The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Durant’s Suns Debut, Done With Anthony Davis, and the Giannis MVP Push With P.J. Carlesimo, Plus Jam Band Talk

Episode Date: March 2, 2023

Ryen opens with some NBA Tales From the Couch, including Kevin Durant’s Suns debut and why he’s finally out on Anthony Davis (0:32). Then he chats with former NBA coach P.J. Carlesimo about the surging Bucks and the Jokic, Giannis, and Embiid MVP race before sharing his favorite early KD memories (27:59). Finally the guys talk about jam bands and closing it out with life advice (1:01:23). Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: P.J. Carlesimo Producers: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

today's podcast tales from the couch will run through durant with phoenix some nick stuff in there the boston cleveland matchup is oklahoma city actually tanking and a statement on anthony davis pj carlissimo on the MVP contenders, a little Durant story time as well. We'll get Bimbo Coles into the show. Life advice, including a jam band retrospective. This episode is brought to you by Uber Eats. Winter is here, so be prepared and get almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. What do I mean by almost anything? Well, you can't get a ski slope, but dish soap, definitely doable. Sunshine, that's no. A bottle of wine, yeah. And a snow day, again, no. But blueberry muffins with the delicious crumb topping, total yes.

Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol and select markets. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. We'll start today's episode with a little Tales from the Couch, not to be confused with Jason Kendall's Tales from the Crouch podcast. All right, Durant was kind of the highlight for me as far as just wanting to see what it was going to look like with Phoenix.

He was really good, 23-6-2. He had two blocks that were incredible. It's nice to see Mark Williams playing now that Plumlee's out of there. Although, you know, watching Plumlee and even though Denver beat the Clippers, just seeing how hard he plays and how active he is, I'd wonder if that was any of the calculation for the Clippers. So I think just wanted a more mobile big option if they had any big other than Zubac who has some terrific numbers. So now I'm doing a bit of a Clippers thing here, but I just like Plumlee. I like him as a backup big, but it's nice to see that when Charlotte doesn't have that option, they can play Mark Williams, who they just took in the first round this year, who I think a lot of us really liked as a prospect. And I think at the very least of Williams, he's really aggressive. But again, Durant getting him a couple of times on the block says something. Speaking of blocks,

Dennis Smith Jr.'s block on Durant's jumper on the baseline, you just don't see that happen ever. And Smith Jr. has had some really nice defensive moments this year. So the bigger picture here with Durant, 10 of 15, I just can't believe every time he comes back from these injuries where he just looks like he hasn't missed any time. I mean, this happens all the time with him. And you can say, well, they delay it and they make sure these guys go through the workouts and are ready to go. There's nothing to simulate a game. There's nothing to simulate a game. And a lot of times when you come back, you'll see somebody just, there'll be some choppiness, you know, some touch, some things.

And, and with him, that doesn't really happen. He had an outlet to Booker for a dunk where you're like, you're already seeing this stuff. So, uh, they're going to be really good. They just are. If all these guys play, uh, the free throw numbers for him, he only had one last night, whatever. Um, I was looking at some of the free throw stuff with him, he only had one last night, whatever. I was looking at some of the free throw stuff with him where that's usually a bit of a sign of decline. It's actually a great

indicator of decline for guys that score. But his last two seasons that he was with Brooklyn, he was over seven free throw attempts per game, which was actually the highest free throw attempt seasons since 2013 and 14 that he'd had with OKC. I did go back and kind of look at some of the shot attempt stuff that he had with OKC because I think this relates to what's going to happen here in Phoenix and trying to dig through some of the Golden State stuff that happened. Now, when Durant was with OKC, there was actually two seasons where Westbrook had more field goal attempts per game, 12 and 13, and then 14 and 15. One of those, Durant had actually missed some time. So Westbrook had a massive shot attempt season in the year. I think Durant played like 27 games, something like that.

So when Durant left Golden State after, excuse me, left for Golden State after the 16th season, so his first year with the Warriors was 16-17. So if you look at Durant's field goal attempts, the last year with OKC, he was about 19 a game. And then when he went to Golden State, it was 17.5 over the three. So you're really only looking at like a shot and a half.

So then you're going, okay, well, where else was the sacrifice? Well, Clay in 16, the last season pre-Durant, he was at 17.3 shots a game. He actually went to 17.6, then 16.2, and then 18. So you could argue his shot attempts, it's basically the same, but it went up. There wasn't some massive dip. Steph in his last season pre-Durant was 20 attempts a game.

Then he went to 18.3, then 17.19. So it's a couple of shots here, a couple of shots there. Even Draymond, when you look at, okay, where are the shot sacrifice coming here? I mean, Draymond went from 10 shots a game pre-Durant to 8.6, 8.8, then 6.4 in that last season. And actually, if you look at Draymond's numbers, he's basically six shots a game for multiple seasons now. It's kind of the second part of his career. He just doesn't shoot as much. So it was manageable where you had these three incredible offensive players all still hovering around, you know, 18, 19 shot attempts per game over those three seasons. The other simple math of this is that, okay, there's no Harrison Barnes.

You know, there were other perimeter players taking some shots. I also think there's just been a movement where front offices and coaches are aligned where it's like, you like, let's make sure our best players are taking most of the shots. And in some cases, that's just one player. So with Phoenix, I think Booker's going to be fine on the shot. He's going to get every shot he wants. Aiton may have less touches, but Aiton also might be more wide open on some of the stuff that he's doing. And it probably means it's going to be easier for Chris Paul

where Paul's never really going to have to create on his own. Paul was bad last night. One to eight, two points, just off. I know he had the 11 assists. He had a great January shooting-wise, and his overall three-point numbers jump up from the last couple seasons where you're like, what's going on with him? But February was terrible. Didn't make any shots. Defensive numbers are still okay,

but some of the overall metrics, you're just seeing it kind of slide down. And with Paul, it's more of an eye test thing. But let's see how this looks for a few weeks. His life should be easier because Booker can initiate, Durant can initiate. And my biggest thing is that Durant is really one of the best stars as far as you can plug me in and I'll adapt to you, you'll adapt to me. As far as the closing group, Okoro played 33 minutes last night. He didn't make a shot, but yet I still feel like when he's out there, I see his impact. And you're not really going to... I mean, it'd be great to have five guys that can all hit jumpers. And some of the Okoro three-point numbers are probably better than you'd think.

I don't know that you're really totally worried about him as some threat where it's like, all right, you're going to be helping off of him. But in trying to figure out how they'll want to close, I don't know if they told us just last night. And speaking of closing, at 97-84 with 2.49 left, Monte Williams actually put the ramp back in the game uh we can get really sensitive but hey he's just coming off of the injury why would you go ahead and do that i just wonder if they wanted to see kind of what the closing group was looking

like there because even though they were in control this game against charlotte with no lamello who's now out with the broken ankle which sucks he's had all these ankle injuries it's it was still kind of a game where it felt like all right now at 97 84 i didn't think they were going to lose but you get the point like it was one of those game where it felt like, all right, now in 97-84, I didn't think they were going to lose, but you get the point. It was one of those moments where it's like, yeah, they're in control, but something stupid could happen here. Anyway, just some Phoenix stuff. Boston beats Cleveland 117-113. It wasn't really that close. It was a late surge there that made the score look a lot closer than it was. I'm actually going to start with Donovan Mitchell before I get to Tatum and how good Boston is, But Mitchell went for 44. It's his seventh 40-point game this season.

That's 15 on his career. So he's basically halved his career numbers that he had in Utah this season alone. He was unstoppable in the third quarter. Like the peak Mitchell where you go, he alone could win a couple of playoff games against another good team. Now, depending on where their seating is, I don't know what we're going to make of who they are. They're the fourth seed right now. We'll get to the Knicks and their surge the last couple of months here in a second.

So Mitchell not only goes off in this third quarter where it was a Mitchell-Tatum battle, and he did whatever he wanted to, man. There are certain nights, like the other night, where Ja had 28 in the third quarter against the Lakers, and you're like, are the Lakers going to do anything different against jaw and then like they finally put jared vanderbilt on them there um like after a timeout or something was like oh here's a concept and i think we all love vanderbilt but it it felt like you're just going to keep letting him do this with mitchell i don't find it to be a lack of adjustment at all i mean unless you just want to go complete

high school sellout double team. But when you do that against an NBA player, and you do it like the second or third position, you're just going to get burned every time because then they figure it out, and then they're playing four on three on the other side. And then you have somebody like Garland who's like, cool, we'll do this if you want to. It was just that Mitchell, I mean, 22 or 26 points at one stretch

in the second half were all off the dribble. Tatum, however, goes for 41. And I wanted to share this number with you that I saw after his game winner against the Sixers. Since the NBA started tracking play-by-play data in 1996, there are 155 players who have attempted 25 or more field goal attempts to tie or take the lead in the final 24 seconds of the fourth quarter. That includes the playoffs. Tatum ranks number one out of 155 that qualify, shooting at just under 52% on those shots. That is an absurd number.

Because whenever you go back, it can be perception in the way we talk about you, where it's like, hey, this guy's clutch. And then you'll look at the field goal percentage in those moments. You're like, what the hell? Then it also completely eliminates the shot with 50 seconds left that's just as clutch, which isn't always fair. There are some players that have massive resumes based on perception. And then you look at those numbers, you're like, oh, but a lot of the numbers are bad because it's a really hard shot. And it's usually like the end of the game. And we don't have much of a chance and everybody's selling out against you to be at 50, 51.7% if you want to be totally to the number on this, that's a crazy number.

So he was great in that third. Cleveland though, you're looking at it going, Mitchell's going off and they're down 96-78 at the end of the third quarter. That's because Boston out-rebounded Cleveland 16-3 in the third. And that's with Cleveland having all of their size. Boston is terrific on the defensive rebound numbers. It was something that came up during the Knicks game where, granted, Jalen didn't play, but the Knicks were in total control of that game it was actually Boston got really really frustrated so it was another nice win for the Knicks um Cleveland started the fourth with all five stars which I do think they do but I like it going all right you know we got to figure this out but they kept Mitchell in he played the full

third and then at like four minutes when it was kind of over you were just like he looks exhausted and it also looked like he tweaked his leg a little bit there. The problem when you're defending Boston is they haven't had what they want to be their five starters for the playoffs. They really haven't had that group together as much as you would think because of the Rob Williams injuries and Smart missing time. And granted, Jalen Brown missed the other night for personal reasons, but he was back. So when you look at this lineup of Horford, this wasn't even the Rob Williams one. They ran out a lineup at one point of Horford, White, Brogdon, Tatum, and Smart,

and you're going, all five can make shots. Horford was on fire last night, started 6-6 from three, and then they replaced Horford with Rob Williams, and then you're thinking, okay, they have four pick-and-roll ball handlers that can all keep it or pass it to Rob Williams. That's just a lot to deal with against a Cleveland defense that's been really good this year. The thing I was thinking about and the way it matches up,

I'm like, man, I think Boston's actually a bad matchup for Cleveland if everybody's healthy because Boston has multiple perimeter defenders, whether it's Smart, whether it's Tatum, or it's Brown, even Derek White, who I think holds up a lot better than you would think, a little sham at face theory there on that. But yet when you look at the head-to-head this season, maybe because Tatum and Brown have gone for 59 points per game combined in the three against Cleveland.

But Cleveland's 2-1 in these games. Now granted, Boston lost twice in overtime to the Cavs within the first seven games of the season, so they haven't played them in months. So I still like Boston better. Garland didn't even play in one of those games, but then when you look at Mitchell and Garland's combined points per game in the two games that they had were both played

against Boston, they're at 66 points per game. There's also another bigger picture Cleveland thing, which I do not have the answer to, but I just think about how much I like them, how much I love the starting lineup. I know they're always kind of trying to figure out who that fifth guy would be. The most possessions they've played as far as their lineup,

looking at cleaning the glass here, is Garland, Mitchell, Mobley, Allen, and then Okoro. The plus-minus stuff, I don't know that there's enough that really tells a full story. Because I do wonder where, okay, we all like Allen and Mobley a lot, but in a playoff game, if you're never worried about them offensively, does that mean you can clog things up? And that means there's always somebody like, you're not ever doing five out with this lineup. With the way the roster is built,

you're never doing five out. Not saying that everybody has to do it all the time. I just kept thinking about it. But then at the same time, Mitchell goes off, so that wasn't an issue. The rebounding number shouldn't ever be that bad for this group in a quarter like it was against them. And sometimes it's a bit of luck. But in trying to figure out the best plus minus lineups that they've had, like Dean Wade,

but that's only 105 possessions as the fifth guy. That's a really good number. The most played is with Okoro and not Levert, but yet the Levert numbers instead of Okoro, the plus minus on those is way better than Okoro out there. So I don't know if there's a definitive answer of like, wait, do they play their two bigs? And is this actually going to hold them up a little bit?

Again, I don't really have the answer. It's just something I was thinking about there a little bit, yet they have the head-to-head record against Boston. Even if I think going all the way back to the beginning of the season, it could be a little misleading. All right, let's talk Knicks here. Nine and two in February. That's their best February since 1990. They smoked the Nets. They're the five seed. Game and a half behind Cleveland for number four, as you just mentioned. Cleveland, by the way, 13 and 19 on the road. Not a great sign.

When we look at Boston, we have a standard where it's basically a championship for Boston. Milwaukee, the same thing. Philly, I don't think it should be that standard, but yet we're still going to compare them to those other groups because look, if Philly were making NBA finals or just get past the second round, specifically for Embiid, that's going to be, if they were to lose these conference finals, it's disappointing by the way they built the team. But I think you get the point here. Just some kind of movement forward beyond the round that they haven't been out before, just so people can stop using that against Embiid. So when you look at that record on the road,

that can be alarming, and it favors the Knicks, because usually if you're winning some games on the road, you're built a little bit different. The record against 500-plus teams, Milwaukee, who's now your one seed, by the way, today, and I wonder if Giannis is going to get any MVP momentum here as kind of the horse trailing the Jokic and Bede arguments, going, wait a I wonder if Giannis is going to get any MVP momentum here as kind of the horse trailing the Jokic and Bede arguments going,

wait a minute, is Giannis actually the pick? Milwaukee is 23 and 10 against teams over 500. Boston's 22 and 11. Philly's 18 and 11. The Knicks are 16 and 18, but Cleveland's actually 514 and 19. Everyone else in the East against teams,

500 or better, they're all below 500 except Atlanta, who's actually just 15 and 15. So if you look at some Knicks numbers here, since January 1st, they're 17 and 9. Their offense is number 6 in the NBA, defense is middle of the pack, which is probably why Thibs is miserable all the time anyway, and why they wanted to add Hart. They actually started talking about the R.J. Barrett stuff, which we were on here on the pod for weeks, just kind of looking at that, not being really part of their closing group. And now the Hart option changes that as well. Let's talk about Brunson because the numbers keep going up and up. Since January 1st, he's 29 a game, four boards, six assists. The shooting is

off the charts, 51% from the floor, 46% from three. But one thing I wanted to add, because I sent out a tweet that made its way through the Knicks' verse, which I assume some of these guys never listen to me talk. That's cool. Don't expect everyone to. My mom doesn't. He is 13th in the NBA since January 1st in free throw attempts per game. I sent out a tweet. It was a play against, I think it was Finney Smith.

I forget. Where Brunson initiates the contact, the defender stays up with him, Brunson then, whatever. A lot of the players, all these guys that are getting called for travels, which I don't think is happening as much as it was happening in the beginning of the season. It's just an observation.

Maybe wrong. But they're letting guys switch their pivot foot where if you're down and then up, the two steps or that two and a half step thing that's always been cool, which I'm fine with, that extra little shuffle as you gather and then get into your two steps. But guys are working close to the basket and then changing their pivot foot on the release when they get stuck. changing their pivot foot on the release when they get stuck. And I don't know if they're just saying that that's a lot like the two-step step back that we've had on jumpers the last few years, which apparently was always legal. A lot of old guys are like, wait, I could have done that the whole time and get all

that space on the jumper. And so Brunson did that. So it was just a very frustrating play for the defensive player because then he didn't even hit him and Brunson could call for the foul. This is not a knock on Brunson did that. So it was just a very frustrating play for the defensive player because then he didn't even hit him and Brunson got called for the foul. This is not a knock on Brunson. Brunson is awesome at getting free throw attempts. He had two of the first three months

where he was under four free throw attempts per game. In February, he was basically like nine free throw attempts per game. It's just becoming more and more of a part of the game is the way he gets called. He's really smart at it. If there's a drive, he will fall down. And a lot of times, as we've seen in this league, the smaller player gets rewarded. So it's not always the free throw numbers because what's

happening now since that tweet, and I pointed this out, is that Knicks fans will just send me like, hey, he had a million points and only one free throw attempt. You're like, okay, cool. In that game, he didn't take as many free throws. The point is this. If you know the player you're defending is this crafty and he gets these calls, which he does, it changes. You are fearful as a defensive player. You just are.

Trey Young creates more space for himself now. Pardon on drives because he's so good at getting the official to give him these bullshit calls that you as a defender are like, now I can't do the stuff I would normally do against other players. So look, it's just part of the Brunson package. He's been awesome.

He's been better than I've even thought. It's just funny that, again, I mean, look, when somebody says, oh, but you're cool with Trey Young and Harden, you must be new here. Philly, Miami, they smoked him. I don't really have much more to say on Miami. I think against a good team in a playoff series i don't see how there's going to be enough offense there you know if they end up being a seven or eight seed in this or actually looking at it today um double

checking because i think they're actually one spot higher than that uh yeah seven seed here so they're still in play because Brooklyn's going to fall out. I mean, Miami could be the 6th. If it's Philly, I know what's going to happen. It's going to be like, oh, Miami. And granted, they're tough. Look at their clutch wins. Spoh's just as good as anybody, if not better than everybody. But I don't know where that scoring's coming from

to win four out of seven games against what will be a better team in the first round. Last couple things here. SGA sat out again last night for Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City's lost six of their last seven. So SGA has now missed four games. He had an ankle injury and then last night was health and safety protocol. So everybody went with the tanking theory, which I kind of get. But let's review what the lottery is here. So the lottery changed. The new changes were implemented in 2019. They changed it before when they voted on it. And again, the lottery always changes because as soon as you have one system that everybody's like, wait, we could kind of do this as if there's this

perfect version of this that doesn't exist. But the NBA deserves a lot of credit for this because between flattening the top of the lottery odds and adding the play-in, the tanking is not as bad as it was for a bunch of years where you felt like you were starting the season in a third of the league, didn't even care about winning games. So the NBA, they deserve a lot of credit

for actually putting these changes in place. And it's just better now. It's not as gross, even though I understand the goal in doing it, right? Because it's hard to get free agents for most of the cities. The cap space thing, you end up spending on guys you don't want because you don't want to lose the cap space. The hit rate on the top 10 picks in the lottery is less than 50%. So what the hell are you supposed to do if you're a GM in this league? Because even hiring a coach has exactly changed who you are. It doesn't take a middling roster to turn into a contender. It just doesn't happen in this sport. number one worst record, so the worst record in the league, had a 25% chance

of getting the number one pick. Then it went to 19.9 and then 15.6. So the first four picks are selected. And then the rest of the picks from five on down to the rest of the lottery are in reverse order of what their record was, right? Makes sense.

So Oklahoma City, if you look at where they are at record-wise, like I get SGA sitting and everybody goes for it, I don't know that that's really what they're doing. They have the seventh worst record in the NBA. They are nine games up on Charlotte, okay, who has the fourth worst record. So if you're trying to get into that top four,

which is really the bottom four, I don't see how that's possible. I mean, Charlotte doesn't have LaMelo. They're not any good, even though they've won five in their last 10. San Antonio, nobody's catching them. Detroit, Houston. I mean, Houston doesn't even have to sit anybody. They just play everybody. And they have the worst record in the NBA. So if you look at the Charlotte part of it and trying to get to the four where the lottery now selects the four and then we do the picks after that right um that's that's an incredible amount of work to do when you've already played 62 games it's not happening um there's 13 games up on san antonio that's that's not you i mean it's impossible it's not even worth talking about here.

So could it be that they were motivated? Like, let's say the tanking theories or accusations are accurate here. Could it be that they were like, all right, well, if we're sitting here with the seventh worst record, could we get from seven to five with the Pacers in Orlando? Like, Orlando's just competitive most nights. The Pacers with Halliburton back should pass them, I think. But damn, the Thunder plays so hard. And then when you're actually watching the

game play out, they were going with a hack of Wenyon Gabriel. They were trying to win this game. They were calling timeouts, which also speaks to tanking can happen as a plan. It can happen in the executive offices, but the players aren't tanking. And a lot of times the coaches aren't, unless it's like towards the very end

where it's like, hey, we're going to start let's run a lot of ISOs for Mo Bamba. Let's get him bringing the ball up the court. That can happen. Not that specifically, if you understand the point. So I just don't know how Houston, Detroit, San Antonio,

they're not going to get hot. Charlotte, those four teams aren't going to go on some kind of winning streak here. So even to get to that four or to get to the top three for the odds, it's impossible. It's not going to happen. All right, last thing or last two things that I'll say. Watching Anthony Davis against Memphis, I'm out. I can't do it anymore.

I can't. He sat last night in the win against Oklahoma City. I feel like I've defended AD forever. I love him as a player. When he was rolling again in the beginning of this year, it was awesome. I'm like, you know, this is what I was talking about. If he's actually playing, it's great. For all the eye rolling about adding pieces to the Lakers, they did a really good job of having what felt like zero options from four on down to going, you know what? That's actually, if everybody's healthy, not a terrible eight or nine. Now, I also thought there was an aggressive swing the other way where it's like, nobody's

going to want to play this team in the playoffs. I don't know about that. But the best version of AD is a complete game changer. So now LeBron's out for multiple weeks with this foot thing. changer. So now LeBron's out for multiple weeks with this foot thing. And then AD, who'd had a really good month in February, watching him fall down in Memphis, I can't.

Like, I just don't know when this turns around to him falling down and none of us are worried about it. How does he get older as a player? And you're like, yeah, this will be fine. This is not about his talent. It's not about the best versions of him.

They're great. I love this player. But when you start talking about value around the league, somebody would trade for him. I mean, look, the Kyrie lesson should be a constant reminder that if you are talented, there will be a place you want to go.

There will be a place that will want you to go there. I'm basically saying the same thing. I can't just cross my fingers with AD for an entire season anymore. I think it's a major, major problem post-LeBron for the Lakers going forward. It doesn't mean, granted, when I usually say this kind of thing,

he'll get 40 and 20 for a week, but long-term on this one, I don't know what the argument is that this is actually going to work out. He tripped on a fast break. He stepped on somebody else's foot. I didn't think he was going to get up. He went up and fought for a rebound. There was a minor

collision, and he just sort of landed awkward. It's like watching, again, I'm not trying to be a dick here, but it's like watching a kid who can't walk like walk across the living room, and there's pointed furniture everywhere, right? Hard corners, not rounded. And they're like, how often is this going to go well?

And so whenever I talk about AD and the Lakers moving forward, it's just going to be a big shrug. And the LeBron thing ruins their chances now, I would imagine. And then D'Angelo Russell hasn't even played the last couple games there too. All right, last thing here.

Lillard, 36 points per game since January 1st that leads the league. 71 the other night. I have a bigger Lillard thing that I'm working on that I'll do in an open when I don't have something else that I'm going to do because Rudy and I were talking about it. And it's like a really good,

like, wait, are we, are we getting what we want from Lillard? And then also being annoyed that his legacy is not going to match up to others when he's really this special player. I'm thrilled to see him doing these kinds of things. So staying with Lillard off of the big scoring night,

I was looking at this. All right, so right now, if you go 29.5 up, rounding up to 30, we have seven players averaging 30 points per game. You want to take that away? All right, fine. We can make it six. Six players averaging 30 points per game.

We are in the 77th season of the NBA. Going through just last season, so not including this year's group, we've only had 79 players. 79 players ever have a season where they averaged 30 or more a game, not rounding up, just straight 30. This year, the same standard, we have six.

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That one probably started around 8 o'clock Eastern time. Okay, so let's talk Bucs first, okay? They're on this absolute tear. I think some people, you know, you're just so used to Boston being the one seed. You wake up today, you're like, oh, there it is. There's Milwaukee. And they haven't had any version of Middleton, even though he's been back. It's not the same.

Drew's been incredible. But let's start with Giannis. So we've got a handful of players in this league where an opposing team feels helpless. What do you do when you're a coach and Giannis has decided to take over the game? You got problems. I mean, you have to get a couple people in front of him and just make him pass it. But the team is so well conceived. I think John Horst doesn't get enough credit. They have so many shooters, Rye. It's unbelievable. When they kick the ball out, like everybody on the floor is not a good shooter, like a knockdown three-point shooter.

I don't think he just invented it. We had them last week too. We had them Sunday against the Suns this past Sunday, Kesty and I, and then have them again this week. So I've been watching a bunch of their games, like six or seven of the games in the 16. He's shooting this little Dirk fadeaway now it's unbelievable but I mean like he shoots like out to the free throw line which is good because it keeps him out of traffic he's

not getting beat up quite as much like every once in a while but he's so good in the open floor if you don't get two people in front of him and he's good at splitting people I don't you can't quite hack a shack with him but um I at sometimes in transition when he starts splitting people. You can't quite hack a shack with him, but sometimes in transition, when he starts splitting people, following him and at least let him shoot two is better than he and one because he turns his body and gets between two people and either dunks it or finishes it and invariably he gets fouled. And then it's just a question of whether he makes the free throw or not for a three-point play. But anything he's still improving which is really incredible I love to watch somebody that loves to play he's a little like KD not in terms of how he plays but the guy genuinely loves to play

basketball which you see you see it when he's hurt he's on the bench you even see it in that crazy all-star game when he's coaching the team. I mean, he really likes basketball, which is amazing because he keeps enjoying it. Bud's done a good job. That team gets together. Drew Holiday, like the game we had, neither. We thought we had the greatest game in the world. We thought it would be Kevin's first game back and Giannis back from an injury. Neither one played.

Drew Holiday just from the beginning of the game said, they need me to do more offensively. And you see what he's capable of. You know, he doesn't do a lot of nights because they have so many other weapons. He's playing great. It was nice to see him make the all-star team. But like you see him particularly offensively, other aspects of his game that I think a lot of people didn't realize

just how good an offensive player Drew Holiday is. You know, I have an MVP vote now. This will be my second year. It's not easy. It hasn't been easy the last couple of years. And, you know, I really feel like anybody that feels like they have this solid criteria, like it doesn't really work that way.

The criteria moves because the discussion changes based on your options for every year. And when I start thinking about what Jokic has done, it's incredible seeing what happens with him offensively, knowing that Embiid, if it's the right night, you're as helpless against him as you are as anybody else in the league. But then when I look at how games played and then the seeding part, maybe more of the conversation this year than it was last year. And if Milwaukee ends up winning the East in a better conference now than the West, which has been a rarity, but it's obviously trending at the top that way this year. Knowing what he does, even though he's not matched up defensively against the best player, because it just doesn't make a lot of sense. The league doesn't do that with their stars because it's like, I'm not going to have my guy worn out the entire night, which is fine. Playoffs should be different. But from a fear factor alone, I mean, is

there anyone you fear more or as much as Giannis? I don't think so, but by the same token, when you sit down and you say, we got to beat these guys four times in seven nights, to me, I'm so happy I'm not an MVP voter. I don't want to deal with your old Celtics. Jason Tatum, some nights I just

shake my head and say, no, you can't. And then other nights I say, wow, he deserves to be in the mix too. I don't know how you split those guys up. Jokic, what he does to a game, just the way he distorts a game and the fact that he can do so many things differently, I really think I like their team a lot. I shouldn't say I'm a big Jamal Murray guy, a big Bruce Brown guy. Michael Porter Jr., he went to high school here for a year, Nathan Hale, playing for Brandon Roy, won a state championship. They were the best high school team in the country.

I think, you know, I think he'll step up in the playoffs. I just think Jokic does more for his team than the other two guys. And maybe, again, I'm just right now pro Bucs because I've had like a two or three week Buc fix. And I can't believe how good they are. Like, they're amazing. We had the Celtics a ton early. Really, really impressed. Missoula's been unbelievable.

JT's been, you know, probably the best year he's had. But I just think Jokic, I don't, his supporting cast is not as good as those other three teams. I'm just saying this guy just takes that team to another level. And the fact that he does it so many different ways, I love him. I'm glad I'm not voting, but in my heart, and I know I haven't thought about it as much as you have as a voter, I'd still lean toward Jokic because I don't think Denver should be the number one team in the West,

and they are conclusively. Yeah, I do think Jokic supporting Cass is better this year, and it's the best it's ever been because Gordon, you know, and I can sense your old schoolness on the Michael Porter Jr. thing. You said it all without saying it, where, you know, and we saw very early on with Malone having zero trust in him where I thought at some point it was like, hey man, you don't have any options. Get some more scoring out there. I know he screws up on defense. It's certainly better now.

But what is it about... Maybe I'll ask you about it. Is there hesitation on what you think his ceiling could be? Because as a pure shot maker at that size, there are not many people in the league that can do some of the stuff Porter Jr. can do. It's like, Kevin, when you have a guy that big that shoots it that good, there's not a hell of a lot you can do. You hope he misses shots. His shot selection is better, I think, than it was.

Getting rid of Shaikh was interesting because he'd just come in and he's talking about the ultimate green light. I still think he's a poor defender and he's clearly better than he was. But again, that's like me being out there the way he used to play defense. It was absolutely worthless. He's better. He's been injured a lot, too, which is hard to hold against him. It's like I have a conversation about Anthony Davis. And to me, the first thing you got to talk about is the injury.

Michael Porter's been injured a lot for a young guy. Now, that's not his fault. That goes back to when he was in college, even. I mean, he's just been injured an awful lot. And that team collectively, I hate to put that on them, but I think it's true. They haven't proven yet. The best they played was probably in the bubble in the playoffs, and there's a lot of different guys now, but some of them are the same.

They have to show that they're going to be that good in the bubble. I always thought this year that if Golden State could ever get it together, that playoff experience and the championship experience was going to make a difference. I hate to say it. I mean, I've just lost faith in them. They just, for every step they take now, it's like, okay, maybe when Steph gets back, it'll be different. But to me, they're running out of time. This isn't like last year with them. They haven't done enough good things to say, hey, when they're whole and healthy, you got to give them credit for all that mojo from winning championships. But I really question they can get it together. Yeah, I think it's fair. But I also think we're really bad in the moment when they're a middling

team, although they put together a decent stretch here. And it's just like, okay, without Steph, let me see what it looks like the last couple of weeks with Steph, and then we'll start to assess it. Because, I mean, despite it all, they're a 5 seed today, which is crazy. So I'm with you. It's hard when you're watching Golden State every night going, still have an open mind, keep the faith, all that stuff. But we're judging a version of them that we expect not to be the version that we're going to see as they close the season.

I want to stay on the Jokic thing here for a second, though. Because you had the all-timer in Duncan who understood sacrifice as much as any star in the modern era. He understood it. And so when you have that part of it, and then he and Pop are on the same page, you had a Spurs way, and I've tried to dig into this in the past,

but just a way where it was like, we do our business differently, and you just were awesome at it. It's honestly what other teams should aspire to be culturally you know all those things that some teams just don't understand where is yokich on the kind of selfless sacrifice thing because there's certain nights where i'll look up and like this guy's not even shooting tonight and he's controlling the entire game how does that how does that happen with a player? I think I don't want to say it because it's a negative.

He plays with the game. He's a little bit like LeBron. You know how like some days LeBron just first quarter you watch him and like if you walked in from another planet, you would go, what's so special about this guy? He just passes the ball. He chooses. And then all of a sudden he like ramps it up when he needs to.

I actually think he had that habit from we're going back to Serbia and watching him with the national team. He still has a lot of European in him. He's not wound nearly as tight as TD is. But in his own way, he's really competitive. And I think sometimes he overthinks the game. He just kind of is watching over there. What do they need me to do, or sometimes he should just play or listen to Michael,

whatever Michael tells him to do, just go do it, and you're going to get it done. He's so, so great in seeing the floor, in knowing the strengths and weaknesses of his players, and he'll come down and he'll know because of the score. I got to go to Jamal or I got to go to Michael Porter. I think as good a year as Aaron's having, it's not, this is not his possession. This is, I got to take the shot and that guy's got to take the shot. I think he's brilliant in terms of his understanding of the game.

I think he's really, really competitive. I've never been able to come to grips with why he's not a better defender. I don't want him to be. Brooke Lopez, to me, is a good example, who's become one of the best defenders in the whole league. Nicola sometimes looks like he's totally disinterested. I mean, it looks like he said, you know, they don't need me to play good on that end. And yet he'll block a shot every once in a while or he makes reads. He does mess up other people's offense because he knows plays and he knows tendencies. So he'll smell out a pass before it happens or he'll block, he'll clog something up. But it's just, you know, you talk about TD, which is an unfair comparison to anybody, even a two-time MVP.

talk about TD, which is an unfair comparison to anybody, even a two-time MVP. TD played both ends of the floor really in a dedicated manner on both ends. He was really committed to the defense and he was really committed to offense. Nicola sometimes to me is not as committed to his defense, but I'm splitting hairs with what he does, where they are, and what they would be like without him. with what he does, where they are, and what they would be like without him. I'm excited. Aaron Gordon's playing the best he's ever played, and it's great how he fits in.

Jamal's back close to Jamal, which is really strong. It's great to see him come all the way back or close to all the way back from that injury. I do want to do some here on Embiid because one of the things I, again, which is what Steve stole from the Spurs way was movement. And for the life of me, I will not understand the lack of movement

on so many possessions in the league. I don't understand why you don't play to the shot clock. I don't, like you are rewarded for moving. You make everybody's life is easier and people just don't want to do it, man. Once that they don't have the ball. So when I look at Philly's offense, I always wonder, even though it's great that Harden's an awesome passer,

and forever it felt like Embiid, it's like they don't even have a guy who can throw them a damn entry pass on this team. They didn't have people that understood entry pass angles. And you're like, you have this gift of of a player and you can't get him to the ball in a spot uh we also know the game's different now too and it's like okay am i going into the post you know down two down three in a playoff game um and then you know and bead sometimes it's because you know there's some issues that i'll have on reading the double and sometimes he's amazing at reading the double. Sometimes he can be a little late when there's pressure on him. But the point

of this is that I think sometimes when he gets into trouble on some of those late catches, it's because nobody's moving. Like Max, he'll cut. Harden, once it's done. So even though I'm happy for Embiid that he has a great passer in Harden, is there enough

movement? Is there enough movement? Is there enough once Embiid gets the basketball from this Philly offense for you to look at them going, you know, Embiid, we can get the most out of him for a playoff run? Because that's, I think, the one concern with them despite liking the roster so much. Yeah, they're a hard one for me. We haven't had it much.

I'm really happy we're seeing. How about last night? What a win without Embiid. I mean, if that's not NBA, Miami beats them in Philly with Embiid, and they go down to Miami without Embiid, and they don't beat them. They kill them. I mean, it was ridiculous. I think he's so gifted.

The difference with him, I do think you can go to him, but I sympathize with what you're saying about a post feeder or somebody to get him the ball because he makes free throws. He can make three-point plays down in the lane. Well, it's 85%. Yeah. I mean, some guys, Giannis could be a good post-up player, but you're just getting – he's going to get doubled,

and he's going to get fouled. It's a disaster. Embiid can beat you outside. I just don't think he has as gifted as he is, and, you know, take your pick, one, two, three in the league in terms of physical gifts. I don't think he understands the game of basketball as well as Jokic. That's what separates Jokic to me from him. I do like their style a lot better also.

I'm dying to see Embiid. I hope he plays this week. I would love for that to be a great matchup Saturday night. I just don't think they have quite enough other. It's like Maxie and James have to be cooking. To me, it's a given that Embiid's going to play. Maybe in a series he's going to have one off night, but he's going to play.

I just don't know if they have another. They're not the balanced team. You and I have had this conversation over the years. One of the things the Spurs always were was balanced. They could beat you with their offense or with their defense. They could score a lot or they could score a little and still win. Philly is so, struggles so much on offense.

I really question whether they can be versatile enough to win it. And they probably, the way it's set up, are going to have to beat both of those guys. It's going to be hard enough

to beat one of them. They're going to have to beat both of them, I think, to win the whole thing. You know, seeding's really going to come into play there. Anybody other than the one, and I just don't see Philly becoming the one.

Embiid's always been a tough analysis for me. I want to give him his due, and some days I just shake my head and go, he's like half a notch below these other guys. How high are you on him?

Well, I love him, but I think it has more to do with the evolution of the game than it is necessarily him because it's just not what you do anymore. You don't dump it down in the post and have everybody work off of that. I think the preference is I'd rather have somebody have the ball in their hands and create their opportunities where, look, he's a couple dribbles in, he's terrific on the rolls, he's terrific. You get him with that elbow jump. I've seen teams just be awful against it. It's like, wait, you're just going to let Harden cut and then Embiid's going to pop and then you're just going to let him take the shot. He's going to make it every

single time. I was just going to say, but he's so balanced. He's so tough inside and so gifted outside. It's ridiculous. I mean, he's not the prototypical. Everybody talks about big four, big five who can shoot the three. People don't really think of Embiid like that, but that's really what he is. I mean, he is, he's one of those bigs that can go outside and light you up and go inside and light you up. And he's such an improved player. Thinking back to what he was in college

and what he's become is scary. I mean, I can't believe anybody, although, I mean, Embiid, or Giannis was drafted 15, so nobody knew Giannis was going to be this either. So, yeah, I think, I think Giannis growing four or five inches and adding Giannis was going to be this either. Yeah, I think Giannis growing four or five inches and adding like 60 pounds of muscle probably helped too. Hey, I want to talk about something else here too.

The conversations you have with players, I always look at younger players and when you're drafted, every one of those dudes thinks he's going to be an all-star i think it's going to be a max contract guy thinks he's going to get a sneaker deal and then it's like oh wait like now i'm like austin rivers had a really good video the other day here he does podcasts for us the ringer and he's like you don't understand like i i have to come in and maybe get one shot in the corner and maybe i get four or five shots the game and like i like, I grew up a score, a number one option, and you have to figure out your role. And we had even had Austin on where he's thinking

like my second year in new Orleans, I'm going, all right, 20 game, all start. And there's this awakening where you're like, you're actually not going to be one of those guys. Despite the fact if you had those opportunities, if you played for an awful team and somebody just said, Hey, here's your shots. You put up 20 a game in today's game. So do you have, and I'm putting you on the spot here, but do you have an example of like the San Antonio days or maybe even you when you were with the Seattle Thunder version of talking to a younger player about sacrifice and somebody that bought into it in a way where you're like, this player gets it. Like this is an incredible teammate because even though everybody really wants those numbers

for us to do what we want to do as a team, you have to understand when to push and when not to push and when to take that step back. I don't know if Pop had the conversations with Manu in terms of a guy that almost hit the floor running that way. There's so many good examples of guys who learned it later in their career you know and now understand what their role is or what you know what it's become um i'm thinking of the young guys and it's a it's a bad uh i guess it's a cliche i don't know what the hell you'd call it that the the really talented players seldom get

with the good teams. They're always Pablo Manqueiro, and I love him. Don't get me wrong. He's my Seattle guy and all that. But you get with the poor team, and then you get to do exactly what you talked about. You get to do, shoot as many times as you want, be the best player and all that stuff.

And most guys can't handle that. But very seldom do you get a good player with a good team where the role is really important, where he's got to be accepting of the role. Mata was accepting of the role from day one with San Antonio, but he was a veteran player when he came there. TP, Pop had a like, that was a struggle for a couple of years. Pop molded him into the way he wanted him to play. Jeff Green, for us, totally different. He came in with Kevin. Kevin was no problem because Kevin was dominant, even as a rookie, even on a terrible team we had in Seattle. I mean, Kevin was,

I wanted Kevin to do more. We were criticized, not unfairly, but for letting him do too much. If you look at his three-point shooting, it was the only bad year he ever had. But like, we put him in pick and rolls. We posted him up. We let him shoot like because he could do every single thing. And we were trying to figure out how the hell do you use this guy? We, you know, finally, by the end, we said, guess what? You can do whatever you want with him. He can do all those things.

And it took him maybe one year. It took him a couple of years to become a really good three-point shooter. But you could tell from day one, this guy's to become a really good three-point shooter, but you could tell from day one this guy's going to be a good three-point shooter. It's just going to take him a little time to get used to the league and get him shots the way you want to get him shots where he doesn't have to just go find threes.

I can't think of a young guy. We were looking for Bimbo Coles. Was that a tough conversation? Vernell? No, I like Vernell. I always call him Vernell. I enjoyed Bimbo. Bimbo Coles. It's a little different now. We got this guy. We got to get him the ball. But I'm trying to think of a young guy that was with good teams, even our Portland teams.

Well, I'll tell you one guy who understood right from the beginning, or at least was accepting. I don't want to say he wasn't a good – he was never a great pro, but he was a very good pro um coming out of north carolina at the same time as uh vince vince carter uh you know guys come in and understand this is how you're supposed to play so much of it in the old days rye was who they played for in college and how they were handled in college that That doesn't exist anymore. These guys all come in and I've said it every year and everybody just goes, that's the old curmudgeon again, you're saying

that. It is so different coaching. There are so many young guys who have never been really in a real structured situation. Even some of them have played one year in college, but the guys who come in without it at all are the guys that were like the main guy in college, just giving the ball and get out of my way, and I'm going to score 40, and all I've been doing from day one is preparing for this NBA. So many of them are not ready.

The coaches are pulling their hair out trying to coach a lot of these guys and uncoach them if you will and it's not it's not the young guy's fault they've just never been in there's a there's a value to college particularly playing in a good college a a structured college situation that makes it so much easier for the coach when you get a guy because they've they've been explained those things and they've been made to fit into a situation that I'm dying to see Victor when he comes over. You know what he's like?

All I hear is he's very accepting and he's really good that way in terms of understanding how to play. But I just think the uncoaching that goes on with young players now and the fact that you just have to you know take a deep breath and realize wow like you know like they'll make a mistake and you'll go how you know how did you do that like in the past you just say you can't do that and you say he doesn't know he can't you can't do that he hasn't been told you can't do that that's not that's not the way you're supposed to play. So I guess I'm not answering the question. I haven't come up with it.

Do you have somebody in mind or a couple of guys in mind? Jeff Green was great because he knew right from the beginning, you know, I've got to be that right now. He's such a good player for them. We talked about Denver before. There's a guy that has understood his role for a long time and he's bounced around for sure, but he's a good player. He's a good player on a lot of teams.

No, I know you had Larry Hughes there at a young age. I didn't do a good job convincing Larry Hughes. And he came out of St. Louis and he was played. He's a perfect, that's a good example. I wasn't able to get him to narrow his game a little bit and be as productive as he could have been. He's very talented and a very nice kid, very nice kid. And we didn't get out of him what I think we could have gotten out of, out of, out of him.

I was looking through your seasons going back to Golden State. In that shortened season, your leading score was Starks at 13.8 a game. That is going to be one of the lowest totals ever for a leading score for an NBA team I've ever seen. I think we were that year, if I'm not mistaken, Pat, myself, not Pat, ourselves on the back. We were the second most improved team in the league. You couldn't tell from the, you look at the wins and you go, oh, it wasn't that good. But the percentage, what we went from to what we did, we had Chris Mills, John Starks and Terry Cummings, the guys we got from New York in this free deal. But that team played their butts off. And we were I think we were the second most improved team in the league from a percentage standpoint. But you're right. It was John.

When you pulled Bimbo up before, some of the guys that were on that team, it was amazing. But it was an old team that knew how to play. We had a whole bunch of guys who knew how to play basketball. I mean, we weren't going anywhere, but that was a good team. That team got as much, I don't want to say as much, but close to as much out of their potential as they could. They were a good basketball team. They gave a lot of people trouble on given nights.

John Starks was one of my favorites. I used to love to go golfing with, we'd be on the road, and it was myself, John Starks, and Mookie Blaylock. That was three of the foursome. They both loved to golf and brought their sticks with them on the road. They were both good players, those guys. Okay, so this is a good full circle thing to close on this.

Do we get Durant and Phoenix now? My favorite thing about Durant, I've touched on this millions of times, I said at the beginning of this pod too, is that he is one of the rare superstars where you can just plug him in and he'll adapt. You'll adapt to him.

He doesn't need to take over. It's not going to be so ball dominant that everybody else now is wondering, like, what the hell am I supposed to do? Like, we've been playing and now you show up. What are some of your favorite memories from having Durant that first season and getting to know him? Just the enthusiasm he had for the game. I love that from day one.

I remember going to watch a practice. Rick Barnes told me about him. I remember calling him, standing in my bedroom in San Antonio, and Rick Barnes couldn't stop bubbling over. He talked about how great he was for five minutes, what he did. And at the end, he goes, and guess what? He's a better person than he is a basketball player. And he is. I think he's gotten's a better person than he is a basketball player. And he is.

I think he's gotten sidetracked a little bit at times now. But, I mean, you never – it was unbelievable how unspoiled he was. I used to love to come back sometimes for trips, and I'd be in the office like watching a tape or something like that for the next thing. I'm talking literally like 1.32 in the morning, and all of a sudden I'd hear a ball bounce. Our facility in Seattle, which was the first facility in the league,

I think, for Tonto, I'd hear a ball bounce. I didn't even have to get up from my desk to look through the window onto the court. I knew who it was. He had gotten home, gotten something to eat, whatever the hell, and he'd drive in from Mercer Island. We could just hear him in his 15 minutes, but still, gotten something to eat, whatever the hell. And he'd drive in from Mercer Island. We could just say, yeah, it's 15 minutes. But still, he's in there and he's shooting for another hour at night.

He's the ultimate gym rat. That aspect of his game was always my favorite thing about him. He loved to play. He was never disrespectful. Even when I told him something that I'm sure he thought, this guy's stupid. He doesn't even know what he's talking about. He would look you right in the eye and he would like, you know, just go like this. And he was accepting of coaching.

He was a good teammate. He's a very good teammate, like TD was. You know, it would be hard for me to imagine people that have played with him that didn't like playing with him because he's such a good teammate. But just the gym rat. To me, he's the ultimate gym rat. Loves to play basketball. We talked about Giannis a little bit about that before.

KD, to me, is still unspoiled. He just wants to go on a playground and give me a ball, let's go play. He's exactly that way. I love that. And yet, he was that, again, cliche, the silent assassin. Late in the game, you know, A, wanted to take the shot, which as you well know, there's a lot of guys that don't want to take the shot at the end. And B, would make the shot. He won two or three games for us as a rookie on, I think, a 19-win team. I mean, give him the ball.

Don't get out of my way, but give him some kind of structure. I saw him or give him something where he can do something. He's going to do it. I think he won three games for us. I know he beat Denver, a good Denver team. In Seattle, he beat Atlanta and Atlanta, and I think he won another one. On the last shot of the game, when everybody everybody knew we were going to him. I mean, even as a rookie, he wanted to.

He would make and take the big shot, and he held himself accountable. I just, you know, again, it was so long ago, and he's been so good to me over the years. I love him. It's scary what Phoenix can become. You know, I don't know. I think sometimes people are like going too crazy. But like you watched last night, you watch him just with Book alone

and you go, wow, it's going to be fun. I'm looking forward to March so much. I think this is one of the best March we've ever had. March is, I don't know. There's so many teams that because of injuries, like even the Clippers without Kawhi and PG for most of the year, like are these teams going to come together? Forget the trade. It's like what's going to happen to see what they're going to become in March. And just that's where Denver, I think Denver and Boston

and Milwaukee too, even though they've been without Middleton most of the year, those teams that have been good for the whole year, I think they're going to have an advantage. I really do. I think it'll come out in the playoffs.

But I'm really looking forward to see which teams truly come together. We talked about Golden State. My God, Steve Kerr has no idea what that team is. In a month, he may very well know. Yeah, I'm with you. It's kind of back to that net stuff where it's like, I know what it's supposed to look like, but how am I just supposed to pencil them in? How am I supposed to just pencil them through everybody in the bracket? It's not the way it works. And then yet it still almost worked. It still almost worked with duran a couple years ago in that milwaukee series despite not having any of those guys play together kairi being gone

harden was obviously limited with his injury just trying out there and so i almost feel like it's the new norm now you don't care about seating as much you don't care about the home court as much even though historically like the home court stuff for game sevens was like over 70 percent i don't care about the home court as much, even though historically the home court stuff for Game 7s was over 70%. I looked it up recently. It seemed to matter so much, and now it's just kind of finding a way to not be limiting at the end. Yeah, I think those were good teams that were good the whole year, and you knew what you had going in. Boy, there's so many coaches themselves. If somebody said, what's Phoenix going to be like?

What's Golden State going to be like? I got news for you. Steve Kerr and Monty have no clue. I mean, they know what they Phoenix going to be like? What's Golden State going to be like? I got news for you. Steve Kerr and Monty have no clue. I mean, they know what they want it to be. They're just sitting there going, I hope we can become this. I mean, you can't feel good about something until it starts happening on a regular basis. Kevin still, when you hear his quotes now, right, Kevin still believes that wasn't a failed experiment,

that if those guys had played more games together, they were going to be fine. I mean, he's still like, what do you mean? Look at the games we played together. Look what our record was. I mean, that's how good he feels about, you know, playing with our phone. My God, how can you feel that way after those years? But he really believes they could have been that good.

I mean, it's... Look, I love the guy. I'm with you. I love what they could be. But I'm just going to erase that from my memory, every commentary they've had on that experiment. You think Joe Sy and Sean Marks are capable of doing that, erasing it from their memory?

I would love to know what Joe Sy says to his closest confidants, being like, wait, is this normal? I bought this team and this is what happened? Was it Alibaba? Okay, why did I not stay with Alibaba? He and Michael Prokhorov would have a great conversation of why they dabbled in the NBA.

My God. Hey, you are one of our favorites. Thanks for the time, as always. Enjoy the tournament on Westwood One and again, ESPN Radio this weekend. Thanks, BJ. Thanks, Ry. Great being with you.

You want details? Fine. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you could possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. Today's life advice

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Call or go to statefarm.com for a quote today. Life advice, lifeadvicerr at gmail.com. What up, Kyle? What up, Steve? A lot of feedback from Tuesday. A lot of feedback. And we appreciate all of it. It was really good. So the one thing, Saruti, you were saying that people got real pissed at you guys for not being locked into the jam band scene, huh? Yeah, there was a couple of people being like, just Kyle and sri didn't

appreciate the the you know the jokes or the the references that you were making i think randy scott chimed in shout out to randy scott i'm sorry man i'm just not i'm not a jam band guy i'm not i'm not a dead guy so you know i don't deny that they're good jokes i just they just went over kyle and i said so it's not the best jokes ever honestly you guys have nothing to apologize for so i'm on your side on this one kyle do you were you ever into any jam bands so i'm not even sure what the definition of a jam band it's like is dave matthews a jam band i was gonna ask that question yeah great question is a jam band just a lot of pieces to a band like what are we talking about here no it's not a lot of pieces i'm digging a hole here great yeah i don't think the woody blues are

no you're not i i think it's a lot like porn you. I'm digging a hole here. Great. I don't think the Woody blues are. No, you're not. I think it's a lot like porn. You're just kind of like, yeah, all right. That's that's that's porn. That's a category. Yeah. Yeah. I think I don't have to define it like there it is.

And with a jam band. Yeah, I think I kind of know. And like. Lincoln Park is not a jam band, yeah, I think I kind of know. Lincoln Park is not a jam band. Well, yeah, I could tell you that. If we're explaining it to me like I'm five, I mean, that's not doing much for me. And next year I'll be six.

I did just Google Dave Matthews are listed as a jam band. So I would say they do jam. i've i think you know everybody whenever they come to connecticut it's like this big deal everybody goes and it's like dave yeah dave and i've been on record i'm not a big dave guy either but it seems like in concert a lot of bands are jam bands because they just like go on riffs and solos and whatever but if you didn't see them in concert you might not know that they're actually into jam bands i don't know i guess that's my fish fish is a jam band would you say this is definitely yes i don't even know okay i know they're a jam band so i'm basically i'm doing venn diagrams of jam bands i still don't know. I guess that's my assessment. Fish is a jam band, would you say? Fish is definitely a jam band. I don't even know Fish, and I know they're a jam band.

So basically, I'm doing Venn diagrams of jam bands. Umphreys McGee, Brian's favorite band? Umphreys? Yeah, that would be a jam band. Did you say they were my favorite? Yeah, you've mentioned Umphreys McGee multiple times on this podcast. There was a little phase where I was into them, but it never peaked. It never overtook Fish. Sometimes I think I like Widespread better than any of them.

But yeah, I've seen Widespread a couple times. I actually just went to see him play in Chicago last year. I think that was last year. Fish was a big deal. Fish was a really big deal, but I liked him in high school. That was the first time I ever drove on a highway. A guy from the Black Dog restaurant where I used to wash dishes when I was a teenager. And again, when you work in a restaurant and you're with older guys that are big into that scene,

that was me being exposed to all this stuff. Because they'd be like, oh, you got to listen to this one from UNH in 92. Like, oh, this guy, they brought a tuba player. And again, I was working in a music store too, part-time. So I was just being exposed to all this different kind of music and guys that were musicians and really into it and into the scene and all that kind of stuff. I never was caught up in the scene thing. Honestly, I liked Phish so much that when I got to Vermont, once I saw kind of the deal

with it, I think I pulled back a little bit on it because I was like, I like them. I don't like them as much as you guys do. I think some people straight up went to UVM because of fish in that early nineties thing. So, you know, a picture of nectar, the third album is, is based on nectars. And then at one point, my friend bought nectars, um, not because he liked fish so much. He was just a business guy. And, you know, there were a couple of different things like the Colonel Bruce, like one of my first concerts I went to, like, I had gone to fish a couple of times before I'd gone to school. I saw fish in the spring of April 94 at the Flynn Theater, which is a small theater right downtown. I was right next to a bar that I know the bar attendant, a couple of different bars that I bartended. It was like right in the middle. And it was like one of the greatest days ever. One of my college roommates and I still talk about it. We were at a fraternity. We were shooting hoops in the back and, you know,

we were pregame in a bit and it was like this beautiful, sunny spring Burlington day. Cause we don't really have spring in Vermont. It just goes from like winter to mud to then summer. And you go, and yeah, I mean, you know what I'm talking about?

Poughkeepsie. So Potsdam, Poughkeepsie is beautiful. Easy, bud. I thought you wanted to move to Poughkeepsie, though. That's where I want to move. I'm just saying college.

It was like you get there, you got two weeks, and then it's like, oh, buckle up because here comes the snow. And then you do a whole Game of Thrones-style winter, and then it's like you get three weeks and then you go home. The wall is going to class Winterfell. Yeah. I don't remember how far the wall is from winterfell i apologize to the game of thrones people out there we get it we get a map out saruti i think it's like the last stop before you get to the wall though so yeah i think it is ballpark yeah you ballparked it pretty well yeah neighborhood i don't feel like there's ever like

a commuter service or anything like that it's probably probably a few fortnights um although fortnight be wrong too never mind so uh great i think one of my favorite jam band experiences like that flinday was incredible uh i saw widespread play at a church on campus which was pretty weird because they left the pews in so it was it was kind of hard to get your groove i went to a bob weir show once in new york where i'm pretty sure i was drugged by a friend um not a drug guy didn't didn't have a great time didn't take no i just felt awful i i mean my shirt was off but that's standard anyway that i mean that happens my shirt will be off in an hour. But I remember how fired up I was when Bob Weir went into Low Spark of High Heel Boys by traffic.

And I was like, yeah, now we're cooking. We're having a good time. And then the guys I was with were a little bit older, and they were super into all the hippie chicks. It was actually kind of a weird deal. My favorite jam band experience, and this is sort of a weird one is that i know everybody's anti-hazing but when i was a pledge they used to kidnap us right they would kidnap us and depending on if you were like a cool pledge or a suck pledge

the kidnapping wide variance of what could possibly happen to you. And I, for whatever reason, the older guys really liked me. I was, whatever, they liked me. I was lucky. I was young. Being the older of the siblings, I think, can make you younger in comparison to older people, which is weird. I felt young. Just my mindset maybe being a little

impressionable but these were like the old cool guys and they they liked me so they kidnapped me but then they just had me hang out at their house the whole time so you know run some errands watch football wasn't a huge deal and uh the the thing that sucked is like you have to sleep in the basement like you're gonna sleep in the basement. Like you're going to sleep in our shitty college house basement. No preferential treatment for you. Right, right. Like in no bed, no pillow, nothing like that.

Like you're just going to be concrete. Don't worry about the cuddles. Right. So me and this other guy on the lacrosse team, like we were rolling up rugs, like used moldy shitty rugs that weren't even their rugs. They were left by somebody else. And like if you could roll it the right way and you could

sleep on your side or something, you'd get a little bit of cushion. There's another jam band, ironically enough, named Strange Folk who the drummer was in my fraternity. He was a senior. I was a freshman, Luke Smith. It was a really popular band

and they had just gotten their start. One of the first shows they ever played was my freshman year and he was yeah i mean he still is fucking awesome guy um and he like came by the house and was like hey i know you like music rossillo like we're going to see colonel bruce hampton in the aquarium rescue unit at toast like what do you do i was like well i'm kidnapped like i don't you gotta ask my captors i don't think i could just go they're like all those guys well the thing is is it was like a friday night all the guys went out like they weren't gonna stay home and babysit us that was part of the punishment that was kind of the test it's like will these

guys sneak out or will they stay in and i think in a fucked up way they wanted us to sneak out but then get back before them because then if they were like you guys just slept in these moldy carpets at midnight as college kids on a friday like you're losers now we don't now we don't like you and so he came by i I think I, yeah, I think this is what happened is he was like, well, he goes, just, he goes, I won't tell if you won't tell. And I think the other dude was like, who are they? He's like, I think I'll just stay here. He wasn't into it.

He wasn't into it at all. And so he got me in, I may have been 18 and over, maybe just, you know, hey, I'm the number of strange folk i'm gonna get this guy in and it was incredible it was this massive snowstorm their drummer didn't show up they had to find a drummer in town last minute um and it's unfortunate because their drummer was incredible at the time but their bass player otiel was it was and jimmy herring played guitar who then played for widespread and played with the dead and everything like that and nobody showed the show because, again, it was one of those classic snowstorm deals in Burlington where people couldn't get in. And it changed me, man. They ripped. They didn't give a shit. No one was there. They went off. And Luke Smith turns to me. He's like, I hope you realize the level of musicians that you're seeing here and i remember also being like how come you're not playing drums and he's like that's such a you comment after only knowing me a couple weeks being like you wouldn't just ask to sit in with these dudes idiot it's like yeah but they're

missing their drummer you're pretty good that was my first thought i was like didn't you say i was a drummer yeah so that was a really long story and i don't know if uh saruti's just staring at me right now so let's just move on no i will say one note is i'm not a i'm not a jam band guy but i've been to like two separate bachelor parties we've gone to like one of those and both of them were in the south one of the best one i think was in charleston and you just go to one of those outdoor venues where everyone's just like drinking and smoking and having a good time there's like a bunch of old dudes playing covers and most of those bands are just jam band cover bands and it's a good time. There's a bunch of old dudes playing covers. And most of those bands are just jam band cover bands. And it's a great time. You're having a good time. And probably because I'm at a bachelor party too.

But it's hard not to get into the vibe of a jam band, even if it's not something I'm going to listen to on Spotify. Hey, some of them straight up suck. Some of the scenes are awful. There's one band, I'm not going to name them, but one of my friends went with our other friend who's super into the deal. And he called me. He goes, I'm convinced this whole band's laughing when they

leave they're like i can't believe people pay to watch what we just did for 90 minutes we just dicked around for 90 minutes right we sound tested played three songs and they were into it they pretended they were all into it and well the interesting thing is i'm looking so i just like looked up like jam bands like popular jam bands some of these i didn't even know were like oh the allman brothers are on this list the allman brothers are jam band that sounds right to me i like the black crows blues traveler i guess blues traveler has like the sound vibe uh chris long's favorite band my morning jacket i didn't know they were a jam band so i who knows i guess i didn't know some of these bands allman brothers were before you know the it was like a Southern jazz rock thing before you had,

you know, like alternative became a marketing thing where all of a sudden it was like, I don't know. I just thought we were playing rock music if you ask those guys, but it became a defining genre that then you could sort of market a certain way. So I think the jam band part of it kind of fell into that. Like,

but yeah, if you went to an Allman Brothers show at any point, like dude, you're listening to Mountain Jam for 45 minutes, I think that qualifies. Not a lot of jam bands that have been formed after the year 2000. I'll just say that.

Dying art. Okay. All right. Well, we'll see how it goes. By the way, the last minute of that story towards the end of the night, Luke Smith was like, like hey just so you know you should probably go home and get back home before those guys do and get in the basement and say you weren't here and i was like all right and that's what you did right yeah like a soldier

yeah i snuck back into the basement and asked john i was like what's up john just not much dude it's pretty cold i asked how they kidnapped you like did they did they like throw a bag over your head and throw you in a van or was it? There was two versions of being kidnapped. There was two versions of it. One was just, hey, you have to come to the house. Get up right now.

You've been summoned. Right. But it wasn't, it wasn't, it was their house. Like these guys just decided to have like butlers for the weekend,

Thursday through Sunday and then you'd leave and it'd be you and another guy. But again, it was actually kind of cool because they were like trying to get to know you. Unless you were a shithead of a pledge, then it wasn't going to be a very good

time. But they all love sports. And I even keep in touch with a couple of guys still, which is kind of cool. Again, they're like only four years older than me now, but I think of them as like decades older than me because at the time it was like, these are the oldest dudes I've ever hung out with. They're so old. And they weren't that old. But then there's another version of kidnapping where it isn't that great, where there's a pillowcase over your head. You're in the back of a car. They put it on a static radio station. They put all the windows down.

They're punching the shit out of you. That one wasn't as much fun. Yeah. Jam bands had nothing to do with that one. We'll leave out the rest of that. Okay. Dunking gone wrong. Hey, guys.

19, 5'8", 72 kilograms. dunking gone wrong hey guys 19 5'8 72 kilograms most impressive athletic achievement is that I can run a 5k in 15 minutes 30 seconds

live in Sydney Australia alright dude's fast I deliver pizzas for some cash on the side whilst I'm in college and today I delivered

to a house whose neighbor had a basketball hoop on the street the hoop was just a basic one and the rim had been lowered to eight and a half, maybe nine feet. As soon as I saw the rim, a ball sitting behind it, and that the rim was lowered, I knew I was going to dunk the ball before I left. After I drop off the pizza, that's what I did. As I said,

I'm 5'8", but I'd like to think I'm pretty athletic, so I knew I'd be able to dunk it easily, especially given the fact it had been lowered. My dunk of choice was a tomahawk and when I punched the ball through it hit the bottom of the stand and made a loud bang sound. I hadn't realized but the owner of the house and the hoop was doing some gardening in his front yard and he popped up as soon as he heard the bang. He saw me and yelled at the fuck was that? C word. The fuck was that? C word.

He then starts to walk towards me and saw the ball bouncing and presumably put two and two together and said, quote, Oh, so you think you can use my son's hoop? And I replied, Sorry, mate, just took a shot. Now about two meters from me, he yelled back, quote,

You could have broken the hoop. Who do you think you are just using my hoop? What was that, Kyle? I didn't say anything i said i just said dude like this guy sucks come on man i don't know the owner of the hoop or the owner of the hoop yeah totally dude we're on the same page already yep i was a bit taken aback by his angered reaction so i just said sorry again and went to my car not happy with this with this reaction he continued to have a go at me and kept asking who i thought i was i thought to myself i'm him funny guy yeah it was good fast dunks some additional context is that this guy was maybe 40 years old and about 5 10

so i think maybe i could have taken him if he swung at me, but I ain't trying to fight someone for no reason. When I got in my car, I saw my pizza delivery bag in the car, and he asked me aggressively, quote, who do you work for? I want to complain about you. I simply said to him, I didn't know what he was talking about, and this just made him angry. When in my car, I saw him take a photo of my number plate and heard him yell, quote, I've got your plate, dickhead. I guess what I'm asking was, was I wrong to dunk on this guy's hoop? Granted, I know he's the owner of it, and he had told me not to dunk on it. Probably I wouldn't have, but I felt like this wasn't that big of a deal, and I was never going to break the hoop.

I'm not Shaq. What are your guys' stances on public hoops in general? Thanks. I think a shot at any time is okay. I think a dunk should be okay. I mean, you see all these ring videos, I mean, of like, you know, a guy who's like, there's a ball in the driveway, he's walking out. And then you see the guy in the ring, like the guy's looking at the ball as he's leaving the delivery guy. And you see the person on the ring, like, go ahead, man. I see you looking at it, take the shot. Like I've seen that. I think,

I think that sort of should be fine. I think that guy's just, it's like I've said before, it's little risks that you take should be fine. Totally should be fine. But if it's not fine, you know, you get a guy taking a picture of your license plate and calling you the C word. So, uh, I don't know. I think I would take that risk again. If I were you, I would maybe, I would maybe take a shot instead of a dunk. I know that, you know, it's not attractive to take a shot on a, on a eight foot rim. Uh, I, I see why you'd want to dunk. I'd be fine with a dunk, but, um, I don't know. Some guys just don't want you on their property at all, I guess. So, uh, I can see that. Like, I don't think you did anything wrong. I think you should definitely weigh your options next time you do it in the future. But, uh, I don't think you did anything wrong. I think that

guy sucks. I mean, yeah, he wouldn't have done it if he saw the guy gardening, know obviously he didn't see him so there's no chance he was gonna like throw a tomahawk dunk down in front of this guy while he's just watching him but you know if somebody did that at my house i wouldn't i don't have a hoop i actually want to get a hoop i was talking my wife about this the other day i would just need a hoop like my neighbors have a hoop and i would feel weird going over there and just like dunking on them if they weren't home but it's just not that big of a deal man like i like if he had done it like at eight in the morning he's out there dribbling the ball on your hoop making a ton of noise or it's like late at night or something he's disturbing like you at a weird hour all right

maybe it's one dunk this guy just seems like a huge asshole so also he was providing a service too he wasn't just walking his dog like you know i'm gonna do is like he had to come on the property anyway it was just like a little little cherry on top for uh for delivering a pizza man i don't know i think i think that should be taken into account i want to know like if if like you're the boss to come on the property anyway. It was just like a little little cherry on top for delivering a pizza, man. I don't know. I think that should be taken into account. I want to know like if like you're the boss and you and like you get a call

that one of your guys, one of your delivery guys dunked on a... What do you do now? I would be like, I would not even discipline that guy. I'd be like, that's awesome, man. Like, cool.

Congrats. Keep doing you. Like, I would have no problem with that. If you have a lowered hoop in your yard and there's a ball, somebody's dunking on it. He did nothing wrong. You have to dunk that ball. Yeah, put the ball in the garage then there's a ball somebody's dunking on it he did nothing wrong you have to dunk that ball yeah put the ball in the garage then dude if that's what

you want i would have had a much bigger problem with this guy saying i ended up not dunking i mean if you see a lowered rim and you're like there's the ball i think it's i think in the states it's a law you have to like the owner can't even get mad at you so i'm completely on this guy's side i get it i mean it would have been funny if you just said like the owner can't even get mad at you so i'm completely on this guy's side i get it i mean it would have been funny if you just said like in a really passionate way like end of a movie story arc where you just go hey man i just had to dunk it you get it right now was the hoop i don't know which places are out of business i don't think ames is gonna be a sponsor anytime soon maybe caldor like was it a Caldor deal where it was like really...

Really old. Pretty... Yeah, like, you're like, how much did you pay for this? I don't expect it was like a cement-based steel one where it has that lever on the back that's like incredible

when you see one of those. Probably like nuts and bolts if you want to lower that thing. Yeah. This guy seems a little too aggressive. I mean, if you really love the game, then he would understand why you did it. And he doesn't love the game and that thing. Yeah. This guy seems a little too aggressive. I mean, if he really loved the game, then he would understand why you did it. And he doesn't love the game,

and that's on him. Yeah. It wasn't like you put his kids in danger or something, which it sounds like almost... That's sort of the stakes he thought it was. Like, what if you broke my son's favorite toy? It's like, ah, come on. Yeah, right, right.

Again, no issue with this whatsoever. If your boss gets in your case, be like, what would you have done? You wouldn't have dunked it on a lowered hoop with a ball right there. There's no way the boss would get mad at you either. There's no way. If I got that ball, zero chance. Maybe. If he's not a hooper. Just wouldn't get it. Maybe if he's just an analytics guy.

Okay, we have another life advice here. I went really long on the jam band thing. All right, let's do this. We got a Jeremy Scott question. Again, our fitness guru helping us out earlier this week. Going to bat for your boy. How do I do this training without being an ass? All right.

All right, so he's 59145. Pickup hoops game resembles Dallas Mavericks' Jason Kidd for better and especially for worse. That's pretty good still. Kidd learned to become a better shooter towards the end there. All right. I've been injury prone my whole life, including but not limited to my feet, Achilles, hamstrings, lower back, right shoulder, neck, ears, and eye.

Okay. Ears. Yeah. What kind of injury is that? Game resembles. I don't want to make an Anthony yeah i don't want to make an anthony davis joke so i'm not going to all right but i made it to my goal this year to get in the best shape of my life or i made it my goal this year so we're not there yet to get in the best

shape of my life and finally kick as many of these nagging injuries as i could to do so i signed up for the jeremy scott fitness app and i absolutely love it 10 out of 10 it has legitimately helped with a number of my issues and I cannot recommend it highly enough. With that said, I'm a graduate student that works out of my university's busy gym because A, it's free and B, I make very little money.

Both of those would correlate. Check that. Yeah. Many of my favorite Jeremy Scott Fitness workouts are circuits with the AMRAPs. That's as many reps as possible, specifically meaning I need to use the same piece of equipment for long periods of time.

I worry that locking down a bench for 40 to 45 minutes may be uncouth. Yeah, you think? It's fucking awful, dude. That sucks. You got to figure out a different way. We're going to help you. So when I do a circuit, I try to maximize the number of exercises I do on that one bench. Yesterday I used a bench for incline press,

spider curls, bent rows, but I still felt like an ass for using a bench for so long. You should, you should. So you weren't even done. You were done benching and you kept using that bench because you thought you were being more efficient by being like,

Hey, I'll just keep all this stuff here. People like to use the bench, man. Most gyms have like two. We get the decline fucking monster at my place at Equinox. He went, I think he did over 10 sets, but then circuited six machines. And I talked to him. I was like, dude, you gotta be kidding me. He's like, oh, hey. Because the first thing was a bit of a stare down. I was like, are you still on this? Which he was. He's like, yeah. I was like,

okay, I'll move off to something else. And then again, 20 minutes later, did you still on this? Which he was. He's like, yeah. I was like, okay, I'll move off to something else. And then again, 20 minutes later, did you still want that? I was like, man, you took a long time, brother. You took a long time. And it was like kind of, we came to a common ground where he's like, yeah, I know I'm a dick. And I was like, and I know you are. And I'm telling you are, but I'm being, we're being, we're smiley about it.

The whole thing. This is unacceptable, man. This is unacceptable. Sorry to beat up on you so much here. You can't do this. So he said he still feels like an ass for using the bench for so long. We've confirmed that, especially when I have to run away from it to bang out another part of the circuit. Can't do it. Can't do it. Here's what you need to do on the as many reps as possible deal. Do it in a way where when you're using that machine, just do a run. You know what I mean?

Run the rack down. So if you're doing lat pulldowns at 200, 180 or something like that, then get through the eight to 10 reps of that, and then go to 140 until you're burnt out. Then go to 120 until you're burnt out. And then you're done with that exercise. So I know that doesn't match the Jeremy Scott thing perfectly, but I'm telling you, Jeremy Scott wouldn't want you to do this. There may even be a little warning on the app. Don't take up the bench with two non-bench exercises. So yeah, you're getting bad

looks. You're feeling like a dick because it's just if somebody, again, what's the rule here? If somebody else were doing this, would you be like, that's awesome. I came in here to bench today, but that guy's over there doing bent rows on the bench. Totally get it. It's probably doing the Jeremy Scott thing.

Hey, you doing the as many reps as possible deal? You're in a bit of a circuit here? Oh, and you're leaving it? That's awesome, bro. Good luck with those injuries. It just wouldn't work. You know what I mean? If everybody played basketball like James Harden, the ratings would be zero.

If everybody worked out at the gym like this, the gym, they'd have to shut down. Couldn't do it. Can't do it. Do you guys have anything else? I don't know. I just got back to the gym. I just picked a new one. Nigerian back workout? No, no, no. This one's... I'm at Gold's now.

I used to work at Gold's back in the day. It was like a homecoming was like what we didn't know this yeah i used to work at gold's gym i was uh worked in the kid zone watched a bunch of kids that was uh that was fun uh and then i used to do uh used to do parties no dude i'm great with kids uh and i used to do uh the parties at gold's gym i don't know why anybody would have parties at gold's gym but there would be like two to three weekends that i would i would do i don't know it's just like uh at Gold's Gym, but there would be two to three-hour weekends that I would do. I don't know. Do you have shirts? Did you roll up the sleeves? Oh, yeah. Situation

style. Did it say Poughkeepsie? It was actually in Gold's Gym, LaGrange. Just a different area code by one number. Did you smoke outside of the back while you watched kids? I don't think I would i would after the party i probably had two in a row but uh during the kid zone uh during the kid zone shifts i don't i don't think

so it was only like two or three hours yeah i clean it up because there's you know lots of parents sometimes you even see parents you'd know about those things so um so i'm back in the gym i'm back in the gym you're back in the gym. Okay. We need, we need more time to explore this. Then we need more time to explore you back in the gym. This is this 2023 is up. You're skiing, you're traveling,

you're going to the gym. Tate is back. Yeah. Yeah. Tate is back. Getting up on the skis was really, it was like, you got to get to that gym,

buddy. Getting back up. It's like, like trying to, who is it? Louis CK has, it's like trying to fold a bowling ball in half when you're trying to like get up and you got, and you got a barrel down there. So, uh, yeah, I'm, uh, I'm doing a lot of cardio. I would say, I think, wish there was a

few less mirrors on the cardio section of the gym, but that's all right. Um, I'll, uh, I'll work that out. I'm, I'm taking a little jog to the gym anyway. So we're just as many, uh, you're jogging to the gym. Yeah. It's only like 0.6 miles away. But as many steps as possible. Shout out to Jeremy Scott. Nice little... Proud of you, dude. Nice little warm-up.

Yeah. You don't want to do too much cardio before you lift. Just a heads up. But, you know. Well, I'm kind of lost walking around in there. There seems like not a good time to go to that gym. So it's just like... I'm just walking around. And I feel like every time I do a lap, and it's like, oh, can't go there, can't go there time to go to that gym. So it's just like, I'm like just walking around

and I feel like every time I do a lap and it's like, oh, can't go there, can't go there. It's like, wow, everybody knows. I don't know what the fuck I'm doing here. But I'll take laps until something opens up and don't really have many plans. So maybe I'll get on our boys app here because I'm just sort of like trying to remember

what it was like in college. It's not entry level. I would say that, but you're a big dude. So you can handle it i would just say to like this the emailer if you did this at a gold's gym you would somebody would beat you up you would get into a fight yeah there's a couple roughnecks at my gold's i can tell already yeah no gold's in a fuck around like i went to one of the um we're not closing during COVID gyms once. And it was like inland a bit. And I went,

I actually went to get my back worked on. I didn't even go there to work out. So I was in there. I'm like, what's the deal with this place? I'm like, the guy just said, and he's like,

he does the fine. He's like, it's the busiest he's ever been. Best, best year he's ever going to have. Like they don't care. And it's fucking packed with people in there. And I was like, this is, I don't think I would, I'm intimidated people in there and i was like this is i don't

think i would i'm intimidated i just let's go in the back so i didn't even go in there to work out i just walked through i was like this is busiest gym i've ever seen and it's covet like hardcore covet and they were like yep doesn't care just paying the fine just leaving that car there until it's towed right yeah this shit's out of boot on it. I dare you. Yeah. Today's Life Advice was presented by State Farm. It's common to have questions about your insurance, like,

what if I need help choosing the right coverage? Or, what if I get into an accident? State Farm is there for your what-ifs. You can file a claim on the State Farm mobile app,

or if you prefer to talk to a real person, including your agent, call anytime. It's what they do. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Call or go to

statefarm.com for a quote today. That'll do it for today's podcast. Thanks to Kyle and Steve, Ryan Russo, and we're Spotify. Outro Music