The Ringer NBA Show - Team US-Meh Survives. Plus: A Big 3 Team for Every NBA Eastern Conference Team | The Mismatch

Episode Date: September 3, 2019

Team USA narrowly defeats Turkey in an unexpectedly competitive OT thriller, as FIBA World Cup action intensifies (0:48). Plus: With the 2019 Big 3 season coming to a close, the guys select a hypothetical Big 3 team for each Eastern Conference team (34:09). Hosts: Chris Vernon, Kevin O’Connor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Ringer podcast network. I'm Liz Kelly. With the NFL season a week away and the ringers fantasy football coverage gearing up, we have released our first ever fantasy football hall of fame. We assembled a panel of voters including Bill Simmons, Cousin Sal, Robert Mays, Mallory Rubin, and more to induct the 25 best fantasy football players of all time. You can find the rankings by going directly to fantasy football.com. And for more fantasy football coverage, check out the Dannasy Football Podcast on Apple, Spotify, or Ringer.com. And for more fantasy football coverage, check out the Danesie Football Podcast on Apple, or Ringer. wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to The Ringer NBA show. I'm Chris Vernon. And joining me as he does every Tuesday from the ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, a.k.a. Kevin O. Obama, aka. Kevin O. Conflict, A.k.a. Kevin O. Kavanaugh, what's going on this morning? How are you doing? Well, it's been a big morning because typically on a Tuesday morning when we are recording this, there has not been basketball that is going on. But this morning,

Team USA narrowly escapes Turkey. Thank God Turkey can't make free throws, or else this would have been a massive story around the world with Team USA possibly losing a game in official World Cup play. This would be beyond an exhibition or whatever. Turkey, look, they killed the United States in points in the paint. They killed them on two pointers. This was like your typical international basketball game.

And Team USA has shot now 13 of 37, 35% inside the arc. They won on three-pointers. They won on free throws, but they got bashed in points in the paint. And you see it is clearly a different style of basketball that these teams play. and I think as an NBA fan when you watch the World Cup, you have to adjust to some of the rules. You know, Brazil wins at the very end against Greece

with Bruno Caboclo, as the ball is tipping around the rim just slaps it out of bounds. Do you like that rule? I do like that rule. Yeah, I do too. I do like that rule. I think it's fun.

And then on the other side, the big one is the unsportsman-like foul that they call, because we are so accustomed to, the NBA that you can just run up and grab somebody. And they call the foul, right? Like you're intentionally fouling them, but you're not even making a play on the ball. Sometimes you don't even have to file the guy with the ball.

Or you can foul before the inbound even comes in. Whereas the guy from Turkey got rid of the ball quickly and Joe Harris reached up behind them and fouled them just like you see a normal play in the NBA. Well, instead, that's a tech. and it could have, I mean, there's so many plays that could have blown the game. You have Jetty Osmond blowing past Miles Turner on an and one for Turkey to take the lead. You have Donovan Mitchell grabbing the rim with the game on the line after Miles Turner's tip looks like it's about to go in. You have Miles Turner getting the ball on the inbounds and then getting it stripped away from him with the game on the line.

and then of course you have Turkey missing all their free throws. And the unfortunate story at the end of this, which may end up putting a cloud on it, is that as Jason Tatum takes off with the rebound, flies down the court, makes a great play on an odd man break, passes it to Middleton. Middleton makes,

or I mean, gets fouled on the layup, but then we see there's just a visual of Tatum being carried off the court. And as of recording, we really don't have an update yet, right? It appears he rolled his ankle. Okay. And I believe that's what it was reported as.

But of course, ruled ankles can have varying severity. Yeah, it was reported. He sprained his left ankle. So for Tatum, hopefully that's a minor sprained ankle and not a high ankle sprain, which would probably knock him out for the rest of the World Cup over the next couple weeks and possibly even take it into training camp because we are right around the corner from that, somehow already being September. Tatum played a good game down the stretch from what I saw.

I was working out in the morning and then I was getting ready for this pod and then I got a text from you two like, yo, World Cup going to OT and I was planning on watching it a little bit later maybe. But yeah, so I did not see most of the game, unfortunately.

But what I did see down the stretch, Tatum did make some plays before the injury on that nice pass to Middleton, drawing the file to give them the go-ahead buckets from the free throw line. In fairness to you, this wasn't supposed to be a good game.

Yeah. I mean, the United States was favored by a million in this game. And the only reason I flipped on at the start of the day, I woke up and was working on stuff, and I start seeing these tweets about Brazil and Greece. And I'm like, wait, what? Because, I mean, Greece was pretty heavy favorite. I think there are 13-point favorite over Brazil.

So, I mean, I looked last night just to see, like, okay, who's supposed to be winning in these games? And are there any of these games that are supposed to be. like great matchups. And though it was unexpected, I flipped on Greece versus Brazil. And for God's sakes, I mean, I'm watching the last six minutes of that game. It was the weirdest thing because the international games played so much different than the NBA game. I get that. But if you were watching that game, like I've always said, if you told somebody that had never watched basketball in their life,

you just took them to a game and you said, watch this game. and then at the end of the game you said who's the best player they'd say lebron right like they you could watch the game and you could say that's the best player on the field like i back in the day i could watch soccer and i was like yeah that messy guy's the best guy on the field or rinaldo or whoever it may be in this it's such team basketball and there's it's so much different than the NBA where you don't see somebody taking like 30 shot attempts that you can watch the last six minutes that game and you wouldn't even know that you wouldn't even know that Janus was the best player, you know, one of the best players in the world and the MVP of the NBA.

And that's probably a massive demerit to the Greek coach. But it is weird to watch. It really is because we are just so used to clear outs or, hey, just throw the ball to the best guy and he'll go get you a bucket. And they're really just equal opportunity, pass it around, get the best shot. whether the guy is Janice Ante Coupo or somebody that you've never heard of in your life. And there we are watching that game. Brazil has Leandro Barbosa and Anderson Verraja. It was turned back the clock time.

And they're like running pick and rolls together. And they look good. And Barbosa's obviously been a fantastic international player for a long time. And then also you have Turkey playing zone defense in that game as well. And of course over the last two seasons, We've seen teams begin to incorporate zone a little bit more, especially a team like the Brooklyn Nets. They've used it a bunch in recent years.

And that's something I wonder moving forward with today's style of play, with so many teams emphasizing and seeking out three-pointers and then attacking the rim to either get to the line or attempt to layup or to kick it out for another three-pointer. I do wonder if we see another uptick and zone defense this year in the NBA, just like we saw the Turkey defense, the issues that caused for Team U.S. say because I do think what Brooklyn in Miami, those were the two teams

that used to own more than anybody else, I do think what they did last season could at least be a sign that maybe other teams are going to start to begin to incorporate it over the full duration of the season. It's interesting because you've really got to have that big that's back in the middle, he's really got to be able to move

because, like, you know, in college, you can just stand there. You just stand in front of the frigging basket. You just find the tallest guy you can recruit and then you just stand him in front of the Like Tyco Fall. Maybe that's why Boston signed him. Oh, well, what's his name?

What's his name did it for 100 years? Calhoun at Yukon. They would lead the league of blocks all the time. And not because they were his own team, but because he would just find the holiest guy he could and he just put him in front of the basket. And it made it so hard to score in college. But you saw that today with Team USA too.

You know, I talked about their points in the paint. I mean, they got ravaged. And a lot of these teams, they're now doing these high pick and roll so they can get Miles Turner or one of the bigs out there on. In crunch time, they switched Miles Turner on to Sedi Asman, and Jetty Osman just took him straight to the basket, straight to the rack. And so, like, these teams, they play really well together, but, dude, Greece losing to Brazil and Janus, like, not even being a big part of anything that happened down the stretch was just. bananas. Bananas. This game, I did not see a single second of, aside from the free thrower at the end that

was tipped away. But looking at the box score, as somebody who has not seen the game yet, it is unfathomable that you look at Janice Ante Dacumpo in 28 minutes. Only shot seven shots. It's insane. That's it. And only one assists. When you watch it back, it's just like he has just treated like one of the other guys

on the team. It's weird. you know, like, and that's the way it is with a lot of these good players that are in this thing. They just treat them like, eh, they're just part of it, you know? And I just, I don't get it. He's the MVP of the NBA, Kevin. Are you sure it wasn't Anderson Varagau? Are you positive?

I'm sure. Hey, maybe he got locked down by Brazilian Janus. Bruno Cabo Club. He is the, you know, he is. the one kind of guy that's got that same freaky body, he is not nearly the player that goes without saying. But he does have this insane length. If you put Bruno in Milwaukee's system.

He's going to be in Milwaukee system. They hired Taylor Jenkins in Memphis. Yeah, true. Hey. Watch out. Oh, boy. Soon enough, it'll be like, what's the number one prospect on Memphis cruise? least.

John Morant? No, no, it's Bruno Koboclo. That's soon enough. Oh, well, here's the thing. You know, with the very end of the game, down by one. You would take John Morant over Jaron Jackson for number one prospect on the team? I think it's, I think it's neck and neck. Okay, that's fair.

I would take Jaron Jackson because the defensive edge. But the offensive potency, the shot creation. This is a total aside, but yeah. Bruno Caboclo blocked Janus at the rim on an alley-up with the game on the line. line and then on the game tying free throw after, I mean, you'll have to watch a replay of this. I'm pulling up the block right now as we speak. Greece is, uh, Greece is down by three, okay? That's a great point.

With six seconds left and a guy takes a three-pointer from 75 feet away and gets fouled. Wow. That's how they were going to the line to tie it. and then he made the first two, missed the third one, and Bruno CoBoclo swatted the ball out of bounds, off the rim. And that's how they won the game.

It was just insanity. But anyway, a lot of these teams were pretty fun to watch. I mean, you've already had teams moving on. Argentina had already moved on, Italy, Russia, Poland, Serbia. I did watch a little Serbia over the weekend.

Yokic just unbelievable. And it's always fun to watch. Some of the passes that he made. I mean, it's like we've been through before. We've seen some of these spectacular passes, but it doesn't get old. Like, he had that touch pass from the right baseline where the ball was thrown a little high to him. And he just tapped it to his teammate underneath the rim for a layup. Ridiculous.

You know, and this is, this is, it was always the same way with Marcus Hall. And it's obviously true with, uh, with Yokic and any of the great passing big guys. This stuff is made for them because they all know each other so well. They've been playing with a lot of them have been playing with each other for a decade now. Yokich is on another level, though. He, I mean, he's straight up one of the best passers that I've ever seen. Oh, for sure. I mean, like, he's on the level of, like, we're talking, like, best point guards.

When you think about Magic Johnson, John Stockton, like, these guys that were unbelievable passers, Yokich is that, is that in a seven foot, 275-pound body. It's unbelievable the things that he does on the floor. So good. And so now for Team USA, let me just say this, because I know there's going to be like a, you know, geez, Team USA only beat Turkey by one. And they may very well lose in this thing. But here's me saying, I like this.

I like that they don't have a team. They're still the favorite. And it would have been a big upset, obviously a huge upset for Turkey to beat them. And so they're going to be favored in every game that they play there. But I like that it's competitive. I like that much more than I know we can send all of our best guys and go beat everybody badly, you know, and then maybe get one or two close games. But I like the fact that, I mean, I don't, I don't like the fact that they're eking it

out against Turkey and should have lost, but I do like that it's competition. It's kind of an even match going on playing against these teams. They're not, they're not just burying everybody. What fun is that to watch them beat somebody 140 to 60? Well, this is much funner. I enjoy this. And also, I think for Team USA, if you look at their roster on paper, They still have more talent overall.

It's just, like you said earlier, so many of these teams have been playing together for years. This is this team that's come together almost pickup style, and it's not even that great of a constructed team. They don't have enough versatility in the front court. They're so small in the back court, just such a guard-heavy roster, Team USA, where I didn't see this point of the game, but I did see Charks put this in, I think, Ring or Slack, where Harrison Barnes played the five at one point. And it did not go well. Like they just don't have that type of guy where they can do that. They have their traditional bigs in Plumley and Turner and Lopez on the defensive end of the floor, but not that guy who's super switchable, which they could really need in a competition like this. Well, you know, when we're sending this level of guys that are, you know, most of them, I guess Kamba's been an all-star.

There ain't many. Is Kamba the only one that's made an all-star team? Forgive me. I'm doing this off the top of my head right now. Brooke Lopez might have made one. I think Brooke Lopez made an all-star team. Yeah, back in 2012-13 season. Brooke Lopez, dude, it's, I mean, I know a lot of people talk about, like, how he changed

this game, but I don't know if he gets enough credit for it, really. It's the fact that he was this low post bruiser who was a limited defender in Brooklyn, and then he became an injury-prone player. And then since then, he's not really been injured, and he's drastically changed his style as a player in order to survive and thrive. To me, he's really the model for young big men who aren't superstars, who can get by simply on their talent. He's the model for any young player

that wants to sustain a long NBA career, have a lot of success, make a lot of money. Brooke is a guy for players to look at and be like, okay, how can I replicate what he did over his career in order to sustain mine? It's pretty remarkable what he's done. Yeah, so when we talk about the best players in the NBA,

and we talk about the West Brooks and the Hardens and the LeBrons and Anthony Davis, all these guys, right? Bruno Cabocles. No, no, no. I'm saying they, are way better, way better than these players. Okay? This is like the D team.

No, I'm saying than they're international peers. But Joe Harris and Harrison Barnes and, you know, Derek White and these guys, they ain't that much better than the players that are on these other teams. You know what I mean? The gap level of player is not great. And in some cases, the opposite team has the better player at the position, believe it or not. And so that's the, I mean, that's the big difference. So when you're talking about who, who really sets you apart?

And truth be told, bigs, there's no question. There's no question because the USA doesn't have Carl Towns and they don't have Anthony Davis and they don't have even like, you know, Andre Drummond or somebody like that, right? Miles Turner and Brooke Lopez, like there's a lot of these teams that have better Biggs. than that, you know, true bigs. And there's really no, I guess there's really no true fours on the team. You know, like there's no, there's no power forwards on the whole team. You got Lopez and Turner play center and everybody else is a, is a shooting guard, a small forward, or a point guard.

And I think that's probably why in some ways you are seeing them get you know, mangled in the paint. We'll see what's next for them as they move on, but they were able to get a win. They should be Japan who they face on Thursday. Yeah. Though I will, again,

be excited to see how Ruby Yatchamura does from the Washington Wizards. Yep. Well, you had Ersan Eliasova, Jetty Osmond, Korkmas, and then Scotty Wilbican, who we were all aware of in college. Those guys were all on this Turkish team. So, I mean, they had players on that team.

I'm interested to see what happens with this team USA going forward. We do have a new Tatum update from Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe, who is the number one Jetty Osmond fan on the planet. Gary Washburn tweeted about 20 minutes after his ankle injury, Jason Tatum texted Brad Stevens, who was in Boston,

and told him the injury doesn't appear to be serious, or didn't appear to be serious, rather, so past tense. So yeah, we'll see. The official report is that he'll be re-evaluated tomorrow. Tatum apparently texted Brad Stevens and said it didn't appear to be serious. So that's at least a good sign for the Celtics and for anybody who likes

watching young 19 year old basketball players. Well, I know that our leader Bill Simmons is big on the... Yeah, for Bill Simmons, yes. Yeah, yeah. Number one, he's big on Jason Tatum. Number two, he's big on the impact

that this can have on you going forward. And so if we are going to say there is a massive silver lining to them playing in these highly competitive games, even though they are not expected to be highly competitive, is that it's a great situation

for all of these young players to be in. They're in, you know that whole arena didn't want them to win. You know that. The arena, the energy, like I said, I always saw the end. Yeah, the energy was great. Well, you know, listen, it's a huge upset

anytime the United States loses, and so they don't want, they don't want the United States to win that thing. And it's great for all of those young guys to be in this incredibly pressurized environment, you know, with all the fans that are there. And those games are intense. That's not a fun ride. Well, and we saw what the pressure did at the end of that game with the miss free throws.

I saw a couple of tweets being like, got to practice your free throws. And it's like, they practice their free throws. It's just the pressure was so significant in that moment. It's one thing to make a free throw in an open gym. It's another thing to make a free throw. when your legs are super tired and the pressure of an entire country is on your shoulders.

Yeah, forget. Forget Osmond. The guy before him that got to shoot the text and forgive me. Dugas, I may be butchering his name. Dugas, Belbe. Yeah, when you see it back, for anybody that didn't see this.

Oh, that was awful. I mean, he just absolutely just, he short-armed it and, like, walked away from the line as soon as he shot it. Like, I mean, that was just, those were pissed. I felt so bad. It was like a guy that just, it was like if you shot it and you walked away from

it like you didn't shoot it. You know what I mean? Like you didn't want anybody to know that you just shot that ball. He only played 13 minutes in that game too. Well, I mean, it's not his. Listen, he was trying to get rid of the ball when Joe Harris grabbed him. He didn't want to be part of that. He didn't want to go to the line.

And then we saw why. Poor guy just walks up. with a dogus belbay in his career overseas is a career 53.1% free throw shooter, but only on 32 attempts, hasn't gotten a lot of minutes playing in the Euro League. And yeah, so he hasn't played much in the EuroLeague over the past six, seven years. Now we know why he's trying to get rid of the ball. Poor guy. All right, quick NBA notes before we get into the exercise that we are going to perform today,

which is the big three. shout out to ISO Joe Johnson finished this past weekend and what we are going to do on the next couple of episodes is put up big three teams for both the Easter Conference and the Western Conference we're going to do the East today but before we get to that we do need to mention

last week we talked about Karris Levert getting a contract extension this week we talk about Eric Gordon has gotten a contract extension since we last spoke there are many that say while Daryl Morey gets a lot of

he gets a lot of love for... I love the way you pronounce his last name. Yeah, I've always done it. I'm going to do it forever. I know. Now I do it so it makes people mad. Do people tweet at you saying, oh, you mispronounce his last name?

Every time I say it. Every time I say it. So that's why it's going to be that forever. Does Daryl know? Does Daryl know you say it that way? Sure. You've interviewed him before, right? I think you've had him on the show, maybe.

A ton. He's been on the, yeah, he's been on the NBA show. on local shows. I mean, I've known there for a long, long time. Now, I met him by him coming to Memphis at Rockets games and whatnot. And, well, and him and Chris Wallace were big buddies because they were in Boston together. So that was kind of the, how I met him. But anyway, Darrell is well known for bringing, you know, he gets so much credit on the analytic side of things in the NBA, but there are many that will tell you that his contract ingenuity is the big change, you know, that he has done contracts differently and structured contracts differently and gotten creative with them

so much more than many of his peers. And I had to laugh because this was another one that that was true. Did you see this where they talked to, you know, it gets all, it always gets reported that somebody signs of whatever year extension for blank millions of dollars, right? but he's got a fourth year. So he's got three years guaranteed at 54.5 million, okay? The non-guaranteed season would start him at 20.9 million, okay? He gets the fourth year if he makes an all-star team or the Rockets win a championship.

That was reported by Adrian Worgianowski. I love that. I mean, that is one that you don't see very often, right? You hear about contract incentives, but if he makes it all-star team or they win a title, he gets whatever. So, I mean, it's going to matter more to him than anybody else. He gets $21 million guaranteed if he does it. So there was another creative contract. Beyond that, Gordon is one of those who has totally and completely changed his career.

And he did it. What? I guess if I'm counting here, geez, I mean, it was far into his game. He did not play. He played 78 games his rookie year with the Clippers,

okay? He did not play more than 64 games until he went to Houston. Until he went to Houston, he never played more than 64 games in his entire career. Can you believe that? And now, right?

It's a very, very strange road to getting a massive deal to do it this far down the line, but he just couldn't stay healthy. And he's another one that you can credit those German knees. He went and got that done over in Germany, and it changed everything for him. I mean, he had been good grief. I guess when he got that deal with Houston, the year before for the Pelicans, he had played 44 games or 45 games. it's pretty crazy to see how much he has changed because you have about five years in the middle of his career where he didn't play games and he just didn't play games.

He didn't play games. So what do we make of Eric Gordon now at age 30 getting that contract? Well, for one, I think it's incredibly smart for Houston to lock him up now. When you consider how weak next year's free agency class is, he's somebody who, despite the fact that he's next year, he'll be 31 as a free agent. He's still somebody that could have gotten paid

probably a bit more than this, you know, and an average annual value of about 18 million over the duration of this contract. For Houston, you get him at a good number, a guy who's, you know, your third most important score behind Westbrook and Hardin, somebody who is a floor spacer

when he shares the floor of those stars and somebody who can handle the ball and run some pick and roll when he is one of the main guys out there. So for Houston, it makes sense to lock him up at that number, additionally, you don't know how the landscape changes at one point. And at this number, he is a more tradable piece.

The fact he is a good team on a good team friendly deal makes him a more tradable player, which gives Houston some flexibility moving forward if they want to make some type of all-in deal at some point, if they do choose to packaging players together, it gives them that choice and that flexibility. And for Gordon, of course, it makes some sense here because you're in a great situation with Houston and you're still getting paid a heck of a lot of money. And I'm not sure made sense for Gordon to risk

waiting until free agency possibly to get more in a place that he doesn't necessarily want to play or have a chance to compete. So for both sides it makes a ton of sense. Do you think he's a guy that will still be worth that at 33 and 34? So many times people

lament giving contracts to you know, four year deals to 30 year old guys. Didn't we just see that with how old Horford? Right? Wasn't that the big thing that everybody was complaining about

with Horford? Well, what's he going to be? Forford's 33. He turned 33 in December. Okay. So he is significantly older. Gordon doesn't turn 31 until December on Christmas Day, actually.

Do you think 33 and 34 year old Gordon will be worth it? I don't know. I mean, maybe not, but he could. It's a risk. I don't know. I don't know, man. Like, Cap goes up to around

$118, $120 million. At that point, you're paying for now, like the window is right now. I'm not sure if you're as worried about year three or year four for use. And not to mention, for the next three years, I think it's safe to say, this is your window, right? So if you enter the 2022-23 season at that point and Eric Gordon could be an expiring deal at that point if you hadn't won a championship or he hadn't won an all-star game, if he hadn't be in an all-star game. And if he did, you'd be happy to have that fourth year at only $20.9 million. I think the deal makes a ton of sense for both sides. And I don't even view it as a

much of a risk at all unless the injuries return, but they have not been there for years. So I'm sure Houston, with their medical team, what level of risk would actually be there with injuries? It's kind of wild because he did not have a great season. He shot 41% from the field and 36% from three last year. It wasn't some kind of great season that Eric Gordon had with a bad P.E.R, if you want to pay attention to that at all. You know, but we're two years removed from him being six man of the year. And here's the big thing. He is a tradable contract, right? He is a good player that you can throw into a deal if you want. I mean, his name came up a couple different times when they were talking about moving for stars. He is the kind of player that you could probably package a big contract that you could package in a deal. Because you know, everybody is always available at Houston, right? So Darrell is going to keep on trying to.

to improve his team any way he can. And I would be surprised if Eric Gordon is there through this contract. Interesting. Interesting. So you also view him as a tradable piece then? 100%. Because he's not essential. He's not essential to them.

Sure. Right? He's not essential. Especially because the overlap with size and the back court with Westbrook Hard and Gordon. It's really, what do you do there? Well, it's ideal to have a bigger guy who's another primary ball handler. If you were able to at some point turn Gordon into a 6 foot 8, 6 foot 9 guy who can handle the ball and defend, which is probably asking a lot. But if you're able to do that at some point, that's the ideal roster construct with the Westbrook Hardin backcourt as it was with Paul and Hardin.

They just weren't able to find that guy. They tried it with Carmelo Anthony. It didn't work out. They tried going for Jimmy Butler, did not work out. So maybe that's what I mean when I say like Gordon could be that piece at some point. that you try to flip for that guy, whoever it might be in the future, who becomes available.

I look at it as a contract for a non-starter on my team. Now, it's great to have him, especially because you can withstand injury, because he's certainly good enough to start for you, but in the end, is he on the court when it matters most? And is he,

I mean, that's a lot of money to pay for somebody that's not on the, you know, not ideally on the floor. I suppose you can play the three guards together all you want. But you look at the best teams in the West. And as we've said, you're dealing with Kauai and Paul George.

And you're dealing with LeBron and Anthony Davis. You know, they had some size on those teams now. So I think you're right. I think you do try to find whoever that wing or big is that's available out there. The tough part for Houston, though, is, you know, if we're talking trades here and what type of shifts they can make on their roster in the future, they dealt virtually all their picks in the Westbrook Hill. For the next 20 years, they got no pick.

I mean, it's the type of thing here where if you're talking about a deal, it's a Gordon plus Capella or Gordon plus Tucker type of package. And, you know, like Isaiah Hartenstein. I mean, they don't have a lot of youth or picks that they would be able to add to a deal. But the fact is they have the player, they have the asset. He's ideally a keeper, and you hope to win a championship this year, and that fourth year kicks in. But, yeah, Houston, Houston to me, man, like, they're one of the more interesting teams in the league. I'm just excited to see that Westbrookhard and back court in the dynamic between those two.

It's going to be much different than Paul. I think everybody is. I think everybody is because it doesn't, like, as we said when it first happened, I don't feel like it's just going to be okay. it's either going to be insanely devastating and they're going to be awesome or it's going to be a bad fit. But I don't just think they're going to be all right, like a 500 team, you know, or like, you know, just okay. Like if it works, my God, I mean, those two together, they can figure it out and make it work. That is, that is hard to deal with to say the least. We're going to take a quick break when we come back, as we said, the big three ended

over the weekend. We're going to run through the Eastern Conference and pick big three teams for each of them on the other side. Today's episode of The Misfatch is brought to you by Floor and Decor. Don't miss out. Floor and decor is the only one-stop flooring shop that keeps general contractors, flooring specialists, and renovation experts ahead of the game. Thanks to their fully stocked warehouse of hard surface flooring, no job is too big. Job lot quantities of tile wood and stone are in stock and available for convenient work site delivery. And their dedicated pro services system is here to help make it easy for you to run your

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whose team and Lisa Leslie, who coached them to victory. Al Jeff was on there. The big three ended. Iso Joe very well is, I'd imagine is going to end up in the NBA. That's great. Yes, yes. He can score. Three teams, right? Bucks, nets, business, right? Six or two, maybe.

He can score a lot more than a lot of guys that have NBA jobs. I promise you that. We said we were going to try to come up with a big three team for each of the teams in the NBA. Today we are going to start with the Easter Conference. Let's burn through them. All right. I'm just going to go in alphabetical order. Atlanta.

All right. Trey Young and John Collins are on the team. So we just got to decide on the third guy. Do we want? Huh? Herder. Give me a shooter. Over Cam Reddish, over DeAndre Hunter, over Jabari Parker.

Those would probably be the other- Evan Turner. Stop. What do you mean? You just listen to Jabari Parker. I know, I know. That's fair. Yeah, that's fair.

All right. I got a guy. I get a guy for you. Okay. Chandler Parsons. Stop. Hey, Jabari Parker. Jabari Parker's big enough now.

He could guard Biggs for me. I think it's got to be herder there when you. factor in the shooting ability, the playmaking. Give me Kevin Herder on that big three. Young Herder Collins. I think I'll take DeAndre Hunter. I'll get a little defense in there. Boston.

Kimball Walker, Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown. But we've got, I mean, if we're doing a big three, we probably need a big guy. So the other ones we've got, we got Hayward, smart, Grant Williams, Enis Cantor. I mean. Cantor will grab every rebound wouldn't you think? Yeah. I do need somebody who's going to grab the rebounds.

I guess Marcus Smart will grab every rebound. Marcus Smart would actually be great for the big three, right? I mean, I think it also depends on the competition here. Like how many bigs are you going to have to battle? I mean, do you really want Marcus, if we're thinking about the Western Conference, you really want Marcus Smart battling Nicola Yokich? No, you don't. We're just doing Easter.

I know. So how do we put this team together? I think honestly, man, and this is probably a risk, but I may take Grant Williams in this case, unless Ennis Canter is showing off a really reliable three-point shot. But Grant Williams, with his projectable versatility, with his bulk, and his passing. And we can't let him just throw us in the pick and roll the entire game. Yeah. Which they would do with Cantor. Exactly.

Yeah. Can't play Canter. All right. So who are we kicking off? Jalen or Tatum? Oh, Jalen, for sure. Tatum's got to be on the team. Okay.

Kemba Tatum, Grant Williams. And for what it's worth, there was another update on Tatum that he walked out of the arena with his sneakers on and he had no limp and he was feeling fine.

So what looked like a scary ankle sprain and getting helped off the court could be nothing, hopefully. Perfect. Brooklyn. This is a tough one. We got Kyrie,

Karris Levert, Spencer Dinwiddie. And you're saying, Joe Harris. We're not allowed to use Katie. No, no, so we're not allowed to use players who are,

So we can't use John Wall or in Washington either. Cannot use John Wall and Washington. Can't use Oladipo in Indiana. Okay. So no KD. They're not available. They're not available, Kevin. We can't play.

So this is like tomorrow, Big Three NBA style. Yes, we're putting in the Big Three tomorrow. Maybe that should be the mid-season tournament. I would be amazing. Three on three tournament? So we got Kyrie. He's making the team because he'll be so mad if he doesn't. So we're putting him on there.

Jared Allen, I think,'s got to be on there, right? We're putting Jared Allen. Are we putting Jared Allen over DeAndre? Yeah, based off past performance, yes. Okay. So now, who's our third guy? And I think this is hard. Tarreen Prince, Joe Harris, Spencer Didwitty, Karras Levert.

Geez. I mean, if I'm building this team, I'm thinking I want Kyrie Issewing every single possession or picking all of that. So I want the shooter. I want Harris. I like Torin Prince. And me too. He's a dog.

He's been a big. of an underrated addition this summer. I mean, he's not a great player by any means, but I do think with the construct of that Brooklyn roster, if Katie at some point in March, April, is able to come back and you think about the type of lineups Brooklyn can play, Torraine Prince could play a big, big role in that

as a four or a three, especially if you're able at some point, like an NBA finals run, we're going off the deep end of it. Katie at the five with Prince at the four. That gets pretty exciting. If you're thinking about, what Brooklyn can do at that point in the season.

Tarring Prince could be a big part of that. Here's the impossible one. Charlotte. Okay. So we got Miles Bridges. He's on the team. Rozier's got to be on it. And I say, and PJ Washington.

Dude, I had PJ on my list. Okay. I can't believe we both had PJ Washington. You know what? Kid Gilchrist at least battle and Beambo could grab rebounds for me. Marvin Williams should be in the big three right now. I think he should be in the actual. He's been there starting power forward for the last 16 years.

All right. Look, I think that was easy. Rozier, Bridges, PJ? I'm not sure about Bridges, but I would put them on there. How dare you? I'm not positive, but I would put them on there. I might think about like a Cody Martin. All right.

Chicago. I'm not kidding, but okay. You should be kidding. So I'm going to let it go. I was hoping that was a joke. It wasn't a joke. I like Cody Martin. You would.

Chicago, Levine, Markin and Wendell Carter? I think for Big Three purposes, you got to go with another small here. Thad? How about Sataransky? Sataransky. Markin and Carter?

No, I mean, I'm not sure about the double bigs here with Mark and Carter. Oh. How about Otto Porter in here? I mean, we... Oh, Otto. Boy, this is tough, actually. If you're building a Chicago Bulls Big Three team, And we haven't even mentioned the word

The name Kobe White or Thaddeus Young. I know. I like that. Dude, Chicago, after years and years of at one point I said on a show, The Bulls are ass. Oh, no. They're not anymore.

They have so much young talent and they have a appealing young roster. Levine, Otto. And marketing. That's the three. That's them. Cleveland.

Colin Sexton, Kevin Love, and now we got to make a choice. Are we going Jetty Osmond? Are we feeling him after the turkey performance? Are you sure we're going Sexton over Garland? Yes, for right now. I would go Garland. We haven't seen Garland. Can we watch him play again somebody?

Can we watch him play against somebody that's not... I also took Grant Williams and we took PJ Washington. You've always been down on Colin. I like shooters. How about Dylan Wendler? I think Dylan Windler. I don't say stop. You want them over Jetty?

This is a very serious exercise, Chris. How about Larry Nance Jr? I researched this all night. No, you didn't. All right, let's see. All right. You don't want Dylan Wendler. Good grief.

No, why would I not want Dylan Wendler? It's sexton love and Jetty Osmond. I would take Wendler over Osmond for big three purposes. Did you go back and watch a turkey game? You can't, you can't do that to Jetty Osmond. Detroit. I love Jetty. I actually think this Detroit team, they should actually hope for a big three because they'd be okay.

Blake, Drummond, and then I guess either Reggie, Kinnard, or D. Rose. We've got to pick one of those. Give me Kinnard. Knaard? Yeah. Have Blake run the point. Knaud's basing the floor. That'd be a fun big three team.

I love that. Indiana. I've got Brogden, Warren Turner. I think with this one, I might go with double bigs, Turner Sabonis, Brogden. I'd worry about Sabonis trying to run around and guard the Jason Tatum's of the world. I know, I know. I'm in trouble on that.

But also, like, on the flip side of that, you have Sabonis posting up the Tatams of the world. That's fair. And that could be a problematic issue for the opponent. Whereas Warren, his defense is lackluster anyway. I like T.J. Warren. He escaped from Alcatraz, finally. Warren was a guy at NC State

all he really had with his mid-range floater and he's managed to extend his range at least last season on a strong sample of three-point attempts and he looked pretty good. It has always been a good free-throw shooter, always a terrific mid-range pull-up shooter at floaters and layups, but maybe now if his three-point shot is for real, he could be a really, really reliable replacement for Bogdanovich,

who was sort of an underrated loss for them. But with Brogden and Warren, that roster has sort of been a bit underrated to me. I don't think Indian will be a title contender, but they're a tier. They need all the depot back, though. Of course. Callis and retired and Tyreeks obviously gone. Bogdanovich is in Utah now, but they need Alla Depot back. That's for sure.

Miami. Jimmy Bucket. Justice Winslow. I still like Winslow. And Bam. And Bam, right? That's the three. It's either Bam, Myers-Lennard, or James Johnson.

Johnson. James Johnson's intriguing from big teams. James Johnson's tough. I feel like he would go to war with the big guys, wouldn't he? He's got like a black belt. Yeah, right. And we left our draggish. Yeah. I think Bolly would be handling the ball so much.

Let's just go. Let's just be the toughest team in America. Jimmy Buck, it's James Johnson and Winslow. I like that. All right. Milwaukee, Janice Middleton. What are we doing? Brooke Bledso or Hill?

I'm going Brooke here. Or my. guy de vincenzo going brooke brooke lopez like same thing with the size sort of like with indiana that'd be tough to defend yonis and brook who's handling the ball though middleton middleton and yannis yeah that's tough though i might take a hill or a bledzo just because i need somebody that's a better ball handler than yannis run and ever or middleton run on everything uh new york julius randall bobby portis dennis smith jrniz And we've got RJ and Knox and Mitchell Robinson.

What do you want to do? Randall's got to be on that. Okay. Randall's a sure thing. I think, are we sure we want D.S.J. over Nillikina. I'm not sure I want either of them over R.J. I'm going to go R.J. there.

I think I may have heard Isaac in the backhand go, what even? What? All right. I'm going R.J. there. I'm still on Frank Nileke. Island. This is not even an island.

It's a pebble that's left. I'm there. I'm there. And by the way, I think the people who give up on him are going to look silly someday. Frank Nilakina, still, still, only 21 years old. Already, already a high-end defender with size and versatility. I think you sound silly right now. No, here's the thing.

With Nilakina, we knew when he was coming into the draft that he was going to suck on offense. We knew it. No, I'm serious. Like, he's only 21. Yeah, well, no, it's a great thing. We knew he was going to suck on offense. You know what? And he might always suck.

But the fact is, he's already great on defense. You know what? Maybe you're seeing in the future. Maybe the league is going to turn to where they start liking players that suck on offense. I know it hasn't been there. It hasn't been a good run for them. They have been left without jobs. But maybe it's going to turn.

Maybe there's going to be a sea change. And the market inefficiency is going to be. guys that suck on offense. Frank Nilakina. I watched the highlights and not see the full game, but Milakina's FIva performance so far for France has been pretty good. So I'm going to say his handle looks like it's tighter. Look, that was always the thing with Nilakina.

He could always pass the ball, but his handle stunk. And his handle has looked a little bit tighter in Fever competition so far. He's putting on a big show in China because he's going to be there in three years. Yeah, we'll see. I look forward to playing. I hope those fans get used to watching. Frank Nilequina games. You get to see them all the time on the Shanghai Sharks.

Here's the thing. I gave up fairly quickly on Drog and Bender. I missed on him. If we're talking international prospects here. With Nillikina, I'm not giving up yet because the defense is a foundation for him. Luckily, you don't work for the Knicks because they did. They took Alonzo Trier and started playing him over him. I don't think they want Nillikina either.

I mean, that was a Phil Jackson pick. They want to get rid of Nillikina and they have tried to trade him. And we'll see what they ended up getting at some point. All right. Get your jersey now. All right. Throwback. I'm going to go RJ Randall Portis.

How about that? I'm going to go Nilakina just to spite you, Julius Randolph and Marcus Morris. Okay. Orlando. Aaron Gordon is on the team. No doubt. I kind of think Terrence Ross would be good on this. How about Vucevich, Gordon, and, geez.

August. Can I like roll the dice with Markle Fultz? Oh my God. Just say screw it. Who do you believe in more? This is perfect. DJ Augustine. No, Kevin.

Who do you believe in more? In three years. Who is better? Frank Nillikina or Mark L'Lofold? Oh, boy. Geez. My heart is telling me Frank Nillikina. my God.

My heart is telling me that because of, because the defensive factor, man. He's a great defender. Markel's not. I went number one in the draft. I don't care about the past right now. We're talking about right now where Markell is. And where he is, it seems like the same place where he has no time table to get back.

They're taking a day by day. He hasn't even played NBA games. He hasn't like played NBA games and proven he's awful. I always need to see him play. NBA games and thinking he's all. Boy, why do I feel like I'm alone on this? Because you are. I know. Maybe that's because I am.

Maybe I am and that's okay. There's either one, he's either one, two things. He was shooting the ball legitimately or he is an operative from James Dolan to torture fans by hitting them with airball three. It's like the poster in Fargo with the red fish swimming one way. What if you're right and they're wrong? It's not like that. I don't know if I'm right, but what if I am? It's more like the wood chipper in Fargo.

Jesus. Oh, my God. That's pretty good. Good reference. I think if I were NBA general manager and Frank Nillikina were available this season for a second round draft pick, I'd be all over that. Knowing the fact that. Oh, that's the bar.

Yeah. Think about it. Nillikina's got only one more year left on his deal before he becomes a free agent in 2021. Why wouldn't you give up a first round for him? Because it's value, and I wouldn't do that. You don't believe that much? I believe. but I'm not giving up a first round pick.

You don't believe that much. I don't want it that bad. I'll give him a second round pick for him. Thanks. Thanks a lot. If I was another GM, I would give up a second round pick with that crappy player. Real balls, huh? People give up second round picks for literally nothing.

They just give them to people. But thanks, Kev, for making such a serious. I mean, you could be bold if he said a first rounder. I know there's probably people listening to this right now, like, Kiosi's taking the stance just because, like, he's trying to have an argument on Nillikina. It's like, no, I'm actually dead ass. I'm serious about Nilikina. The defensive factor is real, and I don't think people talk about that enough.

So if his handle improves and he becomes a competent shooter, he can have a career. Isaac, can you walk across to the studio and see if Kevin smells like marijuana? Oh, God. I feel... I feel he waked and baked. I did not. I would never do that before a show. You would never do it before a show.

I never do that. All right. Orlando, we're going with Aaron Gordon and I guess DJ Augustine and Boosevish. Boosevic. Philly, M. Bede Simmons. Are we going Tobias, Josh Richardson, or Horford?

This is a tough one, man. I think so, too. Yeah, that's tough. For big, three purposes. I think Horford. So you're taking, yeah, just big. Horford and B. Guard everybody.

I can't wait to watch them play, man. And he can't wait to watch threes too. I can't wait to watch Philly. Actually, he'd be the only one of them that can shoot. They're so big. Simmons and Embeddeed. They can roll out like the biggest lineup ever. You could throw out Embedid, Simmons, and Horford.

And we could just call, I don't know, the two-point kings. I guess if Forrefurt shoots a three. Toronto's the easiest one, isn't it? Lowry, Seacum, Gassol. Yeah, simple. Simple. And then Washington. Oh, my God.

bro when I was writing this down I mean Beal Rui Thomas Bryant admiral Isaiah Thomas This is an easy one It's Bradley Bale for one

I'm going Isaiah Thomas 2 And then I'm going Rui Hachamora 3 Wizards Vegas win total For anybody that's listened to our show Go look at that roster and you tell me how it is feasible. Let me see what they were posted at.

28 and a half. Let's take the under. How are they winning 29 games? Go look at their roster. If Isaiah Thomas is able to be somewhat like it. I mean, it's not half. If they trade for Frank Nilakina. Oh, God.

It's their only hope. Change the game. I mean, look, if Isaiah Thomas does what, Kevin, magically finds Scott Bacula and does a quantum leap to five years ago? That would be nice if that happened. I feel so bad for him, man. I do, too. It makes me sad. It makes me sad, too.

He's doing okay, though. He is. You got another deal. Oh, you know what? Maybe he's a year removed from the worst of it, you know? Maybe. Maybe. he can still get buckets.

I mean, hell, he's going to have every opportunity to. Who else is scoring? Seriously. Maybe unless Is Smith is stealing buckets and minutes from us in. I kind of thought you were crazy the other day when you were saying, you know, kind of like dark horse, you know, Rui Hachamura, if he gets a chance and the opportunity in Washington, you know, he might actually be able to put up some really good numbers and made people, you know, pay attention.

and I was like, eh, whatever. But then when I looked at their, I will apologize to you. When I looked at their roster, who the hell else is going to score at all? Who is scoring on that team? Did you see his dunk over Ers on Ilyossova the other day in the Turkey Japan game?

That lefty dunk in transition, pretty unbelievable. Right-handed player going off his right foot dunking over Ilisova. That shows off his level of athleticism. Yeah, I don't know how good he is going to be, but I do know this. you've usually got to get to over a hundred, right? Let's just say that is a bit more.

In most given nights, you're going to have to score over 100 or you're going to score over 100, okay? Like, you look at their roster and you add it up and you say, all right, I'll even pencil Brad Biel in. Last year he averaged 26. I'll say he even does more than that, right? It is hard to figure how you get to 100 unless somebody like Ruiyotra is scoring a bunch. I don't know how you get there, but they will. Inevitably, all the rat teams do. But you may be right.

He may end up putting up good numbers if he plays a lot of minutes for them because somebody's going to have to get those numbers. Yeah. Like if you're placing a bet on one of the guys that's not a top, you know, but not a favorite, to me, Rui Hachamor is the guy that stands out as a logical choice. Right. So the winner of all of this thing,

the team that you like the most, we'll just end on that. boy this is interesting it might be Milwaukee I know I'm thinking Milwaukee it stands to reason it stands to reason I mean Janice is so much better than all of them yeah seriously who's the second best player in the east now Embed yeah it's probably Joel Philly's interesting too especially with the the imbid Simmons Horford size the difficulties and the challenges that could present for an opponent. Yep.

It's probably not too, it's not dissimilar from, if you're picking a team, they actually come out of the Eastern Conference right now. On this, Philly, that Miami team would be there at the end. Yeah. Because they got, they got Jimmy Buckets and Winslow and James Johnson just fighting you constantly. And somebody, eventually people are going to be like, whatever, dude. This doesn't matter that much. Stop, stop caring so much.

Right? that's Jimmy Bucket style and all their all their style Kevin it is always a pleasure hopefully the United States looks a little better next by the next time we talk and that Feeba World Cup is actually going to get really really good as these teams are all starting to get whittled down and then I think I saw

it's a little over three weeks until our first preseason game unbelievable I think that's right I think it's a little over three weeks. Shanghai versus Houston, September 30th, and then October 4th.

We got Indiana, Sacramento. Almost there. I'll talk to you next week. Looking forward to it, Chris. Have it going on. Thanks to everybody

for listening to another episode of The Mismatch. If you dig what you're hearing, go give us a rating and review on iTunes. Five stars, five stars. It really helps. And we will talk to you next week.