NBA Cup, James Harden Trade, Chet Holmgren, Celtics, Mavs & More

Episode 158: Arky Shea and Joel C. Cordes share their initial likes and dislikes of the NBA Cup so far as well as lamenting nearly everything about the James Harden trade for all involved. They also break down early-season surprises, disappointments and failed predictions from the NBA's first couple of weeks.

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Welcome in to hoop and by Association'se's call basketball by Association, but hooping
sounds cooler. I think that's whatthe cool kids call it. Joelsey Cortis
is one of those cool kids.Joel, Hello, sir, how are
you hey? I'm glad to behere. We will name episode. We'll
name the episode real quick. Wegot a lot to talk about. James

(00:23):
Harden trade the play or not playin tournament, the early season tournament,
whatever the NBA is calling it thesedays. And predictions of course that we
made in preseason just a couple ofweeks ago, that are already looking erroneous
before that, let's name the episode. Unfortunately later did last week with a
heavy heart. We've lost another bigtime NBA contributor, kind of from the

(00:47):
same era as well. We'll namethis after Walter Davis, the Phoenix Suns
and Denver Nuggets great, a sixtime All Star, four of those were
in his first four seasons in theNBA. He was the seventy seven to
seven the Rookie of the Year twiceon the All NBA team. He was
on the Rookie team as well,and in those twenty three aged twenty three

(01:07):
through twenty six seasons average twenty fourpoints a game twenty three, twenty one,
and eighteen. Went on to doeleven seasons in Phoenix, four with
Denver and two different stints, andone with Portland. So our condolences to
Walter Davis's family, and we'll tryto do him proud here, remembering the
Sun's swingman. Let's see if wecan actually do some justice in this,

(01:30):
mister joelse Cordis, let's start offtalking this broadcast about the playing tournament.
Baby, whoa, it's happening.It least somebody is excited. At least
somebody's excited. It's it's the beginningof November, like it lit like.
The season literally is six games in. Yes, you just four games for

(01:52):
some teams, if you're the BostonCeltics or the Sixers, who somehow are
like two games behind everybody. Tobe fair, I'm paying attention to my
New York Knicks, who are twoand four right now. But it's a
short, short losing streak, justa two game losing street, just just
a brief one, just a briefone. Get the bumps out of the
road. We're gonna talk, right. They can still go eighty two,
and it would be tougher than Ithought at the beginning of the season at

(02:15):
this point to be able to dothat. I won't really talk much about
the NIXT today because I don't careto, but I do mainly just say
this, from the beginning of thatschedule has been brutal for them. It's
been a tough one because how aboutthis. Who knew New Orleans was going
to be like a powerhouse right now? All we know about Boston, Milwaukee
and two teams I've lost to,But I would give it basically Boston the

(02:35):
toughest game so far they've had thisyear. Regardless, let's talk about this
play in tournament. Yeah, sowe all were skeptical about this concept when
it came out. I'll give theNB a little bit of credit. They
clearly are trying to make this abig deal visually for them. Basically to
paint overheard would put over a wholenew court and have this one particular designs,

(03:00):
just with different colors. A gianttrophy that no one knows exists technically,
but it's going to be apparently thechampionship trophy you get for the play
in tournament as the main centerpiece logoins that that aside. For now,
I'll just say the NBA cares alot about this, trying to make this

(03:20):
something. Right now, let meask you this, what's your thoughts because
we're not going to talk about thespecific games and all of it, because
again, it's just games account forthe regular season and technically for this play
intern right, this is just thefield play here early on, right,
So what do you think about theway the NBA is sort of trying to
launch this off the ground and presentit because this is what Fridays and tuesdays,

(03:43):
right? Yeah? I like theconcept so far. I like the
presentation concepts so far. The bigjust no, I like the concept.
I'm not sure how I like theexecution. The The courts are straight out
of a NBA two K fever dream, which is exactly what the league is

(04:05):
going for in that maybe fence ridingbasketball folks who all of a sudden are
on Instagram or maybe Sports Center orwhatever. You see it and you go,
what the heck, And you're gonnago check out why is my team
running this weird court? And you'regonna find out about this tournament that maybe

(04:26):
somehow skipped over your head because you'rea fence riding NBA fan. For those
who are more hardcore, you know, they are trying to tap in,
make this young, make it hit, make it very two K. I'm
too old, I guess, eventhough I love two K as much as
the next person, but I hatethe court design. It just seems really

(04:46):
childish and weird. There feels likethis is gonna sound old too classier ways
to do that, but to eachtheir own. I'm also the person you
can see behind me who loves thegaudy, tacky nineties jerseys, you know,
and that over the top design.So I realized I'm speaking out of

(05:09):
gaudy and tacky at the time,like those designs for the most part,
right we've this looks gaudy in tackingnow so like there were a lot of
people during the cartoon era who hatedit. Though here history will not show
kindly upon this tournament as far asthe first night of presentation, in the
first year of how it's presented visuallyon the court itself, I'm with you.

(05:30):
I don't love the idea of youknow, plastering some Sherman Williams all
over the pain, all over thecourts here. I don't mind custom courts,
just not monochrome colored, you know, disasters like this with oh,
by the way, here's this giantuh you know logo. That's really the
trophy that no one knows what itlooks like. So this is going to

(05:53):
blast into your memory. This iswhat it looks like. Look, we're
familiar with the Larry O'Brian, right, and even recently they've stopped putting that
thing on the court as gaudy asit used to be. And I don't
I don't think it's gaudy. Ithink it's actually a big deal to sort
of say this is what you're playingfor. This is kind of the big
thing that presentation to be more forthe NBA Finals, if you ask me.

(06:14):
Not necessarily the court, the wayit's color iceed, the way it
is still very bizarre, very bizarrefor me. But I feel like you
could take those secondary colors. Youcould fill the baselines, you could fill
even the three point lines. Youknow, some teams tried that about ten
years ago, with the different shadingbehind or inside of the three point line.
You could go that route and stillmake it seem like it's NBA basketball

(06:39):
or how about this, it's onecolor scheme for the entire NBA, Like
you create whatever you want the colorscheme, the gold and whatever, like
not the Lakers yellow. And youcreate a color scheme forward and you know
that if that court is on isbeing used, it's something different than just
your team, Like you can putyour logo on it. Everyone puts their

(07:00):
logos in other colors and other youknow, monochromes to be able to figure
you know, for whatever design thatthey want to be able to write.
So support whatever month that we happento be celebrating at that point. Yeah,
So do it that way as opposedto essentially giving an alternate court,
which these teams already do a bunchof alternate courts for the most part.
Anyway, you do skylines, youdo all kinds of stuff so that I

(07:23):
don't think it defeats the purpose.I just think there's a better way if
you wanted to make it pop likethat, I think there's probably more universal
because to me, Joel, itjust seems like a regular It should seem
regular when you keep it just thecolor scheme, and yes, the universal
throughout as far as the design ofit, it's just the team's colors.

(07:44):
It seems like it's just a teamalternate court as opposed to this is the
NBA's Ncason tournament courts, and there'sa secondary thing that's happening that could be
attached to it. But that's justme. The other thing that I'm not
on board with is the timing.And we talked about this months ago,

(08:07):
basically when the regular season or thepostseason ended of last year, and that
this was announced, and it's justtoo early. It's too early in the
season, you know, Like yousee these teams are most of people don't
even know that the games we're back, right, We're for four to six
games in teams have barely, likeyou said, started to get into a

(08:28):
rhythm. They don't even know theirrotations. And now twice a week we've
got these special games and people aren'tgonna know what they signify. To me,
if you wanted to make this abig deal, then make December your
month for this tournament. It's muchcloser to the mid season, even though
you're not quite there yet. Butmake the culmination of it your Christmas Day

(08:52):
games. Christmas Day is such abig deal in the NBA. It's the
unofficial tip off of the season becauseballs winding down, You've got a lot
of again fence riding NBA fans thatjoin the group. It's what's on TV
on Christmas Day. It's a reallycool thing and it's already there for you
to use. So why not makethe month of December the lead up to

(09:16):
the semi finals or even the finalshowever you want to do it on Christmas
Day? I would do the semifinals games on Christmas Day so that you
have multiple games to choose from again, and then you do the championship maybe
the following week. I know that'sgoing to run into like Bowl games and
stuff like that. Maybe that's whythey're trying to avoid this, But the

(09:37):
timing doesn't make it seem special.I agree, Like it's almost like you're
just throwing out there to get away, get it done with it already and
right this was supposed to be amid season tournament. There's nothing mid season
about this. You're barely season muchless. Did like you've been playing for
like a week and a half,Like, now are you able to do

(09:58):
all of this? Repla what's thepreseason with this? That? Like,
play a preseason tournament as your warmups. I don't know two things about
it. I want. I wantedto point out to you, did you
see what Bones Highland said about Thenhe was asked about the N season tournament.
You see, it's pretty great BonesHighlands for the Clippers. I was
asked, so does this feel alittle bit more special to you that in
season tournament to you? And heliterally said, to be honest with you,

(10:20):
man, I don't even know whatthe hell's going on. And I'm
like, yes, that's how everyoneis. Everyone's just like I guess,
we're just gonna show up on aweird court. We're gonna play. I
don't know what any of this means. My second thing I wanted to bring
up, did you see Uh?I got the quote up from Tyres Halliburton.
Uh. Did you see what hesaid about this in season tournament?

(10:41):
What's up? He said? Hesaid, I think the greatest incentive for
everybody to do it would be anautomatic playoff bid. He says, if
it was a playoff spot, Ithink everyone would take it very very serious,
right. I think the older teamswould take it serious too. The

(11:01):
problem with that you would have tovery much change the timing of this.
It would have to become a Januarymaybe even a February tournament, well because
it started it started on Halloween,basically, like I don't know, right,
So you're gonna have somebody that winsthis in Halliburton's world, wins this
thing in mid November and then canshut down the rest of their season essentially

(11:22):
to get great playoffs. That one'snot gonna fly. I would love for
the Rockets to be able to winthis to the midse Easter tournament. All
of a sudden they get to beone of the eighteens guaranteed or sixteen guaranteed
the spot, and then Washington getsit despite winning eighteen games on the year.
You know, like that it doesn'tmake sense with that timing, and

(11:43):
I don't think it makes sense todo an automatic playoff birth. What I
do think is you should put draftodds attached to this thing that you get
a ten to fifteen. Yeah,maybe twenty percent. Don't care about that
for the most part, right,Like you're trying to get the players to
care. So I think if Ithink guaranteed the playoffs spot would be good
and interesting and I'd be all aboardit. We would have to address the

(12:05):
timing of it. Uh, andwe would have to sort of address Okay,
so what if this team was atwenty four win team and they still
got the guaranteed plaoffs, But arethey automatically the last play in team to
speak like, you know, therewould have to be sort of a you
know, an acknowledgment of that,Yes, you're in the tournament as the
last week, if you're as bador if you're you know, I mean

(12:26):
literally all you're doing is guaranteed aspot. So contracts bonuses, contract bonuses
for the players, or a massivecharitable donation. But there are like a
million dollars right, yeah, soyou know, I'm just saying that's I
mean, that's not James Harden money. But you know, James Harden spends
that money on not playing per gamebasically what he does. That's called a

(12:50):
transition. James Harden is officially abasketball player again. Joelsey cordis like he
will, like he wanted all along. He is now a Los Angeles Clipper.
And really it worked like James Hardengot what he wanted in the very

(13:11):
end of all of this and nowhe is back in the NBA. Did
you see the first video of whenhe was introduced into the locker room with
the Clippers. Yeah, it didn'tlook great and it's a little cool,
right. It felt a little like, okay, all right, this is
who we gotta deal with, andlike it seemed like everybody was a little
stand offish until Russ, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden sort of talking to

(13:33):
each other. And even then ittook Russ a couple of moments before he
would get off the chair to belike, all right, what's up,
buddy. But it's a little like, okay, well, this is what
you wanted. Huh, all right, let's do this. I guess James
Harden is the only one that winsin this entire scenario. I'm one hundred
percent convinced of it, because hegot but he doesn't. But he doesn't.
James Harden won the battle and lostthe war. This is James Harden's

(13:58):
last NBA stop unless he suddenly turnsthis around and becomes a person that we
have never seen James Harden be.No one wanted James Harden except for the
Clippers who were willing to pay pennieson the dollar, and the Sixers finally

(14:20):
caved, So yes, James Hardengot moved, but there is nowhere else.
The Clippers have a very unique identitywhere they have been willing to take
on veteran players. They've been willingto take on guys with questionable backgrounds.
The Josh Primo from the Spurs whogot released by the Spurs after some indecent
conduct. The Clippers are given hima shot. That they're kind of becoming

(14:46):
the Oakland Raiders of the NBA toan extent, like they're willing to take
on problems. Looks willing to takethat spend a lot of money to try
to finally win a game, right, a trillion dollars into this new arena
that's got a thousand bathroom. Mmhmm. That's fine, but that take
bad risks some time to get toget the product you want. Yeah,

(15:07):
nobody was bidding against them. Hardenhas worn out his welcome in the NBA
and then to double down on thatwhen he gets to the Clippers and talk
about, well, I was ona leash in Philly and I'm not a
system player. I am a systemThis is what a thirty four year old
player, still in decline, stillin massive self denial about his abilities,

(15:33):
his impact on the court, stillwanting to be the center of attention and
have teams built around him. JamesHarden, that ship sailed three or four
years ago, and it's sailing awayever faster. When, not if,
but when he becomes disgruntled in probablyabout one calendar year from now, if
not sooner, because it seems likethese disgruntled cycles keep getting shorter and shorter.

(15:58):
For James Harden, there will benowhere to go. So the Clippers
are making this bed. But Iwon't even call James Harden a winner in
this. I'll just quote the phenomenalJim Peterson, who's the former NBA player
a color comment hitter for the Timberwolves. He was asked during a broadcast what
he thought about James Harden and whetherit moves the needle, and he said,

(16:21):
I will eat my own tie,bite for bite. You can give
me some barbecue sauce. I willeat my own tie. If the basketball
gods smile favorably on this and acquiringJames Harden delivers the Clippers a championship,
And that's my feelings exactly, Likethere's so much bad karma coming into this.
There's no way this works out well. Well he's not gonna have to

(16:45):
eat his own tie, right,So I will say this, and I
think we've sort of been very clearwhere we stand on James Harden. Look,
we were probably two of the lastdefenders of him for the last and
now I got I don't want tospeak for you, but I know I'm
out on defending him. I'm moreon board the Kyrie Irving train than I

(17:07):
am the James Harden train, becauseKyrie at least has been under good behavior
for these first six games of thefive games of the season for the Mavericks.
Well, there's still time, ofcourse, but it's true. Give
him a minute, give him aminute, We'll get there. I am.
I do think James Harden won becausehe got what he wanted in the

(17:30):
moment, right, he got whateverwhatever tike he got up his butt.
He didn't want to play any fieldanymore. And he was extremely not even
past progress. He was aggressively rude, uh and and me. He just
threw a tantrum, is what itdoes to his team. As far as

(17:51):
the way you handle this to obviouslythe general manager, the owner two,
I mean might as well like I'msorry, the governor h there the Phillies
Phelis. He's seventy six years.I I don't know, man, I
just I wished his attitude backed uphis talent more and it just or the

(18:15):
other way around, you know me. I guess at this point he still
can be pretty darn good and it'sjust he's been He was labeled with the
loser and not being able to winattack pretty early on. Uh, he
was with to being selfish guy justby being the guy that led the league
insist all the time, and Ithink those were fairly unfair. And then

(18:37):
he got it too, the selfishbecause he kept wanting to get out everywhere
he went, yeah, and theplaces that he hand picked to go,
and held a tantrum to get there. When he was given the thing that
he cried for in the convenience store, then he threw it on the ground
and said, I don't want that. I want this instead. Let me
tell you what definitely like So Ialready was thinking this, but what definitely

(19:00):
sealed the deal for the way Iwas perceiving him When he walked into that
locker room they were filming, hewas well aware of him. They were
in front of him filming as hewalked in, the players are in there,
everyone else knows he's filming, andthis is the thing that's going to
go on social media, right,this is the thing that's going to pop
up on the news everywhere that's coveringthis team and covering sports. When he

(19:22):
walks in and the he is teammates, his brand new teammates who he thought
he was going to go to inthe summer, can't feign excitement for the
filming of this. It's pretty darnevident at that point that this was a
Hey, we're in a business relationshipat this point, right, and you've

(19:45):
got one guy here who really reallywants you. And I would say it's
more of a really not it reallyreally wants you, and that's russ Uk
tolerate you. And it's literally justthe owner saying, we'll do a little
pick sarage. We'll figure that out. Just let us have them, and
we'll pay the giant salary and we'llsee if we pair him up with team

(20:06):
him up with with Kawhi and PaulGeorge and maybe this is the combination which
pretty good start. Which, bythe way, Harden's contract expires this year,
so when this doesn't go very welland the Clippers. Yeah right,
so it was pennies on the dollar, but still in the grand scheme of

(20:26):
things, a bit to give upfor a one year rental, but at
least the Clippers have an out.And when they don't offer him the contract
that he thinks he deserves and hestarts to bitch about that, again,
there's nobody out there right now,barring a miraculous turnaround where Harden becomes the

(20:48):
ultimate team player and one of thegood guys, and the Clippers massively,
you know, outpace expectations, barringthat happening, and even that would come
with huge caveats, because we're gonnago no, no, no, no,
that was just contract, hear JamesHarden. We're not signing up for
this. Like he's ruined his abilityto get that next big deal. This

(21:10):
is gonna be one year deals ifhe even has a future. And will
he even accept that, because Ithink he's gonna come in. The offers,
if they're even there, are goingto be massively lower than what he
believes he deserves. Let's talk aboutsome of the stuff that's happened on the
court so far this season. TheBoston Celtics looks like they'll never lose.

(21:30):
Uh, They've been just ridiculous inthe first four games. And yes,
it's just four games, and we'veseen people look really really stout in the
first handful of games in the seasonbefore. But this smells different. This
smells like it has the ability tobe a dominant NBA East team and a
team that could dominate their way throughthe Eastern playoffs. Again, we're just

(21:53):
not the play in tournament. We'vegot plenty of time to be able to
sort of figure out this is.Health is going to be a big thing.
That's gonna be a big factor forthem. And they got a short
bench as well that they'll have tosort of rely on if that becomes a
thing. Got to worry about christofsporsthing is clearly how many games he's gonna
be on or off for this team. But I think I saw, like

(22:15):
they're starting five net rating was likeplus thirty six or something, and like
the next highest one was like aplus thirteen. Like they're just they're dominant
so far. They are dominant.Now, part of that doesn't hurt that
you win by like fifty plus andwinning your games to start off the year,
but they haven't been closed all yearlike they did, been really really

(22:37):
good and they've just if nothing else, they've been so talented. And I'll
tell you this, Drew Holliday,no great form, far, great form
so far. Yeah. And thechemistry, I think the chemistry right off
the bat, despite adding two brandnew pieces who are key contributors. It's
not like, oh, we addedtoation guys in the bench or one starter

(23:02):
in rotation guy. No, theseare two high minute starters who are key
cogs. And what you're doing thatthe chemistry is there already between people and
they understand their role is fantastic.And I think it speaks to the again,
the veteran abilities of Drew Holliday tounderstand what it takes to come in
and Porzingis at this point is aveteran. But I think Porzingis has to

(23:23):
be relishing that he is finally ona team where he's not being asked to
be the second best or even thevery best player every single night, which
is where it was all the otherstops in his career in New York.
He had to be the best Dallas, he had to be, you know,
Luca's wingman, and he wasn't healthy. Washington he was much more healthy,

(23:44):
but he oftentimes needed to be thebest player because Brad Beal was hurt
so often, so they got tobe loving this. I had concerns about
their depth. A lot of thatwas on the front line, but some
of that now is being addressed withthe fact that Boston playing small. They're
putting Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum upfront along with Porzingis, which I think

(24:06):
makes sense. You can get awaywith that when Brown is such a great
defender and you have two elite defendersand Drew Holliday and Derek White, Jason
Tatum competes on that end. Porzingisis a shot blocker, and what it's
done is it's moved Al Horford tothe bench and allowing him to be the
second big, which makes sense atthis point in his career. I don't
think he should be a starter oreven a high minute guy. But it

(24:27):
bumps O'shae Brissette and Lamar Stevens andLuke Cornette into lower minute roles, which
is a big deal for Boston.They still feel like they could be one
big away, but maybe they're not. With the way they're deploying this.
Their depth is going to start toget tested. Now Derek White is out
at least coming up for the nextgame, but it might be longer.

(24:48):
And as they start to get intothe season and you have guys begin to
miss games here or there. Nowall of a sudden, a Peyton Pritchard
has to start, or a SamHouser starts, or Al Horford starts in
one of the other their bigs hasto play more minutes. Lamar Stevens I
think makes a lot of sense asa spot starter for them, but it's
the guys who then have to stepup for the reserve who's being moved into

(25:10):
the starting lineup. That's where I'ma little concerned about Boston's depth. But
they've been so good in these firstfour games that it's not really a concern
yet, but it still remains somethingwhere they're probably a player away. But
yeah, they they look like they'vegot it figured out quicker than the Bucks
did. And even though Philadelphia's offto a really nice start here, you

(25:32):
know, probably stronger than we thoughtthey were going to be. And there's
a few other teams heading out ofthe gates fast enough, Boston looks like
the team to beat in the Eastand that's where you were seeing them,
and I was wrong in that case. But again, let's let's wait until
we're fifteen twenty games in and we'llhave a better idea of those five.
Boston's well, but they've looked really, really good. I think the Knicks

(25:55):
are a pretty good team even thanthey're not showing you completely. Yeah,
so far, that's their toughest gameas far as the point spreads so far,
as like a four point victory onopening night. Cleveland will get back
into the field. They're off toa really slow start like New York as
well, but there's injuries involved there. So yeah. I think what we're
going to find interesting about this earlyportion of the season is that if if

(26:22):
Boston feels like it's not much ofa test, do they, because of
their depth, hang back a littlebit some do they not try to exert
themselves hearly as much. We're alreadytalking about it early on in the season
about how you know you know what? Uh? Beal and and Book are

(26:45):
both not playing games. It's earlyon for Rest, like was a Beal
that missed opening game because of rest, Well he hasn't played yet. He's
had back issues. Whether you wantto call it rest or back issues.
Bal has yet to play for Phoenix. Yeah, Booker Poker did visibly get
hurt during the first game and missedup until the other night against San Antonio

(27:06):
when he played at thirty points,and then they shut him down because it
was a back to back, sohe's not he didn't play the other night
or the upcoming game. I forgetwhich it is, but it's expected to
be back, so I wouldn't classifythose as like load management type rest Yet
I'm a little suspicious of Beal.Phoenix doesn't have to have him for a

(27:26):
while, really, like they well, they're two and three, they may
need him sooner than they thought.Well, I think again, I think
there there are a handful of teamsout there that just get to the playoffs.
We can if we're all healthy,we could beat anybody that we're gonna
be able to go up against.I think Phoenix is one of those teams.
It's gonna be like, even thoughwe predict them to be better than

(27:47):
what you know, the two andthree says at this point, they probably
most likely will not be. Youknow, a team that wins with two
of forty of their games the wholeseason. Still think that's gonna be a
team that as long as they cait in there'll be a pretty good matchup
for just about anybody, and feellike that they can win. All right,
let's move on more stuff happening inthe old Basketball by Association world.

(28:12):
I'm I'm not prepared for the Mavericksto be this good. I'm not prepared
for them to be so good froma from a point differential standpoint, from
how Luca has been so far,how Kyrie's been clean so far. Is

(28:38):
there a chance that we were completelywrong on Dallas? There is a chance.
I think every single year there's acouple of teams that jump out to
a really nice start and then it'snot sustainable. Dallas we looked at and
said, are they anywhere near talentedenough to win in this Western Conference.

(28:59):
Yes, they've got some great topline talent, they've got some nice bit
pieces, but depth wise and topbottom talent, they just don't seem like
they're there. Chemistry wise, there'sno way they can be there because Luca
and Kyrie looked, you know,not great last year, and there was
so much uncertainty about how you weregoing to run that team in that hierarchy.
Well, all of a sudden,the chemistry does look like it's there,

(29:22):
and Kyrie and Luca seem to havefigured something out, which is let
Luca play at an NBA MVP level, which is what he's doing. Remember
he said Luca had a shot lastyear and maybe it's not going to happen
and the MAVs won't be good enough. Well, right now, five six
games in, Luca would be yourMVP and his candidacy is going to get
a lot stronger. I jallus staysin the playoff field. It's davaging thirty

(29:45):
four games. Okay, yeah,it was thirty nine going into their last
game, and it's almost a tripledouble on top of that, so you
know it's insane. But Luca carryingthe torch and Kyrie being an elite shot
maker, which is what Kyrie does, and he doesn't have to have the
ball in his hands. They aresplitting them up. But they've got enough

(30:06):
other guys who are filling gaps rightnow. Grant Williams has been fantastic for
them as far as knocking down pickties, making the hockey assist, making the
screen, and I think the onewho's really standing out, even though the
numbers have only jumped off the pagein one or two games. But Derek
Lively looks like an inspired pick forDallas in that he's the type of rim

(30:29):
running center who is more talented thana Dwight Powell but can get up at
the rim like Dwight Pole did.And Luka Doncic is going to make Derek
Lively a lot of money in hiscareer if they play together long term,
and Lively's going to make Luca's joba lot easier. There's a lot of
potential there for such a young guy, and the fact that they can pencil

(30:51):
him in for reasonable minutes, andthat Grant Williams looks like he was worth
every penny Dallas expended to get hima lows bench guys like Tim Hardaway and
Josh Green and Maxi Kleva, SethCurry, you know, even Dwight Powell
to fit into more realistic roles.They still have a gaping hole at one

(31:11):
of the forward spots. Derek JonesJunior is not an NBA caliber starter.
He's been a spot starter for manyseasons in a row. Now where he
loses that job by game twenty five, that's gonna happen in Dallas as well,
so they're probably a body or tooshort, but again, you'll take
it. You got a bank asmany games as you can if you're Dallas.

(31:32):
Even though a couple of these winscame against you know, San Antonio
on opening night and against Houston,they've taken advantage of a weaker schedule.
They've been Chicago on the schedule,Brooklyn on the schedule, you know,
as you mentioned San Antonio on theschedule, like, yeah, but they've
won the games, and that's whatthe port of part last year. This
team probably doesn't win all of thosegames to start off. And granted Denver
did come bring them back that backdown to earth last night with the one

(31:56):
twenty five one fourteenth victory, butstill I did not expect them to even
take advantage of this schedule at thispoint. So they look cohesive. That's
the biggest thing. The cohesive andsome of the stuff I've seen them early
and I haven't seen a ton ofthem, it looks like what they're running
is actually working nicely. They looklike they they've had a very quiet offseason.
We talked about it in the offseason. It did see they didn't make

(32:20):
a whole bunch of noise, andmaybe some of that was just for the
better, but they just were outthere, just getting getting connected and playing
ball. So there are five.I mentioned that Luke is leading the league
with the points per game at thirtythree point eight. We'd like to take
a guess how many players in theNBA at this point are averaging over thirty
a game. I was looking atthe list, so this will be cheating
a little bit, but my guessis, and I didn't look at the

(32:43):
exhaustive list of thirty. We're gonnaguess at six it is five. Would
you like to take a guess ofthe names? I have this pulled up,
So I'm gonna I'm gonna, well, well this urge to go click
over. All right, So we'vegot Luca right, We've got Steph.

(33:04):
STEP's averaging thirty point eight. He'sfourth. We have me at least look
at my standings here. I won'tlook at this. I'm gonna look at
I am. I am. JasonTatum is one of those guys. Jayson
Tatum is now he is six attwenty nine point eight, twenty nine point

(33:25):
eight. That just off. Iwill throw Durant and Durant to twenty seven
point four. Okay, all right, give me the other guys because I'm
heading in the wrong direction here.Uh. Joel Embiid's fifth at thirty point
three, Steph Curry thirty point eight, the Aaron Fox thirty one point three,

(33:49):
and Donovan Mitchell at thirty two pointeight, and Luca Is at thirty
three point eight. So again,handful of games in. But you know,
if I was, if I wasdonavand Mitch, I'm screenshot in that
and I'm going to blow it upand I'm gonna keep it in my in
my house because I don't think I'mfinishing the year second in the in the
league in scoring. Maybe maybe,Uh, but no, it's a hard

(34:12):
sign for that Cleveland team. Ifhe's got to average that many, it's
not the best. It's not thebest. What's up with the Grizzlies.
The Grizzlies. I had comfortably inthe playoffs. Uh. The Grizzlies are
the only team in the NBA thathas yet to win a game. And
yes, there is one very importantinjury on this team. And John Moran

(34:35):
is also out and suspended for thefirst twenty five games. But it's almost
impossible not to have won a game. You know, at this point there's
enough players in the league where badteams win all the time. What do
you think's up with Memphis right now? They are really struggling to be able
to generate shots and generate good shots. One of the the weaknesses that the

(35:01):
Grizzlies had. They were a onestar team with a couple of other guys
who were developing in the near stars. Job was the engine that ran things,
not only because he was the oneguy who could get his own shot
on nearly any possession, but hewas a good setup man because of that
gravity and that creativity that he createdin order to get the ball to a

(35:22):
Desmond Bane who can run off screens. He can play catch and shoot,
but is not going to be somebodywho generates his own looks as efficiently.
Same thing with Jaron Jackson Junior.He can finish plays at the rim,
he can shoot outside a little bit, but you don't want him having to
be his own setup man. MarcusSmart is not a high minute shot creator

(35:43):
for himself. He can be afacilitator, but there's nobody else on this
roster, and then you lose yourbest screen setter, and Steven Adams who's
out for the year, and oneof the guys you know, unsung,
who you could throw the ball ina pick and roll to and he's at
least going to be able to finishthe play. They just I don't know

(36:06):
if this is going to get allthat much better. They're loaded with role
players. I think they're going tohave to dig into being a better defensive
team, and that's a work inprogress. They don't even have their starting
lineup figured out. They should bebetter defensively than they are with Marcus Smart
there, but it's been a messand a lot of it though, when
you look at the box scores isreally inefficient offense. I think as the

(36:29):
defense comes around, they'll play better. But remember every time that Jah got
hurt. In the past, theyhad Tias Jones as a setup man,
and even though Jones is not aguy who creates his own shot, Jones
was fairly elite at setting other peopleup and they were able to keep the
offense at a reasonably efficient clip.Marcus Smart is not that type of setup

(36:50):
man for himself or for others,and it's not a knock on Smart.
He does so many other things veryvery well. And he's scoring. I
mean, he may wind up witha career high in score, but it's
not gonna be very efficient. Thereis only one team that has the worst
point differential in the league right nowthan the Memphis right now. That's Washington.

(37:10):
By the way, I won't makeagainst that game. It's another fun
guessing game. And Memphis has lostto some bad teams, uh in this
They got blown out just the othernight by by Utah. Last night they
ended up having to go to overtimeagainst Portlandy'll play them again tonight, uh

(37:32):
for their second matchup, but theylost that game in overtime. I was
just look at who I missed outthe opening that was he's the Pelicans,
But that turned out to be putting. They lost to the Wizards. That's
not what The Wizards only win againstthe Grizzlies. And Washington has looked awful,
you know, in the same waythat Memphis has looked awful. John

(37:54):
Moran needs to like he owes histeammates alex or a car or a PS
five each or all of the above, because he has screwed these guys over
and screwed this team over with hisimmaturity, and it does speak to his
impact on the court. But man, if you want to be a leader,

(38:15):
the type of leader that it seemedlike you were showing yourself to be,
you can't bail this particular team out. They do not have the horses
to be able to win NBA gameswithout you. And by the time he
does come back, they might havefigured something out and then you got to
reintegrate him, get him back intogame shape, and the season may be

(38:36):
too far gone for Memphis in thisWestern Conference, Washington giving him one hundred
and twenty five a game, includingone hundred and forty three against the Pacers
on opening night. The Pacers involveda lot of high scoring games. Yeah,
because then they turned in Boston abuck fifty five or whatever it was.
Right, It's like mercy, what'sgoing on there? But that's much

(38:57):
more we can talk about another time. Okay, I wanted to bring this
up just because you were finally sincewe last spoke, a chance to see
in person, Dame time Damian Lillardand these Milwaukee Bucks have been a little
slower to realize the dream that Ithink a lot of people were expecting.
Dame Lillard has a great first game, first great first outing out there,

(39:20):
throws what forty up in that gameand ever since Milwaukee's been a little water
tready right now, So what areyour thoughts so far on Damian Lillard with
the Bucks and the time has takenthem to sort of get up to speed
and to be one of those eliteteams. Yeah. I saw Dame's second
game in Milwaukee. It was againstAtlanta. Atlanta punked him. They got

(39:42):
up from the start. Milwaukee hadvery little fight within them. It was
one of the worst games of Lillard'scareer, following up, you know,
one of the best of his career. He think he finished with six points
after having put up thirty nine.He was seventeen of seventeen from the free
throw line in that opening game forMilwaukee against Philly and against Atlanta. He

(40:04):
doesn't get to the free throw lineeven once. There were other things that
went wrong in that game, butDame looked completely passive, wasn't looking for
his own shot. When he didtake it, it was forced to the
point that he was out there movingslow and we were wondering if he was
sick, if he was under theweather. That was never reported. He
just talked about them not being onthe same page yet and having to work

(40:25):
through it. Those things happened,but the energy level was really concerning.
They were without Chris Middleton in thatgame as well, and Atlanta just was
hitting everything. But Milwaukee's had acouple of other outings like that too,
where Dame looks really good and thendoesn't, and there's an inconsistency to all
this, and I think it istrying to figure out the points of attack

(40:47):
for Milwaukee. They've been trying toget Janis going early, when typically it
used to be that they would getMiddleton and Lopez trying to go early,
maybe Drew Holiday and finish out withthe honest down the stretch now, you
know, and then back to Middletonand crunch time. Now it's been get
Giannis rolling early and get Dame rollingin the second half, and everybody else

(41:10):
is just gonna eat as they're open. Lopez, Middleton and Malik Beasley,
who's a newcomer to the starting lineupand has been streaky as usual. Get
those guys going where they're open.Bobby Portis is somebody that they will run
plays for once he gets into thegame, whether it's a scheme thing with
Adrian Griffin. Whether it's a fitwith Lillard and Ontitu Compo, it's just

(41:30):
too early to tell. But you'reright, it's it's not been seamless up
to this point. I did notbelieve you went to the game until I
saw this. Look at this,Look at this beautiful guy. Where in
the sunglasses inside the arena? Jelseycord Is, what is going on with
you? How hashtag? Hashtag CoreyHart, I wear my sunglasses at night.

(41:54):
Uh, now we're just we're goofingaround and taking some stupid photos and
oh, here's stupiddo stupid Atlanta Hawks. Yeah, it was. It was
disappointing because it was I think thefirst time that I was seeing Dame in
person. I've seen so many gamesat this point it's hard to keep them
track. And that's not a humblebrag, but it sounded like one.

(42:15):
No, it's just a straight upbreak. But you know, so I
was excited to see Dame. Icould have seen him last year. We
went to a Pelicans game in NewOrleans against the Blazers, but Dame had
been sitting most of the year andwe knew he wouldn't play. But it
was just completely underwhelming. The Hawkslook good though, and then the Hawks
the following night beat my Minnesota Timberwolves, who had a twenty one point lead

(42:36):
at halftime against him, and theHawks erased that by the end of the
third quarter and go on to winby double digits. So Atlanta, all
of a sudden, after starting outh to two, figured out how to
defend and play with some energy andthe shots started falling. So it's not
like Milwaukee lost to Washington or lostto Memphis, but the way they lost
was really disappointing and they're going tohave to get that figured out. Pretty

(42:57):
good seats here that two. Youguys came out correct with that scene.
Not bad at all, sir.Yeah, I was. It was a
fun time. It was my firstfirst time in the five serve for him.
That had been to the Bradley Centermany many times while that building was
up in Milwaukee, but had notseen the Bucks News Stadium yet, and
it was cool. At least gotto see Joannis play a decent game,

(43:20):
and you also have got to seeone of the best national anthem performances ever
from one play that was that Iwas there. I was there. That
was the talk of sports talk Twitterwas ready of the next day. He
was, Yeah, he cared,he can't. He wanted to sing and
get that song. He was passionateabout it. He did. I'll give

(43:43):
it to him. Like when hewhen he stepped up there and we're all
like, oh my goodness, whatis going on? But then by the
opening note, we're like, Okay, this won't be a train wreck.
It started to get a little bitshake eater in some of the harder sections
of the in the second half,and we're just like, you know,
just land the plane, baby,come on, baby, just land the

(44:05):
plane. You can do this.Don't go off the rails. But yeah,
credit to him. He he didn'ttry to do too much. He's
saying it a little slower than expected. I think, yeah, maybe he
drugged that one out. If youwere had the over under in the plant
the bed for the Super Bowl withthis guy, you definitely hit the over
bile. It was. It wasMariah Carey level of pace, but not
quite as much vocalizing over the top. But I think he was just trying

(44:29):
to stay on top of the lyrics, stay on top of pitch. It
was slow, it was a littleawkward, but it was in the grand
scheme of things. One of themost average national anthems that I've ever heard,
because sometimes you get you know,the younger kids who are up there,
you get somebody else and they're justoff pitch from the start and they're
struggling through it, and everybody givesthem that little polite cheer halfway to try

(44:52):
to try to build him along.But I mean, he he didn't embarrass
himself. He didn't embarrass himself,and he didn't embarrass the song. So
we were all witnesses that night andit turned out to be the highlight of
the game before the game had evenstarted. Let me ask you this before
we get out of here, becauseI think this would be a good spot
to end done and not flavor flavesnational anthem, although worthy of our discussion

(45:17):
so far, your biggest surprise oneway or the other. Positive, Actually,
let's do a positive and a negative. Your biggest surprise or the thing
that shocked you the most, orsomething that just said general has surprised you
positively and negatively about so far theperformances in the NBA this year. Positively,

(45:39):
I'll throw it out to the DenverNuggets that they've picked up right where
they left off last season. Thestarting five is peerless at this point.
I mean, they're just rolling together. They know how to play. My
main concern with them, though,was their bench and a lot of guys
that well, not a lot,but a few guys who I was saying,

(46:00):
maybe ready down the stretch, butI don't think they're ready yet,
and that was Zeke Naji, especiallyin Peyton Watson, who are both on
the front line for Denver, andafter having watched a couple of Nuggets games,
I have to retract what I said. Both of those guys are ready
to be rotation players for the Nuggets. They're bringing an insane amount of energy.

(46:20):
They're bringing some length and shot blocking. Offensively, it's a little rough.
They're both raw products, but theycan finish plays around the rim.
They've run the floor. They haven'tbeen afraid to shoot, which sometimes when
you're a raw offensive player, youget into either irrational overconfidence or you're just
not trusting your shot. And theyboth seem to understand their limitations and play

(46:42):
within that. And when you've gota table setter like Nikola Jokic and you've
got a starting lineup that's been readyto move the ball, and even Reggie
Jackson. I've got to give ashout out to you know. I thought
there wasn't much tread left on thetires for Reggie, but Reggie's really playing
into the veteran back up point guard, table setter, make the right play,

(47:02):
make the hockey assist, be acalming type of presence out there,
and then knock down a big shotwhen needed. He's in a good role
for them, and those guys havestepped up. Christian Brown looks to be
about where he was last year,which is he'll give you a couple eye
popping athletic plays and some good defensethroughout the game, but you probably don't
want to rely on him for toomany minutes. So again, if a

(47:23):
major key piece in the starting lineupgoes down for Denver, this is a
different story. But you can saythat about most teams in the NBA.
But denver second unit, which Ididn't think was ready, does look ready.
And so Denver, I mean Ihad them at fourth or fifth in
the final final standings for the season. I think I'm gonna wind up having

(47:43):
been too low because Denver's on aheater to start things out, and something's
going to have to change to convinceme otherwise. I'm not giving this team
the title again or a repeat.But they are picking right up where they
left off and dispelling my doubts,at least negatively for me. Is gonna
be a Memphis I have them predictedto finish fourth in the West. It

(48:07):
is the worst possible because scenario forthem right now not to be able to
win. I don't know how muchthey're gonna be able to correct over the
next twenty games or so before John'sable to get back. So that's been
a disappointment. I'll tell you.The biggest surprise for me positively has been
Anthony Davis. Anthony Davis has comein and started this season off hot.

(48:30):
He is averaging twenty six plus agame, thirteen rebounds. He's top three
of the league in rebounds. He'snumber one of the league in blocks per
game, averaging over three blocks upper game. Early on this season.
He has come out on fire.He is in shape, he is ready
to go, he is pumped.It looks like to be out there and
be a force for the Lakers.I was a little skeptical of him.

(48:52):
I know how good he could beat times, but I still was a
little skeptical coming into this year becauseAnthony Davis isn't a young boy anymore.
He's been around a long time,and he's had a bunch of not only
just miles he's put on his bodybecause of some games he's played, but
also because those injuries too, Soat some point when does that slow him
down? Early on, he's verymotivated, he's very very good. Back

(49:15):
to sort of MVP form of AnthonyDavis, and I think he's been really
for me, a very pleasant surprise, A big surprise for me to be
this official. This is effect,is this efficient? I me he's shooting
f forty eight percent from three.Granted he doesn't take like five threes a
game. He takes like two,like one and a half or two,
but still very good, very goodAnthony Davis. We've gotten to start this

(49:37):
season. One other positive surprise forme and then a quicker negative. The
other positive for me has been shutHolmgren's play in Okay. See, I'm
not surprised that they're sitting at threeand three and they're winning some games and
the starting lineup looks nice. Ithought Holmgren's arrival was gonna let everybody slot
into better spots. And the startinglineup was already pretty decent last year.

(49:58):
But Holmgren right now is statistically outplaying Victor Wembinyama, and wem ben Yama
has been as good or better thanadvertised. Holmgren's been filling up the stat
sheet all over the place. Lookslike the real deal. Looks like a
potential second or third star in OklahomaCity along with Shai Gilgess, Alexander and

(50:19):
then however you choose to slot in, you know, Josh Giddy or Jalen
Williams about whether you think they're thesecond or third guy. But Holmgren maybe
the second wheel in the long run. Great on Oka. See. The
negative surprise for me is just circlingback to where we started near the top.
I'm a little bit bummed that bothNew York and Cleveland are off to
such slow starts. In Cleveland's case, they just get Jared Allen back.

(50:44):
Darius Garland has missed some time.They've had some other guys missing time,
but it hasn't looked cohesive at all. And you got a lot of helpful
three point shooting pieces that were supposedto unlock the rest of the offense.
So it's a work in progress.New York has been really shooting the ball
poorly. I mean Jalen Brunson andJulius Randall, as you know, Archie

(51:05):
off to slow starts. But it'sother guys too, just decent looks.
It's not falling. You think thatthat will, you know, improve as
the season goes on, people willprogressed back to the mean. But man,
I had New York in second placeand Cleveland in third place. When
it's all said and done, We'restill so early, and the NBA season
typically is so long that things shakeout. But I'm looking a little bit

(51:30):
shaky on those predictions here with theway those two teams have kind of limped
out of the gate. Well,to be fair, the Knicks are close
to seconds or tenth, but Ithink they're like what two games out of
like second place or something, rightright, This can change in two weeks.
And Jayleen Brunson did go for likefifty last night. It was forty

(51:50):
five or forty six or something lastnight, still lost up. That's the
bad thing. They they split withCleveland. They had back to back with
them, so one of their winsis Cleveland and the other win was oh,
Budge, who was it that?It was their other win Atlanta?
Atlanta was their other win. Butthey've lost to Milwaukee, They've lost the
Pelicans, who were you know whodidn't talk about by Who's like they lost

(52:15):
the Boston on Opening night, lostto Boston but been Boston's closest game.
It's just been a tough schedule forthem early on. It's been a really
it's been a really tough schedule.Cleveland's an interesting matchup for them every time
that they're gonna be able to playgood thing. Got two of those out
of the way early. Just getthose bad boys taken care of it.
Just but they're Milwaukee's just a it'sa good team. They're no rounded the

(52:36):
shape at some point and they youknow, they're not Milwaukee's not a bad
team. They're just you know,they're a hard matchup. Boy. It
does disappointment that they scored forty fivepoints, but for Jaylen Brunston and still
lost that game. It's and they'renot getting blown out for the most part.
They're still there's still playing close,so they're they're near. They just
got to get over that hump,which is a bad part. You always
talk about how you know, theschedule is tough, but if you're a

(52:58):
good enough team, you have towin some of those games, right,
and that I don't think this teamcohesively is to the point where they are
able to win those close, toughgames like Milwaukee was close, right,
Boston was close. Right, Bostonwas one of those sweet, sweet hey,
let's blow a fourth quarter lead thingslike you've done many times over the

(53:20):
last couple of years with Tom Thibodeaux. I do want to say this as
we leave, I'm very proud ofthis podcast today. Fifteen minutes in before
we talked about and mentioned the nameVictor wimbin Yama. How about that,
huh? We give flowers to otherpeople besides the dude who's just a seven
foot five freaking Yeah, he's afreak and he does freaky things, and
he is better than advertised through thefirst you know, five six games here.

(53:45):
As far as progressing, you andI talked about that last week of
what is his progress report going tolook like? And yes, there's gonna
be some ups and downs, ebbsand flows, there'll be a rookie wall,
there'll be the scouting reports, youknow, really test him after twenty
games, those sorts of natural thingsthat happened, But his ability to make
adjustments from one game to the nextand not make the same mistakes. Again,

(54:08):
that's really scary. It's a signof good coaching, but it's a
sign of somebody who's very coachable andunderstands the game too. R J.
Barrett averaging more points than Victor Wembnyama, who's the better player? Now,
thank you. We can talk aboutVictor Wimbinyama for the next fifteen years probably

(54:29):
and we will, But there Ithink the more interesting stories for the first
two weeks of the season, andit'll be really interesting if Chut Holmgren stays
on this tear. Does he makea serious run at wembin Yama for Rookie
of the Year or is the leaguelike, no, we need it to
be Victor, he's good enough.And then talk about two guys like the

(54:50):
similar frames and the styles of thebe able to play like you don't have
seven footers that can handle the balllike that generally, much less two of
them in the same conference hanging outout that you're able to sort of And
again, we we are entering Imean, we already have been in a
strong, strong age for elite NBAcenters. But I think with the additions
of Holmegrin and Wembin Yama, weare looking at a golden age here.

(55:15):
When you throw in Jokic and Embiid, you know, you can put Karl
Anthony Towns and there is maybe notelite at those same level with those guys,
but a good center Demonicas a bonus, you know, is starting at
center. At this point, there'sprobably one or two other guys that have
killing it. I mean Sacramentos atthe start off as they were last year,
but he's killing it now. Imean, Sacramentos still got great,

(55:37):
great depth in in great frontline players. They're they're they're just a little slow
to come at the gate. Butyou have Jalen Duran, you know,
tearing it up in Detroit. Detroit. Detroit's a sneaky fun team. Like
if you get it, if yourteam plays Detroit, don't skip that game.
What I think you'll enjoy that game. What that game? And you

(55:59):
you do have a handful of otherreally solid centers out there. DeAndre Ayton,
Brook Lopez, Miles turn Andre AD'sdoing great import Yeah, make them
month. Rudy Gobert if a Kazobots. I mean, there's a lot
of solid, solid centers, andthen we've got five elite guys or near
elite guys. You look back atthe Golden Age, you know, in

(56:22):
the early mid nineties, right arounda shot came in that was about the
same disparity or the same deployment ofelite versus solid across the league. And
I think we're right there. Sothis idea, it's been dispelled a while
ago about there not being enough goodbig men in the league, but it's

(56:43):
gone past that. It's not justoh yeah, we've got some good ones.
I think we're heading back into anew golden age of NBA bigs.
I really do all right this timenext week, you is your prediction will
golden? I'm sorry, God,Will Mephit have won a game? And
will Boston have lost a game?By the time we talk next week,

(57:05):
Memphis will win one. Boston willnot lose. Yet, Boston, it
feels like one of those teams isgoing to start out eleven and oh something
like that before they lose. Letme just tell you what Boston schedule is
coming up. First of all,they got Brooklyn coming up tonight. Their
Saturday night as a recording. Bythe way, no disrespect to Mental Rabbinson,
Jared Allen and anybody else that Iforgot out of the Solid Center list
Nick Lucevichen guys like that. TheyI was about to send this to them

(57:30):
for like fodder for them to startgetting pumped up for the season. Alprince
Alprince Shangoon will put this in hislocker. But well, not that you
mentioned him. Now, Boston's atBrooklyn, at Minnesota, I don't know
if you know that team, andat Philadelphia their next three games. It

(57:51):
Philadelphia's got two dudes averaging like twentyseven plus a game. Maybe talk about
Tyre smaxy and the runway he's gottenbe able to sort of be what we
think he could be. Yeah,we'll have to hit the Sixers next week,
you know, post James Harden tradeand they bring in some role players,
so they round out the bench fora guy who hadn't even played for
them yet this year. It isa pennies on the dollar trade, but

(58:13):
given what they were doing, youget some usable players in there, and
you get rid of PJ. Tucker'scontract. Philly is gonna be tough.
They'll be tough if Joel Embiata isupright. So far, he's very upright,
and maybe soon enough he'll be aNew York Nick And upright there,
that's right. Back to that story. We'll get there some point. We'll

(58:34):
find out. All right, that'sgood due for us. Joel c Cordez
wrapping up a say goodbye to thegood people. Walter Davis, hope we
did your proud rest and piece,big guy, and yeah. You can
find the video version of this yearpodcast on YouTube like Share, Subscribering the
Bell, all that good stuff.If you want the audio only version where
Spreaker, Spotify, iTunes, whereveryou get your podcasts. We will be

(58:54):
back again next week talking hoop itchhere on Basketball by Association