← Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective
Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective
NBA Gambling Scandal Breakdown + Wemby’s MVP Level & Other Wild Performances
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Hoop Collective: NBA Gambling Scandal Breakdown + Wemby’s MVP Level & Other Wild Performances
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- [00:02]
Tim Bontemps
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- [00:22]
Brian Windhorst
With Oakley Meta Vanguard.
- [00:24]
Bam McMahon
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- [00:36]
Brian Windhorst
Hello. Welcome to the Hoop Collective podcast. We talk about the NBA which we're doing on Thursday afternoon evening. Joining me from New York City where his day began at an FBI led press conference in the Eastern district of New York's attorney's offices. They're somewhere over there. It's Tim Bonta.
- [00:56]
Tim Bontemps
My day actually began when I woke up at 8:45 to a text from Bobby Marks that said somebody should wake Baxter up. I called Bobby Marks and I said, well you just woke me up. So what happened then he told me what happened.
- [01:10]
Brian Windhorst
Next thing you know you were in front of Cash Patel, which I don't think you had on your bingo card.
- [01:15]
Tim Bontemps
I did not have that on my bingo card today or any day, frankly.
- [01:18]
Brian Windhorst
Joining us from Dallas where he's seen two of the more interesting games this week. He was in Oklahoma City for ring night and then last night for what was supposed to be the Cooper Flag debut, but it was the Victor wembanyama show. Is Bam McMahon.
- [01:34]
Bam McMahon
Howdy partners. Slightly overshadowed by the Victor Wembanyama performance was Cougar Flag.
- [01:40]
Brian Windhorst
He had a double double. That was a good performance.
- [01:43]
Bam McMahon
He had 10 and 10. Didn't get an assist as a starting point guard. We'll get into it all a little bit later. I'm tempted to give a band sleep update off my back to back to begin the season, but Bon Dumps has.
- [01:54]
Tim Bontemps
Had a rough day.
- [01:55]
Bam McMahon
I don't think he wants to hear it all.
- [01:56]
Brian Windhorst
I don't think he does either.
- [01:58]
Tim Bontemps
Well, no, listen, everybody's. It's been a busy week for everybody.
- [02:03]
Brian Windhorst
Did you venture over to the Tiki this week?
- [02:06]
Bam McMahon
No, no, there was, it was, you know how I do with single digit AM flights. I definitely have one of those to get back to shoot around to get, you know, two, two full days of tv. Two very intriguing games, one very good game, one fascinating game last night in Dallas for sure for a variety of reasons.
- [02:27]
Brian Windhorst
All right, so we'll talk about that in a minute. I do want to talk about that. But obviously Bon Temps, you ended up into the story of the day potentially longer in the NBA with the FBI podcast with the Eastern District of New York and various other folks. Even the police commissioner of New York City was there to announce the two indictments that included Chauncey Billups, Damon and Damon Jones, and a whole bunch of other people. This is a complex thing. I understand the average fan is probably wondering, what does it mean for the NBA? What does it really mean? Also Terry Rozier. So can you, since you've been talking about it all day, you don't have to give us the nuts and bolts because the nuts and bolts will have been covered by folks. But as you've had a bunch of conversations today and digested this, what do you think is most important for NBA fans to realize coming out of these indictments that have affected the league?
- [03:26]
Tim Bontemps
I mean, I would say a couple of things. I would say first, from an encore perspective, I think the one thing that's truly relevant is that Chauncey Billups will not be coaching the Blazers now and maybe ever, but certainly not anytime soon. And look, I. I was. I was on my way home from Cavs nicks Wednesday night, and I was watching Blazers Wolves. It was a great game. Blazers only. Blazers were up most of the game. Minnesota ends up winning. Thanks. Anthony Edwards hitting a couple dagger shots down the stretch, including one ridiculous shot over to M. Kamara late in the game. But we've talked a lot about Portland being an interesting team this year. They have all these various, you know, they trade for Drew Holiday this summer. They just extended Shane Sharp tonight. Kamar, like Chauncey Billups got extended along with Joe Cronin this spring. Like they're trying to ascend in the Western Conference and make some noise. And last night I was thinking, man, like, could be a pretty good season for Portland. Like, you know, and that obviously completely flips around this morning when you have this news come out. Yeah.
- [04:26]
Brian Windhorst
Your incoming owner, Tom Dundon actually came to the game last night, sat alongside Jody Allen, who's selling the team in the coming weeks and months. And, you know, I actually ran into members of the Timberwolves. It's actually kind of a weird situation here in la. The hotel where I stay at. A lot of teams are always staying here. The brewers were staying here when I was here last week. The Vikings and the Timberwolves are staying in this hotel right now, which is an sort of a dream for a Minnesota sports fan. And some of their fans are at the hotel. Saw JJ McCarthy as a host, as a Cavs fan. I'm sorry, as Ohio State fan, I was very. I was very tempted to say something to him out of respect. Out of respect. But I ran into Chris Finch and Some other Wolves personnel, they were in Portland last night and it was a great game for Ann Edwards. He put up 40, had a couple of great plays down the stretch, including a absolute dagger jumper that won the game in the closing seconds. Unfortunately, that's not what anybody wanted to talk about, but that was one of the things that Finchy said Bontemps was the Blazers got some stuff going for him. Like that's going to be a team that nobody wants to see. And of course, playing up in Portland when they're good is always a tough place to play, but that's pushed to the back burner. Now, I will say that from the NBA perspective, the poker stuff involved in this is fascinating. And I'm sure if you consume media.
- [05:49]
Tim Bontemps
It reads like Ocean's Eleven. Like when you read the, when you read the indictment, like the sports betting indictment is pretty bland and straightforward. It's like this game, you know, this conversation about this game, et cetera. The other one has got like laser technology and all kinds of crazy.
- [06:07]
Brian Windhorst
Yes.
- [06:07]
Tim Bontemps
Technological stuff. It's super interesting.
- [06:09]
Brian Windhorst
By the way, McMahon, have you seen the FBI put out some of the stuff that they use in these poker games? Have you seen that stuff?
- [06:17]
Bam McMahon
I saw like the, the glasses and like the, the card, like the show, the numbers on the cards and all that kind of stuff.
- [06:23]
Brian Windhorst
Yeah.
- [06:24]
Bam McMahon
So, man, this makes me sick. Like, I think we all, like Chauncey, have enjoyed our, our interactions with Chauncey, you know, innocent until proven guilt, guilty, blah, blah, blah. But if this is, is what they say it is, what an awful way to throw away dozens of millions of dollars and potentially your freedom.
- [06:47]
Brian Windhorst
Well, we don't know. Let's just take a step back. We don't know about that.
- [06:51]
Tim Bontemps
So let, so let's get to the, so let's get to the other part of the question. Right. So obviously there's the on court part. Portland, you know, Terror is a bit player at best for the Heat at this point.
- [07:02]
Brian Windhorst
At this point. But he wasn't when this happened.
- [07:04]
Tim Bontemps
No, no, no, I'm saying. But from a current on court basketball perspective, Terry Rozier is not really a relevant NBA player. Damon Jones is obviously not a relevant NBA player.
- [07:13]
Brian Windhorst
He's not employed by an NBA team right now.
- [07:15]
Tim Bontemps
That's what I mean. Well, yes, but he's just not relevant for any of this stuff going forward. From a basketball perspective, Chauncey Billups is the one component of this that has really significant immediate on court basketball ramifications. Thiago Splitter, former Spurs center, has bounced around, been an Assistant coach with the Nets. He just was the coach of Paris basketball in the euroleague a couple of years ago. He's been with the Blazers. He's now taking over as the interim head coach. Maybe it's a audition for him again. This is a team that's got some chances to do stuff. You mentioned they just were sold like there's a lot of stuff going on with Portland. But then from an off court perspective you and I mean I've helped try to help David Purdom a little bit. Our colleague David Purdom are betting experts on an unbelievable job at this stuff for years. Brian, I know you've spent time working with him. Tim, I don't know if you ever dealt with David, but he's been all over this stuff going back to 2023 when most of the games in these complaints were taking place. The one everybody immediately knew about was Terry Rozier. You know you I believe wrote the story with David at the time. Brian, about Terry was your playing a few minutes in a game, sitting out the rest of the game? There was some. There was a spike in bets around Terry Rozier unders in that game that then led to an investigation. Terry Roger was cleared and allowed to come back and play by the NBA over the past couple of years. I think it's safe to say at some point the NBA will have to address sort of that sequence of events and how they got from investigating Terrier to allowing him to be cleared to play to then this happening now. But like, like you said, without getting into all the intricacies of the other games involved here and different players involved and all that stuff, I think the interesting thing to monitor from an off court standpoint going forward for the NBA is how much more stringent are they going to be regarding injury reporting timelines and injury reporting in general. I was just at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night where the Knicks have all kinds of obfuscation going on about their players. Carl Anthony town status was changing multiple times during the day. It was unclear right up until half an hour before tip whether he was going to play in the game. He never worked out. Nobody could. I had a reporter come up to me two minutes before he was ruled in and say incredible reporter say this guy never showed up out here. There's no way he's playing. I had heard he was playing. Other people had heard he wasn't playing. Turned out he did end up playing but like that was just one player. Mitchell Robinson status has been up in the air for weeks. Josh Hart's status has been up in the air for weeks. You know, that's just one team with the Knicks and with some guys that are dealing with back and foot issues in Mitchell Robinson and Josh Hart's case. Right. So I think that is going to be interesting to watch. And the other thing is, I think 2 days ago Adam Silver went and gave an interview where he said, I would like to see prop bets curtailed or regulated or reduced from where they are. And given pretty much all of these things, some of them involve just players not playing, but a good number of them have involved prop bets. I expect that the conversation around prop betting and what the impact of that is going to be and how much of that's going to exist is going to also continue for the league because that has been a big part of all of these various things that have gone on.
- [10:31]
Brian Windhorst
Let me just have a few bullet points and then we'll move on because I want to talk about Victor Wembanyama.
- [10:36]
Tim Bontemps
There's been a lot of fun basketball this week that has been overshadowed.
- [10:40]
Brian Windhorst
We're just getting a couple bullet points. We're going to move on. First off, the unders investigations are not new. We obviously, Johntey Port has already pled guilty. Terry Rozier, literally the day of the Terry Rozier thing, the sportsbooks caught it and flagged it.
- [10:56]
Bam McMahon
Yep.
- [10:57]
Brian Windhorst
It's been a struggle to prove it. The NBA doesn't have the subpoena power that the FBI has. Having said that, I do think they have the ability to seize Terry Rozier's phone, but I'm not sure exactly how their investigation went. So let's just see what comes out about that. But obviously the NBA does have a little bit of egg on their face when it comes to clearing Terry Rozier, which is what his attorney essentially said today. He goes, you cleared my client, my client moves on. And now this happens. Okay. The third thing is, for decades in the NBA there has been this soft spot. The soft spot is because of strategy. The NBA teams don't reveal what's happening, particularly with star players very often, not all of the time, but very often before a game is played, when a player is questionable or game time decision, the team actually knows he's either going to play or not, because they have a shoot around in the morning. And it's that soft period in between when the decision's been made and when the decision has been made public that all of this is operated in. You and I, all of us have had people reach out to us and say, hey, is so and so Playing tonight because there's Shams operates in this world. Shams comes on to NBA today and reports in the afternoon because he's like, yep, the players were told this morning that so and so is going to play. It's not all the time though. Obviously there are some times when a player is truly a game time decision and he's got to go out there and see how the calf feels or the wrist feels or whatever. It's not an ironclad thing. But that soft spot in there about when a decision is made and when the decision is public is where the conspiracy can happen. And that is where the conspiracy happened in this. Yes, there's betting about unders. But what's been accused in this case by the FBI, I don't know if it's true is that Chauncey Billups and Damon Jones and an unnamed Orlando Magic player because, because it was also an Orlando Magic thing. Spoke to somebody who made a bet and they told other people who made a bet.
- [12:56]
Tim Bontemps
Just to back up, you said Chauncey Billups is named in this indictment. Well, he's not.
- [13:01]
Brian Windhorst
You're correct.
- [13:02]
Tim Bontemps
You roll your eyes, but he's not.
- [13:03]
Bam McMahon
He's not.
- [13:04]
Tim Bontemps
But he's.
- [13:05]
Bam McMahon
The details just make it clear to him.
- [13:07]
Tim Bontemps
Well, the details on, the details on these things do matter. He is a. There is a co conspirator in the indictment that was an NBA player from 1997 to 2014 who lives in Oregon, who's been a coach since 2021 and who informed people who are indicted about a player on the Blazers on his team not playing in a game against the Bulls a couple years ago.
- [13:33]
Bam McMahon
Now again, about the Blazers going into full tank mode.
- [13:35]
Tim Bontemps
Yeah, correct. Now again, you can, you can draw a line to that being Chauncey Billis very easily, but he is named as an indicted person in one thing and he's not in the other. It's just worth.
- [13:48]
Brian Windhorst
That's right. You're absolutely right.
- [13:50]
Tim Bontemps
That's all.
- [13:51]
Brian Windhorst
But let me just also point out that this sort of soft target of whether a player is going to play or not, obviously the NBA knows about it and obviously they have taken steps to try to address it in recent years since sports gambling became more legalized across the country, including much more high level, high layered injury reporting which now gets updated throughout the day. And if they believe that a player, that a team was not being, you know, truthful or in a timely manner following their protocols, they find them. They have fined many teams for this, but it is still not perfect. And that's what? And let me just say I suspect. I don't know, I. I suspect the reason that Chauncey was not named but only described as a co conspirator, although they basically give his resume in the indictment, there's no way you can conclude that it's anybody other than Chauncey. They practically give his birthday. The reason that Damon Jones was is because according to the indictment, Damon Jones directly sold the information. He said you guys should bet on this game tonight because somebody's not going to play. Which impeded looks like was LeBron. They don't say LeBron and they don't accuse LeBron of wrongdoing. But it looks like it was LeBron in the game. He got money for that. And actually he did it twice according to this. He probably. Well, I just said that he did it twice. And the second time LeBron and AD did play, play their normal minutes and the Lakers won and the betters lost their money and they were pissed off so.
- [15:21]
Bam McMahon
And wanted a refund.
- [15:23]
Brian Windhorst
Yes. And look, I've known Damon for 20 years. Damon is a character. It is what it is. I've also known Chauncey for many years and was a coworker here at espn. And it's just, it's very unfortunate this is happening. So. But the league has addressed this. My speculation is that they're going to have to address it more coming out of this.
- [15:42]
Tim Bontemps
Well, at some point are going to have to talk about the timeline of events at some level on the Terry Regier thing, if nothing else.
- [15:49]
Brian Windhorst
I agree they're going to have to explain that and I just think that in general they're going to have to just. They're just going to have to put it to teams more. I know that it's going to cost you strategy, but you just got to say. You got to say what a player is going to play or not when you made the decision. If you have made the decision, fine. But if everybody walks out of shoot around knowing the player's not playing and then you don't report it until 5:30 at night and there's dozens of people.
- [16:11]
Tim Bontemps
That know it's a big window.
- [16:14]
Brian Windhorst
And that's been the case for decades and inside information has reigned for decades. And so you know, this is not a situation that I think is going to shake the NBA to its core because the NBA has operated like this for decades. But it is another reminder that in the current situation with the current microscope and the current, you know, proliferation of sports betting that there is going to be more rules and everything required and the teams aren't going to like it. But it is what it is.
- [16:45]
Tim Bontemps
And it is worth pointing out that it was repeatedly said this morning at the press conference in Brooklyn that the investigation is still ongoing. So doesn't mean there's definitely going to be more names that come out or more stuff that happens or whatever. But there's, you know, there's a co conspirator in here who is at quote, who is said to be at quote at times an NBA player. So there's at least another at some level NBA player involved. So there's, you know, there, there certainly could be more things that come out in the future that change the the scope of this beyond what we know today. Also.
- [17:17]
Brian Windhorst
Yeah, and one thing I also will say, Malik Beasley was not involved in today's indictments at all.
- [17:23]
Tim Bontemps
Right.
- [17:24]
Brian Windhorst
But the Eastern District of New York, which is who put this out, is the entity that has been investigating Malik Beasley. And so if the NBA just saw a player that it cleared get indicted, you can believe that Malik Beasley's situation will be carried very, very carefully going forward because the FBI has been invested in the in turn and the Attorney General, the Attorney General of Eastern District of New York has been more Hoop.
- [17:55]
Bam McMahon
Collective Podcast after this the latest NBA.
- [17:59]
Brian Windhorst
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Tim Bontemps
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Brian Windhorst
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Tim Bontemps
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Bam McMahon
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Tim Bontemps
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Bam McMahon
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- [19:39]
Brian Windhorst
You know, investigating. Okay, now, McMahon, Victor, Wembanyama.
- [19:44]
Bam McMahon
I don't know that I've ever witnessed in person a more physically dominant performance than Wimby's opener. I mean, the stats are ridiculous. 40 points, 15 rebounds, 3 blocks, 70 plus percent from the floor, no turnovers in 30 minutes. But when I say physically dominant, he's obviously always been seven foot several. You know, they say seven foot four and change officially. So I'm going to say seven foot several inches tall, ridiculously athletic for that size. Dude, this guy is. Added such an element of power to his game. And he's still wiry, but he is filling out. He, he reminds me he's taller, obviously, but he reminds me of Giannis early in his career. Remember, Giannis came in the league of string bean and worked his way into becoming just this muscular monster. And Wimby's in the midst of making that sort of transformation. You know, J. Kidd talked about the core strength that you can tell Wimby has really focused on and developed, and you can't knock this guy off balance. You know, I was talking to AD after the game and he was talking about just how you, you take all that and then he's really developed an understanding of angles. And man, if Wimby gets just a little inch on you and just a tiny little angle, he's so long and athletic. The launch points on some of these dunks, it really does look like a dude who's playing on a Nerf hoop. I mean, there was. He had seven dunks. He had like four in the first however many minutes. And it was like each one was more ridiculous than the last one. I mean, the one that really stands out is when he pump fakes, takes one dribble from the wing, gets P.J. washington in the air. Cooper Flag's double team is completely irrelevant. One dribble takes off from one side of the hoop, gets fouled by AD and reverse dunks it on the other side of the hoop. There were at least eight or ten times during last night's game that I'm sitting there watching on press row and I just throw my hands up and shake my head like I've never seen anything like that. I mean, the crowd is just the loudest gasps that you could possibly imagine. And then the skill, the freaking skill. There Was one sequence. Derek Livey, seven foot one, right. Seven foot one. Guys don't really get their jump hooks blocked. And when they do, it's like you get a piece of it. Wimpy smacked it down. Mike Wright calls these dad blocks. And I think that's the best way to describe them. I'm out playing.
- [22:31]
Tim Bontemps
And that's a good line by. By Corleone. I like that.
- [22:34]
Bam McMahon
And my boys are 12, so they're even growing out of this a little bit. Like when they were 8 or 9 and I decided I want to swat their stuff. That's what Wendy's. Some of Wimby's blocks look like. Well, he does that. Then he ends up with a ball at the. At the top of the arc. And he's getting in his bag. He's getting his bag. This is one of only two threes that he attempted. This guy goes between the legs, crossover back between the legs, behind the back, step back, three, swish. And one. We've never seen anything like this. Never.
- [23:08]
Tim Bontemps
All. All that stuff is great. Right? And it was incredible to watch him do the stuff last night. But what did what. You guys would make fun of me last year, but what. What for the last two years have I harped on Victor Wembanyama about doing the shot, floating around. Floating around on the perimeter and not being a enormous dude and dunking the ball. Right.
- [23:29]
Bam McMahon
Last night.
- [23:30]
Tim Bontemps
Right. So I. During the preseason. I actually looked this up last week because we were. We were talking about the Spurs, Ruthley, and we didn't ever get to it and obviously became wildly relevant last night. The last year he shot half his shots basically from three. And he shot way more threes than free throws a game. Yeah, the preseason, it was obviously limited minutes. He took 10 three pointers in five preseason games. He took 25 free throws.
- [23:54]
Bam McMahon
Yep.
- [23:54]
Tim Bontemps
Last night he took 11 free throws. He took two threes. He had seven dunks. He had no turnovers.
- [24:01]
Bam McMahon
And by the way, those two threes, that's fewer than any game last year that he played in.
- [24:05]
Tim Bontemps
That's right. So if Victor Wembanyama. And this is the line I've used about him since last year. I understand. I'm not saying we're putting a ceiling on him to use your line, Brian. There's clearly no ceiling on him. But if he is focused on being a play finisher and not a play creator, he is virtually unstoppable because he is so athletic and so big. Like these lobs last night, they're just flinging the ball up near the rim. And he's grabbing it from jumping from outside the free, the free throw line. He's making these, these. Did that reverse dunk when it looked like he was standing on the ground and it was like an AI generated image. I mean, he, when he is around the rim and aggressive and with the extra strength, I think he feels confident to be able to get to the rim against anybody. He is like, you just can't do anything with him. And I thought frankly it was shocking to see how awful he made Anthony Davis look like. Anthony Davis has been one of the best perimeter defenders in the league or interior defenders in the league and one of the best defenders in the league for a decade. And he made Anthony Davis look like he might as well have not even been on the court. It was shocking.
- [25:14]
Bam McMahon
Yeah, there was the drive and a lot of this stuff was, was lobs, was kind of your traditional play finishing. But he also did a lot of creating off the dribble, dominate off dribble. And one in particular on ad. He just goes by him lefty. And it was one of those again where he didn't have a whole lot of an angle, but he had him on his hip a little bit and just took off. And that Go Go Gadget left arm just.
- [25:39]
Tim Bontemps
He was on his hip and then he was in his rearview mirror at.
- [25:41]
Bam McMahon
About a millisecond and that arm stretched out, stretched out, stretched out. Boom. Just throws it down with his left hand. But then he's doing, he's doing stuff like that and then he's like doing stuff like going left and kissing it softly off the glass on a runner. I mean, he's putting the ball between his legs and traffic and hitting turnarounds like. But to your point, he is an inside out player now and he is a dominant big man who can shoot threes. Not a seven foot several guard that he's kind of played as.
- [26:16]
Tim Bontemps
I just want to say one other thing really quick too. I thought it was fascinating that he and the starters were in that game till 3, 4, 5 minutes left on the clock last night when they were up 30. I felt like. And man, you were there. So you maybe you disagree or you agree, but I felt like that entire game was a very clear statement of intent from Victor, especially that. Yeah, you know what? I know I had to leave last season because of this blood clot and I, you know, wasn't around in the summer. But I am back and I am coming for all the stuff that I've been talking about for years and somebody Around Victor alerted me to a quote that I had missed earlier in the preseason when he said that his training regimen this summer was world class and that, like, he, you know, went. Went into the summer doing it that way to come back and be ready to do whatever he needed to do this year. And it was another example of him saying things that are wildly arrogant when you read them, but if you hear him say them, it is just him saying stated facts because it's just stuff no one else but he can do.
- [27:25]
Brian Windhorst
He was saying, because he had all those things that happened, and he saw him all over the world playing soccer with the Shaolin Monks, but he was basically saying, nobody worked harder in the whole league than I did this summer. And basically, I'm going to show you, you know, going back to meeting his coaches when he was 12, 13, 14 years old, Bontemp State used to say the same thing you did, which is, stop floating around the outside, please. The closer you get to the basket, the more your size matters. But Victor always views himself as a basketball player who's tall, not a tall person who plays basketball.
- [27:57]
Tim Bontemps
Well, it's not. Again, it's not that, like, the diet of 11 to 2 is perfect. Like, doesn't have to be 2, but get free throws, get dunks, and then also take some shots from the perimeter so they have to guard you. And then, like you said, McMahon, then you get AD out there on the perimeter. I'm just going to go right by the one dribble for a dunk.
- [28:15]
Bam McMahon
By the way, he did the Cooper flag, too. Go on.
- [28:18]
Brian Windhorst
So even I always knew. I always knew that there would be a day where Victor would. Would sort of realize that this is what he had to do. You know, Giannis, for example, he averaged his most threes per game in his seventh season, right? Which he also won the mvp. It wasn't like he had a dog year, but Giannis was still trying to shoot three pointers midway through his career. And now Giannis, by the way, is relentless going to the basket. In fact, last night, in his first game of the season, he took 21 shots in the paint.
- [28:46]
Bam McMahon
He had 30 paint points. 30 paint points, right.
- [28:50]
Brian Windhorst
He had 15 shots in the paint in his first game. So Victor. Unbelievable, you know, and so in the preseason, the scouts started noticing this. So last year, 40% of Victor's. 40% of Victor's shots were in the paint. And in the preseason, I realized it's a small sample size, but in the preseason, 75% of his shots were in the paint. And the scouts started flagging that, like, in their reports. They were like, hey, pay attention to this. And I talked to someone in San Antonio last night, and they said that Victor is relishing being the bully.
- [29:22]
Tim Bontemps
Yes.
- [29:23]
Bam McMahon
Hey, the guy takes a lot of pride in his work ethic, and that certainly is seen in the weight room. And, yeah, he's taking pride in the fact that he can overpower people, not just be taller than them, but there were multiple times, including against Anthony Davis, where he gave a bump to create space before going up.
- [29:47]
Tim Bontemps
Yeah, I mean, if he plays with that level of aggression. The reason the three pointers was so frustrating was you're giving the other team the outs, right? Like, if Victor's shooting eight nine threes a game, like, he could easily go two for nine or one for nine. Like, yeah, he might go five for nine in a game, but, like, he 75 and insanely athletic and can do all these things, like take advantage of it. And that's where you watch this game last night against a team that we talked all preseason is big and long and athletic. They're starting basically all six, nine or bigger dudes. They're starting Cooper Flag, who's a good defender at point guard. The ser Anthony Davis and Derek Lively, like, two real legit defensive bigs who.
- [30:24]
Bam McMahon
Got in foul trouble like that, by the way.
- [30:26]
Brian Windhorst
Right.
- [30:26]
Tim Bontemps
And he's getting them all in foul trouble. He's getting to the rim with ease. He's like you said, he's dunking the ball like it's a nerf ball. Like, I was watching the game after Cavs. Nick's just going. Like, there was just four or five times I was sitting there going, oh, my God, I can't believe he did that. And you know, they completely demolished Dallas and they win. They win by 30. You've got Ghostbur Ghost chance in the.
- [30:47]
Bam McMahon
Not only arena spurs go chance, but Wimy gets up from the bench, turns around to the crowd and says, go, spurs, go. And waves his hand. And then those chants broke out big time.
- [31:00]
Tim Bontemps
Well, and this is. This has been the thing to go back to, the thing about his arrogance. Arrogance being like the way he can come off in terms of how he says things. Says things like the thing that's always been so exciting about Victor and we've talked about it since Brian has started going over and discovered him in France. Is he. Nobody, nobody knew. This guy has spent a decade, probably maybe, maybe a little less, maybe a little more thinking about being the best player on the planet.
- [31:28]
Bam McMahon
Yeah.
- [31:29]
Tim Bontemps
Like, his whole singular focus is to be the most dominant basketball player on the planet, maybe the most dominant basketball player ever. Right. It's all of his life choices are all centered around how can I be as good at this as possible? And the guy's still a puppy in basketball years. He's like 21 or 2 years old, and he's scratching the surface of what he can do. And you watch this kind of game and you watch what he's doing, and it's like, at the end of the day, all of us are big basketball fans. You watch this game, it's just like, what is next for this guy? Like, anything is truly possible for this guy. In part because, you know, he's going to be driven to do everything possible to get even better going forward.
- [32:10]
Bam McMahon
And the first year and a half for him in the NBA. Unfortunately, that second year cut short by the. By the blood clot issue. The first year and a half was exploration for him. You know, don't put me in a box. Let me. Let me spread my wings. Let me, you know, let me explore. It's gone from exploration to. That's a sign. This is going to be just domination now. Do it every single night. Right. He needs to be a consistently dominant force. He's obviously that talented. He's put in the work. He's. He's a top five player in the league right now. That is a top five, no question.
- [32:47]
Tim Bontemps
Talent. Well, our editor, Adam Raisinger, texted me last night and said, you know, we had Victor at 5 in NBA rank and it already feels too low. And I said, it might. Certainly does.
- [32:59]
Brian Windhorst
Last year, the top five in the mvp, there was only one American, I think was Tatum. Right?
- [33:06]
Tim Bontemps
Yeah.
- [33:06]
Brian Windhorst
And so Luca wasn't in there because he was injured, but, you know, Luka was off to a great start. He looked great. His team didn't, but he looked great.
- [33:15]
Bam McMahon
Off to a great start. But then he got going. Once he came back, whatever he had.
- [33:19]
Brian Windhorst
40 and 12 or 9, I think he did okay.
- [33:22]
Bam McMahon
Oh, you're talking about the other night? Yeah, yeah, my bad. I thought he came last year.
- [33:25]
Brian Windhorst
No. Yeah, sorry. You know, who knows what'll happen? But, like, it's certainly reasonable to think that Luca could be a top five mvp. Maybe Victor will continue this and he'll be a top five MVP candidate. Giannis has been there for a decade, basically, and, you know, Jokic has won three of them and Shay is a defender. And, I mean, we're going to talk about Shea in a second here. I don't know if we're gonna have An American in the top five gents.
- [33:47]
Bam McMahon
It might be a while.
- [33:48]
Tim Bontemps
Listen, when we forget that when's the next American is. I mean, I, I mean when's the next American who's winning MVP a decade?
- [33:55]
Bam McMahon
Listen, when's the next non Frenchman? If I don't want to overreact to one game, but it's one game that like, that's what we thought he was capable of.
- [34:07]
Tim Bontemps
Is there ever been one game to overreact to that. That's the game to overreact to. To the, to the, the seven foot, whatever phenom looking like, like having the Neo moment and figuring it out.
- [34:19]
Brian Windhorst
I love the Neo moment. Do you think Jackson.
- [34:22]
Tim Bontemps
Bullets falling. Jackson. Does Jackson know the Neo moment?
- [34:24]
Brian Windhorst
No. So, yeah, yeah. Neo. I was Jackson. When I say Neo, do you know what I'm talking about?
- [34:31]
Bam McMahon
I'm familiar. It's made. It's a matrix reference. Correct.
- [34:34]
Brian Windhorst
Yeah, I, I always talked about, you know, LeBron had this moment. Giannis had the. Oh, Jay. Jackson knows it. Giannis had the moment in the 21 finals in game six where he just, you know, he realizes he can control everything.
- [34:47]
Tim Bontemps
Yep.
- [34:48]
Brian Windhorst
You know, I think Luca will have that moment at some point. He has the ability to do. Takes you out of Neo. Didn't complain to the referees. He didn't complain. So I don't know if you have to focus on Mr. Anderson.
- [35:03]
Tim Bontemps
Yeah.
- [35:04]
Brian Windhorst
But Victor is the type of guy who could do it. Maybe this was.
- [35:07]
Tim Bontemps
I was thinking about what the man said before. I think that's probably the answer for the, the physically dominant player. One is, is either. It's either that 50, 20 piece for Giannis in game six or you remember the game against the Nets, Brian heat nets in 2014 in the second round in Brooklyn when he had run at 50, he had. I think it was, I think it was 49 and 49. And he hit, he hit Chris Bosh for that three in the corner to win the game. But it was like LeBron just was like, okay, I'm just going to win this game by myself, basically. And just like that was when he was at peak human training the game.
- [35:51]
Brian Windhorst
Six in Boston when he had 46 in a game.
- [35:55]
Tim Bontemps
I mean, that was an incredible performance. But I just meant from like physical, like fruit domination over the game because he was just like steamrolling the Nets that whole game and they just had no prayer. Well, and of doing anything with that.
- [36:09]
Bam McMahon
That is the mentality shift and the, you know, the shot diet shift from Wimy where again, there was still a ton of skill on display, the handle, the touch, like some of the shot making, but I mean, just the dominant overpowering and just using this, the size, the strength in the paint. And as you said, this is something. This is not like it just happened last night. It's been all preseason long and I'm talking to one of the spurs coaches after shoot around and I'm like, I know he's very proud of his perimeter skills and you know, kind of being the world's biggest guard. Like, does he want to be, you know, primarily a paint player or at least an inside out player? And I was told he wants to be great.
- [36:56]
Tim Bontemps
That's the thing that's so exciting. He just, he wants to, he wants to be the best. Like, not that other guys don't. I don't mean it that way, but like he, he's so openly focused on. He is so openly focused on being the best and has been for years. And it's just, that's what makes the whole package of him so exciting because it's. I mean, it's like LeBron and it's like Kareem. They're really, to me, the only two guys you could compare them to in terms of walking into the league with both the physical gifts and the wherewithal to achieve.
- [37:27]
Brian Windhorst
Well, Will.
- [37:28]
Tim Bontemps
That kind of level. And those are. And Will, sure. That's the other one. Right? Those are the three guys and you're. Those are three of what, the six best players of all time. Right? So like, okay, like that. That's the kind of realm we're talking about with this guy.
- [37:41]
Bam McMahon
And it's one thing to want it, it's another thing to do the things required to get it. Which again, it's a weight room.
- [37:46]
Brian Windhorst
It's.
- [37:47]
Bam McMahon
You know, Mike Wright had the story about his summer and like the Monk stuff is kind of interesting and fun. This guy got in the gym with Kareem or I'm sorry, with the Keem. And you can see that too, by the way. Also, hey, he's not the only recent rookie of the year on that spurs roster that was dominant last night.
- [38:06]
Brian Windhorst
Well, that's the other thing. The guard, Stefan Castle looked really good last night. Dylan Harper looked better than Cooper. Was that if that fair?
- [38:14]
Bam McMahon
I mean, he had a better debut. He also didn't have to be guarded by Stefan Castle.
- [38:18]
Tim Bontemps
Okay, Cooper flag was Danny's not playing point guard too. Like, that's another factor.
- [38:23]
Bam McMahon
And they're.
- [38:24]
Tim Bontemps
Which we all agree will be good long term, but short term, it's going to be some growing pains.
- [38:28]
Bam McMahon
And the Mavericks have some offensive issues. I don't want to overreact to one game. I want to let that breathe a little bit. The spurs might have the best defensive duo in the league in Wimby and Castle, but the fact that Cooper Flag only got two shots in the first half and one of those was a lot, but he wasn't able to finish in the first possession of the game in transition, let me tell you, Stefan Castle had a lot to do with that. And one like, look, Cooper Flagg has never played point guard. Right. That's a transition he's making. He didn't have a single assist last night. He only had one potential assist according to NBA.com is that right? Yeah, he only had one potential assist. The ball was very sticky. It was an awful offensive performance. But man, Stefan Castle had a lot to do with. With Cooper struggles. There was twice that he just picked him. Just picked him.
- [39:16]
Brian Windhorst
On the. By the way, speaking of lockdown defenders, the game you were at the night before, there was a lot that went on in that game in Oklahoma City where they double overtime. I mean amazing first night, first game out of the gate. Shea Gildrich Alexander who had a very mediocre first 3/4 like was just had several, just jaw dropping plays, a lot going on. Lou Dort and what he did to Kevin Durant in the down the stretch of that game.
- [39:44]
Bam McMahon
You know, there's, there's defenders. Case and Wallace is an example, certainly Castle is an example. There's defenders that Dyson Daniels is the, is the primary example. There's these perimeter defenders that you just notice all the time because it's deflections, it steals are creating chaos. Caruso is a guy like that. Dort you notice because the other team's best player doesn't get to touch the ball.
- [40:06]
Brian Windhorst
That's the thing. People are like, why isn't Durant shooting? I think he had three shots in the last 25 minutes because Lou Dort.
- [40:12]
Bam McMahon
Is in his chest.
- [40:13]
Brian Windhorst
I know Durant was having trouble getting open.
- [40:17]
Bam McMahon
Yeah.
- [40:18]
Brian Windhorst
And you know, one of the debate, you know, McMahon and I. Well, I don't know. I don't want to assume where McMahon is, but Bontempson and I are kind of on opposite sides of this. I think the Rockets are eventually going to need to get a veteran point guard. He doesn't have to be a star because I think they're just going to need some of them and to get organization. But Bontemps thinks that Amend Thompson can do it. And you may be right. I'm not like pounding the table on that.
- [40:40]
Bam McMahon
But they have to let that breathe a little bit because of the apron issues. They literally don't, of course.
- [40:46]
Brian Windhorst
Well, I mean, they don't. You know, you're allowed to make a trade. You don't have to sign a player.
- [40:50]
Bam McMahon
Yes.
- [40:51]
Tim Bontemps
I'm saying let's see how they look when they're not playing the Thunder.
- [40:55]
Bam McMahon
Yeah. And I think they want fair to let that breathe. They want to give Amin Thompson.
- [41:00]
Brian Windhorst
Yeah. They want to give Reed Shepherd a chance, too.
- [41:03]
Bam McMahon
I tell you, Reed shepherd and you know, he. He's going to be able to score. Oklahoma City can't really judge a scoring performance against okc. It's a little different, man.
- [41:14]
Brian Windhorst
He.
- [41:14]
Bam McMahon
He's got to get better defensive. Lou Dort, I know.
- [41:18]
Brian Windhorst
They attacked him.
- [41:19]
Bam McMahon
They attacked him like, come on.
- [41:20]
Tim Bontemps
I mean, again, I would better. Defensively, Reed did not play great in that game. I would just say that was pretty much the first ever game Reed shepherd has played. And it felt on TV like it was Game 8 of the conference finals. And it was. That was one of the most fun games I've ever sat and watched from start to finish. It was awesome. I was so jealous of McMahon and our buddy Mannix.
- [41:42]
Brian Windhorst
McMann had a great seat. McMahon was.
- [41:44]
Tim Bontemps
Joe. Saw Joe Varden last night at Cavs Nicks. He was there with you, too. I was very jealous of you guys sitting, watching the game. So again, that game, I'm going to let. I'm going to see where we're at. Reed shepherd in a month. I'm going to see where we're at with Amand Thompson, who I thought had a very good game in a month, like apparent Shangun looked amazing in that game. If the shooting is real for him, that's a game changer.
- [42:05]
Brian Windhorst
I'll tell you one thing. The next time they play, they can't put Alex Caruso on Shingun. Shingun just shot over them. Shot over him repeatedly. I mean, they had to at the end of the game because Hartenstein had fouled out.
- [42:17]
Bam McMahon
Well, and they decided they went small to start the second half, which they do fairly often. They put Caruso in the starting lineup instead of Hartenstein, and basically they said, hey, big versus big. They're kicking our butts. Let's go size versus speed and see how they fare. And that, you know, that was part of Shay getting going. She had five points in the first half. I think it was only four or five shot attempts. It was just lower scoring than any first half he had all last season. Two overtimes but he ends up with 30.
- [42:44]
Tim Bontemps
Turned it up, Turned it up from there.
- [42:46]
Bam McMahon
Yeah. Cranking it up and opening the floor and cranking up the tempo. Got that going. I'll say this, seeing Thompson up close, that's another guy who's spent some time in the weight room, man. And he's still a kid. Like, he still has a baby face. You know, he's still got.
- [43:04]
Brian Windhorst
Not sure how much he's shaving.
- [43:05]
Bam McMahon
No. And. But, dude, he looks like he could. Like, if the Texans signed him, I think you could get him 12 sacks a season. He looks like a freaking pass rusher. I mean, his shoulders are, you know, jacked up his calves and they were cramping up, you know, because there's a lot on him, but his calves are massive. And there is a lot on him because not only is he running point for them and dealing with that, obviously major increase in responsibilities, he's still guarding the best player. And that's a big, big deal.
- [43:41]
Tim Bontemps
It's a big ask.
- [43:42]
Bam McMahon
That's Shea, that's Luca. You know, that's Steph. Like, we can go on down the list. It's Job Moran. We can go on down the list on a nightly basis in the Western Conference. He's got that on his plate still. And not to get too far into Rocket stuff, Stephen Adams played 37 minutes. 37 minutes, yeah.
- [44:02]
Brian Windhorst
That's not the way it's going to go. And also Joshua Koji played a lot more minutes than normal. Obviously, that's going to be Dorian Finney.
- [44:08]
Bam McMahon
Smith at some point mid November.
- [44:12]
Tim Bontemps
Oh, that's. That's interesting. It was very rough Tari Easton game, too. But again, that was. That was. That game was so, so much fun. Super high level. Let's check back and see where these teams are at down the road.
- [44:23]
Brian Windhorst
So lost in how great Victor was. Maybe. Maybe Chet had a terrific game as well.
- [44:31]
Bam McMahon
He had a terrific offensive first half when they really needed it because Shea couldn't get going. He kept him afloat. You know, he did struggle some with the Rockets size and physicality. That's.
- [44:44]
Tim Bontemps
I think everybody in the league is going to struggle with the rocket size of physicality.
- [44:47]
Brian Windhorst
Yeah, I'm just. I'm telling you, watching might even struggle.
- [44:50]
Tim Bontemps
A little bit with their size of physicality.
- [44:51]
Brian Windhorst
Watching that game and then watching some of the other games on opening night, it wasn't quite the same level.
- [44:59]
Tim Bontemps
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Bam McMahon
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Brian Windhorst
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Tim Bontemps
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Brian Windhorst
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Tim Bontemps
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Brian Windhorst
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Tim Bontemps
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- [46:07]
Brian Windhorst
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- [46:42]
Bam McMahon
And two real quick, Luca related.
- [46:47]
Brian Windhorst
Yeah, of course. Wait, wait, hold on. Let me ask the bosses. Espn. Excuse me. Are we allowed to put something in about the lake? Oh, we are. Okay, I just got the approval. We can talk about the Lakers.
- [46:56]
Bam McMahon
All right, first thing you guys know, I like to see what kind of kicks everybody's wearing. Like something I monitor. So walk into spurs shoot around and our old pal Sean Sweeney, the Spurs new associate head coach is in there, longtime right hand man for J kid, including the last four years in Dallas. And lo and behold, what's Sweeney wearing on his feet? Oh, a pair of LUCA tubes. Ah, a little.
- [47:27]
Tim Bontemps
Why would he do that? Why would he do that?
- [47:29]
Bam McMahon
Little. Just in case you were wondering where he. Where he stood on that particular deal. On a related note, just in case you're wondering where the Maps fan base, or at least certain pockets of that fan base continue to stand, there was a gentleman who had a large Fire Nico banner in the crowd. There's video circulating online of him departing after a brief conversation with a security guard. I can't say for certain that he was tossed, but that's what the video showed. And there were. I would. I would say they were scattered Fire Nico chants late in that game. Now, they weren't nearly as loud as the WIMBY MVP chants or the WIMBY induced ghostburgers Go chants, but there were scattered fire Nico chants for from the fans who watched The Mavericks score 92 points while really lacking any sort of creation or shot making.
- [48:24]
Brian Windhorst
That's all. All right, well, Bon Thomas was at Madison Square Garden, as you mentioned earlier. You got to see the Knicks totally pound Cavs corner, especially on the boards. And that's something to monitor, especially as the Cavs have been accused of not having the most intent with when it comes to intestinal fortitude at times in the past. That was a good win for the Knicks. The Cavs are going to struggle a little bit offensively I think with some of their guys out. They will not be the same offensive power that they were last year while they're in this state. But I want to go up farther up Boston way. We thought this was going to kind of be an Embiid story. Obviously. Bontemps was a lot of excitement coming out of the 76ers themselves about DJ Edgecombe and he dropped dropped my jaw several times when I saw him play the first two exhibition games. I certainly knew he was going to have some highlight plays early and often, but 14 points or something, 17 points out of the gate in the first quarter. Talk about not having stage fright in a road game in a road tough environment and then putting up 34 alongside Tyrese Maxey. Embiid had nothing. He didn't even make a shot from inside the paint for the first time in his career. He looked really stiff.
- [49:32]
Bam McMahon
He didn't take a shot inside the paint?
- [49:33]
Brian Windhorst
Oh, he didn't take a shot.
- [49:34]
Bam McMahon
He was one of nine. They were all outside the paint.
- [49:37]
Tim Bontemps
I was going to watch this game this morning. I watched the last 40 seconds of the game or minute of the game last night and saw VJ Edgecombe make two free throws to put the Sixers up three, then miss two when they were up one and looked like he might be the goat after an incredible game, only for Peyton Pritchard to miss a couple shots in the final 10 seconds and give the Sixers a win. Several scouts were at the game last Friday. I was at the game last Friday, the final preseason game, and Lee Embiid looked pretty good in that game. I would not say he was back to like point, admitted Embiid. But scouts are generally like, yeah, guy looks pretty good. Like he plays like this, they'll be okay. Both Pirates Max and V.G. edgecombe were excellent in that game also. So I have to plead the fifth a bit on Philly's performance because some other things happened starting this morning and I have not had time to sit and watch Sixers, Celtics and see how bad Embiid looked in the game. I am going to be at Sixers Hornets on Saturday. I am very curious to see what Joel looks like in that game. But I think the overall takeaway for me from preseason and from this opening game is that for the first time in several years for the Sixers, there's, there's the. The. Joel Embiid has been the center of the universe in Philly. And while he's obviously still an important piece and they would love for him to get back to where he was before, not so sure he's the center of the universe anymore. And I think you're going to see with Tyrese Maxey and Vijay Edgecomb and Quentin Grimes and Kelly Oubre and when they get him back, Jared McCain, Don Barlow, a two way, who I believe started at the four last night and has shown some things in preseason for them. They have a lot of young athletes and they're going to fly up and down the court. And even in that preseason game last week, Embiid was just sort of flinging passes halfway down the court and having guys run under him like wide receivers. And I think what you're going to see is, you know, the Sixers for so long have been kind of, well, if Joel is going to play or is he not, then what is he going to do if we're not? It feels like now the way they're going into the season, it's, hey, we've got this young, athletic, pretty small team. We're going to lean into that. We're going to fly up and down the court and wreak havoc and cause turnovers. And then we get in the half court, we have Joel Embiid. They should have Paul George back pretty soon. We can have those guys try to score some points for us there. But it feels like they're trying to set an identity of being young and athletic and quick. And when you see VJ Edge come have a game he had against Boston, when you see these young guys flying around and playing for them, it looks like a formula, that it could at least lead to a decent season for the Sixers if those guys could play anything like they did in Game one.
- [51:56]
Brian Windhorst
Well, there's not a lot of Eastern Conference teams that are like, wow, that looks great. You know, I think the Magic fans.
- [52:03]
Tim Bontemps
Look pretty good, you know, pretty good Wednesday night.
- [52:06]
Bam McMahon
Oh, those Toronto Raptors. I tried telling you about them. Hey, look pretty good. Listen to this. 86 points in the paint for the Raptors. 86.
- [52:17]
Tim Bontemps
Yeah, a guy Owen Sok had Trae Young, you know, pretty disgusted with his team's performance in game one.
- [52:23]
Brian Windhorst
Obviously a lot of excitement about the Hawks supposed to defend the rim.
- [52:26]
Tim Bontemps
Well, look, there's obviously a lot of excitement about the Hawks really rough to kill Alexander Walker game. I mean, I think Atlanta is probably going to be fine. That. That's an interesting example to go back to the spurs really quick. Victor plays in all five preseason games. Right? Clearly look ready to go. Trey Young talked about the fact they barely played at all and they hadn't been together. They have a bunch of new guys, obviously, but their guys didn't really play a lot in the preseason. Something to monitor early on in the year as these teams, you know, try to get their legs under them and get going like, you know, Certainly, certainly. Look, I could add somewhat of an impact on Atlanta, but that's a good start for a Toronto team that's going to try to be competitive this year.
- [53:00]
Brian Windhorst
Yeah, very good news also for Orlando because Jalen Suggs was able to make it back for the opener and I think he had like 17 points and 4 or maybe 14 points in 17 minutes, something like that.
- [53:11]
Tim Bontemps
Blake think he was 6 for 7 from the field. Certainly encouraging. It was. Jamal Mosley didn't say up until tip whether he was going to play or start or anything. And, you know, ultimately, ultimately he was able to go and look if Jalen Suggs is on the court. Orlando's been pretty damn good the last couple years.
- [53:29]
Brian Windhorst
I hope all protocols followed and letting the team, the player, everybody know that the player was going to play. That's all I'm. That's all I'm going to say.
- [53:36]
Bam McMahon
Protocol certainly followed by the Grizzlies with John Morant. They told him, I think they said a couple days before that he would be playing. He had ankle braces on, but 33 and, you know, hit the dagger against the. The Pelicans, so, you know, jaws back and kind of start that he certainly wanted to have for the season. Back to Philly real quick, though. If there is a faster backcourt in the league, you're going to have to tell me who it is.
- [54:00]
Brian Windhorst
Well, that's the thing. I don't know what Philly's going to do, McMahon, because obviously if you got McBean out there, you. You can only play so fast, but how much is going to be going to be out there. So they may just have two gears, and that's not ideal, but that may be the way that they have to play.
- [54:16]
Bam McMahon
Yeah, well, the future of that franchise is that backcourt for sure. Maxi's proved himself to be a star and has obviously the max contract. And, you know, it's the speed, it's the finishing. He's an incredible shot maker. Edgecomb reminds me of young Dwyane Wade. Like, he's that type of, you know, he's. He's kind of combo guard size with a shooting. More of a shooting guard game.
- [54:41]
Brian Windhorst
He's a way better shooter than Dwayne.
- [54:43]
Bam McMahon
That's what I was getting to. He's such an explosive, downhill, attacking type of athlete.
- [54:47]
Tim Bontemps
5 of bill, we take Dwayne Wade, that would go okay.
- [54:51]
Brian Windhorst
Well, here's the other thing you always got to remember when Wade came into the league, he was 22, 21 or 22. Whereas, you know, these guys are 19. I will say this. I really. It's. I don't like how important the lottery is. It's no way to live and it's causes all these problems. By the way, some of this investigation was caused because of tanking because of the lottery. But the way the lottery fell, like, the Sixers have had a lot of bad stuff go against them, and some of it is they've put themselves where they put their necks on the line a little bit. It's not all bad luck, but they've had a fair helping of misfortune. The way that lottery played out. They were on the edge, having nothing.
- [55:37]
Bam McMahon
I've given top. I've given the fifth overall pick and.
- [55:40]
Brian Windhorst
Now, like, look, we'll see what happens.
- [55:41]
Tim Bontemps
Seventh. Seventh. Yeah.
- [55:43]
Brian Windhorst
Yeah, we'll see what happens with Ace Bailey. Okay.
- [55:46]
Bam McMahon
They're excited about him in Utah.
- [55:48]
Brian Windhorst
Yeah, for sure. Ace Bailey might win Rookie of the Year for all I know.
- [55:51]
Tim Bontemps
Whatever happens after that, if they get. If Vijay Edugo becomes a really good player, regardless of who's drafted after him becomes. Well, I'm just saying that.
- [56:00]
Brian Windhorst
I'm just saying they had a choice after the lottery. They then had a choice. Philly then had a choice, and they had. They elected to go with Vijay Edgecumbe. And if this ends up allowing them to totally change the direction of their franchise, like, that could be remarkable. We'll see.
- [56:14]
Bam McMahon
And Phillies had. Phillies had great fortune in two cases recently. The maxi pick and what was that? Mescala was involved in that?
- [56:24]
Tim Bontemps
Both involved. The Thunder. Thunder didn't get the pick the first time and they are the second time. Yeah, the Thunder didn't get to pick the first time because Mescala hit the shot and then they didn't get to pick the second time because the Sixers got lucky in the ladder.
- [56:38]
Brian Windhorst
Man, if only anything went the Thunder's.
- [56:40]
Tim Bontemps
Way, I'd say they're okay.
- [56:42]
Bam McMahon
Hey, by the way, you know what thought I had last night as I was watching Stefan Castle after I'd watched Reed shepherd the previous night. What if the Rockets would have taken Castle? Nobody would have gotten the ball over half court with Thompson and Castle backcourt together.
- [56:56]
Brian Windhorst
The Rockets did take Shen Goom with a Thunder pick, though.
- [57:00]
Bam McMahon
They did. And man, oh my goodness, if he's going to be knocking down threes. Holy moly.
- [57:07]
Brian Windhorst
There's another foreign player who might be who might be messing around on all NBA.
- [57:12]
Bam McMahon
Listen, Joker is clearly the best center in the NBA. Still the best player.
- [57:18]
Brian Windhorst
We just ran out of time before we could talk about the Clippers and Jazz.
- [57:22]
Bam McMahon
Oh, wait, wait. Weren't you hyped?
- [57:24]
Brian Windhorst
I've got to go.
- [57:25]
Bam McMahon
Were you hyping up Zubots or Walker Kessler for all NBA this year?
- [57:29]
Brian Windhorst
I don't recall, Senator. I don't recall.
- [57:32]
Tim Bontemps
Congrats to the game but man, it was a rough game for the Clips.
- [57:36]
Brian Windhorst
Congrats to the Jazz.
- [57:37]
Tim Bontemps
To the Jazz.
- [57:37]
Brian Windhorst
And our friend of the podcast, Will Hardy.
- [57:40]
Tim Bontemps
Will, Great first win.
- [57:41]
Brian Windhorst
We'll get you on this podcast if you keep pulling off wins like that.
- [57:45]
Tim Bontemps
We would have had him on today. Unfortunately, some other things came up.
- [57:49]
Brian Windhorst
We did have a guest plan for today that we had to cancel because I couldn't do it to him. I was just like, listen, we'll get to you later. I can't make you put you through this. Not today. He would have been peppered with stuff. All right.
- [57:59]
Tim Bontemps
Yes.
- [58:00]
Brian Windhorst
Thank you to Bon Temps for I think he got about three hours of sleep and then has worked all day. Thank you to McMahon who's coming off of a back to back. Thank you to Jackson who's probably preparing for the Syracuse game on Saturday. Thank you for listening and watching to the Hoop Collective. We will talk to you next week.
- [58:15]
Bam McMahon
Adios amigos.
- [58:27]
Tim Bontemps
Talk about stepping up.
- [58:30]
Brian Windhorst
It's time to level up your game. Introducing the all new ESPN app. All of ESPN all in one place. Your home for the most live sports and the best championship moments.
- [58:41]
Bam McMahon
The electricity is palpable.
- [58:43]
Brian Windhorst
Step up your game. With no annual contract required. It's the ultimate fan experience.
- [58:48]
Tim Bontemps
Experience. Level up.
- [58:49]
Brian Windhorst
For more on the ESPN app or at stream espn.com Sign up now.