On this episode of This League, it is the playboy. Marty Flugame, my producer, has pulled a muscle in the snow in New York City. We also talk about why Damian Lillard deserves an MVP, why he should break the mold and pull a Russell Westbrook, why the Lakers are in serious trouble with this whole Anthony Davis issue and his injury. We also break down, we get into a little nerd talk why the Utah Jazz are the best bet in all of basketball and why, and we continue
to answer the backlog of dms from our listeners. Marty, I know you go to bed early, Homie. I know, I know you do. I know you're in bed night night at nine thirty pm. But tell me, please tell me you stayed up to watch Damian Lillard cook the Pelican Oh I did?
I mean I live with Ben min so best believe I was watching the Pelicans game last night, and that's usually just Sundays. Second, I go to sleep early, but yeah, definitely watched it. What a game.
Oh my god, that was maybe one of the best Damian Lillard performances I've ever seen in my life. Why because it was like we were up. We my team new Portland Trailblazers were up, and we're up pretty much the entire game, and then all of a sudden, the Pelicans just kept hitting threes after threes after threes, and it didn't really matter what happened. Damien himself would not
allow them to come back. And even when the Pelicans did come back, it was like he had an answer every single time when he really should not have been the answer.
Yep, they were.
All scheming for him that last second lay up as everyone has swarmed around him and he still got the an one. Oh my god. Yeah.
And they were trying everything too. They were trying to throw everyone at him and then sometimes trying to you know, lay off of him, let other people create, and he just it didn't matter. He just cooked it And shout out to Gary Trent Junior. He played awesome time.
I love Gary Trent Junior. And Dame has been to me this entire season. He's been balling. And the problem though with like we've talked about small market teams in the past, like when you're balling and you're playing for a team that is not a huge market, it doesn't get a lot of national attention unless you're doing something incredible like Russell Westbrook did in twenty seventeen. So no one has been talking about it until right now. Stephen A Smith, I think two days ago, three days ago,
had to apologize. He went on the air and for all of national media, him himself, Mark Spears, he named like ten guys. He had to say, listen, we're not talking about Damian Lillard nearly enough. We watch him, we're impressed by him, but for some reason, we don't give him his love. And that ends right now. This is what stephen A had to say. What did this say about Damian Lillard.
What it says is that we owe him an apology, and the number one person on that list would be me. I am a huge fan of Damian Lillard, Dame Tom. I believe in it. I always have. The NBA reporters, we all know how great Damian lild is. We just don't talk about it enough, and we don't talk about it so much that we have taken this month for granted, and as a result, we find ourselves in a situation where it's Lebron, it's Joel Embiid, it's even Steph Curry
that's in the conversation now, et cetera, et cetera. But we lose our way, and I'm gonna put myself at the top of the list blaming myself. I'm putting myself at the top of the list because I have this platform. I have first take two hours every day, and I got steven A's World, and I got the NBA with steven A and all of this other stuff. And I haven't talked about Damian lilland enough number one in the NBA since twoenty twelve with clutch points, that is, clutch points.
Last five seconds of the game.
Don't get me started with the last five minutes. Don't get me started with Dame Tom. Don't get me started with him averaging twenty nine and how he's been doing that for the last three, four five years, right, and he's got Portland fifth in the West, and there is no game you know it, No yer, kid, it doesn't he does. I don't even know who the hell.
It doesn't matter, doesn't matter, just brother.
Damian Lillard.
Tell me.
And it's a rhetorical question, but I challenge anybody out there to tell me who strikes more fear in you when crunched Tom arrives to the ball being in his hands.
I know he said it was a rhetorical question, but I'm gonna ask it again, and it's not rhetorical in this particular state. Who strikes more fear in you in the last few seconds of the game other than Damian Lillard. I mean, the answer is no one. Maybe maybe Lebron maybe maybe, because he's so big and he can go to the rack and you know someone's probably going to foul him. But when you're down three with three seconds left on the clock, it's only dame time. It's only daytime.
Yeah easy. I don't want anyone else tecond Yeah no.
And I know for a lot of people they say, you know, Tristy, you're homer, and I am a homer, but this isn't me as a homer talking at all. I do love Damian Lillard, but this is one of those situations where because it is my hometown, I'm like the father of a baseball team, and like my team is basically like my son, and I won't I won't glorify the Blazers. Ever, I always underrate my team and the players on my team because I don't want to seem bias and I believe in my heart maybe that's
what my love and my appreciation is coming from. So I mean, I love Damian Liller as a human being. I think he's the best player ever to be on our franchise. And that's saying a lot with Brandon Roy and with Clyde the Glyde, but Dame's gonna go down as the greatest Blazer in history. And still with all of that, he's underrated. That's crazy. That's crazy. That is
the truth bomb of it all. Damian Lillard bawling this year more than ever, not getting any national attention until now, and now it's spilled over to the podium to the point where Damian Lillard is saying, hey, guys, Hey, hand up, guys. I am I am an MVP candidate. I am playing just as good as you would expect from someone who wins that award. And here's all of the reasons why.
The best players win MVP.
Uh. You know, And I think what you see is those players have a heavy load. You know, they they take a lot of responsibility and wins and losses for their team. And you know, they're the players that are showing up night after night, you know, the games that
are on TV, the game is not on TV. Dealing with injuries, you know, all those things, and just putting together performances and playing at that level, but also empowering the team, you know, giving it, giving the team that's sparking, you know, pushing the team to win.
And I think this year, everything that we've been dealing.
With with injuries and also playing through my own injuries.
So I think that's what what what you see in MVPs. And you know, obviously I think, you know, I see myself as the top of the delete. You know, I'm one of the best players in this league, and I feel like I'm I'm on that level, and the way our team is playing, given our circumstances, makes it even more obvious to me.
That's about as blatant as you're gonna get from Damian Willard. I would say he's one of the most humble guys in the league, and yet he's like, hey, uh, everyone on my team is hurt. Three fifths of our starting five are gone, three fifths c J McCollum, Yusuf Nurkic, and Zach Collins all. Zach Collins hasn't been around all season, hasn't even played one game. Nurkic went out really fast, and CJ's missed a ton of games, and still you would think at that point, oh my god, Portland should
have fallen off of Cliff. Portland should be like eleventh in the West with just Damian Lillard. And we're not gonna call I'm not even gonna say what the rest of the players are. I love this team. I think it's a very complete team. But you can't miss sixty percent of your roster and still be number four in the West unless you have an MVP on your team.
That's true.
That's big facts. Like so I went and looked at how much they were all averaging those three guys to the tune of fifty five points missing on a night to night basis without them just from the starting lineup, and you know what, Portland hasn't missed a step there. We are fourth, fourth in the West, fifth in the league in scoring at one hundred and fifteen points a game. Offensive rating is up there with only the Jazz Box Nets and Clippers. Incredible, largely because of how good Damian
Lillard is as shooting the three. This team is third in the league and three pointers taken third in the league and three pointers made, fifth highest three point percentage in the league, fifth highest free throw percentage in the league. Folks, Folks, that is all Damian Lillard. That is him. He is giving the rock to Carmelo when he's hot. He's facilitating and being a leader in big moments. That is what you want from your MVP, averaging thirty eight thirty a game.
But as as Stephen Haso poignantly pointed out, he is lethole at the end of games, more clutch points than any other player in the NBA since twenty twelve. Did you know that, Marty?
I did not. That's a pretty it's pretty cool stat to have.
That is a I mean ice water, ice water. Four seconds are left on the shot clock and averages fifty three percentage from the field and forty eight percent from deep. Can we just step back and appreciate that for a second? Sure, Yeah, you are not giving my man enough respect.
I am I actually have him twelve to one to win MVP.
How much money did you put on it?
Like?
Not?
Killer? Yeah you weren't.
You didn't have enough faith. But it made a big difference if he wins it, right?
Yeah?
Okay, So here's the problem with MVPs and Damian Lillard playing at an MVP level. I don't know if you know this, Marny, but I went and did a little dig and did a little nerd shit.
Okay.
Since two thousand and four, eleven MVPs have had the best record in basketball. Okay, thirteen MVPs have come from the best team in their conference, three from the second best team in their conference. And only one player since two thousand and four did not fit that mold. Who was that player?
It sounds a lot like Russell Westbrook twenty seventeen.
That's it. And do you know why?
I mean, do I know why he won it?
Yeah?
I mean the average triple double took over the story pretty much.
Yeah, the storylines. Yeah. The reason why is exactly that when you have forty two triple doubles in a year, that gets a lot of attention from the national media, doesn't it. It became one of those situations where it dominated the storyline at night after night after night for months, where it was like, oh my god, is this guy Superman?
And let's be real, Russell Westbrook was stealing rebounds from Steven Adams, like stealing them Steven Adams has gone on the record and said, I mean sometimes it would be both he and I grabbing the ball and he would just take it out of my hands to get the rebound.
Yep.
So okay, people start talking about it. They can't help it. Steven A's doing it. And then that trickles over to Colin Cowherd and then onto undisputed, and you know how it goes, right, and then the sheeple effect starts to click in and then the public starts to be like, yeah, Ross, Russ, Russ, and then that's how you get Russell Westbrook winning MVP. But the truth is given how the MVP voting usually goes. James Harden should have won that.
Yeah, I was Team Harden that year.
He was the lone All Star on one of the most efficient offenses in the three point era. He led the league in win shares, assists, and points generated by his assists. He carried Houston to the NBA's third best record, second rank offense, and top ranked three point attack. But yet Russell Westbrook, dominating the story lines, finished forty seven and thirty five, sixth in the West, tenth best team overall. As an anomaly, Why because of just media.
So Andy brooke a stat that people said forever like, oh, no, one's ever gonna do that again.
That's facts.
Yea.
I don't think Dame is going to be able to break any anybody's like long standing stat for sure.
Yeah, well there's not many out there.
Yeah, I mean where they say stats are meant to be records are meant to be broken. Yeah. Yeah, it's like that. So, no matter how much the Blazers and Dame ball out, Dame has to essentially will this team to number two in the West in order for him to get consideration. That is brutal. It's going to be very, very hard for him to take snatch the MVP trophy out of Lebron's hands because Lebron is now back into
the mix of being in vogue. Of course, I mushed that by saying he would never win it prior to the season starting. Of course, it doesn't really matter how many points, how many forty point games Dame has, or if he comes around a screen with two seconds left on in the game to win it against the Bulls or whoever, unless we keep Dame's name in front and center of the media every single Blazer game and that
is Trista Criok's job from now on out. I am going to be insufferable about this because if anyone deserves an MVP like Russell Westbrook got it, it's Dame. And to be honest, I don't know if you're gonna believe me or agree with me about this, Marty, but this roster, this Portland Trailblaze twenty twenty one roster, without NRK, without Zach Collins, without CJ. McCollum, is significantly worse than the
OKC roster that Russell Westbrook was playing on. Let me just give you some of the names, some guys that you might be familiar with. Jeremy Grant was on that team. Victor Oladipo was on that team, Demontis Sabonis was on that team, and his canter on that team. Steven Adams was on that team. So Dame is doing more because he's fourth in the West, not sixth in the West,
doing more with a lot less. What Dame does for his team in this small ass market that would never ever ever attract him unless we drafted him is something that I think every fan, casual or not, should take notice of, appreciate, and really say, you know, Portland, you really just don't deserve this. Be happy with what you get. You're probably never getting a championship, but that's okay because you have Damian Lillard. Who does that remind you of Marty?
Uh?
Doesn't remind me of really anyone right off the top, So why don't you tell me yours?
I think it's Kevin Garnett KG. All right, loyal drafted by a small market team that was never gonna win a chip, put up MVP numbers on the regular, didn't get the respect. But then when the Wolves didn't put winning pieces around and he was like, yeah, I gotta I gotta go.
He gave him a lot of time.
He gave him a lot of time, a lot of time, and he was sick. Oh, oh my god, was he sick. But the difference, and this is why Damian Lillard is is my probably my favorite player in the NBA is because Damian Lillard is no KG. He is going to stay in Portland for his entire career unless Portland pulls a snake move and trades him.
Uh.
He was just on the Million Dollars Worth the Game podcast, which is in the Barceol Network as well, here's what he said. It was just phenomenal.
I think that's why you see a lot of players jumping teams, teaming up with other players because the pressure of the media and like the standard that they putting out there, like oh, this person don't got a ring, and like how they talk crazy to Charles Barkley on TV like he ain't Charles Barkley because he didn't win a ring, so like you would like that. It's forcing dudes to be like, well, I'm gonna go play with
this person or if I get with this person. But to me, like, if that's what they want to do, then I'm I don't got no problem with it, like it's whatever. But for me personally, that's just not something I can do. Like I'd rather go out there and put my best foot forward and lose before I do that, because I know I can win if I do that.
Oh my god, we're supposed to win.
If we all get on the same team and we the best players, like, we supposed to win, So you would never do it. I would never do that. I mean, now I don't control like if the team decide to trade me somewhere, and you know what, I'm saying I can't control that, but it ain't. It ain't for me to just be like, all right, I.
Want to go fine, so wow, Dame's never gonna chase a ring. He's never gonna run from the grind like Paul Joey George Ricochet shot to Paul George. He's never going to form a super team. He's going to stay in Portland and grind it out. He's gonna do as much as anybody can in the league to try to
win a title. But he knows that there's a great chance he's probably never going to and he knows it's going to affect his legacy, and he knows people are gonna shit talk him when he leaves the league because he never won a ring most likely. And you know what, he doesn't care. This dude is solid. Is there anyone
more solid? I don't know, unwavering, unbreakable, not going to succumb to the storylines in the way of the new wave of the NBA, and what everybody's doing doesn't matter if he's playing with fans, no fans on National TV on a Tuesday, on a Saturday night in the bubble. Out of the bubble, this dude is unflappable, unreal and
all the time on time, Dame time. And so if there was this is my point to all of this, to there's Damian Lillard's soliloquy, if there was ever a year where you would step outside of the traditional bubble no pun intended, and the traditional way of giving out an MVP and actually give the award to the player who's truly the most valuable to their franchise, lifts them and elevates them, not just the best player on the best team. It's got to be twenty twenty one, and
that's got to be Damian Lillard. I know I'm biased, but I think Dame should be this year's MVP. I've had I've torn my achilles before, I've torn my calf before. I mean, it's not good. Yeah, I'm injury. I've got some injuries. Playing basketball is a dirty game.
Achilles sounds horrible. That sounds like the most painful thing I could imagine.
You know what's crazy about an achilles pop? It was a partial tear, So I'm not like a real hard rock I've got my achilles tear in a pair of Kobe's which is very very funny, Like two years before Kobe tour his his achilles. So it's painful. The pop comes, you hear the pop, you don't feel anything, and then your whole body goes hot and cold, you get nauseous, and then the pain floods in. Right, Oh, it's bad. So I've had tendonitis. I've never ever ever had tendonosis though,
And there's a huge difference between tendonitis and tendonosis. This is a nerd episode. This is a nerd episode, all right, So let's get get it. Let's break it down. I'm really really interested and fascinated with soft tissue and how the body moves and how that actually translates into guys getting injured and how guys end up being have longevity of the league, like like you know, Lebron. So the difference is this, Tendonitis is inflammation of the tendon right right.
Tendonosis is a degenerative condition in the tendon, meaning it breaks down over time, often irreversible and involving some sort of loss of function. Right. So it's something that doesn't get better, It only gets worse. You can manage it, but you will never fully recover. Film me. Yeah, sure, So Anthony Davis has tendonosis. He has a degenerative problem in his achilles tendon that he's had for a while now. He had it in the playoffs, you know for sure,
he missed some games. You could see that he was struggling with it. He also has a little bit of an issue near his heel and that's where there's like a strain. This is according to some soft tissue experts that I spoke to. And now what we know is that Ad also has a calf strain. He has a calf strain and an achilles issue, two different parts of the body conflicting against one another, putting a lot of
strain on the achilles itself. Does that remind you of anyone, oh God, who left the playoffs with a calf strain and their team doctor said, you can play. We just have to manage it and nothing is going to happen as a result.
Kevin Durant, Oh right, Yeah, And what.
Happened He went out there too early, yep, and popped his achilles out.
Yeah, to the delight of Toronto Raptors fans.
To the delight of Toronto Raptors fans, this is a big time problem. This Anthony Davis issue is not only an issue right now for this team, but it's also an issue down the road. I know I've said some things about Anthony Davis before about him being soft. I know that I would never, though ever, ever, ever disparage what he can do elite in every way. When he decides to show up as a dog, there's no one He's typically unguardedle at that point. And of course I'm
I'm heartbroken that he's staring this degenerative issue down. But this is a problem Laker Land. You should be terrified. And now you're hearing from the Lakers organization that they're going to potentially get him back right after the All Star break, which is six weeks, four weeks. I am hearing that this is a situation that should be a three month minimum, three month minimum to get him back, which puts us in May May eighteenth, May nineteenth, right around the middle of the playoffs at best.
Yeah.
So, boy, I tell you what, the news on AD doesn't seem good.
No, everything that I've read just seems like it's pretty.
Horrible, which obviously probably will make Lebron's MVP case look better, but the Lakers don't look nearly as good. Obviously without their marquee center, power forward, whatever you want to call them, positionless basketball. So I would ship my pants if I was Lebron James. And the new news is that they're gonna probably go out and get Mobamba. They're looking into Blake Griffin, They're looking into big men, which to me signals them fearing the worst. Actually, I think I was
watching the Orlando Magic game. Was it last night? Two nights ago? They just played the Knicks. Yeah, they just played the Knicks and they blew the Knicks out, and Bomba was looking good. And when you focus in on Bomba, he sort of has some ad like movements to him. Stretch stretch four, stretch five, can shoot the rock, can go down low.
I'd be excited to see what Lebron could do with him, but not to get sidetracked.
So, but that's the that's the thing, right, So if you're going out to get more Obamba, what's going on? Yeah, no, for sure, because you know Mobamba is a key piece of the Magic organization moving forward in the future. They're not going to want to give him to you for free. That means to me, this is a troubling long term issue. Potentially regarding Anthony Davis regarding the Lakers, and you're at
a push pull juxtaposition. On one hand, you've got Anthony Davis, who just got paid about to get twenty eight million dollars, and you've got Lebron James thirty six, staring down Father Time, chasing literally chasing Kobe and Michael Jordan's ring count to try to get five and to try to get six. And you know he's going to try to get seven if he can, right, because then it's like you have no real argument.
If he passes Michael, There's really not much.
You could say, right, Yeah, So Andre, Drummond, Blake Griffin, possibly Wayne Ellington, Mobamba, the world is. It's crazy. The Lakers are now making moves and it's gonna be fascinating. I have no inside scoop other than the fact that this could really end bad and the Lakers have to take this shit very seriously or they could end up in another Kevin Durant situation like the Warriors did only have to pay him for the next four years. So the league is much better obviously with Ad and Lebron
in it. I think we all want that. I think Ad brings the best out and Lebron and Bron brings out the best in ad. But yeah, this is a developing situation and a little nerd talk, so get well soon Anthony Davis, and I hope the Lakers go and get Mobamba. But also the West is now wide open without Anthony Davis this league, Oh my god, what a track. Shout out to the game for that track. What can we be talking about other than money? We're talking about
the Utah Jazz, folks. We've talked about Shaq versus Spider. We've talked about Donovan Mitchell going cold during very important moments, and whether the Utah Jazz can actually win a title, which I don't think that they can, even though this new Anthony Davis news makes me very confused. Not a lot of love for Utah so much this year, but we have this is a love for Utah segment, so that changes right now. Utah may be the most fun team to watch in the league because they are free money.
Oh yeah, easy money sniper. The Jazz are a gambler's wet dream, like an ATM machine. You don't even have to put your card in. They just spit out money to you. Doesn't matter who they play, when they play, where they play, how much the spread is money, free money, Just like, go and get them. You don't even need to watch the game. You don't need to sweat it. They're like up at seven, up seven at halftime, up twenty by the end of the game in Milwaukee, in
La at home, doesn't matter. Just lay on the beach, get a massage, and collect your Utah Jazz money rints. Repeat. So how good have they been for gamblers? I mean enough that I'm making a gambling segment in the show that's not about x's and o's, not about nerd shit. Historically good. We haven't seen a run like the Utah jazzer having in thirty years. That's how good. No, like take pleasure in that, because this shit is not coming
around all that often. Nineteen and two against the spread in twenty one games, Holy shit, it's nuts one ten and oh stretch, one eight and oh stretch, which is where we currently are right now, folks, in the middle of this hot streak. What is going on in Salt Lake City?
I think it's just a lack of weaknesses, Like when you look at this lineup, like they're not weak anywhere, and every single player is good and like deserves to be getting minutes on an NBA team. They're just yeah, they've got it.
All the immersions of Jordan Clarkson. Yeah yeah, he has taken that. He was like a quote unquote six man for them, signed that deal and he put forty on Ben Simmons head forty. They are a top five offensive team, top five defensive team. I'm not gonna bore you with the numbers, but they're incredible on both sides of the ball. And when they decide it's beat down time, like they did a couple of nights ago against the Clippers, it's clamps.
Like you can't even get a shot off, like you are running around like a fifth grade boys basketball team, like trying to shoot from your hip, and like you've got that one big kid on and he can just block the shit out of you. That's the Jazz. They just clamp. They are a buzzsaw. The Clippers were tied going to the fourth quarter, and then the Jazz decided, you know what, it's time for us to stop playing around with these fools. Ten oh run. They never even
got close. I mean, you would think that a buzzsaw like that would get all of the attention from gamblers, right, that would inevitably balance things out, and then Vegas would change the lines, and then things would not be so good for us, increase the spread, making us impossible for us to beat the line. But no, no, no, that's not what's happening. The biggest reason for that is crazy. What do you think The biggest reason for that.
Is Ooh, that's tough. I don't know. Why don't you tell me?
Sleep? Okay, the reason why is sleep. The majority of our country's population lives forty five percent of them live on the East Coast. Fifteen percent of our country's population live in the Pacific time So when the Jazz play the Clippers, that's at ten thirty pm our time. And we know our boy Marty likes to get his sleep on a Sunday night. So there's a lot of folks like you. And that is even more weighted towards the
sports fans of the world. So I've been more than forty five percent of folks who watch the NBA or on the East Coast, fifteen percent of sports fans or less in that Pacific West Coast time zone. Who knows how many of those people are gamblers, so that East Coast gambling biased is real.
This is a trash area time zone to watch sports in.
It is maybe the worst time zone to watch sports in. I have to go to bed at one one thirty
am just to watch the Jazz. And then since West Coast teams play more games within their conference and then their division than anywhere else, that translates into a ton of weekday games that start at bedtime, right right, Folks, If you don't have a flexible sleep schedule, flexible work schedule, or just a degenerate gambler, you're probably not gonna catch a lot of these marquee matchups that the Jazz are in. On top of that, the Jazz, as we know, I've
slandered them enough times, they're not a sexy team. They're not a traditionally sexy market. Like what's going on in Utah, Like Mormonism, right yeah, and mountains and like some wacky woman who's putting on a referee outfit and like creating these little bills for Donovan Mitchell. So if this was the Lakers or the Clippers or the Celtics for example, that were hot hot, oh, I mean, this line would have closed up like, yeah, I.
Mean the Utah Jazz will always have a boring connotation on them, whether it's fair or unfair.
Yeah, and I think it's very very unfair. Now that's the branding of it all. So this is so crazy. This is a couple of examples of how crazy this is. On February ninth, Celtics slumping went to Utah Jazz four point favorites. At that point, Utah fifteen and two against the spread in their last seventeen, so they were pretty fucking hot. We'll say fifty five percent of the public money went to Boston then, and of course Jazz won
by fourteen. The next game, February twelfth, Bucks went to Salt Lake City and Utah was a two to two and a half point favorite, and you know what, sixty percent of the money went to Milwaukee. Holy shit. And you know what happened then, And at that point that Utah was a team that was sixteen and two in their last eighteen and straight up and against the spread, and again Utah one by fourteen. And yet these lines
are still tiny. Doesn't make any damn sense. So no one believes in them, because why, as Nate Robinson would say, they're Utah trash trash. Utah, Yeah, Mormon capitol of the US, like one of the worst arenas to be a fan in rampant polygamy. You know whatever. Utah not a state that you're thinking about when you're looking for an exciting, sexy basketball team. So don't sleep, folks. I don't care if you're a casual fan or not. If you want
free money until things start to level themselves out. If you want as close you can get to a sure thing, bet the Utah Jazz. Cash it this league responsibly, of course, this league are we got? I think we're about to the tail end of some of these dms. Let's get into it. What do you got?
All right? First up, I've got what in God's name is going on with Kimba? Is he on his way out of Boston?
What a tremendous, tremendous question. What is going on with Kemba? Is he on his way out of Boston? A two parter just trying to like squeeze out as much insight from me as they can possibly get. What is going on with Kemba? Kemba is is hurt, Kemba is not
getting better, Kemba's knee is is. Unfortunately, he's falling victim to that Boston Celtics training staff, which pretty much almost got them sued because they mismanaged Isaiah Thomas's hip and made him made him play right, different training staff, same old tactics, a lot of rest, not a lot of strengthening around his tissues or muscles or ligaments, and Kemba has been up and down as a result. His play looks inconsistent at best. I would say he's just it's bad.
He has missed I think he missed like all of February last year, and he's missed a ton of games this year. He just doesn't look the same. That marquee guy that you're paying money to is not the guy that you were wanting and expecting to have.
Yeah, he's a third option.
He is now your third option. And now I know everybody is. You know the whole Markus Smart thing, right, Marcus Smart is out too. The Celtics as a whole. Uh, the roster is just not what you would want it to be. Danny Ainge is finally falling on his fucking sword. Yep, thank god, Danny Ainge is taking some responsibility for how bad this roster construction is, which it's very bad. Tristan
Thompson is very bad. Daniel Tice's mediocre at best. When you could have gotten Steven Adams, you could have gotten Serge Ibaka throw the bag at them, and you didn't. And is Kemba on his way out? Unfortunately, I don't know that there are many teams that are going to take Kemba Walker into trade because he's making what thirty million dollars are, Yeah, he's making a lot of twenty eight million, He's making a lot of money per year.
I would love to see Kemba get right if I had, if I had my druthers, as we would call it, I would want to see Kemba go to LA either LA team fine, because that's where it doesn't matter, because I want to see him get healthy. And LA's the forefront of health and soft tissue and guys, when they get that LA son seventy two and Sonny three hundred and sixty five days a year, something just happens with that. You see you see Lebron, he's thirty six, he's playing
like he's twenty six. Yeah, right, yeh, That's what I want for Kemba. But it's tremendously sad. He's probably going to be locked up there in cold, cold ass Boston for a long time, and what that translates to is probably not a lot of winning.
Okay, Yeah, Next up, we've got what are your thoughts on the Pistons and secondary question, again, does Blake have any trade value with that contract?
So I think this question came in like a couple of weeks ago, before we knew that.
The Pistols being sad.
Yeah, before he was getting sad, and it was very clear that they were pursuing options to get him out of Detroit. He's gonna get bought out. So the answer is that there is zero trade value for Blake zero. I am hearing he might be a Brooklyn Net I am hearing he might be a Los Angeles Laker. I am hearing that he might be going there's another team that I heard.
Do you remember I like him in Phoenix?
Honestly, Phoenix would be great for him, kind of like an Amari Stodomeyer role.
And he said on part of my take that he loves Phoenix.
Yeah, he does. That was his number one Rushmore City. But what do I think about the Pistons? This is a team that should be a playoff team. This team can Did you see them just blow out the Bulls?
Yeah, I mean they play good against good teams too.
They play great against good teams. They play up. I love Jeremy Grant.
Yeah, he's special.
Josh Jackson has re emerged. I mean, you've got to be sad about that, right. He looks good. They have length, athleticism, they have youth. I love Sadiq bay Sadiq bay Is was slept on in the draft in a week draft, in a I mean, I think it'll be stronger. The draft will be stronger in hindsight than we thought it will be thought of at the time as a week draft. Dwayne Casey said, Jeremy Grant, I'm gonna take you from okay see, and I'm gonna give you all the confidence
that you need to be a marquee Austar. And Jeremy Grant is a bad dude now he is. He went bucket for bucket with Lebron James in overtime and in double overtime. He was the guy that you could rely on. And I think a lot of that comes down to Dwayne Casey's leadership and what he's been able to do. I love them. They are one of the most fun teams to watch in the NBA. Do you agree?
Yeah, No, I do enjoy watching them quite a bit. Yeah, I don't like playing them. They beat us certainly in the season.
But they I mean, they're every great team's nightmare because they're one of the worst teams in the NBA. At one point, they were the worst team in the NBA and they could still beat you on any given night. So you can't take the night off because they have legit. They're so long, they can score at will, and if you're not on your game, you'll go down twenty in an instant. So I love the Detroit Pistons. They're on
the rise. I think next year they'll be They could be like a six seed next year if they're not careful.
Okay, this is a fun one. Who won the Russell Westbrook John walltrade?
It's not close, right, Yeah?
I don't think so.
I don't think it's close. Yeah, the Wizards are the worst team in the East, So I would say that's enough really for you to go and get a sense of where I'm going, right, I think with john Wall and Bradley Beal together, this would not be the worst team in the East. Let's take a little trip down memory lane. It's been seven hundred and fifty days since
Bradley Beal and John Wall played together. That season, they were an eight seed and took the Toronto Raptors to six, were leading in the fourth quarter against Toronto Raptors in the in game six and blew that lead. So when you can and they were eight seed, plan a one seed, So I would say John Wall and Bradley Beal should have had a little more time together, and that organization should have had more faith that John Wall would perform. I know it had been seven hundred fifty days. You're like,
our patience has run out. As soon as we even get an inkling the ear healthy, we're gonna move you because really we're not sure and we know that what Russell Westbrook can do as like a guy who at one point got forty two triple doubles in a season. But the Rockets with Christian Wood and John Wall and all of those other pieces, I mean, next year, I know Christian Wood's been out, but next year they're gonna be pretty good. They can win on a night tonight
basis too, So yeah, I think it's not close. I think you take Houston. They won the trade very very easily.
Okay, moving on, I think this might be the last one.
All right, Cool?
We got is djokis making a case for MVP this year?
Is Joker is the Joker and MVP candidate? This question was old too. You can tell this question was old. I mean, to be fair, two weeks ago, the Nuggets were much more relevant. They were winning. The Nuggets, though, are four and six in their last ten. They just lost to the Wizards when they were up by twenty. They gave that lead away. Disgusting, just gross the way that happened. They and I think that the Wizards are
the worst defensive team in the league. So you can't get a bucket against them, then what are you doing really? Because they were I think they had the chance to win on a last second shot and whoever put the clamps on whoever. So yeah, that's not Djokich's fault. But like we talked about with the Damian Lillard thing, you can't be right now, the Nuggets are the eighth seed in the West. You can't be the eighth seed in the West and have your center be an MVP, no shot,
not even close. He has nine as a game twenty seven, eleven and nine, So his stat line's great, And I love Djoks. I think he's probably the best healthy center in the league right now because mbid, let's just be honest, is not going to stay healthy this year. Sorry, he's been He's already missed twenty He's already missed twenty percent
of the games. Yeah, so I could say very confidently that he's not particularly a healthy guy, and he's missed around twenty five percent of every single season since he's been an NBA player. So love him when he's on
the floor. He's not always on the floor though, So Yeah, the end all be all is this makes Damian Lillard look even more like an All Star because the Nuggets have Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Junior, and Jokic and they're all balling, and you know what, they are all the way at the bottom of the Western Conference, and that is just not good enough for an MVP candidate.
Yeah, there's another player we just talked about. They could have maybe been using.
Another player that they could have maybe been using.
Who is that Jeremy Grant.
Oh, that would have been a tremendous fit. Yeah. Absolutely. I don't know what these teams are doing. It's crazy how there are players who have one bad year and then they just get discarded. He was fantastic for them anyway. Yeah, I think that you get the point. You can't be an MVP unless you're at the top of the league, and if you do, you have to be doing tremendous things. And joke Itch is just not so don't blame Jokis, but he's not an MVP. That's all the time that
we have margin. How is your flu game?
Uh, my back is killing me. I'm excited to be done with the recording.
Process, but the editing process is going to be really fun. Probably. Oh yeah. Yeah. That's all the time that we have for This League podcast. Please subscribe, Please rate and review on Apple Podcasts and on Spotify. It does make a huge difference. Please screenshot me you're subscribing and unsubscribing and resubscribing. We also have This League hoodies on sale at the Barstool Store also TikTok. Please follow This League and Trista Crik on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Am I missing anything? I
got it all? YouTube people are really slamming us about our youtubes and Twitter. I don't give a fuck about our YouTube numbers. Right now, TikTok is banging. Please follow us. We will be back Friday morning, bright and early