The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Wemby DPOY, LeBron’s Contract, Trae Trades, and Ranking the 2021 NBA Draft Class. Plus, Andre Iguodala.

Episode Date: February 29, 2024

Russillo opens by discussing the Lakers-Clippers thriller, what LeBron’s next contract should look like, and whether Victor Wembanyama can win Defensive Player of the Year (0:42). Then he is joined by former NBA All-Star Andre Iguodala to talk Allen Iverson, Steph Curry, the Warriors, and the young talent in the NBA (32:04). Finally, the guys close it out with some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (58:00). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please check out theringer.com/RG to find out more, or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Andre Iguodala Producers: Steve Ceruti, Kyle Crichton, and Stefan Anderson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's podcast, Andre Iguodala. We're talking playoff game, tie game. What do you want to have the ball in their hands? His answer is going to surprise you. We'll talk to him in the staff, we'll talk to some warriors, we'll talk to his career. We're also going to go over some questions, including looking at some three-year players and who you worried about. Also, LeBron contract after an incredible comeback last night and we've got Life Advice and the same game parlay, Nick's Warriors. Fresh off more live basketball last night in improbable comeback by LeBron.

I'd say LeBron in the Lakers, but it was all LeBron. That was just unbelievable. So we'll touch on that a little bit because I know I spent a lot of time talking about them on Tuesday and then we got Andre Yagodal coming up here. But because we're doing this probably like once a month now and there wasn't really an open that I was totally feeling, we have Saruti with Sarutiuty quiz time just throwing some questions at me. So let's ride. Yeah, I was excited. We were talking through some of these last night. And, you know, we have a good variety of ones and one that we took because I think the first time we did this was right before the regular season started. And I was so excited about the 2021 draft. And I want to revisit that again today. I think I want to rank some of the players, but we won't start there. Why don't we start here? Everybody's in Hamburg constantly by our guy Wemby. You know, just stupid stat lines. His what, five by five game the other night was pretty incredible. What, like, does the only thing is, does the Spurs record and how bad they

are? Does that influence you potentially voting him as defensive player of the year and rookie year? It wouldn't for me, I imagine it will for others. I don't know how this transition happened where because the team's record should be a part of the individual's MVP chances. I don't know how that trickled down into the other awards. Like when I hear about it for rookie of the year, I just want to, I'd say pull my hair out, but it doesn't matter anymore. It just, like most of these guys are going to bad teams. and the only example that I can use is like when I'm doing MVP or I'm doing all NBA or I'm doing it. Let's say specific to the all NBA stuff. There are things I can prioritize but depending on the pool of players that I'm choosing from or who's available for the first team or who the debate is with the four guys remaining for the two spots on the third team. I think last year it was pretty clear it was like 16

or 17 guys and then that was it. It was fairly obvious when you're doing the all NBA voting that each year you're only comparing that pool of players. So the criteria can change a little bit. It's a lot like, as I say every single year, where the College Football Playoff Selection Committee is you can say, well, wait a minute, two years ago they did this. It's like, okay, but two years ago committee is you can say, well, wait a minute, two years ago, they did this. It's like, okay, but two years ago, that team's resume was in comparison to those other teams. So because that happened two years ago, doesn't mean it's going to happen this year. And that's something that I think is a bit of a moving target. It can seem like it's a contradiction, but it isn't really that. At least that's how I feel about it. Now, specific to Winniyama, you already heard my answer that it

wouldn't. I don't know that it should. I'm sure Minnesota would be like, look, we're the one seed. It's go bare. I think Jade McDaniels deserves some love with this. You know, Johnathan Isaac doesn't play enough, but he's that kind of player. You know, Hartenstein has some really nice numbers. But when I've watched Wembleyama in games, and whether it's leading the league in blocks, I think he's 13th now in steals,

there's a lot of stuff where he's top 10 on some of the adjusted stuff, because the rest of his team doesn't play any defense. Like he's one of only three players that I think are in net positive defensively, and I'm shocked the other two guys are even that, and that's probably because they're in the rotation with him as much as they are.

So I'm leaning that way with still some work to do. And it's a it's a hard vote because there are numbers that will exist where I felt like the Brook Lopez year where people were flirting with that. And then you kind of realized it. Yeah, but his responsibility is this while he has Drew and Giannis and all these other guys roaming around playing great defense all over the place. So like Brooks job is just a little bit easier. So defensive player of the year, like that seems crazy.

So I would look at the Spurs record and just shrug and feel confident that it's not just the stats or women Yama. It's just the impact, the way he gets everyone that's getting near the rim to think twice about what they're wanting to do. And on top of everything, I think they're recovering 67% of his block shots, which is like a staggering number in itself. So I'm sure other voters will go, Oh, I'd give it to him, but the team isn't good. And I personally would feel like that's, that's unfair.

Thanks for mentioning my guy, J.I. I had a heart attack the other night when he went down, but it seems to be everything's fine. He might even play tonight against Utah. So that'd be great. I have one last thing on this, like side note. He's going to get a quadruple double, right? At some point in his career, like he's going to. Yeah, I think so. I think there's some hekeem type stuff in his future. You know what's funny is I was thinking about him today as you're getting ready for this and I thought If 1998 would women yama go like seventh

Good would basketball people watch him? internationally You know, I say have the same kind of games that he was having before he's picked number one but in 98 would he go like all right, we'll take We'll take, we'll take Ray Flafrance and then like Wembenjama still on the board, you know, because Dirk went ninth to 98. You could argue, wait a minute, Sean Bridel I went second in 1993 to Philadelphia, but he at least he'd been in high school in

Utah. I know he was born in Germany. I just wonder if there'd be scouts being like, I don't know, the French had a bail them out twice conveniently forgetting what they did for us in the late 1700s. You know, you grow up in school and you're like, wait, those guys had our backs. Cause I don't, I don't know that York town goes our way. Statue of Liberty. All right. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Sorry about, sorry about those, those three payments, dude, we're're gonna send this old guy BF over Try to work that out with you Or we should meet Kurt Russell Michael Douglas Ben Franklin quick quick thoughts. All right. Anyway, keep it moving

What did you say who goes first in a draft in 2003? Tyson Chandler or or Wemby I Think Tyson channel they be like, oh like oh yeah you know body size yeah traditional center we know what he is culture it's just funny he's not he probably goes ahead of not French that's huge not a friend there's just a scout in the back who like like I remember in market in 68 no way can't take this guy All right last triple double by the way was 1994 David Robb, I drew full Yeah, quadruple double 1994 David Robinson. So he'd be you know, I guess the next spur But actually the next guy in the NBA to do it. All right next one in the military. Yeah, what do you got?

LeBron obviously ridiculous last night. I think it was awesome. You were there too by the way. Do you left early left early? Yeah, what do you got LeBron obviously ridiculous last night. The game was awesome. You were there too. By the way, do you left early? Left early. Yeah. Nice. Perfect. What kind of contract would you give LeBron? By the way, not even remotely impacted by leaving early when I left the move on game at 98 early. It was I was I was fucked up for a year on that one. This one didn't didn't care how to get food, how to get to work, how to catch up on some other things. This one didn't didn't care how to get food had to get to work had to catch up on some other things Okay, so LeBron's contract when horse had a pretty significant quote saying that when horse Was saying LeBron quote looking for a nine-figure deal. So here are the facts LeBron's got a player option for 51.4 million

And the facts are like every time you think like oh, you know now he's slowing down like LeBron still hasn't had that Stretchery misses like the 20 plus games which he usually has done the last few years which I think can kind of be overlooked a little bit So player option for 51.4 million If it's a nine-figure deal, I asked a cap guy this morning the structure of what a three-year deal would look like for LeBron And it would be about three years, 162. So you're figuring like 49 in the first year, just touching maybe 60 million in the third year. And he'll be 40. You know, you're paying him at 40, 41 and 42. Last night was awesome. No thanks. There's no way. There's no way I'm doing that despite him. You know, whatever you want to talk about with like explorers in ancient times being like, All right, this is it. We got it. We we charted all of it.

know, no one's ever gone over there before. That's what he's doing. He's just, he's hooking the dogs up to the sled, me and like, no, there's still, there's still places we can go and no one around him can believe it. So he deserves all the credit for doing this stuff and, and moving the needle of what we even think is possible. I should say moving the line of what we think is possible. But a nine figure deal for him, I would, I would be like, okay, well, then go get it. Because if you look at the teams with cap space, and this is practical cap space, things can change, but the way it's listed as this morning, if you go around and look for it all, Detroit has the most, Philly has the second most, Orlando has the third most, Charlotte the fourth most, and Utah the fifth most. Orlando has the third most. Charlotte, the fourth most.

And Utah, the fifth most. And again, those things could change. I think you could rule out Detroit, Charlotte, and Utah out of the jump. I know this is going to hurt Cerrute, but you might not even care. I don't think Orlando would do it, although they probably need to spend their cap space this year and then figure out. Clay Thompson. That's the rumor. Clay. Clay Thompson. Okay. The 76ers won. Remember when we did that years ago before he went to LA and it was like, you know He might actually just go there. He didn't even actually show up to the meeting That's how bad he wanted to be in Philadelphia So they did a really good job of selling that as a potential landing spot as leverage against LA and and potentially staying in Cleveland for a more year

So as great as this has been, I just don't know that I would do it. Well, look, I would tell you right now, I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't be like, Hey, man, here's three years and another hundred. I mean, yeah, we're talking 162. So here's the thing we need to remember though. Kobe Bryant back in November of 2013, he was hurt. He played six games that season. And the Lakers knew he was going to be a free agent that summer. They gave him a two-year extension for $48.5 million. Well, now $48.5 million doesn't even sound like anything. But at the time, okay, almost, well, more than 10 years ago, almost 11 years ago, at the time we couldn't

believe it. We're like, what are they doing? This doesn't make any sense. That was going to be paying him in his 36-year-old and 37-year-old season. That was the end of his contract. Technically, it actually was a pay cut from the $30 million that he'd made in the $13, $14 season. The push at the time, even though no one understood it and everybody thought it was bad, and ultimately it didn't really matter, there was also an element of like, well, Kobe's going to want this so bad, they're going to have to now they paid him, they're going to have to do everything, they can win a title. It's like, man, people can want a lot of stuff. It doesn't mean you just get, you get it the same way LeBron wants one more. It doesn't mean you're just going to most of the endings are all bad endings. But there was a Lakers thing, okay, that was about the Lakers and Genie Bus and their ownership being specifically tuned to stars. And that taking care of Kobe

proved to other stars, if you come here, we take care of you. So will it be the same motivating factor to give LeBron a three-year deal in a way that a lot of us are going to go? That still doesn't make any sense, despite how amazing he was last night. So that's a factor that we should remind ourselves of because that was what they sold us on the Kobe deal that didn't make any sense. Again, don't come back at me with the numbers on the 48-word. At that time, go back and read everything. Most people are like, are you kidding? Like,

why would you do that? They did it. And there you go. So next one. All right. We're getting a little glimpse early of what life post-Trey young might be like in Atlanta, finger surgery out at least a month. So we're getting the Dejante Murray show here. I thought he had a kidney transplant. Oh man, that's that. I was like, what is going on? Is he alright? Not a good look. Not a good look. But hey man, surgery, surgery, you know, I guess cut him some slack.

But it does look like we're moving towards some sort of thing where something has to happen this summer, right? I think everybody thought, you know, hey, you bring in Quinn Snyder, he's going to maybe get the best out of these guys. It's been disappointing this year. Again, and you know, there's been rumors about Trey being traded. Dejante, who knows? He doesn't seem very happy. What would you, if you had a trade won this summer, what are you doing? Okay, I'll admit that I've had moments where I've watched and thought, would they just be better with Dejante and then using whatever resources, you know around him that they would get back in a Trey young trade and I know look my history is well established a Trey young but look I watch all these teams and

Wonder hey, what if they did this or whatever they did that most of the time like the teams just aren't gonna do it You know some of these younger picks like I know we're gonna talk about the Houston guys in a second here And it's like well wonder what Houston give for Jaylen Green and think the fear is like, you just still don't really trade those guys because you took them so high and you're just afraid they're going to figure it out somewhere else. So it's going to be even worse for you. Right? So, Trey is so popular. And I don't know if it's a social media thing that comes at me specifically so much where it feels like everybody loves them. But that's usually, that's a bad indicator of what the reality is. So when I watch, I wonder, but here's the thing is Trace is a lot better than D'Jante.

D'Jante just hasn't been as good in Atlanta as he was in San Antonio. And going through all the on-off stuff, which you can find stuff that's misleading. It depends on rotations, maybe D'Jante's with the backups too much. It was they split, they try to stagger these guys as much as they can, even though it feels like they're playing more together than they, they first did. But there's just no number that tells you they're better with Murray than they are with Trent. You know, it's, I looked for all of them. And it was a bit of an eye test thing where I'm like, yeah, I think the eyes could be lying to you a little bit. The problem is, we're three coaches

in defense has always been a disaster. If you go back to well, they're 27th on D this year, last year, 22nd, 22, they were 26, in 2021, they were 18, and 2020, they were 28, and in 19, they were 28. So they've won one playoff. They have one successful playoff run where they won two series and then lost to the Eastern Conference Finals of the Bucks. So that gets thrown back. But look, I've said it for years.

There's a lot of teams that have this conference finals run out of nowhere and it just happens and it's not really who you are. And I think that's proven out again. And I've constantly said how much I like the talent here. So Dijontes got a better contract, but Tre's still under contract. But, you know, man, I was looking at some of the Dejante stuff, his overall numbers, and maybe that's playing with Tre. But I mean, he was a different cat when he was with the Spurs, and now he's just kind of slightly above average. And so it might even be about, hey,

maybe Dejante's just not as good as everybody thought he was. And this is an ownership that wanted to do this deal. And I don't think the front office wanted to do the deal and move all the picks for Dejante here. So I, these trades, and I know what people have reported after the deadline that other teams were saying to reporters that it felt like they'd be a little bit more open to it. It feels a little like the Westbrook stuff, the speculation that, okay, if Westbrook is on his way out from say Oklahoma City or Houston or whatever, maybe a team that's really, really stale, brings in a guy, has the presser, gives him the jersey, probably makes a couple of all-star teams, sells a few more tickets, and it's

like, hey, at least we kind of have a star and attraction. Well, Atlanta already has that obviously with Trey and it's super important to it. And I just don't think that Murray's good enough for you to make that kind of decision. So yeah, maybe that's surprising to people here a little bit, but I've asked myself while I've watched it going, would they actually be a little better off considering what they might get back for Trey and just trying to build that back up on the fly. I would just wonder why is DeGente just significantly worse with Atlanta than he was with San Antonio? Because he is. Yeah, I feel like, you know, I've been a critic of Trey Young's, but I still think like their ceiling is higher with Trey than it is DeGente, I think, running team.

And I think, you know, you just say, Hey, could we get more for Trey Young on the open market? Probably still there'd been like a lot of Lakers rumors. And the only thing that we talked about for a while is like how much of a fit he is in Atlanta. Like, it just kind of makes sense there. And, you know, I, the fans seem to like him and defend him. And I do like that about them, even though I don't love the player as much. But I don't know though, I don't know if it's true. And because I just only see the stuff in social media and it's it's pretty nasty because of the way I've talked about it for such a long time. But yeah, on social media, that's their guy. So I don't know if

that's like every Atlanta Hawks fan, I don't know what the actual representation would be of no way, figure it out with Trey and build around it, build it the right way. But I don't, or if there's a lot of people like, all right, you know, you've tried this for multiple years, what's different? But Dejante doesn't seem to be the solution to it is. And when you do a deeper dive or the numbers, it's, you're almost like, whoa, unless you want to go even further and say, well, that's because he's playing extra trade, and he has to like have all these overlapping minutes that don't work out for him. You know, all that's on the table. But

as far as player versus player, he's not as good as Trey. All right. Speaking of problems, speaking of problems, let's do the battle of the maligned former top three picks. And this might be a little unfair because Scoot's in here and he, you know, he hasn't even played a full season yet, but I want you to rank these three guys going forward, Jalen Green, Jabari Smith and Scoot Henderson. I just can't do this with Scoot. You keep trying to do this to me So I think it's unfair. I talked to me next April not this April talk to me next April

I did think he was figuring some stuff out before the abductor issue He's got a really high usage the stats the metrics for him are so bad You get to cover your kids eyes Like you can't you have to put a parent filter on basketball reference for you to look up Scoot Henderson's advanced stuff because it's so bad. So I don't even know how Scoot factors into this. But the Jalen Green stuff is really alarming. The numbers are alarming. And his play when you watch it is alarming because you're like, what is his best, you're like, I can't believe he just did that. He's on a short list of guys who did whatever he just did with the ball and his movement. And it's incredible.

But the three point shooting has been down three straight years. I look a lot. I look a lot of players and look at that sophomore year for the high picks where it's like, okay, you play your rookie year, some decent numbers because you get the opportunity. And then it's the second year they let you just go wild and give you all this all these minutes all these shots. I mean, he took a million shots last year. He scored 22 a game and it's like, ah, man, he's really coming along. It's like, no, he's really actually just taking more shots because no one's in the way and it was only him and Kevin Porter Jr. just kind of doing whatever

the fuck they wanted to do the whole time. And I think that's why they spent so much money on Van Vleet and Brooks to be like, you know, we need to figure out, like Brooks is a better player than Jalen Green is. He is. And I know that sucks to hear because you didn't take Dylan Brooks so high. But I'm really worried about Jalen Green. Although his defense, I think is improved from absolutely abysmal. Jabari on the other side, the three point shooting has gone from 31 to 36%. I'd like to see him get to the free throw line a little bit more. The nine rebounds are better. His numbers are just better. And I think he's always going to be able to play defense.

Who he is right now, I can already see, even though that'd be a disappointment, you'll be like, that guy's going to stick around for a long time. I don't know what team would say, hey, Jaylen Green, here are your 18 shots per game. We think you're awesome. Here's your new contract. Like that's scarier. So even if the ceiling athletically with moments with green are more amazing to watch, like even the worst version of Jabari, I think plays in the league a long time and fits in. The problem is, is that's not what you're doing when you're drafting Jabari as high as you are. You're hoping that he can get his own buckets. And the biggest knock on him when you're doing a draft tape of him is that man, he's just not initiating a lot of this stuff on his own despite the shooting, despite how

Smarty seems defensively and his positioning. I also think it kind of sucked for him to have to watch those guards last year just be like, Hey, am I ever going to get the ball? But I worry when dudes who are supposed to be perimeter players don't really get to dribble in games all that often, because until you get comfortable dribbling through traffic and people trying to stop you and all that kind of stuff, you can start to turn into a guy that doesn't want to dribble in an NBA game. And once that happens, it completely limits who you can be as offensive players. So it's kind of a carryover to what the college tape showed on him. But I still feel better about him

than I would Jaylen Green. All right. Speaking of Jaylen Green, let's revisit my favorite draft class that I could remember. And that is the 2021 draft class, which is just stacked. But I still think, depending on the week or the month, the order of how you'd rank these guys is always different. So how would you rank the 2021 draft right now? Because you've got Kade, you've got Fron, you've got Scotty, you've got Mowboy. You get all these guys and they just move and shift. And depending on, like I said, I think Kade's kind of having like a little, statistically,

I've seen people comparing his season to Paolo's and being like, the numbers are kind of the same. Why are we so down on Kade? And I still actually like Kade a lot, but I don't know that he'd go one in a retrap So and obviously Francis my guy Scotty made the all-star team Moby's been up and down kind of more maybe down now since the offensive game hasn't gotten there But I'm just I'm interested to know how you would rank those guys right now Yeah, so I wonder even if you could argue should I'll be shingoon staying with the Rockets here Could he go number one in all this?

I don't think it's a crazy question. It might be more of a matter of, you know, what kind of position do we prioritize in this game now? And that's where like Mowgli gets hurt. So I'd still go Kade number one. I would. Me too, actually. Yeah.

You want to talk ugly numbers? Like if you look at some of the advanced stuff for him the first couple of years, like it was gross There's no question. He's a much better player. He was great in February too, but you know look He's 46 and 36 percent shooting now, which is a big improvement Like I said, the first two numbers are first two years are just really bad And I'm not just chalking this up to like a great February where they have like one win to show for a couple battles the last week. But I'm, I'm still a Cade fan. And I'd still take them number one, I think Scotty's still really good. You want to talk about the eyes lying to you a little bit and definitely that Oklahoma City Thunder game, the overtime one where Toronto was

was battling and I felt like Barnes got stuck watching and some people just wanted to say that he was tired the whole time. But how about this number? Because I looked it up. His usage rate before quickly and RJ got there. Now, granted, like Siakam's taken some of those possessions too. His usage rate was 24 after quickly, who looks like is initiating a ton of the offense and RJ's getting his thing going and it looks like Scottie's watching a little bit more. The usage is the same.

So it may look different, but he's not now dropping off on touches and opportunities and some of the stats that he's making for himself and his teammates. So again, the eyes line to you a little bit on that one. So then it kind of comes down to like, look, I'd still take Franz over Kaminga, even though I'm worried about the three point shooting from Franz, but it's just sort of weird this year that he's 31% after 35, 36 the first two years. Kaminga certainly taken a jump. His February shooting numbers were better than his, excuse me, his January shooting

numbers were incredible, better than his February numbers. But look, he shot 37% from three last year, which is, I think surprising when you think about the Kaminga package, but it looks like, okay, at least with Kaminga, may not be a star, but like this guy can impact some games with his energy, his athleticism, and he just seems to finally be figuring some of this stuff out. But I think I'd still lean fronds on him. The Mowgli question, I think is the biggest one here. I watched him in the Dallas game where Struz hit the ridiculous three at the buzzer. They didn't close with Mowgli in the last rotation. They brought him in an offensive

substitution, but for the most part he was not a part of whatever the closing last minutes. And I'd have to go back and look and see when he's being subbed out. Since he's come back, let's just put it this way, 14 games since January 1st, and he's 11th in fourth quarter minutes on the caps. And sometimes that can be weird because it's like one guy played and then he Counts in the minutes ranking for the fourth quarter But I think the lowest number of games played that came up sorting it that way was like eight or nine games for one of the Other guys in the caps. So that's something to look at. I mean Mobley still a very valuable player on a lot of different teams

But there are moments where you're like, okay, redraft already, mobilee's the guy that goes one, but the offense has not developed. And that substitution thing, and I'm not watching every Cavs game, but noticing that against Dallas would be something I'll keep looking at. And maybe it turns around there a little bit, but I'm still okay with Kade at one. I think there'd be an argument for Barnes. The fact that Shinkun is even in the conversations incredible here. But you know, there's there's three or four guys at the top of that draft. And right now I think we're worried about two of them.

I have a theory on mobile that I think I've run by you before, but I'll do it here. So Bill for the longest time, has like to rag on me about like, oh, the magic like why you they're not making any trades, I need to bring in a guy like go for it now, go for it now. Why don't you trade for Donovan Mitchell? Why don't you try to make a deal with the trade deadline? And partially my answer is because I'm just cool kind of seeing how all these young guys develop, specifically Paolo and Trons. And I think the Cavs, when they made that Donovan Mitchell trade, and they kind of became in

like win now mode really early instead of maybe letting Moby develop a little bit more offensively, like they just don't need him to be that much on offense. And so he's incredible defensively, and obviously he's got Allen next to him to kind of help out there too. But he hasn't, I think they, like, I'm not saying you would redo that decision because you know, you get down to it initially. He's one of the better players in the league. But I wonder if like he had gotten more runtime on like a worse team if he'd be able to like

figure it out a little more offensively, whereas now like he's just had to kind of plug and play into a team that's trying to compete in the East right now. It's a fair question. I, you know, I think it's, it's totally okay for mobile to develop some stuff that he feels more confident with offensively and the limited touches that he would get as opposed to more touches without Mitchell. And I don't blame Cleveland for trading for Mitchell. Like people wait around for these Seems like oh man is Mitchell really that guy like no no That's cool wait around for go ahead Cleveland wait around for the top five player that becomes available that you can go ahead and trade for You know instead of a top 15 guy, which is where Mitchell look at worse. He's top 20

Some years he feels like he's even better than top 15 So will he get in the way of Palo and Franz and all these other things and like the bill's point is Cleveland trading them you know, I Know he gets pissed about nobody trading anybody, but Like was clearly like yeah, this is pulled plug. Yeah, just lost to the next last year Let's just trade him. We'll just trade him damn. Yeah Yeah, we gave we gave it 16 months, but just wasn't going to work out. So, uh, yeah, I think I think that's a fair point.

But look, it's also a little bit on Mobley, like figure out something that you feel good with. And, you know, this might be something we touched on last year. Perhaps the Twin Towers of Cleveland are outdated and playoff basketball for 2024. I don't have a conclusion to it yet because it was only one playoff series, but it's kind of crazy that this is the way draft works. It's just a good reminder for every single draft. Like, hey, this guy can be an all-star. This guy is like pick eight and you're like, this guy can be an all-star.

It's like, you know what? Like five of these guys are going to be on different teams within four years. Yeah. All right. Last one. Obviously, Boston would be the most disappointing team if they didn't win a title this year. Who's number two? Good question.

Because the first answer for most disappointing, I didn't even know, like conversation starts after Boston, right? Uh, I think it's the Clippers. You can't have the drought Denver has with the title win one and be like, oh, we didn't repeat. You know, that's not happening. Minnesota, maybe next year would be in it. Oklahoma City too young, not going to worry about it. I guess Phoenix could be part of it too. Maybe Milwaukee a little bit here or there, but I think it's the Clippers. I really think it's the Clippers. You paid Kauai, you're probably going to pay

Paul George, you're probably going to pay Harden. You know, you're keeping this thing together and as great as it looked over the 25 and 6 stretch last night was a little alarming. These small lineups, Tai Lu, like we're, you know, back of the day of the Warriors when they would fix a game, they're like, all right, death lineup, go small. And it was horrifying for teams that weren't ready for it Although, you know, this is just how great these guys are doing their jobs is eventually people kind of caught up and figured out some stuff Lou does it now like it's just gonna fix everything and It doesn't so I'm not gonna take away from them from the two months because that was incredible

we the Boston tape exists, but months because that was incredible. The Boston tape exists, but them not winning with these resources into these three guys at a later stage and the injury history. Yeah, I think it'd be number two. I don't really know who else I would think of. Maybe it'd be Phoenix, but do you have a better number two? Are you just saying like Denver won it last year? So like they're just kind of playing with house money right now because I think they still have I think we could argue playoff time like the best team in the league like I know what the regular season stats say for the Celtics, but yeah That's fair like that might be yeah, I you know

What are we doing here like Denver's not gonna rethink our whole process kind of thing? Yeah, yeah, that's fair because it's definitely not Denver Then yeah, it's anything. Yeah, maybe it is maybe this Phoenix too Because it's not it's not Minnesota's not the Thunder. If anything, yeah, maybe it is, maybe it is Phoenix too. Because it's not, it's not Minnesota. It's not the Thunder. I'm just looking at the top of the rankings. Cavs, no. Bucks or, you know, maybe, I don't know, the Bucks, it's probably not the Bucks.

And then, yeah, then you get to the Sun. So, yeah, you're probably right with the Clippers. Yeah, Bucks may be a little bit higher, bringing over Dame and like if they were to flame out, get torched, if they keep getting, you know, some of the defensive numbers are going a little bit better. But, you know, we'll see what happens in the playoffs there. Bet the NBA with a no sweat, same game parlay from Fanduil every Thursday with TNT Thursdays.

It doesn't matter if you're new to Fanduil or already have an account, you'll get bonus bets back if your same game parlay doesn't win on any NBA on TNT game. NBA same game parlays are the perfect way to combine your bets for a chance to score a bigger payday. Okay, this is what we've built for you. Warriors at the Knicks, they're minus four and a half, so let's go there. But let's turn this into a two-to-one, something very obtainable. Have you been looking at Defengenzo's three-point attempts? Do I need to bring it up? I think over four games, it was 15, 15, 16, and 16.

So let's figure that he can hit three of these. So he's minus 600 on that. And then we'll throw in a little Pajemski rebounding the round mound of, well, I can't do that. Chuck, let's go over four and a half rebounds. So we've got Warriors minus four and a half, but instead of just betting it that way or getting it, we're going to get a two to one on it. Devin Genzo over three plus threes. Pajemski over four and a half rebounds and that's paying out at plus 200. Actually a little bit better than that. However, you want to play, just head to Fanduil.com slash Ryan, R-Y-E-N to bet the NBA with a no sweat, same game parlay with TNT Thursdays. That's Fanduil.com slash Ryan. Make every moment more of Fanduil, an official sports betting partner of the NBA NBA Must be 21 and older and present in select states gambling problem call 1-800 gambler or visit the ringer dot com 4 slash RG

Minimum three leg parlay required refund issued is now with trouble bonus bets which conspire seven days after seat max refund five dollars Unless otherwise specified restrictions apply see terms of sportsbook dot fandil.com From the point forward with Evan Turner, uh, fun podcast, checking out this morning, we're talking about women, Yama. It's Andre Iguodala. What's up, man? Thanks for doing this. My man, how we doing? Good. So I didn't, you know, we've been, we've been trying to get you on. We're excited to have you. And then I felt less guilty about it after seeing the video of you asking Yocitch to come on your podcast.

I mean, it's just, it's a tough game out there for all of us now on the side of it. You know what? There's a 22 year old kid out there that I feel like the movie taking, I want to go find him. He was the kid that posted that video. I was so upset because this role that I'm in right now, you know, you try to make sure that, you know, when I'm on the job, you know, I don't make certain requests. And so I try not to ask players for anything.

So I was on the job and the word podcast didn't come up. We were actually speaking of something I needed him. I'm looking for him to do as the best player in the world. So that was the request. But it had nothing to do with a podcast. It has nothing to do for me. Um, we were just kind of joking about like, you know He got the torch right now and some of the insane things that comes with Um being the best player in the world. So we were kind of joking and that's why he was pointing to Uh luka like nah, he's the best player in the world. So that was the conversation

And some 22 year old kid, you know, the kid, you know, Charles Barkley says, you know, somebody in the basement just making up stuff. And now it looks like I'm asking for a guy to do a podcast. So I was a little upset about that. I'm still a little bit upset about that. You should be, because now we were setting the record straight though, so I like that part of it.

Now I feel bad a little bit because honestly that's how Yokic responds when he's asked to do a podcast. So that's what I thought. Well I guess that's his response period. Okay, this is a perfect transition because I got to see Yokic live again last week. I was leaving Denver and I was like,

I don't care that it's the wizards, I just want to watch him. And I'm just not going to take my eyes off of him the entire time. And you always find something new with him and how impressive he is. And then we see Luca go insane. Granted, they lost in the last second shot against Cleveland. Let's let's do this. I'm going to give you four names.

Tie game playoffs. Who are you most scared of out of this group? Yolkic, Luca and Bedeede Giannis with a ball in their hands. Tie game playoff. You said Giannis, you said Luca, you said... And Bede and Joker. Well, you forgetting the guy I'm most afraid of. Okay, I like this.

But if I had to pick one of your guys, or am I picking any guys? Were you picking Steph? Steph, Shay Gildress Alexander is really good. So you think SGA is the scariest guy to have the ball in his hands right now in that scenario? I'm not saying you're wrong. Now I feel bad I left him off of it. I left your answer. No, I think hewhi Leonard is still a guy if he's healthy in May

He's like undefeated at going to the finals healthy Like if he's healthy, he's getting to the finals. I think his track record has proven that and so Until someone takes him out while he's healthy, you know, Kawhi's there Obviously step is scary You know the big is a little bit different You know throughout NBA history has there ever been a big where you know, you need a last second shot You got to go to your big now back in the day You can go to the post and there wasn't as much double teaming

But now it's really hard to get the ball in a post or be able to make a move. But in Beats, perimeter skill set, he's scary. He's scary. But out of the four guys you named, Luca. Luca's tough. Luca's just, Luca's gonna get off a good shot. Everyone thought that he only went left to a step back and he's on a certain wing But he's he's built a counter in his game. Oh, oh, I am losing my mind. Oh, I'm losing my mind Kyrie Irvin is not even close Whoa, so wait, you're going with Kyrie now over everybody we've talked about for the last second shot. I'm going with Kyrie Wow now over everybody we've talked about. For the last second shot, we're going with Kyrie. Wow. Kyrie's really good.

Well, no. You talking about fear factor at any given moment or for like that moment? Kyrie. Because I mean with Steph, I think he's shown at just proving to teams that you can double him. And if you could just try to get the ball out of his hands, then I guess that's the way to combat him. But with Kyrie, he's just so good. Like he's able to, you can't get the ball out of his hands.

You know, Shaq just said he was the, you know, his favorite, or no, Island Iverson said Kyrie was the best ball handler NBA history. And I've been told that I was crazy for saying that. Or no, I'm like, yeah, but I'm like, yeah, but I'm like, yeah, but I'm like, yeah, but I'm like, yeah, but I'm like, yeah, but I'm like, yeah, but I'm like, yeah, but I'm like, yeah, but I'm like, yeah, but I'm like, yeah, but I'm like, yeah, but I'm like, yeah, but I'm like, yeah, but I'm like, yeah, but I'm like, yeah, but I'm like, yeah, but I'm like of anyone around Philly, they just go like no way it's Iverson and I'm like, yeah But the longevity I mean and honestly look this the stats of the rim would back it up That Kyrie's finishing package at the rim for his size. I've never seen anything like that on top of the handle and Kyrie might be the best

Small post-up player you've ever seen as well. Better than Mark Jackson. Yeah, well, Mark Jackson was bigger. He was posting up to pass. And he had a good hook. No, I love Mark Jackson's post game. Mark Jackson, I remember Mark Jackson, you know, he had his nice hook shot and he was they were lethal in Indy, but with Kyrie in the post, he's posting up guys.

Well, Mark Jackson was guarding guys that were guarding him was his eyes. The other team puts the biggest wing defender on Kyrie night in, night out. So he's at a six inch disadvantage every single night with the guy who's guarding his primary defense. Yeah. And he's hitting those turnarounds is that that baseline turn around and he gets the space. Yes, and he's probably got the best footwork that we've seen in a post, you know, left right pull up, right left pull up, jump stops, step throughs. I think Jaylen Brunson, what we're seeing Jaylen

Brunson do with his footwork. Krie has been doing this for a decade plus. And you talk about fear factor, you ask anybody in the league, that's a scary guy to see. Okay, I like that answer. I guess my, I've always felt like if I want the best possession, it's Jokic, because, but I don't know that he's taken the shot. Like he's probably gonna get me a good look, right?

True. Where Luca and the way playoff games kind of break down. It's like, all right, this is why you guys get paid all that money. Like get a shot off when everybody knows that you're going to take it. And the way he can ride a defender on his hip and the defender just feels helpless. Like, you know what he's about to do, but you don't know where the ball is coming from and he's going slow and the help comes and he just like he did it last night And then he passed he had two amazing passes off of these drives when I carry the opposite corner. Yes. Yeah, so It's it's so hard. It just seems so hard physically with Luca with a change of direction. It's not his speed. It's his angles

Yeah, well, I think the dip well you can't use the pick and roll as much late in the game. Because if you're going for a last second shot, you know, the Warriors, you know, have been, you know, people are saying that that's an issue that they can run into. You run into a pick and roll, they're just going to double the ball. Just get the ball out of the primary ball, handle his hands, which is what you want. You want someone else to beat you. We've always said that. And so with Luca, he's able to make one-on-one moves, but if you get a strong guy that can defend him, like a Kawhi or a PG or one of those lockdown defenders, it may cause for a tough shot.

I don't know if I've seen anyone be able to guard Kyrie. I don't know anybody that's been able to guard Kyrie. When I saw what he did when he was in Cleveland and Pat Beverly was chasing them all all over the place in Houston, and he put about four moves in one possession on four defenders in Houston. This is one of the best clips I've ever seen. He spun off up, went behind a back, bounced over high, finished crazy. The other night, it was one of the best finishes I've ever seen.

He went up with his left hand on the left side. And then he swished it to his right hand, and he had an easy layup on the right side. He decided to come back to the left side and flip it opposite and he fell down and watched it all happen in slow motion It was one of the one of the best finishes I've ever seen it for no reason But he made it look like it was easy It was like MJ when he switched hands for no reason, but this was that was one of the more impressive things I've ever seen Do you think about how 16 finished ever? I mean you've got four titles

So I don't think it would haunt you the way it would be other players if that was your only time in the finals, but right Like when you think back to the clothes No, not at all Because it was funny because in that moment you're so locked in When I heard it, you know, I heard a loud boom The block I heard it. I was like good God. That was amazing Like that was one of the few times that I was able to like appreciate What goes on in the game because you like I never

Given LeBron props while I played because I just didn't want that I Didn't want him to have that mental edge and that's one one thing you gotta have when you're playing against LeBron is, he's just like one of us. You have to think that. Understanding that he's not, but yeah, when we're on the court, you know, who I match up against, I'm just as good as,

and you have to approach it like that because I think there is a, you know, guys get a little fear, they get, the moment gets too big and the moment's only big if you make it that big. And so I've never been able to like see true greatness even in my own teammates. So like with Steph's runs, I will have to go back and watch the games like a year or two later. And like, oh my God, Steph has some incredible moves.

But in those moments, I can't really appreciate it because I'm really locked in on what I have to do. I crash the glass or I got to get back Steph shooting So I got to get back because he's you know usually the point guard gets back But if he's shooting I got to get back to help him out And so you don't really get a chance to like appreciate it But in that moment when the block happened I was like I was like oh my god That was incredible and I didn't even see him blocking shot is hurt a lot boom and I was like And I was like, Oh, somebody got shot. It was crazy. So, you know, and, you know, you end up with four of them. And I know, you know, what I've been able to do in my career,

extend my career, switch entirely new positions, which is tough on athletes do psychologically. You know, the whole mental aspect of, you know, being a starter and going to Olympics winning gold medals and playing the All Star games and being a man and having to fall in the hands of a lot. So just completely going to another situation and being able to adjust to it and excel in it. You know, things like that. You know, I've been able to appreciate it by my career and just be, you know, you got to have fun with it all, especially in this day and age.

This is a really, you know, there's some obvious answers to this. You come into the league, you play a few years with AI. By the time you've gotten to Golden State, you know, it was clear that Steph was going to be a dude. And then he takes it to another level, the MVPs and the titles. So I don't want to ask a simple question of like, how are they different? Because I think we know, we know the obvious ones. But, you know, can you compare contrast what it's like to have Iverson is is kind of the main guy for you as a younger player and then you coming into Golden State and being more of a vet and having Steph be kind of the guy. I felt a similar way because like I said before, it's really hard to comprehend or appreciate greatness on your team from my perspective because I'm so locked in on what I'm doing.

But you've had those moments where either it was in practice or maybe from the bench you see you might have a small second or two we're able to appreciate it. I think it's really like helpless is the word to describe having to guard one of those guys. I've seen it before. Like, Ilinebson scored 60 against Orlando Magic and Steve Francis and you knew exactly what he was going to do. So, get to a spot. He was great against the elbows and then Steph, I've seen it in practice a few times and I've gone up against them rehabbing but just last year where he made like three threes in

about two seconds combined and I was guarding and I'm like I can defend still and I'm like wait how did he shot one time? I'm like no way like he didn't even see the rim turned around and the ball was going through the hoop. I'm like, Jesus, like helpless. And they're so different, but they give you the same feeling, which is crazy. And so with AI, what I didn't understand or people don't understand. And I didn't know that's how good of a shooter he was.

Like, yes, he was a valued shooter. But when I saw him get shots up, like after a practice on a random day, he didn't miss. And, you know, we coined, Katie coined the phrase, Katie makes, you know, back room straight down, back room straight down.

Like, it's like the Katie makes, like this is what we teach our kids. This is what I teach my son. Like, no, I want Katie makes. I don't want switches. Back room straight down Like that's when you know you're controlling the ball you're controlling the trajectory You're controlling your art like that's when you know like you're locked in and it's the same way every single time

So I want you to get a straight Katie makes I see Al I risk that have 50 Katie makes and like that's all he needed To get himself back in the rhythm and people don't understand how great of a shooter He was because he was six feet tall and took some tough shots. He's got bigger guy He's one of the first to have bigger guys guarding him. You know, I never met the mar This is the Mara Johnson from Cincinnati Denver. That was the first time I was like a six nine guy Garden the smaller guy because you know, no one else could guard them if Steph AI this word are very similar if they have someone the same height as them I'm guaranteeing they getting 30 And so when we were going to games and I was he step people don't understand how tall Steph is that the 63 Pushing 64 he's a big guard and people don't understand

You know why we were so good defensively is because Steph is the shortest guy at 6'4". Now it's, you know, myself, 6'6", you know, or it was Clay Thompson who's 6'7", Harrison Barnes 6'8", Draymond Green is the tallest 6'5", 6'6' guy, 15 in league history, him in Charles Barkley, and Kevin Durant 7'3", we had Javel McGee, seven, two. We had Andrew Bogut, seven feet. You know, Fessi Cezzili, seven feet. Like we had really tall lineup. Sean Livingston, when he was playing a point,

he's six, seven, six, eight. We had really big lineups. And when I saw that they had a smaller guy, Garden Step, around his height, they were six, three, and shorter. Step was gonna get 30. I'm like, okay, we got a good night tonight. Cause they're just too short. He's gonna shoot C right over you. He's already shooting over six seven six eight every single night

You know how easy it is to shoot over six three versus six six six seven You know and there's everything centimeters in our game and the same thing where I live It's and when they were have smaller guys on him, you know, it was just like oh, this is an easy night He's getting 35 What I always loved about your game is just how multiple you were. You know, you could, you were asked to do a lot. And when I watch Oklahoma City and having a little, you know, intel on kind of the roster design of another league, excuse me, other teams talk about it. We're like, Hey, you paying attention to what the Thunder are doing and what they're

trying to do. It's like, like hey multiple guys that can kind of interchange In everything and we know they're young and I feel like it's super dismissive to go Well, they're young so they can't win the West. They're healthy their guys play all the time I'm a little worried about chip but I heard you talking about them like you look at them is as It feels like I don't want to speak for you So I'll just ask the question like as good of as good of a chance as any of the other West teams to come out because of the way they're built.

Is that how you feel? Yeah, well, youth is real. And, you know, the one and two spot in the West is scary right now because the Lagers or the Warriors sneak in, they're both battle testing. So you do need to have experience going through a war-like scenario, not real world, world war, but you need to have, you know, in the sports metaphor of a war, that experience of going in a hostile environment or, you know, understanding like 150-50 ball can make the entire series. You know, LeBron understands the moments.

So, you know, JR Smith may not have called timeout, it wasn't his fault, but that was the only chance to win a series. You know, I think, you know, LeBron understood the ramifications like this is our only chance to have a chance. And if you let, you know, one moment slip by, then that's it.

And it's not blaming one person, but that's just the importance of every single possession in the playoffs. And I think that's where there's a big difference between a regular season and a playoffs, you know, you got to see a team, you know, anywhere from four to seven times and they're adjusting every single game to chess match every single game. You know, each other's plays, but that's how you identify who's taking it towards, who's the next best player in the league. And that's what makes shade so scary is that he scored 30, 35 more than any other player

in the league. And so he's, that's what makes him scary. He knows how to get to a spot. You can't force him into any, you know, bad shot. He knows like, Hey, I can go left, I can go right. I can get to the elbows. I can step back for the three. I can get to the basket, finish with both hands.

I got a seven foot four guy that can extend as well. And we can switch everything with Luke Dort. Jamie Williams, they're playing with a lot of confidence. You know, they got one of the best shooters in the league. Kid coming off the bench. Who's playing Philly? Forget his name. Isaiah Joe. Isaiah Joe.

Shooting in lights. He can shoot, man. He's just shooting. And so they have the recipe for what the league has become while also not being exposed to the weaknesses that the league has become as well. So it's just been an amazing balance that they have. And you got to give Sam Presti a lot of credit. He's been able to build,

maybe probably this might be his second team that he's had to build, construct in a small market. We haven't seen anything like this. The Spurs consistently being good for Tim Duncan play two decades before a team in that market to be able to build what they're building again. It's just you got to give them a lot of credit with how they run the organization. When you watch the Warriors now, what do you see?

A scary team, you know, they've been a little bit inconsistent. But when they put it together, it's like, watch out. To see what Caminga has turned into, which I was able to see him every single day, and tell him to stay patient. Just heard, what's my man's name? Played for the Lakers, coached for the Denver Nuggets. Brian Shaw. I saw Brian Shaw speaking the other day about Phil Jackson, and Brian Shaw speaking about his puppies.

And he said, when you get German shepherds who are like our dogs, you can't tell them no, the first two years of their lives, or dog years or whatever it is. You can't say no to them. You gotta just let them be who they are. You gotta let him be killers. And once you, two years, now you're teaching discipline.

Where with Kameenka, and he said, Phil did the same thing to Kobe, where he would get on shack, but he wouldn't get on Kobe. You know, one day in practice, like, yo, why don't you get on Kobe? He was like, listen, we gotta make sure Kobe's in kill mode when we need him to be in kill mode. We can't hold him back.

We can't hold him back. And with Kameen Gah, we went in championship his rookie year. So in that scenario, you kind of have to hold him back because we're still competing for championships. When you got a young guy with that talent, in order for them to go out and just go and play and let them play through their mistakes, you'll take some losses. But when you're trying to compete for a championship and you actually have the opportunity to, it's a very, very difficult balance. And so for him to just stick with it and to, you know, go through the battles of being so talented, to being held back.

And then this year to just be playing how he's playing, he's the second best player on the team. I don't think anyone outside of our core group or the Warriors could see that. And Wiggins having a slow start, but Wiggins is picking it up. Clay being comfortable coming off the bench. He scored 25, 35 coming off the bench. He's having some of his best nights. Chris Paul is the sleeper on that team. I've been saying it for quite some times.

If you look at the record, just before CP got hurt, the great record, and then CP got hurt, they struggled. Then they lost Dremy, then they really struggled. Then Dremy comes back and now they're playing well. And then now CP's back, their bench is probably equipped to compete with any other bench. One of the best benches in the league, Clay and CP leading the way. And then they got a rookie with some of the most unbelievable confidence that we've ever seen in VP playing out of his mind. It's a recipe for a team that

can scare you. So but you know on a nightly basis you don't know what you're gonna get. You know they lose a tough game that they should win and it throws off their seating. And now they're in nine or 10 seed and they got to win two tough games on a road to try to get in to win out doing it all in the playing side. I'm going to ask a tough question here because Bill Simmons and I have debated this now going back two years. You know, I think it's hard for us on the outside to understand Dreymon, but I also realized the personality of the team that I think every team needs somebody that's on edge all the time, you know, and Clay and Steph are amazing,

but you need kind of one guy. And his theory was that after the pool punch that it derailed the entire season, my theory was this team is too battle tested to let something like that derail it. And then it wasn't a very good season. Is there anything to add to that? No, there's nothing to add to that. Okay. Look, I didn't know if you're going to like the question or hate the question.

I saw it. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I can understand if people don't like it. No, it's not that I don't like it because it's your job to ask. And you learn as a player, as a teammate, as a coach, as a GM, as a spectator, as a fan, as a scout, as an opponent,

you learn through others sometimes, and maybe how to handle the situation or how to react to it, or if you're even in a situation on either side, you know, how to respond from it all. And so, you know, just did an interview this morning, I was interviewing someone and we were, you know, speaking about failure, you know, and then how do you bounce back from, you know, some of your moments where you put you in a light that you never saw yourself being in or didn't want to be in.

So I try to take a look at it from that perspective. Even for me as a teammate, some things I would have done differently. Seeing things earlier, so it doesn't happen, or responding in a different manner, so we have a better reaction coming out of it. And so that's, that's just how I try to look at it, you know, both my brothers, you know, folks did a lot of great things with them. You know, one thing I say about NBA players is once you're in this league, it's just in this fraternity as a league and then on a deeper level as a teammate,

you know, there's things we understand about each other that no one else in the entire earth can understand. You know, it's only like 4,800 NBA players ever on history of earth. And so we're in a small fraternity and you know, you don't really understand it or appreciate it because of all the noise that's surrounding you. And so, you know, I've just learned it to take it very preciously. And you look at it from that perspective Well, I appreciate you being cool about the question because I you know, I'm cool. I'm really cool about any question Raymond Raymond ridder had me doing interviews like four times a day. So I've seen it on

I'm not Raymond's my guy raised my guy. No, raise a good dude You can download the Point Forward with Evan Turner and Andre Igodola wherever you get your podcast. Thanks so much for the time, man. I say money can't buy happiness. Look at the fucking smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby. You want details?

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

Life Advice, the email address is lifeadvice.rr.gmail.com. Okay, let's get to it. Our guy is beating up on himself hugely in debt, no job. Girlfriend makes decent money and is financially stable. Some guys are like, what's the problem, right? Long time- Live with a dream, dude. What's your 2K rank, bro?

Next email. Yeah, what's your KDR, call duty. All right Long time first time 27 box the basketball comp is Bob Cousy in today's game. I don't know that Cousy would Would dominate I don't like when people diss the Cous but uh, But just I think you might struggle a bit very fluid movement a lot of trick passes Yes, I know how infuriating those can be as a teammate look Are you good at the trick passes? You just try to throw trick passes and pick up games

because that would suck. Yeah. Very streaky shooter means you can't shoot. All right, you know what? Let's not keep, let's not beat up our guy here anymore. Watch a lot of Celtics films from Celtics film from 2005. So, Rondo is my favorite player and the reason for the Cousy comp. Okay, understood. The situation is this, in 2019, I went to Vermont Law School at 21 years old to double major in an actual law degree and a master's in environmental law and policy. COVID hit, school went remote, needs us to say I found the double major to be fairly tough and started to slip academically. I was able to escape high enough to get the master degree, but I dropped the JD degree all in for debt. I have 150k. I've never been able to get a real job in my field. I've done unpaid work for the Connecticut State agencies through a fellowship

type program while at Vermont Law School, so I'm not totally unqualified. And I graduated in January 22. So I'm a mess. Just stop working at a group home like place Do you understand what that means? like a group home like a Halfway house type deal like fresh out. You got like six months of good behavior type thing. Yeah, oh you made it specific I don't I don't know. I don't know maybe I don't know. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe it's for old people. I think that's right. I think that's right. Okay. All right. Looking for any kind of work that's closer to the environmental field,

people say it'll work out. I'm hoping for that. But in the moment, it's very hard to. I told my girlfriend that I feel like I'm holding her back because I have so much debt and no income right now. The phrasing she explicitly hated was me calling her, quote, a fool. I know not my best work for planning a life with me. She works as a state contractor, makes decent money six figures. She's also just sold her house. She bought pre-boom with an old boyfriend and is gonna be making a decent profit. I feel so down about my life prospects. I feel like I may pretend to be way more adequate at helping her achieve her goals

and I'm actually capable of. She thinks I'm dooming our relationship and calling her stupid at the same time. Yeah, not a great combo, dude. Besides getting a real career, how can I either convince myself that I'm not hamming her or harming her? Yeah, that makes way more sense. I'm not harming her by living in the trenches right now or convince her I have a serious concern about her future and life with someone so financially unstable. All right. So, it sounds like you are in a self-sabotage mission big time. Look, current situation isn't great. Not having a job and having that school debt combo of that really sucks. You know what? Suck even more, get dumped. Okay. And you're about to,

buddy. So I don't know if you're doing the depressed woe is me, like, let me make everything even fucking worse so I can make, let's keep layering the bad shit on, you know, which is something that you can kind of do when you're really down in the dumps is like, you don't even want any good news because then you might actually like, you can get so used to being bummed out that you almost like it, right? And that's like, what happens when something good happens and I don't get to be bummed out anymore? You can't say you're spiel anymore. Right, right. Yeah, yeah. Like, you know, the, as much as the depression stuff sucks,

the sneaky reward and all of it, it's like, I am, maybe I'll hang out a little depression window here for a year or two and people can fucking leave me alone. So, you know, I personally think some, some, I don't know if it's this email, it's certainly not everyone, you can start to kind of dig it a little. So look, here's what you need to do is if she has your back and she sees potential enough in you to ride out what is a very common thing. You have school debt, you have a specific field that you're having a hard time breaking into, okay? You also have to be honest with yourself. You don't have to be honest with us, we didn't

even know you, but honestly to yourself, like, have you really, have you really just hammered the pavement in a sense, not physically, boots to the ground, walking around with your stack of resumes, just knocking on doors, being like, how are you today, man? You know, I'm about to chew this is the first day of the rest of your life. Right? So are you really giving it everything you can to search for another job? Maybe you are. Okay. I know what it's like. It's a bit like working out where people would be like, man, I'm working out like crazy. Like, are you? Are you just like going there a lot and not really working out? And you put your handbag down on the cable row machine and then talk to other people for 12 minutes while people

who take 60 to 90 seconds of between sets are waiting around for you to move your fucking handbag. A lot of looking through playlists. Right, yeah, right, right. Finding the right one. Do you just go there a lot or do you actually put the work in? So again, I don't know the answers to that. But what I would suggest you stop doing is telling her that she's a loser for dating you. Now, I don't know how much you care about her.

I imagine you care about her a lot if you're emailing us about this scenario. But I would get in front of this now or I would change course. Let me say it that way. I would change course and sit her down and say, hey, look, this has been me feeling sorry for myself. It's been really, really tough. And then for me to then question you is wrong. Like make her feel good about you understanding, because you clearly are smart enough to understand it, because you're writing in going like,

hey, I keep doing this, this wasn't smart. Tell her, you know, before you even start the job, like, go, hey, I've got to stop this. I mean, unless you want to break up with her, okay, but it doesn't sound like you do. And I can only tell you like, this is a very, very common thing where it's almost like you don't want anything good to happen because this other thing is that you're taking for granted the thing that's still there because there's a lot of dudes in your scenario that don't have anybody that has their back. They're waiting for that person to get their job. So clearly, she has something in her about you that you need to start appreciating more first. And then, yeah, I do think in these moments when

everybody's like, oh, it's never like whatever working out is, it may not work out specifically, perfectly the way you envisioned it. Envisioned it. But what seems to happen, man, is things just kind of do work out. They do seem to work out. It doesn't like, think about it. What's the other one? Yep, you'll never get a job, dude.

You're never going to work for 30 years. You're going to be, you know, I don't know, you know, like that's not going to happen. Is it? Yeah, I think I think the this specific situation that the big chest tap where you're a little bit vulnerable that that will work And you're just like hey I've been I've been going through a lot of stuff and I've been projecting onto you and but that'll work it works one time You can't have the big reveal and then do that again like two weeks from now or something So that could work that might buy you a little bit of grace and then maybe you talk about, you know, your plans. But I think this is, I don't know how many times you're saying this. Is this

like once a week? You're like, I'm such a fucking loser. Like, I think this would work if you're like, hey, listen, I'm sorry. I don't want to be couch guy forever. And I've been projecting and I'm working on it. You don't have to say you emailed us, but clearly you're like, I've been taking steps, whatever. But that's a one-time deal. Do it in the world. You can't go back. But that's definitely a one-time deal.

You can't have the big like, I'm sorry, I'm changed and then like we're having the same conversation next week. So wait until you're really ready to change and then say the, say the spiel and do your best. Yeah, exactly. It's okay to be vulnerable and be sad in the situation. I mean, right. I thought you, the way you described, you're like not wanting to be happy and feeling you

could have any happiness in any part of life. Like I, I kind of relate to this guy because after I did that show with Scowl for a while and then it ended up getting canceled and I was trying to figure out what the hell I was going to do. It's just hard. I remember like, I loved playing FIFA back then. I don't really anymore because the game sucks now, but back then that was my favorite thing. And I used to, I used to feel so shitty just like playing video games,

even though like I had done stuff all day to like figure out what my work situation was. And I'm sitting at home and my wife's like working and doing all this stuff. And you just feel like such an asshole. So I totally understand like, you're allowed to be vulnerable and feel like shit. But yeah, you can't like bring her down with you. Like, you can't be like you, like, you can't be like, I'm your anchor, you need to get out of here. Like, I wasn't telling my wife, like, hey, think about your other options out there, because it might not be for, you know, after six months, like, hey, it might not be for me anymore. So yeah, like, the other thing too is, is there,

is there a little bit of like a hint of like, are you not doing enough? As you said, like maybe because you really in your heart of hearts feel like you're not actually doing enough to solve the situation that it's actually making it worse because you know that you're not giving your full potential or living up your full potential. So maybe that's a little bit part of it, but I would just say it's okay to feel these way, these feelings, but you just can't, you can't keep bringing her down with you, man. Like you're just going to end up being a downer and then you're not even going to be the person that she fell in love with or likes in the first place.

Yeah, no, it's a great point. That's a great point. Is this a pursuit of happiness situation? Like can you have the job without, without the, you're a seven pounds guy. I think, uh, is this, can he have the job he wants without finishing this other major? Or is it just like you can, but you just you just they won't you won't get a look Like yeah, it's like you can technically if you're just a high school diploma can get certain types of jobs But you usually won't get in the door without a degree or is this like you need both?

It said he's got his masters right, but he's going for his JD. No, no, he's not an S rock. He's not an Esquire I don't know that works Yeah, I don't know that either. I mean, not to bum this guy out more, but I think I could get like a degree in botany from Harvard during COVID. I mean, I had nothing going on. Well, thanks for listening to all the episodes. I'm sure this is the last one. I'm not saying student at school undergrad botany degree because I... Yeah, yeah. Well, that's what he said he got that's what gave me trouble But I didn't have a girlfriend here. So, you know

Yeah, that probably not gonna help but look So Rudy made a great point you're gonna start becoming the person she didn't fall in love with okay Because anybody that's ever been on the complain train in their relationship whether you fucking drive in it or passenger You just start going like hey, I really dig you but I'm fucking tired of talking about the same thing over and over and over again. You're not even, you're so in your own head, you're not even thinking about your audience of one here. And I want to change the channel, but I can't unless I throw the TV out the window. All right. We got a question about Dune. Yes. 25. Not going to see tomorrow.. Yes 25 and no no this weekend. Okay. I know is it out tomorrow or soruti going later

It's out tomorrow. I believe but I I got a sick kid. It's not gonna work out this weekend for me. Unfortunately. Oh Anybody could send in one of those dude and popcorn things Great recel memes whatever that was. That was awesome. All right. 26 years old, 5'10", 180 pounds bench, 225 squat, 275 deadlifts, 315 what's up fellas. It could be short and sweet. A good friend of mine from college and I are huge Dune fans.

So we made plans to see the new sequel on the second weekend of March. I've been looking forward to seeing it on the big ass IMAX screen for months, but our schedules just couldn't make it happen opening weekend, no big deal. Is it a code break for me to see the movie on my own the weekend before our plans, even though my friend can't make it?

I would still see it again with him like we planned, even if I somehow hated it. Should I play dumb when we see it together and act like I had no idea what was going on? Or do I wait until we've seated in the theater, lights go down and just hit them with, by the way, saw it last weekend and it's great. Damn. Damn. I don't really care about that email until the end. It ended really strong because I think that's kind of funny. I just think it's like, look, if it was your wife

or your girlfriend or something like that, I would say don't do it. I'd say your selfish prick. It's another dude. I don't like, I don't know. And it's not even about what the guy wants to do. Look, would the other friend be like, are you serious, Phil? You saw dude without me, you lied? I don't know, man.

I don't care. Actually, it's my answer. I don't care, because it's another guy. Yeah, there is, are you doing brothers? I don't know, like the only thing I could think about this is like maybe Lord of the Rings, but I don't even think I have a friend that says into it as I am that like I would have this packed with.

I don't know, I think there is something if you're the other guy and you know, and you're just like, man, like we're not doing this together, you fucking know everything that's coming. Like it might even be harder for you to not be like, oh dude, look, here it comes, look, here comes a fucking worm. Like it might even be like, it might be too hard for you to not be like oh dude look here comes look Here comes a fucking worm like it might even be like it might be too hard for you not to do that I don't know I think you know what I would wait I would wait

Well, it's if you're not doing the right sand dance or whatever I think but I like I would wait because it's a week I could wait But yeah, it's a dude at the end of the day if he makes makes that stink, you'd be like, get over it, dude. Like, what's the difference? You really into this? I've done this. So I've done this multiple times with my wife, who doesn't really care. But and I can't think of all of them. But I saw interstellar by myself.

And then I went back like two weeks later and saw it in my wife. And guess what? Everybody had a great time. I love that I saw it twice. That was so we need to see it four times. So I mean, we're in. we're in, we're easily. You got a notepad in there? Like Ryan watching the video.

It's probably true. It is sadly accurate. Just watched off on him for the second time. That'll be another one on repeat. But she's not mad about it because like I'm not like ruining the movie for her. I'm not, my, my enjoyment was just as high going to see it the second time.

And if you're that worried about it, just don't tell the guy who cares. He's not gonna find out. I'd lie about it. If I did. I would go, because one of my favorite things in the world as we've talked about is going to see it the second time. And if you're that worried about it, just don't tell the guy who cares. He's not gonna find out. I'd lie about it if I did. I would go, because one of my favorite things in the world as we've talked about is going to Movie Solo. I love it.

So if you have an opportunity to do that and then go with your buddy the next weekend, and it's a movie that's as cool and as hyped up as Dune is, then dude, just do it and just keep it on the deal. I think I love going to Movie Solo. Things kind of funny. Because basically once the movie starts, you're solo. Yeah, it doesn't.

Like the code of silence. I mean, unless you have the most annoying partner ever, you know, it's like, I don't get it. Like, wait, what? Yeah, the previews are still fun. Why is there dust? We seen the closet. What if the guy turns to the e-mailer and looks at him and goes,

I can tell you've seen the spy, spy, or I. That would be awesome. Yeah. Yeah, you just have to be super shocked about whatever the, you know, the turns in the movie are. Should we do a writing one? When's the last time we did one of these? I think we should do maybe- It's been long enough that I could-

Is it one a year? I am so sick of this. We get sent so many of them and I tell you every time, I just haven't done enough to feel justified. So this guy hasn't done anything so I think I'm justified. All right, 6'1", Martian shape, 190 pounds, player cop, I'll go D Brown as I had a forgettable playing career, other than sink sick dunks on an 8 foot rim. He also beat me 7-0 head to head. Shout out to Robert Parrish in D Brown basketball camp at Babson College in the year the chief's annual anti-drug talk rang a little shallow for me. All right good start, good start. I might be a writer. I had

been procrastinating on writing in but loved the kid that asked about his mom having sex so I figured now is the time I had a similar deal at home as a kid once asking a friend sleeping over J.R are you awake? Jay confirmed with fright. Anyway, I do have a question, despite all the mystery around it, I picked up on the fact that Ryan is a writing project in mind or feels like it's in motion. So he might be the person to ask.

I think I've lived a crazy life and then I can tell funny stories about it to be clear. I've written nothing, but I tell myself daily that this is the path. I grew up in the North Shore of Boston, not really white trash but adjacent. My dad had me at bars as he chased girls on weekends. I think this is supposed to say, I saw some stuff I wasn't meant to. Caddy that myopia hunt club played college golf for Salem

State for the past three years. I belong to a club in LA. That's a scene. I guess it, yeah, I don't, I imagine that's just golf course because you could read that one Kyle and be like, what club is it? Crypto, I was day one with Eurythrium, Ethereum, excuse me. Eurythia, no, that's the lesser known coin for older men. Ethereum bought 6K for 30 cents each, sold them for 12 to buy a condo in Brooklyn, which I still own, had 25 Bitcoin on Patriots minus three and a half, the Atlanta Super Bowl. I worked at the top of the New York finance world for almost two decades at the same place. It was employee number one. Not sure I want to go there. Maybe someday. I moved to LA with my wife three years ago. I sit in my converted garage trying to figure out what the hell to do. Meanwhile, my wife is agent Ted, so she has representation and finishing her third revision of a young adult

novel and she just sat down and wrote the fucking thing. Therefore, I've seen the blueprint, but I also know the toll. It was impressive to watch. I just can't get myself to start writing this email alone is sadly a huge step for me. I have a sense you've battled this. How did you break through? What are you still battling with? Appreciate any thoughts. Look, man, I think there's just a lot of people that go like, I could write a book. Like the funny thing about podcasting is you see other people do it and you're like, well, I could do that. And you're like, well, I could do that. And you're like, yeah, actually you probably could. It doesn't mean it's going to be good.

But like if you want to have a podcast, you can have one like this afternoon. Like I could drive a NASCAR car, but like how well fast? Yeah, but that's the other thing is like, oh, you do it. It doesn't mean it's going to be any good. The difference with writing, because I have a couple of things, you know, there's always something I'm working on. And you're like, yeah, this part sucks. This is the part where no one looks at it and goes, oh, that'll be fun. That'll be super easy to do. And the fact that your wife has representation, apparently is going to get, whether she was already paid or in advance on

this book deal or whatever, you know, like she's on the path to it. The bridge from I have an idea for a TV show, a movie or a book to I'm gonna write this stuff down. I don't know how long that bridge is, but it goes a while. It just goes. So like even if we just go over the email and I'm not trying to like tear apart because I'm big on anybody trying anything, you know, if I go back, I wish I'd learned to do different stuff, you know, there's stuff I'm doing now, later on. It's like, man, I should have done this 20 years ago. I should have figured out all this stuff before, you know, and it's, it's just very common that, you know, you just kind of get caught up in your own shit so much or think

you don't have any time to do any of these things and you get a little bit older. I mean, shit, the number of soccer practices I haven't had to pick someone up at or drop somebody off. Like I should be a concert pianist at this point, right? But I'm not. So I would never tell anybody like, hey, don't, don't. But what I would tell you is what is the story that you're going to tell us? Like what's the story? Like, hey, I bought crypto. Okay, cool. And then I had a big bet on the paths. Cool. What's the fucking chapter man? Like that's in that's a things worked out. That's a thing That's that's a couple beers be like, oh, hey, didn't you have money? Yeah, let me tell you

I had this many bit coin on the past How many pages is that right like you got 200 pages in you? And what's the point like anytime I think of any script or anything? I have now weeded out all the bad ideas because I never knew what the fucking endings were. Like, what if you did a thing like this, but then a guy did this and then it was like, but it was here, but it was actually there. And you're like, yeah, what's the ending asshole? And 99 out of 100 times, you're like, I don't have a good ending. Like I missed the 80s a little bit because they were just like, that guy's on SNL. All right,

cool. What's the movie? I don't know. It's just going I missed the 80s a little bit because they were just like, that guy's on SNL? All right, cool. What's the movie? I don't know. It's just going to be him for like 85 minutes and then minute 86 is like, cool. It all worked out. Yeah. Because there wasn't really any goal to that. And maybe, look, there's certainly formulas and what people like and maybe you don't have

to worry about all this stuff or whatever. But like, anytime I'm thinking of anything that I'm doing, I'm going, okay, what is the ending? Why is this going to work? And even if I were to ever write a book, like I have the advantage of this audience, which I would hope I would do a really good job with and it would make sense to everybody that was involved in it. So I would say, have you never sat down and done anything?

Like, outline a chapter. Think of your best chapter think of the story. That's the best thing think of the thing that most strangers would be like interested and entertained by Okay, outline that we're like, hey here's and I know this sounds real simple and all those outlines We all hated doing his kids growing up and everything But outline it out to where you're like, oh, this is the story a b and fucking c All right Know what the ending is and then write it to the ending and then give it a little time and then read that chapter in like two or three weeks. And if it doesn't suck, congrats, you're a writer. All right.

You're 120th of the way there. Yeah. It just the number of people that will tell you, Oh, I have this great idea and I have it. Okay, fucking do something about it. Like do it. And I don't know what the number of people that will tell you, oh, I have this great idea. And I have to, okay, fucking do something about it. Like do it. And I don't know what the, the number of idea people versus actually writing stuff down. Um, and look, writing is really hard because you know, it's not really writing. It's editing the shit you already wrote.

Like the fun part of writing when you go through like, oh, hey, then this is going to happen. And then I'm going to do this and I'm going to do all these different things. And then it's like, okay, cool. And I rewrite it 10 fucking times. And even if it's good, you hate your own words, because you've been reading it over and over and over again, sometimes every single day for months and months and months. And I still like it. Okay. But I'm not even remote like it is not for everybody. Okay. I think it's I might I might not even like it

or be any good at it, but considering I'm alone, it's like a nice thing to be like, oh, that guy's a writer, he's by himself all the time. Like, oh, that checks out, makes sense. And then they were like, no, he actually was by himself all the time, then told me he started writing as a cover. So as a nonwriter, I was, it sounds like,

I had kicked around the idea when I first got out here and I was like, well, why don't I also do this? I was like, maybe there's a limited series, short TV show run of my weird year off. And it's like, you know, this kid who gets, gets himself kicked out of college and then he goes, hangs out, like he has an apartment. Now he's hanging out with 40 year olds and he's working as a cook. It's not, I would suppose, whatever. I don't know if it would work or not. But it was because I was like, do I have like a bunch of like points? Like, could you write like short stories and see if those are any good? And then it's like, do you have a short story? You can do whatever you want to do. You can write short long, you know.

Right. But I'm saying for this guy, if he wants to like write a book about his awesome life or crazy life, whatever adjectives he wants to use, like, could you write like, what are the big points? Like, is your short story on the Bitcoin thing? Is that good enough? Maybe not. But like, I don't know, did you have like a couple crazy stories you always tell from this club that you're at or growing up? Like, like, what are the big ones? Maybe you put those down and it's just like, all right, yeah, this is good. And if these connected through to other stories you have through characters or anything like that, is it like, is it enough stuff if you just take the best parts and like, are you even good? Could you even tell that story good?

Are you good at writing that the best part of it? So I wonder if you just like, if you could silo those things into like your big pillars, like, oh, what's the, what's the shit people are going to say wow about? And if you look at it and you're like, oh, maybe it's not, I don't know. But I think that way you can at least feel good about maybe writing the cool parts of it and seeing if it, like, do you even have something here? Like, do you have? I just think Crazy Story Guy is a very limited success. Yes, totally. Okay. Okay. That's like Bert Preischer is that guy? Like, who else is that guy?

Well, Wolf of Wall Street, like, clearly, you know, that was at such an absurd level. And it was actually like a real thing. Right. And he's an incredible storyteller. So, you know, it's not I would never tell anybody that's it's impossible. But like, Hey, I'm cool. And I have this crazy story. Like, there's a lot of guys out there. Now, the way to separate yourself from start fucking writing words down. And then you're going to find out real quick, right? And maybe it's going to be in the beginning when you get new shoes and new tights to work out in, and you're like, oh man, I'm going to start really getting into the gym. And then a month later, the shoes are still on the corner, you know, but at least you'll have had your answer. It's

a lot like moving when you're younger, like, hey, should I move away from home? Yeah, you should. And if it's a huge mistake, then you'll know. And when you come home, you'll appreciate it more, but you'll have that experience away from it to kind of have a better understanding of who you are and what you want out of life. And maybe you'll sit down and go, Holy, like this sucks. I forget all my grammar because of texting and now I don't know how to do anything. I suck at writing. This is, this is awful. And then you'll be like, cool, I can stop thinking about it now.

So anyway, congrats. Good luck. Good luck with all that. All right. Thanks to Stefan. Thanks to Saruti. Thanks to Kyle. Thanks to my guys, Sully, for shadowing us this week. Brewster Academy in the house. What's up? 802. Ryan Russell, podcast ringers, bottom five. It's a great day. Must be 21 and older in present select states, Fanduil is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under agreement with Kansas Star Casino LLC. Gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit Fanduil.com forward slash RG in Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Tennessee,

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