Well, we've reached our official one year anniversary as a show. Everybody said we couldn't do it. We did it. We proved them wrong. All the haters, uh. And we're hitting one year just as teams are gearing up for the postseason.
We will discuss some of the generational bigs currently battling for positioning in the MVP race eventual Awards with eleven year NBA VET current Bucks color analyst Marcus Johnson on today's episode, I'm Jack O'Brien and I'm Jabari dude, and this is my old and or Jack got mad, Boosties Davis driving, Spinny Hurry a three pointer, stop Curry from til again. Be honest, that's right. The next time you hear this show next week, Miles should be back from
paternity and I will be gone. This is not like love below speaker box situation. My kids spring break just lines up with the end of paternity leaves. But you can you can start spreading the rumors. But Marcus Johnson, thank you so much for joining us on our one year anniversary show. Big fan of your work, big fan of just your career, big fan of Raymond from White Man Can't Jump. We were rewatching scenes today and wondering how the hell you are not a famous action star
right now. I have to assume that is by your choice or the directors just messed up, because man, you are you are great on camera. But thank you for joining us. Hey man, look, I'm honored to be a part of this one year anniversary show mad Boosts. I love the name, and yeah, so thanks for having me, and yeah, you know, we had a good time doing the movie. I did some other stuff after that, but
nothing ever approached the popularity of that character. Raymond Dickens, based on a two true story about a guy by the name of Reggie Harding, was one of the first high school the pros players from from the Detroit area back in the early sixties. So pulled out of in depth background about that character that a lot of people aren't aware of. Yeah, I think I read that you have worked on a have a screenplay about the screenplay
and look, you know, just the research was fascinating. I talked to everybody, from Dave Being to Bolt the Near to some guys from the ABA days. Freddy lewis a guy from the old Midwestern League by the name of mc burton who's actually a doctor now was in mad school when he played basketball in the Midwestern League, which a semi pro league back of the day. A. Ray Scott was the first African American to be Coach of the Year in the NBA in mid seventies with the Pistons.
He was a teammate of Reggie Hardy, you know, so it was just fascinating doing the research talking to all these guys about the history of the league. And roth Thorne was another guy who's the teammate of reggiees and then this parting U you know, heroin and the and then the siren call of the streets were his undoing. But he was given a business to both Wilt and Bill Russell Man back in the r back said he would be one of the top, you know, five centers and a couple of years U right when he came
out of high school and got to the NBA. But unfortunately the drug addiction to heroin and the lord of the streets, the temps, the gangsters, the hustlers, all that stuff, yeah, that he idolized took precedent over his development as a
basketball player. And I think I saw you say that the detail of you know, your character and white man can't jump Raymonds sticking people up, but being you know, so somebody who hangs around there and is like sixty eight, uh and he was seven, and they're like, come not again, You're I know right, He's like, no, this ain't me, This ain't me, This ain't me. So you really did pulled that seam directly from his life. Yes, they pulled
out directly. That was one of the first folklore tales that they would tell you back in the seventies when you got to the league and take a story about Reggie Hardigan and the and the ski masks robbing the liquor store seven feet in the you know, this ain't me. And so that was one of the first things that you heard, and it was funny back in the day. It's a funny story. But when you look at the background and do a little bit more digging in terms
of his history, it's actually as sasty. He wound up getting shot on the streets of Detroit I think about thirty years old, nineteen seventy two, and so the same so the same streets that he couldn't get away from that that durilled his career, went up leading to his undoingspend time in prison Jackson Prison in Michigan for two two or three years for armed robbery and a bunch he was robbing a bunch of dope houses where he would buy dope at got to the point where they
got so pissed off at it because they knew it was him seven feet with a ski mask that he came up to a dope house to Robert and two shotgun blasts hit him in both legs and he was hospital. It's just a crazy, crazy life, that wow, colorful crazy life that cross passed a lot of great, great NBA all timers. So it's really a fascinating story. Yeah, it sounds amazing. Somebody needs to buy that screenplay post haste. Um. Yeah, I mean it's appropriate like that that you're on our
anniversary episode. You you are somebody who still can dunk and moose, you know, so you still have the mad boosties that you had in your career. I still have the same ability to dunk that I had in my career, which is which is none. Um, I was net but I can still I think touch the bottom of the net. So in that way we are similar. Um, Like can you talk about that? Like you you dunk. Is it every every year on your birthday? You get us Josiah
think of NBA Twitter. Yes, we should say that he brought the idea to me the year that Blake Griffin jumped over the Kia. Oh yeah, that was about fifty four fifty five years old at the time, and you know, con dunk really easily back then, and so we could we got some matchbox cards or something. Um, I just you know, jumped over one. You know, I'm doing the same thing, Blake. I'm a jump over a car and that kind of that created the monsters every year after that.
I'm sixty seven now, so it's for the last thirteen years. Every year he's like, come on, damn, we gotta do it. I gotta do it. About Joe, Joe, I don't know. I mean, I only I only I only dunk once a year on my birthday around my birthday. I never tried any other time, so I don't know if I could do it or not. And got some hip issues. So this year was a little, you know, a little challenging, but I was able to pull it off and we got it done. So but that next year, I'm not sure.
I may have a hip replacement done by that time, so this may this may have been the last one, but it's been fun. What it does is, man, it keeps me in shape, keeps me working out, gives me something to shoot for, a goal to shoot for, to stay and staying reasonably good shape. At sixty seven years old. I work out six times a week, six days a week, and I mean nothing, you know, like an hour and ten minutes, nothing crazy, but just enough to stay in
reasonably good shape. So it's been the impetus for that. So that's been a good, good positive behind it. Hey, well, I give you credit because you're doing something at sixty six. I wasn't able to do it thirty six, so to appreciate that. Yeah. So I mean, let's talk about the current NBA, the purported subject of the of this podcast. You get an up close and personal look at the Bucks, and I feel like they are a lot of smart
people's pick for the title this year. But there's actually an interesting conversation happening around Yannis with Isaiah this week. I'm not sure if you if you saw this, no, I haven't tell me about it. Well, actually, get from earlier in the year. It was basically it was surrounding the conversation with Jannis where people were saying he might struggle in the eighties, he would come off the bench
in the eighties or nineties, whatnot. Charles Oakley in particular, draws Okeley in particular and Zeke you know, the two his credit out paraphrase, and he basically was saying, a guys, you guys need to be quiet because he would dominate in the eighties. We've never seen anything like him coming to our league. Uh, you know, and and and basically he's one of he's one of the quote unquote old heads that definitely shows love. So I'm interested. How where
do you you see him up close and personal? You've seen him, you know, for the bulk of his career definitely, you know, the great moments. How do you think Janie would fare? No, man, I mean, greatness transcends eras and traits will figure out how to excel in different eras and it goes both ways. And so you know, people talk about how we couldn't have played in today's NBA from the eighties and nineties, and then guys from from even seventies. I mean, but the great players would figure
things that with me. They like to point to my three point field goal percentage. Well that's why I like cleaning the glass, because they don't count heaves and in the corner shots and all that. Both of my stuff was in the shot clock, in the quarters, those types of three and so you know. But but you know, if i'd have worked on a three point shots, I shoot thirty seven, thirty eight percent. I know that hands down.
But when Yannas yeah that Bucks mean, now people are coming around, Charles Barkley calls him the greatest player on the planet, So that that that's a definite feather in Jannae's cap to have that happened. I mean, I remember James Harden coming out and saying it we should see was seven feet No he had to do, was Johanna's is an acquired taste. And you know, watching him when I first got to the Bucks eight years ago, he was coming off a season where he averaged about the
sixteen a game, seven eight rebounds. I didn't know if he would be a solid NBA player for the next ten years at that time eighteen nineteen topping out at that or would he be an All Star. I certainly didn't think he would be this this this transcendent player who would be a two time MVP that would drop us piece in a close out finals games. I didn't
think that. I didn't. It just didn't look like he was on that trajectory in terms of his skill package, and just just didn't look like he was going to be that kind of a guy. But that's where his background, his motivation, his inspiration, his diligence to working out, his his his desire to be the best. That's where all that comes to the play. And I saw that earlier.
I saw him had great games, and I'd see a shadowy figure after he had a great game and we won, running through a crowd of people that right after the game and in tending to gree below weather in Milwaukee, and I'm thinking to myself, who is that crazy brother right there with the T shirt and then to cut off sweats. What is he doing? Then A look closer, man as shannas, where the hell is he going? Watch him? He's going to the practice facility across the street to
work on the street throws and and astinue. That's just forty plus point games. We have a flight to another city that night on the team plane he's sitting in the back of the plane with Sean Sweeney, the assistant coach at the time for the Bucks, going over film and video in terms of what he could have done better even though he just dropped forty points or that opponent that night. That's honest, I mean and so um
he could have played in any era. He has such a unicorn as the popular way of describing a guy like him. Think about it. He's seven feet two fifty, so he's strong enough to kind of with handle, withstand the pounding back of the day, but he's also got this his his separator is this handle. He's able to get to where he wants to go with this ball,
handling like no other seven footer. I'm trying to run my mind through the course of history to think if there's been a seventh footer that could handle like he could not. That's also he's been a product of his era because it's been encouraged for and it's the European kind of influenced in the in the NBA, in the American game, big men shooting outside shots. Back in the day, if you were a Jim McDaniels from Western Kentucky who average thirty a game in college. You get to the pros,
you're soft because you shoot jumpers at seventy feet. My teammate at UCLA, Richard Washington, the most outstanding player in the NCAA Tournament nineteen seventy five, twenty eight against Littleville, twenty eight against Kentucky, great jump shooters, six to eleven. He got to the league. You're saft, get your bigs inside, pounded, pounded inside. That's for the small boards and guard to
shoot the jump shots. So it's a different era, and so there is a more more of a premium put on big men the stretch for that can knock down jumpers and that that that helps him. But you know, he just knows how to play, how to score. This finishing is so much better than I've ever seen it before this year. But his ability to handle the ball to get to his spots, and he studied defenders and knows how to attack angles and body position to draw fouls.
And even though he's shooting sixty five sixty six percent from the line, a lot of guys would back off and getting to the freek the line. Because of that, he embraces the challenge and gets to the freek the lite even more, probably shooting those seasons than he's ever shot. So that's his mindset. It's just different, which I think would trans in any era. Yeah, and a lead to success.
You know, as a current Sixers fan and one time Ben Simmons fan, like that was something I always admired about Jannis is there was just no no fear, didn't no matter what the last trip to the free throw line was, it didn't enter his mind. He has that, like Tom Brady, strategically short memory and just you know, uses it to as a banner. Yeah, without questions. So bringing it to this era, and I'm taking nothing away
from any area prior to this. I'm not one of those you know folks that says, oh, you know, yester years players couldn't play. I would love to see it because I think I like you, I think greatness. It will translate regardless. But it was the coach's fault. They were the ones telling everyone a three point shot was a terrible shot the whole time. Then they like slowly but I slowly figured it out and the players got
their game up to Yeah, now now it's just a layup. Well, remember Rick Petino was the first guy I heard saying, and this is probably mathematically not exactly precise, but percentage say, well, he'd say, you know, three point shot shooting, you know ten three points, ten shots and you make four threes, you know, or six four threes is equivalent to six twos or whatever. So of twos is like shooting sixty
positions three point line because of the point value. And that's that's the first time it kind of registered in my mind. Hey, that's a good point. You don't have to shoot a great field percentage. And then affective field goal percentage got introduced. That was in the these We started talking about that when I was with Seattle and Terry Stotts and George carl and that was an interesting statue.
Two shooting percentage and affective field goal percentage and the value of that extra you know, point that you get from the three pointer. Uh. And now fast forward to today and now we're shooting with the bucks like over forty threees a game as a bunch of teams. Over four three is a game, which is just crazy. Yeah, coming up watching you know, watching the other game in the eighties and nineties, I never anticipated as being here.
But to that point, you know, we were told, you know, about five years ago or maybe even a decade ago, to the big Man was gone, that you know, there was no more, no more great big Man or anything or something along those lines. That was the general conversation, which it wasn't even true then. But now you have guys like obviously we've been you know, we've been, you know, discussing Jannis, You've got em Bid, You've got yo kids, You've got a d you got you know, Miles Turner, cat.
There are literally big all throughout the league. So I'm gonna throw something out there, and you can call me crazy, That's okay. I'm usually the crazy man. I think this era of bigs is just as good as it's ever been, even with the focus of the game, you know, we like to present it as it's exterior game, or at least outside in as opposed to inside out. But given the range in in actual ability of the modern big, I think this crop is just as good as it
ever has. Well, that's an interesting assertion. And it's almost like you got a bunch of Tim Duncans out there. You know, you got a bunch of mobile seven foot the good shooting um not straight back to the basket, can go down there and do some work if they need to. But it's so interesting how so many teams
like the Kings and and and Sabonus. I mean, they run their offense through these elbow touches, even in Draymond Green, who's not really the prototypical big, but still you know, he's he's he's in there in their in their lineup. They run everything through them as a popeum for what they do offensively, So I wouldn't you know, I'm thinking now, I'm just kind of in my mind's eye, trying to trying to rud off all the bigs in recent years and kind of what they did Kevin Garnett and some
of these other guys. Um, when I think of the big and I tell Kevin Durant in that equation from from sheer Sides alone, Jannis and Yo Kitchen mentioned all these names, and you know, yeah, let me tell embed. One year. One year, he was hurt and I forgot if it was a nasal fracture. I forgot what it was going on with him, but he was out for an extended period. So we're in Philly and I'm watching his his his routine before the game. He's not gonna play that night, so they're putting it to the real
hard riggers routine. Before the game. He knocks down literally like about twelve threes, just coast to coast, dribble down the one three point line, swish, dribble back down to the other three point line at the other end, switch, drill back down. It was just amazing watching the accuracy of and how he shot the ball at his massive seven two nineties sides. Yeah, and the fluidity you know he plays. And I always said, these guys at that side, they played like the six six six seven Bonamy portis
for us. I mean, the way he shoots and plays and moves. You don't think of him as like six ten two fifty. And that's the difference between now and back in the eighties, in my day and even years after that, some guy with some guy with that side would with automatically be pitgeonholed and discouraged from expanding his game. Now they actually work on the expansion of your offensive skill package that plays allotted to it. Also, all right, we are going to take a quick break. We're gonna
come back. We only have Marcus for another ten minutes. So we're gonna come back. We're gonna get right into the fastest segment in podcasting, the rapid Fire Round of questioning. So we'll do that first and then Jabari and I'll stick around and b us a little bit, but we will be right back for rapid Fire in act two because it's a special anniversary episode. We'll be right back and we're back, and Marcus, you just got to give the first thought that comes out of your mouth into
your brain. Doesn't matter if it's dumb, you know, just whatever. It can be wrong as long as it's fast. And we will be very slow and not fast on our end, but that's okay because that that is our egative as hosts of the show. But are you are you ready for the rapid fire round of question We shall see all right, Um, Jabari, do you want to do? You wanna? All right? Start the clock? Let's go, h mark the clock has started each year and we and we spoke to this a little bit earlier. But I have a
twist for you. You You know how you post a video that you know that shows that you can still dunk, and I like, you know, like I said, it's impressive each and every time related to that, do you have a favorite dunk of your career or was there a player that you always wanted to go to meet at the rim that you didn't get a chance to. Yeah. So anyway, so we're planning against the Lakers. There's a scrum under the baskets, but the ball Kareem is right
behind me. I've been down, picked the ball up and off of birt, jump up in the air. Kareem jumps the block and I dunk it backwards. Who like, Wow, it's a reverse dunk over Kareem. Yes, indeed, right, A friend of mine got a great shot of it on a fly that I just I can't find to save my life. I know it's I know it's in my stage somewhere. I gotta find that flag because he got it. He got it right at the perfect moment, me about to foot over the rim, Kareem trying to block it
and getting ready to reverse jam on it. All right, the greats get gotten at times too. Yes, indeed, you have the number one pick. Next year you're you're an NBA GM. You have the number one pick, so you basically can draft Victor Webbing Yama if you want, and you have just learned that every NBA team is willing to trade you a single player for that number one pick. Do you do it? And if so, who do you choose?
I'm almost I'm verging on saying besides the honest because Janna seems like kind of that's my answer at least. But is there is there a player besides Jannis that you would trade Webbiana for? Yeah, Webbing Yama for straight up and bat Man if I could, Jannis and Joelian Big all due respected Brook Lopez, but my backup center. I'm sorry, book, but I love you. I would understand. Yeah, I think it'd be cool with that. Yeah, all right,
keep it going. If you could bet on any fan base, and you you know, you see the fans, you see the arenas, you see with it, you're what they're capable of. But if you could bet on any fan base to make the in arena challenge shots that's the lay up three throw three pointer and the half port shot, which fan base would you better? Ah Da, I don't know. The Knicks, I don't know why. I don't ask you what.
Nick's always have been a team that whose fans are knowledgeable, So I would hope that some of that knowledge would extend to some skills, you know what I mean. So they translates to the in arena challenge. Yeah yeah, I've always loved playing for the next funny story with the Knicks.
I know this is the speed round. But but but when I first learned about gambling, I think we were up by a certain amount of points and the Knicks score to cut the three, and the crowd just erupted, And I told her any redfielders like two seconds on the clock and losing, where are they cheered the point Sprand was the point sprand was for bro? Just a bunch of people running into the OTP immediately after the game? Yeah? Man, New york Y city in the world. All right, what's
the best NBA city based solely on the food? Oh? Man, NBA city based solely on the food would have to be Chicago's got a tough We've been to some. Really. They do a thing called break bread uh Nights with the Bucks where the team has these team dinners, and I've been fortunate enough to get in on a couple of them. In Chicago is always outstanding in terms of the restaurants that they choose. All Right, So this one is appropriate because like your boosties, I'm also jealous of
your crisp proline at that at your age. So Jalen Rose recently said that man should be spending a minimum of one hundred dollars on a haircut. And you know, while that might be a little bit steeper, you know my taste as a podcaster, what's the what is the single item or routine maintenance that you're willing to pay top dollars? I mean, I I gave my barber sixty yesterday.
You know you ushould give him fifty over he kind of fit me in with the crowd in the mid afternoons, and you know, I didn't want to ask him for ten dollars change, so I just left him with sixty. So and that's a lot. You know. Back in my day ten twenty, I was paying my sunber Rider cut my hair twenty dollars a shot. Now he's charged forty, So fifty sixty is kind of like by eleven, I remember being able to go to the go to the shop with fifteen bucks and that actual yeah, no more
they look at you like you're crazy. Now. One quick follow up Jalen's hairline too good to be true. Yeah, yeah, I don't know what's going up. I've heard some stories, you know, but you know, I think his sister came out and said a couple of things about it. But whatever it is, And Taylor Rhodes is one of the
all time classiest guys I've ever been around. What he's doing in Detroit and and every time I see him, just on a personal level, it's just great Interactually we talk about you know, we talk about you know, Kyrie and his situation. We talked about real stuff and he keeps it real and just uh, I just love Jade
Rose's death. And during the All Star Game in Oakland back in the early two thousand, I think the business card, the bench Carter du All Star Game, they wouldn't let me in, like the players party gave me a hard time about getting in. All of a sudden, Jayalen shows up. It's like, Hey, this dude is a legend. Come all that. You would be right on there, you know so well. I love him for the rest of my life. You had about three arful ladies with me, you know you
know what, yeh made it even sweeter. Whatever he's doing with the hairline works, I think work work of art. All Right, you can take any former Milwaukee Buck and pair him with Janna. Which former player would you like to see him play with? Oh? Man, hey, I mean that's the god. That's not fair. But yeah, that is the right answer. You know, I was in Oscar, but
Oscar was kind of passed his prime at that time. Um, you know, Ray Allen, I think was a would be a good period, right, kind of came into his own pre post Milwaukee dates with the Celtics, is in with Miami. But uh, you know, it's some some some good options there. All right, last question, and this is probably the most important. Are you ready? I want to make sure let's do it all right? Jack or Jabari Jabari? Okay, okay, straight boy, that's cool. I get it. You know, you know he
knows our people. You know, usually with most guests, it doesn't completely devastate me. But I'm not gonna lie. This one hurts. Well. No, but here's Jack. Here's the reason why. Because I just did a interview for documentaries they're doing on Yannis and did a kumpo uh for for an hour or so. But in the course of my research for that that interview, I looked at Janice's scoring stats from one year in Jabari Park average twenty point game
that year, the year he heard his knee average. This kind of made me sad, you know what I mean in terms of what, yeah, what it could have so that that that name Jabari was fresh on my mind. So I think it was more a kniat jerk than anything anything to do with quality. I'll send you some jack seck my stats a little bit later on. I'll take that simply vote right here. Thank you very all right, Well, thank you so much for for doing the show. A legend.
Jay Lenrose was right, this has been a blast. Where can people find you? Hear you all that good stuff? Yeah, I'm on Twitter old school eight eight eight. I think Instagram the same thing, and uh you know on League Pass watching buck games and check us out. This year, I think this will be our year. I feel really good about our depth. We got some of the deepest lineup in the league in terapter shooting them. I was
having a conversation with Steve Novak yesterday about it. This is one of the best all time shooting teams one through twelve in the game, and you know, we gotta look at that. So that's gonna help us. All right, Well, Marcus Johnson, thank you so much. What a pleasure. All right, Jackon Barry, thank you. Let's take break. We'll be right back to talk about some great performances from the week.
And we're back. And um, you know, I've never had to do an entire segment of this show after losing the I've had to go home to the wife and kids with my tail between my legs. But I've never had to actually show up for these fans so they can hear the defeated man that I am for twenty four hours after after I lose a Jack or Jabari. But you have to love his ability to to play that game and say, like, oh, well you know what it really was about Jack, He was like he was
on it. He was quick. Oh man, you can tell he's been a dad for many years because yeah he made it. Yeah, yeah, I just I actually like you both equally. I just picked it at random. But you know, uh, to please stop crying, it's making me comfortable, Brian. Please cut that part out where he says, please stop crying, it's making me uncomfortable. And then I ball and call him dad and say thanks a lot, Dad, because yeah,
I just think it made him look bad. Um yeah, all right, Um, so we're gonna come back with the mad boost. These great performances of the week. Um, what a week. The Lakers fans are on the Reeves train, Austin Reeves. I'm hearing, you know, I have a lot of Lakers fans in my life living out in Los Angeles, and I am hearing every time this man puts the ball in the basket from a Lakers fan, you get you guys are excited about this, this young man speak to it. You know, I look at it like this.
Every fan base is going to be happy about, you know, like, you know, a secondary guy. And when I say that, I mean no shade whatsoever, but not necessarily a star or a guy that was expected to carry you at the most important, you know, the most important juncture of your of your you know season, and he's done that. You know, he's a reserved guy that has stepped into a role with obviously with Lebron being out these last
nine games or so, and he's played incredibly well. From the Lakers you know fans, you know side of things, I do recognize we go overboard and there's a lot of us. So it seems like we're overdoing it with the love, but it's really just a matter of fans of a struggling fan base that are looking for something to be happy about. Under a minute to play read here he goes on its ways. He is quite right now as reason. Just take it over the game. I'm gonna ask what draft class he was and uh, he
was not drafted, but twenty twenty one. Yeah, that's the best when you just have somebody who you aren't counting on who comes through. He always looks a little bit surprised when he does something awesome on the court. Um, so it's a lot of fun. Did you see that Newark's own? And by Newark, I mean Newark, Arkansas? Yes, I love on a stay in America. It is just like, yeah, we're we have Paris, Texas, We're you know Cincinnati, Missouri, or like you know California. Yeah, yeah, all the parises
are out of control. Um, Jannis, I've I've heard just about enough of about this Yannis fellow. But um just making it look easy with a twenty two thirteen ten nine of nine from the floor, one of one from deep Win over the Raptors. A really solid pro career. I think with important timber Wolves, because it's own, there's a soft spot inside the work. From there, what more can you say about Giannis This is you know that
hasn't already been stated. But really, at this stage, it really doesn't matter if he wins the MVP, because again I'm just reiterating, he's the best player in the world. He and he goes out and he proves it on
a nightly basis. I wish the MVP conversation was over because I honestly think it's gonna either be you kitch if people who you know are on the majority of MBA writers who have a vote that was just the default, or it's going to be honest and all the focus on Embiid and then I don't I don't want Hibid to like wear himself out. I mean, he's been saying all season that you know, this isn't important. The thing that's important to him is getting to the third round,
getting to the Eastern Conference finals. So we'll see about that. But I just I want it to be over. Dubar, I completely understand. Adding I'll be honest with you. I give these guys credit for being able to compartmentalize like that, because I'll be straight up, if I were Embiid, I would be like, nah, this is my year, and yeah, I get him crazy? Why not his eyes exactly? Why not? I mean, we might as well talk about Joel Embid became the first Sixers player to score thirty plus in
nine straight games. I was surprised by that that that was the first time, and that's no shade, what's the work. But for whatever reason, I didn't anticipate that being the first time that ed up. I mean, I guess we should talk about the MVP conversation because you had a text two miles and I we still we still have the group text thread going where you said after after one of these nine straight thirty point games, game winning shot at the end. I think it might have been
the Blazers game. I forget um, you said a couple more like that, And he's going to put himself in the MVP conversation, in the conversation like, he's not even
in like that. Most of the conversations I hear include him, they're not like and maybe if this Embiid kid could put a couple games together, he might be I think there's still there's people who think he might be in the conversation, oh if he asked the Sixers fan, he's you know, he's he's leader of the Okay, all right, that was a little bit tongue in cheek, but really it was kind of what you were, what you alluded to earlier, where so much of the conversation was being okay,
is Yoki or someone else? And you know, deservedly so it's been be honest in that in that role. But I think Joel, I'll just say definitively, I think Joel embiid as every opportunity to win this award, you know, as those other two guys. I think I'm gonna say it definitively, I think he has a shot at the All Star Team might do that. He might be able to make that he heard of pretty good. They need to They just need to catch I mean, I guess with regards to his MVP candidacy, it's it would be
nice for them. I think he has a real shot
if they catch Milwaukee. I already they need to catch Milwaukee if they want to make it out of the second round because they're not getting by Boston, at least not Boston like at full strength, which they would be in the second round, so they need to catch Milwaukee in I'm assuming that's where some of those urgencies coming from, because they're playing at at the highest level they've been playing at at a time when I feel like a lot of other teams are kind of hitting the dull
drums a little bit. Um, they seem pretty locked in. Yeah, I was gonna say, if look, if I'm a Sixers fan, which you know that I'm famously not, but if I'm a six I'm feeling pretty famously I'm feeling pretty good. I am shocked that they haven't just lost a bunch of games in a row. But as we were looking over the schedule, I was like, ah, yeah, here it comes the Bulls game, which will have already happened, so
you'll know if I'm right or wrong, listener. But I was like, the Bulls game, that's the game that they lose, where like, I'm feeling really good and then they just drop a bewildering loss on me. But um, that is you guys dealt with enough of me being a self loathing six Wish fan last week, so we'll leave it at that. Shay still doing it, man, you know, let
me go back and retroactively say you're right. And what I mean, what I'm referring to is about midway through the season, we had this conversation about the most improved player, and while I do think I do, obviously for those same reasons, think that Laurie is probably a good candidate the most improved player. This year has been shaped with that, right, TAM's gotta do this then, is the opening nearly turns
it over, Hea does. Here comes a run out for SGA and about to be and he fits in with the way they've been given the award out, which is person who becomes a All NBA caliber talent. Well, you know that was a job last year, and I feel like it's gonna be do the odds reflect that this is obviously the first time i've it's gone fount and fourth, I think Shay is the leader right now. But like it was large. It was large. It was Laurie for a while, and they kind of fopped back and forth.
I mean, Laurie makes sense because he like was much worse than Shay was last year. Right, he was pretty good last year, but it was it was it was a throwaway year because you know, he basically they I don't want to say they gave up on him. They decided to move on in Chicago. They dumped him, you know, to Cleveland. He has that year where you know, he
still looks pretty good. But we didn't anticipate this. It's in in particular when when they made the trade, it was okay, well Laurie might put up you know, twenty point nights, but they're not going to be in most of these games. And they've been right there like all throw yeah. I mean, but like Shay wasn't getting dumped in a trade last year, you know, explain that whereas Laurie.
But they were like, yeah, well, you know, we know what we have with this young man turns out not I am getting people ready for the return of Miles Gray in this young man um. The Grizzlies are maybe putting some things back together. Had seven players and double figures, led by Jaren Jackson's thirty one Desmond Banes twenty six in a win over the Warriors. They're just they're tough, man, They're they're really like mentally, yeah, just when I'm ready
to write them off, they say, oh hey, hey, guess what. Yeah, five of six coming close to catching the Kings, who are so both of them are coming close to catching the Nuggets. Denver has been seven games out in front, I feel like for the past a few months months, yeah, and now it's I mean it's they're not they're not.
Nobody's gonna catch the nugget. I think that they're winning again, but uh, you know, they're four up in the West and they're point differential, like they used to have a leading point differential, I feel like, and now they're that's kind of fallen back to earth. I think we should probably have a Nuggets fan or person on over the next you know, month or so. Why would we do that? Why would we do because I watched Nuggets games and I watched the action, But you know how, it's a
little bit different when it's your squad. I for the life of me can't figure out when it was a week. I was like, okay, teams go through that. Then it was two weeks. And it's realistically been the best. So you want to have them on and be like, what's wrong with you? After they've had the best season in the history of their FRANCHISEE Like, all right, you can come on now. What's going on? Guys. You don't look as good as you used do you feeling all right?
I think I still think they're probably doing the thing that every team seems to do, other than like the Sixers seem to just be trying to power through to the end of the season right now. But Yogas doesn't care about that MVP or a race. I think he cares about, you know, preparing for the postseason. There might be some resting going on, and they do seem pretty comfortable with a four game lead over Sacramento and Memphis. But Memphis, it's it's good to have It's good to
have you back, buddy asolutely. And then Dame, I just want to talk about this stat that you pulled. So first player since Kobe and O five oh six to have scoring games of thirty plus, forty plus, fifty plus, sixty plus and seventy plus. This man is locked in. He's a legendary score. I mean, it hasn't led to much, you know, to eating wins really like right especially in the second half of the season. But Dame is you know, I don't know where he's gonna go down in the
all time. You know, everybody has a different top fifty or whatever the case may be. But Dame is going to be one of the greatest scores that, especially at the guard position, that the game has ever seen. It is all said and done, and you know what, a lot of people will, you know, make make light of the fact that he hasn't asked for a move and
you know, wants to stick around. At the end of the day, it is still going to be pretty damn impressive when you know, when you look at all of the accomplishments that he ends up with regardless of whether
he wins a time. Yeah. Did we ever talk about that thing he said in the I think it was on a podcast to JJ Reddick where he was just like, yeah, man, when I'm done playing basketball, I just go home and like play with my kids and enjoy my life a while trying to Yeah, which I thought was pretty cool.
I'm pretty refreshing. You just never. I think most players, whether it's true or not, are just too scared to say that because fans tend to deify these players who, like, you know, were like he was so mentally off that all he cared about was losing and it was emotionally devastating to him. And it's like yeah, or you could like have a have a good life and be happy
and put up sixty and seventy in multiple games. I think that definitely helps his calls, the fact that you don't look at Dame and say like, oh, he doesn't seem like he's given it his whole, you know what I mean with Winnie never here so never if anything gets goals like to have that sort of balance, you know, life balance to be able to give it you're all you know when you're there, and obviously you know when you're training in preparation for it, but also be like yeah, no,
like no, let's go make pancakes kids. That's pretty all. Yeah, yeah, all right. So it's time to go with our NBA broadcast call the week Nuggets home call on this, putback dunk, let's roll it, use your shot, Yo gets on the move, put it up, rocks that cast bar. But Michael Porter junger Um dunking dunk get with his hand like parallel to his face, like up so high, which is always fun. People forget how tall he is or where I forget how tall he is. People don't it's ten six ten
and just has a wet shot. So that that was pretty cool. It was off of yokachmiss. I'm just saying he also dunked over yo back. Yeah, he got posterized by his own teammate. Um. And then the Twitter of the week, we gotta give it to King Josiah Son of this week's guest response to Austin Reeves scoring a career high, utilizing Peter Weber's epic who do you think you are? I am celebration, which is what I'm thinking
most of the day. If you just like saw what was going on inside my head, it is this celebration, so anything, it's like, you know, it's one of the greatest sports celebrations of all time. And I absolutely mean that. I'm not being hyperbolic. It's one of the greats, especially because I don't know if it completely makes sense, but we know what he means. No, it doesn't make it.
An is just perfect, just perfect. Yeah, So what a blast. Absolutely, and then Araboosti's listener of the week was aaron An Mix, who is super excited about Michail Bridges having the opportunity as a top option. Offensively, Hey, aaron An, you and you and all of us were psyched about this, she was actually seemingly feeling guilty that she says, I guess now I'm a Nets fan too. And I'm just gonna
say this for the record. While I may have been a hardline, no, you have to have one team, you know fan in the past, the Lakers are my team. But I've got several other teams that I you know, because a former Lakers are playing on them, or I just picked them up. I've got a bunch of teams that I can appreciate, and I think that's probably a healthier approach to NBA fandom. Yeah, it's like having a rescue dog a rescue team. That's a thing that I am hardline. I think the whole thing of Like you
can't just adopt the town your new team. I mean, you know, growing up and rooting for whatever team my dad was coaching obviously prepared me to just switched teams with the people I value. But like, I've really enjoyed the NBA just following Lebron around and rooting for whoever he's playing for, assuming it's not playing against a team my dad was coaching, and you know, just just being a free agent and just appreciating what is super exciting
about the league. So I highly recommended if you're feeling because of some other famous sports guy podcasts that you're not allowed to switch teams, or it's a safe space here at Miles and Jack Miles and or Jack got Matt Boosts, so you're you're always free to switch teams. I'd actually be interested to hear from boost these listeners like who feel beholden to this? Like what are some teams that have tempted them where they're like, Oh man, I wish I could root for the team. They look
so good, Like the Miami Heat looks funny. I rooted for Lebron when he was there, but I still respect what they do. I still love Eric Spoelstra, Jimmy Butler, like what they do is super cool and just my heart does not feel you know, I can't make myself a Heat fan, but I respect it must be a fun, fun ride to be a Heat fan. All Right, I'm
gonna just throw this out there before we go. We're five years down the road and Joel embiad is into Miami Heat Jersey or can you allow yourself then totally easily I do it if he switched teams tomorrow, i'd do it, like I give you know, I'm not. Yeah,
Like that's the thing. I feel like Sixers fans probably have a have the wrong idea about me that I'm like this diet in the wool Sixers fan, Like I am a Sixers fan because that's who I was rooting for and then my dad retired, but I got to I was rooting for them, like from Embad's rookie year and so you know, but I'm a I'm a mercenary. I'm a mercenary fan out here, and agents does make me. I still have whatever that unhealthy fandom is where I feel physically ill when they don't do well. So I
got that part. But I'm in no way, like you know, long term cursed to be with a team, which is which is a nice luxury I have. So all right, Well we did it. We made it a year. Thank you so much for everything you've done, Man Jabari, one of the true great producers out there doing it, one of the great NBA minds. Appreciate you. Appreciate you guys for listening to the podcast for a year and telling your friends about it. And that's gonna do it. We're gonna be back for Year two next week, or at
least some of us will be. But yeah, we'll talk to you all then. Bye bye,