Analyzing NBA's 65-Game Rule, Ethical Tanking, Harden's Fractured Thumb

Summary

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No Dunks Podcast: NBA 65-Game Rule, Ethical Tanking & Harden's Thumb (Feb 26, 2026)

Episode Overview

On this packed episode, the No Dunks crew—Skeets, Tas, Trey, and JD—dive into several pressing NBA storylines: the impact and controversy over the league’s new 65-game participation rule for awards, debates around “ethical” tanking and who really deserves the number one pick, the state of star injuries (including James Harden’s thumb fracture), and the broader playoff landscape. Along the way, the hosts keep their trademark mix of deep basketball analysis, off-the-cuff banter, and genuine fan perspective.

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Nuggets vs Celtics: Defense Wins Ugly (02:26–12:51)

• The Nuggets defeat the Celtics 103–84, driven by defense rather than offense.
• Nikola Jokic scores 30 but shoots just 11-for-28, while Jamal Murray leaves early with illness.
• Key run: Nuggets go on a 15–0 run late in the third, exploiting Celtics’ altitude fatigue.
• Trey Kirby (03:46): “The Celtics got tooted and booted. The altitude was too much for them… Denver immediately went on a 15–0 run. And that was the game.”
• Tim Hardaway Jr. outshines the Celtics' bench, but gets virtually ignored at the podium post-game.
• Skeets spotlights the Nuggets' ability to play ugly, grind-it-out playoff games—a potential repeat formula.

Notable moment

• Jay Skeets (09:43): Coach Adelman on Jamal Murray—“He looked awful. They gave him all the medication. It did not help. All kinds of bodily things were happening.”
  (Laughter about HIPAA violations and speculation on Murray’s symptoms ensues.)

• Jayson Tatum’s return timeline is discussed, with fan theories about a numerology-themed comeback on March 14 (03/14, St. Louis’ area code).

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Bucks Squeeze Past Cavs: Giannis’ Future & Young Core Hope (12:58–21:44)

• Bucks narrowly defeat the Cavaliers 118–116, despite Jared Allen's near buzzer-beater.
• Giannis sits, but Milwaukee’s young guards excel, going 8–2 in their last 10 games.
• Trey Kirby (15:39): “He’s the best player that’s ever played for the Bucks.”
• Tas debates whether Bucks’ surprising success sans Giannis increases or decreases his likelihood to demand a trade this summer—echoing the ongoing “window open” stance.

Harden’s Fractured Thumb—How Bad?

• Harden suffers a non-displaced fracture in his off-hand thumb but is expected to return soon (avg. 6.5 games missed).
• Cavs also adjust to new roster additions; Durant and Cunningham star for Detroit, leading to speculation about the Bucks’ play-in resilience once Giannis returns.

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Spurs’ Win, Raptors’ Woes: Lineups & Player Frustrations (27:45–34:19)

• Spurs win their 10th straight, beating the Raptors 110–107 despite Wembanyama’s shaky game.
• Skeets and Tas detail a compelling Wemby vs. Scottie Barnes matchup, including blocks and counters.
• Critique of Raptors coach Darko’s puzzling fourth-quarter lineups—“infuriating” lapses leading to lost leads.
• Jay Skeets (32:40) on Raptors’ fraught finishes: “We are the worst good team in the league. I have no faith in this team, come a playoff series.”

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Pistons vs Thunder: Youth Movement and X-Factors (35:56–41:43)

• Detroit beats a depleted OKC 124–116, heavily outscoring them in the paint and on the boards.
• Asar Thompson gets love as a star role player, especially for his defensive impact:
  Trey Kirby (37:36): “Everybody talks about Amen [Thompson] … but Asar to me is the star role player. … Like a super Iguodala type.”
• Jalen Duren continues to surge post-All-Star break (27/14 avg. over three games).
• Cade Cunningham’s defense, especially shot-blocking from the guard spot, draws praise and historical comparisons (to Dwyane Wade, John Wall, Derrick White).

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True or False: Tanking Ethics, 65-Game Rule, and All-Star Events (47:00–69:32)

Tankathon: Who Deserves the #1 Pick? (47:00–55:24)

• Kings, Pacers, Nets, Wizards, and Jazz round out the bottom of the standings.
• Debate: Do the Kings "deserve" the #1 pick for being bad but trying to win?
  • Trey Kirby (49:30): “They’re literally trying. They’re just bad. … They need an infusion of talent. So I do think they actually deserve it.”
  • Tas Melas (48:20): “Absolute false.” Cites Kings’ poor team-building and abrupt moves post-breakthrough year.
• Tanking shenanigans update: Utah fined $500k, NBA sends an independent doctor to assess Lauri Markkanen’s legit injuries as scrutiny increases.

65-Game Award Rule: Is It Backfiring? (56:00–64:57)

• SGA and Jokic risk MVP ineligibility if they miss more than 17 games.
• Consensus: The rule achieved its purpose (a massive media rights deal) and is serving mostly as PR.
  • Trey Kirby (56:48): “It worked perfectly because they got an 11 year, $77 billion media rights deal. And that’s the only reason this rule even exists.”
  • Hosts advocate for a return to media/voter discretion, around 60–65 games as a “fair” MVP cut-off.
• Skeets: “It was a classic silver in the league … overreacting to the moment, wanting to get the television deal.”

All-Star Weekend: Million-Dollar Incentive (66:26–69:32)

• Suns owner Matt Ishbia offers $1M prize for 2027 Dunk/3-Point contest winners to attract stars.
• The panel agrees it could work, especially for rookie contracts, but should come from the league, not Ishbia directly.
• Trey Kirby (67:26): “Getting an extra million dollars would be a 2% raise [for Anthony Edwards]… but for a rookie, that's 9% of his salary. It would matter to him.”

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Notable Quotes and Fun Banter

• Jay Skeets (09:43): “He looked awful. They gave him all the medication. It did not help. All kinds of bodily things were happening.” (on Jamal Murray’s illness)
• Trey Kirby (03:46): “The Celtics got tooted and booted. The altitude was too much for them.”
• Trey Kirby (37:36): “[Asar Thompson] was awesome last night, just kind of being everywhere, like a super Iguodala type.”
• Tas Melas (15:39): “He’s the best player that’s ever played for the Bucks.”

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Nerdy/Inside Jokes & Running Gags

• Playful references to Tim Hardaway Jr.’s surprising dunks and absence of media questions.
• Extended bit about “liquid fart” pranks with inflatable costumes (75:15–76:51).
• Recurring “so many Bs” after listing double-B named players (45:09–45:47).
• FanDuel ad banter about their own betting strategies and podcast inside jokes (“the hand of the king,” 44:37).

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Key Timestamps

• [02:26] – Main show (NBA breakdowns) really begins
• [03:46] – Nuggets vs Celtics analysis starts
• [09:43] – Jokic, Jamal Murray’s illness, Tatum’s return
• [12:58] – Bucks/Cavs, Giannis future, Harden’s thumb
• [27:45] – Spurs vs Raptors, Wemby vs Barnes, lineup debate
• [35:56] – Pistons/Thunder, Asar Thompson X-factor
• [47:00] – True or False: Kings and the #1 Pick
• [56:00] – 65-game rule and MVP eligibility
• [66:26] – All-Star events: million-dollar offer
• [69:32] – End of “true or false”/transition

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Final Thoughts

This episode covers how the NBA’s efforts to police resting/tanking have collided with the vagaries of real injuries and long-standing team-building failures—serving up sharp, fan-focused takes on what counts as “ethical” tanking, who the league’s rules actually help, and whether big money can rescue star-studded All-Star events. The No Dunks hosts blend razor-sharp basketball insight with outlandish fun, keeping it lively even in the February NBA grind.

Listeners will walk away with:

• Strong opinions on the (futile?) battle against tanking and “trophy rests.”
• Clear breakdowns of key NBA matchups and storylines.
• Laughter from inside jokes and the unique No Dunks energy.

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For more, catch the No Dunks Drop every weekday and check their extended Survivor and Traders coverage over at No Buffs!

Transcript

[Jay Skeets]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Tas Melas]

Guaranteed Human. This is Special Agent Riegel, Special Agent Bradley Hall.

[Trey Kirby]

In 2018, the FBI took down a ring of spies working for China's Ministry of State Security, one of the most mysterious intelligence agencies in the world.

[Tas Melas]

The Sixth Bureau podcast is a story of the inner workings of the MSS and how one man's ambition and mistakes opened its vault of secrets.

[Trey Kirby]

Listen to the 6th Bureau on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. Podcasts.

[Jay Skeets]

I'm Clayton Eckerd. In 2022, I was the lead of ABC's the Bachelor.

[Podcast Host (Various Podcast Promos)]

But here's the thing. Bachelor fans hated him.

[Trey Kirby]

If I could press a button and

[Tas Melas]

rewind it all, I would.

[Podcast Host (Various Podcast Promos)]

That's when his life took a disturbing turn. A one night stand would end in a courtroom. The media is here. This case has gone viral.

[Tas Melas]

The Dating Contract.

[Trey Kirby]

Agree to date me, but I'm also suing you.

[Jay Skeets]

This is unlike anything I've ever seen before.

[Podcast Host (Various Podcast Promos)]

I'm Stephanie Young. Listen to Love trapped on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. What if mind control is real?

[Trey Kirby]

If you could control the behavior of anybody around you, what kind of life would you have?

[Podcast Host (Various Podcast Promos)]

Can you hypnotically persuade someone to buy a car?

[Tas Melas]

When you look at your car, you're gonna become overwhelmed with such good feelings.

[Podcast Host (Various Podcast Promos)]

Can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you?

[Tas Melas]

I gave her some suggestions to be sexually aroused.

[Podcast Host (Various Podcast Promos)]

Can you get someone to join your cult? NLP was used on me to access my subconscious mind. G Games, a new podcast exploring nlp, AKA Neuro Linguistic programming. Is it a self help miracle, a shady hypnosis scam? Or both? Listen to Mind Games on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Trey Kirby]

You can scroll the headlines all day

[Tas Melas]

and still feel empty.

[Jay Skeets]

I'm Ben Higgins and if youf Can

[Tas Melas]

Hear Me is where culture meets the soul.

[Trey Kirby]

Honest conversations about identity, loss, purpose, peace, faith and everything in between. Celebrities, thinkers, everyday. Some have answers.

[Jay Skeets]

Most are still figuring it out.

[Trey Kirby]

And if you've ever felt like there has to be more to the story, this show is for you.

[Tas Melas]

Listen to if you can Hear me

[Trey Kirby]

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jay Skeets]

Good morning, sweet world, and welcome to the no Dunks podcast presented by FanDuel. It's free. Thursday, February 26, 2026. I'm Jay Skeets, here in the classic factory and alongside me, as always, Tas Melas.

[Tas Melas]

Podcast listeners this one's for you.

[Jay Skeets]

Next to him, it's my top shot, hot boy Trey Kirby.

[Trey Kirby]

Ayo.

[Jay Skeets]

Ayo. And last but not least, over yonder, making the magic happen, super producer JD Hello. There he is. Here we are. Hello to everybody on YouTube. Hello podcast listeners. On today's podcast, we're going to analyze the NBA's 65 game award rule. We're going to debate who deserves the number one pick in the draft. And we'll talk about Matt Ishbia wanting to throw a million dollars around to the contest winners at all star weekend with hopes to get the stars to compete. So lots of tackle in true or false later. But let's begin with the games and we'll start with the Denver Nuggets taking care of business in the second half, beating the Celtics. Jokic 30 points as the Nuggets won 103, 84 TASS over Bo. So the Celtics were trying to complete that perfect road trip but come up short in this last one. Maybe that was a part of it that last game, the altitude of Denver, but this was a sort of a, an offensive slog here. It's more of a defensive minded game. Not a lot of shots being made.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. And that's why it makes you think that the Nuggets can get to the NBA finals if they can have defensive performances like this. Because we know their offense is going to cook when Jokic is right. They're the number one offense in the league. They just need some of these defensive performances. And I thought their point of attack defense was pretty important to get them going. I thought it started in the second quarter when Bruce Brown was going at Peyton Pritchard and they slowed Peyton Pritchard down who didn't have a very good game. And it continued in the third quarter on Jalen Brown, who is Jalen Brown and is that good. So you got to throw different bodies. Adam Christian Brown started, I think he is a good physical player and car will guard guys one on one when it comes to postseason like he did against Anthony Edwards in the past. But then they throw a bigger guy and Spencer Jones at a little taller guy, real tall in those andyms and they were able, able to slow him down just enough to have a bad night. But as you said, maybe it's the Celtics not having a perfect road trip, just going three and one. That's pretty solid. So maybe they just all were at the end of the road trip and just had a bad night. So I think it's, it's a good thing from the Nugget side to get this done with Jamal Murray leaving in the second half and not even playing most of the second half because of that illness that he had, but getting it done. Defensively they won some ugly games in the 23 finals against the Miami Heat. That's who they are at times. They just kind of slog it out and they did. I think they got a bunch of perimeter guys that can help out.

[Jay Skeets]

What do you think, tk?

[Trey Kirby]

I thought the Celtics got tooted and booted. The altitude was too much for him. This was a one point game with two minutes left in the third quarter. And then Denver immediately went on a 15 to 0 run. And that was the game. They got every rebound. Celtics couldn't really generate a good look. And when they were, they were missing layups inside. And then Denver was smart. They realized Celtics were getting tired. Grab the board, push it the other way every single time. You had Joe Missoula calling almost back to back timeouts after Spencer Jones was going wild on the break. You had Tim Hardaway finding out. I'm watching Spencer Jones's ankles every time he goes down. If this guy sprains an ankle, I will know. But it was good for Denver. Yeah, they outscored the Celtics by 20 in the last 14 minutes of this game. You mentioned no Jamal Murray out there in the second half. Boston shot 28% from the field, had eight assists and only four turnovers in the second half. They looked like they just completely wore out. It's like they were playing at altitude on the second night of a back to back. Who would ever take them in and pick them?

[Tas Melas]

That's right.

[Jay Skeets]

Right.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Fatigue did seem to show there for them. They got tired even though Jaylen came back because he had the. The game off. Really the night before. He didn't play in that. I guess it was the Phoenix game. So, you know, he didn't have as much excuse maybe as some of the other guys. But yeah, Denver, good team. And like you said, they did it defensively. Jokic struggled. Right. He shot 11 of 28. The three ball was not really fallen for him though. He hit a stupid crazy one I think was that early in the. Early in the game. Early in the. Yeah, right started game. You're right where he was just in the corner. They played great defense for like 23.9 seconds. Then he's like, I'll just hit this fading one footed corner three, bang that home. But he did help that, that run that you said there Trey at the end of the third quarter that like 110 run that took him into the fourth. And then other guys stepped up. Tim Hardaway Jr. He had 14 points. I. I bring him up because this guy had two dunks in the same game. Yep, very rare. And then he had another one where he like attacked. He spun, kissed it off the glass. You don't see Tim Hardaway driving all that much. Few of them in transition, but that one was special. But nobody wanted to talk to him after the game. You see this clip going around. They went into the press room, you know, they got the table set up and the mic and then all the chairs for the media. Tim Hardaway Jr. Walks in. There's nobody in the room or nobody at least wanting to ask him a question.

[Trey Kirby]

There was maybe one reporter there. They're like, lisa, you got any questions? She's like, nah.

[Jay Skeets]

So he just gets up and leaves about those Dougs. Yeah, it was.

[Trey Kirby]

He was good. Hardaway outscored the Boston bench. I mean, Boston got a few points at the end when it was garbage time for sure. Valentunas outscored the Boston bench by himself. This was just one team was fresher than the other to me. And the Celtics had a great road trip, all things considered. But yeah, I mean, to. To win like this, if you're the Nuggets, you gotta be feeling good about it. Not a great game for Vuchdog out there. No, no, he won for seven, gave up a ton of offensive rebounds. And you know, Jokic maybe didn't have the greatest shooting night, but he did hit two threes right in V's face. I think Vouch looks good against bad teams and it's a little different. They were trying to double big lineup, trying to. To let him guard Jokic, and K was kind of like the help guy. And I don't know if that's necessarily something you want to do going forward in the playoffs, but worth it last night to give it a shot. It's just that just schedule loss for me, for Boston, that's all it was.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, we were done taking Boston. We just got those points. And when we did our pick them the four and a half points, yeah, I figured they could lose by four. But also on the other side, the Nuggets always respond to a bad performance. So they lost the game before that on Monday night. We knew that coming in. They did the same thing coming out of the All Star game loss. Respond with a 50 point win against the Portland Trailblazers. Then they lost and this happened. So they do know how to respond. They have enough depth. Tim Hardaway is having his best season. Their benches, you know, that I mentioned, the Bruce Brown thing, I think they are just part of this entire atmosphere, this family type environment that beat the Celtics in this game, 42 to 17 from the bench. They don't turn it over a lot. You know, they didn't kill him on the fast break. It was 14:6. But everybody working together in the cycle game. And listen, that Jokic shot early in this game, that was art. I mean, he is literally. He's loses the ball, and then he finds it and he lets it rip. And Peyton Watson is back there. He's got, you know, one of the best smiles in the NBA. Smiling at it on the bench. So I think they just got it going on. He even laughed and laughed at Jamal Murray, who couldn't get over the rim on that first possession. He kind of laid it in. Yeah, they're good. They're doing all right.

[Jay Skeets]

Well, Jamal Murray did have an excuse, and you mentioned it earlier. He. He only played eight minutes due to illness and then did not return. Nuggets coach David Adelman was asked about his illness. He said, quote, he looked awful. They gave him all the medication. It did not help. All kinds of bodily things were happening.

[Tas Melas]

Excuse me.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, people are saying, whoa, HIPAA privacy. HIPAA violation there, Adam. Maybe a little too much information. I mean, I think he had this. I don't know. Do you have the shits and diarrhea like there? That's what it sounds like to me.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Right. Bodily fluids or things. I guess is his wording. Yeah. Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

But, yeah, he had some sort of virus, some sort of illness, because he literally couldn't get up over the rim on the first possession. The guy can duck the ball, but he couldn't do it. So I don't think it's just going out the one end. Other issues as well, I guess a lot of bodily flu. Either way, we're talking about injuries, specifically injuries. There was the Jason Tatum report from Sean Sharanya saying he's practicing five on five full practices. A lot of these reports are just virtually the same, that he's playing in 505, but it's getting closer. He's 290 days since he was injured, nine months. It's happening at some point.

[Jay Skeets]

It's just when.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

And so how much time before the playoffs do they hope to get him out there and start getting some reps with some of these guys? Yeah, we'll see. All right.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

I saw people speculating that Tatum will come back on March 14 314, which is the area code for St. Louis, which is the exact contract he took. He took a million less so he could get 314 on his contract. And it's against the Wizards. Good team to come back against. Ask Jonathan Kaminga.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, right, right, right. So he's really into numerology, is he?

[Tas Melas]

Yes.

[Trey Kirby]

And financial literacy.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay. Okay.

[Tas Melas]

He took 314 instead of 315mil. Wow.

[Jay Skeets]

I didn't know that either. Yeah. Okay, so you're. You're maybe predicting a March 14th return potato. Hey, look.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, but I think people were also speculating that he was going to come back for. What is this game against the Sixers? When is that game? That's on March 1, because that one got flexed. Right. Like NBC moved the time back to make it. It was supposed to be at 6pm now it's at 8pm or something like that. He had the huge All Star Game feature. Look how hard this guy's working. So you can make a case for any game that he's coming back.

[Jay Skeets]

We feel confident he returns in March. It sounds. Yeah, he's a March man. He's a March man. Okay. It's coming soon.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. That Sixers game is perfect because he can play in that one and sit on the second half of the back to back, which is the next game, because it's one of those flexors.

[Jay Skeets]

Soon enough. Here.

[Trey Kirby]

What would you have asked Tim Hardaway Jr. In the press conference?

[Jay Skeets]

Well, I would have asked about the dunks.

[Trey Kirby]

You were doing them dunks?

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Like, I just like, how can you remember any other game from your career? We had two dunks in sync. I honestly can't. And you know me, I'm the biggest Tim Hardaway Jr. Fan. You lie, man. And then my follow up question is, when will you go for 50 points in one game? And this guy named Skeets has been saying it for like 10 years now. Aren't you going to pop off one of these nights?

[Trey Kirby]

You can do it late in the season here. One of these nonsense games at the end of the year.

[Jay Skeets]

I still believe.

[Trey Kirby]

How many Ducks you think he's got this year?

[Jay Skeets]

It's probably more than I would think. Obviously.

[Tas Melas]

15.

[Trey Kirby]

Hey, nice. 13.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

He's throwing down some dunks.

[Jay Skeets]

That's all right.

[Trey Kirby]

He had this many dunks.

[Jay Skeets]

Taller guy, I guess, shouldn't be that surprising to me.

[Trey Kirby]

But he's just such a three point shooter. Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Obviously. The score outside. All right, let's talk about the Bucks squeaking by the Cavaliers. 1:18, 116. Porter Rollins, to your guys. Task that you like to bring up with Milwaukee. They played well and they did survive here. I mean, Jared Allen had a shot right at the end at the buzzer beater. He thought it was good, and they sort of reacted like they were going to overtime. They took a lot out of look at it, and it was pretty obviously still in his hand. So Milwaukee gets another victory here, and they are, I believe, one game out of the play in with maybe potentially honest coming back. I'm starting to get fearful for the Detroit Pistons here suddenly, if they're the number one seed all season long and then like Giannis returns and the Bucks maybe get the eight seat, but I'm looking ahead too far. Let's talk about this game.

[Tas Melas]

Well, it's an incredible season for Giannis in every way, shape and form because he sits out and the team is playing their best ball without him. The guys that he really needs if they're going to do anything, playing their best ball, they're 8 and 2 and their last 10. And he's also been able to get all the fans to support him after that up and down at the beginning of the season.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, he wants to trade.

[Tas Melas]

Oh, he's not being traded. But now he can come back, I think, and feel pretty comfortable going into the postseason. They don't do anything really great in the postseason and ask for a trade simply, maybe not really verbally ask for a trade, but get his agent to get him a trade. So I think his fans will always love him even if he does that. So it just feels like so perfect in every way, shape or form off the court. The guy feels free and easy, the most free he's ever felt to do what he wants since he's been out. Invested in Kalshee, invested in the Chelsea women's soccer team, invested in gummies that look like his face. And he feels free to say whatever he wants, too, this season. Literally say whatever he wants. Michael Jordan's number one in scoring. Oh, yeah. I'm gonna go get that guy. I can get him, no problem. I'll catch him. Fans boo him. He says when they boo, I boo him right back. I mean, he just so comfortable. And I think he'll be looked at forever in Milwaukee even if he does leave as the guy. So it feels like everything's just working out, like this team is not going to win in the playoffs. They're not beating the Pistons, okay, But at least they can get there. And I just feel like it's. It's justifiable now for him to say, all right, I'm done, because we gave it one more shot. I'm good. Interesting. Yeah. It's the season for Giannis in every way, shape or form. He wants to win. He's making investments, he's talking. No, he's not going to win. And that's why I think the fans have to support him. They have to. At the end of the day.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

He's the best player that's ever played for the Bucks.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, I know, I know. But if you demand a trade and you leave, like, if he got dealt, there would be plenty of hate. If he got dealt before the trade deadline, there would be plenty.

[Jay Skeets]

You're swerving here hard, though, on me. No, like, you're lamello in a car in Charlotte. Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

No, because I said that you could be Delta soft season.

[Jay Skeets]

I understand that, but you've also said many times this idea of, like, Giannis wants to see some growth with this team, especially these young guys, these guards, and, like, the idea of convincing him, so to speak, that maybe there's something here and we have draft capital we could use and maybe try and add to the roster. So, like, it's funny to me, like, they're actually playing well and. But you're now saying it's more even still likely that maybe he'll be like, eh, I'm out of here anyway. You've just tricked me here.

[Tas Melas]

Well, he's always left the door open.

[Jay Skeets]

Yes.

[Tas Melas]

And I, as a fellow Greek, have always been comfortable saying that the door is open. They're not going to win this postseason. They may, as far as the front office goes, go trade one of their draft picks to get somebody, but things are just all coming together for him to be able to say, I'm done. We ain't winning. It's time for me to go.

[Jay Skeets]

The Knicks, but that's my counter, is they actually are winning some here. Like, if it was the opposite and they were continuing to lose every single game and there was no hope, then, yeah, okay, he's probably leaving. I still think he will leave, but at least. At least you can squint and go or talk yourself into this idea of, like, maybe these guys are growing and maybe there's some talent here, and once I get back, it's a little different story. That's all I'm saying. Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

So there's that possibility.

[Jay Skeets]

The game itself, takeaways, and the James Harden of it all, who has a right thumb fracture and didn't play in this game, though, he's going to Continue and try and play through the rest of the season.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, he's going to play eventually and I think the Cavs will be fine. They also traded for Dennis Schroeder, Keon Ellis. We know Jalen Tyson's minutes have gone down a little bit with Mobley coming back with Harden being there. Sam Merrill was back playing last night. There's going to be more opportunities for these guys. Harden fit in instantly with the Cavs, so maybe the biggest downside for them is that if he has to deal with any sort of minutes restriction, I mean, it's his offhand, I can't really imagine it's going to be that big of a deal, but maybe he'll have to sit some. Some sometimes if he gets hit or something like that, then JB Bickerstaff doesn't have a chance to like figure out his rotations perfectly. But this doesn't seem like a huge concern to me for the Cavs. They could have won last night if Jared Allen gets the ball off of his long finger a little bit earlier or if Dennis Schroeder makes a pretty makeable layup right before Jared Allen got the rebound. But this was a nice win for the Bucks. I thought Jericho Sims played awesome. 11 points, 11 boards, a couple assists and four screen assists. Oh, he was setting some monster screens out there. But Rollins and Kevin Porter Jr. They're playing really well together right now. They both had some time out this season, Porter more so than Rollins, but they can both like get to the basket. They can both shoot from outside. Rollins competes on the defensive end. They seem like a good match and with this little bit of a winning patch here, you know, I think the Bucks have had their first and second three game win streak of the season during this eight out of ten stretch. It makes you think Giannis is going to come back.

[Tas Melas]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

I think that's interesting because when they were really struggling before the trade deadline, it's like, why would they even bring this guy back unless he wants to play, which he's going to want to play. But now there's at least something to play for a play in berth that's not that exciting. But the Bucks have, you know, been lower seated in the Eastern Conference regardless, so it feels like there's very few breadcrumbs. I guess he told some kid on the sideline, yeah, I'll be out another four weeks. But I'm like reading through the Eric Naim articles over at the Athletics and he says in one of his last paragraphs, when Giannis comes back, just says it like it's known business out there. So he'll come back eventually.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

And at least makes the play. And exciting.

[Tas Melas]

Yes.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

For sure.

[Jay Skeets]

Which are usually brutal games.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Superstar DeRozan has something to say about it. The biggest moment in play in history.

[Jay Skeets]

Well, that's the biggest one.

[Trey Kirby]

Then LeBron hitting a three pointer.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. Over the Warriors.

[Trey Kirby]

But that comes behind Dr. Right.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. Yeah. The Bucks will be fine when their MVP type player does come back for the play. And he will. He did post something where he was working out. I am not familiar with everything he posts on social media because this year he has curated it in a very different way. That's part of his mo. He says what he wants, he curates the way he wants. He's been deleting a bunch of his old Bucks posts and all that. He deletes even his sponsor posts. I think the Cali thing is gone. I think he loves his gummies. He keeps posting those gummies. I don't know why they didn't send us any but yeah, those ones that look like his face. Either way, I think it's over four weeks since he diagnosed himself. When he said, yeah, he said I'm out four to six weeks essentially. So it's been over four weeks. I think he's coming back pretty soon to be with a pretty good team that did beat a Cavs team without Donovan Mitchell and without Evan Mobley and this Dennis Schroeder who is a perfect fill in for James Harden. Just let's throw him out there and be a lead guy. And yeah, he had a good game. He did miss that layup that just rimmed out. He shouldn't have missed that. But James Harden is not going to be out a very long time. Simple as that.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. Jeff Stots of in Street Clothes said it's. It's a non displaced injury. Right. So it's like the tip of his thumb on his offhand as you said. Trey.

[Tas Melas]

The phalanx as he said.

[Jay Skeets]

Yes, yes, yes. Players to suffer this type of injury and avoid surgery miss an average of six and a half games. Approximately 17 days. Getting that Jeff Stottz, he's got the database for all this stuff. Right. Sort of even feels like it might be less than that just the way they're sort of approaching it and talking about it. But maybe he gets a couple games off here and is back before we know it and we'll see if it impacts him or not. I think it just like more than anything, it's like you could re injure it or make it worse. Swiping at a ball on the defensive end though, you know, maybe Harden's not doing that a whole lot either. Will it affect the offense? Probably not. I don't think so.

[Tas Melas]

Ideally you want more chemistry. I think with him and Evan Mobley specifically, like those guys, it is going to be mid March when he comes back. But if he does come back, you know, approximately estimating on these, the phalanges, the bones as just Stotts calls them in his hand. Yeah. It's at the tip of his thumb. So it'll be mid March. Chemistry is important. We know that. So he does need to come back at some point.

[Trey Kirby]

It seems like he'll have a weird looking thumb at the end of it. I think those non displaced fractures are like where your knuckle gets knocked out of line and like that's. I got. I got a weird pinky.

[Jay Skeets]

Right.

[Trey Kirby]

I started generating a weakness.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh yeah, you got one there. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

So two out of ten for me. I wonder what hardens are like. It's gonna be like the opposite of a hitchhiker thumb.

[Jay Skeets]

Right.

[Trey Kirby]

Might be a problem when you're counting the hundreds.

[Jay Skeets]

He's at the club.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Can you do this for me? You make it rain for me, please.

[Tas Melas]

But isn't it the actual tip of the thumb? It doesn't involve the actual the knuckle. Who knows?

[Trey Kirby]

I'm not just. I don't have the database. I just got the fingers. I just got the fingers. To look at the other question I had for you guys. Sam Merill and AJ Green were playing in this game, Spider man meme. Are you more of a Sam Merrill or an A.J. green guy?

[Tas Melas]

That's a great question.

[Jay Skeets]

Question I didn't expect to be asked this morning. They're guarding each other a T ton.

[Trey Kirby]

They play quite similarly, I guess because

[Jay Skeets]

he's got a better nickname.

[Trey Kirby]

Great nickname. Bird.

[Jay Skeets]

And we came up with the, you know, the milking. Yeah. So I'll just go him really tough. But I wonder if Sam Merrill is better than A.J.

[Tas Melas]

green.

[Trey Kirby]

I think he's a little better.

[Jay Skeets]

He's a little better.

[Tas Melas]

I think he's a little better three point shooter. But AJ Green has the advantage. Number one, I like the higher release point. It's a little bit higher, so you might get off one that you get your body into a little bit easier. And second, his arms look great on camera in comparison to Sam Merrill. Yeah. He's got the bod of a farmer. They call him Dairy Bird.

[Jay Skeets]

That's right.

[Tas Melas]

Throwing around

[Trey Kirby]

China's Ministry of State Security is one of the most mysterious and powerful spy agencies in the world. But in 2017, the FBI got inside.

[Tas Melas]

This is Special Agent Riegel, Special Agent Bradley Hall. This MSS officer has no idea the US government is onto him. But the FBI has his chats, texts, emails, even his personal diary. Hear how they got it on the Sixth Bureau podcast?

[Jay Skeets]

I now have several terabytes of an MSS officer, no doubt, no question of his life.

[Trey Kirby]

And that's a unicorn.

[Tas Melas]

No one had ever seen anything like that. It was unbelievable.

[Trey Kirby]

This is a story of the inner workings of the MSS and how one man's ambition and mistakes opened its vault of secrets.

[Tas Melas]

Listen to the 6th Bureau on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Podcast Host (Various Podcast Promos)]

In 2023, a story gripped the UK, evoking horror and disbelief.

[Tas Melas]

The nurse who should have been in

[Jay Skeets]

charge of caring for tiny babies is now the most prolific child killer in modern British history.

[Podcast Host (Various Podcast Promos)]

Everyone thought they knew how it ended. A verdict. A villain, a nurse named Lucy Letby.

[Trey Kirby]

Lucy Letby has been found guilty.

[Podcast Host (Various Podcast Promos)]

But what if we didn't get the whole story?

[Tas Melas]

The moment you look at the whole

[Jay Skeets]

picture, the case collapses.

[Podcast Host (Various Podcast Promos)]

I'm Amanda Knox and in the new podcast Doubt the Case of Lucy Letby, we follow the evidence and hear from the people that lived it. To ask what really happened when the world decided who Lucy Letby was. No voicing of any skepticism or doubt.

[Jay Skeets]

It'll cause so much harm at every

[Trey Kirby]

single level of the British establishment of this is wrong.

[Podcast Host (Various Podcast Promos)]

Listen to Doubt the Case of Lucy Letby on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What if mind control is real?

[Trey Kirby]

If you could control the behavior of anybody around you, what kind of life would you have?

[Podcast Host (Various Podcast Promos)]

Can you hypnotically persuade someone to buy a car?

[Tas Melas]

When you look at your car, you're going to become overwhelmed with such good feelings.

[Podcast Host (Various Podcast Promos)]

Can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you?

[Jay Skeets]

I gave her some suggestions to be sexually aroused.

[Podcast Host (Various Podcast Promos)]

Can you get someone to join your cult? NLP was used on me to access my subconscious. Nlp, AKA Neuro Linguistic Programming, is a blend of hypnosis, linguistics and psychology. Fans say it's like finally getting a user manual for your brain.

[Tas Melas]

It's about engineering consciousness.

[Podcast Host (Various Podcast Promos)]

Mind Games is the story of nlp, its crazy cast of disciples, and the fake doctor who invented it at a New Age commune and sold it to guys in suits. He stood trial for murder and got acquitted. The Biggest mind game of all. NLP might actually work.

[Jay Skeets]

This is wild.

[Podcast Host (Various Podcast Promos)]

Listen to mind Games on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Nancy Glass, host of the Burden of Guilt season two podcast. This is a story about a horrendous lie that destroyed two families. Late one night, Bobby Gumpright became the victim of a random crime.

[Tas Melas]

Bob, he pulls the gun, tells me to lie down on the ground.

[Podcast Host (Various Podcast Promos)]

He identified Jermaine Hudson as the perpetrator. Jermaine was sentenced to 99 years.

[JD (Super Producer)]

I'm like, lord, this can't be real. I thought it was a mistaken identity.

[Tas Melas]

The best lie is partial truth.

[Podcast Host (Various Podcast Promos)]

For 22 years, only two people knew the truth. Until a confession changed everything.

[Tas Melas]

I was a monster.

[Podcast Host (Various Podcast Promos)]

Listen to Burden of guilt season two on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jay Skeets]

All right, let's keep it going. We took some weird tangents on that game. The spurs overcome Wemby's pretty rough night. They beat our Raptors 110, 107. San Antonio spurs have extended their win streak to 10 straight. Get us started on your thoughts on this one.

[Tas Melas]

Well, the start was the Wemby vs Barnes experience, because early in this game, Scotty tried to punch one down on Wemby, but Wemby baited him, turned his back to Wemby, turned his back to Barnes, and Scotty thought, okay, this is my time. I'm going to go in there. But he knew that Barnes was coming, so he turned around and blocked him. Then Barnes got him back with that turnaround fade away at the end of the second quarter. He said, okay, I'll take it out even further. Wemby can't guard me at a three point line. Then Wemby blocked his ass at the three point line. So great little back and forth there, but play of the game was a minute 30 left, wraps down two. Just need one more stop and turn this around and we can tie this game. Darren Fox was in the corner with RJ Barrett on him, and Darren Fox just kind of lost the ball and it kind of rolled a little bit towards the corner and he went and picked it up as RJ Barrett dove and he was able to shoot over the corner of the bat backboard. That was an incredible shot. Everybody on the bench saying, hey, that was a travel, but he kind of just rolled it there. He didn't really dribble it and go back and get it. So that was just a beautiful shot. Then it's. It's a four point lead. Then RJ Barrett went in and out on one end and Scotty Barnes ripped it from de' Aaron Fox at the other end. Looked him right in the face but it already become a four point lead. But they tried that fast break and then Brandon Ingram went to Purdle instead of to RJ Barrett on the perimeter who just missed one. And then Pearl gets swatted by Victor. We have a game over baby. But the reps, I mean the spurs

[Jay Skeets]

missed a lot of free throws to give me even more chances to try and either get it to overtime. I mean Brandon Ingram had a pretty good look in the corner and he Paul georged it off the side of the back.

[Trey Kirby]

Taylor, two backboards.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, that was not, not great there.

[Tas Melas]

And then they rebounded. The spurs were able to rebound that free throw and able to overcome it, the missed free throws. But either way the refs just can't always execute down the street to perfection.

[Jay Skeets]

We are the worst good team in the league. I have no faith in this team. Come a playoff series, I mean they're going to be there. That's maybe was shocking to some people thinking this was going to be a very bad year. So it's cool that they're probably going to be in a playoff series. I don't think they'll be have a home court advantage in a playoff series at this point, but whatever. But I don't have hopes that they're going to get by a first round here.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, teams are going at Brandon Ingram on the other end in the last couple minutes trying to get the best shot that they can and the reps and not executing quickly in the shot clocks.

[Jay Skeets]

Our guy Will Lou, he crashed out hard on last night's hello and welcome Raptors recap podcast and all of it was completely warranted. He hit on three things that were driving him nuts and the biggest one is Darko's lineup at the start of the fourth quarter. He has done this multiple times and it's perplexing and it backfires a lot. The Raptors have given up something like five double digit fourth quarter leads. It's the most in the league and it happened in this one. They were up sort of big right starting the fourth and they go with Shed, RJ Barrett, Walter, CMB and Mamu. And the spurs who are sort of looking dead in the water, don't have a lot going. Wemby starts the quarter because they know, they realize, well it's probably here or not happening tonight, right? And they ripped off a 70 run just like that. And it was. It's sort of infuriating. It's like there was no reason Barnes should have not been out there because he had sat at the end of the third quarter. You got to play a little bit more matching there in that situation. And then the spurs right back into it and it's just like immediately back into the game. And Darko has done this time and time again. So that was frustrating. The other thing is RJ Barrett, despite scoring, which he can do if you watch the fourth quarter, he had so many defensive lapses where he is just. He's just sort of clueless defensively. Like he just like. I think he's like. It looks like the type of player is just thinking about the offensive end when he's on defense. And it bit them in the ass a couple times leaving like wide open shooters on the spurs. Not maybe like getting in, not getting dirty for some of these offensive rebound or defensive rebound attempts off missed free throws. Like if you watch RJ Barrett on defensive end, it's infuriating. And the other part is Scotty Barnes, he has way too many right now. What do you do in turnovers? This guy tried to throw like two times. No, look, passes in this game, just look, man, you're not white chocolate, man. You like. It was like these were early in the game so they didn't have a crazy impact. But like what is he doing? Like you're not. You don't need to be doing that. He's trying to like make these like cool look away passes. They're getting like deflected and picked off like maybe look. So those were the three things that will really hard on. I couldn't agree more. Having watched this game late last night because of Survivor. It's. They're just, they're. It's there. You know what the darker part of it all is? Infuriating. That lineup was stupid and he's done it a couple times now.

[Tas Melas]

And Durant, yeah, they are the.

[Jay Skeets]

And they can't be good teams.

[Tas Melas]

They scored the third fewest points in fourth quarters in the NBA. I know it's way worse against the good teams, but that's a sign they. They just don't score in fourth quarter.

[Trey Kirby]

Why is that though? Because they. It's Brandon Ingram bail us out. That's what it is.

[Jay Skeets]

Honestly, this team reminds me so much of Raptors pre Kyle Lowry. Like, like that was like sort of, you know, good so to speak, but not great by any means. Like they need somebody like that. Like the Ingram DeRozan comparisons are sort of there to me. Scotty, like, he's still growing. You think he's adding to his, obviously his package. And he is an all Star and he's a great player. He's awesome player and competes defensively and is going to be in the running for defense. Player, but makes weird decisions to me at times. And then the coaching of it all, I don't, I don't think he puts them in great opportunities at times with some of these lineups in games that are there, like the Raptors are off, like two days now, like, they should be going for that win. That would have been maybe like a marquee win for them this season. Snap the win streak, you know, use that momentum to try and get ready here for the playoffs. And they just keep losing a good team and they sort of keep shooting themselves in the foot. It's stuff they can control that they like, for whatever reason, are not backing up. So, again, I have very little faith in this team come the postseason, if they're playing, who are they going to be playing?

[Trey Kirby]

Right now it'd be Cleveland.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, they're gonna be playing the Cavs, maybe. Maybe the Sixers, I guess, would be a possibility.

[Trey Kirby]

Knicks could be Nick.

[Jay Skeets]

Celtics, I guess still, if they slip, you know, it'll be. I'll be. I'll be shocked if it goes six. With way. The way they look to me right now.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, with the way the offense is set up, I think they just need somebody to touch paint a little bit more often to shrink the defense and just get everything moving because Emmanuel quickly has done it at times, but he really just stops and pops before he gets into the lane with his free, with his floater. You just need more of what, ideally what Jamal Shed has done, but at the same time, he's. He's a bit limited, so you just need more of that. And, and I understand the, the likeness to a Kyle Lowry or somebody else who is just able to run things slash, get into the paint. Yeah, those. What. That's what the problems are. The, the. The. Every single offensive plan, every single possession is just happening with 15 seconds gone already on the shock lock.

[Trey Kirby]

There's.

[Tas Melas]

It's. It's already time taken down. They got to get into things faster and a guy who gets to the paint faster and there's no doubt.

[Jay Skeets]

Bobby Webster, I think, looked at this team at the deadline was like, nah, we ain't doing anything this year. And maybe that's why they didn't try and address shooting, which they desperately need. Could use some of that size. Okay. They got Trace and Jackson Davis, like that was their move at the deadline here. So did nothing really what I'm getting at. And maybe it was the right decision because maybe he's like in this, what appears to still be an open Eastern Conference, we are a tier or whatever a tier and a half down from these elite teams. And he's right. He's definitely right. Just an infuriating another loss because that's a game they should have won last night. I think. Duran Cunningham lead the Pistons past the shorthanded thunder. 124, 116. I mean shorthanded Trey.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, I saw some Brooks Barnheiser, Buddy Beheim lineups, the double double Bs. That's a lot of Bs. Brooks Barnheiser and Buddy Bayheim. But the three point shooting really kept Oklahoma City in it. They made 18, the Pistons only made nine. But I appreciated Detroit's ball movement. 29 assists. They found so many like tic tac toe passes. Cade getting off the ball early and then Duran finding a Sar Thompson, a Ron Holland for a cut. No Chad out there. No I heart J. Will is not a rim protector. He is a charged taker. And clearly the Pistons understood what to do. 70 points in the paint versus only 32 for the Thunder, 52 to 37. On the rebounding. They couldn't shoot the ball from outside, so they just grabbed every offensive board and made as many layups as they possibly could. It was pretty sweet for the Pistons, even if this was a a game that the Thunderhead, I think their top six scorers were missing by the end of the game because like even Isaiah Joe subbed out of this game couldn't play. But one guy that stood out to me was Azar Thompson. This guy deserves a little bit more hype. Everybody talks about a man because a man has a bigger role on the Rockets and looks like he might have a little bit more juice handling the ball. But Asar to me is like the star role player. He's bought in completely. 11 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks. Last night. People talk him up as maybe a better defender than a men, but he definitely doesn't get as much notoriety. But he was awesome last night, just kind of being everywhere, like a super Iguodala type.

[Jay Skeets]

I had him in my notes too because I thought that was a great bounce back game from him after he was benched in the second half against the spurs. And so I had my eye on him and look teams are going to leave him because they don't trust that he can hit a shot. You saw it last night, okc, like they were just dropping so far off him, but he was operating a little bit more around the free throw line. I know he, I know he hit at least one jumper there, if not two, and was setting up guys. So they were trusting him there. And you're going to have to. If they're going to like make any noise here, he has to play. He should play for his defensive acumen. But teams are going to test them in the postseason. So yeah, you don't need to be like necessarily a knock down three point shooter. He's never going to be that. But you can still operate with the ball and you can still get to the free throw line and obviously set guys up.

[Trey Kirby]

Unfortunately 57% at the free throw line.

[Jay Skeets]

Well, no, no, no. I mean shooting around the free throw

[Trey Kirby]

line for that 1 for 4 at the line last night, you're going to

[Jay Skeets]

have to trust him with the ball a little bit. And he's such an athlete that he should be able to still make plays. Especially when guys are going to sag off. You can attack and go in there. So. So that I was watching him as well. And they just did a good job. OKC played a lot of zone in this game because probably they were shorthanded so many guys. And I thought Kade did an awesome job just picking it apart.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, Sir Thompson is kind of their X factor. He's, you know that prototypical X factor. As you compared him to Iguodala. Sometimes he just doesn't perform. He called himself out after this game and said it was on me with the Spurs. He didn't have his energy level crashing on the offensive end. Also he yawned at one point. He just wasn't into it. And then he responds in this one. Basically it looked like a mirror of Amen Thompson and how he's guarded. They just lay way off him. But he was getting into the mid range and hitting those jumpers and getting after it. Defensively you roll into that as well. A better cade performance even though Lou Dort's all over him and Kayson Wallace was dragging on him. He just looked way better. And Jalen Duran 29:15 since the ulcer game, three games averaging 27 and 14. So all that combined with the secondary players just doing something. They don't have an incredible three to eight, but they just need to do something. Toby was better in this game. Duncan Robinson was better in this game. Javante Green had a Shot my man Caris Lavert still turns that ball over, but fewer turnovers in this one. So they need everybody. And then this one, they had it against a team. Yes. Didn't have everybody. Basically. Basically anybody.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

But they can still play great defense because that's what they do. And they went after Cade, but Kate just had a response game after that spurs game.

[Jay Skeets]

My final note on Cade, multiple highlight reel blocks once again in this one. Is he on his way to trying to become the greatest shot blocker from the guard position? I know he's only 24, a lot of career left, but I think he's up to averaging one block per game for the, the point guard position. I think Derek White probably still has the honor. Guy's pretty amazing at racking up blocks as like what a shooting guard, I guess. But Dwayne Wade always comes to mind as, as one of the best. John Wall, but I think Kate is going to be there. He's a little bigger than those guys. Way bigger than those guys, but he brings it on. The defensive end is. He's talking about like yeah, I watched a lot of LeBron, all these chase down blocks. Tried to add that to my game. So yeah, something to watch moving forward.

[Trey Kirby]

I think every one of his turnovers is totally careless, like inaccurate passes or just lazy getting off the ball. It's like rarely him being pressured. But then on the other side he cares so much about defense. I'm like where, where's the attention to detail there on both sides. But three steals, three blocks last night for Kade, he's averaging a steal and a half and a block per game. He's one of only 14 players this season over 500 minutes that averages a steal and a block. Pretty impressive for a guy who carries a huge load on the offensive end as well. Which is probably why sometimes he's just like, just somebody else take this ball. Unfortunately, it's the other team. I mean he missed, he missed our Tass's friend Toby.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, I call him Toby.

[Trey Kirby]

Toby. Yeah, him and Toby did not have a mind meld last night. Toby would be cutting and Katie would throw it behind his back. It was weird.

[Tas Melas]

Two things, you know, it's, it's tough for us talking about basketball every single day. I don't want to say the same name the same way every single day. Right.

[Jay Skeets]

That's part of people on their toes, but I'll see if they're listening.

[Tas Melas]

But also he's a two name guy. He's not a Tobias, he's not a Harris. And I just want to shorten it as much as I can.

[Jay Skeets]

I was wondering.

[Tas Melas]

Four syllables to one syllable, actually. Toby. That's two. My bad. But it feels shorter.

[Jay Skeets]

I was wondering if the reason you were going with Toby recently is we just had Jacob Toby. Maybe spurs, play by play announcer on our show when we were in Austin, I saw he had Matt Bonner. Him and Sean Elliott had Matt Bonner joining them in Toronto last night on their call. Maybe that Toby was in your head.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. It could be a subconscious thing for

[Jay Skeets]

sure, because it happens. It happened yesterday's show.

[Tas Melas]

What happened?

[Jay Skeets]

I made the thumbnail say struggle bus. And you said it twice on yesterday's show. And I never heard him say it before. That's true.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. Let me.

[Jay Skeets]

I was like that. That, like, literally just like, I'm going back to that thumbnail. Yeah. I'm telling you, you said it twice. I couldn't believe. It's like, oh, my thumbnails do matter.

[Tas Melas]

Wow. I just went and looked at the thumbnail. I remember the thumbnail, but I don't remember the words struggle.

[Trey Kirby]

But it really is.

[Jay Skeets]

Wow, that's interesting, actually reading it. All right, we'll leave it there. What else happened last night? I guess the warriors won. Did they not? Any other games I'm missing? I guess we were. Yeah. Warriors beat the Grizzlies. That's the. And then we'll get to the Rockets King in a little bit here.

[Trey Kirby]

Squeak by the Kings.

[Jay Skeets]

Yes, yes, yes, yes. But let's take a break and when we come back, we'll play true or false.

[Trey Kirby]

Bears beats buckets, buzzer beaters and your choice of rewards. That's how FanDuel does basketball season.

[Jay Skeets]

Brooks Barnheiser, Buddy Beha.

[Trey Kirby]

Or how about crab cakes and football? That's what Maryland does. Buckets, buzzer beaters and your choice of Rewards. That's how FanDuel does basketball season. With a no Dunks ad read, you can choose your own millennial pop culture reference. With FanDuel, you choose your reward, play it your way. Pick what fits your game and take control of how you bet. Take your shot with a profit boost. Play it cool with a bet reset or get a little backup with a bet back token. Back token.

[Tas Melas]

So many bees.

[Jay Skeets]

Jesus, man, this guy's B mode. BMO field.

[Trey Kirby]

That's interest.

[Tas Melas]

Yes.

[Trey Kirby]

Anything with bees. Craig Bizio, Jeff Bagwell. And don't forget Derek Bell. Operation shutdown. Remember that?

[Jay Skeets]

Yes.

[Trey Kirby]

Who could forget whatever fits your game. The choice is yours. That's what happens when you play on a sports book built for your game. So what kind of better are you? The shot caller. Your shot caller, T. Sometimes.

[Tas Melas]

It depends on the day. Sometimes I like calling shots.

[Trey Kirby]

You a strategist, Skeets?

[Jay Skeets]

Hell, yeah. Crunching the numbers. I took the Nuggets last night.

[Trey Kirby]

You're always crunching.

[Jay Skeets]

Yep.

[Trey Kirby]

JD Are you a steady hand at the line?

[JD (Super Producer)]

Oh, you know it.

[Trey Kirby]

You are a steady hand sometimes.

[Jay Skeets]

Most of the time, you're the hand of the king to me, J.D.

[JD (Super Producer)]

oh, thank you.

[Jay Skeets]

I don't know what that really means. I just listened to your. The Thumb wars review of the Seven Kingdoms. The Game of Thrones show.

[Tas Melas]

Yes. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Thank you.

[Jay Skeets]

Very good.

[Trey Kirby]

However you play, FanDuel is giving you the power to choose your reward and own your game every single day. To start the NBA, start the NBA season. Head to FanDuel.com to make your choice. FanDuel official sportsbook partner of the NBA, Brooks Barnheiser.

[Tas Melas]

It's the season of beast.

[Jay Skeets]

Bradley Beal.

[Tas Melas]

Right. And of course, all of our colleagues working with us. A lot of bees, Brad and Brian. We're just helping us out on the college park.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

Lots of our colleagues. I had to look up the Operation Shunt out for Derek Bell. I totally forgot about that. When I think Derek Bell, I think of number one, Joe Carter driving his car onto the Blue Jays SkyDome turf because they were giving it away.

[Trey Kirby]

Or nice.

[Tas Melas]

When he walked Game 2, 92 World Series. And then Ed Sprite hit the jack. Hold on. Was that 93? It was 93. Either way, that was important. Important walk.

[Jay Skeets]

Can you explain Operation Shutdown for those that have no idea what you're talking about?

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, he was unhappy with this contract. So he's like, I'm just gonna suck it up. I'm not gonna play good at all.

[Tas Melas]

I can't believe it. Shut down.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, he shut himself down.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. That was 2001.

[Trey Kirby]

It was later in his career.

[Tas Melas]

Very late. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

I was actually surprised to hear you say he was on the Blue Jays for their 90s World Series. I think of him as like. I mean, late 90s isn't that different, but.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. Well, he was pinch hitting in that case.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

And just walked important. That was the 92.

[Jay Skeets]

Game two in the 92 series. He was.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, they needed it against the Atlanta Braves. After the Braves took the first game, it was like the eighth inning.

[Jay Skeets]

I think that when the flag upside down. Or wait, we put their flag upside down. Who did it? Which flag was upside down in the 90s?

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, it was that Canadian flag.

[Jay Skeets]

How dare you.

[Tas Melas]

I think it was game two. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Come on. It's fall time. Look like the leaf falling from the tree. That's what they said it was autumn. Bobby Bonds. Barry Bonds. Bobby Banana.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, very nice. Very nice, Beast. Very nice, Beast. All right, let's get into true or false.

[Podcast Host (Various Podcast Promos)]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

A couple true or false questions for you guys here at the table. Everybody joining us on YouTube. Play along in the stream team. Let us know in the comments section if you're watching later. Podcast listeners chime in as well. Reed shepherd made a career high seven three pointers. Alpernchen Goon posted a triple double. Rockets beat the Kings 12897 last night. Blowout. Kings lost Keegan Murray to a left ankle injury in the first quarter. And they fell to a league worse 1347 record. And let's take a look at the Tankathon standings as of today. We'll show you. Trust me.

[Tas Melas]

Where are they?

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, but it's so bad that we just went. Yeah, Full black screen. At least that's what we're seeing on the monitor here. Okay, don't worry about it.

[Trey Kirby]

I can tell you who's at the top.

[Jay Skeets]

I got you. The kings are 13 and 47. As I said, that's the worst. All right, then. And they're followed by the Pacers, who are 15 and 44. The Nets, who are 15 and 42. The Wizards, who are 16 and 41, and then the Pelicans pick, which would go to the Atlanta Hawks at 17 and 42. Those are your top five teams. Jazz, there are sixth at 18 and 40. The question here is true or false. No signal is detected. True or false. The Kings deserve to win the number one pick because they're just so bad.

[Tas Melas]

Absolute false.

[Jay Skeets]

Why?

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. Yeah. And 23, they make the playoffs for the first time. What? Sixteen years. Darren Fox got them there. They light the beam. Then all of a sudden, oh, we'll fire our head coach. We'll trade de' Aaron Fox for Zach Levine. And I bring that up because they're trying to win right now. They are absolutely trying to win. Trying to do everything they can after trading their best player for another player. They've got this team that's so good offensively. Should be good offensively, I should say. But they can't be good offensively, so I don't give them a deserve reward. I don't know who deserves it, but this team that again made the playoffs for the first time in 16 years, they had Darren Fox doing interviews in people's houses. Our friends Deuce and Mo had them over to be in their house. He went to their house to do an interview and now all of a sudden they said, nah, let's get rid of this guy. I mean it was after a, you know, two years. But still, why give up on that? Why give up on your first playoff appearance in 16 years? I don't feel bad for them. They don't deserve it.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

I think they absolutely deserve it.

[Jay Skeets]

There we go.

[Tas Melas]

Why is that?

[Trey Kirby]

Bama had the number one pick since 1989. Never nervous Purvis Ellison went number one. They're eighth in salary this year. Like you said past they're straight up trying to win. They just built a bad team.

[Tas Melas]

Right.

[Trey Kirby]

Look at all the other teams who are near the top of the tanking race. The Pacers, 21st in salary. Took a literal gap year this year.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Didn't replace Miles Turner. They tried to lose nets 30th in salary. They got all young guys. They're not trying to win. The Wizards are 18th in salary. That's because they just traded for Trey Young and Anthony Davis, who they are not going to play this year. They're not trying to win. And then Utah is 28th in salary. least the Kings came into the season. Said we're going to win. If you're a fool, you would lock their over under like I did. I think they're going to win more than 34 games. I think that's what it was.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

In 2020 I backed you. I didn't lock it, but I did back.

[Trey Kirby]

I said guarantee this is the Kings

[Jay Skeets]

are going to be good.

[Trey Kirby]

They're literally trying. They're just bad. And I mean they have gotten a little tanky as these other teams have gone through their shenanigans. You know, they're shutting down. DeAndre Hunter, Sabonis, Levine, all these guys are out. But like DeMar DeRozan's playing fourth quarters. Yeah, he's still hitting clutch pull up jumpers just like he always has. So I think they do deserve it. They haven't had a number one pick for a while. They need a star as much as literally any team in the NBA. They had a top five draft pick and they got Keegan Murray who had an awesome rookie season and hasn't really done much since. They need an infusion of talent. So I do think they actually deserve it.

[Jay Skeets]

If you go, if you tackle this deserve by they need a star like you're saying then when you look at a lot of teams on the tank, a thon on the Kings are there I think the Nets are there. They would, you know, they could use a star to obviously try and build around. And then, you know, then you start getting down even lower. And I guess you could, you know, the Chicago Bulls, I think, could use a star. Depends how you feel about Bouzilles moving forward. Point is, some of these other teams do have really good players because of injuries, because of whatever. They just obviously are down here near the bottom. So, yeah, Kings like this. We, we. We asked this tongue in cheek, deserve. I mean, what are we talking about here? But you know, as an. In order to like turn around a franchise and because they have been the sort of ethical tankers because they wanted to sort of win and just stink, then, yeah, maybe you lean towards the Kings. What do you think about this report we got recently here? Larry Markkanen suffered an ankle and hip injury in practice on Wednesday. He's gonna get an MRI and reportedly the NBA is gonna send an independent doctor to scope out the situation and determine if the Jazz are violating league policy by holding Markkanen out. We have. This is. We are getting silly with this now, but what are you. What's your thoughts on this?

[Tas Melas]

Well, the Utah Jazz don't deserve to win the number one pick. I think that's fairly clear. They have sack guys in fourth quarters. We all know it. We all saw it. They were the ones that made the headlines. That is why they were fired or fined $500,000. Also, I found this interesting. There are polls done by the Deseret News in Utah, the state of Utah, and all these people pulled. 70% of them believe that professionals alter the way they play to help sports gamblers win. So that's the thought process of Utah and their fans and their people. You know, there's. There's different parameters to the 70%. Some say it's rarely. Some say it's most of the time in a state that are trying to get gambling laws made for them so they can all gamble as fans, but their fans still love the game. They're still out there and they're still winning these games where guys are sitting fourth quarter. So they don't deserve to win that number one pick. That being said, I think I'm okay with the NBA sending an independent doctor because it sure feels like they're sending just. They've gone to another level here.

[Jay Skeets]

They've gone to the level where Silver is absolutely pissed off with the Utah Jazz. So, I mean, I don't know if this is just to continue to try and send a message to them after the five hundred thousand dollar fine and then sending these doctors and then Jaren Jackson because they're not the first to do that.

[Tas Melas]

Like when Jared Jackson Jr. Went down with a season ending injury immediately after the $500,000 fine, I thought how can this be fine worthy if a guy is literally getting surgery? Right. But then it starts to compound here with Lowry Markkanen who's literally sitting well.

[Jay Skeets]

Nurkic is getting a nose surgery. Sleep apnea giving him problems. That's right.

[Tas Melas]

But he's playing pretty well. Looks like he's sleeping all right.

[Jay Skeets]

But are we.

[Tas Melas]

I believe he celebrate Ramadan now. Maybe he's undergoing lots of stuff.

[Jay Skeets]

But narc is out, is he? Not for the season. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Nose surgery.

[Tas Melas]

But yeah, that's why it seems like it's. It's snowballing in Utah. Well, yeah, down the mountains there's snow everywhere.

[Jay Skeets]

I don't know. Again, it's a slippery slope. Like if you're going to do this with. No, yeah, yeah. You're going to do this with Larry Markkanen and. Right. We got to come check them. Like then, then don't you have to do this with absolutely every guy?

[Trey Kirby]

Well, they did that with the Pacers apparently. Right. Niecemith hurt. Why don't you just shoot him up with some meds like it's varsity blues.

[Jay Skeets]

Get him out there.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

So I don't know, it's weird. Silver right now is in a tough spot where he's got to be checking in on all this after tanking being such a huge deal before we even got to the All Star break. To the point where he had to come out with these fines for the Jazz and the Pacers and answer a whole bunch of questions and saying we're looking at literally any suggestion you could possibly have. We will consider it. So I don't think it's going to stop for the rest of the season until you know every player you've heard of is out. But as the Stream team is mentioning here, the Jazz and the Pacers have never won the number one pick. So they could be deserving in that right. As well to spread the wealth.

[Jay Skeets]

Is that right? Never won it.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, I was excited. I was looking. You know the history of the number one picks for the Sacramento Kings. They only have the one Purvis Ellison. But when they were the Cincinnati Royals, they drafted three great names. In 1957 they got hot Rod Hundley.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh yeah, very cool.

[Trey Kirby]

And 1960 Bob Boozer.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, another double B. Yeah, that's one

[Trey Kirby]

I'm not as familiar with Bob Boozer. And then the Big O, Oscar Robertson went number one in 1960.

[Jay Skeets]

Good pick as well. Yeah, nailed that one.

[Tas Melas]

No relation to Carlos the Boozer?

[Trey Kirby]

I don't think so.

[Tas Melas]

I imagine. Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

Next one here. The odds to win the NBA's regular season MVP have tightened in recent weeks with the top two betting favorites, Shay Gilders Alexander and Nikola Jokic. At the risk of not qualifying for the award because of a new NBA rule or newish NBA rul SGA remains the odds on consensus favorite. He's listed at minus 130 on Fanduel Jokic at plus 300. But again, both are in danger of being ineligible this season because of the NBA rule that prohibits players who miss more than 17 games from qualifying for postseason awards like MVP. Suddenly we. I do feel like we've. We've pivoted from tanking talk to maybe now we are back on the MVP race and this particular rule. Trey. So true OR FALSE? The NBA 65 game rule is backfiring.

[Trey Kirby]

I gotta say false.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

I think it worked perfectly because they got an 11 year, $77 billion media rights deal. And that's the only reason this rule even exists. Correct. Because Adam Silver in a previous thing he was upset about was players resting more so than dealing with injuries. And that to me is the biggest thing. We don't want to have a default winner where it's like two MVP candidates actually qualify for the awards. So who of those two who actually was the best? There should be a separation between missing games for rest slash load management, which was what the issue was when it was like Kawhi never playing back to backs. Joel Embiid, we never know if he's going to play and if they're playing in Denver, he definitely isn't. It's different when a guy is legitimately hurt. Look at the guys who are being taken out of the race this year. Jokic had a legitimate knee injury. Sheikh Alexander is missing time with a core injury right now. Wemby had a calf strain. These are real things that are keeping players out. So there's got to be some sort of leeway that they figure out going forward where you're allowed to miss games if you're hurt and still qualify for these awards at the end of the season. But the NBA got what they wanted, a massive TV deal. Players got what they wanted, they're getting paid more money. So I think the rule actually worked and now it's time to fudge it. So you would a little bit Yeah, I think so.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay. What do you think?

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, well, I say it's false. I mean they started this at the beginning of the 2324 season. A year later they signed that 11 billion dollar broadcast deal. It worked perfectly and then they can do away with it after this season. And I think it's false because she, Gilles Alexander can still come back and win this MVP if he wants it, but he's still got plenty of games to play.

[Jay Skeets]

Plenty. I think six.

[Tas Melas]

He can still miss another six and qualify.

[Jay Skeets]

Jokic can only miss one more. He's right teetering right there.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, yeah. He's done all the talks about his horses and who he would sell that that's what's going to take over Jokic's last couple months of the season. Because it feels like he may not make it. But if she wants to, he can. The NBA teams like Trey was talking about have done a good job of being able to circumvent these requirements for injured players and say knee, ankle, because players are so banged up at every part of the season, they're just don't put it on the box score that he is resting for load management when essentially 82 games within the span of regular season is too tight. So oh yeah, he does have a knee issue. He does have an ankle issue. So that's what we'll list on the box score. We just won't load or excuse me, we won't list it as load management. So that's the way they get around it. But what do they do with the 65 game rule? Is it just a swipe it off the board and just go back to normal?

[Jay Skeets]

I think because availability was always an important part of production and whether you were warranting MVP votes from the media, who votes on this thing like it always was coming into play, like you had to do the whole thing, like okay, he missed 10 more games than this guy. Is that much of a difference maker in your opinion, to give it to one or the other? So you know, Eric Karine wrote if the rule is encouraged players to get on the floor more, it hasn't made a profound difference. I mean, like you were saying, tk, these guys have been injured. Now it feels as if the real impact might be to make sure the wrong people get some awards. And this gets some people pretty upset when you say the wrong people because let's talk this out for the sake of debate. SGA, Jokic, even Wembanyama, let's say they don't get to 65 games played all a Possibility we could end up with award results like MVP to Cade Cunningham, defensive player of the Year to Rudy Gobert, and a first team, all NBA, let's say, of Cade, maybe Luka Jaylen Brown, Donovan Mitchell and Anthony Edwards, something like that. Like, good. But you're like, I guess a year or two removed from this. We're like, what the hell happened that year? And like, maybe in the case some of These guys play 63, 64 games and you're like, what? So I don't know, it's. You can probably get rid of it as sort of my take on it. Like you guys said, the whole thing was about load management. It was a classic silver in the league. Sort of overreacting to the moment, wanting to get the television deal, like, oh, our guys will play. We'll force them, these big guys to play in these games that we're going to put a lot of money on. These games that you're going to buy from us now that we're there. I think we're completely fine. The media, we don't have votes in this thing, but I think most of them are fine. Debating whether or not, like, whatever the threshold is to you, like, I have something along the lines of like, yeah, you should probably play around 75% of the games. I think that's fair.

[Tas Melas]

So lower to 60.

[Jay Skeets]

I mean, yeah, I mean, sure, but yeah, yeah, but maybe just remove it completely and let these guys decide and women decide when they vote. Like, if people. Look, they, they tell us who votes for who now. So if somebody's like, no, that guy played 35 games and I believe he's still MVP. Well, it's public, so there's a bit of a shaming, I guess, if you want to call it that. If we feel like, what are you talking about? You gotta play more than that. So it's, it's out there in the public.

[Tas Melas]

To geek it out here, what are, what is the number when you see the races at the end of the year that a guy has to meet as far as games go, is it, you know, it's somewhere between 60 and 65. I mean, it is 65. Like, where is it? Because, yeah, it was implemented because it's a, it's a decent number. It's pretty close.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, it is.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. So it's not that bad when you look at it that way. But if all these all, if all these best players play literally 63 or 64, and I say best players as in Shay Jokic essentially and Wemby, I mean, that's what it comes down to. It's up to really Shay to make this about guys. Just make the story less about this new rule and just about the best players. If he plays 65 games, he ain't that far. As we've said. I think they do want to hold the number one seed and so I think he will come back and play. The spurs are just too close to them and I think they do want the first seed being that they won two game sevens last year in their barn. The spurs have only lost one more game than the OKC we saw OKC lose last night. I do think he wants to come back to keep all those things going for okc.

[Jay Skeets]

So one thing that is scary, the hypothetical is, and I guess you could debate, we've had guys try and get back before to make all NBA teams and stuff like that. Like a guy that is injured, that is legitimately injured on a good team, let's say, who have plans to go far in the playoffs, like tries to come back earlier than maybe he should to hit said quota to win awards or obviously get more money in contract situations. When you get into first team, all NBAs or all NBA teams, like, and then they get injured again, like, that's. That sucks. That's unfortunate. Now that's their decision as the player, as the team and all that. That's. That'll be like kiss of death for this rule then. I think it'd be gone immediately after that. But yeah. What's your opinion on the amount of games played if you had a vote for mvp? You know, like, I guess what we're getting at is like SGA and Jokic and Wemby on the defensive ends. Like those guys can play like 10 games less than most other guys in the league, if not everybody else. And their impact is more important.

[Trey Kirby]

Yes, it is. I don't like to see a 5 in the first digit. Okay, so 59 and under. To me, you're almost disqualified. And that's kind of like how MVP voting has worked. There's basically one real MVP who's played less than 60 games. It was Bill Walton. He was the best player in the league until he got hurt 2/3 of the way through the season.

[Jay Skeets]

Right.

[Trey Kirby]

Everything else has been like, you know, a Covid season or a strike season where they're under 60, that sort of stuff. So to me, like 60 is sort of the baseline. And I think that voters do factor it in. I know we do when you're looking at it at the end of the year. So if people are legitimately hurt. I don't think it should take them out of the awards race, but if they're healthy enough to play, they should play. But we saw Halliburton did it like to get all NBA. He came back, struggled through a hamstring injury, was playing like the bare minimum 20 minutes a game to get his numbers up so he could make all NBA and make a whole bunch more money. The incentives were there for it.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

I like seeing the best players on the court, but I also like seeing the best names rewarded at the end of the season.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, yeah. And like whether there's this rule or not with how many games you got to play, like let's say SGA hits 65, 66 games, like just gets over the quota. Like there will be a debate. I don't know how many games Kate has missed off the top of my head, but let's just say he played all 82 games. Right. And they had the number one seed. There's naturally going to be a debate between people with an actual vote and people without a vote like us, like, oh well, what, One guy played the whole league or the whole season and he have the number one seed? Yeah. But sga, like because of these numbers, because of the scoring, whatever he produces more like that's always gonna happen. And that's like fun. That's. That's part of the fun. Right. That we're inevitably gonna do at the end of the season. So yeah, it's just like, I don't know, we need this thing. Probably not anymore. Final one. This is interesting. Suns owner Matt Ishbia wants more star players participating in All Star weekend events when Phoenix hosts the mid season showcase next year. So to help, ISHPIA has offered to pay a million dollar prize to the winners in the 2027 dunk and three point contests with another million going to charity in each event. He said this on the Pat McAfee show and I saw windhorse reporting. Officials from the NBA League Office and Players Union told ESPN such a prize would not conform with the existing bonus structure. It's not like Ishba like consulted with the league when he said this to Pat.

[Trey Kirby]

So just riffing.

[Jay Skeets]

He's just riffing.

[Tas Melas]

But I had a floater over Taco Fall a couple weeks ago. I'm feeling.

[Jay Skeets]

He's feeling himself. Yeah. So true or false? Ishbia offering a million dollar to All Star contest winners will draw star players. Do you think it will work if he's allowed to?

[JD (Super Producer)]

Let's say.

[Tas Melas]

Well, it's true. But he's not going to be the one giving out a million dollars. It's going to be the league. The league has to run this thing right now. At this point where gambling is is such a discussion around the league in so many different ways. You can't just anoint Mattish, be the guy to hand out money. It just doesn't seem right. Doesn't work. The NBA can do it. There's plenty of millions to go around. I. But at the same time, we know money is definitely a motivator for players. So yes, this will work. We talked about it as an option.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, I. I was saying years ago, I thought Drake was. Should be the one to put the million dollars up for the dunk contest winner. Still shocked. He never still be him. Yeah, exactly. But what do you think, T.K.

[Trey Kirby]

no, I think this is great. I like Espia. He's like, yeah, I'll go out there and pick up a guy full court in the celebrity game. I'll give you a $2 Dasani water. I hate tanking. Yeah, it's because we traded all of our draft picks. But still, we should be trying to win. And now he's trying to get people into the dunk contest. This is really about the dunk contest. The stars show up for the three point contest, right? Maybe they can figure out a way to play to pay him. I do think this would help. I don't think it would make a difference for getting top stars there, but I think it would be good for rookie stars. Take two guys that we would like to see in the dunk contest. Anthony Edwards, Vijay Edgecombe. Anthony Edwards makes $45 million this year. Getting an extra million dollars would be a 2% raise.

[Tas Melas]

Right?

[Trey Kirby]

Nobody's sneezing at a million dollars, but come on, he ain't going to do it. Vijay Edgam makes $11 million this year. That's 9% of his salary. It would matter to him. And I think that that's really who you're targeting for the dunk contest is like the big up and coming rookies. These are the guys that do it it anyways. At least in the past. Like Blake Griffin was early in his career when he was in the dunk contest. Same with Zach Levine. Same with Michael Jordan. If you want to go all the way back there, it would matter to the younger players who are on their first contract to get that bump of money. And that probably draws them into the contest.

[Jay Skeets]

Fair enough.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah. I can't disagree.

[Jay Skeets]

But it can't come from Matt Ishbia.

[Trey Kirby]

It cannot come from Matt Ishbia, even

[Jay Skeets]

though he's putting on the event in Phoenix there. And part of why he's saying this,

[Tas Melas]

right, and he's yeah, feeling free and easy. He's on social media a lot as. As Trey said. He said, I hate tanking. Just letting it rip right now.

[Trey Kirby]

He is. All right, what did AJ Hawk have to say about this?

[Jay Skeets]

This. Go to my camera. And scene.

[Trey Kirby]

Very good.

[Jay Skeets]

That's all you see. And any clip from Pat McAfee Show.

[Trey Kirby]

He's just a supportive guy.

[Tas Melas]

Just nodding the split camera in the podcast era. Just look at your camera, man. Just look at it.

[Jay Skeets]

All right, that's true or false. Play along. Let's hear whether you guys were true or false on those three fun topics.

[Trey Kirby]

All right.

[Jay Skeets]

Well boy. Sponsored by No1. It's all right. I am told a Woah boy sponsor will be back tomorrow.

[Tas Melas]

Great.

[Jay Skeets]

We're just taking a date, everybody, to breathe a little bit here. So unsullied by sponsorship here today with. Whoa, boy. Couple nominees, Jalen Duran and Kade both had monster games for Detroit Black History Month. Jared Allen continued his run in February. Not many days left in February, but this guy's still ballin'. And the other Jalen Williams, the big Jalen Williams went for 30 points, double digit rebounds. Good game in a loss. But El Prin Shengoon recorded his 11th career triple double. Scored 26 points to go along with 13 boards, 11 assists. Shot 9 of 13 from the field, 7 of 8 from deep. Also game high three blocks and team high two steals. So he filled the box score there as they pummeled the Kings.

[Trey Kirby]

This is a rum pum pummeling here though.

[Jay Skeets]

You know, I said he had a triple double. I was a little disappointed that the. What did Katie's burner account call Westbrook? Cocaine bear.

[Trey Kirby]

Cocaine, triple double bear.

[Jay Skeets]

Triple double, whatever. He didn't get one. I mean he went. He was. Westbrook was going for it. I think though he was shooting a lot. He's like, might as well get mine.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, sure.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

Did anybody ever watch that movie Cocaine Bear?

[Jay Skeets]

Oh yeah. I didn't watch Cocaine. I think I did. Hold on.

[Trey Kirby]

Now I'm thinking, what's it about?

[Jay Skeets]

No, I didn't. I'm thinking of the one, the documentary with the bear that the guy gets

[Trey Kirby]

eaten by the grizzly man.

[Jay Skeets]

That's a great movie.

[Trey Kirby]

That's a great movie.

[Jay Skeets]

Spoiler. He gets eaten off camera.

[Trey Kirby]

You think it was real?

[Jay Skeets]

What do you mean? Hold on.

[Trey Kirby]

He gets eaten off camera?

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, yeah, yeah. He doesn't know where the bear's gonna eat him.

[Trey Kirby]

I'm gonna do my. My Grizzly man impersonation.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

No, I haven't seen Cocaine Bear.

[Tas Melas]

Sorry. No, I haven't either.

[Trey Kirby]

Just wanted this weekend.

[Tas Melas]

Well, speaking of movies where things may or may not happen on camera. The Nirvana movie. J.D. have you seen.

[Jay Skeets]

No, I want to see it.

[Tas Melas]

I want to see it, too.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, you better hurry up.

[Jay Skeets]

What's the question?

[JD (Super Producer)]

What's the question? Have I seen it?

[Tas Melas]

No, the. The CN Tower where they.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, you're saying too much.

[JD (Super Producer)]

You're saying too much.

[Tas Melas]

Well, no, the trailer shows it. The trailer.

[Jay Skeets]

I haven't watched the trailer.

[Tas Melas]

Okay, well, people fall off the CN Tower, jump off the CN Tower.

[Jay Skeets]

Okay.

[Tas Melas]

I think I do.

[Trey Kirby]

See.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah, but do they actually. Do they parachute off? Okay, whatever. We'll find out. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, the trailer doesn't show you. Right. They just show parachute. They're supposed to jump in the Sky Dome. But did it really happen? What really happened?

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, my God. Stop.

[Tas Melas]

Jump directly into the Rogers Center.

[Jay Skeets]

I know.

[Tas Melas]

They cut the harness and just hop on in.

[Trey Kirby]

You gotta go. You gotta go in theater. It may not release at home.

[JD (Super Producer)]

You're right.

[Trey Kirby]

You gotta.

[Jay Skeets]

I'm going. I am going.

[Trey Kirby]

I'm going.

[JD (Super Producer)]

They've already changed. He's a mess. The director is like, saying he's changing something for the home release.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, my goodness.

[Tas Melas]

They're changing stuff. You can't do that.

[Trey Kirby]

It's a great movie.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Yes.

[Trey Kirby]

You get many laughs.

[Tas Melas]

Well, you can do a pre buy right now for 1999. What does a pre buy mean?

[JD (Super Producer)]

You literally buy the. You buy the movie and then when it's ready, it comes out. But it will have been altered. Maybe.

[Tas Melas]

Well, it's.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Maybe they're just saying that. Maybe Matt's just saying that's smart theater. That's very smart.

[Jay Skeets]

I'm going. It's going to work. I mean, no, you guys saying it was one of the best movies you've seen in a long time is what got me to go see it. I was supposed to. Things happen. Whatever. I'm going this weekend.

[Tas Melas]

Nice.

[Jay Skeets]

Tonight's pickup.

[Tas Melas]

Big game.

[Jay Skeets]

I got a huge victory last night with the Nuggets covering against the Celtics. Thank you. Altitude. So I'm up one game. I'm eight and six. You guys are seven and seven. We're running out of days here in February, So this is a big game tonight.

[Tas Melas]

Test your Orlando Magic are hosting the Houston Rockets, two and a half point underdogs at home. So if you're taking Orlando, like Trey and I, you get those two little extra points. They seem to be playing extremely close games. That's what's happening. They lose. It's just by a point or two. The Rockets gotta win by three or more. And you're taking the Rockets, Skeets.

[Jay Skeets]

Well, yeah, I was forced to to. But that's okay. I'm fine with that pick. But I was. Yes, I was. There was two Orlando's in the dark.

[Tas Melas]

No, no, no, no.

[Jay Skeets]

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

[Tas Melas]

Okay, well. Well, this is the stupid thing that we've got going on.

[Jay Skeets]

No, no, I want to bring this up because I'm surprised that you guys didn't split, so to speak, on this game. I was a little shocked by it. I was like, oh, interesting. Because I was like, oh, I'm. I'm set now because one of you are gonna take Houston. What are you gonna take Orlando? I'll probably be in the clear. But then I saw a of bunch their lay. I was like, okay, interesting.

[Tas Melas]

I'm doing.

[Jay Skeets]

Are they colluding?

[Tas Melas]

No, I'm doing this for the Friday standings. If and when Trey and I win tonight, we're going to be all tied up at 8, 7, 1 game remaining.

[Jay Skeets]

Rockets are going to come do something

[Tas Melas]

stupid in a few days where we have to pay off our pick them. Yeah, that's.

[Jay Skeets]

Somebody suggested a decent one. I thought again because of. Inspired by Jacob. Toby. How about smelling salts? It's not bad.

[Trey Kirby]

That's fun. Fun. That's funny.

[Jay Skeets]

I mean it's a sort of.

[Trey Kirby]

Something might pass out.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, it's like. Well, I hadn't thought about that. But it's sort of like.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Yeah, but they won't have the smelling salts to bring you back.

[Jay Skeets]

I don't know. It's like it's quick and easy. Like it's sort of over in a hurry. Right. It's not like you can keep doing it. I don't think you should.

[Trey Kirby]

It's a one time.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, but very funny.

[Trey Kirby]

Very funny.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

So it's a different type of pick and payoff. That would be like, like quick clip that we can send around.

[Jay Skeets]

I think it's good.

[Tas Melas]

I think it is good.

[Jay Skeets]

So does anybody have a smelling salts hookup?

[Trey Kirby]

Can you just get them?

[Jay Skeets]

I don't know.

[Trey Kirby]

How do you get smelling salts?

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah, how do you buy them? Oh, I saw this clip. I meant to share with you guys. I obviously did the pig costume, the inflatable pig costume. When we were getting excited for the slop around the trade deadline, we had a lot of Fun with that one. That was my pick and payoff for losing last month. It came in my algorithm. People in those big inflatable costumes and they're run by like a fan, Right? Like a battery operated fan to obviously keep them inflated. People would take like liquid fart. Liquid fart. And put it up to the fan. And so then it like goes completely in the thing. And you can't get out of those things in a hurry. And it is so funny. And I was like, thank God you guys hadn't seen that clip before I put it.

[Trey Kirby]

That's an awesome Halloween prank. There's a lot of inflatable costumes out there.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

I just go around and just nail people with.

[Trey Kirby]

Sorry.

[Tas Melas]

But the fan is. It's inside, obviously.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tas Melas]

So you literally have to pour it in there.

[Jay Skeets]

No, it's just like you just spread.

[JD (Super Producer)]

It's a spritz. Like you.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

And it just must go. Like people react immediately when they do it because it just fills. Obviously the thing. Because it's obviously keeping it blown up that way.

[JD (Super Producer)]

It's an intense reaction as well. Like, I've never smelt it before, but I think it literally. People are dry heaving.

[Jay Skeets]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. People are like. I saw one guy just straight up rip the suit to get out, like.

[JD (Super Producer)]

Yeah.

[Jay Skeets]

So anyway.

[Trey Kirby]

Liquid fart. As if that's a real problem.

[Jay Skeets]

I'm just saying. I guess we could run back that pick and pay off and add the layer of Fart chamber. Yeah. Fart chamber.

[Tas Melas]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, I like that as well. Different kind of smelling.

[JD (Super Producer)]

I once saw a guy do it in his grandma's oxygen machine.

[Tas Melas]

Oh, you can't play like that, man.

[Trey Kirby]

Wow.

[JD (Super Producer)]

It was a real. I don't know, but she reacted quite violently.

[Trey Kirby]

Wow.

[Jay Skeets]

You can't do that to grandma.

[JD (Super Producer)]

I know.

[Jay Skeets]

That is dangerous.

[Tas Melas]

Not something you can just buy online without a prescription. Come on, dude.

[Jay Skeets]

I got the Rockets by three and you guys got the Magic. You got some points to play with. They're dogs at home. All right.

[Trey Kirby]

That's a big strategist, not a shot caller. Color.

[Jay Skeets]

Yeah. So if I cover tonight, I'm in the clear. And then you guys will have to. Obviously I'll make. I'll pick the game tomorrow night. But anyway, I'm getting ahead.

[Tas Melas]

This is the first game for the Magic after a four game trip. I never like taking that first home game. I don't like it.

[Trey Kirby]

I got burned on a back to back last night. I'm feeling some type of way as well.

[Jay Skeets]

The Rockets are playing back.

[Tas Melas]

It'll just be me and you.

[Trey Kirby]

Tomorrow could just be me and you.

[Jay Skeets]

Me or Houston to Orlando. It's got to be a bit of a slight, doesn't it? But they barely had to play last night.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, it was a blowout. It was a blowout.

[Jay Skeets]

All right, that's enough rambling. If you are a fan of Survivor, come on over to no buffs today at 1:00pm Eastern. Yes, Survivor 50 premiered last night. This thing was three hours long.

[Trey Kirby]

Too short.

[Jay Skeets]

Well, I mean, it was awesome. It was awesome. But obviously trying to do the show here. Raptors are playing the Spurs. I was up late last night, but yeah, it was a fun episode. 24 people returning to the game. So we're gonna break it down at 1pm Eastern. Like only no bus can trade JD, Nora and myself. So no bus has its own YouTube feed, its own podcast feed. So please go subscribe. Perfect time to get in, everybody. So talking Survivor here today at 1. And then tomorrow we'll wrap up Traders Season 4 of the US edition because that's finale. Is that tonight? So otherwise, back tomorrow with the drop podcast worst of the week nominees and we'll find out who wins this big Rockets magic game. So we'll see you then. Clipper Bros. You heard it here first.

[Trey Kirby]

Have a great time. Turn up.

[Jay Skeets]

Love you guys.

[Trey Kirby]

Awesome.

[Tas Melas]

Thanks for joining us. And remember, we read every one of your comments on every podcast platform.

[Jay Skeets]

I was dropping emojis on Spotify yesterday.

[Tas Melas]

Thank you.

[Jay Skeets]

You're welcome. This is an I heart podcast.

[Tas Melas]

Guaranteed human.