Updates on the Knicks, Lakers, Warriors, Spurs & More!

Episode 162: Arky Shea and Joel C. Cordes are losing hope in the Golden State Warriors but remain fine with the Los Angeles Lakers' recent skid. They break down what the OG Anunoby trade means to the New York Knicks and whether RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley will be Toronto Raptors long-term. They also check in on Victor Wembanyama's Spurs supporting cast and what the plan is in San Antonio.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome into basketball by Association. Myname is Basketball that association there, Hello
association. You know, the lasttime we spoke, John Moran wasn't a
viable NBA player, the Detroit Pistonsdidn't know how to have victories in their
life, and the Minnesota Timberworlves weren'tafraid of the New York Knicks the last

(00:25):
time we spoke. But all ofthat has changed since we have last spoken
on this year podcast. Hello Joel, I mean one of those things has
changed. One of those things isdifferent. We'll throw that out to Jay,
I guess, but one victory doesnot change things for Detroit. And

(00:45):
yet I just went out yesterday andbought Pistons tickets. I'm going to subject
myself to misery yet again this seasonfor a second time. Well, you
don't have to, like, youdon't have to root for Detroit right like
it doesn't know I'm saying that.And then when Minnesota comes in, and
one of the benefits of having sucha terrible, terrible team in my now
home state is that tickets are cheap, So you take advantage of that whenever

(01:08):
you can, as long as youcan. Absolutely I remember, like obviously
my team is the team from NewYork, and they don't get down south
very often. And like I meanmy south, like Atlanta, Memphis kind
of south, Like Miami's not south, so that doesn't camp. Orlando's not
really south, so that doesn't reallycamp. But you know, I remember

(01:32):
one of the times I got achance to go see them play in Atlanta,
and I was blessed just a shortfour hour drive just to go sit
in the upper upper decks and watchCarmelo do his damage as he was turning
four hundred. You know. Ithink it was the weekend after he was
turning four hundred. So it's goodtimes. Joel. There's some stuff that's

(01:53):
happening. I want to talk abouta lot of it while we can with
Champs much stuff, and maybe wedon't get too deep into the weeds done
some of this stuff just so weget a little caught up, uh,
But I do want to mention acouple of things that are newsworthy up front.
One of those being did you seethe news that the Orlando Magic now
have, for the first time everretire a jersey And guess who it is.

(02:21):
That's right, it's Paalo bank Caero. Already they are getting red Jersey
ready for No, I was sureit would be bow Outlaw. Sure,
bow Outlaw deserves it. Let's notsleep on bow Outlaw now. So but
no, they're gonna retire the shaquillO'Neil jersey, and that's completely deserving.
Of course, I did not knowthat they had not retired a single jersey

(02:46):
ever. Uh, in that thatfranchise's history, not that it's you know,
goes back to the fifties or anything, but it feels like just about
Everybody's retired to somebody's, but Orlando'sfinally doing it. Uh. And Orlando's
gonna had finally gotten warmed up andShack is warmed up with the with the
owners to get the very first jersey. I guess it makes sense it is

(03:10):
Shack, right like, there wouldn'treally be another sure fire right like guy
that Penny Hardaway would be the otherone. I mean, Penny was there
for for longer technically, you know, and had a be a first.
Yeah, it probably that's the franchiseguy like that. When when you think

(03:32):
of Orlando, early Orlando, likeI think you think of Shack and then
obviously made a bunch of money anduh and highlights in a huge chunk of
his career outside of Orlando, butwhen he came onto the scene, he
changed the game. Starting in Orlando, he did, and he put that
franchise on the map quite literally.He's only there for four seasons. That's

(03:53):
where it gets a little bit murky, like, yeah, you're you're kind
of retiring the jersey, not onlyfor his contributions in Orlando, and a
big part of that as he getsthem to the NBA Finals, I think
what in his second season. Soit's that contribution of a young franchise,
somebody coming in at that exact momentmaking them part of the NBA's rising zeitgeist

(04:17):
in the early nineties where you know, the NBA was cool and there was
no team or a few teams maybethe Charlotte Hornets that were cooler than the
Orlando Magic, and a lot ofthat had to do a shack. But
you're also rewarding him and the recognitionthat, yes, he went on to
have a unbelievable Hall of Fame careerin the entirety of his career in multiple

(04:41):
stops, and yes that includes withthe Los Angeles Lakers, who he defected
to, and Orlando as you know, there's been a lot of hurt with
that for a long time of theway that it went down. You can
see this magic moment the documentary onthat on ESPN. But I think also
the fact that it got repeated doneby Dwight Howard, you know, history
repeated itself some twenty five years lateror whatever it was, that that made

(05:06):
it the Shack situation almost even worsein a way. So it's interesting that
I don't want to say everybody's gottenover it, but they're able to step
back and say, in the bigscheme of things, the Orlando Magic wouldn't
be where they are today without Shackin that moment and what he did in
those first four years. Yeah,I think, you know, if you're

(05:28):
looking for guys that if you wantedto sort of and I don't say you
had to make it a class ofpeople, you can sort of slowly do
this because it's been like, youknow, Orlando's dripping with dude to come
out there. But you know,when you talk about the guys that should
be sort of if they're Hardaway's obviouslyone of those guys. They had pretty
hardaways. One of those. DwightHoward is one of those that eventually would

(05:49):
be because he's obviously was there likeseven, eight and maybe nine years before
before he left, and he gotthem to the finals too, didn't He
wasn't Orlando in the NBA finals.Orlando did get Toby in LA. I
think, Yeah, was that againsta checked that was a shack? Was
it against Shack? No? Well, I'm trying to no because I think

(06:15):
that. No, it's the it'sthe Kobe Gasol, right, okay,
yeah, because they beat the Celticsonce lost to the Celtics once, I
believe, and then beat the Magic. Yeah. Uh. I was just
I was going through before we startedthis podcast, going through the guys that
you might think, you know,would deserve some of that recognition, guys
that were there for a long time. And the list of dudes that were

(06:40):
there for a long time, we'resaying, like Pat plus six years,
seven years, something like that isnot very deep, and then you have
to think of what the contribution says. We're talking guys like Jamir Nelson,
you know, maybe could be oneof those guys, but like was he
really that much of an influential playeror was he just good enough to play
for the Magic fourteen years kind ofthing, you know what I mean?

(07:00):
Uh, Tracy McGrady wasn't there longenough. Not a lot of others how
long was McGrady there? I hadhim earlier appeared. I forget. Maybe
he wasn't there what you would considerlong enough. But then I don't know,
it's four years long enough. Butagain, I think the thing with

(07:23):
Shaq, he's worthy of being consideredobviously because he was drafted there, because
he put that franchise, like yousaid, on the map, and he
was such a great player for solong. I mean he was you know,
he's talked about how like you saidhe would, he would. He
was going to stay in Orlando.He was going to stay in Orlando.
It's not a whole bunch of money. Until last minute, you know,
Jerry West was like, hey,I can get you close to what you

(07:46):
want money was and he was like, I'll follow the cash. So you
know, it's not like he hadas far as I could tell, hard
feelings about that. He just wanteda whole bunch of money that you know,
people weren't giving out at that time. So and that was that was
part of it. If you diginto the documentary, there was a few
other things going on, but alot of it came down to it was

(08:07):
a business decision for Shock. Yeah, yeah, that's what I'm saying.
Yeah, like it's Orlando is goodfor Disney and it's good for him to
make What was that? What didwas the discussion that he that they've seen
him interview before, he was goingto get like one hundred million, but
what aed one hundred and fifty ifI'm not mistaken, And then the Lakers

(08:28):
came in with like one twenty orone thirty or something like that. No,
No, I think the Orlando wasgonna give him like ninety, like
eighty or ninety, and then theLake even when one fifty and the Lakers
were like, I can't get youone fifty if I can get to you
like one twenty or something. Andthat's what I ended up being it.
So uh, I thought that wasinteresting to noteworthy that I gotta look see
if there's anybody else that hasn't retireda jersey. It had to be like

(08:50):
another thunder or something. Right,Minnesota has still not retired Kevin Garnett's jersey,
which is have it, but theyretired jerseys though, right, they've
retired Malik Sealy, who you know, passed away while he was a timberwolf
in a car accident. But that'sthe only one. That's the only player
jersey that's hanging in the rafters inMinnesota. Any learn and stuff. Something

(09:16):
else I wanted to talk about beforewe got into some of more the the
the the the meat of the matter. I did want to bring up because
they've cooled down since. But it'sclear when you watch them. Having job
Morant back is a thing that theMemphis Grizzlies are okay with. I think

(09:37):
they had won like five straight gameswhen he when he came back, would
that big come back against New Orleans? They cooled off since then. But
having job Morant back and if hishead's gone right, it's great for the
league. It's great for the Grizzlies. And who knows at this point,
I got look at the standing seeif they are in any potension? Uh
see they are only Hey look atthis. They are only five and a

(09:58):
half game back out of the lastPLAYFF spot with a scant fifty games lift.
So yeah, it's time, thereis time. But what does this
Memphis Grizzli's team look differently to you? Like when they have themselves a job
Morant on the floor. Well,it's not just Jock coming back at this

(10:20):
time, although that's the big one. We'll get to that in a second.
But also Xavier Tillman is back,Luke Cannard is back, Marcus smart
as back. They all kind ofcame back during this little stretcher still waiting
on Derek Rose. So it's moreNBA ready players. They were having to
bump up a lot of their youngguys into the starting lineup. They were
putting up okay numbers, but wereovermatched and the team wasn't getting wins.

(10:43):
Now you can set everybody back intoi think more comfortable roles, more comfortable
minute allocations. But it really doesbegin and end with John Morant because he
is the lone grizzly who can notonly get his own shot, but can
be a catalyst to break down adefense off the dribble, and because he
is such a threat at the rim, but also you know getting better from

(11:05):
downtown that it pulls the defense towardshim. They're paying attention to him.
They're not able to double up everytime that Desmond Baine runs off a screen
or Jaren Jackson gets the ball inthe mid post, which is what was
happening previously. Those guys who arenot really used to facing double teams,
they were used to playing off ofthat. Instead we're having the wall built
against them. And they did theirbest, but it kind of showed again

(11:28):
that Jackson and Baine are second wheelsat best, probably third wheels ideal,
you disrespecting the good name of DesmondBaine. I think when you put those
two together and you have a JahMorant, you get a two A and
a two B. But by themselves, they don't create their own shots.
They can get some points, butit becomes inefficient, especially for Jaron Jackson,

(11:52):
so much focus then offensively that ittakes off all of the elite things
he does defensively. So it justthis team is built in a very specific
way because you had a singular superstar. It's a place that does not you
know, they're not going to getup other superstars walking in that door in
free agency. So they built everythingaround John Moran, and when you take

(12:13):
him out of the picture, yousee the immense strengths and weaknesses of that
plan of how it's perfectly set uparound him and without him, it really
does fall apart despite the best effortsof the guys that were there. Still
a good coaching staff, still sometalent on the roster. So do I
think they're going to challenge for aplay in spot. Yes, I think

(12:35):
they're going to challenge. Is itpotentially too late? It really might be
because the teams that are ahead ofthem. There's a few and I think
we'll get to one or two ofthese that are struggling right now. But
everybody who's up in the top tenspots in the West, legitimately it feels
like belongs there, and I don'tsee a lot of reasons for why they
wouldn't remain there over the long termof the season. So Memphis is going

(13:00):
to have a really steep climb andif they miss the play in If they
miss the playoffs, all fingers getpointed at job. I mean, you
have to accept this as the superstarfor the team. They built around you,
and you did not put the teamfirst with your actions, and the
team literally suffered a lost season becauseof it. I know this team was
thin for the first quarter of theseason, and John Maran was a big

(13:24):
reason for that. But like yousaid, Marcus Smartest heard blah blah blah.
Dad's been Bain the top twenty scorerin the NBA, leading with twenty
four and a half points per game. Since Job's been back, he's already
averaging more than him twenty five anda half points per per game. You
can't substitute for the dude that couldjust make the plays and make the buckets

(13:45):
when you need him, and yousee him making them against everybody. He
had that really impressive but dunk againstVictor wimbin Yama to turn into a highlight
real thing, Like there's just there'sno substituting not only a really good player,
but a dude that's literally chomping atthe because he's so great physically to
be able to come back and provehis worth as well at just be one

(14:07):
of the best two three four playersin the NBA at not only his position,
but in the entire league. DesmondBain is to John Morant what Chris
Middleton is to Giannis Antitukempo. Aperfect shot maker for those guys and a
release valve when the defense collapses down. But you take away that pressure and

(14:28):
that gravity and everything changes. Theyare overmatched because they're a shot and maker,
not a shot creator. Somebody stillhas to stir that drink for them.
I want to talk now, ifyou don't mind, about some teams
that are sucking. That's the LosAngeles Lakers of Los Angeles. They have
lost three in a row, eightof their last ten. They are what

(14:50):
you would call it not great.They're the team that's five and a half
up on Memphis for that last playingspot at this point. Again, we've
seen the Lakers from the one ofthe play in spots get in and make
their way in the tournament and maketheir way into you know themselves, a
near championship run. But let meask you this. Oh sorry, I
wouldn't ask one more in there.The Golden State Warriors as well, especially

(15:13):
since Nikolay Yokic is out there justchucking up hail Mary's uh to to to
beat him. No, you seeits quote after the game, he was
asked who was going in and hiscoach said he knew was going in,
and all of his teammate said theyknew it was going in. He was
asked, did you did you knowthat was going did you did you call
Glass? Did you call Glass whenyou threw that up there? And he

(15:35):
goes my friend, it went inand I'm happy. It's like all right,
yeah, okay. But Golden Stateanother one of those teams that's,
you know, the struggling man itis. It is hard to watch.
It's hard to watch Clay Man.Clay seems like a guy that knows,
like he's a guy that is going. Okay. So when Clay spoke last,

(16:02):
did you I know, I maybe sort of mixing the two,
but we're gonna get to both ofthem, my promise. Yeah, let's
talk warriors first. Let's talk warriorsfirst while we're on them. When you
saw Clay speak last, did youget the impression that like he knew it
was over. Like not that notthat he wasn't going to go out there
and keep trying and like he wasgoing to retire or anything, but like

(16:26):
it felt to me that he had. He's a little resigned to like this,
this is who I am. I'mnot. I'm not. I don't
think I'm gonna be that special splashbrother anymore like this. This is just
injuries have gotten me so and soforth. I'm trying. I'm trying really
hard when I'm out there. It'sjust I'm diminished it's taking his toll on
me. Did it? Did youfeel any of that? Because I did

(16:49):
when I was listening to him,Like it was one of those few press
conferences or a few moments where you'relike, oh, yeah, this guy
kind of feels like he he hesees what we're seeing. He seems that
we see a diminished player two.I certainly do see it. It's not
just that he's moving a lot stifferand more straight up and down, and

(17:14):
he's slower. He doesn't seem tohave that pop in his legs. He
still has great form, but hedoesn't have that pop in his legs.
That's probably directly a case of theinjury. But I look at him,
and I was watching Andrew Wiggins lastnight too, who has fallen so far
from where he was just a coupleof seasons ago. You know, last
year Wiggins missed nearly I think athird, maybe almost half the season for

(17:37):
personal reasons and whatever was going on, we don't know. And I don't
want to play armchair you know,psychiatrists, but I don't know that whatever
it is, he's out of thewoods because he he does not look mentally
invested in the game. He's floatingout there too. Both of those guys
look like they haven't been in theweight room in a long time. You

(18:00):
know who am I to talk?But as far as NBA players go,
they both look soft. They donot look in shape, they don't look
toned the way they were just acouple seasons ago. Again with Clay,
that may be a source of theinjuries with Wiggins at maybe whatever else has
been going on or was going on, Wiggins was their lead defender and on

(18:22):
some nights he was their best player, especially when they were dealing with those
injuries. But he was a key, key cog, you know, a
number, a third wheel offensively,maybe even second wheel on certain nights.
Clay was the second wheel on nearlyevery night. So those two guys are,
you know, Clays starter level AndrewWiggins's rotation level. They've fallen that

(18:45):
far. You have one of yourkey defenders and your offensive hub in Draymond
Green who can't get out of hisown way and can't put the team first
for anything apparently, and it's puttingit all on Steph. Got some talented
pieces still there, young guys whoare again being overcast a little bit.

(19:06):
But it's kind of like we talkedabout with Memphis, Golden State was built
to play a specific way. Andyes, we can say it starts and
ends with Steph, but that's notreally true. Steph's brilliance shines even more
when he's got all of these othershot makers and he's got the defensive help
around him. And now you're askingyounger players, you're asking role players,

(19:29):
you know, like a Kevon Looney, like a Dario Sarach, like a
Chris Paul. At this point,I know he's a Hall of Famer,
but Chris Paul is a role player. That's what he is at this stage
of his career. You know,Brandon Pajemski and Trace Jackson Davis are rookies
who both have proven they can playJonathan Kaminga, can play Moses Moody.
They're still figuring out. But you'reasking all of them to do too much

(19:52):
because the Apple cart has been upsetin Golden State with the injuries, with
whatever has been happening to Andrew Wiggins, and it does right now, it
looks like it's over unless any ofthose three guys, including Draymond Green,
are able to recapture what it isthat they've been missing this season and really
through a lot of last season too. If they can't recapture that golden state,

(20:17):
you know, they're going to stayright where they are, around five
hundred, maybe a little bit better. They'll be dangerous on some nights they
could make a run, but they'renot going to go as far as the
more talented teams above them, especiallythe ones that now are talented and finding
cohesiveness. That Golden State is stilltrying to figure out. But it starts
and ends with Clay and Andrew Wigginsand Draymond. Yeah, and play points

(20:41):
per game are down this year.He's down like five or six points.
I think he's done like fifteen pointsa game. And a shooting percentage is
what's really damaging. Yeah, that'sthe next thing I was about to add
on to that. His shooting percentageis down four or five points from three,
which is that. I mean,that's that's his guy. That's the

(21:02):
thing, right, Like, that'sonce you start getting sharp drop offs as
a sharp shooter, when that's yourspecialty essentially, that that's the reason you've
been able to be so special,right, Like, you know, he
has good games, he still hasreally good games. He had a good
one last night. He had liketwenty five or twenty six points last night,
and he shot like fifty percent fromthree after air balling his first three

(21:25):
and looking real shaky for the firstcouple of minutes. But yeah, he
got it together. Yeah, butthat's also after coming off a stretch where
he had like five straight games wherehe had thirteen or less or something like
that. But he had like afive game stretch where I had twenty two
or more before then, Like hecan, he can him in bunches,
grab you something short term like no, no one's saying they should be in
the NBA. It's just as faras the way this go ahead till well,

(21:48):
I was gonna say offensively. Partof the issue though, too,
is you think back Clay used tobe their lead defender along with Harrison Barnes,
and they brought in Andrew Wiggins soit didn't have to be Clay anymore
post injured. But now it's gottento the point where Golden State is having
to build a defense to hide bothStuff and play defensively. You can't hide
both of your guards, even ifthey're competing, and even if Stuff is

(22:11):
quick hands and gets a lot ofsteels, you know and loves to gamble
all that stuff. You can't hideboth of them, especially when you don't
have Andrew Wiggins walking through that doorto erase all those mistakes, and Draymond
isn't even in the building. Thereare only four teams that allow more points
per game in the West than GoldenState. It's San Antonio, Utah,
Dallas, and Sacramento. And now, granted, Golden State does put try

(22:37):
to put up numbers and bunches too, but when you look at the teams
that are worse defensively than based onjust points per game, there's differences in
that there's one bad teams are inthere. Also there's super young teams in
there too, with guys that areon the come, so to speak.
That it's not because they're not necessarilygreat defensively, it's that their style doesn't

(23:02):
allow for great defensive numbers to showup night in and night out. And
I'll speak a specifical of Sacramento.So I I'm not surprised, right like
I was. I was talking aboutthis going into last year. You've been
calling this for a lot longer thanI have. This team isn't as good.

(23:27):
They're old comparatively speaking, their lastin their division right now, last
in the division. That division isnot supposed to be a great division.
Oh well, no last you gotthe Clippers, You've got the Kings.
Well the Clippers. The Clippers weregarbage to start this year, like,

(23:48):
and they were not good last year. I was healthy again. Well,
I A it was two years agothat the Clippers were like that were good,
right, like the good where wethought they would be deep into the
playoffs last year, murdered by injuriesin the end of the year before.
But now they're sitting forest in thewest run. I don't mean as of

(24:11):
now. I mean like the divisionwasn't supposed to be good in my eyes
coming into it. That was supposedto be where Golden States last in the
division, I should say, cominginto the year, I thought the Clippers
was still struggle. But the Clippersalso made a big trade, so like
it's not as if like they didimprove their stock anyway, and that trades
worked out for them really really nicelyso far. James Harden is happy now,

(24:34):
well, we can talk about thatin a minute, as long as
he's happy for the next three orfour months, which is what he likes
to run. That that nice fouror five maybe six month nice run on
you as long as they're doing well. But yeah, this is a team
that didn't think would be very good. I still thought playing worthy, But

(24:55):
yeah, we're we're we're comfortably onthe back end of that dynasty that that
they had. And how frustrated mustChris Paul be thinking that he was going
ring chasing and might finally get oneto be loaded with this team and then
you get there the wrong year.I don't see. I don't know,
Like Chris Paul is no dummy,right, Like he's not a dumb guy.

(25:15):
So if we can see this andI'm just some hick from Alabama,
Like if I can see that,you know, guys are breaking down step
let's stiff steps. Still elite,he's still a really great player, but
the pieces around them that they've triedto sort of patch work with Clay since
his injury and we're going away yearthe year four now of him trying to

(25:37):
be healthy ishue to where he couldbe consistent with you, and Draymont has
just been He's an old dinosaur inthis league. Like he just doesn't play
the way modern basketball plays. He'sjust he's an old bruiser essentially at this
point, like this team is tryingto patch work through the wiggins Is of
the world and the Loonings of theworld, or try to make this thing
work and it's you know, it'snot good. Who is it? Who

(26:02):
is it? They got punched inthe face by by Jordan Poole pool Pool,
Yeah, Jordan Poole. That guyshould still be on this team,
right not not not after the punching, Right that there should not have been
a punching to start off with.But if Jordan Poole's on this team,
I think Golden State's better. Ithink Golden States comfortably in the six pove
or six right now, I disagree. I disagree. I disagree wholeheartedly.

(26:25):
You didn't think because because their problemisn't scoring points, and that's all Jordan
Poole could do was score points,and it wasn't entirely efficiently. They need
defensive help. They need athletes whocan get above the rim, block some
shots and guard people. And they'rein short supply on that. And that's
why somebody like Brandon Pajemski and andTrace Jackson Davis are playing as rookies for

(26:49):
this team is because they haven't beenterrible defensively, They've had young legs and
energy, and both of those guyshave shown some athleticism on the offensive end.
That this team is just it's sorelylacking. And Jordan Poole I don't
think would have provided that. Plus, I mean, Pool's been exposed in
Washington. There again, you don'thave a lot of help. But I
think for the money, the dollaramount that they had handed him, they

(27:11):
realized that he had probably plateaued alreadyand is a good scorer and NBA level
scorer. But that's really all hebrings to the table. Let's talk about
another team in the West that struggledthat includes a couple of losses recently to
someone's Timberwolves. I can't tell youwho, but it's someone that's not me

(27:32):
is a fan of them. It'sthe Los Angeles Lakers. They are not
great right now. As a mentioned, they've lost eight to ten, which
is what I like to call it, not great, and Joel struggling is
an understatement. They've lost four orfive including the Heat, the Pelicans.
Oh, look, the Timberwolves.But you know they did picked the Hornets,

(27:55):
and God bless them for beating theHornets, right, Like, no
one just goes in beats the CharlotteHornets anymore. That's what I respect about
this Lakers team. But you know, I'll be honest with you. I'm
I think, Okay, so youbrought this up that you wanted to talk
about it, and I think teamsgo through lulls and stretches during the season,

(28:18):
and I think this is one ofthose. But are you worried more
that this is indicative of something thatmight be deeper when it comes to more
important and meaningful basketball when it comeslater the season. I shouldn't even say
later in the season. They justgot to start figuring some stuff out because
this this West can run up andleave them. Yeah, And that ties

(28:40):
back into the point about the Warriors. Where you're in a Pacific Division where
you're supposed to have five playoff teams, but the Phoenix Suns are struggling.
They've had injuries, they haven't beenable to get their group together, they've
had chemistry issues. The Lakers arenow struggling, and Golden State can't take
advantage of that. While the Clipperswent on a run took advantage of it,
the Kings have been sitting you know, near the top the entire time.

(29:03):
I'm less worried about the Lakers,to answer your question, because yes,
lulls happen, and this is ateam that's just coming off of winning
the NBA Cup, whatever that means. But it was playoff alan sphere.
It was playoff atmosphere type basketball andsingle elimination, and they showed up.
They showed us what they can do. You know, they were relatively healthy,

(29:23):
but not whole, and I dothink there's been a little bit of
a hangover coming off of that.You've seen it with the Indiana Pacers as
well, who made it to theCup finals and then really struggled afterwards.
I think there was a lot ofenergy expended in that pursuit and then you
get done with that, and ohyou're back into the regular season, the

(29:44):
doldrums of late December early January,which is the toughest part of the NBA
year. So this doesn't entirely surpriseme. But if there are points to
worry about, I think it's thatthey have not figured out their guard rotation.
They were really hoping at the beginningof the season that, out of
respect for D'Angelo Russell, they wouldkeep him in the starting lineup, and

(30:07):
he was going to be in atime share with Gabe Vincent, Russell being
a gunner who can run a nicepick and roll from time to time,
but is incredibly streaky, and thenthe always steady Gabe Vincent, who is
just a shot maker, and aguy who is a glue guy, a
connector. Offensively, you would havehad an option for each. Russell has
been as streaky as ever, asinefficient as ever, and Vincent has been

(30:30):
hurt. I think Vincent's played likethree games for them this year, and
I don't They may not get gaveVincent back this year. So now all
of a sudden, you are runninga point guardless lineup. When D'Angelo Russell
is not in there. You're askingLebron to bring the ball down to initiate
Austin reeves to do that. That'sfine, both of those guys can do
some of that, but ideally youwould want to be able to have somebody

(30:53):
that you can trust handling the basketballto initiate. I'm worried about that guard
because Cam Reddish is playing as astarter. They're singing his praises. He's
become their lead defender. I stillam watching a guy who and I gotta
look at for Reddish, it feelslike he's been around forever. And I
know he came in with not alot of experience. It was somebody that

(31:15):
played one year of college. He'stwenty four years old. They figured he
was going to learn on the job. I don't see a guy who has
figured out what he is offensively atall. And this is what year six
for him? Five Like, thisis the point where I think it's a

(31:36):
year five. This is the pointwhere he's got to start to string something
together. You're starting on a teamthat's supposed to be championship contender. They
move Austin Reeves out of the startinglineup to the bench, now back to
the starting lineup. They have notfigured it out. Ruy Hatchamura has been
in and out of the lineup,hurt. Christian Wood is suddenly unplayable as
far as Darvin Ham is concerned.Jackson Hayes has been hurt, and he

(31:57):
was the guy that was supposed totake wood spot as the backup center.
So there's just a lot of thingsthat you would hope you would figure out
in the first twenty games, andnow we're nearing game forty in a week
or two and you haven't figured thosethings out. That's where the concern comes
up. It was clear that thatteam was just not athletic enough. They

(32:22):
weren't on the same page. Theyneeded big trades. The answer is not
to make trades at the deadline hereand reshuffle the chemistry apple card all over
the place all over again, becauseyou don't even know exactly what you have
and how people fit. Some ofthat is injuries, some of that is
inconsistency of guys, and then,like you said, some of it too

(32:45):
is just a natural lull in theschedule. And I think we'll see them
lock in a little bit more.Does it downgrade my prediction about them winning
the NBA Championship? Yes, absolutely, I'm not as confident in that anymore
as I was. And it's it'sthe last few weeks as a body of
evidence. Are they still gonna bein the hunt for it? I do.

(33:07):
I believe so. I think they'llbe back in the hunt. I
am. I kind of with youon cam Reddish. I was bullish on
him before, just to general butyou're right, you're five. I'm not
sure what's up. And like Isaid again, I'm just in hey from
Alabama. I don't know, youknow, I just sort of pretend like

(33:29):
I know what I'm watching on thispodcast, uh, and then go here
and tell you how great the Knicksare. That that's what I do.
That's all I do. Uh.And you know, the Lakers. I
don't worried yet about the Lakers.The Lakers don't have an easy schedule up

(33:49):
coming over the next few games,right. But the thing is, like
they they're they're they're a little abovefive hundred against the West, and like
they're four and seven against the East. Luckily, for the rest of January,
they only have like two or threegames against the East. They have
like ten against the West. Soyou know, maybe there's there's something to

(34:10):
get these down. Some of thosethese games are like against Toronto and stuff,
like a team that's you know,essentially they're they've thrown in the towel
to speak. So I'm not readyto worry about the Lakers yet. I
am on high alert to start thereadiness because this doesn't just feel like it's

(34:31):
a pure loll which sometimes happens.But if we get into another like week
or two, like if it's midJanuary and there's you know, they win
like two of their next like sixor seven games. I'm gonna start to
worry a little bit because the Lakersschedule up coming. See they've got they've

(34:52):
got Memphis, the Clippers, Toronto, Phoenix, Utah, and Okay,
see the next two weeks and youcan add Dallas to that if you want.
This is how we felt about themat that point last year too.
And the one you know, youlook at the Lakers and you say they
have a defined one and two superstars. Anthony Davis's one, Lebron is two.

(35:15):
You've got a third wheel who's credible, that's Austin Reeves. At this
point, you have good role playersthat fulfill different types of roles. You've
got a couple of defenders and JaredVanderbilt and Torrian Prince and now Cam Reddish.
They're still trying to figure out whetherD'Angel Russell fits on this team or
not. He could be a guywho is moved at the deadline, though
I don't know what you're gonna getfor him at this point. And like

(35:37):
I said, they're still trying tofigure out Riachi Mura, Christian Wood,
Jackson Hayes, that front line howthat fits together. But the pieces are
there, they're already there in thehouse, and it's figuring out how that
fits together. That's different than otherteams like the Warriors, where you go,
it's not just I don't know whatwe have, it's that I think

(35:58):
we might not even have it,like it may just not be on the
roster anymore. Yeah, I'm thereason I'm not as worried about them is
because you predicted him the win andall to start the year, and I
understood it. I understood it becauseI'm with you when you talk about possibly

(36:20):
making you move of the deadline andback of my head like I don't know
why, Like I don't unless somethingjust isn't clicking totality wise. But everything
is there for them to get througha rough stretch. Maybe at the point
guards the start of the year.Maybe at the point guard spot. If
you know Gabe Vincent isn't going tocome back this year and you're kind of

(36:42):
sick of the D'Angelo Russell experiment,maybe you try to bring somebody in.
But Lebron James played, would youmake I would be getting close. I
would be getting close because he forsuch an irrational confidence guy, doesn't seem
to actually be playing with a lotof con right now. I think he
knows the leash is short, andso when you're not making shots and you're

(37:05):
not contributing a lot of other waysand your team badly needs it at that
position, he is kind of theweak link right now. And it would
look a lot different again if youhad Gabe Vincent to go all right,
d Loo doesn't have it tonight.He's playing twelve minutes and Gabe's gonna play
thirty, you know. Or Gabe'sgonna play twenty four and we'll let Lebron
run the point for a handful ofminutes. We'll give Austin Reeves a couple

(37:27):
of possessions that way too. We'regonna be fine. And then on the
nights that Russell is clicking, he'sthe guy who's gonna get twenty eight to
thirty minutes. They don't have thatluxury right now, and they don't have
that insulation from the ebbs and flowsin D'Angelo Russell's game, and that's where
you could see him getting unloaded fora far lesser player. But somebody who

(37:50):
can just come in and fill thatrole, fill that spot. I don't
have a short list of guys whothat could be yet at this point,
but you you could see something likethat if they were to make a move.
I wouldn't really touch anywhere else onthe rotation. I think the wings
and the front line are set,but you got to figure out how they
fit together. And that's going torequire guys to stay healthy and stay in
the lineup. Jared Vanderbilt and hasa ton of time, and Hatchamura has

(38:14):
been in and out all over theplace. So its Hayes all right,
let's uh, let's let's finally getto an important team, the New York
Knicks. Yes, thank you please. I really want to hear your your
thoughts on the trade, especially nowthat you've gotten to see og Ananobi for
you know, and precious Achiua fora couple of games. Oh oh,
is that who they are? Okay? I didn't notice anything. Listen,

(38:37):
the Knicks obviously make a big deal. This is a trade. This was
a player they were looking to anab last year and Toronto wanted a little
bit too much. And I don'tthink they were really ready to quite blow
things up. But then you know, Fred ban Lee leaves and all of
a sudden past. You're starting tosee the dismantling now completely of what Toronto

(38:59):
was and going to see what Torontostarts to become later on Toronto as on
this on this podcast, they're anafterthought. No one ever talks about them.
They shouldn't. It's over now,goodbye. Uh. But now to
a relevant team, the New YorkKnicks, who who grab him. They
do have to give up a guyI did not love giving up, especially

(39:20):
uh and e Manuel quickly, bythe way, did you see the fact
that like on Christmas, the nextone on Christmas? Right, Uh?
And he tweeted a win on Christmas, guy is good or something like that,
and then like within like two dayshe had gotten traded and he was
like, oh my, Like theNAT tweet was like, oh my,
what was that? So okay,first, let's just talk about the about

(39:42):
getting an Obi in a shoots aChawa. I can't any use that.
I've heard it like in one gamelike nine times, and it's still tough
for me. Precious a Chawa,I think, and Melachi fly, although
we'll see if he even out Thibodeau'srotation or not suck eggs for all I

(40:05):
care. He's not the guy.The two guys clearly or Anobi and and
Precious a Chewa. I'm start sayingslow like that makes more sense to me.
Uh So, well, here's what'shappened in the two games. Since
Nicks are unstoppable. Unstoppable, theycome in and they beat this Minnesota team
that's fresh end of the league,and they beat Chicago by by sixteen.

(40:30):
Now they got Philadelphia. They're onthe road of Philadelphia tonight. That will
be obviously the first real test.Minnesota was nothing. Neither was Chicago.
Uh but I'll tell you, JuliusRando's gone loose seventy four points in the
two games since not bad when you'reopening up, you know, a little
bit of room for him. I'llsay this, I like this trade,

(40:53):
and I told you I texted youabout it when we were talking about I
like this trade. I don't loveit just because I have I have a
heart on a heart on for EmmanuelQuickly, a heart but I also I've
been wrong. I had a hearton for Kevin Knox too, and I
and I was wrong about him.Uh but I don't think I'm wrong about

(41:14):
Emmanuel Quickly. I think wherever hefinally gets to be the shining star somewhere.
I think he's gonna be really reallyspecials. He's in the starting lineup
immediately in Toronto and finally gets thatchance to showcase himself, which in New
York it was clear that he wasgoing to be the backup the rest of
the way and was probably gonna leavefor a starting position as he hits free

(41:36):
agency. So listen and I getit, and I get that for him,
he was he wanted more money inthe off season, his last offseason,
and then he was going to be, you know, putting the Knicks
up for more money and probably tryto get a start coming into next year.
There's just not room for him tobe the starter on this roster.
So the Knicks get a lot ofvalue for him going uh they got a

(41:57):
team who was basically desperate to sellin Toronto. Does still also get something
good back from them Emmanuel quickly.But I will say this, I like
him because he anobe that is,he does as well as what you were
going to find what Tom Thibodau likesto do. Right, I think for

(42:19):
this team who was middling, andthey were middling, I told you before
we finished last podcast, I've beendisappointed with the teams. They've been sort
of riding the five hundred train allyear. This is a shot in the
arm for the team because they aregood enough to be a top four seed.
They were good enough before they madethis trade. They get a bona

(42:42):
fide starter and Anobi. They geta bonafide, bonafied help in their big
main situation with a precious Hachewa.Since Mitchell Robbins has done for the year.
That's the two things that the Knicksneeded if they were going to now.
The entry for Mitchell robb forced oneof their hands, but not the
Enobi han right, so you're ableto get a couple of pieces with it.

(43:05):
He plays really great defense, whichis a Tom Thibodeau staple. He
can score. He is is someoneother teams have to pay attention to and
they have to make sure bodies areon him. He's too big, he's
too strong, he's too strong,and he's too good of a shooter to
be able to ignore him. Youput him on the same cord with Jalen

(43:27):
Brunson, who has been going nutsand Julius Randall, who has been going
nutser from the poor Man's MVP froma couple of years ago. This team
becomes formidable again to where they were. They they've already gained like a spot
in the standings in two games,all right, Joelsey cord is, they're
already up to like the number eightseed, okay, And this team can

(43:49):
still battle and still be a topfour seed. More importantly, be dangerous
when the playoffs come. This iswhat that's setting up. I don't know
if Tom Tibau ever cares about theregular season anymore. Like I don't even
think he cares if he has homecourt advantage. I mean, he had
home court advantage a couple of yearsago, Trey Young stole it from him,
right, And granted, this team'sbetter than that team, But I

(44:09):
think Anobe and Precious Chewa are hugeadditions for this team based on how Tom
Thimbodeau likes to play his teams,and also because of the position of need
that they needed. And by theway, what's his name that they that
they got off the scrap he thirtyminutes ago because of the injury, Like
he wasn't gonna be the guy,like Tash Gibson wasn't gonna be the long

(44:36):
term guy. He shouldn't be thelong term guy. Did you see,
like, did you see the videoof him basically like being in for like
three minutes and then running down thecourt calling for a substitute like he was
calling for like someone to bring himback. He's like, I'm out,
somebody, come get me some comeget me again. He's old, He's
old, and he just can't.He wasn't. He wasn't playing full basketball

(44:57):
court basketball before Tom Tempodau was like, Hey, Taj, you want to
come back? Hang up, youwant to want to run it back?
No, I wasn't gonna be it. So I think this makes the Knicks
team a lot better. This isone of those tough situations where if you
want to get better and you wantto get a good player, you're gonna
have to give up a good player. And Emmanuel Quickly is what was that?

(45:19):
For me? We talked a bunchof times on and off this podcast
about how much I like a ManualQuickly and you like Emanuel Quickly a lot
too. It's it's it's the it'ssad. But he was in the last
year of contract. He probably wasn'tgonna come back to the Nick anyway.
So for me, for me,it's fit because we've talked about quickly a
lot. But let's talk about RJ. Barrett for a second here too.

(45:39):
You know, number two pick.He is the the better athlete than Ananoby.
He might be the more talented playeroverall than Ananobe. But what did
this Knicks team need? They neededanother lead defender, and Barrett is not
that. He's a solid defender,a rugged defender, but not a lead

(46:00):
guy every night. Anonobe is alead guy defensively who can guard one through
five. He's one of the fewNBA players and in that way, he
really reminds me of you know,I made the comparison to you to lu
Al Dang as soon as the tradegot made, but he really reminds me
og it is Tim's knew lu AllDang just watch yep. But he really

(46:20):
reminds me body style and play stylewise of run our test of Meta World
Peace. He is a big,rugged forward who technically slots in a small
forward but can give you good defensiveminutes at all five positions, and sometimes
within the same possession he winds upguarding three four different positions too. Anonobe

(46:40):
is not a guy that you runplays for offensively. You saw it during
that Minnesota game. He locked downAnthony Edwards. Yes, Edward's got thirty
five points, but it was inefficientand Annonoby was all over the court defensively.
He scored on backdoor cuts and knockingdown corner threes. That's exactly what
New York needs is a guy whowill reliably make those baskets, allowing Jalen

(47:07):
Brunson to play in the paint,Julius Randall to play from the high post
and in the paint, and tobe able to kick out. Barrett was
a guy that, unfortunately, eitherbecause of his pedigree having been a number
two pick and always a lead guypreviously, or it could just possibly be
his youth and trying to figure thingsout. If you were not running plays
for him, actively keeping him involved, he just kind of disappeared a lot,

(47:30):
didn't He Almost like young Andrew Wigginsstyle, where he just would begin
to float a little bit because hewasn't involved. And Annaobi is used to
that. He's involved at all times, he just doesn't get plays run for
him. Yeah, I think Idon't think the RJA Barrett analysis is off

(47:55):
that very much for you. Ithink he the guy that if he feels
like he's a part of the gameplan, if he feels like there's something
for him, he's a huge spark. He's great. He can't be great
in times and the flashes. You'veseen it all over the place. But
you know, Tom Thibodeau has gotlike two dudes right now that he's focused
on, you know, before thistrade happened, right, he has Julius

(48:20):
Randall and Jalen Brunson, which isthe right move, by the way,
at this point in those two guyscareers, right move. And yeah,
if you're Barrett, you probably feellike I'm you know, you got a
number two pick on me. Isit here and I perform pretty well.
My numbers look pretty good. Imean since since the trade, he's got
like thirty three points, so he'shad had a couple of pretty good games

(48:42):
since. But he's gonna get agreat look in Toronto right to be kind
of the lead guy with Siakam.He's gonna get a great looking with quickly.
This is a nice opportunity for boththose guys with the Raptors. It
is it is. And I again, I like Barrett. I like quickly.
I like Quickly more than I likeBarrett to be honest with you.
But you know, I could seewhy people I can see why there's people

(49:04):
thinking that there's a future with rJ. Barrett. I think it's just
more now with Tom Thibodeau. I'lljust I'll just say it that way.
I don't think with the way TomThibodeau plays, I don't think that's that
that's the best fit for RJA.If you want to get the best out
of RJ. You know, you'reright. You dull some of the edges

(49:28):
with him. You dull some ofthe edges and what he does in that
particular lineup, whereas Anonoby is anearly perfect fit. Yeah, I think,
Uh, I don't think you have. I don't think. I'm not
saying he would go to this team. I'm not what I'm saying, but
I'm saying it's like, if he'son a Nick Nurse team, r J

(49:49):
Barrett probably see better r J Barrett, uh than than what you see.
I think if he was you know, if he was uh shoot, I
think if he was in Houston,if he was with Imadoka, I think
you'd probably see better r J.Barrett than what you sort of saw with
New York consistently than what you wouldsee out at New York. So I'm

(50:12):
gonna miss both those guys Manual quicklymore. But I do think the team
is much better off that this wasthe trade. This trade came out of
nowhere. By the way, Idon't know if you saw it, Like
it was Saturday, and like Ithink you texted me first about It's like
you're like, what do you thinkabout the trade? And I was like,
I'm sorry. So I had tolook as like, oh dude,
I didn't even know that that wasthe thing that was happening, but like
it it came out like on Saturdayor something. Last Saturday were almost a
week ago since it happened, andlike I had heard nothing about that since

(50:37):
last year. I mean, therewas whispers last year that was happening,
but I didn't know Toronto was readyto sort of dismantle him. I thought
last year they were either gonna getrid of him or Siakam or something like
that. But they but they theythey held pat So I don't I don't
know. I wasn't expecting it.I got to ask you before we move
on, you look at the nextrotation now and things make a lot of
sense. You basically have a timeshare at the shooting guard spot with Evencenzo

(51:00):
and Quinton Grimes. Totally fine withthat. Ogi On Anobi and Josh hard
are going to play a lot ofminutes together and Anobi will slot to the
power forward when that happens. Randallkind of has the power forward spot locked
down, and when he wrestled beOn Aenobian Heart will get more minutes now
and Ache was just going to bethe backup to Hartenstein, and they're going
to give Isaiah Hartenstein as many minutesas he can handle. The one question

(51:22):
becomes backup point guard spot, whereEmmanuel Quickly was absolutely overqualified at this point
to be Jalen Brunson's backup because Brunsonis a high minute player. He plays
for Tom Thibodeau for crying out loudand deserves to be on the court,
so you don't have a ton ofbackup point guard minutes to go around,
and Quickly was showing that yes,he is a starter caliber at least a

(51:45):
top six type of player in arotation in this league. Are you fine
with the fact that, like nowit's Miles McBride and maybe Malachi Flynn.
They're going to figure out that backupspot, and yeah, you don't have
to worry about finding quickly minutes anymore, especially because him and Brunson really like
they could play together, but thatwasn't ideal. Are you you fine with

(52:07):
the fact that, like, maybethe allocation makes sense, but you definitely
are less talented with McBride and andMelici Flynn though they both are more traditional
type of point guards. You oh, very very much more traditional. I
think McBride's great for for that backupposition, right he plays a handful of
man, it's a game. WhatI like about him is that he is

(52:29):
really efficient with the ball, likehe is you know, his assistant turnover
ratio and she's stupid right game.I see some game Vincent, you know,
analogies there or like even Jordan McLoughlinin Minnesota. He's exactly. I
think what Tom Thibodau was. Isink you would it would be what I
want. Yeah, I don't know, maybe, but if what I want

(52:50):
for the best potential Tom Thibodeau situationto work out, yeah, he's saved
with the ball. He doesn't turnit over, he finds the right guy.
The most of the time. Andagain all about a guy that played,
they'll play like eight or nine minutesa game maybe maybe right, so
you're not you're not having to sortof use him long stretches constantly if you

(53:12):
had some foul trouble, would Ibe a little more issue issue oriented with
them? I don't know. Ihaven't really seen that much, you know,
to sort of know that whether ornot I would be scared if he
was a foul trouble. But Imean, Brunton's gotta sit down at some
point, right, But like hecan't play forty eight every night. Theoretically,
Well, if there's a guy who'sgonna try, it's Tom Tibbodehau so

(53:37):
uh. But Tom Dibbodotal will letthem like Derrick Rose play forty a game,
forty in the game if if theyif he if, he'll have it.
So yeah, I don't have ahuge problem with it. I don't
have actually a problem with it atall. I think I could be comfortable
with it. You're gonna have astep down when he come to the bench
anyway, you know, Like Ithink as far as it's just about if
you get to the bitch, doyou have a spark there or someone that

(53:58):
doesn't, you know, turn pusminus into a super big minus, you
know. And I think Miles McBride'sokay there. I think he's been really
safe with the ball, and that'sreally to me. What matters. Do
you see and you you've gotten towatch quickly and RJ barred a lot more
than me, and then we canmove on. And I think Toronto does
get kind of a shot in thearm with this move too. Do you
see both of those guys, eitherof those guys long term in Toronto's future?

(54:23):
No, No, I think quicklyit wants to go test the market.
I think quickly wants to be somewhere. I think he will get a
big contract somewhere, somebody like likeUtah, like Brooklyn, like Washington.
I think Brooklyn, even though Ithought I'd never have to talk about that

(54:43):
name again, Brooklyn is a greatspot for him to be able to go
to. Chicago's not bad, butagain, I'm not sure where they're going
to be with their coach after thisyear. Like I don't know if he
like I think he could fit wellwith Billy Donovan. But is Billy Donovan
the guy that's going to be thecoach next year. I don't know if
if I am any franchise that is, let's say lower end, to start

(55:07):
to compete to try to get backin there. If I'm looking for a
relatively in Detroit, Detroit, listen, Kate Cunningham needs help, right apparently
that that that that bench is awfulman like that. There's just I don't
say quickly we'll be on the bench. But you start bringing some guys ready,
Yeah, they need help, manin a long way. You're gonna

(55:30):
have to. You're gonna have topay over twenty a year to get him,
Like, he's gonna command a prettyhefty price. But he's on his
rookie deal now right, which isgreat for Timbadau and the Knicks to be
able to control that money for aslong as you can. Uh. But
yeah, I don't think. Idon't think Toronto. I don't think either
one of them is gonna be inToronto. I think Argie has a better
chance of being in Toronto than Ithink. Maybe he's from Canada and they

(55:52):
may make that, you know,especially if they're gonna if they're gonna go
through a lull. That's what typicallywhen you bring the hometown guys in the
give your fans somebody to root forit. Look, he's from right down
the way. Actually, I don'tknow where in Canada RJ is from,
but think it's from Toronto, butI could be wrong. I think so
that works all right? Get anythingelse you want to get out of here?
On you want to mention before weget out of here. We're right

(56:13):
up. We're right up on thehour mark. Just thoughts on Wemby and
Giannis last night going at it somuch time. How about how about Wimby
still being tall? Huh? Thedude's crazy. You know what's funny?
I do like the Wimby coverage becauseit really is all about like, can
you believe he did it? Thedude's crazy. Right, He's taking like
two steps from the free throw lineand dunking it, you know, like

(56:36):
he's doing saying about Giannis. He'sgoing behind the back in the and and
traffic to do a two hand flush. But it all feels like it's say
all in the air. This isin that game, by the way,
we're talking about with with Giannis lastnight. Uh. And at the end
of the game, Yannis is like, I'm gonna try to wrap him up,
and Wimby's like, nope, I'mjust heading. I'm just gonna likely

(56:58):
walk out of here, like Gianni'sposterized Wemby a couple of times. I
also got that huge block in thelast thirty seconds where he just snuffed Jannis
at the rim. It can't bethe great rivalry like Milwaukee Indiana's turning into,
right, because they just don't playeach other nearly enough. Right,
But you see those two teams,those two teams on the schedule, like

(57:20):
the NBA has got to know what'sup and put those on primetime every single
time, at least make it anoption because you got primetime players and a
primetime team to be able to putup against them. And again, the
NBA is all about showcasing the greatguy the great players out there. And
that was a good game. Thatwas a good game too. San Antonio
got up for it right there onNational TV, and they got up for
that, and san Antonio's bus manlike I saw this, let me ask

(57:44):
you about this, and then wegot here. Speaking of san Antonio,
it was the I can't think ofhis name, it's the color commentator on
TV. I think for san Antoniois he the TV guy. Yeah,
I think I think it's okay becauseI couldn't remember if he was TV or
radio. I didn't want to tributeto the wrong guy. So there was
a game, I think it waslast week where casan Ato's offer right now,

(58:07):
right, they're just they're not good, and we didn't think they were
gonna be very good. But youjust I thought they'd be way better than
this. I thought they'd be sittingin eleventh, twelve maybe, yeah,
but it's not like they're not likeyou thought they were in fifth or sixth.
No, no, but about spendmore wins than they have right now.
He said that it looked like thatthe players around Wimbiyama aren't realizing who

(58:31):
he is. That the team iswimbin Yama's team right now, no matter
how much they may not want it. And Nate, they were showing clips
of like how he was wide openunderneath for like he was cutting for dunks,
that he was wide open. It'snot like you can miss a seven
foot guy, five foot guys streakinginto the into the lane kind of thing.
It's almost as if they were tryingto say, hey, rookie,

(58:51):
so to speak, Uh, thisis not your team yet, even though
he said he thought clearly this ishis team because they're building around Victor Wim
Is that something when you do seesan Antonio and I know you probably don't
watch a lot of Spurs basketball game. No, I actually have watched quite
a bit of that. Have youreally watched Okay, I haven't watched a
ton of it. I've seen alot Buchi at the games. Does it
feel like that that's the case?That like that there there are more moments

(59:14):
than there should be that Wimbyyam isn'tthe focus by the other team. I
see Devin Vassell as clearly his runningmate going forward. Kelden Johnson is up
in the air. They've moved Johnsonto the bench right now as the third
scorer. That may be a goodspot for him. I think Keldon Johnson

(59:35):
can start in this league aet smallfor it. I think all of those
guys can work. Everybody's just soyoung, and over the last couple of
seasons, they've had other young playerslike Dejonte Murray, you know, like
Derek White, that they've cycled throughtrying to figure out who they have as
a star. And Devin Vessell kindof rose to the heat. Keldon Johnson
really kind of came out of nowherefor them to be a scorer. But

(59:59):
both of those guys are learning alot defensively. They are not good on
that end, and san Antonio hasguys who are good defenders and cannot score
to save their life, and they'vegot guys who can score who cannot defend
to save their life. It's youngguys really trying to work it out.
I'm surprised that they haven't won tenmore games. Wemby doesn't play quite as

(01:00:20):
many minutes as you would think.Some of that's because of the ankle injury.
Some of that is because he wasplaying the full offseason, so they're
trying to load manage him a littlebit. So it's a rougher start than
you would guess. But I thinkthe initial couple of building blocks are there.
It's now trying to figure out therole players more than like, oh,
well, the other young stars don'tlike Wemby. I don't see that

(01:00:44):
out of well, And I thinkhe was trying to make the point that
not the young the young guys onthe team, but the older veterans are
not being as deferential as they shouldbe. Especially when that could be there's
only a I mean, they onlyhave a few veterans. It's Jedi Osmond
and uh Nick Zach Collins is there, although no, he's been hurt again

(01:01:05):
and is out of the lineup,and uh, mister basketball from Creighton,
their shooter I'm name is escaping me. Like Doug McDermott. Dermotts still in
the league. Yeah, McDermott's beenon the Spurs, although he's been in
and out of the lineup because he'sbeen hurt, but yeah, he's gotten
some minutes there on the league.Doug McDermott is absolutely still in the league

(01:01:28):
and I can't Yeah, he's sittingon the Spurs roster. What year roster
are you looking at? I haveseen him play. Have you seen him
on the court, Yes, yeah, I've seen him knock down a couple
of threes running I happened. DougMcDermott's first headline Spurs. Doug McDermott won't
play Thursday. Yeah, he's onlythirty two. He's only thirty two.

(01:01:52):
Yeah, but he's it feels likehe's been washed out of the league for
four or five years. That thatmay be true. But let me let
me, look at his biover itOkay, I thought, yeah, oh
I remember. I don't even rememberhim in Dallas like I remember, I

(01:02:13):
remember the really great year in NewYork, but I do not remember him
going to Dallas and the Indiana say, man, there's a lot of years
I've missed a Doug mc dermott.Wow, that's all right, fair enough
to me. The more you know, hey, we all learned, we
all learned something valuable today on basketball. My association that Doug mc dermott is,
yes, indeed still in NBA.Doug McDermott thirty one games played this

(01:02:37):
year average started talking about Wemby andaveraging fifteen minutes a game. He is
averaging his fewest amount of points pergame since his rookie year. Though,
yes, I'm not sure when hewhen he when he when I thought he
went away? He's having double digitpoints. Where is this guy been?

(01:02:58):
I'm not sure that out of thatgroup of veterans that you've got somebody trying
to ice out when Benyama, youknow, I think it probably is more
like, hey, Devin Vessel andKeldon Johnson and Jeremy Sohan all got to
be looking for him more and they'vegot to figure out their point guard spot.
They thought Malaki Brandham was going tobe a started, They thought Trey
Jones was going to be a starter. Both of those guys, it's really

(01:03:19):
iffy whether they are rotation level playersat all. They've got a lot to
figure out in San Antonio, morethan they thought they would. But when
Ben Yama is as good as advertised, the only thing that's stealing some thunder
away from him is check Holmgren isreally really good with the Thunder, who
we didn't even talk about today,but I want to talk about them next
week. And then the fact thatwem Min Yama is not playing quite as

(01:03:43):
many minutes as anticipated, but otherwise, so far, so good with the
Spurs. Three years ago, DougMcDermott had his greatest season that he's had
as any player. I'm sure,I'm not sure what you said. Okay,
before we go out, you getto guess career earnings for Doug McDermott,
who's been in the NBA since twentyfourteen. Uh, three seasons with

(01:04:03):
Chicago, one with Okay, seeforty forty five million, dude, I
wish you were right. It's wayhigher than that. Isn't it seventy three
million dollars? Wow, I wasgonna say fifty five, and I was
like, yeah, that feels high. Yeah, it'd be. Now,
you get paid, You get paidto shoot threes. You get paid to

(01:04:24):
shoot threes. MA must put yourkids on the perimeter and let them shake
it up from an early age.All right, that's gonna do it for
us. This is the Doug mcgarmottepisode as far as I'm concerned. Be
that as it may. Yep,Well we'll try to do this again next
week. Well, goodbye, friends,