Well, well, well we are back baby.
Wait, so the league didn't.
Stop playing over the last couple of weeks when we were off.
Jabari, No, no, no, I'm.
Pretty sure they did. They were like, hey, you know what when my.
I just told is told.
Uh, the Calves and Thunder are each still on pace to break franchise wind totals.
Break seventy wins.
But yeah, so we're gonna talk about those teams because it's interesting. They're they're on historic paces and are being historically disrespected. I'm not practicing my ESPN talking head. Anyways, we're doing all that with Chris Bartnett on today's episode, one of our favorite returning champions.
I'm Jack O'Brien. You know, I'm producer in for Miles and this is my mouse.
We are boost Dottory, got it.
I look at hitch okay.
And be driving Spinny Fatter number.
Eighteen that's been secured the Celtics or NBA champions over the couple team right night.
Be honest with the t look shot time put you go.
Yes, Chris Barnett, welcome, Welcome back to the show.
How are you doing.
I'm doing good. It's great to be back. I love listening to mad Boosties. When it drops, I put it in on my truck when I when I dropped my son off, It's gonna be a content. So for me coming here just brings a smile to my face knowing I'm with two two dope basketball minds at any given time. Sorry, Jabari, I know Miles isn't here. Just joking. I mean I was gonna go I was gonna.
Go there, half.
Ter, What does your son think? Just I can't accept the compliment. Does your son hate the show?
Well?
You said you listen, you know what.
My son is a swimmer.
Okay.
I try to get I try to get him into basketball. He watches it, but he's not He's not there yet. It'll get there? How get there?
Eleven eleven? All right?
So I got a six year old and an eight year old. I am already a vortex of basketball disappointment. You know, my my mom's dad, famous basketball coach. My dad basketball coach. I was expected to like do something with basketball beyond have a podcast called Miles and Jack got mat Boostie's. My kids don't even know basketball exists. They're like, what are you watching?
Like?
They are so quickletely out on basketball. It is just the degree to which basketball has diminished familiarly among my family line.
I mean, they're young.
Maybe I feel like I didn't start loving hoops until I was like, you know, ten eleven. Then, so there might be for them. Yeah, there might be hope for them yet, but it's kind of hard to love basketball when you're, uh, can't get the ball to the to the rim, you.
Know, yeah, just too small.
They also may have been watching you, unfortunately, watch your team, and that's not you know, I already told you my teams can be but you know, like that probably doesn't help.
Like, oh, the thing that goes on the TV that makes dead emotionally volatile. Yeah, let's uh, let's not it's not encourage that. Yeah, they're they're way smarter than me and just being like yeah, no, no, no man, let's uh find something else to watch. Please for us, not for your benefit. Anyways, Chris, it's great to have you back. This is a very interesting time in the National Basketball Association. You cover the NBA at large on Watch Playback TV
and x Spaces. You've covered the Indiana Pacers. We're going to talk about them a little bit, but I want to start off talking about the two teams that are at the top of the league, the Cleveland Calves in the East, the Oklahoma City Thunder in the west. Okay See is on pace to win seventy Cleveland's on pace to win seventy two three.
It's crazy.
This is before they played, so one of them is going to be off the pace that I just mentioned because one of them just lost. So I just want to The Calves championship odds are like if you go and look at the survey of all the odds to win the NBA Championship right now, the Calves currently on pace to have the best winning percentage of all time or close to it, like right up there with the ninety six Bulls. Okay See is number one Vegas odds to win it all, which I was happy to see
that it wasn't the Boston Celtics. The Celtics are right behind them. The Calves again on pace for best in the history of the league, and like not just their winning percentage, like their net rating is top four all time, like they are historically stacked. They are coming in at fit in Vegas thoughts. They are so the Thunders number one, Celtics number two I can maybe accept those, you know, I can definitely accept the Thunder. I can definitely accept
the Celtics. There's some part of me that's just like, the Celtics are gonna win this, Like they they're definitely gonna win this.
This is just them.
That is the Jason Vorhees experience of being a Celtics hater. But then they got the Knicks, which, okay, you can be like public money in New York's a big city. They haven't had a team this exciting and good in a long time.
Then they got the.
Nuggets, who, like I get it because they won recently. And then the Calves. I don't know, is it just what are what are you guys thoughts? Because Jabari, I know you were you were saying that like the Calves are When you watch the Calves, they are that team. They remind you of the Celtics last year. But Chris, just I'd like to hear from you first, like, what what do you think is going on there that's making people discount them?
One of people are biased against Cleveland. Shout out to the Browns for that too. Odds are really funny and what happens and a lot of people don't really take the big picture here. They look at last year and they project forward, and nobody really were sold on the combination of both Darius Garland and Mitchell and the combo of Jared Allen and Evan Mouty. And I remember talking about the Cavs when I said in my preseason prediction, the Cavs are going to go as far as Evan
Mobley's leap this year. And I remember when he was drafted, I said he'd have the chance to be the best
player from his draft class. But it's gonna take until a second contract four years in then we're gonna start seeing this, you know, eighteen twenty two points, ten boards, two reassist, stealing the block right and him being able to do that and more specifically facilitating the offense out of the high poster Cleveland took away the problems that Cleveland had last year when both Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland kind of both needed the ball in their hand
and tripled twenty million times as my cat came, ran it through and knocked over the phone. And with that it it provided balance, and that is what they were missing last year offensively, and when you have that, it also allows you to get back on defense, and their defense has been superb this year as well, anchored again by Jared Allen being a double double machine and cleared
out the paint. Evan Mobley's an elite helped defender. And then at that point, all you're doing is having your other guys play more simplistic roles and have very simple assignments, and you live with your offense just being more efficient
than your opponents. So like the four games they lost, and like an eight eighty winning percentage is crazy after thirty games, but it's it's insane that they just are able to plug in whomever they need to when the player goes down, and Oklahoma City has been able to do the same thing because in reality, they're built similarly. The difference is Cleveland had a trade for their star, right. I mean, thunder did technically too because they traded for
for Sga, but he wasn't a star yet. He was just a really good prospect.
Yeah.
Yeah, when you have that dominant guard, when you have Mitchell, when you have Sga, everything can fall into place offensively as long as you're able to do three things. Let it turnovers, rebound the ball, play good team defense, and that's what Cleveland, Oklahoma City has done since tip off of opening night, and no teams they know what they're gonna do and they just simply cannot stop them, because
that's what a balanced team is. And I think we just moved away a lot from balance basketball because we had the super teams Lebron and you know, the Big Three Miami. Kevin Durant went to the Warriors like there's nothing you can do when you just have that top heavy talent. So you just see now what real true team basketball is with that dominant lead guard. And to me, it's beautiful on both sides for both OKAC and Cleveland.
And I wish more people would actually get on their lea past and I wish the league, Hey, League, I guys, flex more of these Cavs games like you're doing the Thunder games. Put them on at seven thirty, put them on at eight thirty. Let's grow what you have. Like it's hard to see them more national TV because you
know it's Cleveland and they got to get over that. Yeah, And I think once they do that, Cleveland will pop just like Boston did last year in terms of like overall watchability and popularity, just like okay see did two years ago, an overall popularity and watchability, So like they're playing really great. I just think people need to be led to them, and I just think they're going to
keep mowing down opponents. And the other fear is a lot of people buying to this idea that they're only a regular season team, and I find it funny because every team is only a regular season team until they get to the playoffs multiple times, and like Donovan just got there, went to the playoffs, Donovan's there. Now they're the number one seed in the entire NBA, and I
don't really see that changing through the regular season. The question is, much like Boston had last year, once we get to the playoffs, are they're gonna be able to keep pace? And I don't know. And that's where the trepidation and the quote disrespect of putting them down at five when you're going up against Denver, who recently won one has best player on the planet, going up against Boston they just won last year, they got a top three guy, top five guy on the planet, and the Knicks.
And I understand this because I said this as well. The Knicks are going to be a terror because they also play very very good team defense, and they can do what no all their team can do outside of Cleveland in a healthy ok scene that's dominated the rebound. So yeah, yeah, Cleveland's built great. So's the okay scene. I'm pumped for, you know, this game that we're gonna watch.
Yeah, that we already watched because yeah, yeah.
I mean my argument on the like they're not built for the postseason is like that seems to be so based on what happened last year, and you know, we saw them underperform in the playoffs last year. They also didn't perform that well in the regular season last year, and this year they seem to be better. So I don't know, maybe that's worth taking into account sometimes.
And honestly, you know, Chris hit it on the head, especially with that comparison to last year's Boston team.
Prior to them winning, that's all we said.
It was like, you know, they get to the conference finals, but you know, you get them up out of there, and until they won it, we didn't believe. And and honestly, these odds, it feels like that's the case, and so we don't believe. You need more people, situation but the reality is, you know, to Chris's point, again, if you games, you can tell this Cleveland team is different. Sometimes it really is a confluence of things. Like Evan Mobley has
taken a step. Darius Garland and Donovan look very comfortable together. They play off one another extremely well. Idiots like myself used to question whether that would ever be the case, simply because we hadn't seen it yet.
But the reality is this.
They can play you any type of way they want, Like they got two bigs that are very formidable in that starting lineup. They can go small against you and push pace if you want that, if you if you wanted to play, if you wanted to play in a half court, they play extremely well there. They're just an extremely disciplined team. And you know what, credit to coach Kenny Atkinson because sometimes, and this has taken nothing at all away from JB.
Bicker's path, but sometimes.
A new voice, another voice to build upon what you've already established, is exactly the right voice and that and that is what they have in Kenny Atkinson and his current staff. I think Cleveland is serious. I don't know well where I would put them. I would they would not be my fifth, you know team, Like if I were a betting man, they'd probably be one or two.
But I do understand.
I do understand other people's repidation, specifically because you know, we did see them underperform in the postseason most recently.
Yeah, I will say, like I still, like I said, you know, the Celtics are scarier to me, that as just like you know, somebody who doesn't want to see the Celtics when like I don't know, like, are the Celtics worse than last year? Is it just the poor zingis injury? Is it simply poor kue Porzingis is it the zingosity of it all? Or why are we seeing them take a step back just that much better?
My personal belief is that Juwe Holliday having a lesser role on offense to accommodate the what burgeoning superstardom was Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum, as well as the emergence of Peyton Pritchard, because they like, you only get about eighty eight shots per game, right, and he's got a sacrifice it. But when he's out there, it's hard to just play defense for thirty four minutes to night and it gets just joined They did a really good job
developing Luke Hornett into a good backup. They got out Horford, another good heavy veteran who's also a good backup. But they really hit a home run with Quaitnas like like he was able to step in and carry some of that load. But also the other thing that's happened is they've lost rebounding their team. Rebounding has kind of like
fallen apart. You got Tatum near ten boards a game to try to make up for it, and I think that's really gonna be their achilles heal, because I think that is the way you beat them, And that's also why New York is as high as they are, because you know, if you get even if Mitch is off the bench, you're gonna get three bigs who're gonna snag
twenty five thirty boards just from New York. And then you got Josh Hart crashing everything from the from the weak side, so like you got real, real heavy presence, and that's Boston's kryptonite because if KP goes down, there goes your whole ability to hold your offense and the half court.
That was the most uncomfortable I was as a Sixers fan last year was in the series against the Knicks when Josh Hart would go after an offensive board, just like being unable to stop that every single time. I was like, I've never had that, Like I've had the experience of, you know, the team that I root for not being able to stop somebody on offense from scoring.
But I've never had the experience whereas like we can't get a rebound, like we're defending fine, they're missing their shots and we just can't get a rebound and he can get a rebound at will, like an.
Offensive board at will. Was very frustrating.
Unfortunately, we are not going to be talking about the seventy six ers right now because my catchphrase, don't look now for the seventy six ers season every time they win a game, I text that to Jabbari, don't look now. But the the Philadelphia seventy six Ers are pretty mediocre at this point, but they don't look now. Of this week's episode, the Pacers are looking pretty okay, Haliburton starting
to put it together again. Well, how how are you feeling about the Pacers and Haliburton and this season so far? You want to kick us off, or Chris, you want to kick us off.
No quick, Chris, I got you, you know, being here, I get to I get to see the team. What I would say is that I think Pascal Siakam is finally felt comfortable uh huh, okay when they when they made the move, they made the move because he was the best available player I think that they could trade for. That doesn't necessarily mean it was a really good fit immediately.
And then Rick Carlisle in the off season spent some time trying to carve out a role specifically for Pascal Siakam, so it was a little bit heavier on him to open the season. And then Tyrese Haliburton was honest, he started back. He just he just he got out the gate and it was horrible. He was in his own head. He couldn't really you know, like Steph attributed this to like performance anxiety. He was just questioning everything he was doing.
And then now he's at a point where I think he's comfortable and he feels that if he doesn't make the shot, Benedict Mather is gonna make the shot. If he doesn't make the shot, Johnny Firfy's gonna make the shot. If he doesn't make the shot, then Shepherd's gonna make the shot, and him now starting to reacquire that trust, is moving the ball more, and now he's also able
to get his shot off because the team's defense. The opposing defense is now just taking that half a step back because now they got to account for the swing and the reverse. So like it's one of those things that I think is lost on a lot of people. This was a Rick Carlyle. Hey, we're gonna do two months of this and we we're gonna figure out who we are by Christmas, and then by Christmas, we're gonna double down on what we think we are. And I
think they found it. They are a wing team with Pascal Siakam also being able to drive and kick, and I think it's really entertaining basketball, especially when Miles Turner is hot, and he stepped up to the last couple of weeks.
So I'm gonna be I'm gonna about to be guilty of exactly what I just described in the previous conversation and say, Okay, so all of this regular season stuff is cute.
I appreciate it that you're no, You're one hundred percent right.
They are fun to watch, especially when they get it going, especially when Myles Turner is you know, it's hitting from your hitting from the top, and you know, spreading, its spacing the court for everybody, especially when Halliburton as he currently looks, you know, looks comfortable within his role. But we've seen teams like the Celtics, and we talked about you know, we just talked about the Nicks, even the Bucks.
We've seen them play at their top levels. You feel as confident in these pacers in a series when it you know, when it comes down to it against the likes of those teams.
Uh no, that's fair enough, right back.
They are they are the they are like the Hawks. They are quintessential matchups. Like if they hit Milwaukee, they can beat Milwaukee, right, But if they hit New York, it's it's game over because New York is just gonna out rebound him and play defense and say, okay, Halliburton, here's thirty shots, you go beat us. So yeah, I wouldn't feel comfortable if they're taking the top tier teams on in a first round, Like it's just it's not going to work out.
All right, Let's take a quick break. We'll be right.
And we're back, and let's take a look around the league, so big a half court shot from ice tray. So I'm sure a lot of people saw the highlight, consects and ties it up with two point nine seconds and then Trey Young hits the buzzer beater from beyond half court, no timeouts, no timeouts, feels like when he took it. Well, first of all, I wasn't surprised that it went in because I was watching it as a highlight. I was like, I bet this goes in because I wouldn't be watching
it otherwise. But I do feel like the number of path to full court buzzer beaters has to have gone like way up, whether it be the like game winners or just like buzzer beaters and like an end of quarter.
Which used to be like a very rare thing.
And now we know this is a shot that like people are practicing and hitting regularly in practice, like they you know, they say Peyton Prisher is like, you know, shoots sixty percent from the three quarter court in practice is just like impossible, Like I'm terrified at anytime the clock is winding down and he's got it in the back court. Do we feel like teams should start thinking
about changing the way they defend it. Like right now, we're still in an era of you know, doing the hoops equivalent of prevent defense, where you're just like stand three feet away whatever you do don't foul, which obviously you don't want a foul. But what when you have people like Trey Young and like Peyton Pritcher and Stephen Dame who can just pull up from that range, Like, I don't know, what if it feels like we need to start taking this shot a little bit more seriously.
To me, it just feels like shot making has continued to progress and continue to improve. I think I think the fact that I mean, don't get me wrong, we've always been you know, we've always practiced you know, half court shots or like the the you know, like the the full court you know, toss in, but not with any you know, like seriousness. It used to be that, yay man, when Steph is on a heater, you got to pick him up full court. It doesn't matter pick him up because he's going to hit it. That was
ten years ago. Now, Like you just mentioned, no disrespect to Peyton Pritcher. In fact, respected Payton, but Peyton Pritcher can do that all these guys, all these guys you get you know, you have to be concerned with them. Uh, you know if they especially around the half you know, the half court. And then I feel like everybody in the NBA now can hit the logo three. So if you can hit the logo three, you you are you know, you are a danger even at half court.
Yeah, it's a physics thing. It's a physics team type with muscle memory. And when you have the lead athletes and this disposed for the w NBA as well, when you have the lead athletes who understand or who can be taught, the principality is a basic physics and muscle memory, and you practice it. I mean, lethal shooter is hitting
these shots because that's what lethal shooter does. And not only are they doing this a team practice, they're doing this at their individual you know, skills session, like they they they'll warm up jacking up you know, one hundred shots before they even get into their skills work with their trainers, and thirty or forty of those are oftentimes thirty footers, forty flooters and fifty footers and they're making
them in practice. So like, this is something that I've always hard thought I always thought you should go into like a one two one one trap zone if you are less than three seconds then because that way you at least get the ball out the hand of the main guy who's going to get the ball and forced them to make an extra pass. So that I've always been a component of that. There are a couple of other college coaches who do it, but you don't see it in the NBA. They don't practice it in the NBA.
They don't So it's one of those things. Do they pick them up full court then you run the risk of increasing the foul calls. Or do you put like a line at the at the half court line? Do you put you know, Luke Cornett? And if you got to time out and you put them, you know at the at the logo and say, hey, as soon as you see the ball go up to his shoulders, guy just run up and jump half court Cornet.
Uh, what a challenge the half court Cornett.
Yeah, he just jumped straight up. You know, try to take the rim out of the view and try to mess it up. But these guys are some of the best athletes in the in the world, on the planet, so like it shouldn't it shouldn't be shocking to anybody that this has happened.
That's why I learned how to hit three quarter court shots with my eyes closed so that I'm impossible to defend.
We do want.
I wish a happy birthday to Victor Wembingama, who birthday probably already too old.
You know, it's twenty one.
Over the hill man lost given another year.
But just a quick rundown like I.
You know, every time he put up one of these games, I saw it, but I haven't seen it all listed in one place. So Jabari, thank you for putting this together. So one game this season he put up fifty points, hitting eight threes on sixty two percent field goal shooting. Another game forty two points, eighteen boards, six threes, four blocks, thirty four points, fourteen boards, eleven assists, five threes, thirty points, ten blocks.
To another game esus that is.
Twenty four points, thirteen boards, nine blocks. Another damn near triple double twenty five points, nine boards, seven assists, five steals, five blocks, four to threes.
That that one fuck people are complaying and people are still going pla about the way he plays.
And I get it if you're a traditionalist, but come on, that's just fun.
I know a few traditionalists and we talk offline, and I kept trying to tell him like, look, I'll give you one name, like we'll chamber Wind. Okay, right, Yeah, I'm not saying he's the next Will. I'm saying he's this generation's Will. He's seven to four. He's physically impossible.
To gain plan form.
This guy, when he actually hits his veteran game, could walk in give you thirty fifteen, five or six assists, a steal and a half and five blocks per game on an average, shooting forty nine percent from the floor, eighty three percent from the line, hitting four or five threes a game, And at that point, it's just not fair anymore. Yeah, He's just simply it's not fair. And I think I think we all, we all just need to enjoy it because there's a lot of people that
are traditionalists. Are all are they know they looked at the path, This dude would would would drop fifty on Patrick Ewing. You just have to understand that and accept it. Right, Maybe Haki Elaijawan, you know, locks him up in the post, but he'll take him out on a three point line and pump fake them and then dunk him two steps
and then like, that's how good he is. And that's why everybody who was an international scouter talk to him for five years when he was thirteen, was like, yo, this kid is somebody to start watching for the league. And a lot of people didn't believe it. But now that he's over here and you see it's much. He's must watch TV. You you have to just see it in person too, because the TV doesn't do it justice, it really doesn't. You gotta go see him live. Guys.
I don't care who your favorite team is, but if San Antonio is rolling into town, you know, pony up the Ducats and get your butt in his seat, because it is. It is breathtaking, it's mesmerizing. It's like watching Lebron James all over again, but someone who's seven foot four and doing things that even Lebron can't do. So yeah, I'm all for it. Into the traditionalist man, I'm sorry, but he's gonna break records.
Yep, I'm sorry to the traditionalists. As always, I'm always so sorry to them.
Yeah, it's like that drone display of the extremely tall guy in Dubai, you know, like that that's what it feels like watching him, but I still I still haven't seen it in person, So I need to do that. I need to get my buttons in the seat and
seeing him. Oh, actually we saw him in person for his very first that's right, for his very first summer league game, which he My main takeaway was he's really tall, but also just watching how he moves, like just on defense, how he affected every shot that went up in the half court like was I was like, oh, this is I don't think I've ever seen that before. Like he is in people's head every single time. Granted those were you know, summer league players, but it was it was pretty well.
He had folks making business decisions with the ball.
Every decision that you make when he's on the defensive side is a business decision. Yeah, all right, let's take one more quick break and we'll come back. We'll hit a couple more stories and we will.
Do the rapid fire round a question.
We'll be right back.
And we're back and all right.
Before break, you were saying that the Spurs team would be a perfect landing spot for Jimmy. Jimmy wants out, as we as had been rumored, and the heat were like.
That guy's a liar.
He doesn't want out. He actually things are going extremely well. And then he was like, okay, I want out, and so they suspended him. And now they're admitting that, okay, maybe he does one out. So people are wondering what's
the best landing spot for him. I also have the Spurs on my list, but I do for somebody who has such little patience for young players who aren't like ready right now, who don't like have his level of motivation cut throat uh focus on winning, like Jimmy Butler can be a volatile presence like is that too much of a win now move? Is it too are you, you know, throwing a firecracker into the locker room bye by putting Jimmy Butler in there?
But I would I would say no, Chris Paul's in that locker room. The reason well, yeah, that's that's the two that's a two way answer then, because.
Now they already have a firecracker going off in that locker.
But but also Chris Paul and Jimmy Butler want the same thing. They want to win. And when you get close to your mortality in any professional sport and you are a great player, and you haven't won. It starts to eat at you, and then you start being willing to do anything and everything, including things you wouldn't think you used to you wouldn't do to win. Like Chris Paul going to San Antonio was one to get to
the middle, but two to win. Because my guess is he sees the vision, he'll sign a one in one that's at a lower rate. But like, let's just work this out. It's not like it would be bad. You probably move off of Kelden Johnson and Harrison Barnes, but
Jimmy's an upgrade over either of them. You might have to add in a young player like Jeremy Sohan, but like right now, Jimmy's still an upgrade over him, and he plays the same role as Jimmy and San Antonio's offense, you have the young players that you don't even play because you already have other good young players that you could then add to the deal or even bring in a third team. You have the cap flexibility because you already were losing your best players on a rookie deal,
your second best players on a rookie deal. Your third best player was basically an undrafted free agent in Champagnee and like it could work, they would still need to bring on another shooter. But like, if you put him in Texas where he's from, right, and you get him out of where he doesn't want to be, that alone will give him the avenue to be less hostile Jimmy, to be more I'm the team Jimmy, because he understands.
He thinks he can still do it, and he might still be able to do it sometimes, but deep down he knows that he's close to the end of his career. You'd have him next to Devin Vessel, You'd have him next to Victor Windanyana, you'd have him next to Stefan Castle CP three. That's just it's a cheat code. Not only that at practice they're gonna adopt his mentality at practice. They're already adopting CP three's mentality at practice. To me, if I'm the Spurs, yeah, it's a no lose. It's
a no lose. If he opts in. You got him for one more year and he's in expiring, you could trade him again in the off season, or you could trade him at the deadline if he opts out. Guess what, it's not like you were gonna bring back Harrison Barnes like you already had shot Calton Johnson, and these young guys that you have that aren't getting any minutes, guess what, they're not gonna get minutes because you still got the young guys in front of them. So to me, it
makes sense. The part that I always wondered though, was with Pop going out, would the coaching staff be able to accommodate him? And that's the only hold up that I have.
I gotta be honest with you, You've actually made a convincing argument, and I'm a lot more on the on the side of that thought than I would have been because my initial thought was no, Like the last point you made is probably why I'm a little bit more skeptical because, like, specifically, you make that Jimmy move if that's gonna make you a title contender, and I'm not saying that a happy Jimmy alongside Wimby and you know, even a relatively healthy CP three isn't a team that
can do some damage, because it is. But I don't think you make that move because that's not a title team, and the risk versus reward, you know, then you start, you know, then you do. You look at it like, okay, so we took the risk. We had to give out assets on top of it. We can't recoup those if he doesn't work out there, you know. I I for me, I look at it as like if I'm RC Buford.
I look at it like if this were one year from now and we had a couple more pieces in line, I would consider this a lot more.
Now.
I can be wrong, and maybe, you know, maybe they do pull that deal, you know, maybe they do bring him back to at least this home area. I think he's like from from a Dallas originally, or like that area originally. If I'm not mistaken, you maybe that may that would be good. But for me, it feels like more of a desperation. Do you And what I mean by that is teams that are desperate, like the Suns, or like the Warriors, or like teams that are we need to win now, we need to win right now.
I think those are more likely to.
Be the teams to make it, you know, to consider a move for Jimmy at this stage, I want to correct myself. He's from Houston, but you're always actually from jet raandls from Dallas. Sorry, Jami's Rings from Now You're right, the.
One that gets mentioned a lot of Memphis.
That one makes I think it makes sense to people is like, all right, they need a veteran presence to like get job, you know, in line, make sure that the madness doesn't keep happening with jaw and historically, like the Jimmy Butler, Jimmy Butler's historic rind set persona fits with the historic Memphis persona.
But I don't know, I think.
You've convinced me that san Antonio might be the most interesting from a narrative perspective and might be the right thing for san Antonio to do, Like, you know, he's I just feel like with CP three, like people are always like, you know, like they don't always love him, but they're I feel like people are always like I learned a lot from playing with him, you know, or as Jimmy.
A lot of times the teams are just like, yeah, that was that was something that was an experience. So that's the one thing that I don't know.
I'm just reserving judgment on which of those will be the right spot I would take him in Philadelphia.
You know, you know, I was gonna say if they if they offered I got for you. If they offered him and they said, you know what, give us, give us PG, that's fine.
I mean yours. Yeah, but here's the one for you. But here's the one for you.
What about what about throwing back, throwing him back to Minnesota, throwing them back in Minnesota? I don't know, along along side Edwards as opposed to alongside cat.
That's the dog needs another dog? Common I forgot who you know what that is? Yeah?
No, on the feeling A would not be happy about that. I feel like Jimmy would not be happy about that. Well, I don't know.
You you you you would have to figure out where Randall's going because nobody's gonna take go back. That's and then if you move go bet because of the salary, then you're with Randall, Jimmy and and and and that would be musty TV. But not for the reasons you.
Think as much as I make as much as I make light of Gobert, No, you can't move. You can't come off go Barry like you move those with nineteen firsts and Heaven and Earth for him. Plus that would just make you too small, because you know, I would not trust Randal and you know na As Reed is our primary bigs in any series.
Yeah, all right, last story before we get to the rabbit Fire. Out of questioning, I do so aunt score fifty three and a loss to the Pistons. Our Boosty's hit seventy or bust curse continues at pace. No player who scored sixty in the calendar year twenty twenty four won a game. If you scored seventy, you won. And now that the handscheck rules in place, sixty has become less common. So fifty is the new sixty. And that's
also not enough. You gotta do more for us. But I just wanted to so Jabari you were pointing out, you know, the Timberwolves still hovering in the eight to ten seed category. The cat trade is looking more and more like. He is currently sixth in the odds for MVP race. He's currently ahead of Jalen Brunt in the odds for the MVP voting, like sixth in MVP voting level.
Good season.
He's having fourteen boards a game, fifty five field goal pers said forty four from three.
Like I knew he was having good a good season.
I did not realize he was having like he's the new best player on the Knicks and he's one of the best players in the league level good season.
That is shocking.
It's like when your ex glows up. When your ex clows up and all of a sudden, it's like, Yo.
Where, what where did that come from? What are we doing here?
That's what that feels like.
So so the biggest knock on Cat the entirety of Minnesota was he's a little bit soft and he didn't play defense. Gobert gets there and then all of a sudden, Cap becomes an elite defender, go look at the stats. Becomes a elite defender, and then he gets to New York and people are like, oh, well, he's gonna get to New York and like, he's just going to go back to the way that he was, and he didn't. He got better. Because the team is actually a better team,
doesn't mean they have the best player. Uh, you know, I think would be almost all of them one on one. I don't think he beats cats. Cats just too big. But he's still averaging a steal in a block essentially per game. He's still actually playing helpside defense. He's rotating out to the perimeter like he's doing what Anthony Davis
was known to do. He just doesn't have the two and a half blocks per game, but he is fit in to exactly what the Knicks needed, which was a dominant rebounder who didn't want to dribble the ball five or six times out on the perimeter and take a bad three for it. And like I mean, I think we all know like who I'm talking about. But when you have synergy, which is what the Knicks we're targeting, this is what happens. Great players become that much better.
And it's been a wonderful season to watch for him and for the Knicks. I honestly just you know, want them to lose because also as a Sixers fan, like Boston's number one in in me, but New York ain't too far right there.
I don't, I don't care, like I just I only have room in my tiny cold heart for one enemy, and that's the Celtics. Uh all right, it is that time. It is the rapid fire round of questioning. Uh, we're gonna we're gonna throw a couple questions at you, no time to think, just bing bang boom, I'm back. Uh and Jabari you want to you want to kick us off, I.
Will, I will.
As a matter of fact, I'm gonna actually have you picked the game of the week for us, because that is something that we've been doing and we want to keep that keep that tradition. So you these are your options. Friday night you got Bucks at Magic. You also have Thunder at Nicks. Saturday night you got Wimby coming to La to play the Lakers. Monday next Monday, you got Bucks at Knicks or Pacers at Calvs.
What's your game of the week. I'm gonna go with the Knicks and Thunder. I'm gonna go with the Knicks and Thunder and tell you why in ten seconds. It's a contrast of styles. Styles make fights. And I want to see this site, Okay, I just I want to see it, and I wish Chet was healthy, but I gotta see iHeart against Kat. I gotta see s g a versus the combination of the cow Bridges and og and a nubi, you know, taking terms trying to lock
them up. I gotta see Lou Dort put Jalen Brunson in the Dorture chamber, and I gotta see if the real j Dove is gonna show up because I think Jay dub you know, Williams is you know, the the glynchpin to whether. Okay, so he's going to be successful, and I don't think he's getting enough shine or love for Most Improved Player this year. I don't think he would win it, but I think he really should be in the conversation about it. So yeah, I would pick Nixon Thunder Friday night without a question.
By the way, just quickly, Chet is on.
He's traveling with the team on this trip, so there's no there's no updated return, but it seems like he's going to be back in the mix pretty soon.
All right.
Last question, Every team gets to redesign them a logo that they wear on their jersey rather than the standard Jerry West dribbling one that we all know and love.
Who would be the Pacers logo? Who would be the seventy six ers logo? And what are they doing in the logo?
Reggie Miller? No, No, it's actually it's actually his fade away three that he would do when he's on the wing, that that would be. That would be the Pacers logo and then the Sixers. So so I had I got an argument, and Jack, I think I want to know what your idea is, because there are there are different eras and levels of Sixers. Right to me, it is Julius. To me, it is Julius without without question, and then
to everybody else it's Alan Iverson. And I would also give you an additional what I think would be a not so thought of tape, but ree cheeks cheeks, Okay, I like it as a player and as a coach. As the history and I could see him, you know, with his arms crossed, looking out on the gaze of hate towards the Boston Celtics, and I could see that being on the logo for the seventy six.
Is all right. So I'm going to give an even.
Less thought of take, which would be Ben Simmons under the basket against the Hawks, passing the ball off when he could have dunked it. And that that is, you know, that encapsulates the the process. Still, you know, Sixers fans are all different. Some of us are just in it for the misery.
You don't want the ceo ratless rare? You know double block?
Well, Chris, what a pleasure having you on? Miles and Jack got Matt boost e's Where can people find you? Follow you all that good stuff?
Yeah, you can. It's the name hoopspaces. It's real simple. H O O P S P A c E S. You can find me on x formerly known as Twitter. You can find me on playback TV. You can also find me on Blue Sky. Just got done working for Amazon. I'll probably be picking up another gig hopefully soon. But if you find me there, you'll be able to talk to me Monday through Friday at ten am every day and I break down every single game. Sometimes we get players to pop in, sometimes we get coaches or trainers.
So yeah, come through and we'd love to talk to you.
Amazing.
All right, you can make sure you give us a follow.
I'm on Twitter at Jack Underscore O'Brien and on Blue Sky at jack ob One. Miles is at Miles of Gray on both Jabari where are you at?
Jabari Davis NBA on Twitter we still call it debt his his mama call it debt.
And on Blues Guy Jabari Davis NBA.
Yeah, and you can find us that hashtag mat boosties for show links and updates, and be sure to join the conversation on our discord, which You can also find the link for when you search hashtag mat Boosties. That's going to do it for us this week. Sending out a lot of love to my fellow Angelino's who've been displaced by the fires, Hoping everybody stays safe and staying up there, and we'll be back next week with another episode of Miles and Jack on Mad Boosties.
Bye.