¶ Welcome to The Mismatch!
This episode is brought to you by McAfee. You want to live your online life worry-free, but with all those identity thefts and data leaks we all keep hearing about, it's not easy. Choose McAfee's award-winning protection to keep those scammers away. Keep your data and identity safe. Plan start at just $39.99 for your first year. All you have to do is find out more at McAfee.com slash keep it real. Cancel anytime. Terms apply.
¶ LeBron loses 10+ point streak in Lakers win
Welcome to The Mismatch. I'm Chris Varnon, and joining me as he does every week from TheRinger.com is Dave Jacoby. Jacoby! What's happening, Berno? We had three trash games last night, but two fantastic ones. Yeah, we had two fantastic ones. One that went down to the very last shot and a lot of added drama. It is interesting that earlier in this week, when we were talking about the games, we talked about LeBron James'
and this incredible streak, and I think I even said by the next time we talk, it'll be to like 1,300 games. Well, did not get to 1,300 games with him scoring. 10 points in consecutive games. Last night with the game on the line in Toronto, he throws the ball to Rui Hachimura in the corner for the game winner.
And it was a massive Lakers celebration. And so the streak finally ends one of the most unbelievable streaks in sports history. But it ends in unbelievable fashion with him having the opportunity. to get to the 10 points, but he passed it up and threw it to Rui Hachubur in the corner. And so all's well that ends well for the streak. I mean, at least we'll, honestly, we'll always remember how that streak ended, right?
The mismatch is presented by Bandool. Bandool's got it all. Same game parlays, quick bets for jumping in live and your way to build the bet that fits your play. Plus, don't miss out. on the holiday offers and surprises all month long. So download the FanDuel app or head to fanduel.com slash mismatch to get started. Remember, you must be.
21 and over and present in select states or 18 and over and present in D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com. Call. 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. Watching the game, they did the...
the Austin Reeves LeBron pick. I think they did it twice. And he's got the ball. He's got an angle. Like, he's got a shoulder. And I'm thinking to myself, he's guaranteed to shoot this ball. And then he rises up and just throws a laser to the corner for Rui. It was just...
It was a microcosm of LeBron James and how he plays the game of basketball. And we know his history early on before the championships and everything when he used to do this in big spots in the playoffs and everyone used to make fun of him. But after the game, Rui said... I don't know if this is true or not, but Rui said, LeBron told me to be ready. And it makes you think about the last dance.
And that moment, you know exactly what I'm talking about. And everybody blames LeBron when he was younger for passing up the shot, but let's not forget Michael Jordan told Steve Kerr, if they double be ready. And I don't know if he said it to Rui. Rui said he said it to Rui. But to me, it makes another layer of this beautiful moment more beautiful. It's good for the documentary, for sure.
LeBron James had 1,297 games with 10 plus points. That was the first time he has scored less than 10 points since January 5th, 2007. And a couple, there was some historical perspective that was given on this last night online. A couple of things that I wrote down that when I was scrolling through, I passed by. One of which was truly unbelievable.
You know, you have all the ones like if Shane Kildress Alexander scored this every game until he was 41, that's what would be the streak. Or there was one with Kevin Durant. that he has the longest active streak now that LeBron's has done, and he would need to play 82 games for almost 12 more seasons. to match lebron's record but this is the one where i was like wait what i came across one and i did not check this but it's got to be true nobody's posting this unless it's true it said
that there are only 24 players in NBA history that have played 1,297 basketball games. That can't be true. Well, I guess so with the longevity in the early days. Yeah, right. How would you? And he was generally injury-free. This guy didn't lose seasons to injury like most of his peers. And so 24 guys have ever played that many games. I mean, it is truly totally and completely unbreakable. And so it was kind of crazy the way that all ended.
last evening but there's there's one thing i want to say about the way it ended last evening that's being overlooked by this lebron play was austin reeves they have the ball they're down two and we've watched You know, there's rhythms of NBA basketball games that you just sort of, like, get used to. And they have the ball, and we're all assuming. I think J.J. Redick wanted a timeout.
So the Lakers are walking towards the bench. LeBron, I think, is off the floor at this point. And Austin Reeves sees an opportunity and doesn't call timeout and just darts to the basket and gets a... huge two-point shot to tie the game. Like, if he doesn't do that, because the Raptors let their guard down, everyone's sort of like standing straight up and down, and he darts to the basket and gets a layup, and I don't think...
Austin would have done that if he wasn't playing as well as he was. He was absolutely on fire. But that play was. It just shocked the announcers. It shocked all the other nine players on the floor. I'm sure it shocked JJ Reddit. Like, that was such a heads-up smart play that's overshadowed by this LeBron thing. But that needs to be pointed out of the huge game that Austin had.
Well, and that becomes the topic, right? It becomes the streak ending and this play to the corner. The subplot is the reason we even brought up this streak earlier in the week. It's because he barely got to it in the fourth quarter in the game that they played earlier in the week. And it was like, oh, but he kept the streak alive. And so then it kind of became the streak. And the subplot is.
He barely got to 10 in the last game and did not get to 10 in this game. Like, is this where we are? Well, no Luka. That's another thing. You understand if Luke and Reeves are both cooking and LeBron is facilitating. He's four for 17 from the field. He did have 11 assists. It wasn't a bad LeBron game, but I'm just going to say...
Something tells me that he's still working his way back from the sciatica. He's still working. He's not himself quite yet. I'm not ready to just be like, LeBron is now a role player, a fourth option, a facilitator. I'm not ready to say that about LeBron. He is moving is not like he has ever moved before in life. Yes. We've got to admit that. When you're watching him, like even last year, he could dominate games.
He's flying up and down the court, and that is just not the same. He has been a shell of himself thus far. Now, you are saying not ready to decide. I'm not ready to say that. I think this is him working himself back. This is six game back. He had a drive in the fourth quarter that was like old LeBron, just sort of like, I'm just going to put my head down, put my shoulder into you and get a layup.
on two people like there's flashes and i think that he's working himself back you know i'm not i'm not a doctor i'm not gonna sit here and say lebron was lying about sciatica but i think that he's he's playing the long oh no i actually i actually I actually start to believe it now. Now that I watch him, I'm like, oh, yeah, this guy is. That looks like Zach. Yeah, well, I mean, it just looks like, you know. Oh, don't do it, Perno. I'm not ready to do this yet. I'm not ready to do this.
It's not Willie May stumbling around in the outfield. No, I'm not ready to do this. If this goes on for a couple months, fine. I think that he's like, I'll be, I'm ramping myself up to peak when I need to peak. Okay. All I know is you can plug in anybody and they can get you eight. Hell, you plug Dennis Jenkins in, he gets you 25. Yes. I also want to say like this Austin Reeves game was bonkers. Like he had.
He had two, I think it was back-to-back or maybe two and three possessions. He's shooting these deep-ass threes. Like, you know, like... Trey Young stuff where like the defense isn't even really guarding you yet and he's just pulling up one was at the end of the clock but like when you are a threat from that far from the basket with the ball in your hands it just opens up the floor in ways that like
I haven't seen. You know what I mean? When you are a threat from that far away, like a Steph or a Trey, and Dame, I want to say, too, it changes things. He is having the mother of all contract years. Oh, yeah. I mean. Whatever you would have projected before this season started as the going rate for Austin Reeves, buddy, that has changed dramatically. There's no...
¶ Sixers survive thriller against Warriors
I can't fathom what kind of contract he's going to get offered in the offseason. Seriously. He'll get extended by the Bucs when they trade him for Giannis. Oh, for goodness sakes. All right. We had a shocking. great game that took place between the Sixers and the Warriors. You know, it starts off and the Warriors put up this putrid offensive performance in the first half of the game. After the first quarter, they're down like 30 to 10.
And it's like, oh, okay, this one's not worth paying attention to. Next thing you know, you're seeing all these tweets come through. It's like. Oh my God, Pat Spencer. Oh my God, Pat Spencer. It's like, wait, what's going on? I see this clip, Pat Spencer's, you know, he's barking at the Philly crowd. I'm that MF. And I'm like, what is happening? And so you have this Warriors.
that gets them a four-point lead and then this furious ending with Vijay Edgecombe and then an unbelievable block by Maxey on Melton. to seal the game for the Sixers. This one turned out to be infinitely better than it started. It was 67-43. What I do is I scroll through the app to see what the scores are, and then I go to the TV to change the channels. And when you see 67-43, I forget that game. I'm like, oh, this one's not close. I'll go back to the Lakers game or whatever.
I'm glad you mentioned that Pat Spencer celebration. Unbelievable. Because if you didn't see it, he hits a three and he turns into like Russell Crowe in The Gladiator. He's just screaming at the crowd. When you're at home and you make a big shot, you... celebrate with the roar of the crowd. When you're on the road, you turn evil. Like he was so pumped. He's pounding his chest, screaming at the top of his lungs with like venom and anger.
And as an old man, I'm thinking to myself, save some energy for the game, dude. It was an awesome, awesome moment. And the end of this game got a little clunky. And I'm going to save a little bit of that for later. But it was... a great comeback for the Warriors. And, you know, unfortunately, you know, the Warriors are just depleted at this point. Well, and not only was Steph out, not only was Butler out, Draymond went out and hobbled back to the locker room.
And so that was all, you know, those those other warriors and the Pat Spencer thing. Just a moment on him. One of the most unbelievable stories. in the NBA that will get more attention if he is able to contribute even more and more. Obviously, I'm around his brother in Memphis who is having a breakout year. The family is just all psychos. If you were to go over to the arena today, the game starts at 7 o'clock, right? At 2 o'clock, Cam Spencer would be the only individual in the gym.
And he is just out there shooting, getting a full sweat. They are maniacal human beings, right? He was going to KD last year, right? Yes. Booker, too. And they're dedicated to things. there's a lot of people that Spencer thing. The reason I'm bringing it up, there's a lot of people that will tell you that he is the greatest lacrosse player ever. Right. That he was like,
Won the lacrosse highs or whatever. And just the craziest story with him. He got done with this unbelievable lacrosse career and then enrolled in Northwestern and started playing basketball. Like after he was done being the best lacrosse player ever. Like what the hell? How does it even cross your mind? How does that even cross your mind to do that?
I'm going to go back and play basketball. And then he turns awesome at Northwestern. Did David Stern suspend him for gambling from lacrosse? I don't know. Hey, next thing you know, he's in Philly. screaming at the crowd i'm that mf like what you're a lacrosse player
So crazy. I thought that the Raptors Lakers game was was start to finish just back and forth tight. That was a great basketball game to watch. This one was different because it was a blowout and then a big run from the Warriors. But there was a. It was so fun to watch. And the Maxi, like you mentioned it, but like Maxi, I think he got tipped, but he shoots the final shot. There's .9 seconds left, and he'll throw like a Brady Tomas.
over the secondary and melton gets it and remember melton former sixer and i'm thinking to myself oh he's gonna win the game if there's what what's the one word that comes to mind when someone says tyrese maxi fast Fast, exactly. And he was fast. I think he was on the ground after the shot attempt. Pops up and just sprints back on defense and closes the ground. And it was a great block. It was a great block.
on melton and it's a fun way to finish a game like an edge comb put back if you're the crowd the edge comb put back gets you on your feet and you're cheering and then you're terrified because Melton gets behind the defense and then a huge block where the ball goes flying into the crowd, like lifted the roof off the place for your all-star slash all NBA case. It is always nice to have.
the game-winning block as part of the highlight package, right? Like, oh, this guy doesn't just do it on one end. He can help you win on the other end, too. And Maxie, this has been just an ascent to stardom.
¶ What is Giannis's next move?
this year in a way that he's always been really good, but now he's built around good. The rest of the games were pretty crap last night, to be honest. We did have a bunch of news since we last spoke. So I think we were first, you know, same way I was first on the Taylor Swift engagement. That's a good point. You were first. Because of Reddit. Oh, this is a teammate. This is a teammate. This is a team thing. We were first. We were first. On Giannis.
Getting rid of his social media posts. I think we were already on the Zoom or whatever. And I was like, let me just check Reddit real quick. I think Giannis just deleted this. So we knew something was coming. And so now we get into, like, even on Tuesday's show, you said, so where do we go from here? And I was like, well, we'll find out if he makes the formal request or not. Did he? Well, you have these reports behind the scenes that he's like.
Yes, he has. He has made it known, right? Like the way you couch it all because he's a beloved individual, right? You don't want it to come off like, hey, man, get me out of here. It's like, I'm open. or we are talking to my representatives about what would be best. You know, like, okay, all right. Like the end game is he wants out, right? Okay, we've run our course here.
I'm not getting any younger. I'm in my 30s now. I've missed a couple postseasons because of injury. How many more years do I have to be one of the best players in the world? I have no chance at winning a championship with this lot. I want to be somewhere where I could possibly do it. Well, that's not the end of the story, Bruno, because that same night, like those reports come out in the afternoon and that same night.
He goes down with like a non-contact. Right. It starts grabbing at his calf. And like everyone's thinking the same thing, which is. I'm bailing. It's I mean, like, no, I'm more like. is it an achilles i mean how many times have we seen oh i thought i thought you were thinking oh this is your way to not have to play until they trade you no i mean but the thing is
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because he grabbed the back of his leg. Yeah, yeah. And it was like, Jesus, what just happened? It was out of nowhere. It was hot. Usually the Achilles tears, like the Halliburton, Tatum, Lillard, those have been on. those have been on like what they call like the back step when you kind of like push off your back foot and this was more just like jogging back strange it was an odd one but apparently it's it's not that bad but who knows i mean
It's such a weird twist to this story that he's hurt now. And it's every night on the calves and the groins. We have had just an inordinate amount of soft tissue stuff, right? Yes. And then last year, what they say is that... you know the Achilles the reason that you have to be so careful with the calf stuff is because of the possible injury to the Achilles right that your Achilles then can I'm no doctor but basically it
provides you know your bounce four right for it it's it's the structure that holds that cap thing you're doing a great job you're doing a great you're doing a great job here for the shock absorber That's what I'm trying to say. Your Achilles is your shock absorber for your calf. If your calf is busted, then you can, right? That's what I'm trying to say. Dr. Vernon is here. I'll say it like this. We've seen a lot of people with calf strains.
then turn into Achilles injuries. And if I'm Giannis, like I am not coming back until I am 1000%. 1000%. I will say, I'm going to give a little credit to Eddie Johnson here. Because I just find it fascinating. Everybody is trying to find the reasons. Oh, it's too many games. They're too specialized. They play too much basketball. They do this. They don't have this. I thought it was interesting.
For him to talk about Eddie Johnson this week, I saw this article where, and again, it's just something to add to the mix, okay? And he was saying that when they've gone through all of these different... CBAs in the past. They have collectively bargained to shorten everything. And that what happened is, in his day and age, when all these guys, you know, because people say, in my day, I played a lot. In my day, we did this. In my day...
Guys didn't get injured like this. And we had bad travel and not the nutrition and not the whatever. He said, what we did have was long ass training camps and tons of preseason games. And all of that was to get you ready for. the upcoming season. You were then prepared for the upcoming season that you were about to undertake. And every step of the way...
They have negotiated to lessen that and lessen that, right? They don't like the travel before the season. They don't like the two-a-days. They don't like these hardcore training camps where guys are making you sprint all the time and all this kind of stuff. And he said, but that stuff got you ready because basketball shape, working with your trainer is not going to get you in the basketball shape that you have to be yet, right?
that when you go out there, there is a different kind of shape that you have to be in in order to play NBA basketball. And so now... With all of this, you know, speed of the game, too many games, too much specialized. There's only so many miles on these guys. Too much AAU where they're playing 20 games a weekend, all this kind of stuff. It was one that I actually, when I read it, I was like, you know what?
There probably is a lot of truth to that. There probably is a lot of truth to you. You jump into a season less ready for your body to take on the demands of the season than you used to. years ago if you're trying to figure out why does it seem like this is happening all of the time it's that you're kind of you you're not as prepared for what you're about to undertake as you used to be
Well, two things. One, I like the old school guys that are like, oh, they work out too much. Like they don't party like we partied. They work out too much. That's one of my favorite old school guy responses to all this. But back to Giannis is it has. Him being injured now, it's not going to affect, it's not going to directly affect whether or not a team trades for Giannis Tentacupo, but it is a reminder. As someone in New York City, and he's rumored, like the Knicks rumors are there, whatever.
It's a reminder that he's not always healthy. He's been out in playoffs. This is his second injury of this young season. he is somewhat injury prone as a basketball player. And if you are in a front office, in a conference room, putting together potential trade packages, you kind of have to take that into account. Do you want to hear the odds that were posted last night? Oh God.
minutes played after the trade deadline, like for a team. He will play the most amount of minutes for this team post-trade deadline this year. Who do you think is the favorite? Well, I've seen some stuff, but if I had to say, I would say Hawks. It's actually the Bucs. Oh, that makes sense. The Bucs? Then the Knicks are plus 260? The Spurs plus 600, that is a nightmare for the world. Is it? The Heat plus 700. I mean, this could be Pat Riley's last dance.
attaining beyond the sides of the cupo. And then the Raptors plus 1100. Everybody else is after that. Rockets, Lakers, Warriors, Pistons, Hawks, all of those. But like the three, the four favorites. would be Bucks, Knicks, Spurs, Heat. You know, I listened to our colleagues, Zach Lowe and Kurt Goldsberry, Goats. And one thing that I found interesting about their conversation was the topic was brought up of like... Is his trade value higher at the deadline or in the offseason?
And it was mentioned that sort of teams in midseason might be more apt to say, we've got a chance to make a run than a team sort of like 10,000 feet evaluating what they have and how Giannis would fit in.
you know what i mean so that's one of the reasons i found that to be an interesting point and that's one of the reasons why i'm surprised that bucks would be leading but it's also one of those things where it's like you know tiger or the field or thunder or the field like i'm always going to take the field
Like, you know, it's always, it's always easier to take it. Someone said like, who's going to win the championship thunder of the field, even odds. I would be like field. Like, what are we talking about? It's not even close to me, but you know, as a Knicks guy, what would you, well, that's, that's, uh,
¶ CP3-Clippers drama
We're going to get to that. Put a pin in that one. Put a pin in that one. We're going to get to loves and loathes. Are you? Okay. Yeah, we are going to get to loves and loathes. In fact, we'll do it right after we get to this CP3 stuff. So since we left, since we last spoke, Chris Paul was sent home. In the middle of the night, he posted, I've been sent home. I feel like that happens to me at the bar sometimes. He got sent home.
by the Los Angeles Clippers. Now, what has followed has been the unloading of the notebook and the stories behind the stories. So you have a story of a Clippers legend. being sent home for basically being annoying. Okay. That he was critical of everyone involved in the Clippers operation. And let me just say, deservedly critical. of people within the Clippers organization. But for the extent of his entire career, I think Chris Paul has had a profound positive effect.
on the teams that he has been a part of. And I think that when a few weeks ago, I'm watching Amazon and Blake Griffin opines that he would be the fifth oldest player on... the Los Angeles Clippers that lets you know the situation of that locker room. And so the same way.
that Chris Paul for many years can have this impact on Shea Gildas Alexander or the like, or all manner of teams, you know, Phoenix when he was there and helped them get to the NBA finals, that you had a locker room of people that like looked up to Chris Paul. honored Chris Paul and Chris Paul knew, right? This is how you're supposed to work out. This is what it takes. This is how you eat.
This is when you don't go out at night because we got a game tomorrow. Like all this kind of stuff. And everybody's like, you're right. Like looks up to him. When you are in a locker room of a bunch of old guys, everybody's just like, shut up. And they've played against you for years. You're not like this old vet and you're in the league and fresh face, new voice. James Harden and Kawhi Leonard do not look up to Chris Paul.
Brooke Lopez doesn't look up to him. They don't, you know what I mean? Like you've had all his life. He has been the guy that you would look up to within a locker room. And I can see how. you know, him saying, this is not the way this is supposed to be. Finally, they're like, all right, this is not, this isn't having a good impact on things. People are just annoyed by it. And, but I don't get what I don't get.
is the not speaking with Ty Lube for three weeks. Two weeks. Yeah, yeah. What is that? I feel like the Chris Paul situation and the Luka trade are the same thing. And let me explain. When things happen like those two events that don't make sense, it simply means we don't have all the information. I think that Luca went around and MF'd everybody. And I think that Chris Paul...
This is just me speculating. I have no information. I think that the reports are like, oh, he questioned the head coach in the front office. I think you could take the word question and replace it with screamed at, yelled at, and disrespected. Like, I think that he did so much.
The team said, you've been in a work environment where there's sort of like one bad apple or one unhappy person, and it'll just ruin the whole vibe for everybody. I've been in that environment before. People are off camera, so don't try to figure it out. And it's just sort of like...
It's just every day going to work becomes a little bit more tenuous and the tension is just too much and it ruins everyone's vibe. And I feel like he did that with the Clippers. And whether he is right or the Clippers are right, the Clippers are in a position to say, we don't want you around anymore. And they said that. I think things happen behind the scenes that we don't know about. And you're also going to love this part, is that...
This became a huge thing. The Clippers are obviously the bad guy because they're the easiest punching bag in the world, right? Disrespect the all-time greatest player. This is wrong. Sending a guy home. Like, of course, everything the Clippers are going to do is going to be wrong, right? You know what nobody has mentioned? Not one person that I have heard mentioned. They sent him home after the Miami game, right? Mm-hmm.
Their next game was at Atlanta. They destroyed Atlanta. Oh, yeah. Best game of the year. The second the guy walked away, it was like, wait, hold on now. Like, have you heard anybody talk about it's all been what dirtbags they are for doing Chris Paul so wrong? Never mind. The result was, by the way, at Miami, at Atlanta.
Might be the hardest road trip in the world for these guys. That is, I mean. When the schedule comes out in the summer, they're like, okay. What was that, December 2nd, December 3rd? Yes. So, and I also think that this is part of it. So, I am actually going to see this team in person tonight, the Clippers. That's exciting. Right? I think there's also an element where you look at your schedule if you're the Clippers.
And you go, okay. So it's at Atlanta. They're at Memphis tonight. Then listen to this. At Minnesota, at Houston. Memphis, at Oklahoma City. Lakers, Rockets, at Trailblazers, Pistons. I mean, there's part of you that looks at the schedule and goes, okay, and he's, you think this is going to get any better? We're really going to have to hear about how crappy this is. But that schedule, it is going to get worse. I'll put a bow on this topic by saying I think something, there are multiple events.
that made the relationship between the clippers this particular group of coaches in front office and teammates untenable and they said and chris ball basically got himself gone he voiced his he voiced his opinions in a manner in which Basically, it was no longer going to be acceptable. I think he probably, honestly, I think he probably acted like he has always acted. But this is a group of old guys that just...
That does not come off as helpful. It comes off as annoying to them because they don't look and bow to the altar of Chris Paul. And virtually most every team that he's ever played for does.
¶ Loves of the week
I mean, think about the Spurs team he was on last year. He's the leader. Harrison Barnes was the only vet in the Spurs last year. Right. Yes. Oh, what fun! Holiday invites are arriving, and Nordstrom has your party fits covered. You'll find head-to-toe looks for every occasion, including styles under 100, dresses, sets, heels, and accessories from Bardot, Princess Polly, Dolce Vita, Naked Wardrobe, Coach, and more.
Free styling help, free shipping, and quick order pickup make it easy. In stores or online, it's time to go shopping at Nordstrom. Let's get to loves and loads. Let's do it. You want to start or you want me to? You want to start, buddy. Okay. First love. And this is a guy that I mentioned on Tuesday's show. I can't love this Ryan Nembhardt thing anymore. I mean, first, so we talked about giving this opportunity in the Denver game.
And he goes 28-10-3 in his first game. Turns around and he's got the Miami game. He's got 15 points, 13 assists. I'm sorry, 13 assists. And he has one turnover. since he has been. He's played 34 minutes a game in both of those wins. He had zero turnovers in the previous game. He had one. One in both games is what you mean, right? Correct. Yeah.
And guess who else people have gotten super excited about this week for the first time? Cooper Flagg. Right. I mean, everything that I love is happening with this story. The guy that proved he was awesome in college, his coach told you he's the best passer he's ever coached. And that includes Team USA or anything like that.
Earlier in the week, I chronicled how he was part of the best high school basketball team of all time. He lived in a house with a professional athlete. His brother was a pro. He has been playing amongst pros. as not the best player and making them better literally his whole life and then goes undrafted, right? It's like the Van Vliet thing. It's like he showed you what he was.
but it's too little it's this it's that so you have this guy and he gets a two-way contract then it's hard to start a guy on a two-way but and you tried the D'Angelo Russell thing and you didn't like that. So then you tried the Cooper flag thing, but now it's as it's in it.
feeds into one of those basic tenets I was talking about. It's not always about the individual player. It's how the individual player affects the group, right? And look at what he has done to affect the group. Most importantly... getting flag into his natural position. And all of a sudden Cooper flag looks like a radically different human being than he did the first part of the season. And that's, so you've got.
undrafted, awesome college player. I love those. And that was overlooked by everybody. You've got, hey, maybe we should play a point guard. I love that. And you've got... the number one pick in the draft coming into his own because of this individual who, by the way, is on a two way contract and watch the highlights. Nothing about that.
seems out of the ordinary in terms of the way he plays, right? He will get extra attention. He'll have to be a better scorer than maybe he has shown, but that'll come. And also... will inevitably get picked on on defense just because he's five foot nothing. But my God, the impact he has had. And that's true. That's not, that's not getting to come in and play your first two games against.
you know, the Wizards and the Jazz. That's coming in and playing your first two games at Denver and Miami and showing up like that. I can't love this story anymore. And the idea that they could win a... More games than certainly anybody anticipated two weeks ago is now on the table simply because they've got a real point guard, it seems, that can play 35 minutes a game for them and make their best players.
Even better. By the way, AD's been great too. Like he's just had this wildly outsized impact. And man, if you see him in person, he is tiny. It's unbelievable. He's a little dude. It's something you think about when the playoffs come around, but you didn't think about the Mavs in the playoffs until he came around. Right. So there you go. And before we move on, I'll just say this.
one of the string we'll never remember in the when cooper flag is you know on year 17 and you know 13 time all-star and whatever we'll never remember like the first three weeks of the season of his rookie year when he was the point guard but
One of the things about that that I find hilarious is the coach is one of the best point guards of all time. One of the best table setters, passers of all time. And he was like, no, we're going to have this rookie forward be the point guard. It was just odd. Here's my first love. We mentioned a little bit, so I'll go quick on this. The Warriors reserves in heroic losses. Last night, we know what happened, right? They come back. Pat Spencer's doing his thing. Guy Santos. These are guys like when.
And sometimes you have to look in the mirror and be like, I was wrong about this. I'm not going to say I was wrong about this, but one of the reasons I wasn't high on the Warriors is they have old stars and they have Quentin Post, Guy Santos, Seth Curry, Pat Spencer. Like they're sort of like.
They didn't seem like there was a bit of a cliff after sort of like Butler and even Horford. But these guys have been balling. It wasn't just last night. It was Tuesday night against the Thunder. Did they lose? Yeah. But like, it was competitive. These guys are going toe-to-toe with the Thunder. Also, Warriors fans were going crazy about him pulling Pat Spencer out of the game. Yes. Yeah. I mean, who knows?
That's where we are in the Warriors world. But these reserves have been like toe-to-toe with the Thunder. They probably should have won last night. And it was just like, I did not see this coming. I did not see this coming. Yeah, but they've all... They've also moved under 500. Curry's not playing. Butler's not playing. And in the absence of Draymond, this is a fun thing during the course of a night. And given that opportunity, like, without those guys, tough road.
Yes. Really tough road. OK, so yesterday you might have seen the clips going around everywhere. The outstanding interview Bill Simmons did with Max Kellerman. First time we've heard from Max Kellerman in a long time. And he was explaining. The way first take works. And in that was trying to say that like, hey, Stephen A. Smith's role is to just react to the crazy thing you say.
Right. But he's not going to say the counterintuitive thing. Right. So in honor of that. I'm going to give you the opportunity since this is the way this is supposed to work. What? And this will be my second love. The Wimby-less Spurs. Are they better? I'm so glad you said this. I'm so glad you said this. Because we say this about Trey Young, right?
About everybody. We say this about Trey Yard, but no one has said this about the Spurs. I was in the bathroom at the urinal, and I had this exact thought earlier this morning. I had this exact thought. I was like, oh, the Hawks are so much better without Trae Young. Should they trade him? Oh, Paolo, the Magic have been on a little bit of a run without Paolo. Should they trade him? But the Spurs are hot.
And no one's talking about me. No one is. Not a single person. I had this exact thought an hour ago. Booey, you were supposed to react and go, what? That's crazy. Right? You're going to tell me a 7'5 alien that is better off without him? They are 7-2 now without Wemby. And they look good. Well, and Fox has averaged 27 a game.
In those games, they've also, as a team, averaged. Didn't Castle miss a couple? Castle missed a couple in there, too. Oh, I've got more for you. They've averaged 120 a game. Look. Was this on the rundown? Oh, it is. Yeah. But. You've got the Luke Cornett block where they beat the Magic the other night. This is after they walked down the Grizzlies earlier in the week and Harrison Barnes had 31 and Fox.
literally took over the game the last three minutes. I think he scored the last 11 points for him. Fox has averaged 25 points a game on 49%, 39% from three. so far this year. I mean, he is having an unbelievable season since he came back. Castle hasn't played since November 16. Harper is back, but... And he's gone in his three games, 17 points, 15 points, 16 points in the last three after missing almost all of November. And in 11 games this year that he has played, Dylan Harper...
has averaged 14 points, three and a half assists, three rebounds in 21 minutes. He has been absolutely fantastic. They have eight guys averaging double digits. Eight. averaging the Spurs do this year. On the season or during that run? The season. On the season? Damn. Yes. And what's crazy is anytime a great player goes out for a team. And the team starts winning. That's why I had to do that. I had the same thought. He is immune from everything.
He is. Luz Benyama, no one talks about. No one talks about Wimby Luz Benyama. But like, when he's available, he's great. When he's available, he's great. Hold on. Hold on. You ready for another one? There's more? Can we start the conversation of Fox being the most important player on the Spurs? Oh, you are cooking. You like these? Yeah.
I got it. I got it. Should we start building around Dylan Harper and finding out which players best compliment him? Yeah. Why are people not talking about the moving Wemby for Jan? Yes. Well. No, no. They have been, hey, look. Tongue is in cheek, but I do want to say that when Paolo is out, it's like, should the magic try to move on from Paolo? It's like, I don't know.
They're 7-2 without him. That's why I'm highlighting them as a love because, of course, all of these teams are better with their best player. But the point is we're mocking that. I will say. when we were doing our season predictions when binyama has not shown the ability to be available in throughout these seasons right you just saw last year and i said the thing feels so
Wenbin Yama dependent that whatever you're picking them feels like a bet on how many games he's going to be available. And seven foot five guys, it's tough. Right. And so. I'm here to say that is obviously not so. It's obviously not so. They can absolutely win without him, and they have won at a very high rate without him. And so their operation is not Wemby dependent.
And I think that speaks to not only strength of roster, it also speaks to the coach. I'll just end by saying this. When Zion came out, it's like we've never seen an athlete like this. And when Wimby comes out, it's like, we've never seen an athlete like this. And that is a compliment, but it's also a little bit of a concern. Moving on. We're doing all loves and then all loads? Yep. All right, here's my second love. The Celtics are good? Like, the Celtics are good? Do they need?
Oh, you got me. I'm going to get in my bag. Oh, let's trade Jason Tatum. If they're the number one offense in the East, what does that say about Jason Tatum? So the same night of that Rockets Thunder game. Remember that one? That Friday night, right? The Nets. were beating the Celtics. And I was like, I'm going to live bet the Celtics. They're definitely going to come back and win this game. And they've lost to the Nets. Since that loss to the Nets, beat the Magic, beat the Pistons.
lost to the Timberwolves in a tight game against the Timberwolves, beat the Cavs, beat the Knicks, and blew out the Wizards. And by the way, nobody wants to talk about... how Jalen Brown has been a superstar against other superstars. Like he's going heads up with these guys. Oh, you ready? Hold on. Let me get my bag. Oh no. He's getting his bag. He's getting his bag.
He always has props. This is like carrot top. Was Jason kid, right? That the best player on the Celtics is actually Jalen Brown. It might be Jordan Walsh. It might be. When you look at Jordan Walsh, he was not – this is his third year. He's 21 years old. He could not break the rotation. He's got DMPs left and right, and he's been fantastic. Why not? Like, these are not household names. Oh. In my household, he is. Who, my not? Okay. It's been an ongoing thing. So three or four years ago.
I take my son to a Memphis Tigers basketball game. And this is when they start selling the, they're selling the t-shirt jerseys out front. Right. And we're now in a day and age where everybody, you know, is in college for a year or two. And so Josh Beidot was a freshman on the team. And I said, William, we're getting Minot because at least we'll get to have that one for two years. And the damn guy left for the draft.
Where did he get picked? In the second round, right? In the second round. My son has a Josh Minot jersey. And we bought it because we were like, he doesn't start. He'll at least be here for a couple of years. Because in college athletics, you almost never get to root for a guy two years in a row. But we were sure we'll at least get to root for Josh Minot for two years. No, he left.
I'm going to ask you a question. You asked me about the Bulls earlier in the season when they were hot, and I was like, this is not real. I am not sure. I don't know the answer to this, which is why I turned to you, NBA expert Chris Vernon. Yes, of course. Is this for real?
Like, are the Celtics really good, or have they just been hot? I think it's probably some of both, right? Okay. That's kind of where I landed, too. I was like, I don't know if this is real. Remember we talked about the Timberwolves not having signature wins? They beat the Magic the Pistons. The Cavs and the Knicks in like two weeks. And you also have to, you got to give them some grace in that it takes time to figure out how you're going to play with a new crew. This is not just run it back.
Pritchard started out mega slow. White started out mega slow. All of those guys were in different roles than they've ever been in before, right? They've been able to live a pretty great life. as NBA players, as we talk about the whiteboard, right? Their name was further down the list of the whiteboard up until this year. And it started off a little, look at Pritchard's numbers.
He started out where he couldn't make a shot to start the year. And White was the same. And he's gone crazy. Here's my prediction, or whatever, speculation. I think after the Nets lost, there was a conversation. Losing to the Nets on the road in that manner, like not even making a comeback at the end. I think there was a conversation. I think they turned a corner. What's your next love? All right, the last one. The league finding teams for participation.
At least we know when I tune into a Cavs game, I'm going to see all their stars. In street clothes. No, do you know the next time? So you might have seen the headline everywhere for the Darius Garland game and sitting him. It was $250,000. The next time they violate this, it's $1.25 million. Yes. It's hard to police. 1.25. I think a guy, people will actually like be like, all right, fine. We'll pay the 250 grand. Right. I do not think they will be like, fine, we'll pay the 1.25 million.
The next time is the head coach's pinky finger. That's what I read. I read that somewhere. It's the left pinky finger. Anyways, no. Look, I like that they are actually enforcing this because just as a fan. I do think that you owe it to the ticket-buying public as well as me, who dedicates my nights to watching on television, right? Yeah.
You got to give me a heads up. You can't just be sitting out for rest. Right? Like, are you injured or are you not injured? And the fact that they're cracking down so hard on the national TV game thing. And they're saying, look, it's different. If you're on national TV and we just made billions of dollars about to say, because these games are on national TV. These are new relationships. Yeah. If you want to rest, do it Tuesday against the Nets. But.
You're getting all of these teams to think about it in a different way. Like you better think more about your rest schedule because you don't tend to just sit a guy on the NBC game. That's not the way this is going to work. And so now. Now this is going to be very, very interesting because the next fine is so hefty. 1.25 million is crazy. That's a lot.
And that's what they're going to get fined if they sit because there is a different standard for sitting all-stars than non-all-stars. But because that's who people theoretically pay to see. and certainly go to their couch and tune in. And I do think that this stuff, like whether it is the 65 games or whether it is stuff like this, has had an effect because not only was the cat out of the bag, it had run...
¶ Loathes of the week
10 miles down the road a few years ago where you were tuning in, I mean, every Thursday night and neither team was playing at stars and they were just sitting there because nobody cared. You know how they say the high and low tide of the ocean is because of the gravitational pull of the moon? I'll never really understand that. It makes no sense to me whatsoever. But I feel like there's two gravitational pulls that make this important, and that is the relationships with the new.
you know, the new partners, Amazon and NBC and the gambling sites and the gambling stuff. You know, like I think those are the two things like behind the scenes. They're sort of like affecting this, but not in the headlines. But those are two things that I think are sort of like making them really crack down on this. I'm skipping my last love and saving it for the end of the show. Okay.
This episode is brought to you by Whole Foods Market. You'll find everything you need for the holidays at Whole Foods Market. If you're entertaining, explore limited time seasonal desserts like the holiday rum cake and much more. And for the main event. serve show-stopping centerpiece mains like bone-in spiral cut ham and their bone-in rib roast, succulent and special. They've even got great gifts.
like seasonal candles from 365 brand at everyday low prices. In a hurry, skip the crowds and order online for pickup and delivery and select zip codes. Shop for everything you need at Whole Foods Market, your holiday headquarters. Oh, what fun. Holiday invites are arriving and Nordstrom has your party fits covered.
You'll find head-to-toe looks for every occasion, including styles under 100, dresses, sets, heels, and accessories from Bardot, Princess Polly, Dolce Vita, Naked Wardrobe, Coach, and more. Free styling help, free shipping, and quick order pickup make it easy. In stores or online, it's time to go shopping at Nordstrom. I'm going to Lowe's now. You asked me before how I feel about the Knicks trading for Giannis, and I'm a little bit torn about it.
I love that he wants to play for the Knicks. When you are a fan of a team, it's really nice to hear that star players are like, I want to be in that jersey. And I would... not like them to trade for Giannis at this moment in this season for a package that involves Carl Anthony Towns and OG or McBride or something like that. I see the Knicks as a team that went to the Eastern Conference Finals last year.
It almost went to the finals. And I see this next team is with a new coach, with a new element that is sort of finding its way. And I think that when you look at Giannis now, he's injured. And you look at his injury history. I think that this Knicks team might not be better without Giannis, but there's something to say for consistency and availability.
I think this team is probably better if you trade Deuce and Carlton Dayton for Giannis. But then you're hamstrung, you can't make any other moves. Because they've already done the Bridges move and then the Giannis move. And I would advise against them doing this. I think they would ultimately have a better roster and a much better defense if they'd made this trade. But at this moment right now, I would stand Pat. And if he's still available in the offseason.
We can talk then based on how this Knicks team performed. Is it fair to say this, that you like this team, you think this team is capable of something great? But if they made the Giannis deal, you would talk yourself into it in less than one second. Absolutely. Both of those things are a hundred percent. Right. You can't lose. Right. Okay. If we don't get him, I didn't really, you know, but if you do, it's like, let's go. Are you going to be honest?
Are you going to win a championship with two defensive liabilities? And are you going to win a championship without a consensus top five player in the league? Because history is... Brunson's like top 10. I know. History has told us. And you could argue Tatum wasn't if you want to. Sure. But generally, we know who wins the title. Right? Yes. And I also think... It has stood the test of time.
that you have had one of the best players. Now, the Pacers would have been the all-time, I mean, that would have been going back to, honestly, we haven't really seen since the old Pistons, where... Even they had guys. But they didn't have a consensus. We're talking like Neesmith and Nembhard and Turner. The Pistons had better players on paper than that Pistons. But they didn't have a consensus top 10.
No, no, not at all. Right. Not at all. Across the board, they had sort of like. They had a collection of. And that's what the Pacers had, had a collection of. Generally, history has told us you've got to have one of the best players in the entire NBA.
I think if Giannis were to become a New York Knick, I think the way that he would be energized by that uniform, that crowd, and that building, you would see a different Giannis than you'd see. You just can't help yourself. Also, you don't have to think about it. through the prism of the Eastern Conference. Think about it through the prism of the thunder. They would pose problems. Right. I mean, I don't know.
Let's not talk about the Knicks playing the Thunder in the finals. Let's just get through the trade deadline. What's your first load? Oh, this is the easiest one. Zygon. We do this. It's a yearly ritual. It's December. Monthly. I need to do it. And nobody. It's such torture. It's truly such torture. Because.
The word comes out that he's injured. He's going to be out for weeks. And it's like, of course he is, right? Even though he's in the best shape of his life. But this is abducted. This is. Because before it was hamstrings. This is like another part of the body that's injured this year. Correct. So now. It's like, and you got, I mean, this was supposed to be the healthy year. You know, contracts going to be coming up soon. Future of, you know, this is a, you're kind of at a crossroads, right?
And so it's like, you got in the best shape of your life and all this kind of stuff. And here we go again. Not only is he on a rat team, he's injured. And then I'm like, okay. I try to buy in every time and I want to believe that things can be different. And then he burns me every single day. Nobody ropes me back in. He's like the worst ex-girlfriend you've ever had in your life. And so I say, you know what? I'm done. And then.
That story comes out. Word is the Pelicans would take the first reasonable offer for Zion. That is adorable. And I immediately text you like, how about some bad contracts and picks? You know? I mean, how low is the price here? Why even put that word in the report? The first reasonable? Like... That's like what you put on your mind when you have an old couch that you want to just throw away. You're just like...
Best first and best offer. You know what I mean? It's like, will you pick it up and take it? So I'm going to do a thought exercise with you. You love the Grizzlies, right? Let's imagine that Adam Silver announces a wrinkle in the whole thing. And he says, For some reason, we're allowing the Memphis Grizzlies, not a trade, to pluck one player from the Pelicans. Okay? Yeah. In what order do you advise your friends in the Grizzlies front office to pluck? You're saying for my team.
For your team. Where does Zion stack up? Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Number one, and it's not even close, is Murphy. Okay. It's not even close. Okay. Let's keep going. I'm just saying, like, he's the one that if you said I could pluck somebody, again, I'm thinking about it through the prism of you have Jaron Jackson Jr., Zach Eadie, John Moran, right? And in fact...
it's also a bane of my existence, no pun intended, because with the 10th pick in the draft a few years ago, they made this trade with the Pelicans. This was the balance unit Stephen Adams trade, right? And they moved down, they moved up. With the trades that were swapped, Memphis took Zaire Williams and the Pelicans took Trey Murphy. Right. The Grizzlies got the higher pick and then took Zaire Williams.
So they got the worst play. Like that was their pick theoretically. And so it's always, and then of course, Trey Murphy turns awesome. And it's like, Oh crap. Right. But he would be one. I'd say Zion would be like five. If you, if you go through it. Queen, Fears. Herb Jones, Queen, Fears, Zion. Maybe. So here's my second load. And I'm going to be quick with this one because I know we're on the same page here. There was two games last night that went down to the wire, right?
And I don't know if you noticed in the Lakers Raptors game, there was no stoppage of play. There was no fouling. There was no timeouts. They tried to call time out, but Austin Mears wouldn't let them. But there was like, it was just like a, just. Back and forth basketball. That whole game was so awesome. It was just, everything was within four points the entire time and it was awesome. The other game, the Sixers game that went down to the wire, there were two long ass reviews. I mean.
long reviews like vj edgecomb it touched his finger and then went out of bounds and like did did edgecomb foul quitting post or did he get the ball first and it just took so long and it was a real it was a real just what's the word whatever it was a real comparison just a position of like one game going back and forth and being awesome and exciting and had me standing up in my living room and another game where i'm going to the fridge because i know i have three minutes right
What's your next load? The amount of lame-ass teams. I am the hardcore of hardcore. I'm watching games every single night. But, like, there's – and I got it, right? And I am already fearful. of what February through the end of the season is going to look like. Cause some of these are, some of these are already no fun to watch. And there's too many of them that are no fun to watch. Right.
You have to be so hardcore to sell me on wanting to watch Brooklyn, Milwaukee minus Giannis, Chicago. Indiana's obviously been mega lame. Charlotte is at least... Somewhat fun sometimes. Chicago's fun. Charlotte's fun. I'll watch those games. Washington. Wizards. The Wizards. Sacramento. The Clippers have been boring as all hell. New Orleans has been boring as all hell. You're expanding this too far. There's a lot. You're expanding this too far. No, I'm not. No, you're expanding this too far.
Charlotte's fun to watch the Clippers. I'm going to tune in just to see what's happening. There's too many teams that if a good team is playing them. I don't care. Yes, yes. That's the thing. When I look at the slate of games, I open up the NBA app and I look at the slate of games. There are two or three every single night where I'm just like, not interested. Oh, they're playing the Nets? Not interested. Oh, they're playing the Wizards? Not interested. That's what I'm saying.
There's too many that I'm just keeping up with the score, and if it's going to the last five minutes, I'll check it out. I'll check it out. That's what I'm saying. That's very fair to say. But you expanded the list a little too far. But even like some teams are interesting. Like I want to check in on the Jazz from time to time if they're playing a good team. If they're playing a good team. But if I told you the Jazz and the Wizards are playing tonight.
I'm out. The problem is that becomes the pistachio ice cream thing. Pistachio ice cream is good, but when you put it next to Rocky Road and Cookies and Cream and all the other flavors. I'm just not interested. If they're playing by themselves in football style. Did you say the pistachio ice cream? thing yeah this is one of my go-to things yeah pistachio ice cream is good if that's your only option but there are other better options always around it i have never had that in life
Pistachio ice cream? I'm old, too. No. Try some gelato. A little gelato. It's tasty. Pistachio ice cream. Dubai chocolate is a thing now. Put a little chocolate drizzle on there. I've had Dubai chocolate. I've never had pistachio ice cream in my life. Solid.
Solid flavor, but there's better options. That's my point. So you think don't go buy it because there's better options. Exactly. It is good on its own. If it's the only thing available to me. Okay. If you're like, the only game on right now is Wizards Nets, I'm watching it.
But if you put it on a slate on a Wednesday night when there's nine games, I don't even know what's happening. Fair enough. Here's my next loathe. Raptors are on a little bit of a run. This happens to me. I've been doing this a long time. You know, speaking to microphones, give your opinions. raptors on a run and someone cut together a like people talking trash about the raptors uh in the media and i'm watching it someone tags me on it and i'm like
I'm not a big Scotty Barnes fan, but I said four words into this microphone, and I'm going to curse. I said, fuck Scotty Barnes. You did? Yes. I said it in jest. And they pulled it? Fuck Scotty Barnes. And now it's like he's playing amazing. He's D-ing up LeBron. The Raptors are playing well. And like, I said it all on up to it. I have accountability, but I should not have put those words together in that way. So I'd like to rephrase myself and say, I don't see.
what everyone else sees in scotty barnes this this happened with bill and jayla greed a couple years back yeah Same exact thing. Just don't put those four words together, Jacoby. Be smarter. You know what I mean? Articulate yourself in a much better way.
I apologize to the great city of Toronto, all of my friends at the Brass Rail, the Raptors, all Raptors fans, family of the Raptors, the Barnes family, and Scotty Barnes himself. I apologize. Hand up. I should not have said that. But I still don't like you. My last load. So there was an article by my buddy Tim McMahon and Bobby Marks, two guys I really like.
All-out assassination of LaMelo Ball, Trey Young, and John Morant. And the only thing I will say, again, I'm not killing the messenger here. My issue is everybody being... An anonymous scout and an anonymous executive saying the most dastardly things like to me, because the same way that you get annoyed by people that have. no profile picture and using a fake name on there. That's the same thing to me.
Right. Like the same way that some guy on Twitter or on Instagram or whatever can anonymously just say the most dastardly thing about another person and not have to stand behind it at all. This is just that in real life. And I understand how journalism works, but to me, if it's like news or opinion or whatever, but if you're going to say a guy's a pain in the ass, dirtbag, who's not good anymore.
I mean, you can find somebody to say anything. You know what I mean? And to me, it's like all of those guys. They can get any kind of negative press that they deserve, right? Again, I'm not shooting the messenger. I'm saying, to me, it's a bit shady for all these scouts, all these GMs, everybody, executives.
as they're called. And by the way, I don't care about an Eastern Conference scout. I have been around the NBA for 25 years. Scouts don't know shit about what goes on with teams, right? They just have an opinion of they're not even around their own team. the scouts that come to the games in Memphis, they all live like around here. Like they, and they scout for the Mavs and they scout for the Spurs and they scout for whatever, but like.
The idea that they know these guys individually, like they have an opinion on things. They know how they play the game, Bruno. Like let's not just. Let's not just wipe Scouts' opinions off. They watch the games in an intense way, evaluating strengths and weaknesses. I'm saying so much of the article is not about basketball.
And those guys all should be criticized dramatically for basketball, right? If you want to talk about, hey, he might not be good anymore. He doesn't. Again, I'm not killing the messenger. I'm saying when you go into like. full on this guy's a dirt bag this guy's a pain in the ass this guy sucks this guy I mean the same way if somebody came out and had anonymously asked
a radio executive to evaluate our podcast and they say, Chris, it's a piece of crap. Oh, come on, man. Like, you know what I mean? Like what? You don't even know. So to me. The fact that you can say any kind of thing and just not have to stay. I think there's a line where you should have to stand behind it. That's all I'm saying.
I think if you're going to attack somebody, we have to stand by it. Again, somebody's pulling a clip of you saying F Scottie. That was a bad one. So we live, I'm saying we live in a day and age where we have to stand behind everything we say. To me, if it's a full-on everybody's anonymous just saying horrible things about people, I don't know. I understand what you're saying. It just feels like piling on. This has been going on.
in sports journalism and journalism but i'm you know i only focus on sports journalism forever it's especially bad when it's an anonymous teammate like the whole anonymous thing with an anonymous teammate it's even worse it sounds a lot of football locker rooms because there's so many people there but like
I don't know the fix for this, Verno, because if you're Tim McMahon and you're getting these juicy ass quotes about star players and as a journalist, you can't attach the name to it if someone says off the record or don't use my name. You cannot, like, out them. Right. I understand. And if you're in his position, he can't not print it. So it's like, there's no fix for this. I know the way. I enjoyed the quotes. I read them all. I know the way this works.
I don't know how to fix it. What I'm saying is, I think there's a line where you should have to stand behind it. That's fair. If the criticism gets to like... Yes. character assassination and things. So for me, what I found interesting is I didn't read the actual article. Sorry, Tim.
But I saw the Instagram slide and it was like Ja Morant, Ja Morant, Ja Morant. And there was like LaMelo, LaMelo, LaMelo. I was like, oh, we're doing everybody. Everybody. I thought this was a job thing. And it was like Trey Young. I was like, oh. And you could walk into any arena and throw a rock and find. somebody that's willing to tell you they hate all of these guys of course of course you know i mean so i've got my final love and i'm gonna keep it brief this is an internal
plug, but I've been honored to do a little bit of behind the scenes work on the new Max Kellerman and Rich Paul project. What? Yeah. And let me tell you something. Buckle up, everybody. Buckle up. Wait, you're working with that? A little bit. You know, when I first saw that.
pairing announced and i know max i know max i don't know rich like i mean whatever give him a pound but like he's not numbers not in my phone or anything but like i've known max for a long time well i mean long time like he still he calls me dave Like we're in like Zoom calls. He's like calling me Dave. That's how long I've known Max. And let me tell you, buckle up. Oh, you think it's going to be good? Just, yeah. Yeah.
I think it's going to be good. I think we'll be talking about things that get said on that show on this show. It launches in what? Like a couple weeks? Monday. Oh, Monday. Yeah.
I will go subscribe. Yeah, everybody go subscribe. YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts, Spotify. You know it's going to be good. No, you know what I mean? It's like... how can i say this i don't know that the baby's gonna be good looking but if both of the parents are good looking is a good chance the baby's gonna be good looking totally fair
You know both of those individuals and you know what they can bring to the table. I don't know Rich well, but I've been involved in this for a few days now. And I think it's going to be a talked about show. That's all I'll say. And we'll all be talking about it on Tuesday. Really? Starts on Monday. Now I'm intrigued. That was a good sales job you did.
Right? Really good sales show. You'll see. Buckle up. Thank you to our executive producer, Jesse Lopez. As always, Jacoby, I'll talk to you next week. Be 21 or over and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 and over and present in D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit.
gamblinghelpline, ma.org, or call 800-327-5050 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts. Or call 1-877-8HOPE-NY. or text HOPENY in New York. Monster Energy. Everybody knows White Monster Zero Ultra. That's the OG. It kicked off this whole zero sugar energy drink thing. But Ultra is a whole lineup now.
you've got strawberry dreams blue hawaiian sunrise and vice guava and they all bring the monster energy punch so if you've been living in the white can branch out ultra's got a flavor for every vibe and every single one is zero sugar. Tap the banner to learn more.