The Ringer NBA Show - The Eight Most Important NBA Players Heading Into the FIBA World Cup | Group Chat

Episode Date: August 29, 2019

As the beginning of the FIBA World Cup approaches, we run down the most important NBA players competing in the tournament and speculate over what impact their participation might have on their 2019-20 NBA seasons. Hosts: Justin Verrier and Jonathan Tjarks 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. wherever you get your podcasts. Basketball is very good. The Rockets should bring back mellow. Devin Booker is actually a winning player. Bruno Caboclo will win Brazil the World Cup. Basketball is very good. Hello and welcome to the Ringer NBA show.

This is the group chat. I am Justin Varyer and joining me on the Subway Fresh Take hotline. It is the Ringer's own JT. Jonathan Charks. What's up, Charks? Do we have a subway promotion now? Or is that just you saying that? That's just me calling back to the OG. You don't remember to listen to that with Bill's podcast?

Vaguely. Yeah, really vaguely. Okay. I've got some free subway out of it or something, but I guess not. Hopefully I haven't upset all of the advertisement people at the ringer or Bobby. Bobby, have I upset you by this news? No, you haven't. Okay. I do everything for Bobby, so this is important.

Today we're going to get into some Feeble World Cup action. We're going to break down with Charks the most interesting men in the world in parentheses cup. I don't know if you got that. That's a good editor headline right there. I love it. If only I could use that in the headline. I actually might still use that in the headline.

So I'm going to reserve the rights. Yeah. But first, we just want to address the news about DeMarcus Cousins right before we came on to do this podcast. It's about 1 p.m. Pacific on Thursday afternoon. An arrest warrant was issued for cousins on a misdemeanor domestic violence charge and has been issued in Mobile, Alabama.

Cousins has been in the news lately. This is a pretty serious situation. There's really not much to discuss beyond that. But just the fact that there is an arrest warrant out for a multi-time NBA All-Star is significant. I don't think we've had one of these in a very long time. Obviously, a situation we're going to be tracking over the next couple days. But for now, we're going to turn our attention to the World Cup.

It starts Sunday in China. Heck yeah. Basketball is back, people. Somewhat. Unfortunately for us on the Pacific coast, that basketball will be playing primarily in the early morning hours, hours before Justin does not get up. Not a morning person, Justin? Not a 5.30 in the morning person, which I believe is the start time for Team USA's first game against the Czech Republic on Sunday.

Jarks, you can be up for that one? Yeah, I'm in the central time. So it's perfect for me, 7.30. You know, get up, have a little breakfast. Watch the basketball. I'm loving it. I'm a morning person, so no big deal for me. A little Bogdan Bogdanovich in bed?

What could be better? There's never a bad time for that. Never for a bad time. So we're going to go through a couple of the key players in this year's tournament. You can read a bunch on Team USA and some of the other teams on our website. Zach Kram wrote a statistical perspective of USA's roster in comparison to some of I think every team since the dream team and just pretty much all bad,

this roster is by comparison. Danny Chow wrote today, Thursday, about teams that can knock off Team USA, the Greece's, the Serbia, as we'll get into that. And then there's a few other pieces on the site. We've been tracking this throughout August, and we're going to be tracking it into September. So we're going to go through,

not necessarily the best players in the tournament, but specifically the guys that we are most interested in, specifically the guys that Charks is the most interested in, because I think he'll be following this tournament more than anybody else. But let's start with the biggest name in the tournament, and that's Janus Antedicumpo of Greece. Charks, you're super interested in seeing the reigning MVP in this setting, now? Yeah, I mean, we were talking about this for the podcast,

but he's, like, easily the best player in this tournament. And it really feels like this is the first time that the best, the guy who could be the best player in the world is like not American, right? Right. You go from like LeBron, Kobe, Duncan, Jordan, Magic, Kareem. Like the very, very, very best player is always American.

So like Team USA, since the dream team has always been able to say, well, we have the best guy here if it comes down to it. Like, if we send our best guy, I was going to have the best guys here. But for the first time, like, they don't. Like, right next year in the Olympics,

who is Team USA going to send better than Janus? No one? it's a great question. It really depends on how some of the guys develop over the course of this season, how many guys actually show up, which was obviously the big question going into this tournament.

I would first point to Anthony Davis because before Janus really took off last season and perhaps even the season before that, Davis was supposed to be on this trajectory as the top player in all of basketball, and I think he can get back on that, but definitely Janus has a head start. Does that sound about right?

Yeah, I mean, I guess Kauai would be there, but I'm guessing he's probably not going to play in the Olympics. He's never been a team USA guy. Right. The other guy I could think about is just Harden, who has Team USA experience. I'm not sure if he's going to want to go back again. He's really, he's over 30 at this point. I think he's gotten two gold medals, so probably not, right? Yeah, he's really past the point where a lot of guys have, the frontline guys have historically wanted to come back.

So, yeah, really could be 80 versus Janus. How cool would that be, by the way? That would be incredible. I mean, these are probably maybe one, two, an MVP voting in this upcoming season as well? Yeah, and I mean, if you look at it, like, this Team USA roster, who's going to guard Janus? They play Greece.

It's going to have to be probably Jalen Brown. Like, no offense, but that's not going to go very well, I don't think. Yeah, so what are you most interested in seeing from Janus? Because obviously, we saw him take a next step in his game. Obviously, the Bucks put together a roster that really kind of fit his game and really brought out the best in him. You saw a lot of point, Yannis, kind of driving from the top of the key

and all the shooters who were able to get open looks from there. Are there any specific skills you're looking to see Yannis improve upon, maybe specifically after that loss to the Raptors in the Eastern Conference Finals? Yeah, I mean, I think for sure is the jump shot. That's the last time we saw Yannis, Kauai pretty much exposed him. He just locked him up, pushed him out of the paint,

and he couldn't score over Kauai on the perimeter. And I think that's the final piece for Yonis. because he was making threes a little bit in the playoffs, but if he keeps sitting better on that, his jumper has improved over the last three or four years. And now that's like that's the final piece form. It's a lot kind of like LeBron. You remember when LeBron was first coming up

and in the NBA finals a couple times against Dallas, against San Antonio? He was given an umpard jumper and he couldn't hit it. And that was the final piece form as knocking down those like 20 footers, 23 footers consistently. And if Yon is going to make that shot in this setting, who's going to stop him? Greece could be anybody found us in jump shots. Yeah, I guess my concern is that if the wall that we saw get put up against Janus

so successful in the NBA in the NBA playoffs, I do wonder if a team as deep as Team USA can just do something similar. I mean, that's the question. I think people, I'm looking at the Greece roster. So they don't have any NBA players, but they got a few guys, I think, who can space the floor for them. So they got his younger brother. I guess now actually, Thanassus is an NBA player.

technically. He got that J.R. Smith, Chris Smith thing going from Milwaukee. Oh man, what a long summer it's been that I completely forgot on that. Well, I don't know that that was headline news. They got him. They got a Kossus Papua Nicolow. Do you remember him from Houston a few years ago? No.

Like a He was like a six-aid guy came off the bench. They have Nick Khalith's 6-6 point guard. He played a flight the Grizzlies for a while. Okay. I know him. And they have a guy. I'm going to give a shout-out to a former Texas Longhorn. I'm going deep cuts here. His name is Yannas Pabi Petru, he's a 6'8

small forward. So I think they can put like 466, 6, 6, 7, 6, 8 guys around Yonnas who can shoot threes. So I think that gives them a chance if he's to be unstoppable. Yeah, that's the interesting question there because it does feel like, and I don't have the statistics to back that's up, but like it does feel like looking back

at Team USA's history, there is one guy that often emerges, and in this setting for some reason, it just feels like one guy takes over and ultimately wins a lot of games for you? Well, one guy, I mean, it's like any basketball team, right? One guy kind of takes control of the team. He's the guy. Everyone recognizes it.

You look at, I think it was a 2010 world championships in Turkey. That's really when Durant kind of stepped forward. Like, okay, I'm Kevin Durant. I'm a superstar. I'm the best player here and the best player in this tournament. But the U.S. issue doesn't have that guy, really. It just feels like this is the year, when they play Janus, when they play Yokic, they're going to be at a disadvantage in terms of having the best player on the court. Yeah. Well, let's actually pivot to some of those Team USA guys right now. The next most interesting guys you have listed are the trio of Jalen Brown,

Jason Tatum, and Donovan Mitchell, who at this point are the three best, perhaps only wing options for Greg Popovich in this tournament? How do you forget about Harrison Barnes? How did I? Yes, indeed. Harry B. Team USA Lynchpin. So it looks like Pop has settled on four of his five starters, right?

So he's kind of mixed and matched in the exhibition phase. I don't believe he's used the same starting lineup for everyone. It's been Kemba a lot, right? It's been a lot of Miles Turner. It's been a lot of Barnes. And there's the last one, Mitchell? Yeah. So the back court, it seems pretty set,

Boston exhibition game. I think it'll be Kemba and Donovan mentioned on the back court, Barnes at the four, Miles Turner at the five. And he's been like going to two guys as a three. He's started Jason Tatum game with a three. Jalen Brown and Chris Middleton. Okay. So you're really hoping that either a Brown or Tatum steps up into the kind of the void there, right?

Yeah, I mean, I think Kemba's going to be the primary guy, but we've already pretty much seen down the NBA for like five years now. Kemba Walker has your primary option. So really, who's the number two? Like, is it Donovan Mitchell? Is it Jason Tatum? Probably not Jalen Brown, but I think Mitchell or Tatum, like, who kind of emerges as a second best player on this team?

It would be interesting. Yeah, it does feel like even though Walker is the guy, I mean, I only really watched two minutes of the loss to Australia, which snapped a 70 game win streak by Team USA, either in exhibition or in live games. And it did feel like Kembo was deferring to Mitchell, or at the very least Mitchell was the guy to step into that void. So it is interesting. I do wonder if by simply just stepping up, Mitchell could perhaps be the guy that they're looking for, who could emerge. It does feel like it's all set up for him, right? Like, you look at Utah this season. They're going to have a very different team, a lot more three-point shooting.

Like, really the last two years in Utah, he's played in a very restrictive half-court system. You know, Rudy Gober, Derek favors, not a lot of space around him, Ricky Rubio. And now he's going to go to Team USA. I'm going to be playing four out and being five-out with three-point shooting. The balls will move a lot more hopefully. And like, we're kind of expecting Mitchell to take a big step forward in Utah. And if that's going to happen, I think you want to see at Team USA too. Right.

Yeah, because there is a similar setup there. Just for statistical perspective, Mitchell has taken pretty much the same amount of shots as Kemba Walker, but in fewer minutes, he's at 47 and Walker is at 49. I don't know. Is Kemba much of a comp, though, for Connolly? I imagine that Conley will be looking to defer way more than Kemba will, because as we've mentioned, it does feel like Kemba, at the very least, has to be something of a veteran leader here. Yeah, I think that's right.

I think, you know, Conley is more of a pass-first. Kemba's really a score at heart. Right. So the floor is open for Mitchell to take the reins. The guy that I was super interested in coming into this tournament and the guy that I expected to take a step forward is Tatum. But as you mentioned here in our doc, he really, is kind of thrust into a similar role

that he was in with Boston last year when he's he is a talent, but he's surrounded by so much talent. How like how featured will he be? Well, this is what I was wondering about playing Harrison Barnes so much. It kind of really boxes you in because if you're going to play

Kenba and Mitchell, you kind of have to have Jalen Brown for defense. You need one big man out there. So that kind of like, I just stayed him out if Barnes is going to play a lot. Like I was really surprised looking at these rotations to see Harrison Barnes played too much. They really kind of surprised me.

Well, I mean, I guess if you have this level of talent, if you just don't have the front line guys, you really have to go with the guys you rely on. I think, and Pop in particular, strikes me as the type of coach who would go with the veterans over some of the guys who are going to play through mistakes. And I do think if you have Mitchell, Tatum, maybe even Brown, and they're playing significant roles, playing significant minutes, there's probably going to be a lot more flubs than you really can afford, because the whole thing about Team Team. USA this year is they just don't have the margin for error. They do have the depth of talent,

but those are the type of things you just can't really sacrifice. You can't really just play through all these turnovers. Tatum definitely has the talent. You would expect considering he's surrounded by a lot of his teammates, Marcus Smart, we mentioned Kembo, we mentioned Brown, that he has the proper context to really take a step forward, but it really is up to him. And it's kind of similar to how it was last season too. Like, if he is going to be the guy, we kind of need to, to see him take it, no? You know, I want to see him move the ball a little bit. I feel like when Team USA lost, there's a lot of one-on-one play.

The ball stopped moving, very stagnant. And I feel like Tatum, especially in a smaller role, he can kind of get impatient and it's like, oh, I need my touches. I need my shots. When he gets the ball, it's like, okay, now it's my turn. I get to shoot it. And like, to me, what I've always wanted to see from Tatum

is more playmaking ability. You even go back to Duke, he was pretty much always, I get my own shot whenever I want, whatever. And I love to see Tatum move the ball, help the guys around him better, instead of just kind of like popping in out of the offense. And I do wonder, it does feel like Pop has made him a sixth man almost. He's only sort of one game, but he's played third most minutes. And it feels like Pop might be like, you know what, Tatum, do you, bro.

Come in the game and jack some shots. That's cool. The Kobe roll, just off the bench. Yeah, no, that makes sense. And especially if you're going to put Kemba in that point guard, it does make sense if Tatum has a little bit more. creation duties. Obviously, Gordon Hayward could probably play a little bit more point forward, but

it does feel like they're headed more toward some sort of equal opportunity offense in an ideal, which was honestly kind of how it was for Brad Stevens in a vacuum. You think Boston will be, or sorry, Team USA? Boston will be. Do you think Kempa's going to go for that? I don't know. I feel

like Kamba, even though he has been so ball-dominant throughout his career, I think he has this type of personality in order to do whatever the team needs. I would not be surprised if he's willing to take a backseat. Because, like, yeah, he has played a pretty significant role in Team USA. But like I mentioned, it felt significant to me to see Mitchell step forward and Kemba not really try to step on that. And that's essentially what you're hoping happens with Tatum too, because as good as Kemba is, I think Boston's ceiling raises significantly if Tatum is your best player.

It's tough, though, because, like, if you're running offense to a Tateham, too, because, like, if you're running offense to Tate, and he's not passing the ball. It kind of makes things very difficult. Like, I feel like Boston could have the same issues this year, right? So you have Kemba, Hayward, Tatum, and then Jalen Brown is your fourth option who wants a new contract.

Like, I feel like people kind of assuming Boston would be great without Kyrie, but there's a lot of mouths to feed in that team. Brown is the last guy we have here who we should talk about quickly. He's a guy that I thought just made a ton of sense for this team, just because they needed some more defense

and just the up and down nature of international basketball. it just seems like it really fits his game. And although his shot is kind of Waxon Wayne, one of the things that we talked about, Charks on a previous pod was just how significant three-point shooting can be in this environment. So he's a guy I have my eye on.

You would like to see him kind of step up as the defensive maestro, especially with PJ Tucker gone, especially with Marcus Smart there, but you always have to factor in what he gives away on the offensive end. I don't know. Is there anything significant you're watching from him? I'm also curious to see if they go super small and move him to the five. Because at international ball, a lot of times you'll see that.

Teams go really small. And you look at Boston next year, right? Their best lineups, like, who are their fives? Ennis Cantor and some guy from France? I don't even know. Sure. They lost Horford. Oh, they have Daniel Tice. They have Daniel Thice. Robert, are they have time lord?

They have time lord. Yeah, how can we forget time lord? It really feels like their best lineups will be like small ball five out lineups. And that puts a lot of pressure on Jalen Brown as their biggest best athlete to be good defensively. Yeah, and I believe Michael Pena over at SB Nation recently wrote a piece. Yeah, yeah, I saw it. He had an article about that, that's right. So, and I think the conceit was Mark as smart as your small ball five, which makes a lot of sense in a vacuum.

I mean, you just go with your best five players. That's what ultimately the NBA is kind of whittling down to, especially in key moments, especially in the playoffs. But, man, you're sacrificing a lot of five. If Tatum is basically your four, just in terms of size. And if you're in the east, right, you got to beat Juel and Bede. You got to be Janus.

So you're going to have Jalen Brownguard, those guys? It's a tough one. But the size thing is particularly interesting because the next guy we have on this list, is also creating something of a Twin Towers approach in Indiana next season. That's DeMata Sabonis. He will be playing with Lithuania. The interesting thing there, I think, is that the Pacers,

what they'll do without Victor Lodipo in the first half of next season, it will really probably come down to how well Sabonis and Miles Turner will mesh together. It's really been a question lingering over the team for about a year plus, pretty much since Sabonis got there in the trade with Oladipo. It seems like just based on the roster construction, they're really going to try to lean into it. And I am of the opinion that it's probably not the worst idea, considering that they're two of their more,

just better players on the roster, but at the same time, it's just like not ideal for either. Is there anything specifically with that in mind you're looking at with Sabonis next to Eunice Valenciunis on this Lithuania team? I think that's exactly what it is. It'll be the same kind of situation where he's the primary score, but he'll be playing with a bigger guy, so he'll be playing at the four.

And like, how often do you see a team run their offense through a post-up four anymore? Right. Like, never, basically, right? So, and if, like, if there's one guy who could do it, it's probably a bonus. He was freaking dominant last year. He shot 59% from two points just crazy.

Yes. And he said some of the hardest, screens probably in the NBA. So if he is... Yeah, he always plays hard. If he is theoretically like just the role man type, if we're really going to go black and white here,

it would be interesting to see Miles Turner as something of the stretch for, because definitely has extended his range. He shot 38.8% from three last season in 2.6 attempts. He shot 35.7% from three on 2.4 attempts

the season before that. So there is some data that supports that he could do it, I'm just not sure defensively if that's ideal, especially as teams kind of sized down specifically at that four spot, and you're asking either Turner or Subbonus to really chase guys

on the perimeter. Yeah, I mean, I think you're going to have to have Subbonus guard like the Jalen Browns of the world at 3.1. Right. I guess the one thing that's interesting is Turner, as we mentioned before, has stepped up as probably the go-to center for Team USA. According

to John Schumann, who kind of crunched some of these stats. He's shooting 71% in all of the exhibitions and was a plus 48. And that's in five opportunities. It's pretty good. And they're definitely going to need him, as we mentioned, because you have the Yokaches and the and the Janus is out there kind of lingering in the background. But Subonis, extension eligible. I'm not sure of the specific date, but it usually is around the time when the season starts, when those things have to be wrapped up. Halloween, I think, oftentimes. That's often. It used to be. It's really not publicly available. I'm not really sure why they don't do that.

But I think it raises the question of what you really do with Subonis. Do you make him play out this season and really prove it? Or do you try to lock them in now before, you know, maybe Turner and Sabonis is like a revelation? Yeah, it's a tough call. I think you kind of have to see them play together before you can give big money to both. And if you look at Sabonis's numbers, so he only averaged 14 points a game, but that was in 24, 25 minutes. So if you push him up to per 36, he was at 20 points a game on almost 60% shooting. And that's still with only a use rate of 23.

So like if you make him the primary option and he's at like 27, 28 usage, could he score like 24 points a game in the NBA these days? I don't know. But I'd love to find out. And I think this in Lithuania we'll see in the same kind of system with another big man, how many points can he score if he's trying to like bully guys the basket? I don't know. Yeah, I mean, it does, they could work out some sort of three-man time share, I guess, because they also drafted Goga in the first round. Goga Badazi.

Am I pronouncing that right? We'll just pretend that I am. But, oh, whoa, it's a little flare from church there. Hey, we're covering the draft, man. We've got to know this stuff. It's true. So I do wonder, I mean, he's a guy who can shoot, right? That's his whole deal.

He's monstrous and he can shoot. Yeah, yeah, but he can, like, kind of pop out. It's not like Brooke Lopez or anything. He has like potential to shoot. It's probably by the way to say it. So could they theoretically put together a three-man combination or a three-man rotation where these guys are just versatile enough

that they can kind of put things together? I mean, T.J. Warren is a guy who could flash to the four in small lineups. They still have Doug McDermott. Probably not going to help you on the defensive end, but probably a little more fleet of foot than a guy like Goga. So I don't know.

Well, that's a foot race I want to see. Go Good. tournament. Perhaps we'll see that in this tournament here. Is Goga playing? He's from Georgia. They're not here in this tournament. Ah, damn. Is Zaza from Georgia? Yeah, the Zaza Pachulia Memorial.

Zaza, by the way, now a team consultant for the Warriors, late breaking news. What a news break by Charks. Let's take a break ourselves. And when we come back, we're going to talk about three more guys who were keeping an eye on at the Feeble World Cup. Today's episode of the Ringer NBA show is brought to 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 team is here to help make it easy for you to run your business, offering everything from 14-day product storage to financing solutions to Express pickup. Sign up for Pro Premier rewards, and you'll automatically rack up points that you can exchange for prizes. Plus, you have access to over 15 discounted services to help you grow your business, explore your local floor and decor, and discover how quality flooring products

at everyday low prices can completely change your game. Visit floorandacore.com today to locate the floor and decor nearest you and score savings and service. you won't find anywhere else. That's floor and decor.com. All right, we're back. Charks, Bobby, Justin. We're still talking about the Fibre World Cup. Thank you for sticking with us for this long.

But here's a guy that you probably know. It's Nicola Yokic from Serbia. Serbia is probably the biggest competition in this tournament for Team USA, if not Greece, simply because they have Janus, as we mentioned at the top. But I think Yokic is kind of having a moment here. as I wrote, and are you sure recently, are we sure about Anthony Davis in his case for MVP, I was kind of in the back of my mind thinking that the more provocative opinion would be for

Yokic being the guy who is probably like on the low one has the best chance simply because he already has shown that he's a frontline player. Obviously he was a starter in the All-Star game, but he still has so much room to grow. He's still super young, and his usage rate was below 30, which you'd expect for a guy who's handling the ball as much as he does, would be way higher.

And so I wonder if he'll take the reins for the Nuggets next season. But I think it's fascinating to watch him in this context with that in mind, considering if he does just carve up people, kind of like an old-school Gasol on Spain sort of thing,

I wonder if that just gives him, them even more confidence going into the next season. Well, if you remember, if you look at the 2016 Olympics, he had a really big game against Team USA. I remember I was starting a piece like, wow, that's when I was like, Yokic, man. This dude is nasty. He gets a bucket than anybody. You were on the ground floor is what you're saying.

You have receipts. No, I wasn't the ground floor. The people in Denver were in the ground floor. They were telling me about him, and he was like a second round pick. I'm like, okay. But like Yokic, like, I think from the MVP vote, because like, he's the one guy. There's not going to be any ballots splitting, right? Like with Anthony Davis, he has LeBron kind of taking votes from him.

Whereas Yokic, like, if they win 60 games, he's getting all the credit. So I do think that gives them a pretty good chance to be the MVP. Right. Unless Jeremy Grant steps in, ring her favorite. Yes. I love it. Considering how much ink we've spilled on Jeremy Grant this summer, he definitely has some supporters in that category. What was interesting, I thought, was when Vegas opened their MVP line, which at this point is probably a month or two ago.

Janice was still the favorite, which surprised me because how often are we just going back to the well and dubbing someone MVP two times in a row? It's significantly rare. Obviously, Steph did it pretty recently, and then Nash did it before him. But I mean, I think with those two examples,

like Steph won 73 games and then Nash played with Omar Stademeyer. So there was like a new storyline for those guys in those two years. I think you're right. Otherwise, there's always, oh, what's the new thing? They play very dynamic styles. They're aesthetically, more aesthetically pleasing.

Even though Yokic has these, like, crazy passes and is just fun to watch Rumble up and down the court, I do wonder if it gets held against him sometimes that even on the defense event, where he may have a fine defensive game, but we probably only, like, look at the one or two plays where he just got cut back door and just, like, wasn't quick enough in order to cover. Ooh, you know what I'm just thinking about? He might be in better shape this year because of this tournament. I feel like Yoko is very much a, I'll play my way into shape kind of guy.

So he kind of usually shows up to camp, you know, got to burn some calories, kicks a few months to really get going. But with this tournament, maybe he should have to camp and really get shaped this year. The Chris Paul method? Yeah, I think so.

I like this conspiracy theory that this is actually the nuggets, like they let him go and do this in order for him to burn some cows. Can I make a counterpoint here real quick? Absolutely. As someone who played his way into shape during the course of the season,

If you're not naturally in shape, like you're not a natural athlete, as we all know that Yokic might not be, it can kind of cut the other way sometimes. Like by the end of the year, your knees just hurt more because you played the first two months of the season or the tournament on like way more weight than you should have been. So playing basketball when you're out of shape can actually do more damage in the long run. Wow. Sports scientist Bobby, I like this new look for you. I'm John Brinkus. No, but that's a good point there because like the whole thing going to this tournament. was like, how much should these guys exhaust themselves before pretty big seasons for pretty much every significant player on Team USA going like before camp, like the Anthony Davis is?

Even a guy like Landry Shamit just didn't want to waste himself because the clippers needed him. See, that to me was kind of, he didn't want to get cut. Let's be real. Like, people were just saying that Landry Shep was not in the lock to make the team or anything. Well, this team, I don't know. If you're going with Joe Harris, is Landry Shammett that much worse? Joe Harris is like the best shooter like the world or one of the best shooter Land has a good shooter

but I don't know Incredible beard too I'll be curious to see if he'll be sporting that in the humidity of China something to watch out there for guys no I mean I just think it's interesting

it's just like the Celtics the entire Celtics team is here and wow what a cool little story and maybe they'll bond over it but if they don't get worn out literally half of the rotation of the Boston Celtics

a team we expect to compete for you know, Eastern Conference supremacy, whatever you want to say. I think if you're under 25, you'll be okay. Like, come on. If you're in your 30s shirt, under 25,

they can play all day. They'll be fine. The other thing is, aren't you going to get sick of each other? Like, I'm not trying to see my colleagues for like 12 months straight as much as I enjoy...

First off, that hurts, Justin. Me and Bobby, I'm hurt for Bobby. Oh my gosh. Like, if Charks accompany me and my vacation, like, I'm sure we would have a fine time. You would be so... You would be blessed.

Let me tell that right now. I'm sure you give great food wrecks overseas, so perhaps it would work the other way. I don't know. I mean, like, I'm a little dubious about all the stories coming out of Team USA that like, Oh, Kamba, he's a great guy. Like, this is the start of something new with the Celtics. Maybe they're just people and then, like, you know, maybe people shouldn't spend that much time together. Well, it's one of those things like in terms of like being a quote unquote great guy,

if you're stepping in for Kyrie, it's like it's a very low bar to clear, right? It's like, when your girlfriend, like the last guy said it was really bad. boyfriend. And you do like really basic things. Oh, you're such a great guy. It's like, yeah, yeah, totally. Totally. Not that that's ever happened to any of us. I do think in terms of Yokic with this Serbian team, well, it's to be fun to watch with them, but I'm be watching. So they have Bogdan Bogdanovich, Nemeza B elites on this team, too, other NBA players. Great pronunciation sharks. I'm just loving it. I know my, I know my Balkans. They're both really good passers. I think with Yoguch is kind of fun to watch. Like in Denver, he's like the

only passer, right? They have like Jamal. Murray, Gary Harris, Will Barton. Those guys pretty much just jack shots. Jeremy Grant. I'm talking about last year though. Yeah, I know. So, I do like Jeremy Grant talk. But I think like those guys are all kind of like shot these jack

shots, right? But on the Serbian team, like when Yolkich passes the ball, the ball could go back to them. Like, there could be a lot more ball than it. It'd be really fun to watch. I'm excited for that, I think, more than anything. Right, yeah. And that's, when I think about international basketball, I do think about those Spain teams that were the ball really popped. You had

Saul bros. Yeah, that's what I want to see with this Serbian team. Right. Could Bogdan be the next rookie Rubio? Is that the headline? He's better.

That's my tick. He's already better at rookie Rubio. Yeah, I mean, Rubio definitely fell off as an NBA player. But Rubio has like an 18-year-old teen sensation with just the doe eyes

and all these like crazy passes. Like, what an experience that was. I will say Bogdan is surprisingly handsome. I pro-fuddly a couple years ago. I was like, this guy is really good looking. Oh my gosh. I had no idea. All right.

I'm just going to side. step that one, but yeah. We can talk Bogdan now, I think. I mean, I think he's another guy I'm really interested to watch in this role. He'll be the starting point guard. You know, and Sacrimony's a six man. I think that's a guy. He's up Frank's

tension too after this year, who the Kings to make a really tough decision on. Right. And he's a guy who perhaps is displaced a little bit by putting down so much money, the Kings for Harrison Barnes, a guy that they could potentially meet in like the final game. I wonder if there's like some weird, like,

Michael Jordan Scottie Pippen versus what's his name from Co-coach, right, yeah. I wonder if there's like that sort of animosity. A much, much lower level of that. It's like the basement level of that sort of situation. But no, I mean, I think it's getting pretty crowded. That's what happens with some of these young teams.

They have all these bites at the Apple in the first round and in Bogdan's case in a trade where they have a lot of young talent, but at a certain point you really need to carve out your team and if they intend to play Barnes primarily as a three, that whole Fox Buddy Bogie situation, I don't know if it gets as much of a leash as perhaps it would have.

Yeah, and they really committed to battle at the four. They want to play Harry Giles at the five. And I think, like, last year when they got Per Barnes really kind of forced out Bielitsa, and he was really a key to their surprising start of the season. And I think where they really miss Bogdan is because you've got Buddy Healed, great shooter, not a good passer.

you've got Deerrin Fox, great passer, like average shooter. Bogden kind of is the middle guy, where he's a really good shooter and a really good passer. And I think he's a big part of what they do. And I think they would really miss him if they let him go, which they might have to do because you're right. They just paid Harrison Barnes. They're going to pay Buddy Hill the summer probably a big extension. They've got Fox coming down the road. They've got badly down the road. The money's adding up for this team pretty quickly. Yeah. And I do wonder like when the window is at this point if we're saying that they're almost too good not to make themselves,

like put themselves in the position to be in the lottery. The windows this year, they want to make the playoffs this year. Right, but so does literally every team in the West, including the Suns. Yeah, that's true. So I just,

I don't know if they have enough talent at this point in order to crack what is a, I don't know, nine or ten deep rotation of teams that we all expect to be there. And I think, like, they have to get Bagley getting better. I really think it's Harrison Barnes.

They've got to figure out, is Barnes a three, or is he a four? And if he's the four is back at the five, I think Barnes is really the swing spot for their whole team. And as a Mavericks fan,

having watched Harrison Barnes the last three years, I'm not sure that's that great, but he's a swing spot for you. Sure. Yeah, they're definitely in this interesting limbo that a lot of hipster teams find themselves in

where they've reached probably the end of being the fun team. And now you've got to win. Now you have to win, right. And last year was a pretty good opportunity for them because they definitely were in the mix for a little while there. They definitely slacked off.

I think the youth started to really catch up to them. Honestly, it was trading for Barnes. That's when the team went south. Look at the, it's kind of funny how it worked out that way. Kind of funny. All right, let's talk about one more guy here before we break. Frank Nilakina of France. One of the more interesting, I guess, players in the NBA.

Hopefully things will be better for him with his national team. they have not caught particularly well in the NBA. It seems like the Knicks may have even moved on at this point considering that he's now he's now like what, third or fourth in the depth chart

at point guard? I think anytime the GM who drafts you gets fired, you're kind of in trouble as like a late lottery pick because he was obviously a Phil Jackson guy. Phil Jackson's gone and they don't seem like the new

front office doesn't really evaluate as well. And getting out for pay in a guy who does similar things as him offensively. He's more there to keep the ball moving and fill in the gaps. I just don't know why you would play Nillikina over them. If they're not incentivized to really invest in making Nillikina into something, it does feel like his time could come to a close. So that's why I'm interested to see if he's more comfortable in a setting like this,

where he's probably played with some of these guys for a little while now. a guy like Nicholas Batum has always been good on an international stage. I wonder if they could play off each other well. Although at that point, wouldn't you probably prefer Batum to have the ball over a guy like Nilakina? Well, I mean, I think Nilkega just will play at this thing.

And you've got the Knicks roster now. He's just not going to play right now. So I went and did a piece on RJ Barrett a few weeks ago. I look at their death chart. And like, you'll get their depth chart. They've got Dennis Smith, Alfred Payton, R.J. Barrett, Wayne Ellington, Alonzo Trier, Marcus Morris.

Kevin Knox, Reggie Bullock. That's eight perimeter players who are all above the Nile King in the rotation. So they're just in minutes for him in New York. And maybe even the guy, Brazdykus, front of him made the second round pick. So this is one chance to kind of show the rest of the NBA that he's still a good player.

Because this team is really set up well formed. So they have Gobert's Center, Batum and four, Fournier at three. Remember Nano the Kolo? Oh, yeah. I remember him. He'll be your two guards. So, like, you have four NBA quality players.

and Frank's kind of like your ersatz one, who can play off Batum. This is really a time for him to play like 25 minutes a game, do well. France is a very good team.

They could be a medalist team easily if they get Frank playing well. And if Frank plays well, maybe a team will trade for him because he's not going to play in New York this year. So they want to move for something, I'm sure.

So what team would perhaps have the best chance of drawing something out of him or who at this point is in a situation to throw a game to a game lot there? Oh, I would love it. Hit me.

I was watching Chris Tops Porzingis tape from my Mavs article from two years ago. Him and Frank actually had pretty good chemistry. I was like, wow, they really play well together. And the numbers, I think Frank and KP were like plus seven together in like, you know, 400 minutes. That was like his one positive player he was paired with. And I think the Mavs could use a long, a long athletic defender could move the ball and play off Luca and KP. I think it would be perfect, the team Euro thing they got going on. You don't think that would be duplicative of someone like Brunson?

You don't think like he would get forced out because they want to get Brunson those minutes? Well, because he can play off the wing because he's 6-5-66. So he's more like another Dilan Wright. And you never have too many Dilan rights, Justin. Never do it. Oh, man, that's the most charks comment that I could ever construct. No, I mean, I'm trying to think here.

Would the magic make sense? It seems like they're collecting a lot of point guards who can't shoot. Yeah, I mean, there's minutes. minutes for him there. Because like he could be in that, well, the problem is they have Markell Fultz already in that. Well, who knows? And that's same. And they have Malcaro Williams too. I think really for Frank, like, he just got to play. I mean, he's what, 20 years old? He basically didn't play last year. A guy that age has got to get in minutes. He's got to become more confident. I feel like his biggest thing is confidence. That's his biggest issue right now.

Because I remember, I first watched Frank at the, I think it was the under 18 European Championships where he was the MVP. And that and that in that tournament, they were playing him like he was like Steph Curry. He was jacking and like pull up 30 footers and stuff. I was like, oh, okay. But he got to the NBA. He lost his confidence. He doesn't shoot very much anymore.

And if you're playing like five minutes a game, it's hard to be confident. I'm always super intrigued by these second draft guys who, if you're not familiar with the concept, it's basically a lottery pick who fell out of favor with his first team. But you could perhaps another team could draw out some of the good things that made him a lottery pick to begin with. Like the Josh Jackson of the world. Like, those guys are always going to be super intriguing to me because the one question about the NBA is like, how much is it just about raw talent versus system fit? I think in the NFL, you hear constantly about guys who just didn't fit the right system, right? Whereas in the NBA, you kind of think that it's only five guys, it's about putting the best five guys on the court that a guy will probably find his way. But a guy like Nilakina kind of cuts against that where he has some skills, but he really just needs to find. the proper environment, no?

Yeah, and I think it reminds not of Drake and Bender, actually, in terms of these really young European guys, I think it hurts them coming over for their ready. Because, like, they get buried really quickly. They lose their confidence. And then it's like, oh, they're already yesterday's news. Bender and Nookin are like 20 years old. And they're like, oh, these guys are washed up. I really feel like these European guys, it makes sense to wait.

Like, like Bogd and didn't come up until he was like 24. I think if he came over at 20 years old at 19 years old, he wouldn't be very good. So, like, he got confident. He built up his bodies. When he got to the NBA, he was ready. Because it really feels like NBA teams are not very patient. Like, if you're Luca Donchich, you come in right away, you're good. That's great.

But if you're not good right away, there's a clock on you really fast. And you get, like, maybe one year, maybe two. And then you're yesterday's news. Whatever. This guy sucks. Yeah, which is particularly disappointing because the Knicks have all the time in the world. Well, you look at their roster. They're trying to win or something.

I don't know what they're doing. But they got a lot of veterans in this team. All right. Let's wrap it here. Charks, any predictions going into the World Cup? Who do you think is going to win this? I mean, I really want to pick Serbia as like a hipster pick, but I got to stay with America, right? I can't go against Team USA.

I'm going to pick them without any confidence. I really want to do the cut against the grain. I really want to be that guy. Bobby, how are you feeling? Team USA. I think there's a deep conspiracy. They're losing the exhibition games on purpose. Oh, they're throwing games to get people overconfident.

I like it. That's a very pop move. We can drum up that the Kemba savior narrative again. Wow. I for one, I'm ready for that. I know you are. I will do it. I will say that Serbia is going to win this.

Nice. I believe in Yokic. He's my guy. I'm writing this take until it gets boring, which will probably happen sooner. I will say if pop plays Harrison Barnes over Chris Middleton, they deserve to lose. There's my take for you.

On that note, we're going to call it four sharks. For Bobby, I'm Justin. We will catch you next time on the ringer and Miesha. Basketball is very good. Basketball is very good.