The Ringer NBA Show - Supreme Scorers, the Evolution of Rivalry Week, and Dissecting the Latest NBA Drama | Off Guard with Austin Rivers

Episode Date: January 27, 2023

Austin and Pausha revisit the Wolves’ big win against the Pelicans, highlighting Anthony Edwards’s 37-point performance, then talk about the other supreme scorers around the league dropping 30-plus points per game (4:00). Later, they talk through some off- and on-court drama—including Draymond Green taking ownership for his actions in Golden State (28:46) and the recent incident with Shannon Sharpe and the Grizzlies, before discussing the NBA’s Rivalry Week and the evolution of competition with all the constant player movement (31:34). Then, they wrap things up with a Young Guards Edition of their rapid fire segment (58:55). And of course, they pay their respects to Kobe and Gigi Bryant, as well as the seven others who lost their lives three years ago. Hosts: Austin Rivers and Pausha Haghighi Producer: Ben Cruz Associate Producer: Erika Cervantes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's popping, everybody? This is Logan Murdoch from Real On I have some big news to share. On Saturday, February 18th, the Ringer NBA show will be hitting the road for All-Star weekend for a live show in Salt Lake City. You heard that right. We are taping the pod in front of a live audience in Salt Lake next month and we want you to join us. Pull up on us at the Stateroom in the heart of downtown Salt Lake. You can grab your tickets now at thestateroom.com. That's thestateroom. Doors open at 9 o'clock. Show is at 10. It's going to be a 21 and up event. Come hang with the gang and chat, midseason updates, draft preview, and even have a Q&A with us. Space is limited, so grab your tickets while they last at the statenroom.com or click the link in the description of this show. Hope to see y'all in there.

What's up, everybody? Welcome to another episode of Off Guard. My name is Pasha, and I'm joined by our co-host, Austin Rivers. Austin, what's going on, man? What's up, my guy? How you been? I'm good. I'm good.

It's NBA rivalry week, and I couldn't help but think of it. about your rival, Shane Larkin. Oh, my goodness. Was that not your hometown rival? Yeah, for sure. Oh, wait, hell of a player. Yeah, Shane is a good player. I like Shane.

He's having a big time career overseas right now. Play pro for multiple seasons, Boston and Brooklyn. Had a big career at University of Miami as well and was a pretty established high school player. So I'll respect out to Shane. You beat him in the state title game? Yeah, twice. I would say my rivalry is more so like Brad Beale in high school, but in terms of local,

local talent, it had to be, I'm a local guy, so. Yeah, it probably had to be sure. So before we get started, I want to extend an invite to you. I went to the Orlando Magic game last night, Magic Pacers. Okay. I'm going to offer you a spot on the bandwagon now before it fills up because we scored 46 points last night. We, I'm part of the magic. We scored 46 points last night in the first quarter. We're an offensive juggernaut, and it's only looking, it's only looking up from here.

So this is your opportunity to get on the bandwagon before it's too late. Next year, we won't have any spot. We won't have a spot for you. I will say the magic really are a very up-and-coming. I mean, it went from what direction are they going in to now it feels like it feels like they have that. Obviously, Paulo, Franz, Bobo. I actually like Co-Anthity, too. I like how much energy and passion he plays with. He might not be like the stereotypical point guard, but he can score and he's aggressive and I like that. And then the other pieces they have around him, but I like that start there. Fultz coming back helps them. So I do like the magic's direction. I'm really happy for the city of Burlando. They look pretty good, man. Yeah, last night it was the Battle of the Rookie of the Year candidates.

Pallo versus Ben Matherin, and they both had over 20 points. Is Kessler? Is Kessler in that mix or no? I think he's made an appearance in the top three on the rookie ladder. I definitely saw that. Yeah. I mean, he's not going to win it, but he definitely deserves to be in the conversation. But Pollo's, that's like a runaway.

I feel like second would be, I can't even say his last name correctly. Matherin? Matherin, yeah. He's really good, too. And I like that he's doing it on a team that's like in the playoff race. And he's doing it off to bench, which is even. and more impressive. He might win six men of the year, right? I mean, he's definitely a candidate. Obviously, there's Russ. There's Malcolm Brogden, people like that, but he's up there.

He's just watching the game last night. He's so confident. Like, that guy goes out. He's so aggressive. He gets to the game. He is aggressive, yeah, right from the get. All right. Let's get into last night's game. You guys had a big win against the Pelicans. Yeah, man. Huge third quarter for you guys. Huge game from Ann Edwards. You want to kind of get into what happened last night? Man, wasn't the prettiest game for myself. I could not throw a rock in the ocean last night, but luckily we had guys step up and has been kind of just carrying the way for us as of recently, man. His play, I mean, you even saw Jason Tatum tweet about it. Like, this guy's an all-star. He is.

He's incredibly talented. And now his talent is starting to meet with his skill level. You know what I mean? His skill level is really starting to pick up. And he's a three-level score. He could do it from mid-range. He could finish at the basket. And he's in a league three-point. point shooter, youngest player to ever reach 500 three-pointers ever in the history of the game. You know, I mean, that's incredible. So, yeah, he was dominant last night. Pelicans were without Zion. Was that Ingram?

It might have been Ingram's first game back. Engram's first game back, and you could tell he just didn't have his rhythm yet or his, like, you can see his stamina, wasn't there yet. It's always hard to be out that long and then just come back and dominate game one. So there'll be a much better team once he starts to pick up the flow. But it was a good game, man. the Pelicans play hard. They're always a tough team to play at home. They got like a raunchy crowd. They're always talking crazy and whatnot. So it was a fun game to be a part of. But yeah, we pulled it out, man.

We dropped a big, big L versus the Rockets literally two days prior. So we really needed that win. We're in that playoff race. There's like two games in between the third seed and the 11th seed right now in the west. Yeah, you guys are one and a half games back behind the four seat. And that's, and you guys have been missing, you know, a guy that made, you know, third team all NBA last year for most of the this year. That's the one thing that people aren't really talking about with us right now is that we are in the playoff race and we're a game and a half like you said out of the third seed and we don't have Carl Anthony Towns. Like one of our best players hasn't been playing, which would be interesting when he gets back because that dynamic with Rudy wasn't really the best before he went down, but that was

more so just us still trying to figure it out. But now this late in the season when he comes back, we're not going to really have that time. We're going to have to win games. So it'll be interesting. But at the end of the day, the more talent on the floor, the better. I'm excited for Carl to get back with us. Ant has had 30 points in three straight games. And in the last three years, in his entire career, every year he's improved in field goal percentage, three point percentage, points, rebounds, assist steals. They've all gone up each year.

He's getting better. What do you think, if anything, he needs to add or what could he do to hit that next level or just, you know, more experience? Honestly, man, it's hard to say right now. he's playing so well the past couple of games. I don't think he could do anything better right now. But as a whole, just from the season, a lot of his stuff just comes with age and maturity.

You know what I mean? Just continuing to become a better pro, whether it's game day routines, taking care of your body, sleep. He's not a smoker. He's not a drinker. He doesn't party heavy. So like those issues aren't a problem.

He also lives in Minnesota, which is great. You know, you go from gym to home every day. There's nothing really to do. How cold is it in Minnesota right now? Are you freezing being a Florida boy? Yeah, I don't. I don't go outside, man. I really don't.

It's like seven or 10 degrees outside, something like that. It's just ridiculous. Never in my wildest dreams that I thought I'd live in Minnesota or Minneapolis. But it's actually nice, just cold. But they say the summertime is beautiful here. I definitely will come back up here a little bit for like a week or two in the summer just to work out and stuff and hang out. But, yeah, it's freezing here right now, man. and it's been the complete opposite, man.

He's been hot. You know, I mean, that court, he's really been, he's been scoring the ball well. He's, I think the best thing that is going to help his improvement is just continuing to be a better playmaker, what he's doing. You can see it.

It's just coming. I think as he continues to grow, watch the game, watch film, steady the game. I think his playmaking will get even better, which will make our team even better and make it even easier on him. So it's been exciting to see. just from the start of the season and now he's he's getting better man so it's it's really cool to see something like that just kind of prosper and like grow into a star i saw his uh he had those crazy dunks on shangoon it was nuts the other day and he's had a couple ones he's missed have been

insane too he's had some jaw-like mist dunks that have been like holy holy shit you played with obviously blake griffin when he was out there flying around is that is that kind of an athlete i mean he is he is he is you know and blake was six eight and this guy's like six four he's built like a, I mean, Anthony could play in the NFL. He really could. If you gave Anthony Edwards like six months, just train, get like footwork dynamics because football's a lot harder than what people think it is, you could throw him out there. Like, he's that gifted as an athlete. I do think football players usually have the best athletes in the world. And I think Aunt can like play in that league. What do you see when you see, Ann, do you see like a Dwayne Wade type?

Or is it something that you've really never really came across? What's the comparison there? Hmm, it's a good question. I don't see Duane Wade because Duayway was so heavy midrange. He wasn't like the greatest three-point shooter where like Ant is, you know, he leads our team in three points made this year. You know, he's making like three to four a game. I like the Tatum. I mean, he's very Tatum like he's just more explosive.

You know what I mean? He's he's like a mixture between Tatum and like. Wade, because he has that athleticism, and that's why he reminds a lot of people of Wade. The way he's able to get to the basket, the way he's able to maneuver through traffic, finished above the rim. He's very strong and gifted like Duane. It's just crazy because him and Dwayne are both, like you said, 6-4, but their presence and the way they attack the basket, they don't feel like Gary, Gary Payton is 6-4.

Yeah, yeah, right, right, right. These guys feel when they're attacking the basket, like, they're like, they're like, forwards. Yeah, no, they feel like they're strong, they're big. Yeah, he has that Dwaytonian. like aggression towards a basket, but his outside ability off the dribble is very Tatum-like. Yeah. And I saw Ant posted the pod the other day on Instagram.

We appreciate the love. We do. We're going to get him on here too. He already said he wants to do it. I want to do it for like an all-star push. So maybe like next week we'll get Anthony Edwards on here. He's a fun guy. A lot of people, I think, like him, but would like him even more if they really got to know him.

He's just, he really is just an amazing human being. I'd love to get him on the pot. that's what I wanted to ask you. What's he like off the corks? I know you guys are close. And you don't see it too much of what, you know, because like he said, he's in Minnesota. He's not in this crazy spotlight.

What's he like off the court? Yeah, that's like that's the crazy thing is if like if it was in like a big market, he would be a global superstar, not just like a star up and coming. You know what I mean? If he wasn't in Minneapolis, if you put him on like the Knicks or something like that. But I don't really think he cares about any of that, which is one of the things I like about him.

But at him as a person, man, he's just raw energy. He's just 100% unapologetic about who he is, what he believes in, what he thinks, whatever's in his mind it comes out. But he's respectful for the most part. But he's just like, my favorite thing about aunt is his willingness to learn and listen. A lot of guys like that when they have the world at their feed. He knows he has a max contract coming and he has big contracts from Adidas and whatever. ever's coming his way. A lot of guys like that can end up, you know, kind of, not I want to say

being a know at all, but it's kind of hard to approach them or talk to them and teach them things. And he's so susceptible to like just information. He's always learning. He's always building. He works. That's just my thing. I like that. And then off the court, man, he's so normal, goofy. He plays video games. And he's probably the most confident human being I've ever met my life. If you asked him who's the best golfer of the team, he'd say himself. If you asked who's the best swimmer, he'd say himself. Best football player. He'd say, he'd say, he'd say, he'd say himself. He hasn't even played some of these sports before, but he would say himself. That's just how he is. So I really like that about him, his confidence and his willingness to learn and listen.

Yeah, he just seems like he might be that character in the Hustle movie where he is super confident, but great personality. I don't know if you saw that. Did you see Hustle? Yeah, he was great in that. We talk about that all the time. You know what I mean? I don't like basketball movies. They're usually poorly made, and they're usually very corny. But Hustle was actually like a well-made film and the dialogue and the basketball scenes were well made because they actually had NBA players in them, so they looked good. And then, you know, Kermit, aka. And, you know, he did a great job playing his role. So shout out to him and Bo Cruz for that matter. I actually have played basketball in Santa Monica with, or it was in Beverly Hills with Adam Sandler. And we played pickup. This guy,

I mean, he was in his 50s. I don't know how old he was right now. His great court vision. mid-range game, kind of like a Sam Cassell. Yeah. Sam Cassell? Yeah, he could hoop. He had a little mid-rangers, backing people down, making these crazy passes. Did he have the big shorts on? Was this shorts? Huge, gigantic shorts. I mean, they were like, they were from a Fat Joe Garage sale.

Like, these shorts, these are bigger shorts. They were gigantic shorts. Fat Joe Garage sales, insane. Would you go to a Fat Joe garage sale? I would not. Not even for a Terror Squad hoodie. I don't know. You wouldn't lick the bottom of the Air Force. ones. I would not. I don't know how sanitary that is. Post-COVID, I'm probably not going to mix it up with any

the bottom of any shoes. So, around the association last night, Damien Lillard, 60 points, another big game. He's playing unbelievable. How do you feel about this? Every night you look up, these guys are, you know,

you're getting a 50 point, 60 point, point, Donovan Mitchell, 70 point game. Are you to the point now where you're a little numb to it? Are you still amazed by it? Is it just happening too frequently? And if so, why? I'm still amazed by it. Just because as a player going out there,

imagining myself scoring 60 and how hard that would be, I have to have an appreciation for that. And I understand these guys are getting a high volume of shots and the offensive centered around them. But scoring 60 points in any league, let alone the NBA is, is no easy feat. I'm trying to think of this year how many guys have even scored 60. Oh, I think it was Henry Luca and Donovan.

Yeah, so it's only three people, man. You know what I mean? The three names we named are Supreme Scores. The 70-point game was insane by Donovan. And last night, the way Damien was able to score. He had 50 in the third. And he was just shooting from half-court. It's the evolution of basketball, man. It's the evolution of basketball.

These guys are, we are all so much more skilled than what the players were 10, 20 years ago. That's just my belief. That's actually a fact, in my opinion. And I think they'll be better than us in 10 to 20 years from now, man. That's just where it's going. You will see more performances like that because so, but it should never be numb. I mean, someone scoring 60 points in an NBA game is incredible. Yeah, my only issue with that is, and I see it on, you know, there's accounts on Twitter that will compare, for example, Donovan Mitchell's stats this year to Kobe Bryant's MVP season in 2008.

And they're like, look, they're the same. So it just didn't feel the same, I guess, is what I'm trying to say. Well, the reason they're not the same is gameplay and game style. you know, Kobe was averaging 30 off mid-range jump shots. You know what I mean? Like he was, if you go watch the finals versus the Celtics versus the Lakers, the final score of the game was 78 to 70, you know, 81. That's what that, you know, we have 70 points sometimes at halftime in today's NBA.

You know what I mean? For sure. To the normal fan, they'd be like, oh, they don't play defense. Like, no, we play defense, man. But again, the game is extended outwards. The more threes are being taken, analytics have taken place. more points are being scored. So, like, for instance, you go back and look at Derek Rose,

one of my favorite players when he was with the Bulls. Look at his MVP season. He averaged like 24 points, I think. It was like 24. It was like 26, yeah. It was like 24, 26. He averaged like 7, 8 assists. That's like not even getting you on the All-Star starting nowadays.

You know what I'm saying? So it's hard to compare just because the gameplay and style was different. If Kobe was in an era where he was shooting 14-3s a game, where it was more encouraged and he was working on threes and threes and not triangle offense mid-range fadeaways, his numbers would be even more.

You know, same with Mike. So, you know, Mike hit six threes and did a shrug. Like, you know, look, what's going on. This is crazy. You know what I mean? Where you got guys making that every night. So, yeah, it's just evolution of basketball

man, and gameplay. Game style has changed. Yeah, and I even saw someone comparing Jason Tatum's season this season to Durant's 2014 MVP year. And I was thinking about Durant that year. I remember living it, he was playing unbelievable. Who's spacing the floor for that Thunder team?

They had Russell Westbrook, Thabo Sepalotia, Ibaka, Kendrick Perkins. Like, KD's not getting like a lot of space back then. And he's out there, who've been scoring. And you're comparing that to, you know, Jason Tatum right now. He's on a Celtics team where they're a great shooting team. I think last time I looked, they shot 40% as a team. Every guy in the floor could shoot with three. Do you think that makes a big difference?

the spacing and everything like that. Yeah, spacing, spacing definitely makes a big difference. And their team is better. The Southwix team they have this year is probably, at this point in the season, they're probably the favorite to win. And they're definitely the favorite to return back to the finals, nonetheless. But I do think those comparisons are pretty fair because Tatum's in the MVP conversation right now.

You know what I mean? It's him, Yokeg and Janus probably are the top three. So, and Tatum's been in that mix the past couple years, but now he's like a substantial top three. I think Yoko is going to end up winning it. I think we all know that, which is insane to say that out loud. But yeah, yeah, it's pretty interesting. Back to Dame, Portland's kind of in the situation for a while where they haven't been necessarily contending, but they have him playing at this elite level. Do you think, and obviously he's made it clear he wants to stay there, wants to retire there. He's saying all the right things. And his loyalty is admirable. You don't see

that a lot these days. Do you think, if you were running a team like that, you had a guy like dame would you try to break it down or would you be okay kind of being a middle of the road team or would you try to maybe you know tank you know start over again start fresh how would you run your how would you run it what do you encourage if i'm a gm if i'm a president of the blazers um i'm trying to bring as much talent as i can the restarting phase with them is already past they have their team is guys who are veteran they have damian lillard out there veteran player, Nirkage veteran player, Josh Hart, veteran player. Even Jeremy Grant at this point, six, seven years into the league.

He's a veteran player, or however many years it's been. The vast majority of the guys that they're playing are not rookies and young players. In fact, the only young player, I think they even play is Anthony, and he's in what is fourth season. Yeah, something like that. They also have Shaden Sharp who's showing flashes. Yeah, he shows flashes, but I'm saying he's more of a rotational guy who plays sometimes a lot. Sometimes he doesn't. And I say rotational, but in terms of consistent minutes off the bench, I don't even know if he's gotten that yet.

So at this point, you might as well just try to just surround Dame. He's made it clear he wants to stay there. Obviously, the city of Portland, and I would have to imagine, management is very thankful that they have a superstar that wants to remain in a Portland market, small market. His loyalty is definitely admirable. At this point, if I'm a GM or president there, it's already almost too late to turn back. I mean, you can't tank now. You know what I mean? Like, they're not going to get, there's 30 games left, man.

You know what I mean? And they're already like in the middle of the mix. You know, like at this point, I'm trying to surround some talent for Dame, you know, and Anthony. They have two stars, uh, aunt being an up-a-coming star and Lillard being a superstar. You know, I like Jeremy Grant. He's had a, honestly, an all-star like season. I think you build around those guys.

You have three guys that, you know, you can put the ball in the basket. But right now the way they're a game. are played. It's either Dame shoots, Ant shoots, Jeremy shoots. And then after that, it's like, they don't even know what they're doing really. You know what I mean? That's what makes them a little bit more guardable. If they can surround them with just like really good high IQ basketball players and know how to play the game, can stretch the floor, can shoot the ball well and defend, you know, veteran leadership type things that can go along with Dame's whole morale and his energy, I think the Blazers can be a really good team. Kind of like the team he came into when he was a

rookie, you know, they were really, really good. They were like, you know, in the playoffs, making runs. no they didn't win. That was like that was the West Matthews, Lamarcus Aldridge. Yeah, exactly. Defensive minded, not Lamarcus, but Nick Batum. A guy who could defend, a guy who could spread the floor. Lamarcus Aldridge was a juggernaut. But you replaced Lamarcage with Jeremy and Ant, Anthony.

And then you add other guys, like I just said, I think they can become a premier team or a team that's fighting for something again. So they're close, but they're too much in the middle, man, to like start over at this. But you'd have to like get rid of a. Well, a lot of people say the middle is. the worst place to be, right? You're either contending or you want to be bad. And they say when you're in the middle, being mediocre is you're not getting the high draft picks, but you're not competing. But here's the thing about starting over, man. There's no tale of when that will ever

work out well and if it will work out well. There's been teams that have been tanking and starting over for 10. You know you're a magic fan. There have been teams that have been doing that for years that hasn't worked out. Now, it finally worked out. They got a number one pick in Apollo, which went right. but there's not even a guarantee that like the number one pick will lead to a player that's going to be promising. Obviously next year it is with Victor, they're already Portland's past that. But like being in the middle of the pack, like you're also a player piece away from not being a middle in the pack. You know what I mean? Like it can go either way, in my opinion.

But like everyone I was like, maybe we should just tank and start over. Bro, there's no time. And then they complain with that they're bad. Like we're the worst team in the league. I mean, so it's just like. Well, one thing people don't talk about when you tank is what it does do with fan base. I mean, those trust the process. for years.

I mean, you've got people going to the games, they're not even trying to win. It's demoralizing. And it's really bad. It's really bad for rookie development. Bad habits get created. Like, I watch Houston and Charlotte. Like, I don't think,

I think those situations are detrimental to, like, that's why I, it's hard to be hard on, like, Jalen Green or, like, a Lamello. Because if you put, like, Jalen Greene got drafted to the Warriors, or the spurs or I don't even know, just like a, you know what I'm saying, a team, the Celtics. You put Jayling Green on the Celtics as a rookie. And he's getting to practice with these guys every day.

He's learning all this stuff. That dude's talent is so high. And then you mix it with like all this proper development, good system, good coaches, good players around them, a playoff team that's winning now. So he's learning winning habits. Like he'd be even way better than what he already is. You know what I mean? And he's a good young player.

But like- I mean, look at a guy like Jason Tatum who got drafted to a team that went to the conference finals. His first year. Brown, these guys get to go and they're plug right into it. Look at the culture. That's what Jordan Poole is. Jordan Poole is Jalen Green.

You put Jalen Green on the on the on the on the words and I'm not saying he's as good as Jordan Poole, whatever, whatever, but like Jalen Green is extremely talented. You put him on like a really, really good team as a rookie and he's seeing all this stuff. But like what does he know right now? He knows, you know, learning how to be a pro and like learning how to have professional habits, how to play the game, winning basketball. and we've talked about this early on, it's very,

very important. And everybody always wants to restart and tank and rebuild, but it comes at a cost, too. It's pros and cons to both. And if we're going to talk about some of the cons, the cons are, it's hard for rookies, man.

Like, it's not a good environment for, like, a rookie to be in a culture where they're trying to lose. They don't say it, but they are. Like, that's not easy to deal with. I mean, you saw it with Devin Booker

early on in his career with Phoenix. Like, he got drafted to a team that was really, really bad. And, like, it took him time. Obviously, he's always been a good player. But it took him time to, like, you know, they had to become a good team. You saw what changed once Chris went there.

Like the whole morale of the team changed. Like I said, one player away. You could be in middle of the pack, and one player could change the whole thing. Phoenix didn't make the playoffs the year before. They get Chris to go to the conference finals. So, like, you have to just, I don't think restarting is always the answer. And I think it could be really bad sometimes for young players. players. And, you know, you saw case and point with Devin, like he was always a good score,

a good player. But as soon as they start getting veterans and good players around, his whole game expanded, his learning curve expanded to where he's one of the more prominent scores and players at his position now. So I think there's both sides to it. For sure, there's definitely both sides because I think of a team like the Wizards who have had Bradley Beal, they haven't been able to be a bottom five team. So they haven't got these top draft picks. They've been kind of in the middle getting, you know, drafting anywhere between 8 and 12 or something like that. So they haven't got the good draft picks, but they haven't been making a run at the playoffs.

They're kind of in that middle. You know, so there's something like that. Or there's a team like the heat. They completely avoided tanking. After LeBron left, they went to the finals six years later. They signed Jimmy Butler. They drafted Tyler Hero and Bam late in the lottery. They completely avoided the tanking.

And they found themselves back in the finals, conference finals. So I've seen it where it works. where you can avoid tanking, like the Celtics and the heat. And I've seen it where the magic had Vucevic and Fornier, for example, or seven seed and eight seed. Once they traded those guys, Palo, Franz. It happened pretty quick after they traded those guys. So there's no guarantee that if you tank,

you're going to get a good draft pick or if that pick's going to be good. So that's kind of the thing, too. Yeah, a lot of that has to do with luck. You know what I mean? You don't ever really know. And that's exactly what we're trying to say, man. The whole rebuilding process is, it can go either way. A lot of teams do it.

I'm sure a lot of GMs might do it for job security, man. It's an easy way to buy six or seven years on a contract when you don't have expectations to win when you're rebuilding as well. So there's a lot of different variables that go into that. You mentioned earlier Jordan Poole. Last night, the Warriors played the Grizzlies. Stuff got ejected. He threw his mouth guard.

He looked like he was frustrated with a shot that. Jordan Poole took. Do you think that was a fair injection, first of all? Because he's got injected for that a few times. Yes. If you've already got injected for it a few times, and there's no difference in you doing it, especially he threw it hard right in front of a ref.

That's automatic. You can't throw anything into the crowd. I understand it was the heat of the moment. I understand there's only a minute left in the game. But Steph even knows of you. If we had Steph on the pot right now and asked him, should he've been thrown out, he'd been like, yeah, you know,

and I know he didn't even mean to it. He was just frustrated, so he just threw a mouthpiece, which is something simple. But any player throwing it, anything in the crowd, you're getting ejected, especially with velocity that he threw it with. You know, he saw it. He got thrown out in a finals game for it. So he's definitely going to get thrown out in a regular season game. That was easy. That was easy. Do you think there's anything

there? Because obviously the drama with Dremont and in Jordan Pool before the season, Steph getting frustrated and we're not used to kind of seeing him that frustrated like that after a shot he took. Do you think that's the coincidence? Jordan took the shot that he was Mad at, right? Yeah. Yeah. It's hard to speak. I'm just not in that locker room, but from the outside looking in, I think you have a team and a culture that's been built over time that they're used to, and now they have young talent that's also in there, and he's a good young player, as well as Kaminga and some of the other guys they have in there. So you kind of have to take the good with the bad and decision making mistakes. You know, Jordan Poole does make a lot of mistakes sometimes down

the stretch, but he also hits a lot of big shots down the stretch because he's a very talented player. So you got to take the good or the bad. I think Steph was just frustrated in the moment and wanted the ball as the best player at the minute left. That's usually the case. But then at the same time, how many times have we seen Jordan shoot a shot like that and it's gone in? You kind of have to live with it because they need Jordan. As much as people give Jordan pool a hard time, they need that young talent. You know, Clay's gotten older, Drayman's gotten older. Steph's even gotten older. He's seen him with the shoulder injuries and stuff. And they both are all three of them are doing their thing, especially Steph, but Jordan and Kaminga gives them new life,

you know, new talent, good energy, you know, just a lot of spring in their legs. Jordan's a big time scorer. He's very capable. They need him. So it's just a balance that they have to find, I feel like. Dremont recently kind of took the blame for the warrior's struggles this year, kind of alluding to maybe what, you know, the altercation he got with, got into it with Jordan Poole before the season.

Have you ever been on a team where, off-the-court drama was affecting the on-court performance? Yeah, of course. And it's hard not to because it's not supposed to, but people are human nature, man. And if you've got a problem with somebody, sometimes it's hard for players to be able to have that feeling subside and go out there and play non-intentional basketball.

Do you know what I'm saying? I've been a part of teams that I don't want to say heavy drama was happening, but, you know, people had different opinions and views about whatever. And they go in the court and sometimes they can carry over. And I've also been on teams where they've had that and you would never know. You know what I mean? They hide it well. So.

the 90s bulls had drama. You know, when that book, the Jordan Rules came out. Drama finds any team. It doesn't matter. No one is drama proof is what I'm saying. There's always something. It doesn't matter who you are. It's just a matter of how you handle it as a team and how you're able to just move forward and understand, you know, that this is a business and we got to go out there, handle business and do our best job and et cetera, et cetera. But, yeah, you know, I think it's really cool of Dremont to do that as a leader of that team. He's definitely the alpha in terms of like the locker room voice. So to put that onusiness on himself, I thought was pretty cool. Is it fair? Not really. Because there's a whole bunch of people in that locker room. There's a whole franchise. So everybody. has a part to play. His incident with Jordan in the beginning of the year obviously did not help. That, like, started, all that did is, it put a, it made everyone be like, oh, they're not

perfect. You know, I'm like, oh, okay. And it just opened the door for people to climb in and start throwing stuff at the wall. And, I mean, look at us right now. Stuff through the thing at Jordan, or through the mouthpiece after Jordan took a shot is, does everyone have a problem with Jordan? Is Jordan the problem?

But that all has started just from one little incident. Now you've got a whole bunch of people chiming in, making, you know, saying all these different things. When at the end of the day, you know, we don't know what's really going on. And, yeah, as a competitor, it's nice to see. It's nice to see for once that the Warriors are actually going through something because they've been this team that's, they've just dominated the NBA, really since I've been in the league.

So it's been interesting. All right, let's take a quick break. And when we get back, let's talk about NBA Ravelry Week. All right, Austin, we already mentioned earlier that it's NBA Ravelry Week. We've seen the Nets, Sixers, Clippers, Lakers. We have Mavs sons tonight. Tomorrow you play the Grizzlies. I want to know, I think we agree.

Ravories are good for the NBA. They're good for any sport. Is it the same as when we were growing up, maybe a Bulls-Nicks? They heat nicks, all those crazy robberies we had. Do you feel like it's the same or is it a little different these days? It's a lot different these days. I don't think rivalries and basketball are as serious as they were in the 90s or even especially it passed that.

I mean, back then it was a lot crazier. But yeah, rivalry week is really fun. I think that's why they do it now because they're trying to like tap into that market and make fans interested. But if I'm going to be unbiased, are they the same? as what they were in the past, no. And that's due to a multitude of reasons. One, players are traded so much now,

and there's so much movement in the NBA that it's really hard to establish like a true hatred for like a team or franchise when you could easily be playing there next year, next season. Shit, in today's day, next month, who knows? Guys are moving around left and right. Secondly, and that has also, to allude back to that first point, that started with a lot of stars moving and whatever, whatever.

even not even necessarily stars like Patrick Beverly on the clippers, parking at LeBron, and now he's their teammates. Exactly. It's just different. The way to NBA is now, guys just move around too much. So it's really hard to establish like a true rivalry or fans even to tap into that when players are constantly moving. Like fans will hate a player and then that player will be on their team next year and they

love it. It's just hard. It's hard to do that. The second point, which we talked about earlier, was the effect of AAU basketball, the effect of social media. All of us. now grow up playing with each other. I played with 90% in the NBA at Nike camps and EYBL and whether it's the Adidas League or this league. You all are around each other. You get some type of, you know,

camaraderie, um, social media, guys are in touch. They comment on each other's pictures. You know, they have access to hitting each other up on Instagram. You know, all these things have just made the NBA actually closer, which is actually there's pros to that too. But, In terms of like rivalries, it's there's, it's far in between now just because of all these things. You know, the movement of basketball, social media, AAU, the camps, the whole thing. You know, I mean, most of these guys have all played with each other. That's why every team, when you turn on the TV, guys are dapping each other up after a game or before the game. They're talking.

They go to dinner. They play video games with each other online. And a lot of these guys game online together. You know what I mean? Like, it's just a totally different day and age, I think, in terms of. of like yeah i feel like i feel like like the pat riley nicks and maybe this was overblown they weren't even shaking hands before the game like john starks didn't talk to reggie miller before a game no they didn't they didn't like they didn't like they didn't like they didn't really even know a lot about

each other because there was no social media you know you didn't know that much about a player's life what they were like or anything like that um which it's great now that they can because it's great for marketing and you can kind of tap into what they're like off the court but they i feel like now like you said like these players are friends off the court you run into someone you know in the off season you're going to say hey to each other i've seen it a million times players that don't even know each other i'll be with you you'll say hi to a player i'll be like oh i didn't know him you're like you're like oh man we're just cool everyone's it's just not like that anymore like it probably was in the 80s and 90s perfect perfect example that's a perfect example right there

and that's that's the difference you know um i i do feel like back in the day you didn't know when you don't know someone it gives you an incentive to like when you're like competing against them especially if it's a team that's supposed to be you know you're like you know fuck that guy, bro. You know what I mean? Like, you know what I mean? That's just kind of like how it is. We're like now half these dudes you've played with already or are going to play with or

have had some type of experience. And like you said, in the off season, you'll come up to a player. I'll be somewhere. I don't even know a dude. And you just kind of give a head shake to each other and a nod. Because we are in an elite fraternity. And that's something that I think is, like you said, there's a pro to that too. I think guys are a lot more tapped into each other's now.

And yeah, it's just different. It's a totally different age. totally different day and age with robberies now. I feel like there are three or four teams that have the Grizzlies as their rival and it's, you know, whether it's the Lakers, the Warriors for sure.

You guys, after that great playoff series last year, I don't know if you, I know you did watch Lakers, Grizzlies, Shannon Sharp. Yeah. That drama. What were your thoughts on that? Should he have been ejected?

Shout out to. Yeah, you should have been ejected. That was ridiculous. And he even knows that. Shannon can say what he wants, but there's, each night a fan is thrown out from just talking too crazy in a player, be like, yo, get him out of here. And the referee was like, get him out. This guy was about to fight the whole team and was talking crazy to everyone and they let him back on the court to only talk

even more after the, I mean, it was absurd, but it is Los Angeles where like celebrity rose a thing. And I do think they handled that very poorly in terms of keeping him in the game. And Shannon knows better than that. And I know Shannon's point of view and where he's coming from, they started it, this, this, that, but he's a grown man. You know what I mean? Shannon's a grown man. And at the end of the day, that'd be no different than an NBA player coming to a football game. And I know it's hard to, because there's no like court side. But if there was and they were talking crazy to you, you'd be like, you know, what the fuck is this guy doing? You know what I mean? Like, because at the day, Shannon can do it, say all you wants. He's not a basketball player

and he doesn't have the insight of a basketball player. You know, I know he likes basketball and he's a huge LeBron fan, but he should have been thrown out of the game. It was good entertainment, and I'm sure it was good for his show. And Shannon's defense, if someone's talking spicy to him, he's not going to hold anything back. People were asking me. He's a former, he's a former athlete, Hall of Famer. So he still has that mentality. He was asked to me like, who would win in a fight between him and Dylan Brooks? I'm like, are you out of your mind? Have you seen Shannon? Have you seen Shannon Sharp's workout videos? Not to mention he played in the NFL in the 90s. The guy was out there tackling Ray Lewis and

or getting tackled by Ray Lle. I mean, we're talking about two different. Yeah, no. That wouldn't have ended nice for probably anybody on Memphis. Stephen Adams? Stephen Adams got there too. And I'll,

that would have been a battle, though. That would have been a fight. I really do believe that. I would pay top dollar pay per view. Yeah, I'd rather see that. I'd rather watch that than a, than a, listen, I'd pay pay per view last year to watch Frank Gore

fight Darren Williams. If you're, if you don't think I would pay money to see Shannon Sharp fight, Stephen Adams, you're out of your mind. I might pull up in a tux. I might even kidding. I got an image of Frank Lucas fur coat for you, right, ringside, watching that fight.

Frank Lucas, fur coat, fur hat, batty on my right arm, watching the fight. I'm there. I will say the one positive of him staying was he made up with John Moran's father. And it kind of like made a nice moment there. It seemed like everything was cool. Shannon's good people from what I've heard. I don't know him personally. I've just,

a lot of people that know him. He's obviously around the game a lot. Everyone likes Shannon. He's supposed to be a good dude. He also apologized the next day in the show because he knows, man. Like Shannon's a great apology. That was a great apology. It was a great apology.

And he knows he knows he's above that. You know what I mean? Like he's a grown man and he conducts himself in a certain way. And I don't think he even wanted to see himself. You know, I always say this. Every time you get in an incident or a fight, there's a time of like anger and then there's a time of reflection right after that and then there's a time and then there's a time of embarrassment where like the next day you're like I can't believe I let people see me

like that that looks bad because you think about everyone in the arena and everyone in that case the whole world is like watching you like go like that it's just it's never a good look man like it's never you know what I mean like so he knows that but it was entertaining it was funny it was entertaining it was entertaining love this cardigan high thread count on that cardigan it looked it looked expensive. It was. I saw JJ on his pod was talking about how expensive it was, the actual cost of it. It was like almost two grand or like three grand or something like that.

And he had the Dior ones to go on. The Shannon's getting paid, huh? Oh, yeah. He's, he's, he's a star. He's making way more money now that he did as NFL player. No, that. He had a yellow gold AP on with the green dot. All right, we're getting a little carried away here. Let's see. Let's dial it back. We're like pocket watching right now.

It's nice to look at the details for sure. Nothing wrong with that. So have you ever got into it with a celebrity court side? No, never a celebrity, never a celebrity. I haven't got into it with a lot of people court side. I've just gotten into like a little back and forth. And if I felt like dealing with it, I'll deal with it.

If I don't, I haven't kicked out the game. But an actual celebrity sitting courtside, who knows? I mean, I wouldn't even know some of these celebrities. I've gotten too many incidents. Have you, have you ever been starstruck by a celebrity court side? No, I really haven't. And I've seen them all at the games. I mean, from Jay-Z to Beyonce to,

say to Kevin Hard to Floyd to anybody anybody I saw I will say this I saw um Colisey from Game of Thrones at a game before and a Rockets game before and I was a little it threw me off a little bit well she was she's a brunette so the whole thing was bothering me I didn't like one thing it was just it threw me off I saw her and I'm like this is not Calecy I had such an admiration for her I would I would have asked her I would have asked her about season eight of Game of Thrones. Yeah, I would ask her about the ending. That's exactly what I would ask her.

I would ask Emily Clark. What is it? Amelia Clark. Amelia Clark. Amelia Clark. I said, Emma. What did I just call her? Emily.

It's okay. Amelia. That's nuts. That's nutty. Anyways, yeah, I would ask her about season eight and ending. But yeah, that was probably the only time where I saw it. And that wasn't because she was such a big star. It's just because like, when would you ever think to see her at an NBA game?

You know what I mean? Like Jay Z goes to games and Rihanna goes to games. and Rihanna goes to games and Floyd Mayweather goes to games. And these people are at like basketball fans. So it doesn't really, I don't know. As an NBA player, like you see that, you're like, cool. You know what I mean? But seeing someone like her at a game, I would have been like, you know.

She's the mother of dragons breaker of chains. Was that in Houston where she was courts on? Yeah, that was Houston. Yeah. And you saw 11 was at Atlanta Hawks game this year and everyone made a big deal. You grew from Stranger Things. Okay. I actually, I've never seen Stranger Things.

that's insane that's how my to do yeah for sure it's not for everybody it's not for everybody i mean i like it i like it yeah um so you've never been starstruck by anyone court side amelia clark actually have you ever been starstruck and it had to have been your rookie year with anyone you went up against on the court yeah duane wade and coby bryant were like surreal moments and i know everybody says that about coby but that's just because his presence was just he had like jordan like presence um we talked about this before it's different than lebron And that's just due to LeBron just being so accessible. You know, he's always at AAU games.

He's in warm-up lines, Duncan with his kids. He's sold Instagrams on social media, posts his stories. He tweets. You know, him and KD are very out there where, like, this guy and Kobe would live two hours away from the arena. You know what I mean? And with someone that was kind of out of sight. So when I saw him, I was that, like that, he had this presence about him. I can't explain it.

But Kobe had that where when you see him, you'd almost like be in awe and be nervous. you know, just even meeting him. And then personally, for me, it was Dwayne Wade. Growing up in Florida, my two favorite players were Tracy McGrady and Dwayway. And getting to play against Dway my first time was something really special for me. That was like, wow, we're really here. Like, I'm really in the NBA. You know, that was like my welcome to the league moment.

It was really going against Dwaywayway. Who's a player that, so actually, let's go back to the beginning of this year. Before the season started, I think you and me were. at Bar-Louie, randomly getting some late night, I think it was like chicken wings. Nice little Bar-Louie plug? What are you trying to do here? No, no, it was like Winter Park Village, Bar-Louis for sure. It was only place open, I think. And you and me were hungry. We were going, and you were showing me Pat Williams, Patrick Williams, like him playing pickup. You were showing me highlights.

Very quiet. Yeah, you were telling me this guy's going to, maybe not this year, maybe next year, he's going to make a big leap. He's going to be really, really good. Yeah. Do you still feel that way about him? And are there any other plans? players you think are going to make a big leap that aren't necessarily getting the attention right now? Yeah, well, health has been a concern for Pat. You know, he's been banged up a little bit. And then the situation, I don't know what's going on in Chicago with that team. But, and they're not a bad team.

They're just, I don't think they're performing to the level of what they were last year. And their roster is pretty loaded. I mean, they got a pretty pretty good roster of good players. So situation might be everything. I still believe that, though. I think Pat Williams has like, I don't know why. I just like his game. He looks good in the pickups.

him. Who's the other Williams? The Williams and OKC. Jalen Williams? I really like him. He's a rookie too, right? Yeah. Yeah, he's good. I like his game. He has a lot of capability. I think he's a guy that can make a huge jump. Man, OKC drafts well, man. They really do. They draft really well. I was going to say my guy I would pick is, I think Josh Gitties is going to be. He's unbelievable. Yeah. Yeah, I think he's going to be, I mean, his numbers are great. Every time I watch him, he's just, he does something where I'm like, this guy is getting better and better. He's really good. Shots getting better. Once he gets that down, okay, with all their picks that they got coming, I mean, the Thunder are going to dominate the NBA within the next, like, five to six years. All the picks they have coming in the young talent,

they've already, and you've got one of the best GMs in league who's drafting, best presidents in the league. These guys are drafting nothing but talent. Yeah, they're doing it. They're doing it right over there. And I'm glad no one's talking about Shea getting traded anymore like they were in the offseason and like, what are they going to get for Shea? When they're going to get rid of them? I think that's just, they're building around him. People, people thought that he was just a little bit too good for what their situation was.

People thought that rebuild time was going to be a lot longer. And, you know, you've got some of these younger players showing sparks and, okay, maybe we're not as far away as we thought. And Shay has even exceeded the level of play that he was already playing well last year, but now he's playing like superstar. Like I think now it's just like, why don't we just keep him? He's 24. Even I was one of those guys this summer.

I'm like, they need a trade. Shay, Giddy, but more picks, more young talent, just go the whole rebuild route. But like, dude's 24 years old. He's one of the best players in the NBA. Just keep him. You got Giddy. Chet comes back next year. You got the Williams.

It's been interesting with Bagley this year. I don't really, he was like, he was another player. I really like Bagley. I really like Bagley. You know, are you talking about Marvin Bagley? Yeah, I like, he's on the pistols. No, no, no, no, Basley. Sorry, Basley.

Basley. Yeah, you mentioned Basley before to me. I like his game. I think he's a matchup. I think he's a matchup problem for Biggs. He's like, he's too tall to be guarded by like a guard. He's like six, eight, six. This is when he decides to play big.

When he shoots a lot from the perimeter, he could be guarded. But when he like puts his head down and really he's like attacking, making plays trying to finish at the rim, he's really, I think he's, I mean, he develops a little bit better of an outside jump shot. I like Basley, man. Like between him, Williams, Giddy, uh, Chet, uh, Chey. My God. You know, I mean, they have a lot of talent.

there. So like I'm forgetting somebody, but anyways, yeah. I think it'll be, I think it'll be exciting to see OKC in the magic play in multiple finals. In the coming year, too much magic. You are such a, you are such a magic fan, man. I mean, the future is super bright for both teams. I can't tell if it's, if it's false hope or if this is like a legitimate confidence that you have in the Orlando Magic. There's a little bit of both.

I think they're everyone, everyone's a top five league. team for anybody. Who? Including you. Including you, the magic. Our top five league pass team? What do you look for in a league pass team? I look for individual play.

I could give a shit about a team. I got to be honest with you. So you're a Luca guy. You like to watch the Mavericks. I'd rather watch like I think Kyrie Irving is the most beautiful basketball player to watch in terms of skill. Kari Urban. Let me make sure I say that right.

He's the most enjoyable to watch. I got a little carried away with the beautiful thing. People are going to take that and run with it. But I think he just has like the sexiest game on the basketball court. Like his game is just, but did you see the lamp he hit last night over Joel when he went over the right, switch with the left? Like, bro, like the stuff he does is just, I like watching him more than him and Damien Lillard. I like Luca. It's just a lot.

It's a lot of Luca. You know, he has the ball like every possession. It's kind of like James, those last couple years in Houston. where I was with Houston. You know what I mean? That's like a whole different thing in basketball. You know what I mean? And Lucas is one of the best players in the league.

But yeah, I don't know. That's crazy. I was with Mike Miller yesterday. He was in town to see Palo, and he was mentioning to me how I asked him what the difference was when he was with the Grizzlies. He was six man of the year and what it was like going to the heat to play with LeBron.

And he said he was bringing up the ball for the Grizzlies, handling it all the time. And when he was with LeBron, he was just getting used to not touching the ball for 20 minutes and then catching it and being expected to make that three. And it kind of reminded me of things that you've told me about having to play with, you know, a guy as good as James Harden, for example, where you're kind of just, you haven't got the ball in a while and fans don't understand how hard that is where you haven't

seen it and then you catch it and it feels foreign to you and you're just, you're expected to make it. And if you miss it, it's like, oh, wow, that guy's in the game. I've been running for suicide for the past 25 minutes and I haven't shut up. go to a gym and run up and down the court, put 12 minutes on the clock and just run up and down. And each time you get to the other side of the court, start just doing a couple of defensive slides across the court and then proceed to run back down and do that for 15 minutes. And then get one catch and shoot three that's probably going to come at the end of a clock and try to find a six, eight local guy in the city or something like that. Just have a run out to you when you get that one shot and see if you make it consistently. The answer will be no.

And again, that's why we're pros. We're paid to do it and we do it. but it's not easy to do, man. I've said it a million times on this pod, and I'm going to say it a million times more, situation is everything. Situation is everything. And that is 99% of the determination of how successful players

is going to be is what's the situation they're placed in. There's guys who don't play on a team and people are like, I got sucks. You know, this is, and then it goes to a team and starts playing extremely well, and people will be like, man, he's improved so much. Like, no, he's just gotten to a better situation. to double down on that, being in a situation where you don't have a rhythm or the ball is not fighting.

For instance, you watch Dallas play, man. That's not an easy team. Like, you really got to be able to know how to shoot and you got to have a high IQ to play with a team like that. Like you had to be playing with James or really any elite score, but especially the guys who are on the ball a lot, John Morant, Luka, Trey Young, James Hardin, you know, the list goes on. guys who are very ball dominant, you have to be, you have to find ways to give yourself rhythm because you can't rely on the ball

giving that to you. Like most situations, like most teams, you get eight, nine, ten shots a game, you know, you make half of those, get double digit.

You know what I mean? Other teams, you've got to find ways to get rhythm and it's not easy to do. I'd have games with four points. Even this year, like we have a lot of guys who shoot the ball on our team,

a lot of scores. But there's games where I have two shots. There's games that have one shot. And I'll have people DMing me, bro, points you suck or you had six points like bro i had 20 shots i can give you 30 i you don't think i'm capable of scoring 30 40 points in an NBA game i've done it before i've had plenty of 30 games plenty of 20 games that you don't think i'm capable of that of course but situation is everything

that's not my role in this team it's not my role in any team you have to be an elite role player and find ways to give yourself rhythm and that's not easy to do like mike miller said he went from from being six men in the year having the ball in his hands to you go play to a superstar and like a championship caliber team and now you're not touching the ball for 20 minutes and you're getting four shots, you got to be expected to make half of those, 50% at a 30, 40% clip. Otherwise, they're not playing you. And that's really hard to do. But that's just, that's the way the NBA is, man. It's difficult. Yeah, Mike had me dying. He said he would get a rebound and just take a couple dribbles just to get a little touch on the ball before he gave it up to the point card, just to get a little feel on it.

That's crazy you said that because last night we're in New Orleans, right? I'm in the game, I haven't gotten the ball a little bit, you know, which is fine, whatever. My first shot comes, I get a pass by my ankles. I catch the ball by my ankle. I go straight up to shoot the three. And I miss it. And I went down and, you know, one of my team was like, sorry, man, you'll make the next one. I'm like, yeah. I mean, like, it's just, every time there's a foul, I'll go to the ref and I'll be like, yo, can I touch the ball? Can I have the ball? And I'll grab the ball. And I'll just rub it on my hands, bounce it. Just you have to find ways to give you a feel because it's not like an open. It's not like, for instance, the Warriors. Ball's flying all over the place.

you know what I mean like most teams if you're playing with like a superstar other than step who's like changed and he's a whole different type of star most most teams with any star it's ball even the Celtics man like they they move the ball but like the ball's always in tato or brown's hands those other guys have to find ways to be productive and it's not easy to do in the NBA man it's not like guys don't know how to play basketball so when you see our numbers and you see my numbers they're inflated just due to just the amount of touches or you know you're in the offense but like I could go to any, if I went to the worst team in the league and got the ball and shot it 20 times, I could put up 20 points per game. And I know I have that capability, but that's just not,

A, what I don't want to go in the worst team in the league. And B, that's not what people see me as in the league. And that's not my role. But to be an elite two-way player, an efficient three-point shooter, a guy who could still give you 10 to 11 points, have the capability to go for 20, defend. That is not easy to do on a nightly basis. And you have to find ways to give yourself rhythm. This goes back to my point that we talked about two pods ago about knowing how to play the game of basketball, that all helps with this. Playing winning basketball, understanding how to be a star in your role is paramount to success as an NBA player.

There's all these guys that come in who are talented and they find their way out the league because they want 15 to 20 touches. You're not going to get 15 to 20 touches. You're playing with a guy who makes $45 million. That's the guy that's going to be shooting the ball every time. You've got to find ways how can you be productive with five shots? How can you be productive with six shots? What can you bring in those moments?

What can you bring on both ends of court? And it took me years to find that, man. I came in from a high volume score from Duke to the league where it didn't work out. I had to reinvent myself. It took years to understand this. And where I really started to learn this was playing with James and Houston, was learning how to be a guy off the ball and know how to have success without being a guy who got the ball a lot.

You know what I mean? And that's just paramount thing for success for young players today. Yeah, it's about how you, like we talked about this before. there are a lot of players out there that can go give you 20. There's a lot of guys at the end of a roster that can give you 20 in a game, giving an opportunity. 100%. But if you're going to be on the floor with two top 20 guys in the world,

and they're going to be taking the shots, you have to figure out how to impact winning, whether it's your defense, your three-point shooting, both. But I will say these days, you can get paid doing that. And I think that's what kids need to learn, and more kids will work on those things because Duncan Robinson, and we brought them up before, you got $90 million because he can shoot threes. So he can spread the floor and make those superstars better. It makes it easier for those guys.

So there is a way to get paid doing that. And hopefully that can incentivize some guys coming into the league that you don't need to be the 20 points per game guy. And that's what my thing was too. I was like after I had gotten that mid-level contract, a lot of it was due to me scoring in the clippers. I had a lot of, you know, whatever, whatever. I was scoring the ball a lot.

And that was a situation where I was like, okay, this is how I can make my money in this league. And I go from that to like a Houston situation. And it totally like, I had to understand, okay, this isn't the clippers anymore where I'm getting the ball a little bit more like in a situation where the ball is popping more. Like now I'm playing in this style, which is really like transformed the NBA. That's what a lot of players teams do now. They have a ball dominant player superstar, maybe one or two of them.

And everybody else has to find a way to eat. I looked at guys like Marcus Smart. I don't want to say Drew Holiday because he's like a true point guard. And he's, that's a whole different level. But like guys like Marcus Smart, I'll just use him as an example. Whether he has like 20 points or 10 points or six points, the dude has an impact every night. He might have eight assists. He might have eight rebounds.

He might have four steals. He's going to go out there and guard. And that's what I was like, you know what? That's a niche that I know I can find because I knew at that time, which people are starting to see now, is that I'm an elite defender. and if you can go out there and be an elite on defense and hit a knockdown three and then you mix in the games where the ball does just come to you because sometimes the ball finds your hands more.

That's where you can have 20 point games mixed in with those six point games, those four point games. But even those six four point games, you have to be productive. Last night I had two points, but I was whoever I've gotten the best player every time down the floor. Me or Dana McDaniels. And that's how you find value in this league.

You know what I mean? I'm on a vet minimum non-guaranteed contract that was just guaranteed last week. I'm playing 25 minutes a game. How is that? Why is that? It's because you find a role and you try to star in your role. Pat Beverly said it best a couple years ago. Star in your role. It just might change your life. And that is one of the best quotes I think I've heard just by a role player because it's the truth. I love that. I completely agree. And seeing you go from a guy that thought you did need to score 20 points per game to be the player you wanted to be versus your maturation. And now you're just a whole different person, I feel like now.

Yeah, it took time, man. It took years and a lot of, you know, you got to have a slice of some humble pie here and there. But after a while, you realize, man, like, you know what, man, whether I have four points tonight, whether I get six shots, two shots, 20 shots, like, bro, I'm going to come in and like, I'm going to make a fucking impact. Like, I'm going to lock up somebody. And when I get the ball, I'm going to be aggressive, make plays, make the right play. If I have a good shot and someone has a great shot, I'm going to try to get the great shot. You know what I mean? You just try to go out there and just be great every night.

you know what I mean, be a good teammate, be a leader, set a good example. Like these are things that like you find like, man, there's value in this. Like not only can, does this like transfer to winning most importantly, but like, yeah, you can't get paid like doing these things at an elite level. And you see guys like Mark a Smart tap into that and a whole bunch of McHale Bridges, you know. And again, he scores a lot more now because, you know, with the absence of a lot of their stars. But that's the role that he kind of came into like two way player.

You'll have some big nights. You'll have some nights where you don't, but you got to have an impact every game. You know what I mean? So Derek White, I mean, the list goes on, man. I got a whole list of guys who are doing this and they get paid good money. So, yeah, cross your fingers. All right. I want to get to Rapid Fire before we run out of time.

This is going to be, it's a young, the Young Guard edition of Rapid Fire. We're off guard, so this is going to be the Young Guard edition. Young Guard of Off Guard. Okay. Yeah, here we go. The first one I'm going to give you, and we've named them a lot in this pod, this episode. Jordan Poole or Anthony Simons? That's a really good question.

That's why I asked it. And don't do that thing where you give them both compliments and dance around. I'm not. I'm going to give an answer. Yeah, yeah, okay. I'm going to go Anthony. Tyler Hero or Tyrese Maxie? Tyrese Maxie. Tyrese Halliburton or La Mello Ball?

Halliburton. All right. Last question. The bubble food or Winter Park High School cafeteria food? Which one was better? The bubble food. Give me an example of what you were eating in there. What's a normal dinner?

We weren't eating at a cafeteria. I wouldn't getting a sloppy Joe at 12 p.m. We are fine dining restaurants around the Disney community, and they own everything. Disney pretty much owns half of the United States. So you could pretty much get any fine dining restaurant sent to you if you really wanted. What a park I was eating spam.

You know what I mean? It's just not a comparison. Maybe not me. I don't know if I didn't. Spam. You were not eating spam. I would eat spam. I don't know what that is. You were not playing on ESPN as a high schooler and then having a spam sandwich. I don't think I've ever had spam. I don't even know what is spam? What is that? I'm actually not sure. We could Google. I just see it in the jar and who buys that shit.

Anyway, I guess it's just it's I don't know. Spam is low key. Who is disgusting? It's disgusting. I don't. Definitely some span lovers out there. I haven't even had it. I haven't even. I'm, I'm, I'm hating on. I think your homework before the next episode is to try some spam. That's can't have. I have such, I have the weakest, like, I have, I have a palette for food, but there are certain things that, like, I just can't, like anchobies, spam, mayonnaise. There's just things like I can't. You've never had mayonnaise on a sandwich? I can do mayonnaise mixed in something like spicy mayo and like a sushi roll, something like that.

I can do, but like plain white spread mayonnaise, like putting a knife in a jar and spreading it on a sandwich is just unbelievable to me. Unbelievable to me. There's no way I would do that. You have a game tomorrow. Rivalry Week continues. You're playing the Grizzlies. What are your thoughts on that game?

Like we said, they're kind of a hated team out there. Are they the most hated team in basketball, the Grizzlies? It's not even close, I would say. Is it because the dance stuff and like, you know, Jod does all the dancing and they talk a lot? I don't mind it. I like how close they are. I think it's really cool that they have like their own,

like whatever that is, you know what I mean? Like they have their own identity, their own energy that they bring that gets them up for each game. You know, Dylan, these guys, they do talk a lot, but they're competitive. They got there to play hard. Like, I fuck with it. Yeah, tomorrow will be a battle, man. You know, we're trying to, we're in the race.

And, you know, obviously they've lost a couple. So it's going to be exciting. I can't wait. And I just want to say before, they are a hated team, but you have to be good to be hated. And they are good. So if they were to some lotto team not playing well, they wouldn't be as talked about or hated. People wouldn't care. So I do want to say obviously they're super talented.

But yes, whether it's Dylan Brooks or the dancing or whatever they have going on, they are definitely the most hated team in the NBA, in my opinion. Yeah, I would agree with that. But I personally don't really have any problems with them. But the consensus of what I see on Twitter and Instagram, it seems like people do have an issue with. you know, the way they go about things or whatever. So I don't know. But it'll be a good game tomorrow.

I can't wait to get back out there. Also, you know, I got to say this. Rest and peace to Kobe and Gigi, all the lives that were lost. I know that was the anniversary, I think was today. Three year anniversary. Yeah, it's crazy how time goes by so quickly. But, yeah, I definitely wanted to get that out there before we get out of here. I know Kobe is, and we've talked about it before when we have the go debate,

you always tell me he's yours. He's your goat, 2006, 2007, that era Kobe was, is your favorite player of all time? Yeah, he's my greatest of all time. And that's just due to, that's who I grew up watching. It was either him or Braun. And I kind of always liked, I mean, I liked both of them. I love watching both of them.

But Kobe was always kind of like the guy. I kind of gravitated towards more for whatever reason. And, yeah, man, that was that day hit hard. I'm sure as it did it for everybody, have so many memories with him, just watching him play and him achieving his greatness and was very lucky and fortunate to be in a position to have some of my own with him personally.

Just small, brief conversations, nothing too serious, but just things that meant a lot more to me than I'm sure he even realized, but I'm sure that's how he was with everybody. He had that impact. Just a couple of words from him to anybody. He has that type of gravitation, you know what I mean? he had that and he still does i mean i still see i can't go a week without seeing something about cobi you

know what i mean and he he he passed away three years ago man like that just tells you like how great this guy was and how missed he is um and he was doing such special things with his daughters uh that would would never ever sit right i don't think so may he rest in peace may gg rest in peace and be all to people involved in that accident horrific accident may they rest in peace as well well said and they'll never be another there'll never be another Kobe so nope nope nope You can emulate, but you can't duplicate, brother. Well, Austin, I don't want to keep you too long. Good luck tomorrow against the Grizzlies.

It was awesome chatting with you. And looking forward to next week. Yeah, man, got a big game tomorrow. Excited. Love always chat with you and talk a hoops, man. So I can't wait to look forward to our next episode next week, bro. Yes, sir. Oh, no.

No, no, no.