Real Ones of the Week

This episode is brought to by Netflix. The T mobile homeome runun Derb is right around the corner. might be one of the best showcases of pure power and off sports baseballs Biggest slugggers. along with some legendary Announcers, Puhos, Rizzo, Bs, Sabbathia L Duncin Yeah Hunter Pence, Matt Fast Kirzian a whole bunch of people. And it's the one night where you don't swing to make contact You swing. to make history. Im interested is see what Bond says about this actually. Anyway, it is all live from Citizens Bank Park In Philly, watch the T mobile H rununs Derb be live on Netflix Monday, july thirteenth at eight PM Eastern five PM Pacific Ruins, slogan Murdoch here Beck and Rajabell in a second, we get to talk about OKC in San Antonio, the series that's going to seven games and then we just kind of talk about where each team is going in a potential finals matchup against the Kicks. How do they fare? probablybably pretty well kind teams hold and how they play throughout the season and how the Kicks have kind of had a cupcake coost season U schedule. So we kind of level set expectations on both sides and then Howard gets into his real one statement on what we feel as a collective about the lottery reform. So really really good episode. Rowing of the Week takes a turn. It's pretty fun. Quick programming note though. We will have one episode next week And that will be a special episode with myself, Brian Curtis and Joel Anderson from pressbox fame. We do our little collab. we're doing a we're going to start an annual power rankings of NBA media, so we get into all of the streamers and networks and just see how they fared this season. As a collective was really, really fun. I love those guys. I love the press box. They do great work there. M sure you guys go check them out. Really really fun episode. And then we are back me, Raja and Howard Beck on june eighth we will be reacting off of game three of the NBA finals. So tap in with that. We'll talk to you guys really, really soon. all the bleep Celenciaga played the beam The Ringer NBA show is brought to you by Fandul. The conference finals are here Think you know how it'll go down. Take your shot with Fandool and get closer to the action. Fandle is the best place to bet the teams players and plays during the NBA post season. Bu the same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout or try live betting and jump into the action after tip off. Download the Fandle Sportsbook app now and play your game. twenty one plus Select States eighteen plus DC, Kentucky, Wyoming, Gambling problem call one eight hundred gambler one eight eight eight, seven eight nine, seven seven seven or visit ccPg d. org Sashchat in Connecticut ing ruins, Logan Murdoock here Howard backck there, Roger Bell in the cut with the Texas football hat on. He's out here repping because it's looking like that's looking rough today. So like I ain't had a It's okay like it's okay. It's okay. It's okay. Yeah. What the fuck are you going to do? Like That's what the OKC Thunder were asking after game six. The fuck can we do? What can we do against this buzzaw that happened? The last podcast though Raja You were basically I listen back to it. You're basically putting OKC in the coffin and kind of digging the grave. little bit, a little bit, a little that's a misrepresentation. Go ahead, a little bit. I'm going to let you you know restate your stance, but from what I remember it was like, damn it it might be over with for them. And then they won. Game five. And u Honestly one of their most impressive wins of the season. And then JW comes back into the lineup in game six. in San Antonio and they get the brakes blown off of them What did you like from game five from OKC? and what did you see from OKC in San Antonio in game six that gives you maybe a guide to where the series is actually going to go in game setven What I said remains true and I thought you saw it play out last night, which was in the absence of multiple other playmakers for OKC shot creators for themselves or others I thought that San Antonio would be able to do a really good job with taking Shay out of the game That did not happen in game five. Like my dad asked me yesterday, he was over to watch the game and he ask me what I thought. And I said, you know what, Dad, My my confidence is a little low right now because I feel like I missed really bad in game five Um don't have a great answer for you. Home courourt seems to be a real thing in this series. like some of those guys Both teams seem to be way more comfortable and they're and they're more natural environment, like they seem to play better at home, u, I think as Wemby's energy goes And his activity goes Uh so does the game from time to time You know, u When he's active and he's shadowing the ball and he's challenging at the rim without those multiple playmakers, Okay C really struggles I didn't think he was great in that respect in game five. And so, you know, a lot of people were able to kind of get going I thought they did a fantastic job on Se last night and He's an incredible player, but he was already coming into the series like, you know People were trying to take him out and he was of games that is sorry, like but, you know You saw the Lakers kind of shadow him in the back court and start doubling. He was getting off the ball And he was already not like maybe playing up to his optimum level. But He had a supporting cast to a large part that was able to handle that series and and produce And as you level up, it becomes harder and harder for them. And so now you got a guy who hasn't like he's not playing his best basketball ever, but He's also seeing a scheme that has given him a lot of problems and he makes a lot of tough toos. against one defender U He's able to create space. He's able to, you know, he shoots contested shots and he's really good at doing that But now it's two defenders. It's it's Wemby in a lot of instances And it's that primary defender and What Wbbe behind you frees you up to do? what Dendbe Motombo freed me up to do? What it Um Um, what's big Sean What was Sean Bradley you know, frees you up to do. when you have that length and that shot blocking prowess around the rim is I can stay attached to you as a primary defender I don't have to worry about you going by me. A lot of where Shay is so brilliant at scoring is as a defender, you don't want him to go by you all the time. So you react to every little ft Every little fake and you and you back up And then he's shooting his jumpshot, right likeike or like it gives you a little bump and you don't want to like leave your feet or come back and get get attached to him again. because of fear of him stepping through and laying you and you don't have to have that fear when weemby, D Kembe, Sean Bradley are patrolling behind you. So as it relates to him offensively, if that defender doesn't have to go for any fakes because he's not worried about you going by him. It makes that contested too that much more difficult U and he's and he's struggling a little bit with that. Now he was really good in game Five Um it's going to be a Fantastic like cinematic, hopefully moment because you're going to see either the dude who thought he should have got MVP Stamp why he should have gotten an MVP or you're going to see Shay show you why he's a two time MVP in game seven. Like it's going to boil down to that. Um I don't know. I still maintain And I'm a little spooked off of it just because of how OKC looked in game five at home They have championship pedigree. I've never doubted them. I've rode with them the entire season. B It wasn't under these circumstances with the lack of playmaking around him And I'm worried, I'm worried about them 'm sorry I'm just rable You know what? I don't want to hear from anybody on either side of the ledger I don't want to hear no fucking crying. I don't want to hear crying. All right? Like for those San' already for you I had to listen now sccream and cry and foul bait and I'm watching segments on fucking your national TV with people breaking down foulbaiting Miss me with that bullshit San Antonio played fucking rugby last night. And I don't want to hear no crying from OKKC fans either I want to stay on this really quick, Raja. I'm not going lie one of the stories of of the series is Wimby in the in the last moments of game five whispering to his teammates hard foul and they're fucking Jared McCain up and then they're fucking Shay Gilgas Alexander up, right I kind of I kind of like the gamesmhip. I'm not mad at. I wasn't mad at it when you Do we know Do we know what he said? Or are we assuming what he's saying? Okay, the lip reader expertst said that he was saying, Hey, man, go I don't know. I'm just saying people people went wild with that and it's like I don't know that we have any reporting that makes that U That's That's all I'm saying I just I hate when we start to to make an assumption because we saw a fact pattern. O, he whispered next thing you know, Flagrant foul Wemby ordered the fucking code R. Do we know? I'm just we don't think about we ass All right. All right. The question is, what do you think about the sppurs kind of fucking up? Jared McCain. and the last but just kind it seemed like they were trying to send a message. They did the push Ply did the push and then the other center fucked them up too I respect that. you know, I'm not contrary to popular belief, like I was never a guy that tried to hurt another opponent. likeike that wasn't what I did, I do know some guys who did that, including people that you wouldn't want to hear it from, but I do know dudes who practiced in that. I was not one of them. However, Within the rules,, as long as you're not trying to hurt someone, I'm okay with the physicality. I'm okay with the message sending. I'm okay with the tone setting. It's not a problem for me Um, on on either side I just I don't love the discourse of of of And of just all the crying and the refs are on this side and the refs are on that side. like I don't, I don't love that. If it's going to be physical And that's the tone that the refs are allowing to Be that game then you have to adjust and you have to meet the moment and you have to figure out how to survive in that. And if it's going to be touchy, nip and tuck then you have to you have to scale back and be able to acclimate to that kind of environment. And that's just always been the game Mh You know I'm just that That's kind of for me been a bit of a turn offff if I'm keeping it ab bug. Do you think that out first and Howard? When I was talking about it, I was going off of what McCain said when Basically not the lippery necessarily because you're right on there hasn't reporting on that, but it has been reporting from Jared McCain talking about how U he was at the free throw line And one of the guys were like I got another one for you too. Now that was just normal banter, normal normal NBA banter and basketball banter, but like They very clearly look like they were going after him. But my question you My question to you is how are we going to remember this series, right? Because like what I don't want to We tend to do this especially with online discourse where we're just like, Ohh, it was about the fouls, the conspiracies, the third eyes are open for this, right? But I think that that in this case as Rog is alluding to, it's really undercutting how great this series has been, the theater of this series, the two Um teams going at each other and I get it right? When you talk about Um the national shows, they got to build in content and they have to U, filled it with things that they think are going to get clicks, but Do you think that we're gonna remember the bullshit or are we gonna remember how great this series is when it's all said and done Yeah, just to be clear I have no doubt in my mind The Spurs were trying to send a message with the hard foul on McCane whether or not Weemby was the one who like ordered it or whatever. That's the part of that, I think is at least a little ambiguous in social media and everywhere else. and traditional media runs a little bit wild in connecting the dots. And maybe that was what happened. I'm just saying Um And I don't mind that. As long as it's not too vicious, as long as it's not to hurt if it's just like hard fouls that are message sending goingo back to Raj's days in the League like Dude, that's just part of basketball and especially playoff basketball and that's fine. Like sometimes you're going to be a little bit over the line for other purposes It's fine. as long as it's not to hurt anybody, as long as it's not too over the top They did give Plumy the retroactive flgrant foul one, not two Um So they like the leeague recognized what it was and they're kind of like, All right That's fine, but it wasn't it wasn't over aggressive to the point where they said a two or anything else like that Um Taraj's point about the People whining Rajah correct me if I'm wrong but I feel like That's mostly the fan bases and some media members one way Yeah That's what I meant. Yeahah,ah not Yeah There's a lot of rage baiting going on.'s a lot of just stupidity in general going on about this and like I'd I'm like you. I don't give a shit about any of that stuff. These guys are everybody's playing hard. sometometimes the calls, you know, the refs don't catch everything Calls go one way, they go the other way, whatever. I'm of a big believer and it all evens out in the end and the referees are not dictating the outcome of any particular game or the series overall. These teams are really evenly matched. We've had some great games It's been weird because like on a composite basis, like I think the average margin of victory in this series is now like three. Um, I think the average score is like one, thirteen to one, ten in favor of Spurs if I'm scrolling reading correctly quickly here. So it looks close, but we've had some a bunch of lopsided games. likeike game one was fucking epic Um and ever since then's it's been kind of like back and forth. But we've seen this before, right? Like One of these days, I'll look up to remember which one it was. but one of those heat sppurs finals It went like this. someomebody win by twenty and we go that's it. It's over. They figured it out and then the next game the other team would win by twenty and we' get these twenty thirteen would be a finals twenty thirty. There you go. Thankals Um, I think there was probably a lot of Danny Green three Threes going on at the time Um So there's there's you have this. you have these big swings sometimes, even if the teams are really evenly matched. It doesn't mean every game is decided by two points. It just means Either team is capable of blowing out the other. We're capable of having everything go down to the wire Overtime, double overtime. shit man, game seven may just be that. It may just be one big battle of attrition to, you know, down to to, you know, it'll be like, you know, Rocky versus Apollo whoever can stand up first before getting called u for the knockout. likeike It's going to be like that and that's great. We've seen some great basketball The thing I'm going to remember most, I think at this point with the series not quite over yet is Wimby and the way he has conducted himself for better and worse throughout. that he had this like absolute dut of a game five looked lifeless out there, had no pop whatsoever. and then skips postame doesn't do media. you know, a guy who we at the P proro Basketball Writers Association gave our highest award to the Magic Johnson Award for his, you know, consistent cooperation with and openness with the media. and he blew us off. It's fine. Everybody does it at some point. Um It's not great, but it showed something about his mindset that night, right Like he was in a bad space. so he decided he couldn't do it. And he's been really curt during this series in general too. This is a guy who' usually very good natured, really open doesn't mind telling a story here and there, giving some perspective and he's like his his quotes have been chopped, man. and he couldn't wait to get out of that post game with Ashley Shimari from from NBC the other night. like It was like two quick answers and bam, I'm gone I take it as it's not it's not about the media. It's just about him being like suuper focused P' probablyably feeling the full weight of all of this. He's twenty two years old. He's in the conference finals for the first time his life. He's in the playoffs for the first time in his life and he's in a battle with the defending champs And the guys got all the weight of the world on and what you go into like past gres and how long it took them to make the finals or even this stage He's twenty two And like The way he rallied In game six and just came out firing from the top couple quick threes, a blocked shot U Ali Up He was everywhere again. Whatever. the goal either way. energy I loved it. The energy was there. The energy was there. It was fucking awesome. But dude, this is exactly what we want to see from the greats, right You're not going to be great every night And then especially when you're twenty two And you're like in this this is the first time we're like, oh well, maybes maybe the moment' too big for him orr maybe he just gasted Maybe this is it. Maybe he's got nothing left. To see him rally like that, you don't to be a spurse fan or Wimmy fan to go like, that was fucking awesome That was really inspiring. That's really cool. This is what we want to see from the from the greats and the guys who were on their way to being as he probably is an all time great U So that was fantastic. So I'm going to remember that. we're going to remember the injuries, unfortunately on both sides and especially on the thunder side of this And Jaylen Williams, JW seemed like kind of, you know, a shadow of himself in game six, we'll see Raja was right there's much less I hope I'm wrong. I hope I hope I hope he just they shouldn't. I don't know You That inury sucks. You're just ye, you just wantan shut everybody down U you want to keep Jason Tatum on the sidelines. Now now you want J. I didn' work. didn' reallyase. Raj's emails, put the emails on It's, u It's a it's an incredible series We're gonna to remember that more than anything. Unfortunately, we're also going to remember a lot of nonsense of people's like stupid Instagram reels of, you know,'s all the times that S shf, fill out and all this crap, like fuck I don't fucking care. You know it' was funny I justed it was funny. there was I was gonna ask Roger's opinion on this, but was there was a reel that just came out. It was one of the sites so I'm not going to give him credit, but it was like Oh, look at all the times that Shay got Wimby on a switch. He's cooking them. Then I look at the stats and Shay's shooting like thirty seven percent against Wimby what on wheny's guarding him. Like that dissonance is crazy. But I do want to I do want to stay on I want to stay on Wimby for a second It's weird, Howard and Rajah because Yes, he is twenty two, but this dude has been playing competitive professional basketball for a very long time, right? And I was thinking like I had too thoughts on this like, yeah, this is his first post season. But damn Two years ago, we saw this dude on a national stage playing against the Avengers of Team USA basketball And's playing toe toe with them in a gold medal game, right? Like he has the experience of playing in big time games. So like he's not the normal superstar that we're used to where it's like they come into the bold and they're playing at this level and they may not be ready for the spotlight, right? And then the other end I'm like damn he is twenty two going up against this Bzlve okay see I don't know which one to trust at Somewhere out there is a Chevy truck And the person who drives it, well That's a Chevby person You probably know one Your buddy, your sister Oes who always show up the first to rise, the last to leave You always have that little extra something And maybe you've got it too Chevrolet. Gogether, let's drive. visit Chevy d. com slash trucks to explore the lineup. Evening, buyers remorse. Buy a new car? I'll be moving in Let's get started. Sorry, I think there's been a mistake. I bought it from Carvana. You what? Yeah, great price. I even have seven days to love it or return it. So there's no No, no buyer's remorse. More like buyer' rejoice guess I'll let myself out. Congratulations. I mean it. Buyers rejoice. Buy your car today on Carbana. Limitations exlusions apply. See here Sunday return policy, Caronana comot This very particular moment. But the question that I have for Raja right now is What have you thought about the transformation that Howard has talked about with Windby? What have you seen from him and The other question that goes in with that question, you know, I'll put in seven questions at one time for you. just throw it all the kitchen sink at you. The second question to that is, can you talk about how that That transformation relates to the ups and downs of a series, right? whereere you're going one game you're going to get blown out and the other game you're going to figure yourself out. What is a seven game series like this bring out of a guy like Weindby M. Yeah. well Soe free to take your time on that. I gave you a lot. Yeah. lookook. Arc of anybody coming into the NBA in terms of their experience arc and their acclimation arc Um Everyone has one when they're coming into the NBA, especially as it relates to playing playoff basketball. likeike there's there's an arc of acclamation in the regular season and then there's one for the playoffs. I think that the European player that has pro experience Um as a shortened arc you know, like our grassroots basketball you know, doesn't necessarily set you up Um for that pro experience the way that their model does. So you know, I think that you're and your Wembys and your Yokaches. I think their arc is shorter in terms of being able to get from relative inexperience through the failures and then understanding the level that they need to play at to thly succeed, right? So I think you see Weemb's, you know, you said he played in the in the the gold medal game and You know, he's had pro experience. so He's gotten to a point really quickly and that's part of the reason like the spurs were probablyroably preseason. a lot of people weren't really sure because you expected that arc to take a lot longer than it has, right? Like he's gotten there relatively quickly And How it manifestsself through a seven game series is just what Howard said, Like you could Most young players find it difficult to rebound Um and pressure situations that are coming at you pretty quickly And that's what this playoff round is coming at you every other day. and You know, the word that you use or that I always use with younger players when you're looking for them to take that next step is consistency consonsistency is is just Being there, being present, being at a benchmark level every night that's going to give us a chance to be competitive and win and A young player's ability to do that is ultimately what levels them up. They're always going to flash those superstars when they' babies, they're young, they're going to flash. They're going to have games where they flash all over the place and you're like, yeah, that's. But it's can of capture that over and over again in a way that puts you in position to win four out of seven. And so What you're looking for Wemby or anyone else, for that matter that's kind of you know, ascending into that that light is like, yo, how quickly can they bounce back? Does it take them two games? the series is over. If game five rolled into game six for Weemby, it's a fucking rp You b If they can get over that and bounce back and be ready to go and know that the responsibility lies with them to lead the charge in game six emotionally, physically. you know, I've been impressed with seeing him lead huddles. and command his group, put his arm around people Yeah, a lot of that kind of stuff has been really fun to watch and You know, leadership is orrganic and different for everyone. So like not everyone has the same style by You know, when I talk about leaders, I talk about guys that however they do it, they connect people You know, they they keep you they keep you tethered to the message and the goal because there believe it or not, a lot of guys are wanderers bro. likeike they're on a team. They're good players, but You know, you snap your fingers and Ly hung what And before you know it, he's falking on a side quest And you're like, y, not,, you got to come back over here. likeike we this is what we're doing Why are you in Austin? We're in Sanntonio right now? Get back here. Get over here. come comeome here. Yeah physically or mentally, right? L Hey, buddy, where are you And I think he's done a fantastic job of that, but you know, obviously and equally as important is what he's been able to do physically into the weeds a bit about being able to recover for a game S when you It wasn't I missed shots. There are different types of bad games that you would have to recover from, right? There's a bad game that you look like your normal self, but you went three for seventeen because the ball wouldn't go in the basket Now that that's a hard recovery because there's some mental like, A bro I'm good I'm this level of player Let' let's flush that. We're going to come out and be aggressive. I'm going to make shots. I trust my my work, right? Yeah. But Physical, you don't look like yourself Dud that was game five requires another level of professionalism to recover from because Our body, we have to find the body again And what goes into finding the body is unique to every player, but like there's a There's a level of treatment that's required. There's a level of rest that's required. There's a level of fuel that's required. There are a lot of things that go into even just getting the body back from game five to game six And then obviously being able to play and and and you're flying, you know, you're trying to get your mind right? because you're flying back. No But young players can struggle with that. young players can struggle with that Logan. So like, you know It's been impressive. I mean, I don't know that I answer that great, but it's been pretty impressive Hey How he did the thing again. He did the thing again You know what I'm talking? I just keep talking, D. I just keep talking. I h Do you know what I'm talking about where he does the where he says Oh shit, I probably said some dumb shit, but he does something says like a brilliant No, I just I don't know if I answered the question if I answered you know what I mean? What you were looking for, but like Yeah. I love the leadership though of Wimby. And I think the other thing leadership is a dance man. sometometimes it's taking, you know, some arm around like a young player like how was it was it Carter Bryant that he took aside and was like, it's okay after Carter Bryant got yelled at, right? But it's also the other thing where he's like He sees Harrison Barnes and he's getting he's actually getting leadership from Harrison Barnes on the sideline, right and getting game. and he's also big in his coach up, right? He does feel like a connector even when he gets ejected feel like You want to run through a wall for him even after he did some dumbshit. likeike you think about the elbow that he had on Naz Read. What was the first thing he did when he got execed? He clapped his hands, He shook everybody's hand. He dapped the security guard and was like, we got this deal. Like I'm sure he apologize afterwards in private settings, but he it was always about team team, team team. and that also extends I believe to the San Antonio fan base, right? And like I think he's transformed. that city in that fan base in a way, right? because it's more of a soccer environment. Like if you look at San Antonio back, even when you played Raogja, it's like it feels night and day the environment of San Antonio when you go on the roow for a playoff series now with the colors, with everything that's going on around where they you know, go into the middle of the court and they they the team acknowledges the fans. It just seems like he has his imprint on so many different things with San Antonio And that's been doped to see And don't I don't know how long this is going to last or what this is going to mean, Howard, but I just really like what I'm seeing from a leadership standpoint from Windby, even as he goes through his ups and downs as a player both from a physicality standpoint and a game standpoint night to night Okay, I was anybody had anything. Are we good on that? And is there anything It was a statement question. you know. Oh, okay. I listen, I don't know. I'm sorry. Okay. S we go whereere else should we go with this? Okay, all right. we got u All right, All right. All right. we got canan I just can I can I say one thing though? L I just want to please has nothing to do with the Wimby and there Is there any chance like as I'm watching some of these And the reason the discourse has gotten to me a little bit, Howard from like the fans and the media is is because You know, a lot of my conversations deal with seventeen and eighteen and fourteen year olds. So like they're getting that information. And then it's trickling up to me, if you will, right? So like Their vision of white player is is largely being shaped by all of these TikTok videos or whatever. And I find that to be really unfortunate because You know She's a player that I would have Thai studied And Shy had and Ty my middle boy had a real affinity for his game and was trying to take some things and now it's Now like his his opinion of it is being shaped by this BS I just want to say one thing and I want to ask because I've watched him a bit And what I don't think anyone's talking about is There are times where You go to the ground becausecause it's more beneficial to go to the ground to mitigate the risk of injury than it is to try to land in the actual plane that you would have to land in given the circumstances And I saw one the other night where it was a clear fl on Der and Fox where he went out and he just basically bumped both of Shay's legs in the air But if you come down and try to land in your original space, Its a high likelihood that you roll the shit out of an ankle. Where if you just kind of give away with those legs and accept the fall, they do it with quarterbacks all the time, right? Like sometometimes it makes more sense rather than to fight that fall and wind up concususs or otherwise. Roll with the fall like in bre when you as a quarterback when you do that when you stand up, you invite other people to tackle you and get at your legs, just like give up. That's that's, that's what you're saying, right? Like as opposed to just standing up and like having like four different lemen that wouldn't otherwise hit you actually hit you. Yeah, like, well, for instance, they used to teach and I don't know, like I'm not like maybe they're teaching Dia something different at Texas, but they used to teach like you know, stand in, stand. now sometimes they teach like, you know, release it and and back out of there. likeike get out of there. You know what I mean? Like flip it and retreat because someone might be coming at your knees or even E as you're getting tackled, Logan Like they're teaching them how to like Go with the actual tackle U and and how to protect themselves in the roll out of the tackle. So you're not putting your collarbone at risk or you're not putting the back of your head at risk, like slamming your head on the ground. Yeah And I just I was thinking about it watching some of the TikToks and stuff. Like, man, I wonder if some of that is like M sure. There's an element of sell files. I'm saying NIa doesn't do that But I've seen multiple ones where you're like, hey, I'm in a crowd Um, if I come down I could roll it my foot on any one of these six other feet that are in here. like why don't I just go down and mitigate the risk? It was just a thought. I don't know I no, when you were talking about that, I think one of the underrated qualities of Sa is just how much he can use his body, right? I think that we're's so enamored with the whatever you call foul baiting After his own the last post season that he had He gotten, you know, normal people are going to go back in the gym and work on their shots that they didn't, you know the shots that they need to get better at or part of their game where that they need to get better at is basically what they do. What he was doing was there was videos that were coming out about him just working on his balance, right? And his all of his his u It wasn't like weight bearing stuff. It was basically I don't know the actual like movements that he was doing, but everything that he was doing was working on balance and working on his body and how he was going to keep his body correct. And this is the guy that really knows his body and nose and just like how you were saying, where to fall, where to do things and I think that's an underrated part of like, him as a basketball player that young kids should learn. It's not always just like I got to work on my shot. I got to work on how to sometimes how to ball, how to figure out where I can get into the lane and get our shots, right? and how I can you know cerebrally get through the game. But one thing that you were talking about that was just that that made me think about it was those videos just him This wasn't like I'm getting in a gym and I'm going to get a thousand shots up. No, I'm going to actually just work on the balance of my body. And that was fascinating. One thing I want to get to before we talk a little bit about the Ns How do you see both of these teams against the Kicks because we're not going to be talking until again until end of game three. And I want to make sure that you know, our listenership at least like has a has a gauge from us of what we think about a potential final series from either one of these teams. I'll start with Howard. What do you think what do you do you think each team kind of matches up and what excites you about each team about the Ns U And how do you kind of see it going with each team Yeah, I mean, like there's the obvious top line storylines here, right? If it's the Thunder against the Kicks, you've got the Thunder trying to go for back to back to be the first back to back champions since seventeen eighteen with the Warriors, the first team to even get to back to back finals since eighteen nineteen. with the warriors. And so there's like just we're we're at an interesting point in testing the duration of this era of extreme parody where no one can repeat and no one can even get back So there's that part of it And then on the next side of it, if they're going up against the Thunder, like what an incredible opportunity to go up against You know the defending champs with a stacked roster with three three guys who have been all MBA. Obviously, JW did not make it this year because he'd been injured and is unfortunately hurt now as well. Um, but Chet and She and a really experienced crew there. Two incredible home crowds. likeike Iven't been to Sanntio in a while. I have no doubt that the Spurs homeome crowd would also be incredible. but I came out of those games in Oklahoma last year and trust me, Indiana was fucking loud, but Oklahoma was at a even higher level I thought I was going to go deaf. I should have brought earplugs Um, I didn't And look, I've been do a lot of games at the garden This is not on the garden. was It was louder in Oklahoma. I'm just telling you, man. Like I had never thought like my brain was going to explode from how loud it was as lo Oklahoma. And you know what? sometimes that's acoustics of the arena and everything else there's other elements at work, but I'm just telling you. So we'd have a really super intense Sies there. If it's the spurs, look, I mean And everybody's talked about this in anticipation of this. The idea of Victor Wembinyama who to a lot of us looks like the is going to be the new face of the league when Steph and LeBron and Katie step away and He has the he has the game. I think he has the personality.s he's built for this Victor Wimbinyama at Madison Square Garden I mean Could the could the NBA want anything more? C it could basketball fans want anything more? And NBA can't lose with these with they cannot lose with these matchups. That's not a knock on shhaning those guys either by the way. Victor is different. He just is And we don't talk about Sha potentially being the face of the NBA because he is so reserved and has given very little of himself persononality wise. Logan and I talked about this during during All Star with Tyler Parker But Weby is like and also because Weemby's just like, you know, he's a physical freak of nature. He's seven five and, you know, shoot logo shots and then block shots to the other end Um There's no losing for any of us in the broader MBA community. likeike either way It's going to be incredible. And I think either way, we'll get to this in the next segment, but I think either way I do think the Kicks have a bit of an uphill climb. Like theseese two teams are young and stacked What are you looking forward to Roger Yeah, no, I I mean was that Howard? I do think that I would agree with the sentiment about the Nick face in an uphill climb against either one of these guys. I think you know, both teams have the type of personnel defensively that you could find best scenario on Jayen Brunson. You might not get it right the first time, but someone on your roster will slow him down better than the others. No one's going to stop him. But I think they have the personnel to kind of you know, kind of work through until they found what the best look would be. Some people just don't have an answer for him at all Um You know, they they both teams have enough length and size where they present a problem around the rim with the two in Oklahoma City and then you know, when they obviously in San Antonio. So I think there's some formidable challenges for the Ns. I would say this though, and I just go back to a few things they have going for them U Most people feel this way about them and they'll have a weeke can change to stew on that That's just an organically you know, stoked internal fire and will to want to prove everyone wrong the rest that they've banked You know through two series now Um, That's going to show up at some point, right? because we are seven games and this has been really physically a demanding series for both teams Um And I would just I would say this There's a chance that the Kicks come out of the gate after the the The layoff A little rusty haaving been the hottest team maybe in the NBA, right But I do think that going on the road for that game is a win for them because If you're at home and you do that like they did with Cleveland, let's say, came out, looked rusty, didn't play well and you lose that home game Well, the series is flipped immediately But if you're on the road and that happens to you through the first half of a game or so, Well, you're supposed to lose that game anyway. So if you then just find it in game two, done what you went there objectively to do, which is get that one win and let's flip this series and get back home. So I think they have some things working for them But it's going to be tough a from just a physical, you know on paper standpoint, know, it's an uphill climb, but I think they got some things working in their favor. Spisode is brought you by Amazon Prime. Ever find yourself scrambling to grab that special something for a last minute party, a spontaneous date, or even that impromptu game night at home That's when Prime's same day delivery swoops in That essential item you thought you'd missed delivered. The plan save the win secured Because with Prime, same game delivery, you can grab it and go before the moment passes you by. sameame game delivery. It's on Prime. Visit ammazon dot com slash prime to find millions of items delivered fast, available in select areas, T applly You know who will be Joy back withith another addedition of Pack watchatch and this is a special one Ladies, and gentle. Because we're not packing an entire team no sry, Bob packking up one man And it goes by the name of James, Jim, Jimbo Harden It's that time of year, folks. Listen If you were a time traveler And you traveled back to any time post twelve. And you were like, yo Well you where year am I And then he was like, yo Did James Harden choke in the postseason? You couldn't tell which year you were in because he does this every year. now I know that he has great playoff games. He's got a lot of great playoff games. But like friend of the pod, Baning Jones always says It's the last game of the postseason that'll get you a James. Buddy it was Bricksville. Okay. and It'd be one thing to go out on your sword. to fight and get swept even Even if you guess weed, even if you guess weept, you call you laid on the line city of Cleveland Okay, That's what you're supposed to do. Right? If you get getting paid forty million dollars, you're supposed to die on that sword for your team For the badatch And what do you do He laid it e Like he always does in the last game of the season Because that's who he is. That's who James Harden is And it's a shame. He's so talented The regular season he's a work horse, but man could play G when you need them in your dying moments When the air is escaping your breath Well you have nothing else left to believe it exxcept for Jimp. He won't be there for you And it it's a shame Damn shame. So Sorry, all you Jim Harn fans out there I know it's been hard pretty much every year since twenty nineteen This is this is who he is I try to fight it as long as you did But the evidence speaks for itself Welome the pack watchatch Let's start with Rust versus Rust, right? Because we've talked about this a lot in this postseason because the Kicks keep blowing people out in four games and then they keep getting teams that have gone to seven, which is going to happen yet again here Um The best reference point, of course, is the one that Raja was involved in and that I covered. The Lakers were off for eleven freaking days between their last Western conference playoff series when they went eleven and zer U because back then it was best to five first rounds. So they went, you know, three wins for four This is in two thousand one. They face Rajes sixers You guys win game one Raja I as a beat writer am looking at that and going, Yeahah, the Lakers are like kind of like sluggish. you know, they, you know, you guys you beat them. It was over time, you know, Irison had an incredible game, everything. and then the Lakers you guys in the next four games. I do think there was something to it. They've been off for eleven freaking days. Shack's on air the other night saying it was like ten days. He's wrong. It was eleven. He's saying that they had a parade at Disneyland in the meantime. I don't think that ever happened U Did you guys go in, Rajah, thinking This team's going to like, did you think you had an edge? The Lakers have been off for a week and a half and did you do you remember seeing it in them at all? I know it's a long time ago now Yeah. ye, that's, I mean, they may have, Howard. I don't know. That was never communicated to me. And I was so low on the totem pole and so it was also foreign to me that I didn't have any thoughts about anything really. So I can't I can't answer that one Um I didn't even know You were just staring into the bright lights. That's all that was happening to me at the time. All right. figured it was worth asking since you've been involved but the most extme version of this. But what also happened and what people don't, you know, really remember about that series is I'm pretty sure George Lynch got hurt in game two Um I wound up with a calf or something like that, like soft tissue injury in game two like people You know, not that that series would have changed, but That's what happens when you've played that much basketball. like My ass was probably just out of shape because I hadn't played that much basketball. but like George Lynch had been holding it down for a long time and that was at a That was an attrition injury, right? Like That was like, hey, man, you got so many miles on you in these playoffs and then we're asking you to Get on a flight, go to LA. and now you're hurt So You know, to your point Yes, some rust and might have cost them upfront But once they got cooking and rus was knocked off The bodies that that we were throwing at them like they were to a large degree spent You guys went through a lot You guys went through a lot bro in that post season. You guys had You said a five game series when it was best of five a two seven game series. You guys basically played all of the allocated games that were there for you go in that final. Th then you got to fly cross country for buckles g. Are we this is the question at Howard have prepot. Are we giving the Kicks a little bit too much credit? or are we sipping too much of the kool aid of the Kicks right now at this point do we think do we think the Kicks are better than they are going into this series You're asking me. c you No No. A we properly raiding them at this point. I'm talking about it as a collect. They're in the final. They're in the finals. What are we doing No, I'm not I don't no one on here. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong. I mean, there are a few pods I've missed. Has anyone come on here and said that they're like Hey miss. world I think we've been pretty leveledited about the Kicks. I'll say this, I believe as a writer, I'm slated to go to game seven of the NBA fininals. I'm not banking on it I'll say all that. I'll say that I'm not bking on that trip Rush, I would I Yeah think of it th through this lens the Nicks when the playoffs started. I don't think we're favored to come out of the East and teams change. teeams evolve and teams teams get on a roll and like you're not the same team that you were in like February or March. And so that's fine. I think that they've shown that The sheer Dominance. F fucking just destruction the the the way laying waste of the entire east that they have done over the last month, I think has projected the Nix now as a dominant force that when I write last week wasas it earlier this week? whenever it was, I had a piece about how The whole league is trying to figure out like, oh my God, how do we even deal with the Thunder and sppurs? They're both young, super deep, super talented and could be great for years to come. And I'm getting some pushback from people going whoa, whoa, hey, what about the next? And I'm like It's a little different because it's the way these teams are built. I think people understand there's a most people understand there's a difference The Nicks have been so incredible. their eleven game streak that they're on right now. So they've only lost twice in in the playffs at all T, you know, two games in the first round of the Hwks, somehow eleven game streak. their margin of victory in that streak, Raja is the largest pointoint differential of any eleven game streak in NBA history, regular season or playoffs. And because of that I think we're now putting them on this this pedestals the wrong word, but they're projecting as this massive dominant force that's just unstoppable themselves And I don't know that I'm quite We're all swept up in I'm inew York. It's hard not to swept up in it I just think I want to tap the brakes a little bit. It's not it's not that they're not great. it's just I think they're we'll get into this in a minute. I've got a few things I want to hit I just think that This is a whole different challenge they're about to Yeah, look. I would first of all, this isn't too disrespect or diminish anything that the Kicks have done in any way, shape or form, but The East was a bit of a mess there was there were some real flawed teams there in the Etern. I think it's one of the worst eastern conferences I've races I've ever seen. Yeah it was a real mess. I was tempted to compare it to like back when the nets went to back to back finals, the New Jersey nets. Um, And like they all they had to do was beat like the Paul Pierce Antoine Walker Celtics all due respect to Hall of Famer Paul Pierce, but those were some shit. I shouldn't say shit teams. Those were not teams that anybody was fearing. And when the nets came out of the east against the Lakers and then the sppurs It was obvious the Lakers and sppurs were going to roll them because the East was a dumpster fight Howard? like to your point. I was on the o three Mavs team that lost to the sppurs to get a chance to play the suns And D you know, Dirk hurt his knee and Steve Kerr hit all those damn threes and we just neellly kept us in a zone. But the point is teams We're looking at the East We want to whoever gets out of this has won a championship Like that that was the sentiment at the time. Like I remember that. You asked me about Philly. I didn't remember. But zero three because I was playing and I had been in the league a little bit more. like I remember like if we get out of this, we are This is championship. and I want to make to be clear. So back then we would always talk about the Western conference finals was the real finals. And I think in this season, we were thinking as the playoffs began, the Western confonerence fininals especially if it's Thunder Spurs will be the real finals. I don't think anybody's saying that now and I'm not going to make that case now either. The Kicks absolutely have a chance. It's not It's not the way it was when you werere talking about in the early two thousand 's or that I was talking about the early two thousands, right? We're not at that extreme But there was a sense of that A few weeks ago before the N got on this roll Yeah, well I mean, look, again, I thought the East was a little bit of a mess. Kudos to whoever could come out of that. It's not your fault likeike you go out there and play and you did it. But I think I've always been careful with saying exactly who I thought they were, which was the hottest team. in the NBA. I thought they got hot at the right time and they were playing best version of basketball that they could play. the most opportune time to play it. That's completely different than being u an all time type of championship or bus type of team I've been clear. I think we have I You know, I know what markets do and and my wife's a Nicks fan and I got a bunch of Nicks fans that are that are family now. So I know how they can do. but Clearly, I think whoever comes out of the West has a decided advantage from just team The team that was built the overall record over the course of the season, like there are a lot of advantages But I would be remiss if I didn't again say that I can see for a team if they can recapture the way they were playing prior to the break in like point of of of silver lining for them The next that is, right? And there are some but I would not have them picked to be You know, this I wouldn't pick this series to go seven necessarily to start, right? I'm with you, Logan. I don't know that you're cashing in on that Game seven opportunities. I think that's happening Yeah. I think it if I don't think we wrapped up and maybe I put I'll put the Western conference team in five games. six So now here my bad, my bad. Ghead No, so just here's here's the breakdown that was I was kind of like going through earlier before we got on got on air. U The next path, right? And you can only play the teams in front of you. So this is not knocking it. likeike and besides that, they haven't just beaten these teams. They've absolutely destroyed them And I think the the margin of victory, just the absolute devastation, like it all means something In fairness here or just to put it in perspective The Kicks did not face either of the top two teams in the Eastern confference that was Detroit and Boston U The Hawks who they beat in the first round were a forty six win team, which is fine. The six were a forty five win team, which okay, fine The Hwks had never been to the playoffs before their the best player in the series was CJ McCollum Jayen Johns, theirre only all NBA player third team L NNBA was nowhere to be found Um The Sixs were coming off of seven game series and Mbed was coming off of appendix surgery The cs won fifty two games. So their conference finals opponent, the cs won fifty two games, that's more than respectable They made a massive midseason trade and a risky one at that swapping garland for James Harden Um And they're anchored by two stars who like have a long history of playoff flameouts in Harden and Donovan Mitchell Hi. The thunder and the sppurs Two best records in the NBA. Thunder was sixty four win, Spurs was sixty two She go just Alexander iss the two time MVP. Weenby's the defensive player of the year and was third an MVP Like these two guys, either one that they have to face the Nicks. miles better than anybody they have faced in the postseason to date. They're also both first team OMBA, of course Cet with third team M NBA, JW has been all MBA The Dicks face to allMBA guys in their playoff run so far Donovan Mitchell who made second team, Jayen Johnson who I mentioned had made third team Not the same as facing a sppurs team that has Wimby flanked by Stefhon Castle, who's going to make a lot of all NBA teams in the future, Deern Fox who's been on NBA. Dylan Harper, who will probably make a lot of all StarnL NBA teams in the future. and then of course, we know who the Thunder are. the Nicks have Brunson And Car Anthony Towns and those guys are both great in their own right and have a lot of those accolades on their own resumes. OG andobi is awesome. onene of the greatest defenders in the league thenen lastly here, defensive ranks Be the the Kicks have just not faced this. The Thunder were number one in the regular season. the sppurs were number three The hooks were tenth, the cals were fifteenth, the sixers were seventeenth. Ns, by the way we're seven Um So, you know, obviously a stout defense defense themselves. offensive ranks Third, Thu seven. Calves were sixth. so that was the best one the Nicka faced. Um, Hawks fourteenth, six or sixteenth And look that some of that's the way it goes, right? when you're playing lower seeds, they're not going to chart out as well. But I'm just saying The Kicks have not faced anything near what they're about to face yet. This test is a whole other thing and that's the way it's supposed to be. So I think we should focus more on who they're about to face and less on who they've beaten and how badly they've beaten them as we try to assess the series You know what stuck out to me about that was a there was a lot of statistics in there, but the one that I think it's the defensive prowess of the two teams coming out of the West. Yeah that I think is the that was the biggest Like, Oh, shit, like, you know, I should probably should have known that. but when you said it, it was like, wow That's a real that's a real difference there in the numbers and a large part of what The Kicks have found is their offensive stride, right likeike they've really hit and when you're playing way more formidable defenses, you know, It's going to be a really, really difficult task to keep that up. So Yeah, I just wanted to follow love. likeike those are interesting all interesting points. like Um But but like what stuck stood out to me about that was the defensive Big difference and it It's like you think about Brunson like just absolutely carving up Harden and Mitchell and picking on those guys over and over again I'm sorry but the Th thunder are going to thr He's like Shay is a good defender himself, but it's going to be Dort and Cason Wallace And just a wave of guys. and we'll see if AJ Mitchell and JW are healthy, but they've just got a lot and there's Chet on the back line there too And the spurs like Stefan Castle can get into you Devin Basll, by the way, we did not say Devin Basll's name yet on this pod. We should have because u The block and then getting into it was Chad, right? who did Chad C on Ch L like, comeome on Come on. fuck Let them cook. brz t. Please yeah I need you toow to fuck up, man. I need you to stand up. Bro push that another fucker out of you. That was amazing. doing. But like I was Hartb All these guys can defend. So I'm just we gott to hold on. We we gott to stay on chat really quickly because I sorry feel I feel I feel I feel annoyed because in the group chat When Chet went on that the little run to start game five. I was like, yo, Chet legacy game and he had like fourteen and seven or something like that. man. And it's just they The series is begging for Chet to just have a game, bro. He's just's just it's literally there, man. And there was a couple even in game six I saw wanted to hold on, Ryan. I'm cooking now. Hold on, hold on. You you got your time. What second I saw a play when he had an open lay of Saul Weindy and just passed off in game six and I'm like, dude They're pushing you around right now, man. You're seven eight. Wimby's eight two, but you're seven eight, man. Come on. Okay, Rouses your turn. What are you I'm just That's all good man. It's like look man, that was That was a baked in. I gotta shove you, bro. like you You fucked up, you yelled He's like face. He's like, ye, comeome on man. What did? kind of g It' a goofy Rye grin like Oh, I'm And I get bigger than I hate y. like I'm bigger. No, you're not There's a time and a place for that There is I w like w leg. I don't w feel like that moment was the time and the place for that Ry grin. I'm bigger than this. You've never been here before response. Now not everyone is wired like me. They're pushing their team more. Bro, what are you doing man? We need you to bow up, Ch. We need you to bow up in that moment That is a text to take Back up out of my face bro. We're not about to do this. like that is That is a I know it sounds crazy, right? Like And if you've never been in that moment a as a competitor You You have no idea what I'm talking about. and there are going to be some people who have been in that moment that were chat and you won't feel what I'm talking about. There are moments where you can look around if you pause time, right? Just said up, time out in a movie, right? And everybody just stay where they're at And you can read everybody's mind, just go through your teammates's mind one through twelve and your coaches And if you could do that, every one of their mind reads would be Well, you got to do something Cck you got fucking up Chet, we need you right now Chat, where you at Chheck how you going to handle yourself And you just, like, I promise you, that's where they were all at and you just missed the opportunity because something like that could spark It could spark and ignite something within the like belly of your team. And I think he missed an opportunity to do thatough. I was disappointed in. Raja, I'm thinking about Scottty Pippin in the nineteen ninety playoffs against the pistons when they beat this shit out of And then the next year in nineteen ninety one, he was just he was I say it in the last dance. He just was like, fuck that, I'm not taking this anymore, right? I'm not going to do this and it changed the ceiling for the Chicago Bulls. It made it just it made them a different team Ched is at current state right now, Ched is a really good basketall But if he gets some like to him, right? Like he gives you the twenty one and he gives you just like a bow. like That's going to show like Jared McCain is out here getting pushed to the ground by these people and still getting up like was good You need that from your footer, Bro. You need that from your seven footer, Doc. You need that and that's going to galvanize the team. if you just get up off the bed and say I'm not taking this shit anymore. And then the basketball stuff will take care of the basketball stuff. But that's the biggest overall thing that I see from OKC right now is Bro. They're just getting pped and just getting soft whenever they play against San Antonio. It's annoying. It is annoying Very annoying. you can have We give a lot of credit rightfully so to to to shay for his ability to kind of They even killed Um You know, not react in a way when people are trying to elicit a reaction from you. and how that affects the calmness and the steadiness of his team U So it's not his job necessarily on that team to be the overt I'm with the shits biter Right? Um, When pushed Right? Like Maybe it's not Sh but Shay's job even when pushed because he's too valuable, but Chet This is This is a crossroads for us, my boy. L we are this is this is game six, man. and you are not indispensable piece of this right now. You have not conducted yourself as such. What are you going to do when that man beats your shit up and walks down in your face yelling what he yelled That is immediate. What's up Yeah, man, you gota h I don't know how to point that Hey Chapman. You gott to earn them Louis Vuittona sneakers. You got to earn that do raag that you wearing, Dg. You got to earn them collard greens and limea beans and all that stuff. bro. If you don't do that you got to pack it up, Dg. You got to earn it You feel me them re Roger. You got to earn them red beans and rice. If you going do all that, you got to earn it. You got to get there, rightight? I'm just saying to your point really quickly because I want to get to How Oh go ahead, gohead go ahead. Yeah, no, no. It's a good point. though. Howard was making a point that I thought was a really good one before we got sidetracked about you know, u jailing, correct me if I'm wrong, are you were talking the defenders that they could throw jailing. Like and you were really kind of fred off into red beans and rice. Yeah. Yeah. The the The defender San Antonio has some real nasty looking dudes out. and acc comppl with all due respect. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. like they have some dudes that that They look like they are with all of it And As crazy as that? like Carter Bryant play was like last night Um Well he came into the game with one thing on his mind and Especially the Nicks you're talking about how hard it is for Brunson like They got people like that and they will cycle through them to the point I made earlier in the pod. They're going to find the one that gives them the most trouble and They have the weemby of it behind as well which would make, you know, like, Really, really be difficult The Kicks are going to have to unlock some things in that way, but I just I don't know, man. Pe don't always agree with me. like I've had I coach youth basketball for a long time. I coached high school basketball Given apples to apples that we're comparing skill sets and positionally and You know, just the aesthetics of one's game always give me the player that is willing fight It metetaphorically We're literally, bro Give me the one that is willing to be like, yo, oh, that's how we're handling this. Okay because I just feel like over the course of Tim a hundred samples player is going to win and go get it more often than the one that doesn't seem to care about it And so I will forever feel that way. You There are times where you got to meet that moment, my boy. You have to step up Do what it takes. Maybe it's mayaybe it's not a shelved. Maybe it's a full layout. every piece at least you got me go get a ball. att least like you got me fucked up and that's not going in that scenario, yes, but but it might not always manifest itself in a physical confrontation. It might be in like, yo, this dive to get this ball is going to hurt so fucking bad. that I don't want to do it One of you will and one of you won't Give me the one that will And the Kicks by the way are that kind of team. like they are built that way. I just think that the level of talent and depth that the Spurs and Thunder have exceeds what the Kicks have But like the Kicks are exactly the kind of team And this is how they've gotten here, right? Raja? Because they are way tougher, also way smarter, way more tied together, way better chemistry than any of the teams they just smoked, right? The Sixers and cavs are kind of fucked up teams. Let's be honest. you know the Hwks just were' ready. They were young The other two teams like had veteran talent and everything, but they're just These were not teams that were tied together and didn't have that requisite toughness and want all throughout And they just like By the way, not for nothing. Jayalen Brunson really thrives in the mid range. obbviously, he can knock down the three two, but like he's not the fastest guy. He's super strong, but like he's going to get to his spots But man We've just seen this over and over again. If you're at the elbow and Weby's standing in the paint Good luck getting that shot over him or having to like now you know, re angle that thing with the highest arc pot. So like I'm going to be very like pecially if it's Weemby, even if it's Chem but more more so Weby. Weby versus Bronson. That's not a matchup. But it's going to be a thing. and I can't wait to see how that goes's if that's the outcome Really good point though, because he scores and Shay scores similarly You know, neither one of them is a pure like I want to shoot the three. They want to work in these And I know eighteen foot ranges and he Wemby is an antidote for that.'s it's tough. tough leting this is I think this is Shayss I'm looking it up because Kersica had this stat last night. I think this is Shays's least efficient playoff series of his career U thatrs So, u A actually I was going to say budy Michael Pina had ourael buddy Michael Pina had this heading in heading into tonight so heading into game six and it's probably still the case. His effective field goal percentage in the series was the lowest of his career by a wide margin So u If I had to think they did have been like twenty nineteen, but he was just he was a totally different player when they played against the Wers So I think you played I actually had a decent series that year Um, Okay Before we get to row end of the week Howard, can you just give the r one statement? just like our statement for us on the own Just give the real one statement. We all agree with what you gott to say and just we'll go to real one of the week. So, what do you think about lottery reform? The shortest version of it I can give is I think the league is doing what they feel they have to do because of just how abbssolutely abhorrent and off the charts and out of control it was. this year, the tanking They're doing what they feel they have to do I'm worried. I respect the model they came up with which The short version is this. If you're one of the bottom three teams, Rather than the past when you had the best odds, you're in what's now called a relegation zone And you will have fewer lottery balls As the bottom one, two or three. then teeams that are behind you that or they're ahead of you with the standings. There will not be there will be not only not incentive to be one of the worst three teams. there will be disincentive. You would rather be forth Then one, two, three, based on the odds now. That seems healthy There are other versions are other tweaks and wrinkles to this? But the odd are going be flatter There's going to be more teamsolved now. It's going to be sixteen teams instead of eighteen. It's going to include like the play and losers And I will that? solve tanking. I think it'll go a long way toward it do think that this is a pretty good overall solution to take away any incentive to lose on purpose and to pull all your starters and all your stars and to make up fake injuries and have use of Nerkich go get fricin' deviated septum surgery. Um do think it will it will it will go a long way toward addressing those things I think the downside is now, the teams that need the most help ain't getting it. Like I feel really bad right now. I'll just like there's others, but I'm just going to single out the Sacramento Kings who have been through it and a lot of it's self inflicted because The owner. But they're in a really bad place right now and they've got a bunch of you know, veterans on big contracts and in the past you would just offload those guys. It's already hard to do that. So then it's like, well, we're stuck with them until they expire, but at least we can get some high picks and maybe if we nail a pick or two, well now you can't do that either because You may be the third or fourth or fifth worst team and fall all the way back into the latter half of the lottery. And maybe you're not getting the guy you really need And on top of that, one of the other rules is you can't You can't be the Spurs. The Spurs got three top five picks in a three years span, you will no longer be able to get multiple top five picks as one of the other provisions of this So you can't build the way the spurs just built So I do I feel bad for the kings. I feel bad for some other teams that are like whether it's by intent or not. It's just going to be a lot harder to Turn your franchise around. by drafting talent. You're going to have to find other ways. And if people want to say, look It'll may put more of a premium on scouting and development That's great. We know there's a lot of stars to be found the eighth pick, the fifteenth pick, the twenty second pick, second round that we've had all stars in all NBA guys and NVPs come from everywhere now But those are really low percentage plays and they're hard to do And it's a lot of luck too So I do worry about the downside potentially ear Um But that's that's lottery reform in a nuthell I believe I couldn't have said about her myself. Right, Roga Couldn't have said it at all myself. There's a lovely chart I can send you guys that shows them h graphically. I'm sure. That'll be left on re. I don't think Roger will interact with that one in the chat, I think. Oh Gusty th Let's get the roll of the ref Oh M, I'm about we' about to go somewhere I'm trying to no more homework, Howard, so you can take that. I'm going to let's go to Ro of the week. I'm going to give mine first I'll trickle it back down. Action Bronson, who had a really, really good record called the Frog It's really good And I really loved it. I think it was great. He has a really good song with Paul Wall and Howard's favorite rapper a little yotty. And you guys to go check it out. I really had a good listening experience walking around the neighborhood. It's actually called P plananet Frog, not the frog But yeah, I really love that album and it's been the soundtrack of my last two weeks. So actction Bronson Weow one of the week H U Okay. Raja, who's your roleing the week? Um, I't know U' I'll Lah, let me, I'll pop my shit real quick. I'm going to give it to my young my middle boy, Tpe Bell All right, I thought you're going to give it to yourself.. This real one is every week, reallyally? can be here without me. Thank you. Take it Did I tell y you what a pod? Yeahah, because I gave a shout out to undernder Armor for being beingNGs about like the situation. So as it was you know, Ty decided he wanted to go to Nike, right? Like they have T ranked as number twenty four, I think on ESPN and like number twenty two in the class of twenty twenty twenty eight on some other site, notot that rankings mean anything to me, but like it does to these kids. Ty does not see himself in that Ty believes unequivocally that he is a top ten kid in the class. So asked by Nike if he wanted to play in the class of twenty twenty eight. or the class of twenty twenty seven in their league. Um Ty said he don't play sixteen you, which I was like o Oh, shit because everybody's like, you know, Nike's ye So t' like now I'm playing twenty seven And they went to a team that has a lot of talent but didn't have a PG because they've also taken him because he scored so much in high school and moved him from PG to shooting guard They've just decided that he's a shooting guard. So this team needed a true point to bring their real talent together and And he went and play for Kenny Smith team Jet Academy, EYBL seventeen use While a lot of those other top twenty five kids are playing fucking sixteen you. And he led them to a three in one weekend. they were coming off o and four weekend, I think or one in three You let him do a three in one weekend with seventeen and a half, five and a half rebounds four assists and two fucking steals M betting on himself like Yo. This is what I'm here to do And as his dad, I respect that shit. So he' real wanted a week want it a fucking week, baby. Let's go. Let's go No You know, Raja, if you want us to go like full like grievance culture on like the rankings and stuff and we'll like start be like like we could start like some we could like put up some Instagram reels, like some swes and stuff whatever. like he's not ro He's been robbed. like that Th these guys are just fucking haters. He's obviously a top five talent. like let's go man. We don't get in. we don't get into all of that. We donon't get into all of that complaining shit, bro We just show up and and knock you off the kill list. That's what we do. That's what that's like that's the all that's that's the only way you could do it. You can't get caught up in the whole bring it thating to templepect bring that act toemple Ain't he' going to be right there rightace right there and tell Al seats. I respect it Raj. I expect nothing I expect nothing less from a member of the Bell family. So like I love the fact that you guys do not Yo wait quick. There was a time when when when Steph came on the pod and I believe Ty was there And I just saw look in Ty'syes I'm coming for you es because he sat right by he sat right by you. it was like I respect you. That's his That's his guy, b Stff was really good with him, D Re real talk. Yeah, donon't mean you don't want to cross them up when you get to the show. But anyways, Howard Botherfucking back, who's your herow one of the week I swear I'm not trying to breing us down again. I'm not going. That's why you're last. That's why you're last. I'm to make this uplifting. I make this uplifting. Now my real one of the week is a combination of Terry Anng Glin, who I used to work with at the New York Times and also the entire New York Times sports section sports department that I worked with Um We had a memorial this earlier this week forern Turkowitz and she should be my real one of the week but it's a combo thing again The firm basically ran the sports department of the Nework Times for decades. She was not the sports editor. She worked for all the sports editors, including the three that I worked for, but she ran the joint E credential, every crisis, everything, all of our expenses Fern had that place on lock She also was just an absolute saint dealing with All of us Psycho reporters and our crazy editors and Just the number of ways in which at this memorial the other the day, I heard that she helped people in ways that I had no idea. The ways that she covered for people, the way that she made sure that no matter what happened, you're on the road and like you you have you lost all your clothes, your suitcase got lost, whatever the hell it was. and it was like, no, don't go to target, go to fucking Neeman Marcus. we'll take care of it. Like She was incredible. U and I had the honor pleasure of getting to work with Fern for the nine years was at the times, But the reason I bring this up now, and this is the uplifting part I've been gone from New York Times for thirteen years, fellas Terry Ang Glen who took over four Fern like Fern. made sure that no matter what happens, there's a retirement There's you know, a death among either a former staffer or their family, whatever. We are all still involved. There There's a network. The room was packed in the Times conference room the other day for this memorial. Then we all went out to the bar afterward I've worked at a lot of places in my career. I've never been anywhere that is as connected as the Time Sports department. And having that and the way that Terry Anne has included us all made sure that we are all still feeling connected to that. So when something like this occurs, we're all there Um, is incredible. It's really, really cool. And it's very rare in this world that you that you have this You know, we a lot of us are fortunate enough to have those ties in our personal lives, but in your professional life Especially in the era of Zoom, which we're on now And remote working and everything else. you sometimes don't get that and it means a hell of a lot to me. And I told Terryand this and a lot of my colleagues from the other night this It's just really great. It means a lot to me that I still feel like I'm part of that Greater Times family. evenven though I've been going for like years. So it was just really cool and it was a really great event And shout out and rest in peace to Fern Hell yeah. That's what so ruin. Okay, we will as a group, we will see you guys at the end of game three of the NBA finals Ne week we have We have a special edition pod with myself, Joel Anderson and Brian Curtis. So yeah, man, we'll see you guys. You guys have a great week. We'll talk to you guys really soon. all the shits Must be twenty one years and older and present in select states for Kansas and affiliation with Kansas Dar Casino or eighteen and older and present in DC, Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem call one eight hundred gambler or one eight hundred, my reset. Call one eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit ccpG dot org back slash chat in Connecticut or visit Mdgamblinghelp dot orga Maryland. 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