January 9, 2025 • 45 mins
Jack and Producer Jabari were pleased to be joined by NBA analyst and writer Chris Barnett for today's episode. The trio discussed the continued domination of the Cavs and Thunder before transitioning to the Jimmy trade rumors and where he might land in the event Miami wants to truly move on!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, well, well we are back baby.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Wait, so the league didn't.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Stop playing over the last couple of weeks when we
were off.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Jabari, No, no, no, I'm.
Speaker 4 (00:11):
Pretty sure they did. They were like, hey, you know
what when my.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I just told is told.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Uh, the Calves and Thunder are each still on pace
to break franchise wind totals.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Break seventy wins.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
But yeah, so we're gonna talk about those teams because
it's interesting. They're they're on historic paces and are being
historically disrespected. I'm not practicing my ESPN talking head. Anyways,
we're doing all that with Chris Bartnett on today's episode,
one of our favorite returning champions.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I'm Jack O'Brien. You know, I'm producer in for Miles
and this is my mouse.
Speaker 5 (00:50):
We are boost Dottory, got it.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
I look at hitch okay.
Speaker 6 (01:00):
And be driving Spinny Fatter number.
Speaker 5 (01:05):
Eighteen that's been secured the Celtics or NBA champions over
the couple team right night.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Be honest with the t look shot time put you go.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Yes, Chris Barnett, welcome, Welcome back to the show.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
How are you doing.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
I'm doing good. It's great to be back. I love
listening to mad Boosties. When it drops, I put it
in on my truck when I when I dropped my
son off, It's gonna be a content. So for me
coming here just brings a smile to my face knowing
I'm with two two dope basketball minds at any given time. Sorry, Jabari,
I know Miles isn't here. Just joking. I mean I
(01:49):
was gonna go I was gonna.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Go there, half.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Ter, What does your son think? Just I can't accept
the compliment. Does your son hate the show?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Well?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
You said you listen, you know what.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
My son is a swimmer.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
I try to get I try to get him into basketball.
He watches it, but he's not He's not there yet.
It'll get there? How get there?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Eleven eleven? All right?
Speaker 1 (02:17):
So I got a six year old and an eight
year old. I am already a vortex of basketball disappointment.
You know, my my mom's dad, famous basketball coach. My
dad basketball coach. I was expected to like do something
with basketball beyond have a podcast called Miles and Jack
got mat Boostie's. My kids don't even know basketball exists.
(02:41):
They're like, what are you watching?
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Like?
Speaker 1 (02:43):
They are so quickletely out on basketball. It is just
the degree to which basketball has diminished familiarly among my
family line.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
I mean, they're young.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Maybe I feel like I didn't start loving hoops until
I was like, you know, ten eleven. Then, so there
might be for them. Yeah, there might be hope for
them yet, but it's kind of hard to love basketball
when you're, uh, can't get the ball to the to
the rim, you.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Know, yeah, just too small.
Speaker 6 (03:13):
They also may have been watching you, unfortunately, watch your team,
and that's not you know, I already told you my
teams can be but you know, like that probably doesn't help.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Like, oh, the thing that goes on the TV that
makes dead emotionally volatile. Yeah, let's uh, let's not it's
not encourage that. Yeah, they're they're way smarter than me
and just being like yeah, no, no, no man, let's uh
find something else to watch. Please for us, not for
your benefit. Anyways, Chris, it's great to have you back.
(03:44):
This is a very interesting time in the National Basketball Association.
You cover the NBA at large on Watch Playback TV
and x Spaces. You've covered the Indiana Pacers. We're going
to talk about them a little bit, but I want
to start off talking about the two teams that are
(04:04):
at the top of the league, the Cleveland Calves in
the East, the Oklahoma City Thunder in the west. Okay
See is on pace to win seventy Cleveland's on pace
to win seventy two three.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
This is before they played, so one of them is
going to be off the pace that I just mentioned
because one of them just lost. So I just want
to The Calves championship odds are like if you go
and look at the survey of all the odds to
win the NBA Championship right now, the Calves currently on
pace to have the best winning percentage of all time
or close to it, like right up there with the
(04:39):
ninety six Bulls. Okay See is number one Vegas odds
to win it all, which I was happy to see
that it wasn't the Boston Celtics. The Celtics are right
behind them. The Calves again on pace for best in
the history of the league, and like not just their
winning percentage, like their net rating is top four all time,
like they are historically stacked. They are coming in at
(05:03):
fit in Vegas thoughts. They are so the Thunders number one,
Celtics number two I can maybe accept those, you know,
I can definitely accept the Thunder. I can definitely accept
the Celtics. There's some part of me that's just like,
the Celtics are gonna win this, Like they they're definitely
gonna win this.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
This is just them.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
That is the Jason Vorhees experience of being a Celtics hater.
But then they got the Knicks, which, okay, you can
be like public money in New York's a big city.
They haven't had a team this exciting and good in
a long time.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Then they got the.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Nuggets, who, like I get it because they won recently.
And then the Calves. I don't know, is it just
what are what are you guys thoughts? Because Jabari, I
know you were you were saying that like the Calves
are When you watch the Calves, they are that team.
They remind you of the Celtics last year. But Chris,
(05:58):
just I'd like to hear from you first, like, what
what do you think is going on there that's making
people discount them?
Speaker 3 (06:04):
One of people are biased against Cleveland. Shout out to
the Browns for that too. Odds are really funny and
what happens and a lot of people don't really take
the big picture here. They look at last year and
they project forward, and nobody really were sold on the
(06:26):
combination of both Darius Garland and Mitchell and the combo
of Jared Allen and Evan Mouty. And I remember talking
about the Cavs when I said in my preseason prediction,
the Cavs are going to go as far as Evan
Mobley's leap this year. And I remember when he was drafted,
I said he'd have the chance to be the best
(06:48):
player from his draft class. But it's gonna take until
a second contract four years in then we're gonna start
seeing this, you know, eighteen twenty two points, ten boards,
two reassist, stealing the block right and him being able
to do that and more specifically facilitating the offense out
of the high poster Cleveland took away the problems that
(07:10):
Cleveland had last year when both Donovan Mitchell and Darius
Garland kind of both needed the ball in their hand
and tripled twenty million times as my cat came, ran
it through and knocked over the phone. And with that
it it provided balance, and that is what they were
missing last year offensively, and when you have that, it
also allows you to get back on defense, and their
(07:31):
defense has been superb this year as well, anchored again
by Jared Allen being a double double machine and cleared
out the paint. Evan Mobley's an elite helped defender. And
then at that point, all you're doing is having your
other guys play more simplistic roles and have very simple assignments,
and you live with your offense just being more efficient
(07:54):
than your opponents. So like the four games they lost,
and like an eight eighty winning percentage is crazy after
thirty games, but it's it's insane that they just are
able to plug in whomever they need to when the
player goes down, and Oklahoma City has been able to
do the same thing because in reality, they're built similarly.
(08:16):
The difference is Cleveland had a trade for their star, right.
I mean, thunder did technically too because they traded for
for Sga, but he wasn't a star yet. He was
just a really good prospect.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Yeah, when you have that dominant guard, when you have Mitchell,
when you have Sga, everything can fall into place offensively
as long as you're able to do three things. Let
it turnovers, rebound the ball, play good team defense, and
that's what Cleveland, Oklahoma City has done since tip off
of opening night, and no teams they know what they're
gonna do and they just simply cannot stop them, because
(08:52):
that's what a balanced team is. And I think we
just moved away a lot from balance basketball because we
had the super teams Lebron and you know, the Big
Three Miami. Kevin Durant went to the Warriors like there's
nothing you can do when you just have that top
heavy talent. So you just see now what real true
team basketball is with that dominant lead guard. And to me,
(09:16):
it's beautiful on both sides for both OKAC and Cleveland.
And I wish more people would actually get on their
lea past and I wish the league, Hey, League, I guys,
flex more of these Cavs games like you're doing the
Thunder games. Put them on at seven thirty, put them
on at eight thirty. Let's grow what you have. Like
it's hard to see them more national TV because you
(09:38):
know it's Cleveland and they got to get over that. Yeah,
And I think once they do that, Cleveland will pop
just like Boston did last year in terms of like
overall watchability and popularity, just like okay see did two
years ago, an overall popularity and watchability, So like they're
playing really great. I just think people need to be
led to them, and I just think they're going to
(10:00):
keep mowing down opponents. And the other fear is a
lot of people buying to this idea that they're only
a regular season team, and I find it funny because
every team is only a regular season team until they
get to the playoffs multiple times, and like Donovan just
got there, went to the playoffs, Donovan's there. Now they're
the number one seed in the entire NBA, and I
(10:22):
don't really see that changing through the regular season. The
question is, much like Boston had last year, once we
get to the playoffs, are they're gonna be able to
keep pace? And I don't know. And that's where the
trepidation and the quote disrespect of putting them down at
five when you're going up against Denver, who recently won
(10:42):
one has best player on the planet, going up against
Boston they just won last year, they got a top
three guy, top five guy on the planet, and the Knicks.
And I understand this because I said this as well.
The Knicks are going to be a terror because they
also play very very good team defense, and they can
do what no all their team can do outside of
Cleveland in a healthy ok scene that's dominated the rebound.
(11:05):
So yeah, yeah, Cleveland's built great. So's the okay scene.
I'm pumped for, you know, this game that we're gonna watch.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Yeah, that we already watched because yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
I mean my argument on the like they're not built
for the postseason is like that seems to be so
based on what happened last year, and you know, we
saw them underperform in the playoffs last year. They also
didn't perform that well in the regular season last year,
and this year they seem to be better. So I
don't know, maybe that's worth taking into account sometimes.
Speaker 6 (11:37):
And honestly, you know, Chris hit it on the head,
especially with that comparison to last year's Boston team.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Prior to them winning, that's all we said.
Speaker 6 (11:43):
It was like, you know, they get to the conference finals,
but you know, you get them up out of there,
and until they won it, we didn't believe. And and honestly,
these odds, it feels like that's the case, and so
we don't believe. You need more people, situation but the
reality is, you know, to Chris's point, again, if you games,
you can tell this Cleveland team is different. Sometimes it
(12:03):
really is a confluence of things. Like Evan Mobley has
taken a step. Darius Garland and Donovan look very comfortable together.
They play off one another extremely well. Idiots like myself
used to question whether that would ever be the case,
simply because we hadn't seen it yet.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
But the reality is this.
Speaker 6 (12:18):
They can play you any type of way they want,
Like they got two bigs that are very formidable in
that starting lineup. They can go small against you and
push pace if you want that, if you if you
wanted to play, if you wanted to play in a
half court, they play extremely well there. They're just an
extremely disciplined team. And you know what, credit to coach
Kenny Atkinson because sometimes, and this has taken nothing at
(12:38):
all away from JB.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
Bicker's path, but sometimes.
Speaker 6 (12:41):
A new voice, another voice to build upon what you've
already established, is exactly the right voice and that and
that is what they have in Kenny Atkinson and his
current staff. I think Cleveland is serious. I don't know
well where I would put them. I would they would
not be my fifth, you know team, Like if I
were a betting man, they'd probably be one or two.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
But I do understand.
Speaker 6 (13:02):
I do understand other people's repidation, specifically because you know,
we did see them underperform in the postseason most recently.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Yeah, I will say, like I still, like I said,
you know, the Celtics are scarier to me, that as
just like you know, somebody who doesn't want to see
the Celtics when like I don't know, like, are the
Celtics worse than last year? Is it just the poor
zingis injury? Is it simply poor kue Porzingis is it
the zingosity of it all? Or why are we seeing
(13:29):
them take a step back just that much better?
Speaker 3 (13:33):
My personal belief is that Juwe Holliday having a lesser
role on offense to accommodate the what burgeoning superstardom was
Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum, as well as the emergence
of Peyton Pritchard, because they like, you only get about
eighty eight shots per game, right, and he's got a
sacrifice it. But when he's out there, it's hard to
(13:55):
just play defense for thirty four minutes to night and
it gets just joined They did a really good job
developing Luke Hornett into a good backup. They got out Horford,
another good heavy veteran who's also a good backup. But
they really hit a home run with Quaitnas like like
he was able to step in and carry some of
that load. But also the other thing that's happened is
(14:18):
they've lost rebounding their team. Rebounding has kind of like
fallen apart. You got Tatum near ten boards a game
to try to make up for it, and I think
that's really gonna be their achilles heal, because I think
that is the way you beat them, And that's also
why New York is as high as they are, because
you know, if you get even if Mitch is off
the bench, you're gonna get three bigs who're gonna snag
(14:40):
twenty five thirty boards just from New York. And then
you got Josh Hart crashing everything from the from the
weak side, so like you got real, real heavy presence,
and that's Boston's kryptonite because if KP goes down, there
goes your whole ability to hold your offense and the
half court.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
That was the most uncomfortable I was as a Sixers
fan last year was in the series against the Knicks
when Josh Hart would go after an offensive board, just
like being unable to stop that every single time. I
was like, I've never had that, Like I've had the
experience of, you know, the team that I root for
not being able to stop somebody on offense from scoring.
(15:19):
But I've never had the experience whereas like we can't
get a rebound, like we're defending fine, they're missing their
shots and we just can't get a rebound and he
can get a rebound at will, like an.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Offensive board at will. Was very frustrating.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Unfortunately, we are not going to be talking about the
seventy six ers right now because my catchphrase, don't look
now for the seventy six ers season every time they
win a game, I text that to Jabbari, don't look now.
But the the Philadelphia seventy six Ers are pretty mediocre
(15:59):
at this point, but they don't look now. Of this
week's episode, the Pacers are looking pretty okay, Haliburton starting
to put it together again. Well, how how are you
feeling about the Pacers and Haliburton and this season so far?
You want to kick us off, or Chris, you want
to kick us off.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
No quick, Chris, I got you, you know, being here,
I get to I get to see the team. What
I would say is that I think Pascal Siakam is
finally felt comfortable uh huh, okay when they when they
made the move, they made the move because he was
the best available player I think that they could trade for.
That doesn't necessarily mean it was a really good fit immediately.
(16:40):
And then Rick Carlisle in the off season spent some
time trying to carve out a role specifically for Pascal Siakam,
so it was a little bit heavier on him to
open the season. And then Tyrese Haliburton was honest, he
started back. He just he just he got out the
gate and it was horrible. He was in his own head.
He couldn't really you know, like Steph attributed this to
(17:03):
like performance anxiety. He was just questioning everything he was doing.
And then now he's at a point where I think
he's comfortable and he feels that if he doesn't make
the shot, Benedict Mather is gonna make the shot. If
he doesn't make the shot, Johnny Firfy's gonna make the shot.
If he doesn't make the shot, then Shepherd's gonna make
the shot, and him now starting to reacquire that trust,
(17:26):
is moving the ball more, and now he's also able
to get his shot off because the team's defense. The
opposing defense is now just taking that half a step
back because now they got to account for the swing
and the reverse. So like it's one of those things
that I think is lost on a lot of people.
This was a Rick Carlyle. Hey, we're gonna do two
(17:46):
months of this and we we're gonna figure out who
we are by Christmas, and then by Christmas, we're gonna
double down on what we think we are. And I
think they found it. They are a wing team with
Pascal Siakam also being able to drive and kick, and
I think it's really entertaining basketball, especially when Miles Turner
is hot, and he stepped up to the last couple
(18:08):
of weeks.
Speaker 6 (18:09):
So I'm gonna be I'm gonna about to be guilty
of exactly what I just described in the previous conversation
and say, Okay, so all of this regular season stuff
is cute.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
I appreciate it that you're no, You're one hundred percent right.
Speaker 6 (18:20):
They are fun to watch, especially when they get it going,
especially when Myles Turner is you know, it's hitting from
your hitting from the top, and you know, spreading, its
spacing the court for everybody, especially when Halliburton as he
currently looks, you know, looks comfortable within his role. But
we've seen teams like the Celtics, and we talked about
you know, we just talked about the Nicks, even the Bucks.
We've seen them play at their top levels. You feel
as confident in these pacers in a series when it
(18:43):
you know, when it comes down to it against the
likes of those teams.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Uh no, that's fair enough, right back.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
They are they are the they are like the Hawks.
They are quintessential matchups. Like if they hit Milwaukee, they
can beat Milwaukee, right, But if they hit New York,
it's it's game over because New York is just gonna
out rebound him and play defense and say, okay, Halliburton,
here's thirty shots, you go beat us. So yeah, I
(19:17):
wouldn't feel comfortable if they're taking the top tier teams
on in a first round, Like it's just it's not
going to work out.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
All right, Let's take a quick break. We'll be right.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
And we're back, and let's take a look around the league,
so big a half court shot from ice tray. So
I'm sure a lot of people saw the highlight, consects
and ties it up with two point nine seconds and
then Trey Young hits the buzzer beater from beyond half court,
no timeouts, no timeouts, feels like when he took it. Well,
(20:01):
first of all, I wasn't surprised that it went in
because I was watching it as a highlight. I was like,
I bet this goes in because I wouldn't be watching
it otherwise. But I do feel like the number of
path to full court buzzer beaters has to have gone
like way up, whether it be the like game winners
or just like buzzer beaters and like an end of quarter.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Which used to be like a very rare thing.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
And now we know this is a shot that like
people are practicing and hitting regularly in practice, like they
you know, they say Peyton Prisher is like, you know,
shoots sixty percent from the three quarter court in practice
is just like impossible, Like I'm terrified at anytime the
clock is winding down and he's got it in the
back court. Do we feel like teams should start thinking
(20:48):
about changing the way they defend it. Like right now,
we're still in an era of you know, doing the
hoops equivalent of prevent defense, where you're just like stand
three feet away whatever you do don't foul, which obviously
you don't want a foul. But what when you have
people like Trey Young and like Peyton Pritcher and Stephen
(21:08):
Dame who can just pull up from that range, Like,
I don't know, what if it feels like we need
to start taking this shot a little bit more seriously.
Speaker 6 (21:17):
To me, it just feels like shot making has continued
to progress and continue to improve. I think I think
the fact that I mean, don't get me wrong, we've
always been you know, we've always practiced you know, half
court shots or like the the you know, like the
the full court you know, toss in, but not with
any you know, like seriousness. It used to be that,
yay man, when Steph is on a heater, you got
to pick him up full court. It doesn't matter pick
(21:38):
him up because he's going to hit it. That was
ten years ago. Now, Like you just mentioned, no disrespect
to Peyton Pritcher. In fact, respected Payton, but Peyton Pritcher
can do that all these guys, all these guys you
get you know, you have to be concerned with them. Uh,
you know if they especially around the half you know,
the half court. And then I feel like everybody in
the NBA now can hit the logo three. So if
(21:58):
you can hit the logo three, you you are you know,
you are a danger even at half court.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
Yeah, it's a physics thing. It's a physics team type
with muscle memory. And when you have the lead athletes
and this disposed for the w NBA as well, when
you have the lead athletes who understand or who can
be taught, the principality is a basic physics and muscle memory,
and you practice it. I mean, lethal shooter is hitting
these shots because that's what lethal shooter does. And not
(22:25):
only are they doing this a team practice, they're doing
this at their individual you know, skills session, like they
they they'll warm up jacking up you know, one hundred
shots before they even get into their skills work with
their trainers, and thirty or forty of those are oftentimes
thirty footers, forty flooters and fifty footers and they're making
them in practice. So like, this is something that I've
(22:47):
always hard thought I always thought you should go into
like a one two one one trap zone if you
are less than three seconds then because that way you
at least get the ball out the hand of the
main guy who's going to get the ball and forced
them to make an extra pass. So that I've always
been a component of that. There are a couple of
other college coaches who do it, but you don't see
it in the NBA. They don't practice it in the NBA.
(23:11):
They don't So it's one of those things. Do they
pick them up full court then you run the risk
of increasing the foul calls. Or do you put like
a line at the at the half court line? Do
you put you know, Luke Cornett? And if you got
to time out and you put them, you know at
the at the logo and say, hey, as soon as
you see the ball go up to his shoulders, guy
just run up and jump half court Cornet.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Uh, what a challenge the half court Cornett.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Yeah, he just jumped straight up. You know, try to
take the rim out of the view and try to
mess it up. But these guys are some of the
best athletes in the in the world, on the planet,
so like it shouldn't it shouldn't be shocking to anybody
that this has happened.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
That's why I learned how to hit three quarter court
shots with my eyes closed so that I'm impossible to defend.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
We do want.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
I wish a happy birthday to Victor Wembingama, who birthday
probably already too old.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
You know, it's twenty one.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
Over the hill man lost given another year.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
But just a quick rundown like I.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
You know, every time he put up one of these games,
I saw it, but I haven't seen it all listed
in one place. So Jabari, thank you for putting this together.
So one game this season he put up fifty points,
hitting eight threes on sixty two percent field goal shooting.
Another game forty two points, eighteen boards, six threes, four blocks,
(24:35):
thirty four points, fourteen boards, eleven assists, five threes, thirty points,
ten blocks.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
To another game esus that is.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Twenty four points, thirteen boards, nine blocks. Another damn near
triple double twenty five points, nine boards, seven assists, five steals,
five blocks, four to threes.
Speaker 6 (24:55):
That that one fuck people are complaying and people are
still going pla about the way he plays.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
And I get it if you're a traditionalist, but come on,
that's just fun.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
I know a few traditionalists and we talk offline, and
I kept trying to tell him like, look, I'll give
you one name, like we'll chamber Wind. Okay, right, Yeah,
I'm not saying he's the next Will. I'm saying he's
this generation's Will. He's seven to four. He's physically impossible.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
To gain plan form.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
This guy, when he actually hits his veteran game, could
walk in give you thirty fifteen, five or six assists,
a steal and a half and five blocks per game
on an average, shooting forty nine percent from the floor,
eighty three percent from the line, hitting four or five
threes a game, And at that point, it's just not
(25:46):
fair anymore. Yeah, He's just simply it's not fair. And
I think I think we all, we all just need
to enjoy it because there's a lot of people that
are traditionalists. Are all are they know they looked at
the path, This dude would would would drop fifty on
Patrick Ewing. You just have to understand that and accept it. Right,
Maybe Haki Elaijawan, you know, locks him up in the post,
(26:10):
but he'll take him out on a three point line
and pump fake them and then dunk him two steps
and then like, that's how good he is. And that's
why everybody who was an international scouter talk to him
for five years when he was thirteen, was like, yo,
this kid is somebody to start watching for the league.
And a lot of people didn't believe it. But now
(26:32):
that he's over here and you see it's much. He's
must watch TV. You you have to just see it
in person too, because the TV doesn't do it justice,
it really doesn't. You gotta go see him live. Guys.
I don't care who your favorite team is, but if
San Antonio is rolling into town, you know, pony up
the Ducats and get your butt in his seat, because
it is. It is breathtaking, it's mesmerizing. It's like watching
(26:54):
Lebron James all over again, but someone who's seven foot
four and doing things that even Lebron can't do. So yeah,
I'm all for it. Into the traditionalist man, I'm sorry,
but he's gonna break records.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Yep, I'm sorry to the traditionalists. As always, I'm always
so sorry to them.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Yeah, it's like that drone display of the extremely tall
guy in Dubai, you know, like that that's what it
feels like watching him, but I still I still haven't
seen it in person, So I need to do that.
I need to get my buttons in the seat and
seeing him. Oh, actually we saw him in person for
his very first that's right, for his very first summer
league game, which he My main takeaway was he's really tall,
(27:36):
but also just watching how he moves, like just on defense,
how he affected every shot that went up in the
half court like was I was like, oh, this is
I don't think I've ever seen that before. Like he
is in people's head every single time. Granted those were
(27:56):
you know, summer league players, but it was it was
pretty well.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
He had folks making business decisions with the ball.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Every decision that you make when he's on the defensive
side is a business decision. Yeah, all right, let's take
one more quick break and we'll come back. We'll hit
a couple more stories and we will.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Do the rapid fire round a question.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
We'll be right back.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
And we're back and all right.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Before break, you were saying that the Spurs team would
be a perfect landing spot for Jimmy. Jimmy wants out,
as we as had been rumored, and the heat were like.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
That guy's a liar.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
He doesn't want out. He actually things are going extremely well.
And then he was like, okay, I want out, and
so they suspended him. And now they're admitting that, okay,
maybe he does one out. So people are wondering what's
the best landing spot for him. I also have the
Spurs on my list, but I do for somebody who
(29:05):
has such little patience for young players who aren't like
ready right now, who don't like have his level of
motivation cut throat uh focus on winning, like Jimmy Butler
can be a volatile presence like is that too much
(29:25):
of a win now move? Is it too are you,
you know, throwing a firecracker into the locker room bye
by putting Jimmy Butler in there?
Speaker 3 (29:37):
But I would I would say no, Chris Paul's in
that locker room. The reason well, yeah, that's that's the
two that's a two way answer then, because.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Now they already have a firecracker going off in that locker.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
But but also Chris Paul and Jimmy Butler want the
same thing. They want to win. And when you get
close to your mortality in any professional sport and you
are a great player, and you haven't won. It starts
to eat at you, and then you start being willing
to do anything and everything, including things you wouldn't think
(30:17):
you used to you wouldn't do to win. Like Chris
Paul going to San Antonio was one to get to
the middle, but two to win. Because my guess is
he sees the vision, he'll sign a one in one
that's at a lower rate. But like, let's just work
this out. It's not like it would be bad. You
(30:37):
probably move off of Kelden Johnson and Harrison Barnes, but
Jimmy's an upgrade over either of them. You might have
to add in a young player like Jeremy Sohan, but
like right now, Jimmy's still an upgrade over him, and
he plays the same role as Jimmy and San Antonio's offense,
you have the young players that you don't even play
because you already have other good young players that you
(31:00):
could then add to the deal or even bring in
a third team. You have the cap flexibility because you
already were losing your best players on a rookie deal,
your second best players on a rookie deal. Your third
best player was basically an undrafted free agent in Champagnee
and like it could work, they would still need to
(31:21):
bring on another shooter. But like, if you put him
in Texas where he's from, right, and you get him
out of where he doesn't want to be, that alone
will give him the avenue to be less hostile Jimmy,
to be more I'm the team Jimmy, because he understands.
(31:42):
He thinks he can still do it, and he might
still be able to do it sometimes, but deep down
he knows that he's close to the end of his career.
You'd have him next to Devin Vessel, You'd have him
next to Victor Windanyana, you'd have him next to Stefan
Castle CP three. That's just it's a cheat code. Not
(32:04):
only that at practice they're gonna adopt his mentality at practice.
They're already adopting CP three's mentality at practice. To me,
if I'm the Spurs, yeah, it's a no lose. It's
a no lose. If he opts in. You got him
for one more year and he's in expiring, you could
trade him again in the off season, or you could
trade him at the deadline if he opts out. Guess what,
(32:26):
it's not like you were gonna bring back Harrison Barnes
like you already had shot Calton Johnson, and these young
guys that you have that aren't getting any minutes, guess what,
they're not gonna get minutes because you still got the
young guys in front of them. So to me, it
makes sense. The part that I always wondered though, was
with Pop going out, would the coaching staff be able
(32:47):
to accommodate him? And that's the only hold up that
I have.
Speaker 6 (32:50):
I gotta be honest with you, You've actually made a
convincing argument, and I'm a lot more on the on
the side of that thought than I would have been
because my initial thought was no, Like the last point
you made is probably why I'm a little bit more
skeptical because, like, specifically, you make that Jimmy move if
that's gonna make you a title contender, and I'm not
saying that a happy Jimmy alongside Wimby and you know,
(33:14):
even a relatively healthy CP three isn't a team that
can do some damage, because it is. But I don't
think you make that move because that's not a title team,
and the risk versus reward, you know, then you start,
you know, then you do. You look at it like, okay,
so we took the risk. We had to give out
assets on top of it. We can't recoup those if
he doesn't work out there, you know. I I for me,
(33:36):
I look at it as like if I'm RC Buford.
I look at it like if this were one year
from now and we had a couple more pieces in line,
I would consider this a lot more.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
Now.
Speaker 6 (33:46):
I can be wrong, and maybe, you know, maybe they
do pull that deal, you know, maybe they do bring
him back to at least this home area. I think
he's like from from a Dallas originally, or like that
area originally. If I'm not mistaken, you maybe that may
that would be good. But for me, it feels like
more of a desperation. Do you And what I mean
by that is teams that are desperate, like the Suns,
(34:08):
or like the Warriors, or like teams that are we
need to win now, we need to win right now.
Speaker 4 (34:15):
I think those are more likely to.
Speaker 6 (34:16):
Be the teams to make it, you know, to consider
a move for Jimmy at this stage, I want to
correct myself. He's from Houston, but you're always actually from
jet raandls from Dallas. Sorry, Jami's Rings from Now You're right, the.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
One that gets mentioned a lot of Memphis.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
That one makes I think it makes sense to people
is like, all right, they need a veteran presence to
like get job, you know, in line, make sure that
the madness doesn't keep happening with jaw and historically, like
the Jimmy Butler, Jimmy Butler's historic rind set persona fits
(34:51):
with the historic Memphis persona.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
But I don't know, I think.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
You've convinced me that san Antonio might be the most
interesting from a narrative perspective and might be the right
thing for san Antonio to do, Like, you know, he's
I just feel like with CP three, like people are
always like, you know, like they don't always love him,
but they're I feel like people are always like I
learned a lot from playing with him, you know, or
(35:18):
as Jimmy.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
A lot of times the teams are just like, yeah,
that was that was something that was an experience. So
that's the one thing that I don't know.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
I'm just reserving judgment on which of those will be
the right spot I would take him in Philadelphia.
Speaker 4 (35:38):
You know, you know, I was gonna say if they
if they offered I got for you. If they offered
him and they said, you know what, give us, give
us PG, that's fine.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
I mean yours. Yeah, but here's the one for you.
But here's the one for you.
Speaker 6 (35:52):
What about what about throwing back, throwing him back to Minnesota,
throwing them back in Minnesota? I don't know, along along
side Edwards as opposed to alongside cat.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
That's the dog needs another dog? Common I forgot who
you know what that is? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (36:09):
No, on the feeling A would not be happy about that.
I feel like Jimmy would not be happy about that. Well,
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
You you you you would have to figure out where
Randall's going because nobody's gonna take go back. That's and
then if you move go bet because of the salary,
then you're with Randall, Jimmy and and and and that
would be musty TV. But not for the reasons you.
Speaker 6 (36:36):
Think as much as I make as much as I
make light of Gobert, No, you can't move. You can't
come off go Barry like you move those with nineteen
firsts and Heaven and Earth for him. Plus that would
just make you too small, because you know, I would
not trust Randal and you know na As Reed is
our primary bigs in any series.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
Yeah, all right, last story before we get to the
rabbit Fire. Out of questioning, I do so aunt score
fifty three and a loss to the Pistons. Our Boosty's
hit seventy or bust curse continues at pace. No player
who scored sixty in the calendar year twenty twenty four
won a game. If you scored seventy, you won. And
(37:18):
now that the handscheck rules in place, sixty has become
less common. So fifty is the new sixty. And that's
also not enough. You gotta do more for us. But
I just wanted to so Jabari you were pointing out,
you know, the Timberwolves still hovering in the eight to
ten seed category. The cat trade is looking more and
(37:39):
more like. He is currently sixth in the odds for
MVP race. He's currently ahead of Jalen Brunt in the
odds for the MVP voting, like sixth in MVP voting level.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
Good season.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
He's having fourteen boards a game, fifty five field goal
pers said forty four from three.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
Like I knew he was having good a good season.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
I did not realize he was having like he's the
new best player on the Knicks and he's one of
the best players in the league level good season.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
That is shocking.
Speaker 6 (38:18):
It's like when your ex glows up. When your ex
clows up and all of a sudden, it's like, Yo.
Speaker 3 (38:23):
Where, what where did that come from? What are we
doing here?
Speaker 4 (38:29):
That's what that feels like.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
So so the biggest knock on Cat the entirety of
Minnesota was he's a little bit soft and he didn't
play defense. Gobert gets there and then all of a sudden,
Cap becomes an elite defender, go look at the stats.
Becomes a elite defender, and then he gets to New
York and people are like, oh, well, he's gonna get
to New York and like, he's just going to go
back to the way that he was, and he didn't.
(38:51):
He got better. Because the team is actually a better team,
doesn't mean they have the best player. Uh, you know,
I think would be almost all of them one on one.
I don't think he beats cats. Cats just too big.
But he's still averaging a steal in a block essentially
per game. He's still actually playing helpside defense. He's rotating
out to the perimeter like he's doing what Anthony Davis
(39:15):
was known to do. He just doesn't have the two
and a half blocks per game, but he is fit
in to exactly what the Knicks needed, which was a
dominant rebounder who didn't want to dribble the ball five
or six times out on the perimeter and take a
bad three for it. And like I mean, I think
we all know like who I'm talking about. But when
you have synergy, which is what the Knicks we're targeting,
(39:40):
this is what happens. Great players become that much better.
And it's been a wonderful season to watch for him
and for the Knicks. I honestly just you know, want
them to lose because also as a Sixers fan, like
Boston's number one in in me, but New York ain't
too far right there.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
I don't, I don't care, like I just I only
have room in my tiny cold heart for one enemy,
and that's the Celtics. Uh all right, it is that time.
It is the rapid fire round of questioning. Uh, we're
gonna we're gonna throw a couple questions at you, no
time to think, just bing bang boom, I'm back. Uh
and Jabari you want to you want to kick us off, I.
Speaker 4 (40:24):
Will, I will.
Speaker 6 (40:24):
As a matter of fact, I'm gonna actually have you
picked the game of the week for us, because that
is something that we've been doing and we want to
keep that keep that tradition. So you these are your options.
Friday night you got Bucks at Magic. You also have
Thunder at Nicks. Saturday night you got Wimby coming to
La to play the Lakers. Monday next Monday, you got
(40:45):
Bucks at Knicks or Pacers at Calvs.
Speaker 3 (40:49):
What's your game of the week. I'm gonna go with
the Knicks and Thunder. I'm gonna go with the Knicks
and Thunder and tell you why in ten seconds. It's
a contrast of styles. Styles make fights. And I want
to see this site, Okay, I just I want to
see it, and I wish Chet was healthy, but I
gotta see iHeart against Kat. I gotta see s g
(41:10):
a versus the combination of the cow Bridges and og
and a nubi, you know, taking terms trying to lock
them up. I gotta see Lou Dort put Jalen Brunson
in the Dorture chamber, and I gotta see if the
real j Dove is gonna show up because I think
Jay dub you know, Williams is you know, the the
(41:31):
glynchpin to whether. Okay, so he's going to be successful,
and I don't think he's getting enough shine or love
for Most Improved Player this year. I don't think he
would win it, but I think he really should be
in the conversation about it. So yeah, I would pick
Nixon Thunder Friday night without a question.
Speaker 4 (41:46):
By the way, just quickly, Chet is on.
Speaker 6 (41:49):
He's traveling with the team on this trip, so there's
no there's no updated return, but it seems like he's
going to be back in the mix pretty soon.
Speaker 3 (41:56):
All right.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
Last question, Every team gets to redesign them a logo
that they wear on their jersey rather than the standard
Jerry West dribbling one that we all know and love.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Who would be the Pacers logo? Who would be the
seventy six ers logo? And what are they doing in
the logo?
Speaker 3 (42:16):
Reggie Miller? No, No, it's actually it's actually his fade
away three that he would do when he's on the wing,
that that would be. That would be the Pacers logo
and then the Sixers. So so I had I got
an argument, and Jack, I think I want to know
(42:36):
what your idea is, because there are there are different
eras and levels of Sixers. Right to me, it is Julius.
To me, it is Julius without without question, and then
to everybody else it's Alan Iverson. And I would also
(42:59):
give you an additional what I think would be a
not so thought of tape, but ree cheeks cheeks, Okay,
I like it as a player and as a coach.
As the history and I could see him, you know,
with his arms crossed, looking out on the gaze of
(43:19):
hate towards the Boston Celtics, and I could see that
being on the logo for the seventy six.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
Is all right. So I'm going to give an even.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
Less thought of take, which would be Ben Simmons under
the basket against the Hawks, passing the ball off when
he could have dunked it. And that that is, you know,
that encapsulates the the process. Still, you know, Sixers fans
are all different. Some of us are just in it
(43:51):
for the misery.
Speaker 3 (43:51):
You don't want the ceo ratless rare? You know double block?
Speaker 1 (43:58):
Well, Chris, what a pleasure having you on? Miles and
Jack got Matt boost e's Where can people find you?
Follow you all that good stuff?
Speaker 3 (44:07):
Yeah, you can. It's the name hoopspaces. It's real simple.
H O O P S P A c E S.
You can find me on x formerly known as Twitter.
You can find me on playback TV. You can also
find me on Blue Sky. Just got done working for Amazon.
I'll probably be picking up another gig hopefully soon. But
if you find me there, you'll be able to talk
to me Monday through Friday at ten am every day
(44:30):
and I break down every single game. Sometimes we get
players to pop in, sometimes we get coaches or trainers.
So yeah, come through and we'd love to talk to you.
Speaker 1 (44:39):
Amazing.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
All right, you can make sure you give us a follow.
Speaker 1 (44:42):
I'm on Twitter at Jack Underscore O'Brien and on Blue
Sky at jack ob One. Miles is at Miles of
Gray on both Jabari where are you at?
Speaker 6 (44:53):
Jabari Davis NBA on Twitter we still call it debt
his his mama call it debt.
Speaker 4 (44:57):
And on Blues Guy Jabari Davis NBA.
Speaker 1 (44:59):
Yeah, and you can find us that hashtag mat boosties
for show links and updates, and be sure to join
the conversation on our discord, which You can also find
the link for when you search hashtag mat Boosties. That's
going to do it for us this week. Sending out
a lot of love to my fellow Angelino's who've been
displaced by the fires, Hoping everybody stays safe and staying
(45:22):
up there, and we'll be back next week with another
episode of Miles and Jack on Mad Boosties.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
Bye.
Well, well, well we are back baby.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Wait, so the league didn't.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Stop playing over the last couple of weeks when we
were off.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Jabari, No, no, no, I'm.
Speaker 4 (00:11):
Pretty sure they did. They were like, hey, you know
what when my.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I just told is told.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Uh, the Calves and Thunder are each still on pace
to break franchise wind totals.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Break seventy wins.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
But yeah, so we're gonna talk about those teams because
it's interesting. They're they're on historic paces and are being
historically disrespected. I'm not practicing my ESPN talking head. Anyways,
we're doing all that with Chris Bartnett on today's episode,
one of our favorite returning champions.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I'm Jack O'Brien. You know, I'm producer in for Miles
and this is my mouse.
Speaker 5 (00:50):
We are boost Dottory, got it.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
I look at hitch okay.
Speaker 6 (01:00):
And be driving Spinny Fatter number.
Speaker 5 (01:05):
Eighteen that's been secured the Celtics or NBA champions over
the couple team right night.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Be honest with the t look shot time put you go.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Yes, Chris Barnett, welcome, Welcome back to the show.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
How are you doing.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
I'm doing good. It's great to be back. I love
listening to mad Boosties. When it drops, I put it
in on my truck when I when I dropped my
son off, It's gonna be a content. So for me
coming here just brings a smile to my face knowing
I'm with two two dope basketball minds at any given time. Sorry, Jabari,
I know Miles isn't here. Just joking. I mean I
(01:49):
was gonna go I was gonna.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Go there, half.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Ter, What does your son think? Just I can't accept
the compliment. Does your son hate the show?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Well?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
You said you listen, you know what.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
My son is a swimmer.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
I try to get I try to get him into basketball.
He watches it, but he's not He's not there yet.
It'll get there? How get there?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Eleven eleven? All right?
Speaker 1 (02:17):
So I got a six year old and an eight
year old. I am already a vortex of basketball disappointment.
You know, my my mom's dad, famous basketball coach. My
dad basketball coach. I was expected to like do something
with basketball beyond have a podcast called Miles and Jack
got mat Boostie's. My kids don't even know basketball exists.
(02:41):
They're like, what are you watching?
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Like?
Speaker 1 (02:43):
They are so quickletely out on basketball. It is just
the degree to which basketball has diminished familiarly among my
family line.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
I mean, they're young.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Maybe I feel like I didn't start loving hoops until
I was like, you know, ten eleven. Then, so there
might be for them. Yeah, there might be hope for
them yet, but it's kind of hard to love basketball
when you're, uh, can't get the ball to the to
the rim, you.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Know, yeah, just too small.
Speaker 6 (03:13):
They also may have been watching you, unfortunately, watch your team,
and that's not you know, I already told you my
teams can be but you know, like that probably doesn't help.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Like, oh, the thing that goes on the TV that
makes dead emotionally volatile. Yeah, let's uh, let's not it's
not encourage that. Yeah, they're they're way smarter than me
and just being like yeah, no, no, no man, let's uh
find something else to watch. Please for us, not for
your benefit. Anyways, Chris, it's great to have you back.
(03:44):
This is a very interesting time in the National Basketball Association.
You cover the NBA at large on Watch Playback TV
and x Spaces. You've covered the Indiana Pacers. We're going
to talk about them a little bit, but I want
to start off talking about the two teams that are
(04:04):
at the top of the league, the Cleveland Calves in
the East, the Oklahoma City Thunder in the west. Okay
See is on pace to win seventy Cleveland's on pace
to win seventy two three.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
It's crazy.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
This is before they played, so one of them is
going to be off the pace that I just mentioned
because one of them just lost. So I just want
to The Calves championship odds are like if you go
and look at the survey of all the odds to
win the NBA Championship right now, the Calves currently on
pace to have the best winning percentage of all time
or close to it, like right up there with the
(04:39):
ninety six Bulls. Okay See is number one Vegas odds
to win it all, which I was happy to see
that it wasn't the Boston Celtics. The Celtics are right
behind them. The Calves again on pace for best in
the history of the league, and like not just their
winning percentage, like their net rating is top four all time,
like they are historically stacked. They are coming in at
(05:03):
fit in Vegas thoughts. They are so the Thunders number one,
Celtics number two I can maybe accept those, you know,
I can definitely accept the Thunder. I can definitely accept
the Celtics. There's some part of me that's just like,
the Celtics are gonna win this, Like they they're definitely
gonna win this.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
This is just them.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
That is the Jason Vorhees experience of being a Celtics hater.
But then they got the Knicks, which, okay, you can
be like public money in New York's a big city.
They haven't had a team this exciting and good in
a long time.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Then they got the.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Nuggets, who, like I get it because they won recently.
And then the Calves. I don't know, is it just
what are what are you guys thoughts? Because Jabari, I
know you were you were saying that like the Calves
are When you watch the Calves, they are that team.
They remind you of the Celtics last year. But Chris,
(05:58):
just I'd like to hear from you first, like, what
what do you think is going on there that's making
people discount them?
Speaker 3 (06:04):
One of people are biased against Cleveland. Shout out to
the Browns for that too. Odds are really funny and
what happens and a lot of people don't really take
the big picture here. They look at last year and
they project forward, and nobody really were sold on the
(06:26):
combination of both Darius Garland and Mitchell and the combo
of Jared Allen and Evan Mouty. And I remember talking
about the Cavs when I said in my preseason prediction,
the Cavs are going to go as far as Evan
Mobley's leap this year. And I remember when he was drafted,
I said he'd have the chance to be the best
(06:48):
player from his draft class. But it's gonna take until
a second contract four years in then we're gonna start
seeing this, you know, eighteen twenty two points, ten boards,
two reassist, stealing the block right and him being able
to do that and more specifically facilitating the offense out
of the high poster Cleveland took away the problems that
(07:10):
Cleveland had last year when both Donovan Mitchell and Darius
Garland kind of both needed the ball in their hand
and tripled twenty million times as my cat came, ran
it through and knocked over the phone. And with that
it it provided balance, and that is what they were
missing last year offensively, and when you have that, it
also allows you to get back on defense, and their
(07:31):
defense has been superb this year as well, anchored again
by Jared Allen being a double double machine and cleared
out the paint. Evan Mobley's an elite helped defender. And
then at that point, all you're doing is having your
other guys play more simplistic roles and have very simple assignments,
and you live with your offense just being more efficient
(07:54):
than your opponents. So like the four games they lost,
and like an eight eighty winning percentage is crazy after
thirty games, but it's it's insane that they just are
able to plug in whomever they need to when the
player goes down, and Oklahoma City has been able to
do the same thing because in reality, they're built similarly.
(08:16):
The difference is Cleveland had a trade for their star, right.
I mean, thunder did technically too because they traded for
for Sga, but he wasn't a star yet. He was
just a really good prospect.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Yeah, when you have that dominant guard, when you have Mitchell,
when you have Sga, everything can fall into place offensively
as long as you're able to do three things. Let
it turnovers, rebound the ball, play good team defense, and
that's what Cleveland, Oklahoma City has done since tip off
of opening night, and no teams they know what they're
gonna do and they just simply cannot stop them, because
(08:52):
that's what a balanced team is. And I think we
just moved away a lot from balance basketball because we
had the super teams Lebron and you know, the Big
Three Miami. Kevin Durant went to the Warriors like there's
nothing you can do when you just have that top
heavy talent. So you just see now what real true
team basketball is with that dominant lead guard. And to me,
(09:16):
it's beautiful on both sides for both OKAC and Cleveland.
And I wish more people would actually get on their
lea past and I wish the league, Hey, League, I guys,
flex more of these Cavs games like you're doing the
Thunder games. Put them on at seven thirty, put them
on at eight thirty. Let's grow what you have. Like
it's hard to see them more national TV because you
(09:38):
know it's Cleveland and they got to get over that. Yeah,
And I think once they do that, Cleveland will pop
just like Boston did last year in terms of like
overall watchability and popularity, just like okay see did two
years ago, an overall popularity and watchability, So like they're
playing really great. I just think people need to be
led to them, and I just think they're going to
(10:00):
keep mowing down opponents. And the other fear is a
lot of people buying to this idea that they're only
a regular season team, and I find it funny because
every team is only a regular season team until they
get to the playoffs multiple times, and like Donovan just
got there, went to the playoffs, Donovan's there. Now they're
the number one seed in the entire NBA, and I
(10:22):
don't really see that changing through the regular season. The
question is, much like Boston had last year, once we
get to the playoffs, are they're gonna be able to
keep pace? And I don't know. And that's where the
trepidation and the quote disrespect of putting them down at
five when you're going up against Denver, who recently won
(10:42):
one has best player on the planet, going up against
Boston they just won last year, they got a top
three guy, top five guy on the planet, and the Knicks.
And I understand this because I said this as well.
The Knicks are going to be a terror because they
also play very very good team defense, and they can
do what no all their team can do outside of
Cleveland in a healthy ok scene that's dominated the rebound.
(11:05):
So yeah, yeah, Cleveland's built great. So's the okay scene.
I'm pumped for, you know, this game that we're gonna watch.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Yeah, that we already watched because yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
I mean my argument on the like they're not built
for the postseason is like that seems to be so
based on what happened last year, and you know, we
saw them underperform in the playoffs last year. They also
didn't perform that well in the regular season last year,
and this year they seem to be better. So I
don't know, maybe that's worth taking into account sometimes.
Speaker 6 (11:37):
And honestly, you know, Chris hit it on the head,
especially with that comparison to last year's Boston team.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Prior to them winning, that's all we said.
Speaker 6 (11:43):
It was like, you know, they get to the conference finals,
but you know, you get them up out of there,
and until they won it, we didn't believe. And and honestly,
these odds, it feels like that's the case, and so
we don't believe. You need more people, situation but the
reality is, you know, to Chris's point, again, if you games,
you can tell this Cleveland team is different. Sometimes it
(12:03):
really is a confluence of things. Like Evan Mobley has
taken a step. Darius Garland and Donovan look very comfortable together.
They play off one another extremely well. Idiots like myself
used to question whether that would ever be the case,
simply because we hadn't seen it yet.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
But the reality is this.
Speaker 6 (12:18):
They can play you any type of way they want,
Like they got two bigs that are very formidable in
that starting lineup. They can go small against you and
push pace if you want that, if you if you
wanted to play, if you wanted to play in a
half court, they play extremely well there. They're just an
extremely disciplined team. And you know what, credit to coach
Kenny Atkinson because sometimes, and this has taken nothing at
(12:38):
all away from JB.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
Bicker's path, but sometimes.
Speaker 6 (12:41):
A new voice, another voice to build upon what you've
already established, is exactly the right voice and that and
that is what they have in Kenny Atkinson and his
current staff. I think Cleveland is serious. I don't know
well where I would put them. I would they would
not be my fifth, you know team, Like if I
were a betting man, they'd probably be one or two.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
But I do understand.
Speaker 6 (13:02):
I do understand other people's repidation, specifically because you know,
we did see them underperform in the postseason most recently.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Yeah, I will say, like I still, like I said,
you know, the Celtics are scarier to me, that as
just like you know, somebody who doesn't want to see
the Celtics when like I don't know, like, are the
Celtics worse than last year? Is it just the poor
zingis injury? Is it simply poor kue Porzingis is it
the zingosity of it all? Or why are we seeing
(13:29):
them take a step back just that much better?
Speaker 3 (13:33):
My personal belief is that Juwe Holliday having a lesser
role on offense to accommodate the what burgeoning superstardom was
Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum, as well as the emergence
of Peyton Pritchard, because they like, you only get about
eighty eight shots per game, right, and he's got a
sacrifice it. But when he's out there, it's hard to
(13:55):
just play defense for thirty four minutes to night and
it gets just joined They did a really good job
developing Luke Hornett into a good backup. They got out Horford,
another good heavy veteran who's also a good backup. But
they really hit a home run with Quaitnas like like
he was able to step in and carry some of
that load. But also the other thing that's happened is
(14:18):
they've lost rebounding their team. Rebounding has kind of like
fallen apart. You got Tatum near ten boards a game
to try to make up for it, and I think
that's really gonna be their achilles heal, because I think
that is the way you beat them, And that's also
why New York is as high as they are, because
you know, if you get even if Mitch is off
the bench, you're gonna get three bigs who're gonna snag
(14:40):
twenty five thirty boards just from New York. And then
you got Josh Hart crashing everything from the from the
weak side, so like you got real, real heavy presence,
and that's Boston's kryptonite because if KP goes down, there
goes your whole ability to hold your offense and the
half court.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
That was the most uncomfortable I was as a Sixers
fan last year was in the series against the Knicks
when Josh Hart would go after an offensive board, just
like being unable to stop that every single time. I
was like, I've never had that, Like I've had the
experience of, you know, the team that I root for
not being able to stop somebody on offense from scoring.
(15:19):
But I've never had the experience whereas like we can't
get a rebound, like we're defending fine, they're missing their
shots and we just can't get a rebound and he
can get a rebound at will, like an.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Offensive board at will. Was very frustrating.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Unfortunately, we are not going to be talking about the
seventy six ers right now because my catchphrase, don't look
now for the seventy six ers season every time they
win a game, I text that to Jabbari, don't look now.
But the the Philadelphia seventy six Ers are pretty mediocre
(15:59):
at this point, but they don't look now. Of this
week's episode, the Pacers are looking pretty okay, Haliburton starting
to put it together again. Well, how how are you
feeling about the Pacers and Haliburton and this season so far?
You want to kick us off, or Chris, you want
to kick us off.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
No quick, Chris, I got you, you know, being here,
I get to I get to see the team. What
I would say is that I think Pascal Siakam is
finally felt comfortable uh huh, okay when they when they
made the move, they made the move because he was
the best available player I think that they could trade for.
That doesn't necessarily mean it was a really good fit immediately.
(16:40):
And then Rick Carlisle in the off season spent some
time trying to carve out a role specifically for Pascal Siakam,
so it was a little bit heavier on him to
open the season. And then Tyrese Haliburton was honest, he
started back. He just he just he got out the
gate and it was horrible. He was in his own head.
He couldn't really you know, like Steph attributed this to
(17:03):
like performance anxiety. He was just questioning everything he was doing.
And then now he's at a point where I think
he's comfortable and he feels that if he doesn't make
the shot, Benedict Mather is gonna make the shot. If
he doesn't make the shot, Johnny Firfy's gonna make the shot.
If he doesn't make the shot, then Shepherd's gonna make
the shot, and him now starting to reacquire that trust,
(17:26):
is moving the ball more, and now he's also able
to get his shot off because the team's defense. The
opposing defense is now just taking that half a step
back because now they got to account for the swing
and the reverse. So like it's one of those things
that I think is lost on a lot of people.
This was a Rick Carlyle. Hey, we're gonna do two
(17:46):
months of this and we we're gonna figure out who
we are by Christmas, and then by Christmas, we're gonna
double down on what we think we are. And I
think they found it. They are a wing team with
Pascal Siakam also being able to drive and kick, and
I think it's really entertaining basketball, especially when Miles Turner
is hot, and he stepped up to the last couple
(18:08):
of weeks.
Speaker 6 (18:09):
So I'm gonna be I'm gonna about to be guilty
of exactly what I just described in the previous conversation
and say, Okay, so all of this regular season stuff
is cute.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
I appreciate it that you're no, You're one hundred percent right.
Speaker 6 (18:20):
They are fun to watch, especially when they get it going,
especially when Myles Turner is you know, it's hitting from
your hitting from the top, and you know, spreading, its
spacing the court for everybody, especially when Halliburton as he
currently looks, you know, looks comfortable within his role. But
we've seen teams like the Celtics, and we talked about
you know, we just talked about the Nicks, even the Bucks.
We've seen them play at their top levels. You feel
as confident in these pacers in a series when it
(18:43):
you know, when it comes down to it against the
likes of those teams.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Uh no, that's fair enough, right back.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
They are they are the they are like the Hawks.
They are quintessential matchups. Like if they hit Milwaukee, they
can beat Milwaukee, right, But if they hit New York,
it's it's game over because New York is just gonna
out rebound him and play defense and say, okay, Halliburton,
here's thirty shots, you go beat us. So yeah, I
(19:17):
wouldn't feel comfortable if they're taking the top tier teams
on in a first round, Like it's just it's not
going to work out.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
All right, Let's take a quick break. We'll be right.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
And we're back, and let's take a look around the league,
so big a half court shot from ice tray. So
I'm sure a lot of people saw the highlight, consects
and ties it up with two point nine seconds and
then Trey Young hits the buzzer beater from beyond half court,
no timeouts, no timeouts, feels like when he took it. Well,
(20:01):
first of all, I wasn't surprised that it went in
because I was watching it as a highlight. I was like,
I bet this goes in because I wouldn't be watching
it otherwise. But I do feel like the number of
path to full court buzzer beaters has to have gone
like way up, whether it be the like game winners
or just like buzzer beaters and like an end of quarter.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Which used to be like a very rare thing.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
And now we know this is a shot that like
people are practicing and hitting regularly in practice, like they
you know, they say Peyton Prisher is like, you know,
shoots sixty percent from the three quarter court in practice
is just like impossible, Like I'm terrified at anytime the
clock is winding down and he's got it in the
back court. Do we feel like teams should start thinking
(20:48):
about changing the way they defend it. Like right now,
we're still in an era of you know, doing the
hoops equivalent of prevent defense, where you're just like stand
three feet away whatever you do don't foul, which obviously
you don't want a foul. But what when you have
people like Trey Young and like Peyton Pritcher and Stephen
(21:08):
Dame who can just pull up from that range, Like,
I don't know, what if it feels like we need
to start taking this shot a little bit more seriously.
Speaker 6 (21:17):
To me, it just feels like shot making has continued
to progress and continue to improve. I think I think
the fact that I mean, don't get me wrong, we've
always been you know, we've always practiced you know, half
court shots or like the the you know, like the
the full court you know, toss in, but not with
any you know, like seriousness. It used to be that,
yay man, when Steph is on a heater, you got
to pick him up full court. It doesn't matter pick
(21:38):
him up because he's going to hit it. That was
ten years ago. Now, Like you just mentioned, no disrespect
to Peyton Pritcher. In fact, respected Payton, but Peyton Pritcher
can do that all these guys, all these guys you
get you know, you have to be concerned with them. Uh,
you know if they especially around the half you know,
the half court. And then I feel like everybody in
the NBA now can hit the logo three. So if
(21:58):
you can hit the logo three, you you are you know,
you are a danger even at half court.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
Yeah, it's a physics thing. It's a physics team type
with muscle memory. And when you have the lead athletes
and this disposed for the w NBA as well, when
you have the lead athletes who understand or who can
be taught, the principality is a basic physics and muscle memory,
and you practice it. I mean, lethal shooter is hitting
these shots because that's what lethal shooter does. And not
(22:25):
only are they doing this a team practice, they're doing
this at their individual you know, skills session, like they
they they'll warm up jacking up you know, one hundred
shots before they even get into their skills work with
their trainers, and thirty or forty of those are oftentimes
thirty footers, forty flooters and fifty footers and they're making
them in practice. So like, this is something that I've
(22:47):
always hard thought I always thought you should go into
like a one two one one trap zone if you
are less than three seconds then because that way you
at least get the ball out the hand of the
main guy who's going to get the ball and forced
them to make an extra pass. So that I've always
been a component of that. There are a couple of
other college coaches who do it, but you don't see
it in the NBA. They don't practice it in the NBA.
(23:11):
They don't So it's one of those things. Do they
pick them up full court then you run the risk
of increasing the foul calls. Or do you put like
a line at the at the half court line? Do
you put you know, Luke Cornett? And if you got
to time out and you put them, you know at
the at the logo and say, hey, as soon as
you see the ball go up to his shoulders, guy
just run up and jump half court Cornet.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Uh, what a challenge the half court Cornett.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Yeah, he just jumped straight up. You know, try to
take the rim out of the view and try to
mess it up. But these guys are some of the
best athletes in the in the world, on the planet,
so like it shouldn't it shouldn't be shocking to anybody
that this has happened.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
That's why I learned how to hit three quarter court
shots with my eyes closed so that I'm impossible to defend.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
We do want.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
I wish a happy birthday to Victor Wembingama, who birthday
probably already too old.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
You know, it's twenty one.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
Over the hill man lost given another year.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
But just a quick rundown like I.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
You know, every time he put up one of these games,
I saw it, but I haven't seen it all listed
in one place. So Jabari, thank you for putting this together.
So one game this season he put up fifty points,
hitting eight threes on sixty two percent field goal shooting.
Another game forty two points, eighteen boards, six threes, four blocks,
(24:35):
thirty four points, fourteen boards, eleven assists, five threes, thirty points,
ten blocks.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
To another game esus that is.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Twenty four points, thirteen boards, nine blocks. Another damn near
triple double twenty five points, nine boards, seven assists, five steals,
five blocks, four to threes.
Speaker 6 (24:55):
That that one fuck people are complaying and people are
still going pla about the way he plays.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
And I get it if you're a traditionalist, but come on,
that's just fun.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
I know a few traditionalists and we talk offline, and
I kept trying to tell him like, look, I'll give
you one name, like we'll chamber Wind. Okay, right, Yeah,
I'm not saying he's the next Will. I'm saying he's
this generation's Will. He's seven to four. He's physically impossible.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
To gain plan form.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
This guy, when he actually hits his veteran game, could
walk in give you thirty fifteen, five or six assists,
a steal and a half and five blocks per game
on an average, shooting forty nine percent from the floor,
eighty three percent from the line, hitting four or five
threes a game, And at that point, it's just not
(25:46):
fair anymore. Yeah, He's just simply it's not fair. And
I think I think we all, we all just need
to enjoy it because there's a lot of people that
are traditionalists. Are all are they know they looked at
the path, This dude would would would drop fifty on
Patrick Ewing. You just have to understand that and accept it. Right,
Maybe Haki Elaijawan, you know, locks him up in the post,
(26:10):
but he'll take him out on a three point line
and pump fake them and then dunk him two steps
and then like, that's how good he is. And that's
why everybody who was an international scouter talk to him
for five years when he was thirteen, was like, yo,
this kid is somebody to start watching for the league.
And a lot of people didn't believe it. But now
(26:32):
that he's over here and you see it's much. He's
must watch TV. You you have to just see it
in person too, because the TV doesn't do it justice,
it really doesn't. You gotta go see him live. Guys.
I don't care who your favorite team is, but if
San Antonio is rolling into town, you know, pony up
the Ducats and get your butt in his seat, because
it is. It is breathtaking, it's mesmerizing. It's like watching
(26:54):
Lebron James all over again, but someone who's seven foot
four and doing things that even Lebron can't do. So yeah,
I'm all for it. Into the traditionalist man, I'm sorry,
but he's gonna break records.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Yep, I'm sorry to the traditionalists. As always, I'm always
so sorry to them.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Yeah, it's like that drone display of the extremely tall
guy in Dubai, you know, like that that's what it
feels like watching him, but I still I still haven't
seen it in person, So I need to do that.
I need to get my buttons in the seat and
seeing him. Oh, actually we saw him in person for
his very first that's right, for his very first summer
league game, which he My main takeaway was he's really tall,
(27:36):
but also just watching how he moves, like just on defense,
how he affected every shot that went up in the
half court like was I was like, oh, this is
I don't think I've ever seen that before. Like he
is in people's head every single time. Granted those were
(27:56):
you know, summer league players, but it was it was
pretty well.
Speaker 4 (28:00):
He had folks making business decisions with the ball.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Every decision that you make when he's on the defensive
side is a business decision. Yeah, all right, let's take
one more quick break and we'll come back. We'll hit
a couple more stories and we will.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Do the rapid fire round a question.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
We'll be right back.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
And we're back and all right.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Before break, you were saying that the Spurs team would
be a perfect landing spot for Jimmy. Jimmy wants out,
as we as had been rumored, and the heat were like.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
That guy's a liar.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
He doesn't want out. He actually things are going extremely well.
And then he was like, okay, I want out, and
so they suspended him. And now they're admitting that, okay,
maybe he does one out. So people are wondering what's
the best landing spot for him. I also have the
Spurs on my list, but I do for somebody who
(29:05):
has such little patience for young players who aren't like
ready right now, who don't like have his level of
motivation cut throat uh focus on winning, like Jimmy Butler
can be a volatile presence like is that too much
(29:25):
of a win now move? Is it too are you,
you know, throwing a firecracker into the locker room bye
by putting Jimmy Butler in there?
Speaker 3 (29:37):
But I would I would say no, Chris Paul's in
that locker room. The reason well, yeah, that's that's the
two that's a two way answer then, because.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Now they already have a firecracker going off in that locker.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
But but also Chris Paul and Jimmy Butler want the
same thing. They want to win. And when you get
close to your mortality in any professional sport and you
are a great player, and you haven't won. It starts
to eat at you, and then you start being willing
to do anything and everything, including things you wouldn't think
(30:17):
you used to you wouldn't do to win. Like Chris
Paul going to San Antonio was one to get to
the middle, but two to win. Because my guess is
he sees the vision, he'll sign a one in one
that's at a lower rate. But like, let's just work
this out. It's not like it would be bad. You
(30:37):
probably move off of Kelden Johnson and Harrison Barnes, but
Jimmy's an upgrade over either of them. You might have
to add in a young player like Jeremy Sohan, but
like right now, Jimmy's still an upgrade over him, and
he plays the same role as Jimmy and San Antonio's offense,
you have the young players that you don't even play
because you already have other good young players that you
(31:00):
could then add to the deal or even bring in
a third team. You have the cap flexibility because you
already were losing your best players on a rookie deal,
your second best players on a rookie deal. Your third
best player was basically an undrafted free agent in Champagnee
and like it could work, they would still need to
(31:21):
bring on another shooter. But like, if you put him
in Texas where he's from, right, and you get him
out of where he doesn't want to be, that alone
will give him the avenue to be less hostile Jimmy,
to be more I'm the team Jimmy, because he understands.
(31:42):
He thinks he can still do it, and he might
still be able to do it sometimes, but deep down
he knows that he's close to the end of his career.
You'd have him next to Devin Vessel, You'd have him
next to Victor Windanyana, you'd have him next to Stefan
Castle CP three. That's just it's a cheat code. Not
(32:04):
only that at practice they're gonna adopt his mentality at practice.
They're already adopting CP three's mentality at practice. To me,
if I'm the Spurs, yeah, it's a no lose. It's
a no lose. If he opts in. You got him
for one more year and he's in expiring, you could
trade him again in the off season, or you could
trade him at the deadline if he opts out. Guess what,
(32:26):
it's not like you were gonna bring back Harrison Barnes
like you already had shot Calton Johnson, and these young
guys that you have that aren't getting any minutes, guess what,
they're not gonna get minutes because you still got the
young guys in front of them. So to me, it
makes sense. The part that I always wondered though, was
with Pop going out, would the coaching staff be able
(32:47):
to accommodate him? And that's the only hold up that
I have.
Speaker 6 (32:50):
I gotta be honest with you, You've actually made a
convincing argument, and I'm a lot more on the on
the side of that thought than I would have been
because my initial thought was no, Like the last point
you made is probably why I'm a little bit more
skeptical because, like, specifically, you make that Jimmy move if
that's gonna make you a title contender, and I'm not
saying that a happy Jimmy alongside Wimby and you know,
(33:14):
even a relatively healthy CP three isn't a team that
can do some damage, because it is. But I don't
think you make that move because that's not a title team,
and the risk versus reward, you know, then you start,
you know, then you do. You look at it like, okay,
so we took the risk. We had to give out
assets on top of it. We can't recoup those if
he doesn't work out there, you know. I I for me,
(33:36):
I look at it as like if I'm RC Buford.
I look at it like if this were one year
from now and we had a couple more pieces in line,
I would consider this a lot more.
Speaker 3 (33:46):
Now.
Speaker 6 (33:46):
I can be wrong, and maybe, you know, maybe they
do pull that deal, you know, maybe they do bring
him back to at least this home area. I think
he's like from from a Dallas originally, or like that
area originally. If I'm not mistaken, you maybe that may
that would be good. But for me, it feels like
more of a desperation. Do you And what I mean
by that is teams that are desperate, like the Suns,
(34:08):
or like the Warriors, or like teams that are we
need to win now, we need to win right now.
Speaker 4 (34:15):
I think those are more likely to.
Speaker 6 (34:16):
Be the teams to make it, you know, to consider
a move for Jimmy at this stage, I want to
correct myself. He's from Houston, but you're always actually from
jet raandls from Dallas. Sorry, Jami's Rings from Now You're right, the.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
One that gets mentioned a lot of Memphis.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
That one makes I think it makes sense to people
is like, all right, they need a veteran presence to
like get job, you know, in line, make sure that
the madness doesn't keep happening with jaw and historically, like
the Jimmy Butler, Jimmy Butler's historic rind set persona fits
(34:51):
with the historic Memphis persona.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
But I don't know, I think.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
You've convinced me that san Antonio might be the most
interesting from a narrative perspective and might be the right
thing for san Antonio to do, Like, you know, he's
I just feel like with CP three, like people are
always like, you know, like they don't always love him,
but they're I feel like people are always like I
learned a lot from playing with him, you know, or
(35:18):
as Jimmy.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
A lot of times the teams are just like, yeah,
that was that was something that was an experience. So
that's the one thing that I don't know.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
I'm just reserving judgment on which of those will be
the right spot I would take him in Philadelphia.
Speaker 4 (35:38):
You know, you know, I was gonna say if they
if they offered I got for you. If they offered
him and they said, you know what, give us, give
us PG, that's fine.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
I mean yours. Yeah, but here's the one for you.
But here's the one for you.
Speaker 6 (35:52):
What about what about throwing back, throwing him back to Minnesota,
throwing them back in Minnesota? I don't know, along along
side Edwards as opposed to alongside cat.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
That's the dog needs another dog? Common I forgot who
you know what that is? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (36:09):
No, on the feeling A would not be happy about that.
I feel like Jimmy would not be happy about that. Well,
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (36:20):
You you you you would have to figure out where
Randall's going because nobody's gonna take go back. That's and
then if you move go bet because of the salary,
then you're with Randall, Jimmy and and and and that
would be musty TV. But not for the reasons you.
Speaker 6 (36:36):
Think as much as I make as much as I
make light of Gobert, No, you can't move. You can't
come off go Barry like you move those with nineteen
firsts and Heaven and Earth for him. Plus that would
just make you too small, because you know, I would
not trust Randal and you know na As Reed is
our primary bigs in any series.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
Yeah, all right, last story before we get to the
rabbit Fire. Out of questioning, I do so aunt score
fifty three and a loss to the Pistons. Our Boosty's
hit seventy or bust curse continues at pace. No player
who scored sixty in the calendar year twenty twenty four
won a game. If you scored seventy, you won. And
(37:18):
now that the handscheck rules in place, sixty has become
less common. So fifty is the new sixty. And that's
also not enough. You gotta do more for us. But
I just wanted to so Jabari you were pointing out,
you know, the Timberwolves still hovering in the eight to
ten seed category. The cat trade is looking more and
(37:39):
more like. He is currently sixth in the odds for
MVP race. He's currently ahead of Jalen Brunt in the
odds for the MVP voting, like sixth in MVP voting level.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
Good season.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
He's having fourteen boards a game, fifty five field goal
pers said forty four from three.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
Like I knew he was having good a good season.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
I did not realize he was having like he's the
new best player on the Knicks and he's one of
the best players in the league level good season.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
That is shocking.
Speaker 6 (38:18):
It's like when your ex glows up. When your ex
clows up and all of a sudden, it's like, Yo.
Speaker 3 (38:23):
Where, what where did that come from? What are we
doing here?
Speaker 4 (38:29):
That's what that feels like.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
So so the biggest knock on Cat the entirety of
Minnesota was he's a little bit soft and he didn't
play defense. Gobert gets there and then all of a sudden,
Cap becomes an elite defender, go look at the stats.
Becomes a elite defender, and then he gets to New
York and people are like, oh, well, he's gonna get
to New York and like, he's just going to go
back to the way that he was, and he didn't.
(38:51):
He got better. Because the team is actually a better team,
doesn't mean they have the best player. Uh, you know,
I think would be almost all of them one on one.
I don't think he beats cats. Cats just too big.
But he's still averaging a steal in a block essentially
per game. He's still actually playing helpside defense. He's rotating
out to the perimeter like he's doing what Anthony Davis
(39:15):
was known to do. He just doesn't have the two
and a half blocks per game, but he is fit
in to exactly what the Knicks needed, which was a
dominant rebounder who didn't want to dribble the ball five
or six times out on the perimeter and take a
bad three for it. And like I mean, I think
we all know like who I'm talking about. But when
you have synergy, which is what the Knicks we're targeting,
(39:40):
this is what happens. Great players become that much better.
And it's been a wonderful season to watch for him
and for the Knicks. I honestly just you know, want
them to lose because also as a Sixers fan, like
Boston's number one in in me, but New York ain't
too far right there.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
I don't, I don't care, like I just I only
have room in my tiny cold heart for one enemy,
and that's the Celtics. Uh all right, it is that time.
It is the rapid fire round of questioning. Uh, we're
gonna we're gonna throw a couple questions at you, no
time to think, just bing bang boom, I'm back. Uh
and Jabari you want to you want to kick us off, I.
Speaker 4 (40:24):
Will, I will.
Speaker 6 (40:24):
As a matter of fact, I'm gonna actually have you
picked the game of the week for us, because that
is something that we've been doing and we want to
keep that keep that tradition. So you these are your options.
Friday night you got Bucks at Magic. You also have
Thunder at Nicks. Saturday night you got Wimby coming to
La to play the Lakers. Monday next Monday, you got
(40:45):
Bucks at Knicks or Pacers at Calvs.
Speaker 3 (40:49):
What's your game of the week. I'm gonna go with
the Knicks and Thunder. I'm gonna go with the Knicks
and Thunder and tell you why in ten seconds. It's
a contrast of styles. Styles make fights. And I want
to see this site, Okay, I just I want to
see it, and I wish Chet was healthy, but I
gotta see iHeart against Kat. I gotta see s g
(41:10):
a versus the combination of the cow Bridges and og
and a nubi, you know, taking terms trying to lock
them up. I gotta see Lou Dort put Jalen Brunson
in the Dorture chamber, and I gotta see if the
real j Dove is gonna show up because I think
Jay dub you know, Williams is you know, the the
(41:31):
glynchpin to whether. Okay, so he's going to be successful,
and I don't think he's getting enough shine or love
for Most Improved Player this year. I don't think he
would win it, but I think he really should be
in the conversation about it. So yeah, I would pick
Nixon Thunder Friday night without a question.
Speaker 4 (41:46):
By the way, just quickly, Chet is on.
Speaker 6 (41:49):
He's traveling with the team on this trip, so there's
no there's no updated return, but it seems like he's
going to be back in the mix pretty soon.
Speaker 3 (41:56):
All right.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
Last question, Every team gets to redesign them a logo
that they wear on their jersey rather than the standard
Jerry West dribbling one that we all know and love.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Who would be the Pacers logo? Who would be the
seventy six ers logo? And what are they doing in
the logo?
Speaker 3 (42:16):
Reggie Miller? No, No, it's actually it's actually his fade
away three that he would do when he's on the wing,
that that would be. That would be the Pacers logo
and then the Sixers. So so I had I got
an argument, and Jack, I think I want to know
(42:36):
what your idea is, because there are there are different
eras and levels of Sixers. Right to me, it is Julius.
To me, it is Julius without without question, and then
to everybody else it's Alan Iverson. And I would also
(42:59):
give you an additional what I think would be a
not so thought of tape, but ree cheeks cheeks, Okay,
I like it as a player and as a coach.
As the history and I could see him, you know,
with his arms crossed, looking out on the gaze of
(43:19):
hate towards the Boston Celtics, and I could see that
being on the logo for the seventy six.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
Is all right. So I'm going to give an even.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
Less thought of take, which would be Ben Simmons under
the basket against the Hawks, passing the ball off when
he could have dunked it. And that that is, you know,
that encapsulates the the process. Still, you know, Sixers fans
are all different. Some of us are just in it
(43:51):
for the misery.
Speaker 3 (43:51):
You don't want the ceo ratless rare? You know double block?
Speaker 1 (43:58):
Well, Chris, what a pleasure having you on? Miles and
Jack got Matt boost e's Where can people find you?
Follow you all that good stuff?
Speaker 3 (44:07):
Yeah, you can. It's the name hoopspaces. It's real simple.
H O O P S P A c E S.
You can find me on x formerly known as Twitter.
You can find me on playback TV. You can also
find me on Blue Sky. Just got done working for Amazon.
I'll probably be picking up another gig hopefully soon. But
if you find me there, you'll be able to talk
to me Monday through Friday at ten am every day
(44:30):
and I break down every single game. Sometimes we get
players to pop in, sometimes we get coaches or trainers.
So yeah, come through and we'd love to talk to you.
Speaker 1 (44:39):
Amazing.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
All right, you can make sure you give us a follow.
Speaker 1 (44:42):
I'm on Twitter at Jack Underscore O'Brien and on Blue
Sky at jack ob One. Miles is at Miles of
Gray on both Jabari where are you at?
Speaker 6 (44:53):
Jabari Davis NBA on Twitter we still call it debt
his his mama call it debt.
Speaker 4 (44:57):
And on Blues Guy Jabari Davis NBA.
Speaker 1 (44:59):
Yeah, and you can find us that hashtag mat boosties
for show links and updates, and be sure to join
the conversation on our discord, which You can also find
the link for when you search hashtag mat Boosties. That's
going to do it for us this week. Sending out
a lot of love to my fellow Angelino's who've been
displaced by the fires, Hoping everybody stays safe and staying
(45:22):
up there, and we'll be back next week with another
episode of Miles and Jack on Mad Boosties.
Speaker 3 (45:28):
Bye.
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Miles Gray
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