The Zach Lowe Show - The End of the Trae Young Era in Atlanta. Plus, All-Star Predictions!

Episode Date: January 8, 2026

Zach is joined by Rob Mahoney to break down the decision to trade Trae Young to the Wizards. Then, they predict the final All-Star roster for the Western and Eastern conferences. (0:00) Welcome to The Zach Lowe Show! (1:47) Rob Mahoney joins the show! (3:52) This is rock bottom for Trae Young’s trade value (13:34) What does this mean for Alex Sarr’s development? (21:16) What would you think of Anthony Davis with the Hawks? (24:56) Trae still has juice and could reinvigorate the Wizards (27:56) Predicting Western Conference All-Stars (31:43) Should the last spot be Devin Booker or Chet Holmgren? (37:04) The Nuggets have continued to win without Jokic (41:04) What’s happening with OKC? (47:37) Issuing apologies for the West snubs (56:44) Predicting Eastern Conference All-Stars (1:00:57) Did Franz Wagner earn a spot? (1:06:35) Derrick White has a legitimate case (1:12:17) Why is the KAT experience so maddening? (1:17:58) Jaylen Brown has entered the MVP conversation (1:21:47) Giannis says that he will never request a trade Host: Zach Lowe Guest: Rob Mahoney Producers: Mike Wargon, Jonathan Frias, and Billy Gil Social: Keith Fujimoto The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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You guys know that watching basketball is my thing, obviously, but you know what else is? Collecting basketball memorabilia, and that's why you got to love eBay. It's like a never-ending merch store, vintage basketball cards, old school jerseys, one-off fan-made artwork. On eBay, you could always find whatever your thing is. From our collectibles and vintage cars to designer fashion, it's all there. Millions of fines, each with a story. eBay, things people love. On the Zach Lowe show, we have a trade. Repeat, we have a trade. Trey Young. The Atlanta era is over. He has been traded to the Washington Wizards for C.J. McCollum and Corey Kisberg. Rob Bohoney is here to break it all down. What does it mean for the

Hawks, is there another shoot-ed-drop? Is there another move coming now that they've cleared away $50 million of salary next season in Tray-Young? Does this make the hogs better? Does it make it worse? Does it even matter? The Wizards, why? What? What happened? The Wizards got Tray Young? Did they extend him? No, not yet. Are they going to go? How is this going to work with all the wizard junk players is good for them? Which ones is it good for? Which ones is it dicey for? How is how is Stray going to fit there? Are they worried about losing their draft pick to the Knicks? How are they going to handle that? Lots to talk about with Tray Young. sad day for the Hawks in a lot of ways, but hey, you move on.

And then Rob and I pick our 12-man all-star squads for the West and the East. And I got a little wacky, I got to tell you. Got a little wacky, especially in the East where the pickings are a little bit slimmer than I would like. We have some disagreements, some big disagreements, actually, with a Western Conference player in particular. And in the East, we're just all over the place. And then as we do that, we talk about everything that's in the news, the Knicks end,

they're a losing streak, the Nuggets. Oh my God, the Nuggets, three and two without Yokech, after a great win. In Boston, the Thunder kind of still scuffling. Took overtime to beat the jazz at home, really? Janus made some comments about never requesting a trade. What's up with Kat? We talk about all that coming up on the Zach Lowe show. Two, the Zach Lowe show, where I'm done giving my all-fair hot takes on television

and how nothing is funny anymore. And Rob Bohoney is here to talk about a big trade and some all-star picks. Rob Bohoney, how are you? What did you think of my takes? I mean, you had some stuff to get off your chest. Let's just be honest about it. Do you not have enough people in your life to talk about TV with? I don't.

And am I ready for Proceedge TV? Is Proceedge TV ready for me to come on and just talk about how all these shows are bad? That's, I'm just, they're all bad. Every show's bad. We're going to do the equivalent of Mets Corner and just tack on 10 to 15 minutes of you at the end of every pod ranting about whatever show you hate right now. Yeah, well, this show got nominated for 15 Directors Guild Awards. Is there nothing else on TV?

This show is bad. You getting mad at Directors Guild Award snubs is really, I mean, really just peeked Zach low as far as I'm concerned. I just, I was on Instagram, an actor who I follow, his show was nominated. The show was not good. And that's what I'm going to say. Rob Mahoney, Trey Young, in what should be a rude awakening for Trey Young, for any team attempting to trade a somewhat distressed max level player, whether it's Memphis, New Orleans, Charlotte, whoever. I don't know if any of those teams are really doing this. Trey Young is now a member of the Washington Wizards

because of course, Trey Young, after his tenure in Atlanta, successful by most measures, conference finals appearance, some epic Trey Young games in that run, fluky as it may have been, a just cemented place in play in tournament lore forever and ever,

was traded to the Wizards who decided we don't want $80 million in Capspace this summer. We want Trey Young and $35 million in Capspace which we can still play with. For Corey Kisper, who I think feels like he's played eight games this year, hair always looks great. It does. Thumb not looking great, but the hair does look great. And C.J. McCollum, who has been legit good for a Wizards team that is, I believe, seven and six in its last 13 games and was already sort of flirting with being frisky and competitive.

The Tray Young era is over. The Hawks get two players who I think can help them this year, but more than anything else, they get two expiring contracts. They get out of the uncertainty slash probability of Tray Young opting into a $50 million contract. I got to tell you, Rob, pretty anticlimactic stuff. A lot of this will be, a lot of my judgment of this will be what happens next. Does Washington extend Tray Young? They are not currently. They did not as a part of this trade.

There was some rumbling gesture that they were going to. I wonder if that's why it took a little longer. They can always revisit it in the state. summer if Tray Young plays well, doesn't pout, doesn't completely hog the offense and stifle the development of some of Washington's

young players. That's quite an if. We'll get there. And the Hawks, you know, the Anthony Davis rumblings are out there. I'm not sure how much the Hawks front office actually wants to trade

for Anthony Davis, but by dumping one $150 million salary, they do have a little bit more wiggle room to acquire Anthony Davis who will make $54 million this year. $58 million next year and has a player option if he's not extended for $63 million in $27, 2028.

As you may be aware, Rob Mahoney, Anthony Davis doesn't play in all that many basketball games for the buck. Yeah. The idea of going from the Chris Staps Porzengis roller coaster to the Anthony Davis roller coaster, that's just cruel. For as good as both players can be, just does not feel like where you want in terms of setting the stability for your franchise. You want to start with the Hawks or the Wizards into this?

Let's start with the Hawks. I feel like it's simpler in a lot of ways, which is I am bummed out that the most exciting Atlanta Hawks since Dominique Wilkins, like, this is how it all goes down. This is how it all ends in just like a whimper of a trade that I get why we got here in the end, but I'm just sad that it came to this point where it is, with all due respect, C.J. McCollum and Corey Kisper. Like, that's a sad trade return for the Trey Young era. it certainly is there is no question that this is rock bottom for tri young's trade value

it is 1,000% true that had Atlanta wanted to they could have traded triung for more than this any number of times to any number of teams over the last two or three years i don't think there was ever i don't think there was ever a massive like crazy offer but i have i don't even think in the last year there's been like a BB plus offer. I think I think time just wasn't on their side, but had they actually engaged the possibility seriously in the last two years, let's say 2.5 years, they could have gotten okay return, certainly better than this. And this is like, you know, but this is one of those things like, yeah, they sold low. It's a hard conversation to have with an owner three years ago when you're, when that conference finals appearance is not

so far in the rear view to be like, you know what we should do. We should sell Hyde now. Like, that's a very hard conversation to have. But there's no question that they could have done better than this. I don't know what the specific teams were. I know that there were teams that sort of cycled in and out of the, hey, maybe we should make some calls about Troy Young, like the spurs, the magic, the jazz, the bulls, the raptors. And I'm not saying there were hard offers ever available because a hard offer requires

actual real discussions that I'm not sure there were ever really, really serious discussions. but no question this is selling very low. And there's, you know, no other way to say it. And really, we do need to look back at the original sin of all of this, which is trading Luca Dantitch for Trey Young and the pick that became Cam Reddish. It was right there. And so, you know, the Hawks joined an illustrious group of teams that had Luca Dantzic either had him literally or had him for the taking,

the Hawks, the sons, the kings who had picked one and two in that draft. and the Mavericks should start a support group of like, you know, hey, does Marvin Bagley get invited to the support group meetings? Does Dominant get invited to the support group meetings? Yeah. I don't, you know, I don't know what's, like, the Hawks were better without Traeong this year. Jalen Johnson is now the face of the franchise. It is sad, though, because I kind of had thought the Hawks were building the right kind of team

to tolerate Trey Young's defense. Same. And that Trey Young had taken baby steps toward, you know, I can move off the ball a little bit more. I can set more screens on and off the ball. And maybe I can even dial that up 10 to 15 percent. And that's like actually a pretty good fit with this team. And it turned out it was like kind of dead on arrival this season

in a way that surprised me certainly as a Hawks optimist. Yeah, I think the balance of all that was just way too delicate. And when they reintroduced Trey to the lineup, it's like their defense just kind of like left, out from under them because all of a sudden they didn't have length at every position and the switchability. They had this liability in the lineup that presented real problems when you don't have your best rim protectors behind you all the time. And then offensively, you're right. Ultimately, they never really found the flow with this group. And I think Tray, over the course of

that extended trade saga you laid out or would be trade saga over the last couple of years where they maybe could have pulled the trigger on a few different potential deals. He kind of boxed himself in where he's already a particular flavor to begin with. And so if you don't like his play style as a general manager, then maybe he's not for you. And then he's also not the easiest personality to kind of anchor a franchise around sometimes. He also has the injury history. He's also, I mean, just one of the worst defenders at his position, even among stars, like a genuine problem.

And when you lay all those things on top of each other, all of a sudden you're going from, even for a hyper-talented playmaker, maybe eight teams were interested to six, teams are interested to three teams were interested. You're just whittling down the market too much where you end up with the wizards, basically shrugging and saying, like, why not, as opposed to being super eager to begin the Trey Young journey. Yeah, I did enjoy the, I'll say borderline propaganda of Trey Young has identified the Wizards as a team he really wants to go to.

Trey Young wants to go for the Wizards. He's sifted around the league and identified them as his team. Print the tweet. hang it as a banner. Like, this is a great moment in Wizard's history. How dare you take it away from them? Well, also, how about there was no other team really in the running right now? And so the choice was nothing or the Wizards.

And obviously, Trey Young wants to go to a place where he can play and hopefully get paid on an extension. And I just enjoyed the, like, as if they had this dossier of like really good deals for Cheung is like, choose this. Do you choose between these six great trades when there was only one team that was really engaged with the Hawks on this. I wouldn't rule out an extension for ZJ. McCollum, by the way, which is kind of what I mean by TBD on how to judge this.

What do you? Yeah, I mean, look, Tray's defense is what it is. And I said this last week, you could almost see the other players on the team when he came back, sort of readjusting to, oh, we got to, like, overload the entire side of the floor again. Yeah. Like, we were playing, like, one kind of. defense and now I have to play this like, all right, everyone's got a shift over here to help

Trey kind of defense. I didn't miss, I didn't miss this so much. I don't know. Wizards, I don't know. What do you think? Why? I mean, the why is just he's so talented and so capable. And it's such a good organizer in terms of putting everyone in their spots and like running

coherent offense, which is something they just do not have. The Wizards are a really bad team. There's really no way around that. And so I get talking yourself into it from the first. perspective of, oh, we're going to throw out a player who's better at running offense than C.J. McCollum, who's an incredible threat to score, who we've seen elevate Hawks teams into playoff runs. Like, that's a real thing that happened and gave the whole franchise, like a propulsion behind it. That's all real. I think where I have a

problem with it is for as bad as the Wizards are, like the one good thing about where they are right now is the opportunity for discovery. And Tray Young is not a discovery point card. He is a, I'm going to run the offense you stand in the corner or I'm going to run the offense you set the screen for me, point guard. And like, would Tray Johnson's had a crazy couple weeks? Would he have had those couple weeks if Tray Young is already running point? I want Alex Sar posting up maybe twice or three times as much as he otherwise would be on another team. I want Tishon George trying to split doubles and maybe turning the ball over because of what that's going to mean three years from now in terms of his development. And

I don't think anyone, or at least, you know, if you look around the NBA landscape, people aren't super bullish on any individual Wizards prospect, except maybe Saar, who's taken huge steps this season. But the players in this team aren't screaming Luca Donchich-level superstardom, but they are screaming opportunity and that they could be a little bit more than they are or a couple steps further along if you give them the chance. I think Saar is the perfect example of that. Like, how could we have anticipated his offensive jump this season if he didn't have

the airspace that he has. And Trey Young for better or worse, he sucks up a lot of the oxygen in the room. He takes away a lot of that opportunity. And he might make the Wizards marginally better this season, but I'm not like super eager to make that trade off, honestly. So I think there's no doubt that he's going to help Sarr. I mean, we've seen Trey get centers paid with lob dunks and spot up threes

for the guy like John Collins when he's playing the four. He'll get Sarr easier buckets than Sarr is getting now. By the way, I'm super high on Sarr. I know Castle is now the consensus. Like he should have been the number one pick in that draft. Right. Like if you told me who has the better career between Sarr and Castle, I'm not 100% convinced the answer is Castle.

I think Sarr can be that good. Well, let me ask you a question about Sark. Because I agree with you, Trey Young is going to get him easy opportunities. Is getting Alex Sarr easy opportunities what's going to make him better? Or is getting him hard opportunities as he's had to like convert around the basket this year? Is that what's going to make him better?

So I think I think that's, the right question. And there's a, it's a fine line because on one end, you have, I don't want Bala Kulibali and Kishan George and Bob Carrington drowning because they're so overwhelmed by the task in front of them and there is no actual point guard on the team. But I also don't want them turned into spot up shooters watching the Trey Young show. And for this to be worth it for the Wizards, because I do think they want these young guys to get into more competitive. games and they think Trey Young can help with that and they were in competitive

games in the last three weeks already in part because C.J. McCollum was helping with that and he was going to be a free agent. I do think there is part of their, I think they want to make the shot diet, the dribble drive diet for all those players easier but also

don't want to take all of that responsibility away from them and that's the onus on Trey Young to not just be like all right now now it's my show. You all just stand around and watch me. And that's going to be tough. It's going to be tough for Brian Keefe and the coaching staff. It's going to be tough for the front office. The one lever they hold over him is the money because they haven't extended him yet. They don't have to. And they could get to the end of this and be like, you know what? It was a mistake. This was the tray show in a way that we did not, to a level that we think was actually bad for the development of these young players.

Some of whom are drowning, by the way. Like Balakulibali is kind of drowning on offense. and we'll just sort of like we'll either try to reflip you for better value than, you know, we had to give up to get you or maybe you'll opt out because you have another deal lined up. We'll see. Speaking of all of this, the Wizards now joined the Jazz as members of the top eight protected pick club that is suddenly a little bit interesting because, as I said, they're seven and six in their last 13 games, and they just upgraded to a pretty elite floor raiser, as you see. said, which has got

Knicks fans going bananas because the Knicks get the Wizards pick if it falls out of the top eight. The Wizards right now have the fourth worst winning percentage in the NBA which would give them a 100% chance of picking in the top eight. The fifth is like 99, 6th is like 97. And then after that

it gets a little dicey. I'm just going to tell you, I wouldn't get too excited if I were a Knicks fan. I think the Wizards are going to do what it takes to stay in the top eight. And if that means that Tray Young's quad contusion, takes a little bit too long to heal and oops, there's a setback and it's going to take a little bit longer to heal again, I think that will be okay.

But you're asking the right question of the art of player development in game, drowning, having things made too easy for you, spoon feeding guys. I think there's going to be a happy medium that they're going to have to try to find. And part of it I think will be, I think they'll probably sit, Tray Young if they start winning too many games and so he will just be again removed from the equation. Yes. And ultimately, you're right that the range of the wizard's prospects, those guys are all in very different places in terms of what they need. Ballal does need a little bit more help. Bub Carrington has been drowning at various points in the season, but it feels like he's kind of got his feet under him a little bit in a way that is, you know, maybe I'm just being optimistic about it, but I felt better about his play lately. It's hard to find the right fit and system and format and point guard for everybody at once. I think my concern is mostly just that we've seen, we've seen, we've seen,

Trey on the rise with a lot of other young players around him. And some of those guys developed and some of them really stalled out as a result. And maybe they never would have found their traction and their lane otherwise. I just think for who Trey is at this point, if he is not a pretty different player in his approach, the tradeoffs to this stuff is going to be pretty heavy. And I'm cool. Like I get how they got there. I just wish that they hadn't.

Yeah. I mean, also they are in the situation where they have to spend this money somehow in the off season. And I think plan A was probably once again be a destination for dead money and draft picks. And they still will have enough money to do that. For sure. I think 35, 40 million of caps base even after slotting Trey Young in. And so it's like kind of no harm, no foul in that sense, as long as they don't do a crazy extension with him.

And there is some art, as many people have tweeted, of like the sort of like piling on the asset train from Beale to Chris Paul, to Poole, to McCollum, to now Trey Young. And like I, look, all the, the pelicans are just over here, like around all of this,

like screaming, trying to find, trying not to drown themselves. For all the flack justified that they took for the pick, the trade that got them Derrick Queen, and now this, they have the worst record in the Western Conference

and the Hawks own the rights to their pick. Yep. I never, and I said this right at the time, I never understood the McColler, for Jordan Poole trade. I didn't get it. Jordan Poole is just being Jordan Poole. He's flopping around and taking horrible shots and playing horrible defense. He's

flopping so egregiously that he actually got called, I think, for a flopping technical a couple of weeks ago. And he's got a year left on his contract after C.J.'s I just didn't get that trade. And like, here we are again with the Pelicans. I mean, CJ at least accent plays like an adult. And this is a reason why I think

he can be helpful to the Hawks in the same way that Kisper can be to the Hawks. That is a team that for all of their struggles and their weird, up and down stints. They've got a lot of options now. And they have, you know, for the night where Luke Conard's defense is really killing you, Kisbert is a little more sturdy in that particular way. For the nights where you need a little more juice where like Nikiel or Dyson Daniels are

getting a little overwhelmed when they try to work off the dribble, but you can stretch CJ even further and kind of milk what he can give you as a creator. I like the options they have. I don't know where it's going to take them this season necessarily, but when you have that New Orleans pick in your back pocket, you don't have to have all the answers right now. And Kispert brings a skill set if he's, healthy that they just don't have. Like, you know, like they, he's more of a fast Twitch movement shooter than even

Kinnart is. Sure. And, and has. Well, the Vite Craechy erasure right now. I mean, be respectful. Veet is letting it fly. That's true. And Kisper, he's just more of like a traditional runoff pin downs.

And just run, run, run, cut all over the place shooter with a little bit of on ball juice when he catches it on the move. And a contract that's, you know, 13 million a year, basically over the the next two years after this one. And not only does he sort of give you some Luke Conard security blanket, he also maybe makes Luke Conard expendable if you want to trade for Anthony Davis. And Porzingis, back to Dallas would be incredible, but Porzengis plus Conard plus a minimum salary gets you toward Anthony Davis, gets you toward legal trades for Anthony Davis. Now, there's some tax issues. You've got to be a little careful. What do you think of Anthony

Davis with the Hawks? If that's the outgoing thing. And so you, integrate him with, you know, the starting five could be Alexander Walker, Risa Shea, who I don't think they will trade for Anthony Davis. Dyson, who hasn't made a three seemingly in months, Jalen Johnson, and AD, and you can bring a Congo off the bench, I guess. What do you think of that? These are the two sides of my brain. One side of my brain knows and understands that Anthony Davis is a great player. Incredible defender, inarguable, highly successful when he's on the court, not trying to take anything away from him. The other side,

of my brain that has watched him as a Maverick this season and been consistently bummed out by not just like the lack of availability but the offensive decision making the role he slots into the offense like the shots he wants to take and the and the way he is trying to play basketball for that team doesn't make me super bullish about the idea of just plugging him into the hawks without issue that said like they do need a big in his mold who is more available than Chris that's poor Zingas. Like he does make, he's a great theoretical fit for them that I can talk myself into. I've just been, I don't know, I just have not had fun watching him this season or felt

that he's in particular contributing to like successful, stable offense for the Mavs. And that worries me a little bit if you're going to like make a big swing on someone like him. I think you would be betting on a fresh start one step away from the Luka disaster and being the unfair and unawainting face of the Luka disaster. disaster. Yes. And his, you know, Rich Paul and Clutch are clearly trying to figure out the trade market for him and find places that would want him that you'd get a little friskeyer, like, bounce in his step, Anthony Davis. I just keep coming back. It's like when people suggest to me

that the bucks should trade for Jeremy Grant, because I think the bucks are trying to buy and they will, and I keep saying, I'll be surprised that they don't end up with one of these sort of big contract somewhat, I'm not even distressed, just guys that make sense for their team to move on from them. I'm like, Jeremy Grant just doesn't play enough games. Like he's been out forever now, and I don't even remember what his injury is.

Anthony Davis has played 19 games this year. And he makes 54, 58 player option 63, but he's going to want an extension for not any, and even if you tell me, Anthony Davis will take like a Rudy Gober style extension, like a pretty hefty pay cut, ends up being 35, 40 a year for three, four years. He's 35.

when that extension kicks in, he just doesn't play enough for me to want to make that kind of financial. I just don't understand the point of it for the Hawks Street. I mean, I get to defense. He's a great player, blah, blah, blah. He just doesn't play enough and he's just getting older. This is something we've been talking about a little on group chat, too, with where the NBA is right now and the apron rule specifically, it's never been more punitive to be a $50 million salary sitting on the bench. It's never been more of a problem. I think there were times in NBA history where you could get away with a max or a near-max guy who's not available quite as often. These days it's just an anchor around your neck.

And it really limits what you can do, how you can maneuver. Like, you really have to have an incredible developmental complex with your team in order to compensate for something like that. Like, even going through All-Star Candidates, which we're going to do shortly, like, I'm going through, you know, like guys who deserve it don't deserve it. And like, you know, just like some guys have kind of like, Bam, for instance, has had a pretty subpar season. by BAM standards. And Pascal Seacom is just sort of forgotten on the Pacers. And I'm like, well, at least they play. Like, at least I can count on them to play most of the time.

I'm trying to think of if I have any parting thoughts on, I mean, to me, this trade is like ultimately a lot of people are talking about it because it's the only game in town. Like, it's just not that interesting to me. The Tray Young era was clearly over. They clearly sold low. I think they're Kisper and CJ can help their team. It's eh.

And for Washington, it's kind of fun. I mean, I, if you ask their basketball people, did the morose environment at our games contribute to this at all, they would probably say no. I frankly don't believe that. I think that the morose environment, like, it's so dead that I think that a little, a little juice can't hurt. Yes. And Tray Young brings that.

Like, I don't want to shortchange the personality, the play, like the energy he can give you when he's right and when he's really taking. people with him. I think we're going to see some of that. I think we're going to see maybe this is like an uncharitable parallel, but like some of the energy that getting Russell Westbrook gave the Wizards once upon a time. Like, again, it's like, does it make sense within the trajectory of where you want to go? Who knows?

But ultimately, sometimes those kinds of moves do invigorate a team. Joe House has nothing but great things to say about the Russell Westbrook experience. So that would be, I think they would love that. And you just, they're not going to risk this pick this year. And I think after next season, they want to be, I think their dream for next season would be they hit, they hit this draft somehow. Like whoever they get is a hit. They keep the pick and they hit at the draft. So they have this nucleus of Trey Johnson who like you.

The guy is just like. Lighten it up. Just electric as a shooter. Kula Bali is all right. Like I don't, more and more teams are putting their centers on him and being like, you just shoot, shoot over there. I like George. Bubb off the ball is a thing better than. Bub on the ball and Saar.

I really like, Gad, one more guy, win 32 games with Trey or something, be frisky and then go in with CapSpace. I think that's the aim here. I don't have any parting thoughts. You have any more parting thoughts? Good riddance to the Trey Young Trade Saga.

I'm glad to be done with that. And I'm, I guess, eager to see who he's going to be as a wizard. For now, we're done with it, at least. All right, we're going to take quick break. And then we're going to come back, and we're going to start picking our 12-man all-star rosters, Rob Bohoney.

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Available in select areas, terms apply. All right, All-Stars, we're halfway through the season, more or less. It's time to actually pick All-Stars. This is like I had done a few weeks ago, I did just my quick eye test, look at the stats, just go. This, I've got my spreadsheet up over here with all the advanced numbers, all the candidates. I've got notes over here. This is my actual 12-man all-star rosters for each conference,

even though, of course, East can't play the West. We can't make it simple. It's got to be this cockamamie thing we're doing. Naturally. I want to start with the West because my East selections are fairly wacky, and I want to save those for not wacky. There's just some interesting ones in there. How about this?

Did you track how many Americans and international players you picked? I did. I ended up with 10 international players, 14 American players, between the two teams. So I would have to counterbalance with some extra Americans if this were the actual team. So a month ago, I was, I had 1410 or 159, depending on how you classified Kat. That's the question. I'm back, I'm now at 16.8. I nailed it. Just a plus for me. Adam Silver has no further decisions to make unless somebody gets hurt. No, like should we put LeBron on blah, blah, blah. Zach Lowe's America First Agenda. I mean, I guess we love to see it. Stop. Stop. Stop. My wife can't.

Okay, that's scratch that. Okay, in the West, I actually, in the West, I had five Americans and seven international players. So the West is very international heavy. Can we just dispense with the no-brainers? Yes. Let's just put them on the board right now. SGA, Joker, Wembe. And I don't want to hear about the minutes.

I don't want to hear about the from the minutes, please. When you're in the MVP, first team, all-MBA conversation and you're healthy right now, so you're going to play more games as we go versus the guys that are hurt right now where your ratio of game players are going to go down i don't want to hear it wemby's in lucca absolutely curry yep is that four or five that's five uh anton edwards got to have him that's six i would posit chet holmgren is it got to have him interesting no i don't have chet on my list okay so let's stop there. So we have six snow brainers. Do you have, all right, let, give me your other, like, or do you have any other like these guys have to be on the team? I think you have to have a rocket

and how you want to attribute that credit is up to you. I ended up with both, but I think you need at least one of Katie or Alper in Shangun. I also think for as weird as they've been this season, for the Clippers, I mean, I think Kauai Leonard has to be on this team. So I'm just going to go through my whole team and you and you go through your whole team and we'll see where we disagree because we agree on everything you just said so i'm just going to go through it so as i think my starting five would be sGA joker wemby curry luka with you know i could move aunt in for curry and be fine with that and we should say the ballots this year and the all-star team format is completely positionless now yeah totally positionless you can do whatever you want the actual starters that you vote in are not a

team. They just play for their global status, I guess. And then I have my seven reserves. Like you, I have Alper and Shengoon and Kevin Durant. Like you, I have Kauai Leonard, which is just delicious. Kauai Leonard playing in the All-Star game at the Inuit Dome. Oh, yeah. You got to have someone give the little pregame speech to the crowd and who better to do it. With the as-yet unresolved aspiration case hovering over all of this, maybe it'll be resolved by them, maybe not. I have him. I have Jamal Murray. As do I. I have Denny Avdia. As do I. And I said Anthony Edwards, and that leaves me with Chet Homgren. So I think we are 11 for 12. I have Chet, you don't. Who do you have that I don't? I have Devin Booker.

You know, I'm going to hear from Suns fans. And I get it because it feels wrong to not have a Sun's representative given they are the feel-good story of the season. he would be my next guy in. I do feel like the Thunder getting two guys feels right to me, given that they've dominated the league. We'll talk about them. Less so of late. Booker is averaging, where is his per game stuff?

They're down. I mean, it's not. 25, 6 and 4, 46% overall, 29.6 from 3, 53%. The advanced stats never liked Evan Booker as much. which is the regular stats. And so he doesn't do well there. But he's been a gamer. He plays hard on defense.

He's the leader of the team. He's unselfish. I don't have any issue with him. I just put Chet in. I guess I put Chet in over him because I think Chet's been outstanding. And maybe the best non-Wembe defensive player in the entire NBA, teams are shooting 49% at the rim when shot is there. He's just an absolute monster.

He's averaging almost 19 a game on elite shooting. And the only other person. I think that you could argue should be pulled out for Booker. Kauai, you could say based on games played, he's just been so incredibly good. And the Clippers winning started when Kauai became incredibly good again. I just think Jamal Murray has to be in over Booker. I think he's been better than Booker. And I think Avdia has to be in over Booker.

And the Blazers are obviously much worse than the Suns. They're 18 and 20. They're hanging in. and the only reason they are hanging in is because Deni Abdiah is averaging like 26, 7 and 7 on efficient shooting, tons of free throws, and the offense dies without him.

And it's pretty good with him. So, you know, I just, I don't know who to pull for Booker. I guess it would have to be Chet or Kauai. And I just think, Thunder two All-Stars feels good to me. Chet's been awesome. Kauai's just better than Booker.

I don't know. It's hard. It's hard. I'm sorry, Devin Booker. I'm a huge Chad guy, too. So I'm personally paying. by this. I think my thinking on it is I'm a little less behold into like the thunder need to or a team this good needs a certain number of all stars kind of framework. By the way, as am I, which is why I have no sons because the sun should have it. It feels like they should have an all star and yet I can't, I didn't do it. It's fine if he makes it. He's an unbelievable player. Sure. I think for the teams that do have multiple all stars, I'm almost more persuaded by the Houston model where the gap between your best and second best player is a little slimmer. And thus,

it's a little easier to kind of get them both on board. Chet is very persuasive as the best defensive player on the best defensive team in the league. It's also a defense where he has a lot of collaboration with all the ball hawks around him, all the pressure that those guys are applying on the perimeter, not trying to take anything away from Chet. He's still a first team all defense guy. I think with Booker, I was moved by even in a weird kind of underperforming statistical year relative to his standards, it being such a good vibes year for him.

and the way that those things kind of interplay and matter. Like, ultimately, he has not always been that kind of player on some of these sons teams of recent years. I think his energy has been great. I think his leadership has been great. Obviously, he plays a really important role for them. It's just like a pure bucket getter. But this is one of the first seasons where I feel like,

in a while at least, his malleability as a score has really rung through the games for me. And it didn't feel like a guy who was doing his own thing, but a guy who fits into a team that has room for Dylan Brooks, ISO's in it. You know, like there is, there's a wide ecosystem in terms of what the suns are putting together. And Booker's flexibility to me is what kind of allows it to happen. It's, he's been great on both ends of the floor other than his shooting has not been where it normally is.

No. You might talk me to it. I don't know. I just, Chet, Chet's averaging 18 and a half a game. He's shooting 57%, 40% on three, 65% on twos. And they're plus seven and a half. for 100 possessions when he plays without SGA. Now, most of that is defense.

Like, the offense has not been good. Sure. He's the driver of that defense. Yeah. I mean, you're just a hater. That's all. That is it. But I may be a hater in that regard.

I love that Jamal Murray. I hope we'll have a place on this actual team. And I love that we both have him because I just, I admire the hell out of the season he's having. And the way that he's been able to put together runs with Yokic, without Yokich, with guys in the lineup, without guys in the lineup, like every possible setting for him this season, he has been just completely steady,

which has not always been the Jamal Murray experience. And it feels like he's really turned a corner in that way. Yeah, the only area where Booker has been better than him is defense. And I don't think it's enough to trump 25 a game for Murray, seven and a half assists, 48% shooting, 44% on tons of threes. And he's cemented it with these last two wins over Philly and last night in Boston. Unreal. Well, he didn't play in the Philly one.

What am I talking about? Zombie Nuggets won that game. And then going in and beating Boston on the road and setting his career high and assists. The Nuggets are three and two without Yokic. I predicted six and nine, I think, was like I put the over under at six and a half. They're on pace to shatter that. We'll see if it lasts. It's been a really impressive stretch for Murray as a playmaker.

For Peyton Watson as a like. As everything. As like, I just get to ISO and I can run pick and roll and I can hunt small guys on pick and rolls and just drive through them. I'm going to try that. Zeke Naji, I've always been one of these, like the last holdout on Zeke. We got to think there's no Z words. I don't know.

I'm flying along on the Zeke Zephyr or something like that. Howard, yeah. I mean, it is a little evasive. You can't quite ever pin it down. It's a strange place, the Zeke Zephyr. And I have old 10 things columns from like my last season at ESPN. One of them is called items is free Zik Naji. And last night switching on defense, making shots.

I mean, it's been. I don't know what you've seen. Like, Aaron Gordon's clearly rusty. Christian Brown's clearly rusty. And for them to go into Boston and then they won in Toronto, I was at that game in Philly with the zombie nuggets against the healthy Sixers. And like, that's a really tough, that's a really tough team. And it actually should scare everybody else in the league in the Western Conference that

we both had them as legit title contenders. The way the Thunder played in the last three weeks, plus the way these Nuggets role players, like, Jalen Pickett, like that guy's going to earn minutes. now in the playoffs. Oh my God. He was incredible. If like I don't, the, the seedings right now in the West, two to six is separated by one game in the loss column.

The Rockets are now sixth at 22 and 12. The spurs are second at 26 and 11. The wolves are up to fifth. It's complete chaos. As long as they're not in the play in, I think Denver's going to be happy. And boy, good luck picking against them in a playoff series if they're fully healthy and they have the Joker. Yeah. I think they just have the right blend in terms of their role guys of really great opportunists. And this is one thing where like bringing back Bruce Brown has has paid

dividends in that way where the numbers are never like jumping out of the box score, but they don't come up with the perfect transition opportunity at the exact time you need it. Tim Hardaway Jr. has some of that in him too for as much as you have to kind of like live and die with his streakiness. And Peyton Watson, like to me this is the payoff for being a couple years into the Aaron Gordon silo of education where it's like you watch that guy and the way he attacks opportunistically every night. And how could you not pick up how to play the best kind of bully ball you can, how to pick your spots better than any player in your role can. And when you stretch it out with his athleticism in this kind of role, you're seeing what it can do. I'm not saying he's going to

have 30 every night, but he can get closer to it than I think a lot of people might have expected. Yeah. And it's a big year for him. They did not extend him. He's going to be a restricted free agent. they have a lot of money on the books, and I'm not sure they can afford to keep him if he plays like this because there's teams with Capspace that are watching. But he's been great, and for them to be three and two is that's a tough-ass team. Aaron Gordon, to me,

Aaron Gordon's legs are maybe now the biggest wild card in the entire NBA season, because if he's 90 to 95% healthy, I just, it's, they are, I'm not going to say they're the favorites, but they are as good as Oklahoma City if he's 90 to 95% healthy. If he's limited,

he just brings so much to their team as a passer, as a shooter, as a bully ball guy, as a multi-switchable defender, plugs every hole. I just couldn't be a bigger fan of Aaron Gordon, and I'm just like knocking on wood and crossing everything that these calf, hamstring,

whatever it is that they are taken care of by the playoffs. He's just the perfect flex player. And again, someone that every championship team needs, who, again, can do a little more, a little less, depending on the circumstances. Really hard to find, really hard to find those guys who also have kind of like the serenity

and good head on their shoulders that Aaron Gordon has. I want your take quickly on what's happening with Oklahoma City. They beat the jazz in overtime at home last night. The jazz are the worst defensive team in the NBA and the Thunder put up 109 offensive rating against them, which is very, way, way below average. Yes. So 129 points looks like a lot.

It was not a good offensive game for the Thunder. They once again could not hit a three, seven of 38 from three. Maybe that's all this is that they're just in a horrendous shooting slump. And that's why their offense is like bottom 10 in the last three weeks when they've scuffled a bit. It looks a little. And also dog days. Can't emphasize it enough. This is the time when like everyone's tired.

All-Stars come in. Like weird stuff can happen. feels like something a little bit meaningful is happening to me. And again, guys have been in Al like Caruso didn't play last night. A.J. Mitchell pissed a couple of the Spurs games. I get it. Hartinstein's out. And as I've said many times, I think Hartinstein is great as he is on defense is actually

more important to them offensively than defensively. Just because of the rebounding or something else? Passing out of the short role, they go from being a good offensive rebounding team to a zero offensive rebounding team without him. So maybe it's just all of these things And it's probably mostly all these things But are you seeing anything beyond that That is concerning to you?

I wouldn't say concerning Because big picture, I still have a lot of confidence in the Thunder and then getting out of the dog days And getting right again. But you can see the shooting and kind of the downstream effects It has on basically everything else.

I think that is the biggest factor is the way that that pressurizes when you're not making your threes all of these other elements of their play And then not getting the offense of rebounds really hurt. you. Then, I mean, I think this is a big one where Oklahoma City has this ridiculous depth. We've been lauding it all season. You can see it almost any game. They can kind of plug and play

guys in a way that few teams can. But they've been doing a thing recently where because Alex Caruso is out, you know, they bring Casey Wallace off the bench to kind of stagger out their point of attack defenders. When you do that, you lose the feeding frenzy that is creating all of these turnovers. And they still create a lot of turnovers. But when Wallace and Dort play together, you create more. And when Dorrit and Caruso play together, you create even more. And when Wallace and Caruso play together,

you create even more than that. And so there's these, like, additive effects of all of their best defenders that they're missing when they have guys out. And so it's like the more you have these opportunities where, yeah, you can compensate and get through these stretches where you're down three rotation players,

you're just kind of like losing a little bit of yourself every time you do it. And the combination of those guys being unavailable in some combinations, or all three of Dorot, Wallace, and Caruso not being able to shoot at all really lately, and thus it's harder to keep them on the floor together. I feel like that's a problem if you're losing

six to eight transition points a game based off the steals you're not creating. I think that's mostly it. I mean, their offense, their half-court offense is never a work of art. You can watch games. It's like, well, it's pretty stagnant. There's not a lot of movement. There's not a ball movement. Guys are standing around.

And I do think they could use a little bit more randomness to their offense. And I always like when they start possessions with Shea off the ball. Just throw me a curb ball, bring them up off a pin down for an empty side pick and roll. Let J. Dub initiate the office. I think this you do more of all those things. But people forget, like, part of the tradeoff for their relatively mundane half-court offense is that they don't turn the ball over at all. You don't turn the ball over when you're not passing as much in trying to do as much daring stuff. And that's a huge reason why they're successful.

I will say the one thing I'm watching is, and I looked at the tracking, this morning on Second Spectrum. Teams in the last month have started switching way more against the thunder. Part of that is personnel like Charlotte in that blowout the other night switched everything with Musa Diabate as like a small ball like very fast, very light on his feet. Oh yeah, they did, Zach. Yeah, they did. And even the, but the jazz last night switched Nurkich onto SGA and switched everything

with like bigger plotting guys. And I think it's just these teams like we're just not. we're going to make you earn the cracks in our defense. We're not going to put ourselves in rotation. We're going to make you put us in rotation. And if you look at the numbers for the season, the Thunder are one of the most efficient offenses in the league against switches. In the last month, they're one of the least efficient offenses in the league against switches.

And teams are switching like 50% more probably in the last 10 games than they were before. I think they have faced the third most switches overall for the season. The Thunder have in the last month it's first. But a lot of this could be just like you switch, Shea drives, he kicks, those shots are just not going in. Exactly. It could just be that, right? But I'm watching it.

Now I'm watching it. My eyes on it. It's all tethered together. And it's one of these things where the simplest answer is that it's the shooting and the most complicated answer is that it's the shooting and that affects everything. And so I hesitate to say that they can't ever get out of this because we've seen it and we know it. And we know that they've even had plenty of games where their defense is so overwhelming.

They can shoot for shit and it doesn't really. matter. I'm confident that they're going to find that sort of ground again. They're just in a little bit of a lull right now. Can I tell you one other thing that I just, I saw the other night that is interesting to me. And it's, you know, it's Spurs related. Spurs lost to the Grizzlies there. And I'm not going to read much into, you know, Wemby's coming off the bench in that game. He came off the bench again last night and their win over the Lakers. Vacelles hurt. And that's a big deal for them because he's the like the A plus shooter on their team. Memphis in that game, put Jaron Jackson Jr. on Stefan Castle and just said, don't guard him.

Go treat him like Rondo. Treat him like Russ. Like just stay, park yourself in the foul line. And Stefan Castle has won most of those battles this year when people go under screens against them. But most of those battles have been against guards. And when he met Jaron Jackson Jr. on the other end of those, it was a little bit of a different story for him.

And I've kind of been waiting for teams to stick their big guys on Castle when they don't want to put them on Wembe, when Wembe is the only five. and they've usually defaulted to Harrison Barnes or Kelden Johnson who's having a whale of a six man of the year kind of season. And you could see the Spurs like, all right, this is one we got a saw.

I'm just something I'm checking out. Well, especially the weirder they get with their lineups and the more they want to put those guards out in various combinations, the more it encourages that kind of defensive experimentation too. Do you want to issue some apologies to our snubs? I would love to.

I've already apologized to Devin Booker, everybody in Phoenix, the Booker family. I love Devin Booker, and maybe we can get him on the All-Star team as an extra American guy if we need to. Yes. Who do you want to apologize to? In a different kind of season, Austin Reeves, I think would have a pretty compelling case. I just can't find room for him when I'm finding room for Denny and Jamal Murray in particular. I feel like, you know, Reeves really popped at moments without Luca, without LeBron, or without both.

that's just kind of what Denny Avdia does every night is carry that kind of offensive workload and the defense just isn't even close. But Reeves is having a crazy season and there are going to be some really high-scoring players between Reeves, Markanin, Kianti, George. These guys are putting up a ton of points and I don't think any of them are going to make the All-Star team.

Yeah, Reeves 27 a game, five and a half assists or six and a half assists, I think. 63% shooting on twos. The games played get him a little bit because the ratio is going to get worse as he's out longer. He's played 23 games. Marketing, I mean, clearly if you're going to pick a jazz person,

it's him over George's greatest George has been. It's marketing. And, you know, I just, it's, he's just getting squeezed. If he's in the East, I think he makes it. 27.7 points a game, 6.8 rebounds, 47% shooting, 55% on twos,

37% on threes. He is the only thing keeping them afloat. I just, you know, I wish you were a little bit more of a playmaker, but as we've talked about, his shooting and his off-ball movement is kind of his version of playmaking. And Will Hardy makes art out of that. That's tough, man.

I would like to, can I make a couple apologies? Please, yeah, I got a couple more, too. Jimmy Butler? Sure. People are going to laugh at that because there's this sense that he's always too passive, right? That he is just not doing enough for an old aging team that so badly needs people to do stuff that aren't Steph.

The advanced stats love him endlessly. He is averaging 25 and 5. Yeah. Incredibly efficient shooting from all over the floor. And they're plus seven per 100 possessions when he plays without Curry. Like, I don't really think he's the problem, but I do think there's some truth to like, there are just too many nights for a team that can't afford them where it's just like, man, we actually need 28 from you tonight.

Yeah. I think especially some of these other even guys who are getting snubbed just don't have those sorts of performances. Like, they do show up consistently, at least on offense. And maybe that's counterbalanced by Butler's all around game and kind of what he does for you as a facilitator and communicator and all that. But I can't quite get there with all the other names on the board. Was that your, was that your apology to James Hardin?

It was kind of. I mean, it is, it does kind of suck that James Hardin did the heavy lifting of throwing the clippers on his back when they were bad. And then as soon as Kauai shows up, it crystallized, well, I say shows up. but becomes Kauai again, it crystallizes who their most important player is so acutely and so devastatingly for James Harden that I just,

I don't know why you would vote for James Hardin over Kauai at this point. Minutes in games. I guess. And 25.6 points in game, which is his highest scoring average since 2020 in Houston, eight assists, decent shooting. Like, he's having a great year.

Yeah. I just, I'm with you. Like, Kauai is just way better. He's just a better player. I would like, here's an apology that people may not see coming. If I'm going to pick a wolf to apologize to.

Is this Rudy Gobert's cue? It's Rudy Gobert. Hell yeah. I think he's played his way into this conversation. 11 and 11, he always dunks everything. Defensively, for the last month, he's been every bit as good as peak Rudy Gobert. Randall has been outstanding, pretty much the whole year, dipped a little bit in the

last month before surging again now. He's at 22, I think seven rebounds, six assists, decent shooting, especially from two. Obviously, they're not going to get three all-stars in this field. If you made me split hairs and put, I put neither, but I might put Rudy over Randall at this point.

I mean, he might be the front runner for defensive player of the year if Wembe is going to be ineligible. And that combined with 72% shooting from the field, flashing a little bit of like short roll, creation for them, like doing some things for their offense and kind of expanding his role that have been really important. Ultimately, like, you can feel how vital Rudy Gober is from the fact that it has become

just like a full on problem whenever he's not on the floor. And he is so much the load bearing column of that defense that you have to give credit for that, especially if we're going to put Chet on the team, I think Rudy has like a very similar kind of case, although he's not the score or Chet is. By the way, the numbers like the wolves are. plus I think four per hundred possessions with Anthony Edwards on the floor, but they've actually been better with him off the floor. And that has nothing to do with Anthony Edwards,

who is doing everything from them offensively. And holy cow, if you're not up at the level of the screen on a pick and roll with Anthony Edwards right now, he's like Steph Curry. Like, it's going in. But they've been great with him off the floor because Randall's been really good. Gobert has been really good. And even when they sit Randall and Ant together,

which I don't like in some games they do, some games they don't. Those numbers have been really good. I have one more serious apology, and then I'm just going to read a bunch of names that are on my spreadsheet because I'm a completest. Let's do it. Better numbers than I would have thought just in terms of traditional stats.

Incredible defender. Good team. Incredible on-off numbers, no matter how you sort them. Not quite ready for this stratosphere, but the numbers were better than I thought. Amman Thompson is awesome. Despite his obvious limitations,

he's averaging 18 points a game. I did not realize he was scored. I would have, I would have guessed 14 and a half just eyeballing it. He's going to get in this conversation soon enough. And his brother's coming along too. He's in such a different place to, like so many of these stars, we're penciling and it's like, you do this thing every night on such a consistent way that we can build our entire team around it.

Amen is kind of the inverse of that, where he has to figure out what to do every single night, depending on how he's being guarded and how teams are overloading on Katie or shangoon or whoever. And he just has the creativity to do it all the time in so many different ways. Like there's just, has there ever been as good of a dunker spot guard in the league in NBA history? Has there ever been like a cutter with his kind of like magnetism for that exact action and moment to play off of like the tick-tac-toe lob in the way that he does?

He's such a smart player, honestly. Do you have any other hurtful apologies? Apologies that hurt your soul a little bit? I really wanted to try to find room for Stefan Castle for. I mean, I think you kind of made the case in the way that teams are now having to think about how they guard him in new and adventurous ways. To me, he's one of those players. When he steps on the floor, you feel his energy and his edge so acutely. And I just like, I can't stop watching him.

I can't stop watching the impact that he has on everyone around him, opponents and teammates. I don't think he can quite get there this season, but I would not be surprised at all if he's an all-star next year. Nor would I. Deerrin Fox is on my long list. it's just tough for him and he's got a games played issue too. I'll just read the other names on my spreadsheet that I just put on. Just like I want to be a completist on this, you know. I have 31 Western Conference players on my spread.

Am I just in case, let me check their stats? Sure. Vorps and Snorps spreadsheet. Zion Williamson. Not apology. I'm just saying names. Deeran Fox, Keante George, Trey Murphy the 3rd, made the list. J-dub just because he's J-dub obviously he hasn't played enough games

Jada McDaniels just give him a little love Jaron Jackson Jr., just pedigree as I think he's having a little bit better season than than I would have thought and let's see who else Shading Sharp I just I like Shade and Sharp He's no he's one of 31 names

32 names Even 31. I don't know. We need a longer list for a Shaden Sharp. All right, fine. I just have a little sweet spot for Shaden Sharp. That's all. And you know what?

Colin Gillespie. Yeah, Colin Gillespie made my list of 32 players. How about that? And Dylan Brooks. Dylan Brooks also did. Sure. All right. Let's take a quick break.

And we will do... Oh, wait. Another name on my list, Rob Mahoney, because I'm a completest. LeBron James. I just had to. playing better lately. Might make it.

Might get grandfathered in? I don't know. We'll see. That's going to be a little drum. All right, let's take a quick break and then we'll do the east where I got crazy. This episode is brought to you by Panda Express. Look, it can be hard showing how much you love someone. But if you can't say how you feel, just say, let's get some food.

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who, yeah, still tight. With all the best creative AI models in one place, Firefly brings your ideas to life. Learn more at Adobe.com slash Firefly. All right. Eastern Conference All-Stars with Rob Mahoney, 12 picks. I have 11 American players and one lonely international player on my list. And you're classifying Cat as an American player? Or is he not on your team? I'm not classifying Cat as anything.

Oh, okay, okay, let's go. I told you I got wacky. I got wacky. Look, Cat has been awesome. He's averaging 21 points a game. He's not bringing me much on defense. Sure. We're on a every three weeks he's going to be like, I'm the one sacrificing.

I don't know what to tell you. That's why I had six points tonight. I'm just, you know, I went, I rewarded some other guys. Kat's amazing. He's an all-star. He probably should be an all-star. My list is probably dumb. He's not on my list.

It's a good thing I don't have a vote. It's a weird way to find out that you made room for Tyler Colick, but I look forward to your explanation. He's in my starting five. Okay, let's just go through some no-brainers. Just take them off. No particular order. Janice. Of course.

Donovan Mitchell. Tyrese Maxie. Yep. Cade Cunningham. Of course. Jalen Brown. Jalen Brunson? Yep.

That's six. Okay? We're up to six. I'm just going to go down my list. Then I have like, I did this kind of in order. So we're six for six. Jalen Johnson. Definitely.

Seven for six. seven. Scotty Barnes? I think he might be a lock. He's been so good defensively that I, especially given where we're about to go with the rest of the Eastern Conference roster, I think he might have to be put in a pen. Let's elevate him and Jalen Johnson to eight locks. That's eight locks.

I agree with you. He's been, you know, he's at like 19, 6 and 6 and his shooting numbers are actually good. He has been so bought in defensively. It's crazy. Not just defensively. You want me to set 20 screens tonight and roll hard? Like, I'll do that. But he's bought in defensively guarding any position you want.

You want to put him on a small point guard for this defensive possession. You want to put him on a center. He's been amazing. It's a travesty, how low he is in the All-Star voting. He should definitely be, if there's one Raptor, it's him over Brandon Ingraham. And it's respect to Brandon Ingram, not close. Now we get a little interesting. My ninth guy is Norm Powell.

Okay. I do not have a heat representative. Wow. Okay. So we'll table that. I told you I'm getting a little wacky. I put Michael Porter Jr. on my team. I have him on mine too.

Okay. Maybe that's not so wacky. I think he deserves it. I mean, he's just become a world-class score, and he's done it not by being like a mid-post Carmelo Anthony clone, as you might expect,

like a great score going to a lottery team might. Like, he's playing off the ball. He's just become, like, a more fully actualized version of who he was with the Nuggets. And that's exciting to be doing all this while being bad. So he was not on my initial list when I did this a month or so ago because I just thought the Nets are so bad. He's been fine, whatever, blah, blah, blah. He's averaging 26 points, 7 and a half rebounds, 3 and a half assists, which is by far career high. 50% shooting, 41% on threes, 58% on twos.

Yeah, he's not a great defender, but he's big and he rebounds. he's like, oh, yeah, and so like, I actually think, and Brooklyn is basically net neutral with him on the floor, and they are minus 11 points per 100 possessions when he's not on the floor. And the net neutral part is the one that I care more about because, like, I don't really care that the team is bad without you on the floor. The team is kind of designed to not be good this year. For them to be net neutral with him on the floor is pretty goddamn impressive considering other injuries they've had. Huge. I think he might be a no-brainer All-Star. He was one of the easier inclusions for me.

I think when we really got to the last spot is where I started having trouble, but I felt pretty good putting him on this team. It felt comfortable. So I've named 10 with Norman Powell not being earless. So we have nine in common. So you have three left. Tell me who your remaining three All-Stars are. So I have Cat.

I have Jalen Duren. And then the last spot, I mean, I did not like making this choice. I don't feel great about this choice. choice. I just threw up my hands and was like, okay, Franz Wagner, come on down. I guess this is who we're going to put on this team.

I say, I love Franz, but with the season the magic are having and his availability, I don't feel, I don't know, I don't feel clean making that choice. So this is,

these are really interesting picks because there are some names like, like Palo Bancaro. Yeah. You'd even say his name. Did not. And I would agree with you that Franz has been demonstrably better than Bancaro. And if I'm going to pick a magic person, it's going to be him.

He's only played 24 games and he's still out. So it's like 24 out of, let's say, I don't know how many games they played 30. Let me bring it up. They've played 38 games. It's in 10 days, two weeks, three weeks is going to be 24 out of 50. It's just not going to be enough for me to put him on over some of these other guys who have played more games. But he's been their best player. And Paolo, look, how many big shots

has Palo made in the last like 10 days, including a buzzer beater last night off the glass to beat the nets? He's just not shooting well enough. His defense has been okay. He looks a little slow to me defensively in space. And if like the defining story of your team season is, wait, are we better without Palo Bancaro,

which to be clear, I don't agree with. We reject the premise, but- I reject the premise. It is in the air. If you can devote serious analysis, how about this? If you can devote serious analysis to is the best version of the Orlando Magic in two years, one that has both fronds and Palo, and that's like an okay topic to discuss. And you're shooting 26% on threes and being just okay on D.

I'm just going to, you can just have a vacation this year. In a similar vein, Zach, do you have Evan Mobley on your team? No, we didn't even. And like, he's the one that actually felt almost worst about, he's averaging. 18 points a game, shooting it pretty well. Defensively, he's amazing. 50% shooting allowed at the rim. I just, I'm just, I'm just, welled.

I'm not underwhelmed, I'm not over, I'm just kind of like, okay. Maybe we're punishing him for expectations that were put upon him, and that's not fair, but I just haven't been like that impressed. It feels like, and yeah, maybe this feeds into the expectations thing you're talking about, part of the reason the Cavs season and really the state of their team has on sideways is he has not taken a step. He has not taken a jump. He is just kind of who he is,

and that's a really good player. But when that is sort of defining your ceiling as a team, I am a little compelled by that. I do feel like that is part of the formula, if not everything you're waiting on. Wait, so you had Franz. Give me the last three again, Franz, Duren. And Cat.

And Cat. So I didn't have Cat. I explained why. Cat's great. Fine. I did have Jail Enduring. I did not feel awesome about it, but I just like, is he a better,

is Jail and Dern a better all-around player than Evan Mowgli? I think this season he has presented that way. I actually, the fact that it's a conversation and you have to think about it, to me, then put him on the All-Sir team because he's been more efficient around the basket, probably a little bit better of a passer,

just as good as a face-up guy. Like, he's kind of like caught up to Evan Mowley as a face-up guy, and he's not as clean defensively, but he's just gigantic and his chemistry with Kate is real. I just think he's been really, really good. He's still critical to one of the best defenses in the league.

And you're right, like the ball skill differential between them on the move making decisions. It is kind of stark. And I say that as someone who really appreciates Evan Mowgli. But I like Duren for that spot. Honestly, I felt pretty good about him.

Like that felt a little more solid to me. Franz was the one where it was a little bit more of a gut test. in the way, you know, as you're making the parallel of, like, who is the better player, Franz is just a better player than Norm Powell. And Franz is a better player than who Bam has been this season. Like, especially what you're getting from offense on offense from Bam this season, Franz is better than that guy.

Franz is better than Norm Powell. I have Norm Powell on because this is the best season of his career, 24 points a game, 49%, 42% on threes. for a heat offense that really needs everything he provides. And he really kind of is one of the defining features of how they play their wacky, no pick and roll, North-South style. I just with Hero being injured for almost the entire year and Bam having a down offensive season and Wiggins kind of having it down a couple of months after a hot start, I just don't know where they'd be without Norm Powell. Certainly they wouldn't be where they are. So I had him on.

And to your point about shrugging, your shoulders and not feeling great. Oh boy. About putting Franz on. And I would have felt if Franz had played 35 games, I would have felt great about putting Fronzen. I felt that way to,

about this spot. Evan Mowbly, it didn't feel good in my stomach. Even cat, like, again, it's just like, it's a little maddening the cat experience. Can we agree on that? It's a little maddening sometimes?

Absolutely. He doesn't give you what you want, but enough of what you need. Okay. Like, this is going to be, and Mobley, same, just left me a little cold. Darius Garland, then played enough games. Paolo left me a little cold, a little cold. So I kind of, I kind of put this as a career and team achievement, all-star spot for my 12th spot.

Huh. He's not shooting well by his standards, but he might be the best defensive guard in the entire NBA. And his team is always massively awesome when he's on the floor. I'm putting Derek White on the All-Star team. 19 points a game. I don't want you to look at the shooting numbers because they're not great, but he shoots a shit ton of threes, which they need. He never makes mistakes.

He is the best, is he the best defensive guard in the NBA? It depends how you classify on the Thompson, I guess. A block and a half and a steel and a half a game. He's an Iron Man. And the Celtics are like plus 13 per 100 possessions when he's on the floor. Derek White, you make my All-Star team. You think it's ridiculous? I'm being ridiculous.

I just like, who would you rather have this year? Who's been better? Derek White or Evan Mobley? Look, it's a beautiful and insane pick. But the answer, I think, is Evan Mobley still. Even with all of the expectations and the weight of all that, like that. Derek White's awesome, but he's not an all-star. At least I don't think he's an all-star.

Well, you know what? Who of these people are all-stars? I mean, once you're getting down to this phase of the list, yes, you are choosing between members of the Heat, Evan Mobley. Members of the heat. Just general members of the heat. It could be anybody. Davian Mitchell, congratulations.

You're an Eastern Conference All-Star. You do feel the disparity from the conference is pretty acutely. Like on the other end of the spectrum, I'm like bringing my hands to see if there's room for the second best player on the definitive best team in basketball. And over here, I'm like, I guess Franz Wagner. And I guess Derek White, I'm rewarding defense, versatility, what? winning plays, character, and the fact that the Celtics

have the best net rating in the Eastern Conference. That's what I'm rewarding. Guys like Derek White should get a little shine. I don't really feel strongly about this, but I just decided to have a little fun. And they're always, he's one of like those players.

I was talking about this with someone from the Magic last week in Toronto. Like I always call Suggs the skeleton key of their team. These two-way guards who can work on the ball, off the ball, play big, play small, play fast, play above their size on defense. They just are like the keystones.

Like Derek White is that for the Celtics. I actually think Bam is kind of the big man version of that. Like even when his stats are down and Derek White's shooting is all down, Bam's stats are way down. You just feel like everything he's doing every moment on the court is geared toward helping my team win. And so like even in a year like this, if you told me Bam belongs on the All-Star team,

I'd be like, I mean, I can't put him and Norm. I don't think. But if you flip off him in, like he's having a below average offensive year, but he's just this electrical current that's powering your winning, everything you do about winning.

And that's how I feel about Derek White. And Bam, too, he is the best part of the best part of their team. Like the heat are still a team that win defense first. And he is the fundamental reason for that. I do agree with you. I probably, if I was going to pick, would pick Norm because even though all of that stuff

is true about Bam, in a way, so much hanging, on Norm's ability to be just like a lights out ISO score. Like that's such a hard skill to deliver on. And he's been so good at hit, at it that I would lean in his direction. But Bam's case, like the offense is down, but the defense is still great. And that alone should get him into this conversation.

Unyielding against any kind of matchup. Yep. Whether it's Yokic or you got to switch everything and guard everybody on the floor, unyielding. But my last defense of the Derek White case. And Derek White, you better, do they play tonight? When is it? They played last night, so probably not.

Derek White's going to go for like 40 in the next game. That's what's going to happen. I'm speaking this. I'm like perk. I'm sending a message to Derek White. I'm sending it. Then I'm going to take credit for it afterwards. Derek White, step up, score 40.

But your case for Derek White isn't even 40. It's that he's going to have like a plus 24 with 13 screen assists in that game. You know, he's going to spain to his heart's delight. Screen assists are not allowed to be mentioned on the Zach Lowe's show, formerly known as the low-spine. We got through the whole. Rudy Gobert's segment without even talking about it. Yeah.

Thankfully, it is interesting. The wolves as an organization decided we're not going to do this thing that the jazz did, where we're going to have our announcers. We're going to mandate that they say screen assist 40 times a game. How about we just don't do it? And guess what? She's still good. Everyone still appreciate Trudy Gobert.

We get it. She sets a lot of picks and rolls to the room. Good times. I will say this about Derek White. Year after year after year, the best advanced stats, the best catch-all advanced stats have him as like one of the 10 best players in the league.

Now, I don't think he's one of the 10 best players in the league because of his limitations as the number one offensive creator. But those stats are capturing something. They're capturing something about his game that is massively powerful. Along those lines,

I want to tip my cap to Kyle Mann, who as far as I know pioneered the take, is Derek White better than Trey Young? Derek White's not getting traded for C.G. McCollum and Corey Kisperd. You know, like that is not happening. Yeah, Kyle, man. I love that. Okay.

Great take. Five years in the past has been writing it out first to plant his flag on the Derek White is better than Trey Young. Whatever island, archipelago, whatever that is. No, man, we're like a, I don't know if he's about it. But be a continent at this point. Can you, why is the cat experience so maddening? Like, when you watch the Knicks who beat the Clippers last night to end a four,

game losing streak that had their fan base panicked. And in the last game, who is it against where he had six points? And it was a disaster performance. Oh, Pistons. They got blown out by the Pistons. And the Pistons were on it back to back. What's happening with Kat? Why is the scoring down?

What's going on? I wish I had a cogent explanation for why the scoring would be down other than they do feel like as a team, they've kind of rocked off their axis over the last couple weeks, the balance of their offense, the flow of their offense feels a little bit off in a way I can't quite put my finger on. He always is that kind of player, though. Like, if a little something is wrong with your team, he will be the one who kind of like flies out of balance as a result.

And you can hold that against him. Like, he is not a stabilizer. That's not who he is. But he's also the kind of guy who, for all of his faults, like, I think his energy is uniformly quite good. And he does crash. He does attack. Like, he's trying to do things.

Sometimes the problem is in the trying. to be honest. I don't think he's ever played with more physicality than this year, particularly on off. He's playing with so much physicality that everyone, it's like bowling. Yeah. Like four people are falling over on his drives. Yeah, I mean, his scoring is down to 21 and a half a game.

That's actually not out of line with his last couple years in Minnesota, which were injury riddled in a couple, in one case at least. Also, there might be a Derek Whiteish case for OG and Anobi as a weird fringe all-star, too. I just, I love what OG does for their team. It's a great, it's a great point. He was on my long list. He was closer to my short list a month ago. His shooting is dipped a little bit, but, and he doesn't quite do as much ball handling

and, like, facilitating as Derek White does. But I think part of what's happened to CAD is that OG is getting more touches. McHale Bridges is getting more touches. All that stuff is by design. I also think part of it is, I'm interested to see what you think about this take. The Brunson Towns Pick and Roll, massively powerful, right? Like elite scoring guard, elite pick and pop big man who mixes in, rolls to the rim at I think an appropriate level. It's less of a weapon when Robinson is on the floor too because Robinson becomes the screen setter.

And Kat can sometimes get lost offensively in those alignments, though obviously Cat floor spacer is awesome. I think like Brunson is an incredible player. I'd probably have him as a starter on the All-Star team. he's not like a great pick and roll playmaker in the style of guards that would get Cat a ton of open looks. And part of it is he's just small. He can't see over the defense the way a Luca kind of player can.

And the pick, their two-man game is still crazy powerful. Really good. Because it demands extra attention, be shifted to Cat, and Brunson is smart about, like if he doesn't pass to Cat, he'll pass to the other open guy on the wing

who's a release valve and the thing will trickle down from there. I do feel like part of it is that, He's just not the kind of playmaker who's engineered to get towns a bunch of, even like easy threes. Like, what do you think of that take? Am I crazy? No, you're not crazy. I think a lot of that comes down to Brunson, even though he is a good pastor and clearly a good creator, he's more. Let me be clear.

He's averaging six to this game. He's an all NBA, all world player and a good pastor. I just think not. Anyway, yeah. But he leans a little more toward holding the ball a beat, right? He is like he's trying to survey, and you're right that he's smaller. and particularly with those bigger lineups, what you need is the immediate pocket pass, right?

Like if Cat is rolling, and you saw this in Minnesota when he would play with Rudy Gobert too, where like Cat will hit that short roll catch into the lob for the big. That almost never happens with Mitchell Robinson. And some of that is Rudy Gobert and Mitchell Robinson are different as finishers,

but I think a lot of that too is just the cadence of Jalen Brunson's game where he's so start and stop, he's so stuttering through these possessions and like trying to figure out his angle that he's not, the quick pass guard type. He's still wildly effective, incredibly productive as a score.

The pick and pop stuff is, I think, a little cleaner in that way than pick and roll stuff. But I think that's why the roles just don't have the same flow to them, especially with that big lineup. Can we just bounce around some All-Star-related news items here? Please. Or do you have any apologies that you want to issue before we do that? I mean, the East is a little tougher for apologies, I guess. I think we've hit the big ones, Mobley. Boy was I tempted by Concanipple.

He's on my list. See, I only remember, what did I say? I had 32 West players. I have 24 East players. That feels right. I mean, he's just a ridiculous shooter. And not like four a rookie, but there's Steph Curry in the A tier, I guess the S tier of shooters. Khan is right there on the next level.

Unbelievable, on the ball, off the ball, as a creator. I've been blown away by his season. And I wish there was room for him, but there's not. The only other names on my long spreadsheet list that we did not mention at all because we mentioned in and Obey and Bam, who are here. And we mentioned Ingram even. Our Bain, just because you're averaging 20 points a game. I'll give you a look.

I'll type in your advanced stats and see you of how they sort out. Josh Giddy. And that's it. I mentioned Siakum too. Yeah. I think it's not Seacom's fault that the Pacers are terrible, but he also hasn't exactly like pulled them up to anything at all. So you would have to make a hell of a case to be on a, what are they, six and 30,

six and 31, six and 21, whatever the rest. record. Too many losses. 13th Street loss is like you got to really be doing something to make an All-Star team out of those circumstances. Okay, let's bounce around a couple quick topics. How have you felt about knowing that it is because of potential games missed to Yolkich and other players? How have you felt about Jalen Brown's entrance into the MVP conversation?

I'm not shocked by it. I think both because his play merits it and also because when something good happens with the Celtics, everyone will tell you about it, especially at this company. Oh, yeah, that's true. I swear to God I picked Derek White as my 12th ball star all by myself. I didn't have any help on my homework. So you say, so you say. But we're, I mean, he's, he's been incredible.

He's been one of the best two-way players in the league. And if that's not worthy of MVP consideration, I don't really know what we're doing. I just think they're incredible. Their season has been incredible. And he's just, for all the attention he's gotten on, like, the evolution of his handle and all the sort of subtleties he's added, which is true. He's also just making simple plays. Like when he gets into the foul line area or 13 feet from the basket and they help,

he's just like kick it to Pritchard over here and trust the machine to do its work. Instead of forcing it through traffic and risking turnovers, which the Celtics are the best in the league of winning turnovers, and that's why. And the other thing I will say, I was watching their game, it's Denver last and I've watched them a bunch recently. everyone knows they shoot a ton of threes. That's Missoula ball. They also, I believe they're second in the league in long twos.

Like they're taking a lot of mid-range shots. They don't get to the rim at all. And in a weird way, I think that's also kind of fueling their lack of turnovers. Like they get into that space and they just wriggle around and shoot mid-rangers. They have great mid-range shot makers. But it surprised me, I'm just going to verify this as we're talking about. It surprised me how high they ranked in mid-range shots. And I think that's partly by design.

when a lot of Jalen Brown, who's just been an absolute killer inside the arc in basically every way. And if you're going to have this interesting offensive model, and I think the Celtics are that, they shoot a ton of threes, they get offensive rebounds. The Hornets are kind of a version of that too in a weird way with their offense. But what you need is that mid-range counter punch,

that guy who's getting off the dribble, off the bounce, who is wiggly in the way you described and kind of so hard to pin down, Jalen Brown is so physical. And when you have a player who is that with this handle, who can rise and fire from mid-range. I don't know. Those guys tend to look a lot like Kevin Durant or Kauai Leonard. And Jalen Brown has played himself into that sort of category this season.

No question. No question. And I'm looking at the tracking data now. He's never run before this season. His career high pick and rolls per 100 possessions is 19 per 100 possessions. And Boston has been a pretty democratic offense with as much as it feels like Tatum was everything. Like in terms of pick and roll usage, it's been pretty well-spreadings. It's been pretty well spread out.

He's up to 26.7 this season, and his efficiency is absolutely through the roof out of the pick and roll, both when he shoots and when the guy one pass away, whoever it is, shoots. He's just been phenomenal. I mean, he's clearly more of like a ballot guy than actual MVP of the league. But, you know, like if everyone missed, if Shay and Wembe and and Yolkitch and Janus all missed too many games, sure, he steps into. steps into the spotlight. He's been that good. And defensively, he's been awesome on all. Like he guarded Jamal Murray a little bit last night and then they handed that assignment

to Derek White. He's just been awesome. I mean, he has been awesome. It would be an objectively funny outcome if he is like the designated survivor of the 65 game rule in that. Like, he's like the secretary of education becoming president all of a sudden. Bill Wood loses in my life. I like that.

The designated MVP survivor. Okay. Did you see the Janus interview with Sam Amick from last night? I sure did. Janus just works here. He said, I will quote, never request a trade. Which, fine. And my initial reaction to that was, if you never request a trade, you're never going to get traded. You know that, right? I think the bucks have basically said that. But not signing an extension is not.

not the same thing as requesting a trade. So this summer, they put the extension in front of him. If he doesn't sign it, that's not requesting a trade. It's just declining to sign a long-term contract. I will say, that's the headline. But as you said, beneath that were, well, I can't control what my agent is saying. And as of today, was used frequently when Sam rightfully pressed him on like, wait, are you saying you want to be with the Bucks past the trade deadline in perpetuity, whatever. As of today, as of today, I love my wife. Who knows what happens tomorrow? Like, literally, he said this.

So there's like caveats sprinkled in. So to me, it's just a whole lot of like, I get it. It's a hard needle to thread. I get that he's tired of being asked about it. It's almost unfair to keep asking him about it. I will say you can control what your agent says to at least some degree. You can go to your agent and be like, never bring this up with anybody. And if I hear about it, I'm going to get a new agent.

Like, he's not a complete, just puppet of whatever is going on around him, helpless to do it. But the headline is going to be, Yonis stays for the Bucks driver. And that's really not what the story says. No. He gets so close to it, too, because he talks about, like, I basically have my personal business and all these people who work for me. And I am the boss. And then out of the other side of his mouth, he's saying, but my agent is talking to all these people potentially behind my back. And I don't know, if your agent is going to the Knicks and saying Janice Santo Dekumpo is interested in becoming a Nick, that guy works for you.

Like, he is under your business umbrella in the same way that the person who manages your money or your venture capital investments is. I don't think you get to say, I'm not a part of this. I am powerless to the whims of the universe. You're not Jericho Sims. Like, you are Janice Santo Dekumpo and what you say carries weight, including with the people who actually do work for you or work off of your commission, if you're going to bust out the org chart. Like, that's how it susses out. We'll see what happens. I think it's a summer thing.

I've always thought it was a summer thing, barring a complete collapse of the bucks. I will say, like, we're all caught up in the trade stuff, understandably. And Janus is too. He's being asked about it. Quietly under the radar, just having maybe the most dominant season of his career. Like, absolutely unstoppable. Crazy. Again, there is a legit, you can find people who will make the argument that a team like the Spurs is being too precious

with one of their young guards. Like, this guy is so dominant. You can win it. It's not an unreasonable argument. I would err on the side of caution. I always do, but that's just me. I mean, I saw when he's on the floor, the bucks are better offensively than the best offense in the league.

Like, that's just who Janus is. And so even last night, they lose to the Warriors by seven. And they're plus 10 with Janus on the floor and whatever. It's every game. They just are completely dead without him. But elite with him, not like treading water with him, elite with him. James Dolan did his annual, I don't know why you're doing this interview.

Ian Begley transcribed it on SNY. It was with Craig Carton, who's back at the fan. We want to get to the finals and we should win the finals, Dolan told Craig Carton. You know, you could have stopped at the first part. We should win the finals. It's aggressive. Sogressive. Nothing else really notable in the interview. We talked about Tibbs and Tibbs is lack of collaboration and blah, blah.

We should win the finals, I don't think, got enough attention. I was like, oh, oh, all right. Quite a statement. Do you think, does a Jim Dolan interview go on a bulletin board somewhere? You know, like, does the Detroit Pistons locker room care about this? Does Satan have a bulletin board in hell? No, I don't think anyone can. I don't think they care.

I don't think anyone can. The tough moment for me was in the middle of this interview, Jim Dolan talks about his philosophy about Tibbs and player development and how you need, like, it's essential to to win in the modern NBA. And like, you have to have these young players coming up the pipe because of the financial restrictions. I'm like, why does this make sense to me? Why do I agree with James Dolan about literally anything and why is it this?

He probably hasn't been well coached on what to say and what not to say. Any other news and notes? Any other Eastern All-Star stuff we didn't get to? Tyler Heroes, Tyler Hero's back. He is back. That's fine. I'm just curious to see, like, bam, where? Or do you start small with Mitchell Heero?

Norm Wiggins, bam, that's interesting. What else? What else? What do you want to bring something else up? Oh, no. I think we've hit all the salient points. I'm trying to think if anybody else is like really grabbing me lately. Max Druse has hurt for longer than expected. It's kind of a big deal. I hinted at that earlier in the week. No, it's going to be, it's going to be, we're less than one month from the trade deadline. So buckle up.

There's always unexpected stuff that happens. Always, always, always. Rob Mahoney, group chat, ringer.com. What else we got coming up? stuff on the prestige TV podcast. I might even like... What are we prestigious? What are we podding about right now?

I mean, it's all the pit all the time. You know, I'm scrubbing up. I'm getting in there. I'm doing open heart surgery. Somebody's got to do it. And Noah Wiley can't be the only one. Medical dramas just aren't for me. So what is your objection?

Like, where are you, what are you bumping against? It's just a lot of mortality. I don't... And just right in my face, blood and guts. And I just, I'd rather. I'd rather not think about any of that stuff. But isn't that what we're doing in the NBA, too, every time somebody is like,

LeBron James is as old as father time, look at this man defying the odds and staving off death at every turn. Isn't that what we do in the NBA too? Has the pit addressed sciatica? Has anyone come? Is it in the ER? I don't know what the pit is.

Is it an emergency room? It is hour by hour in a 15-hour ER shift. So I'm assuming that'll be like hour six. Somebody's going to roll in with sciatica and really need a good stretch out, if nothing else. Yeah, I'm not going to watch that. You're missing out.

When does Severance come back? 2029. What are we talking about? I mean, that depends on when the Knicks win the title. You know, if they win, and Ben's going to have a lot to do. You know, it could save off another two years because of that. All right, Prestige TV. When you do a show I watch, I really like it because I learn a lot and my hot takes are so

dumb. But you're going to have to have me on because I got, as you saw, I have a lot of takes to unleash to the world. Literally any time. Bottle them up. We're going to have you on. Rob Mahoney. Thank you, sir.

Thanks, Zach. Appreciate it. All right, that's it for the Zach Lowe show. We will be back next week with a new episode. Thank you to Rob Mahoney for all his time and intellect. Thank you to Mike, Billy, and Jonathan on production. Thank you to all of you for listening to and or watching the Zach Lowe show. We'll see you soon.

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