NBA Weekend Winners & Losers | This Rookie Class Is Legit

Summary

---

No Dunks Podcast – "NBA Weekend Winners & Losers | This Rookie Class Is Legit"

Date: October 27, 2025
Hosts: J. Skeets, Tass Melas, Trey Kirby, JD
Podcast: No Dunks (iHeartPodcasts)

---

EPISODE OVERVIEW

The No Dunks crew gathers for their first Monday show of the 2025-26 NBA season, diving into the first weekend’s biggest winners and losers. With the rookie class already living up to the hype, the guys focus on instant impacts from new stars like Cooper Flagg, Victor Wembanyama, Dylan Harper, and Cedric Coward. They debate which teams look legit, which should be worried, and highlight moments from an action-packed weekend on and off the court—including the much-hyped NBA on Prime studio debut, early coaching storylines, Adam Silver’s gambling scandal Q&A, and more.

---

KEY DISCUSSION POINTS & INSIGHTS

1. Rookie Class Steals the Show

• Cooper Flagg's Arrival (04:21 – 09:42)

  • Tass hails Cooper Flagg’s breakout performance (22pts/4reb/4ast/1blk):

    “It was punctuated by that dunk. He cocked back, you could tell after the dunk celebrated with Anthony Davis, and then he broke out a smile.” —Tass Melas [04:36]

  • Mavs' experiment with supersized lineups, Flagg as primary ball-handler.
  • Jason Kidd “handing him the keys”—echoes of Giannis running point.
  • Trey: “It’s going to be a growing experience for sure... but long term, it’s going to be better.” [07:36]
  • Skeets: “He just feels way more comfortable running the pick and roll... I think you can expect those kinds of numbers (22/4/4) all year.” [09:01]

• Victor Wembanyama & Spurs Undefeated Start (09:46 – 16:10)

  • Spurs are undefeated; Wemby’s stat lines: 29-11-9 (blocks!) vs Pelicans, 31-14-4-3-6 vs. Nets.
  • Wemby’s two-block-then-logo-three highlight, dominance, and showmanship.
  • Trey: “If you did a vote for MVP, he would probably win it right now.” [11:36]
  • Dylan Harper and Stefan Castle also praised—Harper compared to Manu Ginóbili.

• Cedric Coward’s Torrid Start (16:53 – 20:08)

  • Grizzlies rookie shoots 6-6 from three in a big win; overall shooting 70% through three games.
  • Skeets: “He looks like the definition of a 3-and-D guy. Built like Kawhi, to be honest.” [19:26]
  • Trey: “That’s what Memphis needs. They’ve been linked to every single wing who’s become available since Ja got there... maybe they finally have it.” [18:01]

---

2. NBA Weekend Winners (22:21 – 46:05)

• Detroit Pistons (22:21 – 27:44)

  • Two strong wins—outlast HOU and BOS despite injuries and depth challenges.
  • Asar Thompson and Jalen Duren breakout, Isaiah Stewart thriving in new bench role.
  • Trey: “The bench and athleticism that Stewart and Holland bring is really big... they’ve helped flip a couple games so far.” [25:09]

• LA Lakers & Luka Doncic/Austin Reaves (27:49 – 36:45)

  • Lakers have had a 40+ point scorer every game so far: Luka Doncic (43, then 49), then Austin Reaves (career-high 51).
  • Reaves' masterful scoring & drawing fouls: “The Lakers took 46 free throws last night... but also, the Kings were not guarding anybody at all.” —Trey Kirby [30:25]
  • Discussion on lineup synergy and LeBron’s potential off-ball role as Luka and Reaves handle offense.
  • “LeBron is smart enough, he can figure out anything like that—can he buy into the role?” —Trey Kirby [34:17]

• NBA on Prime Debut (36:45 – 43:33)

  • Studio’s size and LED court wowed the crew; Nash, Dirk, Blake Griffin, and Haslem praised for technical breakdowns.
  • Skeets: “Them actually talking about basketball and the X’s and O’s... awesome. They did a great job.” [37:11]
  • Some caveats: On-court graphics and “too many pop-ups” felt distracting.
  • “It was fun to watch... the biggest thing I took from it—enthusiasm and knowledge.” —Tass Melas [38:18]

• Other Quick Winners (43:33 – 46:05)

  • SGA & Thunder (3–0 start), Miami Heat’s explosive offense, Kawhi’s strong play, Mavericks’ retro uniforms.

---

3. NBA Weekend Losers (49:35 – 77:32)

• Adam Silver/NBA Response to Gambling Scandal (49:35 – 54:56)

  • Tass not convinced by Silver’s tunnel interview addressing Terry Rozier investigation:

    “I wasn’t sold that Adam Silver did enough to sell it... He needs a PR person to help him sell it better. There was just more to it.” [51:37]

  • Trey notes the optics: “It feels like the NBA tried to sweep it under the rug… the investigation left a lot to be desired.” [53:22]
  • Discussion of gambling's intersection with tanking, referencing Co-Conspirator #8 (widely believed to be Chauncey Billups) and future PR headaches.

• Orlando Magic Offense (55:37 – 60:14)

  • Shooting woes: 3-for-24 from three vs Bulls.
  • Trey: “Paolo is really, really struggling… he’s playing in a crowd, all the time.” [56:23]
  • “Nothing has changed... 30th in offense, 30th in threes made… exactly the same team as last year.” —Trey Kirby [57:39]

• Winless Boston Celtics (60:14 – 64:50)

  • 0–3 for first time since ‘13–’14; overrun on the offensive glass, injuries exposing thin frontline.
  • “Their margin for error is so slim... worst defensive rebounding team in the league.” —Skeets [61:54]
  • “They can’t board. That was a worry coming in.” —Tass [64:35]

• Toronto Raptors (66:46 – 75:14)

  • Defensive identity breaking down, blown out by Mavs, issues with guard play/Qiuckley struggling, size/rebounding.
  • “We were sold all training camp: ‘We got a defensive identity.’ They said it, not us... I’m not really convinced (Immanuel Quickley’s) a starting caliber point guard. Sorry.” —Skeets [69:31]

• Phoenix Suns (75:14 – 77:32)

  • Blown out twice, playing slow and unathletic, heavy load on Devin Booker.
  • “They look brutal... no athletes on this team, foul all the time... I don’t think the Suns are going to be having a lot of successes this season, but the losses are going to rack up.” —Trey Kirby [76:24]

---

NOTABLE QUOTES & MEMORABLE MOMENTS

• On Cooper Flagg’s emergence:
  “Turns out he’s worth the number one pick.” —J. Skeets [05:27]

• On Wemby’s highlight package:
  “It feels like he only wants to shoot a three after an awesome defensive play because he knows that’s going to play highlight-wise.” —Trey Kirby [11:53]

• On the Spurs rookies:
  “Dylan Harper: I compared him to Manu Ginóbili after Game 1. I don’t think it’s ridiculous anymore.” —Trey Kirby [12:56]

• On the NBA on Prime’s new studio:
  “That thing is like a goddamn airplane hangar…” —J. Skeets [37:07]

• On Adam Silver’s gambling comments:
  “He just could have addressed it better. There was just more things to be said, I thought—a little more clearly.” —Tass Melas [51:55]

• On Magic’s offensive woes:
  “The big rig needs a tune up.” —Skeets [57:36]

• On the Celtics’ rebounding:
  “They can’t board. That was a worry coming in.” —Tass Melas [64:35]

---

TIMESTAMPED HIGHLIGHTS

• Cooper Flagg’s Dunk & Breakout Game: 04:21 – 09:42
• Wemby/Spurs Undefeated + Harper/Castle Praise: 09:46 – 16:10
• Cedric Coward’s Hot Shooting: 16:53 – 20:08
• Detroit Pistons Depth & Surprising Wins: 22:21 – 27:44
• Luka Dončić/Austin Reaves Scoring Barrage: 27:49 – 36:45
• NBA on Prime Debut Review: 36:45 – 43:33
• Adam Silver Gambling Scandal Response: 49:35 – 54:56
• Orlando Magic’s Shooting Struggles: 55:37 – 60:14
• Boston Celtics’ 0–3 Start: 60:14 – 64:50
• Raptors' Defensive Troubles & Quickley Critique: 66:46 – 75:14
• Phoenix Suns Falling Flat: 75:14 – 77:32

---

EPISODE SUMMARY

The No Dunks crew celebrates a wild opening NBA weekend:

• Rookies are dominating right away—from Cooper Flagg’s dazzling, versatile game to Wembanyama’s nightly highlights and all-around impact, plus top performances from fellow rookies Dylan Harper, Stefan Castle, and Cedric Coward.
• Teams off to hot starts: The Spurs’ chemistry, Pistons’ depth and resilience (even amid injuries), and the Lakers’ early season firepower (highlighted by Doncic and Reaves’ historic scoring).
• Studio & media evolution: The NBA on Prime debut is lauded for its energy and technical teaching, though on-screen graphics could use fine-tuning.
• Major storylines off the court: Adam Silver faces tough questions over the league’s gambling investigation, with the hosts expressing skepticism about the NBA’s transparency and messaging.
• Early losers: Orlando Magic and Boston Celtics look alarmingly similar to last year’s flawed versions, struggling with shooting and rebounding. The Raptors’ defensive breakdowns are exposed, while the Phoenix Suns already look slow and unathletic.

Ultimately, the hosts agree: This rookie class is for real, several powerhouses (like the Lakers and Spurs) are already showing their teeth, but plenty of Eastern teams may be in a world of hurt if their early flaws persist.

---

For further details, subscribe to No Dunks on iHeartPodcasts or catch them on YouTube for daily NBA talk!

Transcript

[Tass Melas]

I'm Scott Hanson, host of NFL Red Zone. Lowe's knows Sundays hit different when you earn them. We've got you covered with outdoor power equipment from Cobalt and everything you need to weatherproof your deck with Trex decking. Plus with lawn care from Scotts and of course Pit boss grills and accessories, you can get a home field advantage all season long. So get to Lowe's, get it done and earn your Sunday. Lowe's Official Partner of the NFL.

[J. Skeets]

This is Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang from Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang.

[Trey Kirby]

JBL Tour Pro 3 earbuds are for.

[Tass Melas]

Those who don't conform to the standard.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, I mean if you want to get into some touchscreen technology, how about the smart charging case Clear sound? These are not standard things. You're only gonna get them with the JBL Tour Pro 3, baby.

[Tass Melas]

And I love the sound of JBL when it goes. These earbuds are packed with innovation because you can't stand out by following others.

[J. Skeets]

Touchscreen Smart charging case for one to instant EQ customization, true adaptive noise cancelling and the one of a kind audio transmitter which can plug and play with everything from game consoles to in flight entertainment. What more could you want first doesn't follow.

[Julian Edelman]

Grab a [e-mail] this is Julian Edelman from Games With Names. Football is back. That means it's tailgate time and this season the only meat I'm going to grill is deets and Watson. I'm loving the Black Angus Dietz dogs. They're flavor packed and you can tell they are made with the highest quality ingredients. Sundays just got a whole lot better. Visit deetsandwatson.com the right way to learn more about the deets difference.

[J. Skeets]

Good morning sweet world and welcome to the no Dunks podcast presented by FanDuel. It's Monday, October 27, 2025. I'm J. Skeets here in the Classic Factory. Alongside me as always, Cass Melis.

[Tass Melas]

Happy Monday to all our friends.

[J. Skeets]

Next to him is my top shot hot boy Trey Kirby Ayo. Ay yo. And over yonder, making the magic happen, super producer jd Hello.

[Trey Kirby]

There he is.

[J. Skeets]

Here we are. Hello to everybody on YouTube. The stream team. You know what? Let's call you the Scream Team this week with Halloween Here. Drop your comments. Weigh in on your winners and losers of the NBA weekend. And yeah, we got a lot to talk about. We'll start with some wedgies. Guys. We had three wedgies over the weekend.

[Trey Kirby]

Big time.

[J. Skeets]

We're gonna show them to you Backwards. We'll start with the most recent wedgie. Drew Eubanks spinning inside and he botches the layup attempt.

[Trey Kirby]

I like the move, though.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, Very, very nice feet work. That was wedgie number four. Wedgie number three a little earlier on Sunday. Alex Sar with the block on Sexton there with the left hand. Got it in there. Nice camera work.

[Trey Kirby]

Really good.

[Tass Melas]

Sexton lost that one, too.

[J. Skeets]

And then Donovan Klingon with the defensive block. So that's number two, three and four or four, three, two. The way we showed it to you, we're on pace. 469 wedgies.

[Tass Melas]

Nice. Yeah, very nice.

[J. Skeets]

So excellent start, Tess.

[Tass Melas]

Really good start.

[J. Skeets]

Remember, we did the. What do we call it? Sort of the hot takes sort of draft. Bold predictions. Draft from our subscribers on substack. And you took, I believe. Was it you or Trey? Somebody took 75 pick.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

Excuse me. It was Trey.

[Tass Melas]

75?

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, I think it was 75.

[Trey Kirby]

It was 75. So we're still a little bit behind pace, but the balls are sticking this year. And look, Portland. How do they do it, man? What's going on out there? Because it's so rainy. Extra moisture in the air every year. They're wedging.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, you're right. I like to think it's because Kevin Calabro and Lamar Hurd, who are on the call for Blazers games, they respect the wedgie. Especially Lamar Hurt. He is always shouting out wedgie tracker.com, generally us. And I think the wedgie gods shine brightly upon that.

[Trey Kirby]

You're probably right.

[J. Skeets]

And give them more wedgies because they respect the wedgie. That's all.

[Trey Kirby]

The ball finds energy and wedgies find wedgie energy.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

So it makes sense.

[J. Skeets]

Let's get into NBA weekend winners a little bit later. We'll do losers. Couple rounds here. Task get us started. Where do you want to go?

[Tass Melas]

I'm starting with Cooper Flag because he has arrived. Took him three games, but he finally had his best game. And it was punctuated by that dunk. It was a beautiful dunk. He lined up Mamu Kelishvili on a fast break. It was great. Cause he saw him coming and he still pounded it on me cocked back. And you could tell after the dunk celebrated with Anthony Davis. And then he broke out a smile.

[Trey Kirby]

He knew the smile was funny.

[Tass Melas]

He knew I just gave it to him. But overall, I just thought this was Cooper Flag's best game by far.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tass Melas]

The guy is running the point guard, so you can understand why it would take him a couple games. The guy is playing with klay. Thompson and P.J. washington, Anthony Davis and Derek Lively beside him. He's obviously the ball handler and running the, the pick and roll took him a couple games. I, I questioned it. You got d' Angelo Russell standing there, but I guess or sitting there, I should say. But the Mavs are, are, are going with a Giant team and, and to see him run the pick and roll. There was a beautiful spin directly into an alley oop, a quick one and the pass has just happened in this game.

[J. Skeets]

He had a gorgeous bounce pack bounce pass to someone cutting back door for who it was. Yeah, he's turns out he's worth the number one pick.

[Tass Melas]

He is absolutely. And they're just beautiful moves. I think on Colin Murray Boyles, unfortunately that guy making his NBA debut in this one. He got spun by Cooper flag once, then he got spun ball faked by him on another occasion. And the three point shot you could see Cooper flag is comfortable with it whether it's a catch and shoot, whether it's a step back that he used in this one or just through the beginning of a pick and roll situation. Looked like he had it all. So 22, 4 and 4, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and a block in this one. Easily his best game. Again, I question Jason Kidd. Why is dangerous Russell sitting there? Can't you get your best point guard out there? This was the Mav's first win of the season and that made sense to me. If you want to win right now, if you want to get that over on the over under call for the Dallas Mavericks as I thought they would get, no problem. But I understand why they're going with this kid. This guy's a kid. So it would make sense that Goober Flag would take a couple games to really get it going. And it did. This was the third quarter, was the turn for this team. Again, I said they're giant. They scored 13 buckets in the paint in that one quarter. That's a lot.

[J. Skeets]

How many were dunks?

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, nine.

[Trey Kirby]

Nine dunks in the first 14 minutes of the second half.

[J. Skeets]

There you go.

[Tass Melas]

Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[J. Skeets]

It was a lot. I was watching the game.

[Trey Kirby]

I didn't know if I was having to save that for when we get to the Raptors as losers. But yeah, it was a dunk festival for the Mavericks and a lot of it was Cooper running the court, which was cool, but then creating plays in half court as well. It's going to be weird with him playing point guard for the majority of the season for the Mavericks. He did have a five turnover game on Friday against six assists but no turnovers against the Raptors. There's going to be ups and downs for sure, but long term it's going to be better. Like Jason Kidd played Giannis at point guard his second season in the league. You're like, what? That's kind of weird. And now guess what? Giannis is a good playmaker. Someday there will be a point guard next to Cooper Flag. Kyrie Irving most likely. But who knows how the rest of his Dallas tenure transpires. There will be somebody to make plays for him, get him easy buckets as well. So getting him on ball reps now, just fun to watch. It's going to be a growing experience for sure. Especially especially a team that doesn't have a whole bunch of three point shooting. They made 10 threes against the Raptors, mostly because they were living in the lane. But you see why Jason Kidd is encouraged to put Cooper Flag on the ball because he can make plays. He's super dangerous in transition. He's going to fill up the box score every single night. He's going to be a guy that's putting a number up basically in every single category. Long term, he's probably not the number one playmaking ball handler for a team, but when he's able to do it and when he's the secondary ball handler, he's going to be unstoppable. Literally. Still 18 years old.

[J. Skeets]

I know. I told Nora that last crazy game. She's like, what, you mean he's 19? No, he's actually 18.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

And then we got into what were you doing when you were 18? Sure as hell wasn't that. I will say the Mavs, they start this giant lineup. They start Cooper at point, but especially last night. D' Angelo Russell still flirts with 30 minutes max Christie, you know, around that 27, 28 minute mark too with Klay Thompson and his minutes sort of reducing as he gets older. So they get to those guys like their guards, let's call them, because they are just not starting as a funny choice. But yeah, it's fun to see Cooper sort of be handed the keys to the point guard position for at least some of the game. And I think it's going to pay off down the long run here as you're talking about.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, you'd think so. He just feels way more comfortable running the pick and roll. For sure. He looked more comfortable shooting the 3, this 22, 4 and 4 line. I think you can expect those types of numbers from Cooper Flag in his rookie of the year campaign as we get into other rookies in this show.

[J. Skeets]

Good start for all this rookie class.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, we got some good ones coming up in this one that are going to rival Cooper Flag again. His best numbers by far, but I think you can. You can expect those to be close to the average for him. In part. That was a stinky Raptors defensive effort in this one, but at the same time, Cooper Flag just looks great out there.

[J. Skeets]

Okay, great start. Let's keep it moving. TK Your winner of the weekend.

[Trey Kirby]

I got the San Antonio spurs as a winner of the weekend, one of the four undefeated teams remaining in the league. And Wemby Mania is running wild in San Antonio. Two more wins over the weekend and two more massive stat lines for Wembanyama on Friday. In a win against the Pelicans, he went for 29 points, 11 rebounds, and nine blocks. But Zion put him on a poster. Literally the first play of the game. That was awesome.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Honestly, not enough buzz for that. Yeah, that should have been everywhere. Zion highlights used to be everywhere, but now they're protecting Victor Wembanyama.

[J. Skeets]

Well, I will say it was a huge dunk.

[Tass Melas]

You're right.

[J. Skeets]

Maybe it was weird because it was like the first play of the game and then Wemby went on to do what you just said. He did indeed. Then blocked them every single time.

[Trey Kirby]

It felt many times. Yeah, it's true. Zion played awesome that game. I can't deny it. It was awesome to see those two. They were guarding each other for a huge portion of the game. Two of the weirdest bodies that you've ever seen on the NBA. Special stuff. I'm just saying that Zion dunk should have gotten a little better. Come on. Dunked on Wemby.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, we.

[Trey Kirby]

Kai Jones thought he was going to go to the hall of Fame based on that. He's only like 31. That's a good point.

[Tass Melas]

That's a good point about their pushing Wemby. Because even last year. It's true, there was some dunks on Wemby that weren't publicized enough. I was g. I was given. I know it's DeAndre.

[J. Skeets]

If try and block everything, you're going to get dunked on. Yes, as you should.

[Tass Melas]

But you get extra points because it's on the largest man in the league.

[J. Skeets]

Okay.

[Tass Melas]

Anyways, he was fantastic.

[Trey Kirby]

He was awesome.

[J. Skeets]

As we always say, never do anything on a Friday night.

[Trey Kirby]

Never do anything on a Friday night.

[J. Skeets]

Gets lost in the show.

[Trey Kirby]

First play of the game, it's going to get overshadowed for sure, but cool stuff. From Wemby. Slick stuff from Wemby on Sunday. 31 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 6 blocks in another win for the Spurs. You could call this a near five by five. You could call the previous one a near quadruple double. Like it feels like it's just a matter of time before this happens. Two blocks on one possession. Wemby did it at least twice against the Pelicans. He did it once against Brooklyn. This was the play that got like the most buzz I thought, for Wemby. Blocking two shots, the rim and then pulling up a logo three and knocking it down. Just great stuff from him. But the playmaking has been really impressive, I think for Wemby. Finally turned the ball over, but not until his third game of the season. He's seeing a lot of double teams. He's still going to the free throw line a ton. I think he took 12 on Sunday against the Nets. That's a career high. It feels like he only wants to shoot a three pointer after he's made an awesome defensive play because he knows that's going to play highlight wise. If I do something defensively, nobody's going to care if I'm the tallest guy out here taking a three pointer. He's playing a perfect brand of basketball for him right now. I feel like if you did a vote for mvp, he would probably win it right now. Even though I think Shake Gil just Alexander has been just unstoppable right now. Wemby just has such a high profile and is by far the best defensive player in the league. He scares so many guys. His block numbers can be high. Nine blocks is crazy. Like we might not see another player get to nine blocks this season, but he's influencing so many other shots and like you're saying he's going to get dunked on, he's going to get scored on, but that's because he's trying to block every single thing. So cool stuff for San Antonio. And Dylan Harper was awesome. He was 13, five and three against the Pelicans. And then a huge game on Sunday. 20 points, six rebounds, eight assists. I compared him to Manu Ginobili after Game 1. I don't think it's ridiculous anymore. The guy is so strong and he is so crafty. He's left handed. He does have a 2 on his jersey just like Manu did as well. So he looks like an instant hit for San Antonio. Stefan Castle has leveled up. He's really, really good. I don't know what those spurs are going to do When Dear and Fox.

[J. Skeets]

Comes back, I mean, yeah, it's, I guess a good problem to have. You're always going to have a pretty elite point guard out there. It's for sure feels like with the three of them in the mix, because, I mean, that's sort of what Harper does as well. He's a bigger guy. But I thought Harper was so good in that game against the Nets. I know it's against the Nets and all that, but, like, all season long, here he is so poised, so poised for a guy that's playing in his third NBA game. You would never guess if you showed tape to people, he'd be like, oh, yeah, that guy been around four or five, six years, whatever. Like, that's just the way he plays. Yeah. 8 of 11 from the Floor on Sunday. That guy's a star. That guy's a star. Now you got those two and Castle and Yeah, now you somehow got to get Fox in the mix here. You see people already like, how can they trade Fox? How can they get off it? Like, whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down. I mean, guys get injured and all that. And again, maybe a good problem to have for Ms. Johnson to always have somebody out there with Wemby.

[Tass Melas]

Yes. And it's great to see Dear and Fox into it, excited coming off the bench because you could start to say, well, maybe Deon Fox won't have his job for long, but he was into it. And you could see that playing with Stefan Castle in the starting lineup is going to happen. Stefan Castle is fine off the off the ball, but Dylan Harper is great coming off the bench, running the show and being able to score the way he can stop his body whenever he needs to. He's just so in control, as you said. He just. He just looks like he's 25 out there. He just feels so comfortable in that bod, doing whatever ball fix. He's gonna get space out there playing beside Victor Webanyama and all the eyes on him. So he's. He's in control of that space. I guess it is a little like Manu, the way that he could control his body and, you know, listen, Darren, Fox is going to be great out there, too. When. When he does get out there, kind of bonkers to think about, but they'll have some. I guess they'll just go small ball at times because you've got a giant man in the middle.

[Trey Kirby]

Like, it's easy to go small ball with the best rim protector in decades.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. And to go back to the highlight that you brought up, where he had the two blocks Wembanyama did, and then they eventually got the stop and he hit the 35 foot three pointer. The first block on that was so funny to me. Wemby was literally ducking behind Kelden Johnson. Like he was trying to sort of like blend in or hide a little bit because Kelvin Johnson was getting posted up. I forget who it was for the Nets. And you can see Wemby, he's like, lil hiding. And then the shot goes up over Keldon Johnson because that's not all that difficult. Just smacks it. Yeah. And then recovers to get the crazier second block. And then, yeah, they get the stop. And then he decides, yeah, this was a great highlight, but let's really complete it here and hit a huge, huge three. I'll give the Nets credit. They got back in the game. They were down huge. Like on a Sunday afternoon. It was like, oh, they're down 20. But then it was like, you know, obviously a one possession game.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah. Went down to the wire with the Brooklyn Nets. That's. That's a win for them on. On the other side. Yeah. Cam Thomas literally dropped 40 points. He looked great out there.

[J. Skeets]

40. No one cares anymore.

[Tass Melas]

No. Well, especially in a one.

[J. Skeets]

No, it's like incredible right now. Guys are scoring 50 left and right here. We'll get to Austin Reeves. I know.

[Tass Melas]

Like, yeah, 40 is nothing. Trey just said that Victor Wemanyama could be the MVP. There's another guy averaging 46 points. Luka Doncic.

[Trey Kirby]

Yes.

[Tass Melas]

I know it's. It's only two games, but we just skip over guys. Yeah. She's averaging 40. Giannis is averaging 36. That's nothing anymore. It's not enough points, man. Those were the top three guys.

[Trey Kirby]

Cam Thomas, 40.0 assists, 0 assists.

[J. Skeets]

Perfect.

[Tass Melas]

That was a Cam.

[Trey Kirby]

Yep.

[J. Skeets]

Chef's kiss to Cam Thomas. Let's keep the rookie love going here because we talked about Cooper Flag. Talked a little bit about Dylan Harper. How about Grizzlies rookie Cedric Cower, who had an awesome Saturday. 9, 13 from the floor, but 6, 6 from 3 in a win over the Pacers. Also chipped in 6 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, 24 turnover free minutes as well. Coward is on fire to start his NBA campaign here. He's seven. Excuse me, 19 of 27 from the floor. He's shooting 70% right now through three. And statitudes had a fun, very random stat about that. Only player to shoot at least 70% from the field on 25 or more attempts through his first three NBA games. Dan Issel, the horse Dan Issel was a six time ABA All Star. So he comes into the NBA. Maybe not that surprising that he shot 70% over the first three games. Coward as a rookie, a lot more impressive. But love what I see. I don't know if you've watched any of his tape here in the league. Like he looks like he just looks like an NBA player.

[Trey Kirby]

He's a man.

[J. Skeets]

He's 22 years old.

[Trey Kirby]

Like he is primed to be ready. We see this from older rookies sometime like Dalton connect had an awesome beginning of the season last year. Jaime Hawkez Jr. We saw come in as an older rookie and be ready to play. But that's what Memphis needs. They've been linked to basically every single wing who's ever become available since John Morant got there. They tried for OG Anunoby, they tried for Kevin Durant, they tried for Mikhail Bridges. Like they've tried to find a 3/4 man to fit next to Jaren Jackson Jr. For years. You can even go back further to like the Chandler Parsons days. It feels like they've been looking for a three man.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

As long as they've been in Memphis and maybe they finally have it eventually. I imagine he'll get the start. He's a better offensive player than Jalen Wells though. Wells is a really solid defensive player but it wouldn't be surprising to get his shooting on the court as well.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, and he can play great defense and yeah, he doesn't start but he closes games. The first game where they won against New Orleans, he closed the game and came up with a huge block with two minutes left. He closed out this game that he played last night and he basically closed out the other game against Houston where they got spanked. He was in the, in there in the fourth quarter. So yeah. Does it on both sides. But yeah, they've been looking. They have been looking. They keep looking. It was Zaire Williams most recently had a Luke Canard in there. They keep trying to find that guy. It literally yes, it, it could look. It looks like him through the first few games. Like they did find him.

[J. Skeets]

The guy looks like the definition of a 3 and D guy. He has a beautiful looking shot. I think he's going to be flirting as a 40% three point shooter sort of in his career here and then. Yeah, defensively he's built like Kawhi, to be completely honest. Like those broad ass shoulders, super long wingspan, you know he's a little bit shorter than Kawhi, I get that. But it sort of has that shape to him. But yeah, great stuff. And he's had a weird, he had a weird like college career, right. Because he was like he started in Division 3, then he was at Eastern Washington, then he was transferring to Washington State. You know, he is a bit older, as TK said, but has come in, made an impact like a lot of these rookies have. I mean we could list another five or six rookies that have impressed here through the first week. So good start for this class overall.

[Tass Melas]

And I'm glad we're calling him Cedric Coward instead of like he was called Colin Coward by the great Malika Andrews. Called him Colin Coward on draft day. I forgot about that. Well, I thought, yeah, that's the thing that's it's been planted in my head since hearing it. I was trying to give her credit for doing a four hour show and saying one freaking incorrect thing. That's fine. Either way it's Cedric Coward. So I think he's made his name for him. Yeah. And Doug, here we have the Limu.

[J. Skeets]

Emu in its natural habitat helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual.

[Tass Melas]

Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug.

[Trey Kirby]

Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us.

[J. Skeets]

Cut the camera.

[Tass Melas]

They see us. Only pay for what you [e-mail] Liberty.

[J. Skeets]

Liberty, Liberty Liberty Savings Fairy underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company Affiliates excludes Massachusetts.

[Julian Edelman]

This is Julian Edelman from Games with Names. Football is back. That means it's tailgate time and this season the only meat going on the grill is Deets and Watson. Some of my favorites are the Black Angus Dietz dogs, the Italian style chicken sausage and the Asiago spinach chicken sausage just to name a few. Oh, and I love the jalapeno mustard. It's flavor packed and you could just tell Dietz and Watson uses the highest quality meats in every bite. Dietz and Watson was born in Philly in 1939 and they've been doing it the right way ever since. Visit deetsonwatson.com the right way to learn more about the deets difference.

[IBM AI Representative]

If you're waiting for your AI to turn into ROI and wondering how long you have to wait, maybe you need to do more than wait. Any business can use AI. IBM helps you use AI to change how you do business. Let's create Smile to business IBM.

[J. Skeets]

Let's do another round here of winners tests.

[Tass Melas]

Let's get to Detroit. The Detroit Pistons had two really good wins after a bad start to the season. Their first game they go into Houston and win and they beat Boston as well. The win in Houston, it just showed how deep this team is. It was an ugly first half game. It was like they're playing Houston ball. It was just foul after foul after foul. It took forever to play. Jalen Duran was tossed in the first half of that game because it got so physical. But in comes Isaiah Stewart, who's played so well for them off the bench. He fouled out in the second half. And Paul Reed. They literally had to have a third center go at Alperin Shengun in this game, who only shot 5 of 18. Paul Reed, a big block on Shen Goon with 50 seconds left. So the fact that Dern gets out, Isaiah Stewart comes in, Paul Reed, great stuff. They had Charis Lavert not starting in this, not playing in this game. Jay N. Ivey's out, Marcus Sasser's out. So they have no guards either. Chaz Lanier, that second round pick. What a name on that guy like himself. The Lake himself. He comes in, it just gives Kate enough of a break to sit down and just play good. Enough minutes. Javante Green, literally playing key minutes. Duncan Robinson was awesome in this game. Four splash and threes. Asar Thompson had 19. But anyway, going on to Boston where more of their. Their stars were awesome. I thought Asar Thompson played his best game. 21 points, 12 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals. Had 16 shots that he took in both of those games this weekend. So you could see the Asar Thompson that everyone expected to be coming alive here. And Jalen Duran came back from that game getting tossed. 24 points, 18 boards. And then Cade Cunningham, I think what he did in both games was not start all that well, but come on late, you could see that he's got that superstar mentality. 25 points, eight assists. Yeah, a few turnovers, six of them against.

[Trey Kirby]

Fewer than the 80 had the previous game.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, there's plenty of. Plenty of turnovers. As you mentioned, Trey, last year we did the high turnover rate. Man, he is one of them. He's still doing it.

[J. Skeets]

His biggest knock on his game.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, but I was surprised just to see how deep they had guys to come help all of them. I mean, Ron Holland, Isaiah Stewart off the bench in the second game, they were just so deep. Just didn't know this about the Pistons that they'd get steady performances again. Very steady in both of them. Whether it's the Lake man himself or.

[J. Skeets]

Javante Green or B Ball Paul.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, B Ball Paul. Isaiah Stewart again has grown. We all kind of Question him in his first couple of years. Is he going to. I think he's comfortable coming off the bench and he's key to coming off the bench when Jalen Duran can't do it. So two big wins for this business. Seems it looks tough to play against.

[J. Skeets]

Anything to add there on Detroit?

[Trey Kirby]

I would like to see Kate have a better three quarters. He was bad against the Bulls through three quarters and then turn it on in the fourth quarter as well. That's when he's racking up the turnovers, is trying to get everybody involved. Part of it is a lack of talent, I think, for Detroit on the offensive end. Like, Cade has to do everything, has to set up shots for Duncan Robinson. Asar can kind of get his own shot sometimes, but Duran needs help. Like, he's got to make a lot of plays, but it unfortunately leads to a lot of turnovers for him. I do think the bench and the athleticism that Stewart and Ron Holland bring is really big. They've helped flip a couple of games, I think, so far for Detroit. I don't know how long Javante Green can stay as like, a. A performer. Right. Like, there's times, like, I saw him on the Bulls a lot. It would be awesome to watch him when he's making energy plays. It looks great when he's just out there. He's just out there sometimes, so I don't know. Dennis Jenkins, we saw him play for Motor City Cruise. Isn't that the name of their G League team? He's at least playing out there. They got the lake, man. I don't know that I really think they're all that deep, but they've got good enough players in their top three that I think they can be competitive in most of these Eastern Conference games.

[Tass Melas]

It's just important. It's just impressive. With Carousel Verd out for his last two games, Jay N Ivey out so far this entire season and out a few more weeks that the Janice Dinkins of the world and Chaz Lanier. Dennis Jenkins.

[J. Skeets]

Oh, man.

[Tass Melas]

Janice Dinkins.

[Trey Kirby]

That was my lunch lady.

[J. Skeets]

That sounds like that famous clip the guy yells in the video game. But I was going to say super small sample size. Of course. We're like three games in here.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

But one of the talking points coming in to this year with the Eastern Conference was, hey, of the three teams, the Magic, the Hawks and the Pistons, which of those three teams might separate themselves a little bit from the pack and like, maybe level up a tier or stay where they were? Like, we had those discussions and Again, it's very early. Lots of time for these other teams to figure it out. But the Pistons have looked the best of those three because I have not been impressed by the Hawks and I have not been impressed by the Orlando Magic, who I know we'll get to. So there's that. Something to keep an eye on, at least in the standings. And Detroit will obviously try and improve on last year's really good year, which we said we sort of all determined. We think they'll be right around that mark. 45 wins, 46 wins. I guess somewhere in that ballpark, I think they finished with 44 wins last year. Maybe 46.

[Trey Kirby]

I'm just looking at their preseason over. It was, right, 46 and a half.

[J. Skeets]

Okay. Okay. There you go. Feels like they're gonna be around there. Trey. Another winner.

[Trey Kirby]

The Los Angeles Lakers. Luka Doncic. And Austin Reeves is my next winner because the Lakers have had a 40 plus point score in every single game this season. Luca had 43 on opening night. Followed that up with 49 in a win on Friday against Minnesota. Became the fourth player ever with 40 or more points in his first two games of the season. Did you guys see who the other three were?

[Tass Melas]

I did not.

[J. Skeets]

No.

[Trey Kirby]

Two of them are quite obvious.

[J. Skeets]

Can you give me the stat again? Sorry.

[Trey Kirby]

40 points in two games to start the season.

[J. Skeets]

Wilt, Michael Jordan and.

[Trey Kirby]

Yes.

[J. Skeets]

Okay.

[Tass Melas]

Yes.

[Trey Kirby]

Those ones are easy.

[Tass Melas]

Somebody else?

[J. Skeets]

Iverson, 40.

[Trey Kirby]

Nope. The third one is a little bit more surprising, though. There is a tie to Luka Doncic.

[J. Skeets]

Kyrie.

[Tass Melas]

No, no.

[Trey Kirby]

Nearly, nearly, nearly.

[Tass Melas]

Dirk?

[Trey Kirby]

No. Well, I mean, I guess you could say there's a tie to Dirk Nowitzki if you wanted to.

[Tass Melas]

The best seven footer shooter in the world.

[Trey Kirby]

Nope. Anthony Davis.

[Tass Melas]

Oh, yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, they were traded for each other.

[IBM AI Representative]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

That's good. Luca was in complete control on Friday against Minnesota. He was killing in the mid range. He did get a dunk, kind of. The ball kind of squeaked over the rim and he grabbed it with his fingers.

[J. Skeets]

Low dunk score.

[Trey Kirby]

Low dunk score, but it counts. It even got LeBron out of his seat. People were like eyeballing LeBron in game one. Very stern face, never cheering for anyone. But even he was excited to see Luca throw down somewhat of a dunk on a fast break. I'll say this for Luca. He looks less sweaty, so that means he must be in better shape, better condition. I believe it. Even though his weight was way up compared to where it ever has been in the preseason. Unfortunately for the Lakers, Luca out now with the Left finger sprain, slash, left leg contusion. He will be reevaluated in a week. And guess what? It don't matter because they have Austin Reed. He's better than Luka Doncic. Apparently. A career high 51 points last night in a win against Sacramento went 21 for 22 at the free throw line. It was an absolute parade for this guy. You take that many free throws, there are definitely some questionable ones, but he's got savvy, he's got craft, he really knows how to draw fouls. And the thing with Reeves is he never stops moving. Yeah, when he catches the ball, he's already into an action. He plays well off the ball and when he has the ball, he was pulling some crazy threes. Then the Kings had to play up on him and it was just easy for him to get into the lane. The Lakers took 46 free throws last night. The Kings took 18. So I understand if they were a little bit heated about this, but also the Kings were not guarding anybody at all.

[J. Skeets]

Oh, we're gonna see a couple 50 burgers against kings this year.

[Trey Kirby]

Absolutely.

[J. Skeets]

You put DeRozan and Sabonis in pick and roll action like they were doing with eaten up top to get Reeves going. Yeah, we're gonna see that a lot more until potentially one of them's traded or something like that. Wow. You can expose that, but he was awesome. Reeves was incredible.

[Tass Melas]

I don't think Kings fans can be mad at the foul calls. They can be mad at their defense for sure. But as far as all those free throws, they earn them. Austin Reeves is great at managing a pick and roll. Apparently he's leading the league in points per chance on pick and rolls. 1.34, whatever that means.

[J. Skeets]

Sounds high. It's one of those crazy stats where you're like, yeah, sure, yeah, sure.

[Tass Melas]

I was, I was thrown out there by our man, David Locke, who I believe is correct. He's really good at managing the pick and roll. To drop 50 like that in a situation where Luka couldn't get to 50. JJ Redick said he kept trying to get him plays and get him to the free throw line and he missed the free throws to get him to 50 and couldn' there. But then he leaves the game. He literally played with four fingers or then not leaves the game, but is out for this next week because of a left finger sprain in the lower leg contusion. So yeah, they go and get the win in the first game that he missed. So great for them. But still, I mean, it does Hurt them in general. Because now Luca. I agree. Yeah. Because it's a reevaluation after these next four games. So he could miss another five to six games and just a bad sign to start this season. But they did look good against the Kings to get support from Deandre Ayton looked really good.

[J. Skeets]

That was his best game.

[Trey Kirby]

Great game.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah. Plus Marcus Smart hitting a lefty hook just entered into the starting lineup. But they did it, you know, despite a bunch of guys like Gabe Vincent left this game out lower. I think it was an ankle injury. Marcus Smart left for a while, but guys like Vanderbilt and others did it for them. So it was a good win.

[J. Skeets]

51, 11 and 9 from Austin Reese. And it's a 51 that they needed like, you know, they needed all of the 51. The Kings were hanging around. It was close. I mean it was a high scoring affair, but what a game. And this guy, man, his like, you know, points per game, what were they? I'm just looking. Okay. In four NBA seasons, now in his fifth, Austin Reaves has gone from 7.3 points per game to 13 to 15.9 to 20.2 last year. And now he's averaging. What's he averaging?

[Trey Kirby]

He's averaging 34, 51, but he was awesome. He was 26 in game one, 25 in game two. He's getting right near double digit assists in both of those games as well. He's playing for a contract. This is a bet on yourself kind of year for Austin Reeves. Cause the Lakers weren't able to offer him an extension that would be worth his while. The level of player he's become after success early in his career. So he's getting opportunities now with LeBron being out. And now with both LeBron and Luka being out, he's one of the better third options in the league. But he's proven like if I'm the number two guy, I'm good. If I'm the number one guy, I can do it too. So I think Reaves is just a really solid player.

[J. Skeets]

It is going to be interesting when if the three main guys for the Lakers are all healthy again, how that's going to work. And I bring that up because you do wonder, could LeBron pivot at this point in his career a little bit more off ball or a little bit more trying to do more defensive minded things and the passing and the screening, like basically I think Sam Quinn at CBS called him. Could he be a supercharged Draymond Green like later here in his career? Because they don't need on ball offense. I know LeBron always wants the ball, and it's usually a good decision, but Luca and Austin Riaz are incredible with the ball in their hands and, like, I don't know, something to watch when they're all back there. And would LeBron even ever contemplate such a thing? Can you even 23 years in be like, all right, I'll be off Balmore and do all those sort of, like, little, little things to help us win games?

[Trey Kirby]

Maybe Luka got him some of the easiest baskets of his career last season when he was buying in and playing as the roll man or playing as the cutting guy. It's kind of how he plays in the Olympics. He doesn't dominate the ball in the Olympics. And I mean, you're talking about a lineup that has five hall of Famers, so it's a little bit different. But LeBron is smart enough that he can figure out anything like that. It's just a matter of can he buy into the role? Because he has to buy into a role for the first time ever in his career. And can he be a plus defensive player for the Lakers? Because they're still going to really struggle defensively because you have to have Luka out there, you have to have Reeves out there. And if that's the case, it's going to be a problem because Ayton was good last night. I totally agree. 22 points, 15 rebounds. He was rolling really hard.

[Tass Melas]

He was.

[Trey Kirby]

The chemistry with. With Reeves looks really smart. Like, Reeves leads him into these roles. He's throwing it ahead of him so that Ayton has to keep chasing the ball, which gets him right to the rim on the defensive side. Like, he still loses track of stuff. Yeah, he gives one effort. Defensively, it didn't matter because it was against the Kings and they just couldn't, you know, stop the Lakers. This was really an offensive win. I thought, I don't know that Ayton is going to be shutting it down inside, but at the very least, he gave a great effort against. Against Sacramento. So we'll see, because they're going to be putting three defenders out there who are easy to pick on.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

And Luca Reeves and eight. And like, LeBron is good, but it ain't 2012.

[J. Skeets]

No, no.

[Trey Kirby]

He's not challenging for all defensive teams.

[J. Skeets]

He picks his spots like he can. He looks great at times like an elite defensive guy, but that's for very short stretches. A lot of other times he's just standing around looking at people, pointing at people. He has turned into the old man at your pickup run. The dad or the grandpa even that's out there. Be like, come on, you should be rotating. I don't need to do all that anyway. We'll see. They're two and one.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

So with all the injuries to their main guys, you're going to take that.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah. And hopefully Luka can come back. They don't expect it to be long term. They expect that finger to be all right in the lower light. Contusion to be fine. They, they said it's not a long term thing. That being said, JJ Redick has got everybody working extremely harp out there and I'm sure he's telling Austin Reeves, lead your man. Deandre Ayton, lead him, get him to the rim. That's where we need him to do his thing. So JJ Redick has tapped in after that first loss. He's got them playing extremely hard. So you gotta buy it. You gotta buy into JJ Right. Getting the most out of his team. I am at least considering what he was in his first season as the head coach last year.

[J. Skeets]

All right. NBA Weekend winner two NBA on Prime's debut broadcast on Friday night. Interested to hear your thoughts, everybody on YouTube, all the podcast listeners, I thought. But the production looked incredible. I'm talking about the studio first off that they have. That thing is like a goddamn airplane hangar.

[Tass Melas]

It's huge.

[Trey Kirby]

It's like an Amazon shipping center.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, it probably was. It's got like two levels. It's got this super high tech court. There's two sets because of the two levels. There's like the cool chill, like you know, couches and seats on the lower level and more of the desk type on the top. But it's wild. It was Taylor Rooks, it's Dirk Nash, Blake Griffin and Haslam. And the part that's getting a lot of buzz after Friday night was like them actually talking about basketball and the X's and O's and using that crazy LED court to show you, I guess Steve Nash was talking about pick and rolls and angles and all that. And Haslam did a whole other one on sort of defense pre switch. Cool. It was great. I thought they did a great job with it, implementing the technology. It's obviously early. Will the chemistry come a little bit more? Yeah, but what do you think of the overall look of NBA on Prime with Amazon having now the broadcast rights?

[Tass Melas]

Basketball players who like basketball. It works. I think those guys were just enthusiast. You can feel the enthusiasm, number one. Number two, I love the high angle camera. That shows off how big the set.

[J. Skeets]

Oh my God.

[Tass Melas]

That's smart. Because even the TNT set was pretty big. But they, I don't think they did a good enough job of showing both at the same time understanding it. Look at how big this space is. Here's one and here's the other. Rather than that, they just go this high angle as they walked from the one set where they were on the couches to the other set where they're going to show ball. You, you could see that high angle camera and you could see everybody walking over.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. But inside the NBA studio is big. It's a very large studio. This is like, I would dare say like, I don't know, like 20 times the size double decker. Oh, dude.

[Tass Melas]

Well, it's big. It's huge. It is huge. And it was fun to watch them on the court. And yeah, the fact is it was fun. That was the biggest thing I took from it. Wow. Blake Nash, Dirk as former. And Haslam as former players showing. Yes. Basketball plays. Excuse me? Basketball plays like the pre switch and all that, but they just like basketball. That's, that's the thing that I took about it from the most, you know, production aside, it was just fun.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. It feels like the NBA has handed down the edict we're teaching this year because Tim Legler's got his coach's corner thing going on over at espn. The Nash led pick and roll segment was really, really cool. I did like Udonis Haslam hopping in right at the end and being like, look, they never run plays for me. So set some screens, kids. I love to hear somebody telling the kids to set screens out there. But I thought the studio stuff was better than the standing on the court stuff that NBC did where just had like mellow Vince Carter, T Max standing there with Maria Taylor. It was a little awkward when you look back on it. And the studio stuff just makes a whole bunch more sense. As for the game, not a lot of buzz for this score bug. No, it was just the score bug. And I would say too many pop ups. Like they got the distance tracker on the three pointers. They got like a little thing over your head that chases you saying your stats as well. Yeah, I don't like those.

[J. Skeets]

Not, Not a big fan of that. Yeah, like almost too video game like. Or just distracting that it's like jittery.

[Trey Kirby]

Because you know, the players are like doing moves and this kind of stuff. Distracting.

[J. Skeets]

Okay.

[Tass Melas]

I thought NBC was superior in the game.

[Trey Kirby]

Presentation was better.

[J. Skeets]

But this. Okay. Okay. Yeah, yeah.

[Tass Melas]

And I love the Lineup, now that you said, yeah. Donna Haslam jumped in and said, come on, I never got plays called for me. This is how you do things. And he was invol in the pre switch, now that I think about it, because Nash conducted one of their, their, their sets where he was doing the pick and roll. Udonis Hasm was doing a defensive thing. Then you got a shooter in Dirk and you got a roller in Blake. They have a starting lineup essentially out there.

[J. Skeets]

True. Yeah. Then you got rooks out there. Chris Haynes made an appearance.

[Tass Melas]

He did.

[Trey Kirby]

He definitely did.

[Tass Melas]

I think he went.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, he threw a two bounce, bounce pass to the corner to Taylor Rooks.

[J. Skeets]

Oh, I did.

[Tass Melas]

Could have been a better pass. Wrong. Yeah. And he went a little too quick on the screen. I thought that was. That was gonna be an awful foul.

[J. Skeets]

Small notes here. Yeah, for hands.

[Tass Melas]

But he wanted to be in the moment, you know, And Nash didn't tell him to go. I think Nash should have had the ball anyway.

[J. Skeets]

Chris Haynes, he was teaching, though.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, you can still teach while you walk.

[Trey Kirby]

It felt natural, though. Like they were like handing off to each other to make their different points. Right. Because Nash is talking about the point guard side of things, Blake talking about the Roman side of things. And it just felt like maybe it was rehearsed, but it felt like they were just winging it out there. And it was like they had done it a hundred times before.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, I liked how that felt. Exactly. Whether it was rehearsed or not, it felt natural. And even them just walking out there, there was nothing rushed about it or anything. Let's let it breathe a little bit. Let's let these legends of the game teach us something to still have some fun. And yeah, it just looked incredible. So Thursday, Fridays, and I guess Saturdays, eventually we're getting a lot of. Of prime video games, so gonna be a lot more of this.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

And, you know, look, I think everybody's excited for NBC back in our lives, especially the nostalgia kick. And now we got prime here. Oh, look at all the new high tech stuff. Like, everybody's excited for the first week and maybe the second week, but then, you know, as we get into more of a regular flow, then we start going, okay, okay, now you're being too joyful about the game. You know what I mean? I'm just saying, like, I'm looking ahead here. You gotta do both, criticize, teach, have fun. I mean, it's a difficult job. So. Yeah, I can't wait to see, like, where it all goes. Week three, four, five. Are we still Going to be praising it as much or picking, you know, holes in it a little bit more.

[Tass Melas]

Well, I, I do think these players who played recently have no problem criticizing the guys that they used to play with. I don't. So I think you'll see that. But you'll also see them actually teach out there.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tass Melas]

And they're in their different roles and that'll be totally cool. And it is definitely this NBA idea, this direction of guys who like to play the game, get them involved more. I mean, I think they heard some podcasts like we heard. It was Alex Caruso and Jalen. Oh, no, was it? It was Jalen Williams.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Tass Melas]

Alice Caruso and Jalen Williams basically saying last year on a podcast, hey, nobody watches basketball anymore. And I think they heard that kind of stuff. And they need guys who actually played and got in and loved the game, period. And so you're seeing a lot more of that.

[J. Skeets]

There are a lot of similarities from the NBA on Prime to the NFL games on Prime. It's like a love letter to the league. And that's fine. I think that works a lot of the time. Good. Teach us Joyful. All that. But there are times when you need to criticize or at least point out things that the viewer maybe is missing of, like, things they could do better at. I'm talking about players and teams and stuff like that. And I'm sure that's going to come. Anyway, good start for, I would say, honestly, all three of the broadcasts here. It's like nice to have like some competition, I guess, amongst them to see like, oh, what's that doing? What's that team doing that we could steal or try and stuff like that. A few other winners of the weekend just quickly Shay got brought up. I mean, the guy's on fire. Continuing his mvp, you know, back to back season here, potentially. The Thunder improved to 3, 0. Kawhi looked great against the Blazers on Sunday. I know that gets overlooked. I thought he looked awesome. And the Miami Heat, who were one of my locks for their over, picked up two quality wins on the weekend. Friday night, they crushed Memphis. They scored 146 points, the Miami Heat scoring 146. And then on Sunday, Norman Powell and co handed the Knicks their first loss in a competitive game down the stretch. So Heat looking solid. Heat looking like an offensive juggernaut, which is a weird thing to say. Like they actually look good offensively. So good to them. And J.D. i don't know if you have that. Oh, go ahead.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah. Norm had 29, Simone Fontechio shooting 50% from three this season. Bellissimo. As our our friend Eric Reed likes to say, he's trilingual. Apparently he throws in a Spanish word, then he'll throw in an Italian word. They beat The Knicks. Yeah. DeAndre Hunter made his season debut. Cleveland looking like themselves again. Again.

[Trey Kirby]

It's a nice win over the Bucks. That's a good game.

[Tass Melas]

That was a solid game. And I thought Malik Monk trying a left handed winner on Friday against Utah Jazz was bold. He missed. He missed. And demonte Sabonis collected it and put it up and that was the game winner. But I liked that. And I also just want to mention the old man in the three was the the podcast I was referring to when I said Alex Crusoe and Jalen Williams. I didn't say the name because I was, you know, I forget about Reddit Podcast. Old podcast. That's a network, man. Yeah, yeah, but go on.

[J. Skeets]

Well, J.D. i don't know if you still have the photo. I I glossed over it when we were talking about the Mavs, but a winner of the weekend to the Mavericks, who were celebrating the 1980s with those. I thought they looked pretty sexy, those old throwback green jerseys. Anyway, this is their jumbotron scoreboard graphic, which is like emulating the old light bulb style from back in the day. I thought that was a cool little touch.

[Trey Kirby]

That's all we need.

[J. Skeets]

Looks wicked.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, it looks good.

[J. Skeets]

So shout out to the Mavs production team there. Alright, so lots of winners there. I know we left a lot of meat on the bone. Tell us in the Stream team right now. Tell us in the YouTube Comments Other NBA winners of the weekend. But let's take a break and then we'll get to losers. Peloton is shaping the future of fitness with the brand new Peloton Cross Training Tread plus, powered by Peloton iq. When I'm working out, I need guidance. Otherwise it's like a complete waste of time. My mind wanders. I'm questioning my form. It's not good. Thankfully, the new Peloton Cross Training Tread plus is Peloton's most elevated equipment. With real time guidance with your favorite instructors. It's cross training reimagined with features designed to make your workout more personal. This is my workout. That's your phone. This is my workout. Peloton I IQ provides intelligent strength coaching. It tracks your progress and suggests weights that challenge you so you can get stronger. And the new movement tracking camera allows Peloton IQ to count your reps and correct your form in real time, taking the guesswork out of your workout so you can train safer, you can lift smarter, and you can make every rep count. Here's my favorite part. The new Tread plus comes with a swivel screen so you can go from running on the tread to strength training or yoga off of it. With one smooth spin of that swivel screen, Peloton IQ creates a personal workout roadmap with weekly recommended classes led by instructors who match your mood, vibe and personality. Me, I'm a Rebecca guy. She just gets me. With personalized plans, plus insights and guidance, Peloton IQ helps you unlock new breakthroughs. Let yourself run, run, lift, sculpt, push and go explore the new peloton cross training tread [e-mail].

[Trey Kirby]

It's NBA tip off week and FanDuel is your home for live betting. So even if you missed the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Best fourth quarter team so far this season.

[J. Skeets]

Spurs?

[Trey Kirby]

No, they're up there. Oh, right now it's the 76ers. Oh, they had that huge comeback against the Hornets over the weekend. So yeah, 76ers doing it. I feel like a plus 55 net rating right now in the fourth quarter.

[J. Skeets]

That's good.

[Trey Kirby]

You can even combine your live bets into a single same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout however you want to play. Now is the perfect time to join because FanDuel is giving new customers 300 in bonus bets bets if your first $5 bet wins. So just visit FanDuel.com to sign up today. Play your game with FanDuel, official sports betting partner of the NBA.

[J. Skeets]

All right, if you're just joining us, hit the like button. Subscribe podcast listeners, five star ratings and reviews and let us know what you think of the studio here. Decked out for Halloween. We got the lights, we got a lot of cobwebs. We maybe went heavy on the cobwebs this year. I keep like getting stuff all over me. I saw you struggling with it, Trey.

[Trey Kirby]

I had a spider fall.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, we got little spiders and bats and some.

[Trey Kirby]

It's spooky, you know, it's just spooky.

[J. Skeets]

It is spooky in here. It'll be spooky all week. Oh, you got a pumpkin behind Trey's head there. And Jeff Probst, scariest thing of them all in here. But anyway, we got some monitors coming in soon too, so can't wait to see the upgraded classic factory. Anyway, let us know what you think. Let's do NBA weekend losers. Tass, where do you want to begin?

[Tass Melas]

I want to start with NBA commissioner Adam Silver, because when I heard him address the gambling scenario, I wasn't convinced that the Terry Rozier investigation was all that good, was all that thorough. After hearing him talk, I just wanted to be sold a little bit more. So he was asked on the Amazon broadcast by Cassidy Hubbarth about it, and he went into it himself. He said, what happened with Terry Rozier essentially was we had him in an interview, he talked to us, he gave us his cell phone. But the FBI has more subpoena power, can do more things than we can, and they got down to more details. Essentially. I just wasn't sold that the NBA did enough of a job. Because when you look at it, when you look at the indictment and the investigation, I mean, there are irregularities in the betting with the betting companies that the NBA has connections with. And you start to look at it. Co Conspirator 1, who is listed, was listed as, quote, was at times an NBA player. So you may have connections with that player. What that means, I don't know. Retired, current, I'm not sure. But you probably have connections there. And co Conspirator one told another defendant that Rozier was exiting and co conspirator paid, said defendant. So, you know, I think there's a little bit more there. And Co Conspirator 2 made $107,000 in bets. As I said, the NBA has those connections with those banning companies. So I just didn't think that Adam Silver did enough to sell it. Is it possible that the NBA didn't do a good enough job on their investigation? Sure. Am I speculating? Sure. It could. They just may have not done a great job investigating. That being said, I'm a kind person. I. I'm willing to give Adam Silver a little bit of a leash here and the NBA that they may have made a mistake. But I'm not a prosecutor, but I will say he could have sold it more there. There was more to it. He needs a PR person that could have gotten him to sell it a little bit better. I thought just hearing.

[J. Skeets]

When you say sell it, what do you mean? What was he supposed to say to Cassidy Hubbarth in the tunnel of Madison Square Garden during a game? I'm just curious.

[Tass Melas]

Well, he did it on his own. He went that direction on his own to talk about the Terry Rozier part of it all.

[J. Skeets]

Oh, yeah.

[Tass Melas]

And what happened. It was all up to him.

[J. Skeets]

Him.

[Tass Melas]

He didn't have to address it.

[J. Skeets]

Right. Okay.

[Tass Melas]

At all. And I think he just could have addressed it better. I think he could have done it better or he could have said, we made a mistake. But he clearly doesn't want to say that. It just. Again, it just wasn't. This is his first time speaking after all of these allegations.

[Trey Kirby]

Sell me.

[Tass Melas]

Again, I think you. You can make mistakes as this league that signed up for this. This entire gambling scenario, and they may have made a mistake not going enough after Terry Rozier in a more thorough manner. There's just. There was just more things to be said, I thought, a little more clear. And he also. Yeah, he's not going to say we made a mistake, but I don't know. There's just. There's. We all could have been sold, I think, a little bit more. A little more clearly. I don't know.

[J. Skeets]

I was shocked he even did the interview. And again, a little kudos to Cassidy Hubbarth and the prime team for even having him on the broadcast. I mean, again, like, three. Question. Was it not like, two, about that one softball, you know, how great's the NBA type thing. But look, it wasn't a lot is my point. But I didn't expect a lot. Again, in the tunnel, barely being able to hear. And then he's trying to address this. He at least showed his face. He did, yeah. I'm with you. I mean, he did go on. You're. That's a good point. She didn't specifically say, hey, what the hell was going on with the Rozier investigation? That you guys sort of cleared him. He went to it himself and maybe trying to get ahead of it. I don't know. But. But not good enough for you or a lot of people.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah. I wasn't sold.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. The optics of it are that it feels like the NBA tried to sweep it under the rug in the first place. And then he does the interview. And it doesn't really change your opinion on the way things went. If he just says, I made a mistake. Are people upset? Yeah, probably. But at least he's being honest about what happened. Because whatever happened with the NBA doing their investigation, even if it's just because they can't do quite as much as the government can, it left a lot to be desired, for. Sure. I think something that's interesting about the entire gambling scandal is that it's opening people's eyes to the tanking epidemic. Right. Like, people are definitely going to be questioning that. I think because that came up with regards to co conspirator 8, who most people think is Chauncey Billups saying, we're taking away the season, but we're doing it before. But, you know, before anybody else knows. Everybody knows that at the end of the season, a lot of teams give up. There are a lot. We could even have more teams doing it this year. When you think about teams like the Celtics and the Pacers, who would be competitive teams, but because of injuries, they're taken out of it. And it might make more sense for them to save their draft pick good, get a good draft pick and then be beefed up with a real team for next year. That's going to be something I think that Adam Silver is going to have to answer questions about as time goes on, especially once sort of more evidence comes out and we hear more about the rosier investigation and the investigation into Chauncey Billups and what Co Conspirator 8 was doing and how he goes about and what the difference is between trying to hit your unders and trying to lose a game on purpose, which is what tanking is.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, yeah. And there has been sort of. It's kind of faded away, the whole tanking thing from a couple years ago. There was more smoke about it. There was. There's definitely people talking about it as the biggest problem that the NBA has. And now it's become an additional problem because you're right, it was listed in there multiple times to be added on to this gambling scenario. So yes, it is interesting in that they're going to have to deal with both at the same time.

[J. Skeets]

Unfortunately, I would also be tanking for Cameron Boozer right now too. I feel if you saw his game, he looked sweet. He looked awesome. He looked good. All right, let's keep it moving. More losers of the NBA weekend. Where you going, TK?

[Trey Kirby]

Orlando Magic. Big losers of the weekend. They have 12 threes on opening night. They had 12 threes over the weekend. Nine of 31 in a loss on Friday against the Hawks. Looks great compared to 3 for 24 in their loss on Saturday against the Bulls. Three made threes. Not great. Quite bad in fact. Yeah, 24 attempts is ridiculous in 2025. To not get 30 plus up I think is a real failure for the Magic. And they look like the exact same team they did last year. It's just three games, but 30th in offense, 30th and three point makes. 30th and three point percentage, 27th and three point rate. They got Desmond Bain and he's KCP.

[J. Skeets]

It doesn't matter. I know.

[Trey Kirby]

You know, what's going on is Paolo is really, really struggling. This guy is shooting 34 from the field so far. He has three assists this season and eight turnovers. I watched every turnover. I watched every shot attempt this morning. He's playing in a crowd all the time. He's taking so many mid range jump shots and it's mostly coming against little guys. He's getting switches on him and he's letting them off the hook by getting into his mellow game. Dribble, dribble, dribble, shoot a fade away. It is not working. The decision making I think has been really bad. He's seeing so many double teams and trying to go through them. He's already had his shot blocked I think four times in three games. This is a huge, strong dude with a ton of skill. He should be scoring way more efficiently. The shot he took against the Hawks with 10 seconds left.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, brutal shot.

[Trey Kirby]

Just chucked a three after not being able to make any. Basically this whole season, he's front rim every single time. Maybe that's just getting used to playing in real games again. I'm sure the shot will come along a little bit, but people have been talking about Paulo's efficiency last season, even prior to that. Like he is a great, talented player. We know he can score, but he hasn't put together the whole package. The guy should be a dominant player and it feels like he's playing against himself a lot of the time.

[J. Skeets]

Yep. The big rig needs a tune up.

[Trey Kirby]

Needs a tune up.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Get it in the shop.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah. It seems sometimes you watch them, it seems like everything stops, which is what happened in years past, unfortunately with this team that's supposed to have the point guards, etcetera, along with Desmond Bain to just make things happen. Now they play that really good first game and then they started really good against Lena Hawks in their second game. But the last six quarters, that game you mentioned against the Bulls, going back to the second half of that Hawks game, they've been struggling big time because it looked like they were going to win that fourth. That win that game against the Atlanta hawks in the fourth quarter, they're up 93, 81. Oh yeah, things are good. And then the Hawks go on this 15, 0 run, playing the best quarter of their, of their season so far. They, yeah, they just shut off in that second half. I mean, they started the first half 7 of 16 from 3 looking good. And then that second half went super quiet. 2 of 15 from 3. Now, I don't know if the lack of point guards kind of hurt because Jalen Suggs only played 19 minutes in that game and then didn't play in the second half of the back to back against those Bulls entirely. And you miss him. Although Tyus Jones was good and in helping out when Jalen Suggs got into fouls in their first game. That being said, yeah, they gotta move the ball more, period. I'm making point guard excuses, but Powell can't. Can't dribble all that much. Franz, even though he had a good game, I mean, I think they're just not moving it enough like last year.

[J. Skeets]

I thought it was a typo. When I first saw that they had three three pointers against your Bulls, I was like, that can't be right. That's gotta be one of those mistakes. Must be a 13. Somebody forgot the one. But three is. That is just wild to me. And of course, yeah, they got Bane in there to help out there and he hasn't really so far. Rough start for the Magic, like you said. The best way to put it is like, oh, nothing has changed. Not good.

[Trey Kirby]

Nothing has changed. And Tyus Jones has been pretty bad. Yeah, I mean, yes, he's playing because Suggs can't play full games, but he's turning the ball over a ton, which is like his strength is not turning the ball over. Can't really shoot it. Nobody on the Magic can right now. I just looked it up. There was their 29th and fourth quarter net rating and it feels like if they blew the game against the Hawk. Yeah, against the Hawks and against the Bulls. The Bulls lit them up in the fourth quarter. I odu had as many threes in the fourth as the Magic did the entire game. It's just a struggle for them to score and it's going to be eyeballs on Jamal Mosley and not too long. There's expectations for the Magic. As long as they stay healthy, they should be better than they were last season. And if they're not, it's going to be because their offense has taken zero steps forward over the course of four years.

[J. Skeets]

Well, tonight we have the battle of the fourth quarter net ratings then because it's Magic as one of the worst he said, in the league versus the best in the Philadelphia 76ers. So we'll see how that goes down. I think it's Orlando Philly tonight. All right. My first loser of the NBA weekend. I got to give it to the winless Boston Celtics. There are five winless teams in the NBA. The Rockets are 0 2, but they lost by a combined five points in their two games. They had that double overtime loss on opening night and then lost a close one to the Pistons. The Pelicans ain't much different, if we're being honest. They lost by six to the Grizzlies and they lost in overtime to the spurs, so they're 02. The Brooklyn Nets are 03. That tracks.

[Trey Kirby]

Yes.

[J. Skeets]

We knew they were going to be one of the worst teams in the league. They're 03. The Pacers are also.03. Now they're missing like half their roster. It feels like in some of these games now they've played all Western Conference teams as well, but they're 0 and 3. And then finally the Celtics. 03 for the first time since 2013 14, which was the last time they as an organization missed the playoffs. So that was a 25 win. Boston Celtics team, their best player. I looked it up. Or do you want to take a guess who their best player was? 2013, 2013.

[Tass Melas]

Avery Bradley.

[J. Skeets]

He's still in the league. No, Avery Bradley. I would consider their second best. Okay, hold on. Rondo was on the team, but he was injured a lot that year. Avery Bradley. Good guess.

[Trey Kirby]

It's too early for scary Terry, isn't it?

[Tass Melas]

It is too early for Isaiah Thomas.

[J. Skeets]

No, you got to go. Think. Think old Horford.

[Tass Melas]

Brandon Bass.

[J. Skeets]

No, no, Jeff Green. Jeff Green. Jeff Green was their best player.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, he was.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, that sums that up. Yeah, exactly. Anyway, the Celtics, this current version, they're just margin for error is so slim. I feel this year, after all the off season changes where they lose basically all their big guys. Like, remember, we were concerned about that depleted front line and those concerns were warranted so far. The Nixon Pistons dominated the offensive glass against Boston. Just a million second chance points and that's doing them in. They're the worst defensive rebounding team in the league right now. Boston is. They're grabbing 58% of their opponent's misses. That leaves a whole big percentage to the other team that's grabbing their offensive glass. So, you know, again, expected. You have no Tatum, great rebounder for his position. Horford, of course, Porzingis, okay, that's not a strong suit, but the guy's a giant cornette. Even Drew Holiday as a guard can get in there. So missing a lot of guys. And they're 03, just like the Pacers. So these guys missing their star guys, I guess you could say winners of the weekend to Jason Tatum fans and Tyrese Halliburton fans because maybe their teams are not as good without them but. Any thoughts on Boss?

[Trey Kirby]

Well, I think the Pacers are competing though.

[J. Skeets]

I agree.

[Trey Kirby]

They're in their games and they lost. One of their losses was a double overtime game. That was against the Thunder, right?

[IBM AI Representative]

Yep.

[Trey Kirby]

Hey, it happens. And if we're being honest, the Celtics are losing to teams you would pick them to lose against maybe outside of the 76ers, but I. Maybe they're a surprise team. What's going to have to happen for the Celtics is they're going to have to start shooting threes better. They're 31% from three so far this year. Despite taking a ton of them. Their fourth and three point attempt rate, almost 50% of their shots are coming from outside. That's the recipe for Boston this year, is to try and outscore teams because they're not going to have a good defense because of the lack of interior presence that you're mentioning there. They're not going to be a good rebounding team. They're probably going to finish in the bottom five just because their bigs aren't very good. So you gotta make shots on the other end. And they haven't made shots to start this season. And I don't know, I thought they could maybe challenge for a top six spot in the Eastern Conference and that seems kind of far fetched right now.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, I totally did too. Cause I thought their ball handling backward scoring would be enough. Like you saw Jalen Brown drop 40 in a loss against the Pistons. They got Payton pritchard to drop 20 as well, but the outside shooting just wasn't good enough. Overall. Derek White, great. Not great start to the season for him. And in this particular game as well, I mean like you said, they are losses to teams that you probably expect them to lose against. Philadelphia was a one point loss. The Dallas or the Detroit game I should say went down to the wire and they lost to the Knicks. So it is close but they can't board. That was a worry coming in.

[J. Skeets]

Yes.

[Tass Melas]

As much as Stan fan Gundy loves Hugo Gonzalez, chipping in, it ain't good enough. Alongside Namish K. Those are. That's your starting four or five right now and they're. They're struggling.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, that's a tough starting four or.

[Tass Melas]

Five in the NBA.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tass Melas]

And they're not scoring enough. No. To compensate for.

[J. Skeets]

Yes.

[Tass Melas]

Everything they're missing. And Doug here we have the Limu.

[J. Skeets]

Emu in its natural habitat helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual.

[Tass Melas]

Fascinating.

[J. Skeets]

It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug Limu.

[Trey Kirby]

Is that guy with the binoculars watching us?

[J. Skeets]

Cut the camera.

[Tass Melas]

They see us. Only pay for what you [e-mail] Liberty.

[J. Skeets]

Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings vary underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company Affiliates excludes Massachusetts.

[Julian Edelman]

This is Julian Edelman from Games With Names. Football is back. That means it's tailgate time and this season the only meat going on the grill is Dietz and Watson. Some of my favorites are the Black Angus Dietz dogs, the Italian style chicken sausage and the Asiago spinach chicken sausage, just to name a few. Oh, and I love the jalapeno mustard. It's flavor packed and you could just tell Dietz and Watson uses the highest quality meats in every bite. Dietz and Watson was born in Philly in 1939 and they've been doing it the right way ever since. Visit dietzen.com the right way to learn more about the deets difference.

[IBM AI Representative]

So your AI agents, they make the team that uses them more productive, right? But if they aren't connected to other agents or your data or your existing workflows, how productive can they really make your team? Any business can add AI agents. IBM connects your agents across your company to change how you do business. Let's create Smile to Business IBM.

[J. Skeets]

A couple more Losers of the NBA Weekend where do you want to go?

[Tass Melas]

I'll go to the Raptors. I don't even want to talk about the Dallas Mavericks game. I just was more disappointed in the Milwaukee Bucks game. That's their season home opener. Get it done. And unfortunately they couldn't. This, this was supposed to be the start of a game. I think the coolest thing that they did on their home court was one of their players did the 67 that all the kids are doing. That was the that was the best moment. I would say Jonathan Mobo did this off the bench. Otherwise, listen, Brandon Ingram had a good game and all that, but I was just more disappointed in their rotations. They're just lousy rotations against this Milwaukee Bucks team that shouldn't be able to shoot threes against them. But what NBA players that are open after lousy rotations are going to hit shots. And they allowed Cole Anthony to go off because they weren't doing enough defensively in that first half. And then Cole Anthony got it going. So he stayed on the floor in the fourth quarter. Doc wrote him he had nine points in the fourth quarter. He had 23 overall. But I just thought that there's too much Sloppiness as well from the turnovers and, and Brandon Ingram, although he put up the points, I thought he kind of slowed down at times, getting to the rim and worrying about whether it was Miles Turner or Giannis coming after him and not just putting it in off the board. He just waited for them. And so that is a loss that's going to hurt them because, yeah, they got the first one against the Hawks when they do this against Milwaukee, and then the loss against the Mavericks, followed by at San Antonio, at home to Houston, at Cleveland, home to Memphis, home to Milwaukee again. And then a five game trip. Atlanta, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Cleveland, Indiana. So that's your 10 game skit again. San Antonio, Houston, Cleveland, Memphis, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Philly, Brooklyn, Cleveland, Indiana. Man, there should be some wins in there, but, but still on the road, you just embarrass the Hawks. That road game ain't going to be all that great. I, I don't think Philadelphia, who's showing who they are, I don't think that Brooklyn game in Brooklyn, even though it's the Brooklyn Nets, is a lock. No, no. And then you go to Cleveland, that's finding their way. Indiana, that needs to win games. That 10 game SCAD is bad. I thought they should have beat, they should have beat the Bucks. They should have.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. And you don't want to talk about the Mavericks game, but I will because that's pretty embarrassing to give up 139 points to a team that doesn't even have a point card. I mean, that's bad. And we were sold all training camp, all preseason. We got a defensive identity on this squad. They said it, not us. They were like, this is going to be our backbone. We're going to lock in on that end. I think they really focused on that. The offense will come. You know, Ingram is spots and Scotty and all that. And Scotty had a good game offensively against Dallas, like, that wasn't a problem. But their defense, they're getting cooked. And a big part of it is like they're doing all this defensive pressure and guys are just blowing by them and then purdle like, God bless him, he's playing with a hurt back first off, but he's like, he's not that type of like super athletic, you know, rim deterrent. Like, he's good, he is solid, but he is, is. He's hurt right now and he's got the stupid mask too. It's bad, man. I like, I feel like I'm. I know we're three games in and they're one and two. But like, this could get out of control in a hurry unless they fix things quick. Because Quick. Quickly. Holy man. What is this guy? He is getting paid a lot of money to be a starting point guard, and right now he's looking more and more like a six or seventh man because he can't hit a shot. He's shooting 11% from three. I know he'll have a game where he's going to hit seven or eight threes. I know that. But defensively and just having an impact on winning plays, I'm not seeing it. And we've had excuses for him. He hasn't had guys. He's been injured. And it's like we're at the point where I'm out of excuses and I'm not really convinced he's like a starting caliber point guard. Sorry.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, well, yeah, unfortunately it goes down the list here because I don't think Scotty Barnes was leading all that much. The front line is definitely a problem. Them, they ain't big enough. They just aren't big enough. They're. They have no rim deterrence.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tass Melas]

Really. I think that's. That's the biggest thing. I mean, yeah. When you go back to Milwaukee, Giannis and Miles Turner are literally playing against kids. Yeah. Inside there. And I know, I know they're good. Those two guys are good at being big. But the, the Raptors, I guess this was the hope was that they'd compensate for it by rotating and all that. It ain't happening. Like you said, they're supposed to have that defense mentality. It hasn't happened that period. One bad start. One one, one quick. Since we love stats. Giannis had 31 and 20 against the Toronto Raptors pretty good. There've only been five games against the Toronto Raptors in Toronto Raptors history. To have the old 3020.

[J. Skeets]

Wow.

[Tass Melas]

Yanis has had two of them.

[J. Skeets]

How many times did Yanni do it?

[Tass Melas]

So there's three other guys.

[J. Skeets]

Three other guys have done it in the history. We can get them like you can.

[Tass Melas]

Get the first two. The other one is, whoa, it's super tough. But the first two. No. Oh, Jokic, no.

[J. Skeets]

What about Anthony Davis? Now that's a lot of rebounds.

[Tass Melas]

It is a lot of rebounds.

[J. Skeets]

Dwight.

[Tass Melas]

No, hold on. Anthony Davis may be the one that I am escaping it. No, it's not. It's not. Neither one. Neither one. I got the phone side. It was. It was via the broadcast. No, you haven't set him now one guy. Guy, he's doing media currently you probably don't think him as a 24 guy. Blake Griffin. No, but he's deeper on the. The media list, I would say. He's not on the national broadcast. On the supernational broadcast.

[J. Skeets]

Somebody's on. Like, was he on a podcast?

[Tass Melas]

He may be a colleague of ours.

[J. Skeets]

He maybe.

[Tass Melas]

Well, he's a colleague of ours and in a way, he's a colleague of ours. This show, J.D.

[J. Skeets]

This show brought to you 20 on the Raptors.

[Trey Kirby]

I never knew he got the 20.

[J. Skeets]

Did you do that in the 30?

[Trey Kirby]

Was no problem.

[J. Skeets]

Damn.

[Tass Melas]

This show brought to you by fanduel.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, I know, Boogie.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, okay, Boogie. And then another guy.

[J. Skeets]

Good, good.

[Tass Melas]

And then another guy. Not in the hall of Fame, but a Hall of. Very, Very good. Very good.

[J. Skeets]

And he's still playing or he's done. He's not hall of Very good. Super good joke, Noah.

[Tass Melas]

No, no, 30 would be the tough part. Yeah, we always have this discussion of guys.

[Trey Kirby]

Sean Marion.

[Tass Melas]

No, no, he's a. You. He rebounds. Anyways, we have this discussion about guys that you may not remember in 20 years. Yeah, this guy is one of them.

[Trey Kirby]

That's good.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah. Same type of player.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Okay. Like I made a lot of.

[Tass Melas]

A lot of all star games.

[J. Skeets]

A lot of all Stars.

[Trey Kirby]

Like Joe Johnson never went to it again.

[Tass Melas]

We've already forgotten him. He just retired a couple years ago.

[Trey Kirby]

I've already forgotten this man.

[J. Skeets]

Put 30 and 20 on my wraps. He's dead to me already.

[Tass Melas]

He was a huge signing for the San Antonio spurs in 15. Played with Lamarcus Aldridge. Wow.

[J. Skeets]

Wow.

[Trey Kirby]

That's good one.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah. And then we go. We go way back. LaMarcus Aldridge for the last guy alongside those guys, cousins Aldridge and Yanis, to do a 30 and 20 against the Raptors. It was late 90s.

[J. Skeets]

Wow.

[Tass Melas]

This is a Derek Coleman. This guy won. No, because you guys know, you know, awards. He was the sixth man of the year.

[J. Skeets]

Okay, okay.

[Tass Melas]

But this is deep. This is. Is a tough guy to remember.

[J. Skeets]

Okay. In the 90s, though.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, late 90s.

[J. Skeets]

Six man of the year.

[Trey Kirby]

Anthony Mason. No, no, he was most improved.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, they always blend together, those two awards.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, he did. He did his. And he scored.

[J. Skeets]

Henderson. I think he was a six.

[Tass Melas]

Nice try. What a cool first name.

[Trey Kirby]

Clarence Weatherspoon.

[Tass Melas]

No, nice. Nice try.

[J. Skeets]

Good pull.

[Tass Melas]

No, he was a big.

[Trey Kirby]

Clarence is a cool name.

[Tass Melas]

He was a big. Anyways, this wasn't his legal first name, but I think it's. It's pretty cool.

[J. Skeets]

He was a big. Like a seven footer.

[Tass Melas]

He's A big boy.

[J. Skeets]

Big boy.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah. He probably was seven feet.

[J. Skeets]

George Mirison.

[Tass Melas]

No, he was most impressive. You said six.

[J. Skeets]

Are we looking for six man or. I can't remember. Six man of the Year.

[Tass Melas]

Cool.

[Trey Kirby]

First name, but not his name.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, I mean, he went by it, though. You know him by it? Josh Hart last year. He loves those candies.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

Oh, I. No. Oh, I. I set up some numbers.

[Tass Melas]

Wow.

[J. Skeets]

You won six man.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, yeah.

[J. Skeets]

He put up 30. 20 on the wraps.

[Tass Melas]

Yep.

[J. Skeets]

Holy crap.

[Trey Kirby]

That's crazy. That had to be an April game. Why did that happen?

[Tass Melas]

Okay, he won most Improved.

[J. Skeets]

I told you. They all blend together, those two awards. Okay.

[Tass Melas]

That's all.

[J. Skeets]

Anyways, Raptors.

[Tass Melas]

Come on, boys.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Let's go, guys.

[Trey Kirby]

We're getting Ike Austin out there.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Unfortunately, at least the honest is a little bit better than I cost. Yeah, one more loser of the weekend. Who you got, Trey?

[Trey Kirby]

I got the Phoenix Suns. They've been down 20 or more in every single game so far this season. Opening night they trailed by 20. Did come back and beat the Kings, but over the weekend they trailed by 32 and what ended up being a blowout loss on Friday against the Clippers and then on Saturday trailed by 25 and never led in another blowout loss against the Denver Nuggets. So far this season, they're given the most points up off of turnovers. They're 29th in fast break break points allowed. Bottom 10 in the second chance points category. Bottom 10 in points in the paint. They foul all the time. They look so slow. There are no athletes on this team. Devin Booker is by far their best player. And it looks like on offense they're just watching him try to create for everybody because there's nobody else that can get their own shot. Jalen Green hasn't yet played this season. He will be a huge boost for them just because he's somebody that can dribble the ball and get a shot. He ain't getting good shots, but at least he can get shots up. Dylan Brooks needs shots created for him. Guess what? He's going to be out tonight as well. Mark Williams. They're managing his knee. They traded for this guy and he's already underneath injury management. Turns out having the Hornets center rotation hasn't worked out very well for the Phoenix Suns. I think they just look brutal. They looked very slow playing against Denver. They look slow playing against the Clippers, who are a team that we talked about plays ultra slow. It just doesn't look like they have much on either side of the ball. That they can rely on. Booker has to play one on one or try and create for everybody. It's forcing him into really tough shots. The offense is really bad when he's on the court because of the way he's had to play and try and make plays for everybody else. So I don't think the Suns are going to be having a lot of successes this season but the lessons are going to rack up.

[Tass Melas]

I got no problem starting Colin Gillespie beside Devin Booker just to have a point guard out there now. Jam Green's gonna help out. There's no doubt. But yeah it's a lot on Devin Booker shoulders and he's been through this before where he has to be the guy to create. I will say I guess there's something to be said for the Lakers doctors that rejected the Mark Williams trade. I think that they did pretty well. A guy can barely smart. Yeah he's been struggling to to to play for this Phoenix Suns team.

[J. Skeets]

Those are our losers of the NBA weekend. Sorry I was trying to look up I'll do 2026 Suns draft pick. I couldn't remember who has it who has ownership of said pick and whether there's protections on it or not.

[Tass Melas]

That was the maybe I thought Washington but that was that incredible three way trade of the Houston pick Earth Houston was involved in the three way trip.

[J. Skeets]

But the Suns had the Suns picked this past year in 25 right Malawatch.

[Trey Kirby]

And they got that top four protected 26 and 27 goes to Oklahoma City.

[J. Skeets]

If it's outside of the top. Okay.

[Trey Kirby]

But there's a chance the Suns are in the bottom four.

[J. Skeets]

Okay. That's why I was looking I was like is there any I mean obviously we'd have to get lucky oh wait.

[Trey Kirby]

No no I'm reading Philadelphia you there's goes to Washington, Memphis or Charlotte. It's got a lot of oh okay. It's got a paragraph of text to decide who's going to get this one.

[J. Skeets]

So probably no incentive to actually lean hard into a tank because I don't even think it's going to make its way to them Unless maybe it's like a top three or something it is.

[Trey Kirby]

Too complicated to tell you exactly who's getting it. I believe you but maybe Washington Washington.

[J. Skeets]

Gets the more okay that's what my gut said. Yeah there was some of the beal.

[Tass Melas]

There was somebody literally last summer that made this incredible three way deal the Nurkic trade. No.

[J. Skeets]

Oh I don't know.

[Trey Kirby]

I think this is what didn't they trade a pick at the trade Deadline. They traded their first round pick to get three picks back because they were going to use them for something and then they weren't able to actually use them in the Kevin Durant trade.

[J. Skeets]

That was maybe the Nurkic trade.

[Trey Kirby]

It must be because Charlotte is involved as well.

[J. Skeets]

Okay, yeah, that does ring a bell.

[Trey Kirby]

Bad. Not good.

[J. Skeets]

Don't worry. We are not determining the success of the Suns when it comes to wins or losses this year or draft picks. Okay. It's just. What was this word again?

[Trey Kirby]

Successes. They're playing for successes.

[J. Skeets]

Successes.

[Trey Kirby]

That's right.

[J. Skeets]

Yep. Pick them. Talking about success. Tas Melas on the board Friday night. Getting it correct. You're 1 and 3. I'm 3 and 1, Trey, 2 and 2. So this is a short one months here. October, loser, last place in our pick and battle. Straight up troll man for a show. One show under the table.

[Trey Kirby]

Short month. Troll man.

[J. Skeets]

That's right. So it's obviously still a battle here because we got all week here to decide. So where are we going tonight, Taz?

[Tass Melas]

Got a good schedule tonight, but I went with this game because we're talking about one of the two remaining teams that are unbeaten in the Eastern conference. The Philadelphia 76ers.

[Trey Kirby]

Who's the other team?

[J. Skeets]

Chicago.

[Tass Melas]

Oh. Oh, right. Nice. It's pretty wild. So I had to get one of them involved here. Philadelphia at home to Orlando. You think Orlando would need to win here? Coming off two losses going into Philadelphia. Again an unbeaten team, but they're getting four and a half points. They can still lose by four and cover. Trey's got that.

[J. Skeets]

Trey's got him.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, I like it. They shoot a lot of threes right now, the 76ers, and they're making them to start the season. So I feel like they have a natural advantage against Orlando.

[J. Skeets]

That's true.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

The math. The math in their favor.

[Trey Kirby]

It's a math game here.

[Tass Melas]

But Skeets and I are taking the Magic, thinking that they're gonna bounce back. Gotta win by five. They need to. Or more.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Yeah. They're gonna hit. Watch out. 11 three pointers tonight. Yeah. Yep. 11 threes from the Magic tonight. It's going to be enough to get them the five point victory. Okay, so that's a big game here in our pick'.

[Tass Melas]

Em.

[J. Skeets]

We'll call it there. But I got some announcements for everyone. You're going on playback tonight for a little baseball game three of the World Series. The Blue Jays in LA to take on the Dodgers.

[Tass Melas]

This NBA show's got no problem talking about baseball.

[J. Skeets]

So you'll be on playback. That link is in our show notes. It's really fun. If you've never checked it out, you can watch the game with Tass and comment on it with. With the chat and all that.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, I literally just might be making the noise that Shohei Ohtani made when he fouled the ball off himself in game two. The entire. The entire show or the entire playback? Playback. Yeah. I don't know what to call it.

[J. Skeets]

Can you give us a taste of it right now?

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, it sounded like this. Oh, the mics were great because they were so close up. He literally just fouled it off himself. He just turned and went. So either way, this basketball show, talk a little about baseball. I'm sure I'll jump around to some basketball.

[J. Skeets]

Oh, you'll sprinkle in some NBA hoops.

[Tass Melas]

I'll have to.

[J. Skeets]

I mean there'll be some great. Are you going in theory? You're going live on playback. First pitch.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah, I think so. I think so.

[J. Skeets]

What is that? Eight? Oh, yeah.

[Tass Melas]

Advantage Blue Jays game is in Los Angeles. They gotta play at five local suckers. This is a regular start time for the Toronto Blue Jays. I thought it was going to be a late start.

[J. Skeets]

Oh, right, right, right. But nah, come on, man, this is already go. These are the series late here.

[Tass Melas]

No, you never know. Game two is quicker.

[J. Skeets]

Well, it's because Yamamoto's what, retired like 20 straight guys.

[Trey Kirby]

He was Greg Maddox out there.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, that was sick.

[Trey Kirby]

He was good. Okay, Max sures are four though, right?

[Tass Melas]

Oh, we got that old guy out there.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, got him.

[Tass Melas]

Yeah. If Max sure eyes Max crazy wild, eh?

[J. Skeets]

Every time they show it David Bowie, I pop. Yeah, exactly. What's it called again?

[Tass Melas]

Again?

[J. Skeets]

I forget what that.

[Trey Kirby]

Two different colored eyes. That's what I call it.

[J. Skeets]

I thought you would know. You usually know that.

[Tass Melas]

I don't have the answer on that.

[Trey Kirby]

Heterochromia.

[J. Skeets]

Oh, all right.

[Tass Melas]

Oh, so chromia, Greek word for color. Yep, Yep.

[J. Skeets]

Okay, so TAS is on playback tomorrow, Tuesday at 3pm Eastern, I'm going to be hosting a little live chat with the one and only Shay Serrano. We're gonna talk NBA, you know, we're talking Wemby. Wemby Mania running wild. What you gonna do, brother? And we'll get into his new book there on the right. You see here on YouTube, expensive basketball is the name of Shay's soon to be New York Times best selling book. Well, I'll be number five, I guess for this guy. So really excited to talk to shay. We'll do 20, 30 minutes. But again, that's on Substack. Go join our no Dunks substack. That link is in the show notes too. $5 a month or $50 a year if you want to get in. We've introduced the wedgie scale. We do the what we like every week. Lots of fun videos, like behind the scenes stuff. So we're having a lot of fun with that. So go join that if you're in the mood. Finally, tomorrow, a little different here. We're doing a squad episode. We told you, this season, new era, no dunks. We're switching things up, up. It may not be like an hour every single day on the games before the night before. If something warrants that, we'll get into it either on its own show or slip it in. But we're doing a squad Halloween edition tomorrow. We've done it once before, but that was way back in the pandemic years. So we're bringing it back with some new categories and we'll have a lot of fun. If you've never caught a squad episode, it's us drafting things and we got some fun categories. So join us live if you want at 10am Eastern here in the classic factory on YouTube.

[Tass Melas]

Looking forward to it.

[J. Skeets]

All right, hopefully we have some monitors up behind us. Hopefully Roberto can make it here in the rain. He'll be here, he'll be here.

[Tass Melas]

Oh yeah.

[J. Skeets]

Okay. Good, good, good, good. All right, thanks for joining us. We'll see you guys tomorrow. Until then, Clipper Bros, you heard it here first.

[Trey Kirby]

Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys. Awesome.

[Tass Melas]

Thanks for joining us. And remember some behind the scenes stuff on Substack. As you said there, Skeets. And I'm sure we'll be getting some video of Roberto, maybe a one on.

[J. Skeets]

One interview with Roberto as he puts up our monitors.

[Trey Kirby]

Monitor man himself.

[J. Skeets]

Alright. Embrace the day people.

[Trey Kirby]

Ah, greetings from my bath festive friends.

[J. Skeets]

The holidays are overwhelming, but I'm tackling.

[Trey Kirby]

This season with PayPal and making the.

[J. Skeets]

Most of my money.

[Trey Kirby]

Money getting 5% cash back when I pay in 4.

[IBM AI Representative]

No fees, no interest.

[J. Skeets]

I used it to get this portable spa with jets. Now the bubbles can cling to my sculpted but pruny body.

[Trey Kirby]

Make the most of your money this holiday with PayPal.

[J. Skeets]

Save the offer in the app ends 1231. See paypal.com promoter points can be redeemed.

[Tass Melas]

For cash and more.

[J. Skeets]

Paying for subject to terms and approval.

[Tass Melas]

PayPal Inc. And MLS 910457.

[Trey Kirby]

Get ready to power up your play with Nintendo Switch 2 power up the visuals with 4K support and a bigger, more vivid screen. Power up the fun with exclusive new games like Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong. Bonanza.

[Tass Melas]

Oh bonanza.

[Trey Kirby]

Nintendo Switch 2 all together, anytime anywhere. Games rated E to E10 games and systems sold separately. Compatible TV required for 4K display with the new IHOP value menu.

[Tass Melas]

Six bucks is all it takes to go to your happy plate, where stacks.

[Trey Kirby]

Of pancakes with bacon and eggs are just just six bucks every day.

[Tass Melas]

French toast, sausage and eggs are, you guessed it, six bucks.

[Trey Kirby]

And fluffy omelets come with a side of pancakes and only cost six bucks.

[Tass Melas]

Go to your happy plates every day at ihop. Seven bucks in some locations. Available every day for a limited time.

[Trey Kirby]

At participating restaurants in the U.S. hours may vary.

[Tass Melas]

No substitutions not valid with other discounts or promotions. Prices may vary.