Loading summary
Transcript769 lines
- [00:00]
Ad Voice
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
- [00:05]
Skeets
Viori makes soft and I'm talking extremely soft clothing. I should know. I bought some before this ad came our way. I was wearing my Viori's and my wife said, what are those? I haven't seen them. I told her my silky soft Viori shorts. Of course. They look super comfortable and they are, but I can go out in these anywhere. They're designed to look great beyond the gym. Whether you're running errands, heading to the office, or meeting up with friends, it works for everything. She felt them and she said, oh, they're like the PJs we buy for our kids. So Viori got my partner's approval just like that. I also told her that Vuori is a Finnish word meaning mountain, so I felt as big as a mountain. She didn't really like that, but you'll like this. For our listeners, vuori is offering 20% off your first purchase. Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet@viori.com no dunks. That's V-U-O-R-I.com nodunks. The offer is for new customers only. Exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions.
- [01:19]
Julian Edelman
This is Julian Edelman from Dudes on Dudes with Gronk and Jewels. All right, real quick, take a look at yourself right now.
- [01:25]
Tas Melas
Why?
- [01:26]
J. Skeats
What's wrong?
- [01:26]
Julian Edelman
Nothing's wrong. You look like a guy running on three hours of sleep and vibes.
- [01:31]
J. Skeats
Okay, yeah, I'm tired, kind of cranky and very thirsty.
- [01:35]
Julian Edelman
Congrats. Those are some of the potential signs of mild dehydration. And I bet your last bathroom break showed you another sign your body might be throwing you a penalty flag.
- [01:48]
J. Skeats
So what's the play?
- [01:48]
Julian Edelman
Call Liquid IV hydration multiplier one stick in water. Helps hydrate faster than water alone. Okay, but where's the proof? Liquid IV's clinical studies, not just a guy. I know real science. Results you can trust.
- [02:07]
J. Skeats
Well, take a look at me now. Liquid IV is officially part of my daily hydration routine. Pass the firecracker. Popsicle flavor.
- [02:14]
Julian Edelman
Stay hydrated like a pro, not like Jack before this. Stock up on Liquid IV Hyper Hydration Multiplier@liquid-iv.com and use the promo code Nuthouse for 20% off your first purchase.
- [02:31]
Sponsor Voice
Support for the show comes from public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable Index with AI it all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc, SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete Disclosures available@public.comDisclosures Do you want to
- [03:32]
Tas Melas
find a stress free way to buy your next car? Start at CarMax and shop your way. If you want to browse with confidence,
- [03:39]
Sponsor Voice
get pre qualified online with no impact on your credit score and shop cars within your budget.
- [03:44]
Tas Melas
From luxury cars to family rides, CarMax has options for almost every price range, including more than 25,000 cars priced under $25,000. So hey, want to get started? Just head to CarMax.com for details and get pre qualified today. Want to drive CarMax?
- [04:10]
J. Skeats
Good morning sweet world and welcome to the no Dunks podcast presented by FanDuel. It's Friday, April 10, 2026. This is the Drop. I'm J. Skeats here in the Classic Factory and alongside me as always, Tas Melas.
- [04:23]
Tas Melas
NBA Podcast listeners.
- [04:25]
J. Skeats
This is for you over yonder making the magic happen here on a Friday super producer jd.
- [04:30]
Tas Melas
Hello.
- [04:30]
J. Skeats
There he is. Here we are. Hello to everybody on YouTube. Hit the like button. Subscribe podcast listeners. Five star ratings and reviews. Help your boys out as we get ready for the play in tournament next week and then the playoffs. Fun one lined up today though. We got a lot. You got worst of the week nominees?
- [04:46]
Tas Melas
Yeah. Yes, some funny ones. Yeah.
- [04:48]
J. Skeats
You decided to go with worst instead of best in the end.
- [04:52]
Tas Melas
Yeah, no doubt I'll mention some of the best.
- [04:55]
J. Skeats
Okay good. We're going to do our final NBA Awards watch as we've basically have two nights of basketball left. Friday night, tonight and then on Sunday. And we'll end with some rapid fire questions which are always not that rapid. But first some crazy news. Yesterday, 76ers star Joel Embiid underwent emergency surgery in Houston on Thursday after being diagnosed with appendicitis a few hours before his team fell to the Rockets. Wild. Wild stuff here. Unclear right now. When if I guess Embiid will be able to return to the court. Jeff Stotts of In Street Clothes tweeting yesterday. These are relatively uncommon surgeries in the NBA, but Grant Hill OG Anunoby have undergone the procedure and the average time loss for an in season surgery like this is about three weeks. I think 23 days is what Jeff Staats said. So not great, Bob, for timing wise and just the unfortunate luck of Joel Embiid here. Just another weird injury.
- [06:03]
Tas Melas
This guy has the absolute worst luck. But I don't think there's any debating that a couple of years ago it was the Bell's palsy condition we saw him going through in that first round against the New York Knicks. If you remember that, that was a wild one. A couple years before that he tore his thumb in the playoffs, got caught in a jersey. That was the same playoffs when Pascal Siakam hit him with an elbow in the face and he had the orbital fracture. He's had plenty of orbital fractures.
- [06:32]
J. Skeats
Yeah, he's on both sides of his face.
- [06:34]
Tas Melas
Exactly. And he's had to wear so many masks. And that's all before, you know, the knee ligaments and the injuries and the ease and missing two full years because of foot problems. He's missed a lot and there's just so many random, so many body parts that he's gone through. So how long he's going to be out? You know, a debatable question as we go into the playoffs. You can imagine his first round series, if there is one, for the Philadelphia 76ers if they get past the play. And he won't be there for that.
- [07:06]
J. Skeats
I wouldn't think so, no.
- [07:08]
Tas Melas
But you know, considering that after an incredible practice, Nickner said we had an overnight, apparently Joel Embiid was in bed and called the Sixers doctors and said, hey, something's going on here.
- [07:24]
J. Skeats
It's like three in the morning.
- [07:25]
Tas Melas
Yeah. And so Nick Nurse, unfortunately, they, he thought we're getting ready for the playoffs. All of a sudden that happens. So there's that leading into a full
- [07:35]
Skeets
week off before a playoff series.
- [07:38]
Tas Melas
I mean, off, I'd say off a full week of recovery because the playoffs don't start until next Saturday. So he's already undergone the surgery. So there is that.
- [07:46]
J. Skeats
Yeah. But they are very likely going to have to come through the play in.
- [07:50]
Tas Melas
Yep.
- [07:51]
J. Skeats
Like they are not going to have one of these playoff seeds. And then you're like, well, there's a whole week off for those teams that are the top six in each conference. But it's looking like they're going to have to come through that. So they're going to have to win a game or two no matter where they fall. Without Joel Embiid, we think, yeah, again, no real.
- [08:06]
Tas Melas
And win a playoff series without Joel Embiid, most likely.
- [08:08]
J. Skeats
Look, there's no chance is what I'm
- [08:10]
Tas Melas
getting at, that they're getting. They're going to win a playoff series.
- [08:12]
J. Skeats
I wouldn't even have them winning any of these. Playing games without them.
- [08:15]
Tas Melas
Oh, they could do that. The crappy part is because it's a play in and you're playing it for the seventh and the eighth seed, you're going to be playing the Pistons or the Celtics if they get through.
- [08:25]
J. Skeats
Yeah.
- [08:25]
Tas Melas
So it would be different if we could be looking at a potential Cavs or, you know, maybe the Knicks. But at this point, because I was looking forward to Joel Embiid going up against Mitchell Robinson, that matchup, which they had a couple of years ago when he was battling Bell's palsy and you could see that his mouth was droopy. He had problems blinking in that series. But now, yes, I would say they could still get through the plan and get into the playoffs. But now we're talking Celtics opponent or we're talking the Pistons. So I think, yes, we're here. Unfortunately, Nick Nurse says, oh, man, we're feeling good. VJ Edgecombe. Apparently his mom called him and I don't know if you saw that his mom called him. He woke up, his mom said, hey, is this fake that Joel Embiid is going to have to undergo surgery for his appendix? And Vijay Edgecombe had no idea. He was taking his afternoon nap. And he woke up and said, whoa, I couldn't believe this. But it's not fake, Mom.
- [09:25]
J. Skeats
It's crazy.
- [09:26]
Tas Melas
Thankfully that you're. At least you don't believe everything you read on the Internet, Mom. But way to fact check. Yeah. Still, this is unbelievable.
- [09:32]
J. Skeats
Joel Embiid is a real life cavity Sam from the operation board game.
- [09:37]
Tas Melas
Boom. Yeah.
- [09:38]
J. Skeats
Yeah, he is. You went through a lot of it. 2018, orbital fracture and a concussion. 2019, he had an illness. He may have had the poops against Marcus Saul and the Raptors. He had knee tendonitis. 2021, torn meniscus. 2022, another orbital fracture. He had the torn thumb, like he said, getting caught in the jersey 2023, knee sprain. 2024, Bell's palsy. And now a week before the playoffs with a team that people were starting to get like a little excited about, they could be a dangerous lower seed. With a healthy Embiid, a healthy Paul George, Maxey, Vijay, this squad, Nick Nurse, haven't been there, done that with other teams. Now he's got the appendicitis. Like you could tell me right now, he's got a small horse near his hip joint or a pencil in his forearm. And I'd be like, yeah, I believe it. It's just so wild. It's always something and they're the most random things.
- [10:31]
Tas Melas
They're pretty random. Yeah.
- [10:32]
J. Skeats
So not good for Sixers fans here.
- [10:34]
Tas Melas
No, no, no. There's. There's no saying, oh, okay, maybe he can fight through something. Not in this position where they are in the standings. That. That hurts. It is going to be on Paul George. You said that he is looking good. Is it a positive that he had 25 games off because he was suspended, so he was going to be fresh for the.
- [10:55]
J. Skeats
Possibly at his age. Yeah.
- [10:57]
Tas Melas
Yeah. Considering what he looks like. He's not. He's not peak Paul George. He'll never be peak Paul George, but he can create. He looks like a damn good defender. But he was going to be so perfect in that role because he didn't have to have so much offense on his shoulders. With Joel Embiid out there, every single possession, he was just gonna have to come through and now he's gonna have to do a lot.
- [11:19]
J. Skeats
So you still sort of believe though, they could win their way into the playoffs through the play in either winning one or two games.
- [11:24]
Tas Melas
We're talking Magic, Heat, Hornets. Those are the three battles, the three teams that they could be battling in a couple games. Yeah, I think they could. I mean, they could.
- [11:33]
J. Skeats
Of course, it's only one game, you know, in a series. If those were like five game series, seven game series, I'd probably be taking every team maybe besides Miami Heat against them. I'd take the Hornets, I would take the Magic, who have sort of got things going. But you're right, it's one or two games.
- [11:46]
Tas Melas
It is one or two games. That being said, they go and play the Houston Rockets last night immediately after this news and it was a bad start, a really bad start to that game. They did flight. They did come through in the fourth quarter to make it a close game. We'll get to that game a little bit later on. But I don't know, is it just A bad game because of all this bad news and because of the bad news around Joel Embiid? Or is it because the Houston Rockets are really good? We could still see this get through to the playoffs. But where they are lying now, as opposed to a couple weeks ago, when it sure felt like they were going to take the six seed, kick those Raptors out, and even get up to the five seed, and we could see them against the Cavs. It'd be very different. Yeah, that'd be totally, totally different with the whole healthy mb. But this is just. It's a recap. It is Operation. The board game wants one more time with Joel.
- [12:37]
J. Skeats
Do your kids play that? Do you have that game?
- [12:39]
Tas Melas
I don't. I see it in the stores and I say, why don't we have that? Yeah, it's pretty fun.
- [12:43]
J. Skeats
Yeah, it's a good one. I played it recently. Maybe Daryl and Lisa's kids had it up in Canada when I was there. Yeah, I think so. I will say, like we talked about, like, is he gonna come back? Won't he? You know, whatever. Who knows? Again, is it two to three weeks? Probably. But I want to give credit to Nora, who I told her yesterday. I was like, oh, my God, you're not gonna believe this. Joel Embiid news. Appendicitis had surgery. She said, well, he'd come back pretty quick. I'm like, what are you talking about? She's like, Well, a couple F1 drivers did. I was like, what? I guess Carlos Sainz in 2024 and Alex Albon a couple years prior both had this sort of emergency, which it usually is. You're, like, in that pain and, like, you go get the surgery. And they returned to racing. Now, this is racing. I get it. You're in a car. You're not playing NBA basketball. But it's a lot of, like, you know, physical toll on your body in a race car. It really is. They came back pretty quickly. I think it was like they missed a race and came back. Carlos signs, I think won after the surgery and came back anyway.
- [13:39]
Tas Melas
That's a great sign for Jolene.
- [13:40]
J. Skeats
I was like, I couldn't believe. I was like, hold on. I'm like, fact checking my wife. Like, yeah, right. Give me a break. Oh, damn. She's right. So different. A race car and playing NBA basketball. But I guess I'm getting to, like, could it be two weeks, maybe?
- [13:52]
Tas Melas
Maybe this is surgery through the abdomen and through your core. You don't need your core as much for driving as much. I mean, you're in there. And. Yeah, there is a lot of force.
- [14:02]
J. Skeats
Like, there is force.
- [14:03]
Tas Melas
Yeah.
- [14:03]
J. Skeats
Yeah.
- [14:04]
Tas Melas
A little different, but you can take a shot.
- [14:06]
J. Skeats
Yeah. Obviously a big guy like Embiid. Yeah, that's going to be.
- [14:09]
Tas Melas
I think. I think I thought you meant a shot as in take a little booster shot to fight through it.
- [14:15]
J. Skeats
Hey, are you saying Carlos Sainz cheated 24.
- [14:18]
Tas Melas
No, no.
- [14:19]
J. Skeats
Just to win the Saudi Arabian GP?
- [14:21]
Tas Melas
No, just to overcome the pain.
- [14:22]
J. Skeats
That's what it was.
- [14:22]
Tas Melas
Overcome the pain. Shoot it. Our man Ash literally had to go through this surgery not long ago.
- [14:28]
J. Skeats
Right.
- [14:29]
Tas Melas
And he was told, you can't do anything for a month.
- [14:33]
J. Skeats
Yeah.
- [14:34]
Tas Melas
You know, it all depends on the circumstance. And Ash was not out there playing ball and schooling guys for that first month. Like we're asking for Joel and me, if we're talking a month, that's two playoffs. So we're talking about the Sixers getting. Yeah, most likely not. And you mentioned, like, Ogn and Obi. He didn't play. He had to have surgery the day before the playoffs. That's right. 2019. He didn't play in those playoffs at all.
- [14:58]
J. Skeats
Right.
- [14:58]
Tas Melas
He wasn't really part of the rotation anyways. He was. He wasn't part of the. The Raptors needed, but he would have been playing a little bit, but he. He wasn't needed. He could have played in the finals, but that's six weeks down the road.
- [15:11]
J. Skeats
Yeah.
- [15:12]
Tas Melas
So, yeah, we're. We're not going to see Joel and beat. It's very, very unlikely because how are the Sixers going to win multiple series without this crazy, crazy stuff? It is crazy.
- [15:22]
J. Skeats
Let's get to some of the games from last night. Had a good one. You know, this last week or so feels like maybe one or two games a night are like, ooh, this got some playoff intensity to it. And last night's game was the Knicks staying alive in the race for the number two seed in the east, beating the Celtics in Jason Tatum's return to Madison Square Garden. No Jalen Brown for the Celtics. That obviously is a huge piece off the board, but fun game back and forth. And Josh Hart was the hero last night, coming through 15 points in the final frame, including eight in the final two minutes. He had a pair of dagger threes that sealed the three. One series win for the Knicks versus the Celtics.
- [16:00]
Tas Melas
Get those two shots in the last 40 seconds. Two big splash threes. Camera cut to Ben Stiller in the front row. Wow. It is one of those games. We see a lot of Joel Embiid injuries. We also see Josh Hart come through in moments like this, right? Yeah. Late game and so you're going to need that. That being said, I consider this a Celtics win without Jalen Brown for him to be out as they manage his legs. Getting him ready for the postse to have guys like Peyton Pritchard coming through and Baylor Shyman coming through to getting them right till the end of the game without Jalen Brown and Jason Tatum, I thought, you know, wasn't his perfect game. He was out there turning the ball.
- [16:40]
J. Skeats
Sloppy turnovers late.
- [16:41]
Tas Melas
Yeah.
- [16:41]
J. Skeats
Good game though.
- [16:42]
Tas Melas
Yeah. Overall, seven for 21. It wasn't. It wasn't perfect. He had six turnovers a couple times. Guys just couldn't catch the ball. Vuchevich, catch that thing. Sam Houser in the corner. Catch that thing. There was that one with three minutes left where Peyton Pritchard was sort of led with a bad pass.
- [16:59]
J. Skeats
Yeah, it's always a passer's fault, man.
- [17:00]
Tas Melas
Yeah, it was out there. I mean Pritchard wants to be beyond the three point line and take a deep three and that was towards the sideline and it actually got sort of in the way of the referee got in the way of the pass and Pritchard was mad at the referee. But I thought Tatum's passes weren't perfect. He was not banging out.
- [17:17]
J. Skeats
His handle was a little loose at the end. Hart like got the jump ball situation the one time.
- [17:21]
Tas Melas
Yeah.
- [17:21]
J. Skeats
Which they ended up winning the jump ball too. So they basically got that possession.
- [17:25]
Tas Melas
Yeah.
- [17:25]
J. Skeats
Not a turnover, but you know what I mean.
- [17:26]
Tas Melas
Sort of. So yeah, he. I thought Tatum was not giving it absolutely everything. He will be in the postseason. Like defensively, I think he could have recovered different ways. He could have got in there for passes in different ways. But I think he is also getting ready for the postseason. Like all of us. Like all of us NBA podcasters, he is considering where he's been. Like you said, this is his first game back in Madison Square Garden. So he's just not 100% right quite yet. So I think he is warming up. But for them to get to the end of this game, we. With Jalen Brown out and your three guys off the bench and Prichard Charman and Vuch coming through, just an eight man rotation. Jordan Walsh being thrown into the starting lineup. I thought this was a good game for them overall and for the Knicks to need a couple splashes from Josh Hart, he'll have to do that in the postseason. But I thought just the clicking of both Mikel Bridges and OG Anunoby just was Lacking a little bit like OG didn't have a good shooting night. Bridges didn't shoot a lot. He was 4 for 4, but that's all he shot. You know, Towns wasn't great, so I didn't think. I thought the Mitchell Robinson insertion into the lineup was really, really big. He into the. The second unit, I should say into the line. Here he comes. He really helped out that the starters and they got there to the end. But all in all, yeah, fun game, playoff game, but Celtics feel good going into the postseason, I think.
- [18:48]
J. Skeats
Yeah, Baylor Baggins, man, coming through. Charman was feeling himself. He was talking a lot of shit there at msg, as he should have been. He couldn't miss when he hit that one. Like relocation three late in the games, like, holy moly. He was feeling it. It's good sign for the Celtics that he played well because he's going to get minutes here, I think in the postseason. And then Vuch. Vuch going a little bit better. That was good sign probably for them. But Brunson too, like, this is like a playoff preview. I thought for Brunson it's like, oh, yeah, cool. Collected as always. Comes through in the fourth. He had the step back three, got to the free throw line. He set up heart with a beauty dime inside late. So he, him and Hart, I thought, took over this game late and got them to the victory. The Celtics are probably not panicking too much though. Their magic number to clinch the number two seed remains at one game with two games left at home to the visiting Pelicans. And then the Magic on Sunday. The Knicks host two playoff hungry teams. Let's call them in, the Raptors, which is tonight, and then the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday. So, you know, the Celtics are still in the driver's seat here, I think for the number two. See, but this made things a lot more interesting. Closer, something like 14 seeds are still up for grabs as we get into the final weekend of the NBA season. Like only 14, only two. The number one seeds are the only ones actually locked in. Everything else, you know, there's still some movement from one side or the other, depending on your seating. So sort of fun.
- [20:21]
Tas Melas
Well, the, the spurs are locked into the two seed in the West. How could they not be? They're. They're locked into the two seat.
- [20:28]
J. Skeats
Okay.
- [20:28]
Tas Melas
Because they're three games back of the. The Thunder.
- [20:31]
J. Skeats
Okay. Yeah, 14. So how many other total? There's 20 seeds.
- [20:36]
Tas Melas
Oh, that's why.
- [20:37]
J. Skeats
That's why. Okay, okay.
- [20:38]
Tas Melas
We got this rare, rare situation where there's 20 seeds, six are.
- [20:43]
J. Skeats
Six teams are in their spots, I guess.
- [20:46]
Tas Melas
Yeah. The Suns are locked into the 70s.
- [20:48]
J. Skeats
That's right. Okay. Now the Wolves, I think, are even six. So this makes some sense here.
- [20:51]
Tas Melas
Yeah. Okay. Okay.
- [20:52]
J. Skeats
14 of the 20.
- [20:53]
Tas Melas
Yeah.
- [20:54]
J. Skeats
Are still up in the air. That makes a little more sense.
- [20:56]
Tas Melas
That makes more sense. But what also feels like inevitable, like we're locking into the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs is this series. Celtics, Knicks. Yeah, it sure feels that way.
- [21:06]
J. Skeats
We're running it back.
- [21:07]
Tas Melas
We'll get to the. The Raptors talk. But. And they play the Knicks tonight. Yeah, but if it was Knicks, Raptors. It was Knicks, hawks. Because that 5, 6 seating in the Eastern Conference is still up for grabs. Raptors, Knicks. Excuse me, Raptors, Hawks, currently tied at the fifth seed. You would still be taking the Celtics and Knicks. Being said, it's going to be fun. It's going to be fun.
- [21:29]
J. Skeats
Those other games, I'll throw a few at you. The Raptors move closer to a playoff berth. They beat the slumping Heat 128, 114. They just own the Miami Heat. LeBron had 26, led the Lakers past the Warriors. No Steph Curry, but big win for the Lakers and seeding. And then the Rockets beat the 76ers, like you said earlier, 113, 1 0, 2. That's their eighth straight win. So they are hot right now in Houston. Let's show you the playoff matchups and then maybe any of those games, you want to talk about tasks because. Yeah, right now, the 4, 5 in both sides, it is Lakers, Rockets in the west, then Cavs, raptors in the east, 3, 6, Denver, Minnesota, and then it's the Knicks and the Hawks currently. And then you see all the other teams there in their playoff positions and the one and two seeds. But. Yeah. Any thoughts from those games or just what we're looking at here on YouTube when it comes to the playoff matchup?
- [22:20]
Tas Melas
Well, you said the Nuggets are in the third seed right now, and that's where the Thunder want to keep the Denver Nuggets. It is hilarious. Tonight the Thunder are playing the Nuggets, but they're sitting everybody against the Nuggets. So they win. They want them to win so they can play the spurs in the second round before they face the Thunder.
- [22:41]
J. Skeats
Yeah. You're saying you don't want Denver in the 4 or 5 because you in theory would be playing them in the second round if you're okc.
- [22:47]
Tas Melas
Yeah. You'd rather see the Nuggets play the spurs in the Second round, beat each other up, one of them gets eliminated. And so you only have to battle with one in a conference finals rather than having to deal with two to go through both. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
- [23:02]
J. Skeats
That's smart.
- [23:02]
Tas Melas
The Thunder are sitting everybody and. And I love the. The listing of every guy who's out tonight. It's Shea, Oblique, Hartenstein, caf. Everybody has an injury, then you see a Caruso rest. We're not trying to hide it, dude. We're sitting these guys to get ready for the playoffs. They have that one seed, so they don't necessarily have to play these guys. Are they going to get fined for sitting guys in game 81 of the season? No, I don't think that falls under the criteria of the rules, but it's the smart thing to do. They want to wait to have those guys, have those teams beat each other up. There's that. I think that's funny. I do want to give the Raptors plenty of love. Not just because we started this show in Toronto, but because they look a lot different than the team last week. That loss of the Sacramento Kings, it sure felt like. I assumed, especially with a healthy Joel Embiid, that they were going to fall to a play in spot.
- [23:57]
J. Skeats
Yeah, that looked like a very bad loss in terms of their playoff seating at the time. That King's loss. That one could come back to bite them in the ass.
- [24:04]
Tas Melas
Yeah, it felt that way. But now they mopped the Heat two games in a row, so they got lots of good things. Brandon Ingram obviously was cooking in this game. He was getting the rolls. He was looking up. Wow.
- [24:16]
Skeets
This was just.
- [24:16]
Tas Melas
It's just his night letting go of the ball. I do think Andrew Wiggins getting into foul trouble did hurt in this game. He only played 20 seconds in the second quarter when the Raptors were able to spread this game out a little bit. And Wiggins was a plus six in all his minutes. He was needed and he was good. In that first game that the Raptors were able to beat the Heat, he had. He had 24 points. But just so many good things for the Raps. I think they just. It showed that they love each other. Remember earlier on. I guess it was just like a month ago when we had that incident when Dejounte Murray was standing over Jamal Shed and nobody came to Jamal Shed's defense in this one. We had a Pelly Larson, little push of Scotty Barnes, Everybody running up. RJ Barrett running up. Gonna help you out. Even though it wasn't the same. No, but you could see the Love the passion fight. Yeah, yeah. And Colin Murray Boyles. Speaking of fight that dude, this rookie who's been fighting through injuries, he had 17 points, shot perfectly from the floor, but you can just see him on the bench. He is hurt, man, his back, his quad, but he's fighting through it. So there's a lot of guys fighting through it. I think Emmanuel Quickley, even though he didn't have a good game, he was battling plantar fasciitis and he was walking in a boot for a while according to our man Michael Grange, who saw it happening. And this is the second game back and so that's great. I thought maybe he won't be ready to go for the postseason, but here we are. All these guys will be ready for a playoff series. We're going to get a playoff series for this road Raptors for the first time in a long time. I mean we say that we. It'll happen, it'll happen. Hopefully they'll be. They'll be fighting through it. Not necessarily a victory in terms of a full playoff series victory, but probably not. But.
- [25:59]
J. Skeats
And here's why, because this is an insane tweet from Tim Reynolds. The Raptors are 26 and oh. Okay, 26 and oh versus the Hawks, the Heat, the Pacers, the Bulls, the Cavs, the Jazz, the Blazers, the Warriors and the Grizzlies. They're Owen 20 against the Celtics, the Knicks, the Rockets, the Nuggets, the Clippers, the Lakers, the spurs and the wolves. They're 19 and 15 versus everybody else. That's insane. Now in the 26 and oh there was some decent teams. The Hawks obviously who they just have their number. And the Cavs, surprising one. That's the one where you're like, what? But they're playing in MSG tonight. The Raptors are and they're trying not to go 05 versus the Knicks who have had their number this year. They're for the most part really good against the average to bad teams in this league and they're quite bad against the good teams. I've said this now for months here on the show, but the Cavs one is interesting. I guess they want that matchup. 4, 5. I still have very little confidence they could win a series against them. Could it be competitive? Yeah, I think it might be a bit of a test for them. So we'll see if they can hold on to the fifth seed or if they fall to the sixth seed because it's looking likely they'll be five or six.
- [27:11]
Tas Melas
Yeah, we really want to see them against the Cavs. There's no doubt considering they won all three of those games. I mean they were, they're in November. It was a long time ago pre hard and they were going through some stuff themselves. So it could, it could be them. Now the Hawks have the Cavs in the heat for their final two games. So those are tough, tough games. Considering you go into Miami for that last one, it's not a lock that the Hawks are going to win that game. So the Raptors could easily beat the Nets, who they have in their final game. Yeah. Of the season. Yeah. So this is, this is could easily be Raptors Cavs in round one. So that's a good sign. I know those games in November don't necessarily matter, but I'd rather see the Cavs than the Knicks.
- [27:53]
J. Skeats
Yeah. Tonight I know Toronto clinches the five seed with a win and losses by Atlanta and Orlando. That would have to happen. I saw Hollinger had the huge breakdown of like, if this happens, then this is a lock for this team. If this happens and this happens and this means this team is the third seed or the fourth seed. Like it took them three tweets to explain everything in the Eastern Conference. Just for tonight. The west is a little, you know, makes a little bit more sense in terms of tonight. In fact, I could just tell you the Nuggets clinch the third seed with a win and a Lakers loss. The Lakers clinched the fourth seed with a win and a Houston loss. The Clippers clinched the eighth spot with a win and at Portland. So that's a big game. Actually Clippers Blazers playing for sort of 8, 9 location in the play in. But the East, I mean, I'm not going to read it all. This is ridiculous. It's a mess.
- [28:41]
Skeets
Viori makes soft and I'm talking extremely soft clothing. I should know. I bought some before this ad came our way. I was wearing my Vuoris and my wife said, what are those? I haven't seen them. I told her, my silky soft Vuori shorts. Of course, they look super comfortable and they are, but I can go out in these anywhere. They're designed to look great beyond the gym. Whether you're running errands, heading to the office or meeting up with friends, it works for everything. She felt them and she said, oh, they're like the PJs we buy for our kids. So Viori got my partner's approval just like that. I also told her that Viori is a Finnish word meaning mountain. So I felt as big as a mountain. She didn't really like that, but you'll like this. For our listeners, vuori is offering 20% off your first purchase. Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet@vuori.com.
- [29:40]
Tas Melas
no dunks.
- [29:41]
Skeets
That's V U O R I dot com.
- [29:45]
Tas Melas
No ducks.
- [29:46]
Skeets
The offer is for new customers only. Exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions.
- [29:55]
Toyota Ad Voice
Some days feel ordinary. Others turn into memories without warning. Most of them start in the car. All of them involve people you love. That's why Toyota believes people are the destination. The Toyota Highlander is built to support life's rhythm. With room for passengers, gear and plans that change on the floor fly. It adapts to whatever comes next, from early morning practices to packed drives to big games to quiet rides home after a long weekend. It's made to keep you comfortable and connected the whole way. Because the best sports memories aren't just about the final score. They're about the people you experienced it with. Because people are the destination. Learn more@toyota.com and find the vehicle that fits your people.
- [30:43]
Julian Edelman
This is Julian Edelman from Dudes on Dudes with Gronk and Jules. All right, real quick, take a look at yourself right now.
- [30:49]
J. Skeats
Why? What's wrong?
- [30:50]
Julian Edelman
Nothing's wrong. You look like a guy running on three hours of sleep and vibes.
- [30:55]
J. Skeats
Okay, yeah, I'm tired, kind of cranky, and very thirsty.
- [30:59]
Julian Edelman
Congrats. Those are some of the potential signs of mild dehydration. And I bet your last bathroom break showed you another sign your body might be throwing you a penalty flag.
- [31:12]
J. Skeats
So what's the play?
- [31:12]
Julian Edelman
Call Lick Liquid IV Hydration multiplier. One stick in water helps hydrate faster than water alone. Okay, but where's the proof? Liquid IV's clinical studies, not just a guy. I know real science. Results you can trust.
- [31:31]
J. Skeats
Well, take a look at me now. Liquid IV is officially part of my daily hydration routine. Pass the firecracker Popsicle flavor.
- [31:38]
Julian Edelman
Stay hydrated like a pro, not like Jack before this. Stock up on Liquid IV hydration multiplieriquid-iv.com and use the promo code nuthouse for 20% off your first purchase.
- [31:55]
Sponsor Voice
Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It also starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index, and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer for your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors, llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures any
- [32:57]
J. Skeats
other thoughts though on last night's games before we get to Awards watch?
- [33:01]
Tas Melas
Not many. It was great to see Vladimir Guerrero at the Raptors game. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Out there in the front row throwing out T shirts. Just felt like a playoffs in Here we go.
- [33:14]
J. Skeats
How are the Jays doing? Started poorly.
- [33:16]
Tas Melas
Averaging okay. Classic. Classic Jays okay. I would have loved to ask. Vladimir grew actually, I'll save it for best of the week. Okay. Because there's. But anyways, it was great to see. It just felt like playoffs and him showing up felt like playoffs. We are going to see playoffs in Toronto for the first time in years.
- [33:34]
J. Skeats
2022. Yeah.
- [33:35]
Tas Melas
Okay.
- [33:36]
J. Skeats
Been a while. All right, let's get to our final NBA awards watch. We're using the odds from FanDuel and we're just gonna like sort of set the table here. With only two nights left of the regular season of where it stands with all six of the major awards. Apologies to the clutch Player of the Year award. I think SGA is just gonna win it anyway and it's like who cares? All right, first one, it's the MVP. It looks like SGA is going to win this. Minus 7,000 Favorite on FanDuel WEMBY Plus 3,300 Jokic Plus 7,500 My favorite part about showing these to everybody on YouTube and the podcast listeners. I will try and go through them all. You know these are short lists now it's like we're at the point where it's like in MVP case it's only three guys. I'm not cutting this off. That's all. You can vote on some of these other ones like Rookie of the Year, it's a two man race and a few others have a little more guys. But anyway, sj, we just had A player poll on the athletic. I think he got like nearly 40% of the vote. He's winning this thing. It does feel like at least I
- [34:41]
Tas Melas
don't think there's any doubt he should be winning this thing. And I understand there's Wemby fans out there and there's Jokic fans out there to support those two guys. Shea just kicking ass in those minutes. He's on the floor, beaten the opponents by 16 and a half points per hundred possessions. And, you know, the. The non. Garbage time. And it's. They would have won 68 games if he played all the games. They. They still have the most wins in the NBA. And that's why. And it's because he's played more games than all the other candidates in this. He's played more games than Wemby and Jokic and Luca and everybody. And I think that does matter, considering this is a team sport and he is Mr. Consistency. And maybe he's not the sexiest. Maybe he doesn't have the highlights of Victor Weminyama, but what really matters is that his team's at the top. He's played the most games. He started it off incredibly well with that double overtime win against the Houston Rockets on opening night. If he doesn't pull that out, you know, without Jalen Williams in the lineup, like, if he doesn't pull that out, things are very different. I think. I know that's just one teeny, tiny game, but that's who Mr. Consistency is. That's what he does.
- [35:48]
J. Skeats
Yeah.
- [35:49]
Tas Melas
Yeah. Just wins, period. Yeah, that's. That was really, really important for that team, and that's why they're the top seed. So it's. I know people are gonna say, ain't it fun? It's not as fun in part because you're giving it to a repeat winner. And it's not, again, not as sexy as. As Trey brought up. And we created a short. He is a metro gnome in that he produces. He's Mr. Consistent. He gets into the mid range and hits shots. And a high ratio of his clips are not highlights or, you know, extravagant, exquisite, sexy clips. But who cares when it comes to this? Again, you could have a. We could have an MVP Most valuable player, but you could still have a most, you know, a most outstanding player and a sexiest player. You know, we could.
- [36:37]
Skeets
We could create.
- [36:38]
Tas Melas
Yeah. The sexiest is not what they would call it. They need to call it something else.
- [36:42]
J. Skeats
Adam Silver give the sexiest player of the year.
- [36:45]
Tas Melas
He comes out in his skims.
- [36:47]
J. Skeats
Yeah, yeah. And presents Sponsored by Skims.
- [36:49]
Tas Melas
For sure. Beauty Touche is in.
- [36:53]
J. Skeats
Yeah.
- [36:55]
Tas Melas
Either way, he deserves it, don't you think?
- [36:57]
J. Skeats
Yes, he does. And I mean, he's going to win it and he's going to go back to back and he is going to cement himself as the greatest Canadian basketball player of all time. I already thought he was, but for a couple years, if I'm being completely honest, I got tweets that show that and I had a lot of pushback on that. Oh, what? Steve Nash. Steve Nash, you know, two time mvp. Yeah, I get it. I watched Steve Nash's entire career. He's my hero. I love this guy's better. He just is. And now, you know, so much for that argument. He's going to do the exact same thing SGA or that Steve did and go back to back MVPs, by the way. Might win back to back titles, back to back finals MVPs and that too. So yeah, yeah, he's deserving. Look, a couple other things. He's doubled as much as anyone else in this league SGA is, and he still barely turns the ball over. He ranks 96th percentile in turnover rate. That's pretty amazing. He's also a good defender. I think it gets overlooked because there's a lot of awesome defenders on his team in Wallace and Caruso and Dort. But he was maybe overrated last year defensively, but he's underrated, I think now. Really good at the point of attack. You can't go wrong with any of these picks. If you had a ballot and you filled it out and you went sga, or you went Wemby, or you went Jokic, Basketball poetry said it best. This is like choosing between the sea, the sky and soil with these three guys. They're all important and they're all amazing. Take your pick. But I think he's. He's going to win it. I think the odds basically illustrate that. And the player polls and Bontemp's straw poll, it's. It's pretty astonishing though. It's pretty amazing. It's going to be weird when you're like, Jokic did what he did what?
- [38:32]
Tas Melas
Right.
- [38:32]
J. Skeats
And he might finish third in this.
- [38:35]
Tas Melas
Yes.
- [38:36]
J. Skeats
Right.
- [38:36]
Tas Melas
Yeah. And some people definitely taking Jokic. I get that. I do think games play does matter. I do think it has to when you split hairs.
- [38:42]
J. Skeats
Yeah, it has to.
- [38:43]
Tas Melas
Yeah. And it should. Yeah, it really should because those create wins. And I know the Nuggets were pretty good without Jokic, but you look at where the Oklahoma City Thunder are in the standings and that's important. And that's why Shea compared to Nash is very different in where they are in the standings. They're in the one spot. And you're right about the defense and he is a part of the league's best defense and he's really good at that. Obviously there's so many other guys and he's just, it's not even part of the discussion when it comes to defense. Shea is not even though he is that good and he can recover and he will block somebody by the rim because he's that good because he, he's tapped into the rotations and what the schemes are for Degnan because that's what a good leader does. It is a team sport. As much as, you know, we just want to look at Jokic and all that. I mean it doesn't matter, I think where you're on the standings and what you're producing and how many games have
- [39:41]
J. Skeats
been played and his all NBA teammate barely played. That's another part of this like that that gets completely overlooked, I guess just because the Thunder are an awesome team. J Dub played 30 odd games and they're still the number one seed. So like, you know, I think a lot of other guys, MVP candidates, you know, if that's the case, everybody like builds up that player like, like, okay, like Jalen Brown's a good example and it's amazing, it's astonishing. Like no, Tatum is like holy crap. Like he still led this team to 50 wins. That, that is something. But I don't know, it doesn't get talked about a lot in my opinion with sga. Like that is a really good player that they missed the entire season. They didn't miss a beat because he's your leader and he's so steady and he gives you 30 plus. So I don't know. It's. He's going to win it. Yeah, it's awesome.
- [40:27]
Tas Melas
And it also happened last year with Chad Holmgren. He only played in 32 games. I guess the, the, the problem for a lot of people out there is who is their second best player. That's always the. It's not, it's not a clear cut. It's Jalen or it's Chet. While with Brown and Tatum it's clear cut.
- [40:46]
J. Skeats
To me it feels like people think, not everybody, but a majority of people think if you took SGA off the Thunder, I think a lot of people, and I don't know if they're right or wrong, but they think the Thunder would still win 40 games, 40 plus. Games, 45 games. I don't know if I believe that. I actually don't. But I think people think that. And then people go, you took Wemby off the spurs, you took Jokic off the Nuggets. They're bottom of the barrel. Right. They're a 25 win team. Do you think that's fair? What people, I think, think or project with these teams and comes into the valuable part of most valuable player? Yeah, sure, I think so.
- [41:20]
Tas Melas
Some people argue that, but I think
- [41:21]
J. Skeats
they just discredit sga. Like they just go, yeah, you took them off, they'd still be good. I don't think they would. I don't, I don't. I think he's a big, big reason why they win 60 plus games and won the title last year.
- [41:33]
Tas Melas
I would love to see what, what the Nuggets are with just Jamal Murray leading their team. I know we all say they're bad without Jokic, but as I said, they recovered very well for this one time in Jokic, his career where he missed a long period. And I would love to see what the spurs are without Wemby for, you know, a full couple months or whatever. He still played a ton and he's still very deserving as an mvp. Oh, my God. But he's going to win.
- [42:03]
J. Skeats
The fact that he is 22 years old and even in this conversation is nuts in Wemby.
- [42:08]
Tas Melas
Yeah.
- [42:09]
J. Skeats
Like, we're, like, we're like he's runner up or top three in the league is what we're saying.
- [42:12]
Tas Melas
Yeah.
- [42:13]
J. Skeats
And he's, and he's proven that.
- [42:14]
Tas Melas
Yeah, I was not ready. I was not ready preseason.
- [42:17]
J. Skeats
I wasn't either.
- [42:18]
Tas Melas
I know, I know. You know, Trey threw him at the MVP table immediately. We're talking about year three here. I just go based on what I've seen and I was totally, you know, I'm a little biased. I hang on to the past a little too much. The first time we saw him out in summer league and he couldn't fit through that doorway and I thought he was going to bang his head and he was terrible in game one. I just, you know, all that to say I knew he was obviously getting better, but I didn't think he was. He was this. I mean, I don't know if anybody thought he was this, especially coming off last year when he played basically half the season in 46 games last year.
- [42:53]
J. Skeats
Yeah.
- [42:54]
Tas Melas
So to see him do this and be consistent. Not as consistent as Mr. Consistency, but still very, very, very, very, very good. So looking forward to him Winning plenty.
- [43:04]
J. Skeats
Well, he's going to win defensive player of the year if he gets the games played under his belt. Let's go to that one. He's minus 4,000 now. This should be minus 4, 400,000. But he still has to play what, one more game, right, to qualify.
- [43:18]
Tas Melas
Oh, boy.
- [43:18]
J. Skeats
So I think he's going to, I think they're going to roll him out there for 20 plus minutes in one of these final games for him to get this. Because I think he wants it and I think that's enough for the spurs organization to play him.
- [43:29]
Tas Melas
He just has to come play one of these last two games and play 20 minutes. That's as simple as that. So, yeah, he's going to do that. Gosh, I was going through the exceptions for this award. You're supposed to be able to get to 65, but there are exceptions.
- [43:44]
J. Skeats
Yes. Oh, man, it'll do your head.
- [43:46]
Tas Melas
Not fun. No. I mean you can play in one exception. You can play 15 to 19 minute games and have those granted if you have up to two qualified games. So you can play 63 regular games and have those get you to 65 or you can play in the in season tournament final.
- [44:04]
J. Skeats
Right, right. So it's. It did count because I said that the other day and I said it with. I wasn't 100% sure, but I was like, I think they're counting that as a, as a game play. Even though nothing else counts in terms of scoring records and stuff like that.
- [44:17]
Tas Melas
Apparently it does.
- [44:18]
J. Skeats
Okay, I thought so.
- [44:21]
Tas Melas
If he doesn't win, they will change the rule and then we can refer to it as the Victor Wembanyama rule. Like we're never going to have these 65 games, these hard 65 games. I say hard, but there are exceptions anyway. Yeah, whatever. It'll be the way I think he's getting there.
- [44:37]
J. Skeats
So the only real drama remaining is like, will he be a unanimous defensive player of the year? Like, will everybody on their ballot have Wemby won or will there be some Rudy Gobert, Chad Holmgren, Scotty Barnes, somebody else?
- [44:53]
Tas Melas
No, I don't think so. You think it'll be like everybody and everybody votes, you know, after the regular season, everybody has their ballot, but as our man Dan Devine said on Yahoo, they do not vote until I should say they have their ballot. I shouldn't say that.
- [45:06]
J. Skeats
I don't think they do.
- [45:07]
Tas Melas
No, they don't. They don't. They don't have their ballot until regular season is over. So it's not like they're Just throwing it in there now and somebody's saying when we doesn't play enough, Rudy Gobert Wemby will be on the ballot if he does play. My question is, are they going to hold him out because he's got a rib contusion. Just he's got a rib issue. So if they're going to be cautious, then they do hold him out. However, they probably just want to get him there and let him win it if he's able to. So I do think he'll play and he'll be unanimous. I think yeah.
- [45:42]
J. Skeats
All right. Rookie of the year. This is a fun one. This is a two man race. last check. This was me doing this yesterday afternoon on FanDuel. Minus 120. Con caniple the favorite Cooper flag plus 100. So very, very close. You know, this was cons for a majority of the season. Then Cooper scored the 51 points. He followed up with 45. Then the odds flip suddenly and Cooper was the favorite. What we're back here to Khan Knippel being the slight favorite tasks, you know, if you had the ballot, how would you fill this one out? With a couple days left, I think
- [46:18]
Tas Melas
I'd be part of the minority. I would still vote con canopy. I would still hang in. I would hang in despite Cooper and what he's been doing the last few weeks. The 50 spot. I get it. I think con has just been Mr. Consistency from the rookie side. He's played in almost every single game, like very very. He's at 79 with two games remaining. If I'm correct, he's way better than just a three point shooter. I'm tired of that argument. Whenever he sees an advantage, if he's a little bit bigger that he'll take that person into the mid range or the post. You know, the, the negative being he ain't Cooper flag size. So he doesn't have that advantage over everybody. But the three point percentage, of course it's better than Cooper flags. The two point percentage is better than Cooper flags by a significant amount. I would call it a significant amount for this guy who's not known as that. And he's a good playmaker. I still think whether he's literally setting picks and then being sort of an outlet to receiving that ball and making passes or just having to create as a secondary playmaker or whatever, I put some stock into their record. I think that's somewhat important.
- [47:30]
J. Skeats
Okay, that's interesting. I wanted to ask you that because usually with rookie of the year we don't give A shit about that, the team's success or lack of it. Because I guess when we're debating rookie of the years, they're usually on bad teams and you're just like, well, who's the best rook? Either stat wise or tests or whatever. But you are putting something into it. You're saying between this one, again, if this is a close one in terms of their numbers and stuff like that. Yeah, Khan's a little more efficient, but Cooper is the more well rounded player and does have better stats, like counting stats. But you're saying the Hornet's success and the impact he's had on winning basketball that that makes you veer a little bit more towards Canipa, which I think is fair. But some people say now you're moving the goal post, you know, like no one cared about that ever.
- [48:13]
Tas Melas
Yeah, listen, Cooper is going to be the better player when all is said and done when we look at this thing. I agree with that. Oh yeah, the rookies drafted in this draft. Yeah, Cooper's most likely going to be the better player. He's grown a lot over the season. But the Hornets have been ridiculously consistent because of Conc and Nipple. They started poorly. I mean they're 14 and 26 for the first 40 games.
- [48:39]
J. Skeats
4 and 14 to start out of the game.
- [48:40]
Tas Melas
Yeah. And so after those first 40 games where they're 14 and 26, they're 29, 11 after that. And that's because of the growth in this season of Lamelo Ball and Brandon Miller. And I think a lot of that is on Conquer Nipple shoulders. I think just because he's been in all 79 games, I shouldn't say all 79. 79 of their 80 games. He has been a rock. And so I'm factoring in when I'm watching, I think that should factor in. Like I've watched October and November and January of Conquer Nipple and I said he is easily the best player back then because Cooper started slowly and they
- [49:19]
J. Skeats
did him no favors. No, they had no point guard.
- [49:22]
Tas Melas
That was a mistake.
- [49:23]
J. Skeats
So. And then, then obviously they have the huge, you know, the, the still the fallout of the Luca trade and all that and Anthony Davis then being traded and then they leaned into Tank. I mean he, I'm saying he's been dealt up. Yeah. A tough hand here.
- [49:38]
Tas Melas
Yeah.
- [49:39]
J. Skeats
For, for a number one. Yeah. As far he's been great.
- [49:41]
Tas Melas
Yeah. And he's been dealt a tough hand as far as winning the rookie of the year. So if Jason Kidd as their head coach said d' Angelo Russell you're the starting point guard and Cooper flag, you're playing off the ball a little bit more. That would have just started his season way better then you can say from the other side. But Jason kidd put him in these. These fires to help him progress faster in a way in terms of year two and year three and all that. And then it's. I guess there's some truth to that. Could be. But as far as just watching this season conquer, Nipple was just a rock. And I'm a basketball geek. So I watched the basketball concha. Nipple was a rock. And again, I think despite. Would you say they're 4 and 10, 14. 26.
- [50:28]
J. Skeats
Yeah, 4 and 14.
- [50:29]
Tas Melas
Excuse me. And 14 and 26. I.
- [50:33]
J. Skeats
But he was fine, by the way. I mean, his stats right out of the gate and his efficiency right out of the gate were good.
- [50:37]
Tas Melas
He was their best player. Yeah, he was the best. You know, I still think. I still think he's their best player. I know lamelo is awesome. I know lamello's awesome. I know Brandon Miller is awesome. And they were not, you know, they just weren't holding their own. Their responsibility to start this season. I give a lot of that credit to their growth to con knipple because that guy was a rock in summer league. He was a rock and he was. He's been a rock all season long.
- [51:06]
J. Skeats
Do you want a rock or do you want a diamond?
- [51:08]
Tas Melas
That's nice. That's nice, man.
- [51:10]
J. Skeats
You kept saying rock. So I kept thinking of it.
- [51:13]
Tas Melas
Yeah. Go digging for. You want to dig? Get a diamond, man. I get it. I get it. He's going to have a better career. He has been so awesome. I think the defense is a little bit overblown. Like, oh, he's good defensively, you know,
- [51:26]
J. Skeats
he's got room for improvement. I agree. Yeah, I was going to say something. Oh, did you see Lamelo ball? I don't think I'm stepping on any worst of the week toes here, but con canipple set the record, the rookie record for three pointers made in a season, which. Which is amazing. I mean, that's something right there. And so they, you know, he comes into the locker room and all the guys hit him with the water bottle, Right? The classic water bottles. Just soak the guy. Lamello ball. Did you see this?
- [51:56]
Tas Melas
No, I didn't.
- [51:57]
J. Skeats
He picked up the mop bucket.
- [52:00]
Tas Melas
You.
- [52:01]
J. Skeats
He picked up the mop bucket, ran over and tried to dump it and did sort of successfully dump it on concan nipple.
- [52:09]
Tas Melas
Weird.
- [52:09]
J. Skeats
Weird.
- [52:10]
Tas Melas
Yeah, don't do that.
- [52:11]
J. Skeats
Yeah, that's really gross. And it gets heavy, too. It's like. It almost sort of. Almost clocks canipple. Like, it's like. It also is like, if you told me somebody did that, I'd be like. And you're like, guess who did that? Like, probably Lamello. Yeah. Yeah. You'd be on the short list.
- [52:27]
Tas Melas
No. Is it clean water in that bucket?
- [52:29]
J. Skeats
I don't know. I couldn't tell with them.
- [52:30]
Tas Melas
I know you can't be able to tell, but maybe the.
- [52:32]
J. Skeats
Maybe.
- [52:33]
Tas Melas
Maybe the employee who's doing that is cleaning it afterwards, so they're just prepared, like, to soak up all that crap.
- [52:39]
J. Skeats
Maybe.
- [52:40]
Tas Melas
But there's a lot of water in there.
- [52:41]
J. Skeats
There's a ton. It went everywhere. You could hear somebody go, watch your clothes, like, because all their locker rooms are right there. Like, the bucket. I'm talking about the giant yellow mop bucket you see in schools and stuff. Yeah, it looked dirty to me, but fascinating.
- [52:59]
Tas Melas
Lamello ball 101.
- [53:00]
J. Skeats
Man.
- [53:00]
Tas Melas
I must have been the. The equipment manager. I mean, the person who washes all the. The jerseys. Like, I was not a. It was not a player. Player who's concerned about somebody else drying, cleaning and drying.
- [53:14]
J. Skeats
No, I thought the. I thought it was a player yelling about their. Their own clothes. Like, not their jerseys. Yeah, like, watch my cool jeans, man. You're gonna get mop water all over them. Anyway, Wild stuff.
- [53:26]
Skeets
Viori makes soft, and I'm talking extremely soft clothing. I should know. I bought some before. Before this ad came our way. I was wearing my Vuoris and my wife said, what are those? I haven't seen them. I told her my silky, soft Vuori shorts. Of course, they look super comfortable, and they are. But I can go out in these anywhere. They're designed to look great beyond the gym. Whether you're running errands, heading to the office, or meeting up with friends, it works for everything. She felt them and she said, oh, they're like the PJs we buy for our kids. So Viori got my partner's approval just like that. I also told her that viori is a Finnish word meaning mountain. So I felt as big as a mountain. She didn't really like that, but you'll like this. For our listeners, Viori is offering 20% off your first purchase. Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet@viori.com SL no dunks. That's V-U-O-R-I.com no dunks. The offer is for new customers only. Exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions.
- [54:40]
Toyota Ad Voice
Some days feel ordinary, others turn into memories without warning. Most of them start in the car. All of them involve people you love. That's why Toyota believes people are the destination. The Toyota Highlander is built to support life's rhythm, with room for passengers, gear and plans that change on the fly. It adapts to whatever comes next, from early morning practices to packed drives to big games to quiet rides home after a long weekend. It's made to keep you comfortable and connected the whole way. Because the best sports memories aren't just about the final score. They're about the people you experienced it with. Because people are the destination. Learn more@toyota.com and find the vehicle that fits your people.
- [55:27]
Sponsor Voice
Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI it all starts with your prompt. From renewal renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transact for your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors, llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures wasn't that delicious?
- [56:30]
Ad Voice
So good.
- [56:30]
J. Skeats
Your bill ladies.
- [56:32]
JD
I got it.
- [56:32]
J. Skeats
No, I got it.
- [56:35]
Ad Voice
Seriously, I insist.
- [56:36]
J. Skeats
I insisted first.
- [56:37]
Ad Voice
Oh, don't be silly. You don't be silly.
- [56:40]
Tas Melas
People with the Wells Fargo Active Cash credit card prefer to pay because they earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases.
- [56:46]
Ad Voice
Okay. Rock paper scissors for it.
- [56:48]
J. Skeats
Rock, paper scissors.
- [56:49]
Tas Melas
Shoot.
- [56:50]
J. Skeats
No.
- [56:51]
Tas Melas
The Wells Fargo Active Cash Credit card. Visit wells Fargo.com ActiveCash Terms apply
- [56:58]
J. Skeats
all right Most Most Improved Player Odds we got some more names on this board. Down to four. I was a little shocked that Nikhil Alexander Walker is the odds on favorite minus 1500 then Jalen Duran plus 1300. Avdia plus 7500. And Jalen Johnson long, long shot at plus 17,500. So Nikhil Alexander Walker, Tassie, I mean, he has more than doubled his previous career scoring average of 8 1/2 points per game by dropping nearly 21 points per game now for the Hawks. And he's doing it on an excellent 61% true shooting percentage. He's also the second best player on this Hawks team. Right. I mean, it's Jalen Johnson, but I think it's not after him. But were you shocked by it? Looking like he's going to win this thing sort of in a runaway?
- [57:48]
Tas Melas
Yeah, for sure. I know a lot of these odds are just sort of dependent on timing. Recency biases is a part of it, of course, because Nikhil Alexander Walker has been kicking ass and this was Denny Abdia's award for, I don't know, the first half of the season.
- [58:04]
J. Skeats
Yeah, I think there was a stretch where maybe Jalen Johnson had it. Yeah, Avdia had it. Jalen Duran I think had it. And. But you're right, this, this last, I don't call it four or five weeks here, it's, it's nas to lose.
- [58:16]
Tas Melas
But it isn't just because of recency bias. It is because of those stats that you threw out there. I don't know if Ansi Saleh, who runs the Hawks front office, saw this coming from Nikhil Alexander Walker when he signed him to a ridiculously good deal. Four years, 62 million. So he's making that is a steal 15 and a half per year. Would you expect 22 on really good percentages from almost everywhere?
- [58:46]
J. Skeats
Yeah, he's on fire from three takes a lot. He's still a good defender.
- [58:50]
Tas Melas
Yeah. No, this is shocking.
- [58:53]
J. Skeats
So even people that were high on Nikhil Alexander Walker, especially as we saw in the postseason, which I thought he showed something. Right. Which they obviously saw. And then the Wolves got squeezed financially, so it's like he had to go. But I don't think anybody had him scoring 21, 22 a night.
- [59:07]
Tas Melas
No. To go. To go from 9 to 21. Yeah. I was looking at Jalen Johnson's number, so I hesitated to say his percentages are ridiculously good because I saw three point percentage. But when you watch the games, the guy's three point percentage is ridiculously hot. He's so good at coming off catch and shoots. He's not just, hey, I'm bringing the ball up and I'm firing Quinn. Snyder has him bought into moving off the ball, getting it to Jalen Johnson in his hands. And so yeah, I thought Jalen Johnson, considering he's played 71 games. I was hesitant to anoint him the guy for the Hawks because he has been injured in years past the last two years. So that was part of why I thought Jalen Johnson would take it over Nigel Alexander Walker. I thought Jalen Duran's growth would be enough. I thought Denny Abdia. But obvious growth has been hampered because of the injury. That's, that's really what it comes down to with, with Denny. If Danny would play the entire year, I think Denny would win this thing.
- [60:09]
J. Skeats
But you know, good timing on Nikhil. You're right. If he had done this in the first six weeks instead of the last six weeks, I wonder, I wonder would he still be the favorite? But do you know the last guy to go from single digits points per game to double or plus 20. I should say like that 10 plus increase to do it just from one year period. From one year to the next.
- [60:34]
Tas Melas
Not had nothing.
- [60:35]
J. Skeats
He won most improved too.
- [60:36]
Tas Melas
Aaron Brooks?
- [60:37]
J. Skeats
Nope. It's a good guess but he plays alongside Nikhil Alexander Walker.
- [60:44]
Tas Melas
No, not Dyson. He plays CG McCallum.
- [60:47]
J. Skeats
Yeah, I think back in 15, 16 or something like that when he won it and had that huge bump and like that's another part of this like narrative I guess around Nikhil Alexander Walker and his MIP chances. It's like I mean they traded away Trey Young. They were like, no, we're good, we're okay with him running the show here. And we'll make the trade from a column and Kispert. So yeah, pretty wild it is. Two cousins are going to win awards here. In all likelihood the Alexanders six man of the year. We got a lot of names still a lot of names to actual bet on on FanDuel. Keldon Johnson though is the favorite. Minus 900. Jaime Hawkes Jr. Is next. Plus 60. Excuse me. 600. Yeah, 650. 650 is what I'm trying to say. And then Nas Reed, Reed Shepherd, Tim Hardaway Jr. AJ Mitchell and Beef Stew. Way down there they have their long shots. It's probably between Keldon Johnson And Jaime Hawkez Jr. Who would you go with? And is there anyone else you were surprised not to maybe see on that list?
- [61:53]
Tas Melas
Yeah, it's definitely a two player race here considering the, the odds go from the plus 650 of Hawkes to plus 10,000 of NAS Reed and the rest of. Listen, I think this is Tim Hardaway's best season of his career. I Think he's been awesome, so. I don't think he's been awesome. He has been awesome. And the, and the numbers prove it. And we all say, oh, Jokic goes to the bench. They stink. Well, guys like Tim Hardaway has helped that. But we're talking about the six man and the six man award. I wouldn't give it to Keldon Johnson. I wouldn't. I would give it to Jaime Hawkes, I think because he's. I know he's young and he's only near three, but we all wondered, is he going to be able to start and be a three point shooter? Well, he's gone to the bench and he's totally changed his role and what he is. He just pushes that ball for Spoelstra. He just creates fast break opportunities and that's part of the story. I think there's a better story with Jaime Haquez. He's just gotten the best out of what he can do. Talking about point jumps, Jaquez has a good one from 8.6 last year to 15.1 this year. I think that's far sexier a story. Sorry, I'm using the word sexy again. It's a better improvement. It's a better storyline than Keldon Johnson, who's been fine. But why is Keldon Johnson the clear favorite? I don't really get it. Because the spurs are good. It doesn't usually have anything to do with being good.
- [63:18]
J. Skeats
Yeah, sure. Some people wonder, is Kelvin Johnson even the best player on the spurs roster coming off the bench?
- [63:24]
Tas Melas
Dylan Harper.
- [63:25]
J. Skeats
Dylan Harper's, oh, I mean, damn good. Kelvin's played a role and like, and I think like even the, the leadership value he brings to that team. Yeah, I get that on a per game. On a per game basis. Haquez's case is pretty strong though. 15.1 points per game, leads all reserves by a decent margin. 4.6 assists, that's second. 5.1 boards, that's sixth. And basketball poetry wrote the Heat rely on Hawkez more than any other team. Relies upon their top reserve.
- [63:58]
Tas Melas
That's a good way to put it.
- [63:59]
J. Skeats
He plays more minutes per game than many starters. So I don't love that. The heat of like completely just falling apart here at the end. I feel like this is maybe a no brainer if they're flirting with the six seed or something like that, but they've just let like let go of the rope here and they can't stop anyone. So it makes it a little less like, I don't know, sexy and maybe that's why Kelden is the favorite, winning 60 plus games and him playing almost like a team award, like. Yeah, all right, Kelvin, you're the representative of a very good spurs bench. Maybe. I mean, I'm not gonna be upset if he wins it. And I think he, I don't know, actually, this one, I think is gonna be close between these two in the votes.
- [64:32]
Tas Melas
He could be leading the odds just because there are more bets on him, specifically because he is, it is kind of a team award as well. He represents their bench and he, he, he is that emotional leader of that second unit. He's been there so long with the San Antonio spurs. So long. So he, Yeah, I think there's, there is a storyline there too. I, I, I reduce it to say it's not as good a storyline as Jaime Hawkins, but it's a different type of story than Jaime Hawkins, who has just grown immediately here in year three, while Calvin Johnson. Yeah, there's, there's a little more to that. And what he is, I can't believe how, how long he's been there. It just doesn't feel like he's been there for seven seasons because he has gone through some, some his numbers technically have dropped, you know, because he used to be a starter, if you look at it that way, but he's been great.
- [65:28]
J. Skeats
You got a story. I got a story. We all got a story.
- [65:30]
Tas Melas
I agree with you. Yeah, we all do.
- [65:32]
J. Skeats
Final award here. Coach of the Year Bickerstaff is the favorite. Minus 260Joe Missoula. He doesn't want this award. Don't give it to him. Plus 220. And then Mitch Johnson of the Spurs, Charles Lee of the Hornets and Quinn Snyder of the Hawks round out the list there. Mitch Johnson maybe within striking distance, but looking like a Bickerstaff or Missoula for Coach of the Year. An award where expectations seem to matter. Right. That's a big part of the Missoula factor. It's like, ooh, a lot of people thought, gap year, they're going to be flirting with the play in and all that. Instead, they're the number two seed in the East. But the Pistons ran away with the east and didn't miss a beat when Cade was gone. And I think that, to me, cemented Bickerstaff being deserving of this award.
- [66:20]
Tas Melas
Yeah, they're over. Under was 46 and a half to start the season, so there was some expectations that they had to win, you know, 46, 47 games, but they smashed them.
- [66:30]
J. Skeats
Yeah.
- [66:30]
Tas Melas
And they could win 60 games. They're 58 and 22. And so I understand why he's on the top. Yeah, this is a. It's a storyline award and Joe Missoula does not want to be part of the story. As you said, he does not want to win it. Quite often the team fires their coach who wins it because they don't produce the following year. We've seen it happen before. So that would be the story if the Pistons flame out in the postseason and J.B. bickerstaff wins. But all, all signs lead to them being really, really good in the playoffs. So I've got no problem with him winning. I think Jordan Ott of the Phoenix Suns should absolutely get plenty of votes.
- [67:11]
J. Skeats
Yeah. Sort of shocking. He's not even like Quinn Snyder at plus 50,000. Not that he's going to win, but just to have his name there, that was a little odd.
- [67:18]
Tas Melas
I guess. People are betting on Quinn and that's why the numbers change. And Jordan and the Suns have fallen off a little bit because. Mostly because of injury, I think Dylan Brooks being a big part of it. And so they haven't had their guys, Mark Williams. So they're at 44 and 36 now, you know, on pace to win 45, 46 wins. While earlier it was like they're going to win 50 games, so they dropped off a little bit.
- [67:45]
J. Skeats
I guess that's why preseason expectations. Not many people were high on the Suns.
- [67:50]
Tas Melas
Absolutely not.
- [67:50]
J. Skeats
I think a lot of people were more likely they picking the Suns to be one of the worst teams in the league than they were to be in the play in.
- [67:55]
Tas Melas
So I think I picked the. Under Phoenix.
- [67:57]
J. Skeats
You and trade did. I was the lone guy to go over on the Suns, but it was a low line, too.
- [68:02]
Tas Melas
31 and a half.
- [68:03]
J. Skeats
Yeah.
- [68:03]
Tas Melas
Yeah.
- [68:04]
J. Skeats
So I think Bickerstaff, you ultimately think JB gets it? Probably him or Missoula, I guess.
- [68:09]
Tas Melas
But yeah, probably Bic. I mean, to beat the expectation of the number by over 10, that's a heck of an accomplishment for wins. Yes. He deserves it.
- [68:21]
J. Skeats
Gonna take a break. When we come back, worst of the week nominees. Right now, new FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get 250 in bonus bets. If, if, if your first bet wins. That's. That's right. Turn five bucks into 250 in bonus bets just for getting started. Not bad. And when every possession matters in the playoffs, which it does, FanDuel makes it easy to get closer to the action. From player props on your favorite stars to all the tools you need to back them up. FanDuel puts player research right at your fingertips. So you can check stats, you can check trends, the matchups, all in one place. It's all right there for you to make your picks with some confidence. Everything you need, all in one app. So don't miss your shot. Head to FanDuel.com. don't go to FanDuel.com podcast. Is that right or did I just.
- [69:10]
Tas Melas
Actually, yeah, that is right.
- [69:12]
J. Skeats
Oh, it is.
- [69:12]
Tas Melas
Okay.
- [69:12]
J. Skeats
Just podcast.
- [69:13]
Tas Melas
Yeah, for everybody, for the deal.
- [69:16]
J. Skeats
Are you telling me we're not the only podcast sponsored by FanDuel? What? FanDuel.com podcast. Get started. FanDuel play. Play your game.
- [69:25]
Tas Melas
Yeah, I asked people. Go to the app and let us know.
- [69:29]
J. Skeats
Yeah.
- [69:29]
Tas Melas
Can you let us know if all those things you mentioned there are good? Like these. The stats specifically?
- [69:35]
J. Skeats
Sure.
- [69:35]
Tas Melas
I haven't heard a thing. Oh, what up with that? Maybe. Maybe they need a new website. Not. Not FanDuel.com podcast. FanDuel.com. no dunks. Does that exist? I don't think so. There was some talk about that.
- [69:47]
J. Skeats
Let's get into worst of the week, ladies and gentlemen.
- [69:51]
JD
The worst of the week.
- [69:56]
Tas Melas
Should we start with the best of the week?
- [69:58]
J. Skeats
Yeah, sure.
- [69:59]
Tas Melas
Well, I think there's some great stuff in baseball this past week.
- [70:02]
J. Skeats
Oh, God, I don't care.
- [70:03]
Tas Melas
Okay, just one. One thing while I'm. While I'm. One thing is deserving of conversation. Did you see Joe Adell? He's the LA Angels outfielder. He robbed three home runs.
- [70:14]
J. Skeats
Okay, I did see that. I didn't know his name, but I did see it.
- [70:16]
Tas Melas
Yeah.
- [70:16]
J. Skeats
Yeah.
- [70:17]
Tas Melas
That was incredible.
- [70:18]
J. Skeats
In one game, he robbed three home runs.
- [70:20]
Tas Melas
It went over the wall to snag a ball that was going over the fence. And it was perfected by that third one because it was a low wall. And when he went over the wall, he went over the wall and he got up holding it.
- [70:30]
J. Skeats
That photo is badass.
- [70:32]
Tas Melas
Yeah. Standing in the stand. Yeah.
- [70:34]
J. Skeats
The people just looking at him. Yeah, that looks cool.
- [70:36]
Tas Melas
I know the play by play guy said, does that count? Because he literally. He flipped over the wall and caught it.
- [70:42]
J. Skeats
But it does.
- [70:43]
Tas Melas
It does. Yeah, it does.
- [70:44]
J. Skeats
I guess it's the equivalent of like falling over the railing on a foul ball. Out of bounds. Like, as long as you catch it, it's good. Yeah.
- [70:51]
Tas Melas
So, yeah, I mentioned earlier I was going to ask Vladimir Guerrero something. I just wanted to ask him about the guy who got three home runs. Nothing to do with you, but that was spectacular.
- [71:01]
J. Skeats
Remember, once upon a time, I told you by way of my mom, by way of my grandpa. You got to go to a baseball game because you never know. Or in every baseball game, something unique happens.
- [71:10]
JD
Yeah.
- [71:11]
J. Skeats
So case in point.
- [71:13]
Tas Melas
That was. That was three home runs. Yeah. I was sitting there in. In the Dominican watching the Blue Jays. Unfortunately, they lost. They lost to. To the Dodgers a lot. I get it.
- [71:24]
J. Skeats
Swim up bar. Looking good.
- [71:26]
Tas Melas
No, no. In somewhere. Well, it was indoors, but Yamamoto was on the. On the bump on the mound for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Yeah. Last story. Yamamoto on the bump. And the person who worked at the resort just kept saying, well, that $300 million just kept pointing at the screen. $300 million. Yamamoto was signed for, like, $320 million. He just couldn't get over that a pitcher is making that much money, which is a lot of money, and that's why the Jays lost. But that's not a question.
- [71:58]
J. Skeats
Do you think he was suddenly trying to say, hey, man, give me a tip here? I know it's a all inclusive resort, but don't be afraid to pull out a 20 and slip it my way?
- [72:06]
Tas Melas
I don't think so. He was. He was saying that to somebody else.
- [72:09]
J. Skeats
Okay.
- [72:10]
Tas Melas
Who then said. I was very confused. That person said, that's how much my house is worth. Your house is worth 300 million. 300k, I guess maybe is what you meant. I was confused. But he should be asking for a tip from a guy if his house is worth $300 million. That's for sure. Anyways, I wouldn't ask Vladi about anything to do with what I saw in the Dominican, the Dodgers beating them. I was just asking about Joe Adele. Best of the week, but worst of the week, three nominees. First one, Dylan Brooks trash talking Kevin Durant. And there's a great camera angle we're showing to you on YouTube from the stands. It was a fan filming it, so it's dead ball. It's in between plays. Dylan Brooks talking trash to Kevin Durant. And then play starts. Kevin Durant gets the ball and immediately drops Dylan Brooks so fast. It is so incredible to see him get the ball. And Brooks, he slips once. He's able to stay on his feet and then gets dropped. And then Tim Durant scores. So good. So good. Shout out to Sydney Lala on Twitter, who was filming that. That's. That's a cool angle to see that.
- [73:13]
J. Skeats
It's good work.
- [73:14]
Tas Melas
Yeah. Because you. You see actually see the entire trash talk and you see him get dropped and scored on too good.
- [73:19]
J. Skeats
Did you see the Dylan Brooks standoff? With Benny the Bull. That clip going around.
- [73:24]
Tas Melas
Oh, how come?
- [73:24]
J. Skeats
Very, very funny clip too. They're just like. Dylan Brooks does this weird thing where he just goes and looks at the other team and just sort of stares. He's done it before.
- [73:31]
Tas Melas
Yeah, Benny did it.
- [73:33]
J. Skeats
Yeah, Benny did it. And they just had a star doing. The camera work was killing it too. They were going back and forth, back and forth, and they just had to stare off. Very funny.
- [73:40]
Tas Melas
Very, very funny. Okay, second nominee here.
- [73:43]
J. Skeats
Yes.
- [73:44]
Tas Melas
There's a history here. Cooper Flag and Cameron Malawatch of the Phoenix Suns. They played in Duke together. Okay, so Malwatch and Cooper Flag came into the league this year. This was the first time they got on the floor together this past week. Apparently Cooper Flag said to Malawatch, I'm gonna dunk on you pregame. Said that. And then in the game he tried to dunk on him.
- [74:07]
J. Skeats
Yes.
- [74:07]
Tas Melas
But Malawatch got him. We got the video here. He blocked it. Cool block. Cool block. Another cool camera angle. And then the stare down. Yeah, yeah. He thought he was gonna get Fyke. Thought he was gonna get him. He thought he was gonna get Malawatch. Kaman Malawatch got him. So that's pretty good. So it's the worst of the week. It's the best of the week, really. The story is good, but it needed to be included. Those two dudes going at it once. Third nominee is just more funny. It has to do with the Adeta coup Bros, not Giannis. Nothing to do with Giannis. Yeah, there's some drama there, obviously, but it is pretty funny that Thanasis and Alex, who recently played his first game, are playing together. And Thanasis comes through with an incredible steal, actually. And then he tries to go set up his brother with a terrible pass. Horrible pass. He thought he was probably given a nice alley oop. Well, no, I shouldn't say that. He should have given it now because they're on the break. It's a two on one, but he passed it way behind him and he kind of throws his hands up like he thought Alex, I guess, was going to shoot a three ball. All that to be said. Alex set up Thanasis for an alley oop. Successful one with Candice on the bench.
- [75:22]
J. Skeats
Oh, yeah, I did see that.
- [75:23]
Tas Melas
He loved that.
- [75:24]
J. Skeats
He was like, I want to be out there so bad playing with my brothers.
- [75:27]
Tas Melas
Yeah.
- [75:28]
J. Skeats
And they said. They have said, you're not.
- [75:30]
Tas Melas
You're not allowed.
- [75:31]
J. Skeats
Sounds like he's not playing here.
- [75:32]
Tas Melas
No.
- [75:32]
J. Skeats
In the. In the finale.
- [75:33]
Tas Melas
It's done. Yeah, I understand. Janice wants to show out. He wants the last sign of or the last thing he does in Milwaukee is to be playing through everything. He wants his legend to be known as the guy who would play through anything, every injury, to give it to those fans who gave everything to him. But it ain't gonna. And I understand it from the box side either way. The. It's hilarious that Alex De Koompo playing and that terrible play. Although, you know, they had a good alley oop. It wasn't a great pass from Alex to Thanasis, but that was the one making its ways around.
- [76:12]
J. Skeats
I hadn't seen that pass.
- [76:13]
Tas Melas
Yeah, that. Yeah, that one wasn't. Wasn't as big. Maybe I'm part of the Greek algorithm, but it wasn't the one that was going around all that much. I'm really surprised by the lower third were able to include Thanasius, Hadidicum, Kumpo and Alex at Akumpo. That's a lot of letters. Yeah. Yeah.
- [76:28]
J. Skeats
I always saw you put that in there and I left it.
- [76:31]
Tas Melas
I always wonder when J.D. what J.D. can fit in.
- [76:34]
JD
I was gonna tinker with it, but
- [76:35]
Tas Melas
I mean, we had some long ones. We have three long ones. Dylan Brooks. Well, first of all, it says Nominee 1, Dylan Brooks Trash talks KD. I went with KD instead. Immediately gets dropped. We had a whole Cameron, Malawatch, Cooper flight. All of them were long, but they fit.
- [76:49]
J. Skeats
I got them.
- [76:49]
Tas Melas
How do we do it?
- [76:50]
J. Skeats
I got one more potential worst of the week nominee. I don't know. It's a silly one too. Did you see the clip of the Pacers couple last night?
- [76:56]
Tas Melas
No.
- [76:56]
J. Skeats
Making the rounds, having a passionate discussion slash argument. A very funny clip. They're arguing about something. But watch her at the end here, you can say, or I guess maybe we've clipped it where she says, that's you. That's you. What the are you talking about? And he does a hilarious little.
- [77:17]
Tas Melas
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can literally read her lips pretty easily.
- [77:22]
J. Skeats
She says that. No doubt.
- [77:23]
Tas Melas
What the.
- [77:24]
J. Skeats
That was in Brooklyn. Rocking cool Pacers gear. Yeah, I did like that. Both of their gear looks good. So I don't know what that was about.
- [77:30]
Tas Melas
So you don't know what she's referring.
- [77:31]
J. Skeats
I got no clue. But it was pretty funny. Also that game. 19 seconds into the fourth quarter of that Pacers Nets game, the referees realized, oh, crap, we gave the ball to the wrong team to start the quarter.
- [77:46]
Tas Melas
Oh, no.
- [77:48]
J. Skeats
So. So they let the Nets play an entire possession at the start of the fourth, like obviously inbound at the end. Bring it up and they ran a play and I think they shot a corner three and they missed it. And then a rebound happened and they were like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on, hold on. Oh, crap. It was Pacers ball.
- [78:04]
Tas Melas
So what do they do then?
- [78:05]
J. Skeats
I just restarted the fourth quarter. They're like, here, you take it.
- [78:08]
Tas Melas
That's a good way to do it. Yeah, yeah.
- [78:10]
J. Skeats
Let's go check in on this couple arguing with each other. You guys all right up there? Everybody's okay.
- [78:15]
Tas Melas
She is super mad. It wasn't, wasn't like she was saying, hey, that's, that's, that's you. Like, it wasn't a kind comment. Like, that could be you out there playing basketball.
- [78:30]
J. Skeats
I don't want to be judging or like, oh, what a domestic or something like that. Because you've seen couples that like, are spicy with each other. You know, it might be the way they talk to each other.
- [78:39]
Tas Melas
Well, she's spicy, he's not.
- [78:40]
J. Skeats
Well, his reactions to me are like, well, I've heard this before. We've done this before. Because he's. He sort of seems to be like, ah, maybe. Good point. Anyway, very funny clip. They were on them for a long time. That clip we showed you was way less.
- [78:55]
JD
That was the only thing that.
- [78:56]
J. Skeats
Oh, I sent you the wrong one then. It was making the rounds last night. People were having fun with that.
- [79:01]
Tas Melas
Yeah, we were hearing some people yelling out on the street here at the studio here yesterday.
- [79:06]
J. Skeats
Yeah, man.
- [79:07]
Tas Melas
We thought there may be a domestic involved, but that was just somebody yelling at a phone.
- [79:11]
J. Skeats
He was on his phone. Confirmed. We thought he was pretty sure he was angry. He was angry.
- [79:17]
Tas Melas
Pretty sure it was something.
- [79:18]
J. Skeats
It was something money related. That's all I could catch from eavesdropping. And it was. Yeah, it was so you give me my money now type thing.
- [79:27]
Tas Melas
Yeah, yeah. No camera on him. Sorry.
- [79:29]
Skeets
Go ahead.
- [79:29]
JD
Yeah, no, no, no. Yeah, yeah, that's it. They were out there this morning at 3:30 bonfire raging.
- [79:35]
Tas Melas
What?
- [79:35]
JD
Just chilling out. Yeah. What a street I live on.
- [79:39]
J. Skeats
Yeah, you live on a fascinating street.
- [79:41]
Tas Melas
Wow.
- [79:43]
J. Skeats
You do. You got goats at the end. 3:30, you. You have a new, new character unlocked. I love her. Now I drive by an older Chinese woman doing the most fascinating stretches.
- [79:56]
JD
Yeah.
- [79:56]
J. Skeats
On the hill over there, like in a weird spot on the road.
- [80:01]
JD
I mean, there's no sidewalks.
- [80:03]
J. Skeats
I know, but anyway, she's getting her steps in. I get it. And then she's doing a lot of, like, she's getting the, the blood flowing.
- [80:09]
Tas Melas
I. Oh, God.
- [80:10]
J. Skeats
But that's a new character. She's brand new to me.
- [80:12]
JD
Have you seen shirtless beard guy with the pitbull walking around?
- [80:16]
J. Skeats
No, I have. No, I haven't.
- [80:18]
Tas Melas
No.
- [80:19]
JD
Loves his dog sometimes. He's gardening as well.
- [80:22]
J. Skeats
Okay.
- [80:23]
JD
Yeah.
- [80:23]
Tas Melas
Always shirtless
- [80:26]
JD
now that the weather is warmer.
- [80:28]
Tas Melas
Yeah. That is too funny. Yeah. We could have done plenty of just worst of the week's lip reading. I think like those two fans. I think you could have squeezed Doug Christie in. We talked about yesterday because you can see him at one point say some. The word timeout. Like he talking to his assistant coach afterwards after that whole drama like a minute later. Like I thought we had a timeout. Like you could see him say that. Don't worry.
- [80:55]
J. Skeats
The NBA investigated.
- [80:57]
Tas Melas
I know. Yeah. We said yesterday they weren't saying there was no chance that it was going
- [81:00]
J. Skeats
to be just bad coaching.
- [81:01]
Tas Melas
Yeah. He didn't. Wasn't doing anything.
- [81:03]
J. Skeats
You could argue. The ultimate tank job is hiring Doug Christie as your head coach. Also season long. But you know, if he gets a. If he gets an extension or a new contract or he's coaching next year, then maybe we can investigate that.
- [81:14]
Tas Melas
Well, he's been way better these last couple months.
- [81:17]
J. Skeats
Yeah.
- [81:18]
Tas Melas
Instead of the young guys. You're right. Playing the oldies.
- [81:21]
JD
Ash is chiming in about. About the couple. The Pacers couple.
- [81:24]
J. Skeats
Go on.
- [81:25]
Tas Melas
Oh, okay.
- [81:26]
JD
The lady says they were fine and that's just how they talk to each other. Lol. From Ash.
- [81:31]
J. Skeats
We know that for sure.
- [81:33]
JD
No, Alice is Ash. DM and slack.
- [81:36]
J. Skeats
So this is what I hypoth. Hypothesized.
- [81:37]
Tas Melas
The lady says they're fine. They're just spicy.
- [81:40]
JD
Yeah. He was just. You know, he's used to it for sure.
- [81:43]
J. Skeats
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [81:45]
JD
This is a man who gets.
- [81:46]
J. Skeats
We have literally no clue what they're even arguing about. They could be arguing about some other stupid couple over there. Yeah, yeah. 100 good stuff will be.
- [81:56]
Tas Melas
Oh, no, no. I'm. Ash got me watching it again. I mean he is super passionate too, actually. Yeah. He's into it.
- [82:03]
J. Skeats
Yeah.
- [82:03]
Tas Melas
I didn't. Because it wasn't part of the clip we're showing you here on YouTube. But he is. He's going through some stuff. Yeah. Let me list you some stuff.
- [82:10]
J. Skeats
Yeah.
- [82:10]
Tas Melas
And then. Then that's when she drops. I don't. Oh, you could see her eye. Her eyes go left to right. What? I don't know what the. You were talking about good stuff. That's great stuff.
- [82:21]
Skeets
Fiori makes soft. And I'm talking extremely soft clothing. I should know. I bought some before this ad came. Our way. I was wearing my Vuoris and my wife said, what are those? I haven't seen them.
- [82:35]
Tas Melas
I told her.
- [82:36]
Skeets
My silky soft Vuori shorts. Of course they look super comfortable and they are, but I can go out in these anywhere. They're designed to look great beyond the gym. Whether you're running errands, heading to the office or meeting up with friends, it works for everything. She felt them and she said, oh, they're like the PJs we buy for our kids. So Viori got my partner's approval just like that. I also told her that Viori is a Finnish word meaning mountain, so I felt as big as a mountain. She didn't really like that, but you'll like this. For our listeners, Viori is offering 20% off your first purchase. Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on The Planet at viori.com no dunks. That's V-U-O-R-I.com nodunks the offer is for new customers only. Exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions.
- [83:35]
Toyota Ad Voice
Some days feel ordinary, others turn into memories without warning. Most of them start in the car. All of them involve people you love. That's why Toyota believes people are the destination. The Toyota Highlander is built to support life's rhythm, with room for passengers, gear and plans that change on the fly. It adapts to whatever comes next, from early morning practices to packed drives to big games to quiet rides home after a long weekend. It's made to keep you comfortable and connected the whole way because the best sports memories aren't just about the final score, they're about the people you experienced it with. Because people are the destination. Learn more@toyota.com and find the vehicle that fits your people.
- [84:23]
Sponsor Voice
Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI, it all starts with your prompt. From renewal renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year. You can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncanny capped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory services by Public Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures wasn't that delicious?
- [85:25]
Ad Voice
So good.
- [85:26]
J. Skeats
Your bill, ladies. I got it. No, I got it.
- [85:30]
Ad Voice
Seriously. I insist.
- [85:32]
J. Skeats
I insisted first.
- [85:33]
Ad Voice
Don't be silly. You don't be silly.
- [85:35]
Tas Melas
People with the Wells Fargo Active Cash credit card prefer to pay because they earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases.
- [85:41]
Ad Voice
Okay. Rock, paper, scissors for it.
- [85:44]
J. Skeats
Rock, paper, scissors.
- [85:45]
Tas Melas
Shoot.
- [85:45]
J. Skeats
No.
- [85:47]
Tas Melas
The Wells Fargo Active Cash credit card. Visit Wells Fargo.com ActiveCash Terms apply.
- [85:54]
J. Skeats
Lullaby of the Night Sponsored by Ishaan. It's his friends Toby's birthday on April 11th. That's tomorrow, so happy birthday to Toby in advance. But Ishaan and Toby, two boys from Melbourne who love basketball and their friendship really grew after watching our show on NBA TV and now listening to the podcast every day. Ishaan added this very kind sentiment. You guys have really been guiding influences to us in what adult, adult friendship can be like. And we love your youthful energy as we near our 30s, you've showed us we can do great things while being old. Still. No. Just kidding. While having fun and a sense of humor. So youthful energy. Hey, I'll take it.
- [86:39]
Tas Melas
Thank you.
- [86:40]
J. Skeats
Yes. Don't feel youthful this morning. I feel very sore from playing basketball last night. Yeah, I even took Advil and it did nothing getting to that point. Okay. Woah boy. Goes to Brandon Ingram. Scored a season high 38 points to lead the Raps over the Heat. BI shot 13:23 from the field, 10 of 11 at the line. 7 board, 7 assists, 1 steal in 37 minutes. So really good game. They had those, those Dino jerseys on. They had the whole Vince Carter Dino court too. If we see that in the postseason, maybe be fun. I can't remember what they do or what the rules are around that.
- [87:23]
Tas Melas
Like City Edition courts. Yeah.
- [87:24]
J. Skeats
Like, are you allowed to think you might be?
- [87:27]
Tas Melas
I think you might.
- [87:28]
J. Skeats
They should. It looks awesome.
- [87:29]
Tas Melas
It does look awesome. Brandon Ingram, the most points in Raptors history. In the first season of his play, he beat more than Kawhi Leonard, who
- [87:40]
J. Skeats
missed like 20 games.
- [87:41]
Tas Melas
Yeah, that was part of the regular season. Yeah, that's part of it. More than.
- [87:44]
J. Skeats
Oh, that's fascinating though.
- [87:45]
Tas Melas
Yeah. Yeah, it is surprising.
- [87:46]
J. Skeats
Good fact. Good stat. You know who Else would he. Like, who else would even be?
- [87:51]
Tas Melas
Well, you know, Vincent, Mike James Vincent is rookie. Or is it just people who've come over? Like, could it be Vince Carter?
- [87:59]
J. Skeats
Oh, yeah. Does it, does it. Is it just in trade or is it like a potential rookie?
- [88:04]
Tas Melas
Well, yeah, it's probably a player who has not been drafted by the truck. Although, you know, Vince was part of his first season, was a lockout season anyways, so that played a factor.
- [88:17]
J. Skeats
But he was traded to the Raptors on draft night.
- [88:19]
Tas Melas
Oh, that's a good point. Yeah, that's a lot of loopholes out there.
- [88:23]
J. Skeats
A lot of loopholes. All right, before we go, it's time for some rapid fire fun. TAS has the questions. Also answering along with myself and JD
- [88:33]
Tas Melas
first one, there are a bunch of ladies at the Nuggets game rocking Henry handlebar mustaches like they were Bruce Brown. Yeah, they got to meet him. They were pretty close to the, the bench and they're all sitting together. It was some nice moment. They took some photos and all that. So if someone was to impersonate you like they were impersonating Bruce Brown and his handlebar mustaches, what feature would they add? Skeets?
- [88:59]
J. Skeats
I mean, I've had a pretty similar haircut for a very long time, so. So I guess that would be an obvious answer. I don't know what you call my hair. I asked Nora. I was like, is my hair spiky? She's like, no. Used to be. Used to be spiky? Yeah. Spikier than this?
- [89:17]
JD
Well, when we first started.
- [89:18]
J. Skeats
I've had this haircut for. Literally.
- [89:19]
JD
Yeah, but I'm talking 20 years ago.
- [89:21]
Tas Melas
Oh, okay.
- [89:21]
JD
Have it spiky.
- [89:23]
J. Skeats
More spiky. Yeah, yeah. But then she said it's fluffy, which I never thought my hair was fluffy. So anyway, that could be one answer, but I also would go wearing purple book ones. I have worn these shoes here. I'll pull one off. I've worn these shoes all year long on this show because they're comfy as hell. This is not an endorsement. Now look at how beat up they are. I don't know about you, but I. This little part of the shoe goes on both sides for me. What up with that?
- [89:51]
Tas Melas
With the eyelet?
- [89:52]
J. Skeats
Yeah. Or I don't know, like just that. That top part there. Like, see, it's.
- [89:56]
Tas Melas
Oh, yeah, it's on the.
- [89:57]
J. Skeats
It's on my other one, too. Anyway, I bought another pair of these off ebay because these are going to quickly be the. The old outdoor shoes.
- [90:05]
Tas Melas
Oh, you're going to start to pull a move like your father in law, where you kind of have, like, cut the back off.
- [90:11]
J. Skeats
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, because these just go on so easy. But I have never gotten more compliments on a shoe in my life than these in Atlanta. It's weird.
- [90:21]
Tas Melas
It is.
- [90:22]
J. Skeats
It's weird. But so many people comment on them and, like, those look comfy. Whatever. So I guess book ones or this. This weird haircut is my answer.
- [90:30]
Tas Melas
So you say they're. Did you call them purple?
- [90:32]
J. Skeats
Just a light purple. You don't think that's purple?
- [90:35]
Tas Melas
Yeah, purple.
- [90:36]
JD
Metallic.
- [90:37]
J. Skeats
Hold on. These are dirty, by the way. These are filthy at this point.
- [90:40]
Tas Melas
That's purple.
- [90:40]
J. Skeats
Tess.
- [90:43]
Tas Melas
I've got a.
- [90:44]
J. Skeats
That's a light purple.
- [90:45]
Tas Melas
I can't see.
- [90:46]
JD
I mean.
- [90:47]
J. Skeats
All right, J.D. am I crazy?
- [90:49]
JD
There is definitely a sort of a lilac tinge to the rest of it.
- [90:52]
J. Skeats
If they're not purple, what are they?
- [90:54]
Tas Melas
Silver. Like the. The actual swoosh. We're talking this.
- [90:57]
JD
The swoosh is definitely perfect.
- [90:59]
J. Skeats
It's a purple silver.
- [91:00]
Tas Melas
I got bad eyes. I mean. Okay, that's. It's more on me. All right, J.D.
- [91:04]
J. Skeats
great shoes. Honestly, they're super comfy. They're like skate shoes.
- [91:07]
Tas Melas
Yeah.
- [91:07]
J. Skeats
I can't hoop in them. Trey hoops in them. Or he has at least. Nah, they're like a skate shooter. Yeah.
- [91:13]
Tas Melas
It doesn't look like. I mean, Booker obviously plays. Some people can't.
- [91:16]
J. Skeats
He's got his twos now. Yeah.
- [91:18]
JD
Yeah. Almost identical answer for me because I. My beard, obviously. I got big, big, thick glasses and stuff. And I'm usually wearing a baseball cap. But what I get the most comments when I'm at the gym, like, playing pickleball, is my shoes. And what.
- [91:37]
J. Skeats
Yeah.
- [91:37]
JD
Because I wear a table items, and they're sort of like, whoa, ice cream. Like cotton candy ice cream. And just. I get more compliments about these shoes than any other. Anything.
- [91:52]
J. Skeats
Yeah.
- [91:52]
JD
At all.
- [91:53]
J. Skeats
I mean, those are. Those are some loud.
- [91:55]
JD
They're pretty loud. I bought them because they were on sale.
- [91:57]
Tas Melas
Right.
- [91:58]
JD
They're like 100 bucks.
- [91:59]
Tas Melas
So I was like, all right.
- [92:00]
JD
I don't care what they look like. But I got a lot of compliments
- [92:03]
J. Skeats
a bit good on them.
- [92:04]
Tas Melas
So people in the south here, they like some flair on their shoes.
- [92:09]
J. Skeats
I meant to tell both of you guys just in talking shoes. The other night at pickup hoops, someone was playing in Indians.
- [92:16]
Tas Melas
No way.
- [92:16]
J. Skeats
I swear to God, I couldn't believe it. I was like, whoa, what's that?
- [92:20]
Tas Melas
Did you talk to him?
- [92:21]
J. Skeats
No, I didn't But I was. I was sitting off and I'm like, hold on, I've seen these shoes before. Oh, my God. So there you go. Yeah, I thought. Yeah, I thought you were wearing the endgames.
- [92:30]
Tas Melas
Yeah.
- [92:30]
JD
Spencer came through with the enums 11 size 11. Yeah, I like them, but they're very. It takes a very long time to put them on. That's all.
- [92:41]
J. Skeats
Yeah, man.
- [92:41]
Tas Melas
Shout out to Spencer Jones of the Denver Nuggets.
- [92:44]
JD
Yeah.
- [92:46]
Tas Melas
He wants to support your ankles. I'm still surprised I haven't put them on yet, but they take so long. I mean, there's a couple straps, I guess. I wouldn't think that they would take so long just because they are light.
- [92:57]
JD
Light.
- [92:58]
Tas Melas
It's a light shoe.
- [92:59]
JD
Once they're on, they're very comfortable.
- [93:01]
J. Skeats
They're on. They're very.
- [93:02]
JD
And if you have. If you have any ankle issues at all, I would recommend.
- [93:06]
J. Skeats
Yeah.
- [93:08]
Tas Melas
For me, if I was to put something on that or have somebody impersonate me.
- [93:14]
J. Skeats
Yeah.
- [93:14]
Tas Melas
With something I should say, I guess it would be a. A longer hair thing. I don't have long hair, but, you know, I kind of grow it up. And the thing that people comment to me are like, well, you got wavy hair.
- [93:27]
J. Skeats
Yeah, you got the swoosh.
- [93:29]
Tas Melas
So it would be funny if people put on like a longer version, you know, like a really. Like a wig almost.
- [93:34]
J. Skeats
Yeah.
- [93:35]
Tas Melas
Like, that would be super swoopy that you could put on and go whip somebody with, you know, like, you had long hair. That would be awesome. That's a good move. Cool story. All right, next question. Here, a photo of a ridiculous toilet, which we'll show you here on YouTube. It's also a horse. A toilet which is also a horse was making its way around the Internet this week. So many questions. I mean, number one, how do you use it as a toilet?
- [94:02]
J. Skeats
Yeah. There's no tank.
- [94:03]
Tas Melas
There's no tank.
- [94:04]
J. Skeats
This is just. AI.
- [94:05]
JD
Well, the hindquarters could be the tank, I suppose.
- [94:09]
J. Skeats
Well, where do you flush it?
- [94:10]
Tas Melas
Yeah, there's a.
- [94:10]
JD
Isn't that lever at the bottom left
- [94:13]
Tas Melas
that looks like a hose? That looks like a bidet feature?
- [94:17]
J. Skeats
Oh, yeah, yeah.
- [94:18]
JD
Fascinating. Okay, it's.
- [94:20]
Tas Melas
It's some sort of hose, but it could. Yeah.
- [94:22]
JD
Oh, yeah, yeah, you're right. It is a hose.
- [94:24]
Tas Melas
There's probably somewhere you can. Come on. We don't see the other side, but it's. I say, I. I asked, how do you use it as a toilet? Because if you're a man standing.
- [94:34]
J. Skeats
Yeah. You're not standing unless you're standing to the side.
- [94:37]
Tas Melas
This is not.
- [94:38]
J. Skeats
Guys, this is not a real toilet. There's no freaking way.
- [94:42]
Tas Melas
I don't know.
- [94:43]
JD
There's no way this.
- [94:44]
Tas Melas
There's no way. No, it's. It's highly unlikely. But you never know.
- [94:49]
JD
Look at this, where it is compared to the sink. Like, how would you even reach the sink?
- [94:53]
Tas Melas
That part sucks.
- [94:54]
J. Skeats
It's so low.
- [94:55]
Tas Melas
Yeah, it's very unlikely. It's very unlikely.
- [94:57]
J. Skeats
It's funny, but.
- [94:58]
Tas Melas
But like you said, the basin could be the butt slash. You know, the side that we're seeing here. If you do. If you do go around to the other side, I think you can pee in it. Cuz it doesn't look like the hooves are that far out on the other side.
- [95:11]
J. Skeats
I mean, I tweeted imagine Lee Ellis doing the Lee Pee and Mountain this thing backwards at night like he's Dudley Do Right or Dudley Poo right. I went with I don't think anybody got my reference. But Dudley Do Right used to ride the horse backwards.
- [95:27]
Tas Melas
So anyway, yeah, no, I mean, the toilet seat is definitely fake. Like the one on the left. Because there may be multiple toilet seats here. It's hard to tell. Like that's just it. Yeah, it's a. But whatever. Anyways, what's another animal that needs to be part of a toilet, Skeets?
- [95:42]
J. Skeats
Well, I would give you a real one. Maybe this one they could make. This is my point. Men's bathroom at a restaurant or a bar. A hippo urinal.
- [95:53]
Tas Melas
Okay.
- [95:54]
J. Skeats
Big hippo mouth just as a urinal on the wall. Look. Whatever. Looks sort of cool.
- [96:02]
JD
Yeah.
- [96:03]
J. Skeats
Like the mouth of a hippo wide open before they're going to chomp down on a watermelon is. Looks to me like a perfect urinal.
- [96:12]
JD
A little intimidating, I'd say.
- [96:13]
J. Skeats
Well, intimidating. Sure, sure, sure.
- [96:17]
Tas Melas
What it intimidates. You just have like a ceramic. It's not real. J.D.
- [96:22]
JD
looking at you in your eyes and it's about to chomp down.
- [96:25]
J. Skeats
Yeah. Be careful.
- [96:26]
JD
Take your bits out.
- [96:28]
Tas Melas
Yeah. I didn't see the eyes looking at.
- [96:30]
J. Skeats
But you hung like a watermelon one.
- [96:35]
JD
Yeah, I don't sometimes.
- [96:37]
Tas Melas
I mean, the eyes are on the side of the. The head. It's not really that. Yeah. Anyways, I'm surprised it wouldn't be.
- [96:43]
J. Skeats
It might. I know. Yeah. Maybe at a rainforest cafe.
- [96:50]
JD
JD Yeah, I went in the other direction. I was inspired by this, a definitely AI version of the horse. So I just put in my own prompt, jumped, and made it a dragon.
- [97:02]
J. Skeats
That's even cooler, man. Right?
- [97:04]
JD
I don't I would be very uncomfortable because it's very spiky.
- [97:08]
Tas Melas
Yeah.
- [97:08]
JD
You gotta.
- [97:09]
J. Skeats
You gotta sit and then put your legs to the side of the one. You know, the one dragon leg.
- [97:15]
Tas Melas
Yeah. You can't sit on this thing. Yeah, but.
- [97:19]
JD
No, you could. You could.
- [97:20]
J. Skeats
But it'd be cool if the bidet was the mouth, right? Like it turned its head and. Yeah, yeah.
- [97:27]
JD
To flush it, you have to say dracarys.
- [97:29]
J. Skeats
Yeah, yeah.
- [97:30]
JD
Like that.
- [97:31]
J. Skeats
Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. I am 1000 convinced. Percent convinced. The last one was AI now, too.
- [97:38]
Tas Melas
No doubt. Yeah, I was. I looked at it more as something which could actually exist. If you ever see emperor penguins, there's always the. The mommy or daddy penguin penguin at the back and then the little baby penguin at the front. And so you could still have the mommy or daddy penguin at the back. And then the. The little one would be the toilet, essentially. Like that. That would be the part of the toilet.
- [98:03]
J. Skeats
Yeah.
- [98:04]
Tas Melas
Sitting or standing. It could be a urinal, but it could also be a toilet. I think you can make both work.
- [98:09]
J. Skeats
The mom or dad, you're saying would be the tank portion. Yeah, yeah. The back part.
- [98:13]
Tas Melas
Yeah. And if you have a, you know, a standard tall urinal, that parent emperor penguin would be the. The whole big.
- [98:21]
J. Skeats
Yeah.
- [98:22]
Tas Melas
Urinal thing.
- [98:24]
J. Skeats
This is one of the weirder questions we've really taken some time to break down, now that I think about it.
- [98:30]
Tas Melas
Yeah. Yeah. Definitely a weird one. Yeah. I. I was swayed because I read a recent article about emperor penguins being endangered on New York Times, and the photo is the mommy standing behind the baby.
- [98:46]
J. Skeats
It's.
- [98:47]
Tas Melas
Hold on. With penguins, often it. Is it the dad who stays with the penguin or something?
- [98:51]
J. Skeats
I thought it was that, right? March of the Penguins, baby.
- [98:54]
Tas Melas
Yeah, exactly.
- [98:55]
J. Skeats
I think so.
- [98:56]
Tas Melas
Yeah. The mom's just out of there.
- [98:58]
J. Skeats
The mom's got to go do everything. Yeah.
- [98:59]
Tas Melas
Oh, she doesn't think so. All right, last question here. Not as weird as that last one.
- [99:04]
J. Skeats
Okay.
- [99:04]
Tas Melas
This one comes from no Dunks fan, Lawrence Chung. Long time fan. He's sponsoring this one. And he's got a good reason to celebrate. He's getting married this afternoon.
- [99:16]
J. Skeats
Congratulations, Lawrence.
- [99:18]
Tas Melas
No big ceremony, just the city hall signing. Simple as that. No bells and whistles, just the paperwork. His question, what's something you could do without the pageantry for, like, weddings, graduations, adult birthday parties? Skeets.
- [99:33]
J. Skeats
Yeah, those are all good suggestions Lawrence is giving, but I'll go New Year's Eve, you know, am I. Am I aging myself? I absolutely am. You know, young Skeets. Love New Year's Eve, you know, white Lamborghinis and the such. But now, yeah, it's just another night to me, man.
- [99:57]
JD
Have you, have you slept through New Year's yet in your.
- [100:00]
J. Skeats
Yeah, I have over the last couple, I guess.
- [100:03]
JD
Guess.
- [100:03]
J. Skeats
Yeah, it's just like, all right, I'll just go to bed at my normal time. It's okay. You know, I'll do a lot, throw on a cnn. See, see, that's right. Yeah. Like have some hijinks. But for the most part, once I see those people wearing a diaper in Times Square, knowing their. In their pants all night, I can go to bed.
- [100:26]
Tas Melas
Do you see the diapers? No, no, but it says it's presumed. I know there are because they've been.
- [100:31]
J. Skeats
Because they got to go in there to the pen at like whatever.
- [100:34]
Tas Melas
Yeah.
- [100:34]
J. Skeats
Whenever the gates open at five or six and apparently once you leave, you cannot get back in. And there are no bathrooms or restrooms in there. So it's like. I mean I like, I could hold it I guess for let's say eight hours, but.
- [100:48]
Tas Melas
Oh, some people fun.
- [100:49]
J. Skeats
Apparently wear diapers.
- [100:50]
Tas Melas
Yeah, I would buy choice. I mean, I'd rather urinate.
- [100:59]
J. Skeats
Is there a hippo urinal around here? I go pissing.
- [101:02]
Skeets
It's so long.
- [101:04]
J. Skeats
Yeah, so long. And why are you, why are you standing there?
- [101:08]
JD
To be there.
- [101:09]
J. Skeats
That's. That's so funny you brought up cold. Because I was thinking that like it's like New Year's Eve for us on. In this hemisphere. It's like it's shitty weather.
- [101:17]
JD
Yeah, like that.
- [101:18]
J. Skeats
You know, it'd be one thing. I think I'd be more in. Well in Australia to New Year's Eve, baby. Like now it's awesome out. Let's party all day. Let's barbecue. That. That makes sense. Yeah. Not. Not here. Right. So maybe not here in Atlanta. It's not brutal cold, but you get
- [101:35]
JD
it still gets cold.
- [101:36]
J. Skeats
Yeah.
- [101:37]
Tas Melas
Jd, what's something you could do without the pageantry for?
- [101:40]
JD
I mean, I'm about to go to my kids high school graduation, which I'm not looking forward to. But there is an approach appropriate amount of. It's kind of a big deal, you know, you're graduating high school, you're sort of becoming an adult. But it's the elementary school graduations that they just have to go period. Like they just. And they happen in the middle of the day as well. So there's a lot of pressure for people to take off work to go graduate from grade six or you know, it's.
- [102:12]
J. Skeats
I went to one recently. You're right.
- [102:14]
Tas Melas
It's weird.
- [102:15]
JD
It's.
- [102:16]
Julian Edelman
Yeah.
- [102:16]
JD
And they put a lot of. There's a lot of stuff, like, here in the US they have the chords now. They don't do this at the elementary level, but the high school level. Like, you can get a. They have to list every single honor that they have. And some of them are just like. One is just for registering to vote. It's like, okay, good for you. For registering to vote. But I don't need that as part of the list of accomplishments. I mean, it's just. That's this.
- [102:41]
J. Skeats
I didn't know that.
- [102:42]
JD
Yeah.
- [102:43]
Tas Melas
Anyway, I wonder if that's newish.
- [102:46]
JD
I think it might be.
- [102:48]
J. Skeats
But when is your. When's your graduation?
- [102:50]
JD
It's coming up May 22nd or something like that. Yeah. End of May.
- [102:56]
Tas Melas
A lot of graduations out there.
- [102:58]
JD
Indeed.
- [102:59]
Tas Melas
Yeah. What about a preschool graduation? Those exist, dude. Those exist. Yeah, they're freaking. Elaborate. Elaborate. Yeah. For preschool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My arms were getting tired. I was like, oh, I can film this. Oh, I didn't know I'd be filming for.
- [103:17]
JD
Oh, my God.
- [103:18]
Tas Melas
Literally an hour.
- [103:20]
J. Skeats
Yeah. Put that on sticks, man.
- [103:22]
Tas Melas
Yeah. You know, daddy cried. It was worth it. Oh, wow.
- [103:26]
J. Skeats
Okay.
- [103:27]
JD
The preschool one is of the most emotional.
- [103:32]
Tas Melas
Yeah.
- [103:32]
J. Skeats
That one's actually sort of more cute. It's the. The middle. The grade school one.
- [103:36]
Tas Melas
What are we doing? Yeah, yeah. You're like a human wearing a robe. You know, you're. You're old. You get a weird graduation hat depending on the school. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They. They're all grown up.
- [103:50]
J. Skeats
For me.
- [103:50]
Tas Melas
For me, milestone birthdays. I know people say 20, big deal.
- [103:56]
Skeets
Or 30 or 40, but just.
- [104:00]
Tas Melas
If you put less emphasis on the round numbers, maybe you put a little more emphasis annually on the other ones.
- [104:07]
J. Skeats
Okay.
- [104:07]
Tas Melas
Where you do a little more. There's more creativity. There's more effort into those. I mean, I'm just trying to find a reason why the milestone ones aren't. Because I am getting older too, man. When it comes to. When you're at 40, doesn't matter. I remember my 40th wasn't anything. All that. That much, which was fine, but really, it's hard to decipher between a 40 and a 39er, or a 41 or a 42 or. But I know people for their 40th day, like we're doing a vacation or something to that effect. But every day is a birthday. Every year is a birthday. How about we treat it that way?
- [104:43]
J. Skeats
Happy birthday, man.
- [104:44]
Tas Melas
Thanks, man.
- [104:46]
J. Skeats
You're welcome. I Didn't get you anything.
- [104:49]
Tas Melas
No. Yeah, well, you got me a show.
- [104:52]
J. Skeats
That's right. Every day.
- [104:53]
Tas Melas
Every day we do for everybody out there.
- [104:54]
J. Skeats
That's what we give you. All right, that's rapid fire. Not so rapid, but we got there. Some fun, fun questions and congratulations again to Lawrence on the big wedding. And look, hey, I did the same thing, man. City hollowed up.
- [105:07]
Tas Melas
Yeah, yeah, same.
- [105:09]
J. Skeats
Save that money. Put something good like your 40th birthday trip to the Dominican Republic.
- [105:16]
Tas Melas
Where's your partner's name? I don't. I don't want to.
- [105:19]
JD
Just see, it's Josie. Sorry.
- [105:20]
J. Skeats
Oh, okay. There you go.
- [105:21]
Tas Melas
Yeah. Oh, congrats to Josie and Laura.
- [105:24]
J. Skeats
You're right. I kept saying. Yeah. It's funny. It's like Lawrence only congrats.
- [105:27]
Tas Melas
That's all right.
- [105:28]
J. Skeats
Happy birthday to Toby.
- [105:29]
Tas Melas
It happens in our Our Woe Boy sponsorships quite often. It's one person saying, hey, I'm getting married.
- [105:36]
JD
Right.
- [105:36]
Tas Melas
Well, what about the other person?
- [105:37]
J. Skeats
Yeah, we care, man. We care.
- [105:38]
Tas Melas
But there was that great one where it was Hayden Sanchez sent a message in saying, I'm getting married. And then we didn't know his partner's name. But then Stella sent a message saying, hey, I'm getting married. Can we sponsor WO boys? Can I sponsor Woah Boy? Yeah, you can. Great stuff.
- [105:54]
J. Skeats
That was amazing.
- [105:55]
Tas Melas
That's great.
- [105:56]
J. Skeats
All right, that's it for no Dunks here today. The Drop podcast. We're back on Monday. Trey Kirby back in the classic factory. Hashtag full squad come Monday. Recapping the final weekend of the regular season, obviously figuring out who's playing who when it comes to the playing games and when it comes to the playoff matchups that we will know in some cases. So next week things get real here in no dunks land because we'll start doing our playoff previews throughout the week. We'll obviously preview and set up the play in games. We'll be breaking those down. Those start on Tuesday night. Then there's some on Wednesday night and then the finals of the play in is on Friday. Obviously the playoffs start on Saturday and then Sunday. So that's sort of what we're looking at next week in addition to all the NBA news and everything else going on. So hope you join us. If you like the show, hit the like button. Subscribe five star ratings and reviews. If you're a Survivor fan, we had a fun podcast yesterday on no buffs, J.D. nora and myself. So go check that out. Otherwise, enjoy 30 games of regular season basketball. Left 15 hunt tonight, 8:15 on Sunday. That's a lot of basketball.
- [107:03]
Tas Melas
It is.
- [107:04]
J. Skeats
Not every game matters, so you get to pick or choose.
- [107:08]
JD
And.
- [107:08]
J. Skeats
And shenanigans. Like you said, who's playing, who's not, who wants to see each other, who doesn't. But we'll have a busy Monday morning show, I think, is what I'm getting at.
- [107:16]
Tas Melas
Yeah, right.
- [107:18]
J. Skeats
Till then, Clipper Bros. You heard it here first. Have a great time. Turn up. Love you guys. Awesome.
- [107:24]
Tas Melas
Thanks for joining us. And remember, Brandon Ingram of the Toronto Raptors now has the most points in the first season with the Toronto Raptors. I'm still having difficulty believing that it's not just players acquired because it's being listed as most points in the first season with the Raptors.
- [107:44]
J. Skeats
Okay.
- [107:44]
Tas Melas
Regardless of being drafted either way. Don't, don't, don't look.
- [107:47]
J. Skeats
Don't look it up, because I have. Oh, okay. Yeah, go on.
- [107:49]
Tas Melas
Vince Carter didn't do it.
- [107:50]
J. Skeats
No, I know. And he only played 50 games because it was a shortened season.
- [107:53]
Tas Melas
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But what about, like, a day? Damon Stoudemire, 95. 96. He scored a lot of points.
- [107:57]
J. Skeats
Yeah, he averaged 20.
- [107:59]
Tas Melas
Yeah, exactly.
- [108:00]
J. Skeats
Well, B. I or averages more, doesn't he?
- [108:02]
Tas Melas
Yeah, he does. So, yeah, maybe it's true because he passed Kawhi, but who was the leader? That's what. That's why I don't want you to look. Who was the Raptor with the most points in his first season?
- [108:12]
J. Skeats
So I assume it wasn't Damon Stoudemire.
- [108:14]
Tas Melas
No.
- [108:14]
J. Skeats
Okay.
- [108:16]
Tas Melas
That's why I'm asking.
- [108:17]
J. Skeats
Can I get it?
- [108:18]
Tas Melas
I'm asking because it's incredible.
- [108:20]
J. Skeats
It's incredible.
- [108:21]
Tas Melas
Yeah.
- [108:21]
J. Skeats
It's not Andrea Barnyani.
- [108:23]
Tas Melas
No, no, no. I mean, it sort of makes sense.
- [108:25]
J. Skeats
It's not Bosch. It's not Lowry. It's not Kawhi, It's. No, not DeRozan.
- [108:29]
Tas Melas
No, I guess it makes sense. It's somebody who was acquired.
- [108:31]
JD
Huh?
- [108:33]
Tas Melas
Acquired.
- [108:34]
J. Skeats
Rudy Gay.
- [108:34]
Tas Melas
I mean, it could have been a free agent. Good. Good guess. Go. You got to go deep.
- [108:39]
J. Skeats
Mike James.
- [108:40]
Tas Melas
Yeah. Mike James.
- [108:40]
J. Skeats
I said. I said that earlier.
- [108:42]
Tas Melas
Oh. Early in the show. Yeah. Okay.
- [108:43]
J. Skeats
Sort of jokingly.
- [108:44]
Tas Melas
Yeah.
- [108:45]
J. Skeats
60.
- [108:46]
Tas Melas
He had the most points in his first season with the Raptors. More than Kawhi.
- [108:50]
J. Skeats
Wow. I mean, average over 20.
- [108:53]
Tas Melas
Yeah, you did.
- [108:54]
J. Skeats
Amityville Horror. Mike James. Mike James, everybody. Embrace the weekend. Enjoy the basketball. See you Monday.
- [109:02]
Skeets
Fiori makes soft, and I'm talking extremely soft clothing. I should know. I bought some before this ad came our way. I was wearing my Vuoris and My wife said, what are those? I haven't seen them. I told her, my silky, soft Vori shorts. Of course, they look super comfortable and they are, but I can go out in these anywhere. They're designed to look great beyond the gym. Whether you're running errands, heading to the office, or meeting up with friends, it works for everything. She felt them and she said, oh, they're like the PJs we buy for our kids. So Viori got my partner's approval just like that. I also told her that viori is a Finnish word meaning mountain, so I felt as big as a mountain. She didn't really like that, but you'll like this. For our listeners, Viori is offering 20% off your first purchase. Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet@viori.com no dunks. That's V-U-O-R-I.com nodunks. The offer is for new customers only. Exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions.
- [110:16]
Ad Voice
At cvs, it matters that we're not just in your community, but that we're part of it. It matters that we're here for you when you need us, day or night. And we want everyone to feel welcomed and rewarded. It matters that CVS is here to fill your prescriptions and here to fill your craving for a tasty and, yeah, healthy snack. At cvs, we're proud to serve your community because we believe where you get your medicine matters. So Visit us@cvs.com or just come by our store. We can't wait to meet you. Store hours vary by location.
- [110:51]
Sponsor Voice
You know how it's never really about where you're going, it's about who you're going with. The right people can turn any drive
- [110:57]
J. Skeats
into a great memory.
- [110:58]
Sponsor Voice
That's something Toyota really believes. They design vehicles around real life and real people, the ones who make plans happen and bring everyone together inside. Everything's built with passengers in mind. Comfortable seating, smart layouts and space that actually works so everyone can relax and enjoy the ride. There's room for the people, room for the stuff, and room for the moments that happen along the way. Because when people are the destination, your ride is important. Learn more@toyota.com and find the vehicle that fits your people.
- [111:27]
Tas Melas
This is Jacob Goldstein from what's yous Problem?
- [111:30]
J. Skeats
Business software is expensive. And when you buy software from lots of different companies, it's not only expensive, it gets confusing.
- [111:37]
Julian Edelman
Slow to use, hard to integrate. Odoo solves that, because all Odoo software
- [111:42]
J. Skeats
is connected on a single affordable platform. Save money without missing out on the features you need.
- [111:48]
Julian Edelman
Odoo has no hidden costs and no
- [111:50]
J. Skeats
limit on features or data. Odoo has over 60 apps available for any needs your business might have, all at no additional charge. Everything from websites to sales to inventory
- [112:01]
Julian Edelman
to accounting, all linked and talking to each other.
- [112:04]
J. Skeats
Check out Odoo at o d o o dot com.
- [112:08]
Julian Edelman
That's o d o o dot com.
- [112:11]
Ad Voice
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.