Josh Giddey, Clippers BAD, and Nets Identity | Slam N Jam

Summary

The Athletic NBA Daily: "Josh Giddey, Clippers BAD, and Nets Identity" | Slam N Jam

Date: November 8, 2025
Hosts: Andrew Schlecht, Alex Spears
Guest: Mike Smelts

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Overview

This episode of Saturday Slam 'N Jam covers the past week in the NBA, spotlighting breakout performances, team surprises and disappointments, and the ongoing “Wheel of Fandom” deep dive—this time focusing on the Brooklyn Nets. The show delivers a blend of analysis, trivia, and humor, culminating in an engaging discussion about youth development, team identity, and building for the future amid struggles.

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Top Stories of the NBA Week

Segment: 02:10–06:37

• Ja Morant’s rocky start:

  • Suspended one game for conduct detrimental to the team after post-game interview snub.
  • Shooting jump (38% FG, 14% from three). Drives per game down from 20.3 to 14.6.
  • Grizzlies on a four-game losing streak, now 3–6.

• Indiana Pacers’ drama:

  • First win of the season vs. Warriors.
  • Miles Turner returns as "villain," booed during tribute despite decade-long tenure.
  • Close game loss to Giannis' Bucks on a midrange jumper.

• Kings’ unexpected strength:

  • Beat short-handed Bucks and Warriors despite missing key starters.
  • Russell Westbrook with a throwback triple double (23/16/10), Jokic moves to 2nd all-time in triple doubles (190).

• Thunder’s win streak snapped:

  • Franchise-best 8–0 start ends vs. Portland after blowing 22-point lead.

• Lakers/Rockets:

  • Share longest active win streak (five games).

• Injury updates:

  • Walker Kessler (out for year), Jared McCain returns for Sixers.

Quote:
"The NBA is never, ever boring." — Andrew (06:37)

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The Good, The Bad, and the What?

Segment: 06:45–30:30

The Good

• Josh Giddey’s leap with the Bulls (07:34–10:07)

  • Historic stat line: If season ended today, Giddey would join elite company for 23/10/9 averages.
  • Sixth in drives per game, thriving as lead guard. Trade regrets mostly gone.
  • "Shout out to Josh Giddey… Josh needs some shine." — Andrew (09:06)

• Phoenix Suns' surprising competence (10:07–14:06)

  • Suns (3–1 in week), stifling defense against Wemby; good three-point shooting from Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neal.
  • Vibes and watchability much improved over preseason expectations.
  • "Maybe this team is just competently mediocre… but I’m much more interested than I expected." — Alex (13:28)

The Bad

• Disappointing Teams: Clippers, Magic, and Mavs (16:05–22:38)
  • Clippers: 3–5, bottom-tier in both offense and defense. Look "old," "slow," missing all defensive identity from last year.
  • Magic: Disappointing on both ends, especially defense. Jamal Mosley’s job on the hot seat.
  • Mavs: Dead last in offense, six sub-101 offensive rating games already.
  • "The Clippers… look old and not in a good way, not in the wily veteran way." — Alex (22:06)

The What

• Desmond Bane/Orlando Magic quote weirdness (25:09–27:05)

  • Onyeka Okongwu’s pointed, on-record comments about Magic’s shot distribution:

    “I can already tell that he’s frustrated over there. He’s not having the best year... Respectfully, Paolo and Franz take all the shots. It’s nothing personal.”—Onyeka Okongwu (25:59)

• Keonte George’s Free Throw Explosion (27:45–30:30)

  • Averaging 9.3 FTA/game through 8 games, 91% FT—approaching Jimmy Butler levels in FT rate.
  • Raises Jazz fans’ hopes for All-Star potential.

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Wheel of Fandom: Focus on the Brooklyn Nets

Segment: 33:11–48:33, Guest: Mike Smelts

State of the Nets

• Nets entered the week 0–7, won a road game against Pacers.
• Still bottom-tier in offense (23rd) and dead last in defense (30th).

Rookie (Non-)Development

• Only Jaeger is seeing semi-regular minutes; others sent to G-League.
• No organizational plan evident, possibly a front office/coaching disconnect.
• Mike:

  “There’s no plan. It’s obvious they have no plan… To be good at basketball, you have to play basketball, which is why they’re gonna play on Long Island and not Brooklyn.” (36:06)

Jaeger (1st round rookie guard)

• Not living up to “Josh Giddey” comps; can’t get shot off inside arc, three-point shot shaky.
• Mike:

  “He’s unable to shoot the ball inside the three point line, which is not a good sign if you’re a 6'8" ball-handler.” (38:13)

Identity and Roster Direction

• Mike (sarcastically):

  “They didn’t construct this team for an identity. They constructed it to be bad. And they’re doing a fantastic job except for beating the one team they can't beat, the Pacers.” (45:39)

• Roster full of “ball hog” types not conducive to development.
• Mike:

  “The two biggest ball hogs in the NBA are leading it. Cam Thomas is the biggest… Cam Johnson’s not… a person that will sort of, you know, rising tide lifts all boats. It’s a good year.” (41:42)

Future Core Candidates

• If betting on THREE Nets to still be there when next playoff team comes, Mike only trusts Jaeger and Clowney, and jokes “Cooper Flagg’s son will be on this team.”
• “They absolutely hate NBA body types on this team…. like a my-15-year-old-nephew kind of gangly.” (47:48)

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Nets Trivia Showdown: Andrew vs. Mike

Segment: 48:39–62:21

Highlights:

• Fun back-and-forth battle on Nets trivia: historic bad teams, player stats, hustle, "who’s scored 30?" and more.
• Notable stat: Nick Claxton leads the team in assists (3.8 per game).
• Teams without a player averaging 5+ assists: Nets, Wizards, and Magic.

Memorable Exchange:

• Alex: “Not a bad team at all? No, honestly, bad team.” (52:24) (re: 09-10 Nets roster)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• “It’s amazing, the player [Giddey]’s been since basically the Zach LaVine trade… For Bulls fans, that has to be really exciting.” — Alex (10:07)
• On Clippers: “Is this team just old and going to take some time… or is this team just old, like, done?” — Alex (21:14)
• On Magic: “I hate that I picked Jamal Mosley for coach of the year. He could be the first coach fired.” — Alex (19:52)
• On Keonte George: “If his three-point shot comes around… we’re talking about a star guard.” — Alex (29:09)
• On the Nets’ plan: “They honestly do not care. They didn’t construct this team for an identity. They constructed it to be bad.” — Mike Smelts (45:39)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Time | |------------------------------------------------|-----------| | NBA weekly roundup/top stories | 02:10–06:37 | | Good, Bad, What: Giddey/Suns | 07:34–14:06 | | Good, Bad, What: Disappointing teams | 16:05–22:38 | | Good, Bad, What: Okongwu Magic quote/Keonte | 25:09–30:30 | | Nets “Wheel of Fandom” deep dive with Smelts | 33:11–48:33 | | Nets trivia showdown | 48:39–62:21 |

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Tone & Style

• Conversational, irreverent, analytic—with equal enthusiasm for “stat-head” deep dives and lighthearted fandom.
• Gently self-deprecating about their own preseason predictions, quick to poke fun at struggling franchises, and always mixing in NBA lore and inside jokes.

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Summary Takeaway

This episode delivers thoughtful breakdowns on young stars’ progress (Giddey, Keonte George), team expectations versus reality (Clippers aging, Magic stagnation), and what NBA fandom looks like when your team is built to be bad by design, sharply illustrated by the Nets’ current predicament. The trivia contest and signature blend of stats, history, and humor make it an enjoyable listen even for those not invested in the highlighted franchises.

Transcript

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[Andrew]

Welcome to the Saturday Slammin Jam here on the Athletic NBA Daily. On today's show we're talking about the good, the bad and the what of this past week. We're having Mike Smelts on to talk about the Brooklyn Nets. Thanks a lot Wheeler. Fandom1 actually, thank you for letting us talk to Mike Smelts and also thanks a lot Wheel of fandom for giving us the Nets. And then we'll do some trivia. But before we do any of that, Al, tell me what happened in the NBA this week.

[Alex]

Andrew the top story this week was the Memphis Grizzlies and their star Ja Morant. After a loss to the Lakers last Friday during which Jaw was a reluctant participant, Jaw responded to all post game interview questions with quote go ask the coaching staff. On Saturday, the Grizzlies announced that Ja was suspended one game for contract conduct detrimental to the team. Now it's been a rough start to the season for Jaw, who is currently shooting 38% from the field, 14% from three. His drives per game have dropped from 20.3 per game in the 2223 season to only 14.6 per game through eight games this year, starting with the loss to the Lakers, the Grizzlies have now lost four in a row and they sit at three and six. After a matchup against fellow surprise seller Doeller Dallas on Friday night, the Grizzlies have a run of games against okc, New York, Boston, Cleveland and San Antonio with four of those five games on the road. Now the good news for Grizzlies fans is I just did a Tank a thon spin and they got two top eight picks in next year's draft.

[Andrew]

Congrats.

[Alex]

Now another team who will have Tankathon bookmark this season is the Indiana Pacers, who got their first win of the season this week in a game against the Warriors. Their next game, however, was the main event, the return of the evil dastardly Miles Turner. Have you heard about this character Andrew? Makes my blood boil just talking about him. This guy goes on Finalis the podcast I definitely knew existed before this week and said the meanest thing you could say about Tyrese Halliburton if you ignored any of the sentences that came before or after the thing he said. Luckily, Pacers fans knew what to do in his return, showering him with booze during the tribute video commemorating his beautiful 10 years in Indiana, where they reached two Eastern Conference Finals in the team's first NBA Finals in 25 years. The game itself was a doozy coming down to the final possession, a Giannis fadeaway in the mid range to get the Bucks the win. And the Bucks needed that win because a stretch suddenly became much more difficult as they dropped. A stretch that should have been easy became much more difficult as they dropped games to Toronto and Sacramento this week. Now speaking of the Kings, it wasn't the worst week. It was a pretty good week to be a Kings fan. Not only did they beat the Bucks on the road, they also big home win against the Warriors, a game in which the Kings were missing three starters with all of Zach Levine, Damono Sabonis and Keegan Murray out with injuries. But it didn't matter because Russell Westbrook turned back the clock putting up a 23, 16 and 10 triple double, giving him 215 triple doubles including the playoffs. Now he needs to start getting some more because Nikola Jokic is hot on his heels. He got his 190th this week, moving into second all time. He's only 25 behind Russ. The Kings will look to begin their miracle run to the NBA cup championship on Friday night when they face the Oklahoma City Thunder. Now, OKC's luck finally ran out this week. With their franchise record best start ending at eight games, it looked like it would extend to nine wins in Portland. But despite being down three starters plus Alex Crusoe, they even got up by as much as 22 on the Blazers. But Portland fought their way back, eventually pulling ahead and winning 121 to 119. It was a much needed win for the Blazers, who lost their previous game to the Lakers without LeBron Luca or Austin Reeves. Now, while we're talking about the Lakers, we should point out that the 7 and 2 Lakers and the 5 and 2 Rockets, two teams will meet on Christmas, by the way, now share the longest winning streak in the league at five. Following OKC's loss in Portland, Luca is back. He dropped 35, nine and 13 with five steals in a win against the Spurs. And for the Rockets, their next marquee matchup has already happened once. You've listened to this as they face the spurs on Friday night. And finally, some injury news and bad news. Walker Kessler, out for the year, torn labor in good injury news. Jared McCain returned for the Sixers this week in a game against the Bulls that also featured the triumphant return of Red Panda. And those were the top stories this week. Wow.

[Andrew]

Some great stories this week. The NBA is never, ever boring out. You ready to talk about the good, the bad, and the what?

[Alex]

Oh, I'm always ready, Andrew. Listeners, it's time to share with you something we like this week, something we didn't like and something that just confused us in a segment we like to call Good Bad. What. I feel like the way I introduce that, it's kind of deserving of a theme song, wouldn't you say?

[Andrew]

Yeah, it feels like it's.

[Alex]

It's leading towards something every time I say it.

[Andrew]

We might get the L Man on that. See. See if he can help us.

[Alex]

I think this needs someone a little bit more than the L Man. I think we need bigger than the L Man.

[Andrew]

Wow. I didn't. I didn't know you even could.

[Alex]

Yeah. Let's get a professional musician in here.

[Andrew]

Okay.

[Alex]

It has a world class theme song.

[Andrew]

I've got some contacts.

[Alex]

Okay. All right, Andrew, what was your good this week?

[Andrew]

So I was looking at the stat line. 23 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists. It's been been done 13 times in NBA history according to stat head four for Jokic three for Oscar Robertson, four for Westbrook, once for Luca. And then right now, if the season ended today, wouldn't it be very weird to. Josh Giddy would put himself on that list? Now this isn't just like a list of. There's no like Rando on this list. It's not just like somebody accidentally did this one time or somebody. It's not like Ramon Sessions is on this list. Josh Giddey is, is on this list. And can he maintain, really, to me it's like, can he maintain 23 points per game? Can he maintain the scoring is the thing that I wonder because we all know like he's one of the best rebounding guards in the league. Like, there's no question about that on a team that needs rebounding. And then the assists, like he, he continues to dish out amazing assists. That one in particular to Vuch in the corner to win that game the other night. But Josh Giddy has, has become one of the better players in the league. He's sixth in drives per game. He's kind of leading this Bulls offense and he's looking like a guy. We kind of talked about can he be a hub? We talked about that the other day. I just kind of think he's showing that he can. And they, the Bulls have put together a team that kind of makes sense. And so it's, it's exciting to see what Josh Giddey has done. And I will say he's the good. And I'm wearing my Slob wizard shirt.

[Alex]

Oh wow.

[Andrew]

For the YouTubers out there. So busted out the Slob wizard shirt again. So shout out to Josh Giddey.

[Alex]

Andrew, as you were talking. This is bizarre. My. My 85 year old uncle living down there in Palm Springs just happened to text me as you were talking. Isn't this Josh Giddy who's doing so well these days, an okc? Good riddance. Cast off. Really?

[Andrew]

See, dude, that. How much time was spent hand wringing about how bad the Josh Goody for Alex Crusoe trade was? Like, yeah, how it. There are a lot of wasted minutes with that. And now it looks. Obviously the Thunder will never regret that trade because they won a championship, but I think if you're Chicago, I'm not sure you could have done much better. I know you could have gotten draft picks, but you have an actual good player, a player that is helping drive your team forward. And so I do. I just think that. That Josh needs some shine.

[Alex]

Yeah, he's. He's been great and it's amazing. It's just amazing. The player he's been since basically the Zach Levine trade because pre all star break last year, his numbers 12, 7 and 6. Like yeah, I think for people who are doubting him, that's kind of what they were expecting. That's the player they were expecting to see. Like he can put up some counting stats but you're not, it's not going to really be that exciting. But he's now done this. I mean let's see post all star break and it probably started a little bit for that. So that was 19 games. So we're up probably around like the 30 to 40 game mark of him being this type of player, which has to be really exciting for Bulls fans. Yeah, my good this week is a team that I admittedly had written off before the season began. I was not expecting anything good or frankly even that watchable. But the Phoenix Suns have been surprisingly competent and they had a great week. They went three and one this week, which included wins over the Jazz, spurs and Clippers. Now the game against the spurs was the one that really got me locked in because yeah, I wasn't initially watching this game. I checked the halftime box score which told me that Victor Womenyama had two points. I turned on the game, of course, to confirm that my ESPN app was broken. That was why I turned the game on, because based on where the conversation has been around Wemby at the start of the season, seeing a box score where he scored two points in a half a basketball, almost as unbelievable to me as the Shams tweet announcing the LUCA trade, like I, you know, like the app clearly had been hacked. I was going to have to turn on this game myself to get to the bottom of this. And watching the rest of that game, it became clear that this was very real. The Sun's defense was awesome. They were constantly sending doubles, being incredibly physical with Wimby, off the ball, on the ball, just making life as difficult as it possibly could be when you are 74 or 75 or 7 6, it didn't really feel that fluky. And then on Thursday in Jalen Green's debut, the Suns beat a shorthanded Clippers team and they did it convincingly. They absolutely blitzed them in the third, which we'll come back to that. Green put up 29 in the game. And looking across this roster, they just have a surprising number of good things happening for them right now. Like Mark Williams. He's been great to start this year. He wasn't good in the Clippers game, but Colin Gillespie is suddenly a good rotation player. There are only 22 players in the league currently taking eight plus threes per game. Three of them are on the Phoenix Suns. Three of those 22. Now Dylan Brooks probably doesn't count. He's only played three games. He's shooting 29% on those threes. Grayson Allen and Royce O' Neal are shooting 39% and 42% respectively on massive volume, both taking more than eight threes per game. Now I still don't think this team is making the playoffs or anything. That would, that would really surprise me. Yeah. But I also don't think the outlook in Phoenix is nearly as bad as I had assumed this summer. You know, right now, clean the glass. 18th ranked offense, 15th ranked defense, win projection of just under 40 games. Do you remember when Matt Ishbia had his preseason quotes everyone made fun of? We had a great time. It was a great time. We had a lot of fun with them.

[Andrew]

Yep.

[Alex]

And the quote that got the most play was the one that started out quote. My expectations are I hope that we win more games or I hope we win more games than we won last year. But the truth is it's not going to be measured in wins and losses this year.

[Andrew]

Ahaha.

[Alex]

It was very, very funny. It wasn't really the point of what Ishbo would go on to say, but I came away from this week thinking back to that quote. Like wait, would it really be that crazy if this Suns team won 37 games which would give them more wins than last season? Could this team just be competently mediocre? I don't know if I fully believe it yet, but I'm suddenly much more interested in a team that I thought I'd be totally checked out on. And at the very least, the vibes in Phoenix are wildly better compared to last season. Seems like the fans really like this team and for that alone they deserve to be my good this week.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Shouts to Jordan Otto who's seems to be doing a very good job.

[Alex]

Yes.

[Andrew]

Like scheme, like he's the first guy to scheme women Yama to like frustrate him. I was like, I was tuning in like hey, is somebody going to announce that Victor Womenyama has the flu or something? Like what's, what's going on here? Like no, it's just like the way that they played against him really, really messed with them and so. And then teams have kind of followed suit. I did not think, I didn't think that they would be, you know, one of the trending teams this season.

[Alex]

He got Odd. He got odd. Maybe we'll start saying that Jordan just becomes the greatest coach ever.

[Andrew]

He got. He got odd.

[Alex]

I will say a side note. One of my favorite things going forward is just watching small guys guard Wimby, because it really does seem like a cheat code to just stick your head where his elbows are going to be and just get hit in the head. It's like kind of a. That's pretty good tactic. It works. And what's Wemby supposed to do? He's got to move his arms.

[Andrew]

He's got to be able to move his arms. Every time he moves his arms, it's.

[Alex]

A guy's head right there.

[Andrew]

Well, I remember watching, and this is obviously a much different player because Wimby is unlike any player. But I remember watching guys defend Kevin Durant when he was first in the NBA, and the guys that frustrated him the most were like, Tony Allen and Chris Paul.

[Alex]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

Players like that that were just smaller than him, and they would be able to kind of get right up underneath him and be able to defend him in a way that was really frustrating. And it was always like, what? Like, what is happening? Why couldn't he just shoot right over them? It makes me even more excited for Christmas Day to see Alex Caruso defending Wemby on Christmas Day. Very excited to see.

[Alex]

They'll probably throw casing on him.

[Andrew]

I think that they will give everybody a chance. Dort. God, Dort is going to be so annoying to Wimby.

[Alex]

He will be.

[Andrew]

Oh, that's great.

[Alex]

Andrew, what was your bad this week?

[Andrew]

My bad is my bad. Three teams that have had bad starts that people thought could be good. One, the Clippers. There's a lot of buzz about the Clippers before the season started. They're 3 and 5, 24th in net rating, 26th in defense, and 21st in offense so far this season. The Orlando Magic, who I. I'm gonna. For my. What? I'm gonna read a quote about the Orlando Magic, but I'll save that. They're 3 and 5 as well. 19th in that rating, 20 or 14th in defense, 23rd in offense. The 23rd in offense is certainly concerning. But the fact that they're a mediocre defense so far this season is just weird. Like, that's. That's. I don't. I think that that will correct itself. And then we have the Dallas Mavericks, who are so, so, so bad. They're dead last in offense. And there's been like, these. There's been 16 games so far this season where teams have been Under a one on one offensive rating. And that's across the entire league. The maps have six of those games. They have been so bad offensively, they're dead last in offense. They're fifth in defense, which makes sense when you look at their personnel. But they, they have no semblance of an offense and they're, they're starting to. Their fan bases are starting to erupt right now, which they should. It's. It's very bad. Especially whenever you see what Luca's doing in LA and just how dominant he's been. But I guess my question to you, Al, is which of these three teams do you think has the best chance to turn it around and, and do something close to what the expectations were for them heading into the season?

[Alex]

Not the Mavs.

[Andrew]

That team seems, it seems hopeless is like is a strong word because they do have Cooper flag. But this, I would say this version of the Mavs feels pretty hopeless. Yeah.

[Alex]

Now maybe Kyrie comes back and they start to just look like a normal team.

[Andrew]

I, I hate that people like just think that like that will Magic. This is an older guard coming off an ACL tear that didn't happen that long ago. And we're thinking like that is going to just magically fix everything. That's true.

[Alex]

But the bar is so low for good guard play on that team.

[Andrew]

Yeah, maybe, maybe, maybe Kyrie would make them the 26th ranked offense in the league.

[Alex]

There we go. I have to go with the Magic. I have so much stock, personal, real stock in the Magic doing well this season. I feel like a fool. They've made me feel just embarrassed. Yeah. Because watching some of these games, it's, it's embarrassing how little the offense has changed. How, how, how so many of the problems that have been there throughout this whole period are just still there. And I feel dumb for thinking that. You could just insert Desmond Bane and that would fix a lot of these issues. It hasn't happened at all. But what you hit on with the defense, that's the bigger concern because that was their identity. Even if when their offense was bad, the, when they were healthy, that team was still good because their defense was so, so good. And Desmond Bain has not been great defensively. Bringing in someone like Tyus Jones obviously isn't going to help your defense. I still just have to believe that the, the collection of talent like that is a talented roster. It has to at some point work itself out. And maybe it does involve hiring a new coach. Who knows? It's. I hate that I picked Jamal Mosley. For coach of the year. And he could be the first coach fired. That's never, that's never a good sign when you do get the opposite thing. But I think it is. It's going to take something like that because it doesn't feel like they have figured out anything in these games.

[Andrew]

Like I don't.

[Alex]

I don't feel like they're progressing towards something better right now. They just feel stuck in the mud every game.

[Andrew]

They're already stuck in the mud. But yeah, I think, I think they should change their coach.

[Alex]

Did you see the Onyeka Kongwu quote?

[Andrew]

I was. That was going to be my. What? It's so good.

[Alex]

Okay, okay. Okay. I'll save it then. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah. And then the Clippers. Hey, they're my bad this week. So I have a lot to say about the Clippers.

[Andrew]

Okay, let's hear.

[Alex]

Because I somehow stumbled into watching all four of their games this week. I did not plan on doing. Doing this. It was not my goal. But first they started off with the cup game against Pelicans. I was like, I want to see if the Pelicans get a win. Awesome game. Came down the wire. Kawhi hit the game winner. Then their next game was against Miami. Another super close game. Another chance for Kawaii hit a game winner. He'd missed that one. Then they played okc. Obviously watching that. And then last night on Thursday night, it was the only game on. So I'm watching that. And I've come away from this early stretch of Clippers games wondering whether this team is just old and are going to take some time to round into form over the course of the season or is this team just old like done Like a non insignificant number of players on this roster are playing their final season in the NBA currently.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Alex]

And I think if you haven't watched this team yet and you just look at their 3 and 5 record, you see some of the scores. They look close. It doesn't seem as bad as it actually is. Like this is a bad team. You brought it up. But per clean the glass, it's even worse if you take out garbage time. Clippers have the 22nd ranked offense, 27th ranked defense. The only teams on cleaning the glass with a worse defense than the Los Angeles Clippers are New Orleans, Washington and Brooklyn. As a reminder, this was a team with a top three defense last year. Top three. And it's absolutely true that Kawhi's missed a couple games hard. Missed the Phoenix game too. But one of the selling points of this team in the summer was how deep they were. You know, it's loaded with all these battle tested vets plus Bradley Beal. And now that you're getting to see this depth, none of these guys look like the versions that existed in our head this summer. Yeah. And I'm not ready to give up them, give up on them completely because like I said, I do think there's a chance that it's just going to take this old team a minute to ramp up. But right now this team is looking slow. They look old and not in the good way, not in like the wily veteran that is super smart. No, they just look like they're about to retire old and they completely lack the defensive identity that they had last season. So for now they're a bad.

[Andrew]

Yeah, yeah, they, they, they definitely look old. There are just moments where like any of and we watch NBA games a lot and a lot of times the difference is like, are you willing to make like these extra hustle plays? And a lot of teams are willing to do that. And a lot of teams are like going pretty deep into their roster so that they can have enough energy for guys to play like that all the time. That's how OKC made it to the finals. Indiana played that way and got to the finals. But you see none of that with the Clippers. Like no extra effort plays. It's like we, we, we have our like one fastball and if that doesn't do good enough, that's all we got.

[Alex]

And the crazy thing is, and I think a lot of the blame, I mean there's a lot of blame to go around. But Bradley Beal, like, I, I know he's coming back from injury, but yeah, the talk in the summer was like, yeah, he's on an awful contract, but if he was just the player he was in Phoenix when he was on the court, that's he, he's worth that contract that he's now on in the Clippers. Dude, they would love to have last year's version of Bradley Beal right now. He has been terrible and he's the kind of guy you're describing who's not making those extra hustle plays. And he was supposed to be the guy probably more than anyone else on this roster where if you do miss games from Kawhi and Harden, well, here's a guy who could take over offensively and he just has not been able to do that.

[Andrew]

So I don't know. Norman Powell, man, Norman Powell was really, really good for them last year.

[Alex]

Yeah, Storm and Norman was good.

[Andrew]

That's. That's a really big deal.

[Alex]

Yeah, I saw. I did see some Clippers fan complaining. The fact that these last couple games, the other teams keep getting players back. Like when they played okc, Chet came back. When they played Miami, it was Norman Powell's first game back. And then they play Phoenix and it's Jalen Green's first game back, and they all just have, like, really good games. It is kind of annoying and. And maybe some of this is schedule stuff and just these guys. I mean, there's a lot of new pieces on this team trying to suddenly play together. So I'll give him a little bit more time. Just because last team's. Last year's team was so good by the playoffs, I was terrified of that Clippers team. So I'll give him some more time, but right now it's bad. Yeah, Andrew, you alluded to it. What is your what?

[Andrew]

And Yahoo. Kongbo was asked about the. The Desmond Bain play where. Where Bane basically just volleyballs this basketball into his face.

[Alex]

He did a combo move on him.

[Andrew]

It was a combo move. First he took him down and then the ball was right there. He just slams it at him. The funniest part of like, re watching that is like, had no clue what was going on the whole time. He wasn't mad at all. Mogay was the one who was mad for. For him on the Hawks. He was confused and he was asked about it and he was even. He was like, yeah, I didn't know what was going on. This quote was kind of like, what, like, what is happening here? He said, I can already tell that he's frustrated over there. He's not having the best year. You know, I'd be frustrated too, if I was in the position that he was in over there that he is watching. Respectfully, Paulo and Franz take all the shots. It's nothing personal.

[Alex]

What a quote.

[Andrew]

That's a great, great quote on Yako Mind Games. Thank you for that. But yeah, if. I mean, if this is coming from other players on the record, this is something that you could. You could see like a player saying this off the record to you. Like, I. I could. I could see that happening where a player is just like, you're just shooting the breeze of the player and you can hear him say something like that. But on the record, saying that about Desmond Bain and playing against him and see. And like actually seeing it on the court is like, oh, well, this is not good. This is really bad.

[Alex]

But this is how players should respond. Like you shouldn't say something like, oh, he's a fake tough guy, because that'll fire them up. Okay.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Alex]

You got to do this, like, backhanded compliment thing where you're actually, like, instigating strife within their locker room.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Alex]

It's brilliant.

[Andrew]

And it's so true, though, like, that. That it was. It's kind of refreshing to watch the magic and to see that and then just hear a player actually say it.

[Alex]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

Because it. Because it really does feel like Paolo and Franz are awesome players. Like, I don't want to get that twist. Like, they're very, very good players. But I think the question is, once you, like, hit this threshold of, yes, we know you're good, You've established that you can be a good team. But now are you playing at the highest level, making other players on the court better with you? And that. That is going to be, like, the biggest question that needs to be answered for them offensively, for them to take the next step, or do they need, like, an actual, like, point guard organizer of the offense that isn't a backup point guard? Truly, like, they need, like, a real starting point guard. Could be.

[Alex]

Yeah. That they. That they trust. That they, like, see as on their level. Not, like, yeah, I'm feeling bad about Orlando. My what this week is whatever Keonte George has been up to this season because he's become an awesome player seemingly overnight. But specifically, the thing that makes make. Makes me say what is how he's getting the line as a refresher in his first and second years in the league. He's playing a lot of minutes. He took three and 4.3 free throw attempts per game. First and second year. If you added those together, that'd be 7.3 free throw attempts per game. That'd be cool. Keonte is currently averaging 9.3 free throw attempts through eight games, more than doubling his output last season. And he's good at him, too. He's shooting 91%. That is a massive jump. His free throw rate, which is the number of free throw attempts a player has per field goal attempt, went from 0.31 to 0.61. Now, to put that in context, last season, remember all the talk about how wild Jimmy Butler's free throw rate was? Yeah, it was 0.66. Chiante is in range of what Jimmy Butler was doing last season. And when you look at players averaging at least 20 minutes a game, no one in the league other than Benedict Matherine. But he only played two games. No one in the league sees a greater percentage of their points come from the free throw line than Keonte George.

[Andrew]

That's so weird.

[Alex]

And if, if his three point shot comes around because he's currently shooting 26 from three. Like we're talking about a star guard. Like, that is a star guard if he can shoot threes and get to the line. Now, he hasn't really been a shooter yet, you know, his first two seasons he shot like 34, 35. If he can become a shooter. And this like him being able to get to the line is real. He obviously has to still put it all together and he has to do it for more than eight games. But his ceiling is suddenly so much more realistic to me than I was thinking heading into this season. And for Jazz fans, I mean, we talked about it in, in the preseason. Like, this is such a huge season for this Jazz front office. Like, you have to come to the end of the season and feel like you have at least one guy that you feel like, okay, okay, this guy could potentially make an All Star game. Let's just start there and we'll see how this season plays out. But at least you're seeing some flashes early on. It's a bummer that Walker Kessler got hurt because he was looking awesome too. But at least with Chiante you feel like, okay, like, this is it. This is about as good of an early sign as you could get early in the season of a third year player. Let's see how this plays out. Because you know, Ace Bailey obviously not playing a lot right now, but Keonte really picking up the slack in terms of like just needing a young Jazz player to explode. And he's doing it so far.

[Andrew]

Another team that could use an explosion from a young player is the Brooklyn Nets. We're going to talk about them right after this quick break. As a small business owner, you don't have the luxury of clocking out early. Your business is on your mind 24 7. So when you're hiring, you need a partner that works just as hard as you do. That hiring partner is LinkedIn Jobs. When you clock out, LinkedIn clocks in. LinkedIn makes it easy to post your job for free, share it with your network, and get qualified candidates that can manage all in one place. I've been in a position where I need to hire many times and I never had the luxury of having LinkedIn jobs help me. As a user of LinkedIn jobs now I find it incredibly easy to find the most qualified candidates. Here's how LinkedIn Jobs works. Number one, post your job LinkedIn's new feature can help you write job descriptions and then quickly get your job in front of the right people. With deep candidate insights. You can post your job for free or you can pay to promote promoted jobs. Get three times more qualified after applicants. Number two get qualified candidates and at the end of the day, the most important thing to your small business is the quality of candidates. And with LinkedIn you can feel confident that you're getting the best. Based on LinkedIn data, 72% of small businesses using LinkedIn say that LinkedIn helps them find high quality candidates and finally share it with your network. You can let your network know that you're hiring. You can even add the hashtag hiring frame to your personal profile and get two times more qualified candidates. Find out why more than two and a half million small businesses use LinkedIn for hiring today. Find your next great hire on LinkedIn. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com athleticmba that's LinkedIn.com athleticmba to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply.

[Mike Smelts]

Banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet with no fees or minimums on checking accounts and no overdraft fees. Just ask the Capital One bank guy. It's pretty much all he talks about in a good way. He'd also tell you that this podcast is his favorite podcast too. Ah, really? Thanks, Capital One Bank Guy. What's in your wallet? Term supply See capitalone.com bank capital1na member.

[Alex]

FDIC Dungeons & Dads is brought to.

[Andrew]

You this week by ebay.

[Alex]

On ebay, every find has a story. Like. Like if you're looking for a vintage band tee. Not just a T, the band tee. You wore it everywhere until your ex stole it. Now you're on ebay and there it is.

[Mike Smelts]

Same tee from the same tour.

[Alex]

The things you love have a way of finding their way back to you, especially on ebay. Where else can you find that mint trading card you've searched everywhere for? Or your first car, the one you wish you never sold? Has to be ebay. Shop ebay for millions of finds, each with a store. EBay Things people love Andrew it's time for the Wheel of Fandom, the weekly segment where we spin a wheel. It lands on a team, and we become fans of that team for the next week. Last week, the wheel landed on the Brooklyn Nets, who came into the week without a win this season. Season. But by the power of the wheel, the Brooklyn Nets not only won a game this week, they won a road game against a team that appeared in The NBA Finals last year. Wow. Are the Nets ahead of schedule? Do the Nets have a schedule? Per cleaning the glass, the 1 in 7 nets have the 23rd ranked offense and 30th ranked defense. Andrew, if the Nets are a favorite team, who is our guest?

[Andrew]

Our guest is my good friend Mike Smelts, who. When I think about the Nets, I don't think about any player on the Nets. I don't think about the Barclays Center. I just think about Mike and how sorry I feel for him that he's had to be a Nets fan for this long. Mike, welcome to the show. Thanks for being, thanks for joining us.

[Mike Smelts]

Honestly, the being a Nets fan has brought me so much. It brings me back on the show. I hope to never be on the show again. For the sake of your listeners. This team. Like I was, you know, I was, I was in the take machine. I hopped in the take machine and thought, okay, I'm gonna come with some juicy spicy takes and unfortunately there's bland as my grandma's potato salad. You know how bland that is? So bland. So grandma Bonnie or potato salad is horrible. Anyways, so I'm here to talk about the Nets who, yes, they beat the Pacers. Probably the one of one of two teams they shouldn't beat because they're in the race for the bottom against the Wizards and the Pacers and they beat. They can't even tank properly.

[Andrew]

Oh yeah, that's what you call, that's what you call a double loss right there. It's really, really bad.

[Mike Smelts]

That's all right.

[Alex]

That's all right.

[Mike Smelts]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

Mike, one of the big talking points among Nets that's fan base right now is how the Nets are using or not using their rookies. Other than Jaeger, none of the other first round picks have gotten consistent playing time. And Jordy Fernandez announced this week that Ben Seraph, Nolan Traore and Danny Wolf will be spending time in the G League. What is your opinion on this current plan for the rookie class?

[Mike Smelts]

Yeah, so there's no plan. It's obvious they have no plan. Saurabh started the year at point guard and now he's not playing. Yeah, when you filter minutes, just filter everyone. Go to the Nets player stats and filter minutes and then try to pick out which are the first round picks and then which are the guys who won't be on the team next year. And the guys who won't be on the team next year are the people at the top and the rookies are at the bottom. Now I am an advocate for a A comforting ride into a tanking where you do have veteran assistance but you still need to play your, some of your rookies. And you know, like, okay, if I was starting the season and I was talking about what I'm looking forward to, it would just be to see the rookies playing basketball on the court and they, they don't play basketball. And so to be good at basketball you have to play basketball, which is why they're gonna play on Long island and not Brooklyn. But yeah, it's not. And actually, I don't know, this is probably too far. It actually shows that there is some disconnect between the Sean Marks front office and the Jordy Fernandez coaching staff. The fact that, the fact that he, Jordy's not playing the rookies and Sean Marks, you know, made the risky move of drafting five guys in the first round and none of them can play besides, you know, Jaeger. But like Jaeger's, you know, not like he's lighting the world on fire in the way that other rookies are this year.

[Alex]

Yeah. So let's talk about Jaeger because he was the highest drafted player from this group and he has been getting semi regular minutes. Although he did only play like 13 in their last game. Obviously not a lot to go on. He did score his first two pointer this week. That was a big moment. What are your early impressions about just how he plays? Because I feel like the, in the draft cycle I was sold an idea of a player and then I watch him and I don't feel like he is that player. Like the comp to Josh Giddey. I watch him play and I'm like, I don't see Josh Giddey in this player.

[Mike Smelts]

Yeah. So like, okay, so you can kind of take half of the stats and be like, okay, he was a bad three point shooter in college. Historic. Like I don't know about historically bad, but like he went from being a top prospect early in the year to like being a debacle from outside shooting at byu. But then so then you're like, oh well, he's taken some threes in the NBA. Well, it's because he can't take twos. He's unable to shoot the ball inside the three point line, which is not a good sign. I mean if you're a 68 ball handler, you should be able to get off a shot inside the arc and you can't. I'm always gonna. Not always, but I do like Jaegor and I'm excited to see him grow and develop and he is a Guy who played in Russia, then went to byu, the Russia of America and then he, he's now playing for Brooklyn which is kind of like the Russia Russia of New York City if you've been to Brooklyn and a big Russian Ukrainian culture over there. Anyway, so he's, he is, it's hasn't been good. Particularly when you kind of look at the guys who have been drafted around him. And as, as much as that Pelicans trade where they got Derek Queen is a debacle like Derek Queens had a better game than Jaeger Devon as even so like it's if we're doing a redraft rating of Sean Marks draft so far not looking good for Sean as a GM of the Brooklyn Nets.

[Alex]

But like what is he, what kind of player.

[Andrew]

Alex and I were having this conversation before.

[Mike Smelts]

So what do you think?

[Alex]

Tell me. Oh, I, I, I've heard a comp to like Joe Ingalls which I sort of get because like he, he plays a lot more off ball than I was expecting.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Alex]

And there are flashes off ball where you're like oh, this kind of makes sense. I, in my head I thought coming in the season this is one of those guys where they were just going to give him the ball and he was going to run the offense. Clearly I was wrong or I was led wrong by some, some draft articles because that's just, just doesn't feel like that's the player he is.

[Mike Smelts]

Yeah. And it's like one of those unfortunate. So far it's one of those unfortunate things where we sometimes exaggerate a player's ball handling skills because they're taller, so he's tall. And because he can handle the ball, we're like that's he's Sean Livingston. And then when he actually in actuality when you get to the NBA, it's not, doesn't quite add up. I mean Joe Ingles would be great right now. Let's be honest. The Nets could have Joe Ingles Peak Joe Ingles. Man, we would die for peak Joe Ingles right now.

[Alex]

Prime Joe Ingles shut down Paul George in the playoffs.

[Mike Smelts]

Absolutely smothered him. The goat pg 13 the goat was smothered by Joe Ingles. So I would take that right now. I don't know what he is. I mean that's the thing. Like I don't know what any of these rookies are. None of all of them defy explanation at this point. Yeah, it's a good season.

[Andrew]

Here's how you get Joe Ingles is that you have to send Jaeger away for eight years because Joe Ingles didn't join the NBA till he was 27. So just send him away for eight years. Hopefully he'll come back and he'll be good like Joe Ingles was.

[Mike Smelts]

And again, this is probably a question you guys may have later, but, like, the team that they put these five rookies on, the two, like, biggest ball hogs in the NBA are leading it. Cam Thomas is the biggest. And then Michael Porter Jr's not, like, so egregious, but obviously he's not the, the, you know, he's not what even Bridges was when Bridges was with the Nets, where, like, Bridges was pretty much like, if he would have some assist games, they're pretty good assist games. He would move the ball and yeah, he would take shots, but he would actually move the ball. Reporter. I mean, and I, I, we could talk about the Cam Johnson trade, which I'm happy to. But like, he, the thing he is not will be a guy who lifts everyone else on the team. He's a guy who will get his, but he's not a, a person that will sort of, you know, rising tide lifts all boats. It's a good year.

[Andrew]

So the players who are on the court for the Nets is a strange collection of role players, as you just mentioned.

[Mike Smelts]

So good.

[Andrew]

Has anything surprised you or excited you early on? Yes. Are you an MPJ guy? Do you believe in Claxton?

[Mike Smelts]

Yes.

[Andrew]

This team's next best point guard. Like, what's the deal?

[Mike Smelts]

You know, who's this. Maybe trivia territory, you know, who's leading the team of assists right now?

[Alex]

It is Nick Claxton.

[Mike Smelts]

Is that a trivia question or is it.

[Alex]

There's a. There's a question related to that, but.

[Andrew]

I did not do that. Okay. Okay.

[Alex]

I knew you would know it.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Mike Smelts]

Yeah. Nick Claxton, who, when he was at Georgia, did show ball handling for a 6:10, 6:11 athletic freak that he is. And like, he disappeared on those KD Kyrie teams and suddenly on this team, he is. He's. It's like 3.5 assists. It's not crazy, but for a guy who for most of his NBA career could do nothing but dunk the ball, he's doing something that's exciting. I will say, Nets fans, the thing we watch the most besides this team is how Cam Johnson's playing in Denver. Not, not that good. And we. So whether this season is the Schadenfreude tank season, where we can enjoy the fact that Cam Johnson, who everyone. Oh, my God. Oh, Cam Johnson, he's amazing. He's going to be incredible with Nikola Jokic. Okay. Not that good. And mpj, whatever we want to say about him, he can put it in the bucket. And he, you know, gets, gets rebounds. He does get some. Like, he's. He's a much better player than Cam Johnson. And the Nets got a first round pick. So that's. Those are the shining bright lights. Him, Nick Claxton this season. We're back, baby. Bets are back. We're going to get John Morant. We're back.

[Alex]

Let's go. So there's a good segment on Peacock before the Nets Wolves games where they were talking about how regardless of your standing in the league, it's important to find an identity.

[Mike Smelts]

Sure.

[Alex]

Having. Having watched this team, seen who they drafted, what do you think the front office envisions as the Nets identity?

[Mike Smelts]

I actually guarantee, if you ask them, okay, what they would probably say is, like, we're going to be well coached. Like, Jordy is going to coach him up. But they don't care. They. They look at what's happening in Lawrence, Kansas and Durham, North Carolina, and all the. Where all the great freshmen are across the country, and they are so ecstatic that this year, sure, there's not a Cooper flag and, you know, but there could be like five VJ Edge Combs in this. I mean, honestly, Peterson may be, you know, I, I'm. He may be better than Cooper, but I'm. This is. They're so excited. So, okay, your question was, what's the identity on the court? They. They honestly do not care.

[Andrew]

They.

[Mike Smelts]

They couldn't. They didn't construct this team for an identity. They constructed it to be bad. And they're doing a fantastic job except for beating the one team that they can't beat, which is the Pacers. I mean, come on, guys, let's. What are we doing here anyways? It's a good year.

[Andrew]

Okay, our final question is this.

[Mike Smelts]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

If you had to bet an uncomfortable amount of money on three players from the current Nets roster being on the next Nets team to make the playoffs, who would be your picks?

[Mike Smelts]

Oh, my God.

[Andrew]

Okay. Jaeger.

[Mike Smelts]

Devin's like, you hope. Oh, my God. They're going to trade Michael Porter Jr. Cam Thomas will not be on the team. They're going to trade Nick Claxton. They're going to trade Terrence. Man, they're probably going to trade Tyrese Martin because there'll be some team that'll be like, we'll give you a top 55 protected second round.

[Andrew]

Pick.

[Mike Smelts]

Noah Clowney will be on this team. So that's two.

[Alex]

Two.

[Andrew]

Nice.

[Alex]

Can we get to three first?

[Andrew]

Noah Clowney mentioned.

[Mike Smelts]

And this Cooper Flag son will be on this team when they make the playoffs.

[Andrew]

Next time he's not on the current team, you got to pick a current player.

[Mike Smelts]

No Cooper Flag son. The son of Cooper Flag. Oh, you mean a current. Oh, sorry. Right. You know what I'm saying? I don't have. I refuse.

[Alex]

Who's your. Who's your favorite rookie that hasn't played any minutes?

[Andrew]

Yeah, how can I hear Saraf, do you know what a Danny Wolf guy?

[Alex]

I really like Danny Wolf. I'd say go with Danny Wolf.

[Andrew]

Yeah.

[Mike Smelts]

Yeah. He's crushing it this year. It's. Honestly. What do you want me to say? You want me to be honest or do you want me to.

[Alex]

No, we actually want this. We want what you're doing right now. Yeah. This team.

[Mike Smelts]

I don't see. I mean, maybe I'm writing the book on Seraph and Wolf and I mean too early, but Drake Powell, like maybe Drake Powell.

[Andrew]

How about that?

[Mike Smelts]

Because I could see him like he was like the more of the long term developmental guy who you like actually has an NBA body where the rest of them have. They, they, they absolutely hate NBA body types on this team. If you look at all the guys they drafted, they're all like skinny, gangly, but not in a good. Not a good gangle. Like a. Like a my 50 year old nephew kind of gangly. You know, it's not a good gangle.

[Alex]

All right, well, Mike, thanks for answering all our questions about this exciting team. It was a joy to watch them. Let's go. I'm glad we got to experience the first win. That was fun.

[Andrew]

Yeah, that was fun.

[Alex]

It was a close game. I enjoyed it.

[Mike Smelts]

What a win. Great. Great.

[Alex]

It's now time to play Andrew versus the Beat Nets edition. Mike, you've played this before. I've come up with eight questions about the Nets. You'll give me a number between 1 and 8 will correspond to a question. If you get it right, you'll get at least two points. Get it wrong, Andrew have a chance to steal for one. You if. And we'll go back and forth until all the questions have been asked and answered. So to start us off, Mike Smelts, give me a number between one and eight.

[Mike Smelts]

Seven for Kevin Duran.

[Andrew]

Yes.

[Alex]

Great. How many. Okay. How many players on the Brooklyn Nets roster have had a 30 point game in their career? Now you get to choose who answers first. You can make Andrew Answer and you go higher or lower. Or you can answer and then Andrew will go higher or lower. If either of you get it exactly correct, you would get a bonus point. So you don't have to tell me who it was. Just give me a number. How many players on the current roster have had a 30 point game in the NBA?

[Andrew]

Okay. Okay.

[Mike Smelts]

Andrew, give your number.

[Andrew]

I'll say six.

[Alex]

Andrea said six.

[Mike Smelts]

Six below six, please. Is that how it works?

[Alex]

Yep, that's how it works. And that's how you get points. Because six is a crazy guess. It is four.

[Mike Smelts]

Can I guess them?

[Alex]

Yeah, sure.

[Mike Smelts]

Cam Thomas, mpj, Tyrese Martin and one more.

[Alex]

You got three of them.

[Mike Smelts]

So it's either Claxton or Terence Man, I think. Well, wait, did I your top Williams have like some weird wild.

[Andrew]

This is. That's the road I'm going down. That's. You're going down the road? I was kind of going.

[Mike Smelts]

Going down Zaire.

[Alex]

You were doing well. It was Terence Mann.

[Mike Smelts]

Okay. Okay.

[Alex]

And actually Noah Clowney was the closest. He had a 29 point game.

[Mike Smelts]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

Oh, wow.

[Mike Smelts]

Yeah, we call him Mr. 29 because he never got to 30. That's.

[Alex]

We're always calling him that. All right, Andrew, the board is yours.

[Andrew]

As I are never got close even on a tanking team. That's bad. Okay. Even Poku scored 30 points. I'll go number one.

[Alex]

Question number one. With their win over the Pacers this week, the Brooklyn Nets avoided an historical bad start, such as the 018 start by the oath. 20092010 New Jersey Nets. We're going to name all 17 players who played NBA minutes for the 0910 New Jersey Nets. So how this will work, Andrew will give me a name, then Mike will give me a name. We'll go back and forth until one of you stumbles. So, Andrew 2009, 2010 New Jersey knits.

[Andrew]

Brooke Lopez. That's correct.

[Mike Smelts]

Yeah, that's correct.

[Andrew]

I was gonna say if that's not right, I gotta give up now.

[Alex]

The thing. All right, Mike.

[Mike Smelts]

The thing that stinks about this is there's too many names that are floating around in my head and they're gonna all be wrong. I'm gonna go Stromile Swift.

[Alex]

Stromile Swift. And just like that, Andrew, you've got the points.

[Andrew]

Just like that. Was Devin Harris on that team?

[Mike Smelts]

I mean.

[Alex]

Yeah, Devin Harris.

[Andrew]

I think Courtney Lee was on that team.

[Alex]

Yeah, Courtney Lee.

[Andrew]

What? Wait, was Chris Humphreys?

[Alex]

Yes, he was Chris on the board. Not a real board.

[Mike Smelts]

Not a real.

[Alex]

On the board.

[Andrew]

What About Easy on Leon. Yeah.

[Mike Smelts]

Yeah, it was a problem.

[Andrew]

What a great team.

[Alex]

Some other names. Terrence Williams, Rafer Alston, Jarvis Hayes. Keon. Dueling Bobby Simmons, Douglas Robert. Cdr. You should have gotten cdr.

[Mike Smelts]

Honestly, not a bad team.

[Alex]

No. Bad team at all? No, honestly, bad team. Eduardo Nahara, Tony Trenton, Hassel, Josh Boone and Sean Williams.

[Andrew]

Wait, how so? Wait, they won? Well, how many games did you say?

[Alex]

Well, they started out. Oh, an 18.

[Andrew]

Oh, and 18.

[Alex]

Yeah.

[Andrew]

The coach didn't last, right?

[Alex]

Why are you asking me all these questions?

[Andrew]

I'm just. I'm. I don't know.

[Alex]

I don't have like an encyclopedic knowledge of.

[Andrew]

Just trying to reminisce. Just trying to reminisce on the Nets, man.

[Mike Smelts]

Was it Avery Johnson? I think.

[Alex]

Oh, here we go. Their coach, who only lasted 16 of those 18 losses. Lawrence Frank. Then we got two games of Tom Barisi. Okay.

[Mike Smelts]

Yeah, he made impact.

[Alex]

And then Kiki Vandaway took over the rest of the season. And then Avery was the next. That that team won 12 games.

[Andrew]

Yeah, 12.

[Alex]

The team that Mike just said, honestly, pretty good team. Pretty.

[Mike Smelts]

I mean, I would die for that team right now.

[Alex]

All right, Mike, the board is yours. We got ty. Games 2. 2, 2. Michael Porter Jr. Had a career high 11 free throw attempts in that win over the Pacers. Career high form. Who are the other two nets to attempt 11 plus free throws in a game this season? And you have to name both to get the points.

[Mike Smelts]

Kim Thomas.

[Andrew]

Okay.

[Alex]

And the other team is that one, though maybe it doesn't matter. You have to get both of them to get the points.

[Mike Smelts]

Noah Clowney.

[Alex]

Andrew, you have a chance to steal for one point.

[Andrew]

Cam Thomas. Nick Claxton.

[Alex]

Woo. That is correct. One point for each.

[Andrew]

Name the good players. Cam Thomas at Claxton.

[Alex]

Andrew, board is yours.

[Andrew]

3.

[Alex]

Question number 3. Accidentally gave that point to Mike. I apologize.

[Mike Smelts]

Thank you.

[Alex]

Thank you. Question number three. Per cleaning the glass. The Nets currently have the worst defense in the league. The last time Brooklyn was a bottom five defense was the 2015-16 season when their defense ranked 29th. Who led that team in rebounds? Rebounds per game? 2015. 16.

[Andrew]

16. Oh, my gosh. You would think it would be a particular guy, but he's also not a much of a boundsman. Oh, I guess I'll just go with them, but I don't know who else I would be. I. I guess I'll go with Brooke, but I don't. I don't feel good about that.

[Alex]

I'm sorry, Andrew. That is Incorrect. Mike, any guesses? Nope. No guesses. You're passing.

[Mike Smelts]

Yeah, passing.

[Alex]

Tell me it was Thaddeus Young.

[Mike Smelts]

Thaddus Young.

[Alex]

I knew it.

[Mike Smelts]

I knew it. Sad.

[Alex]

Well, you didn't. Okay, Mike, board is yours. You're only down three to two. Question number five. The Nets have been involved in nine total minutes of clutch time this season. Can you name one of the three teams who have had fewer than nine clutch minutes this season? There's only three of them.

[Andrew]

Wow.

[Alex]

They've had under nine clutch minutes this season. There's three of them. You only got to give me one.

[Mike Smelts]

You know, I was thinking like the other way about this. Like the plus differential. Like who just is blowing the doors off other players or other teams. But I know the opening of the season for OKC was an overtime classic. I'm going to go the Wizards.

[Alex]

That is correct. That's all you need. That's all you need for the two points. Shout out to the Wizards, Toronto and the New York Knicks.

[Andrew]

Weird.

[Mike Smelts]

Those are.

[Alex]

Mike has pulled ahead. It's now four to three. Three questions left. Andrew, number four per cleaning the glass. Brooklyn is currently ranked highest in which of the following categories. Half court offense, transition offense, half court defense. Transition defense, ranked question highest. Which of those are they ranked highest in?

[Andrew]

God.

[Alex]

Ranked highest.

[Andrew]

I mean, I would guess it the offense in some capacity.

[Alex]

Okay.

[Andrew]

Half court offense. I don't know, Andrew.

[Alex]

That's correct. We watched the 21st ranked half court offense this week. Pretty good. Yep. Yep.

[Mike Smelts]

When it gets to playoff time, that's going to come through.

[Alex]

That's a great point. The game slows down.

[Andrew]

The game slows down. So the Nets show up.

[Mike Smelts]

By the way, they see last year in transition offense.

[Alex]

They were good. They weren't like the best.

[Mike Smelts]

Okay, okay.

[Alex]

Yeah.

[Mike Smelts]

Yeah.

[Alex]

That was one other thing I noticed. How slow this Brooklyn team plays. Like one of the slowest teams in the league.

[Mike Smelts]

Fun. Watch.

[Alex]

All right, Mike, you're down five to four. Two questions left. Six or eight?

[Andrew]

Six.

[Mike Smelts]

Six.

[Alex]

Seven.

[Mike Smelts]

Six.

[Andrew]

You got it.

[Alex]

The Nets. They might be the worst defense in the NBA, but that doesn't mean their hustle stats page on NBA.com is blank. From what I can see. There's still hustling going on. Who leads the Nets in deflections this season?

[Mike Smelts]

Karen's man.

[Alex]

Whoo. He's got it.

[Andrew]

Wow.

[Alex]

Wow.

[Mike Smelts]

That was easy. That was easy.

[Alex]

I know. That was one of the easier questions I've ever included. I'm glad you got is now 6 to 5 going into the final question. And this is crazy because Andrew, you could get three points on this question. You only need two to win the week.

[Andrew]

All right.

[Alex]

But it also leaves open the door that if you go, we got two, then Mike could come back and get the final point.

[Andrew]

So this is exciting. Okay, so here we go.

[Alex]

Nick Claxton currently leads the Nets in assists per game with 3.8.

[Mike Smelts]

Yep. Yeah.

[Alex]

There are only three NBA teams other than the Nets who do not have someone averaging at least five assists per game. Can you name all three? You'd get one point per correct answer. So these are NBA teams who don't have one player averaging five assists per game.

[Andrew]

Oh, my gosh.

[Alex]

The Nets are one.

[Mike Smelts]

I know one of them. Andrew, you're. You're so screwed.

[Alex]

I know one of them, buddy. Andrew, those are fighting words.

[Andrew]

I think the Wiz have to be one.

[Alex]

The Wizards are one. The game is now tied.

[Andrew]

I would catch. Orlando doesn't have one.

[Alex]

Andrew has pulled ahead.

[Andrew]

Damn it.

[Mike Smelts]

That was mice. That was the one. I was like, okay, Andrew, it's important.

[Alex]

For you to get this last one, because if you don't get it, Mike could get it and retie the game.

[Andrew]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Mike Smelts]

I gotta think about this.

[Andrew]

I have one more I idea. The. The limit is five. Like, you have to be under five.

[Alex]

Yeah, under five.

[Andrew]

God, that is crazy.

[Alex]

That is nuts.

[Andrew]

That is nuts.

[Mike Smelts]

Alex, you'll give me a hint, right? You'll give me a hint.

[Alex]

Let me think if I could. What's a. What's a good hint?

[Andrew]

Man? I feel. I feel like.

[Mike Smelts]

Just tell me the city that they play it.

[Alex]

I feel like that would help. That would help.

[Andrew]

I don't want to give too. I don't want to give hints, but there's a couple teams I'm considering.

[Mike Smelts]

Yeah, there are.

[Andrew]

Okay, I'm going to say the Boston Celtics.

[Alex]

Andrew, that is absolutely incorrect.

[Andrew]

Okay?

[Alex]

Mike, this is your big chance.

[Mike Smelts]

Okay? Here are the teams I'm considering just for the audience, because Andrew cannot answer anymore. Okay? So I'm thinking about Toronto. I'm thinking about the Pacers. I mean, Scotty Bones scares me. Right? I'm thinking about the Pacers because they suck. Excuse me. Apologies. So I'm trying to think about those two teams specifically, as well as.

[Andrew]

Who.

[Mike Smelts]

Would be dishing out assists for the Utah Jazz. So is there a hint you could provide, Alex, that would get me closer to the truth?

[Alex]

The only thing I'll say is that we've met, we've talked about them today. We've talked about this team today.

[Mike Smelts]

Oh, well, that could be the Pacers. Or the Raptors.

[Alex]

Yeah, that doesn't help you. Great.

[Mike Smelts]

Well, eliminates Utah. Thank you very much. Okay.

[Alex]

Pacers, the correct answer is.

[Mike Smelts]

The.

[Alex]

New Orleans Pelicans, which means Andrew wins the week, 8 to 7.

[Mike Smelts]

Yeah. Wait, we didn't talk. I did not talk about the Pelicans.

[Alex]

Yeah, you did. You. You mentioned the trade, how bad the trade was. You did, Remember?

[Andrew]

Oh, I did Derek Queen. I did Derek Queen.

[Mike Smelts]

Damn it. Close. That's exciting. What an exciting end to an exciting pod.

[Andrew]

That was. That was wild. Mike, thanks so much for joining us. Please, please, please have to glue guys up again. Please, begging you.

[Mike Smelts]

Yeah, no.

[Andrew]

If they win the lottery, will you start glue guys again?

[Mike Smelts]

Nope.

[Andrew]

Okay.

[Mike Smelts]

Nothing could bring me back to those. The trench warfare of Brooklyn Nets podcasting. I refuse.

[Andrew]

Okay, bummer. Well, we will hit you back up and you will join us again thanks to the Wheel of fandom. Mike, thanks so much for coming on.

[Mike Smelts]

Yeah, thank you for having me.

[Alex]

All right, Andrew, that was Nets week.

[Andrew]

We did it.

[Alex]

Yeah. That won't happen again this. This year. Don't worry, don't worry.

[Andrew]

Listen, don't worry, everybody.

[Alex]

Don't worry. All right, let's spin the wheel and see who the next team is going to be on the Wheel of Fame. It's gonna be the Cleveland Cavaliers. We're so close to the Magic.

[Andrew]

We almost got Orlando, which I was a little bit excited about. Just like, what the heck is going on with Orlando?

[Alex]

I mean, the Cavs are a good team and let's. Let's take a look at who they're playing this week. We got a game on Friday. Now this is a cup game, I'm assuming, against the Washington Wizards Saturday back to back against the Chicago Bulls at home. And then we get to watch this new high flying Heat. Heat team twice in a row. They have to play games against the Heat on Monday and Wednesday, both on the road.

[Andrew]

Wow.

[Alex]

And then have to come back home and play Toronto. Oh, my gosh, they have five games. Have we ever had a team with five games in a week?

[Andrew]

That's a lot of Cavaliers basketball. Wow.

[Alex]

That's a lot of Cavs balls.

[Andrew]

Wow, that's wild. Hey, leave us a five star review and Apple podcast will read it on the show. Just like this one from Slippery Underscore. Underscore for Pete. Love the podcast, especially the weekend Slam and Jam. Great thing to listen to while dog walking on a weekend morning. I enjoy that you cover everybody rather than endless Lakers and Warriors talk. And the trivia section is great. Although I have to take issue with Alex on the Rockets episode question about 30 point scores with five plus teams somehow omitted James Harden.

[Alex]

That's true. Like I said, hardest question I ever had to research. Wait, okay, who? Harden's been on three teams already. OKC Houston five plus teams. Oh, it's Philly.

[Andrew]

I forgot Philly. Yeah, Philly.

[Alex]

Yeah, you're right. Okay, point to that listener.

[Andrew]

Thank you. Slippery Pete says keep up the good work and go Pistons. Leave us a five star review. Read on the show. Hope everybody has an awesome weekend, enjoy the bathroom basketball, and we will talk to you guys again next Saturday.

[Alex]

Ready to order? Yes.

[Andrew]

We're earning unlimited 3% cash back on dining and entertainment with a Capital One Saver Card. So let's just get one of everything. Everything.

[Mike Smelts]

Fire everything. The Capital One Saver Card is at table 27 and they're earning unlimited 3% cash.

[Alex]

Yes, Chef.

[Andrew]

This is so nice.

[Mike Smelts]

Had a feeling you'd want 3% cash back on dessert. Oh, tiramisu. Earn unlimited 3% cash back on dining and entertainment with the Capital One Saver Card. Capital One what's in your wallet? Terms apply.

[Alex]

See capitalone.com for details.

[Andrew]

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[Mike Smelts]

Hey, it's Maya and Sim from the Girls that Invest Podcast.

[Andrew]

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[Mike Smelts]

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[Andrew]

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[Mike Smelts]

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