C (1:49)

Okay. Yeah.

B (1:50)

Bang, bang, bang. All right, so best of three in the World Series. That's exciting, especially for us Jays fans. But we got some NBA basketball to talk about today. We'll touch on some of the games and a little bit later we'll discuss some early season surprises. A couple of things that have jumped out after a week or so of basketball. But let's start with Giannis scoring 37, TK and Rollins adding 25 as the Bucks beat the Knicks 121. 111. And I say that a little surprised because if you saw the first half looked like the Knicks were going to run away with this, I thought they were playing much, much better. Definitely thought they were just going to destroy them in the second half. But Giannis and crew got back into it and win comfortably in the end.

C (2:26)

Would you Call it a tale of two halves, probably. I absolutely would. Especially for the knicks on offense. First half, 15 assists on 25 makes they had nine threes. Second half, nine assists on 14 makes, only four three pointers. The ball just stopped moving. They looked like last season's Knicks. We'll get into the reasons they fell apart a little bit later. But for the Bucks, nobody locks in harder than Giannis after the half. 23 points, six rebounds, six assists, a steal and two blocks, that's an entire game. And he did that in the second half. Just completely took over. Bucks were down two with six minutes left. Giannis scored 11, had three boards, two assists, a steal and a block. Turned a two point game into a 10 point lead and a 10 point win for the Bucks. Giannis looks great. He should be getting MVP votes at the least. He's like gonna finish number three like he always does, but he's been good with Miles Turner, but he is destroying teams when he's playing as the only big man out there. Giannis at the five minutes are a plus 20 points per 100 possessions. It's only 22 minutes so far, only five minutes per game. But when they go ball handlers and shooters out there with Giannis, there is just so much space for him and if he gets a tiny bit of room, he's going to dunk it. Like, you know, Wemby is the guy right now who, as you can't believe some of the dunks he does, you don't think he's going to be able to get the ball to the rim. Giannis is the guy who was doing that before Wemby ever came to the league. And it's the same sort of thing. He takes a ton of steps in between his dribbles, but the ball is just hanging there in his gather, spinning and spinning. So you can't start counting the steps until it's done. And as soon as it's done, I'm putting one down left handed. I'm putting one down right handed. He's an MVP level player. He gets better every single year. I feel like an absolute clown for taking the Bucks under. They look awesome right now.

A (4:13)

Oh, I went and checked. After this victory, this impressive victory beating the Knicks, if all of us took the Bucks over, I thought, I thought we all did. After looking maybe the. I got a pre edit edition of the graphic because I saw we were all over but maybe needed to be corrected. This was, yeah, very impressive. I thought the fight level of the Milwaukee Bucks in that second half was super Impressive the way they were banging bodies against Carl Anthony town. So he had an inefficient night. Kyle Kuzma out there, you could hear the meat. Body to body. Ryan Rollins was super duper impressive offensive end. You mentioned the career high of 25, but I thought he created a couple of really key turnovers in the middle of the fourth quarter. He was awesome. The Milwaukee Bucks are literally playing 10 guys, 15 or more minutes in this particular game. We're all surprised by that. And I'm sure that's why you in part took them under, because we just didn't think they had enough guys out there to play. But you could see Doc Rivers is trying to do what OKC does, everybody trying to emulate them. We're going to play as many guys as possible, and they produced in this instance. Giannis is obviously the key. Even though Ron said 25, they only had one other guy in double digits with 11 for Gary Trent. Giannis has to be super duper impressive. And yeah, he was. He was into it. He knew it was an NBC game, I think. Or just in part. Just in part, you could see him saying, this is my city. He did the, the spin move to the bucket and then did the, the double spin afterwards. He was just joking around. I mean, I think he's got some great Greek dance moves. At least that's, that's what I think when I see that move. The Zabeckico dance is the best Greek dance. I think he's got it in him for sure.

C (5:55)

But Giannis is a good dancer. I bet he's not too big. He doesn't have wiggle, he has force, he has strength. He does have side to side movement. But I bet he's not a good dancer.

A (6:07)

I hear what you're saying.

C (6:07)

No offense.

B (6:09)

I'm not sure.

C (6:09)

Great basketball player. Don't think he can dance. Let us know on the Stream team.

B (6:13)

Get the poll going.

A (6:16)

I think he's got the spin moves and he obviously can, yeah, push.

B (6:19)

I think he's a good dancer for a giant guy, let me put it that way, because I'm with you generally. Huge dudes, you know, there's a lot of limbs to try and coordinate, but I think he's not bad on the spectrum of giant dancers.

C (6:31)

Well, okay, yeah, definitely. He's one of the most coordinated men on earth. Yeah, there's no doubt about that. But if he's just out there on the dance floor at a wedding, spinning and spinning and spinning, you're leaving the dance floor, you don't want to get hit.

A (6:42)

I will say this about Ganis, not his dancing, his MVP status. The guy is shooting basically 70% from the. From the floor. Like, that's seven in ten buckets. Every seven. Every ten buckets. Seven buckets. He will score, no problem. That is ridiculous. He's averaging only 33 minutes played, surprisingly, and he's not playing a ton. But when he's out there, he shoots a lot. You know, averaging 14 field goals made per game, leading the league in that. Because that's what he does. The question is, is this sustainable for the Milwaukee Bucks the entire season? I think that's fair enough.

B (7:19)

And that's why Trey, I remember, did take the under. Because you brought it up a couple times when we talked about Milwaukee in the preseason. It's like, he's likely. Giannis is likely going to miss, I don't know, 15 to 20 ish games because he's asked to do so much. And what happens to Milwaukee when that inevitably happens? That's always a big talking point. I remember where you were like, I don't know what happens. They might go, you know, 3 and 17 in said games. If he misses that chunk of time.

A (7:43)

Yeah. Does Miles Turner. And the fact that him taking big bodies beside him a ton because he's playing a good amount of minutes out there, even if he didn't have a good offensive game, does that help his efficiency? Does it help the durability of Giannis De Kupo if he. If he plays? So far, yeah. So, so good. Their only loss this season. They are all. We're also missing a bunch of guys. Kuzma was out and a couple of their guards were out. Camporter Jr. Who missed this game, too, and Colante in this one. So, yeah, the. The overlook's easy right now when they're. When they're schooling the three and three and one right now. But, yeah, how many games does Giannis miss?

B (8:22)

This is a very, very good start for Bucs fans, though. Like, obviously, Giannis is putting up MVP numbers. He's even reassuring Bucks fans that he's more interested in beating New York than joining New York. That was a talking port after talking point after this game. And I, you know, you got Cole Anthony back. You got Kuzma back last night. Guess Kevin Porter Jr. Is going to be out for a little bit, is what Doc Rivers is saying. They're, like, really taking their time as he recovers from a left ankle sprain. But I loved the defensive effort of. I guess it was Miles Turner, Bobby Portis and, yep, a little Kyle Kuzma on slowing Carl Anthony towns last night. Two at 12 for cat. Eight points. That's it. Oh, for three from deep. Not even a lot of attempts. His two lay, his two baskets were. One was a layup where he did sort of blow by Kuzma, and the other one was like one of those fluky plays where, like the ball sort of spit out right to him for an easy dunk underneath. That was it for Cat. So good job. Great job defensively as a team. Taking him out because Brunson was getting his, though. Then he got hobbled in the fourth quarter, sort of gutted it out. He returned like that. Looked like a bad hamstring injury or something there. I don't know what will be the verdict on him in the coming days, but I just couldn't believe they got back in this game and won it because it looked like they were dead in the water through 24 minutes.

C (9:35)

Yeah, I mean, they got Giannis. The bench was basically all negatives. If you look at their on off splits when Giannis doesn't play, they're a bottom five offense. The defense has been holding up even when Giannis is off the. He is by far their engine. So it's just a matter of how long can this guy do every single thing on the court before needing to take a little break, picking up a little injury here and there. That's why I was down on the Bucks having Giannis. If. If you tell Me Giannis plays 82 games, they're going to win probably 50 games. Yeah, he's unstoppable. On the other side of things, Towns is struggling with this new offense. He's been under 20 points in a game in three of their four games this season. Last year, he was under 20 in only a third of the games for the Knicks. He's career low in attempts per 36. His usage rate is right near his career lows. His field goal percentage, his three point percentage, those are career lows. He doesn't seem to be knowing how to fit in in a more egalitarian offense. I think that will come around. You know, we're still only four games into the season. Give it 20 games for the Knicks to actually figure out the way their offense fits together, but definitely a bad start for him. He seems to be the guy who's having the most trouble adjusting.

A (10:39)

Agreed. Yeah, he's the one who's off a little bit. I think we're talking about this totally different. If they just come through with a few buckets down in the fourth quarter, Because Jalen Brunson was definitely injured. He's hobbling around. You can see it easily. He powered through, but he wasn't entirely right. And Ryan Rollins did a really good job of getting into him. But this offense is a little bit more fun to watch, I would say. They're passing more, they're relocating more, they're setting off ball screens more. It's way more fun. But Brunson was hurt. Josh Hart definitely does not look right either. He's one of nine through from three so far in the season. He's playing through it right now, but he doesn't look all that right. Mitchell Robinson hasn't played a game yet.

B (11:18)

What a shock.

A (11:19)

Yeah. You call it your.

B (11:21)

It's amazing. It's like, yeah, I didn't even know he was injured to start the season. I got to be completely honest. What?

A (11:27)

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Because you think. You think he would help out. Karl Anthony Towns playing next to him and not offensively, but defensively. And Miles McBride didn't ALS also didn't play in this game, so they're missing guys, that's for sure.

B (11:41)

Yeah. The warriors crushed the Clippers. Just stifling defensive effort. A very low scoring game here, especially early in this season where we've seen some crazy scoring performances both individually and from teams. But the warriors win. They controlled the game. TK about midway through the third quarter and ran up the score. And the warriors look awesome. Clippers are like one of these weird, like, Jekyll and Hyde teams.

C (12:05)

They look garbage. Thanky Stanks.

B (12:08)

Yeah. Opening night against the Jazz and now this one. And then had some quality wins, but. Yeah. Where do you want to start in this game?

C (12:13)

First game, Both teams scored under 100 in the NBA this season.

B (12:16)

Oh, is it that? Okay?

C (12:17)

Yeah. I mean, obviously the first game that a team has scored under 80 looks like two different sports out there. The way Golden State plays. Ball movement, player movement, assists, chaos. When things get tough, they go to Jimmy Butler and he settles things down. I think he got maybe a little lucky there in the third quarter, hitting a couple of threes and some tough shots, but that's a nice change up for them to have after years of kind of just being Steph. Can you carry us? To go to somebody that can steady them is really huge for them. On the other side, the Clippers look so slow. They only play isoball. 10 assists last night for the entire game. That is a ridiculously low number. James Harden can have 10 assists in a game, but it feels like Ty Lue is kind of Searching out the right lineups to play. We talked so much during the preseason about the versatility they're going to have. Bradley Beal has been out for a couple of games. They've started Bogdanovic. He looks pretty bad to start the season here. He's been very up and down over the course of his career. I think it's going to take time for the Clippers to figure out who are the right combinations here, how we can get enough shooting on the floor, how we can get enough playmaking on the floor. Because right now it looks like 10 guys who don't really know each other at all. Your turn. My turn. How do they find any sort of synergy? Ty Lue is basically a 50 game winning coach every single season. So I have confidence that they'll figure it out in the middle of the season. That's kind of how things have gone for the Clippers. You know, every January we're talking about should we take the Clippers seriously? I imagine it'll be the same thing once things come around. But to start the season pretty ugly.

A (13:49)

Very ugly. Super ugly. That second half was. Now the warriors were getting up into space and creating some turnovers. The Clippers turned over five times in that third quarter. But Tyloo needs some better play from guards. Bogdan Magdanovich literally yanked in this game, played nine minutes. No, we can't play you anymore. It's unplayable. Chris Paul has not looked like himself at all in this season. He's averaging about 15 minutes play. Just super quiet in comparison to what he did for the San Antonio spurs last year when he was starting beside Wemby. He was really good. So what Tyloo is going to have to do is yank somebody from this rotation. They've got 11 guys who are part of this rotation. Their average age is 33. Those 11 rotation type of guys. So I'm just, you know, I'm including the age because it just feels like there's. There's no way. I mean there's. And there's too many guys. So I don't know who it is. Obviously you mentioned Beal hasn't. He's only played in half their games. But Chris Dunn couldn't do it. I mean he just had trouble passing the ball in this game. He just did not look right. So the warriors fight level themselves was fantastic and they just, they just took it away from this team that couldn't do it themselves. Like Curry was great. He was D up. Harden made a great turnover from 30ft from the basket. In that third quarter, while literally, they almost didn't have to score in the fourth quarter. That's how bad the offense was.

C (15:16)

They literally.

A (15:17)

They're literally destroying this team. Yeah, they looked. They looked old. Unfortunately, they're 29th in pace. Um, I say that, but I know Ty lose. You're right.

B (15:27)

He is going to still have faith in them. Yeah.

A (15:29)

Yeah. Which is. Hey, old guy, you're out. I don't know if it's Chris Paul, but it's somebody that literally.

B (15:34)

Hey, old guy, you're out. Old guy, you're in. Hey, old guy. Get out of here, old guy. You play. Yeah, yeah, there they are, an old squad. But they're just. Yeah, it's just the strange part is, I mean, I slipped it in the other day was like Kawhi had that awesome game where we were like, oh, yeah, wow. Kawhi looked really good there. And then you have these stinkers and they got a couple of those. Couple of good performances. I'm with you. I agree with you guys. Even as much I hate the Clippers. There'll be a stretch here where they rip off 10 of 11 wins and they'll be the talk of the town and everybody will be like, oh, I don't know, might be the Clippers year to go really far. It won't be, but we will try and convince themselves. As for The warriors, they're 4 and 1 after facing a pretty tough first. Five early wins over the Clippers, the Lakers, the Nuggets and the Grizzlies. I mean, all four of those were top, what, eight teams last year. They had a weird loss to the Portland Trailblazers. Gut smoked people are a bit of a schedule loss. I think they were coming off an overtime game and all of that, but. And the Blazers might be actually good, but great start. And the warriors just make already a convoluted Western Conference, you know, even messier in a way, if they're going to be this good. But they remind me a little bit of the Bucks, like you just said, you know, if Giannis plays, they're a 50 win team. That's sort of the same thing here with these guys. Like if Curry and Jimmy and I mean Draymond to a lesser extent. But if those two guys, the first guys play, they're a 50 win team. They're good, they're really good. But when will they miss time or when will they even get them rest? Then again, these other guys are contributing, which is nice to see.

A (16:58)

Oh, yeah.

B (16:59)

All down the line. And we'll get to Kaminga a little bit later in the show because he's one of the early season surprises.

A (17:03)

Yeah, Steph, super quiet game. Back to back games. He had 19 yesterday, 16 the game before that. Still, W's so guys producing around him.

C (17:12)

Who's the DE? Anthony Melton of this warriors team because they started hot last year too.

B (17:16)

Yeah, they did. They did.

A (17:18)

Yeah.

B (17:18)

What a year. Weird year for them when you think like they were super hot, then they were garbage. Then they get Jimmy and they're really good again and then they get, you know, the first round series win. I don't know. Is it, Is it. Well, Will Richard or Maybe Gary Payton II's been solid.

C (17:31)

Pods has been really good. Came off the bench last night. Quentin Post was really good. Maybe Moses Moody is the new d' Anthony Melton. He's having to kind of. It's been literally five games, but he's had a great stretch of five games.

B (17:44)

Has he been played in all stretches?

C (17:46)

No, he hasn't, but I think he's been really good. They're actually getting good performances from the next generation of the warriors pods. Moody and Kaminga are all playing really solid to start the year. Combo Melton.

A (17:59)

Yeah. Kuminga just staying in his role. Not trying to just dribble, dribble, dribble. Just doing his thing of cutting and getting his opportunities. Even if he didn't have an efficient night. That's just important that he's doing his thing and not taking the air out of the ball and taking the life out of this warriors team that. Yeah, they were. It is surprising to look back at that warriors team when d' Anthony Melty was cooking that first month. They're literally the number one seed. They're 12 and three is what they started. So it's not surprising to see them start pretty well here.

B (18:29)

It was a bit of a cupcake schedule if I remember correctly though, was it not last year?

C (18:34)

No idea.

B (18:34)

Like this is. Not that I would say they're playing good teams here. Anyway, what'd you guys think of the 11:15 start for us? East Coast Tesla, 11:30 start.

C (18:42)

And you got to open a new app.

A (18:44)

Yeah.

B (18:44)

Because. Yeah, the first one here, at least for us in Atlanta, we got Bucks, Knicks, that's on NBC, the actual NBC channel. But then this coast to coast thing that they told us was going to happen is the second game, that west coast game. It's only on Peacock for us. I believe it's on actual NBC out there.

A (19:03)

It is, yeah.

B (19:04)

But very late start.

C (19:06)

Way too late.

A (19:09)

I Ain't doing that.

B (19:10)

That's a morning.

A (19:11)

It's a morning. It's a morning watch.

B (19:12)

Yeah, yeah.

A (19:13)

That's stupid late. I literally thought because the Dodgers are playing a home game, maybe they just want LA watching baseball as much as possible.

B (19:23)

That's what the Raptors are doing right now. They're playing. They're starting their games earlier. They start again tonight at 6:30 because of the Jays play again.

A (19:30)

And then when the game's over you just stay in the arena and watch it on the big Jumbotron.

B (19:34)

That's right.

A (19:35)

Because they're playing in la.

C (19:35)

We weren't helped by it being a snooze of a broadcast and a snooze of a first half.

B (19:39)

Oh yeah, yeah.

C (19:41)

That's all I could take.

A (19:42)

Oh, there's no way you could stay up through this game. The second half got worse.

B (19:46)

I'm a generally, I'm a first half man with these west coast games of importance. Yeah, you know, you know, once you get to the playoffs that's a whole different thing. But yeah, watch the first half, then go to bed. Catch the second half early in the morning. But you're not wrong. It was boring.

C (20:00)

It was very boring.

B (20:01)

The eyelids were heavy. I had a little bit of nyquil.

C (20:03)

Running through my body, cranking through the cysts. If we would have been talking about NBC's presentation today instead of after last week, it would not get as high marks. Let's just say that.

B (20:15)

Oh, okay.

C (20:15)

It was not as good last night.

B (20:18)

You mean in terms of the call of the game? Okay, okay, okay.

C (20:21)

They did do the starting lineups though.

A (20:23)

Yeah, yeah. That's sensational.

C (20:25)

Finally got to see the warriors starting lineups. They didn't get extended too late once again.

A (20:30)

Yeah, they're still making it a show. They're still making it a thing.

B (20:33)

Did we even got Bob started jumping? We got Bob Costas setting up both the games. Yeah, that was like out of nowhere. We weren't told that was happening.

C (20:40)

Oh yes. That was fun.

A (20:41)

It feels like an event for sure. Did you manage to open the app? Feels like you're having struggle struggling to open the app.

C (20:46)

I'm smooth with the apps but like look, it's nice when I'm watching on YouTube TV. I can have the multi view. I got the World Series on one. I got Bucks Nicks on the other. Flip flop, flip flop. There's reviews in both sports now all the time. So it's great to be able to watch two separate things. But then I got to close it out and go to the peacock. It sucks hoops to jump through to watch Our favorite sport here.

B (21:06)

Pun intended.

A (21:07)

Yeah, I think kids figure it out, though. Maybe this us figured it out.

C (21:12)

Kids don't. Pain in the ass.

B (21:13)

Yeah.

A (21:13)

Yeah, they do.

C (21:14)

No, they don't. Name one.

A (21:16)

They know how. Name one game that they've watched.

C (21:18)

Name one kid that watches full games.

B (21:21)

Name a kid.

A (21:22)

There are kids that don't watch cable coverage anymore that don't have cable boxes. They understand how to work things with the remotes. This whole app thing. They figured it out. I hook up my monitor to my desk. My. My computer. Boop, boop. I'm watching on both. Boom, bang, boom, bang, bang, boom, bang.

B (21:38)

You're not watching main TV then, is what you're saying.

A (21:41)

What do you mean I'm not watching on TV? Well, this TV. And your monitor is big enough.

B (21:45)

Oh, your monitor's 20 enough?

A (21:47)

It's 22. How big do you need your monster to be? You need a monster. Wow. I.

C (21:53)

Can you even read the player jersey numbers on a screen that small?

B (21:59)

Sticking.

A (22:00)

I hear the audio better too. It's great. You should get up close to your tv. You hear so many things.

B (22:05)

You're watching games. You're just like in the. In the monitor. Sticking with NBC for a second. We will get to the other games from last night later on in this show when we talk about early season surprises. But Michael Jordan addressed the topic of NBA players missing games in the second installment of MJ Insights to Excellence which aired last night between the games. This was not a halftime thing. So it was actually between the two games. Asked by Mike Tirico in his own house there what he thought of the notion of load management. Jordan didn't hold back. He said, quote, well, it shouldn't be needed. First and foremost, you know, I never wanted to miss a game because it was an opportunity to prove. And then went on to say a lot more about load management. Got some stories as well. You know, it's another three to five minute clip here. What'd you think of this one? TK and MJ's thoughts on load management.

C (23:01)

Heard it all before.

B (23:02)

Yeah.

C (23:03)

Could have predicted the exact words he was going to say. It's my opportunity to show up for that one guy who only gets to see me play once. He said it for 30 straight years. A Pistons fan. There was a new wrinkle, though. This was the first time I think he said it wasn't just about showing up for the fans. It was about proving that guy wrong. Which felt way more real to Michael Jordan than just saying, yeah, I like to put on a show. But undeniably the guy played a ton of games. They said, what? Yeah, that is pretty incredible. So I did like that he threw in the wrinkle about, yeah, it is a little bit spiteful of me to want to go out there and rub it in the face of whoever is cheering against me, even though the opponent's fans are cheering for Michael Jordan as well. The other funny part I thought was when he was talking about the structure of a day. You play basketball in a game for three hours, you use the other 21 hours to get ready for the game. And then he's like, though I wasn't necessarily a guy who was using all those 21 hours. And Tariko's like, you were. You weren't doing that all the time, were you, Michael? He's like, you're right, you're right. But I'm Michael Jordan. I don't need all 21 hours. Some of these fools do. So I never slept.

B (24:17)

I just smoked cigars and played golf and gambled. That's what got me through 21 hours. Yeah. Yeah.

A (24:22)

Would Michael Jordan play that many games in today's era where you get paid a bajillion dollars and things are very different either way. I was surprised that initially, as Tariko is asking the question, Michael goes, I knew you were going to ask me about that.

B (24:39)

So they didn't run the questions by.

A (24:42)

Exactly. That's what I. They didn't do a pre interview of this. They didn't say, hey, we're asking you about this at all.

B (24:47)

So no, didn't need to. Because he probably has final say on the clips if he really wants.

A (24:52)

Yeah, but he probably. He also doesn't want to be asked questions. He doesn't want to be asked either way doing that. No, they're going to cut out the stuff he doesn't want. There's no doubt about that. But that's why this is fine. It's Michael Jordan so he can say what he wants. He's a freaking God.

B (25:07)

Yeah.

A (25:07)

And so he. And so getting Michael Jordan's name included in the NBC broadcast, included it in all the press releases. Oh, he's going to be part of the broadcast. That's the win. Does it really matter what. What he says here? It is pretty meh. I mean, it's all sort of okay. He said that these clips are not going to do all that well online. It's just like Trey said.

B (25:28)

He's been saying this forever. There was nothing I thought he Added one thing that I also thought was new in this whole idea of load management. He said right at the end he sort of summed up on why he tried to play all the time. Yeah, it was to respect the fans. Right. Put on the show again, heard it for 30 years. The other one was making sure he stayed sharp, which I thought was cool, like physically and mentally. But the third one I don't ever remember him saying and I think it's such an awesome point. He said, I want our rhythm as a team to always be there. It can disrupt that energy or excuse me, that synergy when maybe a star player like himself is in for a couple games and out for a couple games and all that. I was like, oh yeah, I've never really heard anyone sort of make that point about the idea of load management. Always on the focus of like obviously staying healthy and the science says this and all that. But it's like that can disrupt a team when you think about it. So I thought that was cool.

A (26:20)

It's true. Right? I will say the. I wonder how the league office thinks about all this talk about load management. I think they'd rather just not hear about it. Just stop talking about it. And I will say that when guys do sit, as far as camaraderie goes and, and getting their, their needed rest, it's sort of January, February, March, the games after they've got enough camaraderie. I feel like. Right. You guys aren't sitting now until they've got a good 20 game groove going. So yeah, I think the NBA just like I've. Please, please, Mike Tirico, stop asking about load.

B (26:58)

Honestly right now they must be loving it. Please talk about load management and not illegal gambling activities and potential cap circumvention.

A (27:08)

And stuff like that. Yeah, maybe right now MJ was not addressing that. He would never be asked about.

B (27:13)

We'll get that in week eight.

A (27:14)

No way.

B (27:16)

MJ did say, quote, now physically if I can't do it, then I can't do it. But if physically I can do it and I just don't feel like doing it, that's a whole different lens. And I bring that up because I don't know if you guys caught Vince T. Mac and Carmelo Anthony on the. On the studio team on the desk. Thank you. Talking about this clip, you know, they addressed it as well that was a little more enlightening in a weird way because it was like these guys did. They were sort of the bridge between when everybody tried to play and you sucked it up. Maybe you fought through injury and then started to come in with the science of everything. And, like, maybe you should sit games for the longevity of your career. Like, T Mac was basically saying, I.

C (27:56)

Wish I had load management.

B (27:57)

I wish I did load management. When I was carrying that load with the Orlando Magic, he said specifically, like, six to seven years. Thought that was interesting.

C (28:04)

He's the best of the three. Like, I think sort of says it. He's being honest about the way he approached things. And I did like that he took it some type of way. When Maria Taylor goes, he's like, Vince, you played 80 plus games, what, two times. Melo, you did it two times. TMac, you never did. He's like, hey, why'd you have to say it like that?

B (28:22)

Yeah, I think he was really feeling.

C (28:25)

Some type of way when she said that, but I thought that was pretty funny. But, yeah, TMac is good. TMac is good.

A (28:33)

It would. Yeah, it would have benefited Tracy, it seems like, to play.

B (28:37)

That's what he was saying.

A (28:37)

Yeah, it seems like, yeah, Dwayne Wade has brought it up before. Maybe I wouldn't have had to get that surgery right before college. Like it would. It would be beneficial, I suppose. And that was why they do it.

B (28:47)

There was a funny part too, to see the clip where Vid said something. I forget how he worded it, but, like, asking Melo about, would you. How would you have your load managed? Or something like that. It was like, you know, they know what he said, pause or whatever. But it was like a timeout was called. It was like sort of giggling and stuff like that. I mean, they are talking about load management. Guess that's gonna be said.

A (29:07)

And one thing they won't say is maybe we should play fewer games. Maybe we shouldn't have 82 games for each team. That's not going to. It's not going to happen. But that would help. That would help. Literally, you know, let's play like a European basketball team twice a week or other sports. That would help. They're not saying that, though.

B (29:26)

Other sports, but not baseball.

A (29:28)

Not baseball.

C (29:30)

Play every night and then they just take three days off.

B (29:33)

Well, let's hear what you think of MJ's recent little clip here on Load Management and the NBC broadcast and all that, Those two games we talked about. Do we also have the poll. Poll results on Giannis, whether or not he's.

C (29:44)

Can Giannis dance? 67% say yes. Yes.

A (29:48)

Yeah.

B (29:48)

Okay. I'm in that camp. I gotta be honest.

C (29:51)

Hey, 67% of the desk says he can dance. But then the Stream team says google Giannis dancing on a boat. So I did. Oh, he's just sitting there. Oh, he's sitting and dancing.

A (30:02)

Oh, sitting, dancing.

C (30:02)

That's my dad at a wedding. He calls it chair dancing.

B (30:06)

I would think. I would think Giannis would be a blast at a wedding.

C (30:09)

Like, you're right.

B (30:10)

You brought up a good point. Like, watch out for Giannis on the day. Like don't get hit by like a his wingspan. But I feel like he would bring the energy, man. He's generally a happy guy.

C (30:19)

Totally.

A (30:19)

Yeah.

C (30:19)

I would love to see him at a wedding. Yeah, it'd be really cool.

B (30:23)

All right, let's take a break and then we'll get into some early season surprises and some of the games from last night as well.

A (30:29)

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B (31:35)

+ a day and FanDuel is your home for live betting. So even if you miss the start of the game or you want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. We've seen our fair share of those already. Plus you can combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. However you want to play, now is the perfect time to join. Why? Because FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets. If your first $5 bet wins. Visit FanDuel.com to sign up today. Play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Funny comment. Here in the Stream team talking about Giannis dancing. Krippi said, I picture Giannis doing the Elaine dance.

C (32:18)

Yeah, like that.

B (32:19)

Weird, like chicken wing. Yeah. Kicks going like. Yeah, I can sort of picture it too.

A (32:24)

Yeah, I hear you. Not super smooth. Just a lack of coordination.

B (32:29)

And then there was a lot of talk about isn't 95% of dancing in your face.

C (32:33)

He's got a great face, which.

B (32:34)

He has a great emotive face. So, yes, that it was the Le Ellis theory of dancing, that it was all in the face. So if that is true, then Giannis guaranteed a great dancer.

C (32:45)

Post show. I'm doing a deep dive. All right. I'm gonna try and find every Giannis dancing club I possibly can.

B (32:50)

I love it.

A (32:51)

I wonder if he does the Greek dances because he did the spins when he did the double spin with his hands up like this. Yeah, like the. The hands look like, oh, I'm keeping these out of the pool. I don't want to get them wet. But I feel like he's got some. He's got some Zabeckico in him somewhere. Somewhere.

B (33:07)

Did you see the one clip to go back to the travel clip where he takes like. It appears that he takes six steps.

A (33:13)

Yeah.

B (33:14)

And. Yeah, maybe. Maybe five at the very least. Five because of the whole. When does he actually have the ball in his hand after that? Sort of first, like, sort of gather. But. Oh, boy. Yeah, that one is pretty blatant.

C (33:25)

He's Matt. He's mastered the gather rule. The loophole of the gather rule. Some guys just know how to exploit it. You know, like Harden was a guy who was awesome at figuring out the ins and outs of the gather rule as well. And Giannis, right now, when he's got a head of steam, he needs one dribble from half court to get to the rim with the way the game is called.

A (33:43)

Yeah. I think Reggie and Jamal, Reggie Miller and Jamal Crawford kind of held back from saying how many steps they held back. They said, whoa, because he took the other one. The other replay they showed was incredible. Two steps from a three point line. But it almost looks like more because when he's gathering the ball. Yeah, but they. Somebody. Somebody started speaking. I could hear watching at my 22 inch monitor.

C (34:08)

I just squint one step. Yeah, two step.

A (34:16)

I heard partial. Somebody started talking, but then they said to themselves, ah, me. We're on NBC. Here, this is week number one. Maybe we don't pull this out now.

C (34:26)

Producer in his ear.

B (34:27)

He did get called for a travel. It was one of those ones underneath the rim where he's, like, doing the honest, like, sort of little slide a little bit like his pivot foot. It did slide. I mean, half the time it doesn't get called. The odd time it does. I mean, it was a travel, but, you know, like adjusting underneath. Yeah, he does that a lot. Anyway, Clearance.

C (34:48)

I got called for a travel last night playing in men's league.

A (34:51)

Wow.

C (34:51)

Yeah, I traveled. Caught the ball at the free throw line. Did a little.

B (34:57)

Better. Yeah, that was bad.

C (34:58)

Refs were going nuts last night, though.

A (35:00)

Russia going nuts.

C (35:02)

Tried to give it to the other team, but we smacked him. 17 point win.

B (35:06)

Are you. You're in the playoffs.

C (35:07)

That was game one of the playoffs.

B (35:08)

Oh, geez. Here we go.

C (35:10)

One win at a time. One win at a time.

B (35:11)

All right, this is great. So how many games left, in theory, to win the whole thing?

C (35:16)

One game at a time.

B (35:18)

He won't even look ahead. See, I tried to catch him. Oh, two. Two wins.

C (35:23)

One win at a time for two more weeks.

A (35:25)

Okay, Good luck.

B (35:26)

Good luck. Watch those feet. All right, let's get into some NBA first week surprises, and again, we'll sprinkle in some of the other games from last night. I'm gonna chuck these at you guys. We'll talk them out. But my first big surprise is the Philadelphia 76ers and the Chicago Bulls, both undefeated. We talked about the Bulls already. So let's focus on the Sixers. They played last night. They looked a step slow defensively for a good chunk of the game, and then they came roaring back to tie it up and get it into overtime against the Wizards and did beat them. But Tyrese Maxey, TAS, averaging 37.5 points per game through four games, there is nobody right now in the league as fast as him at getting to the hoop. Paired with shooting the three ball on a whole lot of attempts at a high consistency, 47% from three on nearly 10 attempts per game. I mean, that's like. That's like super. Steph Curry numbers. With the speed that he's showing and that size that Trey has talked about, he's like. Seems to have bulked up a little bit. Just an awesome start for this guy.

A (36:28)

Yeah, and it's a lot of it is because Vijay Edgecombe can take a lot of the pressure off him. You can't just focus two, three guys on him. Eyeballs have to Be on Edgecombe, that's fantastic stuff. But also Joel Embiid had a super quiet 25 points in this game on 20 in 23 minutes. There are other guys to take pressure off him, although it's just odd because it's all about Maxi and Vijay Edgecombe and there's other guys making a bajillion dollars on that team. And Embiid and Paul Georgian, really, they're not part of the story at all here as they're unbeaten in a particular game where they just got lucky in a way that this was the fourth quarter. They were down or. Yeah, they're down double digits and were able to come back.

B (37:14)

Quentin Grimes was awesome down the stretch. He sort of was the reason they got into overtime, I thought.

A (37:19)

Yeah, yeah. And as much as I say it's about Maxi and Edgecombe, Quinn Grimes has come through. Grimes times is a thing that the broadcasters say. Kate Scott says Grimes time because he really does come through in big moments. I will say maybe this doesn't happen forever. They should have lost this game. But. But the Turkish, Adam Boda, he came through two big five blocks. So they're getting contributions from a lot of guys on the other side. What up with Adam Keefe, the Washington. Brian Keefe. I call him Adam Keefe. Brian Keefe, the Wizards head coach. Allowing C.J. mcCollum and Chris Middleton to start taking these game winning shot opportunities. What is that? Yes.

B (37:58)

Oh, yeah.

C (38:00)

Or the last play they ran where Middleton just chucked the ball trying to Christian Laitner. They had six seconds left.

A (38:06)

Come on. This is. This is the. It's 2025. Kids use apps and kids can play. And kids can play basketball. Did you. In this particular game, we. Alexar was awesome.

C (38:20)

He was great.

A (38:20)

Yeah, he was so cool.

B (38:21)

I think he's the Wizard's best player.

A (38:22)

Exactly.

C (38:23)

He is.

A (38:24)

Yeah, he is.

B (38:24)

We figured it out.

A (38:25)

Yeah. That was the discussion preseason. Who is the Wizards best player? And I thought scoring wise it's going to be CG McCollum. But that's why I'm not a coach. That's why I'm not Adam slash Brian Keefe. Because I would give CJ McCollum the ball when really they should be giving it to Alex Sar. But they were Sixers.

B (38:41)

Middleton did have a good look at the game winner.

C (38:43)

Yes.

B (38:44)

I thought that was a fine look.

A (38:45)

It was a fine look.

B (38:46)

But yeah, the reason they got back was Grimes was hitting threes, getting huge steals, had a huge block and then hit another three to tie the game up at 126. He was great. He just had the energy still going when everyone was starting to slow down at the end of a 48 minute game. And then they got back into it in overtime too. They gave up the first five points. They came back. But any thoughts on the Sixers here at tk?

C (39:06)

Maxi's leading the league in scoring right now. Luka doesn't really qualify. He's only played a couple of games and is out. But currently Maxi is second in the league in three pointers, third in the league in free throws. That's an impossible combination to stop. If you're fast like he is and you can shoot threes like he does, how are you guarded? It's a question that the league's going to have to figure out. And Edgecombe is doing a similar thing, being fast, great athlete and ripping threes from outside as well. I love a Dembona. This guy is fun to watch. He's got a block rate of 12%. For reference, WEMBY is leading the league, no surprise, 13.8. So it's kind of similar. He's a super energy guy. He goes after every block. He had the big put back dunk that sent him into overtime last night, but he just makes plays. And he's such a different player than Embiid. You know, Embiid plays slow. He requires the ball on offense. He's not going to roll hard to the rim the way Bona does. So it's cool to have a change up at the center position. You can tell that the Sixers are built to be a fast team right now. And anything they get from Embiid, anything they get from Paul George going forward is kind of just gravy, I think.

A (40:17)

Yeah, it is amazing. They've got a new one in Tyrese Maxey and kind of a two with VJ. Come, we'll see.

B (40:25)

And then McCain is coming back too.

A (40:27)

McCain is not playing who was really.

B (40:28)

Good for 15 games last year. It sort of gets forgotten.

A (40:31)

Yeah, it feels like Adam Bona is a new player. They had him last year, but it feels like Eurobasket had some sort of effect on him. He does play for Turkey. He looks super good. The Tyrese Maxey thing is different than it was last year because I think of Vijay Edgecombe, but also Max. He's out of this world right now. He's. He played 47 minutes in this one. He's averaging 43 minutes per game. He's taking the most shots in the NBA and he's shooting threes at 47%. That's got to come back to earth at some point.

B (40:59)

I can't some degree wait for Paul George to return to this team and ruin it. Because it won't even be Paul George's fault. I'm telling you right now, he's going to come back. Maybe he looks completely fine, but like, they are on a heater right now. Maxi specifically and the rook, they're going to hit walls. They're not going to win some of these games they shouldn't be winning to begin with. And everyone's going to be like, God damn it, Paul, it's all your fault. I can see it now. I know what's going to happen and I'm going to laugh when it does.

C (41:27)

Yeah. But he's still going to be a massive upgrade over Justin Edwards and trend.

B (41:30)

And a lot for that's what he.

C (41:32)

Needs to replace, basically. Because a lot of these guys, they're still getting shots that end up being like a Jabari Walker shot. Yeah, right.

B (41:39)

Like, yeah, yeah.

C (41:39)

If that's going to Paul George, even if he's not all NBA Paul George, that's a better result.

A (41:44)

Yeah. And I don't think BJ PG wants to be the number one guy anymore. So I think they. They had that positive going for him. He'll just come in and fit in, but they will lose some games. Yeah.

B (41:54)

And people say it's all your fault. He's gonna be like, why? I didn't even do anything.

C (41:58)

Stop podcasting again.

B (41:59)

Yeah, exactly. All right, next early season surprise. Jonathan Kaminga and the warriors have fallen back in love. That's the surprise because he's continuing to change the narrative around him. Through five games, he's averaging career highs across the board. 16.2 points per game, 7.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists. A very high true shooting percentage. It's around 64, 65. You already brought it up a little bit. Tass in the game last night, even though he had sort of a quiet game, he's never rebounded like this. He's never probably passed like this. He's never defended like this. Just like actually playing a role in this. Curry centric. Not even Curry centric. Of course. You should get the ball at Curry all the time, but, you know, they're always moving and stuff like that. He's found his sort of spot here and Kerr is like, yeah, that's your starting spot, man. Let's go. So this is a bit of a surprise. We weren't sure how this was going to go after the contract dispute.

C (42:50)

They bought into him and he's buying in back. They said you're a starter, you're playing 30 minutes a night. That has never happened for Jonathan Kaminga unless it was due to injuries and they needed somebody. So kudos to him for figuring out how to fit in around Curry, Draymond and Jimmy, because that was a big question mark. If you're playing Draymond and Jimmy as many minutes as they play. How does Kaminga fit in when he's not really a shooter, he's not really a ball mover. His playmaking is better this year, he's hitting the glass this year and he's not short circuiting as many possessions going for his mid range jumpers. This has been exactly what the warriors were looking for in Jonathan Kaminga. If he played like this to start his career, it wouldn't have even been a question that they sign him to a contract over the summer.

A (43:30)

Yeah, it is a fair question to ask how long this will last because it comes a time where they may have to deal him at some point if he wants to be the number one guy. And yes, he is fitting in perfectly. I think the, the key is they're playing so many guys and playing Steph only 26 minutes last night that he can go with the second unit and get a shot here or get a shot there. He was, you know, he's still, still getting his shots. So I think that's, it's a nice balance.

B (43:59)

Still getting his shots. But he has greatly cut back on those mid range jumpers that he was actually brutal at last year. He ranked among the league's least efficient shooters from short mid range. We're talking like that 4 to 14 foot range. And it counted for decent percentage of his shots. It was like 35, 36%. So he's like. And he wasn't shooting them well. So like scale back on those type of shots, especially when you're playing with Curry. Like any shot Curry is going to take is going to be better than that one. Sorry man. And I think he's starting to figure that out. But it's a great point about him building up his trade value here too because we just thought, well, he's going to be traded immediately when he can be. And maybe it will be a question now if they have an incredible record and he's continues to play like this.

C (44:40)

It's good for everybody. If Jonathan Kaminga is good, it's good for the warriors team right now to get some wins early in the season because we know the Western Conference is going to be tight Every single win matters. That's good for the warriors from a personnel standpoint. They can keep him if they want to or another team can look at him and say, yeah, we could take Jonathan Kaminga. We still think he has 20 point per game potential but he's shown he can play team basketball as well. So everybody thought that the situation for Kaminga is good. If you're playing around Steph Curry, there's going to be easy shots out there. Take the easy ones. Don't drive into a ton of people, have no plan. Just go up in the air and hope your athleticism wins out. That was another problem for Kaminga. It's good for drawing free throws, not always good for getting a good shot. But he seems to have matured a little bit as a player. I guess those clips that his agent was putting out were true.

A (45:26)

The clips were, yeah, where he's running the pick and roll and looking awesome wearing a backwards hat. Listen, I'm a Clips man too. I'm a modern day man too. Jonathan Kaminga isn't showing the same clips that the bad, the bad clips of last year where he goes into dribble mode and other guys are. Steph is waving his hand, saying hello and he goes into the mid range. I didn't check the, the dribbles per shot that stat but Kuminga has definitely reduced that part of his game. That being said, you mentioned the two path of the Golden State warriors looks good because the young guys look good. When we were talking about the them earlier, I will say the front office is probably thinking we can turn this guy into a bunch of things and to get our, our next path going. So that's to get our next path going.

B (46:16)

To win a title.

A (46:17)

Well, to win a title, yeah, to get a draft pick or whatever. I mean if somebody wants to give up for Kaminga, then that's part of it too. We shall see.

B (46:28)

The Miami Heat leading the league in points per game right now is a early season surprise. They scored 144 points last night in a win over the Hornets. And Jaime Hawkes Jr. Who is having a huge bounce back, he scored 20 of his 28 in the first half. But through four games the Heat have scored 121, 146, 115 and 144 points respectively. They naturally lead the NBA in points per game. Like I said, averaging over 131 right now. Top five in field goals made, field goal percentage, three pointers made, three point percentage, assists and Trey, this is a team that's coming off three consecutive bottom 10 offenses. So they're unlocked right now.

C (47:09)

They're unlocked right now.

B (47:10)

Buy it.

C (47:12)

I buy it for right now. They look way different. They're first in pace right now. They've been 27th or lower in pace every year since the 201920 season. Completely different. They are a top five fast break team. They're running on misses, they're running on makes. That's juice in their offense right now. They basically don't run pick and roll. If Khalil Ware is in, they'll run a pick and roll, but otherwise it is just move the ball side to side, elbows up, side to side. Maybe that's what Giannis does at a wedding. No handoffs either. That used to be a huge part of the offense for the Miami Heat. A lot of that was Bam. And Duncan. Bam looks better. He's shooting threes, no problem. He catches it and he shoots it. Not a pump fake. Oh, I'm open. Maybe I'll take this. Three more free throws for him as well. Fewer mid Rangers. He's playing a more efficient game. I saw Zach Lowe talking about it, though. We'll see if this holds up because this is exactly what the Grizzlies did at the start of last season. This is a unique NBA offense. Pick and roll is like the basis of NBA offense, and they don't run pick and roll. Eventually the scouting report will get out and they'll say all they're doing is passing it side to side time and time again and then it won't work quite as well. But right now it's catching people off guard. The speed they're playing with has been a huge advantage for them. They're playing to their strengths because they do have some decent athletes.

B (48:27)

Yeah.

C (48:27)

On the team. So I like the look of the Heat. They feel fresher than they have in the past couple of seasons, even in the Jimmy Butler era. Do I think they'll lead the league in points per game this season? No.

A (48:38)

No.

C (48:38)

But I think they'll finish in the top half of the league.

A (48:41)

Yeah. It helped boost the point total because the Charlotte Hornets flashback for me looked like last year, just allowing them to do whatever they want. He did whatever they wanted in this game. They're running up and down. The other things that might change. Bam might stop shooting those threes. I don't want to flashback to the Anthony Davis days of wow. I'm a three point shooter in the bubble. But maybe it just comes back to earth. He's shooting six threes a Game by far the most in his NBA career. So that could change. Will Tyler Herro jump in and be okay with it and not create on his own? That's a fair question. I do like what Eric Spoelstray is doing. Getting these guys sped up, no doubt. Also moving Nikola Jovic to the bench because he wasn't the ball mover, the quick ball mover that they needed. But, yeah, everybody else buying in.

B (49:27)

Larson started last night.

A (49:29)

Yeah. No Norman in this game. Norman Powell, who's a machine. So far, he's out. But, yeah, your Hawkes contributing. Simone Fontechio shooting 55% from 3.

C (49:41)

Oh, baby.

A (49:42)

Off the bench. But we shall see on Thursday. Really? That's their test. Their next game is Heat Spurs.

B (49:49)

There we go.

A (49:50)

So that should be. That should be a fun one.

B (49:51)

Yeah. But great, great start for the Miami Heat. All right, next one. 20, 25 rookie class is living up to the hype. We have eight NBA rookies currently averaging over 10 points per game. So 1, 2, 3. In terms of picks they're delivering now, flag struggle in a couple games, he's struggling to shoot. He's shooting 38%. But he's had an impact out there. I mean, everybody sees it. It's pretty obvious why he went number one. Dylan Harper looks to be a star in the making, poised, filling up the box score. And then Vijay Edgecombe can't stop talking about him. He's averaging still 23 points per game after a bit of a quiet night last night. Then you got Cedric Coward, Trey Johnson, Con knippel. They're over 15 points per game. We got two Pelicans, rookies in fears and queen. They're also over 10 points per game. And then other guys maybe not scoring as much, but have looked good. Kalk, Brenner Walton, Clayton Jr. Igor demon is okay. Will Richard, CMB. So there's an awesome draft class so far. Trey. Through a week and a bit.

C (50:45)

I gotta say, Cooper's not living up to the hype. No, I don't actually think he's been that good. He's had one good game so far, like you mentioned, 38% from the field, 27% from three. I feel like most of his baskets have come in transition, which makes sense. He's a transition player. 10 assists to eight turnovers, only four steals and two blocks. He's had two scoreless halves in four games. Usage percentage right now, 20%. That's Aaron Wiggins and Andrew Wiggins level. That's Deandre Ayton level. Buddy healed. This is play Finisher level not guy who is the main creator out there. He's still the rookie of the year favorite on FanDuel but his odds are down to minus 105 after starting the season minus 195 compared to Vijay Edgecombe who was a plus 10 or a plus 1000. 10 to 1. Now he's a plus 135. Edgecombe is flying up.

B (51:30)

Yeah.

C (51:30)

Where Flag looks like he's playing out of position. It feels like Kevin Durant playing the two for the Seattle SuperSonics when we knew this guy was going to be a forward. Cooper Flag is not a point guard. He needs a point guard to get him easy baskets. You're not giving an 18 year old the ball and expecting him to be an efficient player. And he hasn't looked like an efficient player. So I actually don't think he's living up to the hype. I think Everybody else from 2 to I guess 13 kind of is.

B (51:53)

Yeah.

C (51:54)

I'd love to see Noah Senge play. Only lottery pick who hasn't played a minute yet.

B (51:58)

Wow. He hasn't even seen the floor.

C (51:59)

I mean the Bulls are undefeated so it's hard to get into the lineup.

B (52:02)

But still they're lucky and play. Yeah, exactly.

C (52:05)

But yeah Cooper's he's just been okay. I think it's bent like if you told anybody this was his first week in the league and say huh, this guy went number one.

A (52:14)

Yeah. He wasn't drafted as a point guard. So that's throwing him off. I think a big big part of it to be off the ball a little bit so he doesn't have to run every single possession. I think that's a huge part of it. You that's how these non point guards start in a point guard role. I think it's expected when Jason Kid does did throw Janis Denguebo into the point forward role. He struggled to start. It was not him. And that's what we're seeing with Cooper Flag. He had a buddy at college to run every single possession. This is different. They're really throwing them into the fire. So I know we talked.

C (52:50)

They need to start d' Angelo Russell.

A (52:52)

Yeah.

C (52:52)

They're point ridiculous not to play a point guard with them.

A (52:54)

I know we praised him after weird too.

B (52:56)

Jason Kidd is a point guard. Yeah. That's the strangest part of the whole thing.

A (53:00)

Yeah.

B (53:00)

Does he should know more than anyone but yeah.

A (53:03)

Does he want the narrative to say that Good coach man. He was so smart putting Cooper Flag in as the starting point guard. Just like that it is strange because I thought that's what they got the Angel Russell for. And we would see Cooper's flags numbers be far more efficient and better if he was off the ball because he's that good and because they don't have Kyrie Irving. I think Cooper fly could handle it even if he wasn't starting every single possession. Even if he did a little. A little more stepped stuff in that you give it to Draymond to bring it up. Just run off the ball. You know, we don't. We don't got to go back to Mark Jackson. That's why it is a little surprising. He did have the one good game. But again against the Raptors. Yeah. And I thought that's when he didn't have to bring it up. You're right. It was a lot. Was in transition and when he was off the show.

C (53:52)

In transition.

B (53:52)

Yeah.

A (53:53)

Yeah. He's fantastic. Like he should be off the ball.

C (53:55)

He's a good cutter. Like he also struggled at the beginning of his Duke tenure. He was getting his feet under him. But he had a point guard who eventually was setting him up in the long run. Like we said, it's going to pay off getting all these on ball reps. He's going to be a good creator. But is he going to be a Luka LeBron James Harden gigantic guy who's making plays for everybody. I don't know. He could still average 25, 30 a game. Not doing that. But as an 18 year old, he's not cut out to be the point guard for this team.

A (54:23)

Yeah. And maybe Kid is just saying he'll be our point forward later on this year, our secondary playmaker when Kyrie is back. So I guess he's getting him reps. But it is a little strange because Dangerous is a solid player, period. Although some of these guys who aren't solid. You mentioned Noah Sange. We haven't seen Ace Bailey do a lot. He's coming off the bench.

B (54:44)

He's been like sick, hasn't he? Oh, that's what they said.

A (54:47)

Yeah.

B (54:48)

He's missed time for sure.

A (54:49)

I saw he's not doing much. Austin Ange basically said we're protecting him, which is his term for why he's coming off the bench. And Young Hansen hasn't been young Hansen quite yet. No, no, he hasn't been young.

B (55:04)

He's been pretty bad in the clips. I've seen two more for you. Speaking of bad.

C (55:09)

Hold on. I did want to say con canipple. Looks like everything that people said he was Going to be plays really savvy. 16 points per game. Right now he's shooting 53% from three. That'll probably go down, but he is a shooter. I also would say he's not a white guy. That's a pink guy. That guy looks like a ham.

B (55:27)

Yeah.

A (55:30)

You can see the face, the blood in his face.

C (55:33)

He's got a really funny face. He's going to be one of the biggest, like, comes back from the All Star breaking. You're like, whoa, that guy got tanned. I don't know if he can tan, though.

B (55:42)

Burnt. Yeah.

A (55:43)

Yeah.

B (55:43)

He might stay out of the sun, as he should. Well, we can speak a little bit more about the Hornets you want, because my next one here is the bad teams are good. Question mark. Now, I think this one was hitting better going into last night than some of the results after last night. But the Jazz are two in one and they are one. Sabonis put back away from being undefeated. The hornets are now 2:2. It sucks that Brandon Miller is out of the lineup right now. They got punked like we said against the Heat last night. And even the Wizards, now they're one three should have been two and two. They should have won that game against the Sixers. But they're like, I at least enjoy watching them a lot more than I did last year. So, like a scrappy little bunch I think here. So, like, some of the worst teams, like the Nets are garbage. The Nets are going to be the worst team.

C (56:28)

That bad team is bad.

A (56:29)

Yeah, they played the spurs pretty well. It went down to the wire almost.

B (56:33)

They got back into it, you're right.

A (56:34)

Otherwise, they've sucked.

B (56:35)

But what do you think of those three team threw at you there? The Jazz, the Hornets, and even the Wizards, despite the one in three record.

A (56:40)

Yeah. Keyshawn George of the Washington Wizards, along with other guys on that team, they were, they've, they've impressed. There's been a bunch of guys in the Utah Jazz, they've impressed. Clayton coming from Florida to run things and times for their second unit. There's, there's. They're deep. Will Hardy has gotten them going. Brian slash. Adam Keefe has gotten the Wizards going. I'm, I, I have been impressed. I don't care. Brooklyn does stink. But I watch them and sometimes I say, okay, this is all right. Sometimes it's the opposite. But you're right, you know, in general, overall, the bad teams are acceptable right now.

C (57:17)

Right now, teams are enjoyable to watch. I will say that. And Brooklyn, even though they're bad, they've got just the perfect tank commanders and Cam Thomas and Michael Porter Jr. They have been as expected this season. They shoot the ball every single time it touches their hands. It's just a matter of who gets their hands on it First, Cam or MPJ. LaMelo Ball is good, by the way. A lot of people like to hate on LaMelo Ball. He takes some ridiculous shots. He took some ridiculous shots last night. He'll score an incredible basket going to the hoop, and you're like, just go to the hoop every time. You're quick and big and you can finish inside. And then he'll take a step back for no reason. But he's also averaging 26, 8, 9 and a half, shooting 40% from three and taking 10 threes. He's a great passer, he's a great defensive playmaker, and he shoots a high volume of threes. Lamelo is like an elite offensive player, but he's a little bit like Westbrook in that the dumb things he does stick out so much that you're like, why are you doing that? He's doing less dumb things now when he's on the court. The Hornets are fun to watch.

B (58:18)

Yeah, that's well said. Again, I'm really bummed out with the Brandon Miller injury here. Shoulder, I guess. Right. This one, he was looking solid. He was back. It was nice to see him again. I'm a big fan of his. And he's. Now he's out. I don't even know what the, like, diagnosis is with him. I don't know if this is a long term thing.

C (58:34)

He's getting a second opinion.

B (58:36)

That's the last thing I read. Which is never really a good sign. That means the first opinion was probably like, oh, bad in my mind. That's how I read it.

C (58:44)

Well, yeah, of course, you wouldn't get a second opinion if you didn't like. If you liked what they said.

B (58:48)

Yeah. So what are they saying? You need surgery, you need this.

C (58:50)

Yeah, but what if he goes to a second opinion? They're like, you don't need surgery. And that guy's right.

B (58:55)

You're right.

C (58:55)

That's why you get a second opinion.

B (58:57)

Jesus. Get a third while you're at it.

C (58:59)

Keep asking until they say you can play because they need that guy on the court.

A (59:02)

Or do they?

C (59:03)

They got concanipple.

A (59:04)

No, we saw that last year with Mark Williams. He got a bunch of opinions. Wasn't good. Like, the second one was like, you can play, but sometimes you're hurt. And hopefully for Brandon Miller, because he Missed so much. Last so much time last year.

B (59:16)

Oh, my God. Yeah, I didn't see him since, like, January.

A (59:18)

Yeah, that's the worrisome part, is that it's just. It's a chronic thing.

C (59:23)

How about this as a early season surprise? The bad teams are not the teams we thought were going to be bad because there's still bad teams out there. The Suns and the Kings, they're both bad. The Suns have trailed by 20 plus in all four of their games. The only team they beat it was the Kings. Did you watch the end of the game last night? Kings.

B (59:40)

Thunder.

C (59:41)

Kings. Thunder.

B (59:42)

Oh, yeah, baby.

C (59:43)

Another clutch game for the Thunder. Amazing. We're going to talk about them here in just a second, but if you go and watch on the NBA's YouTube channel, they do, like, wild finishes or whatever, they give you the last five minutes between the Thunder and Kings. They could have called this one. Demonta, Sabonis, lowlights. They went at him every single time he got out. Hustled for offensive rebounds, almost every single shot. Took a three, barely hit the rim. He looked like a cone out there. He was the reason the Kings blew this game in the fourth quarter.

B (60:16)

Yeah. He should go get a second opinion on his injury. And that doctor might say you should not be playing because that's how he appears.

C (60:23)

Yeah.

B (60:23)

I mean, he was banged up, right?

A (60:25)

Yeah.

B (60:25)

And I think he came back to try and help this team. And he looks like molasses. Every loose ball, like you said, every board attack. I mean, he still gets numbers, obviously on the clock. Like, he probably had like 18 rebounds last night, but down the stretch, that was bad for sure. Final one here, though. OKC's A.J. mitchell is breaking out, maybe the favorite right now to win sixth man of the Year. I think he's got to be on the short list. He's averaging 18 points per game, four boards, three assists and a steal. There's no J Dub, there's no Isaiah Joe, where did you come from? Where did you go? No Kenrich Williams. So they're all sidelined. He gets an opportunity, he's taking full advantage of it. Tass where he is making a name for himself. I did check prior to last night, he was plus 2200. Mitchell was on FanDuel to win six man of the year. So nine guys had shorter odds, like Nas Reed to Josh Hart to malik monk. But A.J. mitchell, man, he's been so good. They've done it again.

A (61:20)

They have.

B (61:21)

They've done it again, man.

C (61:22)

Done it again.

A (61:22)

They really have.

B (61:23)

And here's the real kick to the nuts. Mitchell is getting paid something like $9 million. Pause for dramatic effect here over the next three seasons. That's crazy, man.

C (61:36)

That's crazy.

B (61:37)

Three million this year and I think it goes down next year. Yeah, like 2.85 or something like that. Come on. Like Ziller in his newsletter said that should be illegal. I agree.

C (61:47)

Scam.

B (61:48)

Yeah. Come on. This guy's good.

A (61:50)

Yeah. There's some great front offices that sign good contracts. Reminds me of Deuce McBride. Signed a really, really, really good one. Similar 3, 9. A.J. mitchell was, you know, in circles last year among Thunder fans and, and Thunder bloggers as well. You got, you got to see this guy. They knew he was good.

B (62:09)

Yeah.

A (62:09)

And then just played because there's no opportunity. There was no opportunity. And then Sam Presti says, here, just sign this thing. We'll see what happens. All right.

B (62:18)

I guess we'll take a chance on you, kid. I don't know. Here's 9 million bucks.

A (62:22)

He'll get a part of that bonus if Fanduel or from Fanduel or whoever, if he's able to win sixth man of the year. Like he'll get a. He'll get a little push. Here you go.

B (62:31)

You can't say that.

A (62:32)

No, no, not, not. Not from Fanduel. But he gets, he gets a bonus. He gets a bonus if he gets six man. Which is playable. Yep.

C (62:43)

So what are they going to do though? Because he's not going to be the number two ball handler for the entire season. Jalen Williams will come back.

B (62:49)

Yeah.

C (62:49)

At some point. So whose minutes are getting cut?

B (62:53)

Yeah, that's tough. I mean, where is he in the pecking order? You're right.

C (62:57)

Wallace is going to play. Caruso's gonna play big.

A (63:00)

Kenrich. Sorry.

B (63:03)

Maybe Joe.

C (63:04)

The question is.

B (63:05)

Yeah. Who was good last night?

C (63:06)

Yeah. And different positions. Wiggins is A wing and A.J. mitchell is a ball handling guard. But they were even confident enough as a rookie to play him five minutes a game in the finals. It doesn't sound like much, but that was a high level finals. Right. And it was a seven game finals and they were putting him out there in minutes. That actually mattered. He's older, right. He's not a 20 year old second player. He's a 23 year old second year player. So he's got some savvy. And the Thunder just have good scouting. It's like they find guys who are going to be good and they play them and they give them a little bit of a leash. I think that's really important. They're throwing Brooks Barnheiser out there. They're like, we need to see what we have. We know we have a good team, so let's figure out the other deep pieces around it.

A (63:45)

Yeah. Two way guy in Brooks Barnheiser. Fun name to say. He's another mustache mullet guy. Right.

B (63:56)

Like a piece of clothing a southern guy would wear. Are you wearing Brooks Barnheiser? God, that's a nice vest. Is that Brooks?

A (64:07)

Yeah. He's a tank, that guy. He. He must if whatever he's wearing is a double xl. Yeah.

B (64:16)

So, AJ Mitchell, off to a great start here. Definitely, like we said, one of the gu early on. As a potential six man of the year guy, I guess you could talk yourself into potential most improved player, but he's a second year guy, so you know how I feel about that. I'm going to roll my eyes at that. But he's been good and I do love that. The Thunder are doing things differently this year. Yes, they're still winning games. That's the same as last year. But last year it was like, we're going to beat you by 15 to 20 points every game. This year, the exact opposite. We're going to be down, you know, eight to nine points, getting into clutch time, and then we're going to come storming back and beat you either in regulation or overtime. Like, every game that they've played, it feels like it's been close.

C (64:57)

They've played four out of five clutch games so far. Four. No, obviously. And Shea has hit so many big shots already to start the season. He might win clutch player of the year, but you would rather be blowing these teams out. Yes, it was. You know, they were pretty fresh when it came to the playoffs last year because they had everybody healthy for the majority of the season. You know, Chet and Isaiah Hartenstein definitely missed time. I know that happened. But we're talking JJ Dub and SGA. They played all the time. They were blowing these teams out. They were able to keep their minutes down. It'll be different if they go through the year. They're getting everybody's best shot. People are playing them well and they're squeaking out these wins. That takes a toll on your body rather than resting in fourth quarters.

A (65:37)

Yeah, last year I think it was about 10 games that they got into clutch time.

B (65:43)

That's it.

A (65:44)

Yeah, it was. It was extremely low.

C (65:46)

That's crazy.

A (65:47)

It was super, super low at one point. Yeah, they. They had played nine when they. They destroyed the Miami Heat early in the fourth quarter. They, you know, put 25 straight or whatever it was. So I could be wrong. They could have added 24 clutch games last year.

C (66:02)

That's still a very low number.

A (66:03)

Oh, I'm wrong. Yeah.

C (66:04)

Lowest in the league.

A (66:05)

Yeah. So it was February, I guess, when they. When they did that to the Heat. So I just figured maybe they just had one the rest of the year. But yeah, four out of five is very high.

B (66:15)

That's fine. They're still five and. Oh, and they're going to be adding an all NBA guy. And Chad Holmgren didn't even play last night. He's been an all NBA guy this season.

C (66:21)

So looking good.

B (66:22)

They're okay. Whether they win by 20 or. Or 2. I get your concern. Maybe it adds up over the long run.

C (66:28)

But hey, they have the 73 win Warriors. They tried really hard to get to 73 wins.

B (66:34)

Yeah, I don't think they went 24.

C (66:35)

0 to start the season. I mean, they're trying really hard right now. They're having to try hard.

B (66:40)

They're professional basketball players. They're trying to win the game. Yeah, I don't think. What, like just saying. Are you concerned about SGA's minutes right now? I don't know how either. I'd have to check.

C (66:49)

But when you're walking on a tightrope, you can fall off.

B (66:54)

I like that.

A (66:55)

Bars, man.

B (66:58)

You can also, if you're really good on a tightrope, like do jumps on it and flips.

C (67:02)

That one guy walking between the twin towers. Remember that?

A (67:05)

Oh, yeah.

C (67:06)

Man on wire. What a movie.

A (67:07)

That's great. Yeah.

B (67:08)

That is a good French guy.

C (67:09)

Yeah, the French guy. That movie is incredible.

B (67:12)

Yeah.

C (67:13)

He's talking about what he's doing and you're watching the highlights back and you're like, I know he's alive, but I'm still stressed.

B (67:20)

I think he's going to die. Yeah.

A (67:21)

Yeah, yeah.

B (67:22)

That is a good movie. Watch that again. All right, let's get to tonight's pickam. Wednesday night here, Tass. What's our game?

A (67:30)

We got a goodie on espn. Cleveland starting to play like themselves. Looking good going into Boston. Boston getting four and a half points so they can lose by four and still cover. I feel comfortable riding with the Cavs. They've again started to look like the Cavs. Trey agrees that they're going to win by five or more seats while you take in Boston to cover that four and a half point spread.

B (67:55)

What's going on with this line? That line's weird. Four and a half cash would be Favorable.

C (68:00)

Bigger. Yes, you're probably right.

A (68:02)

Yeah.

B (68:02)

So I was a little perplexed by that. What's going on over there? And I also didn't want us to all have the same team, but I'll take Boston to cover. Not saying they got a win, but close game here. You said on espn.

A (68:13)

On espn.

B (68:14)

Yeah. Why not?

A (68:15)

Yeah.

B (68:16)

Did Jalen Brown ever shave his head or was that a joke?

A (68:19)

Oh, I haven't watched the Twitch yet.

C (68:20)

That's a great point.

B (68:21)

I don't know if it was a joke. Check in.

A (68:23)

No, it's. It's ready for my. My prep for worst of the week on Friday's show.

B (68:28)

Oh, I'm gonna preach.

A (68:30)

Yeah. The paint job.

B (68:32)

Okay.

A (68:32)

What is up with that? But did he shave his head on Twitch?

B (68:36)

I mean, they said they were going to, but again, that could have been a joke. I don't know. Somebody let us know on the Stream team.

C (68:41)

Yeah, People do jokes.

B (68:42)

Yeah. I don't know.

A (68:43)

His hair is so short anyway. It's almost. It's not long.

B (68:47)

No. But super apparently needs paint in it to fill in. So maybe shave it.

A (68:51)

Yeah. Or endorse a paint. Paint for your scalp company. Kawhi Leonard could use it. These guys. Like, Kawhi's got great locks. Like, he's got. He's got the braids.

B (69:02)

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

A (69:03)

But it's. It's.

B (69:04)

Oh, Kevin.

C (69:08)

Kawhi's getting a little bit of a Jerry Rice look.

A (69:10)

Yeah, yeah.

C (69:11)

Like, whoa. Yeah, you probably don't need to still have hair.

A (69:14)

It's running away. Those. Those braids are running away from his head. They're so far back.

B (69:20)

Hey, plant some trees on your head. Bulls are back. The Bulls are actually back today at 3pm Eastern on playback.

C (69:30)

Yeah.

B (69:31)

Perfect. Is that. The Bulls are playback. That's what we should call it. But this is going to be fun. Trey is going to be watching all of, like, the condensed highlights from the games from the 72:10 bowls back in the day where they went on to win the championship. And hanging out with everybody on playback and hanging out with our. Taking these in. You're gonna do this all season long. Like three or four games a week, I guess.

A (69:52)

Yeah.

C (69:52)

I didn't expect for the current Chicago Bulls to also be 3 0.

B (69:56)

Yeah.

C (69:57)

But yeah, hopefully we can see the 95, 96 bulls equal that 30 record this week on the schedule. They've got the Hornets and Kendall Gill.

B (70:04)

Oh, yeah.

C (70:05)

The Celtics and Rick Fox and the Raptors and David Stoudemire.

B (70:09)

Okay, well, so that. That's not the infamous Raptors win game. I'm definitely coming on the stream for that game.

C (70:14)

I think that's like a. Like January or something.

A (70:16)

Like March.

B (70:17)

March.

C (70:17)

Okay.

A (70:18)

J.D.

B (70:18)

Was there.

A (70:19)

That's the game you left. Was it a March game? Yeah, it was late in the season. It was cold. That's for sure.

B (70:26)

I think it was March.

A (70:27)

Yeah, I think you're right.

B (70:28)

So this one, I'm gonna guess the Bulls take care of business against.

C (70:32)

I'm imagining they start 3, 0.

A (70:34)

Yes.

C (70:35)

I could look up the box scores, but I want to be a little bit shocked when they lose 10 times.

B (70:40)

Could you do me one favor? Because the Bulls, current bulls are 30 and probably these 72 and 10. Bulls are 3 and 02. Can you compare all the players on Jordan's Bulls to current Bulls? So, like. Yes, I will. I don't know. Boozelis is Jordan.

C (70:54)

Not Boozelis is Pippen.

B (70:55)

Okay, okay.

C (70:55)

Well, there you go.

B (70:56)

Okay, okay, okay. Save it, save it. Join TREY Today at 3pm on playback. That's free. You can jump on. They'll fire up the games on YouTube. That link is in the show notes for you people here on YouTube or podcast listeners. Just click on that and join our no Dunks playback room. Anything else? You excited for the game tonight?

A (71:13)

Which one?

B (71:19)

Between the Jason Dodgers.

A (71:20)

Do you still call these pivotal?

B (71:23)

Yeah. Yes. It's a pivotal game.

A (71:24)

Come on. Yeah. They can't go home. Down three.

B (71:26)

Whoever wins tonight's game wins.

A (71:28)

Yeah. Come on, cuz then you get. You get.

C (71:31)

Probably.

A (71:31)

Sure. Yeah. The Dodgers are saving Yamamoto for Game 6. That guy who was ridiculously good.

B (71:37)

That's terrifying.

C (71:38)

Looks like back to game one starters.

A (71:40)

It looks like today.

C (71:41)

Yes. Savage. Yeah. Snell.

A (71:43)

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Game one starters.

B (71:45)

Okay.

A (71:45)

Yeah, I'm excited for sure.

B (71:46)

All right.

A (71:47)

8:00Pm Eastern.

B (71:48)

Yep. Hopefully it's three hour game.

A (71:51)

Hopefully. And Survivor.

B (71:54)

And Survivor and all this basketball. We'll be back tomorrow. Tomorrow we got to do an NBA cup preview.

C (72:00)

Yeah.

B (72:01)

Because we respect the cup on no dunks.

C (72:02)

Of course we do.

B (72:03)

So we'll start Friday. Yep.

C (72:05)

Look at some courts.

B (72:06)

Yeah, we'll do groups. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Make some predictions.

C (72:10)

People will be debuting new uniforms during the Cup. Right. They start wearing like their city edition to match their floor.

B (72:16)

I think probably. Does that mean we're getting like those Purple Rain Prince inspired Wolves jerseys? No, because they got that green.

C (72:25)

They got a green court.

A (72:26)

Yeah.

C (72:27)

I don't know.

B (72:27)

There's too many jerseys, too many courts. We'll break it all down tomorrow. Till then, Clipper Bros. You heard it here first.

C (72:34)

Have a great time. Turn up.

B (72:36)

Love you guys. Awesome.

A (72:37)

Thanks for joining us. And remember, New City Edition jerseys. We feel for NBA cup on Friday. Are we getting some Halloween jerseys? Well, there's so many jerseys. Maybe they'll just sprinkle in a couple of weeks. Halloween jersey.

B (72:50)

The Pelicans. The Pelicans have their. Their skeleton jerseys. Skeletons. Those are sort of Halloween gotta wear.

C (72:57)

I think those are the most Halloweeny.

B (72:58)

Those are. I like those.

A (72:59)

Yeah, me too. Can't wait to see.

B (73:01)

Oh, the Raptors. The Raptors. Did you see this? No, not jerseys. But they're doing T shirts and hoodies of, you know, the jersey. Oh, there goes my voice. The Skeleton Raptor.

C (73:12)

Yes, that.

B (73:13)

I have that. Luke Samanski, I want to say his name is. He designed it. They're doing that version that people can get shirts. Shirts and hoodies. All right, cool story. Everybody. Embrace it. Jesus Christ.

C (73:23)

Shirt alert. Shirt alert.

B (73:24)

Yeah. Why did I say that?

C (73:25)

No, it's good.

B (73:27)

I thought it was going to be better when it came out, but I couldn't even talk. My voice is going, we'll see you guys tomorrow.