← The Ringer NBA Show
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- [00:00]
Raja Bell
Foreign.
- [00:10]
Howard Beck
What up? It's the real ones. Howard Beck, senior writer@theringer.com Logan is off today, but with me from Miami, he just got signed to a two way deal to be the starting center for the Denver Nuggets. It's Raja Bell. Happy New Year.
- [00:26]
Raja Bell
Does it come with instructions? Happy New Year. Does it come with instructions? Because like the setup here today, anything I do at this age, Howard, has to come with instructions. If there are no instructions included, like, I just. Just count me out.
- [00:38]
Howard Beck
Fair. Our new setup for the pod is, is, is testing us all. But we all. We look great. We look amazing. You look amazing. And the Nuggets could use you in place of Nicola Jokic and Jonas Valencunas because they're just down so many centers. The instruction manual says stand somewhere near the basket and throw awesome passes. Can you do that?
- [00:58]
Raja Bell
Throw great passes. I can stand near the basket. I promise you that passing was never, was never a gift of mine.
- [01:04]
Howard Beck
I should look up your career assist average. I'm gonna guess like 2.6, maybe.
- [01:08]
Raja Bell
Better yet, look up my assist to turnover ratio and you will see. Yeah.
- [01:14]
Howard Beck
Aside from learning how to operate all of our fancy schmancy new equipment, do you have any New Year's resolutions?
- [01:23]
Raja Bell
Yeah, I'd like to be present more. I think, Howard, probably a lot of people say that it just feels like I'm obviously a little sentimental, like D is leaving for school and we're doing the whole thing, but like, it went so fast that if I could try to find a way. I pride myself on being present, but I would like to be even more so. Does that make sense?
- [01:43]
Howard Beck
Yeah, no, for sure. And I've got that same feeling. Right. My daughter's home right now from school for the month for winter break, and it's like, you know, counting the days and trying to maximize the time and yeah, it's only going to get more profound and noticeable as you go here. And plus, we all probably should be downloading those apps that just like, negate everything on the phone so that we can't be tempted to like, pick it up. Because when we talk about being present in 2026, that's the main thing, right? We're all distracted constantly.
- [02:18]
Raja Bell
No doubt.
- [02:20]
Howard Beck
All right, we're going to try to reset the Eastern Conference today as we head into the new calendar year. Just where do things stand with a race that we thought was wide open? Maybe it's still wide open. Maybe it's even more wide open. We'll. We'll. We'll get into it. We'll have real one of the week, of course, because it's a Friday, but I wanted to just touch on a couple quick news items and just bounce a few things off you before we get to resetting the East. The first one is that a couple nights ago on New Year's Eve, the Timberwolves get crushed by the Hawks 126, 102. They trail by as many as 34. Never led in that game. Wolves looking a little wonky. But the reason I bring it up is that with about eight minutes to go in the game, Finch decided to just bench the entire starting lineup. Throwing the, like, throwing the towel, throwing the. The. The bench guys and Anthony Edwards headed straight for the locker room. They've lost three of five, including a double digit loss to the Nets. Like, things are just a little wonky with, with Minnesota, but the Anthony Edwards straight to the locker room thing. And I don't know if he's talked about it since. I think he left without talking to reporters that night. I'm just curious about it from a teammate standpoint. If any of your teammates, but especially your franchise star leaves. Like, we had a Draymond thing a couple weeks ago, it was a little bit different. He had the tiff with Steve Kerr. Everybody seemed okay with it. It's Draymond. They're used to stuff. But just the idea of, you know, important players, starters, stars, just leave him for the locker room with the game still going. How does it strike you if, if you're one of his teammates.
- [03:49]
Raja Bell
Yeah, that's. That would always put up some red flags. You know, the NBA is its own entity and it's different as it relates to like scheduling. So we're in college ball or high school ball even. There's time to like fester on something like that. Howard, like, the new cycle's a little bit longer because you just have so much time in between games. You know, from time to time. With the NBA, that would be a red flag. That evening might be the talk of the locker room tomorrow. You know, obviously if we didn't have a chance as teammates to kind of talk to Ant, we might, we might sleep on that. But by tomorrow in practice, as long as everything looks good, chemistry wise, between coach, player and things are business as usual, we typically have to move on. You don't have the time to sit there and really dig into that. Now, if we come in tomorrow and their normal interaction. Isn't their normal interaction one or both seem standoffish if, you know, if we can sense that there's Something that's, That's lingered from the night before. Now people start to have more conversations about that. But typically, red flag, we're all wondering what's going on, but provided they've moved on the next day, we typically would move on the next day.
- [05:01]
Howard Beck
Yeah. No, I tend to think that, like, teams are going to give everybody a little bit of latitude, especially when it's like, you know, duress kind of circumstances where things are really bad, you're getting your. Your butts kicked, you've been in a little bit of a rut. It's January. We just hit the dog days. Everybody's probably a little bit cranky in the middle of winter.
- [05:19]
Raja Bell
Your point's a good one, Howard. Most. Most coaches, most organizations, if the person running it hasn't been in the heat of those battles, someone very close to them has been. And that's typically the message. Like, look, guys, that's a. Was an embarrassing loss. This is a. This is a time of year, around the holidays. Everybody's a little on edge. They haven't been playing well. There's a little bit of grace that someone like Kim is going to be given, not just because he's a star, but because people understand, you know, how. How you could get during this time of year. Things aren't going well, and we've just had an embarrassing loss to a team that we shouldn't lose to. Now, if that's a habit, if that's his, you know, normal mo, then we've got bigger problems. But I don't. I don't think that seems to be who is. So I think most people in that scenario with an organization that's ran well would, Would. Would be given a little bit of grace and we move on, provided everybody seems to move on.
- [06:08]
Howard Beck
Well, yeah. The other news item I wanted to hit before we jump into the Eastern Conference, Logan and I talked a bit on Tuesday about the Jokic situation and the Nuggets, but I want to get your thoughts on some of this, too. So as we sit here today, they are now down Jokic, Aaron Gordon, Christian Brown, and Cam Johnson. So that's four fifths of the starting lineup. Everybody but Jamal Murray, last man standing, everybody. Then they lost Valentunas the other night also for about a month. So even, even their backup center is gone. There's two things I want to hit here. The first one is just when these things happen. I haven't covered this league a long time, and there are certain cliches that just great on me by now. One of them is like, Next man up, everybody. Somebody else just has to step up. Well, that's great, coach, but the next guy who has to step up ain't Nikola Jokic.
- [07:00]
Raja Bell
Right.
- [07:00]
Howard Beck
It's just, I get it, like, you can sometimes plug and play role players, but even that is along a spectrum. You don't just replace your superstars. I don't know. In fairness, I don't know if David Adelman has said that or not. I just know that there's always this mentality and some of it's true. Right. As you just noted about the Anthony Edwards situation, you don't have time to dwell on in the midst of NBA season because the games keep coming. So there really is kind of a we just move on and we just do as well as we can. And whether that means like Peyton Watson or somebody else is like trying to fill the void in other ways, cool. But I just wonder what you thought of that. Like, you, you've played alongside some of the all time greats in this game. If, if you lose Iverson for a few days when you're in Philly, if you lose Steve Nash or Amari for a few days in Phoenix, like, it's, I, I understand. Like, everybody's going to say, I can do a little more. We, we can, we can play more intense, more intense game. We can do the things that we do best a little bit more. But it really is not next man up. Right. Like that. That seems like a fallacy to me.
- [08:02]
Raja Bell
I mean, yeah, it is in that, like, you're not going to get the same production that you got out of Allen Iverson or Steve Nash or, or Nicola Jokic, Amara Stoudemire, so that, that's fair. But it does become next man up. Because to your point, like, we have to play these games, they're rolling and then we have to figure out, you know, how to reinvent ourselves. So I think a lot of it depends, Howard, on how your team is, is, is structured and how they want to play. So like, by that I mean, obviously if you extract Allen Iverson from the lineup. When I was with the Sixers, the entire structure of our offense was built around Allen Iverson's ability to score buckets. The rest of the roster had not a ton of offensive chops, so that's going to be a problem. You know, you've got, you got a team that 97% of what they do is funneling through him and he's not there anymore. I was also on a team with, with the, with the Suns. If you remember, we lost Amari Stoudemire. I think it was my first year there in training camp and I was kind of of the mindset that you were are which is like, I don't know how this works. We're kind of dead in the water. We wound up in the, the Western Conference finals and just really ran out of physical like man hours, if you will. Like we just didn't have the bodies to throw at a really good Dallas team at the end of the day. And so we lost. But that did become next man up because Boris Diao was able to step in, do some of the things that Amare did. We didn't get the point production, the above the rim, you know, type of lob role that we had with Steven Amari, but Sean Marion soaked up some of that. We're in a world where he typically felt like he was like the third guy looking in on a two headed monster. We acquired Tim Thomas who was able to come in and do some things and then the rest of us did get more shots than we ordinarily would because it became the Steve Nash kind of pick and roll, spread the ball around type of show. And so we weren't the same team, but it wasn't necessarily built all the way around Amari, so we were able to kind of withstand.
- [09:59]
Howard Beck
So in the Nuggets case, so much goes through Jokic, right? I mean, it's not just obviously all the passing and he is the hub and he is. Everything revolves around him, like literally and figuratively. It's clearly the scoring as well. It's keeping them, everybody organized in the fourth quarter. It's everything. Jamal Murray has been hovering, you know, kind of like right below that all star, all NBA line for years, mostly due to injury. He probably would have made it to one or both of those honors by now, if not for that. What do you think we see what would. What do you want to see? What is. What is on the line almost reputationally in terms and including obviously just keeping them afloat for Jamal Murray over the next four to six weeks, however long it ends up being.
- [10:43]
Raja Bell
Yeah, well, you know, I don't. I think he could take a huge step in the minds of a lot of people in terms of what his legacy is, if he's able to keep them viable, you know, in the Western Conference. Not just in the absence of Jokic, who clearly is, you know, the guy, but like to the point that you made before the segment. They're missing a bunch of people. So, you know, it's really all on him to like Orchestrate, you know, delegate, if you will, during games, carry them when they need to point production wise and play creating wise. And so if he's able to do that, and I know he's missed on some, some awards that we can debate whether or not he should have gotten in the past, but this would be a huge, huge statement from him to the league about who he is as a player. If he's able to do that, not just in Nicholas absence, but in the, in the rest of the team. I mean, he'd be out there with a, with the real skeleton crew.
- [11:33]
Howard Beck
The good news for them, there are rumblings that Christian Brown and Aaron Gordon should be back soon. I've heard maybe even as soon as Sunday here in Brooklyn. Nuggets coming in, play the Nets. Yeah. So, you know, you get a couple starters back and guys that you have, you know, logged a lot of minutes with, especially in Aaron Gordon's case. And Aaron Gordon can play small ball center too. So even just positionally, that, that's a huge boost if he's back in a couple of days. There's that. But I've also heard that Jokic, you know, they, they gave the very vague diagnosis and timeline. They just said hyperextended knee, which is not an actual diagnosis. It's obviously, it's a bone bruise. They're saying reevaluate in four weeks. They're not actually saying he'll be out for four weeks. So I've heard that that's probably going to be closer to six. But that's not anything official. That's just one rumbling I heard and should not surprise anybody if that's the case. And if that's the case, Raja, Nikola Jokic is done as far as the MVP race goes. He's done as far as all NBA goes because we have this 65 game rule. Logan and I talked about it at length on Tuesday, so we don't need to get too deep on it. But, you know, I just want to get your perspective as former player, as somebody who obviously played in a time when no one was worried about whether anybody was playing a full slate of games. Right. Like this rule was instituted because, and with the Players association's consent, it was, you know, collectively bargained, but because the league was super concerned that stars in particular weren't playing enough games because of load management and modern approaches to rehab and all that. But it's the guy who was, as, as of a few days ago leading the race for MVP might be DQ'd by rule. And when Banyama's on the bubble of that games played rule, or could be Giannis could be on the bubble of that. Like, we could have a bunch of guys just like KN out by a rule. And I just don't know how to feel about it. It makes me really uncomfortable as a. An awards voter. Was this the right move by the league in the first place? And if we have a year like this where a bunch of the best players in the league, top five, top ten type players are out by rule, is that okay? Do they need to revisit this? Where. Where are you at on this?
- [13:49]
Raja Bell
I'm. I'm torn on it, Howard, because, you know, in the world where you have a guy like Jokic that puts up the numbers that he puts up and is running away with an MVP race, like hypothetically, let's say, and he misses one more game than you should be able to miss and he's disqualified from voting because of that. Like, that sucks. I also understand why the league implemented it in the first place. Like, we had a problem and looking down the tunnel of what that problem was going to become was bleaker and bleaker. Right. Like, teams were strategically sitting guys and it was becoming a major issue in the league. So if you're going to affect that, what do guys want? They want their ability to make the most amount of money. Like, that's tied directly to NBA first teams, in some cases second teams. Like, there's. There, there are reasons why that was put in. So I. Ultimately an injury, you know, when you're playing sports, injuries always derail what you want to happen. Like, you know, it's not the same, but, you know, my son just had a pretty significant ankle injury. Like he, he was probably going to make first team all state and all, everything like that. And it sucks now because he's not going to play enough games to be considered for that, even though his numbers are really, really good. And that's just a part of playing sports. So, you know, I'm mixed about it. I know why it's in place. I think it needs to be in place. If it's not, there's no honor amongst thieves as it relates to these guys saying, I will sit. Someone, as much as my physio slash sports science team says they need to be sat in order to give them the highest percent chance of being healthy for a playoff run in a championship. And that's a slippery slope when you have every ownership group and every general manager, you know, kind of operating like that. Right. The league had to do something. And so do I love it. No. Do I understand why it had to happen? Yes. It sucks all the way around for all of those guys, that would have been a position to do some cool stuff as far as league awards, you know, go, but it's just what it is.
- [15:54]
Howard Beck
Yeah. Injuries have always been part of the game, of course, and we can probably find plenty of seasons where some of the best players in the game were, did not win awards, not because we didn't have a rule back then, but just because the, the media and voting, we already factored that in. Right. And so there have been years where a guy just didn't play enough games by consensus, not by rule. And yeah, the problem I've had with it from the beginning is, is that right, like, I want, as a voter, I want the, the latitude to decide, especially in the extreme case of if somebody comes in at exactly 64 games, misses it by one, literally one game, and a guy who played 65 or 66 is clearly the inferior player or didn't have as good of a season, like, I want the ability to make that judgment for myself. That's the whole point of voting. And having 100 people do this is like we're making judgment calls. And that's on everything. It's on who's. Who's around you on your team. It's on your production, your efficiency, how many games you played, how you started the season, how you finished the season. Like, you weigh in everything. And they took that out of our hands, and that's their prerogative. But I do think this is a season where it may truly warp the results and maybe they need to build in a little bit more flexibility there where this is. Jokic isn't going to miss 6 to 65 game mark because of load management. That dude never misses games at all unless he's legit hurt. He's just going to miss a big chunk of season because he's hurt. And in the end, maybe that's enough to disqualify him anyway. Maybe we. Maybe we would have decided that there were a bunch of players who had a better season and at more games than minutes, but maybe we would have said, you know what? I still think Jokic at 64 games is better than this other dude at 70. And now we. We can't make that call. And yeah, I don't. It. It's. It's tough.
- [17:38]
Raja Bell
You sound, you. Well, I don't have a vote, but it sounds like you're saying, and I can respect this, hey, don't question my integrity like As a voter. Right. Like trust me to make the call that, that I'm supposed to make. So if he doesn't play enough games, but, but I mean, don't let me put words in your mouth. But like the integrity of the voter I don't think was the issue, although it trickles down to you guys. It's the integrity of those dudes in the front office and the players in some regards. Not Nikola Jokic, unfortunately, like not the Giannis's of the world, those guys. But there are some that the league was looking at the practices of how many games that they were missing strategically saying, yeah, we don't love that. And it does suck though. It does. And it sucks for you guys too.
- [18:22]
Howard Beck
No, it has almost nothing to do with this. I mean I've talked to league officials about this repeatedly over the last few years. Like this was, this had nothing to do with media, voters or results through the years and had everything to do with the modern trends which are dictated by front offices and medical staffs and not by the players, by the way, where too many, you know, too many of the biggest stars were missing too many important games or too many games period because of modern practices surrounding player health and player rehab. And so the idea was incentivize them to play as many games as possible. Incentivize both the player when it is their decision or the team because it's mostly their decision to keep them out there. So the voting part of it is almost just an unintentional consequence. Right. They're just trying to make sure that players understand we the league believe you need to play as many games as possible. And if it drops below 65, it's going to cost you. So if that means you have to have some really deep conversations with your medical staff in your front office about when they're resting you then you know, the err on the side of playing, maybe so. But yeah, it's, it's just, it's, it's muddled things is all. I'll say it's muddled things quite a bit. So.
- [19:38]
Raja Bell
But they're, they're real ramifications though when guys are going back to the table trying to renegotiate that extension. And you've been a first team, all NBA or second team, all NBA. Like they're like, I mean, I don't know the math on that, but like there's significantly more money to be made when you're first team, all NBA, right?
- [19:54]
Howard Beck
In those scenarios, yes, there's there, I mean there's some Supermax stuff for making all NBA. There's all kinds of stuff. Zach Lowe had a great. He's. I think he's proposed this a couple of times, but he said it again this week on his pod that fine, if you have to have a 65 game rule, fine. But how about take the. The rule off for third team all NBA, like maybe 65 games. If you missed the cut, you can't be first or second team all NBA. But then we could still get Jokic and whoever else misses it this year on the third team all NBA and still recognize again for posterity and in the history book's sake that when you look back like, oh, yeah, this dude was all NBA every year of his career for a 1012 year stretch or whatever. Like, why did he fall out that year? He says numbers look amazing. Oh, he only played 64 games, you know, so it's. I like the idea of maybe calibrating it so that you can at least recognize a guy even if he's. Even if he can't get to the highest honors. So maybe there's some middle ground they can explore there with the union.
- [20:52]
Raja Bell
I'm good with tinkering. There are people much smarter than me that would come up with some sort of asterisk ability. Like, even if you had a. But I'm good with that. So even if you had a category of a guy, like, doesn't meet criteria. But we'll have a sub all NBA for injured guys. Right. If you were talking about legacy or even, I guess it would defeat the purpose if you were talking if contractually you were able to do that. But there's got to be some wiggle room to your point, for a guy who's suffered, like, just injuries that were beyond their control, they come very, very close to the threshold for making those teams. Like, there should be something. I just don't know how you do it.
- [21:32]
Howard Beck
Yeah, we will keep our eye on that. All right, let's take a quick break. When we come back, we will reset the Eastern Conference. All right, Roger. We are into the new calendar year. We are very, very close. I think maybe a week and a half or so away from hitting the midpoint of the season, the 41. The Eastern Conference has just been a big jumbled mystery of weirdness the whole time. I figured it would be a good time to kind of reset things, and I want to do it this way. I'm going to go from the bottom up just so we can reset the chessboard here. Obviously, I don't think all 15 of these teams are in the running for anything. But let's just set the. The. The pieces as they are here on January 2nd. So we have four teams at the bottom. I'll call this the Irrelevance division of the East. Pacers at 6 and 28 at the bottom, Wizards at 8 and 24, Nets at 10 and 21, Hornets at 11 22. All those teams more or less where you expected given the Halliburton injury in Indiana, given that the Wizards and Nets were supposed to be tanking this year. The Nets keep trying to mess up the tank again by playing too hard and actually winning games. The Hornets, I never know what they're trying to accomplish, but they're. They're heading straight back for the lottery. The next division up I will just refer to as the Treadmill of Mediocrity Division. Shout out to Kevin Pritchard, who coined Treadmill of Mediocrity many years ago. These are three teams that are competing for the play in or to just eventually become first round playoff fodder. That's the Bulls at 11th with a 1420 record. Excuse me. The Bucks at 11th with a 14 to 20 record. The Hawks at 10th with a 1619 record, and the Bulls in 9th at 16 and 17. So Bulls exactly where they want to be. Doing absolutely nothing to it to go up or down. Just. Just real comfortable here in mediocrity land forever and ever. The Hawks keep finding their way there, even though they were. They were a dark horse this year to do something. Some people thought they would be smarter people than I did, than I am, thought they might be a top four team. The Bucks are not supposed to be this low, but Giannis has missed a lot of games, obviously, and they're the one that are most interesting in that. In that zone also with those three teams like the. The Bucks and the Hawks are connected here because the Hawks control the Bucks pick via this swap that they own of either Bucks or Pelicans. It'll probably be the Pelicans pick, but who knows? And of course they're connected via Giannis rumors, for whatever that's worth. Then we have the fattest division here, six teams that I'm calling the David Byrne. Well, how did I get here? Division shout out to the talking heads. These are six teams that could go any direction and I'm not sure. You know, I think we're all puzzled over either why they're here or they're puzzled over why they're here. We've got the Cavaliers in eighth at 19 and 16. They were supposed to be a top two team. Things are trending upward lately, but we'll see. Heat and Magic are tied at sixth and seventh in the east at 19 and 15. Sixers are in fifth and 18 and 14. I think most people would be surprised to wake up and find them there based on preseason prognostications. Raptors in fourth at 20 and 15 again, who, who would have thunk it? And the Celtics in third at 21 and 12. If you woke up after a six month slumber and found them there, you would have thought Jason Tatum found some miracle cure for Achilles ruptures and that they also like, you know, signed LeBron or something. So that's the how did I get here? Division. And then we finally get to the end actual contenders with no caveats. Division. And it's only two teams who are clearly ahead of the pack. The Knicks are in second at 23 and 10. The Pistons are in first at 25. 9. Those teams will be facing each other for the first time this season on Monday. So good time to be talking about Knicks Pistons first time they see each other too since that incredible playoff series from last spring. The Knicks won that in six, but the Pistons gave them everything they could handle. There are a lot of places we could go here. Raja, for before, I've got a bunch of questions but before I do like anything that leaps out immediately as you're looking at the state of play in the East. A lot of surprises both plus and minus, pro and con here. It's, it is definitely not what we would have thought in October or what we would have talked about in our preseason pods.
- [26:01]
Raja Bell
Yeah. No. What stands out? Boston. I mean, yeah, I, I mean I would have had them in that probably first that maybe the second, maybe the second level of team that you talked about like hovering in that kind of Atlanta, Milwaukee, Chicago areas where I thought I'd see them maybe and I should apologize to Jaylen Brown & Co. And, and, and Missoula Philly you talked about again. I. Philly was always an interesting one to me. I remember having these conversations with Cliff and, and Logan and yourself about, you know, it's not crazy to think that in the, you know, Eastern Conference if they found some health and, and, and roles were defined pretty clearly, they could look up and have themselves with a puncher's chance in the East. Those are the ones that stick out to me. Maybe Cleveland on, on the, on the flip end of that. Just thinking they were going to take that next step. Maybe they wind up doing it but haven't done it so far. So those would be the ones that probably stick out to me. And especially I think, I think, you know, if you made me, if you made me pick between like Boston or Philly, let's say, for who I thought had a better shot in the playoffs, I probably go with.
- [27:12]
Howard Beck
Philly. Yeah. I listen to Boston for a minute here because I feel like we're all sort of sleeping on them. I like maybe we're not taking them seriously enough. The record is outstanding. Jaylen Brown has been incredible. You look at the roster and every single time you do this, you, it's the same thought process. I like much respect for Jalen Brown, for Derek white, Peyton Pritchard, 6 Man of the year now, now playing a massive role that is way beyond a sixth man role, like, but then you, you, you drop down and it's like Anthony Simons kind of cast off by Portland, like good score but you know, kind of limited player. Nemius Keda, Sam Houser, Jordan Walsh, Josh Minot, Hugo Gonzalez, Luca Garza. By the way, that's their top 10 in minutes. Pritchard, White, Brown, Anthony Simons and then Keda, Hauser, Walsh, Minot, Gonzalez, Garza. That is their top 10 in minutes. For a team that as we sit here today is hovering within shouting distance of the top of the Eastern Conference, I mean, is, is in that, that tier right below the, the Pistons and Knicks. Jaylen Brown is showing everybody everything that I think he always believed, but that maybe nobody else did. Everybody thought of him as a great wingman, the proverbial Scotty Pippen to Jason Tatum's Jordan, however you want to frame that. But he was the proverbial second banana and Jason or Jaylen Brown always thought he could be more than that. And he's showing it now in a way that I think is surprising most people. Averaging 29 and a half points a game, that's a career high. Six rebounds, five assists, that's a career high. 36% on threes is kind of meh, but good enough. 56% on twos. Career highs in free throw attempts, seven and a half free throws made nearly six and free throw percentage nearly 78%. He has taken on every, all, all the stuff that was on Tatum's shoulders before. And granted, Jaylen Brown was finals MVP and and conference finals mvp, but Jaylen Brown for the course of an entire, almost half season now has become the leading man. And I don't know if anybody knew what to expect of that. Do we, do we reassess Jaylen Brown, in light of this, is this sustainable? Is what the Celtics are doing.
- [29:38]
Raja Bell
Sustainable? Is what the Celtics attack? Is what the Celtics are doing sustainable? I would, I would say, yeah, I guess, Howard, that sounds very unconvincing. Yeah, I mean, because I'm completely on the fence, if I'm being honest, but because I'd like to think, I'd like to think that just with the roster you laid out there and what they. Eventually they become more like the team we thought they were going to be than they currently are. But that would be disrespectful to a lot of people, and I don't want to be disrespectful to anyone. So I'm going to try to take the flip side of that coin, which is to say, you know, they're going to come in, they're going to shoot a bunch of threes, and when you're dealing with a group like that, you typically get out of that type of player, a baseline of what they have to do to be competitive that they've got to hit every night when they go out there in a way that uber talented player doesn't necessarily have to hit their baseline level to kick your ass. Does that make sense? Like, I don't have any wiggle room as, as the player that I was in the NBA to come out there and not be on my game. I'll be, I'll get laughed out of the gym. So I calibrate myself to come in, in a gym being as close to razor sharp as I can be every time. And you're dealing with guys like that across the board. And I think a coach that coaches to that, to some, to some degree, like, you know, his level of intensity, I think who he was as kind of a player speaks to that. And then Jaylen Brown been trying to tell you forever who he was. So there's a level of amen. Like, it's here, it's mine, and I'm going to stamp this shit in a way that they'll never ever be questions about whether I could be this guy or not, regardless of whether I play with Jason Tatum for the rest of my career. So I think when I put all those things and cobble them all together, I'll err on the side of saying, yeah, maybe sustainable. I don't think they're an Eastern Conference threat, forgive me. Like, I don't, I don't see them, you know, necessarily having those type of legs in the playoffs. But I do think because of the way they're wired the way they have to play personnel wise and collectively, I think you, you get a tough ass team every night. You get somebody that's going to scratch, claw, bite and that means something, at least to me.
- [32:08]
Howard Beck
Yeah. And if they can sustain this at any level at all, not only is is Jaylen Brown going to get all NBA votes and you'll probably be all NBA period. Missoula is going to get a ton of coach of the year support if they can sustain this, if they finish top four in the east, that's, you know, that is a massive achievement for a team without its best player. But that said, let's talk about that best player. The, the rumblings have been going on almost since, I don't know, almost since it feels like the moment that Tatum went down and certainly since the off season that he was going to try to beat the usual Achilles projections that he might come back mid season. He was spotted, I think it was earlier this week. Working out with Brad Stevens. When's the last time you, you saw like footage of a GM working out his franchise star? People read into that. I don't know if you should, but you know, for whatever that's worth, it certainly seems like that is on the table or may soon be on the table that the idea of Tatum coming back, I wonder in light of how competitive they've been without him, which way you spend this. It could be. Listen, don't rush it at all. We're cool. We're going to have a fighting chance and no, we're not going to win a championship this year. But it's all right. We're going to have a more than respectable season and when you come back we're going to be that much better and next year we're right back in the championship mix. Or you move it the other direction, which is this is like found money. We are right on the outskirts of the, of the conference title race in the east. And the Knicks and Pistons are both really good, but these are not, these are not all time superstar laden teams. Right. These are we, we keep saying the east is wide open for a reason. No one team can say it's theirs to lose. And you plug Tatum back into a team that's overachieved by this much and that is playing this hard and playing this well. You could talk yourself into like maybe we can win the East. It's, you know, obviously no one's clearing Jason Tatum unless there's no risk of every injury, whatever he comes, whenever he comes back, if it's, you know, shorter than a year. He's probably going to be somewhere in like 80, 90% of himself and not 100% of himself. But as long as there's no risk of re injury or anything catastrophic, you could talk yourself into it. So should.
- [34:27]
Raja Bell
They. Yeah. My answer to that is no. And maybe the science, the procedures that are Achilles repairs are so much. They have so significantly advanced that the timeline would have him around 95%. And if that's the case, maybe anything short of 95%. If you're telling me he's at 80%, no, I am not rolling him out there and jeopardizing what. What should be, you know, a long and very, you know, promising career for an opportunity to go see OKC or the spurs or Denver in. In the finals. I'm not doing that. I. I don't think. I don't think that they would, with him at 80%, be that viable to be able to think that they would walk away from a championship. And if you're not walking away with the championship, then it's not worth it to me, Howard, because no, no significant risks of re injuring the Achilles is different than going out there at 80% and risking injuring something else because you can't move the way you want to move on that Achilles, if that makes sense. I just don't. Like, I'm partial to that type of injury, dude. Like, I don't. You know, I played through a torn calf. It was this. It was so stupid. Every time I see someone try to play through one of those injuries, I'm always cringing. I understand why the Boston fan or the Boston front office might. Might want to take a swing at that. I know why a player would. I just told you, I played through one. I would not risk.
- [36:14]
Howard Beck
That. If I were Boston, I'm tempted to go the other direction with the caveat that if the medical staff said no risk of re injury, I mean, obviously you can always, you know, turn an ankle. You can step on somebody, you can land badly, whatever, but, like, no true risk of re injury. You may not be 100% of yourself in terms of just your explosiveness and your speed, your lateral movement, whatever else, but you can go out there and do most of what you've always done. I'm tempted to say go for it. The counterbalance to it is if you think you can win the east, cool. And you're right, you're gonna. Whoever wins the east is probably getting smoked by the Western Conference team anyway. Probably the Thunder, maybe the spurs, maybe the Nuggets, maybe the Rockets, for all we know, that's probably the outcome, but also, like, these windows are smaller than we always want to believe they are to contend. They've been to two finals, they've won one. I'm kind of tempted to say, you know, what, if he can play at a respectable level, go for it. But then I remember, oh, yeah, off season, you know, shedded. Kristaps Porzingis, Drew Holiday, Al Horford, Luke Cornett, suddenly, this is not, it's not like coming back to the same team that was in, you know, winning a championship just two Junes ago. You know, you may not be built for this. They, they were intentionally not built to contend this year. Right. The whole point of, of letting guys go was, let's a little bit. We'll wait for Tatum to get back. We'll figure out how to rebuild the roster again in the next off season. So you're not, you weren't really planning for this outcome, but it's like, it's right there in front of you. It's tempting. I'll, I'll say that it's, it's.
- [37:54]
Raja Bell
Tempting, at least super tempting. And, and I'd have to imagine that, you know, in their executive offices, they're having conversations just like the one you and I had. I'm saying, hell no. You're saying, I don't know, like that it's a, it's going to be very tempting, especially, you know, if they continue to be, you know, a viable team in the Eastern Conference. And yeah, man, again, So tough, because you're right. Like when, whenever you have a swing or a bite at that apple that is potentially playing for a championship. Like I've sat on here and said in episodes past, to your point, window really small, anytime you get a chance, you go for it. Right? I usually talk about that in terms of like, roster building or swinging a trade or something like that. And, you know, they, if they should find themselves in a position like that and he's healthy and the medical team signs off. I hear you. I just think so many of those dudes will be gaining a level of experience this year, in a year, whatever it looks like in the playoffs, that would be so valuable for them and moving forward that if you reintroduce him at 100% and you mitigate the risk of any, any type of, you know, flare up or injury, and you guys come back next year with Jaylen Brown and a healthy Jason Tatum and all those dudes with all that experience. I just think your window is still there, provided you put Some of the pieces back in place via free agency and whatnot. And so I, I feel you, though. I hear you 100%. Like, it would be a very, very difficult call in those.
- [39:24]
Howard Beck
Offices. Look, at the end of the day, I care more about story than anything else because that's what I do. I'm a reporter. So, like, the idea of Tatum coming back would just be really cool. But. So we'll, we'll see, we'll see how they handle that down the stretch of the season. The team that was supposed to be in this conversation and may yet get back there not writing them off yet. Cleveland Cavaliers, they are 10th and offensive rating 14th in defense, which is a shocking level of mediocrity for them. 11th in net rating. They've, they had that recent three game losing streak that really seemed like the wheels were about to come off. They lost to Charlotte and the Bulls twice in that streak, but they've won four of six since then, beating the spurs, the Suns, the Hornets and the Pelicans. You know, Hornets and Pelicans are what they are, but like, the Suns have been really competitive and the spurs have been great. Darius Garland's been up and down, like, still trying to get right after all the toe issues and slow start to the season. But in his last seven games, he's averaging almost 20 points a game and eight assists, shooting 48 on threes in that time and making more than half of his two point shots. It seems like it's always like knock on wood with Darius Garland, but it seems like he is getting back to who he is, which relieves a lot of the pressure to produce. Everything on Donovan Mitchell takes a little bit of pressure off Evan Mobley, who, while still elite defensively, has still not quite made that big leap as an offensive hub that I think everybody was hoping and expecting. So, you know, Max Drew, I assume, is coming back sometime in the new year here. Are the Cavaliers still in this thing? Raja, are you seeing any red flags in terms of just maybe the, the, the connectedness there? Has this thing run its course with that core four? What do you make of.
- [41:16]
Raja Bell
Them? Yeah, I, I don't, I don't, I don't think it's run its course. I don't, I don't see any red flags. You know, I think this is a team that, I don't know how I put this, like, they have kind of fallen into, They've fallen victim to just. This has been riding for a while now. They've played well for a long stretch of time. Last year they were fantastic. Obviously they didn't do what they wanted to do in the playoffs. And you can hit a rough patch as a team. It could be for health reasons. You know, it could just be for, you know, not making shots. Any number of reasons could derail you for a little while. But you know that the bones are in place to, to have a real, A real team there once they figure it out. And I see them kind of like this, Howard, are they playing their best basketball? No. Have they dealt with some stuff? Sure, but. And especially in that Eastern Conference where we are talking about teams like the Sixers and Boston maybe overachieving. I think that. I think even though the Cavs might not be exactly where they want to be right now, I. They're still a threat in the Eastern Conference. Well, I don't. I would not put them like when you did the rankings of the Eastern Conference up there with Detroit and New York, but I don't think the rankings necessarily reflect where I would have them in that next category of teams. Right. In that next little subdivision of teams, because I'd have them higher than that. I think they're still. I think they're still dangerous in the Eastern.
- [42:40]
Howard Beck
Conference. I think they're still dangerous. They have been the classic on paper team for the last several years, ever since Donovan Mitchell got there. Right. It's like, oh, like the names pop off the page between him and Garland and Jared Allen, Evan Mobley. They've had some good role players around them. You know, they, they lost some guys in the offseason, obviously. Again, you know, they need Max Dr. Back. So they've had some depth issues, but it hasn't quite felt the same that, that whatever that magic was last year that they seem to have as a 60 whatever win team. They were like, incredible season and then fade in the playoffs, but again, injuries in the playoffs. Like, there were. There were some asterisks there. They've just always felt like that team that when the lights get too bright, they fade a bit. And so I think we all still have some doubts about them. But as a regular season team, Raja, as a team that, that, you know, we've talked about as, you know, one of the favorites in the east before the season, I still feel like they're there. Like, I still think at their best, I think they should be there with the Pistons and Knicks and I think they can still get.
- [43:41]
Raja Bell
There.
- [43:41]
Howard Beck
We'll. We'll see. But they've shown us enough again, as a regular season team. Postseason is a different thing that they should be there. Whether or not they can now beat those top teams in back to back series, whatever, however the bracket may go, I feel like that's the real question. But like, as I look at the standings, do I think the Cavaliers should finish the season still ahead of Toronto, Philly, Orlando, Miami? The teams that are all ahead of them right now? Yeah, I do. And they're not that far out. They're like, they're all like, they're a game out of fourth right now. Toronto's a 2015 and the Cavs are 19 and 16. So like it, it's packed up pretty tight. They should and I think will make that leap. Can they displace the Boston Celtics, who again, that they're in third at all is just such a testament to them. Like the Celtics are the opposite, right? Like not a ton of names popping off the page with Tatum out as Jalen Brown and Derrick White and a lot of guys, but like they, they are the all heart and hustle team and the Cavs sometimes feel like the inverse of that. But I think they'll be there. I think they'll be there and then we'll, we'll, we'll reevaluate them. We'll judge them based on their postseason. If nothing else. Let's talk about producer Cliff Sixers for a second because they're another team where like, I'm not, I'm not going to take the victory lap yet. I was the, the lone optimist, I think, on this, maybe this entire podcast network, including all of our pop culture shows. I think I was higher on them the most. But I was predicated on the idea that I thought Embiid would get back to some semblance of his former self. They end up coming out hot out of the gate because of Maxi and VJ Edgecomb. So suddenly it's a rookie that's powering a lot of this, a lot of other guys contributing, but still it was the backcourt pyrotechnics. And then Paul George suddenly playing really respectably again and playing really well as just a high level role player. And Joel Embiid, there's like a disconnect right now, I feel like between his production, which suddenly looks really good, and the appearance of him because when you watch him, it still sometimes looked like due to straining and he doesn't really leave the floor. He just, you know, and he doesn't necessarily want to get mix it up in the paint on either end. But all that said, Joel Embiid's last six games, 29 points a game, eight rebounds, four assists, 1.3 blocks, making 53% of his twos. That's his last six, which sounds awesome until you realize he's also missed three of the last nine. So those six games are spread over the last nine because he had to sit for a few. But he's regularly playing 30 plus minutes a game, so he's getting back toward like a full complement of of playing time. His usage rate, shockingly is at like 34%. Which for a guy who I kind of thought would come back as almost a complimentary player with the way Maxi and Edgecomb are playing, is high. But he's backing it up with the production. And so Sixers as we stand here now 18th in offensive efficiency, I think that will continue to go up 12th in defensive efficiency, 15th in net rating. Raja, what are you ready to say? And remember, Cliff is listening. Producer Cliff is sitting there. Just don't, don't ruin his New Year's. How are we feeling? How are we feeling about the.
- [47:09]
Raja Bell
Sixers? Cautiously optimistic. If I'm a Sixers fan, I think you know the Joel Embiid of it all. That's just how talented that massive human being is. Right? That you could watch him and say like the numbers aren't matching the eye test because he's not moving great and he's not in the paint, but he's just that talented that rolling out of bed healthy. Ish. In a league like that, he can, he could put up significant numbers. Yeah, look, I might not have been as bullish as you could have been on them, but it was hard for me not to acknowledge early that if you could find a Joel Embiid that was healthy and available and a Paul George, who, despite what Philly fans felt about him last year as that level, like 1B type of player in a complimentary role is still a very high level, you know, NBA piece. You then have that, you know, electrifying rookie and Vijay Edgecombe and Tyrese Maxey doing what he's doing along with the other pieces that are supporting, I'd be optimistic. Like I thought that could be okay. Now they're sitting in a place where I think is probably like best case scenario for them right now, what they can be moving forward. I don't know. Cracking that Detroit Knicks tier of teams in that Eastern Conference is going to be difficult for a lot of these teams that you and I are talking about right now, Howard, but when you line them up against someone in a seven game series, if they can get you to Play the style that they want to play. They could be very, very.
- [48:58]
Howard Beck
Dangerous. Yeah. And Joel Embiid, you know, we could, this could go either direction. Right. There could be yet another injury and he barely plays the second half of the season. Or there's the. He's starting to show glimpses of, of who he was again. And as he gets stronger and you know, that much more distanced from the last surgery, from the last knee surgery, he just may actually get better as, as he goes. I don't know which direction he's going. Nobody can predict that. But the outline of who they are right now is a very competitive team. And I thought their best case scenario, what I had said in the preseason was I could, I think they could be a top four team. And right now they're fifth and, you know, knocking on the door there like they're very close. They're a half game out of. Half game behind Toronto for fourth. I don't know. Yeah. Not expecting them to be a top tier team. Not expecting to be a true contender. But I mean, this has to be better than anybody could have anticipated after the hell they've been through.
- [49:55]
Raja Bell
There. So I'll tell you like, I'll tell you like this, Howard, if you. They're so hard to predict because so much of it hinges on like what Joel Embiid ultimately looks like. Right. But yeah, if you, if you told me he's trending back towards that, the, the guy, you know, that when healthy is, you know, a top five player in the NBA, we can then start having that conversation about whether they're in that tier with New York and New York and Detroit. If Joel is going to be trending in that direction. Right. Like, that's assuming there are no more health issues and his trajectory is moving back towards, you know, one of the, one of the faces of the league type of.
- [50:36]
Howard Beck
Player. Yeah. All right, as we wind down here, let's, let's get to the actual top tier. And with apologies and much respect for some of the teams that, you know, look, Miami's been up and down. They've been really impressive at times. They've done very well for a team that doesn't have a true go to star. Although shout out to Norm Powell for doing his best impression of one. He is, he's been fantastic, but they've been a little all over the map. Toronto, you know, fast out of the gates and then kind of settled in. We'll see where they ultimately end up. They're kind of like going to, looking like the classic, better than the some of their parts kind of team. But I don't think the ceiling is particularly high there. So let's get to the two teams. We've just been kind of circling around. Is there any doubt in your mind right now that this is really about again the two teams that will finally meet for the first time this season on Monday, Detroit and New York. Is this a two team race to win the.
- [51:28]
Raja Bell
East? Yeah, right now I think it is. Yeah. I think I'd have both of those teams working their way through the playoffs. Completely different in makeup. I mean both have a, you know, a guy who's just incredible with the ball in his hands and kind of makes everything work. But like, you know, one's middle of the pack offensive, high, high level defensive. The other is just the, the opposite of that. Right. Like high level offense kind of regressed a little bit defensively. Different reasons, different styles. But I do think they're both those teams are the class of the Eastern.
- [51:57]
Howard Beck
Conference. Pistons right now eighth in offensive rating. Knicks are third. The Pistons are second in defensive rating. The Knicks are 16th net rating. They're. They're neck and neck. Pistons are sixth and net and Knicks are fifth again. Both of them have, have weathered some bumps already and some injuries. So the Pistons just, I don't know, I don't want to say lost because I don't. We don't have a follow up report yet today, but Jalen Duran sprained his ankle last night, didn't return. That looked bad like he, it was one of those sprained it and just limped straight to the locker room. Not even a sit on the bench and get worked on just like he was just gone. Their bigs right now are Isaiah Stewart and Paul Reed. So that's a little alarming, you know. Pending the Durin prognosis, Tobias Harris has missed a ton of time this year and he's out with a hip injury right now. But and Jaden Ivy, that's the other, the other kind of just think the bear is watching here. Jaden Ivey since he's been back has been okay but not spectacular. And I think they really were counting on the idea that, that you know, you need a second score and creator type. You needed somebody to take some of the, the load off of Kate Cunningham and Ivy's been okay and he's averaging like 16 minutes a game. He hasn't really busted out the way I think that they, that they hope but there's a lot of season left and he was out for a long time. They've lost three of four. The one win was a route of the Lakers who were really struggling. They're four and four in their last eight. So it's been a little bit of a rut here for the Pistons. The Knicks are four and three over their last seven. Obviously they had the big NBA cup win against San Antonio. Josh Hart's out with an ankle injury right now. They're plugging in everybody. Muhammad Diawara started the other night. Kevin McCuller, Ariel Hook, Porti Tyler, Colic, all, all playing roles right now. Mike Brown going deep, deep into that bench out of necessity. My concern for the Knicks raja is this like Mitchell Robinson has been awesome. We saw that in the Cup. He's been awesome when he plays. He's out again right now with, I think it's just ankle injury management type stuff and is coming back soon. I just don't trust Mitchell Robinson to stay healthy for the entirety of the season and into the playoffs. And the drop off from him to your next big defensively, right. You've got, you could always move Towns to center full time but you lose a lot in terms of rebounding and extra possessions and defense. Mitchell Robinson has not played even half of a season since 2022, 23 when he played 59. So I think they're one of those teams I'm keeping an eye on over the next month. Just in terms of trade deadline. They don't have a lot of wiggle room. I don't know that there's anything they can really do meaningfully. But I feel like they need another defensive minded big as an insurance policy and also just for the non Mitchell Robinson.
- [54:58]
Raja Bell
Minutes. Yeah, well, I didn't, I, that's a incredible stat because I, I did not know that. I mean I know he's often injured but like even in that season he played 59 games. You.
- [55:07]
Howard Beck
Said. Yeah, that was as high in the last like I don't know, three, four years or something. It's, it's. He's, he's had a rough.
- [55:13]
Raja Bell
Go. Well, yeah, I mean I would definitely be looking to ensure that if I were them. You know, coming down the stretch of any season when you think, you know, when you think you have a shot at it, like I said with, with, with Tatum, that's the argument. When you think you are that close to it, you know, ensuring against injury and making sure that you have the physical bodies to go out there and let those, those guys offensively do what they do and let that translate into wins becomes important. So you know, if the health Is that iffy with him? Then? I'm with you.
- [55:48]
Howard Beck
Yeah. The good news, Jalen Brunson remains awesome. I think Mike Brown's done a nice job of, you know, diversifying the offense a bit where it's not always in his hands, pounding the ball for the entirety of every possession. Mikhail Bridges getting a little bit more featured. Call Anthony Towns. Like, their core is as, as strong as it's been. OG Anunoby's having a fantastic season and I think that, you know, they've gotten more production out of the bench. Like the bench is better. They got a better bench. So a little bit of that is credit to the front office for bringing in some guys. Jordan Clarkson's had some nice moments for them. Some of it is just development. Tyler Kolik and I, like, they're, I think they're a stronger team overall than they were this time last year. And even in the playoffs last season, it's always health with them. They got to get Josh Hart back now, but Knicks Pistons I think is actually really close. Like the, like the only real knock you'd have on the Pistons, aside from, yeah, you could use one more real score creator type and again, maybe that becomes Jaden Ivy as things evolve over the season would be that they're, you know, we're still going to knock them a little bit for their youth, right? Cunningham, Sar, Thompson, you know, the bigs, these guys are all they got. You know, they got their first taste of the playoffs last year and, and maybe that's enough. But that was really the only real knock you could have on them, especially going head to head with the Knicks. I feel like if these teams meet in the playoffs, I, I think it's another outstanding series that's going six or seven games. And like you, I think it's a two team race and I'll reserve judgment on whether or not like, I think the Cavs can get back in there, but I, but again, I think I feel like that's a regular season thing in the playoffs. The two teams that have the most confidence in as we sit here on January 2nd are the pistons and Knicks and maybe, maybe, maybe a Celtics team that gets Tatum back and decides to make a move at the deadline to actually add instead of subtract. Like, I'm not, I'm not ruling that out. I'd be if I'm the Pistons and Knicks. That like, that's worrying me just a little bit. I'm looking at the Celtics with the possibility of Tatum returning and that's the only other team I'M looking down the standings and going, huh, I'm not sure what's going to happen down there or what happens if we meet.
- [58:02]
Raja Bell
Them. All right, keep an eye. Just keep an eye on Joel Embiid. That's all I'm.
- [58:06]
Howard Beck
Saying. Fair Cliff is privately.
- [58:11]
Raja Bell
Nodding. There you go, Cliff. Let me just say I want to go back and I won't take a long time because I know we'll do real ones. But, like, not as easy as it sounds for Mike Brown to get the ball moving in a way where it's not in his hands as much as it was last year and then still allow him to have it in his hands in a way that lets him be him. Jalen Brunson, that is like, it sounds simple. Not simple when you're trying to, when you're trying to, like, create culture offensively and you're saying, hey, we can't have it with you as much as you had it last year. We need everybody else to be able to eat and at the same time want you to have it enough to be yourself. Like, kudos to them for figuring that.
- [58:48]
Howard Beck
Out. Yeah, no, they've, they've looked amazing. Still strong in all the areas they were under Tibs, but I think they'll be that much more dangerous when the offense can go more directions and when other guys are comfortable taking those, those roles. And also, not for nothing, like, yeah, Jalen Brunson's, the usage is still up there, the scoring, like, everything is still pretty much on par. But if you don't have to run every possession again for like the vast majority of every possession, you look at his time of possession, he should be that much fresher in the playoffs and they should be that much less predictable in the playoffs when defenses can really key in on your best player. So. All right, but I think we have consensus here on this pod. It is, as of right now, still a two way race in the east. And we'll see from there. Let's take one more break. We'll come back with the real one of the week. All right, we're back. It's time for the real one of the week. Raja, who you got this.
- [59:48]
Raja Bell
Week? Wow. Tough, tough one for me this College Football Playoff time. I know NBA pod, but like, there's a lot of stuff popping in the College Football Playoff world. Okay, so it was a tough one. I think I gave it to Cristobal maybe last week he could be up for it. You know, they, they played great against Ohio State and got a win. Like to say thank you to them for that, that, that's 20 some years of me waiting for you guys to kick their ass. But Kurt Signetti maybe like that's crazy what he's done with Indiana football. Ultimately I'm going to go. Trinidad Chamblys, quarterback at Ole Miss, I think he's won two D2 national championships and he was the backup coming into the year to like a family friend in Austin Simmons. But Austin got hurt. Trinidad stepped in. He just, he never let go of the reins and had just a complete gamer like performance last night against Georgia. So I'm going to go with Trinidad Chamblys, quarterback from Ole Miss. Real one of the.
- [60:48]
Howard Beck
Week. Nice. My choice is actually Kevin Durant. He was in Brooklyn last night, had a chance to chat with him a bit. In my role with the Pro Basketball Writers association, he was the winner of our Magic Johnson Award. We give this every year to a star player who has been great with the fans and the media. And this was actually Katie's second time winning the award. So we, we voted on that. He was awarded that. We announced it last spring. But because of the trade, because of a bunch of things and because the Suns missed the playoffs so we couldn't present the award, I had the honor of getting to present the award, physically hand him the award last night here in Brooklyn. So had a nice chat with kd. So, you know, kudos to KD and thanks again to KD for always being great with us. Very worthy winner of our, of our Magic Johnson Award. But it wasn't that part of it that cinched him being my real one of the nominee. It was, it was that in the game last night he's, he's, he's initially guarding Danny Wolf and then he ends up getting switched. He's now down low. He's jockeying for rebounding position with Nick Claxton and Danny Wolf jacks up a three that is so offline that it just like smacked off the, the backboard off on the left side and just hit Katie straight in the face. In the background, the background you can see Jeff Green looking like he's kind of laughing on the bench. And the mics pick up KD saying. And this is how he becomes real one of the week. KD saying, that's a trash ass, Ms. Wolf. Phenomenal. Fantastic stuff. I want the microphones to always be real one of the week. All microphone operators who have cranked that shit up too high so we at home can actually hear the trash talk. Thank you for that. Thank you producers who Let that go through. You're all real ones of the week in my book. Phenomenal quote. You can go look that up. It's making the rounds on social media.
- [62:44]
Raja Bell
Funny. Yeah, that's pretty funny. And it always sucks to be on the other end of that too, because you already know it's a trash ass miss and have someone yell it.
- [62:50]
Howard Beck
Out. That's rough. Also, that looked like it hurt, man. You ever get hit in the face of the basketball, like straight off the backboard, like that.
- [62:57]
Raja Bell
Hurt? Yeah. And people. People don't really realize this because, like, the typical ball that you play with it, like in LA Fitness or. Or in your backyard, those can be soft and kind of supple sometimes. There's nothing soft and supple about an NBA ball. That's hard leather.
- [63:12]
Howard Beck
Baby. Yeah. And because Katie's the size or the height he is, like the distance between him and the backboard was not, like there was no time to react. He was like turning to get the rebound or turning to look for the potential rebound, and it just was like, bam, bam. Like, yeah.
- [63:26]
Raja Bell
Yeah. You get angry on those a little bit. Like you kind of forget where you are. You just want to hit somebody the fuck. Let's.
- [63:32]
Howard Beck
Get. Yeah, that's a trash ass, Ms. Wolf. That's an all timer. I love it. Love it. All right, that will do it for another episode of the Real Ones. All three of us, I believe, Knock on wood or whatever we got nearby. I believe we will have all three of us back this Tuesday. Raja. Yes. Nodding.
- [63:52]
Raja Bell
Yes. I think so. Yeah, I believe so. If I get my equipment to.
- [63:54]
Howard Beck
Work. Yep, equipment's got to work. No more injuries allowed in the Bell household. Just keep your kids indoors for a couple of days. No more emergency runs to the emergency room. That'll do it for us. We'll see y' all on.
- [64:06]
Raja Bell
Tuesday. Must be 21 years and older.
- [64:08]
Howard Beck
And present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with the Kansas Star Casino, or 18 and older and present in D.C. kentucky or. Or Wyoming. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rghelp.com call 1-888-78-9-7777 or visit ccpg.org backslash chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in.
- [64:28]
Raja Bell
Maryland. Hope is.
- [64:29]
Howard Beck
Here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 1-800-327-5050 for 24. 7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE NY or text HOPE NY in New.