The Ringer NBA Show - Top-Line Takeaways From the Real NBA Opening Night | Group Chat

Episode Date: October 24, 2024

Justin, Rob, and Wos were joined by J. Kyle Mann live on the Ringer NBA YouTube channel after the Bucks' comfortable win over the Sixers. The guys discuss any takeaways from the game and some of the other games that night, and they each try to sell Kyle Mann on a take related to the opening night games. Host: Justin Verrier, Rob Mahoney, Wosny Lambre Guest: J. Kyle Mann Producers: Isaiah Blakely and John Richter Additional Production Supervision: Ben Cruz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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And welcome to group chat live. We are here on the real opening night, is what I call it. The day after opening night in the NBA season, because that's when all of the bad teams start to play. I'm here with my favorite bad colleagues. We got Rob Bowdo. Hey. We got Wazney Lambray.

Yes, sir. And we have a man amongst men, Jay Kyle Mann, who we found his roaming the streets. We decided to pull him in. Happy to be bad in person for once, you know, for a change being bad over Zoom just doesn't quite convey. So I figured I'd trick. So we just watched the Milwaukee Bucks and the Philadelphia 76ers go toe to toe

to toe because what is a real opening night, Rob, if not seeing Ricky Council, get to play in the stead of actually good Philadelphia 76ers? Saw them play too late, I would say. Why wasn't you in the game earlier? Look, this is not a real Philadelphia 76ers team, to say the least. I don't think anyone expected that they were going to give this version of the bucks a real run for their money. you know, we got what we asked for.

We got what we thought we were going to get. I will say, like, the top line for me is that I thought Dame looked really good. After a season where I thought he looked okay for the most part, maybe got a little more grief than he deserved. But if this is the version of Dame that the Bucks are going to get all season, that's a massive deal. I like the Bucks process today. Like, obviously, Dame made a bunch of threes.

Like, it's Dame every now and again. He's going to explode. But I thought, like, they actually got their spacing right around both picking rolls, Yonis picking roles, which, you know, just isn't as prevalent yet. He hasn't developed the chemistry. Dame hasn't with Yannis as much as he has with Brooke. Where with Brooke, it's like they're old friends. Like, they absolutely have a great chemistry on that.

And you can tell, like, on a couple of times, like Janus isn't used to catching the ball on a roll. Like a couple of times he was hesitant. A couple of times he made the pass late. But the process is there, which just wasn't the case last year. They had a weak-ass schedule to start the season. and they won a bunch of games and it was kind of fools' goals.

Like, oh, everything is fine until it wasn't and a coach got fired mid-season. But I like the process. That's what I like mostly about the bucks today. Well, especially watching, like, the Knicks and the Wolves yesterday and how cluttered their offenses looked. Like, the new guys just didn't know where to be

and nobody knew how to work off each other. I recognize that what the bucks are working with is not the same level of addition, but finding Tori and Prince in the corner, finding Gary Trent on the way. Like, that's what felt supernatural for them. Yeah, and we were trying to kind of see if Coniton could get back into a rhythm.

We were like, is he back? Are they back or are they not back? It was kind of a running thing. But the thing with the honest that I think is interesting is, you know, you wonder why because he projects on paper as somebody who would be like a great short-roll guy. But a lot of what he does is like surveying, you know, in open court, you all were talking about him carrying the ball, which he does a lot.

But he likes to sort of like survey the landscape and run down a certain path. and he's not as used to be in, you know, because that's one of the ways that teams can kind of like load up or sneak up on him and try to draw charges or, and he's great whenever he's catching in the high post and making a move. But it's a different skill set to develop if you're catching it in traffic, turning your head, making a decision. And it's, you know, I'm being curious to see how they can take this step and go forward. But the Sixers just look like a body without a brain to me. It was just the limbs were just kind of everywhere.

It was like, come on. Yeah. And that's to be expected when you're, you know, to we'll see if Maxie can, make that an argument, but your two best players are out. I think that's the top line takeaway for me, is that the Sixers, this was over for them before it started. Unfortunately, Joel Embed wasn't there. He might not be playing this first week of games. Paul George not there. Obviously, have the injuries. We know what Paul George's injury is. Not totally sure what's going on with Joel Embed. He's ramping back up from something, I guess from playing through the Olympics, because we haven't really seen him play NBA basketball

since then. So the Sixers started Kelly Ubrey, Eric Gordon, Andre Drummond, back from the dead, KJ Martin, who we thought was a walking trade exception around one Tyree's Maxi, Maxi played well. But these are not the Sixers we thought we would see. No. Do we know why Eric Gordon is starting? I would say less than this context and more, like, is he really going to be the guy at the two that they're going to play? Or are they really committed to this idea of playing him over some of these other wing alternatives that they have? Yeah.

Well, clearly, you know, Yaboo is a small ball five option. Some incredible body types on the floor at one time for the Sixers. you had Kyle Lowry, you had Jaboo, and, yeah, it was, a lot of ass. And Eric Gordon, yeah, there were some Y, Y, bodies for the modern NBA. The fixers. Oh, the Sixers. We're going to workshop it. There we go.

Fickness over quickness. Get him an only fan's a countess. That came to you too quick. No comment. Yeah, but, Waz, I think this has to be disappointing. If for the Sixers fans, who were, there were a few of us behind them, us while we were watching the game tonight, the fact that, like, you. You're not starting with any of the big names that you thought you would is.

It's pretty disparate. Yeah. And, you know, tonight, like, Caleb Martin is, he's trying to take Janus off the dribble at the top of the keep. Like, that's not a thing that would ever happen under normal circumstances. I thought K.J. Martin looked quick, looked athletic. Like, he plays with a motor. I can see Nick Ners just being, like, Eric Gordon is going to get the minutes until we let our young guys sort of earn it. Instead of just thrusting them into the situation.

It's just Eric Gordon looked very, very. cook today. Yeah. But again, in a different circumstance, Ubre is not doing so much one-on-one. Neither is Caleb Martin, neither is Cal Lowry. Or even Maxie himself, who was like, he took like 14, 15 shots in the first half. Like, he's not having to do that under normal circumstances. I think their role players show, like, they're guys with pop.

And in a different context, going around what Mbide and Maxi and Paul George can do. Like, I'm encouraged by what I saw from the role players. I think we're going to have to see, you know, among all the other problems that come with Embed and Paul George being hurt at various points in the season. And we hope that they're going to be healthy. But the way that that will overtacks Tyrese Maxie over the course of the year, if he has to have games like this on a regular basis where he's shooting 30 plus shots and really driving every single thing that they're trying to do, not a good formula for them. 10 for 31 tonight. Just like getting through the regular season is going to be a priority. And that's not just the two veterans.

That's getting Maxie to the goal line in a way where he's going to have. a lot of energy for the playoffs and a lot of burst for the playoffs. Optimistic twist take, though, if you're a Sixers fan, okay? Coming into the league, I saw this first hand. We had him at Kentucky. I saw Tyrese crazy downhill, quick, could get his shot off, but he had kind of blinders on when it came to playmaking. It was like, you knew Tyrese was going to take three or four bad ones a game,

and you could see him coming, but we loved him to death, great smile, positive dude. But, like, coming into the league, when you're trying to watch him balance that incredible speed, you're trying to watch him balance that with, okay, see and two, seeing a little seeing where the help is, figuring out how to get off the ball effectively and to use his speed, when it's juxtaposed next to Embed, it makes sense. He's coming, he's lived in that kind of space for a long time. You bring in Paul George and you would think that it would help him even more. In the short term, this could be a nice accelerated education for him where if you want to, you know, hopefully we don't see a bunch more of these. He's going to have to adapt and show us.

We were having some conversations about comparing him to other prospects in the league who've been similarly paid, but maybe you think when things do fall back into a place, that over-exertion kind of ends up being a positive for the Sixers. Listen, we put Maxie on Dude Watch going to the season, but a dude without his other dudes is just the guy. Wow. That depends on who you are. And I do think it's a reminder of what happened toward the end of last season when Embeddeed went out.

Obviously, some of the role players are actually better than they were when Maxie was out there playing with, hopefully, Tobias Harris on the floor. but when he doesn't have either George or Embed, then you start to see the seams a little bit. And so it's a little, we can't really rate Maxi based on who's around there, but it does just show the limitations if both George and Embed aren't going to be out there, which they might not be. We might assume that it's one or the other.

It could just be both. The coin flip corollary. I don't think we're that concerned about the core mechanics of how the Sixers basketball will work when their best guys are out there. The question I have coming out of this game, and I think something to watch all season is with these role players, who I think we like broadly. I like them.

It's a lot of Caleb Martin is really good for you on the nights where he's on. Kyle Lowry is really good for you on the nights where he's locked in and really invested. I thought his energy level in this game was really good.

You wasted a good Kalo night. So coin flip guys. It's a lot of coin flip role players. And to me that means this is a huge Nick Nurse season. That means you've got to pull all the right levers and all the right times

and we're going to see how they do that this year. Are you surprised that Caleb Martin came off the bench though? Because KJ Martin did indeed start. I assume Martin would be part of that lock solid five-man first lineup. He ultimately played 37 goddamn minutes, which is a lot.

Kyle Lowry also played 24 off the bench. So clearly playing a bigger role. But I thought Martin would be a bigger part of this team. I mean, KJ. Martin, like, theoretically is bigger and more physical than Caleb Martin, even though, you know, he's played four in the past in Miami and stuff like that. But I'm not surprised. I'm sure Nick Nurse likes to try stuff notoriously. He likes to tinker and all of that.

I think he gave it his best go with these lines. I just realized, though, why Maxie had the Alan Iveson, he wanted to put up those stat lines. Well, he could see better. We're talking about this. The vision, unobstructed. If you're trying to see two better, getting the extra, having four to six strads and you're excited.

I see what you're saying. Yeah, that's why you used to have quarter-waters. Yeah, when I kind of, I just used to just through the roof. That's right. I don't know. I mean, when does this plane stabilize it at altitude, though? Because you're talking about Embeddie who's being flaky, about playing back to backs.

Paul George at his age with his knee issues and things like that. I know I was positive a minute ago, but thinking about it, it's like... I have a secret for you. How much is it going to save a lot? It's not going to. Yeah. The plane's not going to come down?

It's not going to... I'm a little nauseated about it. It's just going to disappear over the ocean. It's Joel and Peter Paul George. They're never healthy. Oh, wow. I want to believe in a happier world than that. I want to believe in a world where we get to really see this thing

come to fruition. I have happy worlds You gotta give them a little bit of light in the darkness Man let's hope so You tend to be cynical though Was I think we sat on the stage in L.A. and you were like whispering into the mic

Oh George ain't coming Sixers fans I'm sure that was you I'm just saying I've been wrong before I'm not saying I'm Nostradamus here You know I'm just Strasamus Wastradamus

Wastradamus That was right that was right Guys, it's the first game. We're all going to overreact to everything we do. We're going to put out some bad puns. We're going to craft these over time. The Sixers, if they have enough out there, it seems like they should be fine.

The bucks, I think, are the big thing. They had most of their guys out there. Except for Mr. Middleton. We should say, yeah. And they looked, I think, competent in the way they're hopeful. There's a lot of Bobby Portis happening in a good way for this game. Yeah, including... That man is money.

The man wants some money. He deserved to be paid basis. this game, based on the usual Bobby Portis experience, I still get very nervous about how important he is to this team. It's too much. He's fire that at any point, I always say this about him. He's fire that at any point could heat the house or burn the house. That's his Bobby Porter.

And he looks like a villain from Cuphead with his eyes big all the time. I don't know if you'll have played that game. But yeah, he's just, he's just in a tits dude. I mean, he got baited into that Kyle Lowry play. Sure. Everybody was just like, that's just kind of the game you play with. But played his ass off. Like, I don't want to diminish what he did tonight.

So much is just like, I worry about him being a core member of everything that you do all the time. And he kind of is with this Bucks team. He's the furnace, apparently. Yeah. Or at least the generator inside. Like, you got to keep those things outside. Very important. Pilot life.

That's what I was going to this guy. I see you. Okay. We'll workshop. Actually, this is a free flowing conversation. This is the homeowner corner over here. You guys are really informed on these matters. Wazner are just making guesses as to what that life must be like.

Justin is chopping wood. Yeah. We're talking about sauce. Come on, man. We're Man of the Woods. At the time, you guys want to talk SaZaz. Where guys? You know where to find me.

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See terms at sportsbook.Fandul.com. Gambling problem, call 1,800 gambler or visit RG-Help.com. All right. That's it for the first game, the big ESPN game. We're recording this as the second one is going on. We're going to now shift to our first impressions of the other games that are happening in this earlier window. So if you're following along at home or listening on the pod right now, we're talking about the first window of tonight's action on Wednesday.

What we're going to do here is we're going to sell each other and specifically Kyle some opening night takes. So kind of like the sell you your pen thing from Wolfram Wall Street. These are just things that are percolumb. after a couple of first impressions from the first night of games. Minus the fraud. Like this is, we're actually trying to sell each other a real take. Well,

my take's real. I don't know if you guys are committing light to medium fraud. Should we talk about frauds now? Oh, perhaps in the end of you. Would you, if you want to open that door, Justin,

I'm going to leave that to you. We can save that. We'll get there eventually. It's going to back into it. You got an inflammatory in the theater, I'll just say. But yeah, it got hot,

the higher thing. Why don't we start first and foremost with the biggest part of tonight's action, which is Ben Simmons? Here's my take that I'm going to sell it to Kyle and you guys. I don't think that he's back. But? No point. He's done. He's done.

Stick a fork in him. Why would you say that, Justin? So first night of action for a guy, Ben, after shooting many of a corner three in an open gym, he finished this game a loss of the Hawkins. they blew it down the stretch with a five by five. Unfortunately, two of those categories are turnovers and fouls. He had six points,

eight assists, five rebounds, six turnovers in five fouls. Is that bad? I think it's pretty bad. Yeah, I think we need to wrap it up for him. It's the Nets.

You know, like, I think the frustrating thing about the Bensonman's discourse is like, how could he succeed with this group? This is not a roster that's Taylor made to help him

in any way. And he's a player who, as we have learned over the years, needs lots and lots and lots of help to be in the right kind of position. What does he need exactly? He needs people who will go to the basket because he won't.

He needs people who are willing to shoot free throws because he won't. He's people who will shoot because he refuses to. Even though I will say in our theater watching experience today, Michael Pino was very carefully keeping us attuned to everything Ben Simmons was doing, including every corner three assists

that he threw. Well, he does have a guy who wants to shoot, And that's one Cam Thomas. Certainly does. A boat load of shots. Can you guys guess how many shots Cam Thomas took in his first game this season with the Brooklyn? Can we get a minute total? Yeah, I'll give it to you, 34 minutes.

Oh, 24 shots. Yeah, I was going to say 25. I'll take the over. Fuck it. So, 27 shots. 27 on the dot. Incredible. Incredible.

That's, too many shots. That's too many shots. This game got chippy. The Nets should have won this game. Yes, it did. Nick Claxston nearly killed. Dyson Daniels. That was wow. That's when you stand up straight after.

That was game one of Brooklyn season. I know where, like, maybe. In Atlanta, yeah, like who knew? Maybe this is the angsty part. The Barclays Center is going to be rocking this year, yeah, I don't want to put too fun a point on it, but as Cooper flag grow stronger, Ben Simmons must diminish, I feel like.

So it's kind of, if you're a Nets fan, you're just sitting back and just kind of go, go to Barclays, have a few beers. Maybe, you know, let's hope those odds flatten out at the bottom and we get a shot. because, you know, there's a lot of talent at the top. I know we're not trying to go full draft here, but, you know, Brooklyn, let the good times roll, have a good time, be bad. You know, let's just, let's chill and hope we get some talent.

Being bad is the point this year. They got a parade coming. Like, they're going to be fine, you know, Brooklyn's doing all right. For the Yankees? Exactly. That wasn't what I was aiming for, but maybe that too. They got Ellie up there just watch some. We never really got a Mets update from you, wise.

Do you want to go on record with your feelings about the season? I mean, look, on July 1, but. The team was basically dead in the water. And then we went something like 18 and 3 in that month and, you know, gone to the wild card, beautiful LCS run. And the process beat the Phillies, which, like, to me is damn they're worth half for World Series title to watch Phillies fans suffer. But, you know, disappointing that we lost to the Dodgers. Even more so disappointed that the Yankees are now in the World Series.

But it is what it is. I'm happy with the season. You're going to get a place. Little engine that could, you know, highest payroll in baseball. but Cinderella store. It's a big agent. It was an expensive little engine. I just hope Grimis is doing okay.

I think he is. I'm sure he's fine. The corporations, none were harmed in the making of this Mets season. It's right. Rob, do you want to sell Kyle and us your take? I would love to. Kyle in particular,

these two, I'm not so convinced. But Kyle, I feel like you and I connect on a spiritual level. I feel like you could understand me when I come to you and say that Evan Mowbley this season will be an all-star. And we are seeing the makings of it Already.

Well, I mean, I'm the demo for this, but finish your thoughts. This is why we bring you in to help me fend off these animals alongside us. He's going to average 12 again instead of 11. Relax. 25 and 8 tonight. A lot of easy looks. A lot of easy looks. A lot of easy looks.

A lot of easy looks. A lot of easy looks. Not quite the energy I was looking for. Who did the calves play tonight? Does that matter? I think it might quite. Okay, so they may have played the Toronto Raptors who may or may not have been playing like three rookies

that probably should not be getting rotation minutes and that's to say nothing about their top line rotation. But Evan and Mobile used creatively, given room to operate, put in positions to succeed in terms of the lineups, like Kenny Atkinson is staggering the hell out of this thing in terms of bigs and guards. But it needed to be done.

And it wasn't entirely being done. And I think this is going to be a year for the Cavs where a lot of the things that have been holding the back in some way, are taken to their logical conclusions and are finally unraveled and solved to some degree. We'll see if the personnel changes ultimately come. But in terms of making the most of this group and making the most of Evan Mowgli,

I think we're seeing really good initial signs from what Kenny Atkinson is doing. I'll buy that. It's on the contingency that they shift. And the Kenny Atkinson, they shift style. I remember Wads and I had like a playoff, this is burned in my brain for something. But we just went on an epic rant complaining

about the way they play compared to the pieces that they had. And, you know, naturally, Detroit sees what went wrong in Cleveland and said, we'll take some of that and scoop that up. We'll see about how that goes. But I think that, you know, if they do shift, if they do use those guards who are both crazy movement shooters and integrate more cutting into their offense, we know, Atkinson has that connection through the Golden State coaching tree. You assume and you hope that they get more cutting, more back, you know, back cutting, more just spacing the floor up and then using, you know, off ball movement things. like that. I think that Evan Mobley could fit into that kind of Drey kind of role where he's anchoring on defense and he's attacking guys in short situations like we were talking about with

the honest. So I think it could happen. And frankly, even given all the caveats about Mobley's like physical strength and the way he finishes around the basket is a kind of finisher that Draymond never was. Like the length alone gives him avenues to score that guys like that just don't have. He's way more toolsy. But like you said, the stagger matters because so long as Alan is in the game. It's only but so much spacing they could allow for him because he's not going to sort of dribble, jab, create space and get a nice shot off.

He needs that space in order to just basically finish over guys with his length. And so, yeah, it's smart that they got to stagger. I think some of my skepticism was like, don't they have to play their best four guys, 30-something minutes in the playoffs? And if the two bigs don't really make sense for each other, again, in the regular season, whatever.

Yeah. If Allen can't finish a certain game or Mowbly happens to be in foul trouble, then they can keep that same logic of their lineup. But like in the playoffs, that's the only thing I'm worried about. But it's nice to see that they're doing something different now. Garland also did not have a good game. So that's kind of the balance there. Sure.

But they scored 136 points against the Toronto Raptors. So I think things are going pretty well there. By the way, as we're talking, the Hornets just beat the Rockets. Let's go. So we're back. I don't know if you guys caught Mietchich out there, our guy, our spiritual. How do you look? He looked like he just got back from Botteroo.

He has like a, almost like a fro thing going. I was going to say summer abroad kind of thing, study abroad. Yeah. He's from abroad, so I guess that doesn't really quite work. This but this is a broad. So, shot star a guy. I don't think he played all that well or all that much. So you know he's a three this season, like I said.

Wise, why don't you hit us with a jig? My take that I want to sell to all three of you guys is that the Boston Celtics are going to become the third team ever to win 17. games. Yeah. I like this take. My eyebrows are singed. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I kind of like, sort of warmed you guys up for this take when I told you that they would be the 2016 Warriors. Like, I think they're coming back with like obviously all their guys, all of the continuity, incredible amount, most talent in the league. And the thing that they had even more, some of it the Warriors had too, where like, Steph is like, oh, how can this little guy be the best player in the league? All of that stuff. I think that, and I talk to producer Zay about.

this like their guys have legitimate gripes um jalen brown did get left off of the team usa like yep even though not once but thrice yeah he's a deserving player like tatum made the team and famously did not play didn't win the fun like he could feel disrespect about not winning finals MVP joe mazula there was some like poll where he wasn't even considered top 10 in coaching in the NBA coming off he doesn't fear death okay coming off of a championship I think like this is a team that's going to have an incredible chip on their shoulder. And when you combine that with the talent, the continuity, just to want to, man, like, they're going to want to prove stuff to people.

And I can see them taking this season personally and rolling off to 70 wins. If I could just peel back the curtain a little bit, my memory may be getting a little fuzzy was, but I recall looking down the table at our Ringer NBA staff team dinner the other night and seeing you accost some of our colleagues taunting them that Jason Tate would never be able to get around wing defenders like O.G. Annobe and Mikhail Bridges, for example. Sure. Poo-poo-pooing, I would say the Celtics overall chances, maybe. No, no, no, no, I didn't poo-poo the chances. I just, the idea that the Celtics are going

to forever be unstoppable. That's just not how it goes, right? Like, a lot of times good teams force you to get out of your best lineups. If Celtics are able to play their base defense, base offense against every team, they're going to win. But the best teams make you change and adjust. That's what I... That's all I was saying, right? And also, like, this idea that Jason Tatum is going to be 10 times the player that he was last year. Like, the night one, he'd look like a world leader, yes.

But, like, the idea that he's just going to be this all year and forever through all four rounds of the playoffs. I feel like that seems like a bit of a leap. It's probably not going to shoot, like, 87% on pull-up. That seems fair. And Al Horford shoots like Sam Merrill from three, I think they're going to be okay. Yeah, no, that's fair. And again, I think they already know who they are and what they want to do. And so that's the most important part of the regular season.

It's just like a switch. Yeah. You know, they're rolling off onto the beach ready to just mow everything down. I mean, and then you juxtapose that against, the second time I said juxtapost on one show. Sorry about that, everybody. apology. Kyle would like to issue an apology to everyone. I'm so sorry.

More like sucks the pose. Oh, geez. So it is incredibly stupid, but that's what I'm here for it. No, you line that up against what the Knicks were trying to do, which is with Carl, and they don't have Hartstein back there. And it's like, their identities is a little in flux. Carl's being stretched in some interesting ways. I think it was especially ugly.

But I think that you're right that they do. Although the reality, of the reasons that like those things happened this summer, like why Jaylon was, I personally understand why they made that choice because that other Celtic on this team, Derek White, I thought made sense in that. And Jason Tatum wasn't playing well. And he had some things going on that hurt that particular team's needs. But the beauty about getting pissed off for reasons that matter to you is that you can warp it

however you want. If they believe that, that is not going to stop them from winning 70 games. I think Rob and I were talking about this, that like I think this, team. I don't have this data in front of me, but I think this team is going to break the NBA record. I guess this goes back to like 2014 or so at the analytics, the tracking analytics. I think this team's going to break the record for generated open threes. They're going to generate more open threes and they're going to hit them. I mean, that's the reality. I think that's just going to make them really tough to be.

Tatum's playmaking looked electric. Really good. We can talk about the next about their deficiencies. But if Tatum merges the version he was in the playoffs with some better shooting. If he was four for 11, I would have been like, okay, maybe he's on the right track. 8 for 11. Probably never going to get there again. But if he's both of those things, like, God damn. We might actually have, dare

I say, at Tatum, actual MVP run. Legitimate. Not the one from last year. That was very forced. I think he might have it in him. He looks like he could be ready to level up for sure. I think in addition to the Celtics knowing how they play, they also have such an easy faculty

with what button they need to press to make you screw up. And I think that's where the cat part of that was really interesting. Like if you have a big who basically has to drop or is most comfortable dropping, you're just going to be cooked. And I think it's especially if Tatum is making plays like that. It's one thing if he's hitting all of these pull-up threes. It's not always going to be that way every single night.

But enough of their guys can. And most importantly, if he's able to drive against your drop and still dish out that effectively, I don't know what you do with that. They were 45.8% on dribble pull-up threes last night. So, yeah, they took 24 of them. that's a way that they stress. I think the other thing, this is a quick thing I would say about the Celtics is. And this came out in the coverage conversation in the finals last year.

This is an incredible collection of smart basketball players. So incredible. Just top to bottom, they can, you were talking about trying to stress and push their buttons. This team, in addition to just having the right skill sets to be like cohesive, they're just so smart, so mature. They all guard. They play together. It's very possible if they could win seven. All of this set.

Sevent. Championship team coming into this season with a lot to prove and a lot. a lot to fight for if they choose to indulge those things. Prove is the wrong word. But individually, as you're saying, the Jalen Brown, Jason Tatum. Individually, yes. Their journeys.

There's a lot to channel there if they would like to. But they know exactly how they want to play. The Knicks have no idea how to space around each other. Most these teams that they're going to run up against this month don't know what they're doing yet. And if you're a defending champion that can roll into a season like this, that's great. How in tune and how locked in are the Celtics going to be, if they're coasting in the first seed through January.

When it's like you don't really have anything to play for at that point, and if anything, it would probably behoove you to take your foot off the gas and go a little lighter on some of your core guys. That's where I stop short. I think they can win a lot of regular season games if they want to. I'm just not sure they really, really want to. If the Celtics lose, say, three out of five at any point this season, you know what's coming.

Like the exact same negativity that they're being. pissed off about. That's why I think it's possible, right? Like this stuff, like, because look, I was somebody who was pretty high on Tatum's final because of what you guys mentioned with his playmaking that he displayed in the finals and he was guarding the hell out of

people, rebound, which he always incredible rebounder out of his position. Guarding the five to me was the part that that's the one, screwed the series for the math. Like, he was guarding lively as if he were, you know, some little twerk, you know, some little point guard or something. Like, he bodied

up. on this guy. Like, I thought he did a great job. A lot of people was like, look, I want to see, you know, the best player on the championship team make a couple of fadeaways, make a couple of shots. That being said, like, people, sorry, these criticisms didn't come out of nowhere.

And, like, I think if you're focused on, like, proving people wrong, it can carry you through the whole season. Resentment goes a long way. You can ask Justin Varyer. That's right. Season of Spites. Do you see how I raise my game? this season. Yeah.

Hinging the ball around. I really thought that's what was happening as we were watching these games. You were basically picking fights systematically with everything. We are doing like the whole time. I think that was Justin just trying to feel a lot. No, I was just trying to get back

into the group of things. You know, I was just warming up. He was like, did you see that guy? I was like, what? Okay, let's forget the fact that you were hollering from the back of the room. I was. I was like the old men in the Muppets

It's just heckling. Yeah, it was great. But we should talk about the Nix because I do think this was the classic case of a team that knows itself so well, as you guys were saying, in the Celtics, versus the team in the NICs who clearly just took who they were and completely flipped it around. They were like the got kid who all of a sudden went to American Eagle and now you're the preppy kid because this is a completely different team. And, Waz, I want to ask you this. Who was more disappointing to you on opening night, Carl Anthony Towns or Mikhail Bridges? Probably Bridges, man. I think it's bridges you expect him to be.

be like a dynamite defender and make a difference, even when he's off the ball, right? And I get it with the Celtics, like, with their spacing. You got to be pretty, like, picky when you, you know, take chances and help off of gods. Like, you got to be pretty, like, cerebral when you're making those choices. But probably Bridges, like, Towns is, come on, man. Like, he's nobody's idea of, like, the smartest basketball decision maker anyway. I think he has to get used to it and have a feel for it, like, actually go through those reps. And, like, honestly, it reminded me of opening night of the Hedles era.

Not that this team is going to win two out of four championships. I'm just saying they played the Celtics, a team who had been together forever, a team who desperately wanted to prove a point and kick their asses. And the Hedos got, they got smoked. Y'all can look at it. They got killed. Everybody was laughing at them. I think Chris Bosch airballed the first freaking shot of the big three Hedles era, right?

Like, that's what last night reminded me of. It's like, the Celtics was like, oh, this is the team that's, like, put us in the, the bullseye, we're going to kill these people. And that was the same thing for Boston. Everybody kept saying, like, the reason the heat came together was to beat the Celtics, right? And the reason the Knicks brass put this team together in the manner that they did was to beat the Celtics. And the Celtics is like, I got something for that ass.

I think that's why I was ill. I'm just supposed to roll into that. That's why I was a little more disappointed in towns, I think, is in a way. I know we were just talking about Tatum guarding someone like lively. Like the Celtics' ability to guard and front and pressure someone like Towns on the block is what makes them such an impressive defense and such a formidable opponent.

There are positions where Jalen Brunson is out of the game. No one else on the Knicks could really score. And Towns is kind of fighting for position on the block in a way that I think will feel very familiar to a lot of Terminoles fans, not quite establishing position deep enough. Deuce McBride, who we all like, is not necessarily like laser-focused on getting

in that entry past in the post. So I think there are enough of these things going on with the Knicks at once that it feels cluttered, it feels convoluted, it feels like a team that doesn't know each other yet naturally. But in those moments, no one was looking to Carl to create. And that

worries me a little bit because I think that's going to be a really important part of his job, not to do it all the time, but in the moments where Jayland Brunton isn't on the floor, what do you bring him for if not that? That was kind of why I was more disappointed in Bridges because the Carl stuff seemed like a team trying to figure out how to play together.

Whereas with Bridges, you just look at the three-point shot and it's carrying over from the preseason. We talked about it before. It's just, it looks janky. You know, he looked like, I mean, he was shooting like Terry Taliborne out there. All right. You just, you just...

You're worst takers. I was going to say on the bridge's thing that he... I do think that there's a lot of pressure here on him because his value obviously took a step up with the sample that we got in Brooklyn, where he started to show us like, okay, he can kind of play some

and pick roll, getting the lane. Hit some of those. I think that that, the price that the Knicks paid for him, though, I think was predicated on that leap that they thought, okay, we saw that, we believe that's who you are. And I think they're going to need him. You were talking about figuring out where our offense is going to come from when he's out there. I don't think you're going to want, like, OG doing that.

Carl is going to have to, I don't, we'll see. The jury is out on how he kind of meshes, like, the things that he's good at, feeding in and finding that synergy. But I think Bridges, you know, they paid a steep price for him. And I think that him becoming that guy, I don't think the defense is enough. I do think that he needs to be more on offense. So I think there is some pressure there. And that's the issue I think you have with him. They need him now. Before Devencenzo didn't have a good game, if Hart wasn't shooting well, they could just cycle through the lineup. They were so deep. Everyone played Tibbs style basketball. He stands out so much more if he's not going to hit shots. And honestly, I was more disappointed

that he wasn't even Phoenix level, Mikhail Bridges. At this point, I would just prefer, like, a high floor. The guy from Phoenix would be incredible for this team. Be a functioning 3-and-D guy. Yeah. Just to start with. And then we could talk about you being an all-star California. I think he'll get there.

So do why. I still remain... I don't know. The shot looks janky. His shot's always gone. It has, but now it's like the Tatum level where it added an extra hitch to the hitch. I think, like Tatev. I mean, Tatum fixed his age. She made an A3 yesterday.

Hitch on a hit. But the thing is dope, but, like, Tatum has been making threes his whole fucking life. Like, that's the difference, right? Like, this idea that Tatum can't shoot anymore, I never bought, like, it just seemed ridiculous to me that the guy who's been that high level of shooter is now, you know, Tony Allen or something. That's insane to me, right? I think the only thing for the Knicks, who I still remain pretty bullish on, like, for the season, I think they'll be able to figure some stuff out is that they got to get creative with. on offense and how to incorporate him. And creative offenses is not a top tip of those straight.

No, it hasn't been in the past. So that's the only thing that gives me pause. They're going to be fine. I'm really not worried about the Knicks either. They need time. They need a rotation. The more closely resembles what we would hopefully see from them in the playoffs. That means, you know, hook them, but less Jericho Sims.

The expectations aren't out of whack in New York City. It's all very normal. It's just the bench is also. It's really tough. That's what I mean. It's a lot of campaign. Yes. A lot of Dottier.

and Daddy, I don't like that. You keep trying to make this happen, and it's not going to happen. You're going to kill my Chris. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Do you guys want to talk about the other game last night?

So the Lakers, I guess they're back? What do we think? Yeah, how do you feel about that? Okay, I would like to make, go on the record here and make a very clear distinction that I made at the time.

Can you look straight down the barrel over here? I feel like we need a plea to the audience from you. I don't like JJ Redick as a person. I have no strong opinion about him as a basketball coach. If anything, I think he's perfectly suited to the team around him because it is a lot of young guys. And you could see, and I saw many clips about this, just the low-hanging fruit that I think Rob would often refer to in our preview pods.

He started to pick some of that off where the offense looked like it had more flow to it. I saw a lot of people showing the plays he talked about with LeBron. And what was it, mind the game or feel the game. Mind the game. We love the game. You know what it is. Mind with the deed, not mind the game like crypto, but like mind the game like your brain. So like mine the gap.

Not as cool as the group chat podcast. I don't know how many times I've been on a show where someone looked directly to camera and said, I don't like this coach as a person. I know. That was supposed to make it better. That's new. Yeah, all right. We're breaking barriers here.

I mean, it would just be monitoring your credential situation over there. We'll see. That's why I vacated at L. a long time ago. Oh, I forgot. Yeah. So not an issue. That low-hanging fruit, it was plucked.

It was really plucked. And I think an interesting counterpoint with the Knicks here where the Knicks went from a team that was really good on the offensive glass last year because of their personnel. You get Carl Towns in place of, say, Mitchell Robinson and Isaiah Hardinstein, changes the formula a lot in terms of your second chance opportunities. The whole like hustle junkie vibe that they cultivate in the playoffs doesn't fly as well with this group. And they're going to adjust to that. And I think find their way.

The Lakers, who I believe were dead last in offensive rebounding percentage. last year, storming the offensive glass to the point where they had a horrible shooting night. And I don't know if you saw this, JJ Redick Post game attributed some of that perhaps to a new, the new balls. They were not worn in. They were not worn in. He's going to petition the league for only worn in balls. Honestly, I appreciate the bit.

That's good controlling the narrative, first of all. An H ball is a fine thing that needs to be appreciated. A new ball is slick. The weights can be weird. You have to let it air raid, I find. It's got a air raid. It's got a leather. It's fairly important. You got to see what kind of legs it has, what kind of tannin situation you're working with.

I think it's very important. But if the Lakers are going to offensive rebound like this and run the way that they usually do, they don't need great shooting. They just need the size and the skill and the ability and overall the rotation that they have. I just like the fact that for the first time in five years, five training camps, five off-seasons,

five pre-season media availability, where we hear AD is going to be more emphasized in what the Lakers are doing because LeBron is getting older and he's de-emphasizing and he's passing the torch and blah, blah, blah. It actually looked like it was happening last night,

like actually running stuff through AD, making sure he touched the ball on every single possession. And AD seemed to relish the opportunity. And, like, you know, when AD is getting to the free throw line, that's when he's, like, turning into the full monster on offense.

Because, you know, then big men are scared. to get near him, you know. And when he's in that little in between 11 to 14 space, if he has a bunch of space, he's going to can those, right? And so that's what was actually exciting to me. Like, JJ Redick being the first Laker coach to actually deliver on the rhetoric of AD being more heavily involved

in an offense. At least for one night. In one game. Yeah. Well, I mean, if it continues. If we're doing takes off of real opening night, like on Tuesday, that was the one I had down here, which is are we not?

taking AD's leap he's made over the past season plus more seriously. Because I think like he reached a status last season where he became the best version of Center AD. We kind of dispatched this notion that he would be more of a guy coming off and downs and whatnot, be more of a mid-range shooter or even step out into three and be a shooter. He just really maximized being the best possible athletic defensive-minded center. And it seems like he's even taking a step forward in that mold. It could be disappointing because when you think about AD,

like the grand visions of him you would think more Janus for instance or someone even more like Victor Webbenyama someone that like elicited more fantasies right but 80 comes in already with that mold and then he's adding the three on top of that

it just seems like he's getting incrementally bigger in a way that Michael overlooked but I think might make the difference between the Lakers being a team that struggles to get into the play in and could at least flirt with the top succeeding West. I mean he's one of the best players in the world a lot of it just comes down to this sort trust in the idea of what your team's going to do.

If he's going to be dominant on offense, the Lakers are different teams. Like he's always... Taking a shot at Rudy on defense, too. I mean, I like the spice. He's been doing that forever, though. Like, that's been one of his things, especially since he got to the Lakers.

Like, he'd be like, oh, I like playing Rudy. I relish, you know, matchups against one of the best players. Everybody loves playing Rudy. Yeah. Well, he took it to him. 80 looked great. I thought the offense overall in terms of finding him, as you said, was looked really impressive.

There's a lot to like there. I think there's just a lot to like in terms of that sort of focus to A. game if that's the kind of player that they're going to allow him to be all year. Can I ask you this? Do you think that Rui is taking a next step this season? We don't like that narrative, no? No. Can find another slant.

I love this narrative. Rui's collars are fine. I love it. You get out of here. I think he's the perfect example of the kind of guy who could go from tokens standing in the corner, maybe occasionally opportunistic with his offense sort of wing, to playing as a big physical force in a way that, to be fair, to all. Rui Hachemura coach is present and past,

many people have tried to do. This is, you know, quite a quixotic journey. He's at an NBA body since his rookie year. Completely. When we saw him against the clippers, I remember looking at him standing next to Paul George and Kaua Linder

as a rookie, and he looked like exactly like he belonged physically and so that he would be using his physicality now. You know, again, five years later, it's nice. He looked big and active. in a way that he didn't last year with the Lakers.

And it just seemed like he was flying around. He was playing with more purpose. And I think that is a big thing for a lot of these guys. Austin Reeves, on down to some of the rookies. If they have more purpose within the offense, I think it trickles down to the defensive side, which is where they'll really make their head.

And so, I don't know, I'm feeling pretty good about the Lakers. How do you guys feel about the Timberwolves on the opposite side? Probably a little less movement, especially when Julius Randall had the ball. I mean, things were moving in theory. Dribles were dribbled. possessions. He's known for that.

Yeah. I didn't love anything I saw from the Julius Randall part of this. Don Devencenzo, you see how it can work. You see how he could fit with this team. Some of the lineup combinations, especially when the wolves go like a little bit smaller or a little bit more flexible you like, I just don't really know that I trust this group to fit together

in the way that even last year's team did. So a lot of people were like crazy positive that the wolves won this trade. And a lot of that rhetoric was like, oh, the talent came coming. back as like kind of equal and it's like that's crap. They won this trade because they got off a call Towns's deal and they were a small market team and it's like whatever.

The guy doesn't even play center. Cool. But like the idea is that a win? Is that winning the trade? For management it is. I mean, do you know the kind of cat dorks that we have in our industry who call that type of shit wins and not basketball on the court? Yeah, it is.

But we're here talking about how great Rui Hachamura looked and how physical he looked. He looked that way because Julius Randall wouldn't box him out. That's what's happening. Nas Reid looked a little over-extended at times. That's the thing. If Reed could step into the cat void and everything works as it did, if Dante DiVincenzo fills in for Connolly

as he's slowly aging probably out of the league over the next. I'm sorry, I have to say. Watches. Then it makes sense. But if those guys aren't going to step up into the void, if we're not recreating cat in the aggregate, then it doesn't make much sense.

Yeah, I mean, I feel like the Knicks were kind of like... Julius Randall's not going to create it. Just sorry. I was like, I feel like the Knicks were like one of the people in the movie it follows. They were just glad to be rid of. of the whatever they get. They were just like, you know what I'm not going to explain.

I just think Randall, for all the talents, he just brings so many caveats. Like, if you're getting, he's such a heavy conditional player in the same way that I'm not trying to say one to one like a Ben Simmons type, but like for the conditions for things to go right for him just have to be just so. And I think when you throw the Julius Randall spice into the dish, it just makes it a little harder for the other ingredients to work. Like it makes it harder for them to. He's like a clove.

Yeah. It makes it harder for them to, like, play. Very autumnal is shit out here with the clothes. Frankly, I mean, like, the Jaden, the Rudy, like, just the pieces. And then if Ant's not super efficient with his offense, because he can ebb and flow in that way. And it has to become a playmaker. Randall's a weird fit in that way, yeah. But you don't, but you want Ant to be nuclear.

You want his positives to be positive. And then, you know, it's just, I think Randall's presence makes it hard for Ant to do that. It's one game again, caveat. And I've been saying this shit for years. Raddle, Radel is. I know who Randall is. I know who Randall is.

Exactly. But I think you trade at the needle. It's not that he's bad. It's that he's complicated all the time. Yes. He makes things just a little bit harder on everybody else. And one thing I will say in the Wolves' defense, they did look pretty deep and they didn't even get into some of the rookies who they're

counting on to be major contributors, Rob Bellingham, Taryn, but like they're one through nine, pretty solid. Pretty good. I mean, Joe Ingalls, we'll see. Give or take, yeah. Yeah. But, like, they have guys here. If they can figure it out, they still have something there.

Anything else from tonight's slate of games? You guys want to talk about. We should talk about probably Powell Bencaro, just looking like a goddamn MVP candidate. Certainly. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that... GD MVP hits forth. Yeah, I think that the Miami Heat all of a sudden just disappeared.

They had this weird like Pat Riley court thing going on there where they named the court after Pat Riley. And it seemed like it was a very extravagant and also long presentation at halftime. I don't know if that threw them off, but like... Probably too Jimmy off. Yeah, that... Kind of a...

preemptive memorial vibe. Is that what you're saying? It was weird. I don't know what happened, but here's your net score after halftime. I feel like it was probably more of the fact that like the heat have a hard time winning games they can't junk up and it's really hard to out junk

the magic. Those guys will take out the trash. They will body you up. And Jimmy especially is the kind of creator who really struggles when he doesn't have a physical advantage on you. He can kind of squirm around you if he can get his shoulder into you a little bit.

But if you're doing that against Franz Wagner, it's just not going to go great. you had a good take about Paulo shooting threes because we have been talking about Franz and like whether or not he'll take that step but as you said it if Paulo's the guy doing that and then all of a sudden he's scoring 35 points a game

not a bad outcome and going four of eight from three I think what's important for the magic is one of those two guys needs to be hitting threes at a somewhat consistent rate or honestly maybe not even that consistent rate. It would be nice if one of your two max guys

could make the three They bring a lot to the table and they can trade off offensive responsibilities enough that if it's not Palo's shooting night maybe it might be Franz's and vice versa. I think as long as they can sort of maintain a balance between those things

and that is heavily dependent on Franz Wagner not having as catastrophic a shooting season as he had last year then they could really be working with something here because the defense is legit the physicality is incredible. Speaking of teams that have really good depth

I thought the magic second unit looked really good. Yeah, it did last year and it seems like that's going to be a strength as well. Franz ultimately did hit three for six, but through most of the game, it wasn't all that well just to clean that up. Other game I want to talk about just before we go here,

shirt Pistons ultimately lost to the Pacers. I gotta say, though, it doesn't look awful. Like, there's a little bit more flow to what's going on here. I know J.B. Vickers'aff doesn't have his fans, but it does seem like they have built

a floor into this team where it just seems like it makes more sense. I thought Cade played pretty well. A lot of Tim Hardaway, Jr., a little too much, I would say. at times, but there just seems to be more of a competence there that I appreciate it. Yeah, I thought Cade had a slow start. You know, like you said, it was a lot of Hardaway Jr., Beasley getting them up.

Like, everybody was sort of, you know, taking their licks. And it seems like they've given these guys the permission to be more free-flowing in their offense because, you know, let's face it, they haven't had much, you know, airspace on this team offensive. It's not much to oxygen in the room. Like, for two years now, and so you got that, but then Cade, you know, kind of got going. And again, another guy who

got a ton of money without ever really showing, like, anything consistently for this team. And it was nice on opening night that he could drop damn near 30 and look like he was in control at times, so that was good. Yeah, I think they just kind of fell apart. And this is another part of the Pistons formula. There's

the micro level. How does Cade look in space? What kind of shooting support does he actually have with this group? How does he make these sorts of reeds and avoid, he hits a couple of nasty turnovers in this game, but that happens when you handle the ball a lot. You zoom out, and it's, what does your playmaker do, your lead playmaker,

to solidify and center you in crucial fourth quarters, in tough games when your lead is evaporating and a slightly more experienced team in the Pacers is coming for you, and their shots are starting to fall. The Pistons are going to have to learn all that kind of stuff, and they're going to have to learn it on the fly. Oh, yeah. They're square one with all that stuff.

I'll say something, I'll say a heavy basketball, cliche. It's a game of gaps. Is that it? Is that a cliche? I've never heard that before. What gaps are we talking about? It's a real estate war of space. And you know this, Rob. The difference between a hard close out and I'm going to sort of close out on you with the Tatum thing. They're big different things. And I think that Cade was playing with a bunch of people that, frankly, you didn't have to close out hard on. And that, for someone with his issues, I've said this over and over again, I'd add Nazim everywhere.

That was a big stressor on him. So even if it means Tim Hardaway, Jr., taking wild, step, side-stepers or just whatever. Defensive's going crazy. It'll help him out. And I think we saw a little bit of that tonight. But yeah, they're like, they're just, they're square zero, not even square one of figuring this out. Real estate of space? That was beautiful.

Yeah. I'm going to cry. It's a, it's a, it's a, it's something like that, the rookie guy or something. It's a land war or something. I think I was talking about a Sark Thompson when I was saying it. It's just, you know, that's what it is. You got to make teams guardian respect. It's why the Celtics are so good and why the pistons have been so bad.

Well, Kyle, you are. our young player expert here, you will be taking over a lot of our draft coverage at the ringer.com officially. Are there any other rookies because you watch these guys as they came into the league? You were on our rookie watch last year. Any young guys percolating in these first few games or any young guys going into this season that you're particularly interested? Maybe it's a Ron Holland for the Pistons. Maybe it's Risha Shea who did not play particularly well for the Hawks in this one. I mean, well, I thought you were going to talk about second year players. I was going to say, Amman Thompson. In terms of the rookies, I mean,

the sample is really small. We saw Reed came in. and, you know, Charlotte immediately made runs. So I think they're going to have to kind of figure out where to use this fun toy that they have of Reed Shepherd. But it's so early. I mean, Reza say, like you said, he's somebody that I was a little lower on than consensus. I had him in the 10 to 13 range. You call him a bus? But no, not a bus.

I'm just teeing you up for what you want to say. Go ahead. No, no. I'm just asking you. That's all. No, no. I mean, it's something. I'm with Tray Young on him.

That's all. Yeah, I just think, you know, Dillingham didn't get in. A lot of these interesting. Connect is, we'll see. We'll see what is Doughton Connect going to become? What's he going to be for the Lakers in the preseason? He was going bananas. I think people are seeing that he's a three-level score.

There are people comparing him to Bogdan Bogdanovich, which I just want to look into the camera and say this. That is wildly insulting. Bogdan Bogdanovich is a badass. He can pass the ball, pump the brakes. Can we talk about him in Thompson, though, while we're... I would love to. While we're teasing it.

I mean, I think it was reassuring for me for this kind of opening night situation for the Rockets, and as you said, they lost to the horn. It's not ideal. But they're finding time for their core guys in a way that I think Reads minutes over the course of the season will grow as he gets more comfortable as they figure out how to prevent him from being a defensive liability

in some of those situations. But Almen Thompson might be the weirdest fit on the roster. And in some ways, probably the guy who in some respects is easiest to almost like forget about or not be able to prioritize. And he looked as dynamic as ever in this game. He looks like an absolute monster defender waiting

in the wings, waiting for every opportunity. I love the dynamism that he brings to the Rockets, especially so much of what made Houston good last season was kind of bringing more order to their chaos, and he just ramps up the chaos on top of all that in a way that I think is really healthy. What team would you guys say is your league pass guilty pleasure after just the first sampling of games?

Why are we feeling guilty? I don't know. I watch bad teams for a living for a long time, so I'm used to it. I just found myself watching that Hawks' Nets game a little bit too much. I think this Hawks team is going to really get the pleasure center. I'm glad you brought up this frame in because I wanted to follow up with you on a direct quote from our last podcast, which is, quote, Justin Barrier. I kind of like the Bulls.

Oh, we forgot about those. How are you feeling about the Bulls? Where was your head when you said that? And how do you feel about it now? We're down bad in Bullsland. Oh, my goodness. It seemed like Josh Giddy would make sense to what they had there. I got a little too high off of the preseason basketball when I saw Lonzo Ball working off of Zach Levine.

Zach Levine had a really good first half in this game against the Pelican scene without Zion Williams. How many halves are in an NBA game? I think too. Okay. About to check that. Yeah. We'll get stats and info on that one. I don't have second specter anymore.

Jay Murphy also not in this game. They don't even really have a center. Daniel Tice is basically serving that role right now. A lot of EVE Missy and the Bulls just really down bad right now. I'm feeling down. What can I say? I don't think they're going to be very good. I don't think they're going to be super fun to watch.

I think there's elements of them. We're excited to see how it works. And if it can work, I just thought that was a wild sentence of the English language that you threw out there. And I would be remiss not to follow up on it. It would be a dereliction of my duty as a journalist to not get your comment.

I'm just an optimistic guy, you know? I only see the good people. This is not true. Everybody's always known this. You only see, you want to see the good in Josh Giddy and nobody else. It's not really accurate. Have you seen that guy's main? I try to do the main, yeah, that's, uh.

That's quite a look. Is he ever going to wear a headband? You know, he just likes doing the thing. I don't know. Speaking of guys who may just need to, you know, clean it up a little bit, improve the peripheral vision. Get a haircut. I just don't have any guilt about it, you know?

Like, I'm down for the hornets. I'm definitely in on a hornets. I'm going to be down for the pistons all season. Like, I think we're, again, We're trying to figure out what they can be and what Cade can do. But I'm excited to see it. I saw our Thompson didn't play in this game. Ron Holland, it seemed like maybe filled some of the minutes he might otherwise play.

They just have so many young guys who I like on an individual level. And altogether do not make any sense whatsoever to me. And those kinds of teams are always going to be fascinating. We'll keep track of all that and more as we go into Monday as we clean up some of the next couple days of NBA basketball. As the 2024, 2025 season starts to get underway, uh, thank you, Kyle, are joining us. Always a pleasure. It's my pleasure. Check Kyle out all of his various media tentacles draft stuff. Keep his tentacles out of this. I'll put his tentacles wherever I want.

They are slimy. My slimy work, that's for sure. Thank you to Ben Cruz. Thank you to John Richter. Thank you to Isaiah Blakely on production. We'll be back on Monday with some takeaways over the first few games of the season. We'll talk to you. Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in D.C. Gambling problem, call 1,800 gambler or visit RG-Helpsheel.com. Call 1-88-78-9-7777 or visit ccpg.org or visit MD gambling help.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit Gamblinghelpline, MA.org or 800-327-50 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts or call 18778778.5.5. Or call 1-8757. Hope N.Y or text Hope NY in New York.