181. Giannis & Bucks STUN KD & Nets, can AD save Lakers? Clippers legit?

download the fandel Sports Book app to get started. Now sign up with promo code Jason T so they know I sent you twenty one plus in president Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana, permitted parishes only, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, Virginia or West Virginia. First online real money wager only. Refund issued as non withdrawable site credit that expires in fourteen days. Restrictions apply see terms at sports book dot FanDuel dot com.

Gambling problem called one eight hundred, next step or text next step to five three three four two in Arizona one eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG dot org slash chat in Connecticut one eight hundred gambler or visit FanDuel dot com slash RG in Colorado, Indiana, New Jersey, in Virginia one eight seven seven seven seven zero stop in Louisiana one eight hundred to seven zero seven one one seven for confidential

help in Michigan one eight seven seven eight Hope and Why or text hope and Why to four six seven three six nine in New York. In Tennessee redline dial one eight hundred eight eight nine nine seven eight nine in Tennessee. Visit www one dot one eight hundred gambler dot net in West Virginia. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight presented I Fan Duel here at the volume. Happy Thursday, everybody. You're almost all the way through the week. I hope

you have big plans for the weekend. Absolutely jam packed show tonight. What an incredible basketball game that Milwaukee Bucks in Brooklyn Nets. Game was on so many different levels. It is back and forth like five different times. There was a bunch of shifts, and just the style of the game and the way it was being played out.

We're gonna break that game down in detail, and then we're gonna get into Anthony Davis and the story that he is going to be a sham Trania reporter that he's going to be returning on Friday, and it looks like Lebron will be as well. I have a couple of key stats that are going to explain why I think that the Lakers still have an outside chance of

trying to turn things around. And then for those you guys who stick around around the end, we're gonna play some games, and we also have um a breakdown of the l A Clippers and the theory that I have about something that I think might be coming down the line here very soon regarding the Clippers. But let's start with that Bucks Nets game. So, like I said, an incredible back and forth type of flow. You know, I always talk about how the NBA's about matchups. You know,

their styles make fights. It's all those classic cliches. But the gist of it is is that you know, you have a certain punch that you can throw, and it might work better against one opponent than it will against another. And these two teams could not be more different in the way that they play basketball. Milwaukee is so much

of a brute force attack at every position. Even Chris Middleton, one of their most skilled players, is a very physically imposing six ft eight huge forward that tries to back you down and work out of the post a lot of the time. But Drew Holidays, this power guard, you know, just like runs people over getting to the bass. A dominant defensive player has a good amount of skill, but it's not his bread and butter. He's very much a brute force power guard, is what I always call him.

And then you have Jhannas Antena Kopo is basically like the modern version of shock that operates on the perimeter. Going over to the nets. It's Kyrie Irving, arguably the most skilled basketball player to ever touch a basketball court. It's Kevin Durant, you know, this very slender, tall arguably

the best score to ever touch the basketball court. And their third best player right now is probably Seth Curry, an undersized guard who is as skilled as you'll find in a role player in the league, but not a brute force type of player. And it was interesting to see that flow throughout the game and the way that that shifted as each team kind of flexed their individual skill sets. At the beginning of the game, it was

all nets. In that first quarter. The nets were the Bucks were sending a lot of extra help towards Kevin Durant. They were trapping him on every pick and role, and they turned him into a playmaker, and he made them pay for that. He had five assists in the first quarter. I thought he was making the right play every time down the floor. It was interesting to see the way that that disrupted his rhythm as the game went along.

And this is a long staining theory. I have like stand still jump shooters, they don't need as much rhythm because every jump shot they take looks the same, Like every shot you see Stanley Johnson take from a three point line in the game looks exactly the same. But guys like k D, guys like Kyrie, they're very rhythm oriented. Every shot they take looks different. They have to be adaptable, and I feel like those kinds of guys are very

dependent on rhythm. And there was a stretch of the game I think Katie didn't score and the entire second and third quarters. I thought that was directly tied to the way that Milwaukee trapped him and sent extra help towards him throughout, kind of disrupting his rhythm. He was playing great basketball, He was making the right play. But that's the other impact that that kind of thing has.

It disrupts the rhythm and flow. And Kadi was able to make some big jump shot towards the end of the game, but he wasn't the same type of efficient jump shooter that we normally see, and I think that that was part of that strategy. But the double teams and all that help and all that trapping was hurting the Bucks in that first quarter. Right at the end of the first quarter, Katie took an easy trap on a on a ball screen, dumped it two drumming on

the short roll, quick easy kick out to Seth Curry. Bam. They're up seven to end the first quarter. But then comes the second quarter. Kad steps out of the game for a minute, and now that brute force attack takes over. Janice is an absolute monster in the second quarter, just running people over getting to the basket, and next thing

you know, we got ourselves a basketball game. Then we get into that third quarter, the Bucks are kind of in control again, but then all of a sudden, Kyrie starts making shots and Katie starts making shots and they go on a run, and then we had that weird Chris Middleton play, which was you know, I you never want to see a very important player to the outcome of a game like that get removed. But that's a textbook play that a guy has to be ejected for.

You can't pull somebody out of mid air when they're jumping at full speed. It's such a dangerous play, very similar to what happened to Alex Caruso when he broke his rich which, ironically enough, I was literally listening to Alex Caruso on the JJ Reddick podcast today and he said that, uh, that Grayson Allen still has not apologized for that, which I thought was very interesting. Chris Milton's a good guy. He's not that type of player. Just a random act, a random act of violence needed to

be ejected. At that point, it looked like the game was over there. That's made a couple of big plays. They were up by nine with three minutes left, and then it was just incredible execution from that point forward. The extent to which the Bucks locked down defensively was so incredibly impressive to me. That's how you come back from down nine with three minutes left. It's that high

level defensive execution mixed with their athleticism. There was a play in early overtime, well first of all, but at the end of regulation. That play where Katie got the jump shot. He's working on Wesley Matthews, and as we've seen several times, he did it at the end of regulation, and he did it at the end of overtime, and he did it twice at the end of that game

seven against the Bucks in the playoffs last year. Katie's go to move when he needs a jump shot at the end of the game is hard dribble left, get cut off, spin and elevate, and that's that. You could tell that's the move he gets most comfortable with. When he knows he can take off, he knows he's gonna get a clean look at the basket, he takes the outcome out of the defender's hands and puts it in

his hands. And Janice really smartly through a late double team at Katie right as he was spinning off of Wesley. Mattis to talk about this a lot on the show, but if you catch an offensive player in the middle of their move, it's a lot harder for them to counter. He disrupted Katie, and Katie is such an insane talent. Somehow he's still got a decent look off. He just missed it, but a really smart play from Jhannice. And

then in overtime the Bucks just completely clamped down. There was a sequence where Katie was working on Wesley Matthews on the left wing and Janice kind of doubles out of the strong side corner off of Seth Curry. Katie makes the right pass to Seth Curry. Seth Curry's wide open, but somehow Janice closes out on him and takes away

the shot because he's just a freak of nature. The ball gets worked back around, ends up and draw his hands Drawgic drives into the lane, kate U. Janice comes over and doubles again and Seth Curry relocates over to the right wing, gets kicked out to Seth Curry. He's wide open again and Janice he brings another terrifying clothes out to chase him off the line again and I'm just sitting there watching him like man. When this Bucks team really really tightens the screws defensively, they are a

frightening team to play against. And when they have the type of physical like the the physical overwhelming nature of their lineups. Like I said, Drew Holiday has that power size and straight eight combination that you don't see a lot at the guard position. Obviously, Janice is a freak, and Chris Middleton did a really nice job all night on Kevin Durant so that he was never comfortably applied

good pop ball pressure across half court. I thought it was a really fascinating game, very up and down, and then in overtime it just became about the nets being incapable of scoring. And then we had a couple of fouls. I thought it was really impressive the way that Janice missed those two free throws, two very important free throws. I thought it was a bad call. Thought Katie played great defense on that possession. I thought Janice chicken winged him a little, but he got away with it. Got

the foul, goes to the line Mrs Both. Then Katie goes down and makes all three free throws, but Janice came right back down. I thought it was genius that Mike Budenholzer did not call a time out after those free throws. They had one to burn, they didn't use it. It was so smart because you gave Joannice the full court runway. It was very similar to a play in Game three of the Eastern Conference Semifinals in two thousand and eighteen when Lebron made the game winning bank shot

floater off the glass against the Raptors. When you have a Trait Trains type of player, which was only a handful of guys like that in the league, and Janice is one of them, if you give them a head start in transition, it's actually a better option than bringing it in against the half court set when they just don't have that same head of steam. The wall is already built and it becomes a much tougher, tougher offensive assignment. You know, Nick Claxton kind of hacked down on Janice

right as he was going up. It was unfortunate because Katie was right there and help. I think he would have blocked it off the glass because Janice was double pumping on the play, so he wasn't trying to dunk it. He would have laid it up. Just unfortunate the way it goes. And then Katie goes to his go to move again that hard dribble left spin back elevate and it went in and out, and that's how the story goes. I still think the nets are just a little bit better.

I've talked about this at length a couple of days ago. This is the way the game goes, Like keV Durant did not have a good shooting night tonight. Overall, I over the course of the the uh. You know, Yanna's got a lot of easy stuff over the course of the game. That stuff that they can tighten up, tight tighten the screws over the course of a playoff series.

Because you know, with Joannice, it's interesting when you when you build the wall on him, the game does get incredibly difficult for him relative to the way it is when the game is in the open floor and he's operating and an advantaged all the time. And so the interesting thing is gonna be with Janice is how he can adjust to that. You know, when you're playing a team like Brooklyn and you're Jannice, you have a physical

advantage against literally everybody. Last year they tried playing Blake Griffin. He had some success against him early in the series, but Blake Griffin has taken a significant physical decline since then, so he's out of the picture. And so now it's like it's Nick Claxton, it's Kevin Durant, it's a little bit Andre Drummond on the back side. It's it's just it's not James Johnson actually did an okay job on him for stretches tonight, but they're not physically equipped for

that type of matchup. And you know what's gonna be really interesting for me with Joannice is if he does beat Brooklyn, let's say in the first round, there is going to be a team that he's gonna play at some point for seven games that has better physical tools to throw his way. If you look at his playoff run last year, even as he's working up his way through, he makes it through that Brooklyn team that's injury decimated. Right then he plays that Atlanta team and they play

a lot of Clint Compel on him. He's okay, they have some wings, but they're not a super physically stout team. And then you get to the finals and as soon as DeAndre Ayton was off the floor, they had nobody that they could throw at him. Jake Crowder is too short, their backup center of Frank Kaminski was just completely incapable of that task. And that's why when I you know I talked about when I did the video talking about how I thought Janice was still below Kevin Durant and Lebron.

I talked about how those two guys have this plethora of evidence of the way they succeed in so many any different environments. Like, for instance, Lebron in two thousand twenty in the Bubble, he has on the better team every single series. He had Anthony Davis on his team as well, Like if that was his only title, you could point to some fortunate circumstances there, Kevin Durant, Steph

Courier on their couches. You know, they they had the most talent in the in the that entire playoff run, the Miami Heat were kind of a strange team to make it out of the Eastern Conference. But you don't judge Lebron for that because he has so much other success in his past that adds legitimacy to it. You've also seen him do what he did in two thousand sixteen,

so you don't think of as a fortunate run. You've seen what he did in two thousand thirteen and in two thousand twelve, so you don't think of that as a fortunate run. Even with all of his finals runs when he didn't win the title, Janice got some beneficial you know, luck of the draw type stuff with his matchups throughout the playoff run last year. So when I was saying, like, you know, I'd like to see him do it again, when I'm talking about is like what

happens when you get the bad matchup. You know who's gonna be like the Spurs word for Lebron, the team that takes away everything that he does well and forces

him to do something that makes him uncomfortable. There's going to be a team at some point in the next couple of years very well, maybe this year that puts Janice in a predicament again, And I'm really curious to see how he responds, because to me, that's gonna be the difference between him being on the same tier as Kevin Durant and Lebron and him being above those guys. That's the next step, the malleability, the facing your worst enemy, your greatest weakness, staring it right in the eye and

overcoming that. That's gonna be the difference between Janice being a one time champion and him being a five time champion because because in that five trips to the finals or whatever it is. There's going to be years where it doesn't break perfectly for you, or you don't get to play Trey Young in the conference finals, where you don't get Kyrie Irving landing on someone's foot, where Kevin Durant does you know, have his foot behind the line.

There are gonna be series where that kind of stuff works against him, and I'm really curious to see how Janice evolves in the long run. There Again, like I said the other night, the biggest thing I'm looking for him there is his passing ability. Way less concerned about his ability to knock down a jump shot, for the record, is a huge weapon that he was able to knock down that step back three tonight to send it to overtime. That that's a great weapon to having your bag for

very specific scenarios. But nobody can guard Janice one on one on the block literally in the entire league. So I'm more concerned about how he handles multiple defenders than I am for him shooting jump shots and things along those lines. When I'm comparing guys like Janice and uh and Katie and Lebron, or I'm comparing guys like you know, Yokich and Embeed. It's a lot of like in the eye of the beholder, and a lot of like what's their situation like right, Because like I said, they couldn't

be more different. Katie is surgical, Janice is brute force. So a lot of it depends on the roster that you're with, a lot of depends on matchups. They're going to be specific matchups where Philly is a great example. I think Brooklyn would destroy Philly because they can attack a lot of Philly specific weaknesses. I know, Joannice just beat Philly the other night and looked great, But in the course of a playoff series, they have a lot more audibles, a lot more you know, extra cards in

their deck that they can throw at Janice. That will make things more complicated for them. I think Philly is a tougher playoff matchup for Janice and for UH Milwaukee than they've had in the last couple of years. That's gonna be an interesting wrinkle there. So when people say, like which guy do you think is better k D or Janice, or who's gonna win this playoff series? The

Nets or or Brooklyn. So so much of it is in the eye of the beholder, and so much of it is about matchups, and so much of it is about who else is on the floor with you. Look at how much the Kyrie injury completely changed the dynamic of that series last year. But it was an incredibly entertaining basketball game. You know. Uh, that's that's the That's that's why I love the format of the seven game series. It takes some of that flux to take some of that wild card nous out and makes it so that

you have a chance to fight another day. So do you have a chance to change some of there There were a lot of possessions in the middle of that game where the Nets were straight up giving janice lanes to the basket without help, like that stuff that you can tighten up over the course of a playoff series. I'm really curious. The Bucks absolutely strangled the Nets defensively at the end of that game, but there were some openings. They were sending a ton of help. They were sending

a lot of strong side overload type stuff. So I'm really curious to see how the Nets could counter that kind of thing. Fantastic basketball game. Gun to my head, I still think the nets are just a hair better, just a hair more versatile, and I think they have more time and more room to improve between now and potentially a match up with one of the better teams

in the East at that point. I'm hopeful that they catch a good draw in the first round so they get out easy, because I would love to see just a huge, you know, incredible highlight fight between one of these two teams. At the end of the day, For those of you are just joining us, this is Hoops Tonight, presented by Fandel here at the volume. I wanted to move on to the Lakers for a minute. Currently playing the Jazz tonight, we weren't going to cover that tonight

because of Lebron and Anthony Davis being out. We're gonna talk a lot of Lakers over the course of the next week because I really genuinely believe that they're going to have As long as everybody stays healthy, as long as a d stays healthy, and as long as Lebron stays healthy, I think this Laker team is gonna make a little bit of noise over this last six game stretch of the season and show that they can potentially be better than what they've shown us this season, and

I've one stat to evidence that. So this season, there's there. I've shown you some of the ugly stats surrounding Lebron in a D this year, but there's context there. For instance, I said, Lebron and Anthony Davis this year on the floor together have fared worse than the Lakers did last year with Lebron and a D on the bench. That's

how much of a catastrophe this season has been. But the context there is that they spent the entire first chunk of the season playing DeAndre Jordan at center, who's not an NBA player, playing Kent as Moore at the two guard, who may or may not be an NBA player anymore, certainly wasn't a good fit with this specific team. There was a lot of, like you know, just the

Lakers playing into their weaknesses. So I have one stat that is evidence of the fact that I think the Lakers have a better punch than they've shown so this year when Lebron, A D and Russ are all on the court together, but there's no center, so DeAndre Jordan and Dwight Howard off the floor. Any of the guys who played center for the Lakers this year off the floor.

They have played a hundred and eighty four minutes with that trio, which is sad for a whole other reason, because that's just how terrible the injury has been the season. For all that we've talked about about, all the self sabotage, all the Rob Polinka, all the Genie Buss, all the Lebron pushing for the Rush trade, all the bad signings, injuries have played a huge role in the way this has gone. So that that trio has only played a hundred and eighty four minutes without a center, and there

plus eleven point four net. That's a pretty damn good number. It's not a dominant number, but it's a really good number. That's a number that tells me a team that can potentially win a championship of some things break right. And that's with no continuity. That's with Lebron and a d barely playing a handful of games together in a row before one of them gets hurt. That's what the clunky

rust fit. There's a bunch of other contexts there that would even push that number lower than you would think, but their plus eleven point four in hundred and eighty four minutes with those three on the floor and no center this year, and that is the that is the

light at the end of the tunnel. Now, the reason why that could get better, this is the case for why this team could potentially go on a run, is now you're playing better role players instead of it being Kemp bays Moore, instead of being Avery Bradley, instead of it being Trevor Ariza, and instead of it being Dwight Howard minutes, which have proven to be really bad as of late. Instead of those players, it's guys like Austin Reeves,

who has taken almost all of Avery Bradley's minutes. He's a significantly better player at this point in his career. It's been Stanley Johnson taking over for Trevor Areasa. He's a better player at this point in his career. It's when In Gabriel playing some of those other forward center minutes. He's a better player right now than Dwight Howard or

DeAndre Jordan Wars. So you've got better rotational role players in that mix now, and then, last, but not least, it's about these shrunken rotation over the course of the regular season. You're trying to keep Lebron in a d s minutes down to thirty eight minutes per game. There's

these random shifts that don't make any sense. Think about how often this year you've looked at random line ups that have had three little guards on the floor like Avery Bradley, Russell Westbrook, Malik Monk, at the same time with like Taylor Horton Tucker who's only six four playing power forward. There's been a lot of examples of where the Lakers have had to dive into their weaknesses as a result of just injuries and and trying to get

through the regular season. In the playoffs, it's gonna be thirty eight to forty minutes of Lebron in a d In a big pivotal game, it's gonna be forty two to forty four minutes of those guys. It's only gonna be like five or six other role players that get to play. Frank is gonna be able to just straight up bench a guy if he's not playing well because he's not trying to spell for the eighty two game season, he's not trying to save people's legs. You're just playing

every game like it's your last. Those are the reasons why I think they have a puncher's chance if you look at their regular the remaining schedule. So everything broke down over the last two days exactly like I expected, although it was a little touch and go with San

Antonio and Memphis the other night. Uh I can't remember who it was for the Spurs, but one of their young guards had a decent look to win that game, and had he made it, all of a sudden, you're down one game on the Spurs with them having the tiebreaker, that could have been the final nail in the coffin.

But things broke the way I expected. I expect the Lakers to finish losing tonight in Utah, which will put both teams, the Spurs and the Lakers at thirty one with six games left, except for the Lakers are bringing back Lebron James and Anthony Davis. So the remaining schedule for the Lakers, they play the Pelicans on Friday, they play the Nuggets on Sunday, and then they finished the season with the Sons, the Warriors, the Thunder and the Nuggets. Now,

let's take a real quick look at those games. Do I think the Lakers with Lebron James and Anthony Davis playing for their basketball lives at home on Friday, will get a win, Yes, I do. Do I think that they're capable of beating that Nuggets team that's, you know, not that talented. Absolutely. Do I think they can beat the sun Hell no, not yet. Maybe, but maybe by the time they get to the first round, but that's probably a loss, but they could be two and one

at that point. Do I think they could beat the Warriors without Steph Curry? Absolutely? Do. I think they can beat the thunder Absolutely, And then there's the Nuggets again. So five and one is very much on the table down the stretch. In fact, I would argue, if Lebron and a D are healthy and playing like their lives depend on it, they should win those games. So that will put the Lakers firmly potentially if the Pelicans dropped some games, potentially at that nine seed, but that will

get them into the plane. I believe as long as Lebron and a D don't get hurt here in the next couple of days, I believe the Lakers will make it into the playing game. And for all the reasons that I just laid out, I think they have a chance to at least a Puncher's chance to make some noise there. But they have to get some breaks. Yeah, would Chris Paul have to not play super well with the Suns potentially have to have an injury where there

have to be some younger role players to struggle. Absolutely, there's a bunch of stuff that has to break right for them. But I'm in a different mind space that I was about a month ago when it looked like this team was basically trying to quit. Alright, everybody on YouTube. I'm bringing my guy Carson on. We are going to play a game. What's up, Jason? How you doing, man? I'm doing great. This has been a super fun night

of NBA action. Obviously, Bucks Nets you talked about we got a Clippers Bulls and ot Tomorrows forty four now, I think so we got a good basketball to watch. Yeah, all right, We've got a fun game for you here today. It's called that's what he said. So we're gonna give you a SoundBite, a quote from around the league that we think is interesting, and have you listen, and then I'll give you a question. Get your thoughts on it. Sound good? All right, I'm excited, let's hear it. Alright.

So The first one we have is from Draymond Green on The Draymond Green Show, obviously his podcast with the volume, talking about how he was disappointed with his own play as of late, with the Warriors play as of late overall. So let's take a listen. Three of you is I've been terrible. Um, I've been terrible defensively, I've been terrible offensively, and so that's just what it is. Now what am I going to do to fix that? Well, I'm going to continue to do what I've been doing, which is

putting the work in. And ultimately, my whole life is a product of hard work. You put the work in, you get the resource. I know I've put the work in. But also, no things don't happen overnight. You know, you don't just go from missing two and a half almost three months of basketball while everybody's playing at a high level and just return and it's and that's that. You know, it doesn't work like that. So obviously this has now been a pretty consistent downward trend for the Warriors, and

You've talked about this a lot as of late. So how concerned are you about them right now? As we had in the postseason, I don't think they're a top tier contender, but I felt that way for a long time, and it's not attached to Draymond. I think I had them at second and my contenders the other day, and it's only because of how much I trust those three.

I have an unbelievable amount of respect for Steph, Clay and Draymond and what they've accomplished in their past and what they will be capable of when they get to the postseason. Now, as far as Draymond goes, a couple of things, Like, you know, there the wall of getting out of NBA shape and into or i'll just call it basketball shape. Um, when you're getting in and out of basketball shape, it's a process. We we call it

breaking through the wall. So essentially, there comes a point when you're really working your way back into shape where your body almost gets behind in its recovery and you feel clunky and you feel slow, and it can take like the better part of a month before you really get back. Like if they make it to the second or third round, it might take until the middle of the second round or early third round before Draymond really really looks like Draymond, just just in terms of his

physicality because that's just the process now. As far as as his offense goes, so much of it is Steph like Stephen Draymond very symbiotic players. A lot of what's a Draymond does offensively depends on his ability to make reads and four on three scenarios. And the only way he can get four on three scenarios is if you have a player like Steph Curry that commands a trap on every single pick and roll. So a lot of what Draymond does offensively is limited when he's not playing

with Steph Curry. And and in return, Steph needs Draymond for everything that he does, So they're very symbiotic pairing. But I'm not worried about Draymond at all, and I and he's right. I trust his hard work and I have I've no doubt that they'll be able to recapture what they were as long as Steph can get back

on the court and get healthy. What do you think is the one thing that needs to change most of them beyond obviously just getting step back, But what do they really still need to figure out and fix above everything else. I think they're fine, like they and right now is currently constructed. They're as good as they can

be without a massive identity change. So like I I'm a so they've They're like the Lakers with their injury luck this year, like Draymond got hurt, was out forever and then he comes back, and then Steph got hurt. So everything you've seen on the court with them this year is kind of your relevant to what they're going to be right now that that group of of Steph, Clay Dre and Jordan Poole kind of off the bench and then all of those wings that they have, that

all works great. The only the greatest weakness of this team is the same weakness they had in two thousand fifteen, two thousand sixteen and in two thousand nineteen after Kevin Durant went down. Steph Curry is not a physically imposing star, so when defense is really locked in on him, if he misses shots, they don't have another great punch. I love the big wings in the league. This is why I always get drawn back to Janest Lebron and Kevin Durant.

When you have the ability to really apply a physical pressure on the game with your physical tools, I think that's an extra punch and an extra versatility. So I'm still a big believer in them when they're healthy. I put them right below Phoenix and that next tier. But they're never gonna become the world beaters they were again unless they find a big forward that can develop into

a rim pressuring guy Wiggins, isn't it. Maybe it becomes Jonathan cominga in the future, But you know how I feel about lining up timelines, So who knows, But that's that's what I've used their biggest weakness. Alright, Well, again, that specific sound bite came from Draymond's podcast and he had Jason Tatum on this week. That's coming out soon, so everybody should go ahead and check that out. Always

super interesting here and him talked to other NBA guys. Alright, so our next quote here is related to the Defensive Player of the Year conversation, and you just did attempts tape breakdown on the Jazz defense. Obviously, Rudy Gobert is always somewhere in that conversation, some people calling him Stifled Tower or some people calling him Rudy Gogert deeply divisive. But Marcus Smart came out and talked about sort of how they compare defensively, and he said, Rudy can't guard

all five spots. I can guard all five spots and I've been doing it. I've done it very well. So Jason, what's your action to that? And who would you have as deepoy right now? Wait, that was Marcus Smart that

said that, Yeah, you're kidding me. Okay, um, So, I, like everybody else who a couple of years ago, jumped on the Rudy Gobert slander train, you know when that always going down Utah Jazz fans, people that I trust, like, I try to find people that cover each team that follow them on a day to day basis, because you can never like, my knowledge of the Lakers will never be the same as what I have for the rest of the teams because I've literally watched every single game

they've played this year. For the rest of the league, I do my best to parse out my time right. The Jazz fans kept coming to me and saying, like, it's not Rudy, it's the other guys, and so I dove into the tape extensively. Rudy guards ones absolutely fine. Rudy King guard all five positions on the floor extremely well. He is not the problem. I know, highlights get put in there where a guy scores on somebody, but all of the best the defensive players in the in the

in the league gets scored on. You can find Ben Simmons getting scored on. You can find Kauai getting scored on. It's all part of the bit surrounding Rudy Gobert. The gist of it is the Utah Jazz have a huge void in their perimeter defense, and so they rely on

Rudy Gobert to clean everything up. And all of the really smart teams in the league have figured out that if you get him in rotation, even just once or twice, and get him out to the perimeter, then all of a sudden, you have no defense and the perimeter and then no help on the back line, and it's just a layup line. They have a history of having really good defense in the you know, aggregate Grand scheme regular season,

but they struggle against really good teams. They struggle against five out teams, they struggle against teams that have a lot of guys who can dribble drive. And so I am going to have Rudy Gobert's back here. Marcus Smart is amazing, but he's not Rudy Gobert. So I think this is interesting because a lot of times people do bring up the argument of versatility, and this is always the thing with Draymond versus Rudy, and it was a

thing with Ben Simmons versus Rudy. But my thought has kind of been, if you're just talking about regular season defense, you know, when it comes to just the overwhelming impact that he does have as that deterrent and like the defensive on off numbers, the opponent field goal differential, it's really hard to argue against Rudy Gobert is deepoy kind

of every year. But if he's not really the best defensive player on the planet when it matters most, do you think that there needs to be like a reevaluation there, or like, do you just kind of have to give it to him, because in regular season terms, you know, nobody really is more impactful most of the time. So but in in Rudy's defense, though, the Jazz defense falling apart in the postseason is not necessarily Rudy falling apart.

So now if we're talking like who's better Draymond or Rudy, that's a different conversation because they're kind of different a bunch of different ways. Rudy's all length and Draymond is all physical city. You know, he's a very He's a good vertical defenders. He bumps people off of their line really really well. But like both of them have shown a propensity to get beat in straight line drive scenarios on the perimeter. Neither of them are great out in

the perimeter. They're just fantastic back line defenders. I would argue that Draymond's probably a little bit better of a back line communicator, Like he's a higher i Q defender, which I think might give him an edge in my book. But like again, I think I think that I think if we saw Rudy Gobert doing what Brook Lopez was doing,

we would all be terrified. So for the Bucks, so I'm I'm I guess what I'm saying is I want to distance the jazz Is defense from what Rudy Gobert is capable of a different as a defensive player, if that makes sense. Yeah, and you mentioned the Bucks, they're real quick. We have some people in the comments talking about Janice. Where do you think he figures into that conversation for defense? Yeah, in terms of depot best defender alive, So he is as a help defender the best you'll

find in the league. But so Joel Embie did a really interesting bit on this with J. J. Reddick the other day in his podcast actually I think it released today, and Joel basically said, I think a big man should be Defensive Player of the Year every year. And what he pointed out, which is an interesting element to this, is, in a lot of ways, the back line defender. So whoever plays that Draymond, Rudy, Gobert, Brook Lopez type of role,

that guy actually is the quarterback of the defense. So beyond his individual responsibilities, he's also responsible because he's behind everybody. Like it doesn't make sense for the point guard to call out plays because he can't see what's happening behind it, but the back line defender is essentially making a read based on what he sees as the offense is coming down the floor and he's calling out coverages. So there's

a whole other element to that. So as good as Janice is and I'm not undercutting that at all, he un of factors more into that, Like he's a perimeter player who's great in help but he's not a Draymond Green like quarterback of a defense, which is a different I talked a lot today today. He's frightening. When he's closing out, he's amazing. He's you could argue in a one or two possession setting, you wouldn't want anybody else

on the plan it as a defender. But in terms of the day and day out chess match type stuff, especially in a playoff series, I think I'd have to put the Rudy Goberts and the Draymond Still ahead of him because you have to factor in that quarterback of the defense element. If that makes sense. Yeah, absolutely well. I gotta say, Jason, you're just throwing me lobs with the transitions here because you mentioned em Beat on the JJ Reddick podcast Old Man in the Three that is

where our next sound bite comes from. And you've been critical of em beats tendency to go out and sort of hunt fouls in an unnatural fashion. And he actually spoke out on that because j J kind of called him out about it for a second. So let's take a listen. This is a great example of what I like to call a foul baby. That's not far baby. This is what we talk about here, But you play basketball. This is basketball like you. All right, I'm in a penalty and why before that play? I don't know if

it was before that play or the play after. I just knew that. You know, they had a couple of files and it's easy like that's this is basketball like you. So people are always saying flops so you know, fa bathing and all that stuff. That's just me based smart and then everybody else. So what do you think, Jason, do you agree with mbid a k A the NBA player you would least like to be slapped by. So, first of all, I loved the way that JJ went

at him in that podcast. There was another clip at the very end, like right as he's signing up, he's like, oh, by the way, when you're working out with Drew Handlon, what do you say, like how often do you work on foul baiting? Like fifty of the time, like seventy percent of the time, and he's like kind of rubbing into his face. I loved it because you you know, Joel's right, He's right, it's an intelligence thing. It's a

basketball like you thing. Um, the guys like Chris Paul, the guys like James Harden, the guys like Joel Embid in the league. I I admire them taking advantage of the rules. When I am mad about foul grift, NG, it's more towards the league, Like, for instance, at the beginning of the season, they did such a great job legislating it out, but then the refs just kind of all drifted back into their old selves as the season progressed, and I put the pressure on the league to deal

with this problem. So when like, if foul grifting is not a Joel emb problem, it's an NBA problem. However, I don't think it's smart to build that into your game in such a way that is so reliable, because we know the league is attacking it. Like you literally saw this entire offseason. It was a big story. I would venture to guess that within five years, that will be a huge taboo thing in the league, the idea of doing anything that's not a usual basket ball play

to try to score. So it's like, you know, it's it's like, you know, like when I was in high school, I could get away with not studying, but then I got to college and the material became more complicated and all of a sudden, something that I had been reliant on was no longer reliable. That's kind of the way I look at it. Like if I was James Harden, if I was Joel Embiad, if I was Chris Paul, I would be preparing for the fact that this will

not be allowed soon. And I wouldn't want to be caught with my pants down and be one of the guys who's massively struggling. And I pointed this out the other day, but it's just it's just the truth of

the matter. As good as Joel Embiat is, there's another bit later in that show where he talks about everyone says I I would only average seventeen points a game if I didn't get free throws, and he was like, well, that's part of the game, yeah, but it might not be one day, That's my point, And like, like you might have to be more reliable putting the ball in

the basket. And right now you shoot like in the high forties from the field, and Janice is shooting in the high fifties, and Nikola Yoka to shooting in the high fifties, and Katie and Lebron are doing it with you know, they're they're just more efficient at putting the ball in the basket. So you don't want to be caught behind in that regard. So yeah, not not Joel Embiat's fault, but he needs to read the writing on

the wall. Yeah, And to your point, I mean his first times, first two times in the postseason, I think his free throw attempts were down significantly. Another guy who people would sort of classify, probably in a similar conversation, Harden, I think his postseason career averages like at least a free throw fewer than regular season. So obviously, as that dynamic changes, like you said, you've got to be able to actually just put the ball into the basket. So alright,

that is it for That's what he said. Just to provide an update on the game that I mentioned when I came on, Bowls won in double overtime. Damar had fifty so another signature performance from him. In what let me check that real quick? He said he had forty something in regular ation, right DeRos and had forty four during overtime PG had twenty two PG at twenty two did he shoot? Well, what do you shoot from three?

He shot? Let's see, because I was I was blown away that he shot six for nine from three after stepping away from the game for as long as he did, missing a ligament in his shooting arm, Like it just doesn't make any sense to me. And when you get away from the game of basketball and you're like you're adapting to the speed, like your jumper is the first thing that goes. So I was so impressed. So did he not play well tonight? Tonight? He did not. He was seven of twenty two of nine from deep, so

the shot was not quite there. Okay, all right, Carson, I appreciate you man. We're gonna see you in just a couple of minutes, right, all right. So, um, what happened with Paul George tonight was a little more in line with what I was expecting him kind of building

his rhythm back. But so the Clippers, the Clippers present a really really interesting question mark or what if coming up over the course of the next couple of weeks, because I'm so flabbergasted as to why Paul George, missing a ligament in his shooting elbow would not get surgery so that he could be available to work out all off season to be prepared for next season. With Kauai coming back, it just is it's beyond nonsensical. You would assume that at some point he's gonna have to get surgery.

It's not like Paul George wants to finish his career missing a ligament, right, I mean, who knows. I don't know what the internal conversations are, but it was so strange to me, which got me thinking a lot about this. Why would Paul George come back? They're in the playing game, right if they win. Let's say they go to Minnesota and win and they get the seven seed, You've got to go on the road to Memphis for a playoff series. They're gonna be like, Memphis is gonna be heavily favored

in that series, even with Paul George. And you know, it's just I didn't see the point. And so what I kept wondering is like, what if they know something we don't know? And so then out of nowhere we see the Clippers release a photo of the Clippers boarding the team plane yesterday and Kawhi Leonards getting on the plane. And again, it's so hard to make reads on this kind of stuff because Kauai keeps everything so close to

the chest. His circle. His circle is literally as airtight as any professional athlete is, any celebrity that we've seen in the modern era, which is insane when you think about social media and the ease of access to information. So we would never know, like if Kauai was gonna play tomorrow or if he didn't plan on playing next season at all, we wouldn't know. We would find now when he put the jersey on. That's the way it would work, and so it's it's genuinely like an interesting situation.

So my theory is that the Clippers are looking at this situation. They looked at how much they punished Phoenix last year. They were really really interesting matchup for Phoenix last year. They had a lot of success against them. They lost in six games, but there were at least two games that I can think of in that series that could have very easily gone the other way. So I think the Clippers are looking at the situation and

they're like, we like our chances in the West. The Memphis is too young, Golden State is having injury issues, nobody else in the conference is nearly as talented, and we like our chances against Phoenix. And then we get to the finals, who knows what can happen, And I think that they're having conversations behind the scenes, and I think Kauai has been telling them that he plans on coming back. That's my theory. Again, I have nothing to support it, because Kauai is never in a million year

is going to tell us anything. But I like it as an interesting kind of wrinkle here. I've talked a lot over the course of the last couple of years, especially since especially since Tyler got there, especially after what happened against Phoenix last year and then getting to the conference finals without Kauai. They they are the best team in the league in my opinion, at maximizing talent. They have the perfect mix of modern coverages and schemes mixed

with traditional, reliable ones. They run, drop when they can, they switch when they can, they mix coverages up a lot. They've even thrown zone in there from time to time. They're very, very smart basketball team. It's credit to Tyler. I talked a lot about this over the course ever

since the Cleveland situation. But Tyler was rigid when he was in Cleveland, and a lot of coaches struggle in their first coaching gig trying to inflict their personality on a team, and he's come to the clip person he's become one of the most malleable and open minded and ahead of the curve type of coaches that we have in the league. And here there's I'm really really interested

to see because basically he's taken Reggie Jackson. You know, a couple of interesting young players like Terrence man in a mere coffee, and you know, obviously Zoo Botch is good. I did a whole video on Isaiah Hartenstein the other day and the way that he punished Rudy Gobert for helping They've got some interesting young players, but it's a lot of Reggie Jackson and Marcus Morris and Nick Patum. It's not a super talented team, and they're just manufacturing

wins by playing really smart basketball. And this takes me back to the whole bit that I had about the Lakers a while back. When you when you have of the playoffs as an excuse to shrink your rotation, and when you plug massive role superstars back in, it takes everything. It takes all of the bad out. So right now, the Lakers are playing a game against the Jazz and they have to fill the normal seventy two minutes that Lebron and Anthony Davis would play with vastly inferior players.

So what do you think the product is going to be, especially with that team struggling so much besides and athleticism. Look at the Clippers. They've been better than the Lakers this year, significantly better than the Lakers this year, and they've taken thirty six minutes of Paul George and Kauai and replaced them with inferior players. So plugging those two guys back into the picture, slotting everybody appropriately, that not to mention the fact that they will instantly become the

two best defensive players on the team. It becomes a really really interesting dynamic. And that combination of Tyler in his ability to maximize talent with proper slotting with a shrunken rotation with Kawai and PG back into the fold instantly makes them a contender. Now how much of a contender they are depends on a lot of different things. What does quite look like when he gets back, how quickly does he get his rhythm? Like I said, he

might not even come back right. But in that scenario where they do come back, if they can get the fit in the field back quickly. This could be a really, really dangerous team. And as much as this team has a clear favorite in Phoenix, and they do, this league is very open in a lot of different ways. As dominant as Phoenix has been, they don't have the top tier superstars. As good as the Bucks have looked as of late, I'm still worried about their defense, as good

as the Nets can be. I'm worried about their defense and their ability to handle brute force physicality as good as Golden State can be. I'm worried about their health and whether or not Stephan Draymond are gonna look like themselves. Philly lost in Detroit tonight. They've got a whole bunch of issues of their own. Miami got a big win the other last night against Boston, but they're not a very They're not a top tier contender. The league is

very much open as law. As you think you can beat Phoenix, and all of these teams that have these superstars, they all think they can beat Phoenix because they know that they can if they can at least win the top the top heavy stuff, if you can outplay Chris Paul and if you cannot play Devin Booker. You give yourself a chance, and obviously Kauai and Paul George are very capable of that. One thing that would be interesting is avoiding Phoenix buys you time to get those guys

back in rhythm. So they're the eighth seed right now. They're probably gonna finishes the eighth seed if they can go into Minnesota and win that playing game and catch Memphis instead. With Kawai and Paul George, that buys you an extra round two two rounds actually to potentially get your legs underneath you before you have to deal with that Phoenix matchup again. No idea what's gonna happen with Kauai,

But he's a very very interesting wrinkle here. And I have a theory that that's the only reason in the world that you would bring Paul George back missing a ligament to flounder in the playing game. If that makes sense. It has to be for something bigger than that. If that makes sense. Alright, we're gonna bring my guy Carson back on for one more game before we get out of here. Jason, longtime, no see, all right, So this game pretty intuitive concept. I bet you can figure it out.

It's called what's more likely. I'm gonna present you two options. You tell me which one is more likely. And you mentioned the Sixers lost in Philly tonight. James Harden was a sparkling four of fifteen from the field. So given that, given the perennial drama that surrounds him, what's more likely that he signs the MAX in Philly or is on another team next season? He's gonna be in Philly next season on the Max. But it's because Darryl Moray thinks

much more highly of James harder than we do. So like, uh, I I think that it really just comes down to that at I mean, I said after the other the game the other day, when James Harden played really well, um that so much was dependent on his ability to get to the basket and I wasn't convinced that he can do that enough. And like in that same show, I said, we judge players over large sample sizes, not

over short sample sizes. If you catch Taylor Horton Tucker on the right night this year, you think he's a future All Star, but his trade values lower than it's ever been. James Harden has been mostly bad this year with little flashes of good And how did he respond to one of his best games of the season, losing to the Bucks. The other day he responded by going four for fifteen against the Detroit Pistons. So, like I,

I am nowhere nearest high on him. I think signing him for a four year whatever the hell that number is gonna be like two hundred forty two hundred fifty million dollars, whatever that deal is gonna be. I would stay away from that. With a ten foot poll, it is guaranteed to be an albatross at the end. But Daryl Maury's big thing is like signed the guy, and he already loves James Harden and he believes in his

ability to flip contracts if he needs to. I wouldn't do it, but at this point you have to, especially when you factor in everything they just gave up to get him. Well. According to Darryl Maury, the guy that he has is better than Pique Michael Jordan offensively, so I probably does feel pretty good about that. Well. The man who showed Harden and the Sixers up tonight was Kate Cunningham. He has been playing really, really well as

of late and had seven tonight. So what's more likely Jason, that Kate Cunningham or Evan Mobley is a superstar player in this league. Oh. I think they're both gonna be. But I think Evan Mobley is definitely a safer excuse me, a safer bet because the thing with Evan Mobley and scouts will tell you this, he is consistently struggled with offensive aggression. He's a very naturally giving player. He's very much like I just want to be a cog in

the system, but his talent vastly supersedes that. I think he has the potential to be better than Anthony Davis Um. We'll see, but I think that he's a safer bet with his combination of physical tools and the obvious increasing aggression that's going to come from him in the coming years.

I love Kate Cunningham's game. He kind of reminds me of like a a more natural American version of Luca don che Is in the sense that he's more of a traditional small forward build, but he doesn't have the overwhelming athleticism which has forced him to build out the

details of his skill set. I always talked about with Luca what impresses me the most with him is he gets by people off the dribble by using his He sells every part of every move with every part of his body and as a result he gets little tiny windows of space and then that's when he uses his strength and physicality to get by people. Kate Cunningham is very similar a lot of freak athlete type of players.

They don't build out those details because they can go down the floor and cross over and there by the guy anyway just because they're faster. And I've I've been super impressed with kids like very methodical approach to offense. I think he's gonna be a superstar too, but I would say that Evan Mobile is certainly more likely to be if that makes sense. Yeah, absolutely, I mean I think both these guys were I mean exceptional prospects philosophically.

I mean, I think that it's interesting, do you have a perspective on a guy like Mobile who did seem to be really high floor because of the freakish defensive versatility, all the things that you could already do well offensively, Versus in a guy like Kid you have potentially, you know, a complete offensive ceiling razor because of just the kind of dynamic guard that he is. Like, obviously every case by case is going to be a little bit different, But do you think that one of those two things

is inherently more valuable? So I inherently think that the point forward, the big guy who can initiate everything from the perimeter, is a more valuable player. That's why I did a whole bit on this last week involving why I think Katie and Janie and Lebron are better than

Yo Kitchen Embiid by a big margin. But that said, like Kai doesn't fit that physical, imposing mold like he's you know, and this it'll be really interesting to see if this affects Luca when he starts playing in really high leverage playoff series, like when Luca gets to the conference finals or Luca gets to the finals, if there is a team that can of start to wear on him physically, I'll be really curious. It hasn't happened yet, and if you if any team could have done it, it

it would have been the Clippers. But like k D has this incredible frame, and then Janie and Lebron are once in a generation freight train athletes. Kate Cunningham is neither. So I do naturally gravitate towards the archetype of Kate Cunningham in the sense that I look at those guys as more valuable, But in this specific case, I I would lean towards Mobley because I don't think Kid can get to the same ceiling as a lebron A D

or Janice. I view Kid is a guy that if things really go well for him, he'll be a persistent top ten player in the NBA, But I don't think he could ever crack the top five, whereas I believe

Evan Mobile very much could. And another one last note on Mobile, he has significantly quicker feat than Anthony Davis, which is a huge part of what will eventually guide his offensive ceiling, because the big reason why a D can't be honest, the big reason why a D can't initiate from the perimeter, is he actually has a slow first step, and so he can beat guys off the

dribble when they're big plotting centers. But if you put like if you put Chris Middleton on Anthony Davis, like Chris is gonna make him shoot over the top, He's gonna slide his feet, you know, But I think Evan Mobley has some of that potential to be a perimeter initiator because he'll be able to make quick moves that generate more separation because he's quicker in my opinion. All right, Well, as we talk about some of the great young players that we have in the league right now, obviously Luca

is you know, as respected and promising as any. So what's more likely Jason Luca don Chech wins multiple m vps or no m vps in his career. I I think it's far more likely that gets multiple m vps. We have not given Luca enough credit for floating a pretty untalented situation, and I think he's aware of these details.

In his podcast with J. J. Reddick that he did the other day, he directly attributed their recent success to defense, and it's an interesting indicator of where Luca's headspace is at because there's this year they have a gimmicky defense. I think I think their top ten still if I remember correctly. They've slipped a little bit of late, but they've been a pretty good defensive team of late. But they do not have defensive personnel, you know, Max and

Cleveland is not a dominant back line defensive player. Dorian Finney Smith is an excellent defensive wing, but he's pretty much the only guy like that they have on the roster. The rest of these guys Spencer did it, did what he Jalen Brunson. They're bringing in a lot of lesser defensive players. There is going to be a stretch of time in Luca's career where he plays five to seven years in a row with an elite defense and a great secondary ball handler that can create when he's off

the floor. And when that happens, they're gonna win a ship ton of games. And I don't see any universe where he doesn't win a couple of m vps. What do you think? Oh? Yeah, I I absolutely agree. I mean, he entered this year as the betting favorite going into year four with the team that like did not have contender level personnel, and the raw production is always going to be there. I mean, he's walking nine and nine

pretty much, So I completely agree. And he's continued to add to and refine his game like year in year out, so I'm totally with you. I'd be shocked if he doesn't win an MVP, all right, Jason, I have one I have one last note on Luca really quick. This dude is getting it done right now, almost entirely unnatural ability and feel for the game. There will also be a stretch for he embraces taking care of his body

and he embraces a hard work out of it. He literally said it the J. J. Reddy podcast that he did a step back randomly in a EuroLeague game and the coaches were like, you should do that more often. It's not like this dude was practicing it. So my thing is is like, there will be a phase of his career, probably late twenties, early thirties, where he kind of has all those details figured out, and that's when

it could get really ridiculous with that guy. Yeah. No, that is a terrifying concept because I mean, like you said, he's already among the best players of his age we have ever seen, has been for the last a few years. All Right, Jason, what's more likely that the Brooklyn Nets win the Eastern Conference or that they lose in the first round of the playoffs. Oh, this is a really tough one because I am picking Brooklyn to win the East, but their series is in the first round. If they

faced Milwaukee or um Boston. I think it's a six or seven game series, which could go either way. So like that's literally what I think is gonna happen. They're either gonna lose in the first round or they're gonna win the whole damn thing. So I would say, oh, man, I'm gonna say it's more likely that they win, But it's barely over a coin flip, because it's all about matchups.

Like if they if they catch Miami or Philly in the first round, they're gonna cruise through the first round, which buys you an extra two weeks to get Ben Simmons back. Potentially, Ben Simmons is a supernatural fit to just plug in there because they don't need him to do anything other than defend and to make reads out

of a short roll or maybe out of the dunker spot. Right, So like it's they any Like if they get a good draw and they get bought a lot of extra time, that could be devastating for the rest of the league because they'll be really clicking by the time they get

to a Milwaukee or to a Boston. But then they could catch Milwaukee in the first round not have Ben Simmons not have some of their defensive details work out and the losing So I could see it going both ways, but I'd leaned towards them winning all right, last one here and unquestionably, unquestionably the most important. Star Wars has announced that it's moving the release state of Obi Wan Kenobi to May. Is it more likely that the show

is excellent or terrible? Wait? They moved it back and within the same way it was supposed to be early May, right, so they moved in just a couple of weeks. Yes, that's really strange. Oh man, um So, I I expect to enjoy it no matter what, but anytime you hear reshoots or delays, that's scary. And this is a really weird timeline they're working in. Them trying to do this series directly goes against some core plot points in Star Wars, and so from that standpoint, like, I expect to be

frustrated a lot during it, and reshoot scare me. I expect to enjoy it, but I don't expect to like appreciate its place in the Star Wars story. And I love that you asked me a Star Wars question, Thank you, Carson. Yeah, of course, man, I gotta get you right in your bag. And it's actually even weirder. They moved two days, but they're doing the first two episodes at once, so huh.

Who knows what's going on? That could be as simple as them thinking that the cliffhanger at the end of episode one isn't good enough, or that this episode two will be the one that really captures the audience. Like, here's the thing. It's like with you guys when it comes to production stuff, I'm leaning entirely up. I know the basketball, that's my bread and butter. I leave the production stuff to you guys. The people promoting this show know exactly what they're doing, and I will trust them

to figure it out. As a Star Wars fan, I have to enjoy it. I'm just gonna say I don't appreciate the fact that they're gonna step on their own plot lines there they There's been a lot of disrespecting George Lucas done by Disney, but that's a whole other story. You did get in the Hollywood mindset there for a second, though, because I think this is pretty good rationalization that you gave up why they would have made that move, So you know, don't sell yourself short. All right, well, thank

you Carson. I appreciate you coming on man. All right, guys, that is all we have for tonight. I sincerely appreciate you guys coming to hang out. We will be back tomorrow after the final buzzer of Lakers Pelicans. I'm extraordinarily excited. I think we're gonna see some good Laker basketball and a little flash in the pain of greatness from those guys. I appreciate you guys support as always, and I will see you tomorrow night. The Volume