you asking me about this? The full quote and this is from Jay King,

who I believe writes for the athletic. It's a video of me and one of my best friends talking. And then it turns out to be a dissection of free agency meeting. Do you get that? Like, do you get that? Then I'm asked questions about that. That's what disconnects me from all that shit. This is crazy. This doesn't make the league fun.

It's like Paulo said, you can't have it both ways. If you don't want anyone to pay attention to what you're doing, then be a quai and just go away completely unless you have to absolutely talk. And, you know, I'm sorry, but like, this is too many people what makes the league fun. These kind of things are what's turned the league from however many months season to a year-round thing. Yeah, I mean, the thing is the league is increasingly running on that as like it's fuel. Everything that's happening off the core, the unknowns, like any sort of like tidbit of free agency fodder gets augmented, especially inside Twitter, I think. And, you know, maybe that is a bubble that we maybe shouldn't consider in the large sense of things.

But it is sort of what is driving a lot of these narratives because reporters see conversations on Twitter and then ask the players about that, you know, which is understandable. But I do think he has a point in terms of like saying that the, he specifically mentioned sort of the fake stuff. And I like, I just noticed that like people reading in like maybe way too hard in on those videos, like trying to lip read what Kyrie is telling Durant. Like maybe that's just like a bridge too far. Right. Like they wouldn't talk about it like out of rush. Yeah. Yeah, it's also just like, I don't know where that line is, right?

At the same time, like, I was telling Justin yesterday, if you're an NBA superstar, there's almost like a now you kind of have to know how people are going to react or take these things. Like there's, I don't want to say responsibility to that because I don't want to hold them to that because they just probably want to play basketball. But because there is so much attention on the free agency status, like status of them and they're leaning into it, they have to think of the reaction side too. also is very relevant if you're friends with somebody in 2019. I mean, look at it ever since, like, you know, LeBron and Wade teamed up. Are you and Paolo? Me and Powell? I was going to say when

I read this, like, we're a best friend. If anyone is analyzing our constant conversations, that would be old. But this is very much, like, you know, we are looking for every indication this is. Paul George and Russell Westbrook became good friends. It matters if you are friends because all of sudden, a lot of NBA free agency is teaming up with each other. And we haven't touched on this, but the thing that sort of kickstarted all this was a very, very obvious move by the Knicks to trade proszineas and clear two max slots. And it's like when you make that move, that's when the question started going at Durant and Irving, which is not their fault, but it's just the nature of, you know,

us knowing what that looks like. Yeah, things are happening way earlier than they have in the past. I think based on something you said earlier, Paolo, it does feel like even though there has been an element of celebrity, like journalism, I guess, or just like entertainment, pop culture to basketball for years now, it just feels like that's heightened in a way that, like, I haven't seen in the time that I've covered the league.

I think it's because relationships matter more. And that's the thing. But between players on different teams. And I think it's almost like people who are dating, like celebrity couples. We are interested in Katie and Kyrie. on a friendship like Trist in Miami. I think it's less weird actually with the NBA

because we know it's job related. Right, yes. This has a direct impact on your team's. Yeah, that's a good point. It was just getting to. And then unless we are. Wait, but how much you think the Warriors aspect that matters into the, like factors into this too?

Because I wonder if the games are more, I mean, the games are great. The games are competitive. But to us, we are diehards, right? Maybe do the average fan who's sort of like vaguely familiar with like the free agency side, that looks more appealing

than like realizing, oh, the Warriors are just going to win at the end of the year. Because the Warriors present this inevitability. Yeah. That we have to turn our attention to something else.

I mean, it's crazy how much we talk about free agency in the large context of the NBA. It probably has exacerbated it for sure. I think this seemed to be burbling even before

LeBron James went to Miami. I think you could definitely tell based on like traffic patterns on website that like people really cared about this stuff. I guess I'm just confused why this has become such a big deal in the NBA to the point where it's superseded, like even the basketball product. I do think there's something to what you were saying before about this bubble that's forming or almost this like, not to make like it to bring us into the political realm, but it does feel like part of the country really just wants to watch like good teams play basketball.

And then there's this other subsection basically all on Twitter where all we want to discuss are like the political machinations of like who's playing. with whom and who's friends with whom and like who went to dinner with whom and like what Anthony Davis is going to say tomorrow. I feel like it happened in basketball because the players are the most visible and also the NBA has given them

the space to be the most interesting characters. Yeah, I mean I think LeBron definitely said you know, kind of like was a trailblazer in that sense and sort of like encompassing the player movement aspect of it, the player power aspect of it and combining it into a thing that now became

as big a storyline as what was happening on the core. I mean, I do wonder how the league feels about it, right? And I know Adam Silver came out and was like during the Yostar break and talking about how, you know, some of the CBA stuff hasn't exactly helped in terms of, you know, keeping guys in some markets or whatever. Because like there is a question to be asked about how, where does this stop, right? Like, is it just going to be, do we just have to get used to this NBA?

Which, like, honestly, I would be fine with where, like, players are just moving around all the time, but maybe that's not what the league wants. Yeah, I mean, we watched the league probably differently than a lot of people who grew up in Boston or were a hardcore Miami Heat fan that only want to watch the Miami Heat. I don't really... I just don't think that's the case anymore. I don't know. I think that there's evidence to support both. All the time Bill talks about his son, not necessarily growing up a Celtics fan, but growing up as a fan of many players.

And just from, you know, my little brothers and sisters. Yeah, it's kind of, it's almost the same. But there's still like a good amount of people. older than us that are very much tied to their teams. Yeah, and I think based on the whole LeBron point you brought up there, I thought it was really interesting. Mark Stein had this point yesterday. So basically LeBron came out.

They're about to play their first game of this stretch run tonight. They're playing, they're actually playing the Houston Rockets on TNT at 730 Pacific. That's actually, we'll call that our game of the night here. We do that once a week. This is a really interesting one just because I'm, Really curious to see how LeBron in particular responds going into this. I mean, I think we've been talking about on the site for the past couple of days.

Zach Cramm had something about what would mean for LeBron's legacy. Then we've been doing these take meters. To miss the playoffs. Yeah, whether or not they'll miss the playoffs. And if they do make the playoffs, whether or not they're the biggest challenge for the Lakers in the West. But what do you write that question? I wrote all the questions. My response to that was who wrote this question.

It was it. I mean, from his quotes the other day, it sounded like he's right at a quote-unquote flip the switch. Yeah. So there we go. Actually, Riley wrote the last one, which was should the Warriors tank the playoffs in order to keep Kevin Duran, which I thought was our best one yet. Yeah, I didn't know what to do with that one. But yeah, that game again, that's at 7.30 p.m. Pacific, Houston against the Lakers, that's on TNT. And remember, if you want to watch every NBA game, subscribe to NBA Leap Pass on NBA.com or your local cable satellite.

or OTT provider. But to get back to LeBron here, just because I think that's an important point there, he was basically like, I love being uncomfortable. It's a weird thing to say to someone. He went on to say, I fall in love with being uncomfortable.

This is another uncomfortable thing for me, and I love it. He really likes being uncomfortable, it seems. You know, honestly, I don't think this is as weird as it sounds. If you think about what the Warriors have said the last two years, it's Steve Kerr is saying quite frequently that they're bored and they need a challenge.

And so I think for the, you know, they're the top competitors in the world in their sport. So I think that it makes sense in a new challenge. Here's the thing. Being uncomfortable can help when you really need to make a push. Here's the thing. The Warriors are the one seed. Lakers are out of the playoffs right now. It's a little bit of a different situation.

Right. But I do think that LeBron thrives under pressure. And it's like he's proven that multiple times. So I just, I don't want to bet against them in terms of making the playoffs, but it's going to be tough. They have a tough stretch. Yeah. And I think it's relevant to our Kyrie discussion, if only because Mark's point was basically how many other players feel the way that LeBron does. LeBron loves to create chaos and kind of like rises above the fray of it all.

That's how he's existed pretty much since Miami and maybe even going back into the Celtics where the reason, the last game he played with the Cavaliers during his first tenure was where we thought like maybe he was injured during that Celtic series. And like they, I think that was the Eastern Conference semifinals. God, it's been so long. But I think we've seen Kyrie kind of try to do the same thing. Basically, make sure everybody doesn't rest on their laurels. You have to fall in line with what we do and we'll kind of strive for greatness together as a result of that. I think it's interesting because you've seen some of the younger players in particular on the Celtics be like, that's not really what I want to do.

Yeah. I mean, I think that's interesting because it sort of goes to what we're talking about in terms of our generation. and that also being a part of the NBA like a landscape if you will where like maybe the guys LeBron played with when he was a little bit younger kind of more amenable whereas now maybe the guys are coming up

much more refined like somebody like Jason Tatum's coming into the league at a young age and already looking so polished and having that sort of like Zion a celebrity aspect to them and I wonder how that will sort of combined with these types of players, these superstarts who want to be the quote-unquote leaders. Right. If there's no reason to,

if they've seen this last year, they led this team that looked like it shouldn't even have made the playoffs to the Eastern Conference finals. There's a very much a thing all across our generation, but I could see it in something like basketball where if you don't have to wait your turn, it's like, why would I?

Yeah, we go get it, is what you're saying. Right. Well, it's just like, Like if they've seen that they can do it, it's probably very frustrating because there's, yeah, it's no longer this type of mentality where it's like you need to wait your turn. Yeah. And take time and sit on the bench and get in the rotation.

That's what I'm saying. Like these guys are coming in so polished already that they're, the expectations are different. You know, you're not, we put the expectations on them because now we criticize them earlier too. That's another thing. I think factors into this. So if a player knows that, you know, he's already going to get a sort of backlash If he doesn't produce in the first years, if he's going to be called a bus so early on, then once they see an opportunity to thrive, of course they're going to want to keep that opportunity. Well, for a player like Jalen Brown, who doesn't necessarily have the same potential stardom already or have those conversations as Jason Tatum, having to sacrifice minutes to Gordon Hayward, who is not producing like he feels he could produce, has to be incredibly frustrating.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's interesting that Gordon Hayward is probably going to be out for a little bit now with an ankle sprain. So I wonder if that's actually going to help the Celtics Not having that one guy to really like to feed to really get involved in everything that they're doing I think they'll help them in the short term but maybe not in the long term because they need Hayward going on For going forward and you know Hayward's actually been playing more aggressively lately Yeah

He looks like he wants the ball and once he gets the ball He's a little Seems a little more prepared to have it for a couple seconds instead of being this spot up guy in the corner So he seems a little more confident whereas before it's a little more confident whereas before it's seemed like he was shying away from everything. So I'm not sure because this is yet another thing that the Celtics will then have to figure out when he comes back. Reincorporate him again.

It seems like they've had so much instability, whether it's everyone's healthy and they're trying to fit them in or Kyrie's not healthy. Hayward's not healthy. They're not sure if he can fully come back yet. This is what we were saying like two months ago. They just need to pick their guys and run with it because it's getting too late in the season. and to be figuring things out. And Carrie needs to stop doing interviews.

There you go. All right. Well, we're going to take a quick break and we're going to talk about some other news and headlines. The Ringar MBA show is brought to you by Microsoft Surface. The new Microsoft Surface Pro 6 can help you get things done, whether you're on the field or running a business. Take Brian Arakpo and Michael Griffin,

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We're going to do a segment that we did last week, which I thought went pretty well. It's called Taking News. Basically looking at some of the headlines across the NBA. Yesterday was a particularly newsy day. And as we were talking about some of these things we're going to talk about here in the second segment, something else popped up.

One Anthony Davis apparently is going to play tonight on Thursday. for the New Orleans Pelicans, despite his little siesta. Friday. He's going to play Friday. Yes. And in addition to that, it seems that he's also on the next episode of The Shop,

wishes LeBron James' show. That's correct. On HBO, he will also be joined by Antonio Brown. Wow. Is there a theme? Is there a theme that you're noticing through to these guests? A little bit. Yeah.

They seem to be. in similar situations. I don't honestly follow a lot of football, but it seems like he's also not having a good time. No. And Tadine and Tadon is also holding out. Well, I guess at least Anthony Davis is showing up. True. How much

he's really doing when he shows up is another question. I guess the take is like Anthony Davis, what are you doing, guy? Honestly, I kind of respect how like the much they don't care. Like they're just going for it. Like this is, he's now a part

this like circle he's on the show he's in the agency clearly like at this point why hide anything right you've already put it out there it's not fun to be a villain he's leaning into it hard right and he also had that instagram post yesterday where he was at disney world and it just so happened to call his favorite ride like some hollywood whatever i didn't even think about it that way but sure i didn't read into that either it was probably it was probably innocent but the fact that he didn't even like notice that and catch himself from doing it. The whole time I was wondering how,

it was a Tower of Terror. Yeah. And great ride. I've been in that right. Great ride. How would he fit? Wow. That's a great question.

That's a very, that's the conversation we need to be having. Is that the one with the elevator? Yes. I mean, elevators are pretty big, right? They'll fit a large human. And the question is,

does he get the Tower of Terror to himself because he's Anthony Davis? I don't think he's, there yet. That's how you become an elite NBA player when you get the tire. Exactly. No, but it also felt like he was trying to lean away from it too.

Like, I know you're talking about like lean into the villain aspect, but it feels like he's trying to lean away with it but trying to be like, oh, like, all 29 teams are on my list. Or like, I'm going to do an Instagram post when I leave. It doesn't work. He's not the same guy as Kevin Durant. I'm just saying.

I don't think they're the same personality. I'm not really sure because I haven't seen Anthony Davis in this context yet. Sure. But as Kevin Durant, it doesn't work. Yeah. You can, I mean, this is, seriously, it seems torn his image apart for Kevin Durant,

but also within that has just torn all of his confidence apart. Mm-hmm. And he's still going through that. I saw this tweet the other day that said, could I see Kevin Durant not going where he wants to the Nix just despite the media who's asking him if he'll go to the Nix? Yeah. And yes, I would believe that.

It's totally torn away. at any self-efficacy that he has. Yeah. And Anthony Davis, this is going to... Yeah. Kyrie's more Kevin Durant than Anthony Davis is. Well, I think it's interesting because we're constantly talking about how Kyrie and KD aren't happy. But do you know those people who are like always in relationships and they always like find a way to like screw it up?

And ultimately the takeaway is like, well, maybe they just don't want to be happy. That's what I think about these guys where it's just like we're just like, we're just like, we're. constantly like, why weren't they happy? What will make them happy? Like, when will they be at their best? Maybe they're just like that type of guy where they'll ultimately end up that way regardless. Were they're fueled by their unhappiness, maybe? That's what makes them so good. I just think it's a, I think it's a media cluelessness that is going to eventually have to be something that is learned. Like, rookies are now learning how to have a polished self-image. And it's something that they come into the league with. As this player decision era continues and people are, you know, forced. trades. I think that they're going to have to be aware of that and how to orchestrate it in the right way. A good example is LeBron. He definitely learned his lesson from Miami, you know, and speaking of villains, he was the villain there. Yeah. I guess what, yeah. And then the second time around,

he really, I don't know how much of this he put into place. This is a lot of conspiracy corner, but he very much had everything on his side to leave Cleveland. He won. His owner looked crazy. He fired the GM that he liked. They gave him a terrible roster. And so, So no one could blame him for leaving. There are plenty of Cleveland fans I talk to all the time who are still LeBron fans. Whereas before, they were burning his jersey. You know a lot of Cleveland fans? I do.

That's from the area. I guess the question from that is like, what is the right? What is it? Like, you know, like... Yeah, well, I think we talked about it earlier where it's just like, just say cliches, which like always feels really dirty as a media member where it's like you want these people to show any sign of like humanity and to open up a little bit. Right.

And yet we're also on the other side of our mouth. being like, well, don't actually say anything. Yeah, I think that's a little tough. I would err on the side of letting them say whatever because I just think it's more fun. And that way they can be more honest. And I appreciate honesty. But at the same time, when it gets to a point where somebody like Kyrie

where it's directly affecting, I think, the team's chemistry and in success, then it gets dicey. But Kyrie hasn't even said that he was going to leave. But it feels like he's already left. Like it feels like he's already leaving. Like he's trying to do the LeBron implant the same. seats that say it's fair for him to leave. Right, because their team is like...

None of those are the same. The GM is very good. Your coach is very good. They're budding stars on your roster. Despite all of their turmoil, they're like still like top five, top three in net rating the Celtics are. So it's like if only they just like figure things out from a chemistry standpoint. But I do feel like Anthony Davis, like the New Orleans media culture is pretty lax. There's like there. I think there is now one traveling beat writer. But when I was there, it was only me and I only traveled occasionally. it just seems like he's been thrust into the spotlight

and almost doesn't know how to operate like a political candidate as we were saying before and so he's saying things and he's not articulating like what he's trying to say really well and so he keeps like flip-flopping and having to cover for himself

based on what he just said and then he's just doing this weird social media stuff which is not happening leaving the game the other day also not helping. If anything go away a little bit you know don't go on the shop which is LeBron James's show you, I mean,

LeBron leaned into this enough at All-Star. There was the picture of them. The picture's incredible. And giving those like really hilarious looks at each other. I kind of love it though. There was LeBron saying, you know, picking him for an All-Star game. No, I mean, we love it. But the thing is, is that this is a weird move to make.

I don't know. I guess the question is, what is he trying to prove by doing this? Davis. Yeah, we already know you're out on the Pelicans. It feels honestly a little disrespectful. The way it was orchestrated in the first place was disrespectful. His agent told Woge before they even told the team that he was going to request to trade. That's not how, that's not the order you do this in the NBA.

The whole thing has been a little disrespectful as much as I want him and LeBron to play together. And this is just another element on top of that. Well, I wonder if he ends up in L.A. And just starts winning like. None of that. It will matter. It will matter. It's go away when you.

It's the same thing with LeBron. It's the same thing with Quai. Yeah. You can have a lot of public heat, but it goes away when you start winning. Which is why, like, it honestly feels like from trying to look at it from their perspective, it's like, why not go all the way and try to force us, try to make this happen? Because we know that if we make it happen at some point, like, once they start winning, it'll be forgotten. Yeah, I mean, and to that point, like, it does feel like throughout his career, New Orleans has only been, like, the incubator for the rest of the league. and so everyone's just been waiting for him

to emerge on a national stage. But on the other side of things, I think Dwight Howard never recovered from this. Sure. He flopped a lot and it's a little bit different than Anthony Davis. But it's almost like once these guys rise to the spotlight and we get a glimpse of who they really are, it's tough to kind of shake off that first impression.

Dwight resisted a lot of things as the game were changing, was changing them on the court. And so I think had he been better in games and a more willing teammate and not want to lean into being a traditional center which wasn't really like where it was going. I think that the better he would have been

the more it would have went away. But you're right, it doesn't... Although with Dwight, like the way we're going to remember him, maybe not. Maybe we'll remember beginning Dwight. Maybe it depends on how old you are. How many teams was he on the last like two years?

Yeah, like three years. Three, yeah, the last couple years. He bounced from team to team. And as he left every single team, There were reports about it can't stand that guy. Yeah. He was awful in the locker room.

What's interesting, though, is, like, maybe I just have such a, like, reverence for, like, his Orlando years because he probably should have won an MVP, and I think he was, like, dominant until that back injury kind of just, like, ruined his career with the Lakers.

But the fact that he has jumped around has almost, like, that's such a blur now to me. I only kind of gravitate toward when things were stable and when he was in Orlando. So, I don't know. I mean, he's all famous still. But I think you're right.

Anthony Davis is, still a top five talent in this league. And if he gets on to the stage with LeBron and shows that, that's all we'll care about. To your point, that's actually now a question to a lot of people, which shocks me, is whether or not Dwight is a Hall of Famer. Oh, he's definitely a Hall of Famer. And he is. And that's, and that's an indication that nothing else that happens in his career can erase what he was. But that is very much a question that, because I remember, like, one time I wrote about it in a piece, and then I got a bunch of tweets about it. And I was shocked that it was even a thing.

But it is. And I don't know the age group of the people who were tweeting back in me, but if you watched Twight back then, there's no question. Yeah, no, I agree. I mean, that's probably a bigger conversation, you know, which is like how are different players remembered. Like, I know we've had conversations about how Mello, you know, is going to be remembered. And I just, I think for me it comes down to if you win, like, everything is forgiven. Well, let's transition now to another all-star big man who's facing a

different type of difficulty. This one is with his legs. This is Joelle Embed. He's out for at least a week with a sore left knee. Brett Brown said there's a little bit of tendinitis in it and basically suggesting that there isn't much to be worried about here. But when it's Joelle and Bid and it's an injury, I think there's a lot of cause for concern.

I thought what was really funny was like in the midst of all this, they were just like, by the way, furcan cork-maz is like, has a meniscus tear. I didn't know this until like a day later because it was just so buried underneath the Joel news. But I think this is not a good sign. And the take that I'm coming away from this news is that the Sixers window is probably this season, considering everything on the horizon here. Are you guys worried about the Sixers' chances going into the playoffs?

This season? I mean, it's tough because they have, I think I wrote about this in the takes, which is like, I want to believe in their collection of top talent because it's so, good. And I think it's, it makes him a very fun team. You know, I still have questions about whether they should have traded for Jimmy Butler. And then in some ways, it feels like Tobias Harris is insurance for what happens this summer with him. But, uh, I don't know. I, I still think they're going to be, to me, they're the team with the highest ceiling, I would say. In the east. In the east, yeah. Which I know doesn't mean a lot because that also can mean that they have, you know, they could also have the lowest floor in that sense because of their, you know, they could also have the lowest floor in that sense because of their. lack of depth. Like I wonder how they're going to do that. It doesn't look like they're going to add anybody else. It doesn't sound like it or anybody else on the biom market. So this is their team. Embed being out a week could set them back in a seating. And then it's like they have a tougher matchup. You know, so all these things matter, I think. Yeah. I think it's going to be a showcase for that like lack of depth. I think it's going to put a big spotlight on that. I mean, Bobon is projected to start. And as we've seen as much as we love our guy Bobi. Yeah. He has some issues. keeping up with certain players, following probably a little bit too much for his own good. And while...

I'm going to have to make up in scoring, too. Absolutely. And so maybe they'll play a little bit smaller. I think it'll be interesting to see how they use Ben Simmons in this. I think they can get a little bit more creative. And I think it's an opportunity for Brett Brown to show that like all of the criticism that he gets for not deploying some of these guys as well as he maybe should or that's the criticism.

I don't know if I necessarily agree. that he could do that if needed. So I don't know. It's interesting. I do think we talked about this in our take meter, whether or not the Sixers are the best team in the East going forward. My claim against them was that despite like building this colossal starting five, they still have the biggest week spot, which is JJ Redick.

And you saw it during that Celtics game last week that they pretty much had to offense defense him already, which is not a great sign because the guy. that you're throwing in there is like a Jonathan Simmons, a James Ennis. I still don't really know what those guys are on this team. You're definitely, if you have to go back on offense the next way, Jonathan Simmons is going to kill your spacing. So I don't know. I mean, how do you think? Actually, so this is what I wrote. I think that they have potential to be the best team in the east right now, but not in the postseason. And this, I could, I would have said this before the Jimmy trade, not so much actually after Tobias, but last year, should not be forgotten. They're two best players.

There are clear ways to expose each of them with the right defense. Who are there two best players in your mind? A Ben Simmons and Joel Amid. Okay. Both of them can be exposed. Actually, like, watch the Celtics game from last week. You know, that was terrible for Joel and Bede. He was stopped.

With Ben Simmons, there is a clear blueprint on this guy's weakness that you can stop. And with what they've added, I'm not sure that it necessarily, it will take it away enough in the playoffs. That's where I would disagree. Because I think having Jimmy and Tobias is explicitly so that when Embed has a bad game or Simmons, you know, gets basically not played off the floor, but is defended in a way that makes it hard because he can't shoot. And I think that's when, at least that's when Jimmy should step up and take over the game.

Right. But that's the other thing is that when this kind of stuff happens in a playoff game and your two best players are not having a good series, Jimmy's going to go play Hero Ball, and that's not how you win a playoff series. I mean, you could. Like, I honestly think, like, we haven't seen, we've seen sort of, like, a subdued, Jimmy, for this, especially.

After, you know, those reports came out, there was, like, a little bit of an argument with Brett Brown. I feel like we've seen a subdued Jimmy, who is just biding his time. Like, I honestly think he's explicitly going to be much more important. than he's being right now in the playoffs because of that very reason. And at the same time, like, Embed rarely has, like, he does have them against the Celtics, like you mentioned, but he, that's why I go back to the seating, which is, like, if they can

somehow avoid the Celtics, that would be, like, ideal for them. Yeah, I mean, ultimately, at least a few of these games in the playoffs are going to boil down to, like, isolation, basketball. Yeah. And, like, who are you turning to on Sixers? That's going to be Jimmy. I don't know. I don't feel as confident, I think, as some people do about the Sixers.

If only based on what I said before, if, like, the Easters. spent a lot of time at the deadline just kind of idiot-proofing their crunch time lineups. And while I am a little bit worried that Nicola Meritich is just going to debut I believe tonight on Thursday against the Celtics, so that's just like an

interesting pilot episode for that starting lineup. I think that lineup works a little bit better than the Sixers does. And obviously the Raptors just like have something going there. Honestly, it's kind of boring to say it, but a

of this is probably going to come down to injuries. Yeah. Which is why this is kind of so disheartening, I guess, for the Sixers. Because of their depth, yeah. Because of their depth. And also, like, this is the time they need to really figure that line out. Right. Injury-wise, that conversation extends past this season.

Then you're talking about, is this their window? And Kevin O'Connor was saying it in Slack. They kind of need to think about the short term now. Yeah. And I said this at the time of the trade. I think to get Tobias, he's a really good player. but the trade wasn't particularly all that artfully crafted because now you're going to have to re-sign Jimmy and Tobias.

They gave away a lot. They couldn't get back. Avery Bradley or Patrick Beverly too, which I think is, in retrospect, it's going to look kind of heat. I don't know what, you know, what the negotiations were like, obviously, but if they could have gone one of those two guys, I would feel, I would definitely feel a little better.

Patrick Beverly would have solved a lot of problems. He really would have. Yeah, no, and I think it's a really important lesson. Like, we always talk about all these, all these big moves and whatnot, but like some of the, like, the fringier stuff, teams do ultimately has like this big ripple effect. And I kind of love it because you do have situations where like even looking at Anthony Davis,

a lot of like the issues they're having now is because they made one or two bad moves in like the middle tier. And just those things just add up over and over and time. The Raptors are the perfect example of positive ripple effects. Yeah. Look at all the guys that like with second round picks with late firsts, they've nailed. And as a result, they were able to get tomorrow and then they were able to bring in Marcosal. So we'll see how that plays out.

But I think that's it for us for this week for Paulo, for Haley, for Bobby Wagner. This has been NBA group chat. Basketball is very good. Basketball is very good.