The Ringer NBA Show - The Deep, Dominant Raptors Keep Rolling Along | The Mismatch (Ep. 333)

Episode Date: November 6, 2018

A big night for Jamal Murray continues the Denver Nuggets’ hot streak (3:07), the torrid Toronto Raptors add another loss to the Utah Jazz’s disappointing start (14:53), precarious teams face sink-or-swim developments (32:58), and draft prospects look to shine as the college basketball season kicks off (47:55). Hosts: Chris Vernon, Kevin O’Connor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Today's episode of The Mismatch also brought to you by Microsoft Surface. Thank you Microsoft Surface for being a sponsor of the show. You need a device that helps you get stuff done, but is also perfect when you want to catch up on some fun, like streaming live sports or checking your fantasy team. Check out the latest member of the Microsoft Surface family. The new Surface Pro 6. Just take the keyboard off and use it like a tablet or snap it back on and use it like a laptop. With up to 13 and a half hours of battery life and the new 8th gen Intel Core processor, it's everything you love about the Surface Pro, now even more powerful. Welcome to The Ringer MBA show. I'm Chris Vernon and joining me on The Mismatch as he does

every Tuesday from the Ringer.com is Kevin O'Connor, aka Kevin O'O'Bomber, aka Kevin O'Caddle, Burdo, what up? How are you doing today? It has been quite the eventful week since we last spoke. I guess first thing's first. It was not long after we spoke that it seemed as if the story came out from ESPN that Luke Walton was in trouble. And here we are next Tuesday. And at least when we woke up this morning, Luke Walton still has a job.

So that was kind of the big thing that happened over the last week. Magic Johnson meets with Luke Walton and things need to change quickly. and so at least as of today Luke Walton seems like he feels like he's going to have his job Magic Johnson acts like he's going to have his job are all things okay in your neck of the woods I mean for now for now they are Chris and I think it would be a rash decision to fire Luke Wall

in this early in the year look this roster is not built to win a championship early struggles were kind of expected for them Magic's not happy about something it's understandable right you want to be better but I think you have to have some patience with this team to gel yeah it's obviously a thankless job with LeBron, right? And we learned this with the players that play with him

and the guys that coach him. If you win, you've got LeBron. If you lose, it's because of you. Yeah, it's easy to blame the coach. And it always has been with LeBron James. But really, look, with this Lakers team, it's going to take time for them to jail. Yeah.

In terms of games last night, I know you were honed in on Denver versus Boston, and you had just written about Gordon Hayward being back in the mix and Boston trying to figure out how this all works together. Given their level of talent on that team, I know we have not played a ton of games so far this season. It's still shocking that they're right outside the bottom five in offensive efficiency. I mean, you look at the worst teams in the league, and it is Orlando,

Phoenix, Atlanta, Detroit, New York, but coming in at 25th in offensive efficiency so far this season is the Boston Celtics. Obviously, took a loss last night. You had just written about figuring out their offense and Hayward getting back in the mix. What did you see last night? Not a lot new necessarily, right? I mean, the Celtics have not been bad by any means, and the Denver Nuggets have been consistently very good. What we saw is Jamal Murray going off for 48 points on 19 of 30 shooting.

Remarkable performance overall by him. As for the Celtics, Kyrie Irving is getting back. Gordon Hayward is making steady progress. Overall, there wasn't a lot new to learn from, last night's game necessarily. It's just an entertaining game. I mean, like, there's a lot of eyes on Bulls Nix going to double overtime,

and I was doing everything in my power to resist turning to that tank fast game and sticking with two playoff contenders. Well, Zach Levine put on a show. He had 41, right? Yeah, definitely. Exactly Levine went off. He's been having a solid statistical season in the office.

So did cancer, by the way. He had like 20-something points, 20-something rebounds. I was like, good grief. That's a big number. All right, let me get back to Boston and Denver. How do you think this all plays out? Do you think that it's just going to click after an amount of games playing together, that this is just growing pains?

Because you must admit, no matter how many games they had played, we'd never expected Boston's offense to be at the level that they've been so far. Sure. I mean, I think there are growing pains happening. And my article yesterday I mentioned how it seems like just watching the games, Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown, and Terry Rozier specifically are pressing a little bit, right? They're not getting as many touches, especially Rosier and Smart at the point guard position, because Hayward is a better playmaker.

It's the right decision to put the ball in Hayward's hands. It's an upgrade. It's a good thing when Marcus Smart is shooting the ball less times per game. It's a good thing. However, with that, does come growing pains. And Tatum specifically, he's been interesting, right? In college, Chris, there was the concern about, is he's not? too much of a mid-range jumper, can he shoot the three? And he showed last season that that

was an irrational concern. He's extended his range every single year of his life. And he shot the three really, really well last season. But this year, early on at least, he's been taking a high frequency of deep mid-range jumpers. And not just late in the clock, which you can forgive, but early in the clock as well. According to Cleaningth Glass.com, he has attempted 31% of his shots from deep mid-range. And that's mid-range shots outside of. 14 feet and that leads the league for his position at forward last year it was only 22 percent which is still a handful and i don't have the data handy but it does seem like a lot of those shots are coming early in the clock rather than dribbling into his threes or just taking spot-up threes

and like he trained with cobi this summer and you have to wonder how much of coby has impacted jason tannes shot selection because he needs to get back to becoming the player who he was last year, taking threes and getting to the rim and trying to finish and draw fouls rather than settling for mid-range jumpers. I think little things like that need to change. Are you blaming Kobe for ruining Jason Tatum? Yeah, I could be. It sounds like it. I mean, look, Tatum's not ruined, though. That's the thing. Right. Tatum, it's just very odd how it's happened. Again, according to cleaning glass last year, 39% of his shots came at the rim. This year, it's only 23%. That's been the difference. He's just settling from in

range jumpers more so than he was last year. And that's something that needs to change. It's little things like that that'll help the Celtics offense. But it's not just him. Hayward has taken a handful of mid-arranged jumpers. Jalen Brown has as well. Terry Roseir has taken far too many, especially early in the clock. Right now, Boston is a shot selection problem and they need to get back to playing the

type of basketball they did last season. I know the Boston, L.A. Hey, runs deep, but that would be very diabolical by Kobe Bryant. Wouldn't it? That would be genius, really. It reminds me of, I know you've probably never seen this movie, but the Arnold Schwarzenegger pumping iron, and it was about him, you know, trying to become Mr. Olympian. He's got a best friend, and his name's Franco Columbo.

And there's a moment in the movie where it talks about how you guys are competing against each other, but obviously your workout partners and everything. And Arnold Schwarzenegger says, well, if he asks me for the advice, I just give him the wrong advice. Right. I just give him the wrong advices. And so I think that's what Kobe did with Jason Tatum. I just gave him the wrong advice.

And by the way, I'm aware that was a pathetic Schwarzenegger. I wasn't going to go all out. No, that was perfectly fine, Chris. That was a perfectly fine impression. All right. Well, there was a little ire at the end of the Denver Boston game because Kyrie Irving, as Jamal Murray shot the ball as time was expiring to try to get 50 points, said it was, quote, bullshit. Kevin O'Connor.

Was it bullshit? I don't really care. Whatever. You want your 50. You want your 50. It doesn't make a difference. Just get over it. I mean, I understand why you feel that way, right?

But whatever. Who cares? It was bullshit. He was a young guy. He wanted his 50, man. No, it was bullshit. Everybody stopped playing. I know.

They did. Everybody was standing around. Everybody standing around. Dude, listen, you've already beat me. You've already got your 48. Now you're just trying to rub it in. Now you're just trying to rub it in. that's not happening.

I remember years ago, I was at a game where this is when the kings were in their heyday. This is the Weber, Bibby, Pesia, that whole team, right? And they were destroying the Grizzlies. And Pesiozlovakovic had some kind of record he was going for. He had lit the whole gym on fire. And at the very end of the game, he shot a three. James Posey put him in the fourth row. So, I mean, I think Murray's just lucky.

Obviously, they were barking at him after the game. And Kyrie said his piece. And I heard Tommy Hineson at the end of the game saying, oh, they're going to remember that. Yeah. I mean, they played twice a year. So I guess they'll remember it the next time around, right? Which is a shame because that was one heck of a game. I mean, it was a terrific battle between two teams with different types of styles.

I had a lot of fun watching that game. And I'm personally glad I stuck with that. instead of going to Bulls next, to be honest with you. So you stayed on that game. We know that Murray scored 48. And we also know that, I mean, I read some of the quotes after the game and what a great job. He did on the pick and roll and everything. And we know it's kind of marred by that end of the game and that becomes the headline.

But 48's a big number for sure. What about Murray last night? In terms of you watching that game, obviously this is his best game. Why do you have 48? So with Murray, like, he frustrates me, Chris, because he's a guy that, you know, entering the draft, his shooting is why he went seventh, right? He projected it as a spectacular shooter. And so far in his career, he hasn't been. He's shooting 35.6% over his career.

This season, only 31.4%. He's been incredibly inconsistent, incredibly streaky, not just off the dribble, but also in spot-up situations. But last night, against the Celtics, against one of the NBA's best defenses, he showed off everything. everything was there, right? Like you mentioned pick and roll. He hit leaning floaters. He hit acrobatic layups inside. He pulled up on a dime from bin range, pulled up from three, hit spot up threes on the move.

He hit spot up threes from standstill positions. He made some really good passes as well. And that's one of the areas of his game that's a little bit underrated, his passing. He showed up everything. And for me, like when I get frustrated with him now in his third season, the thing to keep in mind is, Jamal Murray is still only 21 years old. He's still only 21 years old, and he has a very diverse offensive skill set with the ability to score from different areas of the floor, really from anywhere. So last night for me was a reminder, like, be patient with this guy.

Be patient. It's going to take time because really, like, those flashes. And the fact is, last night was a peak for him to 48 points. But overall, this season, despite the inconsistent shooting, he hasn't necessarily been bad. He's gotten better each season of his career, and there could be more of these nights to come. And that's why for Murray, 48 points, you know what, man? Challenge yourself to top that again next time. Like, get 50 authentically instead of taking a shot at the end because he has the capability to do it someday.

When the Nuggets are playing against Boston, you know that the name Isaiah Thomas is going to come up. He's obviously not been able to play yet, but they mentioned last night that he'd be back in December. What say you? So, I mean, I was thinking last night watching the game, like Gary Harris has been remarkably good this season. Jamal Murray, obviously really, really good. but it's not just those guys in the back court, it's the bench players as well. Malik Beasley coming off the bench

has brought a lot of energy in the defensive end of the floor, has spaced the floor offensively, and then you have Monta Morris, who in college was really, really steady as a playmaker, and he's brought that to the NBA, as well as some energy on the defensive end. And that backcourt has been good for Denver.

Morris Beasley coming off that bench. And so I wonder, for Mike Malone, you have some tough choices coming up. How do you distribute minutes to a side? Isaiah Thomas once he is ready to return because a Thomas Morris backcourt would be disastrous on defense. Morris tries, but he's still not really a plus plus defender on that end. And then a Thomas Beasley backcourt means you're benching Morris, who has done a really, really good job running that offense for a guy who is more of a score first player. And so I wonder, how do you find that

balance if you're Mike Malone moving forward? Because you already have so much scoring. I wonder if Isaiah's scoring isn't going to add enough for you to warrant playing him much. So that's tough, though, because Morris is the guy who's just made it difficult. Because I don't know if you can go with a Morris Thomas back court, but I don't know if you can bench Morris with how steady he's been. Things can change by December, but it's just something that came to mind last night. I just wonder where the playing time is for Isaiah Thomas. You know, what's also interesting?

We haven't even mentioned. I mean, they're nine and one to start the year. But have even mentioned they haven't had Will Barton, who they signed through a great contract in free agency. and Barton's a usage guy too. So, I mean, Malone on the fly is going to have to figure out a lot of this because you are going to put in two guys that they've always gotten their shots, Barton and Thomas.

And right now, it seems the pecking order has been obviously really working given the fact that they are nine and one on the season thus far. For sure. I mean, look, it's a good problem to have. Like, it's good to have depth. It's good to have options. But there will be challenging. is I think when you have that many guys,

especially with Barton coming back during the season two. Barton's a really good player, like you said. Maybe ultimately what happens is that Beasley is a guy who loses minutes. Maybe you see Torrey Craig's role completely go away, even though he's been starting. Maybe instead of 20 minutes per game, he goes down to zero for a while with Barton going back on the starting lineup. But even then, I mean, it's still tough to juggle all those guys.

But I guess it's a good problem to have. It's been a torrid start for Denver, also a torrid start for Toronto, who has been absolutely fantastic, even without Kauai Leonard. And we'll get to Toronto in a minute, but their win last night came at Utah, where Utah unbelievably has not won a game at home yet. I mean, they're 0 and 4 on their home court. I figured they'd be a team that's like, you know, I don't know,

31 and 10 or something like that at home, possibly even better. And obviously, you'd have to have an amazing record from here on. out to be able to achieve that. It's an interesting deal because I think we all thought Utah was really onto something and that they were more the team that they were in the second half of last year than certainly they were in the first half. And I know they were without Gobert for some amount of time. But they were unbelievable down the stretch last year.

And then they got killed by injuries even in their playoff series with Rubio not being available and then X them getting hurt within the context of the series. etc., etc. What do we make of this? There was a very small minority of people saying, hey, you remember Miami went through injuries and they were 10 and 31, and then they flipped it around and they were 31 and 10. And so which is it?

Is Miami more like the team that they were the second? And then they became a pretty good team last year. There was at least a flashpoint in my mind last night where I thought to myself, you know, we got caught up in the second half of last. last season and that being the Utah team. And if they are as currently constructed, that's what they're going to be able to be next year. You really only get one chance to take the league by storm. And they did certainly in the second half of last year. Crowder worked out perfectly. But the beginning of this season has been quite bizarre considering I and you, and I think everybody

else in the free world expected they're going to be challenging for a top four seed and going to be a really good team. They have certainly had early struggles. Rudy O'Barre said something interesting after the game in regards to their defense. It hasn't been nearly, nearly as potent this season. Last year, let me stop you real quick. I'm just going to tell you, last year, second in the NBA in defensive efficiency. So far this year, tied for 16th. And interestingly enough, you know who they're tied with?

Houston, who also has been disappointing to start the year. Houston was sixth after all was said and done in last year's regular season. And so the two teams tied for 16th, which is the bottom half in the NBA and defensive efficiency are Utah and Houston, two teams that thus far have disappointed. All right, go back to it. Well, Gobert, this is from Eric Woodyard at the Utah Desert News. And, you know, he was asked about Utah's ability to defend, right, because of the NBA's rule changes with freedom of movement.

And Gobert said he thinks it's impacted everybody else. lot. And he said, quote, we want to be a physical team and we want to impact the other team's movement. It's a big change and it's hard with all those screens and guards that are using that as an advantage to get filed. It's hard, but it's the same for everyone, so we have to adapt. And when you do look at Utah's defense, they have a lot of physical guys. Royce O'Neill, Rudy Gobert, Ricky Rubio, Jay Crowder, up and down their roster, they have a lot of guys who like to get physical on the defensive end of the floor. And, you know, It reminded me of Justin Verrier, at Arthur Ringer.com, wrote a terrific story about defense and just how it's evolved.

And one of the quotes in there from Dante Cunningham pretty much was just like, you know, for me, it's a type of thing where I wonder what happens to the Tony Allen's of the world, right? Like what happens to those guys that steer you, that touch you, that grab you, that push you? How do those defenders adapt in this new type of NBA when positioning and being at the spot before the guy is kind of what you have to. to do rather than grabbing that guy and controlling them yourself. And so for Utah, maybe a team with that many physical defenders in that type of style, there's a greater adjustment than there might be for other teams. That's just a theory. I don't know that for sure. Their three-point shooting has also been horrific. They've had trouble scoring the ball, too. It's not just defense. But I do think at its core, when you think about that team last year, defense is what made them so good, right?

And until they get back to that, their average offense isn't going to be enough. It's interesting because I think that your theory has some legs, especially if Gobert mentioned it, right? It's interesting to hear a player mention it and trying to figure it out because other than that, it's not like their personnel is drastically different. That's what I'd say. And in fact, you know, given that they've got Exum in the lineup now, they started last year. Like Rodney Hood was on that team last year.

And Joe Johnson was on that team last year. And you look now, I mean, listen, Gobert, Mitchell, Crowder, Ingalls, favors, Rubio, even Burks. You know, now they've got Exxon. I mean, these, Royce O'Neill, as you mentioned. I mean, these guys were on that team last year. That was very good defensively. A lot of continuity on that team. Yeah.

So what is it if it's not that thus far this year? Who knows? Sometimes we see that where it's like the last thing in our mind is that they were just, juggernaut down the stretch last year. Fantastic. Yeah, from January 1st on, they were damn near unbeatable. And now it's kind of the regression to the mean, I suppose, what they say. It is that, Chris.

I mean, maybe this team is just really what it is right now, where we saw the hot side of them after January 1st, and right now we're seeing the downside with right now, they didn't have Mitchell last night. And Toronto obviously didn't have Kauai. So it's an incomplete performance for both teams without them both being at full strength. However, it did show, again, that Utah just doesn't have that second star that they can rely on. And so from a big picture perspective, I do wonder maybe that's their play moving forward, because they've been retaining cap space for the 2019 off season, and maybe their hope is to find that second star for Mitchell because he needs one.

They need that second guy who in situations where Mitchell isn't scoring efficiently, he isn't having a really good night. They don't need to lean on him because, you know, as much as we love, Joe Ingalls. As much as we love guys like Ricky Rubio and Rudy Gobert, those aren't second stars. And I think for Utah, the goal needs to be finding that guy to

pair with Mitchell, as well as you're already really good defense that should get better over the course of the season. Yeah, and we'll see where Ingls ends up at the end, but he was otherworldly, obviously, down the stretch to last year, and then in the playoffs, he has not been good this year.

He just hasn't. Yeah, I mean, you know, the shot just hasn't been at the same level. I mean, He shot 44% the last two years from three. This year he's up 38 and a half percent. And that's not bad, obviously. But it's a big difference from a guy who's been one of the NBA's best shooters over the last two seasons. He was also a guy that would just murder you in pick and rolls. It's so good at passing out of it, getting into the lane and passing out of it and getting them open shots.

Ingalls will be fine. Engels does what he does. He'll be fine. He just doesn't need to be a 13 point. I think he's 13 right now, right? He's got to be a bigger scorer than that when you were talking about. who's the second guy. Well, that's what I mean.

Utah just doesn't have that second guy right now. And I think with them retaining their cap space, their goal next summer has to be to use that cap space to find a second score alongside Mitchell because Rubio's not it, favors isn't it, Berks isn't it, Cephalosha, you know, all their guys that are free agents, they have the ability to find that guy

and really plug him into a team that's already really good. Well, and in fairness to Utah, as you mentioned, they were without Mitchell. And I know Toronto was without Kauai. That being said, They've been a friggin' juggernaut. They're incredible. So far this year, I mean, they win 124 to 111 at Utah.

They put up three quarters over 30 points. I mean, it wasn't like there was some kind of breakout last night. They had 30 in the first, 35 in the second, 29 in the third, and 30 in the fourth. That's how they got to their 124 last night. It wasn't like they had one or two big quarters. Every quarter they had was big last night. And you see this insane balance across the board with Pascal Siakum, Ananobi, Valenatunis, Lowry, Van Vliet and Ibacca, all in double digits.

And you got four guys last night with 17 points. Van Vlite, Lowry, Ananobe, and Ibaka, all had exactly 17 points last night in the game. Pascal Seacom, almost there with 16 points. Seacom. Oh, right. Yeah, they could have put five guys. With 17, no way that's ever happened. Siakum has won the hearts of NBA Twitter.

I've noticed, right? After his years at New Mexico State, Seacum, I missed on him in the draft. I had him ranked 49th in 2016. And I look back and I'm like, what a dope. Like, how did you have A.J. Hammonds and Robert Carter ranked ahead of. Who is Robert Carter? Yeah, how'd I have Diamond Stone?

At least I've heard of Diamond Stone and A.J. Hammond. Who is Robert Carter? He went to Maryland. Oh, he did? But I just look back at that and it's like, you know, I read my pluses and minuses for Skiak. I mean, it's like, I got it right. Like, I knew who he was as a player.

Why don't have him rank so low? And now with Toronto, we're seeing it, man. Like, his hustle, his motor is unstoppable. That dude does not stop playing hard. And it just brings energy. It reminds me of the impact Amir Johnson made and his prime for the rappers where he Every time he was on the floor, he helped because he played hard because he rebounded on defense. He communicated on defense and he did what he needed to do on the offensive end of the floor.

And see, Akam, I love watching this guy rebound the ball, outlet it, and then just sprint onto the offensive end and oftentimes get rewarded with layups and dunks. For me, he is an energizer in that now Raptor's starting lineup. It has been really, really fun to watch him make a difference on that team. and I Baca post Oklahoma City has been a disaster. And then the other night in L.A., he just goes the hell off. Last night in Utah, he plays 14 minutes. He's 8 of 8 from the field, 17 points and 5 rebounds. Like, what has happened with Serge?

He's experiencing a resurgence, Chris. That's what's happening in Surge of Raca. I mean, listen to these numbers through 11 games. 18.7 rebounds, a block and a P.E.R of 23 and a half. He's been unbelievable so far this year. He's 15 of 17, turns around with 34 points, turns around and goes 8 of 8. So in the last two games, he has played, and he had six fouls last night in 14 minutes. In the last two games, he has played 43 combined minutes, and he has 23 combined minutes,

and he is 23 of 25 from the field for 51 points and 15 rebounds. What the hell? You know what's been cool as well is that with Ibaka, they're putting him more at the five in the starting lineup, but he's not starting every game. You know, Toronto last night started Jonas Valanchunis. They're starting different players depending on the opponent. I think that adaptability is really cool and really interesting.

And I would personally like to see more teams do that when they have the ability. instead of sticking with one starting five because it's a simple change, right? You're just flipping one guy for the other. It's not like a drastic overhaul of your rotation. Celtics do that a little bit too. Sometimes they'll start Baines, but there aren't a lot of teams that do.

So that's been cool. I think that has put Ibaka in better positions to succeed. Was there a story? Because obviously these all come out throughout the year. Was there like a Serge Abaka what he did in the off-season story, right? I don't think so. That $22 million contract looked almost like an albatross.

And so far, this is after Sunday night's explosion. He was shooting 57% from the floor averaging 18 points, which is a career high, while grabbing more rebounds per game than he has in four seasons, all while playing 27 minutes per game, which is well below his average. And he has the best offensive rating of his career and the second best defensive rating of his career. which goes back to 2012-13 when he was playing for Oklahoma City.

Maybe it's Nick Nurse. You know, I actually think, I know what it is, Chris. I know what it is. Sergei Baca started a YouTube channel this year, and he has a great show called How Hungry Are You, where he cooks for his teammates, he cooks for special days. You're going to hate this. Okay.

You're going to hate this. You know what I'm looking at a breakdown that SportsNet did on him. One of the most noticeable changes has come in. Serge Abaka's shot selection, Kevin. No, it's the YouTube channel. No. It says what immediately stands out when you look at his shot chart is the amount of shots he has taken and made near the hoop. And I know that you want these seven-footers standing out at the three-point line all of the time.

It says this season, half of his field goal attempts have come within 10 feet. last year, 29% have come within 10 feet. And you know I love my big guys being down closer to the basket. So far, at least there's a short answer as to what happens so far this year with Abaka. He's taking shots within 10 feet of the basket

instead of everything being from way outside. More specifically, it's not even, I just pulled up cleaning the glass. You're right. Like he is shooting, it's at the rim though, right?

42% of his shots have been at the rim compared to 22% last year. The short mid-range and long mid-range hasn't changed at all. You're right. He's shooting not as many threes and that has been translated into At-Rame opportunities.

So that's been good for him, of course. But overall, it's not just offense. It's not just bad. His defense has been better, too. He looks re-energized on that end of the floor. He looks more like the Oklahoma City version of himself.

All right. Let's get back to what you mentioned, which was the most fascinating thing of all that. Did he really start a YouTube channel? Yeah, you haven't seen it? No. What is he cooked? What is he cook?

He cooked like Lambrain. It says, oh, Serge Abaka presents, How Hungry Are You? Huh. Episode 4 with the Mardarosen. Oh, no. It's really good. It is.

How hungry are you? It's great. Like, Abaka is a tremendous cook, and he's a good host. Like, I could see a post-career TV show in the Toronto area or something like that. He's good. Like, he's funny. He's entertaining.

I don't know, man. It's a pretty damn good show. Congolese food. Yes. I've never eaten Congolese food. Maybe Chris Vernon, you can appear in surgery back as how hungry are you Sunday. Maybe episode 120. There's a long way to get to people like us.

What is Congolese food? I don't even know. Honestly, have you ever had Congolese food in your life? No, I haven't. But, I mean, if it gets to the point where they're going to find a podcast host. We want to get on this. I would love to. I would love to try some.

Yeah. All right. And you know I'm going to deep dive on this. I'm going to get caught in the Serge Abaka cooking show Wormole on YouTube. And I'm going to watch every damn episode by the time we speak again. All right, Kiv, we'll get right back to it. First, we want to let everybody know. Today's episode of The Mismatch is brought you by ZipRecruiter.

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the Westbrook injury looked bad last night. I mean, he was so high, and seeing the replay is one of those ones that makes you cringe to come down on your ankle with that level of force. And that thing turned in half. Now, knowing him, he appears to be totally indestructible. He'll probably play, like, in three days. But we have not gotten word yet as to how long he will be out. They won despite his injury last night.

But given that all of these races, especially in the Western Conference, are going to be decided by a game or two, you think there's so much parity within the conference. Westbrook being out for an extended amount of time could be tough or no. We don't know yet. We don't know yet the timeline. It was just reported as an ankle injury. He reached for his shin immediately after the injury happened when he was screaming on the ground. And that suggests high ankle sprain. and there was one report from Pelican sideline reporter Jennifer Hale,

who did report that it was a left high ankle strain, and she's the only one who's reported that so far. And if that's the case, according to in-streetclose.com, the average miss time for high ankle sprains over the past five NBA seasons is 10.8 games or roughly three weeks. So if Russell Westberg does miss three weeks, their schedule's not bad. It's not horrible.

They can get by. They have two games versus Cleveland. they have two games versus Phoenix. They have games versus New York, Sacramento. They have winnable games. I think they can get through at 500 out of this. But like you said, Chris, if you're any worse than that, any extended period of time without Russell Westbrook

is going to put you smack in the playoff bubble, which is where they were already anyway. I'm no doctor. I've heard about the injury a lot. I always thought that high ankle sprain was when you turned it. I mean, if I could do this as simply as I can, turning it in is when you sprain your ankle. and when you turn it out.

So like, let's say my, the inside of my foot would be the thing that hits the floor. And it turns out that way because a high ankle sprain is actually that bone on the outside of your leg. I may be talking crazy to the medical community right now. But that's the way I've always understood it. You hear about it in football quite a bit. But I was always under the impression that if you turn it in, you're going to get swollen up pretty bad. And the sprains can be rather severe as that one looked. I mean, I'm sure when they took off his shoe last night, that thing blew up.

Oh, yeah. But I always thought that if you, I always thought that if you turned it outward, that that's when you were at real risk of the, quote, high ankle sprain. Maybe I'm wrong. We'll see. Either way, he's going to miss some period of time, it seems. Well, I'm going to trust my medical background. Yes.

Which is none. We are both doctors. Yeah. We're both doctors only in our own minds. What do you make of Philadelphia being undefeated at home and winless on the road? Not a lot. Not a lot, really, Chris. be honest with you, no, young team, but also just could have been base of the matchups. What do you make of Markell Fultz's jump shot?

A long way to go. Did you see the hitchy one the other night? The one that he yelped as he shot it? I was like, what is that? I didn't know if he was trying to get a foul or if it hurt to shoot it or I didn't know what was going on. He's got a long way to go. That's for sure.

I never want to hear guys yelping when they shoot the ball. I mean, there was no defender close to it. Wait a minute. What do you mean? You heard him yet. I didn't hear that. Yelp. Oh, yeah.

It's on my Twitter feed somewhere. I don't know. Are we short with him? 100%. There's an audible Yelp. Go to my Twitter feed and click on like media and just scroll down past all that other baloney. You'll find a Markle Fultz. There's a clip on there.

You're selling your page so well. I know. Well, you got to get past the Omri Casby Sham God. That's what you got to get past. That was good. I like that. By the way, this is one of those things that it spreads on the internet and everybody sees it and then doesn't know like what happens after. Do you know Omri Kasby heard himself doing that?

No. He hasn't played since. He came out of the game and then he had to sit out last night. It's dangerous out there, kids. Watch out. I just watched the video. I don't know if he yelled. I just heard it.

I heard the audio. It certainly could have been, but it could have been another player on the floor too. Joe is not another player. Joe Beed was tangled up with Jared Allen. No, and look at the way he shot it. Look at the way he shot the ball. I'm putting my money on Joe Alamede. No.

Yeah. The motion stops in the middle of shooting. Joel O'emead's arm is literally getting tugged at the second where you hear the yelp. I refuse to believe that it's anybody other than Marco. Regardless. Regardless of who yelled at the moment of Markle Fultz's shot crying off side of the back. I yelled.

Yeah. I yelled when I saw it. So, I said, what the F was that? Either way, the shot is somewhere it needs to be right now. It was every fan when he shot it. That's what every Philly fan does when Mark El Fulz pulls up for three. And, you know, the funny thing is that that shot is it actually wasn't a three, his foot was on the line. Of course it was. It was a long two.

Of course. We call that the Carmelo. It's great. All right. Kevin, since we last spoke, I. had the privilege of seeing the Washington Wizards in person. And with all due respect to my buddy Joe House, they were disgusting. I don't know if there is somebody, I suppose, there will be somebody out there. When we talk about contracts or everybody's tradable, you know that the Supermax clicks in on John Wall next year.

I know our mutual friends at Lowe just wrote about, hey, the Wizards may need to trade John Wall. After seeing them, now, Garrett Temple used to play with them. And there's a moment after the game, I mean, I was right there on the sideline, Temple is talking to Brad Beale, and you can see, I mean, it's one of those where guys are having a discussion, and you can see kind of what they're talking about, and you can see how despondent that entire team is. There is no chemistry on that team. and maybe the Wall and Beal stuff has come to the head. I don't know, man.

And Wall, he used to be one of my favorite players to see, especially in person, the lack of intensity that he showed in the game I saw was just appalling. In fact, they lost the game because Scott Brooks put him back in the game. And Brad Beale seems to have a good rapport with all those other guys. Now, maybe I'm just reading too much into it, but I'm telling you, I was right there next to the court, And you could see the way the other players reacted to Beal and then the way the other players reacted to Wall. And it was a much different vibe, I felt, between the rest of the group. And you know that there was that weird instance last year where Gortat, you wondered if he was saying what everybody else was thinking, which was that, right, we're playing team basketball and it's all about the team now.

And then him and Wall got into it. But they did have success without John Wall last year on that team. And beyond that, you know what it made me think about? You remember when him and Berea got into it and Berea went straight for the jugular and the quotes? And it was like his whole team hates him. You remember that? Yes. And it was like, I can't get that out of my head.

And as I was watching them, I'm thinking, geez, man, these guys really don't like him. Like, there is no, like, interaction on the court. There is no, like, high-fiving. and there is no, it's just weird. And I don't know what has happened to what level, but it's all wrong there. It's all wrong. And that's been a consistent playoff team, Kev.

Yeah, they've been steady. They've been steady. But really with John Wall, he's been the worst elite point guard past couple seasons. I've always felt he's been a little bit overrated as like a subpar outside shooter who doesn't move off ball and gives inconsistent effort on defense

and clearly has, you know, questions about his leadership. from his own teammates and others around the league. Bradley Bail is a better player. I mean, I'll tell you this, Kemp, anybody can watch this.

And obviously, if you tune in a league pass, you could see them. If the play wasn't for him, he would give up the ball, and he would run to, like, not run,

he would meander down to the corner and just stand there, like with his hands on his hips. Yeah, puts his hands on his knees. He doesn't try off ball. Just nothing. It's like,

okay, it's like, okay, this play isn't for me. I'm going to head over to the corner, see you. I mean, it was just weird. I mean, it's been like that for a while with him, though. I mean, that's like nothing new. It's him just not trying off ball, not

caring. But he also brought up a ton of intensity when he was on the ball, at least. Now I don't even see that. It's what the only time he ever did bring intensity. You hate John Wall. I don't know. I don't hate John Wall. I love it. Look, John Wall, look, when I say he's the worst elite point guard,

what I mean is that, look, John Wall can be better. There's What was the one last year When we were fighting about it? He runs less than anyone in the world or something. What was it? He runs less than anything.

Yeah, that was from a Zach article last season where I think Second Spectrum John Wall moves less often when he doesn't have the ball on his hands than any other player in the NBA or something along those lines. Paraphrasing here. But put it this way, he just doesn't move a lot off ball, right?

You don't need data to see that. You can just watch the game and see John Wall doesn't move. He puts his hands on his knees. You legit set the wrong. record for website name drops throughout this podcast, right? It's like second spectrum, cleaning the glass. What was it? Streetclothes.com. You just, you got a website for everything. It's unbelievable. Let's get to a couple other quick hits. Jeff Bisdellic appears to be returning. That was the report up from Jonathan Fagan yesterday. And then others have backed it up that they

are working out a deal and that Jeff Bisdellick could be back on the sidelines. As we mentioned, It was sixth in the NBA last year where the rockets and defensive efficiency, thus far this year, they have been 16th. You saw the quotes, or many have seen the quotes, from Clint Capella recently and saying, you know, the personnel's different, but also, you know, there's been a big adjustment. And everybody that's ever played for or been around Jeff Bezdelic knows he is, he's one of the best. He is literally one of the best in terms of putting together defensive game plan. and then being able to adjust on the fly. He also, in my opinion, is the perfect ying and yang for Dan Tony. Because Dan Tony doesn't care about defense.

You can say whatever he wants. He doesn't care, right? And I don't fault him for that. But he needs to have a defensive coordinator that really does care about defense. And so I actually think this is very significant, Kevin. I do. Could be. Could be.

It reminds me of a couple years ago. when Patriots offensive coordinator, Dante Scarnacia, retired. And the Patriots offensive line, which has long been very good, very steady, just collapsed, right? Their scheme changed slightly. Their technique changed slightly. And then Scarnackia came back. Boom, problem solved. Right?

After two years when he was just working as a consultant, we came back full-time as the offensive coordinator and problems were solved. And so perhaps that can happen with Houston. In fairness, Scarnacia didn't have Carmelo Anthony as part of his office. For sure. Exactly, right? It's the personnel too, right? Personnel matters, and as of now, that's not changing. Maybe over the course of the season, your scheme does get a little bit better.

Maybe guys start trying harder. It's not just personnel. It's also effort. It felt like for a time, PJ Tucker was the only guy trying on the end of the floor. I think playing Gary Clark more often, like we talked about her early in the season, Chris. I think Gary Clark getting more minutes is a good thing for the rockets because of the effort and the intensity. He brings on the defensive end and on the boards. So maybe that's one of the changes

that needs to happen. I tell you this, this is a really funny story regarding the whole Dan Tony not caring about defense all that much. There was a game, I don't know,

it was probably at the beginning of year, maybe it was last year now. I can't even recall. Oh, it was last year. But there was a game that Indiana played and it was like a 136 to 132 game, right?

And I mentioned to Tashon Prince. You know Nate McMillan just absolutely hates that, right? Like, he has changed to the new. NBA, but the idea that the game is that high scoring just drives him insane. And he said, you have no idea. Tachon played on Team USA and the Team USA that was coached by Dan Tony. And he said that the defensive coordinator for that team was Nate McMillan. And he said, there was a time, he said, we went into the locker room and, of course, we're just destroying everybody. And

we're going to be playing against somebody the next game, like Japan or somebody. And he says, Dan Tony comes in there and he's like, all right, guys, here's what we're going to do. We're going to do this and this and this and this and this. And Nate McMillan says, listen, we have got to focus on defense because when we get to Greece and when we get to Spain and we get to whoever, we're not going to be able to play the defense that we've been playing during that time. And Dan Tony's like, listen, we're just going to try to score 150. And he's like, I'm telling you, they're like getting into it in front of the team. He's like, I'm telling you, we have got to start focusing on our defense because when we get to these better teams, we're going to have to be able to defend.

And De Antony was like, nobody is scoring 150. Nobody. If we score 150, we ain't losing. And they, like, he said they would just constantly, like, get into it about this type of stuff, right? But it gives you a window into the thought process of Dantone, right? That's how he thinks, which is, we're going to outscore you. Do what you're doing on defense, but if we play offense the right way, nobody's going to be able to outscore us. And listen, we know that's been something that people have brought up about Dantone for years, but it's real.

And I think Bezdelic is the perfect, you know, antidote to that. And I think it will have impact. I do. I covered Jeff Bezdelic, and the guy is a defensive genius. He really is. And I hope that he's gotten all his family situation figured out. and I also hope they've thrown millions of dollars at him, which I'm sure they have,

because they're probably so damn panicked that their defense sucks now. Right? Put it this way. He's not going to hurt. He ain't going to hurt. Last thing, Keff, I will tell you that while there is a good NBA slate going on tonight,

in fact, there is one great game that is going to be going on tonight featuring two of the teams that have been very good so far this year, the Bucks and the Trailblazers. In fact, Kevin, here's a fun fact for you. So far, there are three teams in the NBA that are in the top five in offensive and defensive efficiency.

We talked about Toronto earlier, right? The other two are Milwaukee, and I think Portland would surprise people. But Portland is top five in offensive and defensive efficiency. And so we have a matchup tonight of two of the teams that are top five. in offensive and defensive efficiency. And for those people that are going to get so worked up about the political spectrum tonight, maybe a good little break

if you want to flip on Trailblazers bucks, because it should be, I'm excited to watch that, for sure, because those teams have both been very, very good early in the season, and it ain't easy to win in Portland. Definitely not. Milwaukee 8 and 1 in the year. Number one defense in basketball,

somehow seems inconceivable to say that after last couple seasons with the number four offense. Like there's been so much talk about their offense Chris, we've talked about it and the changes of Boone and Holzer has made But it's been more than that man, right? Their defense has been overhauled as well. That whole team with the additions that they made

With Brooke Lopez and Ersan Elias Silva, the tweaks that they made to their system on both ends of the floor And then Yannas continuing to elevate his play. Been a heck of a story, right? And Yannis, despite everything, still hasn't even shot the ball well. He's shooting 10% from three.

There's still room to grow for him, which is scary. It is terrifying, considering the level that he's already at as a player. So I'll try to flip on that, but it's going to be very difficult for me to get away from watching the college basketball, which I know you and I talk so much about the draft when it comes up. Usually it takes, you know, whatever, a couple weeks into the season, and then the names come out, who you should be watching and for the draft and everything like that. But I feel like I've been watching Zion Williamson highlights for like five years.

You have. And I know. I think I actually have. He to me is like I am incredibly looking forward to flipping that on and seeing him in a college game. 6.30. He has. Yeah. They have made such a star out of him.

Obviously with House of Highlights and everything. He's just been on everybody's front of. He has 1.8 million Instagram followers. That's insane. I mean, and he's playing his first college game tonight. Yeah. This is insane. I was talking to my friend David yesterday, and he's like, there's going to be a team that's going to win the lottery.

And it's going to be a team where the GM is like, I want R.J. Barrett. And the owner's going to be like, you kidding me? We're taking Zion Williamson. He's going to overrule the general manager because of Zion stardom, just the power that he has with his dunking and his style of play, man. With highlights for days. No kidding, man. But he's actually, we're going to start seeing tonight, but he's an impactful guy who I think in today's NBA with his strong frame combined with speed and fluidity in this position in his league could be perfect. He could be perfect for it because you can use him any sort of way on the offensive.

And he can be a lob dunk threat like DeAndre Jordan or he can space the floor at least at an average level. He can handle the ball a little bit. His passing looked better in exhibition play for Duke. and we'll see how it develops over the course of the season. First, it will defensively, shot blocker from the weak side. He does a lot of things for you. And he's a highlights for days, like you said. Highlights for days.

And how about this? I was looking at, you know, so many times the NBA draft mirrors, whatever the recruiting rankings were. So I pulled up 24-7 sports yesterday. Here's the guys that are going to be in that game tonight between Duke and Kentucky. Number one, RJ Barrett. number two, Cam Reddish, number five, Zion Williamson, number nine, E.J. Montgomery, for Kentucky,

number 12, Ashton Higgins, number 13, Keldon Johnson, number 15, Trey Jones. I mean, you've got to be kidding me. What? I mean, I just listed one, two, three, four, five, six, seven of the top 15 players, seven of the top 15 players, assuming they all play. And that doesn't even include PJ Washington.

who returned for a sophomore season at Kentucky could be another first round pick, a versatile forward, big, who can space the floor a little bit, versatile defensively, really great rebounder. Like, there's like more more to it too. Yeah, you were talking about, you're talking to your friend. I text my buddy the other night. I said, Duke has two guys that were ranked ahead of Zion Williamson. Yeah.

I was like, this is ridiculous. It's unbelievable. You know, we talked about this on Friday's Corner 3 with Jonathan Charks and Danny Chow. I wonder how that shakes. out over the course of the season with Barrett, Williamson, and Reddish, three drastically different types of players. I do wonder what happens with that

group. I could see Barrett fall into third in consensus rankings if his shot doesn't develop, if Reddish has high scoring games, and Williamson does what Williamson does, but I could see Reddish rising up the rankings too, and it all starts tonight, man. I'm really excited for this Duke team. R.J. Barrett, 6-7-200 pounds,

Cam Reddish, 6-7-211 pounds. Zion Williamson, 6-6-275. Yeah, baby. That's what they list him. 6-6-275. And the thing with him is that you see that, those measurements, he is really fast. He is agile.

He can move quickly, laterally. I mean, he's the most explosive athlete I've probably ever seen in my life on the basketball court. It is unbelievable. 6-6-275. Just watch that game tonight. Watch Duke Kentucky. You got to watch Duke, Kentucky. I'm going to watch Duke, Kentucky.

Kentucky, and then I want to flip over and I'm going to check out that Bucks Blazers game. Yeah. Double screen is always a good move too. I got some pitcher and pitcher. I need to do the two TV thing. I don't know why I've been waiting on that, but I do need to do the multiple TV thing. I get so jealous when I see my man Bob Volgaris, you know, when he posts his

like room where he's got like the 50 TVs where he's watching all the NBA games at the same time. Oh, Haralob came out of, you know, the Dallas Mavericks war room yesterday and tweeted. I saw. He tweeted and it was actually. Just enough to jump on basketball breakdown. Yeah. But what he tweeted was actually really smart and he's right.

Like, why use pace, right? Like, why do we use pace when it comes to talking about fast teams are moving when we do have the data out there from, again, I'm about to cite another website. Let's go. Inpredictable.com has the... Predictable.com. That's INPredictable.com has the possession data where it's time of possession after made shots, after defensive rebounds, after turnovers, and then the total number.

So that gives you the authentic, the real possession time for teams rather than pace. Pace factors in both teams, right? So if one team's moving slow and one team's moving fast, pace will equal towards the middle. With possession time, it looks solely at that one team and how quickly they get a shot up after a defensive possession ends. So Atlanta leads the league in possession time. Lakers are second, Warriors are third, whereas the Warriors are like 10th in pace. But that's because of the way the opponent is played.

So I think Haralibab coming out of nowhere, dropping some knowledge, it's pretty good. I think we should start collectively as an NBA community using possession time rather than pace. That's all. Oh my God. I think you just introduced me to my new favorite website. Unpredictable is really good. Hey, introducing robo-cap, an automated horse race handicapper.

Robo-Cap! I can't love this thing more. Impredictable tickets stuff. It's not just basketball. Look it in unpredictable. Yeah. Yeah, I'd never heard of this website. Mike, the guy who runs that site, he had an article, I think, before the season started

about how possession time, put it in this way, he looked at WNBA possession time and predicted how NBA pace would change based off the rule. changes. It's pretty cool. Kevin O. Bookmark coming through. Impredictable. Hey, if your website did not get a shout out today, we apologize. We did shout out a lot of websites

today. We did. It's a lot of good resources out there, man. The NBA community is pretty remarkable. A lot of good stuff. That is for certain. I can't wait to watch this basketball tonight. Can't wait to talk to you again next week. Thanks, Kevin. Thank you, Chris. It's going to do it

for another edition of the mismatch. If you dig what you're and go give us a rating and review on iTunes 5 stars, 5 stars. And we will talk to you next week.