Tas Melas (3:03)

This is for you.

Jay Skeets (3:04)

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

Trey Kirby (3:07)

Ayo.

Jay Skeets (3:07)

Ayo. And over yonder, making the magic happen, super producer jd.

Tas Melas (3:12)

Hello.

Jay Skeets (3:12)

There he is. Here we are. Hello to everybody on YouTube. Hello podcast listeners. On today's show on the Drop, we got worst of the week. We got rapid fire fun. We got some NBA news involving Trey Kirby's Chicago Bulls.

Trey Kirby (3:25)

Sloppy.

Jay Skeets (3:26)

A trade rumor. Yes, yes, yes. And we're going to look at some interesting odds when it comes to the NBA cup. Okc chasing history and an award or two. But first, we had wedgie number 20 last night, pelicans Blazers game. And it was Sadiq Bay on the offensive glass sticking in there. Jordan Poole missed the alley oop layup attempt. It rimmed out. So there's Sadiq Bay. He gets a hand on there.

Malcolm Gladwell (3:56)

Yep, that's B1.

Tas Melas (3:58)

That's. It's just bopping up and down on that rim. And then he just shoves it in for a wedge. It's a snowflake, man.

Jay Skeets (4:04)

Sadiq Bay's second career wedgie.

Trey Kirby (4:07)

Great.

Jay Skeets (4:07)

I thought he had more. I was like, that's got to be his third or fourth. I went and checked wedgie tracker.com. nope.

Tas Melas (4:13)

Only a second three point shot, I assume.

Jay Skeets (4:16)

No, it wasn't surprising. You would think so, but it wasn't.

Trey Kirby (4:19)

It was due for one.

Jay Skeets (4:20)

So we're at 20. We hadn't had a wedgie all week. I was getting a little concerned I wasn't gonna have anything to write on our substack this weekend. This week in wedgies.

Trey Kirby (4:27)

Wow.

Jay Skeets (4:27)

Yeah. Didn't have one, but now I do and hopefully we get some more tonight and maybe on Saturday.

Tas Melas (4:33)

Don't worry, I got a box of Starburst in my car that we got sent to from England that we can taste and put on substack. Wow.

Jay Skeets (4:39)

We're tasting starbursts on substack. All right.

Tas Melas (4:43)

Got sent on a plane. Now we get to taste what you.

Jay Skeets (4:45)

Were doing there for a second. I'm just envisioning how Starburst was.

Trey Kirby (4:49)

Starburst.

Jay Skeets (4:49)

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Tas Melas (4:50)

Starburst came here. I assume it wasn't On a boat, you never know.

Jay Skeets (4:53)

Okay, so let's get into some odds and ends here. All of these odds by way of fanduel. That's sort of like a smorgasbord of odds here for you. First one, we're looking at the NBA cup. The NBA cup winner. The odds are out. You won't believe this. The Thunder of the favorites to win the cup, minus 250. Okay. So they got to win two games. That's where we're at with this thing. You got to win the semis, win the finals. Knicks plus 390. Then the spurs and Magic at plus 950. That line changed a little bit. The Magic were plus 1,000. Now they're up to plus 950 with San Antonio.

Podcast Announcer (5:29)

Okay.

Trey Kirby (5:30)

I think they should actually have better odds.

Jay Skeets (5:32)

You do?

Podcast Announcer (5:32)

Because.

Jay Skeets (5:33)

Because of just the one game factor of it all.

Trey Kirby (5:36)

Well, yeah. And I mean, we know that the spurs have to play the first Thunder. We don't know that the Magic have to play the Thunder yet. So I just think it should. They should be plus 950 and the spurs should be plus 1,000.

Jay Skeets (5:48)

Oh, okay.

Trey Kirby (5:49)

Just my two cents.

Tas Melas (5:50)

Yeah. I tried to find reasons to pick against okc. Hey, anything can happen in a one singles game. You see them lose last year in the final, but that was before they became NBA champions and were extremely comfortable. And they are literally playing the best ball that they've ever played. You know, it was. I start thinking about the Golden State warriors and we all questioned before they won their first title. And then the next year they won 73 freaking games. So here we are. It's hard to pick against them. How do you. How do you even pick the Spurs? Is Wemby playing or not?

Jay Skeets (6:23)

Maybe.

Tas Melas (6:24)

Well, yeah. Will he want to be in Las Vegas? He called it a dystopia.

Jay Skeets (6:28)

He's right.

Tas Melas (6:29)

The closest thing to a dystopia there is in America is what he once.

Trey Kirby (6:32)

Said, a fight with Britney Spears last time he was there. Yeah, he's had a weird experience there, I guess.

Tas Melas (6:41)

Literally, Britney Spears touched his shoulder. It's very strange. Yeah. I don't know if the Spurs. The spurs should be the second favorite here, I do think.

Jay Skeets (6:49)

Really?

Tas Melas (6:49)

Yeah.

Jay Skeets (6:50)

Oh, I don't. I think. I think I have it in the right order here with Thunder Nicks.

Tas Melas (6:54)

Yeah, I get it. I get it.

Jay Skeets (6:55)

Best teams. But spurs have been great. You're right. They got to go through the Thunder finals.

Trey Kirby (6:59)

OKC is favored by 10 1/2 points for the game on Saturday. And I guess that's not knowing whether or not Wemby's gonna play. Wemby vs. Chet, classic matchup that we haven't seen enough.

Tas Melas (7:11)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (7:12)

So it would be awesome if he's able to come back. But there you should have figure out a way that you can bet on the funniest possible result, which is OKC winning on Saturday and then losing in the Cup Final.

Jay Skeets (7:23)

Yes.

Trey Kirby (7:24)

But maintaining their streak.

Jay Skeets (7:25)

Yes.

Trey Kirby (7:25)

Because it doesn't count.

Jay Skeets (7:26)

That's right. We've talked about that here. I do like that the spurs to pull off the upset on Saturday. Like they need to do exactly what they did against the Lakers in the quarterfinal matchup. And that was hit a ton of threes. Now you're playing a different defensive team in the OKC Thunder to the Lakers. And obviously they were using their speed and firing up, but they had a bunch of guys, is my point. That shot a really good percentage from three in that game. It was like five guys hit at least two threes or more. For San Antonio against the Lakers. Need to replicate that somehow to have any chance to keep it close and maybe pull off the upset. Are you upset you're not going to Vegas this year to watch the cup in person?

Tas Melas (8:03)

Not so much, no.

Jay Skeets (8:05)

It's cheap right now. In Vegas, they say just hotels. Yeah. Nobody's going anymore.

Trey Kirby (8:09)

Yeah, nobody goes.

Tas Melas (8:11)

Seeing all four teams come off the bus. I watched every single one of their videos. Come off the bus. Keldon Johnson was asked, what are you looking forward to here in Vegas? I'm looking forward to playing on Saturday. That didn't sell me. He just didn't seem like he was really looking forward to Friday. Like he's got a whole day to kill. We've been there before. I think you're the most pumped NBA cup supporter I've ever seen. Really? Yeah. A few days ago. A few days ago you said, if you win a slam dunk, it's a slam dunk contest. It's a billion times more important than winning in the NBA Cup. But we're talking about the NBA Cup a ton.

JD (8:46)

Well, yeah.

Jay Skeets (8:47)

There's nothing else to talk about.

Trey Kirby (8:48)

Well, I mean, the cup has maybe surpassed the dunk contest according to the votes. Yeah, things have flipped. I'm not sad that we're not going. The time off in between. That was brutal.

Jay Skeets (9:01)

Yeah. Because play on Saturday and they don't play till Tuesday.

Tas Melas (9:03)

Yeah. I think that's what Kelvin Johnson is saying, too.

Jay Skeets (9:05)

It's a long.

Tas Melas (9:06)

We're here early.

Jay Skeets (9:06)

That's way too long to be in Vegas.

Tas Melas (9:08)

Yeah.

Jay Skeets (9:08)

You want two nights max in Las Vegas. Max. So it is that this is the last year we're doing this, though.

Trey Kirby (9:14)

Yes.

Jay Skeets (9:15)

Because the semifinals will be in your own barn there for those teams that have the higher seeds or are there, and then have the finals, I guess, in Vegas. Do we know that for sure? Yeah, it is. Staying in Vegas for the final. Okay.

Tas Melas (9:26)

And how much does the experience of being in Vegas help the Thunder against the spurs who haven't played there? Is that just the feeling of being.

Jay Skeets (9:34)

The T Mobile Arena?

Tas Melas (9:36)

Yeah.

Jay Skeets (9:36)

Know the lines, know that they know Jesser's walking around here somewhere.

Tas Melas (9:40)

Yeah. You know the comped beds that you're sleeping in? Okay. Probably in comparison, don't they put them.

Jay Skeets (9:48)

At the wind or something like that? Where do they put that?

Tas Melas (9:50)

I don't know.

Trey Kirby (9:50)

Four seasons.

Jay Skeets (9:51)

Four seasons there. Yeah.

Trey Kirby (9:53)

Yeah.

Tas Melas (9:53)

I think most of them, too. Four seasons of four teams, probably in those four seasons. I don't know.

Jay Skeets (9:58)

Okay, final question with this before we move to MVP of the Cup. We know the Thunder are playing for revenge, let's call it after losing last year. We know the spurs are playing for a llama because Keldon Johnson wants one and maybe more if they win the whole thing.

Trey Kirby (10:11)

Two llamas.

Jay Skeets (10:13)

Yeah, maybe. What are the other two teams like playing for in your mind, Trey, in the Knicks and the Magic, if you had to pick, like, one thing, one narrative.

Trey Kirby (10:23)

All right, well, the Knicks haven't won anything in 50 years.

Jay Skeets (10:25)

That's good.

Trey Kirby (10:25)

So that'd be huge for them.

Jay Skeets (10:26)

That's good. I like that.

Trey Kirby (10:27)

To win a championship in the lifetime of most of their fans, that would be very exciting.

Jay Skeets (10:32)

Okay.

Trey Kirby (10:33)

For Knicks fans, as for the Magic, they are like the. We want to use this as a springboard team.

Jay Skeets (10:40)

Yes.

Trey Kirby (10:41)

You know, the Knicks did have success last year, went to the conference finals, but the Magic haven't won a playoff series in the Paolo and Franz era. Franz ain't gonna be playing, but still, he's part of the era. So I think winning the cup to them would be a little bit of, like, a feather in their cap. Like, hey, we can do this. We can compete with the best teams out there.

Jay Skeets (10:59)

I do like that. I wouldn't even say they have to win the Cup. I think they have to beat the Knicks to get to the final on Tuesday. And then you lose to the Thunder Spurs. That's okay. Similar to The Pacers in 23, using the cup, you know, final appearance to springboard into a conference finals and eventually a finals. And then the Thunder last year, getting to the Finals losing and then getting all the way to the title last year. So that's the magic. Okay, Got the narratives. Check, check, check. Playing for the Llama is the best of the bunch there.

Trey Kirby (11:25)

Yeah, of course.

Jay Skeets (11:27)

Goes first. All right. NBA cup tournament MVP. TK, here are your odds. SGA, he's the favorite. Minus 200.

Trey Kirby (11:34)

Agree. Yeah.

Jay Skeets (11:35)

Brunson plus 500. Bain plus 1200. Fox plus 1600. My queue off of this to you is like, is this out of whack? Like, if we think that Thunder are going to win this thing, shouldn't there be, you know, odds for JDub Chet Holmgren, like having a couple good performances here in the semis and the finals to maybe win this thing? If they go on to take it?

Trey Kirby (11:56)

Yeah, they're in a load more situation.

Jay Skeets (11:58)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (11:58)

6,500 plus 6,500 for both Chet and J Dub. And like we saw J dub have a 40 point game in the finals. He could easily win Cup MVP. He could definitely do it. I've been saying that ever since he came into the league.

Tas Melas (12:12)

Yeah, yeah.

Trey Kirby (12:12)

He's a potential cup MVP out there. And I think Chet's the same. Like if he has a five block game, hits four three pointers, scores 20 points, something like that, maybe he's the guy. It just depends. But there's a reason SGA is the guy. If it's going to be close, he's going to be taking the shots down the stretch and feels like he never misses in a fourth quarter. And I assume that's why Brunson is so high for the Knicks as well.

Jay Skeets (12:33)

Sure, sure. Also, I think this MVP is for the tournament. You know, it's not just like full tourney. It's not just who goes off in the final. Right. I don't think that could, like A.J. mitchell can't go for 35 to 40 in the final game and win it. I think they're taking into consideration semifinals, quarterfinals, and the whole thing.

Tas Melas (12:51)

Who had the most fun in Vegas? Who was plugging that really fun show at Absinthe that we always go to, you know, that kind of thing. Who threw some chips around Vegas, who made the best storyline. I'm surprised that SGA isn't more of a favorite.

Jay Skeets (13:08)

Right.

Tas Melas (13:09)

I don't know how the Vegas, the book, the bookies work, how the numbers work, how you have to figure out how much money is going on SGA versus how much money is going on these other players, but you'd think it's a more obvious bet. Minus 200. I thought the odds should be strong.

Jay Skeets (13:30)

Minus 400, something like that. Yeah. Look, the guy's like an automatic 30 points.

Podcast Announcer (13:34)

Exactly.

Jay Skeets (13:35)

And that's why good games.

Tas Melas (13:36)

That's why if they come close to winning, it's his.

Jay Skeets (13:39)

Okay, let's stick with the OKC Thunder. This came up a little bit on yesterday's show. Trey, you were going through some of the odds for OKC chasing the 73 and 9 all time record by the warriors in 15 16. So on FanDuel NBA record 74 plus regular season wins plus 2, 3, 5. That's what it's at right now. Would you be betting on that right now here on December 12th? Do you think they'll win 74 plus games and set the all time record.

Trey Kirby (14:08)

Today on December 12th? I do, I just. I don't know. They're locked in. It feels like they want it. You know, they came into the season talking about how they didn't even play all that well in the playoffs. Two seven game series. They thought they could have been better. They pretty much haven't had a starting lineup healthy for the entire season. They're still whomping on the league. They have played the easiest schedule in the NBA so far. Part of that is because they don't have to play against the Thunder. They have the hardest schedule remaining. They've got a couple of long road Trips. They've got a 4 gamer in January and then a 5 gamer in March. I don't know what like a bad slide for the Thunder is, but it would be like two losses in a row and I mean that puts things in jeopardy. They've got 11 back to backs remaining. That feels like a lot to me. So things are going to get tougher for the Thunder, but they should theoretically also be getting healthier and figuring out things even more. It's like they've got great chemistry already. They know how to play together. They've got the consistency. They brought everybody back and everybody seems to have improved. So I don't know. I mean 74 and 8 seems like a ridiculous record.

Tas Melas (15:18)

Yeah, it does.

Jay Skeets (15:19)

But it does sound a lot cooler by the way, than 73 and 9.

Trey Kirby (15:22)

To me, 73 is a bad sounding number.

Jay Skeets (15:24)

I know.

Trey Kirby (15:24)

Yeah, yeah. It just looks.

Jay Skeets (15:26)

74 and 8 looks so much more dominant me than 73 and 9 even though it's more one more win.

Trey Kirby (15:31)

So 773 just ugly. It's just an ugly number.

Tas Melas (15:34)

Yeah, I think + 235 is a good bet.

Jay Skeets (15:39)

That's good.

Tas Melas (15:40)

It feels that way. It feels like with all their depth and them dealing with injuries and the fact that the NBA missed their chance. The first two games that OKC played this season were two double overtime games that they won.

Podcast Announcer (15:52)

Yeah.

Tas Melas (15:52)

And then they skyrocketed. Since then I looked at the schedule. Where do they lose? You mentioned the double, the back to backs. Excuse me. That makes sense. I mean they have a home at home with the Spurs. That's kind of tough, you know, to.

Jay Skeets (16:05)

Be 22 and a half against the Spurs. I just realized, right. You know, after this cup game here in semifinals where weird play again soon.

Tas Melas (16:12)

Where's that? In San Antonio.

Jay Skeets (16:13)

No, okc, baby. Defending champs.

Tas Melas (16:15)

And then they go to San Antonio. It's a home. And home, whatever it is around the.

Jay Skeets (16:19)

Holidays could be vulnerable.

Tas Melas (16:21)

Yeah, they did lose their one game on a four game road trip. They do have a four game road trip coming up. They have a five game road trip. So maybe they lose one of those, but I don't know even if they lose on the road. And when they lost on the road to the Blazers, they responded. You know, since that loss, they won 16 in a row, 14 double digits. The closest loss was against the Suns. And then when they played the Suns again, they rocked them by near, you know, it was 50 point lead at one point. So when they got something to play for like that 74 and 8 record that they're playing for, it's hard to bet against this team. This is it.

Jay Skeets (16:55)

Yeah, it's nuts. That Jalen Williams, their second best player on the team. Chad's been great, but J Dub is. That guy's like top 15, top 20 easily in the league when he saw NBA last year.

Tas Melas (17:04)

Right.

Jay Skeets (17:05)

So top 15. Sure.

Trey Kirby (17:06)

Chad's going to be all NBA this year.

Jay Skeets (17:08)

Yeah, maybe. They started 181 without J Dub in street clothes and obviously have continued and haven't lost when he's been in there. And the one loss, by the way, they blew a 22 point lead and lost by. So the Blazers in a back to back situation. Yeah, it was very tight loss to Portland. It was in Portland that night. Earlier in the season they, they've just been a juggernaut. Last season they outscored opponents by 12.9 points per 100 possessions. That's the best net rating in history this season. They're annihilating that. Their own record. It's 17.5 right now through 25 games. And my biggest like takeaway with how they play. Mark Dangalt said this after Wednesday's game to go to the semifinals, he said, quote, I thought we had a good mental Toughness tonight. It's hard to play with leads. It's hard not to get distracted by the score. That jumped out to me because they're always playing with leads. They did blow one. But I do have so much faith in this team. More than a lot of other teams in the NBA. When they get up 15, they get up 20, it balloons to 30 and 35 and not the other way. Because we always say, trey, it's like, you got to keep watching these NBA games. Oh, your team's down 20. Don't worry about it. A team will come back. They are one of the rare teams that like, because of their depth, because their mentality, they just like keep piling it on.

Trey Kirby (18:25)

It's because of their defense.

Jay Skeets (18:26)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (18:26)

You can't get hot against the Thunder, really. So that's why they don't blow the leads. Even if their offense goes cold, it's like they're still going to be forcing turnovers, they're still going to be forcing bad shots. So it just adds up to blowouts. But man, you must be really struggling in a post game press conference when you win by 50 to be like, I'm proud of how we played with elite.

Jay Skeets (18:45)

I know, I know. Okay, Mark, we fought through it. We fought through the adversity of a 35 point lead.

Trey Kirby (18:50)

I don't know what else to say up here. We won by 50. There were some touchy moments when we were up by 38.

Jay Skeets (18:57)

Yes.

Trey Kirby (18:58)

Come on.

Jay Skeets (18:58)

I get it. But also again, teams take their foot off the gas when they're up by a million. And they don't.

Trey Kirby (19:04)

Yeah, you're having a great season when that's your concern.

Tas Melas (19:06)

Yes, yes. They are so level. And that's why Vegas ain't gonna throw them off just cause they're in a party city. Yeah. They're gonna be rocking until game 82.

Trey Kirby (19:16)

How long do you think their streak is gonna last? They're at 16 straight wins right now. They're plus 450 for a 29 or more game streak or plus 1200 for a 34 or more game streak.

Jay Skeets (19:28)

I put me down for actually a second loss coming before the new year. Okay. Yeah. So I don't have a lot of faith in these super long like winning streaks, but a lot more faith in the 74.

Tas Melas (19:40)

You just think there's gonna be a dude. Yeah.

Jay Skeets (19:42)

Yeah. And you know, the schedule does get tougher and you got the holidays. I mean, it sounds silly, but it could come into play here. You know, you're just. Maybe mine's not on the game as much, or you take a team a little too lightly and the team gets hot. But yeah, they have the. It's just wild. They have, like, I guess, arguably the best offensive player in the game. SGA is right there with Jokic. And then you have the best defense in history. So it's like the equivalent of like prime Michael Jordan on the 04 Pistons or whatever. Like, what a combo. Yeah. No wonder you're gonna win a ton of games. It's amazing.

Trey Kirby (20:14)

It was amazing.

Jay Skeets (20:15)

So I will say the streak ends, the winning streak, but, yeah. Yeah, it's gonna be a conversation all season long.

Trey Kirby (20:21)

It's probably good. Probably not great to go for the long streaks, even though they're really cool. The Heat streak, that was awesome when they won 27 straight.

Jay Skeets (20:30)

I think anytime a team gets over 20, it starts getting pretty impressive. Yeah. All right, hold on.

Trey Kirby (20:36)

Something that the noticer has noticed over here. Bill Simmons and Zach Lowe, major voices in NBA podcasting, NBA media. Both of them had a. Why doesn't this team slash Shay Gil, just Alexander. Why do people not connect with this team? They both had that discussion this week as the thunder rolling and they're getting talked about more and more. Because you have such a dominant season, you become more and more of a storyline. And, you know, I think part of it is, what are you supposed to say about a team that blows everybody out? But I don't know. They don't feel super beloved to me. They feel more like the spurs teams that were great with Tim Duncan or it's like, we give you a lot of respect.

Jay Skeets (21:19)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (21:20)

And you got a lot of boring personalities.

Tas Melas (21:22)

Yeah. They're not overwhelmingly in your face by any means. No one on social media is really, hey, look at us. And I think that hurts them. Other than Shay's captions on Instagram, that's all. That's the only thing that's really sort of vocal in your face. And that's why they're so much like the Spurs. They are like Duncan. Shea is like Duncan in that regard. They're obviously different players, but to me, they are so similar and they're so even keeled. And when they went in Phoenix and Grayson Allen shoved the crap out of Chet Holmgren, I mean, they just walked away and didn't want any of it. And Jalen Williams went to the camera and said, we made him mad. I mean, they're just so happy when other people are animated and mad. And so in a world where everybody is watching people speak up, get loud, just be obnoxious The Thunder, the absolute opposite of that. So I think that's. That's what it is.

Jay Skeets (22:15)

Yeah. I think the other part of it, for whatever reason, Shay doesn't connect with like a large majority of NBA fans. Like a Curry did, obviously. And Jordan, of course. Even. Even LeBron and the heels. You had an opinion about LeBron. Yeah. Not that they were maybe at that level, but yeah, it's more Duncan, like just business. Yeah, it is. But if you like watching defense, I guess that's the other part of it. You said it. That's why they win all these games. A huge part of it. They're just the best defense we've ever seen. That's like at this point. True.

Trey Kirby (22:46)

Okay. Yeah. But I mean like the warriors were a great defensive team as well. The 96 Bulls were a great defensive team as well. They had highlights on the offensive end and I think that's kind of something that leaves people cold about the Thunder. They don't have big offensive highlights like you. Like mid range jumpers. You're going to love the Thunder.

Tas Melas (23:04)

That's definitely part of it. Yeah, yeah. Shay's.

Trey Kirby (23:07)

They don't have a dunker.

Jay Skeets (23:08)

No.

Trey Kirby (23:08)

They don't have like a three point bomber like Curry.

Tas Melas (23:10)

Yeah, yeah. Shay versus Curry's highlight package. They're different and they definitely relate more, resonate more with a lot of people. Kids who just come up and don't get anywhere close inside the three point arc. Even though Steph gets inside. He did. But the highlights are outside the three point arcade. There's, there's lots of layers. Zach, just. Probably just mad. I would think that like this team literally could be the best team in the history of basketball in the regular season and not getting enough of that love. I'm trying to think of the Warrior streak. When we watched it happen at the beginning of that 73 and nine series season, it was all about starting the season with the longest streak. Right. It wasn't so much just about.

Jay Skeets (23:54)

It was a big part of it for sure. Starting 24 0.

Tas Melas (23:57)

Yeah, yeah. People do. People care about streaks enough.

Jay Skeets (24:00)

But there was similarities to the Thunder where they're coming off a title that some people said, oh, you got a little lucky there, didn't you? You know, it broke really well for you. Are you really the best team? And they think they. I think they took that personally. Of course they took it personally. Like yeah, we are watch this Thunder doing the same thing after people. Oh, it took a couple game sevens. Oh, you know, like all that. You guys, guys just skated by. So there are similarities there, but we'll see. We're gonna be talking about them all season until. Until it's like, oh, they're not gonna set that record if they don't get that.

Tas Melas (24:33)

Did you know Tide has been upgraded to provide an even better clean in cold water?

Jay Skeets (24:38)

Tide is specifically designed to fight any stain you throw at it. Even in cold butter.

Tas Melas (24:44)

Yep.

Jay Skeets (24:44)

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Tas Melas (24:48)

Tide's got you covered.

Jay Skeets (24:49)

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Tas Melas (24:52)

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Jay Skeets (25:00)

It'S gotta be Tide.

Malcolm Gladwell (25:02)

Hello.

Podcast Announcer (25:02)

Hello.

Malcolm Gladwell (25:03)

I'm Malcolm Gladwell, host of the podcast smart talks with IBM. I recently sat down with IBM's chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna and I asked him, how can companies use AI to.

Jay Skeets (25:14)

Its fullest potential to create smarter business?

Malcolm Gladwell (25:18)

My one advice to them, pick areas you can scale. Don't pick the shiny little toys on the side. For example, if anybody has more than 10% of what they had for customer service 10 years ago, they're already five years behind. If anybody is not using AI to make their developers who write software 30% more productive today with the goal of being 70% more productive.

Jay Skeets (25:50)

Yeah.

Malcolm Gladwell (25:51)

So we are not asking our clients to be the first experiment on it. We say you can leverage what we did. We are happy to bring out all our learnings, including what needs to change in the process. Because the biggest change is not technology, is getting people to accept that there's a different way to do things. To listen to the full conversation, visit IBM.com smarttalks.

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Jay Skeets (26:30)

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Jay Skeets (27:17)

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Jay Skeets (27:58)

Look, every day matters. And if you're in the fight or know someone who is, this is a conversation worth having.

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Jay Skeets (28:22)

Most Improved is the next one I want to show you guys here. Odds by way of Fanduel Denny Avdia favorite plus 220TAs Jalen Duran, Austin Reeves plus 430 and then Jalen Johnson plus 700 whose task mellows have his eye on here in the MIP.

Tas Melas (28:36)

I'm just excited about this Most improved the whole crop of players. I mean, it just feels like all four have really improved. Duran and Reeves, to me, are the surprises of them all. I think we could have seen it with Denny Avdia. It was coming. Jalen Johnson was freaking incredible before he got hurt last year and would have been an all Star. You know, he played less than half the games, but right this second, I think Reeves has been more shocking. Now he looks a little tired. It's only been two games, but he looks a little slowed down. He doesn't look incredible. And this I think is the point of the season where he could, you know, lose the. If you want to call it, lose it. The odds at where he's at. If he slows down a little bit because it feels like it is happening right now, is it catching up to him just leading the team a lot with Luca out. But Jalen Duran's the guy who's going to stay steady, so I think. I think I would lean towards Jalen Durham. But it's one of those two. Guys like Duran ain't fading away. There's no doubt about that.

Jay Skeets (29:31)

To me, TK for me, it would.

Trey Kirby (29:33)

Be Jalen Johnson, just because I think of these four, he's the best player and I think they all have really Solid cases like adding 8, 9, 10 points to their points per game from the previous season. I also think the Hawks are maybe the biggest surprise of these four teams. And I kind of wonder, or I was at least surprised that Abdi is the favorite because Portland had a hot start and they've been pretty bad.

Jay Skeets (29:58)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (29:59)

Since 4 and 2 to begin the season, 5 and 14 after that. But then I started looking at the last five MIP winners. It doesn't matter if your team is.

Tas Melas (30:07)

Actually any good, right?

Malcolm Gladwell (30:08)

Yeah.

Tas Melas (30:09)

Yeah, I wonder. Denny Avdia's gotta start playing with a better player because this is season six for him. Probably not going to the playoffs in each one of his seasons. He's got to get somebody. I don't want to compare him to Zach Levine the way that started because they're different players. But you know, it was four years was in Washington, they ain't winning a thing and then now two years in Portland. But he's damn, damn good and he can do it on both ends. He's not just. He's not a Zach Levine in that he'll guard whoever and he'll do a damn good job guarding on the other end.

Jay Skeets (30:40)

Definitely feels like the eventual MIP winners from one of these four. I don't see really a case to be made for anyone else on the list. Like Josh Giddey was in conversation. Ryan Rollins for a second was.

Tas Melas (30:53)

Oh yeah.

Jay Skeets (30:54)

Keonte George, Nikhil Alexander Walker. There are other. There are guys that have improved, but I don't see anybody jumping up into the level that we're talking about here because these are guys that are like either all four of them or three of them are going to make the All Star team. Jalen Johnson might have a case to make and maybe during two to make an all NBA team at the end of the year. So like there's sort of levels to this thing, right? Like Ryan Rollins and other guys, like even Nikhil, like, they're down a peg to me in terms of the MIP chances and the odds reflect that on FanDuel. Anyone else you'd see maybe jumping up in a conversation as the season goes on?

Trey Kirby (31:30)

Well, like Giddy should be in, in the mix with these guys. I do believe that his team is just as bad as Portland is right now and he's putting up triple double like numbers. But it's similar to like Jalen Johnson and kind of similar to Denny. They had good ends of the season, so you could kind of foresee it coming along. But you know, the Bulls have to win some games against the worst teams in the league.

Jay Skeets (31:52)

One guy in the preseason that was on the list higher, much higher, was Amin Thompson and he's now plus 10,000 for most improved. So that, you know, obviously he was in the mix early on. He was a very popular pick. I remember had a great game last night. Filled up the box court and basically had the game winning play too.

Tas Melas (32:09)

I guess Benedict Matheran could jump up as well. He's got the shots to be had in Indiana playing for a contract. He came in the season, started it injured, so that played a part. But he is on the list but he's dropped a little bit.

Jay Skeets (32:24)

Final one here. I want to show you the Western Conference standings, the bottom portion of it at least. We'll start at Minnesota. They're in sixth spot. They're 15 and nine. So they would be in the actual playoffs if it started today. Then you see the play in teams. It's the Suns, it's the warriors, the Grizzlies, the Mavericks and then below that second line, Blazers, Jazz, Kings, Clips, Pelicans by way of fanduel make the west play in odds. Phoenix minus 340. Portland minus 220. Warriors minus 120. Grizzlies minus 115. Clippers minus 105. Dallas by the way, is plus 135. Next on the list. Don't have it on the lower third there, but yeah. Thoughts on the west plan. How's this going to shake out to you? Who do you have the most faith in? Maybe even to get out of the plan? What do you think?

Trey Kirby (33:11)

Well, first of all, I think if you're under 500 you shouldn't be in the plan. They should just cap it at 8. Sorry, no play in this year in the Western Conference. You don't deserve it.

Jay Skeets (33:21)

I mean almost back to the days of the first inception of the play in where it's like you had to be so many games out to even trigger those games or the chance to get in.

Tas Melas (33:31)

Okay, yeah, it was an ugly time.

Trey Kirby (33:33)

It was an ugly time. The bubble was weird. But what are the Clippers even doing on this Odds?

Tas Melas (33:38)

Yeah, this team's a joke.

Trey Kirby (33:40)

Did you see the end of the game?

Malcolm Gladwell (33:41)

Oh yeah.

Jay Skeets (33:41)

I was going to save it for worst of the week.

Trey Kirby (33:43)

Yeah, for sure.

Jay Skeets (33:45)

But 6 and 19, you're right, they are. Yeah, they're three games back. I guess it's not super fun, but they look brutal.

Trey Kirby (33:51)

They could go on a run, there's no doubt about it. But I went and looked at their these teams records against 500 teams. Like, can you actually beat anybody who's good? And I mean, they're all under 500. All of these teams are under 500 against 500 teams. But Phoenix 5 and 8, Portland 6 and 11. Though most of their wins came in the first two weeks of the season, they've got some great wins in the first two weeks of the season. Since then, not as many. Golden State, 6 and 7, Memphis 1 and 13.

Jay Skeets (34:19)

Wow.

Trey Kirby (34:20)

Clippers 2 and 15. Which to me means Dallas should be ahead of both Memphis and the Clippers. Like you said, they're plus 135 to make the play. And they're only 4 and 10 against 500 teams. But they played most of the season without Anthony Davis since he's back three and two. And their wins are. Are against the Rockets, the Heat and the Nuggets.

Jay Skeets (34:39)

These are good wins.

Trey Kirby (34:40)

Those are great wins.

Tas Melas (34:42)

I agree.

Jay Skeets (34:42)

Get Kyrie back.

Tas Melas (34:43)

Right. Dallas is a fun bet.

Jay Skeets (34:46)

They lean into the tank like we talked about. For sure.

Trey Kirby (34:49)

Yeah.

Tas Melas (34:49)

Yeah. But is that saying. Are you telling Kyrie, hey, you're not playing? Yeah, they're leaning to the tank.

Jay Skeets (34:54)

Yes.

Tas Melas (34:56)

I don't know if you can stop that man from coming back, but, yeah, that seems like the most fun one. I. I do agree. What happens. I don't know. If you did this research, what happens if one of these teams finishes above 7 to 10? Like, there is a chance. Like, let's say you put money on.

Jay Skeets (35:10)

The Golden State for the.

Tas Melas (35:11)

So if you say, hey, you're bet to hit. I bet on the Golden State warriors to finish between seven and 10. They finish sixth.

Jay Skeets (35:17)

I don't think you win the bet.

Trey Kirby (35:18)

I don't think that's probably true.

Jay Skeets (35:19)

Yeah, because you're betting on the seven through 10 seeds.

Tas Melas (35:21)

Yeah. Because we are getting a Warriors matchup tonight against the team who is sixth in the Minnesota Timberwolves. They're almost there. They're not that far. So I think the warriors are. I feel like a lock to me to play in.

Trey Kirby (35:33)

Yeah.

Jay Skeets (35:34)

Okay.

Tas Melas (35:34)

Unless they finish sixth. I mean. Right.

Jay Skeets (35:37)

You don't see them dropping.

Tas Melas (35:38)

I would find that hard. Steph's coming back. Even, you know, the support guys are playing well without him. This is literally Steph Curry's. You know, it's. It's. It's the eve of his career. It's not the last year of his career, but we're like, is it the second last? Like, we're getting close and it feels like the. Whether it's the last page of this era, of the Golden State warriors or the second last page. I don't know. We're super close. I think they, they just have too much at just the way that this thing is going here. It feels like they got too much to risk. So they're in the Clippers. There's no way you can bet on them. There's no way. It is odd you bring up a good point, Trey. Just why are they there? I guess it's just people having faith. But there's too many clouds hanging over this team and maybe there's something hanging over the Blazers being that they started really well with the two weeks. Then the Chauncey Billups things comes. Maybe there's something hanging over there. I don't like that bet. That seems like a bad line. Minus220 to be such a hardcore favorite to get in. Yeah, yeah.

Jay Skeets (36:40)

Because you're looking at six or seven teams here for four spots in the play and basically yeah yeah. If you're including the Wolves ahead of them. But they feel like they will figure things out and then it's like the Jazz are in the mix. I guess nobody has faith in the Kings. Very little faith in the Clippers at this point. And then sorry Pelicans.

Tas Melas (36:55)

Yeah. You're too far back for Phoenix not to make it because they're now, you know they're in seventh year and have the best odds. Dallas and Portland would really have to improve and not make trades to like knock them out. You'd have to have two teams. So I, I like their play. The Grizzlies one is interesting because of the. The Zach Edie that we'll get to and his injury in a second. But since he's come back There are top 10 defense after starting the season injured but and middle pack offense. But you know that was also combined with Vince Williams getting insert into the starting lineup. Colin Coward getting inserted to the starting lineup. Those guys will still be there. Colin Coward. I can't help but do it. Cedric Coward. I can't help but do it. Once you've said the name Colin Cowardly a billion times, Cedric Coward deserves to usurp the name Colin Coward.

Jay Skeets (37:52)

Let's get to the Zach Eddie news. Let's just go to the news because he's going to be reevaluated in four weeks with a stress reaction in his left ankle that he had surgically repaired in the off season. So this is the same ankle. Now it's interesting. This appears to be more of a precautionary move here from the Grizzlies and Edie's team. But you said it to us like they were playing really well when Zach Eaty was out there over the last six games he was averaging like 16, 14, a couple blocks. They were winning a lot of these games. But now he's on the shelf TK for at least a month.

Trey Kirby (38:24)

Yeah, this is disappointing and concerning for the Grizzlies. I think Edey has been their best player this season. I think he's been their most impactful guy. Like you said, when he's been playing. They've been pretty decent 7 and 4 since he returned. He's got a plus 29 points per 100 possession swing from when he's on versus when he's off. The defense is locked down when Edie is there just because he takes up a lot of space. Dude blocked a Kawhi Leonard step back three this week. He can actually move.

Jay Skeets (38:50)

He moves.

Trey Kirby (38:50)

Yeah, he can move for being a gigantic guy, but the problem is he's a gigantic guy. You said this is the same ankle he had surgery on during the summer. He also missed time last year his rookie season. Sprained ankle on the same ankle. He ain't getting smaller and he's going to be walking on the same ankle from here on out. So I don't know. This is a concern when you're a 300 pound guy who's 7 foot 4, problems with your feet, problems with your lower legs and it's happening once a year plus a surgery. Worrisome for sure.

Tas Melas (39:24)

Yeah. The quote reading that I was totally concerned. It was this is a management plan to optimize Zach's long term health in consultation with the Grizzlies and medical experts that via his agent Mark Bartlestein. I get concerned, I get worried. And then I sent it on to Dr. Jim Borchers who was on our show on Tuesday. What do you think about this? Because we prodded Dr. Borchers a little bit saying lineups are getting taller. Is that where the injuries are coming from? He didn't want to take debate. He Dr. Jim Borchard said now it's more a matter of just the mileage on these guys bodies. And his response to what the Grizzlies are doing was I think that sounds completely appropriate. So just them sitting him down just to keep him as fresh as possible. And as I said, Ed, yeah, keep.

Jay Skeets (40:16)

Him as fresh as possible is the conundrum though? Fresh for what? When he doesn't play, you seem to be bad.

Tas Melas (40:22)

Right.

Jay Skeets (40:22)

So he's going to be fresh. When you're watching the play in games. Okay. You know, that's. But I like the idea of like trying to stretch out his career. I get that.

Tas Melas (40:31)

That's what it is.

Jay Skeets (40:32)

Also a very young guy here still too.

Tas Melas (40:34)

Yeah.

Jay Skeets (40:34)

So.

Tas Melas (40:34)

And he's literally coming off an injury to start this season. So there's that. Yeah, we'll see what Cedric Coward and Vince Williams can do in the starting lineup. Again, when Edie got put into the starting lineup, those guys got put into the starting lineup. So they will still be there. And they were a part of the culture that changed.

Jay Skeets (40:51)

This team has just been bit by the injury bug this year. You got Zach Edey, you've got the John Moran of it all. Jesus. Like that sort of story we don't even talk about anymore. Brandon Clark, Scottie Pippen Jr. Ty Jerome hasn't played a lot of key guys to that team. Obviously top end talent in John Morant and Zach Eady and these other guys could contribute to winning basketball. So yeah, they're just like there's always a team or two. It feels like every season there's like, like what the hell is going on? Like nobody can stay healthy. And they're one of these squads.

Tas Melas (41:19)

They're part of one other odd line I wanted to mention off fanduel, the Southwest Division winner.

Jay Skeets (41:24)

Oh boy.

Tas Melas (41:25)

Houston Rockets are a clear favorite. Yeah. Minus 350. The Spurs, I feel like, are a great line at plus 280.

Jay Skeets (41:32)

Okay.

Tas Melas (41:32)

They ain't far off the the Houston Rockets 16 and 6 versus 17 and 7.

Jay Skeets (41:38)

Yeah, right.

Tas Melas (41:39)

It feels like a good line to me. The Grizzlies and the Mavs and the Pelicans, not so much at plus 50,000, but it's. I would think that the spurs at plus 280. If you like your division battles. You want to hang a division banner in your arena. Do the spurs hang division banners?

Jay Skeets (41:57)

I wouldn't think so.

Tas Melas (41:58)

That would be weird. That ain't for them. But plus 280, that seems like a good line.

Jay Skeets (42:05)

This is fun. Bulls guard Kobe White has apparently caught the eye of Timberwolves pobo Tim Connolly, according to longtime Chicago sports insider Joe Cowley, who says the Wolves are, quote, big game hunting for a point guard. Of course, Minnesota insider John Krasinski says nothing is cooking. Nothing's cooking on the White front right now. John Krasinski got into it last night with a Twitter hater or two. Did you see this?

Trey Kirby (42:32)

I didn't see a tweet about Kobe, but I didn't see anything else.

Jay Skeets (42:36)

Anyway, so conflicting reports here, but let's start with the Bulls fan. This idea of maybe the Wolves eyeing Kobe White here.

Trey Kirby (42:44)

I wouldn't say getting Kobe White is big game hunting would be the first thing. The guy's never made an all star team. True zero accolades.

Jay Skeets (42:52)

Yeah yep.

Trey Kirby (42:53)

I think he's a good fit for Minnesota. I don't think he's a perfect fit. Like he's not a game manager organizer point guard. He's more of a combo guard but he fits nice to Anthony Edwards Antspan playing point guard basically for the Timberwolves. But the outside shooting Kobe brings the secondary playmaking the additional ball handler like he's a better ball handler than DiVincenzo is I think would be a good get for them because to get like a true difference maker point guard like a Harden is going to cost them a lot more money because I think that Kobe White probably can be had pretty easily because of the contract he's on. The Bulls can only offer him a 4 year 89 million dollar extension. Didn't happen over the summer. There were reports that he wants $30 million average annual value. I wouldn't want to pay that for Kobe White. I don't necessarily know that he would be able to get that because small scoring guards didn't seem to do well in free agency last year. I also think the Bulls probably missed their chance to get a first round pick for Kobe White because they waited until he was an expiring contract rather than trading him when he had an additional year left on the because he.

Jay Skeets (44:00)

Could be seen as a rental here for six weeks.

JD (44:01)

Exactly.

Trey Kirby (44:02)

There's no guarantee he would come back to Minnesota and it'll be pretty expensive I imagine for Minnesota. They're already a first apron team and if he's really trying to get $30 million like that really hurts your salary cap when you already got some big contracts on there. So some of the things that have been like booted around in Bulls world is like Mike Conley, Terence Shannon Jr. Leonard Miller, brother of Bulls two way player Emanuel Miller plus some second round draft picks. I would do that if I'm Minnesota. Yeah if I'm the Bulls I say give me Joan Baron J instead of that Shannon and Leonard Miller platter there. But there's a deal to be done here I do believe. But Kobe's going to be a guy that teams are looking for because he's easy to get. I believe it's easy to get to his contract number. You don't have to throw in a lot of picks. So Mavericks should be interested and the Warriors I think should be interested as well.

Jay Skeets (44:55)

Yeah. Cowley speculated a possible package for Kobe White featuring DiVincenzo and then Terence Shannon Jr. And then a future draft pick. Bill Simmons recently discussed a fake trade between the Wolves and Bulls. He went with a package centered around DiVincenzo and Rob Dillingham. And then the one I saw, Trey, that you just said, Conley Shannon Jr. Leonard Miller, who you know I love, that would be a steal for your Bulls and then some sort of draft capital. So these are what's being thrown around here for potentially Kobe White.

Tas Melas (45:23)

Yeah, I wouldn't want to trade Dante DiVincenzo from the Minnesota Timberwolves. I think Kobe White would be good coming off the bench and being in that role for the Minnesota Timberwolves. That's who they're looking for. They're throwing out a Bones Highland off the bench and all that. But I think you want to keep DiVincenzo in your starting lineup where he is now. He's obviously a slightly limited player. He's not a playmaker in terms of getting it to everyone else. That's who they want, and I get that. But Kobe White coming in there, I don't think would do that for them, really. I think it would be a loss. I think Divincenzo, you know, a better defender than Kobe White, I think that would be a mistake. So that proposed trade of DiVincenzo, Terence Shannon and a future draft pick, not doing it. The deal I wanted to see was Conley. And the second part is up to the Bulls, whether it's Shannon or Dillingham. I know it'd be given up on. On Rob Dillingham as a younger player, but those were Conley, Shannon or Dillingham, plus a Leonard Miller. Those three. There you go. And you bring Kobe White off the bench because again, he's a playmaker. He makes his own plays, which is awesome. That's again, why they're trying Bones Islander. He makes his own buckets. He. His assist percentage of the. The buckets he makes is really low.

Jay Skeets (46:37)

Right.

Tas Melas (46:37)

Only 32% of his two point shots are assisted on and 82% of his three point shots, while DiVincenzo. It's 72 and 97. Everything is assisted for DiVincenzo in general, but I think they wait a little bit here. Yeah, they're 15 and 9. Doesn't seem like they're awesome, but at this point last year they were 13 and 11 and they made the conference final. December is a tough schedule. I think they're going to Wait and see. Well, what are we here in December and then make a deal?

Jay Skeets (47:05)

Mark Stein related news reports that the Bulls are expected to have interest in Jonathan Kaminga once again once he's available to be traded on January 15. TK is rolling his eyes and shaking his head. No. No interest. No.

Tas Melas (47:18)

Okay.

Trey Kirby (47:19)

No, no, thank you.

Jay Skeets (47:20)

No, no, thank you.

Trey Kirby (47:21)

No, thank you, Rob Dillingham. No, thank you, Jonathan Kaminga. And please, no thank you, Demonta Sabonis. Bulls are getting linked to some of stinkers and I'm not loving it. Terrence Shannon seems like he could be a Bull, though. He's from Chicago.

Jay Skeets (47:36)

Yeah. Yeah, that one. That one checks.

Tas Melas (47:38)

Yeah.

Jay Skeets (47:39)

I do feel like Leonard Miller is gonna be a Chicago Bull, too. I don't know why I'm gonna be excited.

Trey Kirby (47:45)

Millers from Emanuel to Lenny.

Pharmaceutical Ad Voice 2 (47:47)

That's right.

Tas Melas (47:47)

I didn't know there was a brother there.

Trey Kirby (47:49)

What? You're not keeping up to date on Emmanuel Miller?

Tas Melas (47:53)

We were so excited. I know you were so excited, Skeets, for the Leonard Miller draft when that Canadian was drafted. We haven't seen much of Leonard.

Trey Kirby (48:00)

No.

Jay Skeets (48:00)

I'm telling you though, he's good. Like, he's not as good as I'm pretending he is, but he is decent. And he hasn't had an opportunity on the Wolves really, at all.

Tas Melas (48:11)

What's the best player that they can get, the Bulls can get for Kobe White, considering especially that he could be a rental. He is an unrestricted free agent in a few months. But what is the best player? And in this instance, in the wolves talk, it's DiVincenzo, which I don't like because he happening because Steven Chenzo signed to a great contract. It's cheap. Keep him around. Especially this Wolves ownership that, you know, gave away a towns to save money. I don't see it happening. But what's the best player that the Bulls could acquire for Kobe Wood?

Jay Skeets (48:42)

It feels like Terence Shannon Jr. To me. Like a guy that you think is younger than he is. Right? Like a.

Trey Kirby (48:47)

Him and Kobe White are the same age.

Jay Skeets (48:48)

Yeah, yeah.

Malcolm Gladwell (48:49)

But.

Jay Skeets (48:49)

But Shannon Jr. Feels like so much younger in a weird way. Yeah, but he's 25. Right. So I think it's like that level at this point. I think Trey's right.

Tas Melas (48:59)

They.

Jay Skeets (48:59)

They sort of botched it. They should have traded him last year, not the Bulls.

Tas Melas (49:02)

Yeah. Way. That's crazy.

Jay Skeets (49:05)

All right, let's take a break. And when we come back, worst of the week.

Malcolm Gladwell (49:10)

Hello.

Tas Melas (49:10)

Hello.

Malcolm Gladwell (49:10)

I'm Malcolm Gladwell, host of the podcast smart talks with IBM. I recently sat down with IBM's chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna, and I asked him how can companies use AI to.

Jay Skeets (49:22)

Its fullest potential to create smarter business?

Malcolm Gladwell (49:26)

My one advice to them? Pick areas you can scale. Don't pick the shiny little toys on the side. For example, if anybody has more than 10% of what they had for customer service 10 years ago, they're already five years behind. If anybody is not using AI to make their developers who write software 30% more productive today with the goal of being 70% more productive. Yeah, so we are not asking our clients to be the first experiment on it. We say you can leverage what we did. We are happy to bring out all our learnings, including what needs to change in the process. Because the biggest change is not technology is getting people to accept that there's a different way to do things. To listen to the full conversation, visit IBM.com smarttalks.

Pharmaceutical Ad Voice 2 (50:27)

You know what separates the pros from the rest? It's not just talent. It's how you respond. When the game gets tough, you dig in, you fight back. And when it comes to your health, that same mindset matters.

Jay Skeets (50:37)

Yeah, especially if you or someone you care about is facing metastatic prostate cancer. There's a treatment called pluvicto lutetium LU177 vapivotide tetraxitan and it's changing the game.

Pharmaceutical Ad Voice 2 (50:49)

Plavicto isn't chemo. It's a different kind of treatment that targets PSMA positive cells, including prostate cancer cells. Plavicto can be used before chemotherapy for some people. Here's the official word. Pluvicto is a prescription treatment used to treat adults with prostate specific membrane antigen positive metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer or PSMA positive MCRPC who have already been treated with hormone therapy and are considered appropriate to delay chemotherapy.

Jay Skeets (51:24)

Now let's talk safety. Pluvicto involves contact with radioactivity, which may increase the risk for cancer and cause fetal harm. Drink plenty of fluids, urinate often, use contraception and talk to your doctor about how to reduce the risk of exposing others to radiation during and after treatment.

Pharmaceutical Ad Voice 2 (51:42)

It can also cause low blood cell counts, kidney problems and infertility. Tell your doctor if you notice weakness, pale skin, shortness of breath, bleeding or bruising more easily an infection or changes in urination. Side effects include decreased blood cell counts, tiredness, dry mouth, nausea, appetite loss, joint or back pain, and constipation.

Jay Skeets (52:06)

Look, every day matters. And if you're in the fight or know someone who is, this is a conversation worth having.

Pharmaceutical Ad Voice 2 (52:13)

Ask your doctor about Plavicto because just like in football, every play, every decision, every second counts. Visit pluvicto.com to learn more. That's P L U V I c.

Jay Skeets (52:26)

T o.com Running a business is hard.

Podcast Announcer (52:29)

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Trey Kirby (53:31)

Friday Night Lights are bright, the court is buzzing and the weekend's calling. FanDuel. They're turning it up with NBA Happy Hour every Friday from 6 to 7:30pm Eastern Time. FanDuel is dropping limited time specials to get you in the zone. Boosts, bonuses, surprises, all designed to bring you that Friday energy. It's fast, it's fun, and it's here for one reason. To kickstart your weekend before the first tip.

Tas Melas (54:05)

90 minutes of a happy hour. Very interesting hour and a half move.

Trey Kirby (54:09)

It's all about the boosts. Don't just scroll, check the app, grab the week's specials and make your move before the shot clock runs out at 7:30pm Eastern Time. This week's reward, five 30% profit boost tokens. This week's recommended happy hour appetizer. Potato skins. Remember potato skins.

Jay Skeets (54:32)

Love them.

Trey Kirby (54:33)

They've really fallen out of favor.

Podcast Announcer (54:35)

They have.

Tas Melas (54:35)

They have.

Jay Skeets (54:35)

They have indeed. They had a moment.

Tas Melas (54:37)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (54:38)

Oh yeah. They were on every menu.

Jay Skeets (54:40)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (54:41)

Like 85 to 2005.

Tas Melas (54:44)

Those are the years.

Trey Kirby (54:45)

Peak potato skin.

Jay Skeets (54:46)

Oh yeah.

Trey Kirby (54:47)

We're bringing it back in for this.

Jay Skeets (54:48)

Shout out to the potato farmers.

Tas Melas (54:49)

Danielle ate a sweet potato and left the potato skin and I went in and I crunched. Just, just the skin. Still good. Still good. 20 years later after they peaked.

Jay Skeets (54:59)

So Good vintage.

Trey Kirby (55:02)

The vintage appetizer potato skins. Hey, if shrimp cocktail can come back, potato skins can come back, right? But, guys, this isn't just another promo. It's your Weekly pre game NBA happy hour. Every Friday, 6 to 7:30pm Eastern time only on FanDuel, official sportsbook partner of the NBA.

Jay Skeets (55:19)

All right, if you're joining us on YouTube and you haven't already, please consider hitting the like button. Make sure you've subscribed. Podcast listeners, five star ratings and reviews for your boys here at no Dunks. Let's get to worst of the week, ladies and gentlemen. The worst of the week.

Tas Melas (55:36)

I'm not giving you several nominees this week. We've got a winner. I couldn't believe that this Andrew Nemhardt carry was not called. It was brutal. Literally putting his hand underneath the ball. I mean, he got a ref running with him. I don't understand how it was not called here. It was an opportunity at the end of a second quarter. Look at that. Come on. How's that not called? And he did get the basket, but I had to cut it off and not show it to you because it shouldn't have been shown. It shouldn't have happened. That was a brutal call. The ref was literally running with him and he was there in the same angle as we were sitting on a couch with our lazy asses. Like, that's a perfect angle to see a carry, right?

Jay Skeets (56:17)

Looking like a waiter bringing out some potato skins.

Tas Melas (56:20)

Appetizer, Right, exactly.

Jay Skeets (56:21)

Who ordered the potato skins?

Tas Melas (56:23)

Yeah, he may have even had one with his right hand. I couldn't even tell because he went to his right hand. Couldn't get it from that camera angle. He could have done it twice. That was brutal.

Trey Kirby (56:30)

You're saying this one's on 54, referee. 54. Staring him down right here. Who is that?

Tas Melas (56:35)

Yeah, I didn't look up. Oh, yeah.

Trey Kirby (56:37)

Looks like it's eyeballs him. Guy goes 60ft with two dribbles.

Jay Skeets (56:42)

That's Ray Acosta confirmed.

Trey Kirby (56:43)

Yeah, of course it is.

Tas Melas (56:44)

Oh, brutal.

Trey Kirby (56:46)

He goes from the other three point line to the rim with two dribbles. Even Giannis is like, wow, how did you do it?

Tas Melas (56:52)

Yeah, yeah. Now, it was a nice finish. It was a. An under, a reaching arm for a nice finish at the rim, but come on, man. Come on.

Jay Skeets (56:59)

What do you think Ray Acosta's favorite meal is? It's not potato skins, by the way.

Tas Melas (57:05)

I immediately go Italian.

Jay Skeets (57:07)

Anything Italian. What do you think his bucket list item is?

Trey Kirby (57:15)

Go to Italy.

Jay Skeets (57:16)

No, no, no, no. But it's A it's do something in a particular country. I would say it's quite dangerous. Like, I would never want to do it.

Tas Melas (57:24)

Climb Mount Everest.

Pharmaceutical Ad Voice (57:25)

No.

Jay Skeets (57:25)

Okay. The opposite of heights. Tas. I don't mind heights. What's the opposite of heights?

Tas Melas (57:30)

Underwater.

Jay Skeets (57:31)

That's right.

Trey Kirby (57:31)

He wants to go to the Great Barrier Reef.

Jay Skeets (57:32)

Eh, you're close. Be in a shark tank surrounded by great white shar. You okay, Ray?

Trey Kirby (57:39)

That's got a wild bed.

Jay Skeets (57:40)

Final question about Ray Acosta. Hidden talent. What do you think his hidden talent is?

Trey Kirby (57:47)

Karaoke Close.

Jay Skeets (57:49)

I would say very close.

Trey Kirby (57:52)

Singing.

Tas Melas (57:52)

Musical penis.

Jay Skeets (57:54)

Not singing.

Trey Kirby (57:55)

Dancing.

Jay Skeets (57:55)

Dancing.

Trey Kirby (57:56)

Oh, wow.

Jay Skeets (57:58)

Pretty good dancer.

Tas Melas (57:59)

Prove it. Yeah, I agree.

Trey Kirby (58:01)

Kind of rug out there.

Tas Melas (58:03)

I did want to point out one other thing that happened this week with Grayson Allen. People were calling it a travel. Wasn't travel. We talked about it on the show. Trey broke it down. Now, I do want to show you part of it was a travel. You see that right foot come up on the pivot. The two foot to the gather. Not a travel. But before he gets to his step three, you're not allowed to move that pivot foot. Now, it's hard to call for a referee. That one's hard to call for a referee. But I did want to point it out. That part's a travel. Shout out to our man, coach Nick. He slowed that down. And, yeah, it's difficult to see. Like, you can't move the pivot foot. That's not allowed. And it sure looked like the gather to the step through was smooth. But he did. He did collect and move that right foot.

Jay Skeets (58:46)

You want to get engagement online, post a potential travel clip. That's right.

Tas Melas (58:51)

Yeah.

Jay Skeets (58:52)

People have opinions.

Trey Kirby (58:53)

Of course they do. No human being could. Could possibly call that.

Tas Melas (58:56)

No. It was hard.

Trey Kirby (58:57)

No.

Tas Melas (58:57)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (58:58)

No. Eyes don't work that way. You can't slow it down.

Jay Skeets (59:02)

The counter, though, is if it looks like 0.5 speed. Yeah, no, I hear you on that. But the counter is if it looks like a travel, then it's just a travel.

Trey Kirby (59:09)

It didn't look like a travel.

Jay Skeets (59:10)

It did. It does look like a travel because the guy runs back. I think.

Trey Kirby (59:14)

I think it's more like if you make it look smooth, they're not going to call it as a travel. And that looks very smooth.

Jay Skeets (59:18)

Yeah. I don't know. It's gotten to the point like, what the hell's a catch? What isn't in the NFL and stuff like that. It's like at a certain point, it's like it just looks like a catch. It's A catch, man. I don't know how to put it any other way.

Tas Melas (59:29)

Yeah, I. I actually watched a full on coach Nick break down what a travel is, and they literally said that the referee, professional referee, said if the grandma up in the 300 section says it looks like a travel, it's a travel. Specifically, they went to a grandma, you know, a thousand feet away.

Jay Skeets (59:48)

Cam is a great idea. Or replay. Like, just go to a grandmother's. Always a grandma sitting there, like, at the top.

Tas Melas (59:54)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (59:54)

Ray Acosta's nana.

Tas Melas (59:56)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (59:57)

What does she think of Italian?

Jay Skeets (60:00)

Small Italian.

Trey Kirby (60:01)

People want more travels is what we're saying.

Jay Skeets (60:03)

No, no, no. Definitely not. But they don't want to allow that.

Trey Kirby (60:08)

People also don't know the rules. People think a step through is a travel, and it's never been a travel.

Jay Skeets (60:12)

Well, this is a part of the problem. This is like a catch in football. We don't even know the rules anymore of bobbles and what and isn't like, that's a part of the issue.

Trey Kirby (60:19)

True.

Jay Skeets (60:19)

Right.

Trey Kirby (60:19)

I agree. But they have never changed the steps through rule. That's never been a travel. The. The thing that changed is the gather step, and that's like, should that be a travel? I don't know.

Jay Skeets (60:30)

Yeah.

Tas Melas (60:30)

Yeah.

Jay Skeets (60:30)

I want to make this clear. The Grayson Allen part. I'm with you on the step through part. That, to me, is not the travel. It's the. The James Harden, like, running. It feels like he's running with the ball a couple steps to then plant and then go strap through. That's the part that actually looks like the travel. But, yeah, technically it's not. Technically, it is not by the rules, but it's one of these ones where an Italian grandma's gonna say, that's a travel.

Tas Melas (60:53)

Yeah. But people. The scepter is not a travel according to the rules. But people were taught that you can't pick up your pivot foot off the floor. Some people were taught that you can't.

Trey Kirby (61:05)

That. Yes. Some people were taught incorrectly, for sure.

Tas Melas (61:08)

Yeah. And I get that. I get that. I was definitely taught that you have to jump off two feet. You can go dance off that one pivot foot, but you can't leave your pivot foot and jump off your other foot.

Jay Skeets (61:20)

I was also taught you can't put your hand under the ball and run with it for a step, too, and then put it back on top. Hey, look. So that's the winner. You're going with that one. Can I give you another nominee, though?

Tas Melas (61:30)

Yeah.

Jay Skeets (61:30)

Yeah. The Clippers had two possessions last night. To tie the game versus the Rockets. And they blew both of them. First one was Kawhi Leonard got called for an offensive foul. But the second one was Nicholas Batum committing a violation on the inbounds pass. No one came back to him to get the ball. Just like a debacle. And this is the most veteran team of all time, let alone this season. This should not be happening to this type of team. And it's like, you see James Harden, he's like. He's like, monitoring for Kawhi or Bogdanovich to come back. Also, James, you could get the ball. Anybody like, you have. I think he had Holiday on him. Like, okay, he's a good defender, but I'm sure you can get open heart and, like, brutal. And then, yeah, Batum's like, literally. I don't even. I almost don't even blame Batum because, like, he's like, guys, I'm running out of time here. We have no timeouts. I have to inbound the ball. And then he does step on the line because nobody's coming back to it. And it wasn't even like one second on the clock.

Trey Kirby (62:27)

No.

Jay Skeets (62:27)

And they gotta be down there. There was tons of time to get the ball, make a move, get up the court, maybe make a pass.

Tas Melas (62:32)

But.

Jay Skeets (62:33)

But that's got to be a worst of the week nominee.

Tas Melas (62:36)

He was running out of time. The Clippers are running out of time. I mean, they're 6 and 19. They got so many things hanging over their heads. I do want to say about the Chris Paul scenario. If the Wolves trade Mike Conley to go get a Kobe white, I get it. Chris Paul, you can come be a jerk on our team. You can come join the Wolves locker room. I do think that's an option. That's an option. But, yeah, that was a weird one. We didn't talk about. Yeah. Thursday night games. I was reluctant to go. Give the bucks lots of love. I'm glad. I'm glad we didn't talk about it. But they had a good game.

Trey Kirby (63:09)

Yeah. Guzman was hooping. He was basically Yanis out there. He was setting screens and getting to the hoop all the time. That was crazy.

Tas Melas (63:16)

I almost. I almost included him as a nominee for worst of the week because he does ball. But he also makes loud mistakes. Loud as in the mic. Picked up a three point shot that banked off the glass. It's like he is. He is something. He had a good one. They limited Boston to 13 points in the third quarter. How do you do it? Yeah, they're coming Together, four days off.

Trey Kirby (63:38)

Two days of practice.

Tas Melas (63:39)

Yeah, thank you.

Jay Skeets (63:41)

You were saying that. And your guys, Kuzma, you've been going to bat for a little bit. And then Kevin Porter Jr. I think he had another great game.

Trey Kirby (63:47)

Yep.

Jay Skeets (63:47)

So.

Tas Melas (63:47)

Yeah, we'll see. They had a loss before that, loss before that, but, you know, here we are.

Trey Kirby (63:51)

Ryan Hollins made me laugh on the broadcast.

Jay Skeets (63:55)

Not Ryan Rollins. I can't believe.

Trey Kirby (63:57)

I gotta think about.

Tas Melas (63:58)

Glad you slowed yourself down. I should have done it before. Before I said Colin Coward. Yeah, exactly.

Trey Kirby (64:05)

There's a lot of similar names out there, but at one point he called him Holiday Aaron. That made me laugh. And he's also calling Reed shepherd and Aaron Holiday. He's calling them the Pocket Rockets.

JD (64:19)

It's kind of.

Trey Kirby (64:20)

Don't mind it, but also makes me laugh. The Pocket Rockets are activated.

Tas Melas (64:25)

I like it.

Jay Skeets (64:26)

I like it.

Tas Melas (64:26)

Just. Just because they're smaller.

Trey Kirby (64:28)

I guess so.

Podcast Announcer (64:29)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (64:29)

Everybody else is a giant.

Jay Skeets (64:31)

There's two little guys.

Tas Melas (64:32)

Yeah. Yeah. They had the. The Terror Twins last year. Is that what they called them? The off the bench? Yeah, they had. It was Tar Eason and Smith. No, Thompson.

Jay Skeets (64:42)

Oh, yeah, right.

Tas Melas (64:44)

Yeah, we're coming off the bench. Did he call Holiday Aaron? Because it's Holiday comma Aaron. Maybe on his box score or something.

Jay Skeets (64:51)

Yeah, maybe. Potentially.

Tas Melas (64:52)

Yeah.

Jay Skeets (64:55)

Woah boy of the night. Sponsored by No1, but Jokic gets your.

Tas Melas (65:01)

Whoa.

Jay Skeets (65:01)

Boy. Scored A game high 36 points as the Nuggets routed the Kings 136, 105. Listen to this line. 14, 16 from the floor. No big deal. Hit both his three point shots. Game high. 12 boards. Had eight assists, two steals. He chipped in just one turnover in 29 minutes of action. So Jokic was another Woah boy of the night.

Trey Kirby (65:23)

Yeah, they were slicing and dicing the Kings. Beautiful Jamal Murray pass in this one too. Coming down the lane where he hits like a fake to the right and then a behind the back. Very Jason Williams esque.

Jay Skeets (65:35)

And a little revenge win there for the Nuggets because they had lost not too long ago to Sacramento. So good stuff. Okay. Pick them tonight, Tas. Where are we going?

Tas Melas (65:44)

I mentioned it earlier. We got Wolves, Warriors. Sounds like fun game. Steph expected to be back here.

Podcast Announcer (65:50)

Here we go.

Tas Melas (65:51)

Draymond still out. Horford still out. Anthony Edwards questionable. I believe it's a foot injury. So it's a. A little worrisome. And that's why I'm the only one unfortunately taking the Minnesota Timberwolves. When two names go up there for one team, the other person amongst Our threesome here has to pick the other team.

Jay Skeets (66:12)

That's right.

Tas Melas (66:12)

And that's me taking the wolves. Although I feel comfortable. You know, it should be a good month, too.

Jay Skeets (66:17)

Seven and two for you, man. Yeah, I'm on a slide. I've lost four straight. I was seeing the board so clearly early in the year. Now I got no clue, man. So I just went dubs. What's your reasoning? T.K.

Trey Kirby (66:29)

I'M all about those ATS records right now.

Jay Skeets (66:31)

Okay. Research search. You did. It worked last night.

Tas Melas (66:34)

Yeah.

Jay Skeets (66:35)

Well done.

Trey Kirby (66:35)

Basically, hasn't been very good on the road. Okay, that's it.

Jay Skeets (66:39)

This guy's turning into Cam Stewart in front of our very own eyes.

Trey Kirby (66:43)

I think about a parlay of several kinds of meats. Remember that one? We listened to him, like, grilling with his buddies in the garage? He called multiple meets a parlay. That's pretty sick.

Jay Skeets (66:56)

Is that the same one where he talks about his neighbor cooking up cabbage.

Trey Kirby (66:59)

In the garage babies?

Jay Skeets (67:02)

I watched. I recently watched. Why are we talking about Cam? I recently watched the clip. Where was he on with, like, Pat Mayo? Was that a guy?

Tas Melas (67:09)

Yeah, that was.

Podcast Announcer (67:10)

Yeah.

Tas Melas (67:10)

The Pat Mayo experience.

Jay Skeets (67:12)

Cam said, like, he had, like, stomach surgery. I was like, oh, I recently had stomach surgery. You don't want to see it. I don't want to show you. You don't want to see it. And they're like, yeah, okay. But he's like. Then he, like, stands up immediately and shows it, and it was gnarly, man. It was like. Like, huge. Like, stitches and a scar and it was, like, black and blue.

Tas Melas (67:30)

It was disgusting. Yeah. Mayo and pozola. Yeah. Because it was. Yeah. Kudos to him for showing it.

Jay Skeets (67:39)

Oh, God, that guy's the best.

Tas Melas (67:41)

Oh, Crohn's disease.

Jay Skeets (67:42)

He had surgery for.

Tas Melas (67:43)

I think I know what it was, maybe.

Malcolm Gladwell (67:44)

Yeah.

Tas Melas (67:45)

Yeah. I could be wrong, but it was. It was something.

Jay Skeets (67:48)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (67:49)

Just a Cam Stewart update going into the painkiller.

Jay Skeets (67:52)

Part of the pick and payoff, I betcha. I mean, I don't know. I would assume he's loving Vegas right now because it's cheaper to go.

Trey Kirby (67:59)

Oh, yeah, right. That's a great point.

Jay Skeets (68:01)

You know, I say cheaper to go. Sure, Flights are maybe hotels. But then the problem is everything cost a damn fortune now, like, a coffee is, like, $15.

Tas Melas (68:10)

It's a lot of money, Right.

Trey Kirby (68:11)

Yeah.

Jay Skeets (68:11)

Like, that's the part that sucks. Vegas should be cheap.

Malcolm Gladwell (68:15)

Er.

Trey Kirby (68:16)

That's what they're saying is the problem.

Jay Skeets (68:17)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (68:18)

Is that it used to be come for the cheap thrills.

Jay Skeets (68:21)

That's right.

Trey Kirby (68:22)

And it ain't anymore. Everything's expensive.

Jay Skeets (68:24)

Everything is expensive.

Tas Melas (68:25)

It's not Sia anymore. Love that song. Why don't they go to the old Vegas? That's cheap.

Jay Skeets (68:31)

Okay.

Tas Melas (68:33)

Yeah, that's.

Jay Skeets (68:34)

That's true. Cheaper.

Tas Melas (68:35)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. How much is a coffee in old Vegas?

Jay Skeets (68:40)

I don't know. Probably not $4. See, that's nice.

Tas Melas (68:43)

Yeah.

Jay Skeets (68:44)

Rapid fire time. Here it is. The drop. So I've got the questions. These guys have the answers. Let's see how rapid it is this week. First one. Pacer star Tyrese Halliburton joined the prime studio crew on Tuesday night for a little NBA nightcap. Little side note. I like that name. NBA nightcap for that, like, postgame show. My favorite part was you, Donnis, Haslam and Halliburton talking wwe. Yeah. The boys were geeking out over wrestling.

Malcolm Gladwell (69:09)

Steve Nash hated it.

Jay Skeets (69:11)

Not a fan. He, like, looked at the camera, rolled his eyes. But I want to know who's your favorite wrestler? Wrestler of all time?

Tas Melas (69:18)

Well, I still have him. Here he is.

JD (69:21)

Yes.

Trey Kirby (69:22)

Oh, yeah.

Tas Melas (69:23)

The much old man Randy Savage is the best of all time.

Malcolm Gladwell (69:27)

Dig it.

Tas Melas (69:29)

But what about me?

Jay Skeets (69:31)

What about me?

Tas Melas (69:32)

Do you remember our battle in 1986?

Trey Kirby (69:34)

I was so good.

Tas Melas (69:36)

Why does he have that accent? I don't think he ever spoke very little. He didn't talk much.

Jay Skeets (69:41)

Very little. He had that green tongue, right? Yeah, man. What's up?

Trey Kirby (69:44)

Is that, like, his hair?

Tas Melas (69:46)

Yeah, he's. He's got.

Trey Kirby (69:47)

I mean, he's a very hairy guy, so they gave him textured skin.

Tas Melas (69:52)

Listen, Amazon, Mike Kaplan, if you want these wrestlers, I can send them to you, maybe. Like them? Yeah, Exactly. I've got 30 of them. I do nothing with them.

Jay Skeets (70:02)

Those are collector items. Now's man, those are. Those are the original LJNs.

Tas Melas (70:06)

They're so good.

Jay Skeets (70:07)

Those were my favorite as a kid. I had so many.

Tas Melas (70:09)

Any of those LJNs?

Jay Skeets (70:11)

Yeah, that's what they're called.

Podcast Announcer (70:12)

The brown.

Tas Melas (70:12)

Oh, these?

Jay Skeets (70:13)

Yeah.

Tas Melas (70:13)

Oh, I had no idea.

Jay Skeets (70:15)

Those are big, man.

Tas Melas (70:16)

Those are popular face to face.

Jay Skeets (70:21)

Did you like George animal style mode when you were a kid? Obviously I'm not.

Tas Melas (70:27)

Did he scare you? No.

Jay Skeets (70:28)

He didn't scare you? Eating the turnbuckle.

Tas Melas (70:31)

Cool move.

Jay Skeets (70:33)

He sort of scared me. Like, he, like, straight up stole Elizabeth from Macho man at one point.

Tas Melas (70:39)

Yes, yes, he did. That was part of it. Listen, going down, I. I went down a rabbit hole today. Reading about wrestling, reading about Elizabeth's death. Unfortunately, it's all very dark. Randy Poffo, I mean, he could have been a baseball player if he wanted. Macho man.

Jay Skeets (70:56)

He's an athlete.

Tas Melas (70:57)

Actual name is Randy Poffo. He was drafted, I think, by the Somebody's. The Orioles, maybe. Yeah, you could have played ball.

Trey Kirby (71:05)

That's why he's the best of all time.

Jay Skeets (71:07)

Let's never do a Slim Jim. John Cena's final matches this weekend is this Saturday.

Tas Melas (71:13)

Final match.

Trey Kirby (71:14)

Wow.

Jay Skeets (71:14)

Yeah. I mean, yeah. Final match. Sure, Jon, we'll never see again in the squared circle, but for now, it's the retirement tour. But anyway, your favorite wrestler of all time, tk.

Trey Kirby (71:24)

Well, my favorite wrestler of all time is the Rock, but boring. So shout out to the 123. Three kid. Yeah.

JD (71:30)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (71:32)

Liked him.

Pharmaceutical Ad Voice (71:32)

Okay.

Trey Kirby (71:33)

As X. But I was in when he had the mullet and doing the moonsault. Who'd he beat? Razor Ramone.

Jay Skeets (71:39)

That made him.

Trey Kirby (71:40)

Yeah, exactly.

Jay Skeets (71:40)

Absolutely made him.

Trey Kirby (71:41)

That made him, like, cool. We got a real skinny guy that can do flips.

Jay Skeets (71:44)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (71:45)

Put him over for a little bit.

Jay Skeets (71:46)

That's right.

Pharmaceutical Ad Voice (71:46)

Yep.

Jay Skeets (71:47)

And that was like, a legit, like, shocking win. I remember how it was. How did he beat him? That's a great pick, JD Favorite wrestler of all time. Time. Yeah.

JD (71:56)

I'm kind of with Nash here. I'm just not qualified to answer this question. I wasn't really allowed to watch wrestling. My dad hated wrestling.

Jay Skeets (72:06)

Yeah, you said that before. I'm always surprised that you don't like it, because I actually think it's sort of right up your alley.

JD (72:12)

Yeah.

Jay Skeets (72:13)

Because it's so silly and.

JD (72:14)

Yeah. I mean, it wasn't like he didn't. He never forbid us from watching it, but if he caught us watching it, it would be like, disappointed handshake.

Tas Melas (72:25)

Yeah.

JD (72:26)

His. The biggest insult. If he called you a wrestling fan. That was like, you're basically just. Yeah, it's because he was a cop and he worked at. He worked at wrestling events at Maple Leaf Gardens and the people.

Jay Skeets (72:39)

Right.

JD (72:39)

Like, he would. He would work hockey games and rock concerts and, you know, anything, like Ice Capades or whatever. He's like, the worst crowd is the wrestling fans. And he just hates to this day. To this day.

Jay Skeets (72:52)

I'm like, I bet you that's. You know. I bet you that's flip, though. I bet your restaurant are some of the best fans across all sports now.

JD (72:58)

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was a different time, like.

Malcolm Gladwell (73:01)

Yeah.

JD (73:01)

I don't know. But anyways, I'm gonna say John Cena because I know his name.

Jay Skeets (73:05)

Okay.

JD (73:06)

You'll be watching this weekend? I will not be watching, but he's taking on Gunther.

Tas Melas (73:12)

What about his movie that he's in? I thought maybe you're plugging the movie that John Cena is in.

JD (73:16)

Is he in a movie coming up? I mean, he was just in Plurib. A pretty fun little cameo.

Jay Skeets (73:21)

A fun cameo.

JD (73:22)

And Peacemaker was good. You know, he's in Blockers, which is a great comedy. So I. I like him. He's very charismatic.

Trey Kirby (73:30)

He on the Bear?

Jay Skeets (73:32)

John Cena, Is he on the Bear?

Trey Kirby (73:33)

Wasn't he.

JD (73:34)

Oh, I don't know.

Trey Kirby (73:34)

Wasn't he, like.

Jay Skeets (73:35)

I don't remember.

Trey Kirby (73:36)

He's one of the brothers.

Jay Skeets (73:38)

Oh, yeah.

Trey Kirby (73:39)

He does show up a f brother or whatever.

Jay Skeets (73:41)

Yeah, I think you're right. Yeah, that's pretty weird. What did your dad think of the big boss man?

JD (73:49)

See, I don't think he had any problem with the wrestlers.

Jay Skeets (73:52)

Well, he was a cop, so I was just wondering.

Tas Melas (73:55)

Yeah, maybe.

Jay Skeets (73:56)

I guess he was a prison guard. Is a prison guard a cop?

JD (73:58)

I mean, absolutely not.

Jay Skeets (74:00)

Oh.

JD (74:02)

I mean, you know, he's an officer, I suppose.

Tas Melas (74:06)

What about the crowds at the Ice Capades?

JD (74:08)

It's like, I hated the Ice Capades. Santa Claus parade. Like, get out of here. He was like, nothing ever happens there.

Trey Kirby (74:15)

So it was easy.

JD (74:16)

It was easy compared to Santa Claus parade.

Trey Kirby (74:18)

Wow.

Jay Skeets (74:19)

Santa Claus parade. They're going crazy. Yeah.

Trey Kirby (74:22)

End up on the naughty list like that.

Jay Skeets (74:24)

What were you gonna say?

Tas Melas (74:25)

John Cena is in Heads of state with Idris Elba, 68 on Rotten Tomatoes. Oh, a few months ago.

JD (74:35)

He's good.

Jay Skeets (74:35)

He's charismatic, Got a good agent.

Trey Kirby (74:37)

Is.

Tas Melas (74:37)

It's.

Jay Skeets (74:39)

Move on.

Podcast Announcer (74:39)

Yeah.

Tas Melas (74:40)

I mean, it's a prime.

Jay Skeets (74:42)

Okay, next one here. The Washington Wizards own a point differential of minus 15.9 points per game, the third worst figure in NBA history through the first 50 games of a season. That is actually an improvement over last season when they posted the worst 50 day point differential ever. So the question here is, when in your life. Excuse me? Where in your life have you seen incremental improvement, tas?

Tas Melas (75:09)

Well, I spoke last week about my two children not flushing the toilet after going to the bathroom, and we've seen some incremental improvements since the conversation. I did tell a brief story about A2 being on a tube, a poop being double upped on. I will say at this point, we're at just a single two that may be left on the toilet. It's a small and that's it.

Jay Skeets (75:34)

That's good, man.

Tas Melas (75:35)

That's it. It's really going well.

JD (75:37)

Baby steps.

Trey Kirby (75:38)

A two out of two. I Call that a hashtag.

Jay Skeets (75:40)

Two. What about you, TK.

Trey Kirby (75:47)

The kitchen? I suppose when Laura and I got together, I had to like, look up instructions on how to heat up a cheese flap. Literally just cheese in a tortilla.

Jay Skeets (75:58)

How do you do this? This.

Trey Kirby (76:00)

Then they. JD had a Thanksgiving at his house when we first moved here, and I brought a buffalo chicken dip and everything changed.

Malcolm Gladwell (76:06)

Yeah.

Tas Melas (76:07)

Oh, yeah.

Jay Skeets (76:07)

It was a big hit.

Trey Kirby (76:08)

Yeah. Now I know how to make stuff.

Jay Skeets (76:09)

All right.

Trey Kirby (76:10)

And I just know how to make.

Jay Skeets (76:11)

Stuff that's more than incremental.

Tas Melas (76:13)

You got way better.

Jay Skeets (76:14)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (76:14)

Okay. Over the course of 15 years.

Podcast Announcer (76:18)

Oh.

Jay Skeets (76:18)

Slowly.

Trey Kirby (76:19)

Yeah. But I. I got a lot of steps to go.

Jay Skeets (76:21)

Okay, Keep at it.

Trey Kirby (76:22)

The next one is how do you make things look cool? I just know how to make the food, but like. Yeah, people know the presentation.

Tas Melas (76:31)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (76:31)

You're eating with your eyes, aren't you? Yeah. You gotta make it look nice.

Jay Skeets (76:35)

And jd, what is. Where in your life have you seen incremental improvement?

JD (76:39)

I mean, it's been incremental decline really for the last little while. But hey, I lost five pounds, so. Hey, something.

Tas Melas (76:48)

There you go.

Jay Skeets (76:49)

What's your secret?

JD (76:51)

Not weighing myself. I went to the doctor and I had to weigh myself and they're like, hey, you lost five pounds since last year. All right, cool.

Podcast Announcer (76:59)

Awesome.

Jay Skeets (77:00)

Oh, since last year.

Tas Melas (77:01)

Yeah.

JD (77:01)

Incrementals.

Jay Skeets (77:02)

Yeah, Very incremental. Hey, one pound at a time.

Tas Melas (77:05)

Yeah. Yeah.

JD (77:06)

One ounce at a time in my case.

Jay Skeets (77:07)

Yeah. Still, thanks to Justin at Statitudes for that wizard stat. All right, final one here. Serious business with Anthony Edwards has arrived. This new series features his ant challenging fellow athletes and celebrities to different contests. In the premiere, the Wolves shooting guard took on a six time US national champion in table tennis. I don't know if you guys watch. This very funny guy is hilarious. He lost. But what's something you could beat Anthony Edwards at?

Tas Melas (77:37)

This was tough. It has to do with computers. There's no doubt. I think I could beat him tech wise. Signing up for a new account. I got him. I'd beat him. We go. We go head to younger than you.

JD (77:48)

Yeah.

Tas Melas (77:48)

That isn't. I don't care.

Jay Skeets (77:50)

An advantage.

Trey Kirby (77:50)

I don't care.

Tas Melas (77:52)

I got him. You think ant's good on tech wise?

Jay Skeets (77:55)

I just think younger people are gonna have an advantage over us older people. But maybe not you, my guy. You should have said driving. You're the best driver I know.

Trey Kirby (78:04)

Do you like to use continue with Google function? You know, like you go to a new website, you just. Just continue with Google. Except I sometimes Pick it.

Jay Skeets (78:13)

And sometimes don't.

Tas Melas (78:14)

I don't.

Jay Skeets (78:14)

It's how trustworthy I am that day. I don't know why.

Tas Melas (78:16)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (78:17)

Custom password.

Jay Skeets (78:18)

Totally. Sure.

Trey Kirby (78:19)

I don't blame you.

Tas Melas (78:20)

Yeah. Yeah. When you make that choice, you're sharing your.

Jay Skeets (78:23)

Yeah, you are. You're sharing all you are. But then I'm. I'm like, it's already all out there.

Tas Melas (78:27)

Exactly.

Jay Skeets (78:28)

They got it all already.

Tas Melas (78:29)

It all depends. Yeah.

Jay Skeets (78:30)

All right, so signing up to Web 6.

Tas Melas (78:34)

I got it.

Jay Skeets (78:35)

Riveting television, that episode.

Tas Melas (78:38)

Kids love it. Kids love watching each other play E Games.

JD (78:44)

Should Twitch Stream. You applying for a bank loan or something?

Trey Kirby (78:48)

You know, exactly websites you've been thinking about signing up for.

Podcast Announcer (78:55)

Yeah.

Jay Skeets (78:57)

Task joins.

Trey Kirby (78:57)

Goodreads.

Jay Skeets (78:59)

Are you on Letterbox?

Tas Melas (79:00)

Oh, man, I wish I was using my Goodreads account. I have one. That would mean I read.

Pharmaceutical Ad Voice (79:08)

Right?

Malcolm Gladwell (79:08)

Right.

Jay Skeets (79:08)

You already talked about that. What about you, Trey? What's something you think you could beat Anthony Edwards at?

Trey Kirby (79:13)

I guarantee I could beat him at packing a suitcase. He can't do it. Oh, I watched one episode of Starting Five, and in Starting Five, he's getting ready to go on a road trip, and he has his uncle pack his suitcase for him as a grown man. And I'm bad at packing a suitcase. That's something I've incrementally improved on. I can do it by myself now.

Jay Skeets (79:33)

Good.

Trey Kirby (79:37)

Hey, here's the key. Anthony Edwards. Do it by outfit. You don't need to have options.

Jay Skeets (79:43)

Right.

Trey Kirby (79:43)

That's what my mistake always was. I'd be like, I'm gonna bring 8,000 pairs of pants. I might want to wear these pants this day with this shirt. No, pick out the shirt and the pants you're gonna wear that day.

Jay Skeets (79:51)

There you go. There you go.

Tas Melas (79:53)

Simple.

Jay Skeets (79:53)

Just roll them up and throw them in. Roll them up, just chuck them in if you want.

Tas Melas (79:56)

His uncle practice.

Trey Kirby (79:58)

He's got, like, you know, somebody on the page. Yeah.

Jay Skeets (80:01)

He's got. He rolls deep.

Trey Kirby (80:02)

He's like, it's time to go play against Denver. Pack my suitcase.

Jay Skeets (80:06)

That'd be awesome.

Tas Melas (80:07)

So good.

Jay Skeets (80:09)

That'd be weird, though, too, because, like, maybe, like, I don't know, your uncle throws in a shirt you don't like anymore or something. Why'd you put this in? This is an ugly shirt.

JD (80:17)

Well, it's hit and miss at first, but I think UNC would figure it out after a few times.

Jay Skeets (80:22)

Yeah. He learned.

Tas Melas (80:24)

Yeah.

Jay Skeets (80:24)

It depends on where you're going, too, right. Uncle's got to be on top of.

Tas Melas (80:28)

Right?

JD (80:28)

Denver. Yeah.

Jay Skeets (80:29)

Cold weather, warm weather.

Tas Melas (80:31)

Yeah, for sure.

Jay Skeets (80:32)

A lot of pressure, getting paid handsomely.

Trey Kirby (80:35)

It would be exciting, though, to have somebody else pack your suitcase and open up, like, see what we got.

JD (80:39)

Yeah.

Jay Skeets (80:39)

Yeah.

Trey Kirby (80:39)

Oh, these are all mine.

Jay Skeets (80:44)

This is true. I think, in this series, by the way, I think Anthony Edwards brother performs, like, rap songs in it. Like, he has songs within the. In the series. Okay. Yeah. I mean, this is a family affair here, for sure. What about you, jd? What's something you could beat Anthony Edwards at?

JD (81:01)

I mean, probably nothing. How did he do in the. In the table tennis?

Jay Skeets (81:06)

He's pretty good. Like, he's taking on, obviously, one of the best players in the world.

Tas Melas (81:11)

Yeah.

Jay Skeets (81:12)

Lily Zhang, I think her name was.

JD (81:13)

He did okay.

Tas Melas (81:14)

Like, he.

Jay Skeets (81:15)

He was okay.

Tas Melas (81:16)

Yeah.

Jay Skeets (81:16)

Like, he's not getting waxed.

JD (81:18)

Okay. So pickleball's out.

Jay Skeets (81:19)

Yeah. I wouldn't say pickleball. He could give him a week, and he's probably beaten you.

JD (81:23)

Yeah. And I looked it. I looked it up, and he's a. He's a pretty good swimmer.

Jay Skeets (81:27)

Oh, is he?

JD (81:28)

Yeah. Well, he says. He says that he could beat everyone on the U.S. i know, I know, right? But if you.

Jay Skeets (81:38)

Interesting.

JD (81:38)

But, yeah, but people who can swim will. Nobody who they. If they don't swim, they won't say, I can beat everybody, you know, so it's not that. Maybe trivia, because I'm old.

Trey Kirby (81:50)

Oh, good one big knowledge base.

JD (81:53)

Just more life, you know, like. Yeah. So.

Jay Skeets (81:56)

Oh, yeah, we. We've obviously done trivia together before. I've been there when you're not there. Team struggles.

JD (82:02)

Okay.

Malcolm Gladwell (82:03)

Helps.

Jay Skeets (82:03)

You're. First off, you're good at trivia. And also there are just your age helps. There's blinds, errors that, you know.

JD (82:09)

Yeah, I've lived through it.

Jay Skeets (82:11)

You have. So that's a good answer.

Tas Melas (82:13)

All right.

JD (82:14)

Trivia, that's what I'm going with.

Jay Skeets (82:15)

Okay. That's rapid fire. Sort of rapid.

Trey Kirby (82:19)

We finished before the song.

Jay Skeets (82:21)

Yeah.

Malcolm Gladwell (82:21)

Yeah.

Jay Skeets (82:21)

We went on a crazy wrestling tangent. That's all right. We got there. That was a lot of fun. Before we go, we've been celebrating our founding members on Substack. Thank you to everybody that is a founding member. Thank you to everybody that's just subscribed and helped your boys out on Substack. We're having a lot of fun over there. It's never too late to join. Hit the link in the show notes to become a subscriber to us. But our next 10 founding members here are up. And we gotta start with someone that we did thank last week audibly, but didn't show her name. So here it is. Hallie.

Tas Melas (82:56)

Hmm.

Trey Kirby (82:57)

That's your name. Thank you.

Jay Skeets (82:58)

Hell. Thank you. Hal Freezer Burn. Thank you for your founding membership, Jim.

Trey Kirby (83:04)

Deep Jim from Deep.

Jay Skeets (83:07)

Scott. Scotty too Hottie ld. Thank you. Thank you. Brad Heyman. Hey, man.

Trey Kirby (83:16)

Appreciate it.

Jay Skeets (83:17)

Thanks for subscribing, Jose. Appreciate you. I love this one. Peak channel chill cut.

Trey Kirby (83:26)

Beautiful.

Jay Skeets (83:27)

Ledo or Ledo. I'm not really sure on that one, but thank you. Thank you, thank you. And then preview. So thank you to our latest 10 there founding members as we make our way through. All of our founding members.

Trey Kirby (83:38)

Thank you for following us.

Jay Skeets (83:40)

Maybe about halfway through. No, we're more than halfway through at this point. So we'll continue next week on the Draw podcast with the next 10. Before we go to change the tune a little bit here, wanted to send our thoughts and prayers to former NBA player Jason Collins, who announced yesterday that he is undergoing treatment for stage four brain cancer. His tumor cannot be safely operated on. He's undergone radiation, of course, treatment. I think he's on medication as well to try and stop the growth. But this news was. He presented the news with Ramona Shelburne yesterday. But obviously, obviously pretty severe stage four brain cancer.

Trey Kirby (84:17)

Sounds really, really bad. Sad for him for sure.

Jay Skeets (84:20)

Absolutely. So sending our best to Collins and the family there. We will see you guys on Monday. NBA weekend, winners and losers, I want to hear your thoughts on John Cena's final match.

Trey Kirby (84:31)

Okay.

Tas Melas (84:32)

This is a pay per view.

Jay Skeets (84:34)

It's. No, it's a Saturday night main event. What is that, Aaron? I couldn't tell you. I think Netflix. Is that on Netflix? Alex? I never keep track anymore where these are. They used to be on Peacock and.

Tas Melas (84:45)

Maybe Cooper Flagg, they call him the main event.

Jay Skeets (84:49)

No, no, he's fighting Gunther. I already told you.

Tas Melas (84:51)

Sorry. I didn't know if that was a real name or a fake name.

Jay Skeets (84:55)

You know, there's gonna be some chops to the chest. You. You thought the mics were loud on a Kyle Kuzma. Banked in 3. Way to hear these slaps. The question is, is Cena gonna end with his career with a win or not? Usually a legend goes out with a loss to put. Put somebody over, right? Then you leave your boots in the middle of the ring. But this is John Cena. Maybe he wins.

Trey Kirby (85:18)

I don't know. Cena wins a lot.

Jay Skeets (85:21)

He does.

Trey Kirby (85:21)

It is hard to figure out where this is taking place.

Jay Skeets (85:24)

I think it's on Netflix.

Trey Kirby (85:25)

I think this one. I think it's on Peacock.

Jay Skeets (85:28)

Okay, okay. I don't know. Just check one of them. Saturday. Saturday.

Trey Kirby (85:34)

Yeah. Okay. It is.

Jay Skeets (85:35)

Oh, man, that's on cup night.

Trey Kirby (85:37)

Cup night. Cena going head to head with a cup man.

Jay Skeets (85:40)

I'm gonna have shrimp cocktails and cup action and cena with my buddy Grish. Come on over, guys. Party at my place on Saturday night. All right, we'll see you guys Monday for weekend winners and losers. Until then, Clipper Bros. You heard it here first.

Trey Kirby (85:55)

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

Podcast Announcer (85:58)

Awesome.

Tas Melas (85:58)

Thanks for joining us. And remember, it's John Cena versus Gunther this weekend. I'm cheering for Gunther.

Jay Skeets (86:05)

He's good. Yeah, it's really good. Embrace the weekend, people.

Tas Melas (86:10)

Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first. There, the last one. Enjoy a Coca Cola for a pause that refreshes.

Jay Skeets (86:41)

You know what a girl's best friend.

Tas Melas (86:42)

Is not diamonds her lawyers.

Pharmaceutical Ad Voice (86:45)

From executive producer Ryan Murphy comes a fiery new legal drama.

Tas Melas (86:49)

It's our own boutique women representing women.

Pharmaceutical Ad Voice (86:52)

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Jay Skeets (86:54)

Make it ring. Showtime, ladies. Stand up straight and breeze into that room like a storm no one saw coming.

Pharmaceutical Ad Voice (87:04)

Hulu Original series All's fair now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney plus for bundle subscribers. Terms apply.

Podcast Announcer (87:10)

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