The Ringer NBA Show - So Your Team's Not Gonna Make the Postseason. Now What? | The Answer

Episode Date: May 14, 2021

Chris is joined by Tyler Parker, author of The Ringer's Tank Diaries, to discuss the Thunder missing the postseason for the second time in their OKC existence (02:02), as well as advice on how to recalibrate watching the rest of the season when your favorite team isn't in the running (13:32). Host: Chris Ryan Guest: Tyler Parker Producer: Steve Ahlman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From in-depth analysis of basketball and football to life advice, Ryan Rusillo has got you covered on the Ryan Rusillo podcast. Join him as he talks to some of the best names in sports while providing sharp analysis and wit you won't find elsewhere. Check out the Ryan Rusillo podcast on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello and welcome to The Ringer NBA show. It's The Answer. My name is Chris Ryan. And this week, the question we're seeking to respond to is, so your team's not going to make the postseason. What now? The alternative title for this week's podcast was The Losers Guide to the NBA playoffs.

And to join me today, I have Tyler Parker who's been writing the tank diaries for the ringer.com. So every Friday, Tyler puts up a column that's pretty prosaic and goes in a lot of different directions, but it's some of my favorite writing we've ever put up on the site. And it's basically about grappling with a historically bad Thunder team. I mean, they don't have the worst record in the league, but they're getting tagged up on a nightly basis with the exception of a Celtics game. I'm going to talk to Tyler about in a few minutes. It's such an inclusive season this year because of the play in tournament. There's so many teams that are still vying for that tent spot. There are teams that are not out of it yet.

There are teams that have dreams of advancing from the playing tournament in deep into the playoffs. It's doing what they wanted it to do. But at the same time, now it's like the thunder, the magic, the rockets and the calves are almost in this strange like other world of basketball. So when you get done with that world, when the regular season ends and the thunder season comes to a close and they start dreaming about Cade and they start dreaming about Mobley or Green and Suggs, how does a Thunder fan then approach the postseason? And so I wanted to ask Tyler about how he feels about some X Thunder players who are going to probably play a pretty big role in the postseason.

And just to get a sense of how he's feeling about the Thunder season that was or that is and is about to come to a conclusion. So let's get into my conversation with Tyler Parker. What a time for Oklahoma. Marty Scorsese, filming Killers of the Flower Moon there. Trey Young's in the playoffs, and Tyler Parker's on the answer.

What's up, man? Hey, man, everything's coming up. Boomer sooner. Tyler, I wanted to have you on because I wanted to talk about what you're going to do with yourself now that this thunder collapse, this thunder tank,

has finally pulled into the garage. You've been writing the tank diaries for us where you've kind of chronicled not only the end of the thunder season, but your stages of acceptance and grief and anger and resignation and everything else with this process, which is a process that I'm really familiar with going through it with the Sixers. For sure.

We're in like the, I guess the last week or so, the regular season here. And the Thunder aren't just losing. They're getting bodied. Like they still have a better record than the rockets or whatever. But like the point differential doesn't lie. The night to night, it's just like guys are just like, it's total annihilation. Never heard of this dude starting at small forward.

just like, I'm not even sure if this was like a, they got him off like a Hollywood lot, like as an extra and a Western. When they signed Charlie Brown Jr. to the first 10 day and I saw the announcement, I really was like, but that might be like someone, that might be like a fake woge within this. Right. You got to double check the ad. Because how is that a real person? So I'm going to read you something that you wrote because I won't embarrass you by making you read it. And this is where, this is on, this is the second, you know, Tyler's got another take diaries up on the site today on Friday.

But this is something from the last episode that he wrote, which is this. I have abandoned my desires for even respectability at this point. The tanks in full view and the high beams wrapped in Christmas lights, awash in neon. Why disguise it with close games? Before it was, let's lose but make a good, something close, understated. Now, forget it. No such thing as a bad boss. How did you arrive at this place of masochism?

I mean, honestly, the Celtics game. That is one of the worst wins that I've ever been witness to in my life. I can't believe it happened. We are, especially if Dorts playing right now, we are scrappy enough. And if he's having a good night and someone else is, if Basley's shots fall or something like that, then we could theoretically scare some people. Kendrick's playing well, you know, whatever. Other teams on the second night of a back-to-back, guys are resting, whatever, yeah.

Whatever, they're resting their third best guy because of an ankle, whatever. But after that, like, you just can't take any chances. Because that loss, I mean, we now, thank God for Cleveland. Thank God for Cleveland. And I appreciate how hard they play that. And I appreciate Kevin Love showing up for the city of Cleveland and getting that W the other night. But we still are at risk of being. tied with Orlando.

And if we had just dropped that Celtics game like we should have. Yes. I mean, we have bounced back wonderfully. We've really ridded the ship and lost eight straight since then, so I'm pumped about that. But we could have been on just such an unbelievable losing streak to close this thing out and to get into the three hole, which is where we got to be. So what you got, you got to get the bottom three to get those flattened lottery odds, right? the bottom three teams get the same odds. And then you bring up the magic.

That's a really good point because there's something that happens when a team is tanking. And I mean really tanking. I don't mean like we're not good this year, but, you know, maybe we get some guys back from catastrophic lower leg injuries next year. So like you never know with us. There's something that happens with a tanking team where it becomes almost performance art. And especially for you guys for the Thunder this year with this slim but possible, like,

but still, you know, it's there. It's a possibility that you could get two of the top five picks, right? Right. Like the rockets, if they are out of the top four. No, it's, you know, I think, that's what I think of every night right before I falsely. So you could have like a Cade and Sugg situation coming into the thunder next season. But that, that possibility is one thing. There is also like an element of theater to what you guys are doing right now.

That's different than what's happening to say like the magic who were just bad. Sure. Like the magic just had a plagued injury, injury plagued season, and they're just bad this season. What do you think the difference is between a truly tanking team and a truly bad team? Like in the Thunder's case, it hasn't been all that, at least for me, it hasn't been all that painful because it doesn't, the better SGA got the shorter it felt like the tank was going to be. And so it wasn't like you were looking off like, man, half a decade out, maybe we'll be having something to look forward to. It was more in the immediate. And so that was exciting.

And it's made everything, having SGA has made everything not way as much. You know what I mean? Sure. But yeah, with teams like the magic and these teams that are perpetually, especially if you, you know, somebody like Isaac, like Isaac. goes down and that's one of their young guys who they're looking forward to watching develop. That's, you know, part of the, one of the few joys of watching a

tanking team is hopefully they're handling their lineups in the right ways and getting these young guys minutes and you get a chance to watch them develop and watch them grow. And so whenever one of those guys gets hurt, that adds to, you know,

the bummer. Yeah, sure. Sure. No, I mean, I remember back when the Sixers were in like the sort of of early stages of the process, even through the first few seasons where it would be like, Embed's missing a season, then Simmons is missing a season.

And you had guys that got like really inflated senses, like stat lines, like a KJ McDaniels or something like that, that winds up becoming really valuable. But then also like, the fans themselves develop like incredible attachments to in a weird way that's different than like,

say, like if you're just cheering no disrespect, but for like Trevor or Riza. No, it will, it's funny, like, and the,

because things are so bad and because you're so desperate for the next young core to like already be there, you're trying to like crown dudes who have no business being crowned yet. And so after the, after Moses Brown had all these, you know, 20 plus rebound nights, the Thunder sign them to, you know, it's like it reported as a four year deal, but like the last three are all team options. But some people are like, this guy. this is, he's it. He's the guy of our future, you know?

And slowly that has not happened, but it took, you know, less than a month of good games. Yeah. For people to be like, he's, we stole another one. Got door last year, you know. I've always wondered, like, how many guys in the NBA if they got like 32 minutes a night would have, like, really good stats?

Do you know what I mean? Like, this is like, because I've always just been fascinated by like the margins of difference between the, most talented guys and the guys who were like never get into the game. If there was some sort of rule where every guy had to, every guy basically got to shoot like 10 times a game, you could figure that out, I guess. That's a terrible, I hate my answer as I'm giving it,

but that's what I have to say about that. Do you think that writing about this tank helped you cope with, like, how maybe uninteraining the season it's been? Because you probably like me understand the NBA. Like, I watch obviously a lot of the national games. I'll check in on teams from time to time, but for the most part, my understanding of the league

shot through the prism of watching teams play against the Sixers. So do you think that writing about the Thunder helped you get through all those games? Yeah, I mean, it made me pay attention in a way that I might not have if I was just watching the games. I would have probably been checking my phone a lot more,

you know, trying to cope in that way. But it was like, it was, the thing that, it has been enjoyable about it is because you're having to look closely for the things to be excited about,

getting to see somebody like Poku make all these little improvements throughout the year. It makes it all the more gratifying when you see them making some of these plays that he's made late in the year because you've just been paying attention enough to where the flashes initially

were just these little tiny little blips and now at least they're starting to be a little bit wider. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's weird because, like, the Sixers will probably, we're recording this on a Thursday. The Sixers play Miami, and then they get two shots at Orlando. And if they win any of those games, I believe they get the one seat. So they're going to get the ones probably. Hey, let y'all take one of, take care of business in the first game. But if you could lose to the magic, just give me one. You don't have to be to both. You don't got to lose you both. So beat the heat, but then then sit everybody

against the magic. Just let, let's, I think that we need to give the people of Orlando something to be excited about. I know. It's like they don't have Bubba Watson and they don't have the magic. I don't really know what else to do for them. But it's strange because this is, even though there's been so much roster turnover, the two guys in the center have been the dudes that they have been, they were the ones who were promised. They both had their injury issues early in their career.

They both have evolved in different ways. Beat obviously has become like the probably runner up for MVP and Simmons is one of of the best defensive players in the league. And it almost feels stranger this way than it would if they had had a bunch of cap room and managed to finagle like Onette style rebuild. You know what you mean? Obviously, I don't think that Philadelphia nationally has the cachet that Brooklyn does as like a destination.

But like just imagine like if overnight they had swung crazy deals and gotten Beal and two other guys and they were just the top seat in the east because of free agency and trades, it feels a lot more special, honestly, to have these to do it. You got to watch them fail and get better and you see them establish these bonds with the city. It's, you know, that's, those are the, those are the rarities now. The Nets titles, those are the things that, you know, are winning the day, unfortunately, now. So, but I think it's, you know, I affirm believer that all titles are not created equal and that, you know, some just mean more than other. others. And yeah, I think

a thousand percent getting to watch if you got to watch Simmons and Embed win one. Yeah. It would be a thousand times more special than if y'all went out and got you know, Butler and whoever else signed with you all

and then, you know, you trade for who at like Jimmy and then got like I don't, you know, like if they had done something where if they had had Butler and Embed and then had done what they're doing and then traded Simmons, I'm sure. I would be singing a different song. You know what I mean?

Like my distaste for Jimmy Butler is really like rooted in the fact that he left the Sixers. Like, you know what I mean? Like I don't really care. Right. So this brings me to my main thing I wanted to talk to you about,

which is what happens when you get to the end of an NBA season. And this is a sort of strange one this year because of the play in tournament. Teams that are not participating in the playoffs are a minority. You know what I mean? Like it's a pretty inclusive postseason this year,

at least briefly. How do you go about kind of like, recalibrating how you're watching basketball getting into the postseason. And do you start to think about like, okay, thunder are out? Here's like my order of sort of preference. Here are my rooting interests lie. And how are those rooting interests kind of defined? Allegiances once the thunder go down.

I mean, probably the 1A now. I think mathematically they're out of it. Just FYI. I think they're going to make it. I'm, you know, it's unfortunate. I'll be watching every wizard's game. I'll be, I'll be, I'll be actively rooting for Russ, obviously.

So there's a Thunder University and there are alumni, and Russ is the valedictorian for you. And the dean of students and he's, you know, he's... The RA? Yeah, he's taken care of a lot of stuff. Can you imagine Russ is your freshman, freshman Durham RA? Hey guys, you could smoke weed, but just don't let me smell it, okay?

Like, I just don't treat me like a jerk. There was Fred Cass for the athletic to... I mean, we're recording this on Thursday, but so it posted today, this thing with a bunch of great Westbrook anecdotes, one of which is him forcing campaign to go to a gas station, get him an apple snapple before every game. Every game had to do it, Apple Snapple. Okay.

Is that like a hazing ritual? Well, and then that was supposedly, yeah, I mean, that was it. And then only like well after the fact he was talking to Westbrook about it. And Russ was like, oh, yeah, no, I didn't care. about the drink. I just want to make sure you would get to the plane on time. I got a bit of it. I don't think I've ever tried an apple snapple. I was pretty religious about it being peach.

Yeah, I mean, I'm not even a big time snap will got to be honest with you. No, it's been a minute. It's been a minute since it was part of my daily regimen. Okay, so like, Russ start, you start with Russ. So you start with the wizards. And that I think is actually fitting because not only in the same way that Chris Paul has gone to several teams since the clippers and brought a level of like execution and professionalism and probably, I guess, obsessiveness to going about, like, improving those teams. Russ has brought, like, his Thunder and Lightning Act to a couple of teams now.

And the Wizards turnaround, even though they're still in 10th, has been pretty thrilling to watch. I have watched more Wizards basketball this year than I ever have before. And since Russ has been on this tear lately, their games are a lot of fun. I mean, it's like it reminds me of, you know, why I fell in love with Russ in the first place because, you know, whether he's playing

good or bad, he's always exciting. He's, you know, and there's something to be said for that. He always gives a shit. Yeah. And, you know, especially in a situation like this where, you know, he's, they're behind the eight ball and they have to rattle off these win streaks in order to be able to stay in the play and hunt. I'm just glad that he's, you know, had this,

you know, I wouldn't even call it a renaissance because I think, wouldn't he like second team all NBA last year? Like it's, you know, he was still when, once they got rid of Capella, he was amazing up until the bubble in the quad stuff. But yeah, I mean, I've been excited to see him. He's got the triple double thing behind him now, I think.

So hopefully that'll loosen him up a little bit more. But yeah, I'll be actively watching them. Yeah, now he'll be like, Rui, you can have that rebound, man. It's all good. We did it. So you know, you go Russ. Let's say they don't make it out of the play.

Who goes next? Like for you, are you still running everything through the filter of Thunder fandom? It, like, both that and, like, my,

my wife, Blythe is a gigantic Clippers fan. Whole Life, huge Clippers fan. And Surge is on the Clippers. And I love Serge. And I would love to see the Clippers win it. They were, are my,

they are like my number two, like, this would be awesome. The problem is, and the complicating factor is Patrick Beverly is on the clippers. And this is, if Beverly were on any other team in the league, in the playoffs,

I would be actively rooting against that team. Is this because he banged knees with Russ that time? 1,000%. Yeah, okay. Yeah. My love for my wife is greater than that of my hate for. Yeah, right. Let's power rank this.

So there's like your love for your wife. Yeah. Your hatred of Patrick Beverly sounds like it goes second. Right. I think it would go, you know, like my love for my wife, right underneath that, rubbing right up against it as my love for Russ. Okay. And then, yeah, and then definitely my hedge for Beverly right after that. And then surge is like you have affection for surge.

I have affection for surge. I mean, he was, he's kind of like the forgotten man and all of these things. He was around for just as long as, I mean, he was around for obviously longer than Harden, even though Hardin is, obviously, because how great he's become, he's, of more remembered as that, you know, big three. But Serge was around for a long time and was, like, always played hard. And I was happy to see him get one in Toronto, but I would like to see him win another one. I'm rooting for him all the time.

Is there any residual relationship to Paul George? Is there any, like, complications there? I have no ill will towards Paul George. Okay. I am so grateful that he resigned with us and was able to get SGA to Oklahoma City. I am pumped up for whatever success Paul George experiences, he's given me a lot of joy already by asking out. And yeah, I also just think like he did have to get serious for two seconds. the in Indiana he was he was like the number one on a team that was very good yeah and experienced a lot of postseason success and so the selective kind of playoff piece stuff has always kind of been a little strange to me yeah he's one of those guys that I think the like a lot of players come with caveats or a lot of players careers like when you talk about them they come they have these little like caveats ago and then this happened and some guys we spend a lot of time talking about the caveats like I feel like we've

like, I don't, Kauai, for instance, like maybe gets a lot of like, well, you gotta understand what the quad and he was managing it this way or whatever. There are other guys like that. And then what has happened to Paul George over the years? I think we're just sort of like, yeah, that's cool. I mean, like, we did see that guy's leg explode, like on camera.

And he's come back from that. And I think that, you know, obviously he's been pretty candid about what he was dealing with in the bubble. So I would, you know, I'm not like, there's something aesthetically about the clippers that I kind of still don't like. Maybe it's like the Von Dutch

like kind of uniforms or, but I like Tyloo. I like a couple players on the clippers. I'm like kind of a Kauai agnostic even though I think that like at his best, he is probably the best. I like Terrence man. I like Terrence man, too.

And yeah, so I'm not like mad about the clippers, but this isn't about me. This is about you. So we talk about Russ and we talk about Serge, and those two guys obviously still occupy uncomplicated loving places in your heart. For sure. And then I think it gets a little bit stranger.

It gets a little bit more ambiguous when you get into Harden and Durant. Or is it? No, I mean, if this had happened, you know, if like, if they had hooked up a little bit sooner, for sure, the wound would be very raw. Right.

It's not. Like if Durant had gone to Houston, basically. For sure. Right. Exactly. Right. Yeah. it would have been much worse.

Like, it's still, I would rather them not win. Like, because I don't, I'm not trying to see Photoshop's making me sad for the next, you know, year. All these like, how are you going to see side by side, the three of them, you know, Media Day, whatever, 2010, Thunder. And then you're going to see Durant and Hart. without Westbrook and Durant and Hardin are going to be holding the lario. And I'm not pumped about that. You know what I mean? I'm way more okay with it than I would have been a few years ago.

But yeah, I like don't want that for Russ. It seems like if you, if the thunder were the thunder of last year, like if the thunder were like a chippy seven seed or something, it might be a little bit harder to swallow to watch a super team with your guys. like being like conquistadors across the league. But now it's like you're so far out of it. It's almost like you're playing in a different sport right now.

Like if the Nets do win it, like, okay. Like whatever. Like it's, okay. So take your fandom out of it. Do you find the Nets like aesthetically fun to watch? I think that once all three of them start like playing together and have a few games under their belt, I think probably offensively

it's going to be amazing to watch at times. I really think it'll be like a lot, a lot. I mean, that pass hardened through the other night I mean, I was much... To green, yeah, the long bounce pass. It was amazing. And, you know, I was much problem with the hardened dramatics as anybody, but like, he's

an unbelievable passer. Well, his, him playing point guard changes how, I think. I mean, I think he, I know he played, like, on-ball playmaker in Houston, but there is, like, a distributing, he's distributing it in a different way in Brooklyn than I think he'd played in Houston. I mean, he still does a lot of like dribble, dribble, but still.

And I'm not like a Kyrie hater or anything. I, like, you know, he's so good. Like, his handle's so unbelievable. Just some of the stuff that he does. Like, I don't, I've, I don't, I try to not think about, like, you know, whatever he was in Boston or stuff like that. Like, you know, hey, we mature, you know, we get older. Sure.

there are other guys on staff here at the ringer who can think about what he did in Boston, it's okay. Yeah. So, yeah, like my Brooklyn thing is that I would love to hate this team. For some reason, it's hard for me to, like, it's hard for me to, like, develop a sense of animosity for them, partially because they're so, like,

they're just, like, a test tube team. Like, you just threw these guys together, and it's working on, like, a historical level. There's parts of me that kind of, like, I kind of, like, would love to see, like, Dan Tony be proved right in some regard, you know? And so there's, I mean, not at the expense of the Sixers. Yeah. Where, like, how are you feeling? Do you feel like the Sixers, like, where, where are you, if Sixers Nets, if that was a, if that, if, if you all met them in the Eastern

Commerce Finals, what is your, it depends on whether or not basketball is different in the playoffs this year, which I know it will be. Right. I was talking with Rissillo on his pot a little bit, but I went to that Suns Lakers game. And I was really struck by the defensive intensity of the Lakers against the Sons. And they were obviously underhanded without LeBron. But, you know, that felt much more like playoff basketball than anything I've seen, possibly even in the bubble, like, you know, since going back before that, where it was like the Lakers were almost entirely relying on Anthony Davis to score.

And then Caruso was just like getting after Booker's ass as much as he possibly could. And guys were like really pressuring, pressuring ball handlers like up on their shirts. So I am really curious to see whether going into the playoffs, like some of the free and easy shot making that we've seen this season where everybody, I think, has just had their minds blown because guys are playing in quiet, empty gyms, and maybe are a little bit more focused. I'm speculating, but I do wonder whether or not having some fans back in crowds

and having those fans be, you know, let's face it, like intense enough to be like the first thing I want to do out of lockdown is go to a basketball game. I'll tell you that in Philly, I bet they'll probably boo the nets. They're not going there to have a bad time, Chris. They're going there to have a good time. It's going to be kind of intense because I was at that

Lakers game. Let me tell you, like, the dudes on the court heard what people were saying. Oh, yeah. There was a couple of times where I saw Chris like, Chris Paul turn around and be like, what did that guy just say? Do you think it's going to make for more of those kinds of interactions? Do you think that, like, there will be more fan player

interactions that are sort of clear to a television audience? Well, this is the thing is that in the same way that when you have these seven game series is the players start to get tired of each other. I think the players start to get tired of the fans. So I think on one hand, like, when you're just like in town for a night and some asshole in like the 50th row or whatever is screaming about you or your mother or whatever, like, you might be like, this sucks. But like, I think if you see that guy for the third night, you might be like, I'm, like,

I'm so I just, I'm curious to see with fans in the building and I don't know, I just felt like watching the Knicks this week, watching a couple of Suns games where they, I think, faced like a little bit of extra sauce from their opponents. Like, what's it going to be? And so the big question is then if basketball is like different, if there's a little bit more defensive intensity and if these possessions are contested, what does that do with the nets? Because sometimes I feel like the nets, when I watch them, have been the best team on a flat track. But what happens when they have to go uphill a little bit? Yeah, I mean, I don't know how they'll work out that final shot type of thing. I mean, to me, they might be up 15 in every game.

Yeah, you're right. I mean, like, to me, it's Durant, but I don't know, I don't know what they do in those types of situations. And I totally get like, I think it will be an adjustment. If things do slow down, if they do start to kind of grind, I think it will be an adjustment, especially because they haven't played a ton of games together. But it just seems like more and more in the playoffs, everything comes down to how many guys do you have that can get tough buckets in isolation that can switch on defense

and can go into a phone booth and get a bucket. You know what I mean? So to answer your question, I think the Sixers have two and a half of those guys. Right. You know, and that's, and the Nets have three, three and a half. You know, so that's the question.

That's what I keep coming back to. And I mean, I'll be, I hope that they play because I would love to watch Simmons guard Durant for seven, that would be amazing. Defensively, I think that they pose the biggest threat towards the nets. Like, I think they can throw Simmons and thibble at those guys. I think they have a lot of, like, y'all can be gigantic too. Yeah. And they'll be huge.

There would be no shots at the rim. So it would, you know, like, you just send Dwight out there. And like, honestly, Howard's going to go out there and get thrown out of a playoff game for gosh, you're right. For crushing a guy for coming in the lane. And like, that's like maybe it's retro and stupid, but it'll have an effect. We've got to figure out if we can, like, put some money on Dwight Howard, Blake Griffin, tussle, because that's guaranteed. Oh, absolutely.

Absolutely. So, yeah, I'm feeling pretty psyched about it. I'm glad that they will not have to face, like, this gauntlet that the other side of the bracket will, in terms of the teams that they're playing. But they also might see Miami pretty early, which is going to be tough. Let's talk a little bit about CP3 because in some ways, I don't think that the Thunder obviously, I don't think SGA is where Booker is in terms of his career. Right.

But you could make the argument that the sons are the best possible version of what last year's Thunder could be. You know what I mean? Like you basically have Chris Paul playing point guard, a young star in the back court with him, and then really complimentary pieces around them. Now, the Aten Things are a little bit different depending on how high you are on him.

Obviously, they have bridges, Thunder have Dort, but I do think there are some similarities. How does it feel to watch the Suns essentially kind of like takes Chris Paul and go to the top of the mountain in the West? I've honestly been really happy for Phoenix. And I was not big into Chris Paul

before he got to the Thunder. I would not consider myself a Chris Paul fan and thought he could be a little grading at times. but he I mean he was amazing for us so it's you know it's hard to you know hold any ill will there I mean he's still like tattling on people for having their you know jerseys untucked and being ridiculous in you know very specifically Chris Paulie ways but like I'm I have nothing but you know love Chris Paul's direction after after last year and I'm I've always liked watching Booker play a lot and so

I'm excited to see him have enough talent around him to where he can have some of these moments in games that actually matter. It was fun to see him elevate in the bubble last year, just because I like any guy that really wants to take those shots at the ends of games. You know what I mean? He's not afraid at all. And those types of players are exciting to me. So I've been pumped. I hope that they, I mean, it seems real, but I have no idea. what to think. I mean, there's been so many injuries

this year. It's, if LeBron and Anthony Davis are healthy, it's hard to say that they won't win it. In the first round against the Sons, I mean, that was, like, watching the Lakers against the Sons, I was like, man, this is going to be a problem. If the Lakers, if the Lakers knocked the number one team out in the first round, it's just going to be

pandemonium. So, I wanted to wrap up with this. So, we have a sense of who you're kind of, like, rooting for in the playoffs, but I remember when the Sixers were in the tank division, the amount of anxiety and inter-fan-based

arguments that would happen about who they should draft and who you want to draft. And this is obviously one of the most hyped up draft classes in a minute, I think, because we're talking about

three to five franchise guys, three to four or five franchise guys. And, you know, like, the MB draft was nuts because it was like, this is such a gamble, you know, but if he's,

if he's, if he's, healthy, he's a Lajuan. The Simmons draft was like a no-brainer, and obviously I'm still kind of recovering from the Fultz trade. Have you kind of started to get Kade tattoos? Are you, where are you at with this class? And if you started to, like, develop preferences among these guys?

I'm working with an artist right now on a K-t tattoo that thing's going to be pretty cool. I can't really anything about it yet, but it's... It's going to be tough when he's a rocket. Yeah. You know, hopefully, you know, you know, hopefully just me doing it will shit, that kind of faith, you know, faith can move mountains, Chris. That's right.

I think that, but, no, I mean, I'm, where am I at that? I'm at, like, in my, um, on my, like, YouTube account, my watch later has, you know, multiple of Kate Cunningham mixtapes and Jalen Suggs mix tapes and Evan Mobley mixed tapes and things like that. Like, I'm trying to figure out, like, how much I like all five of them. Yeah, so that you feel okay with it? Yeah, like I don't know how much I like,

and I'm stupid, but I don't know how much I like comminga, you know. And I, you know, I hear some smart people talk and they're like, I don't know if it's, you know, the potential's there, but like the shopmaking, whatever, I don't know, you know. And so I have, you know, I have some anxiety wrapped up in that. A lot of my anxiety is just wrapped up in Lotto-9. in general. And like trying to not

like, you know, Kay's the pie in the sky, but trying to not get too excited about anybody else so that I can accept whatever the result is. Yeah, like I used to think that second was a really good place to be

because it kind of takes, I mean, obviously you want to be one and you want to have the shot at the transformational, immediately transformational player. And if that's what Kay's, is that's great or, you know, I think that they're starting to be like, at least I think I've heard arguments about, about Green versus Cunningham. I can't claim to like be a green expert.

Like, in a lot of ways, I'm the worst person to talk about this because I'm like, Suggs is pretty good, you know? Like, yeah, well, I've seen, I think green is so awesome. But then I like, you know, some smart people who work at the Ringer are like, I don't know. I don't know too, I don't too small. I don't know. But it gets into your head because like it starts to be, it's like the least controllable thing. It's literally. up to a lottery. And so you can't even feel like sometimes you're like, if you're watching a game,

you're like, if I stay at this part of the couch, or if I have a beer at this point in the game, or if I do this, this, this and this, somehow psychically, I will get George Hill to, like, close out on a three. Yeah, you want your, you want your vibes to accomplish something. But it's so hard to do that with the lottery. And then it's so hard to do that when you've got, like,

you know, impressed you you you trust, but it's hard to believe that, like, okay, it's all going to work out. He's going to get these guys we're not going to get screwed with like a class next year where we get a bunch of bums. Right. Right. I mean, I, the thing that like looms over all this is the possibility of getting that, getting two top five picks. Like that, that, that Houston, that, the potential to get that Houston pitch, which I think right now it's like, you know, 46% or something like that. We could be whatever.

That's the thing that like, as long as we get to the bottom three, whenever I go to, all these sims on tankathot.com. Usually at least one of them's in the top five. Yeah. And that's all I ultimately care about. Like, I just want one of them in the top five. But if we got two, I would, you know, you'll have to come back on the pod and just do like a 54-minute monologue about, like,

about how you believe in the future of the American project. Tyler, man, thank you so much for joining me today. Dude, thanks for having me. This was awesome. I appreciate everybody. Thanks for listening to The Answer Today. We were produced by Steve Allman, and you can listen to the Ringer NBA show four and sometimes five times a week. We've got the real ones.

We've got the group chat. We've got mismatch on their own feed. We've got Ringer MBA University. We've got the answer on Fridays and also check out Bill and Rissola on their feeds for more NBA talk. We'll see you next week.