NBA Finals Mailbag: Morning Shoot Around

Summary

Summary of "NBA Finals Mailbag: Morning Shoot Around" Episode of The Athletic NBA Daily

Release Date: June 5, 2025

In this episode of The Athletic NBA Daily, hosts Andrew Schleck, Dave DeFore, and Esper Henny delve deep into the NBA Finals matchup between the Oklahoma City Thunder (OKC) and the Indiana Pacers. Recorded live at Down to Dunk Studios in Oklahoma City, the trio offers insightful analysis, player evaluations, and strategic breakdowns, enriched with listener questions and engaging banter.

---

1. Setting the Stage: Thunder vs. Pacers

The discussion kicks off with a warm welcome from the hosts, highlighting that this is their first in-person shoot-around session.

• Esper Henny [03:35]: "I love the representation [of OKC fans]. It's very cool."

Dave expresses his limited familiarity with OKC beyond the Bricktown area, prompting a conversation about OKC's local culture and the recent revitalization of their downtown scene.

• Dave DeFore [04:12]: "I've been to OKC a handful of times at this point. I feel like I've been here like 10 days total or something."

2. Anticipation for Game One

As Game One of the NBA Finals approaches, the hosts discuss expectations for the Thunder's performance and the ambiance at the arena.

• Esper Henny [06:16]: "I can't wait to hear the OKC chant live. The arena atmosphere is going to be insane."

They also touch upon the Thunder's strategic decision to wear a white out, debating the aesthetic and television impact of color choices.

• Dave DeFore [06:40]: "Not white and blue. The blue just doesn't hit the same on TV."

3. Key Matchups and Team Strategies

A significant portion of the episode centers on the tactical battle between the Thunder and the Pacers, focusing on turnovers, shooting efficiency, and defensive strategies.

• Esper Henny [10:07]: "If they have four turnovers by halftime, Indy might be in good shape."

Andrew emphasizes the importance of Tyrese Haliburton's role in attacking the paint, which could influence the series' momentum.

• Andrew Schleck [12:37]: "How much is Tyrese actually getting into the paint?"

The hosts analyze Indiana's ability to manage turnovers and the Thunder's reliance on a transition game to force errors.

4. Player Spotlight: Jalen Williams and Pascal Siakam

Andrew shares a fun fact about Jalen Williams, highlighting his unique achievement of being an All-Star, All-NBA team, and All-Defensive team selection in his third season—a feat not seen since Bill Walton in 1976-77.

• Andrew Schleck [36:21]: "Jalen Williams of the Oklahoma City Thunder is set to become the first player to... play in the NBA Finals in the same season."

The conversation shifts to Pascal Siakam, discussing his defensive prowess and his critical role in the Pacers' potential success.

• Dave DeFore [15:45]: "Siakam is the key to the Pacers winning. He needs to have 30 a night, almost."

5. Coaching and Team Dynamics

The hosts explore coaching strategies, particularly Larry Bird's influence on Indiana basketball history and the Thunder's adaptability under different coaches.

• Dave DeFore [23:58]: "Rick Carlisle is one of the best coaches in the NBA. His experience and staff are top-notch."

They debate hypothetical scenarios, such as trading key players like Kevin Durant, and the impact of such moves on team chemistry and championship aspirations.

• Andrew Schleck [32:00]: "He has no NBA home. They just have to say, 'We don't need you.'"

6. Fan Engagement and Team Marketing

A notable segment discusses the importance of a team's marketability and fan base, referencing Adam Silver's comments on comparing NBA teams to NFL franchises.

• Esper Henny [54:25]: "Adam Silver literally said this yesterday. He's like, if this was football and we were talking about the Packers, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Tampa Bay. Nobody would care."

The hosts defend the Thunder and Pacers as highly marketable teams with passionate local support, countering the notion that small market teams lack national appeal.

7. Listener Questions and Interactive Segment

Towards the end of the episode, the hosts address listener-submitted questions, offering rankings and preferences regarding player performances and hypothetical coaching scenarios.

• Listener Question [58:21]: "Rank the top five players with the most three-point attempts per game for each team."

• Dave DeFore [60:00]: "Turns out Chet is second. Chat might be there."

Another engaging question involves choosing the ideal broadcast team, revealing the hosts' preferences for commentators and their humorous takes on hypothetical broadcast scenarios.

• Listener Question [69:00]: "If you could select your own broadcast team, who would your three people be?"

  • Dave DeFore [69:25]: "I'd go with Kevin Harlan, Stan Van Gundy, and Reggie Miller."

8. Final Thoughts and Wrap-Up

As the episode concludes, the hosts reflect on player development, team chemistry, and the potential directions both franchises might take post-finals. They emphasize the evolving landscape of the NBA, highlighting the blend of young talent and seasoned veterans driving the current season's excitement.

• Esper Henny [73:30]: "Shout out to Poku. Poku, this is why we're here. This is why the NBA Finals."

The episode ends with a reminder to tune into their YouTube channel and podcast feed for ongoing finals coverage, maintaining an engaging and informative tone throughout.

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Notable Quotes:

• Esper Henny [06:16]: "I can't wait to hear the OKC chant live. The arena atmosphere is going to be insane."

• Andrew Schleck [12:37]: "How much is Tyrese actually getting into the paint?"

• Dave DeFore [15:45]: "Siakam is the key to the Pacers winning. He needs to have 30 a night, almost."

• Andrew Schleck [36:21]: "Jalen Williams of the Oklahoma City Thunder is set to become the first player to... play in the NBA Finals in the same season."

• Dave DeFore [23:58]: "Rick Carlisle is one of the best coaches in the NBA. His experience and staff are top-notch."

• Dave DeFore [69:25]: "I'd go with Kevin Harlan, Stan Van Gundy, and Reggie Miller."

---

This comprehensive summary encapsulates the core discussions and insights from the episode, providing a clear overview for listeners and those who may have missed the live broadcast.

Transcript

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[Andrew Schleck]

Welcome to the morning shoot around here on the Athletic NBA Daily's YouTube page and also podcast feed. We are podcasting in person in Oklahoma City at Down to Dunk Studios with.

[Dave DeFore]

The heaviest coasters I've ever seen in.

[Andrew Schleck]

My heaviest coasters from a Down to dunker. Beautiful. I'm your host, Andrew Schleck, with me, Dave DeFore. Esper Henny here in person. First in person shoot around ever.

[Esper Henny]

I love it. I love it, dude.

[Andrew Schleck]

I'm just.

[Esper Henny]

I'm glad that we're doing this with the pod father.

[Dave DeFore]

That's it.

[Esper Henny]

Andy Pods, you know.

[Andrew Schleck]

Oh, no, I love it.

[Esper Henny]

Rylan was telling us about podfather stuff.

[Andrew Schleck]

What did he say? How did he. How do you even bring that up?

[Esper Henny]

He said that, well, we're like, rylan, you need to come on the show more often. We'd love to have you. And he's like, man, I just can't compete with the pod father.

[Andrew Schleck]

You were like, record scratch. Like, like, what.

[Dave DeFore]

Who is.

[Esper Henny]

Who is this pod father you talk about? Who is Andy Pods?

[Dave DeFore]

Andy Pods.

[Esper Henny]

You're like Brandon Pajimsky's. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Brandon Pachymski's brother. Yeah, yeah. That's funny. That's really funny. Well, welcome to okc.

[Esper Henny]

Thank you. Thank you. Excited to be here.

[Andrew Schleck]

What are you guys. What are your thoughts on. On my city, on my hometown?

[Esper Henny]

I. I just think there's a lot of flags, a lot of thunder flags, and I love it. I think it's amazing. I. I mean, I don't know why I didn't expect that to be the case.

[Dave DeFore]

Right.

[Esper Henny]

But, yeah, that's been the most pa. Like, I love the fact that they are so into everything OKC related. The thunder, like, we passed by a random swimming pool, and they were. They had, like, all these paintings of OKC stuff. It was just really cool. It was very cool. I love the. The representation.

[Dave DeFore]

And I. I've been to okc, I don't know, handful of times at this point. I feel like I've been here, like, 10 days, you know, total or something. So I've gotten a chance to. To know, like, the Bricktown downtown area.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah, very well.

[Dave DeFore]

But my understanding, Andrew, is that, like, that's not the place to hang out. So I don't know. Right. So I don't feel like I really have, like, much of a take on OKC outside of the arena area.

[Esper Henny]

Like, that park is not the place to hang out.

[Andrew Schleck]

No. Brick Town. I mean, Bricktown is. It was historically the place to go.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

When I was growing up, there was the one place. There was the Spaghetti Warehouse downtown that you go to. And that was about it. We go there maybe once a year. Right. And that was about it. And now, like, the Plaza is a great place to go. There's tons of great restaurants there. Midtown has a lot of good restaurants.

[Dave DeFore]

We were at the Tipsy Tiki.

[Esper Henny]

Yes.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. That's a place that has become famous because of NBA media and not because of the people that live here. Like, I don't ever hear any of my friends talk about that place. I hear about people in NBA media talking about tips.

[Esper Henny]

Go to the right, near the arena.

[Dave DeFore]

Got the whole story. Near the arena, I guess is the owner the. This guy is like a monster human being. Like, monster like, guy. Like. Yeah, guy.

[Esper Henny]

But huge, tall human being.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

Well, I would like to check out a good restaurant. I asked on Twitter.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

For food recommendations.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. You got a ton, huh?

[Esper Henny]

We got like 1500 food.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

There's such a big okc food.

[Andrew Schleck]

There's a lot. It's. It's become that in the last decade, I would say. So it's. We're relatively new.

[Esper Henny]

Everybody said Madur.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah, yeah.

[Esper Henny]

What it's called.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

That to the list.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Go check out the Mule. You guys are drinking from Mule mugs right now. But it's a great place to go.

[Dave DeFore]

Hot melts and cold beer.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah, that works. Yeah, yeah, it's quite good. Quite good. Uh, okay, so game one is tonight.

[Esper Henny]

Yes.

[Andrew Schleck]

What? Okay, so what are the things that you're most looking forward to about being at a Thunder game? Game one in the NBA Finals.

[Esper Henny]

Oh, man. Okay. First of all, I can't wait to hear the OKC chant live.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

Because I think that's just going to be insane. The arena in general, like, the atmosphere. Because you can see it on tv.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

Feel it when you're watching it on tv, too. But to see it live, I think will be really cool. Yeah. I think that's the main thing that. That I'm looking forward to. It's like how loud it's gonna be.

[Andrew Schleck]

So loud.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Are they doing a white out?

[Andrew Schleck]

Yes, it'll be a white out tonight.

[Dave DeFore]

Not white and blue.

[Andrew Schleck]

No.

[Dave DeFore]

Okay. Because the blue just doesn't. It doesn't hit the same on tv.

[Esper Henny]

I like it when they do the white and blue together. Like the. The little blend, like the stripe. Yeah, yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Here's the question, though.

[Andrew Schleck]

It's not bad.

[Dave DeFore]

Has the whiteout died because the home teams don't wear the white jerseys anymore?

[Esper Henny]

Oh, true. Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

You know, I think they are tonight.

[Dave DeFore]

Oh. Because the home team does get to choose, correct?

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yes.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. I think it's. It might not be going to say.

[Esper Henny]

They'Re wearing yellow for the rest of the playoffs.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yes. So they are.

[Esper Henny]

They don't have, like.

[Andrew Schleck]

I don't like that. Why, by the way?

[Dave DeFore]

Why?

[Andrew Schleck]

Especially the white and yellow? Yeah, I don't like that.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah. Why not?

[Andrew Schleck]

Why what?

[Dave DeFore]

Why would you wear yellow? The whole.

[Andrew Schleck]

I just don't like the white and yellow.

[Dave DeFore]

Huh.

[Esper Henny]

That's interesting. I like the yellow. I think it's like, it's so Indiana. You know what I mean?

[Dave DeFore]

Again, it is. The yellow should be the home.

[Andrew Schleck]

Okay. So tonight is white and yellow and then it's blue. The Thunder wearing blue.

[Esper Henny]

The blue and yellow is great.

[Andrew Schleck]

Next three games. That's. I'm fine with that.

[Esper Henny]

Okay.

[Andrew Schleck]

I'm fine with that. The white and yellow just seems like, hey, both teams. Both teams home. What's going on?

[Dave DeFore]

No, Indy should wear the dark blue. The navy or whatever that blue is that they have the darker. Yeah, absolutely.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. They're wearing. Yeah, yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

You need the contrast, right?

[Andrew Schleck]

Like, I like the contrast as well.

[Dave DeFore]

You guys, you know, you guys into wrestling at all? Okay. All right. There's a thing like WrestleMania back in the day, for WrestleMania, guys would wear like, oh, I'm going to wear white gear. I'm going to get white boots. The ropes, they would wrap in. In white. Like, and for me, like, I actually think that the home team should be wearing white during the fight. They should be wearing it all the time.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

How many times you flip on what's happening at all? Yeah. I mean, the, the complete abandonment of set, team colors.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Is a, to me, a huge thing aesthetically for the NBA.

[Esper Henny]

But a little side note, by the way, did you guys see the new Orlando Magic jerseys?

[Andrew Schleck]

I did like them. Yes. I. I don't like the one that. Where they're trying to make it look like the warm up.

[Dave DeFore]

I like the warm up.

[Andrew Schleck]

You do like the warm up one that.

[Esper Henny]

Because I thought it was ex. Exactly. Like the, The Shaq warm up.

[Andrew Schleck]

The warm up is cool. The other one looks like a, like a bootleg jersey almost to me.

[Esper Henny]

Wow. I so disagree.

[Andrew Schleck]

Looks like one that, like, it was awesome. You go down to like Mexico City on, like a side little place and.

[Dave DeFore]

You'Re like, oh, some guy customizing with airbrush or something.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah, totally. It's. It's got that vibe to it.

[Esper Henny]

Wow.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah. Not a fan. I don't know why you wouldn't just. Well, why not just have the old school jerseys and the warm up? Right? Like.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah, that's what I. That's. That's. That's kind of like.

[Esper Henny]

I. I don't like when NBA. Well, everybody in the NBA does this, but they call them the association jerseys. Yeah, they're alternates.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. They have to brand them.

[Dave DeFore]

Everything, Everything's got to be branded.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. What about basketball wise? What are we. What are we looking forward to Game one? Like, what's. Okay, so let's. Let's say it this way.

[Esper Henny]

Okay.

[Andrew Schleck]

For the Pacers to feel good by halftime, they have to do X.

[Esper Henny]

Feel like we've been trying to answer this question all week.

[Dave DeFore]

Probably two weeks. As soon as they went up 3:1, I'm thinking to myself, how are the Pacers going to survive?

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

What is Indy gonna do? I guess the answer to your question is if they're not turning the ball over.

[Andrew Schleck]

Okay.

[Esper Henny]

Like, if they have four turnovers by halftime, you're like, oh, man, Indy might be in good shape.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

You know, that's where I think. All right. OKC hasn't been able to get out, and running transition game isn't working because they're not forcing turnovers.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

And Indy is just trying to, as weird as it sounds, trying to like, make it a little bit slower because OKC actually ends. People will know this, obviously, but. Okay, so he plays faster than Indiana does.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. Does Indy want to do that, though? I don't know that question.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah, that's a good question.

[Dave DeFore]

I actually don't. So this. The Thunder like to speed teams up. This is how they create those turnovers. So, you know, I went back and I watched Indiana vs. OKC from the regular season. You really can't glean a lot from those regular season games.

[Andrew Schleck]

Chet didn't play in those games.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah. And there's just not a lot of takeaway. And. And. But the Thunder did turn the.

[Andrew Schleck]

Or.

[Dave DeFore]

Excuse me. The. The Pacers did turn the ball over a little bit more than what we're used to seeing. Y. I don't know if this is the same team for the Pacers either. Right. Like, you got more ball handling now, like Nemhart. I mean, what he's been doing in the playoffs for them, I mean, he did not have the greatest offensive series against the Knicks, but he was able to create looks for Other guys, I mean, you've got four guys at a time that can put the ball in the deck and get to the basket. That's huge. Like, NE Smith can actually dribble to the, to the rim and finish. And then obviously Miles Turner bringing the ball or trailing the play is huge for them. But I'm with you. I think, look, if they're, if they're low turnover at halftime in game one, it's a good sign for the Pacers going forward. Right. The whole thing is, can they, can they be single digit turnovers?

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

I'm not expecting them to Five turnovers a game against the Thunder. There's no way.

[Esper Henny]

No, there's no way.

[Dave DeFore]

But if they can be at 9.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

You know, I think that that's important.

[Esper Henny]

Can I ask you a question? Is there anything that could happen in the first half of the game where you're like, oh, this might be a long series other than like an injury?

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah. They're up 20. Yeah. At halftime. I mean, that's, that'd be pretty obvious.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. I mean, if they, if Tyres Albin get paint touches with regularity.

[Esper Henny]

Right. Like he's getting downhill, he's driving. Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Because if he does that, he's gonna get to the corners easily.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

That's the thing to me is if he can actually get paint touches.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Cool. And if he can't.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah, that's a good point.

[Andrew Schleck]

It's gonna be, it's gonna be a quick series because I think that's, that's how they generate. So much of what they do is in the Thunder, they're, they're so similar in so many ways. Because the Thunder did the same thing.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

And so I do think that that to me is, is one of the things I'll be watching for in the first like five minutes of the game is like, how much is Tyrese actually getting into the paint?

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah. Will you look? And when they did have moments where they were kind of falling apart against the Knicks where their offense just wasn't generating anything.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

They weren't going into the paint at all. Nobody was right. It was a lot of, you know, passing around the perimeter.

[Esper Henny]

Game five against them, Right?

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah. And it was low energy, I expect. I think the Pacers are going to come out looking to, I think they're going to look to jump out to a big lead. I do think that early on they're going to be pushing the pace, trying to see like basically pressure testing the Thunder. Hey, what can we get away with with this team? So Maybe they. They get a little sloppy to start while they're just looking for windows. But if they. Again, if they can keep those turnovers down, I feel pretty good about it. The shooting is the other thing.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

If the Pacers are hitting corner threes.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yep.

[Dave DeFore]

I wonder if OKC will be the first team to blink and have to make an adjustment there.

[Esper Henny]

Like, that's something we could see they don't like. I mean, you can also answer this, but, like, they. It feels like they're good with just letting dudes shoot corner threes regardless. Like, if you beat us that way, you beat us that way.

[Andrew Schleck]

That's kind of how they've been. I do think that the first adjustment in my mind that OKC will make is just not going to the Double Big lineup. They just make way more sense against this Pacers team when they play Just Chat or just I Heart there. So I think that that's something that we'll see pretty quickly. Yeah, I think they'll start Double Big. Maybe they won't. I think it makes sense to start Case and Wallace instead. Yeah, that's what I would do. Because then the matchups make way more sense across the board.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Because you're gonna have to put I Heart on either Miles Turner or Siakam. And same with Chat. Like, you have to pick which one. Neither of them are, like, perfect there.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

But Chet's great on Miles Turner. Right. Like, you feel very good about that. And then you feel really good about J Dub on Siakam.

[Dave DeFore]

Right.

[Andrew Schleck]

And then the other guards distribute them as needed.

[Dave DeFore]

But Siakam will eat Chat alive.

[Andrew Schleck]

I think he's just.

[Esper Henny]

I think. I think the length could be bothersome.

[Dave DeFore]

I don't know. I like.

[Esper Henny]

I do agree the strength is definitely advantage. Pascal.

[Andrew Schleck]

But, like, checks tough, though.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Well, a high motor makes up for the lack of weight, you know? But I just think Siakam. I mean, Salkham is just so good. It's hard for a guy, Chet Size to guard him. And we saw against the Knicks, Yeah, they really struggled even with bigger guys on them. So Siakam is the key to this. The Pacers winning. Right. He's got to have 30 a night. Almost.

[Andrew Schleck]

Houston Conference Finals MVP, baby.

[Dave DeFore]

That's right. Best player on their team. That's right. Like, to anybody, he's really been rocking the best.

[Andrew Schleck]

I know he's been pushing.

[Dave DeFore]

I'm pushing it hard.

[Esper Henny]

Listen, you know how much I love.

[Dave DeFore]

I'm gonna say two sides of the basketball, man.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah. I don't know.

[Dave DeFore]

I Think you got to play both ways. But I do think that that matchup, in particular, the Siakam matchup, a lot of people focus on how they're going to guard Halberton, but, like, Hal Burton isn't this one on one guy. It's not like you're guarding Jaylen Brunson, who's going to dribble the air out of the ball. Hal Burton gets himself open, you know, and. And you're going to have to. They're going to swarm him, and they're. Every time he touches the ball, I expect a lot of hands and arms.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Slapping him.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Like, frankly, I think he's going to get fouled a lot. But I. I just. I don't know. I. I think the Siakam, like, how they guard Siakam is the single most important thing to the series.

[Esper Henny]

There are one of two ways that this game starts out. Either it's an onslaught. It's over in the first 12 minutes.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

And OKC is like, thunderstruck. Like, you're just rolling. Right. That's the one way this game goes down. The other way is Indiana punches first, and, you know, they. OKC calls the first time out, and you're like, oh, okay, this is going to be a close series.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

But then I just see OKC answering back because they've done that so many times in these playoffs where a team will punch back, Denver will start hot first or Minnesota will start hot first, and then they'll go on this massive run in the second quarter when they go to that small ball lineup.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

I think that's one of two ways that I think this game goes down.

[Dave DeFore]

The thing is, if.

[Esper Henny]

The thing is, is there any way Indy wins Game one?

[Dave DeFore]

They. I mean, if they shoot the lights out.

[Esper Henny]

I think we simulate this a hundred times. Does Indy win any of those games?

[Andrew Schleck]

I think they win twice.

[Esper Henny]

Twice. Okay. That's pretty 2% chance.

[Andrew Schleck]

Honestly, that's pretty good.

[Dave DeFore]

I think better chance than the Mavericks had it. Winning the lottery.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

I mean, the Thunder lost game one to Denver.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

On, like. I mean, it was shocking.

[Esper Henny]

That was.

[Andrew Schleck]

It was a shocking game to be at.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

And it was one of those games that I got to sit courtside for. And that Aaron Gordon shot happened, like, right beside nine feet from me.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

And I'm just, like, sitting there just, like, in disbelief, just, like, looking around, just like, this is insane.

[Dave DeFore]

That's how it would happen for the Pacers.

[Esper Henny]

It would have to be something like.

[Andrew Schleck]

We'Ve seen the Pacers win. Like that. How many times in the past?

[Esper Henny]

Magic man. That's what they do.

[Dave DeFore]

But the Thunder could blow them out. I, I don't think the Pacers have the ability to blow out the Thunder. But the Thunder could blow them out. The Thunder could sweep the Pacers. If they win, it's six or seven.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

And that's the difference in these, in these two teams.

[Esper Henny]

I can't even get myself to say Pacers winning the series. As much as I love what Indiana has done, I absolutely love it.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

But it's just it. So many things have to break. Right.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

But for what it's worth, like it's been breaking right all season.

[Dave DeFore]

They've been having, they've had such a run for the last six months that I refuse to count them out. You know, again, Rick Carlisle, one of the best coaches in the NBA, he's got absolutely very experienced and good staff. I mean it. Yeah, I, I do think that like the game plan is going to be solid for them. We know that. Right. They're going to be prepared. Prepared. They can score like crazy. And they're so consistent at scoring. If they don't turn it over, they make shots. The Thunder. The Thunder can still score.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

But not in the way that they can when, when the Pacers are giving them the ball. That's the key. But it's going to be close if the patients win.

[Esper Henny]

Maybe, maybe this series is going to be determined by how much Indiana can stop OKC's offense. Because if we're assuming that Indiana is going to score. Right. They're going to hit their shots. They've been shooting like crazy throughout the playoffs. That's like an established thing. Even without the whole turnover battle.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

Right. They're going to be able to score. It's OKC and how much OKC can generate offensively. And like the stat that I was mentioning on the pot a couple days ago where, hey, if the J Dubs and Chets and Carusos and Dorts of the world are not hitting their shots, this is a very different offensive team compared to when they are clicking like they did against Minnesota.

[Dave DeFore]

How many threes for Dort in game one? How many three point attempts?

[Andrew Schleck]

Oh my gosh, two.

[Esper Henny]

Three of nine. Three or nine is not bad.

[Andrew Schleck]

He will, he will take them.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

That's the thing about Dort is that you give him opportunities. He'll take them. And I.

[Esper Henny]

Players Tribune article was really cool, by the way.

[Andrew Schleck]

It was cool.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

It's. He's a pretty soft spoken guy.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah. And for him to do.

[Andrew Schleck]

He doesn't say a whole lot. Yeah, I thought it was pretty cool.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah. Especially before the series.

[Andrew Schleck]

I know, I know. It's pretty cool. Yeah. He's averaging six attempts per game in the playoffs. It's the most on the Thunder. I think he'll probably take it's most.

[Esper Henny]

On the Thunder for a reason. In the sense that they're like other teams will.

[Dave DeFore]

That's the shot you give up.

[Esper Henny]

We want to concede.

[Andrew Schleck]

He's taking. I mean, I mean you look at the percentages of the guys that are taking the most on the Thunder throughout the playoffs. Dort, six attempts per game, 30% J Dub, five attempts per game, 31%. Shea, five attempts per game, 30% Chet, four and a half attempts, 33%.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

And they're still here and like have dominated.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah, I know.

[Andrew Schleck]

They're like, they're probably the one team in the league that can still win series and the three ball is not the story.

[Dave DeFore]

Right.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah, that's true.

[Andrew Schleck]

Which I think is good for the NBA. And like everybody needs to be like watching and know that like the Thunder don't have to rely on this three ball. Yeah. To win basketball games. Because everybody's like, oh, it's just like the three point shots, like the only thing controlling these games.

[Dave DeFore]

Shooting contest.

[Andrew Schleck]

It's not that with okc. Clearly not. I think they would. They may if they shot just what they shot in the regular season.

[Dave DeFore]

Right.

[Andrew Schleck]

They may have swept their way to the finals.

[Dave DeFore]

Right.

[Andrew Schleck]

But they just for whatever reason.

[Esper Henny]

Well, it's part of why Denver, they, they.

[Andrew Schleck]

Denver was awful.

[Dave DeFore]

Part of why Denver was so tough is because Denver also doesn't need the three to score. Right. Like they, they generate good offense inside the three point line all the time. And the way they work the dunker spot between Jokic and, and Gordon and. And mpj, like it actually allows them to hang in these games instead of getting blown out. It helps that, you know, with the Thunder you don't have to worry about them. I mean they're not going to pour in. They're not going to hit 20 threes in a game. You know, they just going to happen often.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

They're not getting up. They're not generating enough looks usually. Right. But I mean I, I think that the Dort. The Dort question is going to be a big one here. You know, how long do they stick with Dort if he's not making shots?

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Like who blinks? Yep.

[Andrew Schleck]

They haven't shied away from like sitting him letting Casen Wallace be the guy that plays 30 minutes off the bench or Caruso. Like, they'll. They'll play those a lot. I think those two are, like, the X factors of the series, because they.

[Esper Henny]

Have come in you and your definition of X factors.

[Andrew Schleck]

Listen, they're X factors.

[Esper Henny]

I do agree. I agree.

[Andrew Schleck]

The Thunder have three factors, okay? So don't call J Dub an X factor. Don't call Chet an X factor. They're just factors. They're gonna factor in no matter what.

[Esper Henny]

Yes, I agree.

[Andrew Schleck]

Kayson Wallace, he'll be the X factor. Yeah, he'll guard Siakam at times. He will.

[Esper Henny]

Caruso, too.

[Andrew Schleck]

Both those guys, they're going to irritate the Pacers beyond measure. Yeah, they. I mean, they. They took Julius Randle out of that series completely, you know, and the guy that almost won defensive player of the year did. They did something that he couldn't do.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

You know, it's true.

[Esper Henny]

I can't believe Draymond almost got dude if he.

[Andrew Schleck]

If he won depoy and he made Julius Randle look like a superstar. People were saying, like, is Julius Randall the best player in the playoffs? And he was the one guarding him. And we're about to give him that because he said it on a podcast. You got tricked. Everyone who voted for him. You got tricked.

[Dave DeFore]

And this time, Seth Hart now didn't even write an article.

[Andrew Schleck]

I.

[Dave DeFore]

Knowing everyone how to vote.

[Andrew Schleck]

I know.

[Dave DeFore]

There's no excuse. Literally. Draymond goes on a podcast and. And goes on a PR campaign, and he had a great defensive season. I don't want to knock it. He actually had a.

[Andrew Schleck]

He had a. He had some good games of the year. The first half was. It looked like, is he cooked? Is he done? And then he.

[Dave DeFore]

Well, they made a trade.

[Andrew Schleck]

They made a trade that helped. And they. And he. He played well, but, like, also, he got just manhandled.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

By Randall.

[Dave DeFore]

Who was.

[Esper Henny]

Who's the top three in dpoi? Was it Mobley, Dyson and Draymond?

[Andrew Schleck]

I thought Dort was third.

[Dave DeFore]

Maybe. I don't remember.

[Esper Henny]

Listen, you would know. Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

I barely remember who won the award, much less the. The top three in voting. Like, you know. Yeah, well, it's.

[Esper Henny]

It's.

[Dave DeFore]

Once award season starts, guys, I'm watching.

[Andrew Schleck]

How do we feel about it? How do we feel about the Mobley Molly winning it?

[Dave DeFore]

You had to give the Cleveland something is really the way I look at it.

[Esper Henny]

Well, it's also hard because it would have been Wemby, and if it wasn't Wemby, it would have been Chad.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Or. And Jaren Jackson had a chance at it, but then fell off a cliff when he came back from that ankle injury.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

And so, I mean, it's just the deploy this year was a weird.

[Andrew Schleck]

It was weird award.

[Dave DeFore]

It was like you couldn't point to any of those guys. Like, even Mobley, I can't say. Wow, he really, like, just elevated the Cleveland defense to this.

[Andrew Schleck]

I'm just glad it didn't go to Draymond.

[Dave DeFore]

What if it had gone to Ruby Mobley?

[Esper Henny]

If it went to Rudy Mobley? Rudy with five.

[Andrew Schleck]

Mobley's fine, by the way. Rudy would have been weird.

[Dave DeFore]

It's kind of like, you know, he's like. Like, in baseball, you'll have a. A guy, 3,000 hits. Right. It just plays forever. Never had a great, like, standout season. Didn't hit a ton of home runs. This is Rudy Gobert as a defender. Right. It's just 100 possessions a game, man. 80 of them.

[Esper Henny]

You know who should trade for Rudy?

[Dave DeFore]

Go super solid. The New York Knicks and put them with Towns.

[Andrew Schleck]

Listen, the cat. Listen, the cat. Go Bear thing works so well.

[Esper Henny]

It does.

[Dave DeFore]

Do it again.

[Andrew Schleck]

Just.

[Dave DeFore]

Are we doing fake trades for Rudy Go Bear today?

[Andrew Schleck]

I think we're doing Go Bear trades. I was going to read the three point stats against the Wolves, though.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Which I think might be because Indiana's not going to go zone all that much against D.C. like, they just didn't play zone. Really.

[Esper Henny]

It's also weird how bad Minnesota was in zone.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

I think it's because the Thunder figured out how to play against zone because Denver put them in it every second.

[Dave DeFore]

Right.

[Andrew Schleck]

And they had to learn how to operate within it.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

They had to learn how to pass and cut within it. And I think that the moments that they went to it, they were cooked.

[Dave DeFore]

I also think that Minnesota zone was bad. Like, I agree that it was also bad.

[Andrew Schleck]

Finch even said it before the series started. He was like, you know what?

[Dave DeFore]

Not the best.

[Andrew Schleck]

And I wondered, is he being serious? Right? Like, is he. Is he just playing around?

[Esper Henny]

I would think with who they have on the roster, they would be a little bit better at zone. Although Gobert better than Denver.

[Dave DeFore]

Honestly, Gobert sitting in the middle is different than Gobert coming over as the backline help.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Right. And so, you know, honestly, they put. What they should have done was maybe played Randall in the middle as sort of this X guy. I. I don't know. I would have run a different zone.

[Andrew Schleck]

If I were great Vape in The chat has a stat. Indiana played nine zone possessions in the half court this season.

[Esper Henny]

Wow.

[Andrew Schleck]

So. Wow. It would be weird if I imagine.

[Esper Henny]

It'S even like I don't remember them throwing zone out. Other than maybe against Cleveland in the playoffs.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

For one game.

[Dave DeFore]

But the Thunder. It would be weird. I. I think it would be weird to see the Pacers throwing.

[Esper Henny]

Also though, Rick Carlisle can do weird stuff. Like he mentioned it about them in the finals. The Mavs like that. He's not afraid to just, yeah, J.J.

[Dave DeFore]

Barrea, go guard LeBron James for a couple of possessions and see what happens.

[Andrew Schleck]

He and Mark Degnal are similar in that way, but they're both just willing to try stuff.

[Esper Henny]

Thomas Bryant on sga. Like, why not? Let's just.

[Andrew Schleck]

I would love to see it. I think it would be so helpful to the Thunder.

[Dave DeFore]

Are you ready for Tony Bradley minutes?

[Andrew Schleck]

Hey, that's. That's a former Thunder player.

[Esper Henny]

Tony Bradley legend.

[Dave DeFore]

Is the crowd going to be conflicted with TJ McConnell? Like, he has such like, college basketball energy and this is such a.

[Andrew Schleck]

Like. No, they're going to hate it.

[Dave DeFore]

I was going to say, is there.

[Esper Henny]

Any sort of connection?

[Andrew Schleck]

The only connection I know about TJ McConnell is a friend of mine. She was a college basketball player at Colorado and went on to play overseas. She. One of her, I guess it was one of the assistant coaches was his dad. And he, like, little T.J. mcConnell would be like running around the court whenever she was playing.

[Dave DeFore]

Are you telling me he's literally the son of a coach? I have been making that joke about.

[Andrew Schleck]

T.J. mcConnell is literally the son of a coach.

[Dave DeFore]

I actually did not actually have a.

[Esper Henny]

Funny, true McConnell story. So I. For the CBL, Canadian Elite Basketball League, for a player called Kimball McKenzie.

[Andrew Schleck]

Okay.

[Esper Henny]

Kimball McKenzie plays for the Niagara River Lions and he was TJ McConnell's teammate in, I think either elementary school or high school.

[Andrew Schleck]

That's funny.

[Esper Henny]

And so his dad was their coach and they would like, get together and have pool parties and all that type of stuff. But anyways. Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Did you say the River Lions?

[Esper Henny]

Yes, I know.

[Dave DeFore]

Don't get like, swimming. That is terrifying.

[Andrew Schleck]

That's cool.

[Esper Henny]

Also, what is a river lion?

[Dave DeFore]

Great name.

[Esper Henny]

Is that just a lion in the. In a river or.

[Dave DeFore]

I don't know. What's the mascot type?

[Esper Henny]

He's.

[Dave DeFore]

It's a lion.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah, it's a lion.

[Dave DeFore]

It must. I don't know, maybe he presides over this.

[Andrew Schleck]

That's a great question.

[Dave DeFore]

But that's a good team name.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

River Lions. They have Any other. Really.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah. Winnipeg Sea Bears, which is basically a polar bear, but in the sea.

[Dave DeFore]

But okay, now we're so. Okay.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Now we're just taking land mammals and we're making them aquatic. Brampton river lying. Okay. Honey badger is.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. What else is there?

[Dave DeFore]

And it kind of like Vancouver Bandits.

[Esper Henny]

I kind of like bandits.

[Dave DeFore]

I'm gonna. Lake Eagle. I don't know. I'm coming up, you know, just red.

[Andrew Schleck]

The thunder almost named the bandits.

[Esper Henny]

Oh, really?

[Andrew Schleck]

It was like, on the list.

[Dave DeFore]

Oh. Like, out loud.

[Esper Henny]

I'm glad it's the thunder, by the way.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Okay.

[Esper Henny]

I like, I'm so happy because now I understand after the tornado stuff, I'm like, it couldn't have been anything.

[Dave DeFore]

Well, also, you know, the thing is, I actually like it because of the through line from Sonics to thunder.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Sonics are Sonics because of sonic boom.

[Andrew Schleck]

Right.

[Dave DeFore]

Thunder. Loud noise, obviously, like the area. Also, it's great that it's not an animal or like a person or something. Like the. You know, thunder is a cool.

[Andrew Schleck]

Well, they used to test out the planes here across Oklahoma.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

The Sonic. There were sonic booms happening across the plains here in Oklahoma.

[Dave DeFore]

What about. I guess the Sonic's name stayed in Seattle.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Hey, how do you.

[Esper Henny]

How do I. Because I know. I remember I tweeted once. I'm like, oh, you know, NBA champions.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

Remaining teams, whatever. People were really mad.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

That I counted the Seattle one.

[Andrew Schleck]

Don't count.

[Dave DeFore]

Don't count.

[Andrew Schleck]

No one here is thinking about that. No one here considers it. The team itself does not consider it. They don't think.

[Esper Henny]

Like, so if the.

[Dave DeFore]

But.

[Esper Henny]

But the NBA. When Adam Silver presents the Larry o' Brien trophy.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

Is he going to be like, congratulations to the first championship, or is he going to say first championship since 1970?

[Andrew Schleck]

He'll probably say that the team itself thinks just about the Thunder era.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

And are ready and willing to give back all of that history when the Sonics come back.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

And in fact, they want it to happen, which is great. Very soon. One, because it'll put a lot of money in their pockets.

[Esper Henny]

True.

[Andrew Schleck]

And then number two, we don't have to mess with all this crap because they don't even like when they put out stats.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

They're not thinking about any, like, Ray Allen. First time since Ray Allen. Like. No.

[Dave DeFore]

They're not doing the weird thing where they're trying to get like. Like Gary Payton to come out for a jersey retirement.

[Andrew Schleck]

No.

[Dave DeFore]

Like some other teams have done.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

No.

[Dave DeFore]

Which is Weird.

[Andrew Schleck]

Heck no.

[Esper Henny]

I would love to see Sergio Baca here.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

You know, Jeff Green.

[Dave DeFore]

Are they gonna do that for. For the finals, you think? Are they gonna have all the old guys?

[Andrew Schleck]

I don't know. That's a great question. They do have Thunder. A legacy night during. During the season.

[Dave DeFore]

KD could do like a steakhouse pop up outside of Paycom.

[Andrew Schleck]

I'm sure that would go over very well. I'm sure it would be great.

[Dave DeFore]

Would they boo KD if he. If they showed him on the Jumbotron? Would they?

[Andrew Schleck]

Absolutely should.

[Dave DeFore]

But would they?

[Andrew Schleck]

Yes. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Why would we ever cheer for that guy? Why? You're right.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah, man.

[Esper Henny]

I didn't think they would cheer, but I. I think like a half assed applause.

[Andrew Schleck]

No. Heck. Heck no. Dude. Would you cheer, dude. If your wife cheated on you, would you ever 10 years later clap for her when she walked into a restaurant that you're at? No way, man.

[Esper Henny]

Fair enough.

[Andrew Schleck]

No way.

[Esper Henny]

Yes.

[Dave DeFore]

I don't know. Sarcastically maybe, but I mean sarcastically, sure.

[Andrew Schleck]

But like, heck no.

[Esper Henny]

Why would capture sarcastic.

[Dave DeFore]

So a Kevin Durant reunion to okc wouldn't, wouldn't, wouldn't fly with listen.

[Esper Henny]

Or in the NBA Finals. We can't talk.

[Dave DeFore]

I know.

[Andrew Schleck]

Listen.

[Dave DeFore]

Well, it's more like I'm thinking about the atmosphere.

[Andrew Schleck]

Here's the deal. That would only be for Kevin, right? Okay. Yeah, that. That. That deal is only for Kevin. Yeah. It's not for the. The Thunder don't need him, Right? You think the Thunder need that guy? Heck no. They don't need him. Hey, Kevin needs this for his own legacy.

[Dave DeFore]

I agree.

[Andrew Schleck]

He has no NBA home, Right.

[Dave DeFore]

It's weird that he's played for. He's going to be on his fifth team.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

This is one of the greatest players.

[Andrew Schleck]

To ever play and he did it to himself. He has no NBA landing spot when this whole thing is over and he. I think he would love to come back here because he knows like, it's a nice bow to time the end of his career.

[Dave DeFore]

Right?

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

If I'm the Thunder, I'm like, heck no.

[Esper Henny]

No. Thanks you.

[Andrew Schleck]

You know what? We don't need you.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

We've got Usman Jang. We don't need you.

[Esper Henny]

Our waiter had two hot takes.

[Andrew Schleck]

Oh, okay.

[Esper Henny]

One of them was that this team would be just as good with Case and Wallace doing what SGA does. Which was.

[Dave DeFore]

Which is insane.

[Esper Henny]

Which was insane.

[Andrew Schleck]

It was a huge listen. That's wrong.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah, of course it's wrong. Yes, absolutely.

[Dave DeFore]

Tyler at the Bourbon Street Cafe.

[Andrew Schleck]

By the way, shout out to Tyler.

[Dave DeFore]

He's a natural podcaster, I'll tell you.

[Esper Henny]

Takes. We had to get like.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

The other thing was that it. They should trade for Kevin Durant and he should come off the bench if.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah, I mean, you would absolutely make him come off the bench. Number. Okay, listen. Trading for Kevin is not going to happen because you'd have to include the following players. Isaiah Hartenstein. Stein. Please, everybody. Stein.

[Dave DeFore]

Stein.

[Andrew Schleck]

I've heard too much. I've heard too much Steens lately.

[Dave DeFore]

Stein.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Hartenstein.

[Esper Henny]

Wait, wait.

[Andrew Schleck]

Steens are out of control.

[Esper Henny]

You're doing Stein.

[Andrew Schleck]

You can do Stein or Stein. Both are acceptable if you ask him about it. That's how you say it. Either one is good. Ask his dad. Ask him. That's how he says it. Yeah. Any Steens out there?

[Dave DeFore]

This is like Berenstain Berenstein.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yes.

[Dave DeFore]

Right?

[Andrew Schleck]

Yes. I mean, no, but yes.

[Esper Henny]

Also, apparently, you guys know about the Mandela effects for Berenstein Bears?

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yes, I've heard this.

[Esper Henny]

We don't need to get into that right now. But just.

[Andrew Schleck]

Anyways, you have to include him in the trade.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Lou Dort would have to be in the trade. And then you would have to probably include a guy like Casen Wallace.

[Dave DeFore]

Right.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

You want to trade those three rotation players. I'm not doing that for a guy who didn't even make the playoffs this year, by the way.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Who is on the wrong side of 30 now.

[Dave DeFore]

Injury prone.

[Esper Henny]

He's on the wrong side of 35.

[Dave DeFore]

Right.

[Andrew Schleck]

That's true. That's not what you want. What do you like? Why in the world would they do that?

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

The only way he ever comes back is if when his deal expires. Not making 50 million anymore. And he came to the doorstep of the Thunder and said, hey, mini mid level. Wow.

[Esper Henny]

Which Kevin Durant will level.

[Andrew Schleck]

Never happen, by the way. He's going to get traded. That team will extend him and that will be the end of. Of his career. Probably.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah. You know, I. He may take a discount on this extension because I. I think this guy would like to compete, but it's not.

[Esper Henny]

Gonna be like, do you guys have a team you think for Katie's gonna trade for kd because everybody does the Houston thing. I don't think Houston's.

[Andrew Schleck]

The Knicks.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah, I think the Knicks. The Knicks are not for. Maybe. But also Minnesota. I think Minnesota.

[Andrew Schleck]

Minnesota wants to do it. It's hard to do it.

[Dave DeFore]

Oh, yeah. But Randall could potentially get. You know, you could see a World in which he. He gets moved to Phoenix.

[Andrew Schleck]

He's got to opt in, though.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

I think it would be a terrible idea for the Knicks. I know. I've seen a lot of people say they love it. I think it would be a terrible idea.

[Andrew Schleck]

You know what? You know how you know, because you watch what happened to the Phoenix Suns over the last few years.

[Dave DeFore]

Would you trade Mikhail Bridges for. For Kevin Durant?

[Esper Henny]

Sure. But you need to add stuff to that.

[Dave DeFore]

Right?

[Esper Henny]

So it's like, it's Mikhail. It's probably Mitchell Robinson and Josh Hart and something else that's.

[Andrew Schleck]

It's the same Thunder story. It's like, you don't want to give away that many guys for him at this point in his career.

[Dave DeFore]

Ye.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah, no, I'm not doing that. I'm not doing that.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

I was even thinking about it for the Raptors perspective. I'm like, there's not enough salary to trade him for.

[Andrew Schleck]

Like, if you're the Raptors. If I'm the Raptors, you trade him for Gavin Durant. I would. Because it would wipe away a lot of that bad salary.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah, that's okay.

[Andrew Schleck]

You know what I mean? Like, that's the way I would do it.

[Esper Henny]

The money and. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

You know what I mean?

[Esper Henny]

Yeah. Hey, if they want RJ Barrett, like.

[Andrew Schleck]

You know that's what I'm saying? Like, that would work.

[Dave DeFore]

And. And honestly, I think RJ would probably be better in Phoenix than he is in Toronto.

[Esper Henny]

He would re. He would thrive in Phoenix.

[Dave DeFore]

Maybe not thrive, but like, yeah, he'd be better.

[Esper Henny]

He'd be good.

[Andrew Schleck]

I don't know. I think he would just be RJ Barrett in Phoenix. That's what I think he would be. I don't know that he would be.

[Esper Henny]

Shout out to RJ Barrett. Had a great year.

[Andrew Schleck]

Okay. NBA, NBA. Back on the NBA Finals. I just got this fun fact from NBA PR Jalen Williams of the Oklahoma City Thunder is set to become the first player to be an all star, all NBA team, all defensive team selection to play in the NBA Finals in the same season. Wait, in the same season? In his third season.

[Esper Henny]

I'm lost.

[Andrew Schleck]

This is a bet. This is a bad. So all of someone didn't do this.

[Dave DeFore]

Awards in the same season.

[Andrew Schleck]

All of these in the same season. In his third year since Bill Walton in 76. 77.

[Dave DeFore]

That. And that was the year that they've nice. Yes. They were the. Also the youngest team. They were the previous youngest team to make Finals.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah. All star, all defense, all NBA.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yes. To have all Three of those in the third, in his third season. Is the. Is like the big qualifier.

[Dave DeFore]

That's amazing, actually.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

That's a pretty big feather in your cap for a guy who at. At times, like, we're questioning. Oh, is he, like, the second option for them? Like, can he do it?

[Esper Henny]

Is he a top.

[Andrew Schleck]

Where does he rank in the league? I think he's top 20.

[Esper Henny]

Top 20. Lock it in.

[Andrew Schleck]

Is that fair?

[Dave DeFore]

Definitely locked in. Top 25.

[Andrew Schleck]

Okay. How about top 23?

[Dave DeFore]

Maybe 24. For sure. You know what I mean? He's not 25. No, I mean, he, like, the thing is, like, this guy, I. I believe he's an all NBA player next year. You know what I mean?

[Esper Henny]

Like, so he was this year, right?

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah, I. I think that when you do it a couple times in a row, like. Like that. That's when you say, okay, this guy's now in a new tier, you know, and so much of it with him is. I think it's aesthetic.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Right.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

When you watch him play, like, sometimes stuff doesn't look easy, and the players that we tend to, like, gravitate toward.

[Esper Henny]

Like, as far as that kind of stuff looks nice.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah. But also the defensive end isn't. It's often so ignored, even though, you know, he's on all. All NBA defensive team. But we don't factor that in as much on all NBA stuff, and we don't think about how high level he is as a defender is.

[Esper Henny]

I think he's like, league. I think he's. I mean, obviously, he turned out to be one of the top 10 defenders in the league this season.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yep.

[Esper Henny]

Through all defense, but, like, what he did in that stretch with no chat and no Hartenstein for, like, three weeks, where it was him at the five. It was. I've never seen anything like that from a player besides.

[Dave DeFore]

All right, take this. Take this with a grain of salt.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

I. I think Draymond Green is the greatest defender of his generation and one of the best ever.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Okay.

[Esper Henny]

Not this year.

[Dave DeFore]

J Dub reminds me of Draymond.

[Esper Henny]

Honestly, I could.

[Dave DeFore]

The flexibility, the length.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. The.

[Dave DeFore]

The build, even. Yeah. And he's. He's bigger. He's more fit, like, more athletic. I think that this guy, he's got the long arms. He could be a defensive player of the year. He gets.

[Andrew Schleck]

Wow.

[Esper Henny]

Scotty Pippin.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

Comps. And I kind of see where people come from because he's so wildly versatile.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

And, like, it's just. If he was a better Scotty Pippen in this modern.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

He would be very similar if he's a better off.

[Dave DeFore]

The dribble playmaker.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

It would take him to the next. Oh, that's the next step for him, for sure. He's able to run it.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah, yeah. He. It's funny because he. He was a guard his whole life.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

And then he grew a few inches whenever he got to Santa Clara.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

And then, like, still played point guard for Santa Clara. And then when he got to okc, he, He. I interviewed him during summer league. Right after his first summer league game. I sat down with him in the practice gym and I asked him, I was like, have you ever played the 4? Because he played against Jabari Smith the night before.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah, yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

He started at the four. He was like, that's the first time I've ever not played hard in my life. And so. And that kind of like, began his trajectory with the Thunder is that they put him at the four. They played him. They did play him at point guard, like his backup point at times, and they played him at center. And I asked him this year, like, have you ever jumped center before? And he said, probably not. Since I was like, a little kid.

[Dave DeFore]

You know, he's a serious 1, 1 to 5 switchable defender who can also play 1 to 5 on the offensive end. He's good in a dunker spot.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yep.

[Dave DeFore]

You know, I, He. This guy is. He is. He's underrated. And I say that as a person who just underrated him probably at the 24.

[Esper Henny]

I feel like top 25 is fair.

[Dave DeFore]

You're splitting hairs. Right. Like, he's like, he's a. A tier three guy. Right. So somewhere in the 14 to 24 range is where he lands and. But I think he's got an opportunity. I think he could be a top 12.

[Esper Henny]

What is he. Is he 24 or 23?

[Andrew Schleck]

I believe he's 24.

[Esper Henny]

24. He's easily one of the 10.

[Dave DeFore]

We gotta get this. This is a summer conversation. We gotta ask Law Murray about, like, yeah, how has J Dub moved up your tears list? Because I'd be curious to see if.

[Andrew Schleck]

They win the title. Like, everything changes when you win the whole thing.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Andrew Schleck]

The way you talk about guys, what you believe about their capabilities changes. Oh, yeah. You know, so I think, like, that will. So we got bump him up a level.

[Dave DeFore]

Shay is Jordan. J Dub. Scotty Pippen.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Chad is Rodman. No, I mean, it's like Dort's Rodman door.

[Esper Henny]

Oh, I like that.

[Andrew Schleck]

Like, mentality wise.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

He's got, like, he's got this like. He's not as obviously crazy off the court as Rodman was, but on the court he's got this like, like insatiable, like he almost like blacks out and just plays.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

I mean Chad is like heart. Heartenstein is definitely Bill Winnington.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Great touch.

[Esper Henny]

Canadian legend, by the way. Bill Winnington.

[Dave DeFore]

I mean they really do have like the start of this, this kind of perfect basketball team. Like, I don't know if you were to, if you were going to pick any team in the league, I think this is the one. When you just look at how young they are, the positional versatility, and then obviously you've got the whole thing built around an MVP.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah, very good.

[Dave DeFore]

He's 26. Here's the thing about Shay that I like to win an MVP in your age 26 season.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

This is normally when your peak starts. And most guys, they're, they're not like fully what is he going to look like in two years?

[Andrew Schleck]

I know that's, that's the thing I think people aren't quite getting is that this thing was supposed to take off whenever these three are in their overlapping primes.

[Dave DeFore]

Right?

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

And they're not there yet. Chess 23, JW 24 and Shay's 26.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

So whenever Shay's 28, now these other guys are rolling in and you have like these guys in their actual primes. Like then what does it look like?

[Esper Henny]

I will say the league tends to somehow catch up. Right. And it gets harder to repeat and you know, kind of do this consistently and the seasons get longer, etc. Etc. Like, these are all the excuses for how hard it is to win again.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

And we don't even, you know, we'll see if they end up. But regardless, when it comes to like repeating, you need. It's not about Shea getting better because he will, he will become a better playmaker, he'll be even better of a three point shooter, etc. Etc.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yep.

[Esper Henny]

It's like, can J Dub continue on and can Chet get to that all star level that he has the potential of becoming?

[Andrew Schleck]

Like.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah, it, that is what will change, make them go from cool. This is a one time NBA championship. Very, very historic season. One of the best seasons of all time to. Okay, this is a dynasty.

[Dave DeFore]

The biggest, the biggest problem that, that, that you have is that the west is so loaded, you know, I mean this is not, this is not like LeBron with a stacked Cleveland team in the east where he just, I pencil him into the finals. You know, unless something bad happens.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Like the Thunder are going to have to battle every single season.

[Andrew Schleck]

Okay, so who's their biggest challenger over the next three years?

[Esper Henny]

San Antonio.

[Dave DeFore]

It might be San Antonio. Let's see what Denver does this summer. I mean, like, Jokic is still the best player in the world.

[Andrew Schleck]

Who's their gm?

[Esper Henny]

We don't know yet.

[Dave DeFore]

They don't have one.

[Esper Henny]

They don't have one yet.

[Dave DeFore]

Is it. Is it going to be Josh Cronkey? That seems weird.

[Andrew Schleck]

If it is, then feeling pretty good.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

That if you're an.

[Esper Henny]

Okay, so they're getting older. It's harder to see how they're going to replace what Murray does if he ends up getting older, too. I. I would. I think San Antonio is the clear cut. Maybe Houston. How do you feel about.

[Dave DeFore]

I mean, Houston needs to make a move.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah, they. Yeah. I mean, if they got Giannis, then sure.

[Esper Henny]

Okay.

[Dave DeFore]

I still think they need more.

[Esper Henny]

Who would you be more afraid of if they got Giannis, San Antonio or Houston?

[Dave DeFore]

San Antonio. Really? Yeah. Wendy and Giannis get out of here.

[Esper Henny]

But Wemby's still figuring it out. He's. You know, there's going to be playoff questions and all that type of stuff.

[Dave DeFore]

Score around the basket with those two guys.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah, I know they're going to be a great defense, but Houston is, like, ready, you know? I don't know.

[Dave DeFore]

Look, the shooting.

[Andrew Schleck]

I think you're high shooting is the big question than I am.

[Esper Henny]

Really?

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah. It must be the Fred Van Vliet.

[Esper Henny]

No, there were.

[Andrew Schleck]

There were people in. Out of Golden State that were saying that Houston is better than Minnesota.

[Dave DeFore]

Sure.

[Esper Henny]

Right.

[Andrew Schleck]

After playing both teams well.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah. They feel confident because Steph got hurt.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

We can take this team.

[Andrew Schleck]

They just, like, they came out of that series thinking that team is not that great. Right.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Well, I mean, it was. The Rockets are tough and the Rockets play hard, you know, like, that's a whole thing. And I. I think that in that Minnesota series, there were times where it felt like Minnesota just wasn't forceful enough.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

So I could see that. But I. I do think San Antonio is the one they've got. Like, what are they going to do with the Aaron Fox now that they've got that pick? I think they're like, they've got so many options.

[Esper Henny]

That's true.

[Dave DeFore]

To improve in the next few months. That. That they could be extremely scary next season.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Depending on how Wemby looks when he comes back, obviously.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. Do you think they regret trading for de' Aaron Fox?

[Esper Henny]

I mean, if they knew they were gonna get the number two overall pick, which obviously the Mavericks knew they were right. If they knew they were getting number.

[Andrew Schleck]

Two on a late night in February, they heard.

[Esper Henny]

They heard.

[Andrew Schleck]

They heard the news.

[Esper Henny]

But if they knew, yeah, they probably do regret it.

[Dave DeFore]

I don't know though, is dear dear and Fox seems like a nice little trade chip to have, to be honest with you, you know, and they didn't give up all that much to get them. No, I think it was pretty reasonable deal. And now you've got this player in his prime trade if you want to. And, and you, if he, if you were gonna move him, you work with him. Hey, where do we, where do we send you? I think that's actually not a bad spot for them to be in. You know, having good players on your roster if you want to improve is probably the easiest way. Right? Because you can move them.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

And the, the question is, do you stick with de' Aaron Fox?

[Unknown Speaker 1]

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[Andrew Schleck]

Foreign.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

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[Dave DeFore]

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[Dave DeFore]

$4.72 maximum discount per $10 of eligible items. Limit 3 offers per order. Expires September 5th while supplies last discount based on CPI comparison. As your point guard or do you say, oh, we're going to take one step back, make a make a draft choice move de' Aaron Fox next season is like we'll call it a gap year just because it's kind of the trending term for these seasons where you're doing stuff and then you say okay, and then we're going to be ready to actually go that next season. Because if you look at what OKC did, right, like they, they could follow a similar blueprint where they have these higher level draft picks. They've got, they've got guys they can move. I think Kelton Johnson's a guy I expect to move this summer. I think Devin Vassell has a market again. De' Aaron Fox. Like they could get maybe young pieces. I mean they could maybe get, if they get Giannis, it's they're competing. Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

I'll keep the cell though.

[Dave DeFore]

I would think I would too.

[Esper Henny]

I like him.

[Dave DeFore]

It's tough. I don't know. It's tough for me when a guy is clearly the role that he needs to play is not the one he wants to play. And so you like. I think you need a better ball mover, probably better shooter. Like I just think you need somebody like on the wing there.

[Esper Henny]

To that point though, if they do accelerate the process, I think he'll be more okay playing less as much as.

[Dave DeFore]

You bump him down if he's your fifth starter. Awesome. Fourth starter yeah, Good. Third. Oh, now we're in trouble.

[Andrew Schleck]

And.

[Dave DeFore]

And really, it's about, like, I think in San Antonio, it's just hard to knock him down without, you know, know, that's.

[Andrew Schleck]

I mean, they had to do it with Dort.

[Esper Henny]

Right.

[Andrew Schleck]

Like, he's a guy that had a huge role. Like, if you're tuning in to the 2020 Thunder, you think, I remember those door drives. There were times where he was the number one option, baby.

[Esper Henny]

Yep, yep.

[Andrew Schleck]

And it was an adventure.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

And he's now like their fifth starter and sometimes like their eighth most important player at times, you know, so you do have to do that as you rebuild, and it takes the right kinds of personality buddies to do it. And Dort wrote in that Players Tribune article about.

[Esper Henny]

Right.

[Andrew Schleck]

Being, you know, undrafted and, like, how hard that night was for him, you know, and so he's. He has a little bit different mentality than a guy who was selected in the lottery.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

I saw Dort the first time when he was at Wasatch Academy.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

But I saw him out in. In California at the Adidas nations at a big tournament.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

And, you know, I mean, he was built. He's like, almost like he is now.

[Esper Henny]

He's always senior in high school.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

And I'm thinking, man, why aren't any football scouts in here looking at Lou Dort? Like, could he play wide receiver? I mean, he's just. He had this body, and I think that there. There are times where, like, big point guards, how many of them can shoot? It's usually kind of rare. Right. I think with Dort, there's a little bit of that where he just had this, like, grown man body in high school. And so your skill development actually isn't. Isn't as good. Right. You don't have to be as good because you can physically dominate. I think that held him back because I watched him against high schoolers. He just, you know, he looked like a grown man out there. But then when you saw him play against the first year college guys, it's a different ball game. Like, he didn't have the skill. And I think that, that, I mean, obviously contributed him not getting drafted, but he's such a good story of a undrafted guy. I mean, they win a title, right? Lou Dort has one of the best storylines any player in the NBA when it comes to persevering and finding.

[Andrew Schleck]

That's the thing about this, this series is that it has so many of those guys littered throughout both rosters. You know, Aaron Wiggins, Isaiah Joe, Kendrick Williams, was undrafted. You think about J. Will, who was a second round pick.

[Dave DeFore]

Isaiah Hartenstein. The first time I saw him, yeah, he was shooting free throws and the ball had a sideways rotation on.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yep.

[Esper Henny]

Oh yeah. He would do the.

[Dave DeFore]

He had a spin for the free throw line.

[Andrew Schleck]

There are three guys that I think won G League finals MVP in this series in Siakam. Hartenstein and Usman. Janky won't play. All three have won it. Which is weird. That is. Wow. And then you look at Indiana, they have a ton of guys that were either undrafted or kind of tossed aside. Like Obi Toppin was kind of tossed aside by the Knicks. You think about TJ McConnell. Aaron Neesmith was tossed aside. Like they have a lot of those guys too. Miles Turner was in trade. Rumors forever. You know, there's just a lot of those guys that you wouldn't necessarily peg. It's like, oh, those are championship level players that we have to get on our roster. They've just all kind of developed into that, which is kind of cool.

[Esper Henny]

I also like the fact that you were talking about this yesterday, but just the fact that both of these teams have this die hard fan base that loves basketball. And so it's very similar to why people do the small market talk. But like outside of small market talk, there's like a local buy in.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

To everything that both teams are doing. Which.

[Dave DeFore]

Well, there's no Oklahoma City Cowboys football team to compete with and there's no, you know, there's no hockey team.

[Andrew Schleck]

Colts.

[Esper Henny]

But there's like, like.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah, yeah. And the Colts I don't think is. It's not the same. Like. Yeah. I think with two teams it's probably not. You're not split up as much.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

But the Pacers, I mean, look, it's the Hoosier State. Right. Like the Pacers have, have been kind of an important team in the NBA. Zeitgeist. Because of the importance of Indiana.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

To basketball in general. And, and I like Larry Bird being from Indiana. I think is, is another big kind of key to the NBA like history there. But the small market thing to me is so over. It's. I don't know why we hand wring over this stuff. Like I know why. But.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

The, the, the idea that it's bad to have two small market teams in a league where they encourage you to follow the entire league is silly. Yeah, it's silly.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah, it's good.

[Dave DeFore]

Oklahoma City Thunder are one of the most marketable teams in basketball and they're going to get a huge push out of this. I mean, they already did this once 10 years ago when they had their. Their hall of Fame trio. And they have fans all over the world for this reason. I think this is an opportunity for especially, like, foreign fans to get into a team. I mean, this is.

[Esper Henny]

You know, I think Adam Silver literally said this yesterday. He's like, if this was football and we were talking about the Packers, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Tampa Bay.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah, nobody cares.

[Esper Henny]

Nobody would care.

[Dave DeFore]

Because the super bowl is an event.

[Andrew Schleck]

It's also because, listen, here's why people complain about it. Because they hear people at espn.

[Dave DeFore]

That's right.

[Andrew Schleck]

And their ad dollars are tied to viewership 100%. The NBA itself is not tied to that. The NBA is going to make the same amount of money as if it were Lakers, Boston. And they act like, oh, the league needs this. They need it.

[Dave DeFore]

They want it.

[Andrew Schleck]

They're the ones that need it and want it more than anybody is that they make more money because of the ad dollars. So, like, let's. Let's not pretend that this is the NBA wanting it. This is one of the league's partners wanting it because they get to rake more money in because of all the ad dollars that they get. So let's ple. Like, they're the. They're the loudest people about it 100%. They're the ones who talk about it all the time. It's not us.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah. Right.

[Andrew Schleck]

At the Athletic.

[Dave DeFore]

And Mike Vorkanoff laid this out on the show the other day.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yes.

[Dave DeFore]

He talked about this how? Actually, like, why, number one, why do you care about rating? Yeah, ratings don't make any sense anymore. Right. Like, people are consuming this bad ratings.

[Esper Henny]

Whatever is not going to impact.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah, but we're gonna get that story the first. As soon as the ratings come out, someone's gonna write it. You know, I think we probably could name, like, five or six people that we know.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Maybe a certain sub stack is gonna have something on it. Right.

[Andrew Schleck]

There will be a substack.

[Dave DeFore]

How boring is that probably gonna get? These are the two most fun basketball teams to watch.

[Andrew Schleck]

It shows that you don't care about. About the game.

[Dave DeFore]

That's it.

[Andrew Schleck]

If that's what you're talking about. You don't like basketball. Yes. It's all goofy, and it's just listening to those voices that are loud saying, like, hey, we need this. Like, the league needs this.

[Dave DeFore]

The Pacers are a Cinderella team in a certain light. You know what I mean? Like, and if this was college basketball, I love that. Like, you're Talking about Jacksonville and Pittsburgh, right?

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Because if this was college basketball and we wound up with two fun teams, one of them is excellent, one's great, and one of them goes on this crazy run, we would be so fired up.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. And is anybody talking about it if.

[Dave DeFore]

It was a one off? Like, now? I think single elimination basketball is the most pure form of, like, how you do a tournament.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

Imagine the finals was a one off.

[Dave DeFore]

This would be one of the biggest nights in NBA history. And the cup, one off.

[Andrew Schleck]

Hey, the cops.

[Dave DeFore]

By the way, the two losers, two.

[Esper Henny]

Finalists of the NBA Cup.

[Andrew Schleck]

That's the storyline that no one's talking about.

[Esper Henny]

We're here.

[Andrew Schleck]

Did the NBA cup inspire the Thunder and the Pacers to get here?

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah, they got a taste of. I would. What it would be like.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah, they got the experience. I think Indiana after that race was like, dude, we have to build on this. They traded for Pascal. Okc, obviously, was like, okay, cool, we're there, but we still need to find.

[Andrew Schleck]

We're almost there.

[Esper Henny]

It's the cup finals.

[Andrew Schleck]

People act like the cup doesn't matter.

[Dave DeFore]

Like, the second most important thing in my life. I mean, you've got the towel right over here.

[Andrew Schleck]

I do.

[Dave DeFore]

Prominent spot. I do in the studio.

[Andrew Schleck]

So, yeah, it's great. You guys want to answer some listener questions before we get out of here?

[Dave DeFore]

Yes, absolutely.

[Andrew Schleck]

Okay, let's see. This one comes from. At Bowlerjack, my buddy Alex, he says, rank the top five players with the most three point attempts per game for each team.

[Esper Henny]

Three point attempts. Okay. Well, we talked about Dort, so I'm gonna do.

[Andrew Schleck]

It's gonna be top of the line for OKC Door.

[Esper Henny]

I think Shay probably jdub.

[Dave DeFore]

Jdub, Double, double.

[Andrew Schleck]

Be up there for sure. It's like, who? I guess another way to ask this question would be who do the Pacers want to take threes?

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah, for sure. And I think Chet would be second.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah. Chat might be there.

[Andrew Schleck]

I would love for Chat eventually to be a guy that takes like nine threes.

[Esper Henny]

Well, he needs to be that.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

Eventually. Like, that's the type of player. He needs that.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. I think that he's got that kind of potential.

[Dave DeFore]

Sure. To be that kind of guy, he would have to. What did he say? Go odd, 54 od, hang, pull, whatever. But I think, you know, they want. They want Dort, they want Chad. They probably want J Dub to shoot threes.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

You don't want Shay to get hot. Right. Like, you don't want him to get into a rhythm.

[Esper Henny]

You want these guys taking Pull up threes also. Because off the catch they are much better.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yes.

[Dave DeFore]

But also some of this, you know, thinking about the way that, that teams have had success against Shay and like we talked about laying off of him and catching him. Him pick him up lower.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Maybe you could get him to, to pull up some. Some of these threes because he's not been shooting it well in the playoffs. He's not like a 43 point Indiana. So you could live with Shea getting up a bunch of off the dribble threes.

[Esper Henny]

100. Halliburton.

[Andrew Schleck]

Halliburton's. He's taking the most. He's taking seven a game. He's only shooting 33 in the playoffs.

[Esper Henny]

Right.

[Dave DeFore]

I think Halliburton. Niecemith.

[Esper Henny]

Oh, Niecemith. Yeah, I think they're starting five, basically.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

I was gonna say they're starting five.

[Dave DeFore]

But Turner's the most important one to me. I think he needs five or six a game and because if he's able to get those shots up, like you're going to pull the defense out of the paint and that's what the Pacers need.

[Esper Henny]

He was not that effective against the Knicks. No, he did not have a really good series against them.

[Dave DeFore]

Not shooting.

[Andrew Schleck]

They were really physical with him.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

The Thunder gonna bring the same thing. Yeah. Anytime. If he ever. If he brings the ball down at all, he's gone.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

That's the thing the Thunder do is like they will punish you anytime Randall brought the ball down at all. You gotta, you gotta keep it really high because they're gonna. I mean, just watch for Caruso.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

He has like the strongest wrists in the NBA where he's just swiping at the basketball and like you have no chance to hold on to it.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Are you worried at all about the long layoff? Trying to think. Well, how long has it been since the Thunder played a game?

[Esper Henny]

It's been a week.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah, it's been about a week. I mean. Worried. Rest versus rust.

[Dave DeFore]

What do you think? Literally? I mean, it's a thing though. I mean, I like to me they.

[Andrew Schleck]

Played better when they didn't have rest against the Wolves.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

And it took him a minute to kind of catch up, but I don't know. CNBA finals. Like, if you can't find a way.

[Dave DeFore]

To get up for the two games off between games.

[Esper Henny]

I know, I know They've like done a really good job of answering and like meeting the moments here in the playoffs.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

But there is going to be a little bit of like nerves to Playing.

[Andrew Schleck]

In the finals, too, I think, for both teams. Right?

[Esper Henny]

For sure. Absolutely.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah, Definitely.

[Andrew Schleck]

I mean, there just has to be.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Something's wrong with you if there's not.

[Esper Henny]

Any guys who might see bricks to start the game.

[Andrew Schleck]

There's only been. There's only been two guys that have been there.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Right. In Siakam and Caruso, they both got one guy. I mean, they also have Carlisle, too, which will help, Right? Yeah. He's been there multiple times.

[Dave DeFore]

We could start the game with a lot of bricks.

[Esper Henny]

I could see that. I could see a version where it's.

[Dave DeFore]

Just everybody comes out tight, nine to.

[Esper Henny]

Eight, six minutes into the first quarter.

[Andrew Schleck]

We've seen. We've seen those kinds of things happen.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

In OKC before.

[Dave DeFore]

That would be fun, actually.

[Andrew Schleck]

I disagree. Not fun. Not fun at all. It's the opposite of fun.

[Dave DeFore]

It'd be fun. I. I like to see teams struggle a little bit, especially when they're both struggling. Right. Like, there's something to that. Like, you know, I talked about the Knicks always dragging teams into the mud, and there's a. There's a thing where a game, if it starts out in the mud and then someone breaks out.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

You know, that's kind of a fun game story.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

You know. You know, if, like, for some reason, the first quarter, let's say it's 2019, both teams just can't hit shots.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Second quarter, shay puts up 10 or 12 by himself.

[Andrew Schleck]

That happened against Denver.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah, that's happened.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. Mark Dagnall actually apologized for that performance.

[Esper Henny]

Oh, really?

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. It's like, sorry that you guys had to watch that. You know, Luke D. Albert, in the playoffs, Indiana is shooting better than they did in the regular season and OKC shooting worse than they did in the regular season. Season. What does history say about these trends? Does hot shooting carry through or do teams regress to the mean further into the playoffs?

[Dave DeFore]

Usually, teams don't shoot as well in the playoffs. Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah, that tends to be the case.

[Andrew Schleck]

It's unusual how well they've shot.

[Esper Henny]

I think Indiana will still shoot well. I still, like.

[Andrew Schleck]

I mean, thinking about the way that some of these dudes have shot compared to the regular season is wild. Like.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

I'd be curious what Indiana's shooting numbers look like if you started January 1st. January 1st. Because once they got, you know, Neesmith back and they got Nemhardt back, like, their. Their team, I mean, Benedict Matherin was starting for them for a good chunk of the season. Right. And so once they got more guys in there Again, knocking people back to where they're supposed to be on the pecking order. The Pacers, I mean, they went 34 and 14. I keep bringing this up. I think that down the stretch of.

[Esper Henny]

The season, the question that he's asking is what's more likely? OKC shoots. Shoots better than they have or Indiana shoots worse?

[Dave DeFore]

Oh, I think Indy shooting worse is probably the most likely.

[Esper Henny]

Oh, really? Between the two, I think OKC hitting shots is more.

[Andrew Schleck]

Since the All Star break for Indiana from 3. Aaron Neesmith 45. Tyrus Halliburton 43.

[Esper Henny]

There we go.

[Andrew Schleck]

T.J. mcConnell on like what I believe would be two attempts is 41. Miles Turner 39. Obi Toppin, 37. Yeah, there you go.

[Dave DeFore]

So that's who they are.

[Andrew Schleck]

Siakam 34.

[Esper Henny]

So I would, I would be surpr if Indiana starts shooting.

[Andrew Schleck]

This is the weird one, though. Andrew Nimhard. I want to try to guess what he shot. Post All Star break from three.

[Esper Henny]

26.

[Andrew Schleck]

That's exactly correct.

[Dave DeFore]

What?

[Andrew Schleck]

That's exactly correct.

[Dave DeFore]

26% say 27.

[Andrew Schleck]

Holy smokes. And in the playoffs, you know what he's shooting from three in the playoffs.

[Dave DeFore]

He's actually.

[Esper Henny]

I feel like he's not hitting a lot of shots.

[Dave DeFore]

Low 30s.

[Andrew Schleck]

You guys are so wrong. 48%.

[Dave DeFore]

Wow. What?

[Esper Henny]

He was pretty cold though, in New York.

[Andrew Schleck]

You know what, those for the playoffs?

[Esper Henny]

Yeah, I guess it was a lot.

[Andrew Schleck]

Of mid range, almost four attempts per game. He's at 48 in the playoffs.

[Esper Henny]

Wow.

[Andrew Schleck]

It's like. What do you do with that?

[Dave DeFore]

Well, he's open.

[Esper Henny]

Oh, right. Because he had an insane series against the Bucks.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah, right.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah, but he's open. That's the thing is like the, the way that the Pacers move and the way that, that the, the ball moves for them, they get open looks, you know, I just, just. I don't know. Nemhardt's a good shooter.

[Esper Henny]

I feel like I remember that 26% stat. That's why I knew it.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. There's seven guys that are shooting 5% are better on the Pacers in the playoffs.

[Esper Henny]

Do you feel that way too? That like you would be. You would assume OKC shoots better than they have versus Indiana shoots worse than they have.

[Andrew Schleck]

I, I would guess that the Thunder will shoot about the way they did against Minnesota.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

In this series, which was, which was quite good.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah. If that happens, I think it'll be a very quick series.

[Andrew Schleck]

That would be my guess. Just because I don't think Indiana has the ability to put the Thunder in the mud. And in fact, they don't want.

[Dave DeFore]

They don't want to.

[Andrew Schleck]

They try. I mean, a team that wanted to be in the mud was New York. And they were trying. They did the opposite.

[Dave DeFore]

Exactly.

[Andrew Schleck]

And so, like, they're not a team that does that. And the Thunder are, like, great. The Thunder love to play with rhythm and flow. Like, that is. That is when they're at their best.

[Dave DeFore]

Right.

[Andrew Schleck]

And Indiana is like, us, too. Right?

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

You know?

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

And where the Nuggets were like, hey, we're gonna grind this thing down to nothing.

[Dave DeFore]

Nicole, Jokic is gonna hop on your back.

[Andrew Schleck]

And we have Jokic.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah. Jokic is fine shooting at 1 second left on the clock.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah, We're. Yeah. This thing is gonna be disgusting. Yeah. And that's the way we want it.

[Dave DeFore]

What's your biggest fear for the Thunder?

[Andrew Schleck]

I was gonna say in general or.

[Dave DeFore]

No, not in general.

[Andrew Schleck]

Like, you probably had a little bit of pause there. Heights.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Claustrophobic. I hate snakes as well.

[Dave DeFore]

I don't like it.

[Andrew Schleck]

I mean, besides losing this series.

[Dave DeFore]

No, no. But what's your biggest fear? Like, you know, that would.

[Andrew Schleck]

Granular fear.

[Esper Henny]

Non injury fear.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. I think in, like, PJ Washington style, Aaron Nesmith averages, like 28 points a game in this series and is just nailing every corner. Three shoots, like, 75% from the corners, and he's unstoppable.

[Dave DeFore]

Finals MVP.

[Andrew Schleck]

And you have Finals MVP like you just, like, you just. PJ Washington yourself into a crazy series.

[Esper Henny]

Maybe Miles Turner has that.

[Dave DeFore]

I think. I think Miles Turner is. I keep saying he's the X factor for. For the Pacers in this series, because if he's.

[Andrew Schleck]

It's a fine X factor.

[Dave DeFore]

If he can make shots. Right. If he can make shots. It opens up so much for the Pacers.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

And then obviously, I think defensively what he does is undervalued for them around the basket. He's, you know, he's an excellent shot Walker.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

I wonder if. If the shooting can keep up for Indy against the Thunder defense. Right.

[Dave DeFore]

That's why. That's why I think it's more likely they. They regress.

[Andrew Schleck]

They have the.

[Dave DeFore]

The.

[Andrew Schleck]

I mean, three of. I keep saying three of the best seven. I need to actually, like, chart this out, but, like, it just feels like a good. Feels like a good thing to say. Three of the best seven point of attack defenders on their team.

[Dave DeFore]

You mean the Thunder.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

In the league.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

Who are the other four?

[Andrew Schleck]

I have no idea.

[Dave DeFore]

Well, Andrew Nemhart is one of them.

[Andrew Schleck]

Drew Holiday.

[Dave DeFore]

Drew Holiday. Maybe I don't know. Now, Drew Holiday. Previously. Yes. Yeah, he's taken a bit of a step back.

[Esper Henny]

He gets the experience.

[Dave DeFore]

Sugg's pretty good, but. Yeah, I think you do. You got three of the best guys. Sure.

[Andrew Schleck]

I've been saying that on the radio. I've just been, like, trying it out just because, like, you can say stuff on, like, hey, I'm on the radio in. Yeah. You know, Toronto. I was in Toronto not that long ago. So it's like, I'll just try stuff.

[Dave DeFore]

Out during the playoffs. I will sometimes do, like, competing radio. So, like, you know, let's say I do Denver okc.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

When I go on okc, Denver's gonna win.

[Andrew Schleck]

You're picking Denver.

[Dave DeFore]

And when I go in Denver, OKC's gonna. Yeah, I know my job.

[Andrew Schleck]

You feel like you can really say stuff.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

You're just parachuting in. You're out of there.

[Esper Henny]

10 minutes.

[Dave DeFore]

Good place to practice your bits.

[Andrew Schleck]

It is.

[Dave DeFore]

I go on El Paso, ESPN 950 in El Paso.

[Andrew Schleck]

Oh, nice.

[Dave DeFore]

Go there a lot.

[Esper Henny]

Shout out to them.

[Dave DeFore]

Well, those guys are. They're trying to get me, like, the UTEP GM job. So I'll do that show once a week.

[Andrew Schleck]

Andreas Rav. 77474.

[Esper Henny]

Okay.

[Andrew Schleck]

Wants to know if you could select your own broadcast team, who would your three people be?

[Dave DeFore]

Three people right here.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Why not?

[Esper Henny]

Get us in there.

[Andrew Schleck]

You do not want me on there. You do not want me on there.

[Dave DeFore]

You're just like, no, no. Yes.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

No, I just wouldn't be that good. I thought. It's just. This is what it comes.

[Dave DeFore]

You'd have to be the playboy.

[Andrew Schleck]

You.

[Dave DeFore]

You do the play by play.

[Andrew Schleck]

See, I would do so bad. I would do so bad at Play by the best.

[Dave DeFore]

Play by play for tv, though.

[Andrew Schleck]

I don't know. I have to really practice.

[Esper Henny]

Wait, can we practice right now?

[Andrew Schleck]

No, No, I can't do it. I can't do it.

[Esper Henny]

The game is 55. 45, third quarter go.

[Dave DeFore]

We'll do the Van Gundy and Mark Jackson to your brain.

[Andrew Schleck]

I am not. I am not. I don't know why I've been pegged as this guy. I would be the boom goes the dynamite guy. So bad.

[Dave DeFore]

Did that happen here?

[Andrew Schleck]

Is that Oklahoma? I don't know.

[Dave DeFore]

I feel like it is. I feel like, okay, Dream Broadcast.

[Andrew Schleck]

I mean, Mike Breen. We'll just say that we're not saying other people.

[Dave DeFore]

I think Kevin Harlan would be.

[Esper Henny]

I would say, give me Kevin Harlan.

[Andrew Schleck]

Okay. Kevin Harlan.

[Esper Henny]

I love Mike Breen, by the way. That's not.

[Andrew Schleck]

Green is very good. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's very good, but he's not the one I would ever complain about.

[Esper Henny]

Underrated.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

And should be.

[Dave DeFore]

I'll be honest with you. I would go Harlan Stan. Van Gundy and Reggie Miller. I enjoy. And I hardly ever, I hardly ever listen to broadcasts.

[Andrew Schleck]

Okay.

[Dave DeFore]

They were awesome.

[Esper Henny]

Van Gundy and Reggie Miller, Mark Jackson, but more positive. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

I. Give me Tim Legler. Right.

[Dave DeFore]

You, oh, on a broadcast. I like him. I like him in studio. I like him. And by the way, I think Tim Legoer one of the best analysts that we have, period.

[Andrew Schleck]

He just knows the game better than almost anything he does.

[Dave DeFore]

And, But I, on, on a broadcast, I just need a little bit more fun. Like, Legler is maybe a little bit too serious and buttoned up for the television. Like.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

Did you guys like Jay Billis? I kind of like Jay Billis was good.

[Andrew Schleck]

Phyllis was pretty good.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

He's another, he's another. That I would consider there.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

What do you guys think about Richard Jefferson?

[Dave DeFore]

I think he's better than, Better than JJ was.

[Andrew Schleck]

I actually like it.

[Esper Henny]

I like rj too.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

I think, I think he's really good when he has chemistry with someone.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah, they don't have any chemistry.

[Esper Henny]

I do not think him and Doris Burke have.

[Andrew Schleck]

I think him and Legs could have some good chemistry.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah, I could see that if you.

[Andrew Schleck]

Just swapped Doris for Legler. You're, you're very.

[Dave DeFore]

I think you need to coach in there. Need a coach in there. It's important if Legs gets well next job. I think Tim Legliter as a coach. By the way, I'm not gonna break any new. I don't have any inside info, but I, I have heard through the grapevine that, like, Lego might be interested in, in potentially coaching down the line.

[Andrew Schleck]

What about, what about Tibs in that spot?

[Esper Henny]

Oh, God. I, I, I want to see it. Just to see it. I don't even know if it'd be good.

[Dave DeFore]

I don't know.

[Esper Henny]

I remember he, he did ESPN stuff, didn't he?

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah, they all do it, right. That's how they get the next job, right. Hey, remember me?

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

That's Michael Malone, right? Like, Michael Malone is essentially, he's on tv, he's advertising.

[Andrew Schleck]

What about Tibbs and Kirk Heinrich with.

[Dave DeFore]

Is Heinrich any good?

[Esper Henny]

Heinrich doing stuff.

[Andrew Schleck]

I just think about him when I think about Tibs, just I think being.

[Esper Henny]

Coached by Tibs Gordon. Ben Gordon.

[Dave DeFore]

Ben Gordon.

[Andrew Schleck]

Ben Gordon.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Ben Gordon might be the reason I'm Sitting here right now tell you guys that. Wow. Got me back into basketball. That. That series that the Bulls had with the Celtics. Yeah. It pulled me back into the NBA.

[Andrew Schleck]

Wow. Nate Robinson.

[Dave DeFore]

And I just don't think he'd be very good. You know who was pretty good?

[Esper Henny]

I think he was talking about.

[Dave DeFore]

Oh, the series. Okay. I was like, I thought this is another guy.

[Andrew Schleck]

I was. I was talking about him, who was.

[Dave DeFore]

Pretty good on the. On the studio when I saw him was Dwight Howard.

[Andrew Schleck]

Dwight Howard.

[Dave DeFore]

Dwight Howard, I thought, did a pretty good job.

[Andrew Schleck]

I can't. I have a hard time not being completely annoyed when I.

[Dave DeFore]

Well, cuz he's a guy that definitely thinks farts are funny. Right. Like, and that's hard.

[Andrew Schleck]

I mean, listen, it's hard to take serious. I do too. Okay.

[Dave DeFore]

All right. Most people do, but, like, I don't know that. That isn't your personality.

[Andrew Schleck]

They're a little. Yeah, that's true. That's not my whole.

[Dave DeFore]

I mean, if we're thinking outside the box, like, I mean, I. I like, I don't think Draymond is going to be good at it. Yeah. There's an ego thing there that is in the way.

[Esper Henny]

Draymond is just like if you took Charles Barkley and made him angry all the time.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah. You know, and not as funny.

[Esper Henny]

Not as funny. No.

[Dave DeFore]

Like, you take Charles Barkley, make him worse on TV and less fun, and you can wind up with Draymond.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

The whole thing where, like, Draymond is the heir apparent to the.

[Andrew Schleck]

The.

[Dave DeFore]

The broadcast thing. The inside the NBA. I'm glad that has died.

[Esper Henny]

Dwayne Wade was pretty good in the Olympics.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah, he wasn't bad.

[Esper Henny]

I like Dwayne Wade.

[Dave DeFore]

I didn't feel like he knew the players all that well for the Olympics.

[Andrew Schleck]

Right.

[Esper Henny]

That's fair.

[Dave DeFore]

But he was pretty good again. Well, the Olympic broadcast is such a different thing because they treat it like a sport.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

This camera's wigging out. Will you go. We go check it.

[Dave DeFore]

Wigging.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah, it's like it's. It's acting like it's trying to focus on something. I don't know what's going on. Yeah, it's. Yeah, it's trying to get s. Something is happening. I don't know. You can do. You can do it. Do you see that happening? I don't know what's going on there. Let me ask another question from AT Hayes Graphics. What's the go to meal, snack or beverage for game one tonight? What's your. What's your, like, go to snack for a game.

[Esper Henny]

It. Like, when I'm in arena.

[Andrew Schleck]

Give me both.

[Esper Henny]

Okay.

[Andrew Schleck]

Most people will not be watching at the arena. So what do you. What's. What's the home snack?

[Esper Henny]

Wings, for sure.

[Andrew Schleck]

Okay.

[Esper Henny]

I'm a wings guy.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

Definitely. Like me some wings.

[Andrew Schleck]

What kind of wings do you like?

[Esper Henny]

I like lemon pepper or Cajun.

[Andrew Schleck]

Okay.

[Dave DeFore]

Lemon pepper. What? That's such a. Come on. Bad flavor.

[Andrew Schleck]

That's not a bad flavor.

[Esper Henny]

It's not a bad flavor. Lemon pepper is like. I feel like it's the classic, you know? Okay.

[Andrew Schleck]

There's a lot of judgment coming your way from this guy right now.

[Dave DeFore]

Like, classic wings are buffalo. Right? Like, it's a hot sauce. It's something like that, you know? Is this a dry rub? Lemon pepper. Okay. Yeah, yeah.

[Esper Henny]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Not just throwing lemons and peppers.

[Dave DeFore]

No, no, no, no.

[Andrew Schleck]

But, you know, also, like, he's just. I got my own lemons. I bring my own lemons and my own pepper.

[Dave DeFore]

So wings. You eat. You eat wings at home when you watch a game? Like, if you were watching. Just hanging out.

[Esper Henny]

If I was hanging out with, like, my buddies or something. We'll order some wings.

[Dave DeFore]

Wings. Yeah, yeah.

[Esper Henny]

Wings go to in arena, though. So I think that's. That's when you're on the hunt for, like, what's the coolest thing in this arena that I can get?

[Dave DeFore]

Oh, really? You know what? We're gonna do that.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

And we will put it on. There's social media, really good find local.

[Andrew Schleck]

Pizza place that they have. Empire Slice House.

[Esper Henny]

All right.

[Dave DeFore]

We're gonna test. We'll test the food. Yeah, that. That budget's approved, by the way. I'm just gonna say it's good, but.

[Andrew Schleck]

They have pretty good. They have decent medium meal, too.

[Dave DeFore]

Oh, really?

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. And they'll have a lot of snacks for you.

[Dave DeFore]

All right, good.

[Andrew Schleck]

And if you go. And if you guys are. Are you guys way up top?

[Dave DeFore]

No idea.

[Esper Henny]

We have no idea. Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

And if you are, unlimited candy up there. And they will. They'll refill the candy for you. I know Dave doesn't care about this. All right. Whatever, man. For like, a. Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Normal person.

[Andrew Schleck]

Okay. For us regulars. Okay. So much candy.

[Dave DeFore]

Hang on. It depends on the candy. What do they got? We're talking. Are there Twizzlers? Are there, like, Haribo gummies?

[Andrew Schleck]

Yes.

[Dave DeFore]

Like happy cherries.

[Andrew Schleck]

Lots of gummies.

[Dave DeFore]

I lived in Germany, you know.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. The L Man. The L Man who's on the Frypod for down to dunk will bring. My kids have been at A lot of games. And he will bring them a cup of gummies at halftime. That's from, from.

[Dave DeFore]

I will eat these gummies for sure.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

For me, popcorn in Toronto. That's all we get.

[Andrew Schleck]

Well, for me, there's popcorn that you can get from the media room.

[Dave DeFore]

Is it good? Good.

[Andrew Schleck]

I'm not a huge popcorn at the game guy.

[Dave DeFore]

What? See, popcorn at the game is my thing. I love popcorn.

[Esper Henny]

I feel like that's another solid go to.

[Dave DeFore]

I like to sit my notebook down and I like to sit my popcorn next to it.

[Esper Henny]

I, I will say I don't like when there's some like a food that doesn't make sense in an arena. Like, I saw that picture of the guy eating spaghetti in Golden State.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. That was weird.

[Esper Henny]

It doesn't make sense in an area.

[Dave DeFore]

It's got to be handy food.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah. Has to be.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. There will be non hand food in media dining.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

But you'll sit, you'll sit and eat it.

[Dave DeFore]

I say this is who at the NBA cup was eating quinoa bowls.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

In the concourse.

[Andrew Schleck]

Because. Yeah, those, those weren't. I did one time they had breakfast for dinner at a game that my family was at and I carried a bowl of scrambled eggs to my wife in the stands once. That's probably like one of the weirder things that I've.

[Esper Henny]

What's your go to?

[Andrew Schleck]

I, I, I often am just like drinking like either a coffee or like a Coke Zero or something is usually what I go with. So I'm not usually like snacking on a ton of stuff.

[Esper Henny]

No, if you're home.

[Andrew Schleck]

If I'm at home.

[Dave DeFore]

Oh, I didn't. Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah, man.

[Dave DeFore]

I, I do hummus and veggies a lot at home. I mean.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah, I know.

[Dave DeFore]

It's funny because. Made fun of me for that. I don't know that I have a lot of hummus. Oh, yeah. Well, awesome. We were all in New York and I roll up to the restaurant, we're watching the game and it's time for me to order. And I ordered the biggest hummus platter. It was awesome. I'm sure it was fantastic.

[Esper Henny]

That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. It is kind of funny to like be at like a bar somewhere and you'll be like, can I get the hummus platter? And. But I love it.

[Dave DeFore]

I mean, the options were like, yeah, chicken wings.

[Andrew Schleck]

There's a place called Medy's.

[Dave DeFore]

Okay.

[Andrew Schleck]

Here in okc. It's not far from here.

[Dave DeFore]

Mediterranean.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. Yeah. It is so good.

[Dave DeFore]

Okay.

[Andrew Schleck]

They've got a Great hummus plate.

[Dave DeFore]

Well, I know where we're going after this.

[Andrew Schleck]

You guys should. You guys should go to Mexico.

[Dave DeFore]

We're gonna do that. It's gonna hit the TJ Maxx.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yes, you should.

[Dave DeFore]

The. The. The topgolf next to the Costco is kind of an elite combo. Is that your Costco that. You guys.

[Andrew Schleck]

We. We're Sam's Club fan.

[Esper Henny]

I wish I could choose. Wish I could choose.

[Andrew Schleck]

We just have always. We've just always. Always had it. We kind of. It's like the brand, you know? So what? I don't have anything else to say about it, I guess.

[Esper Henny]

Shout out Sam's Club.

[Andrew Schleck]

Shout out to Sam's Club.

[Dave DeFore]

Sponsored by.

[Andrew Schleck]

Let's see.

[Dave DeFore]

Get your podcast in bulk.

[Andrew Schleck]

From A.T. kevin. A.T. kev. I am Kevkev Bot. From. From a Pacer's perspective, would you rather see Dort Wallace or Caruso guard Halliburton?

[Esper Henny]

Door?

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah, I think so. Wait for.

[Esper Henny]

Oh. From a Pace.

[Andrew Schleck]

From a Pacer's perspective, who do you.

[Dave DeFore]

Want guarding Halliburton Burton? I actually think probably Dort.

[Esper Henny]

No, I would say Casen.

[Dave DeFore]

Really?

[Esper Henny]

Because I don't want for Halliburton to deal with Dort being annoying the entire time.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

I just think Halliburton is fast enough that. That he could maybe beat Dort.

[Esper Henny]

Also, Dort does the illegal screen thing.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

That's just gonna get Miles Turner in trouble.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah, he does. Yep.

[Dave DeFore]

He is going to be flying.

[Andrew Schleck]

Flop.

[Dave DeFore]

Oh, man.

[Andrew Schleck]

He goes. He goes completely horizontal.

[Esper Henny]

Cool. I don't. He's like, game. The system. I don't know how they haven't figured.

[Andrew Schleck]

Out it's an elite skill.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

He takes a wrestling bump.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Every single time he gets touched.

[Andrew Schleck]

He's great. I'm a big. I'm a big dork guy.

[Dave DeFore]

I would feel the opposite about that.

[Andrew Schleck]

I'll just say I'm a big.

[Dave DeFore]

I hate the flopping. I love Dort. I hate the floppy.

[Esper Henny]

Is he flopping in that sometimes?

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah, for sure.

[Esper Henny]

But it's so good.

[Andrew Schleck]

Listen, like, we know, like, some of basketball is acting.

[Dave DeFore]

It's the game.

[Esper Henny]

Yes.

[Andrew Schleck]

You have to. You have to. Even. Even just on cuts, you have to act.

[Dave DeFore]

Right.

[Esper Henny]

100.

[Andrew Schleck]

You know, and to pretend like that's not part. That's not part of the game. It's like, give me a.

[Dave DeFore]

My issue is not necessarily that, but I do think, like, the. That flopping is dangerous. It's unnatural.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Body's hitting the floor. Huge problem. Yeah. Right. So it's. For me, it's more like, big picture. I don't. I don't mind a guy by selling contact. Right.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

I just wish that the. That it didn't require falling down to get this. The door. There's plenty of contact on these.

[Andrew Schleck]

What Dort will do is he. He will expose somebody who's not setting a good screen.

[Dave DeFore]

Right.

[Andrew Schleck]

If you're not setting a good screen, he will expose it so fast, and he will get an offensive foul.

[Esper Henny]

That little.

[Andrew Schleck]

That's. If you're. If your leg is. If your knee is out in any way. He's getting it.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

And so it's really just like, hey, I'm honestly.

[Esper Henny]

He hasn't gotten hurt by doing that.

[Andrew Schleck]

Set a good screen.

[Dave DeFore]

I mean, he is incredibly resilient for how much he hits the floor. Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

He's. He's just built like a truck.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Always has been.

[Esper Henny]

But my answer would be, like, probably Casen.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. It's like, choose your way to die.

[Dave DeFore]

Right.

[Andrew Schleck]

You know, I think, what would you like? Drowning? What would you like?

[Dave DeFore]

There's a better chance that Halliburton can free up off the ball if Dort's guarding him. I think Casey is so fast.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

And obviously. And Caruso is so fast. Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

The worst, I actually think would be Caruso. I would want no part.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah. Fast, strong, big.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Definitely don't want him. Which means Caruso is going to guard Halliburton.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

45 possessions. I wonder how much switching OKC will wind up doing in the series.

[Andrew Schleck]

Maybe a good amount. Yeah, a good amount.

[Esper Henny]

I think Indiana is really good at disguising actions, though. So they'll like. They'll basically like. Like throw in a ton of ghost screens to just. Where are we going? Where are we committing to? It's.

[Andrew Schleck]

Well, and they like to. They're really good at finding the weak spot in a defense, and that's what will be interesting because there's not really.

[Esper Henny]

Where is the weak spot. Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Like, Isaiah Joe might be the weakest link that they have. And Isaiah, maybe Aaron Wiggins.

[Dave DeFore]

Eight minutes.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. He's not going to play that much.

[Esper Henny]

20 minutes the whole series. No.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah. I mean, seriously.

[Andrew Schleck]

I mean, that might be possible. Possible.

[Dave DeFore]

If he doesn't make shots. In. In.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

In the first couple games, he's out. Right. Like, they just don't need it. Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Last question from @ Total Thunder Guy for Andrew. Do you regret your old takes on quote, NBA smart guy Siakam? If he somehow becomes the finals mvp, is this your fault?

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

NBA smart guy.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

I used to do.

[Esper Henny]

I Mean, NBA smart.

[Andrew Schleck]

I used to have this bit where I would just make fun of all of, like, the. The nerds out there that would talk about these upcoming players. Probably just like.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Talk about these players that really weren't doing all that much, you know, and they would just be like, I like, you know, this is really me, you know, So I would. Sekam was one of those guys that.

[Dave DeFore]

One of the blogs died, and that doesn't happen as often.

[Andrew Schleck]

Used to. The blogs really did die, and it's now replaced by podcasters.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

You know, there's not really any, like, blogs that I read with regularity anymore.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. But, yeah, it was like the NBA smart guys would always talk about these different players. Sekim was one of them. I was very. I was very wrong. I very much regret it. Yeah, he's a great.

[Esper Henny]

Wait, when was this? Do you remember?

[Andrew Schleck]

Oh, I mean, this was.

[Esper Henny]

Because this must have been.

[Andrew Schleck]

I mean, 2017.

[Dave DeFore]

2018.

[Andrew Schleck]

It was probably around. Probably around that time.

[Dave DeFore]

Who's another guy like that?

[Esper Henny]

That's.

[Dave DeFore]

That's. That comes to mind because there's plenty of like. Like Alex Caruso.

[Andrew Schleck]

Oh.

[Dave DeFore]

Is kind of a Internet, you know.

[Andrew Schleck]

One that I was. That I was on that I was actually correct about was Macho Hernan Gomez. Because, like, the dorks were all about Juancho Hernan Gomez back in the day. And they're like, like, the thunder should it take. I can't believe Thunder take one show.

[Dave DeFore]

Well, there was a stretch there where the dorks were very into anybody from Europe. Right.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yes.

[Dave DeFore]

Every. I mean, so it was.

[Andrew Schleck]

It was probably 17 or 17, 18. Right. That. Because he was averaging, like, 12 points a game or something. And I was like, you know, like, I don't know.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah, fair enough.

[Andrew Schleck]

You're such a dork.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah. You know, one of my craziest takes ever is during the Raptors championship year.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

They traded JV and Delon Wright for Marcus. All obviously.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Esper Henny]

I was like, it should have been Fred Van Vleet.

[Andrew Schleck]

They should. Oh, obviously.

[Esper Henny]

As we know, Fred Van Vleet.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

Was huge.

[Andrew Schleck]

See, we all have our takes out.

[Esper Henny]

My huge guy, though, still in Shout Out. Raptors.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

Nick's legend. No.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. Juancho was probably one that was most right about.

[Dave DeFore]

You want bat. I thought Poku was gonna make it. I thought Poke.

[Esper Henny]

That is also a smart guy.

[Andrew Schleck]

I've got a Poku pack right here.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

On my bottom shelf guy. Oh, my gosh.

[Dave DeFore]

Some of the stuff he did. You were like, oh, wow. If he ever puts it together but then he'd throw the ball into like, the seventh row of. Of the stands. And now to me, I'm looking, I'm saying triple double. Now. He had. Oh, yeah, he had some vision. He saw that. But the execution was God awful, right?

[Andrew Schleck]

Like, yeah, yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

He. It feels. I don't know. I. I never met him. Was he like I met him, that.

[Esper Henny]

Guy right now, Sharp guy.

[Andrew Schleck]

He's a very sweet young man. That's the way that I would characterize him. He was. He was always very kind. He. The way his teammates talked about him was a little bit funny. Yeah, it was kind of like the first red flag. He's like, I sit down with these guys, you know, before, like at media day, before the season starts, and I'm like, what do you guys think? Think, like, I was always so intrigued with Poku. I was like, what? I was asking Kenrich Williams, like, what do you think about Poku? And he's like, poku, you know, there's like a sigh that exists there. And you're like, oh, okay. Like, something's up. Something's up some. You're not liking Poku as much as I'm liking Poku. Like, why is that? Why is that going on? Yeah, he's. He was just a different kind of guy. Even jdub@all star a couple years ago when he was in the Rising Stars, asked like, who's your messiest teammate? Or what teammate would you never let drive your car? And he answered, poku for both of them.

[Esper Henny]

Wow.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah, Like, Poku probably be the messiest guy. And he was like, oh, yeah. He's like, I'd never let Poku drive my car. Wow. And it was like, all right, this is the beginning of the end. This is the beginning of the end.

[Esper Henny]

Oh, my God. I had no idea.

[Dave DeFore]

What a nightmare.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. That's awesome.

[Esper Henny]

Shout out to Poku. Poku, this is why we're here. This is why the NBA Finals.

[Andrew Schleck]

Listen, he was the perfect player to see us through this rebuild.

[Esper Henny]

Absolutely.

[Andrew Schleck]

He is full of, like. There was so much hope brought.

[Esper Henny]

They fly Thunder Legends Night. Bring out God.

[Andrew Schleck]

I would be so pumped.

[Esper Henny]

Oh, that would be awesome.

[Andrew Schleck]

I would be so excited if they brought in poker. It would be the best.

[Dave DeFore]

It would be awesome.

[Andrew Schleck]

If Poku's here and there's no chance.

[Esper Henny]

He'S here, can we interview Poku? Can we?

[Dave DeFore]

Oh, if he's here. Yeah, we could get Poku.

[Andrew Schleck]

I've. I've had. I've interviewed him a couple times.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah, it's. It's an Adventure. It's interview poker. Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

I, I would honestly, I would be.

[Esper Henny]

So smart guy player is right now in the NBA.

[Dave DeFore]

I mean it was like Jaime Hawkez.

[Andrew Schleck]

Oh, Jaime Hawkez is like total NBA smart guy. That was like the bit was like NBA smart guy.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

So smart.

[Dave DeFore]

It is a funny that. I mean there were a lot. There used to be so many of those guys. Well also I'll say the other thing thing. It's like the NBA like these guys are so good.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

They're 10th men who are starter level players and you know, it just gets harder and harder to find these like bums.

[Andrew Schleck]

It would be like if somebody was like way overrating Jake Larabia or something. Right. Actually his per 40 minute stats for Jake Larabia. Really I could see him as a potential. You know, it's those kinds of things that just kind of drive me. Christian Koko, I've seen some stuff that he's done, you know. But you know.

[Esper Henny]

Know what?

[Dave DeFore]

Seem like a Koko guy.

[Esper Henny]

I'm not.

[Andrew Schleck]

You seem like a. I knew Koko would be.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Or if somebody was like, you know, Scotty Barnes.

[Dave DeFore]

Don't do that.

[Esper Henny]

No, you can't. Can't do that.

[Dave DeFore]

Scotty Barnes is a star.

[Esper Henny]

Oh, you know what? I got you Oris sham.

[Andrew Schleck]

Oh yeah.

[Esper Henny]

Oh yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

I mean that's the kind of. Yes for sure. If you're talking a lot about him then I'm not really talking that much about him.

[Esper Henny]

But.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yes, but people. Yeah. Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Shepherd.

[Andrew Schleck]

I mean it's usually like second round picks. Like if people like man, watch out for Leonard Miller this next year.

[Dave DeFore]

I actually love Leonard Miller. I do like him.

[Andrew Schleck]

NBA smart guy. M. Welcome to the. Welcome to the M smart guy.

[Dave DeFore]

I love Leonard Miller because I talked to him when he was in the G league.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

And we had a conversation about basketball. I was like, wow, this guy's like very thoughtful and smart. I was like, he's going to be. He's got the tools.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

He convinced me me that he was going to be good.

[Andrew Schleck]

Or if you're like a big rayon Rupert guy, who is that?

[Dave DeFore]

I mean not him. Who was a big rayon rupair guy.

[Andrew Schleck]

I don't know. Whoever it is, there has to be a couple people. NBA smart guys.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

NBA smart guys out in Portland.

[Esper Henny]

Chris, do you think there were people.

[Andrew Schleck]

Who were like that's going to be a dumb guys. That's going to be a dumb guy.

[Dave DeFore]

That's like, who is the best NBA dumb guy player?

[Esper Henny]

Oh, an Simons.

[Andrew Schleck]

Simons is a good one.

[Esper Henny]

Maybe not maybe.

[Andrew Schleck]

I mean, DLO is the ultimate one.

[Dave DeFore]

Wow.

[Esper Henny]

DLO is.

[Andrew Schleck]

Dlo's the ultimate guy.

[Esper Henny]

Mvp.

[Andrew Schleck]

If you think that DLO is, like, the key to your team, you are an NBA dumb guy, right?

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. That's probably because he is. I mean, he will take your team to places you don't want to go.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Unless you want to be in the top of the lottery. And he's great.

[Andrew Schleck]

He's a great tank commander. Amazing tank commander.

[Dave DeFore]

Would you rather have Jordan pool pool or DLO to lead a tank?

[Esper Henny]

Give me dlo.

[Andrew Schleck]

Dilo's pretty fun.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

I don't know.

[Dave DeFore]

Seems like his teammates like him.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

I feel like Jordan Poole would be all right, man.

[Andrew Schleck]

Either way.

[Esper Henny]

That's my smart.

[Andrew Schleck]

They're pretty interchangeable. They're pretty interchangeable in my. There's. There's the degrees of separation. Are. Are not that.

[Dave DeFore]

I still can't figure out why Jordan Poole didn't lead the league in scoring.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. That was definitely a take that existed.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah. And Cam Thomas. I heard Cam Thomas is a guy to lead the league.

[Andrew Schleck]

And yeah. That's another thing is, like, they never actually do it, but it's something that you'll talk about before the season starts.

[Dave DeFore]

They should, you know, hey, why not? You're gonna be bad.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Score 35 a game.

[Andrew Schleck]

It's because, like, the. The teams that they're both on right now actually want to establish culture. Right. And that's why.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Esper Henny]

Simone Fontechio.

[Andrew Schleck]

Oh, Fontechio is a smart guy. Holy smokes. Can you believe that the Pistons got him at such a discount? He is going to change the way they play. Okay. He is. That's exactly. That's exactly what they've needed.

[Dave DeFore]

12 minutes a game.

[Andrew Schleck]

I actually. I actually chart back the improvement of the Pistons from the beginning of Fontechio. And you know what?

[Dave DeFore]

But those guys. And the thing is, those guys will miss a guy like Tobias Harris, who's staring him right in the face.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

18 points a game, plays 80 games a year.

[Andrew Schleck]

Totally.

[Dave DeFore]

Yep. They'll just miss that guy.

[Andrew Schleck]

They'll miss the guy. And they be. It's because you want to be the smart guy.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

It's. Well, a lot of. In my opinion, like, we talk about this a lot. Like, a lot of my job sometimes is selling hope. Right.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

And I want you to listen. You know, I want. If you're a fan of whatever team you're. The Wizards, I want to sell hope because that's. That gets people more involved, just more fun. And I think, like, the smart guy take is always about like you're chasing this illusion that you're. That you're laying out if everything breaks. Right. Right.

[Esper Henny]

It's a little draft Twittery.

[Dave DeFore]

Oh, 100 draft.

[Andrew Schleck]

Twitter is right into a little.

[Esper Henny]

Right. It's kind of bleeds into it.

[Andrew Schleck]

Only selling like Bryce.

[Esper Henny]

Nobody has watched.

[Dave DeFore]

Love him.

[Esper Henny]

Right.

[Dave DeFore]

I love Bryce. Sensible. He could score 20 a night, if you ask me.

[Andrew Schleck]

Yeah. Antonio Reeves is going to be a difference maker. My video.

[Dave DeFore]

Strength and weaknesses.

[Andrew Schleck]

That probably exists.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Antonio Reeves or Enrique Freeman. Enrique Freeman, contributor next year. Watch out, Enrique. My video of his G League.

[Dave DeFore]

Whatever random bench player for the Heat that you ran that you randomly choose.

[Andrew Schleck]

And you don't even know is another Jovic. Yeah. Jovich is topich topic going to be.

[Dave DeFore]

One of those guys.

[Andrew Schleck]

He's becoming an NBA smart guy as we hate it. Any of you actually watched him. Do you really believe in him? Whatever.

[Dave DeFore]

Shingoon is a little bit of that, right?

[Andrew Schleck]

No.

[Esper Henny]

You could also. You could also. Two years ago guy. You can also argue dumb guy.

[Dave DeFore]

It's.

[Andrew Schleck]

We're on our way to dumb guy.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah, we are.

[Andrew Schleck]

We are a season and a half away from.

[Dave DeFore]

But two years ago it was the smart guy take.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah. Yeah. It's like, look at this guy.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

For sure.

[Dave DeFore]

He's running the game.

[Andrew Schleck]

Hollinger was all over it. Yeah. He's a. He's classic NBA smart guy.

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

I like John a lot, but he's like, he. He'll set some NBA smart guy trends.

[Esper Henny]

Oh, yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Him and Nate Duncan are like top.

[Dave DeFore]

Of the line 100.

[Esper Henny]

Absolutely.

[Andrew Schleck]

They talk so much about Howard.

[Esper Henny]

Oklahoma City Thunder.

[Andrew Schleck]

He fits the mold in a lot of ways.

[Esper Henny]

Sounds like a thunder guy.

[Andrew Schleck]

15Th pick. Will you be around then?

[Dave DeFore]

Yeah.

[Andrew Schleck]

Some people.

[Dave DeFore]

We can draft stuff.

[Esper Henny]

I.

[Dave DeFore]

Guys, I'm not up on the draft. We can't do this. You guys are saying names that I've never heard before.

[Andrew Schleck]

I just. I just have a hard time seeing a jersey that says Coward on the back of it.

[Esper Henny]

That's awesome. I feel like. Can you imagine?

[Dave DeFore]

His last name is Coward. Like C O W A R D. Yes.

[Esper Henny]

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Dave DeFore]

Oh.

[Esper Henny]

Can you imagine if the Raptors draft him and they have a Grady Dick, Cedric Coward backcourt.

[Andrew Schleck]

That would kind of rock.

[Dave DeFore]

Yes. Wow.

[Andrew Schleck]

That would kind of rock.

[Dave DeFore]

What are they going to do with quickly?

[Esper Henny]

I don't know. We'll see. Trade them for Giannis.

[Andrew Schleck]

Save that for another day. Thanks so much for listening to the morning Shoot around live here from down to Dunk Studios. If you haven't tuned into the YouTube channel. Please tune in if you're listening on the podcast app. We would appreciate that very much. Look out for more finals coverage from these two for sure in the next few days live here in OkC. Thanks so much for listening and we'll catch you you guys again next time.

[Paige]

Hi, it's Paige from Giggly Squad. Let's be real. Cat Dads are in their golden era. Temptations, America's number one cat treat brand, is celebrating how seriously irresistible these guys are. They've got sensitivity, snack, timing, precision and their cats adore them. Add in a handful of Temptations Treats and boom, you've got a certified cat dad show. More love to the cat dad in your life with Temptations Cat Treats and tag your fave moments with CatDad sighting. You know we're dying to see them. If you're anything like us, you love attention. And my favorite way to get all eyes on me is with next level shiny, glossy hair.

[Dave DeFore]

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[Paige]

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[Dave DeFore]

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