The Joy is Gone for Ja Morant & Early Injuries

On this episode of The Drive & Dish NBA podcast, hosted by Kevin Rafuse (@rafusetolose) and Justin Cousart (@JustinContheAir), Kevin is joined by WOKV's Chase Bunker (@chasebunker) to first survey the league almost ten games into the new season. Who has surprised us and who has disappointed? Then, Ja Morant voices his displeasure with the Grizzlies and gets suspended for a game. An early debate about what the market value for Ja Morant would be if he's traded and if there's any hope of salvaging the relationship in Memphis. Finally, in Who's Ballin Who's Fallin, the Lakers white guys, Wemby meets his Star Wars heroes, a slow start for the Magic and a season ending injury for Walker Kessler. Listen to the show wherever you get your podcasts and watch the show on YouTube!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is the Drive and Dish podcast, The Drive and.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Welcome to your moment.

Speaker 3 (00:10):
To start it off, it's and Justin. Let's go. Well,
if you're watching on the stream, I think this is
a first because you know, if you're watching on the stream,
you see our buddy Chase Bunkers here and if you
look back, I guess it was three or four episodes.
Now you got to hear chasing Justin, and now you
get to hear chasing me, Like this is a you know,

(00:30):
we've we've done this before. Obviously Chasing on the show
a bunch, but you know it kind of you get
a little bit the best of both worlds there, huh, Bud, I.

Speaker 4 (00:38):
Feel like, am I the ultimate six Man? Am I
Jamal Crawford?

Speaker 3 (00:42):
You might be low key because I mean you have
the distinction of because like obviously you and I know
each other from Orlando originally, like a bunch of guests
that we have on the show all the time, like
we all kind of met in Orlando, but then because
you moved to Jacksonville, now you know Justin in real
life too, like a lot of our Orlando buds we
have on the show, like shout out to our guy
Nick Grenwitz, who was on last week, Like you know,

(01:03):
you know Nick, I know Nick, but Nick doesn't really
know Justin like that. So Nick and Justin aren't going
to link up where it's like you see Justin. I mean, shoot,
you see Justin in real life more than I do
at this point.

Speaker 4 (01:13):
Yeah, Like it's now we're getting to like the kind
of the friendship where like I just walk into his
office and I just and you can attest to this,
Nick and tested this. All of the Orlando regulars can
attest to this where I will just walk in and
just say hot takes and then I leave And that's
what I do essentially, like I'm that guy at the office.

Speaker 3 (01:34):
Hey, I mean listen, Justin needs to hear that one
in a while. I mean one of the OG segments
on the show. We haven't done that in a long
long time. I mean, you got to dig in the crates.
But you know, hot take some Reddit was a thing
for a long time. So and obviously for you bunkers
burning hot take, but uh, you know we're not gonna
fire off the hot take Henden too early though. In
the NBA, We're gonna we are gonna do some warm

(01:54):
up jumpers here and just kind of talk about, you know,
the state of league again. We all when these early
episodes in this season, we're only you know, eight games
in nine games in roughly for a lot of these
teams as of recording. You know, I always find these
episodes hard. I say that every year. It's like you
don't want to jump off the cliff too too much,
but you know, you start to be able to gauge
the scene, get a little bit of more reactions. Right now.

(02:16):
You know we're gonna start in the West. Obviously We've
been saying it all season long, but that is the
better conference these days. Oklahoma City eight to no right now.
Nothing like starting that title defense off on the right foot.
The Spurs are five and one, the Lakers are six
and two. You know, kind of the usual suspects here, Denver,
Houston both four and two, Golden State five and three,

(02:37):
the Wolves are four and three. Of course, start playing
without Aunt right now. So only a few weeks there
though thankfully it's pretty mild. But you know, kind of
when you watch these West teams, has anybody jumped off
the page for you so far?

Speaker 4 (02:49):
I mean, the thing is with the West, I feel
like normally you always know who's good, but you just
don't know where. And like the jumble they're going to
be at I think Oklahoma City being undefeated right now
and winning by fairly significant margins for the most part,
like there's no hangover, Like there was a perfect opportunity

(03:12):
for them to just kind of have it go to
their head, get a bit of an ego, but instead
they're all still fairly grounded. They're all still putting up,
and it's essentially they're just they're still continuing as if
they just didn't have an off season.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
San Antonio. Being as high.

Speaker 4 (03:28):
As they are being only five and one is kind
of surprise and considering like even when Wemby was out there,
they were still just kind of like on the fringe
a little bit. Of course, they made like the Aaron
Fox trade, so we never got to fully see that.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
So now all.

Speaker 4 (03:43):
That's kind of going off. But at the same time,
like I wasn't sure where we would see Wemby take
the jump, because we don't even know if Wemby cam
jump because he's, you know, just freakishly tall.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
He doesn't need to. He just glides.

Speaker 4 (03:58):
I'm pretty sure every time he dribbled it's a travel
because that's just how long his stride is. I don't know,
that's pretty much it that stands up to me. Sixers
are still looking greats. The Lakers are still looking great.
Sixers are good to uh, we don't need to batch
them yet. I feel like what's funny is the Rockets

(04:19):
are fairly quiet, considering they made one of the big moves,
and I feel like we're not getting right hearing a
lot about the Rockets, considering like Oklahoma City, we're hearing
more about the Spurs. Of course, Lakers, and the Lakers,
like you just they just trade it for Kevin Durant.
They're four and two right now, they still look really good,
and we just I don't hear about them.

Speaker 3 (04:40):
Yeah, it's kind of interesting because we talked about that
a few weeks ago. Justin and I talked about that
because Houston is one of those teams that, you know,
I mean, I'm really high on them. I think they're
gonna be in the mix to win the finals this year.
Like Kevin Durant was the type of swing you know,
have a little bit of a setback early on with
losing Fred van Vliet kind of have that question of
like who's gonna play point guard? What is this gonna
look like? You know, you mentioned Oklahoma City earlier with

(05:02):
the continuity, there isn't as much with Houston, Like I know,
a lot of their young guys are together, but you know,
even look at you know, Javari Smith's now in a
bigger role. They're gonna need him to continue to step up.
But there's already a lot of things like that they
needed to build on. But with adding KD there, I
feel like there is just a little bit more of
an adjustment. I think Houston's gonna be fine. For the record,

(05:22):
Like I'm nowhere near worried about Houston right now. But
the only the only fear you have, if you have one,
is just like with the conference being so good, like
you know, these early games now might bite you down
the road when everything is gonna be so separated. You know,
the question in the West is it's gonna be too
is like who's gonna be bad? Like you mentioned the seatings,

(05:43):
but it's like is anybody gonna fall off this year?
You know, so far it really hasn't been the usual suspects.
I mean, Dallas is the one in two and five.
A little bit of a rough start for them right now,
but you know, we're gonna we're gonna see what happens
in terms of that the Spurs. Yeah, the only bad
news for the Spurs is that Dylan Harper, right, Like,
Dylan Harper is going to miss a few weeks here
now with the injury. So you know, number two overall,

(06:05):
pick somebody that you're excited to see play minutes for them.
But yeah, you have to be thrilled with the start
that they've had so far.

Speaker 4 (06:11):
Yeah, Dallas I think needs Dallas needs somebody who is
really good at like European ball style and just like
a really good score. I don't if only they had that,
I don't think they would have been in that position.

(06:32):
It's a shame that none of them are on the
market right now because man, that would have been that
would have been big for them. They'd probably could have
taken them to the finals. Honestly.

Speaker 3 (06:41):
Yeah, I mean, look, yeah, it's a shame. Maybe you
know from Slovenia or something like that. But that's the
thing though, wuld they have the number one overall pick?
Would they have Cooper Flag right now? Who knows? Adam
Silver would have pulled off his you know, we don't
need to go down that hole again. I mean, Nick
and I last week talked a little bit with you know,
with Cooper Flag and his adjustment just to playing point
guard like playpoint crime. The NBA is hard, Like I

(07:01):
do think there's a little bit of a learning curve there.
The other thing with Dallas too is they're just missing
their big men for the most part, Like you know,
Gafford has missed time and Derek Lively's out. I mean,
there are a few things that are concerning I guess
for sure. You know, Klay Thompson hasn't exactly looked great
to start the year. I mean he's averaging a cool

(07:22):
eight points right now. Yeah, it's been a lot on
a d I mean, d Lo has been playing a
little bit of point for them as well. But yeah,
they're they're firepower. I mean, of course not having Kyrie
doesn't help either. But yeah, there's I don't know's it's
a win now team. But with Cooper Flag in the mix,
it is kind of a weird situation where you're trying

(07:43):
to get him adjusted too, like you're not you know, people,
I think imagine when you see Cooper flag, and you
put him in that starting lineup because of you know,
how good he's projected to be long term. I think
they go, oh, we're going to drop in a league
and win immediately. Like that just doesn't happen with every rookie.

Speaker 1 (08:01):
No, it doesn't.

Speaker 3 (08:02):
And so to that token, you know, I mean rookie wise,
I know everybody's already talking to about him versus Edgecombe, like,
we'll see what happens there. And VJ probably did take
the early lead, to be honest, and I mean again
that's the instant results thing, right And a little bit
too of the Sixers, you know, coming out hot out
of the gate, you know, they've kind of they've come
back to earth here a little bit, a bit of

(08:23):
a brutal loss to the Bulls the other night, blew
kind of a blew a big time lead there in
the second half, particularly the offense was miserable. But to
that point, Chicago one of the hot stories so far
for the Eastern Conference. I mean, if we want to
switch gears a little bit and go over there, six
and one star. I don't know if anybody saw that coming.
Josh Giddy, fresh off is restricted free agency deal has

(08:44):
been balling this season. Our guy Vooch still getting it done,
is right, I mean the game winner against the Sixers
the other night. I don't know, do Chicago fans have
a reason to believe Finally, it's been a lot of
mediocre or mediocrity these last few years.

Speaker 4 (08:58):
I feel like Chicago is always a team and I'll
use Justin's example because he always used to say this
about the Magic. They're always a team that would always
start off hot and then it would just kind of
decline a little bit. But like, I didn't think they
would be six and one hot. I think that is
something that's still surprising. Like I would have said, maybe, oh, yeah,

(09:18):
they're four and three. They're staying above five hundred. Oh
that's a shocker. No, like the fact that they are
top of the East right now. They seem to be
I don't want to say firing on all cylinders, but
like they seem to be working fairly well considering like
they're always usually a play in team. And I don't
feel like they did anything drastic in the off season

(09:41):
either to warrant this kind of change.

Speaker 3 (09:44):
No, not really, I mean, what are their big idea
you bring Kevin Herdery and you bring like a guy
like Isaaco koro In that's like they're bigger moves if
you will. I mean a lot of these guys have
been here for a little bit. I mean giddy obviously
they've They've had now for a second. Vooch has been
there for a while. Dessaumnu is drafted by them like
he's homegrown. You're right, the Bulls have always been good.

(10:05):
It's that plan, like the plane has always been the ceiling,
you know, I will say again going back to the
Eastern Conference and just the state of it, like it's
all pretty wide open right now. If this is going
to be the year where you can get weird with it,
like why not? And you know, even with some of
the teams. You know, we'll talk about the magic a
little bit later, but you know, magic disappointing start. The

(10:26):
Celtics and the Pacers dealing with attrition and so they're
struggle a little bit as well. But you know, it's
still pretty wide open in this conference in the grand
scheme of things. You know, who are you really putting
your faith in in this conference? Is there anybody so
far in the East that you're you know, putting your
chips on and going, yeah, I'm still buying them as
the favorites here.

Speaker 4 (10:46):
I mean it's tough because, like I don't feel confident
about Chicago. I definitely don't feel confident about Cleveland. I
don't feel confident about Milwaukee. I think I even said
it last year. And I still like Philly because of
Tyrese Maxin When you get Joel Embiid back for like

(11:07):
the thirty games or whatever, like he's still really good,
and now that that VJ. Edgecombe pick is hitting already
and is already paying you dividends, and so we don't
know much about him, so which means we can't say
he has an injury history unlike Embiid, which usually would

(11:29):
halt your entire season. But now it's like, Okay, you
have MAXI, you know what who he who he is?
You have Jared He's gonna be you know, he's coming back,
He's already he'll be helping out the team. What is
VJ ceiling If he's another scorer, then I don't think
that that mbid roadblock when all your scoring gets taken away,

(11:52):
I don't think that's gonna be as much of a
much of a detriment to the sixers, So I think
I kind of still have faith in them, but every
everybody else, it's like, I don't.

Speaker 1 (12:03):
Feel confident about any team in the East.

Speaker 4 (12:06):
I think you can literally spin a wheel of all
the Eastern Conference teams and you can make an argument of, yeah,
that team might actually make it far in the East.
And then also you can make the same argument of no,
that team's just not gonna make it anywhere.

Speaker 3 (12:21):
Yeah, I'm well right, And even when you get down
to the plane it gets even worse. Like we're talking
about teams that are hanging on right now. I mean,
you know, Detroit, I think is somebody that we expected
to be in the mix, you know, kind of picking
up where they were last year. I think you have
to be encouraged by that. Malwogan's gonna win games just
off Giannest Like Giannis alone will keep them in the mix.
Miles Turner's played well so far in his adjustment there.

(12:42):
Did you buy a chance catch any of his return
to India the other night? Are you surprised he got
booed as much as he did.

Speaker 1 (12:48):
No, I'm not surprised, like this surprised.

Speaker 4 (12:52):
Yeah, it's like I'm sorry, are you not familiar with
the concept of sports, Like if you were to go
if I'm a PACER's and you leave to go to
New York, that sucks, But okay, when you go to
the rival.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
Nah, man, you're getting booed.

Speaker 4 (13:13):
Like that's that's with every single sports entity.

Speaker 1 (13:19):
It transit.

Speaker 4 (13:20):
It's more than just basketball, it's baseball, it's uh football,
it's every sport. If you go to a rival, you're
gonna get the booze.

Speaker 3 (13:28):
It's not even like it's a dead rivalry now at
this point, Like there's some where maybe it's so uncompetitive
that it doesn't get noticed as much, but it's it
feels like in the indie and Milwaukee rivalry has like
kind of hit its apex these last few years. And
like here's the thing. I think indie bands are gonna
cheer Miles Turner eventually, Like Miles Turner played over ten
years of his career there. He's a huge part of
the team that just went to the finals last year.

(13:50):
Like it's just you're right, Like, man, you could have
gone to any other franchise and I don't think anybody
would have said a word, but it's like, man, you
went to Milwaukee, Like really, you gotta we gotta see
you in that uniform during like you're on the other side, really,
mister Pacer, Miles turn and Miles turn is not like
he was talking about a little bit, Like he's not
entirely wrong. Like my guy fought through being in trade
rumors every single year basically, like it was non stop

(14:12):
with him being rumored to getting traded out of there,
and he always, like you know, did stay loyal. He
wanted to be with the Pacers for a long time.
The Bucks threw a ton of money at him. It
also just got complicated too obviously, feels like it goes
out saying, but like the Halliburton injury changed a lot
in the timeline there, Like Miles Turner is older now
at this point, like he is ten plus years into
his NBA career, Like this indie team is one in

(14:34):
six right now, Like we knew as soon as Haliburt
wasn't playing that this was unfortunately a lost season for them,
and so that does make it a little weird right now.
But yeah, you can't really like you gotta take it
on the gin for at least one night. They gave
you the tribute video. Still, it's not like they you know,
this is not like Lebron going back to Cleveland in
twenty ten levels of hostility or anything. But it's like, yeah,

(14:54):
Miles Turner's gonna hear it for a little bit. He
will eventually not hear it as long as he doesn't
like keep ragging on India all the time. But like the
indie fans are gonna come around. It's not like he's like,
you know, Benedict Arnold there or something.

Speaker 4 (15:06):
Yeah, it'll be like a year or something probably like
when they'll probably get over that. But like we's complained
about always being in like the trade rumors. You know
who was also in trade rumors all the time, George Hill,
And you didn't see him complain about it.

Speaker 3 (15:19):
George was always traded.

Speaker 4 (15:21):
Yeah, George Hill always gets traded. He's always the key centerpiece.

Speaker 1 (15:25):
You know what. You don't do see him complain.

Speaker 3 (15:27):
Les They kept dangling him though, George at least they
they followed through and they traded him and finished the deals.
Like Miles Turner, I mean, it was all we I
feel like we spent at least three or four seasons
when him and some bonus were there talking about like
all right, which one of these guys, is it gonna be?
It did feel like they chose right there. I mean, certainly,
I mean and shouts to Boss, excellent player. But like, man,

(15:48):
you talk about the Halliburton return there, like you want
to talk about springboard and that team getting a little
further than they would have been. But the King the
Kings are notable this season for in all the wrong
way so far. And I'm just like, which, like you
look at this roster and you go, this was so predictable,
but like, god, that's so unfortunate. It's just that roster

(16:09):
makes absolutely no sense and it's gonna get stripped down
for parts hopefully, but like, it is not a fun
watch in the meantime.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
I haven't watched them this season. How bad is it?

Speaker 3 (16:19):
It? Just like imagine the Bulls because you've seen that
when you watch it with Levine and Damar, so like
you already have a sample what that looks like. And
then throw like Russell Westbrook and Dennis Schroeder into the mix,
and you have a bunch of guys who all kind
of need the ball in their hand and there's only
one basketball and so you've just got them some bonus

(16:39):
in there. Is like the main facilitator at this point,
and he's just kind of like running around with nothing,
like it's bad, Dude, Sabonus may ask out within like
a month and a half.

Speaker 4 (16:49):
And Malik Monk just signed that deal as well, and
you know he's already just like having so much regrets already.

Speaker 3 (16:56):
Well well, and Milik Monk too has just been injuries
the last few years too, Like I feel like League
Monk hasn't been healthy, like he had the breakout years
where he finally because Leakee Monk's had an interesting career, right,
like he was a guy I loved out of college.
Like we saw League Monk when he got drafted by
Charlotte at Summer League, like way back in the day
in Orlando, and dude, I was so high on Bleak Monk,
Like I thought this kid was gonna kill in the

(17:17):
NBA right away. And it took about four or five
years before that act, like if anything, like his career
was basically on life support, on veteran minimums at the
bottom of the bench, and then he broke out in
that Lakers squad, and you know, it's been a good
run since he had a great year that first year
in Sacramento. He's phenomenal. Yeah, it feels like injuries have
taken a lot at him too.

Speaker 4 (17:36):
I wanted Malik Monk when I wanted the Magic to
draft him instead of Jonathan Isaac, just because I liked
him coming out of college as well. I thought he
was a really good scorer. And then assume go to Charlotte, like, well,
there's talent wasted right there. That's what Charlotte's good at.
It just being a cesspool of wasting talent.

Speaker 3 (17:53):
And that felt worse than just the Hornet that's been clarified.
That's what the Hornets me. I felt personal.

Speaker 4 (17:59):
Oh oh yeah, like I mean, yeah, just the Hornets.
I don't have anything against the whole city.

Speaker 1 (18:04):
I haven't like.

Speaker 3 (18:05):
I kind of like Charlotte. I'm not, I've only been
there once, but like I kind of liked it.

Speaker 4 (18:10):
I can't say anything about the city yet, but I
will say the team has a tendency of wasting talent,
and I'll never forgive them for wasting Kemba Walker's good years.
But I think, like I've noticed this, and I tell
me if I'm wrong here. Other than the bona Fide Stars,

(18:31):
so like a Pallo coming out kind of like players
like that you usually don't see. Probably the lesser tier
players like maybe the seven to ten mark don't usually
emerge until like their fourth or fifth year. And I
think because we're so impatient as fans, and in the

(18:53):
NBA is also very impatient, like all right, I want
to see results.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
Now we.

Speaker 4 (18:59):
See a lot of talent being squandered, and there's not
a lot of patience because now we're seeing with maligue
Monk after all these years.

Speaker 3 (19:06):
Yeah, I mean definitely. I think because there's such a
wide pool of NBA talent like internationally and you know,
we stay all the time on the show, that it's
like the amount of just pure talent in the NBA
is probably more now than there's ever been at any
point in history. So you're right, like to that extent,
I think you expect everybody to like break out right away.

(19:29):
So here, I'll pull up a draft. I'm pull up
a random draft right now from like twenty twenty three,
so we'll do two years ago, okay, and you start
to look at you know, some of these like you know,
four to ten picks, so like, yeah, it's I mean,
it's a mix, like and some of them aren't stars necessarily,
but they've they've broke out on their roles. So like,
you know, the Thompson brothers have been great obviously four

(19:50):
and five. I mean, you tell me, where's where are
you at right now with Anthony Black? Anthony Black with six?

Speaker 4 (19:56):
A lot of people are very high on the potent
for Anthony Black, Like apparently from what I've heard, he
was not involved with any trade talks, Like if anybody
wanted him, they'd be like no, like they think that
he's actually going to be their guy in the future.

Speaker 3 (20:16):
Okay, well, I mean and that's good. I mean hopefully,
like you'll see if he's you know, still some potential there. Again,
he's very young. I mean yeah, it's like, you know,
you got Cool of BALI, You've got Jarris Walker, You've
got Taylor Hendrix. I mean the other one who's who's
super like made an impact right away is Cason Wallace.
Like Kason Wallace for okay, see, he has been great.
He's I think he's put hisself in a position to
be a part of them for a long time. I mean,

(20:37):
you look at the guys that got paid there. He's
probably another one. I mean, he's been in their starting
lineup at points. Yeah, let me. I mean, I'm just
gonna let me look at twenty twenty two real quick. Yeah,
I mean it does these guys that take a lot
of time. So like you know, Mathern was six, he
was He's been good kind of right off the rip.
Like Shaden Sharp's been up and down. Dyson Daniels has

(21:00):
been good. He's broken out a little bit.

Speaker 4 (21:02):
He had a good game against Orlando the other night,
and that just made me angry. It's like, why is
Dyson Daniels putting up eighteen against you? Let get We'll
talk about that later.

Speaker 3 (21:10):
He's a good player, Like he's one of those sneaky guys.
But then, I mean, look then, you know, like it's twelve.
You got Jalen Williams and obviously Jaylen Williams is a
star getting paid a max contract and okay, see right now,
so you know it's you're right though there aren't many,
I mean, even with the number ones, I think that
there are a lot of people where it takes it.
Like Kate is the most recent example of that, where

(21:31):
like Caid came in, he was good right away, but
you know, kind of took a little bit of a
step back in year two and everybody was like getting
ready to give up on the guy, and then in
year three completely breaks out and now has been the
consistent superstar that you know we've expected him to be.
Like not every like, not every number one pick is
Wemby essentially, like not every number one pick is like
I'm trying to think of number one who just came

(21:53):
in right away, I mean Blake Griffin, but he missed
his first year, you know what I mean. So that
was a little bit of an up and down.

Speaker 1 (21:58):
But how well I guess say that as well.

Speaker 3 (22:01):
I mean, he was he was the certified rookie of
the year for sure, and so that helps. A part
of that is like, yeah, he did. He did come
out hot right at the rip. We're gonna talk about
Polo later in the show, obviously when Chase is all
you know, we're to talk about magic, but like I
gotta there's been a lot of Pollo pieces out this week,
and so we're going to get into that and a
whole lot more here on the Driving Dish NBA podcast.

(22:22):
Welcome everybody. My name is Kevin Rayfuse, joining me as
always my co host Justin Kuzart. Justin is not here
this week. Justin will be back next week, I think hopefully,
fingers crossed, like that's not even like, you know, I
love Justin. He's gonna be back at some point, I
promise for real. We're working on it. But in the meantime,

(22:43):
our guy, Chase bunkers here. Follow him on Twitter at
Chase bunker w o kV one O four five in Jacksonville.
Of course my alma mater from back in the day
as well. Always love the douvall. Like I said, Chase,
Chase is the rare person who knows me and Justin
in real life. So what if feet or something I
guess who knows or shrug hooray Jamal Crawford, Yeah right,

(23:07):
something like that. But leaves a review on iTunes, good
or bad. We'll read them on the podcast. If you're
not an Apple, use a play source, Speaker, Spotify, tune in,
Amazon Music Player, FM, Spotify. I think I said that
either way, anywhere you can find a podcast, you can
find us. Watch a show on YouTube, you'd see Chase's
wonderful background this week. It's totally not because his room
behind him is dirty or anything. It would never be that.

(23:30):
We would never do something like.

Speaker 4 (23:31):
That because I'm depressed as a Magic fan. We'll get
to that a little bit later.

Speaker 3 (23:35):
Yeah, Like we said, we got some Jahn Morant two
to come back with after the break because it feels
pretty depressed in Memphis. Right now, we're going to talk
about if there's anything salvageable there. Of course, do some
balling and falling as well, and now words more sponsors.
So John Moran, you know, you want to talk about
guys that came into the league and made an impact
right away. Like you know, one of one of the

(23:56):
better rookie seasons we've seen was John Moran and Memphis.
They go out make huge playoff runs. Early potential is
sky high. They're supposed to be the Western Conference team
in the future, and instead here we are now where
John Moran says that he no longer has joy playing
for the franchise, which you know, welcome, welcome to the

(24:17):
John Moran watch. We are officially on board here. The
trade rumors have already started. Uh, Sacramento, Miami, and Houston
are the teams that I mentioned early. The Houston rumors
have already been shot down. They they pretty much said
they're not interested right away. And you know this is
coming off where we know where Memphis been made their

(24:37):
biggest shake up in a while, where you know the
core gets stale. They made they made a big move
moving on from Desmond Bain, sending him to your Magic
this past offseason. You know, they fired Taylor Jenkins at
the end of the year last year. So if anything,
this is kind of like a double down, if you will,
and Moran saying, hey, we got you. You're a guy.
I mean, I don't know, man, you watch Memphis, there's

(24:58):
there's definitely no joy there right now. Because wh I
watched John Moray the other night, like it was alarming.
It was lazy. I mean, he wasn't attacking, he was
just jacking up jumpers. We know he's not traditionally been
a good shooter. Like, how did we get here?

Speaker 4 (25:10):
Is this?

Speaker 3 (25:11):
Do you feel like this is unsalvagable? Oh?

Speaker 4 (25:14):
I anytime I think I see a disgruntled superstar, it's
always unsalvagable. I don't think I'm trying to think of
any instance when there's been a superstar who's been disgruntled
and they just magically gets resolved. I think the only
one I could think of, and it might get a
little bit farther back was maybe Paul Pierce and Boston,

(25:35):
and then they made the trade they made. They did
everything to go and get Garnett and ray Allen. Yeah,
and I think that was the only way that they
kind of resolved that. But no, there isn't any way
to resolve this. And here's the thing, Like Jaw's not
exactly a person to be in position to kind of
request a trade, given not just his injury history, but

(25:58):
also his off the court issue, like he likes to
be the guy who fires the guns during MIA's paper
Planes song. Yes, that's a very dated reference, but I
don't care. It's still a banger. Like I saw this
from Marcus Spears. He was talking about the trade value
and it said, quote for the execs I talked to
today say they really have no interest in trading for him.

(26:18):
Once said it was because of a combo of contract
and off the court issues. Another suggested that if Jaw
is traded, it'll probably be a problem star for a
problem star. I asked one current NBA coach if he
would like to coach John Barrant. He said, I'm not
sure i'd want to like that's the thing that also, Yeah,
money's also a very big problem. But if you're trading

(26:42):
a problem star for a problem star, you're still going
to have like a problem. Like we're not going to
say that this change of scenery is going to just
magically fix him. Like, did no I think that he
actually didn't want Taylor Jenkins to get fired?

Speaker 3 (26:56):
I No, I definitely think he wanted Taylor Jenkins to
get fired. And it was weird because it feels like
they finally shook the offense up, like the offense got stale,
they were running a lot of pick and roll. Then
with Taylor Jenkins, it felt like if anything that that,
you know, put Jahn Morant in a situation to succeed,
and then they just let him go. And I feel
like that doesn't happen without there being some sort of
you know, disgruntled this behind the scenes, which I think

(27:17):
is clearly coming to light. Now, You're right, it's the
triple whammy, right, it's the triple whammy of he's had
off the court, he's kind of declined a little bit,
and part of that is due to injuries. I think
he's been super injury prone. I mean, he only played
nine games in twenty three, twenty four. He only played
fifty last season. So that's that's a very real concern

(27:38):
at this point. And for a guy like him, where
the athleticism is such like that's job Morant's game is
that he's just a better athlete than everybody else and
he's able to do these freakish things that other guys aren't.
Injuries are gonna sap that quick. He's not a great shooter,
and so that's there's a pretty valid concern about, you know,
whether what his long term is. But yeah, it's it's

(27:58):
the I mean it's the decline, it's the injuries, and
it's the you know, the big contract. Then like John
Muransk get paid a ton of money. You know, he's
getting paid to be a bona fide number one right
now and he's just not playing for it. Like Chase
He's shooting thirteen percent from behind the arc this season,
Like that is disgusting, And I mean that's that's for Again,

(28:19):
he's not a great career three point shooter, Like we're
talking about thirty one percent overall, but like he got
that up to thirty four percent in his all star
year in twenty one and twenty two like it was
thirty last year, but he was averaging twenty six points
a game. Like he's down a full six or seven
points from you know, three or four seasons ago. You know,

(28:42):
like I said, his shooting percentage is down three point,
but his overall is way down. I mean, his effective
field goal percentage is forty one percent right now. Like
it's just gross. The advanced numbers aren't bailing them out,
like they're pretty bad defensively, his assist numbers are down.
I don't know, there's not a lot to like right now.

(29:02):
And like you said that combo then of off the court,
because like it's not even just the getting in trouble
with the with the guns and the just nonsense like that.
It's that you're right, like with the Taylor Jenkins situation
and now with new coaches, it's like it feels like
he's kind of blown the locker room up a little bit.

Speaker 4 (29:21):
Yeah, And like the thing also I'm trying to figure
out is if Desmond Bane got you two players and
four first rounders, what does Jock at you.

Speaker 3 (29:34):
I don't know, I have no idea. And that's where
I really just struggle to find out what his value
is right now because obviously, like if this is a
few years ago, he gets you everything, Like he will
get you one of the higher deals on the market
right now, given the history of everything in the way
it's playing out so publicly. I don't know. I mean Houston,

(29:55):
Like we said that. I get the intriguing part there
because it's like they need a point guard so badly,
Like it makes sense, but it's like, if you're Houston,
I'm not really giving up anything super of value there,
Like I'm trying to win right now, and it's like,
am I really gonna add another variable into this locker room?
Like we talk about the chemistry we're trying to build,
Like are we really gonna do that as well? Sacramento?

(30:16):
It feels like would be just a Sacramento move for
them in the sense that it doesn't make sense, like
what are you gonna like what are you goin trade
them zach Lavine or something like that, Like I guess
that works, that would make sense, but like that's just
disgusting and that doesn't feel like it fixes anything.

Speaker 1 (30:31):
Clavine the bonus and somebody else.

Speaker 4 (30:36):
I don't know the one that's the thing. Like also
his contract just gets progressively worse. We're in bad year
three of a five year deal. Like he's making just
shy a forty million this year. Next year he's making
forty two. In the year after that, is gonna be
forty four like he is right now. I mean at
the time, yeah, good contract, but now with everything that's happened,
that's not an easy contract to move.

Speaker 3 (30:57):
Yeah, And I mean, look, he just got suspended for
one game, like he's arguing with his coach. He had
eight points the other night, Like it's not I don't
know what the bat. The team that intrigues me is
gonna be Miami, because I feel like Miami is one
of those where it's like, look, I don't want to
sound like a heat culture guy, but I'm gonna say
the heat culture a little bit, like I trust Spoe
to kind of have the juice a little bit to
be like, Yo, really, are you gonna mess around here?

(31:20):
Like you mess around here, You're just not gonna make
it Like that feels like a place where I could
see some redemption a little bit, Like I don't know,
I'm kinda it intrigues me at least, but it's a
weird situation right now. For sure.

Speaker 4 (31:33):
I think of all the coaches that have the job security,
it is Spo I do. I think I've gone on
the record and said I think Spoe is probably the
greatest coach in the NBA right now after.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
The top's gone.

Speaker 4 (31:48):
Spo does have a way of establishing a culture and
also just kind of revitalizing people. I mean, like there
was a reason why Jimmy Butler went there, and Jimmy
Butler's game seemed to also elevate when he was there,
like everybody's game does seem to elevate up to a
certain point and then all of a sudden it just
goes crashing down. So it's one of those where he

(32:09):
could go to the heat and it's gonna be great
up until he wears out his welcome and it just
goes downhill, just like that. I do think of all
the coaches, though, it would be a Miami move because
Miami has been the quote big fish hunter for at
least the past five years and we haven't seen anything
really and so I think after a while they might

(32:30):
actually try to push moves. Because pat Riley just does
not like picks. We've kind of noticed that over the years,
is that he prefers to trade the picks rather than
have draft capital.

Speaker 3 (32:42):
So Miami's just in a weird spot right now too,
Like this feels like a weird instance where you can
push the chips in and it kind of makes sense.
Like they're off too a good start this year, but
like when you look at this roster, it's like you've
still got Bammed there, You've still got Tyler, hero has
been pretty good this year, and like you've got a
lot of young guys, but it's like, what is this
ceiling here? What are we building to? Like it feels
like they're kind of running in place and obviously like

(33:04):
this is their first little bit without Jimmy Butler, Like
Jimmy Butler leaving certainly changes the trajectory there, but like
this feels like a shrewd move for them where it's
like you're right, it gives that team a little bit
of juice. You get him to buy back in and
all of a sudden in a wide open Eastern Conference,
I go, hey, why not? Like we certainly are going
to give them the coaching edge every single time they

(33:25):
I don't think they'd have to give up a ton
of depth, Like that's the thing, Like you know, there's
a world potentially where you keep Wakez, you where you
keep Yovic, Like I think it's that low right now.
So yeah, you give up draft capital and you move
Norman Powell for him.

Speaker 4 (33:40):
Like I mean that that might be the thing, is
that you might have to like sell high on Norman
Powell right now because he I mean he's on evenen
playing four games, but he's still has looked good.

Speaker 3 (33:50):
It was great last year too.

Speaker 1 (33:52):
Yeah, and so that is the possibility.

Speaker 4 (33:54):
Like the thing about the heat is that like they'll
look at like very much minor second round players and
they're just like, no, we got to keep them. Like
how there was like who was it that was kind
of hindering the James Harden deal. There was one player
that they're like, oh no, we like him, we can't

(34:14):
move him. It was like I forget who it was.
Carlton can be able to help us out with that, probably,
but like, I don't think they'll want to move Jovich
now because like, oh, yeah, you know, we love Jovich.

Speaker 1 (34:25):
We won't move him.

Speaker 4 (34:26):
Or let's find the random one now this year basing
Myron Gardner. We're gonna look at Myron Gardner and they're
gonna be all one game that he's played and they'll
look at him and just go, yeah, but we really
like him. We think there's a we won't trade him,
like that's what they do. Also, Myron Gardner might be

(34:47):
like the weird player that's just gonna magically rise up
because the Heat just have that every year they do.

Speaker 3 (34:51):
It's the factory. It's it's it's the culture factory.

Speaker 2 (34:55):
Last year with Kaall like we I think we literally
joked on the show like oh yeah, it's gonna be
uh And I looked at the name keal El where
he's going to be the next Heat star and we
got it right.

Speaker 3 (35:06):
Yeah, I mean listen, they just they find some franchises
are good at finding those diamonds in the rough. It's
it's interesting though with a Moran thing. It really is
going to be one of the more intriguing markets, just
because you're right, like, I have no idea how to
project the value on Ja Moran right now, and I
think there are franchises that take a swing, but like
you're right, like those days again, multiple first rounders for

(35:28):
John Moran, I think that has past us at this point.
It's it's an interesting case in self sabotage that I
hope is doesn't keep to continue to trend in that direction,
because it is trended in all the wrong directions in
Memphis these last few years. And you're right, like I
do think you start to you know, you move on.
You've got Jaron Jackson locked up, like if you decide
to fully rebuild, He's a guy that stoles a lot

(35:50):
of value. It feels like they've got a few young
guys in the system where you know they can maybe
jump started a little bit. But uh, it's a cloud
hanging over that frame right now. It'll be interesting to
see how long the situation continues to go on for all. Right,
who's balling? Who's fallen? Our NBA version of the stock market,
we always like start with the good before the bad. Chase.

(36:10):
You're the guest this week, I will start with you
who's balling this week?

Speaker 1 (36:13):
White people?

Speaker 3 (36:15):
Wow? I mean that has probably been the case for
most of history. Yeah, if you if you want to
call it that, I guess.

Speaker 4 (36:24):
I should correct myself. White people in basketball. It just
seems like right now we've been seeing like why I
say that Austin Reeves is just taking things to the
next level into which I will make a very I
was way wrong on this guy apology which I've said
was white Carlos Arroyo.

Speaker 1 (36:44):
That's definitely not the case.

Speaker 3 (36:46):
Why that is that was crazy? He was way better.
I mean respect to Carlos Puerto Rican baller, but yeah,
I don't know about that.

Speaker 4 (36:53):
But like Jake Laaravia of also twenty twenty two draft,
he's been now slowly coming into his own, especially with
the Lakers. I hate that I praising the Lakers like
it just burns every fiber of my being. But they're
finding scorers without Lebron and I think that's the crazier part.
And of course also seeing Austin Reeves just take another

(37:14):
leap so white people.

Speaker 3 (37:16):
That's the thing with Austin Reeves is it's like Austin
Reeves got the comparison and because they're white too, right
away to Caruso, and Caruso is such a huge part
of them winning the title. And I think everybody expected
Austin Reeves would just be that guy. But it's funny
because you know, obviously Caruso defensive menace. I think Austin
Reeves has never quite been that. But it was like
all right, Well, he's still good though, he's got a
lot of upside. You're right. I just didn't think he

(37:37):
had this offensive jump in him, frankly like he's been
and you know, maybe part of it is some additional
chemistry with Luca now, but yeah, he's been phenomenal for
the Lakers so far this year, and it just it does,
it ups that core a little bit higher, like the
ceiling just feels pretty good like and on top of
it with missing Lebron for part of it, you only
add four games Lebron so far, like the fact that
other guys on this Rothster have stepped up like eight

(37:59):
and looks comfortable. He looks the most motivated he's been
in years. So you know that these are good signs
for the Lakers early on. And yes, partly due to
the whites as well, like Luca is going crazy.

Speaker 4 (38:11):
I hope someone just clips that out of context. Partially
good due to the whites.

Speaker 3 (38:15):
As well, just the just the whites. It's it's always
those damn whites. Balling for me this week is Victor Wemnyama.
Victor wemen Yama, noted Star Wars fan met Hayden Christensen,
Ewan McGregor and Rosario Dawson as they're filming season two
of Ah Soka. He posted on Twitter, I don't have

(38:35):
the picture up here obviously on stream right now, but
what I was most impressed about because obviously, like Wemby
is one of the largest human beings on the planet, Dude,
Hayden Christiansen honestly didn't look that short next to Wemby.
I was like, all right, Anakin, like, look at you, buddy.

Speaker 4 (38:50):
First off, I'm glad that Anakin, or actually be a
Hayten Christiansen is gained the love again because a lot
of people forget he got a lot of hate when
he was Anakin sky Walker. And do you mind if
I tell you a Rosario Dawson story that also might
be so terrible you might just delete this from the empisode.
So when I was working in Orlando, I was working

(39:11):
at a movie theater that also used to be the
site for the Melbourne Independent Film Festival, and they would
always bring in like a special guest of honor. One
year was Patrick Warburton and all that, and so I said,
who's the guest of.

Speaker 1 (39:22):
Honor going to be?

Speaker 4 (39:23):
And they were working on getting Zario Dawson. Well, she
was just on Conan like not long after that, you know,
they were talking about it, and she said one of
the things that was a turn on for her was
Christopher Walkin impressions. Will me, being the horny teen that
I am for an entire summer worked on my Christopher

(39:47):
Walkin impression where I was just like, yeah, then I'll
tell you wow. I mean wow, we wow cow bell,
Like I just kept saying cow bell, just like Ran
and so and hopes that Rosario Dawson would maybe come
to our humble small town even though it's rather large

(40:08):
of Melbourne, and also and an attempt to have her
find me slightly attractive, and neither of that worked. She
never came into town. All that year, all that training wasted.

Speaker 3 (40:22):
You got to meet her one day, and you gotta
at least do like a you gotta do it randomly.
I feel like you have to like at least tell them.
You have to at least tell the story. I mean,
there's a way to tell this story without being a psycho.

Speaker 1 (40:31):
Obviously, Oh yeah, you have.

Speaker 3 (40:33):
To toe the balance, Like there's also a way to
tell that story where it goes terribly wrong. But I
really thought that was gonna end with like you at
least met her somewhere along the way. It's like, now
you were just trying.

Speaker 4 (40:44):
No, just wasted that whole summer, the summer of two
thousand and seven, wasted.

Speaker 3 (40:51):
Man, absolutely crazy. But all right, who is besides your
Christopher Walgan impression for Rosario Dawson, who's falling for you
this week?

Speaker 1 (41:00):
Yeavin?

Speaker 4 (41:01):
I got to tell you for me. Then the Magic,
they're awful. They can't play defense. It's trash. It's like
they somehow said defense. It's that wow, horrible, But in seriousness,
what the hell like it? It's something that I've been
talking with a lot of people. I was talking with
the Philip Roston Reik who writes for uh Lockdown Magic,

(41:24):
and after the Hawks loss, I just go, what the
hell am I watching? I'm looking at a team that,
mind you, the only roster moves that they did were
tray for desmon Bane and signed Tias Jones.

Speaker 1 (41:38):
That's it.

Speaker 4 (41:39):
So it wasn't like it was off like a roster
overhaul and they're trying to figure out their way. The
thing that was the big shake up was the coaching overhaul.
They kept Moseley obviously, but then they also brought in
Joe Prunty. They also brought in God Sham God, which
we're supposed to be helping us out, and instead you
have a clunky offense. Again, no one is scoring. And now,

(42:02):
at least last year no one would score, but they
would at least grind you out on defense. We're not
even getting that anymore. Like teams are constantly putting up
at least one twenty on them. That's the worst part
out of all of it. And so they've lost their identity.
They they look so dispirited right now, and I think
that Paolo and Franz kind of need just like a

(42:23):
coming to Jesus moment and just go all right, how
do we lead this team? What are we doing wrong?
And throw in Jalen as well, because he's an energy guy,
and just say, right now, we look like crap. We
should be where the bulls are at right now, but
instead we're competing with the likes of Charlotte, which is
awful to say the least.

Speaker 3 (42:42):
Well, yeah, there's expectations, like I know, I was only
brought in Desmond Bain and only brought in Highest Shones,
but like those are two moves that made a lot
of sense for the Magic. I thought this was the
next step of them. You know, Bain was was the
piece for it, says, hey, we're going for it. Like
there are people out there who picked the Magic to
go to the finals this year at the Eastern Conference,
being so wide open, like and like you mentioned that continuity,

(43:02):
like continuity among their roster. You know, Nick and I
talked a little bit last week about the Magics, like
just lack of consistent bigs and that's been part of
the problem for this week. For me, it's gonna be
the three point shooting, Like that's what I want to
highlight too, Like you mentioned the defense a little bit,
but like they just can't hit the broad side of
a barn right now, Like Desmond Bane is shooting twenty
eight percent from me on the arc, Like that would
easily be a career low for Desmond Bane. Like Polo

(43:24):
is only shooting twenty four percent from me on the
arc right now, Like that is just like it's alarming,
it's concerning, and it's not sustainable. And I've seen a
lot of like we kind of alluded to this in
the intro, but like I've seen a lot of like
Pollo warning signs pieces about the Hey, you know, we've
projected this guy to be the next superstar. He's clearly

(43:46):
a good NBA player, Like did we jump off the
cliff a.

Speaker 1 (43:50):
Little too early?

Speaker 3 (43:51):
Potentially like as he maybe hit his peak, I feel
like that's a little unfair at twenty three years old.
But I feel like we need a little more out
of right now, right right?

Speaker 4 (44:02):
Oh yeah, I think what we're kind of we're still
seeing him kind of settle for like the mid range jumper,
and I feel like I want to see him and
he's been doing it a little bit more, but.

Speaker 1 (44:12):
I want it a lot more.

Speaker 4 (44:14):
Like Polo is a big guy and he needs to
use his weight and just start attacking the rim and
like he can shove off a lot of people. I
think the other thing also is that he's getting a
lot of double coverage, and so part of it is
on Powlow, but also like he's getting double covered and
his supporting cast isn't getting it done. Franz at least
like gets a little bit of leniency because he will

(44:34):
put up like twenty something points, but like everybody else
around him just isn't doing anything. Like it's I don't know,
how to explain it, Like Bosey was probably kind of
on the hot seat like going into the season, just
because like all right, we gave you all this, like
I need to see what you're made of. But I

(44:55):
think with Mike below now dangling out there, I think
that see got a lot hotter, and I don't think
he's on a coaching staff anymore or anyway, so like
he can be scooped up mid season. So I am not,
in my by no means am I saying fire Moseley.
I am not saying that. I am just saying that
right now he is on the hot seat and if

(45:16):
they don't keep this or if they don't fix this,
like he might be the next change that comes.

Speaker 3 (45:23):
Yeah, I you know, I thought he even got a
little hot towards the end of last year, but it
felt like that would have been premature. But that's again
going back to the weight of expectations. Unfortunately, I think
Jamal Mosley is going to be a part of that.
You know, did a lot right his first year, but
if they continue to disappoint when they've upped it, like

(45:43):
you said, with big names out there, it's going to
start to get you know, we're not hot yet, but
just eight games in three and five, we're definitely gonna
get a little warm. And as if we Storet's All
Star break, if they're trending down more of the play
in position where they are now in a weak conference,
it's like this, Yeah, I do think you may start
to see some buzz out there a little bit. Uh.

Speaker 4 (46:05):
I mentioned the fact that they also have lost twice
to the Hawks, and so even in like a divisional matchup,
like that's already hurting you.

Speaker 3 (46:12):
As well well, And they got crushed by the Hawks
the other night on national shit, Like, yeah, it was.
It was brutal, and I mean you saw Baine get
thrown out of that game too. I think he saw
a little bit of the frustration start to boil over.
So yeah, it's definitely it's keeping an eye on, and
not in a good way, all right. Falling from me
this week is Walker Kessler, who's going to go undergo

(46:34):
season ending surgery. He's got a torn labrum in his
left shoulder. This is brutal just because Kessler like a
good start to the season. I mean he was averaging
fourteen and ten twenty four years old. But he's going
to be a he's a restrictive free agent at the
end of the year. So like Walker Kesler's in a
contract here, he's playing for money. He's a guy who
has had a pretty good start to his NBA career,

(46:56):
somebody who I think in Utah they're probably keeping an
eye on long term. You know, I don't know if
this changes anything. Again, it's a you know, minor setback here.
I still think Walker Kessler is a good player, but yeah,
he was in line for a potentially large payday and
you wonder if this doesn't you know, blunt that a
little bit there.

Speaker 4 (47:12):
Yeah, it's it depends on how they'll work things over there.
But usually when you see a season ending injury, they'll
usually like use that against them, especially in a contract year.
So hopefully it doesn't affect him a lot financially, but
I think it just sucks, like anybody that young, and
especially in a contract year as well, when he was
probably gonna make a good amount of money this year

(47:35):
or the next year.

Speaker 3 (47:37):
It just sucks. Hearing. Yeah, Jazzs have been one of
the you know, feel good stories to start the year
so far too, Like you know, obviously has been a
lot of fun to talk about in Utah Jazz basketball recently,
they're off to a good start here. So yeah, definitely
a little bit of a bummer there already not a
bummer Having Chased on the podcast this week. Thank you
everybody for listening to this episode of Driving NBA podcast again.

(48:00):
Follow Chase on Twitter at Chase Bunker. You can listen
to him on WOKV one O four five in Jacksonville. Chase,
you got a lot of other stuff to plug with
their conversations. I mean you you talked to Leonards Skinner
this week. You can stand up for Danelle Rawlings a
few weeks ago. Where can the people listen to all this?

Speaker 4 (48:17):
So you can find my all my interviews of our
WKV dot com under Chase Chats where you see a
whole bunch of a whole bunch of interviews. I'll give
you a bit of a run sneak preview. We just
interviewed Peter Billingsley, so he'll be coming out about two
weeks or so. He's from Ralphie from a Christmas story.
Just booked McCaulay Culkin. I don't know when that will

(48:40):
actually drop, but we'll be interviewing him next week, so
that'll be fun. Him and I share the same birthday,
by the way, so that would be yeah, that would
be a fun conversation for thirty seconds and that's about it.

Speaker 1 (48:51):
But yeah, Donnelle Rowlins talked with him.

Speaker 4 (48:54):
That interview was a lot of fun, and I think
the worst part about it was the hour that we
talked afterward that I couldn't record, Yeah, because it's like, Okay,
this is a part of the interview, but it was
like one of the funniest segments, Like are funniest things
that we've ever done, And it ultimately somehow ended up

(49:14):
with me opening for him at the Comedy Zone and
for the first time in three years doing stand up comedy.
It's it's a wild story, and I know we're running
out of time, so maybe for next time.

Speaker 3 (49:26):
When no Justin, I'm just bummed there's no footage, and
I get why there's not, but I'm just I'm selfishly
disappointed that there's no footage more than anything. But yes,
definitely check that out. I've got breaking podcast news because
Justin actually just texted me back, and it's bad news
if you're a fan of Justin. I don't think he's
gonna be on next episode, So stay tuned for who
who I'm gonna spin the wheel of guests. H We'll

(49:47):
see what we have next week. I swear Justin and
I are still like it just tough me with schedule sometimes,
like you just know how it goes, as anybody who
adults knows how it is. You know, Justin also has
a child, so like, you know, kind of being a
dad takes precedent here just a little bit. But thank you.

Speaker 4 (50:06):
I'd be back next week. Find out in the next episode.

Speaker 3 (50:10):
You might be I gotta spin the wheel. You mentioned
Carlton talking about the heat a little bit. I was like,
I may spin and hit Carlton next week. So I
don't know. I don't know if I'm kind of putting Hi
on blast early, being like I'm telling Carlton he's gonna
just come on the pod next week before I even
see if he's available. But yeah, we may have stay
tuned for that. Yeah we will. We'll catch you guys
next time.

Speaker 2 (50:30):
I think we've done my dancers today, so I want
to dance Wednesday.

Speaker 3 (50:33):
See your star side Okay here, I think they get