Hoops Tonight - Would Damian Lillard win a title on the Heat? Can Lebron & Lakers beat the Nuggets?

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All right, let's talk some basketball. So number one our first question from Alberto, and by the way, thank you all for taking the time to submit mail bag questions. I will probably do one more of these later on in the summer. I think these are a lot of fun and nice opportunities to hit a bunch of the topics we don't hit during the show. So, from Alberto, how do you feel about Dame continuing to drop these Miami hints and not just coming out and saying that

he wants to be traded. So first of all, I find this whole thing annoying on a bunch of different levels. It feels there's a lot of posturing from Dame simply from the standpoint of he kind of put his foot in his mouth because he talked a bunch of shit when Paul George went to the Clippers, and he's kind of been a person who's criticized the superteam mold, so to speak, over the years, and now he's stuck in this position where his roster can't contend. And I don't

think people realize just how far Portland was away. According to Cleaning the Glass, which filters out garbage time, when Damian Lillard, Anthony Simon's and Jeremy Grant were all on the floor together last year, they had a negative net rating. So they're not even close to contending for an NBA championship. And you know, as far as the superteam thing goes, the league is so damn talented. Now you're not winning

unless you have multiple stars. It's just the reality. Like Denver, obviously, Nicole Jokic was great, but Jamal Murray played like a top fifteen player in the league, and we'll probably get some consideration there when we do our player rankings in the future. You need multiple good players to win a title.

It's just simply a fact. And so, you know, I understand there's a loyalty element, and I'm sure Dame has a a certain I'm sure Dame has a certain like sense of obligation to return that loyalty, but I don't really understand that because you know, I get it they took a chance on you by drafting you, but they also have not been able to meet you at your level. You at your craft as a basketball player, they at their craft running a basketball team, have not been able

to do as well as they've needed to do. They haven't held up their end of the bargain. You've been consistently at a talent disadvantage in most of these situations. And so, like I understand your loyalty to the fans, and that doesn't mean you can't be a you know, a really active citizen in the Portland community moving forward or anything along those lines, or return the favor to

the organization down the line. But for the time being, you're an aging small guard that needs to have an opportunity to play at the highest levels of the NBA playoffs, and you're just not getting there in Portland. And so I understand your fear of getting painted as being a guy who tries to run out to a super team, but really all you're doing is just being a competitor that wants a chance to compete, and Portland's not giving

you that chance. And so I wish that all of the theatrics and all of the politics involved would kind of go off to the wayside and Dame would just come come forward and express his desire to go elsewhere. And if you're Portland, it's the same thing. You don't really have the ability to surround Dame with the requisite amount of talent before he starts to decline, and so you're better off building around Scoot and Anfornty Simon's and

Shaden Sharp at this point. So I think it makes the most sense for both sides to move on my three favorite Dame trade destinations Miami. Obviously, then you're not at some massive talent advantage, but you're also you're also a top tier competitor. When you combine that with like what Jimmy and Bam do as a duo on both ends of the floor obviously, or Expolsure being the best

coach in the league. I also really really like the idea of Damian Lillard playing within that heat system, where he's going to be in the best physical shape of his life and be asked to do more defensively than he ever has in his life. I want to see what peak Dame looks like, and I think Miami gives us our best chance to see that, and it's a

perfect basketball fit. They desperately need another high end shot creator. Basically, an upgraded version of Gabe Vincent would go a long way, and that's what Dame can bring to the table for them. Number two the Boston Celtics. It addresses their biggest weakness, which is that half court surgery. It allows them to capitalize on this timeline that's the issues. Boston has this ridiculously talented roster right but they lack the top bench shot creation. Like Jason Tatum at his age just isn't

capable of going blow for blow with Steph Curry. Yet he's not capable of going blow for blow with Jimmy Butler yet, at least not not when their defense isn't as good as it was last year. Right, and so in this particular predicament there, it's like you're waiting for Jason and Jalen to develop into veteran superstars that are more dependable in the late rounds of the playoffs. But by the time they get there, you might have to pay all these role players and end up with a

much less talented roster, and that can be counterproductive. You happen to have the most talented roster in the league right now, so you have a real chance to win a championship right now. So that's why I would look to flip someone like Jaylen Brown for Damian Lillard because it gives you an opportunity to capitalize on this timeline.

It addresses your biggest weakness, which is that half court surgery, and it buys Jason Tatum the chance to grow because Jason Tatum still can develop into that bone and fide two way superstar that can be the best player on a championship team when he gets to his late twenties. And at that point, maybe you get off a dame and you rebuild around Jason Tatum at that point. But I really like Boston. A lot of the other teams don't really make a ton of sense to me as

a fan. Just for fun, I put the Lakers on here. It's completely unrealistic. They don't have the assets. It would require Portland basically accommodating Dame then basically being like, hey, you were so good to us over the years, we'll send you where we want. Okay, We'll take a couple pick swaps and a first from the Lakers with salary filler and go that way. But I'd love to see Dame play with Lebron James and Anthony Davis, just as

a basketball fan, even if that's completely unrealistic. All right, Next question, Samuel, If every NBA player is magically healthy for the playoffs next year, how many teams are actually stopping Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and the Clippers. We saw how Kawhi played in Game one and two versus Phoenix. Can anyone stop PG? Or can anybody stop that? If PG is there too for the entire playoffs. I'm just

completely shooting this question down on arrival. We've been down this road with the Clippers for years and years and years now. Every single season it's like watch out for the Clippers, and then one of two things happens, they either get hurt or like they did in twenty twenty in the bubble. It turns out that having two small forwards that defend really well and shoot a lot of pull up jump shots isn't necessarily the best way to

win in the playoffs anyways. They lack rim protection, they lack a shot variety, guys that can score from different spots on the floor. They Kawhi and Paul George both struggle to manage games on a possession by possession basis. I'm a huge fan of Kawhi. I think he can be the best player on a championship team. But this particular iteration of the Clippers, I'm completely off them. I will believe it when I see it. It's just they

never can stay healthy. Paul George missed this playoff run entirely, Kawhi Leonard missed last year entirely. Last time they were both healthy was in twenty twenty one, and then Kawhi Leonard got hurt again. It just doesn't work with this particular group, and so I'm kind of off the Clippers entirely at this point. From Marv, prediction wise, who do you think has the best chance next year to challenge

the Nuggets East or West. I asked because I truly think I can't truly think of anyone who can contend with Denver's current roster. I think it's the Lakers. I've been saying this for a while. I know they got swept, but if you look at the games individually, it's Game one, Lebron James had a shot to tie it at the end and he missed it. Game two, the Lakers had a double digit second half lead, and Game three in

Game four both came down to clutch situations. Game four was literally won by a Nicole Jokic game winner driving on Anthony Davis on the baseline. It was a sweep, but every game was close. They beat the shit out of the Suns, the shit out of the Wolves, and they pretty much manhandled Miami. If you look at the net ratings, the Lakers had by far the best net rating against the Denver Nuggets. They have the best combination of size and diversity of shot creation to attack Denver.

They were by far the most successful offense against Denver because of their ability to attack the rim. I think there are a couple of prerequisites the Lakers have to play better. So, for instance, Anthony Davis got his lunch taken by Nicole Jokic, he has to at least compete with him a little bit better. Lebron James has to get back to where he was as a jump shooter. I pulled up the numbers this morning. It was pretty crazy.

Last season, Lebron James was in the sixty first percentile as a jump shooter, averaged well over a point per possession. This year, he dropped down to zero point nine points per possession on jump shots, which was in the twenty fourth percentile. So Lebron has to get back to where he was as a jump shooter. If Lebron and ad are not where they need to be as jump shooters by the deadline, they need to be more aggressive in the trade market to bring in a legitimate shot creator.

But I do think the Lakers are going to run it back, and I think we're gonna see a Lakers Nuggets conference finals again next year. And I think the Lakers do have the best chance to beat the Nuggets, although at this point I would still pick the Nuggets. They are the best team in the league. They are the safest bet to win the title. Next year. I can't think of anything that I'd see this summer that would cause me to change my mind. I already saw

Bradley be able go to the Suns. Don't think that matters. I think I think the Nuggets beat them, maybe even easier than they did last year, because again, Devin Booker made like seventy five percent of his pull up jump shots for two games, which is incredibly unrealistic. So I don't think it's the Suns. There is no team out there right now that could do anything that would make

me favor them over the Nuggets at this point. The only one that I'd consider potentially would be a Jalen Brown for Damian Lillard trade that put the Celtics with Damian Lillard, Jason Tatum and all that talent. But even then, gone to my head, I'm probably still picking the Nuggets. Next question, this is from G Do you think the Lakers should find a way to effectively swap D'Angelo Russell

for a solid defensive big. Think Max Christy can provide thirteen to sixteen a night and do so with good decision making process, by the way, and moving back to Tucson in two weeks after a decade plus away. Shout out to g You're coming back at a rough time. This is the time when the weather is particularly shitty, but it does get pretty great outside of that, as you know, because he used to live here. Also, shout

out to Ben. Ran into a really good young player named Ben playing at an Elle Fitness up on the northwest side of town. I ventured to a different gym than I usually go to recently, and I was watching this kid who was playing really well, really good footwork, really good at leveraging his body, was dominating pickup games out of the post. And Ben came up and told me that he's a listener to the show, and it

was really really great to meet you. Ben. I appreciate you coming up and saying hi, and I hope we get to play together a lot in the future. That was a lot of fun. On the note, with the Lakers, for D'Angelo Russell, I would run things back to start. It's funny because it's he's the act opposite over the

way I felt last season. I thought it was completely insane that the Lakers brought back that entire cores with Russell Westbrok going into next season, especially with how rough their initial schedule was and they got kicked in the ass. As a result, they started to and ten and it caused a problem that they were trying to dig out of the entire season. They did eventually make a trade, but it was too little, too late this particular season.

I have the exact opposite point of view. I do think the Lakers will probably eventually need to make a trade unless Lebron James and Anthony Davis get it get their shot creation back. But I don't think they need a trade for the regular season. I think this team as currently constructed with D'Angelo Russell, Austin Reeves, Ruyacha Muri, Lebron James, Anthony Davis, that Core is gonna win a

shit ton of regular season games. I really believe that, and so especially with Jared Vanderbilt and his motor and having a decent backup center with Mobamba to used for regular season games. Do I think Mobamba can be the guy in a playoff series? Absolutely not. They're gonna have to do something before the deadline at the backup center position, but that's for it. That's a Jokis problem. Like the

Jokis problem doesn't need to be solved until February. You're gonna have leeway in the standings by bringing everybody back. I was talking to Anthony Irwin from Lakers Lounge earlier today. We did a full episode together for like forty minutes. You can find that on his Twitter feed. But we were talking about the Lakers, and it's interesting because the only trade that I would approve this summer would be for Damian Lillard. Other than that, I would wait until

the deadline. If it was a Kyrie trade, i'd wait to the deadline. I wouldn't sign a trade for him. I'd flip him in February when his contract becomes tradable, and I just piece together assets to make that happen. Miles Turner is a guy keep an eye on. I really really want the Lakers to go after Myles Turner because he makes a ton of sense as another body to throw at Yokich. Gives you a legitimate big look.

So you could play Anthony Davis and Miles Turner at the same time because Miles Turner is such a good shooter. And then lastly, it buys you leeway when Anthony Davis is a miss game with injuries, you can actually load manage Anthony Davis. Never make him play back to backs because Miles Turner can be an anchor for your defense.

So that's another guy. But I think you can make that trade at the deadline because of the fact that at that point, I think you can get him at a better discount, like potentially with just Mobamba and Malik Beasley and maybe like a second round pick or something like that. So I would like to see them target

him as well. But no matter what, I'd wait to the deadline, run it back, bring back all the salaries, resign d'anngel Russell, pick up the option on Jared Vanderbilt, which they just did, pick up the option on Mobamba, pick up the option on the leak Beasley, have all of that tradable salary. Go into the season, just rack up regular season wins, knowing you need to address a

postseason weakness, and address that weakness at the deadline. All right, This next question is from Matt Who in the NBA would you compare your game to the most or who you model some of your game after. So, first of all, obligatory, I'm not an NBA play I have no delusions thinking I'm an NBA player. That's that I am a good basketball player, and I've worked really, really hard, especially over the course of my late twenties, to develop all the things that I didn't develop when I was a kid.

I was a late bloomer. And this is kind of one of my most complicated parts of my relationship with the game of basketball is I absolutely love this game so much, but I didn't get exposed to it until I was like fifteen years old, and so as a result of that, I didn't develop as a kid. I developed as a player in my twenties, and so when I started playing in college, Basically what happened was is I was the worst player on my high school team, and so bad that on senior night I sat out.

Like the senior night, all the seniors play, right, We had six seniors on the team. My coach started all five seniors and I didn't play a single minute. That's how bad. And it wasn't his fault. I was that bad when I was a senior in high school. And then I started playing like every single day. I grew a lot, obviously, and became a I have like a six to eleven wing span in about six foot six and a half. With basketball shoes on, like six five and a half without basketball shoes on. So I had

good tools. I could run and jump really really well, but not in high school. I didn't really. I was just kind of a lanky. I looked like Bambi, Like I could barely move, super super skinny, and I just wasn't very good. First two years in college, I just played a ton of pick up basketball. I grew into my body, put on a little bit of muscle, became kind of a freaky athlete. I could get my elbow

above the rim when I was in junior college. But that third that third season in college, I walked on at the local junior college, and I was just a freaky athlete. That's all I could do. I could knock down threes and I was a freaky athlete, and so I played center and I banged with the bigger athletes, and I rebounded really well. I averaged like sixteen points and ten rebounds a game my first season, but our team was terrible, and then I ended up transferring to

another JUCO. And over the course of my college career, like I made light improve improvements, Like by the time I got to Arizona Christian in my third season, I was like a little bit better at putting the ball on the floor and making plays, but for the most part, I was just an athlete that could knock down an open shot, and so I always was a defender, guard the other team's best player, and a guy who would

grab a lot of rebounds. I did some scoring in Juco, but once I ran into real players at the Naia level, which again a lot of people don't realize this, but Division one basketball obviously has the best players in the country. But Naia and Division two basketball has a ton of super skilled players. They usually aren't great athletes, and so I was an asset at that level as a defender, and I would always guard the other team's best player.

But people always are I think a little bit surprised to know that there's a ton of talent in the country and a lot of really really good players that play at those levels. We actually beat a Division one team when I was at Anaia. They scheduled us for a tune up game and we went to their arena and we beat them. Like ANAI teams had a lot of talent, but I didn't really start to develop into

the player I am now until after college. That was when I because I was obsessed with the game, right, Like I loved basketball so much and I wanted to get better. But like my clock was run out, right because I'd already finished playing in college. I immediately went to work, and I immediately met my wife and just

kind of like settled down into a regular life. But I still loved the game and I wanted to get better, and so I like obsessively work on my game even to this day, as though I'm trying to go pro, even though I'm not trying to go pro, just because I love the game and I want to see what I'm capable of. And so when you see videos like the video that I have on my Twitter feed and the pinned tweet, that's kind of a more accurate representation of the player I am. Now. I wasn't doing any

of that shit in college. Most of the college clips you see on there are dunks because I was just an athlete back then. But the actual like, like if someone asked me what type of player I am, I'm a scoring forward. That's what I am. When I break down the archetypes of players, you've heard me say, scoring forward, play making forward, hype athletic guard, star center, and unicorn. Right well, like, if I had to put myself into

one of those groups, I'm a scoring forward. I'm a guy that can score from the perimeter, score from the post, score from the basket. I As far as specific players, like Matt's question, who in the NBA would you compare your game to the most, there's not really one player because and I'm sure most of you young basketball players can I can kind of understand this, but you pick

and choose little bits and pieces from everybody's games. Like I became obsessed with post fadeaways randomly during the during the pandemic. Could not do anything out of the post pre pandemic, and then I just worked on it because all before the pandemic, teams would constantly put small guards on me and ball pressure me because I was alway shooting a ton of threes. Right well, I needed something to counter that, and so I wanted to build out a back to the basket game. Got it all from Kobe.

Just watched a ton of footage of Kobe and the way his footwork worked, the way he would square up in midair when he would shoot fadeaways over his left shoulder, by swinging his right foot around. I became obsessed with that particular footwork. So, like most of my post up fadeaways, I took from Kobe a little bit from Kawhi Leonard in there as well. I always liked how Kawhi Leonard was initiating contact before the fadeaways. It wasn't an athleticism

fade away. It was a strength fade away. And I've got a big strength advantage. I weighed like two hundred and twenty five pounds, and so that's one of the best ways that i can bump people off spots and get to where I need to go. My pull up shooting,

it's almost entirely from Paul George. I'm like a big, lanky wing So for me, pull up jump shooting is less about, you know, elevating over the top of people like a lot of small guards need to do, and it's more about fluidity, energy transfer, going from different dribble combinations into a pull up jump shot without losing control of the basketball and without you know, one of the biggest ways that pull up jump shooters got messed up get messed up is the energy transfer the ball from

the handle into the gather up to the top of the shot. If there's a hitch anywhere in there, you lose energy and you don't get the ball to the rim the way that you need to. But I stole a lot of that stuff from Paul George. I have a huge arsenal of step back threes, all footwork that I stole from James Harden, mostly that extra side step

going either way. And then my face up game. I wore number fifteen in college because I copied most of my face up game from Carmelo Anthony and just the combination of jab steps and like rip through fake crossovers and things like that, pull up jump shots out of those face up situations. Got all of that from Carmelo Anthony.

And so I always think that a basketball player should not try to emulate one player, but identify what your strengths are and then look around and see different players in the NBA that are doing things that you think you can do, and then copy that. Just find footage of the move that you want to add to your arsenal. And then there's three steps to adding a move to your arsenal. Do it in the gym by yourself, do it against the defender. One on one and then do

it in a game five on five. That's kind of the progression that you go with. So if you're in high school and you really want to take pull up threes and pick and roll, what you need to do is you need to get in the gym by yourself and just work on shooting pull up threes off the dribble, just every single day until you think you can knock them down consistently and I'm talking like sixty seventy percent

of the time. Once you're there, then you start working on it against a defender, whether that's having a guy in the gym with you practicing, or running two on two, or you've got a screener or whatever it is. One on one defender is more like post up work, isolation work right, and pick and roll. You need extra bodies. And then once you feel comfortable hitting it in a live situation against a defender, then you can start trying to implement it in a game. You can demonstrate to

your coach. Your coach watches you work, demonstrate to your coach that you've been practicing every single day on that particular move. Then when you try it in a practice in an actual live setting, with defenders. Your coach isn't going to be upset because he's seen you work on it. That's the progression that you got to go with. But again, I'm not trying to tell you guys, I'm some NBA player or anything like that. I just I love the game.

I'm obsessed with becoming the best basketball player that I can be for my own reasons. And I think that every single player has a different reason, a different thing that makes them tick. But for me, it's just I want to. I want to. I want to see what the best basketball player version of Jason is and I still plan on seeing that. I'm only thirty one years old.

I'd like to push for another five years or so, and so I'm gonna keep going and and and try to challenge myself in new ways, like try to find ways to find new competition. That's the hard part is I live in Tucson now and there's just not a lot of good The basketball talent here in the city is not the same as it is in some other places that I've lived. But you just you find ways

to stay in love with the game of basketball. And I'm starting to experience some physical breakdown like I'm feeling a lot of lower back pain lately, like pretty bad lower back pain. So guess what, like there might be a point where I have to pull the plug I'm playing and devote my competitive energy towards coaching and just find a different way to love the game of basketball. Your love of the game is always evolving as you get older. All right, Next question from Logan, Hey, Jason,

love your content. My question is for you. My question for you is how many players currently in the NBA do you think can realistically be the best player on a championship team next season? And who are those players? I put just seven. I put Nicole Jokich obviously, Steph Curry, obviously, Jannis obviously. Those three just did it. I still put Lebron James, and I know people are gonna think I'm crazy, But when Lebron James was the best player on the

twenty twenty Lakers, they won the title. When Anthony Davis was the best player on the twenty twenty three Lakers, they weren't good enough. I do think Lebron we talked about it earlier in the show, but his jump shooting is down. I think it's gonna get back to where it was going into next season, and I think more or less the Lebron James we saw in the playoffs with a reliable jump shot is still good enough to be the best player on a championship team as long

as he's got everything else. Lebron last year was not good enough, but I think it was an how Wire's shooting season. I think he's going to be good enough this season to do it. Luka Doncic, I think it requires the right type of roster, but he's that big, versatile, playmaking forward that I always think can win a championship. Kevin Durant and the last, but not least, Jimmy Butler, although obviously he requires a more talented roster than he's

been rocking with as of late. Next question, Mohe, what is your favorite individual matchup in the league. Mine has been Kadie versus Kawhi for years, followed by Kyrie versus Steph. So I thought really long and hard about this. In the game that I had the most fun watching this year over the last two years actually was two games in Philly, A game where Nicole Jokic went in and beat the Sixers in Philly last year, and then in the most recent season, Joel Embiid out playing Jokic at home.

What makes the matchup so interesting to me is their styles are so different. Like when Jokic beat Philly last year in Philly, he did it with all these little things. He didn't do it, you know, dominating out of the post and doing all this stuff. It was like controlling transition, beating Philly by getting defensive rebounds and throwing kick ahead passes and then making all the big important plays at

the end of the game. And then when Joel Embiid beat Nikole Jokic this year, it was like sheer force of isolation, scoring over the top of Nikola Jokicic, just giving him buckets right in his face. Right. So there are very different players. They play the same position. It's the subject of a great deal of debate. A lot of em beat fans still think he's better than Nikola Jokic. So that, to me is my favorite individual matchup in the league. This next one's really fun. So this was

from Liam. Shout out to Liam. This is a great question. If you could create the most perfect fitting starting five in the league from scratch, who you got? So this was a tough one. Because it's all about complimentary players. These are not players that I think are the five best players in the league. These are just the five players that I think would make the best basketball team. So I have Steph Curry at point guard. Is the

definitely the best point guard in the league. It can play on and off the ball, and not a defensive liability. This is a surprise. I put Drew Holliday as the two. I don't think it really make sense in a five man group to have another Bradley Beal, Devin Booker, James Harden, you know, some sort of two guard score Shake Gildes, Alexander. It doesn't make sense to have that type of guy there because so much scoring talent is in this lineup. That needs to be a guy who can play a role.

And when I thought about the best combination, because Steph Curry can't take point of attack assignments, it's not a strength of his So you need an outstanding point of attack defender that can succeed off the ball offensively, I put Drew Holliday. He averaged one point zero five points per possession and spot up situations last year, which is awesome. He shot forty five percent on catch and shoot jump shots, which is awesome, and he can take point of attack assignments.

So I thought, in a star studded lineup, it made the most sense to have Drew Holliday and at that two. At the three, I was torn between Lebron James and Kevin Durant. I actually think Lebron James is a better player than KD right now and has been basically a

better player than KD throughout his entire career. But I think in a team on a roster that already has Steph Curry, on a roster that already is gonna have some other players that will mention here in a second, you want a guy who can really thrive off the ball and help and help defense situations, contest your rebound. So I thought Kevin Durant made the most sense at

the small forward ganis Antenna Kumpo at the four. A guy that can run a lot of action offensively as a ball screener, a guy that can be a transition weapon, and a guy that can take rim protection assignments. For our five in this lineup, who would be Nicole Jokic, the best player in the league, the most unstoppable offensive player, in the league, and by having Kadi and Giannis to help and help situations behind Jokic as you bring him

up high and pick and roll. I think that combination of on ball scoring, off ball scoring, in threat and defensive talent Steph Curry, Drew Holliday, Kevin Durant, Janisontena Kumpo, Nicole Jokich, that would be my perfect fitting starting five in the NBA, which is not the same as the best five players in the NBA. All Right, a couple more in this episode. Frankie, please give your guitar collection a run through, and what is your grail guitar? So these I've been on display back here, but they get

used almost every single day. As a matter of fact, this one I just broke a string on the other day. But I'll give you guys a quick rundown. So this one, this is my grail guitar for Frankie. This is here around the mic. So this is a Paul Reid Smith hollow body to Piezo. This is what they call it. This is my pride and joy. It was a present for myself when I got my new contract, something I worked really hard for and something that I use every

single day. Paul Reid Smith makes their guitars by hand in Maryland, and I think they make the best guitars in the country. The two brands that everyone thinks of our Fender and Gibson, and I love Fenders and Gibson's, and I plan I have a Fender Strata Caster that I won't be able to show you guys today because my brother has it. My brother is a diehard Stevie Ray Van Vaughan Stevie Ray Vaughn fan and uh, and I've been letting him borrow my my stratocaster because I've

been using this one almost every single day. So I have like a kind of like a mint colored Strata caster. Some of you guys that have been following the show for a while have seen that one on the wall before. So I do love Fender and Gibson, but PRS I think makes the best guitars. They have the best attention to detail. This one has got this like gorgeous curly maple on the top. It's mahogany around the back. It's fully hollow, It's got a big panel of the curly

maple on the back. It's got the PRS vintage pickups and the big thing with the pazo that's such a feature. See this little switch right here. When it's in the down position, When that switches in the down position, it works the pickups. But when it's in the up position, it works this bridge pickup. And this bridge is actually a proprietary technology that PRS has. It picks up the vibrations and the strings and translates them into a sound

that is identical to that of an acoustic guitar. So and if you don't I obviously don't have it plugged in, but go on YouTube and just google pazo and then watch a video and you'll kind of hear what I'm talking about. So what I love about this guitars it's got like that Bbking vintage warm sound that I get from the pickups. But then it's got this bridge pickup that I can quickly switch into playing acoustic guitar. So this is also my nicest acoustic guitar. This is my

pride joy. I love this thing. I've been playing it almost every single day for a while. The reason why I don't share videos of me playing guitar on Twitter is I'm not good. I don't think i'm very good. I would like to be someday. I'm practicing at it, but I'm not. I share basketball videos because at least I can say confidently that I'm at least an okay basketball player. This is my second PRS guitar. This is

one with the broken string that I broke recently. This is the CE twenty four semi hollow, also made in America. This to me, is the best guitar for the money that you can buy anywhere. So if you're looking to upgrade to a top of the line guitar but you don't want to spend a ton of money, this is the route to go. This guitar has it's one of their discounted models, but it has their top of the line pickups. So these are the PRS top of the line modern pickups. They are the eighty five to fifteens

I think is what they call him. And it's got a bolt on maple neck, mahogany back, curly maple top. Just a really versatile guitar. Also, you could pop the tone knob and it turns them into single coils, which sounds a little bit more like a shrauducaster. So that was fun. This was I had my grandmother bought me an SG when I was a kid, and that was my first guitar. But I put the guitar down for about ten years when I was playing in college because

I just didn't have time to play. And a couple of years ago, I think it was during COVID, I finally got back into it. I wanted to start playing again. This was the guitar I bought to get started. This is just an epiphone Les Paul Studio, pretty affordable guitar that does a lot of things that you need from a guitar, so one that i'd recommend if you're on

more of a budget. And then, last, but not least, I have an acoustic guitar where there's just a cheap Fender Acoustic, but I almost never use it because I use the call of body Paso. This is just a really cool epiphone SG that I found at a guitar center that was on sale for like two hundred bucks. I love it because the dude who used it before me clearly got some mileage out of it. You could see like how oily the neck is. That means this

dude was playing this thing constantly. You could see it in the fret board as well, but this is just an instrument that someone really loved, and sg's are just a favorite guitar of mine. My next guitar will probably be a Gibson SG. That's the one I'd like to get at some point. But yeah, playing guitar is probably my third favorite thing to do in the world, but the second thing I do most frequently because I love to ski. Skiing is my second favorite thing in the world.

But obviously that seasonal requires travel and is super expensive, so we don't do it all that much. But I play a lot of guitar play almost every single day. It's a passion of mine. I primarily play blues, but I'm kind of open to trying new things. I've been trying to play a little bit more acoustic. It's just what I was raised on. My dad raised me on the Almond Brother's band and Dead and Company. That's why you guys see the Dead and Company posters and stuff

back here. John Mayer is my favorite guitarist. I think he's the best player to ever pick up a guitar are and I highly recommend you guys check him out with Debt and Company. But I appreciate that Frankie. I am a big guitar fan, and it's exciting that I got to talk about it on the show for a minute. Alrighty, what we'll do one more question in this episode. Thoughts on the Zion situation both on and off the court.

Is he worth the risk of keeping him even though he is almost never available, and should the situation happening off the court be enough reason for New Orleans to trade him. I'm completely off the Zion bandwagon. It's clear that he's not motivated to take care of his body

at all whatsoever. The problem is is he's excuse me, he's already signed his deal, so you're not gonna be able to get him to uh to suddenly find some new spark of motivation, Like he's got the money already come in, Like the Zion Williamson is going to be generationally wealthy no matter what happens. And I don't know if you'll mature later on. He's already done a lot of damage to his body, as is to his joints. Obviously, we've heard from JJ Reddick and many others reporting on

the situation that he's not a very good teammate. He's not he doesn't spend time in the locker room. He kind of keeps to himself and keeps to his own support system. I do not think it's David Griffin's fault. He was such an obvious number one overall pick, but at the end of the day, like he's the guy you got to trade. Brandon Ingram's just a better basketball player than him. He's a foundational piece for any franchise.

I would be looking to move Zion it, and I again, I think it's really unlikely because Dane probably wouldn't want it, and he'd probably pushed back. But like, that's another team that I'd be calling Portland and being like, hey, we'll take Damian Lillard. Here's Ion Williamson. You know what I mean. But I'm kind of I'm off the Zion Williamson trade. I'm really disappointed. Haven't even seen him look remotely like the player he was at Duke since he came into

the league. And look, if you can't take care of your body, you're not going to succeed in this league. It's just that it's too much of a grind. Eighty two games is too much. The players are too good. The style he plays that requires him to be in the peak physical condition and he's just not that guy, it seems like. So I'm off that train. Alright, guys, That's all I have for this episode of our mail Bag. Will be hitting the rest of the questions that you guys will see tomorrow. The volume