The Ringer NBA Show - The Thunder and Bucks Hit It Big in Vegas. Plus, Does the Dennis Schröder Trade Change the Warriors’ Outlook? | Group Chat

Episode Date: December 15, 2024

Justin, Rob, and Wos were together in Vegas to watch the NBA Cup semifinals. They give their immediate reactions to the Thunder defeating Rockets (3:40) and the Bucks beating the Hawks (25:23). Then they discuss their thoughts on the Warriors trading for Dennis Schröder (46:18). Hosts: Justin Verrier, Rob Mahoney, and Wosny Lambre Producer: Isaiah Blakely Additional Production Supervision: Ben Cruz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A restaurant's best dishes tell stories. Their flavors embed themselves in our memory like song lyrics or lines from a movie. So much so that a little slice of a restaurant's story can become part of our own. I'm Danny Chow and this is ShiftMeal, a new video podcast from The Ringer where we're sharing a bite and chopping it up with chefs and restaurant people during their off hours. All episodes of Shift Meal are out now on Ringer food. chat with your host, Justin Barrier, Rob Mahoney, and the prestige TV dancers, and the number one Blue Blood fans in America,

Wazzie Lambray. What's up, gentlemen? We just learned in real time that Waz watches Blue Bloods to sleep every night? Almost every night, yeah. This isn't a road tradition to you. This is every night at home, too? Every night at home on the road. Yeah, it's like, it's like ambient noise for me.

And then when I do, when I am paying attention to it, I do get a kick out of it a lot of times. But yeah, it's just like, there's like 50 million seasons. And, you know, it's set in New York. It's crime show, whatever. It's bad often. But I still enjoy it. These are the type of things we're learning about each other. I think so.

Spend way too much time with each other on the road. So we got in on Friday in lovely Las Vegas. All had dinner together. It was wonderful. That was just honestly a delight. Sick dinner. But I was thinking to myself, before we record this podcast, I pretty much only talked to you guys for two days straight.

And so now here we are again, talking through things we probably already done. How do you feel about that? I feel great. Yeah? I don't want to like step on the material. No. So maybe you have some like retreaded bits because we've been doing bits on bits on bits at this point. But let me good.

Let me tell you about the bit that I've been experiencing all day second hand through you, which is, you know, we've just come back from the T-Mobile arena, watch this double header for the NBA Cup. great games, had a wonderful time. Coming in with Waz, it's like he's the mayor of the place. Everyone wants to say hello, everyone wants to dab him up,

understandable, you're very gregarious guy. I'm walking through the media hordes with Justin, and there are just countless slights, real and imagined, oh, I have beef with this person. No, no, they don't like me. I really don't like that person. That's so funny.

Which I would say is like probably a championship mentality at the end of the day. Like, you're creating the motivation to drive you, but it was really a sight to behold your psychopathy in real time. The great thing is you're not embellishing this at all. Not a bit. This was like, I would say a slight for like 10 minutes. What we were at was incredible. It was to the point where I did experience an in real time slight in front of you and I was like, we'll figure this out later. For the record, you didn't. I think it was a bit of a slight, a little bit of a snub, but that's fine. I think my brain Chemistry has just been warped by Seinfeld to the point where I don't even know how to

engage with normal interactions anymore. That is very clear. Yeah, but yeah, this was a pretty true experience of hanging out with me for at a game, just in general. Yes. But yeah, we had a good time. We saw a lot of good basketball.

We'll get to the Dennis Schroeder trade, which everyone was talking about in Vegas while we were at these games at the Tebowmoral Arena. But I would say two very good games. Hell yeah. In the semifinals of this NBA Cup. The second game had a lot of, lot of juice. If you were someone who

was complaining about three-pointers, this game was for you because it did not have any made threes from either of these teams, but it had all the ficiness, competitiveness. Was, you compared it to a 90s game, bringing them back? Yeah, man, like, there was about five minutes left and it was still in the 30s,

which is just something you just do not see in NBA games where regularly teams are scoring 35 points in a quarter. And so it just gave me that feeling. Buckets just felt harder to come by with two of the, you know, two of the most athletically gifted best defensive teams in the NBA, which is no surprise. And I think kind of predictably, like, the difference was that OKC had Shea, meaning a guy

who is a serious MVP candidate could get to a spot, get to a shot, create for others whenever he wants to, and Houston just doesn't have that type of guy. But watching these guys play, man, in person, just how physical these guys are, they get into people. And that's what kept them in this game. And yeah, I enjoyed it, man.

My first Rockets experience of this year live, and it was dope. There are obvious limits to this, and we've cited the like Spurs, pistons, finals in the past that physicality to a point can be detrimental.

But basketball is best when it's hard. And this game felt really hard. Every basket felt really earned. As you said, there's this distinct difference in having Shea and not. And I think we can talk about Houston's offense overall,

which is just. What offense? Stuck in the mud. desperate for anything. Like they have to try to manufacture so much with so little space is a huge problem. But watching like two of the best defensive teams in the league slug each other out.

So like anything you try to do is through pressure and arms and help and it's relentless. I think over the course of the game, you start really wear down on these guys. It reminded me if you'll pardon my long walk on this metaphor. I'm often served some social media content

in which it's a guy trying to bake with two beagles. and he puts all the ingredients on the table. And as he's trying to mix, one of the Beagles is like eating the apple that's supposed to go in the pie. He grabs the apple. The other Beagles, like eating the batter.

That's how it feels to try to score against either the Oklahoma City Thunder or the Houston Rockets. Like someone is grabbing you or getting into your business no matter what you're trying to accomplish and to see both teams engaging in that kind of warfare.

I think it was really fun. Is that Beagle abuse? Because they're not really training the Beagle's good habits. And I always feel bad for the Beagles a little bit. I'm not learning the right way. There's like knives on the table, so I don't know what's going on. It's hazardous.

But no, I think what you're saying makes sense because it seemed like these teams were almost like taking the same basic model and diverting to a different style and a different approach. Almost like two twins that are separated at birth. What's that Lindsay Lohan movie? The parent trap. The parent trap. And it's just like you could see what different nature like brought for different situations. So which one is like the bougie northeastern raised of these two teams? See, that's where the metaphor kind of calls up.

That's unfortunate. To strike a balance between like the Cobra Kai, but also the Mr. Miyagi Dojo. And I was actually asking Rob and Sam Emick on press row. Like, what was the Mr. Miyagi dojo? I'm sending this up in advance. I did not play in, unfortunately. But it does feel like they are both going to do a lot on defense. There's a lot of depth, a lot of like wing players.

They go super deep with that. But the rockets are just reckless and aggressive in a way. that the thunder are more refined. It's a little more measured. Yeah, and I mean, it's just, it's Shea, but it also seems like they know how to get through a game like that where the Rockets just seemed searching for answers at a certain point. Yeah, and, you know, they took turns deciding who, you know,

the primary creator would be, at times it'd be Fred, at times it would be Jalen Green, you know, at other times it would be Shengun. Like, they try to diversify. their attack in that way but you know none of those answers are really great ones at the moment and I think that was

that was the problem that they ran up against but they tried to get out in transition which you know they had a couple of nice little runouts nice couple of dunks

a men Thompson had an end one dunk that was really dope but yeah it was just the offense is tough because so many of their guys want to get downhill

want to occupy the paint and so to Shangoon, right? Like, that's where he wants to be. He wants to be on the low block. He wants to be there. So they're trying to navigate this offensive imbalance. And against a team that's this freaking dialed in defensively as OKC is, it's just tough. And it just wasn't their night.

Yeah, I mean, the way Houston survives is with those transition points, is with creating second chances. And they're good at those things. But the thunder are great at taking those things away, too. Like, they're as feisty as smaller teams get to the extent that this is a small team at all. like they still play Isaiah Hardenstein. Kenrich Williams is playing like five inches over and probably 25 pounds above his normal size. Like they're just getting everything they need to be competitive in those terms. What was Stephen Adams doing in that game?

Because Kenrich Williams scored seven points in like two minutes on specifically Stephen Adams. I mean, I think this is part of the issue with the Rockets is like you get the sense from the way IMA Udoka manages his rotation. He doesn't fully trust Javari Smith to be a five all the time. And they're looking for reasons and ways to. to not do that as much as possible. And that's a weird place to be. Although I think the second chances have some to do with this, too. Like, they go into this game,

knowing you're going against the best defense in the league, knowing the half court is going to be a slog. Let's put a big out there who can exploit something for us, even if it's just like giving us some second chances. And Stephen Adams did do that to his credit. It's just... He's not a five-out center. It's not a game for him.

He's not a center you want to play against a team that's five-outing you to death. It's tough. And that's the thunder without Chad. Like, I can't even imagine what's going to be like when he comes back. Yeah. Kenridge Williams is like, what, all of six, eight? Yeah.

But he went right to work at him. And it seemed like it made enough of a ripple that they kind of just took off from there. I found myself in the second half of this game, wondering where the offense was going to come from with the Rockets. And now you could say on a right night, you could find something. Jalen Green will be that guy. Obviously, Fred Van Vleet will hit some shots. The last time they played Van Vleet dropped 36 points.

But that was his only 30 point game this season. Yeah. So, like, you can't count on that from Fred, certainly. I found myself wondering, though, if what they need, if they aren't going to go and make the home run trade this season, is some sort of stability offensively on the bench? Someone they could turn to and be like, this guy can get us a bucket when we need to stop the bleeding because it seems like they were just searching and searching. If anything, Amen was probably the most consistent source of offense for that team at times. And we're going to talk about

him because we talk about Rob's experience with me. My experience watching Rob Watch Amen Thompson was holistic, I would say. spiritual. But I do wonder if, like, what would you guys think about that? Like, we'll talk about Dennis Schrooter later. Like, do they need that type of guy in the mix there that will just solve problems for them offensively? Well, what kind of guy are we talking about? Like, what kind of player?

Scoring guard. I think you want some of that. And you see these guys trying to do those things, right? It's not like Fred's not trying to get downhill. Jalen Green's trying to get downhill. Shangun, to his credit, I think doesn't settle for threes when they're open. And he'll actually put the ball on the floor, get into the lane and mix stuff up and make something happen, it's just that there's no space.

Like, so few rockets have to be respected as shooters that the kind of guard you're talking about, they would have to be someone who's really good on pull-up mid-range jumpers, basically. Like, can you manufacture any half-court situation under duress without much, like, basically Damar de Rosen is who we're talking about. And if you don't get a Damar-level creator of that caliber, a lesser version, I don't know if it's going to move the needle much. I don't think so.

Because even Dennis, what he's really good at, he specializes. in a driving kick game where, you know, with the Rockets, who are you kicking it to? That's a huge problem. Like, you know, when Dennis is going great, he's like nailing the jumper when teams try to go under him

and, you know, he's blowing by guys that are getting up on him. But, you know, the jumper kind of comes and goes. It's not something you can rely upon and it's not something you build an entire attack around. It's just, he'd just be just overburdened in that kind of role for this team. And at the end of the day,

day like if you have a men Thompson you have jalen green like why are you not letting them try to figure out how to be great creators for dennis schroeder that's that's true one i think where have all the jamal crawford's gone is the question because this used to be a type that almost every team had to varying degrees and it kind of has been weeded out in the NBA by these catch and shoot guys who play more defense like more programmatic straight line kick out sort of guys on the other hand i think this is a problem probably based on them not clarifying the vision for their team. You're right. They have a lot of options they want to sift through because they want those guys to ultimately be the number one, number two options. But if you haven't like figured out who that guy is,

you can't go out and get an instant offense guy because you want that other guy to be that guy. And so it's, to me, it seems like this team is, is just still trying to figure itself out. While the Thunder kind of know who they are even as they work guys like AJ Mitchell into the mix. Completely. I think there's a certainty into how they want to play, how to accomplish it, who does what and when. That's not there for the rockets. Despite the fact that the talent, I think, is profound overall. They have an incredibly talented team to the point that you're looking at the guys who don't even play and you're wowed by the level of talent that's just sitting there on the bench. They need to consolidate it. We've been talking about it all season. They do need

more scoring at some point. They need a way to space and organize to make their roster make a little bit more sense. Can I share something I'm realizing in real time as we have this conversation, which is we are the meme of the three children sitting on the couch having a podcast. Do you know what I'm talking about? The YouTube video screenshot of just like three kids hurtled over talking about serious issues. This is literally what we're doing. The freaking the subtitles like, oh, that guy has no bag. And for the listener at home, it wasn't on YouTube. You should subscribe to us on YouTube at Ringer MBA.

We're just on a couch and we have a laptop, a very fancy studio quality laptop set up right in front of us. It's very high-tech. As we talked to this, NBA, a top semi-final game. No, we should talk about Amen Thompson, one of the few things that probably was right on both ends for the Rockets. Rob, how do you feel? Do you want to get baptized after the fact? Overwhelmed. Or should we dunk you into the tub over here?

I think he's like the single most impressive athlete I've ever seen. play basketball, especially in person. Like, we, you know, we're, we had pretty good seats up close and personal with what I'm in Thompson was doing. The end-to-end speed, what he's able to do as a, as a wing, if you want to call him that, as a guard, if you want to call him that, and he basically plays like a big out of the dunker spot. I've never really seen it before from someone his size.

Just like the, the explosion off the ground is unbelievable. And to package all that with somebody who just like has a good sense of how to play and a good sense of, as we were marveling about poking the ball of. from people, getting possessions back. Like, there were plays where he got an and one on that dunk you were talking about. Actually, it might have been a different and one on a layup. Missed the free throw. Never want to see that.

But immediately gets the steel back and creates another basket. What's crazy about that was he was like kind of looming. And I'm like, why isn't he just getting back? And then he just poked it away in a way that he didn't foul and had jostled it loose. It's almost like he has like heat sinking missile where he's able to do that. It's just like it. It's a creditor natural. Yeah.

Yeah, just like a stab, almost like a more like a chef who has just like a very precise knife. And it was kind of like marvelous to watch. I've never kind of seen someone with that sort of ability. Like it was almost like graceful at a certain point. I don't know what he is was like how you fit him or what you put around him, but he's a singular kind of talent. I mean, I guess he's a, he's a small forward, right? Like he's like six five, but the way he plays, he plays so much bigger than that.

And for me, what was cool about watching him today is, like he's so even keel. Like he's just unfazed by everything. He just seems to play with a certain ease and a confidence where like the book on him is, you know, he has a horrible shot or his shot needs a lot to improve. But like if you watch this game today, you wouldn't know that. Like he shoots it with confidence and he's fearless in his approach. And that was what was cool for me.

It's like this guy who, you know, I think a lot of different, some different players say like, I don't know, a Ben Simmons would be a lot more timid about even trying some of the stuff that this guy feels comfortable doing. And you could just tell his confidence is building, man. So that was, that was really cool to me. Obviously, the athletic stuff, the dunks, the steals, the rebounds that he's skying in for are like impressive. But like, this guy, he's not just some athlete out there. This dude is a player. He understands the game, man, on a, you know, on a deeper level than most second year players do. So that was really cool for me.

Yeah, I think on a floor that has all of this, this incredible Thunder roster, this incredibly deep Rockets roster, in terms of feel, I think he's up there with anybody, just the way he navigates the floor and anticipates things that are going to happen. And yeah, if you're that quick and that explosive, you're going to get to the ball faster than anybody else. I think from this perspective, the other person who really jumped out seeing them in person was J-dub, who was just so shifty and so tough. And it's like, it's things you know and things you can see on screen.

But watching him against this level of physicality just leave dudes in the dust, I thought was incredibly impressive. Yeah, I like, it's, it's so cool because Shay, in the first half, he started off pretty slow. Very, I mean, at least somebody was like three for 14 in this game. Yeah, yeah. He started off really badly and was just mission shots and was rushing shots and was getting to the basket. And, you know, he looked out of sorts. And the person who looked to be playing with, you know, a lot more poised was J-dub.

And, you know, he's so good at creating space too. That's what it is for me. It's like even when these Rockets guys who are really physical and draped all over him, he somehow figures out a move or a bump or a shift to just create like incredible amount of separation between him and his defender. And his shot is silky smooth. Yeah. And so that was really cool for me.

He takes his time with everything, and he just almost glides through the court. That's what I thought was dope in the first half, because, again, Shea was just, he just did not have it. And it was J-Dub that was settling them against, again, you know, physical, athletic guys, and he had no problem with it. J-Dub is the difference between this team winning a finals and maybe getting there or even topping out at a West Finals. Because you saw in this game when it seemed like something had to happen on either side, Jay went to work and it worked. And a lot of the offense was him just making things happen in the mid-range and

Dort just taking it. Oh, great door game too. The opportunities. Yeah, watching Dort like grab rebounds in the midst of the trees like in these huge guys and just come out with it. I'm like, I've never seen anything like that. He's just like a bowling ball in there. I was hurting just watching him hit the floor over and over

and frankly feeling the floor shake every time. And he's built like a strong safety. Like he's going after. every loose ball. He's doing all the Lou Dort shit. I think in games like this, that's just where it really stands out. Like, this is a game of physical tough defenders. You'll see Fred Van Vleek sprint halfway

across the court going after a loose ball. And even in that context, what Lou Dord is doing, and from an effort's perspective, is like, above and beyond. Loodort did the Dennis Rodman completely parallel to the ground, the loose ball thing. I was like, this guy is a maniac. What's crazy is like,

he doesn't want to fight other people, but everyone wants to fight him. and you saw like four different rockets at four different times, like tried to start shit with them. And he was just kind of like, what's going? There was a point where Tari Isan basically did the Iceman and Top Gun like chop. Yes.

Chop in his face. And he was kind of like, what are you doing? You fucking cycle that? I think we were all saying that as well. But like Tari has some specific energy going on. But no, it's like whenever J-Dub comes up, it seems like the team balances out and feels complete,

in a way that they're not so dependent on Shay. Because a lot of times, like, Shea will do some stuff, but maybe not 30 point superstar level game, and you're left searching. And in this game, you saw Dork, or excuse me, a J-DUP kind of turning on late. They had the dork energy where they're doing the three

on the top of their heads to each other when he hit that big one. They kind of like rattled in. It's just like, that's when the team feels complete, even when Chet isn't there. Yeah. Because Hartnstein, as we just talk about, just like, man, watching him just play off

those guys. It's so natural. This team just works in a way that few do, you know? Yeah. And again, we could talk about every component of that. I think we probably haven't given enough credit to Shea in this conversation. For the manufacturing he was able to do. And just perfection from what you want from a star.

He has moments where against defenses of this caliber, I think you saw this in the first half, at the risk of becoming a boomer in real time, you can see him like settling for the stepback three a little too much. But what would you have him do? Like drive straight into the me grinder every possession. Like he has to, he has to pace himself over the course of the game.

He's trying to take what the defense gives him to some extent. Dylan Brooks, to his credit, I thought it was playing pretty aggressive defense. So it's not settling so much as just like, this is what's available to you sometimes. And when it's not Dylan Brooks, it's on Men Thompson.

So this is an unforgiving matchup from a defensive perspective in terms of what she's going up against. And he still ends up with this kind of production and this kind of command. It was unfair what he was doing to these guys in the second half where, you know, somebody's moves with the handle

and the footwork where, like, he's leaving guys in the dust. Like, the dude is now no longer in frame because of a move that Shea just put on him and he just, man, he just got to his mid-range just incredibly well. And you could just tell he was feeling it no matter who the matchup was.

If they weren't sending extra help, he was completely cooking that guy. And that was special watching him go to work. in the second half today. You know what struck me today watching both of these games? You mentioned not the biggest, like the best three-point shooting display you'll ever seen.

There's a lot of really good action going to the rim consistently from all these teams and really good shot blockers meeting them at the rim. I know we're going to talk about with that with the other game in particular, but in this one, I mean, you've got Hardinstein challenging guys. You've got Amen relentlessly going to the rim. You had some collisions with Jabari Smith both ways, trying to dunk and also stopping people at the basket. Javier Smith tried to take a man.

man's life today. He certainly did. I just thought it was a great display of what this kind of physical basketball can be. I like Jbarry Smith. Like, I don't know if we need to go through every single Rockets young guy, but since we're here, we might as well. He's had like a weird path since he's joined the NBA. It's funny when he was in college, I remember, and maybe a comment man even wrote this. Like he could be the next like three and D big guy, right? Which is super valuable, especially when you're trying to pair him with a guy like Shengoon who's going to be more offensive oriented, has defensive concerns. And then when, he was in the mix for the number one pick, you heard people be like, well, he could be anything.

Like, he could be more than that. And so I think like the vision for him warped. And now we're kind of back to square one, which is still incredible. He hasn't gotten there thus far, but I see it with him. And in this game, like, he definitely put it together more than he has in other games that I've saw him from. It's just hard to see him and not think, like, this is a very well-fitting supporting part. Yeah. I have a hard time imagining the version of his career where he becomes comes a driver of offense. I feel like if you're in that place, something kind of went wrong probably.

Yeah, that's not his thing. But, man, I got to give E-Made a credit too because this team, these young guys were like a boneheaded crew with the previous regime. And I think Jabari Parker is just a shining example, even more so than Jerry. Or Jabari Smith.

Sorry, Jabari Smith. That's a different, different time. Marker. Shouts him, I told you I ran into him in Barcelona over the summer. Also at Soho House. Also at So house. No, but like Jabari

he just plays with a nose for the ball. Super extremely high motor. Like this team being like a sort of junkyard dog. He has like a junkyard dog sort of mentality but this is a guy that can stretch you out to three.

right? And I think that's cool. I just don't, he's not going to be some, here, take the ball and save me the way like, you know, Shay was doing tonight or even J-dub at times. Like, that's not, I don't think that's in his future, but the way this guy plays defense, his size and his tools, like he's obviously going to be an incredible supporting player, you know, if not the kind of, you know, initiated that I guess some people thought coming in. let's talk about some defense because in the first game, we saw some fucking incredible defense from Juanjana's and Tedducpo. Jesus Christ.

So I watched this game from the catbird seat. I was all the way up in the press box because I got a little lost in the T-Mobile arena. Yeah, a better seat was offered to you and claimed on your behalf. Available, it seemed like there were a couple seats that were there. I was trying to make my way up to the 100 level. Unfortunately, I could not. I was probably walking around the arena. No joke.

two to three times. Going up and down stairs. Going up and down elevators. I was outside at one point. So I missed the first like, I don't know, eight minutes of the game. So if anything important happened, please fill me in.

But the end of it was pretty spectacular. I thought the Hawks played really well in this game. There was a flow to what they were doing that the books just couldn't get. But the bucks had Janus. And it wasn't necessarily a dominant performance from Janus, but he had the answers whenever they needed that for him. I thought Janus completely took Jalen Johnson

out of the game, man. He just had no impact in, you know, the way he did against the Knicks and just like, you know, in previous games this season where we've seen him just affecting the game in so many ways with his rim runs and, you know, the guy's not been scared to shoot. No. We know that. But, like, Jan is just erased him today. Just out physical to him.

Just like, sorry, kid, I'm punking you today. There are levels to this shit. Yeah, I'm an MVP and you're not. And I thought that was impressive on Janice's part. I thought one of the cooler things, like one of my biggest complaints about the bucks is like they're so huge but never play that way. Except for today, like there was a bunch of times of Janice was like, oh, you guys are going to try to switch a freaking six-foot-four dude on Brooke Lopez. That's not going to work. Yonis had some beautiful interior passes over the top of, you know, the Hawks who were just a small, like, shorter in terms of,

their front court. And so I thought that was really cool to see today. But yeah, I thought the Bucks played a way more connected defense that they're used to. I just thought Trey was just amazing. Really cool Trey game. Being in the building for Trey's, like, antagonizing of his opponents is super, like, exhilarating, man. Like, this guy is a showman. And it felt amazing to watch him in this game.

Just treat this thing like, yeah, like, we're out here trying to win. But, like, these people came here. here to see me play, I'm going to put on an incredible show, and that was dope today. He closed out from the other side of the court on a three-point shooter, actually got him to pass out of it. And then tip the ball, I guess we'll call it a block. It was more like a finger. Yeah. In order to jar it loose from A. J. Green. That was not possibly, maybe only the defensive highlight he's ever had in his entire career. See, that I push back because I should think defensively, he's been putting an effort at a completely different level. It's a same thing. It's like,

If he just gives effort, it helps. Don't be bad. Don't be bad. Yes. I think he's been dramatically better on that end of this season. We talked about Steph and lamenting that we were missing out on like single game elimination Steph. But I think we probably undersold big game tray and how fun that was going to be to watch.

But over, I want to circle back to the Janus Jalen Johnson part of this. I thought Doc said two interesting things in his press conferences today. One, when he was asked about the challenge of guarding Jalen Johnson, he brought up like, well, we do that every day in practice trying to restrain Janus, which is true. Well, which is accredited to Jalen Johns. That's also true. We're now comparing to Janus.

Huge comp for him, but also true. And the other thing he talked about that I think made both of our ears perk up, Justin, was in particular this, I mean, one of the signature defensive plays of the season, if not plays of the season, which is a Trey Young lob past to Clint Capella that in any other circumstances, a dunk, got detonated at the summit. First by Janice, but also by Brooke Lopez. It was a bit of a tag team up there. And Doc mentioned that they actually had time because of the cup format in particular.

Like they have time to focus on one opponent, which is something you just don't have time to do in the regular season as often, specifically on scouting lobs and challenging lobs and defending the lob. I thought that was just like a really cool wrinkle of what competition can be and kind of how it mirrors playoff competition. But moreover, just the incredible shit that Janus can do. Like that is a one of one defensive play. The only thing that was disappointing about that was that we weren't watching it on TV

and you didn't get the color commentary. I wanted to block my honest. We did not get that. Why didn't you give that to us on press row? I should have asked Tyler to do it because I was sitting next to him, Tyler Parker, but that was, there's no cheering in the press box. Come on. It's not cheering when you're just saying Janus did something fucking insane.

The Jalen Johnson dunk, I stood up out of my seat when that happened. Did you? I didn't clap, but I stood up. Just an acknowledgement. Just an acknowledgment. And then you saluted. Yeah, the photos of that block. Oh, yeah.

As good as seen it live. Like, that was an incredible play. Just like, you know, Janice has a way of coming through in these moments. And it's a credit to the format of this entire tournament, because you're right, if the teams like the Bucks have time to not only scout these teams in advance, but also he'll up some of their older ass players, Chris Middleton didn't exactly cover himself in glory in this game. Let's talk more about that. He was very bad. Couldn't even really inbound the ball in crucial situations. And Doc even kind of alluded to the fact that like, maybe that was rust.

And in the words of my boy, producer, Zay, he was a cone. Absolutely a cone. People were literally just running past him all day. Like, some of these closeouts, how were you late on the closeout and getting blown by? Like, it's the worst of all worlds. And, you know, on offense, it is what it's like, I don't expect them to come out and be like a 25 point per game kind of guy. But I just think being in the right spot, something that a veteran should be better at, man. And just so many times on defense, he was just so bad that was that was a little rough to watch today.

It was very rough to watch. I mean, here are the two facts about Chris Middleton. One, it's a very important playmaker for this team, especially when Dame is on the bench. Like, he is one of the only guys who can get the. him into something when Dame is out. Two, he was awful in this game. And he's been mostly bad since he's been back. He's throwing the ball everywhere.

The turnovers were miserable. Everything that we said about Janus and how great he played and all the big plays he was picking up and finding down the stretch were to basically bail out the bucks from the fact that Chris Middleton committed a bunch of really bad turnovers. And in their half-court offense, they couldn't really consistently get into things down the stretch. It wasn't like the cleanest execution from Milwaukee. but they had Janus and then the Hawks didn't.

And it really did just kind of come down to that. That's what it was. I mean, would Jeremy Grant have made those inbound passes? I think so. I think so. I mean, I think so.

I guess great inbound passes. He's been, I have no idea. He's been playing basketball. So that's something. Yeah. So I'm doing my free time. I mean,

the Bucks won this game. Every time I watch the Bucks, I'm like, this thing could turn very quickly because even Torian Prince, someone who, as we mentioned, like three pods ago or something, was shooting the best percentage from three in the entire NBA.

I think going into this game had not made a shot in three games. Now his minutes were limited because he also wasn't good on the other end. And it's just like he didn't contribute. Gary Trent wasn't particularly good in this game. I see this as a positive. Maybe this is a real duality of man situation.

But like, this is the game that the Bucks lost over and over at the start of the season. And the reason they win now where it's really just like Dame and Janus as scorers and everyone else like kind of, kind of struggle. I will say

Brooke Lopez had one of his best games in a while, as you said, inside and out, very important for them. Otherwise, a lot of guys

struggled to hit shots, a lot of guys struggled to convert inside, and they still won because they got some good looks, by the way, guys. Very good looks,

but they won because they got freaking stops for once. Can I be honest with you guys for a second? Yes. A little worried about Dame. Really?

Yeah. I mean, Dyson Daniels is a menace, and so maybe this is just him guarding another premier guard and just taking him

completely out of the game after you did So with Brunson, I think there's a lot of that to his performance today. I think there was one play in particular where a congou got switched on to him and Dame struggled to finish. That's the biggest difference. Like if Dame is not abusing switches like with Bigman and like kind of the concept of the offense or the team really as it exists kind of falls apart. Like you have to make teams pay if they're going to switch to Janice and Dane. pick and roll.

Like the whole thing is like you want teams to play you honest. Because when they play you honest on that pick and roll, like it's kind of over. But that is predicated on both yawning. Yon is beating up on little guys, which he does. He did a great job today. Pretty well. And he did a great job today. And Dane being able to beat bigger guys, whether that be get to his step back or getting

to the, you know, getting to the rack, getting foul, you know, drawing help, spraying out to shooters. I thought he did have a hard time shaking a lot of the hawk switches. but, you know, and the Hawks are more athletic than most. But still, like, the best teams in the NBA are going to have, you know, the kinds of bigs that give you trouble on a switch even on an island. So, yeah, that is something to monitor. I think what's tough with Dame is the first step is not that far removed from the player

he used to be. Like, he can get by the first guy usually, but he can't beat the help anymore. Like, he used to be a pretty good driver because the threat of his shot was so strong and he would manage to get all the way to the rim. now he gets to the rim and he has to rush it a lot of the time just to get it up before somebody comes to swat it away listen he's still a legend and he still had a good game overall it's just like you're starting to notice things if you watch for sure over time you're like this is a step slower than it used to be you're going you're going backwards

as opposed to going forward because you can't beat as many guys yeah like that used to be death against dame like you switch a big guy onto him like he's giving you work and immediately that was one of the things too. Like now he is, he's taking a little bit longer in terms of the pounding the ball and the dribbling to set up his attacks. Back in the days,

he would just freaking just blow right by you or just a hard step back and get to his beautiful jump shot. So yeah, again, something to monitor. Yeah. So we'll see the Bucks play the Thunder on Tuesday in the finals. Just to send off the Hawks here,

do we think this will carry on for the Hawks? You think a team like the Hawks will see this version. of Trey Young and say like we could tap into this because he seems like he's finding the perfect meld as we've talked about before of getting other guys involved but if you need him to he could be this level of Trey I like I said it the other day I think the only takeaway from watching this guy play is that he really believes in this group of guys um the freedom that he's allowing every the other guys to play with and again like giving a shit on defense it's like yo I really believe in

the project and so I'm going to do my part. I'm not going to be, I don't want to be the one that you could point to and say I messed up on a play. Taking that level of pride and accountability, like, it has to be that he believes in the talent of these guys. And, yo, if they continue to execute this way and shouts to Quinn Snyder, like, he's coaching him up. We're in black glasses now. That was that was disappointing. Jarring. That's why they lost. That was disappointing. It wasn't wearing the red, the, the, the, the red, as per usual. This would have been the first time I've seen Quinn Snyder since the glasses became a thing and he walks into the freaking pregame availability with black

rims. I'm like, what in the head? This is a chip. Do you have any theories on that while? It's like every other human being comes to Vegas and they get brighter and flashier and more sequins. Quinn comes and he tones it down. I do feel cheated by it. He might just be like, it might have just been time for a new look. Maybe so. That's it. But this is his first, his first game with the black frames. It's tough, tough that had to happen for our game. That was crazy. Hopefully the last. The one thing that stood out to me, other than Tray's performance for the Hawks, was how good Bogie is and how good he can still be. And how much you realize that, like, he just hasn't been around enough to make an impact.

But like, nor that good for parts of this season. Like, as he's in all of the place. It's been spotty by his standards for sure. I thought he was really good today. I was actually a little bit surprised that they didn't do more offense defense switching with him and Daniels or even going a little bit more small to throw a little bit more of a curveball at the bucks toward the end there because Johnson is pretty big. I mean, obviously it's tough to go super small against the bucks when they're playing two

bigs out there. But I thought maybe they could have taken advantage that way. But like, he's lock solid and like he makes things happen. And it's just like, that's the thing with the Hawks going forward where it's like, is he going to be available? Is Hunter going to be available in playing as well as he has of late? Is Risha Shea going to have like a month long stretch where he just like completely is a nothing?

He didn't really make an impact on this game. But bogey is someone, I think, I could swing things for this team if he's healthy and productive as he was today, making them not just like a playing team. Maybe they're like the 60 because they have that in them. Like the runway for this team, I see it. And all they really need is like just a couple more guys to round things out. I think this could be a very good team.

Yeah, I think with the way the Hawks play, obviously they move the ball around so much, it's all these guys who can pass and dribble and create and sometimes shoot. And Risha Jash is a good example of the type of player specifically because he's so young who just gets like lost in the sauce of that. Like, he will just have games where you look up. And in this one, he played 17 minutes. I cannot tell you one single thing he did on the floor. Just like, did not make an impact on the game.

And young players are going to do that. I think Dyson Daniels on offense can have some of those games too. You're never going to miss what he does defensively. But Bognon's a different kind of player. And he's the kind of player who can get you more organized, who can slow things down when you need to. It isn't so dependent on the flow that these other guys are dependent on. Yeah.

I mean, Dyson definitely is defense. has unlocked something in Trey where they just have never had this kind of perimeter defender to throw next to Trey. But, you know, when their drives, when their possessions did stall out, it was like a bunch of Dyson Daniels record scratch moments. He's at the free throw line and needs to decide what to do.

You know, he's not decisive. He's not just firing. And the defense is, you know, reacting and kind, right? Like, they're like, all right, when the ball goes to him, we get a chance to reset and reconfigure how we're, doing it. And so, you know, it's the giving the take because, you know,

Bogdanovich isn't, I don't, he's not some kind of sieve, but obviously he's nowhere near the defensive talent that that Dyson Daniels is. And so I think, you know, with any team, there's a there's a sort of a push and a pull, a giving a take, depending on the matchup. But yeah, it felt like he was just,

you know, three point fingers to the dome every time he got the freaking ball today. So I echoed, I share that sentiment. The alternate reality of Bogey doing that for Janus and the Bucks. Wow, yeah. I failed trade. I kept thinking about that the entire time.

Like, that's just a whole other NBA. Was isn't podcasting with us. It's just like a purple elephant. You never know. This is something crazy with Daniels, who I agree, watching him play defense was one of, like, the joys of watching these things. Watching him deny screens just because he could slither around it was like, It was really impressive.

Offensively, though, last season for the Pelicans in 61 games shot 44.7% from the field, 31.1% from 3. This season going into this game, 24 games with the Hawks, 44.7% from the field, 31.2% from 3. He's having practically the same offensive season, but he's on the floor. And we talked about this weeks ago with Dyson. Quinn is not taking him out. And so if you want to give credit to the strategy of leaving Daniels in, he's sticking with his guy because he makes such a impact defensively.

And, like, frankly, a lot of the good things that are happening for this team, it's Jalen Johnson, it's Trey Young and it's Dyson Daniels. It is kind of like maybe not a big three, but like a pretty big three. A core of a kind. And I think with Dyson, too, like he's a player because he operates in flow and he isn't going to force things. If you are yanking him in and out of the rotation in and out of games, his confidence as a finisher, as a driver, as a shooter,

is going to get shaken up by that. Watching Dyson today and watching Jackson Jr. on the bucks who's like he's like their Dyson Daniels in the sense that he's their These point guards are not guarding each other. This is not a Trey Young versus Day match. Exactly. So he's their young guy who they're going to throw out on Trey Young, right? But the difference is like he's kind of a basket case in terms of like feel and like

understanding the game. He's just more energetic and athletic than most of the guys they have to offer. Dyson Daniels has great feel, you know, and I think that's the difference. I said to Tyler at one point while we're watching the game, I wonder if Dyson Daniels talks to anybody, like in his life on the floor with his team, he doesn't change. He has a quiet steelyness to him.

He doesn't change demeanor. I don't like it. I appreciate it. I love watching Trey Young. Didn't think I would ever say that. This has become a Trey Young appreciation podcast. It's awesome. I'm back.

I'm back. I definitely was so out on him, especially the previous two seasons before this one. And yeah, he just changed it up, man. And this is the best he's ever played for me in terms of, I'm sure the numbers are like, oh, he shot better before and all that. For sure.

But like the way that he's managing these games and he's uplifting the guys next to him, this is, today was fun. This was appointment viewing for me the way he was playing today. And if you didn't watch this game and you just look at the box score, a lot of shots, a lot of free throws, a lot of turnovers. Like, this is an unusually high usage, Trey Young game for what he's been. But every time the game was teetering, it was him that was coming to the rescue.

Unfortunately, except for the end. Yeah. Sure. But it was also the way the bucks were guarding him. And they were basically challenging him to do that because they didn't want to live with what he's able to create on the pass. I think what he's been able to do as far as getting the Hawks out on the break all season, like he's so fast with the outlet. He's looking for everybody. He wants to get the ball to the net as soon as humanly possible helps all of these guys get into their game so much more easily.

So between that and the defense and the overall passing, I just think it's been a really cool trade young season. I like both of these games today. I had an awesome time in Vegas watching these two games live. The one thing I will say, and something we were talking about as we were going through the evening, is like the late game had juice in a way that the first one did not. Late game was like the celebs showed out, like all,

there was a lot of competition. It was aggressiveness. Two chains was there for the hawks. Two chains was there. Two chains was in the building. There was a lot of like, because they go around and doing like, These celebrities are our court side.

Yeah. The first one is like, this content creator you've never heard of before. That was us. It might have been us. I think the back to back where you're playing an early game might be something to look at if you're the NBA. Like, couldn't we do one game per night, Friday and Saturday and then the title game on Tuesday? Yeah. It just, it was like a little bit of disappointing because I thought that was a really good game.

It's tough because in the building, I really enjoyed the double header format in one neutral site building. just like not something that happens on the NBA calendar. This is all day who? It's almost like a March Madness type of service. Definitely. But if you're watching at home, I don't know how different that is from watching like any other double header that's in two arenas. I don't know if you're capturing what's unique about that circumstance.

And so it's like, how do you bring energy into the building? How do you make it a good TV product? I actually thought, you know, like it was pretty well attended today overall. Hell yeah. There were some, you know, a couple patches here and there where it wasn't completely filled out. But I thought the Hawks delegation traveled

I readily well. Shocked surprise. Yeah. That was shocking. For a neutral side game, you were getting people doing the countdown during Janus free throws. And I thought the OKC

contingent also traveled very well. And you got some pretty loud OKC chance at the end. The rodeo was in town this weekend. It certainly was. They got to double up. They certainly did. The second game rocked.

Like the stadium was like, like had a pretty good environment for it. Yeah. So I thought the fans did their part. But yeah, there's something still a little bit missing, like good games, fun environment. I'm extremely pro-NBA Cup at this point. I'm so glad that we got to be there in the building for it. But it's missing a little something. And I'm sure the

NBA is still trying to figure that out themselves. Why don't we take a quick break? And we come back. We'll talk about the trade that happened while we were at these games. So as we were, I think, in between games, we got a little bit of news. Dennis Schrooter gets traded to the Golden State Warriors. So the Warriors get Schroeder and one second, excuse me. The Nets get D. Anthony Melton, basically his contract, he's out for the season, and three seconds. So it seems like pretty simple math for the Warriors. You just get a helpful player who I think we actually foretold this, or at least Rob did in last episode. That's like an in-between option. I think the question more is, we can talk about the shooter element. I do wonder if this precludes them from then going out and getting a Jimmy making us home run trade. Like, do we think that this is going to be the Warriors path for this season? Is it going to be?

to be, we'll be marginally better, and I think shooter can help, but we're not going to go and just blow our wads, so to speak, and just like make the one trade that we can make in steps way to ride. That was a gambling reference, Rob, we're in

Las Vegas. What is your problem? I tried to avoid it, but it was the only one coming to mind. I don't think it precludes them from a Jimmy deal because let's face, the guys who are going to be in that, the Kamingas, the Wiggins. the Moses Moody's

logistically it makes it more challenging so like Moses Moody you can't trade this season because he got extended yes yes yes I think technically you can still make a Jimmy deal work but it would basically turn to almost like a four for one trade because of the salaries like you needed De Anthony Melton's salary

to get close enough to make it make sense shrewders I don't believe you can aggregate in time for the trade deadline this year so he's going to be a warrior unless there's something like one for one trade out there that makes sense. So technically no,

but maybe functionally, yeah. Like, this might be kind of what they've got. Where there's a will, there's a way. Like, you know, like, if they really wanted to happen bad enough, like pulling other teams involved and all of that, like, who knows. But the shrewder thing obviously makes all the sense. But Jemski's been a tire fire basically all year. Just not good.

Steve Kerr's calling them out by name in press conferences, like, which lets us know what time it is. Like, that's not a Steve Kerr thing. Like, Steve Kerr's not like Popovich, who's just constantly calling people out. And Shooter's just an automatic upgrade from what they have right now in terms of a guy who can dribble the basketball

who is in Steph or Draymond, basically, right? And so, yeah, they've upgraded the talent at that position in terms of the guy that's going to back up Steph. And I'm sure in certain lineups, he'll probably close with Steph at times. And so, yeah, like, I've been a big Dennis

shrewder believer ever since like he showed up on the legs and started locking people up I was like yo this guy's kind of changed his his like mindset as a player and so yeah I think this is a great deal for the warriors yeah I think he's competitive enough defensively to guard some twos or kind of cross match with step however it makes sense for them to play together and just the relief of having someone who can do something with the ball and not having to all be step all the time you know running around these flares like doing the same kind of split action stuff that the Warriors have always done. You have another option now. And I think that's

an incredibly valuable thing for the Warriors at this point. They didn't give anything up. I mean, the juice was worth a squeeze in that regard. I think he's a helpful player. There's always the pitfall of like, are you going to get the bad shooter half season where he isn't hitting from three in particular? Or the bad

season from Shooter because he has those in the midst of these really awesome seasons that get teams like the Warriors invested and then all of a sudden like, you're like, who's, where'd that guy go? I think he makes sense. It's just like it really comes down to whether or not you thought a Jimmy home run style trade was going to functionally change their outlook for this season. And I'm coming to terms with the fact that it probably did not. And so for that reason, I like the measured approach here

just to give us some options down the road. Because I'm deathly afraid of making the wrong big move because that's it for Steph. He only has one of those in them because presumably you got to get it right. You have the contracts you talked about Rob, but also the draft picks. Like there's only going to be a few of them over the next two years. And so you need to get that move right. And if you aren't sure about Jimmy, then at the very least, let's table the discussion to the summer when maybe Markinen comes into play again or someone like that. And I mean, the decision could have been taken out of their hands, too. Like one version of this conversation is they're being cautious and maybe didn't want to go all in for Jimmy. One version is maybe they kicked around with the heat and they're

like, we don't want Jonathan Cumminga that much. He's not that like big of a priority for us. I think what's tough for their circumstance. Like, yes, I think this is a good measure. You trade for Dennis Schroeder if this is what the cost is every day of the week. But as we revisit Lowry Markinen type trades down the line,

Brandon Bejemski was supposed to be, well, he was a contentious point in that conversation where the war he basically made him not anymore. He refused to include him in trade talks. And now, like, I think he's, I still think he's a talented player. I still think he has a lot of aptitude,

but he's been just, an outright disaster on the court for a lot of the season now in a way that severely hurts his trade value clearly hurts his value within the organization you're you're going to those conversations from a totally different place i think they're just and verrier out on on out that's a long list of things that are out on in my estimation is there anything you're newly out on with this trip to Vegas like is this has this trip opened your eyes to anything that you now just rejects wholeheartedly now this trip is more and i've i've noted this to you guys this to you guys a few times. I feel like I understand Vegas. I know how to navigate it in ways that

I'm like impressing myself with that. We just got lost for like 30 minutes and you got lost for like 30 minutes earlier. So I don't know about that. I was the one that sent us down the two bad paths. I wasn't going to say it. But yes. No, like I was I was explaining to Rob earlier that like I figured out how to divert a coffee line in the morning because I got the coffee the night before put it in the fridge, no wine. Listen, this sounds ridiculous, and it does. Life hack, y'all. Make your own ice coffee

by refrigerating. And dilute it by having the ice slowly melt into your coffee. Yeah, I didn't realize I didn't have any like spoons in the kitchenette and so I would have had to do it by hand and so I just put the coffee. Also, and then I woke up this morning and got through a coffee line in two minutes. Because this is Las Vegas

and there's lots of coffee. No, all the Starbucks are This is, let me... 30 people deep. Let me open your eyes just into the world of coffee beyond Starbucks. Listen, I would love it.

Not no shade at a potential sponsor, but like I tend to go outside of Starbucks for my coffee. You want to drown me in a pecan crunch lattes. I'm here for it. But yeah, like there's lots of options out here. Not where I'm saying. Now where I'm saying. You've ever been to Vegas,

which I'm sure a lot of our listeners have, like the coffee line is a major hurdle in the morning exercise. I walk past the Starbucks up here on my way to breakfast this morning. And yeah, it was like 40 people. It's a zoo. It was like 40 people calling out. Joe, your coffee's ready. But you just go to the place, the cafe like three doors down.

You just got to go to the non-starbucks. Just go to the other place. I figured out Vegas. I'm basically synodra. You cracked the code. Yeah. Hacked it around this place. I love that for you.

Anything else from Vegas that you guys want to talk through? I mean, there's so many things. First of all, on the NBA Cup front. just a couple of things I saw today. One, a woman in a G-League Ignite jersey that had been autographed by no fewer than 20 people. I don't know who the 20 people were. I saw that, yeah.

All of which is to say, this is our kind of event. You know, like the sickos are out and about. This was an event for real NBA fans. I love that for all of us. I saw Lou Will today wearing heart sunglasses, like he's 2008 Taylor Swift. That was certainly a look. What else happened out there today?

Oh, Finassas Hunter de Kumpo. Locked in. Absolutely locked in. Court side opposite the buck's bench. I will say he was the one person on the NBA sent out a list of all the celebrities that would be in attendance. Every other former player on that list

was described as NBA legend. Chandler Parsons, NBA legend. Blake Griffin, NBA legend. Oscar Robertson, NBA legend. The Nascentacombo, former Milwaukee Buck. That's just rude. That's just rude. I will say Oscar Robinson,

there was kind of cool. I was standing next to Justin when he walked into the media room. I was like, wow, that's really freaking cool. My parents won't get on a flight to come visit me in Portland. This 80-year-old guy is going to Vegas just to watch the fucking team he played for.

Amazing. Mom! Mom! Come on. The only other thing I noted was before I got in my flight in Portland to Vegas, one of the guys was wearing a Matrix hoodie

and not like a Sean Marion hoodie The movie The Matrix? The Matrix and the design was binary code It was like green binary code hoodie What is notable about that to you? It was like an older guy He looked like I'm not Shyamuan to be honest Maybe it was

I promise you that comp was legit It's not just me being racist It didn't cross my mind But now that you say it Thanks to clarify some things But yeah I was curious where you get that It seemed like it might have been Like not homemade but like maybe like

It probably instantly Instagram if I would get guess. I think it's available to you on the internet if that's what you're looking for. Also, like, if you want a screen printed or an airbrushed Matrix T-shirt while you're here, we can make that happen. You can follow the white rabbit

wherever you want out of here. Figure it out. I would love that. Yeah, I've had a good time. It's been great. It's been nice. I think our little family dinner was honestly the highlight of the trip for me. 100%. A giant flaming hunk of meat. Yeah, Tomahawk, ribeye.

Swinging from a meat hook. The meat hook was a nice touch. Sick. The dribbling beef tallow over potatoes was a nice touch. Rob's recommendation, I have to say, you do good work. I appreciate that. But also, on the recommendations front, Somalié-Waz has been... Oh, yes.

Dishing it out for us at all of our team gatherings lately. The main must have to navigate a wine list. Yeah, this is what we do. We had some great wine yesterday, too. Shout to Smith and Wilinski. They have a great wine. menu or wine program as they say the program yeah feeder system the development is just incredible over there incredible all right why don't we wrap it there because Isaiah blakely our our producer

had to stay up show today man MVP at his goddamn podcast every time bro so thank you to Isaiah blakley on production thank you to Ben Cruz thank you to everyone who's come and said hello as we've been in Las Vegas in fact thank you to everyone who emailed for our ticket giveaway for the NBA Cup. Absolutely. Incredible response. And the number of people who have also emailed

since the games have started, just saying, I know I can't win the tickets anymore, but I want to send in a guy just to participate. I love that.

We simply love to see it. You can continue to email us if you want at ringer group chat at gmail.com with anything. Your thoughts on what wine we should have had a dinner instead of the fine ones that was chose for us?

Just for those who were wondering, of course, our first bottle was a Pino Noir. second one was a Barolo. That seems like a good lineup for me. Yeah. For a giant ass tomahawk rib by steak. Always, always, always.

Or just your general takes on Dyson Daniels or Thanasas and Tacombo's, like maneuverability off of an Achilles tear. You're looking great and spry out there. Just really any of your thoughts on the NBA, hit us up. And I will give you guys a little bit of a secret. If you email us, Rob will 100% see it because he gets it directly to his phone. Why would you say that? Why would you give that information?

stayed till the end of the podcast deserve a little nugget. Also, it's fucking weird that you do that. Why is that weird? I don't want to get like a third my third email alerts. Like I have a work email. I have a personal email.

This is like you're another one. Well, I'm a dedicated inbox zero guy. Oh no. I'm going to clear them all no matter what. Okay. And I'm going to diligently check every like Andres nocioni

that someone emailed into us because I care about our listeners, Justin. They matter to me. Maybe not to you, but they matter to me. Someone has to, and I appreciate that it's you. But yeah, thanks to everyone who emailed us.

Thank you for listening tonight. We'll be back. I believe we're recording a day earlier as per usual. So no pod on Monday, but we will be recording Wednesday to talk about the finals of the NBA Cup. So we will talk to you then.