Lu Dort & Jeremiah Fears Fight, Doc Praises Joel Embiid, Beach Steppin'

Summary

No Dunks Podcast Summary

Episode: Lu Dort & Jeremiah Fears Fight, Doc Praises Joel Embiid, Beach Steppin'
Date: January 28, 2026
Hosts: J. Skeets, Tas Melis, Trey Kirby, JD (Producer)
Theme: Breaking down the NBA's latest altercations, insider praise for Joel Embiid, media personalities entering the All-Star Celebrity Game, and listener mailbag fun.

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Episode Overview

This episode of No Dunks kicks off with the crew dissecting on-court altercations from the previous night—including the intense Lou Dort vs. Jeremiah Fears incident—before moving on to Doc Rivers' headline-grabbing Embiid praise. They then dive into All-Star Celebrity Game news, a lively Beach Steppin' mailbag with discussion on prospect optimism, player names, and basketball memorabilia. As always, the tone is playful, conversational, and laced with basketball nerdery.

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Key Segments & Insights

1. Lou Dort & Jeremiah Fears Altercation

[04:18–10:49]

• Recap: At the end of a Thunder vs. Pelicans game, Lou Dort aggressively confronts rookie Jeremiah Fears, leading to a heated scuffle with both benches emptying but no punches thrown.
• Main Points:
  • Dort initiated the confrontation, pushing and fouling Fears who showed unexpected tenacity standing up to him.
  • “The person to blame is Dort for sure. He went after Jeremiah Fears for no reason. Game over.” – Tas Melis [04:59]
  • Refs may have lost control of the game earlier after multiple altercations, including Jalen Williams vs. Sadiq Bay.
  • Most agree no suspensions are likely since the game was already over when benches cleared.
• Memorable Moment: Skeets and Trey riff on Fears’ fiery attitude: “19 year old has tried to fight half the league and we're not even at the All Star break.” – [07:17]
• Side Note: The podcast discusses how missed shots and trash talk may have contributed to the incident; Fears' reputation as a chirper emerges.

2. Nets-Suns Scuffle & League-Wide Tensions

[11:13–13:48]

• Another late-game altercation between the Nets and Suns led to technical fouls but no ejections; all spurred by a tussle over a loose ball and a humorous mispronunciation of player names by the referee.
• The hosts theorize that winter weather and looming All-Star breaks are heightening tempers across the league.

“Had to check my app—is there a full moon? Nah... We got like a 3/4 going on here.” – Trey Kirby [13:09]

• Fun Segment: The crew jokes about dry throats and how the weather drives people nuts, segueing into hydration routines.

3. Doc Rivers: “Joel Embiid is the Most Talented Player I Ever Coached”

[14:18–20:31]

• Doc's Praise: Rivers, now coaching Giannis in Milwaukee, calls Embiid “the most talented player [he’s] ever coached”, a list including stars like Giannis, Harden, CP3, and more.
  • “Embiid ranks highly on that list, I would have to say.” – Trey Kirby [15:24]
• Debate:
  • The panel explores what “talented” means. Is it skill, athleticism, or work ethic? Most agree Embiid tops the list in pure skill, but Giannis’ incredible drive is its own talent.
  • “Playing hard, though, is a talent. And Giannis has that in spades.” – Trey Kirby [16:54]
• Doc’s Playoff Excuses:
  • The crew calls out Doc for his recurring excuses about Embiid’s injury luck.
  • “It is the second part that is a little bit wrong, in my opinion… I think he was healthy somewhere.” – Tas Melis [16:58]
  • Skeets and Tas review the injury history and cast doubt on Doc’s timeline.
• Context: The hosts reflect on the Bucks’ current struggles and how Doc’s poorly-timed praise lands as odd, given his still-new tenure in Milwaukee.

4. All-Star Celebrity Game: Shams Charania to Play

[34:00–38:09]

• Shams will participate in the 2026 NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, promising a “shooter's” game with handles and floaters.
  • “I’m excited to see what he's like… any time an actual media person gets into the celebrity game, I’m excited.” – Trey Kirby [34:49]
• The crew hopes Woj will join for a Shams-vs-Woj faceoff. They list past celebrity game highlights and riff on the possibility of Shams breaking news while playing.

5. Beach Steppin' Mailbag: Listener Questions, Nostalgia & Fun

a. Takes You Just Believed

[43:44–46:56]

• The group shares personal stories of basketball opinions or predictions they just “felt” were right, but had no proof—some get nostalgic about the Lob City era, “He Got Game” sequel conspiracies, and the legendary Jason Maxiell vs. Danny Granger All-Star debate.

b. RJ Barrett vs. Zion & Ja: Best Career?

[51:47–57:51]

• Revisiting an old hot take: Will RJ Barrett end up with a better career than Zion Williamson or Ja Morant?
  • RJ has played more, but Ja/Zion have higher peaks/All-Star nods.
  • The hosts discuss what “career” means: durability/stats vs. peak performance.
  • “It feels like Ja and Zion haven't come close to living up to their potential, whereas RJ's probably reached his potential.” – Trey Kirby [52:08]
  • They debate who an expansion franchise would pick right now—most still say Zion, but argue it's becoming closer than you’d think.

c. Star Names for Non-Star Players (and Vice Versa)

[72:17–75:35]

• Fun exploration of which NBA player names sound more “star” than their careers, and vice versa.
  • Best star-like names for non-stars: Cindarius Thornwell, Stromile Swift, Daquan Plowden, Johnny Furphy, Bub Carrington, Naquan Tomlin.
  • Boring names for stars: Paul George, Chris Paul, Norm Powell, Andrew Nembhard.
• “Paul George is a good one. Well, it's like Chris Paul, obviously. Chris Paul is so basic.” – J. Skeetz [75:54]
• Alliteration is the squad’s favorite mark of a star-sounding name.

d. Unexpected Finds: Basketball History in the Wild

[66:41–72:17]

• Listeners write in with tales of discovering random basketball relics. The hosts share their own:
  • Trey owns the exact tie-dye Rush shirt worn by Kawhi Leonard in a Spurs parody video.
  • Skeets muses about his Shaq-ripped underwear someday making the basketball Hall of Fame.
  • Tas recounts seeing a Keith Van Horn jersey signed by the entire band Korn.

e. All-In Bets That Paid Off (Non-basketball)

[62:40–66:02]

• The panel reflects on “going all in”—from hair growth to Taco Bell breakfasts to the gamble of starting a podcast before it was cool.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Jeremiah Fears: “19 year old has tried to fight half the league and we're not even at the All Star break...” – J. Skeetz [07:17]
• On Giannis' View of Talent: "I'm not as talented as Steph. I'm not as talented as KD. I'm desperate. I'm obsessed." (paraphrased Giannis, via Tas) [19:34]
• On Shams in the All-Star Celebrity Game: "Can't believe Shams didn't break it though. Yeah, he's the newsbreaker out there, but maybe you want to give somebody else a little scoopy scoop." – Trey Kirby [34:29]
• On RJ Barrett's Growth: “He’s like a really good just average guy.” – J. Skeetz [55:30]
• On the Podcast’s Legacy: “One day we're going to be in the Basketball hall of Fame for having podcasted for 80 years.” – Trey Kirby [69:13]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [04:18] – Dort vs. Fears fight breakdown
• [11:13] – Nets-Suns fight, league tension
• [14:18] – Doc Rivers’ Embiid praise debate
• [34:00] – Shams & the All-Star Celebrity Game
• [43:44] – Nostalgic “takes believed without proof”
• [51:47] – RJ Barrett vs. Zion & Ja discussion
• [62:40] – "All-in" moments that paid off
• [66:41] – Basketball history finds
• [72:17] – Star-sounding & boring NBA names

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Final Thoughts

This episode features the classic No Dunks blend: NBA news breakdown, locker room humor, listener-driven banter, and basketball geekery. The show flows naturally, with recurring jokes and callbacks, as the guys analyze on-court conflict, player praise, and all manner of basketball (and personal) lore—with playful speculation and deep NBA references galore.

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For more: Visit NoDunks.com, join the conversation on YouTube, or subscribe to their Substack for exclusive content and nostalgia trips.

Transcript

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[J. Skeez]

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I'm assuming you guys will be tuning into the game, so remember to keep an eye out for Liquid IV while you watch. Stay Hydrated. Stock up on liquid [e-mail] and use the code nuthouse for 20 off for a first time purchase.

[JD (Producer)]

Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year. You can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like EFTs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member finra SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors LLC SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures of [e-mail] Disclosures hey, this.

[J. Skeez]

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[JD (Producer)]

Woodhull and I'm US Paralympic gold medalist Hunter Woodhull.

[J. Skeez]

As athletes, our lives are about having.

[Trey Kirby]

A clear path and a team that you can absolutely trust.

[J. Skeez]

So when it came to getting the best mortgage, we chose PennyMac. PennyMac is proud to be the official.

[Trey Kirby]

Mortgage provider of Team USA. And you learn more at pennymac.com PennyMac Loan Services, LLC equal housing lender NMLS ID 35953 licensed by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the California Residential Mortgage Lending act, conditions and restrictions may apply.

[J. Skeez]

Good morning, sweet world, and welcome to the no Dunks podcast, presented by FanDuel. It's Wednesday, January 28, 2026. I'm J. Skeez here in the classic factory. And alongside me, as always, Tas Melis.

[Tas Melis]

Podcast listeners, this is for you.

[J. Skeez]

Next to him, it's my Topsha hot boy, Trey Kirby. Hey, hey, yo. And over yonder, making the magic happen, super producer JD Hello. There he is. Here we are. Hello to everybody on YouTube. Hello, podcast listeners, getting close to last call for our limited edition no Dunks 20th anniversary t shirt. Go to no Dunks.com to grab yourself one before they're gone because when it hits February, these things disappear forever. So get in on the no Dunks 20th anniversary shirt. It's a real fun one, TK helping us get to this one with the 20 years logo. So go grab that before it's gone.

[Trey Kirby]

I gotta order one for my mother in law. Oh, Jana reached out and said, hey.

[J. Skeez]

Can you help hook me up?

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, no, you gotta pay full price.

[J. Skeez]

Cause I already placed our order for the no Dunks crew. I would have got her one. Okay, well, there's still time.

[Trey Kirby]

There's still time.

[J. Skeez]

There's still time.

[Trey Kirby]

Thank you.

[J. Skeez]

Go to no dunks.com or hit the link in the show notes. Okay, later in today's show, we're gonna hit the beach as promised to answer a few of your NBA questions. But let's start with a little Is this news? Is this news the segment where we pull some NBA headlines and ask the guys here whether or not it's newsworthy and break them down. First one, it's from espn. Ever heard of it? Lou Dort and Jeremiah Fierce spark altercation between Thunder Pelicans. Tass, we've got the footage, but I want to know, a is this newsworthy? And if it is, who's to blame in the Dort Fierce battle here?

[Tas Melis]

I do think this is news specifically for Jeremiah Fierce because he was willing to battle with Lou Dort, a man who is much larger than him, and he was willing to hang There with him. The person to blame is that Dort for sure. He went after Jeremiah Fierce for no reason. Game over. But he went after him, and nothing particular happened other than everybody having to jump on the floor because it was the end of the game. Even got Joe Dumars, the head of basketball operations for the New Orleans Pelicans. I don't know if he had flashbacks to the Bad Boys. Probably not. But for Dort to get in Jeremiah Fierce face and for Fears to be willing to stand up as a rook to a monstrous person and still want to go after him afterwards. I think this is good news for the Pelicans. Bad news for the kinesiology tape that we saw falling off of Lou Dorrit's shoulder. Other than that, good news, I would say, for Fears to be willing to do this as a kid.

[J. Skeez]

He's a kid.

[Trey Kirby]

He's just a wee boy. A wee boy is for us, an Illinois boy versus a good old Canadian boy. How exciting. It's totally undor. He pushes him twice. And he also fouled Jeremiah Fears. You heard Mark Dal say it afterwards. If they would have called the file on Dort. This probably doesn't happen at all because he reaches. He hits Fears all over the arms. But the referees said, hey, there's only a couple of tenths of a second left here. We're not calling anything game over. Instead, we get every single player from both sides on the court. Not to mention Greg Monroe came up randomly yesterday. Now he's out there in the fight.

[Tas Melis]

Not near to me.

[Trey Kirby]

Throw out the moose for Greg Monroe. Will it be further news? Will there be suspensions? Everybody left the bench. That's a guaranteed suspension.

[J. Skeez]

But the game's over. Exactly, yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

So I don't know.

[J. Skeez]

I don't think so. Look, I mean, Jeremiah Fears was. He was pissed.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeez]

Like, they had to really hold him back. Dort, you know, did his part, obviously slapped him, fouled them. It should have been a foul call. Like Dagnall said, it wasn't cold because the game was over. But then he's sort of like, okay, that's sort of it. After they tussle. But Fears wanted Adam. Like, you saw that one assistant coach or whoever that was. Yeah, he was not letting go. They basically picked him up and carried him back. It's good. He's quite tiny and quite small. And even Zion Williamson, there's that clip of him, like, sort of consoling him in the. In the. In the bowels of the arena in the hallway there, sort of checking.

[Tas Melis]

Everybody had to Stop him. Yeah.

[J. Skeez]

I think the real culprit in all this, though, is the fact that Pelicans couldn't hit a three at the end there because they had like three or four looks in the game was basically over. Now, we've seen many teams, like, obviously try and get some points, whatever, I mean, scrap their way back into it. But they just kept missing and missing and getting the rebound and missing and missing. And I think by the time it got to Fears and Dort knowing the way he plays is like, okay, whatever, just slap at it. It's just like if one of those threes go down, I feel like this doesn't happen. But Jeremiah Fiers also talks a lot of shit, I think, for a 19 year old, and I think that's a part of this here too. I saw Tony Jones Tweet last night. 19 year old has tried to fight half the league and we're not even at the All Star break of his rookie season. Fears gotta be talking crazy out there. So maybe things were said as well as Dort got upset.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I think so. Watching it live, I thought, okay, Dort is really, really mad at the end of the game, it's over. I think there must have been something said that triggered him a little bit, but there also could have been a lot of other things triggered. He stepped under. Trey Murphy. Not under. I shouldn't say under. It wasn't like he was in his landing space. But he does the classic, I'm going to challenge this and then bump you a little bit. That would get under your skin a little bit. Trey Murphy, one of the guys shooting one of those multiple shots that was missed. He gets under people's skins.

[J. Skeez]

Oh.

[Tas Melis]

But it doesn't take long to find.

[J. Skeez]

The Lou Dor compilation of him basically playing like a linebacker. Yes, right, there's that. But I also think Fears is like probably chirping a whole lot here for a 19 year old where everyone's like, hey, relax here. Yeah, so there's that as well.

[Tas Melis]

Kind of good with it. The Pelicans need a little bit of edge. That's what they need. And I think it's all right that they have a little bit of a direction. Maybe we're going young at some point, so I don't mind that a kid is doing that for their team. Jalen Williams, I don't know what he said, but he said something.

[J. Skeez]

Jalen Williams and Sadiq Bay had just got into it like 90 seconds prior to, like doing the Classic, jockeying for position on an inbounds and they had to be sort of separated and that's what dang. Not said. He, like, the refs sort of lost control of this game a little bit. It was ugly at the start of this game. It was gross. And then the teams got going, but they just like lost control of it. And this is where you get to these situations, I think. So it's a bit on them too. It's sort of on everyone here. But I don't think there will be suspensions. I really don't.

[Trey Kirby]

Who knows?

[J. Skeez]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. The stream team right now is agreeing. No stream team says 55. That there will be suspensions. They did leave the bench. Like, no doubt about it. People that weren't playing left the bench, but who knows? Because the game was technically over.

[J. Skeez]

But everybody left the bench.

[Tas Melis]

Everybody left the bench.

[J. Skeez]

So what, are you gonna suspend everybody?

[Trey Kirby]

Maybe so. Well, I guess you don't have to suspend the players that were already on the court.

[Odoo Sponsor]

Yeah, right.

[Trey Kirby]

They didn't leave the bench.

[J. Skeez]

That's true.

[Tas Melis]

And there was no fists thrown. I've. I've. I did some scouring of the headlines. None of them said fight. Use the word fight.

[J. Skeez]

Altercation, usually scuffle.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, it was a push off.

[Tas Melis]

It was a push off. That's grabbed him as well. Yeah. I think the thing that made the headline for me was seeing Shay's reaction in the background because I think we can start to see a compilation of the Shea reactions to stuff. If you remember, Grayson Allen pushed Chet Holgren, his teammate, a little earlier in the season. There's the Shea. Oh, behind. He's doing that here in this one, too.

[Odoo Sponsor]

Whoa.

[Tas Melis]

What's going on down there? That's going to be fun to. To put those together. I will say one random thing. OKC taking care of business. Shay and Chet also got their. Their awards, their December Player of the Month awards. In this game now, January 27th, they both received their respective Player of the Month, Western Conference Player of the Month for Shay and Western Conference Defensive Player of the Month for Chet.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah, I didn't realize it was for December. Good point.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. A long time ago. And also my brain says they didn't really have a good December. They lost to the spurs the whole time, but, you know, they were 9 and 4. The spurs were technically 11 and 4, although they're 11 and 5, I guess because they don't count the game at the end of the NBA Cup. So, I mean, OKC's still good, but your mind says that was a bad month for them. Either way, they get awards.

[J. Skeez]

Still we had another scuffle last night too between the Nets and the Suns. And that one happened. Happen late in the game. That one led to five technical fouls. And there was something like a nine minute delay while the officials tried to make sense of the shenanigans that happened there. And it was another Canadian involved in that one. There was a loose ball, like guys were fighting for a loose ball also. It was a two point game. Big difference.

[Trey Kirby]

Very tight time.

[J. Skeez]

He had the thunderbolt. Yeah. Game was still up for grabs. And they were literally trying to grab the ball. And Jaeger came over and I guess pushed Dylan Brooks, who like completely just toppled over, I think, selling it, I guess. Very weird. And then that's led to a bunch of them sort of like fighting. Nobody left the bench though, players wise. It was just a bunch of assistant coaches running out there. TK and again, it ended in a bunch of technicals.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. It's crazy that Lou Dort and Dylan Brooks would get into an altercation. I can't believe it. But Curtis Blair really made me laugh when he was explaining the technical fouls, particularly for the Nets. He said the technical files were on Denim, mans and Porter. Straight up denim, he said, instead of yeoman. Which is why, you know, like you were saying people were gonna leave him till late in the draft earlier than I thought. In the Rising Stars.

[J. Skeez]

I think it was Vince that drafted him. I guess he's got maybe the Nets ties there though the. Well, I guess it was the Suns broadcast when it took like eight or nine minutes of like waiting to find out who was gonna get technical fouls. They like purposely will not say his name. They just keep calling him rookie. Rookie. Rookie, Rookie. They said rookie like a million times. They were like, I'm not trying.

[Trey Kirby]

Denim, Mans and Porter. That made me laugh a lot. I could see Jaegor getting fined at the very least because he had the most egregious sort of.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah, the instigation.

[Trey Kirby]

Instigation.

[Tas Melis]

Like, I mean, he kind of decks.

[Trey Kirby]

Brooks, you know, he pushes him down.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Brooks kind of gets tabletopped and just laid there on the ground looking up. I thought was a flat, funny reaction as well, but yeah, just an angry night in the association, I guess. I had to check. I checked my app. I was like, is there a full moon? Nah, no, no. We got like a 3/4 going on here. I don't know if it was waning or waxing. I didn't pay attention. But we got a gibus.

[J. Skeez]

I got a theory. I think this type of weather gets people a Little more frustrated.

[Trey Kirby]

Great point.

[J. Skeez]

Irritated. Cooped up. Yeah. Just like the travel these teams have to do with this crappy weather, delays all, you know. Oh, yeah, a little bit. You're like, you can sort of see the All Star break right over the horizon for like 95% of these guys.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeez]

So, yeah, my tempers were flaring there last night. Something to talk about.

[Tas Melis]

I woke up, my throat was extremely dry. One of those waking up in the middle of the night because your throat was dry. The one night I would have liked to have a cup of water beside my nightside table. That would have been perfect.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

So I had to walk all the way around. Oh, you got up to Danielle's side. Yeah. I mean, I couldn't. I couldn't survive. I was so dry. It was so dry.

[J. Skeez]

Wow.

[Tas Melis]

It's the weather.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah. Throw it.

[Trey Kirby]

Parched.

[J. Skeez]

Took his wife's water. Jesus.

[Tas Melis]

All right, next one didn't roll. That's nice. That been rude.

[J. Skeez]

All right, next headline here from Euro Hoops. We'll go with Euro Hoops. Doc Rivers. This is a quote. Joel Embiid is the most talented player that I ever coached. Is this news? Trey Kirby, Doc Rivers showering Joel Embiid with some praise.

[Trey Kirby]

Medium news. I don't know, I guess it's only news because Doc currently coaches a pretty talented player in Giannis Anto. But look, Doc's coached a lot of good players and Embiid is very high on the list for being talented considering his size and his skill. If you throw out the injuries, like, it's like he's got a good argument. Like look at the guys that Doc has coached. Giannis, Lillard, Embiid Harden, Ben Simmons. He was talented. He was talented, okay? He was an all NBA player once upon a time. CP3, Blake Griffin, KG, Pierce Allen, Rondo, Tracy McGrady, Grant Hill. Like he's coached a ton of hall of Famers.

[Tas Melis]

Forgot about the Grand Hill.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. I mean, he didn't get the best of Grand Hill, but he was a super talented dude. I mean, Tracy McGrady was super talented when Doc had him as well. And Embiid ranks highly on that list. I would have to say.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Point per minute when he was at his best, finishing in the top two or three in MVP voting for basically half of a decade. Doc then did of course, go on to make a couple of excuses. Unfortunately for me, I never had him healthy once in the playoffs. River said he wasn't healthy last year. Doc's not even coaching him. Just dunking on Joel Embiid wasn't healthy the year before. That's five years straight. I think if he ever gets to the playoffs healthy, especially adding some big pieces here, they're going to be a dangerous team. So I think it's only news because Doc is coaching a guy that has won two MVPs. But, like, Doc is just. They'll just say stuff.

[J. Skeez]

Doc doesn't care. He's going to be fired, too, here. Like, you know, not long.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

It just depends. How long is Giannis around?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. Yeah.

[J. Skeez]

But what do you think? Is this newsworthy at all? Because some people are like, who? What's the big deal? Other people are like, what? Why is a coach of Giannis and the Bucks, especially with what they're going through right now, Will Giannis betray? Will he. Not saying this, like, just maybe weird timing. Whether even if it's true or not.

[Tas Melis]

It'S not news because Giannis doesn't care. Yis doesn't care if somebody says there's somebody more talented. He has said it in the past. Steph is more talented than me. KD is more talented than me.

[Trey Kirby]

I work hard.

[Tas Melis]

That's who I am, and I am that guy.

[J. Skeez]

Do you think Joel Embiid is more talented than.

[Tas Melis]

Yes. Yeah. I think about it. Yeah. When you go through all the names. Yes, I would say that. And I. I do think Giannis would agree. I mean, maybe he wouldn't say it, like, right.

[Trey Kirby]

Right.

[Tas Melis]

When he was asked about it. Would he say that Joel and be.

[Trey Kirby]

It's tough. Be is more skilled.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. For sure.

[Trey Kirby]

Playing hard, though, is a talent.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

And Giannis has that in spades.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Yes. Yeah. It's all how you look at what a talent is. That being said, it is the second part that is a little bit wrong, in my opinion. That other part, unfortunately for me, I never had him healthy once in the playoffs. I don't buy that. I know he's been unhealthy. We've seen it plenty of times. We saw it in the 2019 Raptors championship where Embiid was sick and left and played, but was not healthy. And there's lots of times where Embiid is out. But I will say 20, 21, the second round of the playoffs, it was that Ben Simmons series where the Philadelphia 76ers lost to the Atlanta Haw. Embiid played a lot. He played 37 minutes per game. He scored 30 points. He averaged 13 boards and four assists. He played all seven games in that second round series that they lost.

[J. Skeez]

But he did have a knee injury. Did he not.

[Tas Melis]

Did he in that series?

[J. Skeez]

I thought he did in 21, but I could be. They all sort of blend together, because then he had the one where he had a torn ligament in his hand, but he also had a concussion, and he had the, you know, the orbital fracture that was then. Then he had another one, too, where he had a sprain in his knee. So he did a lot like 21, 22, 23 is. I think what. I think that's the portion Doc is really alluding to.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I guess. Yeah. I mean, he had the orbital fracture because of Pascal Siakam's arm. That was the elbow right to his face. That was 22, 23. Yeah. So I don't know. I don't buy that other part. I think he was healthy somewhere.

[J. Skeez]

There were parts, is what you're saying.

[Tas Melis]

I mean, seven games 30, 13.

[Trey Kirby]

He had the poops in the playoffs once. That was tough.

[J. Skeez]

That was Marcus, all right, too.

[Trey Kirby]

The Spanish flu.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah, that's right.

[Tas Melis]

Against the Raptors, for sure. Yeah, the Raptors. He was not healthy in that series, but he didn't miss any in that 21 series. I'm picking one series, which is, you know, there are plenty of series where Joel is. Has not been healthy. That's. That's totally true.

[J. Skeez]

But.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. Or, excuse me, Doc Rivers is funny saying that he was hurt last year. He didn't even coach him last year, by the way.

[J. Skeez]

And then a part of this is like Doc was saying, if Embiid is ever fully healthy in a playoff run, especially with them adding some pieces. He talked about the Sixers, then they're going to be a dangerous team. But it all comes down to whether or not Joel Embiid is healthy. Can he. Can he withstand being healthy for obviously, four rounds or even. Even three if they want to try and get to a conference final? So that's what he's saying. But it's just. It's just classic weird Doc Rivers timing. He's bigging up. A guy you coach like, that's cool, but maybe not right now. Maybe not right now, but maybe you don't care. That's why we're asking it. And is this news. That was the perfect headline for. Is this.

[Trey Kirby]

That was a perfect news headline.

[Tas Melis]

And it was very fun going through Giannis's quotes because of this Doc Rivers quote, because I really enjoyed reading him say, I'm not as talented as Steph. I'm not as talented as kd. I'm desperate. I'm obsessed. So I work as hard as I Can. Because I don't want to lose this. That's his quote.

[J. Skeez]

The picking and choosing of what you.

[Tas Melis]

Believe yourself is amazing. Is unbelievable these days in 2026. Goes all right. Does not.

[Odoo Sponsor]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

I had to make the decision, but I love that quote, just reading that quote. Will he say that Embiid is in that sort of category as Steph and kd? I don't know. No. What would Yana say that?

[J. Skeez]

No, I mean, I'm curious. I'm curious if they ask Giannis, hey, what do you think of Doc saying, yeah, somebody's the most talented. Somebody asked, what are your thoughts? And Giannis usually has a lot of thoughts on things.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[J. Skeez]

So, yeah, I can't wait for his response.

[Tas Melis]

He's not with the team right now.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Hey, it was a fun game to watch between those two teams. Other than Jericho Sims. Yikes. He could have been a guard, a guy to guard Joel Embiid, but he. He was out there. Oh, man. Anyway, moving on and be throwing down.

[J. Skeez]

An Oop, though, was fun.

[Trey Kirby]

He's got 10 dunks now. Forever to get one. Yeah, he's got 10 dunks. The maxi found him on the. On the fast break for an oop and they went crazy. Insane. Like he was a student manager getting his first points on the varsity squad or something like that. But it felt like a party. It was like a cool dunk. And here's news. I feel like Embiid's got a legit All Star case right now, playing really, really well. I think it kind of goes hand in hand with the Nets cratering. So maybe he steals like a Michael Porter Jr. Spot in the Eastern Conference. Or oddly enough, he could take Giannis's spot. Both Eastern Conference players could be on international teams and Beat is at 26 games, but he's playing right now. Giannis is only at 30 games. He's hurt.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

He won't be there for the All Star game, so I wouldn't be totally surprised to see him be getting named. He had 29 points in 29 minutes last night.

[J. Skeez]

Night. Yeah, I was. I was surprised they didn't fire off the confetti canyon there in Philadelphia. Like the one time corkma hit a shot there. Fur in beads. Alley oop is what I mean. That was awesome. Oh, also, I don't know if it'll make the worst of the week running, so hopefully I'm not stepping on any toes here. But how about that weird Jurassic park in game? I don't know what you call it. Guerilla marketing Advertisement.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, it's a collab integration thing.

[J. Skeez]

That was fascinating. Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

But I wouldn't put it worse of the week. No, I thought they executed it all right.

[J. Skeez]

Oh, I don't think Reggie did well with that one.

[Trey Kirby]

Were they in on it, do you think?

[J. Skeez]

Yeah, well, yeah, because it was Peacock. It was NBC. Basically, are saying, you can watch it on NBC or on Peacock.

[Trey Kirby]

Didn't it say watch on Xfinity? I think NBC. Is it Xfinity? The Arena. Oh, there in Philadelphia. Is that. Are they Wells Fargo? I don't remember what arena is called.

[Tas Melis]

I think it could have been way worse.

[Trey Kirby]

Point is Friday mobile arena. I thought it was like a Sixer specific activation.

[J. Skeez]

Well, what's the specific part for the Sixers, though, like?

[Trey Kirby]

Well, because they're an Xfinity arena.

[J. Skeez]

I get that, but. Oh, so they're just saying, go watch it on Xfinity.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, I don't. Nonetheless, it was weird.

[J. Skeez]

Well, Reggie and them were in on it. They were told this.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. Why would they be on the broadcast?

[J. Skeez]

Because Reggie kept saying, oh, like he was overselling it like crazy. Oh, my God. Let it breathe for a second.

[Trey Kirby]

What's the magic word?

[Tas Melis]

He wanted to know.

[Trey Kirby]

It's never revealed. That's one of the unanswered questions of Jurassic park that we're still waiting for answers 33 years ago.

[J. Skeez]

Go check out our Jurassic Pals series here on no dunks, YouTube. It's got its own playlist where we broke down every Jurassic park movie. And we'll continue to break down every Jurassic park movie. Yeah, we will, because there'll be another one coming.

[Trey Kirby]

I think the Rebirth made like a billion dollars still. And it wasn't even good.

[J. Skeez]

Horrible. Yeah, but we'll talk about it. That and Fast and Furious. We'll keep doing it. And we keep hoping for a crossover between the two.

[Trey Kirby]

That's possible.

[J. Skeez]

Vin Diesel versus the Dinosaur. Honestly, it'll happen.

[Trey Kirby]

I would like to see Vin versus the Friar Tucks.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Probably cause a fissure in the earth's crust of those two smacked faces.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah.

[JD (Producer)]

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[J. Skeez]

This is US Olympic gold medalist Tara.

[JD (Producer)]

Davis Woodhull and I'm US Paralympic gold medalist Hunter Woodhull.

[J. Skeez]

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[Trey Kirby]

A clear path and a team that you can absolutely trust.

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[Trey Kirby]

Learn more at pennymac.com PennyMac Loan Services, LLC equal housing lender NMLS ID 35953 licensed by Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act. Conditions and restrictions may apply.

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[J. Skeez]

Okay, next headline. Real GM Lawrence Frank Clippers agree to a four year extension. Is this news? And the real news by way of the athletic. But real GM had a nice slick headline for us. But is this news?

[Tas Melis]

I think Lawrence Frank is a good company man and frankly, frankly, definitely no pun intended, but frankly, I think they like the stability of having Lawrence Frank there and keeping that front office the same. Listen, he's done some good things. He had to sit in a meeting with Chris Paul for hours and break it to him.

[J. Skeez]

That alone is worth it.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, maybe not four extension, maybe not four years, but he had to multiple hours and say, hey, you're a hall of Famer, man, but you got to go home, essentially. And he got it done. Now other parts where he said, we got Bradley Beal. Yeah, third time's a charm because they tried to get Bradley Beal multiple times. The third time was not a charm. It was an interesting move considering they haven't won a playoff series since 2021 and they just got older and more injured with a guy like Bradley Beal. I mean, they didn't have to pay a lot for him. All that to be to say, do you want to get older with Bradley Beal? All that to say stability in the front office is fine. So is this news?

[Trey Kirby]

I think, I think it's.

[Tas Melis]

It's fine. He's also. He must be buds with Steve Ballmer. Very good buds.

[J. Skeez]

Well, that's what people are saying. He knows where the bodies are buried. Yeah, you gotta keep them close. And maybe he does. When it comes to the. Obviously the allegations surround the circumvention of the.

[Trey Kirby]

You saw what just happened with the Lakers. All of the other buses were fired and suddenly we get an expose on the ins and outs of the family drama and the sale around there. So I don't think it's totally out of the realm of possibility that that's part of the reason. Also, Lawrence Frank has done like a pretty good job. I Think it's not his fault that Kawhi Leonard and Paul George previously kept getting hurt. Did he still build a team around those guys? Yeah, he did, but he also hired Ty Lue. He's found some decent, like, young guys that are contributing this year. And everybody was excited about the moves they made over the off season. It took half of a season for them to actually pay off. You also look at like, who's going to be the replacement? They could hire somebody that's already on another team. That's tough to do. They could get Bob Myers away from whatever he's doing right now. Dennis Lindsay, I suppose is another name, but it's like, who are you going to replace him with? So why not keep him around?

[J. Skeez]

Yeah, my gut says this extension was supposed to happen probably much earlier in the season, but then The Clippers started 6 and 16 because the athletic was reporting it back then. Right. Oh, they were hearing whispers about this contract extension, but it never materialized. But the optics were so bad because you had the whole obviously allegations and the league investigating what the hell happened with Kawhi and Ballmer and all that. Then you had the Chris Paul of it all. So that got messy and you had to deal with that. And they were just bad. So it would have looked really, really bad, I think, to like hand this guy a four year extension. They got rid of Chris Paul. Obviously the investigation's still ongoing, but okay, don't hold your breath on that. And they've turned it around like they're good now again. So now it's like, okay, now we can do it. Now when we're a headline on no dunks, they may not think it's that big a deal. So my gut says that's probably was the case. Good timing.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeez]

They just had to wait a little bit here.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, they went 3:16 followed by a 16, three run. Like, that's crazy.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

What a turnaround.

[J. Skeez]

It is. And now they're what? They're in the plan. Here they are in the play, try and make their way up. There's obviously a lot of season still to go, so. Yeah. But I guess you can debate whether, yeah, he has done a great job. I mean, it's a very old team. They're banking on these guys, the star players playing. I mean, it's not dissimilar really to Joel Embiid. Like, damn, your team's awesome. When Joel Embiid looks like an all NBA guy. But, you know, cross your fingers that he's there. Same with Kawhi.

[Tas Melis]

I know yeah, Right here, right now. It feels like they're super old and they are. But at the same time, their salaries do expire pretty soon, you know. So who are you trusting to go forward with the front with that roster? And you trust Lawrence Frank to some degree? I get it that they, they, as I said, the Bradley Beal thing, but John Collins is expiring very, very soon. I trust Lawrence. I trust him. And maybe I don't know why I trust Lawrence, but I trust him.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Would you trust him as much if he went by Larry? If he was Larry Frank? I agree. No, Lawrence is a much more trustworthy gm.

[J. Skeez]

I agree. Well, we have more name talk later in beach stuff.

[Trey Kirby]

Speaking of investigations, did you guys hear the Pablo Torre finds out?

[J. Skeez]

I did.

[Trey Kirby]

Robert Para. That is interesting.

[J. Skeez]

Explain it for the listener that has no idea what you're talking about.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, basically Robert Para's company, his tech company that he's made his fortune on ubiquity, provides Wi fi access points. Yeah, these access points are being sold through third party retailers to the Russian military to basically enable their drone warfare in the Ukraine.

[J. Skeez]

It's crazy.

[Trey Kirby]

This is against sanctions from the United States. So this to me actually seems like probably the biggest story that Pablo has done because it's not circumventing the salary cap, it's not gambling on sports. This is like potentially aiding and abetting war crimes.

[Tas Melis]

Right.

[Trey Kirby]

So I wonder how long this takes to play out because this is going to be something that the government has to investigate more so than Adam Silver. But yeah, that was a crazy episode to listen to.

[J. Skeez]

Absolutely. And, and it's yeah, highly recommend. Go listen to that latest Pablo podcast on this. But him reminding me of like Robert Pera, who like we never hear of anymore. He even calls him like the invisible owner. You just never hear his name anymore. Obviously the owner of the Grizzlies here, but we used to all the time. Remember when he was like challenging Tony Allen to a one on one game and then he was challenging Mark Cuban and like we talked about it. I'm sure we did, but that was years ago, so.

[Tas Melis]

And Pablo gets into that too. Yeah, yeah, he gets into the one on one challenges. Very funny. But yeah, I didn't know the, the satellite part. Very interesting as a rival to Starlink, Elon Musk's company that was in Ukraine if I'm not mistaken. As well not for the Russian military, but was there in Ukraine to assist way back, if I'm not mistaken. Either way, very interesting.

[J. Skeez]

We'll see what happens from that Final headline less important complex says shams Charanya, the ESPN insider himself, to play in the 20002026 NBA All Star Celebrity Game. And he basically talked on ESPN about him going in it. He said, I'm a shooter, I can handle the ball and I can make my floaters. Trey Kirby Shams playing in the all star celebrity game. Is this news?

[Trey Kirby]

Sure, this is news. Can't believe Shams didn't break it though. Yeah, he's the newsbreaker out there, but maybe you want to give somebody else a little scoopy scoop. But I'm excited to see what he's like. We've talked to him about playing basketball and he said he plays like Gennaro Park. I can never.

[J. Skeez]

Not hilarious, I guess. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

I was like, you are a Chicago guy.

[Tas Melis]

Respect.

[Trey Kirby]

So we'll see. He said he hits threes, said he shoots floaters. That sounds like Pargo to me.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

So we'll see what he's got. Anytime an actual media person gets into the celebrity game, I'm excited because you got to show up for all of us. Show a little something, man.

[J. Skeez]

Newsworthy. Will you be tuning in to see Chomps?

[Tas Melis]

I think this is the most interesting. I've been in a celebrity game since the inception of the celebrity game.

[J. Skeez]

Wow.

[Tas Melis]

Pre. Pre game. Like this far ahead. Yes. There has been rosters revealed and maybe I started thinking about, okay, yeah, sure. I want to see Hassan Minhaj and see what he can do out there. I do want to see Arnie Duncan and see what he can do out there. But are there any other players that you can remember that you wanted to see in the celebrity game?

[J. Skeez]

I mean, there was Quavo.

[Tas Melis]

Quavo, Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

I was excited when Quavo made it.

[J. Skeez]

There was some fascination with Bieber way back in the day when he was obviously playing in this thing when he was super, super young at the time. No. This is exciting. I'm with you on this. I mean, I wish or I hope still time, I guess. Love to see whoosh play against him. You imagine it'd be like a one on one meeting or LeBron and Kobe 2016 all star game when they got matched up on the exact.

[Trey Kirby]

Let's go Drake.

[J. Skeez]

Imagine there. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Who would be the Drake if Woj.

[J. Skeez]

And Shams in the all star celebrity game were like getting into it.

[Trey Kirby]

Adam Schefter, like another reporter. Yeah, I guess.

[J. Skeez]

I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. I'm not sure.

[Trey Kirby]

Let us know in the stream.

[Tas Melis]

Too Snotty drippin. For some reason he'd be the guy. He'd be the guy to come up because he just likes rivalry, Internet rivalries. The Temecula guy.

[J. Skeez]

Anyway, I'd love to see. I can't wait to see Shoms. Hopefully he plays. All right.

[Trey Kirby]

Get some buckets.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah, make one cool highlight if you can. And then make a couple buckets and just basically don't humiliate yourself.

[Trey Kirby]

I mean, that's the key.

[J. Skeez]

My gut says you're not going in this if you think you'd humiliate yourself. Like, literally can't dribble and can't shoot. Like, I doubt you'd go in it.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, he's good there.

[J. Skeez]

He's got some confidence to go in it, let's put it that way. Also, Glorilla and Mustard are expected to participate. So we know those two names as well.

[Tas Melis]

Glorilla.

[J. Skeez]

Well, a lot of people think. Does that mean Brandon Ingraham's gonna be an All Star? Does she have a clause? I will play in the celebrity game if my significant other here is selected. I'm just throwing it out there. Just throw it out there.

[Trey Kirby]

I don't think Mustard is playing.

[J. Skeez]

Great.

[Tas Melis]

Great.

[J. Skeez]

He is indeed.

[Trey Kirby]

Who will yell Mustard on the broadcast?

[J. Skeez]

This is an espn. Who's even on these calls?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, great question.

[Trey Kirby]

Who knows? We'll see.

[J. Skeez]

I don't know. Okay. What else could be funny, though? For Seam's breaking news within the All Star game would be hilarious. Yep.

[Trey Kirby]

He would never do this if they had kept the trade deadline after the All Star break.

[J. Skeez]

You're right.

[Trey Kirby]

Sorry. I can't take an hour and a half off to.

[J. Skeez]

Do you think he'll play with his phone in his hand?

[Trey Kirby]

He's got to.

[J. Skeez]

Also funny would be very funny. A lot of ideas. We got a lot of bits. Ideas shops. You know, somehow we're never invited into this thing, but we got a lot of ideas for it.

[Tas Melis]

You can GoPro that phone, put it on his head. He basically record what he like. Use that camera for the broadcast.

[J. Skeez]

Okay. Yeah, okay.

[Tas Melis]

Why not?

[J. Skeez]

Lots of ideas. All right, That's. Is this news? Let's take a break and then we'll hit the beach to answer a few of your questions.

[Tas Melis]

The reason I wish the super bowl was this Sunday rather than a week later is because my. My snacks. I mean, I would get into them asap. This just means they're getting older because of. My pantry is full.

[J. Skeez]

Because you stocked up with the cold weather. I'm in the ice storm and all that.

[Tas Melis]

No, they've just gathered my snacks. Just Gather. I've got. I've got the will to stay away from my snacks. So literally, I've got some sour cream and onion that need to be eaten. I've got those sweet potato chips we talked about a while back. Jd. They don't really tastes like sweet potatoes, but they're a good vessel for. For a snack. They're nice and crunchy. I got some nibs. Are nibs different in Canada than they are here for. For my Canadian brethren.

[J. Skeez]

I have to do a taste test, but I feel like maybe a tiny bit different.

[Tas Melis]

There's a tiny. The texture is all the same. Anyways, they're still good, but I. I would like to get to them this Sunday now. They're just seven days older.

[Trey Kirby]

You're not gonna have a Pro bowl party.

[Tas Melis]

The Pro Bowl.

[J. Skeez]

Shador Sanders is in it.

[Tas Melis]

That's right.

[J. Skeez]

That's right. He had a great season.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, it was really good.

[J. Skeez]

More interceptions than touchdowns. Wow.

[Trey Kirby]

But it's like, good for the defense.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah, I guess. Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

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[J. Skeez]

Are you thinking of having a Super bowl party?

[Tas Melis]

I haven't contemplated. I got so far from now 10 days.

[Trey Kirby]

A lot of time to plan.

[Tas Melis]

11.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah. Yeah. But you're not a fan of this two week break between the conference championships in the finals.

[Tas Melis]

No.

[J. Skeez]

Because I'm with you.

[Tas Melis]

The super bowl is an excuse to eat everything. And I want them as fresh as possible. Even if they're two months old. I'm not getting rid of them. I'm not trashing them. I'm not throwing anything out. So I'd rather have them be one month and three weeks old rather than two full months old. That's what I'm trying to say here.

[J. Skeez]

Okay.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeez]

Okay.

[Tas Melis]

But doesn't matter when the super bowl is. I mean.

[J. Skeez]

Well, I just wish it was this weekend, too.

[Tas Melis]

Just because we've. We're ready.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

You want to see the Seahawks, Pats?

[J. Skeez]

They play football every Sunday.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[J. Skeez]

And then suddenly we have a week off.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. And like conference Championships are awesome. You know, the Bears were actually good this year, so I was locked in to the playoffs, and then they just hit the brakes and it's like, okay, yeah, see you in a couple of weeks.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah, I would say it really doesn't help, like, this super bowl matchup either. Sometimes, like, okay, we can build the buzz for, like, two weeks, but, like, yeah, I don't know about this one.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, let's just play it.

[J. Skeez]

Maybe it'll be a great game, but we gotta wait so long. Yeah, but they gotta travel to California. We got media row and we gotta make a bunch of fake stories. Man, they must play. Is this news all the time when it comes to the Super Bowl?

[Trey Kirby]

Probably.

[J. Skeez]

So, you know, these, like, little, tiny, like, Is this even newsworthy? Oh, let's talk about it for an hour.

[Trey Kirby]

Is this news Bill Belichick snubbed for the hall of Fame? That's news.

[J. Skeez]

That's crazy.

[Trey Kirby]

You're gonna be asked about that.

[J. Skeez]

It's. The Patriots are in the Super Bowl. Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeez]

You should have been in. What's the reasoning?

[Trey Kirby]

I mean, people were speculating that the Colts guy, Bill Pollian, was, like, voting against it because they wanted to make Bill Belichick wait a year for the various scandals that engulfed the Patriots during his time. Spygate, Deflategate.

[J. Skeez]

Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

I think those are the only gates they had. But they were saying you were stepping outside the bounds a little bit. But they also won so many Super Bowls. I think he won eight Super Bowls total, including the Giants.

[J. Skeez]

So this guy, he's trying to make a point, like.

[Trey Kirby]

Yes.

[J. Skeez]

We're not putting you in right away.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[J. Skeez]

Because you did some suspicious things.

[Tas Melis]

Yes. Yeah. Because this is his first year, he's eligible. Yeah. Reggie Miller was not happy on the broadcast. Going to commercial. He said. Before we go to commercial. Actually, he didn't say that. He just said, what the heck? Put Belichick in. He was mad. Six as a. As a coach. And what were the other 2?

[Trey Kirby]

2 as the defensive coordinator, I guess, for the Giants during the Parcels era.

[Tas Melis]

Way back.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah. He beat our Bills, didn't he?

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, back to back Jacks.

[Tas Melis]

Guess so.

[Trey Kirby]

Did they win two in a row?

[J. Skeez]

I don't know.

[Tas Melis]

The Giants?

[JD (Producer)]

No, no.

[J. Skeez]

I assume he was on the.

[Tas Melis]

Not against Bills.

[J. Skeez]

So they beat the Bills. Yeah. The one time. Let's hit the beach. You got the bugs, I got the rockets. You got the nuts. I got the chocolate. We got that chick shack down pat, Blah, blah, blah. You got that certain special genesis. Okay, our first question, because we're on the beach. The only place to read your emails and your tweets. And it comes from Brum. It's the inception sound of me. Skeets mentioned Con Knipple's rookie stats are comparable to Steph Curry's. Admittedly, I don't meticulously follow the Hornets, but if I squint my eyes enough when watching Con play, I can see a future star. No real proof. I'm no scout and I'm definitely just correlating the three point shooting with, ooh, new Steph type deal. I guess it's just a gut feeling that's something you guys were sure of but had no tangible proof to back the claim. Pod in the lootime. Turd up. No hemorrhoids.

[Odoo Sponsor]

Awesome.

[J. Skeez]

Awesome again. That's from Brum. What do you think task you want to get started here?

[Tas Melis]

Hearing Trey repeat the line there from Brahm multiple times in the studio yesterday. Pot in the loot. Time. Turd up, no hemorrhoids. Awesome. Was very funny. Brahm, you did it.

[Trey Kirby]

The human mind is amazing things that people can think of. You would ne. You would have never thought to put these like 12 words in order.

[J. Skeez]

Never been put in order before.

[Trey Kirby]

Pod and the loot.

[J. Skeez]

That that alone's been never said first time ever. Then turd up. I don't really still understand. No hemorrhoids. Okay. That's awesome. Yes.

[Trey Kirby]

Pod in the loot.

[JD (Producer)]

Turd up.

[J. Skeez]

When I think turds, I don't think up.

[Tas Melis]

I mean, as a floater.

[J. Skeez]

Turn down for what? You hear that a lot. Yeah, you hear that one a lot.

[Trey Kirby]

Turn up.

[J. Skeez]

What's something you guys. But had no tangible proof to back the claim.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I was kind of trying to segue to Trey because my order is reverse. I'll, I'll, I'll take it here. Orders literally reverse. Because when we've been recently talking about the Clippers in any sort of way and Blake Griffin potentially getting the hall of Fame, I think back and think the Clippers had some success. But I'm wrong. They really didn't. The Lob City, the Lob City Clippers specifically didn't have a lot of success. They got to a second round. Yep, multiple times, but that's about it. So looking back, instead of looking forward in the loo, as I listen to this pod, looking back, I, I, I. It's just been seared in my brain because of everything positive that's happened with the Clippers during that run. Essentially, they were Twitter for a while. They were just so big on Twitter. Especially Blake Griffin and their dunks. And so I just thought that Lob City accomplished more. And I was. I was wrong essentially about that. But it is in my head that they got further than the second round. They got further than beating the warriors in the first round when Andrew Bogut got hurt that time, and they're playing David Lee at center. Or further than being the spurs off of their championship in the first round. Getting to the second round, they beat the Grizzlies and Marcus Holt. That's all they did. I thought they maybe got to a conference final, but I'm wrong. My brain's wrong. The brain is amazing, but my brain is wrong. Yeah, my brain is wrong.

[Trey Kirby]

But yeah, it does feel like when you're just thinking about the eras that the Lob City Clippers accomplished more than the Kawhi Paul George Clippers. But no.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, right. Technically, they didn't. Yeah, the Kawhi Clippers got to a conference final. You could say, hey, the Clippers did it for a longer time. Like, we're together for a longer time. I mean, they played six and a half years, I guess, together, while Kawhi and Paul George didn't play that long together. But, yeah, not a lot of success. They didn't get to a conference finals.

[J. Skeez]

Right. Period. What do you got here, TK In.

[Trey Kirby]

2014, the Miami Heat and Brooklyn Nets played a game where they all wore nicknames on the the back of their jerseys. This included Ray Allen, who wore Jay Shuttlesworth.

[J. Skeez]

Right.

[Trey Kirby]

And I was convinced it was because Spike Lee was going to be using this footage to make a He Got game sequel where Jesus Shuttlesworth gets to the NBA and has to compete against all these players.

[J. Skeez]

Wow.

[Trey Kirby]

No news on that one yet. No, no, but it's a great idea.

[J. Skeez]

It's just a good idea.

[Trey Kirby]

Good way to get LeBron into he got gay in part two. He still got Gay. Yeah, I guess is maybe what it'd be called. I guess Ray Allen has said he's left the door open for the sequel, but Denzel doesn't make a lot of sequels until the Equalizer series. Now they've made a couple of them. So I guess the door is still open.

[J. Skeez]

Still open. So he would be, I guess, father to a new up and coming player, Jesus Shuttlesworth.

[Trey Kirby]

Great question.

[J. Skeez]

Like, how would you do this?

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, like maybe his son, Jesus Shuttlesworth son, and he's like telling about his time through Big State and making it to the NBA. He's like, yeah, check out this footage. Is him playing with Mason going against Birdman or playing with Birdman, all this kind of stuff. But, yeah, I don't think it's actually gonna happen. But cool if it did, man.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, it's a good idea.

[J. Skeez]

I'll. I'll play a classic here in no Dunks land about something I was sure of. No tangible proof. I'm going way, way back. But longtime listeners know what I'm talking about. When I predicted that Jason Maxill would be an All Star before Danny Granger, just felt it in my bones, you know, I'm no scout either, Brahm. But I just was like, yeah, Maxiel, I like what I see from this guy. This guy's gonna be an All Star in the East. Danny Grandry's okay, but he's never gonna hit that level. But I was wrong. And I bring this up because people reminding us on Substack and in some of the YouTube comments over the last couple days, with all of this talk of Rich Homie Flom eating the tweet about the Clippers, like, his bad prediction, people are like, you guys did this once before, sort of. I'm like, what? We did? Yeah, we did back In, I guess, 2009, 2010, something like that. I think 2009, we were eating tape, actual tape, because the joke was all the stuff we said, like Max Hill would be an All Star before Danny Granger didn't come true. We should eat our words. So we ate our words that were on a tape cassette because we did the podcast. Now, this was amazingly off of a story from Chicago. Was his name Rick? Not Rick Morrissey?

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[J. Skeez]

Was it Rick Morrissey? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Chicago.

[Trey Kirby]

He's a Sun Times.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah, I think. Anyway, he did. He basically was like, Joachim Noah's was gonna suck is what his whole thing was. And he wrote an article on it. And then he was wrong. Joaquim Noah turned into be like, a great player, was good as a rookie, even. And so he ate his article. A piece of his article. So this is like, you know, this has happened before. We go back to the blog days, but this is Rich Homie Flom keeping up a long tradition in NBA media of eating either your newspaper article or your tape or a tweet. Now in Rich Homie Flom's case. So anyway, just want to bring that up and we go ahead.

[Trey Kirby]

Most people don't really recognize that you guys originally recorded straight to cassette tape. How did you get it onto an ipod? No one knows.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

But yeah, that's how it was done.

[J. Skeez]

You had to actually. You had to mail. You had to mail us, and we would put the tape in the mail and send it to you. And that would be the podcast.

[Tas Melis]

Has there ever been one recording on a DAT tape or something, JD or like, I'm going. Random type of tapes, Talking tape. DAT tapes is another form of. Not exactly like a VHS tape, but, you know, similar. I mean, I'm pretty sure we recorded every episode on dat.

[J. Skeez]

I was gonna say, I can picture these tapes. Yeah. Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Oh, that's why I bring it up, I guess.

[J. Skeez]

Yes.

[Tas Melis]

In the back of my brain somewhere. We put it on dat.

[J. Skeez]

Huh?

[Tas Melis]

Well, we were recording directly into Pro Tools, but I had the DAT going as a backup.

[J. Skeez]

Backup for a while.

[Odoo Sponsor]

Yeah.

[J. Skeez]

Yep, yep.

[Trey Kirby]

Which came in handy many, many times.

[J. Skeez]

Times. Oh, so, so wonderful. We've been on a great certified classic run here with some that we've been sharing on our YouTube page. We do have that one. That whole segment, that whole skit of us eating tape. So we'll throw that one up in the coming days. So make sure you subscribe to know on YouTube. Do it. It's pretty funny. I just watched it.

[Trey Kirby]

It is.

[J. Skeez]

I laughed a couple times. We made a mess, I'll tell you that. In my old condo party room, we were smart. We put paper down. Like we were going to have, like a. A. I don't know, like a crab boil or something like that.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah. I'd forgotten about Matt coming. Coming around with his salt and ketchup.

[J. Skeez]

Oh, yeah. You're, like, squirting mustard, like, way in the air at one point. Like, it's pretty gross.

[Tas Melis]

It's gross.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, yeah. Thanks have. I mean, come around. We're now reading tweets. DJ Mustard's gonna be playing this game. Stuff happens. All right, next one. AOLs. I emailed this a few years ago, but I feel like it's become relevant again this season. Hot take. RJ Barrett will have a better career than Zion or Ja Morant.

[J. Skeez]

Wow.

[Tas Melis]

Leaving your Canadian bias aside, let's discuss turkey nuts. Made some pies. Awful. That's from Intus. Gold Coast, Australia. So RJ Barrett will have a better career than Zion or John Morant. I don't remember into saying it, but I kind of do, but I kind of don't. Is it true now, Trey?

[Trey Kirby]

This is tough.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

RJ has played more games than either Jaw or Zion. He's got more total points, more total rebounds. RJ and Zion both currently under.500 for their career. Jaw's the only one with a winning record throughout his career. One playoff series win for RJ maybe gets more this year. One playoff series win for JA and then Zion, of course has never played in the playoffs. But Jaws, a one time all NBA player, two time all star. Zion's a two time all star. RJ Barrett probably won't ever make an all star team in his career. So what do you value more? Being able to play and therefore compiling better, counting stats or having a really high peak where you are one of the best players in the league? I would take the latter though. It definitely feels like John Zion haven't come close to living up to their potential, whereas RJ's probably reached his potential. What you got?

[J. Skeez]

It's a good question.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, it's a great question. The difference is right here, right now, in this moment, RJ Barrett knows what he is and he is thriving being who he is. Last year he was giving the ball plenty because everybody else was injured. Ingram was injured, Barnes was injured, Quickley was injured. Here you're the guy make plays. And this year when everybody's gone, gotten healthy, he's decided, all right, I'll go to what I'm great at doing all the time. He's just so, so efficient at being a cutter, at finishing at the rim. He's 70% at the rim.

[J. Skeez]

He's been really good.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, yeah. Turnovers are career low because he said, all right, I'm not the playmaker anymore. Everybody else making plays, he's doing that. He doesn't take long twos. Only 3% of his shots are long twos. So yeah, it's very. They're different careers, that's for sure. But he's just thriving at that. And huge bonus. He loves Toronto. He loves where he is, loves where he grew up. And there's that part of it. Toronto loves him. He loves Toronto. Can't say the same about the other guys in the same way, that's for sure.

[J. Skeez]

It is an interesting hypothetical, let's say one of these coming expansion teams, you know, Seattle or whatever, Las Vegas get an opportunity because these three guys for whatever reason are available. Who would they select right now? RJ Barrett, Zion Williamson or Ja Moran? The Seattle SuperSonics get the first pick in the expansion draft and those three guys are available. Fun to think it's like immediately like, wow, they would take Zion or John Moran over RJ Barrett, right? I'm like, would they? Would they?

[Trey Kirby]

I think they would take Zion. I think he would be. I think he would still go number one in this draft. Of the three of them, he's played like, like 22 straight games. Yeah, he looks good when he plays. I know it sounds ridiculous, but he's already played more games than he did all last season. You saw him going straight at Wemby. That was like, interesting to see two of the most unique body types in the league and like Zion was getting the better of them at times. I know the Bulls are a team that has been kind of linked to potentially pursuing Zion here at the trade deadline as well. I think between like the marketing that follows Zion, he's still a star on Instagram at the very least. And the fact that he's like, who knows? Literally he's gonna get hurt immediately after recording this podcast. But the fact that he's on the court right now and producing I think means he would be the guy that gets chosen.

[J. Skeez]

I agree, but it's amazing we're even contemplating it. And that does speak to how RJ Barrett has grown into a better player since he was drafted third there overall by the Knicks. I was pumped to see Mike Shearer at Basketball Poetry. He included RJ Barrett on his short list of players who are having great seasons that not enough people are talking about. And he wrote Barrett's constant improvement continually surprises. He slowly morphed from a mechanical shot chucker to an indispensable high scoring glue guy. Now it sucks. RJ Barrett's been banged up this year too. Like, he's a little injured, but good points from Shearer here. RJ Barrett doesn't have like a particular standout skill, but he's sort of average or above average. Just above average again in everything really when you think about it, 35% three point shooter on decent volume. So he's not like elite, but he's not brutal. He can handle the ball and pass a little bit, but you're not running your offense through RJ Barrett. He's a good rebounder, but not really a great one. He's not a defensive liability, but he's not a lockdown defender. Like, he is this sort of glue guy that can like, doesn't really hurt you now because he's gotten better. And you brought up that he does generate a lot of shots at the rim. That is his one strong suit there. He's gotten better and more efficient this year. So he's turned himself into this like off ball player. So if you put him with the right players, he's a dangerous guy. So I just thought that was a good point from Shearer, how he's sort of just. He's like a really good, just average guy.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, he's comfortable letting everybody else do the thing. And then he's a great slasher, great cutter. If I think of one shot, it's him able to body guys close to the rim and finish with that lefty dinker, dumper, whatever you call it.

[J. Skeez]

He's good in transition too.

[Tas Melis]

He's good at that. He's good at starring in his role. As said, he's really good at that. The expansion thing is really interesting because what does the expansion team want? Do they want to air quotes Star? Then they take a chance.

[J. Skeez]

They want to sell jerseys, create buzz. Yeah, that's why you're taking Ja or Zion over RJP Barrett.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, it is interesting to hear when I was looking at the Zion stats, to see him have more games played this year than last year. It's shocking because as that person said, yeah, RJ Barrett is sort of flying under the radar. So is Zion in a way. But their team stinks as well. I mean, that's part of it.

[J. Skeez]

One thing RJ Barrett has over the other guys is he's got more success in international basketball. He was pretty instrumental for Canada winning bronze at the World cup and beating America in overtime. He had an awesome game. It was Brooks that gets all like the headlines from that game because he scored like 39 points. He was on fire. But SGA and Barrow was. He had some clutch shots in that game and he's had. He was. He's played with Team Canada for a long time, obviously when he was quite young.

[JD (Producer)]

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[J. Skeez]

This is US Olympic gold medalist Tara.

[JD (Producer)]

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[J. Skeez]

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[Trey Kirby]

A clear path and a team that you can absolutely trust.

[J. Skeez]

So when it came to getting the best mortgage, we chose PennyMac. PennyMac is proud to be the official mortgage provider of Team USA and you.

[Trey Kirby]

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[J. Skeez]

Good questions here. Let's do another one. Dear. No Donkey bunch. Oh, I know who this is from. I was just listening to a very depressing Wheel of Fandom episode about the sad state of the Milwaukee Buck. And it got me thinking about how the Jrue holiday trade is even more justified given everything that's happened since their one championship. When is the time you went all in and it totally worked out. You just got cheeved on that question. Shout out to Cheever, Our guy coming through with this one. The wheel of fandom from the athletic NBA daily podcast, the Weekend edition with Schleicht and Spear. So. So, yeah, what do you think? When's the time you went all in? Totally worked out.

[Trey Kirby]

I'm growing my hair long. Took forever, man. I didn't think it was gonna take three years to finally get a ponytail, but my hair's so curly that, like, the first year was all about just getting the puff. The second year was getting the gravity, and the third year was finally getting it long. But in the end, I had a ponytail. I did it, man. Probably will never happen again.

[J. Skeez]

You don't think so?

[Trey Kirby]

It takes too long.

[J. Skeez]

Really? I could see you sort of like, older Trey Kirby, old man.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, sure, I could have old ponytail.

[J. Skeez]

Because you're like, who cares? And.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, that's a great point. But basically, I decided to cut my hair. When we got here, when we finally started building the classic factory, I still had long hair at the point. At that point. And, like, JD Was putting in these new, beautiful cameras, and I was like, oh, my goodness, my hair is flowing like crazy here. This is going to be a lot of upkeep. That's a lot easier. During the pandemic, I just throw a hat on or, like a bandana or something, but just too much maintenance to make it look good. That's when you went all in on 4K. Yeah, I was all in. And then I was all out.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah. Yep.

[Tas Melis]

Three years. A long time.

[Trey Kirby]

It's too long.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeez]

You got a hat on right now. You're growing your hair out.

[Tas Melis]

I wish. I don't have the guts to do it for three years. It would take super long, like, like during COVID But the beard got longer. But that was, like, several months, and even that wasn't long enough. Like, I needed longer, but I had to make a decision. I. It went away. Yeah. So the hair ever get long? Yeah, maybe from an old man.

[J. Skeez]

I can't picture you with super long hair, to be honest.

[Tas Melis]

I think I can do it.

[J. Skeez]

Okay, awesome.

[Tas Melis]

If I'm old.

[J. Skeez]

What do you have for this, though? You went all in. It totally worked out for you.

[Tas Melis]

I went all in on buying Taco Bell breakfast.

[J. Skeez]

You did it?

[Tas Melis]

Oh, yeah.

[J. Skeez]

Oh, my God. You were just talking about this.

[Tas Melis]

Oh, yes. It's happened. Listen, I'm gonna get into it on Substack. I'll make. I'll make a video about it. I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna show anyone me eating it, but I went all in on the toppings. Surprisingly. They've got eggs. Who knew Taco Bell has eggs? I know you love egg. Skeets. Taco Bell has eggs. Are they. I didn't know that.

[J. Skeez]

Well, yeah. Okay.

[Tas Melis]

Anyway, I mean, they have breakfast. You think they would have some instant.

[J. Skeez]

Eggs, Breakfast burrito, Generally eggs.

[Odoo Sponsor]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyways, wow. Shout out to people who said, you gotta have the Taco Bell breakfast. So can I ask by the name? I'll give these people by the name. Ramez F24 Wolf Pack 02. Tall Greg said it twice. Tall Guy. Oh, excuse me. Tall Guy Greg. Not Tall Greg. He's Tall Guy Greg. He did twice. And if you're Ramez Wolf Pack and Tall Guy Greg, if you're not Substack subscribers, you just got a free subscription.

[J. Skeez]

Oh, wow.

[Tas Melis]

Because you got. Because you got me on the top.

[J. Skeez]

You gotta put that to a moat. Are you going to be writing about it or doing a video for Substack? Or both.

[Tas Melis]

Great. It's a really good question. I thought I was gonna go video. It just felt natural. But, you know, I don't know. Maybe both.

[Trey Kirby]

I'm excited. I'm excited for this post, man.

[J. Skeez]

I am too. I honestly am. Jd, do you have an answer for this? Something? You went all in and it totally worked out. Putting you on the spot here.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, no, not really. I mean, I guess podcasting, we were pretty early and it seems to have worked out.

[J. Skeez]

That was sort of my answer too. Definitely. When I took the job at Yahoo Sports Writing, that really then got this whole thing going for me, at least, because then it became a real job. Right.

[Trey Kirby]

The Internet, turns out, kind of worked.

[Tas Melis]

Out for us in a way.

[J. Skeez]

Yes. The Internet at a time was the greatest place in the world to us. It had its moment. It really did.

[Trey Kirby]

Back when people were eating tapes. Good old days, you know, Nobody eats tapes these days.

[J. Skeez]

Nope, nope. They truly aren't.

[Tas Melis]

Next one.

[Odoo Sponsor]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Hello. No Dunkaroos. I work at a middle school as a substitute teacher. Today, while substituting in a gym class, I found a Spalding Basketball that had David Stern's name on it.

[J. Skeez]

Wow.

[Trey Kirby]

I don't know how to react to.

[Tas Melis]

This.

[J. Skeez]

Cool, very cool story.

[Tas Melis]

When is the time that you unexpectedly found some piece of basketball history?

[J. Skeez]

Wow.

[Trey Kirby]

It's history.

[J. Skeez]

David Stern was last the Commissioner of the NBA in2020. 2014, right?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeez]

84 to 2014.

[Tas Melis]

That's when silver took over. Had to deal with Donald Sterling. Sterling immediately, essentially. So 12 years ago, the late David Stern. Yes, it's 12 years ago. Was already a throwback. I guess it's already.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah, I know, it's true.

[Tas Melis]

Anyway, Frank from Tuxedo in New York essentially asking when's the time you unexpectedly found some piece of basketball history? Like he did when he saw that David Stern ball.

[J. Skeez]

This is a tough question. Frank from Tuxedo, New York.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, Frank from Tuxedo, New York. This is tough. I have a great answer and I completely blew it. But back in 2015, Matt Bonner was on the Spurs. He formed a fake band with his teammates, Aaron Baines, Patty Mills and Kawhi Leonard. They called themselves Sporan Sporan. And they recorded this video that was basically a Tim and Eric sketch. Yeah, spurs instead of sports. Very funny video. In it, Kawhi Leonard is wearing a rush tie dye shirt playing the drums. You see the shirt here on YouTube. I have that shirt. I have that literal Kawhi Leonard shirt because Luke Bonner sent it to me. He's like, do you want this? I was like, yeah, of course I want this.

[J. Skeez]

Oh my God.

[Trey Kirby]

I forgot. I forgot to get it out this morning.

[Tas Melis]

So the same shirt that Kawai wore, Luke Bonner had the one that he's.

[Trey Kirby]

Actually wearing in this very photo. I have it in the archives in the basement. I've thought about wearing it like as a shirt because I'm like, I like a tie dye shirt. That's a cool looking one.

[JD (Producer)]

And it is gigantic, man.

[Trey Kirby]

It is so big. And I'm like, I don't feel like Kawhi Leonard is that much bigger than me when I'm watching him out there. Height wise, we're probably about the same, but his shoulders are a lot broader. He fills this thing out and I'm swimming in it. This could be a sleep shirt for me. I could go Winnie the Pooh mode.

[JD (Producer)]

Jeff Teague.

[J. Skeez]

Go Jeff T. Style. Yeah, Kawhi I fuck, I gotta pull it out.

[Trey Kirby]

I saw the question again this morning. I was like, nice, I'll do this as soon as I'm done answering the questions. And I didn't.

[J. Skeez]

That's Good.

[Trey Kirby]

I didn't do it.

[J. Skeez]

You answered it. I struggled with this, I guess, in thinking it out. Like you've said before, Trey, we're one day gonna be in the Basketball hall of Fame for having podcasted for 80 years. But you know, whether that's true or not, will wedgies make the hall of Fame? Will there be a wedgie exhibit? A wedgie part in the Basketball hall of Fame? And if so, and if there is, will the underwear that Shaq ripped off my body when he gave me a wedgie be framed and in the hall of Fame? So maybe that is unexpectedly one day a piece of basketball history.

[Tas Melis]

You're trying to talk it into existence.

[J. Skeez]

I'm trying to talk it into existence. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

[Tas Melis]

Maybe Wedgie army.

[Odoo Sponsor]

Yeah.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah, Exactly.

[Tas Melis]

Interesting.

[J. Skeez]

Just a small little part.

[Trey Kirby]

Just a small part.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

I think do it.

[J. Skeez]

I think it's at least a pop up exhibit. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

During our induction weekend, that's when they should do it. We can get the. We can get Rick and Todd back to fly the ball into the rim.

[J. Skeez]

Oh, I love that.

[Trey Kirby]

That was pretty cool when they came up with that.

[J. Skeez]

Very cool.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[J. Skeez]

Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

There's a lot of things we could do.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeez]

Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

See if you can stick your own wedgie, like on a shot. Oh, can you do it on purpose?

[J. Skeez]

This is really good.

[Trey Kirby]

Nobody can do it on purpose.

[J. Skeez]

It's. It's very tough.

[Tas Melis]

Yep.

[J. Skeez]

You need the. You need the right type of basketball. If you get one of those grippy balls that you sort of play with outside, that helps your chances. But still not. Not easy to do. Do you have an answer for this?

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I too, like trade. Don't have my hands on this piece of memorabilia today. Although it's not even in my house. It's in my wife's family's house because they used to be seasoned seat holders in New Jersey. In 2002, when they went to the finals against the Lakers and they got swept, there was a game. Danielle said it was game four. I'm looking here at my notes. What game was it in game four? The New Jersey Nets. They got swept, but the band Korn was multiple rows in front of her. The band Korn. Okay.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah.

[Tas Melis]

And as Korn left, Danielle's brother Yoni, also known as the Whittler. Yeah, that's his occupation. Also a musician. I like saying he's a musician. He's also a dj. A disc jockey is just. It's a little offensive. I mean, he does that, but. Well, but he's a musician. Okay, okay, okay.

[Trey Kirby]

Just Like DJ Mustard, man. That's why he goes by Mustard now. He's more than just a dj. It's like guys in the dunk contest, they don't want to be known as just a dj.

[Tas Melis]

So Corn walks by and Yoni says, hey, can you sign this Keith Van Horn jersey? And they say that's weird. But okay, they signed a Keith Van Horn jersey. That's weird.

[J. Skeez]

That's cool.

[Tas Melis]

It's framed, but I don't have it. But either way it's cool. Keith Van Horn jersey.

[Trey Kirby]

Keith Van Corn.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, for sure.

[J. Skeez]

Every member.

[Tas Melis]

That's good question.

[J. Skeez]

Or just the Jonathan Davis or just the main head and the main cob.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, the number one colonel I don't know.

[J. Skeez]

Good answer, man. I like that. I'd like to see that. Can you take a photo of that? Can you do a subtract on that? Yeah, let me see.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, I just put it up on substack.

[J. Skeez]

Final one. And this is a fun question from Giuseppe in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Are the falls frozen over?

[Tas Melis]

Never.

[J. Skeez]

Never Too much power.

[Tas Melis]

They are.

[J. Skeez]

What players in the NBA have names that indicate they would be better than they actually are? Simplified. What non star players have star like names for fun. What is the inverse? So star players with non star names. And this is Giuseppe's suggestions here for his first part. I'd say Sidarius Thornwell, Stromile Swift and Johnny Juzang sound like guys that would be bonafide stars. Meanwhile, George Gervin, Bob Pettit and Chris Paul sound like your local account accountant. Keep up the great work on substack. Thank you Giuseppe. Everybody should go and subscribe. The link is in the show notes so you can go either side here. Like, yeah, which guy is a non star player but has a star like name? Let's start with that side of things and we can do the opposite side if you want.

[Tas Melis]

I thought Cindarius Thornwell. It's a great one. I thought it was very similar to Daquan Plowden.

[J. Skeez]

I love that name.

[Tas Melis]

It's a great name.

[J. Skeez]

It's a good name.

[Tas Melis]

No, not a star. No, no. A couple more, I'll throw them in there. Haywood Highsmith maybe it's sort of like classic. It feels classic. I don't know if it's because it's Spencer Haywood, NBA hall of Fame, but.

[J. Skeez]

You know, I think it's a good sounding name.

[Tas Melis]

It's a good sounding name.

[J. Skeez]

Alliteration.

[Tas Melis]

Haywood Highsmith and I threw Janai broom in there. Janai. It's hard to Say his first name. Honestly. Just drafted.

[J. Skeez]

Oh yeah, that guy.

[Tas Melis]

Yeah, that guy. No.

[J. Skeez]

Okay.

[Tas Melis]

Undersized guy for the 76ers. Janai Broom. Just a cool name.

[J. Skeez]

Non star players with star like names. Who do you have in your list.

[Trey Kirby]

Of like a thousand names? Alliterations, guaranteed. I think you're going to be good. Cam Christie. Yeah, I feel like he's better than Max Christie, but he's not Shaden Sharp.

[J. Skeez]

That's a good name. Hopefully he is a star one day. Yeah, he could be.

[Trey Kirby]

I think he's got more turnovers than assistant.

[J. Skeez]

I saw that too.

[Trey Kirby]

Not great. Love the double Ds. Dante DiVincenzo, Dyson Daniels, DeMar DeRozan. Great names.

[J. Skeez]

DeRozan might be hall of Famer.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, yeah, for sure. He, he qualifies. But I'm just saying those are great names. And then one to me that I think is really interesting, especially since his name has come up a ton on this podcast is Ion Williamson. There's also a guy named Zaire Williams. Those are pretty similar names. And one was the number one draft pick and one was, I think he was a top 10 pick. But he's, you know, not really established himself. Himself all that much.

[J. Skeez]

He was scrapping hard last night with that jumper.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, he's done okay actually, in Brooklyn and kind of at least proved that he can stick around in the NBA. But their names are so similar. But Zaire ain't quite Zion.

[J. Skeez]

No, those are good. I got a couple others. I love the name. Johnny Furfy. Great day. Sounds like a star player to me. Like Johnny Furfee's in. Watch him, he's gonna get some buckets. I think Bub Carrington is a cool ass name. Sounds like he has his own shoe deal. That's a good name and my favorite. I thought maybe one of you guys would say it sounds like a superstar to me. Naquan Tomlin. Oh, that guy sounds like the, the star player in the high school over. Oh, no, we gotta go against Naquan Tomlin. That guy's going pro, I heard, so. I like that name. What about the opposite? Some boring ass names that maybe are star players.

[Trey Kirby]

Norm Powell. And Andrew Nemhard. Hard as well.

[J. Skeez]

Okay.

[Tas Melis]

It's the hard part, really. No, I didn't write any of these down. Any of the boring names. A lot of boring names out there.

[J. Skeez]

Paul George.

[Trey Kirby]

Paul George is a good one.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah, well, it's like Chris Paul, obviously.

[Trey Kirby]

Yep.

[J. Skeez]

Chris Paul is so basic.

[Tas Melis]

Paul George. Stop podcasting. It helps. Podcast P. Podcast P. I went double Checked.

[Trey Kirby]

He hasn't been podcasting this year.

[Tas Melis]

Not since the summer.

[Trey Kirby]

Wow, he's playing great.

[J. Skeez]

Well, that goes right into Lovely of the Night. Thanks for all the questions. Those were fantastic. We'll make sure we do beat step in here again soon. But woah, boy of the Night, it's actually going out to Harrison. Harrison, I'm told, is watching at home right now in Bellevue, Nebraska. It's got the flu, unfortunately. Harrison does. But someone coming through with the sponsor for you, Harrison, so feel better. Honorary Woah, boys. To Michael Porter Jr. Chet Holmgren, Miles Turner, they all had good games, but Paul George gets.

[Tas Melis]

Woah, boy.

[J. Skeez]

What year is it? What year is it? 32 points led the Sixers to the big victory over the Bucks podcast P. Ugh. Can't even call him that anymore. No, but he shot 11 to 21, hit a franchise record tying nine three pointers on 15 attempts from deep. Guy was on fire. Five boards, five assists, and a game high two steals. Paul George, man, whoa, boy.

[Tas Melis]

He's Only played in 26 games this year because he played it a little slow. Played, you know, slow. Played it a bit like Joel Embiid, but excelling here. He had other guys carry it for him with Maxi and Edgecombe. Looking great. Looking great.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. I think sixers are five and one when Paul George scores 20 or more. And you're right, he was on fire last night. He did hit the back rim a couple of times on his makes, but these were some crispy swishes.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah, nine. Three pointers, no joke. So he's looking good. I'm not looking good when it comes to pick him right now. I cannot find a W after a hot start. I'm 8 and 10. You guys are now tied at 10 and 8. I basically need a win tonight. I mean, we're getting to the point here to, to obviously extend this and to hopefully catch one of you guys to not be last place. So where are we going? Going.

[Tas Melis]

And you have isolated yourself tonight. You're picking. You're picking the Houston Rockets at home to the San Antonio Spurs. Rockets are favored by three and a half, so they got to win by four or more, while the spurs got a few points to play with. But this is a rematch of eight days ago. The Rockets won by five.

[J. Skeez]

Do it again, boys.

[Tas Melis]

You think they can? I, I, I questioned it because Wemby shot 5 of 21. And that was the game afterwards, Kevin Durant said he's still working on his jump shot. We made him shoot over us. Well, when we get a Little more physical tonight and have a better turnaround game. It is in Houston. So you've got that going for you, but you've got the Rockets. Well, Trey and I have the spurs to cover that three and a half.

[J. Skeez]

And that came into play last night. Some of us, you and me, we had the Pistons to win, but they had to win by seven. They beat the Nuggets, but. But they did not cover.

[Trey Kirby]

The line was too big.

[J. Skeez]

The line was too big. And big comeback from Denver. And Jamal Murray, unfortunately was missing free throws left and right last night.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. Got fouled on a three pointer twice, five seconds and missed one of the clutch free throws in both of them. That was pretty crazy. I thought we were good, though. I mean, the Pistons got up by 10 to 12 points like three different times in this game. And then Tim Hardaway would hit a shot from half court, Bruce Brown would draw an and one and Spencer Jones would throw up his parentheses jump shot. And it was just going in. It was unbelievable the way they kept coming back and that one and then, you know, Murray at the end, that was.

[J. Skeez]

That was crazy.

[Trey Kirby]

But this is pretty much it, I guess, right? Like, we got three games left and this goes the other way.

[J. Skeez]

It's basically a wrap.

[Trey Kirby]

Yep.

[J. Skeez]

So I need the Rockets tonight.

[Tas Melis]

That's right.

[J. Skeez]

To win by four or more. Come on, Houston, let's make things interesting. We'll call it there. Thanks for joining us live on YouTube. Hit the like button. Subscribe podcast listeners. Five star ratings and reviews. Spotify listeners. Drop your comments there. There. We see them, we love them. I drop a heart emoji on ones that I like. See people giving thumbs up, people going, some shock comments, few and far between. But you can drop emojis there. You can drop comments. It's great. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Can you do any emoji?

[J. Skeez]

I think you can pick. I mean, now that you say that, I'm always given five emojis, but that might just be my last five emojis.

[JD (Producer)]

Sure.

[Trey Kirby]

And then maybe there's like a select more.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah, I think you can. Because I don't have a thumbs down as my emoji from those five that pop up. But I. But I've seen thumbs down emojis on other shows in the comments, so. Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, not surprised. No thumbs down on our show.

[Tas Melis]

No.

[J. Skeez]

Why would you. Why would you? All right, we will see you guys tomorrow live at 10am Eastern. Until then, Clipper Boast, you heard it here first. Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys.

[Trey Kirby]

Awesome.

[Tas Melis]

Thanks for joining us. And remember, Spencer Jones catching a stray here on no Ducks. Maybe that's why they give you a thumbs down, Trey, because you said a parentheses jumper.

[Trey Kirby]

I mean, it looks like a parenthesis when he's shooting.

[Tas Melis]

Oh, yeah. Oh, it's literal.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, like its body turns into a curve.

[J. Skeez]

Good, I got you.

[Trey Kirby]

And it goes in somehow.

[J. Skeez]

I want to see Lou Dort vs. Spencer Jones in the Pro Bowl.

[Trey Kirby]

In the Pro bowl, yes. Yeah. Okay.

[J. Skeez]

Sure.

[Tas Melis]

Just ramming into each other.

[J. Skeez]

Yeah, exactly. Wouldn't that be a nice battle?

[Tas Melis]

Did they hit each other in the Pro Bowl?

[J. Skeez]

No, they just played Dodge. All flag race of the day. People.

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[Tas Melis]

This is Julian Edelman from Dudes on Dudes with Gronk and Jewels. Sunday mornings, I've got my game day ritual. Coffee, lucky socks, and now new morning uncrustable sandwiches.

[Trey Kirby]

It's all about that 12 gram protein boost with the new uncrustables, Bright eyed berry or up and apple flavors.

[Tas Melis]

Bright eye Berries got a feisty receiver.

[Trey Kirby]

Energy up an apple. Your classic do it all tight end.

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Soft, pillowy, packed with protein and easy enough for Gronk to grab from the freezer.

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Whether you're on the couch, driving to the tailgate or heading to the locker room, new morning Uncrustable sandwiches are the MVP of snacks.

[Tas Melis]

Your new Sunday kickoff ritual starts here with new morning uncrustable sandwiches packed with 12 grams of protein. Janice Torres here and I'm Austin Hankwitz.

[J. Skeez]

We host the podcast Mind the Business.

[Tas Melis]

Small Business Success Stories, produced by Ruby Studio in partnership with Intuit QuickBooks.

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We're back for season four to talk to some incredible small business owners.

[Trey Kirby]

The big thing about working at tech.

[Tas Melis]

Is that it's ever evolving, ever changing. Everyone's a rookie. That's how fast the industry is changing.

[Trey Kirby]

So what I'm really excited about is to be part of that change. So listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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