The Ringer NBA Show - The Philadelphia 76ers and the Eastern Conference With Chris Ryan | Weekends With Wos

Episode Date: January 20, 2023

Wos sits down with The Ringer's Chris Ryan to discuss the current state of the 76ers and their dynamics this season (1:32). They touch on Embiid, Harden, and Doc Rivers's strategy with the team (12:42). Later on in the episode they discuss the state of the Eastern Conference as a whole, including the Knicks, Nets, Heat, and Pacers (21:49). To end the podcast, Chris gives an interesting movie recommendation and the two talk about what they do upon returning to their home of New York (35:20). Host: Wosny Lambre Guest: Chris Ryan Producer: Jade Whaley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Follow the show now on Spotify. And do us a favor. Give us five stars. And do us another favor and stay major. Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to a New York City edition of Weekends with Woz. I'm your host, Big Wasa, aka Wazzy Lambray. And I'm joined, man, by a very special guy, a person who I would describe as my rabbi at the ringer the legendary chris ryan man what's going on brother i'm half jewish so i think

i can like claim to that title you know what i mean boom i didn't even know that a congregation of one i love that your your anglo vibes is so strong i don't realize you were half jewish homie so my dad was from england and my mom's jewish from queens wow look at that queens in the building there's no place like queens i'm happy to have you on the show today chris because Because I haven't talked Sixters up here in a while. And to be honest, even on group chat, we don't really talk about the Sixers. It's like they've been such a lightning rod for controversy the last three to four years that when they're just being a normal NBA team, it's like, oh, there's nothing to talk about with the Sixers. Because the standard is just like craziness, right?

And so they started, and I think a lot of this has to do it. They started off the season four and six, and I, stupidly, like, you know, veteran NBA observer that I am, I just wrote them off. I was like, ah, this is going to be a mess of a season. Harding thing is not going to work out. Everybody hates Doc. Like, Joel's going to be hurt, blah, blah, blah, whatever. The Sixers, yeah, who cares, wrote them off. And now they're number two in the East, 29 and 16.

They seen the stabilized stuff. Like, we talked about All-Star on the show on Wednesday, and there was a portion where, like, None of us even mentioned James Harder. It was like, wait a second. He's playing at an all-star level. Yeah. Right? And so, like, I'm, you know, I'm curious, man, just as a fan,

because I feel like fans obviously watch these games a lot differently than somebody like me who's just watching because they're a relevant team. How are you feeling about things as they stand right now? You know what's funny is that, so me and Rahim Palmer do this podcast on the Ringers-Filly special feed. You can also listen to Sheel and Ben talk about the Eagles, go birds. But because we podcast about them and we need to say something, I feel like I've been much more critical about the team than the record demands. Right.

So like you basically are just like, what's Doc doing? Baby Daryl's the emperor with new clothes and like he's never going to get a backup five. And he's just trying to put together the 2018 rockets. And I'm going nuts. We got to get, Dave Yeager should be the coach. It's just like everybody's so upset.

But then when you take a breath, you take a step back, they basically have rolled through the West Coast like Mobb Deep, you know, and they're 4-0, they beat Blazers last night. It doesn't always look pretty, but they kind of get the job done. And now Doc is definitely settled into the rotation

with Maxie coming off the bench. Him and Shake bring this offensive, like, boost off of the bench. Hardin is kind of now reminding me of like, he's moved into his offensive rondo period, which is like, I feel like he's like, it's all just like tooling around. out on the court and getting like weird 16 point triple doubles,

but has yet, I have not seen him in a couple of weeks, like really try to take a game over. He has like really just decided to play pure point guard. And it kind of seems to have set up and beat for a dark horse MVP season. And so yeah, it's a very aesthetically unsatisfying team. Like it's not fun to watch. It's often very like herky jerky. A lot of guys hitting the deck.

You'll be watching. You'll be like, how the hell are we up eight point? How the hell were we up 12 points? How did we win this game? The whole West Coast trip has been like that, except for this Blazers game. But all in all, if you gave me this record

at the beginning of the season and we're like, yo, by the way, at All Star Break, you're going to probably be second or third and B's going to be routinely putting up 35 a game. Hardin's going to be dishing out, 14 assists.

Maxie is going to adjust to a new role and coming off the bench and just be the Vinnie Johnson of the team. The new signings for the most part, Melton, Tucker, or whatever, or like fitting in, if not,

like, producing, I would take it. Yeah. And Hardin to me is the crucial part of all of this. Like, the success of the team

is going to, based on how well Hardin plays, is when, like, is he going to be able to score when the chips are down? Because they do, like,

they need perimeter shot creation, right? Like, Maxi is, look, I love them. I think I underestimated them for sure. early on in his career, but he's like proven a lot of people wrong, myself included.

And he's, you know, he has his ways. He finds ways to get buckets. He takes what he's given. Like if it's exactly. If people are playing off him, he'll just shoot it. If people are trying to keep him. He'll get downhill. He'll get downhill.

And so what Hardin is the guy that's going to do most of the perimeter creation. So it's like, you know, Rob pointed out. He's like, you know, the guy's leading the league and assists. And I was like, damn. And, you know, it makes you realize that, like, James Hardin is a point guard when he needs to be. He's just been a 30-point scorer for so long. We forget about that. So I wonder, to me, it's like I wonder if he has it in him to drop 30 in a game against the Celtics in May when, you know, nobody else has anything going.

Yeah, and can they win a second round game five? Right. If he's like, I've decided to score eight points tonight. and I'm going to have 15 assists and I'm going to keep the ball moving and I'm going to work the pick and roll with Embed but like against a Boston say who have historically guarded Embedwell

is Harden the guy who's like tonight I'll get 32. Tonight I will keep us in this every time Boston makes a run I'm going to come back and I'm going to get a bucket and I'm going to stop a run or whatever and it's like I don't know. I think it's been really interesting to watch him clearly adapt to being the number two and to being the facilitator and not

It's not a heliocentric offense at all anymore. Like, I think there were parts of the beginning of the season where it was a little bit your turn, my turn. There was Hardin dribbling at the top of the key. Everybody clear out Hardin tries to get contact or and get to the free throw line or do a step back three. There was a, I told this story of a fairly special that there was these kids behind me at the Clippers game.

He's like three 16 year olds. And they were going crazy because they had a Harden three made threes bet going. And they were like, this pays $600. Like, we're going to make it. And Hardin just refurb. to shoot threes the whole night. And these kids were dying. And then they were like, my dad needs the car back.

We got to go. So they left in the third quarter. But I don't know when the Hardin outbreak game is coming. And let me ask you this. So like, let's say they, you go through the year, we go through the playoffs with Hardin essentially being a 16 to 20 point a night, 10 to 15 assist guy a night. Is that enough for the six or six or six. to get past the second round of the playoffs,

which is essentially the bare minimum of this season. I don't think he can be a high assist guy if he's not a threat to score in the playoffs. And this is my problem in recent years with Hardin as he's become less of a mega athlete and more of just like, you know, skills guy, guile guy. I'm reading Michael Pina this morning

in his Golden State, Boston recap, and he's like, Tatum did different things. right he's like you know what i'm not just going to attack one-on-one i'm not just going to try to attack in the pick and roll they're doing stuff i'm going to get off the ball i'm going to attract defense i'm going to kick out to al horford for a three-pointer i'm going to try different ways to be effective and oftentimes james hardin has been so stubborn in his approach and to his credit in philly he's not as dribble-dribble anymore he does make quicker decisions quicker

by his standards with the ball when he has it. But like, I wonder if he's going to like take it upon himself to try different things. Like he's as smarter player as anybody out there. Like just like people got to understand just the idea that Harden developed the whole hook thing to get to the free throw line. Like that's a guy who's thinking about ways to be effective. You could make the argument. I don't know if I would, but you could make the argument that he has had as a profound an impact on NBA offenses. Steph.

Yes. Yes. Steph elongated the court and Hardin gumbed up the game. The foul seeking behavior, as my man Nate Duncan calls it, the way people just, everybody gets filed on threes now. That's Hardin. Hardin invented that, right? And you can say what you want about aesthetics.

But this is a guy who's thinking about different ways that he can win. You know, different ways to be effective. And so I think he needs to apply that. to scoring that isn't the cheap, you know, tax loophole stuff that he's been doing in the past. You know what I'm saying? So he's never shown himself to be that guy. I think this is well we're documented. I'm not even making this up.

Like him and Chris Paul got into it because Chris Paul's like, bro, when you don't have the ball, you're allowed to do stuff. Yeah. You don't have to stand 30 feet from the basket when you don't have the ball. You can be a threat that way. And so I wonder, because again, people can change. You know, I'm somebody who's a firm believer in people's ability to change, players, coaches, all of it.

So he's never shown it, but I wonder if he has it in him to do so. Yeah, it's like, this kind of goes back to what I was saying of like, if you're standing right up close to something, you feel like you have to have criticisms, but if you're standing far away, it's like, oh, this is actually better than I thought it wouldn't be. Like, when you stand up close to Hardin, I think you see all the, like, you can nitpick all the things that you don't like. what it did to basketball and all this stuff.

And I think because even though he's got this iconic image of the beard, he's not a very demonstrative or like particularly, at least to me, charismatic player. Like he doesn't like have a lot of good quotes afterwards. He doesn't have like, nobody knows anything about James Howard. Yeah,

we know he likes to party, right? Like, yeah, like I guess and same. So like I guess he and I have that in common. But like it's, you don't really get to know him the way you get to know and beed or even the way you get to know,

Maxy and even to some extent how you know PJ Tucker and stuff like that. But if you take a step back and look at the sort of trajectory of his career, he's to somebody who's transformed themselves multiple times. From a sixth man to like the single offensive engine of a franchise who's tried playing with a bunch of different number like partners that hasn't really worked. And this is the thing that gives me the most hope was he and him beat are playing better than I think he's ever played with anybody else.

as a duo. So the two-man game, if you watch over the course of this season, is starting to become a problem. And the M.B., Harden, pick and roll, pick and pop, whatever, is becoming deadly. Now,

the application of that in the playoffs with the different, like, sort of, you know, ref-riffing styles and stuff like that, we'll see. But M.B. currently is deadly from mid-range. And Hardin seems to know, where he needs the ball, when, and how.

And so that is something that's like, we now have a killer play. And I don't know that the Sixers have had a killer play in a long time. Yeah, I think that was the sort of crown jewel of the trade, was that pick and roll partnership, right? Especially when Hardin was a little bit twitchier. It's unswitchable because it's like anybody who's quick enough to guard Hardin absolutely cannot deal with Joelle and Bede in the post.

and vice versa, if you're thick enough to deal with Joel in the post, you're not quick enough to guard James Hardin on the perimeter. And so you have to guard these two straight up in the picket roll. That's a quick recipe for poison. And that they found adjustments and different wrinkles to that partnership. You know, it doesn't surprise me. Like, these guys are fucking great players. Yeah.

You know, like these guys. And specifically offensive players, they are offensive minds. So that doesn't surprise me. I mean, I think, you know, a couple of other things, of course, are going to have to come together around it. But I do want to talk about Joelle, who, like you said, he's having as good a season as anybody. I know, like, me and Bill and my man, Adam Marz are on the Yokic train heavily.

Yeah. You know, I bought my ticket. It's punched. It's like, I'm there. I'm in the VIP part of the Yokish train. I don't know if you've ever been in the VIP at an track. What's going on there? Well, you know, just Johnny Black, you know what I'm saying?

Oh, we're not doing like Serbian Appertifs or whatever? Maybe on the Yolkits train is different from Amtrak. Fair. But like, M. B is playing at an MVP level, especially when you consider what he does on defense. And he's doing it again. This is like the third year in a row that he's playing at this level. And just another name drop. My man Ben Gulliver, he was the first person to be like,

Joel and B gets to skate on a lot of shit. A lot of underachieving, it's like, let's blame Ben, let's blame Brett Brown, let's blame this, let's blame that, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like, nobody's really killed Joelle for the shortcomings of the team. And some of it was his own shortcomings, right, especially in the postseason. But this year, I think it's like, wow, like, he's like, yeah, I dealt with planar fasciitis in the offseason, and I just, I'm just fighting through it, and I'm just killing people anyway. I don't want to say I've come on the other side of, you know, being disappointed in Joelle, like completely.

But it's cool that he's showing this level of resilience, professionalism, and greatness, you know, like consistently. You know, on a team that when you listen to people that are over there, it's not like he's super satisfied with how the team has been constructed. around him, but he's making it happen. He's making it work, and I think that's something that he should be commended for. It's not that he wasn't this before, but this is the most professional season I've seen from him. Partially because he's not really campaigning for the

MVP, so I think he's just like, I'm going to go out there and score 38, and you guys can talk about me and Yokchut or not, but like, I'm not going to be press conferences about it. I'm not tweeting about it. I'm not like playing to the crowd about like everybody's screaming MVP to me. He kind of goes out there and takes care of business. This feels like a very

professional team. I wonder whether or not the introduction of guys like Tucker has helped that at all. Even though Tucker is like it sometimes is unplayable, um, I wonder whether or not his impact on the team got it goes beyond that, like whether it's keeping hardened somewhat in check, whether he's a James whisper for sure. Yeah. And whether or not, it's just basically like, Joel, it doesn't really matter what we do in, in January.

It matters what we do in in April and May, you know? So I, I think that it feels like a different team. It honestly feels like a little bit more of a doctor. Rivers team, you know, where it's just like the guys are going to go out there. They're going to win like 55. They're going to win 53 games. And we're just going to kind of tick it along. Now, Doc Rivers teams sometimes implode in the playoffs. And we know, like, I think that the great crucible for this franchise is going to be at

the end of the playoffs and depends on where we, we finish. But even look at that weird, hardened thing from Christmas and the way that kind of just got handled. Like, I don't, that's not sixers of the last five years. That six of the last five years is that becomes a conspiracy. theory and everybody's internet sleuthing of why it was how Woj knew this and blah, blah, and what it means and why would Hardin want to go back to Houston and it's because he owns like stock and Lowry's seasoning or whatever.

Instead, it's just like, yeah, that was probably a leverage play. Like, Darrell take care of it. It's just to get a better deal. Right. It's like I gave you a discount this time. Yes, I want to get paid. Yeah. But I want to get paid.

It's, you know, the only weird thing about it is that it's happening. during the Christmas holiday, but like... During Christmas morning. It was Christmas morning. It was really weird. I was like, I'm not going to work right now. It sucks. So crazy.

But what happened that day? They went out and they beat the Knicks. That's it. You know what? They went out and took care of it. They beat the Knicks in the garden. Yeah. They've clearly found some equilibrium.

And it's, you know, as much as some of this is new to everybody, as far as them, doing it in Philadelphia. At this point, like, Joel, James, Doc, Darrell have been through so much individually in their professional careers that it allows them, I would imagine, to take a more sober approach to everything.

You know, like, these guys, you know, like, Darry's not fighting for his reputation or, like, making his way in the league and making a name for himself. Like, he's Darry. It's like, yo, I don't have to press this. Doc Rivers doesn't have to press this. James or Joel, like, these guys have been around the block.

So it's cool to see that, you know, they didn't self-implode from Hardin and his team. Yeah. You know, letting the Sixers know seven months in advance. They also didn't implode when Maxie, like Maxie didn't implode when he lost his starting spot. You know what I mean? And Maxie's in the line for, like, a contract. Like, that's the thing is that, like, a kid like that. could be like, yo, you know that I can score 25 to 30 points in this league. How am I coming off

the bench? Like, my money is getting messed with right now. And he didn't do that. He was just like, it is what it is. I feel like I'm going to get my minutes and I'm going to get my points and I'm going to help the team win. Tip off the new year with Fandu, America's number one sportsbook. New customers get $150 in free bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. Just download Fandul Sportsbook app. It's safe, secure, and super easy to use. Then you can bet on everything from the money line to point scores to threes drained. Tonight, the Miami Heat are at the Dallas Mavericks. I like their money line at minus one to five.

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like, I think, like, so, like, on average, would you say what you watch, like, every Knicks game? Not really, bro. I don't watch a lot of NICs. You try not to? I watch it, like, the team that I watched, the most before Halliburton went down was the Pacers. Like every Pacers game.

You know it's the early slate. So there's that group of games. And it's like any early slate, I'm just like, all right, I'm watching the Pacers. The Knicks, I watch the Knicks, you know, especially if the Pacers aren't playing. But my teams that I've watched the most of are Indy and Denver. Indie because they're my favorite team this year, Denver, because I picked them to go to the finals. And I want to be right.

And so the Knicks, of course, I watch the Knicks. Like, I have to watch the Knicks. Like, people are texting me about the freaking Knicks from home anytime anything decent happened. So, you know, I have to watch the Knicks. But they're definitely not my top two or three watch teams this year. I was, I'm bringing it up because, so I went to Nuggets Clippers the other night, even though Yokch didn't play.

Nuggets won. Kik their asses anyway. But Kauai did. And then I've been watching, like, a bunch of nuggets and a bunch of Grizzlies recently, just because I'm like, this seems like it's really real. Yeah. And, you know, with the gris, obviously, they're so deep. But also it's like every play gets the like college high school level bench reaction.

And it just seems like an incredibly connected team. Yes. And in Denver, I got to sit really good seats for Denver. And the amount of like off ball movement and cutting and dudes just being available for a pass and the ball zipping around the court, even without Yolkich, this was essentially. essentially like Aaron Gordon and Bones Highland running off like and Jamal running the offense. I was just like this is just like basketball and technical color. I've been watching basketball and black and way all year.

Yeah. I think that's part of what makes me a little bit muted about the Sixers. Is they are neither a super connected team or a particularly fun one to watch. You know what I mean? They are just dudes on their third run at a gym. We're like, you're not going to knock us off, but we're not going to be like, we're not going to be high-fiving every play. You know what I mean?

That is such a beautiful way to put it because, yeah, they're definitely not a connected bunch. And it's not as if it's a bunch of complementary pieces that allow it to just flow very seamlessly. They're talented, though. Oh, yeah. Which counts for something in this league. And then the thing is, is that with a league that's like this tight, although I know Bill likes to start every Bill Simmons podcast with discussing the separation, the self-

are seeing at the top of the east and how sublime that is and then doles out a healthy dollop of misinformation about Brooklyn, Milwaukee, and Philly right after that. He is like, he's killing me right now. I usually don't get triggered by Bill, but like him be like, uh, yeah, today I got the secretary of state, Anthony Blinking on. But first, uh, I got to talk about how Missoula is really unlocked. But, uh, because it's so tight aside from the beautiful and wonderful. Celtics, I think it's going to be a really big seating year.

And it's just like you could see a very surprising team in the conference finals because it might just be who do you catch, when do you catch them, and how many of their guys do they have, you know? Yeah. And I think matchups are going to matter too, right? I think Boston is just a tough, tough, tough, tough matchup for the sixes. But I think Brooklyn, they beat them up. I don't think Brooklyn can stop the sixers.

I think they beat them up. You know, like, and the, the fact that they could throw PJ at KD, we can get really physical with him. And PJ's, you know, his, his gift is that he fouls consistently and the reps don't call it. And if the Sixers and the Nets play in a playoff series, like, we may see Ben Simmons, we're like, retire at halftime. It just may be too much. He may just get overloaded, man. The prodigal son, your prodigal son, Chris, I'm so happy. brought him up.

Where are you at with Benson's? Are you like, because, you know, sometimes a guy leaves your team and you still root for him, not me, but like, like, I don't root for guys that leave the Jets of the Mets. Like, he's just like good riddens. I hate you. Yeah, we have a couple of friends who, like, like, one of our bosses, Jeff Chow is like a Jimmy, lifelong Jimmy guy now. I love that.

So he's just like, we never should have traded Jimmy. Look at Jimmy grinding out there. And I'm just like, fuck Jimmy. You know? Jimmy's like blown up like four teams. But yeah, I don't, I usually, I, I thought I wanted a different trade for Ben, but I wanted to trade Ben. But I was never like, this guy is, we need an exorcist to get this guy out of here. I was like, I think he's like a pretty unique and special player.

But clearly is like, there, there's a lot going on up there and he needs to like untangle it. What's happened to him over the last couple of weeks is kind of like, Whoa, this is dark. Look. Was he missed like, didn't he miss like 16 free throws in a row? It's bad. He's in the 40s on free throws. And he's doing the like, I have an wide open dunk and I'm going to like try and wrap around past

to Claxton. And here's the thing. I like, I hate to say, I told you so, but I told you. I've been telling people for years. Like, once after his first year, he never made any meaningful improvements to his game, aside from being a smarter, like a better different. offender. But, like, offensively, he never made any meaningful improvements.

There was, it's not even like, I'm not one of these Twitter people like, oh, Ben has no bag. It's not about that. It's like, you know, develop a post game, turn around hookshot, develop, like, something that you go to, that you punish people with, that you're better at. And it's never happened. And now it's gotten to the point in his career where everybody knows not only what he can do, but what he wants to do.

You know, when people can predict what's coming, it makes you so much easier to stop. And whatever, I don't feel like doing the Ben Simmons pie. No, but he doesn't, and he also doesn't have the, like, irrational confidence of Dremont where it's just like, you're going to back off me? I'm going to shoot it. It's still going to shoot, right?

Yeah. No. Ben doesn't, you know. He doesn't have the resolve of Janice Ante de Kumpo, who was stinking it up in the playoffs from free throw, and still was like, put me there 20 times a game. I don't care. This is what my team needs to win. I'm going to do it. I'm going to look bad in the process.

I'm not going to look cool. And I've been saying it for years, I think the thing about Ben is he's extremely vain. And like, if he doesn't look cool doing it, he's not going to do it. And so, you know, it's resulted in this. Like, this stuff is super predictable to me because I've been so pessimistic on Ben for a while. But, you know, it's not like I enjoy watching the guy be. terrible. No, I mean, it's almost like cringe at this point.

It's like watching curb or something. It's like, oh, man. They lost four in a row, right? They lost four in a row. Yes, yes. You know, look,

it was going to take people who weren't Kyrie to fill a void, you know, especially in their offense, especially in shot creation. Like, Katie's one of the best shot creators we've ever seen ever. And so, like, it wasn't going to be one guy that's going to come in and do that. Like, everybody was going to have to do their part.

And unfortunately, the guy making, damn there, $40 million a year wants no parts of it. And so, you know, the Brooklyn thing, whatever. When Katie comes back, it'll be fine. But, yeah, that bent situation just gets nastier and nastier by the day. Oh, I wanted to ask you one more hoops question before. Oh, yeah, let's do it. Let's do it. Since we're talking about the Eastern Conference, and since I'm, you know, as, as, as,

as a guy who cheers for the team is in second, third, whatever. Who on the bottom half of the Eastern Conference do you see as a slingshot team in the second half of the season? Like they're putting it together or when they get this guy back or I can feel it make a run.

Like there's usually like every other year it feels like the heat rip off a 25 and 5 second half of the season or something, you know? So to me, the reason why it can only be the heat is because they're the only team with a guy who on a given night can be as good as Joe. can be as good as Jason Tatum, can be as good as Kevin Durant.

Like, individually, he can match their level on a given night. So to me, he's the only serious person in that category. So that's why it's like, it's definitely Miami to me. Because, like, Jimmy, man, say what? And you know what? I shouldn't say that. It's not just Miami. No, no, it's bottom half, whatever.

I've already said I think Cleveland is, like, really good and it's going to be super hard to beat in the playoffs. But Miami, to me, when these possessions just get bogged down in the playoffs, and it's not this, you know, up and down situation in every single possession is in the half court, I think Jimmy's just the ultimate weapon there. He's so good at it. You know, he's just like facilitation, one-on-one scoring, exploiting mismatches. He's so good at it.

So to me, Miami's the only person that I can see, like, taking Boston to a seventh game, beating Brooklyn. Like, Miami's the only team I see that way. I think Cleveland, when they're healthy, are clearly in the upper echelon of the east. So I don't think they count for this sort of category. But everybody else, I think, is just they got too much to figure out to be like a real true, you know, as you put it, slingshot team. Yeah, I mean, I just was wondering because, like, you know, you were saying you watched a bunch of Pacers. I know that they're dealing with injury stuff, especially with Halliburton.

But yeah, I was curious. The Pacers are fun for the regular season because their effort level on a night to night does not wane. And Halliburton is legitimately, like, he's legitimately an elite player. You watch some of these Crunch Tom's possessions where, like, dudes aren't really sure what to do in the pick and roll. Like, yeah. He's doing these stepbacks. He's draining 30 footers. like, and of course his court vision is such that like any opening he's going to find a dude.

And so like they have that, but like in half court offense and the playoffs, bro, like much as I love my Haitian brother Ben Matherin, love him, excited for his future. He is so freaking fun. And talk about like demeanors and approaches to the game. Like he has no nonsense out there. He's like throwing a Wolverine out on the court. Brough. He doesn't even smile.

He doesn't smile when he's playing. It's kind of like you don't see pro players like that. No. Like pro players are like, you know, they want like it's wandering around. It's looking up at the Jumbotron. It's like chatting with each other. He plays with a purpose. He's like every night is rivalry night.

Yes. You know what I mean? Yes. Much as I love them, I just don't think in the half court, I don't think they're going to generate quality offense. Rick's a good coach, man, though. Like I wouldn't, I wouldn't put it fast. He's like, he's like really good at like when the game's tight.

manufacturing some offense for his team and stuff. It would be kind of interesting to see them against like a Brooklyn kind of situation and be like, oh, Brooklyn is so bad at defense. So yeah, that would be a favorable situation for them. It's just like, as much as I love Halliburton, if you force him to finish at the cup,

he's still not great at it. He's still not great at drawing fouls. Miles again, people who listen to this podcast, know that I'm in the tank for Miles Turner. Yeah. Much as I love him, he's not, like, he's a connector. He's a finisher. He's just not going to threaten guys and draw help and all that kind of thing.

And, you know, Buddy Hill is, I, buddies had a resurgence season. I love that he's turned himself into like a Reggie Miller type of guy where it's like, yo, I'm just a threat when I'm moving off the ball at all times. And that's going to create gravity and opening for my guys. Like, a lot of that stuff gets eliminated in the playoffs. Yeah. You know? And so that's my issue with Indy.

Like, with Jimmy, it's just like, bro, I've seen Jimmy beat, just beat guys to death, okay? Like, quick two files on your best perimeter defender. Oh, you got, you put a little guy on me? I'm taking them straight to the post. Like, I've just seen Jimmy do it over and over and big and huge moments, dude. You know, like, just play his best. And so I just. just love Jimmy, especially in the playoffs.

Like, he's just one of the few guys that gets better as the games get harder. So, like, yeah, for me, it's Jimmy. The Knicks, come on. I mean, Julius Randall is going to, he's going to hit you with this slingshot. Like, come on, bro. So, yeah, they're the only team that I really, really, really truly, truly see it for. But I wanted to talk to you because I haven't seen this movie, but I wanted to talk to you about it. Because backwards.

So in L.A., funny thing is, like, I really don't go to the movies like that. But when I was in New York, it was like a thing that I did all the time. Like, either I would go to Jamaica and catch a matinee and, like, be in the movies watching, you know, I don't even know, something like Spider-Man with the biracial dating. Like, at 12 p.m. by myself. You know what I mean? Or I would do shit, like, go to gothic. or Nighthawk or whatever. Yeah.

But like while I'm in New York, I want to see Babylon. Yes. And I want to see it at one of these boutique theaters. You do. Strictly off of your recommendation alone, Chris. Tell the people why they need to see Babylon. I'm not sure how much longer they're going to make movies like Babylon.

So for one thing, it's like maybe get in while the getting's good, where they give a director, I don't know, $25, $45 million to be like, just do your three, three hour vision, make your homage to like the beginnings of cinema. So for people who don't know, Babylon is set in the 1920s going into the 1930s. It spans multiple decades in Hollywood. And it's about the transition from silent films to sound films. And that may make it sound a little dry, but it is essentially like a Coke-fueled orgy for three hours. And it stars. My homie said like an elephant takes a shit on somebody.

like one minute into the movie. Yeah. It starts with a 25 minute party in the hills and you meet all the major characters. You find out where they're at in their lives. I don't want to give too much away because there's so many good surprises. But it is not unlike boogie nights. You know, it just has that energy. It has that kind of fall from, you know, it was the best of times, worst of times feel. And if you love movies, it has a lot to say about like, the role movies play,

not only in our lives, but, like, as viewers, but in the lives of the people who make them. And it's also just, like,

a really cool story about people collectively working on something, you know? Like, I really like, the way it captures, though,

like, what it must be like to, like, be on a set, you know? And I've only, I've been to a few sets before, and they're not quite as energetic,

but, uh, it's, it's really, it's really awesome. It's got a lot of stuff in there that's just, like, there's a couple of sequences in there that

people will be, like, replaying for for decades. So Chazelle's a cool director. You know, I hope that, I hope that his next project gets funded. So here's the funny thing. This is what I wanted to tell.

My buddy, Nando, shout to my boy Nando, who saw the movie, loved it for all of the reasons you just described. He was like, uh, at the same time, we're watching a director commit career suicide.

Nobody's ever going to give this guy money to do a movie. Like, he literally spit in the, the faces of the financiers of this film. They're not going to let him do this again. You know, I don't think so, but like, there's a long history of Hollywood of people taking, like, gigantic, like, dives off of a cliff, you know what I mean? And then coming back from it, I mean, Francis Coppola has done that, like, multiple times. Like, so I don't think Chiselle's going to go to, like, director jail. Unfortunately, what he's going to probably wind up doing is making,

like, like, more limited series is for Apple or something like that. Okay. Because, like, He made one for Netflix. Actually isn't that bad. It's called the Eddie. And it's about like a jazz club in Paris. Okay. He directed the whole thing. I'm like,

an episode of that. Yeah. It was actually like, it came out. Years ago. Yeah. And people were like, Damian Chazel made this.

And I think people got like five minutes into it. And they were like, is this in French and turned it off? Yeah. But it's actually pretty good. That's what happened to me. But yeah, like I think that it's really,

really worth seeing on a big screen if you can, if you can get to one. So before it actually has like a second life on a streamer, you should, you should check it out at Nighthawk or someplace. Absolutely going to see that movie. One last thing I wanted to ask you, because again, we're both New York expats.

What is your routine when you go back to New York? Like when you're visiting New York? Like, I have a thing where like on the, at least no more than three days in, at some point I'm going to go to Vanessa's, the one in LES, not the shit in Williamsburg where everybody speaks English. The one in LES, I'm going to get the spicy wantons, and then I'm going to walk to Ivan Raman, and I'm going to go there and eat ramen while they're playing Nas.

That's like a thing that I do every single trip. What is your New York go to? So I basically now treat New York. I do all the stuff I never did when I was living there. It's like when you live there. You go to the Statue of Liberty or something. No, but like I never would go to MoMA because I was like, I'm not going on a program MoMA.

So I try to go to a lot of museums and exhibits while I'm there. And then what are some? Oh, and then I try to basically like everything in LA is all dictated by traffic. It's inconvenient to get anywhere. Like all the, all the dumb, you don't need to hear me and Waz talk about like traffic on the 101. But in New York, I basically try to like invert it where it's like my wife and I will like go to a show and then go get dinner at like 10.30. You know, because that's not something you do in L.A. You don't go to a wine.

bar at like 11 p.m. and then order like a full dinner and then go get Joe's slices and then go get a nightcap. You know what I mean? On it. And that's the, we try to do that. I'm trying to think of like, I will always get the progis of Veselka. I usually make it like a point to like no matter what time it is of day

one time while I'm home. I got to have Vesalka. I love it. I love it. I love going down the New York rabbit hole with you, Chris. And people need to know this. Yeah. Since I started working at the Ringer, Obviously, people always ask me about Bill, but after Bill, Chris Ryan is the person that comes up. Like, I swear to God. How is it possible that Chris can hear Bill talk about the Celtics so much after 11 years?

No, people are like, is Chris Ryan really that cool in real life? I'm like, yes, he is. He's everything you think he is. And even more, bro, I swear to God, like the most people, like the person people ask you the most about in Ringer World. in Simmons verse is Chris Ryan, and I think it's with good reason. Thank you for coming on. Dude, thanks for having me.

Anytime. Chris, man. Appreciate you. We'll see you guys next week. Of course, man, be checking out our new podcast with Austin Rivers, real ones with Logan and Roger Bell, group chat, of course.

The Answer with Siri and Kyle. Yeah, check out everything on the ringer NBA feed. We'll see you guys next week. Peace out.