MJGMB #89: Surprising Starts and the State of the Jazz with Sarah Todd

Well, the Celtics and Timberwolves still atop. They're mighty purchase of their respective conferences.

But okay, see in Orlando right at their heels. It's kind of amazing to watch. And we'll get into all of.

That and the state of the Utah Jazz with desret Beat writer Sarah Todd on today's episode, I'm Miles Greg.

And I'm Jack O'Brien, and this is.

Smart driving, spinning.

Corry a three step again.

Be honest with.

You. Oh, Sarah Todd, You're bad, bad, one of our favorites.

It's so good to have you. How are you? How is it being a beat reporter? How is it being the coho of the Unsalvageable podcast former Crest Faster? How is that light slows up top?

It's like Lebron James, It's it's pretty good. Okay, yeah, eleven eleven years into beat writing, how is it it's the same?

Okay? Good to know? Good to know? And what is it with beat writing? What is it about it?

What is making beats the by dreh The fact that Timberwolves okay See in Orlando are three of the top four teams is not like that?

We nobody had that.

Coming in absolutely not this is this is very fun.

You had it in a fun way.

Okay, see you know I did have Okay, see like in a jokey way.

You're always like, oh joy, oh, I guess now, I'm sorry, very serious money where my mouth is? That's true. You did put it where your mouth.

But that's only if they win the title. The Timberwolves, like the Edwards being as good as he is. This is I'm so happy.

I felt like I felt like a couple of months ago, we were like, okay, go bear and cat. Ye, we'll see if this everything works. Everybody, and now look at us. Now look at us, Sarah. Are you who are you most shocked by?

Well, I'm looking.

I'm looking right now at what my preseason picks were for like one through eight seeds HM and I had Timberwolves at eight in the West, Thunder at seven, but I had Orlando as the bad team you want to watch on league pass that won't be in the top eight. Yeah, So it is surprising. And if you know full honesty here, I have watched a total of two Magic games, so I don't really understand what's happening.

Because in the games that I watched. Not great.

Yeah, no, it sounds like it's like Paolo has figured something out too U and like their bench has become formidable. I think that's a big thing that I gleaned from my light highlight watching.

I was like, oh, okay, incredible.

Last year though, Yeah, Paolo, And.

I think he's been playing more because Markel Foltz has been out.

But yeah, and even Jack your boy Markel Mark.

Yeah, I'm excited for this team. I love a young team that's come to play, and this is where the inn season tournament is going to be fun to like see these teams play, assuming they're not eliminated yet. I don't totally understand it. I don't know why my Sixers are already eliminated.

But when beat the breaks off the Lakers, who are four and oer right now in.

The in season tournament games, yeah, yeah, someone call it arbitrary, but I do, like, I respect a team that's able to turn it on for the in season tournament. Yeah, exactly, And it seems like the Lakers are that. It seems like the Pacers are that. It's going to be fun to see some of these young teams, including the Pacers. Uh, you know, play with something on the line in a tournament that has the single elimination of.

It all the tournament that is in the season.

It is in the season.

And that more about said exactly the cash prize on offer.

Just call it the NBA Cup, right, something easy, the Vegas Cup, the NBA Cup, the Jerry West Cup.

The Cup is actually called the NBA Cup, So just call it that.

Oh right, oh the actual trophy.

Yeah, why not?

I mean I think like most like leagues or sports that have these kinds of tournaments, it's always.

It's that it's it's ripe for sponsoring naming.

You know, that's going to be the Taco Bell NBA Cup.

This is a Baja blast flowing out of the cup Cup with the bill in Baja last fountain. The just ideas that you're free to take the NBA Yes, it feels like Lebron wanting to turn it on for the nd season tournament. This is assuming that like the fact therefore I was randomness and but like that that actually makes sense. I think last week I was like, I'm not expecting big things from the Lakers or like teams like that necessarily who you know, they won the title

We got to go for something we can win, you know. I think that's you know, that's what it's all about. It's about knowing you're finding your spaces and then attacking, you know, right now, Like I said, that game against the Sixers was horrifying to watch, and I'm surprised you didn't watch it.

It was so funny in the game because even when it was garbage time, like Mo Bamba was killing it against the Lakers, Like the Lakers looked so bad that even all of the on the Sixers looked amazing.

Yeah, it was Sixers, don't have they just have the next man up.

Okay, he's backs raged, he's coming back slowly.

I know you thought you could quit your Sixers, but it was like so funny with Wexler was on, It's the same thing. I was like, I know, I know you said you're past it, but there's no way you can watch this and be like's.

There's a small flame, a small pilot flame that stays on in the part of Sixers fans, but it takes a lot that you're you're constantly checking the pilot flame, be like that thing must be out because.

Yeah, water is cold, yeah, but is icy the side of it. Nothing happened.

Yeah, I've got another in season tournament thought that I want to bang around. I think that the risk is that after years of this being a thing, because the NBA is going to keep it that you know, there's teams that we always say, oh, they're a good regular season team, right, which just means that they're garbage in the postseason.

Yeah, it's a nice way of saying that.

And I think that you get their risk is being the team that's always good in the n season tournament and then it becomes an insult. It's like, oh, yeah, they're always really good in the nd season tournament.

Yeah, they really turn it on a couple of Fridays a year.

Yeah.

I think I think that we might be headed towards towards that they're a Vegas team.

They really show up in UH in the summer league and in season tournament.

Right, it's the.

Worst case scenario.

I feel like if they lock in the you know, the stakes, like after fans have a couple of like really fun single elimination games under their belts, like it starts to become a thing that people will value, you know. Like there's that one There's that one All Star game where everybody played really hard, and I feel like if that had just like kept going like that, that would have been That.

Was the first year of the they did the.

Ending right, Yeah exactly, Yeah, that's great.

That was so fun. That fourth quarter like that was crazy.

Like if that had kept going, I feel like instead of like everyone would have been like, you know, actually paying attention to who won in the All Star Games. So yeah, maybe we get a especially if people are playing hard.

I feel like it needs to be more money. It can't be just a watch for these guys.

I mean it's some people. I mean, yeah, who is Spencer Dinnit. He was like, hey, that's a Rolls Royce, so he's you know something.

I did a huge article on this during the summer and like dug into it and talk to a bunch of players and like high paid players, low paid players like run the gambit and it's not low stakes to anyone, like even the away Yes, the highest paid player is like I can buy a vacation house somewhere with that,

Oh wow.

Now that is before taxes and before they buy the championship rings, because that has to come out of that pool, right yeah.

And it's before the championship rings come out of that pool.

Yeah. And it's before I would be like, give.

Me a garbage championship ring, give me like, give me the wedding band that I have.

Also six figures for the ring.

I think it's I mean, I think it's past six figures.

I think it's just about yeah.

So then you also every team then like comes together and they vote on who else on staff will be getting part of the pool, and so like that includes trainers and chefs, and they always they always vote to give some money to people because they don't want to seem like horrible humans, and so it ends up being far less than they would get if they just won the nentries and turnament right there, four hundred.

And it's not like these guys aren't competitive, right, Like they're all super competitive. Like that's how they got here in the first place. Is they have that gene where like they're they're all playing cards like constantly, they're playing each other in video games.

They're right, And like the Jazz head coach Will Hardy, the way that he put it, he was like, I can put five dollars on the line during practice for free throws and guys will nearly kill.

Each other to win.

Right, that's great.

So like there you put five hundred thousand dollars in front of them, like yeah, they want it, yeah, because.

Yeah, right, because even to your point, it's like the only other way you could get that kind of money close to that money is to go from the one seed and win the whole thing, and then even after that you're left with whatever.

So yeah, the Lakers in the COVID year, which was the pool, was a little bit less in the bubble when they won the championship that year, but not that much because then Escro rolled out and it all evened out anyways. But once everything was paid, ringspot, et cetera, every player got a little over one hundred thousand.

Yeah wow, yeah, okay, oh and thank you. Jabari sent me an article. The rings can go from twenty to or ten to four hundred, twen to forty thousand, and some to even exceed one hundred thousand, so I guess it all depends on how drippy your ring is.

But yeah, wow, well icy, Yeah, that's that's a lot of watches. That's a lot of the watches I normally buy.

Yeah for five, State of the Jazz six and eleven, and they got some good young'ins.

What are you seeing will focusing on the Jazz.

State of the Jazz bird's eye view not great?

Okay, we can move along.

Listen.

They had a really really ugly two game road trip where they lost against the Lakers and then the Blazers, and it wasn't even like that the Lakers beat them, because that would have been fine, but it was that it was so embarrassing the way they played. And then it was even more embarrassing the next night against the Blazers, and so then they had kind of a they had a heart to heart film session the next day where everyone was called out. I mean they were I think

The Utah Jazz.

Yeah. What was that other thing he said? I think a little more colorful.

He's like, if you write the Utah Jazz jersey, you need to give up about about the Utah.

Yeah, exactly, that was. That was the line. After after the Portland loss, he was he was pretty fed.

Up and undefeated now since then, exactly record they turned something on.

Yeah, they Fontechio is a great name, by the way, I just saw. I think that was the first time I heard Simone Fontechio.

Yes, bro, Yes, give me more with that name.

Yeah.

So they've been playing really hard the last couple of games. They won against the Pelicans with Zion but without Lowry Markinen, So that was.

A good one.

Yeah, but we'll see, we'll see, you know, like they have four bad games in a row and a couple of good ones. I'm not going to say that everything's turned around, sure, sixteen games into the season or whatever.

So but I did see that Taylor Horne Tucker had no turnovers in the last game, which is a lot less minutes. Yeah, and seven assists though. I was like, okay, that was quietly efficient there.

I found my basketball career.

The only thing that really helped with my turnovers was when they cut my minutes completely down and then my turnovers went way complete.

Yeah, zero zero minutes too, but you know what, zero turnovers. So but man, when I bragged I.

Am my sister, turnover ratio is perfect.

Yeah, exactly, get in there.

Yeah, and I've been watching some Yant George highlights.

Man, this kid, yeah, yeah.

He's the real deal. He's he is the real deal.

Yeah.

Like he's an absolute hoops junkie, which is very fun. Like it's like I kind of Jamal Crawford esque, right, Like the guys come into the league and they love ball. A lot of them do, right, but like real hoop

Wow.

So that's that's your rookie mentality.

Yeah.

And to top it off, I saw that absolute sickening donkey yet on Dyson Daniels. I was like, bro, you that's a that's a missing poster, which is funny.

That was Kiante George's first first poster ever, like.

Life he wow. Yeah.

He he'd started dunkey when he was eighth grade and he said like everything's been open in transition during warm ups stuff like that. Uh, and he was like I've been looking for a body.

And by Daniels, Wow, I mean beautifully too, Like some of the photographs are true poetry.

It's so fun.

I mean, Kanta George is so fun because when he's coming out of Baylor, like when the Jazz drafted him, I was like, I don't know, you just you know you've got Dyalen Horton Tucker Collin Sex and Jordan Clarkson on this team, and you just drafted a guard out of Baylor who has a negative assistant turnover ratio and right, he's just and.

They're like, yeah, we believe in him.

Yeah.

And then and then like his first two I think it's the first three starts, he had like twenty one assists and two turnovers.

I think your questions, yeah, yeah, you're giving them bulletin board material.

It was funny because, you know, talking to him and during summer league, he'd seen some sort of like draft preview that was looking at his game and they had like strengths and weaknesses, and he took a screenshot of the weaknesses and made it his background on his phone. Not as like a oh, this is what the haters think, but he was like he was like, every day I will look at it and be like, Okay, I'm gonna get these things better.

Wow. Something about elite athletes, you know, they've they've got something a little bit different than the rest of us.

I mean they're a little bit they're like slight psychopaths, but in a fun way.

Yeah, of course, of course, yeah, like you were.

I mean, the wording use is like true hoops junkie, like some people like it and some people are junk he'ss like, right, yeah, that language is like for people with a problem you need.

To seek out.

Yeah, like yeah, yeah, he's got the real like the personality defect you're looking for exactly.

He does have the defect.

They say that he's got you know, he's got that dog in him, but it's actually the D stands for defect, and he does have that.

He's got got that personality defect in him.

Yeah, he's got that defective.

Personality, He's got that pathology. All right, let's uh, should we take a break? Yeah, come back and keep talking about the NBA?

Yeah, why not? I legitimately dropped a what a sport in there?

I know.

Listener, Hey man, George, I'm trying to take my inspiration for as a broadcaster from Magic John Twitter Feed Brown.

Yeah they do pall Yeah, oh wow, that kid can jump Canny. All right, congratulats and we're back back and yeah.

So the Celtics are thirteen and four, the Timberwolves are twelve and four. I feel like the Timberwolves are here, like they're going to be right around that top spot for the season. Like I just it feels like Anthony Edwards has has the defect and the ability to just kind of will them to where he wants them to be,

I don't know.

I read some stat about how like teams that start off like thirteen, there's there's some record within the first twenty games that like typically if a team's there, they're they're going to be amongst like the top five going into the postseason. And like, I think they're two games away from achieving that.

I don't.

I mean, that's what the statistics say, but I don't know, it is just wild to see them kind of just put it all together, because there's always been like yeah maybe I mean like when they put it all together, this could be fun to watch, and now they are and now I'm just I guess I don't. I haven't seen enough to know like, Okay, so this is where we're starting, this is like the new floor for them, or if this is you know, a flash in the pan, what do you think, Sarah?

I was just looking at their schedule because I saw that they won the last seven and I was like, okay, but against who? Then I look at like that includes the Bust, the Nuggets, the Pacers, the Celtics.

Yeah, they beat the Celtics. Like they they are on one right now.

Yeah right. They're big. They're like big.

Everywhere they're and they're strong, they're tough. I feel like they're that's just been a trend across the league. I guess these guys are big. Have you noticed that?

Yeah?

Seeing them in person, they're pretty big. These NBA players, I've heard that.

You know, the talent is always getting better and players are always getting taller.

That's what I've heard.

Yes, that's a rumor. We haven't actually confirmed that.

But yeah, I don't know if I believe in the Timberwolves.

I think I probably have.

Like a little bit of Rudy Gobert PTSD, and I think that, you know, they're probably like Mike Conley Hamstring away from not being good and interesting ATSD from that too.

But here's the thing.

I want them to be good because I love Mike Conley. I want he deserves good things, and I think that it would be great for things to pay off for Rudy Gobert. And I love Anthony Edwards. He does have that defect and he's very very fun. I just don't know if I believe in them. They seem like a really good regular season team, right Yeah, I don't know about.

The playoffs necessarily like this while, but I feel like this will be their first run where they get some you know, like they've been a feisty first second round team right for it since Anthony Edwards has been good. But this feels like the year where they could go to the second round and like may make it interesting and start getting those like big, big minute reps. And I am talking, of course about the end season tournament.

I think the Thunder are sneaky in a way that I also think maybe the I guess the Magic are sneaky. Like the Thunder so much fun to watch. I have had an absolute ball watching them, and so I'm ready to believe in them because they're young. A lot of their guys don't make any sense at all. Poku's got a weird mustache that I'm absolutely behind. Uh Chet Holmgren somehow is strong even though his body mass is like two pounds.

I think, yeah, yeah, it's just fun.

And you know, Shay is maybe like the skinniest best player in the NBA, like the skinniest of the best, right, and so it also has like a very deep voice, and he does really weird things on the court that he makes look easy. So I just it's a fun, weird team, and I like weird.

His game is really strange, Like you watch it and like his like some of the shots he gets, Like you you would watch him score three times in a row and you still wouldn't be like, well, there goes like one of the ten best players in the NBA. It's just like, yeah, it doesn't feel like it's not like smooth necessarily.

No, it's not as aesthetically pleasing as like watching I don't know, like high level scores like Steph Cured, Devin Booker, you know, like guys like that. It's not aesthetically pleasing to watch Shay. But no, you finished watching a game, You're like, oh yeah, thirty six Okay.

Yeah right, oh man, what a fun season? What a sport?

At uh? Are we?

Are we going to do it?

To the Clippers? To the car? I mean, look, I love to look. I took that l on the chin. I just look, I I copped to it.

The Lakers look absolute liatrocious against the Sixers. But you know what, that, somehow wasn't the biggest l of the l A teams that night, because it's the Clippers against a jokicch Liss, Murray, Liss Gordon list Nuggets went into the fourth quarter with a lead where they have a tremendous record and still managed to they'd all just.

Kind of lent away. I don't know what to say. I mean, they had all and they had all.

Their four, their big four, whateverever you want to describe the group of four gentlemen. But yeah, I look I set off mic maybe a little bit more colorfully how I felt about it.

But now I'm just like, well, yeah, you know, that's that's tough to watch. That's tough to watch. Absolutely absolutely.

Do you think they're gonna pull it together?

No?

No, no, I don't think.

I mean, I don't think anyone objectively thought before the season started that like this was the Clippers here right right right, But they they have been aging and falling apart, and they're just throwing money and whatever else they can at the problem and it's not going to fix it.

Yeah, there's a lot of band aid fixes to things that need like a little bit more attention, and if the.

Band aid is named James Harden, it's not good.

Yeah.

Did you see that clip of him walking the dog and then he kicked the ball like and then like had to turn over and had to foul the guy because it was going So I was like, oh.

No, this is oh yeah, I saw meat.

Yeah, that was a little bit that kind of like summed things up a bit, like in that moment they were like up nine at the time.

But yeah, I don't think.

So it's hard to see like just the idea and I'm not trying to cast his versions. But like James Harden and Russell Westbrook, like in the year twenty twenty three, for me, I'm like, I don't see that, Like, I don't see how any of that works on top of just what we've seen with PG and Kawhi.

I just don't know. I just doesn't.

I'm like, yes, those are all great names, but I don't know how they collectively make the Clippers better.

And that's I think what's going on.

Yeah, the PG and Kawai hadn't worked for years, Like, how does James Harden and Westbrook make that better?

Right? Yeah, I don't know? Got it? You think they can? Think they?

I do think they're going to win the title this year. I'm gonna say they got it. Have you seen that guy put the ball in the hole?

That high guy.

Cow Hi?

Uh? Yeah.

I still think Kawhi is better than people probably remember realize. Hey, but yeah, it's like I think there are gonna be good moments where you have Kawhi PG and every once in a while Harden, like you know, Harden playing his way back into shape. They could be scary and make some runs, but I still think they're going to be in that play and range, which is probably not where you want.

To go with a roster. That is the age that they are, you know.

Yeah, yeah, I'm done. I've officially maybe it's just me getting old, but I'm done with teams looking good on paper because like, right, paper is not part of basketball, Like it has to look good on the court. And so like, you know, you look at that roster on paper and Kawhi PG hard in Westbrook, like that's those are some good names right in practice though not good Yeah, yeah.

On pay that's where you know, because paper goes in the trash, it does, you know. That's the thing about paper. Yeah, yeah, you hate to see it. You hate to see it, you know, especially as a Laker fan, you hate to see it.

But I just do want to say one more thing because I was thinking of Pat Bev. I can't believe he was He was like shooting fifty or something against this, and I'm like, is maybe he just eventually plays with every team in the league. He can have those like comeback performances and just be the consistent monster that we all know.

He becomes like the greatest player in the league in his mid forties.

Every game is a grudge match here I go.

Did you guys know that Russell Westbrook's wife is a therapist.

A physical or a like or psychiatry or otherwise.

Like a mental Like she's a she has a degree in like psychology. She's a like licensed therapist. She doesn't have time to like have a practice because like she's got a family and a husband who's in the NBA. But she like that's why she does like her show and stuff, because she's like a legitimate therapist.

Yeah, amazing. Yeah, which makes me think.

That Russell Westbrook might be the most well adjusted NBA player and maybe we've just all been wrong about everything else around him.

Right, right, even when he's going after fans, Yeah, it's like he's like even like then I I have to set boundaries.

Ex Actually, something I've learned in therapis it's like.

Oh, I'm kind of with him most of the time.

When he's like going after fans.

I'm like, yeah, like he's like this, think about how this feels for like my family. Man, Like the sucks, Like you're being very mean to me, right, That's that's absolutely true.

But I guess like in a fan's mind, who's like being talked He's like, well, they got all that money, it's like what disappear their entire family to a place where they don't have to face the scrutiny that they are because this person plays in this city.

I don't know about that either.

Yeah, after twelve years of being people like screaming in your face like the worst obscenities that they can think of, you're just like the money makes.

It feel good, right right, Yeah, that's about it.

Wemby had another one of the games where it was like it you could tell he was a little bit locked in a little bit like wanting to wanting to see what he could do against Jokic. You know, he said that he modeled his game after Durant and his first best game came against Durant, And then obviously Jokic is the best big man in the league, maybe the best player in the league. When he played pretty well, it was there was just a series of weird things that he was doing that I had never seen a

Pretty Yeah, you could tell Jokic like even like his postgame comments are like, yo, let this kid cook like he's changing the game, so like let's just watch it.

And I could tell.

And that came from a place of sincerity because watching him be like flummixed by his limbs and stuff in his length, I was like, oh, wow, Jokic is even like yo, usually I can get the ball over there, but now.

There's like one no look.

That was so wild to see, Like anytime Jokics come with like, you're like, okay, he's hitting that no look past.

Somehow Wemby was so long.

He was like the velocity was not intense enough for me to not accept this and I will really take this with my seven feet arms. But yeah, uh that was something something to watch for sure.

That KG clip, I don't know what that was from, but Kevin Garnett, who's freaking out about Lebron James playing like this after this many years and then he was like, we've got a seven foot four Frenchman who's doing things that we've never like, Yes, we all agree with you. That's how we all feel. This kid is insane, right for sure.

The I also really liked the clip of Jalen Pickett when he like meet Twembayama shakes hands with him and then is like just you can see his like face turned like he's just like wait, what is what is happening? And then he's like talking on the sideline.

He's like.

He does a double take.

It was like one of those things where it just like it felt like you know and like like like when you meet some like macho dude and he tries to really grip your hand like you doing like a certain dominance like that, and and like afters like what was that about? Like he did that just because of the size of whomen He's like you don't have to have your handle big like that.

He looked at him like what are we doing?

He just keeps looking at his hands after they take it.

We shook hands on a lot like his hand went to like huge. He's like his.

Came his middle finger boat and should my hand hand way your boat.

He shakes his hand like walks away like he's seen a ghost from the handshake. Is on the sideline talking to somebody being like I swear to his hand came up to my forearm. And then they're like showing in the game he's on the sideline being like it was he was tickling.

That little part where like your your elbow is on the other side that like.

The felt pretty good.

He was tinkling that with shake. Yeah, it's wild.

How like hand obsessed, Like with the way that clip is sort of structured. He sounds like Trump. He's like very big.

Hands, big Christmas hands.

Christmas ends.

I'm not gonna go see those Christmas hands because I had a choice to skip some games right around Christmas, to like be home and take some days off, and uh, the Jazz are playing the Spurs the day after Christmas, and I was like, no, it's fine, I'll fly to San Antonio on Christmas Day.

It's fine.

Wow.

Yeah yeah, especially in this verse.

I mean we caught summer league wemby, which was I think not just so unfair to him too, because I'm like, what are you gonna do? What are you gonna do?

We and everyone be like.

Oh, like a warm up.

So many summer leagues, and I have never seen everyone in the Thomas and Mack Center stand up during warm ups.

Like the entirety of it.

It was the weirdest spectacle to watch the people watch him.

Yeah, that's what it made it a little bit more unsettling.

That's where I was like, ah, this is the the worst environment for anybody to try and perform it, just in general, and I'm part of it. But yeah, oh man, well, good luck to you out there on Boxing day.

Yes, can't wait.

LaMelo Ball has been having an amazing season and has suffered a significant right angle injury a right ankle, yeah, ankle injury, but avoided any fractures. So that's good because I would like to see him complete. Oh he's in a basketball please please. He's been playing really well. And then Sengoon has been incredible.

I didn't realize he's six eleven now.

Yeah, he keeps growing. I think he's headed for Wemby territory. He's just can't keep growing. He went up two inches in the off season.

Dude, imagine him.

Okay, see, I don't want to.

Why would I do that? I don't know how he's How old is he?

Let's see, can't be older than thirty five.

I don't know. He's twenty one.

Twenty one is old for a two inch growth.

To still be grown? Yeah, one is not. Oh he's a grown boy. Territory.

Yeah, yeah, that's wild.

Yeah, I know, I know, but yeah, he's been playing, he's been balling.

Uh. The rockets are good.

Inexplicably, they're another one that I feel like a lot of people didn't see coming. I mean obviously. When I say a lot of people didn't see coming, obviously, I'm not talking about everyone else. We called all this. Yeah, just go back and listen to them. Oh, actually I think those episodes were pulled down. Yeah, but we called.

Yeah, the Pentagon, the Department of Defense said we had to take them down beare.

Oh yeah, because they did the information intelligence. Yeah, they didn't want other countries to know about us or something. It was like a security risk to hear how smart and right we.

Are about everything.

But then they forced us to go back into our liquid tanks where they put the headset on us, and we just start.

Boosties were too mad?

Yeah, exactly, pre cock precog boosties.

Sir. Have you heard how mad these boosties are? They're too mad?

The Pentagon have gone mad.

I just absolutely guessed the nuclear codes on air.

They were talking about the episode of some TV show Lost, and he said the exact code.

That's right, It's all Dylan bru I know, I know he's he's thinking that, So we might as well just come out and say this is all Dylan Brooks says. Nothing to do with the coaching change, nothing to do with the other veterans.

It's all Dylan Brooks.

And I mean, look how bad the Grizzlies have played thus far, Look how well his new team has played. I do like I'm joking, but there's like ten percent of me that's like, man, he's like mini Draymond.

Though now he's not. Now okay, it's not the reason. I agree that he believes it's the reason, but it's not.

Okay, all right, So we have this new segment that is.

Original. It is so it's called Jacked in a Fool. Okay, now my name is Jack.

Now there's a phrase that I use all the time saying, man, he.

Is acting a fool when talking about a player.

So super producer Jabbari Uh just kind of put it, just went in the lab and came back with this thing called Jacked in a Fool, where we're gonna have a jacked in a full Moment of the Week again TM and alright, reserved and copyright.

Yeah, a little.

Copyright thing behind this because this is one original uh and you're never gonna guess who the star of this week's Jack in a Full clip is.

Jack in a Pool, Jack in a Pool.

We could you could just rename the segment. So many good.

M m x x I I.

There's been some wonderful edits from people, uh you know, showing like there's there's one where he does this like six spin dribble, like brings it like at half court, gets up to the three point line, like shoots this very smooth looking three pointer and like everything is like beautiful. They're like ramping it to like slow mo on the spin dribble, slow mo on the three, and then it's like misses by a foot and half to the left and uh then he just like looks at his hands.

But the the.

Jack in a Full moment of the week has to be when he shook it was a kid.

I think he shook kid.

Yeah, put put Kate on skates, took a moment to admire his work, and then tried to do a little scoop shot, but like he did it in a weird way and immediately got it swatted by us.

Are uh so shook it? And pulling it.

There was something from the job, like a beautiful victory. Yeah, he's like, oh see you later now, like he could, so he thought to just like take the shot, but then was like, wow, I'm so wide open. I should do something cool, like take a moment and and just come.

At this guy who was immediately just gonna swap me away like a goose fly.

But hey there, I.

Mean, I watched that video just now, and I I don't understand what he was thinking.

Yeah, Jordan's.

Doing the long game.

Boy, Yeah, Jack, what are you saying? This is uh Andy Kaufman. Yeah, he's done some Andy Kaufman stuff to us, right.

Yeah, it's a pool party.

Yeah, this is a long game. He's like, oh, y'all thought I was really come on now, turn it up.

I've been on the Jordan pool bandwagon since he hit that game winner at Michigan his freshman year wearing the short shorts. I was like, this guy's got this guy's got something, and then.

He certainly got something.

Yeah.

Turns out I was right as usual, he's got something. If you just keep it real vague, your predictions can be got something.

This kid's got something. I didn't say what it was this.

Yeah, Yeah, kid's got something.

That's the emphasis.

That's something.

Jordan Poole definitely has something.

Yeah, something, got something, He's got something something.

All right, all right, well that's in jacting them copyright m C m M. I think if it's jacting jacting, that guy is acting the fool. Right, all right, let's take a quick break. We're gonna come back. We're gonna do the fastest segment and podcasting. We'll be right back.

Let's go, and we're back. We're back there for the fortunate soul.

You wandered into the fore fortunate, so train mark copyright.

Thank you.

Now let's time for the fast this question answer segment in sports podcasting history. It's the fourth quarter rapid fire round of questioning. You've done this before, you already get it. We are going to ask you a question. You immediately respond, don't take your time, just give us those quick, fast twitch responses.

You know what I mean.

No, I know what you mean.

I didn't do a good job of that last time. I just took an hour to answer every question.

No, Well, guess what we've gotten a we've learned a lot since that appearance, and we've gotten a lot more aggressive with maintaining our titles.

So please don't think we're rude, even though we will be very rude.

Okay, here we go, fourth quarter of the biggest game of the year, the championship of the in season tournament.

Here we go, right.

Start the claw down down down, down, down, down down down.

Were you doing Bill Mahrt? Yeah? That the dude. Dude, he's my favorite video.

Taken quite a long time to get into the day.

Yeah, segment, good, good call, You're right even better? Uh okay, do you want to go first? Iron go first? All right?

All right, Sarah Todd, I want to hear you ghost write a tweet for Magic Johnson on a subject of your choosing.

You know, ham sandwich is always good when there's bread involved.

Yeah, nailed it, nailed it.

We're trying to do We're trying to do Magic Johnson movie tweets before. And I think the one I came up with was The Godfather is a quality film. Yeah, I feel yeah, right, congratulations to uh al Pacino.

It's just like, yeah, out of nowhere?

Yeah yeah.

Martin Scorsese, does he ever make a bad movie? I don't know.

Fargo was an oscar worthy film.

Yeah, yep, seven years after one Oscar, Right, Shakespeare in Love underrated even though you did win Best Picture.

You're like, this is this is a weird fact. Okay, we got to keep it moving, Sarah. You've come squads in both regions, Okay, in both towns, the Bay Area and Salt Lake.

Who has the better food?

Bay Area?

You're gonna do that to the Salt Lake.

I mean, I don't think that anyone in Utah thinks that they have like the most culturally diverse food selection.

Dirty sodas dirty.

I mean, I still don't. I can't wrap my hand around the dirty soda thing because it just what just a regular soda works.

For me, right dirt.

But I mean the Bay Area is crazy. You can literally have any type of food that you want at four am.

Yeah, that's that's a good. That's that's not bad. What do you miss the most? What's your four am thing? What's that thing? You're like, oh man in the bay right now?

Uh oh man, there's so many things to hurry up.

Please.

There's a place in San Francisco called the Garlic Rose. I think it's called the Stinking Rose, Sinking Rope.

Maybe that's it.

There's a stinking rose in that's like an all garlic restaurant, Yes exactly.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.

And what more could you ask for?

Yeah, that one thing that's just like garlic, that's step steeped in oil that you just like smear on the bread.

May Maria also like, there's a bunch of restaurants that I would go to, like late at night or at any point during the day. Even I walk into them just because I knew where they were. I have no idea what the names of those places are, right. I know that there's a place like right close to a bank downtown that is an Indian place that's open till four am.

And it's incredible.

Oh yeah, god love it. What a sport, What a sport.

I'm just finding out that Mark Cuban is selling the MAVs.

Oh you know what I missed the most.

There is a taco truck near the corner of High and International in Oakland. It's across it's right next to a Valero and a Burger King, So it's like right there. If anybody's in the area, they know the one and it is the absolute best taco in the world.

I like that.

Jack you're just like I'm reading right now, Mark Cuban is selling, so we just completely steamroo.

Yeah cool, all right.

Who's the most underappreciated of the truly all time greats, someone who deserves to be mentioned but is often left out of the all time debates of the all time Dennis Rodman. Dennis Rodman love that answer. I mean, what is it about Dennis Robin?

There has never been a single player that I can remember watching.

That would put his actual life on the line for a rebound.

Like you feel like if the choice is like do I die or do I get this rebound that leads to a bucket, I'll take.

Yeah, I'm taking the board every time. Yeah, yeah.

What do you think is just like I do you think everyone was just kind of distracted by the stuff off the court and just like his you know, flashy hair and stuff like that, that kind of changes that Or do you think it's just because the art of rebounding is just generally not as respected as it could be.

I mean, I think the defense is never as respected as offense, Like scoring is always going to be flashier, and like you know, the score is what's going to stick in people's mind and the people who add to that. I mean, and it's hard to be on a team with guys like Isaiah or Michael Jordan and like in the era that he was on those teams correct and be the guy that's remembered, right.

Yeah, It's like it was like I had to die my head lime Green, Okay for.

You to even figure out I was doing something out here.

He was.

I'm probably him and ronern tests those because I mean, I like defense, so I'm always gonna kick those guys.

But you guys don't. I mean, the kids, they don't remember how good.

These They never seen a guy stretched out like it was quarter to three trying to get a ball on the sidelines. Oh is it me?

No?

Well sorry, see, Sarah, this is where you got to really help us out.

You know, like sometimes we get so nostalgic because I remember side note. I did a book report on bad as I want to be when the Dennis came out in school and my teacher I got in trouble because they're like, what are you You just said it was a biography of a basketball player, Like you're talking about drug uses stuff.

That's what's in the book, that's his story.

Miss.

What do you want me to.

Say, den't I that?

No?

How was his pros?

I mean I think I was in fifth grade when it came out, so masterful, master.

It was ready, it was ripe for reading.

I thought I was reading Lord Byron. To be honest, Sarah, here's a question. You can take two players from all of history to create your Mad Busti's Edition NBA JAM team. Which two players are you putting together for your special edition team?

Larry Bird and Dennis Rodbin.

Oh, Larry Bird and Dennis Rodman.

I've heard of Dennis Rodman. Who's Larry Bird's good? Yeah?

Is he like the greatest? Body?

Checking him and Charles Barkley would be incredible, like just toss you down court.

Yeah.

They would create new animations for like your character, like actually go into the stands or something.

Yeah.

What I what I like is that my team is.

Like in the middle, there's like something happens, a foul, someone misses a shot or something, and then my team the animation is just them fighting.

They're just fighting whoever's next to them.

Right right right.

He's the only player in NBA GM history that has a Mortal Kombat fatality.

Listen, the other team can't win if you knock him out.

That's true, that's true, that's true.

All right, finally we're trying something new. You've been on before. You've told us, uh, you've given your answer for Jack or Miles. Wow, But the real question here is bacon or beer can?

Miles? Do you want to do the honor?

Yeah?

Sorry, bacon or beer can big con, big con bacon.

That's correct, I got it.

That's great, man way down, Sarah killing it today. What a game, what a sport, I'm telling you, And that has been the fourth quarter round of rapid fire questioning.

Thank you so much, Sarah Todd for joining us on. Miles and Jack got mad boosties. Where the job?

I think you guys talked more than I did during that.

Okay, I did a really good job, but.

I was just over here wistfully remembering all of my favorite memories from when Mark Cuban was the owner of the map.

Precks really happened? Yeah, he just sold it to the sold US. Yea to Miriam Addison. Who's that I don't know. I don't know who.

Adison Sheldon is the casino magnet.

From Presidency. Anyway, Yo, here we.

Go, Sarah, Where can people find you and follow you and read you and all that kind of good stuff listen to you.

You can read all my stuff at Deseret dot com.

That's d E S E R E T.

You can follow me at NBA Sarah on everything everywhere, and you can listen to my podcast Unsalvageable. We just started a Patreon. We've got interviews with players on the Utah Jazz. We've got good at mailback episodes, so there's lots of cool stuff that you don't get anywhere else if you're into the Utah Jazz.

Bang bang All right.

Where did they find us? Oh? That's right.

You can follow the hashtag on Twitter at or not at hashtag Mad Boosties. You can follow me at Miles of Gray.

I'm at Jack Underscore O'Brien.

And this has been another edition of Miles and Jack Got Mad Boosties.

We'll see you next week.

Bye you, Sarah, Bye

S