A (1:35)

Credits for well qualified customers plus tax and $35 device connection charge credits and imbalance due if you pay off earlier. Cancel finance agreement 256 gigs $830 eligible for it in a new line $100 plus a month plan with auto pay plus taxes fees required. Check out 15 minutes or less per line. Visit t mobile.com.

E (1:48)

Hey, Andrew Schlecht here. The NBA on Prime is back with an exciting week of Emirates cup action. The knockout rounds start with quarterfinal doubleheaders on Tuesday and Wednesday night. Then the quest for the cup heads to Vegas for a semifinal doubleheader on Saturday. And it all culminates with the championship game next Tuesday night. I don't know about you, but I absolutely love the NBA cup and the drama that it provides. I'm telling you players really want to win this thing and if you don't respect the cup, I don't know what you're doing. If you're not a Prime member, that's not a problem. Sign up for a 30 day free trial to get started today. Emirates NBA cup coverage continues this week only on prime. Restrictions apply. See Amazon.com amazonprime for details.

E (2:41)

Welcome to the Saturday Slammin Jam here on the Athletic NBA Daily. On today's show, we're doing the good, the bad, the what. And buckle up everybody. It's Wizards Week. Josh Robbins is here to give you all his Wizards knowledge and to entertain you. Let's be honest and then we'll do some trivia. Before we get to Alex, I want to tell you about our friends who do an F1 podcast here on the Athletic the F1 season reaches a dramatic climax this week and for the first time since 2010, three drivers can still win the title. Follow all the buildup and all the fallout from the final Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi this weekend with the RA Wherever. Get your podcast. Go check it out. It's good stuff. With me, as always, is my good friend Alex Spears. Alex, please tell me what happened in the NBA this week.

D (3:34)

Andrew Our top story this week is the situation in Milwaukee. After missing a four game stretch during which the Bucks went 04 and dropped as low as the 11th seed in the East, Giannis Antetokounmpo returned to the lineup this week. But unfortunately, the return of Giannis wasn't enough to avoid an embarrassing loss on Monday night to the Washington Wizards, who were drunk with power off their a two week stint on the wheel of fandom. The loss to the Wizards immediately set off a series of reports about Giannis's future in Milwaukee. Shamshirani reported that Giannis and his agent had started conversations with the Bucks about his future, with the resolution expected within weeks. The Athletics, Eric Naim and Sam Amick later reported that the Bucks downplayed that report, said there had been no formal trade request. Brian Windhorse reported that Giannis did request a trade to the Knicks during the summer. However, complicating matters, in the first few minutes of a game against Detroit, Giannis pulled up with calf strain and injury that is expected to keep him sidelined for another three to four weeks. The one bit of good news for Bucs fans this week is that the Bucks actually won that game against Detroit 113 to 109, despite Giannis only playing three minutes. The Bucks are currently 10 and 13 10th in the East. Now, from a player potentially asking to leave a franchise to a player being asked to leave, chris Haynes reported late Tuesday night that the Los Angeles Clippers were sending future hall of Famer Chris Paul home. Get out of here. The move came just days after CP3 had announced that this would be his final NBA season. Now, subsequent reporting from the athletic Sam Amiclaw Murray and Joe Varden revealed that the reasoning behind the clippers dismissal of CP3 was essentially that Chris Paul was really annoying. Arguably the one thing that everyone knows about Chris Paul. Now here's a fun Chris Paul stat from friend of the show LA Murray the Clippers have not had a losing season since acquiring Chris Paul in December 2011 and in fact the other 29 teams have all had at least one losing season since the Clippers last losing season in 2010-11.

E (5:40)

Wow.

D (5:40)

Now unfortunately for the Clippers, that streak appears to be coming to an end as the Clippers currently sit at 6 and 16 13th in the west, though they did get a nice win in their first game post CP3, a 115 to 92 win over the Hawks. Some other Clippers news this week Joe Varden reported that quote, multiple league sources said Clippers GM Lawrence Frank and his associates were on track to receive contract extensions, with one source saying that those extensions have been in the planning stages for a while. It hasn't happened yet, but it will. Boy, I, I hope, I hope, I hope they don't dilly dally Andrew, because I don't know, I don't know if one franchise could survive the loss of both SGA and Lawrence Frank.

D (6:25)

Now as everyone knows, the Clippers poor play doesn't just affect them, it has league wide ramifications because of the Clippers first round pick which is owned by the Oklahoma City Thunder who currently on an 11 game winning streak with a 211 record. This week saw the return of all star Jalen Williams who returned to the court for the first time following off season wrist surgery. The Thunder still aren't whole however because J Dub's first game back was also the first missed game for starting center Isaiah Hartenstein who will be out for two plus weeks due to a right Solius straight. But if the Thunder win their next three games against Dallas, Utah and Phoenix, they will. They will tie the 2015-16 warriors record after 25 games at 24. 1. But those three games may be tougher than they initially appear. Dear Listener, because Dallas and Utah are two bad teams that have looked a little frisky this week for the Mavericks, Anthony Davis returned to the court and immediately changed the Mavericks fortunes. The Mavericks have won three in a row including impressive wins at Denver and against Miami. Utah is also playing well as of late, winning three of their last four, including a 133 to 125 win over the Houston Rockets, who had came who came into that game winning eight of their last nine by the way. On the same night that the Mavs beat the Nuggets and the Jazz beat the Rockets, we also saw that Wizards win over the Bucks that I mentioned earlier. And we also saw the Suns beat the Lakers despite Devin Booker only playing 10 minutes. But who needs Devin Booker when you get 61 combined points from Dylan Brooks and Colin Gillespie. Speaking of the Lakers, LeBron streak of consecutive 1297 games scoring double digits finally came to an end in Toronto on Thursday night, a game that ended on a Buzzer, beating Rui Hachimura 3. That would have of course assisted by LeBron James. The last time LeBron didn't score double digits was January 5, 2007, only four days before the announcement of the original iPhone. The announcement wasn't even out.

E (8:22)

It wasn't even out.

D (8:23)

Finally this week we had our eighth 50 point game of the season. In a game against the Pacers, Jamal Murray scored 52 points, which include included going 10 of 11 from 3 point range 10 of 11. That means that the Nuggets have already had three different players with a 50 burger this season, with Murray joining Jokic and Aaron Gordon. The only other teams in NBA history to have three 50 burgers from three different players. The 1961-62 Lakers, Elgin Baylor, Jerry west, and do you know it, Andrew, Rudy LaRusso and the 2018-19 warriors with Steph Clay and KD. And those were the top stories this week. Andrew, what a week on court. Off court. It was a good one.

E (9:08)

It was off court. Stuff has been wild and all just. It was just like all following Audis at once. It felt like.

D (9:16)

Yeah, it came out of the blue too late at night. Yeah, yeah, I. I was so excited. I was. I was hesitant to text people that I knew were in the central time zone because it was so late, but I felt like I needed to. I needed to wake them up.

E (9:28)

We were recording down to dunk. It happened right after we finished recording. I wish we would have held on.

D (9:33)

For just a few more minutes, but that brings us to our weekly segment where we share something good we like. We share something bad we didn't like and then we shared something that maybe just confused us. Good or bad in a segment we like to call good Bad.

E (9:47)

What.

D (9:58)

Andrew, what is your good this week?

E (10:01)

My Good is Shea, Gildas, Alexander. And a lot of people want to talk about his three point shot, his step back three, which has been ridiculous. A lot of people want to talk about his passing improving. But there's, there's one part of his game that has also improved that could, could be historic if, if he can continue at this pace. His pull up shot. Right now he leads the league in pull up points, period at 301 pull up points so far this season. He led the league in this stat last year. None of this is super surprising. But what is surprising is his efficiency. Last year he was 44.6% on his pull up shots which is good but not like crazy elite. There were guys like Durant and DeRozan that had better percentages last year. This year he has the best percentage on pull up shots of anybody that has at least 150 pull up points at 51% on his pull up shots. Which to put that into context, since 1314, whenever these stats started to be compiled on NBA.com guess how many players have averaged more than 10 pull up points per game and shot over 50% from the field on those numbers? Two. It's one. It's one guy. And it's Kevin Durant in the 2223 season in Phoenix shot 54% which is bananas.

D (11:26)

Yeah.

E (11:26)

But Shea is on track right now to have that kind of season. And like you look across the league right now just to give you a sample of like what some of these other guys are shooting like. Jalen Brown's having a really nice year with his pull up. 46%. Brandon Ingram has always been a really good pull up shooter. 47. Steph Curry's. 43. Kade Cunningham. 41. Jamal Murray is also having a really nice year. 49 on his pull up shots. Luca 43% Donovan Mitchell 42% Tyrese Maxey's is shooting a lot of them, but not he's at 37%. It's not so great. But what Shea is doing is like significant. Not only is he leading this Thunder team, he's improved his game in a lot of different areas and some more noticeable than others. But it's really just like the efficiency on this pull up shot that could lead him to like being one of the best pull up shooters in the league and really in recent NBA history. So Shea is kind of crushing it across the board and this pull up shot is just a weapon that he continues to sharpen.

D (12:28)

Yeah. And I not surprised that KD was the name that you brought up. Because it really is guys like kd. Jokic is another one where their efficiency is so good. If it was any other player, you'd say there's no way they could sustain this. But I feel like Shai has reached that realm with guys like Jokic and kd where it's like he might just be able to do it. He might have just reached that level now where these crazy efficiency numbers are just who he is going forward.

D (12:55)

Andrew, Micah, this week, Zach Edie, Zach E D Now, it was only a few weeks ago we were talking about the land of the loss. The teams that were bottom 10 in both offense and defense per Clean the Glass. We both said that the first unit to break out of that was going to be Memphis's defense, and we were right, Andrew. And a lot of that, a lot of that had to do with the return of Zach Edie because prior to Edie's return, The Grizzlies were 24th in defense per Clean the Glass. In the nine games since Edie has come back, the Grizzlies defense is ranked 12th on offense. It's amazing what he's done for their second chance offense. Before he came back, they were generating 16 plays per 100 misses, which ranked 26th in the league. In other words, not a lot of second chance opportunities for the Grizz, which has been their identity forever.

E (13:45)

Yeah.

D (13:45)

In the last nine games, however, the Grizzlies are generating 24.1 plays per 100 misses, which ranks third in the league. So they've gone from 26 to third in this, like, second chance offense. In his nine games, Eddie has had four or more offensive rebounds six times, and it's really six of eight games because he only played five minutes against Denver due to a migraine. In those eight games, he's averaging 16 and 13, two and a half blocks per game, highlighted by this crazy 3217 five block performance against Sacramento in only 29 minutes. He's just been an absolute monster for this team and he's helped them find some stability in what was starting to look like a lost season for Memphis. I'd love to see them try to get him even more involved offensively, which I realize is somewhat hindered by the fact that all of their point guards are still injured, that they've kind of forced Vince Williams into this role. I think once we get a couple of those guys back, we could really start to see Edie take on a bigger load offensively. I love the fit with Triple J. They complement each other's strengths and weaknesses. Really well. And bigger picture. I just love the idea that someone like Zach Edie might succeed in the NBA. That's fun to me. The fact that he isn't the dinosaur that some thought he might be, that's exciting because looking back, the warriors small ball era, they were so dominant. It made us believe that certain guys just couldn't survive in the league anymore. And I think that influenced a lot of opinions about Edie as a prospect. And to be fair, maybe it'll be true in the playoffs. You know, it certainly wasn't always pretty against OKC in round one last year, but he was a rookie and he was facing the eventual championship. I just love that we finally moved out of this era where small ball dictated so much of the conversation about the league and about team building. You know, this isn't a new thought, but good teams are playing so differently from each other, which I think is forcing us as fans to reconsider what types of players and schemes could work and could be successful in the NBA. And a player like Zach Edie succeeding or this Miami offense working or the Rockets offense working the way it has, it all fits into this idea that there are a ton of ways to make it work in the NBA right now, and in my opinion, makes the league so much more interesting to talk about instead of trying to fit every team into the same mold. And so, Zach Edie, you are good to me, but what about a bad Andrew?

E (16:10)

Bad Al? What's bad? You know what would be really bad? Maybe this isn't bad yet, but at least maybe this is. These thoughts are bad.

E (16:18)

Bucks. Listen, we can all see the writing on the wall. You're gonna trade Giannis. It's gonna happen at some point. You can't. You can't keep. You can't keep this churning. Will you please do us all a favor and not send them to the Western Conference? Please, will you please, will you please just consider it? Listen, the Atlanta Hawks, they could offer you a life raft to your own picks to. To tank so that you can get good players that way. Please take that life raft. If the Hawks offer. Please. Atlanta Hawks offer it, please. Because, listen.

E (16:53)

The spurs and the Rockets, they have great trade packages that they could send back, picks, players, young players, and they could still be title contenders. We just. Listen, our friends up at MGM have the MVP odds with Shea leading it currently. Jokic, 2, Doncic 3, Giannis 4. And then it falls off a cliff. And then it falls off a cliff. We can't have those top four guys in one conference. Al we just can't do it. Toronto, you want to step up to the plate? Make an offer. I'm begging Atlanta. Atlanta makes the most sense, and Atlanta could be a title contender this year if they did that.

E (17:32)

But I just. The bad for me is like, considering the fact that there are a lot of Western Conference teams that come, can and will make offers for Giannis, and it would be a disaster in my mind if Giannis wound up in the Western Conference, then I think he's clearly the best player in the East. Who would the best player in the east be? Is it Cade, then? Is it Brunson? Yeah, like, who is it?

D (17:55)

Brunson?

E (17:57)

And it's. And those are good players. I would never hate on either one of those guys. Those are nice players. But if you put Cater Brunson in the Western Conference, what are they then? Like the fifth best player in the west, and we just need some kind of balance. We just need, like, these east teams to get it together still. Like, I know the east is kind of strong one through ten. I don't care. Like there. We cannot have this top heaviness in the league. Keep Giannis in the east, please. So that's. That's my bad for the week. I just. I can't help but think about, like, the Rockets or the spurs or somebody trying to get in on this, because they truly can, and they can truly make an awesome trade, trade for the Bucks to kind of help them. But I just think it would be bad for the NBA overall to. To have those. The best four players in the league in one conference.

D (18:46)

I'm not too worried about the Rockets because I've heard, listening to different podcasts, it sounds like that is more a thing that could happen in the summer than right now. It's. It's hard to happen right now.

E (18:56)

Even in the summer. Don't do it. Even in the summer. Don't do it, please.

D (18:59)

The Spurs, I think you just have to. This idea that they could get out of this without giving up. Dylan Harper.

E (19:05)

That.

D (19:06)

That's the one that I'm just like, come on.

E (19:07)

Not.

D (19:07)

We're talking about Giannis.

E (19:09)

Like, if.

D (19:09)

If. If that did happen, you at least have to get Dylan Harper.

E (19:12)

Yeah, the. The thing with the Hawks is the most valuable picks that you get when you're. When you're a bad team is your own. And the fact that they don't control their own is a really. It's a. It's a sticking point for them. And that's why I think the Hawks trade just makes the Most sense is that it does offer them a way to take a team that is already pretty bad. And without Giannis, I think it's going to get pretty disgusting. I know they did win that one game, but it's.

E (19:38)

This team is not good. Like, anyone can look at this team and know that they're not good. And so it gives them, it gives them a way out. Like, it's just the Hawks gives them like a. A tangible way out that doesn't reward other teams.

D (19:51)

Well, it's funny that you said we all see the writing on the wall. I was listening to the NBA Daily and Eric name was on, and he was basically saying, like, I've done this podcast. I know, nine times. I do this podcast every couple of months.

E (20:03)

I know.

D (20:04)

So, like, you kind of understand it from the Milwaukee perspective. Like, why is this time really going to be that different? Especially if, as the reporting suggests, that he still hasn't made a formal trade request?

E (20:15)

Like, it is, it is weird. It is weird. Where it's like, we're think. We're thinking about it. It's like, come on. Like, we know you've been thinking about it. You've been discussing it. Like, this is not.

D (20:27)

It's. It's giving big Damian Lillard vibes where clearly if, if thing. If this team was just a little bit better. I think Giannis would love to stay in Milwaukee in the same way that Dame just wanted to be on a good team. And ideally he wanted to be on a good team in Portland, but it just got to a point where he realized, and then you had this like, messy, prolonged breakup and it feels like that's what's happening right now. You know, maybe the Bucks can stay afloat over this next stretch. Their schedule isn't as tough to close the season, and they did get KPJ back, so they have another guard at least. But yeah, it's, it's. It's been a bad week for Bucks fans. My bad this week. I'm so sick of talking about this team. I'm so sick of them tricking us. Andrew, the Chicago Bulls, they have been absolutely disgusting over this recent.

E (21:16)

Our surprise team. Our precious surprise team.

D (21:19)

I hate, I hate them. I hate them.

E (21:21)

Foiled again.

D (21:22)

Five game losing streak. And sure, teams go through good and bad stretches. Listen to this run of losses. Pelicans, Hornets, Pacers, Magic, Fine, Nets. When they had a bad run earlier in the season, it was respectable. Milwaukee, Cleveland, San Antonio, Detroit. What is this? How is it even possible to lose to all these teams and their offense has completely fallen off a cliff. They are dead last in the league on offense over the last two weeks per cleaning the glass, which is this one in six stretch. The biggest change has been their three point shooting. Prior to this recent seven game stretch, they were third in the league at 39.3% from three. They have been below 33% as a team lately though, and it's their biggest volume guys too. Kobe White who's only played three games in the stretch, shooting 26% from three, Buzzelis 22%, Vuch 28%, Herter 29% just a team wide cooldown other than IO and Giddy who still have shot it well throughout this. Another factor is they're not getting out in transition like they were early in the season. Before this recent seven game stretch, they were second in the league in percentage of offensive plays in transition.

E (22:34)

Wow.

D (22:34)

During. During this skid, they've dropped all the way down to 16th, which means they're in the half court more often where they can't shoot, they don't get offensive rebounds, so they're not getting a lot of second chance opportunities. And to make matters worse, the Bulls announced this week that first round pick Noah Essingate out for the season.

E (22:50)

Not great.

D (22:51)

And then you had the report from Chicago sports anchor Luke Knellis who said, quote, Giannis and his representatives reached out to the Bulls about a potential deal and the Bulls said they weren't interested. They were not interested in breaking up their young core or changing their course of direction. Now, I didn't know who Luke Nellis was before this week, but I did learn that Giannis partnered with Lou to bring the Greek restaurant chain that Lou co owns to Milwaukee. So this isn't coming from some random source. Regardless of whether you believe that report or not, it does fit snugly into my opinion of the Bulls front office. Like if I was doing an impression of what the Bulls front office would say in response to trading for Giannis, I'd say something like that. Quote. Finally, let's check in on the surprise team race. All right. It's brutal, Andrew. The Bulls are now eight games off the pace. Just like that. Just like that. Felt like we snapped our fingers.

E (23:46)

I was feeling so good.

D (23:48)

It's over. It's over. Our best candidates for surprise teams, Phoenix Suns, who are six games ahead of the pace needed and the only other team who is ahead of the pace, the Utah Jazz, were two games ahead of the pace they need now. They were. You know, I should have thought about this more because remember, I Came out of that feeling like I'm not going to pick the Jazz, but I sort of get the overargument. Yeah, man, I should have thought about it more because they did have the lowest over, under and so they could win like 28, 29 games and be a surprise team.

D (24:22)

We'll see. So, yeah, the Bulls. Bad, bad, bad Bulls.

E (24:27)

Bad Bulls.

D (24:28)

I'm, I'm, I'm Andrew, actually. They're, you know, they're about to go on like a six game winning streak and then I'll be forced to talk about them again. If they don't though, I'm not talking about them till the new year. It's over, Bulls.

E (24:40)

I'm blocking Joel Lorenzi right now.

D (24:43)

Good speak, Andrew. What is your what this week?

E (24:48)

What my what is?

E (24:52)

You know, the, the Grizzlies and the Hawks have been missing their point guards and it's like my what is like, do they, they really need these guys? These guys that are their like franchise icons, the guys that are selling the jerseys, the guys that are the ones that they're building around supposedly. Do they really need these guys? And so I was looking at some lineup data that is just, it's interesting. I don't know what to do with it. That's why I put it in my. What it's like, what do we do with this stuff? Exactly? I'm not sure.

E (25:23)

So, so far this season, according to Cleaning the glass, the grizzlies are a minus 4.4. With John Moran on the court, that's not great. The, the lineup of Vince Williams, Coward, Jalen Wells, Jaren Jackson, Zach Edie, and 171 possessions is a plus 21.5. It's quite good.

E (25:46)

It's also the seventh best lineup period. According to Cleaning the glass, how many possessions was that? It's 171. So it's not that much. Okay. Vince Williams at point guard is. It's. I'm not saying it's like a solution to your problem, but like the Guy has had two games of 15 assists or more so far this season. He's playing well. And you know, when we talk about the Hawks and kind of bring this whole conversation full circle, it's like, do you like, if you have enough skilled players on the court, like, do you really need a point guard? And particularly do you need a point guard that dominates the basketball? I think it's just a question you have to start asking yourself when you look at the, the Hawks. According to Cleaning the glass, Trey Young is A team worst -11.8 so far this season. If you look at the lineup with Nikhil Alexander Walker, Dyson Daniels, Risa Shea.

E (26:40)

A Kong Wu and.

E (26:44)

Goodness gracious, Jalen Johnson, I don't know why his name was escaping me. Jalen Johnson, they're a plus 11.4 and 278 possessions. Like, they're legitimately good and we've seen that on the court. Like, this team has performed really well without Trey. If you put in the zinger for a Kong wu, they're a plus 10.7. So that's in 541 possessions. Like, that's not nothing. That's not the 171 that the Grizzes have had. They're a plus 10 over a plus 10 with them. And I just. When. So when you have Na, Dyson Daniels, Jalen Johnson and Trey off the court, they're a plus five and all in all different mass initiatives of lineup. So I just don't. I just don't know what you do. I just am curious as to what the Grizzlies and the Hawks think they should do internally because they've clearly found something with some of these lineups. And also I would say that like Trae Young and John Morant are still like two of the most talented players on either of the one of these teams, but they're performing well without them. They're more cohesive without them. And I just wonder what you do. And it just makes. I, I'm just super curious as to where these teams go from here because I just don't know the answer to that. And that's why, that's why it's my. What it's like, where do the. Where do they go? I think that the Hawks are probably way more interesting just with their draft choices and like the, the ability to go get Giannis if they wanted to. I think that they could offer something really good, but I'm just really curious like, where. Where these teams pivot because there's clearly something off with both Jaw and Trey Young when they're in the lineup with both these teams.

D (28:23)

Yeah, I, I definitely don't think they should suddenly believe, hey, point guards, this is the new market inefficiency. Let's just never.

E (28:31)

Yeah, yeah, that's. Yeah, that's why it's confusing. It's like you definitely still need point guards. Yeah, yeah.

D (28:36)

I would. I would think they're not going to get drunk with this like regular season vibe of what's going on right now, because I can just imagine in the playoffs, these offenses without like a real guard would be putrid. They still, they still might be good defensively, but especially in the case of Memphis, like getting a Ty Jerome back or Scottie Pippen Jr. That's just going to help their team so much.

E (29:03)

Yeah.

D (29:04)

And so this to me, like, I do think like the jaw thing is kind of interesting, but that's more just because he was, I mean, he's played so poorly through that early part of the season. The Trey thing, like, I still think Trey's a really good player. I think he can be an offensive engine for a top five offense. So I, I think I'm more hopeful about the idea of reintegrating Trey and maybe combining some of the things that they found when he was out with just everything that Trey brings. But we'll see. Apparently, you know, you said they're going to trade for Giannis, so it might not even matter.

E (29:37)

If you do that, that solves all your problems. Yeah, you don't have to worry about that at all.

D (29:43)

Andrew. My what this week starts with a story from last week because during trivia Sam Vicini. I had a question about the first round pick that scored the most points while playing 10 or fewer minutes this season. You correctly guessed Danny Wolfe of the Brooklyn Nets, who until that point had played 10 minutes in the NBA. He'd scored two points. Now, did my trivia question shame the Nets into finally playing Danny Wolfe? Who can say? But one week later, Danny Wolf has played 122 minutes in the NBA. And guess what? He looks really good. In his last four games he's averaged over 25 minutes per game, put up 14, 6 and 3. Now it's only four games, but it's an awesome first look at a guy who I was super intrigued by during the pre draft process. If you haven't watched Danny Wolfe before, you need to because he's weird. He's 611 but he moves like a wing and I get it, we've had tall wings before. But he's also £250. He's huge. He's huge and he's doing and trying stuff. Guys that size usually are not. Offensively he's taken a lot of three, six per game over these recent, this recent four game stretch. The shot looks good. Pretty fast release. He's taken and made a couple deep ones. Just looks really comfortable shooting the ball now inside the arc. I've really enjoyed his drives and how he gets to the rim. He has really struggled finishing at the rim so far. But it's only four games and to me, a lot of these misses at the rim just look unlucky. I'm more encouraged by just how he's getting to the rim. He's got moves. And the other thing is his passing. I love his passing. He's really skilled, creative passer. He makes quick decisions. I was watching the game against the Jazz. It was the only close game on, so I was tuned in to Jazz nets. He kept trying that classic Jokic pass where Jokic will be like in the low post or the mid post, back to defender and he just suddenly whips the ball around his body to the opposite corner behind him. I swear, Danny Wolf tried that pass at least three times against the Jazz and it, and it didn't always work. One of them was one of his turnovers. But he's a daring passer, which I love. And I know people did not like the next draft class, me included. But Danny Wolf was always the exception for me. He's so weird and I'm just glad that he's starting to get regular minutes because he's a very fun player. And he also seems to be getting the Runway to kind of explore the space, which is what I really wanted to see from Danny Wolf.

E (32:09)

Yeah, he's, he's a, he's a fun big that can shoot the ball and can pass. He's like, he's, he can triple pass.

D (32:15)

Shoot as a 611, 250 pound man.

E (32:18)

When you have skilled players on the court, it just is super helpful when you have skilled players all throughout the court and he's, he's one of those guys. Is he going to be like some amazing NBA player? I'm not really sure. I don't really know.

D (32:31)

But it's going to be fun to find out.

E (32:33)

It'll be so fun to find out. I'm glad the Nets finally started to play. It was getting a little depressing, like continuing to see like DNPs for Danny Wolf.

D (32:41)

It just makes no sense when we had Nets week and we didn't get to see any Dan Wolf. Come on, give us something.

E (32:48)

I know. What a disaster. Another team that we keep saying just give us something is the Washington Wizards. And we're going to talk about them right after this quick break.

E (33:04)

Hey, Andrew Schleicht here. The NBA on prime is back with an exciting week of Emirates cup action. The knockout rounds start with quarterfinal double headers on Tuesday and Wednesday night. Then the quest for the cup heads to Vegas for a semifinal double header on Saturday. And it all culminates with the championship game next Tuesday night. I don't know about you, but I absolutely love the NBA cup and the drama that it provides. I'm telling you, players really want to win this thing and if you don't respect the Cup, I don't know what you're doing. If you're not a Prime member, that's not a problem. Sign up for a 30 day free trial to get started today. Emirates NBA cup coverage continues this week only on prime. Restrictions apply. See Amazon.com amazonprime for details. As a small business owner, you don't have the luxury of clocking out early. Your business is on your mind 247 so when you're hiring, you need a partner that works just as hard as you do. That hiring partner is LinkedIn Jobs. When you clock out, LinkedIn clocks in. LinkedIn makes it easy to post your job for free, share it with your network and get qualified candidates that can manage all in one place. I've been in a position where I need to hire many times and I never had the luxury of having LinkedIn jobs help me. As a user of LinkedIn jobs now I find it incredibly easy to find the most qualified candidates. Here's how LinkedIn jobs works. Number one post your job. LinkedIn's new feature can help you write job descriptions and then quickly get your job in front of the right people with deep candidate insights. You can post your job for free or you can pay to promote promoter jobs. Get three times more qualified applicants. Number two get qualified candidates. And at the end of the day, the most important thing to your small business is the quality of candidates. And with LinkedIn you can feel confident that you're getting the best. Based on LinkedIn data, 72% of small businesses using LinkedIn say that LinkedIn helps them find high quality candidates and finally share it with your network. You can let your network know that you're hiring. You can even add the hashtag hiring frame to your personal profile and get two times more qualified candidates. Find out why more than two and a half million small businesses use LinkedIn for hiring today. Find your next great hire on LinkedIn. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com Athletic MBA that's LinkedIn.com Athletic MBA to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply.

F (35:34)

Do you know that person who always gives the perfect gift? That's not me. I'm a terrible gift giver. But this year I found the answer to all my gift buying struggles. Aura Frames is the answer to every holiday gifting moment. We don't live near my parents or my in laws. So sharing pictures of our daughter with her grandparents is very important. We don't want to put everything on social media and text messages get lost. Enter Aura. We can share pictures from our phone directly to their Aura Frames with one click. Aura Frames include unlimited free photos and video. That's right, video as well, right into the frame. Just download the Aura app and connect to Wi Fi. You can preload photos before it ships so when your loved ones open up their gift, the pictures are already there. Every Aura Frame comes packaged in a premium gift box with no price tag. So don't wait. Win the holidays now with Aura Frames for a limited time. Save on the perfect gift by visiting auraframes.com to get 35 off or as best selling Carver Matte frames named number one by Wirecutter by using the promo code Athletic MBA at checkout. That's a U R A frames.com promo code Athletic MBA. This deal is exclusive to listeners and frames sell out fast, so order yours now to get it in time for the holidays. Support the show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply.

D (36:59)

All right Andrew, it is time for the Wheel of Fandom, the weekly segment where we spin a wheel. It lands on a team and we become fans of that team for the next week, week or two weeks. Because two weeks ago, the Wheel landed on the Washington Wizards. Now at that time, the wizards had lost 12 in a row. We were wondering whether we'd be talking about a franchise worst losing streak when we finally got around to talking about them. But by the power of the Wheel, the Wizards shocked us all, going two and five in their last seven with wins over the Hawks and the Bucks. They also had a one point loss to the Bulls. In the win over the Hawks. CJ McCollum scored a season high 46 points, his second 40 point game of the season. Now did they also lose games during the span by 30, 33 and 45? Yeah, of course they did. We're still talking about the 3 and 18 Wizards who per clean of the glass, had the 28th ranked offense and 30th ranked defense. Andrew, if the Wizards are our favorite team, who is our guest?

E (38:00)

Guys, it's the week we've all been waiting for. Let's let's be honest. I know that Slam and Jam fans have been clamoring for this to happen. The Wheel has has denied us too many times. Until today. Josh Robbins returns to Slam and Jam. Josh, welcome back to the Saturday Slam and Jam.

C (38:20)

I'm so happy to be here. Now I'm going to earn my keep. I love the two of you and I love the Saturday Slam and Jam.

E (38:29)

Let's go.

C (38:29)

Our tens of thousands of listeners. I mean, can we just. Let me just tell everybody what's really going on here.

E (38:39)

Okay? I don't know what this is going to be, but go ahead.

C (38:43)

This is a love affair.

C (38:46)

This is a plutonic love affair.

E (38:51)

Similar.

C (38:51)

To when Andy Kaufman would visit the Letterman show or Bill Murray or Terry Garr would visit the Letterman show back in the NBC days. Or when Diane Cannon or Angie Dickinson or that animal guy would visit Carson. Johnny Carson.

D (39:10)

Our younger listeners are loving this now. Keep going.

C (39:13)

That's right. And so that's what's going on here. It's a love affair between the hosts, the guest. And because you welcomed me with such wonderful, open arms, you have created this incomparable bond that I have with the Saturday Slam and Jam aficionados. And it means so much to me. The telegrams and the DMs and the Twitter DMs and the Blue Sky DMs and the email messages and the strange text messages that I get rooting for me to beat the daylights out of Andrew in trivia. In trivia, not in real life mean a lot to me.

D (39:57)

We're getting there.

C (39:58)

So thank you to all of you. You mean more to me than I can properly express. And because of that, I have an announcement that I would like to announce at this time. Oh, wow.

E (40:13)

We're starting with an announcement. Okay, go ahead, go ahead.

C (40:16)

The next. Is it correct that Oklahoma City is kind of the spiritual home of the Saturday Slam and Jam?

D (40:24)

Sure, sure.

E (40:25)

Yeah.

C (40:25)

Okay. Because I know you guys are down to dunkers also, but next time I'm in Oklahoma City and have time for dinner, could be this year, could be next season, could be the season after that. I will take three Slam and Jam listeners. Who you guys pick. They can't be your family members. Three Slam and Jam listeners. I guess they could fly in if they want to come in.

D (40:51)

You're playing. You're paying for the flights, too?

C (40:53)

No.

D (40:55)

Okay.

C (40:55)

I'm a working man. I can only do so much. I'm going to take them and Andrew and any family members Andrew wants to direct. Family members Andrew wants to bring to dinner at an Oklahoma City restaurant of your choice.

E (41:12)

Ooh.

C (41:13)

And you choose the listener, you choose the listeners.

E (41:15)

Okay.

C (41:16)

They're just some minor, Quick, quick. Ground rules.

C (41:20)

No alcohol. All right? I can't afford this second. No caviar, no lobster. Okay. Sea bass. All right. Sea bass. I can probably. Do you want to get some sea bass out of the Oklahoma River?

D (41:37)

Yeah.

C (41:37)

We have great seafood, so this is serious. I will, happily, because you guys have meant so much to me in the audience. Wow. Let's do this. Let's do that. I can't wait. Thank you for embracing me like family, like Letterman embraced Terry Garr.

E (41:58)

Wow.

C (41:58)

I'm Terry Garr, everybody.

E (42:00)

Okay.

C (42:01)

Make your case.

E (42:01)

You can send me an email. A S C H L E C H d@the athletic.com if you want to go to dinner with me and Josh, send me. Give me your case. Let us know. Why are you the best Slammin Jam fan in okc? Let us know.

C (42:15)

And Alex, I think we want to come in.

E (42:16)

Of course.

C (42:17)

We would love to have you.

E (42:18)

Of course.

C (42:19)

The family won't be complete without you. All right. Thank you to everybody for listening. Thank you for the two of you for letting me hijack your show. I'm happy to answer and.

C (42:30)

Discuss whatever you want to discuss. Thank you for indulging my terrible ego.

E (42:36)

Let's do it. Let's talk about the Wiz. So we're in year three of the rebuild, Josh. Looking at the record, they haven't made a ton of progress. But as someone who's around the team up close, what's felt different about covering the Wizards this season compared to the previous two?

C (42:55)

Well, I have to confess, not a lot has felt different compared to last season. The record is almost identical. I think they have one more win now than they did at this time last year. Certainly their their spots in these rankings and I your figures are the same as mine about the defensive ranking being 30th, the offense being 28th, the net ranking being last. There's not a whole lot different in the feel of things. But this is not by accident. It's not as though they were facing a situation like last year in Phoenix where Phoenix was hoping it would become a contender and then.

C (43:37)

Laid an egg. In this case, the Wizards are tanking. I think that's fair to say. I know that's fair to say. They're trying to make sure that they maximize their lottery odds and keep their 2026 pick, which is top eight protected. So this is not a surprise. What may be a surprise, perhaps is the depth of the losing and the point differential. And Alex, you stated the point differentials that you're accurate in that sense. The season has not been pretty, but it has not been a surprise.

D (44:15)

Well, something that has been a surprise, I would say, is is wizard second year player Alex Saar, who got off to a blistering start this season, improving pretty much every aspect of his game compared to his rookie season. Now there still will be ups and downs as three point shooting has cooled off lately as an example. But what improvements in SARS game feel the most real and sustainable to you?

C (44:36)

Well, I think you put it very well. Your analysis is essentially my analysis, which is to say why are you having me on the show? I'm not adding anything. No, he has been much better the way and the difference in some ways has been a shock to me. When I was speaking with scouts over the off season and wrote my annual Scouts Evaluate Alex Sar Wizards prospects piece, I describe him as a perimeter player in a 7 footers body, especially on offense and to an extent defensive rebounding. This year so much of this has flipped. He's rolling to the basket more often in pick and roll. He's attacking the basket. He's rebounding at a good rate. Not just an above average rate, a good rate for an NBA big per Cleaning the glass Our pals cleaning the glass Friend of the show.

C (45:42)

He's been very good by any measure and yet he's still, only, I think 20 years old. He's still only £240 as he would say on a good day. That's his quote. On a good day he's £240 and he's protecting the rim at a rate that he didn't last year. And he's facing a ton of attempts, which speaks in part to his activity but really also to the the sad state of the Wizards perimeter defense. Right, but he's, he's stopping shots, not necessarily blocking them, but affecting shots at a rate comparable to reigning NBA Defensive player of the year Evan Mobley within six feet of the of the hoop. So I know I was joke. Well, I was serious about the dinner invitation and the Bill Murray stuff and Andy Kaufman stuff. But I'm serious about this. He's much improved and that I think along with the growth of Keyshawn George have been the two brightest spots to their season so far.

D (46:49)

Were you expecting this at all? Like when you were talking to Wizards coaches like over the off season or in the preseason, were they saying like we want him to be doing more of the traditional big man stuff?

E (47:00)

No.

C (47:00)

And I'm going to be as always on your show or in print or Twitter, whatever, honest.

C (47:08)

They would never disclose certain plans. The Wizards are an extraordinarily tight lipped organization. Almost to the degree that the Thunder are. Almost to the degree that the spurs have been.

C (47:24)

Having said that he did play in summer league. He played, I think in two games in summer league and none of what he showed there was anything similar to this.

D (47:33)

Right. Yeah. That's why I was so confused by it.

C (47:36)

Right. And by the way, he's only 20 and his body, as I said before or indicated before, has not filled out yet. And yes, did I think he'd make progress?

C (47:48)

Probably, but if you had pinned me down, so to speak, I would have thought it would be modest, gradual progress. I'm not saying he's an all star right now. I'm not saying that. I'm not even saying that he's most improved player in the league. But the, the gap between last year to this year has been immense. So no, I did not expect it. It has surprised me. And.

C (48:17)

The Wizards are not giving any indication whether they're surprised or not. Not that that matters because it's been a real improvement. And it's, it's right now probably the best thing the franchise has going for it for the long term, other than the fact that it has stayed disciplined.

C (48:37)

With its long term plan, which in the short term is like taking this yucky, disgusting tasting medicine, the 3 and 18. But as some of my executive contacts and sources tell me, you know, to get well and this was a sick franchise, you have to take your medicine. And in their case, unfortunately for them, the medicine is losing in the short term. Yeah.

E (49:09)

Which is great because if somehow they get blessed with the top three pick in the draft, things can turn around pretty quick. And so hopefully that's something that happens for them.

C (49:18)

Correct. And I have to tell both sides to the analysis here. The nightmare scenario is that somehow they wind up with the fifth or the sixth pick, or who knows, maybe the fourth pick, and they don't get a franchise changing player, in which case. Well then that's, in my opinion, is a serious problem. In my opinion, which I think would be just disastrous for them. They express a little bit more confidence than that. And perhaps they did see Alex Sars improvement coming. But in my opinion, if they're not in the top three, perhaps the top four, maybe, maybe there's a fifth great prospect this year. That's a real serious problem for them. Yeah, I just. You mentioned being honest.

E (50:07)

I mean, you should always, always.

E (50:11)

You mentioned Keyshawn George. He's getting some early attention here. The, the playmaking wasn't his biggest selling point as a prospect, but now he's averaging almost five assists per game. What are your thoughts on his development as A playmaker in general.

C (50:27)

I think it's very promising. He's now a bonafide point forward. Does he have a lot to work on? Yes, that's true.

E (50:36)

But.

C (50:39)

At this time last year, there were rumblings that the Wizards actually may have thought that he was their best long term NBA player. They saw some rumblings and they may disagree. Certainly Alex Saar seems to have surpassed. But Keyshawn George has been very impressive. Not just as a ball handler, although there has been that improvement, but as a shooter. And you know, he's a competitor. I think Alex Sar is a competitor also. But with Keyshawn, when they lose, it's like he's absorbed a punch to the gut. I mean, he's really upset, especially if it's a close game where he feels like he didn't do his part. I mean, this is a compliment.

D (51:28)

Sure.

C (51:30)

Again, I'm being serious. I've had a long.

C (51:34)

Career which has been for the most part covering rebuilding teams. Not all of it. Not all of it, but a large part of it. And I'll never forget the first year of the new front office, the Hennigan front office in Orlando. I'm talking after the game to old veteran Al Harrington. They had just gotten their doors blown off by 25 plus points. And it was a very similar situation to the one that the Wizards are facing now. And he says, you know, at some point you want to see the young guys.

C (52:10)

Take a chair and throw it into the chalkboard here in the, in the locker room and just break the chalkboard.

C (52:19)

And now no one has ever done that in my time covering the NBA. 16, 17 years so far as I know. But the losing really upsets Keyshawn George when he feels like he's going contributed to it. Like he missed a, he had a, I think he missed a free throw in Detroit, a game that they should have won. They wound up losing in overtime. They deserve to win that game. He's upset at himself. I think that's a great quality to have. And that shows me that he has the competitiveness to withstand these very down times for the team. And let's again, just be clear. I do think that they have to try to keep their pick. But that doesn't mean that this 318 start is pleasant. It's not pleasant. It's not pleasant for anybody within that team, except perhaps for the people who understand how important it is to keep that pick.

D (53:17)

So I want to ask you about Cam Whitmore, because once upon a time he was a draft day steal for The Rockets after he dropped a 20 in the 2023 draft. He was seen as this player with very high upside, but also some glaring flaws, most notably his lack of playmaking or just passing in general. Wizards took a flyer on him this summer. He's been averaging around 17 minutes per game for Washington. What have been your early impressions of Cam, and do you think the wizard should consider playing him more?

C (53:43)

Well, they should consider everything. And I think those are going to be deliberations that will intensify and may come to fruition, especially after the trade deadline or after any sort of buyouts for any veterans. If that happens.

C (54:03)

When he has the ball and he's going downhill, he's darn near unstoppable. Unstoppable. He's probably the second best athlete on the team behind only Bilal. He has some real ability to score and to score quickly and to score without the aid of even a pick and roll, which is a very rare thing in the NBA. So he does. You're right. In the scouting reports as you describe them, they were correct. He does have these gifts, but he does have the tunnel vision that you speak of, and that's been readily apparent. When they played in Houston, I ran a stat through the tracking data that the league has passes per minute played. He was last among all Wizards rotation players.

C (54:53)

So it all depends on the role they want. And if they want to have a. A democratic.

C (55:01)

Make the extra pass offense, well, then so far he has not fit into that. And that's going to have to be an area where he has to improve. But if you need someone who can come off that bench and score and do a lot of it on his own, well, then he is as advertised. And they have. For all the reasons we've discussed, they have the time to work on it with him. And they say they're doing their best to develop players. This is one example where. Let's see how they do.

E (55:35)

Yeah. What have you thought about the coaching staff and the developmental staff and just like Brian Keefe overall and like how. How he's. He's done there.

E (55:49)

Oh, you're muted. We can't hear you.

C (55:52)

Am I back?

E (55:53)

You're back.

C (55:53)

Okay. So full disclosure to the readers. I'm battling an awful cold. An awful cold which I think I picked up at a rest stop in the middle of the day making the drive from Washington to Philly to cover our Magic game. And so shame on all the people in the rest stop who are shedding virus.

E (56:11)

Come on.

C (56:12)

Or in the 76ers eating area, not the team's eating area. Anyway, don't. Don't get me started. So anyway, that's why I had it on mute. What was your question again?

E (56:23)

Just curious. Your thoughts on Brian Keefe and like the job that he's done so far.

C (56:30)

So I think I'm certain that he knew what the team was trying to accomplish when he took the job. And.

C (56:40)

By all accounts, he does hold players accountable when they make a mistake. He says so even last year, if it was Jordan Poole. Okay. Which is not to say Jordan Poole doesn't make mistakes. But it's not like Jordan Poole got a pass from him.

C (56:57)

Having. So he. He's facing enormous headwinds in terms of being able to win. This is a team that is set up in the short term to lose simply by the fact of they're playing. The roster is loaded with young guys. They all play for the most part, alongside each other. It's almost impossible to be mistake free. And for all the quality that C.J. mcCollum brings on offense, he's been not good on defense. And Khris Middleton lately has not been very effective unless he's playing Milwaukee. Okay, so he's facing all these headwinds. That's all true. I think that's necessary context.

C (57:36)

Having said all that, I don't see a team that is close to playing to whatever its capability is and that shows itself on defense. Are there times when they play good defense? Yes. Is it too much to expect a young team to play 48 minutes of very good defense? Probably is too much to expect. But even having said all that.

C (58:05)

They don't seem to be anywhere near.

C (58:10)

What they could be in the short term. And I think that is an issue. Yeah, I think that's an issue. And I also think that it's in an almost impossible job that he's been put into to hold him to a standard of seeing that team play 48 minutes per night of great defense. Yeah, I just don't. I don't think that that's realistic, but I also don't think that they are close to that on most nights.

E (58:41)

Yeah. And then I wanted to ask you about Trey Johnson. He was the Wizards top pick in last year's draft. He's missed the last six games of the hip injury, but the shooting is something that was supposed to be his calling card and it's looked great already. But what have you thought about the rest of his offensive game so far?

C (58:58)

So his shooting has been great as advertised. The rest of the game needs work in terms of where is he going to get his shots, particularly if he's not receiving the ball in spot up situations on the perimeter where he's excellent. I mean, he's already excellent in that area. It's very impressive. Best rookie shooter I've covered by far.

C (59:27)

So he does need to learn where and how he'll get his shots. He needs to put on more strength, a little bit more explosiveness. I think he'll get there.

C (59:37)

As with any rookie, it's disappointing that he's injured because just as he's beginning to start to figure things out or realize what he needs to figure out, he's not playing because he's injured.

E (59:51)

So.

C (59:53)

And I think defensively he's probably been a little bit better than he was billed to be because heading into the draft he was noted correctly as someone who didn't play much defense at Texas, perhaps because he had such a gigantic offensive responsibility there. As his coach told me, I think his defense was better than expected. But there's no good time for an injury and this kind of slows his development for sure.

D (60:23)

Well, Josh, thank you for answering all of our Wizards questions, but it is now time to play Andrew versus the Beat Wizards edition. Now, Josh, you've played Andrew versus, I would say it's probably your. Your favorite game. Wouldn't you say that in this year off you've had where you've been banned from the show, of course, for one year, but you're back now. Well, you probably were missing it.

C (60:49)

Wait a second. Was I banned?

D (60:50)

Was the who can say?

C (60:54)

And I think your tens of thousands of listeners who've come to root for me are offended too. I think you might have just jeopardized your shows standing among your listeners because they're rooted. Rooting for me. As lovable as Andrew is, and he is lovable, and he's a wonderful guy and he's a great family man and you're a magnetic, charismatic host. They're rooting for me, guys.

D (61:17)

Everyone also have a family.

C (61:18)

Everyone likes everyone. Everyone's rooting for the. The loser who can't win.

D (61:24)

That's right.

C (61:25)

I'm the underdog.

D (61:26)

You are the underdog. But I, I have a good feeling about this week.

C (61:29)

Josh, one of us, my man.

D (61:33)

Now, how this works. I've come up with eight questions about the Wizards.

C (61:35)

You're going to get all this works.

D (61:36)

One and eight. Okay, quiet then. In case we have a new listener.

D (61:44)

Eight questions. You give me a number between one and eight. It'll correspond to a question. If you get it Right. You'll get at least two points. You get it wrong, and you'll have a chance to steal for one. And we'll go back and forth until all the questions have been asked and answered. So, Josh, start me off with a number between one and eight.

C (61:57)

Two, please.

D (61:59)

Two. Oh, man.

C (62:01)

Oh, wait.

D (62:01)

What's the.

C (62:02)

What? Is there something wrong now?

E (62:03)

Already?

D (62:04)

It is. This is the hardest question I came up with.

D (62:09)

You could pass it to Andrew, but you won't. You would lose. Your turn. Here we go. You got this. The Wizards bottom two offense for the second year in a row currently. The last time that happened was the 201213 season. Now, that season, John Wall led the Wizards in total points. Brad Beal had the third most total points for the Wizards. Who had the second most total points for the 201213 Wizards?

C (62:38)

Yo.

E (62:40)

That'S crazy.

C (62:42)

That's crazy.

D (62:45)

Who. Who were you covering at that time? Were you in Orlando?

C (62:47)

I was in Orlando, so that doesn't help. Well, you would think it would help because I would have covered four games between the Magic and the Wizards. And you would think that anyone who's reasonably competent would remember the top three scorers on the Washington Wizards that year, but apparently not, because apparently I'm an incompetent and while lovable, I don't know what the heck. I don't remember a single doggone thing. And I feel so inferior right now, but I'm still happy to take my legion of fans and family to dinner with Andrew. I go back to Oklahoma.

E (63:23)

Just extending the offer again, everybody, seriously, send me an email and make your case. If you want to go to dinner with Josh, and I.

C (63:32)

Wait, do I have to send my case or.

E (63:35)

No, you're talking to the listeners right now. I'm talking to your beloved listeners.

C (63:38)

Yes. I do love them very much.

C (63:42)

Oh, we have a question that I have to answer.

E (63:43)

Yeah. What's your answer?

D (63:44)

That's right.

D (63:46)

I think we should rent a limo and get all these folks and drive to Oceans. Oh, the famous fried chicken place.

E (63:55)

That's a great idea. That's a great idea.

D (63:57)

It's in Okarchi.

E (63:58)

Is that right? It's in Okarchi.

D (63:59)

Yeah. Yeah. Memorable. It'll be memorable.

E (64:02)

Yeah.

C (64:03)

2012, huh?

E (64:05)

Yep.

D (64:07)

12, 13 Wizards.

C (64:10)

Who was the second leading scorer?

C (64:14)

Rough.

D (64:15)

Any guesses?

C (64:17)

Clearly, no.

D (64:19)

So you are passing.

D (64:22)

You want to just throw out a name?

C (64:24)

I'm thinking, my man, you're putting pressure on me, which is, I think, one of the guilty pleasures.

D (64:30)

Your listeners, You've already stalled for a minute and a half.

C (64:33)

Well, you're putting pressure on me now. It's like. It's like a elephant sitting on a. On a.

D (64:41)

On a possum's chest.

C (64:43)

I don't know.

D (64:45)

Oh, that classic saying. Oh, it's like an elephant sitting on a possum's chest.

C (64:51)

Okay, I'm thinking here.

C (64:55)

Oh, no, you're saying the 1213 season. All right, so out of Porter got there. I think the year after that wouldn't have been him.

E (65:04)

But I have a guess.

C (65:06)

Yeah. Wasn't Otto Porter.

C (65:12)

Who was their big at the time. It wasn't Gortat Gortak came arrived a few years later.

E (65:18)

No.

C (65:19)

All right, well, I'm going to pass on this. Let's see Schlechti get it.

D (65:24)

Okay, Andrew, what is your guess?

E (65:28)

My guess is Nana.

C (65:29)

Oh, crying out loud. I should have got mad.

D (65:32)

It's wrong. Don't worry, Josh.

E (65:34)

It's wrong.

C (65:34)

You're wrong.

E (65:35)

Dang.

D (65:36)

It was of course Martell Webster.

C (65:39)

Okay, well, I don't feel very terrible.

D (65:42)

I know. That's what I thought too.

C (65:43)

I don't feel so bad not knowing that.

D (65:46)

Andrew, board is yours.

E (65:48)

Number one.

D (65:49)

Question number one. According to cleaning the glass, when this wizard is on the court, Washington is 14 points per 100 possessions better than when he is off the best on. Off swing on the team. Who is the player?

E (66:04)

Wow.

E (66:06)

Huh?

E (66:15)

Is this. Is this Corey Kispert?

D (66:19)

Wow. It is Corey Kispert. That is correct. For two points.

E (66:26)

You know you gave my son a Corey Kissbert card. I did. And he was on a mission to get that. That card signed. It's a numbered Corey Kispert card.

D (66:35)

Only 25 of them in the.

E (66:37)

Only 25.

C (66:38)

And now that he get it signed.

E (66:39)

He did get it signed. He. He did get it signed. He was very, very happy.

C (66:43)

Was that that game that I covered in in October?

E (66:47)

It was. It was at that game. Yep.

C (66:50)

Well, at least there's some good news coming out of this trivia game.

D (66:55)

Josh, the board is yours.

C (66:58)

Eight, please.

D (67:00)

Question number eight. Going with the last question. Only three teams have played fewer minutes in the clutch than the Wizards. Name one.

C (67:10)

Oklahoma City.

D (67:12)

No, Andrew.

C (67:17)

So.

D (67:17)

So.

C (67:18)

So actually last I looked up this stat for last season and there was only one team that was had fewer and it was. That was Oklahoma.

D (67:26)

That is true.

E (67:28)

Yeah.

C (67:28)

That was not the question you asked.

D (67:31)

Correct.

C (67:31)

So.

D (67:31)

And the. The thing is that SGA actually leads all players in clutch points right now.

E (67:37)

Well, it's true.

C (67:38)

Did I say he's not a great player?

D (67:40)

No, no. I'm just saying that They've had to be in some clutch games for him to do that.

D (67:47)

Now, Andrew, any guesses? Three teams that have played fewer clutch minutes than the Wizards.

E (67:52)

What about the Nets?

D (67:53)

Brooklyn Nets. That is correct.

D (67:57)

Any other guesses? Josh, you want to just throw and throw one out?

C (68:03)

Pelicans?

D (68:04)

Nope.

E (68:06)

I think the Knicks are one of the Knicks.

D (68:08)

Another one. You don't get a point for it, but it is correct. And the last one, the team has played the fewest clutch minutes in the league. Although you know what? This was before Thursday night's game against the Raptors. Los Angeles Lakers. So I don't know if that. I don't know if that is still true.

E (68:23)

I was going to guess.

C (68:24)

Is there still a way I can come back and win this thing?

D (68:27)

Absolutely. It is early days in this game. Andrew, board is yours.

E (68:36)

Three.

D (68:37)

Question number three. The Wizards currently have three players who take five plus threes per game while shooting at least 39%. CJ McCollum, Keyshawn George and Trey Johnson. There are four other NBA teams who also have at least three players taking five plus threes while shooting 39 or better. Name one of those teams.

E (68:58)

Oh, wow. 39 or better.

D (69:02)

From screen. You gotta have three high volume shooters, relatively speaking. Five plus three.

E (69:09)

That is tricky.

E (69:15)

I don't know. Boston.

D (69:18)

Here we go. Here we go. Josh, steal that point. What do you got for me?

E (69:28)

Steal that point.

C (69:28)

Steal that point, Josh.

D (69:30)

Steal that point, Josh.

C (69:32)

You imbecile.

C (69:35)

You dumb. Dumb.

C (69:38)

And let's look, let's face it, I am a dum dum in this game.

D (69:41)

No.

E (69:42)

Oh, no, don't say that.

C (69:44)

I'm the most inept guest you've ever had.

E (69:47)

No.

C (69:49)

If I'm not, then who is?

E (69:52)

We don't need to name names.

C (69:54)

All right, so I'm gonna. I'm gonna go with the Lakers.

D (69:57)

Okay. No, that's wrong. Okay, so the. The answer. Phoenix Grayson, Allen, Royce O', Neill, Colin Gillespie, OKC. Aaron Wiggins, Isaiah Joe, SGA. The Knicks OG Anunoby, Miles McBride, Mikhail Bridges and Milwaukee KPJ, Ryan Rollins and AJ Green.

E (70:18)

Yeah, that makes sense.

D (70:19)

All right, Josh, Andrew's only up by three. You have control of the board.

C (70:23)

All right, I'm gonna go with seven, please.

D (70:26)

Question number seven. Oh, okay.

C (70:28)

Listeners, are you getting your dose of masochism for today?

D (70:32)

Hey, Josh, lock in on this question because I think this is the easiest question.

C (70:36)

Lock in. Here we go, Ken. Thank you.

D (70:38)

The Wizards are ranked highest in which of the following categories per cleaning the glass. Half court offense, transition offense, half court defense, Transition defense, transition offense. That is correct. For two points.

C (70:56)

Yes. That was an easy question. And you, having said that, makes me feel inadequate.

D (71:03)

No, no, it's three, two now. We got a game on our hands.

E (71:07)

You just take the layup. Just take the layup and just be excited.

C (71:10)

Well, yeah. Your pal. All right, so I have tremendous affection for Alex, and I think he's great. And he's an incredible host. I mean, really charismatic.

E (71:21)

Yeah, he's great.

C (71:22)

But he also.

D (71:23)

And a family man.

C (71:24)

Oh, that's lovely. That's great.

C (71:28)

I'm sure you're a great husband and father. That's not a. Thank you. However, let's just call. Let's just call a spade a spade here and just acknowledge that he has a special way of kind of getting under. Not. Not make me angry, but make me feel a bit insecure here. And he kind of. He kind of tilts the playing field toward his pal Andrew, I think.

D (71:53)

Well, okay, that is not true. I want nothing more than to see Andrew lose every week. It brings me immense joy.

C (72:01)

Made an accusation, and I'm going to stick to by that accusation.

E (72:06)

Wow. But you're.

C (72:07)

You're great at all the other stuff, like the family man stuff. I mean, that's more important.

D (72:12)

Thank you, Andrew. Board is yours.

E (72:15)

Four.

D (72:17)

Question number four.

C (72:18)

I'm sorry. That's the second easiest of all the questions.

D (72:21)

It actually is. What is CJ McCollum's career high in points? Plus Khris Middleton's career high in points? Now, Andrew, you have to add those two numbers together. Andrew, you get to choose who answers first, so you can make Josh answer and then you go higher, lower. Or you can answer and Josh would go higher, lower. So CJ's career high plus Chris Middleton's career high. Adam, together.

E (72:46)

Oh, wow. Okay.

E (72:53)

That's a trick. It's.

D (72:56)

It's not a trick question.

E (72:57)

It's a tricky question.

C (72:58)

See, now he's starting to feel the pressure.

E (73:02)

I don't know. 103.

C (73:06)

All right, that's lower. The answer is lower than 103.

D (73:10)

The correct answer is. Andrew, you got within two points of the correct answer. Correct answer is 101, which means Josh gets the point and we have a tie game.

C (73:24)

This is thrilling. This is as thrilling as the season. Season opener between OKC and. Who do they play again?

D (73:31)

Houston.

C (73:32)

That was a great game. That was a great game. And this is a great contest between.

C (73:38)

Two Titans. Between Mr. Genius, Andrew Schlect and America's sweetheart, Josh Robins.

E (73:46)

You're calling yourself the lovable Underdog the.

C (73:50)

Lovable mutt against the lovable mutt with. With. Who lost a leg when he was running across the street against the most frou. Frou Standard poodle.

D (74:07)

Yes. Get his ass.

C (74:08)

The most frou. Standard poodle.

D (74:12)

Print.

C (74:13)

Print. Dog show. I'm.

E (74:17)

Yeah.

C (74:17)

I'm America's mutt. I'm American mutt.

D (74:20)

Yeah. Andrew's up on his heartworm medication.

C (74:23)

No, no.

D (74:24)

We're not sure if you've had it.

C (74:25)

I'm the one who. Oh, that's right. Yes.

E (74:29)

Oh, no.

D (74:30)

All right, Josh. This is big.

E (74:31)

It is.

D (74:32)

Two questions left. Tie game. Five or six?

C (74:36)

I'm going with number five, please.

D (74:38)

Question number five. At his current pace, Alex Sar will enter the top 10 for most blocks in Wizards franchise history by his fourth season. Who is in the top 10 for most blocks in Wizards franchise history? We're going to name them. So how this works is, Josh, you're going to give me name, then Andrew will give me name, and we're going to go back and forth until one of you stumbles. So this is Wizards franchise history. Most total blocks, Charles Jones. Wow. I would have saved that name. There's no way Andrew knows who Charles Jones is. Yes, Charles Jones is correct.

C (75:12)

When I have the correct answer, I need to. I can't take a risk.

D (75:16)

Okay. That was impressive, though. That was the one name I did not know.

E (75:20)

Wow.

D (75:22)

Okay, Andrew.

E (75:24)

Brendan Haywood.

D (75:26)

Brendan Haywood. He was number four on the list. Now.

C (75:29)

That's amazing. That's amazing, man. You're impressive, Andrew.

E (75:34)

Longevity, right?

C (75:36)

Wow. That's just incredible work by you.

C (75:41)

Man. You are impressed.

E (75:42)

That's what us poodles. That's what us poodles do.

C (75:44)

Well, when you have the quality education, like some, you know, See, I didn't have the benefit of a trainer. They just put me in the dog pound and said, well, maybe someone will come over and claim you. Whereas you, you got three meals a day of high quality, you know, this packaged food. I got the gravel instead.

E (76:04)

That's what everybody's always saying about me.

D (76:11)

Josh. Another name in the top 10 all time blocks. Wizards history.

C (76:16)

Yeah, there sure is some pressure now.

D (76:19)

It's heating up, Heating up.

C (76:21)

It is heating up.

C (76:26)

Okay, I'm.

C (76:34)

Total blocks. All right, I'm going to go with Gortad on this.

D (76:39)

Marcine Gortad was number eight on the good Lord.

C (76:44)

Thank the good Lord.

D (76:46)

Back to Andrew.

E (76:48)

What about Javale?

D (76:50)

Javale McGee.

D (76:53)

Was number seven on the list. Back to Josh. We have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 names remaining.

D (77:02)

Six blocksmen for the Washington Wizards. You still haven't got number one. Number three.

E (77:10)

Still some.

C (77:11)

I'm gonna say. Okay, and this is a risk because he wasn't said to really play a ton of defense. Elvin Hayes.

D (77:21)

Elvin Hayes, number one on the list all time.

C (77:26)

See, I even thought that was a risk. And yet he was number one on the list. Goes to show how absolutely clueless I am.

D (77:34)

No, hey, go back to the America's sweetheart.

C (77:36)

No, no. But that's why I am America's sweetheart, because I'm the quintessential underdog.

E (77:43)

Wow.

E (77:45)

Manute Bowl.

D (77:47)

Manute Bowl. Number three on the list.

D (77:52)

Wow. This is getting good. All right, Josh, can you pull another name out of the hat?

C (77:57)

This is a titanic stuff. Struggle between two immovable objects and irresistible forces.

D (78:08)

They'll talk about this one for years.

C (78:09)

They might. They might. I'm sure it's going to come up at this lovely dinner we're going to.

E (78:14)

Have in Oklahoma City.

D (78:18)

All right, can you pull one name? There's four names remaining. All right, number five, six, nine.

C (78:23)

I'm well aware that Wes Anselt Sr. Was not someone who played above the rim. I'm well aware of that. But wow, what a brilliant player he was. What a hustle hustling player. He was a truly great player. And so I'm going to put my.

C (78:46)

My hopes into hoping that Wes on seld Senior blocked a lot of shots because he played a lot of games for that team, even won an mvp. Do I get extra credit for saying that he won the rookie of the year in MVP in the same season?

E (79:01)

No.

C (79:02)

No. That's not fair. That's not sporting. I don't want to win like that. All right, but my answer is West.

D (79:07)

Senior, he was also an all star, is an NBA first teamer.

D (79:14)

He, however, was not on the list.

E (79:17)

Wow.

D (79:18)

Now, part of this was the fact that they didn't start tracking blocks until 1973. 74. So you missed out on five seasons. But also he never averaged more than a block per game during his other seasons.

C (79:32)

Well, I was hoping for pure volume on this one.

D (79:35)

Yeah. Understand. Let's see how close he was.

C (79:38)

Gamble and I lost.

D (79:39)

It's okay.

C (79:41)

I'm gonna have to wait another year and a half to take on Andrew.

D (79:44)

The game's not over.

E (79:45)

You know what? He's over yet.

D (79:46)

He was within 40. Which means if they had trek block, he easily would have been.

E (79:51)

Wow.

C (79:52)

Maybe I'll put a protest in.

E (79:55)

Wow.

D (79:56)

Andrew. Any other guesses? Did you have another name?

E (79:59)

I was going to guess George Mirison. Yeah.

D (80:01)

He was number nine, Former Thunder player, Eton Thomas.

E (80:05)

Oh, Eton Thomas.

D (80:06)

He was number 10, and then Rick Mahorn 5 and Purvis Ellison 6.

C (80:13)

Okay, so you want to know the real kick in the gut there?

E (80:16)

Yeah.

D (80:16)

What is that?

C (80:17)

When I was growing up, Rick Mahorn was one of my all time favorites.

E (80:20)

Wow.

C (80:21)

And yet I didn't think that he. I thought he was more about. Yeah, well, whatever. Go. Yeah, I'm bitter. I'm bitter and disaffected.

D (80:33)

Okay, so you're not out of it, though.

C (80:35)

I still love the slam and jam.

D (80:37)

Good.

C (80:38)

God bless all of you.

D (80:40)

God bless all of you.

D (80:44)

All right, Andrew, final question. If you get this right, you win. If you get it wrong, Josh will have a chance to tie the game up and send it into overtime.

E (80:52)

No.

C (80:52)

Okay.

D (80:52)

Okay, final question. Of the 26 two man lineups that have played at least 150 minutes for the Wizards, only two of them are positive. Now, I will say this was prior to the 45 point loss to Boston.

E (81:04)

Okay.

D (81:06)

Which wizard appears in both of those positive two man lineups? There's only one wizard who appears in both of those positive two man lineups. Who is it?

E (81:17)

Oh, boy.

D (81:20)

This is rough.

E (81:25)

Oh. Ow. Do we really want overtime? Because I feel like.

C (81:30)

Yes, yes.

E (81:31)

I think that Josh could get this.

E (81:34)

I feel like he could get this.

C (81:37)

But I want you to really try to win this. I can't.

E (81:40)

I'm trying.

C (81:41)

Good. Thank you.

E (81:41)

I'm trying.

C (81:42)

Thank you.

D (81:42)

Don't throw the game.

E (81:44)

No, no, I will not throw the game.

D (81:45)

It would stain the legacy.

E (81:47)

I would really reverse of the beat.

E (81:54)

Koulibaly.

E (81:57)

Andrew.

D (82:00)

That is correct. And Andrew has won the week five to three, narrowly edging out Josh Robbins.

E (82:11)

You know what, Josh?

C (82:14)

This is like.

C (82:17)

Well, this is just plain painful. This is like when the Soviet Union would win the men's hockey at the Winter Olympics. I tried to give your tens of thousands of listeners a 1980 Miracle on Ice moment.

E (82:32)

Wow.

C (82:33)

Or a Villanova over Georgetown in the NCAA Tournament moment. But it's not to be. And I would like to congratulate Andrew that I couldn't have lost to a better gentleman. And Alex, what a quiz you just created. What a quiz.

D (82:48)

What a quiz.

E (82:49)

What a quiz.

C (82:50)

You should be so proud. And I look forward to taking listeners out to dinner in Oklahoma City.

C (83:01)

I meant what I said when I said that. And I'm going to follow through.

E (83:05)

There we go. Okay. State your case to me in an email also. Hey, Josh, why don't you stick. You want to stick around with us? Because I usually read our five star review views after the guest is gone, but one. This, this one involves you. Would you like to stay.

E (83:22)

And, like, do the Wheel of Fandom with us and then I'll read?

C (83:25)

Well, I love you guys, so whatever. You all right Just to have me around. It's. It's.

E (83:30)

I. I think this has maybe only happened one other time in Slam and Jam history. I'm trying to remember who it was, but. Do you remember that, Al?

D (83:36)

Oh, yeah. Someone did hang out, hang around with us.

E (83:39)

Maybe it was Law. I don't know.

C (83:40)

Oh, now I love Law, too. Now he. Isn't he just wonderful? Isn't he just a delight?

E (83:45)

The very best.

C (83:46)

Yeah, he is great.

E (83:47)

The very best. Al, you want to bring up the wheel and. All right, we can do the wheel right here and then I'll read our. Our five star review.

D (83:54)

Here we go. So that, of course, was Wizards week. We got two weeks of the Wizards. Let me make sure they're not still on this, are they? Don't want to get them again. Actually, actually, it would be nice. Would that be nice, Josh, you. If after a year of not being on the pod, you got to come.

E (84:10)

Back Double Wizards week.

C (84:12)

I would love to be back. If one of you guys gets like a hangnail and needs someone to sub in. Oh, I'm happy to sub in. I'm just happy to be included.

E (84:23)

Okay. Included.

D (84:26)

So let's spin the Wheel of Fandom, find out what team Andrew and I will become fans of for the next week. This week's Wheel of Fandom team will be.

D (84:41)

The Memphis Grizzlies.

E (84:44)

Oh, man. We. We actually talked a lot about the Grizz earlier in this one, so.

D (84:48)

We sure did.

E (84:49)

I feel like we're, we're, we're studied up. We're ready for Grizzlies weekend for our guy, Keith Parish to come back on Slamming Jam.

D (84:57)

Let's, let's, let's take a gander at who they're playing. Oh, oh, Friday night Clippers at home.

E (85:04)

Oh, we're interested in that. Yeah.

D (85:06)

Sunday, Portland. I'll be blacked out. Well, because of tv, because of drinking, because I live in Portland, I can't watch the game.

C (85:14)

As we said, he's a great family man.

D (85:19)

And that's the only two games they play.

E (85:22)

Yeah, because of the cup, right?

D (85:24)

Oh, because of the cup.

E (85:25)

Of course.

D (85:26)

Of course.

E (85:26)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

D (85:28)

All right, well, we'll take it.

E (85:29)

Okay. We will take it. We'll also take all your five star reviews. This one comes from our friend Wizards trash talker, he says the Wheel of fandom shined its countenance upon the Wizards for a double week of games. Andrew and Alex and we acolytes of the Wheel were graced with Wizards wins over the Hawks and Bucks. Two of our three wins all season. Praise be to the Wheel. May it grant us more wins, but not too many and an Alex Sars All Star appearance. Why not shout out to Josh Robbins and shout out to Matt Moderno. Slam and Jam. Five stars. Five Ever. Thank you so much for that five star review.

C (86:14)

That individual, whomever she or he is, is one heck of a writer. And that's the the person who should be the beat writer covering the Wizards.

C (86:24)

Because that individual is articulate, eloquent and had me on the edge of my seat. That was some good writing.

E (86:35)

Somebody else that I need to give a thanks to. Benjamin Miles made our new drop for the Good, the Bad, the what, which is voiced by our friend the L man, Luke Stevens, who's on the Friday show. Down to Dunk and then Benjamin took it from down to dunk. Like took it from an episode and then turned it into a beautiful drop. So thank you for that. We will be using it this season. Hope you guys enjoy your weekend and the basketball and we will talk to you guys again next Saturday.

C (87:32)

The holidays are coming and I've got.

D (87:34)

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E (87:36)

Aw, for me? Anna? Yes Anna, you deserve a gift. The Boost Mobile Unlimited plan is just $10 a month for the first two months. Then $25 a month forever with unlimited data, talk and text. It's a gift. Thanks Anna. Anytime Anna.

C (87:51)

The holidays are here and the best.

A (87:53)

Gift is for you.

D (87:54)

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A (87:59)

Go online or call to cancel.

D (88:00)

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B (88:17)

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