Well, well, well look who's back. And guess what we're under twenty days from you know, the team's beginning to report to training camp and Team USA. They dropped onto Lithuania, but then they bump back and put the smash on my Italy. Uh and we are continuing on our team bun Jordan when I said, we're gonna continue our team by team breakdown with the Southwest Division with Spurs analyst Tom Petrini on today's episode, I'm Miles.
Great and I'm Jack O'Brien and this.
Is milon Boosts.
Give it, Davis.
Look up, there's your dad driving spinning Curry a three punter.
Steph Curry from the town again to be honest with the term time.
What's again, guys, Welcome Tom Petrini, Spurs.
Welcome to episode seventy seven, which I believe is the win over under from Vegas for the Los Angeles Lakers. So seventy seven right now, that feels fair? Yeah?
Yeah, yeah, I felt we got short changed a little bit by five games, but yeah, it is what it is.
Do what you can do, your Italian. I didn't realize that you doing.
Oh hey, Bysano, great to see you, Michi Uh, it's great to be back.
In the ancestral homeland. You know.
Of obviously, I'm my family's from Pulia, so I had to go and see the family out there.
But uh, yeah, it was fantastic. It was fantastic, Tom, Really quick, you grew up in Long Island, did you say?
Yep?
And then but you are but you are a Spurs fan now?
Yeah, So I grew up in New York, went to school in Boston, fell in love with a girl from San Antonio. Uh, Spurs basketball. I was like trying to get to nowhere.
Okay, I got to go see about a girl, am I right?
Absolutely?
Yeah, that's a Boston reference.
That's a good Kit's man.
It it took a while, but we got down here, so you know, yeah, I'm happy about that. And yeah, man, it's I've been covering the team in some shape or form since twenty fifteen, so you know, beautiful game area is still kind of there, but Kawhi is like, you know, kind of coming into his own as a superstar. It was a really fun time to be watching the team, right and then sort of seeing everything after that and since and now the Wenber starts, so yes, yeah, interesting times.
To be a Spurs reporter for sure.
I feel like we should read your You provided a bio that, yeah, was one of my favorite bios that's been provided, so I just wanted to read through it here real quick. This is you, Tom Patriny. Haven't played organized basketball since like kindergarten, but I've put a lot of work into building a serviceable jumper. Okay, the righty man U Genobili of twenty four Hour Fitness Parenthesis Balding. I grew up in New York. In my early basketball exposure was like Mellow Stott and Jeremy Lynn l O L.
I don't know where that's coming from. That l it was.
It was a funny team to watch.
Man were crazy. But anyways, I love the writy man who of twenty four Hours.
Yeah, so you got it like that?
Huh.
I ran out of contact, so I have like the croakies for my goggles. So it's like, you know, like honest to goodness respects. You remember respects?
Oh yeah?
Yeah, like like yeah, horsecrant style for sure.
Yeah, because it because it's like I can't see anything, but I'm about to get physical in here.
Right, so they're strapped. Absolutely, don't get it messed up? And did you You're like you ended up? Did this love story become a full complete love story? You are with this person who is the person.
We just moved into this house together. We gotta get a puppy. It's it's we've been together. It'll be six years in September.
Soa you know, as they.
Say, it's a beautiful thing. Yeah, I love him basketball. It's very sweet, wonderful.
There's some interest around the San Antonio Spurs this season.
I would say, so found out a bit.
How what's it like to why what happened? What's it like to have been with the team for five years and then have this fall into your lap, this Victor Webbing yama fella.
I mean it was. It was kind of crazy to watch because very proud tradition here, and they had just gotten used to winning after decades of not and then you have this era of sustained competition, greatness and winning and you have a guy who you think is going to carry that torch and Kawhi Leonard and then he's gone.
And then sort of slowly it was like, you know, you trade the best piece for draft picks, and then the next best piece becomes the guy, and then he gets traded for draft picks and eventually you got what you have last season, which was you know, you know, it was it was cool to see the development of guys like Devin Bissell when he was healthy, and Kelvin Johnson and rookie Jeremy Sohene getting a lot of burn which he wouldn't have gotten in previous years in San Antonio.
But then you know, they won like twenty games, so it was like it was it was tough, and watching the fans who stuck it out through that and watched that, and we're still showing up excited and hopeful while those people get rewarded, you know, because I was. I was at that bar at that watch party where you know, they got it up on the big screens and everybody's like, like everybody's drinks gets paid for if they give the number one pick right in the corner with my tripod
with the camera and like, you know, electric. It was like a championship moment almost like and in a sense, like I know it sounds silly and crazy to say, but in a way it's almost bigger than that, because somebody wins a championship every year you know, but players and prospects like Victor Webbin Yama. I feel like everybody was pretty much in agreement that this is the most
game changing prospect in the last twenty years. And you see somebody like that come and you know what that means because you saw it happen with Tim Duncan, right, yes, Like you know that none of the stuff that happened here happens without that one singular, all time great number one pick. And so you know, people here are just like over the moon and like the impact on businesses, the impact on ticket sales and marketing the team, and you know, the national.
Time they're number one picks. Really well, it seems like yeah, yeah, I.
Mean yeah, you bought them out three times and get three generational big men, like it's it's yeah, yeah.
Pretty now. I've been told, speaking of Jeremy Sohan, that you you don't mess with the Sohan. Is that correct?
Yeah, No, he's a he's a scrapper.
Yeah. I just wanted to make sure we were talking about The Sandman before we started recording.
Yeah, absolutely, I haven't seen I think I saw that movie in theaters. I feel like revisiting that would be hilarious to do.
Yeah, yeah, I wonder if that.
Yeah, So I actually, like, I think it's going to be good for Victor because everybody's gonna be going at Victor. It's gonna be good for him to be sharing the court with, uh, somebody who likes to mix it up, like Sohanna and Zach Collins enforcer Zach Collins as hilarious as a concept. But like, if ever there's an altercation on a basketball court and Zach Collins is in the vicinity, He's in the middle of it. Yeah, like you know, looking like he's mad at his stepdad or something. I
don't know, Like he's like he's ready to go. So I think having those two around Victor is going to be good and important for him.
Do you have a feel for like, you know, you've seen the same number of games that we have, do you have a feel for, like, are the Spurs gonna be good right away? Do you feel like or what are your expectations for this first season?
So I think it depends what your expectations are for the Spurs as a team, right because if you just base it on the win loss from last year and Okay, they're getting this guy we don't know how good Victor Wemenielm is going to be. I feel like last year there was a young team that was still learning how to do stuff, and they left a lot of meat on the bone in terms of results as a result
of that. You know, there were games where they played really well for three quarters, you know, and you know they're they're moving the ball, they're doing the right things, and then in the last you know, five ten minutes of the game, it falls apart. You know, they're not communicating the experience. The other team takes over in boom.
You know, you've lost thirteen in a row like that, and it's it's one of those situations where last year a lot of guys were kind of poisted into roles that they, you know, have never had before and never would have had the opportunity before in previous iterations of the Spurs. And so the feeling around the team toward the end of last year was like, the guys are great,
These guys have a ton of potential. They all just sort of realized that, like, you know, they need somebody to be that guy that they all sort of coalesce around. And they got very lucky in the offseason and they
got that. So I think immediately Victor Wemenyama is going to be like a special defender to watch, even if the offense takes a while to get there, and you know, it takes some time for him and pop to find the balance of you know, Okay, you're trying new things and you're doing the things that make you special and the things that only you can do, but also like, let's run these sets so you can get easier looks kind of thing. That balance that's going to take some time.
It's going to take some time with his team. But like, as far as I know, he's been either you know, he's been combined in vacation or in the lab, you know, just all summer and even dyed his hair, which I think might have been a Sohnna influenced thing. Although so handed this is pleading innocence, Like, you know, I didn't do that to him. He made his own choice there.
But like, I think the Spurs were a perfect landing spot for Victor women Yama because you have Greg Popovic, you have a team that's been building for this slowly, quietly for years, and it depends what moves they make because they've got so many draft picks, right, They've got a ton of assets, you know, do you take DeVante Graham and Doug McDermott and draft picks and maybe maybe one or two of the young pieces and and try to like really upgrade the roster if in year one,
Victor women Yama is like really showing you some things. So I think I think they're going to be a lot better than last year, and probably because people didn't watch them a lot.
Last year, surprising people.
Yeah, I think there are a lot of guys outside of Victor Wembanama who you know, people will tune in to watch Wemby, but they'll be like, oh, man, keel them. It's fun, Like, oh, I've never seen anybody except Penny Hardaway do that like spinning step back, but Devin Miselle has that like that's cool, you know, And so I I I'm excited for other people to watch Spurs basketball. Yeah, you know.
I mean even watching it's just like he's so tall, you know, yeah, how do you do how do you do that? Is that something?
I think he had that thing where like you hang it up in the doorway and he just.
Did the stretching thing.
Yeah, probably hang upside down.
I think we all have to we have to assume that he had that. But he did it off the Eiffel Tower. That's why he's so tall. Right, I think I had Europe. I'm a I'm a bit of a europe expert. Right, let's uh as you can tell? So should we let let's just go because we've been the way we've been doing the analysis is the win over under that Vegas has each team coming in at So should we should we take a break and come back and talk about san Antonio's over?
Yeah, let's get into it angle. We're going to find a new angle right after this and we're back and we found it. We're gonna talk about it's a normal size caller.
I know, I know, I know, Jack, it's normal sized. It's very normal sized.
Normal. It was on Victor Webbing Yama.
That is true. That is true. Okay, we'll credit to him.
I wear it and suddenly it looks huge like a clown dressed to me, he's gone.
He is going to the Tim Duncan school of being that big and somehow finding baggy clothes. Like I don't know how you do it. Yeah, but like that's crazy.
Just got to sell your clothes out of hockey bags. Just everything is hot.
It's been twenty years, so I guess like baggy stuff is coming back. I don't know that would be good.
Or is he just going through Tim's like wardrobe and Tim's like, oh I love these in ninety eight.
Man, you're a.
Lot better dressed than Tim.
I have to say, yeah, well, maybe he'll tuck in a tea with jeans and wear that like backwards Newsy hat and make it all look cool.
Tim Duncan, owner of the largest pair of Tivas that I think, well, that would be my guess. Is he has like the record setting you get a custom man. Yeah? Yeah, he has like five of the biggest Tivas that have ever been made, and they are in regular rotation.
And the sixth one is hanging in Tiva headquarters just like as like an art piece when you walk in and like.
This is the biggest Eva on earth.
All right, So Southwest Division, we got San Antonio, we got Houston, we got Narlans, we got Dallas, and we got Memphis. Folks. Don't we love them? Folks? I love them. Let's kick off with San Antonio. Their their win total last year was twenty two, they're expected to gain by Vegas seven and a half wins. They're twenty nine and
a half. That seems like okay, yeah, I mean, like sure, it's not very aggressive, I would say, especially like my one takeaway from seeing one Beyama the Summer League, and I've talked about it before, that I think like a smart outsider bet would be when Byama for Defensive Player of the Year, Like he really messes with every shot that goes up on the court when he's in the game, Like maybe people will figure out, maybe like non Summer League players, like better players will figure out how to
shoot around him. But he's he is is contesting shots that should not be contestable, right, So I could see them picking up more than seven and a half wins. Personally, I would go I would go over on this one.
Somebody said, I forget who said this, but it stuck out in my mind. They said that he changes the geography of the court.
Yeah that was probably me.
Yeah, probably It sounds like something.
You European geography tweet that run here at Summer League at his first game, You're like, this kid is changing the whole geography of the court.
We're calling him Pythagoras.
Yeah, that's an entirely different subject of school, but.
It starts with g Oh yeah, and that is all that matters exactly.
Yeah, No, he the defensive impact is going to be really fun, and they have guys who I think will fit around him and be able to switch around him
really nicely on the defensive end of the floor. You know, vissell So and Calden Trey Jones is like, you know, a pesky little dude, and like, yeah, I think that it's gonna be fun basketball to watch, and they're going to figure things out, my guess is more quickly than the teams that are playing against them, because you really have to, like, you know, they're gonna be one of the harder teams to scheme for moving forward, just because they have Victor wim Yam who you know, Like it's
it's just different. You have to do different things entirely and switch up your your philosophy in some cases on both ends of the floor to really game plan for a player like that. So it's going to be interesting. I'm interested to see everything. Like there's there's no game on the on the calendar where I look at it and I'm like that's snooze.
I don't care how the seven foot four guy who can shoot from everywhere on the court plays in this game now, right, it's.
Not a concern. I saw. Yeah, I think it's going to be over I know, shocking. The guy who covers the team is a little bullish, but last year I wasn't so bullish. I think it was like right on the nose last year and it was like, I don't know if they're going to get twenty one winsanz, how old weaked over it?
How old are you going? Tom?
So it's it's set at what.
Twenty nine and a half?
I think they went thirty thirty four to thirty six games.
Okay, okay, So just just to shade under playoff contents right as the kids call.
It, like they might make the playing game and like they they might do well in that environment. I don't know, like if they if they played a first round playoff series, it wouldn't shock me.
Yeah, yeah, that would be fun, all right. So I would have expected San Antonio having a generational number one draft pick, that they would have been at near the top of like predictions for most wins gained. However, they are far below two games below our next team, This team Vegas is predicting the biggest win lost jump of the season, and it's Houston last year twenty two and
sixty this year thirty one point five games. I'm slightly confused by this, not that I don't think they're going to be better, but like, is it all van Vliet, Is it all Udoka? Are they just expecting them to take the Fred van vliep Ah, I'm done trademark trade mark And yeah I wrote that in the dock and then I said that I was done, so I have no preparation from this point forward in the show.
It's all chat GBT from here on.
Yeah, but what like does this surprise anyone else? I guess Dylan Brooks also, you know, yeah, he can he can help a team win, but I.
Mean specially if team added a Dylan Brooks right now, because he looks he looks, I mean, he looks as good as he normally would. But yeah, I don't know. I mean it must be e May plus Vamvliet.
I guess Houston is tough for me because, like you know, deep in my soul, it hurts me to say anything nice about him. But like their draft this year phenomenal, Like, yeah, just awesome. I was super high on a Men Thompson before the lottery. It was like, you know what if the Spurs got him at three or four, I'll be
I'll be stoked. He's really really good. Who did they get that slid to like twenty five I've forgotten now, but it was like a guy that people had top ten grades on slipped Yeah, Ken Whitmore, Yeah, slipped to like twenty five or something, And it was like, oh no, Like that's that's problematic. And you know they got they got Shngun in the draft that the Spurs got Primo. You know they they've drafted really well in.
The last few years, and I like the roster that they've built. Uh, culture has been terrible, you know that, Like the coaching has been bad. They I remember last year they were talking about like, oh, Jabari Smith is like struggling, but he had this good game and the coach is like, yeah, you.
Know, you know part of why he's struggling is I'm not running anything for him. It's like, wow, right, I don't know, like maybe that's a point of emphasis to consider. I don't know, I really think bringing in Emadoka is is going to help a lot. Yeah, I think it's going to change some things. And you know, that group of players playing with some form of organization is going to be I think, you know, cool to watch that development. I don't know if they have.
A lot of time now that I mentioned it, I don't know.
If you know thirty two wins like that's that's kind of the joke I guess right that Spurs fans were making. It's like, oh, you went out, you spend all this money on Fred van Vliet and Dylan Brooks and now you're going from not a playoff team to also not a playoff team.
Spurs fans are mean. I thought they were nice.
No, no, no, no, they a while back. I was sort of like my official title was the Dawn of Spurs Mafia. It was it was like a like like if you said something dumb about like, oh, I think Anthony Davis and Tim Duncan are like like Anthony Davis better. Like there were people that would just like your your phone is going to overheat from people saying angry things that you you.
Know, like, well the grammar in that sentence was a mess. Yeah. Yeah, First, I don't talk, So yeah, I mean you were saying it was a dumb sentence, and you are.
And we're messing with your language after we got to ls Island.
Obviously, I feel like Rockets fans have like really leaned into the monetization of Twitter, you know, and and you know, done similar similar posting habits. But honestly, I love I love that the rivalry between Rockets fans and Spurs fans feels kind of back. Yeah, like there's a little bit of nastiness, Like like on Lottery Night when Victor Weberenhema realized he wasn't going to Houston and gave.
Like gave a little fist pump.
Yeah, oh, you just pissed off an entire city. For the rest of those people's lives, they're gonna make you forever. And that was before he knew he was coming to San Antonio, like he was. He was just like he wasn't even thinking about the story building aspect of it. He was just stoked to not be going on.
Oh, I didn't even realize that. So it was Houston was off the board. Who was left at that point.
It was Spurs, Portland and Charlotte.
Oh that's pretty that's pretty bad, man. It's really cruel.
Born and you're like, yes, I'm not going to Houston like that hurts people, Right, I've been there. It's a cool place in Houston, Texas. But yeah, I think I think all of those games you know in Houston and San Antonio fans are gonna get up. It's gonna be fun to watch. I mean this whole division, Like we're gonna go through the whole thing. But like, the young talent in this division is really really cool.
Yeah, this is a fun division.
Every every team has has young guys who are like either already you know, stars in the league or like look like they could be the future. So it's it's fun to watch.
Yeah, every every team they have going up and wins other than Memphis, who you know, Memphis is a real question mark. They're going to be interesting, adding markets, smart d Rose, recent Desmond Bane you know, and then job being suspended. But I feel like they they have them losing, going from fifty one wins last year to forty five and a half and five and a half back. I wouldn't be surprised if they if they're like somewhere between those two. I don't think they're going to drop off
that much, but everybody else is up. The line goes up. Uh, we got nhlins going from forty two wins to forty three and a half.
Not a huge leap, but an improvement. Nonetheless, It just I'm like, it's the health part.
I'm always just wondering, like they I just a Tray Murphy the third he went down with a moniscus injury like earlier this week, So.
You're I feel bad those fans. I bet, I'm sure are wondering.
It's like, can we have one just moment in the sun where the health sun shines on this team? But I feel like everyone's kind of gonna come into this season with something to prove too, So part of me does feel optimistic. But I don't know if that's also the sort of cycle of watching this team go into a new season, Like Zion looks good, he's looking good,
putting the Mountain dew down. We'll see what happens. But yeah, I mean I'd love to see them actually, you know, because we were pretty big on them last year going into last season.
Yeah. Man, well they had a great year the year before and then had Zion was healthy, liked a great year without him, and then Zion was in quotes healthy but you know now now he's missed one hundred and ninety four games over his career while playing in just one hundred and fourteen. So yeah, it's just New Orleans for me is always just like hope Spring's eternal. I want them to be healthy. I want to see what right,
I want the whole league to be healthy. And they in particular seem like one of the most fun teams when they're healthy, so it would be cool. Zion seems like he's physically and then Ingram has like a whole different look. He looks like a different person.
It seems like they could be anywhere from like thirty five to like fifty wins depending on health almost entirely, you know, but like, like again, what a fun young group, Like yeah, like Ingram playing with a healthy, explosive Zion is just like because Ingram was really coming into his own last year, I mean really really solid player and fun to watch and at that wing position, great size, just incredible scoring ability, you know, and McCollum. Right, they've
got McCollum. Yeah, yeah, you know, they they're they're built for being a playoff team. And I think they can get there again provided they're healthy.
Yeah, re signed Herb Jones, So there's there's a lot of fun guys on that team.
And Zion's liking some really cool dragon Ball.
Memes too, a lot of dragon Ball memes.
Yeah you liked this vegeta account about remembering who you were before dating or and you're like, okay, get focus.
Or Dallas is the big question mark for like, not not regarding health, just like regarding how they fit together. This is the same person who was asking that question earlier about Houston, who's phone got blown up because it was a dumb question because they don't know how words work. The So they re signed Kyrie, acquired Grant Williams, signed Seth Curry, Derek Jones junior people. People are pretty impressed with what they did in the off season, but they
should have been better than they were last year. And I don't have a full explanation for what happened. I asked, I said, Hey, what happened, but I haven't gotten the good explanation for it. How are you guys feeling about the Dallas Mavericks And they're over under a they're expected to go from thirty eight wins to forty five and a half, which is a big jump.
And I don't know, I mean, can they do it without Javelle McGee?
That is the number one question on everyone had mind.
That's that's a number one question on my mind. But I mean, I seven, are they going to be that much better?
It's a lot to put on Grant Williams and Seth Curry and like you be one thing to be like, well, Kyrie like needed some time to adapt and like they need to adjust to one another's games, but like it felt like they were getting worse as the year was going along. Is that Yeah, maybe I'm wrong about that, but they just didn't like by the end of the season,
it seemed like, oh, this has not gone well. Those two on the court together, Kyrie and Luca, even though they're both like so fun to watch and like some of the best shot makers of all time, it's like a confusing like it's confusing that they're not better. They weren't better than they were when they were on the court together.
It feels like a really like you know, make or break year for Dallas as constructed, Like I mean, and it feels like going into that you don't have a really good foundation in terms of understanding how those pieces fit, right. I think I think, like you said, they made some good offseason moves. I like sort of the pieces they brought in. But I'm also sitting here wondering, like, Okay, so how is how is it going to work? Who?
You know? Because I see Mark Cuban talking about Kyrie standing in the corner, I don't know how Kyrie feels about that, you know, right, Yeah, it just it seems I feel like if you went down the list of players that you could have potentially paired with Luka Doncic, Kyrie Irving would have been kind of low on the list in terms of, you know, fit, What do you need next to a guy like Doncic to not just win regular season games, but to make a deep run, which is a goal when you have a player as
good as Luka Doncic. And I still don't really see how Kyrie helps you achieve those goals. So it is kind of up in the air. I do think they're going to win. I'd say, like over forty games, I expect them to be around five hundred maybe a little better. Yeah, but it also could turn into a very messy situation there. That one seems like the most volatile, you know, situation here in this division.
Yeah, that one was totally volatile, totally interesting to see, Like where this this really feels like make or break year for Luca, where it's like do we you know, but what do we have here? Like I've seen, I've seen comparison people being like, he's I think the general consensus is he is MVP caliber every season. We should expect him to be an MVP candidate this next year. That's been the way it has been for the past
couple of years. I feel like there's also like a quiet conversation happening in the back where people are like, maybe he's like more of a Trey Young figure, like really great shot maker and you know, had some like deep playoff runs, but overall, like we shouldn't have like MVP level aspirations for him. I don't know about that. I think everybody in the league basically would take Luke over Trey Young. But I am starting to hear those conversations for the first time in my life.
And repeating them out loud, yeah, and.
Then repeating them yeah, I'm saying they're not I'm not saying that Dallas fans I don't tell other people are saying that.
Don't put the Dallas mafia on me. Do you know who runs the Dallas twitter mafia? If you could put a protective order over Jack.
I don't think they have one. Okay, Dallas seems fairly tame to me.
Okay, Ruby, maybe.
There's a second tweeter.
All right, let's should we take another quick break? I think we are, and come back and get some bold predictions and get into the fastest segment in podcasting.
Miles, Oh, yeah, we do all of that. I think we'll do it all all.
Right, We'll be right back and we're back and we're gonna get into Phoba like once the tournament's over. You know, it's been some great games. There's been the big shocking lass. According to headlines by the tam USA to Lithuania, it was a game that did not matter, which I didn't realize at the time when I was reading them headlines. It was they knew they were coming out of their Division one two, just a matter of who was coming out first. And the US has since bounced back against Italy,
so they're they're looking good. They are in the final four of FOBA. I did not know all of that based on the headline, so I wanted to do the service to people of letting them know.
Yeah.
I was also of that because I've been following so closely. I was like, oh, so we're out, No, no.
Bunch of gotcha bums.
Yeah, you might need superstars.
Put some respect on Jones val Man. Yeah, Like he's a great litmus test for like ball knowledge. If somebody has a high opinion of Jones Valence's like value in today's like basketball game, Like you know, he does so much at the center position that is like super duper valuable, just like pick and pop, pick and roll beast on the boards, and he sets about like five hundred screens that are just made of granite every single game. Yeah, just absolute Like.
It looks like he hurts to play against.
Yes, right, those have typically been the types of dudes that give say trouble, right, So yeah, yeah, we'll.
See what happens.
Should we get into it my house, we're going bold?
Are we going quick?
Should we get the let's get the bold in the quick?
Wow?
Wow, changing the form. I like this, Okay, let's do what it takes.
With a little explanation or context.
Oh yeah, it's our favorite.
Cool all right.
Our latest segment called Wild Irresponsible Speculation with People Who Know Better, brought to you by Mis and Jacko Mad Boostie's.
But here we go. Obviously, Tom, you've heard about this segment.
This is the fastest question and answer segment in all of podcasting history, including shows that are yet to exist.
Uh, we are going to ask you a question.
Just answer it, don't think, just respond. Give us that, just that deep human response without thinking, blurt it out, and we'll keep it moving so we can maintain our title of quickest question answer segment in sports history.
Okay, I'm a good blurder.
Good And if Jack and I started asking weird questions that don't make sense or out of context or you know, just general meandering, you have to get on us to keep this thing moving.
Okay, what's happening.
I I'm very vibe spased, So if the conversation flows into a happy spot.
I hear you, I hear you.
And a people pleaser, it's going to be tough for me to do that same.
First of all, the amount of therapy that Jack and I have gone through for trying to get over our people pleasing.
I mean we could, we could heal the world. Okay, the amount of.
Our debrief after this and we can just you know, just work with each other. Yeah, do the hard work.
This is what I'll say.
Sometimes pleasing the people requires you to just be honest.
Right, they're already doing it. Stop ask the questions.
Okay, okay, you're right. Fine, here we go, Brian.
Start o'clock.
To Brian. So he wants to please everybody except Brian.
He's played in a lot of bands, he's played a lot of live shows. Sometimes he's hard of hearing, so I have to raise my voice. That's what that's It's an anchor, Okay, because I'm because I like to he raise my voice of people with hearing issues.
Uh, do you want to go.
First or first? M that's a great question, myles. How about you go first?
Thank you so much.
I will Tom. I have to ask you who's the best player you've ever witnessed in person? And what they do? You know, like, what were they doing? That impression so much? And also who's the person you pay the most to see in person if you haven't already.
Hmm, I've seen Lebron in person and what do you do. The thing about watching him that's crazy is you're watching him and you don't realize quite the impact he's having, just because it feels regular, like he makes he makes spectacular production feel almost you know, routine and expected, and within that also like these incredible plays and you know, beautiful moments. But it's the kind of thing where you're like, oh, man, he's been kind of quiet, and you look up at
the at the board and he's got thirty eight. You're like, damn, all right, yeah, I guess it's not that quiet. I really want to Like, I love watching Jokic play. Like my view at the arena, you just see all of the reads that he's making at the top of the key and sort of the lanes that he's looking at and so so watching from that angle is is pretty incredible.
Lebron's my answer to just because you see you get a sense of speed and size. Like in person, he's just wild, crazy crazy to see.
Every NBA player the scale is crazy, but Lebron in particular.
Is, yeah, scale, I don't see it.
I don't see then why do we lose to the Nuggets?
Well because of those lanes? Baby ah ah, Tom you got, you got to keep moving in.
I'm really sorry.
What is your absolute baldest prediction for the upcoming NBA season?
Hrectly lose your credentials right now.
I think, uh, Victor women yam a rookie All Star.
Wow, that'd be a lot of fun.
Okay, it would be so fun even if it's just fan vote, because the entire nation of France votes him. In Georgia for Zaza Petulia, that's four million people. France has got like seventy million. Yeah, you know, and and I do. I do think he's going to be like better than expected and fun and super impactful and get a lot of eyeballs. I think there's gonna be a lot of people who become fans of his game very quickly, so you know, by by popularity contest or by merit.
I think he I think he makes an All Star team.
Okay, okay, Tom, which team is going to have the biggest increase in wins over last year?
And maybe you could surprise us with the one. But who is that team?
I love what the Orlando Magic are doing. I love what the Oklahoma City Thunder are doing. I think adding Chet to that team is going to be really quite something.
Damn dropping firebars quite something? Yeah, hold on, next question, hold on now drop the quite something. Yeah, it's quite quite quite good, quite good. If you could have any players skill set for a day, who are you choosing and what skill set are you taking from them?
This is so easy, and it's so like, it's so easy. I feel like I'm breaking the rules. But it's Vince Carter.
Vince Carter dunking.
I'm thinking Vince Carter's jumping in dunking ability, and I'm going to like the rucker and I'm becoming an urban legend like Paul Bunyan, or like Will Chamberlain, like.
Earl Manigolt get change off the top, being like, oh you want me to break that five for you?
Bow switching took it off the top of the backboard.
Right, I'm just spending the entire day until I tear every ligament in my.
Knees being wheeled off. Now here's the thing we doing first?
Yeah, I'm going I'm going elbow in the rim m. Interested that on an eight footer when I was young, and same I still have a scar. Yeah.
Now that feels like you're going to injure yourself, right, away to that.
Tendon by your bicep, like on the inside of your arm. I remember damaging it terribly doing that on a foot.
Body weight off of it. Yeah.
But here's the other thing, because L three sixties my answer in case anybody that's my favorite I think of all time, or on France and it was I don't know, there's something about it that really did it for me.
But what if you could dunk like you were jumping over Wemby like how he did in that game against France or who was how tall was that dude that he dunked over?
Was like a seven footer, wasn't he?
Yeah? I don't know if I would do it to Wemby because then I don't know if the relationship could recover from that.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, he's a mad guy. He's a made guy. You don't go ahead there and respect you man.
Right, Yeah, well.
That's that's a good point. But I mean, I've listened to the show before and people always say Steph's shooting, right. Yeah, here's the thing theoretically, and I'm pretty close already. I could practice enough to be as good as Steph Curry is shooting, you know. Yeah, I could get there.
Yeah, that's true.
The guy was a scrub before he really drilled, drilled down, you know in high school and college.
So I think you got something.
And you know, if you have that skill for a day, then what you shoot hot for a day? That definits a you know, twenty four hour fitness all the time, right right, they know you you don't go go home and tell your family about it. But if a five ten Italian guy jumps over somebody and dunks it, that's something that people are talking about forever. You know, those highlights live on.
But follow up though, because we've talked about this, is could your body handle being able to jump high if you had the same same fitness except you just had that lift.
I just had crazy bounce.
Yeah, but you like, yeah exactly, But coming down you're like.
Ah, I would have to learn how to land, and I like, you know people who jump that like Lonnie Walker. I would show up early to Austin Spurs game just to watch him in the layup lines jumping because he's like crazy athlete. But he would he would land so awkwardly and it was like dude, two feet you know, soft be respond, get pack and you.
Just yeah, work style.
I get it, So I don't know, but I would. I would try. And if I flew too close to the sun and died, you know, if I if I die, I die.
Landing is an athletic thing in and of itself, you know, so maybe your athletic skills that allow you to jump that high and dunk so good.
Okay, we got to move on, Tom, and shame on you for not keeping this segment. You know, I won't forgive you with this with this question. That's a just just a nice easy underhander for you, ultimate peak, prime admirable And I said almost said admirable, prime admiral or prime ewing.
For you? For you?
I mean, I've got to go David, because David Robinson that he's one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. But he also did something so petty and savage by scoring like seventy one points in the last game of the season to take the scoring title. That's the funniest thing I've ever seen. And there's no footage of this game, like it's just like they had no cameras. It's against the Clippers, it's in LA, and they were like no cameras and he was like, give me the ball again and just.
Crammed it anyone to see what happens here tonight.
Yeah.
I do have a lot of love for Patrick Ewing. I actually met him on an airplane one time, and you know, I was a fan and I was like, excuse me, mister Ewing, have your autograph?
Uh?
And he goes, sorry, kid, that's against my religion. And I'm like, whoa, I didn't know that. I'm so sorry, and he's like, I'm just messing with you. Give me that hearing story. He's a funny guy. But yeah, I'm taking. I'm taking. I'm taking, David.
I love that canned response that like athletes have to mess with, like autograph seekers, Like there's that one and another one where they just deny being the person that you've identified them to be.
Oh my gosh, Patrick Ewing, Like I'm not Patrick Ewing.
Sorry, that's crazy. I get this all the time.
I'm just a seven foot tall guy right now.
Yeah, he's sweating so much. Yeah all right. And finally, most importantly, Jack were Miles, I gotta.
Go with my persano, man, it's nothing against you. You got you got some some irish I'm assuming Jack O'Brien.
Oh, oh, you put that together yourself.
We part of my gene pool is also Irish, so I feel something can ship toward you as well.
I appreciate it, man.
But yeah, I gotta go with my person.
That's cool, and I won't make Miles anymore insufferable. Now that's back from Italy and Bragel constantly telling me about there.
You have it, folks, you know that's that's that was that was just the word on the streets, as we say, or the alto Where did.
You say your family was from? Miles? Yeah?
Making us up? Man, he's lying. I don't Tom, I don't think so many a.
Pretty heel of the boot to me, you know, off the ends of the words, you know, it sounds almost anything you know that's more Northern Italian.
Wow, do you see?
Do you see gaul is cola? It's the same word. It's just butchered by the Southern Italians. And I love that about them. I got I got both, I got it. All of Italy isn't here.
You got it all all? Well.
Look, I'm a jealous man and someone who's merely a poser who loves who loves the boot, you know, I'm I'm the good kind of boot liquor, as it were.
So much for joining us.
Has anybody ever done like a like a travel show called boot Liquor and leisure and travel show called Lick the Boot, Lick the Boot traveling all the way to the toe. Oh man, Well, Stanley Tucci free idea, Yeah, I get.
I gotta believe you guys can get me in trouble.
They call me Stanley's Tucci Maine.
Okay, Tom, where can people find you?
Follow you?
Uh and and support you in and read all your takes, see all your takes, all things like that.
I am on Twitter at real Tom Patrini. A lot of fakes out there. Gotta people watch.
Yes, exactly the snakes out great man, Well, thank you so much for coming on. Yeah, Miles, where are you at?
Find me at Miles of Gray and Jack where are you at?
Oh me, Miles, I'm at Jack Underscore, O'Brien, the only thing get extreme. All right, that's gonna do it. We're back next week with more NBA and basketball action.
Exactly. You heard it here.
Bye bye