On this episode of This League, we discussed two horrific injury updates, the interesting reason why the trade deadline might be more boring than you think it will be or hope it will be. What's happening with Brad Stevens and the Boston Celtics, And it's not good? And we answer some more listener, DM, God damn, did we get some bad bad news over the weekend. We have to have pissed off the basketball gods, Marty. It's multiple marquee stars,
the faces of the league just falling like Domino's. Saturday night, LaMelo Ball, absolute electric rookie broke his fall on a drive to the basket against the Clippers. Didn't look like much and in fact he was probable going into Sunday's game. But no fractured right wrist. He came out of the half. This is crazy. He came out of the half he was favoring his right hand. Then still played the third quarter,
still played part of the fourth quarter. So now LaMelo came back with an X ray fractured right wrist, believed to be out for this season. Thoughts.
Yeah, I mean, it's just tough and the Hornets have been one of my favorite league pass teams. I've been a huge Lamello supporter. They're so awesome to watch, so this is horrible to see. It really hurts their playoff chances. And yeah, it was weird. It really didn't look like much at the start. But you know, when your riskins that way, you can't really play basketball with it. It's just too bad.
Floppy wrist. Terrible a blow. I mean, this is a blow to the Hornets, but also the blow to the rest of the league. He has been the Rookie of the Year for sure. I don't know where that how that changes his rookie of the Year hopes.
Yeah, I've still got that ticket, so I'm hoping. I'm hoping it still counts. I think he's played enough games.
I hope. And that came right after that injury came right after Lebron basically co signed for LaMelo. He said, Lamello is damn good to be at his age. His speed, his quickness, his ability to make shots at all, fastest of the game in the paint, floaters, threes. He has the three tiers already and he's only going to get better every game. He is a learning experience for him, He's going to get better as the season goes and
his career goes on. I love it when players or coaches evaluate other players based on skills and not on stats, like I love that Lebron did that. So then moving on irony to all ironies, Lebron himself now injured as well, after an entire almost an entire career, right, Marty, seventeen years he's been healthy.
Yeah, I mean the only one I remember that groin injury.
Yeah, oh yeah, and the groin injury in twenty eighteen, right, yeah, that was like bullshit. That was basically like, we're not going to the playoffs, nothing matters, Let's just put Lebron James on ice. He went down also on Saturday with what looked like a gruesome ankle injury rt row as I would say, could not be a worse scenario for the NBA. LaMelo and Lebron go going down in the same day is like a Black Friday. Lebron wincing in
a way that no one has seen before. I've never seen Lebron yell like that, look like that, scream like that. Kyle Kuzma said that he had never seen him scream like that. X rays came back negative, but he now has been diagnosed with a high ankle sprain and is out indefinitely. So this guy, Solomon Hill, look like a cheap shot. Look like he dove after his ankle. I don't know. It's hard to say. Do you think it was dirty or no?
I don't. I'm gonna get him the benefit of doubt. I know, I think that's kind of reaching a little bit.
His teammates were irate. Mantrez Harrell said, I don't really feel like it was one of those loose ball plays. He had to go through his leg to get the ball. Man, he was turned sideways, the ball was behind him. I mean, you're jumping at an angle going across his way. I don't know how you feel that's a loose ball, and watching it back, it does not look great. Solomon Hill tweeted, I would never disrespect the game and take a player out purposely, and Lebron knows that that's all that matters
to me. Praying for a speedy recovery. Yeah, I think no one in their right mind, if they're gonna go after a player to injure them, would try to injure Lebron James like I just don't think that's a thing. I don't think that's a thing. What that sort of highlights to me is all of a sudden, I felt like, man, father time is happening. Father Time is undefeated, as is the universe. Lebron James is thirty six, right, And all I'm thinking is, I hope we don't get Lebron James's
time stolen from us. I hope that this isn't one of those things where it's serious serious. You saw Lebron James throw a chair, which is not something that you normally see, went to the locker room, and you're like, man, you only get so much time with the greats. Every game we get to watch Lebron James is special because it's something that's not going to come around again. Once it's over. It's like a fucking you know, comment in
the sky or something. Right, You get it like once every three four hundred and twenty years or something like that, and once it's gone, it's gone. Like if you're not there for the Solo Moon or whatever it's called, you know, like you're just never gonna see it again. And that's kind of where my head goes. Lebron has been playing seventeen years. How many more games are we gonna get? Every game he's sitting on the bench is a game
I could have been watching. Because this season is this season regardless of It's not like a miles on a car right Like, It's not like, oh, because he didn't play these sixteen games, we get sixteen more in two twenty seven. No, that's just not how it's gonna go. I want Lebron to play till he's forty five, and it would kill me if a high ankle sprain limits
his career. This guy, Ryan Whitney, NHL player, host of The Spit and Chicklets podcast, has come on record at length about how a high ankle sprain ended his career early. It's not something to fuck around with. So the optimism, because yes, I know, I lead with cynicism, that's just who I am. The optimism is its Lebron James. I mean, he's been healthy for seventeen years for a reason, and I don't think it's all genetics. I think he takes
obsessive care of his body. He pays so much time and attention to what works for him, how to keep himself healthy on the court and off the court, his nutrition, his soft tissue work, all of that stuff. I don't think that there's anyone who knows themselves in their body as well as Lebron unless we put Tom Brady in that mix. But in terms of the West, holy shit, is it now wide open. We don't know how long
Lebron James is gonna be out for AD's out. This team is in disarray, just got blown out to the Hawks without him, Yo, you could lose the next fifteen. And where does that put you? You know, where that puts you as a serious threat? Like could you just imagine your son's marty second seed? You've been doing all this work all season long, the stats. We're gonna talk about this on Friday Show. We've been putting it off
for weeks now. The Suns are a fucking wagon. They're gonna probably get the second seed in the West now, and now you might face the Lakers as a seventh seed? How about that? How about them apples?
I mean, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a thought of mine. Actually, one of my first thoughts, I mean admittedly, was like, oh, this actually puts us in good position to actually make a run, which we already were, but you know, having the Lakers out of the pictures certainly helps that. But then I thought, oh wait, like they're gonna slip and we're gonna get them earlier. And we thought, aren't we.
Yeah, because you really want them, you really want them as a one seed.
That would be a very Phoenix Suns thing to happen.
Oh man, how about them apples? Fuck that? This league, I think we have expected, based around probably the news, that things are gonna be explosive around the deadline, a lot of fireworks, multi team trades, marquee players going in new locations. Things are happening, bubbling up, and then all of a sudden, it just seems sort of weak. Now, doesn't seem like maybe anything is gonna happen, Maybe no one gets traded. We've been hearing so many rumors. Harrison Barnes,
Buddy Healed, John Collins, Vutovich, Lonzo Ball. I just don't see it now. One GM said expect a snoozefest at the deadline. It was like a synonym to snoozefest. It might have been snoozefest, but it was something like that. The question, though, is why, And I was doing some digging, and I think I have an answer. I think it is because of how this play in tournament has altered the NBA. Right, hear me out, I would call that March Men is for the NBA, Marty. The East has
been just an absolute dumpster fire. As we know, fourth place in the East is only four games over five hundred, which would put you right around the tenth spot in the West.
Yeah. I mean when you look at the East, like four through ten, it's just those records are just absolutely gross, and like teams like aren't even like really out of the ten honestly, like Cleveland still has a chance to maybe get in. It's weird.
It is weird two games away. I would say, because of the pandemic, that ten spot, as you said, Marty, actually means something normally would mean fucking nothing. Be zero, It would mean your job is in trouble as a coach, you as a player have underperformed, and you're looking for some ping pong balls to come your way. But now with this new playing tournament, there are only five teams without hope in each conference. Five twenty out of thirty
teams have hope. Hope is one hell of a drug, I tell you what makes you do all kinds of crazy things. And the fact that the East is trash this year. All of a sudden, only two teams really, Detroit and Orlando are out of it. Wow. Everyone in the East else besides them has hope. That's how you get an Atlanta Hawks team that was left for dead, going eight and two in their last ten, holding on to the four seed, like, hmmm, I don't think we want to trade anyone. And guess what, there's only five
games between tenth and fifth in the East. Who is gonna go on that next eight and two run. Who is gonna go on that next two and eight slump? Washington Toronto? Who knows? Both teams of those have had five game winning streaks are more this year, so everyone everyone seems to have either rational or irrational hope. I don't know really which one it is. But if they go on a run, they can even avoid the playing tournament like the Hawks. Now, the Hawks are just firmly
in it. They're just a playoff team.
Now you look up and they're fourth in the East. Hilario. You kind of think of them as like not really a bad team, but you don't really think of them much and then all of a sudden they're the four seed.
Is totally So the question is, if you're a team like the Hawks, why would you be a seller When you have hope and you're firmly in the four seed and things are working, you've won eight straight. Shout out to Nate McMillan. If you have hope and you're a coach on one of these not so good teams and you can sneak into that ten spot and you only need to win one game to make it to the playoffs, have that on your resume and say to the owner, listen,
team is fucking gritty. We have perseverance. All these buzzwords, all these little buzzwords that we put on your calendar that we've talked about before with the Man in the Rock, like you just start spitting those out to your owner and you might save your job. Okay, of course, you're not gonna beat the Sixers in the seven game series. The owner doesn't expect that. But you have playoff team
in your Wikipedia profile. Now that's all the batters. Maybe Joel Embiid has back spasms, knock on something, and you get one or two games from the Sixers. Now that's really something to make some noise about. You say, we're just one piece or two away. We can really contend. You can just lie, you can just literally make up a scenario that does not exist and stay alive, which is it's a dirty game. But that's what the NBA is.
Everyone just sort of trying to like scheme and alter the landscape of the truth to stay employed because they make millions and millions of dollars, right, that's the business. Coaches can influence ownership to not get rid of players because they're like, Yo, we're close. Let's keep going the way that we're going. We've won eight in a row. All of a sudden, they're like, yeah, why not. Now you've got games in June instead of thinking about the lottery. You know, And let me tell you, I love it.
I love hope. I love seeing teams actually try to compete instead of deciding to hang it up in April. I don't like purposeful mediocrity or purposeful trash play, right, and the minnos of the league. It's very very good for.
But as it relates to the trademarket, because that's what this segment is about, it's very bad for teams that are used to feasting off the poor, unfortunate, perennial losers, the poor unfortunate souls, as Ursula would say, right, just like suckling off of their desperation to make a move to try to rebuild for the future, twisting their arms like you know what, this is what you need to do, or you're gonna lose your job. At least you're gonna
try to do something. Get a lottery, ping pong ball and get some assets from us and some picks for the future, and we're gonna take your best player. That's what's gonna happen. They're like, yo, this is Danny Ainge. Yo, I'll give you Jeff Tigue a first rounder in twenty twenty five, a second round pick in exchange for Vucevich. And now Orlando's like goddamn, And Danny Ainge is like, you know why, cause you're desperate. You have to do something.
You're rebuilding. This player does not want to be with you. And now a team like Orlando, even though Orlando's out of it, they're like, oh, you want vouch, give us three first rounders and Marcus Smart because you, Boston are desperate. You are the one the tables are turned. You're sitting there, maybe gonna get bounced, maybe not even gonna make the playoffs. Isn't that a bitch? That's typically how good teams stay
good and the bad teams stay bad. You've got predators like Danny Ainge basically exploiting teams like Orlando and Atlanta, and that's how they get John Collins right, but not anymore. Ain't no fun when the Rabbits got the gun, and that's what they got looking at you, Danny Age. Teams who want to get over the hump, likes Boston are now in purgatory, like you have no one you can possibly get unless you give up a boatload. That is
a very uncomfortable spot to be. Now, instead of Travis Schlank being on the chopping block, maybe Danny Ainge on the chopping buck.
Yeah, why have you made a move, Danny.
Why haven't you done anything? You've got twenty eight and a half million dollars sitting in TPE and you've just done nothing. Maybe building a reputation off of your thievery, which every other GM in the league knows you are a thief, has come to an end and the Kittings who were thinking about trading Harrison Barnes because that was where the news was, right, Harrison Barnes, Harrison Barnes, Harrison
Barnes to Boston. Now they're a half game out of the ten spot and they can score one hundred and fifty points on any given night. I saw someone on Twitter say if I was Harrison Barnes, I'd be like, Nah, I'm good in Sacramento. Unless you're giving us someone really good. We are not giving you Harrison Barnes. We're just gonna keep things the way that we are because why we are at least competitive? Why would we trade guys who keep us competitive in this environment where the ten seed
is all we really need to strive for. Right. Yeah, that's why older players who were once All stars are now getting looks by these teams in purgatory because fuck, they have no other options. You know, you got Drummond Aldridge boogie who knows right, because John Collins is not going anywhere. Vooch is not going anywhere, so you gotta take your buyout scraps to make do Yikes, what does that mean? Even though everyone has hope, this is the rub. Everyone has hope but only a couple of teams can
really contend. Brooklyn, Philadelphia and Miami and that's it. That's it. Boston you are now out of it probably, and Milwaukee, I would say, can contend as well. But I'm still very skeptical. You know what I'm saying.
Yes, I mean, come playoffs, they are going to look like a completely different team.
We all know it totally, So Celtics fans. This is why you know that Danny Ainge has thrown in the towel. They are a piece away. As you have said multiple times, Marty, this is a roster that's constructed in a very strange way, and we've got the next segment is actually more about this. But everyone they won is now locked up. So it's another year wasted for Tatum and Brown in their prime. But I am personally tired of teams not letting their
players develop. Now, if the ten seed is all you need to strive for in order to feel successful, and you as a coach and your job is not on the line, you can actually let the food cook in the oven and see what you have. Did you see that the Orlando Magic are looking to trade back for Victor Oladipo no way.
I haven't heard that one.
Yes, maybe if you would have had Victor Oladipo sit in the oven a little longer, you wouldn't have to trade Aaron Gordon for him, just saying you could add them both and not did anything at all. Typically, the NBA and these teams, they purge assets before they even know what they are, and then all of a sudden, it's like, fuck, Will Barton's pretty good? Why do we get rid of him? Because as they want to find the player that's good right now, for a player that
has the possibility of being good. They're cynical, just like me, Marty, there's snake bitten, just like me. This tournament changes everything, and I want to keep it this way forever. I think it makes the league more exciting, It keeps teams from being predators. I think we should make an event out of it. I think we should make a tournament out of it, one arena, one weekend, and I'll call it May Madness. Are you unhappy with your smile? You
don't have to be. Thousands of people have used Candid, the clear, comfortable, removable and practically invisible a liner to help straighten their teeth and now they love their smile, just like Sharon H of Pittsburgh, PA says, I wore braces as a teenager and flash forward thirty years. I had crowding on the bottom and one of my teeth actually stuck out, sounds like she wasn't wearing her retainer. That's when I made the decision to move forward with Candid,
and I finally got my confidence back. And Candid is here to help you straighten your teeth so that you can fall in love with your smile too. This is actually dope. The treatment is prescribed and closely monitored remotely by a licensed orthodonist who's an expert in tooth movement, versus some scrub ass dentist who has no idea how your smile should actually look. You'll have the same quality of care you'd get by an in house orthodonist from
the comfort and convenience of your home. I fucking hate going to the dentist. I hate coming in. And now you can get your grill straightened up without having to leave your house. And while other companies, like I said, use general dentist, Candid only works with orthodontis. With Candid, the same orthodontists who created. Your plan is going to be with you from start to finish. That is dope, so you never have to wonder, Hey, who's actually looking
at this thing. The average Candid treatment is just six months. You'll start seeing results way before then, and it costs thousands less than traditional braces. Become your best you start straightening your teeth today. Right now, you can save seventy five dollars on candid started kit. Go to candid coo dot com slash league and use the code League. That's
candid coo dot com slash League. Code League. Take advantage of this limited time offer to save seventy five dollars on your starter kit candid coo dot com slash League, Code League. Big news over the weekend was that Brad Stevens, This is crazy, Brad Stevens was going to secretly leave the Celtics mid season and take a job at Indiana University in his home state of Indiana.
Yeah, this is like a trill ballin's wet dream. I think he started this rumor back in like twenty fifteen when they were still like insanely could Yeah, I mean he I don't think he's ever really expressed interest himself in the Indiana job, but it's always kind of been a thing. So yeah, it's pretty.
Crazy, so insane, but fun for me. When I was reading the over the weekend, I was like, please let it be true, Please let it be true. You had multiple journalists and pundits being like conspiracy theory scenarios. They're like tracking where his kids are, like, oh, Brad Stevens's son has gone four hundred and seventy two consecutive classes going to class, and today is the day that his son has missed class.
So it's like college football. When they tracked plane totally.
That's what they did. They were like, Brad Stevens and Gino Oriama and blah blah blah, We're on a private plane heading into Bloomington. The whole ball of axe was happening. It was crazy, kind of psychotic to a degree, really trying to figure out whether he wants to go home and whether his wife has like secretly been saying that she wants to be with her family, and tracking like some random gym that he was in Indiana and some
eighth grade kid who's gonna be the next Zion. I mean, these are real stories, folks, These are real things that surfaced and they're like, Yo, does he want to be a head coach in the NBA or does he want to be a god?
What a right?
Like what what are you talking about? The Boston media even asked him about it. Here's the thing about Brad Stevens, He's not very direct, so maybe he should have been a little bit more direct when the Boston media asked him about this for the first time. Here's what he had to say.
You know, obviously I have a great affinity for that state and basketball in that state, and that place was a huge part of what drove my passion for basketball. In fact, it was the central thing. And so I don't know.
I means to me, if I was someone stoking the fire of conspiracy, I'd be like, that's just read the tea leaves. This place was in your goal to my career in basketball. It's a place that I love. It's been a highly coveted job. That's not exactly no, Brad Stevens, That's not exactly no. That did nothing to asswadh my level of excitement about you burning the Boston Celtics organization down on your way out. Nothing that did zero for that,
and everybody knew that. Everybody's like, oh, Brad Stevens is saying nothing but good things about Indiana. Three minutes soliloquy about how it's part of his heart and soul, how his wife is from Indiana, how he loves Indiana, how Indiana is the heart and soul of basketball. What do you think it would do to someone who wants him to leave? How bad does it need to be for Brad Stevens to abandon his team in the middle of the season. That's what everybody was thinking. Who does that?
You know?
The truth is, Marty, no one does that, No one, no one. The truth is, no one does that. But the fact that people thought there was a possibility he would do that means that things are going really, really bad in Boston. Yes, it happened that rumor came out when things were going really well too, multiple years ago, but not like this, Not like this. The end of the story was that Brad Stevens apparently held a closed door meeting with the team to deny these rumors and
firmly say, Yo, this is bullshit. I'm not going to Indiana. I'm not going anywhere. Can you read this the tweet?
All right, Yeah, I've got to hear the quote was, I'm not a kid anymore. I'm a forty four year old masshole. I swerve around others when I'm driving, I eat Dunkin Donuts, and I root for the Patriots. I'm a man, I'm forty.
That's immediately what I thought of when that quote came out. I'm a man, I'm a forty four year old masshole. Come after me. Let's face it, Brad Stevens, Meek and Miles. Brad Stevens where you have to turn the decibels all the way up when he's giving a press conference because you can barely hear him calling himself a masshole. Maybe the greatest thing ever. Maybe. I mean, there's just no way Boston does not accept him. Let's just say that. I asked him Boston people this weekend, like, yo, do
you think Brad Stevens is really a masshole? And they're like no, never, no way, no way. Him yelling at halftime greatest thing ever. He's really trying to make himself into this like hard rock. That's what's happening. Things are so bad that they've made Brad Stevens change his entire personality to see if that would work. He's losing his mind at halftime and being like, I'm a masshole, I'm a man. Another funny thing about this story was Woje did you see this wog tweet? Woje had to step in.
You know, Wog is funny because like all of his Twitter is usually just news, right, there's no opinions, there's nothing but just like this trade for this player and this pick, and then you'll get like a little bit like this gives Boston the opportunity to contend through twenty twenty seven something like that.
Yeah. Yeah, that's usually the extent of it yet, right, So.
He had to step in and editorialize how dumb the rest of the media is. Thanks Dad, we know, we know. Can you let us have a little fun here? He was like, it's incredible. Brad Stevens has to even spell this out for people. No one is leaving a head coaching job in the NBA for college anymore. Not the Celtics, not the Kings, not anyone anywhere. Nobody is returning to college unless they're no longer welcome to stay in the pros.
WHOA okay again, can we have just a little bit of fun Adrian Warzanowski, like, we're not idiots just because we want to fantasize about a possible scenario that could be the funniest thing in NBA history for a player, for a coach to bolt midway through the season in one of the most historic franchise with banners on banners and banners. That's how bad it is, Like we want that. We NBA drama. NBA fans, even with blue check marks want that's That's what moved the needles. That just explains
how much we love the tea. That's what it is. Someone DMed a journalist. They're a parent of a child that is in the same school as Brad Stevens's child and was monitoring whether that child was in school. That's where we are at as NBA fans. What are we doing? We are lunatics. So as crazy as this drives Brad Stevens, it probably pales in comparison to losing by ten to the Sacramento Kings on Friday Night. They've now lost three in a row and they're just not good. They're just
not good. They lost three in a row before winning on Sunday. It's just not good. Everyone said, wait until Marcus mar gets back. Wait, just wait, he's our heart and soul, right, and they've they've just not won very many games with his arrival. There's forty two games into a seventy two game season and you're still five hundred if you write their names on a chalkboard. Right, Jason Tatum,
Jalen Brown, Marcus Smart, Kemba Walker. You've got three former or current All Stars, and one of the best defenders in the league, a young athletic center in Robert Williams Streetport Streetport Time Lord. All of those players are players that anyone any roster would love to have, and it just is not working. You have to ask yourself, why isn't this working? What do you think, Marty?
I think the main thing is Kemba's regression. We thought that he was going to be kind of the driver of this team, but now that it's mainly just the Jalen Brown Jason Tatum show. It's kind of like a Lakers construction now where it's just Okay, let's get these two guys and surround them with glue guys, and it's just they're just not quite good enough for that sort of construction to work, you know, I.
One hundred percent agree, and I know the injuries, of course, have played a role. And you're gonna hear a lot about oh, the Big five have only played yeah, twenty five minutes together. I just don't care. Other teams have had injuries. Blazers have had a lot of injuries, and they've continued to flourish. They've continued to figure it out, find the ways to make the chemistry and the roster work.
The Hawks. The Hawks have a better record than the Celtics right now, and they had at one point lost eleven out of thirteen games in a stretch, and they fired their coach mid season. And this team is better than the Celtics. I would say that's fucking bad. That's really bad. Now current and former players are speaking out in ways that are alarming for any Celtics fan. Marcus Smart, the guy that everybody said would be okay when he came back. They're two and three with him and he's
averaging twelve one and one since his return. Not good. Had this is said, read the quote.
Okay, it's you know a lot of things have happened in our lives personally individually where it's hard to come in here and give that energy to somebody else when in your own individual personal life energy has been drained or you don't really have it. We got to find a way to pick each other when that energy is down from that standpoint, because.
It shows personal distractions, low energy. He is not having it. Something is going on. Remember when Kyrie Irving and Terry Rozier were beefing over where their roles were going to be a couple eight years ago, and there was like everyone was saying weird things like this, and you're like, something's happening in the locker room, like things aren't yelling. I don't know what's going on, but something's going on.
That's what this feels like to when you've got Marcus Smart, who hasn't really even been playing on the team, who's just been observing around the team being like, yo, when you've got personal distractions getting in the way of your team's success, you need to swallow your pride. I think he said something about pride and figure that out. Figure that out. Kemba Walker said this, We have stretches when we play well, it's just not consistent. At the end of the day, We've got to come together if we
want to win and be successful. It's only one possible way that that can happen. That's for us to do it together. Some people got a sacrifice certain things. We've got to put our pride to the side and figure it out. Oh no, oh no. To me, that means Marcus Smart and Kemba Walker are saying, Hey, Jalen and Jason, that's y'all. That's y'all, cause I kind of think that
that's what it is. Paul Pierce then chimed in, who was sort of the Marcus Smart of the earlier Celtics era, and he said, you know what this team reminds me of. It reminds me of my younger days with me and Antoine. Yikes. You have two all stars capable of going off on any night, and you hope that you'd get the help from the other guys. But we hit our peak with the conference finals, and that's what I see from this team.
Oh no, oh no, that is damning. That is damning, because, as every Celtics fan knows, they had to blow that team up. Then what happened when they did, Marty.
Yeah, I mean they won a championship for years later.
That's fucking right. And then Pierce said, you know, I wish we could have built on that squad with me and Antoine, And that's what the Celtics have to learn from. You have guys that don't come around that often. When you look around the league, how many teams have two all stars? I mean a lot. Now they have to do a good job moving forward and surrounding these guys with better pieces or adding pieces that can bring consistency. Is that subtle shade or overt shade at Danny Ainge in your opinion?
I mean it seems a little like it. There is. There is way more drama around this team than I actually really realized.
It is just the more it's like an iceberg, the more you dig in, the more it's like something's fucked up here. They're lost to the Kings. Marcus Smart reporter that they had a team meeting and said, we are a young team and we are learning the thing and the biggest thing about growth is understanding and accepting the faults that you are wrong for yourself individually and as a team. Fuck, it's bad. It's really bad. I hate to say it, but the more I read it, the
more I'm like, Man, something big has gotta change. Earlier, we discussed how the play in game changed everything in the league. Trader Danny is just out to see because if you look at the standings, he's basically hamstrung and not able to do really anything. And then you've got the Nets, the Sixers, and the Heat, maybe the Bucks who can do some things. And this team is just in no man's land. They are dead last in the league and fourth quarter margin. So what's gonna change that
even if they make the playoffs? Are we going to see history repeat itself? Are they going to have to split up Brown and Tatum like Pierson Walker did fifteen years ago? Is that what's best for the franchise. Here's what I think happens. I think ownership gets a little tired of Danny Ainge. They say, hmm, let's start fresh. Let's find someone who can make some moves, that doesn't have a reputation for being toxic and a thief, and we can actually make trades to help this team during
the season. What that means for this year's Celtics remains to be seen, of course, But from Sunday to Sunday they have five games and seven days. The rubber now is hitting the road. It is sink or swim time. There's a few days, just a few left before the trade deadline. What are they gonna do? What are they gonna do? Is Danny Ainge gonna pull a rabbit out of his hat? Or is he gonna do what he's been saying he's gonna do, which is do something, do a lot, and then he does nothing. I don't know
for once, though, Marty. It's exciting because Danny Ainge's job just might be on the line this league. This is March. The greatest time of the year has begun. Keep the positive vibes going with every hoodie and you'll need this month while watching all of the games. Go to store dot barstool sports dot com to shop all of the various sayings to help you stay calm, think sharp, and don't pin it. Let's get into some questions, all right.
We got a fun one right off the bat. We've got if you could pick two expansion cities, who would it be?
Such a great question. I love the fact that people on Instagram come up with insightful, curious dms where I'm like, oh, I haven't thought about this ever before outside of Seattle, which is the obvious one, right, not gonna pick anything obvious. I think there are two great cities for a basketball team, and there are great cities to travel to as a tourist as well, which I think is very important. Vegas on the West Coast is exciting to me. You now have an NHL team there, and you have an NFL
team there. Oh boy, an NBA team there would be sick. You would be able to use the arena for summer league, which would be great because Thomas and Mack where they play now is a dumpster fy. It's terrible, it's tiny. You can't get any fans in there. This would be like a thing. You could probably sell tickets. The amount
of fanfare would be fantastic. And you know what, who cares that teams that go and play them in Vegas are probably going to be trashed on the road because they're going to be partying at you know, eleven or Tao or whatever. A lot of players can get into trouble in Vegas. Think about it, Whoo, that team would be exciting. What would you call a team in Vegas? Marty? I was thinking about.
This, I kind of I mean, people throw the w NBA team the.
Las Vegas.
Luck.
I like that. What about the Jokers? Would that be too close to Jokic?
Cartoony?
You don't think the Pelicans is cartoony.
I've been very vocal about that. Do you want to go see the Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center?
Yeah?
Like?
What the fuck kind of cartoon Mickey Mouse? Team? Is this? Yike?
I'm a Louisiana boy, and I think it's stupid. It's like a minor league team.
Name it is. It's like the Rattlers. You know, the only problem that the NBA has to be worried about is that post Vegas hangover. That's really it. When the Golden Knights went and first started, teams went one eight and two in their next games following their visit to Team Mobile one eight and two. Wow, that became there became a term for it called the Vegas Hangover. Now, imagine James Harden and Kelly oubre after a two game homestand in Vegas, boy getting in all kinds of trouble.
But could you imagine could you imagine the free agent market in Vegas? People would be going there. Other place that I love is Nashville. Love Nashville. Nashville is a great city for music, a great city for food. It's very cute, it's small, it's affordable. To me, it's one of the best small town vibes in the country. I would move there in a heartbeat. You can get a one bedroom apartment in Nashville for like fourteen hundred dollars and it's brand new. Long ways from the nearest NBA
team still in Tennessee. You could have a built in Memphis Grizzlies rivalry three hours to Memphis four hours do Atlanta natural. I love that complete untapped fan base. What would you call a Nashville team can't be Predators.
I think they have a team there. I don't know what they play, maybe like a minor league baseball team. The Nashville Sounds, which I really like. You like some Yeah, so like something off that something with music?
What about like you couldn't take sounds because that's too close to sonic?
True?
Yeah, you know what I'm saying. Uh wait, do you think that the Seattle Sonics SuperSonics was a was a connection to music or was that a connection to the Boeing in Space?
Yeah? Yeah, it was Bow's and yeah Boeing.
Yeah, how about like the the no the Nashville Notes. Oh I like that, Like it's just a little.
Music note, the Nashville Hot Chicken.
The Nashville the Nashville Chicks. I guess the Utah Jazz is the music notes. So fuck, that's crazy. Send us your suggestions for a Nashville team name. I am so bad at team names. All right, let's move on.
All right. If the Martians have a death being pointed at the earth, who are you taking to hit a three?
I mean that's just a very unique question. Never thought about it in my life until now. I think if it's a it has to be dependent on the type of three. Right, Yeah, catch and shoot to me Clay all day all day? Did you see his recent He's now coming off the acl and the Achilles and he's still just wet like water. Yeah, no jump jumpers from corner three all day. I think he could probably make one hundred and fifty in a row.
So yeah, shot doesn't A.
Shot just doesn't go away off the balance. I take Damian Lillard that on that one hard jab to the side, fade Dame bodies draped around If it's like Martians draped around him, death beam in the arena, gotta go, Steph, Gotta go Steph. He could just go from like half court. So I think that's who it is. Who would it be for you?
I think I honestly have the same answers to you. There's not really much controversy to this, like that's that's the answer.
That's just maybe Joe Harris.
I'm not taking it out of any of those guys hands and giving it to Joe Harris.
Me neither, me, neither. All right, let's move on.
Okay, Next, we've got who's the most underrated player in the league.
I don't think he can choose just one. No, I don't think he can choose just one. I was thinking about this yesterday, putting it together, and I'm going to tell you who I have, and you can find the commonalities between these players for me.
Right, sure, all right?
I got Shay Gilgess Alexander. I think he is. He is averaging slightly better than Devin Booker and has gotten no noise, zero noise. He was quote unquote a slight All Star contender, but he didn't not even close. Right, He's averaging twenty four five and six a bucket. He can do pretty much everything off the bounce, he can get his own shot, create separation, boy can pass. He's a winner. He's the reason the Okace wins games. Eight games thirty plus or more and forty two against the Spurs.
Papovich was probably like, God, damn the shay kid, get him out of here. Yeah, here's another one that you'll like. Marty Michale bridges Facts fourteen, five and three. Here's the slash fifty four percent from the field, forty three percent from three, and eighty three percent from the line with just thirty minutes a game.
And playing devastating defense on the team on.
The correct best player correct.
I'm actually cool with him being underrated because I don't want to have to pay him twenty two million times.
Totally, totally. Here's another guy who's very well paid, Drew Holliday. He's averaging sixteen to five and five. I know he's been highly regarded in the past, but this year has just been no noise about him whatsoever. His stat liner his slash line is forty nine from the field, thirty six from three to eighty two. The team, the Bucks
basically tanked when he wasn't there. They were five hundred when he was hurt, and they're thirteen games over five hundred when he plays Gary Trent Junior definitely averaging fifteen to two and two forty one from the field and most of those are three threes. Yeah, he's one of the biggest reasons that the Blazers stayed intact while CJ. McCollum was out. Here are a couple deep cuts and underrated deep cuts. Rushawn Holmes, yes, Sir, fourteen nine and two,
sixty five percent from the field. Take that Ben Simmons sixty five percent from the field. Maybe the only guy that plays defense in Sacramento.
Yeah, I would love him back on the Suns right now.
Oh my god. Right, sometimes it's a fit thing. And then finally Royce O'Neill. He's doesn't have like a tremendous stat line, only eight points, seven rebounds and three assists, but forty five percent from the field, forty two for three and eighty four percent from the line, and he's getting he's tough, just getting reps in Utah. So what do they all have in common in your opinion, Marty? Like, what kind of player does TK Like.
I've been trying to figure it out, Like I was thinking, maybe it's like none of them have been All Stars, but then Drew has been an All Star. I don't know he'd be with it.
To me, a player that's under besides like the lack of noise, I think a player that is deserving of that spot is so versatile. They do everything. All of these players are pretty much good except for except for Rashawn Holmes, but he's he's not gonna shoot threes. All of them can shoot threes. All of them have good slash lines. But also they don't have definitive holes in their game. They can all these guys can pass, all these guys can shoot, they can all do different facets
of the game. So if there's a big hole in your game, I don't think you're underrated. I just think you're properly rated. If you can do everything and nobody's talking about you, like Michael Bridges, who is a solid defender, that's what you say. I also like defense. All these guys can play okay defense, at least they're not a defensive liability. I would take any of these guys on my team at any given time.
Next question, Okay, we've got are you buying into the Hawks winning? Streak.
I got so many of these questions on DM I think probably fifteen or twenty something like this. Hawks talk about the Hawks, you were wrong about Nate McMillan talk about it. Do you trust in them? Blah blah blah. I mean they won eight of ten, They've won eight in a row with Nate McMillan, they're fourth in the East. I probably tell a lot of people feel that there's egg on my face with my take, And even upon first glance, I think that there's some egg a little
bit on my face. Did I expect them to win eight in a row as Nate McMillan became the head coach. I did not, cause then that would make my take look a little silly. But the truth is, when you look at the wind streak, it consists of the Miami Heat without Jimmy Butler, the Magic, the Raptors who have been terrible, the Kings, the Calves, the Rockets, Okse and the Lakers without Lebron and Ad. Those are teams have
to beat, period. Those are teams that you should beat if you're okay, are you a world beater?
No?
Six of those eight teams are sub five hundred teams. And other two teams are missing their best player. I mean, I don't know what to say. Do I buy them? No? I don't do. I think they're a lot better with Nate McMillan. Yes. Do I think Nick McMillan is better than the coach who got fired? Yes, Nate McMillan's been a head coach in this league for a very long time, so yes, I think he's competent. I just don't think he's the one. They've got games coming up against the Clippers, Warriors,
and Nuggets. We'll see then, won't we What do you think about that? Marty? How do you feel about the Hawks? Uh?
I mean yeah, like you look up all of a sudden, they're fourth in the East. I hadn't gone back and looked at who all those wins were against. That definitely is telling a little bit, and we'll see. We'll see coming up. I feel like if they I mean, if they can go two and one in that stretch, then maybe maybe I'll start believing.
Yeah, I agree. That's all the time that we have for this league podcast. Marty is finally gonna be back in studio, so good news for that. He will be back for Friday, show. Please subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. It makes a huge difference. It does unsubscribe, resubscribe. We also have This League hoodies on sale at the Barstool Store. Please don't forget to follow us at This League and at Trista Underscore crik on
TikTok ig, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. That's a lot of places for you to go, but please go. Thank you for listening, and we will be back early Squirrely Friday morning, right, Marty