NBA RoundTable with Bob Schmidt on MVP Race, Lakers Playoff Hopes, AD vs. Sabonis, Celtics & More

The FnA Podcast with Kevin Figgers and Adam Auslund. Bob Schmidt joins from the Fear the Fro Pod to talk about the Nuggets Celtics game, Lakers playoff chances, AD inconsistency, MVP conversation, ANT, Clippers and more!

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Let's get this product. This isghetto broadcasting live from the studios of a
M five to seven day. It'son a website. This is fn A
man, I am a god.Now what why don't you get out of
that jumpsuits? Let me smack thatfast. That's a scary crew. As
far as the product goes, voiceof a new generation man. He the

(00:24):
young guys really at the top oftheir games. The two of them had
something in common. We bring youradio ecstasy. Oh it's beautiful broadcasting live
from the studios of a M fiveto seven day. Let it happen.
This is the FNA Podcast. Friday. Friday edition of the FNA Podcast was
going on. Everybody. It's KevinFigures along with Adam Austin back with you

(00:46):
once again. That's it is noBreed today. Oh that was not me.
We're missing bree Breed today, butwe still got a good show for
you guys. Follow us at fna'sshow on Twitter, Facebook and the gram.
I'm gonna follow out of May He'sat k pig one so voicemails to

(01:07):
get to here off the top ofthe show. Nine four seven eight eleven
ninety seven is the number nine fournine, four seven, eight eleven ninety
seven Anything on your mind in thesports world. Bree had another am I
the a hole from one of herdating escapades last week? If you want
to comment on that. Yeah,see if we have that to look forward
to. I hope she's doing okayconsidering how that went down with the guy

(01:30):
asking her to get in the car. Well, well, needless to says,
she's not talking to that guy anymore, so that thankfully I have dodged
that bullet. He earned that ghost. Yeah, I'd say so. All
right, let's get the voice.So we have three voicemails to get to.
These all came in over the weekend, you stupid bitch. All right,
here we go over the weekend,Your stupid bitch. This is a

(01:51):
long one. You might get cutoff wherever this is fellas. This is
big lou come only. I amabout to off. Working ahead one down
to La Los Angeles, which isin La County, and I was listening
to the podcast. I figured Icould call in and give my give my
fifty cents on on both discussions thatyou guys brought up. The guy from

(02:12):
North Dakota, I couldn't really getwhat he was saying as far as the
I wasn't sure why the people theycame into the movies were speaking to him
about the wrong seat. But maybemaybe I just wasn't listening closely. But
that is gonna happen. And whathappened to me a lot when I go
to Clipper games, because I tryto sit in the suite section, which
we still haven't had the fn Ameeting greet and the seats, the seats

(02:37):
and the suite are they're not they'renumbered, but they're not actually, you
know, they're not reserved, soyou can actually sit in wherever the first
come, first serve. So everyonce in a while it does kind of
happen where someone sits where you're sitting. Maybe you reserve, maybe you sat
down and placed something over the seat, you know, somebody would take it,

(02:57):
and for some reason people just thinkthat that doesn't mean anything and they
just throw it to the side.So usually when I walk up on them,
the kind of they kind of moveAdam Adam has called me like I
could be a bouncer. So Idon't know if that has anything to do
with people just kind of they don'twant to they don't want conflict bouncer at
the Thunderdome. But yeah, itmakes no sense. In these day and

(03:20):
age, everything is every time yougo to the movie theater, you got
a reserve a seat. So what'sthe point. It's a lot of women
getting they dudes beat up over aseat. So, ladies, whoever's listens
to this message, Ladies, ifyou're out there, don't get you a
man, be you up please.Well, lou I will say, many
people are not blessed to be ableto sit in the suite section at Crypto

(03:44):
dot Com Arena. And if you'vebeen there or Dodger Stadium or any of
these sweet level places, he's correct. There are a designated number of seats
in there, and you don't necessarilya ticket get you into the suite and
you can kind of sit wherever youwant. Now, if you're a regular,
a hole like me who's broke,and that's sit way up in the
three hundred section with the rid ofnormal people. You have a seat,

(04:04):
and you have a ticket, andit tells you exactly where to sit.
Nobody gonna steal those seats, absolutely, yeah. So if somebody happened to
be in one of those seats,and I specifically won at that because that's
my good luck seat and the teamwins every time I sit there or whatever.
You know, several linings playbook style, then that's my seat. Get
the hell up out of my seat. So it makes sense. So the

(04:24):
sweet level is one thousand percent different. I'm with you, Lou, I
got you, But generally speaking,I'm with Peter on this one, and
it is a worth getting into afight over. No, but how about
you just do the right thing andjust sitting you on goddamn seat. Why
do we have to get into afight. Why are we fighting? You
know you sit and roll thirty seatL or whatever ro L seat thirty,

(04:46):
So why are you in? Youin row A seat two? You know
you're not even close. You can'tsay all my bad dog. It was
dark. I couldn't see if youwere a one row behind or one row
ahead. Maybe we have tickets toavoid these fights exact. That's why we
have as signed seats. Thats whyI don't have general seating, because if
it was general seating, people likeBig Lou or people like Peter can be

(05:08):
like a bra. I'm sitting there. Everybody's getting punked deep in their seat.
My seat. No I'm sitting here. It's like not anymore, you
ain't. But see, this iswhy we have seats exactly. This is
why we have designated yeah yeah,basically, get up and out of the
seat immediately. Jesus is long too, guys, the hell are we doing?

(05:31):
And in terms of briefe situation,Jesus, Lou, I have I
have millennial nephews and cousins, andand I I go to school to be
an X ray text so I kindof around young college kids and they and
all the guys are kind of douchebagslike that. I don't know. I
don't know if it's this this erawhere in where content over creativity kind of

(05:54):
comes in and people just have tosay stuff. So I hear that a
lot, where they just have tothey have to be they have to let
you know that they're knowledgeable, eventhough they have no idea what they're talking
about, but they have to beright. I don't know's I mean.
I'm sure I'm sure that was somein my in my generation and older or
whatever just know it all. Butthese days it seems a little bit.

(06:16):
It seems a little bit different becausethey don't even get the information into their
brain, but they act like theyknow about it. So I don't know,
but I think you. I thinkyou were correct on that one,
Brie. So you get a passon that. And yeah, it's not
a big thing. It shouldn't bea big thing. But people in Orange

(06:36):
County really don't like being referred toas LA County. As a Long Beach
residence that works in Orange County.I kind of get both, and it's
not it's not that big a deal, but like Kevin said, it is
a big deal, and they reallyhate to be referred to as LA County.
Kind of like I hate, kindof like I hate when people tell

(06:57):
me I live in LA and Itell no, I live in Long Beach,
Strong Beach. Fix it nice,Dismount Lou, fix it. I
like it, fix it, Ilike it. I ow to my guy
Nick Letty, you know what.He went long on not one but two
calls, but it was kind ofwork good. I liked him. I'm
shocked. Yeah, but don't thinkyou could be like Big Lou. You

(07:20):
will get cut off. We willdebo you off of the phone, that's
for damn sure. Yeah. Wedid talk geography, locations, where you're
from, what it means to befrom l A versus O C the stigma
surrounding it whether there shouldar shouldn't be. You're right, Lou and there shouldn't
be. It is all dumb,but it's a thing. There's a difference
between Louis and Granite Bay where Igrew up. See there you go,

(07:41):
you know, and knowing all there'sbeen, there's always been, no it
all for the from the beginning oftime. The problem is they're just have
louder voices now because it proliferates socialmedia and everywhere else. So that's why
lou no one else there before arestill there. They just have a louder
speaker. The Steven A. Smitheffect that Hot takes and know it all
is I think he's pointing to peoplewho should try to use like big words

(08:01):
and talk about things that they don'tknow about. And if they if he
just sound intelligent, they think thatthey're telling you something they really don't know
the facts. Indubitably yeah. Right. So it's different for just a talking
in and says no, yeah,gonna win another championship and I'll tell you
why because he was banging somebody's wifeor whatever. Stuff that just doesn't make
sense. And you know that theyknow that it doesn't make sense and they're

(08:24):
just trying to get clicks. That'shot takes. That's different than being to
know at all click bait. Thisis bait, like Tom Hardy said,
Mad Max Fury Re's right, allright, last call also a long one.
Geez, goddamn minute forty if it'sbig clue who I did see at
the Clippers game, by the way, and he told me he called in
and left a message. Oh sweet, because it was right after that show
we did last week. Clippers.Were they blowing that game? No?

(08:48):
I think there was that Friday night? Who do they play Friday? God?
Damn was that Washington? It mighthave been Washington. I think it
was Washington. So they won thatone. Yeah, goodness, more on
that victory. I'm gonna need admitit on this because I just finished Asshole
second edition, second date edition withBrie. I need a minute for this

(09:11):
one. As a fn A fanand supporter for all of these years,
we need to protect our little sisterbrief and uh breathing these and so in
doing so, I would be therein La if I could. I'm in

(09:31):
Tennessee. Ain't gonna happen. ButI know we have some brethren, big
brothers of the show that can lookout for breathing these on these dates.
I would implore anyone Peter from notesthe quarter the Quarders come in, especially
because he's big as hell and Ionly want to be his friends. Uh,

(09:54):
but you know, figures, Auglyn, stay in the back ground of
her date. We need to protectBreeze. Please. It's not a sports
take that I could, Uh that'smake me call in all of a sudden.
It's the protection of Brie. Andso we need to start out some

(10:15):
kind of plan, some kind ofscheduling making sure whatever date she's on,
where she's gonna be, so oneof the f and a family can drop
in and make sure she's not beingkid in at the court and killed.
So that is my public service announcement. Well, breathing ease, Evan,
Hey do you mind? God?Do you've remember the old under armor commercials?

(10:41):
We must protect this house, wemust protect this breathe. Yeah,
I look, all due respect,and we love Brie and I'm glad that
she, you know, was ableto come away unscathed from that creepy date.
From the previous situation, you wantto get in. I really don't
think get in. I really don'tthink that she wants, you know,
personal protection or big brother. Iguess in some senses quite literally, watching

(11:03):
out from behind a bush somewhere whileshe's just on this innocuous coffee date with
this random guy. I think thatwould creep her out. We can't be
like the dude and expect her gadgetnearby. That's a little over the top.
That's a little bit much. That'swhat about just a phone tracker?
She tells us what she's going tobe. We see that location change,
but we're on it. But trackmy iPhone or whatever. Because she's Android

(11:26):
like you are, So I'm assumingthere's technology for that on androids. I'm
not sure we have the technology.Yeah. So look, if that's something
that you guys want to do,sure, I'm not doing that. Bree's
a grown woman. She'll be allright. You know. I don't know.
Toy came flying in there, hedid, look he throwing his cape.
I mean, my god, totelling Peter you need to be there

(11:48):
for I guess between Peter and BigLou, we have some security. I
mean, yes, she has herown personal bodyguards. Yeah, I mean,
I don't know if she can affordyou, guys, to be honest
with you, But I did tellher, you know, should we report
this guy? Like, I'm notworried about having more interaction with him,
but what about the next girl?This is true, I do think maybe

(12:11):
a little bit. Is that toofar? Yes? Like over reacting?
Probably a little bit. And yes, in some senses, yes, there's
substances. No in a sense towhere you say, okay, maybe you
never talked to this guy again.I got some creepy vibes, yes,
but we have no He might havelegitimately just been a nice guy. He
was just awkward and had no ideathat inviting a woman into your car so
you can drive her to her carwithout any pre context, which is really

(12:31):
weird and creepy. Some guys justdon't know any better, and some guys
are actual weirdos. And because neitherof us were really there to fully gauge
what that was, I don't knowif I'm gonna call the authorities on the
guy. He might just be weird. There wasn't a crime committed. I
mean, he just said get in. There was a creep commitment. It
was right committed to and it wasn'tlike getting the car the way she presented.

(12:52):
It was like, oh, getin, which might be even creepier.
I don't know, smile like thetwo and yeah a little bit the
new AT and T commercial. Sothis is great advertisement for our last show.
If you guys didn't listen to it, please do. There was a
great Who's the A Hole segment starringBree once again going on a blind date
with some guy, some DJ orsomething I guess, not blind date,

(13:15):
but set up through an app.Well, she did say he didn't look
the way that he presented himself.Correct sounded like he got pretty fat.
We're all a little chubby. It'slike she she was going for like you
know, Batman, Val Kilmer,and she got you know, the last
eight years Val Kilmer, you knowwhat I mean? Like like, hold
on, what happened here? Playinglike this? Or I saw I saw

(13:37):
Popeye Jones, so I guess asan assistant coach in Milwaukee, I forget
exactly. Denver is either Denver ormy wife or huh. And I was
like, damn, it'll happen toyou. You blow up, I mean
a little bit, and like I'mnot I'm not the most felt person myself
these days. Either it was likegeez, I was like, is that
Popeye Jones? Jesus, that'll happened? Oliver Miller. Guys put on a
little bit of Wait, I getit, but I mean he put on

(14:01):
another Popeye. I want to sayPopeye is like even eating leading that Popeyes?
You know what I mean? Heput down the spinach and uh like
he took on the chicken sandwiches.All right, all right, right,
well, thanks to the Colors ninefour, nine seven, eight eleven ninety
seven. Thanks to this guy who'snot on a phone, because he's gonna
sound even better now here. Yeeyee, It's time for the NBA round

(14:26):
Table on the FNA Podcast with BobSchmidt. No Eric Sklar. He still
shook over a missing squar brother,the Lakers having a forty one point turnaround
happen against hard to do. Nah, he wanted to come on, but
physical therapy. You know how itis. Bob Schmidt, our friend,
the voice avanded by seventy LA Sports, the voice of Fox Sports Radio,

(14:48):
your host on the Fear of theFRO podcast. Bob, how are you
doing? Good man? It's beena relatively good couple of weeks for the
Fear of the Fro podcast. Atleast you got to se couple of majestic
comebacks in the fourth quarter, cappedoff by heroic performances from guys who have
no part doing that. But I'lltake it if he didn't know, Bob's

(15:11):
a diehard Cleveland Cavaliers fan. Quicklyon that. Just give us a little
bit of an update on what's goingon with a knee of Donovan Mitchell.
Did you get some blood spinning doneor something? Yeah, they said the
PRP injection. They said minimum ofthree games then they'll reevaluate. But effectively,
what that changes is that all thediscussions we had about, you know,

(15:31):
all NBA MVP conversations, it seemslike this will push him below that
sixty five game threshold. So hehe unless he comes back exactly after three
games, then that is no longera possibility. Otherwise he was totally gonna
win that MVP. And that wasdefinitely you with I sent that sent that
tweet that said doing Dean Wade greaterthan Dwyane Wade? Did I see that

(15:52):
the other day? Or was thatwas that a different Bob Smith? That's
sweet? I might have thought itthat might be my tweet, but it
definitely crossed my mind. I thinkit was Gabrielle Union, who actually Bob
Okay, let's get into it.I got a couple of questions here.
I'm gonna throw out some red meatfor us to talk about. Hey,
it's not working my quiz. Ohyou know what, that's my fault?

(16:14):
Pop quizt did last night's game?Was it a preview of the NBA Finals
between the Boston Celtics and the DenverNuggets. Do you guys actually believe that?
I definitely believe it in the East, and I would I would say
right now, yeah, that wouldbe the easy answer. I do think
the West has some, you know, good challengers. I don't know that

(16:37):
the East has anyone that I'm confidentis going to give Boston a real run
for their money. Despite what happenedthe last couple of games with Jason Tatum,
who seems to be catching a lotof heat after what you know,
they lose two in a row comingoff an eleven game win streak, and
I have seen nothing but you know, criticism of late game Jason Tatum just

(17:00):
fly up out of nowhere. Well, he missed that open three last night
against Dever. Yeah, but thenhe has that stretch that he had against
Philadelphia last year. What was inGame six when he was like one for
fifteen or something and made all thosecrazy threes at the end. My issue
with Boston, and it's probably notfair because it's a different team and poor
Zingis is in there now. Ishard for me to forget what happened last
postseason against the Miami Heat team thathad no business being in that series with

(17:22):
him and ended up beating them inGame seven on their home flour to get
to the NBA Finals. It's hardfor me to get that out of my
head. And Boston kind of playsthe similar style that they played last year.
They rely a lot on the three. When they're hot, they're great.
When they're not, you know,they can get blown out, they
can get round, you know,beaten by a Laker team that doesn't have
Lebron James or Anthony Davis. Well, that's one out of eighty two.
I get it, Bob. Iunderstand. It's just hard if I'm to

(17:44):
if I have to pick right now, Adam, sure, but I'm not
super confident because I just haven't seenhim do it. Okay With that Laker
game, more so than the shooting, the nine first quarter turnovers were probably
didn't help huge part of the reason. Like come max shots though, Bob
too, they were missing shots thatthey were routinely make sure sure, but
just just what you were to whatyou were saying. Okay, I'm not

(18:06):
factoring last night into this because Iwas just looking at these numbers. But
Boston when shooting better than thirty fivepercent from three is thirty seven and three.
When they were shooting under thirty percentfrom three, they're like three and
six. So the chances of themthat above thirty percent record is insane because
it's it's almost entirely the way thatthey live. Even in that game where

(18:30):
they lost to the Cavs where theywere zero for eight from three in the
fourth quarter, on the game,they shot thirty nine and a half percent.
So uh, I do think,yeah, Jason Tatum, if he
gets into those situations like with theCleveland game where he was one to nine
in the fourth quarter and he settledfor a lot of mid range shots that

(18:51):
at least from the analytics crowd,people would be like, those aren't good
shots. But the guys he haddefending them more like Sam Merril Max Strus.
He was getting clean looks. Theyjust weren't going in. I do
think it's a bit of an overreactionto the last couple games when you consider
there's no world in which we shouldassume what is incredible as it was to

(19:12):
watch Dean Wade, you know,nearly score his career high in just the
fourth quarter alone without missing a shot. That was a perfect confluence of they
go stone cold, Cavaliers can't missanything. I mean, Dean Wade and
George Nang in that fourth quarter,we're seven for seven from three. The

(19:32):
night before they were zero for tencollectively. So it's not it's not meant
to diminish the way that the endof that game played out. But I
do think what we've seen over thecourse of the season is that Boston team
they're deeper, they're better shooters throughout. They don't have a weak link in
that starting lineup in terms of,you know, defensive capability. They can

(19:56):
switch everybody. Yeah, you missshots, you can absolutely lose. But
so many times this season when yousee people try to scheme against what they
do. Barring and epic outlier badperformance, shooting wise, they have counters
to almost everything. Tatum and Browncan go to the rim. If you
try to switch everything, they cantry to isolate you on bad defenders.

(20:17):
And even in that Calvs loss,they definitely got some of the Cavs weaker
defenders isolated onto Jason Tatum. Thefinal shot that he missed was on Darius
Garland that they overruled on that foulthat they called. So I think it's
a little bit I don't know ifdistasteful is the word I'm going for,
but I do think people were eagerafter an eleven game winning streak to just

(20:38):
pile on a little bit and like, see, they are vulnerable because everybody
wants it to be more contested thanit may actually prove to be in the
playoffs. And I still think thatBoston is a relative easy front runner there.
The conference, I think is farmore debatable. I would agree with
that, Bob, and I wouldagree with your initial question Adam that Denver
I think is a clear front runnerto come out of the Western Conference too,

(21:00):
do either review. Granted, therecord has not been the best since
Doc has taken over, but thedefensive numbers at least have improved. Since
he's taken over, and maybe that'llall, you know, flush itself out
here over the last couple of weeksof the regular season. Do we think
Milwaukee has any sort of threat toBoston in the Eastern Conference if they can
improve defensively over where they have beenpreviously, which was not that great.
Oh I do, I do,I very much do. Even with Doc

(21:23):
Rivers in this track record and everybody'sgonna go after that. That's a bunch
of so uh. Jiannis is justtoo good. And from what I saw
last night, one of the reasonsI'm hoping Boston doesn't come out of the
East is because if they do playDenver, I've seen enough they have nobody
to even throw at Jolks. It'sone thing to say, well, yeah,

(21:45):
nobody can guard Yokis, but thereare guys who are better than others
that can at least pose as athreat. Instead, it's gonna be Kristaps
porzingis getting worn down on that end, which is gonna affect his offense on
the other end. They don't haveRobert Williams type any more to just have
a big body to give five foulssix fouls against Nikola Joki so I don't
want to see that. I'd rathersee Milwaukee against Denver. Should have be

(22:08):
the Denver nugguess coming out of theWest. I'm not so sure about that
yet, but I think this Bucksteam is for real. They still have
work to do, but they're rightthere. And Chris Middleton's missed a ton
of games so far this season.Their defense has just turned things around after
being bottom ten the majority of theseason, and Giannis is an MVP candidate
and playing at such a high levelstill. I know he's been dealing with

(22:30):
this achilles injury and they just lostto the Golden State Warriors. But you
know they're gonna take down, Well, they're gonna take on the Lakers tonight.
I'm not gonna say take down.Probably gonna be a game, But
yeah, I don't think it's asclear cut as most people do, just
because of Boston's record in the regularseason dominance that they're coming out of the
ease. Yeah, Bob, you'rebulleted on Boston as you just described.

(22:51):
How do you feel about Milwaukee inthis situation. I think they definitely improved.
But if I think and I agreewith most of what Adam says there,
I think, honest is a completeseries changer if you get peak Yannis.
But the opposite side of that isthat this isn't a team that's exactly
had tons of health luck. Imean, Middleton's still suffering through stuff.
God forbid. Giannis has a situationlike cropped up in the first round last

(23:15):
year where he has to be playingat you know, peak form for me
to assume he's gonna for me.It's just Boston's on a tier by its
own. Milwaukee is starting to looklike they're on a second tier all by
themselves and everyone else below that.You know, they've got a puncher's chance.
I guess if everything plays out right, I don't. I don't think
it's a one A one B.I think it's one two and then three

(23:37):
A three day three C three Dokay, okay, okay. So I
brought up the Lakers. They're takinga Milwaukee tonight. Have you guys given
up on the Lakers completely at thispoint with how inconsistent they have been?
If I stay over under is oneon them winning a playoff series, not
a play in game. Where areyou going with that? Over under is

(24:00):
one? Yeah? So that meansthey have to win they win a playoff
series, So I mean, willthey make it to the second round or
will they not make it to thesecond round? Basically, I guess is
that meaning there needs to be ahalf of a playoffs? I guess technically
if we're talking about a playoff series, they can they coming out of the
play in will they can? They? Yes? Well they based on what

(24:22):
I've seen, I don't believe sothey're not consistent enough, like you see
what they can do when they canmake And I also think it's matchup based.
I do believe they match up witha team like Oklahoma City, you
know, better than a team thatthey match than a team like say Denver,
you know what I mean. SoI do think matchups do matter.
But because of their inconsistency on bothends of the floor, despite the fact
that Lebron and Anthony Davis have beenrelatively healthy all season long, and Lebron

(24:45):
is dealing with an ankle issue.Now, what you would love to have
have happened is they have themselves alittle bit of patting on the front end
of the schedule so they can wrestLebron now that he has a lingering issue.
They're not even able to do that. I think they're squarely in the
playoffs at this point. I think, what is it, five games separate
them and number eleven, something likethat, six games they will be in
the play So they're gonna make it. They're not fighting for a play in
spotlight. They were at times lastyear, but being you know, being

(25:07):
in a situation where you have towin two games to make it in and
then I also have to win aplayoff series is a lot to ask for
a team that is not you don'tknow what team's going to show up on
a night in, night out basis. So if I'm if you're asking me
now, based on how they've playedall season long, I will say the
under I say, maybe they makeit into the postseason, but they're not
getting out of the first round.Bobby, Yeah, I share basically his
feelings there. I would pick OklahomaCity in a matchup with them, even

(25:30):
despite I've heard the conversation about,oh, it's a good matchup. I
just don't. I don't know.Well, it's showing itself that way at
least through the regular season so far. In four games, I think they'd
beat Okay. I think I'm asconfident as they as I was last season
that they would take down Memphis.I think they would beat Okay, that
being said, I mean there's stilla lot of things that would have to
come before that it's even a possibility. So, uh, if we were

(25:52):
to agree that in that top four, that's the do you think of the
teams that are in the top fourright now? You know, Minnesota to
Oklahoma City, Denver, the Clippers. What would be the order that you
would want them as opponents if you'rethe LA Lakers. Well, okay,
see one Minnesota because of the injuryto Karl Anthony Towns, I'd say Minnesota
number two, Clippers, three inDenver four. Okay, Well, in

(26:15):
that case, I mean that reallyshakes out well for what could possibly play
out with the Lakers, because atleast as it sits right now. So
that being said, I'm gonna go. No, I'm going to go I
don't think they win a playoff series. All right, all right, that's
fair enough. Who do you guyshave as your top three MVP candidates?
Well, I think Jokic has gotto be especially after last time. People

(26:37):
feel last night did it for him. Yeah, I've heard I've heard a
lot of things over the last lastcouple of Yameski has essentially created some distance
between him and Shay. I thinkhim and sha are pretty much everybody's top
two and third is some sort oftoss up between either Luca or Jannis.
Okay, should you? Should Lucareally be in the conversation there is eighth

(26:59):
place. It is just based onnumbers and production and highlights, you know,
all these things going. So there'sa should and will he. But
but it's rare that a guy everwins that is that low. Russ did
because he had the triple doubles.It's always the guy who's on the top
three seed. Yeah, we're talkingwhat you just said. Though Russ did
because he had the triple doubles,Lucas almost averaging a thirty four point triple

(27:21):
double. I mean, it's obviouslybased on numbers. Now, I would
say over recent years, maybe there'smore people who have flocked to the idea
that, okay, numbers mean lessin the current NBA context, we have
to stop rewarding just numbers. Butit's still always going to be there some
Yeah, okay, but here's thething. Russ won the first time he

(27:41):
did it. Then it was oh, that's old hat. Those are maybe
empty numbers because he did it thevery next season, but right either,
I mean the same you could arguethe same thing happened with Jok. There's
just the reality about MVP is thatit gets progressively more difficult to repeat because
there's voter fatigue and there's a certainamount of well, if it didn't ultimately

(28:03):
lead to such and such, howvaluable is it? I agree with that.
I'm just saying based on history,I don't know. He's ranked I
think third on Bovada third Best oddsright now, Luca is he's a plus
three point fifty behind Shay, behindNikol, Joki and MVP voting. I
just at some point, I mean, you go back to last season,

(28:26):
they ended up not even making themplay it, right, they taked at
the end of the year. Theydid that on purpose, Yes they did,
but at best, what they're gonnabe the ninth or the tenth seat
if they went all out and somehowgot on a hot streak and now they're
in the same position. I knowKyriea's miss games, but it's just interesting,
at what point do we go?Okay, Lucas putting up these numbers

(28:48):
is it equaling winning. Now theyjust made some We all thought it was
a really good trade deadline for them. Sure, So I do think there's
something to be said too, forlike the mav thirty five wins would put
them in that same tier of teamsthat get much more favorable coverage in the
East, like the New York Knicks, the Orlando Magic, the Miami Heat.

(29:11):
So yeah, compared to the WesternConference, Luca's record looks mediocre at
best. But if we're gonna havethese I just think it's interesting the way
we talk about guys who lead teamsto similar records in the you know,
Eastern Conference versus what happens in theWest. That being said, I do
think to some degree we're debating somethingthat we all agree on. He would

(29:33):
have to be so tremendous from accountingstats volume to overcome definitely the two guys
in front of him, and debatablyeven Giannis, because you were talking about
odds and stuff. Basketball Reference hasGiannis ahead of Luca right now, They
have him in fourth, and thenthere's a chasm where everybody below that is,
you know, sub five percent chance. So I really think it's kind

(29:56):
of a two man race and thenafter that, it's just people arguing about
which of Giannis or Lucas gonna comein third. Yeah, for me,
it's been Jokic and Shay and thoseare kind of the one A, one
B for me, and it's probablygonna end up being Yokic though if I
you know, I certainly wouldn't begrudgegiving it to shake Yoches Alexander either,
because he's having a great year too. So those those are kind of the
two where it begins it is andeverybody else is just in a tier below

(30:18):
the way I look at it,and Tatum after last night, a lot
of that hurts. Well, that'sif you want to go on the best
player on the best team theory,Yeah, that you know he would be
up there. I think that's themore interesting conversation. After last night,
I heard everybody saying, well,does this lock it up for Jokic?
But considering the amount of barbs Tatum'sgetting, is Tatum a lot for first
Team All NBA? Still it feelslike he should be. But but if

(30:41):
you take those four guys we werejust discussing and assume their first team All
NBA locks and there's no positional designationthis year. Is Tatum for sure the
fifth guy because Donovan, like wesaid, he's probably not in the conversation
anymore. Then you've got who elsewho's rivaling him there? So bonus may
be Kawhi Leonard or who I mean, who would we be looking at?

(31:06):
Who could possibly even Kevin Durant.Do you think there's any Do you think
there's any chance that he would slideout of the first team all NBA doesn't.
I don't think he should. Ithink winning should mean something. Best
player on the team with the bestrecord. Who Okay, they lost to
Denver twice. If he really wantsa nitpick and say he wasn't good enough
in these primetime games against the topteam of the West. Most don't think

(31:33):
that's enough to take him out.That nick picky about it. Yeah,
I think the majority of these votersgenerally go off of the basic numbers.
Wreck team record, your averages,where are you an all start, that
sort of thing that the bear brasstacks of it. So I think he's
safe. They're forty eight and fourteen. Yeah, like that should be enough
to get him in. I thoughtit was interesting last night, Charles Barkley.
I was gonna pull this sound.But he said, you know,

(31:56):
they got two of the top tenplayers in the NBA. If they don't
win the championship, that's a hugedisappointment for the Boston Celtics. It's like,
uh, well, Jalen Brown reallya top ten player. Now he
did play great last night. HeI'll play Jason Tatum, but I don't
think, I mean, you havetop dead. You see flashes of what
he can do, but whether ornot he's there, I don't know if
I go that far. Well,plus who, I mean, nobody's gonna

(32:20):
as quickly. If people don't forgetthe first round failure of the Cavs,
they're certainly not going to forget,you know, left hand criticisms that came
from last playoff runs. When wehaven't made it to the next playoff yet.
There's going to be a certain waitand see element with him, at
least in terms of shaking the criticismsthat he got after last postseason. You
guys got any questions from me aboutthe Clippers and what's been happening in the

(32:43):
last week or so, because it'sbeen a bit of a roller coroaster ride.
You could say, to say,the least I mean, so they
lose a game where they're up bytwenty one against the Lakers, then they
win a game that they were downthere by sixteen or down by sixteen against
Minnesota. Then they was a gamewhere they're up by fifteen against Milwaukee,
then they win a game where they'redown by twenty against Houston. All this

(33:07):
is it like making you sweat,don't they? Yeah, I'm not used
to this. Typically they're the onescoming back on teams. What's crazy is
there's still i think thirty one inthree when they're leading heading into a fourth
quarter, which is one of thebest records in the league. But that
collapse against the Lakers stood out.The collapse against Milwaukee when they didn't have

(33:30):
Johnston, Denikoopo or Chris Middleton alittle bit of a red flag there.
Well, definitely, I mean,Bobby Portos is a good player, but
my god, I mean, doit look like a kim O lajuwon down
there in the low blocks? Sometimesthe Laker thing is all right, I
mean not that Lebron is clearly I'mjust clearly better than Dean Waite, but
he kind of had like just wentoff play like Lebron played like a spectacular

(33:52):
superstar. There's nothing the Clippers coulddo that could have stopped it. Now,
Clippers gonna play better offensively, sure, exactly, I'll give you that.
But when a transcended player just hasone of those nights, sometimes you
just chalk it up to just myman just had one of those nights.
I'm not as concerned about that one. The Milwaukee one is concerning. Even
the Houston was Houston the second outof a back to back two Houston Houston.

(34:13):
They were on the second of theyplayed Wemby. They're young. Shane
Gun dropped forty five on them thenight before. Young team at home getting
ready, you know, running upand down. That can come up and
buy you every now and then.They're telling it routinely. Get off the
slow starts. Yeah they're an olderteam. Yeah, gonna wait those legs
up. I think they are builtfor the playoffs. So I'm not as
concerned about some of these things.Days off in between and all that,

(34:34):
so I'm not really that concerned aboutit, to be honest, Days off,
my ass. They got a fuckingmattinee back to back at home this
weekend, a time change I've metwith the playoffs start, You're right,
okay, if they stayed in thefloor, who would you want to see
in that fifth seat at them?Well, right now it's the Pelicans,
and I don't hate that. Ithink the best team the best matchup for

(34:59):
them, and I don't love anyof these matchups. It feels like there
could be upsets in the Western Conferencein the first round, almost across the
board. I think I'd take Sacramentojust because I want for narrative purposes,
because nothing would be satisfying, moresatisfying than if Sabonis just explodes and the
duke just lives in your mentions.Wait a second, Wait a second,

(35:22):
though, the duke, Eric Sklar, was the one saying how much better
Anthony Davis is than Demonta Sabonis whois now nine in zero against him and
had to head matchups in his career, And I think is a misleading.
I mean, it's a team stat, but but head to head numbers,
that's what give me the head tohead numbers. And I realized that I
would not go with the stats.Don't give me the nine to zero,

(35:44):
give me the he's averaging, youknow, a triple double, shooting fifty
four percent from the field. Thoseare the real numbers. Well, those
numbers still are fairly in favor ofSabonis, especially if you if you knock
out the fact that he started laterin his career. So those matchups were
He's in Anthony Davis versus you know, rookie Sabonis with Oklahoma City. I
get you, I just I justdon't like the Tom Brady's nine to zero

(36:07):
against the Dolphins was like the Dolphinswas sucked against everybody for ten years.
Of course he was, you knowwhat, my favorite, like whatever in
ostat was Kemba Walker and Lebron Jamesfor all those years. I was so
I was so disappointed he was.He was like twenty eat for twenty three
years before he finally beat Lebron James. It happened, It eventually happened,
But my god, did that lasta long time. But after what happened

(36:30):
to the Lakers in a forty onepoint turnaround. You're up by nineteen in
the first quarter, you're down bytwenty two at one point in the third
quarter, and Sabonis just going rightat Anthony Davis, who, once again,
after all the talk to start offthis season that oh it's his team.
Now he's got the keys, it'snot his team. Lebron's still the

(36:52):
best player on that team. It'sfucking crazy. He's thirty nine and he
still has to be the best playeron a team with Anthony Davis. That's
the truth. He's he's still thebest player by far, and he just
checked out in that game, likehe does many times. You're more skepticalle
of give him to that contract extension. I was like, you're paying him
to end up being the guy.I don't know if he can be the
guy. He is who he is, and Sabonis destroyed him. The thing

(37:13):
that's so frustrating to watch them timesthis is and this isn't unique to Anthony
Davis. A lot of guys dothis, but Sabonis the way that he
scores on you versus the shots thatAnthony Davis settles for, and those matchups
were the thing that I found themost frustrating. Like the twenty foot jumpers
and all that stuff. Yes,and Sabonis, you know, say what
you will about his lack of,like overall athleticism. There's very few guys

(37:35):
in the league who have you know, better patients, better footwork in the
low post, the ability to justplay amongst trees because his physicality just looks
so imposing, especially in that fourthquarter, to see him just bully Anthony
Davis, and to see Anthony Davisto some extent just settle for these you
know, no man's land, midrange fadeaways or just avoid the contact altogether.

(37:58):
I felt like, how of whatAnthony Davis gotten That game just came
because Lebron handed it to him,like created it for him through his dominance
and beyond the offense. If you'resupposed to be the best defensive big guy
or a candidate for Defensive Player ofthe Year, you can't have de Manta
Sapona's work you over what three timesalready this season and every had to head
matchup can't happen. You got tolock down the paint. You got to

(38:21):
be able to win your one onone matchups defensively, unless you're playing against
Jokic or somebody like that. SaBonus is a good four. We talked
about the fact that he should havebeen an All Star. He's a great
player, Anthony Davis. If you'resupposed to be better, great two way
player, MVP candidate, you can'tlet that happen to you. Well,
And that's why I'd be comfortable withthe Clippers taking on the Kings in the
first round, because Sabonis defensively isa liability. Their defense is compromised.

(38:42):
If that's your big man, Ithink you're capped at being a second round
team at best. As good ashe is, as great as he's been
this regular season, he's been special. He deserves MVP conversation stuff. I
guess they're still I think seventh rightnow. But yeah, Anthony Davis not
going at him on the all orend is even more perplexing to me.
But here's an interesting stat though,you know, because I look this up

(39:07):
because I was just curious. Uh, you know, Scar will generally trot
out the defense as the you know, well, this is what separates Davis
and some bonus. This year,the Lakers, with Anthony Davis off the
court have actually been a better defensiveteam than him than when he's on the
court him. It's a little surprising. I will just say the neck and

(39:27):
eyeball test doesn't show that, butclearly the numbers speak louder. Oh.
A lot of that probably can beattributed to the fact that when AD's on
the court, teams are shooting nearlyforty percent from three uh, and he's
been off the court that number dippedto closer to thirty three percent. So
he plays more minutes with second unitguys, and those units by the Lakers
get crushed because he and Lebron.People talk about the Lakers they're underperforming,

(39:52):
Yet these two guys are playing.You look at their plus minus, Like
Lebron's a plus eighty five on theseason. They're seven points better per one
hundred per sessions when he's on thecourt. But they're backups. They get
killed. And Anthony Davis is apart of those those second units, Like
that's what happens to him. Ilook, he is a much better defender
than Demonte Sabonis overall. Yeah,but I and I would take I hope

(40:15):
Scolar's not listening, but I wouldtake Anthony Davis over de monts Bonis.
But because of what I said,because ceiling wise, Sabonis caps you out.
But he's a much better playmaker thanDemanta Sabonis. If you're gonna go
after hit Sibonis in his defense,it's like, okay, Well, there's
another part of the game on offensewhere Sabonis is wildly better than Anthony Davis.
And that's what this is more consistenttoo. This is what I would

(40:37):
say, Adam, we're looking atwe hold Demontes Sabonis to the well,
he shouldn't be a first option onthat team, and that's why I don't
believe in them. We don't holdAdy to that metric. I mean,
we're supposedly gonna do it, butthe reality is Lebron's there and he continues
to be what he is. Sothat's where I always find the comparison a
little disingenuous, because Ady will havethese games where he's just disappears, fadeaway,

(41:01):
j's like bad shot selection, allthose things. Where Demonte Sabonis,
for all of his deficiencies, isjust so consistent in what he delivers,
and a lot of that happens tobe the type of thing that I think
can lift guys up around him interms of his creation and just his physicality
over the course of the game.That I think it's kind of unfair to

(41:22):
parallel the two against one another whenwe didn't see fantastic results, When when
Anthony Davis was in that portion ofhis career where he was the undisputed number
one option, and essentially we're ina situation where I think most people would
view the bonus as the team leader. The frustrating part for Laker fans with
Anthony Davis is you saw what hecould be when he actually does apply himself

(41:44):
on both ends. And that wasthat playoff run last year, right,
I mean he was as dominant hewas, OKC or excuse me, oh
yeah, basically our New Orleans Ishould say Anthony Davis for a lot of
that run. Now he ran intothe Dinver nuggets and that was a different
story. I can relate to thatfor sure. With the like that part
of the fan experience is I findthat super frustrating. I tend to be

(42:05):
much more favorable towards the guys whothey don't have to be great, they
just need to be consistent. Somaybe in that regard, that's why I've
always respected Sabonis to some extent.Its because I don't disagree with any of
the assessments that it's damn near impossibleto imagine a scenario where you could win
a title with that guy as thefocal point of your offense. But that

(42:25):
being said, it's so frustrating attimes to watch Anthony Davis and say,
Okay, you've got to You're goingagainst a guy who's not a noted defender,
and you're settling for stuff that Ijust don't want to see you settle
for, because clearly his ceiling isridiculous. It's just sometimes his floors are
madening. I still think that questionI brought up earlier about the Lakers getting

(42:49):
out of the first round. Ifthey get Minnesota or OKC, they're gonna
get out of it. Carl AnthonyTowns. If he has a full repair,
he's out for the season. Ifit's just a little snip snip with
the meniscus, yeah, he cancome back in a month or so,
not knowing how effective it'll be too. By the way, what if did
you guys did you see Aunt Edward'sgame? Oh yeah, my fucking god.

(43:09):
People want to talk about the NBAbeing better than it is today when
you've got guys like that and Wembyand Chit and old KD and Lebron and
Steph still dominating, Like, comeon, it was ridiculous to see him
make that block and have the backof his head hit the rim. It
was unbelievable. I'm excited. Ithink it sucks for Minnesota and I definitely

(43:34):
feel for them, being that I'mnot paralleling the Cavs experience of theirs because
it seems like that Cat injury isgoing to be something which takes him out
of the playoff run. The Cavesare just dealing with, you know,
Mobilia and Mitchell out for a periodof time. But to have a team
that's performing so far over expectations,to almost make it to the finish line
and then to lose one of yourcritical pieces, it's just a devastating blow.

(43:57):
But I'm excited to see what antdoes in this vacuum of usage.
Do you remember and it still getsa ton of run. MJ at North
Carolina hit the bottom of the backboardon a block with his head. Yeah,
guess what. That's not as highas the rim is what Anthony Davis
did last night to secure that gameafter he missed the free throw. Granted,
but he had forty four points.He was insane, No, Carl

(44:20):
Anthony Towns. That is an alltime closing moment in a ballgame like we've
never seen before, at least inthe regular season. That's you know that
that Yeah, I totally agree.You know what. My favorite hitting your
head on something moment though, isthe Dwight Pole clip of him running down
the tunnel before the game and he'sjust getting loose and jumping around and warming
up and he smashes his faces.We gotta play twopped up there? Uh?

(44:51):
I thought you were going to say, like Vladimir Almanovitch when he hit
his head on the ice after hewas snowboarding or whatever it was and preached
his contracts for the lake. Hesaid he was walking down the street with
a his hands in his pockets andhe slipped. Keep talking about Jeff Campton
did the same thing, right,He wasn't on a motorcycle. Bob,
thank you so much for doing thisonce again here on the NBA round Table.
We appreciate it. Where can wefind you? Where can people follow

(45:12):
you? At Fear of the froPot on Twitter? That's also where the
podcast is. If you want tohear about Dan Wade's crank, that would
be the most recent Episode's wrong withthat? Sure? I guess not a
game? Yeah, he got thebig the big d energy the other night.
I guess. Thank you, Bob, appreciate it. Man always fun.

(45:35):
Thanks for having me. Of course, we love y'all again the phone
number nine eleven ninety seven. Thisis Unfortunately we couldn't get Erkan for the
NBA round table. No bree breathetoday. But I'm just kind of hearing
spirit. I'm sure the Duke waslistening and he'll respond, Yeah, trust
me to respond, all right,Yeah, I'm gonna have to stick andre

(45:55):
on him. Thank you guys foryour calls again as Adam Mitch nine four
seven eight eleven ninety seven nine ninefour seven eight eleven ninety seven hit us
up on the socials at Fana' showon Instagram, Facebook and Twitter slash x
I M A K fig one,Adam? Is that follow Iam? Before
we get out of here? CanI just say one thing? What the

(46:16):
hell is wrong with Shaquille O'Neill beingsuch a casual that he only says Jokish
is the best big man in theleague. He's the best fucking player in
the league. If you are theRating Finals MVP and you won two regular
season MVPs just before that, andyou're in contention for another one, I

(46:37):
think you're the best player in theleague. Is that A debate last night
on TNT. He just always qualifiesit as best big many question on that.
No, of course they don't.They don't. They're all casuals too.
Best player interesting. I can't takeit. I'm sorry. There's your

(46:58):
NBA round table. Thank you,guys, have a good weekend. This
guy. Let me ask you somethingabout Joker. You've already said he's the
business, your best big man inthe game.