Well, well, well, guess who's back. It's me Jack, I'm back and Miles is gone because we cannot be in the same room together. We are like cats and dogs, but we are here. I'm here with super producer Jabari Davis, and it is Summer League Baby, Full Swing Team USA has a few more basketball showcases before heading to Plin at the end of the month. Teams are still making moves in free agency. We'll get into all of that and more with actor comedian one of the great podcasters,
one of the great singers. He is Jackies Neil. On today's episode, I'm Jack.
O'Brien and I'm producer Jabari and for Miles, and.
This is Miles and Jeff got mat Yeah, I think we three got it.
Look, don't hitch t k there.
You're going to be driving spinning.
From Block's got it with five?
Is gonna try another three?
Mister?
Look on James to be honest, Well the tell look out, no shot time?
What you go? Yes? Uh? Jack, Keith?
What up?
Man?
How we doing we living?
I'm doing I'm doing alright, man, I'm doing alright. I was. I was talking before you arrived on the call that I am. Unfortunately I have been pulled back in. Welcome as a seventy six er thing, you've.
Been pulled back in. I mean, look, you guys got PG, We got PG. You know, personally, goal toward that that uh Western that Eastern Conference Finals exit.
One of these days, that is the dream an Eastern Conference finals egg.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's what we've been working for. That's what we've been when we get in when when the seventy six ers get in the huddle before the game, can we if this, if we just work together as a team, you guys, this year, we are going to be able to lose in five in the Eastern Conference Finals.
One of those players, it's PG, one of those players who we think won't ever win one, won't ever win one because like so yeah, because when we just joined the.
Best team in the NBA. I don't know if you heard the first part where I was talking about the finals, the championship fate No go ahead.
Okay, no that you're right, You're right, he's gonna win.
The seventy six ers, uh.
I mean you know, listen, they the seventy sixers every year are have the potential on paper, so you know they can put it together.
Then you know who's coach right right now? Doc? Right? No, Nick nurse, our Nick nurse. We're doc at oh Milwaukee.
All right's got.
A better chance now that doc is not in Philly.
Yeah, I think nurse Like, I feel good. I feel like they have the proper pieces to put it together barring injury, which is which makes me think the injury this is the injury ravaged season.
Probably.
Yeah, man, you in much better place than I am.
I am and you know, so excited to root for my Chicago Bulls who should barely get sixteen wins this year, probably as our entire team gets decimated, which, yeah, let's blow it up and tank.
Yeah, that feels like where we're at. It feels like they they're like, we're three steps ahead of you, Bud, we are in it. But yeah, I should mention, you know, in addition to be an actor, comedian, podcasting stordinaire, host of comedian Feud, hosts for Dropout TV and from Grand Crew, and also a Chicago Bulls.
Fan, which is the most important thing because most of that I am.
So I got to ask, is is this, like you know SAG for Flag? Is Cooper Flagg the desire target there?
You mean for Bulls.
Yeah, I mean, sure, I guess though.
I mean at this point, I don't.
Really have faith in the Bulls organization to do anything to develop any player or build around any player or anything like that. And you know, the last time we were competing was the d Rose era and.
Like we had it's all.
It's funny, Like the Bulls organization post Jordan has always been like you'll have all the pieces and everybody will seem right except one little aspect that one or two people do wrong and like and we won't go.
Away from it or debate from it.
So it was like Tips just running his players into the ground, like when you know, during.
The d Rose era, So like at this point, like it would be dope.
But my best hope is to see what happened to like the black Hawks all those years, happened to the Bulls, and then like then maybe we'll actually progress and turn the corner. Something good will happen to our organization because until then I don't have faith in our organization anymore.
Yeah, the best name I've heard for sag for flag was from friend of the show Carl Tart's podcast The Flagrant Ones, where I forget who it's friend one of the friends. One of their friends came up with white flag for white flag.
Uh, the white flag or white flag.
Pretty well, that's funny.
Did you guys talk about his performance against Team USA.
Yeah, Miles was going off about it in particular because he you know, dotted ads I and in that, you know, in that one clip.
But yeah, will allow it, will allow him them on the Lakers.
No, okay with that? Yeah, okay, But honestly, much like Jaquez, I'm not I don't have all the confidence in the world that we do that, right, So you know.
Yeah, So this is the best time of the year for everybody except Celtics fans, because it is the time of year where we can be unrealistic and hope springs eternal and we can just tune into the Summer League to just have visions of sugar plums dancing in our head about our off season acquisitions.
Summer.
The Summer League has some care. I mean, it's not it's not Wemby this year, but the winners and losers aren't important. It's just fun seeing these draftees in their first action. Zach Eadie is my first person who who I wanted to highlight two time Woulden Award winner, but somehow kind of under the radar, Like I remember when I finally got to watch it. I don't really watch a lot of college hoops, and when I finally watched him play this year, I think it was in the
Ncuba Tournament. So it's like in the Ncuba Tournament of his second year winning the Wooden Awards, so like being the best college basketball player. I was like, well, so where do they have him going in mock drafts? And it was like late second round, like people were like, this guy's gonna this guy's gonna stink. Yeah, I didn't quite understand that. I still don't understand where that was coming from. I guess people think he might be a little bit slow, but I don't know. He looks like
he can play. So he had one summer league game and then he twisted his ankle. But in that game he had fourteen points, fifteen boards like Q, A couple really convincing and important blocks, a game saving tip in like uh, actually missed free throw down by two? Uh he tips it in? I don't know, he I and and he's he's now the favorite to be Rookie of the year because he's coming right in. I think did
he go eight or nine to Memphis? Yeah, he ended up like rocketing up the but Memphis has a need at center, so he's gonna get burned if he can stay healthy.
If he can stay healthy, yeah, I think he will be a good player. You know, he's not gonna win Rookie of the Year. That's going to Brownie James Junior. You know what I'm saying. But uh, but I'm just stating. But uh but uh but yeah, no, I I just see I saw highlights of the game he played, and like he looks he looks like a center.
Like he looks like a center. Uh.
And I think, like you know, with somebody like John who I think just started playing again or just resumed basketball activity or something. I just all or something like that. I'm not sure what I saw with Job, but like, yeah, man, I think that can be a good team, Memphis Slymphis can be a fun team.
That's the thing. They didn't have a great season last year.
But when they're all healthy and they're all there, like that team plays very fun. And I think he'll fit in with that, like good style of basketball.
When Jaw was healthy for a couple of weeks there, like they were right back at it, like they looked like they were gonna, you know, maybe sneak into the playing game, and then he got hurt again. So it's I think they're going to be like in the mix, like I think they might be in you know, the mix for a top six seed next year, and a seven foot two person is just like always in the right spots and can you know, put the ball in the basket, like see it seems like he's going to be useful there.
Yeah, clean enough.
Yeah, I'm not really sure why there was hesitation or why those mod drafts had him in the second round. You know, it's not like he's like a Taco Fall guy in no disrespect to Taco Fall, you know, shout out the hmage playing overseas somewhere.
I don't know, man, it sounds like disrespect.
Sometimes he's kind of disrespect for what I'm saying is just by comparison. It's not like it was like that guy where he's just where he's just a huge guy that you know, took up a lot of space but didn't really know what to do, like or didn't seem you know, to know what to do on the court. He's a guy that you know, to your point, you know two time would an award winner and they you know, like you can actually get it done.
So he ate the ball.
He made me slow and plotting, but you know he's got game.
I remember when Andrew Wiggins when it was rigging for Wiggins and it was Wiggins was playing I think Jabbari uh what's his name, the number two pick Parker Uh in like an early season game, and it was an event. It was like a TV event, and I remember tuning into that and being like, who, who's the big guy on Wiggins's team? And people are like, oh, no, he's that big, goofy guy. He doesn't know how to play.
He's only been playing basketball for like six weeks. I'm like, well, he seems pretty good for only having been playing basketball for six weeks. And that was that was EMBIID and but everybody was tuning into CE like Wiggins because that was the target. And then of course, you know, EMBID just rapidly improved at an exponential rate. So I don't know, there's something we don't trust about extra big men sometimes that yah.
So you heard it here first going to be it's going to be the.
Next Joe l mb uh huh No, I don't think. I don't think he has that touch and his game seems pretty settled at this point. But I just think he'll be a useful starting center.
And be all you need it.
You had a guard like Jah, Yeah you had you know, you had a guard, you had a Ford, and you got a center. And a center just needs to get rebounds, clog up the middle when they need to. I mean, well, now where everything gets stretched and you know, you got stretch vibes and everything like that, it makes it a little bit harder. But like I think we've been seeing over the past couple of seasons. I mean, Yoka is
just a different case. But like we've been seeing over the past couple of seasons, big men playing more big men roles. Yeah, and it actually like working and you know, like a center that can shoot a three is gonna be great. But I think the big man is starting to re evolve in the game in a way that can help a team actually like compete.
Yeah, I agree. Anybody else jumping out to you, guys, what what have you been watched any summer league?
I I've only even seeing clips. I was gonna try to go to the Summer League this year. Then I asked somebody, oh, man, we were talking about in the summer League, Like yeah.
You want to like playing that. He was like yeah, yeah, let's look when it is, oh yes, in two days.
Was like, oh, then I guess we're not going to the Summer League. It like snuck up on me, like yeah, because I think everything is I think like.
I've still just been in.
Like the mindset of talking about the draft and like all the storylines that came around the draft and then like you know, a couple of the big moves and then the USA team, whereas almost like the Summer League has been one of the least stories.
Yeah, in basketball over the past, like a couple of weeks.
Jabari, who's jumping out to you? I know you stay plugged in on this. The only other person I wanted to mention was Reed Shepherd. He looks a little in over his head on defense, but his shot making and his passing is pretty awesome. He had a going with Cam Whitmore two man game against the Wizards that was pretty impressive.
Yeah, I mean it's really there. Like, don't get me wrong. The rookies are fun. You know, it's their first action, but I don't have a great deal of of expectation for them. It's kind of just like, you know, let's you know, see what they have. The second and third year guys are the ones that I'm usually looking forward to see if there's been any progress, see you know, see what they've developed, like over the off season. Last year, you know, you know, we were looking at j Barie Smith,
you know, for Houston this year. You already mentioned him, Cam Whitmore. You know, I liked him as a I liked him.
As a rookie.
He looks he looks like and it's cliche now you know when you say too good for you know, for Summer League, but he looks like a guy that's like, Okay, yeah, we saw what we needed to see. Uh and you know we don't necessarily need to see a ton more from him.
But it's really the way that is why our show is not at Summer League this uh this year. Last year we did go to Summer League saw wemb but the NBA decided this year that we are too good for Summer League. So that's why we're not there. Just wanted to clarify that.
Yeah, that's real, that's real. And speaking of those Spurs, I'm you know, like I saw him as a rookie and the and he and he you know, like jumped out to me. But City Soco. I pray that I said that, you know, the right way. Watch out for him. I think he's gonna be you know, like he played in a lot of G League action last year. I think he's gonna be with the big team this year. And I think he's gonna play a big role. Really, I do. Where's the Swiss army knife guy? You know what?
You Brian's gonna have to edit. I have no idea where he's from, but I'm gonna say France, just because because that seems like every player is coming from France.
Now, I'll look it up. What's his name again, City? Yeah that's France. Yeah, that's French.
Actually was right, he's a French. There we go.
You know, we're gonna shout shout out to all people with French names.
You know, you know, I hear French. When I hear French, I know it, I know it.
You know what Ken Whitmore is out there just like trying to hurt people's feelings like he had some just just amazing. Like there's one oop from reed Shepherd to him where he like caught it at his like elt like where like at his hip and just like cocked it back one handed and it was.
I I do.
You know what's funny for me when I watched Summer League, and I think.
It's even more evident this season.
Is the older I get, the more the more watching the Summer League is just like watching college players play basketball.
I guess, like watching college pick up like to a degree.
I know it's a little bit better than that, but you know, they are just kids, you know, like watching Bronnie and and the big reason for that is because of Bronnie, because students there and all these other kids who are sons of NBA players who I was a teenager when they got drafted, like not even like a kid. I was a teenager when some of these kids bothers.
Got drafted into the NBA.
And so like, the Summer League is becoming more interesting to me because like I'm starting not to equate it as much, and this is just me equated as much with with the NBA.
Like as I do.
It's just kind of like college and G league almost and I know, like you know, that's not the case for a portion of those players, but but yeah, it's it's really and it's fun. It's fun, it's it's it's still like players playing for the love of the game until they get to Game one of the NBA season and it's like, we're playing for love of the game, but also, let's get these fits off, let's get our money, let's get you know, let's get on the road. We're
NBA players now, you know, they're in the show. They're in the show now mm hm. For summer league, is still just we just playing because we just love basketball and we're trying to make the team.
Do you have you watched any of your number eleven pick matas boozellis No.
No, I'm pretty pissed. I'm pretty upset at the Bulls. I'm not gonna lie to you. I keep up with like his stats and just what they say they're doing.
But yeah, I I just don't like what we're.
Right, man, I gotta say so, he have one one dunk that somebody helpfully put to the beginning of they not like us, and he just put somebody on their rear and then landed on his but and then just stared at the person who he had just dunked on. And that was in a game where he had twenty eight yeah on four or five threes. So like, yeah, I'm kind of a fan, Like I'm I'm gonna be checking for Boozellis. I also just like saying his name.
It's not so much I don't think he'll be a good player. I think he he'll fit in.
I just think he's gonna have to come to this team and play a bigger role than he should right for his talent level. Like he's gonna the way is looking, he's gonna be like our second option.
Yeah with you know, yeah, you know a lot can be developed over the course of a reset season.
You know, you.
Don't want them to develop bad habits, but you know, getting that type of run and you know, being featured like that even in losses, you know, it's silver lining, silver lining.
Yeah, that's why we're looking forward to us.
He's you know, twenty twenty six.
Baby, how about a Dalton connect aka Dalton netched is what it looks like it should be pronounced. But that that's your silver lining. Jabari for this offseason.
Yeah, he's playing well.
Yeah, at number seventeen, he slipped to you. I think a lot of people thought he was gonna go higher, and he his game looks smooth.
Because I'm on the same you know, like kind of a vibe as Jack Keese, I'm like, okay, so when's the other shoe gonna drop? You know what I mean? I can't even allow myself to be as excited as as I should be because they did look whether it was you know, you know, their fortune or other team's misfortune, he looks like a guy that can you step on the court and contribute right now. You know, I mentioned
it in the you know pre show. There's gonna be some questions on what he's gonna do defensively, but that's really the case with any any rookie guard or you know, rookies in general. But he's from the offensive side of things. He looks like he's a guy that can step on and and actually be, you know, be one of their better players. Which I don't know what that says about their you know, their chances this year, but at least they go, yeah.
You know what about their chances.
We're just happy that, all right, let's take a quick break. We'll come back. We'll look around the league at what's happening. Jabari's gonna explain what the second apron means, and uh, we're gonna look at where where other people are landing, will be, will be right back, and we're back. And man, I have heard a lot of people talk about the
second apron. So the big thing that feels new to me about the CBA this time around is like you get punished by like your draft pick gets moved to the end of the round if you violate the apron.
If you're a repeat offender, you're a repeat offender.
But that's that's a big deal, Like that's you can't just be like I don't care, I'll take the hit. I just want to keep keep going. And you know, it's like, no, now you're actually getting punished in terms of what you're able to do and where you're able to draft.
What it feels like to me is that the owners got their hard cap that they probably always know why
am I saying? Why am I being nice? That they want it all along, Like technically they could still you know, you know, uh deal with these penalties, but no one's going to So basically, if you have a team right now that you know is paying a ton of players and you know, like on max money likes like say, for instance, the Boston Celtics, part of the reason why it wasn't a surprise that their owners uh decided to go ahead and pull out and and and and or
at least exploring the idea of selling the team. Yeah, but if you have teams like that, get you know, don't get used to it, because it's just not going to be the norm. Like for you know, in the in the apprecial, we were talking about the Denver Nuggets, all of a sudden next year they've got a decision
to make with Jamal Murray. Obviously they're going to make the decision to keep him, but what that does is it puts him in a position to where they're gonna have to make difficult you know, they're gonna have to have difficult conversations about guys like you know, Aaron Gordon
and or even a Michael Porter Junior. So yeah, like, look, I couldn't explain all of it to you, but what it feels like, like I said, is it's a true hardcap and it's getting it and it's allowing allowing owners to say, like, maybe parody isn't the worst of ideas.
Yeah, which is great.
I mean, I you know, listen, the NBA is, the NBA is in a more fun era of its existence right now than it has been, you know, in a long time. And and for me, you know, there's certain eras that are Every era is fun. You know, the nineties were great. I was fairly alive in the eighties.
But the eighties were great. You know, the Kings and the Lakers were fun, you know those even the Detroit you know, or going to the two thousand tens, you know, Lebron versus Steph for twenty five times, like, you know, it was.
It was all fun eras.
But like, the one thing that the era before this, one of the black spots on the league in my and as a fan, was that it was just so predictable, Like.
Yeah, come into the season and you were like, oh, it's gonna be Cas versus Golden State, and it was it.
And no matter and no matter how it looked like it was going to shake out, it all settled to be exactly that at the end, where it was just kind of it was fun to watch you know, like great basketball, but it was boring, yeah as a fan to just like you know, get your hopes up and then like lose to the two teams that everybody knew was going to get there. And in the past, well, in the past like five seasons, especially the last four, since the bubble, it's not been that.
Why are you taking out the bubble? Why you.
Know, since the bubble, you know what I'm saying, since the ship But I'm saying, but but as it. But the reason I'm taking out the bubble is because like that season was just like stop midway through and then it was a weird season as far as standings and play and everything like that.
Yeah, and you've always said that you don't think it should have stopped. You thought that the plandemic was uh oh yeah, yeah.
You know when they sent when they sent Rudy Goberian, you know as plants, the tough on all the mics, you know, that was that was that was all part.
Of the play.
People don't know you did that at every NBA it was.
Yeah, moving they flew that that uh that might cover around and just like in every locker.
Room, wrung the COVID out of it.
Just rung the COVID out.
Yeah. So the only argument I've heard against this is from uh, a very famous Boston sports fan. It was like, you're not gonna be able to like keep keep the team together anymore. It's not fair, Like this should be more like the NFL, where like you know, uh, you
can keep a core together. And the problem with that is that the NFL has variants built into it because it's a winner take all one game playoff and championship, So you have variants built in, and you're not going to have the same team in the finals every single
year with the same core. The NBA likes as we saw, like what like you were talking about Jackies, Like if if the NBA like makes it so that these teams can keep the exact same core together for ten years, it might be the same team in the finals for ten years, because that's yeah, and.
It gets boring. It gets boring.
Seven game series, the best team is going to usually win.
And then also like look, man, look look when the sixth player on the team is making more money than Michael Jordan made in his last season as an NBA player. Yeah, like not keeping your core together is falling on deaf years less money. Correct, then take less money like y'all getting paid so and I'm not saying now, don't get paid what you're worth. But the real reason it's hard to keep a car together now is because players are getting paid forty plus million.
Dollars this season to play basketball.
Uh and and and and this is part of like the deals. And I know, I know it's not just black and white, Like this money is coming from somewhere and the players should get their share. Yeah, but that is going to be a downfall to it. When like every player becomes a max player, then you ain't gonna be able to have a bunch of max players on your concept on your team anymore. Like that's just the way it is.
It's Scotty Barnes and what's his name from Orlando both got maxed out right.
Crazy Vronz Wagner, Scotti Bares Yeah, Like that really is a case. You can't have it both ways if you want, you know, if you want parody in the NBA, you don't want, you know, like the dynasty teams, then you're gonna have to open it up for this if you want guys to get paid. And you know, the way that they should, you know, commiserate to their their talent and what they're contributing your you know, to the product. Then you're not going to be able to stack everybody
on the same team. It's just it really, you know, to me, the argument or the complaint there, you know it it falls on deaf ears because it truly is a you can't have it both ways.
Yeah, the complaint is basically, I want the Boston Celtics to be able to keep the Boston Celtics together for the rest of my natural life, which yeah, I don't know how many people are in that same boat.
And I'm a you know, look man, I grew up. I look again, I'm a Chicago guy. I grew up, and I grew up in the nineties dynasty.
Man.
So I'm used to seeing a team win over fifty percent of the championships in one decade. And I know Boston fans are used to that too. I know Warriors fans have that, Spurs fans have that. There are teams that have it. But like, even as a Bulls fan, as much as I would love to see my team rattle off five championships, like I think as a basketball fan, I think it's better to see a team win one or two and then like, you know, move on. We don't need to see a team win three, four or
five championships in a row anymore. Like it's not it's not good for basketball, not in this era of basketball fanship, where our attention spans are so short and there's so many ways to watch and enjoy the game and just know so much about the game and his players.
It's not.
It was a very top heavy league back then, right, Jordan was so much better than the next best players and you know, uh, Magic and Bird and you know, in the eighties. So it's so wild that the Bulls are like, you know, just while we're on the subject of like caps and hard caps and it's just so wild that the and this is a point that I think I heard Bill Simmons making, was that like Chicago should be one of the best teams in the league.
Like perennially they're like a the second or third biggest market.
And their biggest market in the country get.
A lot of attention for having ownership that doesn't want to spend money and is bad and does but the Bulls ownership is believe, like even what that was One of the things that the last Dance I think reminded a lot of people of is like even as they're like going into the sixth season of this amazing dynasty, They're like, we want to break it up. We don't want to keep paying for these guys. We think they're overpaid. This guy Jordan's dime a dozen.
Yeah, we can do it again. We build this, we can build it again. It's like, Okay, we're going to make sure Eddie Curry.
Yeah.
And the thing about it, so, Chicago is the third largest market in the NBA in most sports leagues generally, I don't know about hockey.
And New York is over that.
I think New York will probably be number one, to be honest, or or to and la Is obviously rounds out the top three. But unlike New York, Chicago has more success than the Knicks have had their entire existence as a franchise. Like, we have more championships, granted, all in one decade, but we have more.
Championships, had a good run, we had a great run.
We have more playoff success.
We've made like more playoff runs than the Knicks have in the past twenty years. You know, not right, now, but like, for the most part, we have and you know, like we have more famous players. The Knicks are dope, they got good players, Mellow great, but you know, like the Rose was dope, Mike was great, Scotty was great.
Like filter like this, and so it's just it baffles me.
And I'm saying all that which sounds positive when I'm about to take a poopoo on the Bulls. It baffles me how we fumble so many free agents when it tried. When it comes to like coming to the Chicago boy, like, it baffles.
Me, Like they're not even in the conversation, Like the conversation happens around the Knicks where people are like, well, you know so, and somebody is going to get extremely famous by bringing the Knicks back to glory, like it's way too long. But the Bulls, I guess maybe it's because Jordan's imprint was so massive that people are just like, well, you're never You're just in his shadow forever. It's not crazy to bring.
But when d Rose was playing and like it was looking like we might go to the Promised Land with d Rose, I'm telling you I was in Chicago. I'm telling you we was ready like we would we would have crowned d Rose.
Yeah, the media covers it.
Yeah, we were ready. We were ready to crown him.
And like I'll see often like and now I'll see this question often, you know, like the would you rathers? And like I answered this honestly, would you rather like take one or two championships away from Jordan just to give one to d Rose?
And I routinely say, yes, Wow, I.
Would I would like to give one to that team When Rose was that MVP level, Oh my god, yeah, dude, and from Chicago, the kid from Chicago.
Who says why can't I be the MVP?
And they he becomes it and leads the team to the championship.
Bro, Yeah, it would have been beautiful. So we're ready.
We're ready.
As much as we love Mike, we are ready to crown somebody else, like we want to, like we want to so bad.
Yeah.
I do think the Knicks are I don't know that, so they Brunton has reportedly left about thirty million on the table in order to make things easier for the next with the salary cap.
I heard it was like one thirteen.
It's because like he signed it a year earlier, so like basically, he'll eventually get that money. It's just okay, he signed it early, so I think I think it was somewhere between thirty and thirty five million. Is what he's actually losing, which is thirty five million.
Yeah, Michal Bridges is expected to also take a salary cut so that they can all play together. So now people are like the Knicks. Are the Knicks the second best team in the Eastern Conference? Do you guys think?
I think if they I think if they can put it together, I mean, like the additions they made this offseason.
We're dope.
And I think if they can put it together, I don't trust Milwaukee anymore. Yeah, who else besides I mean I guess Philly obviously, and.
Yeah, Philly, New York and Boston.
But I think that's your top three, like just on paper right now, that's your top three.
And I can't I'm not I'm not knock Gonna.
I can't knock it because I literally just said this five minutes ago, Like, if you want to put a team together that can win, and the core that you can keep together, like players are gonna probably have to take less money or less or different type of deals to do it, and the Knicks are like, we want, we want to win.
So let's go, let's do it. I respect that. I respect what they're doing.
Now from a broke man's perspective, what you're doing, bruh doing brouh.
The anonymous nobody on Twitter tweeted, then teach economics at Villanova. I'm sorry, oh man, I think it's going to be an interesting year in the Eastern Conference next year.
I guess Indiana is still there.
Indiana's still there.
I don't trust. I don't I'm not that high on them.
Yeah, to be honest, yeah, I don't know. I'll tell you the person that, just having lived through the series where we got beat by the Knicks, Hartenstein was the person who really I have bad dreams about still. I think that's partially because we embiid was hurt and slow to the rebound, and Hartenstein's just got every rebound. So the fact that he's gone makes me feel a little bit better about how Philly stacks up against them. But not,
I don't know. They they're going to have some shooting now that's going to be pretty tough to contend with. And Brunson so good.
Yeah, and you know, Brunton and Halliburton may have a w w E match one day, you know what I'm saying.
They were It was just on Monday Night rawl or one or a pay per view. I can't remember which one. Maybe it was a pay per view.
Yeah, yeah, I got you're a fan of wrestling. In addition to the NBA, I have to say that this immediately gave me less respect for the acting of wrestlers because they were immediately just as good as wrestlers in terms of acting like they were and they sold it. Man, I was like, oh my god. They though they sold it.
Listen that that that's cool and all, but it was also who they were, who they were in with, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, first let let uh let brock Lessners big budget in that ring with them.
Oh yeah, that was.
Fun really quickly. On the Knicks, it feels like they're set up to honestly defend everybody except for Philly, uh, which you know, whether they're gonna address that or not, or they don't necessarily think that they're going to face them like in a in a post in a post season situation. I love what the Knicks have done. I do think that I do think they're clearly the second best regular season team, clearly. Yeah, I'll go out on
that limbit. And this is after trying to you know, trying to get you to stick with the Sixers every year.
Yeah.
Well, now that I've said them sticking with them, You're like, Okay, I can be honest.
Now, this is the one year where I'll say I think the Sixers match up really well with a lot of the teams in the East. So this is the first year in a long time where I'll say the Sixers look like a sixteen game team as opposed to just primarily being the eighty two games were the Nick. Yeah, for the Knicks, They're gonna cause a lot of trouble for a lot of people throughout that regular season.
Now, yeah, I especially because the Sixers, I think our best strategy is not to play Joe l Embiid in the regular season. Yeah, you know what I do.
You know, like every every like major sport has like a really dope thing about their season that's fun. Uh, And I think MLB does this the best out of the top four is like, uh, the trade deadline is so fun in Major League Baseball because it is truly just like all right, all the teams that stuck are dumping off players, and all the contending teams just go get that one last piece they need to like take them over the hump for the second half of the season.
It's like such a fun Like in.
Twenty sixteen, the Cubs did that again in the World as Chapman and like that took us over the humps when that World Series.
Like I wish that.
I wish the NBA had more of just tool up for much like I can see the Knicks. I can see the like the Knicks playing well and then like taking those first forty games to see like, okay, what do what what do we need.
To like get us over the hump.
Now do we've seen ourselves play or we've seen how that this team operates, and then make one move and then it's off to the races in the second half of the season. I think that would be so fun in basketball. Yeah, if that happened more.
There's just like a whammy day where all of a sudden, one player just got shaken loose from their team and everybody had to let go around like to get them. Yeah, that would be fun. All right, Should we take a quick break, and then we'll come back and we'll do the rapid fire round of questioning. Oh that sound good? Oh yeah, oh you forgot. Yeah, we should mention, Jaqis, you haven't been on in one and twenty one episodes. This is our one and twenty second episode. You were
on air our first episode. Gosh, couple things that changed around here, Not really that much.
You mean if I went and I'm looking at my list right here, and it says if I answer the most questions, I guess season tickets, the NBA.
Tickets to recordings of Miles and Jack, and you can just sit in invited. I got you. Okay, let's do it all right, we'll be right back and we're back, Jaquise. The Olympics are here. So in this rapid fire round of questions, which by the way, is fastest segment in podcasting, you just don't don't think. Just to answer. We're going fast, bing bang boom. Picture a bullet ricocheting around, uh, the the room in a in a movie. That's how fast we want this conversation to flow. If we slow things down,
you need to get us back on track. Okay, okay, Jabar, you want to start, No.
You go ahead and start.
Okay, we got two teams. You got Team USA twenty twenty four or the redeem Team two thousand and eight.
Two thousand eight? Oh sorry, alright, Dan, correct?
Okay, So I just want to name some of the players who are on two thousand and eight. Got Carlos Boozer, Darron Williams. Are you start with Michael Red Sure, Chris Bosh, Dwight Howard, Ran, Kayshawn Prince.
Oh yeah, defense babe?
All right? You also got Carmeli, you got Prime Lebron. You got Jason Kidd more or Asen kids. I think this was a period where he still didn't have a Jay. Yeah, somebody named Kobe Bryant or something b Bryant, that's right. Uh, Dwayne Wade and Chris Paul. So that's the team two thousand and eight. You think they're beating this team?
Actually, now that I'm thinking about this, and.
Now that I said all those, now.
You got me thinking about this. That that team that's a tough team to try to beat. A team with Steph Curry on it. I'm going twenty twenty four.
I think that's right. I kind of agree, but Jabari is hard two thousand and eight because he's a big Kobe fan.
You got Kobe, and that's what I was going to, Like, you still got Lebron, who obviously isn't as good as he wasn't O eight, but like it's still still top five player in the world right now.
So like he's just different. I mean, he's definitely not as good as he was in two thousand and eight, but like he's also so smart.
I feel and in oh wait, in wait, basketball was still slightly slower paced, wasn't The three pointer hadn't become keen yet, and you put that team becaust.
This Steph Curry. Man, Nah, I think I gotta go to the twenty four give me.
Oh wait, Lebron locking steps a little? But up man, I'm sorry, man, oh wait is smashing this team?
Man, Lebron lock up, Jason Terry, He ain't locking up that not in two thousand and eight, Bro, Maybe twenty fourteen.
In the previous season had Lebron and No.
No.
Eight was Preheatles, right, yeah yeah not not wait wait Boston won.
Oh that's right, yeah yeah, Lebron a locking up? Steph, Lebron. That Lebron offensively great. He ain't locking up prime Steph Curry combination.
Of Lebron and Bean and and d Wade. You know, yes, I'll take it, everybody.
This Lebron, oh wait, Lebron is not as good like what he really needed that that loss to Dallas to become like.
That's that's prime Lebron, right there is. Twenty eleven through fifteen sixteen is prime Lebron. Uh, that's Lebron at his peak, offensively and defensively.
I need y'all to go back and watch them O eight Lebron highlights. Man, I'm sorry. Oh right, you're one hundred percent right in terms of you know, twenty twelve, twenty thirteen, it was ridiculous, but oh w eight Lebron was still so nasty.
It's pretty nicely he was great.
It's disgusting.
He was just ye, he was yelking on people.
Yeah, no, it's fair.
I still got to go twenty twenty four. That's why were you Let.
Me ask this as a follow up. By the way, this is a rabid fire. So this was supposed to be just yeah, and.
Now way up here discussing this stuff.
All right, I'll get it off of that, but stick with Team USA. What is the one moment or game from Team USA history that you wish Twitter had been around for.
Oh, I wish it would have been around for that game where Charles Barkley was like, uh, I get what.
The name is now, but I don't know them. We're gonna beat them with like the like when he said that quote, and they'd like to see it happen. It would have been amazing. It would have been so funny.
Uh. And then also and then also the second second response is and because I just saw this on Twitter, but I wasn't big on Twitter when this happened. Was like the New Zealand team did like the little tribal dance before like before.
The game, and the NBA players were just watching, like what the heck is this? And this dream team it was there.
I think it was the Dream Team, yeah, or the or like the USA team and then uh, and then they beat them by like thirty point.
Twelve or twenty sixteen, but I think it was like twenty twelve.
Yeah, I think it was twenty twelve. It was so funny.
They had the hockey that we're doing in the haka dance, which was dope, but it's also meant.
To intimidate and be intimidating and imposing.
Yeah, I know what you're talking about.
Cool and they who Yeah, that would have been great.
It's it's what we do best as a as a country is basketball. So it's it's the one thing we have left.
Uh.
It is the beautiful game. With all apologies to I'm not even apologizing to soccer anymore. Man, I just watched the Copa Americas or whatever. Man, it's not a beautiful game. We got the beautiful game.
Yeah man, yeah, yeah, as much as y'all running up and down these fields, man, I need to see.
More toward Yeah.
Keith Neil, what a pleasure having you back on Miles and jack got mad boosties.
Listen, listen, it's been it's been a beautiful time.
It's been a beautiful game. It's been a beautiful time. One of the most beautiful guests podcast, Jakeith. Where can people find you? Follow you all the time?
Ah?
You can find me at Jackie's Neil on Everything.
You can also find me in these streets wherever you're looking, I'm probably there, but maybe not.
You just gotta just gotta look around.
You just gotta look and see you look around that's all you gotta do. But yeah, at Jackie's Neil, that's.
Where every show that I do, everything that I'm doing, stuff that i'm projects, new projects and stuff like that. That's where everything will be. And then yeah, check out some stuff on drop out TV if you like. You know, nerd comedy, h and just weird fun, silly comedy. It's a fun time for you. It's a good time to go check out.
So check me out, check him out. You can give us the follow on Twitter. I'm at jack Underscore, O'Brien, Miles is at Miles of Gray Jabari.
Where are you at at A Davis?
All right? And then you can search hashtag mat boosties for show links and nothing and be sure to join the conversation on discord. You can also find the link for the discord when you search hashtag mag boosties. That's another one in the books. Another from way Downtown Switch Lebron. We are back next week and we'll talk to you alboram, Bye bye.